Kasiah threw her head back and laughed. “You’re so pathetic,” she said, securing the blade back into her pocket.
“What about Amy?” I asked, trying to pull her into reality. “They killed your sister. They killed Morgan. Are you just going to let all of that go?”
“The loss of their lives was a necessary evil,” Kasiah said, turning away from me.
The reality of Kasiah’s words struck me; she had played me from day one. She was already involved in Atmoro’s plan before I had met her in Madison. She was there when Atmoro’s vampire killed Amy, and she let it happen. For all I knew, she may even have helped. Kasiah had been leaking information to Atmoro the whole time, which explains how she was able to survive the poison dart from the troll in Erie. She must have already had the antidote in her system. Kasiah was the reason Atmoro was one step ahead of us. She was the mole who Jake warned us about. Kasiah led Noshimo right up to the farmhouse in the woods where we found Jess.
How could I have been so foolish? I thought to myself. How could I have let my feelings for a beautiful woman cloud my mind that I couldn’t see what was right in front of me?
“Karma will catch you for this,” I warned her. “Maybe not today or tomorrow, but you will answer for this evil.”
Kasiah ignored me. “Let’s get them to the other cavern,” she told Noshimo. “We have many more fun things planned for tonight’s celebration.”
Noshimo released enough of the spell to allow us to walk, but only where he could lead us. We had no choice but to follow him and Kasiah through the tunnel. Rain protested at first, until Noshimo stole the air around him, burning his lungs till he fell to his knees. Noshimo had shown him the full potential of a seasoned warlock.
The next cavern was much larger, exactly as Kasiah had explained—at least she wasn’t a total liar. The ceilings were high, maybe twenty feet at the center and another hundred feet of space between each wall. A sparkling stream flowed down the far wall. Tiny blue and green plants grew on either side of the stream, illuminating the entire cavern. On the opposite side of the stream, Atmoro stood next to a twelve-foot-tall, intricately carved wooden door. Jade was strapped to the door with thick leather straps and steel shackling her. Her eyes were saturated with fear as she fought against the shackles that locked her wrists and ankles. A cloth gag held back her screams.
What happened next was even more surprising than Kasiah’s betrayal or Noshimo’s presence. Malance, wearing a thick cloak fit for a king, emerged from the shadows. He was flanked by six typical Shadow Vampire protectors. Resembling a king’s guards, they wore full armor with sleek, black medieval helmets. Each had a deadly sword sheathed at their side. I suspected there were more of Malance’s guards across the tunnels. We fell right into their trap. They probably saw this coming from a mile away.
“Welcome!” Malance said, as though he was greeting visitors to his home. “I see you’ve taken care of our uninvited guests.”
“Yes, sir,” Noshimo nodded, tightening his grip on our minds.
Malance stopped in front of me. “It’s been a long time, Aeron. You’ve grown. Yet I see you are still fighting the same losing battle of your late father. With proper training, you could have made a great addition to my alliance.”
“Traitor,” I cursed through gritted teeth, anger lurching inside me.
Malance smiled. “You are as foolish as your father once was.”
Kasiah approached Malance and planted the same forceful kiss she had given me not five minutes prior.
“Maybe we could keep this one as a pet,” Kasiah proposed, embracing him again, tracing her fingers down his arms.
Malance separated from Kasiah and laughed. “If you wish,” he said, moving on to Aerona and sizing her up and down. “Well, well, well, you’ve grown into such a beautiful woman. You’re an exact copy of your gorgeous mother.”
Aerona spat at Malance.
Kasiah stepped in front of him and slapped Aerona across her face. “We’re not keeping this one!” she hollered.
Malance laughed at Aerona the same way he had laughed at me. “I like this game!” he said, clapping his hands excitedly.
“Enough games!” Atmoro ordered from across the cavern standing at the large wooden door. “I brought you the girl, now let’s get this exchange over with. Get me Christine.”
Malance turned his attention to Atmoro, and his tone became serious “Yes, the deal was Christine for the blood of a stone. I must say, Atmoro, I’m pleased, yet surprised you were able to deliver this impossible key. Kasiah had provided me with updates of your progress along the way. Your use of the warlock twins was wise, but was it within the rules of the game?”
