Up In Flames (Netherworld Series Book 2)

by Olivia Hutchinson

  “But how do you know we can trust her?” As sad as the princess’s story may be, Heidi couldn’t believe it was as simple as that. Nothing ever was.

  “We don’t have a choice,” he said. “She warned me of her father’s plans for us. This is how we leave. This may be the only chance we have to open the portal.”

  Heidi nodded reluctantly and allowed Liam to pull her away from the side of the small building. She followed behind him, determined to go along with his plans of escape but not to fully trust their fae helper. Maybe this was their only choice and she wouldn’t be the one to force him to figure out something else by refusing if this really was their ticket out of there.

  They hurried around a few of the huts, weaving their way toward the tree line. When the trees were only a few feet away, Heidi was ready to make a mad dash but Liam stopped her. He pulled her down behind a large water trough so fast she fell to her knees against the hard ground.

  Liam was crouched down beside her, the trough doing almost nothing to conceal his large form from the reason he had reacted so quickly. Heidi froze when she saw the figure in front of them.

  Caiside was walking along the edge of the trees a few feet from them, stumbling slightly as he went. It was obvious to her that he was inebriated from the way he let go of a long, disgusting belch. A threatening looking knife hung from his belt. He was tossing a small stone in the air, catching it as gravity pulled it back down. Their only saving grace was that he hadn’t seen them.

  As soon as the thought crossed her mind, he tossed the stone again, this time missing it as it came down. It fell to the ground. When he bent to pick it up from where it landed in the grass, he saw them and his eyes widened with surprise.

  Liam dropped her hand and was gone from her side in a flash. She watched as he lunged for the fae, pulling the knife from Caiside’s belt before the other man even had a chance to reach for it. The fae’s injured scream filled the air before being abruptly silenced when Liam wrapped his hand around his throat and lifted him from the ground.

  There was a sudden blast of wind that stung her face as she pulled herself to her feet and took a few steps toward them. She kept her hand over her face, protecting her eyes, as leaves and dirt assaulted her. Just as suddenly as the wind started, it stopped. Blinking, she looked to Liam.

  The fae was on the ground in front of him, dead. Spinning on his heels, Liam ran headlong for her. The breath was torn from her body when he gripped her waist and she landed hard on her belly on his shoulder. He took off, the ground a blur beneath her as he turned and raced toward the tree line.

  There was shouting in the distance as Heidi gripped the back of his shirt. He held the back of her thighs as he ran and she tried to look behind them, but her body bumping around on his shoulder prevented her from doing much of anything except hang on. The grass disappeared, replaced by leaves and she could see the bottom of the pine trees and the pine needles that coated the floor of the forest.

  A second later, Liam came to a skidding halt and pulled her off his shoulder. She landed on her feet, her fingers digging into his forearms for support as the world around her righted itself. He pulled his arm out of her grasp and thrust the blade he had taken from the dead fae into her palm.

  “Don’t be afraid to use it,” he told her before looking up and over the top of her head.

  Heidi turned in time to see the fae princess behind her. She was beckoning to them, a look of sheer panic on her face. “Come, come! Hurry!”

  Liam didn’t hesitate and neither did she. Thoughts of the princess’s possible misdeeds fell from her mind. Together they ran toward her, the sound of trampling feet not far behind them.

  “I told you not to get caught,” the princess spat as she ran next to them, leading them to the same plain looking pine tree Liam had identified as the portal to her earlier.

  Stopping in front of the tree, she held out her palm. The air around her shook violently and Heidi stepped closer to Liam. He hauled her against his side, pinning her to him. A bright yellow light shot out of the princess’s palm, momentarily blinding her.

  Heidi heard the yells of the other fae closing in. She glanced behind her. The light radiating from Rhiannon’s hand lit up the woods and she was able to see the fae men charging toward them. They were closing in fast, knives in their hands. The lethal looking bow and arrow in one of the warrior’s hands prompted her to claw at Liam’s side in a desperate attempt to get his attention.

