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.Myarms fell and the gun almost slipped from my numb fingers.Nothing had hit me.From myback came a tugging sensation, as if something within me had been snagged or caught.Myvision blurred and fatigue weighed on my shoulders.Ryan had succeeded in tapping into my energy.I doubted that most humans would haveeven detected it, maybe only paused and yawned at the sudden wave of fatigue and thengone on with their day.However, my existence was pure soul energy, I could no longergenerate my own, which was why I had to feed on the blood of others.If Ryan didn trelease me soon, I would need to either feed or sleep.Not an option at the moment.Asmuch as I wanted to drain the moaning naturi dry, their blood was poisonous to allnightwalkers.A scrape of stone and a new voice jerked my attention back from my own fatigue.Asecond naturi knelt next to the one I had shot only seconds ago.With her right hand, shewas helping him to sit up, while still holding a sword in her left.I pushed to my feet at the same time she rose to hers.Gritting my teeth, I prepared toattack when I saw Danaus and Penelope appear out of the shadows to my right.They hadfinally come to join in the fun.I realized then that the naturi were attacking from the east.They had circled around to surprise us.But that also meant they had either slipped byHugo undetected or silently killed the nightwalker before reaching the palace.Unfortunately, we couldn t go looking for him until the naturi were taken care of.Turning back to Ryan, I found the warlock standing where I d left him.His hands werestretched above his head, reaching toward the heavens he sought to control.His lips weremoving quickly but I couldn t hear anything he was saying.The wind had picked up,dropping the temperature in the area several degrees.Overhead, dark thick clouds churnedin the formerly clear sky, blotting out the stars.A massive storm was forming.The weight on my shoulders suddenly lifted and the fatigue slipped away like a wavepulling back out to sea.Ryan had released my energy and started to use the earth energythat was rising up from beneath our feet.The warlock grunted, drawing my gaze back tohim.Lines of strain deepened in his face.Above him, his long fingers trembled.I wantedto ask him if he was okay but knew better than to distract him.Regardless of what hisanswer would have been, there was no turning back now.A whisper of cloth, a prickling of the hairs on the back of my neck they were my onlywarning.Turning on my left heel, I spun around, raising the gun in both hands at the sametime.I unloaded four shots in the naturi before he finally fell to the ground dead.Clenching my teeth, I hurried over and picked up the short sword he d dropped.Standing over the dead naturi, I took an extra moment to cut off its head.No reason totake silly chances.I wasn t a very good shot with a gun.Strangely, this naturi had beenfrom the earth clan.From my experience, they weren t melee fighters.That was left toCreate PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)members of the animal clan.The earth clan preferred to use magic, letting the earth andplants do the fighting for them.The naturi weren t using magic.Was it for fear of tapping into the earth magic thatpermeated the area? A smile lifted my lips as I turned back around to where Danaus andPenelope were battling four naturi.My guess could prove to be right.Large drops of ice cold rain started to fall from the sky, landing on my head like smallpebbles and instantly soaking into my T-shirt.A flash of lightning forked through the sky,darting from one black mass to the next before being followed by a loud bang of thunder.The storm was still building.The wind gusted, blowing my hair in front of my face, momentarily blinding me.I pushedit back in time to see another earth naturi running toward Ryan and me, sword raised.Returning the gun to the holster at my back, I beat the creature back with the short swordin my right hand.I didn t think the worsening weather would help my aim, and I needed tosave the last few bullets I had for an emergency.It was a struggle to fight back the naturi as the storm continued to build.The wind roaredwhile the rain fell in relentless sheets, blinding us.Lightning lashed at the sky, lighting upthe area like a strobe light in a smoky nightclub.After finally dispatching my opponent byplunging my sword through his heart, I turned back to Ryan, pressing my left hand to myleft thigh in an effort to stem the bleeding.The naturi had gotten in a lucky strike before Ikilled him.The pain was only a dull throbbing in the back of my mind.The rain was coming down so hard I could no longer see Danaus and Penelope.Allsounds of the battle had been drowned out by the rain and thunder.I couldn t see Ryaneither.He had been only a few feet behind me.I took a few frantic steps forward, suckingin a lungful of air to shout his name when I nearly tripped over his foot.The warlock wasseated on the ground, his arms resting on his bent knees before him.Kneeling before him, I grabbed his slumped shoulder.Ryan jumped, his head snapping up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]