Light of Dawn

by Angela Colsin

  When they finally arrived, the draconians parked their vehicles down the road in an empty field and headed to the cemetery on foot, weapons in hand. Dawn was still half an hour away, but despite their early arrival, Ulric wouldn't be able to rest easy until Charlotte was safe by his side once more.

  Page South Cemetery was an older graveyard in the remote countryside, possessing tombstones overgrown with foliage and marked with spray paint. Litter in the form of plastic bags and beer bottles dotted the pathways, saying the cemetery had gotten regular visits from delinquents in recent years.

  But no one was around that night save the five draconians moving silently through the trees and past the headstones. They could sense the repelling spell at work, though it wasn't strong enough to make them feel the overwhelming need to vacate the area.

  Ulric couldn't catch Charlotte's scent anywhere outside, but he stayed focused, quietly heading through an iron gate belonging to a stone wall encompassing the mausoleum. It was an aged structure with stairs leading up to a doorway between several columns, and the magic of the repelling spell made it hard to sense anything that might've been going on inside.

  All of them came to a stop in the yard surrounding the building, using the gravestones and trees to stay out of sight. There, Ulric finally detected Charlotte's scent, and would've said so then, but the mausoleum doors suddenly opened.

  Everyone silently watched as a suit of silver armor that stood over seven feet in height emerged from inside. It had no helmet, making it look headless, and in its gauntlets held upright to its chest was a long sword.

  The Sentinel descended the front steps, and once it reached the grounds outside, a second suit of armor joined it. Both of them began scouting, looking for signs of trouble, and as they moved about, Dalris suggested, “We can distract them, but it would have to be two on one.”

  Ulric knew as much, and also realized that more could be waiting inside. But the ritual could also be underway—saying it hadn't already concluded—so he had no choice.

  “It's our best shot. I'll sneak in while you're distracting them.”

  Dalris didn't hesitate, directing, “Garrick, you're with me.”

  No one argued. The Sentinels would never tire, so sending two in on one of them was their best chance.

  Victoria was the first to spring into action, being the fastest of the five there. Liam was right behind her, and they moved into the open, attacking the first Sentinel before it could turn around.

  The second suit of armor spotted them rather quickly, and without hesitation, began moving toward the conflict. Still, it only got so far when Dalris and Garrick left their hiding spots to intercept it.

  The Sentinels' blows were powerful, and they moved swiftly for such large opponents, but the four draconians engaging them were skilled enough to keep up. With the fight underway, Ulric did exactly as planned, running for the door while hoping no enemies emerged from inside on the way.

  Thankfully, he entered the mausoleum without trouble, finding a corridor ahead of him with various compartments along the walls sporting plaques commemorating the dead. It connected to a larger, circular chamber beyond where the roof had caved in some time ago, allowing vines to grow across the walls inside, the floors worn from exposure to the elements.

  At the center of the room was Charlotte, laying atop an old, marble sarcophagus. Just as Robi said, she was entranced by magic, her open eyes white and her limbs unbound. The Kalar magistrates stood around the sarcophagus in a circle, paying absolutely no attention to the entryway as magical energy filled the entire room.

  Chandra stood on the far side, chanting the ritual for Lillian, who was kneeling on the floor next to the sarcophagus with her back facing the archway—giving Ulric the chance he'd needed to end this.

  Drawing up his blade, he sprinted to take it with electricity igniting over his body in preparation of sending a bolt into Lillian to ensure she was unable to defend the death blow he'd soon deliver.

  Just as he reached the archway, his lightning forked out. However, it never reached his target when not one, but two Sentinels blocked his path.

  The blast rammed into one of their breastplates instead, then went sailing in another direction, striking a nearby wall. The Sentinel wasn't even stunned by the attack, and as Ulric came to a forced halt, one of them swung low for the torso, the other for his neck.

  He defended the critical blow first, but the attacks came in such quick succession that by the time Ulric blocked with his weapon and tried to sidestep the second swing, the tip of his enemy's sword cut through his shirt, slicing flesh.

