Page 105 of Shadow's End

I swung my pack around, freed the silver knife, and ran for Aiden. It was tempting, so damn tempting to reach for the wild magic that burned through my body, but the last thing I needed was to unleash my one good weapon too soon—and certainly not before Aiden was fully protected.

Something brown and fuzzy leapt at my face and I slashed sideways with the blade, severing legs and eye stalks. The rest of its body hit mine, and teeth tore into my T-shirt, ripping through the material but not into skin. I tore it free, tossed it into the air, and stabbed it as it fell back toward me. It squealed and went limp, and I flicked it free from the blade and ran on. Another critter, this one a long streak of black with skeletal wings, swooped toward me, wickedly sharp black talons held out in front of its body. I dropped to one knee and raised the knife, slicing its leathery underbelly open as it went past. Blood and gore and God knows what else fell like rain all around me, stinging where it hit bare flesh. I cursed, but scrambled upright and continued on, reaching Aiden just as another one of those spidery things leapt at me. I slashed wildly at the thing, splitting its fat body in two. As the two sections fell either side of Aiden, I dropped my pack beside him, grabbed the holy water and blessed salt, and quickly circled him, creating a temporary barrier around the two of us. It might be basic, it might not hold back any sort of magic, let alone the type Maelle and Marie could raise, but it was enough to stop the critters and give me time to help Aiden.

But to do that, I had to leave the silver in his body a little bit longer.

I dropped to my knees, reached for another bottle of holy water, and carefully poured it onto the wound in his thigh. He hissed and clenched his hands.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” I whispered, “but I can’t remove the silver rods just yet. I need their deep connection to the ground, but the holy water should at least stop the silver infection from getting any worse.”

Or at least, I hoped it would.

His mouth moved, but no sound came out, and there was deeper pain in his eyes and tears trickling from the corners. But his hand found my knee and squeezed lightly. Acceptance. Trust. I blinked back my own tears, opened another bottle of holy water, and poured it over the wound in his shoulder.

Movement caught my eye, and I glanced up sharply. Several hairy brown spiders were skittering around the edge of my circle, looking for a way in. I needed to hurry, because I had no idea just how long that circle would hold or even if it would stop something airborne. That scenario had never been mentioned in any of the books I’d ever read.

Once I’d doused the wounds, I splayed my hands around the two sharply pointed, blood-streaked rods, being careful not to touch the silver myself, and then reached for my inner wild magic. But I didn’t use it to throw a net around the two of us. Instead, I arrowed it along each one of the stakes, following them through Aiden’s body and into the ground. The rods, as he’d said earlier, were several feet in length and had a cross-like end that anchored into the soil—no doubt to ensure they could not be easily ripped free.

But it also meant she’d had the stakes already embedded and just dropped him onto them.

Fucking bitch… I swallowed the anger. In many respects, Marie’s actions had actually helped us, because those ends were anchored below the dead zone, right in the heart of the luminous rivers, providing not only a connection point but also a means of guidance through the deadness.

Katie? You there?

Her energy swam through the rivers, then around me.Ready and waiting.

Then follow me back through these rods and protect Aiden.

I quickly withdrew my inner wild magic, and she chased me up the silver shafts, an almost volcanic force that erupted from the two wounds in Aiden’s body and quickly formed a fierce, bright dome around the two of us.

Nothing was getting through that dome or Katie. Of that, I was certain.

I touched a hand to Aiden’s face, and he opened his eyes; the blue depths were filled with fury and pain. “I’m going to lift you free of the stakes. It’ll hurt.”

He half laughed, then croaked, “Not as much as being slowly pushed onto them, I assure you.”

Fury bit through me again, but once again I shoved it aside and reached for the wild magic that still flowed into the clearing via the bridges of silver, bolstering Katie’s dome even further. I caught several strands and swept them around and under Aiden. Then, with a glance of warning his way, I ripped his body free from the silver. He screamed, a sound that tore at my soul and my heart, then went limp in my grip. I swore, placed him gently on the ground, then scrambled across to him, my heart racing and panic filling my veins. I pressed two shaking fingers against his neck, my breath caught somewhere in my throat.

I found his pulse. It was too faint and too rapid, but nevertheless there.

Relief surged, and I briefly dropped my head, once again fighting the tears that stung my eyes. It wasn’t over yet. Couldn’t be over while the two vampires remained alive.

I retrieved the silver knife and then drew three stakes from my backpack, shoving two through the belt hooks at the back of my jeans and gripping the other. Then I rose and glanced at Katie, who nodded at my unspoken question.

I severed the connection between me, her, and the wild magic, then stepped through the protective dome.

Into utter chaos.

There were bits and pieces of critters everywhere, and plenty more moving on the ground and through the air, the main concentration currently over the two women. One of Maelle’s snakes encircled them, spitting venom that instantly melted any creature that came too close while it swatted others away with its whiplike tail. I couldn’t see the other snake, but there were chunks of shiny black stone scattered about the clearing that had a rather scaly appearance.

I stalked toward them, knife in one hand, stake in the other, my knuckles white with the force of my grip. A creature whirled away from the tempest ahead and dove toward me. I slashed with the knife, killing it. More left the tempest, coming at me from several different angles. I briefly switched the stake to my left hand and called to my inner wild magic, lassoing the lot of them before drawing them closer in a more controlled manner so I could dispatch them with the knife. After tossing their lifeless bodies on the ground, I stepped over them and continued. The snake eyed me, hissing, but threw no acid my way. A warning, nothing more.

The two women continued to fight, battering each other with clenched fists one moment, slashing at flesh and limbs with nails as long and as sharp as any knife the next. Both were bleeding heavily, and Maelle’s movements were hampered bywhat looked to be the skeletal wing of one of the bone creatures driven deep into her thigh.

I had no idea who would win if the fight ran to its natural conclusion, and didn’t really care. I just needed it to end quickly, and I needed Marie dead, because that was the only way her barrier would drop and I could get Aiden to the hospital.

I stopped several yards behind Marie. Maelle’s snake continued to roll around the two of them, and Marie’s critters continued to attack it. I wrapped wild magic around the stake, then stepped forward and raised the knife. As I’d hoped, she sensed the movement, but she sent her remaining creatures at me rather than attacking me herself. I slashed wildly with the knife, striking several but missing more. Maelle’s snake reared into the air, venom spraying from its teeth. Marie screamed as her critters fell around her, then spun and dove at me, her nails sharp talons aimed at my throat.

That was the moment I flicked the stake at her. It cut through the air so fast it was little more than a blur, but Marie nevertheless sensed it. She threw herself to one side, hit the ground, then rolled away as Maelle’s snake attacked. As my stake flew harmlessly over her head and plunged into the ground, her hand flicked up, and silver glittered briefly before lodging in the snake’s left eye. It reared up again, hissing in fury, shaking its head as its body convulsed, shimmered, and began to dissipate.

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