Page 39 of Fallen Demon

The wall crackled and sizzled.

And fell away.

“No!” Rage shouted.

Sarki cackled once more. “I’ll see you all on the other side.”

She half floated, half walked past us, and crossed the bridge. We fought against her immense power. She disappeared into the horizon, going back the way we came, and we remained planted in our spots. It took another fifteen minutes or so for us to finally break free.

We rushed to Drake, who was still on the ground, the spear through his shoulder and the blade deep into the dry dirt. He was awake, but having trouble holding on to consciousness.

Lacey crouched beside him. “We need to take the spear out.”

Zad produced his Celestial Sword and cut the spear close to Drake’s chest. Then he and Rage held Drake’s shoulders. Wyatt, Frank, and Cyran grabbed his legs. They quickly lifted him up and Drake cried as the spear left his body.

The men put him down again, and Lacey leaned over him, starting to heal him. To help, Farrah applied ice on the other side of the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

“He won’t die,” Frank reminded us. “But he needs to heal.”

For a moment, I forgot it wasn’t easy to kill a vampire. But with that curse and the witch loose, Drake needed to regain his strength.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Drake said, trying to get rid of Lacey halfway through the healing.

“I’m not done yet.” She pushed him back and pressed her hands to his wound.

He groaned, but he let Lacey do her thing.

“What do you want to do, my lord?” Cyran asked.

He looked at me. “I’m going back to DuMoir Castle.”

I nodded, not expecting anything less. If this wasn’t my mission, I would have gone with him.

“You should stay and help Ariella,” he said to his vampires.

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “You two go with Drake. Lacey might have healed him, but he might be weak for a while longer. Make sure he gets to DuMoir Castle safely.”

They both nodded at me.

Lacey leaned back. “It’s done.”

“Thank you.” Drake sat up and rolled his shoulder. He groaned. “I’ll make a pit stop to see Tanner. He needs to know that crazy witch is loose in the underworld and probably looking to escape.”

“No, you go directly to a portal,” Jasmin said. “I’ll warn Tanner and start a search party. She’s not leaving the underworld.” She looked at me. “Unless you need me here.”

I shook my head. It was my fault we were here. It was my fault Sarki was now on the loose and had cast a curse on Aurora. My stomach clenched painfully with that knowledge.

“Go,” I said. “Do what you can to stop her.”

No one wasted time. Once Drake was able to stand up, he gave me one more apologetic look and left with Frank and Cyran. Jasmin went with them, at least until they reached the entrance to this section of the underworld.

Now it was Rage, Zad, Farrah, Wyatt, Lacey, Mill, Barn, and me.

“Everyone else okay?” Rage asked, looking at each one of us.

A couple of us said yes and others nodded. I was okay, only still a little shocked with what had happened. It had been crazy, fast, and intense. I hoped Jasmin and Drake caught up with that witch before she reached DuMoir Castle and did more damage.

Rage stored his spear on his back and turned to the bridge. “Then we should keep moving.”

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