Chapter Seventeen

H ands fisted at her side, Liana didn't try to hide her sobs or scream of rage. She let the magic pour from her fingers, let it fill her body and light up the entire alley with a golden glow.

"No!" she screamed, her heart breaking in half.

Damien's arms came around her from behind. She shoved him off and stood, knees wobbling. Tensing, she bolstered herself with rage as she sliced a hand through the air. The snapping of thick rope cracked through the air then seven bodies were lowered gently to the ground. The moment they were safe, Liana threw her hands at the building. With a scream, she let every ounce of her guilt and grief funnel into her power, bolstering her magic as it exploded into the side of the building.

Brick and wood crunched under the weight of her power. The section written in blood took the brunt of the force and disintegrated into dust while the rest of the building crumbled to pieces, not a single stone untouched.

Stumbling to her knees beside Grace, Liana loosened the noose and threw it into the rubble. Grace deserved so much better. Such a kind and selfless soul deserved to live an easy life after what she'd been through and what she'd done to help others. She deserved to retire to the countryside with nothing to worry about but what she would make for supper that evening. Instead, she'd given her life to helping the homeless which eventually led to her own downfall into poverty.

Tears blurred her vision and ran down her cheeks leaving tracks through the dust settled there. Movement in her periphery showed someone removing the rope from the others.

"Liana, we have to leave now," Damien declared quietly as he removed the last rope.

She stood. There was no need to stay any longer. All that was needed was to give these mage a proper death ceremony. Once that was done, then she'd hunt the rebels into extinction.

Luciano stood from the body he knelt over in a snap of movement, his eyes trained to something she couldn't see. "Soldiers, surround the Queen," he demanded and pulled out his sword. Damien moved to put her behind him as the soldiers closed rank around them.

"What is it?" Liana asked, no fear in her voice.

"Rebels," Luciano growled.

A smirk lifted the corner of her mouth. Flaring her magic, she let her body glow golden. "Let them come. They will pay for what they've done."

"Damien, get her out of here!" Luciano called when the first rebels appeared at the corner of the alley.

Liana wasn't going anywhere. If there was going to be a fight, she would stay right in the middle of it. She erected a shield around their group to include their soldiers.

Everyone stumbled when an explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet. A plume of smoke billowed into the air from the opposite side of the city. Then another explosion rocked them coming from the opposite end of Sancta Valles.

Damien grabbed one soldier by the collar. "Sprint to the castle. Get my father to raise the army. We are at war," he declared then shoved the soldier away. He was gone in an instant down the opposite way.

Liana sent a hasty mage message to Ramone as well in case the vampire didn't make it.

Damien grabbed her arm. "I need you safe. I'm taking you back to the castle." He bent to pick her up, but she threw a shield up.

"I'm not going anywhere, Damien, except to wherever the fight is. If these rebels want me, they are going to get me, and I'm not going to hold back."

Torn by indecision and fear, Damien squeezed tighter around the shield melded to her skin while his eyes tracked the ever-growing number of rebels surrounding them. Liana didn't wait for him to speak, she yanked out of his hold and stood beside Luciano.

A single swipe of her hand sent a wave of gold magic down the alley toward the approaching rebels. The shifters and vampires attempted to flee. Of the mage present, they tried to shield. Her magic ripped through theirs. She was too fast for even the vampires. They all collapsed to the ground, their chests continuing to rise and fall with breath unfortunately. She didn't want to kill everyone, but she did need them out of the way indefinitely and that spell would keep them out for a day at least. She wanted them to pay for this and a quick death wouldn't be punishment enough.

She launched another attack down the other end of the alley, far fewer attacking from that way. A volley of arrows snapped as they hit her shield from above. On the roofs, Liana found lines of rebels staring down at them, bows at the ready.

"We need to move!" Luciano waved them along as he ran out of the alley. Her shield protected them as another round of arrows were fired. "Liana, keep up your shield and we will run you out of here," Luciano declared.

