Dirty fucker.
“Come on. We’ll go slow.” I stepped away from the tree.
“You sure?” Erik’s tone was calm, but I saw the fear in his eyes.
“You don’t deal with the supernatural much, do you?” I weaved through the trees, stopping every ten feet or so to check the giant continued to move away.
“Just demons. Nothing else.” He paused and then went on. “Are you going to let me help you with Orion?”
Wasn’t that the question of the day, one I had only another question for: “I don’t know, are you going to get me killed, or are you actually going to help me?”
“I wouldn’t have come all this way to see you die.” The sadness in his voice struck me and I did something I didn’t often employ. I Tracked Erik, right where he was. His threads were heavy with sorrow, true sorrow that flowed from his soul and a heavy dose of fear.
From what I could tell, there was no malice in his intentions.
I let out a long sigh. “Erik, I protect those I love and trust above all else. I’ve lost too many people and been betrayed too many times not to. If I could do it on my own, I would. But I can’t. I’m not fucking delusional. I need to know—are you in this with me, really with me? No more holding back.”
He nodded slowly and held out his hand to me and I bit the inside of my cheek. I was not a public display of affections kind of girl. But he was my uncle and we were trying to make this right. I reached out and gave him a hug. Quick, very quick. I stepped back—his eyebrows were high with an unspoken question.
“You’re my uncle. It would just be weird to shake your hand, I think.”
With nothing else to say, I continued on the path as the skies above opened up and welcomed us back to Britain.
Alex followed him the whole way to Jack’s manor, running right at his hip where the second in command in a pack would run. It both amused and pleased him that the formerly submissive werewolf would willingly take the place.
Jack’s manor looked fairly silent. Liam knew there would be clothes and a working phone; Rylee and he had spent a little time there only a few weeks past. His bigger concern was booby traps and uglies might be waiting for them. Or worse, for Rylee.
He let out a low growl at the thought of someone trying to ambush her, but he knew that was more likely than people waiting with cake and cookies to welcome her.
They circled the manor twice and smelling nothing other than Will, Deanna, and a faint hint of Jack, Liam made his way to the back door and shifted. As a wolf he hadn’t noticed the misting rain, but buck naked … he let out a shiver and tested the door knob.
Locked.
With a sharp push of his shoulder, he popped the lock. One of the perks of being a shifter, he didn’t have to use much force to make things happen. Alex trotted in behind him and pushed the door shut with a hind foot.
“Dusty.” He let out a loud, fake sneeze as if to make sure Liam understood him.
“Yeah, a little.”
Liam wasted no time, going to the closest phone in the library. He lifted the old-school receiver, relieved to hear a dial tone beeping even if it was a bit scratchy with his proximity to it. Dialing Deanna, he wondered how his wolf would deal with Will now. Now that he knew he didn’t have long to live.
His hand tightened over the phone, creaking the old plastic.
Of course, Deanna didn’t pick up, Will did. Liam could tell just from the sound of his breathing.
“Will, Rylee needs a ride from the castle trail head.”
“Nice to hear from you too, old chap,” Will grunted. “Is she there now?”
“If she isn’t, she will be soon. Bring her to Jack’s place.”
“Of course, anything for you, O’ Mighty One.” Will hung up and Liam let out a breath as he put the receiver down.
Will loves her; he will keep her safe after you’re gone. Truth, though it might be, was not welcome in his head. The worst part was how quiet his wolf was. Above all else, he wanted to protect Rylee, and if that meant allowing Will to be a part of her life, then so be it.
He grabbed the phone and threw it against the wall, a snarl ripping out of him.
Alex cringed and stared up at him, licking his lips. “Boss?”
“It’s not you.” He stalked out of the room to find clothes. “It’s me.”
Chapter 11
WE DIDN’T HAVE to wait long at the trail before the sound of a vehicle reached our ears. But long enough that we were soaked. The only good thing was Liam’s clothes insulated me and kept me warm, despite the wet. Even gone, he looked out for me. The thought made me smile, and then cringe. Love struck was not something I thought I’d be in my life. Yet every once in a while I realized that’s exactly what I was.
