On a vicious snarl, he sent a wall of wind at her. It hit her hard, sent her flying to his left. He placed a hand on his stomach and used a little more juice, just enough healing power to speed the process along. He couldn’t risk using too much. It weakened him and he needed his strength.
The necromancer was going to be harder to defeat than he had thought.
The male was too strong, hit like one of the gargantuan gatekeepers. Attacking him head-on was a suicide mission.
Not only was the male powerful, but his shadows were powerful too.
Cal paused.
Frowned as he recalled what had happened when he had attacked the shadowy figures.
It had weakened the necromancer.
If he could deal enough damage to them, would it leave the necromancer drained? Was damaging them the same as damaging him?
It was worth a shot.
He summoned his power, drawing the air to him, forming a wall around the area that would rip anything that went near it to pieces, especially the shadows. It took effort to maintain the barrier, but he could use it to his advantage in other ways. It was a pool of air that he could use to attack his enemies from any angle without having to focus too much, which meant he wouldn’t give away when he was about to attack.
The shadow male came at him again but Cal didn’t give him a chance to close the gap. He launched three javelins of air at the male. Two speared him, cleaving great holes in his shoulder and hip. The third missed. The thing howled, but didn’t back off. It came at him, sprinting across the flagstones as it healed.
Cal pulled another five missiles from the wall of wind, launching them at the shadow. Each one that hit the male forced him backwards, away from Cal, leaving holes in the shadows and the pavement where they lodged into it before dissipating.
The necromancer grunted.
The valkyrie attacked.
Cal hurled himself into a roll, avoiding the blow the shadowy female aimed at him, and came up onto his feet. He pivoted and threw his hand towards her. She dodged each shaft of air that rocketed towards her, too fast for him to easily track. The necromancer was upping his game.
Cal drew more missiles from the wall of wind that whipped around them, summoning a dozen that he hurled at her in a stream he could control. She couldn’t dodge all of them. She evaded the first two as she came at him, but he countered her, predicting where she would appear next. The next one cleaved right through her thigh and she hissed as she leaped away. Into the path of another.
It pierced her chest and she staggered backwards.
The remaining spears of air punched holes in her and she collapsed onto her back as a masculine grunt reached Cal’s ears.
He glanced at the necromancer. Grinned as he saw the sweat dotting his brow and how pale he looked as he held his right hand out in front of him.
“Get her under control and get that open,” the male snarled from between clenched teeth.
Cal’s gaze flicked beyond him to Marinda.
She had broken free of one of the Erinyes and was wrestling with the other one. One of the rings on the gate shrank back into it and disappeared. It was closing.
Cal’s grin stretched wider as hope soared.
They could do this.
Or maybe not.
Eli raised his hands before him, his palms facing the gate, and muttered words.
Five points of light appeared around the outer ring of the gate, swirling violet orbs streaked with green that flashed as they began to expand. Power charged the air, vibrating in Cal’s stomach, and he cursed low.
He had witnessed how easily the wraith had been able to command the gate with that spell, and he couldn’t let the male complete it.
He needed to reach the bastard and stop him somehow.
The two shadowy figures turned to ribbons of darkness that flowed through the air, funnelling back into the necromancer.
Cal turned his focus on him as Marinda fought the remaining furie, desperately lashing out with her free hand as she tried to twist free of her grip.
He sent a spiral of air shooting towards Eli. It coiled around the daemon and the five points of light dulled as the wraith focused on freeing himself from it. Marinda slammed a fist into the furie’s face but the other one made a lunge for her.
“Get her back under control!” the necromancer barked.
Cal launched at the male’s back.
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who forgot to guard it.
His fist slammed into the centre of the male’s back, sending him staggering forwards. Shadows launched from around his feet, lashing and snapping at Cal. Cold fire burned wherever they managed to touch him, an icy chill that seemed to sap his strength.
As if the necromancer was stealing the life from him with those blows.
Cal made a mental note to avoid the shadows as best he could.
He lifted his gaze to lock it on the necromancer.
It snagged on Eli as he broke through the barrier of wind between him and Marinda as it weakened, affected by the drain the necromancer’s shadows had on Cal’s power.
No.
Eli grabbed Marinda by her hair and hauled her backwards, pressed his blade to her throat before she could fight him. She sat on her knees, her head tipped back, her skin pale as she tried to look down at the blade poised beneath her chin.
“I don’t need you to be compliant or on our side. You can provide us with the power we need even if you’re a captive. We just need you breathing.” Eli bent his head and brought his lips to her ear, his violet eyes on Cal as he grinned. “Although I will enjoy keeping you barely alive… making you pay for what your wretched gods did to my Lisabeta.”
Her eyes widened.
Leaped to Cal.
Fear flooded them, fear that reached out to him and roused the darkness, had him roaring as he launched towards her, determined to reach her and free her.
To save her.
Regret flared in her eyes too.
He wanted to tell her that this wasn’t her fault, that he knew she was sorry she had gone after them alone, and that he wasn’t angry with her because he would have done the same.
