Wrong again, Rylee.
Wrong again.
CHAPTER 5
YOU’D THINK BY now, I’d know better than to even think things like that. But the truth was I always hoped I was wrong. I hated being right so much of the time when it came to bad shit going down. Or in this case, blowing up.
The crashed fighter jet exploded, sending the pilot and me sailing through the air, head over ass. I clung to the front of his flight jacket, rolling so he would land on me instead of the other way around. I’d survive a bad fall. I wasn’t so sure he’d survive anything more than the next few minutes.
My back slammed into the hard packed earth, knocking the wind out of me. The pilot ooffed onto my chest as we slid backward through the underbrush. He let out a groan, and I rolled him off me. I sat up, and for once, I was glad I was now as tough as I was. In the past, I’d have broken ribs, probably an arm and there was no way I’d have been able to save Eve.
As a Tracker, this would have been an exceptionally bad situation. As a daywalking vampire, I was doing okay. I pushed that aside as I assessed the scene.
The plane burned out of control, but it was at least far enough away we were out of the worst of it; the heat could be felt, but wasn’t scorching. I knew the pilot’s buddies would look for him. The sound of another plane flying low caught my ears. Time to get moving.
I pulled the pilot’s helmet off and moved him a little farther away in case of a second explosion. Blood trickled from both ears, but other than that, I couldn’t see any injuries. I didn’t look over my shoulder as I called to her. “Eve, can you walk?”
“Yes. And I think my wing will be okay.”
I nodded, relief flowing through me. “Good. Let’s go.” I stood and turned away.
A hand clamped on my ankle, spinning me around. The pilot stared up at me, big brown eyes foggy with pain and confusion. “Did I crash?”
“Spectacularly.”
He coughed and grimaced. I leaned forward. “What are you fighting about?”
“I can’t tell you. Top secret.”
I swallowed hard. While it wasn’t essential, I wanted to know if Doran was right. Time to see what I could really do with this vampire mind control shit. With my heart pounding, I leaned closer so all he could see were my eyes. I put my will behind the words as Doran had taught me. “Tell me what the fight is about.”
He never looked away his eyes locked on mine in a glassy stare. “Assassination mission, top secret.”
“Who are you trying to kill?”
“The new president,” he said. I had to think for a minute. Lots had happened in the last six months, I’d almost forgotten about the election.
“The one with the shitty hair?”
“Yes.” He grimaced.
I looked at the plane and the flag painted on it. The stars and stripes were clear as day.
“But you are US Air Force, aren’t you?”
He blinked once. “Yes.”
Holy fucking shit balls.
I let go of him and he closed his eyes. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”
“I won’t tell anyone. Who would believe me? Besides, it’s not like your plane hides its allegiance.” I backed away, mind whirling. Not that I’d doubted Doran, but I had really hoped he was wrong. This did not help matters. If the humans were warring this much, it was only bound to get worse.
Fucking idiots.
I hurried to where Eve waited and we walked away from the burning wreckage. The harness on her was slashed, and I’d lost my bag under the burning plane wreckage. I had my swords, my whip, and a few knives. But nothing else. Even the flask of Liam’s blood was lost, and that caused more than a small amount of panic to claw its way up my throat. That had been my lifeline, my ability to pretend I wasn’t a monster because I wasn’t taking blood directly from anyone. It was just a flask. And now it was gone. A shuddering sigh escaped me. So much for being prepared.
Eve and I walked until we were well clear of the crash before I stopped. “Your wing, do you want me to look at it?”
She flicked her head, indicating to her right wing. “I think if you pull the pinion feathers that are bent, the nerves will settle down. I won’t have as much control in my turns, but I will be able to get us back in the air.” She stretched her wing out so I could see the damage.
Four feathers at the tip had been shattered and blood dripped from them. “Why didn’t you have me do this sooner?”
