“Rylee, will we stand together on this?”
“When we first met, you tried to kill me.” I slid my gaze across to his. “What has changed? Now you want to be my ally, but you have never been a steady constant. Kill me or don’t, you can’t have it both ways.”
I wasn’t taunting him, I was being serious. I didn’t understand him and his motives, which continually confused me.
“I have watched you for some time. Years. You side with the humans, finding their children. Keeping them safe. From what I know of Trackers, I assumed you would be on their side when the decision came down to this.”
I snorted. “You tried to kill me based on a fucking assumption?”
He stared at me. “I’ve killed people for less. It was not so much of a stretch combined with the information I gained from your so-called best friend.”
Ahh, now that made more sense. Before I could say anything, Faris went on.
“I want you to trust me; we need to trust one another to survive this.” His eyes were deadly serious. “I acted on my assumptions and information from Milly. It is obvious to me now that she was not being truthful. But I did what I did, based on my knowledge of Trackers and her assessment of you. She fed my assumptions with her lies, padding my already skewed understanding of who you are. I realize that I, too, bear guilt for Berget’s death. For if you’d trusted me, we would not be here now. We’d be celebrating with your sister in Venice.”
“And O’Shea would be dead,” I whispered.
“Which would you rather lose?”
Fury lit through me, an anger so bright and intense I shook with it all the way to my fingertips. “I would lose neither! They are my heart!”
Faris’ icy blue eyes widened and he gave me a slow nod. “I see.”
I took a deep breath, but didn’t try to still the anger. Better than that empty hollowness that had been quickly consuming me. I glared at Faris, but he didn’t seem bothered by my anger.
“The Child Empress has done this. Will you stand with me against this threat?” He stood in front of me, his eyes searching my face. There was no question, not really.
No, that wasn’t entirely true. There was one question I needed answered.
“Are we going to kill the Child Empress?”
Faris gave a slow nod, his eyes full of sorrow that seemed out of place. “Yes, that will be the plan. Kill the Child Empress; prove that I am the better leader. Take the throne and seal vampires and the supernatural away from the world.”
“And the memory you showed me? What of that? You need me to prove you are the one to lead the vampire nation, right? I have to find something for you, don’t I?”
Again, he nodded. “Yes, but once I take the throne, that will be the last step.”
“So doesn’t this Child Empress need me too?”
He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head. “You are not the only Tracker left alive, Rylee.”
What was left of my strength slipped out of me and I dropped to my knees.
“Jack.”
Chapter 15
Faris took me back to the clearing, but only after a huge argument. I needed to get my two wolves, regardless of what the vampire thought. He suggested going back to London via the Veil first, to start planning. I was still arguing that we should strike now, while the Child Empress might still consider herself safe because she’d only just been set on the throne.
My argument won, at least the part about going back to the clearing where O’Shea and Alex were frantically pacing. One wolf was fucking terrifying, the look on his face enough to scare the piss out of anyone. The other, just … well, just looked like a lost little boy waiting for his mother to find him.
I stumbled out of Faris’ hands and toward the two werewolves, catching O’Shea around the neck and burying my face in his fur. Alex shuffled forward and I put a hand on him too, felt him sigh under my fingers. O’Shea sniffed my hair and then stepped toward Faris, a low growl rumbling through his chest. I held him back, with difficulty. “No, we’re working together now. You have to play nice, Liam. You have to.”
He snorted, stopped straining against my hold, and glared at the vampire, who just stood there, hands clasped behind his back.
“Are we quite done collecting your pets?”
“Really, you think today is the day to piss me off?” I spat over my shoulder.
Faris chuckled. “Yes, yes I do. You need to be reminded that death is not the end. Not to mention that you fight better when you’re angry.”
I clenched my fingers into O’Shea’s thick fur. His cold nose slipped under my chin and he pushed my head up. He was right. Chin up, we could do this.
