Yowls and shrieks gutted the air. Mike ground to a halt. Jo slid to a stop. She whirled around.
“It’s Galen!” Jo shouted. He was buried under a writhing mob of vampires. She raced back.
“Jo, wait!” Mike shouted.
Jo was desperate, her heart in her throat. The throng obliterated any sign of Galen. She would tear them all apart.
“Jo!” Mike’s feet pounded on the earth behind her. His hand grasped her arm, but she jerked away.
“Jo! Stop!”
He grabbed her around her waist. The ground rose and she put her hands out to break her fall. They hit meadow floor together. The impact dislodged his grip on her and she rolled away from him. She scrambled to get up, but Mike clutched her ankle. Jo twisted around to face him. Their eyes met. She glared at him, enraged, yanking her foot from his hand.
“Jo! They’ll kill you!”
“They’re killing him!”
She turned, looking at the dark mass. Tears blurred her vision. Her gut was wrenched.
A group on the outside of the mob peeled away, coming straight at her. Jo froze. Her heart ached for Galen, and now she feared the worse for herself—and all her friends.
“Jo, get up! Run!” Mike shouted. He jumped to his feet and yanked her up. “Get out of here!”
But they had no time to run.
The vampires leapt into the sky. With nowhere to go, Mike stood defiant, like a soldier, ready to die. Within the space of a few seconds, she admired him, hurt for Galen, felt the pain in her leg, prayed for help. Galen had to be dead by now. They would all be dead—or worse—in a moment.
The creatures sailed over her head, aiming for Mike.
“Mike, run!”
He didn’t have time. The killers dropped from the sky on top of him. Some of the creatures turned from Mike, their malicious eyes knifing Jo. Her chest seized with panic. She turned to run, but fingers, like cold wires, wrapped around her legs and ankles. She was going down. She fell, sprawled on the ground on her belly. She turned over. Blazing orange-red eyes and dripping fangs swarmed over her. She choked on the foul odor. She punched at mottled, grey skin and furiously slapped at gnarled faces. She closed her eyes. This was it. Death.
Light burned over her closed lids. The clawing fingers disappeared.
Sunlight!
She opened her eyes, expecting gleaming yellow rays of sun to meet them.
But this light was different.
A bright, bluish-white light blinded her. She shielded her eyes with her hands. She got on her knees, squeezed her eyes shut, swinging her arms around her. Her hands swung through empty air. She squinted and peeked through her lashes at the top of the hill. The sun was not there. Only a swath of bright pink hovered above the hill. The light blinding her was not that light.
She tried to stand up, but the brilliant light disoriented her. Determined to find Galen, she crawled on her hands and knees, looking down at the almost-glowing green and brown earth. She followed the cries and howls. She stood on her knees, peering between her fingers into the brightness. Her breath escaped her.
Above the clearing, a man floated in the center of a white flame. Illuminated blue vapor swirled around him and under him. Inside the blue vapor thin white lines, like laser beams, moved in never-ending circles and figure eights.
He was beautiful. His hair was silver-grey, streaked with black. He was robed in lustrous blue skin-tight armor that glistened like billions of crushed sapphires. The armor was open in the front down to his waist, revealing a man’s chiseled torso. Sparkling, royal blue flames were drawn on his flesh, rising from his lower left side, up towards his chest and crossing diagonally over to his right shoulder. His forearms were covered by engraved silver bracers. Silver arm bands, studded with multi-colored jewels, encircled his biceps. There was a sword of gold at his side, the hilt embellished with glowing ruby and emerald stones. Fanning out behind him, wings of long sapphire-blue feathers, reached into the sky.
Jo blinked and blinked. Was she dead? She must have died and this was heaven, but pain throbbed in her leg and the rough ground stung her skinned knees. No pain in heaven. She struggled to find Galen through the fantastic swirling light, but had to look away from the brightness to rest her burning eyes.
She turned back to the beautiful, bright creature, squinting and forced her eyes to peer into the light again. The man floated downward. He had drawn his sword. The blade shone with the brilliance of the swirling, sparkling light and the reflection off it lit up the ground in front of her with a fluorescent blue.
His arm muscles flexed through his armor as he held the sword with both hands and lifted it above his head, swinging it to one side. He brought the sword down—like a lightning bolt—cutting through a mass of shadowy figures on the ground. His chest was taut. As his torso moved, the blue flames on it shimmered. His eyes were ablaze with brilliant silvery sparks.
The blackish figures were torn and ripped. Pieces of black flew through the air. A cacophony of howls and wails echoed off the hillside as the sword cut back and forth, slicing through the shadows.
Jo’s head throbbed. Her eyes burned from the intense light, but she couldn’t look away. The gilded sword rose again. The metal caught the sun’s rays as they exploded over the hill and reflected them at her.
Jo’s head spun. Nauseated, she wavered. The ground came up to meet her. The world went black and silent.
Chapter 41