Words of Power (Alice Gray Book 3)

69

Silver strands of magical energy spun out of me, thickening the sequence of my life-force that shimmered in the air all around us.

Caught in the web of silver magic, clumps of grey matter stuck together in globby masses; so many flies waiting to be devoured by the spider.

But that wasn't going to be the fate of these nasty, decayed insects.

When the fine silver sequence filled the enclosed blood-circle, strong and bright, I opened myself fully to the power of the All Seeing Eye. Energy streamed into me, filling me up more and more, brighter and brighter, until it was all that I was, my veins, muscle, bones, organs, pure light and power.

When I couldn't hold anymore of the infinite stream that poured into me from the Eye, I sent it flowing out through the web of silver magic that held the death-dust in nasty clumpy masses.

Losing myself in the white-hot intensity of it, a tug at my core pulled my eyes in the direction of the Minster's entrance.

Lucas stood, supporting himself on a beam, eyes wide and frightened, terror twisting his handsome face into something unfamiliar and wrong.

It was too late to stop. The power had to go somewhere, and it was already on its way.

Bright energy travelled through the strands of my life-force, reaching the sticky globules of dead vampire.

Pure silver pulsed inside the clumps suspended in the web, infusing the dust with life.

They wobbled and spun in the thin silver web that held them, trembling as whatever was inside shifted and grew. I watched in fascinated horror as the slimy membranes, covered with throbbing silver veins, revealed sharp limbs that jutted out without breaking them.

As the placenta stretched, struggling to contain whatever monstrosity was growing inside, I tried to stop the flow of energy from the Eye. Maybe I could sever the connection before the gruesome embryos hatched.

But as the magic poured into me, through me and out into the web, I realised that I'd been a fool to believe that I had any control over this. I was a conduit. Nothing more.

When the first one broke through, tearing its gestation sack with a claw-like finger nail, I realised what I'd done.

One after the other, ancient, emaciated vampires dropped out of their withered membranes. Limbs, bodies, and finally heads, wide-eyed and amazed that their souls had returned to their bodies, still grey and slimy from the speed of the magic-induced growth.

They looked at themselves and then their neighbours, taking in their thin, naked forms.

Bile rose in my throat. I had brought them back. This was my doing.

Brother Jerome clapped his hands in childish glee, seeing that his wish had been fulfilled without the need of his machine.

The blood circle shimmered and faltered, before disintegrating as the silver web that filled it broke and dropped to the floor.

As one the vampires' faces tilted to the Minster's entrance.

Every set of crimson eyes zeroed in on the exact spot where Lucas stood.

Not good.

As he realised the threat, Lucas's stance widened, his wolf taking control and banishing the fear. He looked like he believed that all it was going to take to stop the hungry vermin was his Alpha dominance.

As love swelled my heart, fear contracted it, the awful warring sensations freezing me in inaction when I saw that he would sacrifice himself so easily for the sake of the innocents that were still unconscious below.

When Lucas's eyes met mine, all I could see was the question.

Why?

And I didn't know. Why had the Eye granted me this power if only to rain terror down upon the mortal world?

Was this a test?

Would the Eye let the vampires prosper in order to test the other paranormal races, the ones that wanted to live in peace; the innocents?

Should we expect the awful reality of subjugation by a group of power hungry ancient vamps because the world was coming to an end anyway? How could there be divine purpose in those crimson-eyed hungry creatures that surrounded my brave, virtuous Alpha?

Turning to the angels who had been lurking either side of me, I was ready to find answers to what the hell kind of Plan this shit really was.

My eyes shot upwards, searching for the fickle bastards that were happy to leave us down here to our fate, as long as it was all part of their predestined plan. The bright colours of their beautiful wings whizzed around the enormous Eye that looked down at the fulfilment of centuries old manipulations.

The scuffle and grunts coming from the Minster's entrance told me that the ancient vamps had reached Lucas. I glanced over to see his enormous wolf tearing into a fight in which he was outnumbered a hundred to one.

A squeal of pain made me wince, and his blood sprayed upwards when one of the ancient vamps bit into his shoulder. Before I could move towards him, a blur of dark material stopped at his side and I saw Thomas rip the vamp from Lucas and fling it away.

My eyes returned to the myriad of rainbow colours that circled the dark pupil of the universe, and I did something that I have never done before in my life.

I prayed.

But will it be enough...