He’d been protecting them.
Eve let out a squawk, flapping her obviously just healed wings as she ran toward us, bumping into O’Shea as she ran by him. O’Shea gave a grunt, but didn’t make any move toward her.
“Rylee, what was that great crashing noise? It sounded as if the forest was being destroyed.” She bobbed her head several times, golden eyes watching me intently.
“Blaz brought us here.” Soon enough, I would have to tell her that the dragon who’d wanted to eat her was going to be with us for a little while. But not yet.
“Who is …?”
“The dragon,” Pamela said.
Ah, fuck, I hadn’t counted on the kid.
Eve squawked and let out a screech that made my skin crawl.
I held a hand up to her. “Eve, stop it. He’s not here for you, he’s here to help get us all to Venice, get Jack, and then he’ll take us home. There are too many of us for you to fucking carry.”
“He wanted to eat me!” Her wings were spread as wide as they would go and her feathers were most certainly ruffled.
I let out a sigh. “Fine, then you can take Alex with you back to London and wait for us there.”
Alex let out a whimper. “Stay with Rylee.”
The Harpy flapped her wings a few times, stirring up the bush around us. “I don’t like it.”
“I know.” I stared up at her. “I can do this salvage without you, Eve. It’ll be quick, you can—”
“No. I will come. You are my mentor.” She seemed to pull herself together. “I can take more than Alex, though.”
“You may have to, on the way back. Depends on how Jack is doing.” I led the way back through the trees to where Blaz waited, sprawled out on his back. The dragon was snoring lightly, eyes shut against the light mist that fell, but it was a ruse. I could sense that he was awake. Bugger, this blood mingling thing on top of my Tracking was making my head hurt. Too much of other people’s feelings inside my head at once was not a good thing.
O’Shea took one look at him, glanced at me, and then looked back at the dragon.
“Yeah, I can hardly believe it, either.” I reached over and slid my hand along the top of his head, the tension easing out of me as I did. He gave a soft woof, shook his head and plunked his ass down beside me.
Eve was not so subtle. Her body fluffed up, wings spread with alarm that she couldn’t seem to contain. Her eyes tracked every breath the dragon took, and her beak clacked together in fast, rapid clicks.
I’ve already eaten Harpy today. I’m quite full. Blaz rolled to the side to stare at our group. He moved slowly, and I could tell, without knowing why, that he was worried about freaking Eve out. It didn’t work. Eve hopped from foot to foot, wings flapping, lifting her a few feet off the ground.
His eyes flicked to me and gave me a slight nod, maybe confirming what I was suspecting? This bond thing was weird; I didn’t like it. Blaz gave me a grin and a wink, but then he lifted his head and stared out behind me. Like there was someone there.
I spun, yanking a sword from its sheath to see Faris standing ten feet behind me.
“Quite the army you’ve put together.”
“Fuck, don’t sneak up on me—us—like that.”
He spread his hands in front of his body. “Hardly sneaking up on you. Tell me, how do you acquire all these creatures? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone with a grouping quite like this.”
“What do you want?”
“I’m here to help. I told you that you can’t do this on your own. There’s no way you will be able to get in and out without help.”
I slid my sword back into its sheath. “I’m going after Jack.”
“And the Child Empress?”
I said the only thing that I could. The truth.
“I’ll do what I have to, Faris. From everything I’ve seen, this Child Empress is one problem our world doesn’t need.”
Faris’ eyelids flickered ever so slightly. “And you would swear an oath on this?”
“What the fuck would I need an oath for?” I glared at him, trying to figure out what he was up to. Because even though he hadn’t lied to me about Berget, I still didn’t trust him.
I just couldn’t shake the feeling that he was maneuvering me into whatever position it was that he wanted.
“You need to be committed to this path. Completely. Or I will not help you—and you won’t be able to manage this without me.” His eyes never left mine, as I continued to glare at him.
“She doesn’t need you.” Pamela said from behind me. “She has us.” I didn’t turn around, but I had no doubt her hands were on her hips as she stood up to the vampire who, I knew without a doubt, terrified her. Gods, she was going to be a strong woman when she got older. She was already stronger than most adults now, at fourteen.
Faris gave me a small smile. “You will be facing vampires and their pets, who happen to be imbued with their master’s strengths. Rylee, you know you aren’t fast enough.”
Fuck, he was right, but I had to find a way around this. I wracked my brain, but no way that I looked at it could I see around the fact that we were outclassed, speed wise at least, when it came to the blood drinkers.
Maybe Faris saw the uncertainty in my eyes, because he smiled and stepped closer to me. “If we go back to London, if we re-group, then I can pull together those of my brethren who would stand with me—then perhaps we can make an assault on the Child Empress.”
“And Jack?” I already knew the answer though, at least what Faris would say.
“He will die. But there are casualties in war. And make no mistake, Rylee, this is war.”
Be very careful, this one is a tricky bastard. Even the Dragons have heard of him. But he is better than the Child Empress; anyone would be better than that one and her twisted mind.
