We rode harder, the faces of the dead men appearing like a tunnel either side of me as I ran my sword though them like butter. Their ashes flew into my screaming mouth, choking me with their bitter burn.
Soon the gloom cleared. The wisps of dawn could just be made out in the east. I rode on, dust flying behind us, my breath coming in short, heavy gasps as I willed the creature on faster. I would not lose him. I would not lose everything I had.
We’re not finished yet, I silently returned his oath to him.
We’re not finished yet.
Tejus
My men were dying.
Ash’s still body, lying in Ruby’s mother’s arms, wouldn’t leave my mind. I fought with an anger and ferocity I hadn’t known I possessed. The energy to carry on, wielding my sword although my arm felt numb and dead, came from the sentries around me—taking and giving our power to one another as we continued our fight.
It wasn’t enough.
From the moment that Ash’s body had been flung up into the air, we had stopped gaining the upper hand. The guards and ministers were shaken—badly. We were moving back, the army backing away from the steadily seeping shadow. The screams of the guards grew more constant, and though the deadly supernatural creatures who made up GASP fought with as much ferocity as I’d hoped, they couldn’t hold back the threat. No matter how many of the entity’s soldiers we killed, the shadow continued to grow, showing no sign of its mass ever retreating or shrinking.
“We need to retreat!” I called over to Ben as I took another aimless swipe into the black gloom.
“Agreed,” he yelled back, decapitating another of the creatures. “I’ll get the witches on it. Why the hell won’t these things stop coming?”
“We need to get more barriers up!” I called, hoping that there would be enough sentries and witches nearby to help. At the moment I was surrounded by a team of vampires, who had all gathered to the front, where the force of the shadow seemed the strongest – but I needed sentries now, and the witches, to maintain a barrier that might just keep the rest of us alive till they could get out of here.
Don’t go yet.
I lowered my sword for a moment, taken aback at hearing the entity’s voice again. I’d thought it had left its armies to finish us off.
That battle isn’t won. Would you let your people go on to suffer another day?
I tried to ignore it, continuing to battle the strange, ashen creatures that appeared out of the mist. But if the entity was trying to persuade us to stay, I knew it meant we were lost—we couldn’t keep losing our fighters at the rate we were going.
“BARRIERS!” I called again, and this time ministers, witches and jinn all broke through the ranks. Standing either side of me, they tried to form a barrier strong enough to hold off the shadow.
Each time the flickering, translucent wall began to form, the gloom would run up against it, dragging it back down. The ministers started to try to syphon whoever was nearest. Hazel stumbled forward, too worn out to be sucked dry of her energy.
“Rose! Caleb!” I called to her parents, not knowing where they were—I couldn’t take my eyes off the shadow still growing in front of me in case I faltered. “Take her back—she needs to get away from here.”
I stood in front of Hazel, making sure she came to no harm. Ben joined me, and we created a two-man barrier in front of her.
“I’m okay,” she objected weakly. “I can still fight!”
I took a step back, letting Ben handle the shadow for a few moments while I got her to safety.
“Hazel, you’re too weak, you need to get back!” I replied, my throat constricting as I saw how pale she was. It was an effort for her to remain standing up.
“Caleb! Rose!” I called again, and this time was relieved to see Caleb rushing toward us. He pulled Hazel up into his arms.
“Thank you, Tejus,” he replied. “I’ll get her to safety.”
I grabbed on to his arm before he carried her back to the end of the line.
“If things get worse, can you use a witch to get her back to the castle? You’ll need to take a minister with you as well.”
“We can, don’t worry.” He nodded his agreement, forcing his way through the crowd. I saw Rose join them, and together they made their way swiftly toward the back of the ranks.
I turned my direction back to the shadow. Ben was fighting on, standing next to Derek and Aiden. I joined them, relieved to know that Hazel was in safer hands than mine.
“We need more ministers!” I called out. “Get the barriers up!”
Brother, why so eager to shut me out?
“SILENCE!” I cried out, sick of the entity’s voice invading my mind.
“Tejus!” Derek called, pointing at something through the gloom. A few moments later, my brother reappeared. He was smiling, a slow, evil grin spreading across his face as I swung my blade furiously at the oncoming creatures.
“Hold the shadow back!” I called to the vampires, slashing my way toward the body of my brother.
You wish to face me alone, brave soldier of Hellswan?
“I wish to watch you die,” I spat.
