Released (Eternal Balance) (11 page)

Chapter Seventeen

Azirak/Jax

Van led us down the main path, deeper into the park for about a mile. She seemed particularly interested when we came to a hulking rock, and veered off the path.

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Sam asked. “It’s so damn dark, I can’t see a thing.”

“I know,” Van replied. “I could find my way to the locket blindfolded.”

We continued through the brush, stepping over fallen trees and through pricker bushes. No one came out this way—it was obvious by the heavily overgrown foliage and nonexistent path. Yet Van was sure. Azi went with it but stayed on alert.

“What’s so important about this locket,” Sam asked. She stumbled, and Azi caught her just before she toppled to the ground. She looked at me and smiled for a second before remembering it was Azi she was looking at—not me.

“I was wearing it the day Sadie stole my magic. Some of it transferred to the locket. I need every bit of lost magic there is if I hope to get it all back.”

“And to what extent do your powers remain?” Azi asked.

She slowed and tensed slightly, but didn’t stop. “Why? Weighing the possibilities of betraying me again?”

“Not at all.”

Careful. You’re a horrible liar…

“I am simply assessing your worth should we encounter a problem.”

Should we? Wishful thinking, asshole. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re problem magnets.

“A problem?”

“I’m trying to weigh how useful you’ll be when we are attacked again.” Which was true, but the demon was also fishing for information.

“I can do simple stuff. Curses and small spells of defense, but my primary magic, my specialty, is impossible.”

“Specialty?” Sam asked.

“All witches have what we call a specialty. A predisposition toward a specific kind of magic.”

“I didn’t know there were different kinds of magic.”

“Oh, yeah. My mom used to use the snowflake analogy. No two are exactly alike—like witches.”

“What is yours?” Azi asked. “Your specialty.”

The sadness that rolled off her then was pungent and thick. “No idea. My magic was stolen before I could figure it out. But I always felt a predilection toward—”

A shrill howl filled the air. We all froze.

Van glanced back toward the path. “What was that?”

“That…” Sam said and grasped the other girl’s arm. A tuft of gray lifted into the air, barely visible against the darkness. “…was definitely a problem. You remember those dog-things back at your apartment?”

“But—” She poked a finger in my direction. “He killed it!”

There was a rustle in the trees a few feet away, followed by another, much closer, howl. As Sam screamed, “Run!” several carnivi broke through the trees. We scattered, and Van let go of a terrified shriek. She scrambled to the left just as the first one touched down, inches from where she’d been.

“Keep moving!” Azi rushed forward and, with a snarl, threw my body at the carnivus. We both careened sideways. This gave Van a chance to move farther out of the way. Until the demon got the stone, the girl was under its protection.

“There are at least three,” Sam cried. She ducked as another exploded from the brush and sailed overhead. It landed with an earthshattering thump, and let out an otherworldly howl.

The one beneath me reared and snapped its powerful jaw, but thankfully Azi missed the attack. It wrapped my arms around the thing’s hulking neck and twisted. It wasn’t enough. The beast was too strong, and it bucked us off.

Movement to our left caught my attention, and Sam screamed. One had her cornered, teeth bared and saliva dripping. It advanced slowly, herding her toward the open end of the path.

Azi sprang to action. It lunged to my feet, shouldered our own carnivus aside, and dove for Sam’s. My body crashed into the monster, and it felt like my bones came dangerously close to shattering as we were knocked apart upon hitting the ground again.

As I’d hoped, the carnivus switched focus and turned. It rushed me, and Azi’s excitement flooded my system. These things were different. The demon couldn’t pull sustenance from them, or the Trackers, but the fight was something the demon craved almost as much as feeding.

Searing pain erupted as the monster’s teeth clamped onto my arm. It tore a scream of rage from my throat that only made Azi more determined to take it down. It balled my fist and delivered a series of thunderous blows to the creature’s rock-hard head. An enraged roar filled the air, and one of the others flew at me, knocking my body away from the semi-injured beast, almost protectively.

No. This wasn’t right. Carnivi weren’t herd animals. They didn’t hunt in packs. They were lone creatures, set to a task by their master. They’d been used in the great wars, but had to be used in small numbers because of their habit of ripping each other apart.

