by Kaye Draper
The mage I faced was chanting something, probably about to blow my head off. But a hard kick to the head made him shut the fuck up. He stood, drawing a long, thin blade from his leg sheath as he straightened and rushed me. Dodging the blade, I shifted my hands, swiping him with my talons as he passed by. A long line of blood appeared on my forearm, but it was nothing compared to the gaping wounds that now covered his back. "You know," I said in an easy voice. "You could just run away. I'd let you. I've got other shit to do right now."
He didn't even consider my offer. His black eyes were maniacal. "As if we could disobey our contract, bitch."
I shrugged. Such loyalty was surprising out of a bunch of fucksticks like these guys. "Whatever."
I kept my gaze averted from the altar, where a pale, lifeless form was just visible out of my peripheral vision. I couldn't afford to lose focus now. I had shit to attend to first.
I rushed the mage, taking him down in a tackle and rolling across the hard, jagged floor of the cave, slashing and tearing whatever I could get a hold of, slamming his head into a stalactite, not letting him have time to cast any spells. He did something with his hands that left blistered fingerprints on my face, but I ignored the pain and kept punching until he stopped twitching.
Standing, I wiped blood from my eyes and glanced around, searching out the rest of my pride. Con was holding a mage at gunpoint. I remembered Granite's warning about guns and magic just as the hilt of the gun glowed and Con hissed where his hand was blistering. I was about to shout to my human to drop the gun when he grinned.
I watched in terror as Con clutched the gun harder, wound up, and threw it. The mage's eyes went wide when he realized the human was on to his little trick. But it was too late. The spell was already cast. The enchanted gun had been turned into a grenade. It hit the mage in the belly as it exploded.
I turned my head away. That was not pretty.
Con joined Kai, who was fighting off another mage with her blade. The human didn't even hesitate as he approached the unsuspecting mage from behind. The mage asshole probably thought that explosion was the human going up in smoke, not his comrade.
"Con don't!" I called. But it was too late. My sweet, fragile human leapt onto the mage's back and grabbed his head, giving it a hard, sharp twist.
I gaped as Con and the mage tumbled over, and Kai helped the human to his feet. Oh, for fuck's sake. They'd ruined my sweet, innocent human. He shot me a feral look. "Go get Oisin!"
I darted past Halstad, who was just fucking playing with his opponent. Then I veered around Hisashi, who had gone all silver-eyed and freaky. His opponent was hanging in the air as if someone was holding him up by the throat choking the life out of him. Only no one was there.
Note to self. Do not piss off your pride. Seriously. They'll murder your big 'ol gryphon ass.
I darted around the fox and felt his eerie silver eyes on me, felt him drop his dead mage and follow me to the altar as if he was tethered to me.
"Oh...." The air left my lungs in a rush and the room seemed to go dead silent and dark, my focus narrowed only to this. "Oh Gods, Oisin, sweetheart."
I hit my knees by the slab, afraid to touch him. My beautiful fae. I knew his father was planning to steal his magic but not...this. Oisin was always slender, but now every bone stood out in stark relief, like a holocaust victim. He was naked, pinned to the table with iron spikes through his hands. Runes had been burned into the skin of his chest, arms, and thighs, and they were still red. Even though the mage-bind was severed now, his poor body was so depleted it struggled to heal the damage.
I reached out a hand to stroke his head. They'd shaved him, sheared off his long, glorious red hair and left behind a choppy, uneven stubble, the scalp scabbed in places where whatever tool they'd used had nicked the skin. His long, pointed ears stuck out, making him look alien and vulnerable in his nakedness.
He breathed in shallow little gasps, like a fish on land taking its last desperate breaths.
I felt Hisashi behind me, the cool tendrils of his power reaching around me, coiling, searching for his mate's aura. Swallowing, I stood on shaky legs. Oisin was still alive. For now. I was going to keep it that way, damn it.
I stroked his cheek, not sure if I should wake him for this or not. Better, maybe, to let him think he was still at the hands of his tormentors for this final pain.
