Cactus groaned and I snuck a look. He was propped up against a pillar just like mine, bent at the waist. Injured? But was that possible with—
Ito held a gun up, a silencer on the tip. “Pity, I thought you might take over my route. I’m getting tired of transporting shits like Nigel.” He rubbed at his neck and the marks there as he pointed the gun at Cactus with his other hand, aiming right between his eyes. Now or never.
I raced forward, putting all the effort I could into my speed. The world blurred and before I could blink, I was behind Ito, swinging my sword at his one leg. Except the force took my blade, not through one, but both limbs. De-limbing at its best.
For a split second, he hovered in the air, legs missing from mid-thigh down before gravity caught up to my speed and he crashed to the ground, blood pouring from the wounds. The smell caught me off guard and I dropped to my knees, mouth open and saliva washing over my tongue. It took everything I had to not lay down and roll in the blood, to lap it up as though I were a wolf dying of thirst at a river’s edge. “Cactus . . .” I managed to bite the words out, “cauterize his legs before I drain him.”
Cactus went to his knees beside me and put a hand on each stump. “This is going to hurt; when we burn it ain’t nice, Rylee.”
“Do it, or he’ll die and we need him for answers.”
Ito was unconscious already, I doubted that would change. Apparently I was wrong about that tiny fact.
Cactus’s hands glowed bright red and Ito sat up, screaming. I was on him in a flash, clamping my hand over his mouth. Not that I thought we couldn’t handle a human or two, but we’d already been pushing the limits with this underground battle. His scream heated my good hand and for a second, I thought maybe he could spit fire. I hoped to hell that wasn’t the case.
“All done.” Cactus withdrew his hands and pressed one to his side. “I can’t believe it, he shot me.”
Ito slumped, truly out this time and I took a look at his stumps for legs. They were charred and black, cut off just above the knee, but there really wasn’t that much blood. Or at least not enough that he would die. Again, I was hoping, but I had no real idea.
I spared Cactus a glance. “In the side?”
He grimaced and gave me a nod. “Yeah. It hurts, bad.”
I leaned over and pulled up is shirt while I held my breath against yet more fresh blood. “You were grazed, the skin and muscle were the only things hit. You were lucky. Another inch to the right, he would have had your liver leaking all over the floor, and I’m not sure even you could heal from that kind of a wound.”
He paled and sat back. “Shit.”
I didn’t wait for Ito to wake. I flipped him over so he was face down and pulled his hands back. A soft yip turned my head around. “Nigel, you okay?”
“Better than him,” he grumped as he trotted, limping, up to my other side. A portion of the fur on his right side where the tan hair was had been charred as black as the stripe on his back. He sat down beside me. “You want to use something metallic and magic to bind his hands. My cage would do the trick.”
I frowned. “Your cage is—”
“Right over there. He brought it with him. Probably thought he’d get me back in there, stupid idiot that he is.” Nigel yawned, his jaws cracking wide and I got a waft of doggy breath. Gross.
I turned away and looked at the cage. Just how was I going to use his cage as a form of restraint? Though I’d cut both Ito’s legs off, I wasn’t sure he’d fit in the cage. Then again, it might be worth trying . . . I stood and walked to the door that had been blown off. No alarms were sounding, the one that we’d set to raging had stopped somewhere in the middle of the fight. Which was odd.
The hair along the back of my neck prickled. No alarms? Humans loved their alarms, loved the blaring noise to indicate something was wrong. Blowing a door clean away from its hinges was about as wrong as you could get when it came to their world. And it had happened a good ten minutes before, plenty of time to get more TSA agents down to the underground parking lot.
I bent and grabbed the cage and took it back with me, jogging the whole way. I tossed it to Cactus. “Here, you carry this. It’ll take your mind off the pain.”
Nigel yawned again, stood and shook his whole body. “Well, it was nice knowing you.”
I removed my belt and looped my whip over my shoulder. Cactus gave me a cheeky grin, even though there was still pain in his eyes. “Striptease?”
“In your dreams.” I bent and bound Ito’s hands behind his back.