“How I obtained the angel is not in question,” Atmoro disputed, his anger surging. “The deal was the blood of a stone for my wife!”
It was obvious Atmoro was holding back his anger; at any moment, this situation could take a sharp right turn into chaos. Malance may have underestimated Atmoro’s true capability as one of the strongest Shadow Vampires ever to have existed. Add Atmoro’s power to the rage he was holding in from when Malance killed his sons, then left Atmoro for dead, and you have an unstable bomb ready to explode.
Malance thought about their arrangement for a minute and spoke again. “You are correct. You have delivered the stone, and I shall deliver Christine back to your arms the moment the gate to the Forgotten Shadow City is opened.”
Malance motioned to one of his Shadow Vampire guards. “Spill the girl’s blood and open the gate to the prison,” he commanded.
“Wait!” I yelled. “You can’t do this!”
Malance held his hand up to stop the vampire. “I can’t do this?” he asked, laughing. “I am doing this.”
“You must realize,” I continued, trying to buy some time, “once opened, there is no going back. You’ll release thousands of lost souls into our two worlds.”
Malance smiled. “Yes, young Aeron, I realize that, and by the way, that is the plan.”
“What is the point of this madness?” I asked. “What do you gain by doing this?”
“The point,” he explained, taking his attention off Jade and Atmoro, “is the Shadow Council is in need of reform. The Shadows I release today will kneel to my command tomorrow. Today is the day the Shadow Council embraces their true leader.”
“You’re insane!” Aerona shouted. “The Shadow Council was formed to keep Shadows like you from becoming powerful enough to make these foolish decisions!”
Aerona had struck a nerve in Malance.
“The Shadow Council is foolish!” Malance shouted back. “The Council was created centuries ago by elders with no vision of the future! They were fools to think we should stay hidden from the Light World! We are the superior race! The mortals of that world will bow to our rule!”
Aerona laughed out loud. “Because that didn’t just prove my point,” she taunted, shaking her head, maddening Malance even more.
Noshimo’s mind knocked Aerona down to the ground, stealing the air from her lungs. She gasped for a breath that wasn’t there. Rain dug his feet into the wall behind him, pushing with all his might to free himself from Noshimo’s powerful mind. The wall behind him began to crack. He stopped pushing, but spun around instead, slamming his fist into the wall. A large crack shot up the rock wall, splitting it right up to the ceiling. Rain swung a second time, impacting the wall with enough force to fracture solid rock. A second crack shot across the floor.
“Stop this foolishness!” Atmoro bellowed from the elf door. “They will all be dead soon enough! Show me Christine, or our deal is off!”
Malance nodded to Noshimo, and he released his grasp on the air around Aerona, allowing her to breathe again.
I looked around the cavern, searching my mind for answers on how I had allowed myself to be taken advantage of by Kasiah. If we had any chance of getting out of that mess, we needed to take out Noshimo.
“Noshimo,” Malance said, turning his attention back to Atmoro an
d Jade, “show Atmoro why he shall not betray me.”
Noshimo sent a single beam of light to the elf door, shining slightly left of Jade’s leg. The door transformed from solid to transparent, and I saw hundreds, thousands of Forgotten Shadows far beyond the door. There were vampires, warlocks, werewolves, demons, trolls, and many more imprisoned Forgotten Shadows. A young, beautiful blonde made her way to the front and placed her hand flat on the transparent door. On the other side, Atmoro placed his hand flat against the door, mirroring the woman’s—it was Christine.
I swear I could feel their love passing through the thick elf door.
Christine, in melancholy, shook her head back and forth. She did not approve of what Malance was about to do. She knew what would happen to our two worlds if the Forgotten Shadows were released.
Atmoro hung his head, understanding that Christine did not want to be freed. I felt his heart sink as he realized he was about to lose her forever again. Atmoro raised his head and looked into his wife’s eyes. She smiled back, and I saw her lips move to say “I love you.”
Malance, realizing what was happening, ordered his guards to kill Jade. “Spill the angel’s blood!” he shouted. “Every single drop!”
