The stranger wagged his finger back and forth. “I know a few things about Drakonae. One, for sure. You won’t fit inside this bus in your dragon form.”
“Maybe so,” Mikjáll growled. “But you can’t use your magick on me if even a small part of me is in dragon form.” He leaped over the seat in front of him, using his sharp talons to slice the Djinn standing with the man nearly in half.
The stranger shouted something to the other Djinn on the bus, but Mikjáll reached him first, and they locked into a fight. Claws dug into the challenger and punches bloodied Mikjáll’s face. Blood poured from both. The stranger gained the upper hand a moment later and sent the Drakonae flying down the length of the bus, landing on the floor next to Alek and Jared’s groaning bodies.
He roared, and the temperature inside the bus rose at least ten degrees in a millisecond. On his feet, the dragon snarled again. I could almost feel his hot breath.
“I will kill you, Xerxes.”
Fuck! Time slowed when Xerxes’ hand snaked toward Eira and pulled her through the air, using her as a shield against Mikjáll. The Drakonae halted his attack and roared again. The second Djinn had teleported out.
I leapt to my feet and rammed my sword up through the bastard’s ribcage. He grunted, and Eira cried out as the blade passed through her chest as well. I cringed at what I’d done, but at least this time, I knew the blade wouldn’t kill her.
Blood seeped from Xerxes’ wound, and a crimson stain spread across the fabric of his shirt. My dragon steel blade had pierced his heart. I knew it had. Instead of falling to his knees, a roar unlike anything I’d ever heard shook the bus. The windows shattered. Glass flew everywhere.
I yanked the blade out and stepped away as his skin turned white and began to glow. He dropped Eira to the floor and cried out again as a pair of iridescent wings emerged from his shoulders. The white glow intensified, growing brighter and brighter until I had to close my eyes.
Then the light was gone. When I opened my eyes, so was he.
I scrambled across the floor to Eira and pulled her up into my arms. “Eira?”
She groaned and looked up at me. “You’ve really got to quit stabbing me. It’s becoming an issue.”
Chapter 35
XERXES
I staggered across my room, gasping for air. The sword had burned like fire and had come close to slicing my heart in half. I could feel the poison from the blade spreading through my bloodstream. Where the hell had that human come across a dragon steel sword forged in the fire of a dragon’s breath? Their breath left a residue permanently on the blade that was poisonous only to Lamassu.
“You didn’t see the man with the sword coming up behind me?”
The Djinn soldier who’d pulled me away from the blade cowered a few feet to my right.
I reached out with my magick and grabbed him around the neck. “You worthless piece of shit.” I snapped his neck and flung his limp body into the hallway through my open bedroom doors.
The other Djinn moved away slowly, inch by inch toward their lifeless comrade.
“Lily!” I bellowed. I wanted my soft sweet Lily. Her scent could calm the rage that boiled in my blood. But not before I killed the other useless bits trying to escape my wrath.
When I’d shouted for my harem girl, they’d relaxed their stances and were now bowing as they retreated from my rooms. Dropping their gazes from me was the last mistake they’d ever make.
I stretched out both hands, sending my magick to grab them both by their necks before they could teleport away.
They choked and spat, and their eyes turned red as I squeezed the magick tighter and tighter around their necks. Their bodies jerked and kicked and struggled. Then the fight slipped away from them. That last pitiful look before their eyes glazed over like glass slowed my racing pulse.
I hurled them out of the rooms and pulled the doors shut with my magick. Another wave of my hand dropped the large deadbolts along the seam of the two doors into place. Nothing short of a battering ram would gain access until I opened the locks again.
Sweat beaded on my forehead, and breathing was becoming more difficult. “Lily.” I tried to bellow, but my voice was weak. The room spun, fading between black and colored shapes.
“Master.” Lily’s velvety voice caressed my ear. “You’re bleeding.” Her fear for me should’ve been touching, but at this point, I just wanted to vomit from the dizziness and pass out from the pain. I knew once I fell asleep, my body would slowly clear the poison —putting me into a state of deep sleep for at least a week.
He’d missed my heart with that damned blade, but it’d been too fucking close. If he had cut my heart, I’d be out for months while my body repaired itself. I’d been distracted looking for the Kitsune and the baby. So much had been on my mind, I hadn’t sensed the presence of the sword until it’d been shoved through the into my chest. At least the asshole didn’t know decapitation was the only way to take me out for good.
Still, the mistake should never have been made. It’d been sloppy. Careless. A last ditch effort to grab the fox before she disappeared down the pain-in-my-ass-rabbit-hole-called-Sanctuary.
I was not sloppy or careless.
They had just been extremely lucky.
I grabbed Lily’s arm and squeezed. The tiny whimper told me I had her attention. “Help me lie down on the bed. You and you alone will attend me while I sleep.”
“Yes, Master.”
Chapter 36
EIRA
A half laugh rushed from Killían’s body, and he hugged me tightly to his chest.
“You’ve really got to stop letting angry men use your body as a shield.”
“At least the sword didn’t kill me this time,” I said, coughing up a little blood. My wounds were already healing. I could feel magick knitting me back together.
