A snarl exploded far too close to them. Without warning, Emma spun, catching the Gargolosck by surprise. She absorbed the force of its hit, just managing to dodge its snapping maw as they toppled end over end. She kept rolling even as its body sprayed ash through the air.
Her eyes glowed anew.“Go!” she bellowed to Blaze.
The house was crumbling. She’d be crushed.
“Sergei! Gertie, Constance, Gwyn!” Blaze roared before choking, the smoke too thick to breathe.
The Spellcasters were through the door in an instant. Their magic shot around them, keeping the house from crushing them both. Emma stood still, and the last of the Gargolosck pack stumbled. Their energy was a barely visible current that flowed into her. She didn’t touch them.
Blaze gaped as the creatures’last snarls faded and their bodies churned through the air, particles of dust and nothing more.
For several moments she stood still.
“Blaze!” someone shouted, but his ears were full of his thundering pulse and the fire consuming the structure. His eyes were burning.
He didn’t think, but acted, scooping Emma into his arms before he whipped into a speed he had never moved before. They met the rush of cool night air, bursting over the threshold when the deafening crash of the house succumbing echoed in his ears. Relief jolted through him so completely, his knees buckled on the last step. Emma tumbled out of his arms, both of them landing in mud.
He scrambled over to her as she curled in on herself. Her lips moved, and a single word was uttered over and over.
“More. More. More. More. More.”
His blood went cold.“Emma?”
Either she couldn’t hear him, or she ignored him. Either way, she muttered the same word on repeat.
He swallowed hard and looked around. Taking in the fresh air, his lungs stung. If he’d been human, he would have been dead several times over.
Sergei lay unconscious on the ground not far away. Axel knelt beside him and Gertie held his head on her lap. Taryn and her brother were streaked with soot and a mix of red and black blood. Gwyn wept softly into her sister’s shoulder while Constance watched the fire eat the last of her house.
Farther away, the SUV looked dented and scraped, along with the silver Honda that belonged to either Taryn or Derrik.
“We need to get back to Washington,” Blaze said to them. To Constance he said,“I hope your coven will join us.”
Constance glared at him with pursed lips, but she gave a single nod of her head.
Emma’s muttering began to ease, and at last she opened her eyes to look at him. From head to toe, her body shook violently. Blaze helped her into a sitting position while scanning her for injuries. His wounds had already healed, and other than the burn in his lungs from the smoke, he was fine.
The night was still warm, though he felt the bite of a chill as his skin adjusted from the blazing heat of the burning house to the air outside. Emma’s teeth chattered loudly. He would have guessed shock, but he didn’t think she could go into shock like a human could.
“Are you cold?” he asked her.
She shook her head.“Power m-makes m-m-me sh-shiver.”
He wrapped his arms around her, crushing her against his chest. Another wave of relief washed over him. They were out. They were safe. Well, no one was safe these days, but they were alive and that was all that mattered.
Nodding at Sergei, he told Axel and Gertie, “Get him in the car.”
With one swift movement, Blaze lifted Emma and carried her to the SUV. The door stuck, but after a hard yank, it sprang open with a loud creak. He placed Emma into the front passenger seat and closed the door before she could protest. In the trunk he grabbed one of the emergency blankets he carried and draped it over her while everyone else piled into the two vehicles.
Reluctantly both engines sputtered to life and soon, they were speeding away from the smoldering heap that was Gertie’s childhood home. He heard her soft sniffling as he sped as far as he could from the area.
No one spoke a word while he drove to the private airfield. The pilot who had remained on standby was already waiting for them, the aircraft prepped and ready for takeoff.
Constance and Gwyn boarded with the rest of them. She’d already begun to make arrangements for the rest of her coven to follow in the next two days. Sergei had stirred at some point, but looked ready to pass out again at the sight of the humming jet.
Once they were piled inside, they all tended to each other’s wounds. Blaze used damp cloths to sponge away the dried blood on Emma’s leg and torso. Faint white lines marked her otherwise soft, perfect skin where claws had severed skin and muscle.
