20. TWENTY

twentyIstopped counting somewhere around twenty power signatures.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“We fight—and we survive.”

A vampire plunged out of the shadows. Liam caught him by his throat and ripped his head off his body.

“Just like that,” Liam said in a matter of fact voice.

“Oh.” I stared at the dead vampire. “Sounds easy enough.”

Except, not really.

“Don’t tell me you’re feeling squeamish.”

I sidestepped a vampire who jumped at me from behind, drawing a silver knife from the sheath at my waist. I buried the tip in the back of the vampire’s neck, right between two of his vertebra. It was a move Nathan had made me practice until my hands blistered.

“I just prefer a cleaner method.”

One that didn’t involve being sprayed with arterial blood.

A pile of rubble exploded outward. Daniel stood where it had been, his face furious.

Arturas’s chuckle was menacing as he unsheathed a double-edged sword that tapered to a point. Perfect for both thrusts and slices. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

Daniel climbed off his mound of rubble. “As have I.”

He yanked out the piece of rebar protruding from his side with no expression.

Arturas started for him. Daniel reached over his shoulder for the broad sword he’d put on his back when we got out of the car.

Their swords came together with a crash that shook the building and made dust fly.

Liam grabbed me to press a quick kiss on my lips. “Don’t die.”

“The same to you. I was just getting used to having you around.”

It’d be a shame if he got himself killed after going to all that trouble.

Liam grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He took a step back, racing toward where we’d last seen Dominick.

“I guess that leaves me to save the damsel in distress,” I muttered, scanning the room for Deborah and the two idiots holding her hostage. I’d lost them in the commotion and now it was time to settle scores.

It didn’t take long to spot my quarry. They weren’t far. About ten feet across the room.

Kat’s face contorted as she discovered me.

She said something to Chadwick as I took a step toward her.

A vampire sailed through the air, causing me to duck, before he crashed into a wall nearby.

“What the fuck?” I asked, lifting from my crouch to give the vampire who’d used the other like a frisbee a disbelieving look.

From the opposite side of the room, Eric waved a halfhearted apology at me. “He was getting in my way.”

“Then by all means.” I glanced behind him. “What happened to Helen?”

I’d figured her for someone that would be harder to take down than that.

Eric pointed. I followed the direction of his finger to where a woman was slaughtering the vampires around her with wild abandon. She whooped, beheading another.

“Aren’t they on her side?” I asked.

“I doubt she can distinguish her side from ours,” Eric said with a look of repugnance that was unusual in the face of his calm practicality.

I guess Helen’s behavior would be revolting to someone who treasured his allies as much as Eric did.

“I will take care of her once she has weeded their forces down a little more,” Eric informed me as he walked away.

He moved like a ghost as he crept from vampire to vampire, dispatching each with a precision I was jealous of. The entire time he kept Helen at a careful distance, monitoring her and redirecting her slaughter when it looked like it was going to impact Liam or Daniel’s battle.

The vampire Eric had thrown lifted himself off the ground. He shook himself all over like a dog.

“Why do they always leave their mess for me to clean up?” I asked as the vampire spotted me.

He crouched, his gaze murderous.

I lifted my blade in preparation. Here we go.

He raced at me, leaping at the last second. Arms fully extended. Fangs on display. And a cruelness in the twist of his features that said he was anticipating the taste of my death.

Kat took advantage of his distraction to lob two balls of bright orange magic at me.

A spell, I realized as the first hit my shoulder. A nasty one.

I staggered back, the vampire’s dive carrying him into the path of the second spell.

An agonized scream left the vampire. His veins glowed orange as he hit the ground, twitching every few seconds before going still.

I touched my shoulder, staring at the vampire in confusion and shock. How did I do that? It was brief, but I’d felt my power defuse the spell in the milliseconds before it took hold. If it hadn’t, I’d be dead too.

The problem was, I had no idea what had happened or why.

Kat cursed, tripping and falling over her heels as she scrambled away from me.

“Come here, Kit Kat. Isn’t this what you wanted?” I asked with a laugh as she used her hands and knees to crawl toward the door. She should have known those heels were going to do her in.

“Stay away from me!”

“What’s the matter? No more spells to throw at me?”

More like she’d realized they’d be as useless as the last two.

“What are you?”

I smiled. “Your death.”

