Queet!
I’m here! I see him. Fury, he’s a powerful one and he isn’t in-body. You’re going to have to take him to the Crossroads if you hope to have a chance against him.
But there’s no Crossroads here. I can’t. I struggled, managing to catch a shallow breath as the Abom shifted positions. Hecate—tell Hecate!
Queet vanished as the Abom lashed at me with his psychic tether, trying to get his siphon to my crown chakra. I managed to slide my hand down to my thigh and slapped, grabbing hold as the whip came off in my hand. But as I raised it, I realized that the Abom was too close. We were entangled and there was no way for me to hurt him with the whip without bringing it back on myself.
Jason was shouting something. Through a growing haze caused by the lack of oxygen, I realized he and Tymbur were trying to help, but they didn’t know how to deal with Aboms, especially when they weren’t in-body. Jason had helped me a few times, but mostly to pick up the pieces when I was done.
As I thrashed my head back and forth, trying to evade the damned siphoning tube, there was a blinding flash and the world went white, lit up like the sun.
Again, I hit hard, and the impact shook the Abomination off of me. I blinked, trying to get my bearings, and then knew exactly where I was. There was the cauldron, and the sign—Hecate had bounced me out to the Crossroads.
“Okay, sucker, bring it on.” I rolled to my feet, ignoring every ache and pain that protested through my body. I brought my hand down so hard on my thigh I almost knocked myself over, but my whip was ready and in-hand.
I’m here, Fury.
Queet, thank gods. Where’s his soul-hole?
It’s at the base of his tailbone.
The Abom had taken the nebulous form of a human. Or rather, a giant. He was big and mean, and I had the feeling he was all too cunning. He wasn’t corporeal, but rather condensed mist, as if encased in a body-shaped bubble.
That means I have to get around behind him. I need you to distract him, Queet.
On it.
Queet flitted around in front of me, then shimmered into sight. The Abom grunted, turning toward him as I dashed toward the nearby bank of bushes. There were a few benches in front of the hedgerow and scrub trees, and I leaped over one, ducking into the vegetation as Queet did his best to engage the Abom. From where I was hiding, I could see what was going on until I could make my way around behind the creature.
The Abomination was looking around for me, but then Queet dive bombed him. Spirits couldn’t do much to Aboms except annoy them, but it served our purpose when the Abom swatted at him. I chose that moment to slip through the ever-present mist around the other side of the benches to come in behind the Abom.
My whip ready, I took aim toward his tailbone.
There it was! The glowing hole that I needed to attack.
Wound an Abom in their soul-hole and you’d send them back to Pandoriam. I raised my whip and brought it down hard, but the Abom shifted, turning. The fall of my whip hit him square across the face, slicing deep into the swirling clouds that made up his body. He shrieked—the blow hurt, even if it wasn’t a killing-strike—and the Abom charged.
I danced back, teetering as my foot landed on a rock and threw me off balance. If I tried to recover, I’d be right in his line of attack. So I fell, rolling as I hit the ground. I brought my whip around low to coil around his legs at the moment he lunged.
With a roar, he tripped forward. As he toppled toward the ground, I whipped out my dagger and moved in, letting go of the whip to bring the blade down two-handed toward his soul-hole. The tip of the dagger penetrated and I fell on it, hard.
The Abomination shrieked again and then, with one quick whoosh, a fractured light pierced the Crossroads, flowing from his soul-hole. The Abom vanished and I dropped to the ground, exhausted. Taking out an Abom on the Crossroads always left me half-dead.
I could barely think…could barely hear…
Fury? Fury? I’m getting Hecate.
Queet? I think I’m dying.
No, you’re not. You always say that, but you’re not. I’ll be right back.
And then the world went black.
“Fury?” The voice pierced the blackness, but it was so loud that it made me want to vomit. I couldn’t open my eyes. There was light around me and right now, that light would get me so sick I wouldn’t be able to handle it.
I tried to move my head, but everything whirled.
“Uhhh…”
“Can you hear me?”
