Shadow Guardians: The Promised
Chapter 21

In New York, the sun beamed light onto the green, manicured lawns of the coven house. Birds sang their melodies in the trees.

Very serene, the goddess Stara thought as she ambled through the garden to the sound of gently flowing water from the fountains behind her.

Typically, she enjoyed the night more than the day, as reflected in both her name and her appearance. The gentle draft disturbed her long, straight, and midnight-black tresses, along with a sleek, dark purple gown that brought out her pale skin.

She moved toward the small heartbeat that reached her ears. The soft, cool grass felt pleasant between her toes.

And then she saw him, curled up in a little ball on the lawn, with his thumb in his mouth.

She smiled and appreciated her creation for a while.

At first, she was apprehensive about Astera’s idea. But seeing her mother in distress made it hard to resist.

I’m the goddess of love, she’d said with dewy eyes. If I don’t save them, all I am means nothing...

Stara, too, had been invested in her mother’s charge since the beginning. After all, it was she who gave them their powers. As she did with Terronth.

She moved closer to him and kneeled by his side. He’d worn himself out, alright. He’d run away from everyone to a place where he could cry and be alone.

What the nannies didn’t understand was that he wasn’t being naughty on purpose.

Terronth didn’t like people seeing him cry, which, of course, made him cry all the more because it was the only way he knew how to express anger. How would a child tell a nanny to leave him alone and actually have her listen?

His tantrums were more frustration than sadness because he was small, trapped in his body, and could do nothing to help. Stara knew; she created him after all.

He stirred and yawned, opening sleepy eyes. When he saw her, there was no expression other than wakefulness. No surprise or confusion, as if he’d been expecting her.

He stretched and sat up on his knees, with little hands neatly placed one over the other on them, and his head slightly bowed so he didn’t look her in the eye too long.

Stara smiled. “How polite and respectful you are. You are in for a treat.”

He still seemed sad. “Want Maui,” he said softly.

“I know,” Stara answered. “I’m sending you to help them.”

She felt the excitement rise in him and leaned closer. “Want to learn that trick your big sister used to do?”

He smiled and nodded.

“Alright, but you must do exactly as I say, alright? It won’t last long, and we can’t lose time. You want to help Mari, don’t you?”

He nodded again.

Stara drew a hand over his cheek. “Good, now look at me, Terronth.”

He looked into dark violet eyes sat on a thin face with burgundy lips.

“You are getting so, so sleepy,” Stara said in a singsong voice.

“Will I know?” He asked, yawning again.

“You’ll remember everything. Don’t fight me now; go to sleep.”

He clearly didn’t expect the strength of her power, because when he surrendered, he slumped forward, and she caught him in her lap, stroking his hair.

She drew circles with her hand above him, drawing out his essence, his soul, and condensing it into a glowy, white ball of light in her hand.

The Terronth laying in her lap was now just a sleeping shell.

Stara whispered to the soul in her hand and lifted it into the air, after which it shot up into the heavens and breached a tear in dimensions.

She gently laid Terronth’s little body back down on the grass. “Don’t scare them too much now,” she teased, then dissolved into thin air.

Magnus sliced his dagger clear across the turned nosferi’s throat. Blood spewed up, and gurgling sounds left him as he slumped against the tree trunk.

With a growl and a slight turn of the eyes, he turned and sheathed his dagger, just as Arlena kicked over another dead one.

They were surrounded by dead demons and nosferi. And there were more hiding. Many more.

Then Magnus caught Uriah staring at him. “What?” He asked.

“He was like you,” Uriah said breathily. It was hard to know if that was after the fight or because of shock.

“What do you mean?” Magnus asked.

“He was a beast.”

Suddenly, everyone except Arlena stared at Uriah with horror in their eyes.

“What?” He asked worriedly.

“And she has telekinesis...” Zachiel whispered.

“Jesus,” Draven said, dragging a hand over his skulltrim.

“What!” Uriah said urgently. Damn it, he didn’t have time for games.

Magnus took a step closer. “Uriah, there is a reason beasts don’t have powers. The beast blood amplifies anything by a hundred fold.”

Uriah’s jaw dropped, making him the poster child of bafflement. “Wait, are you saying she’s a...”

“No,” Magnus cut him off. “I would’ve known. But she’s a hybrid. Her father’s blood would amplify her power to...” he hesitated, “well, it’s hard to tell the extent of it. She might replace it hard to control it, or it might be triggered by certain things.”

“Wait, how strong do you think she is?” Uriah asked.

“Ah, guys...” Arlena called with an unusual unsteadiness in her voice. “I think she’s about that strong...” she pointed off in the distance.

When the crew followed her gesture, a collective silence and dread fell over everyone.

One after the other, trees were being uprooted, ripped from the forestfloor, and drifting into the air in a trail that came ever closer to their position. It was like an indivisible black hole plucking everything from the ground into the sky.

“Well, I think we found her,” Draven said.

