by Cassi Carver
Kara screamed in warning, but the damage was done. Jaxon’s eyes went wide as he curled into a ball, his arms still wrapped around Abbey’s sheet-white body. Seeing Gable poised above Jaxon, Kara flung her knife as hard as she could, burying it to the hilt in Gable’s bare chest above his heart.
Gable looked up at Kara and growled, flashing his long fangs. She saw it then, the glint of insanity. He grimaced and pulled the knife easily from between his ribs, then tossed it to the ground. “I wasn’t aware you had that skill.”
He pulled a long sword from the sheath at his waist and swung it back, arcing it toward the base of Jaxon’s neck. Kara watched it happen as if in slow motion. She didn’t even have time to scream.
A silver-winged shape burst from the sky, plowing into Gable’s body with enough force to send them both flying. Gable’s sword spun up in the air like a pinwheel and came crashing down not more than an inch from slicing into Abbey’s calves.
Kara scrambled over to Jaxon, her gaze flitting back and forth between her two friends and the dark-haired blur grappling with Gable. “Jaxon!” She slapped his cheeks, trying to wake him. He blinked open bloodshot eyes. “Go!” she cried desperately, praying it was possible.
“Knife,” he murmured.
It took Kara a second to understand him, then she reached around and pulled the blade from Jaxon’s back. His breath hissed in. Slowly, he began to dissolve, just a blurring of his edges, as though she were seeing his reflection in a foggy mirror.
She watched in horror, unsure if it was worse for him and Abbey to stay on Firebird Island or risk getting caught forever in the bottomless mire if he didn’t have the strength to get them home. He glanced at Kara one last time as his essence faded in and out, and Abbey’s with it, until at last, they were gone.
Kara glanced up, her ears ringing with the sounds of snarls and grunts from the two winged men writhing on the sharp, rain-splattered stones. Claws dug deep and muscles flexed. Gable straddled the other man and grabbed a handful of his hair, using it as leverage to smash the man’s head into the black wall of rock. In the brief pause, Kara saw clearly. It was Julian lying under the deranged Demiáre. He’d come for her.
Julian lunged at Gable’s throat, pulling a chunk of flesh out between his fangs in a cascade of scarlet blood. Gable’s scream was a wet gurgle as he slashed his claws over Julian’s exposed face. The men thrashed on the porous stones, each one injured and desperate.
Gable spread his clawed fingers wide above Julian’s forehead, and Kara felt a draw on the energy around her. Julian cried out in agony as steam billowed around his body. Like Jaxon. Gable was going to try to burn him from the inside out like he had burned Jaxon.
When Julian’s scream dissolved into a guttural groan, Gable laughed. “I’ve always…enjoyed…a fair fight, mutt. Call the shadows…to come and get me.” His voice was as shredded as his throat. “What?” he asked, leaning closer to Julian’s convulsing form. “You can’t? Oh…the things we give up…for the sake of love.”
Kara pulled the sword from the sheath on her back and crept forward, staying out of view. She would do whatever it took to keep Julian from burning. She raised the sword over her head, praying she could bring it crashing down on the plateau of Gable’s shoulders without completing the arc straight into Julian’s forehead.
Just as she swung, Julian glanced up, giving away her position—and as quick as that, Gable was gone. Kara’s whole body moved with the momentum of her swing. One of Julian’s eyes was shredded, gaping from the socket, and the other was staring at her, as if doubting in that instant she would really hurt him. Kara yanked back with all her strength and went tumbling after the sword, barely rolling in time to avoid falling on the blade.
She stopped and caught her breath. She was still in one piece. “Julian.” She crawled toward him and grasped his bloody face in her hands. There was so much blood. “Oh my God. Your eye. Your skin. Are you all right?” He wasn’t all right. His face was a gory mess and his skin was cherry red and blistered.
“Turn around, Kara. Don’t leave your back exposed.” Julian stood and twirled Kara so they were back to back, both facing outward with swords in their hands. “I deflected most of the heat to the surface. I’ll be fine.” With his left arm, he reached behind him and grasped her hip, trying to keep her close. His wings pressed softly against her skin, sheltering her from the worst of the wind.
