Dying Wish: A Novel of the Sentinel Wars

by Shannon K. Butcher

  “I don’t want to go,” screamed Tori.

  “I’m sorry, baby. You don’t have a choice.”

  Tori snarled and tried to bite Andra’s hand. Brenya must have seen it happen, because she pointed her finger at Tori and said, “Behave. This may be the last time you ever see your family again. Do you want this to be the way you are remembered?”

  Tori spat at Brenya, who stepped smoothly out of the way so fast, she blurred. A maternal look of thunderous intent wrinkled the skin around her mouth, and she stepped forward, grabbing a fistful of Tori’s hair. “You will tell your sister good-bye now.”

  Tori winced and bared her teeth at the woman.

  “I’m sorry,” said Andra. “It’s not her fault.”

  “You treat her like a child. She hasn’t been that for a very long time.”

  Tori seemed to calm down a bit at those words. Brenya led her by her hair to the Stone, and Torr was right on their heels, ready to go. He continued breathing for Grace, wishing his mouth were on hers for any other reason.

  Her kisses had been so sweet, igniting his blood and making him want to be a better man so he deserved such a treat.

  Those kisses were now all gone

  Brenya lifted her hand and a white column of light erupted from the carvings in the Stone. It split the air, reaching up into the night sky. As the column widened, she turned to Torr. “Give her to me. We must go.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “No.”

  Anger surged, but he bit it back, knowing that this woman might be Grace’s only hope. “Someone has to carry her.”

  In the next moment, Grace became weightless and lifted from his arms. He grabbed for her, feeding another breath into her lungs before saying, “I’m going with you.”

  “I will not argue with you. This is the way it must be. She will live or she will die, but she will do it without you.”

  But what about him? He wasn’t sure the same could be said for him. He loved her so much. How was he ever going to face the endless days without her in his life? “Please. Someone needs to breathe for her.”

  “I will do this. You stay. Do not remove the disk.”

  Brenya meant the disk fused into his flesh—the one that matched the one on Grace, the one that had magically transferred her perfect health to him and his poison to her. “Why not?”

  “It could kill her. If it falls off, you will know I have failed and she is dead.”

  With that bit of news, Grace lifted out of his grasp completely and floated through the air toward the light. Torr watched the three of them disappear. The light winked out. The heat from where Grace’s body had been only moments ago cooled. The crowd dissipated. Even Andra left, sniffing as Paul led her away in his embrace.

  Torr stood there for a long time, feeling lost and empty. Grace was gone. There was no way to reach her. He couldn’t speak to her anymore. He couldn’t touch her. Couldn’t look at her.

  He didn’t even have a photo of her.

  Ribbons of cold sank into his cheeks, and he realized he was crying big, fat tears of loss. Grace was gone, and the pain of that was worse than any he’d ever felt before.

  There was no way for him to follow her, though he would have if he could. His future stretched out, bleak and desolate without her. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted a future. Why live when he knew that he was destined to suffer for as long as he drew breath?

  He had what he wanted, what he’d prayed for. His body was whole, and he was able to fight as he’d been born to do, as he’d ached to do for so long while stranded in his bed, trapped in his useless body.

  But what was the point of fighting, when good people like Grace were just going to die anyway?

  He went back to his suite, gathered a few things. Sorrow hung over him, making his steps slow and sluggish. There was nothing here for him. Not anymore. He wasn’t sure if there was anything for him anywhere, but he couldn’t stay here, with all the reminders of what was now gone.

  Torr felt lost and utterly alone as he drove through the gates of Dabyr. He’d already left his cell phone behind, and dismantled the tracking device in his car so that no one could find him. He didn’t want their pity or their company. All he wanted was to be left alone.

  Grace was gone from the world, and there was nothing anyone could do to make that okay.

  Iain heard Jackie’s panic and knew what was waiting for them wasn’t good. Impotent frustration seethed under his skin. He couldn’t shove past her and face the threat first. There was no room. She was on her own for a few more seconds.

  Smoke billowed into the glowing tubelike shield, blocking his sight. It filled his lungs, making him cough out the acrid stench. His next breath was of clean, fresh air, but the smoke was still there.

  Jackie’s magic. She must have heard him cough and given him what he needed.

  Iain surged to his feet the second he cleared the shield, lifting his sword. The screams of demons filled the cavern. He could see through plumes of smoke that several more demons were on fire, but he couldn’t see Jackie. He couldn’t tell if she was in danger.

  The monster inside of him threw back its head, howling in rage. Iain bore down on it, telling it to shut the fuck up.

  He could still sense Jackie, like sunlight glowing against his side, so he moved in that direction, making careful steps so he didn’t bowl into her and slam her head into another wall.

  Even the memory of the sight of her blood was enough to make his control stretch thin.

  A dark shape leaped toward him, and he spun to attack, severing one of the demon’s front paws. The thing hissed at him, and it wasn’t until it was only a few feet away that he was able to see its face. It was human. Disturbingly so. The body of the demon was long-limbed and animalistic, but the face could easily have belonged to a teenage boy.

