Edge of Humanity (Only Human Book 5)
Page 19
Cora had offered to do the torturing for me. She thought it would break something in me to torture them, but in reality, it would’ve broken something in me to watch her do it at my request.
Now, as if she could read my mind, or perhaps my mood, she offered again.
I’ve tortured before. I don’t enjoy it, but I can handle it.
I’ll do my own dirty work. I love you for offering, but it needs to be my hand.
No reason the two of you can’t work side-by-side, said Ranger. Knowing both of you are capable of torture strengthens your reputation as a bonded pair.
He had a point, but I still wasn’t sure I could ask Cora to do it. I telepathed, Maybe. I’ll do the first by myself, no matter what. Perhaps Cora can help me later, in the interest of time.
Focus on the game plan, said Ranger. We take out the hyena guards in the kitchen at the back of the house. Careful of our people coming in the front and side, careful with your aim if you must shoot.
I looked to the tablet we’d brought, currently showing infrared signatures in the house. It wouldn’t show the vampires, but we could see every hyena.
Five in the kitchen. Three of us. Not a problem, I said.
We waited another ten minutes before Mac was in our ear giving us the go signal, and it was all I could do to keep up with Ranger, who I knew had slowed to what he considered a crawl so I could keep up. Cora was behind me, as much as I’d have preferred to be the one to have her back.
Ranger dropped his duffel full of silver chains in the backyard, and shattered the large window in the breakfast nook seconds before we approached, and I jumped and levitated to get into and through the opening as gracefully as possible. I was wearing tighter clothes and no gloves, to be sure I didn’t set myself on fire with my weapons. I also wore my lightweight body armor, and a large silver gorget on my neck. I was dressed for battle, not warmth, but it would have to be okay.
I created a short quarterstaff with knives on both ends even before my feet hit the ground, and took two hyenas out with one long slice. Ranger took another two out, and Cora decapitated the last. It was almost too easy, which had me concerned.
“Rear clear,” Cora said aloud. She jumped out the window to retrieve the duffle filled with chains, and I watched her back when she returned.
“Rear, side, and front are clear. All teams, proceed.” Mac’s voice was sure, confident. Also, sexy as fuck, but he was taken. Bethany wouldn’t mind me noticing his sexy voice. Mac was hers and everyone knew it.
“X team headed down,” I said a few seconds before Ranger kicked open the fortified basement door. Ranger was a blur going down the steps, and I grasped Cora’s hand and levitated us down in an effort to keep up. Another team followed us, and went right when we went left.
The Celrau we found weren’t awake, and I quickly wrapped them in silver chains since neither Ranger or Cora needed to come into direct contact with silver. I levitated the unconscious vampires to the main sitting room downstairs, and then checked in on the other team. Two of theirs had been awake, but they’d subdued them and wrapped them. We moved all the Celrau into the same room.
“Where’s the portal?” I asked the two conscious vamps. I could find it, but no one needed to know I could.
Marco had bedded down somewhere close, and was awake. I telepathed him while physically touching the Celrau who’d occupied the best spot in the room, figuring he’d likely know more than the others.
Marco. Can you read him?
I can’t explain what he did, but the next thing I knew, I was inside the Celrau’s memories. I got the visual, audio, tactile, and olfactory sensations all at once. It was a shock, and Cora’s hands on my shoulders from behind helped ground me, so I could delineate where I stopped and the Celrau’s memories started. Instead of bitching because Marco had thrown me in the deep end with no warning, I dug to see what I could find.
Aquila had been here, giving orders, asking for updates. He came and went through the portal, which meant I’d have to go through it to look for him.
The Celrau thought they could fuck with Lauren’s head and use her abilities against the good side – against me. Not just no, but hell-fucking-no. I’d decimate their numbers if I had to go to Hell again to do it. Even if it meant I was forever trapped there — at least I’d know Lauren was safe.
I gathered every scrap of information I could from the asshole’s brain before I pulled out and breathed to recenter myself.
Thanks, Marco, but a little warning might be nice if we need to do it again.
I only got you in. You’re the one who explored.
“Why are they all men?” asked Cora.
It was a valid question. Supernaturals are so much stronger than humans, whether they’re male or female doesn’t matter much for this sort of thing.
“Aquila had all men around him when he had me in Hell, too. I mean, I saw some women, but it was almost all men.”
Ranger shrugged. “Some of the old ones still stay away from turning women for battle purposes. Might not mean anything.”
“Or, it could be a chess piece I can use later. How much did ya’ll get of what I saw?”
“I think I saw all of it,” said Cora.
“Nothing,” said Ranger.
“Marco went in his head and looked around, and I was along for the ride.” Which wasn’t technically accurate, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to admit Marco got me in and then he was along for the ride.
I looked around the basement again, to be certain I didn’t recognize any of the Celrau, and headed towards the stairs. “I need to check out the portal — it’s anchored between the granite statue in the side yard and a large boulder brought in to be the backdrop for a waterfall.”
