Priceless (36 page)

Pain shot through me and I fell over on my ass, shocked. He was still alive
!

Scrambling, I rushed to his side, gently feeling for a pulse. Nearly a minute passed and then . . .
there . . .
a beat of his heart. Wrapping him up in the blanket, I stood and headed toward the door, my heart soaring. Little Jake was alive and we were going to keep him that way.

A shuffle of cloth and a flicker of movement to my left made me spin and crouch, peering into the darkness. Body thumping with adrenaline, I stared into the darkness. Nothing.
O
’
Shea
’
s words had put me on edge;
I
was
hearing things
,
though now I wish
ed
I
’
d taken
him
up on his offer.

Tension filled the air and I faced the area the noise had come from, backing toward the crossing point.

I reached the
doorway le
a
d
ing
into the New Mexico desert and stepped through.
“
Jake
’
s alive!
”

Milly and O
’
Shea ran toward me. Milly would be able to keep the boy alive until we got to a hospital. She couldn
’
t heal him, but she could buy
him some
time.

“
Go, get him in the Hummer!
”
I stepp
ed
away from the cave
’
s entrance
and shov
ed
the boy into Milly
’
s arms
.

Alex sat next to the Hummer, his eyes snapping wide as he stared over my shoulder, teeth bared. I spun, trying to dodge whatever it was behind me, but couldn
’
t evade the hands that grabbed my waist and jerked me back across the veil.

25

Sliding back through the veil, I fought hard against the hands, kicking out, striking with my elbows and fists, but
what I hit was so solid there didn
’
t seem to be any response to my blows
.

As my body was once more fully on the
other side of
the veil
,
I was flung deep into the dungeon
,
well over twenty feet. The stone floor was not forgiving
when
I
slammed
into
it,
landing on my right hip. Rolling
,
I scrambled to my fe
et to face the one who
’
d pulled me through.

Or should I say, what pulled me through. A hulking shape stood between me and the entry point to the cave.
It was over eight feet tall and while it had arms, legs and a body, it was not human. Too big, to strange of a shape. Like a puzzle that had its pieces jammed together
,
despite not really fitting.
I couldn
’
t even tell what kind of supernatural it was. Like some sort of supernatural mutt, it didn
’
t fit in anywhere.

Milly
’
s voice echoed through to me.
“
Rylee?
”

“
Stay there, it
’
s between us.
”
What
‘
it
’”
was, I wasn
’
t sure exactly. But it was big enough that it filled the space up from floor to ceiling
,
and its
long arms dangled to the floor with thick muscled hands. In the shadows
,
it was hard to see just what the skin colour was, or any distinguishing marks
,
other than the fact that it was dark, stunk, and had a menace to it that I could feel vibrating between the two of us. I pulled my sword and advanced on the creature.

“
Come on, big boy, you don
’
t really want to stop me from crossing the veil, do you?
”
M
y voice
w
as
as
sugary sweet as I could manage.

It leaned forward, its face coming into a slant of light from the single
flickering
wall sconce. There
were
no eyes, no nose, just a mouth
—one
that dripp
ed
with slime and
had very sharp
teeth. I steadied myself for a charge, prepped to dodge around the hulking beast and duck back through the veil.
But i
t
just
held its ground
and
didn
’
t move,
though
at least it
didn
’
t advance
,
either.

I
shifted my grip on my sword, prepping for a fight
, and i
n that split second, it attacked.

I
’
d heard the term greased lightning, but had never truly seen it. The beast, as big as it was, slid past my guard and slammed me into the wall
.
T
hick h
ands pinn
ed
my arms to the stone
. My head clunked backwards
,
and no matter how I struggled, I couldn
’
t loosen the grip.
The last of
the
stitches in my arm ripped out and blood
trickled
down my arm.

“
Come on.
”
This was it
? T
he end of Rylee Adamson would come at the mouth of some unknown, unnamed beast
?
But it didn
’
t end my life, didn
’
t even try to bite me. Just held me tight against the wall.