His throat thickened as he ran a finger down the worst fading scar.“You’re too brave.” He said the words so softly he wasn’t sure she’d heard him.
She gave a raspy, humorless laugh.
He wanted to press her for some kind of response, but his throat suddenly felt as though it were lodged with gauze.
The plane soared down the runway and lifted into the sky with little preamble; an urgency hung in the air to get them all behind the wards of the compound as soon as possible.
After they rested, there would be answers. He’d have to brief everyone, his uncle included. Emma had the sweaty pallor of an addict coming down from a high. It didn’t feel right to grill her for information. Yet.
But one thing was for sure: her father was not just any Shediem. Whoever he was, he had access to the Mark of Fallen Flame and dominion over the beasts of Sheol. Which put everyone at risk.
Especially her.
24
Blaze
T hrough the rest of the flight, he watched Emma the way one would watch the countdown clock on a time bomb, waiting for it to detonate. She slept fitfully and a chorus
of snores accompanied the engines rumbling, leaving just him awake. Staring at Emma, wondering if he’d ever be able to puzzle her together in his mind.
He had seen her absorb Shediem power before, and the high it gave her. But back at the house, it was as if she had lost herself entirely to it.
Now that the adrenaline had subsided and the jet’s rhythmic vibrations had created a lull, Blaze sighed and dropped his head onto his hands. The heavy sensation of dread filled his chest like cement. His uncle along with every regional and national Giborim leader in the world were counting on Emma to kill the entire Shediem race. It was clear to him now that she wouldn’t survive it. She could barely contain the power of a few Gargoloscks. How in the seven hells would she be able to kill the princes or Nakosh?
As if his thoughts had been said aloud, Emma’s eyelids fluttered open. She met Blaze’s stare head-on. His brows knitted in concern and just when he thought to go to her and wrap her in his arms, she squeezed her eyes shut again. As if his concern was painful to behold.
His shoulders slumped and he turned in his seat to watch the dark side of the morning pass the windows. Emma’s breathing grew even again, but Blaze didn’t allow himself to doze. He looked a few seats down the aisle to where his brother sat, watching Emma. Blaze wasn’t sure when his brother had woken, or if he’d truly fallen asleep to begin with.
Blaze kept his voice quiet when he said,“Why don’t you get a few hours of sleep? I’ll keep watch.”
Axel shook his head.“Can’t sleep.”
Blaze frowned. “Since when? You’ve fallen asleep on a rollercoaster before.”
Axel huffed a breath. “For the millionth time, I did not fall asleep. And it was a boring rollercoaster anyway.”
Blaze chuckled softly.“Sure. The fifty or so screaming people around you said otherwise, but whatever you say, man.”
His brother rolled his eyes. They were slightly bloodshot and the dark circles had returned.
Blaze’s smile fell. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.”
He held silent for several moments. “Is it the stress of planning the wedding? Because you can postpone
it, you know. No one will think ill of—”
“We are not postponing my wedding,” Axel growled. Then he said, almost too quiet for Blaze to hear,“Emerelda would be pissed.”
Blaze didn’t say any more, but the tightness in his chest doubled. The secrets held between Emma, his uncle, and now his brother felt like walls built when he wasn’t looking. And now he was stuck on the outside trying to decide how to climb them. At this rate, their secrets would all kill him before he had the chance to march into battle.
Axel stared out his window too, his usual jovialness replaced with the blank expression of a robot that was wholly unlike him. The hours passed in more silence that seemed to thicken the closer they got to home.
Once the wheels touched down on Washington soil, the knots loosened slightly. They were on familiar ground, and now they had two Spellcaster covens joining them. Their mission wasn’t a total failure.
Their entourage disembarked the plane with groggy yawns and heavy-lidded eyes before piling into the waiting SUVs. Blaze drove one; Constance drove the other, only after shooting Taryn a cutting look that silenced her protests.
