A Shield of Glass (A Shade of Vampire #49)(2)

He looked at me, his eyebrows lifted in genuine surprise.

“What, you thought you were the only one who could fly around here?” I quipped with a wink and a grin.

“White rock!” he shot back, trying not to smile as he dodged a couple of poisoned spears.

My shifter neighed and began a series of evasive maneuvers as several Destroyers came at me. Goren barked some orders at them from behind, and I glanced over my shoulder to see him going after Phoenix.

“Not on my watch!” I muttered, and drew my sword, pulling on the shifter’s mane as it turned mid-flight.

We charged the Destroyers, shooting through them, my long blade out. I went for their heads at full speed, and sliced one off while the others scrambled to turn their flying horses and come after me again. My shifter was remarkably agile, and we flew in a tight loop and charged the beasts again.

My sword shot out and cut halfway through a torso. Blood sprayed as the beast fell off its horse and the others tried to reach out and capture me, failing miserably as my shifter suddenly dropped several feet and flew away. They were clearly under orders not to kill me, since I was an Oracle and thus extremely valuable to Azazel.

That gave me an unprecedented advantage in close combat, too, it seemed. I could be lethal in my strikes. They couldn’t.





Phoenix





One of the shifters came with me in its original form as I took my straight line across the meadow. I was a fast runner, but the Destroyers approaching from behind were pretty adept at keeping up. I noticed Aida’s shifter companion morph into a flying horse, and watched as she cut through the sky and sliced through a cluster of Destroyers.

I looked at my purple-eyed companion with some frustration. It ran next to me, pale and skinny, occasionally glancing at the beasts chasing us.

“A little help?” I called to it sarcastically.

It actually worked; the shifter nodded and turned into a flying horse. I didn’t hesitate, jumping onto its back and grasping its thick white mane as we took off. My sword was out as we ascended and took a tight turn, heading straight for the Destroyers.

Goren had gotten in front of that pack, baring his fangs at me, his tongue flicking as he pulled out a massive metal club.

“You’re coming back to Luceria with me, little Oracle!” he snarled.

Two of his Destroyers flew ahead, eager to capture me. My shifter jerked downward as I sliced through one with a wide swing and immediately stabbed the other in the neck. They both fell off their horses, wailing and hissing as they hit the ground below.

“Who the hell are you calling ‘little’?” I shot back, kicking my heels into the shifter’s ribs.

It neighed as it flew directly at Goren, its eyes flaring violet. The lieutenant Destroyer was visibly infuriated and thirsting to get a piece of me, but my shifter caught him by surprise as it tore into his horse’s throat.

The poisoned animal twitched and flailed as it fell, no longer able to sustain its flight. It dragged Goren with it, as the Destroyer left behind a string of curse words aimed at me. I managed to grab his shield before he dropped, mounting it on my arm.

“Sticks and stones, you ugly snake—thanks for the shield, though!” I shouted after him.

There was so much anger in me, its effect on my senses was incredible. I could see the remaining Destroyers come at me almost in slow motion. I blocked several arrows with my newly acquired shield before my shifter decided to charge them.

As if feeling my grief and my need to slice as many of these monsters as I could, my pretend horse flew right into the cluster as I swung my sword left and right and cut through two of them, then went back in for another round. They weren’t allowed to kill us Oracles, and that gave me a fantastic upper hand.

I was going straight for their heads, while all they were allowed to do was take my freedom. And after the Daughters had taken Viola from me, I wasn’t willing to let anything else slip through my fingers.

My shifter was a phenomenal companion, the result of the Daughter’s well-intended but much too powerful intervention in order to stop it and the rest of its pack from hurting one of our own. My stomach churned at the thought of the price my sweet Viola had to pay for me to be able to do all of this.

Make the most of it and get her back, I thought to myself as we left the last two Destroyers behind and shot through the night sky toward the white rock.





Field





I’d thought my wings gave me a unique advantage against the Destroyers, until I saw Aida, Phoenix, and Anjani use shifters in the form of flying horses to cause considerable damage. I darted through the sky, keeping several of the beasts busy and hot on my tail, occasionally glancing down to see the other three shifters successfully escort Aura, Almandine, and Eva into the next forest patch—but not before ripping out some Destroyer throats.

Goren was heavily injured in his fall, and we were left with ten Destroyers, four of which were focused on me. I flew in a tight circle and hit them from the side in a fast, twisting motion, swinging my hatchet in the process.

The heavy blade cut through meat and bone, rendering two of them useless and sending them plummeting toward the ground. I grabbed a shield off one of the horses left flying on its own, then headed toward the white rock.

I gradually descended with two Destroyers still after me, while more were chasing after the others. I dodged poisoned spears as I went for a low flight through the forest.