Night Falls (Until Dawn, Book 2)

by J. N. Baker

  One of the Sythen swooped down to the ground, straight for our mirage. As its massive jaws clamped down on nothing but air, it unleashed a confused cry and a number of Baldric’s men staggered to a stop. A man charged forward at an alarming rate—clearly a vampire. The vamp raised his long sword and brought it down on one of the Jades and her body crumbled to the ground into nothing.

  “It’s a trick!” the vampire hollered.

  “Now, Ryuu!”

  The tiny grenade pins rained down across the land like shimmering silver raindrops. Two agonizing seconds passed and the violent explosions ripped through the dark sky. Serpent body parts plummeted to the ground, sending Baldric’s army scattering and shouting, covered in the beasts’ black blood.

  Before Baldric’s men could regain their senses, a thunderous roar echoed across the land, a sound like nothing I’d ever heard. It reverberated through the air, stopping the men in their tracks and making my teeth rattle in my head. Out of the dark, a great and mighty beast swooped down to the earth and my jaw hung slack. The enormous creature was easily double the size of the Sythen, which now fled the skies in fear—those that had survived Ryuu’s attack, that was.

  “A dragon,” someone exclaimed.

  “Impossible!”

  Two Baldrics rode into the clearing from either side of the lake, their eyes glued to the dark sky above. Both sat high upon the backs of black beasts that somewhat resembled horses. A thin layer of leathery skin covered the animals’ muscular bodies, fire licking at their hooves. Both horses gave a loud snort as they reared back on powerful hind legs. It was something out of a nightmare.

  The dragon opened its massive jaws, spitting fire into the land. The flames danced in the trees, encircling Baldric’s army and putting a wall of flames between us and them. Baldric’s men jumped back as the flames climbed higher into the air. The plan was working.

  “It is an illusion, you fools,” the first Baldric growled.

  “Find them,” snarled the second.

  There was a rustle deep within the trees to our left and someone screamed. The massive creature stomped out into the open, each footstep shaking the earth. One of the forest nymphs was clutched in the giant’s huge hand. The giant lifted the flailing nymph up to its mouth and bit her in half. Blood stained its crooked teeth, spilling over its lips as it crunched down on flesh and bone.

  Baldric’s men shifted, turning to face the dark forest—to face us. And, just like that, we no longer had the upper hand. Who was I kidding? We never had it.

  “You should have joined me when you had the chance, warriors,” one of the Baldrics raged. “Now you are nothing! You shall die with the rest of your pathetic followers. No one can rise against the king and live. No one! This world is mine now! You cannot defeat me! Bring me the girl,” he ordered, “kill the rest!”

  That was our cue. “Now!”

  Bones cracked and popped as the shifts took new form. As they emerged from the trees around the castle, I spotted Cody from a mile away. Bleach-blond mane flowing over muscular shoulders, the enormous lion tilted its head and roared, kneading the earth with its razor-sharp claws.

  Our people charged.

  The screams of war spread across the land as the general’s never-ending legion collided with our small army. Gunfire, explosions, and the sound of metal clanking against metal filled my ears. Our humans barreled forward, spraying Baldric’s oncoming troops with bullets, the vampires swooping in after them to remove heads.

  A man came at me from the right, his weapon raised. I spun out of his path, shoving my sword through his back. I ripped my blade free and slashed through another soldier’s stomach, slicing clean through the thick chain mail armor. Blood oozed from his gut as he doubled over and I took his head.

  Footsteps charged at me from behind. I dropped to my knees and the woman—one of the very few women I saw in Baldric’s army—stumbled onto the bloody tip of my sword and went limp. Jade was on her in a second, heaving the soldier’s body off my blade and cutting off her head. She extended a hand to me, which I took. The second I was on my feet, she was gone, one Jade slicing off the head of an oncoming vamp while the other disemboweled an attacking shift. She was smiling. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her so happy.

  One of Baldric’s men rode toward me on horseback, swinging a mace over his head. I pulled a dagger from my ankle and sent it sailing toward him. It lodged itself into his throat and his eyes rolled back in his head as he slipped off his horse.

