rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (33 page)

John waved a hand at him. “The babies can stay here with me and Mary. That’s not a problem. You go and take care of our Ry. That
is
your job, isn’t it, Wolf?”

Liam was taken aback. How could the old man possibly know about Rylee and the babies? Or the fact that he was a wolf?

Alex leaned forward and whispered. “Don’t ask. I’ve got a feeling it’ll blow your mind.”

Liam looked down at Marcella, her face still curled into his shoulder. He ran a hand over her cheek. The first time he’d ever held her, and he had to give her away before he really could register she was in his arms. “Baby girl.” She slowly lifted her head, blinking up at him. So beautiful, she had her mother’s features already, though she had more of his coloring.

She reached up and brushed her tiny fingers over his lips, a tentative smile on her sweet mouth. He kissed her on the forehead, his throat tight. He couldn’t say goodbye to her, not even as he handed her over to John. Mary, John’s wife, stepped out of the back. Liam had never met her before, and even Rylee said she didn’t come out of the back much when she was around. Mary’s eyes met his, and he knew why she’d avoided Rylee.

“Here we go, give her to GG.” She reached for Marcella and the little girl cooed and reached back for her.

“GG?” Liam said, forgetting for a split second there was a battle raging, and Rylee waiting on him.

Mary smiled, and the smile silenced all his questions, the resemblance was too strong to deny. “Great-grandma. Now, go and save our Ry, Wolf.”

Alex gave Zane to John. “Liam, we need to get back there.”

“I know.” He couldn’t take his eyes from Mary as he backed out the door. She smiled down at Marcella as she jiggled the little girl gently. He opened the door and the unicorn was still there, her head high as she scanned the area. “There’s a unicorn outside to guard the babies.”

John waved at him. “We know, Wolf. Now git.”

He opened the Veil, feeling the pull on his soul as using it tore away another piece. Worth it for Marcella. Worth it for Rylee.

The slash in the Veil opened in the middle of the melee, closer to Doran. He and Alex leapt through, tackling the two demons who’d tried to get around him and to the other side of the Veil.

Liam pummeled the demon into the ground, then tore its head off with his bare hands.

Beside him, Alex had shifted and was snapping the neck of a demon with his teeth.

“Doran, time to get the girl,” he shouted to the daywalking vampire.

Doran was in a pocket of demons about ten feet from them. “You got a plan?”

“Not really, Faris does.” Liam took a step back, bracing himself for a split second. “Alex, with me.”

Alex was at his side in a flash. “Yuppy doody, boss.”

He raised a hand. “Eve!”

The harpy swooped down and caught both him and Alex up in her talons.

“Where?”

“Rylee.”

She tipped her wings and they were over a bare patch of ground, devoid of every demon except one.

Orion.

And he was beating the shit out of Rylee.

Eve let them go without asking, dropping them in front of Rylee. “Get him, Liam!” she screeched.

Liam landed in a crouch, his eyes locked on the glowing red orbs of the demon in front of him. Orion was breathing hard, blood ran down the side of his head, and his hand looked like it had been busted up. Alex ran to where Rylee lay on the ground. “She’s alive.”

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the martyr. Come to sacrifice yourself again, Wolf?”

Baring his teeth, a low rumbling growl slipped out of him. “Fuck you, demon.”

“Now, now, is that the kind of language you want your daughter to learn? Where is the pretty little Marcella?” He looked around then back at Liam. “Naughty boy, you took her away, didn’t you? Never fear, I’ll find her soon enough.”

Liam didn’t hesitate. He leapt forward, tackling Orion to the ground. The demon was big, bulky, and physically dominating compared to the lean muscle that Faris’s body carried. But Liam—and Faris—fought for someone they loved, giving him the strength he needed to overpower Orion.

He rolled the demon under him, straddling the fucker’s chest. Yanking his cutlass free, he brought it down hard, aiming right for Orion’s neck. He only hoped it would do more than slow the big bastard down to lose his head.

Something that smelled like it had been dead for months slammed into him, sweeping him away from the demon in the last second before his blade made contact. In the tumble through the air, he caught flashes of gray tattered skin and long, cracked claws. Liam hit the ground hard, rolling across the broken cornstalks, stopping only when he came to rest against Rylee’s side.

She looked at him, her eyes swirling. “We’re in deep shit this time, Liam.”

“This time?”

“Well, you have to admit, all the other times we weren’t outnumbered, not like this.”

He choked out a laugh. “No, not exactly like this.”

Around them the demons laughed. How long had they been fighting? Hours? It felt like it.

And there was no doubt in his mind that they were far from done.

CHAPTER 40

PAMELA

WE WEREN’T GOING to make it in time to save Rylee. That was the only thought that rolled through my head, and I couldn’t shake it no matter how hard I tried. The seething black mass of demons in front of us was too great. Was too much.

Lark’s words to me echoed through my head.

“Let it all out,” I whispered. For everything I was, and all those I loved, I would embrace everything in me. The light and the dark.

I opened myself to the magic like never before and it screamed through me like a maelstrom of epic proportions. Barely able to direct it, I didn’t care if I lived past the battle. If we couldn’t get to Rylee, it wouldn’t matter what was left of me.

A scream ripped out of me as the magic exploded in a wave of pure power, dissolving the first lines of the demons. I didn’t walk, but ran forward into the opening and did it again. And again.

And again.

CHAPTER 41

LARK

I’D BE DAMNED IF we didn’t make it in time to save Rylee. Well and truly damned. Pamela was battling with all she had, and I would do no less. I embraced the power of Earth and Spirit and wove them together, making a deadly concoction.

I flexed my fingers as I unleashed my power right behind the wave of magic Pamela sent out.

Destroyer. That was my name.

And I would live up to it every time.

CHAPTER 42

ALEX

I HELD MY GROUND, putting my body against Rylee’s, as if I could feed her my strength. I would give it all to save her.

No matter what it cost me.