Stealing Summer, Hunter

by Lexi Blake

  “That’s impressive,” Taggart said. “All right. Let’s see how much distance we can put between us and them. We’ll head east and try to get to the door to Tír na nÓg from there.”

  That was the moment the bikes died and we all hit the ground with a resounding thud. Luckily they landed upright and hadn’t turned us over on the ground. I could hear the shouts of all those warriors coming through the wall of green and the thud of something hitting our barrier.

  Likely arrows. I really hate arrows.

  “Fuck.” Taggart was off his bike in an instant, his helmet flowing back so I could see the anger on his face. “Summer, get the bikes moving. I’m sick of this shit. You can do it. Do it now.”

  He was pointing behind me, likely to where my daughter was. Dev eased off the now not functional bike and helped me off, Daniel stepping down next to me. He immediately turned on Taggart.

  “Don’t you talk to my daughter that way,” Daniel threatened.

  “And what are you going to do about it, human?” Taggart had obviously had enough stimulation for one day.

  “I can tell you what I’m going to do,” Dev said, looking slightly feral. “How about you take a little nap?”

  I moved between the men as Charlotte did the same. “Or we can figure out how to get that gate behind us open and run. I don’t know if you noticed but there’s a fairly large army and they’re ready to kill us all.”

  “They only want me.” Summer’s helmet was gone and she looked so young in the afternoon light. Young and fragile. “I’ll go to them.”

  Marcus was trapped in the prime of his life, and he didn’t look even close to fragile. “You will not. If you cannot bring yourself to take off that charm, then you will stay behind me while we fight our way out of here.”

  Taggart and my husbands seemed ready to win the stare war at all costs.

  Adam handed me one of the cool pistols I’d been told worked based on sonic energy. “It’s good to know Tag isn’t the only one in all the worlds with that much testosterone in his system. Here, Your Highness. You point and shoot. Bad guy goes bye bye. I’ve got it on a kill setting.”

  I gratefully took the gun, though it felt so light in my hand. I missed my custom-made Ruger. It was back at the Council headquarters. I hadn’t used it in years for anything beyond target practice.

  I’d been worried our lives had gotten too safe and we were missing the old adventures, but in that moment I would have given a lot to be staring down another night of watching TV with the guys and putting the kids to bed.

  I strode to where my daughter stood with Marcus. She’d gone pale, and I worried she might pass out. She hadn’t eaten much this morning. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded. “But I should go and talk to him. I can’t put everyone at risk.”

  I knew the play well. It never ended the way we wanted it to. “Marcus, don’t let her go. If you have to, put her to sleep and we’ll carry her out of here.”

  I felt a sizzle along my skin and it felt…irritated.

  Was Taggart right? Was that my daughter’s magic starting to assert itself even while she denied it?

  “I’d like to see him try,” Summer said tightly.

  Marcus’s eyes had flared, so I knew he’d felt that sizzle, too. But he wasn’t about to back down. “I assure you, bella, I will do whatever I need to do to keep you safe.”

  Summer’s lips went mulishly stubborn. She might look like me, but that expression was pure Daniel. “I can solve everything quickly and no one else needs to die. Do you honestly think I can live with myself if I’m the reason my parents and the male I love dies?”

  I had to wonder if I’d sounded like that when I was young. It was annoying. And honestly, when I thought about it, maybe she’d gotten this from Danny, too. “I don’t care about anything but you surviving this.”

  Kelsey had ditched her helmet, but she had that sword she wouldn’t let go of in her hand. “Dean says he feels something. Magic. Big magic coming our way.”

  I glanced over and Dean was staring at the living wall Dev had erected between us and almost certain annihilation. There was a deeply intent expression on his face that made me wonder exactly what he was feeling.

  Summer frowned as she considered him. “Dean, maybe you should step back.”

  Dean’s hands came up suddenly, and when he looked my way, his eyes were shining and the air around him crackled with magic. “No. She’s going to burn it all down. Get behind me. Now!”

