Page 49 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 7

Just as Grayson was about to shift, he felt a wave of his own power. Except it wasn’t coming from him. It was coming from behind him. He fluttered, lifting a few feet off the ground, before settling once more.

The Mers were all levitating off the ground by several feet. From the strained looks on their faces, they couldn’t move. Grayson looked towards the Ashyr Vampires who were accomplishing this task. It wasn’t one of them, but five.

Five of my people in the Order. Five of my people are serving Legion!

He knew that there were Ashyr Vampires in the Order. That only made sense. After all, it had been set up presumably by the Vampire survivors not Kaly or any of the other Immortals responsible for the slaughter. So there were bound to be people from his Bloodline that joined. His gaze fixed on their leader.

Dani?!

His heart squeezed and he thought it might shrivel into the size of a raisin upon seeing her standing there in Confessor’s robes. Her head was thrown back. Her silver eyes blazed as her hands were outstretched towards the Mers that grunted with the effort to move.

Ryder had seen it was Dani, too, but his head was lowered so that she couldn’t see his face. She hadn’t recognized Ryder in the future. At least, he didn’t think so. But, then again, she hadn’t mentioned working for Legion or the Order either!

I told Ryder to forgive Natasha, or at least, give her a chance to explain. It’s not so easy to do when it’s your own.

Legion with Natasha and Lawson now in human forms strode through the five Ashyr Vampires to stand beside Dani. The flame in Grayson’s chest burned hot.

How could she? Why didn’t she tell me? Is she one of the Sect?

Rage wanted to flow over him and take him away with it. His fledgling–his Childe–doing this, fighting on behalf of his enemies, had Grayson seeing red. But he forced himself to look away from her. He had to get Ryder and Khos out of here now! But how? He wasn’t strong enough yet to take on eight Vampires plus the Mer. Not by himself.

It was then that he felt it.

Something ancient.

Something huge.

Something dead.

It was beneath the water. Lying on the bottom of the lake right near the island. In life, the thing had wings and claws. It had teeth as long as swords and a sinuous body. Understanding flowed through Grayson as he reached for the Kaly power inside of him.

The Essence Of Change

Fiona could feel her power being drained away by the black soul gem. She curled forward. Trembling. Her body fought to keep her strength deep inside of her even as the black soul gem wanted to siphon it off. Her burned hands weren’t even healing as quickly as they should as the fight between the two forces–one outside and one inside of her–fought over her power. Seeyr put a hand on her left shoulder, steadying her, and, shockingly, giving her some of Seeyr’s strength.

“No, you mustn’t!” Fiona cried when she realized what Seeyr was doing.

But Seeyr only smiled. And that smile seemed to say, “Remember, it is you who must leave here. Not me. This is my home for a very long time to come.”

The wrongness of this had anger and strength surging in Fiona. She straightened up and glared at the Kaly-slice between the bars.

“I know that you will regret everything you’ve done, Kaly,” she spat out. “You will mourn every single wrong you’ve committed. You will beg for forgiveness. You will say it is not enough to apologize for all of it. And part of me agrees with that future you right now. How can you do this? How can you do what you will do in the future?”

“Again, this future you speak of that is definitely going to happen.” The Kaly-slice chuckled as she sideled nearer the bars. “The more you speak of it, the more certain I am that it is a pipe dream.”

“Coming back here and seeing us all–seeing this–and knowing that the bad things cannot be changed is agony. Knowing that you will not move from this course…” She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “Where have you put Tanis’ soul? I know that you keep all the people’s souls whose forms you have stolen.”

“Why waste a good soul?” The Kaly-slice chuckled. That was something Caemorn would say, but he would not relish the cruelty of it.

“How did this all go so wrong?” Fiona murmured.

“Well, you chose to trust me–”

“No, not this.” Fiona shook her head in disgust. “You. The War. All of it. How were we so blind to your illness? How could we be so in our own heads that we thought we didn’t need one another? That we shouldn’t care for one another?”

“That you see this, Fiona, gives me great hope,” Seeyr said.

“Hope? Why do you need hope, Seeyr? This is the future you have planned on,” the Kaly-slice taunted and sauntered ever closer.