Page 105 of Rose and Shadows
Sanctum Sands Beachwas a place of leisure, fun, warmth, and unity—a place Ketheron had been so excited to visit in the near future as well.
And now, right before our very eyes, it was being twisted and abused.
Neither Velra nor I could contain our horror at what we were bearing witness to.
It had become a playground of cruelty under the illusion-shielded command of Lavra and Arvent, and the three dozen Dark Fae that followed them.
Vampires from Tenebra Cove were being dragged against their will into the sun through Dark Fae mind-meddling. The Dark Fae were uttering commands, the vampires repeating them like they were their own thoughts. Then, as the vampires burned almost to death state, a snap of the Dark Fae’s fingers released them from the mind-meddling, and they burst back underneath the Cove’s shielding from the sun, where they were then doused with water as raucous laughter echoed all around them.
Cheers and more despicable laughter sounded over by the east side of the beach where the mind-meddling madness was forcing draconic beings in human form to shift into their dragon forms, and they were then being ridden by the Dark Fae like beasts. Others were made to perform perverse forms of dancing as they were struck with magic like lightning.
Upon one of the dragons, I caught sight of Arvent Tenebris, who I recognized from my research on Velra months ago. Her father. He was in all black regal robes, clearly thinking himself royalty. His features were sharp and severe, amber eyes gleaming with disdain at all those he looked upon as though they were so very far beneath him. He was tall but of a lean stature.
I tracked Velra’s mother, Lavra, next, finding her clapping and urging her husband on, while she had a female vampire between her spread legs underneath her dress pleasuring her.
“You cannot get enough of this honor of tasting me,” she was uttering in a hypnotic tone, a different facet of mind-meddling. “Demonstrate your appreciation.” She assaulted the woman with whips of her gray magic across her back that shredded through clothing and skin alike and had her whimpering.
As if that was not enough of a violation of free will and a crime against one’s humanity and autonomy, Lavra was holding a dragon steady with mind-meddling, commanding his frozen position as he was forced to hold his mouth open and breathe fire, while she continued to pour ice upon it, making him choke and his eyes flicker with panic. She laughed, flipping her dark hair back in the wind, as the dragon convulsed, yet couldn’t break position to cough and retch like he needed to in response to what she was doing to him.
“Oh my God,” Velra breathed from beside me.
I looked to see her utterly sick with what we were witnessing.
“Cassius,” she uttered, grasping my arm.
“I know, little shadow. I know.”
“I don’t feel any black magic, but they’re definitely using Celestial magic for some of this mind-meddling.”
“Yes.”
“It’s a risk to you. They could take control of your mind as well.”
“You are suggesting I stand by as you go in alone?”
“We can’t wait on this, can’t wait for help to come. Everyone is taxed right now, so much on their plates. And this… what these beings are enduring… I can’t… it needs to be stopped right fucking now.” She pulled out her phone and rapidly typed away, telling me, “I’m calling inThryne.”
“They will be ill-equipped to handle the Celestial power in play.”
“Can you siphon it?”
I studied the area, the usage, taking a read, needing to gauge the potency. “Yes. Temporarily. I will need to unload it very swiftly afterward. If we are detained, it will release into the atmosphere and cause untold devastation.”
“What about you?”
“Me?”
“The damage it will do to you, Cassius?”
“No damage. Nothing permanent. Just a little weakness.”
“I know you,” she said, giving me a look. “You’d be incapacitated if it couldn’t be released in time, right?”
“Yes,” I admitted. I gestured at her phone. “While you have that out, alert Ketheron. But he cannot, under any circumstances, come here. We will go to him at Haven Initiative immediately afterward.”
She nodded, typing rapidly, before then stowing her phone away, and squaring her shoulders.
“You’ll need time to gather it, yeah?”
