“Dad?” she called again, her hand fumbling for the light switch.
A low, chilling rustle responded to her voice, the sound a snake made as it unfurled. But this was so much bigger, so much heavier than any snake.
Riley found the switch, flicked it and… nothing. The room remained drenched in obscurity. The winding unease intensified in the pit of her stomach, becoming a painful knot that sapped all the confidence in her. She began creeping out backwards, never turning her back on the gaping void and whatever sinister force lurked within. Whatever it was, she could feel it breathing. She could feel its hot breath singeing the skin on her arms.
Without pausing to think, she grabbed the door and slammed it closed. The sound cracked through the empty apartment, filling every crevice like thunder.
Breathing hard, she unfurled her stiff fingers from around the chunk of ice that had become the doorknob and took several unsteady steps back.
It’s your imagination, the voice in her head assured her. But it was that little sliver of doubt, the one that had firsthand knowledge of the things that lurked in the dark, evil things that refused to listen. What if something had captured her father? What if it was Baron waiting for her?
Her hand flew to her bracelet. She needed to get out.
Not waiting, she turned on her heels and ran. Behind her, she could have sworn she heard the distinct rumble of laughter, but she didn’t stop. She snatched up her things off the counter and left the apartment.
“Riley?” Magnus glanced up from the bits of neatly cut paper he was organizing on the counter when she slammed through the doors into Final Judgment, stumbling over her feet and nearly face planting.
“Something… something has my dad!” she panted, doubling over as she gasped for breath. “Something…”
Magnus was around the counter and at her side in seconds. His hands were gentle as they grabbed her and took her to a chair. “Breathe,” he ordered, kneeling before her. “What has your father?”
Riley shook her head. “I don’t know. It was in his room. I mean…” She raked shaky fingers through her hair. “I didn’t see it, but…”
“What’s going on?” Gideon appeared through the swinging doors. The buckles on his boots jingled as he stomped to where they sat.
Magnus got to his feet and faced his brother. “Riley thinks there was someone in her apartment.”
“I didn’t think someone was there,” she protested. “I… felt it. It was in his room.”
“Road trip?” Gideon said.
Magnus nodded. “Road trip.”
They turned simultaneously to the door and made it all the way there before Riley caught up to them.
“I’m going,” she said when they both glanced at her. “My dad could be in trouble and need my help.”
“Not sure what kind of help you could provide,” Magnus drawled. “But if you must.” He swung the door open and held it for her.
“Octavian is going to kill us,” Gideon muttered, following her out.
They took Gideon’s car, a shiny, gray… hearse.
“What?” Gideon yanked open the backdoor for her, grinning. “It’s a classic.”
“It’s a carrier of dead bodies,” Riley muttered, climbing in.
“It’s a Rolls-Royce,” he corrected. “And I think it’s kind of poetic considering what we do.”
She just gave him an almost amused stare as he shut the door and slid into the driver’s seat. Magnus was already in the passenger’s seat, seemingly unaffected by the fact that they were driving around in a car made to cart around corpses and at that moment, Riley couldn’t really bring herself to notice either.
They drove without stopping down the winding, deserted highway towards her apartment. Gideon cut the engine and climbed out to open her door. Magnus was already jogging up the stairs to the foyer doors.
“Keys!” he called down, making an opening and closing clamshell with his hands.
Riley dug into her purse and fished them out. She gave them to Gideon who tossed them in a high arc to his brother. Magnus caught them with no effort and opened the glass doors. He waited for them to join him before stepping inside. He said something to Gideon in a tongue Riley didn’t understand, then jerked his head for Gideon to take lead.
“Stay between us,” Gideon said as he passed Riley.
Giving them a nod that she understood, Riley followed. They moved in a quick, straight line to her door. Magnus slipped an arm around Riley’s middle and dragged her into his side, partially concealing her behind him as Gideon reached for the knob and shoved the door open.
She had no idea where the knives came from, but each boy held a sleek, silver dagger with ornate handles and curved blades. They were much too large to conceal on a person’s body, yet they’d managed to do just that. She made a mental note to ask… later.
“Where?” Gideon whispered from over his shoulder.
Riley pointed in the direction of the bedrooms. “Last door on the left.”
Magnus drew her back further as Gideon started forward. Magnus pressed the tips of his fingers into Riley’s chest, pushing her into the wall making up the narrow foyer.
“Stay here,” he mouthed. “You hear anything, you run. Got it?”
Cotton mouthed and trembling uncontrollably, Riley nodded.
With a last warning glare at her, Magnus followed Gideon down the hall. Riley shifted a little closer to peer around the corner as the boys moved with the grace of a well-oiled machine to her father’s room. They exchanged glances, speaking with their eyes and the jerks of their heads before Gideon reached for the knob and thrust the door open.
