On Wicked Ground (Solsti Prophecy Book 4)

by Kay, Sharon

  She bit her lip and more tears fell. “You’re getting worse. Ashina is on her way, but…”

  Drawing on his last bit of strength, he grabbed her with his good arm. “Ssstoppp.” The word was slurred and he had no idea if she understood. His soul ached at the thought of what she was trying to do. He wouldn’t let this beautiful, remarkable woman die because of him. She didn’t need to say it. He loved her, even if only for a brief time. He could die happy, having been in her arms and having fought at her side.

  “Caine, I—” She stopped and pressed three fingers to her sternum. Her face twisted in pain and her breaths were ragged.

  He squeezed her arm again and tried to talk, and felt a wetness in his lungs. No! Garbled nonsense fell from his lips. Don’t say it! I won’t let you die!

  “Oh god, Caine, you-you’re…” She tilted her head, and the whole world seemed to sway with it.

  Was he dying? Would they both die here, now?

  “You’re brave and you saved me. You told me how you felt and I was too scared to say anything back. Caine.” she leaned down, her lips at his ear. “I love you.”

  I love you.

  They were the words he’d longed to hear, but now they filled his heart with fear and dread instead of the fireworks and possessive joy he’d always expected.

  His blood slowed in his veins. No, Alina. What have you done?

  She pressed a gentle kiss to his lips and he savored it, memorizing her softness for eternity. Full of tears, her green eyes somehow showed more strength than before and he understood why. It was the strength born of finally realizing your true path, of acknowledging the kernel of a conviction that has been in your soul for a while. It was acceptance, dropping every last metaphorical shadow and telling him what resonated deep in her heart.

  He could never hope to find a stronger or more perfect woman than her. I would ask you to be mine… His eyelids drooped. My mate…

  The earth trembled, a low rumble that jerked him out of the closing grip of unconsciousness.

  Alina screamed and her body bowed backward.

  Caine fought to move, to grab on to her, but his body was too broken to listen. All he could do was watch in agony as her eyes slid shut and her body slowly rose up as if held in an invisible hand, higher and higher above the ground. A bright white light glowed around her, covering her dangling hands and feet, wrapping around her torso and head.

  A bolt of lightning shot out of the ground several yards away. Any demons in the way were blasted outward, their bodies flying like ragdolls. The purple-white streak stretched up, accompanied by a massive groaning sound, as if the earth were a slumbering giant angry at being disturbed after an eon of hibernation.

  No! Caine was vaguely aware that all sound and motion had ceased as the entire battlefield stared.

  Alina’s body flared even brighter as she neared the lightning. As soon as her feet brushed it, a roar like a hurricane rose from the ground. A wide column of light shot into the clouds, farther than Caine could see. Lungs and ribs screaming, he forced himself to his side, staring in horror as his own heart cracked.

  Thunder clapped and the light flashed as brightly as the sun, forcing Caine to look away. With a crash and a boom, the light and Alina dropped down into the earth, leaving nothing but churned up dirt.

  “No!” Finally a word that made sense. And it was too late. Blood trickled from his mouth and he fell onto his back. For the second time in his life, he’d lost his whole world and couldn’t do anything to stop it.

  Gin stared, frozen, at the horrors in front of her. She felt Mathias’s strong arms wrap around her and thank god, because she might have collapsed otherwise.

  Alina was…gone.

  Just gone, sucked into the earth, no trace of her left.

  But…but…we just found her!

  I know, baby.

  “We-we had so much to show her, to tell her…” Gin’s voice dissolved to a whisper as tears rolled down her cheeks.

  On the field, a team of medical staff ran to Caine and moved his body to the side of the field. The Watchers continued to fight. If they were shaken by the unimaginable event that had just occurred, they didn’t show it. Elegia’s demons fell one after the other, until the field was full of Watchers striding from body to body, bringing their wounded out and ensuring final death for the enemy.

  I can’t believe this. It’s not fair.

  I’m sorry, Ginger. Mathias nuzzled her hair.

