18. Eighteen

Eighteen

The Morgan compound hadn’t changed at all. Tall yellow grass swayed in the breeze. There was no snow in the valley, but the wind still carried a biting chill. A towering concrete fence loomed over us, centered in the large clearing as our unlikely group made its way up the drive.

Silver mana clouded the air above the walls. Guards lay in wait behind the railing. Either they’d upped everyday security, or they’d been expecting someone.

But we hadn’t called to let them know we were coming. Hopefully I wasn’t stumbling into another diplomatic visit. Dealing with the Morgan family would be hard enough.

Max and the Grays approached on their motorcycles. The metal gates ground open as we stopped a good distance away from the walls. Unfortunately, within the firing range of a hunter crossbow. Max and the Grays dropped their kickstands. When the rumbling of engines ceased, the forest was quiet. Like it was holding its breath.

“Are you going?” Shael asked from my side.

“Not yet,” I responded. “They don’t know we’re with Max yet. I want to give her a chance to explain before I show my face.”

Max approached the gates, flanked by her hunters. Then, I saw him.

Elias Morgan.

Dark gray streaked his silver hair and thick beard. He wore the shining armor of the Morgan family, a roaring lion decorating the breastplate. He only wore that for two occasions: meetings where he wanted to impress and hunts. I had to wonder which one he was expecting.

Elias led his own group of a dozen hunters. The two met just outside the gates. Max saluted him, but he didn’t return the favor. My stomach tightened. This was already off to a bad start.

Max gestured wildly with her one hand as she spoke, but Elias’s expression never changed. Whatever he said back, it wasn’t good. Max looked over her shoulder at our SUV. It was time for me to make my appearance.

“Stay here,” I said. I took a deep breath and held it as I opened the car door. My boots hit gravel, and my head spun. I had no idea what to expect. Would he give me a chance to explain myself? Would he listen if he did?

Elias’s gaze snapped to me as I approached. “You’re alive.” His eye twitched. “Again.”

It wasn’t a question or even an exclamation. It was simply a statement. An inconvenience.

I crossed my arms and took my place beside Max. “You should know how hard it is to kill a Morgan.”

“I’d hoped I’d ended this embarrassment. But it seems you insist on continuing to disgrace the family.” Elias’s deep voice drilled into me. My body reacted viscerally like it had when I lived under his thumb. I averted my eyes before I could stop myself. “You’re turning hunters from the Order now?”

Max stepped closer to me. “The Grays recognize a threat to all the worlds, Earth included. We want to protect hunters.”

“Arsyn. Look at me and speak for yourself,” Elias boomed.

I swallowed, wetting my dry throat. I wouldn’t shrink away from him. Not this time. I raised my chin, looking him in the eyes. They were as cold as the steel that decorated his chest.

“Entire compounds of hunters are disappearing,” I said. “I know this sounds crazy, but there’s this corruption—”

“I already know about the dark mana. Sebastian Castelle came to our gates.” Elias spat. My blood ran cold. “He told me he’d be back. I didn’t expect him to send his bitch instead.”

“Elias,” Max growled.

“Sebastian was already here?”

Elias grimaced. “Don’t act stupid. I know you two are working together. His abominations saved you by the lake. I don’t have your ability, yet I can feel the same darkness on you from here.”

“When was he here?” I ground out through clenched teeth. I didn’t have time to convince him I wasn’t working with Sebastian. Especially if he could sense my corruption.

“This morning.” Elias watched my reaction with sharp silver eyes.

“Shit.” We were always one step behind. “The extra security wasn’t for us, then.” I turned to squint at the horizon. The sun was already setting behind the trees. A shimmer in the canopy caught my eye. “Do you have hunters in the trees?”

I reached out with my awareness, but my bloodforged iron choker dampened my senses.

“Don’t flatter yourself. If I’d known you would show up, I’d have prepared the sacrifice posts.”

“See, this is why I never send you a Christmas card.”

I unclasped my choker and shoved it in my pocket. Then I searched for auras in the trees.

Elias’s hands clenched into fists. “You’re a disgrace to the blood!”

Max stepped forward. “For the love of God, shut up. Your daughter’s not a disgrace to the blood. You are.”

“How dare—”

“I know what you did to Katlyn.” Max snarled, the sound like a wild animal. Matthew gripped her shoulders, holding her back. “She loved you. Trusted you. I told her you’d be the death of her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

There, in the trees. Corruption. And lots of it. Chills crept down my spine like drops of ice water.

“I loved my wife.” Elias’s voice was quiet.

“If you’d loved her, you wouldn’t have killed—”

I raised my hand, cutting her off. “They’re here!”

I barely got the words out before all hell broke loose. Arrows and fireballs laced with corruption flew from the tree line. The Morgans and Grays jumped into action.

The Aegis men poured from the car. Shael blew incoming fireballs off course, and even reflected a few back to the trees. Skye pressed his hands to the earth. The ground rumbled, and a huge crack formed in the forest, swallowing a few trees. Hunters jumped from the trees as they crashed down.

