“So you can outrun these bastards?”
I do not know; how many are there?
I Tracked the demons again. “I’m guessing, but at least thirty.” The impressions I picked up were odd, though, thirty that kept blending and twisting into more, and then less. How the fuck was that even possible?
“They’re doing something weird.”
If we were bound together, I could read them through you.
If we were bound, her life would be tied to mine; but there was a problem. One dragon, one Slayer. That was it, no second chances. “That’s not possible, though. Erik said so.”
She let out a long snort that curled flames back over her neck. Erik does not know everything. Your father trained him, and while he taught him all he could, Erik did not like learning from his brother. His pride kept him from truly understanding. The question is, would you even want that with me?
Carefully, I Tracked Ophelia. I wanted her emotions more than anything, to know what she was truly feeling.
She was scared that she wasn’t good enough for me, but inside that fear was a kernel of hope.
I put my hands on her hide. “Okay, I’m going to try and bind us together.”
Her thoughts whispered back to me, and I understood the fear in her. I will not survive another rider’s death, Rylee. Promise me you won’t die.
I sucked in a breath and lied. “I promise, I won’t die. The plan is for all of us to get out alive.”
Then do it. We are stronger together than apart. Blaz wouldn’t mind. He loved us both.
I pressed my hands hard against her. “That he did. But he doesn’t have a say in this, does he?”
Ophelia laughed, the echo of it rumbling back to me. No, I suppose he doesn’t.
The thing was, I didn’t know what had bound me and Blaz together. We’d flown together after fighting, and when we’d landed, we were bound.
Highest heights and lowest valleys, Rylee. That is what we must do. And you must allow yourself to enjoy it.
She tipped her body and began to climb into the ether reaches. We passed the last mountaintop and I swayed in my rigging as the air thinned and I struggled to breathe. “Too high,” I whispered, hoping she could hear me.
One more stroke of her wings and then she tucked them to her sides and rolled in the air. We seemed to pause for a breath, as if gravity had somehow failed.
The free fall was like nothing I’d ever experienced with Blaz, and I realized something.
He’d always held a little back.
I think he was afraid to lose you, always knowing what you would be asked to do.
“That bastard.” Easier to be mad at him than to remember the pain of losing him.
The mountaintops raced toward us and with them, the first of the demons. I stared hard at them, trying to make out what form they’d taken. Flying monkeys again? Harpies? Dragons?
None of those shapes.
They looked like people, with wings and long tails tipped at the end with an arrowhead. “Fallen angels?”
That is very, very bad.
Of course it was.
Ophelia plummeted toward them, and as we drew closer, they tipped their faces up to us. Pre-requisite glowing red eyes, of course, but other than that, there was nothing. No nose, no mouth, not even ears. They were completely naked but there weren’t any distinguishing features that would mark them as male or female. As in no breasts, no twig and berries.
We blasted through their ranks, sending them spraying to all sides as if a wave of air had hit them. As we continued our free fall, I stared back up at them. “They’re regrouping, tell me what’s so bad about them.”
They are literally the fallen ones. They were good once, even fought against the demons. But somewhere along the way they lost themselves to the darkness. Their touch can paralyze, and then they will take their time raping you with their hands and then tearing your guts out of you. Not necessarily in that order.
The wind screamed around us and I kept my eyes on the fallen ones. I didn’t need to look at the ground; I knew Ophelia would deal with the fall.
And like that, the bond snapped open between us.
Her emotions and fears, her worries and strengths flowed into me, and mine flowed into hers.
It is predicated on trust, Rylee. But I could not tell you that. It can be harder to bind yourself to a dragon the second time. I was . . . concerned.
“Didn’t want to tell me that, either, huh?”
She laughed and all of a sudden, she changed the angle of her wings and we skimmed the ground. The plant life around us whooshed outward with our passing. The scrub grasses of the arctic were brown with only hints of color here and there. “Better to land and fight?”
