Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
“This ground is lost to you. This shape is lost to you. Each form she sent from the ground will be lost to her as this ground is consecrated.” She scattered more liquid above her head and then in the four directions and onto the ground.
Blue flames burst through the ever-widening holes in the thick stems, and the gaping mouths vomited blackened feathers and strangely colored blood. The stems collapsed on the ground, withering. The fire inside began to roar, turning an even brighter blue, escaping through the large holes and rushing over the stems to devour them.
That is enough for Lilith to believe we are both there and have fallen for her deception. We need you here now.
Petru’s voice in her mind was a command.
Safia didn’t hesitate or wonder if she would be able to shift and hide her presence from the enemy. She had practiced as much as she was able in the short time she’d had. She had no choice, she would have to shift and get to the real site of the invasion without tipping off Lilith or any of the enemy.
She went for it, putting the image of a little owl in her mind, the one creature she was certain of. The moment she did, she felt Petru with her. Not only Petru but Aura and Nicu. Tomas, Lojos and Mataias. She almost laughed, certain Benedek would have been crowding in as well had he not been occupied with the much more important job of managing an army.
There is no more important job, Benedek corrected, than ensuring your safety.
She should have known he was monitoring the situation. A war was being fought, but every Carpathian was ensuring she stayed safe while shifting and donning that cloak of invisibility in the way they had.
The moment she came to the western side of the farm, where Petru had deliberately allowed a tiny flaw in the weave of safeguards to draw Lilith’s army into an ambush, she saw the full extent of the chaotic scene below her. This was a real battlefield. So many of the enemy. They were everywhere.
There were demons in every form imaginable. She knew the hierarchy and how difficult some were to destroy. Vampires of every rank, too many to count. They seemed to be coming out of the clouds and diving toward Petru’s head while others rushed him from every direction. Land. Trees. Air. It appeared to her as if the vampires were all converging on him, concentrating their attacks directly on him.
Petru seemed to be everywhere, moving so fast he looked a blur. She could barely take her horrified gaze off him. She knew she shouldn’t fixate on him. It was the one thing he’d cautioned her against, but he didn’t even try to avoid the vile creatures coming at him. Already he was covered in blood, his chest torn. There were tears in his shoulder, one particularly jagged wound near his neck where teeth had come far too close to his artery.
She tore her gaze from him and looked over the battlefield. Lilith had thrown everything at them, pouring her army of demons and vampires into that narrow valley Petru had chosen to allow them to invade.
Benedek had created what were real fighters, not illusions, men combating the demons and vampires using the skills they had learned over the centuries, imprinted from ancestors and practiced diligently, along with what Benedek had shared with them, but demons were difficult to kill. Vampires even more so. Those men were slivers of her father and brothers with a part of Benedek inside each of them—a very dangerous thing to do.
Find the generals, Safia. We must destroy the chain of command fast.
Petru gave the order to her just as he was leading the others. She could hear him directing the Carpathians from one place to another as if he knew in advance where the worst of the vampires were suddenly going to appear. All the while, he continued to advance straight through the melee, fighting his way toward some unknown destination. It wasn’t difficult to see why he’d earned the name Aghzen n wayur. Moon monster. It was nearly impossible to tell him apart from the monsters he destroyed, other than that he was faster and much more vicious.
Safia shut out the sounds of the battle, the sight of the various demons and vampires, even the man she was married to. She had to find Lilith’s generals. That was the job Petru had assigned to her. She was in the form of the little owl and, at the moment, still invisible to those on the battlefield. That gave her an advantage.
She reached out, expanding her mind, keeping her energy low, avoiding the disturbing foulness of hatred, the need to destroy and feast on blood. There had to be some intelligence receiving orders from Lilith and directing the army of demons to carry them out.