“I’ll go this way, you go that way, we get out as many as we can,” I said to Jax, pointing to the left bank of trees where some of the elves and fey were fleeing.
When Traflier dashed down again to pick off another fey or elf, I ran towards the tree line, hoping he wouldn’t see me coming.
Grace did.
19
SHE LANDED A FEW METERS in front of me, a ball of energy at the ready. I went to bring up my own, but with elf magic, nothing happened. She fired the ball and quick as a flash I swung my arm and the opal shield appeared in my hand, deflecting the blast.
“Ohh, nice, I could do with a little boost,” she said, stepping closer.
Crap.
I shook away the shield, and stepped behind the nearest tree to grab an orb from my bag.
“Grace, what are you doing?” Crow called out, and I peeked out from behind the tree to see her approaching. “You are better than this.”
“Bella, join us. If you stand by our side, the Nazieth will follow, you can lead them into a new beginning. Into a new world.”
“I... I can’t.”
Grace’s eyes narrowed and she flung her hands forwardstowards Crow. A ball of fiery red energy shot out and blasted against her chest with a sickening thwack.
“Then you are no use to me,” Grace said turning away fromCrow’s dying body.
Crow’s eyes landed on mine as she clutched at the open wound on her chest.
“Run,” she breathed out before her face went still.
“You can’t stop him, Desmoree. You never could,” Grace said, moving closer to the tree.
“Says you,” I said, tossing a pink orb at her feet. She rose up before it broke, avoiding the mist inside.
You know I am right. You will fail.
The realization that it was Grace in my head all along, feeding me doubts, trying to stir the darkness within me, hit like a slap in the face.
“Hey, bitch, get out of my head,” I said, throwing a yellow orb towards her. She dodged it as well.
“Nice try, you will have to better than that,” she teased. “Come now, you can’t possibly be only figuring out it was me in your head now. Really?”
She shot a blast of energy towards me and I ducked back behind the tree. It sailed past the side of my face, hitting a smaller sapling and setting it on fire.
“Nice try yourself,” I called back as I fumbled in the bag for another orb.
But before I could pull one out, there was a bang and the tree shook. It moaned and creaked as if coming alive but then I saw it, the trunk of the tree started to split. Through the crack, growing every second, I could see her. Grace. Only she wasn’t the Grace I thought I knew. This woman was smiling the same sinister sneer her father wore. She truly was her father’s daughter.
I tossed two more orbs, a green and a silver. They hit her in the middle and mixed instantly as she spun and swiped at the mist. The cloud changed viscosity, becoming thick like oil as it spread around her.
“That good enough for you?” I asked, stepping out from behind the tree as the magic encased her middle, locking her arms to her sides.
“Hardly,” she spat then closed her eyes and tilted her head up. “Merto fendori liberat.”
The oil solidified. She lowered her head and peered at me through slitted eyes, the smirk returning to her lips.
Then red cracks burst across the surface of the solid mass enclosing her, brightening until the mass separated into pieces and fell away. The instant she was free she sent an orb of energy towards me.
I was frozen. I knew I had to do something. I had to block it, blast her, stop her, stop him. Too many have tos ran through my mind and I couldn’t focus. I stood immobile as the ball of energy flew towards me.
A white blur and then I was falling backwards, smacking into the base of a tree. At first I thought I was seeing things, I hoped I was. A unicorn lay beside me, a wound on its hind seeping with silver blood. The mare unmoving.
I reached for the bag but it lay under me, the orbs inside broken and crunching as I moved.
Thank the Fey the bag contained them or I would be toast.
Looking around for something, anything, I caught sight of Jax. He was pulling an elf woman by the arm as he helped her run towards the palace.
Grace looked over the broken body of the unicorn and her eyes widened as an maniacal smile rose to her lips, “Desmoree, you must see now, even with your fabled friends, you will fail. We will tear down the walls, we will rule the realms.”