  I made my way to the vampire, who was still writhing in pain on the muddy ground. I raised my sword and chopped off his head. “Thanks,” I mumbled, grabbing the reins and mounting his horse. It snorted as I patted its muscular chest and we were off.

  The sky grew darker as reinforcements came to replace the beasts Ryuu had blown out of the sky, quite literally. They hovered over us like venomous, winged serpents, each of them lusting to satisfy their craving for blood.

  “Keep an eye on the sky!” one of our vampires bellowed, dodging the incoming dive of one of the Sythen. He slammed into a human woman, pushing her out of harm’s way as her gun jammed.

  “Josh, behind you!” I yelled.

  He spun on his heels just in time to come face to face with one of the smaller Sythen. It shrieked, gaping jaws lunging for his face. Josh scrambled back, tripping over a dead body and tumbling to the ground.

  I dug my heels into the horse’s side and raced toward him at full speed, slicing at the beast’s face. It retreated from him, turning its attention to me instead. Good. I stabbed at it again, my sword piercing the side of its face. It howled in pain, staggering back and forth, giving Josh the time he needed to escape. With one swift swing of my sword, its head fell from its body and death took the giant beast. I hoped it burned in Hell. I’d probably see it there soon.

  I pulled my horse alongside of Josh and hopped down from it. The nervous animal took off into the forest. I didn’t blame it. A lot of us would have liked to flee. I’d be faster on my feet anyway. I gave Josh a once-over to make sure he wasn’t injured. As I opened my mouth to speak, he shook his head.

  “I’m fine,” he assured me. And with that, he leapt to his feet and ran back into the battle. I watched him just long enough to see him plunge his longsword through the neck of an oncoming vampire. Well, shit. Maybe he was fine.

  Off in the distance, I saw Godfrey with his oversized bow in hand. He pulled back on the taut string and let the bolt sail through the air and into the skull of a nearby giant. The massive creature went stiff before falling backward with a loud crash. William nodded to him and the two of them pushed on, side by side.

  To their left, Alec and Jade had progressed farther into Baldric’s ranks, destroying anything and anyone in their paths. Arrows soared over our heads in both directions. Soldiers collapsed at my feet before I could drive my blade through their flesh. The forest nymphs’ skill with a bow gave us a noticeable advantage, but we needed more than an advantage to win. We needed a damn miracle.

  An all-too-familiar laugh erupted from the blackened sky as a massive shadow swept through the dark clouds. Its wings expanded, jagged teeth glistening in the torchlight. The enormous serpent beast touched down in the distance, sending shockwaves throughout the land. A number of humans stumbled to their knees. Someone screamed and the Sythen reared back its head and laughed again.

  My fingers tightened around my sword’s hilt. That was it. That was the one, the beast whose blood pumped through my veins. I started toward it.

  My attacks were swift. My body moved without thought, without hesitation. I worked on an ancient drive that told me exactly what to do and when to do it. I struck with lightning fast reflexes, ripping my blade from one lifeless body to the next without a second thought. It wasn’t the time to grieve. It wasn’t time to think. It was only time to kill—kill or be killed.

  As I continued to fight my way toward the beast behind Cindy’s death, Josh rode past me on the back of a tall stallion. A small group o
f people followed him on horseback. They trampled over oncoming soldiers, some firing arrows, some shooting the last of our bullets, others wielding longswords or axes.

  I did a double take at the small woman bringing up the rear. It was the petite shift, Holly. She positioned the bazooka over her shoulder, straining under its weight. She cried out as she pulled the trigger, the recoil nearly knocking her off her horse. The explosion sent a large number of our enemies sailing through the air. An arm landed at my feet.

  “To the left!” Josh shouted and Holly reloaded the deadly weapon without hesitation, ready for round two. I wished I could’ve seen the look on Baldric’s face in that moment. Weak weaponry, my ass. Another explosion rang out and dirt and body parts rained down around me once more.

  I was a fool to think we’d come close to evening the playing field.

  They were surrounding us, pouring onto the land like a deadly plague that never ended. There were still easily five hundred of them for every hundred we had left. I moved as quickly as I could, my blade slicing through soldier after soldier. I longed to be in five places at once like Jade, but I’d have to settle for my one body.