  Blood began to seep from his torso, but Ulric ignored it to fight back. He only needed a window to slip past them and strike at Lillian, who was likely the Sentinel's master when this entire ritual was her doing.

  He almost got that chance as well, deflecting a blow and ducking beneath another to roll between his opponents and emerge in the chamber. But no sooner than he'd stood did a gauntlet shoot out, grasping his right arm in a grip so tight his bones cracked.

  With a roar of pain, Ulric lost his grip on his sword, but forced himself to focus, kicking up his right foot as the weapon fell. His boot hit the pommel, sending the blade back into the air where he caught the hilt in his left hand before deftly flipping it over to strike the Sentinel's shoulder.

  The weapon drew through the empty area between the arm guard and the breastplate, severing the limb. It's armor clattered to the floor in pieces, freeing Ulric's broken arm, and he wasted no time, severing the Sentinel's leg in the same manner.

  His opponent stumbled and fell to the floor, but this wasn't a permanent solution. Soon, the armor would reassemble and begin fighting once more, but it bought some needed time which Ulric used to face his remaining enemy.

  Too late. As he turned, the second Sentinel suddenly rammed into him with a shoulder to the chest, slamming Ulric into the nearby wall with enough force to crack his sternum.

  With the air knocked from his lungs, he crumpled forward from the blow, falling to the cold floor. Pain wracked his body, yet he pushed himself, using his left arm to struggle to his knees with the Sentinel standing over him.

  Just as he managed to draw up a leg, the suit of armor lifted its own, sending a metal boot down into Ulric's lower back. Instantly, all feeling from the hips down vanished with the gruesome crack of his lower spine, leaving his legs useless while agony punished the rest of him.

  Ulric roared violently, waves of electricity rolling over his body as he clawed at the floor, fruitlessly trying to escape the Sentinel holding him down while his mind became a tangled mess of fury and pain.

  The Sentinel he'd taken down before had already reassembled itself as well, standing as if it'd never been broken, then inexplicably turned to head outside as if concerned with his siblings—who Ulric desperately needed now. With his enemy's boot at his back, there was no escape without aid.

  Still, he continued struggling as fiercely as his injuries allowed, ready to drag himself to Lillian and kill her with one arm if necessary, and it was only when Chandra ceased chanting that Ulric stopped to look.

  Every vampire in the room was ignoring him, so focused on the outcome of this ritual that they couldn't care less. The magic filling the room was like a tempest surrounding them now, and Lillian's dagger began glowing brightly, pulling that energy into the blade until eventually, everything fell still in an ominous silence.

  “Lillian,” Chandra spoke in English, directing, “strike now and sacrifice your offering to complete this ritual.”

  Without question, Lillian stood. Rising over Charlotte, she lifted the glowing blade above her chest.

  “Stop!”

  Ulric roared the command with all the strength he could muster, but Lillian's dagger plunged down anyway. Horror filled every fiber of his being as he watched the glowing weapon pierce right into Charlotte's heart—just as his own stopped.

  “No!”

  The dagger slowly lost its glow, and
Charlotte's eyes cleared. As if realization were setting in, her lips parted with her face falling to the side, her beautiful green eyes staring ahead, directly at him.

  And nothing made sense anymore.

  “Charlotte!” His loud, agonized bellow seemed to shake the chamber as he desperately fought to reach her without care for the pain it caused. In contrast, with the sky growing lighter, Lillian calmly turned away from her sacrifice, a smile lifting her lips as she looked up, ready to feel the sun's warmth on her skin.

  Her companions joined, and Ulric couldn't comprehend any of it, going insane with the agony of loss and confusion—especially when the unthinkable happened.

  Charlotte got up.

  Chapter 36

  It'd been one hell of a night, and it was only getting worse.

  Charlotte never once thought she'd be laying on a sarcophagus in the middle of a ring of vampires who looked at her death as being the highlight of their night. But there she was, entranced and unable to move, though still aware of everything going on around her.

