Prophecy: Dark Moon Rising (40 page)

It straightened to its full height, towering over her, and spread its wings. Its wide mouth distorted into a grin, showing her rows of needle-sharp teeth, and its scales shimmered in the strange light from the halo.

The moment it raised its sword, she blasted it with her magic. The threads of purple bore into its flesh and she grinned when it looked shocked and confused.

And then it exploded.

Immediately ducking away and protecting her head with her arms, she pulled a face of disgust when she heard the slapping noise of chunks of flesh hitting the mud and the acrid smell of demon blood filled the air.

She came out from underneath her arms and looked at the mess on the floor and the way the zombies near her had stopped to eat it.

Then her eyes met Venturi’s.

He was frowning, and covered in blood.

She kept her smile steady, resisting the temptation to laugh and telling herself that it wasn’t really the time for that kind of behaviour. It was hard when he looked so annoyed and funny.

He raised his helmet slightly and drew a hand down his face, wiping away the blood.

He looked at his hand, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

She shook her head but he grinned and flicked the blood at her. It hit her square in the face and she was about to shout at him for it when she saw another Aleaeries heading for him. Raising her hand, she released two dark purple orbs of magic at the demon.

Venturi’s eyes widened as they shot towards him and then he turned on the spot as they split, zooming around him on either side.

They buried themselves into the Aleaeries that was about to jump on him and she ducked at the same time as Venturi threw himself forwards to avoid the blast.

There was a loud bang followed by more wet slaps.

She came out of hiding when someone touched her arm and went to lunge at them with her sword. They easily blocked her attack and hauled her to her feet. She smiled sheepishly at Valentine when he frowned at her, looking unimpressed by the fact that she’d attacked him.

Quickly looking over at Venturi, a warm sense of relief filled her when she saw that he was all right. He smiled at her and it made the warmth inside become heat. When he disappeared into the throng of zombies, she turned back to Valentine. She was surprised that he wasn’t frowning. She knew he could feel the emotions that had filled on her seeing that Venturi wasn’t hurt. There was nothing but a look of understanding in his eyes.

She squeezed his hand, giving him a smile, and then surveyed the battle.

There were still a lot of zombies between them and the castle. They’d barely reached the edge of the forest that surrounded the Tenebrae home. Looking back in the direction she’d come, she saw that the rear forces were now battling the zombies. Screams punctuated the sound of battle and she knew that those cries hadn’t come from the zombies. Some of her army was falling.

Valentine tugged Prophecy in the same direction Venturi had gone. If anyone knew a fast route to the castle, it was the Tenebrae. He could see him just ahead of them, fighting with relish and losing himself in thrill of killing the zombies.

It wasn’t just Venturi who was getting a kick out of killing them. He was too. He had so much hatred and anger inside of him, so much grief that he needed to get out, and butchering the army of the person responsible for bringing him all that pain was such sweet relief. He knew that Prophecy felt the same. He’d sensed her feelings throughout the fight so far. She was taking great pleasure in diminishing Elena’s forces.

Releasing Prophecy’s hand, he went to block a zombie as it swiped at him, but it was suddenly gone. He looked up when a gurgled cry sounded and saw the zombie impaled on the end of a naginata. Hyperion smiled at him when their eyes met and then he flung the zombie into the rest of them.

The zombies scrambled for it, tearing at its flesh and chewing it with moans of happiness.

That was until they were all suddenly burning into ashes.

Valentine looked at Prophecy. She was wearing a grim look behind her helmet, her eyes dark as she watched the zombies disintegrate. The magic still circled her hand. Rich purple, almost black, threads of it laced her fingers together.

He moved at the same time as she did, throwing himself back into the fight and slashing at anything that came near him. He changed into his vampire guise, using his heightened vision to scour the battlefield. All he could see between them and the castle were zombies. There was no sign of any more Aleaeries, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. With their shape-shifting abilities, Aleaeries were incredibly hard to detect. Any of the zombies, or even the werewolves and vampires, present could be one.