Matthew grabbed Max, wrenching her to the side. A fireball singed the dead grass, where Max had stood, catching it on fire.

Elias roared and advanced on me, drawing his heavy sword and shield. “This was a ploy to get us outside our walls.”

“For once, just listen to me.” I pulled my own blades. “I don’t want to fight you.”

“That’s the problem.” Elias swung his sword. The movement was slow, and I sidestepped the blade easily. He was testing me. “You never wanted to fight. You ran instead of facing hard truths. You always run.”

“I’m not running this time.” I met the next blow with my blades. The force of his strike rang through my arms. “Sebastian must be defeated. And I finally have a way to match his power. But I need your help.”

Elias’s gaze shifted to something over my shoulder. “You brought your otherworlders.”

I didn’t dare take my eyes off Elias, but I felt their magic at my back. A lot of magic. Things must have been escalating. A spray of arrows peppered the ground around us.

“Surely you can recognize the bigger threat here.” I sidestepped one arrow aimed for my chest. Elias dodged another volley, still nimble in his heavy armor.

“I see only enemies and traitors.” Elias left his side open while he swung at me. Another test. And I wasn’t taking the bait.

“I told you. We’re on the same side.”

Elias narrowed his eyes. He dropped and swept my leg, knocking my feet out from under me. My butt hit the hard ground as an arrow sailed through the air over my head so close it stirred my hair.

I glanced between the escalating battle behind me and Elias. Had he just saved me?

Elias scanned the trees and growled. “Get up. There’s more coming.”

I jumped to my feet. Another volley of arrows whistled through the air. I sliced through the shafts with my blades. Elias’s greatsword was too slow, so he raised his shield. The arrows glanced off the steel.

I finally took a moment to survey the battlefield. My men stood with the Grays, defending against the barrage of magic and arrows. The Morgans stood away from them, weapons raised, hesitating.

My cousin, Genevieve, rolled away from an arrow and raised her crossbow, firing a bolt toward where the arrow had come from. A man dropped from the trees, wailing in pain. His black aura convulsed around him.

Elias and I jogged to the space between the Grays and the Morgans.

Genevieve pulled back the string and readied another bolt. “Patriarch!” Her silver eyes darted to me as she saluted Elias. “Orders?”

Elias hesitated, his knuckles white around his sword. “The dark hunters in the trees are our immediate threat.” He glanced at me, standing in front of my men and the Grays. “We will deal with the others later.”

Genevieve scowled but nodded and relayed the orders. I sprinted the short distance to my men. Shael and Skye lobbed elemental magic at the invisible targets. For once, I was hoping Shael might inadvertently start a wildfire.

Felix was gone, probably eating more hunters in his dragon form. I scanned the area, but Ari still wasn’t here.

Quillon knelt in the tall grass, his long rifle propped on his hand. He gazed through the scope. “I can’t see them.”

Grays returned fire with their longbows and crossbows, but they were firing blindly. We were sitting ducks in the open like this.

“We need to get some cover!” I yelled to Elias.

He nodded. “Retreat to the compound! Make them come to us.”

The Grays and Morgans made for the gate. I stayed behind with Elias and my men to cover them. Felix emerged from the trees, flying in his griffon form. Arrows stuck out from his body. Blood stained his dark feathers and fur. My heart kicked up at the sight. I bit my cheek as corruption rose in my belly, flooding my veins with fire.

Felix crashed into the ground, spraying dirt and grass over us. He came to a halt at my feet, shifting back into his human form. Cyrus slung Felix’s limp body over his shoulder and ran through the gate. I lagged behind.

Corrupt hunters began dropping from the trees and advancing on us. My lips parted on a gasp.

There were hundreds. Black auras laced with silver swarmed the field between the trees and the Morgan compound wall.

Corruption choked the air as they conjured fireballs in their hands and threw them. Shael jumped in front of us. He parted his hands and gusts of wind pushed the fireballs off course. They hit the ground on either side of our group, catching more of the tall grass on fire.

We reached the inside of the compound as the gates closed behind us with a heavy thunk. I covered my head as the air shook. Something hit the gate, leaving an indent in the steel.

“They’re throwing boulders.” Skye pressed his hands to the ground and closed his eyes. “I’ll try to slow them.”

A corrupt hunter landed on the top of the wall, propelled by a gust of air. He hopped down from the lip, and a waiting Morgan jumped him. She pressed her hands to his face, and his black aura funneled into her.

“Don’t absorb their mana or spells!” I yelled. It was too late for her. Black tinted her aura. “It infects you,” I said more quietly.

“What should we use?” Elias asked, surprising me.

“I’ve found hunter weapons work best.”

Genevieve gazed at me skeptically and flicked one of her silver braids over her shoulder. “Hunters are immune to our weapons.”

“It works on corruption.” I turned to her. “You have to trust me.”

