Bloodrose (37 page)

“No, Shay!” I screamed, struggling to break the spear or at least pull it free of the wall. “Forget about me. Kill him!”

Bosque shouted, “Take her. Tear her apart!”

The swarming Nether beings shrieked in unison and flew toward me. I thought about shifting, but a wolf pinned on its back was even more helpless than a human.

“Kill him, Shay!” I threw my arm up over my face as I waited for talons to rip into my flesh.

The screams of the flying horde grew louder, but the attack I’d been expecting never came. Snarls that were even closer than the furious shrieks made me look up. Bryn was almost on top of me, bristling at the Nether creatures. My father and Sabine stood just beyond her. One dead incubus already lay at their feet. Others dove but were met by the wolves’ teeth tearing through their wings, taking them to the ground and making sure they didn’t get up again.

“Move it, Scion!” Ethan shouted from the center of room, where he and Connor still stood guard over Adne. “Your lover girl is safe enough.”

Shay raised the swords again, striding forward. The sound in the room became deafening and the house began to shake. The flying Nether creatures stopped their attack and began to swarm above the fireplace like wasps panicking in their rattled nest. Near the door the Fallen’s moans became frantic. Their shuffling turned to chaos as they started to move, bumping into one another, swinging wildly at bookshelves and tables as if they’d lost any sense of purpose.

Bosque was backed up against the fireplace. He stretched out the three remaining limbs of his upper body, clawing at the stone frame.

“I will not be conquered,” he screamed. “I am your master. I gave you everything. You are nothing without me.”

“The Scion has no master.” Shay’s voice boomed over the chaos of noise in the library. It was his voice, but somehow different than the voice of the boy I knew. It was a deeper, older voice that echoed in my flesh and bone.

Bosque’s grip on the stones faltered. He slid a foot backward into the fireplace.

The storm of the Cross pursued him, the voice from within booming through the library. “The earth will no longer bear your corruption.”

“I will not yield,” Bosque spat.

The torrent of earth, wind, water, and fire around Shay flared brighter. “Begone, fiend.”

Bosque winced as the light of the Elemental Cross touched him. “No!”

“Begone!” the voice that wasn’t quite Shay’s cried out.

Bosque screamed as the sickly green aura of the Rift expanded, curling around him like arms drawing him into an unwelcome embrace. He screamed again as the thick tendrils wrapped around his body.

Then I could see Shay moving in the firestorm. He leapt forward, spinning as he hurtled toward Bosque. He brought the swords down in two lightning-fast strokes. Bosque howled in agony as three limbs were shorn from his torso. The green aura in the fireplace flared into immense spires of flame, consuming Bosque. I could hear him shrieking even though I couldn’t see him.

The roar of the Elemental Cross became deafening and the storm surrounding Shay thickened, making it impossible to find him amid its chaos of sound and motion.

“Take cover!” Connor shouted, throwing himself over Adne.

My father shifted forms, grabbing Sabine and hauling her to my side. He pushed her tight against me and Bryn while he shielded us beneath his body.

Rowan Estate was shaking. Bookshelves groaned and cracked, sending volumes tumbling to the floor in a cascade. The sound continued to grow until the air swam with it, as if the very stones of the building were screaming.

An explosion rocked the library. I buried my face in my father’s chest, biting my lip as the violent movements of the earth made the pain in my shoulder—where the spear still pinned me to the wall—almost unbearable. Sabine shifted forms and gripped my other arm, distracting me from the throbbing wound. I looked at her, grateful for the strength I found burning in her gaze. She leaned her forehead against mine and I laced my fingers through hers.

Crashes echoed all around us. I thought I heard Connor shouting. My father, Sabine, and I clung to each other. Bryn’s fur pressed into our bodies and she whimpered. Though Sabine’s hair whipped around my face, I caught snatches of the chaos just beyond our huddled trio. Clouds had poured into the room, swirling in the sickly green shades of the Rift itself, mirroring the sky just before a tornado. The winds that raged around us made me wonder if a funnel cloud had indeed touched down nearby. Shapes were hurling past us. Succubi and incubi screamed as they were sucked into the Rift, clawing at the air as they were dragged from the earth. Some had horrified Keepers locked in a fatal embrace, pulling their masters shrieking into oblivion. A few husk-like bodies sailed past, skin so parched that I could hardly believe they didn’t crumble as they were battered by the storm. Though lifeless, the dusty figures weren’t the Fallen. I couldn’t tell what they were, but at least a dozen sailed past us, falling into the Rift alongside the other Nether creatures.

The screaming wind built into a final sudden gust, followed by a low rumble. The sound built, finally rolling through the library like the loudest thunderclap I’d ever heard.

It was followed by silence.

The wind was still there, but the violent blast had become a steady, gentle pour of cold winter air.

My father slowly unfurled himself from the protective ball he’d been curled into around Bryn, Sabine, and me. I winced, straining against the spear that impaled my shoulder, as I searched for any sign of Shay, but my gaze was caught by the shocking source of the icy wind. The wall of the library had been obliterated. The room opened up to the snow-covered ground outside. Only the stone frame of the fireplace remained, standing tall in a stark outline against the winter night.

“You all right?” Connor shouted to us. He was helping Adne to her feet. The ropes that had been holding her fell away as she stood. Only frayed threads remained. Ethan was hopping over piles of books and splintered wood in an attempt to reach us. Sabine squeezed my hand before running to meet him. He pulled her against him, drawing her into a long kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him as he buried his fingers in her hair.

“Brace yourself, Calla.” My father had taken hold of the spear still lodged in my shoulder. Bryn, now in human form, took my hand. I gritted my teeth, managing only a brief cry as he dislodged the spear from the wall and jerked it out of my body.

