Blood of the Lost

by Shannon Mayer

  I looked back for a split second to my friends, and almost threw up. The ogres had surrounded Rylee, Cactus, and Alex, and Blaz was flat out on the ground. Eve and Marco were above them all and were being kept at bay by several ogres with oversized crossbows. What had happened to Blaz?

  “Pamela, focus. We have a job to do. We can help them when we are done.” Her voice was sharp and it spun me around. Lark was right. I had to do this on my own. I opened myself up to the magic and beckoned it forward. “Please be enough,” I whispered, and then looked at Lark. “I’m going to drop him. Be ready.”

  She nodded and put a hand on my shoulder. The magic in me leapt at her touch, as if being called by an old friend. Lark gave me a wink. “A power boost, kid. Take him down and show him who’s in charge here.”

  With renewed determination, I lifted my hands, and that’s when the Sylph made his move.

  The tornado dropped out of the sky and spun toward us, ripping up chunks of hardened lava, any trees that were left, and all the dark gray ash. A maelstrom that would batter our bodies into oblivion if I let it catch us.

  “Pamela, whatever you’re going to do, do it now. I can’t hold us against that,” Lark said, with more than a hint of anxiety in her voice. Peta roared her defiance into the wind, but there wasn’t much else she could do.

  Squinting my eyes against the debris being kicked up, I braced myself. “I can do this. I have to.”

  Fire danced in front of my hands, growing in size until it blocked our view of the Sylph. Larger and larger, I made a barrier of fire, the tips of the flames turning blue and purple as I expanded it over twenty feet.

  My arms shook and legs buckled so I was on my knees in the gray ash, but I didn’t stop pushing the size of the wall I was creating. Larger and larger, until I could no longer see anything except red and orange. I was at the brink of my abilities and yet I kept pulling more.

  As Lark said, it was all or nothing.

  Above us, the Sylph laughed and shook his head. As if we were nothing to him.

  “That is the one to attack,” I whispered, and my magic heard me. I flicked my fingers, and like a faithful hound, the wall of fire raced away.

  “Holy shit on a green stick, what did you do?” Lark gasped and I looked up. The flames were smaller, but they were chasing the Sylph, and gaining on him. He tried to duck down and the fire dropped on him, wrapping him in its embrace. His screams echoed through the sky and the tornado dropped into nothing. The Sylph’s body fell and as soon as it hit the earth, Lark was moving, Peta running ahead of her. I paused and looked at where Rylee was fighting.

  “Lark, are you good?”

  “Go to Rylee. We will finish him.”

  They ran in one direction and I ran in the other as the sun dipped below the horizon.

  My family needed me, and I wasn’t about to let them face a herd of wild ogres without me.

  CHAPTER 14

  RYLEE

  BEHIND ME THE wind howled and the harsh retort of lightning cracking the hardened lava worried me. The sounds begged me to turn around, to run and help Pamela and Lark. Yet I knew their fight was predicated on their abilities with magic.

  With the ogres, that wasn’t going to be the case.

  Alex drifted to my left. “Should I shift?”

  “Not yet. Maybe they’re coming to make peace because they’ve seen what a fucktart Orion is.”

  On my right, Cactus laughed. “Fucktart? I like it. Might even steal it for those moments of sheer desperation I’m sure will come.”

  I rolled my eyes and reached for my swords, pulling both out of their sheaths. Just because I was hoping they wanted to do peace talks didn’t mean I fully trusted them in any way, shape, or form.

  Ghosting through the scattered trees, the seven-foot plus ogres drifted toward us. All the colors were represented: black, red, green, violet, gray, brown, and even a flash of blue skin could be seen here and there. That hurt the most.

  Dox’s family had been blue and they’d kicked him out for being weak. For showing kindness to others.

  Anger flickered along my spine and it took everything I had not to shout at the leader as she strode toward us. Sas, Dox’s lover and one of the only violet ogres left to the world.

  Her eyes were narrowed, but that wasn’t what I focused on. No, her belly swollen with child was what caught my attention. She swayed from side to side like a ship at sea, she was so big. There had to be at least three babies in there. At least.

