Realm Walker rw-1

by Kathleen Collins

  Their prey had been followed to this area but they’d been searching for half an hour with no luck. She’d just made up her mind to call Thomas to join her when a plaintive howl cut through the night. Her breath caught. Nathaniel. It had to be. She needed it to be.

  She tried to pinpoint the sound, but the echo from the buildings made it impossible. Thomas joined her and gestured to the northwest. On the roof he hadn’t had the same problem with the echo so it was easier for him to target the source. They took off at a run.

  Thomas looked surprised as she kept pace with him. She couldn’t maintain the speed for as long as he could, but for a while she could match him step for step. She grabbed his arm to pull him to a stop a few blocks later.

  She sniffed the air. As Thomas watched her, his fangs slid out and his eyes darkened in anticipation of the fight. They crept forward, keeping to the shadows of buildings. They used her nose to track the demons, leaving her feeling a little like a bloodhound. A giggle floated from the upper reaches of a building across the street. Her gaze shot up to find two dark forms devoid of signatures crouching next to each other on the roof. She shut her gift down and wiped the blood away from under her nose again.

  She pressed on her earpiece and conveyed their location.

  “How should we go up?” Thomas asked, pitching his voice low.

  She kept her eyes locked on the demons and shook her head. “We’re not going up. They’re coming down.”

  The demons would know they were there without her announcing it, but she stepped into light anyway. She slid the sword from the sheath on her back.

  For a moment, all was still and then they came. The small fae flew to land lightly on the ground while Nathaniel leaped from landing to landing on the fire escape. They stood twenty feet away, staring them down. Thomas stood motionless beside her and she forced herself to be patient. To wait for them to come. Her pulse raced and her breathing quickened in anticipation. This was the part of the job she lived for. The part she was good at.

  “Hello again, Juliana Norris. I see you still live. How...fortunate. Your blood smells delicious,” the fae said.

  Somehow she didn’t think “thank you” would be an appropriate response, so she said nothing.

  “If you think I’m going to let you have her, you’re mistaken,” Thomas said.

  “Very well, Thomas Kendrick. You will both die eventually anyway.” The fae smiled revealing rows of pointy teeth. Thomas ran forward to meet it as it charged. Nathaniel stood entranced by their battle. She took the opportunity to slip her sword back in its sheath so she wouldn’t be tempted to use it. She wanted to kill the demon, but she needed to keep her friend alive. What she needed to do now was get Nathaniel’s demon away from its more powerful counterpart. She took a deep breath and whistled to get the demon’s attention.

  He glanced in her direction but quickly turned back to the fight. She whistled again and patted her thighs. “Come on, boy. Come on. Come get me.”

  His head snapped in her direction. He snarled, drool dripping from his mouth to the ground. Instead of waiting for him to charge, she bolted down the alley to her right. Relief flooded through her when she heard paws padding against the pavement. She never thought she’d be happy to have a demon chasing her.

  She pressed on her earpiece. “Is Kennedy High still in use?”

  “I think so,” Jeremiah answered.

  “Good. Have a squad meet us there. Don’t use portals. I don’t want to scare him off.”

  Kennedy was built next to a multi-denominational worship house. When the school needed more room, they offered to buy some land. Someone on the board of the church realized they’d make more in the long run if they rented out the land instead of selling it outright. Part of that expansion included a pool. A pool that sat on holy ground that was resanctified weekly.

  She’d tried to lure a demon there before. It hadn’t ended well for her or the host. It would be different this time. There was no alternative.

  Someone screamed in frustration behind her, but she didn’t stop. Saving Nathaniel was too important. Besides, it had to be the fae that screamed. Thomas wasn’t the screaming type. She wove through streets and alleyways, always just steps ahead of the demon-ridden werewolf.

  A weight hit her back just as Kennedy High came into view. She flew to the ground and slid across it from the momentum she’d built up. Thick claws dug into her back and she yelped in pain. She couldn’t let this happen. Couldn’t let the demon get the best of her. She bucked, trying to get out from under him, but he held on, refused to be moved.

