fighting to protect him, even though I was fairly sure most of them only joined because they were forced to, just like they were being forced to fight now. If they weren’t literally trying to kill us, then I might have felt a little guilty for taking their lives.
My sword whistled through the air as I brought it down on another attacker. I’d stopped trying to figure out who may have just been going through the motions and who truly wanted us dead, because it was just too dangerous.
I was also trying to conserve my magic. Taking on the Horseman was going to be rough, I knew that deep in my soul, so I couldn’t waste my magic on these fools. Even though I had more magic than most, I knew it was a resource that needed time to renew.
Time was something we didn’t have.
Any second, the Horseman would figure out how to get the pieces of his skull back together and become that much more unstoppable. If we hadn’t had to wade through his entire army, it wouldn’t be such a big deal, but the three of us were massively outnumbered. We had a pretty good system going, as Hunter and I faced one direction and Alastair faced the other. It kept our enemies from flanking us, and with the three of us in a loose triangle formation, we were able to cover the entire width of the hallway. We stepped forward, pressing them back, and for a moment, I wasn’t sure what was going on, since all the enemies that had been standing in the hall, waiting for their chance to attack, moved out of the way.
Then I saw him.
A massive vampire roared and came charging at me, his speed such that I had no choice but to use the magic I’d been hoarding. I pushed my magic out, using it as a shield around us. It didn’t stop him though, he just smashed through it and kept moving, albeit slower than before.
When he reached us, he swiped with his hands, fingers flexed like claws with the nails to match. I had to jump back to avoid taking another gash to the stomach when the one from the fairground had only just healed. Before I could get a chance to swing my sword, he was inside my guard, bearing down on me like…well, a bear. A very pissed off bear. He was hairy like one as well, with a scruffy beard covering his face, and not in the sexy way.
“I can’t wait to taste you,” the large vampire growled. Spittle flew from his mouth as he lunged at me again.
As I dodged out of the way of his attack, I felt someone move behind me. I knew it wasn’t Alastair or Hunter because I could see both of them, and when a sword suddenly protruded from the vampire’s heart, I took the chance to glance over my shoulder. Grim stood there, grinning down at me like a kid.
My heart felt like it exploded in my chest.
I wanted to scream and cry and fawn all over him, but I couldn’t do any of that because as soon as the big vamp had gone down, the crowd had charged us all over again. I saw Ellis step up next to Hunter, and the five of us began clearing the hall. We’d been holding our own before, but now we were actually making progress.
Walking had become significantly more difficult though, due to the number of bodies littering the floor. I hated that so many people had lost their lives because of the Horseman. If this place hadn’t already been cursed, then I would have bet money that it would have been by the time we were done with the sheer number of souls that crossed over, not just by our hands but by the Horseman’s as well.
We went on the offensive, working together, and it was almost a thing of beauty. I couldn’t help but notice the prickle of magic racing up my spine though. The higher it got, the more intense the feeling became.
“I think he’s getting close,” I said, just loud enough so that the guys could hear me without me shouting from the rooftops.
“We’ll make a path for you,” Hunter called as he threw his shadows from him like whips, lashing out at anything in their path.
Alastair followed up with a fire storm unlike anything I’d seen from him before. Between the two of them, they created a