Page 51 of The Rising Dark
Whatever the rogue was doing, it wouldn’t be anything good.Lavinia launched a kick at the centre of his body, forcing him off-balance as he tried to avoid most of the momentum of the kick.She followed it up with a swift punch with the pommel of her sword, connecting with a satisfying crack onto the rogue’s right shoulder, breaking a bone.The rogue roared with pain and turned his full attention to Lavinia, no longer able to ignore her.He jumped at her, catlike, fingers outstretched like claws.
Lavinia crouched, angled her body, and slammed her shoulder into the rogue’s midriff as he sailed through the air.The blow forced the rogue’s breath from his lungs and he slumped to the ground, gasping.Lavinia lifted her blade again, but before she could strike, the rogue skittered across the ground on hands and knees in an uncomfortably insectile movement.His fangs bared, he bit into the wound on his arm, refreshing the blood streaming from it.His eyes gleamed red and he smiled a bloody grimace at Lavinia.Then he placed one bloody handprint in the middle of his design.
Nothing happened.No further monster from the depths of hell appeared.No magical wall of flame or shadow.Lavinia didn’t wait for anything to show up.She struck, and this time her sword found its target.The blade sank deep into the rogue’s bowels, and the vampire screeched.He writhed in agony on the floor for a moment, then subsided, panting through the pain and blood loss.His body had already been weakened by the barrage of magic he had summoned.The blade had severed his spine, piercing vital organs.It was a killing blow.
His bloodshot eyes were filled with a potent combination of agony and hate.“You’re too late,” he hissed, bubbles of blood forming on his stained lips.
Lavinia’s breath caught in her chest.Rogues didn’t speak—especially not ones that were so deep into their descent into bloodlust as this one clearly was.
She didn’t answer.The rogue laughed, a horrible coughing and wheezing sound, blood spilling from his mouth.“All of the little candles out in the night, their wicks unlit.It was so easy, so incredibly easy to take them for myself.To take the magic that they didn’t realise they had.”He bared his misshapen teeth again.“You’ve spoiled my fun, you bitch.”Dark blood pooled around the wound in his stomach.Lavinia pulled out the sword, the lethal injury widening.The rogue gritted his teeth, stifling an agonised moan.There was no joy in watching him die.Lavinia merely stood guard, her eyes cold.
“What did you do?”she said.
“I sent one of my friends to visit a little candle I haven’t snatched yet.The one you kept away from me.She shines so brightly in the night, surrounded by moths, but none of her little moths are with her now, are they?She has left her little cage and is all alone.”He took a shivering breath.
Lavinia’s heart stood still in her chest, a spear of icy fear piercing her.Michelle.She was unguarded right now, but she was in the apartment.She had to be safe.She knew not to leave, and she wouldn’t be reckless.Was the rogue lying?
The hateful mirth on his face wasn’t feigned.He had done something, had somehow sent another monster to Michelle.
There was no way she could defend herself against a demon.
Michelle would die, and Lavinia would not be able to save her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
If there was even the smallest chance that Michelle was still alive, Lavinia had to go to her.Right now.She turned, immediately stopping in her tracks as she found herself facing the forever child.His small, childish body looked incongruous on the battlefield.No dirt or blood marred his tunic and trousers.He glanced around her, seeing the bloody ravage of the rogue’s body.He smiled.“I see you have prepared him for us.”
“What?”Lavinia said.
“We will take him from here,” Balor said, his high childish voice serene.“He has broken our laws.He has taken the powers of others for his own and imprisoned their souls.He will pay.”
“Death is justice,” Lavinia said, the oft-said phrase tumbling from her lips without thought.She didn’t have time for this.Somewhere, Michelle was facing an unfair battle alone.She had to be with her.
The child tilted his head.“Oh no, Lavinia, you don’t believe that yourself.There is no justice in death.It would be a release, one that he doesn’t deserve.This one here,” he nodded towards the rogue, “will enjoy a taste of his own medicine.”Without any further words, Balor strolled to the rogue.He bent over the vampire’s ruined body, examining him as if he were a particularly interesting bug.
Lavinia didn’t wait to see what Balor would do to him.The witches had the rogue now.He’d been incapacitated and secured.That had to be enough.
She sprinted across the battlefield, dodging a couple of straggling demons.Her Sisters were there, sweat dripping from their brows, covered in soot and blood, exhausted and bruised, but still on their feet.
“What’s wrong?”Luce called out.
All Lavinia could force out was, “Michelle.”It was enough.Luce nodded and continued the dirty work of sending every single demon back to the hell they had crawled from.In the corner of her eye, Lavinia saw Arran and the two other witches surrounding the souls of the victims, guiding them together.Safe, safe, they were all safe.But not Michelle.
Lavinia ran like she had never run before in her life.There were the short dashes in battle, or the leisurely midnight jogs through the hills around Thornblood she so enjoyed.This was nothing like either of those.She sheathed her sword as she skidded out of the building.Her boots thudded against the pavement, her legs pumping.Her lungs burned as they struggled to draw in enough oxygen.A leaden fatigue was spreading through all of her muscles, but she ignored it.The distance between her and her apartment, between her and Michelle, was twelve miles.Such a small distance in daily life.Now the space separating them loomed impossibly large.
The clouds from earlier had drifted aside, the night sky guiding her.The light from the stars and moon bathed her in their power, lending her strength.Though they were difficult to see through the city’s light pollution, the stars were ever present, ever watching.They shivered in the sky above as Lavinia ran as fast as her legs could carry her.
She didn’t think about being seen by humans.Their petty concerns weren’t important.Please be alive.Please.
Stars, don’t let me fail.I cannot bear losing her.
Three miles.Two miles.One mile.The familiar streets around the apartment.All was quiet apart from a couple of humans coming home from work.Lavinia paid them no mind.There was the building.There was no time for keys and elevators.She climbed the decorative wrought-iron fence surrounding the building with ease.Somewhere, an alarm started to blare.
No matter.She leapt up against the building, pulling herself up by the balustrade of the first balcony.She climbed, using the building’s rough stone exterior as hand guides.Within moments that felt like an eternity, she vaulted over the balustrade of her apartment’s balcony.
She was too late.
She took in the scene as if through a series of images, snapshots of horror that flashed before her.Michelle.Michelle on the ground, covered in blood.A demon bent over her, his talons sunk in the flesh of her arm.Zachary, eyes closed, slumped on the far side.His chest rose and fell slightly with his shallow breaths.Oddly, the little lamp from the living room lay between his limp fingers.