Especially now that she knew my little secret.

The terror on her face showed she knew it too. Just like the fact she knew she wasn’t my match in a hand-to-hand fight. As evidenced by the last time she challenged me.

“You could have had a long and lovely life. All you had to do was leave me alone.”

But she couldn’t even do that. Now she’d reap what she’d sown.

Chadwick, hauling a struggling Deborah toward the door and safety, attracted my attention, making me forget Kat’s existence for a moment.

“Shit.”

I raced toward them.

Deborah thrashed with all her might, knowing if Chadwick got her away from here, she was as good as dead. He’d disappear and finding him would be difficult.

Even using every ounce of her strength, she couldn’t escape as he dragged her a little closer to the exit and certain death. But she did manage to delay him a few precious seconds.

Kat screamed something from behind me as I closed in on the two.

Chadwick was too focused on subduing Deborah to notice my approach. My dagger sliced through his arm, catching on bone.

He screamed.

I looked at my dagger in disappointment. That was too bad. I was hoping it would entirely remove his hand from his arm. I guess I needed more practice.

It did accomplish one thing though. He’d let go of Deborah.

I shoved her behind me.

He lurched for her. “No, she’s mine.”

I stabbed him in the throat, twisting the blade before ripping it out. Blood spurted, partially drenching me.

Damn it. And here I was hoping not to look like a horror movie extra.

Chadwick gurgled. The fear I expected to see was missing. Rage was in its place. His mind brushed mine.

I snickered. “That won’t work on me like it does her.”

Astonishment showed on his face as he blinked at me in alarm.

“Let’s end this, shall we?” I grabbed both sides of his head and wrenched sideways. His neck snapped. “Problem solved.”

I froze, letting him topple sideways onto the ground as I fixed my stare on Kat. For a split second, my gaze moved to Deborah who was clutched in her arms before moving back to my nemesis.

“This is a twist,” I said, forcing nonchalance into my posture.

The last few minutes hadn’t been kind to Kat. Her red dress was ripped and torn. The strap had fallen down one shoulder to nearly expose her breast. Her skirt had a split in it and her hair was disheveled.

“Did that happen when you were trying to crawl away from me?” I asked in amusement, nodding at the state of her.

Kat’s face was desperate as she gripped Deborah by the neck. “You’re going to let me walk out of here.”

“Am I now?”

Kat shook Deborah, drawing a pained sound from the human. “Yes! Otherwise, your human is going to be dead.”

“That would be a problem.”

Inara and Lowen lowered into view behind Kat, hovering in the air as they drew their bows. The tiny arrows on their strings pointed at the vampire.

“What are you looking at?” Kat demanded.

“Someone who is about to be in a lot of pain.”

Inara released her arrow as Kat twisted. Lowen’s flew an instant later.

Kat screamed as an arrow landed in her shoulder. A second one sprouted from her cheek.

I winced as welts immediately formed. Blisters followed, leaving the skin raw and painful looking.

“A lot, a lot of pain.” I shook my head in sympathy. “So much pain.”

Kat forgot about Deborah, staggering away from the human as she started to scratch at her skin.

“Pixie dust is truly an awful thing,” I informed her.

Deborah joined my side, watching as Kat went into a frenzy, scoring her nails over her flesh. Ribbons of skin peeled away, blood running as Kat dropped to roll on the ground.

“What’s wrong with her?” Deborah asked in horror.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure.”

Pixie dust was bad, but was all this carrying on really necessary?

I nudged Kat with a toe. “Get a hold of yourself. You’re in the middle of battle.”

Kat didn’t react as she tore at her face, not stopping even when she reached bone.

“Is that the same stuff Lowen used on you?” Deborah asked uneasily.

Kat staggered to her feet.

“Oh no.” I grabbed Deborah, pulling her out of the way as Kat sprinted at us. The vampire didn’t slow, running headfirst into the cement wall behind me as if that was her intention all along. Her skull collided with a meaty thud.

It wasn’t enough to kill her though.

Maybe that’s why she took a step back and repeated the exercise. Again. And again. And again.

By the second time, Deborah had buried her face in my shoulder, her body giving a jerk every time Kat beat her head against the wall.

I wished I could look away too, feeling a little sick. And definitely mentally scarred for life.