  I heard a crack and then Dev tackled me, shoving me Dean’s way. We hit the ground and rolled as the Taggarts and Adam did the same. Marcus picked up Summer and they made their way to Dean as I felt a wave of heat coming our way. It was like the air had been sucked up and replaced with fire.

  “Try to give me some cover,” Kelsey yelled and I watched in horror as she ran for Daniel, who’d been left behind. He wasn’t as fast as the others. There was a good fifty feet between us.

  I felt the moment Dean put up his shield. It was like I could breathe again and the heat lessened. The wall of green in front of us caught fire and began to dissolve in a wave of flame that sent billowy smoke into the air, but Dean managed to keep it off us. He couldn’t do the same for anyone not standing behind him. He had to concentrate because that fire was coming directly our way.

  Dean stood, his arms in the air as he projected a shield with his magic. His whole body was tense and he was so young to be standing there, the only barrier between us and death. Yet he was firm, not hesitating to put himself in harm’s way.

  He just might be the hero we needed to save our plane.

  Kelsey made it to Danny, but there was no time to get back to us before that wave hit. Dev stood and raised a hand, trying to give them more cover. He was trying to use the trees and plants, but they burned, too.

  I heard myself scream as the flames engulfed them both.

  * * * *

  Kelsey

  I knew the minute Dean screamed out that we were in serious trouble. I thought the massive wall of green Dev had erected would give us time, but Dean had simply stared at it. While everyone else had been arguing about what to do now that the bikes were dead, Dean had stared and whispered under his breath as though trying to strengthen the wall. As though he knew something was coming.

  So when he yelled to get behind him, I was damn happy to see Dev immediately leap for the queen. Taggart got his wife and ran for cover while Marcus picked up Summer. Adam had taken a tactical position behind Dean.

  That left the king running for us. And I knew in that moment that he wouldn’t make it.

  I wasn’t sure what was coming our way, but it would be bad, and he was the most fragile of us. It was odd to think of him that way because normally I’d be more than happy to hide behind his indestructible ass. And he would have offered up his strength to all of us. So I followed my instincts. I couldn’t be less than me, and that meant risking it all because I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t.

  I ramped up my speed and senses. I could hear something barreling our way, and the scent of smoke and ash hit my nose. Fire. Erna was sending a wave of fire our way. I had vampire blood in my system. It was part of being the Nex Apparatus. I took vampire blood at least once a week, and sometimes right before I went into battle. I’d taken it the day of my wedding. It would hurt like hell, but I would likely heal. Donovan wouldn’t.

  I could feel the heat on my skin, flaring across it. Adrenaline made me hyper aware of my surroundings.

  It was the greatest irony that this man’s blood would save me, save Devinshea and Zoey, and he would die because he had no protection.

  I heard the queen scream as I reached the king and realized our time was up. I glanced back and that ball of flame had taken out a good portion of our green wall, and the rest of it was on fire. Dean’s shield was holding but it didn’t stop the fire Erna was sending his way, merely shifted it and sent it our direction.

  Donovan was running toward me, but we woul
dn’t get back to the safety of cover. I saw another shot at surviving though.

  “Get behind the bikes,” I shouted as I approached him. I waved to him and he seemed to understand.

  Donovan let me pull him down behind one of the big bikes we’d ridden in on, and I felt the first wave hit it. It couldn’t cover all of the two of us, so I tried to block the king from the majority of it. I gritted my teeth against the unholy amount of pain that flared across my skin. I was shocked to see that the clothes Taggart had insisted we all change into before the ride were apparently fireproof. My hands singed and I felt a place at the back of my neck burn, but otherwise I managed to cover my face.

  “Nice trick, Dean,” a feminine voice said. “I’ll be honest. I didn’t think you had it in you. But it won’t work for long. Send Summer out here and I don’t care what happens to the rest of you. If Summer isn’t in my custody in thirty seconds, I’ll let the barbarians have you all.”

