Rapture (19 page)

He,
Draven, Raider, and Ethan were all standing around in one of the underground
medical rooms, glancing at Ferox expectedly. “No,” he sighed. “I’ve tried, but
I just can’t get a reading on where she is.” They would only give it two more
days before they would default to Draven’s plan of summoning an Angelos, no
matter the consequences. Demetrius had even suggested it as well.

Draven
took one of the chairs that lined the wall, his eyes meeting Ferox’s. “When was
the last time you drank from her?”

Heat
rushed to Ferox’s face, and he coughed. “Just before she was taken.”

“That’s
good,” Raider added. He closed a cupboard and pushed a small medical tray
toward the opposite wall. “That means your bond is strong right now. Have you
had any ...
sensations?
”

Ferox
nodded. He’d had them all right, but he had refused to tell anyone about them.
At random times, extreme pain and fear coursed through him, and he knew it
wasn’t on his own account. “Yes.” He wouldn’t look at Draven and Ethan,
couldn’t look at them when it came to details of their own mother.

Demetrius
pushed off of the wall, taking three steps toward him as he narrowed his eyes.
Ferox focused on the winged warrior, using that to avoid looking at Draven and
Ethan. “What have you felt?”

He
tapped his fingers on his thigh. “I feel she’s in danger. Something’s wrong.”
Which ate at him like no other. “But the feelings are growing sparse.” Yet
another thing that worried him down to his core. Though the sensations were of
a negative nature, at least he could sense her. But with the occurrences coming
to him less and less, he was losing the last bit of connection he had to her.

“He
couldn’t already be losing the blood bond.” Ethan shook his head, peering at
Raider and Draven.

“No,”
Raider agreed. “That’s too soon.”

“He
did lose a lot of blood, though,” Draven countered. “It could have weakened it
substantially, and with the blood bags we’ve been forcing him to drink, that
could definitely lessen the bond.”

“Somewhat,
yes,” Raider agreed.

It
drove him nuts when they talked about him as though he weren’t there. The only
upside to them doing so was that he learned a lot more about his life and the
way it all worked.

Almost
as though they’d picked up on his train of thought, three pairs of eyes turned
on him.

“You
need to use what you have left to focus on Raine,” Raider said.

Draven
nodded. “I’m not an expert or anything, but he’s right. When Ally went missing,
and she’d been taken to Unitas, I couldn’t read where she was at either, but I
could pick up on extreme emotions.”

He’d
heard something to that effect, and his own experience of emotions and
sensations only proved his son’s point. “What did you do?”

“Knocked
holes in the walls.” Ethan laughed, and Ferox glanced at him. “No, really.”

“He’s
right,” Draven admitted. “I went nuts. And I didn’t know where she was until
she came back to me and explained everything. If she hadn’t have done that, I
don’t think I would have ever found her.” His expression grew pained, and Ferox
knew the warrior was thinking what his life would have been like without his
tiny blonde goddess.

Probably
the same things that Ferox was thinking about his own brunette demigoddess at
the moment. “And so you summoned an Angelos when she left again?”

“I
did. My debt hasn’t been repaid yet, though.”

“The
point is,” Raider added, “you need to think about her, think
anything
about her, just let your connection
take over.”

“Don’t
think too much into it, let your Instinct tell you what’s up,” Draven said.

Ferox
met each of their eyes, seeing the nervousness in their faces. They wanted her
back as much as he did, clearly. “I’ll try.”

“And
I’ll keep researching and see if I can find a Keymaster,” Ethan added after a
few seconds’ silence. Demetrius had already gone out, searching for a Keymaster
that he knew a while back, but his contact had been nowhere to be found.

“We
should really get back upstairs,” Draven said suddenly. “Ally is itching to get
me cleaned up.”

Ferox
nodded and stood from the hospital bed, noticing that the aches and pains he’d
felt in his legs over the last few days—though they still pained him—had
certainly eased. Most of the Guardians had gone out earlier, patrolling and
continuing their never-ending search for Riley. Ethan hadn’t gone out though,
opting to help Ally search for a way to reach
Valhalla
.

They
stepped out into the hallway and followed it around until they reached the
golden elevator. Raider punched the button and the doors slid open with a
bing
. They reached the main floor
seconds later and stepped out, passing the mini war museum on the way to the
main part of the house. Demetrius could easily exit the area, but without Ally’s
authorization, he’d yet to be able to enter without the help of one of the
other warriors. Ferox couldn’t quite figure out why the winged warrior didn’t
ask Ally for help yet, but when he’d mentioned it, Demetrius’s face had
hardened, and he vehemently refused.

“It’s
almost dawn,” Ethan said as they stepped into the foyer. “I think I’ll get in
some shut eye before I research more.” He faced Ferox. “And you should, too.”

Ferox
chuckled under his breath at that insistent glare he was getting from his younger
son. He recognized a part of Raine in that stare, and it warmed his heart.
“Alright,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. “I’m going, I’m going.”

The
four of them split up, and Ferox took the stairs on his way to the room he and
Raine shared. He was practically up to normal speed when it came to walking and
climbing stairs. When he reached the room, he shucked his clothes and climbed
into the royal blue and silver bedding, resting his head against the soft
pillow.

A
while later, not much had changed. He lay there, merely blinking at the
coffered ceiling. He could still smell her scent on the sheets, the smell of
her filling their room almost as much as if she were there with him. He
replayed his discussion with the others over and over in his mind. Of course he
knew of the blood bond he shared with Raine. Not only had she explained it to
him, but he’d also experienced it first-hand: first when he’d sensed her in
danger at their previous home, and now. The big difference, however, was that
he’d been able to sense her location last time, whereas this time ... he was
just lost.

