Page 66 of Dark Master's Redemption

“The Dark Haven of Bavaria fights to the death. We are far stronger than any Fae,” the big leader says now, before he pins Arturos with his steely gaze. “You are doubtful, Siren; I feel it corrupting your living blood. Do you gainsay the might of the Dark Haven of Bavaria, alive one?”

“Not at all.” Arturos shakes his head, though I don’t miss his small smile that the Vampire-Giant picked up on just how very much alive he is now, after last night. “I am simply aware of how many resources from the Council Florian Delano still has inside the Dark Haven of Florence right now. Many hundreds of their Societas Sanguinis, their most elite warriors, helped him secure that place; they are most likely still in-residence inside the building. In addition to Florian’s own people, of which his guards and fighters are mighty.”

“We care not. We will smash them, just as we did at our own Dark Haven,” the big Vampire-Giant says as he lifts his chin, his eyes like black holes in the night. “Until then, we will make ourselves comfortable here.”

“In the yard?” Adicus steps forward now, his eyebrows lifting. “Surely, you would like a place to sleep, perhaps inside somewhere when the sun rises?”

“The rocks along your drive will do.” The big Giant nods at the rocky ditch beside the gravel driveway, flanked by a row of cypress trees. “We shall dig in and wait out the sun until it is time to fight.”

“As you wish.” Adicus motions them in that general direction now, as I realize these Vampire-Giants are going to dig themselves down beneath the rocks and earth, burying themselves away from the sun until we receive the signal from Quinn to move out.

It’s incredible, and intimidating, as the ones at the rear of the small army dig enormous rocks the size of cars out of the ditch now, hurling them aside and making a trench. As others join in, the big leader gives me and Ariana one last nod, then goes to join his fellows.

The sounds of rocks smash and thud as they’re hurled aside, filling the quiet night.

“Well, there’s something you don’t see every day.” Curio chuckles, as we all watch the ditch lengthen and deepen in a matter of minutes.

But before we can comment further on the arrival of a small army of Vampire-Giants in Adicus and Illyria’s driveway, hurled drives of terrible black magic are coming at us.

I cover Ariana fast as one hits me, searing across my shoulder and making me roar as my Fae wings shoot from my back in a hurricane. The Giants are already in action, as someone attacks us in the night, just after their arrival. Dozens of somebodies surround us now—hundreds.

As a sudden battle breaks out in the dark yard.

“Lucca! Ariana! Alleno!” A fierce battle-cry pierces the night; someone is tossing us Fae-spears, curling with terrible sigils for maiming and destruction as I throw a hand up and snatch one out of the air.

With a quick glance, I see it’s Illyria, rushing down the steps of the villa in a blue night robe as her own Fae spear lengthens to its fullest. That spear burns with a terrible rose-gold fire in the night as her Summer Fae wings sear wide. Adicus is right on her heels, seething with a silver, forest green darkness; they form a blazing duo as they fight back-to-back now with wings and spears.

And I see who is hemming us in from the forest.

Hundreds of Vampires in arcane black armor are clashing with the Giants, and those few of us Fae who were at the main house tonight. Their terrible violet-black spears, ornate armor, and seething drives of magic devour the night as Gunter’s Vampire-Giants fight back, hammering them with fists or barreling in, seizing the smaller Vampires and knocking their heads together to crush skulls.

“To me!!” I roar now, my time in battle coming back in a rush as I write terrible Faeanic sigils in the air with my spear for incapacitation and death.

But even I can see we’re outnumbered, as hundreds more Societas Sanguinis Vampires from the Council come flooding in, everywhere. They’ve surrounded us in the night; it’s just like what happened at Novakitsk, though this force is far smaller. We heard earlier this same evening that Lady Eiseth Pendragon’s Dark Haven had been attacked also, up in Britain, and now the same from the Bavarian Vampire-Giants who were also Quinn’s allies.

Clearly, the Council found us, and know this place holds allies of Quinn’s; as Adicus and Illyria blast their way through the onslaught with masterful sigil work now, not one bit rusty for all their time away from fighting, Ariana holds her own beside me. She doesn’t need me or Alleno to protect her anymore, as we all maneuver to Adicus and Illyria, Ariana writing sigils to repel as Alleno uses his favorite sigil in battle—kill.

Devi and Curio don’t need Faeanic spears, as Curio wields his powerful drives of winter-chill terror and Devi thrusts dozens of crimson blades made of her magic into our enemies. Bello Bellissimo fights with them, making enormous discs of magic in the air that rush into our enemies, chopping off heads.

We form a group now, Summer Fae and Dark Fae, fighting as one. Arturos is with us, sending incredible waves of pure blue-ocean vastness hammering into our foes, over and over. Like he did in Florence, he thrusts our foes back so we have a breath, or swamps them, holding them in cocoons of ever-crashing ocean waves as he tames the onslaught so we have a chance at recovery.

Still, these Vampires are the Council’s most elite fighters. Masterful with their Bloodsign work, they write dark curses into the air to ensnare, poison, and drain us of our blood as they fight like banshees with their black-violet devil spears.

Gunter’s Vampire-Giants pull in now, with us; they’re powerful fighters, but they’ve suffered the most losses being on the leading edge of the fray near the trees and barreling into the Council’s Vampires with brute force, without hardly any Bloodsign work whatsoever.

I feel us become hemmed in, though I can only see it through the terrible blazes of magic going off everywhere, all around us in the night. As Arturos clears a wave from before us yet again, I see my tawny owl Altenni dive in, ripping the heart of one Vampire assailant right out of his chest with her long talons as she bites off the head of another with her hooked beak.

Her wings pummel my rainbow-light aura out over our attackers, blistering them with Light and hammering them back. I don’t know when it happened, but as I raised her, Altenni gained the ability to use my magic in battle.

I’m grateful for it now, as she works with Arturos to keep the worst of this onslaught back from us.

Ariana’s parents are a hurricane of power and Light as they blaze and skewer Vampires, searing them with sigils and their Summer Fae magic. Ariana, Alleno, and I do no less, Light rising between us all now in a wave so bright it flares like the dawn all around us.

The rest of Quinn’s people have been alerted about what’s going on through our bond. As the remaining Dark Fae who are in any shape to fight—plus Luliana Ouros, who was healing them tonight so Arturos could have a break—come barreling into our attackers, new hope blazes inside our group.

As Ariana and I and the rest of our allies fight for our lives, I feel it as the Music suddenly rises—not just between Ariana and myself now, but between all of us.

Now that the entire Dark Haven has been rejoined by Quinn’s power, even though Quinn’s not with us right now, we’re all resonating with the same magic. It flows through us in a vast wave now; because everyone here is fighting not just for ourselves, but because we believe in something greater—something that could save us all.

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