Bringing his sword down in a swift arc, he cleaved a zombie in two and then turned, shifting his weapon so he was holding it in both hands, and brought it up. It sliced through a zombie, cutting its arm off and going straight through its head. The zombie fell, soon disappearing under other zombies as they fought over its flesh.

He glanced around and frowned when he saw that Prophecy was moving away from him. Cutting and hacking his way towards her, he left the injured zombies for the Watchmen and Tenebrae to deal with.

A distant howl punctuated the noise of battle and a hush descended for a brief second before another howl met it. He turned instinctively to face the sound, recognising the call as Dmitri’s. He spotted his friend up on the ridge above the zombies and fought distractedly as he watched Dmitri charge the enemy. The two-dozen werewolves he was leading bounded into the fray, knocking zombies in all directions and filling the air with the snapping of bones and satisfied growls.

Valentine fended off another zombie and then caught Prophecy’s arm, pulling her to safety when one of the zombie commanders swiped at her with his axe. Valentine roared at him and pushed Prophecy towards Venturi where she’d be safe before he attacked. He ran at the zombie, sheathing his sword and extending his claws. He swiped his opponent’s axe away and his armour pressed into his stomach as they collided, ending up nose to nose. Roaring again, he dug his claws into the zombie’s shoulders and pushed himself up. He flipped over him, retaining his grip and slamming the zombie into the ground when he landed. Standing heavily on his opponent’s back, he drew his sword and raised it high before bringing it down and cutting the zombie’s head in two down the middle.

“
Thanks,
” Prophecy said straight into his head.

“
Keep alert. I will not lose you,
” he responded.

Prophecy watched him for a moment as he fought through the zombies and then turned around to see Venturi looking at her.

“Try to be careful,” he said, shaking his head as affection filled his black eyes. “I will not lose you.”

She frowned and watched him attack another zombie. It was strange that he’d said exactly the same thing as Valentine. It wasn’t possible that he’d heard what Valentine had said to her. She felt she should be more surprised by it, but when she took into account that they both loved her, it didn’t seem surprising at all that they’d both told her the same thing.

She smiled when she found herself in a clearing amongst the zombies. There wasn’t far to go before they reached the castle now, and then the real battle began.

“Enjoying yourself?” A warm amused voice asked beside her.

She turned her smile on Hyperion, noticing that he was no longer wearing his helmet. He was drenched in blood, thin trickles of it marking his face like war paint, and he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Absolutely. You?” she said.

“It has been too long since I had the chance to fight like this. My Watchmen insist on remaining close, even though they know these zombies are no match for me.” He shrugged and thrust his naginata forwards.

She looked with wide eyes at the impaled zombie and then back at Hyperion as he drew the blade of his weapon out of it.

“Your loves are waiting for you,” he said with a playful smirk.

She glanced at Venturi and Valentine. They were both waiting for her a few metres away, killing their time by decapitating zombies.

Looking at Hyperion, she tried to think of something to say to wipe the smirk off his face and then just sighed when nothing came to her.

He nudged her, pushing her forwards a little as though she needed encouragement to go to Valentine and Venturi.

Giving Hyperion a black look, she began walking towards them but then stopped and looked back at him.

“Stay close. We’ll need your help once we’re in.”

He nodded and then turned away from her, his long black cloak catching the breeze as he walked off with three Watchmen in tow.

She wished she had three guards with her at all times.

Catching up with Venturi and Valentine, she realised that in a way she had two guards with her. They would never let anyone hurt her, regardless of how much pain they had to endure themselves in order to protect her.

“Finished chatting?” Venturi said with a raised brow.

“Yep,” she said, smiling broadly.

Venturi was about to speak when she cut him off by gutting a zombie behind him with her sword. He looked down at it when it fell to the floor and then up into her eyes.

“Try to be careful.” She echoed his earlier words and then held her arm out, casually intimating the castle. “Shall we?”

“Follow me,” he said.

