by Richard Amos
The smoke rose up, as it had before, snaking around them. Lilisian, smirking, peeled back her golden robes from around her middle to reveal a swollen stomach.
“What—” I dry-swallowed, breath catching before I could say anything else.
A pregnant stomach.
“Holy shit!” Greg bellowed.
Beasts didn’t get pregnant. Their whole method of conception was complex. But a body that’d once been occupied by a human soul … Dean and DI Williams hadn’t used protection.
Oh. My. God.
I fell to me knees, the shock too much to bare. “No …”
Lilisian giggled as the smoke teleported them off the beach.
Pregnant? This wasn’t … this wasn’t happening. What did it mean?
I threw up as Greg hauled me to my feet.
“Come on, mate. Now isn’t the time. Push it down. We gotta fight.”
I turned to Lache, wiping vomit from my chin. The beast’s other foot was now on the sand.
“Greg,” I said for reassurance.
“I’m here, mate. We’ve … got this.”
I couldn’t stop shaking.
Everything was hitting from all sides. Rose and Randy! Dean! That fucking bitch! I was just a pawn in Lilisian’s plans. This was all going so bloody swimmingly for her. I had to break this, break her!
Pregnant …
A pang of terror came down the SOS bond from Nay, stealing a heartbeat from me with its shock.
“Did you feel that?” I asked as the beast groaned.
Greg was already on his phone. “Nay? What’s— We’re coming! We’re coming! Hold on! Fuck! Jake! We have to get back the mansion.”
“But—”
“Lilisian’s just showed up and sent Dean through the wards.”
“Oh, my God!” How could we not have seen this? He could come through the wards because he was one of us. Shit! Lilisian would send him right down to the chanting chamber below the mansion, holding the eight chanters—made up of fae, goblin and witch—who kept the seal around the city fully intact. It was warded and would recognize him as a friend.
Ah, crap!
Using one of my own against me was clearly gonna be lots more fun for the Supreme beast than killing me straight away.
Bitch.
I ran up the beach, my chest fit to explode. The beast Lache would rampage and kill so many, and I was running away from the horror about to be unleashed. Rose, Randy and Fiona were probably dead by now, and I was heading away from them too. Duty sucked. It really did. And I’d chosen my duty, boiled it down to its true essence. The seal had to be kept up at all costs. The beasts couldn’t get out of the city. If Dean killed the chanters, it would all be over and none of it would’ve mattered. Lilisian would be out there in the world, spreading her shit from shore to shore.
And I wasn’t leaving Nay on her own like that.
Greg’s car was a mess from the crash earlier, so he broke into a stationary vehicle and hotwired it. I got in and we were off. My eyes didn’t leave that beast as it slowly moved up the beach, the screams haunting me as we left Rainbow Mile.
Chapter Fourteen
“What’ve we done?” My words came out softer than a whisper.
“We’ll go back,” Greg replied, expertly maneuvering the car along the road.
“It’ll be too late.” Sadness weighed me down. I couldn’t stand it, but I couldn’t fight it. People were dying, friends were dying, and I was moving away from it all. But then Nay would die or be hurt left alone with a Dean that was … I couldn’t get the image of Lilisian’s pregnant belly out of my head.
Greg was right. I had to push it down. This was an attack against me, to break me. No matter what, I had to fight.
Pregnant …
“Fuck!” I howled.
“I know, mate. We’ll figure this out.”
“Dean’s … gonna be a … is it a human baby?” I blew out a breath. “No, let’s not. I can’t. Push it down … push it down …”
He reached over and patted my arm. “I’m here, mate.”
Heading for the mansion was the right thing to do, chanters or not. Nay always came first. As awful as it sounds, she did. She was one of my people—part of the Sacred Circle. I was a weapon for the people, but Nay was above that. Guilt ravaged me, but it didn’t make a difference. It was the truth. I loved her, and I would never leave her behind.
Like the rest of the population …
I didn’t look up at all, my chin on chest, aching in my soul, until Greg ploughed into the hyenas again. They were still howling with laughter, but the purple haze from the potion had gone.