I wasn’t sure who “me” was at this point, but I let out another “Uhhh.”
“We’re taking you somewhere safe. The Abom’s gone. You got him.”
Another “Uhhh” was the best I could manage.
“Just rest. You’re going to be all right. We’ve got you.”
I wanted to ask if everybody was all right. If the portal had really closed. But there were no words. My tongue couldn’t form them, and my throat felt like it was on fire. Every move jarred me hard, but I had no idea where we were. Who “we” even was.
And then, the jostling stopped and I sensed that it was dark around me. I tentatively forced one eye open to see that I was in a chamber somewhere. I thought it was UnderBarrow, but wasn’t sure. There were a lot of people standing around, but I decided to forgo trying to make an attempt to identify them.
I breathed in and groaned. Every muscle in my body ached. Softly letting out my breath, I closed my eyes again, and slipped into blessed darkness.
Chapter 21
The next time I opened my eyes, I was in bed, and even though I ached like a son of a bitch, I was able to push myself up against the headboard. I glanced around. I was in UnderBarrow all right, in my bed in the room Tam had given me. Tam was sitting by my side while Jason and Hans were on the other side of the room. Jason was reading, and Hans was staring at the wall. As I groaned, they all scrambled to their feet.
“Fury? Are you all right? Can you talk?” Tam gently pressed his lips to my forehead.
“I thought you left already?”
“I couldn’t go, not till I knew what happened with the portal. With you.”
I winced. Even the slightest touch rippled through my body with some sort of pain. “I feel like somebody took a hammer to me.”
Tam pulled me into his arms, kissing me deep, welcoming both his touch and the blessed relief that flowed from his kisses. It was as if he reached into me, caught hold of the pain, and sucked it out through his lips. As the shock of pain began to lessen, my head cleared. Another moment and he sat back, looking quite pale but smiling.
“Better?”
I tested, raising one arm, then the other. My muscles still ached, the bruising wasn’t gone by any means, but I felt capable of thinking again and the sharp jolts had subsided to a dull ache that I could manage.
“Yeah, much better. Especially seeing you.” I rested a hand on his arm. “What’s today?”
Some days, after I took an Abom down on the Crossroads, I’d be out for hours. Sometimes even longer.
“About twelve hours from when you sent the Abomination home to Pandoriam. I’m surprised you’re awake now.” Jason sat on the foot of the bed, while Hans held onto the spiraling post that rose to meet the canopy.
“I guess I’m just getting used to feeling like a punching bag.” I tried to joke, but tripped over the words as I flashed back to the scenes I had witnessed in Tartarus. The pain there had been so palpable that I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to blot it off my memory for a long time, if ever. Then, remembering everything, I let out a sharp breath, wincing as it caused a stitch in my side. “What about the portal? The zombies?”
“You closed it, thanks to Athena’s charm. But I’m not going to lie,” Jason said. “Seattle’s in big trouble. We don’t know how many zombies escaped into the streets. The council has declared martial law in all quarters. The Devani are out in droves, hunting for the zombies, but there are repo
rts that enough managed to get free that we’re facing a potential plague.”
“It’s worse than that,” Tam said, so pale it was hard to look at him. “My compatriots from the Wild Wood sent word that there’s a massive battalion of soldiers on the way to lock down the city. They don’t want any of the zombies escaping to spread the infection. If they can’t cleanse it of the plague…” His voice drifted off, but his meaning was clear.
“You think they might level it?”
“They could easily set up Bellingham as the new Seattle. Or even the Everett area. Move the ports. It would come at an enormous cost, but the fear of infection is nothing to wave away. The last thing the Conglomerate would want is a zombie infection.”
“Then it looks like the Order of the Black Mist got at least some of what it wanted. Chaos and disorder.” I pressed my lips together, thinking over the options. “We could go zombie hunting—”
“Not yet. We can’t risk the Devani capturing you, and until they know how many of the creatures escaped, the government isn’t going to let this drop. We have to leave the city for now, while we can. Because if they decide it’s a lost cause, their method of cleansing will destroy everything left. They’ll check every single person evacuating, and when they come to you and me, they’ll take us down.” Tam stood. “We need to leave as soon as you can travel. There’s no safety here now for any of us.”