Atmoro spun around to face Malance. “We have made a mistake, Malance! We cannot allow this to happen! Our worlds will collide! War will destroy us!”
“That’s the whole point!” Malance argued. “Kill the angel!”
The Shadow Vampires moved in, their weapons drawn. Atmoro shifted into defensive mode. He reached his arm over to his shoulder sheath and pulled out a long sword that shimmered in the light. Atmoro defended Jade, cutting apart the first Shadow Vampire to reach her. His sword sliced the vampire in half diagonally across the chest. Jade screamed through her gag as the vampire fell at her feet.
“Atmoro!” I hollered. “Free us from Noshimo, and we will help you stop this madness!”
Without hesitation, Atmoro yanked a dagger from under his jacket, then hurled it at Noshimo. The dagger, inches from Noshimo’s face, froze midair.
Two more of Malance’s vampire guards attacked Atmoro. The vampires were young and, despite their heavy armor, were fast, but they lacked the training required to effectively engage an angry, seasoned Shadow Vampire.
Running, the first of the two vampires drew out an automatic crossbow, firing two arrows one after another. Atmoro leapt toward the vampire, catching one arrow as the other passed an inch from his face. Atmoro swung the head of the arrow he had caught, driving it through the helmet and into the skull of the Shadow Vampire. An instant later, he swung his shimmering sword, decapitating the other Shadow Vampire. Atmoro ripped the crossbow from the dead vampire’s hands, then fired three arrows into his chest, just to be sure.
“Noshimo!” I screamed. “You don’t have to do this! Malance is going to destroy your world if he releases these Shadows! You betrayed my father, but you have the chance to redeem yourself now!”
Noshimo didn’t take the bait. He smiled, tightening his grip on my mind and squeezing the energy from me as he held Rain tightly against the wall. Rain continued to try and wrestle his way free. The cracks in the wall grew behind him.
Atmoro had his hands full. The remaining three Shadow Vampires attacked at once, driving Atmoro away from Jade. I fell to my knees as Noshimo held me in intense agony. Aerona and I could do nothing but watch Malance approach the elf door, his dagger in hand. Jade’s green eyes looked to me for help. She was beyond terrified.
“Do something!” Aerona shouted to me.
I reached deep down inside myself, searching for any amount of energy that Noshimo had not stolen. The pain in my chest was excruciating. I couldn’t breathe. My father’s memory flashed briefly through my mind. I was letting him down.
Malance stepped in front of Jade and raised the dagger high above his head. “The blood of a stone will release them alone!” he recited before swinging the blade down toward Jade.
My father’s memory gave me the energy to lift my right hand. I fired a single small burst of blue flame at Malance—I hoped it was enough. The fireball caught Malance in this shoulder, twisting him around as he swung the blade. The sharp blade fell from Malance’s hand, slicing across Jade’s arm as it tumbled to the ground.
Blood flowed from Jade’s wound, trickling down her arm to her finger tips before dripping to the floor. The elf door began to smoke. It had started opening. Rocks began falling from the ceiling.
Unexpectedly, my mind was free of Noshimo’s grasp. I fell to the ground, sucking in my breath. Aerona collapsed to the ground next to me. I rolled on my back just in time to see Ashes driving a second long, broken grawl fang into Noshimo’s back, forcing him to the ground. He screamed in pain as the venom began burning his veins.
A spark of light flashed over my head; Ember had returned. I noticed the trail of fairy light flying to Jade. Ember began working on releasing the straps that held Jade to the door.
Malance had recovered from the fireball and stumbled backwards, brushing the last of the fire from his cloak. He tripped over a boulder and fell into the shallow stream.
Kasiah backed up against the far wall, alone and afraid.
The ground beneath us shook violently; the elf door was beginning to open.
Rain dashed across the cavern and slammed into the door like a freight train. He slowed the door down, but it continued to inch its way open. It wouldn’t be long before it was open wide enough to release Shadows trapped within the prison.
“I can’t hold it!” Rain hollered, his face tense as he struggled to hold the door. His feet slid along the ground.
Atmoro threw his entire body into the door next to Rain, digging his feet into the dirt floor of the cavern. The two worked together to hold the door from opening any further as Christine fought off the Shadows who were trying to push the door open from the other side.