  “Get off me you cursed mutt!” She pushed against the ground with all her strength, twisting as she did so. He fell to the side as her movement knocked him off balance. They crouched, sizing each other up. She eased her hand to her belt and grasped the flask of holy water. She flipped the cap off with her thumb.

  With a flick of her wrist, she splashed the contents onto Nathaniel. He fell back with a howl and she took off for the school again. It bought her enough time to get a small lead on him. When he started to chase her again, she was even more convinced Nathaniel’s demon was low-level.

  Low-level demons worked on rage, thought only about what they wanted at that precise moment and what they needed to get it. They weren’t thinkers or planners. All the demon in her friend knew was that it wanted her, so it followed. It never crossed its mind that she might be leading it somewhere.

  At the school she fumbled with the chain on the door, finally found the padlock and unlocked it. She let the chain fall to the ground as she yanked open the door of the school and ran inside with the demon right on her heels. Fortunately a werewolf in hybrid form looked like the wolfman from all the old horror movies so he had paws and claws, neither of which were good for traction on linoleum floors. She gained a little more ground, put a little more distance between them. The layout for the school was easy to recall and she headed straight for the pool.

  She slid into the room and ran to the far wall. Bending over, she put her hands on her knees and panted while she tried to catch her breath. Her head throbbed, her vision blurred. Damn demon. Nails clicked in the hallway outside the room and she drew her blade. Pressing her back against the wall, she let all the fear she felt for Nathaniel, for Thomas, and even for herself come to the surface. The scent of it would bring the demon right to her.

  It scrabbled into the room and slid to a stop when it saw her. It sniffed the air, then crept forward. She didn’t have to fake her yell when it launched itself at her. Heavy paws pinned her shoulders against the wall. Snorted breaths fanned the hair around her face. Her lip curled at the rancid smell. It pressed its full weight against her body and she suddenly knew a lot more about her friend’s anatomy than she cared to. The demon seemed to be hesitating and she wasn’t sure why, but she intended to use it to her full advantage.

  “Sorry, Nathaniel.” She brought her knee up in one quick motion, putting all her strength and speed behind it. The demon howled and released her shoulders as it bent over in pain. Dropping her sword, she used both hands to push the demon toward the pool.

  The creature was in the water before it even realized what happened. She arched her back and rocked forward on her toes to keep from following it into the water. Ignoring the howls and screams coming from her friend, she turned her back on the pool and pulled the other flask out of her pocket. As she filled her mouth with the whiskey, she walked back to the wall. She put the flask away and bent to retrieve her sword from the floor.

  The horrible sounds stopped just as she turned to face the pool. Nathaniel, completely human again, was half out of the water with his back arched at an impossible angle. He opened his mouth as if to scream and black mist poured from his mouth. It collected in a cloud above his head, hanging in the air for a moment before sweeping toward her.

  When it was a yard away, she spit the whiskey, spraying the cloud. A high-pitched keening filled the air and her blade flashed red as it sliced through the cloud. O
nce, twice, three times. “Go back to whatever dark god you came from,” she said with a growl that would have made Nathaniel proud if he was coherent enough to hear her.

  The keening grew louder, higher pitched until pain lanced through her ears. She belatedly threw her hands up to cover them. The windows behind her imploded and she dropped to the ground, hunching her shoulders in an effort to protect her head. Tiny shards sliced her skin as they flew past. Finally, the cloud fell to the ground in a fine powder.

  She stood, wincing at the pain that wracked her body and pierced her ears. Her equilibrium off, she stumbled to the side a bit. She pulled a flask of water from her pocket and used it to drench the ash. That wasn’t supposed to be necessary but there was nothing wrong with being cautious. The demon dealt with, she turned her attention to its former host. She found him floating face down in the water. Panic lodged in her chest and made it hard to breathe.

