“Where are the survivors?”
“Deep underground, where the murderous icrathari will never find them, but my warriors and I will bring down Aeternae Noctis. We’ll destroy all the domed cities. Let the sunlight consume their people the way sunlight consumed mine.”
Erich shook his head. “It’s a trap. They know you’re coming.”
“What do I care?” She sneered, but her voice cracked. “Tera murdered Daryun. She’s angered all the daevas. She has taken from all of us. We are ready to make her feel our anguish. Death would be too quick, too easy an escape for her. No…she will live, and with every breath, she will scream for the mercy of death.”
“Let it be,” Erich pleaded. “There is nothing to be gained from more fighting. The people of Haven are safe. The icrathari will protect them as they have protected the other humans for a thousand years. Leave the surface to them.” He met Canya’s glowing yellow eyes. “There is nothing out there for us. Life only exists within their domed cities, forever contained, forever limited. Here, we can live in peace, thriving as we have done for centuries, expanding our civilization through these caverns.”
“Civilization?” A spray of Canya’s spittle landed on Erich’s cheek. “Is this what you call this pathetic life underground? I was once as flawless as Tera. Once, I was as beautiful. I was not this hairless creature. My skin was not burned, cracked, and hardened by the sun. Once, Tera and I were sisters-in-arms, and when war consumed the Earth, we swore that we would stay together to save humans from their folly. The Great Mother needed us. The Earth needed us.
“But in the moment of choosing, just as the sun was rising on the last day of human civilization, Tera fled. She outraced the sun and escaped into Aeternae Noctis, moments before its doors closed. She broke her vows of duty, her bonds of sisterhood.” Canya’s claws tensed into talons. “She left me to burn!”
“Tera?” Not Tera, with her faithful devotion to duty, almost to the exclusion of all else. Not Tera, who fought to save Talon and Yuri in the caves, who shook with anger at the slaughter of the humans and vampires under her protection.
Tera would never have abandoned her duty or a friend.
But she abandoned me. His throat closed around the words. Teeth gritted, he forced them out. “She left you to burn, just as she left me to die.”
The mindless rage melted out of Canya’s eyes. “We are like each other. Tera’s betrayed both of us. Who’s next? The humans? Siri? Ashra?”
“We can’t attack Aeternae Noctis. I’ve told you; they’re expecting you. It’s a trap.”
“I trained with Tera. I know what she will do. She cannot out-maneuver me, and she cannot match the numbers I can bring into battle.”
“This is crazy. You’re going to risk the lives of your warriors to get your revenge on Tera? They have families—”
“Families she ripped apart when she brought down the roof of the cave and let in the sun,” Canya snarled. “This revenge isn’t for me. It is for the entire daeva race. She has singlehandedly taken more lives than all the other icrathari, elder vampires, and vampires combined since the fall of human civilization. She is the blight on all our races—the embodiment of war. Don’t you see? Ashra rules the city, but Tera is the backbone that holds Aeternae Noctis together. Without Tera, Ashra will capitulate. She is nothing without her warlord. If we kill Tera, we can take the city unchallenged.”
Erich’s thoughts flicked to Talon, Rafael, and Jaden. Even without Tera, Aeternae Noctis would not easily fall, but Canya was right. Tera merely had to fly over a rebelling city to break its spirit. The shadow of her wings was a banner of war; it shrouded the bravest fighters with fear. “There is nothing in Aeternae Noctis. This…technology you seek? It’s not there.”
“It doesn’t matter. Aeternae Noctis is Tera’s home, her haven, and I will rip it from her. I will destroy everything she chose over me.” Canya smiled. “Come with me, Erich.”
“It’s a trap. You’re going to get killed, and what will happen then to the daevas? You are the last of the four. Without your leadership, society will collapse. It will be decades…centuries before the daevas recover. You cannot do this to your people.”
“I am doing this for my people.”
“Canya, don’t. Please, I beg you. You have everything to lose, and little—nothing—to gain.”
“Why are you—?” Canya’s eyes widened, then narrowed. Her lips tugged into a sneer. “Of course…You are still her creature.”
