Chapter 248 - So Much For That

"What?" Eve looked at her hands with a lost expression. "What the—"

"Don't sleep!" I shouted, pulling her by the arm towards the exit.

Just in time—foxmen didn't dawdle, and neither did Cornellio. I saw him moving to intercept Staghead, but foxmen were fast, too—not as fast as a bullet, but fast enough to give Staghead the opening.

It was time for the plan B. Plan B started with me and Eve reaching the doors outside. Without any more words, we ran and didn't look back, me right behind Eve and her longer legs.

We were almost there when I heard a swish of a sword right above my ear. It all happened so fast that I didn't even have time to process it—one moment I was sure I was done with, the next the swish ended and I was out of the room and still alive and whole.

And the door, the door frame and as much of the walls as possible were embedded with iron. And it was working, because now Staghead stopped and was staring at us with even more hatred than before, if that was possible.

I suddenly remembered about something, and reached into my pocket. There, a bit warmer than it was, laid Ghost's amulet. And here I hope I won't need it after all… I grinned to myself, which brought a snarl out of Staghead.

That changed into a sickeningly smug smile next moment. "Well, well. You think you will keep me caged here, but you know already that you won't. And now I can just take what I needed!"

Behind him, Cornellio slit a throat to one of the foxmen with a dagger and sent another one flying into the wall with a kick. The fey's body crashed into it with a bang, and he didn't stand up again. Cornellio turned towards Staghead. There was a feral quality to him now, and red gleam of bloodthirst in his eyes. But it didn't show in his voice.

"I don't think so. It was very arrogant of you to call yourself Life Unstoppable when I believe you are, in fact, quite stoppable. I'm going to stop you."

"Weaklings!" Staghead spat at his henchmen. They were beyond answering, though. "Shouldn't have brought you there." He looked at Cornellio. "As they say, if you want to do something, do it yourself."

While they were talking, I took a moment to reach outward and search for JJ's aura. He should've been closer—he should've been around, just outside. Bob was stationed farther, but JJ…

The answer became apparent as soon as my awareness reached outside of the mansion. We were surrounded by fey! Not two, but a good couple of dozen of them! They were breaking the seal nodes Eve set for the dimensional lock, and though both JJ and Bob fought them, it was apparent that there were too many to stop them all before they do enough damage.

Well, that told me about the state of our reinforcements. Still… I looked at Cornellio. He did fine until now.

"This is all pointless without the dimensional lock," Eve whispered to me, while looking at Cornellio. "I can do it without seals, but not fast. You will have to bide time again."

There was no obvious sign that Cornellio heard Eve's words except for the briefest flicker of his eyes. Whether or not he heard her, I took Eve's advice and began to prepare a spell of my own. This time, I drew in on the iron in the mansion. When the time would be right, I will push it right into Staghead. But iron was a complex material and a physical thing, and I needed more time and effort to gather it all into a lump I could materialise in Staghead's chest.

He smirked into Staghead's face. "And here I thought you will have some sympathy, at least for your own kind, but you appear to despise everyone besides yourself, Life Stoppable. Are you truly so sure of your abilities? This dagger is iron, too." He raised it to his face and slowly licked the blood from it. "Fey blood… such unique bouquet of flavour."

Staghead's looked absolutely repulsed. "Don't you dare…" he breathed out. "Don't you dare to even think about defiling my kin this way!"

He flew at Cornellio so fast, I would've missed it if I blinked. Now this guy's speed could really compete with Cornellio's, and so did his physical strength. It was just as watching a fight between two vampires—I couldn't understand anything or aim at anyone. There was only the clang of metal on metal, swish of air and footsteps.

I couldn't say who was winning, but after a few seconds, Staghead threw out a blast of pure power that threw Cornellio in the air like a rag doll. He landed on the floor in a heap few steps away, and while it was nothing for a vampire, I saw the way the magic Staghead pushed out, eat on Cornellio's undeadness.

But at that moment, Staghead himself stopped, and I used it to try and finish my spell. I forced the iron arrow out of my well as fast as I could—but was a moment too late. Staghead moved again, this time towards the glass case with the seal.

Cornellio rose on his elbows. His face had a greenish tint to it, and his aura looked like an unbalanced mess. He tried to stand up, but couldn't.

This didn't come without losses on Staghead, too. He looked pale himself, and the vibrant power in him dimmed. Eve was right—the iron in the room had sucked a lot out of him when Staghead threw his power around. Still, there was enough for him to break the glass case and grab the seal.

"This isn't the last time we meet," he promised, and teleported away.

"Dammit! I was almost done!" Eve shouted, running towards the place where Staghead just stood. "Damn it." She turned towards me. "Diana, it looks like it's the time for plan C."