“We don’t have time to go back to London,” I said, a plan already forming in my mind, though I hated what it would take to make it happen. Gods, if it meant I could bring Jack out safely, if I could keep the others safe …
“Faris, I need to speak with you.” I motioned for the others to back away, to give me some room. O’Shea was watching me closely, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. He would understand, he would have to; I had no other choices left to me.
Lesser of two evils, that’s what I was doing, or at least, that was how I soothed myself.
“You are ready to swear the oath?”
My jaw clenched of its own volition, irritation and a little bit of fear trickling through me.
I kept my voice low. “I will swear it, if you will do something for me.”
He leaned in close, his mouth next to my ear, cool breath tickling along my neck. “What would you have of me … Tracker?”
I closed my eyes, reminded myself that Jack needed me, and I’d promised him I would come back to London so that either he wouldn’t die alone, or I would make sure if he’d died that he was taken care of. This was no different, only now it wasn’t London, it was Venice.
“When we get close to Venice, I want you to bite me.” I lifted my eyes to his, just as his widened.
“Rather inappropriate timing, don’t you think?”
“Your bite just before the zombie attack, when you …” Gods, what was it that he’d done?
“I invoked the bite in order to heal you.” His voice was soft and his hands had found their way to my waist. I pushed them off.
“Knock it the fuck off. Bite me now then, and invoke it when we get close to Venice. That work for you?”
The grin that stretched across his face said it all. “You’re going to enjoy this.”
I snorted. “Nope, I’m not. I’ve told you, I’ve got a thing for a wolf.”
Faris frowned and from behind us Alex gave a woof.
“The troops are getting restless,” I said. “So either do it or don’t.”
“Swear the oath.”
I gave a growl, which O’Shea echoed back to me. Clearly he had been getting the gist of
what was going to happen and wasn’t happy about it, either.
“I swear to you that I will do all I can to kill the Child Empress.”
“Swear it on the blood of the lost.”
A chill rippled through me.
I swallowed hard, suddenly nervous. “I swear it on the blood of the lost.”
He didn’t give me any warning and I reacted even though I had asked for him to bite me. I tried to jerk away from him, one hand pushing him away even as his arms snaked around me, and his mouth slammed into the side of my neck. His fangs dug in deep, and I knew I was going to have bruises after this. The bite was not like the one Doran had given me, but there was again a memory that wrapped me in it and sucked me down deep, even though I felt Faris fighting it alongside me, a hum of pleasure sharp and sweet singing along my veins, distracting me.
Whatever the memory was, he didn’t want me to see it. My interest piqued—maybe I’d finally find out what he’d been hiding from me all this time.
I wasn’t disappointed.
I recognized where we were—where the memory took place—almost immediately.
Deerborn Park.
Laughter circled up around us, Berget’s six-year-old laughter. Fuck, fuck! How was it that this was Faris’ memory? Was it somehow mine and he’d been pulled into it? Was that even possible?
No, I stood in the shadows of the trees on the edge of the park, staring out over the heads of two vampires as they watched Berget play.
She was on the swings, legs pumping hard, stretching out her toes, reaching them as far as she could. Blonde hair streamed out behind her in two long braids as she pushed herself higher and higher.
“Rylee! I’m going to flip over!”
“No, you aren’t.” That was my voice, but I hadn’t said a word. My eyes fell on my teenage self, long auburn hair hanging down around my face as I lay on my belly, reading a book next to the swings. I knew without seeing it that the book was Of Mice and Men, and I knew even the part I was at, what exactly I’d been reading. Lenny had pet the puppies too hard and was about to get busted. Bile rose in my throat. I’d never been able to finish the book, though I knew how it ended. Just like life. Badly.
The two shadows I stood next to worked their way closer, the one on the left a woman.
“Do we take them both?”
The other vampire turned his blue eyes toward her, his face the same then as it was now. “No, we take just the child. Only the child.”
I screamed, fury lighting me up like nothing I’d ever felt. Faris had been the one, he’d stolen Berget, he’d been the one to take her away to Venice, the one to lead me on to make me think he would have saved her. To make me feel like I’d been the one to blame, to then lull me into trusting him.
I snapped out of the memory, screaming and punching. A wild rage that I couldn’t control spun through me. Faris’ mouth was covered in my blood and his eyes were locked on mine. He was trying to enthrall me; I could feel it pulsing against my skin, his power drawing at my soul, trying to get to me through my eyes.
“You fucking piece of shit! You stole her from me!” O’Shea went from being across the clearing to at my side in half a breath. I buried my hands into the thick fur of his neck, clinging to him like a life raft in a stormy ocean. Calm slid through me and I knew without looking that Blaz was using whatever bond was between us to mellow me out.
“Don’t, Blaz. I want to be fucking angry.”
Anger can be used, you know that. Use it to find your friend, to kill the Child Empress. There is more good in those things than in fighting with one vampire, or losing your life to him.
I glared at Faris, who was breathing hard, but he wasn’t coming after me. Nor was there any sign of shame in him. Not a drop.
“You’re an asshole.” I spun on my heel and strode across to Blaz. No one said anything, not even Alex. Pamela sat in front of me on Blaz, and O’Shea jumped onto the dragon’s back, wedging himself between two of the dragon’s back ridges as if he’d been flying by dragon all his life.
