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Sparks of purple magic were coming from the lean guy’s fingertips, turning on and off with his clear nerves at being in an intimidating place like this.

His fangs were dropped and he was vamped out, not just nerves but pain and trauma leading the way after what he’d been through in the lab he’d just been freed from.

So, he was a vampire-sorcerer hybrid then.

His bright orange hair skimmed the collar of the three-quarter length black wool coat wrapped around him.

“Only one?” I heard Kai speak.

One of the robed Aegis Watch members took him in and answered, his voice tinged with upset, “When we arrived, twelve were already dead, considered experiments gone wrong. The place had recently been abandoned.” As he turned to gesture at the hybrid, the guy’s wavy gray hair flipped across his face.

“Caius, here, was the only one left alive.”

“Fuck,” Kai uttered, shaking his head in dismay.

I shuddered. The reference to one of those awful labs itself was bad enough, but hearing about a massacre like that… it was a lot.

Before I could even begin to absorb it, or do much of anything, a flare of intensity hit me.

It was coming from Caius.

I looked to see him zoning in on Velra who’d stopped down the other end of the corridor, pulling up short like Kai and me had when we’d seen Aegis Watch turning onto it.

But he wasn’t looking at her with flirty intrigue or lust like Lazriel had been doing.

No. It was… something else.

A chill shot down my spine.

That was it!

Fuck!

He was looking at her as a target!

I pulled on my abilities, zoning in on him.

His emotions… they were… wrong.

They were fragmented.

Or, they didn’t all belong to him.

There was interference of some sort.

He wasn’t… whole.

I grasped Kai’s hand. “Something’s wrong,” I implored him.

He knew me so well that he didn’t even question it.

He reacted swiftly and in the next second, he’d called his Aetherbound Scepter forth, the thing materializing into his hand.

“Caius is not right!” I yelled out to the Guardians. “Get him out of here now! To a clearing! Away from the building!”

The Guardians started, trying to absorb what I was saying.

But it was too late.

Caius used his vampire speed and his magic together to call forth something onto his palm.

It was a black, shining circular object the size of a baseball, and the moment he levitated it away from him, it pulsed white and sent out a massive shockwave that ripped us all off our feet.

I grunted as I slammed into the corridor wall, while a wave of white light shot from the Aetherbound Scepter, deflecting the hit from assaulting Kai.

And the Guardians—they landed on their backs a few feet from Caius.

I swung my head to see that Velra was on her front, having managed to cushion her fall a little with her hands.

We both went to call our power at the same time.

But nothing happened.

It wouldn’t come.

Fuck. That device must’ve knocked out our magic.

How the hell?

I looked to Kai, and he couldn’t call his magic either.

The Aetherbound Scepter was still live, because he’d activated it before the magical knockout had happened, and now it was being powered by Celestial power from Ariana.

He slapped his free hand to his temple. I read him and deduced that he was contacting her, calling her in.

Caius grinned at us. “Long live, Puritas.”

I started, as I fought to get back to my feet.

As I did, a sharp beeping started emitting from the black sphere.

Flames erupted from it then.

But they weren’t any ordinary flames.

It was Hellfire!

“Everybody out!” someone bellowed from down the corridor.

In the next second, Ryker was teleporting into the fray.

And then I saw rapid bursts of movement all over, the vampire Guardians rushing through the facility and working to evacuate everyone.

The Aegis Watch members took off at Ryker’s command also.

No one could get within reach of Caius himself to take out him or the device with the Hellfire active.

One moment he was standing there and the next he was leaving the device levitating, then bursting past me.

I yelled out as he snagged Velra and blasted her through the wall with him, blowing out of the Compound.

“No!” I screamed.

“Get clear!” Ryker’s voice boomed at Kai and me.

He thrust his power forward—that defensive magic aspect that was like violent lightning.

He was trying to disarm the device with it.

It made sense, it was obviously a magically-forged weapon. His magic could cut through other magic.

But as it hit, it had absolutely no effect.

His eyes shot wide.

And then it was too late.

The Hellfire erupted, exploding like a bomb, rushing through the corridor, intending to take out everything in its path, blowing out walls on its path to us.

A roar sounded from Kai and power shot from the scepter, slamming up against the Hellfire.

Ryker choked at the close call. It had literally been inches from ravaging him.

The relief of Kai stopping it was too short-lived, though, because he staggered against the force of the Hellfire, his hands shaking violently.

He couldn’t hold it.

“Kai!” I screamed.

He had to teleport out or it would ravage him.

It would fucking kill him!

An eruption of silver power blinded us for a couple of seconds.

My breath caught in my throat as Ariana materialized right in front of Kai, her silver power shooting up all around the magical bomb, containing the Hellfire, just seconds before it hit us head on.

“I’ve got this,” Ariana told Kai. “Get back to Vorzyr. He’s headed here, I can feel it.

Even though I told him to stay behind, his draconic nature won’t allow it because he knew I was headed into danger.

Reassure him. He can’t be here, Kai. Especially with this being a Hellfire issue. He’ll expose himself.”

Kai hesitated. “I can’t just—”

“I’ll handle this. I promise.”

Kai looked between her and me, then Ryker.

He grimaced. “I trust you. I trust your power, too.”

I smiled. He was telling her to remember that she could wield it now, that she had full control, and not to doubt it.

In the next second, he tossed me the Aetherbound Scepter, knowing I’d need it with my magic out, then teleported out.

“Help Velra,” Ariana told me in the next moment. Her gaze went to Ryker. “Contain that bastard.”

“Ari, I can’t leave you to—”

“You can’t help me with this. Call Grandfather. I can’t hold this off and destroy the flames at the same time. I’ll call my wings and he can use them to neutralize the Hellfire.”

Ryker hesitated, clearly not wanting to leave her.

I didn’t want to either.

But this was what needed to be done.

I couldn’t believe she was holding the Hellfire at bay like she was. The flames were raging violently against her containment field, fighting to breach her silver power that was lightning up the damaged corridor like a beacon through it all.

She was absolutely phenomenal.

Standing tall, handling it, stepping up majorly.

Ryker rushed toward me. “You see to your friend, I’ll go after Caius.”

“It wasn’t his fault. He was coerced or something. His mind… it wasn’t right.”

I saw him nod, taking my words in, even willing to listen in spite of what had just happened. I’d heard tales about him being a paragon of fairness and understanding, but witnessing that from him in person was a whole other thing.

In the next moment, we both took off through one of the holes blown into the Compound walls.