No. Now you will see what a fully trained dragon can do for you, Rylee. Blaz was good, better than any other dragon could have been for the minimal time we had to train. She paused and tipped her head so I could see her violet eye all but sparkling at me. But I am better than him, by a very large margin.
“Humble too,” I said, trying not to laugh. Gods save me from dragons and their pride.
Ophelia let out a roar and did a somersault in the air, flipping us to face the fallen ones. They hovered at a distance of a hundred feet or so. Each held a flaming sword to go with their flaming red eyes.
“Lovely. So best practice, don’t let them touch me. How the hell am I supposed to send them back then?”
You need to be faster with your sending. No more long words. A simple command. “Go” will suffice.
I let out a breath and nodded. “Then let’s kick demon ass, lady bird.”
Ophelia reared back and shot a blast of flame toward the fallen ones. They scattered, and before the flame died, she shot toward those closest to us. I was thrown back in the harness, shocked at her instant velocity.
We raced toward the demons and they swept in at us, swords pointed straight at Ophelia. How the hell was she going to avoid this?
My heart was in my throat as the seconds ticked slower and everything moved as if trapped in the thick ice of the high mountain. Ophelia back winged, essentially slamming on the air brakes right in the middle of the fallen ones while simultaneously rolling in the air, her tail lashing out. They had no choice but to fall back or be sliced by the tip of her tail. I clamped my mouth shut against the quick rise of nausea.
“Holy shit.”
I’ve bought you time.
I was already out of the harness, and stood on her back. “Come on, feather heads, let’s do this.”
Four fallen ones darted toward me at the same time, one from each direction. Below me Ophelia rumbled and shot flames at those encroaching on her space.
Their wings cannot stand the flames. It is their weakness.
“Damn, I wish Pamela was here.” I leapt at the demon closest to me. The glowing red eyes were all I saw as I slammed into it. “Go.”
The fallen one reared its head back in a silent scream, its body arching, bowing backward until its head touched its ankles and it cracked in half. A sharp burst of light and an explosion of air sent me tumbling onto Ophelia’s back. Nothing was left of the fallen one except for a few feathers fluttering through the air. Not that the show deterred its buddies.
One grabbed me from behind, hands icy and burning at the same time. The armband from the Rim broke under its grip, shattering into tiny frozen pieces. But I didn’t slow my sending. “Go!”
Good, you are getting faster.
More blasts of flame lit the sky as Ophelia twisted and rolled beneath me. But our connection allowed me to move with her, timing each step with her moves.
The fallen ones shifted their attention from her and they swept upward, out of the range of her flames.
I’ve downed perhaps ten.
There was a split second where I thought we were going to make it unscathed. The morning light opened up around us and my first thought was the nasty winged fuckers would take off.
But of course, they weren’
t vampires. They shifted their formation and came at me en masse, hands outstretched. Sheer numbers alone, I couldn’t possibly send them all back through the Veil at once.
You can and you must! Ophelia yelled at me, and I didn’t hesitate—couldn’t hesitate—as the demons reached for my body.
“GO!” Over and over I yelled the word while clammy hands grasped at me, touched my face, grasped my hand, pulled at my legs. Go. The word was so simple and yet, it held the command I needed. Slowly, they exploded around me, bending back, their wings bursting apart at the seams as their bodies were sucked back through the Veil. They were gone and we survived another round of Orion’s attacks.
But the damage had been done.
A slow, icy paralysis slid through me and I fell to Ophelia’s back, flat on my face.
My mind refused to believe I couldn’t move, and panic reared its head as I demanded my muscles to respond.
Be easy, Rylee. All is not lost.
“How can you say that? I can’t fucking well move!” Even my jaw was freezing up, my words ending in a slurred and broken clip that didn’t sound like anything I was actually trying to say. I felt as though the Hoarfrost demon had found me, again, a thousand times over.
