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That’s always how it is with men like him. All that sophistication is just an act to make themselves feel better than everyone else. They’re really just violent bullies.
“Couldn’t do this the easy way, could you?” he snaps at Raven. “Had to drag this out and cause more problems for yourselves!”
I don’t know what could possibly be more of a problem than him literallykillingme and draining me of my life force but sure, asshole, you do you.
Roanac fires off a blast of magic and the three men scatter.
I throw myself at him again, but this time he’s ready for me. He grabs me by the throat and throws me across the space so that I land hard on the floor, sprawling. I suspect that wasn’t his full strength. He wouldn’t want to somehow damage my magic by damaging me.
Raven transforms completely into his gargoyle form, snarling and tearing into the shade that had tried to attack him. Roanac fires more blasts of magic at the three men as Cain and North launch themselves at him. I scramble to my feet and hurry out of the way.
North picks up the sword of the fallen shade and swings it like one of his daggers, trying to attack Roanac. I can see it hit Roanac’s skin, but the blade glances off. He’s impervious to it.
Shit. He’s already that powerful, and this is before taking any of my blood? We are in deep shit. Anyone who stands in his way is in deep shit.
For the first time since I’ve met him, North looks surprised, and a little concerned. North gets down on himself for not being able to shift into his wolf form, but he’s a hell of a fighter, and he’s smart. I don’t think he’s met many people that can outmatch him.
We have to get out of here.
Roanac fires back at Cain and North, but I can see a calculating, almost careful look on his face. It’s the room, I realize, as one of his blasts of magic hits the wall and fizzles out without damaging anything. He’s trying not to destroy this place. Who knows how long it took him to set it up, he must not want to damage it and have to start over.
I’m glad of that, but it’s a small mercy as I dodge and race toward Cain and North. North stops fighting and opens his arms as I barrel toward him, catching me and spinning around so that his body is blocking me from Roanac.
“Everyone move!” Cain yells, splaying out his fingers and reaching for empty air.
A portal opens in front of us and North leaps through with me. I feel a powerful breeze from wingbeats and realize Raven’s following us.
Roanac screams in rage, and then it’s cut off as the portal closes with asnapbehind us, and we all tumble to the floor.
A horrible sort of growling-moan combination sounds out from behind us, and I turn around.
Fuck. A shade followed us through.
CHAPTER5
Ileap to my feet, but Raven’s even faster. He’s still in full gargoyle form, and he careens into the shade, his jaws and claws tearing into it, ripping it literally to shreds.
Raven’s breathing heavily by the time he’s through. He walks over to us and uses his massive claws to slice the connection on our cuffs, then smash the crystals. I slide my cuffs off and shake out my hands. I don’t feel vaguely like I’m underwater anymore, so that’s good.
“You okay?” I ask him.
Raven slowly shifts back to his human form, and then nods. I can’t tell if he’s exhausted from the fight with the shades, or if it’s the weird thing from earlier with how he was behaving, or something else. And I don’t know how to ask.
I look around us, but I don’t recognize where we are. It’s a very nondescript place. Outside I can hear rain hammering on a tin roof. There’s mud under our feet. The air’s humid and hot. Around us are wooden walls. We’re in some kind of building, maybe a barn or a warehouse, but it’s impossible to tell with how dark it is. The only light comes from the moon shining in through cracks. I can’t see a window.
“Where are we?”
“A stopover point,” Cain explains. “In case we were ever followed. Like that shade tried to. We portal to one of these sites instead of an actual safe house or home of ours. Then we can battle it out and if the person who followed us gets away, well, at least they don’t know anything.”
I’m curious where exactly this stopover point is in the world, if we’re on a whole new continent or back in the United States. I think we’re in the middle of a jungle, which would put us in Southeast Asia or South America, but I don’t know if now’s the right time for curiosity. We’ve got much bigger problems to deal with.
I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about Roanac.
Cain opens another portal. “All right, everyone through.”
North puts an arm around my shoulders to lead me through the portal, which I don’t mind at all. It’s just that Raven’s usually the one who does that. It makes me worried that he’s not stepping up for it.
We step into the safe house, and I just about collapse onto the couch. I never would’ve thought I’d be so glad to see a boring safe house again. I much prefer the apartment the men have, with all of its homey touches and its nice view, but this is carefully thought-out, just like everything else in their lives is.