  “Rylee, I’m surprised you would dare set foot in my territory.”

  “Temporary lapse in judgment. We thought this was a different mountain I’d caused to erupt. My mistake.” I grinned at her, though the grin, I knew, was anything but nice.

  Her lips compressed and her ogres ranged out behind her. Behind me, Blaz let out a cough, and his voice projected to all of us.

  I’ve not eaten ogre before, Rylee, do you think they taste like beef . . . or chicken?

  My eyes widened as the less than subtle insult seemed to hit the ogres as a unit. They lifted their weapons and rushed us with battle cries that drowned even the sound of the rushing wind.

  Cactus flicked his hands and fireballs erupted from his fingertips, slamming into those ogres closest to us. “Cooked chicken for you, Blaz.”

  Beside me, Alex whipped his clothes off and shifted, his body sliding through the change faster than ever. He looked up at me, his tongue flopped out of his mouth sending spit flying. “Geeky werewolf to the rescue.”

  I took a deep breath and braced myself as the first ogre burst through Cactus’s flame throwing. It was a brown ogre, his skin a pale tan, the color of desert sand. His eyes were the same tone, and that’s about all I noticed before I was dodging the first swing of the war ax he carried.

  The half-moon blade cut the air with a high-pitched whistle, and headed straight for my neck. I dropped to my knees and swung both swords out in front of me, in a crisscross slash. He stumbled back from me, my blade tips catching the edge of his knees and drawing blood.

  “I would rather we fought on the same side,” I said as I stood and advanced on the brown ogre.

  His eyes narrowed. “And I’d rather cut your lying head off and shit down your neck hole.”

  So much for making nice. He took a second swing with the war ax and I bent backward like a contestant in a limbo contest gone terribly wrong. “Alex, spot me!”

  The werewolf got his paws under my back and kept me from falling flat on the ground. Then he pushed me forward as the ogre dealt with the backswing of his big weapon. I shot forward, whipping my sword across in front of me and taking off the ogre’s hand that held his ax. Blood shot out of the stump and I sidestepped it. Though he wasn’t dead, he would be soon.

  “Alex, you got him?”

  “You gots it.” He let out a deep snarl and leapt for the ogre, knocking him to the ground. Alex went straight for the jugular, his wicked-long canines crushing the windpipe in a matter of seconds.

  But there was no respite for the wicked and I had more ogres to deal with.

  Rylee, I cannot do much damage with them so close to you! Blaz said.

  “Grab Sas, maybe we can hold her hostage.”

  I like how you think. He let out a rather evil chuckle and leapt over our heads. But we’d forgotten about the red ogres; the fact that they had magic as strong as any witch. And they knew Blaz’s weakness as they knew mine.

  From the base of the mountain, two large boulders lifted into the air, a pair of red ogres under them, directing the rocks that had to be at least two tons each.

  Time slowed.

  In mid-air, the two boulders swung toward Blaz, catching his head between them. As if in slow motion the boulders pressed toward one another, twisting Blaz’s head at an unnatural angle. The reverberation of the crunch of bones shot through me as if it were my head being caught in a vice and not his.

  Rylee, I am sorry, he whispered to me. Just to me.

  “NO!”

&nbs
p; Blaz’s body was held aloft as the rocks continued to squeeze his head. A final push and they let him go. He slumped downward, blood pouring from his nose and mouth, teeth broken and shattered. Eyes glazing over, the golden light in them dimming at a speed that could only mean one thing—

  A scream ripped from me, one not even close to human; primal, feral, a cry that was every bit that of an enraged animal. The ogres closest to me actually stepped back, but that wasn’t going to help them.

  I dove into the ogres, desperate to get to Blaz, my swords slicing through them as if they were standing still and not trying their best to take me out. Blades caught the edges of my arms; I didn’t feel it other than to notice the blood sliding down my skin. Clubs clipped my legs, and though I went to my knees, I fought from there, cutting off legs and driving my weapons through male anatomy.

  I forced myself to Track Blaz, forced myself to reach for him.

