Wounded: Book 8 (A Rylee Adamson Novel)

by Shannon Mayer

  “Yes, I do.”

  “What if I’m not strong enough to hold out?”

  Shit, I wasn’t the only one facing fears and staring down the inevitable. Some days it was far too easy to forget that.

  “Pamela.” I slid an arm over her shoulders and tucked her tight against me. “You will hold out. Because you don’t give in, and you don’t give up. Giselle warned you so you would be prepared, not scared.”

  Of that, I had no doubt. I didn’t worry about Pamela switching sides. If it had been Milly I’d been talking to, that would be a totally different conversation. But not Pamela.

  “How can you know for sure?”

  I turned her to face me, looking straight into her eyes. “Because I know you, and I know your heart. You faced down a dragon to protect me; you’ve faced down enemies that would make grown men weep with fear, all for protecting those you love. You can’t corrupt that, it’s too pure.”

  A tear slipped down her face. “I don’t ever want to lose my family, you all mean too much to me.”

  That I understood all too well. When you loved people, you had something to lose. I hugged her tight and she clung to me as soft sobs rippled through her. “It will turn out in the end, Pam, it always does. Maybe not how we envisioned, but it always turns out. And if it isn’t okay, if something is still not good, then it isn’t the end.”

  She sniffled and pulled away from me. “Okay.”

  “You feel better now?”

  A smile briefly touched her lips. “Yes, I do.”

  “Then go get some sleep. It’ll be dawn soon.”

  She handed me back my jacket and I slid it on, my own fears and worries buried for the moment under hers.

  But with her gone, they came back full force.

  Love made people strong, but it also gave their enemies leverage. That was what I was afraid of more than anything else. I knew I needed to hang onto the love in order to face the demons; I had to put away my anger and fear. But it was so fucking hard.

  Orion knew my weakness; hell, he had already exploited it. He would tear those I loved from me, torture and kill them. My own pain, my own death I could deal with. But not those I loved.

  Taking my own advice to Pamela, I headed back inside. Being exhausted wouldn’t help me face down Orion.

  Liam was awake when I got back to the room, and he gave me a tired smile. “Have a good walk?”

  I shrugged and he crooked a finger at me. With his help (not that I needed it), I slid out of my clothes.

  The tang of my tight muscles under the insistence of his strong fingers kept my mind from dwelling on anything too serious. Or so I thought, until the words poured out of me.

  “Orion saved my life, killed the entire coven to keep me safe. Because he wants something I have.”

  Liam’s fingers faltered, then started up again. “He won’t take you. I won’t let him.”

  I smiled to myself at his confidence, but the smile slipped as I spoke. “I know. But what the hell could I have that he wants enough to keep me alive? I’m the only threat to him not succeeding with his stupid-ass plan to take the world for his own. It doesn’t make sense.”

  It hit me like a ton of troll turds. Zane. Of course, Orion knew I had the boy, had him in hiding.

  Liam turned me around to face him. “We need to sleep now. If nothing else, you need to rest. For a few hours at least.”

  I stared at him, saw the fear in his eyes and knew he thought he knew what Orion wanted.

  “You’ll tell me what you’re thinking, won’t you?”

  He kissed me softly. “Soon. Not yet, but soon.”

  Curled under the blankets, I put my head on his chest, the sound of his steady heartbeat lulling me to sleep.

  Leaving Rylee curled up and sleeping soundly, he made his way to the library. Opening the door, he knew who he’d find there, could smell them clearly. Erik and Doran were leaning over….

  “Shit, is that the Book of the Lost?”

  Erik nodded, but didn’t lift his head. “Yes.”

  Walking toward them, he lifted his hand and pointed at the book. “Does it tell us how to shut the doorway in the castle?”

  Doran dropped into the chair closest to him. “Unfortunately, it does. You know the blood of a guardian can close a tear in the veil?”

  He nodded, feeling his life tie into what Doran was about to say. The vampire flicked his hand at the book. “The guardian’s life, freely given, and taken by one who loves him, will seal all the doorways through the veil for a given time. Too bad Coyote doesn’t have any loved ones here.”