“He hurt Abbey.” Her voice cracked like she was going to cry, but she blinked hard, not daring to let a tear fall until Gable was dead.
“He’s out of his mind. We’ve done nothing but provide for his every need, but no matter how much Gavin wants to fix him, Gable is irreparably broken.”
She gripped the sword tighter. “He’s a silver-wing, right? He can be stopped.”
Julian circled around slowly, still keeping Kara pressed to his back. “We’ll have to take his head. That’s the only way. Out of all Brakken’s offspring, Gable is the strongest.”
Kara had taken down more thugs than she could count, but she knew a Demiáre like Gable was out of her league. She felt Julian shift against her back, and she was amazed he was still standing, amazed he would fight Gable to protect her. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“If I would have been brave enough to ask you to wear my symbol, you could have summoned me instead of Jaxon. I didn’t want to force you into something else you weren’t ready for.”
Kara swallowed. She wouldn’t tell him that she hadn’t come to him because she wasn’t sure at first whom she could trust. She was an idiot and he didn’t need to know that. “I’d love to wear your pendant, Jules. It would be my honor.”
Julian laughed as the rain fell around them, shielding his face with his forearm to keep the damaged eye from the worst of the weather. “Is that the way into your heart, then? All I have to do is kill one little warrior? You should have told me this last week.”
“You don’t have to do anything to get into my heart. You’re already there.”
“God, woman, I love you.” She felt the press of his back against hers and knew he wanted to hold her right then as much as she wanted his arms around her.
She opened her mouth to tell him she loved him right back, but she couldn’t utter the words. There would be time for that later when Abbey was safe and Gable’s head was at the bottom of the sea. There would be time to tell him how he meant everything to her and how her life was fuller somehow, now that she shared it with him. So instead she asked, “Why is he doing this to me?”
“I don’t know.” If Julian was hoping to hear I love you, he didn’t show it.
Kara looked at the bloody scene around them. The rain was already cleansing the ropes where Abbey had been. But there on the rocks… “Where’s Gable’s sword? It’s gone.”
“We need Gavin.” She felt his hand move from her thigh. “Damn it. My charm must have fallen off when Gable cut me. Here, move with me, love.” He shambled back to where they’d fought and from the feel of his movements, must have been searching the ground for his charm. “Got it!”
“Is that really necessary, Julian?” a deep voice asked from somewhere under a blanket of rain.
Julian shot upright, fitting himself tightly to Kara. She heard him quickly mutter some words and felt the summons flow past her into the angry gray sky.
Gable materialized to Kara’s left, causing both her and Julian to turn to face him. The bastard was still smiling. “It doesn’t matter.” He cleared his throat, and although his flesh was still ragged, his voice already sounded stronger. “It’s time to let him in on the game, anyhow.”
“The game?” Kara’s sword hand trembled with fury. “You think this is a game between you and me?”
“Between you and me?” He looked honestly surprised. “What would be the point of that? You are an insignificant speck on the timeline of my life. This is a gift for my brother, though I’ve been disappointed he’s let you have all the fun.”
“What does this have to d
o with Kara?” Julian demanded.
“Protecting Teras’s daughter. That’s all Gavin spoke of when he came to me, asking me to leave the Shadowland and make a home on Mercury Island. He was obsessed with the vow he’d made, but after all these years, Ailexon doesn’t really care about Deanna’s brat, does he?”
Gable shook his head, answering his own question. He turned his cold gaze to Kara. “And then Gavin saw you. He saw you and he wanted you. You weren’t simply the child of his old master hidden away from our world, but a female ripe for the picking. Once he said he was moving to the city to be near you, I knew I would lose him if I couldn’t keep his interest.”
“Keep his interest?” Her brows rose into the wet hair across her forehead. “He’s never going to forgive you when he finds out what you’ve done. You’ll lose him forever.”
Gable laughed. “You’ve barely known him two weeks, little princess. My brother was a great warrior when we were young. Gavine the Gruesome was feared to the darkest corners of the Shadowland. Why else would Teras have enlisted his help to lead his army?”
