by John Corwin
The woman cackled. "You cannot kill us!"
"Yeah?" Shelton shouted. "Try this on for size, bucktooth." He slammed his staff on the carpet and shouted, "Solaris!"
Yellow energy swirled around the top of his staff, coalescing into a brilliant miniature sun. One of the vampires streaked toward Shelton and suddenly screamed as his skin flaked off like ash. He exploded into a cloud of gray soot. Bones scattered and fell. Two more vampires too close to the blaze instantly combusted.
Sarkin and the others shrieked in anger and fled, their cries fading into the distance.
The three battle mages suddenly knew the gig was up and threw their hands into the air. Several Blue Cloaks secured them with diamond fiber straps and left them on top of one of the clear cases.
Shelton wiped sweat from his forehead. "Knew I had that spell somewhere. Glad it worked."
"I always thought vampires being instantly incinerated by sunlight was just a myth," Elyssa said.
"These ancient ones must be more sensitive than their modern kin." Bella looked at the slowly drifting cloud of vampire ash. "I wonder if a stake through the heart would kill them."
"Good luck getting close enough," Shelton said. "I never saw a vampire move that fast."
"I've seen Sarkin before," Ivy said.
Mom's eyes widened. "When?"
"After Daelissa put you in the astral prison, she started bringing all sorts of weirdos to Jeremiah's house." Ivy pursed her little lips. "Sarkin brought that skinny woman once. Her name is Priscilla."
"That woman needs to eat more carbs," Shelton said. "She's all leather and bones."
I took a quick headcount. We were down three Blue Cloaks. I spotted the Templar scout's broken body on the floor below and grimaced. Shelton's miniature sun rotated slowly as it drifted in the general direction of the main chamber ahead.
I cleared my throat to break up the conversation about the vampires. "Let's go. Sarkin might regroup."
Lieutenant Hertz tried to salute and winced. "Move out."
We flew as fast as our carpets would take us through the ruined hall. In addition to trapped humans, I saw all manner of ancient animals entombed in the diamond cases, even mammoths. The Seraphim apparently like to collect animals as trophies as much as humans.
I stared longingly at one of the massive creatures. "Any chance I could cut a mammoth out of these cases?"
Elyssa laughed. "The tragon wasn't enough?"
I looked at her over my shoulder. "My dream is to collect all the dinosaurs."
Ivy pinched her nose. "I'll bet they stink."
The main way station opened up before us and our conversation died away. I felt like a mosquito compared to the enormous grandeur. A great dome decorated with murals of Seraphim sparkled above us.
"Is that you, Mommy?" Ivy pointed her finger toward a mosaic of two blonde Seraphim surrounded by a tribe of kneeling humans.
Mom's face flushed. She closed her eyes and sighed. "Yes, dear. I'm afraid it is."
My stomach knotted at the sight of Mom and Daelissa's first encounter with humans. Mom's gaze seemed troubled as she stared at it.
Our group veered right and stayed low behind rows of smaller arches to avoid the remaining guardians. The towering presence of the Grand Nexus grew larger and larger. We finally reached it.
"Form a perimeter," Hertz told his people.
Shelton and Bella joined the Blue Cloaks. Mom and Ivy flew to the arch. I glided us in behind them and parked at the foot of the structure. The Chalon, a small orb etched with intricate lines, rested in a socket about chest height.
The distant sounds of battle echoed from the south. I saw flying forms in that direction, but rows of arches blocked my view of the land troops.
Mom took a long drink of water from a bottle and hummed a few notes. She drew in a deep breath and released it. "Here I go." She extended a hand toward the Chalon. It popped from the socket and hovered beneath her hand. The silver circle embedded in the floor around the arch flashed as it sealed itself to magic.
"Is the arch still attuned to Seraphina?" I asked. I hoped it was still set to Sturg.
She nodded.
I groaned. "Would it be faster to attune it to another realm before you attempt to remove it?"
She shook her head. "It would take nearly the same amount of time."
I shut my mouth so she could get started.
