23. ~Xavier~

23

~Xavier~

I’d been searching out the cause of my dad taking longer than expected to return to our experiments after he’d left to make something for himself to eat and to bring me a couple of blood bags.

Thanks to my vampiric hearing, I now knew what the holdup had been.

I smiled to myself.

Who would have thought that Elliot Sabre would allow himself to be sidetracked from business by anyone? It had been a big enough deal that he’d even agreed to take a break.

I liked this woman for him.

It seemed she was bringing a much-needed balance to his life.

She was bringing out a humorous side to him that I rarely even saw myself.

She was making him happy, something he’d long-deserved.

Their voices coming from upstairs in the kitchen continued to gravitate toward me.

“Have I told you how absolutely alluring you look in that tiny skirt?”

“Now you mention it, how about you show me?”

“So incredibly tempting, my beauty, but we can’t currently.”

“Use your magic so we’re not overheard.”

“And you think that any amount of magic can mute your screams, given how loud you are, V?”

“Me loud? What about you with your dirty mouth? Something, by the way, that I never saw coming with how refined and buttoned-up you were when we first got together.”

“What can I say? You’ve cured me of my repressed ways.”

“There was a beast within you that just needed the right woman to help you unleash.”

“Mmm, you’re certainly that.”

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely. The right woman, without a doubt. My woman.”

“Aw, El, you can’t say things like that and not expect me to jump you.”

I heard a hearty chuckle from him and then some brief lip smacking, before he said, “Thank you, V.”

“For what?”

“Giving me a whole new lease on life. Wait—that’s it… new lease on life. He’s just mad enough to do it too.”

“What does that mean? What did you just realize?”

“Come.”

In the next moment, I heard the rapid-fire clack of footsteps making their way back toward the basement stairs.

They were rushing down them in the next moment, my dad and Vanessa coming into view.

“Son,” my dad spoke as soon as he took me in standing over the stone table and eyeing the bubbling beakers of our experiment. “Show me the precise spot again where that sliver of magic was extracted from you by one of Constantine’s sorcerers.”

I unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of my denim shirt, then jerked down the neck of my white tee beneath. “Here,” I said, pointing to it.

My dad hurried to me, musing, “Right at the site of the tattoo imbued with my magic.”

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“Try to hold as still as possible. You’ll feel a little irritation,” he said, a moment before he pressed his palm to it, his power sparking.

A pins and needles sensation permeated my skin.

I held still like he’d instructed, until he pulled his palm away and cursed.

“We were so focused on the magic being taken, that we neglected to regard the importance of the site that it was extracted from,” he murmured to himself as he hurried through a door in his lab that led to the backroom.

I felt a surge of his power, a moment before he emerged, levitating an age-old leather bound volume, a spell book of sorts that I didn’t recognize.

He pushed some of our equipment aside and put it down in the space he’d made.

And then he was flipping through it rapidly, searching.

I took in the title on the spine of the book as he did. “Sacrificial magic,” I breathed.

“Venturing into very dark territory,” Vanessa stated, her worry mirroring mine.

“I don’t disagree,” my dad responded, distractedly.

He finally found the page that he wanted and slapped his hand down on it. “When I was looking into finding a way to return your magic to you, I came across this spell. It involves the transference of lifeforces.”

“Some really fucked-up magic.”

“Yes. I wasn’t looking at it for the lifeforce aspect, but for the permanent transference aspect, so I could give you my magic permanently with a transfusion.” He folded his arms across his chest, frowning in deep thinking mode as he went on, “We know that Constantine has achieved a magical transfusion with Lenora Hart, but he used black magic to achieve that. These sorcerers who were wielding his magic can only be doing so temporarily without black magic accessible anymore. Unless Constantine has found another external power source. With him the one performing the spells, there’s no way he could use his own power. The same thing would have been the case for me. And even then, in my case, Light magic operates differently from dark. It hates any threat to the balance of nature, so the chances of me being able to perform such a spell successfully and have it be permanent were minimal.”

