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26. The Last Stand i
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2024-10-29 19:42:56~ 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
Bab terkait
Enter the Shadows The Last Stand ii
~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.”
Enter the Shadows The Last Stand iii
~Marx was leading the last assault; one meant to be a distraction. Ava moved her palm away from the wound on her side. Bleeding still felt strange to her. Martha was the only one with whom she could go into details about her plans. “Penny has the last rune. All she has to do is plant it on him. When she does, we have only a few minutes to get our part done,” she said to Martha. “What is our part?” “I’m going to use you like an amplifier. I know how it sounds and yes, it is dangerous. For me more than you.” “Then we can’t do it,” Martha said. “If you’re going to get hurt—” “I have a contingency for that as well.” “Ava—” She
Enter the Shadows 27. Epilogue: After the Shadows
~ 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
Enter the Shadows 1. The Purest Heart i
~ Penny looked up from her hot chocolate, frowning at the sheets of rain cascading on the other side of the window. It was only one in the afternoon but it looked like late evening. The dark clouds, which blotted out most of the light, and bringing with it heavy rains, left Chaise Point district wet and bleak. The rain made everything cumbersome. Penny never seemed to have an umbrella on hand when it started raining. On top of that, she was always getting caught in the rain. She sat there drenched and miserable, nursing her hot chocolate, which had already gone cold. She’d taken the initiative to go to work on her day off and get some extra work done. Normally, she would have been alone in the office on a Saturday. Penny was probably the only one who didn’t have family or friends to be with instead of camping out at her office on a weekend. She’d walked halfway to work when the rain started to fall. It hadn’t even been cloudy. Well, maybe it was a little cloudy, but not the kind of cl
Enter the Shadows The Purest Heart ii
~ Obsessive.That was what she had become, over a complete and utter stranger no less. She couldn’t help wondering if the man—Lochlan—had been alright after she bolted from the diner like a scared rabbit. Her reaction made no sense to her. He hadn’t been rude, he hadn’t threatened her, yet she had felt... threatened. Guilt nagged her, as she wasn’t the kind of person to see someone else in need and walk the other way. Or in this case, run the other way. His eyes haunted her. They had started a pure emerald green with flecks of gold, and as she stared into them they changed. Peculiar and intense were the words she would use to describe his eyes. Beautiful was another.Her obsession with him led to paranoia. Penny thought she was seeing the man everywhere she went. It wasn’t bad enough that his eyes followed her into her
Enter the Shadows The Purest Heart iii
~ Covered in a cold sweat, Penny woke up from her nightmare. It took some time for the ghastly images to clear from her mind, and for her eyes to adjust to the dim light streaming through the windows into the room. This was not her apartment. She looked down where she sat on a bed that was not hers, wearing a shirt that was several sizes too big to be her own. Penny froze where she sat, panic tightening her chest. She moved nothing but her eyes now scanning the room, most of which was in shadows. To her left, the shadow shifted. Penny sat there staring into the darkness; she felt it staring back. Two eyes, the shade of pure gold, came from the shadows walking towards the bed.What she saw confirmed that it had not been a nightmare. The whole thing had been real. He had been real. Penny was up and off the bed, running through the door that had been left ajar. Down the hall, down the stairs, and through the
Enter the Shadows The Purest Heart iv
~ “Penny.” He called her name several times before she came out of her thoughts. Her forebodings persisted.Tears streamed down her face. She stood there before him, unable to stop the sudden outburst of sobbing that shook her body. Penny crumbled to the ground and just wept. The images she had tried to block from her mind all came tumbling out of the closet, jumbled and frantic.When he came over to her, holding onto her shoulder, trying to comfort her, she didn’t push him away. “Listen to me.” Penny didn’t notice the slight change in the timbre of his voice. Using a finger, he lifted her chin, leveling their eyes. “Calm down.”Instantly, she did. Her hysteria died down to a mild fit of sobbing. His eyes, pure gold, held hers until the sobs died out completely. Hands
Enter the Shadows The Purest Heart v
~ It was just her luck being a pure heart. Some endangered subset of humanity everyone was searching for. And willing to kill for. Penny didn’t feel particularly special that she was in high demand. Naturally overt to attention, she was none too pleased that two different species were locked on to her. The sensible thing would be to go to the police, seek protection, but how sensible was it to tell anyone what she knew. They would be laughing their heads off while they dragged her to the nearest psych ward. Penny rolled over onto her side looking at the picture of her parents, and her brother sitting on her nightstand. She missed them. More than anything in the world, she missed them. They had been her everything and after they—left, she had nothing. Penny had resigned herself to a quiet, nondescript, predictable life without danger, and or excitement.
Bab terbaru
Enter the Shadows 27. Epilogue: After the Shadows
~ 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
Enter the Shadows The Last Stand iii
~Marx was leading the last assault; one meant to be a distraction. Ava moved her palm away from the wound on her side. Bleeding still felt strange to her. Martha was the only one with whom she could go into details about her plans. “Penny has the last rune. All she has to do is plant it on him. When she does, we have only a few minutes to get our part done,” she said to Martha. “What is our part?” “I’m going to use you like an amplifier. I know how it sounds and yes, it is dangerous. For me more than you.” “Then we can’t do it,” Martha said. “If you’re going to get hurt—” “I have a contingency for that as well.” “Ava—” She
Enter the Shadows The Last Stand ii
~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.”
Enter the Shadows 26. The Last Stand i
~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
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back xii
~ Storming Hedgewood had to wait. Ava’s ‘problem’ required a second’s more thought. So close to the end, Marx was growing impatient. They needed to strike while they could and delays after delays were shifting the advantage square into the enemy’s hands. He folded his arms across his chest, keeping his face void of his emotions as he listened to Ava. “He has layers of protection wrapped around him like a shawl,” she was telling them as they stood inside the lobby of Anax Corp. Having the conversation on the outside felt too open. While they conversed, the last of the civilians and the injured were being ushered to the safety of the Mountain. Those left behind were there to fight. Marx found he was itching to fight. Ava continued. “We got through three of them before we had to retreat.” “Kunz spent years perfectin
Enter the Shadows To Hell and Back xi
~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