Kat finally went still, her brains showing through her shattered skull. She’d beaten herself to death.

I looked at Inara in horror. “Tell me that’s not the same dust you used on me.”

“Why do you always ask questions you already know the answer to?” Inara sniped as she fiddled with her bow.

Deborah lifted her head to look at the pixie with a disbelief that mirrored mine.

“Were you trying to kill me?”

“Of course not. You’re fine, aren’t you?”

From nearby, a vampire screeched. The agonized sound the same as the one Kat had made. I looked over to find Lowen flying away from him.

“I thought pixie dust was only supposed to be an irritant?” I yelled at her.

“It is. Mostly. This is our own special blend.”

Any attempt at remaining calm shredded.

Fuck calm and reasonable. I was going to commit pixiecide.

“Again—were you trying to kill me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Your magic breaking power needed a stronger obstacle to overcome. We provided it. You can say thank you at any time.”

I watched her with an open mouth. Was she crazy? Thank her? I was more likely to kill her for this.

“Next time, ask permission first,” I hissed.

Inara’s shrug was dismissive. “You would have said no.”

Damn right I would have.

“And then you would have died tonight from the spell she threw at you,” Inara finished.

While we were stuck glaring at each other, neither of us willing to relent, Deborah glanced around with uneasiness. “Maybe this topic is best saved for later.”

“Your human has a point.”

I counted to three in my head. “Let’s go then.”

I beckoned Deborah to follow me as I started for the door Chadwick had been dragging her to.

“What about the rest?” Deborah pointed at where Liam and the enforcers were battling.

As I watched, Daniel beheaded Arturas.

“I think they can handle themselves. I’ll get you to safety and then come back.”

It was clear from the look of things that they didn’t need me. Helen was almost finished with the vampires on Dominick’s side and Liam and Dominick were still fighting.

“What are you and Lowen even doing here?” I asked as we headed for the door.

“Red dress and the other arrived before that one was escorted back to your house. We figured something was up so we hopped in Deborah’s bag when they grabbed her.”

I looked up. “What about her escort? They didn’t notice the presence of two vampires?”

Inara shook her head. “We wouldn’t have either because of the spell they were wearing. You’re lucky they decided to make themselves at home in your living room. If they’d grabbed her outside, we would have missed it.”

“I’d really like to know where they got their spells,” I muttered, deciding not to tease Inara about the fact they were growing attached to my companion.

Well. Well. Well. Would you look at that? The pixies had heart after all.

“It tastes like sorcerer magic,” Inara started to say.

An explosion by the door threw all of us back.

I hit the ground hard and rolled before coming to a stop.

I groaned as my body let me know I was still alive. Coughing sounded next to me. I rolled over to find Deborah stirring. “You okay?”

She nodded, coughing again.

“Inara.” I searched the ground around me in concern. A blast like that was most dangerous to someone as small as her. The concussive force could shred her wings and cause massive internal bleeding. That was if the debris didn’t bury her.

Lowen streaked toward us, his face a mask of terror for his consort. “Inara!”

A tiny moan a few feet away grabbed my attention as figures clad in black spilled into the room from all sides. They fired at Daniel and Eric.

Daniel went down with a roar.

Eric dashed behind cover, Liam doing the same as Dominick laughed.

“Stay down,” I ordered Deborah.

In the dust, I caught a speck of blue. Inara.

I scooped her up, assessing her injuries at a glance. She was conscious but one of her wings was bent at an unnatural angle with the membrane containing several jagged holes.

Despite the pain on her face, Inara’s glare was still ferocious.

Lowen landed on my shoulder, his attention on his consort. “Oh, thank all the gods. You’re alive.”

“We need to get you to safety,” I said, staying low as Eric and Daniel engaged the hunters. In the background, Dominick gave them orders.

I cupped my hands around the pixie as I bear crawled to Deborah, trying not to draw notice. Screams came as the enforcers picked off a couple of the humans.

I reached Deborah, nodding at her to show everything was fine. It wasn’t fine, but panicking wouldn’t help.

“I’m fine, Aileen. Stop worrying about me and kill the fuckers,” Inara snarled.

“You’re not fine,” Lowen told her, dropping from my shoulder to land on my hand next to his consort. “You’re in no shape to fight.