  Iain hesitated—something he wouldn’t have done a few days ago—and that hesitation nearly cost him his arm. The thing shot at him, latching its teeth just under his shoulder. Its jaws stretched open wider than was humanly possible, and its eyes rolled back in its head.

  The warding on his coat kept the teeth from making contact with his skin, but he was going to carry a bruise from the crushing bite.

  Iain jammed his blade down into the thing’s neck and out the front of its chest. It went limp as its spinal cord was severed, and fell to the ground.

  He kicked it away and moved closer to where he felt Jackie standing.

  Iain found her finally, pressed into a deep crevice. Her hands were held up as if to ward off attack, and she was pale and sweating. Blood smeared her trembling fingers, and from her palms, he could sense a barely discernible flow of power.

  He looked to see what she was doing, only to find at least twenty demons of different types fighting one another. They growled and bit, tearing flesh with their teeth. Beneath them, a pool of black blood spread out, widening as he watched.

  “What the hell?”

  She didn’t say a word, but he could sense her fatigue. She was pulling more power from him than she had ever before, and the strain was too much.

  Iain had to get her out of here.

  “Put a shield up at our backs and run,” he told her.

  To her credit, she didn’t stop to argue or question him. She understood instantly what he meant and he felt a shift in the power she drew from him as she did as he asked.

  Iain took her arm and lifted her out of the crevice toward the exit. They still had to squeeze through that narrow opening, but if they could get that far, he could hold off whatever came their way.

  Jackie moved too slow for his comfort, but she was wounded and exhausted. He couldn’t expect her to go any faster and stay on her feet. He tried to take some of her weight, but as the tunnel narrowed, they had to go single file, and he had to leave her to her own power.

  Anger coalesced in his gut. He never should have let her come down here. He should have taped her to the seat like he’d threatened. At least then she wou
ld have been safely aboveground.

  Iain checked for danger on the other side of the crack, and when he saw none, he moved so Jackie could go through first. It took him much longer to squeeze through the narrow gap, and by the time he did, three more demons had found them.

  That damn head injury was drawing them out, temping them with the scent of her blood.

  Jackie sagged. He could feel her drawing more power from him, but it was slower now, as if she was too weary to handle more.

  Fire flickered out of her fingertips, sputtering as it went. Two of the beasts leaped out of the way, lunging toward them.

  Iain stepped up and took them out with a couple of swift slices. It was nothing fancy, but he had no time for style right now. It was all about efficiency.

  He took her by the arm again and sprinted toward the opening. As soon as he had a clear line of sight, his pace slowed.

  Their SUV had been pulled down into the hole by the rappelling lines and was now crumpled and blocking their exit.

  “Fuck!”

  “Iain,” said Jackie in that fearful tone he knew meant trouble.

  He turned his head and saw the tunnel begin to fill with glowing green points of light. Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds. There was no way in hell he could take on so many at once, even if Jackie was at full strength.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  Iain pulled her back, trying to offer her what cover he could. “I’ll hold them off. You get yourself out of here.”

  “How?”

  “Levitate, use wind currents, make a rope of magic. I don’t know. Just do it. Fast.”

  “I’m so tired.”

  “I know. But you can do this,” he said, trying to sound confident. “You will do this.”

  She didn’t waste her breath talking. The weak tug on the luceria told him she was making an effort.

  He took his off hand and cupped it around the back of her slender neck, letting the two halves of the luceria latch on to each other. It eased the flow of power between them, but he could only do it for a few seconds. The demons were closing in, and it was time to fight.

  Jackie had never been as bone weary as she was right now. Every cell in her body ached with fatigue. Her joints felt brittle, and her skin felt like it had been coated with lead. Even breathing was hard.

  The knowledge of how to lift herself and Iain out of this cave was within her, glowing with promise, but she could tell that it was no easy task. He was a big man, and moving him was going to take a monumental force of will—one she wasn’t sure she had in her.

  Of course, the only alternative was to leave him behind, and that she refused to do.

  The heat of his hand at her neck soaked into her. Power slid through the luceria, pooling in her limbs, making them even heavier. She gulped down as much as she could as fast as she could, all the while eyeing the horde of demons creeping closer.

  Iain stepped away to engage, but Jackie wasn’t ready yet. She needed more time, more power to fuel her lift. It would do them no good to get halfway up to the fifty feet they had to go, only to drop onto a swarm of teeth and claws.

  His body moved with lethal grace, his sword swinging in a silver arc. With each powerful swipe, another demon fell. But there were too many. One had slipped around the far edge and was trying to come at Iain from the side.

  It was now or never.

  Jackie unlocked the knowledge within her that showed her what she needed to do and let the power inside of her free. It lashed out, jerking her off the ground, propelling her upward at a nauseatingly fast pace.

  Iain was right behind her. She could feel the drag of his weight against her willpower and clenched her teeth to retain her concentration.

  Halfway up, her body began to shake with exertion. She kept sucking Iain’s power inside of her, channeling it directly to his weight. The sky overhead became visible, with stars twinkling cheerfully.

  Below, demons began clawing their way up, scaling the walls toward the surface.

  Even if she got them both out, there was no getaway car. They were going to have to run, and she knew that wasn’t in her cards. She barely had the strength to breathe, much less run.

