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We were managing to stay alive, and we’d taken out a sizable number of Myst’s guards—but at a great cost. We’d lost almost as many of our own. I looked up, staring at the others with a bleak heart. It was time to pick up the pieces and decide our next move.
“What next? What the fuck do we do next?”
“We go down to the station and I make my announcement. We have to do it tonight or we’ll never get another chance. Not after this fiasco.” Lannan’s voice was clear, showing none of the antagonism he’d aimed at me only a few minutes ago. I was beginning to think he was bipolar.
I let out a long sigh. “And then?” But I knew what came after that. We would sleep, and tomorrow we would perform the ritual on Grieve. And maybe, with a little luck, the tide would turn and something would go our way for once.
Lainule moved to my side. She rested her hand on my good shoulder and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “You must see that Grieve maintains control. I can only hope this ritual works. Much depends on it.”
Startled, I turned. “You know what we’re planning?”
She nodded. “Wrath told me. Cicely, so much more depends on you and Grieve than you realize. And on Chatter and Rhiannon, too. The four of you must stay alive, no matter the cost. Before, there were other options, but now…those are gone. You four are the hope for the future. Remember that. Be safe. Do what you need to in order to stay alive. Anything you need to.” With that pointed bit of advice, she moved away again, leaving me to wonder how much worse things could get.
Chapter 17
We had to clean up before we could head to the radio station, and so I took my third shower of the day. Grieve came in with me, for which I was both grateful and nervous. I didn’t tell him about Lannan’s kiss. We were under enough pressure as it was, and if he knew Lannan had been groping me again, well, that would just put the nail in the coffin. Or the stake in the vampire.
“Where did they put the cats? I can’t stand to think of them in danger from Lannan’s people.” Cats didn’t like vampires. They had good reason.
Grieve smiled softly as he washed my hair. “Worry not about the furry creatures. Luna has been given a large suite and they’re all in there with her, safe and sound. I have to admit, for all of his folly, Altos seems to like Luna—he treats her with a respect that surprises me. I saw it while you were out of the room today.”
“She has a way of inspiring that in both man and beast.” I paused, my hands on the knobs of the shower. “I was worried she might be too easily hurt, too vulnerable, but I have the feeling she has a lot more power than I gave her credit for. It’s a quiet energy but runs strong in her.”
As I turned off the water and we dried off, I wanted nothing more than to take another nap. I was bone-weary, more tired than I’d ever been. The battle had been draining, even with allies, and the adrenaline that had been coursing through my body was now just as quickly departing.
I leaned against the wall, trying to focus. “I need more coffee or something.”
Grieve pulled me over to the bed.
As much as I loved him, as turned on as I’d been a half hour before, now I couldn’t muster up enough oomph to even think about sex. “I’m sorry, I just don’t have the energy—”
“No, my love. That’s not what I had in mind.” He sat me down and took my hands. “I taught you many things when you were little. Now I will teach you again. You are half–Cambyra Fae. You have the blood of a king in your veins. You will have some of the powers of the Fae, but you have to learn how to call upon them, to activate them.”
I waited, letting him hold my hands, drifting on his words. I was so sleepy, I just wanted to sail out to sea, to glide on the winds, to let the currents take me where they desired.
“Close your eyes. Listen to my voice. Follow me down, into the energy, into the slipstream.”
I followed his instructions, slipping into a light trance, letting his voice lead me into a somnolent state. The energy swirled around us, light whisperings on the slipstream, and I listened as they fluttered past, the light pattering of butterfly wings on the current.
Grieve’s voice echoed past. “Now enter the slipstream and follow me inward. Follow the trail I leave.”
And so I dove into the slipstream, and there it was, the trail of lights that signaled his energy, the trail of bread crumbs leading me onward. I spiraled and looped, the wind racing through my hair, through my thoughts, clearing the cobwebs out, refreshing me. We were running, racing through the slipstream, letting it carry us along, and for one moment, everything felt perfect.
“Now jump…follow me. Keep your eyes closed.”
I jumped. And the scent around me was of autumn and bonfires, and I felt it lure me in because it was Grieve’s energy. He was no longer the sweet freshly mown grass of summer, but the sound of crisp autumn leaves beneath my feet, and the scent of rain on cedars, and his lips tasted like sweet pumpkin and cinnamon sticks. I embraced his change, sank into it, realizing he was no longer of the Summer Court, but neither did Winter fully claim him. He was balanced between the two realms, walking a thin line.>I stumbled over one of the dead Cambyra, but managed to catch myself before I fell. I looked up to see Luna screaming as one of the Shadow Hunters fastened on her shoulder with his teeth. Zoey was beating on the creature’s back, and Peyton was racing over to her side. Kaylin was off somewhere else, embroiled in another battle.
I shook my thoughts clear and leaped over the body in front of me, racing in to plant the silver dagger deep in the Shadow Hunter’s shoulder. This time no bloodlust overwhelmed me, but my own desire to see these freaks dead took over. I stabbed him several times, twisting the knife as I plunged it in up to the hilt.
The Shadow Hunter stumbled, falling to his knees, and without a single hesitation, Luna brought out a short dirk and planted it in his forehead. She yanked the blade out again and the Shadow Hunter gurgled and fell forward, hitting the floor with a slick thud. I shoved him out of the way with my foot and turned to find the next one.
And on we went, driving through. There had been at least twenty of them coming through the door, and who knew how many more behind them, and so we fought through the mob, one after another, losing count. Peyton, Luna, Zoey, and I formed a quartet, moving in from all sides, our daggers on overtime.
At one point, we dropped a Shadow Hunter just in time to see another attacking Rex. He was doing his best to fend off the creature and looked about to shift, except I knew that even in his cougar form he wouldn’t be able to fight the Shadow Hunter. It transformed into the true monster it was and bit down on his leg, ripping a chunk of flesh from the bone. Rex screamed and toppled, and the four of us moved in. Peyton jumped in front of her father, trying to protect him, as I attacked from the side.
When they were in their natural form, the Shadow Hunters were far more deadly, albeit with less choice in weaponry. I landed the dagger in its shoulder, plunging deep into the muscle. Zoey swiped it down the hindquarters, leaving a nasty trail, and Luna began to sing a charm that made the blood flow much more quickly. The Shadow Hunter, bleeding out, turned on us, mouth gaping wide, wicked teeth razor sharp and serrated.
I glanced at Rex. He was near the sideboard, and there was room beneath it for him to hide. I motioned to the heavy furniture. “Get beneath it, bind up your wounds. I know it hurts, but get under there.” He’d be safer out of the way, and his leg was bleeding like a stuck pig.
