Page 122 of Dark Reign of Forever

Adilla also disposes of his bodies here, Isao provided as he studied the situation.

“Are we there?” Jackson whispered into the quiet. His mortal heart hammered at their sensitive ears. Far behind them, a loose rock rattled down another invisible cliff.

“Oh, we’re somewhere all right,” Lyle grumbled. “Just can’t fucking see it.”

“You never traveled this way when you were here, Lyle?” Douglas asked.

“Nope. Carly never wanted to come this way.”

“There’s a light in my back pocket, if that would help?” Jackson said. Under his breath, he added, “It sure would help me.”

Everyone turned to the bright red aura among them, and Dominique realized what light he was talking about. “It would,” he said and went to dig the small blowtorch out of Jackson’s pocket. Pointing it across the chasm, he clicked it on.

The beam barely reached the other side. The ledge that was supposed to be there was hidden behind a sheet metal wall. Only one small opening was visible by the entrance to another cave.

“Fuck,” Jackson gasped. “I didnotneed to see that.”

“I did. Thank you,” Isao said faintly. “The barrier is new.” No need to add that anyone leaping blindly for any place other than the opening was as good as dead.

Jackson’s weapon had saved them all.

Isao retreated far enough to get a running start and leapt along the shaft of illumination. Once he landed safely, Dominique turned off the light. Isao’s brilliant aura was now the beacon the rest of them would aim for.

“Watch the wind,” Isao called. “It’s not stable.”

“Holy fuck,” Jackson muttered.

“I don’t think I can do this,” Lyle said. “Not with…”

Dominique held out his arms. “Give him to me.”

Lyle handed over the sack of feathers, which felt not all so light as it attached itself to Dominique’s back like an overgrown barnacle. The crossed sword scabbards squeezed between them.

A miasma of anxiety enveloped Jackson. “Canyoudo this?”

“I do not intend to die tonight.”

Makoto and Douglas sailed over the abyss next, the former with the grace of an eagle in flight, the latter like a cannonball. Lyle threw himself across with a terrified scream. Only the young blood-drinker’s toes caught the brink, and if not for Douglas’s swift grab, he would have been lost.

“What’s this? You no longer want to die?” Makoto wondered.

“Shit. Not like this, no.”

Dominique retreated as far as he could to gather momentum, but Jackson’s bulk threw him off balance. The moment his feet left the edge and they hit the turbulence, he knew they were in trouble. “Hold tight,” he ordered his passenger, who already held tight enough to crack ribs.We will not die tonight.

Fighting to change their trajectory, Dominique twisted in the pummeling wind like a rudderless weather vane. It was no use. They were flying fast enough to reach the other side, but they wouldn’t land anywhere near the cluster of horrified onlookers.

A sudden memory of a playful Serge leaping off Dominique’s bike and onto the sides of moving semi-trucks made him extend his hands like talons—or grappling hooks. A second later, he hit the invisible sheet metal with a resounding boom. As Serge’s fingers had with the trucks, Dominique’s fingers, too, pierced straight through. Grabbing the sharp edges, he stuck.

The sudden stop caused his passenger to jerk and gasp. “Hold on,” Dominique repeated. “We are not there yet.” He kept his voice soft and sure, not only for Jackson’s benefit. Off to the side, two body lengths away, four glowing faces peered around the edge of the barrier. Their eyes and mouths were round with shock.

While sending Serge silent prayers of thanks, Dominique began slamming his fingers into the metal, hand over hand, and clawed his way toward the edge. There, the others grabbed him and Jackson the moment they were within reach and pulled them around to safety.

Jackson’s hold on him never wavered, but a violent tremor raced through his body. Dominique took a reassuring hold of his friend’s forearm clamped around his neck. “It is over.”

No one said a word. They all had felt the brush of death’s wings and were far too glad to be alive to be angry about the close call or cast blame for it. Dominique let his own relief radiate out to them. “Where to next, Isao?”

Their journey continued ever-deeper into the mountain, along steep, serpentine inclines. They leapt numerous smaller crevasses with ease and navigated countless caves that had been enhanced and connected over the ages by the blood-drinkers who called these depths home. But they found no more drop-offs hidden in streams of cold air reeking of death.

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