by Maya Daniels
This too feels like a trail, only this time it’s not just my life hanging in the balance. Sienna itself, with all its inhabitants, will either be left standing come morning, or …
I nip that thought in the butt.
The others must know shortcuts or something because I don’t see them anywhere. Guided by the pull of magic the portal has on me, I follow its call like it’s a siren song. The last faint rays of the day dip behind the horizon, brightening the glare of the light from the bike, which dances in front of us like a flashlight. The night that comes awake is different.
The darkness has a bite.
Clenching my jaw, I ride faster, fear that Zoltan will succumb to the rage-filled magic making me feel as if we are standing still even though I can barely see from the speed. Whooshing wind fills my ears and prevents any other sound from reaching me. It’s because of that that I don’t hear the battle until we skid to a stop a lot further in the woods than if we’d used a car. The back wheel slides sideways when I brake, the momentum throwing me forward.
Zoltan releases his hold on me at the same time I let go of the handles of the bike and, tucking my head down, I somersault through the air, dropping on one knee. I hear the thump of his boots when he lands like a cat on his feet next to me. The clinking of metal on metal, roars, and screams greet us, all coming from between the thick curtain of trees. But that’s nothing compared to the whispers brushing against my skin promising pain like I’ve never imagined. I glance at Zoltan to see him looking down at me, his eyes glowing brightly in the night.
“Can you hear it?” My voice is barely above a whisper.
He nods.
Just a sharp jerk of his head, but it says so much.
“Okay,” I breathe, climbing to my feet. I brush the dirt from my hands off on my pants. “We got this, right?” Looking over my shoulder, I see the twisted handlebars of the bike, which ended up half nailed to a tree trunk. Wrinkling my nose, I peer at Zoltan again. “I broke this one, too.”
“Just don’t get hurt.” His bright eyes drop to my stomach and my heart plummets to my feet. “I’ll buy you a hundred of them each year to wreck and won’t say a word about it.”
“I’ll remind you of this.” Stabbing a finger at his face, I can breathe easier when one side of his lips curls up in a smirk.
“I’m counting on it, love.” I’ll never understand why his deep voice does stupid things to my brain, even when our lives our in danger. But somehow, I am usually turned into a puddle of goo when he’s around.
Dumb, dumb hormones.
“Stay close to me. The energy does not feel right around here.” Pinned under his scrutinizing gaze, it’s me who simply nods now.
It’ll do me no good to tell him I have no intention of staying close to anyone. Roberti has been hell bent on getting his hands on me almost from the start, and when that didn’t work, he tried everything he possibly could to kill me. Now that I’m hoping to finally face him, I’ll be damned if I let him kill those I love. Keeping my thoughts from showing on my face, I scan the woods and ignore Zoltan staring at the side of my face like he is trying to read my mind. I keep my emotions in check too, not letting him feel anything I’m planning through our bond. I hope he can’t, anyway.
When he cups my face, I nuzzle his palm, placing a soft kiss at the center of it before stepping away. “Promise me …”
His eyes narrow and a muscle twitches on one side of his jaw.
I blow out a frustrated breath.
“Promise me that you’ll make sure I come back to myself.” Wiping my sweaty palms on my pants, I roll my shoulders. “I’m going to give this monster inside me full reign, Zoltan.” Locking gazes, I try for a smile that freaks him out. “I want to be myself when this is over. I’m selfish, and I don’t like to share you. Not even with a different part of myself.” A sheepish shrug jerks my shoulder up like I’m having a seizure.
“I don’t want you different,” the vampire says just as softly, pulling me to his chest and tilting my face up with a finger curled under my chin. “I’ll always be just yours, love.”
“Good, I’d hate to have to kill you.” He cringes. I guess the humor I am trying for is lacking. “Plus, I’ll need you to take care of our babe.” The whispered words try to choke me, but I push them out anyway.
Eyes shimmering with moisture he will deny as long as he lives, he kisses the life out of me. When he pulls back, I’m left breathless, sagging against him because my knees are weak and can’t hold my weight.
