✔Kin of the Curse (Book 1: Bloodbound Chronicles)

31. No Escape (Part 1)

Lucien found it difficult to distinguish the pounding of his heart and the horde of footfalls tromping into the flower shop.  A rotten odor filled the room as sparks of magic flew through the air, and the awful smell clung to each shaky breath Lucien inhaled when he cast his own desperate defensive spells. 

The kids were crying, huddled in the back corner with their mother while everyone else had gathered toward the front of the shop to form a barrier between them.  Lucien had cast his own shield across the shop, extending from one wall to the next. 

Potted plants spilled over with some coaxing from his magic, vines slicing the ankles of the rotters at the forefront.  Their bodies fell to the ground with loud thumps, and a mix of magical spells exploded their innards across the floor.  Lucien channeled more energy into his shield as rotters scraped their bloodied nails against the solidified barrier between them. 

Despite how the veins in his arms burned, Lucien wrapped vines around the rotters and sprouted thorns through their sagging, putrid flesh.  But they were endless.  No matter how many they destroyed, the rotters multiplied twice as fast.  One of the mothers had locked herself in the flower shop's restroom with the kids while everyone else did their best to fight them off with an assortment of elemental magic spells. 

Fire flew past Lucien in a vibrant shape of a raven, charring a row of snarling rotters that reached his barrier.  It took a lot of strength and energy to maintain a barrier, triple that when a horde of the undead were doing everything possible to deteriorate it.  Lucien appreciated the efforts of everyone else who had tried to hold up their own, but if it weren't for him, the rotters would've slipped through already. 

Silas and his mother's energy was similar to his own, using the plants around them to attack the rotters.  Their shields had tiny cracks within minutes of conjuring them, but Lucien knew they needed all the extra protection they could get. A few others with wind and air elements surrounded him, but he wasn't familiar enough with the other families to know who was who. 

Meanwhile, Seraphina had conjured a monstrous squid from her water magic that expelled a toxic ink that melted the flesh of the rotters.  Lucien was horrifically fascinated by how she commanded it, flopping the poor thing around the opening of the shop to combat the newcomers from trampling inside. 

Castor knew his magic abilities far better than anyone, and that was why he kept his prime focus on all the rotters that reached his shield. As much as Lucien loved him, and bless his heart, his shields weren't conjured with protection in mind.  They only lasted a moment before the rotters shattered right through them, but he made up for it with his magical flames and majestic birds. 

Alongside a raven, he'd brought his phoenix out to rain fire down on the horde until they were nothing but crispy corpses on the ground.  Silas and his mother let their plants devour the remains so Lucien could keep better focus on his shield, but as more continued to pour inside the shop, he felt his strength dwindling. 

A coppery tang flooded Lucien's mouth.  His arms trembled like tree limbs in the wind as he desperately held up his shield because their lives depended on it.  One crack, one tiny mistake of releasing his magic's hold, would be the end for them.  It was nothing like the farm where he'd had more skillful magic-wielders like Grayson and Darcy to help him, or actual room to move freely.  There weren't as many rotters then either.

It pained him to admit it, but he couldn't hold up the shield forever.  Lucien feared he'd faint if wasn't honest about it soon, so he choked out, "I can't hold my shield up much longer.  We need another plan."

"How fucking hard is it to stand there with a shield?" One of the father's spat, and Lucien shrunk back in shame at his words.  It was clearly far more difficult than any of them knew because none had held theirs up as long as he had. He wished he had the strength to maintain it forever, but he wouldn't give them all false hope and faint like a fool to send them all to their deaths.  "Stand back and I'll take control."