Page 45 of Heir of Blood and Moonlight

25

Gasping, I stumbled backinto reality. The moon shone high overhead, and gleaming headstones jutted out of the ground all around me, scattered among pale marble statues and mausoleums that tugged at memories buried in the deepest recesses of my mind. The silence was deafening after the ear-splitting sounds of battle back in the server room.

Micah lurched through the portal a few seconds later. I threw my arms around him, holding him upright as he stumbled, and the two of us backed away from the swirling vortex of darkness filling the space beneath the arch of an intricate wrought-iron gate. Micah’s breaths were harsh in the still night.

Thane and Ash took up defensive stances between us and the portal. Where was Gavin? He had been carrying Micah right behind me, but only Micah had come through. And what about Bastian? I pressed a hand to my chest, directly over my heart. Would I know if something happened to either of them? Would I be able to feel it through our bonds?

It was impossible to differentiate anything I might have been feeling from them through the tsunami of adrenaline raging within my veins. My muscles felt electrified, my senses hyperaware.

The portal crackled with black lightning, and two figures stumbled through. Both were vampires, a man and a woman, but neither wasmyvampire. They appeared haggard but faced the portal and took up defensive stances alongside Thane and Ash.

More of that black lightning streaked out from the dark vortex, and I held my breath. A moment later, Bastian leapt into the graveyard, still in his sleek black panther form, stumbling as he landed.

“Stand down!” Thane barked when the female vampire lunged at Bastian. “He belongs to the queen!”

The other vampire froze, then gradually eased backward to her starting position.

Bastian was here—injured but alive. I released the breath I had been holding, though tension continued to hum through me. He limped toward me, his face, chest, and paws soaked with blood.

“Shift,” I hissed. Returning to his human form would heal his injuries.

He chuffed and shook his enormous head, refusing. We both looked to the portal as it crackled, fresh bolts of black lightning scorching the earth.

Gavin and another, smaller figure flew out of the portal in an explosion of black lightning bolts, tumbling on the uneven ground. Gavin gracefully rolled to his feet, then crouched next to the person he had traveled with. It was a woman, but not one of the vampires. Had he brought a shifter through with him?

“Shut it down!” Gavin snarled, hauling the woman up to her feet. Her jeans were torn and bloodied, and the sleeve of her jacket hung by a few threads. She was an elemental, I realized. The portalist.

She hugged her arm to her middle, wincing at Gavin’s rough handling of her as he dragged her closer to the portal. “Now!”

Again, black lightning crackled out from the vortex. Someone else was coming through.

A man emerged, covered in blood and shouting a battle cry. The lack of a crescent sigil on his face told me he was a shifter. He held his hand up, his fingers curled around something small and silver.

Another vampire came through close on his heels, but not close enough. “He has a grenade!” she shouted.

Thane hurtled forward, slamming into the shifter and tackling him backward into the portal just as another body hurled through from the other side. Yet another shifter. The other vampire dove onto the newcomer, wrestling him to the ground. Behind her, the grenade exploded in a flash of blinding light, but it was swallowed up by the dark vortex before it could reach us, right along with Thane and the Kamakazi shifter.

“NO!” Ash shouted, lurching forward, one arm outstretched. His cry echoed in my bones. In my soul. Gavin abandoned the elemental and intercepted the larger vampire before he could reach the portal, barring his way with an arm across his burly torso.

“Oh gods,” I breathed, covering my mouth with one hand.

Gavin glared at the elemental. “Shut it down, Marie. Now!”

The elemental, Marie apparently, took a stuttering breath and swept her hand around in a circular motion counter to that of the vortex.

The portal started to sizzle and shrink. In three heartbeats, it was as small as my fist. With a sucking whoosh, it vanished, leaving behind a mundane wrought-iron gate.

Gavin released Ash, and the larger man stepped forward, then dropped to his knees and bowed his blond head. My eyes stungat seeing this stoic warrior’s reaction. He sucked in a breath, his broad shoulders rising, and released it in a hoarse cry.

I looked past Ash to the gate. Thane—he was gone. Was he dead? Could an undead vampire survive a grenade blast? He was a guardian, which had to help.

My chin trembled, and tears spilled over the brims of my eyelids. I barely noticed Bastian shifting back to his human form and moving in close beside me.

“Take the witch to the dungeon with the shifter,” Gavin said, grabbing Marie’s arm and dragging her toward the vampire standing beside the one now holding the shifter prisoner.

“It wasn’t me!” Marie shrieked. “I didn’t tellanyone!”

Gavin ignored her, instead speaking to the vampire now holding her. “Sophie will force herconfessionwhen she has recovered from this ordeal.” He looked at me, his gaze roving, searching me for injuries. He clenched his jaw and looked at the elemental. “If you speak the truth, your status will be elevated from prisoner to guest.” He glared at the shifter, silently promising him no such reprieve.

---