Three steps up, and I’d have fallen if Cora hadn’t caught me. I sensed my energy field drawing from hers and tried to make it stop, but she streamed it into me. I felt as if I’d been drugged, or as if my aura had been thrown off vibration, like an explosion had scattered my life-force and thrown what was left out of tune. Out of the right frequency. Sharp, fiery needles pricked at my skin from both inside and out, though my heart was ice cold in my chest and hurt, as if the cold would burn through me. Something was wrong.
Take it. Cora said when I tried to keep her from giving me energy. What’s happened? You feel as if something shattered.
“I don’t know,” I said aloud. “It felt like something struck me. Not physically, but my energy—”
I stopped talking because I picked up on terror from Cora. The next thing I knew, nearly every supernatural who’d been downstairs blurred past us.
25
“What is it?” I asked.
“Fighting. Outside, for now. We need to hide if you aren’t up for a fight.”
Ranger had left with the others, and I imagined roots growing from my feet, past the basement flooring, and into the center of the Earth. I drew energy in — Earth energy, from this realm, and felt my aura settle back around me as it should. The fiery needles were still there, but my heart settled in my chest and no longer hurt.
“The portal. Something about it messed with me. Stay close and keep an eye on me, but I’m okay to help fight.”
I streamed energy back into her, and she nodded. “If it happens again, remember to do whatever you just did.”
“We’ll call it extreme grounding. Can you let me hear what you’re hearing?”
She opened up a pathway and I heard swords hitting, people grunting, feet and fists impacting with flesh — the general sounds of large-scale hand-to-hand combat with the addition of swords.
“I’m taking us to the roof,” I warned, and stepped into the nothingness with my arms around her. A half-second later, we were on top of the house looking down into the back and side yards. I steadied her, made sure she had her balance, and focused on the fighting.
Not only were our people outnumbered, but more Celrau kept coming in through the portal. I could set a gateway — could I break one? I needed it
open to try to track Aquila, but if I didn’t get it closed our people would be slaughtered. I’d have to find Aquila another way. Later.
I need you to watch my back while I meditate. I’m going to try to close the gateway.
Can you give me a light-knife, first?
The Celrau had streamed through the portal the second the sun sank below the horizon. We were in the shadows of a gable, but I worried the light from the knife would draw attention. Still, I understood why she wanted one. I turned, made the kind of short-sword Cora prefers, handed it to her, and turned back towards the fighting. It was tempting to join the fray and help my friends, but I’d help them more by shutting the damned door.
Clearing your mind and sinking into a self-induced trance isn’t easy when your friends are fighting for their lives just below you, but I forced myself to breathe to my memory of the gateway’s rhythm. Within moments, I felt the portal, and I synchronized my energy to it.
And then wrenched everything into a screeching, horrid, off-tune vibration. I had to do it to my own aura while holding onto the gateway, and it felt like the fires of Hell had combined with an arctic hurricane, battling together in a horrible whirlwind of pain, but I couldn’t stop just because it hurt.
It was frigid metal dragging on pavement heated by a Florida sun, followed by the sounds of the world ending. An explosion rocked every cell in my body and sent my aura flying, dissolving it once again. It felt as if a nuclear bomb went off thirty feet away, and I couldn’t breathe. Cora came to me, wrapped her arms around me, and telepathed, Extreme grounding. Fast.
Stand us up. Fuck, that hurt.
Cora stood with me in her arms. My feet were on the roof, but no weight was on them. She knew I couldn’t support myself.
I imagined roots again, extending from my feet into the planet, and the energy streamed into me as if the inside of me had been a vacuum with nothing at all, and I’d broken the seal.
Cora and I both gasped as the energy slammed into us and kept coming, and I focused on the yard. Everyone was unconscious.
Where’s Nathan? Cora’s night vision is way better than mine.
Ten thirty. He’s breathing. Marco is at two o’clock, when did he get here? He isn’t breathing, but that doesn’t mean anything. Valerie’s beside him and missing a head, which does mean something. Kane’s by Nathan, also breathing. Ranger and Panda are near the back fence. I think Panda might be in trouble.
Panda is one of Nathan’s lions, which meant I’d help him by helping Nathan.
I hadn’t heard from Mac, and I touched my ear. Nothing, not even the little swish I should hear from the interference of my finger touching it. The explosion had likely taken out the electronics.
We’ll help Panda by reviving Nathan. We can figure out how to contact Mac once we get Nathan up and talking.
I looked around at all of the Celrau bodies. We’d been terribly outnumbered, and we’d be in trouble once again if the Celrau woke while we were working on Nathan. I focused energy into the Celrau around Nathan — with them unconscious, it was easy to force energy into them until their heads exploded. I did the same thing to the adjacent group. Aquila was in the next seven, and while he needed to die, I needed to talk to him first.
I killed all but three Celrau plus Aquila, grasped Cora’s hand, and asked, “Can you levitate down with me, or do I need to—”
“I’m good.”
I’d learned a lot more about levitating from my Shīfù, but I hadn’t had a chance to show Cora. She faltered going off, and I bolstered both of us until she found the ground with her energy. We settled down near Nathan, and I knelt and put my hands on him. I was probably breaking at least a hundred shapeshifter/supernatural rules, but I streamed energy from the Earth into Nathan and made his aura work with the Earth instead of against it.
