Page 105 of Rafe

A great ball of light swirled above Ilsbeth as she worked her powerful magick. The twisting dirt funnel whirled towards Ilsbeth and Greyson. Rafe caught sight of Dominique and Skylar running towards the mountains. Within seconds, they ducked into the safety of its limestone caves. Whirling dust hurled toward Ilsbeth as she conjured a huge protective ball of light until it surrounded both her and Greyson, shielding them.

Ilsbeth’s voice carried throughout the desert, baiting her sister to reveal herself. “Te ostende! Invoco Deam et omnia sacra. Soror, tibi impero. Te ostende nunc!”

An explosion detonated, whooshing through the desert. A wall of sand blasted in all directions, triggering a landslide on the mountains. Rafe reached for Skylar, still sensing her presence. As the huge cloud of dust settled, he caught sight of Zyaire.

“How dare you summon me?” Nearly identical to Ilsbeth, her slicked-back candy-apple-red hair stood out against her gold jumpsuit.

“Enough sister. It’s time for you to go back,” Ilsbeth demanded.

Zyaire gave a cold smirk as she glared at the vampire. “Today is my lucky day. Hello, Greyson.”

He ignored her and looked away in silence, brushing the dust off his hands.

“I’m giving you one chance to go back of your own volition. You’re not meant for this world,” Ilsbeth told her.

“That’s where you’re wrong, dear sister. I’ve been waiting for this day for hundreds of years. You’re so selfish though, aren’t you? Ah, you can’t resist the temptations of Hell, can you? What you did to Dimitri? It was simply delicious. Your punishment? I so enjoyed watching you suffer in Hell. But you were saved once again, so I waited, growing stronger, waiting for the day I could destroy something, someone you care about. I’m ever so patient. Then one day you did it. You gave away your precious blood. Like the fool that you are.” Zyaire broke out with maniacal laughter. “You let a vampire talk you into saving a wolf? Therein lies the myth of the prophecy.”

Thorn materialized closer to Ilsbeth, still outside the protective light, taunting the witch. “Oh, honey. You’re not looking so good after all these years. Your skin…it’s a bit dry. Old. Really old.”

Zyaire released a lightning bolt from her fingertips, narrowly missing the demon.

Thorn disappeared and rematerialized behind her. “Are those extensions? Time to get that shit out. You’re lookin’ raggedy. I know a good stylist on the third level of Hell. I don’t gatekeep.”

“You lie!” she screamed at him, sending a wall of dust toward the demon, burying him beneath a pile of sand.

“The prophecy is true! You cannot stop it,” Ilsbeth warned her. “Today will be your last on this realm. You’ve done enough killing!”

“I’ve collected power. I can feel it burning in me now. First, I’m going to kill the Alpha. Then I’m going to kill the vampire. Oh yes, and you’re going to watch the whole thing, dear sister. Because this is your penance.”

“You really think you can conquer me? A High Priestess?” Ilsbeth laughed, her eyes cold and dark.

Inwardly Rafe cringed at their banter, enraged their petty battle had been responsible for the death of both supernaturals and humans alike. Fuck this shit.

Rafe crept low, inching out of the slot canyon into the desert when he caught sight of movement on the mountain. Skylar scaled up the side of a cliff with Dominique trailing her. Where are they going?

A loud cry echoed across the desert drawing his attention. Out in the distance, a great dragon dove down from the clouds toward the witch. It swooped down at Zyaire and released a torrent of fire. The great witch responded with a flick of her wrist, rebuking its flames. Kenji spiraled into the hard desert dirt.

“Enough, Zyaire,” Ilsbeth demanded.

“I see you’ve brought your friends. It’s time to meet mine.” Zyaire spun in circles, whipping the dust up around her.

The ground beneath Rafe’s paws began to shake, cracking holes open across the desert. Adrenaline rushed through his veins as the mutants emerged from the portal. Over a hundred of the humanoid creatures crawled on all fours. Dripping with blood, their skin had been removed.

Focused on Zyaire, Rafe tore across the desert, dodging the creatures emerging from the earth. Dark magick filtrated the air, an impending sense of doom curling in his chest.

In the distance Zyaire invoked her dark magick, morphing, growing nearly fifteen feet tall. Towering over Ilsbeth and Greyson, she began to beat at the protective white light with her fists.

Within seconds, the vampire materialized behind her, slashing his nails down her back. Zyaire hissed in pain and flailed her oversize arm at him, slapping Greyson onto the ground. Kenji flew in front of the vampire, protecting him with a stream of fire. The creatures screeched as they sizzled, dying.

Rafe’s gut clenched as gunshots blasted into the desert. There was only one person carrying a gun in this battle…Skylar.

19

“I’m going up,” Skylar told Dominique, her pulse racing as Zyaire worked her black magick, towering over Ilsbeth. They crouched behind a boulder, watching Rafe dodge hundreds of bloodied creatures as he barreled toward the witch.

“No. There’s other caves we can hide in. Rafe said to keep you safe and I’m trying to do that.” Dominique tugged her arm.

Skylar shrugged her off, determined to help. “I know what Rafe told you, but he doesn’t get to tell you or me what to do.”