RYLEE (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 1)

by Shannon Mayer

  “Hey, psst.”

  This from the still living Salamander in the dungeon.

  I ignored him as I searched the place top to bottom. Nigel checked low, I checked high. Five minutes bled into ten, into twenty, a full hour went by. I stopped in the middle, rows of cells up and down either side of me. “Fucking hell, how can there be nothing?”

  Nigel grunted. “Perhaps we should ask him?” He tipped his head at the cell and the Salamander who stared out at me.

  I stepped up to his cell and peered in at him. “You want out?”

  “Yes, the queen has lost her mind.” He grabbed the bars. “Name is Torn.” He held a hand out, I didn’t offer him mine.

  “Why did you get tossed in here?”

  “I told you, she’s nuts.” His hands wrapped around the bars so hard his knuckles turned white.

  “Not good enough. Even a crazy person does things for a reason.” I didn’t actually know that for sure, but in my experience it was true. The reason might not make sense to anyone else, but there was still always a reason.

  Torn leaned against the bars and smiled at me slowly, and I suppose for some other woman, toe curling. “Come on, beautiful, you know you want to let me out.”

  I burst out laughing. “Does that line ever actually work?”

  He shrugged and winked. “Maybe. I’ll tell you if you let me out.” He winked again and blew me a kiss.

  “He’s not going to be any help finding the kids,” Nigel said.

  “Kids?” I glanced at him.

  Nigel grimaced and looked away. “I meant to say kid.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Spill it.”

  Torn knocked on the bars. “I saw a kid here. They took her through . . . well, I’ll tell you if you let me out.”

  I hadn’t taken my eyes from Nigel. I dropped into a crouch so I was closer to his level. “You going to tell me who you’re looking for?”

  He opened his mouth several times as if deciding how much to say. “My charge is a half breed. Water and fire. And she was taken because half breeds are rarely missed.”

  Torn tapped his bars again. “Hello, I can help you.”

  Again, I ignored him. My estimation of Nigel rose a few notches. “You let them capture you?”

  He nodded. “I needed them to bring me here, to find her. Sparrow.”

  Sparrow. Another child to save. “Then let’s do this.” I held my hand out to him and he frowned at me.

  “You’d help me find Sparrow?”

  “I find missing children, Nigel. It’s who I am.” The words had no sooner left my mouth that I finally understood.

  It didn’t matter what I was. Didn’t matter if I was a Tracker, a vampire, or any other kind of supernatural. I was a finder of missing children. That was who I was. What I was. I could do this no matter what stood in front of me. This was part of what I’d not been understanding. Now, if I could find the rest of the balance of being a vampire, maybe I could make this life of mine work.

  I smiled at him, and he put his paw in mine. “Partners.”

  He barked a laugh that sounded so like Alex my heart twisted and I grimaced. I stood, and rubbed a hand over my face. “So you said you saw where the kids were taken?”

  The door to the dungeon creaked and I spun, my hand going to the whip at my side. I uncoiled it and swirled it in a circle to loosen the kinks. I pressed against the cell as if I could merge into the shadows. A thick burst of steam shot up, blocking my vision but I could smell him coming. Another Salamander. Shit, fuck, damn it. This was not good.

  Nigel crouched at my feet and I held a hand to him, keeping him still. Maybe whoever it was wouldn’t notice—

  “Torn, the queen wants everyone in the living quarters, including you.”

  So much for that idea. The figure cut through the burst of steam and I snapped the whip forward, wrapping it around his neck. He didn’t even get a strangled word out. I yanked him to me, pulled the whip from his neck and replaced it with my fangs without hesitation.

  I drew his blood into me gulp after gulp until his heart slowed. Someone tugged on my leg, drawing me back.

  “He’s dying.”

  With a startled jerk, I let go of the Salamander and let him drop to the floor. He had a grin on his face. At least the feel-good pheromones or saliva or whatever did that shit was working. I backed up and the world around me shimmered. The cells were still there but everything was outlined differently. On the floor was a glittering gemstone I hadn’t noticed before. I bent and brushed a hand over it.