He came to with a start, fully in fight mode, and missed taking my head off by millimeters. My heart was a ragged-out jalopy badly in need of a tune-up, trying to race out of my chest but unable. I wasn’t sure it could take much more.
Nathan’s lion was just under the surface as he looked around the yard trying to get oriented, ready for battle, and I explained before he had to ask.
“I broke the gateway, to keep more Celrau from coming in. The backlash took everyone out. I killed almost all the Celrau before I levitated off the roof. We should tie the four I left alive, so they can’t start killing when they wake. First though, Cora thinks Panda’s in trouble.”
Nathan strode to the back of the yard without speaking, and his energy reminded me of a comet, leaving pieces of him behind when he moved. It reminded me to pull my energy into my little cedar seedpods, and everything snapped into focus.
“Help Ranger,” I told Cora. “I’ll see if I can wake Marco.”
“Nathan will help Ranger. I’m not leaving you.”
We held hands again while we walked across the yard. “So much for you doing what I tell you to do.”
She laughed. “I love you too much to leave you alone in this kind of danger. You’re sure the gateway won’t reopen?”
“Pretty sure but not positive.”
Marco had brought six vampires, and Valerie had four with her. I’d thought from the beginning this seemed like a pissing match. Valerie and three of her people were without heads, and only one of Marco’s had lost his head.
What are the odds Marco used this opportunity to take Valerie and her people out without having to admit someone in his organization was gunning for him?
I’d say pretty good.
Yeah.
I pulled my phone, saw it was on, and asked Cora, “Why did the earbuds get taken out but not my phone?”
“The earbuds are newer tech, with thinner, more delicate connections. Cellphones are built with more grounding. Nathan changed Panda and is already talking to Mac.”
I shook my head and used the encrypted app to call Kendra.
“A portal to another realm blew up and the concussion knocked everyone out. How do I revive a Strigorii vampire?”
“From a distance.”
I laughed. I’d learned that lesson with Nathan. “Can I do it with energy? Or does it have to be blood?”
“You should try physical means first, before you use energy or magic or whatever-the-hell we’re calling it this decade. Start by dripping fresh blood in his mouth. Revive the strongest and he or she can then revive the rest. Probably. Let one of the shifters do it — they can heal if the vampire decides to try to drink them down upon awakening.”
Cora grew wicked claws on her right hand, swiped a deep ridge into her left wrist, and held it over Marco’s face so her crimson blood dripped onto his lips. Seconds later, his tongue snaked out to touch the blood, and the next thing I knew everything blurred and his mouth was sealed to the cut in Cora’s wrist. Sucking.
A minute or so later I felt Cora’s energy waning, and reached around her to slap Marco’s cheek as hard as I could from the odd angle. There wasn’t even a slim chance it hurt him, but I hoped it’d help get his attention.
“That’s my wolf you’re drinking from without permission. Mind your manners and don’t take too much.”
His eyes opened wide, wild. Closed. Opened again, not so wild. Three seconds later, he removed his mouth, but I could see him fighting his need.
“Sard. I’m gut-foundered. I need another thirty ounces, give or take.” He looked around. “What in Christ’s fingernails happened?”
He’s addled. Using old epithets. Careful. Cora’s voice was soothing in my head. Strong. She’d lost a lot of blood and would need to change to recover, but she was okay to sit still and talk. I could feel her lightheadedness, but she could think straight.
I met Marco’s gaze. Cora was right — he had himself under control, but barely. I decided to help ground him by giving him a sitrep. “Portal imploded or exploded or… I don’t know. I killed most of the Celrau while they were out. A few should be bound with silver before they wake. Can you help your people?”
“I’ve seen blood before, and Cora got you all bloody trying to revive you.”
“Take what you need,” Cora told him, offering her arm again. “Panda’s in lion form and Ranger’s a wolf. One more wolf in the yard won’t hurt anything. I can give you another thirty ounces.”
Are you sure? I asked her.
We bonded a little during my night with him. I mean, he’s a vampire and I was there as part of a bargain, but he was still… I don’t know. I like him. He’s one of the good guys. I’ll do what I can to help him as long as it doesn’t hurt the people I care about.
Instead of drinking from Cora’s already opened wrist as before, Marco bit higher on her arm, near the inside of her elbow. Cora pulled a breath in and I felt agony coming from her, but she stopped me before I could do anything. Teeth this time, without the feel-good stuff. I’m okay. He’s wounded. It’s to be expected.
You got rid of the light-knife?
Yes. When I needed to hold you after the explosion. Everyone was out cold, there was no one to fight, and you needed both my hands on you.
He’s taking too much. I could feel the strain in her — not just pain, but weakness, too.
The hyenas probably have a lot of meat here, hopefully in the refrigerator and not the freezer. Look for it once I change. Actually, let my wolf go inside with you. I don’t want to fight Nathan for food right now. You can take him what I don’t want.
“Marco. Enough.” I can’t put power into my voice like Nathan and Abbott, but I tried. It didn’t work, but I hoped it at least got the point across that I was prepared to back my words up with action if they weren’t taken seriously.