Page 121 of Pain

I grabbed Moloch’s Sacrifice from its scabbard again and her eyes went wide. “Swear your oath of fealty to me and whatever gods you worship right now, and I’ll set you free. If I find out you’re a traitor,” I glanced at the other mages as well, “I will not hesitate to remove your heads from your bodies.”

Anysa’s glittering sapphire eyes went wide for a moment, then she nodded solemnly and bowed her head so her forehead touched the tip of the sword. “I swear to you, Queen Omaera Playfair, my allegiance, my loyalty, my fealty.” She turned to her mages-in-waiting and they all murmured and nodded their heads as well.

“Very well,” I said, using my father’s big sword—the one used to kill him—to sever their bonds. I helped Anysa up and together we ran out into the madness.

Standing side-by-side, Anysa and I both conjured energy and launched it at the vampires fighting with Drak, Zandren, and Maxar.

“What kind of mage are you?” I asked, diving into a vampire’s mind that was attackingZandren. I tore the man’s brain into two pieces and he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Maxar raced up and efficiently beheaded him.

“An earth-mage,” she said, her energy resembling a blue, monstrous, pulsing ball of electricity. “I can use the Earth’s electromagnetic current to create energy balls—not all earth-mages can though.”

“Cool,” I simply said, just as another vampire rushed at Maxar, and before Maxar could cut him in half with a fire sword, I knocked the legs right out from under the asshole by shoving an invisible pickaxe into his brain. He fell to a heap at Maxar’s feet.

“Thanks, babe!” Maxar gave me a thumb’s up, beheaded the vampire, then raced back into the mix. Movement out of the corner of my eye pulled my attention, and that’s when I noticed the swinging door of the open andemptyblood cage.

“Where’s Lerris?”

“And Howar?” Anysa asked.

Terror filled my soul as we went on a mad search through the cave for the Vampire King and my uncle. Anysa’s mages held their own, fighting alongside Zandren, Maxar, and Drak. It looked like one mage was a fire-mage like Maxar, one was an earth-mage like Anysa, and the third was a spellcaster-mage like my aunt. I could have been wrong about the last one though. I was too busy hunting for Lerris to pay too much attention.

“Where is Lerris?” I shouted at Zandren, who stood over his father, protecting him.

Zandren’s brown eyes went wide. “What do you mean?” He glanced at the blood cage and panic washed across his features.

“Fuck,” Maxar bellowed when he realized Lerris was gone. He channeled that anger into viciously decapitating a vampire that lunged at him, fangs out.

Drak was on his back, a vampire bigger than him sat on his chest and punched him repeatedly in the face. I ran up to the vampire with my sword out and, without any hesitation, I lopped off the man’s head. It fell forward onto Drak’s chest. The dead guy’s pale-blue eyes wide, and his mouth open in shock.

“Is that it?” I asked, when silenced reigned in the cavern.

“Lerris, Howar, and Raver all escaped,” Zandren said, still next to his father.

Maxar’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, wiping the back of his hand over his forehead and smearing blood there instead of sweat. “Groy and Leno say they didn’t see where the explosions came from. And they didn’t see the vampires enter until it was too late. This was a very calculated plan.”

“One we should have, but didn’t, see coming,” Drak said, standing up, defeat and anger in his eyes.

“Yeah, but did they see them escape?” I asked, making my way over to Zandren and Ryden.

“No,” Maxar said. “They had to take cover during the explosions and couldn’t see from their obstructed vantage point. Lerris stole Anysa’s helicopter though, and Howar took his.”

“Fuck!” Zandren exclaimed.

Ryden whimpered, and I dropped down to a crouch beside him, brushing my hand over his brow. “It’ll be okay, Papa Bear,” I promise.

“His leg is pinned,” Zandren said solemnly. “He’ll likely lose it.”

With a gasp, I shot my eyes up at Zandren. “What? No. Don’t they grow back?” Disbelief made my limbs all tingly.

“He’s not an octopus,” Zandren said with surprise in his eyes.

I shook my head. “I refuse to believe that. He’s not going to lose the leg.” I dropped to my knees. “Ryden, can you shift? It might be easier for us to help carry you to a hospital if you shift.”

“He’s too weak to shift.” Zandren moved down to inspect the enormous, probably-three-ton stalactite that was on Ryden’s leg. “Help me get this off him, eh?”

Maxar, Drak, Anysa, her mages, and I all worked together, and even though we had super strength, it was all we could do to just push it off the enormous bear. And to my utter devastation, Zandren was right. Ryden’s leg was completely crushed and because stalactites are pointed at the bottom, the pointed part severed his left leg, almost entirely detaching it from his body.

“Maxar, can you cauterize it, then remove it?” Zandren asked, falling to his knees next to his father. “That’s what he’s asked for.”

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