SERAPHINA and NIGHTSHADE's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The wingless angel stood between Seraphina and the frozen gate. Its bare feet dragged through the ash. Seraphina backed away across the clearing, her boots slipping on cracked earth. She reached for the gems in her hair and found only two left. Not enough light to burn a soul-hunter. The angel smiled and came on, hollow black eyes fixed on her chest. Seraphina ran. The angel followed, fast even without wings. It cut sideways and blocked her path back toward the dead portal. She stumbled and fell. Dirt filled her mouth. The creature's clawed hand reached down for her throat. Hooves thundered through the trees. A white horse broke into the clearing, its mane streaked with glowing runes. A rider sat low on its back, a sword raised and shining. The angel spun to face them. The horse did not slow. "Down, witch!" the rider shouted. Seraphina pressed flat to the ground. The sword swept over her and struck the angel's shoulder. The creature shrieked and staggered back, one arm hanging loose. The rider was a small woman in a white hood, her hair pale as the horse beneath her. Seraphina had heard the coven speak of her. The white witch who rode the woods and came when sisters were dying. Elara Whitewood. She had come too late for three of them. She had not come too late for Seraphina. Elara wheeled the horse around. "The light in your hair," she called. "Give it to me. Now." Seraphina tore both gems free and threw them. Elara caught them against her blade. The gems burst. White fire ran down the steel and lit the whole clearing. The angel flinched from the glare and shielded its face with its ruined arm. "Hold still," Elara said, and she was not talking to Seraphina. The horse charged. Elara drove the burning sword through the angel's chest. The creature screamed, a sound that cracked the trees. Black feathers caught fire and curled to nothing. Its body folded inward, thinned, and scattered as grey dust across the ash. The clearing went quiet. Seraphina pushed herself up. Her hands shook. Her hair held no more light. "You killed it," she said. "This one." Elara slid down from the horse and wiped her blade clean. "Not the thing that made it." She nodded at the frozen gate behind them. Frost had spread across the whole surface now, but underneath the glass still glowed faint and sick. "Your seal is cracking. It won't hold through another night." Seraphina stared at the dimming window. She had weakened the gate, not shut it. More things waited on the other side, and her light was spent. "Then we close it for good," Elara said. She held out a gloved hand. "I know the way in. You won't like it." Seraphina took her hand and stood.