AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"No you don't!" I lunged forward, heedless of the scene that was playing out before my eyes. Grabbing the end of the stake, I fought with Dredge, fighting against his strength with all my might.
"This isn't the end," he whispered, staring up at me with those gorgeous, haunting eyes. "I'm not done with you yet."
"Haven't you ever heard of divorce, motherfucker?" I gave one last shove and fell against the stake, ramming it with my hands. The tip slowly slid the rest of the way through, piercing his heart, coming to rest against the floor beneath him. Loki let out a short bark of laughter, and Dredge gave one last scream before his body, born a thousand years before, burst into ashes that floated to the carpet. I tumbled to the side and came up in a crouch before the demigod.
Shaking my braids out of my face, I slowly rose to face Loki. He was holding an orb of energy in his hand. Dredge's soul. I swallowed, backing up a couple steps. What the hell was going to happen now? But Mr. L. merely ran his gaze over me, from head to toe, then winked. I could hear Dredge give one last scream as Loki, his wolf-child, and his vampire child vanished.
"Camille, can you stand up?" Delilah had returned to normal. She crawled over to where Camille lay on the floor, the calves of both legs bleeding at a good clip.
"Where is he?" Morio was first through the door. The barrier had disappeared. He took one look around the room, saw the bloody stake, and reached his own conclusions. "Is everybody okay—Camille? Camille!" He rushed over to where Delilah was trying to fashion bandages out of a sheet to stop the bleeding.
Roz and Chase were right behind him. Roz pushed both Delilah and Morio aside. "Let me. I brought a healing salve, just in case. It will at least stop the bleeding until we can get her medical aid." As he rubbed the ointment on her wounds, she grimaced.
"Oh Great Mother, that stings," she said.
"Payback for the stitches," he countered, smirking.
"So he's gone? Dead?" Chase glanced around and whistled. "You sure did a number on this room. Cracked the walls, burned down the bed, scorched the carpet, broke the windows… You're not ever staying at my place, that's for sure."
I snorted. "Thank you, Mr. Wise Ass. Camille invited a lightning bolt to come and play, which started the fire, and then she put it out with a few buckets of rain. I'm the one responsible for the cracked wall."
Chase stared at us, then began to laugh. "Just another day in the life of the D'Artigo sisters, huh?"
I knelt by the stake, staring at the pile of ashes. The wind blowing through the window caught them up, set them spiraling, and then carried them away. Roz joined me as we gazed out into the chilly Seattle night.
"I don't know how we did it. I honestly don't know how we managed to kill him." I told him about the fight. "We're good… but are we that good?"
"Apparently so. But perhaps… perhaps you had a little help?" Roz picked up the stake and stared at the bloodied end.
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe Loki was ready to make Dredge pay his debt. Maybe not. Whatever the case, I'll bet you the winter dies down in a few days." Roz shook his head. "I can't believe it's over. I've followed his tracks ever since he killed my family. For seven hundred years I've traced him across plain and over mountain. And now, at the end, I didn't even get to look in his eyes as he died."
I hung my head. "I wish you could have been here with us. He's gone. But the rest of the Elwing Clan still lives." I glanced at the window. "They're out there, somewhere."
"And he was their leader. If he treated them like he did you, you'll be their savior." Roz wiped the stake on a blanket and stuck it in his jacket.
"And if they worshiped Dredge… they'll come after me. Eventually." I stood up and dusted my hands off on my butt. "I'll be ready for them."
"Now what?" Roz asked.
"We go home. We bind up Camille's wounds. We figure out what the next step is in our war against Shadow Wing." I turned to find Morio, but Roz reached out and caught my arm.
"I'm going with you. There's something you need to hear. About Shadow Wing. About the demons."
I started to ask what, but he moved too fast and before I knew it, he was gone, out of the room and down the hall. As we gathered up whatever we could find that had belonged to Dredge, I asked Morio to go explain what happened to Exo Reed and send us a bill for the damages.
Just what did Roz know about Shadow Wing, anyway? And what about Dredge? He was toast, but what was that grin and salute from the lord of chaos?
As I lifted Camille to carry her down to the car—it was easiest for me to carry her, and the blood seeping from her leg didn't even make my nose twitch for once—I realized that a little part of me would always be afraid that Dredge might find a way to return. Some wounds are forever, I thought. Even when you drop the baggage, the claim ticket's still burned into your soul.
CHAPTER 20
Iris was waiting in the kitchen. She looked up as we entered and burst into tears. "You're alive," she started to say, but then she saw Camille's legs and gasped. "Oh my stars, what happened? Let her rest on the sofa and I'll get the first-aid kit."
As she bustled out of the room, Tim looked up at me. "Is he dead?"
I nodded. "Yeah. Dust and shadows. All that's left of Dredge is a memory…" But as I spoke, I thought that there was one thing left of Dredge—his soul, locked forever in the grasp of someone even more sadistic than he had been. The karma police in action? Maybe. Or maybe just the universe, having one last laugh at his expense.