  Donovan was up on his feet at the sound of those words. His hands had burned and one side of his face looked medium rare, but he toughed it out. “No.”

  I managed to get to my feet. The smoke was still thick in the air, but I witnessed the utter devastation of the wall that Dev had created.

  And I noticed that the king and I were surrounded. They’d managed to get in behind us, taking advantage of the massive hole in our barricade. They were on huge war horses, looking down on us with weapons in their hands.

  “Who the fuck are these people and what do they want with my daughter?” Donovan asked.

  “These are the dudes Summer told us about, and the last time I came up against them, Dev and I killed the whole lot. Well, except the one who got sucked into the vortex thing,” I explained as we went back to back. “I’ll admit there were way less of them then.”

  They wore the same type of clothes the others had, animal-skin pants and loose linen shirts. The clothes weren’t really the problem. The massive horse-like creatures who were kitted out with spikes on their armor, and all those swords and bows and arrows worried me far more than the clothes. If I’d been standing next to Donovan the king, I likely would have yawned, told him to have fun, and sat back to do my nails. That’s how good the king is. But I didn’t have a vampire. I had an already injured human on my hands. My back was to our group so I couldn’t see what was happening with them. I could hear conversation going on yards away, but I was concentrating on not getting the two of us killed.

  “Shouldn’t Dev be doing that thing where he has all the plants bury these guys?” I’d heard the stories. Dev could have roots and vines burst from the ground and drag whoever had offended him deep under the dirt.

  “Something’s happening.” Donovan’s voice sounded tight. “I don’t think Dev can work his mojo right now. I think somehow the witch is blocking him.”

  She was blocking a Green Man? “I didn’t think that could happen. His power has been off the charts since we got here.”

  One of the barbarians slipped gracefully out of his saddle and started toward us. He was joined by another two of his cohorts, while the rest seemed content to look down at us.

  “Are we fighting our way out?” Donovan asked.

  Was he high? “We’re outnumbered and you have no superpowers. There are only ten of us, and apparently Dev’s magic can be neutralized. I think it’s time for you to use some of that diplomacy I always hear about.”

  I was strictly muscle, but my demon arm wasn’t going to get us out of this.

  Donovan sighed as though he’d really wanted a fight. “How are we going to communicate with them?”

  The big guy with all the swords stepped up to join us. “I suggest talking, though you likely won’t have to talk for long. Move. Join the others or I’ll kill you where you stand.” He sneered my way. “Not you. You, I think I will take back to camp with me for a while.”

  Donovan snorted. “Yeah, you do that, buddy. See where that lands you.”

  “It will land me in the Summerlands,” the big guy replied with the reverence of a true believer. “Our king will finally deliver us to paradise where he will rule all the outer planes.”

  “And how does he intend to do that?” Donovan seemed determined to keep the guy talking.

  I wished I could see whatever Donovan was seeing. I could feel his tension, sense we were on the edge of something bad. My mind was racing, trying to find a way out.

  I didn’t see a reason for these dudes not to kill all of us. They only really needed Summer if Charlotte was right. I was certain Erna had convinced Summer’s stalker that she could somehow make Summer do her bidding. With no real reason to keep us alive, we were looking at swift death.

  “The witch already has much of the abomination’s magic,” he replied with a superior smirk. “She’s been draining the abomination for years, soaking up her power for my king’s use.”

  Oh, that lying bitch. “She’s not using it for your king. She’s using it for herself, and she’ll turn on you as soon as she can.”

  “My daughter is not an abomination.” The words were tight coming from Donovan’s mouth, and I didn’t need to see him to know he was pissed.

  He was missing the point. “Summer’s magic isn’t something that can be drained. If you kill her, it won’t go to Erna. I’m not saying the witch hasn’t figured out a way to siphon power off of Summer, but she can’t strip her of it. If she could, why hasn’t she done it yet?”

