Page 113 of Commanding Flame and Shield
Indeed.
As the clock hand made another full rotation, I thought perhaps we were wrong. Perhaps, as the elderly, and sponsors, and poor saps with early flights in the morning, meandered down the hall to exit, we would still play a good fourth quarter. That things were fine, and Ally was fine. But it was the way the Senator moved as she closed the distance between them, the hunger in his eyes as they guzzled her down, that told me how wrong I was.
Yes. Tonight was indeed another going to shit plan.
It was a predator’s movement, the way he turned on her when she approached. The way his feet shifted into a fighting stance. The way his smile twisted into a cruel smirk, and eyes zeroed in his prey that made me shout one word down the mental line between us, shattering the shield so she might see.
Don’t!
And when their skin touched, a wave of power burst from her with so much kick it rattled the glasses. It reverberated through my feet, my chest, through time itself. In statue stillness, Alvara’s face went utterly blank.
No major injuries. No fatalities. That was what she’d promised me.
But the moment her face slackened, and eyes glazed over, I knew it wasn’t a reading that glued her to the spot. Wasn’t the reading her visions had promised us. Darkness roiled in my mind—a cackling, cruel shadow within our mental bond. I slammed my shield up, but it didn’t stop the sheer terror that seized me. Alvara’s terror. She swayed, and the Senator’s cruel smile stretched ear to ear as the remaining guests dropped their glamours, revealing the creatures that had worn the human skins. There werenotrue humans left. But there were all twenty-two demons, now stalking towards each of us.
Alvara looked like she would topple, and I made to dash for her.
She knew, August. Ally knew what would lurk beneath his skin, and would not have gone in if she could not win.Marcus’ words down the line did little to soothe the panic devouring me. They did little as her eyes rolled, and that thing in the Senator’s body laughed, a joyless sound. A sound that raked claws down my spine. It did little as she swayed again. I lunged as she fell towards the ground. And then I was there, an involuntary jump, as the thing in the skin suit flipped her pale, lifeless hand towards me. It flashed its teeth, and, arm around her waist, I jumped us back to Alec’s side. Something hot and rancid burned in my nose. Carrion and ashes, I realized, as I set her down at Alec’s feet.
In the split second since I’d moved us, the Westerlunds had engaged with the demons. Swords met talons, talons tore flesh. The hiss and cry of pain filled the air, and screams erupted on the sidewalks beyond the exit. Aphaea leapt from our side towards the Senator, and I could feel the others closing in. Heart hammering, I looked to Ally. Her eyes had closed, and her muscles were twitching as Alec brushed a strand of dark hair off her straight, slender nose. Still, her chest rose and fell evenly.
“What did you do?” I demanded, and the Senator huffed a laugh.
“Gave her some company,” he purred. “Felix, my friend, say hello.”
Alvara’s eyes flashed open. But it was not that emerald-green that locked on me. Not the sparkling meadow lake I loved. But a thick, lifeless, inky black.
“Shit.” Alec took a step back, hands raised to wield a shield. Her delicate, muscled body rose in a smooth motion. Different than the grace I knew.
“Ally!” I bellowed her name like a battle cry as two of the demons advanced on me. The black decor of the ballroom seemed suddenly horrifically ironic. “Ally!” I threw a hand out with so much wind that the demons were thrown into the opposite wall. Bones crunched as drywall crumbled. They didn’t rise. I threw my attention forward and startled. She was only inches from my face. Notshe. Not Alvara. The thing called Felix. My stomach roiled. Rage and terror searing lances down my veins.
Alec snarled towards Jones. “Are you insane? Do you realize who you’re dealing with? I would release her, if I were you.”
Jones sneered, “Why would I do that?”
I stared down those depthless black eyes, searching, pushing for the woman within. Alec was creeping up behind her, hands ready to seize either side of her. Somewhere to the side, I was aware the Westerlunds continued to fight, Fae doing the same, moving to take on the Senator herself. But I searched for her in those dark pools. A cruel smile flashed across her perfect features. With the snap of her fingers, Alec was flung backwards and pinned to the wall. He gasped for air, hands frantically clawing at his throat. But the thing turned back towards me. Slimy talons clawed at my shield, but it held.
Alec, through his gasps, laughed coldly. His words a rasp, “So she doesn’t turn you to ash, you idiot.”
His threat was undercut by the snarling inhuman voice coming from Ally’s body. Directed at me.
“You. You we need to kill. To do so slowly. She will break…if we breakhim.” The demon said over Alvara’s shoulder to the leader. With that, the Senator flung his arm forward and telekinetically pinned Fae to the wall beside her mate. Both writhing against the binds. Marcus snarled, throwing his opponent to the ground. We both flung our own shields forward, Ally’s solid, trained body barely stumbled, but the human Senator lost ground. The other beasts lunged forward, and the Westerlunds were once again engaged.
I whirled and bellowed down the line.Alvara, come back to us! You are better than this.
Silence. Where confidence and skill and knowledge usually sat…nothing. Just an empty void. The demon wielding her powers made to throw me backwards, but I was faster. I pinned my shield against hers. She bared her teeth, and the demon threw more force against me. It was then that I realized that it didn’t know who it inhabited. That it didn’t see the truth of Alec’s swaggering threat. Didn’t see what she could do. She had hidden her fire, her storm, her strength. It didn’t know it could incinerate us all in an instant.
It was a fools’ hope. To believe perhaps The Great Commander could draw her out of that inky pool.
Alvara, I command you come back. You are still here. You are stronger than this.
Distant. A knocking. Like three clicks of high heels down a long hallway. And then, as though walls had been stuffed in between us, her muffled voice trailed into my mind.
I know.
FORTY-FIVE
DAUGHTER OF THE KING
