rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (18 page)

Bella took a deep breath and nodded. “You know I stand with you, Lark. No matter how bad it gets, or what we must face.”

Lark snapped her fingers in the air. “Time to go.” She jogged up the stairs and we all followed. I brought up the rear with Jonathan in front of me. As I passed Bella, she touched my arm and I paused.

She opened her mouth and then shook her head. Tears glittered at the edges of her gray eyes. All the unspoken words were there. Be careful. Save the world. But louder than both of those was the simple
don’t let my sister die
.

I nodded, but could say nothing. This was war, and Lark was one of our generals. Which would make her a target. Still, I would do what I could to keep her alive. As I would for all of my family.

We wove up and through the Spiral while the air around us crackled with tension. Lark was right, the scent of demon was far too strong for this to be the end of the invasion here. Orion knew I was here. What would I do if I were in his place?

“I’d send more than one general,” I breathed the words out a split second before the Spiral exploded in a burst of flames around us. We all hit the ground, the heat blasting like it was pushed by a storm.

“On your bellies, keep moving,” Lark yelled and we followed as she took us to a side hallway with no flames. Once more on our feet, we ran, trusting Lark to get us the hell out of there.

“Which demon is connected to fire?”

Peta glanced back at me, her voice as clear as any others. “War.”

Lark slammed to a stop in front of a dead end. “I’m going to open this up, it will take us directly into the Enders Barracks. From there, go to the lowest level. Bella, go with them, show them the bands and how to use them.”

Bella nodded. “Be careful, Lark. I’ve lost you once, I don’t want to lose you again.”

Lark touched her sister’s head gently. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ve too much trouble to stir up.”

She put her hand on the wall and the tree split open, not unlike what had happened in the floor of the Spiral.

“Pamela,” Lark called to her. “I need your help.”

Pamela paused and looked at me. I nodded at her, though it tore at my guts. “Go, kick ass. Show them what you can do, witch.”

Her lips twitched and she clapped her hands together, a sharp rumble of thunder echoing outside. “Consider it done.”

Cactus, and of course, Peta stayed with Lark as well. They would hold the demons off long enough for us to get out of here. Once more, we were separated.

The rest of us leapt through into the darkness that was the Barracks. I looked back to see Lark for a split second before the tree closed.

There was one torch flickering against the wall showing me a training area, old, rusting weapons on the walls and what was left of several rotting leather uniforms.

“There aren’t enough arm bands for everyone. You have to decide who will go with you, Rylee, and who will stay behind. There is only the ability to move four of you,” Belladonna said as she led the way across the floor.

I goggled at her. “Stay behind?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “It is the only way.”

Leaving any one of my family behind was unthinkable. Pamela staying with Lark was different. I knew Lark would protect her as much as Pam would protect Lark.

Alex touched my arm, turning me to him. “I can fly back with Eve and Marco. We don’t have to worry about the sun coming up if you take the vamps with you.”

My heart clenched at the thought of Alex not being with me. But he was right, he was the obvious choice. I grabbed him in a hug, holding him tightly. “Don’t take any chances. Go straight to the farmhouse.”

He hugged me back, his gangly arms surprisingly strong. “Yuppy doody, boss.”

I swatted him on the back and let go before tears could start. Bella pointed at the hallway at the far end of the room as she grabbed the torch from the wall. “The stairs lead down to the Traveling room. We have two armbands. One of you will wear a band, the other will hang onto that person.”

“How does this work?” Berget asked. “Is this like jumping the Veil?”

An explosion outside of the barracks shook the whole place, and dust fell around our ears. Bella waved a hand as if it were nothing. “No, not like that. With the Veil, your soul is at risk if you are not a necromancer. They are the only ones who can jump without damaging themselves.”

I glared at Liam, but meant at Faris. “This was what you meant when you said it would hurt Liam? That it would eat his soul if you jumped us?”

He turned to me and I knew I was looking at Liam still. “Yes, that’s why he wouldn’t do it. He knows you, Rylee. I hate to admit it, but he does. You would never forgive him if he’d broken my soul in trying to get us here.”

Bella tsked softly and another explosion shook the structure. I Tracked Pamela and Lark.

They were both pissed as cats stuffed into a toilet and swirlied. But the power running through them both . . . it was beyond wild, beyond anything I’d ever felt.

Pamela was the strongest witch the world had ever seen, and that included Milly, who’d been able to do things like jumping the Veil and breaking bonds with demons.

Yet Lark was making Pamela look like a human next to the power she was running. I wasn’t sure the explosions were related to the demons attacking.

The earth rolled beneath or feet and Bella ran ahead of us. “Hurry, we’re almost there.”

She ran for a wide set of doors, shoving them open. Despite the need to hurry, I couldn’t help but stop and stare at what we stumbled into. The room was round, as if we were standing inside a globe looking out at all the countries and oceans of the world.

Bella touched the globe with both hands and
pulled
it toward her, enhancing the picture until it was clear, as if I stood in front of the scene. “Rylee, you know where you’re going?”

I nodded, and reached for the globe tightening the view, zooming in, until it showed the barn on my farm, and the burnt out shell that had been my home. “Here, this is where we’re going.”