Nigel barked at me. “I told you that wouldn’t work. Are you deaf or just damn stupid, blood sucker?”
“Neither, mutt,” I said and Nigel spluttered but I ignored his protests. “I can’t interrogate him here. Something is wrong. No alarm, no humans. Probably means only one thing.”
Cactus groaned. “Don’t say it. Please tell me you aren’t going to say it.”
I smiled, but even I knew it was anything but comforting. “Trouble is on its way.”
CHAPTER 8
WE RAN THROUGH the underground parking lot and out into the bright sunshine. I blinked, my eyes watering as they adjusted, and for a minute, I thought maybe I was seeing things. Because really, how could I be seeing what I was seeing? They were all supposed to be dead.
Then again, I’d been wrong before.
Five black skinned ogres ranged in front of us. Five of the toughest, meanest, most bloodthirsty of all the ogre tribes blocked our path. The tribes of black skinned ogres were bar none the worst to deal with. Moody, angry, and prone to violence. Kinda sounded like me, actually.
“Shit,” I muttered.
The biggest of the ogres, who stood easily nine feet tall and three feet across the shoulders, stepped forward. “You’re in our territory. Trespassers are killed on sight.”
“Fuck off, your territory is south. Portland,” I snapped, wishing I’d left Ito’s lame ass behind, he was going to slow us down. I had him tucked under one arm, like an oversized football. Not exactly agile for maneuvering.
He pointed to his chest. “Pic is my name. Our tribe has held the Seattle area for three hundred years. We do not associate with the southern ogres.”
“What, are they the white trash cousins everyone is embarrassed to see show up for Thanksgiving dinner?” I grinned, unable to help myself.
His lips twitched, and for a second, I thought I might have won him over. “They are weak, cowardly, and stupid.”
“Can’t disagree with that. I’ve killed my fair share of them,” I said. Anything to get us out of here in one piece.
With his free hand, he swept out a broadsword easily four-feet long, but the real feature was the split in the blade. As if two swords had been welded at the hilt and part way up the blade was then allowed to spread north and south. The other four ogres nodded in agreement. I noted there was no foul language flowing from him. Maybe that meant he was more civilized? Somehow I doubted my theory.
“You understand then that they are weak if they are able to be killed by a puny girl like you,” he said.
“Puny girl. That’s a new one,” I said, and normally I’d tell him to take his puny sword and shove it up his asshole, but I was trying to play nice. Kinda.
“Well, we’re leaving, so no offense, but I didn’t know it was your territory.”
He pointed his blade at me, and eight humans in TSA uniforms stepped out from behind us, guns raised, aimed at . . . not the ogres, but me. Seriously? What the fuck was going on? I slowly put Ito down. He was about to be on his own. He groaned but didn’t open his eyes as I lowered him.
Pic smiled. “We learned that a few well-placed humans were integral to survival in this world.”
“No way I can talk you out of this?” I tried one last time. Because I was pretty sure I couldn’t kill them all. And then there were the triplets at home. What if they had some sort of weird ogre sickness? What if we needed blood from one of these douchebags?
“Cactus, you can help ou
t this time, I hope?”
“You got it, puny girl.” The laughter in his voice almost made me smile. Almost.
Pic tipped his head to one side. “You think a plant can help you?”
“A plant that breathes fire,” I said.
Cactus flung his hands and three fireballs shot at the ogres. They fell to the side. I grabbed Cactus around the waist and ran forward. The ogres roared as we ran through their ranks, dodging the reaching hands. The humans opened fire with their stupid guns, and I didn’t bother to zigzag. With this much supernatural vibration throwing things off, we should be okay, or so I thought until a bullet slammed into my left shoulder, spinning us around completely.
I stumbled, got my feet under me and kept running. “Cover us, Cactus!”
He flung a hand back and threw several fireballs at random.
“How did you manage to piss off so many people in such a short time?” Nigel asked as he ran at my side, keeping up with ease.
