Dark Slayer Page 0,47

worm.

Move. Move. Ivory didn't slow down, but kept driving through the soil, back up toward the surface.

Razvan followed, amazed at her skills, at her knowledge of the enemy and at the fast, efficient and utterly calm way in which she went about destroying it.

When we surface, the bats will be attacking. Come up near the prince to add to his protection. All of Xavier's twisted abominations will be fighting to get to him.

Around him he could feel the unstable ground quivering, rolling, as the worm thrashed and fought, sending shock waves undulating deep beneath the earth. The ground sank all around them, falling in on itself.

Faster. Ivory hissed the command in his mind. Take the lead.

She might be one of the best warriors he'd ever encountered, and by far the most knowledgeable dealing with Xavier's army, but he was still a Carpathian male and her lifemate. She wasn't going to be protecting his back, not when he could be protecting hers.

Keep moving. We are close to the surface, he informed her. Whatever is up there is not as bad as the evil Xavier had inside of me. Watch yourself.

He will go for the prince, Ivory reiterated. The one sure way to destroy the Carpathian people is to destroy the prince.

Razvan burst through the surface, emerging into a night filled with the sound of battle. Thunder cracked and lightning streaked across the sky, slamming into earth as bolts hammered into the crushing crowds of bats swarming over the ground. It looked like a living sea, bats walking on their wings, baring teeth at anything in their path. Flesh eaters, he'd seen the mutations in the caves Xavier occupied, placed there to guard, to sound the alarm and to provide blood from the animals they killed and dragged to the lairs.

Ivory emerged from the ground, shrugging, arms outstretched. The wolves leapt from her back and into the midst of the bats, snapping necks as they grabbed and shook their prey, fighting their way through the mass to the circle defending the prince. Ivory followed them, drawing one of her many homemade weapons, tossing it to Razvan and pulling another.

Razvan discovered the strange gun fired light, not bullets. He had never participated like this in a battle, with blood spraying across the snow. But he didn't hesitate, staying in Ivory's mind. She was a warrior through and through, wading through the bats, kicking them aside, spraying the bright light fed by a diamond across a wide path, severing heads.

"Keep the spray level with their necks," she advised, and then called out, "Gregori! We're coming in."

One of the bats seized Razvan's calf and tried to tear open his leg. Blaez, the second largest wolf, caught the malicious creature in strong jaws and ripped it away from Razvan, tossing the bloody body into a group of bats that tore into it with a viciousness that reminded him of Xavier.

Gregori slammed bolts of lightning into the center of the bats, opening the way for them. Razvan followed Ivory through the sea of bats, staying close to protect her back, his gun spewing the blade of light behind them in a wide arc. When the wolves hesitated, preferring to stay to the outside, Ivory hissed a command.

You will get eaten alive. Come! She held out her arms and the wolves leapt over the mass of furry bodies and merged with her back.

Ivory continued to wade through the bats, running toward the small group, fighting to keep from being overpowered. The group refused to just dissolve and abandon Gary, their human friend. It would be nearly impossible to protect him from the air.

"Get the prince off the ground," Ivory yelled above the din to Gregori. "The attack will come from under the ground. This is a diversion."

Falcon jerked Gary off the ground, no questions asked, as Mikhail rose as well. The hordes of bats went crazy, flying at them with renewed frenzy.

"I lost sight of Xavier's fragments," Gregori warned. "They're probably in the bats."

Ivory thrust one of her light guns into Sara's hands. "You have to sever them right at the neck or they really go psycho on you." She pulled a strange-looking object, much like a grenade, from a loop on her belt, readying herself.

"Have you seen these mutations before?" Gregori asked, continuing to use the thin whip of lightning to incinerate the bats.

"I study everything the mage does," Ivory answered. "There is a portal close. I must find it and close it or they will continue