Blood of the Lost

by Shannon Mayer

  Relief flowed through me and I stared up at the demon on top of me. He looked like a politician I’d seen on TV once, with a weak chin and terrible hair that might as well have been a mop badly stitched on.

  “Rhymes, really?” I drove my elbow up, catching War under the chin and knocking him off me.

  But my blow was weak and he reeled back only a little.

  “Oh, we aren’t done yet.” He laughed, pushing his hips against mine and it slammed home what he wanted to do. War wasn’t just about fighting, it was about showing how strong you were over those who couldn’t defend themselves. Rape, degradation, horror. They all made up war. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him tight against me.

  “You want a piece of this?”

  I grabbed his ears and slammed my head forward, breaking his nose. He howled. Black blood poured from his mouth and busted face. I held onto his head as he writhed, trying to get away from me.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you. I thought you wanted a piece of me?” I distantly realized that he was affecting me, making me do to him what he wanted to do to me. But I couldn’t pull back.

  Calm, Rylee. Feel the calm. These horsemen are tough because of how strong they are, but they can still be sent back. You know that. Ophelia was right, but I couldn’t let go of him. If I did, I would be done in. The demons around us backed farther, making room as if we were a show they didn’t want to miss. But why wouldn’t they take a shot at me now that I was down? At the edges of the circle, I caught the eyes of two demons with scars on their cheeks. Two parallel vertical lines with an intersecting dash.

  Moloch’s demons were helping in the only way they could, holding their own back. I hoped it was enough.

  War stood and inadvertently took me with him. My legs trembled under the strain of holding me so tightly to him while the poison from the blades made my blood sluggish.

  I bent backward as I pulled my whip free from my hip. War couldn’t keep his hands to himself and he slid one palm up my belly.

  What a fucking idiot.

  Orion roared at him. “Kill her, you fool!”

  “In my own time,” War yelled back. “I want to make this last. I haven’t had a woman in centuries who could—”

  I sat up with the whip stretched between my two hands. “And you’re not about to, you piece of shit.” I wrapped it around his neck and yanked it tight as I let go of him, and my entire weight dropped to the ground. He let out a strangled scream that barely gurgled past his lips. Putting my boots to his shoulder, I straightened out, pulling for all I was worth. The demons around us still hadn’t come any closer. Thank the gods for Moloch and his friends.

  War clawed at the whip while I was killing his body. Why was he still here? “Go, would you, already!” I yelled at him.

  A laugh that could only be Orion’s reached me, and the crowd parted. I Tracked Marcella and Tiomon. For the moment, they were together and safe, but not very far away.

  Which meant they were still in danger.

  Orion leaned over me while I strangled his general. “Rylee, Rylee, Rylee. When will you learn that you are not meant to win this war?”

  He kicked me hard in the hand closest to him, breaking bones. I clung to the whip with all I had left in me.

  “Go, War. You’ve failed,” I whispered thinking of Marcella and Zane. They did not need war in their lives, not ever. I gave myself over to the calm and the love of those two babies; to the purity of their innocence and their sweet souls. The whip began to glow, pulsing in time with my heart. The light as pure and clean as the love I had for those around me.

  War’s black eyes widened. “No,” he mouthed as his body began to dissolve.

  Orion let out a roar and booted the side of my head. The world spun, and I kept pushing War away with all the power of a Slayer I had in me.

  The horde around us shifted, like storm clouds carrying the threat of an epic flood to wipe us off the face of the earth. Or maybe that was my eyes watering from the pain. Orion booted me again, but not as hard. I looked up at him, the blood trickling down the side of his face as he shook his head. The bond worked against him again.

  He lifted his foot and I braced myself, but he stepped back. “Fucking manipulative bitch.”

  War glared down at me as his body turned into nothing but a distant, ugly memory.

  I lay on the ground. “Sticks and fucking stones, Orion. And I will hurt you.” I pushed myself up. The demons let out a series of low, angry hisses that filled the air like pissed off cicadas. But they didn’t approach us. Moloch’s demons held them back.

