A moment passed before he responded. “Okay.”
He didn’t sound okay. He actually sounded worse.
She could pick him up and carry him, but what if she got attacked? She couldn’t risk dropping him.
Something creaked, followed by a small whistling noise. Pain erupted in Donna’s thigh. She sucked in a breath as she glanced down to see a freakin’ knife protruding from her leg. She looked up. The guard by the fire was glaring at her, but even as she watched him, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he listed to one side.
A second later, he collapsed all the way.
She glared right back. “You’d better be dead, or I will come over there and make sure of it.”
She braced herself to support Rico so she could free one hand to yank the blade out. Pain radiated from the spot, a deep, throbbing ache that made her think the blade had been laced with something. The fae did seem to like their poisons. Blood oozed from the wound, a sure sign it wasn’t healing with the kind of speed she’d grown accustomed to.
Good thing Dr. Fox was waiting for her.
She hauled Rico closer to the bridge, each step sending a jolt of pain through her. She eased him to the floor and propped him against the wall so she could check if the coast was clear.
It wasn’t. Four guards near the end of the bridge were trying to keep a growling, ferocious pack of wolves from entering the stronghold.
She was so done with this. So. Freakin’. Done. Impulse took over. She yanked one of her bracelets off and tucked it into Rico’s hand. “Iron,” she told him. He didn’t need more explanation than that. He knew what iron did to the fae.
He made a small movement that might have been a nod. His time was running out. She needed to get him help fast.
Blood covered her thigh, soaking her leggings. The pain blazed up and down her leg. She was going to need help soon herself. But first, she had to see this through. All rational thought disappeared, and she let instinct and anger take over. What she was about to do wasn’t going to help her injury, but that could wait longer than Rico could. She squared her shoulders toward the bridge and charged.
She went low, catching the first guard around the hips and whipping him up and over the railing like a rag doll. New fire erupted in her leg.
To the fading sounds of his screams, she grabbed another guard and sent him flying as well. The advantage of surprise was gone. A sword hissed past her head, almost taking off her ear, but a wolf jumped on the guard’s back and sank its teeth in the fae’s shoulder. Will and Daisy were close by, battling a trio of fae, but holding their own.
Behind her, the remaining guard started screaming. Donna looked over to see him being dragged off by more wolves. A few other wolves still stood on the bridge. Breathing hard, she faced them. “Rico needs help. This way.”
She led the small group toward their alpha’s grandson. She crouched beside him, causing fresh blood to spill from her wound. “Rico, your pack is here.”
Two of them shifted to human forms, turning into big, stocky men before her eyes. The oldest one, whose silver muzzle had turned into a gray beard, nodded at her. “We’ll take it from here, Governor.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you. Would you like us to carry you out as well?”
“No, I’m fine. Get him to safety.”
“Yes, ma’am. Be careful with that leg.”
“I will.” She leaned against the wall to catch her breath.
Both men worked together to pick Rico up in a seated position and carried him out, a flank of wolves keeping the way ahead clear.
She watched them go, taking a moment to recover from the exertion of clearing the bridge. But a moment was all she could afford. Outside, the battle still raged. She tore down one of the wall hangings, cut a strip from it with a borrowed blade, and used the piece to tie a makeshift bandage around her still-bleeding wound. A metallic taste coated her mouth. That dagger had definitely been tainted with something.
She prayed she stayed upright until this was over. She started to leave, then realized the biggest tapestry that hung behind the royal dais depicted a scene in which a vampire was splayed out on a banquet table.
Much like what she’d seen in her dream, except Rico had been the one on the table. In a fit of rage, she grabbed a lantern off the nearest table and threw it into the tapestry.
It exploded in a shower of glass and fuel, setting the fabric ablaze. Good. That should keep any remaining guards busy.
She went back out to find her team. Thankfully, the bridge was still clear. If she was going to collapse, she didn’t want to do it in the midst of the fae stronghold. Especially not while it was on fire.
