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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“What have you done?”

Effora’s yell drew my gaze back to the portal.

Shaking in her outrage, she stood in front of Cross. His eyes were black and filled with revulsion as he stared back at her.

She lifted her taloned hand to hit him, but Vivian’s voice stopped her.

“Ah-ah-ah! That’s not the vampire blood you swore to spill if I helped you feed on Shepard. It’s time to fulfill your vow, Effora. The trap has set, and Orphia is coming. It’s kill or be killed.”

The phone went black.

Cross sighed and picked up a piece of her clothing to wipe his hand dry. “I did what needed to be done to free Everly.”

I saw the moment she realized Cross was missing his ring, too.

“You fool! You haven’t saved your human; you’ve been condemned to a life of hell. Without the fae and wolves to maintain the balance, the vampires will overrun this world and bleed every human dry.”

While her back was turned, Shepard partially shifted and ripped free of his ropes.

“Which is why we need to stop her,” Shepard said, returning to his human form.

Effora turned to watch Shepard pick up his pants.

“We all know she won’t arrive alone,” Shepard said. “She hasn’t been building her numbers to fight for the food source. Her army is for now.”

Her army…

My stomach churned sickeningly as I realized what he meant to do. He wanted the three of them to stand against hundreds, maybe thousands, of vampires. At night. Without the stones that enhanced their abilities.

“If Orphia wins,” he continued, “and I’m thrown into the fae realm with you, I promise that I will use every breath I have left to make you pay for what you did at your house and what you attempted to do to me just now.

“If by some miracle we win, know that you have broken the treaty between our races, and I will hold you accountable.”

He angrily pulled his pants on and strode over to the portal to press his hand to it. “Cross didn’t let her take what’s yours. I’m sorry I allowed her to touch me.”

“You should be sorry that he threw her ring in here instead of finding another way,” I said.

“What I’m most sorry for is letting you out of my sight. That won’t ever happen again.”

“I’ve texted the location to Doc and Hugh,” Cross said, “but I have a feeling it will be too late before anyone can get here.”

While Shepard turned to look at Cross, I moved away from the portal to look at Grandma and Grandpa Hunter.

“We have to find a way to destroy the relic.”

“We’ve tried everything,” Grandma Hunter said.

“Show me.”

She led me to where they had their backpacks. “Barnaby, get out the climbing pick and shovel.”

“We’ve used those before,” he said. “It didn’t even make a scratch.”

“Take them out anyway,” I said. “Everything you have. We need to stop this from going any further before Orphia and her people arrive. Once she’s here, it’ll only be a matter of time before she reaches this portal with the last stone.”

They both began dumping things out of their bags in a hurry. A campfire pot and pan. A rubber hammer to pound in tent stakes. Climbing picks. Utensils. Sleeping bags.

Their supplies quickly covered the yellow flowers and purple-blue grass, with the relic in the center of the empty packs.

I picked up a climbing pick to try first, hoping my rage and fear would give me enough strength to do some kind of damage.

“Be careful,” Grandma Hunter warned. “It has some kick to it.”

I drew the pick back and slammed it down onto the relic. It deflected with a magic burst, knocking my pick away and nearly stabbing a lost human, the first I’d seen, who was muttering something about missing shoes. Where the pick had struck, the relic remained completely unblemished.

“See?” Grandpa said. “It’s impossible.”

“So is the chance of me giving up,” I said.

I grabbed the shovel and tried that, regretting my two-handed grip when the deflection knocked me to my butt with it.

Wincing, I tossed the shovel aside and accepted Grandpa Hunter’s hand up to stand. Neither tried stopping me from picking up the pot then the pan. The relic had the same reaction to both items as the previous ones. And slamming the relic to the ground and stomping out my frustrations did nothing but send me flying back and skidding on my ass.

“Sweetie, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Grandma Hunter said, helping me to stand. “Believe me, we’ve tried everything. We haven’t been twiddling our thumbs in here for the last ten years.”

“Everly?”

The sound of Cross’ voice had me hurrying to the portal.

Cross’ dark gaze swept over me. “Where were you? What happened?”

“I’m trying to destroy the relic. It’s protected by magic and keeps knocking me backward.”

He lifted his hand like he wanted to touch my hair but dropped it to his side again.

“When you see the portal opening, call my name. I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”

“You know how many vampires she’s going to bring,” I said.

He flashed his sexy smile that made my pulse race. “All fledglings. I’ll knock them down like bowling pins.”

“Orphia’s not a fledgling. Neither is Vivian. And we both know those aren’t the only two older ones that escaped the nest cleaning. Please just keep yourself safe. And if they win and get the relic, you have to promise to take care of my parents and Vena.”

“I will take care of them with you.”

