Disgust filled me. “What else?”
He hesitated until my talon tips bit into his skin. “We’ve also been charging for helping with possessions.”
I had to fight not to sink my claws into his throat. “You pathetic excuse for humans.” Forcing myself to let go, I stepped back.
He coughed and sat up slowly, trying to get his breath back. “We didn’t know your species was still alive!”
“Where do you think the money was coming from?” I snarled. “Get out. You have five minutes to get every Templar involved out of this building. Anyone left will face a mind search and if they are guilty, they’ll die.”
His eyes grew wide as he scrambled to the PA system and made the announcement. “Templars, get out. Anyone who embezzled money or charged for help with the possessed. Get out or die. Five minutes!” The guy all but pissed himself as he ran past us and out the door. I stood still and tried to get control over my temper.
Evelyn
“—Five minutes!” The crackle of white noise shut off.
What was going on? I opened my eyes to find a high stone ceiling. Someone was holding my hand. Atty… I rolled my head to find him and went still. I’d never seen him like this. His scruffy face…he looked like hell. His eyes were on my hand, holding it carefully.
“Atty…” His gaze shot to mine. I smiled. “Hi—”
“Fix your back. And make sure the toxin is gone. Now,” he ordered.
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and instead closed them. I dropped down into my body and assessed the damage. A lot of inflammation, but the light spinal fusion held while I was out. I pulled energy and soothed the red tissue. It didn’t take me long before it was fused properly. Before leaving, I took a quick look through my systems and came up short. Was that…? My heart hammered in my ears as I looked again. There. Small, and just begun…but there. I pulled out of my body, stunned.
Atticus brushed the hair out of my face as I opened my eyes. Pregnant. I was pregnant… I met his eyes and smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He swallowed hard. “You scared the fucking shit out of me.”
I winced. “Sorry—” I didn’t get to finish my sentence. His mouth came down on mine as he lifted my upper body into his arms.
By the time he lifted his head, I had forgotten my own name. “I love you.”
My heart leaped, then soared as happiness filled me. Atticus laid me back down carefully. He loved me… We were… “Atty, I’m—”
The doors to the med ward swung open. Astrid, Ranulf, and Zahur strode in. Astrid saw me first. She screamed, ran, and hugged me.
I spit her hair out of my mouth as I put an arm around her. “I’m okay. I’m all right now.”
“You can never do that again.” She squeezed me tighter. “Do you understand? Gray hair, woman!”
I chuckled as she backed away and pointed at her hair.
“It’s good to see ye, lass.” Ranulf moved beside Astrid and took my hand.
I squeezed his back. “How was Atticus?”
Astrid snorted.
Ranulf smiled. “He tried to slaughter every demon in the city.”
I nodded. That wasn’t surprising. Though… “Where’s Rina and Falk?”
Everyone shared a look. That wasn’t good. “Tell me.” I reached over and pushed the button to raise the head of the bed until I was almost sitting up. My muscles protested, but I needed to know what was going on. “I’m alive, so she made it here.”
“Something happened to Rina,” Astrid tried, but couldn’t seem to finish.
Something happened… I turned to Atticus. “My heart stopped. Didn’t it?”
He nodded, looking like he might be sick.
That meant all my spells stopped working, which meant… I closed my eyes and wanted to curse. Rina’s barriers. I opened my eyes. “Where is she?”
“She’s in a shielded cell right now. Falk is with her and she’s unconscious, but stable,” Zahur answered quickly.
I nodded. Okay, I didn’t have to run down there.
“What’s going on with her?” Astrid asked.
I sighed. They might as well know. “Two years ago, I created barriers for Rina. So she could function, and learn how to handle it.”
“You created her barriers. So, she never had her own barriers?” Atticus asked.
I sighed. “I didn’t just put up barriers for her.”
“What did you do?” Astrid crossed her arms over her chest.
I met her gaze. “Rina’s abilities were maturing faster than her mind could handle. And the potential there…” I shook my head. “Was extraordinary.”
“What do you mean?” Zahur frowned down at me.
“I mean, I locked the majority of Rina’s ability away,” I explained. “I created a spell that would degrade over the years, giving her time to learn control as more of her ability was unlocked.”
“So she didn’t have to learn it all at once,” Ranulf supplied.
I nodded.
“How strong are her abilities?” Atticus asked.
I had been dreading that question. “Rina’s telepathic ability is so great that she could slip into the mind of every living person in the city. And control them. At the same time.” They looked at me, stunned.
“That’s…” Astrid’s face grew pale. “That’s almost three million people.”
I nodded.
“Is that even possible?” Ranulf asked.
I nodded. “That’s why I never introduced her to the Witch’s Council.”
“Because they’d use her as a weapon,” Zahur added.
I nodded. “And I wanted to make sure she had the life she chose.”
“Will the shields on that room even work for her?” Atticus asked, looking up at Zahur.
Zahur’s eyes unfocused. “For a normal psychic, I’d say they’d outlive the psychic, but…”
“A normal shield will keep her safe for a few days, but then I have to get her barriers and that lock back up. Or she’ll burn out and die.”
The room fell silent as everyone absorbed that information. A phone rang.
