knew were gone forever. He could not understand how all of them could be here.
And then, suddenly, it hit him. And the realization struck him deeper than any sword, than any battle.
At that moment, he realized that all these creatures had been brought back from the other side. Resurrected. And there was only one weapon in the universe that had the power to do that.
The Shield.
The Vampire Shield.
Caleb’s heart sank, as his breath was taken out of him. They had found the Shield first. They had beaten them to it, and had already used it. These creatures, these thousands of demons, had all been resurrected with the Shield, dragged up from the depths of hell. The shield had fallen into the wrong hands.
That meant they had no chance. No chance at all of survival.
As they got even closer, Caleb looked up and saw Sam—and beside him, Samantha, a face he had not seen in years. As he saw Sam getting closer, he could see Caitlin’s face in him. It was hard for him to see his brother-in-law like this, so transformed, fighting for the other side. But there was nothing he could do. He would have to face off with him.
A moment later, there was impact. There came the awful sound of a million clashing swords and wings, as Sam came down, right for Caleb, a horrible grimace on his face. He raised his sword and brought it down right for Caleb.
Caleb stood there proudly and met his sword with his own, blocking it. There was a loud clash, and an instant later, dozens of vampires landed all around him.
Aiden’s warriors fought back bravely, blocking and dodging and ducking and slashing back. There was the clang of metal on metal, weapon on weapon, as they all fought expertly. Caleb caught a glance of Aiden: amazingly, he hadn’t moved. He stood very still, his staff up before him, eyes closed. It was as if there was an invisible bubble around him, a shield, and everyone who flew towards him bounced back as they got close. He was untouched, standing there in his bubble.
But Caleb didn’t have that power. He could feel the power rippling through Sam’s sword slash as he blocked it, the vibration of the metal shaking his entire body. He slashed back—but Sam was too fast: he blocked Caleb’s every blow, and immediately slashed back. It was the toughest battle of Caleb’s life, and he was being pushed back, with nowhere to go.
Making matters worse, dozens more vampires were landing all around him at every moment, encircling him from all sides. He was soon completely outnumbered.
Caleb fought furiously, swinging in every direction. The chaos helped him a bit, as some vampires, in the confusion, fought against each other.
He rolled away from Sam, not wanting to hurt him, and instead focused on other vampires. Moving with speed and dexterity, he managed to kill several of them. He was actually gaining momentum, when suddenly he felt himself elbowed hard in the back, right in the kidneys.
He wheeled, and found himself face to face with a hideous, sneaky creature.
Standing there, scowling back, missing one eye, was Kyle.
Before Caleb could react, Kyle raised his battle ax high and brought it down right for Caleb’s head.
Caleb dodged at the last second, then reached over swung back, for Kyle’s arm. Kyle blocked the blow with a shield, then leaned back and kicked Caleb in the gut, knocking him back.
Kyle came in for another blow with his axe, but Caleb anticipated it; he leapt over it, high in the air, and kicked Kyle hard in the chest, knocking him back. Now, Caleb had the upper hand.
But dozens more vampires landed, swooping down from every side. Caleb was already getting tired, already beginning to see that this was a losing battle. He saw no way they could possibly win. He wondered what Aiden was thinking, trying to even face off against an army with only a few dozen men.
Just when Caleb thought things couldn’t get any worse, suddenly, the earth around him shook. As he looked over in astonishment, he suddenly saw the thousands of graves on the Mount of Olives start to shift. And then, to his horror, the dirt rose up, and bodies began to emerge from each grave—dark, demon souls, hideous-looking black shadows, with long, sharp fangs. As if the army in the sky weren’t bad enough—now, Caleb was surrounded by thousands more evil creatures, from every side.
And he realized that, in the coming