A Dawn of Strength Read online

  “How are you feeling?” I asked, brushing hair away from his sweaty forehead.

  “Like I never want to see the sun again.”

  I turned to Ibrahim. “How long do you think it’s going to take for him to gather his strength again?”

  “It’s so hard to say. It also depends on how strong a potion he can stomach…”

  Ibrahim’s voice trailed off as Derek stepped away from us, stretching his arms and rolling his neck. Then he closed his eyes, balling up his hands into fists. We watched with bated breath as his chest began to heave.

  After all this, his powers had better still be there.

  As if on cue, Derek pointed his hands toward the ground. His fingertips began to glow redder and redder until fire blazed out from them, singeing the grass at his feet.

  His eyes were alight with triumph as he looked at us.

  “Give me the strongest potion you have, Ibrahim,” he said.

  Chapter 21: Caleb

  After everyone had finished donning their armor and the witches had made sure each of us had a tight fit, it was time to return to the beach. None of us knew for certain how much longer the white witches would hold them off, but when Aiden came running toward us with a panicked look on his face and the two ogres trailing behind him, I knew that whatever time we’d thought we had had just been cut short.

  Eli and I hurried toward him as he neared the Armory. “There are now an equal number of white and black witches,” he panted. “An insane number have either fled or fallen in the last two hours. Is everyone ready?” He looked around at the crowd.

  “Yes,” Eli replied.

  “Where are Derek and my daughter? Have they returned?”

  “Not yet,” I said.

  “What about Mona?”

  Eli pointed to the witch, who was standing on the other side of the field, tightening up the armor around Kiev’s newly installed prosthetic arm.

  “What have I missed?” a deep voice boomed across the field toward us from the direction of the woods. We spun around to see Xavier racing toward us… now a vampire.

  A vampire Rose had introduced me to by the name of Landis—Xavier’s brother—ran up to him. “You recovered quickly,” Landis said, gripping Xavier’s shoulder. “We’re about to head to the beach. Grab a gun and put some armor on.” He hurried with Xavier into the building.

  Aiden turned to address the throngs of vampires and werewolves. “To the beach!” he shouted.

  Everyone launched into a sprint. Running at the head of the group, Aiden said to me beneath his breath, “It looks like we’ll just have to get started without our king and queen.”

  Chapter 22: Caleb

  By the time we arrived at the beach, the scene was already far worse than Aiden had described. There were only a couple of dozen white witches left.

  “Gather round me!” Mona yelled to our witches, her eyes filled with panic.

  As the vampires and werewolves lined up along the beach, Corrine, Ibrahim and the other witches huddled around Mona.

  “Lend me whatever powers you possess to help reinforce the spell,” she said, closing her eyes and reaching out her hands. The witches took it in turns to step forward and touch palms with her before they all shut their eyes tight and formed a circle.

  I turned my gaze back toward the ocean in time to see the last of the white witches cave in and vanish. Hovering above the waves like a dark cloud, the black witches swept toward the island. In a shaky voice, Mona began mumbling a chant. Sweat dripped from her forehead as her face contorted in concentration.

  I knelt down on the sand, tightening my grip around my gun as I adjusted my helmet. I stared at the black witches beginning to assault the boundary with curse after curse. I scanned the crowd until I caught sight of Rhys at the forefront, Isolde and his two sisters by his side. Rhys was the first warlock I would aim to take down, followed by Isolde. That witch, I would take particular pleasure in taking down. She had been one of the major influences on Annora.

  The next hour was passed in tense waiting. We barely dared speak to each other lest our voices disturb our witches’ concentration. As the black witches’ assault intensified, the ground beneath me began to tremble so violently I had to spread my feet out to avoid losing balance.

  Finally, Mona’s panicked voice pierced through the air. “I’m losing it!” she cried out. “Prepare yourselves.”