Trust me, this will help. She rolled, dropping me off her back and into the open air. With a sinuous twist of her body, she caught me in her claws, holding me gently. What did she think would help?
The ice forming on my spine was making my teeth ache. My muscles were so stiff, I wondered if it was similar to having rigor mortis while your heart still beat. If that was even a possibility.
Trust me, this will help. She repeated as she threw me into the air, right in front of her. The rumble of fire in her belly was the only warning I got as Ophelia opened her mouth and dragon fire surrounded me.
CHAPTER 27
LIAM / FARIS
HE WAS ONLY a few hours from D.C., but there was no choice; he had to get away from the sun. He’d done well, managing to travel as far as he had in the time allotted. The suburbs he’d entered would have to do to hunker down for the day. The morning was still early enough that very few people were awake.
Sliding through an unlocked basement window, he dropped to the ground. The interior was dim, but not enough to keep the sunlight out. A door on the far side of the room beckoned and he jogged toward it. The knob turned smoothly in his hand and he stepped through into a fog of pot smoke and the distinct smell of an unwashed male body.
Holding his breath he shut the door behind him and made his way toward the closet on the right. The kid on the bed rolled, let out a fart, and then scratched his ass.
Faris grimaced at the back of his head. Disgusting human. Liam snorted, but kept his words to himself. No need to wake the kid up.
You need to feed.
He shook his head. Not a chance in hell he was taking blood from that kid.
Fair enough, but if you feed, we could jump the Veil.
Liam shut the closet door and slid to his butt. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he considered their options. At this speed, there was no way they’d make it back to North Dakota by the next morning. Even if they managed to hotwire a car, he didn’t think they’d make it.
“How bad will it be? How much of my soul will jumping take?” he asked softly. The black interior of the closet made it easy to feel as if he were talking to someone beside him, instead of inside him.
Faris gave a proverbial shrug. I don’t know. You saw Milly, she looked fairly intact and she had been jumping the Veil for a long time; even though I didn’t know it. Well before anyone of us ever met her. She hid her abilities well.
Liam grimaced. Using Milly for an example didn’t really set his mind at ease. She’d betrayed Rylee on more than one occasion, though she had always tried to make it right. And in the end, she’d done the right thing. But had any of that been tied to jumping the Veil and having her soul used up, or was it all Orion’s influence?
He knew he didn’t have a choice, not if he wanted to be there in time to stand with Rylee against Orion.
“Let’s do this.”
Faris gave a nod of approval as Liam stepped into the kid’s room. There was no choice, he was going to have to drink from the pot-smoking teenager and hope whatever was in his system was already through.
Three quick steps and he knelt beside the bed before he could talk himself out of what he was doing. The kid rolled toward him, muttered something about making a score, and Liam snaked his head toward the bare neck presented. His fangs popped through the skin, and the kid gave a little start.
“Not so hard, baby, you know that’s not how I like it.”
With his eyes squeezed shut, Liam had to fight to keep his mouth on the kid’s neck and keep drinking him down. In the back of his head, Faris laughed. You see, it’s not always glamorous to be a vampire. He paused, as if thinking. That should be enough, Wolf.
Wolf, was he even that anymore? He pulled back from the kid and wiped his hand over his mouth. There was a lingering taste of drugs on the back of his tongue. Faris giggled. I think the good stuff went right to me.
Shit. A high vampire in his head? Wonderful, fucking wonderful.
On the bed, the kid moaned and grabbed at himself. “Come on, baby, finish it off.”
Liam stepped back and Faris laughed even harder. Yes, do finish him off so I can tell Rylee all about it. Cheater, cheater, pot kid eater.
Rolling his eyes, he looked at the wall and the poster plastered to it. Rock bands, and a giant pot leaf in a myriad of colors were the main choices. “Faris, jump us to the barn on Rylee’s property.”
Only if you let me kiss her. By myself. No meddling from you. There was still an edge of giddiness to the vampire’s voice, but he was serious.
