Her arrow slammed into me—an impossible feat since I was mist rather than flesh. I gasped, grunting as I lost control of my mist and collapsed to the grass with an arrow sticking out of my ribs. Nero suddenly lunged forward and snatched another arrow out of thin air, catching it with his bone hand. He glared at her with a snarl and I saw a flicker of surprise cross her face. I somehow managed to fling my cloak up to protect us despite the pain screaming through me. My brothers huddled over me, shaken to see that her arrow had somehow struck me in my mist form. I gasped, struggling to bite down my agony and keep an eye on the Goddess of the Hunt. Artemis lowered her bow, plastering on a forced, triumphant smile to wash away the look of surprise she’d shown upon witnessing Nero’s arrow-catching ability.
Nero dropped the arrow he had caught and began checking the one still sticking out of my abdomen with a worried look on his face. Lucian whined anxiously, torn between wanting to help me and destroy her, even though the silver arrows would be fatal to him. No matter how good Lucian was at hunting, Artemis was better. Hands down.
“Nice catch, magician,” she said, smiling at Nero. “See you back in the city, brother. Might want to put a bandage on that, although I should warn you that it won’t stop the bleeding.”
“How?” I rasped, trying to breathe through the pain. Nero leaned down and snapped the tip of the arrow off behind my back. Only then did he extract the haft from my front. The skin was blackened and covered in frost, and I heard a rattling sound in my lungs.
Artemis hung her bow over her shoulder. “I fucking made you. You think I can’t take you apart with my eyes closed?” she muttered. “Every gift at your disposal was given by me. I will take great pleasure in slowly ripping them away like the wings of a fly.”
I didn’t give my newfound knowledge away—that she hadn’t actually given me anything. She disappeared in a puff of white vapor, and even that dissipated fast enough that it could have been dismissed as a figment of my imagination.
Nero held his hands over my wound, and I felt the heat from his flesh. He stared down at me after a few moments, looking troubled. “It won’t close, Sorin,” he whispered. “Not all the way. It’s rejecting my magic. Not that I was ever any good at healing,” he admitted angrily. “Maybe Izzy could help—” He cut off abruptly, cursing.
Because Izzy had been taken captive by the other fucking witches—the Cauldron.
I glanced down, gritting my teeth at the pain. The wound was smaller, but a hole the width of an arrow shaft still remained, blackened and frosted over. Even as I watched, hot blood dribbled out of it.
Most alarming was the fact that it wasn’t necessarily my blood leaking out. I could feel my blood reserves dribbling out just as fast as my actual blood. Artemis hadn’t wounded me. She had wounded my source of power—just like she had promised. My reserve tank had a puncture in it, and I could already feel how severe the impact was. Enough to make me wonder if we stood a chance, even against a handful of witches.
Let alone Artemis and her brother, Apollo. I needed help. A lot of it.
Nero helped me to my feet, Lucian pressing against me to support my weight as I wobbled precariously. “Get us out of here, magician,” I rasped.
He didn’t even react to my quip, his eyes locked onto my wound. He placed a hand on both of us, staring down at Stevie with a sad frown. Lucian bent low, licking Stevie’s cheek with a sad whine.
“That bitch needs to die,” Nero whispered.
I nodded, unable to peel my eyes away from the dead alpha. My friend. “We will come back for him,” I whispered. I discreetly glanced at my soulcatcher ring, wondering why I felt nothing from it if a soul had just been taken away right beside me. My friends hadn’t even acknowledged it either.
I frowned. Neither had Artemis. In fact, she’d shown no indication that she knew where we had really been. That we had gone to the Underworld. I let out a weak sigh, wincing as pain ripped through my wound at even that small of a motion. My secret was safe.
A new thought struck me as I stared out at the cliff. “Although, he couldn’t have asked for a better final resting place,” I said, turning to Lucian.
Lucian met my gaze, his golden eyes blazing with fury. Then he lifted his head and let out a heart-wrenching howl. The sound tore through the mountains, cold and alone.
Nero clenched his jaw and grabbed hold of both of us. The world snapped to black as he took us back to the city.