Damien reached for her again, not giving her time to argue. They sped through the city, her shield taking hit after hit from not only spells and weapons but bodies as well. Jerking to a stop, Damien held her tighter, a steady growl rumbling from his chest. She realized why once her vision stopped spinning. A few streets over from the city center, they'd stopped in the middle of an intersection, surrounded on all sides. Precious seconds passed allowing more and more rebels to surround them, many being carried by vampires to join the fight.

Liana couldn't believe her eyes. There were so many of them. And by the sounds of it, there were plenty more a few streets over fighting where one of the explosions originated from.

"Which way should I clear a path?" Liana questioned, shoving her way out of Damien's arms. She yelped, holding her hand up to the sting in her neck. Confused, Liana's fingers jabbed the dart in her neck harder, causing her to wince again. She yanked the dart from her skin and looked at the tiny, metal weapon. "What is this?" she questioned, showing Damien.

His eyes narrowed on the tip where her blood collected then to her neck. "How did that get through your shield?" he growled.

"I'm not sure." Her vision wavered. Falling into Damien, she missed how her shield flickered as well.

"Liana?" Damien called, holding her up, his voice full of worry.

Luciano appeared in her blurred vision. "We have to move now. Liana, blast us out of here."

Damien picked her up once more, her head swimming dangerously. She lifted her arm, her magic thick and slow in her veins. It took several long moments before anything happened. When it did, the spell was barely enough to knock down a few of the enemy.

"Something's wrong," Liana slurred.

"It's okay, love, we will get you out of here."

Her shield flickered again when her head slumped onto his chest. Luciano glanced at her, true fear in his eyes like she'd never seen in him before.

"Damien, do whatever it takes to get her to safety. I will clear a path as best I can." Luciano gathered whatever soldiers they had left and forged ahead. Damien stayed at their backs, holding tightly to her. Arrows and spells made it through her shield as it quaked ever more. Their people started to fall.

"I cannot hold it," Liana whispered, her consciousness and strength waning with every second.

"It's okay, Wife. Let me protect you for once."

She knew he attempted teasing her. Knew he was terrified out of his mind, but she couldn't muster the will to laugh like he wanted her to. Finally, her shield dropped, her eyelids drooping closed. A moment of stunned silence followed then the gods' wrath poured down on them in the form of the rebels. If Liana and Damien had ever wronged the gods, this was the moment of their revenge. Arrows and spells descended upon them like the first wave of a downpour.

Damien blurred with speed to get away. Helplessness struck deep in her heart that she couldn't save everyone. She cursed whatever was in that dart. Poison most likely and she'd be dead in seconds. That was the last thing she wanted. She'd only just found Damien. They only had a few months together, she needed forever with him. It wasn't fair. What good was her bountiful power if she couldn't use it?

Her body lurched out of his arms, rolling across the cobblestones before slamming into a wall. Body screaming in pain, all she could do was groan as she fought against the veil of darkness that loomed ever closer. When she looked for Damien, her breath caught.

He wrestled with two vampires, fighting to get to his feet where two more vampires sped into the fight. Liana tried to cast a spell, to fling away Damien's opponents or at least trip them, but her magic didn't react. In fact, she could hardly feel it at all.

Two males surrounded her while more joined the fight. Liana cried out at the surprise but also to warn Damien that he was outnumbered. His vampiric eyes found hers just as a vampire sped in front of her and chucked her over his shoulder. She had no strength to fight back no matter how much she willed her limbs to move.

Damien roared into the night, vicious growls and pained groans following as he tried to get to her. She fought to keep her head up, to track him, not that she could do anything to protect him. His only savior now was the protection charm she gave him.

Liana spied a flash of metal then a dagger directly aimed at Damien's back. Her lungs burst with a scream when she saw that dagger slide right through a flash of gold from her protection charm and into his skin. Damien fell to his knees, the horrid metal sticking out of his chest. Liana screamed for him; her body motionless despite the writhing desperation in her mind to go to him.

Someone yanked the dagger out, his heart thankfully missed, but then plunged it straight back in, this time though, they spun him around and pierced directly into his heart. Her scream of pain and grief rent the air just before a blinding flash of gold light lit up the night sky.