“With pleasure,” said Trafton, neatly stepping around a red-faced Lough.
“Demons,” Rake pointed. Marcus stumbled forward. I reached out to grab him and he held on, looking up at me with blank eyes.
“Are you alright?” I whispered to him, unsure he’d be able to perform any spells, much less protect us from a horde.
He nodded once, then slumped forward.
“Let me help you with that,” said Rake, stepping up to him. The massive vampire threw the fainting fallen angel over his shoulder with ease and brought him into line.
“I can help him,” said Kia, hurrying forward. She knelt by Marcus, pulling out her bag of pixie dust. “It’s only a temporary fix. This obviously isn’t our specialty,” she said with frustration. “I can only do so much.”
“Just do what you can,” said Lough, who took my hand.
We formed the circle.
In front of us Lisabelle and Zervos prowled. Trafton stood a little behind, his hands working living dreams that looked like mixed rainbows.
“We should have stayed at Public this semester,” Lough grumbled.
I took a deep breath and then another, tuning out the yells from my friends and the crashing around me. I had used up a lot of my power controlling the winds, along with whatever I had done when we landed on the ground and the impact hadn’t crushed our bones to smithereens.
Lough’s firm grip on my hand steadied me, and I felt Kia tentatively take my other hand. Rake and Marcus completed the circle of protection. I opened my eyes briefly to check on my friends and saw Evan on the ground, leaning against a tree, useless from pain and blood loss. Zervos, Lisabelle, and Trafton had gone to challenge the demons that had made their way through the woods.
“The demons are holding back,” Lough murmured to me. “They should be here by now.”
“Let’s not hurry them,” said Rake. “I’m perfectly fine with having them take their sweet old time or, you know, never coming at all.”
“Fat chance,” said Lough.
“Any time now,” Zervos yelled over his shoulder. The fear in my body spread. What if I didn’t have enough left? What if Marcus or one of the others didn’t either? What if Kia panicked?
“I just want to say,” said Kia as I closed my eyes again, “it’s great that we’re working together. All these different paranormal types. Just this once.”
The sadness in her voice struck me, and I wondered what it was that she feared so deeply.
The last thing I thought about before the magic started to pour out of me in stripes was Keller. I sent a little bit of the protection we were creating his way, and just hoped that the wind would bear it home.
“Now,” Lough cried, just as I heard a fresh burst through the woods and Trafton yelling at the top of his longs.
Elemental, Vampire, Dream Giver, Fallen Angel, and Pixie powers combined. The mixed bag of my magic melded perfectly with those of the red blood, the whimsical white, the healing silver, and the mischievous green. I felt better as they combined, stronger, more ready to fight. I felt a dome created above our heads and nudged it outward and forward.
I opened my eyes to see Lisabelle, Zervos, and Trafton running toward us, waving their arms. Lisabelle pointed upward and I looked. A fallen angel was gliding toward us, and he held something in his arms. Gasping, I could see a blond head poking out from above.
Sip was with Keller.
There was no better news in the universe right now than that Sip was alright.
“Let them in,” I ordered Lough. When he saw who was coming he did it immediately. I sighed in relief as they landed just in front of me, but I closed my eyes again immediately, because I knew that if I looked at Keller I’d leave the circle. It was enough to know he was alive. I could have flown again.
We stood there for a long time. Every time I wanted to let my legs give out I thought of my friends inside the circle who needed protection. My life was standing around me, and I wanted to keep them all safe. When I felt Lough start to wobble I squeezed his hand and he steadied. Kia proved to be far stronger than I would have imagined; despite her earlier fears, she never wavered.
Eventually, arms came around my waist and held me, and I opened my eyes to see Keller’s bare chest. So one advantage of having my boyfriend go off to fight demons, and probably almost die, was that now he’d lost his shirt. It’s the small pleasures that matter.
“It’s okay now,” he said. “The demons are gone. Or disintegrated.”