I would avenge Berget, save Jack, and then … then I would grieve. Just like with losing Giselle, there wasn’t time to breathe, never mind feel sorrow over the loss. I didn’t have the fucking luxury.
I didn’t realize that I was staring into O’Shea’s eyes; he gave me a lick on the side of my face. At least I had him back in my life, even like this was better than nothing at all.
“Let’s go.”
Faris opened up the twist between this world and the Veil. Alex made a move as if to go first until O’Shea growled at him.
“Sorry, Boss. Alex forgets.” He settled in behind O’Shea, letting the alpha wolf go first. Except that O’Shea paused at the threshold, staring into the scene beyond him. Maybe he was remembering our time there? The demon we’d fought?
No, that wasn’t it at all. He made a move as if to go forward, but stopped again with a grunt.
He couldn’t cross the threshold. Shit, this was going to make things interesting.
“Perfect.” Faris muttered, and again I was struck by how very un-vampire-like he seemed.
“Looks like we’re going the long way.” I turned away from the opening to face the other side of the clearing and saw what was waiting for me there. We were upwind, which explained why the two wolves hadn’t smelled the Beast.
“Oh. Shit.” I pulled my sword out and the Beast roared, running toward me on three paws, its balance off. That’s why it had taken so long to get here. Three legs left to go. That was the key, take his limbs and he could be killed, or at least maimed like any other creature.
But before I could reach him, O’Shea leapt in front of me, tackling the Beast to the ground even though he was only half the size of the panther.
They tumbled through the snow, but the Beast wasn’t interested in O’Shea; he didn’t even try to fight back. He just wanted to get to me.
Faris grabbed my arm. “We have to go, we have to get you out of here.”
“I’m not a fucking China doll!”
He shook me, hard enough that my teeth snapped together. “That is a Guardian; you might be able to hurt it, but we can’t kill it.”
The vampire let me jerk out of his hands so I could see the battle raging behind us. Alex had stepped up, working with O’Shea to keep the Beast at bay, yanking its legs out from under it repeatedly. Again, though, the Beast wasn’t fighting them.
His silver eyes met mine, and I could see that this was not what he wanted. This was not his choice.
He was bound by oaths and a spell that even Deanna didn’t know how to break.
Your blood is a catalyst, Jack’s words floated through my brain. My blood, taken from my body, would break the spell that held the Beast. Maybe.
“Faris. If I’m wrong, please save Jack. Pamela needs someone.”
Faris grabbed my wrist. “What are you talking about?”
“Let me go. I know what I’m doing.”
“Then why would I have to save Jack?” The vampire’s eyes snared me, and I looked away, toward the battle. The Beast was still fighting to get to me, essentially allowing O’Shea and Alex to pummel him.
“This could stop him, you have to trust me.”
There it was, that word again between the two of us. Faris let me go, his fingers sliding from my wrist. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
/> I didn’t answer him, just ran toward the Beast, knowing that Faris was fast enough to stop me, but he didn’t. He didn’t try to interfere. I drew close enough that the Beast couldn’t help but catch me up with his remaining paw. O’Shea snarled and leapt onto the Beast’s back, Alex howled, his head thrown back. Confusion in his eyes, the Beast bit down into my side. My leather jacket was no protection from his four canines, which slid through the coat like it was just another layer of skin. I couldn’t help the scream that passed my lips; the pain of four enormous daggers being driven into my body at the same time was more than even I could handle.
My blood spilled out of the wounds, spread along his lips. The confusion in his eyes faded. We stared at one another, and I knew that even if I died from the wounds, I’d done the right thing. Pamela would be proud. Berget would be proud. Maybe I’d done it because I wanted to die, but even so, it was still the right thing.
Tears slipped from my eyes as the Beast lowered me to the ground. Alex and O’Shea stumbled away from him, uncertainty written all over their faces as the Beast took great care to lay me down gently.
