She cried out for help, and I heard footsteps approaching, but it was too late. I’d taken enough blood to feel liquid sunshine rushing through me and somehow slowing everything down. I cut her head off, but held on to it for a second. I quickly turned around and threw it at one of the Perfects coming toward us.
It was enough to temporarily distract him.
Around me, Elonora, Nevis, and Hunter had also managed to swallow some of their invisibility paste. I watched them disappear and wreak havoc among the remaining Perfects. It was a damned bloodbath, and I had no time to worry about anyone. All I could do was take down as many of our enemies as possible.
Kailani managed to latch on to the Perfect whom I’d distracted with Oriphiel’s head, using a puppetry spell. Hunter helped her finish the job. Elonora and Nevis made a fantastic team. I could see the frost spreading out, catching Perfects’ legs and arms for Elonora to chop off with her soul-eater. Being invisible, we had a tremendous advantage. The Perfects hadn’t planned for this.
Abaddon was about to crush my brother’s throat with his bare hands. Ben was about to pass out at that point. Araquiel struggled to pull Abaddon back, but he got an elbow in the face—a blow powerful enough to throw him back. It also pissed him off to the point where he scowled at Abaddon and changed his stance into an attack pose, as he walked toward him and Ben.
“If I can’t stop you, I will rip your head off!” Araquiel snarled.
“Would love to see you try, pipsqueak!” Abaddon retorted, still busy with choking my brother.
With Perfect blood coursing through me, my movements were like flash-steps. I reached Abaddon and stabbed him with my soul-eater. He roared and managed to backhand me. He couldn’t see me, but he must’ve heard my steps. I fell backward, my ears ringing and my lip split. The soul-eater became visible once I stopped touching it—that was how the invisibility spell worked. Everything I had on me upon ingestion remained invisible, until it left my touch. It would become invisible again once I got my hands on it. That, unfortunately, felt like a bit of a long shot at this point…
Araquiel came at him from behind. My brother dropped to the ground like a limp rag doll. My blood ran cold as I darted back up and rushed to his side, checking for vital signs. Ben had suffered severe injuries, but he was still alive. I bit into my wrist and pushed it against his lips. He groaned softly but responded, slowly coming to as he drank some of my blood.
“Rasmus! No!” Leah’s scream cut through the skirmish and brought almost everyone to a standstill.
I looked to my left and saw the big Faulty come down with a heartbreaking thud. The Perfect that had taken him on stood proudly, sneering, his clawed hands and forearms covered in Rasmus’s blood. He’d apparently rammed both into the Faulty’s chest. Blood pooled beneath Rasmus, seeping into the dirt and coating the short grass in glistening crimson.
My stomach churned as I realized that Rasmus was beyond saving at this point.
Abaddon ripped at Araquiel’s chest with his bare hands, roaring like a mindless beast. He tossed his brother aside, then turned around and sniffed the air. He couldn’t see me, Elonora, Nevis, or Hunter, but he could definitely smell us. His lips, smeared with blood, stretched over his fangs.
“See, now you’ve really pissed me off,” he muttered, then looked my way.
My heart stopped.
I heard my brother’s trembling voice. “Rose… Run!”
The beautiful monster headed right for me, his claws out and eager to rip me apart.
And I’d frozen like a deer in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler, staring at death as it came my way.
Elonora
There was no time.
Abaddon was going after Rose, and I had to do something.
Two of the five remaining Perfects were looking around, taking deep breaths and frowning with confusion. If we stood still, they couldn’t immediately trace us. If they heard a single footstep, though, it was open season on our invisible asses.
I couldn’t let Rose take Abaddon on alone.
“Nevis, get frosty!” I whispered. “I’ll help Rose.”
“No, don’t go alone—” he started, in an attempt to stop me, but got busy quickly when the two Perfects heard me move and dashed in our direction. He muttered a curse, whipped out a thick wall of ice to block the hostiles from getting closer, then ran around and took them on with his soul-eater.
