“Please, Nicole. Hold on. Theo will be back to help you.”
“Too late. I see my Richard.” She let out a smile. “So young and beautiful.”
“Nicole, wait.” She cradled the woman in her arms. “Tell me about what’s in the envelope. Please.”
“Your mother’s ring.” A vibration rattled through the brittle woman. “She said to give it to you when you…found me.”
“What’s it mean?” Dasha asked from behind Sadie.
“Connection to mother. To find your roots.” The woman sagged against Sadie’s arms. The floor creaked, and she glanced over her shoulder. Ramos guarded the doorway, gun aimed outside into the darkness.
Theo, hurry. Nicole’s dying.
“How else can I find my mom? The ring’s gone.”
“No other way.” Nicole’s face smoothed as she moved toward death. “Only link to plane.”
“Shit,” Dasha whispered. “Plane?”
“What am I, Nicole? Please. Do you know?”
She nodded. “Batya.”
Sadie’s heart stalled. Batya? It didn’t make sense. Tears stung her eyes and her stomach clenched. “Please, Nicole. Hold on.”
“Be strong, Batya…” Nicole sagged against Sadie’s arms with her last breath. The faded gray eyes disappeared behind her lids. Nicole’s mouth curved into a slight smile, and Sadie guessed she was meeting Richard in Heaven.
Tears breached the edges of Sadie’s eyes and streamed down her cheeks. Damn those demons. Anger welled inside like a tsunami and pounded through her stomach. She hugged the lifeless body tight and petted the stringy, crimson-stained hair.
“I’m sorry.”
“She did vat she vas meant to do.” Ramos stepped beside her. “Strong voman. Like you.”
A warm hand touched her shoulder. Dasha offered comfort, tears streaming down her dirt-coated cheeks. “Come on. Let her go.”
“I call support for cleanup.” Ramos held his shotgun in one hand as he fished through his pocket with his other. “Before police arrive.”
“Come on,” Dasha whispered.
Sadie let Nicole’s limp body slide from her grip and settled her to the floor, next to Richard. That’s when she noticed Nicole’s hand was still affixed to his. A sob racked through her. Nicole died holding her husband’s hand. More than likely she’d crawled across the floor, according to the crimson trail on the light carpet.
To be with him in life and in death.
“Batya?” Dasha said as she helped Sadie to her feet. “Any ideas, multilinguist?”
“She was delusional. Near death,” Sadie said, hoping to convince herself more than Dasha. “Didn’t know what she was saying.”
“If you say so.”
The hairs on Sadie’s neck shot up. Goose bumps prickled her skin, and a vise clamped around her stomach.
“No,” Sadie said. “I feel demons.”
Ramos shoved his phone in his pocket. “Vee must leave. Now.” He grabbed Sadie’s arm and hoisted her toward the door with Dasha on her other side, helping. “I keep you safe.”
“Hurry.” Dasha’s voice cracked, and she held her pistol with shaky hands. “I don’t want to have to figure this stupid gun out.”
Sadie looked over her shoulder at the couple lying in the middle of the living room floor. They’d died because of her. Because of the secret they carried about her. And now she ran. Tired and weak, she knew she couldn’t fend off any more than one or two demons.
Theo
. Was he safe? Had he gotten the ring?
“Hurry.” Ramos tugged her toward the large black SUV. “If you feel them, they close.” He cranked open the door to the backseat and shoved her in. “Dasha, up front.” He tossed her the shotgun. “You watch. I drive.”
“Shit.” Dasha hurried to the passenger side, and after both doors slammed shut, Ramos revved the engine to life.
Sadie buckled her belt and glanced out the tinted windows. At least ten demons streaked toward the car. “Go. Go.” She slapped the back of Ramos’s seat.
The car lurched forward. Gravel spewed out behind the vehicle as it bounced over the potholes. Pine trees blurred by as the huge car barreled down the dirt road. Sadie checked out the back window. The moonlight flashed off daggers and long white teeth. “They’re still coming.” And gaining, from what she could tell.
She dug out her dagger from her ankle holster. Ramos couldn’t drive fast enough because of the roads. These monsters were going to catch up in a matter of minutes. She had Dasha to protect.
She closed her eyes and focused on calming her heart.
A window shattered and Dasha screamed. Glass sprayed across the back of the SUV, and two dark hands gripped the window frame despite the serrated edges.