  There it was, Liam felt the truth drop through him. This was what he’d been waiting for. Doran was right, Coyote had no one who could take his blood.

  But Liam did.

  “How long?”

  Doran snorted. “We aren’t doing this. It isn’t a viable option.”

  “Rylee would never let it happen.” Erik closed the book. “Never.”

  Gritting his teeth, he took a slow breath before asking again. “How. Long.”

  Doran grabbed his arm. “You don’t get it; she will never let it happen. We have to find another way.”

  Liam wasn’t upset, even though Doran’s fingers dug into his bicep. “There isn’t another way, though, is there?”

  Neither of the two men would look at him. He pried Doran’s hands from his arms. “Anything to keep them both safe. Do you understand? I would do anything to keep them both safe.”

  Doran’s eyes widened and he fell backwards. “You’re shitting me.”

  Erik let out a low groan. “That’s why Orion wants her alive. Fucking hell!” He threw the book across the room, and Liam smelled the grief on the older man, the pain of again losing someone he loved.

  Liam blew out a breath, knowing this was it. This was his end, and he was okay with it. “I have a plan. She can’t know, but I think we can take out the packs and close the doorway at the same time. Will you help me?”

  Erik’s shoulders slumped, at the same time that Doran dropped his chin to his chest. They would help; he knew they would. “We just need one more person, though I don’t want to include her, she’s the only one.”

  “Sweet baby Zeus, Liam. She’s too young.”

  Liam knew Erik was right. But what other choice did they have? There was only one person who could get him through the fire of the castle to the doorway, only one person he knew loved him as family other than Rylee.

  Pamela.

  Chapter 19

  EVERY TIME I thought I’d get a good night’s sleep, something happened. Though, at least in this case, I wasn’t waking to someone screaming. Actually, I wasn’t really awake at all, at least, I didn’t think I was.

  Giselle stood in the corner of the room, her figure clothed in armor, weapons peeking out from her back. She was young, younger than when I’d first met her, and her eyes were clear and bright. Fierce.

  “Rylee, this is the last time I will be able to visit you. The war grows stronger on this side of the veil, even though we are doing our best to stem the flow of evil spirits coming through, with the new plague, it won’t be long before the demons can enter this world on their own.” She sounded tired, as tired as I felt.

  “This is goodbye then? No more advice, no more midnight visits?” I was going for sassy, but the words were whispered and sounded like a little girl begging her mother to stay just a few more minutes.

  “Goodbye is relative. One day you will be here, fighting beside me, keeping the world safe, just in a different way. It is the way with all of us who would stand between the world and the demons.”

  I remembered what she had said before, that those who fought the darkness on this side of the veil continued to do so after they died.

  “Any last words of advice?”

  She smiled, but her lips trembled. “Not advice so much as information. Milly is not dead, though it may have looked that way. We were wrong about her; the darkness I felt was Orion clutching her close.” She
shook her head and a tear slipped from her eye. “When it comes time, do it quickly, she deserves that much.”

  I stared at her, my mind refusing to understand what she was saying at first. And then when it hit me, I balked.

  “No,” I whispered. “You can’t ask that of me, it’s bad enough I have to kill my own sister, I can’t … not Milly too.”

  Giselle shook her head. “Be strong, my girl, for it won’t be me who asks it of you, but Milly. Let your heart lead, always your heart. Love will not fail you, not even in this; your hardest hours are yet to come, but love will save you. It will save all of us. You must believe that, even when you think you cannot go on another step. Even when you think your heart is dead.”

  I blinked and she was gone. The dream, or vision, or whatever the hell it was, faded.

