Either way, it’s my job to stick my nose in.
I press my shoulder against the cold, heavy iron, expecting a fight. Instead, it swings inward silently. No creak of rusted hinges, no groan of protest. Just smooth, effortless movement that sends a fresh shiver down the back of my neck.
That’s not normal.
The light inside is almost blinding after the gloom of the cemetery. I squint, raising a hand to shield my eyes as they adjust. The air is thick with that strange, humming power, making my skin tingle.
The creature that I see appears to be human, but of the insane variety. His hair is standing up on end in tufts on either side of his head. His eyes are glassy and wild, darting erratically around. He is dressed in a beige robe that looks like it has seen better days, with bare feet covered in blood that is dripping from his wrist.
“Get out!” he screams at me. “No one is stopping me this time!”
“Whoa,” I say, holding up my hand as the magic he is dealing in wavers slightly. “I’m not stopping you,” I add, lying through my teeth. I’m going to stop him harder than I’ve ever stopped anything before. “Just curious what is going on.”
He doesn’t seem to hear me. His focus snaps back to the centre of the room, to the glowing fissure in the stone floor. “They will answer! I have given the blood, the faith, the sacrifice!”
Right. Definitely insane, and dealing with magic far above his pay grade, if the trembling of the air is anything to go by. My eyes track the lines of glowing blood on the floor. It’s a summoning circle, but not for any demon I recognise. The symbols are elegant, ancient, and they glow with a power that feels like it is about to strip my soul from my body.
“Whatever you’re calling, I’m pretty sure it’s not going to want to have a pint with you,” I say, inching to my left, trying to find an angle that doesn’t involve stepping on a glowing death-trap.
He lets out a manic laugh. “They are not for me! They are for this blighted world!” He throws his arms wide, a spray of blood arcing from his wrist and sizzling against the stone walls. The golden light intensifies, and the humming vibration becomes a deafening roar that seems to come from inside my own skull.
The fissure on the floor cracks wider. It’s not just light pouring out now, but a distinct column of not evil, but not good either. I brace myself, my blade held ready. Whatever’s coming through, it’s not going to be small. The crazy bastard is about to get his wish, and I have a horrible feeling I’m about to become collateral damage by standing between him and it.
Sounds about right for Nyssa Vale, Slayer of Demons.
“Well, sis,” I mutter, thinking of my younger, hot-headed, reckless sibling, Rynna. “You are about to take my place. You ready?”
She fucking had better be, because this world isn’t ready to not have a slayer as the first line of defence against evil.
It kind of makes me nervous as fuck to think about leaving it in the hands of Rynna.
“Whatever you are,” I mutter to the forming column. “You are about to meet your doom.”
Chapter 2
Nyssa
The light flashes, and I blink as spots form in front of my eyes.
As my vision clears, it becomes apparent that the man has summoned something that is more angel than demon.
But this thing still came out of the ground, and if my mythology is correct, and it is, angels don’t usually come from beneath us.
I raise my blade as the gleaming light gathers shape, forming as a woman with long blonde hair and eyes the colour of molten gold. She smiles and stretches, as if she has been woken up from a long slumber. The man drops to his knees in front of her, babbling away and making no sense.
She ignores him, and her eyes fix on me.
I gulp.
This creature is nothing like the monsters I usually fight and kill.
She is something else altogether. With a dismissive wave of her hand to the man at her feet, he disintegratesinto nothing, and I stumble back at the sheer power she holds.
“Kneel before me,” she says in a bored tone that doesn’t fit the way in which she appeared.
“I’ll pass. Bad knees,” I say, regaining some of my composure since she killed a man in front of me. To me, this is cut and dried.
She dies.