  “Let me out, please!” Torn cried. “I don’t want to die in here.”

  I stared at the pattern of gemstones in the floor. They almost looked like a path. “Nigel, can you see these?”

  “See what?”

  Damn, whatever the blood was doing for me was helping me out. But for how long?

  I stood, reached through the bars and grabbed Torn, pulling him close. “I’m going to let you out, but you’re coming with us. Understood?”

  “As long as I’m out of here, I’ll go wherever you want.”

  I let him go and wrapped my hands around the bars.

  “You aren’t strong enough to—”

  I jerked pushing the limits of my new strength and the door ripped off at the hinges with a screech. Torn backed a few steps, yellow eyes wide. “Holy shit.”

  I pointed a finger at him. “Betray me, and I’ll grab your legs and do the same.”

  He swallowed hard. “Got it. The floor, you’re right about it. Follow the stones.”

  “What stones?” Nigel wove around my feet like a cat trying to get my attention. I pointed to the floor.

  “The stones you can’t see, but I can.”

  Torn took a step and I moved so I was behind him. “Lead the way.”

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather?”

  “No,” Nigel and I said together.

  At least we were in agreement on that.

  Torn took a step, and then another. The stones led right to the cell of the dying man. The elemental stopped. “Now what?”

  I wrinkled my nose, not wanting to breathe deeply of the stench but knowing that if the entrance was within that cell, I would have to do just that.

  “You sure?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Flux here has been in the dungeon a long time. Offended the queen years ago. I think she forgot about him, hell, I’m surprised he’s lasted this long.”

  I put both hands on the bars and pulled. Like the previous door, this one came off with ease. I threw it to the side as a voice rumbled from the cell.

  “Intruders. Intruders. Prepare to die.”

  Well shit, that had all sorts of bad going on for it.

  CHAPTER 11

  THE FIRE ELEMENTAL I’d pulled from the dungeon stumbled back, well clear of the dark cell opening we faced. Torn shook his head violently, his eyes wide and full of fear. “I can’t connect with my fire here. The dungeons block me from my element.”

  Of course, they did. Shit, I couldn’t blame him, though. The voice that had echoed from the cell wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy.

  I pulled both swords from my back and settled into a fighting crouch. I expected the guardian of the gate or whatever the fuck it was to immediately launch at us. Nothing came. I looked at my feet. I still stood in the hall. A sigh slid out of me. “Nigel, I’m guessing—”

  “Yeah, you’re going to have to go in. I’ll be behind you.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I muttered. How bad could it be? The cell was barely ten by ten, so the monster wasn’t that big. Right?

  I slid one foot over the line that separated cell and the hall of the dungeon. The cell was unnaturally dark, as though light couldn’t cut through it. A tentacle shot toward me, the suckers vibrant red and pulsing with lava. That couldn’t be right, there was no way what I was seeing was real.

  I slashed at the appendage, cutting it off. From within the bowels of the cell, something shrieked, loud and piercing. Like a fucking a
larm system gone wild. Jaw clenched tightly, I leapt into the darkness, swords out. Another tentacle swept at me in midair and I cut it as I landed. Suddenly my ability to see in the dark was a boon.

  The chunk of flesh that landed next to me flopped and wriggled, lava spilling out of it, cooling as it spread.

  “Your left!” Nigel called out and I swung hard with both swords, crisscrossing them in the air to catch another tentacle as it curled around me. The creature shrieked again and the snap of teeth drew my attention. The darkness pulled back, giving me a better view of what I dealt with, though my brain struggled to put a name to it.

  “Lava monster!” Torn yelled from somewhere outside the cell.

  “You think knowing its name is going to help me?” I yelled back.

  The darkness cleared further and I got my first good look at the monster. Its face was nothing but a hole buried into flesh surrounded by rows of teeth that disappeared into its maw. A beak snapped shut, razor sharp as the edges slid over one another, the teeth gone and then back in flashes like still shots from a camera.

  I scrambled back. “How do I kill it?”

  “You don’t, it kills you,” Torn yelled.

  I slid to the right, doing my best to keep all the tentacles and the gaping mouth that snapped and clicked, within my vision. “Nigel? Any ideas?”

