by Mila Young
“Do yer want me to stay? Take yer back?” the old man asks with a frown.
“Maybe they just went back inland for some local food?” I try to inject some hope into my voice, for Cain’s sake, but he doesn’t seem to be buying it. Rubbing his jaw, he continues to walk around the tents, examining the equipment and whatever else was left behind.
“All righty. I’ll give y’all an hour before I come back for ya,” the guide calls.
“That won’t be necessary,” Cain replies sharply. “We won’t need it.”
I suspect he’s planning on flying us out of here in his demon form, but since the old man couldn’t possibly know that, he hesitates.
“There’s no other way back—”
“Thank you for your services,” Cain cuts him off. Even though his words are pleasant, his delivery is harsh and aggressive. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wad of money as big as my fist. He throws it to the man, who catches it against his chest. When he sees how much money he’s been given, he gasps.
“Oh, I can’t take this—” he starts, but again Cain stops him.
“Of course you can,” he says. Then his voice drops to that guttural rumble that comes whenever his demon is close, and his eyes darken a shade. “Now go.”
The guide has a bit of a harder time finding the gear shifts, but when he does, he slowly backs the airboat—and our only sure way out of this hot, soupy, god-forbidden place—out of the channel. Within seconds, it disappears into the fog, and the sound of the motor dissipates into the local wildlife’s noisy and chaotic song.
Besides the creatures who live in this place, I can’t help but feel like we’re completely on our own.
Chapter Sixteen
Aria
I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.
What if the camp had flooded and all the team members drowned? Or some wild animal ate them all? Like an alligator or… a creature from the black lagoon type deal?
Okay, that may be a stretch, but the setting certainly fits.
Cain is as cool as a cucumber as he continues to search the place. Well, as cool as Cain can be. He’s still highly aggravated the men we were supposed to meet aren’t here and has resorted to fiddling with his cell phone in hopes of finding some reception. By the deep scowl on his face, I’d say he isn’t having much luck.
“How did they contact you?” I ask as he begins to pace, gaze still focused on his screen.
He doesn’t even look up. “Freeman called me,” he says distantly.
I’m assuming Freeman is the man who was supposed to be leading all this.
“And he said he was here?” I go on.
“Obviously.”
Damn. Touchy much?
I cross my arms and glance around the abandoned campsite again. Looking it over this time, I notice the tents appear new. If they’ve been sleeping in the marsh for days and days, you’d think there would be some wear to them, right? Instead, creases are still visible in the fabric, as if they’d just been taken out of the packages and thrown up for show.
Am I just being paranoid now?
Another anxious shiver snakes down my back. Something isn’t right here.
Rubbing my lips together, I swallow past the tightness of my throat. “Wait, how did Freeman call you if there’s no service here?”
Things just aren’t adding up.
Crunch. When I look over to Cain, the cell phone in his fist is now a mashed mess of plastic and shattered glass. His palm glows red, and the sharp scent of fire rises. Then he throws the smoldering remains of the phone deep into the swamp, farther than I can see. A distant splash sounds when it hits the water.
Panic begins to crawl along my skin. I really don’t want to be here a second longer. “Can we go now?” I rub the back of my arms. “This place is giving me the creeps. More than the hospital, believe it or not.”
Cain’s head whips my way, his eyes still black from anger. “You’re sure you can’t feel the spine.” It’s supposed to be a question, but it comes out too short and aggressive to be.
“I already told you I can’t,” I bite back. “What, do you think I’m lying or something?”
“There is no way for me to know whether or not you are.”
What. The. Actual. Fuck.
Fury bubbles up inside me. I glare at him. “I’m here, aren’t I? I let you drag me all the way to west bumblefuck and get eaten alive by mosquitoes, and for what? My health?”
He stares at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable, his jaw tight. For some reason, it only annoys me more.
“I know you don’t want to hear it, but there’s no relic here. Nothing. Nada. Zip. You’ve flown us across the country for nothing.”