32
The world snapped back into focus, revealing the blood-stained steps of the museum. Several of the stains were still damp, reminding me that it had been less than an hour since we left. Several bonfires blazed in the nearby park. I did my best to ignore the smell, having a good idea what was burning—bodies. A few vampires had been scrubbing down the stone, and they jumped back with alarmed hisses upon seeing us appear out of nowhere.
Lucian hacked, coughing up drool as his stomach adjusted to the abrupt method of travel. I’d been expecting the sensation since I’d done it a few times now. Lucian took notice of the surrounding vampires and let out a polite but warning growl, like a neighborly Hello. Fuck off.
Strangely enough, they obeyed him, backing away very slowly.
Nosh jogged our way from the sidewalk leading uptown. I let out a breath of relief to see that he was safe, and then I waved at him to come join us. I gasped, my knees buckling as the act of lifting my arm set my wound on fire. Nero grabbed me with a concerned look on his face, but I managed to bite down the pain and straighten.
About twenty feet away, Nosh slowed upon seeing Nero but no Stevie. Then he noticed Lucian and froze altogether. He stared at the new wolf, cocking his head. There was no mistaking Lucian for Stevie’s werewolf form. Also, Lucian was twice the size of any wolf or werewolf anyone had ever seen.
I realized I was fingering my soulcatcher absently, frustrated at what I was supposed to do with it. Hades had been alarmingly obscure, telling me not to talk to anyone about it. Was the Soul Spring already back inside Castle Ambrogio? If so, did that mean Dracula could find it?
Because I still needed to reclaim my soul from it after it had mysteriously disappeared on me. I needed to get inside my castle to find out, but that meant confronting Dracula.
Except my blood reserves were still weeping power down my side, thanks to Artemis’ arrow. Even with Dracula weakened as he was, did I still have the strength to stand against him? Were we both weakened to the same extent, or was I weaker after my new wound? I could always rely on the Nephilim vampires to back me up and keep Dracula busy while I got my soul back.
A new thought hit me, and my heart skipped a beat.
With this strange, impossible hole in my side, would my soul just leak out like my blood reserves were doing? I let out an uneasy breath. How the fuck had she hit me in the first place? Her arrows hadn’t penetrated my cloak, but they could penetrate my mist? It made no sense.
I realized that everyone was standing eerily still. Even the vampires who had fled were staring at Lucian and Nosh with concerned looks. I turned to see that Lucian was staring at Nosh, his body entirely motionless, his every muscle locked rigid. He hesitantly sniffed at the air in Nosh’s direction and then he sneezed violently. He let out a low whine, lowering his head and tucking his tail between his legs.
“Um,” Nosh said nervously, eyeing the massive wolf’s strange behavior. “Who is that and what is he doing?” he asked, looking as if he was on the verge of making a run for it.
Lucian looked torn between hyper-violence and meek submissiveness, like an abused dog approaching his owner. That’s when it hit me, and my heart almost ripped in half.
Lucian…was seeing Boy for the first time. The unnamed boy he thought he had failed to save.
My son…lived.
He’d recognized Boy’s scent, even five-hundred-years later.
And I was watching it slowly destroy him, in the most heart-wrenching, heartwarming manner imaginable. My breath caught and I found that I couldn’t speak. I
suddenly felt like the world’s biggest asshole.
Because I hadn’t had time to tell Lucian that Boy had survived. That Boy was now Nosh.
Nero gripped me by the arm hard enough to make me wince. I turned to him with a panicked look and he shook his head firmly. “Let this play out. Trust me.”
“Guys?” Nosh asked, slowly holding up his hands as if to show the wolf that he was unarmed. Because Lucian was now approaching him with hesitant, slinking steps, looking just as scared as Nosh. Or maybe it was shame, not fear. As he drew closer, he began to growl in a faint, continuous tone, warning Nosh not to make any sudden movements.
His tail slowly began to twitch back and forth even though it was still tucked firmly between his legs—a hesitant attempt at wagging his tail. But his head remained low, and he continued growling faintly, keeping his throat protected and approaching Nosh sideways, eyeing him from the corner of his vision. With each step, he seemed to lose a bit of his concern, his tail gradually extending back out behind him and his head rising.
