I looked at Nero, who nodded at me. I ran over to the cell holding Charlotte. Nero blasted the Fire King with a psychic burst. I slammed my hand against the controls, lowering the barrier just long enough for Nero’s magic to knock him into the cell. Then I pounded the button again, and the gold barrier zipped back up over the cell.

The Fire King jumped to his feet. He blasted the barrier with magic once, then he fell unconscious to the floor. I’d shot him with one of Nerissa’s magic tranquilizers on his way into the cell.

“You four will join us in our mission on the Black Plains,” Nero told the four remaining supernatural leaders.

Harker looked at Nerissa, Bella, and Marina. “You three stay here to work on a cure.”

“There’s no guarantee we will find one,” Nerissa told him.

“Just try your best,” Nero said. “Slow the spread as much as you can with your potions.” He looked at the rest of us. “Now let’s go hunt down whoever is controlling the swarm.”

I stood on the airship’s upper deck, looking down on the Black Plains. As the name suggested, the lands were black, scorched as though hellfire had rolled across them, burning everything in its path. Even centuries later, there was nothing left. Nothing but the twisted plants and savage beasts that now reigned supreme in these wild lands.

Even the air smelled like ash. I coughed. No matter how many times I visited this place, it just didn’t grow on me.

“You have lovely hair,” the Snowfire vampire commented, watching as the wind blew my hair across my face. He reached for it.

I blocked his hand. “You touch my hair, and I’ll cut off your hand.”

“You don’t have it in you, a sweet thing like you.”

I drew my sword and launched myself off the floor, slashing out with my blade. A small flying monster, about the size of a turkey, dropped dead to the deck. I plucked it off the wood planks and tossed it at the Snowfire vampire with a smirk. He caught the dead bird, speechless.

I leaned over to wipe the blood off his cheek. I’d nicked him just a smidgen. On purpose, of course.

“You have to watch your back out here in the wild lands,” I warned him. “There are monsters everywhere.”

His eyes grew wide. I wiped his blood off on his shirt, then walked away.

“Showing off in front of vampires?” Harker commented as he joined me at the edge of the deck.

“They are easily impressed by flashy moves.”

“And you managed to scratch him without seriously maiming him.”

“Well, I do have skills, you know.”

“You’ve improved.” Harker looked thoughtful.

“Do I detect a hint of approval in your tone?”

“Perhaps just a hint.” His eyes hardened as they panned across my body. “You’ve changed,” he repeated. “But you still have a long way to go if you want to hold your own with the angels.”

I leaned on the railing, lifting a brow at him. “Are you challenging me to a duel?”

“Are you accepting?”

“All right. When this is over. But I have to warn you, I fight dirty.”

Harker laughed. “Indeed.”

Nero came up behind us. “We’re here. Time to go.”

The supernaturals covered the lands beneath us. There were hundreds of them. The airship circled around them, flying over a small forest a few miles away. The plan was for us to drop down there and stealthily sneak up on the army.

Basanti pushed the vampires, witch, and elemental toward the edge of the deck. “Come on, time to go.” She spoke loudly, command ringing in her voice. It was the sort of voice used to train Legion soldiers.

“We’re not descending,” the Sea King observed.

“Of course not,” she told him. “We can’t land. The monsters feed on magic. They will tear the ship apart. It needs to stay up here.”

“Then how will we get up to the ship again?” the Sea King asked, panic straining his voice.

Basanti showed off her watch. “I have a remote to summon the ship back to us when we’re done.”

The Vermillion vampire glanced at her watch, calculation gleaming in his eyes. “And any of us can activate it?”

“Any Legion soldier can.”

“And what about the rest of us? What if we need to activate it?” the Snowfire vampire demanded.

“Ah, planning on taking off without us?” Constantine Wildman said.

“Of course not. But what if we don’t all survive this? If we can’t get back to the airship, we’ll be stranded here.”

Basanti grinned at the vampire. “You really believe that you will survive when four soldiers of the Legion do not?”

The Snowfire vampire shut his mouth.

“Enough talk,” Nero said, his voice crisp. Like a whip. “Jump.”

Constantine Wildman looked over the edge of the airship. “We’re several hundred feet up in the air.”

“Then you’d better all hold onto your buddy.” Basanti grabbed the witch and swung him onto her back.

Harker took the Sea King. Nero carried the Vermillion vampire. And I got the Snowfire vampire who’d admired my hair. Lucky me.

“You can’t fly,” my passenger pointed out.

“No, but I excel at falling.”

Then I jumped. The two angels dove over the edge of the airship, their dark wings extended. Basanti and I didn’t have the luxury of feathers. We fell, using our elemental air magic to ride the wind currents down toward the ground. Basanti moved so gracefully, like a swan dancing on the wind. Or a surfer riding a wave.

I was…well, less graceful. With the help of my magic, I followed the air currents, but it was a bumpy ride. It was a vast improvement over the last time I’d fallen out of an airship, however.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” the Snowfire vampire asked me.

“Yes.”

I felt the air currents rippling against my skin, hard and ragged. The vampire gripped me tightly.

“We’re experiencing turbulence.” His voice shook.

“That’s nothing. The last time I fell out of an airship, it was so much worse. There aren’t even any monsters trying to eat us this time.”

He buried his head in my hair.

I threw an annoyed look over my shoulder. “Did you just smell my hair?”

“It’s so pretty,” he cooed. “It soothes my nerves.”

“If you bite me, Fangs, I’ll give you an express ticket all the way down to the ground.”

I concentrated on slowing my fall, on making it smoother. I passed into a calmer patch of air. The wind was gentle, soft, caressing. Like silk ribbons tickling my skin.

We hit the ground a bit harder than I’d expected, but at least I stayed on my feet. We were even the first ones down. Obviously. We hadn’t coasted so much as dropped.

The angels followed, landing smoothly. Nero set down like a black swan on a serene lake. Harker’s landing was nearly as smooth, but from the look of intense concentration on his face, I could tell he was still getting used to his wings. Basanti set down last. She moved almost like she had wings herself. Her magic was that easy, that smooth.

She grinned at me. “It’s not a race, Pandora. There are no points for being first.”

I returned the grin. “You’re only saying that because you lost.”

She laughed.

The Sea King slid off Harker’s back. He staggered to the side and threw up.

“Oh, look. The Sea King is seasick,” taunted the Vermillion vampire.

The Sea King straightened, wiping his mouth. “That’s airsick, you moron.”

“You are all pathetic,” Constantine Wildman declared. “What will you do when we’re surrounded by a horde of mindless, super-charged supernaturals?”

“We have the Legion here to protect us,” the Sea King said.

The Vermillion vampire looked me up and down. He was clearly unimpressed. “You’re putting your faith in the wrong hands. They ran scared from just two of these infected supernaturals. They are no match for a whole army of them.”

I gritted my teeth. “We had to save a witch’s life, to get her to safety.”