  Orion spat on the ground in front of me. “You think I won’t kill you now?”

  I slowly reattached my whip to the left side of my belt and pulled my two blades. “I think you’ll try.”

  My body hurt all over, and the poison was slowing me down. Faris’s bite had faded, and while it had healed some things, I was not at my best.

  And I was about to face the biggest, baddest demon of them all.

  Fucking hell, it felt like a Monday hopped up on steroids.

  CHAPTER 39

  LIAM

  THE NUMBER OF demons was beyond staggering. He fought with his cutlass and fists, and picked up a short blade for his other hand somewhere in the melee. But they kept coming, the demons interchangeable as far as he was concerned. One downed body replaced by an upright one over and over.

  He let out a grunt as he was hit from the side. The one good thing about Faris’s body was that it took damage almost as well as a Guardian’s. Almost.

  There was a thundering of hooves and a bay unicorn slid to a stop in front of him.

  Take your daughter, Wolf. The unicorn spun sideways showing him a tiny girl that had Rylee’s eyes. Without hesitation he reached for her, pulling her tightly against his chest. His daughter.

  A demon with long spider legs came at him from the left. He let out a snarl and cut off the two closest legs, unbalancing it. Marcella clung to him, but didn’t cry. Didn’t let out a peep.

  I will guard this side of her, you guard the other. The unicorn said as she struck out, demolishing three demons with one well-placed kick.

  Side by side they fought. Above them, Marco and Ophelia culled the horde while Eve flew high, protecting Zane. Doran, Louisa, and the other supernaturals held their own, but for how long? There was no way they could defeat this number of demons. No way at all.

  Wolves darted in and out of the legs of the demons, taking them down in sneak attacks the fuckers never saw coming. Here and there, he even thought he saw the pale skin of a half-breed troll fighting. He didn’t question why they were there, only knew that without them they would likely have fallen already.

  Despite the shitty odds, they battled onward. Marcella tucked her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, her lashes brushing against his skin like butterfly wings. As if she couldn’t bear to see what was going on around them. He didn’t blame her. If he could, he would have closed his eyes too, and wished the whole world away. Inside his head, Faris paced.

  “You know, that’s fucking irritating as hell,” Liam grunted out as he took the head from another demon.

  Nothing else I can do, is there? The vampire snapped at him, still pacing. I’ll admit, you are the better fighter when it comes to this sort of shit.

  Only a few days before, Liam would have gloated, but not now. There was too much riding on the outcome.

  We have to get her to the ceremonial slab, Liam. That is the only way this is truly going to end.

  “How do you suggest we do that?”

  Do what I say, and we can all get out of here alive. I think.

  “I’m listening, vampire.”

  Faris’s plan, as he spun it, was simple and smacked of actually putting someone ahead of his own well-being. Liam liked it.

  There was nothing he could do to help Rylee, though, until Marcella was safe. But where would his daughter be safe?

  There was only one place left in the wo
rld he could think of.

  “Alex, bring me the boy!” He slammed his shoulder into a demon as it reared back to strike at him. The unicorn behind him let out a grunt and he turned to see a demon on her back. Grabbing it by the ankle, he ripped it off her and used the half-beetle, half-man as a club to clear a bigger area in front of him.

  Eve dropped low and Alex leapt off her back, Zane clinging to him.

  “Boss?”

  “We’ve got to get them out of here.” He flipped his hand in front of him, opening the Veil to a tiny motel on the outskirts of Bismarck. Tiomon, and Alex ran through first, and he was right behind.

  But so were several demons, their headgear over seven feet tall, antennas waving around as they surveyed the place he’d inadvertently brought them. He closed the Veil before more could pour through, then spun around. The unicorn was already on them. She skewered the first one through the neck, the second through the chest, and the third in the belly. Then she turned to face him, her horn was as clean as if she’d not run three demons through in the space of as many heartbeats.

