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I offered him what he probably knew was a forced smile. “I’m sure.” I patted his arm. “Now, let’s go.”
Killian called back when we were inside an SUV and already outside the DuMoir grounds. Behind the steering wheel, Shane told him what was happening.
“I’ll talk to Lord Drake,” Killian said. “I’m sure he’ll send more vampires with me.”
“Raika will text you the coordinates.” Shane looked at me and I nodded at him, already with my phone in my hands and typing the coordinates Kaz had sent us.
We rode for four hours into northern New York state at well-above-the-limit speed, and into a deeper part of the wilderness. We took the car into wider hiking trails—thankfully, because it was the middle of the night, there was no one here—until we couldn’t anymore.
We took off our clothes, tied small fanny packs around our waists, and shifted. We ran as fast as we could to the new coordinates Kaz sent us fifteen minutes ago. The forest was dark and oddly quiet, but we could see and hear fine with our enhanced senses.
I could smell blood before we found him. Kaz was lying inside a small, dark cave, his hand over his stomach, his eyes closed, his breathing ragged, and his crossbow broken beside him. We shifted back, picked up the flashlight and the healing paste I had stashed inside the fanny packs, and knelt beside Kaz. There were several wounds on his face and shoulders.
I peeled his hand from his stomach. A pool of blood greeted me. Shit. I grabbed a shirt discarded by his side, cleaned the blood as best as I could, but more came from the big gash on the side of the stomach.
“How bad is it?” Lucille asked from behind me.
I looked at Shane from across Kaz’s fainted form. “I’m not sure.” It was a lie. I knew this was bad and he needed more than my healing paste, but it was all I had right now. I cleaned the gash once more and applied half of the paste before more blood came out and washed it away. “He needs a healer.”
“No,” he croaked. I hadn’t even noticed he had woken up. “My healing will kick in in a second.” He tried to sit up and groaned. “I need to help you.”
Shane pushed his shoulders down. “No, you need to rest.”
I offered him two pills and water. “It’s for the pain.”
Kaz grunted, but took it. “You have to go, then.” He swallowed the pills and took a big swallow of water. “By now, Paimon has the dragon.”
“Hopefully she got away,” I said.
The dragon shifter shook his head. “No, he came prepared. He was going to catch her. You need to stop him before he can kill her.” He pointed to his left. “Go this way. That was where I last saw them about …” He glanced at his phone’s screen. “Thirty minutes ago.”
I frowned. Of course he hadn’t stayed put and rested, even though he had a horrible wound, possibly fatal. No, he was following Paimon and the dragon. But I understood why. He had to make sure they didn’t get away.
I left more pain pills and the healing paste with Kaz. “The vampires will be arriving soon. I’ll make sure to send someone here to help you.”
“Thanks.” He stopped fighting it and closed his eyes.
The four of us shifted back into our wolf forms and followed the direction Kaz had told us to go, Shane in the lead.
About fifteen minutes running, Shane slowed down.
I can smell them, he said into our minds.
I could too. A strong scent of Paimon, Ivy, the demons I got to know, and the dragon. Her misty, smoky scent was the strongest of all.
Which meant …
We climbed over some rocks and looked down at the vast valley below. The dragon was lying on the ground, dark magical ropes around her massive body. Her eyes were closed, and for a second, I panicked, thinking she was dead, but then her eyes snapped open and she yanked at the ropes, but they held. Orange built up inside her throat, but her mouth was also tied. Smoke billowed from her nostrils and she let out what sounded like a cry.
Poor thing.
Paimon and Ivy stood beside the dragon, gesturing wildly at her while arguing. Rotgar was a few feet beyond them, looking bored. And many, many demons filled the valley, some watching the dragon, others looking out at the surroundings.
Paimon wasn’t stupid; he knew someone was coming and he had to be quick and prepared.
My chest constricted. For about ten days, I had believed this demon to be a loving father, a man with kindness in his heart, who really wanted to change the world for the better. But now I remembered the before, the truth. He never had my best interest in mind. All he wanted was more power for himself, and his ultimate goal was to become the king of the underworld, so he could rule over all demons and create chaos.
I couldn’t allow that. No matter who he was in my family tree.