“What are you saying? You think Constantine is planning to use sacrificial magic to reverse my vampire turning?” I asked, incredulous.

“He had your magic taken from the site of the tattoo I imbued you with. He didn’t just take your magic as we’d thought. He took mine along with it, what was running through that tattoo. He took them while they were in a combined, cohesive state, albeit on a very small scale.”

“Fuck me, he’s planning to use you, Dad.”

He nodded. “My lifeforce exchanged for yours. Theoretically speaking, to undo such a thing as a turning, he’d need to reverse the death aspect. That could possibly be accomplished by exchanging my lifeforce for yours. But there’s also the dark magic that facilitates the turning itself from Light being to demon. That could be accomplished by transferring all of my power into you in a sort of transfusion.”

“This is insanity,” Vanessa uttered.

“It’s fucking demented,” I spat. “Why would he even want to do this? What’s his endgame here?”

“To take me out of play. Permanently. With how unstable Exemplar is in the wake of Abigail’s death, Exemplar could also fall. Both are the greatest obstacles to his plan to subjugate the supernatural world. He’s made it clear that he wants an heir by his side. He could rework the sire link during the spell to fashion a tether to control you in order to enforce your compliance, to make you into his heir.” He stepped back from the book and began pacing.

“He’d still need a major power source to do any of this, though.”

“A celestial object. A Hellborn . Angel magic,” my dad mused.

“El, you said those sorcerers were able to breach the ward around Electi Academy using Alena’s blood that Constantine saved from when she was in captivity?” Vanessa asked.

“Yes, but he’d only be able to extract trace amounts of her magic from that.”

“He had the opportunity to try to lock onto angel magic when he attacked Electi Academy and Alena, but he didn’t take it. Nor did he even try to take her again. Nothing like that,” I pointed out.

“He just took her out of play,” Vanessa said. “By revealing her ability to destroy dark magic.”

“Exactly,” I spoke. “Something’s not adding up.”

My dad stilled and spun toward us. “He already has the power source.”

“How? The Hellborn was buried. Exemplar , Saryan, the King of the Light Fae, the Dragon Emperor, are all over that, ensuring no further nightmare weapons are unearthed, and the same goes for celestial objects.”

“Something Constantine would have been able to predict if his plans had failed, like they did the night Abigail rid him of black magic and stopped him from enacting the spell with the Orb of Vorlav. He’s a talented strategist, he would have prepared for all eventualities, including defeat. Also, the way Abigail was able to track Alena and Talon so easily that night… he could have done more than merely anticipate that.”

“You think he led her there?” I asked. “Knowing the damage she would do to him and his plans?”

“I think she showed up earlier than he’d foreseen. But, yes, he could have wanted her there.”

“So that he could take some of her magic during a vulnerable point in battle,” Vanessa said.

“And there turned out to be more than just a vulnerable point with her taking her own life.”

“Constantine couldn’t have done it at that point, she’d already rendered him incapacitated, according to Talon’s recollection of events,” I pointed out.

“But Lenora Hart could have.”

“Oh my God,” Vanessa breathed.

My dad turned to me. “If this theory is correct, they’re only missing two ingredients. My blood and you, son.”

“You want to lock me down after all.”

“I want you to return to wherever Orpheus is. He can’t currently be tracked, so I assume he’s created a pocket dimension?”

“Yes,” I admitted.

“Good. Head back there and stay inside until you hear from me. Meanwhile, I need to leave for the Dark Fae Realm to speak with Alena and Saryan.”

“I can’t just leave you to deal with this on your own. Let me help you.”

“You’ve already helped. The three of us have figured this demented plan of Constantine’s out together. And—” He pulled up short as he stumbled around the table.

I sped over to him and caught his arms, steadying him. “What’s wrong?”

He blinked. “Nothing. Just a little bit of lightheadedness.” He eased from my hold, trying to offer me a reassuring smile that didn’t quite succeed. “There’s been a great deal of stress lately, so—” He stumbled again and slapped his hands to his ears with a grunt, grimacing as he did.

