Excerpt Two
Aurora shot a second arrow into the air, a signal
the Reapers were coming. Using the arrows to communicate was effective but more
important, it was silent. The arrow sailed high into the darkened sky and
hung against the storm clouds like a black-winged bird.
To Aurora it felt as though her
entire life had been leading to this moment. Now only seconds remained until
the Reapers would breach the cave. She pictured her mother and father as they
had been when she was a child. They were the reason she was here, not because
they were her parents but because they represented all that could be. Her
mother had lived her life every day not as someone put on the Earth, but as a
part of it. Her father had watched over them as every season they grew taller
and stronger. Together they had sewn their love and tendered to it with warm
smiles and splashes of laughter. People deserved a chance to learn how to love
like that and it was up to her to give it to them.
The first calls of the Reapers caught
on the wind and Aurora touched her hand to the earth. She closed her eyes and
called upon those she knew would hear her.
When the Reapers came into sight, she
ducked down behind a boulder to catch her breath. Since the night they murdered
her parents Aurora had never let the Reapers drift far from her mind, but she
had been a child. Looking upon them now was an assault on her senses. Their
thick black flesh and bony exoskeleton rang out against the pure snow and their
soulless eyes failed to reflect the light. She knew they would be strong, and
they would be fast. Outrunning them would be difficult and overpowering them
would be impossible. She thought of Gabriel and wondered how he would ever
fight his way through them to kill Lucifer. The task ahead was enormous.
As she watched on, Melloch followed
the first wave of Reapers out of the cave. He was taller than the others,
heavier and stronger. When he reached the rocky terrace, he stopped and sniffed
at the air, a guttural sound that pushed its way up and out of his throat. The
scent of impending rain hung heavy in the air and he blinked slowly, his flat
black eyes staring out over the field. He held up his right hand and the first
wave of Reapers suddenly stopped where they were. The drumming fell silent
and the last echoes of their marching feet drifted away on the wind. Aurora
held her breath. Something was wrong.
Standing at the edge of the terrace,
Melloch growled and pounded his cloven hoof against the rock. Thunder rolled
and a bright fork of lightening lit up the inky sky. He threw back his head and
roared. A war cry to the army. It was about to begin.
He took his first step out onto the
snow and anger rushed through Aurora’s body like a wild fire. The demon had
taken everything from her and now he was in her world. Searing heat spread
through her veins, more than determination, more than resolve. It was power.
Her pupils dilated and her eyes became completely red as the force of
generations of Scythian warriors and strigoi rushed through her. She was the
chosen one, the first descendant. It was time to fight. She threw back her
head, opened her arms and called upon the ravens of the forest. At once,
hundreds of ravens rose from the branches casting a dark shadow out across the
field. Aurora watched anxiously as Melloch stared up at the birds hanging like
a storm cloud ready to burst.
When he was satisfied there was no
danger, his hand signal gestured to the army and they began to move out across
the field. The Reapers set foot into the snow and Aurora gave the signal.
Immediately the circling birds began to dive. Their shrill cries cut through
the air as they flew like bullets at the army. Lost within a mass of screaming
feathers, the Reapers stumbled back and then forward, blinded by the swirling
mass. Gabriel gripped the handle of the dagger tightly as he watched their plan
unfolding. Soon it would be time for his part.
Outside the cave Melloch stopped and
roared up at the sky. The intensity of his anger vibrated into the earth and
the ground rumbled as it cracked open along an ancient fault line.
Aurora whispered to the trees and
they responded, uncoiling thick vines that slithered out across the ground.
They wrapped tightly around the Reapers legs and Aurora watched as confusion
and anger chiselled into Melloch’s face. He peered to the left and then to the
right but seeing no one, his head fell back and he roared out.
Up on the hill, protected by low
lying shrubs, Harrison lay on his belly and took a slow, deep breath. With any
luck he could slow some of them down before he got made. He closed one eye and
positioned his first target in the scope of his rifle, that big ugly son of a
bitch standing out in front. Confident in his sights, he squeezed the trigger
and the bullet found its mark. Melloch stumbled back and clutched at his neck.
“Whoever they are, find them,” he
shouted to his soldiers. “Kill them!”
The first wave of Reapers pulled
wildly at the vines trying to free their legs, but it was taking time. Harrison
took the opportunity and continued firing, hitting the Reapers in the face and
neck. They swatted at the bullets like flies, but the shots were slowing them
down.
Aurora stood up and took an arrow
from her quiver. She let out a breath and slowly stretched it back in a bow
that had been her mother’s. The string was been made from the dried sinew of a
fallen brown bear and the bow carved from an old oak tree. Slowly and carefully
she closed her fingers around the wood. Her blood pulsed with the power of her
ancestors as she counted to three and released the arrow. It peeled through the
air, spiralling over the rocks until it found its mark in the dark flesh of
Melloch’s neck.