Sadie hurdled the backseat and slid her blade across the knuckles. A fist rushed her, but she deflected and stabbed the forearm. “
Reverto ut Abyssus
.”
He vaporized.
“Six more coming, fast,” she yelled. “Dash, give me the shotgun.” She leaned forward, and Dasha handed her the weapon. “I’ve read about these once; let’s see if I can remember.”
“If anyone can, you can.” Dasha pulled out her pistol from the center console. “Ramos showed me this. I’m coming back to help.”
“No. Stay there.” Sadie turned her attention to the long gun in her hand. She checked the loading port and racked the gun.
“Ha. Told you,” Dasha said.
“Four plus one round,” Ramos yelled. “Dasha, give her ammo as she fires.
“Got it.”
Sadie positioned the butt of the gun against her shoulders, clicked off the safety, and threaded her finger through the trigger.
The bullets wouldn’t kill the demons, but hopefully they would slow them down. “How far till the bottom of the mountain?”
“Seven miles.”
A demon came into her sights. She gave a slight squeeze of the trigger, and a boom followed. The recoil forced her against the back of the last row of seats. Pain ripped through her shoulder and stole her breath.
“Careful of that kickback,” Ramos said.
“Now you tell me.” She rubbed her shoulder and touched her chest. Surely her insides were going to spew out soon.
Focus.
She propped herself against the back of the seat the best she could and aimed the weapon again, holding tight yet slightly away from her body, bracing as much as she could while still on her knees.
Another demon came into sight. She squeezed. The creature kept coming. Obviously she’d missed.
Closing her left eye, she held her breath and tried again. The jolt to her shoulder wasn’t as bad this time, and the demon stutter-stepped. She’d hit him.
Okay, she was getting the hang of this. “Dasha. I’ve got five more coming at us. Get ready.”
Gravity hurled Sadie to the side window. The truck jerked, and the force of it knocked her to the ceiling. Her head met the metal, then she dropped back down and rolled to the other side.
Dasha screamed.
Sadie dropped the gun and grabbed the seat, but all she saw was darkness.
They’d gone off the cliff.
Chapter Forty-three
A raging pain slashed through his gut and knocked Theo to his knees.
Sadie.
She was hurt.
“Theo, what is it?” Halena rushed to his side.
“Something’s wrong with Sadie. She’s gravely injured.” Holding tight to the treasured envelope with one hand, he closed his eyes, seeking out his Mate. The cool air breathed over him, chilling him after the recent battle.
His neck pulsed. A sickening feeling cinched his stomach. Heaviness. Fear. Cold.
Theo
.
He whirled around at the sound of his Mate’s strained voice. Then he lunged into a sprint down the trail they’d blazed fighting the demons. Twigs snapped. Branches stung as they shredded through the arms of his shirt.
The sounds of footfalls behind him told him Justin and Halena had followed.
What is it, Theo?
Halena asked.
Sadie is injured. Suffering.
Lead on, my friend. We will get to her.
He picked up speed, trees blurring beside him. Her scent overwhelmed him. The sweet vanilla aroma he’d become addicted to. But the trail ended on a narrow dirt road. He slowed until he stopped in the middle and turned a circle.
“What?” Halena turned a circle with him. “Why do we stop?”
“Her scent fades.” His neck pulsed.
“Look.” Halena moved toward the edge of the road, pointing.
He stepped beside her and knelt before a broken tree.
“Snapped at the base.” She stepped to the side. “Look. Here, too. See those branches.”
He scoured the ground. “Tire tracks.”
“
Merde
.” Halena looked over the edge. “It’s quite a drop.”
Without hesitation, he stepped over.
Curses from both Halena and Justin flew out behind him. They knew the importance of a Mate to a Shomrei. Though Halena hadn’t appeared to like Sadie in the beginning, she was proving to be very loyal the way she’d protected Sadie earlier and now jumped off a cliff’s edge to help him.
Perhaps she might help Sadie through the transition. Be there for her in a way Theo couldn’t.
If he could find her.
The scenery blurred into dark hues of gray, brown, and black as he let gravity yank him down the side of the mountain. “Sadie,” he yelled.
His voice ricocheted off the trees, then vanished into nothing. He grabbed a tree trunk to slow himself, then another, until he found one small enough to grab on to for a complete stop. He planted his feet against a boulder and steadied himself with the tree. Such a slant had him standing sideways to be upright.