“We? I don’t see him sharing that power do you?” I asked as I looked at Jax, hoping I could catch his eye.
I wanted his orbs.
I needed his orbs.
Focus, Des, use the elf magic to call out the orbs.
I thought of the blue orb, the one that would freeze her, and the black one. I needed real firepower if I was going to stop her. If she dodged it this time, the resounding blast should still knock her around a bit. I felt my need, my desire for the magic to bring me the orbs and then, I felt a rush of elf magic leave me and two orbs in Jax’s satchel rose out and floated towards us.
“Once he brings down the walls he will gift me with more power than you could ever know,” Grace goaded as she brought yet another ball of energy to her fingers. She raised her hands, the ball growing in size between them. “Any last words?”
I couldn’t hold back the smile from my lips.
“You picked the wrong side,” I said as the orbs hovered in the air at her back.
The blue orb hit her first. Crashing against the back of her neck and clouding her head with its freezing mist. She glared at me, the ball of energy churning in her hands stilled.
Then the next orb hit her. Its mist surrounded her in a cloud of black.
Black mist is expl...
The mist ignited with a bang.
I turned and threw myself towards the tree, hands over my head. A rush of heat washed over me, but it didn’t burn. The scent of sulphur hit my nose and I lowered my arms to look at the damage. The unicorn wasn’t moving beside me and Grace was gone. No trace of her remained. No blood, no body parts. The explosion incinerating her entirely. The ground beneath where she hovered was black as too were the trunks of the trees nearby.
Gazing up, a faint smoke still lingered in the otherwise bright blue sky.
Then Traflier spotted me.
I climbed to my feet and ran through the trees. He landed ahead of me.
“Where is Grace?” he asked, shooting a black tendril at the ground by my feet. “Where have you taken her?”
He shot another tendril at my feet and I willed my elf magic to allow me speed and bolted through the trees, towards the desert of the Elf Kingdom.
Can I will my magic to defeat him? Can elf magic create a big enough power to defeat something as dark and powerful as Traflier? Come on elf magic, give me all you got.
The power rose inside me, my speed increasing as my hands began to glow a freaky green.
Let’s do this, come on elf magic, we got this.
I tried to center my thoughts around the energy building at my hands all the while dodging Traflier’s tendrils as I dashed deeper into the desert of the Elf Kingdom.
Traflier shot another tendril and it latched around my ankle. I fell forwards, smacking into the hot ground and filling my mouth with sand. The green energy disappeared.
Come on.
“You will give me Grace,” Traflier yelled as he flung me over.
The elf magic acted on my will and when I spat the sand out, my mouth was thankfully clear in one go.
Grea,t now bring back that fucking green power.
The energy rose in my hands again. This time I grew it as quick as I could and immediately sent it flying towards him.
“Fuck you,” I yelled as the green energy flew towards him. A tendril rose into the air to block it and disintegrated in a green flash. I shifted back, trying to kick the tendril holding me free. Traflier flung me into the air.
> Fly, I have to fly. Elves can’t fly.
I started to fall.
But then something grabbed me by the leg and I was floating. I twisted my neck to see a firebirds claws gripping my ankle.
“Thanks,” I called to the beast.
“No problem, you looked like you were having a bit of trouble with your wings.”
“I don’t have wings anymore,” I replied, and the firebird twisted its head to look at me.
“Really? Well then, best be passing you off to someone who does,” it said then swung me back then forwards, letting my ankle go and sending me soaring through the sky. Then Jax was there, his arms reaching out for me, his incredible pale blue wings billowing out behind him.
“About time you got here,” I called, smacking into him. His arms closed around my waist and started to fly towards the palace.
“No, don’t lead him back there,” I said, and Jax pulled up.
“Where then?”
I pointed to the edge of the desert, the furthest point from the palace I could see.
He changed direction and then Traflier was there, in the sky in front of us.