“I wasn’t sure.” She clacked her beak once. “No need to pull feathers if we don’t have to. But that pain will ease. This is ongoing and I think it will not go away without doing something.”
Before she could change her mind I grabbed the first feather and yanked it out. Eve shrieked and pulled away from me, hopping on one foot then the other. “Oh, gods, that hurts!”
“Then let’s get it over with.” I approached her and she tentatively held her wing out.
“Do all three at once,” she said.
“You sure?”
A quick bob of her head and I had my hands on the three remaining feathers again before she could change her mind. I pulled them out, the pop of them releasing from her wing sounded like a foot being pulled out of a thick mud patch. A slurp. She screeched, her head thrown back.
I took a few steps to the side just in case she lost her mind with the pain. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d gone mental; that was a Harpy for you. Not that I could point fingers anymore. I barely held my shit together. She bobbed and hopped, slowing down as the minutes passed.
“You done?”
“You have no idea how much that hurts,” she grumped at me. I shrugged.
“You’re right I don’t. But it looks like our timeline just got pushed up. I don’t want to be away from home while a fucking war is being started in our air space. If you can fly, we need to go.” Damn, I sounded like a hard-ass bitch. But if war was coming, we really didn’t have time to baby ourselves.
Even if it meant I lived only on the outskirts of those I loved, keeping my family safe from a distance. I wouldn’t let them face any of this on their own.
Her eyes cleared. She nodded. “Agreed. Pain is just weakness leaving the body. Let’s go.”
I laughed as I leapt onto her back, of course, with no harness this time. Hopefully, there were no more wild maneuvers that would require me to be upside down in midair. “Eve, you are as badass as they come.”
“I know,” she crowed to me. She got us airborne, though it took more than her normal single hop and downward push with her wings. She bounced a half dozen times, getting momentum with each before we were up once more.
“That’s how the young ones start,” she explained, “When we are learning to fly.”
I kept my legs clamped tight around her. “Makes sense.”
She was quiet for a moment, then she looked back. “You saved my life. I couldn’t move, Rylee. The pain was so intense in the tips of my wing it numbed me. I have broken feathers before, they have never hurt me like this.”
I put a hand on her. “I’m glad I could save your life. Why was the pain so bad this time do you think?”
She shook her head. “It’s like everything in me is over sensitized.”
Oh shit.
I swallowed hard remembering my own reaction to being pregnant. The smells, the feelings, the way my skin had changed in sensitivity. “How . . . did you know you weren’t going to give birth exactly?”
“Oh. Well, the time passed. June is the only month for delivery.”
“You sure about that?” The harness had been tight, particularly in her belly straps.
“Yes, of course. I’m not carrying anything, Rylee.” She looked away, hurt in her eyes. As the last two Harpies, it was up to her and Marco to revitalize their species. No pressure at all.
I wasn’t so sure about there not being an egg in her belly, but I kept my mouth shut. No matter what happened, I would do my best to keep her safe as I always had. But even more so now with
the thought of a baby coming along for the ride; if I was right.
Suddenly I knew how Liam must have felt when he’d known I was pregnant and hadn’t been able to tell me. How he’d fretted and fought to keep me safe while I threw myself into danger. I smiled, thinking of him. Of me, then.
A few hours later we swept over the tops of the redwoods. I pointed to the outskirts of the Rim where we’d landed previously. The small clearing was as good a place as any. “There.”
She spiraled out of the sky, landing a little harder than normal with the missing feathers.
I slid from her back, did a quick check of my weapons and headed toward the Rim. “Eve, rest. I won’t be long.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come?”
I ignored the pleading in her voice. “I’m sure. I’ve no doubt we’ll have a good flight ahead of us. Rest. This is friendly territory. I’m not worried.”
She was obviously not happy, but stayed where she was, tucking her head under one wing. I picked up my speed, striding through the forest. The birds stopped singing as I passed by.
