A Clash of Storms (A Shade of Vampire #50)(21)

“What?” I whispered.

“Four Destroyers guarding the door,” Patrik said.

“That’s new,” I muttered. “Aida didn’t see any guards.”

“Azazel’s tightening his defenses.” Thadeus shook his head.

“What do we do?” I asked, moving up to Patrik’s side to get a better look.

He bent forward, muttering something under his breath and reaching out a hand, wiggling his fingers. He sent out an invisible pulse, knocking torches off the wall at the far end of the hallway. It caught the Destroyers’ attention, and they slithered away from the door in the opposite direction before hissing and vanishing around the corner.

“That should keep them busy for a bit,” Patrik said as we darted toward Nova’s room.

“Ah, there’s the damn purple tree,” I mumbled at the sight of the potted tree that Aida had mentioned.

The door was unlocked. We ran into the room, and noticed the key on the other side. I locked the door behind us and stilled, my eyes nearly popping out of their orbits at the sight of Damion and Nova staring blankly at us.

The shifters rose to their feet, back in their original form, growling and putting out the green fire candles in the wall fixtures. Patrik and Thadeus moved closer to Damion, who drew his sword, equally shocked and cringing. I guessed he hadn’t expected to see Thadeus back in Druid form, and especially not next to Patrik, both of them buck naked.

“Nova, honey,” I said gently to the Daughter sitting up in her bed. “You might want to cover your eyes for this one.”

“What… What are you doing?!” Damion hissed, consternation imprinted on his face.

“What does it look like we’re doing?” Thadeus smirked. “We’re free.”

“How… How did you break free? This is treason! Azazel will kill us all!”

“Damion, we can help you,” Patrik said, raising his hands in a peaceful gesture.

“No one can help me!” the Destroyer snapped, then lunged at Patrik with his sword above his head.

Patrik dodged as Damion brought the sword down. Its tip hit the marble floor with a sharp clang. The Druid threw a heavy punch into Damion’s side, making him wheeze, while Thadeus moved around and jumped him from behind, wrapping his arms around the Destroyer’s neck in a tight chokehold.

“Stop it.” Damion struggled as his air was cut off.

Thadeus had a firm grip on him, making it impossible for the Destroyer to get free, his serpent tail flailing around the room and knocking into the furniture. He pulled Damion down to the floor. Patrik shushed him.

“We can help you!” he said. “Just let us help you!”

“No, he’ll kill me!”

“Do you want to see Cayron again or not?” Thadeus shot back.

Damion finally stilled, his yellow eyes wide. He looked at the Druids for a long minute, then nodded slowly.

“Then let us help you. Azazel’s reign is over. The whole of Antara is rising against him,” Patrik said. “You can hear the drums of war. That’s the sound of Azazel’s fear. He knows we’re coming!”

I drew closer along with the shifters, trying to get to Nova, who’d covered her eyes, listening quietly.

“Let us help you,” Patrik added.

Damion’s eyes flared green, breaking his attempt to go against Azazel. The Destroyer bared his fangs and coiled his tail around Patrik’s neck. Thadeus responded by tightening his chokehold on Damion, but it didn’t seem to work.

“I’ll kill you before he kills me!” Damion said through gritted teeth.

“I don’t want to kill you!” Thadeus retorted. “I’m trying to help you! Stop it!”

“You can’t help me! No one can help me!”

I moved toward them, thinking I could try to loosen the serpent tail from around Patrik’s neck. His face was turning white, his lips a dark shade of purple, and his eyes rolled back in his head. He was close to blacking out already.

“Enough!” I heard Nova shout.

I hadn’t even seen her when she’d snuck to Damion’s side. The shifters had been unable to keep her away, and were now growling by my side as we watched her grab Damion’s head and dig her fingers into his temples.

He stilled, and her eyes glowed violet. I’d seen this in Viola before. She was using her power to do something to him.

“What are you doing, Nova?” I asked.

“Making it stop!” She frowned, her gaze fixed on Damion, whose snake tail released Patrik.

The Druid fell back, coughing and choking as he gradually recovered his breath. Thadeus let go of Damion and stepped back. The Daughter’s fingers lit up in a bright pink. Damion grunted, his eyes shut. Beads of sweat bloomed all over his face.

His body shuddered, his arms twitching. The bones in his serpent tail began to crack, and he gasped from the pain. A green light flared out of him before his lower body returned to its original Druid form, two legs shaking against the cold floor.

Nova stood up, looking curiously at her hands as the glow in her eyes dimmed.

“How did you do that?” Patrik looked at her with genuine amazement, then at Damion, who was once again a Druid.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “I just wanted to make him stop. I think… I think I knew I could do it…”