Another monster rumble sent us all to our knees. Bella gasped. “I have to help them. This is how the armbands work. You put it on,” she shoved a smooth wooden band onto my upper arm. “With this hand,” she tapped the one with the band on it. “You touch the spot you want to go. With the other hand, twist the band clockwise. Counterclockwise will bring you back here.”

She looked at us one last time as she stood in the doorway. “Good luck.”

Alex didn’t hesitate, just waved and followed her up the stairs. As if he were going on a date or to a party, not into a war zone. But that was Alex.

“Berget, you first,” I said. “Take Jonathan with you and hunker down in the barn.”

She slipped the band on and touched a spot of ground on the globe directly on the west side of the barn. Where the morning sun hadn’t touched yet. Jonathan wrapped his fingers around the belt at her waist.

“A piece of advice?” he said.

“What is it?”

“Whatever you do, don’t let go.”

Berget touched the map and twisted her armband at the same time. A blast of wind roared through the room and their bodies were sucked into the globe with a pop of air and a burst of light.

“Fuck me,” I whispered.

Liam grunted. “You have to admit, that is far more impressive than jumping the Veil.”

I looked at the map, and though I knew what I had to do, I didn’t think Liam was going to like it.

“We’re not going to the farmhouse, are we?”

Damn, was I that easy to read? “No, we aren’t.”

“Marcella?”

Gods, I wanted to go after our daughter, but not yet. I swallowed hard. “No.”

“Then who?”

“Orion.”

CHAPTER 22

LIAM

HE WASN’T SURE he’d heard her right. Because there was no way she’d said they were dropping into Orion’s lap.

“No, no, no.” He held up his hands and a demon flew into the room. He grabbed it and held it out for her as if it hadn’t interrupted him. She cupped the demons head and whispered to it, and it dissolved.

“Yes. I need to see him, to get close enough to touch him.” She looked him straight in the eye. “I have to bind him to me, Liam. It’s the only way I will ever beat him.”

“Bind him to you? Are you out of your mind?” he roared as she touched the armband.

“You can either come with me, or I can leave you behind to fly home with Alex,” she snapped. The fear in her voice calmed him. She wasn’t being wildly reckless.

“You actually have a plan, don’t you?”

Her eyebrows rose. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“Of you, yes.” He grabbed the waistband of her jeans and let out a breath. “Where you go, I go. That’s the deal. But how are you going to convince Orion to touch you?”

She adjusted the globe until it hovered over Washington, D.C. “He’s in the White House, with the president.” With a flick of her fingers, the view shifted from the steps of the White House to the Oval Office. “I need you to bite me, and then invoke the bite to make me fast enough if he decides he doesn’t want to go along with my plan.”

With a flip of her hair, she bared her neck to me. “Do it, please.”

Invoking the bite . . . it would temporarily give her the speed and strength of the vampire. A bonus for those willing to share blood with a vampire, but it was also one more tie to Faris.

Inside his head, the vampire laughed.
I think we are far beyond those worries, aren’t we?

Faris was right. Liam bent to her neck and brushed his lips against her soft skin, placing a kiss where his teeth would go. He slowly punctured the skin, allowing his fangs to carefully slide in. The moan that slipped from her nearly undid him. Holding her tightly, his body pressed against hers, the surge of emotions and blood enough to send his libido into overdrive. Her fingers tangled in his hair. “Don’t stop.”

Around them, the world shook on its foundations, and all he could think about was how good it would feel to rip her clothes off and take her right there on the floor. To remind them both how very alive they were.

With a great effort, he pulled back from her and licked the two pinpricks where his fangs punctured. Faris said nothing.

“The Oval Office,” he said carefully. “That will be loaded with security, guns, men, and probably the president.”

“You bar the doors, I’ll do the rest,” she whispered.

Liam’s gut clenched. He knew what the security would be like, and while bullets wouldn’t kill him, they would kill Rylee. “Are you absolutely certain that’s where he is?” He made himself let go of her, at least for the moment.

She snorted and gave him a look that told him everything he needed to know. Her eyes only swirled that fast with the three colors when she was Tracking. “I think I should know.”

He put his other hand on her waist and closed his eyes. “Can’t blame me for trying to talk you out of this.”

There was the sound of the rushing wind, a flash of light, and he opened his eyes. The Oval Office looked like the movies portrayed it, with a large desk and white, rounded walls.

Except that most movies didn’t have a demon sitting on the edge of the desk with one leg bent, and the other on the floor, his mouth hanging open in shock.

“Surprise,” Rylee said. Liam let go of her and ran to the doors, locking them down. They only needed Orion. No one else; certainly not the president’s men.

The demon was put together like a body builder, his shoulders and neck stacked so high with muscle that it looked as though he had no neck. A bald shining head and red glowing eyes the color of fresh blood topped off the image.

He gathered himself together quickly, standing and folding his arms over his chest. “Rylee, how lovely of you to drop in. What can I do you for?”

It was only then that Liam realized the demon was not alone in the Oval Office. The president sat behind him tapping furiously at whatever panic button he had. “Mr. President, we’re only here for Orion. Not you,” Liam said.

That didn’t seem to calm the leader of the free world, not one bit.

Rylee held her hands up. “I want to talk about a truce. Terms that we could both live with, demon.”