by Vicki Leigh
Nightmares. War had come to China.
And we weren’t ready.
“Magus, take hold of a Protector. Now!” I shouted.
A loud boom from the city of Yangzhou vibrated my bones as a mushroom cloud lifted into the sky. My knees weakened. Not possible. A second boom followed as the roar of the airplane was cut short.
“Oh my God,” Lian said as a second bomb vibrated the earth.
It didn’t take long for the realization to sink in—that cloud of radiation would spread for miles. I’d seen it happen before. There’s no way we could go back to the barn.
Wide eyes stared at me. I blinked rapidly and forced down the rock in my stomach. “Change of plans. Sam, you’re in charge. Get everyone out of here. I’ll grab Trishna and the others and come to you.”
“I’m coming with you,” Kayla said as everyone else locked hands on Samantha.
I swiped the back of my hand across my forehead and clenched my jaw against the scream that wanted to explode. After everything, I couldn’t argue with her anymore. I grabbed Kayla and evaporated to a spot outside the barn. Trishna stood yards away from us and the shelter, staring at the sky as the orange glow of the bomb’s radius neared us.
Trishna, get inside, now! Sweat rolled down my back. I needed her as close to the others as possible if I wanted to try to grab them all in one, quick sweep.
As Trishna turned her head, a swarm of Nightmares broke through the trees behind her, galloping toward us like wild horses.
My stomach dropped to my feet. They weren’t just coming from the west—they were everywhere.
Trishna glanced behind her as I played the scenarios in my head, my breaths coming in frantic waves: Let go of Kayla’s hand and evaporate to Trishna, hoping I got back to Kayla in time; evaporate to Trishna with Kayla and risk dropping Kayla right in front of a Nightmare; or leave Trishna behind.
It took a mere second to make my decision. I grasped Kayla’s hand, ready to evaporate to Trishna—
No, Daniel. Trishna lifted her hands in front of her face. Grab as many of the others as you can, then get out of here! It’s too late.You’ll never reach me in time.
Trishna, don’t—
A strong burst of wind flew from her palms, flinging Kayla and me in reverse.
We sprawled in the grass on our backs, our hands no longer touching. Groaning, I shot to my feet, determined not to leave Trishna behind, and reached for Kayla.
No matter what happens, keep her safe, Trishna said, glancing over her shoulder. The Nightmares were closing in too fast.
I locked gazes with the powerful witch I’d known for centuries. The witch who’d healed me and so many of my comrades, who’d saved Kayla’s life, who’d given Protectors a home when ours was destroyed—who could’ve gone underground when Tamesis returned but chose to stand and fight by our side.
Angels be with you both, she said.
My throat tightened. I’ll see you on the other side.
With a smile, she closed her eyes and lifted her head toward the sky.
Two Nightmares dug their claws into her and ripped her in half.
“No!” Kayla screamed next to me, her cry shattering every bit of happiness I’d gained in the last two days.
Nausea flooding my stomach, I grabbed Kayla’s hand and burst through the door of the barn, slamming it shut as the monsters closed in on us. We didn’t have long until the radiation reached us, but at least Trishna’s spell would keep us safe from the Nightmares.
Kayla’s hand slipped from mine as she fell off her knees into the dirt. Kneeling next to her, I pulled her into my arms. I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.
She sobbed, grasping the back of my shirt in her fists.
I pushed her away just far enough to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “We need to get the others out of here. If you help me, we can get three at a time.”
Kayla nodded, her hands shaking. “Just tell me what to do.”
The opposite side of the barn exploded. Kayla shrieked as wood splintered all around us, and the red, beady eyes of a dozen Nightmares galloped into the room—with a vampire leading the charge.
My heart hit my knees as Richard’s plan for the second horseman revealed itself. War hadn’t been about destroying the human race by pinning them against one another. It had been about uniting the supernaturals and using them to take over humanity.
I shot to my feet and pulled Kayla into a tight embrace. Bile burned my throat as I drummed up a mental image of Samantha. This would be the second time I’d left teammates to die. Each of their faces would haunt me to my grave.
