Page 58 of Night Fall
The guns went off, and Mya made her way to Daniella. Her magic held for the first round, but the second round began to make it through, and Daniella groaned. She staggered to the side, but Mya caught her before she could hit the ground.
“Luke, feed Greg your shadows! They’re trying to take Dani down!”
Luke shifted his focus, blending his shadows into the darkness to help reinforce Greg’s shield against the attack while Mya cut at her wrist and held it to Daniella’s mouth.
“Drink,” she ordered.
Daniella bit down, and Mya rushed her healing power into her.
“Oaklynn, we need to kill them. We don’t have any more time to waste!” Dom said.
“Dom’s right!” Merida called from her husband’s side. “The vampires are starting to climb out of the rubble. We’re going to be sitting ducks!”
“Then we’ll have to end this fast. If Constance reclaims their blood, we’re fucked,” Oaklynn said.
Mya watched as Johanna nodded. The air grew humid around them, then she shouted, “Go now! I’ve frozen the vampires in place, so they won’t be able to shoot!”
“Turn their guns on them! Kill everyone you can. I’m going after Constance,” Greg said. He lowered the shield at the same time Lily turned the guns on the vampires and fired, shooting them in their heads. A bullet grazed Constance’s arm before she ducked, and Greg dashed toward her.
The group worked their way through the hordes of vampires. Mya cut another one down, then paused and watched as his blood began to move as if it had a life of its own. Turning, she saw that the same thing was happening to all vampires she’d killed, their blood gathering, then traveling away from their bodies as if being drawn toward something.
“What the—”
“Stop!” Oaklynn screamed, causing Mya and Erik to look up at the large red shield Constance had erected. “You have to kill Constance, now! She’s casting a reanimation spell!”
“What?” Erik shouted and blasted another array of fire at his targets before they rushed back to Oaklynn.
“Reanimation allows her to raise her fallen enemies’ bodies and control them. And with how many we’ve slain…” Oaklynn trailed off, her mouth open in horror.
“How do we kill them?” Mya asked, twirling her sword and decapitating another vampire.
“You won’t be able to! We have to stop her, right now!” Oaklynn screamed.
But Mya and Erik couldn’t stop killing the vampires. If they did, they’d be overrun. Mya looked around to see most of their group in the same predicament, while Greg fought to both defend himself from vampires and break through a shield of magic Constance erected.
“Take care of the vampires. I have to help Greg!” Daniella reached down to the ground, and her eyes glowed red as she pulled in more power from the earth. The boulders from the rubble lifted and she slammed them at Constance’s shield, but to no avail.
“Astrid, Oaklynn, Dani, we need to link our powers!” Johanna yelled.
Astrid stood in the center of the four of women. The threads she’d woven between each member began to manifest and glow, sending purple sparks through the room before they dimmed to the four shared between them. Daniella and Johanna shared a knowing look before Daniella began to issue orders.
“Oaklynn, see if you can bind yourself into her blood magic so I can work through you. Astrid and Luke, try to find cracks in her shield. We just need one for Johanna to do what she needs to. Erik, you’re the strongest of us. Try to smash that shield.”
They tried. The tried with all their magic and abilities and might to break the shield, but nothing was working. Mya was growing increasingly frustrated, and when she gestured to the others that the dead vampires had begun to twitch, they knew they were running out of time.
In a last-ditch effort, Daniella used her power to break the ground beneath Constance. It buckled, and for one single moment, her concentration slipped and the shield cracked. Seeing the opening, Luke slipped his shadows inside and tied Constance’s legs and arms, while wrapping a shadow around her neck.
Johanna used her power to break into Constance’s mind, and froze her mouth mid-sentence, ending her chant. Then Greg struck at the shield again and finally, it fell away.
In one glorious last stroke, Erik lifted his sword and decapitated Constance, sending her head flying before it hit the ground with a hard thump.
The battle still raged on, but they were on the winning side now. They pushed back at Constance’s minions, easily defeating them even in their large numbers, until they were the only ones left standing.
But instead of celebrating the end of their century long battle, Greg issued an order. “Split up and move out. I want this place searched top to bottom.”
“What’s wrong?” Mya asked.
“Something doesn’t add up. Did it look like we just fought a maniac to you?” Greg said, grabbing one of the guns off the ground and checking the chamber.
