The field was littered with Synestryn bodies, but more of the monsters slithered out of the trees to the west. Some she’d seen before; others she hadn’t. Each of them was scary enough to make her wish for a bed to hide under. That and her shotgun.
Andra had been in combat before, but never like this. There were so many of them. Dozens. Maybe hundreds. She couldn’t tell with all the thrashing bodies. It wasn’t light out yet, and although the security lights helped, there were still too many shadows. Too many places for more of these things to hide.
Fear slid under her skin, making it cold and clammy. She stood inside, watching all of this through the glass, trying to absorb it enough to get herself moving.
She had to do something. People were going to die.
Along the far side of the field stood a woman who wouldn’t have even reached Andra’s shoulder. She was dressed in a flowing robe of gray silk with her long dark hair hanging nearly to her hips. She had that delicate bone structure that made Andra feel like an elephant, but there was nothing weak about her. Four monsters built like wolves, with unnatural height and muscle, ran toward her. She stood calmly, lifting only her hand as they charged.
The first demon to come near her went flying backward and collided with a second one behind it. They both rolled off toward a thick growth of trees as easily as if they’d been tumbleweed. The next one to get near her hit some invisible wall and bounced off with an audible thud. The third used the distraction to sweep around behind the woman and lifted his claws to strike.
Andra tried to call out a warning, but her breath was stuck in her chest, so she did the only thing she could do. She sprinted out the door and across the training yard, dodging men and monsters in a frantic attempt to reach the unarmed woman before she was slain.
She made it only a few yards when the little woman jumped over ten feet in the air and landed on a thick branch of a nearby tree.
The monster that had been trying to kill her raked the air where she’d been a second ago, its own momentum tripping it up so that it landed on the ground. A man she hadn’t even seen a moment ago stepped out from behind a heap of dead monsters and sliced through the thing from its skull to its pelvis.
Andra skidded to a stop and realized she was standing in the middle of the battlefield. Something grabbed her arm and shoved her aside just as another of those wolves landed where she’d been standing a split second earlier.
“What the hell are you doing?” growled Paul. He didn’t look at her, but kept her shoved behind him and backed up toward the thick trunk of a nearby tree—the only cover available.
“Coming to help.”
“Then help, but don’t you dare get yourself killed.”
“Good plan. What do I do?”
Something with more legs than Andra could count slithered down out of the tree. Paul saw it and sliced its head off. It didn’t stop moving.
He stabbed it with his sword and flung the long body away from them. “Blast something.”
Right. She could do that. Andra found the power waiting for her, only this time, it was seething with anticipation, as if needing to be used. It leaped to her call and filled her with a glowing kind of pressure. Her body vibrated with strength as she chose her first target.
One of the monsters was a few yards off, closing in on Morgan’s flank. Andra squeezed a stream of power into a tight ball and flung it out of her body at the thing. A boom shook the earth and a wave of air washed back over them. When she could see again, all that was left of the monster was a cloud of vaporized bits settling slowly to the earth.
Paul shot her a quick glance over his shoulder. “I meant fire, but that works, too. Good job.”
His praise made her smile, and she decided she could really get into this whole magical-combat thing. Made her shotgun look like a squirt gun.
No time to revel in her victory, though. There were monsters to kill.
Paul kept the Synestryn away from Andra, allowing her room to work. The woman had a gift for destruction. She was laughing as she wielded his power, blowing demon after demon into piles of slurry.
Angus made his way across the field to Paul’s side. The Gray Lady, Gilda, wasn’t looking so good. In fact, if it weren’t for Angus’s thick arm around her waist, Paul didn’t think she’d be able to stay standing.
He set Gilda on the ground behind Paul and Andra, and took up a defensive position behind her.
“Gilda can’t do any more,” said Angus, slashing at a demon as it charged.
“More for me,” shouted Andra. Another cluster of sgath exploded into a cloud of black blood and chunks of fur.
“I just saw Logan leave the field,” said Paul. “The sun will be rising any second now.”
As if his words had summoned dawn, the first direct rays of light peeked over the wall. Thirty feet in front of them, one Synestryn started to smoke. A brief second later, it burst into flames and sprinted for the trees.
“The lake!” shouted Angus, loud enough to be heard over the sounds of combat. “Drive them into the lake!”
Andra looked at Paul. She was breathing hard, sweating and shaking, and her eyes were an angry, bloody red. “Which way?”
Paul pointed to the east. “On the other side of those trees.”
Gilda grabbed Andra’s ankle before she could run off. “The smoke,” she panted. “It will hurt the human children.”
Andra nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
Paul felt her pull on his power, but she was weakening. She’d used so much already and she was still so new at this.