“El!” Vanessa cried, rushing forward.

“What is it, Dad?”

He held his hand up to me.

With the other, he called his indigo power and muttered an incantation in Latin that sought to banish foreign magical interference.

He blinked again and stood up straight, the pain seeming to have gone. “Constantine has established a link to me via the magic he stole.”

“He’s starting the spell already? Without all the ingredients?” Vanessa asked, looking him over frantically.

“A portion of it, perhaps. Or, trying to weaken me so he can get the remaining ingredients without me posing an obstacle.”

In the next moment, he swept his hand over our experiment, destroying all the samples of his blood. “He won’t get it from here. But there’s one other place where samples of my blood are stored.”

“The archives at the Exemplar compound,” Vanessa said.

“There for emergencies. I need to get there right now and remove them.” He looked at me. “Once I retrieve them, I need you to take them to Orpheus within the protection of his pocket dimension. If Constantine really is in possession of celestial magic like we believe, the ward that protects them now and other volatile items at the compound won’t hold.”

“Got it,” I assured him.

“Good. You’ll stay there while I meet with Saryan and Alena in the Dark Fae Realm.” He looked out at Vanessa. “You too, my darling.”

“El—”

He took her hands in his. “I couldn’t bear it if you were used against me, punished for being a part of my life.” He looked out at me briefly, pain flaring in his eyes, before he turned his attention back to her. “I’ve already had far too much of that.”

“The chances of Constantine knowing that you and I are together is—”

“He has spies everywhere. Just like Saryan.”

She nodded, albeit reluctantly. “Whatever you need to lessen the burden.” In a bid to lighten the mood, she looked out at me, telling me, “I’ve heard your cohorts are quite the characters. It will be a real treat meeting them.”

I chuckled. “That doesn’t even begin to describe them.”

“I look forward to it.”

My dad kissed the top of her head, then eased from her.

“We best get going,” he said, moving in to give me a hug goodbye.

He didn’t make it a step further, though, as his phone started emitting a high-pitched, urgent beep.

“What now?” he grumbled, pulling it from his suit jacket pocket.

His face paled as he took in the screen, which was showing a flashing red exclamation mark.

“The compound is under attack,” he told us.

He dialed rapidly, then pressed the phone to his ear, leaning against the stone table, the fingers of his free hand digging into it.

I listened with my vampire hearing as it picked up and Dante’s voice sounded down the line before my dad could get a word out.

“Constantine’s acolytes have just hit the compound. They’re trying to breach your ward. Four hundred sorcerers and sorceresses, one hundred witches, two hundred vampires and at least a hundred defected Light Fae.”

“Any sign of Constantine himself?”

“Not yet.”

“Lenora?”

“No.”

“Did you put the defensive protocol into effect?”

“It’s taken care of.”

“Good. I’ll be right there.”

He hung up and pocketed his phone, then turned to us, “Change of plans. Constantine’s army is already at the Exemplar compound . I’ll teleport us in through the ward, the two of you retrieve the blood samples, then get clear.”

“Got it,” Vanessa said.

“Understood,” I answered.

With that, my dad swept us up in a cloud of indigo smoke.

The walls shook, the very compound quaking under the force of so many magic-wielders assaulting the ward protecting the building and all those within.

Those the enemy wanted to do harm to.

Those they wanted to punish.

Those they wanted to utterly destroy.

When we’d first arrived, my dad had teleported us a couple of hundred feet from the compound to survey the situation, wherein the acolytes had been surrounding it on all four sides. Beyond the obvious issue of the attack itself was the fact that Constantine had been able to recruit so many more to his cause, even with him facing temporary defeat both at Abigail’s hands and at Electi Academy when we’d beat back one of his units there too.

People had been far too easily swayed to his side—away from Exemplar.

I hoped to shit that what Orpheus had created would turn the tide there, that faith would be restored, or at least given to something that wasn’t Constantine fucking Vale. It just showed how desperate things had become for people. How desperate he’d made them with his attacks and fucked-up actions that had wrought havoc all over. They were in fear and up in arms because of what he’d done, yet they were following him because of that fear also. It made me sick to my stomach that there was so little hope there.

