Page 59 of Blood and Hexes

Till The End

They came from everywhere. The plains, the woods, the hills, and the valleys beyond the lake. By boats, running, transformed into their familiar shapes—bats, eagles, vultures. But at the wards, they waited, pacing and circling, standing by. The walls weren’t breached yet.

“What now?” Levi asked Eirikr, deferring to his expertise.

The ancient, still in his ridiculous sweatpants, rested in a crouch, eyes narrowed.

“We can’t let them take us on all fronts,” he replied. “So now, we burn Oldcrest.”

Mikar couldn’t have heard that right. “What?”

“No, it makes sense,” Chloe said, backing him up. “Vampires can be killed by fire. If we burn part of the territory, they won’t come that way. They’ll have to enter where we want them to.”

Right. Except for one thing. “But then, Oldcrest will be burned,” Mikar pointed out.

Eirikr was entirely unapologetic. “Oldcrest or some of us. You choose. Can’t save everything.”

This was madness.

“I’ll get started at the bottom of the hills.” Blair started to walk away.

“Wait!” Was Mikar the only one thinking things through? “Greer is somewhere there. Cosnoc, or maybe Ruby brought her to Night Hill. We have to…”

“The witch is on Night Hill; she will be safe.” There was no hesitation in Eirikr’s tone. “Safer than most of us. The houses are protected. She’ll live, unless we fail.”

And failure wasn’t an option. Not to him.

And not to Mikar.

“I’ll take you,” Seth said to Blair. “If we need other witches…”

“Dude, trust me, it’s not that hard to set stuff on fire.”

He took her hand and the next instant, they were gone.

“What about the lake? We can’t burn that. And the Wolvswoods…”

Shit, they should have reached out to the shifter pack in there. Although their relationship was currently shaky, given that most of the pack had attended a hunt, chasing and killing some humans several months ago, they should have had a chance to leave before they were surrounded like this.

Eirikr snorted. “The wolves aren’t helpless. Worry about yourself, and your pretty girlfriend.”

Diana looked uncomfortable, and Mikar could have killed him.

“I can take care of myself,” the woman retorted. “But thanks for saying I’m pretty.”

“Stop riling Mikar up,” Chloe told Eirikr.

The elder frowned. “Why? It’s entertaining.”

“Because there are thousands of vampires at the gates and we should concentrate on that.”

Eirikr rose from the ground. “Twelve thousand, seven hundred and thirteen, so far. More are coming. They’re waiting for reinforcements before breaking the wards.”

“How could you know that?” It made no sense that he’d be able to count them all out, not when they were stationed all around Oldcrest. In front of them, from the south roads, there couldn’t be more than a couple of thousand people.

“Because I can multitask,” he replied. That wasn’t much of an answer. After a beat, he added, “And scan what’s happening inside the weaker minds.”

Eirikr was a telepath?

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