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20. The Plot Thickens i
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2024-10-29 19:42:56~ Marx remained trapped. He knew the things he saw weren’t real, but they felt real. The acrid smell of blood and death seemed as real as anything else in his life. The dry, hot air against his skin, the sounds of battle that had his heart racing. It was hard for his mind not to succumb.
Before him, a war raged.
Vampires.
Werewolves.
Humans.
Shadows. Not like the ones Sven conjured, but the real deal. There were so many of them. Their wispy forms merged, weaving around the vampires, werewolves, and humans who fought them. It seemed like a never-ending battle. All sides were denying defeat as they fought, many to their last breaths.
Among the warring factions was his fam
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~Ava’s concern about going to Pentorium fell on deaf ears. According to the others, the vampires would have to learn to play nice. They were all in this together, despite the conflicts of the past. Ava could not help but consider the fact that this mess was all of her doing. In her overzealous attempt at gaining equality for her people, she triggered a vicious war. Many died and from the ashes, a greater monster emerged. Two monsters. Make that four—the King, Sven, Salvay, and Passerini. Her actions had destructive consequences, and she could not blame the vampires for their inability to overlook the causes and effects. One had to be there to witness and understand the full extent of the devastation. With Marx unable to take point, she was at the front of the line. She was now Marx’s reluctant second in command. Ava was not sure when she inherited the t
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~“Avana.” Ava stopped when she heard Philippe calling her name. She did not want to argue with any of them, but if Philippe started an argument, she was going to finish it. She’d accept her penance, but not their abuse. “Walk with me,” he said. Ava followed Philippe to the elevator, then to his car. They traveled in silence to his R and D facility. Eyes watched her. Those who were once pure hearts with curiosity and those from Lansguard with subtle malice. Philippe spun the handle of a vault-like door. It hissed as it opened. Inside the massive room, the lights came on as they stepped in. Smack in the middle of the chamber was a cell; controls lined off at the base. “What is it?” Ava asked. “Since we found out abou
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~Daniel stood over the body, Ava at his side. “What does this sign mean?” he asked of Philippe, who was with them. “Purists.” Philippe zipped up the body bag, closing the corpse inside. The woman, a human, had her throat slashed, and a symbol carved with crude care into her chest. “Seems they are calling Vescovi’s bluff,” he said, standing. Nodding, he gave the coroner the go-ahead to take the body away. “A human found the body this morning, but Anabella is taking care of that.” “Things always get worse before they get better,” Daniel said. “I suppose so.” Philippe ran a hand over his mouth, watching after the coroner’s van as it drove away. “If you will excuse me, I have some other matters to attend to.” Dan
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~Passerini smiled as he looked down at live footage of the hallway leading to the lab. “The gas works. Yes, I am sure. Observing the demonstration now.” He was speaking to Salvay over an earpiece. His hands were free to operate the tablet as she spoke. “I will make contact once I am at the safe house.” Pleased with the results of his experiment, he started going through the different camera feeds. He stopped when he saw Daniel’s team. He looked up in front of him. There was only one turn to be made in the corridor, and the men were around the bend. He put his right hand in his pocket, the other holding the tablet by his side, and waited. Daniel and his team came into view. “Hands where I can see them, Passerini.” O
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~ Marx stood looking at the carbonated lump that used to be four people he knew. Four people he loved. Ava, Lochlan, Zack, and Dempsey. Around him, the grass had grown again. The earth showed no signs of the battle that raged there. Mother earth had healed, but he had not. None of the others had. The world was safe, but a gap remained in their hearts that could never be filled. Around the base of the carbon memorial, laid fresh flowers. Every day for the past six months, Martha came with a new bouquet. Today was no different. He arrived as she did. “You came,” she had said to him when she saw him. In her hands, she had more than a dozen bulbs of tulips. Her summer dress fluttered in the breeze, strands of her now brown hair escaping her ponytail. The smile she gave him out shunned the sun, and Marx, for the life
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~Rea and Cale launched direct attacks on Kunz while Ava tried to unravel his protections. Each layer she pulled apart revealed another was more entrenched and more intricate than the one preceding it. She almost got another layer undone when she heard Cale shout— “Look out.” Ava had enough time to react, the death rune crackling through the air towards her. She split the force in half, saving herself by a hair. In the duel that ensued, Cale made the ultimate sacrifice. Rea tried to stop him as he ran straight for Kunz. Ava threw up a rune between Cale and the King; it was too late. Like dust, Cale disappeared. A self-satisfied smile lifted the side of Kunz’s lips. “Come now Avana. You cannot hope to defeat me. Even with all the knowledge at your disposal, I have spent years perfecting my craft.”