Lilisian was nowhere to be seen, neither was Dean.
The car bounced over bodies, then shot through the mansion gates once the hyena mass was cleared, Greg tearing up the drive.
The beast man was banging on the side of his cube as I leapt out of the vehicle, his actions silent. He was safe in there.
I ran into the mansion, pausing in the hall. Nay’s SOS was coming from below. I was right, he was gonna make for the chanters, and Nay would be trying to stop him.
“Bollocks!” I ran across the hall, Greg on my heels, through the door, down the gray corridor to the lift. I yanked the gate open.
Greg slammed the gate shut behind us, and I hit the button for down. The lift got moving.
Nay’s SOS was growing stronger by the second.
“What we gonna do?” I asked. The silence between us was killing me. What if we had to … kill Dean?
“We stop him,” Greg replied. “We can stop him. Don’t worry, we’re not losing him too.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, my muscles tense, I tried to focus. The weight of guilt had blended with anxiety of the highest bloody order.
The lift stopped, and Greg tore the gate open. We darted out into the damp tunnels of rock, the flames of the torches in their sconces seeming brighter, scared almost.
I heard the commotion before I saw it, the grunting of a man fighting, Nay trying to reason with him.
Then my eyes locked onto him, attacking a shield of blue magic. Punch after punch after punch, an unrelenting machine with a single purpose. Nay was behind it, struggling, defending the wooden door behind her with the red and orange symbols flaring blindingly bright neon.
Nay looked to be slipping as she kept up her spell. I could see her mouth moving, but not hear her, while now and again she’d call Dean’s name.
“Dean!” It was my turn to do the same. “What the fuck you doing?”
He turned slowly, dark eyes glinting in the glow of the torches. They were full of so much hate.
“Weapon.” His voice was as thick as tar, all its usual deep sexiness stripped away.
“My name’s Jake,” I answered. “You know that.”
He snarled. “Weapon.”
I went to step forward but Greg held me back. “Careful, Jakey.”
Nay fell to her knees, the blue shield of magic flickering but still holding.
I couldn’t stand this. “Dean! Please! Fight it, whatever it is she’s done to you. Fight her! Come back to me. Please, Dean. I need you.”
The pregnancy … was that how she was getting to him? Through the … child?
He blinked, snarl faltering a little. “Jake—” The snarl was fading. “J-Jake?”
“Yes, Dean! It’s me!”
“Jake …”
“Dean …”
“J-J—” The snarl returned. “Weapon.” He fell into a crouch. “Weapon! Kill the weapon!” His balled fists glowed pink with fae power, and then he sprung, charging right at me.
Greg leapt into his path, swinging an almighty right hook that caught Dean on the side of the head. He flew into the wall, smacking his head off the rock.
Dean leapt back to his feet, blood pouring from his forehead.
“Fight it!” I yelled at him.
He charged again, leaping into the air with that agile grace of his. Greg went to catch him but got a kick to the ches
t. My golem guardian fell backwards into me, knocking me to the damp ground and crushing me.
Dean howled with rage and unleashed a frenzy of flying fists at Greg, pummeling him. But Greg wouldn’t go down that easy. He kicked out, throwing Dean off. With a grunt, he grabbed Dean’s hands and delivered a nasty head-butt to my lover’s already messed up forehead.
A crunch of bone, and Dean staggered back. His fists were still glowing. He showed no signs of slowing down. What the hell was he running on? He’d burn himself down to nothing, spend his life for the purpose of destruction.
I had to free him.
Greg and Dean went at it then, a proper brawl, body slamming against body, against the rocks. I gestured to Nay. She gave me the thumbs up, but I could see she was fading from the spell. Though I wanted to go to her, I had to resist. She was okay, not dead, not hurt by Dean. Even if I could get past the fighting men, I’d only lead Dean back to her if he overpowered Greg. We couldn’t afford that.
Dean caught Greg in a spinning kick, sending him into the wall. The golem went down heavy.