  The ritual had taken time to prepare, and Chandra spent nearly half an hour chanting while Charlotte worked to keep herself calm, being mostly successful as well—until Ulric's agonized roars filled the mausoleum.

  She would've flinched over the pain in his voice, but was incapable of doing anything more than listening to the fight he was engaged in. Being so helpless was nerve wracking, though none of the vampires she could actually perceive from the corners of her vision seemed to care that a draconian was trying to crash the party. They merely continued standing about, waiting for the ritual to conclude.

  When Chandra finally told Lillian to rise and sacrifice their offering, Ulric bellowed at them to stop, but his commands went unheeded. Lillian plunged her dagger down remorselessly as Charlotte watched, mentally tensing when the blade stabbed into her heart.

  Yet it was a painless blow—all thanks to Heliger's Pendant.

  Chandra's plan was working.

  Before teleporting to the cemetery, the sorceress had grabbed the curse box so Charlotte could put it to good use. Even still, using the item proved tricky. The pendant wouldn't grant Lillian's death, or a resurrection, and in addition, wishing the ritual simply didn't work would still result in Charlotte's demise or enslavement.

  So there was only one way to go, and with Chandra's direction, Charlotte made her request. I wish to be invulnerable from harm and death at Lillian's hands.

  With the words spoken, Heliger's Pendant stopped glowing, the once amber gem turning a dull silver. Charlotte then offered the item to Chandra, fulfilling their pact.

  Now, with a dagger wedged deep in her chest at Lillian's hand, she still felt normal—alive—and remembered to react the way any dying person would as the trance wore off.

  Lifelessly, her head fell to the side where her vision focused on Ulric. He was a bloody mess, held under a Sentinel's boot, and she was appalled by the extent of his injuries in focusing her senses. Yet even with a broken spine and a mangled arm, he was still frantically struggling to reach her, looking as if he'd lost his entire universe.

  The expression broke her heart—and enraged her. So when Lillian turned to greet the light of dawn, thinking her sacrifice was truly dead, Charlotte eagerly took her chance.

  Sitting up quietly, she kept her eyes on her target while grasping the hilt of the dagger. Pulling it from her chest like she would a sheath, the blade left no injury or even a trace of blood, only a hole in her shirt.

  Lillian still had her back turned while the other magistrates were all looking up, anxiously awaiting the light after who knew how many centuries of darkness. They may have died believing the ritual a success as well, but any of them could move quickly enough to escape once they realized they were burning.

  So Lillian, in the very least, had to die now.

  Charlotte silently raised the weapon, then stabbed it at her back. The blade flew forward, and at the last second, Lillian turned, grasping her wrist to stop the point of the dagger just above her heart.

  Despite the almost precognitive reflex, Lillian's expression was curiously stunned by her sacrifice's survival. Still, Charlotte didn't give her the time to react, quickly grabbing her throat in one hand, and at the contact of skin, a scorching light erupted from her fingers as she hissed, “Here's your precious fucking sunlight, bitch!”

  The light flared, burning hotly into the right side of Lillian's neck and face. Her skin blistered as her grip on the dagger loosened enough to allow Charlotte to thrust it forward swiftly.

  In an instance, the blade pierced deep into the vampiress' heart with the tip jutting from her back, cutting off her howl of pain.

  Lillian stared incredulously, and Charlotte sneered. Leaving the dagger in her chest, she angrily shoved the vampiress away, watching her crumble to the floor while the other magistrates realized that their sacrifice wasn't dead—and they weren't resistant to the coming light—just as the sun rose completely.

  What ensued was chaos.

  Immediately, they attempted escape as their skin blistered, smoke rising from their bodies until the acrid scent of charred flesh filled the mausoleum. But the Sentinel holding Ulric down—under Chandra's control—instantly turned on them, and was soon joined by the three who'd been outside.

  Ulric's siblings followed the returning Sentinels, each looking more confused than the last over their enemy's sudden change of targets. But Charlotte only took enough time to call to Dalris, “Make sure the magistrates don't escape! I'll help Ulric!”