  Each of the warriors aimed their guns as Mona’s protective spell gave way. With a deafening crack, the black witches flew forward, crossing the boundary. I braced myself, expecting the sun’s deadly rays to come streaming down on us, but to my surprise, the spell of night remained. I couldn’t understand why the black witches wouldn’t remove that too—it would be much easier to end us vampires with the sun blinding us and digging into our flesh.

  As the witches approached within thirty feet of the shore, they all vanished at once. I staggered backward, spinning around with my gun raised. Black witches were bad enough. But invisible black witches?

  A hushed silence fell about our army as everyone wondered the same thing.

  “Into the ocean!” I yelled out. Some looked confused, but none hesitated as they hurled themselves toward the waves. At least, being submerged in the waves we’d be better able to hide ourselves. Our witches, it seemed, had made themselves invisible already.

  I was about to dive into the sea myself when I sensed a whirring near my right ear. Dropping to the ground, I pointed the gun upward and fired. There was a low grunt, and for but a second I caught sight of a short blond warlock, wincing and clutching a bloody shoulder. I lost no time in shooting toward his palm before he vanished. I remained low on the ground as I fired bullet after bullet.

  A storm of bullets went off suddenly in the water. I caught a glimpse of the surface of the waves to see vampires and werewolves being lifted out by invisible forces and dangling in midair, while I saw more flashes of injured witches as bullets made contact with their flesh.

  Something was strange about the scene. Why did the witches keep the spell of night upon us? Why weren’t they hurling curses at us? Their curses would be almost impossible to dodge while they were invisible.

  Having shaken off the blond warlock, I ran to the water and dove in. It was as I entered the heat of the struggle that the reason for their odd conduct hit me.

  They don’t want to harm us. At least, not yet.

  They’re trying to capture us.

  I knew the value their kind placed on werewolves and vampires—the type of roles we could play in their rituals. They were trying to take control with as little damage as possible. It was clear to me that this was our only advantage in this battle, and we had to play on it all we could.

  I ducked beneath the waves and emerged again beneath Saira, who was being swept into the air. Careful to avoid hitting the werewolf, I rained bullets toward the spot in the sky just above her. But my attempt at harming another witch was unsuccessful. Saira kept drifting higher and higher until she was carried away from the ocean and placed on the beach, where she struggled and twitched but was unable to move from the spot, apparently strapped down by some invisible force. Now that my gaze fell on the sand, I realized that half a dozen other members of our army had already been put there.

  I locked eyes with Aiden, who was floating a few feet away from me. “They don’t want to hurt us,” I hissed. “They want to subdue us.”

  His face tensed suddenly as he looked over my shoulder. “Duck!” he roared.

  I ducked beneath the ocean as a wave of bullets thundered above me. I surfaced again once his firing had stopped, but to my horror, it was to see Aiden being carried into the air, his gun knocked from his hands.

  “No!” I yelled.

  I let loose another storm of bullets, but Aiden continued to be swept toward the beach, where the others were being kept prisoner. My gut clenched as five more vampires nearby lifted into the air.

  They’re picking us off one by one.

  T
here were still enough of us flailing in the waves to make the waters foam for almost as far as I could see along the stretch of beach, but if the black witches kept up their current pace, we didn’t have a lot of time.

  I didn’t know where Mona or our other witches were by now. I could only assume they were doing their best to help us in this struggle in the ocean while maintaining their own invisibility.

  I began to regret leading everyone into the water. But it was too late for regrets. Motioning again to move closer to land, I froze as I caught sight of the shiny hulls of three large submarines approaching. As soon as they entered The Shade’s boundary, the three hatches opened and vampires began to spill out onto the roof. My voice caught in my throat as I took in all the familiar faces before my eyes finally settled on a tall, ginger-haired vampire. Stellan.

  As if the witches’ assault wasn’t enough, we now had a coven of vampires about to descend among us.

  My heart pounded as there was a loud splash behind me. Strong hands shot down into the water and closed around my ankles. I kicked violently, but it was too late. I was already being lifted out of the water, my gun shooting out of my palms and disappearing beneath the dark ocean.