The fighting seemed to be dying down. The injured were everywhere, but she thankfully saw very few bodies. Losing some of the murderous fae was one thing, but to lose those who’d come to help with Rico’s rescue was another. There also seemed to be scattered groups of fae with their arms crossed over their heads. Had they surrendered? If so, Ishalan had been right.
“Governor! Help me!”
She turned toward the voice. It belonged to Daisy. Donna started toward her, realizing a few steps in that the woman was kneeling beside her father. There was so much blood Donna couldn’t tell where it was coming from. A sick feeling filled her. “What happened?”
“He took a sword to the gut and another to his shoulder.” Daisy sobbed once, then inhaled hard. “He’s dying.”
“He’s a reaper. How can he—”
“He’s also half human. And all the fae blades are poisoned. You have to help him.”
Donna shook her head. “I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do. Turn him. It’s the only way to save him.”
Donna just stared at her. She’d never turned anyone. She had no idea how to do that. “I don’t know how.”
“The same way it was done to you. Please, you have to try.”
Her turning hadn’t been exactly textbook. She’d been bitten. And just as she’d felt like she was going to die, Claudette had showed up and revived her with blood from her wrist. Donna supposed she could do that much.
She leaned down. “Will, I’m going to turn you. Don’t fight it.”
The flickering of his eyelids was his only response.
With time running out, she lifted Will’s wrist to her mouth and bit down. The flow was weak and sludgy with the murkiness of impending death. She drank sparingly. An image flashed in her head. Will, much younger, with a beautiful young woman in a white dress. The image vanished a second later, and she knew there was nothing left to take from him.
She bit her own wrist and held it to his mouth, praying there was no residual fae magic in her blood that might harm him. “Come on, Will. Drink.”
Daisy held on to his arm. “Drink, Daddy, please.”
Still no response. Donna’s wrist had begun to heal over. She punctured her own flesh again, this time making a fist to squeeze blood out.
Nothing again. Then Will coughed. A second later, he latched on. Barely, but it was better than nothing.
Donna leaned in. “That’s it.” A few seconds later, she started to feel woozy. She didn’t know how much blood he needed, but with what she’d already lost, she’d pass out if he took much more.
She reclaimed her wrist and looked at Daisy. “That’s all I can do. Get him somewhere safe. Somewhere he can rest. He’s going to need to sleep for a while.” If she’d been successful. If not…she didn’t want to think about that.
“I will. Thank you. We owe you.”
“You owe me nothing.” She got to her feet with real effort and took a good look around.
She spotted Temo and Kace a few yards from the bridge. They were looking up. So was most of the crowd around them, fae and supernatural alike. She tipped her head back to see what was drawing everyone’s attention as she joined them.
About twenty feet up, Ishalan and Dredward had taken their fight to the sky. The two were engaged in a full-on battle, wings o
ut, blades drawn, and it was something to behold. Even the witches, who were still patrolling the atmosphere, were keeping their distance from the battle. Neo’s drone hovered about the same space away.
It was interesting, but Donna had other things to worry about. She nudged Temo. “Where’s Artemis?”
“Not sure. She chased after a fae who tried to bite her. They both disappeared into the northside of the woods.” He nudged her back, handing her the jacket she’d discarded earlier. “Better put this back on.”
“Thanks.” Donna tugged her jacket on as she glanced toward the northside in time to see a bloodied Artemis emerge from the trees, gold sword in hand. The blood covering her was purple, so Donna had a pretty good idea of how things had gone.
The queen was clad all in white leather. Perhaps thinking it would be good camouflage in the snow? Donna wasn’t sure about that, but the getup was fierce.
Very much the Vampire Queen Goes to War.
But Artemis didn’t look so much victorious as she did…feral. Her eyes glowed, and her fangs were on full display, but more than that, she had the look of a woman who’d been let loose. Had she really wanted to come after the fae that badly?