My dad had managed to thin the herd a little, downing almost a hundred of the enemy who’d been positioned at the west side of the building assaulting the ward with one of his mammoth magical shockwaves.

“The ward shouldn’t be shuddering this much,” Vanessa spoke, behind me and eyeing the door as I stood in front of one of the safes at the rear of the Archives Room and swept a glowing palm over it, breaking through my dad’s magic as only I could do with us being family.

“I know,” I called over my shoulder as I reached past one of his grimoires and grabbed the three vials of his blood from the shelf at the back. They glowed with his magic, keeping them in a temperature-controlled state, preserving them. Even with the number of beings coming at the ward, my father’s power was such that his ward should be able to withstand it even under a lengthy assault.

I pocketed the vials and re-sealed the safe, then rushed back to her. “Got them.”

“I wish we could just destroy them to be safe, but they’re needed as a precaution,” Vanessa said. “If something happened and we needed to breach his magic somewhere, we’d need—”

“It’s all right,” I assured her. “Once I get them to Orpheus, they’ll be safe. Constantine won’t be able to complete his demented spell.”

“He’s already doing damage as it is. You saw how he weakened El back at the safehouse and I think he’s doing it again, if the shuddering of the ward right now is anything to go by.”

Before I could utter a word, or agree that it was more than a little worrisome, or let her in on the fact that I was harboring a shitload of anxiety about what Constantine intended to do, and my dad hiding how much what had happened earlier had impacted him, the door flew open and Dante Wilhem came rushing in.

“The ward is down,” he announced, panting, despite being an elder vampire.

It was panic, not exertion.

The guy was always so well put together emotionally. I’d never seen his proverbial feathers ruffled even slightly in all the time I’d spent with him at Electi Academy. Even when I’d run into the sun and he’d pulled me back before I’d perished, he’d managed to keep his composure.

“Where’s my dad?”

He noticeably didn’t make eye contact as he told us, “He sent me here to ensure you get out now. The compound is going to be overrun in moments.”

“Where is he?” I demanded, stepping up to him.

“He’s out there trying to re-erect the ward while our members beat back the onslaught. I need to get back out there to assist. Go now.”

“He’s hurt? Weakened?” Vanessa asked. “That’s why it fell, yes?”

Wilhem nodded, albeit reluctantly, not wanting to give us the details knowing it would impact us leaving like my dad had asked him to ensure. “It appears Constantine is pulling on the connection he’s made to his magic, essentially siphoning his power.”

“Worse than before with the ward dropping,” Vanessa mused, worry all over her that matched mine.

“He’s back on his feet now. It appears to be intermittent. If he can re-erect the ward, all will be well, we can take the enemy in sections, rather than all at once with them trying to overwhelm us.”

“I need to get to him. I can have him draw on my power to assist. With our blood connection, he’s able to wield my magic.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“More dangerous than the compound being overrun and all the members of Exemplar being massacred if he can’t manage it in his currently compromised state?” I put to him.

Wilhelm shoved a hand through his shoulder-length brown hair, muttering, “He and I are finally not at odds after all these years and you ask this of me?”

I knew he had the ability to snap my neck before I could even summon my power. He had many centuries on me and his speed almost rivaled Constantine’s. It was why I was reasoning with him, rather than just bursting past him or teleporting away. He could stop me if he wanted to. Especially considering he had orders from my dad to do so and to get us out of here.

“Fine,” he agreed. “This will not go over well,” he grumbled to himself as he stepped aside.

As Vanessa tried to come along with us, I moved into her path and handed her the vials of blood. “No. We need to get these clear. Take them to Orpheus.” I pulled an IC Watch out of my pocket, something I’d been keeping on me to stay in contact with Ore, Tal, and Alena. “Get clear, then reach out to him with this. He’ll give you the coordinates to the pocket dimension from there. Tell him I sent you.”