“Fucker!” Greg boomed.
But Dean already had his eyes on me.
“Fight this!”
He lunged and took me down. We rolled across the ground, me struggling to stop him from landing punches.
“Dean!”
He had me by the throat, his grip instantly crushing my windpipe. My eyes bulged in their sockets but didn’t break from his hateful gaze. I implored him to stop with everything I had, trying to find a trace of him in those onyx orbs as he choked the life out of me.
Greg’s huge arm locked around his neck and yanked him off me.
For one sickening moment I thought his neck was gonna break under the force of Greg’s strength. But Dean’s legs kicked out and his body twisted, freeing him from the golem’s grip. He really was an agile fae bloke, so capable of kicking arse. And it was proving to be a huge fucking problem.
I drank in the blissful air as best I could. He’d really done a number on my larynx. Still, I peeled myself off the ground. My built-in doctor would soon sort me out.
Unable to speak for the moment, I inched closer to the resumed brawl. Greg was taking a battering, but so was Dean. His nose was broken, and his right arm was now dislocated, hanging there useless.
Oh, God! He was a zombie of sorts, not giving a single crap about any damage he took.
Come on! Think!
Nay couldn’t drop her spell. It would leave the chanters vulnerable, though I was seriously doubting now that those flaring ward symbols would be welcoming to Dean from this point on. They weren’t that welcoming to begin with.
Right. There was one thing I could try.
I jumped into the fray as my healing kicked in, getting ahead of the fight as best I could. Before the two men could register me, I let my shield loose.
Dean went flying down the tunnel in the direction I wanted him to, rolling and rolling away from the wards until he jumped back onto his feet.
“He’s the enemy,” I said, voice a little gravelly.
Greg was in the protective cocoon with me, bloody and panting. “Wasn’t expecting that. Prick won’t go down.”
My position blocked the tunnel. There was no way for him to get at Nay now.
Dean’s the enemy …
My shield always welcomed him, had protected him on numerous occasions. Now he was one of them, a danger to me and my guardians.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.
The enemy …
“He wants me dead,” I said.
There it was, rising up to greet me again. Heartbreak, my constant—
No! No fucking way! This wasn’t happening again. I’d break him free, feel his kiss again. Okay, so he’d tried to kill me, but that wasn’t him. My Dean was lost, and I had to find him before Lilisian’s hold destroyed him.
And save his child …
Crap!
“I’m not giving up,” I said to Greg.
He spat out some blood. “Damn right.”
“Come to me, fae.” The whisper drifted through the tunnel. “Come back to me.”
It was her.
“Dean!”
But he was already moving, heading back toward the lift.
I dropped the shield and chased after him, ignoring the protestations of Greg.
Yes, this was all sorts of stupid. The man had wanted me a corpse a few moments ago, but my need for him bolstered me up the friggin’ tunnel.
“Dean!”
Greg’s heavy footsteps were right behind me.
“Jake, you idiot! Get the fuck back here!”
“Come to me …”
“You’re not keeping him! I swear I’ll kill you!”
A faint giggle. “Good luck, Jake.”
I heard the lift gates slam shut. With every scrap of energy I had, I ran toward the already departing lift.
“Dean! Dean!” I fell to my knees. “Dean … I’ll free you.”
Greg fell beside me. “Mate …”
I drew a deep breath before I could lose it. “Nay,” was all I said before springing to my feet and running back down the tunnel.
She was in a heap, barely awake.
Greg pushed ahead of me and scooped her up. “Let’s get her out of here.”
Dean wasn’t waiting anywhere in the mansion for us like I was thinking he might be. He was gone, back through the wards. His dead body wasn’t lying half out of the mansion ground, half on the road, killed by unwelcoming wards. I’d expected to see it, full on dead. But they’d done him no harm. The wards may have let him out, but they wouldn’t be letting him back in again. What held them up was clever magic, even if it was weakening. I was no expert, but I knew that much.
The hyenas were still there, the laughing potion’s effects wearing off, though many of them now had broken bodies.
