Demons (Eirik Book 1) (35 page)
Read Demons (Eirik Book 1) Online
Authors: Ednah Walters
“Take care of her, boy,” Eirik bellowed before he whipped away. He didn’t go far before his grandmother attacked again. I started to get up, but my legs gave away. Then something blocked me. I looked up an enormous hairy leg to the furry belly.
“Move, Garm.”
I recognized Trudy’s voice. The hound growled.
“He won’t move until he orders him,” another voice added.
I crawled from under the hound, my eyes on the two dragons bellowing and ripping each other apart in midair. I tried to stand again, using the giant furry leg as a prop. I came to his knee and shamelessly gripped his fur to stop from falling.
Residents of Hel’s Hall appeared on the snow-covered ground with their magical weapons readied. I recognized the goddess and Baldur. The rest, a mixture of
Jötun
, Dwarves, and Grimnirs, wore uniforms of some kind.
Someone grabbed me and squeezed me hard.
“You are okay,” Trudy whispered. She was crying. “I thought I’d never see you again.” Then she added, “You’re bleeding.”
“She scratched me.” I didn’t feel a thing, my eyes on the two dragons. Eirik was fighting for his life, yet everyone just stood and watched. “Why can’t they do something?”
“How can they? They might end up hitting him.”
The two dragons came tumbling down. The ground shook and fresh snow flew everywhere, showering the spectators. I hoped they got her now. I let go of the fur and started to walk toward them, but someone grabbed my arm. I whipped my head around. It was Rhys.
“Let go,” I warned.
“You can’t go to him,” Rhys shot back. “You need to leave now.”
“Not until I know he’s okay.” I tried to shake his hand, but his grip tightened. Garm snarled and I was free.
“He told me to make sure—”
I didn’t hear the rest of Rhys’ words. I trudged through the snowy fields to the gathered crowd. The people parted to let me through. Or maybe they did to let the hound pass since he was right above me.
My stomach dropped when I saw the two dragons on the ground. Blood coated Eirik’s wings, neck, and mane, and one of his beautiful white horns was chipped.
Did she bite him?
His eyes were closed, and I couldn’t tell whether he was alive or not. His parents knelt by his side, his mother stroking his head.
Please, let him be okay.
Then I saw his stomach lift and drop. Relief coursed through me. He was alive. As though someone flipped on a pain switch, my entire body started to throb. Instead of taking inventory of my wounds, I glanced at his grandmother. She was just as bloodied, and guards with drawn weapons surrounded her.
I hope she’s dead. If she lives and bit him first…
Damn! She was alive.
The hound left me and trotted to Eirik’s side. It made weird soft barks and pawed the ground. One dragon eye opened and the dog stopped. He licked Eirik’s face. There was laughter from the spectators. Tears rushed to my eyes. He was going to be okay.
I stepped back and bumped into Trudy. Pain racked my body. Something in my eyes must have given me away because she said, “You’re leaving?”
I nodded. “Eirik is okay, and she can’t stop me now.”
“Will you ever come back?”
My body ached so much I was close to passing out. I doubted I’d ever want to come back. I hugged her and groaned when she squeezed too hard.
“I’ll send Rhys with chocolate and painting things,” I whispered, then stepped back. Tears raced down her face.
I couldn’t control mine either. I stepped away from her, each step more painful than the last. Arms closed around me and I let them support me. I knew they weren’t Eirik’s, so I didn’t bother to look.
“Don’t tell anyone what happened to you here, Celestia,” Rhys warned.
“Who would believe me?”
“There are rules, and the Norns—”
“Don’t worry, Rhys. This never happened.”
I astral projected. I hovered in the air and looked down at Eirik. He was still in his dragon form, and they were trying to lift him up. As though he knew I was leaving, one eye opened. I waved. His mouth opened and a roar filled the air. He struggled to stand, but I didn’t think he could, which explained why he always ate a lot and slept for hours. His dragon form must use quite a bit of his energy. He bellowed again just before everything faded into white.
Then I heard beeping sounds and, “She’s coming around.”
I jerked upright and pain shot through me. My entire body ached.
“Lay still, honey,” a nurse said firmly and nudge me back onto the bed. “You’ll need sutures for these wounds.”
“How did she do it?” another whispered. “She’s been in a coma since they brought her here.”
“I don’t know. Get the doctor.”
I heard them, but my focus was on my wounds. The dragon’s talon had scraped my side, not my chest or thigh or foot. Thick gauze covered my chest right above my breast. Another was on my upper thigh, and the other nurse was cleaning up my foot.
