Me.
No, I would not go down without a fight. I was not going to let Bazixal have me.
Heat began to pool around us, the heat of a devil’s fire.
“Mom!” Bear called for me and I turned to him. There were times to fight, and times to run. This was a time to run, to regroup and figure out what the fuck was going on. Abe stood at his side. I tried not to think about how that was possible.
I bolted for him, scooping Eleanor up as I went by and tucking her into her holster. Or trying to put her in, at least. I couldn’t seem to get her to fit but I didn’t look to see why. We were too busy running through the burning Grotto. I jammed her into the waistband of my jeans, under my belt.
Killian and Bear led the way, Abe sticking close to his boy. They’d found a way out then.
Behind me, I could hear laughter and then the rising of what sounded like screaming of people, only people was the wrong word.
Souls, Martin whispered. There are souls being tortured and taken.
His words were enough to make me go a little faster.
A few more corners and we were outside. There were no vehicles left that I could see.
“This way.” Bear waved at me to follow him. “We have to ride out.”
We slid to a stop on the cobblestone at the front of the stables. Four horses were saddled and ready to go. Rooster stood with them.
“He found them,” Bear said, hope in his voice. I knew that hope all too well. The belief that maybe your dad wasn’t the fucking asshole you knew in your heart he was.
“Let’s go,” I said.
I didn’t question anything or try to break Bear’s happy bubble. I just leapt astride the horse closest to me. The four horses picked up on our excitement and fear and bolted into the desert, Abe racing alongside as though he hadn’t just been shot. Hadn’t just died.
Rooster pointed out the direction back to the city closest to us and we galloped away, the night hiding us as the Grotto burned, lighting up the sky like a beacon.
I rode beside Bear, reached out to him and he reached back. We held hands for a few strides and then let go. It was enough for now. He was here, we had him back.
Except that I knew this fight for our freedom was not over yet. We still had one monster to face.
Bazixal.
25
The Arabian desert stretched around us as we galloped through what was left of the night, the horses slowing as fatigue set in.
I finally allowed them to walk. We slid off the horses’ backs, one by one, and walked with them, stretching our legs. Abe was panting hard, but still with us. I moved around to the far side so I was next to Bear. I grabbed him in a hug and picked him right up as if he were a toddler and not a ten-year-old boy. He didn’t protest a bit, just hugged me tightly with legs and arms. I buried my face against his neck, breathing him in.
The son I’d thought I’d lost, the boy I thought I’d never get back was here with me. “I’m sorry it took so long.”
“S’okay,” he mumbled. “I knew you would come for me.”
I didn’t look at Rooster, but could feel the weight of his eyes on me. “Rooster helped—”
“I know who he is,” Bear said softly. “And I know he ran away.”
I let him down so he could walk next to me. But I didn’t take my hand from his. I couldn’t for fear he would be snatched from me once again.
“Tell me everything that happened,” I said.
Bear began his story with the jail and the Ikimono myst, how the antidote had gotten into him and how he’d been so sick that he’d been dying. He talked about how Rooster had tried to save him, and how they’d both been tossed from the car. Then there was Shaitan, and the desert witch, Tommy coming to rescue him and from there they broke into the Grotto.
I looked at Rooster. “That was when you took this body, isn’t it? When the real Rooster died from the gunshot wound.”
Rooster nodded. “Yes.”
“I took Eleanor from Tommy, Mom.” Bear’s eyes were full of guilt. “She told me the bullet he had wouldn’t work and I believed her. Did you really kill him?”
“I killed Romano,” I said. “Someone else killed Tommy.” I didn’t need to fuel what were sure to be nightmares for years with the thought of Tommy’s soul being stolen away in the last seconds of his death.
A thought trickled through me. “This desert witch, you said she trained you a little?”
“Yes, and she thought pretty highly of you.” Bear’s hands tightened on mine. “I know I was supposed to be afraid of her but I wasn’t. She didn’t scare me.”
A woman with knowledge of the arcane would be rather handy right then. “Any idea how we might find her?”
Killian twisted around to me, looking at me across his horse’s back. “What are you thinking?”
“That there has to be something about this deal we are missing still if Bazixal thinks he has any sort of hold on me.” Much as I wanted to shelter Bear from the truth of our world, I knew the time for that was long past.
“There!” Bear shouted suddenly, snapping my attention around. “There’s her tent!”
I stared in the direction he pointed, somehow not surprised that indeed there was a large tent standing in the middle of the desert off to our right.
“She doesn’t like men, though,” Bear said. “I think Killian and Rooster should stay behind with the horses.”
I nodded and reached for Dinah. “You ready?”
“Check Eleanor,” she whispered. “I can’t hear her.”
I frowned and reached for Eleanor still stuffed in my belt. I hadn’t even thought of her in the flight from the Grotto. I was too wrapped up in wondering what the hell Bazixal was up to.
I touched her handle and pulled her out. The muzzle of her gun was peeled back and the chamber was completely blown open. Which was why I’d not been able to get her into the holster.
“Eleanor?”
There was no answer.
Emotions swirled around me, more than I could deal with when we were still facing so much danger. I held her out to Killian. “Here, take her.”