It let out a roar and charged. The impact took me down just as Azi righted us. Another flash of pain struck as teeth once again pierced my flesh. This time it was my left shoulder, and the wound was much deeper than the first. Azi dropped to my knees, and my breath seized for a moment as the carnivus let go. It growled and came in for another bite. But Azi was furious. Enraged. It grabbed hold of the thing’s neck and twisted, this time aided not only by its desire to see its quest through to the end, but by anger. This lesser beast had attacked it. Azirak, a royal of hell.

A muffled grunt, followed by a wholly satisfying snap, and the carnivus went limp in my arms.

“Jax,” Sam screamed. The third carnivus had her backed against a thick tree as she pushed Van behind her.

Azi rose, irritated by how Sam had addressed it, but infuriated by the carnivus. It crossed to it in three long steps and latched on to the beast, digging my fingers into handfuls of scaly flesh. With a jerk, it tore the monster from in front of Sam and spun it the opposite way—conveniently just as the last remaining one came bounding toward is. They crashed together, and an otherworldly yelp sounded from the beast.

The demon rushed into action and grabbed Sam’s wrist. “We must move!”

Azi took off, deeper into the woods, dragging Sam behind. She stumbled after, with Van following close at her heels. Another howl, much too close for comfort, bellowed through the darkness, and Azi picked up the pace. But Sam was unable to keep up. She cursed and tripped, hitting the ground with a jarring thud.

I stopped short and, under the demon’s command, hefted her onto her feet as Van collided with us. The demon was heading back to the entrance.

Back to the car.

If you leave without getting what Van wants, she won’t get you the stone. You’ll be screwing yourself—and Sam. Don’t even think about it.

It didn’t like what I was saying, but I felt its begrudging agreement. The demon knew I was right. Azi gave a snarl of frustration and changed direction. “We need that locket. Where is it?”

“Yes,” another voice said. It was followed by a haggard wheeze and a cackle. “Do tell us, witch. Where’s this…locket?”

A moment later, four figures came into view. They were all unnaturally tall with an almost skeletal silhouette and a slight limp. They moved in perfect sync with each other, shuffling in time until they stepped into a thin beam of moonlight coming through the trees.

Azi straightened and moved my body to stand between the newcomers and Sam. “Tracker,” it said.

“Aziraaak.” The word came in a low rumble. The decaying things snickered, speaking and moving as one. “I heaaard aaabout your recent…misfortune. Tell me, whaaat it is like to let such power slip through your fingers?”

The demon was confused. “Misfortune? What do you—”

“Me,” Sam said. She stepped up beside me, arms folded and expression fierce. She was scared. I couldn’t see the gray smoke I knew must be bleeding into the air around her, but I could taste it. But fear had never stopped Samantha Merrick. “Which kinda makes me wonder if you’re suicidal.”

The Trackers laughed again, a cracked, grating sound, and pinned Sam with an amused tilt of its blue lips. “Insinuaaating thaaat I should feaar you? Aaan insolent child who knows nothing aaabout the energy coursing through her fraaail humaaan body?”

Anger replaced the taste of fear on my tongue. Sam squared her shoulders and took a single step forward. The Tracker had nailed her sore spot. She hadn’t said anything, but I knew she’d been trying to find a way to tap into the energy inside her. “Well, if you’re sure, then by all means—give it a try.”

“There is no need for more violence,” the Trackers said in unison. They smiled, a mouthful of decaying teeth peeking out from behind each pair of thin, chapped lips. “Haaand over the witch aaand I will let you leaaave in one piece. You caaan enjoy aaa few hours of freedom before Maaaster Zenaaak comes for you.”

Azi settled beside her, and my mouth tipped with a grin. “You think it will be that easy? To take what is mine?” It was talking about Sam.

She’s mine, asshole.

The Trackers laughed again. “You seem unaaable to use the humaaan.” They leaned in and winked. The way they moved, in perfect sync, was fucking creepy. “I promise you thaaat Zenaaak will have no such problem. In faaact, I raaather think the Maaaster will enjoy the process of getting the humaaan’s cooperaaation.”

Without another word, the four Trackers charged as one. Azi pushed Sam sideways. I was vaguely aware that she crashed to the ground, taking Van along with her.

Look out!

A withered fist connected with the underside of my jaw. The blow rocked my body back, and Azi stumbled, unable to avoid the preceding attack.

What followed was a series of bone-shattering blows as all four of the Trackers converged. The breath hitched in my lungs and everything swam. Azi blinked and the landscape bowed before tipping dramatically to the left. A sense of weightlessness came over me.

