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Maddy takes a deep breath and clutches Caleb’s hand like the lifeline it is.
Kenna continues bellowing her demands to the crowd, but the chant only grows louder. They’re working themselves into a frenzy.
Marlowe raises his hands. “Iam the leader of the Order of the Knightly Rose, am I not?”
A cheer answers.
“And we refuse to follow you or your two vampire sympathizers.”
Another cheer. Bladed weapons are being drawn all around the great hall.
“You will leave,” Marlowe commands.
Kenna puts her hands on her hips. “We will not.”
The situation is devolving quickly, and Maddy scans the perimeter for a quick way out. Kenna is looking shocked and for the first time, at a loss. Her Order has turned against her.
A stench draws Maddy’s attention to one of the hunters closest to her. She scowls as the scent turns familiar, and she uses her warlock ability to delve into the closest hunter and the one next to him and the next.
After a moment, she gasps. “They’re possessed.”
Caleb turns to her. “What?” His eyes widen.
She gestures to the room. “They’re all possessed! It must be by spirits under Orion’s control. None of them are really…them.”
“You havegotto be kidding me.”
Marlowe points to the trio in the center of the great hall. “Remove them!”
Hunters from all over the room charge toward Kenna, Maddy, and Caleb, brandishing swords and Orion’s hatred. At least guns don’t seem to be the weapon of choice.
Caleb lands a right hook in the temple of the first hunter who reaches them, knocking him out cold. Maddy launches herself at two more, besting them within moments by breaking one leg and one arm, respectively. Kenna leaps at yet another and spins around, dropping her opponent to the ground in a choke hold. Another attacker falls and still another, but they’re being overrun.
They’re no match for the endless supply of hunters. In the space of a breath, they’re losing.
“Maddy!” Caleb yells.
“Get out of here!” Maddy answers, dragging her fingernails over the face of her next attacker, barely resisting the urge to drain him of every drop of lifeforce.
“No!” Caleb shouts.
Suddenly, he stretches out his arms as if to surrender, but instead, he floats into the air over the crowd. A thrumming, pulsing sound builds around him. His eyes turn luminescent, and his hair sticks out from his head. A swirl of smoke works around him and builds to a cloud.
Maddy takes a step back and catches Kenna’s arm. Kenna whirls to attack her, but frowns when she realizes it’s Maddy. Maddy juts her chin toward Caleb.
“Oh, no,” Kenna murmurs. “What’s he doing?”
Maddy shrugs.
The smoke explodes out from Caleb, rushing over the marauding hunters. All of them are swept back to their butts in the great hall. The closest dozen knocked unconscious, and many others knocked senseless. Pain-filled groans take the place of the sounds of battle.
Maddy and Kenna stand, shell-shocked. Caleb just felled the entire Order in one fell swoop.
Slowly, clusters of hunters climb to their feet and stagger toward the exits. Within minutes, the hall has been emptied, and Kenna sputters into disjointed expletives as Caleb sinks slowly to the floor once more.
Yet one lone figure remains in the great hall.
It's Else, glaring at Maddy.