He and Inara shared a glare before she relented. “Fine, you win. But leave me in the human’s care. You’ll be too distracted otherwise.”

I hesitated, reluctant to leave Deborah to make her way outside alone.

Right now, the hunters were preoccupied with Liam and his enforcers, but it wouldn’t be long before they noticed her. I didn’t think her status as a human would protect her either.

“She’s right.” Lowen lifted off my palm to hover in the air. “I’ll guide her to safety. They need your help.”

“Alright,” I agreed reluctantly.

Deborah extended her cupped hands and I put Inara in them, trying not to jostle her too much. Her pained grunt told me I wasn’t entirely successful in that endeavor.

“Get as far from here as you can,” I told them.

Deborah nodded as I rose.

I waited until she and the pixies slipped out of the gaping maw that was once the door before slinking silently along the perimeter. I snapped the neck of the human closest to me, divesting him of his rifle and magazines.

While patting him down, my hand knocked on a shape I was familiar with. I held up the grenade in front of me. “Hello, my old friend. What say we have a little fun for old times’ sake?”

I assessed the situation, watching as my lover and his enforcers battled the hunters. They were holding their own, but movement on the roof warned that reinforcements weren’t far away. With their arrival, this place would turn into a kill box.

From across the room, under the partially caved in section of the roof, Dominick watched the situation, being careful not to draw the others attention.

I pulled the pin, lobbing the grenade in his direction the way the military had taught me. Identify target. Pull back the arm. Release. Frag out.

Five seconds, more or less.

I counted in my head as the grenade left my hand and the pin released.

Five.

Movement on the unstable roof over Dominick’s head caught my eye. I found Ahrun clinging to a crumbling piece of cement like a bat, watching everything with a detached curiosity.

Four

At the same time hunters spotted Ahrun, someone yelling, “Contact above.”

Three.

They fired their guns at Ahrun’s position, bullets sending shrapnel flying.

Two.

Ahrun pushed off the roof, the impact sending his perch crashing to the ground. He glided, held aloft for a second that felt like an eternity.

One.

My back hit the ground, Ahrun’s weight on top of me and his fangs in my throat.

Boom.

I floated on my back in a pool of water. Comfortable in a way I hadn’t been in a while. The sore muscles from all the fighting were barely noticeable as I drifted, content to let the water cradle my body.

Ripples disturbed my peace, causing me to bob up and down as someone moved toward me.

Even knowing something dangerous was approaching I couldn’t bring myself to move. It was like I was wrapped in cotton. A thought I knew should be alarming but wasn’t.

Ahrun looked down at me. “Child, if you continue to lie here, you will perish.”

I lifted a hand, staring at the rivulets of red running down my arm. “What is it with you and blood?”

“We are vampire,” Ahrun said in explanation.

I dragged myself up to sitting. “Where are we?”

We were once again surrounded by complete darkness and a pool of never-ending blood. The same as in my last few dreams.

“My mind.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Not what I expected.”

My internal world took the form of an old growth forest. It was nothing like this.

“It never is.”

Blood clung to me as I climbed to my feet. It trickled down my body in rivulets. “Why do you keep pulling me back here?”

And could I ask him to stop?

Peaceful as it was, not everyone wanted to spend their dreams floating in blood while staring into the abyss.

“You think it’s me doing this?” Ahrun shook his head. “No, my child. Except for the first time, when I initiated contact after discovering a heretofore unknown connection branching off my youngest, you’re the one who keeps coming back. So far, you’ve resisted all of my efforts to ward this place against you. As they say, stare too long into the abyss—”

“And the abyss stares back at you,” I finished for him. “Nietzche. Beyond Good and Evil. I’m surprised you know that.”

It wasn’t written until the late 1800s, long after I got the impression he’d gone to sleep.

“The concept has been around a lot longer than that,” Ahrun said with a chiding look.

Great. He was reading my mind.

“If I’m the one responsible, why do I keep coming back here?”

“Fae magic is tricky. When combined with the force that creates a vampire, unexpected things often happen.”

I guess that explained the enigma that was Connor.

“Not just him. Liam and Thomas too.” Ahrun smiled at my surprise. “Our entire line really. It’s why you survived Thomas’s curse. Well, that and your own special abilities.”

“I’m beginning to see why Connor doesn’t like you,” I muttered.

Him reading my mind was getting annoying.