Cain’s mouth opens to say something, but something whistles by my ear, brushing so close, I feel a breath of air against my cheek. Cain flinches back, his brows pinch, and it takes me a second too long to realize the handle of a dagger is sticking out just below his shoulder.
My stomach plummets, my brain struggling to catch up with the sudden danger we’re in. Cain grips the dagger and rips it out with a grunt. He chucks it into the ground, his rage immediate. Black blood oozes through his wound and soaks into his shirt.
I whip around to find five men rappelling down ropes from the treetops, dressed in camouflage and faces smeared with green and black paint.
Heart racing, I spin back to Cain, whose eyes are wild with fear. But not for himself. For me.
Behind him, three more men appear on the water in kayaks. It doesn’t take long before they beach them, jump out, and start creeping up on Cain’s turned back.
Terror seizes me. We’ve been tricked. “Cain!”
Just as the men reach him, his wings burst from his back, tearing through his clothes, the change to his demon form instantaneous. His wings knock two of the strangers into the water, while the other is speared through the chest by one of the taloned claws at the very tip of his wings.
I cringe on the inside at how much it must have hurt.
Rough hands grab me from behind, yanking my arms behind my back hard enough to make me cry out. My first instinct is to thrash and kick, but when the cool and sharp edge of a blade presses into my neck, I freeze.
Pain pinches as the knife cuts into me, and I tilt my head back as far as I can and hold my breath. Heart beating frantically, a shiver races down my spine.
Cain’s entire body vibrates on the spot, his anger and fear coupled with the power of the change rushing through him all at once. He wants to murder every one of these men, and he probably could in a blink of an eye, but there’s one thing holding him back.
Me, in danger.
He doesn’t want to risk my life. And right now, that means everything to me.
“Let. Her. Go.” He punctuates each word with an unnatural and terrifying growl.
The man at my side responds by pressing the blade harder into my neck. The pain slices through me, making me whimper.
“A ssstep clossser and I’ll disspatch her,” the man beside me practically hisses. From the awkward angle of my head, it’s hard to get a good look at him, but when his gaze flicks back to me, I catch a look at his eyes. They’re the brightest shade of green, with black slits for pupils.
A snake shifter. Shit!
I’ve met plenty of supernaturals at Purgatory, not to mention there was one snake shifter in a past foster home. It’s hard to forget those eyes and the strong hiss-like accent. Oh, and the venomous bite. The most important one to remember.
The man gripping my arms wrenches them back further, and I curse.
Cain is about to take a step towards us but stops himself. “What do you want?” he demands instead, standing tall, looking like a force to be reckoned with. “If it’s me, here I am. Let the girl go. She has nothing to do with this.”
“Oh, but ssshe doesss,” the man with the knife says. “She’sss the one we’re here for.”
Cain’s eyes widen. He was obviously not expecti
ng them to say that. And neither was I.
Me? What could they possibly want with me?
My pulse races wildly. My heart’s beating so fast, I’m shocked I haven’t keeled over on the spot from a heart attack yet.
“Although, I will sssay. Having you here isss alsso a plusss.” He lifts the blade away from me only to gesture to the others to close in on Cain. They move slowly but gracefully toward him, like snake shifters do. I can see the conflict warring in Cain’s gaze. He wants to kill all these fuckers, but the two men holding me hostage make him hesitate.
I want to tell him not to worry about me. Fight, dammit! It’s the only way we can possibly both get out of here alive. It would be easy for him to take them down, too, I’m sure. With the amount of power he possesses, the hellfire, and the wings, he could cut through these mediocre supes in a flash. But when the three shifters surround him, he only folds in his wings, pulls his shoulders back, and lets two pin his arms behind him while the other stands by with another long knife. With shaky hands, he points Cain’s way.
We’re doomed.