  No.

  “Caleb Achilles,” a deep voice hissed above me. “I vowed you’d be the first vampire I’d seek out.”

  I didn’t need to see to put a face to that voice.

  It was Rhys.

  A burning sensation swelled around my ankles and spiked down suddenly, running down my legs, along my spine and reaching the back of my neck. It felt as though my nervous system had just been shattered. The agony was so consuming, I could barely breathe, much less yell. My attempts to break free only made me feel like a fish flailing on a hook.

  The pain subsided slightly as we reached the beach. He dropped me against the sand, where I lay, crumpled in a heap. I felt too weak to even stand. The warlock bent down and gripped my hair, yanking my head back at such an angle, I was sure my neck was in danger of snapping.

  He shoved one of his palms in front of my face. It had healed and now there was only the faintest scar where Rose had blown a hole through it.

  “You never should have betrayed us, Achilles,” he whispered.

  I couldn’t keep my eyes open as a blast of heat engulfed me. Sweat felt like it was breaking out from every pore of my skin and a heavy smoke invaded my nostrils. I was sure that Rhys was burning me alive.

  Then an alarmed shout came from my left. The heat lessened—so much so that I dared open my eyes. When I squinted through the smoke, Rhys was no longer by my side. A ball of fire at least half his size had shot him backward against the trunk of a tree, thirty feet away from me. Fighting to steady my shaking legs, I eased myself into a standing position.

  What in the world…

  A tall figure emerged through the haze of smoke. Every part of his body was covered in armor except his hands, which were glowing red. The man tipped back his helmet.

  It was the king of The Shade.

  “Derek?” I breathed.

  “That warlock—is he the one who stole my daughter?” Derek demanded, his blue eyes blazing. “Rhys?”

  He pointed toward Rhys, who was slowly getting to his feet again, a cold fury taking hold of his expression.

  “Yes,” I said, still trying to comprehend whether I was experiencing some kind of hallucination.

  Derek’s gaze travelled back to the warlock and fixed on him.

  “Wait,” I said, “You need to understand—”

  But Derek Novak didn’t want to understand. His chest heaving, he didn’t even allow me to finish my sentence before he began sprinting toward the warlock.

  He should have waited.

  Because the truth was, whatever bizarre powers he seemed to have gained, he was still no match for Rhys Volkin.

  Chapter 23: Derek

  Having my powers back was both strange and exhilarating. It had been twelve long years since I’d last had them, and yet now that they had returned to me, it almost felt as though they had never left.

  On seeing the warlock about to attack Caleb, I suspected right away that it might be Rhys. He fit the description my daughter had given.

  Feeling the heat building up again in my shoulder blades, I ran straight for the warlock. His dark eyes flickered in the light of the blaze of fire I’d aimed at him, the remains of which still burned at his feet. His shirt was singed and his chest was covered with a round dark burn. His eyes fixed on mine, he stepped forward, away from the tree I’d hit him against, and walked around the fading ball of fire.

  “Derek Novak,” he said softly. He brushed his hand against his chest, vanishing the burn mark instantly and replacing it with pale skin.

  I raised my palms as the heat reached them. I managed to hold in the flames until I arrived within ten feet of the warlock, but then my rage was too much to contain. I let loose. Bursts of fire shot toward the warlock. As they were about to hit his skin, he spread his own palms. A powerful burst of water shot from his palms. It formed a whirlpool in the air, twirling round and round my fire until it had engulfed and extinguished it.

  He let out a low chuckle. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

  Reaching up for the branch hanging above me, I grabbed it and pulled myself up onto it. I aimed more flames down on him. Again, he shot out a tirade of water, rendering my fire useless.

  Backing up on the branch, I sped up and, with one giant leap, jumped from the tree and hurled myself at the warlock. I landed on top of him, sending his head crashing down against the trunk of a fallen tree. Gripping his neck with one burning hand, I flipped out a gun from my belt and aimed it at his left palm. Clearly, he hadn’t been expecting such a bold move on my part, but his surprise didn’t last long.

