by Jasmine Walt
One problem at a time, Malina.
Save my mother, and then find a way to reseal the gate.
Almost there…just another foot or two and—
The entity tucked in her chin, her eyes glowing white in the darkness. My mother’s lips curled cruelly. “I have a gift for you,” she said. “Now that I no longer need it.”
She fell forward. No. Not her. Because she was still standing there staring at me with a new face. It was my mother’s body that fell. Hitting the ground with a thud and lying still.
The Daughter of Chaos looked down at me, her delicate features sharpening to something primal and cruel.
This was Elara’s face. This was the void.
The glow in her eyes morphed to amber, and black veins flared to life across her alabaster skin.
“It feels good to be back in my original skin.” Her voice was different—lower and smoother now that she wasn’t utilizing my mother’s vocal cords.
My mother…
Her body lay crumpled like a discarded tissue. A fresh kind of agony ripped through me, and my vision blurred. I needed the heat, my fire, my power, but when I reached for it, I found nothing but a void. The seal was gone. I was defenseless.
“Oh, don’t worry, little gatekeeper. It’ll be over very soon.” Her voice was calm, almost serene. She flicked her wrist, and a strip of shadow unfurled, cracking against the ground like a whip. “Your body is an encumbrance. Your body is expendable.” The shadow whip cracked again, but this time, barbs appeared along its length. She brought the whip back, ready to strike.
I closed my eyes.
The shadow whip cut through the air, and I visualized my dad’s smile and recalled Garuda’s deep, throaty chuckle. I’d tried, but it was over.
The entity’s triumphant laugh filled my ears, and rage unfurled inside me. If I was going to die, I would look death in the eye.
Death…where was my Yamduth, my reaper?
I opened my eyes as the tail of the whip hurtled toward me, and I looked past it, right into her beautiful face, just as her body tore in two. Her shadow halves dispersed around the crack of light that split the gloom, leaving nothing but the echo of her scream. The sliver in reality exploded outward, expelling two figures.
My eyes burned from not blinking as the larger of the figures pulled himself to his feet and glanced around the room.
His gaze fell on me. “Malina? What the fuck?” He rushed toward me, kneeling and pulling me up into his arms.
“Where are we?” the other figure asked.
But my attention was on the first man, who was stroking my face and pressing kisses to my wet cheeks.
I reached up with a trembling hand and grazed his jaw with my fingers. He was real. This was real. Not a figment of my imagination, not a dream. He was really here.
Garuda was alive.
17
“She was here; I can smell her.” Garuda scanned the room.
“The doorway must have disrupted her energy,” Jeremiah said. “There is residual magic here.”
Their words were important, but… “Garuda… How?”
His gaze focused on me, his expression softening. “I had something to live for.” He caressed my cheek. “And Jeremiah here was able to convince the spirits to let me go. We weren’t far behind you, maybe ten minutes or so.” He frowned. “How long were we gone?”
“It’s been almost a week. I thought…”
He closed his eyes, sighing through his nose. “You thought I was dead. You grieved.”
A sob crawled up my throat, and I swallowed it. “I thought you were gone.” I couldn’t stop touching his face, his neck, his shoulders. He was real, and he was here. Joy was a rapidly expanding bubble in my chest.
“It seems like we got here just in time.”
Shit. I struggled to sit up on my own, wincing as my body protested. “The multi-verse…the seal is open. And my mother…”
But Jeremiah was already hovering over her body. “There’s a pulse, but it’s extremely weak.”
“My mother…I need to get to her.” Could the nagamuni help revive her? I had to try. “Please, help me.” I shifted, trying to sit up, wincing as every sore muscle in my body protested.
Garuda pulled me up, allowing me to lean on him as I hobbled over to my mother’s prone form. She was lying on her side, her hair spilling over her cheek. Kneeling on aching knees, I brushed her hair away from her face and rolled her onto her back. I needed to pass the nagamuni to her, the way Vinnay had done for me. What should I do? Just put my mouth on hers?
“Malina,” Garuda said. “I’m not sure where we’ve landed, but I can guess it’s in a pile of shit, so maybe we should just grab your mother and get the hell out.”
“She won’t make it.” I just knew it.
Closing my eyes, I searched for the ice that Vinnay had pressed into me—that arctic burn that had slid down my throat to nestle in my chest. Yes. There it was. Burning like cold fire. Quickly, before I lost the connection, I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, pinching her cheeks to force her mouth open. What now? Before I could try anything else, the ball of power inside me erupted upward, searing my throat and mouth on its way home. I sat back, waiting.
Her body twitched, and then she exploded into a sitting position with a hungry gasp for air. Her slanted eyes stared at me, then Garuda, took in the room, skimmed over Jeremiah, then came back to rest on me.
“Not a dream?” she said.
I shook my head. “No. You’re free.”
She clenched her jaw, her eyes glistening. “Where is she?”
“Gone. For now. And we have to get out of here, too. Are you okay to walk?”
She pulled herself up on steady feet. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for years.” She stared at her hands, turning them over as if seeing them for the first time. “To have my body back. My free will. And now I’m going to use it to kill her.”
