The second our wish fell upon the Jannah’s ears, however, that all changed.
The wind buffeted the crow, so even as it swooped away from the temple, soaring toward the city of Hidalgo itself, it brought it back toward us. Like a magnet.
The crow was tossed and turned in the wind’s buffeting strength, and as the bird returned to us, we heard them.
Footsteps.
Ghouls soared out of each of the openings in the temple. Whether they were secret or just known to them, we’d never have the answers to that, but as thousands of them appeared from out of nowhere, I felt my Sin Eater surge to the fore.
Our training kicked into gear then, making it so we assessed the threat and worked as one unit even though, until this point in our lives, we’d always been two.
We shuffled toward the center of the plateau. Although it was always our intent to hurt as many of the scourge as we physically could, that simply wasn’t possible with the numbers or with Eve to protect.
She had to survive this.
Hell, we all did.
Without her, our wishes couldn’t be granted.
Without us, there was no one to make the wish.
For the first time in a long while, fear truly hit me. It exacerbated the Sin Eater’s rage at being hemmed in, and as the Ghouls stormed toward us, running up the short staircase to reach us, the crow finally hit the airspace above Tula.
Like the soldiers knew it, the grating sounds appeared once more. This time, we were closer, and the stone creaking against stone was reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. Enough for all of us to cringe.
I knew we were fighting the desire to leap into the fray, to head off the Ghouls and kill as many as we could, but that wasn’t our purpose here today.
We weren’t warriors.
We were a Jannah’s mates.
She needed us. As we needed her.
The soldiers moved, their great boots stomping as they began to shift into a circle. The Ghouls, spying this phenomenon, paused to take in the sight of ancient monoliths moving like they’d been born for this purpose.
Perhaps they had.
Into this maelstrom, Eve began to sing. Her Lorelei churned out a song that had the Ghouls freezing in place, all several thousand of them hovering in midair on their path to reach us. Startled out of his surprise, Eren joined in, humming along with her as the words she was singing were reminiscent of the language I’d heard her talk in back in London—back when she’d been slaying those Ghouls in a dark alley.
To her serenading song, stone arms shot out, each one gliding against the others as their rough hands clunked against the others’. The light in their veins seemed to pool in their palms until it shone so brightly, it had to be hotter than the sun itself.
From out of nowhere, there was a screeching sound. We dropped to our knees as a tail seemed to waft over us, almost hitting us and throwing us off the plateau—Reed was caught in the backdraft and he was tossed a few feet away.
As he scrambled back toward us, I stared up at the most bizarre sight I could imagine.
Gulping, I bit off, “Is that what I think it is?”
“A feathered serpent?” Samuel rasped, his eyes skyward as were ours.
Even the mesmerized Ghouls appeared fascinated by a display that belonged in some kind of Spielberg movie! Except this was real. This was happening. And we were a part of it.
The creature was massive. Its tail long enough to shroud the temple in its might if it coiled around the edifice. The feathers that crested its tail and head were like a rainbow, except this rainbow was so much more than anything I’d ever seen before.
There were colors there that didn’t exist. That were close to impossible to describe because I’d never seen them before and, truly believed, I’d never see again.
The snout was that of a giant lizard, something that was reminiscent of a dragon of old, and the wings that seemed to be too small for the giant form clung to shoulders that were hidden beneath the plume of feathers. Teeth and beady eyes peeked out of the feathers, making it one of the ugliest, most beautiful things I’d ever seen in my entire life.
As the tail wrapped itself to the temple, using it as an anchor, the Ghouls were knocked aside and decimated with an undulation of its massive body.
Meaning we were safe.
I wanted to drop to my knees in thanks but didn’t, because the war hadn’t even started yet, and for whatever reason, Eve was still singing.
A song that didn’t affect any of her mates.
With our attention skyward once we realized we were safe for the moment, we stared at the giant feathered serpent as it used its grip on the temple to launch itself into the air. The wings beat faster and faster, using the wind that kept the crow in its territory to gain momentum.
When it was airborne, we watched as the serpent circled the crow that was tiny in comparison. Its endless tail moved around and around in a manner that was so reminiscent of what had happened with Drekavac that we knew what was about to happen.
The wind disappeared as quickly as it had stormed into being, and as the serpent finally tightened its tail around the bird, there was a huge bang that seemed to shake the earth itself.
The serpent and the bird in its embrace exploded into flame. The fire was like the one that had consumed Drekavac, burning so hotly, that the air itself seemed to heat up and the sweat on my body had nothing to do with the sun, but with the conflagration taking place over fifty feet above me.
Eve’s song finally faltered, and she whimpered as the fire consumed the serpent, but we weren’t surprised when what went up came down, and with another huge bang, both burned corpses sank to the ground.
This time, the earth quaked for real. The temple beneath us began to shudder as though it was being shaken from the inside out, and maybe it was.
As the wind appeared once more, separating the bones of the serpent from the bird’s ashes, the latter soared into the air, spinning in a wide circle.