Such a weird, weird world.
“You got friends everywhere.” Erik’s hand went to his sword as the vehicle drew close, and I shook my head.
“Not everywhere, but I have a few here. No need to get all freaky protective, not with …” I stood a little taller, straining to see who was driving the coming vehicle. I couldn’t help the surprise that colored my voice. “Will.”
“Not who you thought?”
“Liam hates him and the feeling is fairly mutual.” Deanna was the one I expected. But maybe she wasn’t answering her phone. Who the hell knew?
Will slowed to a stop and rolled his window down. “Hello, beautiful, you need a ride?”
My eyebrows shot up and I slid into the front seat. “I look like a fucking drowned rat, so keep your pretty words for the pretty girls.”
Erik slid into the back, behind Will. I had to admit, at least he was taking his role of protector and teacher seriously now. From where he sat, and the length of his sword, he could run Will through in a split second. Not that he would need too.
Will tried to grab my hand and I slapped him away. Hard. “What the hell, you think because Liam isn’t here you can make a move on me? Idiot.”
From the back seat, Erik tried, and failed, to stifle a laugh. Will’s jaw ticked and I just shook my head.
I pointed at Erik. “Will, meet my Uncle Erik. He’s a Slayer so treat him with respect.”
Will gave him a nod, and a slight widening of his eyes, but said nothing. Hell, I was surprised he didn’t ask what a Slayer was. Then again, he probably knew. I seemed to be the only one lacking in the “know your supernaturals” department. If you didn’t count Erik, that was.
“Where are we headed?” I assumed Liam gave Will instructions to meet up and I could tell by our direction we weren’t headed to Jack’s.
“The police station.”
I frowned, surprised that Liam would have run all the way into London proper after going to Jack’s place. Or maybe he was headed that way to meet us. Yeah, that was more likely. I slid down in my seat and closed my eyes, Tracking Pamela and Milly.
Milly was awake, Pamela was unconscious. I had a feeling Milly kept her knocked out on purpose. The more the kid’s mind was protected, the better. I was betting the less Pamela saw in the deepest level of the veil, the easier her life would be after. And yes, I did think she would come out of this; I had to believe. There was no other way to do a salvage like this.
The thing I couldn’t figure out was why Milly didn’t jump them both out of there. Or even herself. Not that I wanted her to leave Pamela, but couldn’t she even open the veil up to us, so we could come through? Fuck, this was one of those moments where the ability to Track frustrated the hell out of me. I could find them, know what they felt, even know if they died, but I couldn’t communicate with them.
“How long are you here for this time?” Will’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
“I don’t know.” I tried not to snap at him; he was helping after all. “Sorry, you just interrupted a flow of thoughts.”
He laughed softly. “I know who and what you are, Rylee. You don’t need to apologize to me.”
From the back seat, Erik let out a grunt and leaned back, lacing his fing
ers behind his head. “I see why Liam doesn’t like him. Does your friend here act like this around your wolf?”
“Yes.” I rubbed my head. “Is Deanna at the police station?”
“No. She’s out of town, on some sort of druid business.” Will’s hands flexed on the steering wheel and I wondered what kind of business a druid could have. Not that it really mattered unless she was trying to unite her people against me. Which she might very well be with her ridiculous ideas of peace.
“Will she side with us? When the time comes, will she actually fight?”
His eyes slid to mine then back to the road. “I don’t know. I’m trying to bring her around. All the shifters here will, and of course my cats, the destruction, is with you. I don’t have much connection with other supernaturals, which is where Deanna comes in. And she wants this to end peacefully.”
So we had help in the form of Will’s destruction, a pack of cat shape shifters and not much else.
That was exactly what I was worried about.
“She’s an idiot.” I struggled not to cuss his sister out. I wanted to, but I didn’t. How could she be so blind as to not see we needed all the help we could get to fight Orion and his demons?
