Summon (Rae Wilder)

  Hackles raised, I arched my back and lowered my head. I snarled, and the vicious sound shook me from nose to tail.

  He shivered, battling the berserker frenzy that made the goblins shunned among demonkind. He shook his head and retreated, holding up a hand. “I am myself,” he rasped.

  Daring a glance over her shoulder, Maeve frowned at us, remaining stood at Lorken’s back. Switching her attention back to the fight, her bow sang as she notched two arrows and took down a bloated zombie charging her with serrated bone where an arm used to hang.

  A vampire rushed her from the side.

  A fierce growl vibrating my chest, I gathered my back and fore paws. I tensed until still, focused, ready to spring an attack, but the demon collapsed, a dagger slicing through its jugular.

  Hissing, Gunarr dropped from the roof above in an intricate tumble with daggers flying from his hands, each embedding a target. The fairy Knight joined the duo as they steadily took down wave after wave of droning zombies. “Have you seen Wasp?”

  “No,” Maeve replied, breathless. Her eyes scanned the heaving landscape. “I doubt you will find her in this unless she wants to be found.”

  I dragged my claws across the hamstring of a zombie lurching past and made quick work of finishing it off.

  A mad cackle sounded across the noise startling Lorken into throwing too much force into his punch. He shoved his fist clean through a zombie’s skull and out the other side.

  I twisted seeking the source of the spine-chilling laughter.

  Two struggling figures fell from a high building, plummeting towards the river.

  My heart plain skipped a beat when the pair separated and my vision honed on the smaller winged shape.

  I screamed as Rae hit the river and floated lifelessly.

  She sank under.

  Crossing the violent water would be impossible in animal form, and I froze in uncertainty.

  “No.” Maeve shouted already in motion, leaving Gunarr and Lorken to finish the zombies she’d abandoned.

  I jumped in her way, but she evaded me and defied gravity to run up the vertical side of a building. Catching the lip of the roof, she dead-lifted her weight then swung a leg over to gain her feet.

  Maeve bolted along the decapitated rooftops.

  Damn, she’s fast.

  Furious, I raced after her below, watching as the occasional vampire or zombie plunged to the ground as she ran and fired.

  Reaching the end of the street, Maeve smoothly somersaulted off the slanted roof. Her speed increased until her limbs blurred. She’s going to jump the freaking river. Bow slung across her back, hands fisted, she dexterously weaved and dodged past the demons fighting along the overflowing riverbank without breaking stride.

  I followed in her slipstream pushing hard, but it wasn’t enough.

  Maeve reached the river’s edge and soared, arms wheeling, legs peddling in a flat out sprint. She cleared the distance in the single bound. Landing stooped the other side she rolled, sprung up, and whipped her head side to side her expression wrathful.

  She flung herself at the godling.

  They went down and were lost in the throng of zombies and werewolves swarming at Marinette’s feet.

  I skidded to a stop at the water’s edge and roared, fury coursing through my veins, boiling my blood until I thought I would explode.

  A lioness yelped as she was pinned by a vampire.

  I pounced, going for its throat, praying Maeve’s battle skill kept her alive long enough for me to find a way to her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Breandan

  Marinette curled her fingers, and her hold on my insides tightened.

  I coughed, and blood wet my lips. This is your chance. Rae fades. This is a chance to join her. Looking Marinette in the eye, I sneered in disgust. “I don’t want you. Never you.”

  She raised her fist and I levitated ten feet into the air. She dropped it. I plummeted and slammed into the concrete.

  Dazed, I watched as she raised her arm higher. “Then die.”

  Flesh-coloured talons closed over Marinette’s fist. Striking eyes piercing, mouth parted to show her fangs Rae yanked the loa back to hiss in her face.

  “Look at you.” Marinette’s smile widened at the harsh resolve darkening Rae’s face. “Did you wake for him or because you know the five of us cannot remain. There is the cursed balance to consider.”

  Rae eyes twitched to mine. The invisible hold on me disappeared, shredded, a golden glow of power washing over me in a cloud of warmth. The world became mist and shadow. Just us. Her gaze lovingly swept over my body then fixed on the darkest shadow looming in the distance.

