Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (9 page)

But there was no time to dwell on the differences between paranormals and humans. The next wave was deadlier. The demons had now reached us, and I felt a suffocating darkness as their smell and burning power overwhelmed me.

Vital’s first grenades helped. They weren’t the same as Sip’s; they were something the vampires made, a burning liquid brewed specially for darkness. Lanca had once told me that this potion, called Blood Light, was used in wars of vampires against each other. Her father’s father had invented it, and he had tested it on Raor and Radvarious vampires who had angered him. It was a gruesome thought.

Vital’s precision was deadly. I watched him throw the Blood Light with shocking accuracy, his face grim, his hand steady.

At one point, he stepped back to grab another handful of Blood Light and I moved forward and grabbed as much wind as I could, adding in some of the sparks from the fire, then slammed the wind upward to hit as many demons as possible. Several of them managed to dodge, having seen the attack coming, but many fell from the sky. In the distance I could see a group of Nocturns riding toward us, low to the ground, on brooms.

“If those Nocturns get to us, we’re done for,” Vital yelled, continuing to throw grenades in every direction.

Around us the demons swarmed and the hellhounds made flying leaps that Sip systematically rebuffed with her own grenades. But it couldn’t last. We would run out of
ammunition eventually, and there would still be hundreds of mindless demons to take the place of every one we knocked down.

Long before that, the Nocturns would reach us and that would be it.

Digging deep for the energy to do it, I pulled more power toward me. Sip looked at me and her eyes widened as she and Vital felt the ground beneath their feet shift and roll. I took a deep breath, then another. The earth was hard from a dry winter, and it was difficult to lift the ground itself, so the air would have to do. I gathered the biggest gusts I could control and sent them flying one after another after another in the direction of the Nocturns.

It was better to go after the source. The Nocturns weren’t expecting me to have that much rage, and I saw angry gestures as my winds struck them. Then, raging themselves, they increased their pace toward us.

I was so busy concentrating on the Nocturns  that I didn’t see the hellhound break out of the pack. The beast made a giant leap, and all I saw was a huge furry black body bearing down on me. I started to fall backward, but my power was stretched too far. I couldn’t bring up a shield in time.

I thought I was gone, but at the last moment before I would have been blasted backward by the hellhound, a body moved in front of me, all sleek black fur. Razor lifted a metal-covered hoof and slammed it down on the hellhound’s head a moment before it would have landed on top of me.

The animal crumbled, and Razor turned around as if to say, “I told you so.” The fact that he didn’t think I was a good rider (I wasn’t) didn’t mean he couldn’t save my life.

“You okay?” Vital called. He was still busy throwing grenades, but he was doing it more selectively now. I figured he must be running low. I nodded to reassure him, then checked on Sip.

See she was having the same problem, and she also looked tired. That wasn’t good, because the crush of demons showed no sign of lessening.

“We can’t last much longer,” yelled Sip, “even with Razor in the fight.”

The horse had gone back to safety behind me and the hellhound still lay crumpled near my feet. The Nocturns, though, were getting closer.

Looking over my shoulder, I could see the lights of Dunne ai Dorn winking against the pale blue sky. Ricky was there, hopefully sleeping. Determination not to let the Nocturns get to Ricky gave me a renewal of energy and determination.

Taking a deep breath to focus and calm myself, I pulled up as much earth as I could, while beneath it a stream of water spouted. At the same time, I sent my power outward with a  demand for all the winds that could respond.

Then I sent all the power I could directly at the Nocturns. They had raised a black shield, but the problem with darkness power was that it didn’t guard well against natural elements. No magic did - that was what had always made the elementals so powerful, and so safe from harm.

“Go, Charlotte!” I heard Sip yell.

I didn’t go.

I concentrated harder as the small rocks I had pulled up with the earth hit their targets. I knocked two Nocturns off their brooms instantly, while four others came on. Wind took care of another one and a fourth turned around. Two continued on, speeding up. I didn’t recognize either of them, but my anger at them for watching Risper die, and for attacking us now, fueled my power. As grenades continued to explode around us, I continued to attack the Nocturns. Finally the last two went flying off their brooms and disappeared into a sea of demons. They and their power hadn’t even gotten close to me.

“We can’t keep fighting them off,” Vital cried. “Run!”

He threw the last of his grenades, and for a second I watched them soar through the early morning light. Then I turned on my heel and dashed for Razor. Sip had already thrown the last of her grenades and transformed into a werewolf again. By the time I got onto Razor’s back, Vital was galloping away.

I looked over my shoulder, sending as much power as I could to slow the attacking darkness, but I could see that it was useless. There were too many of them.

Sip still couldn’t run as fast as Razor could gallop, but the horse didn’t leave her. Instead, we kept pace. My eyes scanned the sky for any sign of hope, but there was none.

I felt heat on my back and turned around to find a demon breathing down my neck. I lifted my ring, shoving it into his face, desperately holding onto the reins with my free hand. The demon burst apart just as I felt Razor give a jolt and speed forward. The demon had surprised him, and I was forced to drop my hand and cling to his back, but that gave me an excellent view
of what was coming. I had no idea there could be so many demons. Framed behind them was Locke, growing more distant by the moment, but not distant enough.

Just as I turned to check on Vital, I saw that he was slowing down.

“Are you insane?” I screamed. “Go, go, go!”

But then I saw why he had stopped.

Soaring through the sky was a pale figure. She wasn’t on a broom, because when you were the Rapier Vampire Queen you could fly without such cumbersome things.

She landed gently. Vital had already dismounted and sprinted to her, but she didn’t need his help. They clasped hands as Vital came toward me.

“Did you get the crown?”