From the remnants of the serpent—and the Toltec warriors who’d coalesced into the beast—the light that Eve had given it appeared once more, and it poured into a beam that shot forth. When it collided with Eve, she staggered back, her belly glowing once more as the amulet on her form began to pulse. But the light was too much, and as it combined with another quake from the earth, she stumbled backward.
Reed tried to grab her. Fuck, we all did. We rushed toward her, the gouille’s wings springing forth from Nestor’s back as he leaped for her, but she tumbled down the plateaus, the hard brick providing her with no cushion.
We ran after her, but we made it too late. The stairs almost tripped us up since they were so narrow, but we made it without injury. Around us, the world went to shit as the Ghouls that had been tossed aside when the feathered serpent had lashed them, flaying them into pieces, surged into flame, but our focus was on Eve who lay like a pile of broken bones on the ground.
There was no time for basic first aid, no time to process what the hell was happening. The earth quaked again, and this time, the temple began to groan as though it was about to shatter into a thousand pieces.
“I’ll carry her,” Dre called out, amid the chilling sounds of an ancient building collapsing.
We had no time to reply as he shifted into his bear. The creature had seen far too few moments in the light and had no chance for further exploration. Instead, it hunkered down, hauled his mate into his arms and took off at a run that would astonish any passing scientist that was an expert on bears.
We took off after them, running around the fires that burned so hotly that it was no wonder humans were terrified if all in Raum’s line were perishing in the fiery flames, which could only be this hot if they were a weapon from God himself.
The fifteen-minute walk took five minutes at a swift run, and all of us were feeling the tough pace as we sprinted back to the church where we’d parked the car in its lot. Not only was it so hot I felt like my skin was broiling, but the ground beneath us
trembled and quivered, making the placement of each foot vital as we ran. If we weren’t careful, we’d fall. If we weren’t fast enough, we’d get caught in the chaos.
Behind us, it sounded like the world itself was coming to an end as the scent of fire hit our nostrils and the heat hit us like a blanket, even though we were a good mile away from it.
Was this fire and brimstone?
The scent was like nothing I’d ever smelled before, and though I wished it were the last time I’d ever experience it, I knew there was one more Original to go.
But, until that time, we had to get Eve the hell out of here.
She was, as always, our priority.
❖
Dre
“What’s wrong with her, dammit?” I ground out, refusing to relinquish my hold on her as Samuel tried to get her to wake up.
The bear that had clung to her, carrying her away from the mayhem of Raum’s death site, was clinging to her, and was pissed off as hell at the sight of Samuel smacking her in an attempt to wake her up.
Even though I understood, every time he did something to try to stir her, I wanted to smack him back.
Fuck, the bear wanted to maul him, so my punishment would be nothing in comparison.
“She fell!” Reed growled, and my bear recognized his Hell Hound. We were two beasts in a far too small space, and that never boded well.
“Calm down! Now!”
Eren.
His Lorelei made the words a command, and we all instantly obeyed because the fucker was powerful like that.
“We’re not helping Eve by fighting. Let’s take this rationally. We have to get out of Hidalgo and back to Mexico City. God only knows where we have to go next, but once we’re there, at least we’ll be close to an international airport.”
Though his words were brusque, with the punch of the Lorelei behind them, it was incredibly difficult not to comply. Difficult to the point that I twisted my head from side to side as I tried to evade his command.
“Fucker,” I growled when his compulsion died off.
“Focus on what matters,” he retorted, totally unapologetic at using his creature to make us do his bidding.
Reed grunted. “I agree we should head back to Mexico City. But I’m not sure if we shouldn’t go to a clinic first.”
“Look at this place,” I grumbled, staring around the town that was so like my hometown I wanted to puke. “It’s a shithole. The clinic will be useless. It probably won’t even have a functioning X-ray machine. What use will that be to her? Get to the city, then we can take her to a hospital when she wakes up.”
I refused to contemplate that there was an ‘if’ in that sentence.
This woman made me so fucking angry. When she wasn’t pissing me off by being an ingénue, she was ripping my world apart by Choosing me when I’d never wanted to be Chosen. Now she was unconscious, a ragged pile of bones in my arms, and I wanted her to wake the fuck up.
Now.
Of course, she didn’t comply and that made me want to shake her. To shake her and shake her until she grumbled at me, those beautiful amber eyes of hers glowering at me from under heavy lashes.
A hand grabbed my shoulder and squeezed. “She’ll be well, brother.”
As I stared back at Stefan, I groused, “She has no choice.”
Another quake had the ground rumbling beneath us and Frazer, who was at the wheel, swerved to avoid a sudden fissure that appeared in the already shitty tarmac.
“Jesus Christ,” he hollered, then sped up as fissures appeared all around us, breaking off into great crevices that could swallow our SUV whole.
Of course, Eve began to stir at that moment.
Once upon a time, I’d called her Trouble, but I thought Chaos fit better now.
It was only as she began to move in my arms, though, that I realized the more she did, the more fissures and cracks appeared in the road.
“Do you see this?” I demanded of Stefan, who was hanging over the back of my seat staring down at us both.
“Yeah. I am.”
“What is it?” Samuel hollered. “What’s going on?”
“I think she’s making the Earth quake.”