“But Hecate! I can’t…” I stopped as my phone rang. Tam handed it to me. It was Hecate. I put her on speaker.
“Fury? Tam told me what’s going on. You need to leave. The Elder Gods are closing the Peninsula of the Gods right now. We won’t be letting anybody in or out. You have a choice. You can come here, or you can go with your friends into the wild. I can find you without a problem. I don’t need a phone to track you down, so don’t worry about that.”
I tried to take in everything that both she and Tam were saying. “But what about the Aboms? My job for you is—”
“Your job right now is to stay alive and out of the hands of the government. You also need to get away from the Order of the Black Mist. You managed to put a stop to their plans again, albeit the collateral damage has been done, and Lyon will still be hunting you down. You really can’t afford to stay in the city. If you come here, we will protect you, but the wait may be a long one until you can leave.”
I stared mutely at the phone, not knowing what to say. Then I turned to Jason. “What about you? About the Cast?”
“We’re preparing to evacuate. Greta’s gone to escort Shevron and Leonard here. I don’t trust them on their own when there are zombies running around.” He shrugged. “I guess Dream Wardens will be closed for a while. I went back to bag up whatever I could find that might help us. Elan and Laren are waiting for us at the boat.”
“What about your people, Tam?” I turned a bleak gaze to him.
“UnderBarrow can withstand many things. As soon as I give the order, they’ll seal our entrances from the outside and move the Barrow through, into the mist. As my people long ago separated from humans, so will UnderBarrow. I will leave Damh Varias in control and he will be my regent until I can return.” The look on his face was so sorrowful that it made me want to cry.
My stomach still churning, I said, “I will go with you.”
Hecate was still on the line and her voice came through loud and clear. “You should, Fury. Go with your family. Your friends are your brothers and sisters. I will be able to meet you in the Crossroads, and I will be able to find you in the Wild. Go into the Wild, to safety, for the world is once again shifting and things are going to get worse before they get better. In other cities around the world, the darker creatures are coming out, rising from the Underbelly at the behest of the Order of the Black Mist. Contact with several lands has been cut off. Bifrost has closed its gates to all outsiders.”
I inhaled slowly, then pushed my way out of bed. “I’ll go. I assume we leave as soon as possible?”
Tam nodded. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake. Elan went ahead to help Laren prepare the boat. Shevron and Leonard should be here by now. We need to go now.”
“Hecate, don’t forget me,” I stuttered brokenly into the phone.
“Fury, you are one of my Chosen. You are my daughter. I will never forsake you. Trust me, I will be with you. And Queet can run messages if need be. He will go with you, too.”
And then, she signed off.
We hurried then, gathering everything we could. A servant had already packed my things I had left in UnderBarrow. One of the healers came, spreading ointment on my bruises and giving me a drink that had the energizing effect of several lattes without all the jitters.
Tam and I were left alone when Jason went to greet Shevron and Hans went to talk to Greta.
I turned to him. “We don’t have much time.”
“I want you too. Now, here.” He pulled me to him, his lips meeting mine as I melted into his embrace, willing the kiss to go on and on. As his hands met my breasts, my hips, sliding between my legs, I explored his body. Every lithe muscle, I knew. Every curve and dip was familiar territory under my fingers. I could read his body with my eyes closed. Tam stroked my hip, playing over the whip.
“I love what you are. Who you are. You are my chosen mate. You are my furious passion.” He nipped my lip with his teeth and then laid me back. I opened myself to his body as he bore down on me, penetrating the folds of my core.
As we moved in rhythm, my heart swelled. This man had awakened feelings in me I didn’t know existed. I had thought I knew what love was before, but I now knew the difference between infatuation and truly giving your heart to someone capable of giving theirs back.
