I met his gaze and refused to lie. “Yes.” I waited for him to unleash his shadows onto me.
He looked down at his son. “You can’t turn us into vampires. Your blood didn’t make him worse. It wouldn’t have had any effect on him. Nothing could have saved him.”
“Vampire blood doesn’t affect you?”
Desperate. Stupid. Fucking pointless.
“No. But thank you for trying to save him. I won’t forget that.”
My mouth nearly dropped at his response. He was thanking me? I couldn’t bring myself to talk.
Screams erupted on the battlefield. Fuck. Dark Demons had seized Tinker Bell, and she was struggling to get away. Another one had raised his sword, ready to behead her.
“Swords.” Morden unleashed his shadows and they raced across the battlefield, cutting down all the demons.
Tinker Bell looked at the fallen enemy and then locked eyes with Morden. She smiled.
“I thought Joy was powerful?—”
“She is as powerful as me. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
If Joy could tap into that power, believe in herself, she’d be safe.Come on, Joy. Believe.Throw Ari’s plans into the wind. I stared at the cathedral. “More and more Dark Demons are coming through the cathedral. I think Marsha must have opened some kind of portal. I don’t think this many demons could be inside that building.”
Morden followed my gaze. “You’re probably right. She’s a powerful witch.”
I glanced up at the broken rose window. “If I could shift into a bat, I might be able to slip inside and get the damn AnchoringObsidian stone. Tinker Bell did a spell and loosened the vines, but every time we get close, they still attack.”
He headed toward the cathedral. “Leave them to me.” Tinker Bell was already at the entrance, hurling spell after spell at the vines blocking the doorway, but they kept regenerating. “You just get your ass inside. I’m going to go help Tinker Bell.”
I immediately shifted into a bat. My bones compressed and reshaped with familiar discomfort, and suddenly the world expanded in new dimensions of sound and sensation. I stayed close to the massive oak trees draped in Spanish moss, using their thick trunks and hanging vegetation as cover. The bayou was thick with the scent of blood and magic as I carefully navigated through the shadows, keeping well out of Marsha's line of sight.
The harpies shrieked their battle cries as they dove at the Dark Demons with terrifying precision, their powerful bodies plowing through the enemy ranks like battering rams. Dark Demons flew backward like bowling pins struck by a perfect throw, their screams of pain and shock echoing across the swampland as they crashed into trees and splashed into murky bayou water. Hopefully they wouldn’t mistake me for a midnight snack.
Above the chaos, Hades and Gunnar glided over the battlefield with synchronized grace, their wings cutting through the air as they surveyed the carnage below. They moved like predators circling wounded prey, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Marsha's shrill voice cut through the battle like a whip crack. "Gunnar, Hades, kill them!"
She must not have noticed that they were no longer on her team. A surge of savage satisfaction raced through me.
Deadly mistake.
Below me, the chaos of the battle had deteriorated into a desperate bloodbath. My enhanced hearing picked up every scream, every clash of steel—the carnage unfolding below made my stomach churn even in this form.
Dimitri was almost to the cathedral entrance, so close to achieving something—getting inside, finding the others—but I didn't know what his plan was. He'd been cut off by a fresh wave of demons that swarmed him like starving coyotes. He was a bloody mess, his clothes torn and soaked with crimson that glistened in the lightning flashes. I couldn't tell whether it was his blood or the enemies', and the not knowing twisted fear through my gut like barbed wire. If he fell, if we lost him...
Lorcan was fighting his way back to Keir with the fierce desperation of someone protecting their king. Keir had somehow acquired a sword—probably pulled it from a fallen enemy—and was fighting alongside his guardian with admirable determination. But even from this height, I could see his strokes were growing slower, each swing more labored than the last. He was definitely still wounded from whatever the queen had done to him, his movements carrying the careful deliberation of someone fighting through pain and injury.
Angelo had finally thrown himself fully into the chaos, his vampire strength turning the tide in small pockets of the battlefield. He forced the demons back with brutal efficiency, buying precious ground one corpse at a time. But we were still outnumbered, still losing.
Morden had finally reached Tinker Bell, and his shadows were making mincemeat out of Marsha’s Dark Demons. He and Tinker Bell slowly approached Marsha. Her focus was on them.
This was my chance. I tucked my wings tight and dove toward the broken rose window, flying as fast as my exhausted bat form could manage. The world blurred to streaks of green and gray, and freedom was so close I could taste it.
Then movement exploded beneath me. Thick vines erupted from the cathedral walls like striking serpents, their thorny tendrils reaching up to snatch me from the sky. My tiny heart seized with terror. I was too small, too slow, too vulnerable in this form.
A stream of fire exploded behind me with a roar that shook my bones, the sudden heat scorching the air around me. The flames sizzled through the nearest vine, reducing it to ash before it could wrap around my wings. The smell of burning vegetation filled my nostrils.
I spun around mid-flight, wings fluttering frantically to keep altitude.
Hades soared right behind me, his compact form cutting through the smoke with lethal grace. His mouth still glowed with residual fire, and those intelligent eyes met mine with what looked almost like determination. He wasn't attacking; he was protecting.
Adrenaline burst through me. I wasn't alone.
Marsha looked up, her eyes locking on us with venomous fury, and screamed. “No!” Her shriek tore across the battlefield, hoarse with desperation and rage. She cried out words I didn't recognize—harsh, guttural syllables that scraped against reality itself like nails on glass.
A burst of cold energy shot through me with the force of a sledgehammer, so intense it felt like my very bones were freezing from the inside out. Pain exploded through every nerve ending in my small body, sharp and all-consuming. My wings seized up mid-beat, muscles locking as if encased in ice, and suddenly I had no control over my flight.
The world spun violently as I tumbled down faster and faster. The ground rushed up toward me with terrifying speed—muddy earth and jagged stones that promised to shatter my fragilebat form on impact. Wind screamed past my frozen wings as I plummeted helplessly downward.
Fuck. This was it. I’d never see Joy again.
