Rising Darkness (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 9) (10 page)

CHAPTER 11

Rylee

“
W
hat the fuck
just happened?” I stared at the disappearing speck of dragon carrying Pamela, Frank, and Peta.

Eve shook her head, feathers ruffling in the wind. “If Pamela hadn’t shot at us we never would have seen the dragon. She could have killed us both because of how close we were flying.”

Marco swung in, heard that and then swung back out, farther away than before. “To be safe,” he called. Alex waved, seemingly oblivious to what had almost happened.

“Pamie here,” he hollered, his claws around his mouth like we wouldn’t have heard him otherwise.

“Yeah, Pamie is here.” I slumped into my seat and put my swords away, then buckled back into the leather straps still left intact. There had been a moment where I thought I wasn’t able to get up in time and I cut the straps. I tied the loose ones around me as best I could. It would have to do.

“Warn me if you’re going to do any big moves.”

“Why is Pamela with that dragon?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. She is running away, but I would have said she was just going to ground for a bit. How the fuck does she even know a dragon besides Blaz?” It took me a moment to recall the TV and the fact that Pamela hadn’t been on the list of “terrorists.”

“Orion, he must have sent the dragon for her. Fucking hell, she’s going to get herself and us killed.” My body shook with adrenaline.

“Only if we go after her,” Eve said. “She has made her choice. Blaz said that, and he’s right. Now she must live with it. This I know. I could have fought you after you killed my family, Rylee. The thought was there that perhaps at some point you would let your guard down and I could avenge them.”

I went very still on her back.

She went on. “But the more time I spent with you, the more I saw that my mother and aunt had been led in the wrong direction. I chose to stay with you, because you are my family now. And I will face those consequences of my loyalty regardless of what they are. We all have the same choice. Essentially, anyway. Good or evil. Right or wrong.”

“Left or right,” I said and she bobbed her head.

“Yes. Pamela has chosen.”

I rubbed my hands over my face. “How long was I asleep?”

“Almost the whole day, we will stop soon for a rest.”

As much as I knew that both Eve and Marco needed to rest, I couldn’t help but wish they didn’t. “Where?”

Eve pointed with her beak at an outcropping of land. Northwest of where we were, I was betting on Iceland. “Circle until you find a place to land near some decent cover and a water source.”

“Of course.” She sounded almost irritated that I would speak to her as if she didn’t know how to survive. Damn, I was pissing off everyone. If I wasn’t careful I’d be battling Orion on my own. I put a hand on her back.

“Eve, it’s been a long time since we’ve flown together. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

She turned her head and gave me a wink. “Gotcha.”

I laughed and buried my fingers into her silky soft feathers as she circled lower over a section of small buildings. They looked to be at the edge of a farm, which was good for us. I saw tractors, and some small moving things that were probably animals of some sort. The two Harpies began their descent into a section hidden from view of the main house. Next to us was a shack of an outbuilding, and while it looked like shit, the walls and roof were intact and it was big enough for both Harpies to fit into.

Twenty feet in the air, Eve and Marco released their vampire bundles.

My eyes widened, watching Faris’s bundle bounce hard off a rock protruding from the ground.

“Eve, did you do that on purpose?”

“Do what?” Her wide, innocent eyes didn’t fool me. I shook my head, nothing I could do. My friends had seen Faris being the asshole he was too many times not to take a shot at him when they could.

And could I blame them? Not really.

We landed, the Harpies hopping lightly. I slid from Eve’s back and Alex leapt from Marco’s. The werewolf flung his four legs out wide, like he was doing a belly flop into the dirt. At the last second, he got his feet under him and landed with a hard thud. Spinning in a circle, he grabbed at his tail. “Gots it!”

I gave him a smile and thumbs up; my heart wasn’t in it, though.

We filed into the building, Eve and Marco dragging the two vampires. But even that couldn’t bring a smile to my face. Now that we were on the ground, it really hit me that Pamela was gone.

Just like Milly, I somehow lost her.

The straw and hay littering the floor was stale and dusty, but I didn’t care. I wanted to close my eyes, sleep the last hour of sunlight away. To hide from everything that had happened. The building was gloomy inside, like a false dusk. Probably would be good enough for the two vampires to come out. At least in my mind anyway.

Eve and Marco nested down, side by side.

“Tell me that the sun has gone down.” Faris’s words were muffled by the thick curtain. I untied one corner of the curtain, opening it to see a rather undignified Faris glaring at me. “Sun is still up, but it isn’t coming in here.”

He pushed out of the curtains and I went over to Berget to unwrap her. She blinked up at me, her hair all messy, and for just a moment, I saw her when she was a little girl crawling out of bed early in the morning to watch cartoons.

I shook my head. “Come on out.”

“What time is it?”

“Still light out.” I waved a hand at the walls around us. “Dark enough in here though, and it won’t be long before the sun sets.”

“No, it won’t,” Faris all but growled, raising the hairs on the back of my neck.

“Why not?”

“We’re right below the arctic circle. Land of the midnight sun.” He stretched his hands over his head, then looked at me. “We’re stuck here until the Harpies are rested.”

“Give us four hours,” Eve mumbled. “We won’t stop again until we hit the east coast.”

Four hours wasn’t that long. I flopped onto the straw and Alex lay beside me. “Rylee sad.”

