Page 82 of Across the Sapphire Sea
Elias grabbed the knife from his lover’s belt, then took him firmly by the shoulders.
“I’m right behind you. Go!” Elias ordered and pushed him through the rip. Valeri’s face froze in a stunned expression of protest as he disappeared into the purple blur.
Sachi had to go next. Remy and Laurence couldn’t stop fighting until she and Elias were safe.
Elias wielded the knife as if he knew how to use it. He didn’t. “Sachi, we must take him with us. There’s no other way.”
Her green eyes blazed like jewels, sharp and shimmering. Gauss took advantage of the distraction and grabbed her by the neck. Panic took over her gaze.
Elias put on a burst of speed. He would need every bit of advantage he could muster. He hurled himself at the pair as they grappled, dug the knife into Gauss’s flank, and drove them mercilessly toward the portal.
They fell to the ground in a tangled heap on the other side. Cold marble met Elias’s cheek as he rolled away from Gauss and struggled to sit up.
The familiar grip of Valeri’s hands landed on him, sending a surge of relief through his chest. “Elias! Are you all right?”
“Yes, you?”
Valeri nodded, but Elias knew he’d been hurt. The question was, how badly?
“Where are the others?” A woman’s voice. He didn’t recognize her right away.
Witches stood in a line, chanting in rhythm.
“Shall I go through?” A man’s voice. Elias didn’t recognize him either. He glanced up. A vampire, one of The Dozen.
“Yes!” Elias ordered with all the authority he could muster from his spot on the damned floor. “Yes, go through! They need your help!”
Ash was being gently carried away by two vampires Elias didn’t know.
Elias turned his attention to Sachi and Gauss. Bleeding from the knife wound to the gut, Gauss was being restrained by two vampires. Sachi was likewise restrained though she put up no fight. Her cheeks were wet with tears.
“Someone start explaining,” said the woman. Corinne. That was her name. One of the Dozen.
When Valeri stayed quiet, Elias took it upon himself to handle the explanations. He pointed to Sachi. “She’s here of her own free will and wishes to stay.” Then he gestured to Gauss. “If there is any way to send him back once Aella is through, do it! He does not belong here.”
Corinne nodded, and the rest was out of Elias’s hands. Valeri was in no shape to stand, so Elias stayed with him on the ground and waited, terrified for his people still trapped on the other side.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” asked Elias.
Valeri’s arm tightened around him. “I will be.”
“What if they don’t make it?”
Valeri’s lips pressed to a thin line. “They have to.”
The constant thrum of the witch’s chanting began to grate on Elias’s nerves. What was happening on the other side of that portal?
Laurence burst through the fissure, a wild look in his eyes.
With him came the two Bran Vigny vampires who’d crossed to help. Laurence turned, and as Remy raced through, caught him in his arms. The couple collapsed to the marble.
“Hurry,” ordered Corinne, “send him through!”
Gauss leapt into the rip the moment he was released.
They only needed Aella. Elias thought of her, alone on the other side, unprotected without the barrier from Remy and Laurence.
Corinne cast a worried glance to Laurence. “Aella?”
