Page 61 of Forgotten Monsters
The space under the archway shimmers with white hues, and I gawk as I realize the strange glimmer is in fact a solid veil of hollows. The incorporeal creatures slither in and out of view, but they don’t attack Darkwood. In fact, they remain underneath the arch, guarding the entrance to whatever lays on the other side of the carved inscription.
The hollows hiss as Darkwood stalks closer, and I launch an infernal orb at the rocks above his head, hoping to slow him down. A boulder detaches from the ceiling and forces him to take several steps backwards.
Cole and I rush through the last few feet separating us from him, and my husband pries an obscurion blade from his interior pocket. He runs up to the vampire and aims directly for his heart.
The blow hits, but Darkwood’s arrogant smile widens, a yellow-tinged glow emanating from his chest. He grabs the hilt of the blade and wrenches it out of his flesh in a blur.
Cole gapes, taken by surprise, but manages to dash out of the way of the incoming blade, staggering backwards.
Magic and weapons won’t harm him…
The vampire raises his eight-point star amulet to Cole. Roots and vines spring out of the earth and weave together to trap him. Cole and I try to blast them away, our red and black magic orbs disintegrating the smaller branches and chopping the thick vines, but fresh ones sprout out of the rocks almost as fast as we can cut them down. A nasty bloom curls around my wrist, and I slice it off with a burst of infernal magic.
The legion of vines wrap themselves around Cole, immobilizing him completely in a chokehold, his head soon the only part of his body visible.
“Stop!”
Darkwood rolls his sleeves up his bony arms. “Now, if you want your beau to survive, you will do as I say. This amulet does a lot, but it doesn’t repel hollows. I need your blood to cross this archway Miss Winslow, and only once I’m safe on the other side will I free your precious Fae King.”
The high-pitched whines coming from the wall of hollows curdles my blood. The creatures are…suspended in stasis, but their claws and teeth click at my approach.
My heart booms in my chest. “I don’t believe you.”
“You probably shouldn’t.” He flashes me his canines.
Cole fights for air in the plant’s deadly embrace.
Without thinking, I run full-throttle toward Darkwood, hold my hands and arms straight in front of me, and push him square in the chest. The vampire is strong, but he doesn’t weigh a ton, so my momentum is enough to propel us backward.
Darkwood cries out in surprise as I catapult us directly into the wall of hollows. He stabs my neck during the fall, but he can’t stop gravity, and we both crash to the ground on the other side of the veil. A deep, frozen sting bites the skin of my arms.
Nails sink deep in my left arm, cutting the flesh, but Darkwood’s roar morphs into a painful holler.
Eyes open wide, I watch as one of the incorporeal eel slithers inside the crooked President's heart, and his body hits the dust with a loudthud.
I wrench his amulet past his head, and the vines that were choking Cole wither and disintegrate in apoofof dust. My husband holds his arms wide on each side of him, catching his breath.
“You okay?” I check on my own injury, but it already started to heal.
Magic sparks off Cole in flares as he nods.
I check on Darkwood again, making sure he’s incapacitated, but the hollow wasted no time and already knocked him unconscious.
“Can you haul him back to my side? I’ll finish him off myself,” Cole croaks. The edges of his body are blurry on the other side of the archway.
“Don’t. This is the best case scenario. Darkwood dies without us being officially involved. Let his people finish the job.”
I grip the vampire’s jacket at the shoulders and slowly drag him back toward Cole. Power thickens and expands my pores. I screw my lids shut and push through the incorporeal creatures. The hollows gnaw and snap at me, but quickly flee with a frustrated hiss. The sting of their cold, desperate hunger frosts my skin, but they begrudgingly slither out of the way, their disappointment palpable. My forehead burns, my skin itchy as hell, the sting a thousand times more pronounced than it was before.
Cole remains at a safe distance from the deadly creatures.
Once I’m safely back on the other side, he uncurls his fists. “Should we take him back with us, then?”
“Let me just check something.”
“Wait—” Just as Cole is about to grab my arm, I leap forward and barrel past the veil again.
Beyond it, a solid door carves a passage into the rocks, its surface freckled with rust.