  Nicole and Brooke stood on either side of her. As if urged by an unspoken command, she took their hands and they strode to the patch of disturbed earth where Alina had disappeared. There, she melted into their embrace, wrapped in the strength of their bond. A bond that had survived death before—the death of their biological parents and their adoptive parents.

  And Alina. Once…now twice?

  The injustice of it sickened Gin. No. There has to be something we can do…

  “No!” Nicole screamed, dropping to her knees. She pounded her fists on the ground. “Give her back!”

  Gunnar knelt beside her, eyes more grim than Gin had ever seen. He stroked Nicole’s back, but stared, stoic, at the ground.

  “I hate you! God damn you!” Nicole shrieked, tears pouring down her face, voice cracking with the force of her pain. “I hate you,” she sobbed. “I hate this.” She leaned on Gunnar.

  Brooke and Gin huddled, clinging to each other, with Kai and Mathias at their backs. “I don’t even understand what happened.” Brooke’s voice was a broken sob. “Was it a consequence of using her power?”

  Gin leaned into Mathias’s strong chest and forced back her tears enough to explain what Alina had told her about the price of her healed heart. Kai and Gunnar listened, eyes angry as they felt their mates’ pain. “She-she ran to talk to Caine after that big Viper stabbed his chest.” Gin swallowed hard. “I think she told him she loved him because she thought he was dying. It was when she was leaning over him that the weird flash of light grabbed her.”

  “Oh my god.” Nicole, close enough to hear everything, laid a hand over her chest. “Isn’t there anything we can do? Where’s Rosa?”

  Gin’s heart sped up at the mention of the old witch. “This is why we were trying to get in touch with her.”

  “She’s still fighting the witches,” Gunnar said. “It looks like she has her hands full.”

  “Then where’s Elegia? Did she even bother to show, or is she just a crazy coward?” Nicole’s voice cut through Gin’s thoughts. All sadness gone, Nicole sounded lethal. “That bitch is gonna be sorry she ever woke up today.”

  A sudden pulse in the air had everyone looking around wildly. Then a portal appeared, blazing with light, and actually lowered itself to the ground, instead of simply dropping its transported passengers from the sky.

  In a bright flash, the thing landed far back in the field, near Elegia’s witches, well behind several lines of defense.

  “Is that her?” Gin asked.

  “Maybe. Why else would she pop herself way over there?” Brooke muttered. “And if she’s so powerful, why—”

  The air filled with a hundred new portals all at once. Simultaneously, like a coordinated air strike from a human military, the enemy dropped more soldiers into the fight. Each portal carried two, sometimes three of Elegia’s followers.

  “Shit,” Mathias muttered.

  “All right, sisters.” Nicole stood tall and her eyes flashed fire. “We can decimate this army. I don’t care how many creatures she sends. It’s up to us. Let’s do this for Alina.” She took position in the center, with Gin at her left and Brooke at her right, and pointed to segments of the new arrivals. “We divide these assholes in thirds. One group gets death by fire. One, death by suffocation, and the last, dehydration.”

  “You got it, Nic,” Brooke said. Instantly, several of the enemy began the startled, staggering steps that Gin had come to associate with having all the liquid forcibly sucked from one’s body. She turned from their strangled cries to her
own assigned group.

  Mathias summoned two balls of demonfire in his hands. Wordlessly, she lifted them both with the power of her mind and split them into dozens of fiery threads. She kept them in place, hovering in the air, as she fired off one after the other into each enemy fighter.

  Gin lost track of how many waves of portals opened and dropped new demons onto the field. Time stopped, distilling down to ending the threat and staving off the horrible pain of losing Alina. On the field, Watchers worked in tandem with the sisters, attacking every creature who wasn’t in the throes of a disgusting death.

  You doing okay, Ginger? Mathias asked. As far as your power?

  I’m functioning. I’m not tired. I think when we work together, our energy multiplies.

  Finally, the portal activity stopped. “Is that it?” Brooke asked.

  “We’re not done until we take out Elegia,” Nicole said.

  Across the field, several groups were still engaged in fighting or commotion. Flashes of light erupted in the sky, seeming to come from one particular cluster. “Spells are still flying around? Even with Rosa here?”