“Talent,” I breathed back. We slid to a stop at as we reached a main road. I didn’t even know which one. I just raised my hand and flagged a cab down. My luck turned, and a cab pulled over in seconds. I pushed Cactus in and Nigel leapt in next.
“Kerry Park,” I said as I slammed the door. “And hurry.”
The cabbie grinned at me and I groaned. “Seriously?” What the hell kind of karma was happening with me lately?
“I’m hurrying, don’t worry,” Ivan said. How was it that he managed to be our cabbie twice in a row? Was he stalking us? Somehow I didn’t think so. I ducked my head down and tried to keep a low profile as the cab zipped in and out of traffic. I had no doubt the ogres would pursue us. I just didn’t know how exactly that was going to happen if they would be on foot or have some sort of vehicles of their own. I was betting on foot. Maybe hoping was a better word.
A thought hit me. I tapped on the glass. “Wolf, any local supe knowledge in that brain of yours?”
Ivan glanced back at me once and then his eyes were back on the road. “Depends. What are we talking?”
“Ogres. Black skinned, one of them goes by Pic.”
Ivan cringed. Wonderful—when a werewolf cringed, things were going down the poop chute faster than a greasy burger.
I tapped the glass again. “Spill.”
“Avoid him from now on out if you can. He’s not altogether there. Thinks himself a king, and has even pulled in some humans as slaves last I heard.” He glanced in the mirror again. “By the look on your face, your first introduction to him didn’t go well, did it?”
“Fuck no,” I muttered. “That’s the understatement of the day.”
Of course, I would end up dealing with an ogre with an egomaniac problem. “I got firsthand contact with that shit. How big is the tribe he runs?”
Ivan took a hard right, barely slowing the cab. “Bigger than most. Close to thirty was what I heard through the grapevine.”
I leaned back in my seat, my heart racing for a different reason now. Eve was in Kerry Park all on her own. “And their home base?”
Not Kerry Park, not Kerry Park. The mantra rolled through my mind as I begged whatever gods would listen to my pleas.
Ivan glanced in the rearview mirror. “You’re headed there.”
Of course, we were. Fucking hell, this day was going to push me to my limits.
I reached over and put a hand on Cactus’s arm. My hand throbbed where the burn was, but it was healing, slower than the break in my arm for sure. “When we get there, we’re going to run for Eve. Understand? Full speed.”
Cactus nodded, but his face was pale. I slapped him with my less burned hand, just hard enough to put some color in his cheeks. “Snap out of it. You’ve got a fucking flesh wound, you aren’t missing a limb or bleeding out you fucking pansy ass.”
He didn’t get angry which surprised me. “It’s not the wound, Rylee. It’s what’s in my head.” He tapped a hand through his wild red hair. “I’m trying to fight it, but it’s getting harder, like a voice I can’t deny. Sometimes it sounds like me, other times I know it’s not, but the line between them is blurring.”
I grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him close enough that I could have kissed him if I’d been inclined, which I most certainly was not. This was not the time for mental breakdowns.
“I don’t care what is going on in your head. Get your shit together. Eve is out there. She is our way out of this mess, not to mention a part of my family. We are going to move our asses. We are going to get to her and the three of us are getting the fuck out of this city. Got it?”
He nodded, his whole body stiff. “Yeah, I got it. Thanks for the pep talk.”
Fucking passive aggressive shit. I hated it on anyone. But there was no more time for slapping the sense into him.
Ivan pulled the cab over. “Here we are. Good luck.”
I noticed that Nigel said nothing until we were out of the cab. “Now that was a mutt.”
“Cactus, time to go,” I said.
He nodded and we took off into the park. Nigel stuck close, but for the most part kept his mouth shut. Maybe he could help me yet, answer the questions I would never have the chance to ask Ito. One could hope.
We raced through the manicured park, disturbing more than one young couple walking hand in hand, and one pair that were more than hand in hand. Nigel ducked in and bit the guy on his bare ass in mid thrust. Even I had to laugh as the guy screeched and completely lost his rhythm. Maybe Nigel fit in better than I thought. It was the sort of stunt Alex would have pulled in mid battle.