She lunged. Erich twisted away but not quickly enough. Pain scored through him, her claws opening four vertical gashes from his forehead to his chest.
He stumbled back, his left eye torn. A red haze wafted over his vision. She murmured a command, and three of her ablest daeva warriors entered behind her. “Erich has set his course and chosen his friends—and it is not us.” Her voice hardened. “Kill him.”
Tera perched on the mountaintop where the air was coolest. Above her, stars spread across the sky like silver glitter against dark velvet. She had missed the stars. In the years leading up to the last war, the stars were all but nonexistent, obscured by the near perpetual gray haze that hung over Earth’s largest cities and diminished by light pollution.
But they had always been there even when she could not see them, as constant as the Earth itself.
They waited, as she did, for the Earth to heal.
Tera ran her hand over the desiccated soil. It retained the heat of the day, as if the sun had baked its essence into the land itself. It had been a thousand years or more since it last rained, since there had been any water at all on the face of the Earth.
It’s time to bring it back.
Movement flickered through the darkness. From her vantage point, Tera observed a daeva scout emerge from the mountain. She glanced at Aeternae Noctis, hovering over the valley, and hoped that Siri was picking up the movement on her monitors as well.
The narrow band of light around Malum Turris flickered. To an untrained eye, it might have been a power surge. To Tera, it was a confirmation from Siri.
The daeva scout soared high over the valley, never thinking to look up or around. Instead, its attention was focused on the movement of people on the arid landscape. After two loops, the scout flew back into the mountains.
Tera held her breath. Come on…take the bait.
Moments later, the earth seemed to rumble as hundreds—possibly thousands—of daevas took flight, soaring from the caves to circle the valley. Their wings beat down, vibrating the air, until the ground shook.
From her hiding place, Tera glanced up at the sky. Dawn was an hour away. She gritted her teeth. Canya had arrived earlier than she had hoped. An hour was too long. Battles could be won, and lost, in far less time.
She needed the sun to win the fight for her.
Tera straightened as she observed the flight of a large daeva. Canya had arrived to command her troops.
But where was Erich?
Tera’s eyes narrowed. She could not afford to be distracted. Erich had served his purpose. All that mattered now was to bring Canya to her knees.
Canya hovered high above the valley. Like dark clouds, her daevas closed in on the four cities.
Tera held her breath. Come on, Siri. Any moment now…
Four laser rays, brilliant beams of blue light, shot out from the base of Aeternae Noctis and struck the large mirrors installed on the top of each of the four cities. The mirrors angled and reflected the beams to create a perfect pyramidal shape. Light infused the planes of the shape, trapping most of the daevas within the laser net.
The daevas’ confusion morphed out into outrage. Shrieking, they flew toward the translucent walls. The first few collided with a wall of pure laser energy and died instantly, their wings burning as they fell. The next wave of daevas screeched in terror as the unstoppable momentum of others behind him slammed them forward. They sizzled against the blue wall and plunged, dead long before they hit the ground.
Outside the trap, C
anya screamed at her daevas. “Break through! Break through!”
Tera leaped off the mountaintop. “Tell them to stop. Don’t send them to their deaths.”
“Traitor! Murderer!” Fangs and claws extended, Canya lunged at Tera. The icrathari and daeva circled in aerial combat, soaring and diving like hawks. Their bodies arched, massive wings dipping and flaring. Tera’s claws slashed across Canya’s abdomen. Canya shrieked and broke off her attack, just long enough for Tera to notice the searing pain in her back. Grimacing, she glanced over her shoulder, but the wound Canya had ripped through her armor was already closing.
Two ancient fae equally matched—this could last forever.
Her gaze flicked to the orange glow on the horizon. Or until the sun rises.
Canya, her wounds likewise healed, bared her fangs. “You’ve turned on your own kind!” She lunged, but instead of evading her attack, Tera seized Canya’s wrists. Canya’s talon clawed at the air fractions of an inch from Tera’s eyes. “Apostate!”