Garuda nodded. “Great, we’re on the same page. So let’s get the hell out of here so we can figure out our next move.”
My mother was staring at him, her chest doing the rapid-breathing thing. Crap. Of course, it was the naga instinct. Garuda went completely still, barely breathing, afraid he would spook her and she would bolt.
I placed a hand on her arm. “It’s all right. He isn’t going to hurt you. I promise.”
She looked from me to him as if trying to decide whether she could take my word for it. She nodded slowly, and her breathing calmed.
“Okay?”
“Yes. I can handle it.”
“Good. We need to find the others and get to Brahma Corp. Only the gods can help us now.”
“I can’t go with you,” my mother said. “I need to get to my family. Once I know they’re safe, I can focus on the bitch who took me prisoner.”
Her family? Didn’t she realize who I was? Surely my eyes would have given me away. But then, we were bathed in red light and shrouded in darkness. I opened my mouth to explain, but Garuda grabbed my arm and cut in.
“Sounds like a plan, and we’d be happy to help once we’re clear of this place.” He gave me a pointed look.
This was no place for a reunion. No place to tell a wife that her husband was dead and she’d missed seventeen years of her daughter’s life. But after years of wondering and months of hoping, I finally had her here, within reach. All I wanted to do was throw my arms around her and hear her tell me she loved me.
I cleared my throat. “Let’s get out of here.”
Jeremiah did most of the defensive maneuvers, using magic to knock back and disable our attackers. For a guy who’d been locked up and siphoned from for goodness knows how long, he was certainly in his element. My body was stiff, but I managed to hold my own. Vindra in hand, I was ready to slice and dice the fuckers who managed to evade Jeremiah’s mojo. I’d managed without power before, and I’d be fine without it now.
With the fail-safe activated, the Kubera supes realized they were truly caged in and wer
e going crazy. They came at us in droves. Hitting us—or trying to—from all sides. Not just the Kubera supes, but the prisoners, too—kitted out in their brown jumpsuits. My mother was pretty impressive, ducking and punching to hold her own. Jeremiah strode ahead, chanting melodically, hands moving in strange patterns to ward off our attackers. How much longer could he hold them off? Had he just staggered?
We were almost clear, one more flight of stairs to go, when the intercoms burst to life and a familiar male voice assaulted our ears.
“Surely you didn’t think we’d enter without a way out, did you?”
We paused in the doorway to the stairwell. The head of the Kubera. The same guy we’d come across when saving Ajitah’s children, the same guy who’d goaded us from a monitor under the warehouse in the Red Zone. He was here, and he was about to get away.
“You’re not the only ones with magic.” There was a definite smug tone to his voice. “I’ll be leaving you with a few friends of mine. Enjoy.”
The intercom went dead.
“Move,” Garuda ordered.
We were going so fast down the stairs that, if not for Garuda’s broad back to break my fall, I would have gone arse over tit. The door below us slammed open, and Garuda came to a halt, his arm shooting out to stop us going any further.
“Where are you, prey?” a snide voice called up the stairs. “We can smell your life force writhing in your veins.”
Garuda looked over his shoulder, his expression grim, and it was as if I could read his mind. We could head back up, but there could be more Kubera creations on the upper floor. It was best to take our chances, stand our ground, and fight.
I nodded.
Jeremiah moved down a couple of steps to stand abreast of Garuda, both men shielding me and my mother—whether subconsciously or not, I wasn’t sure. But I was grateful. Breaking bond with the seal had weakened me more than I wanted to admit. My limbs were still shaky, and a strange thrum filled my blood. My insides ached, and my skin felt tight and sore. It had been a few hours since my last meal…did that even count anymore? Was I still a hellhound without access to the seal?
All thoughts flew out of my head as our opponents rounded the curve in the stairwell. Bright blue eyes rimmed in red, skin as pale as death—they were the epitome of what a vampire should be. If I hadn’t seen the photographs of the first batch of missing witch bloods and aberrations, I’d have thought these were just that—run-of-the-mill vamps. No such luck. These were our missing batch of vampire-witches—creatures with access to the skein.
Crap.
“I’m hungry,” the first female said.
“You had the last two guards we caught,” the male behind her said.
“Boss says we gotta share,” the taller female behind them said.
I recognized them all, but whether due to adrenaline or my recent ordeal, I couldn’t for the life of me recall their names. Except I knew the first female was Mal’s lover…or at least, he’d wanted her to be.
Garuda held up his hands. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to.”
The three creatures traded glances before bursting into maniacal laughter. The cackles cut off so abruptly it sent a chill down my spine.
They glared up at us, bathed in the red gleam of emergency lights, mouths working as if controlling an overproduction of saliva.
“I want the big one,” Mal’s girl said.
The male licked his lips. “I call dibs on the women.”
“Hey! Not fair,” the female at the back said. “Why’d I get the reject?”
“Charming,” Jeremiah muttered.
But I was done with the chitchat. I had a date with freedom, and I wasn’t about to be late. I threw Vindra at the male. The blade was spot on, aiming to hit right between the eyes, but it froze an inch from the vamp-witch’s forehead, flipped over, and came whizzing back at me. My mother yanked me out of the way just in time. Vindra clanged against the wall behind me before hitting the ground.