  “Aim for the soft spots?”

  “Was that a question or a suggestion?” I slid on something soft and squishy and a tentacle caught me from the left. Low to the ground it slipped past my guard and snagged my ankle. A grunt escaped me as I was snapped into the air and dangled from the top of the ceiling. The open jaws of the lava monster grunted several times in a row.

  “You fucker, you laughing at me?” I sat up and swung one sword at the tentacle. I cut through the flesh and fell to the ground. Hitting hard, I rolled to the side and away from the lava flowing from the chunk. I pushed away until my back was against one wall. I stared down at my leg. The jeans where I’d been grabbed were gone but my skin was not burned.

  “You drank from a Salamander. Its blood is protecting you, for now, won’t last,” Nigel said. “But don’t stare, you still have to deal with the big boy.”

  I pushed off the floor. Three tentacles came at me the second I took a step toward the creature. I hacked two off and the third wrapped around one of my wrists. I let it lift me into the air, my hand beginning to heat. Shit, bad time for the blood to fade in my system.

  I had to end this fast or I was going to end up with my ass cooked. Heat increased, pain lanced through me.

  “Cut it!” Nigel hollered.

  I gritted my teeth and made myself hold still, to not fight even while the tentacles oozing lava slid down my jacket sleeve, eating the leather and baring my skin to the growing heat. I needed to get close to the soft spots, and this was one way.

  The lava monster suddenly flipped me into the air, letting me go at the highest point. I hovered for a split second before I fell. Right toward the beast’s open mouth.

  I thrust both swords down ahead of me as I drew my legs in making myself as small as possible. The swords bit in first, cutting through the back of the monster’s throat, making an even larger opening I slid into. I took a gulp of air and was plunged into the literal belly of the beast; swallowed in one single gulp. A few of the teeth at the back of the throat caught my arms and legs, nicking me like razor blades.

  Eyes closed, I slashed blindly at the thing, hacking and cutting my way through. My lungs burned. But I didn’t technically need to breathe. So holding my breath was no problem. I forced myself to calm, to feel the steady pulse of my heart even though I took no air in. Centering myself the way my mentor, Giselle, had taught me, I refocused my attack on the beast.

  Thrust after thrust, I drove my blades into it, aiming for the steady thump of its heart. It screamed and shrieked with each wound I inflicted, writhing and throwing me off balance more than once. I cut through the flesh; it didn’t take long to find the heart. I pierced it. Felt the shudder of the beast as it died.

  A rumble in the body shook me from my feet to the top of my head. I could see nothing even when I dared open my eyes. From outside the body, I could hear a frantic bark and then Nigel’s voice, muffled but still clear enough.

  “Rylee, get out of there, it’ll explode.”

  Exploding monsters? Why the fuck not. Fear drove me. Not because of the exploding blood and guts, that didn’t bother me much. What I was sure would come with the explosion though was a concern. Lava monsters, when they died, likely didn’t do so without their namesake. Whatever protection I’d had from the Salamander blood was probably gone. Time to get out of Dodge.

  I drove my swords at the same time into the creature’s side, felt the lack of resistance as I cut down and opened up a huge gash to escape. I pushed myself through. Hands pulled at me, helping me out. Torn yanked me forward, helping me get clear of the beast at Nigel’s urging. I drew in a breath of air, grateful I could. Even if I didn’t need it.

  Torn dragged me out of the cell. The ground shook and the ceiling dropped chunks of stone around us. The ground bucked like an unruly dragon determined to throw us from its back. The hard packed earth rippled in a wave and I yelped as I was tossed against the far wall. Nigel hit beside me. I curled up, protecting my head as the air was filled with wrenching and tearing.

  Fuck, I was going to die inside the mountain and there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do about it. Nigel curled up next to me and I wrapped an arm over him. At least we wouldn’t die alone. That had to be worth something.

  The stone wall behind me bulged, pushing us away with the force of a violent shove. I yelped and rolled, doing my best to keep Nigel tucked tightly against me. I couldn’t help but try and protect him.

