by Jaye Wells
Page 53
Eurynome stepped between the Domina and me. I tilted my head to look up at him. Sounds in the distance registered in my expanded consciousness. A smile spread across my lips. The demon’s black eyes flickered to a chunk of plaster that fell just to my right, barely missing my shoulder. I didn’t flinch.
The air shimmered, signaling the demon’s intent to deliver another of his signature pain spells. The aura around him flared up a split second before the doors to the temple burst open. Eurynome’s spell shot toward me like flame. The spell licked up and over the cone of Chthonic power the goddesses wrapped around me. The demon’s black lips fell open in shock as cavalry rushed in the door.
“Eurynome!” a familiar voice shouted.
His head swiveled to the right to see a flash of green rushing toward him like a freight train. Giguhl tackled Eurynome, and the two demons slid across the stone floor before slamming into the wall.
I didn’t have time to watch Giguhl finally get his chance to finish the Avenger once and for all. Nor did I stop to see who else my minion had brought to the party. I could feel each of them— Rhea, Pussy Willow, Mac, Georgia, and about twenty other mage, werewolf, vampire, and fae allies both inside and outside the building.
As much as I appreciated their assistance, my sole focus was pursuing the Domina. “Lavinia!” Her head whipped around, her eyes finding me through the haze of dust and the bodies littering the path between us.
“Quickly!” she screamed. “Summon the Master!”
To her right, two Caste members— a vampire and a mage— huddled together with an ancient tome. A third Caste vamp held a knife to Maisie’s neck in front of the two with the book. She stood limply in his grasp as he used her body to shield his comrades. Her wide, haunted eyes met mine across the space. Her pale face, the bodice of her chiton, and her hands were coated in Adam’s blood. She looked up, and for a nanosecond I could have sworn that behind the broken gaze I saw a spark of the old Maisie. The one I knew before Lavinia conspired to rip us apart and break our spirits.
Decision time. I could take the Caste members out now. End the chance of Cain joining the party. But Maisie stood directly in the line of fire.
An ear-splitting crack echoed through the rotunda. One of the beams that held up the dome crashed to the floor, crushing the bodies of two human Brothers. Lavinia sprinted toward the door, pushing the chanting Caste members and Maisie ahead of her. Bodies scattered as the other combatants rushed to follow her example. The urge to give chase was strong, but I wouldn’t leave Adam and Giguhl behind. Dead or alive, I’d never abandon my team again.
I raced through the room, leaping over bodies of the falling, fighting against stragglers running toward the exit. I skidded to a halt several feet from where Giguhl still battled Eurynome.
“Giguhl,” I said. “Finish him!”
As if spurred on by my command, Giguhl seemed to expand and harden. Eurynome raised his claws to deliver a spell. As the white-hot flash of magic zinged through the air, Giguhl ducked and rolled. He came up hard and fast at the Avenger. Claws slashed Eurynome’s face. Black blood oozed from the wound. Before the ram-horned demon could retaliate, Giguhl delivered swift jabs to Eurynome’s midsection, pushing him back toward the curved wall. The impact forced a new, thick crack up the already unstable wall.
I rushed toward them, determined to help Giguhl finish this quickly. My minion didn’t have access to the kind of magic that could send the Avenger back to Irkalla. But I couldn’t get a clear shot with Giguhl in the way.
I grabbed an iron spear from the hands of one of the statues. “G, catch!”
His uppercut slammed into the Avenger’s chin. Turning his head slightly, Giguhl saw the spear flying toward him and caught it. In a smooth motion, he spun around and slammed the metal through Eurynome’s chest. The iron impaled the demon and pinned him to the wall.
“Move!” I yelled.
Giguhl didn’t stop to argue or question. He simply lunged to his right, clearing a path for me.
My hands thrust forward. “Iddumu bara nadzu!” A bolt of black energy sizzled from my fingertips. The spear acted like a lightning rod and delivered the spell directly to Eurynome’s chest. One second the Avenger squirmed and screamed to avoid the spell, and the next he was a pillar of black coal and ash.
My mouth fell open in shock as Giguhl jumped off the ground to run toward me. “Holy shit! You just incinerated him!”
I swallowed the bile that rose at the scent of burning flesh and brimstone. “We need to get the fuck out of here!” I jerked my gaze to Adam’s body.
Beside me Giguhl stilled. “What happened?” he whispered brokenly.
Another loud pop echoed through the crumbling chamber. No time for post mortems or mourning.
“Lavinia happened. ” I pulled Giguhl with me. “C’mon, we’ve got to go. ”
Crisis mode kept me insulated from the horrific reality that I was staring at the lifeless form of the male I loved. That reality would hit me like an atom bomb once the crisis was over. If I survived.