Swallowing deeply, I evaporated.
We landed in a mountain range. Kayla clung to me, her face tucked into my chest, neither of us ready to let the other go. Had she seen what I’d seen? Did she realize what it meant? It wasn’t just Protectors and Magus fighting for him anymore. I cleaved to Kayla tighter to keep my own knees from snapping.
“Where is everyone?” Vinny asked.
I felt my friends swarming around us, but I couldn’t bear to look at them.
“Daniel… where’s Trishna?” Nolan added.
I paused, unsure if my voice would come out. “They’re all gone.”
From behind me, one of the witches who’d trained with us wailed. I didn’t look up; I didn’t want to see the sad, defeated faces of my friends. We’d lost not just fifteen more coven members, but our fearless leader as well.
With my face still in Kayla’s hair, I sent a mayday message to the rest of the coven. This is Daniel. Trishna has fallen. Please, if you’re with Bartholomew, let him know eleven of us remain on my team. Wherever you are, stay there and be safe until we figure out our next move.
Lifting my head off Kayla’s, I took in my surroundings. We were in the Alps near Bern, Switzerland at a small cabin I recognized instantly. I stuffed down the nauseating pain that arose. This place had been my mentor’s. He’d left it to me when his existence ended, yet I’d never returned after he died. Adrian had been my best friend—no, more like a brother—and I’d never wanted to open that wound again. But it’d been sixty years. I needed to move on and live in the here and now.
I let go of Kayla, kissing her forehead and drying her cheeks with my fingertips. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
She nodded. I stood and hurried toward the cabin. Inside, there was a radio. Maybe I’d luck out, and it would still work.
Samantha stood near the porch. “I’m sorry,” she said as I passed. “I didn’t know where else to go.”
I patted her shoulder. “It’s fine. It was a smart move.” Adrian had been a little paranoid. The cabin would be stocked with weapons, food, and clothes, and we were still outside the United States. Of anywhere on the planet, this was probably the safest bet.
I jogged up the green porch stairs and pulled a key from beneath a squeaky floorboard. Nothing had changed about this place. Even the white paint around the front door was still chipping. Unlocking it, I swung the door open and coughed as dust met my eyes. I waved my hands in front of my face and stepped inside.
A brown leather sofa and love seat were positioned in an “L” shape in front of a 1950s television, just like I remembered. Beneath them, a green and brown rug covered the hardwood floor, and on the coffee table sat a bar glass. My jaw flexed as a memory of chatting with Adrian filled my head, and I stepped through the sitting area to a cracked door opposite the dining room.
“Daniel, you need to see this,” Seth said from the entryway.
I turned, catching his gaze. His eyebrows were drawn down over his dark eyes. Nodding, I followed him outside to where the others stood, staring down the mountain at Bern below. Explosions and screams echoed through the mountain range, and from the town, smoke rose high into the sky from several places.
“Nightmares can’t set off bombs, right?” Nolan asked.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and shook my head. “No. They’re not clever enough. But they aren’t the only ones down there.”
Every head spun toward me, except for Kayla’s. She already knew what I was about to say. She’d seen him in the barn, his translucent skin and white eyes.
“Vampires led the attacks in Yangzhou,” I continued. “It isn’t just Magus and Protectors siding with him anymore.”
The blanching faces and pained expressions of my comrades were like hot fire pokers to the chest. We’d tried so hard to stay ahead of Richard, to figure out what his game plan was. And we’d failed at every turn. Now, not only had Pestilence spread across the world, killing thousands of innocent people, but War would devastate the globe.
I could barely breathe.
“We need to help them,” Nolan said.
I wanted to tell him no, that we couldn’t risk getting killed, not when we needed to be ready to attack Richard once Kayla was able to do the locator spell. But never would I be able to sleep with the sounds of screams and sirens filling the air, the smell of smoke lingering up the Alps, knowing we’d done nothing. My heart fell to my knees. He was right.