I could see her reluctance to leave my dad, but she was able to think beyond that, nodding and strapping the IC Watch to her wrist. “Be careful, Xavier,” she told me. “If anything happened to you, he’d never survive it.”

“I will,” I vowed.

With that, she teleported out.

And then I was doing the same, locking onto my dad’s magical signature.

I rematerialized on the south side of the building by the entrance doors and the courtyard.

Chaos reigned.

A sea of crimson robes—Constantine’s acolytes—clashed with a rainbow of hooded ones—the members of Exemplar known for wearing ones that matched the color of their magic. And those who weren’t magic-wielders either went with indigo, the color of their leader’s robes.

Magical streams slammed into one another as the magic-wielders battled. Vampires were zipping through the courtyard, snapping necks, downing opponents, and tearing into the throats of others. The Light Fae defectors were using nature to their advantage, creating sinkholes that were sucking Exemplar members into the earth, and also using vines and tree branches to bind them, where they then burned them with their magic.

Roars, snarls, screams, and grunts filled the area, a cacophony of violence and fury.

I caught sight of my dad just a few feet to my left.

He was over by the entrance doors, four of his magic-wielders blasting back incoming attacks as some of the acolytes were trying to stop my dad from re-erecting the ward and others were trying to breach the compound.

They failed to stop everyone and I watched several vampires burst by, entering the building. Hell.

I took in my dad who was grimacing and down on his knees, struggling. The fact he needed help from his members instead of being able to hold up a shield while he re-erected the ward was shocking. It was Elliot Sabre we were talking about. The most powerful sorcerer across the realms.

Constantine was really doing a number on him.

And it was all because of me.

Because he’d been able to take that sliver of my magic and make the connection to my dad. If I’d been stronger, or even faster, I could have stopped it, I could have prevented all of this from coming to pass.

Stop! Focus!

Regret and guilt wouldn’t help here.

Only action would.

Only trying to make it better.

I called the demon forth, dropping my fangs in the process.

My vampiric senses screamed at me and I reacted just in time as a bolt of magic sailed for my back. I spun and caught it with my own in my palm, then blew it back the way it had come, watching as it slammed into the gut of a crimson robe and ripped the spiky-haired fucker off his feet.

The enemy either realized what I was about to do in order to help my dad re-erect the ward, or they wanted to distract him by hurting me, because I barely made it another step closer when a swirling vortex surrounded me, a dozen vampires ripping around me, creating a tornado-like effect that had me stumbling, soil and dust getting into my eyes and compromising my vision.

The speed with which they were moving, the fluidity, and the perfect formation with each other, they were clearly experienced and tens of years older than me. I couldn’t match them with my vampiric abilities.

Fortunately, I was more than just vampire.

As the onslaught had me choking and collapsing onto one knee, I snarled through my fangs, then swept my hands in an arc, sending my power blasting out all sides of me.

It blew all the vampires back and they landed in unconscious heaps a few feet away.

I burst forward then, skidding to a stop right beside my dad.

“Xavier, what the—” he started, choking with his every word.

“Channel me,” I told him, thrusting my hand out at him.

He started shaking his head, not wanting to draw from me, to weaken me or hurt me.

“You don’t and Exemplar will fall.”

He cursed, hesitated for several moments, trying to resume re-erecting the ward on his own, but his power started sputtering and he choked violently, blood trickling from his nose.

“Dad! Either channel me or I’ll make you stop. This is killing you.”

He grimaced at it having to come to this.

Then he grasped my hand, the weakness of his grip really fucking worrying me.

A shudder went through me from the unsettling sensation of being channeled as he pulled on my power.

Within moments, his magic stopped sputtering and regained stability, the glow of his indigo flames becoming vibrant and fierce.

I watched as the shimmering indigo film he’d been struggling to erect at the edge of the property line around the compound spread wider and also gained height, rising twenty feet.

Thirty.

Fifty.

Seventy.

Almost there.

Weakness permeated my whole body as he kept channeling, and he looked out at me worriedly, obviously feeling it.