“Fuck you, too,” I grumbled right back at them. Being a predator, and viewed as such by even the birds bothered me. Probably always would.
The redwoods towered over me as I made my way, the branches waving in a slight breeze the only noise besides the sounds of my feet on the spongy ground. I stepped around a particularly large tree and found myself face to face with a Terraling. Or at least, I was assuming.
Standing a little shorter than me, he was dressed in a leather vest and dusky brown pants tied off just above his ankle. A helmet hid his face, leaving me to guess at his age. The guard swung a sword around slowly, his voice cracking as though he’d just stepped onto this side of puberty. “You are not welcome here, human.”
I took a step back and pulled my own sword. “I’m not human.”
“Even more reason for you to leave. Your kind is trouble.”
I barked a sharp laugh. “You aren’t telling me something I don’t already know, dumb ass. I came to speak with Lark. Larkspur,” I amended. Probably wasn’t a bad idea to use her full name.
He shifted his weight and glanced over his shoulder. Stupid move, if I’d been so inclined, it was the perfect opening to cut him down without a single cry from his lips. I tried not to think about the direction his blood would spurt.
With one hand, he pulled off his helmet revealing a shock of dark hair that was squished to his head on one side and sticking up on the other. Deep dark brown eyes with enough innocence in them that even without the puberty stricken voice I would have seen how young he was.
“I don’t think she’s left yet. If you hurry, you might catch her.”
“Suddenly you don’t mind me coming in?” I lifted an eyebrow.
He smiled. “If you’re looking for the Destroyer, you’re either a friend or a stupid enemy. Either way, I’m not worried.”
I put my sword back in its sheath. “Thanks.” I gave him a wide berth in case he changed his mind about a fight. That seemed to amuse him.
“I’m not trained well enough to take you, either.”
I didn’t slow, but called over my shoulder. “You shouldn’t admit things like that out loud.”
“Lark is going to train me.”
That did slow my feet. “She said that?”
He shrugged, a grin on his face. “She said she would start the Enders again. And I could be one of them.”
I shook my head and broke into a jog. “Be careful what you ask for.”
A few minutes, and several large trees later, I stepped out of the forest and into the Rim. The place was set in an oval clearing that stretched beyond what I could see end to end. At the center was the Spiral, a tree made of many trees that twisted around one another in what its named implied—a spiral that rose along with the redwoods. The Spiral was the seat of power and home of the royal family of which Lark was a part. I headed straight for it, ignoring the looks I got from Terralings I passed. Some of them would recognize me since they had been at the battle with Orion.
“Rylee?”
I spun as I was called by a voice I knew all too well. “Cactus. What are you doing here?”
“Ah, it’s my home.” The red headed elemental strode toward me. His nose was swollen as though it had been broken and his normally sparkling green eyes were dull with pain that I wasn’t so sure was all due to his nose.
“What happened? Why aren’t you with Lark?”
He slowed and closed his eyes. “It’s a bit of a story. I . . . don’t really want to get into it.”
I narrowed my eyes, suspicion rolling through me. “Is she okay?”
He grunted. “Yeah. She’s fine. She always comes out on top, you know. Thanks for asking how I am by the way.” He gestured at his nose as if I could have missed it.
Gods, Cactus could be such a whiner. But I could use his help. So I made the next words come out no matter how they wanted to stick in my throat. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’ve had better days. But yeah, I’m okay.”
Great, now the pleasantries were out of the way. “Lark isn’t here, but maybe you can help me.”
He shook his head. “I have to go. I’m headed out on a mission for her. I should have left already.”
I put a hand on his arm, stopping him. “Just a question, Cactus. I’m not asking you to physically help me.”
He sighed and beckoned for me to follow him. “Come on, then. We can at least sit, my face is throbbing.” Rubbing the back of his head, he walked away. I fell into step behind him, wondering if he and Lark had a falling out. Why did I get a feeling she was the reason his nose was broken? Call it a hunch, but I knew how I would have reacted to Cactus treating me the way he treated Lark. I’d seen how he’d pressured her, how he’d tried to get her to let him control her decisions.
