They nodded, murmuring their assent.
The plan was to have the shamans holding the protective circle to let it drop and Ophelia would tear the barn right off us so we had a clear view of what we faced.
The vampires would rush me to the ceremonial slab, the shamans would set up another protective circle around us there, and I would end the game with Orion, complete the ceremony and save the world.
Easy as peach pie in the south.
I watched Berget and Faris for the first signal: the sun had gone down. Berget’s blue eyes were on mine and I saw the flicker there a split second before she nodded.
“Now!”
Ophelia ripped the barn off. Or at least, half of it. The other half fell on top of Jonathan, crushing the kid. Doran scooped me into his arms and ran across the short distance to the burned out shell of my house. The ceremonial slab beckoned me.
I closed my eyes and trusted in the plan. For the first time, I had truly planned this out and it had to work. I looked over Doran’s shoulder. “Where the fuck are the shamans?”
The barn wall collapsed on them, Rylee. I couldn’t stop it. Ophelia’s words turned into a scream of pain and I squirmed in Doran’s arms. The rapid staccato of her heart pounded through my body. Slash after slash of red-hot fiery death lanced through me from her.
Like Blaz, I felt her slipping away, the pulse of her blood slowing as she fought.
Rylee, I can’t hold them off. Ahh, my babies. My babies are the last.
“Put me down, they’re killing her!”
One last shot, and Ophelia slipped from me, the bond shattering, and with it my will to fight. Not again. I was losing her like I was losing everyone around me.
“You can’t save any of us if you don’t do this!” Doran grabbed my arms, shaking me hard. But his back was turned to the demons and it was the last mistake he would ever make.
A sword sliced through his neck, taking his head off in a single clean swipe. His beautiful green eyes widened and a single tear fell from each as he air-kissed at me one last time.
I fell backward as his hands slipped from me. “Doran, no!” The words escaped me, even though I knew they were of no use. I fell through the air, backward, landing hard on the ceremonial slab, screaming his name. I loved him, he was my friend, and like Faris, he’d stolen a part of my heart somewhere along the way.
My head smashed into the hardened stone with a crack that I felt all the way through my skull. Warmth pooled under my neck and I lay there, looking up at the sky. The screams of my friends and family as they died trying to make sure I was able to do what I had to. But without them at my side, the ceremony would never take place.
I knew that for the truth it was; the purple skinned book of prophecies had made things very clear. I needed someone from each of the seven divisions of the supernatural world to help me with the ceremony or it would never be complete.
Around me, the world exploded in fire and earth, and chunks of ground raining down on my head. I closed my eyes, listening to my own heart slow.
“Rylee!”
Alex’s voice cut through the fog of dying, but still I struggled to open my eyes.
“It’s too late,” I whispered.
“No, don’t say that. You can’t give up, boss.” His arms circled around me and he pulled me up to his chest. “You can’t give up, Rylee. That isn’t you. Don’t do this.”
He whispered into my ears something important, something I didn’t understand at first. “This isn’t the way. Don’t do this. Please.” His voice cracked on the last word and I managed to open my eyes.
Tears streamed down my face, but they weren’t my own. They were his as he stared down at me, clutching me to his chest. “Rylee.”
“Alex, I’m sorry.”
He pulled me tighter against him and I reached out for my other loved ones. Feeling for their threads as I Tracked them.
Gone.
Liam, Berget, Eve, Charlie, Calliope. Pamela. All gone, their lives cut short. I dared to reach for the babies. Zane was gone and his loss was a thousand times worse than saying goodbye to Milly. His life threads, I scrabbled for them as I howled to the night sky, but no sound came out. Not the babies, I couldn’t lose the babies; they were all I had left to fight for.
In a last moment, I reached for Marcella. The only hope I had left.
“Oh, I’ll be keeping her alive, Rylee. Don’t you worry about that.” Orion stepped into view, holding Marcella in his arms. She saw me, cried out, and reached her tiny hands toward me.
