AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Peyton pushed him under, shoving her bandanna in his hand. “Use this. Please don’t faint on us. You have to take care of yourself until we’re done. Keep yourself alive.”
She turned back and we whaled on the Shadow Hunter, stabbing the beast over and over until it broke away, looking for someplace to hide. But at that moment, a couple of shurikens came singing through the air, striking it in the forehead between the eyes. The creature collapsed before it could make it another foot. Kaylin dashed over, grabbed up the shurikens, stopped to give an astonished Luna a quick kiss, then raced off again.
Peyton made certain that Rex had bound up his wound and then the four of us pressed on. We swung back into the fray. I caught sight of Rhiannon and Chatter, working in tandem, creating fireballs to scorch and disrupt the Shadow Hunters. Grieve was still in wolf form, attacking as he could. Wrath and Lainule were working with the Fae. Lannan and Regina were yucking it up over another dead body, and the vampires were still scuffling. And Ysandra and her witches surrounded three of the Shadow Hunters, finishing them off with a well-placed lightning bolt.
The dizzying scent of blood was too much. I staggered over to an urn and, using it to lean on, upchucked everything I’d eaten that day. The sour smell filled my nose, and my mouth felt like I’d eaten rotten eggs, but my stomach felt better. I wiped my lips on my sleeve and turned around. One last shriek echoed through the room, and then, without warning, we were standing alone, no one left to fight.
The sound of heavy breathing and an occasional moan filled the room as I stared over the carnage. It was hard to tell how many were dead.
I quickly scanned for my friends—everyone had made it, though Rex looked worse for the wear. It was hard to tell where our enemies’ blood left off and our own took up. The vampires gathered around Lannan, and Lainule called for the Fae to line up. Ysandra snapped her fingers and the Consortium members still alive joined her. We added up our losses.
Twenty vampires were missing. No doubt they’d been staked. And five of the twelve Fae warriors were dead. Two more were severely wounded and I doubted they’d make it. Five members of the Consortium team were dead.
Grieve counted the bodies of the Shadow Hunters. He looked up, his face grim. “Thirty-five. We lost thirty…possibly thirty-two,” he added, glancing at the wounded men. “It’s bad but not as bad as it could have been.”
Lannan motioned for his remaining men to begin separating the bodies. “Make certain the Shadow Hunters are truly dead. Then take the remaining Fae warriors and scour the grounds. Nobody goes unattended. Make certain our defenses are back in order.”
As they began the gruesome work of cleaning up the dead, we wearily filed back into our planning room. We were all covered with blood and I noticed more than one vampire’s nose twitching as we walked by. But to give them credit, they didn’t make a move.
I was at the back of the line heading into the room when Lannan stopped me. I turned to him, still caught up in the adrenaline surge of the battle. He stared at me for a long moment, then pushed me against the wall, his tongue slamming into my mouth as he spread my legs with his knees.
My blood ran hot at his touch. I pushed against him, not wanting to feel aroused, but the adrenaline surging through my body was desperate for a release. “Lannan, stop. Grieve will kill you. Especially with emotions running so high. And frankly, though I wouldn’t weep over your death, we need you right now.”
“You need me right now,” he said, his hand pressing against my breasts. “Admit it. You need me. You need to fuck and you need to fuck hard. You don’t want love right now, you want pure carnality. Pure lust, to work off the strain of battle.” His hand slid down to unzip my jeans.
“No, stop it—stop.” My body responded, but my anger was just as real. “Don’t touch me.”
Lannan slid me along the wall, around the corner. His men went about their work, never once looking up at us. But I could see the Fae staring at me, and I motioned to them. They began to head our way.
“Keep it up and Grieve won’t need to put a stop to this.” I bit his lip, drawing blood, and without thinking, licked the drop that welled up off his mouth.
He snarled, jamming his hands down my pants. I could feel his fingers oh so near me, and my body wanted to squirm, to assist him, but before I could battle it out in my mind, one of the warriors shoved him away from me. I dropped to the floor, tears of desire and of humiliation spilling over.
The warrior helped me up and turned to Lannan, who was staring at him with pure fury. But he simply shook that gorgeous mane of golden hair back into place and, giving me a long look, whispered, “We aren’t finished with this, Cicely. We aren’t done by a long shot.” And then, adjusting his bloody clothing, he turned and walked around the corner.
“Thank you.” I looked up at the Fae guard who was staring at me with what looked like pity. “Thank you. I…I…”
“Go now. Your friends await, Mistress of the Owls. Go and be safe.”
His niceness eating a hole in my heart, I smiled faintly and grabbed his hand, pressing it to my cheek. “You too. He will seek any way he can to punish you for helping me. And Lannan…as much as he can help, he can hurt.”
“Remember, I came through the routing of the Summer barrow. I have fought darker demons than Altos, and I am still alive. Go now.” And with that, he turned, and I walked into the boardroom. Everyone was milling around, and a servant had brought food, hot coffee, and a first-aid kit.
Rex was lying on the table, Peyton by his side, holding his hand. The chunk the Shadow Hunter had bitten out of his leg was long gone, and there would be a nasty scar, but hopefully it would heal without getting infected. A member of the Consortium was examining the wound and whispering healing charms over it while dousing it with antiseptic and preparing a bandage.
I looked over at Lannan. He caught my gaze and those dark eyes of his drew me in. Shivering, I turned away to see who all had been hurt.
We all were covered with bruises and scratches, and I had a nasty bite in my shoulder, but my enemy hadn’t managed to rip flesh out of me. As I stripped off my shirt, sitting there in my bra, waiting for the healer to attend me, somebody pressed a cup of coffee in my hand, along with a couple of cookies. My mouth felt dry and fuzzy, and I wanted to go rinse it, but before I could, weariness hit me like a sledgehammer and I hung my head, staring at my feet.
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.”