Then they were both charging into the darkness with the creature inside.
Chapter 29
Time seemed to lurch to a complete standstill as silence descended on the apartment like resin, trapping them in its syrupy grasp. Even the world outside seemed to fade into nonexistence as Riley held her breath, waiting for something to happen.
When it did, it was in the deafening sound of a body slamming into the wall, followed by the rain of glass across the floor. Something snarled — she was almost certain it wasn’t one of the boys — then more crashes of splintering furniture.
“Gideon!” She heard Magnus cry out a warning, but it must have come too late.
There was a grunt of pain followed by a body sailing out of the room. It struck the corridor wall and crumpled to the ground.
Riley gasped as she recognized Gideon’s unmoving figure. Magnus’ warning forgotten, she ran to him.
“Gideon?” She dropped to his side, her hands shaking as she turned him over, not knowing what to expect, dreading all the horrific possibility.
No puncture wounds. There was an ugly bruise forming across his beautiful face, but otherwise, he seemed all right.
“Okay,” she whispered to him. “It’s okay. I’m going to get help.”
She had no idea how or who, especially since Final Judgment didn’t have a phone and if they did, she never thought to ask for the number. But she couldn’t leave Magnus alone in there either, not when it was her fault they were there.
Leaping to her feet, she did the only thing she could think of. She called Daphne.
“Yellow, yellow?” came her cheerful voice.
“Daph, I need your help.” Fighting to keep her voice calm and slow to avoid having to repeat, Riley told her the direction to Final Judgment, praying with all her might that because she told Daphne the location, the pathway would show up for her. “Ask for Octavian or Liam and tell them it’s an emergency and they need to come to my apartment.”
There was a tiny second of hesitation, then, “You got it.”
Relieved the girl hadn’t asked why or what was happening, she hung up the phone and ran back to Gideon’s side. He hadn’t moved, not a muscle. His dagger lay a few inches from his limp grasp, uselessly glinting in the dim light of the hallway.
Without pausing to think, she snatched it up and dove into her fathe
r’s bedroom.
Someone had torn down whatever had been blocking the daylight and the room was illuminated to its full potential and it looked as though a bomb had gone off. Every piece of furniture in the place was in splinters. There were char marks on the ceiling and walls. The bed was in pieces, cracked in half like doll furniture. The mattress was torn, springs and cotton spilling out. But the thing that caught Riley’s attention most was the sight of her father, perched on Magnus’ chest, trying to pierce his chest with the silver dagger.
“Dad! No!” Her scream startled the two into glancing up and in that split second, Riley knew whatever had Magnus pinned, wasn’t her father. It was a monster with glowing yellow eyes and fangs that protruded all the way to his chin like walrus tusks from a jaw that was unhinged and gaping far wider than any normal jaw ever should be able to. Its face was deformed, twisted and warped into a grotesque mask of hatred, rage and hunger. Riley screamed. The dagger in her hand cluttered to the floor, spinning like a lethal top into the corner.
“Get the hell out of here!” Magnus snarled at her.
Frozen, Riley couldn’t feel her legs to move. She stared, horrified as her father licked his lips with a long, purple tongue. Something low and rumbling erupted from its chest, a faint laughter of sorts as it lunched itself off Magnus straight for her; long, sharp talons extended.
Riley screamed again, leaping back only to hit the wall and nearly loose her balance. The creature nearly had her. The tip of one fingernail grazed her cheek before Magnus tackled the thing back to the ground.
“Run damn it!”
Spurred into action this time, Riley shot over the creature and ran for the door. She was nearly free when something closed around her ankle and the floor vanished from beneath her. She struck the hardwood with a deafening crack that sent stars popping across her vision. Her cheek throbbed where it had ricocheted off the floor, her palms stung, but the worse was the sensation of being dragged backwards back into the lion’s den.
In the corridor, only a few feet away from her, Gideon groaned. He hefted himself up onto his hands and knees and shook his head.
“Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty!” Magnus growled. “Mind giving me a hand if you’re done taking your nap?”
Brought back to the situation, Gideon was on his feet in a flash and diving back into the tangle. He grabbed Riley, kicking away the hand holding her and thrust her into the hallway, out of harm’s way. The thing snarled, throwing itself after her. Its talons sunk into the hardwood, leaving four ugly gashes when Magnus hurled him back.
“Grab the knife!” Magnus snapped at his brother.
“Don’t kill him!” she shouted as Gideon dove for his blade.
“It’s the only way,” Gideon told her, sorrow in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He raised the dagger up over his head.
“No!”
Without pausing, she catapulted to her feet and threw herself at Gideon. Caught off guard, Gideon wasn’t able to stop her as they crashed sideways across the floor of her father’s ruined bedroom. The knife released from his grasp and disappeared beneath the debris.