Cactus straightened as we ran, as though he gained strength from where we were. Which could have been possible. He was an elemental after all. I didn’t know all their secrets, though it looked like I was going to need to.
Running side by side, we were well matched in speed, though I knew I could take it up a notch. I couldn’t leave him behind and that was all that held me back; whatever thing Lark had asked him to do was important too. Leaving him behind wasn’t an option.
Around us, the trees shivered and flashes of color caught my eyes here and there. But it was the smells and the sounds that made me doubt if we were going to make it in time.
The sound of multiple hearts beating as they ran to either side of us, the scent of blood and steel, of adrenaline and lust; all of it was a heady mix for the vampire in me. Ogres were if nothing else consistent. They loved only two things in the world.
Fucking and fighting. And not always one without the other.
A guttural roar exploded from the right of us. Cactus flicked his fingers and the trees bent and swept toward the ogre before he had time to launch himself at us.
“Good move,” I said.
He grunted, and kept an eye on his side of the trees. I recognized where we were and knew we were close to where we’d left Eve, close enough she would hear me if I called out. “Eve, incoming! Fly!”
She screeched in response and the sound of wings lit the air up. I gritted my teeth as we burst through the last bit of trees. Eve was in the middle of the small clearing, ogres on all sides of her. Shit toast, this was going downhill faster than I’d thought possible.
Pic was not there, but he didn’t need to be for us to be in shit neck deep. There were enough ogres to take us out three times over without breaking a sweat. I didn’t slow my feet for a single stride. “Eve, go!”
She leapt into the air, the ogres cried out as they launched toward her. This was going to be close. I wasn’t getting a second chance at this. Time to push the limits of my abilities and see what I could really do. Until now, there’d been no need. I could pretend I was still normal, still more human than not. Faris and Doran had done pretty amazing things with their vampire strength and abilities. So surely I could too. Hell, I knew I could. I held my arm out to Nigel and he leapt up without me having to say a word.
Cactus, on the other hand, was a bit thicker. I grabbed him and swung him around so he was on my back, riding piggyback style. “Rylee, you can’
t—”
“Watch me.” I put all my energy into the run, almost flying us across the clearing. The sound of weapons being drawn, bows being pulled taut, the curses rising in the air as they missed us. At the last second, I leapt up, pushing off as hard as I could and Eve swooped down. There was a moment where I thought maybe I’d miscalculated and we’d fall into the tribe of ogres as thick as one of the bramble patches we’d passed. But Eve was there, and she caught us at the height of my jump. Her talons wrapped around us, pinning the three of us against one another.
Shrieking she swept us over the tree tops. She swept in a circle once so we were looking down on the group of ogres staring up at us. She dropped a rather large shit as we passed over them. I saw it hit, a splatter that was not going to endear them to us in any way, shape, or form. The ogres cried out and Eve laughed. “That’ll teach them to mess with us. Eat my shit, losers!”
Nigel laughed. “I like her.”
Cactus waved a hand in front of his face. “What the hell? Did you save that up for the last month?”
I held my breath, not needing to add Harpy shit to the things I’d smelled up close and personal as a vampire with super sensitive receptors. I let a full minute pass before I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Eve, go north, we’ll find a spot, stop, and regroup.”
“You got it,” she called back.
Nigel squirmed in my arms. “You can put me down wherever.”
“No, I think not,” I said. “Why was Ito taking you to the Pit?”
Nigel rolled his eyes. “Because I’m a familiar. The queen suddenly got it in her head she needed a new familiar so she sent that idiot Ito after me. I’m famous, you know. Even legendary when it comes to familiars. There’s only one close to me in age and she has a habit of her charges dying.”
I frowned at him, thinking I knew who he meant. But I wasn’t going to tell him I knew Peta. “Keep talking.”
He sighed. “I don’t know much more than that. Ito is one of her regular thieves, as you saw, kind of an ass. He is always out on a job and happened to stumble on me when I was asleep.”
RYLEE (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 1) Page 9