They were both driven by a thirst for vengeance.
He stepped, appearing behind the wraith, and seized the arm he held the blade in. He twisted it, ripping a grunt from Eli, and slammed his hand into the male’s other shoulder, forcing it forwards. Marinda scrambled away from the daemon and swore as the two furies lunged for her.
Cal wrestled with Eli, fighting to keep him contained. Eli twisted forwards, managed to bring his elbow up and reared back, slamming it into Cal’s face. Blood burst from his nose, running over his lips, and heat spread across his cheeks, but he refused to release the daemon. He dug short claws into the male’s wrist and kept on bending, turning it and trying to force him to drop his blade.
The daemon’s hand finally opened and the knife tumbled from it.
Cal mustered all of his strength and pivoted, hurled the wraith away from him and Marinda. He swept his hand forwards, sending a wave of wind at Eli that hit him square in the chest and lifted him from the ground. The wraith flew through the air and this time he didn’t get the chance to summon a portal.
He hit the wall of wind and was whipped around by it and slammed into the ground, only to be picked up again by the tornado and hurled once more. Eli bellowed, the vicious sound blending with the roar of the wind.
Cal flinched when the male hit the ground again, this time tumbling across the flagstones to land on his back a short distance from the necromancer.
One down.
Cal narrowed his eyes on the Hellspawn who had moved to stand between him and the furies, blocking his path to Marinda.
One to go.
Shadows suddenly snaked around Cal’s legs, twisting tightly as they surged upwards. Icy cold flooded his veins, sapping his strength, and the tendrils of darkness pulled him down.
Forcing him to his knees before the necromancer.
Cal gritted his teeth, fought the shadows and tried to break free, but the more he fought them, the tighter they bound him.
As they pulled him down, forcing his chest against the ground, so his cheek pressed to the flagstones, the necromancer chuckled.
A cold hollow sound.
It stoked a fire inside Cal, flames that had him burning, twisting his wrists against the shadows. He wouldn’t give up.
The necromancer’s polished shoes came into view. The male pressed the left one to Cal’s shoulder and pushed him over onto his back. He stared down at Cal.
Those golden eyes had looked at him that way before.
He was bone-deep aware of it as he stared into them, chilled to his marrow, his strength leaching from him, devoured by the shadows that shackled him.
The necromancer smiled coldly.
“This time you die.”
Cal swallowed and stared at his death.
He had failed everyone again.
And this time, no one was going to save him.
Chapter 33
“Get her under control and get that open.” The necromancer’s deep voice rolled like thunder over the terrace as Marinda twisted free of the grip of the woman on her right.
Her body ached, every muscle threatening to cramp, but she kept fighting. She couldn’t give up. She had come here, and had caused this mess, and she was going to fix it.
Somehow.
She wrestled with the other furie, her focus torn between fighting her and fighting the gate. It was hard to keep part of it on the gate, but she had to keep attempting to close it, or at least stop it from opening fully.
If battling to close it was draining her, fighting to open it had to be draining the other furies too.
If she could just hold on long enough and keep on resisting them, she would be able to get free.
The black-haired man in the long obsidian coat came to her, halting a short distance away, and hope bled from her as he raised his hands and mumbled words.
She felt a shift in power and looked up at the gate. Five orbs of light appeared around the outer ring and the gate began to expand again, and this time she couldn’t stop it.
No.
She gritted her teeth and fought whatever power the wraith was funnelling into the gate, refusing to give up as she wrestled with the remaining furie.
She had to stop him.
Wind whipped around the wraith and he reared back, glaring at it as it spun like a vortex, pinning his hands to his sides.
Cal.
He was giving her the time she needed.
The power she had felt weakened and she focused on the gate, on closing it before the wraith could escape the funnel of wind.
She gritted her teeth and attacked the furie, clawing at her arm and drawing blood. The woman hissed and lashed out at her, but the attack was weak.
Marinda grinned.
She put all of her strength into a right hook. Her fist connected hard with the woman’s jaw and she fell sideways, her grip on Marinda failing.
Before the other furie could grab her, Marinda sprang to her feet and stumbled forwards.
Eli broke free of the vortex, seized her by her hair and hauled her backwards. She gasped as her knees hit the ground with jarring force and he yanked her head back, exposing her throat. The cold kiss of his blade had her stilling as fear flooded her, all thought of fighting draining from her as she kept her head tipped up, all of her awareness fixed on the knife poised to cut her throat.
“I don’t need you to be compliant or on our side. You can provide us with the power we need even if you’re a captive. We just need you breathing.” Eli bent his head and brought his lips to her ear. “Although I will enjoy keeping you barely alive… making you pay for what your wretched gods did to my Lisabeta.”
Her eyes widened.
Leaped to Cal.
She didn’t know who Lisabeta was, but she imagined that she was dead, and that Eli’s way of making her pay would be horrific, a torment that would destroy Marinda. Her pulse hammered in her throat, her heart skipping a beat as she stared at Cal, as fear swamped her.