“Riley!” He threw her off as her father bucked Magnus and whirled. It was so fast, a snake in tall grass. It struck out without any warning and slashed at Magnus’ face, tearing away strips of flesh to slivers of white bone from temple to jaw. Blood spewed, gushing over the creature, over Magnus and the floor.
Riley screamed, the sound swallowed by Gideon’s roar as he lunched himself at her father. But the creature was lost in a frenzy, having picked up the scent of fresh blood. It emanated an inhuman shriek that shook the room. With a powerful sweep, he backhanded Gideon mid pounce and tossed him with no effort into the wall behind Riley. Yellow eyes feasted on Magnus’ crumpled body, the look of a shark ascending on a wounded diver.
Frantic, shaking and scared out of her mind, Riley did the only thing she could think of; she threw herself over Magnus, shielding him as her father’s clawed hand came down on them in a powerful slash.
That was it. She was going to die.
She braced herself, tightening her body, prepared for the pain of being torn to pieces. Her limbs quaked as she used them the best she could to protect Magnus. In the back of her mind, she wondered if Daphne had gotten to Final Judgment and if she was able to get her message to Octavian. Was he on his way? Would he get there in time or had Daphne gone home thinking Riley had played a really weird joke on her?
God, she hoped not. They were about to die. Magnus was out cold and Gideon couldn’t take the creature on by himself and she was useless.
That’s when she saw it, Magnus’ silver dagger. It lay just within reach of her, hilt first. She didn’t stop to think, to consider what she was about to do. Her fingers closed around the cold metal. Its weight was a momentary surprise before adrenaline kicked into gear and she was twisting around.
The creature’s talons sunk into her right shoulder, ripping fabric and flesh crosswise across her chest and collarbone. The numbing pain was excruciating as she became soaked in the hot gush of her own blood. She may have screamed but the moment had become a surreal blur. She was vaguely aware of raising her uninjured arm and driving the curved blade deep into the creature’s heart, piercing him. His howls rang like bells through the buzzing in her skull. Thick, black blood bubbled up around the hilt of the blade, like tar against her father’s white t-shirt. Riley wept as he hit the ground on his knees, clutching at the object protruding from his chest. Yellow eyes pierced through her, accusation bright in their depths.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
His dislocated maw opened, a misshapen hole on a face already gray with rigor mortis. Riley shuddered in both disgust and horror as it pried the knife free of its chest, releasing a flood of lumpy, black goop before it slumped forward at her feet.
Riley felt hands on her, jerking her up, shaking her, but the room had swirled into a bottomless void where no sight or sound could penetrate. The pain in her shoulder had become a thrum so distant, she no longer even believed it was hers. As deaths went, it wasn’t so bad.
Chapter 30
“Can you heal her?” The voice floated in and out of her consciousness.
“I’ve used as much of the healing ointment as I dare. The infection is too powerful.” The second voice was softer and more feminine. “There’s no healing these. She may have to live with them.”
The first voice growled. “But will she be okay?”
“After she’s had some time to rest, yes, I’m confident she will make a full recovery.”
That’s a relief. Riley drifted back to that cool place that was quickly becoming home.
Chapter 31
“It’s been a week.” She was beginning to recognize that gruff, agitated tenor.
“Let her be, Octavian.” She recognized this one as well. “Even if it wasn’t the psychological or emotional trauma, she’s still fighting the infection. She’s not strong like us. Don’t forget she’s still just human.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” the first voice growled. “But it shouldn’t take this long for her to wake up.”
There was a rustle of fabric. “Darling, she will wake up when she’s ready.”
Yeah, lay off, Riley thought, feeling exhausted.
There was a deep exhalation of breath. It sounded close, somewhere on her left. “Any luck with the other one?”
Other one? What other one? Other one of what?
“No,” the softer voice replied, sounding resigned. “Your father thinks it’s best if we don’t inform the Summit this time. For right now, they know Riley is with us and that we will watch over her until they pass judgment on what to do, but if they find out that another human has found us, it might spur them to look into the matter faster and we can’t have that.”
“Where do you think she came from?” the first voice asked.
“She said Riley called her and told her how to get here.”
“Do you think t
hat’s all it takes to find this place?”
There was another sigh. “I have no idea, Octavian. I mean, we know why Riley found us, because she’s your mate. This…” she paused as though trying to remember something. “This Daphne person… I don’t see any other explanation. It had to be that Riley told her, giving her insight on our location.”
Daphne! She’d forgotten all about the other girl.
“She came by again today,” the first voice muttered. “Looking for Riley. Apparently she’s been at her house and no one was answering and she’s getting worried and since I’m her boyfriend, I should know where she is.”
Octavian's Undoing (Sons of Judgment) Page 33