“Keep going,” I reassured him.

With obvious reluctance, he did, knowing it needed to be done.

Desperately.

Relief rolled through me as I saw the ward coming close to sealing. So long as Exemplar could thin out the attacking army, it would then be able to hold. Just not against a massive onslaught like it had taken earlier. And then we needed to find a way to stabilize my dad. He could bring in the help of the kings across the realms to reinforce it in the meantime.

The focus right now was holding off this attack and getting the ward up to mitigate some of the damage and protect the dangerous and volatile things that were housed inside the compound.

Fortunately, as he continued channeling me, I saw several Exemplar members heading into the building, having managed to break from the battle long enough to do so and go after the acolytes who’d already gained access inside.

It looked like the tide of the battle was actually turning, despite the setback of losing my dad’s mammoth power and the ward falling.

The ward itself was moments from sealing when a massive surge of energy had us and the magic-wielders still forming protection around me and my dad jolting at the unexpected and unsettling force of it.

In my sluggish state, I was delayed seeking out the source.

By the time I managed to, it was too late.

White fire filled my vision, hurtling toward us, a moment before it hit like the force of tens of blasts at once, ripping into the six of us and sending us flying in several different directions.

I choked, landing on my back, and it took me longer than I wanted, especially in the middle of a fucking battlefield, to roll onto my side and figure out what had happened.

A roar sounded and a chill shot down my spine when I recognized it as my dad’s.

I followed the sound and looked to see him being held off the ground, a shimmering white noose encircling his neck, the magical rope being held by none other than Lenora Hart.

And she was wielding fucking angel magic, just like we’d deduced earlier.

As if that wasn’t enough of an insult to Abigail Rose’s memory, the ultimate defector was also wearing an exact copy of Abigail’s bejeweled floor-length robe. Her shoulder-length spiky white hair flew around her wildly as the furor of the power she was wielding emanated from her, creating powerful high winds that cleared a path all around her.

That had already partially been accomplished from the shock of celestial magic suddenly erupting on the battlefield.

The fight had literally come to a sudden standstill as ally and enemy alike turned toward her, looking on with a mixture of shock and awe.

Her eyes were glowing purple just like Ore’s.

But instead of shining with his classic determination and surety, they shone with unadulterated malice.

“You’re not a celestial being,” my dad was telling her, rasping at the constricting grip her magic had around his throat. “The more you use Abi’s magic, the more it’s destroying you.”

“I know the price I’m paying and I’m fine with it.”

“Because you’re brainwashed into believing in a cause that’s not worthy of any sacrifice. Constantine is a demented megalomaniac. Nothing more. He’s no god, Lenora. See sense. See the reality. If you stop now, I can find a way to save you from the damage that wielding celestial magic has already caused you.”

“Save your niceties, your infamous diplomacy. It won’t spare you or your organization. You had a chance when Abigail died to leave Exemplar behind. But you foolishly chose to save it instead.”

“Constantine would have come for me regardless.”

“Perhaps, but not as quickly. He would have razed Exemplar to the ground, yet you would have been spared. He’s always liked you.”

“Turning my son would indicate otherwise.”

“You don’t see, do you?”

“See what?”

“He couldn’t have you by his side, so he went for the next best thing in your son, turning him in the hopes that he could ensure it, that he’d require his guidance and come to be with him.”

“The thought process of a madman.”

“He’s a visionary!” Lenora yelled, my dad’s words getting to her.

Oh, he was good. I watched as her hand holding him in the air shook and the noose around his neck loosened.

Several Exemplar members took note of it as well, and used the opportunity to rush her.

As they did, catching her off guard in a moment of distraction and her magic wavering as a result, they blasted her back several feet into the forest.

In the chaos, I managed to get to my feet and use the last of my energy to burst toward my dad and pull him from the immediate area.

The stilled battlefield erupted into brutal violence once again, all hell breaking loose.

“Dad,” I cried, helping him to his feet and easing him against the trunk of a tree. “Are you—”

“I’m fine. Weakened, but fine,” he said, even as he massaged a nasty burn around his throat caused by Lenora’s noose of magic. “Go. Get to safety,” he urged me.