She shouldn’t have let her instincts control her. She should have woken Cal and told him about the men. She should have waited for them to make another move.
Instead of all that, she had thrown herself into the fray and placed this world and the Underworld in danger.
And she was sorry she had done it.
His stormy blue eyes warmed, offering reassurance that she greedily devoured, even when the barest thread of hope that she had been holding on to snapped.
She wasn’t making it out of this.
Cal disappeared and she felt his presence behind her, that comforting sense of home that soothed her turbulent soul and had strength and courage bleeding back into her again.
Eli’s blade disappeared from her throat and she scrambled forwards on her hands and knees, getting away from him as fast as she could when her entire body was quaking. Weak.
Fear sank icy claws into her heart and squeezed as the two furies lunged for her. She fought them as best she could, using her claws and fists, and even her feet to keep them off her.
Eli went flying, was caught up in the whirling wall of wind that enclosed them and roared as he hit the ground.
One of the furies managed to snag her wrist and she cried out as the woman twisted her arm behind her back, forcing her to bend forwards to avoid it being ripped out of its socket. The other furie was swift to grab her too, seizing the opening she had been given.
Damn it.
The necromancer loomed between her and Cal and she wanted to scream at him to move as shadows zoomed outwards from beneath the man, rocketing towards Cal. He didn’t notice them quickly enough. They snaked around his legs and pulled him down.
Her heart lodged in her throat.
Acid poured through her veins.
Cal fought the shadows that twined around him but more seized him, dragging him down face-first against the ground. The necromancer stood over him, pressed a foot to his shoulder and shoved him onto his back.
The dark-haired man stared down at Cal and a slow smile stretched his lips.
“This time you die.”
Cal swallowed and just stared at him.
The acid in her veins burst into flames and strength surged through her, power that flooded every inch of her, awakening her tired muscles, restoring her and then pushing her body beyond how strong she normally felt.
On a roar she didn’t recognise as coming from herself, she surged to her feet and tore the furies off her. She grabbed one by her throat and hurled her at the necromancer, surprised by her own strength as the woman shot through the air and slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.
The man shoved the furie off him, pressed his hands to the flagstones and looked at her, his golden eyes wide and filled with surprise that echoed inside Marinda.
She was seriously powerful.
The broken threads of her hope wove back together as she faced the necromancer, as she focused on the gate behind her and commanded it to close. The man bared teeth at her on a low growl as the gate began to shrink.
He shoved to his feet and Marinda didn’t need to try to remember her training this time. It just came to her as she embraced her powers, no longer afraid of them as she called on that side of herself so she could save Cal. It was as if she had been fighting her entire life.
She hunkered down and kicked off, heard stone crack as she launched towards the necromancer. The man’s golden eyes narrowed on her and he braced himself. She ploughed into him, lifting his feet off the ground and heaving him into the air, pressed a hand to his chest and shoved.
Slamming his back into the flagstones.
Breath exploded from him. Sprayed her with blood.
The cold, vicious part of her howled for more, to spill it in rivers to make him pay for
attempting to take Cal from her.
To make him pay for killing her father.
Eli tackled her and she grunted as she hit the ground with him on top of her. She lashed out at him with her claws and the hum of power in the air grew, thickened to press down on her.
A hand clamped down on Eli’s shoulder, black nails pressing into his coat.
Eli flew off her, soaring into the night sky, and disappeared.
Cass smiled down at her, her fall of silky black hair hanging forwards as she leaned over. “You are in a lot of trouble, little lady. It is way past your bedtime.”
Marinda had never been so relieved to see her friend.
Cass grabbed her hand and pulled her onto her feet, and she realised it wasn’t only Cass who had come to help.
Daimon and Esher were fighting the furies and the necromancer, shielding Cal as he hauled himself onto his feet, his eyes stormier than she had ever seen them.
“The others are dealing with Rome and London. Seems we beat them here. Don’t know what these guys were thinking, but who tries to attack a gate at sunrise?” Daimon cast a glance at Esher, streaks of black blood cutting across the left side of his face and darkening his white hair.
Esher didn’t take his near-black eyes off the sky. Was he waiting for the wraith to reappear?
Cal wiped the back of his hand across his nose, clearing the blood away. “Took you guys long enough.”
Daimon shrugged, rolling his shoulders beneath his tight black long-sleeved top, and then cracked his knuckles. Frost glittered over his leather gloves, drawing her focus there. He reached his left hand under his right arm and smiled slowly as he pulled a short knife free of a holster he wore.
The wall of wind dropped as Cal narrowed his gaze on the necromancer.
Things were looking up.
She regretted thinking that as violet-black oval portals appeared around them, six of them in total, and daemons poured out of them.
Eli had used his brief reprieve to bring reinforcements.
She stared at the four dozen daemons as they swarmed the square, her heart shooting into her throat.
Calistos: Guardians of Hades Series Book 5 Page 32