The Black Tide (Outcast 3)

“Yes.” She handed me a halo light. “Have your ghosts fan out along the wall. They do not need to kill—they just need to keep throwing the vampires back through the first barrier. Every time the vamps go through it, it will weaken them.”

“And you and I?”

“Will be their main target.” Her voice was grim. “I cannot fight. I dare not even move, as it’s going to take all my strength and concentration to maintain the earth fire barriers. It will be up to you to keep them away from me.”

r /> I frowned. “Then why don’t you stand on the other side of the second shield?”

“Because I cannot. I must be between the two to maintain them.”

“That’s rather inconvenient.”

A smile ghosted her lips but failed to lift the seriousness from her eyes. “Yes. And while the halo light will stop them, it will not stop their ash from falling.”

“And if enough of that falls, it could smother the halo’s light.”

“Yes.”

I took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Okay then.”

Her smile grew, but it remained a pale imitation of its usual self. “Good luck.”

“We’re going to need it.”

“Indeed.” She paused. “They are here.”

And with those two words hovering in the air, they hit us.

It was hell itself, broken loose.

Wave after wave poured through the first shield, a seething mass of claws and fury that hit me so fast and so forcefully that, halo light or not, it pushed me back several feet. I swore, braced against the impact of them, and started swinging the long knives. There was no finesse in my blows. There didn’t need to be—the wooden blades sliced through the skin of the vampires with the ease of metal, spraying blood and fire through the air. The vampires screamed and went down, their bodies writhing and burning. But both their screams and their bodies were quickly crushed as the vampires behind simply ran over the top of them.

I kept swinging, the blades a blur. Every impact shuddered up my arms, and the black dust of vampire remains rained around me, covering my clothes and staining my skin. Every breath became thick with ash, until it felt like I was going to choke.

They did not stop coming.

No matter how fast I was, no matter how many I sliced and diced, no matter many hit the halo light and became ash, there was simply an endless wall of them.

And the noise—their screeches of fury and pain—sliced through the air, the din so loud it had to be echoing right across the city. Nuri’s firewalls rippled and swirled every time a vampire hit them, and the smell of sweat and desperation began to taint the air. Not from the vampires.

From her.

She might be powering the shield through earth magic, but she was the connection between the two. And it was taking a toll.

There was nothing I could do for her. Nothing except keep her as free from the vampires as I could.

But it was getting harder.

At least the lines of ghosts to my left and right were standing firm. They tossed the vampires back over the wall time and time again, often in waves as thick as the wall itself.

But, as with Nuri, it was beginning to take a toll. While all ghosts could interact with our world, every time they did, it drained them—perhaps even to the point of oblivion.

What the hell were they doing down in Central? Why weren’t the lights on yet?

They’re working on it, Jonas said, mental tones distant.

Tell them to work faster. These bastards aren’t going to stop.

I know. Just hold on.