Archer lunged for the wraith attached to her tail.It skittered up her back, and she curled her tail to jab it with her stinger.
The wraith was fast, though.It screeched as the tip touched it and dropped to the floor, only to jump at her again.Archer fought three of them at once, turning constantly to block and cut at them.
She saw him checking on her.“I’m fine.”
The last thing he needed was to worry about her.She spun around and whacked a wraith with her tail, sending it tumbling.Her tail struck, injecting the wraith with magick poison.The wraith burst into a ball of sparks and disappeared.But her tail had taken a hit, stinging with slashes inflicted by her opponents.
Archer grabbed a wraith by the throat and shook it violently while thrusting a beam of Light into its chest.It shuddered and turned to black dust.She smacked down the last wraith with her tail, nailing it with her stinger.It wentpoof.
Before they could even catch their breath, something thick wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground.The snake!Archer’s face tensed with fury as he lunged toward it with his sword.Her body tingled, as though a million fire ants covered her, and then a blinding light obliterated everything.
“This is where you wanted to go—isn’t that right?You almost found this room on your own, if you’d gone right instead of left.”
Silva’s voice… the only thing she sensed in the void.Slowly, her surroundings came into focus, a dark cavern.First Silva, his wings huge and dark silver, standing…lower than she?She looked down to the floor several feet below.Then from side to side.She was pinned to the wall by the snake.Marik was in the same predicament next to her.
Where was Archer?
The walls were covered with the kind of baffling she’d seen in a radio DJ’s booth, dark and wavy.Soundproofing.This room resembled an efficiency apartment, with a small table and living area.A man was hunched in a recliner.
“Pop?”
Her father lifted his head, and he didn’t look happy to see her.“Oh, Lyra.”
She could barely sense his Dragon or recognize his haggard face.Beside him a baby slept in a crib, blissfully unaware of the horror around it.
Wait a minute!A baby?
Marik’s cheeks were wet with tears as he looked at Silva.“Please, let me see Jeremy.He’s in a lot of pain.”
Silva regarded her with cold curiosity.“How do you know that, exactly?How did you supposedly see where he was?”He must have been spying on Marik at Jeremy’s apartment.
Marik’s voice was filled with venom.“I’ll tell you nothing!”
Lyra’s gaze went back to the baby.She felt its essence, its…Dragon-ness.And she knew—Tara’s baby.But no sign of Tara.
Archer crashed through the doorway, his eyes frantic with worry.It eased a fraction when he saw her.He staggered as Silva extended his hand and hit him with what looked like a whip, only he’d created it with the same energy as the snake.She screamed as it cut into the skin on Archer’s chest.Silva hit him again, and Archer charged at him with his sword.It cut Silva’s arm, leaving a swath of burned flesh and blood.
Silva’s eyes flashed black in fury, looking demonic.He hurled a beam of blinding Light at Archer, throwing him hard against the wall.Silva moved so fast that he was a dark blur.No, he’dchangedinto something that didn’t look human or angel, but a large black creature that had her Dragon thrashing.Silva crushed Archer against the wall, flattening his wings.Silva’s hands were larger, with claws that gripped Archer’s shoulders and dug into his skin.
“What are you?”Archer gritted out, thrashing futilely against him.
Silva’s long, angular face leaned close to Archer’s.“Your nightmare.”He laughed, deep and rich.“And you could be my delicious morsel.”His tongue lapped Archer’s throat.“But I think you’d be better suited as one of my wraiths, since you have killed mine.”
No!She had to get out, to help.She whipped her tail up to sting at the thick body of the snake.It didn’t budge, didn’t seem affected at all.Because it wasn’t alive, only some insane magick she’d never seen before.
Asmashjerked her attention back to the two Caidos.Except there was only Silva, standing in front of a huge hole in the wall.She could see a soundproofed room on the other side, too, but not Archer.Panic seized her.What had happened during the seconds she’d looked away?
Blisters covered Silva’s chest, and midnight fury darkened his eyes.Archer appeared on the other side of the hole, throwing Silva backward, where he landed on the hard floor.Archer stepped into the room, wielding his Light.He spared her only a glance before focusing his angry glare at Silva.Archer’s wings were rumpled.The backs of his legs were cut and red.
Silva, back on his feet, sent a net of Light at Archer.It shattered into tiny shards that flew at his wings and latched on to the feathers.That was probably how Jeremy had been Stripped!Archer pulled in his wings, and the shards began attacking his body like Alfred Hitchcock’s killer birds.Silva took advantage of Archer’s distraction, moving closer.The creepiest part was that he actually seemed to be enjoying the fight—and Archer’s pain.
Archer zapped the living shards with his Light, but there were so many of them stabbing and drawing blood.
“Archer!Watch out!”she screamed as Silva approached from the side.
Silva swung an arc of Light at Archer’s neck.He backed away in the nick of time, though the Light scorched a line across his throat.
If she could only get out.Lyra pushed and wriggled and sank her fangs into the flesh of the snake.It had the consistency of rubber and was just as tough.The thing had too tight of a hold on her.