  Before I could pull my trigger, his hand closed around my arm. An agonizing pain spread through my body and I was forced to loosen my grip on him. He kneed me hard in the stomach and rolled over on the ground, his palms now around my neck. He screamed as I shot fire directly against his face, forcing him to loosen his grip on me. I staggered to my feet, keeping the blaze going as I stumbled back. His face was red raw as I caught sight of it through the smoke, just before he extinguished my flames once again.

  I grabbed the second gun I had in my belt and fired it. He dodged it narrowly. A hiss escaped his lips as a cold blue ball of burning fire came shooting toward me. I shot out more flames, expecting his fire to merge with my own, but it didn’t. It pierced right through my wall of flames, shooting toward my chest.

  “Derek!” Sofia screamed.

  I threw myself down flat against the sand, but I wasn’t fast enough. The ball grazed my shoulder, and as soon as it did, my body became rigid. My chest was suddenly so tight I could no longer breathe. The shock was the first thing to hit me. The agony followed shortly afterward. The area of my shoulder where his curse had touched felt like it was on fire, and the sensation soon spread toward the rest of my body.

  Two pairs of hands gripped my arms, forcing me to lie flat on my back. My vision was hazy, but I could just about make out Sofia hovering over me with Corrine and Mona.

  Mona’s hands closed around my shoulder—and as soon as she did, the agony intensified tenfold. I couldn’t help but cry out. Her hand felt piercingly cold—as though she were burning my flesh with dry ice. When she finally let go, although still in fierce pain, I was able to gasp for air.

  “Take him away, Corrine,” Mona hissed.

  My head was reeling as Corrine gripped my hand. The scene around me disappeared in a blur of colors. Opening my eyes again once the rushing air stopped, I found myself lying on the table in Corrine’s potion room.

  Sofia’s cool hands pressed against either side of my face. “What are you going to do, Corrine?” she asked anxiously.

  The witch didn’t answer. My vision was becoming more blurred by the minute.

  “He’s fading,” Sofia choked.

  More ice-cold pressure was ap
plied to my shoulder.

  “He’s still breathing, at least,” Corrine murmured. “We have Mona to thank for that. Thank God she was nearby. Had she got to him even a few moments later, that touch of Rhys’ curse would have been fatal…”

  I groaned as she pressed harder against the wound.

  “He’ll be okay,” the witch said. “His body is just in shock right now. Mona arrested the curse before it could spread too far.”

  There was a running of water in the sink nearby.

  “Open your mouth, Derek,” Sofia said a moment later.

  I did as she requested, and I felt cool water trickling into my mouth. My throat was so parched, it hurt just to swallow, but when I did manage it, I felt less dizzy.

  “Do you want more?” Sofia asked.

  I nodded. She poured me mouthful after mouthful until I realized—despite the pain I was still enduring beneath Corrine’s icy pressure—my vision was coming back.

  Finally, I attempted to sit up. Corrine pushed me back down.

  “Not yet,” she scolded.

  “Let go of me,” I said through gritted teeth. “I need to return now.” I sat up more forcefully this time and brushed the cold compress aside.

  “Oh, yeah?” Corrine glared at me, placing her hands on her hips. “Why don’t you take a look at yourself in the mirror before you go gallivanting off.”

  Swinging my legs off the table, I planted my feet on the floor and walked toward the mirror fixed on the wall on the other side of the room. I swore beneath my breath as I caught sight of my reflection. The skin on my upper right shoulder was so badly burnt, it was charcoal black. It was thin and flaky, resembling scorched pastry more than skin.

  Sofia stood in front of me, worry creasing her forehead. She gripped my ear and tugged my head downward. “What is wrong with you, Novak?” she hissed. “This is the second time in twenty-four hours that you’ve almost gotten yourself burnt to death.”