And I would’ve easily succumbed to this as well, had I not been pestered by this nagging feeling that I’d seen that green shimmer on Fallon before.
“Ugh,” Fallon grunted, raising his head. His eyes burned like emeralds. “This is uncomfortable.”
“What the—” Varga started, but I cut him off.
“Kabbah!”
It was him! I recognized him in Fallon’s eyes. As the vampire-fae pulled himself back into a standing position, I knew, for a fact, that we were speaking to Kabbah, Brendel’s eldest foe. The realization came with a feeble sense of hope. Kabbah had been an ally to us back in the Volcrum Caves, though he’d made it seem like a territorial dispute between him and the other Hermessi.
He’d destroyed the Shills that had come down to kill us, back then. Only, this time, we weren’t dealing with those abominations. We were hounded directly by their makers.
“I didn’t want to have to do this, to be honest,” Kabbah said through Fallon’s gruff voice.
The fires on the walls and the ceiling burned brighter, more violent than before. Fallon-Kabbah put his hands out, just as the bloodcurdling shrieks of Shills began to ravage the palace. Spoke too soon, I thought. Of course they’d bring in their flesh-eating monsters. Why the hell wouldn’t they?
Bright green bolts of lightning exploded from Fallon-Kabbah’s hands. They hit the walls in multiple spots—wherever they made contact, the flames flickered and vanished, forcing the rest of the blaze to shrink away until all that was left were the blackened stone walls and broken windows. Kabbah roared as his emerald energy continued to come out, the vibrant tendrils stretching past the doors, through every nook and cranny, until they reached every other room in the palace.
I heard the Shills scream as they scrambled back out, their claws scratching against the stone floor. I heard the winds howling outside, as the earth finally stopped shaking. With one last grunt from Fallon-Kabbah, a powerful pulse was released. It traveled out of the palace and seemed to purge everything evil in its path, because silence quickly settled afterward.
It all came to a sudden halt, as Fallon-Kabbah breathed out, wearing a satisfied grin. “I must say, there’s nothing more insulting than a foreign Earth Hermessi trotting into my world like he owns it.”
“Holy crap,” Varga gasped, still holding me close.
“That was quite a pulse,” Lumi complimented Kabbah, genuinely astonished. “I could feel it rippling across time and space.”
I didn’t need anyone to tell me that. I’d felt it. It had sent a powerful message to the elementals who had come after us just now. Kabbah had stopped everything, and, judging by his heavy breathing, it had taken quite an effort to pull it off.
“Meh, they’ll be back at some point,” Fallon-Kabbah replied and looked at me. “I wanted to thank you, little Lamia hybrid.”
“What? Me? Why?” I blurted, uncomfortable at having his full attention.
“Your harsh words back in the Volcrum Caves,” he said, smiling still. “They hit the right spot.”
“I’m confused,” Nethissis murmured, watching me with sisterly concern.
“You were right,” Fallon-Kabbah continued. “I can do so much more. Therefore, here I am.” He chuckled, his arms stretched outward.
“Thank you,” I said. “We are forever in your debt.”
“Speak for yourself,” Herakles grumbled, scowling at Fallon-Kabbah. “Why can’t you just come talk to us without possessing Fallon? I don’t get it. It’s messing with him.”
Fallon-Kabbah scoffed. “He’s a good conduit. I wouldn’t have been able to pull that dazzling number just now, had it not been for his strong, hybrid body. So zip it,” he said and shifted his focus back to me. “We don’t have time to dilly-dally, Eva. As we speak, Brendel is being advised by my virulent reaction to her lieutenants’ invasion of Nevertide. This puts my daughter at risk, so I need you all to move fast once we’re done with this conversation.”
Without a second to waste, we all nodded in agreement.
“What do you suggest?” I asked.
“Well, first of all, cover your asses,” he said, producing a fresh bouquet of Devil’s Weed from behind him. He tossed it over to us. Acantha caught it and distributed the sprigs evenly among us. “Brendel pulled a fast one on you between worlds, and you didn’t even see it.”
“That was a crappy magic trick,” Varga muttered.
“Brendel has bested many people, young vampire-sentry. Do not feel ashamed,” Fallon-Kabbah replied. “Making things disappear is just one of her many skills, when she’s in good shape. Which, I’m afraid, is the case. Her influence is growing. And that brings us