Page 94 of Fallen Heirs

Magical streams slammed into one another as the magic-wielders battled. Vampires were zipping through the courtyard, snapping necks, downing opponents, and tearing into the throats of others. The Light Fae defectors were using nature to their advantage, creating sinkholes that were suckingExemplarmembers into the earth, and also using vines and tree branches to bind them, where they then burned them with their magic.

Roars, snarls, screams, and grunts filled the area, a cacophony of violence and fury.

I caught sight of my dad just a few feet to my left.

He was over by the entrance doors, four of his magic-wielders blasting back incoming attacks as some of the acolyteswere trying to stop my dad from re-erecting the ward and others were trying to breach the compound.

They failed to stop everyone and I watched several vampires burst by, entering the building.Hell.

I took in my dad who was grimacing and down on his knees, struggling. The fact he needed help from his members instead of being able to hold up a shield while he re-erected the ward was shocking. It was Elliot Sabre we were talking about. The most powerful sorcerer across the realms.

Constantine was really doing a number on him.

And it was all because of me.

Because he’d been able to take that sliver of my magic and make the connection to my dad. If I’d been stronger, or even faster, I could have stopped it, I could have prevented all of this from coming to pass.

Stop! Focus!

Regret and guilt wouldn’t help here.

Only action would.

Only trying to make it better.

I called the demon forth, dropping my fangs in the process.

My vampiric senses screamed at me and I reacted just in time as a bolt of magic sailed for my back. I spun and caught it with my own in my palm, then blew it back the way it had come, watching as it slammed into the gut of a crimson robe and ripped the spiky-haired fucker off his feet.

The enemy either realized what I was about to do in order to help my dad re-erect the ward, or they wanted to distract him by hurting me, because I barely made it another step closer when a swirling vortex surrounded me, a dozen vampires ripping around me, creating a tornado-like effect that had me stumbling, soil and dust getting into my eyes and compromising my vision.

The speed with which they were moving, the fluidity, and the perfect formation with each other, they were clearly experiencedand tens of years older than me. I couldn’t match them with my vampiric abilities.

Fortunately, I was more than just vampire.

As the onslaught had me choking and collapsing onto one knee, I snarled through my fangs, then swept my hands in an arc, sending my power blasting out all sides of me.

It blew all the vampires back and they landed in unconscious heaps a few feet away.

I burst forward then, skidding to a stop right beside my dad.

“Xavier, what the—” he started, choking with his every word.

“Channel me,” I told him, thrusting my hand out at him.

He started shaking his head, not wanting to draw from me, to weaken me or hurt me.

“You don’t andExemplarwill fall.”

He cursed, hesitated for several moments, trying to resume re-erecting the ward on his own, but his power started sputtering and he choked violently, blood trickling from his nose.

“Dad! Either channel me or I’ll make you stop. This is killing you.”

He grimaced at it having to come to this.

Then he grasped my hand, the weakness of his grip really fucking worrying me.

A shudder went through me from the unsettling sensation of being channeled as he pulled on my power.

---