Page 51 of Mortal Guardian (Shadow Shifter)

Demons ran without purpose or cause, clearly trying to get as many soldiers through the portal before it closed. One tunnel became a sea of black bodies, heading to the mountain exit.

Riley attempted to crawl away from the exiting demons. Halak disappeared, trying to gain control of the demon horde. The chalice rolled on the floor beside the open portal. Her thoughts focused on the one thing she could do before she died.

When she was inches from reaching the chalice, black claws wrapped around her ankle, yanking her backward. She flipped over as Deruthel put his gnarled hand to her throat.

“What did you do to me?” Deruthel growled.

The skin around his neck continued to erode, leaving a stream of black blood dripping to his chest. “No idea.”

“Where did you get that weapon?”

“This old thing?” She forced a flippant tone.

His hands squeezed tighter, his oily black blood, mixing with the wounds on her neck. The burning sensation had the room spinning, making it difficult to focus on anything but the pain. “Tell me.”

Riley was on the brink of unconsciousness, battling with her feelings of regret. For failing humanity. For failing Colton. When shouts of alarm rang out in the tunnel used for incoming demons. The tunnel that held the shadow pathway exit.

The burning sensation in her blood faded away as growls and fighting erupted around her. At first she assumed the demons were fighting one another, then Ferguson emerged from the sea of black bodies. His shadow warrior was large and intimidating as it obliterated the demons in its path.

Deruthel squeezed her throat, his claws biting deep into her skin, causing a new wave of pain before he turned to meet his attacker. Her stomach rolled from the pain as Ferguson launched at Deruthel.

While the demon general used his long vicious claws like pinchers, his skin continued to erode as Ferguson’s blade ripped through the air. She wondered where he got the demon sword, then remembered Dannika telling her that her brother had possessed one. The leader of the reapers plan to use that weapon to kill the demon general.

A wolf clan member she had seen in passing tried to reach her. He fought through the horde, his reaper blade stabbing a demon in the heart before he exited the throng of bodies. But before he could reach Riley, a demon jumped on his back, knocking the blade from his hand. It skittered to Riley’s side before two more demons launched at the wolf member. His screams ended in demon growls of victory.

She grabbed the blade, feeling a tingling sensation in her hand, realizing that Deruthel’s blood had burned away. Her own metabolism fighting the blood of a demon centuries old.

Ferguson continued to fight the large demon; but as skilled as he was, he was no match for Deruthel. The Demon general’s tissues had started to heal. His strength returning as he slashed Ferguson across the chest, leaving three massive wounds. The reaper stumbled back as Riley ran her reaper blade over her hand, coating it in her blood.

The demon general’s eyes were on the reaper he was fighting, so he didn’t notice Riley sneak up behind him. Her knife slid smoothly into his lower spine. “This is for Leah and Amanda.”

The scream made everyone cower down and put their hands over their ears. The force ten times that of a reaper’s death and the general was far from dead. He turned, smacking Riley with the back of his hand.

She smashed into the wall beside the portal, then fell to the ground before the room went dark.

CHAPTER26

Riley blinked, attempting to bring the room into focus. Screams, growls, and the clash of steel echoed around her. There was a moment where she thought she might be dead, but her name drifted over the clamouring noise. The voice that made her soul sing and her cougar purr in her ear. She willed herself to get to her knees, fighting back the dizziness.

Her mind took a moment to process everything in the room. The sea of black bodies exiting the portal. She knelt a few feet from the stream of exiting demons. They completely ignored the fight Deruthel and Ferguson were engaged in beside the throne.

While the general and the ancient reaper clawed, kicked and stabbed one another, the other tunnel was alive with reapers fighting one another. Demons clashing with the wolf, cougar and bear shadow clans.

She had to admire Deruthel’s military strategy. The demons flowed out of the portal and down one tunnel while the inbound shadow clans were forced to fight in the other. Closing the portal had to be her first priority, but her heart wanted the mate that was lost in the sea of black bodies. She’d heard him, but she couldn’t see him.

She turned when Deruthel screamed out again. The general pulled the black sword from his chest, his body a bloody mess of wounds and dissolving tissue. He hissed before he rushed into the throng of demons racing down the tunnel, lost in the sea of bodies.

With the general gone, the demons began to exit with their leader. The reapers, led by Breck, continued to fight the shadow clans. But as more and more demons joined the exiting horde it was clear the general had sacrificed his pawn.

Riley spotted the demon caller. The chalice lay on its side beside the open portal. She rushed to it, before slicing her hand and squeezing her blood into the bowl. She was thankful her sister had explained how the demon caller worked.

She slapped her hand to the wall. “Anum secrata. Anum caru. Anum candrae. Belifrite toleran solorin. Anum secrata.”

The wall rippled before she spoke again. “Anum secrata. Anum caru. Anum candrae. Belifrite toleran solorin. Anum secrata.”

Rock began to fill in at the edges of the portal. The demons screamed as they made a final push, though she noticed the creatures coming through the portal were smaller than the ones that first exited. Deruthel had accomplished his goal. The first generation had made it to the human world.

She sat down against the rumbling rock, as Colton exited the throng of combatants.

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