I reached Jade and helped Ember with the shackles. I ripped the bottom of my shirt off and wrapped it around the wound on Jade’s arm, using my belt to hold the makeshift bandage in place.
Ember removed the cloth gag tied around Jade’s mouth. Her face was splattered with blood from the first Shadow Vampire Atmoro had slayed.
“I’m sorry,” Jade muttered, tears forming in her eyes.
“Jade,” I said, wiping the blood from her face, “this is not your fault. Kasiah betrayed us all. She used us to find you for Atmoro.”
“How can we stop this?” Ember asked, helping her down from the door.
“I’m not sure we can reverse this door,” I said, hoping it wasn’t true. “We need to get Jade out of here.”
More rocks fell from the ceiling as the cracks widened. A large boulder crashed down next to us, shaking the entire cavern.
“We need to move!” I shouted to Rain. “Atmoro! We have to go before we’re crushed in here!”
“Get the angel out of here!” Atmoro ordered, without turning his head from the door. “If the she is crushed, and more of her blood is spilled, we will not be able to stop this door from opening!”
Aerona grabbed my arm. “Aeron, the whole ceiling is about to cave in! We have to get out of here! The elves knew they could never allow the release of these Shadows. They designed this room to cave in if the blood of an angel ever found its way in here.”
Kasiah started to make her way to the entrance to the cavern, dodging the falling rocks. The sound was deafening. An entire column fell from the far wall, sounding a thunderous roar as it crashed. A ten foot wide crevasse formed between us and the elf door.
“Take Jade and get her out of here!” I shouted to Aerona. “Ashes will defend you!”
Kasiah slid to a stop at the edge of the crevasse. “Aeron!” she yelled across to me. “You can’t leave me here!”
Aerona pulled Jade free from my arm, and then, using her gift to slow time, she weaved her way toward the entrance with Ashes right behind.
I turned to Kasiah. Images of us rolling naked in bed on Ember’s yacht ra
ced through my mind. Kasiah’s once sweet smile and intoxicating perfume blinded my senses. Her beauty was a weapon—a weapon I was not trained to defend against.
I threw as much energy as I could find at the prison’s opening door. “You’ll have to jump to me!” I yelled to Kasiah. “You can make it!”
Kasiah took several steps back, and judging the distance, she sprinted to the edge of the crevasse, leaping just as another tremor shook the cavern. The crevasse widened before Kasiah could reach halfway across. Releasing my mind’s hold on the elf door, I reached out, catching her by the wrists as though she was a circus flyer.
I fell on my stomach, which knocked the wind from my chest as Kasiah’s weight yanked on my wrists. It took everything I had to keep hold of her. My arms extended down into the crevasse with Kasiah. She had struck her head in the sharp rocks, and fresh blood trickled down the side of her head.
“Aeron!” she cried. “Don’t let go!”
“I’m drained of energy,” I said, fighting to hold on. “You have to climb up.”
Kasiah kicked her feet in an attempt to find a foothold. “Don’t you let me go!”
I looked down at Kasiah, sliding further toward the edge. Kasiah slipped further down my arms, and her hands slid down to mine. I saw the terror on her face as her seemingly innocent, brown eyes stared back at me.
“I’m sorry, Aeron,” she said, weakening. “I never meant to hurt you.”
I fought to hold my grip. “Hang on!”
“I love you,” Kasiah said, tears filling her eyes, and then without warning, she let go.
My heart ached as I watched her fall into the darkness. I screamed after her, but she was gone. The sound of my voice echoed down into the emptiness. My eyes welled up as I climbed back to my feet, forcing the last image of Kasiah to the back of my mind. I concentrated on the elf door. “Rain, it’s now or never! Let’s go!”
“I’m staying!” he shouted back. “Atmoro can’t hold this door alone!”
I caught a glimpse of something shimmering in the light as it zoomed through the air. A spear struck Rain’s shoulder, forcing a fierce growl from deep within him, but he did not release the door. Instead, he reached back and pulled out the silver-tipped spear thrown by another Shadow Vampire near the entrance with Malance.
The Blood of a Stone Page 35