“Here.” He already had his bleeding wrist pressing against my lips. I tried not to think about the pain in my throbbing shoulder, focusing instead on the soothing warmth that poured over me as I took my father’s blood.

I leaned back against the wall, drawing a slow, shuddering breath. “I’m good.”

He smiled at me. I took his hand, letting him pull me to my feet.

“They’ve all gone.” Ethan came toward us, hand in hand with Sabine. “No more Nether freaks.”

“Where did they go?” I asked, scanning the room. There was no sign of the creatures that had assailed us.

“No idea,” he said. “I pretty much went for duck and cover once the building started coming down.”

“That’s not all that’s gone,” Connor said. “I think Logan made a run for it.”

A drying pool of blood marked the spot where Logan had fallen, clutching the gashes Bosque had carved in his chest. The pool lengthened, stretching into a line and then becoming splotches as the trail headed toward the door.

“Good riddance,” Adne said.

“I’d rather have him where we can keep an eye on him,” Ethan muttered.

A shiver raced up my spine. Logan was gone. But where? Had he gone after Lumine? Would he come back, seeking revenge?

“It doesn’t matter now,” Connor said. “We’ll have to track him down eventually. But he’s not a threat with Bosque gone. He has no power to draw from.”

“If the Nether creatures are all gone, why are the Fallen still here?” Sabine said, looking over her shoulder.

“They aren’t Fallen anymore,” Connor answered. Adne was beside him, rubbing the rope burns on her arms.

Ethan nodded. “Those are just bodies.”

I peered past the Searchers. The shambling horrors that I’d come to know as the Fallen were strewn across the floor. They were now corpses in varying states of decay. Some looked as if they’d been dead only weeks, while all that remained of others were skeletons.

Our enemies had vanished. Did that mean we’d won? Was the war over?

I looked at the fireplace. All signs of the Rift were gone. No putrid green glow filled its depths. The gaping maw was empty and silent.

Shay had done it. I expected to see him striding toward us, a wide smile lighting his face. But he wasn’t there. My eyes swept around the fireplace, searching for any sign of him and finding none.

Where was he? My heart skipped a beat.

“Shay!” I ran toward the austere stone frame.

A frenzy of terrible questions hammered against my skull.

What if the Rift had pulled him in too? What if the power of the Cross was too great, consuming Shay even as it destroyed Bosque?

“I’m here.” Shay stepped out from behind the other side of the remaining structure. The storm created by the Elemental Cross had vanished. The swords were sheathed at his back. The power that had changed his voice was gone. Shay was wholly himself again.

But he wasn’t alone.

A tall man with golden brown hair was resting his hand on Shay’s shoulder. A woman with dark hair and pale green eyes had one of Shay’s hands clasped in both of hers.

“Calla.” Shay smiled at me. “I’d like you to meet my parents: Tristan and Sarah Doran.”

THE LIBRARY WAS IN SHAMBLES.
Snow was already drifting from outside. And that wasn’t all.

Wolves had gathered outside the building, gazing at the rubble and the ruins of the library.

“Nev!” Sabine shouted, waving at two wolves who bounded past the others.

Nev and Mason skidded to a stop near our huddled group. The appearance of Shay’s long-lost parents had thrown us into a stunned silence. No one had worked up the courage yet to ask how Tristan and Sarah had gotten out of the portrait to stand among us.

I didn’t know if we were afraid of offending them or too shocked to muster any questions. Only Shay seemed unruffled, his smile childlike in its exuberance.

Mason shrugged off his wolf form, shaking a fist at Connor. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Huh?” Connor frowned at him.

“You had a bomb and you didn’t tell us?” Mason shouted. “We had no warning. Do you have any idea how far that blast went? Part of the wall crushed the Bane I was fighting. It almost killed me!”

“It wasn’t a bomb, Mason,” I said.

“Then what the hell was it?” he asked, still glaring at Connor.

“And why am I getting blamed for a bomb?” Connor began to laugh. “What the hell would I know about bombs?”

Nev shrugged. “We discussed it and decided that if anyone had snuck in a bomb, it would have been you.”

Connor look at Adne. “What do you think? Is that the sort of thing I should say ‘thank you’ for or do I just slug them?”

“Shut up, Connor,” I said. “Mason, the wall blew out when Shay closed the Rift.”

“Dude.” Nev turned his gaze to Shay and grinned. “Nice.”

Mason was still frowning. “So the Elemental Cross was actually a bomb?”

“Mason!” I snarled. “There was no bomb!”

“Just magic.” Adne smiled at him.

“A magic bomb,” Mason grumbled, and ducked when I swung at him. “Hey! You didn’t almost get pancaked by half a house falling on you.”

“Believe me,” Ethan said. “We had more than our share of trouble in here.”

“But you did it.” Nev was still looking at Shay. “This means we won, right?”

“I guess.” Shay’s smile faded. “I don’t know what happens now.”

“Speaking of winning, what about the Banes?” I asked. “I mean, the ones that didn’t come to our side.”

“When the house blew up . . .” Nev threw me an apologetic glance as Mason mouthed “bomb” again. “They panicked. I guess seeing the Keeper fortress crumbling made them panic.”

“We were winning anyway.” Mason grinned.

Nev shrugged. “Yeah. We probably were.”

He frowned, looking around our group. His eyes rested on Shay’s parents for a moment, but then returned to me. He drew a long breath.

“Where’s Ren?”

I looked away. Bryn slipped her arm around my waist. I hadn’t forgotten Ren. But I’d had to push his death out of my mind to make it through the fight. Now a pit of emptiness gnawed at my belly as the truth crashed over me. I swayed on my feet. Bryn leaned her head on my shoulder.

My father answered, “He fell in battle.”

Nev’s fists balled up. “How?”

“Emile killed him,” my father said.