Zahur growled as he headed to the nurses’ desk and answered an old landline. “Yeah?” His face drained of color. “On our way.” He hung up and turned to me. “That was Helix. Abaddon is attacking the Redcaps’ home base with demons.”
My heart dropped. “Get me a phone.”
Falk
Rina muttered something in her sleep. She shifted, rubbing her cheek on my shoulder. I moved to my side and looked down at her just in time for her to open her eyes. The vise around my heart eased.
“Hey, you,” she whispered. Everything inside me relaxed as warmth filled me.
I smiled down at her. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better.” She rubbed her temple. “It’s quieter in my head.”
“Good.” I focused on keeping my thought soft and light. “We have you in a shielded room at the church.”
She looked around the room. “Is this room padded?”
I mentally cringed. I had been hoping she wouldn’t notice. “Yeah. It protects psychics from trying to hurt themselves.”
She looked up at me like she didn’t believe me; it made me want to hold her closer.
“So, I’m not a prisoner?” she asked carefully.
This time I did smile. “Never, schatzi. You’re just in here because it’s shielded.”
Her face softened as she reached up and brushed her fingers along my jaw. “So, did it work? Is Evie alive?”
I took her fingers from my face and brushed a kiss across them before I answered. “It worked exactly as you said it would.”
A grin spread across her face. “Good.” She dropped her hand from my face. “I still can’t believe I jumped off a building.”
My heart gave a painful thump at the scene played in her mind. “I think it’s best if you don’t think of that very often.”
She snorted as her fingers tangled with mine. “You don’t like that, huh?
”
I laid on my back and exhaled hard.
She whimpered; her eyes closed tight. I moved back to my side and held her face.
She took a deep breath and relaxed into the bed. “It’s worse when you don’t touch me.” She met my gaze.
“Then I won’t go anywhere.” I ran my thumb over her cheekbone.
“Just don’t stop touching me…” She closed her eyes.
I pressed my lips to her forehead. “I’m here.”
She fell back asleep; this time, a normal sleep. I brushed her hair from her face just before the cell door opened.
Zahur came in and walked up to the bed. “We need to go.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Abaddon is attacking the Redcaps in some kind of assault. Evie needs us for backup.”
I looked down at Rina just as she started muttering in her sleep about frogs. Shaking my head, I met his gaze.
Surprise lit his eyes as he pulled his phone out and handed it to me to text him what I needed to say.
I’m not moving. The shields on this room aren’t enough. When I stop touching her, she’s in pain. I handed the phone back to Zahur.
“Hmm.” Zahur looked at Rina. “You must be sharing the psychic load…” He met my gaze. “All right; when we get back, I’ll get Evie to add shielding to this room if she can.” He tucked his phone back in his pocket and closed the door gently behind him.
She shifted, snuggling into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and stayed put.
Evelyn
By the time we arrived at the Redcaps’ home base, the fight was well underway. We ran through the gates to find bodies scattered everywhere. Human and Redcap, they were everywhere. We didn’t have time to stop and see if anyone was alive. We followed the carnage through the town. Some Redcaps were working to put out the fire while others were tending to the wounded.
Once I was spotted, they directed us towards the town square. How did they get this far? We ran, Atticus staying beside me as we started finding bodies of wolves. My anger built with every body I saw, every pool of blood. By the time we ran into the square, I was furious. The square was a bloodbath. Blades clashed, magic flew, and claws shredded. The line of possessed and fully formed demons were pushing toward the other side of the square. I pulled my short sword out on the run.
“Stay close,” Atticus ordered.
“Try to keep up,” I countered as I sent a blast through the line of demons. We hit the line hard. I lost track of the heads I took, but it was over in minutes.
Novak flicked all four of his arms, snapping the blood off his swords. “Evelyn, good to see you up and about.”
I snorted as I cleaned my own blades. “It’s nice to be up and around.”
He eyed the group behind us. “We need to go; they’re making a push to where our children are.”
I smirked. “Are they suicidal?” Redcap children were just as deadly as their adults. Only with less restraint. They’d start eating you while you were still alive.
He grinned a bloodthirsty grin. “Indeed.”
“Why make a push there?” I asked out loud.
Novak shook his head. “They’re going for kills, not control. They’ve ignored all strategy and seem to be completely seek and destroy.”
My blood boiled. “Then let’s go return the favor.”
Novak shouted instructions to his people and everyone headed deeper into the city.
“What do you need to get rid of this demon that leads them?” Novak demanded.
“I need you to buy me time so we can open a portal and get him through,” I explained before I turned to Atticus. “You and the others have to keep him distracted.”
“How long will it take to build the portal?” Atticus asked.
I looked up and met his eyes. “Safely? Five minutes.”
“Five minutes?” Astrid shook her head. “You can’t cut it down any more than that?”
“I can by half. But it won’t guarantee that it’s only one-way,” I explained.
“So, instead of what we have here, we might have fully formed demons coming through the portal too?” Ranulf asked, a vicious smirk on his face. “Fun.”
Astrid snorted.
“Give me eight and it’ll pull every demon in the area back through,” I announced. Everyone turned to me. “And it will pull Abaddon.”