They began the journey to the compound. Blaze glanced back only once, noting Emma’s pallid skin that had a light sheen to it. But at least she no longer shivered, he reasoned, gripping the wheel tighter. He doubted her appearance was due to being sandwiched between Gertie and Sergei. It was still the aftereffects of her power.
Halfway up the rocky, bumpy slope, Blaze’s phone rang. Dread cold and heavy dropped into his gut at the sight of the caller’s name.
“Garrett?”
The sounds of steel clanging together mixed with a deep shouting voice filled the speaker. “You better get here quick! I don’t know how they got through, but they’re everywhere!”
The line went dead before Blaze could respond.
Axel’s fists clenched on his thighs. He’d heard too.
Blaze’s grip tightened on the steering wheel and he punched the pedal to the floor. The ride up the slope was jarring, but he didn’t have time to worry about tossing around the occupants in the back seat.
Another attack on the compound. Blaze swore and slammed his hand on the wheel, making more than one person jump. His blood hummed with anticipation and a slight hint of fear. There were close to fifty Giborim females within the compound, and though they were far from defenseless, they were there for protection. Protection that even he clearly couldn’t provide. Not to mention Breanna and Isaac, who were fragile humans. Dominic will protect them.
“How bad is it?” Gertie asked from the back seat.
Blaze’s jaw felt too stiff for words, but he forced them out anyway, not caring that they sounded more like a growl.“They’re inside the wards. And it was Garrett, not Silas.” Which meant his uncle was either too engaged to call, or dead.
“I don’t understand—only I can remove them or break them.”
Blaze didn’t respond. His eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror, taking in the glow of anticipation in Emma’s emerald eyes. He bit back another string of curses. It was too soon for her to fight again, but if he knew anything about addicts, it was that they’d do anything for another high.
Morning had painted the edges of the sky in its usual golden glow. The iron gate came into view, and the carnage that lay within made the blood rush in his ears. Swords sliced and swung through the air; Shediem of assorted ranks met or dodged their blows.
Chaos. It was utter chaos.
The gate swung open with a flick of Gertie’s wrists as they approached, and the vehicle had barely come to a stop when Blaze threw his door open and leapt out, breaking into a run.
“Stay in the car!” he shouted.
Protests followed him, but he ran, unsheathing the two daggers strapped at his waist.
Beady eyes swiveled in his direction too late—he ran the blades through the bellies of two Shediem. Their top halves thumped to the ground. The hot spray of black, oily blood coated his face, his arms, his hands. It reeked of decay, but by now he was used to it.
Distantly, he could sense the others joining the fray. He wanted to search for Emma, but he focused on helping sever the twelve scaly heads of the serpentine Nickor wrapped around Jonas McEvoy. He was young, just over from Europe to check on his new, pregnant mate. And this was likely his first encounter with this particularly nasty—and rare—sea creature. Even Blaze didn’t know much about them, other than the fact that they could survive on land for days at a time.
Once his blade passed clean through its final neck, the long, dark body loosened its hold on Jonas.
“Thanks,” he panted.
“ Behind you.”
The boy turned, his sword meeting the arm of a djinn. Blaze whirled and three Shax lunged for him in unison. He leapt back, bringing a dagger down into the first vile creature’s throat. It gurgled and spit green venom that hit Blaze’s left hand. It sizzled against his skin, forcing a low hiss from him. He wiped in vain, watching his flesh bubble and burn away. First came the numbness that made the blade slide from his grip. Then came the fire.
He roared in pain, slashing at one of the other two Shax, but the blade didn’t sink deep enough. Blaze fell to his knee, the pain flaring up his wrist and into his forearm.
The two Shax closed in around him, their venom oozing from their wide grins.
“Bye-bye, foolish warrior,” one chirped in its singsong voice.
It was making a gurgling sound, collecting mucus to launch at his face, when its head fell to the side. Then the other was split in half, inky fluid spraying around him. Covering him. A glint of metal caught Blaze’s blurring vision. The venom reached his shoulder, and his entire arm drooped at his side. Already, the necrosis blackened his fingertips.
