Silver Blood (Series of Blood Book 1) by Emma Hamm (bill gates book recommendations .TXT) 📕

tunnel. There was light there. Surely that was freedom.

He was not so lucky.

The darkened shadow of Malachi stood in the mouth of the tunnel staring down at him. He was frowning, and the Warlord was not impressed. This man did not frighten him. But it did frighten Wren. For that, he should die.

“Wren. You should be back in your room.”

The Warlord bared Wren’s teeth in a bloody grin. “Wren’s not home right now. Why don’t you leave a message?”

“Legion,” Malachi tsked. “You are only hurting her. Let me take her back.”

“Let her go.”

He stumbled. Wren’s leg didn’t seem to work anymore. It buckled beneath him, and he dropped to the floor onto one knee. The Warlord blinked in confusion. The poison running through the blade wasn’t enough to stop him.

Not him.

Malachi looked at him with false pity in his eyes. “Come now. The fighting is over.”

“You were worried about something,” the Warlord growled through Wren’s mouth. “What. What were you worried about.”

“Your boyfriend showed up.” Malachi chuckled when Wren glared at him all the more. “Or perhaps not your boyfriend. But the girl whose body you just destroyed.”

Malachi knelt in front of him and reached forward to hold Wren’s chin. He forced the creature inside her to stare at him. Thousands of angry souls stared back.

“I’m going to take care of the one she loves. I’m going to pull him apart layer by layer and then I’m going to kill him. You stay right here.”

When his hand was removed, the Warlord couldn’t keep Wren’s body upright. She listed to the side and fell onto the ground at Malachi’s feet.

He tsked. “Really, Legion. I expected more.”

Just as he walked away, the Warlord made one last ditch effort. He had failed her. He had failed all of them if he did not do this last attempt at saving his girl. The one he loved. All of the creatures that had given him a second chance and immortality.

What use was immortality if one didn’t do good?

Wren’s hand stretched out and clasped onto Malachi’s ankle. He paused to look down at her and the creature inside her.

“What are you doing? Do you really think you can fight me now? You’re a puddle on the ground.”

“Go to hell.”

The Warlord screamed one last defiant cry that echoed through the souls that made up E. He launched himself through the connection that her hand had made and poured his soul into Malachi’s Void.

Understanding what he was doing, other souls quickly followed.

Three, seven, then more pulsed through the connection. Each of them died. Shattering against the unbreakable darkness inside Malachi. The shuddering mass inside of Wren mourned every death but poured more and more into Malachi.

He started to shake. The souls overwhelmed him. The power was too great for him to contain. The human body he possessed was not capable of containing that much.

He dropped to a knee and then fell forward onto his face. Seizures began to contort his body as he convulsed on the ground next to Wren. E had completed its job. It had sacrificed much to save the girl.

Another soul surfaced. An old soul. A kind soul.

“Time to let a woman shoulder the pain.”

She had been a healer in her days. She had birthed many children herself. She had experienced pain untold. But the pain that overwhelmed Wren’s body made even her flinch.

Stumbling, she got her feet and walked to the door at the end of the tunnel. There was no time for thank yous. No time to mourn that which Legion had lost.

She pushed the door open and launched herself and Wren’s body out into the waiting storm.

CHAPTER 12

T  he sound of flesh striking flesh marked the end of the fight as Jasper’s meaty fist struck the man’s face. As though they were watching a slow motion fight scene, the man spun slowly and sunk to his knees on the ground.

They were all breathing hard. They had lost count of how many of Malachi’s men they had plowed through, but he suspected the number was higher than twenty at this point. Each soldier had fallen quickly and, hopefully, silently.

“Lyra?” he called.

“Yeah yeah.” She walked back into the room they were in and wiped her blades off on a scrap of fabric she always kept with her. The white color was now stained dark red. “Look, this isn’t getting us anywhere.”

“What do you mean?” He arched a brow and extended his arms. “We’re a lot further than we were.”

“Sure, but one room at a time isn’t going to save her. You know they’re keeping their best guarding her. Where ever she is.”

“So you think these are the expendables?”

“Absolutely,” Jasper interjected. He kicked one of the men that had started groaning. “These aren’t fighters. They’re just distractions.”

Burke’s heart stopped in his chest. “You think they’re moving her?”

All three of them paused to stare at each other. Reality was that they didn’t know what Malachi’s plans were with Wren. She could be gone already, and they wouldn’t know.

Lyra clacked her teeth hard. “I’ll run the bug again.”

“You can do that here?”

“Yup.”

The sound of boots striking stone floors echoed from the hallway deeper into Malachi’s makeshift establishment.

“Really?” Jasper groaned. “Do these guys ever stop?”

“Apparently not.” Lyra grinned brightly and pulled an orb out of her pocket. She kissed the glass that held a swirling red vortex within it. “I’ll buy us some time.”

She opened the door and jutted a hip out to the side. “Hello, boys!” She shouted down the hall as she tossed the glass ball into the hallway. Immediately, she slammed the door and held it shut as an inferno of magical fire exploded. Puffs of flames extended past the outside of the door but barely touched the Siren.

“Boy, don’t let the girl do all the work. Hold the damned door, would ya?”

Jasper casually walked over to take her place. He could probably hold the door against three men on the other side. Once the others got to their feet, they would have