"Move! All of you, inside!"
Cain's voice cracked like thunder across the torn landscape as the last of the white cloud ogres collapsed into heaps of steaming flesh. The tear in the air flickered violently before them, the glowing Crack pulsing like a wounded heart barely holding itself open.
One by one, then in desperate clusters, the vampires of the Moonshade family rushed through it.
Ancestors in flickering projections slipped across first, their forms warping as they passed into the dimensional opening. Nobles followed, dragging injured guards. Half nobles clutched trembling blood servants. Blood slaves stumbled, pushed forward by those behind them, eyes wide with fear.
"Faster!" Elder Zenaya shouted from atop the massive owl as it glided through the Crack with heavy egg sacks secured beneath its body. "Do not look back!"
Cornelia gripped Ivira's wrist tightly as they crossed the threshold. Faith followed close behind, glancing over her shoulder one last time.