“Are you going to kill Daniels?” I whispered, struggling to breathe around the wounds, but I needed to know that my death wasn’t in vain.
The Beast shifted, his man form crouching at my side. Blood trickled from his lips, my blood, but his blood also trickled from his back. Great gouge marks where O’Shea had lit into him. How was that possible? Guardians didn’t bleed … .
“Yes, Daniels will die. Then I will go back to being nothing more than a ghost on the moors. Thank you, Tracker. Your wolf, he will be a Guardian of a sort, a Great Wolf, but there is very little left of the man he was. Do not hope too much for what cannot be.” He looked over his shoulder at O’Shea, who stood there, seemingly confused by the Beast’s sudden shift into human form, and his suddenly gentle manner with me.
His words barely registered, but I managed to ask. “Is that why he could hurt you?”
The Beast nodded. “Yes.”
He touched the spot over my heart, then his fingers drifted across to the demon mark I carried on my chest, the black snowflake that had almost killed me.
“You have the heart that will save us all. When you have need of me, I will stand with you against the darkness.”
He touched my throat, and then bent and kissed me softly. Standing, he turned and walked into the forest, disappearing as the old werewolf had done, as if he’d never even been there.
I wished in that moment that I could see the look on Daniels’ face when he showed up for her. The thought made me smile despite the pain.
O’Shea lay down beside me and I reached over, slid my hand over his face. It didn’t feel the same as when he’d been human, yet it was still him, my fingers still recognized him. My heart was slowing down; the sluggish thump was that of a mortal wound leaking my life out. The Beast hadn’t pierced my heart, but his fangs had gone through my lungs and, by the black blood creeping out of the lower wound, my liver. That was the bad one, all the toxins floating through my system and shit like that.
A pair of blue eyes hovered over me. “Rylee, you need to be healed. I can think of only one person strong enough to do so, but you must trust me as I trusted you.”
I groaned, knowing exactly who he meant. “I don’t want her help; she’s a horrible person. Bitch, I hate her.”
“But she can save you.” He was scooping me up in his arms and I couldn’t stop him.
“No, I’d rather die.”
Faris snorted. “Stop being a child. She’ll heal you, probably for some small favor.”
“She wants me to be the godmother to her demon spawn.”
The vampire held me tight against his chest. I could see his mouth moving, could sense something happening, but then there was nothing. Nothing but blessedly sweet darkness.
No, that wasn’t true. There was something else, a soft voice I recalled, a sweet girl I’d held in my arms when she’d had bad dreams, a child I’d pushed on the swings and had loved more than any other.
“Rylee, what are you doing here?” Berget was there, but it wasn’t the little girl I remembered. She was all grown up, her long blonde hair flowing around her face on a breeze I couldn’t feel. Blue eyes sparkling as she saw me, reached for me. She had grown into a beautiful young woman, long limbed and softly curved. Her face had thinned, the baby fat gone and the lines of her cheekbones highlighted her eyes.
I pulled her to me; she felt so real and it occurred to me that perhaps it was because I was dead too, like her.
“Fuck, Berget, I’m so sorry, I should have come for you. I should have been there …”
She pushed me away gently, her face a like that of the one I remembered, only now there was a sculpted perfection to it caused by the loss of her childhood.
“This is as it’s meant to be. Rylee, you are not to blame. Everything happens for a reason. You know that. I know you do.”
Gods, how could one so young be so wise?
“You don’t blame me for not saving you?”
She threw back her head and laughed. “Rylee, you are my sister, and you will save me yet. Of that, I have no doubt. Do not grieve me, for death is never the end, not with us. I know you will save me; you will save us all. Things are not as they seem, not in our world. Do not believe your eyes, believe your heart.”
I held her hands, stared at her as if I could somehow soak her in. Keep her with me and take back her death.
“You must go now, the wolf calls to you; I can feel his ties to you as strongly as if they were ropes tangled around your limbs. He will save you, I think. Save you with his love, as you will save him with yours.” She squeezed my hands and then let go, fading into the darkness.
