“What the hell, Laex?”
His blade pressed into her throat, freezing her struggles. “Don’t bother yelling for your Guardian. He can’t hear you. This little weapon,” he stroked the blade against her skin, “is spelled and protects us from detection. I couldn’t get to you while on hallowed ground but counted on you stepping away and stopping me from getting hurt. Predictable female.”
Fuckin’ traitor! Shadow elbowed him in the stomach.
He grunted. Digging the dagger harder against her neck, he yanked both her hands to her back with his free hand. “I thought it would be harder to get you to my master with your immortal companions always around, but divide and conquer still works, even now.” He laughed, sounding so damn proud of his achievements. “While the rest of the Guardians are busy elsewhere with little demon fights out in public, it left you open.”
“Why?” she demanded, blinking the rain from her face. “Nik saved Joyce. Don’t you know anything about loyalty?”
“I found her. I only required their powers to break her free,” he retorted. “Why? Because my master tasked me with a job—to find you and bring you over. Also, I was promised a huge bounty for you, and mostly because you irritate me with all your good little deeds,” he spat, his hatred palatable.
How the hell could she have been so wrong about him?
“Now Joyce’s rushed off to the damn Shelter. After all I’ve done for her. But she’ll soon see the error of her ways.”
“So she saw what an evil bastard you are? Good for her.”
He twisted her arms harder. Shadow gritted her teeth at the pain. “Shut the fuck up. She will be mine. Now, we’ll wait for my master.”
“Tolvi’s dead, in case you didn’t see that spectacular beheading, you ass!”
“If you say so.” He stroked the blade over her carotid. “But you met real power when he first snatched you, not that a pitiful human like you would know any different.”
Fury pounded through every cell. She had to get away from this smug jerk before whoever he waited for came. But she didn’t want to telepath Nik and distract him. Her fist clenched. “You’re going wish you never crossed my path.”
He laughed. “Let’s see about that.”
Chapter 30
The wet air stirred, more Narakas pests took form, like looming pillars of coagulating blood. Nik growled. Fucking Tolvi. Even dead, he still had his minions coming.
Hell, he’d sent those Narakas to hunt Shadow in that alley where Nik had first seen her weeks ago. He wanted to kill the bastard all over again.
The Guardians formed in a flash, swords braced, spreading around the demons. Finally!
“Nik?” Týr yelled amidst the cacophony.
“Just clean out the damn pests!” he snapped back. “I’m gonna get Shadow outta here—”
Sudden fury splintered his mind like lightning, stalling him. Shadow!
He spun toward the church, where he’d seen the demon, Laex, with her just moments ago. At the empty porch, blood thundered in his ears. Did she dematerialize?
No, she’d tell him if she’d done so.
Shadow? Nik telepathed her but hit a block. Where the hell was she?
Laex would have taken care of her. Unless…
The double-crossing fucker!
Fear twisting his gut, he flashed, tracking Shadow through their soul bond to a small, grassy clearing a short distance from the church. He reformed in the rain and faced the demon he’d once helped.
Laex held Shadow in front of him like a damn shield. And smirked. “You can’t do anything, not while I have her—”
Scowling, Shadow stamped on the scum’s foot with her heel. Laex grunted. She freed her hand. Her obsidian dagger took form. She shifted, ramming the blade backward, into Laex’s gut. He yowled and stumbled away. Fury bleeding off her, Shadow wheeled around and kneed him in the balls. He doubled over, and she kicked him hard in the head with her booted foot. He flew back, crashing into the undergrowth.
“Guess you didn’t know I could do that, did you, you traitorous hellscum!” she spat at the knocked-out demon, waving her blade.
Hell, his female was pure badass.
Breathing hard, she glanced back. And a gorgeous smile lit her beautiful face.
The ruckus of snarls, grunts, and clanging swords from the other side of the clearing continued. Sword in one hand, Nik strode over, dragged her drenched body into his arms and kissed her hard.
