Chapter seventeen

Lyra's POV

“Down!“

Caspian barked immediately.

I barely had time to react when the first strigoi burst out from underneath the ground.

It wasn't human anymore, not really, its skin hung too tight over bone, eyes glowing a sick starving red, it's mouth wide open to reveal fangs stained black with old blood.

Richard shifted instantly.

Bones cracked as fur exploded across skin and a massive wolf slammed into the creature mid leap, tearing it apart before it could even shriek. Blood sprayed on the tree.

That was when the forest erupted.

Snarling...

They came from everywhere, from behind trees, above, dropping out of branches.

Even from the grounds itself. A pack.

“Strigoi den” Maria hissed already chanting.

Jasper swore. “Oh. That's bad”

I wanted to ask what he meant by that when a strigoi lunged for me, it's jaw snapping.

My survival instincts took over and purple light exploded from my palm as I shoved outwards...

“Ad ossa fracta!“

It slammed backwards, pulverizing bones on the tree trunk. The recoil burned my arm but I didn't flinch.

Another came from the side, but Caspian was already there before I could turn around.

He moved like shadows, his hand crushing the skull of the strigoi, the other ripping a throat open in a spray of blood that never touched him. His eyes burned crimson now, no longer pretending.

“Stay close to me Lyra” he said without looking back.

“Okay” I said while ducking as Maria's spell scorched overhead.

Green fire lashed out, hitting three strigois at once. The vines tearing through flesh.

Richard barrelled through the clearing, a living moving weapon, his paws shaking the earth and growls reverberating I wondered if the humans in Transylvania ever wondered what happened in their forests.

Jasper fought beside him, less controlled more reckless, laughing as he tackled a strigoi twice his side.

“This is still my vision” he yelled, “I just didn't think it'd be this many!“

“Focus, there's more coming” I yelled at him.

Many strigois coming stampeding in our direction almost like we didn't even just kill half of them. I knew what they were after was me. My blood.

“Lyra” Maria shouted, panic in her voice, “It's you they're after” I lifted my hands to the sky.

“Lux sanguinis, hostes ardeant!”

I slammed my palm to the forest grounds, as it burst outwards in a Shockwave of purple light, bodies slamming back. Blood seeped down my nose as a backlash but I cleaned it off, more focused.

But they kept coming...

Caspian ripped a strigoi apart and turned sharply, his eyes scanning the trees carefully.

“This isn't normal, something is wrong”

He was right, a den didn't just get stirred unless something triggered it.

Unless... Someone had led them on.

A high piercing scream tore through the open air... Then... Silence.

Magic cracked and I felt the world fold in on itself.

I felt hands grab me with certainty and magic. Older and cold as the forest vanished.

For seconds I felt weightless, the world dark and wrapped in something that tasted like smoke and iron. Then the ground returned beneath my feet.

I staggered slightly, heart hammering while panting. When my vision cleared the forest was gone.

We stood in a wide clearing of blackened earth. Scorched clean in a perfect circle hit the trees beyond it we're untouched as if it deliberately stopped at an invisible line.

No strigois...

No blood...

Just... Us...

“What...“ Jasper breathed, “What just happened?“.

Maria's face had gone pale and Caspian stood still. Slow footsteps echoed across the ground and I turned around.

A woman emerged from the shadow. Tall, draped in dark crimson and yellow blonde hair whoosing in the air. Her presence pressed against my magic like gravity.

She smiled faintly, “Honestly” She said, her voice amused and smooth, “If you were going to stumble into a den by yourself, I would have appreciated an invitation”.

Maria's eyes widened in recognition, “I knew it was you”

“Green witch, still alive? How... Quaint”

Jasper bristled. “Who is that?“

Caspian finally moved, stepping half a pace in front of me. “Alexandria” he said flatly, “You shouldn't be here”

“And yet...“ she replied lightly, eyes moving towards my path, “Here I am”

Her stare locked onto mine and something inside me tightened...

“So... You're the girl huh? Hale” Alexandria whispered, “The blood everyone is talking about, you've returned”

“W.. What do you mean by that? How do you know my name?“

She chuckled.