“We’re on the right path. See the broken trees? She came down here in a car?” Halena asked, scanning the darkness.
“You have anything to light the way more? The moon doesn’t help much through this foliage.”
She dug around in her many pockets and pulled out a glow stick. She cracked it, and its illumination only brought more disdain for the already bleak situation. More cracked limbs, branches, even a fairly decent-sized tree trunk.
“What the hell?” Justin said as he slid next to Theo.
“Fan out, ten feet between us, she’s down here. And she’s hurt.” Anger boiled to life deep within his gut.
“I sense no demons—at least that’s good.” Halena inched away from Theo. “Is she still alive?”
“Yes.” His neck pulsed, but it was erratic. She’d only had a tank top on, then his T-shirt, so she had to be cold. Especially if she was lying somewhere, injured.
Her fatigue weighted him down. Theo let go of his hold on the tree and started his descent again. The frigid air cooled his lungs and bit at his exposed skin.
The light from Halena’s stick did little to help. Despite being able to see well in the dark, the moonlight didn’t help much.
He patted down the envelope, rolled it up, and stuffed it in his pocket, anxious to get it into Sadie’s hands to see what happened.
It had to be epic if an army of demons came after it. But Aggie hadn’t come. That didn’t make sense.
A wave of goose bumps puckered his skin, and he reached for the nearest tree to slow down to see if he could sense her more.
Branches snapping and labored breathing ripped through the air. “Sadie.”
“Here,” she yelled.
Metal groaning triggered his heart rate to jump. “Where? Talk so I can find you.”
She grunted. His neck pulsed with renewed vigor as he moved toward the noise.
Another grunt and more groaning metal. He hurried onward, another twenty feet. Steam bloomed in the darkness. The stench of gas filled his senses. And then he saw it.
Sadie had her hands pressed against the roof of the car, her knees bent, and with one great lunge, she pushed the SUV over.
He sprinted toward her, in shock over what he’d seen.
She knelt beside Dasha and reached for her hands.
“Sadie,” he yelled.
“Hurry. Dash—”
A blast ignited, and a percussion of air slammed into Theo, propelling him ten feet off the ground. His back rammed against a boulder, and he slid down. Rocks and branches shredded through his pants and stabbed his knees.
His face, chest, and arms stung as though acid had been flung onto his flesh.
“No!” he yelled. “Sadie!”
“Holy shit.” Justin skidded to a stop next to Theo and yelled, “Sadie! Dasha!”
Halena circled the flames. They shot up, tickling the leaves of the surrounding trees.
“Sadie!” Theo yelled.
“I’m here.” Her voice was small and elevated…and behind him.
He steered his focus to the trees, knowing she couldn’t be up there, yet that was where her voice sounded.
Halena sidled up next to him. “She’s up there?” She turned a circle, staring into the darkness.
The flames offered some light, but it varied, casting shadows everywhere.
Theo, I’m here.
Sadie’s voice caressed his mind and his heart. No longer did she feel weak and weighted down so badly. His neck pulsed strong, yet a current of fear zipped through him.
Where, love
?
“Two o’clock.” Her voice was real that time, and stronger.
He turned, and there she sat on a tree branch, thirty feet up, holding Dasha in her arms. But what were those shadows behind her? He had no sense of demons.
“How’d she get that high?” Halena propped her hands on her hips. “Wait a minute…”
“Are those wings?” Justin asked.
Chapter Forty-four
“Hold on, Dasha,” Sadie whispered to her friend.
The foreign appendages protruding from Sadie’s back caught the wind, tugging her to the side. A bolt of anxiety and fear jolted through her, but she bit it back. Focus. Stay calm. She had to help Dasha.
“Sadie?” Theo looked up, then around, as if working out a plan to get to her.
“I’m stuck.” That was the understatement of the century. “Dasha’s hurt bad. I need you to heal her.”
Wait, what’d happened to her injuries? She’d been barely able to move after taking a dagger to the chest, glass slicing her body, and hitting her head so many times she’d lost count.
Not to mention the explosion. She looked down at her friend, who lay motionless in her arms. There were slices and cuts along her cheek and tears streaking through the dirt. The pulse in Dasha’s neck was strong, but still.