rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (27 page)

The clerk was one I’d dealt with before. Melanie, if I remembered right.

“Melanie, I’ll be in and out in a flash.” I held both my hands up over my head as I strode to the back of the store. The stuffed animal section. I scanned the wall, wondering which two to pick.

While it seemed a silly thing, I knew there was a reason for everything that fucking well happened. Even this.

I reached up and brushed my hand against a fluffy brown bear that was at least three feet tall. The fur tickled my hand and I grabbed it. That was one. But the other? A large stuffed eagle hung to the left of me. Its eyes were glass, and seemed to be looking at me. I didn’t hesitate, but grabbed it and yanked it down. Both had long strings still attached to them. At least I would be able to tie them on for the ride back.

“No, you can’t have that one, its display only,” Melanie said, as she tried to take the eagle from me. I clamped down on it and looked her straight in the eye.

“Melanie, do not fuck with me. I’m taking these two stuffed animals, and I can either pay for them or walk out without paying. Which do you want?”

Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard. “I could call the police.”

“Over a stuffed animal?” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the bills Doran had given me. “This should cover it, yes?”

“You’re the one trying to stop Orion from helping us. I saw you on the TV,” she spluttered.

Definitely time to leave. I strode from the room while Melanie yelled behind me.

“We have to stop her; she’d going to hurt Orion!”

What I found, though, when I stepped out of the shop was not at all what I’d expected.

The humans could see Tiomon as clearly as I could apparently. She looked at me.

How is this possible?

Tying the two stuffed animals to my back, I shook my head. “I don’t know, but we have to get the fuck out of here—” Perhaps Orion had inadvertently opened humans’ eyes.

As soon as the thought rolled through me, I knew it was true. Those who had the pox had been touched by the supernatural. And now they could see it.

Several sets of hands grabbed me and yanked me away from Tiomon. “Stay away from her, you filthy demon!”

I was thrown backward, the stuffed animals cushioning my fall. A ring of humans circled me, and for the first time, I was afraid of them. Sure, they had no supernatural powers, they couldn’t heal fast, and they would fall back from my sword like children.

But there were so many of them that even I knew they would eventually overwhelm me. A boot slammed onto the ground beside my head, barely missing me. I rolled and pulled a sword at the same time. The blade caught the string attaching the stuffed eagle to me. Fuck it, I only needed the one.

I whirled my sword around my head and the mob backed up a few steps, though the growing murmur sent chills down my spine. Searching the faces around me, I tried to find one with a semblance of reason. “I am not your enemy,” I said, holding my sword at eye level as I slowly walked toward Tiomon.

“Get her!”

Fucking hell. I jumped forward, and the three women in front of me scattered like chickens, squawking that I’d attacked them. Tiomon leapt toward me and I pulled myself onto her back. Or at least, I tried to.

Hands yanked at me, pulling my hair, legs and arms in all directions. “Let me the fuck go!”

“Hang onto her, Orion said he would deal with her himself.”

Rylee, we must get you out of here. No matter the cost.
Tiomon’s voice was full of sorrow as she spun and reared up on her hind legs. The golden horn on her head glittered in the light, and she let out a battle cry that made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

Plunging downward, she drove her horn through two of the humans who held me at the same time, skewering them clean through. Lightning fast, her hooves shot out, breaking bones and sending bodies flying until I was free of the hands that held me. Scrambling upward, I was on her back in a flash. She spun half a circle and stopped.

The little girl who’d first noticed her lay on the ground, trampled by the mob. Her mother held her, rocking and crying. But all that had gone unseen in the push to take me down for Orion.

Ah! My heart is breaking, Rylee. This is why we don’t let the humans see us.
Tiomon shook her head and trotted forward, slowly lowering her muzzle until it brushed against the girl’s hair. She blew out a quick breath and the girl stirred, taking a deep breath. “Momma? I dreamed a saw a unicorn and she was so beautiful I cried.”

Tiomon backed away, reared up, and we were off and running. Behind us the crowd screamed, but as Tiomon said, there would be no catching her. She was far too fast.