I couldn’t move, and the tears on my face were now my own. “Ella.”
“Momma.” Her hands waved as she frantically reached for me.
Ah, the pain in my heart outstripped every pain I’d ever felt in my body as she cried for me, and Orion laughed, holding her away. “Now, I think we’re about done here.”
He held up a sword, twisting it one way and then the other. A sword I’d held before, years ago. “The elemental who had this on her, she was a true bitch to kill. Almost had me at the end, but you know what broke her?”
I stared hard at him. He grinned down at me, his bald head shinning from the fires that had sprung up around us. “I killed her familiar and her sister in one fell swoop.” He made a kissing noise. “Their deaths broke her, and my demons swarmed her and brought me this sword.”
Laying there on the slab with Alex still holding me tight, I dared to Track Lark.
She was right behind him. There was a quick twist and her spear point slammed through his heart, opening him up like a can of rotten fruit. His body fell to the ground as he clutched at the spear and Lark caught Marcella.
“Rylee, hang on,” she said, dropping to her knees beside me. Marcella crawled onto my chest and lay her head by mine.
“Momma.”
I wanted to reach up and touch her one last time, to do as Lark commanded.
But there was no hanging on. My heart stopped, Alex cried out, and the last thing I saw was Marcella’s eyes as she touched my face and I slipped over the Veil.
CHAPTER 38
RYLEE
I JERKED OUT OF the vision, my heart scrambling as if it were actually restarting. Jonathan touched my arm and I spun to face him. “Fucking hell, that was shitty.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think that path would be any good. It’s not your style, despite how people want you to conform.” His eyes flickered over me and then to the path on the right; the one that held no uniform steps, no obvious answer. “Do you want to see this?”
I backed away. “No. No, I don’t.” He was right. Everyone around me always wanted me to plan my way through a salvage, and every time I did, shit fell apart. People died. “I’ll do this my way.”
Jonathan grinned at me. “Then maybe you have a chance. Your heart hasn’t failed you yet, has it?”
I realized here in this place, he wasn’t a creepy kid with weird eyes anymore. He was actually quite handsome. He grinned a little wider. “Here, you see my spirit, as I see yours.” He pointed behind me and I turned to see my reflection hovering in front of me.
“I don’t look any different.” The woman in front of me was dressed the same, her tri-colored eyes swirled, and her auburn hair fell over her shoulders. Scars were visible on my arms and my white shirt was bright against the color of my hair and dark pants.
“That’s because you have always been true to yourself, even when others tried to change you. That is your strength, Rylee of the Blood. You are a warrior, and you lead with your heart. Don’t change that.”
The vision broke apart and I opened my eyes back in the barn. Jonathan was sleeping in the hay beside me, snoring softly.
Doran leaned over me. “Rylee, what did you learn?”
A chill of déjà vu slid over me and I shook it off. Planning wasn’t going to work, and maybe I’d already known that. “The only thing I need is one supernatural from each species at my side for the final ceremony.” I ticked them off. “Doran, for the fanged. Ophelia, for
the winged. Jonathan, for the psychics, Liam, for the furred, Lark, for the blooded, and Louisa, for the magicked.” I had to pray Lark would get here in time to play her part.
Doran gave me a look, raising his eyebrows. “And the demons? They need a blade on you too, don’t they?”
I swallowed hard and looked at my stomach, the wound still seeping. “Deanna already did it.” Understanding hit me. She knew. She’d known a demon needed to cut me, and how else could that happen, safely? I closed my eyes for a moment and silently thanked her.
She’d given her life for mine. “Everyone get to the fucking ceremonial slab. That’s the job, got it? Get there and stay alive.”
Around me, they nodded. Liam crouched beside me and the world faded except for his eyes, blue rimmed in silvery gold. “Are you sure you don’t want to plan this?”
I touched his face, leaned in, and kissed him softly. “Absolutely certain.”
My instinct was to get up high on Ophelia and see what the fuck was going on.
