A Call of Vampires (A Shade of Vampire #51)

I pushed out a barrier, strong enough to push it back a couple more feet. I needed to put more energy into these barriers, since they barely nudged these bastards. I shuffled to my right and moved around the obscure creature, trying to get closer to Patrik.

I couldn’t see Darius anywhere, but I didn’t get another second to look around again, as two more invisible fiends emerged from my right. There were nine of them now, one inching away from Patrik and moving toward Scarlett, who kneeled above the Iman girl and drew her sword, ready to defend her.

I was faced with three hostiles, all big and red-eyed. I pushed out a second barrier, using most of my energy. I heard a grunt before I saw one of them dart around, moving so fast I didn’t realize what it was doing until it was too late.

It swept my feet from under me, and I couldn’t help but yelp as I tried to get up and stilled, staring into a pair of red glowing eyes that I’d glimpsed before. The invisible beast had swiftly moved over me. I heard claws scraping the hard ground next to my ears.

I felt its hot breath on my face. It smelled like iron, like blood… like death.





Harper





(Daughter of Hazel & Tejus)





I slashed at it again, this time in an upward motion. No sound came out, and it didn’t seem like I’d even touched it, but its eyes burned brighter, as if letting me know that I was screwed for even trying that. I held my breath and tried to kick it with my feet.

I hit something hard, but nothing happened. The beast still hovered above me.

“What the hell!” I growled, frustrated. No matter what I did, it didn’t seem to work.

The creature suddenly vanished to the side, pushed off by a dark shadow.

“Go for the eyes whenever you see them!” I heard a very low, husky male voice pierce through the darkness.

The other two invisible creatures came at me, and I did as instructed, releasing a flurry of sword hits aimed at their red eyes whenever they flashed them—it seemed to be a recurring action on their part, more or less. The blades vibrated upon impact. I’d finally hit them. I was on to something.

I kept attacking them, always aiming my strikes at their eyes, the only elements I could see in these masses of blackness that wanted to kill me. I glanced to my left and saw someone obscured by a black cloak. Whoever or whatever that was, it moved fast, dodging the ninth entity’s attacks.

A sword glistened under a sliver of moonlight before I saw the blade get rammed between the creature’s eyes. It growled, something so ragged, so guttural and dirty, that it was downright terrifying, chilling me to the bone.

My savior glanced at me, but I couldn’t see his eyes or face.

It was all my two other attackers needed to knock me back down. The air was pushed out of my lungs as I slashed them with my swords. Unlike my previous time on my back, now I went straight for their eyes. One of them was pushed off by my savior, and I knocked the other one back with a barrier.

I moved to stand but was violently pushed back down.

“Stay the hell down and don’t move! They’re obviously too much for you to handle!” my savior barked. He took on both shadows with quick movements and flashes of his sword.

He’d been the one to tell me about the eyes. And then he’d been the one to tell me I was in over my head? My blood boiled. My shoulder burned from the pain, but I rolled onto my side and quickly checked on my teammates. Scarlett was fighting one of the invisible creatures and losing. Patrik was throwing another blue flame out, when he got knocked down by his attackers. Hansa and Jax were fending off attacks from four other entities.

“Hit them in the eyes!” I shouted after them, then sprang to my feet.

The moment my teammates heard me, they nodded and changed their defense and attack moves. Their swords focused solely on reaching the beaming red eyes whenever they flashed, and it worked, forcing the beasts back a few steps.

My savior disabled the last two creatures that had come at me, then darted over to Hansa and the others, moving too fast for me to see much. His blade was out, slashing away at our invisible attackers, pushing them farther back.

“Get the girl and go!” he shouted at us.

I ran over to Scarlett’s side first and launched a series of double sword hits at her hostile’s face. I saw its glowing red eyes. I jumped then, taking advantage of the momentum, and shoved my blades into its eyes. They sizzled, and I smelled burning flesh as the creature let out that brain-scratching roar. I used my boots to push myself away.

The beast fell backwards, landing with a thud.

Scarlett ran off to help Patrik, while I put my swords away and scooped the Iman into my arms. She barely weighed anything, and her clothes were cut through and soaked with blood. The horses had scampered off to the side, farther up ahead.

I ran after them, fast enough to reach one and whistle. It stopped and neighed in protest. I used my own mind-control ability to send out an order to the other horses, and forced them to come back. I loaded the girl onto the back of my stallion, then glanced at my team.

Scarlett had managed to successfully push Patrik’s attackers away, and they were both coming toward me. Patrik had his arm around her, as his leg had also been cut deep. I looked at one of the horses I’d commanded to return, and reached into its mind.

“Go help them!” I barked, and the mare listened.

It galloped back to Scarlett, who helped Patrik up first, then joined him, settling on the saddle in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and slumped over her. He was significantly taller and bigger than she was, and also weak from blood loss, but Scarlett held her own, her back straight as she spurred the horse and joined us.

I climbed onto my horse, with the unconscious Iman girl in front of me, her head and chest resting on the back of the animal’s neck, her arms hanging to the sides.

Hansa and Jax were the last to run off, while my mysterious savior stayed behind and kept the invisible fiends busy, the night air trembling in front of him.

None of the remaining attackers could get past him. Hansa and Jax reached us in a handful of seconds, and jumped onto the horses. We kicked off then, and went as fast as the rough and narrow terrain allowed us to go.

“The opening!” Scarlett said, pointing ahead to the left.

Indeed, the gorge split open on that side, and we took a tight turn to pass through it as we left my savior and the murderous creatures behind. We went through the crevice and reached the neighboring gorge, through which a river flowed, its steep banks dressed in tall greenery.

“Where the hell is Darius?” Hansa growled, looking around.

She’d been wounded, silver blood seeping from parts of her torn leather suit. Those shadows had some serious claws to be able to cut through that reinforced fabric like that. Only then did I feel a painful warmth in my side. I touched it and noticed blood on my hand. I’d taken a hit, too.