Page 91 of Cold Sacrifice

“I can’t get the last bit,” Trinity screamed, tears in her voice. “I can’t get it!”

Zach was picked up and slammed against the wall, then Remy, who should have stayed in the clinic bed trying to heal, and then, Jolene went for Rick.

Jared shot out a hand and wrapped it around Rick’s upper arm, and my alpha was strong. For a few seconds, he and Jolene would fight for the detective.

“Stop jostling her,” Lucy cried. “Hold still!”

Jolene’s form changed. She became a skeleton, her flesh flying off her bones from the wind she herself was causing. Her hair, whipping wildly, ripped from her skull and hit the walls and windows like frantic snakes.

She reached out a bony hand, wrapped it around the back of Rick’s neck, and began to squeeze.

His eyes widened. “She’s got me,” he murmured.

I knew without a single doubt that Jolene wasn’t going to try wrenching Rick out of Jared’s grip so she could fling him across the room. She was going to break his neck.

I absolutely could not lie there hoping Trinity would finish the process while the bitch snapped my detective’s spine.

Honestly, beneath the clamor and chaos and ice, my pain was less. It should have been more with Jolene’s last brutal attempt, but it was as though the ice was dulling the pain. I was too numb with cold to feel the boiling heat of the wound.

And even as Jolene squeezed Rick’s neck, she waved her free hand and ripped Trinity away from me. Sam yanked Lucy out of the little huddle.

It was just my alpha, my detective, and me.

Only not just.

My demon blade was so hot it felt like it was burning a hole through my flesh. And with a burst of adrenaline, I screamed for the blade. It was in my hand immediately, and I brought it up with a viciousness that would have been impossible ten minutes earlier.

I severed Jolene’s hand, and then, I forced myself away from Jared, who wanted to hold on to me, and I shoved Rick away. I stood, holding my injured arm protectively to my side, and I went to fight a spirit that would never leave if I couldn’t sever the tether.

But first, I needed the second piece of the tether. Remy’s favorite, lucky stake, Dolly.

I leaned over and snatched it off the floor, though the fingers of my injured arm didn’t want to work, and though I didn’t really know what to do with it. I just knew it had to be part of this last attempt.

Everywhere I looked, I saw one of my people. My mother was running toward me, maybe thinking she could somehow protect me against the horror in the kitchen.

Jolene used the sharp bones of her wrist to stab me in the temple, and then she tried to grab my blade. She wrapped her bony, ghostly fingers around the naked blade and squeezed, and then she shrieked and yanked her hand back when her finger bones began to melt.

And maybe that was the moment she realized she was in trouble. I saw it in her eyes. Ignoring my pain and my weakness, reenergized by the fire of the demon blade, I started toward her, slashing the air, eager to cut her head from the bones of her body.

But then Richard reappeared, and both anger and shame lurked deep in his narrowed stare. He was shocked to see me, but he put all his emotions aside and told me exactly how to end the nightmare once and for all.

“Don’t fight her,” he said, as he came up behind Jolene and wrapped an arm around the bones of her throat. “Use the demon power to sever the tether. This time, I will not fail to hold her.”

For a brief second, I rebelled, because I wanted to take all my fear and frustration and rage out on her by chopping her into brittle bits and pieces. She didn’t seem like a ghost to me. She was flesh and blood and bones.

But if I didn’t sever the tether, she would not leave us. She would reknit, reappear maybe as something else, and my people would be at risk. I would be at risk.

“Richard has her,” I told them, calmly. “Let’s finish this.” Then I looked at Zach. “Build a fire in the firepit so we can burn the stake.”

I was sorry to have to destroy Dolly. I couldn’t imagine having to do the same to my demon blade. But just before he turned to exit the room with Zach, Remy caught my stare and gave me a nod. “Dolly’s dead,” he said, “and there will never be another. But I’ll find another favorite.”

Lucy and Trinity, both shaking, both crying, rushed to me. Trinity was injured, but I couldn’t tell how badly. I handed her the stake, and then, without hesitation and working solely on instinct, I lifted the blade and pierced my wound.

And once again, Trinity pushed the sharp end of the stake into my arm. That time, I didn’t scream.

Jolene did, though, as she felt her tether begin to tatter, to fade, to die.

“You will die, now,” Richard told her. “The evil that created you will die with you. You will spend eternity in the darkness of death. Be still. Be silent.”