  The warrior strung an arrow and let it loose. Liam grabbed her, pushing her in front of him and through the void that Rhiannon had formed at the base of the pine tree. The arrow whooshed by her ear as she fell forward, landing on her hands and knees. The pine tree was gone. When she looked up, the arrow was sticking out of the bark of a tree a few feet in front of her.

  Liam was pulling her to her feet when she heard Rhiannon say, “Run, both of you. And good luck.”

  “Wait!” Heidi said, spinning around to see Rhiannon had closed the portal behind them, the light from her hand still burning bright. She had stepped through with them. “What are you going to do? They’ll come after you for helping us, won’t they?” As much as she wasn’t a huge fan of Rhiannon’s, she didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, especially since she’d helped them.

  “I can take care of myself. They’re trying to open the portal. I’ll hold it for as long as I can, but you don’t have much time. Watch the skies. Now, go!” Her brow was wet with sweat and her body trembled with exertion as she struggled to keep the portal closed.

  “Come on Heidi,” Liam said, pulling her away from the princess and the portal. She gave one last look toward Rhiannon and mouthed her a thank you before she shot off into the woods behind him.

  She kept up the best she could, but she could tell she was slowing him down. The distance she covered with her short legs was nothing compared to what he could manage with his long strides. Gasping for air, she jumped over a fallen log, hiking her skirt up as she did so. She had shoved the knife inside the pocket of the dress, its sharp tip scratching her thigh as she ran. She felt everything through the sandals she wore, every stick and rock, but pushed it out of her mind as she struggled to keep up with Liam.

  Behind her she heard the men’s distant yelling and knew the portal had been opened. She only hoped that the time Rhiannon had managed to give them had been enough. Sweat dripped into her eyes and she blinked, not wanting to drop her skirt to wipe her face.

  Liam, on the other hand, wasn’t even breathing hard. She followed close behind him, holding onto his hand as he pulled her along. If she hadn’t been gripping his hand for dear life, she was sure that she would have ended up face first in the dirt by now. Lord, she hated the woods. She would be happy if she never saw another tree again.

  Her lungs were on fire, her breathing becoming loud as she gulped for air. Her sides were cramping, her legs were burning. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to keep going, but she knew that they couldn’t stop. It would be her fault when they were caught. She slowed him down, put him in danger. If it weren’t for her, he would be long gone by now.

  “Go,” she panted. “Leave...me...save...yourself.”

  He glanced back at her. “Quiet,” he snapped, but he didn’t look angry. He appeared concerned and he had every reason to be. She probably looked like she was about to have a heart attack. He wasn’t winded in the slightest.

  Right then and there she vowed to start hitting the treadmill if she was ever able to get out of this alive. She’d eat nothing but granola and tofu and she’d join a gym. She’d convince Lila to teach her some martial arts moves and she’d do yoga with Natalie. She’d even let Carey teach her how to ride a horse. She wouldn’t complain about wiping her grandfather’s ass or living with her mother. If only they could get out of this alive. She’d be a new person. She’d go to the gun range with Andrea and would carry concealed so the next time she got jumped by a bunch of fairy fuckers, she could shoot them dead.
r />   Damndamndamndamndamndamndamn.

  She wasn’t going to make it.

  Liam wasn’t blind. He could see that Heidi was nearing her finishing point. The poor girl had probably never run a foot in her life, but she was certainly making up for lost time now. Sweat was pouring down her bright red face as she gasped for breath. He couldn’t let her continue that way. She was slowing down more and more with every step.

  Without another thought, he slowed just enough to whip her up in his arms. When her stomach hit his shoulder he heard her sharp intake of breath but knew any discomfort she suffered now was far better than any they would face if they slowed down any more.

  It was only a matter of time before the fae caught up with them and there would be a confrontation, he just hoped they reached a clearing large enough for him to shift before then. He needed the upper hand. While he was lethal enough when it was one against one, one plus Heidi against a dozen would not equal the results he wanted.