  Now that it was day, she could teleport, which was the safer route to make it through the fight to where he lay. Shimmering from sight, she reappeared at his side and knelt down, refreshed enough under the sun to regenerate his wounds completely.

  “Ulric,” she started, placing her hands on his back to heal his injuries. “I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!”

  Though his injuries were extensive, they eventually mended with her help, and as soon as he was able, Ulric sat up and turned to her.

  Cupping her face in shaking hands, he asked, “Are you real, or am I insane?”

  “I'm real,” Charlotte confirmed quickly, trying to ease the heart wrenching grief in his blue eyes. “I used Heliger's Pendant to wish Lillian couldn't harm me.”

  With a loud sigh of relief, Ulric grabbed her in a tight embrace. Charlotte heard his heart pounding as she clutched him, wishing she could explain things, but now wasn't the right time.

  As the magistrates died around them, she spied Liam standing next to the sarcophagus with his blade at Lillian's throat to keep her in place. What's more, the vampiress wasn't burning in the daylight.

  It's time to finish this.

  Ulric had never felt so confused and relieved at once in his entire life. His mate was resourceful enough that she'd survived the ritual without his help, and while he had a hundred questions to ask about the events, all he could focus on was holding Charlotte as close as possible with no intention of ever releasing her.

  Still, his protective instincts were urging him to move her away from the fight—or what little was left of one anyway. Most of the magistrates were too weak to put up much of a struggle, or they'd already been taken out by the Sentinels and his siblings.

  As he stood with Charlotte, she pointed out, “Ulric, Lillian isn't burning.”

  He'd just spied her laying against the coffin with Liam keeping her in place, and though half of her face was charred from Charlotte's attack, she wasn't being harmed by the sun.

  Ulric walked over with Charlotte at his side, coming to a stop near the vampiress where he suggested, “You drank the rest of Charlotte's blood as insurance.”

  “Yes,” Lillian rasped. “I didn't … fully trust Chandra.”

  “A wise decision,” Chandra announced plainly from the opposite side of the sarcophagus. “I do not take threats kindly, Vampire.”

  Threats? Apparently, Chandra hadn't been performing the ritual willingly, but he could qu
estion it later, and for now, focused on Lillian as she glared up at him with one blood red eye.

  “I hope you all rot,” she sneered.

  “Likewise,” Ulric growled, wasting no more time. Charlotte had gotten one mortal blow—he'd take the other.

  Liam gave him some room, and Ulric knelt, gripping Lillian's hair before tearing the dagger from her chest. She seized up just as he brought the blade down on her throat, blood spurting with the first strike, and with the second, her head was cleaved from her shoulders completely.

  Immediately, Lillian's body turned to ash, scattering across the stone floor at their feet.

  With a deep breath, Ulric stood, tossing the dagger away as he hooked his arm around Charlotte when she hugged his side. Now that things were more peaceful in the mausoleum, he glanced around, asking everyone, “Is that all of them? None escaped?”

  “None,” Dalris confirmed from across the room, ash marring his face. “A few burned away before they could even be confronted.”

  Charlotte sighed in relief, and Ulric finally let himself relax, savoring their victory. Lillian was dead, and the love of his life was safe by his side where she'd remain.

  Still, he remembered his questions when he noticed Chandra stepping around to their side of the room as her Sentinels moved to stand in a straight line next to the entryway nearby.

  Curiously, he started, “Was Lillian blackmailing you?”

  “She was,” Chandra confirmed. “As I explained to Charlotte earlier, Lillian knew about some of my transgressions against the Kalar, such as smuggling you away. Do you recall my return to the Guild Hall after freeing you?”

  He nodded. “You were trying to prevent their suspicion.”

  “Precisely. Freeing you wasn't the first, or last coup I'd pulled, and had I refused to perform this ritual, Lillian would have used those betrayals to provoke the Kalar and their allies into attacking Mystikkar.”

  “Then she was still a Kalar magistrate.”