“What are these games?” He roared as
he stumbled back. “Who do you think you are?”
Aurora stepped out from behind the
rocks. It was time to do what she came for. No more hiding.
She stared at Melloch and Lucius’
words ran through her mind. Melloch would become their greatest ally. He
would attempt to kill Lucifer. Killing him herself was not what Lucius
wanted. This was not the plan, but he had taken everything from her and the
temptation was too great.
“Do you want this world enough to die
for it demon?” She shouted out.
She raised the bow and it creaked
beneath the tension of the arrow. Only a demon could kill a demon, but Lucius
was confident that an arrow coated in the blood of a vampire and unleashed by a
descendant of the strigoi might just be enough to take the Reapers down.
She let go and the arrow peeled
through the air hitting Melloch in the sternum.
“You cannot kill me,” he shouted as
the arrow lodged between the bones in his chest. “I am Melloch, Gatekeeper of
Hell and guardian of the fifth realm.”
“I know who you are Melloch,” she
seethed. “But tell me, do you know who I am?”
He stared at her and laughed. “You
are nothing.”
Aurora stood tall. This was the
moment she had been waiting for. Finally, she would have her revenge. “I am
Aurora, daughter of the strigoi Vasile and Scythian Queen Aarani. I am the
first descendant of the Scythian-strigoi race. You murdered my parents and took
my family from me. Now I’m going to kill you.”
She took aim and peeled off another
arrow that hit Melloch square in the side. He arched back and winced in pain.
“Soon you will start to die,” she
told him. “Poisoned by the blood of a demon.”
“Lucius orchestrated this,” he
snarled. “I’ll tear him apart.”
“Why you’ll do no such thing.”
Aurora’s head snapped around and to
her surprise, Lucius and the Council stood side by side out in the middle of
the field. He was too far away for his voice to have sounded so close and yet
she heard it as though he was standing right beside her. Unprotected and
out in the open, the four members of the Council extended their arms and began
to chant, their voices carrying on the wind.
Harrison lowered his rifle and
checked to make sure he was seeing correctly. What the hell were they doing out
there? This was not part of the plan.
Aurora glanced to where she knew
Gabriel would be and wondered if he knew the Council had been planning this.
Lucius had said nothing of being involved but there was no time to wonder. The
Reapers were breaking free from the vines and running toward the middle of the
field. The Council was in danger.
Aurora reached into her quiver and
quickly peeled off arrow after arrow, piercing as many of the Reapers as she
could. The Council continued to chant and one by one the Reapers fell.
“They’re escalating the affects,”
Aurora whispered. “Making sure the poison takes hold.”
She shouted toward the forest at the
top of her voice. “Sisters it’s time. Go!”
At her command they rode out on
horseback and at their side 10 giant grizzly bears joined the fight. Aria,
Amelia, Jasmyne and Jada peeled off blood-soaked arrows and the bears swung
their enormous heads, shoving the Reapers off balance and crushing them beneath
their weight. The circle of ravens continued to grow until the entire sky moved
as one. The birds dived and pecked at the Reapers, they got in their face and
blocked their vision. The plan was working.
Outside the cave Melloch fell to one
knee as the poison took hold. Approaching him had not been part of the plan but
Aurora could not resist. She had waited so long and he was right there.
Through his scope Harrison saw what
she was doing and swore out loud. “Damn it Aurora, no.”
She stepped up onto the terrace and
kicked Melloch in the chest with so much force he fell backward onto the
ground. “Tell me Melloch, are you ready to die?”
But to her surprise the demon
laughed. “Do you really think your little tricks can stop us? There are thousands
more soldiers about the break the surface. You are wasting your time woman.
Your world is ours. You will all be exterminated.”
“The only one about to die is you
Melloch and when we win, Lucifer will step over your lifeless body on his way
back to Hell.”
Melloch roared and grabbed at her but
she was ready. Bending one knee, she used all her strength to pivot forward and
stab an arrow deep into his chest. “All your glorious plans are over Melloch.
Now we’re even.”
It was the moment she had longed for.
She had her revenge. Satisfied, she ran to the edge of the forest where she
crouched down and whispered on the wind to Aurel. When the wolf broke the
tree-line he was not alone. At his side, 200 wolves bound from the forest and
the enormity and beauty of the pack took Aurora’s breath away. They crossed the
field weaving through the members of the Council and Lucius opened his eyes.
They found Aurora’s and he nodded. They were winning. Now all she had to do was
find a way to save Gabriel.