Artemis strode toward them, sheathing her sword as she did. It wasn’t her only weapon. She was covered with them—a sash of small knives across her chest, throwing stars tucked here and there, a dagger strapped to each thigh, the sword at her hip and something else secured to her back.
Artemis turned to look up at the battle overhead, slowing her walk as she moved backward. “That’s Dredward.”
“Yes,” Donna answered. “He’s fighting with Ishalan, his—”
“Brother,” Artemis finished. A curse slipped from her lips. At least it sounded like a curse. Donna didn’t recognize the language. “This is the chance I’ve been waiting for.”
She took a few steps away from them and reached for the weapon on her back. As she pulled it free and snapped it open, Donna realized it was a crossbow. Kind of like Cammie’s, but not.
It had a handle like a shotgun. And the sash across Artemis’s chest held short arrows, not knives like Donna had at first thought.
Without taking her eyes from the sky, Artemis loaded an arrow into the bow.
Donna kept shifting her view from the battling fae to the vampire queen. Donna had a pretty good idea of what Artemis was about to do, and she didn’t like it one bit.
A sudden feeling of trepidation went through Donna. She went after Artemis, knowing what she was about to say would probably not be well received, but she had to try. She had to do her best to keep a war from starting.
Artemis raised the bow.
“Your Highness, if I could have a word—”
“Not now, Governor.”
“Please, Ishalan might be fae, but he helped us. I don’t think—”
A soft snick and the arrow released. It shot straight and true, but the fae above were moving targets.
The arrow found a home in one of Dredward’s outstretched, leathery wings. It sailed cleanly through, leaving a gaping hole in the iridescent skin.
Dredward cried out and shoved Ishalan away with such power that he hit the side of the stronghold. The resounding crack of bone sounded like a gunshot. He fell to the earth, his body crumpled and broken.
Despite the hole in his wing, Dredward seemed to have no issues staying aloft. He spread his arms. “Artemis.”
She was already loading another arrow into her bow.
Dredward dove with a speed that made him blur. Her second arrow missed. Before anyone could react, he scooped Artemis up and took her skyward.
Donna grabbed Temo’s arm. “I have to get up there. Get me up there!”
Kace turned to her. “I can take you.” In an instant, he shifted, and his gargoyle form appeared before her, an enormous stone beast with wings. “Climb on.”
His voice had changed, deeper and raspier. She had questions, but now was not the time to ask how a creature seemingly made of stone could fly.
She vaulted onto his back. He felt like stone too.
“Hang on.”
She dug her fingers into the scaly ridges down his spine. “I’m good. Go.”
He didn’t take off so much as launch, nearly knocking her backward. Quick reflexes saved her. By the time she righted herself, they were ten feet in the air.
A few arrows zipped past them. Fae archers? One hit Kace but bounced off. She knew his skin was nearly impenetrable but wondered briefly if he’d end up with a bruise.
Kace flew directly after Dredward with a speed that had them catching up in just a few seconds. Donna couldn’t fathom the physics behind Kace even being airborne; forget how he managed such speed. It was obviously magic. Magic she was very appreciative of.
She glanced down, then wished she hadn’t. The fall would probably kill her. At least in the sense that it would end her need to breathe. She’d officially be undead then. She hung on a little tighter as the wind whipped past.
The witches on their brooms, more magic Donna still marveled over, moved in to flank them—Jerabeth and Reggie on one side, Harper on the other.
Maybe one of them would catch her if she fell. She leaned down, wrapping her arms around Kace’s thick neck and putting herself in position to speak directly into his ear. Or where his ear should be. “Can you get under them?”
“Yes. Good plan.”
She figured he’d understand. She glanced over at the witches, giving them each the thumbs-up.
Kace surged forward, and in a few seconds more they were beneath Dredward and Artemis. Dredward had one arm around her body, pinning her hands to her sides, and the other around her neck, a knife at her throat. She was struggling against him all the same, her glowing eyes defiant.
