A Dawn of Strength (A Shade of Vampire #14)(27)

Breathing heavily, I found my footing on the rocky cliffside and stared down at the island, looking for any signs of battle. It didn’t take long for me to find them. I clasped a hand over my mouth as my eyes fixed on the shoreline in the distance. Balls of fire blazed through the air as two lines of witches faced off just outside the boundary. I scanned the mainland once again, relieved to see no signs of struggle. It appeared as though The Shade’s boundary was holding up, at least for now. I looked back at the witches. One cluster were black witches, based on their garb, while the other group looked like white witches. They seemed to be falling fast, but there were still too many of them to be our own witches. For some reason, we had outside help.

I wasn’t sure what to do now. I would only be putting my family, Caleb and our people in more danger if I attempted to leave the mountains. I’d thought that coming up here and seeing what was going on would relieve the burden weighing down my heart. But I should have known that it would only make things worse. Now I saw for myself the threat closing in around us while I stood here powerless to help or do anything other than watch.

But no matter how much I was called to, I simply couldn’t leave here as the weak human that I was. Even though it killed me, right now, all I could do was wait.

Chapter 20: Sofia

Waiting outside the gate, I could breathe more easily now that I knew Ibrahim was inside the Pit with my husband. As the hours passed, I could shout through asking about Derek’s state and receive an immediate answer from the warlock, reassuring me that the cure was working.

I also stepped inside briefly just for a few seconds to verify it with my own eyes. Although Derek was writhing in pain, he was clearly transforming and wasn’t displaying any abnormal symptoms.

My breath hitched when the two men finally emerged from the gate, Derek’s arm wrapped around Ibrahim’s shoulder as the warlock supported him.

Derek’s pallor was gone, and his skin exuded a healthy warm glow that only a human’s could.

He stepped toward me and, placing his hands on my waist, drew me against him. He kissed my cheek, then my lips.

“How are you feeling?” I asked, brushing hair away from his sweaty forehead.

“Like I never want to see the sun again.”

I turned to Ibrahim. “How long do you think it’s going to take for him to gather his strength again?”

“It’s so hard to say. It also depends on how strong a potion he can stomach…”

Ibrahim’s voice trailed off as Derek stepped away from us, stretching his arms and rolling his neck. Then he closed his eyes, balling up his hands into fists. We watched with bated breath as his chest began to heave.

After all this, his powers had better still be there.

As if on cue, Derek pointed his hands toward the ground. His fingertips began to glow redder and redder until fire blazed out from them, singeing the grass at his feet.

His eyes were alight with triumph as he looked at us.

“Give me the strongest potion you have, Ibrahim,” he said.

Chapter 21: Caleb

After everyone had finished donning their armor and the witches had made sure each of us had a tight fit, it was time to return to the beach. None of us knew for certain how much longer the white witches would hold them off, but when Aiden came running toward us with a panicked look on his face and the two ogres trailing behind him, I knew that whatever time we’d thought we had had just been cut short.

Eli and I hurried toward him as he neared the Armory. “There are now an equal number of white and black witches,” he panted. “An insane number have either fled or fallen in the last two hours. Is everyone ready?” He looked around at the crowd.

“Yes,” Eli replied.

“Where are Derek and my daughter? Have they returned?”

“Not yet,” I said.

“What about Mona?”

Eli pointed to the witch, who was standing on the other side of the field, tightening up the armor around Kiev’s newly installed prosthetic arm.

“What have I missed?” a deep voice boomed across the field toward us from the direction of the woods. We spun around to see Xavier racing toward us… now a vampire.

A vampire Rose had introduced me to by the name of Landis—Xavier’s brother—ran up to him. “You recovered quickly,” Landis said, gripping Xavier’s shoulder. “We’re about to head to the beach. Grab a gun and put some armor on.” He hurried with Xavier into the building.

Aiden turned to address the throngs of vampires and werewolves. “To the beach!” he shouted.

Everyone launched into a sprint. Running at the head of the group, Aiden said to me beneath his breath, “It looks like we’ll just have to get started without our king and queen.”

Chapter 22: Caleb

By the time we arrived at the beach, the scene was already far worse than Aiden had described. There were only a couple of dozen white witches left.

“Gather round me!” Mona yelled to our witches, her eyes filled with panic.

As the vampires and werewolves lined up along the beach, Corrine, Ibrahim and the other witches huddled around Mona.

“Lend me whatever powers you possess to help reinforce the spell,” she said, closing her eyes and reaching out her hands. The witches took it in turns to step forward and touch palms with her before they all shut their eyes tight and formed a circle.