So, vengeful Tejus, do you not see how your brother loved me so much he gave up his very soul to serve me?
At the mention of my brother, I raised the sword above my head, bringing it down with as much force as I could muster. Before it could come into contact with his skull, Jenus reached up and caught the blade in his grip. He held it still, his hand like a vice as I struggled to pull it away.
I gave him strength.
He released the sword and I yanked it back, my muscles trembling. I swiped again, this time aiming for his neck. Once again, he caught the sword in his hand—not an ounce of blood bleeding from his body, not a wince as the blade bit into his flesh.
I gave him speed.
Once again, he let me take the sword, and I staggered backward. I turned quickly to fight back the shadow that had started to pool around me, killing three of the entity’s creatures in one motion. Then, with a battle cry, I leapt forward—the tip of my sword aiming for his chest. Just before I came into contact with his skin, the blade was once again caught—held easily in both his palms, as if he were at prayer.
I gave him new life.
This time, I was the first to release the sword, taking a dagger from my belt. Derek, Ben and Aiden appeared out of the mist, cutting through the shadow as they both launched themselves toward Jenus. Derek leapt toward him, aiming for his throat, but Jenus batted him backward. His body was flung into the gloom. Ben roared, running at full speed toward Jenus, a sword in either hand.
Child of the fae, your fight will come later.
The entity laughed, batting away Ben’s advances as it had done mine. Derek returned from the mist and gloom to see his son being knocked back on the floor, and rushed once again at the entity. He slammed into him, the force sounding like great boulders collapsing in an avalanche, but still my brother just laughed.
Three of the dragons started circling above, coming from the forest where they’d been trying to ambush the shadow from the rear. Their claws reached down, trying to get a grip on Jenus. When that failed, they scorched the air—great balls of red-hot fire blasting from their mouths. Jenus was engulfed completely, his form disappearing behind the licks of flame. Before I could even hope that this meant victory, Jenus stepped forward again. His body blistering and burnt, but alive. The shadow hadn’t abated.
“We need to retreat!” I shouted. The flames didn’t even look like they’d weakened him. Either the entity was invincible, or we needed to find another method of destroying it. Force wasn’t going to help.
“Retreat!” Ben echoed my call, and I heard it going up behind us—the guards and ministers and GASP calling it out.
We had been defeated.
“Take them and go!” I yelled to Derek. “Get out of here. Head for the castle.”
“Follow my lead!” Derek called out to the guards. “Don’t be far behind,” th
e man called to me as he departed. I nodded, telling Ben and Aiden to join him. They would have fought alongside me till the end, but Hazel was going to survive this battle and I needed all the force in Nevertide to protect her in the coming days. I heard the growls of reluctance from some of the fighters and guards that refused to go, and then the sudden silence as the witches vanished most of the army.
Once they had left, I backed away from Jenus. My fast-draining strength and my dagger were the only things I had to protect the few ministers and GASP members who had refused to leave my side.
Jenus smiled at me, taking a step forward.
It was the end.
I could feel the shadow drawing in.
Suddenly, a wall of flame shot up before me. It was white and cold, instantly chilling the sweat that dripped off my brow. Before I could speak, the jinni queen appeared.
“Ice flames. More potent than even dragon fire.” She smiled. “Let us hope it buys us some time.”
The ministers started to build a barrier to contain the shadow, and I could feel them draining the last ounces of energy away from me. I raised my arms to help fortify it, relieved to see that the shadow was shrinking back from the flame.
Then Jenus stepped out of the fire.
His blisters were now frozen and dusted with ice, but still his figure remained upright, seemingly unbothered by the attack.
After all this time, do you think the tricks of the jinni would frighten me?
He stepped closer, running a finger down the barrier. It rippled slightly, showing just how flimsy it was against his power. He laughed.
“Run!” I cried to the rest of them. Perhaps I could hold him off long enough to allow the rest to get far enough away.
“I won’t leave you,” replied Nuriya.
“You will. They need you!” I urged.
She exhaled, lowering her eyelids for a brief moment. “Then we will never forget you, Tejus of Hellswan.” A second later, she was gone.
Alone again, then. Is it bravery, or foolishness, Tejus? Or is your self-hatred so great that you might willingly give up your life just for a chance to escape yourself?
The barrier shook again. I tried to maintain it as best as I could, but I had moments or less till it collapsed completely.