“Now I’m pissed off and hungry,” the male said.
Garuda brought his arm back to deliver a punch but didn’t make the hit. He stood frozen in place, muscles bulging. The female gave a whoop and leapt on him, wrapping her arms and legs around his body in preparation to feed off his life force.
Sod that!
Vindra was back in her sheath, and this time I wasn’t going to give them the chance to divert my attack. I shoved Garuda off balance, knocking him and the vampire-witch attached to him into the wall. She screamed and clawed at him, trying to maintain a grip. I slashed, cutting through her fingers and leaving her nothing to grip with. Another bloodcurdling scream pierced my ears as she tumbled down the steps.
Her companions attacked. My legs gave way, and I grabbed the railing to steady myself, but then my arms lost all feeling and my fingers slipped. I tumbled, head cracking hard against the steps as I went down. Something cold and hard landed atop me.
Fuck. Shit. One of the bastards was on me.
His fingers dug into my arms, his mouth latched onto my neck—cold and slimy. He began to suck. No teeth, just a strange tugging sensation like…was I floating?
Jeremiah’s chant was so far away, but the vamp-witch atop me faltered regardless, his grip loosening just a little, and I slammed back into my body. The smell of charred meat invaded my nostrils. The numbness in my limbs ebbed enough for me to twist and buck. But the bugger was persistent, holding on with all he had. The chanting grew louder, and the vamp atop me froze. He lifted his head from the crook of my neck, his psychotic blue eyes wide and uncomprehending.
“Wha—”
He exploded in a cloud of ashes that pricked my skin like a shower of pins wherever they landed.
Garuda hauled me up into his arms, cradling me so tight I honestly believed he would never let me go. He took the final stretch of steps two at a time and burst onto the ground floor. His chest vibrated against me, and a quick peek at his face showed the fluid shift of features that signaled a predatory change. He was holding on to his human form with everything he had, the predator in him desperate to take the lead. But the protector won.
“I’m fine. I can walk.”
He looked down his nose at me, a low growl rumbling in his chest.
“I promise. I’m fine.”
Slowly, reluctantly, he placed me on my feet.
Mother looked from Garuda to me, her gaze speculative. “I know you…” she said to Garuda.
He ignored her, turning to me. “Which way now?”
“This way.” I led them toward the evacuation point.
Had they left without us? The entity’s attack, followed by the vampire-witches, meant it had been almost forty minutes since I’d tripped the alarm. I wouldn’t blame them for leaving me behind. It was the mission that counted. Getting the innocents out and keeping the Kubera in.
We barreled into the guards’ station covered in gore and blood. And there was Ajitah, a heart-lifting sight, waiting by the evacuation tunnel. Vinnay stood shoulder to shoulder with him, their bodies bathed in crimson by the emergency lights. A pile of supernatural bodies lay crumpled in the corner of the room—Ajitah and Vinnay’s handiwork, no doubt. Ajitah’s mouth fell open at the sight of Garuda.
Vinnay shot forward to gather my mother into his arms.
“What are you doing here?” she said. “I don’t understand.”
“Who is this?” Ajitah asked.
Of course. He’d never seen my mother, or the entity wearing her skin, but now wasn’t the time to tell him. I shook my head, warning in my eyes.
Vinnay released my mother, staring down at her as if she was the most precious thing in the universe.
I touched her arm. “We need to go.” I turned to Ajitah. “Parker?”
“They’re out. They gave me five minutes before they would remotely close the evacuation tunnel. We need to move. Now.”
I ushered Jeremiah, Vinnay, and my mother through, and then followed.
“Good to see you
, Ajitah,” Garuda said.
“You too,” Ajitah replied.
No—how are you alive? No—what took you so long? Just straight to the point. I liked it.
A crackle filled the air, followed by Parker’s tinny voice.
Ajitah pulled a walkie from his back pocket, stepped into the tunnel, and depressed the button. “Shut it down. Do it now.”
Red lights flashed eerily as we ran down the exit. The steel tunnel spat us out in the sparse woodland half a mile outside the prison perimeter. Another five-minute trek and we were back at our van.
Mother moved toward me, but I stepped away, climbing into the front passenger seat. Now wasn’t the time for her to figure out who I was. The night was bright enough for her to see my eyes and make the connection.
Garuda steered her toward the back of the van. I slumped in my seat. The door was flung open a moment later, and Garuda climbed up. One hand on the dash, the other cupping the back of my neck, he brought his mouth down on mine, firm and real and safe. I fisted his shirt and pulled him closer. Breathing him in, eyes pricking with the enormity of the gift I’d been given. I’m here, the kiss said. I’m not going anywhere. To be continued. And then he was striding to the back of the van, leaving me with the imprint of his promise.
We cut down back roads, taking a longer route to get to our destination to avoid the chaos and carnage the rest of the Kubera’s creations, not trapped in The Pit, were wreaking. The night sky was lit by fire. The bang and pop of intermittent explosions and the desperate screams of humans in distress filled the air. The ground rumbled and shook as if a deadly force was awakening beneath our feet.