arching doorway loomed closer…closer still…only this time, she didn’t try to stop herself.
Closer…
As Leora slowed, she smiled over her shoulder. Finally they reached the door, and the servant stepped aside.
Haidee wanted to vomit as she saw herself reach out. Saw her fingers curl around the edge of the curtain and move the material aside. Her shoulders squared as she stepped inside the chamber, the curtain falling back into place behind her.
At first, the Haidee in the vision couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing. But the smell, oh, God, the smell…metallic, coppery…mixed with the stench of emptied bowels. She knew that smell very well: death.
Once white walls were splattered with crimson. On the floor, her husband lay in pieces. Hysteria bubbled inside her as she spun. The carnage — there was no escaping it. Solon…a piece here, a piece there, a piece everywhere. The words filled her mind, her encroaching madness making them a song. Her knees knocked together, and dizziness nearly drowned her. Frigid breath sawed in and out of her nose, uncontrollable now.
Then she saw something far worse than the carnage.
In the center of the room, the creature from her nightmares floated above a coagulated puddle of blood. Just as before, the black hood was drawn over his face, shielding his features. But in the midst of the shadows, she could see the glowing red of his eyes.
Slowly he lifted one arm, a single gnarled finger extended in her direction. Rage pulsed from him, so much rage, enveloping her in malevolence. Hate followed. So much hate.
The eeriness of his presence jolted her out of her quiet horror, and she screamed. Screamed and screamed and screamed. She couldn’t stop herself, even though each new wail scraped her throat raw. She pressed her palms over her ears. That didn’t help. Still the screaming ravaged her.
The creature floated toward her, and she at last quieted. So close…almost upon her…she scrambled backward until she hit the wall. Just before he reached her, several black-clad men stormed from the terrace and into the room, their weapons raised.
«There!» one of the men cried.
«He was right! The demon’s here!»
Demon? He? How had «he» known?
They pounded toward her nightmare, blades raised, ready to hack him into bits, just as he’d done to her husband. Oh, God. Her husband. Maybe the creature hadn’t killed him after all, because there were others just like him in the room, and now they exited the shadows, their eyes glowing bright red.
The creature disappeared before either the humans or the others could reach him.
Beside her, the curtain swished open. Haidee’s knees gave out as Leora and the guards that Solon had ordered to remain nearby stormed inside. There were so many of them, and in their haste to discover what had happened, they failed to see her. She was kicked forward, Solon’s blood soaking her beautiful gown.
The guards attacked the men from the terrace
«More demons!» someone shouted.
«These must have followed us!»
«Hunters,» one of the new warriors growled, the word somehow echoing with a thousand other voices. Each of them tormented. «Die. Will die.»
A new battle began, this one a macabre dance of glinting silver and sharpened claws, and body after body fell around her. Even the aged, defenseless Leora was struck down, a dagger protruding from her chest. There were more grunts, many agonized moans and brutalized screams, each blending with the renewal of her own. She couldn’t breathe, had to breathe. Had to escape.
More servants and guards rushed into the room, but they, too, quickly became victims of the bloody battle. Breathe, breathe. Haidee tried to scramble away, to hide, but the floor was so slippery, blocked by all the fallen, and she gained no ground. And then someone fisted the back of her robe and dragged her to her feet. Oh, God. This was it, the end.
In reality, Haidee braced herself, knowing what came next. She tried to distance herself from the scene, to pretend she was only watching a movie. That the people dying around her were actors, that their pain was faked.
That’s when the scene slowed, and, through Amun and his demon, she was able to see things she’d never noticed before. Suddenly, the players had names, faces she recognized. There was Strider — Defeat — lost to his demon and slashing at a Hunter. There was Lucien — Death — his mismatched eyes colder than the ice storm inside her.
She’d seen pictures of him over the years, and knew he was now scarred. But he wasn’t scarred as he fought with lethal menace, and his beauty was breathtaking. Or would have been, if someone else’s blood hadn’t dripped from his mouth. He’d just ripped a man’s throat out with his teeth.
Sabin, Kane, Cameo. Gideon, Paris, Maddox. Reyes. Baden, his red hair actually crackling with living flames. Aeron, his black wings outstretched, the ends as sharp as daggers. All but Torin and Amun were there. No, not true, she realized as her gaze caught on the man who had grabbed her robe.
Amun. Amun held her.
So dark, wild in a way she had never seen him before. His eyes, like twin rubies plucked from the fires of hell. His lips, etched into a permanent scowl. His teeth, sharp and white and almost…monstrous. His cheekbones were sliced open, bone revealed.
He had one arm anchored around her waist, preventing her from bolting. Not that she could have. Her muscles were paralyzed with fear. Even as a Hunter leapt toward them, sword raised.
Amun swung her behind him — and a sword that had been arcing toward him cut her from one side of her throat to the other. A scream of agony gurgled from her as her legs gave out. But she didn’t drop to the floor; Amun still held her. He turned then, and the real Haidee registered the glint of shock that suddenly consumed his features as he saw what had happened to her.
She’d always thought the man holding her had used her as a human shield, but just then, she realized he’d tried to save her. Even then. Even lost to his demon.
In the vision, she sagged from his now-loosened grip, her world going dark.
That was the first time she died.
But even then, the vision didn’t fade. Amun’s memory must have picked up where hers had left off, because the fight continued around her lifeless body. She watched as an enraged Amun stepped over her and ripped into the man who had killed her, tearing him from limb to limb, just as Solon had been torn.
Amun made sure the rending
Fast as he dodged, the blade merely cut into his neck, nicking him. With a roar, he spun around, arm rising to bat the offender away. The Hunter had already repositioned himself, however, and slashed once again. This time, the blade struck true, hitting spine, and Amun’s throat opened up all the way.
Blood poured, and he collapsed, his body beside hers. They were facing each other, and his blood mingled with hers, pooling between them, soaking into their wounds.
Binding them, from that moment on?
Seeing their friend down, the other Lords became all the more enraged — and all the more vicious. The remaining Hunters and guards were soon felled in the most savage massacre she’d ever witnessed. And when it was over, the warriors panting, sweating, but far from calm, they gathered Amun and dragged him from the chamber, the home.
Finally the vision faded and Haidee’s mind catapulted back to the present. She was still seated in front of Amun, but ice had crystallized over her skin. Either he hadn’t noticed, or hadn’t cared, because his hands were still flattened against her temples, the only bit of heat she felt.