“Let’s get outta here. The others can clean up this mess—”
A hiss sounded. With preternatural speed, Nik shoved her aside, ducking the hellfire bolt flying at them. It struck a branch, shattering the wet wood. Shrapnel flew. He dove in front of Shadow, shielding her. Damn skatá—fuck! Pain hit him in his back like a punch through the heart. Teeth clenched, he wheeled around. A lanky, dark-skinned demon sailed past him, brandishing a glowing, black-edged silver sword he’d yanked free from Nik’s back.
He would slaughter the mofo—Tolvi?
“Tolvi?” Shadow rasped in confusion.
But he’d just killed the fucker?
“Tolvi was merely a minion,” the demon drawled. “His hideout suited me, as did using his image as glamour. Alas, it was him you killed…” The demon’s corporeal body shimmered, and he morphed into an angular, pale-skinned asshole with a shock of red hair. “I am Mammon—”
“Then you’ll die, too!” Nik fisted his sword, needing to end this damn fucker, but his muscles tensed, his grip on his sword slackening. He hung on to his weapon only to stumble about like a drunk.
What the fuck?
Shadow watched in growing horror as Nik lurched backward as if in slow-motion from Tolvi’s attack, or, fucking Mammon as he called himself now.
“Niiiikk!” She sprinted toward her mate, terror flaying her as Mammon strolled toward him, deadly sword in hand. No! She changed direction and leaped onto the bastard’s back, plunging her obsidian dagger into his neck again and again and again. “I will kill you!”
Growling, Mammon shoved her off like some pesky fly, and she landed hard on her back, pain exploding in her skull. He swung the vile black-tipped silver sword again, and Nik reeled back, legs folding beneath him.
Why wasn’t he defending himself?
“One of my great finds, this weapon. It neutralizes an immortal’s powers,” Mammon murmured. “And so much more. It is satisfying to see an invincible Guardian fall…”
No, no, no! Shadow shot up and raced to Nik. She slid to her knees and grabbed him before he hit the ground. “Nik?”
He looked up and blinked, his warm palm covering hers as her gaze fixed on the slash on his black t-shirt, wet and glossy with blood. The sword had pierced him straight through his back and out his chest—oh, god. “You’re immortal, you’ll heal,” she choked out, pressing a hand to his seeping wound. “It’ll be okay.”
“Usually…” Mammon muttered from across from her, a hand clapped to his bleeding nape. “But not with my new weapon. No one gets in the way of what I want. I’ll be back for you and that damn dagger!” He growled and disappeared in a puff of red sulfuric smoke.
Nik blinked again, then coughed-gurgled, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Shocked, pale green eyes met hers. A thin red line started across his neck from ear to ear. Blood seeped, then gushed like a flood—
Noooo! “Somebody, help him!” she shouted as Nik’s body collapsed into her. “Týr—Michael! Oh, God, somebody help him!
She cradled Nik to her chest, pressing her hand to his spurting throat. The rain pelted down, trying to wash away the blood, but more gushed out.
A tall figure appeared in an agitating swirl of molecules. The archangel. “Hold on, Nik. We’ll get you healed.” He moved her hand aside. A silvery-white light swept over the vicious wound on Nik’s neck.
Witnessing her strong, brave mate brought down by vile treachery, something inside Shadow snapped. A raging haze consumed her mind, pulling at her organs, her very soul
. Power swept out in a sizzling red wave, and she screamed. The winds swooshed past. Crackling and crashing boomed.
I love you. Nik’s indistinct voice seeped into her hysterical mind, hauling her back. Now…forever. Be strong, i kardiá mou…
What? “No, damn you! Hold on, you hear me? Don’t you dare leave me—oh, God, Nik, please don’t leave me…” Bursts of power hurtled through her.
“Dammit, Nik, hold on,” Michael snapped.
Aethan worked alongside him, a hand on Nik’s chest. “I can’t fucking bring him back,” he bit out, “not with the unhealing wound.”
Voices erupted. Begging and pleading ricocheted.
“Fuck, Greek, don’t let this defeat you. Come on, you bastard!” Týr snarled.
“Nik, please…” she sobbed, tears falling as she stroked his buzzed hair. A vicious pain tore through her as if her heart had snapped in two, and she jerked back, gasping. Nik’s eyelids shut, his body a dead weight in her arms. His head tipped back, revealing the brutal, open gash on his throat—
In a flash of white light, he vanished.