  You believe this is a safe place?

  He strode toward the office. “Yes. Though they won’t know me in this body.”

  Alex jogged beside him, breathing hard. The kid had scratches all over his face and arms.

  “You doing okay?”

  “Huh? Yeah, I got banged up fighting on the way here.”

  Liam wanted to ask, but there was no time for small talk. He pushed the door to the office.

  John, the owner of the motel looked up from under a beaten down cowboy hat. He looked straight at Alex. “What did I tell you?”

  Alex shifted his feet but said nothing.

  Obviously, Liam was missing something, but again, no time. “John, I know this is a lot to ask, and you won’t remember me, but—”

  John waved a hand at him. “The babies can stay here with me and Mary. That’s not a problem. You go and take care of our Ry. That is your job, isn’t it, Wolf?”

  Liam was taken aback. How could the old man possibly know about Rylee and the babies? Or the fact that he was a wolf?

  Alex leaned forward and whispered. “Don’t ask. I’ve got a feeling it’ll blow your mind.”

  Liam looked down at Marcella, her face still curled into his shoulder. He ran a hand over her cheek. The first time he’d ever held her, and he had to give her away before he really could register she was in his arms. “Baby girl.” She slowly lifted her head, blinking up at him. So beautiful, she had her mother’s features already, though she had more of his coloring.

  She reached up and brushed her tiny fingers over his lips, a tentative smile on her sweet mouth. He kissed her on the forehead, his throat tight. He couldn’t say goodbye to her, not even as he handed her over to John. Mary, John’s wife, stepped out of the back. Liam had never met her before, and even Rylee said she didn’t come out of the back much when she was around. Mary’s eyes met his, and he knew why she’d avoided Rylee.

  “Here we go, give her to GG.” She reached for Marcella and the little girl cooed and reached back for her.

  “GG?” Liam said, forgetting for a split second there was a battle raging, and Rylee waiting on him.

  Mary smiled, and the smile silenced all his questions, the resemblance was too strong to deny. “Great-grandma. Now, go and save our Ry, Wolf.”

  Alex gave Zane to John. “Liam, we need to get back there.”

  “I know.” He couldn’t take his eyes from Mary as he backed out the door. She smiled down at Marcella as she jiggled the little girl gently. He opened the door and the unicorn was still there, her head high as she scanned the area. “There’s a unicorn outside to guard the babies.”

  John waved at him. “We know, Wolf. Now git.”

  He opened the Veil, feeling the pull on his soul as using it tore away another piece. Worth it for Marcella. Worth it for Rylee.

  The slash in the Veil opened in the middle of the melee, closer to Doran. He and Alex leapt through, tackling the two demons who’d tried to get around him and to the other side of the Veil.

  Liam pummeled the demon into the ground, then tore its head off with his bare hands.

  Beside him, Alex had shifted and was snapping the neck of a demon with his teeth.

  “Doran, time to get the girl,” he shouted to the daywalking vampire.

  Doran was in a pocket of demons about ten feet from them. “You got a plan?”

  “Not really, Faris does.” Liam took a step back, bracing himself for a split second. “Alex, with me.”

  Alex was at his side in a flash. “Yuppy doody, boss.”

  He raised a hand. “Eve!”

  The harpy swooped down and caught both him and Alex up in her talons.

  “Where?”

  “Rylee.”

  She tipped her wings and they were over a bare patch of ground, devoid of every demon except one.

  Orion.

  And he was beating the shit out of Rylee.

  Eve let them go without asking, dropping them in front of Rylee. “Get him, Liam!” she screeched.

  Liam landed in a crouch, his eyes locked on the glowing red orbs of the demon in front of him. Orion was breathing hard, blood ran down the side of his head, and his hand looked like it had been busted up. Alex ran to where Rylee lay on the ground. “She’s alive.”

  “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the martyr. Come to sacrifice yourself again, Wolf?”

