Free Burn (Drift Book 3) by Michael Dean

impossible.”
    “That still doesn’t help me , Elysia.” I looked back up at her, discouraged.
    “Opportunities will always present themselves , my dear Leo, you’ll just have to know what to do when they do.” She placed one arm on my shoulder and raised the other with the sharp letter opener in it, handing it to me.
    “What am I supposed to do with this?”
    “If an opportunity presents itself, Leo…” she encouraged me.
    I looked down at the tool in confusion as she took her hand off my shoulder, put her hood back on over her head, then linked her hands together under the arms of her robe and stared at me with a calming smile.
    “What if I fail?”
    “Then you fail. Nothing is ever set in stone, Leo. Just stay vigilant and take the chances when they are presented. That’s all the help we can offer you other than informing you of what you are truly up against. This is your task, and yours alone. Be strong. You have talents that you’ve yet to let blossom…use them.”
    She bowed, then turned her back to m e and started to walk away. I slowly turned the letter opener around in my hand and then looked back to her.
    “Elysia .” She turned to acknowledge me. “Just think, up until now, I thought you were the quiet one.” I smiled. Elysia simply grinned back at me and nodded before walking a few more steps and disappearing.
    I stood there for awhile and glared at the tool that stabbed Geoffrey Lonecrow’s heart. Angels always speak in riddles and this was the case again. What opportunities could she be talking about that would present themselves to me? I mean, I guess I’d have to wait and see, but I didn’t have a clue as to what she was referring too. Not only that, what did she mean that I have talents that I’ve yet to use? In every scuffle that I’ve had up to this point, I’ve used everything in my arsenal that I’m aware of.
    Well, there wasn’t much time left to figure it out anymore. It was time to head back to Romania. Everything that Shimmer has put me through would now be thrown back at him in the most furious way I could muster. I may not be successful in defeating him, but for the sake of Shade and myself, I would throw everything I had within me at him. I was still very pissed, and I was still all demon. That was the best weapon I had against him right now and he was going to feel every bit of my rage. Tucking the lengthy letter opener into my pocket, I thrust my wings out and rocketed towards earth and inevitability.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 8
     
     
    CAVITY
     
    Just out of curiosity, I carefully flew over Transylvania and Dracula’s castle. The streets were empty and everything was eerily quiet. It was if the humans in the small city knew that something big was going on. Just before I got to Devil’s Tooth I could hear the roar of a crowd bellowing out from within the mountaintop. I landed and stood upon a nearby peak and looked down into the cavity of the mountain where the coliseum sat. Off in the distance I could see a nearby storm approaching in the cloudy sky. It made the scene all the more ominous.
    This was the first time I had laid eyes on the Cavity Coliseum…and it was massive. It looked nearly identical to the infamous Roman Coliseum, but it was much deeper and wider. The arena hosted a group of vampires battling for sport. It was apparent they weren’t trying to kill each other, it was more of a show of strength in order to entertain and warm up the already raucous crowd for what was to be Shimmer’s main event with me, I assumed.
    Thousands upon thousands of blood suckers sat in stands th at were actually seats carved out of the mountain itself. At one end of the arena, what would be an end zone location on a football field, sat Shimmer in between his two brides above the festivities. As always, standing just behind Shimmer’s mountain-made throne, was Murgit. They were seated directly in the center of the most powerful vampires in all of