To those that are filled with venom,

A healing charm I apply,

I call you forth with music, hear my healing rhyme.

Each serpent I now call, return to what you were,

Releasing that which would harm,

Banishing that which is fear,

Dissolve that which is poison,

Let all that is venomous disappear.

Xayvion’s simply using delaying tactics, Ivory warned. He’s worked his way around until he’s in the position needed to form a triangle with his brother and the fire.

The three of us can drive him out of there, slow down his petty little spells, Skyler said. He’s playing with you, Tatijana. He doesn’t care about the battle or actually doing anything but adding souls to the fire for Xaviero to open the gates.

If we throw him off his game, Ivory added, it will slow Xaviero down and give Branislava more of a chance to unravel the source of power.

All three felt much safer with Dimitri, Fen and Zev close to fight off the lightning-fast Sange rau, but the packs taking their places had all trained in the event they ever came across such a creature in their lifetimes. Like the Carpathians, they used hyssop oil to cover themselves and coated their silver arrows and knives with it as well.

Tatijana tried to block out the fierce battle and the sometimes hot breath of a hellhound that managed to get too close.

“Let’s try it,” she murmured, and held out her hands to Skyler and Ivory.

They bent their heads as Ivory said a small prayer before they merged into one unit of power. Tatijana lifted her head and looked directly at Xayvion.

I call to the power of earth,

Mother who created us,

I call to the power of air,

Lend me your force.

I call to the power of water,

Protect me from that which can burn,

I call to the power of fire,

Bring forth through me, your explosive blast.

Xayvion hadn’t been expecting them to attack him directly. The force hit him mid-center, folding him in half like a paper doll, lifting him up and flinging him across the field straight into the inferno Xaviero had fed the Lycans to. He screamed, spinning like a top, trying to gather enough wits to counter their spell. Even as he emerged, his robes singed and his white hair burned, Tatijana was ready for him.

Twist and turn, spin and churn,

Into this fog you must now turn,

Let what is within not be seen,

So that you wander sightless deep within.

Whatever was in the fog, the thickness of the black enveloping smoke, was no better for the mage than for the Carpathians or Lycans. They had released foul things into the dense barrier to aid them when the time came to sacrifice the souls Xaviero had ripped from the dead. He gathered them, keeping them in the smoke, pressed against the fog.

Xayvion felt angry spirits reaching for him, locking clawed, greedy fingers into his spirit in an attempt to drag him into the realm where they waited helplessly for Xaviero to send them into the realm of dark hopelessness.

Instantly he fought back, shocked at the strength of the women. Tatijana was no more than fodder—food to keep the three brothers alive. There was nothing there, no brain, no gifts, no skills. A stupid child to devour when hungry. How could she counter his moves and then become aggressive? He recognized Ivory. He had helped Xavier kidnap her for Draven’s dark desire, that stupid boy, first in line to be prince before Mikhail, who had no idea of the power he could have wielded had he not had such an obsession with one woman. Xaviero had been the one aiding the vampire, chopping her maliciously into pieces and scattering her body across the meadow for the wolves to devour her. He had deliberately not killed her, knowing she would suffer horribly. If the wolves didn’t eat her the sun would take her, and yet, there she was, adding her power to Tatijana’s. The third woman was a stranger to him, but he could feel her touch, and he recognized it with a shock.

Xaviero, her child lives. You know who I mean. We killed her, didn’t we? Xavier said she was dead, yet her child lives. This one is hers and Razvan’s child as well. There was panic in him. He pushed it down to fight his way out of the smoke.

Kill them. Kill them all now! Xaviero ordered, fear shimmering in his voice in spite of himself.

Join your strength with mine, Xayvion insisted.

He waited until Xaviero turned from his appointed task and sent power flowing to him in a steady stream. Lifting his arms, he retaliated against the three women, but for the first time, he was afraid.

Giant worm underground,

I call you forth from your mound,

Encompass all, leave none behind,

So from your core our magic may be entwined.

The ground beneath Tatijana, Ivory and Skyler shifted ominously and then burst apart, as if it had been ripped in two and a giant sinkhole had formed. From the hole a giant worm burst into the open, serrated teeth catching all three women, driving them thirty feet into the air and then disappearing just as fast down the hole.

This worm is one of their pets, Ivory warned. Don’t fight. There are venom sacs everywhere, the poison preventing all of us from shifting. I mix this venom with a few other chemicals and coat my weapons with it to prevent vampires from shifting. Try to relax. Razvan will come, she added with complete confidence. We’ve fought them before.

Branislava felt the instant Xaviero’s power shifted and she struck at the first of the trees where he had attached his weave of black magic. He had used multiple layers, all foul and powerful, a testament to the fact that he’d worked on the inverted pentagram and barrier for years to create such a strong force. No, that was wrong. She felt the touch of each of the brothers. She recognized them separately now. As long as she could block out everything happening around her, she could concentrate on what the three brothers had done. And she was growing in confidence.

She had successfully, without drawing Xaviero’s attention, taken off several of the layers. One by one. Peeling them back carefully. She felt as if he’d created a giant spider’s web and she had to delicately remove the silken threads without warning the spider sitting there waiting for a feast.

Without his sustained power feeding the grid he’d created, she could work a little faster, although just as carefully. She was confident she could find a way to stop him.

I call to alder,

Battle witch,

Isa’s calming treacherous ice,

Focus my will,

Hear my call,

Fox of the wood, it is our day to battle,

Move silently following this unknown path.

I call to that which is unseen,

Guide me through this web of darkness,

Crystalline essence light my way,

So that I may unbind that which has been bound.