  Of course, I lay their wide fucking awake, my brain unable to shut off now that it had started down the course Giselle had introduced. My hardest hours yet to come? Hells bells, I wasn’t surprised, but really? Didn’t life owe me a break or two? One night of sleep was all I really wanted. I thought about Milly and Berget, neither sister’s by blood. Both bound to me and both putting me in the position where I would have to face them. Liam had told me that Berget had stayed behind, that she wasn’t coming. That I’d effectively lost her once more. I reached for the spot where Liam had lain, the heat from his body still in the sheets. Call me needy, but I wanted to be with him, to lean on his strength.

  I Tracked him. He was in the house and as I Tracked the rest of my family I felt Pamela, Alex, and Doran with him. It seemed early, but that wasn’t unusual for him.

  Knowing sleep was not going to show, I slipped out of bed.

  Quickly dressing, I made my way first to Jack’s small armory. There were only a few blades left and I grabbed two of them, grimacing as I slid them into their sheaths. They were fine, except they weren’t mine and they weren’t spelled. Not quite balanced the way I liked, they were both a little on the short side for my taste. But they would do.

  I made my way through the house, avoiding the library and heading to where I felt Erik’s threads. He was outside, near the training grounds we’d set up when we’d been staying here.

  Erik sat on the edge of the circular area we used, but he seemed lost in his own thoughts. Fine by me. Taking my two swords out, I settled my feet into a practice stance and started to weave my way through the various movements of swordplay. The minutes ticked by and my mind slowly quieted as I focused on my breathing, the weight of the swords, and the placement of my feet. This was where I would find the plan to take care of the demon packs. In the silence of the morning as my blades cut through the air.

  Behind me came the soft scuff of a foot and I spun to face Erik. He held out his hand. “Give me one.”

  I tossed a sword through the air and he caught the handle with ease. It had been a long damn time since I’d actually sparred with someone who knew how to handle a sword. Not counting creepy-ass dude who guarded the violet book of prophecy in Orion’s castle.

  He circled around me and then—shit he was fast—he was on me, the sword thrusts and blows coming hard and steady, forcing me back a few steps before I caught myself. Grinning, I pushed back, diving under a hard slash and coming up on his side. I kicked him just above the hip, driving the wind from him and nearly putting him into the fountain.

  “Too slow, old man.” I beckoned him with my free hand, wiggling my fingers. Laughing, he lunged forward, a wild grin on his face and in him I saw a reflection of myself.

  Swords sliding off one another, we worked our way around the fountain for fifteen minutes until he finally backed off. “Enough, enough. You win.” He crouched, using the sword as a prop to lean against.

  “You fight pretty good.” I slid my sword back into its sheath and he handed me the second one. I spun it in my hand, thinking. “I’m going to Track the three packs; I think I can draw them to us.” I lifted my eyes to his, but his head was down, chin on his chest.

  “Not worth the risk. It isn’t.”

  “And if we can’t find them before they’ve done so much damage we can’t rein them in?” Anger leached through my words, though I tried to keep it under control. “We have a chance to beat them at their own game. One chance. I can’t believe you would fucking well think this isn’t worth it!”

  Erik finally looked up and I thought he was going to yell at me. But he didn’t, he was calm and cool. “If they destroy you in the process? What then? What do we do when the one person who can save us is dead because the demon packs have fried your brain like an egg on the sidewalk?”

  Shit. The image stuck in my head, a drooling mess of a person by my own stupidity and rashness. Not a pretty picture.

  “I don’t know. I can’t sit here and wait for a report to come in that they are demolishing our world. The fact they’ve been so quiet scares me.” I pushed the tip of the sword into the soft, wet ground, the fight blown out of me with his calmness.

  He laughed softly. “They aren’t being quiet. They are spreading this new strain of smallpox. But you are right; we do need to stop them. You will do whatever you want, with or without my permission. Which of course, you weren’t looking for, right?” He arched an eyebrow at me and I flushed.

  “No, I was just looking for your opinion.”

  “Now you have it. You do what you want. Then again, Liam has quite the plan laid out.”

  This was not how I was used to dealing with a mentor. Jack, I’d been able to curse and swear at; Giselle had always been calm and soothing.

  Erik was somewhere between the two, both calming me and giving me reasons to be fired up.

