Prophecy: Caelestis & Aurorea (41 page)

She frowned. “You got them all?”

“None were spared,” he said.

“Watch your backs and remember that Cornelius is not to be harmed and Kalinor is Valentine’s.” She started up the path towards the house.

By now, the Aurorea inside would know of their presence and were either arming themselves or fleeing. She would let those that tried to escape go. She was only interested in Kalinor. The more guards that were left behind, the more chances they had of persuading some to join their army.

She looked across at Valentine and saw the tiny show of nerves in his eyes.

Pressing her hand against her chest, she felt her mark there pulsing with magic and swore that Valentine would defeat Kalinor. She couldn’t kill him, but she could do everything in her power to weaken him enough for Valentine to take his life and his place as the lord of Aurorea.

He turned his face towards her. “If we get separated, stay close to Venturi and Tiberius, understood?”

She nodded and took hold of his hand, drawing comfort from his touch. The feeling of his fingers interlocking with hers calmed her nerves. Nothing bad was going to happen to him, she wouldn’t let it.

The moment a group of guards rushed out of the mansion at them, she let go and threw herself into the fight.

She battled her way towards the house, letting her guards handle most of the men attacking them. Slashing across the chest of one of the Aurorea guards, she punched him hard across the jaw and then moved onto the next. It was important that they move swiftly. The rest of her group could finish off any of the injured guards that still tried to fight.

She kicked another man in the knee and then brought her foot up into his crotch, making him double over and clutch at it. Grabbing hold of his hair, she smacked his head against her knee and then flung him away from her.

Valentine was already breaking away from her. She tried to keep near him but it seemed impossible. By the time she had entered the mansion, he was nearing a heavy looking set of wooden doors. The place was packed with the Aurorea guards and it became a dizzying blur of signatures when she slipped into vampire guise for a moment. She defended herself against every attack while extending her senses towards the door. She could feel power on the other side. Was that where Kalinor and the elders were? That would explain Valentine’s hurry to reach it.

She gasped when she was pushed aside.

Venturi caught Prophecy around the shoulder and brought his sword up, quickly blocking the strike that the guard had levelled at her. He growled and pushed the man backwards before decapitating him. Looking across at her, he found that she was watching him with a stunned expression.

He pulled her against him when another guard swung an axe at her and didn’t have time to block it properly with his sword. The blade skimmed off his arm, cutting through his jacket to the soft flesh underneath. He roared at the guard and went to attack, only by the time he swiped at him, the man was burning into a pile of ash.

He looked down at Prophecy where she was hiding in his arms, her right hand extended towards the man and a dark look in her eyes as the magic swirled around in front of the purple stone of her amulet.

Tiberius and two of his guards crowded around them, keeping them safe and fending off the attackers.

“Are you all right?” he said at the same time she did.

He smiled. With his arms full of her, why wouldn’t he be all right? He watched her inspecting the wound on his arm and kept his senses alert so no one else could attack them unnoticed.

She frowned and he warmed inside to see her so concerned with him.

“You’ll be okay,” she said with a smile. “We’ll tend to that once the fight is over.”

A clamour from up above caused them to both look around. More guards were entering and they already had their hands full. He got the feeling that Valentine had seriously underestimated the number of Aurorea that would be willing to fight. Tightening his grip on his sword, he nodded to Prophecy, agreeing that it would be best to wait for the battle to be over before worrying about the wounds.

Tiberius moved past him to the other staircase and when he turned around, Prophecy was gone. He spotted her battling her way towards the twin doors that Valentine had opened. She was using her magic to knock the Aurorea off balance and then decapitating them. Satisfied that she was protecting herself, and wishing that he had the power to kill someone with the flick of a wrist, he fought his way towards the other staircase. The guards had made it half way down before the Caelestis warriors had spotted them. His side were fighting bravely but they were taking heavy losses. He paused for a moment when another Caelestis guard lost his head and then redoubled his effort.