My gaze flicks back and forth, searching for something to save us. Anything. A desperate idea strikes, and I suck in deep breath, knowing that what I’m about to do is absolutely bonkers and is going to hurt like hell.
No other choice.
I stomp on the shifter’s foot with the heel of my sneaker. I hear the crack, but I throw my head forward and then back, hearing the resounding pop of his now broken nose. My vision blurs for a second, and pain spikes behind my eyes, but it did the trick. He releases me and stumbles back, clutching his face and cursing madly.
“Aria!” Cain shouts. There’s genuine fear in his voice—something I never thought I’d hear from the prince of Hell himself. He throws out his arm, flinging one of the men across the ground. The man collides with a tree with a hard thud and doesn’t move again.
The snake shifter beside me swings his knife at me, but I drop to my knees and he misses the top of my head by less than an inch. I frantically crawl through the mud for my life, determined to reach Cain. That’s when I feel the biting sting of the fresh cut across my neck from the bastard swinging his blade. Not life-threateningly deep, but I can feel blood sliding down my throat and chest. I clench my jaw through the sting and keep going.
Another crash and a blur of green as another snake shifter is tossed like a sack of dirty laundry. When I look up, I see Cain, wings spread wide, black lines slithering down his face. In his hand is the throat of the third man. He holds him feet above the ground, and the man kicks wildly as he tries to get free. Cain’s fist glows red as the hellfire ignites. The man screams.
But like before, Cain jerks back, suddenly hit by something. Another knife. This one through the center of his chest.
No!
My heart constricts with dread. He’s a demon, and he just had a dagger thrown at him before, but somehow I know that it’s bad this time. I see the agony painted on his face.
Stumbling a step, he lets go of the shifter, who drops to the ground and scrambles away. The veins recede, his eyes flickering from black to blue again, and he blinks rapidly as if stunned. Looking down, he grasps the handle, but his legs give out and he falls onto his knees.
Oh my god! No!
I scream. Louder than I’ve ever screamed before. While on all fours in the mud, terror and fury shake through my entire body. Tears sting my eyes.
He can’t die! He can’t! He can’t!
“You’re coming with me,” the shifter with the blade-throwing skills barks behind me. I hear him stomping closer, but I don’t move. Pain, anger, and sorrow are whipping through me like a torrent, cementing me to the ground. My breathing slows. Everything around me becomes sluggish, and all I can hear is the booming of my heart.
I clench my fists, squishing mud between my fingers, and notice the familiar reddish-orange sparks of power radiating from my hands. Just like in the warehouse when Sayah broke free.
On cue, the shadow underneath me ripples. I gasp, feeling the terrible tugging and suffocating feeling like the last time she manifested, but before I can say anything, Sayah pushes from me and elongates along the ground, covering Cain in her darkness before stretching up to the sky.
The strange sparking light crawls along our tether as she grows and grows, touching the forest canopy. Slowly, she begins to gain density and become less transparent, and I feel the change immediately. My lungs squeeze and nausea rolls through me. I’m trembling under my skin, and when Sayah’s two ruby-red eyes blink down at me like a nightmare come to life, I become locked in place by sheer terror.
“Sayah, come back!” I yell desperately in my head, too weak to form the words out loud. I can’t move, and black spots dance before my eyes. She’s draining my life away again. Even forming a coherent thought is becoming too difficult. “Sayah… you’re... killing me.”
But she continues to ignore my pleas and crawls along the canopy, blotting out the sunlight and cloaking us all in darkness.
Cain stares, mouth agape, while any remaining snake shifters stand paralyzed with fear.
There’s a loud sucking noise, as if Sayah is drawing in a gulp of air, and then there’s an explosion of sound.
“RUNNNNNNNN!” she bellows in a deep, monstrous voice. Wind rushes through the swamp, like a gust at hurricane speed, and the ground quakes.
I sway on the spot, fighting against unconsciousness. Time seems to crawl, and all I can focus on is continuing to breathe and stay awake. My body feels so heavy that I'm forced to lock my elbows to stay upright.