I am here. The demons are massing, Rylee. This battle is going to push us all to our limits.
I had no fucking doubt about that. Standing, I looked over my head. I needed to get to the ceiling and then from there onto the roof so Ophelia could pick me up. Liam wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me onto his back as if I were a child. “I see what you’re up to. Let me help.”
He climbed the beams that took us into the rafters. A few seconds alone, that was all we were going to get.
“I love you, Liam,” I said softly, placing a kiss against the back of his neck. “With all I am.”
“I know, Rylee.”
“And I love Faris a little, too.”
He grunted. “Yeah, I know that, too.”
“And maybe even Doran a little.”
From below us, Doran whooped. “I knew I’d win you over!”
I tried not to cringe, knowing that Berget also loved Doran. “I said only a little,” I shouted down at him.
“I’ll take it,” he shouted back.
Underneath me, Liam chuckled. “Your heart is big enough to hold us all in it, within different capacities, Rylee. I understand that. But I also know I am your mate; no matter what happens, we will be together.”
I pressed my face against his back and breathed him in. “I don’t want to do this without saying what I have to say.”
We were under the trap door that led onto the roof. He pulled me around and into his arms. “Then say it, beautiful, and then let’s kick demon ass.”
I laughed despite the pain in my guts. I pressed my hands to either side of his face, no longer seeing Faris, but only seeing Liam and his soul shining through his eyes.
“No matter what happens, no matter how this plays out, I want you to know I wouldn’t have lived this last year any other way.”
His eyes searched mine and peace flowed through them. “Neither would I.” He cleared his voice and Faris spoke softly. “Neither would I, Rylee.”
I reached around his neck and pulled him tightly to me. “Bite me, Faris.”
“That’s rather rude.”
“No, I mean it, bite me. Invoke the bite when, if, I yell for it.” An insurance policy. In case things went sideways.
Who was I kidding? They’d be sideways two minutes into the battle, knowing my luck.
Outside the barn came a booming bellow that could be only one person.
Orion.
“Rylee, Tracker, Slayer, Blood of the Lost. Are you coming out to play? Or should I send my demons in to fetch you?”
Faris bit my neck, taking only a few mouthfuls. I let the pleasure wash through me; a reminder that life could be good and was worth fighting for to the very last breath.
He pulled back. “Go get him, Rylee.”
One last kiss, a fleeting touch of our lips. I wasn’t sure if it was Liam or Faris, and in that moment, it didn’t matter. I loved them both. Just differently, like Liam said.
Liam gave me a boost, his hands tight on my ass as he lifted me over his head and out the trap door. The last of the sun caught his fingers, but he didn’t jerk back. Only waited for me to scramble onto the roof on my own.
I didn’t look back as I strode up the sloped roof, heading for the peak. At the top, I straddled the two sides and looked across my farm.
Or, should I say what was left of my farm? As far as I could see, which on the prairie is a long fucking way, was black with demons. Millions and millions of demons. As if we were in the center of a fucking anthill and we’d stirred up the nest by tossing rocks into it. I looked down at the base of the barn and the two shamans holding the circle of protection.
“Louisa, how you doing?”
“Rylee, we can’t hold this much longer.” The fatigue in her voice was no surprise.
Orion stood near the ceremonial slab and in his arms was a tiny, dark haired little girl.
My blood ran cold and my heart went into overdrive. He held her up over his head. “I believe this is the prize you want. Yes or no?”
I sent a thought to Ophelia, a simple request.
The world and time narrowed to small flashes and tiny images. The tears on Marcella’s cheeks.
The strain in Louisa’s eyes as she looked up at me.
The beat of Ophelia’s wings as she rose into the air.
The smell of demons heavy on the back of my throat.
For a moment, I felt a presence beside me. Giselle’s spirit drifting close, and with it, her voice.
Follow your heart, Rylee.
Follow my heart. Marcella was my heart. The demons around us roared, the sound of their battle cries actually reverberating inside my chest. No more Immunity for me, and they knew it.