Get up! Get my ass off the fucking ground.

But the demon was beat. Someone screamed. Azi tried to turn my head to see who it was—sound had taken on a hollow kind of quality—but it was no use. Everything was spinning at light speed.

With great effort, the demon lifted my arms, thrust out and blindly groped for something to pull my body upright. After a moment of searching, my fingertips brushed jagged bark. Azi used the solid surface to drag me vertical.

“Aaas determined aaas ever,” the Trackers spat. They surrounded me. Each wore an identical expression, and the only difference between them was that one had something sharp and cool pressed against my throat. “Zenaaak will undoubtedly be furious thaaat I’ve killed you, but when I return the Brim Stone to him, I think aaall will be forgiven.”

The blade pressed down, and I felt it break the skin. The sting of it permeated every nerve in my body, sending a wicked chill to my core. It wasn’t a normal blade. This was something Azi truly feared. A weapon forged in the fires of hell. The Tracker’s lips parted, a victorious grin slipped into place, and it pushed a little harder on the blade.

But before Zenak’s lackey could finish the job, something slammed into me. I hit the ground again, the weight of the blade gone as everything slowly leeched back into focus.

Sam stood above me, facing off against the four Trackers like an angel. No. A
warrior.
Even in the dark, I could see her clearly—the stubborn set of her jaw, and her strong, unyielding frame. She was a protective barrier between my body and the Trackers, and the glow Heckle said she had, the one I’d never noticed, was suddenly so obvious. “Another step closer and I’ll roast you.”

The Trackers looked from her to me and back again. They said nothing as they stepped around her, walked to where Van stood, cowering behind the large pine tree. They latched on to the witch, two on either side, and turned to Sam with a challenging grin. “Feel free to use your
power
to stop me, child.”

It waited, but neither Sam nor Azi made a move. The demon knew killing the Trackers wasn’t an option. That would only buy us time and, in the end, make this ten times harder. The last thing we needed was
eight
of those bastards on our asses instead of four.

Sam must have been thinking the same thing. With a sigh, she relaxed her shoulders, and she took a step back. To Van, she said, “I’ll keep my promise. I swear.”

“You can’t help me, Sam,” Van said. She struggled for a moment in the Tracker’s grip, then gave up. “They have me now. And in a few moments, I’ll have to take them to get the key. I’m so sorry…” She kept her shoulders squared and her chin up, and she held her head high with an admirable air of defiance. “You’re a very special person—with very
specific
traits. A rarity in this world. Take care of yourself.”

Specific… Holy shit. Does she mean…?

Elation overcame the demon. Savannah Gray had just bought us time to get to the stone first, but better than that, she’d told us Sam would be able to steal the stone.

Chapter Eighteen

Sam

“I can’t believe we let them walk off.” I hadn’t moved since they’d taken Van away. I’d promised to keep her safe. I’d sworn nothing bad would happen to her.

I’d lied.

Just like Azi had, I’d lied. The guilt was an albatross around my neck. It didn’t matter to me that it hadn’t happened on purpose, or that I had every intention on righting this. I’d failed.

I turned—and gasped. Jax’s face was inches from mine. I backed away, but only made it a half step before Azi grabbed me, Jax’s fingers wrapping painfully tight around my forearms. The demon spun me hard and slammed me against the nearest tree, the one Van had been hiding behind.

“Do not ever do that again!” The fury I saw in Jax’s eyes stole my breath. I’d seen it a thousand times, directed at everything ranging from Chase to the scoop of ice cream he’d dropped in the dirt during our high school freshman carnival. This was the first time, however, that the full weight of it had ever been directed at me. And even though I knew in my gut that it wasn’t really Jax glaring death at me, it was still unsettling. The air turned cold and making my lungs work got just a little bit harder.

It took a moment, but I calmed myself and realized the demon was referring to what I’d done to the Trackers. How I’d gotten between them and saved its miserable life! “Are you for real?” I tried to wriggle free, but I didn’t so much as jostle it. I wasn’t moving until Azi allowed it. “How about a thank-you instead of being a complete asshat?”

The demon blinked, and Jax’s stormy gray eyes clouded over in confusion—then rage. “Your actions were not to save my life. They were to save
his
—which is a waste since he is already dead.”