“You think you can take my daughter and get away with it?”
“What is he talking about?” Jax whispered as I reached into my pocket to grab hold of the strands of fur.
As soon as they were in my fingers, I searched for the magic inside him. I couldn’t look the same way I could when I had fey magic though, so I needed to think more about what the magic was like when it was inside me. I wanted the Tanzieth magic of course, and my own, but my mind kept seeing it mixed with the rainbow magic I had taken from Ava that first time.
I felt it coming before I could see it. But he felt what I was doing too.
“Tricky little bitch,” he said, his eyes becoming flame red. He shot two large, black tendrils towards us. Jax dropped me as he dodged one of the spikes.
I fell fast towards the ground, the strands of fur clutched between my fingers. The orange sand looming closer and closer.
Elf magic reacts to will. I don’t want to die smashing into the sand below me. I don’t want to fall. I don’t want to fall.
My decent slowed, and I floated horizontal to the desert sand.
“Nice. Okay, now I want to lower slowly to the ground.”
I remained floating in place.
“Des,” Jax called and I craned my neck around to see him zooming towards me, Traflier not far behind. I reached out with my other hand and Jax grabbed it on the way past. He pulled me towards the ground, the floating magic keeping me afloat in the air, slightly behind him.
“Give me Grace and I might kill you quick,” Traflier screamed as he neared.
We landed on the soft sand and a long black tendril smacked us backwards. The strands flew from my hand as we began barreling over the hot surface. I fell against Jax, he moaned softly then went silent. Traflier’s tendril gripped my legs again and drew me to him. I twisted over and dug my hands into the sand, trying to get hold of something—anything. The sand went thick under my fingers and I jolted to a stop.
The sky above us began to darken. Clouds of black and grey converged above us.
I caught sight of Jax, lying unconscious against a large boulder that jutted out of the sand.
“Nice trick, but it won’t save you. Give me Grace,” he said as the tendrils gripping my legs started to twist around me. They worked their way up my body, tightening as they went.
Where is Jax’s fur? I thought as my fingers strained to keep me from being dragged the remaining distance.
“Dad,” a voice called from behind me. A voice I was sure I would never hear again. “Dad, we don’t have to do this.”
I bent my head around to see her. Grace. Only it couldn’t be Grace.
“Dad,” she called again.
“Grace, what happened, where were you?” Traflier asked, his eyes lightening a little.
“It doesn’t matter. Leave her, we don’t need her magic, you already have elf power. We need the others, remember?”
The tendrils crept higher, tightening around my chest.
How is she here? The essence couldn’t come back. How did she come back?
My eyes went back and forth between them, then they rested on the pendant around her neck.
Ava?
“No,” I called though my voice came out more like a whisper as the air was forced from my lungs.
Traflier walked towards her, his hand outstretched. She glanced towards me then back to the monster.
“I’m sorry,” she said, and Trafliers head tilted a little to the side.
Then a flash of black closed in and the vampire wrapped around Traflier’s back, his teeth buried deep into Traflier’s neck. The tendrils released me and evaporated into thin air.
“Grace,” Traflier cried out, but her glamour faded and in a matter of seconds, Ava returned to her rainbow curls and angelic feathered wings.
“Mum,” Ava called. “Get the fur, quick.”
I teared back to Jax, the elf magic igniting and sending me faster than I had ever flown. I prayed he still had the yowie finger on him. He lay on his side, his chest moving slowly in and out.
Thank the fey.
His back pocket bulged in a familiar shape and I reached in and pulled out the finger and nail he had used to cut away the strands.
“Come on, Des, no time to be squeamish,” I told myself as I gathered a small bundle between two fingers and sliced it free at the base using the nail. I shoved what was left back into his pocket and using the elf magic again, zoomed across the sand to Ava.
Holding up the fur, I looked for the magic again and pulled. The vampire stared at me as Traflier’s blood ran into his mouth.