Eve gathered up Alex and the two winged creatures launched into the air, one right after the other.
We’d been flying for about ten minutes before anyone said anything. And it was the Dragon who decided to try and draw me out.
Once we are in Venice, where are we going?
“I’ll tell you when we get there.” I bit the words out, gripping the whip handle. How the hell could I have ever thought Faris was on my side? That he was here to help me? I closed my eyes and tipped my forehead down until it was pressed into Pamela’s shoulder. Faris. My whole world had been turned upside down because of him.
“Rylee? Do you have a plan this time?” Pamela’s voice made me open my eyes.
“Jack is first. When we find him we’ll send him home with Eve right away.”
“And after?”
She knew that I was going to try and kill a child, which went against every oath I’d ever made. Then again, a vampire child would look young, but that didn’t mean she would be young. Probably hundreds of years old, trapped in a child’s body.
“I don’t know, Pamela. If I can, I’ll find the Child Empress.”
She twisted around to look at me. “And?”
Pamela had no idea, had no fucking idea what was being asked of me. “You know the answer to that.”
Her eyes watched me, like she was trying to see if I was serious.
“Fuck, kid. This isn’t a gods-be-damned Disney movie. You can’t save everyone, and not everyone deserves to be saved.”
Her chin trembled, but she nodded, her jaw tightening and stilling the tremble.
Yeah, good job with the mentoring there, Rylee. My own voice in my head mocked me. Then again, it was the truth. A hard truth that she would have to learn at some point. Better that I tell her, than she learn it first-hand.
Fuck. What a mess.
Yes. A mess for fucking sure.
I rolled my eyes.
Don’t roll your eyes at me.
I clamped my jaw shut, since I had a sneaking suspicion that Blaz was only speaking to me.
I am only speaking to you.
I wished that I understood how the bond worked, or if it was just a pain in the ass.
Yes, it is a pain. But it means that no matter how far you are from me, we can communicate like this. It means that what you feel in terms of pain or strong emotions, I can feel them if I’m close enough. Fortunately, the bond doesn’t work both ways, at least not for the most part. You can only get some emotions from me, but you can’t read my mind as I can read yours.
I wanted to groan and cover my face. Just … fucking fantastic.
My thoughts exactly.
Chapter 19
We flew through the night, stopping every hour or so for Eve to give her wings a rest. They had healed, but were still weak from the damage Blaz had inflicted on them. However, she wouldn’t stop unless Blaz stopped first, much to his displeasure.
“What does it matter who stops first?” I grunted at the third stop, stretching my legs.
Eve glowered across at Blaz, but wouldn’t say anything. Maybe it was some sort of code of conduct. Who the fuck knew?
The eastern coast of Italy, at the top of the boot, stared out across the Adriatic Sea and the so-called ‘floating’ city of Venice lit up the sky. We stopped there just before sunrise. Eve was sucking wind hard and landed in a heap, her legs buckling under her.
“Shit, Eve. We could have stopped earlier.” I ran to her side, but there was nothing I could do to help the thousand-pound Harpy.
“I’m fine.” She pushed me away with her beak and I considered that again, this had more to do with some code I was unaware of. I shook my head. Pride and supernaturals went together like peanut butter and chocolate. I should know, I was as bad as the rest of them.
“We’ll wait here until the sun is fully up; if you can find something to eat without resorting to eating one another, do so.” I looked around, giving them each a hard look.
The beach wasn’t far and I found myself working my way down to the water’s edge. Waves rushed up over the sand and rocks, the sibilant whisper of the tide pulling at the earth. I sank down, dropping my knees to the soft wet sand. I trailed my fingers in the water and lowered my chin to my chest. I was about to go into battle with a bunch of young, half-trained supernaturals. But they were all I had and I needed their help to get Jack out. For one of the first times in my life, I wished that I’d been cursed with a better ability. Something that could save lives, rather than just find them.
A warm body pressed up against my side, O’Shea coming to sit beside me, as Alex went spinning by me like an out of control top into the water. So much for a moment of contemplation.
“I wish you were here. Really here, Liam,” I said softly. He put his chin on my shoulder and stared out across the water with me, watching the sunrise over Venice. Beautiful, haunting, surreal. All those words applied and yet, they seemed damn inadequate.
Jack was in the city, his life threads hummed alongside my own. Not strong, but not dead. With Jack that was as good a sign as any. I reached up and curled my arm around O’Shea’s neck, holding him to me. What if this was all I’d ever have of him? What if Milly was right and there was no bringing him back? Fuck, I wouldn’t let that happen.
Alex was doggy paddling out into the deeper water, oblivious to the cold and the severity of the situation.
I held O’Shea tighter. He wasn’t like Alex, even though he too was trapped inside a wolf body. O’Shea was still … O’Shea. Even if he was stuck, even if he couldn’t talk, he’d retained so much of his personality.
I closed my eyes and O’Shea let out a low whine.
“I’m still here.”
Gods, what I wouldn’t give to have his arms around me.
There was the crunch of sand and gravel, and then Pamela sat on the other side of me. “I’m sorry, about what I said up there.”
“Forget about it.”
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