“For as long as my heart beats, I will take care of you both.” The possessive way he holds me would irk me normally, but this time it spreads warmth through my chest.
“You didn’t have a heartbeat not long ago,” I remind him, and the smile on his face is blinding.
“You gave it back to me.” Packing a kiss on the tip of my nose, he winks. “Now you have to deal with it, love, for eternity.”
That has the opposite effect than what he intended, reminding me of what’s waiting for us across the dense trees. Hitching a thumb in that direction, I detangle myself from his arms.
“First, we need to kill a jerk.” Swallowing my trepidation, I bring back my bravado. “And a Titan. Easy peasy.”
Like a switch has been flipped, Zoltan grows in size, switching forms from one blink to the next. The unchecked power rolling off him prickles my skin, and that makes my own surge to the surface. Claws sprout from my fingertips without conscious thought. The creature inside of me comes awake, stretching out and filling my skin. It still feels too tight for both of us to share the same body, but the moment I let go of my control, it almost feels like this is how I should be. The panic trying to choke me is squished when Zoltan laces his own clawed fingers through mine.
“Let’s join the freak show.” Flashing my fangs, I release his hand and move through the trees with a lot more grace than I’m normally capable of.
No sound comes from our footsteps as we reach the last line before the wide-open space holding the portal. It’s familiar magic glides over me, welcoming and warm. A second later, arctic winds blast across my face, turning my eyelashes into icicles. Between one step and the next my teeth are chattering, and my fingers feel numb from the cold. Zoltan grabs my arm, yanking me back when I’m about to step out from the cover of the forest.
That’s when I see it.
A Titan.
The evil creature is tearing through people like a cannon ball, sending limbs showering the open the space. Terror rolls off of it, blustering and coating my skin, choking me with it. I watch as it feeds off the fear and anger from those trying to stop it from reaching Sienna. My heart skips a beat when I see it heading for my friends, but I lose visual before seeing if they noticed it.
Standing next to Zoltan’s true form I look like a teenager walking with a parent. The monstrosity trying to get to the portal at the moment makes me look like a two-year-old youngling. Power is rolling off him like a tsunami blistering my skin from the freezing cold air coming with it. At ten feet tall, the Titan’s shoulders are as wide as a brick house, his arms and legs thicker than the huge trees hiding me from view. Deep red skin stretches across a muscular frame, his body naked other than the loincloth hanging low on his hips. He swings his gigantic fists, flinging those trying to stop him from reaching the portal away as if they are toys. Dozens of hunters are helping him, attacking viciously at anything standing in their way.
And then there is Roberti.
I’ll recognize that asshole anywhere.
Aware I can never win against the Titan on my own, I pick the lesser evil. If I’m going to die I’m taking the jerk with me. With Casius next to him and another mage I’ve never seen before, they stand just to the side of Andrius, using magic to break the protection of the portal. From where I’m standing, I can still see the horrifying shadow writhing behind him reaching for the two mages as if feeding on the magic they use. They must not be able to see it. No one in their right mind will stand next to that.
“If we take out Roberti, will that affect the Titan?” Instead of stepping out to be seen, I move along the tree line just out of sight, and Zoltan follows close behind me.
“Titans have nothing anchoring them to this world in this day and age. It’ll need an anchor to be physically here and be that powerful,” the Daywaker murmurs, not taking his eyes off the monster.
“Andrius used himself as an anchor.” We are nearly halfway around the tree line, getting closer to the demigod. “That must be the shadow attached to him. It feeds off his greed and makes the Titan able to absorb the life force from everything around him. Now I understand why the colors feel drawn to him. It didn’t make sense before.”
“What shadow?” Taking a fistful of my shirt, he prevents me from going further.
“You can’t see it?” Looking over my shoulder, he shakes his head, both eyebrows pulled down his forehead. “It’s attached to him just like a typical shadow, only this one is not on the ground. It’s alive and moving like a cape around him, feeding off the magic from the two idiots standing next to him.” I shiver visibly.