It should have been impossible, but I’d just seen four stone statues turn into a goddamn feathery snake. The impossible was possible where Eve was concerned.
I tightened my hold on her, hoping against hope that my presence might do something, might make her feel better, calm her down. Anything.
It was then I realized that my presence would do jack shit.
Why should I be able to comfort her in her unconscious state when she wasn’t used to me?
Something I’d forged by myself.
Goddammit, I was self-destructive to the point of idiocy.
She’d Chosen me, but I hadn’t let her Claim me. Our bond was nothing in comparison to what she had with the others.
“Get her,” I hollered at Reed. “Comfort her.”
He blinked at me, then shook his head. “Don’t be stupid. She needs you as much as she needs me.”
I wasn’t sure that if our positions had been reversed, I’d have been as generous as he was at that moment.
The bitter poison welled inside me. A poison that had been forged at the abandonment of my parents, and then during the time I’d been raised by my evil bitch of an abuela. It seemed to seethe inside me, rattling to the point where I wanted to spew it free but there was no one to aim it at.
No one who deserved it except for me.
I tensed when Eve groaned, her head rolling back and forth against my chest. I tightened my hold on her, hoping that would work, but it only made her struggle all the more. Releasing my hold, I let her sag into me, then jerked her back when another quake boomed beneath us.
In the distance, an explosion hit. The wave of car alarms that followed it had my ears ringing. I turned back and saw that where, in the distance, the peaks of the temple that had been visible on its high rise, were no longer there.
The temple was gone.
Christ, would the city survive whatever the hell was happening?
As we raced out of Hidalgo, the quake followed us. It was almost like Eve was having a seizure the way she rolled in my arms, jerking and tensing, stiffening and relaxing to the point where she was lax on my lap.
I happened to look out the window and saw the sign for Hidalgo, saluting us farewell as we made it out of its city limits. When we crossed the line, Eve instantly relaxed. Not to the point where she was limp, but like she could rest.
And with that rest, the light began again.
I was getting sick of that motherfucking glow.
Except, this time, it didn’t center in one place. Her hands began to gleam, the skin turning pink as the yellow light shone through it. Two appeared on her chest, just above her tits, another two around her knees, one on her belly, and a final one on her left arm.
I turned her hands and saw that it was the marks on her palms that were lit up like a Christmas tree. The marks she wore that Nestor and I should bear but didn’t. It wasn’t until now that I realized how much I resented that.
The others bore her marks, why didn’t I?
What had singled out Nestor and me?
Reed grabbed her leg and shoved up the hem of her yoga pants to reveal the lines of a snarling hound. I frowned at the sight and asked, “Your Hell Hound?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I think. I’ve never actually shifted.” He ran a hand through his hair, his agitation evident.
“You need to, man. Nothing like it,” I told him, my tone sympathetic.
We hadn’t been in a position for him to shift, but we’d need to rectify that. For Nestor too. Sure, his wings had made an appearance back at the temple, but we needed time in our other forms. Time to breathe and to grow into them. We three were Shifter souls, as in touch with our beasts as the human halves of our nature. Now Eve had fucked us up ahead of schedule, and the three of us would need to take time to grow comfortable in our ot
her skin.
I shuffled Eve in my grasp and began to unbutton her shirt. Yeah, it felt creepy to me too, but I wanted to know what was going on underneath.
Above the cups of her lavender bra, which housed tits that made my mouth water, there were two distinct shapes, but what bewildered me the most? The tree was back. Except it didn’t extend down her arms this time, just had centered itself on her belly. It spread out wide, taking over her stomach, moving around to her sides, covering the still-red claw marks from Reed’s Claiming that I’d heard Eren bitch about, and down her hips so that it sank beneath the waistband on her yoga pants.
Once again, it was forged of words, and I said, “Reed? Take a picture and send it to Bartlett.”
His phone was already in his hand and he took off a few shots of the tree, and then of the markings we’d unwrapped. The Hound wasn’t made up of words like the tree, though, nor were the lines on her palms. Above her breasts, there was the Lorelei mark. A figure that was made up of what appeared to be musical notes. The Incubus, Stefan’s brand on her, was a man burning in flames—pleasant. On her arm, the Sin Eater was there. It reminded me of a blend of the mask worn by the murderer in the Scream movies and Edvard Munch’s portrait ‘The Scream.’ Fitting, considering how he munched on Ghouls’ souls.
Reed had finally exposed her other leg, revealing the Vampire. Two fangs dripping blood that pooled around the teeth.
I couldn’t say they were beautiful tattoos because they weren’t. Only mine and Nestor’s were half-decent, but I guessed I shouldn’t be too critical when the guy behind the art was God himself.
Deciding to stop perving over my unconscious mate, we wrapped her back up again in her clothes. When she was decent, I realized she’d stopped fretting, so I assumed she’d been attuned to whatever was going down in Hidalgo.
Which wasn’t weird. At all.
Right.
Blowing out a breath, I watched as it disturbed a few strands of her hair. The chestnut locks shuffled against her clammy forehead, and as I stared down at her, my heart began to thud dully in my chest.
Nine Lives: The Caelum Academy Trilogy: Part THREE Page 21