“As long as she knows it’s you and wants to, then fine.” It sure as hell wasn’t up to him who Rylee kissed. The part of him that was wolf disagreed, but there was no time for semantics. Rylee was his mate, but she was also a woman who could make fire-hardened steel look soft. And if she wanted to kiss Faris . . . he couldn’t really get pissy about it since he shared the vampire’s body.
Faris didn’t step forward, but he showed Liam how to open the Veil. With the latent necromancer abilities flowing through Faris’s veins, he was able to touch the layer of the Veil between the human world and the supernatural. Like touching cellophane stretched tightly on leftovers. Drawing his fingers together, he pulled it away while he thought of the barn and . . . there it was. Dim and shadowy, the interior of the barn beckoning him; North Dakota still held onto the night for an hour or so. Without a glance at the kid, he stepped through and let the Veil shut behind him.
“You bastard! You said you wouldn’t jump the Veil, that it would hurt Liam!” Berget’s voice caught him off guard and he swung around to face her. He held up his hands.
“I was in D.C., Berget. I had to get back here and there was no other way.”
“Liam?”
He nodded. “Faris has been taking a vacation. He showed up long enough to give me directions.”
Berget let out a sigh and shook her head. “No one else is here, Liam. Shouldn’t Doran and the rest from England be here by now?”
He looked around the barn, seeing only the automatic writer Jonathan asleep in the hay. “Rylee sent Charlie to get them. You think something went wrong?”
“Orion knows who’s a part of Rylee’s team. He’s going to try and stop us all. Like he tried to kill Jonathan.”
Liam ran his hands through his hair and began to pace. He could jump the Veil, though eventually it would cost him pieces of his soul. What would it matter if Rylee and everyone else were dead?
Nothing. Nothing would matter then.
“Don’t tell Rylee.” He held his hand up and twisted the Veil so he could look into Jack’s mansion. He’d opened the Veil at the front door, so they could look into the main hall. Berget touched him on the shoulder.
“Hold it open; I’ll step through and see—”
“Faris! Keep it open. Don’t let go!” Doran’s voice shouted in the distance. The pounding of hooves almost made him close the Veil regardless of the daywalker’s words.
Berget fell backward as unicorns burst through the opening, followed by Doran, Will and his leopard shifters, Deanna, India the spirit seeker, who was barely out of childhood, Charlie with a half dozen other brownies, and Mer the green ogre. The two shamans they’d sent to London stepped through as well: Louisa and Crystal.
“Close it, man! Close it the fuck down.”
He let the Veil snap shut, cutting off the sound of howling renting the air. Jonathan sat up in the hay.
“Demons.”
Berget went to him, cooing softly in the way of a vampire hypnotizing its prey. “No, go back to sleep. Those are nightmares, Johnny.”
He flopped back, a murmur on his lips. “I wish they were nightmares.”
Didn’t they all?
Around them, the unicorns settled into the hay, their glimmering horns picking up the light. Liam counted a dozen and that included little Calliope, though she was different than the last time he’d seen her. Her nub of a horn was no longer a nub but an actual horn that protruded two feet off her forehead and had a wicked gleaming point. Her eyes turned toward him and she bobbed her head.
Thank you, Wolf. You have our gratitude, yet again.
Will and Deanna gave him a nod and went with their group to the back of the barn, near Jonathan. They sprawled out, and it hit Liam that they hadn’t run from something. They had been battling for their lives when he’d opened the Veil.
Doran slapped his hand on Liam’s back. “Good man. They almost had us at the end there.”
Faris laughed softly, but didn’t try to push forward.
“It’s not Faris running things right now,” Liam said.
Doran’s turn to laugh. “I know. I am a shaman still, remember?”
“What was chasing you?”
“Demons, of course, but they’d taken up in residence amongst a few of the remaining vampires, werewolves, and harpies that were still sick. Which cut our numbers down yet again. We lost at least half of our people in that fight before you opened the Veil.”
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