Chest heaving, Shadow stared blankly at her empty arms, her heart crashing violently in her ears. Her gaze darted around the gloomy night searching for him, then careened back to the kneeling warriors around her.
“Where is he?” she demanded. At their ashen faces, she shouted, “Where’s Nik?”
Michael shook his head. His mouth opened, then shut as if he couldn’t form words. “He…he’s…”
“No, he’s not!” She flew across the sodden grass, drenched with her mate’s blood, hitting and punching Michael. “You bring him back, bring him back…” A harsh sob ripped out from her very soul. Tears flowed. Powerful arms slid around her and held her tight. “Oh, God, please bring him back. You can’t take him away—”
Heavy palms stroked her back, face pressed into a hard, heaving chest, the scent of ocean breeze and amber invading her nose—no-no, all wrong! Not her Nik!
She shoved away from the archangel. Her gaze fell to the watery, blood-soaked ground, glistening in the pallid moonlight like a ghoulish elegy to the horror that just occurred. “Nik…” Blurry-eyed, she gently touched the grisly ground.
This can’t be happening.
Nik, please come back. Please…
Slender arms came around her, the scent of something summery and ethereal seeping through the impossible agony trapping her. Shadow looked up into Ely’s wet eyes.
The shock and grief on their faces revealed the stark truth. No magical hole was going to open up and spew Nik out all healed. He wasn’t coming back.
A harsh sob broke free. Tears fell in a deluge. “I never got to tell him I-I love him.”
No one spoke.
“How am I supposed to go on without him?” she whispered, swiping at her tear-drenched face and running nose with the back of her hand. Her gaze latched onto her sodden, blood-soaked top and arms. Her skin glowed eerily beneath Nik’s blood, painting her in an iridescent glimmer…when something else pierced her anguished mind. Something worse.
“Why am I still here?” She lifted her wet gaze to Michael, who knelt on the ground, staring at the gore-covered grass, his drenched clothes smeared with blood. “A soul joining means I die with him. What happened?” She glanced at each warrior there. No one seemed capable of speech. “Tell me, dammit!”
“That’s because…” Aethan swallowed, rain dripping down him. “Nik snapped the mate bond before he succumbed.”
His words were a punch her in the chest. “He…h-he b-broke our bond? He didn’t want me with him?”
Aethan simply shook his head as if he had no answers. Then he touched Nik’s blood and marked both of his own cheeks with two fingers. The others did so, too.
“Vindictae nostrum!” the harsh oath broke free from the warriors surrounding her.
Shadow wrapped her arms around herself, feeling as if she would shatter the moment she let go. She met each of their anguished stares. “Did you get the demon bastard?”
“He escaped,” Dagan said roughly, his bronze features drawn and ashy, the rain washing the blood marking from his face. “He was a higher-level demon. I latched onto one of his minion’s thoughts. Mammon’s the Demon of Avarice.”
She didn’t give a shit what he was. She would end this. End him.
“Nik’s d-dead, and it’s all my fault…” She grabbed her obsidian dagger from the sodden ground and pushed to her feet. “That hellscum bastard warned me he would kill all those I cared about. He murdered my heart because he wants me? He can have me.” Jaw set, she locked eyes with the archangel. “Please keep Liam safe.”
The winds grew, whipping strands of her wet her into her face. She wheeled away and stormed through the trees. The muscles alongside her shoulder blades hurt. As she stepped into the clearing where the fight occurred, she stopped as if entering a dead zone. Utter silence reigned here. Everything had halted, even the wail of the winds, the rustling rain.
The moon shone down over the empty glade, highlighting the burned grass patches and other parts. She lifted her gaze to the swirling rubble suspended in the air. Beneath the cold, pale light, the Narakas continued swirling and coalescing together into one, a tangle of arms, legs, heads, trees, and branches, all fusing into a spiraling heap.
Bastards!
A ragged cry tore free, and she flung out her arms, wanting it all destroyed. A wave of power rushed out. Pain exploded in her back. A boom resonated, and the spiraling column of fused demons and trees detonated, raining to the ground in clumps of wet ashes. Souls rushed out in a ball of searing black energy.