He did, his eyes worried but he said nothing, just let his finger brush over mine in a silent show of support. “We’ll be waiting on you, Lass. Be careful. A desert witch is still a witch, no matter that the name sounds a little prettier.”
I nodded and held my hand out to Bear. He took it and I pulled him tightly against my side.
We were maybe fifty feet away, but we walked slowly.
“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Abe was a good dog. There will never be another one like him.”
I looked back at Abe who was following us still. His eyes were locked on Bear. I bit my lower lip, realizing he wasn’t really there. He’d died, saving his boy.
He will stay with your son until he finds a new protector. Martin’s voice was gentle, the pressure of the wind around me cool and soothing.
My throat tightened and the tent wobbled through the sudden tears for a companion I thought had survived. “Yes, the best. He was the best dog. You’re right too, there won’t be another like him, but that doesn’t mean you’ll never have another friend like Abe.”
Bear leaned his head into my side. “What are we going to do, Mom?”
I tightened my arm around him. “We’re going to talk to this desert witch and then we’re going home.”
He lifted his head. “Home, like the ranch?”
I shrugged. “For a little while. Then we’ll figure it out from there.”
I didn’t want to tell him that there was a chance he would be without me. I didn’t want him to worry, but I should have known better. He was way ahead of the curve.
“What about this Bazixal guy? He’s a bad one, isn’t he?”
I looked back at where Rooster stood a little apart from Killian. “Yeah, he is.”
Bear turned with me. “He’s not like my dad, at all, anymore. My dad died in that truck, didn’t he?”<
br />
A sigh slid from me. “Yes, Bear. He did. That man . . . is not your father anymore.”
“Good,” he whispered. “I’d rather think of him as a brave man, than a coward.”
His words were so grown up, so true, and they hurt my heart. He shouldn’t have had to grow up so fast. “One day we’ll talk about all of it, but not now. Okay?”
He agreed with a bob of his head.
We were at the tent and the bottom of the doorway flapped. Through it I could see a pair of feet covered in rings and the toenails were painted a bright blue. I arched an eyebrow. “Nice polish.”
Laughter spilled out of the tent and the flap was lifted. “You were not impressed by the jewels?”
Her face was partially hidden by a veil, but her eyes were striking enough on their own. Violet eyes rimmed in thick black lashes. I shrugged. “Money means nothing to me.”
“Good. Then we will discuss your current situation.” She opened the flap farther and Bear scooted in first, going to the far side of the tent and sitting cross-legged.
I didn’t know what she thought we were going to discuss, but it surely was not going to be the stones on her toes.
“Bazixal still thinks he has a hold on me. Any idea why?” I pulled out the diary from under my shirt and from there I pulled out the deal written on the demon skin.
Her eyes flicked over it. Reading it. A sigh slid from her.
“The deal should have been broken,” she said. “Romano is dead, I felt his spirit sucked down into the depths of Hell.”
Well, that much was good.
Her fingers flicked over the deal, brushing it here and there. “He has signed it in his own blood . . . ah. This is why.” She pointed at the signature at the bottom.
I stared at it. “You’re going to have to paint a clearer picture.”
“Your blood is on this deal.”
Her words were like a gong inside my head.
“Dad, this isn’t a good idea,” I said, moving toward him. My job was to protect him, which meant I had to get him out of here. Now.
I reached his side and put a hand on his shoulder. He backhanded me, catching me off guard. I took a step back, tasting blood.
“He hit me, my blood was on his hands,” I whispered, horror flickering through me. My blood was signed into this deal.
“But you didn’t sign it!” Bear cried out, reaching for me. I let him come, let him crawl into my lap.
The desert witch watched us. “Bravery will only take him so far. He is still a child. It is good that you let him have that place of safety.”
“He’s right. I didn’t sign it.” I pointed at the words. “So, what does this mean to me?”
Her fingers coursed the paper again. “I think it means you must find a way to challenge Bazixal. To face him and force him to let you go. It can be done, but it is not easy.” Her eyes were flickering, burning lights. “You have great power, but can you stop the pain when it comes? Or can you ride it through, can you bring the pain into you, making it into power?”
I frowned. “I don’t understand.”
She handed me the paper and I folded it, put it back in the diary. I wasn’t even sure why I kept it still, only that I thought I should hang onto it a while longer.
“Go back to the beginning, Phoenix,” she said. “That is where you must face him, where it all began.”
I closed my eyes, exhaustion catching up to me. “What do you want for this knowledge?”
“A favor, one that will cost you nothing,” she said, and I thought she smiled under her veil. “We are powerful women, and we must stand with one another if this world will ever see change. There is another woman, a powerful woman like you and me, waiting in a cargo plane not far from here—to the south. She needs help. That is my price.”
A woman with a cargo plane in the desert. A plane that could take us off this continent and get us home. I stood and Bear moved with me without me having to say anything. “It sounds more like this is a way out for us.”
“That too. I like this man child. He has great things coming for him.” Her eyes crinkled at the edges.
Bear and I took our leave, walking quickly back to the horses. He grabbed my hand and gasped. I turned to see there was no tent behind us.