  The moment of peace shattered.

  “Release the body you stole,” Rae demanded. “Lex is owed the funeral I denied her.”

  “And wander the earth aimless without form.” Marinette sneered. “Never.”

  “End this now and we won’t pursue you. If you don’t, we will end you. And if you run, we will hunt you. Death will become your only escape if we decide to come for you. Formlessness is better than nothingness.”

  “I think not.”

  “Accept the offer.”

  Rather than struggle for freedom, Marinette stepped into Rae. Rubbing their cheeks together, she purred. Her red eyes slitted evilly. “I’ll take my chances.” Cackling, Marinette jerked off the rooftop dragging Rae with her.

  Groaning, I crawled to follow them over. A hand gripped my calf, and I twisted to glare.

  Crouched behind me, Malice grinned. “You and me.”

  He heaved, and swung by the ankle I lifted off the ground. Gaining centrifugal force as we spun, he roared, and released me.

  I hurtled through the air and slammed into the side of an adjacent building.

  The concrete gave. In an explosion of grey dust and rubble, I tumbled into the derelict space, my body cut, bruised and scraped.

  Rolling to a stop, I swallowed a moan and staggered up.

  Malice gushed through the ragged hole in the wall as a churning mass of purple smoke. Reforming to float above ground, he landed on bare feet and flexed his toes, fixed a crick in his neck.

  Chin dropped to his chest he studied me. He shook his head in disappointment. “This won’t do.” He sprinted toward me. Powerful thighs obliterated the gulf between us in five strides.

  I braced one foot in front of the other, palms up and ready.

  On impact, a luminous arc slingshot across the room.

  Bodies angled forward, clawed hands fell hard on set shoulders to dig deep. We rendered each other motionless, pushing with godly force and cancelling each other out. Muscles strained. Our foreheads cracked together then separated. Nostrils flared. Brow lowering, my eyes blinked to defend against the grainy dust chipped off the concrete surfaces by our crackling energies. My lips thinned to rigid lines of determination, and Malice’s curved teasingly.

  Be strong. Lose and there is no one strong enough to help her.

  The pressure of his hold was crushing. His fingers dug cruelly into my flesh, nails piercing skin. His hold tightened, and the tendons in his neck bulged as he scavenged a further wisp of power to shoot fire through his fingers into my collarbone.

  I faltered, panicked at the sheer magnitude of Malice’s strength.

  My boots skidded creating white smoke.

  Gritting my teeth, I bolstered my reserves with strength of mind born of desperation.

  I fail, and she is alone.

  The ground cracked. The pressure of my feet using the floor as a buttress caused a rippling of circular fractures. A whiplash of energy broke the concrete into jagged peaks.

  A hiss exploded past my lips. I fail, and the vampire claims what is mine. Death’s tempest gushed from the prison inside me and rumbled to the fore. It sucked hard on the energy humming from Malice’s flesh. His skin lost its glow then pulsated with luminosity. Seared pupils dilating, I gasped at the burn.

  Malice squinted a fraction. “There you ar
e.” He chuckled. “This will do.”

  He reared back and cracked his skull against mine.

  Pain bloomed across my head and neck, knotted my spine.

  My strength abated long enough for Malice to grip the rounds of my shoulders, swing me overhead then slam me down. Air was hard-pressed from my lungs. Sprawled, blood wetting my lips, my insides dropped as if still falling. I flinched as my pain receptors caught up with reality. Each molecule of my body suffered the collision.

  Immobile, the blink of an eye felt an age.

  I rolled to evade a knee to the throat. Jerked my head to avoid a meaty fist, and Malice punched clean through floor.

  He cursed, wedged up to the upper arm.

  Cart-wheeling one-handed, I used his chest as a springboard to flip into a crouch. My boot heel connected with his sternum and tore the trapped arm from the concrete.

  Malice flew into the opposite wall. Shaking off dust, he barrelled forward.