  We stood as the sun rose higher, the distant promise of spring in the feeble heat the rays gave off.

  “Liam has a plan already?” I frowned. Why hadn’t he told me about it? Then again, we’d been busy with other things.

  “He just told me. Thinks if we can lure the demon packs to the castle, we can ambush them, use Pamela to pull the castle down on them and trap them there.”

  It actually wasn’t a bad idea. Not like we could really use the castle anymore with all the doorways broken to pieces and no way to repair them. “What about the doorway, the one to the deep veil?”

  Erik shrugged and looked out over the grounds, his eyes distant. “He seems to think a little of his blood should do the trick. Close the door.”

  It sounded too easy. “And how are we going to draw the demons in?”

  He grimaced. “I’m going to summon them.”

  “What the fuck?” I couldn’t help stepping back, even though he held up his hands.

  “Every Slayer can do it, but once I do, there is no turning back. It’ll be good for you to see though. Just another tool in your belt as a Slayer, something you need to learn.”

  They were keeping me out of the line of fire. My jaw twitched, but he wasn’t looking at me. “When is he planning this?”

  “Tomorrow night, if the summoning works as it should. Blaz should be here by then, and the vampires can help if Pamela can get the fire put out.”

  There was something in his voice I couldn’t pin down, and I didn’t like it. “Erik, is this really what’s happening?”

  His eyes shot to mine, eyebrows climbing. “What are you asking?”

  “What’s really happening?”

  “Liam has a plan to shut the gate and stop the demon packs. It will work, but you aren’t central to it. Is that what bothers you?”

  Like a slap in the face, his words smacked me. “No, I don’t need to be at the center of things. Fuck. I’m just getting a weird vibe is all.”

  I stomped away from him, jamming my second blade back into its sheath, not knowing what else to do.

  The reality was, there was nothing I could do. If Liam thought he had this under control, who was I to question his plan? I could be as difficult as anyone out there, but I wasn’t into causing drama if it wasn’t warranted. If Liam had a plan, I could trust him.

&n
bsp; I found my way to the library. Everyone had left except Liam and Doran, who had their heads together over the violet book of prophecies.

  “You two plotting against me?”

  Their heads snapped up in unison, telling me they were really not paying attention to the world around them if I could sneak up on them both without even trying.

  Doran laughed and shook his head. “Hardly. But this book here, it is fascinating. There is a great deal in here about you facing Orion and beating his ass into the ground.”

  “There is?” This was what we needed, some good news, finally. I moved up beside them and Liam slipped his arm around my waist as I bent over the book. Doran pointed out a section that I read softly to myself.

  “When the blood of the lost shall break on the altar of sacrifice, bound to that which she fears the most, then shall the world be free of the darkness that seeks to devour it. When her eyes shall open, then shall she see.”

  I lifted my eyes to Doran’s. “Not exactly what I’d call helpful.”

  He shrugged. “Thing is there are clues here. Lots of them. Altar of sacrifice, you’re going to have to give up something, which isn’t really a surprise. We know blood is involved, and now we know you have to be bound to your biggest fears.”

  With a snort I poked at the book. “It still doesn’t say how all that is going to happen. Or even where! It’s like trying to understand a different language. Is it all like that?”

  Liam’s hand tightened on my waist. “Yes. We’ve been pouring over it, all of us. Just in case it goes missing again.”

  While it made sense they would all have a look at it, there was a part of me that knew ultimately I had to understand what was asked of me. If I couldn’t figure it out, there was no way I’d be able to stop Orion. I picked up the book and went to Jack’s chair, sliding down into worn and well-broken-in cushions. Neither of the two men said anything, they just watched me, the weight of their eyes on me a palpable thing.

  Ignoring them, I flipped the book open from the beginning and began to skim through, looking for key words. Unlike the black skinned book of demon prophecies, I didn’t feel dirty reading the violet skinned book. The words were all like the first, a mess of sentences that, while I could read them, made very little sense. Worse than all the other books of prophecy. At least those could be deciphered for the most part.