  I ducked and dove out of the way of oncoming maces, blades, and soaring arrows, determined to survive long enough to at least kill Baldric’s precious pet. Another fell from Baldric’s legion, and then another. A shift beside me took new form. The enormous grizzly roared and tackled a vampire to the ground, ripping out his throat with one bite.

  I plowed through two more of Baldric’s men as they came at Alec from the rear, slicing through their flesh and pushing them into the soil where they’d remain. I did a quick scan of the area to see where my Sythen had gone and was shocked to see Markus running away from the battle, disappearing through the castle gates.

  Where the hell was he going?

  Alec shoved me out of the path of another giant as it tumbled out from the trees and crashed into the ground, shaking the earth beneath my feet. One of the forest nymphs leapt up onto its enormous belly, shooting two more arrows into its head. Alec’s hand lingered on my shoulder before he rose to his feet and disappeared, reappearing thirty feet away and driving his sword into the spine of a large wolf. I was back on my feet, slicing my blade through another soldier as he barreled toward me, his fangs extended. With a quick flip of my wrist, his head was gone.

  A familiar face appeared in the chaos once more. Markus. He was back. He marched toward the general like a man on a mission, dodging oncoming attacks with ease, his eyes glowing with that animalistic shift yellow.

  “Markus, you worthless excuse for a shift, is that you?” one of the Baldrics sneered from his high horse. “Oh, how it hurt me when you left. Your betrayal cut deep. You had great potential, you know.”

  “Kiss my ass, mother fu—” His words were drowned out by the cocking of the large machine gun that he cradled in his arms. There was a fire in his eyes, an inferno that consumed his soul. He wanted vengeance—hungered for it. He would have it, even it if meant forfeiting his own life.

  Markus ran past me, letting loose a string of bullets into the approaching enemy. Hundreds of bodies collapsed to the ground, unable to escape his rampage. Eventually, the bullets that coiled over his shoulder ran dry. When that time quickly came, Markus tossed the useless hunk of metal aside and pulled out a small round device. He fondled it in his hand with great care.

  “Kill the traitor!” Baldric roared. “Rip him to pieces!”

  His army snarled in response like savage animals. They trampled over fallen comrades, barreling toward Markus. Surprising even me, Markus ran toward them, maneuvering into the center of the madness. He held up the small device with a snarl, his finger holding firm to the red button on its top. Something big was wrapped around his chest that I hadn’t noticed at first.

  “Oh my God,” I breathed. I turned and ran in the opposite direction as fast I as could, trying to get as far away from him as humanly possible. I could laugh about that little saying later—maybe.

  “Burn in Hell!” Markus roared.

  A dozen swords slashed through his body at once, a hundred more waiting for their turn. The detonator slipped from his hand. It went unnoticed by all those around him. All those except me, that was. I dove to the ground as the explosion erupted behind me, ripping through the earth like tissue paper.

  The blast was loud. No, loud didn’t come close to describing it. It was deafening. It left a ringing sound in my eardrums and a throbbing in my head. The force of the C4 explosives pressed my body into the ground and I breathed in the muddy rainwater. The ground already reeked of rotting flesh. I choked back the vomit and crawled out of the mud and blood. I rocked to and fro as I rose to my feet, still disoriented by the blast.

  I looked over my shoulder at the crater where Markus once stood and made it a point right then and there to remember his sacrifice. He’d singlehandedly wiped out easily five hundred of the general’s men. Their body parts were strewn about the land, their blood raining down from the sky. I prayed that Markus was with his little girl. God knew he deserved it after that.

  I stumbled a few feet before regaining my balance, searching desperately for the sword that no longer rested in my hand. I rolled bodies away from more bodies and felt around for the cold steel in the slick mud, endless blood and rainfall clouding my vision. It couldn’t have gone far.

  An earsplitting shriek sounded behind me and a chill raced down my spine. The Sythen—my Sythen. I glanced over my shoulder as it swooped low and touched down in the middle of battlefield. It lifted its head to the sky and sniffed the air. It was looking for something…someone. Blood-red eyes locked onto their target and the beast charged at me. Shit.

