Furious at her retort, the witch licked her lips and with a guttural voice, picked up the axe in the air and brought it down in an arc. "You are pathetic!" she growled and was about to strike her when her body jerked and she arched back. The axe fell down from her hand as cold black blood sprayed on Anastasia's face and body. She turned her head like an owl to see what happened. Upon the sight, she snarled, showing her pointy teeth and fangs tipped with dried blood. "You—" Before she could complete her sentence, yet another bolt of black orb mixed with orange fiery light hit her head making her fall to her side right beside Anastasia. Anastasia screamed.
The black orb of death stuck to her head as it rotated around. With a shrill roar that sounded like pounding against iron, she clutched the orb to pull it away, her fingers penetrating it. The place where her fingers penetrated the orb, the glass melted and delicate white fingers revealed. She screamed with agonizing pain and instantly removed her fingers as if they were being burned. Her fingers reformed back into the obsidian glass that they were made of.
Anastasia blinked her eyes with shock, trying to comprehend the scenario. Suddenly a massive brown wolf leapt right over her, crossed her length and landed somewhere behind her.
Kaizan.
Goose bumps lined her skin and Anastasia shouted. "Ileus!" Her husband was there. They were there for her. Yet another gray furred wolf leapt over her and took someone on her right side. The witch had rolled down the stone with the black orb. Anastasia lifted her head up to find Ileus. She strained her eyes in the darkness but all she could see were bolts of lights and thousands of orbs made of darkness and fire floating around her and hitting those who wanted to sacrifice her. Yet another golden furred wolf raced in this madness and lunged at her head. She closed her eyes, but the wolf simply stopped right over her head as if protecting her. She heard a metal clanking over the stone and then a screech.
"Anastasia." The voice came like a tendril in her mind.
Anastasia whipped her head to look up. The golden furred wolf was Adrianna. The wolf looked down at her and then leapt in the darkness behind her.
"Anastasia!" Ileus' guttural voice came from the left, where the witch was still struggling with the black orbs. He flung a few more orbs of death towards her. "Bloody witch!" he shouted and spat with wild anger. "How dare you try to kill my mate?" He kicked her in her abdomen with his boots with so much force that they could hear her grunt along with shattering of glass and gurgling of blood. "How dare you even think of it?" His voice was filled with fury of the molten lava.
"Ileus!" Anastasia shouted, grabbing his attention. With a curse, he focused on removing the manacles that tied her to the stone. It took him some time before he could free her and in that much time, he had to kill a hooded man who attempted to swing his sword at her. He scooped her in his arms and then jumped down from the stone. He could smell the burnt flesh of her wrists and ankles and it was like a sharp cut through his guts. He let out more curses in Russian.
Anastasia clutched his chest and pressed her head against it, feeling comforted, feeling his warmth and surrounded by his misty, coppery and woodsy scent. He kissed the crown of her head as he led her to safety. "Where is Adrianna and Kaizan and Darla?"
"They are snapping the head of those who had their hands in abducting you and then had the audacity to sacrifice you on the Stone of Tepcha," he replied, holding her tighter against him.
Tears stung her vision as emotions cruised through her body, overwhelming her. It was not safe for Adrianna to be so far away from Draoidh because if her enemies knew or if Aed Ruad had even the slightest idea about it, he would attempt to kill her. However, she also knew that the queen of Draoidh was a formidable force on her own.
Suddenly she saw a plume of darkness speeding behind them. Before she could warn Ileus, he had set her on her feet, and turned. Standing tall like the dark wizard he was, his raven black hair being ruffled in the wind, his golden eyes burning with fire, Ileus burst into shadows and stood in front of her protectively. The plume of darkness materialized into the dark witch.
"We finally meet, Brother!" said Iona, as she stared into his golden eyes with hers.
Ileus shuddered and for a moment his shadows shrank. Iona took advantage of it and hurled a bolt of lightning at him. It hit him on his shoulder but by then he recovered and the bolt passed through him. He breathed, "Iona!"
The vision in front of him was unbelievable, shocking really. His mind reeled in order to comprehend or process what was going in front of him. He stared at his sister as his breath lodged in his throat, refusing to come out. Trauma of being separated from her that even in his dreams he was unable to resolve. And when the trauma tried to resolve it became a nightmare. With Anastasia's entry in his life, his nightmares had reduced, he could look past the gloom. But now with Iona standing in front of him, he went completely still. Even though she attacked him, Ileus stood with dark shadows whirling around him. His mouth fell open as he stared at his sister. And the more he looked at her, the more his vision became blurred.
Iona prowled closer to him and clacked her teeth. In a voice that came as if many souls were speaking in tandem, she said, "What do you think of me, Brother?" Her forehead, her shoulder, part of her torso, looked shattered like glass and black blood flowed in trickles as her body slowly knitted together.
Ileus' thoughts were so caught up in a whirlwind of emotions that he didn't know what to say. He just kept glancing at her with a knot in his heart. Emotional numbness marred his thoughts. He had searched for her day and night, he had put his life in danger, he had put his mate's life in danger, and yet here she was… at the helm of chaos… the harbinger of chaos in the Lore… his deadliest enemy… one who came out of from the same womb, one who shared the same traits with him, one who gave into the darkness…
She was taken over by the dark forces—ones that were after him, ones that lured him ever since he was a small child, ones that wanted him to be their Master. When he refused them, they grasped his sister.
Iona swirled in front of him with her hands up and pulled the smoke that was her skirt, to the side to bow. "Isn't this lovely?" she asked. "I am on this side of the line and you on that side."