If the queen had a plan, Donna couldn’t figure out what it was, but there was no time for worrying about that. Donna’s plan would work. It had to work. In one smooth motion, Donna sat back and unsheathed her sword. “Now, Kace.”
He rose, bringing them within inches of Dredward and his prisoner.
Donna raised her sword, very aware they were going higher and higher. “Release her safely to me, Dredward.”
The fae glared down at her. “No vampire tells me what to do.”
“Now, Dredward.”
He laughed, a sick cackle that filled Donna with fear.
But the distraction had allowed Artemis to wriggle free enough to grab her gold sword. She yanked it from its scabbard as best she could, but without being able to move much, that meant she sliced through her leather breastplate as she did.
A glint of light off the blade caught Dredward’s gaze. Surprised, he seemed to freeze as Artemis swung the sword toward his arm. He scowled, bared his teeth, and sank them into her throat. As he did that, he pulled his arm back.
With a blur of movement, he took his teeth from her neck and plunged the knife into the queen’s heart.
Artemis stiffened, eyes wide in understanding. She held the sword toward Donna and opened her hand, letting it fall free.
Then she dissolved into ash.
Chapter Twenty
Somehow, Donna caught the gold sword. The hilt was still warm from the queen’s touch.
Mouth dripping with Artemis’s blood, Dredward tipped his head back and laughed, teeth bared, eyes wild. “Where’s your queen now, vampire?”
Small flakes of gray drifted through the air, swirling and eddying on the currents.
White-hot, blinding rage pushed Donna to her feet on Kace’s back. The pain in her leg disappeared. There was no thinking. Just action. Dredward had to pay. She leaped into the air, gold sword raised, and brought it down with every ounce of strength she could muster. The blade sliced Dredward in half from ribs to hip.
His eyes went wide and round.
And then he, too, went to ash.
A moment passed where time stood still. Then it started up again. Donna kept her grip on the sword as she felt herself falling toward the earth, pain spreading
in her leg.
Artemis was dead.
Maybe she would be too.
A rock-hard clawed hand snagged her wrist and stopped her fall. Kace. He descended until her feet touched the ground. Her knees buckled, but she clutched the sword with every bit of strength that remained. Cammie and Temo caught her.
“Boss, you okay?”
Her gaze stayed fixed on the last spot Artemis had occupied. Flakes of ash continued to fall. The queen’s? Or Dredward’s? There was no way to tell. Donna moved her head slightly back and forth. “I don’t know.”
In the moment, she didn’t care. She closed her eyes. The pain in her leg had taken over the lower half of her body and was creeping up her torso like a fungus. Her chest was starting to hurt. Even breathing was difficult. “Is…Rico okay?”
“We think so.” Cammie took Donna’s free hand. “Sis, you don’t look so good.”
“Ishalan…needs…help.” The ash seemed to be clouding her vision. “Get him…safe.”
“You need help.”
“Yeah.” Maybe she did. “Don’t…feel…so good.”
“Temo.” Cammie’s voice held a desperate urgency. “We need to get her out of here. Now.”
And then the pain became too much, and darkness swept her into its welcoming arms.
Donna woke to a gloomy gray light a few shades above total blackness. The shapes around her were familiar. In another moment, she recognized her bedroom. Soft beeping meant she was hooked up to a monitor again.
She’d slept, but for how long? And how much of what she remembered was real and how much of it had just been a dream?
Her leg throbbed, and the rest of her body felt like death. Was she dead? Maybe. Who cared? Things had gone so wrong. She reached for her crucifix and found an IV in her hand. She took hold of the crucifix and prayed that Rico had survived.
That all of her team had survived. Someone had, obviously, because they’d brought her back here.
Tears leaked from her eyes and slid into her hair. She let them fall. The queen was dead. Artemis. Gone. And it was all Donna’s fault. How many centuries had Artemis endured? Only to be turned to ash because of a course of events that Donna had set in motion.
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