Slipping into vampire guise, he growled while he slashed and hacked at the people in his way, chopping limbs off them and then removing their heads. He pushed each body to one side before moving onto his next victim. His brows knit when he felt the darkness growing inside of him, calling to him, and he gave in to the desire to kill, letting the violence control his actions.

He turned when he heard a crash and the sound of several people falling over. His eyes widened on seeing Prophecy struggling to her feet and he punched the man nearest him, shoving him out of the way in an attempt to get to her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tall broadly built Aurorea. He was strong, but younger than himself. He moved into his path, roaring at him in a show of strength. The Aurorea stopped and regarded him for a moment, his blue eyes cold and clinical.

“My battle is not with you, Tenebrae,” the man said.

“No, it’s with me,” Prophecy said and Venturi felt the air shift and then saw a thin line of red appear across the man’s throat.

Venturi stepped to one side, watching the body fall to the ground and then followed Prophecy when she continued into the next room. Tiberius and the rest could take care of the guards. Judging by the strength he could feel in the room, this was where he was needed. A glance around him at the five elders that were fighting the Caelestis guards said that this would be where he would find the violence he needed to feed the hunger inside of him.

Valentine looked across the room at Venturi as the elder he was fighting hit the wall opposite him. He frowned when he saw that Venturi was in his vampire guise. He’d never seen someone get so much pleasure from fighting. The way he was torturing the elder and the evident satisfaction it gave him was bordering on perverse.

He wondered if Prophecy was witnessing this display of a true Tenebrae.

His eyes sought her out and he found her penned in by two elder Aurorea. He was about to go and assist her but she blasted one away from her before slashing across the thigh of the other. Her fists connected solidly with them as she unleashed a barrage of punches aimed at their faces.

The elder he’d been fighting leapt on him and he turned, rolling with her and making sure that he ended up on top. He growled, letting his demonic visage emerge while he punched her repeatedly in the face and then caught her hard under the jaw with an upper cut, breaking her neck. He slashed her throat, removing her head

He turned swiftly and dropped his weapon so he could catch the blade of the sword that the high guard attacked him with. Pain burned in his palm but he kept hold of the blade while he stood and blocked the fist that flew at him. He twisted the sword around, forcing the guard to release it and then tossed it into the air, catching it by the handle. Grabbing hold of the guard by his throat, he drove him hard into the wall and stared deep into his eyes before releasing him. Before the guard had time to drop to the floor, he’d brought the sword around and buried it into the wall, taking the guards head off.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Cornelius. He was standing in the corner, pressed so far into it that he looked as though he was trying to melt into the wall.

“Cornelius, get out of here!” Valentine hollered above the din of battle and his aide looked at him. He signalled to Tiberius and pointed towards his aide. The guard nodded and moved towards him.

A muffled scream caught his attention and he spun on the spot to face the direction the cry had come from. He picked up his sword the second he saw Kalinor holding Prophecy off the floor by her neck and fought his way towards them.

“It is so nice to finally meet you,” Kalinor said in a dry tone and raked his eyes over her.

“Prophecy!” Valentine said and Kalinor looked at him.

Prophecy used the moment presented to her and he smiled when she kicked Kalinor hard in the stomach and then used her magic to rip through his arm. Kalinor immediately dropped her and gripped his arm, his face contorting in pain and his roar filling the air.

Valentine met it with a roar of his own as he charged at him, holding his sword pointing forwards by his side.

Their swords clashed, sending a metallic ring through the air. Everything around him faded away when he focused his senses on Kalinor, looking straight into the eyes of his lord and matching him strike for strike.

Kalinor knocked him backwards and laughed dryly.

Growling, he lunged at him, trying to find a way around Kalinor’s defences. He’d sparred with him on several occasions and each time Kalinor had beat him. This time he was going to be the victor. He fought for control of his actions, telling himself that desperate lunges and parries were going to get him killed. Restraining himself, he blocked each attack that Kalinor made, letting his sword do all of the work. When he was calm inside, he began to fight back. He kicked out at Kalinor, catching his knee and forcing him to lose his footing. Bringing the sword down in a determined arc, he was blocked just as he’d been expecting, but continued to drive his blade downwards until it was slicing into Kalinor’s shoulder. He leapt backwards, dodging the angry swipe that Kalinor took at him and then attacking again.