Nay was now out of action, in a deep sleep. Fuck knows how long she’d take to come out of it. That spell of hers must’ve really sapped her energy.
Greg put her on the huge sofa in the recreation room, and I covered her with a blanket.
“I have to get back out there,” I said.
Greg gulped down some of that white potion we always kept around the house to help him heal up. His bruises would need a little time to piss off, as well as his split lip—which he’d spooned some of that white paste on that worked so well with injuries. But he was resilient, the embodiment of physical strength. We had some good medicines in the mansion, thanks to Nay and … Karla.
There was a ping, and Greg clicked his phone. “Bliss and Eric are five minutes away.” He put the device away. “I’ll set the cannons loose on the hyenas with most of them fucked anyway. I’ve told the wolves to hold off approaching the mansion until I give them the signal.”
Unleashing the cannons was usually Mr. Douglas’s job. But he was still out for the count somewhere. I hadn’t seen him yet. He was the gun expert. Bullets didn’t kill beasts, only I could do that. But they could be seriously fucked up by the pulling of a trigger—not that I could actually touch any sort of weapon to do it myself. My body resisted anything from sword to pistol. A bullet-ridden beast body could be so broken that the beast would be adrift, looking for a new shell to come back in and give me a headache. I didn’t fully understand how that worked, but the rule was that true death only came from me delivering my killing blow to their head and slipping into the place of fog to break their essence. It was always preferable for me to kill beasts in the moment rather than waiting, cutting off the possibility of respawning. But they couldn’t run away now, so they’d be easy targets, and time was as much an enemy as Lilisian.
“Hang on.” With that I made a quick dash upstairs.
From the top floor of the mansion, I looked out across the city. There was a good view of the coast and Rainbow Mile below.
“What the hell?”
The giant sea beast called Lache hadn’t moved from his position on the sand. It was so bloody huge
I could pretty much make out its gross features.
Why wasn’t it moving?
Blue lights of the emergency services cut through the darkening day down there. The beast didn’t react to them. It wouldn’t take long before it did, antagonized by the police’s presence.
This was something, a temporary respite. Not that I’d be hanging out here, figuring shit out. I had to get down there right now.
A sickening crack and the cannons unleashed on the hyenas.
I ran back downstairs, watching from the main doors until the cannons were spent. Though I knew what the result would be, I tried calling Rose. The line was dead.
A van came roaring up the road, still smoking from the hell that’d been unleashed on those bastards. Greg was by my side as the wolves’ black vehicle came tearing up the driveway.
“What the fuck is that thing on the beach?” Bliss roared as she jumped out of the van.
“Something I need to go and kill right now,” I answered.
Eric joined her, deep concern spread across his dark face. He gestured to the vehicle. “Take the van. Rocket launcher’s in the back—freshly made by Rico the goblin. We’ll have to introduce him to you some day.” The other two rocket launchers had been lost in the last fight with Lilisian.
Greg nodded as Bliss handed him the keys.
“Blow the shit out of it,” she said. “We’ve got things covered here. Nay’ll be fine.”
Greg took it. “Don’t let Mr. Douglas free.”
Bliss nodded, her normally pale skin going a little paler. She knew Karla was dead but there’d been no chance to have a briefing.
“Anything from Ben regarding Rose?”
Bliss shook her head. “I’m so fucking worried. But get this done, and then get over to the goblins. Ben and Cassie are hardcore. At least that’s something to hold on to.”
She didn’t sound so sure about that.
“Thanks for everything,” I offered.
“Just get down there,” Bliss replied.
I jumped up into the passenger seat, and we were off seconds later.
Chapter Fifteen
There were police everywhere, Rainbow Mile blocked off. The armed cops had their weapons trained on the thing their brains wouldn’t be able to comprehend. Still, the tenacity to do their job was pretty bloody admirable. At least the civilians had been removed from the immediate area. But if the beast decided to do more than stand there, it wouldn’t matter where anyone was. They’d all be pancakes.