We made love, quickly, silently, and when we were done, we dressed and joined the others.
Like thieves in the night, we crept through the tunnels, Tam, Greta, Hans, Montran, Tymbur, Jason, Shevron, Leonard, and me. We snuck out to Elan and Laren’s boat and, as the waves rocked us back and forth, I looked back at Seattle. Smoke was rising from various quarters through the snow that fell softly to coat a wounded city. Somewhere in the winding streets, a walking plague lurked and golden soldiers from Elysium drove their way through the city, free to use whatever force they chose to keep order for the corporatocracy.
Heartsick, we hid down in the magical hold as Laren set sail. Seattle lay behind us. What waited ahead? There was no telling. But as we headed to the Wild Wood, I wondered if we’d ever be able to come back. To come home.
~End~
If you enjoyed this book and haven’t read the first, I invite you to do so now. Fury Rising is available in e-book and print. And I invite you into my other worlds. Stay tuned for the release of Bewitching Bedlam, Book 1 of my new Bewitching Bedlam Series, coming in January. You can read the prequel story—Blood Music—in Taming the Vampire right now!
You might also enjoy the paranormal mystery series I just re-released this past month, the Chintz ‘n China Mystery Series. All five books are now available in e-book and the first has been discounted to $2.99 permanently! Check them out: Ghost of a Chance, Legend of the Jade Dragon, Murder Under a Mystic Moon, A Harvest of Bones, and One Hex of a Wedding.
Fury Awakened, Book 3 in the Fury Unbound Series, will be coming next year, along with a number of new releases! And be sure to sign up for my newsletter to ensure you always get updated on new releases. You can find out more about all my books on my web site at Galenorn.com and in the Biography at the end of this book.
Upcoming releases:
January 2017: Bewitching Bedlam (Bewitching Bedlam Series—Book 1)
March 2017: Souljacker (Lily Bound Series—Book 1)
April 2017: Moon Shimmers (Otherworld Series—Book 19)
May 2017: Fury Awakened (Fury Unbound Series—Book 3)
July 2017: Crow Song (Whisper Hollow Series—Book 3)
Playlist
I almost always write to music, and FURY’S MAGIC was no exception. Here’s the
playlist for the book:
Android Lust: Here and Now; Yaakuntik, Saint Over
AWOLNATION: Sail
Beck: Think I’m in Love; Broken Train
Black Angels: Indigo Meadow, Don’t Play With Guns, Young Men Dead
The Chieftains: Dunmore Lassies
Clannad: Banba Óir; Newgrange
Clash, The: Should I Stay or Should I Go
Cobra Verde: Play with Fire
Crazy Town: Butterfly
David Bowie: Fame, Heroes
David & Steve Gordon: Shaman’s Drum Dance
Death Cab For Cutie: I Will Possess Your Heart
Eastern Sun: Beautiful Being (Original Edit)
Eivør: Trøllbundin
Enya: Orinoco Flow; Cursum Perficio
Faun: Rad; The Market Song
Fluke: Absurd
Gabrielle Roth: Rest Your Tears Here, Mother Night
Garbage: #1 Crush
Gary Numan: Splinter, Here in the Black, Soul Protection
Gospel Whiskey Runners, The: Muddy Waters
Guess Who, The: No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
Hedningarna: Ukkonen; Räven [Fox Woman]
Huldrelokk: Trolldans
Justin Timberlake: SexyBack
Kerstin Blodig & Ian Melrose: Kråka
Kills, The: Nail In My Coffin, You Don’t Own The Road; U.R.A. Fever, Sour Cherry, DNA
Lorde: Royals
Loreena McKennitt: All Souls Night
Low with Tom and Andy: Half Light
Motherdrum: Big Stomp
Strawberry Alarm Clock: Incense and Peppermint
Tamaryn: Violet’s in a Pool; While You’re Sleeping, I’m Dreaming
Tangerine Dream: Exit, Dr. Destructo, Grind
Tom Petty: Mary Jane’s Last Dance