  “Guess Elegia kidnapped some of the best witches and mages,” Mathias said.

  Elegia—at least Gin guessed that’s who it was—stood encircled by a dozen witches who all chanted spells at the same time, a jumble of words and wild eyes and outstretched palms.

  But the Watchers’ own witch group had set up a shield of sorts, while at the same time, they lobbed spells from the upper floors of HQ.

  “Let’s end this now.” Nicole’s voice was low with the need for vengeance. “Brooke, Gin. We’re on.”

  Gin squared her shoulders, and followed her sisters. They reached the spell barrier that Arawn’s witches had created to shield six of their own spell casters, who were needed in the middle of the action.

  Gin stood on tip-toe to get a better glimpse of the evil vampire. “She’s so short,” she whispered.

  “I know,” Brooke whispered back. “But aren’t vampires all short here?”

  As if to illustrate her point, Arawn walked up alongside them, followed by Sebastian. Judging from the look on his face, he’d witnessed the awful event that had taken his daughter.

  “I’m sorry, Sebastian,” Brooke whispered, reaching for the vampire’s hand.

  He clasped her hand and shook his head. “I-I don’t know what to say…she was my little one...” His blue eyes filled with tears and he paused, seeming to collect himself. “This is insanity. My sister cannot be allowed to live. Such mindless destruction…”

  Arawn stood tall and proud. “Elegia!” he boomed. “You have one chance to surrender. We recognize your scientific achievements and will make your imprisonment slightly more comfortable if you work with us.”

  The tiny blond figure in the center of the circle cackled. “Never! Don’t make me laugh. It might mess with my concentration.”

  “Elegia, wait.” Sebastian pushed through to the front of the group. “Please. Your mother would never want to see you like this.”

  “What do you care? After all these years you dare to bring up family as if it matters?” Her voice rose with each word. “Fuck off, Sebastian. You’re a worthless thief just like our father.”

  Sebastian’s shoulders sagged and he turned to Arawn. “She’s past the point of listening to anyone.”

  Arawn folded his massive arms across his chest. “It’s her funeral.” He stepped back and gestured for Nicole, Brooke and Gin to take his place. “Solsti? Have at her.”

  Nicole and Brooke didn’t hesitate. They exchanged one glance and then turned angry eyes on the female who strove to dominate the world.

  The air crackled and hummed with their combined power.

  Elegia turned to them, surprise in her red eyes. “I don’t know how you survived the attack on your house. But if you think your little parlor tricks can stop me—”

  Her body jerked as if a satanic puppeteer held her by strings. Water and other fluids gushed from her mouth, and at the same time, she clawed wildly at her throat. “You won’t—“

  She closed her eyes briefly and an eerie calm descended upon her face. She spoke several words in Demonish and raised a scrawny finger toward Nicole.

  Oh, hell no. “Fire. Now,” Gin whispered.

  Mathias produced a ball of demonfire. Gin lifted it with her mind, splitting it into several smaller balls and then stretching them into strands and interlocking them. Her creation looked like a giant gossamer flaming spider web.

  With speed born of urgent fury, she moved it over Elegia’s body and dropped it.

  An unholy scream tore from Elegia’s lungs as her skin sizzled. Brooke didn’t stop her power, so a watery, bloody, disgusting gel oozed out of the vampire’s every pore.

  Gin gasped and leaned into Mathias, drawn to look out of morbid curiosity and also to make sure Elegia truly died. How is she still writhing around?

  Ask Nicole, Mathias said. She’s become pretty devious.

  “Nicole? What are you doing?” Gin asked.

  “I’m pulling most of the air out of her lungs,” Nicole smirked. “But I’m leaving her with just enough to stay conscious and totally aware of what’s going on She’s a biologist, after all. Well, here’s a close up lesson in how things can die.”

  Gin gagged, but she wouldn’t begrudge her sisters their revenge. “Um, yeah. You guys can do your thing.” She turned and buried her face in Mathias’s chest. “This isn’t fair. I want Alina back.”