A punch in the face would have been the least of the damage I did if he’d tried that shit with me.
“Here,” Cactus pointed to a small building set off to one side of a redwood. It looked as though it had actually been grown out of the tree, and for a moment, I thought that wasn’t possible. Who was I kidding? This was the world of elementals, they could swing pretty much anything when it came to trees and dirt and stuff like that.
Cactus stepped through the door and again I followed.
The interior wasn’t as dim as I’d thought it would be. Light streamed through the glassless windows on the three sides of the room making it downright cheery.
Cactus slumped into a chair. “I’ll give you five minutes and then I have to leave.”
I didn’t sit. There was no point in beating around a bush that was already on fire. “How does one of your Salamander bastards travel?”
He leaned back in his chair as his eyebrows climbed to his hairline. “Say again?”
“Don’t make me fucking well repeat myself, you heard me.” I put my hands on my hips. “You don’t have time and neither do I. How do you travel?”
Cactus squinted one eye and his lips twisted. “Delta, usually.”
“What?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” he parroted at me. My jaw twitched.
“You mean the airline then?”
He smiled and snorted. “That would be the one. Seattle usually is where they head out of and land. Elementals don’t have the same vibrational issues you supernaturals do.” He rolled his eyes and smirked at me. “In simple, small words. Technology isn’t bothered by us.”
Oh, he did not just pick a fight with me. Too bad for him, I was the queen of insults. “You know, Cactus. I can see why Lark left you to rot in Tian Shan for all those years. I wouldn’t have bothered with your sorry excuse for a set of balls either.”
His jaw dropped. I wiggled my fingers at him. “Toodles.”
I left him sitting, spluttering in a vain attempt to find a decent comeback.
Halfway back to Eve, Cactus caught up to me. I heard him coming and chose not to look bac
k, his heartbeat giving him away. “Wait, Rylee. Please wait. I’m sorry.”
I didn’t slow. “Fine. Go away.”
“No, look, I can help you. If you’re looking for a Salamander they’re going to have serious firepower. You’re a vampire now—”
“Daywalking vampire,” I corrected.
“Right, but still rather flammable, correct?”
Now that did slow me down. I put a hand to one of my swords. “You threatening me?”
“Mother goddess, no! I’m an idiot at times, but I’m not suicidal.” He walked beside me. “Lark has me tied in knots. I’m not myself.”
“I noticed,” I said. “But what was your point about being fucking flammable?”
Cactus ran a hand through his hair, catching on several tangles with a wince. “You’re going to Seattle, I presume, looking for a Salamander for some reason.”
“Yes.”
“I need to get to Seattle, too,” he said.
I put a hand on his shoulder and shoved him sideways and right into a dense patch of ferns. “You apologized to me so you can catch a ride? Piss off, asshole.”
“Hey,” he called from somewhere in the bushes, “you needed my help and now I need yours. A fair trade!”
I strode away from him, fuming. What the hell Lark ever saw in him I would never know. In a battle, he did good work seeing he could manipulate fire and earth. But he seemed to be less and less stable the longer he was out of Tian Shan, the sanctuary where I’d met him. Where he’d been my friend and truly one of the nicest people I’d known.
“Damn it,” I muttered as I made my way around a medium sized tree. Eve was sound asleep and the fact that she didn’t wake up as I approached told me all I needed to know. She had to rest; even if she didn’t realize it, I knew it in my gut.
If I could go on without her, I would. But the reality was I didn’t have that choice. Unless . . .
I backed up until I bumped into Cactus coming the other direction. He caught my shoulders in his hands and then peered around me. “Is she not with you?”
“She is,” I kept backing until we were out of earshot. “And I’m not sure I want her with me the rest of this trip.”
RYLEE (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 1) Page 6
