Page 94 of Immortal Burden

I’d barely rounded the corner when I caught sight of the Coven’s newlyweds, Thomas and Louise, huddled together behind some ruins as a bolt of black lightning headed straight for them.

Immortal magic!

The work of Draco!

Their supposed refuge would do nothing to stop that. It would cut right through and decimate them. Judging by the way they were holding one another so intensely, they knew it all too well.

I briefly wondered why they weren’t summoning their magic to teleport from certain death, until I saw Louise collapse into Thomas.

Peering closer, I saw the true state of them both. Bloodied, scorch marks marring their skin and torn clothing, their bodies trembling. Not only were they wounded and exhausted, but their violent trembling told me their magic was tapped out. They were sitting ducks.

I had no idea if my abilities were a match for Draco and now wasn’t the time to test that theory. If I failed, Thomas and Louise were dead.

But, I was nothing if not a talented improviser.

I let loose a stream of green fire from my right palm, inching underneath the black lightning bolt heading their way. I spun my left hand rapidly, directing the path of my magic.

I watched as it wrapped around the bolt, straining, my boots digging into the torched ground beneath my feet in an effort to gain purchase as I pulled with every ounce of strength at my disposal to redirect the bolt.

“Come on. Come on,” I gritted out, as it resisted my pull, its determination to break through my hold to hit its targets sending a searing sensation through my body, as it began tearing its way through my magic.

As if I was going to let that stop me.

I strained, groaning aloud, as I pulled harder still.

I saw the bolt inch to the right ever so slightly.

It was working!

More!

It jerked sharply to the right.

Relief coursed through me as I finally managed to turn it enough, right at the last second.

It sailed over Thomas and Louise’s heads, taking out one of the Ruminat huts a few feet in the distance instead.

Thomas jerked his head my way, shock and relief blanketing his face.

I ran toward them.

My job wasn’t done.

With their magic tapped out, they’d need help teleporting out of this hellscape.

A wall of Hellfire erupted, barring my path to Thomas and Louise.

“Guardian!” a gravelly voice boomed.

I spun at the sound, zoning in on the Beast himself.

He was a hulking mass, towering over seven-foot and all bulky muscle, more so than even Cornelius. He looked at least twenty years younger. In human years. It made sense, given that he’d been made later than the old bastard had.

He stood in his celestial battle garb. Dark pants made of some sort of otherworldly animal skin, leather straps crossing over his bare chest that had a holster at the back where he rested his sword when he wasn’t in battle. The creepy thing was currently clutched tightly in his right hand, the oval gem at its center swirling with undischarged Hellfire. His black cloak was billowing behind him from the storm-like conditions borne from so much high-level magic usage all over the grounds, the explosions everywhere, the flames. I cringed at the sight of his ink-covered skin, knowing from my studies that they were no mere tattoos. They were the names of every single being he had ever killed. He wore them with pride and as a warning to all those who looked upon him.

“Draco,” I seethed.

He smirked, barely seeming concerned at all that Mia stood a few feet to the side of him, her magic streaming, trapping his ankles in glowing blue cuffs.

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