He clenched his jaw to stifle the cry of pain that tried to escape him when his lord cut across his shin. Frowning, he glared at Kalinor and then struck at him. His sword met Kalinor’s and locked in front of them. He pushed forwards, trying to force his lord to concede a few steps but Kalinor pushed back. He growled when he stared into Kalinor’s eyes, their faces barely a foot apart and only the two swords separating them.

“Your actions are despicable,” Kalinor whispered. “Your feelings for the Caelestis dishonour our bloodline.”

“Leave her out of this.” He gritted his teeth, not letting Kalinor’s words poison his mind and keeping his focus on the fight. Kalinor was trying to distract him. It didn’t matter what his lord thought any more. What he was doing was what was best for their bloodline. It was better than letting Prophecy kill them all, and that was the only alternative.

Kalinor laughed and shoved him, knocking the sword from his hand.

He dodged the lunge that Kalinor made and then stood up again, finding himself in the path of another strike. He didn’t have time to move.

Suddenly the sword jerked away and Kalinor fell to the floor. His eyes darted about for an explanation and he saw Prophecy smiling at him, her fingers still glowing with magic.

“Weapon!” he shouted across the room at her and she blocked a few attacks from the elder she was fighting and then threw her sword to him.

He watched her for a split second more and felt relieved when she burned the elder to ashes with her magic and he knew that she would be all right. He could see Venturi close by and Tiberius was fighting near her too.

Before Kalinor had a time to regain his feet, Valentine slashed at his knees, cutting them deeply. His lord roared in pain and he stood over him. Kicking the sword away when Kalinor reached for it, he brought the point of his own one to his lord’s throat and growled.

“It’s over.”

Kalinor’s eyes widened in disbelief and he realised that his lord had believed him incapable of killing him even if he did win. What had given him that idea?

“Killing me will do you no good. It is not me that you want. Shall I tell you?” Kalinor whispered up at him as Valentine drove the point of his sword into his neck.

He stopped and knew exactly what Kalinor was going to tell him. He watched his lord mouth the name of the person responsible for the coming war, the person they were going to have to defeat, and then angrily chopped his head off, roaring as he did so.

How could they have been so stupid?

He turned fast to block the attack of the high guard he’d sensed behind him and swallowed hard when his sword slipped and the guard’s weapon cut into his throat a little. He closed his eyes and grabbed hold of the blade, battling against the man wielding it in an attempt to preserve his life. The man grabbed the tip of the blade and pushed it harder against his throat. He tilted his chin up, struggling against him and unable to cry out for help for fear of cutting his own throat.

His eyes widened when a sword appeared through the guard’s chest and the man roared in agony. He kicked him backwards and threw the sword across the room with such force that it buried itself in the wall point first.

He was stunned when he saw Venturi twist the guard’s head clean off.

Venturi nodded and then went back to the fight.

He couldn’t believe that Venturi had saved his life.

Bending down, he slid the ring of Aurorea off his lord’s decaying hand and straightened up. He stared at it and while he did so, the room fell silent. The sound of battle ceased and he felt as though all eyes were on him.

Before he could move, Prophecy was in front of him, her pale shoulders bathed in blood and wounds peppering her arms and chest. His eyes lingered on the long scratch down her cheek and he wiped the blood away with his thumb.

He turned to the room, seeing Cornelius had come forwards to stand within a few feet of them. Cornelius bowed and he was surprised when many of the high guard joined him.

He slipped the ring on, feeling the weight of responsibility coming to rest firmly on his shoulders. He tried to focus on the people in front of him, his family and the army of Caelestis, but all he could think about was what Kalinor had said.