  I spun on my heels to face the beast, completely defenseless against it. It was covered from head to tail in black body armor, armor that the other Sythen did not wear. Baldric was clearly protecting the creature because its blood pulsed through my veins. That bastard. The beast thrust its tail out at me and it connected with my side, the force knocking me to the ground. Blood dripped from the tips of its jagged teeth as it sniffed my face, breathing in my scent.

  “Ah, it’s you. I know you, warrior. You and I, we are one,” it rasped. “Your blood will be mine!”

  “Never,” I snarled, though part of me believed what it was saying. Every word.

  Before it could sink its teeth into my flesh, Cody sailed through the air, wrapping his powerful body around the Sythen’s neck and dragging it to the ground. The lion swatted razor-sharp claws at the beast’s thick body armor, shredding it to pieces. The Sythen stumbled away from me, hissing, as it tried to shake the lion off.

  “Cody, no!”

  I ran as fast as my legs could possibly move me. It still wasn’t fast enough.

  The tables quickly turned. The massive beast twisted its long neck around and sank its teeth into the lion’s belly, shaking it like a rag doll and tossing it aside. Cody whimpered on the ground, struggling to get back on his four feet. The Sythen loomed over him, rainwater showering over its dark scales, washing away Cody’s blood as it inched toward him.

  Fur faded into flesh as Cody curled into a ball on the ground, howling in pain. The Sythen’s forked tongue extended, stroking his bleeding ribcage, tasting its meal before taking the final bite. I pulled out my last dagger and let it loose into the air. With one quick slice, the Sythen’s tongue fell to the ground.

  The beast reared back its head and howled, retreating into the protection of the trees. Its screams never traveled too far. It would be back.

  I rushed to Cody’s side.

  “I’m sorry, Zo,” he breathed, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as he clung desperately to my hand. “I know it wasn’t your fault. I just, I didn’t know what to do. I was so mad…I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

  “Shhh…it’s okay,” I whispered. “I understand.”

  I linked my arms under his and pulled him away as quickly as I could. He thrashed back and forth in my arms
, his eyes wide with pain and fear. Ryuu was at my side in an instant, taking him from me and carrying him toward the castle. All I could do was hope that Annie and the nurse could save him.

  When I turned back, the Sythen had returned. It glowered at me, locking onto its target. Its upper lip curled back as it snarled, black blood leaching from its teeth.

  My arm instinctively reached for my sword and I cursed. How could I’ve forgotten? Panic overtook me. I darted away from the beast, frantically searching for my blade—for any weapon. I would have settled for a rock and a slingshot at that point.

  Something glistened under a lifeless body near the trees. I made a break for it. It was mine. I could feel it calling out to me. I reached an arm out for it, desperate to feel the weight of it in my hands.

  Laughter erupted behind me and I fell face down on the flooded ground. I rolled onto my back to see the Sythen hovering over me. This time it was real. I knew without a shadow of a doubt it was real. I stretched my arm toward the steel blade. It was just out of reach.

  I cried out as the beast’s spiked tail slashed at my reaching arm. I recoiled, grasping the sliced skin to contain the bleeding until it fused together. The whipping tail returned almost immediately, slamming into my side and rolling me ten feet to the right. I crashed into a tree, gasping as ribs broke beneath my already bruised skin. Within seconds, the Sythen loomed over me. Its large taloned foot landed hard on my leg, pressing down until the bone snapped and I screamed.

  “Oopi foo!” it raged, its words distorted by the absence of its tongue. I would have laughed if it weren’t for the searing pain in my leg. It had no idea how much of a stupid fool I could be. The Sythen snarled upon hearing its failed attempt to speak. It hissed at me, splattering blood and saliva across my face. It burned through my skin like acid.

  Teeth lunged at me and I prepared for death. After all, one of us had to die. It was the only way to ensure that I didn’t hurt anyone ever again.

  The Sythen’s enormous jaws snapped shut an inch away from my nose. It snarled, thrashing back and forth as it struggled to get to me. Ryuu stood behind the beast, hands outstretched and sweat pouring from his strained face. “Go,” he panted, the veins on his forehead bulging. The beast dug its talons into the muddy ground, desperately trying to claw its way to me. I knew I didn’t have much time. Ryuu could only hold it for so long.