Lanias barely heard him, her mind caught up on the fact her father had killed Alek’s wife. She stared silently at his back before she moved to look away as a bitter taste filled her mouth. Aware that she could never reveal to him that her father was Eris. Not that she’d planned on spilling her guts anytime soon. She wondered, when would she stop paying for the sins of her predecessors?
“Don’t say that name. Good to know,” she said, focusing her attention on Fabian. “Go get your things and we’ll leave.”
He shot Alek another fearful look before giving her a short acknowledgement, and left to the room to gather his belongings. She hoped he didn’t try to make a run for it. Life was hard enough without having to chase down a kid.
“When we get back, you’re going to tell me what your relationship is with the Surrem.” Alek demanded, as he spokewith his back still to her. “How did a Witch from Veil City get involved with them?”
“Would you believe me if I said that my uncle is the one with the relationship,” she said. If she had to lie she would. She wasn’t willing to lose something else because of her father, and she refused to unpack the emotional luggage that implied.
He turned around so she could feel his heavy stare. “And what pushed him to have a relationship with those,” He paused before he averted his gaze. “Surrem.”
She sighed not answering him. “You said once that you left Tiller to settle something. Did your debt have to do with the Surrem?”
He flinched at the question, lips parting to answer—just as Fabian stepped back into the hallway. He wore a backpack and carried his staff again. With the all-black hoodie pulled over his head, he almost looked like a regular kid. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
“Good, let’s go,” she said.
They turned to leave just as something registered out of the corner of her eye.
“Watch out,” Alek yelled as he appeared before them, wrapping his arms around them both.
Lanias released a scream as the house seemed to explode all around them. Fabian’s hands clenched around her arm, as they came to a staggering halt on the street. Her hands shook from the wave magic that had slammed into the side of the house. She felt the trembling of Fabian, “You’re okay, you’re okay,” she repeated several times over, unsure if she was doing it for him or herself.
“A Vampire.”
She shivered as she looked at the figure that stood a few feet away. Their arms raised and pointed at the house. The shattered pieces of the house were still in the air. The amount of controland will to do what the person across from them was doing was immense. They lowered their hands and time reversed. The house came back together and settled once more. “This is not something that involves you, hand the boy over.” The Surrem commanded.
Lanias wondered why this one wasn’t glowing like the other two before.
“Get behind me,” she told Fabian, who quickly did so. “Don’t move an inch away from me, understood?”
He gave her a shaky nod.
Facing forward, she kept her eyes on both Alek and the True One. The Surrem glanced in her direction. The next words from the Surrem were said as she moved her hand in circle, a wide bright layer of light expelling from her hands.
“Hand over the boy.”
Alek sighed pulling his sword from his sheath and casually shrugged. “Unfortunately, my dear wishes to take him for her own. And I’m not the sort of man who’d want to see her unhappy.”
Her chin twitched to the right. “Then die.”
“Death is so unattractive, why do you think I became a Vampire in the first place?” Alek chuckled, moving just in time to avoid the first attack. The ground shook, and Lanias lifted a shield to block the debris from hitting them.
Without missing a beat, Alek moved so that he sped directly to the Surrem’s front and slashed across. Spinning away, he casually rolled his wrist with the sword in it. “Now, that’s a better look on you.” He grinned as he moved the sword like it was his own arm.
The front of the clothes layered over the Surrem were shredded. A droplet of black liquid leaked from the wound on its chest. Their expression remained empty as it looked back up at Alek. Their lips parted and from where Lanias stood she couldn’tcontrol her expression. Just like Zaharis the lips showed nothing but a black gap as the thing tried to smile.
“You’re different.”
The creature flew toward Alek swinging its sleeves up, the cloth clanging against Alek’s sword as he blocked each strike while moving back. Each step maneuvering him closer to where Lanias and Fabian stood.
As he deflected each blow, he pivoted right to avoid its reach for his side
Lanias quickly thought over what she could do. When she felt a sting to her cheek, her eyes widened as she felt the line of white light cut across from her side intended for Alek.
Without thinking she felt her magic rush up, a wall of black shooting directly for Alek’s back. The limber limbs of her magic swallowed the magic shot. Turning around she lifted her hand; two thin strings of her magic wove around the neck of the Being that had come up from behind her. The person’s neck snapped; their eyes remained wide in shock as their body hit the ground.