“Wait here,” I said, my voice tired and weak. “Protectors, follow me.” As fast as I could, I ran into the house, overturned the coffee table, and ripped the rug from the floor. As I expected, Adrian’s trap door was undisturbed. I leaned down to grab the handle—
The room spun as blinding pain punched behind my eyes. With a shout, I fell to my knees, gripping my skull. Yelps and groans filled the cabin as my friends thudded to the floor. Another blow of agony pounded in my head. The world flickered, dark to light to dark again. I leaned onto my hands, gasping as nausea forced its way out.
A loud screech attacked my ears. My shoulders hunched farther forward. I ground my teeth against the bleeding noise. Again, piercing pain clobbered my head, and I clawed at my hair, my ears.
I pitched into darkness.
The silence in my head was deafening. There was no light, no breaths, no heartbeats.
Minutes passed. Maybe hours. Time was indiscernible.
A prickling tickled up my spine.
Ciao, Giovanni’s magnified voice echoed across the darkness. I clawed at my temples, groaning through my teeth, trying to rid him from my mind. I warned you the US was just the beginning. Now, you truly see what we’re capable of. But who are we, exactly? Your allies? Your neighbors? It’s time to arm yourselves, boys and girls. ‘Cause War is at your doorstep, and if you refuse to pledge your allegiance to Tamesis, we will bathe your streets in your blood.
Sunlight and screams instantly saturated the impenetrable silence and absolute darkness. I covered my ears and cringed as the real world came back into focus. Every muscle quivered. Every hair stood on end. I breathed through clenched teeth and shook my head, trying to melt the icy chill that slithered through my veins. I knew Richard had access to my mind; he’d given me nightmares twice now. But entering my head while I was awake? That side effect could cost me my life—could cost me Kayla’s. I couldn’t stop the soft whimper that broke through me.
“What the hell was that?” Ivan said from somewhere in the room.
“I thought he was dead!” Samantha said.
I pushed myself off the floor, my legs unsteady. “He is. Whoever that is, it’s not Giovanni.”
“Uh, you guys… I think we were out longer than a few seconds,” Vinny yelled from outside.
I caught Seth’s pallid stare, every muscle in my body tight.
“You might want to see this,” Vinny continued. “It’s Bern. It’s…”
“Destroyed,” Nolan finished.
I leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, digging my hands into my hair. “Giovanni’s” message had sent us all to our knees when the world needed us most. Richard’s plan had worked, and we were late. Again.
I’d wanted to stop him before the war began. And now, more people were dead, more cities were ruined, because my plan failed.
Bern was demolished. Who knew how many other towns?
Trishna was gone.
Tabbi…
Once upon a time, I’d trained to lead armies. Hell, I’d died in a war. I’d spent two hundred years in battle and had a nearly flawless record as a Protector. And now, what was I?
I swallowed a lump the size of a cantaloupe. “Grab weapons. We need to save as many survivors as we can.”
he August heat was unbearable as we linked hands and evaporated into the city. Given Switzerland’s time zone difference, we still had hours of sunlight to burn. Not stopping for one second, the eleven of us scoured the streets of the twenty-square-mile village, putting out fires, lifting buildings, and pulling people from the wreckage.
Most individuals fled from us, terrified by the abilities of Kayla and the Magus after what they’d just seen, but others shouted thanks and praises in Bernese German. If they couldn’t walk or were seriously injured, we evaporated them to the closet hospital or crisis center. Though many didn’t survive the attacks, with every man, woman, and child I saved, a piece of my splintered heart fell back into place.
By the time the sun began to fall and the sky took on an orangey-pink hue, we’d reached every corner of the city. My shirt stuck to me, drenched with sweat, dirt, and blood—only some of it my own. Every muscle ached. I rolled my neck, trying to relieve some of the tension as Kayla, Seth, and I stopped at the last building on our final street.
A semi-truck had demolished the one-story barbershop. The vehicle’s backside hung out of the building as if Godzilla had thrown it through the glass front. Pieces of the shop littered the ground. I stepped as close to the building as I could without tempting injury and shouted in German, “Is anyone in there?”