  There was a flicker of life still. We had time if I could get to him.

  Please, for all that is holy in the world, let me get to him; let us get Pam to him.

  The ogres fell in front of me; Alex and Cactus, and then Pamela was there with us, her magic curling around the ogres in ribbons of flame and lightning. The red ogres engaged her, forcing her back a step.

  Cactus worked with her, raining fire down on their heads as Alex and I slammed through the ogres, cutting a swath in their numbers. Two blond heads popped up beside us, and distantly I knew that Faris and Berget had joined the fight. The sun must have gone down, but I’d barely noticed.

  “Blaz, don’t you dare die on me,” I screamed at him, desperate to hear his voice again.

  Nothing in my head but silence.

  Faris and Berget’s speed outstripped the ogres and they blasted through their ranks, cutting throats and hamstrings, dropping the remainder of them until there were none left standing except for Sas.

  Her eyes were wide and she stepped back, her hands clutching her belly. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  I didn’t even look at her. “Pamela, we’re losing Blaz!”

  I clung to his threads even as they faded, the last of his life gone from him as Pamela laid her hands on his side. “Please, please try,” I whispered to her.

  Her hands shook as the sobs rippled from her tiny body. “Rylee, he’s gone.”

  I grabbed her hands and put them back on his side. “Try, you have to try. He’s not gone.”

  Letting her go, I backed away. My own Immunity would affect Pamela’s ability to use her magic. I clenched my teeth. “Pamela. Please try.”

  She looked at me over her shoulder, tears streaking down her face. “Rylee,” she sobbed my name, “he’s gone. I can’t . . . I can’t bring him back.”

  I dropped to my knees and tipped my head back to the sky as I screamed, the wail slipping into a sob that shook my entire body. Blaz . . . damn him for leaving me, for leaving me now when I needed him more than ever.

  Arms circled around me as my body shook with uncontrollable spasms. The bond between Blaz and me that severed in death left a hole in me like no other. He had been a part of my life for such a short time. And yet it felt like I’d never lived without him.

  My hands shook and I didn’t even realize I’d dropped my weapons. More arms went around me as I sobbed, unable to feel anything past the loss. Worse than losing Giselle. Worse than losing Dox or even Milly.

  Blaz . . . he couldn’t be gone. This was a joke; a nightmare I’d open my eyes from and he would be there, inside my head teasing me about my growing feelings for Faris. Kicking my ass when I needed it.

  Slowly, I opened my eyes. Blaz was not in front of me, wings poised and waiting for our flight. He was in front of me, his body still. Wings that would never take flight again.

  Sas stood to the side of us, Cactus holding her arms behind her back. Liam, Berget, Alex, Pamela, and surprisingly Lark, held onto me. I gently pushed them all back and stood.

  Cactus’s eyes were wet, but his mouth was a hard line. “Rylee, what do you want to do with her?”

  I took a deep shuddering breath. “Whose babies do you carry?”

  She shook, her oversized body quivering with what I had no doubt was fear. She was alone, what was left of her people wiped out. “I don’t know. Perhaps the triplets. Perhaps Dox’s.”

  Lark stepped forward. “I can tell you.”

  Sas squirmed, but Cactus held her tightly, his hands lighting up. “I will fry your ass if I have to, ogre.”

  She stilled and Lark stepped close enough to put a hand on Sas’s bulging belly. A few moments passed and she pulled her hand away. “Three children, one blue and two violet. All boys.”

  So her babies came from both Dox and the triplets. Sas bared her teeth at me. “You are weak, you’d let me live because of Dox. You are a fool.”

  “How close to term is she?” I asked softly, a deadly, vengeful part of me waking for perhaps the first time in my life. A part I wasn’t sure was good or not.

  Sas started. “What do you mean?”

  Lark looked at me. “Close enough. But what would you do with the babies?”

  The reality of what I was saying, or more accurately what I wasn’t saying, and what it would mean for her seemed to hit Sas as Lark and I stared at each other. Sas began to fight in earnest, bucking against Cactus, but he did as he said he would and his hands heated her skin, burning it. Screaming, she went to her knees.

