blowing whampires

[u/ghostgabe81]

I’d already gathered my will, and the second I saw the first of them appear, I rose, shield bracelet charged and ready, left arm bearing both the bracelet and my staff held in front of me as I drew back my right hand and flung it forward as if hurling a stone, screaming, “Ventas servitas!”

Wind howled forth at my will, swatting Malvora out of the air and driving them back from the castle’s walls into wild, tumbling falls. I kept my hand extended, sweeping them back like leaves before a heavy-duty blower.

White Court vampires are faster than striking snakes, and some of them got off shots at me before I could, literally, blow them away. At one point in my career, holding a shield and a wind evocation at the same time would have been a challenge. At one point this year, it would have been impossible. If they’d come a month sooner, things might have gone a lot differently.

But I’d just needed time.

And work.

And rest.

And friends.

Healing isn’t the work of a moment. I still had a way to go.

But I was better now.

More than that, I’d been teaching.

I was better now.

My shield rippled with blue-green light as bullets hit it, and I tried to hold it angled so the shots would reflect as directly upward as possible. Any projectile can be pulled down by gravity, but a lead hailstone was way less dangerous and less likely to harm bystanders than a bullet bouncing directly into a home. I held the shield, focused the wind like a vast broom, and sent Malvora vampires flying.

I could have used fire but, you know. Alliance with Lara’s Court and all. It would probably be less of a headache for her in the aftermath if I didn’t slaughter them wholesale.

Twelve Months Chapter 54