Chapter 82

Ashadow in my periphery made my head whip around and I found Harpies, Pegasuses, and Manticores slamming to the ground, crushing Fae beneath them, both enemy and ally. The fallen Fae were bloody with limbs torn off by the mass of Dragons that had joined the fight in the sky, and terror knotted my chest at how fast the battle was turning.

I sped closer to Caleb, locking eyes with him as a grim look passed between us.

Three Vampires ran at us at once, but within seconds Caleb had stabbed one with his twin blades and ripped another's throat out while I finished the final warrior with my sword, cleaving his chest open and letting his blood paint me red.

My gaze hooked on the other Vampires who were closing in, more and more of them speeding our way in a never-ending surge.

"We should do it now,"I called to Caleb, using the connection between our minds.

He nodded, and I ran at him, biting his arm as he presented it to me, and his teeth sank into my wrist at the same moment. We drank quickly, having no time to spare, and the instant headrush sent me into a frenzy. My vision was somehow sharper as we pulled away from one another, and the world around us suddenly seemed to be moving in slow motion.

But no…it wasn't that. It was us who were moving so fast that it was as if we were outpacing time itself.

"Holy fuck,"Caleb said in my mind.

I didn't need to blink, barely needed to draw breath as we began moving, slitting open the throats of the enemy Vampires who never saw us coming. We killed again and again, moving through them with such speed we were like ghosts in the night, outpacing them tenfold. We delivered so many deaths, I knew instantly why this coven bond was forbidden, why this practice we'd learned from the ancient book from the Blood Ages had ensured the Vampires had ruled for so many generations.

But suddenly, with a hundred or more deaths claimed, I hit the ground on my knees, exhaustion stabbing through me. I dragged down a breath, my chest tight and the flare of pain I felt from Caleb close by made me certain he had stopped too.

I tried to seek him out, but the mass of bodies were closing in again and a pair of boots pounded my way. A hand slid into my hair and I scrambled backwards, raising my sword as I panted beneath my assailant.

Ashika Normant stood there with her dark hair twisting around her in the wind, her bright bronze armour wet with the blood of my allies. Lionel's new war general had a vicious look to her, and her sneer told me all I needed to know about how she felt about me. I'd seen her face in several news reports, her promises to eradicate the ‘rebel insurgents who dared call themselves an army.'

"I saw what you did," she hissed as a line of her warriors ringed around us, and one of them tossed Caleb into the centre of it beside me. "I have heard rumours of the old ways," she snarled. "I've sought this power for a long time. So tell me now before your worthless heads are torn from your shoulders, how have you learned the ways of the Coven?"

My chest tightened at her words, and I kept my eyes straight on Ashika as I spoke to Caleb in my mind. "Ten warriors around us. All Vampires. They're likely the strongest of her regiment."

"Ashika is worth ten herself from what I hear," Caleb replied.

"Do you want her or them?"

"I'll take the ten. Have fun with the bitch."

"Tell me!" Ashika barked.

"I can't tell you," I said darkly. "But I can show you."

She swung her sword at me with a snarl, but I was on my feet before she could land that blow and Caleb sprang up too. We shot together, biting each other's wrists and igniting that tumultuous magic in our veins once again. Caleb sped away in a blur, tearing into the first of Ashika's soldiers with his teeth and stabbing another with one of his Phoenix blades. I lunged at Ashika and she dodged the first swing of my blade, moving with her Vampire speed to avoid it.

But I was faster, more powerful than she could imagine with the thumping ring of the coven bond feeding on this battle. My energy was fully restored from biting Caleb, and I was hungry for the fight once more.

I drove my sword at her chest, but she blocked it at the last second, speeding around to try and get behind me, and I followed her easily, bringing my sword up once more.

She feigned left, missing another strike, then she came at me again, her sword meeting mine with a clash of metal. Our blades slid against each other as we shoved our weight towards one another, and my eyes caught the sudden movement of Ashika's hand around the hilt of her sword.

An explosion of fire spiralled down from the sky at her bidding, seeking to consume me.

I coated my skin in ice, speeding away from the assaulting fire and casting a quick illusion that split apart from my body while I concealed my true self as one of her fallen warriors.

Ashika ran for the illusion of me, her sword swinging for my neck and I wielded the illusion so it showed her beheading me, letting her believe she'd had that kill.

She smiled, turning to find Caleb killing the last two of her Vampires, and her joy was quickly doused. I walked up behind her, weighing my sword in my grip and keeping my illusion in place. She glanced at me, seeing my face as one of her warriors', and gesturing for me to take on Caleb with a jerk of her chin. "Capture that one. We'll torture the information I want from his lips then give him the bloody end he deserves."

I stuck her with my sword, letting my illusion melt away from my face and delighting in the realisation in her eyes. My blade sank deeper, driving right beneath her armour and up into her chest.

"No," she rasped, blood dribbling from her lips.

"Long live the True Queens," I growled then twisted the sword with a savagery that ended her, letting her fall at my feet before yanking it from her body.

My pulse quickened at the sight of our enemies closing in behind Caleb once more. An endless ocean of Fae and Nymphs that never seemed to stop coming.

My victory was lost to fear as the sun was blotted out by the Dragons above and the enemy army drew in on us once more. The world was in turmoil, and our army wasn't prevailing.

A deafening roar made my breath stall as the Shadow Beast leapt over our heads and slammed into the closest line of Fae, ripping through them with tooth and claw, his tail wagging a little like he was having the time of his life.

"Good boy!" I called to him as he sped away into the fight, and I raised my sword, stepping to Caleb's side once again.

My gaze hooked on Lavinia's shadows far across the battlefield where her power poured out in deadly whips. Screams built in the air and my upper lip curled with hatred as her battalion of Nymphs cut through our people.

I pointed her out and Caleb nodded, no more words needing to pass between us as we dove into the fray in her direction, meaning to fight our way towards the monstrous Shadow Queen and claim her head at long last.