We’re almost there and we’re coming in from the east. Can you leave the mine?
Maybe. The woods give excellent cover. I’ll try to get us both out there, but I think we’ve got wraith-pairs moving in.
Do what you can, but stay safe.
She loved that about Stone. They might have run over fifty missions together throughout the last few weeks, but he never took chances with her safety.
She told Elias the plan then moved toward the mine opening. But the moment she stepped into the larger, cavernous entrance, a wraith-pair dropped into view just outside.
“Well, lookee what we have here, Imogen.”
The duo, wearing rags but carrying sharp, honed weapons, hovered right in front of the mine’s opening. The female wraith, in a shredded, red gauze dress flew in a circle above her vampire mate’s head. The vampire’s fangs made an appearance, and saliva dripped down his chin.
The wraith was as vile in appearance as any Rosamunde had ever seen. Her lips were almost black and it wasn’t just lipstick. The whites of her eyes looked jaundiced and her irises were similar to the violet of Rosamunde’s.
The wraith shrieked so loud, Rosamunde had to cover her ears, as did Elias. Her mate was a powerful vampire, just shy of what Stone would call mastyr status.
Imogen added, “And listen to how my voice echoes into the mine.”
Rosamunde covered her ears once more, protecting herself from the shrill barrage. Suddenly, another wraith-pair showed up behind the original couple.
As the second wraith let loose, Rosamunde contacted Stone. We’ve got two wraith-pairs in front of the mine entrance.
I see them. Stone’s voice was very quiet within her head. Stay put, but this will probably get messy.
I’ll try to distract them.
After telling Elias to stay well behind her, she drew her dagger. “You call that loud?” she shouted, waving her weapon. Her heart thumped in her chest. The wolf part of her was loving every second of it, but the fae part kept wanting to put the brakes on.
This was Aralynn’s show, however, so she let her wolf be.
“Come on, wraith. Let’s hear a couple more.”
The wraiths took the bait and Rosamunde covered her ears once more.
Chapter Two
Levitating just inside the tree-line, Stone heard Aralynn taunting the wraiths. He waved his Guardsmen up and forward. One of them was another of his lieutenants, Cole, whom he relied on as much as Harris.
Both Guards rose high in the air, then dove swiftly at the four levitating Invictus blocking the entrance to the mine. Each released blue battle energy from their palms as they flew by.
At the same moment, the wraiths turned and fired off red killing vibrations from their hands, wrists and arms. The quick reactions caught the Guardsmen’s battle energy midair. Red and blue parks flew into the air as the disparate energies collided.
Cole, swing back around but fire at the vampire. I’ll take down the wraith closest to me.
Got it.
Stone watched Cole and the other Guardsman, now high in the air, turn back toward the mine, the wraiths’ attention fixed on them.
Stone moved swiftly, just a foot above the woodland path then at the last moment, put on his vampire speed.
The wraith didn’t see him coming. Flying straight for her, he took her down, an arm around her thin neck. He jerked hard and heard the crack. He let her body fall to the ground, ready to face the vampire.
However, because of the bond, once the wraith was dead, the vampire fell hard to earth, his life-force depleted. He might have been able to recover, but took a blue streak of Guardsman fire-power straight to the head as Cole dove in for the kill.
Both Invictus were dead.
The second wraith rose in the air, facing the two Guardsmen, firing her battle energy and shrieking. But her vampire bond-mate came at Stone, throwing his axe with skill. Stone dove to the right away from the mine entrance and felt the axe just graze his bare shoulder. He’d have a metal burn but the blade didn’t break skin.