It had been days since the battle started. The memories I had of seeing the future hadn’t shown me how long and grueling things would really be. I thought it was over and done with quickly, but after the first round of warlocks had been dealt with, the demons came in and neither side gained any ground.
Malphas hadn’t been seen again since his original appearance. His voice could be heard each night calling his demons back to his side. I didn’t understand his tactics, but getting a little rest before the demons showed back up was appreciated. I didn’t figure he’d meant to do us any favors, though.
The break in fighting wasn’t exactly used for resting for me, but I tried. Sleep was difficult when you were trying to figure out if you’d made any mistakes that would end up biting you in the butt. I went over every action, and hadn’t found anything, but I continued trying to find things.
We had no big injuries on our side. Everyone still had all their appendages, and other than a few burn marks, we were whole. From what I could observe, while doing my best to cause damage, the demons weren’t in bad shape either, which made me really wonder what in the world we were doing.
It was clear by the very few injuries that neither side was winning. I tried to get into Malphas’ head to figure out what in the world was going on, but clearly I wasn’t delusional enough to piece things together. What I did know was that I fought next to my men and he remained hidden like a coward.
That didn’t come as a surprise to me, even after he claimed we were so much alike. He hadn’t been willing to face me when I’d been a few cards short of a full deck, and gaining my abilities back made me even stronger than I remembered. I couldn’t blame him from wanting to keep his distance, but this whole thing was leading up to our fight, and I was as ready for it as I could be.
I’d been watching my back, along with every person on our side of the battle. I could feel their eyes on me, waiting to sound an alarm and jump in to try to protect me. It was annoying to me, because part of me thought maybe we’d gain an upper hand if everyone stopped worrying about me so much.
I couldn’t blame them without becoming a hypocrite, though. My attention was split between fighting the demon in front of me, trying to sense Malphas and watching Rick. There were also moments spent checking in with Nate, but he was usually by my side, so I didn’t have to look far.
Rick hadn’t said anything about me keeping an eye on him during the four days of battle, but I knew he felt it. I tried my best to hide it, so he wouldn’t become suspicious. That usually meant fighting four or five demons at once to keep my mind occupied.
“Hey,” Nate said from beside me, bringing me out of my daily analysis of what was going on.
We were in our tent, which was set a little ways away from the rest of the tents Mak had manifested for us. I hadn’t asked for the privacy, but it was assumed we needed it. After eating dinner and going over anything we’d learned each night, we were pretty quick to disappear from the group.
It wasn’t really for anything that needed privacy. I just didn’t like having everyone staring at me. As the fight went on, more of our troops were called in, so there were even more eyes watching me, and if someone ever needed a break, someone else filled in for them.
“I thought you were still sleeping.” I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “I haven’t heard much movement, and it’s still a few hours before the fighting will start up, according to the schedule we’ve seen so far. I have no idea why Malphas is keeping to a schedule, but I also don’t know why he’s dragging things out. This should have been over the very first day.”
I hated that the schedule wasn’t mine to set. The ball had remained in Malphas’ corner the whole fight, and I feared things would stay that way. When our opponents disappeared at dusk, it was hard to chase after them and try to take the fight to wherever Malphas was hiding out.
They were pretty much there one second, and thin air the next. We’d sent scouts out to see if they had a camp anywhere, but no one had been able to find one.
“It’s hard to sleep when your mind has slipped into overdrive, examining every single thing you’ve seen the past few days. We have plenty of people around who can take some of that pressure off you. I know you won’t agree to help in that matter, but I felt the need to remind you.”
“I’m aware, but I don’t think anyone would look at the things the same way I do. I watch the battle a little bit differently than most.”
“True, but I’m sure the rest of us could help if you’d let us. Did you get any sleep?”
I’d sat up, when I went into my spiel about why I had to be the one deciphering everything, but he pulled me down next to him as he rubbed my back. I knew he was trying to calm me. It’s something he always tried, but there was no way the electricity running through me would allow that.
I’d woken up buzzing, even more than I had on previous mornings. He was lucky I’d stayed in bed. The energy coursing in my blood made me want to get up and run a marathon.
“More sleep than I needed. Today is the day, and I need to figure out a way to give us the upper hand before Malphas shows up. That’s why I’ve been going over things. There had to be a clue in there at some point to guarantee us a win.”
“What?” Nate asked, sitting us both up, but keeping me glued to his side. “I’ve been listening to your rambling thoughts and nothing going on in your head said today was the day.”
“I was purposefully trying not to think about it. There’s a lot of other things I need to figure out, like the aforementioned key to our victory.”
I wrapped my arms around his bare torso and pushed my fingernails into his skin. My nails weren’t long, so they weren’t going to leave marks. Feeling my Mali next to me, I didn’t want to move from the spot, ever, but there was a lot that needed to be done, and we both knew it. It was nice to just hold him for a few moments, though.
“How do you know? You didn’t know the fighting would go longer than a day. I’ve sensed how surprised you’ve been about that.”
“How do I know anything? I just get a feeling in my bones that tells me something is going to happen, and ninety-nine percent of the time it does. Today I feel like things are coming to an end in the fight.”
The feeling was what had brought me out of my fitful sleep. I couldn’t sleep when I knew someone was watching, at least not without being in a coma, and I had a constant feeling of being watched. I couldn’t physically sense Malphas close by, but he was keeping an eye on me, like he had when we were in the cornfield.