  “You can’t do this! You’re a monster if you take my babies, they’re all I have left!” Her sobs didn’t touch me, didn’t soften me. Liam put a hand on the back of my neck and tugged me to him.

  “Don’t do this.” No, that wasn’t Liam, it was Faris. I leaned back into him—just a little.

  “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t, Faris. They killed Blaz; what right has she to life? To go on as though nothing has changed.”

  “Of all the people you know, I perhaps understand vengeance the most. My own father killed my sister, turned me into a vampire, and left me to die in the sun. Revenge”—his arms tightened around me—“is not who you are. Justice is.”

  Justice. But what was just in this case? What could possibly account for Blaz’s life?

  Lark lifted her one hand and Sas sank to her chin into the earth. “Death is justice, vampire. But I agree, taking the babies first is not the right way. Let her give birth, let her love them and realize the world she would have brought them into.” The elemental’s eyes hardened. “And then take them.”

  I stared at her, seeing why she’d earned the nickname ‘The Destroyer.” I knew what it was to give up a child, to walk away knowing it was best for her. But what if someone had taken Marcella from me? My stomach rolled and I struggled to not let the turmoil show on my face.

  “Let her up, Lark.”

  As quickly as Sas had been pulled down, she was pushed up. I held my sword out and pointed it at her heart, resting the blade on the top of her belly. “For Dox’s child, and the triplets, you can live for now. But I assure you, I will come for them. And if I can’t,” I looked at Lark and she nodded.

  “Yes, if you can’t come for the babies, I will.”

  Good enough for me. I turned back to Sas. “The last thing any of those fathers would have wanted would be to have their children raised by a vindictive, manipulative bitch like you.” I stepped back and lowered my sword. “When you least expect it, Sas. One of us will come for you.”

  She stumbled back, spun, and lumbered away from us as fast as she could. I watched her go, the night slowly deepening around us. Faris still stood with me, the only one touching me, the only one feeling the tremors there, just under my skin.

  Without Blaz I felt adrift, lost. “He was a part of the prophecies, he was supposed to be the winged one who would carry me into battle,” I said. This was part of Orion’s plan, to cut me off from those I needed to help me face him down.

  Faris put his chin on my shoulder. “I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but it has to be said . .
. .”

  I looked at him, his deep blue eyes rimmed in gold holding more compassion than I’d ever seen from him before, and I was nearly undone. I forced myself to hold it together. Barely.

  “Whatever it is, say it. We don’t have time for anything else.”

  He looked where Blaz lay, and I looked with him, my heart breaking all over again when his chest didn’t rise. His wings lay still on the ground. Pamela lay against him, still crying her heart out as Berget tried to console her. Alex sat beside her in his wolf form, a high-pitched whine in his throat as tears dripped down his fur.

  Faris turned me away from Blaz so I looked only at him through watery eyes.

  “There is one other dragon who is Slayer trained. One other who could take you into battle. You know that. We have to find her, which means you will have to Track her.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “Which will take Orion straight to my daughter.”

  There were no words for the horror that cut through me, for the reality of what I faced. Orion had effectively cornered me, making me decide between my daughter and saving the world.

  And I had no idea what I was going to do.

  CHATPER 15

  RYLEE

  KNEELING IN FRONT of Blaz’s face, I closed my eyes and put my forehead to his. “Wait for me on the other side, my friend.” The same words I’d said over Milly’s grave. I truly hoped I would not have to say them again in what was left of my life.

  The feel of his scales under my skin like every other time I touched him; the sense that at any moment he would leap up and tell me he was fine. I couldn’t get over it.

  “Rylee, we have to go while the night still holds.” Lark crouched beside me. “We can be in the Rim before the morning dawns and heading back immediately.”

  “I know,” I said softly, running my hand over his closed eye. “You can bury him?”

  She nodded and I stood. We backed away and with a sweep of Lark’s hands, the ground opened up and swallowed my dragon down as if he never were. So fast, it was easy to believe he was somewhere else.