“I didn’t think it would,” he answered.
I shook my head. “I’ll be okay in a few minutes.”
He looked up at Mikjáll. “What was that? What did he do?”
“He’s a Lamassu, like Rose,” Mikjáll answered. “That blade could’ve killed him, but only if you’d taken off his head.”
“He had wings like a fucking angel.”
“He’s no angel. He’s one of the evilest, most cruel, tyrannical men on the planet.” Mikjáll’s pain-filled words hung in the air.
“How was I supposed to know that only decapitation would’ve killed him?” Killían snapped at the Drakonae.
“Quiet,” Alek groaned, pulling himself up into a sitting position. “We are just lucky Killían had a sword of dragon steel. A regular blade would’ve just slid off his skin.”
That was the truth. If it hadn’t been for that sword and Killían stabbing him when he did, we would’ve all been dead, and Xerxes would’ve taken Riza and her baby. Though I still wondered why he wanted her.
“Where did he go?” Killían asked as I sat up and pulled myself to into a standing position. My wound had sealed up, and we needed to start moving again soon.
“The second Djinn returned for him,” I answered. “He just had to wait until no one was touching his master. Remember, they can only jump with one passenger.”
Killían stood next to me and brushed bits of glass from his shirt and pants.
“Harrison?”
“I’m here,” the warlock answered, crawling out from behind his chair.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll get us moving again.”
“Mikjáll, help Alek and Jared into seats. Erick? Bailey? Are you okay? Riza, how is the baby?”
Everyone moved quietly and quickly. Erick and Bailey fed Alek and Jared some of their blood, and Harrison started the bus. Whatever had stalled out the traffic in front of us was gone now.
I sat down in the seat next to Killían and sighed.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, his voice filled with trepidation. His heart was racing, and sweat had beaded on his forehead.
&nbs
p; “I’m fine. I promise.” I reached for his face and turned it so that he had to make eye contact. “You did the right thing.”
“I was so terrified he’d kill you right there in front of me. I didn’t even think. Before I realized how far I’d stabbed, I knew in my gut it had gone through your heart.”
My soul broke for the man in front of me. Such heavy pain shone from his eyes. For so many years we had suffered the same, each thinking the other was lost forever. The guilt he’d tortured himself with poured out as a few stray tears trickled down his cheeks.
I wiped away the tears, knowing they were bothering him. My soldier’s heart was showing, and it gave me hope. He’d grown so hard after losing his brother. I’d seen all the trees behind his barn. Death and killing had haunted him like it haunted me.
“I’m here, and you saved us all, Killían. Remember that.”
He nodded and pulled me into a tight embrace. As the tension left his body, I sank lower, situating my head and shoulders across his lap. He ran his fingers through my hair, and I had to hold refrain from the urge to purr like a satisfied cat.
“You are my heart, Eira. When that blade pierced yours each time, it was like killing myself.”
“I know, but it had to be done. You must let it go, Killían. Rest your eyes. Put your hands on me and just rest.”
A sigh slipped from his chest, and he closed his eyes before leaning his head backward to rest against the seat cushion.
I did something I rarely ever did and closed my eyes as well. I focused on the rumbling of the bus’s engine and the thump of each tire rotation on the pavement of the road.
“About ten minutes out from Sanctuary,” Harrison called out softly.
The baby had just gone to sleep, and the older man knew better than to rouse him with an announcement most of us could hear, even if he barely whispered it.
Killían stirred in his seat, but he didn’t wake.
I sat up, catching his hands and placing them gently on his lap. A quick glance out the broken window to my left showed me we were almost there. I could see the lights of the little town in the distance. Even though Sanctuary wasn’t my official home yet, I knew it would be soon.
Rose held up her end, and I wouldn’t go back on my word. The role of Protector would be mine as well as whatever else that entailed. I just hoped Killían would stay. Imagining life without him in it every day made my chest tighten and tears well in my eyes.
The bus jerked to a stop, and Killían’s eyes flew open. “We’re here? Finally?”
“Yes.”
Everyone on the bus stood at once. We were all so exhausted, but every single one of us wanted the same thing. A hot shower and an actual bed.
I plodded slowly after Killían, stepping down the stairs onto the red brick paved Main Street Circle. Several of the Pixies stood patiently on the sidewalk. They helped Alek and Jared as they climbed off the bus.
Diana stood next to her husbands, and Calliope waited beside Rose a few yards away from everyone else.
“Mikjáll.” Diana stepped toward her son, but he side-stepped her and guided Riza after the Pixies who were helping Alek and Jared.
My poor friend looked as though the air had been knocked from her chest. Miles and Eli stood silent, neither one of them moving from their place, but I could see the pain in their gaze. Not that their son wouldn’t speak to them, but because he chose to continue hurting their mate. Mikjáll still blamed them for his wife’s death. And until he was able to move past that grudge, there would be no connection between him and his parents.
“Eira!” Diana called out, rushing forward as we made eye contact. Her body was a little thicker, but she still moved as gracefully as ever.
“My crazy ice-breathing friend,” I said, allowing a smile to spread across my face.
Diana laughed a little and threw her arms around my neck. “Come, you must stay in the Castle.
