Meredith had always known about magic. Her family was magic, one of the most powerful mage lines out there. Having lost her parents to all the fighting though, she stayed far away from it, focusing on school and lading a primarily normal life.
Unti...
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"Is that a joke? No one here can fight." Mer paused as Caelan frowned. "Maybe you, but what good will that do against a leader of a house as powerful as the Arcs? Damien's got one arm and is barely conscious, Lia has been disarmed in another manner, Neil's pretty much useless if he can't even handle you, and I'm just naturally useless."
"I can fight," Damien said as Neil crawled over to him. "And Neil can support me, but you're right, he's not a match for his father."
"I can fight as well." Lia insisted, crawling to the end of the bed opposite of them. Holding her hands out, the two remaining mages came to her and held her hands. A pulse of light magic formed Lia's lunar staff in her hands. "If I have to fight alongside vampires to keep my daughter alive, then I can pull together."
"You'll be useless in your state," Damien argued, though he said it lightly, caringly, like a brother would.
"You have one arm," Lia spat back at him, and he gave her a once over before shrugging.
"You are right. I know of a use for you." Damien didn't elaborate as they headed to the door to look out and see what was ahead of them. "I know it's not ideal, Meredith, but we don't have a choice here. If Vincent wants to destroy this place, then I will give it my everything to protect you and Natalie. I'd also rather you not come, but it's more dangerous to leave you alone."
"I can fight too," Meredith admitted, and her father smiled down at her, running his hand over her hair.
"Strangely, as I've seen. Please don't blow anything else up." Damien's sentiments followed Rush's pretty closely.
Story of her life.
After running several more corridors of vampires down with Caelan's help, they ended up in one of the training rooms. It was huge, had nothing for walls, and was empty. It was best if they wanted to fight a man of Vincent's power. No tricks here, no hiding, just four walls lined with heavy shield magic. Once inside, Vincent couldn't get out except through the door. That would leave him vulnerable, so he would have to kill them first.
It was a horrible situation, but they had to force him to fight. They also had to get him and whoever was with him into the room. Herding vicious, blood-sucking monsters into cages was not exactly her forte. Plus, locked in here, Mer would be the vulnerable one.
In the room together, Damien let out a small sigh as he walked up to Lia, and she took a step back from him.
"What do you want?" Lia demanded, and he shook his head.
"Your forgiveness for what I have to do to save your niece."
What he had to do?
Damien didn't leave a lot of room for them to ponder as he moved like lightning, sliding behind her and latching onto her neck. It startled Mer, and she had to press Caelan's chest gently and beam thoughts of 'don't' into his mind. Even though she did, it was hard to watch her father draining her aunt. In her weakened state, Lia couldn't even struggle effectively against him.