  “Oh, hell no. I did not just save your ass from a demon so you could drown.” She dropped the sword and snatched the communicator out of her ear.

  * * *

  Thomas came through the door just as Juliana dove into the pool. The elemental was right behind him. Other agents surrounded the building. All the windows were shattered, the broken glass littering the floor crunched under his feet as he hurried to the side of the pool to help his mate with her friend. She looked surprised when Thomas lifted the wolf from her grip and passed him off to the elemental.

  Thomas came back, grabbed her hands and lifted her out of the water. She staggered to the side and grunted in pain. The sweet scent of her blood flooded his senses. Even as his heart skipped a beat in worry for her, his mouth flooded with saliva. It had been a long time since he’d tasted her, so long.

  Juliana turned to check on the wolf and Thomas caught a brief glimpse of her back. It was enough for him to see that was the source of most of the bleeding. The wolf coughed and Thomas glanced over to see the elemental had him rolled on his side. Given Juliana’s relaxed stance, he assumed she’d done what she’d intended and freed her friend of the demon.

  His bride stumbled away from him. He reached out to help, but she righted herself before he reached her. She kept her back turned from them as she slid her sword into its sheath. As if she could hide an injury like that from him. Thomas clenched his jaw but forced himself to be patient. They would take a portal directly from here to the infirmary and she would be taken care of.

  She bent to retrieve her blade and stumbled to the side again. “Are you okay?” he asked. Juliana didn’t respond, didn’t even acknowledge he had spoken. Instead, she was examining a dark smudge on the ground. “Juliana? Joya?” This wasn’t just her ignoring him, something was wrong.

  The elemental called for a portal with the earpiece. “What’s wrong with her?”

  Thomas shook his head and headed across the floor toward her. She turned as if sensing his approach. That was when he noticed the thin line of blood running from her ear. He reached out and wiped it away with his fingertips. Holding out his hand, he showed her the smear. She shrugged. His mate had obviously shattered her eardrums and she was shrugging. Gods grant him patience.

  “Did you get the other one?” she asked at a volume just short of yelling.

  No, he hadn’t. The damn thing had eluded him. Its single-minded fascination on escaping him to get to Juliana disturbed him. It had tried several times during the course of their battle. Of course, after he ripped one of its arms off, it had lost interest in her and focused on surviving. It took off in the opposite direction and he went after Juliana.

  Given the fact that she most likely couldn’t hear any of that even if he was to explain it, he just shook his head. The portal opened and Thomas took her arm. She twisted out of his grip. Cursed woman. Fine. Let her fall on the wet cement and broken glass.

  Three men came through the portal to assist with the wolf. Once they were cleared away Thomas and his bride moved to follow. When he was certain she wasn’t watching, he placed his fingers in his mouth. The exquisite nectar of her blood coated his tongue, entered his system, throbbed through his veins. It fed the blood magic that sustained all of his kind. It thrummed within him, making him stronger. One drop of her blood was like a liter of anyone else’s. He closed his eyes to savor the sensation.

  “Gods, Thomas, get a move on,” his mate yelled and grabbed the front of his shirt to haul him through the portal.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Juliana sat on one of the beds in the infirmary, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. Her head hurt so bad it made her teeth ache. One of the medics kept running disinfectant over the wounds on her back. If there were any germs left in there, they’d earned the right to stay at this point. Thomas, Jeremiah and Ben carried on a conversation of which she was not a part because she couldn’t hear a cursed thing they said. It was getting old and she was getting paranoid.

  Doc was giving Nathaniel a complete workup on the other side of the room. He hadn’t woken up yet. She let the scrubs top she’d been holding up for the medic fall and hopped off the table. He must have protested because the men turned to frown at her. She grabbed Thomas’s arm and dragged him into a small room off to the side, slamming the door behind them.