I closed my eyes, listening for sounds of struggling or speaking.
A whimper. Someone was still alive.
“Hello? We’re here to help. Are you hurt?” I continued.
“Yes,” came a very quiet voice, a young girl’s. “My momma. She won’t wake up.”
My shoulders drooped as a heaviness filled my limbs. I translated for the others and rubbed my eyebrows. This wouldn’t be the first time today I pulled a child away from a dead parent.
“Stay there,” I replied in the girl’s language. “We’re coming in.” I turned to Seth and Kayla, changing to English. “Seth, when we go in, I want you to grab the girl and get her to a hospital. I think Burgdorf’s is still standing. Kayla and I will check on the mother and do what we can.”
“What if it’s overloaded? Last one said they have no more room,” Seth replied.
“Take her somewhere else. Just stay out of the US.”
When he nodded, the three of us trekked inside the building, slowly. Sweat rolled down my neck. Glass crunched beneath my feet. The truck filled most of the space. Salon chairs, mirrors, ceiling tiles, and floor tiles were in pieces on the ground. Dust coated the air, and I waved my hand in front of my face.
“What’s your name?” I called out to the little girl in German, trying to gauge where she was in the wreckage.
“Lena.” The voice came from the back corner of the barbershop, opposite the truck. At least she wasn’t crushed beneath the vehicle. The building creaked, and I shot up a prayer that we’d get out before the rest of the ceiling crashed.
Kayla, be ready to stop a cave-in. She’d done it once already. Her ability had surprised both of us, but Alex had been telekinetic, too. He’d flung objects around Bartholomew’s office the night we stopped him from killing the Keeper.
“Lena, I’m Daniel. My friends and I are going to get you out of here. Does anywhere hurt?”
“My arm… and… and my head.”
“All right. We’re almost there. Tell me about school. What year are you?”
“Second grade.”
Light blonde pigtails splayed out beneath a broken counter. Was that her? A cash register lay in pieces on the floor next to the table.
“Lena, can you reach your arm above your head and wave?”
She whimpered, then a hand peeked out beside the pigtails.
I f
ound her, I told the others, pointing to the girl. Seth and Kayla’s gazes followed my line of sight. “Good,” I said to Lena. “I see you. Only a few more moments.”
The three of us moved quicker, still careful not to bump anything that might set off an avalanche. A few seconds later, we reached the young survivor. As soon as I locked gazes with the blue-eyed child, she cried and reached her arms out to me.
I crouched next to her and made sure we were secure to lift the counter. Her small hand wrapped around my wrist, and I put my other hand over hers. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”
Lena wasn’t pinned. I nodded to Kayla, and she and Seth slowly moved the wood from the girl’s body. I pulled Lena out from the wreckage and lifted her in my arms. “See, nothing to be afraid of.”
She held tight to me, pressing her face into my neck. “My mommy!” Lena said with a whimper.
“I know,” I replied. “I’ll find her.”
I tried passing her to Seth so he could take her to a hospital, but Lena clung to me harder. “No, don’t leave me!”
“Go, man. I got this,” Seth said, dropping to his knees next to a blonde woman almost identical to the child in my arms.
Kayla’s arms shook, keeping the counter from falling on our friend, but she nodded. I’m all right. Go.
With a sigh, I clutched Lena to me. “Close your eyes,” I told her. “Don’t open them till I tell you.”
When she nodded, still crying into my neck, I evaporated to the hospital in Burgdorf, staying invisible until I was sure no one would spot us. When the parking lot emptied, I went corporeal and carried Lena inside.
“Help!” I called out in German. “Please, she’s hurt.”
Nurses rushed us. I tried to pass Lena off to them, but she squeezed my neck again and screamed at the top of her lungs.
I gagged, her grip nearly cutting off my airway.
“Sir, we’re going to need you to come back with us until we can get her calmed down,” a dark-haired nurse said.
I nodded and shot a message to Kayla. I’ll be there as fast as I can. Lena won’t let go. Let me know you’re okay.