“I’m not leaving here without you.”

“ I can’t leave while the compound is under attack.”

“If you don’t, stealing your blood samples away will have been for nothing. Lenora will just take you in their place.”

A power surge identical to the one from earlier cut our conversation to the quick as a burst of power blasted from Lenora, ripping through the trees and nuking them and the ground beneath too—and tearing into all Exemplar members in its path.

Bone-chilling screams sounded as two dozen of them were blown back and right through the hefty walls of the compound, decimating it under the impact, the interior becoming visible. Grunts sounded from the rubble as several members were buried beneath the destruction.

“Holy hell,” I choked.

Lenora levitated up through the fallen trees and glided toward us, blasting all those in her path.

Exemplar fell back toward the rubble of the compound entrance, forming a wall, all of them breathing heavily, many bloodied and wounded, but still trying to stand strong and ward off the brutal attack.

This was it.

The enemy was going to take Exemplar.

It was moments away from falling.

The organization that had existed for centuries and governed the supernatural world.

Thunder rolled above, reverberating through the sky, clouds drawing together in an unnatural way.

Thinking it was her about to do even worse and call a mammoth magical storm forth, I was more than a little shocked when flash lightning tore through the darkness.

Purple lightning.

Lenora stilled and gazed up at the sky.

The lightning hit the battlefield, leapfrogging out and targeting the enemy near the ruined entrance, taking out a good twenty or so of them, electrocuting them, their bodies jerking wildly, before they dropped hard in unconscious heaps.

Then it rained down all around Lenora, the chaotic nature of it striking every which way around her, overwhelming her and preventing her from being able to call her power.

I caught sight of flames coming through the dark clouds and smiled to myself as I used my vampiric vision to make out Talon flying in.

In the next moment his flames were tearing around Lenora, effectively trapping her in a circle of phoenix fire.

And then the purple lightning gave way to smoke appearing all over the battlefield.

At least three hundred beings materialized from the mass teleportation.

All in uniform, in armor.

An army.

Our army.

I took them in.

Breastplates and backplates, along with the gauntlets appeared to be made of the infamous Dark Fae metal, Duariam , and infused with Orpheus’ magic. The breastplates also bore the mark of the new incarnation of Obsidian, with a fearsome skull engraved on the material with stars arcing above it and the word, Obsidian, below in a sleek script font.

Orpheus touched down next with Talon right near Lenora.

A battle cry sounded from Orpheus and as I watched his army run into the fray, a couple of them took direct hits from some magic-wielding acolytes, but their magic just bounced right off their breastplates, being repelled by the special material infused with Ore’s magic, and deflecting right back at their attackers, sending them flying across the battlefield.

As the army tore into the acolytes with a fearsome assault unlike anything I’d ever seen before, Ore strode toward his mother with Talon at his back, his phoenix flames at the ready as Ore summoned his own power on either palm.

“Stand down,” he demanded of Lenora.

A snide smile spread across her face as she took one eye off the battlefield to look at her son. “It’s been too long, Orpheus.”

“Not long enough,” he bit back.

“You’ve been awfully busy. Constantine won’t be pleased.”

“I’m counting on it,” Ore returned evenly.

She scoffed. “Such hubris. Just like your father. Look where that’s gotten him.”

“You’re one to talk, standing there wielding angel magic against Exemplar and the most powerful sorcerer in all the realms.”

“He holds little power now and it will stay that way until he’s eradicated entirely.”

“You can’t destroy his magic. If Constantine’s led you to believe that, he’s bullshitting you.”

“Correct, it can’t be destroyed. But it can be transferred. To his son.”

I saw Ore try to hide his shock, but he couldn’t quite manage it entirely. Obviously Vanessa hadn’t managed to convey everything we’d figured out yet. There clearly hadn’t been time.