And
it irritated the shit out of him.

He
rubbed his face and closed his eyes for the thousandth time, recalling again
what the warriors had told him. Focus on Raine, let their connection drive him,
his “Instinct” should know what to do.

And
so he did. He pictured her, letting his mind wander, picturing her in this very
bed with him, doing the things they’d done to each other. The feel of her body,
the scent of her. The taste of her. She was a vision, his Raine, but that
wasn’t all: she was kind and caring, and had a passion within her very being
that called to him. He’d do anything to get her back.

He
fell asleep, letting the dreams wash over him.

****

Tournament of Legends

Day Fourteen

She smelled it even before she saw it, the stench filling her nose
so strong that she pinched her fingers over her nose and breathed shallowly
through her mouth. Dear Father, what could smell that bad?

The answer appeared after the next bend in the passageway, and she
slowed to a stop as she peered up at the enormous creature. Shiny green, with
splotches of dark and light coloring, it was curled up, breathing heavily as it
slumbered. She’d never seen a real one herself, only through drawings in one of
her father’s many books. A dragon, by the looks of it, though she didn’t know
what kind.

Okay then
, Raine thought, silently
inching closer to it. She couldn’t decide if this was yet another dead-end—an
effective-yet-deadly one—or if this was a challenge she needed to face. Her gut
told her it was the latter. She glanced at the chamber behind the sleeping
beast, her eye catching a small, glinting object in the distance. Well, it was
decided then. She needed to bypass the beast and get a better look. There was
no telling if that was the final treasure, or something to distract her.

She neared the dragon, eyeing her chances of getting past it
undetected. Its ass-end was against one wall, which meant there was only one
way around it, and that was next to its nose. Taking no chances, she extracted
her Hjörr, the blade appearing in an instant. She scooted along the wall,
careful not to let anything scrape against the rock, or against the beast.
Almost there ... almost there....

She nearly passed out from its horrid breath, and quickly decided
that she could do without oxygen at the moment, if it meant she could get past
it without puking her guts out. She slid by its nose and breathed a sigh of
relief.

Ha, she thought. What a challenge, the damn thing was out like a
snuffed candle. Now she could investigate the large chamber and that shiny
object she’d spotted from the corridor—

She glanced over just as the dragon’s large, yellow eye opened,
focusing on the torch light, and then on her. It pushed to its feet, letting
out a loud roar that had her attempting to cover her ears, which was a feat in
itself since she held both a torch and her sword. She bolted away from the
beast and, thinking better than to draw its attention, tossed her torch into
the middle of the room. The dragon whirled and pounced on the torch, giving her
enough time to find and hide behind a large boulder.

Dear gods, why hadn’t she paid much attention to what dragons were
about?

She peered over the top of the rock: first at the dragon, and then
at her surroundings. The beast was, thankfully, busy bobbing its head back and
forth at the flame that still blazed from the torch. There were tiny openings
all around the room, dispersed high and low along the vast, jagged walls. Her
gaze followed the wall until she saw a dull light coming from one of them. It
must be what she’d seen from the passageway. Over, across the room from where
she stood now, was a sort of ramp. Above that was one of the lower crevices in
the wall, and she eyeballed the distance. Yes, she thought she could jump that,
and quickly sheathed her Hjörr. Tip-toeing away from the shelter of the
boulder, she headed straight for the ramp and crevices that could take her off
the ground. The dragon spotted her movement, another deafening roar bubbling
from its chest as it barreled toward her.

No going back now.

She rushed the wall, bound up the ramp and threw her hands toward
the sky as the crevice came into reach. She gripped it and swung herself up,
finding that she now stared at the beast’s chest. It growled and lowered its
head, its eyes piercing her with its fury. It snapped at her as its head lunged
into the tiny opening, causing Raine to step backward as far as the wall would
allow. She’d gripped her Hjörr again without conscious thought while her free
hand brushed over the porous rock. She swung out at the giant creature, the
blade thwacking against its nose, causing dark blood to spurt. It pulled back
as if Hel fire itself burned in its eyes.
No
, she thought an instant later,
not
just from its eyes.

She found a break in the wall and turned as the dragon’s mouth
opened, flames licking out greedily as he blew. The passage lit with brilliant
light, and she dropped to her stomach just as the blazing fire shot over her
head. Only when the flames stopped did she roll to her feet, dashing down the
tiny hallway as it curved around. She came into an opening overlooking the
cavern once more, now eye level with the gigantic dragon. It was still busy
nuzzling the opening she’d been in, spouting fire and snapping as though it
could see her. She needed to hurry if she had any hope of using its distraction
to her advantage. She walked to the edge, the toes of her boots resting where
the ground dropped away. She could see the golden glint again, just to the
right of where she stood now. She’d have to scale the wall to reach it.

Raine dropped her pack and yanked the grappling rope free, making
sure the pieces were still tightly held together. Wasting no time, she tossed
the hook upward and to the right. It clinked as it hit rock, but didn’t take.
She eyed the dragon, but he was still busy. She threw it once more and struck
true, the hook gripping the rock as she tugged on the rope. She stepped off the
landing, holding on to the rope as her body rolled against the ragged wall, and
finally, her boots met rock. She exhaled slowly and glanced at the short climb
she’d have to take, when she realized that she no longer heard the growls and
roar of breathing fire coming from the dragon. With a sense of foreboding, she
peered over her shoulder, spotting the long, and very angry-looking, face of
the dragon.

She squeaked and, jumping upward, hastily put hand over hand in an
attempt to get the Hel away from its fangs.