I let go of Lough and instantly sagged against Keller. His arms wrapped more firmly around me and held me close.
I felt weightless, and yet at the same time so very heavy. I didn’t feel like there was a bone in my body anymore, because they had all turned to mush. My eyes closed again and I was sure that I didn’t have the strength to open them. Gently, Keller laid me down. “I have to go heal Evan,” he said. “Sip’s fine. Just roaring angry.”
I would ask later what Sip was angry about, I decided, because right now all I had the energy to do was sleep. I tried to tell him not to go, that just this once I wanted to be selfish and keep him all to myself, but I didn’t have the energy.
I curled up in a ball right there on my bed of ground. It was very soft for me. I felt other bodies come around me and do the same. Lisabelle and Sip had moved closer. I was sure Lough was nearby as well. Then I slept.
I opened my eyes. They felt scratchy and dry and protested the simple movement. All I could see was something dark green. I closed my eyes and opened them several more times, but I had no idea what I was looking at. I’d have to move more of my body to look, but that would be difficult because my entire body throbbed, as if I’d been taken to a very great height and dropped over and over again, which, now that I thought about it, I guessed I had been.
I pulled my head back just enough and realized with amusement that I’d been looking at a single blade of grass. I was in the exact same curled up position I’d been in when Keller laid me down. Even in sleep I hadn’t had the energy to toss and turn.
Keller.
I turned my head to look, feeling tiny pinpricks of pain as my muscles protested, but the warm body sleeping next to me was of the werewolf variety. Lisabelle was on her other side, but I couldn’t tell if she was sleeping or merely keeping us company.
Carefully, so as not to disturb Sip, I rolled onto my back and looked up at the protective canopy of the Power of Five.
It was like someone had painted a shiny rainbow overhead. The silver was pulsing and strong. Keller must have reinforced it once he got there.
I saw him standing over at the edge of our protective Power talking quietly to Zervos, so I just lay there for a while and watched the way his hands gestured as he talked, the serious tilt of his head or the way his wings furled and unfurled a little depending on the point he was making. I fell asleep again watching him, warmer now.
The next time I woke up it was to yelling. The daylight had given way to night, and there was just a small fire in the center of our little group keeping us warm.
Others were slowly starting to wake up and I was also starting to understand the argument.
Apparently representatives from Golden Falls had arrived and Zervos was furious.
“What’s he so angry about?” Sip asked Lisabelle, who was sitting cross-legged next to her.
Sip had changed back into human form at some point while I slept. She looked tired, but she was otherwise unharmed. It felt like another rock was removed from my chest, and I breathed a little easier.
Lisabelle looked grim.
“Dove’s dead,” she said quietly. “I guess Zervos is angry despite the good relations we have with Golden Falls.”
Sip nodded sadly. “He saved my life. The Demon of Knight was about to throw me off when Dove got there. He stopped him, but he didn’t see the other demon. They cut off his head.”
I gasped, and Zervos’s head turned a fraction before he continued to argue with whoever was beyond the force f
ield. Dimly I could see hints of splendid gold, but I couldn’t see where it came from.
“That’s horrible,” said Lough. He was sitting next to me, eating another dinner roll. “Did they find the body?”
“What was left of it,” said Lisabelle. “That’s what they were saying before. Now they’re trying to get Zervos to lower the shield.”
“He can’t do that,” Sip cried. Lisabelle put her arm around Sip’s shoulders and comforted her. I’d never heard Sip sound so terrified before.
“You’re right,” she said. “It’d be much easier if one of the ones who enacted the force field would take it down, but Zervos didn’t want to disturb any of you.”
“Do we trust whoever’s on the other side of the shield?” Sip still sounded nervous.
Lisabelle shrugged. “We don’t have a lot of other options.”
“We could contact Public,” said Sip hopefully. “There’s still time to go back for the semester. We’ve only missed one day of classes and I’m sure the professors wouldn’t hold it against us. I’m sure Dacer wouldn’t.” She gave me a pleading look.
