A Drop Of Haunted Blood

Chapter Thirty: The Second Uprising

Shit.

The ground raced toward Felix. Only one way to make it through this uninjured. He sucked in a deep breath and let his body melt into water.

The landing was disorienting. Felix hit the floor and was dimly aware of confused shouting around him. His panic brought him back together. He reassembled himself and shifted back into a person.

"Felix?" Kendra burst forward, shoving Guardians aside as she ran toward him. "What are you doing here? What—"

Arisa was flung through the air next. Felix looked up and frantically racked his brain, trying to figure out which ability he could use to save her—

Threads of pure black reached out from shadows around the room to form a net beneath Arisa. She was lowered safely to the ground, and Hana emerged from the crowd to grab her.

Kendra glanced back. "I have to get back to Hana. I was relaying everything that happened to her—"

Mason crashed into a table of food nearby, snapping it in half.

"Mason!" Felix rushed to the table.

Mason staggered to his feet. "I'm fine," he muttered, brushing crumbs of food off his sweatshirt. "Focus on Ernest!"

Ernest, still on the walkway above, raised the Ironwood Wand. "You've had eight years to prepare for this, and what have you done? Keep to the same old regime and hope we wouldn't try again?"

"It doesn't matter how powerful that wand is," Sadia said. "You're outnumbered."

"I'm not as outnumbered as you think," Ernest replied. "We're almost evenly split into Guardians and Last Army members." He paused. "Or, we would be, if it weren't for the demons on my side."

Something dropped from the shadows beneath the high ceiling. The figure that had been perched on one of the overhead beams hit the railing and used it to launch themselves at Abernathy. Light glinted off a blade as it swung through the air.

And hit a barrier.

Archer bounced off the invisible barrier. He flipped backwards and managed a surprisingly graceful landing on the railing.

Demons appeared at either side of the walkway. Ernest lifted a hand to stop them. "Not yet."

A few hissed and snarled, but they stayed put.

"You think I wouldn't cast a shield, Archer?" Ernest asked.

Archer's eyes narrowed. "You figured out how to use a witch's wand rather quickly."

"I taught myself some basics. Enough to handle a bunch of magicians."

"Not satisfied with your own ability?"

"It serves me well enough." Ernest pointed the wand at Archer. "But why settle?"

Archer jumped. The railing shattered beneath him. He landed on top of the barrier shielding Abernathy, raised his sword, and brought the tip down to a point in the air above Ernest. The invisible barrier shattered, allowing Archer to drop to the ground behind Ernest.

"Whatever magical energy that wand uses, I can sense its weak points." Archer lifted his sword in front of Ernest's neck. The blade barely grazed his skin. One of the demons shot hellfire at Archer, forcing him to jump out of the way. More demons inched forward, eager to fight.

Archer lifted his sword to try again. Ernest pointed the wand his way, flinging him backwards through the air. As Archer neared the wall, he grabbed a beam, swung himself around it, and dropped onto the top of a display cabinet.