Gavin’s gentle face flashed in her mind. “I don’t believe you.”
Gable regarded her with a frown. “I thought you would ask him for help and tell him about the markings. Or our dreams.” He smiled when he said the last part as if he’d had a private peek into her soul. “You really haven’t held up your end of the bargain…though I can’t say I minded entering your fantasies. You’ve cast your dream self with a wonderfully tight—” He was interrupted by the rumble of Julian’s low growl. The tension in Julian’s body radiated out like a tangible force.
Memories of the dreams decayed in her mind. “You disgust me.”
He shrugged. “Now, perhaps, but I was your first taste of the divine. You didn’t seem to mind so much when I was taking you over and over. And all you had to do to stop it was tell your noble protector. That was part of the game. But you didn’t want it to stop, did you? And you didn’t want Gavin to have a place in your life beyond your bedroom.” He shook his head. “You could never make my brother happy. He’ll be better off when you’re gone.”
“Trust me, she’s not going anywhere.” The chill in Julian’s voice could have turned the rain to hail.
“You still think she carries your child?” Gable chuckled. “Julian Mercés,” he said grandly, “the oldest living half-breed. The eternal optimist. I’m sorry, mutt, we’ll soon be cashing in on the bets that you wouldn’t last another year.”
“I don’t need much more out of life—only enough time to kill you.” With that, Julian shot forward, faster than Kara’s eyes could track, his sword clashing with Gable’s in a crash as loud as cymbals.
Julian’s eyes glowed red like smoldering embers as he hacked at his enemy’s weapon. The two men were light on their feet, almost graceful, as they fought to the death on the small splotch of an island in the middle of nowhere.
Julian’s head was turned slightly, trying to keep Gable in his sight with his one good eye. Gable lunged, swinging his blade in a long arc just inches from Julian’s chest. Julian sidestepped the blow and spun, catching Gable on the forearm.
Gable jumped back and smiled, glancing briefly at the gaping cut on his arm. The gash looked like two red lips parted for their lover. “Not bad for a Cyclops, half-breed. But your aim is off.”
Julian kept his body between Gable and Kara, but Kara was watching for an opening to strike Gable without getting in Julian’s way.
“I expected more from the only mottled-winged man in creation,” Julian mocked. “It’s disappointing, really. Gavin had such high hopes for his long-lost brother. What will he think when he finds out you’re as crazy as your father?”
Gable growled, and his wings flexed. Instead of running at Julian, he surged forward without his feet even touching the ground. Julian met him in the air, their swords clashing again and again, as each man put everything he had into the blows.
The rain stung Kara’s eyes as she looked up at the battle raging before her. How could she help when she couldn’t even get off the ground? Julian’s black hair was dripping down his back and his silver wings were poised like a raptor in flight. His strong muscles flexed and bunched with each strike, but the way he carried his head to the side left a blind opening for Gable.
Gable struck fast, plunging his sword through Julian’s side with a crack of bone and sinew. When he yanked out the long blade, Julian reeled back, just as Gable brought the sword around again, his broad swipe catching Julian at the base of his throat and following through. Like a puppet cut free of his strings, Julian’s head toppled to the side as his body crashed to the earth.
Kara blinked as Julian hit the ground chest-first, bouncing once before he came to rest. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing when the blood leaked slowly from the stump at his shoulders. She dropped her sword and ran to him.
When she rolled him over onto his back, his head followed like a dog on a long leash. It draped across his shoulder, facing sideways, held on by nothing more than a leftover scrap of sinew. Her heart felt like it had stopped beating. She wanted to cup his cheeks and tell him she loved him, but she couldn’t bring herself to touch his face…it wasn’t in the right spot.
She knew she should get up. She should defend herself from the monster. But she didn’t care. A tortured sob tore from her chest as she knelt over Julian’s headless body. She grabbed his limp hand and brought it to her cheek as the rain pelted her face. She felt the same skin stretched over his smooth knuckles, the same fingers that had played over her body, but already the cold wind was chilling his flesh as the last of his lifeblood seeped into the stony black soil.