“I can’t believe we’re still going to Golden Falls if Dove’s dead,” said Lough. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten to keep his voice down, and that earned us a glare from Zervos. I could barely see him in the darkness, and any good feelings I had had about him joining us earlier evaporated into the cold January night.
Dove was dead.
We were alone at the mercy of Zervos, at least until we reached the safety of Golden Falls. Could there be anything worse?
As if to mirror my thoughts Lough said, “Could this get any worse?”
“Students,” came a voice out of nowhere, “please lower the shield. As the representative for the president of Golden Falls I can assure you that you are in the best hands.”
I turned to look and found that I could now see more clearly what was outside our shield. A very tall man stood there. He had dark skin and black eyes that I couldn’t read. Sip sucked in her breath. “He’s a werewolf,” she murmured.
“Well that’s not surprising,” said another voice, which I recognized as Faci’s. “At Golden Falls they think they’re too good for vampires. There is no darkness there at all.”
“There will be this semester,” said Lisabelle, cracking her knuckles.
Sip scowled. “I wish you wouldn’t do that,” she muttered. Lisabelle shrugged.
“What’s that guy’s name?” I whispered, looking at the first Golden Falls paranormal I had seen.
“Sectar,” said Sip. “He does everything for the Golden Falls president, whom no one has seen in years. He just hides away and sends directions down through Sectar.”
“Why don’t they replace the president if he’s too old to do his job?” I asked quietly.
“It’s an honorary thing,” said Sip. “He’ll be replaced once he’s dead.”
Somehow, that didn’t make me feel good about Golden Falls. I glanced back at Sectar, whose eyes were on me. I felt like I was looking at a lion who had just seen his dinner. I gulped.
Chapter Ten
“Lower the shield,” said Zervos tiredly. As he looked at us and waited, I could see how his shoulders drooped and the corners of his mouth hung slack. I had never seen him look so sad before.
“They’ve been arguing for at least an hour,” said Lisabelle. “Learned some new swears.”
“Zervos looks upset,” I said. “Does he not like Sectar?”
“Everyone likes Sectar,” said Sip, staring reverently at the tall man. “He’s done so much for the werewolves.”
Faci was standing nearby, but with a lot of distance between himself and the Golden Falls representative. Faci looked miserable and his eyes were more sunken than usual, but he was outside the barrier, on the same side as Sectar, which meant that he had also come back and found our campsite after running from the battle.
“What’s the matter, Faci? Your plan for getting us killed backfire?” Lisabelle asked coldly.
Faci glared at her. “They were not my demons,” he said.
“Oh, really?” said Sip, stepping forward.
Zervos and Sectar were watching us with interest. The problem was, Faci didn’t look disheveled in the slightest, while I felt like I had been run over by a truck, and my friends looked about the same.
“You didn’t fight with us,” Sip accused, her lower lip trembling.
“Where’s the demon that brought him? I believe Faci went on ahead and left us here to die, and now we’re supposed to just lower our shields to him? Look at Evan’s arm.” I pointed at Evan, who was standing next to Keller with his arm in a makeshift sling.
“Yes,” Faci glared, stepping forward and ignoring me and addressing Sip. “You think you can make demands of me? You ridiculous little werewolf. What are you to darkness?”
Without warning he lunged forward, his hand outstretched. When it made contact with the barrier he screamed.
As his arm came through the barrier, our protections stripped away his jacket and shirt. All his outer layers turned to dust, and then our shield started in on his skin.
But he kept pushing, and before he stepped away he had grabbed Evan. The vampire was still out of it from the pain he was in, and he didn’t have the strength to resist as Faci yanked him back through the barrier.
Faci’s arm was a boiling mass of wounds, and even from a few feet away I could smell burning flesh. He didn’t seem to care.
Evan, on the other hand, could leave the barrier unharmed, but once he was out he wouldn’t be able to get back in. I wasn’t quick enough, and my power was too burnt out to let the shields down before Faci slammed Evan backward toward us.