“There’s also the whole leading him into Niamh’s trap thing as well,” Ahrun drawled, moving past me.

I twisted to follow. “Why did you do that? You had to know it would hurt Thomas.”

And from all accounts, Ahrun loved his adoptive son.

“I could blame my madness,” he suggested.

“But you’d be lying.”

Ahrun thought about it, tilting his head. “Not entirely. I’ve always been a little mad because of my gift.”

I frowned and shook my head, suddenly certain. Maybe it was this place. His internal world giving me a glimpse into his thoughts.

“No, you knew what you were doing. You knew what type of being Niamh was.”

She’d hurt Connor. He’d suffered in those years under her control. Centuries of loneliness as he was hunted like an animal.

“You were cruel to him,” I said.

Ahrun watched me expectantly, waiting for the answer to come to me. And like a monster from the deeps, it did.

“You wanted him for something,” I realized, chasing that sense of knowing. The illusive feeling that led me to delve deeper into the abyss. My gaze shot to Ahrun’s. “That’s not possible.”

Rick’s ability to glimpse the immediate future and a little beyond was one thing. But clairvoyance on the scale Ahrun wanted me to believe—one that spanned centuries—was notoriously unreliable. The further into the future you peered, the less clear your vision. In simple terms, the future wasn’t set in stone. There were an infinite number of possibilities, each one affected by the thousands of decisions a person made throughout their day.

If he’d thrown Connor to the wolves with something as flimsy as that as an excuse, I didn’t care how much it would hurt Thomas or Liam. I would kill him.

There was no way he could have “seen” me that long ago and known how my path would cross with Thomas’s and finally Connor’s.

“There are exceptions to every rule. And yes, you were a dream and a wish. But you also weren’t the only reason for what I did.”

I could sense the truth in his words. At least, his version of it. If nothing else, he believed what he was saying. That, more than anything, kept me quiet and listening.

“Connor’s resentment had led him to a dark path. His pride would have eventually forced Thomas to kill him or risk being killed himself.” Ahrun’s smile was tinged with sorrow. “My actions seem cruel, I know.”

“Yes, they do,” I agreed, watching him carefully and finding him startlingly clear minded for someone rumored to be in the throes of devolution. “When you act like this, it’s hard to determine how mad you actually are.”

“I’m quite insane, don’t you fear,” Ahrun responded with a chuckle. “What you’re seeing is temporary, courtesy of you intruding on my most inner self. When you exit this place, my teeth will still be buried in your throat and you’ll have to make a choice.”

“What choice is that?”

His gaze caught mine, suddenly mesmerizing as I fell into them. His voice sounded in my head, his lips not moving. “That is up to you.”

Light sundered the darkness. My awareness slammed into my body.

Pain tore through me, originating at my throat. Ahrun’s bestial growls filled my ears as his fangs worried the skin there.

Messy eater, I thought distantly, staring up at the sky as I tried to summon some sort of motivation. It slipped out of my hands, as ephemeral as a dream.

I was going to die. Painfully.

That was a pity, just when I’d started to live again.

From the cold liquid on the ground around me, I realized my blood was starting to pool. Ahrun wasn’t able to swallow it all with how fast it was leaking from me. It soaked into my shirt and hair as my body turned cold.

Ahrun jerked as hunters fired round after round into his back.

All I could see was the sky above, an oasis of calm extending around me.

There were screams and more screams as someone took down the hunters. A roar of rage that I identified as Liam.

Lowen appeared above Ahrun, a bow in his hand and the arrow already notched. Deborah stepped into view, her expression enraged as she lifted a rock to bring it crashing down on Ahrun’s head.

He didn’t even grunt.

If a bullet hadn’t stopped him, I doubted a rock would.

“Hit him again!” Inara screamed from where she clung to the lip of Deborah’s messenger bag.

Lowen fired his arrow. It missed Ahrun, hitting my arm instead.

My magic swatted at it. A little slow and lethargic until fizzy bubbles started spreading from where it was. They popped in my blood stream. Tiny bits of power that awakened my magic, forcing it out of its drugged state.

It quested through my veins, searching for another fuel source. I could feel it flickering and almost extinguishing before I shoved it through the thin connection between me and Ahrun. Courtesy of the life blood he was sucking down.