  He felt the disturbance in the air before he heard the buzzing of their wings. Rhiannon had been right when she said to watch the skies, but he had always known they’d fly. They were faster in the air than they were on land. But then again, so was he.

  When the first arrow hit the ground, he knew they were out of time. Heidi yelped behind him when the second arrow sank into the ground a few inches from his foot. He began weaving through the woods, trying to stay under the cover of the trees while praying that they’d reach a clearing soon. He didn’t know these woods like he knew his own. These were the fae’s woods. They had the upper hand here.

  He didn’t bother looking up. He didn’t need to see them to know they were there. A third arrow whizzed by his head and he changed direction again.

  That’s when he saw it a few yards away: a clearing.

  They broke through the trees a second later. As soon as he was able, he hoisted her from his shoulder and tossed her gently toward the edge. He didn’t wait to see if she was okay, the flames already burning his veins as he began to shift. His clothes fell in pieces around him as his flesh turned to the glossy black scales. His muscles stretched, his bones snapped and were just as quickly reassembled. When he saw one female and seven male warriors fly over the clearing it was with dragon eyes.

  His roar was deafening to his own ears when he turned on them. He stretched his wings and curled his spiked tail around him as he opened his mouth. The warriors were hovering in the air, their arrows raining down on him and glancing off his scales. Just as he had hoped, Heidi had been forgotten as soon as he transformed.

  The smoke started deep in his gut and he released it in a fireball. It caught one of the males as he was loading his bow, singeing his wings. He fell from the sky, landing with a hard thud on the unforgiving ground.

  “Kill him!” Cliona screamed. Her flaming red hair was billowing around her head as she loaded an arrow into her bow. She was hovering only a few feet from the ground. He let a fireball form in his belly but as he opened his mouth to launch it in her direction, he saw Heidi jumping up from underneath her.

  She grabbed the fae’s legs and pulled her to the ground. The woman hadn’t anticipated Heidi’s sudden attack. Liam saw the glint of the knife he had given her before he unleashed the fire on one of the other men. When he hit his target, this time fatally, the other males began backing away, their bows at the ready. He could see the fear in their eyes. They didn’t want to be there and with their leader entangled in a fight with Heidi, they saw their opportunity to flee.

  The now wingless male fae had recovered enough to get back on his feet, blood pouring down his back. He ran toward Heidi and Cliona. The little girl was walloping the fae warrior in a very untrained yet surprisingly accurate way. She used her fists and the knife, slashing at her as the female tried to use the bow to deflect her. She couldn’t get enough distance between them to load an arrow and fire without Heidi lunging for her like a mad woman who was looking at her as if her flesh and sinew were a tasty appetizer.

  As the other fae disappeared into the darkness, he watched her as she fought, ready to intervene when it became necessary. When the male got too close to the fight, Liam shot his tail around, the spikes impaling the fae. Blood spurted from his mouth as he fell to his knees. When he slumped forward, Liam tried to remove the body from his tail. When it wouldn’t come loose, he shook his tail, sending the carcass flying through the trees.

  He sat on his haunches. The fae had abandoned her bow and was trying to wrestle the knife from Heidi’s grasp. When Cliona raised her fist, Liam stopped her.

  “Do it and I’ll light you up like a Christmas tree,” he barked, his voice booming.

  When she heard his voice, Cliona backed up, her eyes wide. She glanced around her but when she realized she was alone, she threw her hands up in defeat. To her credit, Heidi didn’t pursue. She was panting, the knife still in her hand as she glared at the other woman, almost begging her to come at her again.

  Cliona’s jet black wings unfurled and she lifted into the sky. She cast another long glare at Heidi before turning and heading back in the direction of the village. Liam didn’t stop her. As much as he hated the woman, he wouldn’t murder someone who was retreating, especially a woman.

  As soon as she was out of sight, Liam spread his own wings. He was done walking in the woods and he was sure Heidi was too. When she looked at him, her eyes were wide. There was no denying her fear. At least when she had been distracted by Cliona, he hadn’t seen it. Now it was staring him in the face.