Without warning, he exploded forward in a powerful lunge and tackled Nosh to the ground, whining frantically as he pinned the shaman down.
“Gah! Help!” Nosh bellowed. “He’s going to eat me!”
We didn’t help him.
Instead, Nero and I watched Nosh get slobbered, not slaughtered. Nero wrapped his arm around my shoulders, tugging me close to his side as he grinned at…
The Boy and his dog.
I smiled, my throat still tight, ignoring the flare of pain in my side from Nero’s gesture. Lucian’s whine had risen in pitch and was now cracking and rasping as his entire body vibrated and trembled. He frantically licked Nosh from throat to forehead, nuzzling his massive snout into his cheek hard enough to give Nosh whiplash, his whine now practically a screaming wail.
Lucian rolled over onto his back, wiggling back and forth across Nosh’s chest with his paws up in the air, knocking the breath out of the baffled, terrified shaman. He yipped and barked playfully, pumping his paws at the air as he stretched the back of his head into Nosh’s face, dangerously close to suffocating the poor man.
Then Lucian suddenly leapt to his feet, prancing back a few feet before slamming his front paws down and stretching forward, pointing his rear in the air, His tail was wagging violently enough that I feared it might snap free. He barked loudly enough that I felt it, like drums beating inside my chest.
Nosh cautiously sat up, his face pale and his eyes wide as he stared at the giant wolf play-bowing before him. His hair stuck straight up from great big gobs of wolf drool, and his cheeks glistened with even more of it. “What does he want?” he hissed in an anxious whisper.
We ignored him, grinning at our brother, marveling at what might be the happiest night of his life. The best hunt he’d ever had.
Lucian let out a trio of sharp, loud barks, and then suddenly sprinted away at top speed. Nosh sensed his opportunity and scrambled to get to his feet.
“Wait for it…” Nero murmured.
Lucian skidded to a halt, spun around, and saw his prey attempting to escape. He instantly sprinted towards Nosh at a truly startling speed, his claws somehow gouging the pavement in deep furrows, and barking the whole time. Lucian tackled Nosh, knocking the breath from him in an audible expulsion of air. Lucian rode him to the ground and promptly sat down on top of him, wiggling in a desperate attempt to get his entire body into contact with Nosh all at once.
Nero burst out laughing, and I soon joined in.
My brother had finally found the boy he had once sworn to protect. My son was finally safe.
I watched as unseen muscles in Lucian’s body seemed to relax and let go of the burden that had weighed him down for hundreds of years. Abandoning the cause of his madness. Opening his heart back up to the fact that he wasn’t a failure. He panted happily, his tail thumping into the pavement with powerful thwacking sounds.
Lucian eventually scooted back to lay beside Nosh, but he rested his chin firmly across the man’s chest, pinning him down. His tail suddenly stopped wagging and a menacing, coughing growl bubbled out from his throat, his ears suddenly pinned back and his hackles doubling in size.
I followed his attention to see that he was glaring at Adam and Eve—who had rushed over upon seeing the massive wolf running around and barking like a demented lunatic. The Nephilim vampires stood motionless, staring at Lucian pinning Nosh to the ground, torn between fierce loyalty and confusion. Because Nero was cackling like a madman.
Adam leaned back, scratching at his beard as he reconsidered his threat assessment.
“He’s very dangerous,” I assured the imposing Nephilim vampire.
Lucian lifted his head, realizing that the Nephilim were not a threat. He yawned wide enough to let out a long whine. Then he began panting, slapping one of his large paws over Nosh to keep him trapped.
“Can someone explain this for me?” Nosh asked tiredly, finally abandoning any attempt at escape. “Am I in danger?”
“Grave danger,” I said, shaking my head and smiling at Adam and Eve before they took me seriously. Eve had a hand over her mouth, reminding me of the adoring mannerisms Persephone and Hecate had shown for the Cerberus puppy.
Nero was grinning from ear-to-ear. He folded his arms satisfactorily. “I think we did it, Sorin. We saved him.”
I smiled, nodding. “You saved him long ago, Nero. In the cave. Without that, none of this would have been possible.”