Of all the things I’d expected the demon to come back with, that wasn’t on the list. The temperature plummeted, and in that moment the only thing keeping me from crashing to the ground was the demon’s grip. “What?”

It watched me without answering. Jax’s head tilted to the left, and then to the right. Like it was listening to something only it could hear.

The silence, along with the almost blank stare, was too much to handle. I balled my fist and, forgetting for a second that it was Jax’s body, I let loose and, as hard as I could, punched his shoulder where it looked like one of the carnivi must have gone to town. “Answer me!”

Azi righted Jax’s body and squared his shoulders. There was the smallest hint of a flinch. “I will not relinquish control of our body. Therefore, he is as good as dead.”

I wanted to argue. To kick and scream and fight until my hands were bloody and there was no strength left in my bones. But what good would it have done? The only way I was evicting that bastard was by getting my hands on that stone. And with Van gone, that task had just gotten a hundred times more complicated. At least Jax was still in there. Still safe for now.

“Focus,” I snapped. “What now?”

“We know where she hid the stone. We go there. I believe her last remark was her way of telling us that you would be able to take the stone from its resting place.”

I’d gotten that, too, but I’d hoped it had slipped the demon’s notice. I should have known better. Getting the stone would solve Azi’s problem, but without Van to wield it, I didn’t think I could use it to save Jax. “It can’t be as simple as walking in and snapping it up.”

“Possibly not. But Zenak will bring her to the cave. He will force her to hand him the stone. We know where. And we know when.”

“They could still get there first.” Either Azi was packing some serious ammo I wasn’t aware of, or the demon had lost its ever loving mind.

“Zenak will undoubtedly send minions to impede us. I imagine they will come at us from all ends. The task will not be an easy one.” It leaned Jax’s body toward me, so close that his turbulent gray eyes filled my vision. “But as you humans say, it wouldn’t be worth it if it were.”

I resisted the urge to push closer and instead took a step back. We had one day until the last full moon. This plan had a lot of problems. There were too many variables and loopholes for disaster.

Unfortunately, it was all we had.

…

It killed me to leave the park without at least trying to find Van, but in the end I knew Azi was right, so we headed back to her car. A throwback to my wilder days, I was able to easily hotwire the thing and get us on our way.

With a little on-the-go cell phone research, I found out that the Dandus Nature Preserve was a sprawling expanse of two hundred and forty acres nestled in the small town of Valley High, New York. Valley High was a town just outside of Buffalo, about six hours from Harlow. Since we were currently still in Virginia, that was an almost fourteen-hour drive, and about five hours in, we decided to stop for the night.

Well,
I
decided.

Azi had argued that I didn’t seem tired—and it was right—but Jax’s body had several nasty looking wounds from our throw down with the carnivi. Claiming fatigue was the only thing I could think of to get the demon to stop and let me tend to them. I stopped at a drug store, used the last of our cash, and bought some first aid supplies.

Luckily I had an idea about how to score us a room for the night, another trick from my earlier years. I drove us to a small motel just off the highway and waited for my moment.

It took about two hours before I found what I needed—a family of three leaving their room. I waited for them to get in the car and pull from the lot, and then I slipped from the driver’s seat. Azi made a move to follow, but I held up my hand. “Just hang tight and trust me, okay?”

I could see it wasn’t happy about staying behind, but the demon did as I asked and settled back in the passenger’s seat.

Across the lot and through the main doors, I sauntered to the clerk’s desk with a saccharine smile firmly in place. “Hey,” I said to the guy behind the desk. Just my luck—he was in his early twenties, and the second I walked through the doors, his eyes raked greedily up and down my body.

“What can I do ya for?” he said, with a cocky smirk.

“My sister was taking a bath and the water wouldn’t turn off. The tub overflowed, and now there’s water everywhere.” I flashed him my brightest smile. “You think you could send the housekeeping cart over to clean it up? We’re on our way out for dinner, so we won’t be in the way or anything.”

“Sure thing, beautiful.” He winked. “What’s your room number?”

“One eighty-seven,” I said, giving him the family’s number.

“No problem. I’ll send the girl right over.”

I thanked him, flashed one last beaming grin, and then headed out front. I didn’t go back to the car, though. I made my way around the corner of the building and tucked myself away to wait for the janitorial cart.