I held tightly to her; we’d gotten what we came for.

I only hoped it would be the payment he wanted. Burying my face into Tiomon’s neck, I let the rhythm of her body roll through me. There was no sound to her steps, but there was still a motion that felt like it fit in with the beat of my heart.

Slayer, it is because there are only a few creatures who could ride with you into battle against the demons. Dragons are one. Unicorns are the other.

“What are you saying?”

I will remain after the battle. I believe I am meant to stay with you. But for another rider. One that is very young yet.

Her words hit me like a bolt out of the blue. “You mean Marcella, don’t you?”

Yes. She will be a Slayer too; it is in her blood. And I already feel drawn to her through you. So I will stay and watch over her from a distance. When she is ready, I will let her ride me.

“You’re going to make her work for your bond, aren’t you?”

We are not like dragons. We do not crave a rider, and yet when the time comes, we will not deny it.

“Does that mean you can tell she will survive?” That had been the reason for the second stuffed animal. A Reading for Marcella.

She went silent as we skimmed along, the minutes ticking by.
I cannot see the future, Rylee. But I know I must stay here with you. Perhaps it isn’t for her . . . there is another child, one that will need a companion as well. A companion who would understand him completely.

Now she spoke of Zane. I tightened my grip on her mane and forced myself not to ask any more questions.

Sliding to a stop in front of the barn, a billow of dust rose around us, obscuring my vision for a moment. I all but fell off Tiomon’s back, my muscles aching and legs wobbly while I got them under me again. “Thank you.”

It was my honor, Rylee. As it will be to go into battle with you against the horde.

She turned and trotted away, to where the rest of the herd waited, as though she hadn’t run several hundred miles in a matter of hours.

I strode to the barn, untying the stuffed bear from my back. Stepping from the bright light to the dim interior of the barn, I took a moment to let my eyes adjust. Doran sat on one side of Jonathan and Deanna on the other. Will was nowhere to be seen, and from the dark part of the barn I caught a glimmer of two blonde heads: Berget and Liam.

Holding the bear out in front of me, I headed straight to Jonathan. “Will this do as payment for Reading me?”

Jonathan tipped his head to the side and Deanna choked out a laugh. “Rylee, you went all the way to town and got a stuffed animal?”

I didn’t look at her, but kept my eyes on the kid. He reached for the bear and I let him have it. Curling his arms around the stuffed animal, he buried his face in the fur and drew in a slow breath. “It smells like the wind.”

“Well, the wind certainly whipped through the fur.” I squatted in front of him. “Will the payment suffice?”

He grinned at me. “Only if you tell me how you knew what I wanted.”

Doran grunted. “Yeah, I’d like to know that too.”

A half-grin tugged at my lips. “My mentor, Giselle, was a Reader. Whenever I asked her to read my palms, I brought her a gift. She loved the stuffed animals when I first moved in with her. It seemed natural to bring them to her as a thank you, since she wouldn’t accept money or any other gifts.”

Doran laughed and shook his head. “Damn.”

Jonathan leaned toward me. “I can’t truly read you with your Immunity intact, you know that, don’t you?”

This was where things got tricky. “Yes, I know.”

His strange eyes darted around the room. “They will have to protect you, the demons will come when they sense your Immunity slip away.”

Cold chills rippled through me. “But you will show me what I need to see?”

He grabbed a book covered in scales I hadn’t noticed and a thick piece of charcoal, scribbling with a mad fervor that shook his whole body. “Two paths, with no right choice, only the choice you must make.”

“Oh, well, that’s fucking simple.” I snorted.

He bobbed his head, still scribbling away. “That’s what I always say.”

Doran stood. “I’m getting the other shamans. They can help set up a circle of protection.”

I sat and crossed my legs under me. “Jonathan, how long will it take?”

“Don’t know, never do.” His eyes were moving in completely different directions as he drew strange symbols in the book. I leaned forward.

“Not yet, Rylee. When the time is here, you will put your hand on the book and I will work around it.”

“Then what are you doing right now?”

“Reading those around me. The threads are wild with danger and death,” he whispered. The only sound was that of the charcoal scratching on the thick paper in front of him. I looked at Deanna and she stared back at me.