  Dark spots began to blob in her vision, making it hard to see. She looked up, memorizing where she needed to guide them so they didn’t bash into the rock walls.

  A flash of dry grass passed in the corner of her eye. She was out. Now all she had to do was get Iain the rest of the way up.

  Jackie angled herself sideways and plopped to the grass. Letting go of that effort gave her the remaining bit of strength she needed to haul his heavy ass up and over the edge of the pit. She heard him hit the ground with a grunt, and let go of the strand of power.

  It snapped back into Iain like a rubber band stretched tight, leaving her feeling too weak to breathe. The demons were coming. She could hear their claws scraping on rock a few yards away, and yet she was too tired to care.

  “Run,” she panted, hoping Iain would at least save himself.

  “On your feet,” he snapped at her.

  She would have laughed at him for such a ridiculous thought, but it was too much work.

  He lifted her body and flung her over his shoulder. He broke into a dead run, her body flopping around against him hard enough to make her sick to her stomach. She couldn’t even raise enough energy to complain.

  “Get your shit together,” he ordered. “They’re right on our heels.”

  Her shit was as together as it was going to get. She was wrung out, dizzy, and struggling to simply breathe.

  “Use me, damn it!”

  A crazy part of her mind thought that sounded like a lovely idea. She could lay him out for her enjoyment, and take her time exploring his body. The few glimpses she’d had of his bare chest were enough to whet her appetite and make her want more.

  Too bad she was too tired and dizzy to do anything about it.

  Chapter 18

  Iain swung around to face the oncoming demons. He put his back to what remained of the ancient barn and slid Jackie’s limp body to the cold ground. He didn’t like leaving her there, but it was safer than her staying slung over his shoulder while he waded into battle.

  There were too many demons to bother counting. Mostly they were small, but all of them were deadly if left alive. Out here in the open like this, alone, he was too easy to flank. He’d faced worse odds than this before, but never with someone at his side who needed his protection. If it had just been him, he would have unleashed his monster and let it make him stronger and faster. But it wasn’t just him, and every time he let that fucker out of its cage, it was harder and harder to put back.

  What if he couldn’t? The beast wanted Jackie. What if after the killing was done, it took what it wanted from her?

  He didn’t dare take the risk.

  Iain moved forward to meet their charge, giving himself enough room so that he wouldn’t step on Jackie, but not so much that any of the demons would have a chance to sneak in behind him to get to her. He started cutting them down, giving up all finesse for the sake of raw, brutal power.

  The demons leaped at him, two and three at a time, their serrated teeth bared and their claws extended. One larger one with silvery spines started to vibrate to his left, as if preparing to do something.

  Iain wasn’t taking the chance that it could launch those spines—not with Jackie in jeopardy of being hit. He left his right side open, hoping his coat would absorb the worst of any blows, and cut the demon in half.

  Silver spines exploded out in random directions, bouncing off Iain’s armored coat and hitting the rotting wood with a hollow thwack. Three catlike demons got hit in the bargain, skewering them, making them scream and roll in pain.

  While he’d been busy dealing with that threat, a pair of larger Synestryn had slipped past him, zeroing in on Jackie.

  He was out of position, too far away to make it to them in time.

  Fear and rage detonated in his chest, and without his per
mission, the monster inside of him broke free, taking over his body. He felt muscles bunch, heard a roar tear from his throat, saw the world blur by as he sped over the ground. The first demon slammed into him, knocking him back. It seemed surprised that he’d appeared, skidding on its paws to face the new threat.

  The second demon was a split second behind and jerked back in time to avoid a collision. Dried weeds and clumps of dirt flew up from where its powerful claws raked the ground.

  Iain regained his balance and slammed his left fist into the side of the demon’s head. It spun around, yelping in pain. His body moved without thought, his blade slicing through the air fast enough that it made a whooshing sound. He cut through the thing’s head, lopping off its eyes and snout. It continued to thrash and claw as it bled out among the weeds.

  The second demon was smarter, keeping its distance. It waited for an opening as the smaller creatures threw themselves at Iain.

  As fast as he moved, as strong as each strike was, there were simply too many of them. He couldn’t keep them all away. One latched on to his leather coat and began crawling up his back toward his head.

  That’s when the bigger demon made its move.

  There was no time to fight it off and remove the threat from his back, so he focused on the bigger one, urging his monster to hurry the hell up.

  His body flowed through the moves easily, and for a moment, he enjoyed the sheer power he housed. The tip of his blade caught the foreleg of a smaller demon as it zeroed in on his real target. The slight hesitation in his strike that contact caused had been planned, allowing him to hit the larger demon in just the right spot. He severed an artery, and blood pumped out, arching several feet into the air.

  Iain shifted his body and spun, letting the blood hit his back, rather than landing on Jackie. He couldn’t feel the little demon on his back anymore, and as he glanced at Jackie, he realized why.

  She had pushed herself up so that she was sitting against the barn’s foundation. Her hand was raised, and smoldering at his feet was the corpse of the demon that had hitched a ride.

  Weariness hung around her, making her shoulders droop and her eyes burn an angry red. She was panting with effort, but there was no sign she was giving up.