A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(41)

She flung open the door to the next room and tried to walk through—only to be bounced back.

“Barrier!” she shouted. “It’s the Acolytes!”

The floor of the ballroom was almost entirely obscured by the fallen bodies of the kids. Six black-cloaked Acolytes moved around them, gathering them up in their arms and piling them up by Jenus. He was clean-shaven and dressed in the same black robes as the rest of them, but hadn’t bothered to put his hood up. Clearly he didn’t care that he might be recognized. He turned toward the door as we opened it, smiling at me.

Asshole.

I dragged Jenney off by the arm, heading back toward the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” She tried to resist my pull, but I held on fast.

“He’ll have a getaway—vultures, carriages or something,” I hissed back at her, leading her out through the busted wall in the kitchen and into the gardens.

I looked around for some form of transportation method, but couldn’t see anything.

“Around the side,” I panted. Setting off at a run, we turned the corner of the palace just in time to see the exterior wall of the ballroom explode outward. Shards of sandstone and rock flew across the lawn.

“Go and get any villagers you can find!” I yelled at Jenney. I suspected that for the Acolytes to get access in the first place, they would have syphoned off the guards so heavily they’d be useless now.

Up ahead, I saw a row of carriages, all embossed with the Seraq kingdom’s coat of arms. Clearly Queen Trina also no longer cared about keeping her name clear of all this, and the thought frightened me. It meant we were running out of time.

I ran toward the last carriage, the one closest to me. Just as I reached the back of the buggy, Jenus started to lead the children out. They were all standing upright now, each one of them tied to a thick cord of rope. None of them were fighting or calling out, so either Jenus was able to control them somehow, or they just didn’t have the energy to do anything other than follow one another.

Fight, damn it!

There were Acolytes guarding either side of the procession. If the kids didn’t try to fight back, then there would be no commotion that I could use as a distraction…I just had to hope that the rest of the Hellswan sentries would come running before they left the palace.

Then I saw Yelena.

She was the last kid tied to the rope, her red hair standing out starkly against the Acolytes robes. No way would they be taking her.

Over my dead body.

If that was what it came to, then fine. I was about to be stupidly reckless and rush forward, when I heard the cries of the stampeding villagers rushing around the corner of the palace from the kitchen.

I held on a few seconds longer, waiting till I saw the first furious face breaking through the trees—it was Jenney’s. Behind her were about ten or so other sentries—some villagers, and a few guards and ministers. They all held weapons aloft – some swords, some carrying whatever they’d found in the kitchen as they rushed to the aid of the kids.

The Acolytes were quick to respond.

The first few went down instantly, Jenney among them, screaming out as they were syphoned. Their bodies writhed on the floor, and they clutched at their heads as if they wanted to tear their own brains out.

Focus!

Ignoring the distraction, and the plight of the Hellswan sentries, I picked up a rock from the ground and ran forward into the fray. I headed directly for Yelena, only partly hearing Jenus’s screams for the Acolytes to stop me, but nothing happened. The sentries were performing their own syphoning. Some of the Acolytes left their posts at the rope, bellowing in agony as they got a taste of their own medicine.

The Acolyte guarding Yelena was facing the oncoming horde. Before he had a chance to turn around and stop me, I leaped toward him, slamming the rock into the back of his head, embedding it in his skull.

He screamed out in pain while I started working on the knots that were tying Yelena’s hands to the rope. It kept slipping out of my hands, I fumbled too much in my hurry, and before I knew it, the Acolyte was slowly raising himself up off the ground.

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

The knot came loose just as another Acolyte reached out and grabbed hold of Yelena’s arm.

“No!” I cried out, tugging her away from him. For a few seconds, we tugged at Yelena’s body like she was a rag doll. I was about to let go before one of us dislocated her arm, when the Acolyte yelled out. He released Yelena as he fell backward onto the ground. His body twisted sideways on impact, revealing the handle of a chopping knife sticking out of his back. I looked up to see a villager smile in satisfaction at the dead Acolyte on the floor.

Nice save.

Thanking him briefly with a nod, I picked Yelena up, throwing her over my shoulder with some difficulty—for all her wiry and small appearance, she was kind of heavy. I didn’t wait around to see the outcome of the fight. I could hear from the sound of Jenus’s victorious yells and the screams of the villagers that the Acolytes were winning, and not us.

I ran in the opposite direction of the kitchen, where the coast was relatively clear, praying with every step I took that we wouldn’t be attacked from behind. I imagined Jenus gaining on us, his cloaked figure clamping a hand on my shoulder…I couldn’t turn around to find out, so I just ran all the harder—panting, feeling like my legs were going to collapse beneath me till I reached the main entrance to the palace. Stepping over the bodies of two guards by the door, I pushed it open and slammed it behind me.