I didn’t get to see the conclusion of that fight, as I moved at full speed and intercepted Abaddon just five yards away from Rose. I tackled him like a pro football player, putting all my strength into that hit. My shoulders and neck burned from the impact pain, but I kept pushing.
Abaddon grunted as he fell to his side, with me landing on top of him. He tried to claw me, but I got him first, shredding his face. Blood sprayed out from his jugular. My sword had fallen next to us; however, I couldn’t reach it, nor could I leave myself open to an attack. Abaddon growled and wrestled beneath me, but I had the vigor of a Perfect on top of my own, making it harder for him to retaliate.
“I’ll tear you to pieces!” Abaddon shouted, then punched me in the side.
The hit knocked the air out of my lungs. He didn’t have to see me to know where he could hit. Our anatomies were similar, after all. He drove his fist into my ribs again, breaking two. I heard the bones snap. I coughed and fell off him.
In an instant, I caught a glimpse of him rolling and lifting himself up, blood still dripping from his neck. The jugular wound was already healing. I hadn’t clawed him deep enough.
Abaddon could see the leaves and grass move under my invisible form. He knew where I was and grinned with delight. His aura flared red and pink, his emotions intense, his eagerness to kill me overriding everything else.
Hunter’s growl from behind Abaddon drew my attention, and Abaddon turned around just as Hunter lost his invisible form and shifted into the massive white werewolf. Hunter’s wolf form was ferocious enough to take on such a monster, but not strong enough to keep him down for long.
Hunter tackled Abaddon, his jaws snapping as he went for the Perfect’s throat. They tumbled and rolled on the ground, wrestling and clawing and biting at each other like the primal predators that they were. Abaddon managed to slash Hunter’s torso with his claws. Hunter yelped as Abaddon kicked and tossed him to the side, then got back up and looked my way.
I had to move, but my ribs were threatening to puncture my lung, making it extremely difficult for me to do anything. I’d not ingested enough Perfect blood to really speed up my recovery, so I had to make do. Besides, everything was happening too fast for any kind of healing to work—my body was constantly moving and fighting, every ounce of energy focused on survival.
Abaddon came at me again, this time determined to finish me off. A gust of cold air brushed by my face as an invisible force hit Abaddon right in the chest. I held my faltering breath. Nevis had intervened.
I could almost see him with my True Sight—not fully, but rather as a silhouette rippling through the air. Nevis drove his soul-eater through Abaddon multiple times, making the Perfect roar and wail with each hit, but didn’t get the right angle to cut his head off. On top of that, there was something horribly weird about Abaddon. I was pretty sure he was no longer feeling pain at this point, but rather just making noise out of pure anger.
“Nevis, watch out!” I shouted.
It was too late. Abaddon drove his clawed hand through Nevis’s side. The blood was visible as it gushed out from his gaping wound.
“Nevis!” I screamed from the bottom of my already-strained lungs.
Nevis came down, dropping to his knees, and Abaddon grinned in my direction. “You. I’m getting to you in a second, sweetie!” He sneered, then looked down, narrowing his eyes as he tried to figure out Nevis’s exact position on the ground.
He was going for the kill, and my heart couldn’t take it.
Dmitri
The one thing that had worked in our favor so far was that the Perfec
ts were too busy trying to capture the others while containing Abaddon. They had no resources left to come at Douma, Leah, and me.
The Faulty and I had managed to secure Douma for a while, until Rasmus went down. It threw Leah off her game and left an opening for one of the remaining Perfects. He’d darted toward us just as Hunter had fallen in his wolf form, wounded by Abaddon.
I didn’t get to see what happened next. I only heard the rushed footsteps across the ground as those who were left standing from our crew continued to push back against what remained of the Perfects’ ranks.
Leah came in front of me and tried to keep the incoming Perfect at bay. She slashed her claws at him, over and over, but he dodged each hit with smooth, almost elegant moves. She grunted as she tried to get him again, but the Perfect ducked, then shot back up and delivered a crushing uppercut. It threw her back into my arms, leaving her unconscious.