Lenora went on, “His son will wield it instead. For Constantine. As his little puppet. His heir, as he prefers to refer to it. And with Elliot gone, Constantine will sit at the head of the table at Exemplar. Where he should have been all along. An Exemplar of his own making. One that the people will actually fall all over themselves to follow.”

“One he’ll force them to follow, you mean.”

“Like I told you before, you’re on the wrong side of things, making all the wrong choices.”

“And you’ve become nothing but that madman’s bitch.”

Holy. Fuck.

Lenora’s eyes flamed dangerously, just like his when he was beyond pissed.

He watched warily, bracing himself.

“How dare you speak to your mother in that manner?”

Ore scoffed. “My mother? You haven’t been that to me in a long time. Let’s face it, you never really were.” As bold as he was, he took another step forward and seethed, “And now you’re a stain on the Hart name. An enemy to us all.”

“I see your father has been poisoning your mind.”

“The only one who’s poisoned is you. You allowed Constantine to corrupt you beyond salvation. All for a warped version of power. The sad thing is, you already had that with my father and I. Or you could have had it if you’d been capable of loving anyone but yourself. Your punishment for siding with Constantine and your crimes against the supernatural world was supposed to be imprisonment in Valmont. But now you’ve signed your death sentence.”

“Wielding celestial magic—”

“I’m not talking about the damage that’s doing to you with every second that you use it. That will take time to bring about your destruction. Obsidian isn’t willing to wait that long. The damage you could do is too severe. Your threat level now matches that of Constantine Vale, and he’s now marked for death by Exemplar. You, mother, are now marked by me.”

She sneered, “You think I won’t do you harm because you’re my son?”

“On the contrary, I expect that you will. I don’t believe you have a single maternal bone in your body. You’ve also allowed that psychopath to warp your mind to such a degree that you’re completely beyond reason.”

“Orpheus—”

“You’re not leaving here with Elliot. You’re not destroying Exemplar. Turn away now, or your acolytes will fall here this night.”

“You’re far too confident. Arrogant, my boy.” She burst out yelling again in the unhinged way she had earlier, “I’m wielding celestial magic! You foolish child!”

“Then give it your best shot, mother.”

She levitated above Talon’s phoenix flames and went to call her power.

“Shields up!” Orpheus called out to his army.

In the next second, they all responded to his order collectively, and I watched as they all slapped what looked like a metal bracelet to their wrists. They pressed a button in the middle of it and then a four-foot metal shield sprung forth with a mixture of magic and technology.

As Lenora’s magic fired their way, it bounced right off and was deflected right back at her, sending her stumbling back.

“My Illuminex Shields,” my dad breathed, looking out at Orpheus.

Orpheus grinned out at him. “Frederick was very gracious when I requested a fast-tracked supply.”

“I mentioned them once to you in an off-hand manner.”

“I remember everything.”

“He stores information like no one else,” I told my dad.

Ore signaled to Talon, and the latter was speeding over and grasping my dad’s shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“I can’t leave the battlefield.”

“ Obsidian’s got this. Ore says they can’t get a hold of you, no matter what. We’ve gotta go now.”

He didn’t leave my dad any more choice and there was nothing he could do in his weakened state, as Tal winked at me, then swept my dad up and flew him away at rapid-fire speed into the depths of the sky.

“No!” Lenora cried, catching sight of them, a second before they disappeared from view.

She looked out at the battlefield, seeing that things had absolutely shifted thanks to Obsidian. Most of her acolytes were downed and Obsidian was holding out against her angel magic, protecting all the Exemplar members by the entrance and those remaining among the battlefield.

A curse escaped her, and then she swept her magic at her followers, smoke erupting all around as she teleported them all away to safety.

She glared out at Orpheus. “You continue in this vein, with this new army of yours, and you won’t survive what’s coming. With this celestial magic, Constantine has already been able to break the blood vow he made with your father not to take your life. There’s nothing stopping him. You do this and he won’t hesitate to end you.”

Orpheus held her dark glare. “So be it.”

With that, she teleported out too.

It was over.

The battle was won.

Just not the war.

That was an entirely different story.