The two Shax bodies tumbled to the ground, revealing the violet-eyed Spellcaster, with matching purple hair.
She smirked.“Need help, Warrior?”
Blaze attempted a small laugh, but it sounded more like a wheeze.“Sure.”
She knelt beside him, careful not to touch his skin. Her palms hovered just above it, a pale pink light dancing around her fingertips. It swirled and coiled up his arm, draining the fire. His vision blackened but he ground his teeth together, searching for Emma in the throng.
There, in a blur of motion, she spun from Shediem to Shediem, draining them. Their bodies piled to the snowy grass in mounds of grey and black. Flames licked her entire body. She was a vision of power and strength. A nightmare hidden inside a petite body with wide, innocent eyes. Yet he couldn’t deny she looked especially beautiful. Hair pulled back by the icy wind, cheeks flushed with excitement, and eyes glowing an emerald green, she looked like she belonged beside the Spellcasters and their magic.
So striking. In a way that a goddess looked when smiting her enemies, he thought.
The venom withdrew from his veins and sinew, leaving a bone-chilling cold.
“There. Do you think you can manage to just take its head off next time, instead of swapping spit with it?”
Blaze narrowed his eyes at the girl, who grinned before jogging back to what remained of the Shediem. Emma picked them off one by one, leaving the remaining Giborim warriors with little to do.
Blaze got to his feet, leaving his venom-coated blade on the ground. It steamed and curled up as though it was little more than aluminum foil.
Many of the Nysroghs edged their way to the wards, clawing and screeching for release. Only ten or so remained, but they couldn’t be allowed to go free. Emma stalked toward them, grinning viciously. He could see the power inside her. The enjoyment that was more than the thrill of battle. The same hungry bloodlust he’d seen in her only five hours ago. An addiction that empowered her as long as the high lasted.
She didn’t bother with a sword, and he hadn’t given her back the dagger he’d commissioned for her. Her hands lifted for the creatures.
A boom sounded, knocking Blaze back. The cold ground forced the air from his lungs on impact. When he lifted hi
s head, not a single Shediem remained—only piles of ashes.
Emma’s hands lowered. He couldn’t see her face, but he felt the heat pouring from her. The scent of smoke and charred flesh wafted in the wind, assaulting his nostrils. Many of the Giborim who got to their feet stared at the dark angel of death. They covered their mouths and noses to block the smell. Blaze stood once more, caught between equal parts trepidation and awe. Those that surrounded him wore the same mixture in their expressions.
Including his uncle, he noted from a quick scan.
Emma’s shoulders heaved with ragged breaths. He walked toward her tentatively. Her powers were numerous, and he felt certain that not even she knew the full extent of them. Moving toward her too quickly might trigger something that was deadly to himself or his people, and he couldn’t allow that.
He scanned the faces he passed, searching for his brother’s. But Axel was not among them. His heart picked up its pace as he eyed each of the fallen, but still his brother couldn’t be seen.
“Axel?” His mouth was dry, and the word barely scraped out.
Taryn met his gaze.“I think I saw him run into the house.”
Most likely to check on his soon-to-be bride. Blaze nodded, relief sweeping through him. But the blank, unseeing faces of the dead caused a shiver to run through him. At least twenty of his men, men he had known for decades—if not centuries—were gone. Behind him, the face of the boy Jonas stared up at the dull early morning sky, unblinking.
His throat burned with emotion. To the Giborim now looking around, doing the same, taking stock of those that didn’t make it, Blaze said,“Let’s get the fallen warriors inside and notify their families. But try to keep them out of sight.”
Nods and murmurs of agreement spread through the men and women that began to come together to lift the bodies from the cold, bloodstained ground.
His uncle hurried toward him. “We must investigate this attack. Find out how the Shediem were able to make it inside the wards with them still intact. I think if we—”
The Throne of Broken Bones (Weapon of Fire and Ash Book 3) Page 19