As soon as enough of the fey’s magic was inside me, I was able to see exactly what I was taking from Traflier. And lucky I could. There was so much inside him, so much hiding away in the depths of his form, some of it appearing like a tiny cube that began unfolding into a larger cube as each piece of the magic left him.
It tried to come to me too. I wasn’t sure where it came from, but I was sure it wasn’t demonic, and it defiantly wasn’t his so I let it in too. All of it. The energy from the Feydom, the creatures he had drained. Then the red orb began to churn inside him, it shot out tendrils to latch onto the final bursts of magic I was taking. It wanted to come too. But I couldn’t let it. I couldn’t let it back into me, I had no way to get it out if I did.
I stumbled and hands grabbed me, supporting me, somehow making me stronger. I pushed back at the strands that gripped the remaining magic. A golden and white snake ran back from me into Traflier and seemingly uncurled the red tendrils from the magic before returning with it to me. The moment all of it was out, the vampire released Traflier and the strands disintegrated in my fingers.
“Well thisss isss new,” Traflier hissed, his eyes locking onto mine. “I like thisss.”
The vampire nodded to Ava and she raised her hands to her sides.
“Nubes tens veni,” she called, and the clouds dispersed in an instant, the brilliant blue sky illuminating above us. Traflier howled as he began to smolder and turn black beneath the brilliant light. The vampire remained unaffected.
Traflier ran for the trees and I phased into my fey form, thankful to have my own magic returned as I flew after him. He didn’t make the trees. He fell to the hot sand. A half hiss, half growl, escaping his lips as his arms curled into his chest, and his legs shriveled into blackness.
“Now stay dead,” I said as I brought forth a powerful ball of energy to my hands. Without pause, I threw it towards him. It collided with his blackening body and he exploded into a million tiny black specks dusting the sand.
A thump behind me drew my attention, a firebird stood, wings folded back and looming over me.
“Is it done?” it asked, peeking over my shoulder at the remains of Traflier.
“He is gone, yes. Were you the one who helped me?”
“I was.”
“Thank you. If there is ever anything I can do for you...”
“Perhaps you can facilitate our return home?”
I looked at my feet, half buried by the sand. “I am not sure how much of a home we have left.”
“I have faith in you, Desmoree. You brought us home once. I know you will again.”
Ava landed beside the firebird.
“Augi, thank you for helping Mum,” she said, running a hand down his wing.
“Ava!”
She shook her head. “It’s okay, Mum. Sien figured out how I could use this,” she said, laying her hand over Parabellum. “It protects whoever wears it the way they need it to. For you it kept your magic in, for me, it keeps their magic out. I haven’t absorbed any creature’s magic since I put it on.”
I looked for her magic. It was there, a brilliant rainbow of color swimming inside her. But there was silver threaded between the colors. I felt the frown form across my forehead.
“Mum, what’s wrong?”
“You don’t only have your magic inside you, Ava. There is still the elf magic too.”
She smiled. “I know, I wanted to hold onto that one. It helps so much with the elf casts and making those orbs.”
“Those things helped a lot,” Jax said from above us, his blue wings looking a little dull. King Blake was with him, flying without wings. Could have let me in on how to do that.
“Jax, Blake, are you both okay?”
“Is he dead?” Jax asked, landing beside Ava and pulling her in for a hug.
“Very,” I said, stepping aside so he could see the dust on the sand. Blake landed beside the firebird and gave it a once over with his eyes.
“Very well done,” Blake said, nodding towards what remained of Traflier.
“Nice, so what do we do with that?” Jax asked.
“I sssugest you ssseal the remainsss,” the vampire said, appearing next to Ava in an blink.
The firebird squawked in surprise and my magic rose to the tips of my fingers, sparking like white lightning bolts between the tips.
“Now, Desssmoree. You wouldn’t kill the vampire who sssaved the day would you?”
Destroying the Fallen Page 28