I wrapped my hands around the metal spike in his left hand, getting the best grip I could. Then I called on my gryphon strength and pulled. Oisin didn't make a sound as I pulled the iron out of the stone slab—and his flesh—but his breathing got more erratic, hitching, stopping and starting again in a way that made me listen hard and pray for the next breath to come.
I threw the fucking spike away and moved to the other hand to repeat the process. This time he whimpered, and a dry sob escaped him, even though he didn't really seem to be awake.
My heart was lying in jagged pieces in my chest. I moved to Oisin's head and bent to press my forehead to his. "It's me, you little terror. I'm here. I'm sorry I'm late. We're getting you out of here now. Right now."
I didn't want to move him, didn't want to cause him any more pain. But I needed my fae in my arms. I eased an arm under his shoulder as gently as I could, Hisashi helping to sit him up enough for me to find something to cover him with.
I was surprised when a blue-veined hand came into my line of sight, holding out Halstad's long duster.
I took the coat and the mage strode away without a word.
After we got Oisin's frail body covered, Hisashi held the fae up long enough so I could scoop him up in a bridal carry. My snarky little fae never weighed much. I could tote him around with ease on a good day. But now he felt like a bird, all feathers and hallow bones. He was limp for a moment, then his head flopped onto my chest and one damaged hand twitched, trying to grasp my shirt. His whole body shuddered in pain and fear.
I was going to fucking gut Cadoc and eat his intestines.
The others gathered around us. Hisashi bent and pressed a soft kiss to Oisin's forehead. "It's over now, love," he whispered. "We'll make it right. I promise."
Kai touched Oisin's shaved head, the only part of him that didn't look tender and bruised. She murmured something in another language, and I felt her sea-breeze aura brush his, trying to give him some of her innate magic. Con stood by, tears pooling in his soft brown eyes and spilling down his cheeks unnoticed. "We need to go home," he whispered. "White's been training me for this. I can help."
"Fuck!" Halstad's gruff, gravelly voice echoed through the cave. He was the only one not hovering over Oisin. The mage was standing at the entrance to the cave, power crackling over his body again.
Then I heard what he'd heard. Howling.
And it was close, followed by the thundering of hooves. The wild hunt. Led by Oisin's deranged father.
We all moved toward the exit, spilling out into the moonlit night and rushing away from the cave, the literal hounds of hell at our heels.
Chapter 13
I clutched Oisin close to me and tried not to jostle him too much as I ran. He was still unconscious, and I knew that even if he had been awake there was no fucking way he could walk, let alone run, the distance back to the jet.
The others flowed around me, dodging ancient rocks and trees. The entire place hummed with magic and the weird fae portholes into another reality were more frequent here. I shifted my limp burden up higher and leapt over a fallen log that had been an open space filled with blue grass just a moment before.
Hisashi swore under his breath and herded us around the worst of the obstacles. All the while, the hounds were howling, an ungodly sound that started as a low rumble and wound up to spine-tingling highs like a cross between an air-raid siren and a banshee. I had no idea how many of them there were. But they sounded a hell of a lot bigger than what I had envisioned, their heavy feet thundering like horses.
We rushed out of the monoliths and into the edge of the woods opposite of where we'
d come in, in a desperate attempt to veer around the oncoming danger. We made it, but just as the black hounds came spilling out like dark, roiling smoke. They caught our scent immediately and pivoted, burning red eyes locking onto prey. One carried an arm in his mouth, probably from one of the fae they had originally been hunting. The beast was almost as tall as a horse, and it spit the appendage out with enough force that it bounced off a nearby rock before the beast turned its burning eyes on me.
The creature snarled, baring teeth that were longer than my hands, stuffed shark-like into its maw. I backed away, Hisashi tugging me and the others closer as he and Halstad spun magic in the air. A shimmering sheet of power rose between us and the hounds. The fae riders hadn't reached us yet, but it wouldn't be long. I could hear the thundering of massive hooves coming closer as the hounds paced, slow and threatening, just outside the barrier.
"We have to move. We have to get back to the jet before dear old pops shows up," I muttered under my breath, trying not to spur the massive fucking dogs into action.