Mom closed her eyes and began to sing. I'd heard this unearthly tune before when Mom had tried to remove the Chalon from the Shadow Nexus—a version of the Grand Nexus in the Gloom. The arch builders used a musical language to grow the arches from stone. Mom was using the same language to properly remove the Chalon from the nexus. To force it out would cause another Desecration.
I heard shouting and saw the Blue Cloaks preparing to fight as the battle mages the Templar scout had warned us about ran our way. I hoped the platoon of Red Cell soldiers didn't come as well. The battle mages seemed to realize they were outnumbered and abruptly changed course.
"They're going to warn the others," I said. "We can't let them do that."
"I've got Mom's back," Ivy said. "Go get 'em!"
Several Blue Cloaks left formation and pursued the battle mages. I directed mine and Elyssa's flying carpet to follow at top speed. Our group closed the gap in no time since the enemy was on foot. The mages turned and fought. Deadly spells sizzled through the air. One of the Blue Cloaks cried out and fell from the carpet. A smoking hole gaped where his stomach had been.
His comrades retaliated. A blue energy disc hummed from the end of a Blue Cloak's staff and sliced the legs from one of the enemy mages. Another Blue Cloak flipped from his carpet. He spun his staff. Deflected a bolt of deadly energy and cracked the end of his staff against the attacker's Adam's apple. The battle mage went down coughing blood.
The Blue Cloak ducked beneath an attack from the remaining mage. He flicked his wand and stabbed it up through the soft flesh of the mage's chin. The mage gurgled. Brilliant green light burst from inside his mouth. His eyeballs boiled in their sockets and gray matter sizzled from his ears. The Blue Cloak withdrew his wand with fluid grace and wiped it off on the dead man's cloak before the body hit the ground.
"Wow," Elyssa said. "That Magitsu is crazy stuff."
I shuddered and looked away. I'd seen some awful stuff in my time, but watching anyone's brains erupt from their ears was something I didn't care to see. "Let's get back to Mom."
A brilliant red flare streaked up toward the southern portion of the dome and exploded. I spotted a small group of Exorcists standing in the wide aisle between the smaller arches. One of them raised a wand and fired another red flare.
We reached the nexus. Mom was still singing. I almost asked her how much longer she had, but knew from experience attuning the Chalon took several minutes.
"We're going to have company very soon," Elyssa said.
She'd no sooner said it than a platoon of Red Cell marched into view. The elite vampire warriors marched in precise formation. Each wore red armor that protected them from most magic attacks and each was a force to be reckoned with in hand-to-hand combat. We were down to eight Blue Cloaks plus the five of us. Mom wouldn't be able to help.
We didn't have a chance in hell of holding them off.
Chapter 20
Having a huge force of elite vampires marching toward our indefensible position motivated me to think really hard about how I could keep us alive long enough for Mom to unseat the Chalon and save the day.
I briefly considered resealing the silver circle around the nexus with a physical barrier, but quickly realized I couldn't do that without interrupting Mom's work. I turned to Ivy. "Stay here and guard Mom. We're going to help against the vampires."
"Wait, Justin." Ivy ran up to me, her blue eyes round as she looked at the oncoming force. "Maybe I should help you too."
I shook my head. "If someone sneaks up on Mom while we're dealing with the main force, she'll be in big trouble."
Ivy frowned. "Jerem
iah had to blast a guy in diamond fiber armor once." She looked at the encroaching force now only a couple hundred yards away. "The guy thought he was invincible, so Jeremiah heated the floor underneath him and cooked him inside his suit."
"He made you watch?" I asked, aghast.
"No, he made me look away, but I peeked." She grinned. "How else can I learn stuff if I don't watch?"
"Watch Mom." I ruffled her hair. "And thanks for the advice."
"Anytime, bro." Ivy ran back to Mom's side.
Elyssa squeezed my arm. "Your sister probably needs therapy after all she's seen."
"Her therapist would need therapy afterward." I rotated the carpet toward our pitifully small group of defenders and urged it to top speed. I heard Hertz barking commands as we approached.
He turned to me. "This probably won't work for long, but we're going to shield as much ground as possible and hold it."
Shelton shook his head. "Ain't no way in hell we'll be able to hold up a shield against that many vamps across such a wide space."