Light bloomed over its shoulder and
the
now
familiar cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows
.
Icy
blue eyes
perused
me with leisure
.

“
You and your friends have
quite the knack for trouble,
Ms. Adamson.
But all that aside, you and I need to chat.
”
He paused in the middle of lifting his hand to his cowl.
“
May I call you Rylee
? It
seems to me we are about to become far more
acquainted
than what one would think relegated us to last names.
”

Panic
is
a bad thing in my profession
—
it causes loss of life faster than any other emotion
—
and it rapidly cours
ed
through me. He
’
d spelled me in a matter of moments before. I closed my eyes and centered myself.

A hand brushed along my cheek.
“
So soft
,
”
he
murmured
, his voice close enough that I could feel his breath against my skin. The beast
holding
me did nothing
,
and I did the only thing I could think of. I reached out to it, connecting with its emotions.

Confusion, fear, loneliness.

Anger.

Bingo. I let it feel my anger, let it feed off my emotion, pushing my fear into it until I felt the spell holding it under the cloaked man
’
s control crack.

Hands that had been holding me tight clenched and my bones creaked under the pressure, but I grit my teeth and tried to remain still.

“
Rylee, look at me.
”
His voice triggered something visceral in me. Fear and lust, a powerful aphrodisiac that spiraled upward. The pain in my arms increas
ed,
though
,
and it curbed whatever spell the man was trying to cast on me. I kept my eyes closed.
“
No, thanks. I like my soul where it is.
”

“
I
’
m not a thief of souls.
You intrigue me
;
you aren
’
t like any of the others. Not a witch, not a vampire, not a werewolf. But you have such talent
.
”
H
is lips
brushed
against my ear, the soft inhale of breath sending shivers through me. With everything I had, I shoved emotion into the beast, letting my panic infect it
—
or at least
,
that
’
s what I
’
d
hop
ed
for.
Milly would come for me
.
O
’
Shea wouldn
’
t leave me here.

“
I
’
ve blocked the entrance
; y
ou
’
re friends will not be coming for you
,
”
he
said
, as if he were reading my mind
,
which only heightened my fear
.
“
Do you know I was the one who gave the child the ability to reach you? That I was the one to suggest the date and the park to steal her from? I knew you would follow her here no matter what,
and
with the connections to your little sister
. . .
well
, this child would be one
I knew
you would search for with a drive that would surpass all your other
“
salvages
.
”

The panic I
’
d been feeling was now full blown and I struggled, unable to stop my body from trying to escape
a fate
I knew would somehow
be
worse than if he was just going to kill me.
He
’
d set me up, he
’
d done all this to get me here. I
continued to push
my panic
into
the beast
holding
me.

The air around us stilled,
it
grew heavy
,
and then the shit hit the proverbial fan.

The beast let out a
mind-
numbing roar, flinging its hands off me and
,
in doing so, sent the cloaked man tumbling through the air
. My feet slid to the ground and I sprinted toward the stairs. I could only hope he hadn
’
t locked down both of the entrances.

Heavy thuds resounded behind me, a screech shook the castle foundations
,
and then silence for a split second.

“
RYLEE!
”
His voice struck a chord through
to
my bones
.
My
feet stuttered, and
I
slowed.

I needed help, badly. Reaching out
,
I tapped into the person who
’
d stepped between me and the cloaked man
before
.

“
O
’
Shea
.
”
I whimpered,
and
locked onto his
emotions. The intensity of his feelings
stung me, sharper than any child
’
s would ever be. Fear overridden by true concern, focus, wanting to do the right thing. I held onto him like I would a life raft in rough seas and started to run again. The stairs blurred by
.
I passed the initiation room and
found myself
in the hallway where I could see the
doorway.

Heart firing like a jack rabbit on Speed, I fumbled
at
the handle
,
and it was the split second mistake he needed to catch up to me, pinning me to the door with his body.

“
You were just going to run out on me?
”
His voice
was
no longer a soft seduction, but a deadly ice that made my mouth dry.