The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)(115)

It was incredibly taxing to use magic in that fashion, but he didn’t see many other options beyond drawing his own sword and charging into the combat as Valor had. He didn’t even consider that approach. Valor was more skilled with blades and he was having difficulties; for Neph it would be a much different story. Magic was his strong point and his best chance lay with his spells.

“Dray and Vosha just joined the fight and they are actually clearing a path to Valor. They have already dropped at least six Rivasans,” Jala replied finally. By her long silence Neph knew she had been too busy with her own barrage of spells to answer quickly. would have arranged forces behind them as well to cut off retreat.

“Zoey is trying to get to Foster, I think,” Jala muttered through clenched teeth. Fire roared over them once more and he heard a hiss of pain escaped her lips as she fell back between him and the wall. “They hit my bloody shields right before that wave,” she explained quickly, though Neph didn’t truly need the explanation. He understood perfectly. His own shields had faltered and pain coursed through him from the fresh burns, but then that was a good thing for him.

Renewed power rushed through his limbs and he stepped farther in front of Jala and spread his hands. With gritted teeth he refocused himself and split his spells to form two waves. He could hold back Jala’s opponents for a few moments and buy her time to recover, but he couldn’t keep it up long. It was incredibly difficult to cast two spells at once and even harder to send them in different directions. Most mages never mastered the talent, let alone the ability to cast in rapid succession such as he was doing now.

Another explosion ripped through the room behind him and the air broke with a feminine scream. Neph’s throat clenched at the sound, but he forced himself to keep fighting. The scream had to have come from Zoey. He could feel Jala against his back and knew she was still fighting. “How bad?” he gasped, but Jala didn’t have a chance to answer. The moment the words left his mouth the room grew icy cold and the shadows themselves seemed to come alive. Hope rose in Neph’s chest. It had to be Vaze joining the fight, he was the only Shadow mage left on Sanctuary.

Screams of pain rose like music behind him and the Rivasans drew back quickly with expressions of uncertainty painted on their faces. Swallowing heavily, Neph dared a look over his shoulder just in time to see a flash of black before two Rivasans hit the ground bonelessly near Valor. “What the hell?” he snarled as he pulled his attention back to his own problems and used the distraction to land several more spells. “Why the hell didn’t Vaze do that sooner?” he snapped. If the man had been holding a card as powerful as this he should have acted sooner and perhaps Foster and Zoey wouldn’t be lying on the ground bleeding.

“That isn’t Vaze,” Jala whispered hoarsely behind him. There was fear in her words, though he couldn’t understand why. Another scream tore through the air behind him and then there was utter silence. Not even the sound of clashing blades broke the stillness.

The Rivasans ahead of him backed away quickly and Neph’s spells slowed as he tried to figure out what had caused the expressions of terror on their faces. Even with the added help the Rivasans still held the advantage of numbers. It made no sense for them to be retreating. Movement caught his eye and Neph barely glimpsed a flash of black as three of the Rivasans ahead of him dropped to the ground. Another breath and two more were bleeding on the floor beside their comrades.

“What the hell?” Neph repeated, but this time his words were filled with confusion rather than anger. In just the short time it had taken him to speak more enemies were sprawled on the floor and the remaining Rivasans were scrambling for the door in full retreat.

“Seth,” Jala murmured behind him.

The Rivasans had packed themselves into a corner in their blind fear and even as they struggled to escape, Seth was moving among them. With each breath another body hit the floor. Neph let his magic fade and fell back against the wall beside Jala. He had never seen anything like the display before him. Even Finn Sovaesh hadn’t moved with the kind of speed Seth was showing, and Neph had never seen anyone show such brutal efficiency with killing.

In moments, the room was utterly still and silent. Seth stood for a long moment with his back facing them. His daggers were lowered to his sides now and blood dripped from the blades in a steady stream.

Jala stirred beside him and Neph glanced over at her and knew his own face was a mirror of hers. She had paled drastically and her expression was caught somewhere between relief and terror. Licking her lips, she looked up at him with uncertainty lighting her violet eyes and then back to Seth. She had said once that she trusted the demon, but then she had never seen Seth fight before.

It was difficult to smile and welcome someone after watching them massacre an entire room of people, even if the people were your enemies. It was more than just the killing, though, Seth’s posture alone screamed fury and even Neph was unsure if they should speak to the demon. If Seth turned his anger on them, Neph had no doubt they would all die. After what he had just witnessed, he wasn’t sure if anyone on Sanctuary could live through Seth’s unleashed anger.

Silently Seth turned and replaced his daggers to their place on his belt. His gold eyes lingered on them for a breath and Neph could feel the anger and hate wash over him. His attention moved past them to Zoey’s crumpled form and the demon stalked toward her. He knelt at her side and his black gloved hands brushed her pale hair back from her face gently before he lifted her into his arms and stood once more.