  I lay on the stone, with my ears ringing. Blinking, I stared through the shadows, the torches from the wall still burned but no longer in their holders. One lay only a foot away from me, spluttering.

  “That’s some fucked up explosion.” I sat and stared through the falling dust.

  Nigel’s eyes were wide. “That wasn’t the lava beast. That was a Terraling with power I’ve not seen in three thousand years.”

  I grinned. “Got to be Lark, then. She must be meeting Cactus here.” I pushed to my feet. “And if she’s here, we need to move. She didn’t get the nickname Destroyer for nothing.”

  Nigel yipped and tucked his tail between his legs. I strode into the cell. The monster had turned into liquid, bubbling and popping as it cooled. “We don’t have time to wait.”

  “No, we don’t.” Nigel looked behind us at Torn who surprisingly hadn’t left after he’d pulled me out of the monster. “He can cross it, though, even if he can’t manipulate his abilities right now.”

  Torn gave a shallow bob of his head. “Yeah, maybe I can get the door open for you.” He gestured at the far wall, behind the monster’s goop. The door was simple, barely etched into the stone and looked as though even a stick man would have to go sideways to slide through. Awesome. Good thing I wasn’t claustrophobic.

  Torn walked through the still hot puddle of monster, his shoulder’s hunched. “I’m not going with you in here.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Just open the fucking door.”

  He pressed his hand to it and the door slid upward, like the main entrance into the Pit. Yeah, the slit in the wall was narrow, maybe eighteen inches across at the most.

  I motioned at Nigel. “Come here.”

  He jumped into my arms. “We have to hurry. The mountain is failing.”

  “What do you mean failing and how can you know that?” I stared hard at him.

  “I’m a Terraling familiar, tied to the earth. And trust me on this, I feel it dying.”

  Oh, for fuck’s sake. I tightened my hold on him and ran toward the door. At the edge of the boiling monster puddle, I leapt into the air, clearing it easily. The doorway though was not free of the stuff. I landed in a puddle and my boots sizzled. I thrust Nigel ahead
of me into the crevice. “Go, go!”

  Torn grabbed my arm and helped to shove me in the narrow space. I was in, off the boiling mess and I turned my head to thank Torn as he dropped the door back down. His voice echoed through. “Sorry, but intruders are not tolerated. Enjoy your life, what’s left of it, in the Pit.”

  Pinned between the two walls I fought the panic that gripped me. “Ah fuck, that I didn’t see coming.”

  “Cat shit,” Nigel muttered, “I didn’t either.”

  The darkness wasn’t complete and I took some small comfort in that. “Let’s go. If Lark really is here, I wouldn’t be surprised if the mountain really does come down.”

  “She truly is that strong?” he asked.

  We navigated the narrow space, pausing here and there to shimmy so my weapons would slide through.

  “As far as I know,” I grunted, then paused. The light had changed drastically. “Stop. I think we’re close.”

  “I can’t see a blooming thing,” he said.

  “I can.” More points for vampire eyes. I squinted, and then urged him forward. The light wasn’t that far ahead now. We reached a dead end only twenty feet later.

  “This can’t be right,” Nigel said. I reached over and ran my hands on the smooth, warm and glowing (at least to me) stone. It shuddered and I thought about the Salamander I’d taken blood from. There was no way I could manipulate the fire he had. But did I have enough of his blood in me to fool the mechanism?

  I closed my eyes and pressed both hands to the door, thinking about the fire. The lava, flames and heat. The searing burn of the monster’s tentacles, the . . .

  “Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop! The door is opening!” Nigel bounced at my feet.

  I thought about the heat of the bonfires on the farm Milly and I had, of the fire roaring from Blaz’s mouth, of the fire Alex and I had cooked our “fucking” rabbits over. The memories tied to my heart brought tears to my eyes for those we’d lost.

  The door slid upward and I stepped through without looking which was bad.

  I wobbled on the edge of a precipice that switch backed down the interior of the mountain. A hundred foot drop at least. Nigel peered over the edge and the mountain groaned around us like a dying beast. The pathway was little over a foot wide. Barely enough to slide sideways with my back to the wall.