I caught a glimpse of Araquiel tackling an invisible figure farther back. By process of elimination, I concluded he was dealing with Rose, while Nevis and Elonora were stuck with Abaddon. My attention was quickly captured by the fiend that had just knocked Leah’s lights out. He was coming for me next.
“You have to let me go!” Douma implored me.
I didn’t get to answer that, as I suddenly found myself dodging the incoming Perfect’s claws. He was ridiculously fast and determined to disable. But then I saw a giant ball of fire headed toward us and ducked.
Vesta was standing right behind the Perfect, who was now wrestling an extremely persistent flame. It gave me the window of opportunity I needed to swing my sword out and cut off the Perfect’s head in one, swift blow.
Vesta was forced to tackle another Perfect in the meantime, leaving me alone with Douma and an unconscious Leah. Several yards away, Abaddon was looking down. Elonora’s scream rattled me, making my whole body shiver.
Abaddon raised his hand, ready to kill one of my teammates. Again, by process of elimination, and given that I couldn’t see who it was, I assumed it was Nevis.
“Abaddon, stop!” Araquiel shouted, between hits from Rose. I could hear her grunting whenever she missed her target. “Don’t kill the outsiders!”
“Butt out!” Abaddon growled.
Araquiel cursed under his breath again, then dashed from his position and went after Abaddon.
“Dmitri, you have to let me go!” Douma repeated her plea. “Your team is losing!”
Looking around once more, I saw that she wasn’t too far from the truth. Ben, Zeriel, Hunter, and Ridan were down. Vesta, Rose, Kailani and Samael were struggling, as were Amane and Kallisto. Amane, in particular, had taken some heavy hits, and she was too slow for what her Perfect opponent was delivering. Nevis was about to die at Abaddon’s hands, and Elonora wasn’t able to intervene.
“Sounds about right,” I murmured, feeling my throat burn.
“Let me go, and I can help you,” Douma replied, wrestling against her charmed cuffs. “I serve Ta’Zan, and Ta’Zan wants you alive. Even if you’re not captured now, you’ll be taken later. I have to make sure you live until then! If you don’t let me—”
She swallowed her words as we both witnessed a most terrifying scene.
Abaddon turned around just as Araquiel came at him. Roaring like nothing I’d ever heard before in my entire friggin’ life, Abaddon grabbed Araquiel by his head and wrapped his legs around his waist. He then began to pull his head off.
I felt sick to my stomach, no longer able to watch.
I looked away, gasping for air, as I heard the flesh tear and the neck bones break, as Abaddon left Araquiel’s body to collapse on the ground, headless.
“Dmitri,” Douma managed, equally nauseated. “You have to let me go. If I don’t stop Abaddon now, he’ll kill you all and won’t care what happens next. He’s in full beast mode and beyond control.”
I was shaking like a leaf at this point. Nothing in my training had ever prepared me for something as gruesome and as chilling as this. Abaddon was not a Perfect. He was a monster—the worst to ever exist.
“How can you stop him?” I croaked. “He just ripped Araquiel’s head off, for Pete’s sake.”
Abaddon was now headed back toward Nevis, with a severely wounded Elonora next on his list. Her invisibility spell had worn off—or she’d uttered the spell to disable it, I wasn’t sure. Abaddon was certainly delighted to see her again, which led me to believe that she’d revealed herself on purpose, just to try to draw him away from Nevis.
“I have a special ability, but I need my hands and legs free,” Douma replied.
I looked at her for a moment, wishing I had Elonora’s ability to read people. There was the possibility that Douma was just lying to get herself out of the cuffs, but given the bloodbath that Abaddon had so effortlessly created, I didn’t have much of a choice.
The one thing I did find believable was Ta’Zan’s order that we be taken alive. That had to be true. With Douma loose, however, and two Perfects still standing, aside from Abaddon, it still left a fight for us to deal with—after she neutralized Abaddon. Provided she could neutralize Abaddon.
“I’m faster than most Perfects!” Douma added, visibly frustrated. “I haven’t had the need to use that ability, and you caught me off guard during our last encounter. But I am definitely faster than Abaddon. I can stop him, Dmitri! Ta’Zan won’t be mad if I disable Abaddon and delay your capture. He’ll be mad if he loses you and your friends!”