No need to deny it. “Yes.”

“Track family. Feel the love.” His eyes searched mine and I dropped a hand on his head.

“What would I do without you, Alex?”

“Probably die.”

The laugh burst out of me, and surprisingly enough, Faris joined in. I glanced at him and saw the curl of gold around the blue of his eyes. That explained it. Best not to point out that Liam was coming to the surface again. I closed my eyes against the sudden yearning to have him hold me, ground me, and remind me that I was strong enough. I didn’t need him, but damn it was nice to have that rock to hang onto during the storms.

“You might as well sleep. We’ll keep watch,” Berget said. “Not like we need to sleep.”

Faris gave a grunt and wandered deeper into the barn.

“Faris,” I didn’t open my eyes, but his footsteps stopped. “You think your blood is still in my system?”

Before he answered, Alex sniffed my neck. “Still smell like stinking vampire.”

“Never mind.”

“Do you really want to take the chance?”

“I trust Alex. We’ll do an exchange at the next stop.”

The sounds of bodies settling into the hay were surprisingly comforting and I let the noises wash over me, taking away some of the building anxiety.

I took Alex’s suggestion to heart and sent out a thread for those I loved, and who loved me in return. My friends in the barn were easiest. Berget was worried for me, but otherwise quiet, calm, content. Happy. Sane.

Alex was a burning ball of love. My lips curled upward and I buried my nose into the ruff of his neck. Eve had the soft feel of someone fast asleep, without fear. I sent my Tracking farther, reaching out to the ones we’d left behind.

Doran. Safe, worried, but safe.

Calliope
, the young unicorn I saved from Orion. She was bursting with excitement and what could only be described as joy.

Deanna and Will. Safe, strong.

Blaz. He was still with Deanna and Will, and they were flying. But he was fine and that eased my heart. I reached for India, the child who saw spirits, the first salvage with Liam. My heart stuttered. She had the pox, her life slowly slipping away, but she hadn’t given up. She was fighting for all she was worth.

Tentatively, I reached for
Kyle
, my hacker who’d helped me break into the FBI files, who’d helped me find missing kids for years.

His threads were empty. He was dead. I clutched Alex tighter to me, spun the threads of my family and loved ones around me. Those I could breathe in, and they gave me the strength I needed. I wished I could reach my daughter, Erik, and Coyote. The ones I’d left behind . . . somewhere safe.

Carefully, I sent the next thread. To Pamela. She was healthy, wide awake . . . and happy. My heart bucked against that and I turned my head away. No more. I could do this no more. The one I’d avoided was Faris.

One last thread, I sent toward him, touching on his emotions. Scared, the vampire was scared and uncertain. I almost sat up to see what was wrong. What the hell could scare him?

There was only one thing he was scared of that I knew about. Before I thought better of it, I sent a thread looking for my heart.

For Liam.

There, in the back of the barn his soul burned bright, a wash of love and strength rolling over me. A sigh slipped out of my lips and I relaxed into that familiarity, the strength of his love wrapping around me was almost as good as his arms. “Goodnight,” I whispered, and fell into oblivion.

Being stuck in a vampire wasn’t his idea of a good time. But it kept him close to Rylee and that was all that mattered.

“You can’t have her again,” Faris said softly.

You don’t know that. Maybe there is a way for me to come
back.

The vampire slumped against a stack of hay bales, as far from the rest of the group as he could get. Liam knew he was freaked out. The fact that he knew was enough to set Faris off, so he kept his peace.

She isn’t going to fall in love with you.

“Then stop making me feel like she is the only thing I damn well live for,” he hissed.

Liam couldn’t shrug, couldn’t do anything other than peer deeper into the vampire’s mind.
Not my fault. I was ready to move on, knowing I would see her on the other side at some point. You called me forward to use my abilities. This is
karma.

Faris linked his hands behind his neck, fingers intertwined. “Don’t remind me.”

What are we going to do if my soul doesn’t leave when the veil opens?
That question burned in his mind. As much as he wanted to stay with Rylee, the other side of the veil called to him, pulling at his soul.

“I don’t know. What I do know is the longer you’re here, the harder it is for me to think for myself. My thoughts are colored with your memories, my actions tinged with yours. I don’t know how long I will stay myself if you don’t leave.”

You mean you don’t know how long you will be an asshole without me tempering
you?

“Survivor. That’s what I am. There are days it makes me an asshole, I’ll give you that. But you aren’t a survivor. You’re a martyr. And it lost you
everything
you ever loved. That’s the difference between you and me. I wouldn’t have given up my life; I would have found a way that didn’t involve breaking my woman’s heart into a million pieces.”

That stung more than he wanted to admit, and he retreated into the darkness that was the body he was stuck in.

He knew, at the time, it was the best decision he could have made. It kept Rylee and their daughter safe. What man wouldn’t have traded his life for them?

The answer was simple. The man whose body he now shared.

Faris shook his head. “You have no idea what you’ve done to her. No clue.”

That, though, was maybe the biggest lie of all. Liam did know. He could feel it in her soul, bound to his until the end of time. There was a crack in her that had healed over, and she was stronger than she’d ever been.

You don’t know her, you never did. That’s why she’ll never fall for
you.