“You defied Rohkeus’s order to enter Aeternae Noctis.”
“And you know why we did! Our charge was to protect the children of the Great Mother, all of them, not just those lucky enough to enter Aeternae Noctis. You left billions of humans to die.”
“So you stayed, and all those humans died anyway.”
“Not all!” Canya screamed. “We saved them.”
“The two hundred people in Haven? Yes, you did. You kept them alive for a thousand years, and they all would have died last month if not for Aeternae Noctis.”
“How dare you flaunt your triumphs in my face?”
“Not triumph. Facts. Working separately, we’ve both accomplished little, but together—”
Canya’s hoot of laughter rent the night air. “Is that what this is, Tera? An attempt to talk, to negotiate?” Her mocking grin spread into a vicious snarl. “Is that how you begin? With a trap? With slaughter?”
“Would you have listened any other way? We have a plan, Canya, but we can’t do it without the daevas.”
Blue light flickered in her peripheral vision.
Tera’s breath caught.
The daevas were attacking the mirrors. If even one failed, Siri would have to shut down the entire system to prevent the laser beams from slicing into the city beneath.
A slow smile spread across Canya’s face. “Siri is not as infallible as she used to be.” She screamed out an order. “Attack the reflective devices. Destroy them, and you can enter the cities.”
The daevas intensified their attacks on domes. The blue light brightened and faded erratically as the mirrors wobbled. Canya laughed. “What choice will Ashra make when the cities are invaded? Will she surrender Aeternae Noctis, her haven, to save the humans, or will she let them die?”
Chapter 13
Erich twisted to the side and dropped to one knee. The daeva’s claws swiped through the air less than an inch from his head. Even though half blinded by the blood dripping from the gashes in his scalp, Erich grabbed the daeva’s arm and yanked the creature forward.
He slammed out his other hand; his claws cut through the daeva’s wizened skin to sink into its stomach. The daeva stiffened from shock. Gurgling with pain, it reeled to its knees, its head lolling.
Erich’s breath wheezed through his punctured lungs as he yanked his claws across the daeva’s throat, spilling out his life. The daeva collapsed, joining its two companions in death.
Erich pressed his hand against his side, but could not stop the ooze of blood between his fingers. Only three.
Too hard. Too long.
The wound in his side was dangerously close to his stomach.
His blood loss made him lightheaded, and his thoughts flittered as he stumbled through the caves. Why was the stomach the key to killing the fae? Some ancient texts claimed it was where the soul resided, but vampires didn’t have souls, so what did it matter?
But the icrathari…surely they had souls. A creature so beautiful, so perfect—
So merciless, so heartless—Erich’s brow furrowed. Maybe the icrathari had souls, but Tera certainly didn’t.
Stop it. He arrested his wandering mind. Focus. Insanity was no excuse for losing a battle, or worse, his life, just because he couldn’t keep his mind off her.
The stale air of the caves lightened as he approached the mouth of the cave. Breathing hard, he emerged into the open. The glow of dawn had lightened the black of the night, but even the sky seemed dark in contrast to the brilliant pyramid suspended between the four cities and Aeternae Noctis. Daevas fluttered within the pyramid like doves in a cage, while Tera and Canya battled in the air, too closely matched for either to gain an advantage.
The flickering blue lines of the pyramid drew Erich’s attention to the base of the pyramid. The daevas were attacking the reflective contraption at the top of each dome, and each time it jostled, so did the light.
Erich cursed and half-slid, half-fell down the mountainside. He ran toward Callisto, but the mirror gave way with a loud cracking sound and tumbled off the top of the dome. The beam of light cut off abruptly, and the entire pyramid faded.
Screeching, the daevas dove through the opening in Callisto’s dome and swarmed into the city. People raced for cover, but the vampires rushed forward to defend the dome. They fought in pairs against the daevas’ aerial tactics, but were grossly outnumbered.