Halstad edged in front of me and my passenger. "Some of them will get through," he said softly. "But we can take out most of them with a good blast. Get ready for teeth."
I backed away further, not wanting to put Oisin down, but also not able to defend him or myself with him in my arms. Hisashi slipped between me and Halstad, shoving me farther back. Kai dragged me away with her, toward the woods. Con kept his gun trained on the dogs as he backed away with us. It felt wrong, running away from the danger, rather than toward it like I usually did.
"Go boy," Halstad said sharply.
Hisashi, pulled the energy from the shield back into himself, then sent it out in a shockwave that rocked the hounds, probably deafening them with the force. It was followed closely by a wave of blue fire that shot out of Halstad's outstretched hands.
I don't know how many hounds there had been—they seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once, literally oozing in and out of the shadows and moonlight. But there were a lot less of them after that little stunt.
Who knew hellhounds could burn? And I thought the howling was bad when they were just hunting....
I turned and ran into the woods, the others hot on my heels. I knew a few dogs had survived the guys' magic, but it was the best chance we had. The trees beside me crashed and shuddered as a heavy body hit them, big paws snapping branches and the glint of flame-red eyes flashing in and out of my peripheral vision. I sucked in air and ran harder, my quads aching, my lungs burning, Oisin clutched to my chest for dear life. Gunshots cracked through the air as Con fired wildly at the thing. I think he hit it, but it didn't even slow down.
We were halfway there. I could see the dark sheen of the river through the thin trees. "Can these fucking things swim?" I panted.
Kai shoved me, keeping me moving—and managing to keep my arm attached when the dog lunged and snapped at me through the trees. "They might," she called. "But so can I!"
Oh, my Gods. Water. I had to get Kai into the fucking water. I was so dumb sometimes. I pushed my legs to keep pumping as I felt waves of magic behind me, Hisashi and Halstad blasting at things I couldn't see.
I almost made it to the water. So close.
One minute, I was gaining on the fucking dog, nearly crying with relief as my feet hit the reeds at the edge of the water. The next I was falling, pain searing through my leg as something that felt like a fucking beartrap clamped down on my lower leg and I was jerked off my feet.
I tried to shelter Oisin, who was still unconscious. I tucked myself into a ball around him, shielding him as we fell, and taking the brunt of the impact on my shoulder and back. The hound shook its head, nearly ripping my fucking leg off in the process, and began to drag me back into the woods.
Halstead and Hisashi were running toward us, but they were going to be way too slow. Halstad was limping badly and Hisashi was flickering in and out of reality. I should let go of Oisin. Maybe if the hound dragged me off, it would be busy chewing on my ass, and they could get Oisin to safety.
My heart pounded. I tried to find purchase with my good leg and halt our motion. But I couldn't do it. Not with my arms full of fae. I squeezed Oisin close to me long enough to breathe in his scent of grass and growing things, pressing a hard kiss to his head. "You fucking make it home," I ordered.
Then I let him go.
Oisin's frail frame toppled into the reeds, limp and vulnerable. The dog yanked on my leg again, sending a new wave of pain stabbing upward when my crushed bones grated together. The tall reeds closed in over my head, blocking the others from me as I was dragged backward.
I drew in a deep breath, going limp for a moment as I tried to call up all the strength I had left.
My clothes ripped as I shifted. The stupid dog found itself pulling on the leg of an eight-foot long lion with a giant eagle's head and front talons. The progress toward the deeper woods and the monoliths stopped. Asshole wouldn't be bringing this mouse home to drop at daddy's feet anytime soon. I pushed myself up onto three legs, dragging the shattered rear leg behind me as I spread my wings and shook myself out.
A shriek filled the night when I let loose with an eagle war-cry.
The dog shook himself and crouched low, ready to spring at his new prey. Fuckers were tenacious, I'd give 'em that.
The moment hung suspended in the air, everything still, but for a soft splash of some creature moving in the river behind us.
Then the hound lunged. The world spun in a blur of blue-black night and flashes of white moonlight. I snapped and clawed, fighting for all I was worth.
