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Vanth rolled out his neck and shoulders and tried to prepare himself mentally. The dragon was rampaging, and they would get no better distraction than that.
"Tarael, I want you to listen to me," Eiline said, taking him by the hand. "All your life, I told you and taught you to hide your power. Now is not the time to do that, my boy.Releasewhat's inside of you. Don't be afraid of it. It's part of you, and it won't hurt you."
Vanth kissed the top of her head. "I'm not afraid of it, Mama, but everyone else is about to be."
"Good," Elektra said, her eyes already glowing with magic and speckled with stars. "I want them to shit themselves in fear just thinking what we are going to do to them."
Vanth shot her a wink. "That's my girl."
Vanth couldn't do goodbyes, so after their final plans, he wended his way down the uneven terrain to where the fighting was. He dropped deep into his power and let magic roll out along the sword his grandfather had forged for him. His mother and mate were together, sneaking in from the other side of the cleared stretch of forest to where the reapers were being held.
Lazarus's magic was all around him, and Vanth ensured his protective shields were tightly in place. The last thing he needed was to get set on fire by accident. The followers of Lazarus were fighting with the ghouls, throwing any magic they could at the dragon that was swatting them about like flies. Unless Vanth could wrench some of the control back from the dead, it wouldn't matter how many times Azhdaha stomped and burned them, the dead would keep coming for him.
Let go of your power,his mother's voice whispered. He wasn't afraid of letting it all go. It was pulling it all back in that he didn't know if he was capable of doing.
Vanth looked about at the burning, screaming chaos around him and reached deep inside of himself. With a sharp mental tug, he tore at the wall he always kept up between him and the vortex of his power. Magic poured out of him like vines, and the undead lit up in his mind like stars. Through the roar, he felt Elektra's heady dark magic like a siren song, giving him a path to follow back if he got too deep. His heart warmed.My love that I didn't expect and don't deserve.
Vanth wrapped his magic around the connections of the dead, leading to Lazarus and the other necromancers amongst his followers. Vanth gave the connections a subtle tug, and by the time the necromancers had realized what he had done, their own dead were turning on them and attacking them.
Vanth's sword sang with power as he cut his way through Lazarus's followers. A shout went up through from the other side of the field, and Elektra and a group of pissed-off reapers joined the fray. Vanth couldn't see his mother, but he could feel her magic, and that was enough.
He caught glimpses of Lazarus. There was a shield up around him and the battery, and the necromancer hadn't stopped his chanting. Between fighting, Vanth tried to probe the shields with his power to figure out what Lazarus was doing.
It's the spell to summon Orcus. It had to be. The Veil was ripped, and wild magic was flying from the opening. Any idiot mage could grab onto it and try to wield it.
Vanth couldn't let Lazarus trap Orcus. He might not know his father, but he was still family, and Vanth wouldn't let Lazarus fuck with them a second longer. He cut and slashed with blades and magic, tearing a bloody path towards his enemy. He took command of more of the ghouls and sent them to help protect Elektra and the others.
Vanth only needed to get closer. He was only ten meters from Lazarus's shield when the battery exploded with magic. Vanth's vision whited out, his hearing went, and he fought not to stumble forward into the bloody mud.
Lazarus let out a cry of triumph, and when the smoke behind the shields cleared, Vanth could make out a broad figure on his knees. The battle seemed to stop in surprise, every creature on the field, living or dead, unable to look away. Vanth pushed his way around a clutch of ghouls.
"Why do you summon me, feckless human? Are you back to try and do more damage than you did last time?" a voice as deep as the earth rumbled.
The god stood, and Vanth's heart leaped to his throat. He was as tall as Vanth, with a beard and cropped black curly hair. He wore a black toga, a short black cloak, and leather vambraces on his forearms. He was broad, with a powerful, solid build. And he was pissed. He glared at Lazarus with pitiless black eyes that matched Vanth's own.
Lazarus's smile widened in victory. "For over seventy years, I have fought for this moment. You and that bitch ruined my work last time, and now I will ensure you don't interfere. The spell that's currently wrapped around you is a slave bond. You will address me as 'master' from now on. You are bound to me, god of the Veil, and you will do as I command," he demanded.
"Master?" Orcus smiled slowly.
Vanth knew it to be a threat because he smiled in exactly the same way. Eiline had made her way through the crowd and came to stand beside Vanth. She was carrying her sickles and was splattered with blood and rot from the ghouls.
"We have to do something," he whispered.
Eiline didn't look away from Orcus. "We can't do anything just yet."
"Bow to me, slave!" Lazarus shouted.
A low snarl rose from Vanth as Orcus dropped into an elegant dip. The hand behind his back disappeared under the fold of his cloak, pulled a dagger free, and before anyone could make a move, the god drove the dagger into Lazarus's gloating body and tore the blade from his naval to his neck. The necromancer's face went white with shock as his guts spilled out of him, and he collapsed dead.
"Pathetic," the god of the dead spat.
Orcus's power shattered the shield, and the connections to the ghouls and the undead broke with it. Vanth flinched as all the strings were cut at once, and the undead ran back into the Veil. The necromancers went screaming after them, pulled by invisible hands of power.
Orcus finally turned back to them and smiled at Eiline. "Hello, love. Who are your friends?" he asked. Eiline ran to him, and he picked her up in an easy embrace. He brushed the black marks of the curse creeping along her neck. "Oh baby, what did you do to yourself? What is this awful thing on you?"
"I had to do it. I had to protect him," Eiline said, tears falling down her cheeks.
