Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker Page B

picked was dead, like most of them, but it towered nearly fifty feet into the sky. Like a squirrel, she scrambled upward until she was a good twenty-five feet off the ground, and then she turned and stared down at Kalen as the circle of dark-robed creatures closed around him.
    The Raviners weren’t true demons—or rather, they weren’t natural ones. They’d become demons by choice. They were something that had once been human, or close to it. Living in the world of Anqar, they had worshipped a dark lord, practicing blood magick, taking his dark power inside themselves until they were no longer mortal. They needed no food to live, needed little rest, and they thrived on energy.
    Cruel, cunning, full of madness and power, they loved a psychic or magickal feast, a man or woman with budding powers that they could feed off of during torture.
    Wincing at the information bombarding her brain, Lee muttered, “This is a little too much info to process right now. Can we slow it down a bit?”
    The knowledge that had been whispering through her mind fell silent as she watched Kalen stumble when a Raviner lashed out with a hooked staff, slicing at his chest. The black tunic covering his chest resisted the blade but his bare arms didn’t and blood flowed. Lee glanced down at the black jacket that covered her arms and flushed. His armor. This was armor. Would have protected that long, powerful body . . .
    Rage boiled inside her as she saw the blood welling on his flesh. She descended the tree so rapidly, she barely even remembered the trek down, and the last ten feet she jumped. She landed without even feeling the impact and stood there, staring at the black-robed creatures as images swirled in her mind.
    Broken, destroyed bodies, as empty as husks, their eyes staring upward in sightless terror . . . all at the hands of something that wasn’t even a demon.
    Rage had a feel, a mind, a color all its own, and it brewed hot and powerful in her belly as she stared at them. They never even noticed her as she started to move closer.
    Use the power. Harness it . . .
    Her body suddenly felt like that of a marionette, and she could watch as her hand lifted, seemingly of its own volition, pointing palm out toward the throng of Raviners. There was a river of power flowing under the earth, calling to her. In turn, she reached for it and it flowed into her. The crackle of power jolted up from her belly, zinging out her arm like a crack of lightning, and she cried out as the blue light exploded from her hand.
    The scorching smell of flesh flooded her nose and she watched as a swath of Raviners fell. The saner part of her mind started to babble in terror as the blue light wrapped around the humanoids and fire exploded, burning them away until they exploded like a pile of ash and soot, like a TV vampire.
    This is sooooo not happening, she thought helplessly, even as she jerked to the left and flung out her hand again. Again, and again, and each time, more of the Raviners fell.
    Kalen broke free of their circle and fought his way to her side as the throng of creatures tried to regroup. But from their earlier number of several dozen, less than ten now stood. Blood roared in her ears. Her heart pounded frantically as fear gnawed a hole in her gut. But the Raviners all fell back, scrambling away from them. They watched Lee and Kalen from the depths of their hoods, hate radiating from them.
    Lee’s hand fell to her side as they all rushed to the tear in the earth where they had ripped through only minutes before. As the last one disappeared from sight, her knees buckled and she started to collapse slowly, only to have Kalen’s arm come around her, supporting her weight against his body.
    “This isn’t happening,” she muttered, shaking her head. “Not happening.”
    Lifting her face, she looked up at him, seeing his lips move but hearing nothing as the roaring in her ears increased and a sudden blinding pain exploded just behind her right