Giguhl gently lifted and cradled Adam’s body. With a hand on the demon’s back, I ran for the door, keeping my eyes averted from the mancy’s closed eyes and the blood covering his chest.
Together we reached the opened doors a split second before the rest of the shattered dome’s steel frame broke free. We lunged into the night as the impact boomed and a cloud of dust exploded behind us.
We stumbled out onto the stone balcony. Leaning my back on the stone railing for support, I looked back at the imploded room. I blew out a breath. “That was too close. ”
A magical percussion burst through the night. In its aftermath, I finally heard the sounds of fighting far below in the cemetery. I turned slowly. “Oh, my gods,” I breathed.
While I’d been busy inside, Lavinia’s goons had run straight into the waiting arms of my own personal cavalry. And they’d brought reinforcements in the form of several Pythian Guards and Queen Maeve’s knights, judging from the uniforms. Plus, on the periphery of the fighting, Zen and PW gyrated and twirled among the tombs.
As I watched, a cyclone swept through the cemetery. A clump of Brothers flew through the air like so much confetti. I’d seen that maneuver before. My eyes sought out Erron Zorn, who stood on the roof of a tomb with Ziggy by his side. I don’t know who or what convinced him to change his mind, but I didn’t have time to do anything but be grateful for their presence. I had to find Lavinia before she could summon Cain.
“Giguhl, take Adam to Rhea. Then go look for Lavinia. We have to stop her. ”
Giguhl nodded solemnly. “Watch your back, Red. ”
I met my friend’s eyes. “You, too, G. ”
With a final nod, he shifted Adam’s limp body in his arms and ran toward the stairs.
I turned and climbed up on the railing. On the far side of the battle I spotted Lavinia, the three Caste members, and Maisie. The Domina attacked a faery from behind. Her fangs ripped out his neck so fast he didn’t know what hit him. As his body fell, she relieved him of his sword. She looked up then and saw me. She wrapped an arm around Maisie’s neck and raised the sword in salute. The iridescent faery steel glinted wickedly in the moonlight.
I’d felt the sting of such a blade before. Specially designed by the fae for killing vampires, the magical blade was made even more deadly in the hands of my grandmother.
But not as deadly as me. The powers of Lilith and Hekate still thrummed through my veins like lightning. A fact Lavinia Kane would soon discover.
I raised my arms up toward the sky, turning my face toward the waning moon. The dark energy pulsed through me. I dove, somersaulting through the air. My war cry burst through the night.
Time to end this.
30
My feet barely hit the ground before a Caste vampire lunged with fangs bared. Without slowing, I heaved a bolt of underworld magic his way. Heat licke
d my back as his body exploded.
Legs pumped faster. I dispatched a clump of Brotherhood humans. A flash of red between two crypts caught my attention. I started after Lavinia.
“Sabina!” Rhea’s shout made me stop short.
I turned to see the silver-haired mage cornered. She stood in front of Adam’s prone body, fending off attacks from three Caste mages. I ran up behind one of them and jerked his neck to the left. I didn’t stop to watch him fall as I went after the second. This one saw me coming and turned to blast me with a flaming orb. Again, the cone of power protected me. I stood fully and shot a cocky smile at the shocked mage.
Lifting my hands, I threw some magic of my own at him. He grunted as the spell hit him in the midsection. He ignited instantly. Screaming and flailing, he was burned alive.
The remaining mage turned tail and ran away. My bolt hit her in the back and threw her forward into a group of three Caste vampires. Their clothes caught fire, and the four bodies created a writhing funeral pyre.
Breathing heavily, I turned back to Rhea. Instead of looking relieved, her face was a mask of worry. “Where’s Maisie?” she demanded.
“Lavinia. ” Her face hardened. She glanced down at Adam’s body before looking up with tears in her eyes. Before she could speak, I held up a hand. I couldn’t handle it now. “Get the hell out of here. ”
She wrapped her arms around me for a quick, hard hug. “Goddess protect you. ” Her voice lowered to a fierce whisper. “Now go kill that bitch. ”
I pulled away and turned my back to her before emotion could get its claws in me. Running, I beelined for the crypts I’d seen Lavinia disappear between earlier. Spurring my legs faster, I burst out of the narrow aisle ready for action. Only instead of finding Lavinia, I discovered the males who’d been chanting inside. The vampire still held a knife against Maisie’s throat, but she appeared to be unconscious again. The book they’d been chanting from earlier lay on the edge of the slab. Their voices mingled with words I couldn’t translate.
I ran right toward them, tossing aside the vampire with the knife. A bolt of Chthonic magic slammed into his body, frying him on the spot. The other vamp left the mage and sprang at me. He slammed into me before I could shoot him with a spell. We rolled and tumbled across the grass, slashing at each other with fists and fangs. He landed on top, pinning my legs down. With one hand, I gripped his wrists to prevent the knife’s downward motion.