Page 85 of Wicked Fate

The swollen-eyed witch shrieked and curled her fingers into claws. Water burst from the ground in geysers. Three vampires were caught in the sudden force and then lifted off their feet and slammed into trees with bone-crushing force.

I scrambled to my feet as Ryker fought his way through the revealed vampires toward me. Blood trickled down his arms and face.

"This changes nothing," hissed a female vampire. She lunged at the scarred witch.

A fourth witch stepped forward, hair a wild halo around her face. With a flick of her wrist, the air around the vampire ignited. Flames engulfed her, and her screams pierced the night until nothing but ash drifted to the forest floor.

The vampires hesitated.

"Regroup!" a vampire snarled, his voice edged with panic. Five of them converged, forming a circle with their backs to one another as they assessed the changing battlefield. The tallest one, his black hair swept back from a pale, angular face, lunged toward Briar.

I dove forward and caught him mid-stride. My shoulder connected with his ribs, and we crashed to the gravel road. Pain exploded through me on impact, and pebbles cut into my skin, but adrenaline dulled the sensations to a distant throb. He hissed, fangs inches from my throat, before Ryker yanked him off me and slammed him into a tree trunk.

The ground trembled once more. Through the trees, more figures approached. Seven witches stepped forward, followed by nine more. Their hands glowed with different-colored magic, illuminating the night in eerie hues of blue, green, and amber.

"The queen’s worst nightmare has come," whispered the little girl, tilting her head as if the deaths she’d just witnessed hadn’t impacted her.

A vampire with silver-streaked hair snarled, backing away, as three more witches emerged from the tree line. His gaze darted wildly about. "This is impossible. The queen—"

"The queen is not here," said a witch with a burn scar across her neck, her palms crackling with black tendrils of energy. "But we are."

The vampires hissed and clustered together, their movements frantic and disorganized. One lunged at Xander, who was still protecting Adara, but a witch with braided hair flicked her wrist, and the vampire froze in midair, suspended by an invisible force, before being hurled backward into his companions.

I pushed myself to my feet despite my aching body. Blood trickled down my knee where the gravel had torn through my sweatpants. Ryker appeared at my side, his hand coming to rest at the small of my back.

More witches emerged from the darkness and added to the chaos. Streams of magic whirled in front and behind us as the witches continued their attack. The air thickened with power, making my skin feel as if sandpaper was running over it again and again.

"Impossible," breathed the silver-haired vampire, his confidence crumbling before my eyes. "You were freed from prison only to come back to be captured?"

The little girl stepped forward, her small frame commanding the entire clearing. Her eyes—too old for her child's face—found mine.

"We will protect the woman who risked her life to save us," she said, her voice clear as a bell despite the chaos. "Fire, you and your friends can make it to the end of the road. We will protect you.”

"Let’s move," Ryker commanded.

I moved forward with him but looked over my shoulder for Briar. She was helping Kendric to his feet with Gage scooping up Adara from the trunk. Xander removed his gun from its holster while Cassi stumbled after us, her face pale but determined.

The witches parted, creating a corridor of safety through their ranks. The vampires even stopped trying to come forward since, each time they tried, a witch pushed them back or used magic to harm them.

As I passed the little girl, her small hand reached out. Her fingers, cool and impossibly strong, wrapped around mine. She matched my pace, her white dress fluttering around her legs like an angel’s gown.

"The shadows cannot touch you anymore," she whispered, her icy blue eyes scanning the chaos around us. "But we must hurry."

The witches moved with us, continuing to use their magic when necessary. The little girl's hand remained firmly in mine, her presence oddly comforting despite the chaos around us.

"Keep moving," she murmured, her gaze fixed ahead.

A vampire with long, red hair darted from the shadows, targeting a witch at the edge of their formation—an older woman with a limp who trailed slightly behind. The vampire's fangs gleamed as he lunged for her throat. My heart lurched, expecting blood and death.

But the witch merely turned, raised a palm, and the vampire crumpled midair, his body contorting unnaturally before he fell to the ground, writhing.

A blur of motion caught my eye as a dark figure lunged from behind a thick oak trunk toward the witch with braided hair. The witch spun, palm thrust outward—but too late. The vampire had already closed the distance.

I tensed, waiting for the inevitable clash, but Ryker's grip on my arm tightened. "Keep moving," he growled, but I kept watching even as we ran.

The vampire slashed the witch’s throat. Blood poured from her neck, and her hands grasped it as the witch beside her spun and launched the vampire backward until it crashed through the underbrush and disappeared into darkness.

The witch with a limp ran to the witch with braided hair and tried to help her, but the injured witch dropped to the ground. The stench of her blood was strong and fresh, and I knew the vampire had nicked an artery.

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