“Mom, she’s gone.”
“Yeah, get used to it. Abnormals can do some pretty freaky shit when they’re strong.” I tugged him forward. “Just roll with it for now.”
He nodded, but kept turning to look. I knew the feeling, but I didn’t give into it.
I boosted him into the saddle even though he didn’t need help and then leapt onto my own horse. “We head south. There’s a plane that can get us out of here.”
Killian arched one eyebrow, but he said nothing. The four of us headed at a steady clip to the south, the sun still climbing on our left.
“How far?” Rooster asked, his voice husky with the need for water. The horses were sucking wind too, but we had no choice but to push on.
“I don’t know.” We were at the bottom of a sand dune that climbed high over us. I got off and held onto the edge of the saddle, letting the horse pull me up the steep incline rather than carry me. Bear followed suit as did the two men.
At the top of the dune my horse blew hard, its legs trembling, but my eyes were locked on the scene in front of me.
A massive army-green cargo plane with two people buzzing around it and a windstorm headed straight for them.
I squinted at the windstorm. “That is not natural.”
“That’s Shaitan.” Rooster gasped for breath at the crest of the dune. “He’s dangerous, like as in a desert demon dangerous.”
“That plane is our way out, which means we have to stop him from taking it.” I took a step and then another, leading my horse down the steep side of the dune. “At the bottom, mount up and ride hard for the plane, Bear. Rooster, you stay with him and protect him.”
Killian jogged down the hill with me. “You and me going to do some damage?”
“That’s the plan.” I smiled at him. “It’s what we’re good at.”
He laughed and then we were at the bottom of the slope and mounting. The horses were exhausted but they gave us everything they had left as we raced across a hard-packed ground, their hooves clattering on the stony bits.
We were maybe two hundred yards from the plane when I caught sight of one of its occupants. The powerful woman that the desert witch wanted me to help.
Her red hair stood out against the sand and the dark green of the cargo plane. I’d met her once and she’d cleaned up a rather messy death in a hotel room for me.
Easter Willis.
I didn’t have time to wonder what the hell she was doing this far out of her territory. The windstorm slammed into us, a scream of fury within it spiking through my ears. The horses skidded to a stop, and they all went up, rearing, striking out with their legs at the awful noise. I slid off, so did Bear. Rooster was dumped on his ass and Killian went off to one side.
“Bear, get inside!” I yelled at him, pointing to the ramp. He grabbed the horses on either side of him and ran. Damn it, I hadn’t meant for him to take the horses.
Behind you.
I spun with Martin’s warning in time to see a sword slicing through the swirling sand and dust.
I bent backward, watched the blade slice through the air in front of my face and then I snapped back up, Dinah in hand. I squeezed the trigger and she . . . choked.
“I can’t. Something happened,” she cried out.
Awesome.
That left the flames. I called them up and they raced down my arms and legs, over my entire body. Hotter and hotter, I wanted them to burn this motherfucker to ash. The sand around me began to drop, tinkling to the ground in little shards of glass.
“Ah, so you are the Phoenix?” a voice called to me from within the whirlwind. “Then come, let me have you.”
I laughed. “You must be Shaitan?”
“I am.”
“A coward then who cannot show his face? No surprise there.” The flames made me bold even without Dinah.
The heat was intoxicating rippling through me and with it came a desert song on the wind. There was music in the sand here, music that filled my ears and whispered of the power I could be if I let myself train, if I let myself sink into Shaitan’s arms and bed. He would hold me up for the world to fear, for my life to be molded to his vision.
A part of my brain screamed at me to snap the fuck out of it, but the other part was so drugged I couldn’t do more than obey.
I let the fire douse and took a step, my mind fogged with the potential. Someone was shouting, someone I should listen to, but . . . I didn’t want to be weak. I wanted to protect those I loved from the monsters.
I took a step, then another and another. A hand was held out to me and I reached for it.
“Not a good idea.” A woman’s voice cut through the fog and something slammed me to the ground. A body then?
I didn’t even know. There was a flash of light, followed by a bolt of electricity and the arc went through me, snapping me out of the fog like nothing else. Killian was on top of me, breathing hard. “Time for you to go, Lass.” There was a heavy strain in his voice as if he were holding back.
He scooped me up like I was a child and my limbs didn’t protest. Hell, I couldn’t protest. I was limp as a fucking wet blanket.
There was a scream of rage and then we were inside the cargo plane and the sand was blowing in. Killian hit the lift button for the ramp and it shut on the raging weather outside. Though weather would make you think that it was natural.
“What happened?” I mumbled like I’d been drinking heavily. I touched my mouth, tasted blood. My fingers were cut, probably from the shards of glass my flames had created.
“We need a jump!” Easter yelled out as she ran past us. “Lightning boy, can you do it?”
Killian put me down, took a limping step and then put a hand on the metal panel closest to us. I crumpled to the floor. “Bear.” His name slipped from me and I twisted around.
A split second later he was there, wrapping his arms around me. I hugged him back. Killian jump-started the plane and the engines turned over, once, twice and then they caught. The propellers began to move and Easter let out a whoop as she bolted by, toward what had to be the cockpit.
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