I didn’t take the time to dismount or nod. I just grabbed it out of my bag. “Sip did,” I said. “She’s been amazing.”

Lanca smiled a thank you at the werewolf, who had just caught up.

“Give it to me,” she said. I handed it over and slowly slid down from Razor’s back. Sip transformed back into human form and came to stand next to me.

“What’s she going to do?” Sip asked.

I shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“She’s stronger with the crown,” said Vital. “She still needs the Blood Throne, but she should be able to give us enough time to get to safety.”

“Leave,” said Lanca, carefully taking the black crown and placing it on her equally dark hair as she spoke.

“I’m not going anywhere,” said Vital.

“Stubborn,” said Lanca, “will not help this situation.”

“I can’t leave you,” he said, touching her back.

“Yeah, we’re not running,” said Sip. “You should see Charlotte try to ride that horse. I think she’s going to give it a heart attack.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said.

“Well then, I just hope this works.”

As Lanca stepped forward, the darkness was coming ever nearer, and the wind smelled like fire. The crown blazed as its rightful owner possessed it.

“Darkness calls to darkness,” Sip muttered.

I hated that saying with all my heart, but the blast of power that shot out of the ground, knocking me backward, made me see just how true it was. Here, the earth was dry and brittle for elementals, but for Queen Lanca the ground shook and opened to reveal a cavernous black hole. She had split the world in two, directly under the hellhounds.

I didn’t even bother to stand and neither did Sip. Vital still stood next to his queen, his eyes hard. I could see he was filled with determination - and pride. Lanca never looked back as the power coursed through her. She
was
the land, and the land responded to her every whim. The Nocturns must have realized what was happening, because they started to turn around in droves. Unfortunately for them, the majority didn’t get very far.

The flames shooting out of the earth reached up and swallowed everything in their wake. Black glittering rock spiraled upward and around, wrapping close to its victims and then bursting into a million pieces. I heard screams and saw the red of flames engulfing the enemy. Lanca was attacking everything that moved.

Demons swarmed her, giving the few remaining Nocturns a chance to return to Blood Locke. Demons were expendable, darkness mages were not.

“Let’s go,” said Sip at last, when the very ground underneath us had started to heat up. I knew Lanca was calling the lava that licked below the surface, and she didn’t really care where it came out, so long as darkness paid.

“Right,” I said, scrambling to my feet. Razor could feel the heat too, and came to me. Sip, clearly in no condition to change yet again, climbed onto his back with me. She was small enough that the massive animal barely noticed her weight.

We took off. Behind us I could hear the earth ripping apart and charring, but Razor never slowed down. The wind blew through my hair and Sip gripped me tightly around the middle. Dunne ai Dorn grew in size and I started to breath easier.

“Lanca’s still there destroying demons,” Sip yelled in my ear. I knew my friend was watching the queen in case she needed help, but neither of us thought she would.

Lough, Ricky, and several Rapiers came running out to meet us.

Razor was sweating, and one of the hostelers quickly came to take charge of him. Sip’s hold on my waist loosened and Lough came to help her down. I slid out of the saddle, trying to keep it together for Ricky but knowing I didn’t have the energy.

“Are you okay?” he asked, coming to me as I collapsed onto the front steps.

“Yeah,” I said, taking deep, calming breaths. It barely felt real. My body still thought it was suffocated and stuffed in Demon Locke. The air still smelled stale, like wet rocks with no breeze to dry them off.

“Where’s Lanca?” Her personal servant, who had yet to look directly at me, came up and glared.

“She has the crown,” I said. “She’s fighting.”

He nodded curtly, but he didn’t explode like I had expected him too. Apparently even he felt better when she had the crown. It made me wish I could put my elemental crown together, not because I wanted to be royal, but because seeing what Lanca could do on her own turf with her own crown took my breath away.

“Why are you asking about Lanca?” Ricky demanded. “My sister needs help.”

The servant rolled his eyes and motioned to several other Rapiers standing nearby.

“Help her inside,” he said.

“I’m fine, I can stand,” I said. I tried to push myself to my feet, but my arms wouldn’t even take my weight. I hadn’t realized how much power and energy I had used up, but now it was all gone. My strength was completely sapped. I looked out at the horizon and felt the fear that was becoming common.

If the demons got past Lanca, I had no magic I could use to defend myself, or Ricky. I swallowed hard and looked at my little brother, who looked worried but determined. I nearly smiled. It was just like the look Keller said I wore when I was determined to master my magic, whatever that magic was.

A light touch, that’s what he always said I had. The perfect light touch.

Anyway.

“Come on,” said Ricky. He braced himself under my arm and helped me inside. Sip had already disappeared down the hall. Lanca and Vital had set up a makeshift infirmary in the lower levels of Dunne ai Dorn, expecting battles. Well, here was our first.

Chapter
Eight

I slept deeply for a day and a half and woke up just in time for dinner the next night. I had only one moment of wakefulness in all that time, when I sat up long enough to confirm that in the end it had been Lanca who had beaten back the attacking darkness. According to Lough, who was trading off with Ricky in holding vigils by Sip’s and my beds, it hadn’t even been hard for her. The power of royal paranormals was such that when Lanca had the full weight of her crown behind her, she was able to devastate her opponents.

When I finally came awake for good, my head was fuzzy and my body felt like I’d been pummeled with a pack of heavy wands. I blinked several times and wished for water. My mouth felt like it had tiny grains of rock in it, and for all I could tell the difference it might have. Sighing, I slowly pushed myself out of bed and got dressed. It would be several more days before I felt normal, but life goes on, so for now I rubbed my temples and forced myself to put one foot in front of the other and leave my room.