“Shhh,” whispered Gavin’s soothing voice from behind her as he brushed the wet hair from her eyes. “I know it hurts. Kara, look at me.”
Kara turned toward him, meeting his eyes and wishing he could take away the pain. Abbey. Now Julian. What was the point of living if there wasn’t anyone left to live for? “He’s gone, Gavin.”
He smiled softly. “Yes, but you won’t think of that now. Rest, Kara. Lie down beside him and you will see him soon.”
Kara’s thoughts slowed like the hardening lava in the distance. She welcomed the numbing fog rolling across her mind, masking the unbearable things that lay under the thick gray blanket of mist. “All right, Gavin.”
She stretched out beside Julian, curling toward his solid body and resting her head against his bloody chest.
“That’s a good girl. Close your eyes, Kara.”
Kara’s eyelids fluttered closed, catching a metallic glint in Gavin’s hand the instant before her body relaxed into Julian. No! her mind screamed, pushing back at Gable’s energy, jolting her out of her slumber with the equivalent of a bolt of lightning.
Before Kara could even make sense of it, she swept her foot out with superhuman speed, catching Gable off guard and knocking the sword from his grip. The next instant, she was on him, her hands wrapped around his throat, tearing at the same wound Julian had inflicted on him.
Gable flashed, drawing Kara through the thick tar of time, but she held on like a leech, her fury giving her substance when she would have faded away. They emerged a dozen yards from Julian’s body, her fingers still sinking into Gable’s muscle, ripping him apart bit by bit.
Gable grasped Kara’s head in his clawed hands and shot into the air. She wrapped her legs around him in a python’s grip as his talons sank into her skull, rending bits of hair and scalp from the bone as he tried to pry her off. The pain was like acid eating away at the twists and curls of her mind, as if he had poison in his fingertips and it was dissolving her brain with barbed tentacles of agony.
She was going to die and had room for only one thought—she was taking Gable with her.
She felt the sharp vertebrae of his spine just beyond her reach and clawed harder. He couldn’t scream or breathe—she’d completely torn his throat out. He angled his wings and dove for the ground, smashing his body down on her
s with enough force to almost burst her lungs. Kara went limp, her body in shock and her scalp hanging down in shreds.
When Gable rolled off her onto his back, grasping at his neck with his hands, Kara’s eyes followed the motion. Air bubbled up from the fist-sized hole in his throat. She could see the edge of his vertebrae protruding through the mangled flesh.
Kara reached behind her and pulled Jaxon’s knife from her waist. She rolled toward Gable in one smooth motion, curving her arm like a sickle as she heard a voice bellow from the sky, “Kara! No!”
She plunged the blade straight through Gable’s searching fingers, into his exposed spine, and twisted, hearing the pop as the bones separated from one another. His body spasmed, every muscle going rigid before Kara dug the short blade deeper, using all her strength to sever his head from his shoulders.
“No!” Gavin screamed from behind her, landing so hard, he stumbled. His gray wings inadvertently brushed against her red-stained face as he crawled over his brother’s body and snatched up his head, cradling it protectively against his chest.
With the sound of a thousand rushing streams, warriors descended from everywhere, drops of rain flying from the tips of their feathers with every beat of their wings. Kara looked away from Gavin, away from the shock and agony on his face as he held his brother’s blond head in his hands.
She crawled past warriors’ feet and swords being sheathed and curled up next to Julian again. Resting her battered head against his chest, she linked her fingers through his, closed her eyes and finally fell to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kara stretched out in the grass, staring at the sky through a canopy of leaves. “So, I guess things are looking up, Jules. Jaxon’s spine is completely healed and the construction company finally got Abbey’s property cleared. We don’t know when they’re going to start building the new house, but honestly—” her voice dropped to a whisper, “—I don’t think she’s in any hurry to leave my place.” Kara smiled, thinking of Abbey tucked under Jaxon’s protective arm as they dropped her off to visit Julian then flashed out of existence.