I would love to say it was because I knew I'd win. But really, I just wanted to buy the others some time to get free. Me and the massive hell beast were pretty evenly matched. And I was exhausted and wounded. I wasn't going to walk away from this one victorious.
But the gryphon in me would never lay down and die without a fight.
I was so lost in the haze of fear and pain, the taste of blood in my mouth and the tearing of my own flesh in the maw of the beast, that I didn't notice when things changed.
Suddenly, I looked down and realized we were suspended in the air. I knew I was about to go down the tunnel with the white light...but this floating in the air thing seemed a little bit weird, even so.
It took my poor addled brain a while to realize there was a slick, muscular tentacle wrapped around my middle, and another around the hound, prying us apart.
I went limp as the kraken pulled me away from the hound, then watched in a detached sort of way as the tentacle wound up and then whipped forward, throwing the poor dog like it was a football. Its howl faded as I lost sight of the black blur flying through the sky. I chuffed in my eagle version of a laugh. If that thing fell on a fae, they were going to be so damned confused.
I glanced down at the river below, which was now overflowing with an oversized sea monster. Kai's mutated-octopus kraken form was way too big for a river. Most of her body spilled out onto the banks, and her head towered above the trees. Big, vertical-slit pupils studied me, a filmy membrane flicking over them as she blinked. Roiling coils of purple tentacles with pink suckers boiled onto the shore, undulating with fury.
The thick tentacle slowly reeled me in, setting me down on the opposite bank beside the rest of my pride. I plopped down on my ass and shifted back to human as I watched Kai shrink back down to normal size and shift to human herself before crawling out of the water. She strode over to me, every bit as naked and muddy as I was, and held out a hand to pull me up. "Come on," she said urgently. "I had a clear view from up there. The riders are still coming."
I heaved a tired sigh and pushed to my feet. Hisashi carried Oisin tucked in close to his chest. The fae was still out cold and I took a moment to run a muddy hand over his face before turning to head to the hanger and our ticket home.
"Son of a bitch!"
I turned to watch Halstad fall to his knees, bent in half, moaning. He clutched his head, pushing the palms of his hands into hi
s eye sockets, which were dripping blood that looked black in the moonlight.
Chapter 14
I ran to Halstad, wondering what the fuck else could go wrong right now. I put a hand on the mage's broad shoulder and crouched down beside him. "Halstad? Shit Halstad, what is it?"
A smooth, silky laugh tinkled through the air like a low-pitched windchime and moonlight sparkled on silver hair as a tall fae came out of the shadows, riding a massive black horse with honest to the Gods fucking fangs.
"Oh dear," Oisin's father said sweetly. "Your poor mage seems to have gotten something...in his eyes."
He slid off his horse and stood regal and erect, surveying me and my pride with disgust. "What an absolute waste of power," he commented, lifting a hand and compelling Halstad to stay on his knees when he tried to rise. "And to think, you had to stoop to using a mongrel like this to do your magic work." He tsked and kicked Halstad in the stomach as he walked by. "A vulture, full of used parts of the dead. And you think I'm the villain."
I growled. "I don't think. I know, asshole." My talons flexed, wanting to feel fae blood gushing over my hands.
He gave me a patient look, as if he were talking to a mentally impaired child. "This has all been quite amusing, but I do have to get going now. Ritual sacrifice to finish and all. I'm not getting any younger, you know." He grinned at his own humor. "Oh, wait…I am."
He moved toward Hisashi, and Oisin and I rushed him. No fucking way was he getting to either of them. The silver-haired fae lifted a hand and I slammed into what felt like a wall of solid glass. I bounced off and landed on my ass in the mud, blood pouring from my broken nose.
"Hand over my son, little fox," the old fae purred. "I grow tired of these games."
Con fired at the fae. The bullet curved around him and struck a nearby tree. Cadoc flicked a hand in Con's direction and the human fell to his knees clutching his throat as if he couldn't breathe. Kai frantically fell to her knees beside him, her hands fluttering over the helpless man.