My magic latched onto something in Ahrun. Something I didn’t have words for as it gobbled it down before I could understand. Ravenous now, it hunted further. A force that spread like a forest fire until finally it dove into the place I’d trespassed against in his mind. His internal world.

It caught on something. I struggled, knowing we shouldn’t eat that.

To my surprise, Ahrun pushed from his side, nudging it my way. Something tore free, my magic pulling it into itself.

Ahrun’s eager relief bloomed before the emotion was swallowed in the same fashion as that other, unnamed thing.

Ahrun’s fangs left my throat, his gaze holding shock and a wildness I didn’t understand.

“What did you do to her?” Liam asked from beside us.

We looked up to find him standing next to us, his face the stuff of nightmares. The hunters from earlier mostly dead, but not all.

“Ahrun, if you’ve hurt her,” Liam trailed off, the rest of his sentence unnecessary.

For the second time that night, vampires glided out of the shadows to surround the area. Only this time they were on our side.

Anton broke off to help Eric with Helen. The crazy bitch was cackling madly as she hacked at him with a jagged piece of metal. It wasn’t even a knife. It was something she’d probably picked up from the floor around us.

Thomas stopped at the sight of Ahrun crouched over me. A mixture of emotion covered his face. Fear, I think, mostly for me. Worry. Apprehensiveness. And beneath it all, longing. “Ahrun.”

The ancient didn’t speak, watching Thomas with the same complicated mix of emotions.

Thomas’s gaze dropped to me and the wound on my neck. His lips parted.

To say what, I didn’t get the chance to know.

Ahrun’s voice sounded in my mind. Rest, my child.

Liam screaming my name was the last thing I heard as my eyes slipped closed against my will, my mind retreating. The din of battle fell away. The sensation of being carried accompanied me as I felt wind on my face. I wasn’t quite asleep, but I also wasn’t awake.

A numb chill that stemmed from blood loss invaded my limbs. I couldn’t move as I was set on the ground and a pair of cold lips touched my forehead.

“Thank you,” Ahrun whispered.

Then he was gone.

I drifted again, not coming back to consciousness until the furtive sounds of someone wiggling around intruded.

I cracked my eyes open to find Connor regarding me with a gentle expression.

“I finally found you,” I croaked.

“Yes, you did.”

“I knew I would.”

“You’re a good battle buddy,” he assured me.

“Yes, I am.”

“How much blood did he take?”

I was too tired to calculate. “A lot.”

It took two tries to roll onto my side, and even then, I had to stop and wait for a spell of dizziness to pass before I could look around.

“Where are we?”

Ahrun had left me in the middle of a field. Train tracks were visible in the distance. If I concentrated, I thought I could still hear the sounds of fighting.

“We’re in a field,” Connor informed me.

It was awkward tilting my head to look at him but I managed. “You don’t say.”

His nod was serious. “It’s true.”

My snicker was a little punch drunk. “Never change, Connor. You’re perfect as you are.”

Connor’s efforts to free himself stilled. “Thank you, sister. You are too.”

So sweet.

“We make a good family.”

Though I wasn’t including our sire or grand sire in that.

“Where is he, by the way?” I asked, my head feeling like it wasn’t entirely attached to my body as I made a show of looking around.

“Who?”

“Ahrun.”

“He dropped you and ran away,” Connor said.

“Asshole.”

Connor’s expressionless face seemed to agree with me as the sound of footsteps distracted us.

I lifted my head to see who it was and cursed. “We just can’t get a break.”

Dominick face was coldly furious as he walked toward us. “Why are you still alive?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

But I wouldn’t, since I was pretty sure the answer was that he’d run away like a fucking coward. He was just like a rat. Abandoning ship when it threatened to sink.

“I’ll have to take care of you myself,” Dominick muttered. “Your deaths will have to be enough to weaken Ahrun through his line.”

Alches stepped from the shadows and plopped his butt on the ground. His ears tilted forward as he stared at the back of Dominick’s head and whined.

Dominick frowned, shooting Alches a dismissive glance before turning back to us.

Connor and I held still as a tentacle unfurled from Alches. It made no sound as it wrapped around Dominick’s ankle. The vampire didn’t have time to scream as the tentacle pulled tight, yanking him off his feet.

Shadows erupted from the hound, swallowing Dominick whole.