“Amazing,” a distant murmur swept through her mind. “A human…with that power, in that form…”
Mam-fucking-mon!
A massive dark shape leaped out from the woods and into the dark souls coasting toward the ground. Jaws snapping, the hellhound swallowed the flickering souls, then it stood there, like a small mountain. Watching her.
“Pithiussss, veni.” The words drifted in the night as if coming from the creature.
Michael appeared at her side, gently grasped her arm, easing her away. “C’mon. I’ll take you to the castle.”
She lifted her flat stare to him and found his cold eyes nailed on the hellhound. “No.”
Pithiussss, veni, the words rushed through her mind in demand now.
“Pithius—”
“No, don’t!” Michael yelled at her.
“—veni,” she finished, pulling free of his hold.
“You tied a hellbeast to you,” he rasped.
Like she cared.
The enormous hellhound prowled over. A low, deadly growl rumbled in its thick chest, a warning to stay clear.
Michael didn’t move, his fingers clenching around his sword. The Guardians hung back, arms tensing at their sides as if about to summon their weapons.
“Don’t touch him,” she snarled.
The hound’s huge head butted her biceps, eyes like burning coals watching them all with an unwavering stare.
Wrapping her arms around her shuddering body, Shadow stalked off into the forest.
Something heavy attached to her back dragged behind her, hitting the branches. More pain bled along her spine and in her shoulder blades, but it didn’t make an impact, shrouded in her agony as she was. The hellbeast prowled alongside her.
“Dammit. One of you go with her,” Michael snapped. “The rest come with me, let’s find the bastard.”
Ely appeared on her other side in a flash. “Shadow, withdraw your wings.”
Wings? Her mind too numb to question Ely as to why she would have wings now, Shadow automatically drew the heavy appendages closed, and the weight on her spine disappeared.
She had to get out of there—
Her entire body wavered and became air. She dematerialized to the city, back to the underground. In her molecular form, her senses heightened even more, and she latched onto the fading taint of the demon she would decimate for killing her mate.
Shadow coasted toward the place Tolvi—no, fucking Mammon—now inhabited.
Several demons in human glamour guarded the lair. As she took form in front of one, she rammed her obsidian dagger into his chest. A shriek ricocheted. She spun around, ducking another coming at her. Ely reformed in a flash, spinning a long black staff with deadly spear points at both ends. She attacked, sending the demon screeching backward. Blood flowed.
The stocky demon grabbed her arm and smirked, his eyes like bleeding moons. “The dark lord will be pleased—”
“We’ll see about that.” Shadow kneed him in the groin. He reared back, squealing.
More demons rushed her. She leaped back, but one seized her by her long hair. Teeth gritted, blade palmed, she twisted and lopped it off.
The demon tripped back, eyes widening at having her locks in his hand. She flung her dagger, embedding it in his sternum.
Her obsidian summoned, she raced across the pitted surface, leaped onto a fallen pillar as two demons rushed her, and propelled herself forward, cannonballing over their heads. She sliced one across the carotid as she landed on her feet. The other spun toward her, and she hurled her blade straight into his throat.
Four more demons emerged from the gloom in their true form—gray, wrinkled, leathery bodies, skeletal faces, and sunken holes for eyes.
“Female,” one hissed. “Our lord awaitsss.”
“Too scared to face me?” she sneered and let her resummoned weapon fly.
The demon roared and lashed out. Shadow ducked, his clawed fist slammed her shoulder, and she fell. It stood over her, like a decaying cadaver—
A chilling growl erupted.
The demon turned. An enormous shape leaped through the dank air, crashing through the hellscums like dominoes. The hellhound snatched the demon near her by his midriff and crunched down with its razor fangs, shaking him. Arms and legs flew in different directions. The remaining curs split, disappearing into the oppressive, fetid air.
Breathing hard, Shadow rolled to her feet and tried to sniff them out…but their stench had faded.
The hellhound prowled close by her as she strode to the wall, determined to break through into their lair. She ran her fingers over the stone’s rough surface for an indentation to a hidden door, for anything…and nothing Frustration grew. Dammit, it had to be here.
Shattered Dawn (Fallen Guardians Book 5) Page 34