“I don’t want Will to die,” she said, her voice pitched low. “He can bring our people back from the brink at home. He has the charisma to do it.”

“I can’t promise anyone their life in this, Deanna, you know that. Hell, I can’t even promise my own life.”

She closed her eyes. “I have seen his death, Rylee. I will do what I can to stop it, and if you can . . . please, if you can and I am already taken down, will you try?”

Fucking promises and all tied to me. For the first time, I knew I couldn’t even pretend.

“No. I won’t. I have one job here, Deanna. You
know
that. How can you even ask me to set his life above mine right now?” Gods above, I sounded like a bitch, and I was from time to time, but right then I knew I was right.

Jonathan leaned toward me. “She isn’t feeling herself, I think.”

“What the fuck do you mean?” I stared at him, when I should have been looking at her.

Deanna launched herself at me, a copper blade in her hands and her eyes a distinct shade of red. The blade slammed into my stomach hard and she jerked it out for a second strike as I rolled her under me.

“Fuck you, Orion,” I screamed as I wrapped one hand around her throat and the other around her hand with the knife. I didn’t even have to say the word “go,” the demon was thrown out of her with a mere thought from me. For a second, Deanna was back in her body.

“I’m sorry, Rylee. So sorry. Tell my brother . . . .” her body went limp and her eyes flickered closed.

“I will,” I pushed her off and tried to sit up. The pain through my stomach slammed into me as I clenched my muscles.

“Rylee, get over here, let me take a look at you,” Liam called to me from the darkness. Berget added her pleas to his.

“Rylee, it’s bad. I can smell the blood.”

“How long until sundown?” I didn’t look at them.

“A few hours,” Berget said. “You can’t mean to go into the battle wounded? Oh my god, that’s exactly what you’re planning to do. Why would you do that?” She was crying, and the sound gutted me as surely as Deanna’s knife had.

I twisted to glare at them both and had to bite back the groan that rose to my lips. “And who would heal me? There is no one here. And nothing either of you could do.”

Berget held her hands out. “That’s not true, the shamans—”

The door banged open and Doran strode in followed by Louisa and Crystal. They were the last two female shamans, the rest had all been killed by their own Guardians as they’d been possessed by demons.

“The shamans have to hold down the protective circle, and if they heal Rylee then they will not have the strength. It is up to you, Tracker.” Doran was being particularly formal and I knew why.

This was it. The final battle was hours away and the tension rose around us like an electrical storm on the horizon.

“Do the circle, I will wait for Pamela.” I bit the words out and scooted closer to Jonathan. Doran held the door open and in trotted the remaining unicorns, Mer the ogre, Charlie and a few brownies, and a couple other supernaturals I hadn’t met, but I was guessing were members of Will’s Destruction. Will, of course, was already in the barn. But what shocked the shit out of me was that India was there, walking alongside Calliope.

“No, India, you’re too damn young!” She wasn’t even ten years old. She
could not be
in this battle against the demons.

Her hazel eyes met mine. “This is my world too, Rylee.” Her hand clutched Calliope’s thin mane and I realized another bond had been formed. For better or worse, we were going into battle with children.

That was it . . . that was my entire army to battle Orion and the demons. A weird sense of relief flowed over me. There was no way I was going to make it out of this alive and the finality of that understanding brought with it a strange sense of peace.

Liam let out a snort and began to pace. “Rylee, don’t. You aren’t going to die and you sure as hell don’t need to speed the process up.”

I turned my back on him, though it hurt both my body and heart to do it. “I know what I’m doing and this is the last time I’m asking you to trust me.”

Jonathan reached for my hand and I gave it to him, dripping in blood from gripping my stomach. “Pull back your Immunity, Rylee of the Blood, and I will show you the two paths that will be your choice.”

I did as he asked, peeling my Immunity away from my hand first, then up my arm and over my shoulders and head. Like pulling off a long sleeved shirt, I mentally tugged at it until my entire upper body was without protection. Through gritted teeth I spoke. “Is that far enough?”