  Why would Erna spend years on the run with Summer if she could have simply killed her and taken her magic? Why would she have put up with Dean when she obviously hadn’t wanted to? Because she couldn’t simply take what she wanted.

  Only a momentary discomfort went across the warrior’s face before that arrogant look came back. “My king knows all. He cannot be fooled or tricked, much less by a woman.”

  “My daughter is made of magic.” Donovan seemed to have picked up on my play. If we could convince them Erna was lying, we might buy ourselves some time. “You can’t strip her of it. It would be like taking her heart out. You might be able to hold it in your hand for a moment, but it would be a dead thing. It can’t work without Summer to animate it.”

  Pretty bloody metaphor, but accurate. “Think logically. Summer’s powers are bound. Why would Erna bind them if she could take them instead?”

  The warrior’s shoulders straightened. “I do not need logic. I have my king’s wisdom. Now stop your babbling, woman. You will come with me and be judged by the man who will soon rule the outer planes.”

  “Yeah, buddy, that’s the thrall stone talking.” I hated those damn stones. Though I still had one shoved in my pack. I wasn’t about to leave it lying around.

  “Did I sound this whiny and kiss ass around Myrddin?” Donovan asked as I was hauled around.

  “Yes. It was annoying,” I shot back as our warrior jerk tightened his hold on my arm. I could have easily broken it, but I figured that was when the other twenty or so dudes would have taken exception, and I needed everyone calm. “I think we should go and make our case directly to Dear Leader.”

  “I think you’re right.” Donovan had his own escort, another big warrior with an ax in his hand. “I think we’re going to have to talk our way out of this, but you’re wrong about who we need to talk to.”

  “Well, Erna’s not going to help us out.” She would pretty much kill every one of us and then likely work some spell to turn Summer into her very own magical battery. “Has anyone thought about the fact that if the walls between the planes come down, it won’t matter who the leader is or what the fuck Erna’s trying to become? We’ll all be dead. Game over and no one wins. I take it winning is important to you guys.”

  “We’ve already won, and my leader will stop the convergences. When we raid the Summerlands, he will raise our dead and we shall feast in the heavens forever,” the warrior vowed.

  “Okay, you’re a moron, and I have to hope that your leader has some kind of sense.” And if I got close enough, I might be able to
take the bastard’s head off, and maybe that would release all his warriors from their thrall. We might have a chance to run while they were wondering what the fuck happened.

  “You really should leave the diplomacy to me,” Donovan said under his breath. “You’re not very good at it.”

  I agreed with him. I was sure Quinn was already trying to charm the pants off of everyone and…hey, there was an idea. “You think it’s just the plant stuff Erna’s blocking? Because if Quinn unleashed an orgy, that could really help us out.”

  Up ahead, I could see that Erna was standing beside the man who could only be the barbarian king. He had that look. And a weird crown on his head. He pointed to Summer and suddenly two of his burly henchmen grabbed her and held her arms out like they might tear her apart.

  That was the moment Donovan forgot he wasn’t a vampire. Or maybe it was simply that he’d never forgotten he was a father. He wrestled his hand from the guard and started running for his daughter.

  I shouted out, but it was too late. The guard who’d held him in one hand had an ax in the other, and he reared back and threw it Daniel’s way. The king stopped as the ax found a place between his shoulder blades. Blood began to flow and I realized we weren’t all getting out of this alive.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Summer

  I stood behind Dean as he managed to keep the flames from hitting us. His hands were up, funneling his unique magic into a protective arc. Orange and red flames sparked off the invisible barrier and flew around us. I could feel the heat of that fire. It brought sweat to my brow and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because I was sure these were much like the flames that had burned my village when I’d lost control.

  Once they’d come from my fingertips.

  “Where is Daniel?” My mother was crying, and Papa was having to stop her from running out to look for my dad. He’d been caught too far from Dean.