Change is sweeping through the world, as humanity fights for autonomy, discord tears apart the foundations of the vampire order, and dhampirs return to the world after centuries of war between two powerful peoples. Dhampirs, creatures known to heral...
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The air shifted and Neil inhaled to figure out just what it was as he turned to where Dev had just been. The councilman was gone, but Neil didn't bother searching for him when he saw that the tear in the void had closed. That meant a lot of things, and they all happened at once. The most important of which was Ghost. The sun was rising after the fight, and he'd pass out like a rock, not to mention that he'd been operating on power from the void. With it severed, the man was in immediate danger, but by the time Neil spun around to where Ghost had been, he found someone quite different standing in his place.
Ghost was passed out, leaning against the red tattoo of a sun on Talamayas chest, and Phoenix sat in Tala's other arm as Shan and Wren held position around them. They'd left the children with the Sols because no one could infiltrate with the anti-magic pillars barring travel, but with the void closed, they needed Phoenix to clean up what was left of the specters. It wrenched his heart to think of Phoenix anywhere near them, but his son didn't appear afraid or worried at all. The kid gave him an excited wave, and a smile spread on Phoenix's face that showed the tips of his completely useless fangs.
Silvia fell at Neil's side, pure rage plastered to her face as Vincent deposited her from an arm, and Neil accepted her with a kiss to her forehead. No one wanted to be hoisted by his undead father, but with the way Silvia slumped against him, it had been necessary. Silvia was a few minutes short of collapsing into unconsciousness. They'd triumphed, though neither he nor Silvia were thrilled about the outcome. The void would have torn Tara apart by now, and Silvia stuffed her face into Neil's neck to conceal her grief.
"Defense, Falz!" Vincent called and the dead Aurion mage dropped his hand to the ground to call on a spell. It spread out under their feet, crawling spider webs of light magic into the ground before they climbed in the air and formed a barrier around them all. Some of the specters had already tried to flee and hit the wall with despairing wails.
"Round them up, Vampire. I'm tired," Falz called back, using his free hand to form a shield spell as an apparition tried to take him down to dispel his magic.
"Yeah, Yeah," Vincent growled in disgust. They certainly hated each other but were working together for the fate of the world. That was all that mattered.
Vincent grabbed them two by two, wrapping them in threads and dragging them close enough that Talamayas could drop with Phoenix to send them back to their proper place. Wren held Ghost, which gave Talamayas freedom to zip around and return them where they fell until there were none left. The most powerful had been downed by Ghost, thankfully, so as Illiam had said, this was clean up duty. Neil wanted to fall on his behind and rest, but instead he had to face Jesse Zehir as he stormed to join them.
"Where is Tara?" Jesse asked, though that wasn't the question he was asking. They had all seen her take Dev down into the void. Neil didn't answer because there were no words he could give the man to make this right. "Why?" Jesse snarled, his fangs elongated in rage and his body trembling with despair as much as anger. Jesse knew very little about everything that had happened, and considering Tara hadn't told Jesse what she'd planned, he likely didn't even know that Tara had been a medium.