“If we remove the source of his food and the anchor, he should be easy to take out.” I’ve never heard Zoltan sound so unsure. “I can take those three on my own.”
“You can’t even see the shadow.” My voice is so dry I expect to have clouds of dust coming from my lips.
“Stay close to me.” His jaw clenches in warning, but I roll my eyes and tug my shirt from his grip.
“Let’s kick their ass.”
“Francesca.”
“You finally get to play my knight, Zoltan. Go kill the Titan, I’ve got Roberti.”
Leaving Zoltan’s angry hiss behind, I bounce off the balls of my feet and take hold of a high branch above my head. Like the monkey I love referencing myself to, I swing from branch to branch, closing the distance between Roberti and me faster than Zoltan can move on the ground. Leaving all thoughts of how pissed off he will be later if we survive behind, I let my magic wash over me and pull me under. Reaching a thick trunk right across from the demigod, I pause for just a second before sailing through the air. My body resembling a cannonball, I drop a few feet from Roberti.
“Hey asshole, I believe it’s me you are hoping to find in Sienna.” His head snaps in my direction. “Surprise!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Drake, I thought you were smarter than this,” Roberti drawls, his frosty glare so full of hatred you’d think I killed his puppy.
I hear Astara’s voice from somewhere between the fighting bodies but can’t tell if she’s calling out to me or just yelling at someone. At least I know they’re here, which only adds to my ever-growing list of things to worry about. Tenebris roars, his cry rising above the rest of the animalistic snarls. I keep my gaze locked on Andrius, even when Zoltan dashes past me and hits Casius in the back, both of them rolling to the side with fists flying. It’s a bad move because the shadow writhing behind Roberti seems like it started paying attention to me.
“I am smarter. That’s why I’m here to end this once and for all.” The purr in my voice added by my dragon blood has Andrius raising an eyebrow as he looks me up and down.
His dark eyes glitter with glee when they zoom in on my stomach.
I clench my fists.
How is it that everyone can tell I’m pregnant and I had no clue? Isn’t it like an agreement between your body and mind to kind of inform you of it before it broadcasts it to the world? I feel like my body has betrayed me.
“I sacrificed a lot of my hunters to keep you away from here.” Spitting the words like I should apologize for killing his mutants, he bares his teeth.
“Aww, next thing you’ll say is you were trying to protect me. Am I right?” Keeping an eye on the fight between Zoltan and Casius in case I need to jump in, I slide my feet closer to Roberti and hope he doesn’t notice. “You want nothing more than to see me die. I’m always happy to disappoint you.”
“That’s where you are wrong.” We both stumble when the freaking Titan stomps his foot, trying to shake off a pack of wolves nipping on it. “I would’ve made the biggest mistake had I managed to kill you in my attempts. Alexius was an idiot. He would’ve cost me much if you didn’t get him out of my way.”
“That’s me, always happy to help a friend.” Seeing that he starts circling me, I stop hiding my steps and move along with him. “Now I’ll kill your two buddies, and you. You can thank me later, it’s fine, I can wait.”
“Always feisty.” Chuckling, he pisses me off when he grins like we are out for a stroll. “I always liked that about you, Drake.”
“Why are you doing this?” clenching my fists, I stare him down. “You spent years trying to keep the Accord alive. We all looked up to you. What in the worlds are you trying to achieve when you had everything. Especially power, if that’s what you are after.”
“That’s exactly the problem, Drake.” Spitting the words as if he tasted something vile, Roberti’s face twists in a terrifyingly ugly grimace. “Are you telling me it pleases you to jump every time a human sneezes? Oh, you thought I wasn’t aware of that little leash you have, were you?” his chuckle is crazed. “We must obey human laws. A prey telling a predator how to walk the jungle. Humans don’t even have that in fairytales. I’ll be damned if I allow them to collar me and have it in real life.”
“And you what? Figured you’ll destroy us all to teach the humans a lesson?” snarling at him, my knees bend slightly preparing to take a chance the moment I see an opening. “I should’ve known it’s something stupid like this.”
