Those holes gave us a head start. The Destroyers had to put forth more effort to get out of them. Others navigated the mounds between them, trying not to fall in.
We darted across the back lawn and entered the dark jungles to the east. Destroyers converged behind us, hissing as they threw poisoned spears at us.
I ducked and dodged whatever they shot at us, as did the others. They were getting closer. We didn’t know the terrain as well as they did after the time they’d spent patrolling the area.
Aura and Almandine went ahead, lighter and faster than the rest of us.
Anjani shot arrows at the Destroyers, hitting two in the neck. They squealed and fell back, but dozens more came in their place.
“There are too many of them!” I yelled as I jumped over the gnarly roots of an old tree.
“Keep running!” Field said, taking my hand as he increased his speed, forcing me to keep up.
“Why don’t you fly away?” I asked.
“Leave you all here? Are you insane? Besides, they have winged horses! No, we’re in this together!”
Several Destroyers shortened the distance between us, getting dangerously close to Phoenix. He pushed out a barrier to keep them back. They were relentless and took it as an invitation to try again.
I kept trying to think of ways to get out of this mess, but nothing solid came to mind.
All we could do was run as fast as we could for as long as our legs could hold us.
Familiar growls erupted from the darkness around us. I looked over my shoulder and saw a few purple flashes shooting between the trees as the Destroyers closed in on us.
The shifters that the Daughter had ‘modified’ jumped onto the path. They morphed into our attackers. I braced myself for more foes to run from.
The shifters weren’t interested in us, though. They went straight for the Destroyers, slashing and biting and tearing ferociously at them, their venomous saliva sizzling and burning through the flesh.
The Destroyers hissed and wailed as they struggled to keep the shifters at bay, but the creatures were too fast for them. Whatever the Daughter had done to them had turned them into killing machines worthy of taking on dozens of Destroyers.
“What the hell is going on?” Phoenix gaped at me after seeing the shifters with glowing purple eyes rip a couple of Destroyers to shreds.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s helping! Keep running!” I gasped and kept up with Field as we continued to run through the jungle.
The Destroyers managed to kill a couple of the mutated shifters, but they still couldn’t shake them off. We left them behind. Our sole purpose was to increase the distance between them and us.
We covered a few miles at a high pace, but my lungs eventually gave up, and I was forced to slow down. We reached a small clearing lit by the moonlight.
The others were just as worn out, breathing heavily and constantly looking around. There was no one coming after us at this point, but we knew it was only a matter of time before the Destroyers would catch our scent again.
“What was that?” Phoenix asked again, still baffled by the shifters’ behavior.
“I have no idea,” I panted. “Maybe that’s what the Daughters meant by ‘permanently altered?’ Those were the shifters that Viola dealt with.”
“Viola,” Phoenix lowered his head, once again overcome with grief.
“Snap out of it, man!” Field grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him several times. “We need you!”
Shuffling and branches breaking in the woods behind me made me turn my head to see six mutated shifters come out, one at a time. Their flaring purple eyes were fixed on us as they moved around slowly.
Anjani brought her crossbow up, ready to strike.
“Wait,” I said, observing them carefully.
Something was different about them. They weren’t baring their fangs at us. They weren’t prowling. They were just watching us quietly, moving around on all fours.
A Destroyer made it into the clearing after us, but the shifters immediately jumped on him and tore his head off before they resumed their position around us. The Destroyer’s body fell in the grass with a thud, his head rolling further into the clearing.
“Oh, wow,” Phoenix managed to say, staring at the vanquished Destroyer.
“I think this is definitely what they meant by ‘permanently altered,’” I mumbled. “They’re not out to hurt us.”
“They’re protecting us,” Anjani concluded, eyes wide as she put the crossbow away.
“It’s not like we don’t need it,” I replied.
“I agree,” she nodded, watching them with disbelief.
“What do we do? We’re screwed,” Eva muttered.
I looked around, finally able to get a couple of thoughts in order. I took a deep breath and straightened my back, bracing myself for another run.
“We head east to Stonewall,” I said. “We have to keep moving now. Azazel can feel both Phoenix and me with the protective shield gone. Maybe there’s a concealment spell in those Druid archives to help us stay hidden like before. Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before he gets us, too.”
“The Daughter is gone,” Phoenix added, breathing heavily, “and now the mansion is lost. All we have left is ourselves and six mutated shape-shifters wired to protect us. Stonewall is our only chance of survival.”
He was right. More Destroyers were bound to come after us. As long as Azazel could sense us, we were vulnerable, and we put the others at risk as well. Our only advantages were our speed and the shifters.
“We have to take advantage of the night,” Field said. “I suggest we keep moving and find a place to rest for a couple of hours at dawn before we travel to Stonewall.”
I nodded and ran out first. Field, Phoenix, Anjani, Aura, Almandine, and Eva followed. So did the shifters, who kept their distance, but never let us out of their sight.
We ran for hours. We ran for ourselves and for those we loved, for freedom and salvation.
Just when I’d thought it couldn’t get any worse, Eritopia found a way to surprise me. I was ready to rise to the challenge, though. With Field running by my side, I was ready to fight.
For now, however, we ran.
Ready for the next part of the Shadians’ story?
Dear Shaddict,
Thank you for reading A Tip of Balance!
The next book, ASOV 49: A Shield of Glass, is the penultimate book of Season 6, leading up to Season 6’s epic grand finale in Book 50!
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Read more by Bella Forrest
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Bella Forrest, A Tip of Balance
(Series: A Shade of Vampire # 48)
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