I couldn’t wait until I plucked that eye out of its socket. If I didn’t get anything else accomplished, I wanted that task done.
“After days of monotony, I can’t say it’s not exciting to hear something is going to happen, but I know what you fear happening.”
“It’s not going to happen,” I said quickly.
I didn’t want any thoughts turning to possible outcomes. There was only one outcome acceptable and I was going to make sure things played out how they were supposed to. Rick had to live because I couldn’t live without him. I had to live because Nate and I had children to raise and if I died so did he.
There was a lot resting on my shoulders, and I needed to figure out how to make sure I got everything done. The previous days of nonstop fighting hadn’t done what Malphas had hoped. We weren’t discouraged, and if anything, the fact that we weren’t hurting only made our hope increase.
As I’d worked to figure out what Malphas was thinking, I’d come to the conclusion he wanted us worn out before he made an appearance. Between all the magic we had working on our side, it was going to be years before that happened.
“I love hearing that confidence in your voice about what will or won’t happen, but at the same time it scares me. There are so many questions we don’t know the answer to.”
I lifted my finger up to Nate’s mouth to keep him from continuing. I knew he was going to bring up the fact that I’d seen a future where I’d been killed, and no
matter how many times I told him I wouldn’t let that happen, he was still worried I’d sacrifice myself.
The truth was I probably would if it was between Freddie and me, which was why I had to make sure that choice never came to be. There had to be a way for our side to get everything we wanted, which was simply Malphas dying while everyone else lived. I didn’t know what would become of the demons we’d been fighting, but that wasn’t my concern.
My immediate concern was getting Nate’s mind off the worry that had filled it. Knowing my mate as well as I did, there was one easy way to get him thinking about other things, and I quickly replaced my finger on his lips with my lips and pushed him down, so I could straddle him.
Nate groaned, knowing I was distracting him, and that he wouldn’t stop me from the distraction I had in mind. He’d probably still worry, before, during and after, but there was another reason to make love to him. I worked hard not to think about that reason as I removed my shirt, but we both knew there was a chance we wouldn’t make it through the day, and what came after that was something neither of us knew.
Nate deserved at least one happy memory from the days of fighting. He actually deserved everything he wanted after having to deal with me over the years, but I wasn’t sure I could give him everything. I leaned down to nibble on his neck when I heard a throat clear behind me.
I didn’t know which one of us groaned louder, but I had to believe it was me. There was only one person I couldn’t really sense as she moved around, and I took a second to wonder, for the hundredth time, whether my special knife could kill her. After how she’d gone off the deep end, I was surprised she even bothered to show up.
“Possibly, as far as the knife goes, because the stronger you’ve gotten, it’s gotten, but we have other things to talk about. I know I interrupted a tender moment, and I’m truly sorry I had to. Things are going to start happening before we know it and we need to talk.”
I sat up, grabbing my shirt to throw it back on. I was well aware I’d gone skinny dipping with Eva before, but I didn’t feel the need to share my nudity with her. If I could’ve managed to make her unsee what she already had, I would’ve gone with that option.
“I’m surprised you didn’t wait longer and watch the show.”
“Actually, I would’ve interrupted sooner, but you were having a meaningful conversation and I thought it might be useful for you to talk things out. Once I saw where things were going, I decided I better get our conversation in before you went too far. I was a little surprised at how quickly you moved to distract Nate.”
I didn’t know whether that was Eva’s way of saying she was being thoughtful, but I could tell there was something cryptic behind her words. As there always was.
“I’ve seen your boy toy out fighting with the group, but you’ve been missing since we got here. I’m not really sure what you think we need to talk about, but I think I’d rather continue with what I had planned and catch up a little later.”
I looked down at Nate, watching a smile slide across his face. He’d always enjoyed when my mind focused in on his favorite activity.
“I guess I didn’t make myself clear when I said I was stopping you two before things went too far. Don’t make me zap us away to my void, Avery. Dismount your stallion and ask him to leave us alone for a few minutes.”
The tone of Eva’s voice had me a little worried. There was none of her teasing, carefree nature in the words, not that I expected them to magically be back. Whatever she had to tell me was important to her, and I got the feeling it would finally be something worth me hearing coming from her mouth.
It was more than likely a foolish thought on my end, but it did make me consider hearing her out. Feeling Nate’s warm body underneath me made me really want to tell her to get lost.
Nate’s smile faded a little as he leaned up to give me a peck on the cheek. “I guess we should probably listen to her. I’ll go make sure your breakfast is being prepared to your liking and wait outside for you.”
He rolled me over, but I held on for a few more moments. “Does he really have to leave? He’s eventually going to know whatever you tell me.”
The fact that it was clearly something important made me want to keep Nate close by, someone needed to stop me from killing her if she went off like she had a few days prior. I looked over at Eva and found her expression matched the tone of her voice. She shook her head, and that was enough to get Nate moving.
He was gone before I could say another word. I sat up and gave Eva my dirtiest look.
“This better be important.”
“For once I think you’ll agree with me that it is.” Her eyes turned white and a chill made its way down my back. I didn’t have any idea what she was going to say, but her eyes freaked me out.
I gripped the handle of my dagger under my pillow. If she was about to turn crazy on me, I was going to fight back.