Thankfully, they didn’t keep me waiting. The guy behind the desk must have called it in the second I left the building. The young woman with the cart knocked twice on the door. When there was no response, she pulled out her keys and unlocked the room. The winds of luck must have been blowing in a different direction than they had been lately. Instead of leaving the keys in the lock like I’d seen most maids do, she opened the door and set them back in her tray—then walked into the room with an armload of towels.

I snagged the opportunity and sprang out from around the corner. A familiar rush of excitement surged through my system. I looked both ways to make sure no one was watching, then snagged the keys and slipped them into my pocket before casually strolling across the lot and sliding back behind the wheel of Van’s ancient car.

“He remembers this game,” Azi said as I closed the door and started the engine. “As do I.”

“It’s all I could think of.” As teenagers, Jax and I would go to the motel on the edge of Harlow. No jobs and no cash, we’d steal the catch-all key from the housekeeping staff and binge on beer and junk food while watching movies all night in borrowed rooms.

I drove around to the far side of the motel. There were no cars in the lot, and since this was off-season—not that this seemed like a tourism mecca—I figured any one of them was safe. We grabbed the bags from the drugstore and made our way to the room at the very end. The farther away from the management office the better.

“Sit on the bed and take off your shirt,” I commanded once we’d made it inside.

If it’d been Jax, he would have made some obnoxiously cocky comment. A joke or suggestive quip. Instead, the demon did as I requested in a disturbingly mechanical manner.

I turned away, doing my best to ignore the feeling stirring in my gut. Then again, it wasn’t hard. There was an angry looking wound on his right forearm, but the shoulder…that one was bad. There was a chunk of skin missing, and the edges were peeled over, still bleeding after all this time.

“You’re lucky I have a strong stomach.” I pulled out the alcohol and arranged the rest of the supplies on the bed. I’d gotten a sewing kit and dental floss, and I was glad because the wound on his shoulder was definitely going to need stitches. “Otherwise you’d be in trouble.”

Jax’s muscles tensed as I went to work cleaning the wounds, and the demon sighed. “I would have survived without medical attention.”

I couldn’t help it. I jammed my thumb into the outer edge of the wound on Jax’s shoulder, and Azi hissed in pain. “Good for you, but his body needed medical attention. I’m not going to let you ruin—”

The demon caught my hand in Jax’s and squeezed tight. I waited for it to say something—anything—but instead it went back to staring straight ahead. I decided to let it go and kept working until both wounds were clean and dressed.

“There,” I said as I stuffed everything unused back into the plastic bag. The way we were going, we’d probably need it again in the not so distant future. “You should get some rest. His body needs to heal.”

I was sure the demon would argue with me, would tell me it wasn’t Jax’s body anymore, or that, in its infinite power and glory, it didn’t need something as pathetic and human as rest, but instead Azi nodded. I waited as the demon pulled off Jax’s boots and burrowed under the thin motel comforter. It said nothing to me as it rolled to face the wall—which was good. Perfect, even, because I was about to lose it.

The weight of the last few weeks pressed down on me. In less than a month, my entire world had turned upside down. I’d been controlled, killed, used, and chased down like a dog. It should have broken even the strongest spirit, but somehow I was still kicking. Still raging, fists tight and arms at the ready—even if most days if felt like we were fighting a losing battle. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I hadn’t cared. The one thing that had come out of it all, the bright spot in the mire, was Jax. He’d come home. He’d come home, and I’d gotten him back.

Only to lose him again.

Before I realized what I was doing, my feet carried me across the room in soft, quiet steps with no hesitation. It wasn’t Jax lying in that bed, but it looked like him. Smelled like him.
Felt
like him…

I slid my sneakers off, gently pulled back the covers, and eased myself onto the bed beside him. And as I snuggled close and closed my eyes, I didn’t let myself think about Chase and the stone. I let my mind wander back to when things had been normal. When the worst things in our world had been the near-constant bickering between Jax and Chase, and Kelly’s overbearing opinion on how I needed to live my life.

I ignored the fact that Azi wouldn’t return Jax to me. I pushed aside the growing fear that I’d never get him back. I simply wrapped my arms around myself and snuggled close to the boy I’d loved nearly my entire life. I forced myself to appreciate that no matter how long we’d gotten to be together, in a world where so many horrible things existed, so much pain and darkness, we’d found love.

But the truth was, it hadn’t been enough time. I wanted more.

I needed more.