"If only we could drop the ceiling on them," Bella said, looking at the dome far above. "But it would take too long to fly up and cut chunks loose."
I waved my hands to get everyone's attention. "New plan. We're going to heat the floor."
Hertz raised an eyebrow. "Heat the floor?"
I nodded. "Diamond fiber might protect against damage, but it transmits heat so long as it's not from a magical source."
Shelton snapped his fingers. "Like what you did against the Flark."
Flarks were naturally resistant to magic. I'd shot one of the shape-shifters with a fireball, but it had splashed harmlessly over the creature's skin. The only way I'd been able to harm it was by melting the stone ceiling and floor around it, indirectly burning it with magic.
Hertz nodded. "Everyone focus on the same area. We'll heat it faster."
"Agreed." I drew in aether and pointed to an area thirty yards outside the silver circle. "Let's start there."
On the count of three, the Blue Cloaks, Shelton, Bella, and I unleashed a torrent of energy into the stone. It began to glow after a few seconds. We shifted our aim, tracing across the floor until we'd covered a swath too wide for vampires to jump over and long enough that they'd have to take several minutes to detour around it. Sweat broke out on my forehead. Some of the Blue Cloaks coughed as the air heated and shimmered like the desert. The vaulted ceilings allowed much of the heat to rise or we probably would have suffocated ourselves with hot air. It was already like breathing inside a heated oven.
We finally had to back off and recuperate. The enemy force, apparently aware we were up to something, had picked up the pace and closed in fast. I knew from my high school physics class that the stone floor would retain the heat for quite a while. Vampires might be tough, but even they wouldn't be able to walk across a two-thousand-degree stone floor.
The front ranks of the Red Cell troops abruptly stopped as they hit the hot zone. I'd kind of hoped the back ranks might push the formation forward into the superheated rock, but the vampires were too well trained and stopped on a dime. A vampire with four fang badges on his shoulder narrowed his eyes at us. He motioned to his left and right. Two soldiers broke formation and ran along the perimeter.
"Won't take them long to march around it," Shelton said, his eyes following one of the enemy scouts. "What then?"
I glanced back at Mom. The Chalon was rotating faster and faster. It wouldn't take much longer. We just had to buy enough time. The enemy scouts returned within minutes. The Red Cell leader split his forces, pointing the groups to either side of our heat barrier. It was easy to see how the two forces would converge and crush us. Our only option would be to pull back into a tight formation so I could shield our group.
With Ivy's help I could probably hold a shield for several minutes, depending on what forces the enemy brought to bear on it. I'd have to be careful not to cut the Chalon's connection to the arch with my shield, or risk causing another Desecration.
A huge explosion erupted to the south. The Red Cell leader stopped barking orders and turned to look. A flurry of winged vampires rose into the air and retreated west. I saw a large force of ground troops running beneath them.
Shelton raised a fist and whooped. "They're running!"
I met the sharp gaze of the Red Cell commander and shouted, "You should retreat now while you can. Our forces will be here any minute."
His cold eyes bore into mine. "Not before we kill you all."
Not the answer I was hoping for. I flashed my teeth with a confident smile. "Have it your way. I'll simply shield us from your attacks until our main force arrives."
"You're Justin Slade?" he said, his tone indicating it wasn't quite a question.
"The one and—" I'd hardly started to speak when the entire front row of Red Cell soldiers flung silver daggers at me. I yelped and somehow channeled a shield an instant before they reached me. One made it through. The hilt slammed hard into my shoulder and I almost lost my concentration. The rest of the daggers pinged off the barrier and clattered to the floor.
"You dirty butt nuggets!" Shelton roared.
"Are you okay?" Elyssa asked as she inspected my shoulder.
I looked around and saw that everyone else was still standing. The Blue Cloaks had cast shield spells of their own.
"I'm fine," I said, shooting eye daggers at the vampires.
"A pity," the Red Cell leader said. "You should have made killing you easy. Now we'll have to do this the hard way."