Gentle hands are on me suddenly, scooping me up and pressing me against something hard and warm. Cain’s cologne fills my senses, and my body sags against him with relief. I don’t know how he’s alive right now when he just took a dagger through the heart, but he’s holding me tight, and I relish in the knowledge that he’s okay. At least for now.
“Stay with me, Aria,” he whispers into my hair.
Exhaustion weighs me down. I can barely keep my eyes open anymore, but I fight to stay awake.
What about the shifters? Are they gone? And Sayah…
Through my hazy vision, I can see the giant shadow creature begin to shrink, descending down the tree trunks and slithering across the muddy ground. The less solid she becomes, the easier it is for me to breathe. The strangling feeling eases, and my eyes struggle to refocus again. Sayah’s red eyes blink one last time before disappearing, and she slinks back inside me, my shadow returning to normal under me and the red sparks dissipating.
It takes a moment, but my senses eventually return. There’s a dull ache in my temples and behind my ribs, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to stop the tremors rocketing through me.
Time passes, although I don't know how much. We sit like that, with Cain’s arms wrapped around me as the after-effects of Sayah’s power leave me. With my head tucked under his chin, he strokes the hair over my shoulder, every gesture full of a softness I didn’t think he was capable of. My gaze is glued on the dark blood stains on his shirt, and I remember how close I’d been to losing him only minutes ago.
It takes a while, but when the last of the shaking disappears, I ask him, “What happened? The snake shifters...”
“Gone,” he replies, tone low. “Your shadow chased them off.”
She did? Sayah actually saved us?
I pull back a little and peer up at his handsome face. His blue eyes are full of concern, and his skin looks a little paler than it should. “Are you okay? I saw you fall… I thought…”
His finger runs along my cheek and down my jaw. “I’m fine now.”
“But didn’t the blade pierce your heart?”
"Just nicked it." He lets out a short laugh. “Besides, I’m surprised you think I even have a heart.”
Any other time, I would’ve laughed or joked, but after everything we’ve just been through, I can’t even seem to muster up the strength to smile.
“He just missed it,” he say
s to assure me, but despite the confidence in his tone, something is still off with him. “And I was able to heal quickly enough.”
But how?
As if reading my mind, he shifts us and nods toward the unmoving body feet away from us. Even though his skin is grayed and severely sunken in, I recognize him as the man who’d been leading the ambush. The shifter with the knives. Cain drained his soul.
“Are you all right?” he asks, drawing my attention back to him. He may have regained some of his strength from killing the shifter, but it's clear it wasn't enough to heal him a hundred percent.
I nod and turn away from the dead body. As disturbing as it is and as scary as it had been to witness the first time Cain had done it, knowing he’d devoured his soul doesn’t bother me as much as before. It probably should, but it doesn’t.
“Do you think you can stand?”
I nod again and start to lift myself off him. His hands find my waist to help me, and even when I’m on my feet, he doesn’t let go. Probably too afraid I’ll tip over if he does.
His gaze drops to my neck, and his lips tug down into a frown. That’s right. The cut there. I almost forgot.
“It’s not deep,” I say, trying to ease his worry. “Just a scratch, really.”
He doesn’t respond, but I can see the lingering turmoil on his face. He’s always been so good at masking his feelings, but it’s getting harder for him, it seems. Or maybe it’s getting easy for me to read him? I’m not sure.
“We’ll get it bandaged on the plane,” he replies stiffly.
“Speaking of,” I begin, glancing around the swamp. After being ambushed by snake shifters and almost kidnapped again, it’s looking like my theory of the staged campsite was accurate. “How are we getting home? Are you well enough to fly us both?”
“I can take us to shore.”
That’s a relief. I want to get the hell away from this place, and I’d be happy if I never return.
Finally, he steps away from me, putting space between us.