“How can I trust you, when I know you’ll come straight for me once you’re done with Abaddon?” I asked, my pulse quickening as I heard Nevis’s grunt. Abaddon had him by the throat. He’d followed the blood trail that Nevis had left behind in his attempt to distance himself from the Perfect.
“Nevis…” Elonora gasped, then coughed and wheezed, holding her side. She was down on her knees, trying so hard to move. It broke my heart.
“Would you rather die now or fight me again?” Douma asked.
I exhaled sharply. It was time for an executive decision, and I had to think fast.
If I let Douma go, I had to be ready to get as many of my still-standing teammates to help me restrain her again afterward as possible. In addition, there were two Perfects still standing—those two were quite busy with Kailani, Samael and Vesta at this point, though.
I had no choice. I needed to save my friends.
We’re going to live to fight another day. Or, so I hoped.
I fumbled through my pockets and took out the matching key for each of the three sets of charmed cuffs that Kailani had put on Douma. I looked her in the eye as I set her free.
“Don’t disappoint me, Douma,” I said.
She gave me a brief nod, rubbing her freed wrists. The shadow of a smile fluttered across her beautiful face. In that instant, I was filled with a totally different kind of dread.
Despite her role and everything that had happened, despite the constant running and fighting and the lack of trust between us… I liked her.
I am in a whole new kind of trouble.
Abaddon wasn’t going to be the end of me. That honor belonged to Douma.
Elonora
I couldn’t move. I tried, but my limbs were weak, as if made of jelly.
All the energy I’d drawn from Perfect and Faulty alike had slipped out of me during Abaddon’s vicious attacks. His strength, the impact of each of his hits—it was too much, even for the jacked-up version of me.
Nevis was still invisible, but blood had sprayed out of him earlier. I could see where he’d fallen to his knees. Using my True Sight, I was able to spot a faint hint of his silhouette and the bloody edges of his gaping wound. But I heard him clearly, coughing and groaning from the horrific amount of pain that Abaddon had inflicted upon him. The Perfect had practically stabbed Nevis with his fist.
Abaddon had just ripped Araquiel’s head off. It had taken a lot of self-control to stop myself from retching. The sight had been dreadful, to say the least. Abaddon was definitely stronger than the ot
hers in his crew. In hindsight, I couldn’t help but think that Ta’Zan had made a terrible mistake by letting him loose. He was impossible to control.
Amane had had the right thought by triggering him, but, still, that had been a double-edged blade to begin with. We were now paying a heartbreaking price for our decision to create this dumpster fire of a situation.
After he was done with Araquiel, Abaddon came back to Nevis. My stomach tightened itself into a tiny and tormenting little marble. My pulse quickened, and my heartbeat became erratic, as I watched him saunter toward Nevis, with a psychopathic smirk slitting his face. The urgency returned, making me shiver as I struggled to move again.
My broken ribs had finally pierced holes into my lungs. Blood was pouring in. I had trouble breathing, and it would be a while before I could heal on my own. I was in desperate need of healing potions, but there was no time for me to take any.
Abaddon was standing in front of Nevis, looking down at him.
“Now, where were we?” he muttered.
“You were on your way out!” I croaked, and managed to push out a flimsy barrier.
It didn’t do much, other than give him a mild nudge. He chuckled, then pointed a finger at me. “I’ll be with you in a minute, bloodsucker. Let me finish this one off, first,” he said.
My blood thickened, horror constricting my throat as I desperately tried to think of a way to save Nevis from a most violent death. The worst part wasn’t my fear of losing a teammate and a powerful ally. My soul ached at the thought of never seeing Nevis again, never getting a chance to maybe even feel his arms around me, or his lips against mine. He’d barely just started smiling at me, after all. We’d been making progress.
One look around me was enough to paint a dismal picture. With two Perfects still standing and over half of our team down, the rest still struggling, it didn’t look good.
A Shade of Vampire 63: A Jungle of Rogues Page 16