Anger built in me as I looked at him. If he wasn't covered from head to toe in magic-resistant armor I would—That was when I realized the vampires didn't have their faces covered. Either their armor didn't grow to cover the face like Nightingale armor did, or they simply didn't think they needed their faces covered. Either way, an exposed face was all I needed right this instant. I shot out a tendril of Murk. Before the commander could make another overconfident remark, the strand pinched his nose. I jerked him forward onto the superheated rock.
Elite vampire leader or not, he screamed bloody murder and did a hotfoot dance but was unable to break my tether. With a horrendous croaking sound, he fell face-first onto the rock. Steam and smoke boiled up where his flesh hit the stone.
Shelton waved a hand under his nose. "Smells like barbequed bloodsucker in here."
Facemasks abruptly covered the exposed faces of the remaining vampires. One of them with three fang badges on his sleeve held up a fist, twisted it sideways. The entire formation beat a hasty retreat to the west, doing their best to catch up to the rest of the army.
Mom's singing suddenly stopped. I turned to look and saw her holding the Chalon in her hand. Ivy threw her arms around her while Mom cried out, "We did it!"
Jagged bolts of aether arced between the columns of the Grand Nexus. With one last crackle of defiance, the great arch went dark. The gateway to Seraphina was out of order.
Cheers erupted from the Blue Cloaks. Shelton grabbed Bella's hand and the two danced in a circle. "We are the champions!" Bella shouted before gripping Shelton by the collar of his leather duster and planting a long hard kiss on him.
Elyssa and I looked at each other, our eyes wide with disbelief.
"It's over?" she said.
I could hardly believe it. The Grand Nexus was closed. Daelissa was gone for good. I grabbed Elyssa around the waist and spun her around. "We did it! We won!"
"Victory kiss!" she shouted.
Her soft lips met mine. The cheering and distant sounds of battle faded until we finally had to breathe.
Despite our victory, there was one vital thing we had to take care of. I grabbed the Blue Cloak leader. "Get my mother, sister, and the Chalon to safety." I waved a hand at the rest of my crew. "We'll rejoin our forces and help them with the remaining enemies."
Hertz saluted with his uninjured hand and grinned. "Excellent work, sir."
The other Blue Cloaks snapped salutes at me before breaking into more cheer
s.
Mom and Ivy ran to me and gripped me in a tight hug.
"I can't believe it's over," Mom said.
Ivy cast a wistful look at the nexus. "I still kinda wish I could've seen Seraphina."
I doubt that will ever be possible. My inner nerd regretted missing out on exploring strange new worlds, but knew it would be folly to reopen the arch to fight a Seraphim army. I kissed her forehead. "Maybe one day."
She quirked her lips and looked down. "Yeah, maybe."
The Blue Cloaks spirited Mom and Ivy away on their carpets while Shelton, Bella, Elyssa, and I raced toward the bulk of our army, now engaged in pursuit of the enemy forces. Before long we'd tracked down most of them, though hundreds had gotten away through an omniarch. We found a disabled portal-blocking statue nearby and sent scouts to find any others hidden throughout the sprawling complex.
I found Thomas talking to the other Templar commanders. Taylor and Olson were all smiles as they greeted us.
"I can't believe it," Taylor said. "We saw the Red Cell forces marching on you, but we couldn't break the blockade."
"Fjoeruss did it with his golems," Olson said. "One of them ran into the middle of a group of defenders and exploded."
"It was the break we needed," Thomas said. He let out a breath and the weight of the world seemed to leave his shoulders.
Michael appeared. Blood spattered his armor and his sword looked like he'd butchered a herd of cows. "So far we haven't found any of the faction leaders."
"No Cyphanis or Bara Nagal?" I asked.
"What about Serena?" Elyssa asked.
"Our scouts think she and a small force entered the nexus as the battle began." Thomas folded his arms and managed to look a bit smug. "I hope they don't mind Daelissa feeding on them, because they're all she'll have for the foreseeable future."
I felt a slap on my shoulder and turned to see Dad and Vallaena along with several of the other Daemos house heads. He and Vallanea had cuts and bruises, though not nearly as much blood spatter as Michael. Kassallandra and Domitia also bore injuries. Godric and Yuuki looked as if they'd never seen a minute of battle, though they both wore self-satisfied looks.