Zahur nodded, an approving smile moving across his face. “We’ll give you the time.”
Ranulf
The cavern was enormous, but not large enough to use our wings. Not without risking too much. We fought through the horde.
Finally, Abaddon came into sight, but so did the two fully formed demons with him. The creatures crawled up the walls and pounced on our allies. I hesitated. Evelyn needed cover… Several witches moved out of one of the caves.
“How can we help?” one of them shouted over the battle.
“Shield me!” Evelyn ordered, not even lifting her head. She backed up in a spiral drawing as she went. The witches moved to surround her, throwing up a glimmering dome of light.
“We’ll take the full forms,” I volunteered, sharing a grin with Astrid. She returned it. We took off into the fight. I hacked, kicked, and slammed a way through the chaos, taking out the demons as we went. Astrid ripped out throats with her claws, tore off limbs as we made a path. She suddenly dropped. Turning, I found one of the spider demons on her. I swung, hitting it with the broad side of my sword. The demon flew off and smashed into the wall. Astrid leaped after it, tearing out its throat and jumping back off the wall before the arterial spray could hit her. God, she was good… I took another head before a heavy weight hit my shoulders. Even in half-wolf form, I recognized her weight and touch. She pointed at the other fully formed demon skittering over the wall, and grinned. The woman was brilliant. I crouched down to give her the best launch I could.
“One, two, three!” I jumped as high as I could as she leapt off my shoulders. Astrid flew through the air and hit the demon perfectly. She tore it apart before flipping backwards off the wall and dropping into the fight. Heart pounding, I swung and bulldozed my way to her. But there was no point; she was already surrounded by a circle of corpses. It didn’t take much to add to them. We kept moving, kept killing, until a blast shot through the cavern knocking everyone to the floor. A huge, flame-ridden gate rose until it almost touched the ceiling. Exactly where Evie had been working. Wind began to whistle throughout the cavern, growing louder and louder.
Astrid crawled to me. “Stay down!”
I did as she said, just as the wind began to spiral through the cavern back towards the portal. Shouts and screams echoed off the walls as possessed humans began to fly by overhead. Poor bastards. More and more, the demons lost their hold and were sucked back through the portal to Hell. Evelyn’s voice rose over the wind, chanting. The wind grew stronger and stronger until we were clinging to the rock. Finally, Abaddon flew overhead, bellowing as he went. We turned to watch him catch himself on the side of the portal.
He tried to pull himself out, tried to reach Evelyn. “I’ll be back, and when I am, I’ll destroy everything you love!”
“Goodbye, Abaddon,” Evelyn said with a smile. She waved her arm. The portal closed; Abaddon’s hands were severed. The hands dropped to the dirt. The cavern was quiet for several heartbeats as everyone stood up. Then the cheers began.
I turned to Astrid as she finished shifting back to human. Naked as the day she was born and covered in blood. She was magnificent. She leaped into my arms. I held her and kissed her roughly. She was my mate. My match. My everything. She pulled back and hugged me tight.
“I love you,” I whispered into her ear.
“Sucker,” she teased. I smacked her naked ass as she snickered. She pulled back and met my eyes. “I love you too, you ass.”
I set her down and began to pull off my shirt.
She scowled at me. “What are you doing?”
I pulled my shirt off and handed it to her. “Covering y
ae.”
She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “I’m a wolf. I’m used to being naked.”
“You’re my mate, and I’m the only one allowed that privilege anymore,” I growled as I tossed it to her.
She grinned that sexy smile as she began to pull on the shirt. It hit her about mid-thigh. “I knew you were going to be demanding.”
I chuckled. She had no idea how demanding I could be…
Atticus
I cleaned off my blade and turned back to Evelyn. She had gotten pale. “Are you all right?” I asked as I put my sword back in its sheath.
“Yes, I’m just suddenly very tired,” she admitted with a smile. I moved to her side and wrapped my arm around her.
Novak stepped out of the crowd. “Well done, Evelyn.”
“You too,” she said. “But now, I’m exhausted.”
“You can always stay here,” Novak offered.
I growled deep in my chest. Evelyn rested her hand on my chest, calming me.
Novak laughed. “It’s like that, is it?”
“It’s like that,” I bit out.
He smiled.
“Thanks, Novak, but I think we’ll head back to the church,” Evelyn said more diplomatically.
“We’ll patch up the wounded and send them on their way.” Novak moved back into the crowd.
Now that everything was handled, guilt hit me hard. “Luv, I need to talk to you about something.”
“I do too.” She smiled as she brushed her hand over her stomach. “But I’m so tired. Is it going to be a long talk?”
I nodded, my throat tight.
“Then, let’s wait until tomorrow,” she suggested as she took my blood-covered hand. “I feel like I’m going to drop.”
Not liking that, I knew she was right. It could wait one more day. I wrapped my arm around her and started for the entrance to the cavern. The others caught up and walked with us down the blood-stained streets. So many were dead. But with Abaddon gone, we should be able to take a breath. There was still the matter of the angel, but we’d deal with him soon. Today, I was going to just enjoy our victory.
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