“I am a god.” His voice booms, the echo bouncing all around us. “I will not tilt my neck in submission to my food. The Titan is just a toy until I get what I want. If you are smart, you’ll join the winning side while you have time.”
“You want more than just a Titan?” ducking my head I peer at him, my reaction making him glare at me.
“I will bring Ares to his rightful place in these worlds, his army will be ready and willing to do anything he demands. And I will rule by his side as is my birthright.”
“I won’t let you do any of it, Andrius. Say goodbye to your dumb plans, because this ends right here, right now.”
“For this to stop, I will need to die.” He acts confident enough, anyone else would’ve believed it.
Pouncing without warning, I swipe my claws at him, one at his neck and the other at his midsection. He spins, kicking out and catching me on the side of my thigh. I rake my claws across his stomach, leaving rips in his button-down shirt that is getting soaked in blood.
We both stumble away from each other.
“Less talking, more dying.” Grinding my teeth, I ignore the throbbing in my leg and the fire the pain sparked in my chest.
It’s not time yet.
I have a feeling I’ll only have one shot to take him out.
“I’m not going to kill you, Franky.” The familiar way he says my nickname makes me shudder in revulsion. “I have bigger”—His eyes flick to my stomach again—“better plans for you now.”
The female creature that attacked me a few days ago comes to mind and blinding fury surges through my veins. I don’t need Andrius to spell it out for me. I know exactly what his bigger, better plans are. There is no doubt in my mind the second he realized I was with young, he lost interest in my death because I carried in me what he is attempting to create with his experiments. No, he doesn’t want me dead.
He wants my young.
My shoulders hunch and pain sears through all my bones. For a moment I fully expect my skin to burst open and a dragon to appear to stomp Andrius into a bloody pulp. My jaw and gums are burning like someone is pulling my teeth one by one very slowly, and I taste my own blood on my tongue. An insane thought blinks through my head that if I’m not shifting, maybe I’m having a heart attack. Wouldn’t that be a bitch to be recorded in history as the one who died before getting a chance to fight.
My body is shaking li
ke I’m having a seizure and my claws sink into my palms where I clench my fists so I don’t cry out in pain.
That’s when Roberti strikes, like the snake he is.
A fist connects with the side of my face shattering my cheekbone. Head flinging to the side, I go down but my body never hits the blood-drenched ground. Arms catch me, lifting me in the air and dropping me behind a wide, muscular back. The long black hair sways down to his hips as Zoltan stands like a shield between Andrius and me.
The asshole demigod is rubbing his chin, blood trickling from his split lip. I guess the Daywalker scored a good punch before stopping my fall. Grinding my teeth while my face burns from my healing cheekbone, I place a hand on Zoltan’s back. He grumbles something but presses on my palm like he needed the contact as well.
“Love?” His deep voice vibrates through my palm.
“I’m fine.” The words are not out of my mouth yet when another wave of the searing pain hits me, bowing my shoulders. “I lied. I think I’m dying.”
“Francesca.” Zoltan doesn’t take his eyes off Roberti, but there is no mistaking the panic in that one word.
At least Roberti is not attacking. Instead he’s warily watching us both.
A ball of magic zings from the side, hitting Zoltan and grazing the arm I have connected to his skin. He screams, a pained and furious sound that provokes a reaction in me I don’t expect. The pain turns blinding for a second before my spine snaps back and I find myself staring at the starless sky.
A roar curdles my blood, making the ground at my feet shake like an earthquake.
Everyone turns to where we are facing off, including the Titan.
The roar comes from me.
Blanching, Roberti spins on his heel ready to bolt just as my head snaps back up. I’m on him before I become aware that I’ve moved, my claws sinking into his back and raking chunks of his skin with each swipe. He jerks his hips to the side, flipping me off him, but I bounce back on my feet throwing myself at him again. His hands wrap around my wrists to hold the sharp claws away from his face. While we struggle, the ground trembles beneath us, and Zoltan starts cursing up a storm.