His smile faltered. “You saw that?” he whispered. I nodded. “Oh. Well, what else was I supposed to do. He’s my brother,” he said, smiling sadly. “I’m sure he would return the favor and chain me up if I ever needed it.” He turned to give me a dry look. “Oh. Wait. That was you.”
I grinned, nodding. “Yeah.”
He chuckled, turning back to Lucian. “Can’t rebuild a house without a solid foundation,” he agreed. “But you snapped him out of his funk with an ass whooping, and then this,” he said, gesturing at Nosh.
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Nosh demanded, his voice muffled beneath Lucian’s furry bulk.
We ignored him.
33
Lucian had needed both of his brothers to save him. And then my son to bring it all together. Lucian’s unexpected reaction to Nosh’s scent finally gave me solid evidence that Nosh was truly my son. No one could fool Lucian’s sense of smell.
“He’s still a wolf, though,” Nero said in a concerned tone.
I nodded nervously. “Give him time.”
He patted me on the shoulder reassuringly. “Well, at least you don’t have to hide him. Just have him stand next to Adam and he will look like a normal-sized dog.”
I grunted. “If I give Adam a wolf, I have to give Eve a wolf. And that terrifies me.”
“I’m getting a puppy?” Eve whispered, suddenly quivering with excitement. She smacked Adam in the shoulder with the back of her hand, the sound of marble striking marble coming across like a gunshot. Lucian flinched, tucking his ears low as he glared up at the Nephilim.
“No. No one is getting a puppy,” I said loudly, but Adam and Eve were already talking animatedly and debating names.
“What are they doing?” Nero asked, suddenly wary as he spun in a slow circle. I looked up to find werewolves surrounding us. All of them stared at Lucian with awed, somber expressions, and many of them had already fallen to their knees, tears streaming down their cheeks.
Howls erupted throughout the park. The werewolves had come to pay homage to their ancestor. The original king of the werewolves.
Who…was still cuddling with the shaman. Stevie’s death suddenly hit me in a new light, and I stiffened. Were the wolves paying homage to their new alpha? Not Benjamin, but Lucian? If so, it verified that they all knew of his death. They all would have felt the pain of it, and now they were witnessing the miracle of Lucian’s return.
Lucian slowly lifted his head to silently address the circle of werewolves surrounding us. Every single one o
f them wilted beneath his gaze, instantly submitting to the alpha of all alphas.
Good god. Hecate and Nero had been right.
If Dracula had managed to gain power over Lucian, he really would have gained control of every werewolf. Even now, I wondered if werewolves from all over the country were suddenly flocking towards New York City.
Maybe even from all over the world.
With the path Hades had set me on, I would need every single one of them.
To tear down Olympus with tooth and claw, christening it with blood.
If I didn’t die from my wounds, because I could still feel my power dribbling away.
“Not very monumental,” Nero commented, snapping me out of my thoughts. “It’s actually kind of embarrassing.”
I laughed hesitantly but immediately winced, clutching at my side. Adam and Eve rushed over, looking alarmed. “You’re bleeding!”
“I’m fine,” I muttered. “It’s just a little cut. I’ll be fine after I feed,” I lied.
Nero pursed his lips, not pointing out my lie to the others. But he did cast me a stern, disapproving glare. I averted my gaze. “We have work to do,” I told them. “Come on, Lucian. Let the poor boy up.”
Lucian grumbled unhappily as I made my way up the stairs towards the museum. I needed blood if I was going to be of any use.
“Lucian?” Nosh hissed in disbelief, sounding alarmed.
I continued walking up the steps, spotting an envelope attached to the door. My name was written on the front. I frowned, ripping it off and tearing the envelope open.
Trade Dracula for the girls. Trinity Church. Eight o’clock tonight.
Bring no more than three others or the deal is off.
—Benjamin
“Sorin?” Nosh asked from over my shoulder, finally catching up to me. “What is it?”
“A suicide note,” I growled, handing it back to him without looking.
Nero read it with him, his lips pursed, and his cheeks darkening. Nosh narrowed his eyes, his hand shaking. “Tonight,” he growled, thoughtfully. Sunrise was hours away, so it was technically tomorrow, but I knew what he meant.
Devil’s Blood: Shade of Devil Book 3 Page 21