“Stay behind me and protect our flank,” I commanded.
She took the order with a nod and we moved down the hall. As soon as we emerged into the dining room, bolts of energy and magic rained down on us. I lifted a hand, the power rising to my demand, and the lightning and spells bounced harmlessly off the shield I created.
“Oh, that’s badass,” Kerry murmured behind me. “You’ll have to teach me how that works.”
“Later,” I replied, my focus on protecting us from the destruction that pelted us from all sides.
I looked around, but there was no one in sight. The front door was shattered, splinters of wood scattered throughout the living room. Outside, the storm of lightning and magic continued. I realized that the spells and electricity hitting my shield were ricochets or badly aimed attacks.
Gathering more power, I invoked one of the other wards I’d placed on the property. This one would hide whatever was happening while protecting those outside the circle from what lay within it.
Essentially, I’d trapped us on the property with our attackers. The spell would only break if I died and I had no plans to die today.
“See anything?” I asked Kerry.
“No. The house looks clear.”
“Let’s move to the front,” I stated.
As a unit, we wove through the debris in the living room and out the front door. The scene in the yard was something out of one of my nightmares.
Rhiannon stood at the edge of the yard, her feet planted shoulder-width apart and her arms lifted as her lips moved. Power surged from her body, rolling across the grass toward the men. Harrison and Finn stood shoulder to shoulder, their bodies tense beneath the onslaught as they blocked and parried her magic.
But that wasn’t what caught my attention. It was Macgrath and Rhys and the creature they battled. It had once been a man, a beautiful man, but his eyes were no longer human. Instead of colored irises and the whites of his eyes there were only two burning black orbs. His sightless obsidian gaze was fierce and the snarl he wore was more feral than human.
His head turned and his eyes narrowed when he saw me standing there. I shuddered when I saw the side of his face that had been turned away. One half of his profile was unmarred, beautifully sculpted, but the other half…
His skin was charred and twisted as though he’d been burned by his own magic and unable to heal. Within the cracks of the burns, I could see tiny arcs of blue-white lightning so bright that it hurt my eyes. His attention only rested on me for a moment before he turned back to the men, but it was enough to halt me in my tracks.
My body froze, inside and out, the cold seeping deep into my bones. How had Rhiannon created anotheranimavoreso quickly? Gaius’ grimoire had only been in her possession for a day. It shouldn’t have been enough time to create him. Or to recharge her power. The process would have drained her to the point of near death.
Yet here she was, brimming with malevolent magic. As my eyes drifted over theanimavore, I knew. Rhiannon sent him out into the world to consume innocent souls and then transferred that power to her own body. She used him the way she had intended to use Rhys when Gaius made him. The way she would have used Cornelius if he hadn’t been deranged.
I watched in horror as theanimavorehurled another energy ball toward Macgrath and Rhys, one that was larger and more powerful than the last. Without thought, I lifted a hand and blew the energy blast apart. Nothing but a shower of harmless sparks hit Macgrath.
The creature hesitated then, his gaze locking on me before he smiled a sadistic, nasty grin. He roared and his body twisted toward me. I knew I only had a split second to protect Kerry and myself from a fierce and powerful attack. I gathered up the magic, as his hands lifted. Time slowed as I braced myself, encasing Kerry and I in the strongest protection spell I knew.
The creature flung a hand in our direction and I saw a crackling ball of energy flying through the air. It was so hot that I could feel its warmth from ten feet away. I barely had time to suck in a breath to warn Kerry.
When the bolt hit the shield, it held, but tendrils of the electricity encased us, creating a cage. I gasped when the first shock snuck through and touched my skin. The cage shrank, crackling and sizzling as it fought to break through the shield. I felt my magic shudder against the onslaught before solidifying once again. The shield was in place and would remain unbroken. The thin streams of electricity that seeped through were painful but they weren’t strong enough to even leave a mark on my skin.
This creature’s power was similar to Rhys’ but wilder and more unpredictable. Still, it wasn’t strong enough to break through.
“Kerry, you okay back there?” I asked.
Her reply was shaky but loud enough for me to hear. “Yeah, I’m good.”
“We’re going to be fine,” I stated. “Everything is going to be—”
Suddenly, another blast of energy hit the shield. This time a shard broke through and pierced my side.
I screamed as fire consumed my abdomen, but when I looked down at my body, there was no flame, no smoke. But the pain was all-consuming, sucking the strength from my limbs.
For the second time in two days, I collapsed, too wracked with agony to catch myself as I fell. Gritting my teeth, I shoved more power at the shield.
“Ava!”
I finally understood the expressionmade my blood run coldwhen I heard Savannah cry my name. The veins in my body felt as though they were filled with ice water. My entire body grew chilled and still, and the fine hairs on the back of my neck rose in terror. I tore my eyes away from the creature and twisted my head to see Savannah darting down the porch steps and across the yard.
