Chapter 42: Sealed Away

The forces all paused outside of The Forest of the Damned, taking in the thick air that smelled rotten.

Most of the trees were dead, black and gray husks ready to teeter over at the next sharp wind, and the few large pines that stood firmly had branches that drooped like wilting flowers, as if the very bark had been poisoned. Lightning roared above the mess of long-dead trees, but it wasn't anything new to Bruce and Silvana, who had been fighting these evils since they had returned.

What hit them both differently, though, was that ghastly, heavy air, and with each breath they took it was like swallowing toxins.

Everybody felt it, from the witches to the werewolves to the vampires.

It was a smell of sour blood that tainted the very grass beneath the snow they all stepped on. Angus held a hand before his mouth and tried not to cough in front of Amelia for fear of seeming weak, but as he plugged his nose, she turned away and hacked into her folded elbow.

Even Solaris struggled t