The vampire hit my barrier with a sickening thud and a hiss, followed by a bone-chilling howl.
Faci yanked Evan forward and slammed him back again. I could see the barrier burning away Evan’s skin; the back of his head was now spotted with patches and painful-looking red welts where he’d hit the barrier. Evan flailed desperately against Faci, but there was nothing he could do.
Faci paused for just a second, his black eyes meeting my gray ones. They looked like two smooth surfaces, with no soul behind them, no passion, no pain, no love, only a longing for destruction.
“Faci,” I said hoarsely. “Enough.”
Sectar, who had watched the proceedings in horror, nodded sagely. I was shocked by how calm he was. Had Oliva been there, the pixie president would have been barking orders and beating Faci to a pulp for such a public display of savagery. “He is darkness. His behavior is not a surprise,” was all Sectar said. His quiet tone and his succinct statement said that the most awful things would not be a surprise if they were acted out by paranormals who partook of darkness.
Lisabelle’s eyebrows shot upward, and I prayed to the paranormal gods that she’d keep her temper.
“Isn’t it?” Faci demanded, slamming Evan back again.
My friend gave a whimper. I eyed Zervos, who stood there, his mouth pressed into a line.
“How can you not be doing anything?” I yelled at him, throwing my hands up in the air in disgust and frustration. “How can you just let them win?”
Zervos stared at Faci, but still he didn’t speak.
In anger I slammed my power forward, but I stumbled in exhaustion as I did it. There was hardly any power left for me to use.
Faci just kept smiling. The place where his lips should have been stretched wide over his gums. I didn’t even want to look at him for very long, let alone talk to him.
“Exhausted from a recent battle?” he asked lightly. “You should take better care of yourself.”
I stared at the crazed vampire in front of me.
“I can’t believe a father actually raised you,” I spat out. “Mine’s dead and I’m still a better paranormal than you.”
The smile disappeared from Faci’s face. He slammed Evan forward once more. The vampire screamed and dropped to the ground, landing awkwardly, half on his injured arm.<
br />
Behind Faci something stirred, probably Sectar backing away to a safe distance. “I cannot participate in such violence,” said the Golden Falls representative by way of explanation.
“I was no part of the attack earlier,” Faci said breathlessly. “I attack in the open, which is where I will kill you.” He pointed a shaking finger at me, but I matched him glare for glare before he turned on his heel and whirled away.
Sectar stepped forward now, a bastion of calm. “You all need your rest,” he said lightly. “My camp is nearby and we will be safe there. In the morning we should finish your journey. Your arrival is eagerly awaited.”
Chapter Eleven
I was so shocked by what Faci had just done that for a few seconds I couldn’t move. Keller hurried forward and reached through the barrier to Evan, touching him lightly and healing the worst of his wounds.
“He’s healed enough to pass through the barrier,” Keller said.
I reached through the barrier and grabbed Evan. At first he tried to push my hand away, afraid that when he touched the barrier again it would rip his skin, but I shushed him. “You’ll be fine,” I murmured. “Promise.”
I glanced at Keller, but he didn’t look back at me, he just continued to work on Evan. Hurt by his refusal even to glance my way, as if the fact that Evan had been injured on my barrier was somehow my fault, I went back to my friends. Sip was wide-eyed and staring as Lough tried to comfort her. Lisabelle was standing a couple of paces away, her face a worried mask.
“This is the first time I haven’t been able to help her,” she told me quietly, glancing at Sip. The small fire that was still lit in the center of our safety zone cast strange shadows on her face. I was still shaken from Keller’s anger at me, which made no sense.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Lisabelle glanced at Sip and then away. “She’s so small and kind. She always sees the best in people. Today she almost died. She doesn’t deserve any of this. We all almost died today,” said Lisabelle. “I’m okay with dying. I’m not okay with you and Sip dying.”
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