“You know if the vampires storm in here to get the relic, I’ll fight until the end.” It might only be seconds, but I wasn’t going to sit idly by and let them take it.

A black web of veins erupted around his eyes.

“When you leave this world, so do I, Everly.”

“Stubborn vampire,” I said, frustrated.

All the darkness bled out of his expression as the smile returned.

“Don’t forget to call my name,” he said.

“Cross,” Shepard called. “I hear them.”

“Go,” Cross said. “Keep trying.”

I nodded and hurried back to Grandma and Grandpa Hunter.

“Can we try one more thing?” I asked.

“What do you have in mind?”

“Let’s all hit it at once. Maybe with three people hitting it, it will be enough.”

“We can. We just have to be careful if the pick goes flying again.”

We each took a ‘weapon’ and circled around the relic. I drew back the shovel, which Grandpa did the same with the pick and Grandma with the pan.

“On the count of three,” I said. “One…Two…Three!”

We hit the relic at the same time. The magic reverberations sent us flying backward. My ass hit the ground first, followed by my back and head. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and I wheezed through my poor, abused throat.

Grandpa and Grandpa Hunter groaned nearby.

“That was a doozy,” Grandma said. “Thank goodness we don’t age in here and that my bones are still in good shape.”

I sat up, tears flooding my eyes so much that I couldn’t see Grandma kneeling in front of me until she wiped my face with her warm hands.

“We’ll keep trying,” she said. “We’re not beat yet.”

That only made me cry harder until I was hiccuping. She rubbed my back, trying to comfort me, but the only thing I could think about was what would happen once Orphia arrived.

“You do not hold the responsibility for the fate of the whole world in your hands,” she said. “No one should have that power. Do not let this defeat you because, once the relic activates, we are going to need everyone. Do you understand? You have to be strong. Giving up isn’t an option, right?”

I nodded, knowing she was right, and wiped away my tears.

“She’s here,” Grandpa Hunter said, backing even farther from the portal.

Dread filled me. Standing, I hurried toward it and saw vampires flooding the area with Orphia and Vivian in their midst.

Shepard and Cross stood together in wide stances. Effora waited just behind them.

Orphia’s gaze swept over them and then me, stuck in the portal.

“Well done, Vivian,” she said. “I knew as soon as I saw you that you’d be perfect for my mission. I’m so glad you survived the conversion. I’m sure I could have done this without you, but with your twisted genius, it’s entertaining, too.”

Orphia missed Vivian’s hate-filled glare as she looked around the clearing and met my gaze.

“Be a dear and fetch the relic, Everly. I’ll need it soon.”

She drew back her hand and threw something. Neither Cross nor Shepard attempted to block Curran’s ring from entering the portal. It landed a distance behind me, near Effora’s stone in the grass.

A shuddering rumble shook the ground beneath my feet.

“We’re doomed,” Grandma said.

I looked at her, and she pointed at the fog near the stars. It thinned as I stared.

“Once it clears, the portal will be open.”

“If these four stones had the power to open the portal, maybe they can break the relic,” Grandpa suggested. “Like fighting magic with magic. Maybe both magics will cancel each other out, breaking the relic and closing the portal.”

Grandma was already scooping up Effora and Curran’s stones as my eyes went wide in realization, and I reached for the necklace Vivian had put on me.

It wasn’t there anymore. I frantically fell to my knees at the portal and combed through the grass and flowers there.

“Everly,” I heard Orphia call. “The relic is large. You won’t find it in the grass. Can she even hear me? You picked a useless blood bag, Cross.

“Kill them.”

I glanced back at the portal and saw a mass of vampires running for Cross, Shepard, and Effora. A second later, Shepard stood in front of the portal. I wasn’t sure if it was to block me from coming out or to block the vampires from getting in.

“What are you looking for?” Grandma asked.

“A necklace with a gem-studded penis on it. It’s not mine. It belonged to the vampire who shoved me in here. It cancels magic. It might work on the relic. I’m positive I was wearing it when he pushed me in, or Cross would have found me sooner. That means I lost it in here when I fell or—” I sprang to my feet. “I need to check near the fae portal.”

“Here,” Grandpa said, shoving a bag at Grandma. It looked like it weighed as much as she did. “Take it and the stones and go with her. I’ll stay here and hold them off as long as possible. If you can’t break the relic before the portal opens, go to the fae realm and hide.”

She reached up, kissed his cheek, then we ran.

I watched the color of the stars above, which were growing more visible as the mist drained from the veil. It didn’t take nearly as long to reach the other portal, making me wonder if the veil itself was changing.

We dropped to our hands and knees to look for the necklace.

“Found it!” Grandma called after a moment.

With an excited grin, she held up the atrocious glittering dick necklace.

“That’s it!”

She shoved it into my hand and dug in the pack.

