trip back, shrieking out, while others fall to the floor.
Demetrius fearfully glances between the orb and the doorway, and I can tell he’s contemplating bailing.
“You can’t kill me,” Stephan growls as he stands to his feet. “No one can.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Aislin leans forward and cups her hand around her mouth. “You want to know a secret, Father?” She gives a dramatic pause. “You’re going to die today.”
He barks a laugh and the shield ripples. “No one can kill me, especially you, my weak and overly emotional daughter.”
“I know I can’t, but I didn’t say I was going to kill you, did I?” Her hands sparkle as she wiggles her fingers, and then shimmering swirls of light rise toward the ceiling. “Scutum aufero recipiam.”
Suddenly understanding why I’m here, I inch closer to the orb and quickly try to memorize every word she says.
When nothing happens, Stephan throws his head back and laughs.
“I have to say, I’m a little disappointed. I would hope my own daughter could do better than this, especially since I gave you the gift of Wicca. Guess I set my expectations too high for you.”
“Or your arrogance is too high,” Laylen says then leans over and rams his head into Stephan’s stomach.
As they crash to the floor, their bodies crack against the ice. Then Laylen pushes back and takes a swing at Stephan; however, Stephan blocks the punch with his arm, reaches for his boot, and draws out a knife.
I run for them but slam to a stop when I realize I can’t go through the shield.
Aislin rushes for Laylen and stabs a knife into Stephan’s wrist, right in the center of his Mark of Immortality. “Accipe bonum industria a!” Aislin shouts as she retrieves a vile from her pocket. Then she dumps a thick liquid onto Stephan’s arm, straight into the open wound.
Stephan jabs Laylen in the face with his elbow and then strikes Aislin across her cheek. She flies backward and hits the back of the orb.
Laylen growls and sinks his teeth into Stephan’s arm, biting hard. Stephan struggles to get free and kicks Laylen in the stomach as the sphere sparks and begins to fade in and out.
“Laylen!” Aislin shouts, crawling for him. “It’s time to go! Now!”
She extends her hand, and Laylen runs toward her, but Stephan catches ahold of his leg and yanks Laylen down. Laylen kicks Stephan in the head with his heel over and over again as the orb bursts like a massive ocean wave rolling for land.
The floor dusts with light and sparkles as Laylen bashes Stephan in the nose with his foot. Stephan jerks back, clutching his bleeding nose, and Laylen races over to Aislin.
“Get us out of here,” he says breathlessly as the Death Walkers close in on them.
Stephan grabs a nearby knife and throws it at them. “I won’t let you ruin this.”
The knife lands close to Aislin, nicking her leg, but she quickly says her spell, and just like that, they’re gone.
“Dammit!” Stephan shouts, slamming his fist against the floor, blood still trickling from his nose. “It’s gone!”
“What is?” Demetrius asks, leaning motionless against the doorway. Not surprisingly, he did nothing to help Stephan through the attack, and part of me wonders if he wanted Stephan hurt.
Stephan’s eyes scorch in rage as he glares at Demetrius. “My shield and my Mark of Immortality!”
“You can put it back on, so relax. Besides, it’s almost time,” Demetrius says.
A deafening ring echoes through the room, and Stephan retrieves his phone from his cloak. He stares at the screen for a moment or two before wiping the blood from his face and answering it.
“What the fuck do you want?” he snarls into the receiver.
Silence fills the room as someone talks on the other end of the line. When Stephan hangs up, he chucks the phone against the floor and shatters it into pieces like he did with the sword.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Demetrius asks, gaping at the pieces of the phone.
“Our stars are waiting for us,” he says with a swish of a cape, and then he marches for the door.
Demetrius hurries after him and so do the Death Walkers, their yellow eyes glinting with eagerness.
If it’s time, then that means he’s headed to . . . kill Alex and me.
Needing to know how this all turns out, I chase after them, but the second I step foot out of the room, I’m jerked back into the darkness.