She did, keeping herself safely tucked between him and Valentine as they fought towards the castle. With the skills and strength of Valentine and Venturi, combined with her magic, they made fast work of killing all zombies that stood in their path. When the three of them fought together, it seemed nothing could stand in their way.

Magic buzzed in her veins, humming and burning. She stopped fighting and looked up at one of the castle’s turrets. A dim light shone there, forming a halo around a silhouette. She knew who it was.

Elena was watching them.

Prophecy drew her hand back and then threw an orb of magic at the window where the witch was. The stones of the turret exploded, raining down on the castle below and filling the air around it with dust. She could still sense the power, but that didn’t surprise her. She’d known her spell wouldn’t kill Elena. She’d just wanted to fire a warning shot across her bow.

“Watch the castle!” Venturi shouted at her.

She pulled an awkward face. She’d completely forgotten that this was his home.

He growled under his breath and she made a mental note not to destroy his castle if she could help it.

Throwing herself into the fight again, the violence took over as she cleared their path to the castle of the few remaining zombies.

When they’d completely broken free of the zombie army, she looked back and saw that Hyperion and some of his Watchmen were also through, along with some of the Tenebrae, Caelestis and Aurorea guards.

Not far away she could see Mia and Dmitri fighting to break through along with Piotr. A short distance from them, Xavier and his men were massacring any remaining zombies with the help of Tiberius, Serenity and Cornelius, and the rest of the Caelestis.

Satisfied that her friends were safe, she walked towards the castle. She held her sword tight and focused on the magic swirling around her hand. It comforted her to feel how much power she commanded. It was stronger than it had ever been and she felt confident that she could win and defeat Elena.

She kept telling herself that as they headed into the dark corridors of the castle, following Venturi.

She didn’t like the idea of him leading. He was too vulnerable to attack and she didn’t know what she’d do without him. She picked up the pace, falling into step beside him at the same time as Valentine came up beside her. With all three of their senses reaching out and searching for any sign of danger, and with Hyperion and his men behind her, there was no way anyone could sneak up on them.

The air was thick and stuffy, clinging close to her as they walked deeper into the castle. Her nerves were alight, pushing her senses to the limit as she desperately searched out any signatures. Nothing came to her and it only made her anxiety worsen. She stopped breathing in anticipation of the fight, knowing that somehow Elena was cloaking her minions from them just like the witch had cloaked herself and Valentine when she’d come to rescue him.

It was too quiet.

The din of battle was growing distant and Prophecy still couldn’t sense anything ahead of them, or behind. She glanced at Valentine, seeing in his grim expression that he felt the same as her. This wasn’t right. The castle should be swarming with zombies and demons. Elena wouldn’t be so stupid as to leave herself unprotected.

Prophecy looked at Venturi. His gaze shifted to meet hers, his black eyes unnerving her a little but not as much as waiting to be attacked was.

“We’re blind,” she whispered, quiet enough that only vampiric hearing would be able to pick it up.

Venturi nodded and looked over his shoulder. She followed his gaze, looking at Hyperion. He was as calm as ever.

She realised why.

“Anything?” she mouthed the word.

He smiled and nodded, and then pointed up the hall in front of them. It was so dark that she couldn’t make anything out, not even by using her heightened vision. She frowned and squinted, hoping to see what it was that waited for them, and then cursed Elena for dampening their senses and hiding her army.

She looked back at Hyperion and he strode to catch up with her. Venturi moved to one side, allowing Hyperion to take his place beside her.

Hyperion’s eyes flashed purple and he stared into the distance.

Clearly, Elena hadn’t bargained on her bringing the oldest vampire alive with her. Although the necromancer’s spell was dampening her senses and those of Venturi and Valentine, it wasn’t strong enough to fully stop Hyperion’s. He was too powerful.

Calling her magic, she made it hover above her hand. It cast an eerie purple glow about the walls, throwing the harsh stone into sharp relief and drawing all colour from the world. It made Hyperion’s eyes shine a bright, more vivid shade of purple.