“We’ll try your necklace first. If that doesn't work, then we’ll try all of the stones at once. I don’t want to risk breaking them unless we have to. We might be able to try closing the portal with them again if we throw them out onto the fae side once it’s open.”

After placing the relic on the ground, she handed me the pick.

“Give it a try.”

I wrapped the necklace around my hand and the pick, braced myself for the kickback, then swung like it was Effora’s nasty face. The pick hit the relic, and the tip sank into the stone.

A second later, a hum filled the air.

I tried to let go of the pick, but the necklace was still wrapped around it and my hand.

“Shi—”

The relic exploded, sending shards flying along with Grandma and me.

Stunned, I sat up and plucked a shard from my cheek and some from my arms. My bloody fingers left smears everywhere.

“Are you all right, dear?” Grandma asked.

I looked at her and saw her forehead was bleeding.

“I’ll survive. You?”

“I’ll live for a while longer.” She got to her feet and looked at the broken remains of the relic. Then she picked up a thin piece of the stone and snapped it in two. “No more magic. It worked.” She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “All these years. It finally worked.”

Standing, I looked around at the mist, which was about level with my head now.

“One problem solved and one more to go. I doubt Orphia is just going to give up and walk away once she knows the relic is gone.”

“You’re right. Look.” Grandma pointed the way we’d come. “You can see the glow from the portal now. It’s almost open. We’d better hurry.”

I grabbed the bigger pieces of the relic, and we ran toward the portal to find Grandpa standing back with a worried frown and a walking stick tightly gripped in his hands.

“Where’s the necklace?” he asked.

I lifted my hands, showing him the remnants of the relic and the busted bit of chain still wrapped around my wrist.

“The necklace worked,” Grandma said. “It’s done. Orphia will never get the relic.”

Grandpa breathed a sigh of relief.

I couldn’t do the same, though. I ran to the portal and looked out.

Shepard still stood partially shifted before the portal, his back blurring as he moved in front of it, fighting any vampire attempting to overwhelm him. His claws raked over them, maiming some and disemboweling others. The injured ones staggered away, and new ones took their place.

Blood covered his chest and back, but I wasn’t sure it was all vampire blood.

Even without his ring, he was holding them back. Effora, who I thought was completely useless, was fighting in her fae form not far away. She wasn’t taking on as many vampires as Shepard, but she was holding her own.

A vampire saw me watching.

He grinned and looked at the clear, glowing gap in the top edge of the portal. Shepard saw his attention had diverted and killed him quickly. But another one had already noticed and threw a stone at the gap. It sailed right through. He grinned at me.

“You’re mine.”

Shepard killed him as I quickly tugged both rings off my thumbs.

“Cross, come here,” I called.

He was next to Shepard a second later, his shirt a wet red. I thrust my hand through the gap and dropped their rings into his hand.

He smiled briefly as he slipped his on.

“This ends now.”

He blurred, and vampires fell like puppets with snipped strings. He closed in on Shepard, and I barely saw the handoff as he gave Shepard his ring. Shepard shoved it in his mouth and matched Cross’ speed in meeting the next wave.

Orphia, who was standing off to the side with Vivian, screamed in anger as her minions died one after another.

She caught sight of me, and fury burned in her eyes.

While they were distracted, she blurred to a stop in front of me.

“Give me the relic!”

I stuck my hand through the growing opening and dropped the pieces to the ground in front of the portal.

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“Aw. Looks like all your plans went to shit.” Vivian laughed from behind her. “And guess what? You’re dead.”

I saw the look of realization hit Orphia right before Vivian shoved a knife through her heart. He quickly yanked it out and...I squeezed my eyes closed so I wouldn’t see her end.

When I opened my eyes again, she was lying lifeless at his feet. He looked at me briefly, then darted into the fray.

His target was Shepard.

“Shepard, behind you!"

Shepard killed the vampire he was fighting and turned just as Vivian thrust the knife at him. The knife sunk into Shepard’s side. He let out a growl of pain and pulled the knife free, his pants shredding as his body morphed into wolf form.

Vivian laughed as if his life wasn’t on the line. As if he had no care in the world.

Shepard sprang forward, and a low growl vibrated through the space. They fought, each taking hits. Without the knife, Vivian couldn’t keep up. He was bloody, and I could tell each strike took more and more out of him. He’d lose, and he knew it.

Before Shepard could make the final blow, Vivian grabbed something from his pocket and tossed it into the air.

“At least I got one out of the three. I’m coming, Adriel.”

The sky exploded in light that was brighter than a summer sun.

It was like the sun charm but at nuclear levels.

I winced as it felt like my retinas were on fire and slammed my eyes shut. When I blinked them open, all the vampires were dead or ash, including Vivian.