  She let go of his arm and moved farther into the room to put some space between them. “I can’t stand not being able to hear. It’s driving me nuts. I’m not yelling am I?”

  He shook his head and stepped toward her.

  “How long till I can hear?” she asked.

  He held up two fingers, then three.

  “Two or three hours?” That wasn’t so bad. She could handle a few hours. Maybe.

  Thomas put a finger under her chin and lifted it so she focused on him. He shook his head.

  It took her a moment to get what he was telling her. She gaped at him. “Two or three days?”

  He put a finger to his lips and glanced at the door. She knew she’d been yelling. She thought she was entitled. There was no way she could go that long without her ears working. A high-level demon still lurked out there somewhere. Not to mention Raoul. She needed everything functioning the way it was supposed to if she was going to make it through this alive. She ran a hand through her hair.

  “Fix it.” It was more a question than a statement. She’d beg if she had to.

  His brow furrowed and he frowned, confused.

  “Give me some blood. Just enough to fix it,” she pleaded. He started to shake his head but stopped when she added, “Please?”

  After a moment of studying her, he walked to the door. Tears welled in her eyes and she hated herself for it. She didn’t want to ask this man for anything, let alone beg. Yet here she was doing just that and he ignored the sacrifice.

  He flipped the lock on the door and turned back to her. Her pulse sped in anticipation when she realized he wasn’t abandoning her again. She swiped a hand across her eyes, removing any trace of tears. Putting his hands on her waist, Thomas lifted her to sit on the counter that ran around the edge of the room. She closed her eyes and savored the contact.

  His warmth seeped into her skin, penetrating to the very core of her. She’d missed that more than anything else about him. The way he made her feel protected, the way he took care of her. She wanted to wrap herself in him and never leave the embrace of his arms. There were times like this when she was so utterly tired of being strong, of pretending that she could handle the world on her own that she became tempted to let him rescue her. He was the only one that ever cared enough to take care of her. That’s why it broke her heart when he left.

  He laid a hand against her cheek and she looked at him. There was a question in his eyes and she shook her head. He didn’t need to know that she was feeling sorry for herself. After a moment more, he took a step back and pulled out a pocketknife. He opened it and handed it to her hilt first.

  Seriously? He wanted her to cut him to get the blood? Nope, wasn’t going to happen. “Can’t you just put it in a glass like Tony do
es?”

  Thomas’s features sharpened in anger and his eyes darkened. Grabbing her chin in his hand, he turned her head to the side. He leaned in and sniffed along the side of her neck. Her pulse sped and her breath hitched but it wasn’t from fear.

  His tongue flicked out to taste her skin. A tremble wracked her body. Their eyes locked. Heat flashed in his, a mirror of her own desire. At least she wasn’t the only one affected.

  He leaned his forehead against hers for a moment then stepped back to pull his T-shirt off. Taut muscles worked with the motion. Only with great effort did she manage to keep her mouth from falling open. He was perfect, just like she remembered. Just like she dreamed.

  Closing the distance between them, he wrapped her hand in his. Before she could think about stopping him, he ran the knife across his chest. Blood welled in the two-inch wound. His free hand pulled her head toward the wound. She wrinkled her nose then told herself to stop being ridiculous. Her tongue lapped the blood from his skin. A shudder cascaded through him.

  This was too much, too intimate. When she tried to pull away, he held her head tighter. She knew what he wanted. Truth was, she wanted it, too. With a sigh of surrender, she laid her mouth against the wound and sucked, pulling the blood directly from his body. A ripple of lust ran through her with the sensual act. As angry and frustrated as he made her on a regular basis, she still loved him. Would always love him. Would always crave this intimacy with him.

  She ran her hand up the length of his back, relishing the play of muscles beneath the skin. He released her other hand and the knife clattered to the floor. She laid her hand against his chest, anxious to feel more of him, to touch as much of him as she could. He ran both hands through her hair in a feather-light caress then dug his fingers into her scalp, massaging it.