  My leg slid back, and my fists came up. Weight shifting onto my knees, I looked him dead in the eye, warning him I’d not lose this fight. I saw nothing but a warped reflection of lethal intent.

  It’s him or me. Other gods, it must be me.

  Arms swung balled fists, and the shifted air sang. Feet danced. Our heads jerked back and swerved. The thud of flesh on flesh was surpassed only by the sounds of our laboured breathing; barks of pain; grunts of victory.

  The cage formed of my arms stopped a left hook to my cheek. Reading the lines of his body, I shifted position to defend against an uppercut. Open hand cutting down to block the blow, I grabbed his extended arm, gave him my back, ducked, and tossed his bulk overhead. He hit the floor. I held onto his arm, planted my foot on his pectoral then twisted until the bones joint popped.

  His yell bounced of the walls, but I kept the pressure steady.

  Malice defied gravity and rolled his lower body until balanced on his shoulder blades. He kicked me in the face. I collapsed. He straddled my upper chest and trapped my arms under his thighs. Snapping his arm into place, he wiggled his healed fingers then curled them under and hauled back his fist.

  Heavy blows rained. Powerful, singular thumps that shook the world.

  Crafting magics into a shield, I was a moment too late. My skull cracked as a blow glanced my cheek, knuckles bloodying skin.

  Ears ringing, vision doubled, I rocked my hips and swung my legs up. Locking my ankles across Malice’s chest, I lurched, and we hit the floor on our sides.

  Crunch. “Shit.” Malice convulsed. He let me go to grab his head and stop his temple bashing the concrete as internal damage healed.

  I wriggled free kicking in his direction, and a stray thrash caught his hip.

  Malice slewed across the floor. Terse seconds later, he gained his feet, grinning, and leapt a mind-bending distance to land kneeling, one hand in the air for balance.

  We sparred until he feinted, tricked me, and doubled me over with a swift jab to the solar plexus.

  Trapped in a headlock, I watched the ball of his fist sail into my face.

  Don’t dare pass out. Blackness. Keep standing. My legs buckled. Wake. It took precious seconds for me to shake it off.

  Out of ideas, I punched him in the back of the knee. He fell as I slipped my head free.

  Twisting at the waist mid fall, he scooped an arm around my legs and pushed hard on my stomach.

  The back of my skull caved. I felt my lower sutura tear from the connecting bones. I blinked. Twitched. Stared perplexed at the ceiling.

  Malice frog-leaped onto me, but this time I rolled, reversing our positions. Before I got his arms under, he grabbed my head and again banged our foreheads.

  Blood spurted. Argh! I hunched and tripped, my own feet.

  Standing, Malice smeared blood over his face and chest. His quiet chortles evolved into hysterical laughter. “Finally,” he hollered, throwing open his arms and back his head, exultant. He beckoned with a lazy wag of two fingers. “A god worthy of death.”

  I thumbed my swollen nose and swallowed blood pooling in my throat. This is ridiculous. Rae needed me, and I circled a lunatic.

  Watching the thickset body rock back and forth, ready to pummel me for another round it hit me.

  He was stronger.

  I was faster.

  Sprinting into a blur of silver light, my speed faster than the immortal eye perceived, I backhanded Malice across the face then slammed the side of my palm into his throat.

  He choked, and his eyes watered.

  It cost me a hit to the side, but the burst of pain was worth it.

  Planting my hands on his upper back, I pushed him down to meet the upward thrust of my knee. Keeping my foot elevated, I widened my back stride then pushed him again to hammer the second thrust into his face.

  Head cracking back, he tottered then crumpled. Moonbeams highlighted the shattered bones protruding from his face.

  Malice swayed on his knees. I nudged his chest with my boot to aid his descent.

  Defeated enemy flaccid, I loomed, chest heaving, and my attention fractured. Go find her. Now. You sense she needs you. My fists clenched and unclenched as I fought my instincts. Go now. This fool is not your problem.

  Still, Malice laughed. “You think,” he wheezed, “you’ve won.”

  I glared. “I have.”