“Killían needs—”
“Of course. We have a big suite all ready for you both. Rose told us you were nearly here about a half hour ago. You must be tired, and you smell like you’ve been through hell.”
“I feel like it, too.”
“I’m so glad she has you now,” Diana said, turning to Killían. “Her heart has been missing a piece for a very long time. I can see you were that missing part. It will be so nice to have another person from home here in town. You are staying, aren’t you?” She stared at him expectantly.
“I will be wherever Eira is,” he answered quickly.
“Excellent! Come, come, come,” Diana coaxed, moving to stand between her husbands again.
Killían took my hand in his, and we followed them across the circle to the dark looming Castle across the street. The crowd around the bus had dissipated, and silence had once again claimed the small circle.
Miles opened the massive front door to the big fortress, and I breathed a little easier at the flash of blue. No more Djinn tonight. No more fighting.
I hoped.
Chapter 37
EIRA
We stepped through the large opening into the great marble foyer. Diana led the way up the grand staircase on the right. The light sconces on the walls made our shadows dance lively along the walls.
A few turns later, we stopped in front of a large green door with gold inlay. “Good night, my friend,” Diana said, stepping forward and giving me another hug.
“Thank you,” I replied.
Killían slipped an arm around my waist. “Good night, Snøen Mor. Thank you and yours for the hospitality.”
Diana smiled and shook her head. “Here, I am just Diana. That name is for another life.” Miles and Eli each took one of her arms.
“Do you want to return?” Killían asked, squeezing me a little tighter.
“Eventually,” Miles answered, his voice rumbling with purpose and a stony sense of determination. “For now, our place is here. We must protect the Sisters and help Rose fulfill the prophecy before we are released from our oath.”
“If Eira accepts the role of Protector…we are that much closer,” Eli added.
The Drakonae male wasn’t asking, wasn’t pressuring. But the hope in his voice was obvious.
“I will.” The words slipped from between my lips without bidding.
All three of the Drakonae’s faces brightened. “You both will be a most welcome addition to the town,” Eli said, a friendly grin splitting his face from side to side.
Killian reached into his coat and pulled out a small golden dagger.
My chest clenched, waiting for a reaction from the three dragons.
“I wasn’t sure who should really have this. I know Rose is the leader in the town, but I feel that my first allegiance is to your family. To the princes of the Veil my family served with dedication and loyalty for so many years.” His voice was even, and his hand didn’t shake as he extended the dagger, hilt first, toward Miles and Eli.
All three Drakonae were frozen in place. No one moved, breathed, or spoke a word for what seemed like minutes.
Then Miles stepped forward and took the dagger from Killían’s hand. “Rose doesn’t know you have this?”
Killían shook his head. “Can you hide it from Xerxes? They are able to do some type of locating spell to find it.”
“We will have it cloaked. Thank you, my friend. This will serve us well in the years to come. I’m sure Xerxes is feeling rather crippled at the moment as well.” A chuckle slipped from the large Drakonae male’s chest. “Where did you find it?”
“I picked it up from the ground after Diana fought him. It was in a field not too far from town.”
“Thank you. With this, we will be able to return to our home when our time here is finished. You, as well, if that is your wish,” Eli said, emotion making his voice thick.
“There is nothing in the Veil for me except painful memories. I would not wish to ever return, but thank you.”
“The offer will always be open, Killían,” Miles added. “We w
ill bid you good night. I know you are both exhausted.”
“Thank you, your Grace.”
“Miles,” the male said quickly. “Call me Miles. As Diana said, those titles are for another life.”
“We are friends, Killían, and indebted to Eira. If we can provide it, you both will have anything you desire,” Eli added, extending his hand to Killían.
They shook before leaving us open-mouthed in the hallway. We watched them disappear into the shadows before entering the bedroom door they’d led us to.
Killían pushed it open, and I heard his swift intake at the sight before him. I’d been in the Castle as a guest before, and I wasn’t shocked by the lavish decorations. But this room was decorated as sumptuously as the Blackmoor’s personal suites.
Ivory rugs were placed strategically around the room, accenting the dark-stained hardwood floors. A massive stone fireplace dominated the wall to our left, while a four-poster bed that would put other four-poster beds to shame lay to the right. The walls were stone, like the rest of the fortress. Beautiful paintings from artists that used to hang only in museums lined the walls. In addition to their book hoarding, the boys apparently had an uncanny eye for rescuing artwork as well.
European museums were still intact, but most of the museums in America had been destroyed in the Riots. Those with wealth and power were able to save some. The Blackmoors were in that group, but many masterpieces were still lost forever. America had taken a turn for the worst, and it had cost the world a great deal.
Youth and ignorance played a major role in that. The country didn’t have deep enough roots to withstand the global change that came along with the discovery of Others, with the discovery that humans were not alone.
“Appreciating the art?” Killían’s question broke through my daydream.
I nodded and turned to smile.
He closed the door softly and walked to my side.
“It’s nice to see that some of it was saved.” I pointed to the painting directly across the room. “A Monet. The Autumn on the Seine.”
Sanctuary, Texas Complete Series Box Set Page 65