Instinctively, Paul cupped his left hand around the back of her neck, locking the two parts of the luceria together. Energy streamed along his arm and slid into her.
A breeze stirred around them, then started swirling faster. Smoke from several burning Synestryn spiraled up and away from the compound.
“Can you keep this up if we walk?” he asked.
She apparently didn’t hear him. Her face was a mask of concentration and she held her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Carry her,” said Angus, bending to the ground to do the same for Gilda. “We need to follow the men and help them.”
Paul had to break contact with her necklace, but there was no help for it. He scooped her up and realized that carrying a woman while wielding a naked blade was a learned talent. Angus did it effortlessly, looking like he’d been born to it, but Paul was awkward. His sword bobbed around and he was sure he was going to cut one of them.
The air continued to spiral around them as they ran, carrying with it the stench of burning demon. By the time they reached the lake, there were only a handful of Synestryn left, and all of them were burning, writhing around in the water in a futile effort to put out the sunlight flames.
When the last demon fell beneath the water, Paul whispered, “Okay. You can stop now.”
Andra let out a long breath and her head fell limply against his shoulder. “Air is heavy,” she panted.
Paul grinned and kissed her temple. “You did great.”
“Get the wounded inside,” bellowed Angus.
Joseph was yards away, but his deep voice rang out, easy to hear. “Sanguinar are setting up cots in the dining hall. Any man who isn’t wounded, come with me. We’re going to see how the Synestryn got in.”
Fortunately, there were only a handful of injured men, and those wounds all seemed to be superficial. Morgan had a nasty cut across his brow, but he wiped away the blood and lined up near Joseph.
Paul told Andra, “I’m taking you back inside so you can rest for a few minutes.”
“Are you sure you don’t need me?”
“If I do, you’ll know.”
Angus’s phone rang. He set Gilda down and slid it out of his rumpled jeans. After a moment, his craggy face twisted with a snarl. “Is there any sign of where they took her?”
“No,” said Gilda, her black eyes going wide with shock.
Angus laid his hand on her head, offering comfort. “Is he going to live?” he asked in a thick, barely controlled voice. “Do what you can. We’re on our way.”
“What is it?” asked Paul.
Gilda pushed herself to her feet and tried to run toward the building. She made it only a few steps before her weakened legs gave out and she fell.
Angus hurried to her side and helped her up. She fought against him as if trying to get away, but Angus held her tight. “It’s too late,” he told her. “You’re too weak to do anything right now.”
Gilda stopped fighting and clung to her husband. Gilda’s shoulders shook with silent sobs. Paul had never seen her cry before, and something inside him broke open at the sight. She’d always been so strong and stoic, no matter what had been thrown at her.
Angus cradled her in his arms, but his face was anything but comforting. He looked ready to kill.
“What’s happened?” asked Paul.
Angus’s eyes closed in remorse, and his mouth twisted into a scowl of self-loathing. “The fight was just a distraction. They got what they really wanted.”
“What?”
“Sibyl.”
It took Paul a moment for the words to sink in. “Sibyl is gone?”
“Yes,” Angus bit out. “And there’s no sign of where they’ve taken her.” Paul thought he saw a sheen of tears in the older man’s eyes. “Logan smelled Cain’s blood and found him half-dead. He said there was no scent trail to follow.”
Even if there had been one, it probably would have burned off at sunrise. “Was there anything left behind? Did Cain draw blood from one of them?”
“No. None.”
“We have to find her,” said Gilda. Her voice was high and desperate against Angus’s shoulder. She looked up at him and Paul could see tears streaming down her smooth cheeks. “We can’t let them have Sibyl, too.”
The vague memory of a rumor Paul had once heard tickled his mind, but he couldn’t remember what it was.
“We’ll find her, love.” It was a vow, and Paul felt the power of it coming off Angus in waves.
“How?” demanded Gilda. “The same way we found Maura?”
Maura? He’d heard that name before when he was a child, but couldn’t recall who she was.
Angus’s body tightened like he’d been punched in the gut. “That won’t happen again.”
Joseph had apparently seen the commotion and came over to them. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Sibyl was taken during the fight,” said Paul to save Angus from having to say the words again.
“I’ll get the men on it right now. We’ll find her before sunset.”
“There’s no trail,” said Angus.
“Says who?” demanded Joseph.
“Logan.”
Joseph’s face fell, draining of all hope. His shoulders drooped a little more, and Paul wondered again just how much longer he was going to be able to hold out as leader of their people.
Andra had been silently watching this exchange, keeping her focus on Gilda and Angus. She pushed against Paul, signaling she wanted to stand on her own. Grudgingly, Paul put her down, but he kept her body tight against his side.