  Baring his teeth, a low rumbling growl slipped out of him. “Fuck you, demon.”

  “Now, now, is that the kind of language you want your daughter to learn? Where is the pretty little Marcella?” He looked around then back at Liam. “Naughty boy, you took her away, didn’t you? Never fear, I’ll find her soon enough.”

  Liam didn’t hesitate. He leapt forward, tackling Orion to the ground. The demon was big, bulky, and physically dominating compared to the lean muscle that Faris’s body carried. But Liam—and Faris—fought for someone they loved, giving him the strength he needed to overpower Orion.

  He rolled the demon under him, straddling the fucker’s chest. Yanking his cutlass free, he brought it down hard, aiming right for Orion’s neck. He only hoped it would do more than slow the big bastard down to lose his head.

  Something that smelled like it had been dead for months slammed into him, sweeping him away from the demon in the last second before his blade made contact. In the tumble through the air, he caught flashes of gray tattered skin and long, cracked claws. Liam hit the ground hard, rolling across the broken cornstalks, stopping only when he came to rest against Rylee’s side.

  She looked at him, her eyes swirling. “We’re in deep shit this time, Liam.”

  “This time?”

  “Well, you have to admit, all the other times we weren’t outnumbered, not like this.”

  He choked out a laugh. “No, not exactly like this.”

  Around them the demons laughed. How long had they been fighting? Hours? It felt like it.

  And there was no doubt in his mind that they were far from done.

  CHAPTER 40

  PAMELA

  WE WEREN’T GOING to make it in time to save Rylee. That was the only thought that rolled through my head, and I couldn’t shake it no matter how hard I tried. The seething black mass of demons in front of us was too great. Was too much.

  Lark’s words to me echoed through my head.

  “Let it all out,” I whispered. For everything I was, and all those I loved, I would embrace everything in me. The light and the dark.

  I opened myself to the magic like never before and it screamed through me like a maelstrom of epic proportions. Barely able to direct it, I didn’t care if I lived past the battle. If we couldn’t get to Rylee, it wouldn’t matter what was left of me.

  A scream ripped out of me as the magic exploded in a wave of pure power, dissolving the first lines of the demons. I didn’t walk, but ran forward into the opening and did it again. And again.

  And again.r />
  CHAPTER 41

  LARK

  I’D BE DAMNED IF we didn’t make it in time to save Rylee. Well and truly damned. Pamela was battling with all she had, and I would do no less. I embraced the power of Earth and Spirit and wove them together, making a deadly concoction.

  I flexed my fingers as I unleashed my power right behind the wave of magic Pamela sent out.

  Destroyer. That was my name.

  And I would live up to it every time.

  CHAPTER 42

  ALEX

  I HELD MY GROUND, putting my body against Rylee’s, as if I could feed her my strength. I would give it all to save her.

  No matter what it cost me.

  CHAPTER 43

  RYLEE

  WHAT WAS LEFT of my family, my pack, was grabbed and brought to the opening Orion had created around us. All except the unicorns, who were still fighting as fiercely as they ever had, alongside the werewolves and what was left of what looked like half-breed trolls.

  Yet, if they continued for a month, they wouldn’t be able to destroy all the demons.

  Doran, Berget, Louisa, Mer, Charlie . . . they were shoved into the circle with us, still fighting. But it had been hours since we’d started the battle. Hours of fending off the never ending horde.

  A whoosh of wings and Ophelia landed behind us, scattering demons left and right. She crouched over me, snaking her head toward Orion with her teeth open.

  Before she could close her teeth, though, she was hit in the head by a club of a tail attached to a dragon bigger than her. A dragon that looked as though it had been dead for a long fucking time.

  The heavy smack of bone on bone reverberated through the air, like a bell being rung. Ophelia shook her head and her legs wobbled.

  Death dragon. Impossible to kill because they are already dead.

  “Of course they are. Why the fuck would the world give us a break?” I said, pushing myself to my feet. Why indeed?