Voices swirled around me. “Rylee, you have to pull back your Immunity. I can’t heal you if you don’t.”
Milly’s voice. Fuck, if that wasn’t the worst way to come to.
But she was right, and she knew all my tricks. I pulled my Immunity off my hands, exposing myself to her. Her fingers were warm as they circled around mine, her magic rushing through me. I’d been healed once before and this was the same. Not painless, but a reversal of the damage as my body stitched itself back together, fueled by magic.
I groaned, my innards writhing as they came together, became whole again. And just like the last time I’d been healed, I lay there on the floor, drained of anything but the desire to sleep.
“Rylee.” Milly’s voice again. I kept my eyes closed. Maybe she’d go away. I wanted to kill her, fuck and she’d just saved my life. I settled for hurting her.
“You know that it’s your fault Giselle is dead?” I bit the words out, slowly opening my eyes to see her face pale.
“Giselle? No, I thought she was at home—”
“We went after you, you stupid bitch, and your friends put a truth spell on her. To make sure we were telling the truth about your crazy ass. It drained what was left of her life.”
She covered her face with her hands, sobs shaking her shoulders. “I didn’t know. I didn’t ever want her to be hurt. I didn’t, you have to believe me. I only ever did what I did to keep you two safe as best I could.”
With great difficulty, I pulled myself to my feet and reached for my swords, but my hands found nothing.
“I took your weapons off you,” Faris said from behind me. I turned to glare at him and he shrugged. “Her only request.”
“Doesn’t mean I can’t still kill her.” I glared at her, crouched on the floor. In my head I did the math; she was about four months along and her belly was just starting to show. She saw where my gaze landed and she cradled her stomach. I snorted and turned away. Even I wasn’t so cold as to run her through when she was pregnant.
I looked around, wobbled, and Faris reached out to balance me. “Why didn’t you just fix me up?”
An exasperated sigh slipped out of him. “You had already lost a great deal of blood, and if I’d taken more in order to make the bond b
etween us work—for the limited time it does with you—you would have died. As it was, we barely made it here.”
“Where is here?” I couldn’t make sense of the place. I could hear water, I could smell flowers as if it was spring and not November, and it was warm. Quite warm, actually.
“You don’t need to know that. Now, I’ve done my part.” Milly slowly stood, brushing off the loose flowing skirt that swirled around her legs. Green and browns, the dress was cut to flatter her changing figure while still giving her the trademark sexy girl look that she had perfected over the years. Her deep brown hair was tousled and her make-up was flawless. Next to her, I had no doubt I looked like a complete wreck, not that that was anything new with the two of us. Already, she had put aside her tears for Giselle, showing me once again just how fucking cold she really was.
“Let’s go.” I didn’t know where we had to go, only that we needed to leave. And since Faris had brought me here, I needed him to take me away.
Milly stepped so that she was in front of me. “You owe me, Rylee. I saved your life.”
Ah, fuck it, I knew this had been coming. “What do you want?” I asked, but already knew the answer. Hated that it was going to be forced on me.
“Promise me you’ll protect my son, at all costs.”
Gods that was a loaded request. “If I do this, it doesn’t absolve you. The next time we meet … .” I turned and stared at her. My former best friend, the one person I would have trusted over all others.
Her eyes welled with tears and she gave a slow nod. “I know where you stand, Rylee. I always have, I think. I’d just hoped that you’d understand why I’ve done what I’ve done. Maybe someday you will.”
“Whatever.”
“Swear an oath, Rylee. One you’ll keep.” Milly said, her voice soft with tears.
I took a deep breath, thinking about the best way to word an oath that would satisfy her. “I swear on the souls of all those I love, of all those who stand in need of my abilities that if your child needs protecting, and if I am able to, I will protect him at all costs. Even to the loss of my own life.”
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