  “Me too, Ginger.” He held her close and she drew strength from the love pouring through their bond.

  “I’ve always had this sixth sense that she was out here, somewhere. And now…”

  “What do you feel now? Any echo of her?” He stroked her hair.

  “My heart feels like it was ripped out of my chest.” Despair and anger weighed heavily on her soul. She cast a sad glance back at the spot where Alina had disappeared, and a pang of longing shot through her.

  The smack of palms coming together roused her attention. But no whoops or cheers accompanied them. Gin turned to see Nicole and Brooke in a weeping embrace, and what was left of Elegia’s body on the ground a few feet away.

  Around them, the Watchers worked skillfully to capture or eliminate the remainder of Elegia’s forces. A few dying shrieks and clangs of metal were all that carried on the air as night dragged its feet toward the inevitable dawn.

  In a sudden flash of crimson that covered the field, the undead warriors slithered up on soundless feet and surrounded the sisters and their mates. The tallest one bowed low to Gin. “We have completed our task. Is there anything else you wish of us, my lady?”

  Gin pressed close to Mathias. Even though these things were on their side, their translucent bodies with those weird flickers of light freaked her out. “Can…can you get our sister back?”

  The leader shook his head. “I am sorry, truly I am. None of us possess power great enough to overcome the earth.”

  What had Alina said his name was? Some kind of weapon…Saber?

  “Thank you for helping us, Zhaber.” Nicole straightened and wiped her eyes. “Your honor is restored. I hope you meet your family in eternal rest.”

  Zhaber bowed to Nicole and to Brooke, then stood to his full height, which equaled Mathias. He closed his eyes and stretched his arms wide. “Let us depart, my brothers,” he murmured.

  Gin’s eyes widened as the zipping pulses of light in his body slowed and faded. The red tint that covered his body changed to the pale skin tone of a human who hadn’t been in the sun for a while, and the translucence shifted to the opaqueness of a corporeal body.

  Brooke sucked in a breath and looked around in wonder. “It’s happening to all of them!” She clutched Kai’s hand, but her expression held no fear.

  Around the field, all the Makara warriors were changing, looking more human. One by one, their expressions lost their fierce countenance and took on one of peaceful anticipation.

  Zhaber spoke a word
Gin didn’t understand and a whispering sound filled the air. Just as quickly as their bodies had lost their red tinge, they now faded completely from view. In under a minute, they were gone.

  The first glimmers of dawn streaked up from the eastern sky as Gin met Nicole’s eyes, then Brooke’s. A tear rolled down Gin’s cheek. “They did it. They’ll be happy now.”

  But what about Alina? Gin’s heart felt like a chunk of it was missing, drawn into the very earth that had just released thousands of undead warriors. Why did it have to keep her?

  “Where’s Rosa?” Nicole’s voice brought Gin back to the present.

  “I’m here,” Rosa’s familiar melodic voice sounded from Gin’s left. “But I’m too late.”

  “Why? Can’t you do anything?” Brooke asked.

  “I didn’t have time to see her. Things were chaotic with the attacks and kidnappings, and you’ve only just found her.” Rosa shook her head and knelt on the dirt. “Elegia’s witches were powerful. It took longer than I thought to defeat them.”

  “Why would you need to see her?” Nicole asked.

  “I need a lock of her hair.” Rosa traced a circle in the earth. “Just like I have each of yours.”

  “Her hair?” Gin repeated, dumbfounded. Each of the girls had met with Rosa at some point in the last several months, and the witch had requested a lock of their hair. But she hadn’t said why, only something cryptic about weaving together four locks, two light and two dark.

  “What would that do?” Brooke asked, voice cracking.

  “The vision finally became clear earlier tonight when I spoke with Whysper. She was able to give me the details of how Alina survived. Weaving your hair will allow me to create a binding spell.” Rosa cast a glance to Caine, who’d been bandaged and was now being attended to by Ashina. “I would have been able to override the bond between the earth and her, and bind her to me, along with all of you.”

  “Bind the girls to you?” Gunnar’s eyes flashed. “All due respect, witch, but—”