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~They came through using three portals. Cale and Rea helped Ava to create one large enough to transport all of their forces. On the other side, they emerged on the field of battle in Hedgewood. The ground was scarred black. Trees toppled over and uprooted. It looked like a nuclear weapon went off, turning black everything in its path. The familiarity of the scene had an itch running down Marx’s spine. This place was either where they would claim victory or where he would walk over the corpses of the people he loved. He brushed his somber thoughts aside. Victory was their only option. To Ava, who stood on his right, Marx said, “Your handy work?” “I may have caused a patch here and there.” She bobbed her head from side to side. It was such a human gesture Marx found he had an urge to smile. He allowed his amu
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~The sky was a battlefield. Above Pentorium, spreading out for miles, the shadows fought amongst themselves. Those made from the spirits of dead vampires clashing against those created from werewolves. Marx had control of the latter. It was surreal watching it all unfold. Anabella came to stand by Marx as he stood gazing up at the result of his power. Power he would never have dreamed of having. Explaining to the others what he could do would have paled compared to the scene unfolding over their heads. “This is what Sven wanted from her,” Anabella said about Sven and his sister, Marx’s mate, Celeste. “And when he couldn’t take it, he planned to break the seal on the portal.” “I can’t imagine having that man’s thoughts inside my head,” Marx said. “I rather
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back x
~Vescovi’s head throbbed as if a drummer band was marching across his forehead. Making his way through the tunnel with his men, a blast came out of nowhere, knocking them down and rendering them unconscious. He woke up in a crumpled heap with his men, all in various stages of recovery. It took him several tries to get to his feet and stay there, the drumming in his head growing louder with each movement. Walking straight was a task, but it was urgent that they get to Xavier and the others. They were delayed enough as it was getting the remaining civilians under Anax Corp ready for transport to the Mountain. Pentorium was under an evacuation order. He paused when he saw that the panel leading out of the tunnels was open. It was plausible that Xavier had left it like that since it was their way in and out, but Vescovi could not ignore the prickle at
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back ix
~Martha moved to run to Nico as a shadow took possession of his body. Four steps in his direction, she stopped. Nico faced her direction, his eyes twin pools of swirling mist. The thing inside of him had his lips turn up in a smirk. With hot tears streaming unchecked down her cheeks, Martha clutched her fingers into tight fists. The words came from the pits of her stomach. The ground under her feet undulated, rippling with energy as she spoke them. Nico charged in her direction, his face twisted in rage. Martha held up her hand, palm open, continuing the chant, repeating it with fervor and a new understanding. Death fueled shadow magic. Hate. Anger. All the dark things that sullied the world. The spell was the most powerful she had ever attempted since Ava infused the revenant soul with hers. She had to release control to it. Allow the magic to ru
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back viii
~Martha couldn’t breathe, her anxiety tightening her chest. Through her link with Nico, she could feel his growing distress. It urged her to move faster as she sprinted through the hidden tunnels leading down into the subway. Back at Anax Corp, Vescovi was assembling a team, a process that was taking longer than was comfortable with her. Nico and the others needed immediate help. Communications, already spotty, had gone dead. Not a single response, only the constant frying of static. Unable to stand around doing nothing while the man she loved probably laid gutted and dying, Martha snuck off when no one was looking. None of the others knew what she was planning to do. If they did, they would have tried to stop her. She was the passive one. The one who chose not to fight. For a werewolf, her reliance on that part of herself never went past her prim