Elias pressed his lips together. “Do as she says, Genevieve.”

“Whatever.” My cousin drew a sword from her belt. Dried silver blood filled the deep grooves.

She sprinted nimbly for the walls as more corrupt hunters scaled them through air magic or grappling hooks. The Morgans on the walls met them in a clash of steel.

A chill crept down my spine. Corruption. Behind me. I spun around and swung my sword. Steel rang. The man stumbled away from Elias, his dagger dropping to the dirt. Black mana clung to his body. He must have snuck past the hunters on the wall.

Elias turned, and the corrupt hunter’s eyes grew wide. I almost pitied him as Elias raised his greatsword and brought it down on the man’s head. At least Elias made it quick. The same couldn’t be said for others who crossed him.

Black blood spattered his face. Elias dipped his head, and I returned his nod.

The corrupt hunters had broken through the line on the wall. My men met them on the ground. Cyrus shone like a blazing sun amid the dark auras. I covered my ears against a groaning crash as a boulder punctured the gate, leaving a large hole in the twisted metal. More corrupt hunters poured into the compound, swarming us.

I countered the blade of a woman. Her head was shaven, and hunter marks covered her bare scalp. I kicked at her knee, but she caught my foot with her free hand. Her corruption called to me. My darkness rose in my chest, but I struggled to tamp it down. I sent a pulse of raw mana through our connection, and she flinched, releasing my foot.

Her head jerked back, and dark blood spattered my hunter leathers. Blood poured from the bullet hole in her head as she collapsed. I glanced over my shoulder, and Quillon waved.

I ducked, narrowly dodging a pair of blades aimed for my neck as two more hunters filled the woman’s space.

“How have so many turned against the Order?” Elias whispered. He sounded almost sad ... then he let out a rage-filled battle cry and dove into the fray, cutting down corrupt hunters as he carved a path to the gate.

Max jumped away from thorn-covered vines that broke through the ground. They caught her foot, pulling her down. More vines wrapped around her as a corrupt hunter advanced on her. I pulled a throwing knife from my belt and flung it at him. He tried to dodge at the last moment, but the blade nicked his skin. His aura convulsed and contracted as the hunter blood did its work. The vines he’d controlled retreated back where they came from.

Shael and Skye stood over Felix, unconscious at their feet, protecting him from the onslaught. Blood pooled in the trampled grass. More hunters took notice of them. I took off in a sprint, driving a blade through the neck of a man conjuring a fireball. He choked and collapsed as the fireball he held dissipated. I pulled my blade and ran.

Almost there.

Skye faced me as I raced. He sent sharp blades of ice over my shoulders. Orange mana clung to Felix’s body. He was weak.

“Heal him!” My voice cracked as I yelled at Skye over the noise of battle. “I’ll cover you.”

Skye nodded and knelt over Felix. I turned from them. Skye would heal him. Felix would be fine.

I had other priorities.

Corrupt hunters filled the yard, surrounding us. They outnumbered us five to one. Fat raindrops began falling from the dark clouds above. I tightened my grip on my blades as the corrupt hunters charged.

Some attacked with blades, their movements strengthened and quickened to blinding speed by the corrupt mana in their veins. I met their blows. Their corruption called to me, but I resisted it. I was strong enough on my own. I had to be.

Skye’s earth and water magic pressed at my back as I held three corrupt hunters away. Two attacked with their weapons while the last flung powerful spells. I stumbled as the mud turned to ice at my feet. The pommel of a sword slammed into my nose. Ignoring the blinding pain, I kicked the man in the knee and drove my dagger through his heart.

A familiar cry made me pause as I pulled my blade from his ribcage. Matthew Gray struggled as vines wrapped around his wrists, pulling him down. Thorns cut his skin. I ducked as a blade sliced through the air above my head. I looked for an opening, but they gave none.

I could only watch.

Vines climbed Matthew’s body and wrapped around his neck. Silver blood mingled with the rain on the mud as their grip tightened.

I looked away. A raw scream split the air. Max fell to her knees, her opponent forgotten as she crawled to Matthew. A line of fireballs laced with black magic shot toward her.

I reached for the mana that powered the fire and pulled. Blazing hot elemental mana filled my veins, cut by the icy chill of corruption. My stomach cramped, and I doubled over. My daggers clattered to the ground. I braced my hands on my knees. Corruption shot across my skin, numbing it. Cuts sealed themselves. I cried out as my nose set itself.

I grit my teeth against the hot bile as I wrestled the corruption down. The corrupt hunters I’d been fighting hesitated and turned to look at something behind them.

My hair clung to my bloody cheeks. I pushed it out of my eyes.

Sebastian casually strode down the steps of the Morgan great hall. The wind caught his wild hair. He surveyed the battlefield, and a smile lifted the corner of his lips. His eyes landed on me. My breath hitched as his silver eyes turned black.

“I told you I’d be back, Syn.”