“I do it for her,” I whispered, “that she might have a chance.”
“TEJUS! TEJUS!”
A familiar voice screamed out my name.
“Hazel, NO!”
Jenus smiled slowly. I turned to glance at her; she was running toward me, her eyes wild and panicked.
“Get back!” I bellowed at her, wondering how the hell she’d managed to escape her parents and the witches —and suddenly terrified.
“No!” she panted. “I won’t leave you!”
She held her dagger aloft, her eyes fixed on Jenus.
I tried to sink all my strength into the barrier, willing it to hold. As Hazel ran the last few paces toward us, I reached out to hold her back. My hand clasped onto her arm. In the next moment, I dropped my dagger as a force surged through me—it was so strong, so altering that I almost thought Jenus had killed me without my realizing.
A white light shot up around us, blinding me. As the force persisted, I felt Hazel’s energy flowing into mine. Growing it, making it unbelievably strong. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I realized it was coming from the barrier, the power of our connection solidifying it in a way I’d never seen before—it blazed brightly across the pathway and along the sides of the forest, sending the shadow back.
“What is that?” Hazel gasped. I glanced at her, her dark hair and clothes bleached by the light. She looked like an avenging angel—a creature come to offer me salvation in my darkest hour.
“I think it’s you,” I whispered.
“I think it’s us,” she replied, looking up at me with the same reverence I felt.
“Now we run,” I commanded, dragging her with me as I turned toward the empty road. I didn’t want to wait and see if the barrier would hold against the entity. As we sped past the walls of white light on either side of us, the power continued to surge through us both. I looked ahead. The blaze continued for as far as I could see, lighting our way home.
Sherus
Most of the sentries and GASP members had been vanished by the witches. Lidera and I had thinned ourselves so that we were invisible, but I didn’t want to leave without making sure that the jinni queen was safe. I could see her floating next to Tejus, and then the sight of ice fires blasting upward. I wanted to drag her back, to get her out of here, but it wasn’t my place.
During the battle there had been so much confusion, so many wounded and bleeding that the smell of iron infiltrated my nostrils, the fighting army taking on a surreal, nightmarish quality that all too well matched the omens I’d experienced back in the In-Between.
Is this the end? I wondered.
I looked in the direction of the cove. There were gray shapes, like thunderclouds, forming on the horizon just above where the portal stood.
What are these creatures?
I had never faced anything like them before…I had never heard of an army that could move like the mists of nature, and then become the shadows of men—their features fleshy and real, but the color of ash and darkness.
Hazel, Derek’s grandchild, ran past me.
Before I could stop her, my sister placed a firm hand on my arm.
“Sherus!” Lidera commanded. “We need to leave!”
The shadow was moving closer. To my relief, I now couldn’t see a sign of Nuriya. She must have already traveled back to the palace. Only Tejus and Hazel remained. Foolish girl.
I needed to move. I turned on my heel, dragging my horrified eyes away from the portal and the creatures that surrounded it. My heart froze as I wondered if I was witnessing the entity and its shadow pouring out into the other dimensions. Had we truly lost all hope?
Then I stumbled, my footing lost as I became suddenly blinded by a brilliant white light. Hastily I staggered up, Lidera and I looking about in confusion as either side of the path became walled by the light. It was the same barrier I had seen the sentries create, but stronger… purer.
“Sherus!” Lidera cried again. “For the sake of the gods, if you want to live to see the dawn, MOVE!”
I ran, not turning back again. I feared none of us might live to see the dawn.
Ready for the FINAL BOOK of “Season 5”?!
Dear Shaddict,
I hope you enjoyed A Throne of Fire!
The next book, ASOV 41: A Tide of War, is the thrilling FINAL book in what has been “Season 5” of the A Shade of Vampire series!
A Tide of War releases March 20th, 2017.
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Thank you so much for continuing this journey with me.
I will see you again soon, back in The Shade…
Love,
Bella xxx
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Read more by Bella Forrest!
THE GENDER GAME
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
The Gender Lie (Book 3)
The Gender War (Book 4)
The Gender Fall (Book 5)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: Ben & River’s story
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A Race of Trials (Book 35)
A King of Shadow (Book 36)
An Empire of Stones (Book 37)
A Power of Old (Book 38)
A Rip of Realms (Book 39)
A Throne of Fire (Book 40)
A Tide of War (Book 41)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1