Where were the elder vampires, Erich wondered, but then noticed that the fighting in the other three domes were much more contained. The vampire armies there were led by Jaden, Rafael, and Talon, but no elder vampire defended Callisto. Within that dome, humans screamed, fleeing from black-winged demons. Within Callisto, they were dying.
Snarling, Erich leaped, momentum and velocity propelling him up the curve of the dome. His feet slid beneath him; his fingers scrabbled for purchase. Not fast enough. He cursed as he slid off. Not high enough.
Erich backed up several feet, measured the distance, and sprinted full out toward the dome. He leaped, higher this time, climbed farther, but not enough to overcome the slick curve. He cursed as he started to slide down, but wings swooped toward him. The accompanying wind swept dust into his eyes, and he closed them instinctively.
Someone seized him. He forced his eyes open and found himself staring into Ashra’s golden eyes.
“Save them,” she ordered and dropped him on the top of the dome. He landed in a battle crouch. Daevas wheeled about him, not attacking, no doubt as confused to his status as the vampires below.
But his choice became evident when he straddled the crack to defend it. Howling with fury, the daevas intensified their attacks, swarming over him from all sides. He lashed out at the flurry of black wings. Golden blood drizzled over the glass dome.
The sky brightened. The tinge of orange was now a wash of yellow, spreading across blue. The day approached like impending death.
An unfamiliar sound screamed through the air. Metal slid against metal, followed by the low groan of sliding gears. Steel fangs—wide at its base, narrow at the top—rose slowly around the four domes, curving along the glass. A layer of protection, no doubt engineered by Siri who had backup plans for her backup plans. The metal would enclose the dome, along with any daevas within.
Erich cast a quick glance down into the dome. The battle raged within Callisto as hard as it raged over it. Many vampires had already been killed. The few who survived would never be able to hold the city once it was closed in.
A whoosh of air snapped his attention back to the battle. Sidestepping a daeva’s attack, he reached across its wing, and snapped its radius. It screamed as he flung it up into the arms of another daeva. Together, both retreated toward the caves.
Metal continued screeching and waiting; the dome would be fully enclosed within seconds. The battle for Callisto, however, was hours from being won, if it could be won at all.
No good choices. Erich glanced at the horizon. Waves of light rolled across the surface of the Earth like an incoming tide of d
eath. Gritting his teeth, he leaped through the crack and somersaulted through the air to land in a battle crouch.
The city park he had walked through earlier that day was a ruined battleground, strewn with bodies—human, vampire, and daeva. People ran shrieking, taking cover, only to scatter again when the battling vampires and daevas crashed into storefronts and tumbled over parked vehicles.
Two daevas lifted a struggling vampire by his arms into the air. A third flew by and slashed the vampire’s throat and stomach. The vampire flailed as the daevas released him. Erich leaped to break his fall, but the vampire was dead before he hit the ground.
Moments before the rising metal wall sealed the city, two winged figures crashed through the cracked glass. Tera and Canya broke off their battle as the rays of the sun vanished.
The daevas gathered around Canya. She laughed, the sound ringing off the tall buildings and bouncing in rolling echoes. “You are cut off, and your vampire army destroyed. We are many. You are one. How will you defeat us?”
Tera’s calm expression did not change. “One at a time.”
Erich had just enough time to duck and cover his ears before Tera’s war cry shattered the glass in all the buildings, spraying splinters in every direction. Even the palladium glass dome quivered. The daevas shrieked and scattered, wheeling like ravens in flight. Glass hit the pavement, smashing into tiny shards that glistened like silver under the glowing street lamps. Erich cursed under his breath and looked up.
The daevas were still circling, but Tera had vanished.
A hiss near his feet drew his attention. He crouched and peeked into the crawlspace. “Jorgen?”
“Was this part of the plan?”
Erich snorted. “We’re improvising. Where’s Marta and Anders?”
“Under here.” Jorgen retreated into the darkness. Several humans huddled together—some from Aeternae Noctis, others from Haven. “The daevas know who we are. They’ve protected us for so long. Why are they attacking us?” Jorgen asked, his voice pained.
A muscle twitched in Erich’s cheek. “I don’t know.”
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