“All the prophecies I read,” I said, “talk about how Orion will break through, that it is just a matter of when and where. It’s that point we have to take him out.”
Erik leaned forward, putting his arms on the edge of the bench seat. “You mean to let him come through?”
“Shit no. I will stall him as long as I can because we need time to get our own allies together. You saw the ogres. Orion isn’t fucking stupid, though I wish he was. He’s dividing us so I will stand alone, or close to it, when he finally breaks free.” The words were harsh and they were the first time I’d said them out loud. The weight of them wrapped around me and made it hard to breathe. All the prophecies, all the things I’d learned, finally came together in one big swoosh inside my brain. Divide and conquer, that was Orion’s game. And it was working.
“We are in deep shit; I had no idea how bad it was,” Erik said.
“Are you telling me you don’t know this? You don’t know any of the prophecies?” I twisted in my seat, and he shook his head.
“I’m taught how to fight demons, not prophecies. Big difference.”
Will shot a glance at Erik in the rear view mirror. “No history lessons about the creatures you were learning to kill at the academy? My understanding was that it was one of the most important parts of being a Slayer. Learning what had happened, and what was coming.”
Erik’s face paled, and then went bright red. But he said nothing. And I knew then he truly wasn’t trained as a proper Slayer. Fuck, just my luck to get a second rate trainer when it came to saving the world from demons.
Still, he was all I had.
“Lay the fuck off, Will. Unless you suddenly have a degree in demon hunting.”
The two men sat silently and I tucked myself deeper into my seat. There wasn’t anything I could do about Erik. I needed him and every scrap of knowledge he had. I hugged Liam’s clothes to me. His scent wafted up, soothing, and Will wrinkled his nose.
I didn’t care; he could damn well suck it up. I only wished Liam was with me now; just being there would be enough to help with the fears boiling inside my head.
The police station came into view and my anxiety rolled back full force. Last few times I’d been here, things had not gone well. Zombie outbreak, big ass panther guardian trying to kill me, Liam trapped by Milly. Yeah, not much good ever happened here.
Will went in first but I found myself dragging my heels.
“Bad memories? Get locked up as a kid?”
I glanced at Erik and saw he wasn’t teasing, he was serious.
“Bad memories, yes. Locked up as a kid, only once.” I walked forward, not really afraid, more apprehensive. But then, Liam would be inside, waiting for me. Yeah, that helped. I jogged up the steps and opened the door.
Inside, the SOCA agents worked diligently, in fact not one looked up. That was a bit odd. Then I saw Denning. The biggest douche in Britain, if not the world. His eyes flicked to me and I saw the glimmer in them, a flash of red, and something shimmered around him. I squinted, using my second sight, my eyes widening when I saw confirmation of what I suspected. Motherfucker, I would take his head right now.
I straightened my shoulders and strode toward him, loosening my swords. The world seemed to slow as Erik strode behind me, somewhat oblivious. How could he not have seen what I’d seen?
Denning was demon possessed. Which explained why he wanted the world to know about the supernatural—it would only forward Orion’s position.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Will, saw him nod. The asshole kitty cat knew about his boss.
And had brought me here to clean up the mess. Lightning fast anger zipped through my synapses.
I would deal with Will soon enough. Denning saw us, raised an eyebrow and then opened his mouth. I expected him to yell at us, to try and bluff his way out.
Nope, not this time. Black vomit flecked with pieces of what I knew was intestine spewed out of his mouth as the demon broke free of its human prison.
“Come on, bitch!” I wove my blade in the air, making it burn. Prepping it to drive into the demon who pulled himself out of Denning like taking off a Halloween costume.
Slimy with Denning’s remains, the demon unfolded itself, head touching the ceiling. Like a stick bug on steroids the thing was long and gangly, joints all over the place so when it reached to drive a long pointy stick leg through a SOCA agent sitting stunned at her desk, I wasn’t surprised.