“It’s the same half-moon shape as the ones on her chest and thigh,” the nurse tending my foot wound whispered.
Blood drained from my head. Three identical wounds made by three identical objects. Bite marks by the two incisors of a dragon and a third lone bite by another dragon. Had both Eirik and his grandmother bitten me? Who had bitten me first?
I reached the back of my thigh and my fingers came out bloody. I gagged and leaned to the side to throw up.
My wounds were healed, but fatigue made my movements sluggish despite the runes. Still, I made it to Windfall Medical Center. This time, Rhys had opened the portal to her room. Celestia lay still under a hospital blanket, the lights in her room dimmed.
Her friend Hayden looked up, anger on her face when she recognized us, but she didn’t speak and I realized why. Celestia’s father was asleep on a chair at the other side of her bed. Hayden jabbed a finger at me and indicated outside.
Yeah, like I was going to leave. She left her chair and I took it. Rhys followed her outside. I didn’t hear what they said, and to be honest, I didn’t give a shit about her anger. My focus was on Celestia.
I leaned against the edge of the bed and took her hand. As though she knew it was me, she murmured, “Eirik.”
My heart damn near stopped, then picked up tempo. My dragon stirred restlessly.
“I’m here, Dimples.”
Her eyes opened and she looked straight at me. Then she stiffened and pulled her hand from mine. “Go away.”
I stared at her in shock.
She didn’t mean that. She must be in pain.
There were no other fresh injuries on her face, except for the abrasion on her cheek, and no wounds on her arms. “Are you hurt?”
“Please. Get away from me.”
No matter how often she asked, I wasn’t leaving. “No, Dimples. I can’t.”
“You did this to me, Eirik.”
“I know. And I’m so sorry.” I wanted to ease her pain, but how could I when I didn’t know how badly hurt she was? “Please, tell me where it hurts.”
“Everywhere.” Tears welled in her eyes, but she turned her head away as though she didn’t want me to see her cry. “Just leave me alone.”
I wanted to tell her not to say that, but all I could do was swallow with difficulty. I couldn’t leave her. Not like this. Of course, she didn’t have to see me. Not when I was a reminder of everything that had happened to her. I engaged invisibility runes and stayed. When she turned and searched for me, it took every ounce of control not to get rid of the runes.
Tears raced down her face and silent sobs raked her body. With every teardrop and every sound, my heart squeezed until I couldn’t breathe. My dragon moaned, unable to withstand her crying and her pain.
I pulled out my artavus and etched sleeping runes on her. She sunk into a deep sleep, yet the tears continued to slip from underneath her closed eyelids. I wiped them away, but more replaced them. I put my blade away, settled beside her, and stroked her face and arm until she turned and nestled underneath my chin. The tears stopped.
No matter how painful it was, I’d be back every night to hold her, until she healed and stopped crying in her sleep. Because she was right about one thing. Everything that had happened to her was my fault. She didn’t have to ever see me again and be reminded of what she’d gone through.
T
HE RUNES SERIES READING ORDER:
Thank you for reading
DEMONS
. If you enjoyed it, please consider writing a review. Reviews can make a difference in the ranking of a book.
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Check out the other books in
The Runes series
(See below).
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READING ORDER
Runes
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Immortals
http://bit.ly/ImmortalsKindle
Grimnirs
http://bit.ly/GrimnirsKindle
Seeress
http://bit.ly/SeeressKindle
Souls
http://bit.ly/SoulsKindle
Witches
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Heroes, A Runes Companion Novel.
Eirik Book2.
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NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR
In
Runes,
readers are introduced to three best friends,
Raine
,
Cora
, and
Eirik
. Runes, Immortals, Seeress, and Witches chronicles
Raine’s story
and her journey to fulfill her destiny and find true love with Torin St. James,
a Valkyrie
(there’s one more story left). Grimnirs and Souls chronicles
Cora’s
journey to fulfill her destiny and find love with Echo, a Grimnir. There’s one more story left in their story.
Eirik’s story
starts with
Demons
and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed, so buy your copy
NOW
. It is only fair that Eirik gets the same love as Cora and Raine, so his story continues with
Heroes (coming March 2016)
and ends with
Gods (June 2016)
. Why did I write Eirik’s stories before finishing Raine/Torin and Cora/Echo?
Torin
and
Raine
are going to need him and his connections in Hel to kick some serious Norn booties.
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