“Invoke the bite, Faris,” I yelled. I needed all the strength I could get in order to reach Marcella. Even if that meant the wound from Deanna’s strike healed.
A rush of power lit through me and I leapt from the top of the barn, landing in a crouch in front of Louisa. I pulled my two swords from my back and stood, holding one over my head and pointing the other at a grinning Orion.
“To me! Calliope, hold!”
From inside the barn came the battle cry of my family, my pack, and my heart swelled with hope.
We could do this. For the first time, I truly believed we had it in us to defeat Orion, despite the enormous odds against us.
I leapt forward, swinging my blades at the demons closest to the barn. They dissolved as my weapons touched them. Their eyes widened as they began to fall back. Cowards, they had no heart, and I had no doubt they would scatter.
Except I was wrong again. I battled into the heart of the mob, a ten-foot space around me, and my family followed. Berget and Liam moved up to my right side, Doran and Louisa were on the left.
Ophelia rained fire down on the ranks, turning piles of demons into melted puddles like wax crayons being pushed together in a hot pot.
The demons kept coming, flowing toward us and around us, like water. I reached out, Tracking all my people at the same time, their lives shining beacons that I held to as I destroyed every demon I came in contact with.
Crystal was the first of ours to fall. The blow caught her by surprise and I let out a scream as her death rocked through me.
“Rally! Calliope, now!” I yelled, and our circle shifted, pushing harder toward the burnt out shell of my old farmhouse.
Orion laughed. “You think you can make it through them? Rylee, you are a fool.”
The unicorns burst out of the barn, their coats shimmering in the pale darkness like living lanterns. They drove forward, Calliope leading them in a V formation, driving hard through the heart of the demons. Tiomon swept by me and I grabbed her mane, launching onto her back.
“He has Marcella and Zane!”
Not for long. Tiomon’s voice had a harsh edge to it I’d never felt from a unicorn. A righteous anger bled from her into me and I held onto it. I clamped my legs around her, and alone, we blasted through the demons.
&nb
sp; Her horn stabbed and slashed, as did my swords, as we carved through them. Twice, I caught the edge of blades on my right leg. An arrow shot out of the horde and deep into Tiomon’s shoulder.
But we didn’t slow. Her hooves clattered on the edge of the cement as we scrambled up the back steps and onto what was left of the foundation of the farmhouse.
I leapt from her back, the burning fire in my leg telling me all I needed to know. The blades that had cut into me were poisoned, and for the first time in my life that meant something. What a great fucking time to lose my Immunity.
Tiomon reared up and then plunged forward, her head down as she charged Orion. With a roar, he tried to get out of her way, but holding two babies that wasn’t going to happen.
He threw Zane first, tossing him high into the air above our heads.
“NO!” I was too far away, Zane would fall. He would be crushed against the broken timbers and cement. His green eyes found mine and he reached for me, the only mother he’d known. Child of my heart, but not of my blood.
A hair-raising screech snapped through the air, and as Zane fell, Eve swooped out of the night sky, catching him as carefully as if he were her own. From her back, Alex whooped. “Gots him!”
In the distance, came the growing howl of wolves rolling through the night air. Hundreds of wolves coming to our aid. But how the hell was that possible?
Eve screeched again and I glanced up to see Alex grinning down at me. “Reinforcements!”
I stumbled to one knee, the poison spreading fast despite Faris invoking the bite. Fucking hell. I stared at Orion as he tried to dodge one very pissed off unicorn. She darted in, her horn piercing his left shoulder, right over Marcella’s head.
He screamed and I scrambled forward. With Tiomon keeping him busy, I had my shot at him.
A body slammed into me from the left, taking me down in a tumble of limbs. Around us, the horde roared and pulled back. Hot, rancid breath poured over me and a thick body pressed me into the ground. “War has come for you. Now what will you do?”
Tiomon’s voice reached me. I have her. Fight, Rylee, and fear not for your daughter. She is my heart mate and I will protect her.
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