  My foot pressed down on the side of his head, keeping the godling pinned as I considered how best to end him. Draining his energy would take too long, and decapitation wouldn’t destroy his divine soul, only the vessel he’d stolen.

  What if he jumps into another?

  Many of my friends and allies fought. Could I press on knowing he might return to battle?

  Stop wasting time and decide.

  Lochlann burst into the room, sword drawn. “Gods, I searched for you everywhere.” His hair and body was slick with gore.

  Daphne skidded to a stop at his heels. Blood covered her from the chin down. Eyes threatening to turn solid black, her fangs extended into deadly pikes at the sight of all the blood splattered across the walls and floor.

  Clothes torn, eyes battle wild, they looked rough but were alive.

  Scanning the room, Lochlann strode closer and put the tip of his blade at Malice’s throat. “Rae fell into the river. I tried to help but couldn’t get close enough. The undead won’t stop rising. Maeve is….” Lochlann struggled to go on, and Daphne touched his cheek. He steadied, but his eyes burned. “Marinette has taken her prisoner.”

  Shock then a burst of clarity choked my shout of denial. “Maeve should never have come here. We should have kept her away.”

  Lochlann blinked rapidly, nodding. “Rae needs you.” At those three words, my faltering control snapped. I’d turned to leave when he added, “I cannot watch our sister die again. Go to them.” Hooded eyes staring down the deadly length of his silver-edged blade, his top lip curled. “You’re finished here, little brother.”

  With a fierce look that spoke of my gratitude, I ran, confident my brother would see the task undertaken in that room ended.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Cael

  The world became a blur, the fighting fierce, and our enemy relentless. The dead didn’t tire. They swarmed like locust, eager to use claws of bone and fang on the living.

  I didn’t need a weapon to cut them down. Block. I was a weapon. Duck. I shot beams of fire from my hands. Punch. Droning zonbi crossed my path then stumbled headless and silent into the melee.

  Shifters launched themselves bodily onto the wolves twisted by Marinette’s evil. Blood, fur and lathered saliva flew through the air. The roars of werecats clashed with the throaty howls of werewolves.

  Something slammed into my back and latched on with bone-crushing ferocity. A vampire – from the stench – sank its teeth into the side of my neck. Reaching back to grasp its face sunlight speared from my palms.

  A deafening shriek made my ears ring. The creature released me to jump away.

  Slapping a hand to the
side of my neck, I spun to terminate the creature.

  Scorched flesh crusting with scabs, Gwendolyn snarled, and stood from her defensive crouch. “Fairies.” She wiped her face and dead skin sloughed off the cheek I’d burnt. “I loathe you all.”

  Adroitly sidestepping a thrash of her arm, I grabbed the vampire Queen by the throat and kicked her legs from under her. Shoving aside my cloak, I spread my legs for greater balance to compensate for her struggles. “In thanks for countless years of service I’ll endeavour to be a kind executioner.” I emitted a beam of light from my finger. Fisting a hand in her ringlets, I forced her head back. “I warned you not cross me.”

  “No.” The green hand thrusting a blade to my throat was rock steady. “I know this won’t kill you, but it’ll require time to heal you can’t afford in this battle.”

  I twisted my head an inch to coolly study the tall female catching me at a disadvantage. “You’re familiar.”

  Her slanted eyes squinted at the innermost corners. I realised it took a considerable amount of control for her not to slice me open.

  She hates me. For whatever reason she hates Gwendolyn more.

  “I’m called Wasp.”

  A memory tickled the crowded borders of my mind. It clicked. “You came to my city with the old High Lord.”

  “Devlin was mine,” she choked, “and you took him from me. Tortured him.”

  The grief of this female beat against my conscience, and left not a dent. “I didn’t kill him.” I held her gaze. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t have if he challenged me. He was my enemy. Devlin chose to attack a creature,” my fingers in Gwendolyn’s ringlets tightened, “of lesser honour.”

  “The one you’re about to destroy killed him. I know that. I’ve waited and waited, and I no longer bide time. I want vengeance. Now. You stole my love but will not steal my retribution. Release her.”