  “Get on me shoulders,” he said, lowering his upper body to the ground so she could hop on.

  She took a tentative step toward him and then another. Reaching up, she grasped the back of his long neck and tried to pull herself up.

  Nothing.

  She hopped a few times, unable to get any real momentum. Liam was growing more and more impatient by the second. He wanted to get back to the security and comfort of his cave. They’d work on her mounting techniques later.

  When he caught her still bouncing body in his mouth, she screamed. He waited patiently until she stopped hurting his ears. When she realized that he wasn’t going to bite into her and quieted, he flung her body into the air. She landed on her belly just above his wings. He felt her squirm over his back until she sat down where he had instructed.

  “Lean forward and grasp me neck,” he told her, readying himself to launch into the air. When she complied, he said, “Hang on.”

  Her screams trailed behind them as they soared through the clouds in the direction of his cave.

  6

  Somehow Heidi managed not to pee herself. She didn’t know how she did it, but it was certainly an accomplishment she thought worthy of acknowledgment.

  Of course if she were to have it acknowledged, she’d have to admit she had been riding on the back of a dragon to begin with. That would only land her in the loony bin. No one would believe it. Not her mother, not Maggie. She barely believed it herself.

  And, of course, he wasn’t just any dragon. He was the same dragon she had kissed only a short time before.

  She would’ve thought mentioning it to her would have crossed his mind sometime within the past day after he had saved her life, but no. No “you human, me dragon” speech. Nothing. Just a dragon who’d protected her, kept her safe, and left out a rather important bit of information.

  At least his wings didn’t buzz like the fairies did, nor did they remind her of the damn demonic bees.

  He glided through the air, only flapping when he needed to gain altitude, although she didn’t pay too much attention to his flight patterns. She was too busy holding on for dear life as he dipped and dove under the light of the waning moon. Her fingers dug into the surprisingly smooth scales of his neck, her knees gripped his sides.

  And she screamed bloody murder the entire way.

  When she felt the thump of landing and he came to a halt, she managed to pry her cramped fingers open and sit up. Pushing the monstrous bird’s nest
that was her hair out of her face, she looked around to where he had taken them.

  Unfortunately, they were still in the middle of the stupid woods. Would she ever be able to escape these pine trees and the budding maples? A long, tall rock wall sat before her and went on as far as she could see, the top dotted with more trees, bushes, and nature. In front of the cliff face sat a small, dilapidated log cabin that looked like it had sat there untouched for the better part of a century. The shutters were barely hanging on next to the broken, dirty glass windows. There was a hole in the roof that had been covered by a black tarp and held in place with bricks. The front steps were broken, leading up to a narrow porch and an even narrower front door.

  And she had thought Maggie’s father’s cabin was bad.

  “Where the hell are we?” she asked the back of his head. He turned his snout, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

  “Home.”

  “Your home?”

  “Aye,” he said.

  “Hell no. Take me back to town. I need to find Maggie and let her know I’m still alive.”

  “Get off me back. I’m going to change.”

  “No! You need to take me to town.” If he thought she was going to stay here, he had another think coming. She needed Maggie to know she wasn’t laying at the bottom of that ravine with a broken neck. And she needed to get the hell out of these woods and as far away from this place as possible.

  “Have it your way,” he said. His body began to vibrate beneath her and she yelped when all of a sudden there was nothing underneath her but air. She landed on her ass with a jarring thud and bit her tongue in the process.

  “Ow,” she muttered, sticking her tongue out and looking up at him. Liam was standing in front of her, fully male and fully nude. “That wasn’t necessary.”

  When he held his hand out, she took it and he pulled her to her feet, careful to maintain some distance between them for decency’s sake. Although why she cared about decency now when only a short time before she was wrapped in his arms practically begging him to fuck her was beyond her. Memories of their kiss clouded her mind and she cleared her suddenly dry throat.