“Erik.” I moved to one side, and he flanked the demon on the other.
“It’s a Stick demon. We like to keep it simple. Slow it down by taking its head.”
Sure, that was going to be simple. More and more long, dangerous stick legs unfolded from the fuckers body and I was through waiting. The more legs he had out, the harder he would be to deal with.
I leapt in, swinging both swords, reverberation going through the tough exoskeleton running up my arms and down my spine. The demon didn’t screech, didn’t even moan.
It laughed, multiple eyes blinking at me, all at different times. “Little girl, little girl, I will love to eat your heart and hand your soul to my master.” It swung a leg toward me and I deflected it. From the other side I caught glimpses of Erik battling with his fair share of legs, ducking and slashing, but unable to actually hit the bastard. Backing up too fast, he tripped over a desk and disappeared. Great. Some help he was.
“Creepy fucker.” I spun, driving my right hand sword down through its body, pinning it to the floor like the bug it was. A spurt of pale yellow fluid bled out around my blade, coating the floor with a hissing burn.
“Watch the blood,” I said, raising my second sword and grabbing my whip with my empty right hand.
Now the demon wasn’t so happy. I smiled up at him. “Little girl, this, shit head.”
“Wait. Do you not wish to interrogate me?” Its eyes rolled and blinked and I didn’t dare look away. Too many legs still flailing about.
“Wrong person. I don’t interrogate. I kill.” I snapped my whip forward, curling it around the demon’s neck and yanked it forward. The whip didn’t hurt it, but it brought the bastard within range.
My blade bit through the demon’s neck, the head rolling forward, yellow bile pouring out of its neck hole. In a rush, the body slumped down, melting into the bile, bubbling and burning a hole through the floor. Chunks of concrete fell into the lower levels along with the dripping body.
Erik clapped a hand on my shoulder and I tensed. He didn’t seem to notice. “Not even trained and you are a better Slayer than me. Not surprised; your father was the best of the best.”
There was no malice or jealousy in his voice, but I had no doubt at one point, there had been.
I gave him a nod and looked into the hole. At the bottom, I could just see the glimmer
of my sword. Swinging my whip, I snapped it into the hole and with it grabbed the handle of my sword. A sharp tug and the weapon sailed up to where I could snatch it out of the air.
“Fancy,” Will said. “You practice that move?”
“I work with all my weapons, asshole. You know that.”
“Why am I the asshole?”
Erik snorted and tucked his weapons away. “You have to ask that and then wonder why she picked Liam over you? Shit, man, even I know that answer and I’ve only known her a few days.”
“Liam isn’t here, is he?” I looked around for something to wipe my blades off and settled for someone’s coat slung over a chair. The demon blood burned right through it, so I threw what was left down the hole.
“He’s at Jack’s manor.”
I glanced around and really looked at the SOCA agents surrounding us. Oh, fuck a duck. There were a dozen—as in twelve—and every single one flashed me some seriously red eyes.
We were in for a fight.
“Will.”
“What?”
“You think that Denning wasn’t busy recruiting the whole time he was here?” Will’s body stiffened. Yeah, that a boy, let that thought sink through your thick stupid skull.
Erik let out a sigh. “Bah. There can never be just one demon. Always has to be a bloody damn herd of them.”
The ‘”agents” were shifting closer and closer, tightening the ring around us. Will’s eyes were wide. “I didn’t think there would be more.”
“There’s always more,” Erik said. “Nature of the beasts, as it were.”
I didn’t wait for the “agents” to completely shift. I lifted my two swords and ran at those closest, swinging hard. They didn’t fight, couldn’t, when caught between their two forms.
Will followed my lead and we’d downed ten of the twelve before the last two broke through their human shells.
Upside, they were small, young demons. Down side, they were fast little bastards. And they didn’t wait to fight us. They ran.
“Rylee, they breed like rabbits,” Erik yelled, running after them. They were headed for the stairs leading to the roof.
Veiled Threat Page 10