“Tell me I’m just being crazy and you guys aren’t feeling the ground shake...” Ophelia said with her arms outstretched as if balancing.

The cracking of trees being reaped from their earthy beds became louder and closer.

And then there was a deep rumble beneath their feet before the ground opened up, a crack running through the trees and creating an abyss that may have gone down all the way to the planet’s core for all they knew.

“Run!” Someone shouted.

They took off, but there was no way Uriah was leaving her behind.

“I’m circling around!” He yelled at the others behind him, as if they had time to protest while running from a lengthening chasm that would swallow them whole.

“What the fuck happened?!” Draven yelled.

“Isn’t it obvious?!” Arlena yelled back. “Someone pissed her off!”

Trees around them lifted into the air and were flung in seemingly random directions.

“How does she still have the energy for this?” Uriah breathed.

“It’s your blood!” Magnus answered him. “It’s her fuel.”

“That little?”

“I told you...” but before Magnus could finish, he had to duck as a pine tree whirled towards him.

Uriah couldn’t duck in time.

He swung and half-accepted his death by bringing up his forearms in front of his face.

The collision didn’t come, and when he looked, the tree had bounced off to the other side.

He confusingly gaped at his arms.

“It flies off you,” Magnus panted. “Her telekineses bends to you. It won’t last long, the more power she uses, the faster she’ll burn through your blood.”

The ground separation had stopped and closed up again. But the rumbles moved and seemed to be off further in the forest now.

“I have to get to her,” Uriah said, just as they heard demonic screeches coming from the left. “They’re at the river.”

“I’ll go,” Magnus said.

He transformed and took off before anyone could protest.

“Magnus!” Katherine hollered, going after him.

“Alright well that was not dandy; are we sticking together or splitting up?” Ophelia wanted to know.

“I vote for dying together.” Draven said, turning. “Uriah...”

But he was already gone.

“Shit!” Draven yelled.

“He’s easy to replace,” Zachiel told him. “Just follow the path of destruction.”

“Mother Nature must be proud of Marionette.” Ophelia mentioned as they followed the littered path of trees.

Running was out of the question for a gentleman, so Steve thought. While the natural chaos around him reigned, he chose not to run. He simply walked briskly.

This was all that idiot Georgiano’s fault, Steve bristled.

He’d set loose his father’s whole army, 500 demons strong, along with the corrupted nosferi, in these woods. He had no care how this would end, so long as he was out of here before anything went south.

He paused for breath and looked over his shoulder. She was tearing up the whole place about a mile and a half away from him, cracks of roots and earth echoing in the distance.

Due to the unstable nature of portals, he wanted to get to the main road before he attempted opening another to take him home.

Leaves rustling startled him, and he whirled around. Against a tree stood a tall, leather-clad vampire, donning a pair of sunglasses and a red lollipop in his mouth.

Steve frowned. How had he gotten separated from the group? Just what he needed now, he thought wearily.

But he could handle one vampire on his own.

He straightened his spine, and a sword materialized in his hand, even as a strange sensation crawled over his skin.

“Well, you’ve made a grave error coming here alone.” Steve boasted. “I am the son of an Infernal, you know!”

The vampire male smirked. “I know who you are.” He said, then suckled on the lollipop.

Steve noticed he wasn’t even armed.

“But you don’t know me,” he said, throwing away the lolly and coming closer.

Steve maintained his stance. He would not show fear to this inferior being, even though fear seemed to be clawing its way out of the deepest depths of him.

And there was really only one thing Steve feared, which was why he hated his sister so much.

A meow sounded from the tree, and Steve’s eyes darted up.

In the branches sat a cat, ogling him with green eyes.

To his left, another meow. He swung around and even lifted his sword.

Suddenly, he was surrounded by cats. In the forest?!

And then the male was before him, the sunglasses removed to reveal two pitch-black eyes with glowing red irises.

The felines came closer, and Steve treaded back.

Oh, the misery—the hair on his suit, the licking of those filthy claws—it was disgusting.

He trembled but fought to hide it in front of the vampire male, who towered above him.

Struck stupid with fear, Steve didn’t have time to think about resisting when the male grabbed him by the lapels of his pressed suit.

“Hi Steve,” he smirked, revealing long, razor-sharp fangs. “I’m Terronth...”

He forced Steve to keep his gaze on him. The cats came closer and grew more. And Steve felt as though he was reaching right into his being, touching every demon in his horde through him.

The fear choked him, and he opened his eyes wider as if that would make him see that the cats were merely an illusion.

His pride dropped like an anvil from a skyscraper. “Have mercy,” Steve shuddered out.

“You hurt my best friend, Steve. Did you show her mercy?” Terronth asked, his tone the stuff of horror movies.

Before Steve could respond, he felt his own sword plunge through his abdomen.

Terronth dragged the sword up through his face, splitting him in two. Steve ashed on him.

And he listened to the sounds in the trees.

Demon screeches were everywhere, sounding more hysterical than terrorizing.

He cocked a grin and dematerialized.