A Curse Unbroken
Page 74
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Emme lost it upon finding our sister. She let loose her rage and the extent of her power, tearing the demon children in half and crushing their skulls. Shayna squirmed, forcing her upper body up and clasping her mutilated hand tight in mine. I wrenched her to her feet, calling to Emme as I rushed Shayna out the door.
Shayna’s hands slapped against her limbs and belly, disbelief clouding her features as her body became whole. Emme followed us into the hallway, her cheeks flushed with anger and effort. “Where’s Taran?” Shayna asked.
I yanked the doorknob free and passed it to Shayna. “I don’t know. Find her.”
As Shayna ran, calling for our remaining sister, the knob elongated into a sharp deadly spear. “Taran, we’re coming. We’re coming, T!”
It wasn’t until we rounded another corner and Shayna kicked open a moldy door that I heard Taran. I’d been brave and tough, but I positively froze when I met Anara face-to-face. The Elder who’d robbed me of my baby loomed above us in his humanoid wolf form with my sister tight in his grip.
Taran dangled in the air, sobbing as Anara crushed her zombie limb between his monstrous fangs. Her skin had completely bleached, her eyes had sunk into her skull, and sickly blue veins branched out across her body. And yet that wasn’t the sole cause of her torment.
She may have been blind, but her attention was trained on the far corner of the room where Gemini and Genevieve were making love. It wasn’t just sex they were sharing. Taran could have handled that better. The way Gemini held her, and the way Genevieve met his stare, more than a physical act was taking place.
I wrenched away and forced myself in Taran’s direction, knowing I should act, knowing she needed me to help her fight Anara. But his presence impeded my movements and it was our younger sisters who reached her first.
Shayna raced forward, grunting as she punctured Anara’s chest with her spear. He roared, releasing Taran to slump on the floor. Emme sprinted forward and lifted Taran with her force, away from the swipe of his deadly claws.
Anara roared again, ripping the spear from his chest and dropping on all fours. The thing was, this wasn’t Anara. It was Tura, it was all Tura. And now that I had my sisters, I had to call for the owner of the last remaining voice.
“Aric!”
The voices haunting me were right; I wasn’t alone. I had my sisters, and now my mate arrived in a blast of white light.
Aric’s giant gray wolf form soared into Anara when Anara snapped his fangs inches from Shayna’s throat. My sisters realized what was happening and lunged forward, beating on Anara and yanking at his fur with their bare hands—even Taran, whose grisly appearance melted away with each strike.
Shah materialized in my palm when I opened my hand. He had no voice of his own, and no real way of speaking. But he had sent the voices to me so I’d know how to fight. And now he wanted to fight, too. So I ran forward, leaping into the air and bringing Shah down against Anara’s snarling face.
The entire room exploded, sending me gliding along the snow, right in the middle of the were-vampire smackdown taking place on Den grounds. They stopped their onslaught. But it wasn’t because of me, or my sisters, or Aric sprawled in all directions.
It was because Tura in his corporeal tiger form had materialized before us and he wasn’t pleased with what I’d done. With roars and hisses that shook the ground, every preternatural rushed forward and attacked. Even the witches aimed their magic at Tura. They wanted him to die.
Except for one.
Chapter 29
Delilah’s eyes morphed from their light blue shade to that murderous coal black. Her talisman shimmered as she held out her hand and called forth her power. Shah, who had fallen mere inches from my hand, scooted across the ravaged field and into Delilah’s hand.
I scrambled forward. “No!”
Tura’s giant paw crashed down on my chest when I tried to lurch to my feet. He held me down until Aric’s beast form snapped his bone at the joint. I shoved the limp paw away and bolted down the mountain to where Delilah had disappeared.
The sweeping branches of pines smacked against my face. Delilah glided around the trees with her power, circling the pines and trying to muddle her scent.
She was fast, but so was I, and my tigress demanded blood for her betrayal.
The ground rumbled beneath my feet when I’d almost reached her. Roots as thick as arms broke through the frozen ground, reaching for me. I cut left and right, trying to avoid the tangle of roots while Delilah thickened the barricade to slow me down. I knew what she was doing; she was buying time to build her magic and lock her claim on Shah.
The wall of threading roots grew taller and denser. But if she didn’t think a tigress could climb, she was dead wrong.
My front claws protruded; so did the ones at my feet. They punctured my shearling boots, shredding the leather and helping me scale the wall. I flattened against it as Delilah spat a curse, followed by another.
One sliced into my shoulder, releasing a stream of warm blood. It burned as it cut down to the bone, but the pain I felt only fueled my rage. I reached the top of the wall where she was levitating and pounced, bringing her down to the ground with my weight. I shifted before we hit the frozen earth and surfaced in time to watch her speed away and back toward the clearing.
I sprinted after her. In the distance I heard Tura’s agonized roars. The good guys were tearing him apart. But if Delilah was returning there, instead of fleeing, it was for a reason. And the reason surely wasn’t good.
“Aric!” I called. “Delilah’s headed right toward you!”
Stakes speared out of the ground, puncturing my foot. I screamed, but managed to keep my wits and fall to the side, avoiding the field of stakes blocking my path. With a grunt and an even louder swear, I yanked the stake imbedded in my foot and backed away, racing along the rows of stakes with my bleeding foot until I found a section narrow enough to shift through.
I surfaced in front of the last of the stakes. Lightning struck as I hobbled in the direction of where the fight had begun. The sound that followed was unearthly. A screech, like hell’s fury itself, cut through the forest, forcing the sweeping firs to bend away from its rage.
My attention shot upward to where Delilah floated over the treetops screaming an incantation in Spanish. Particles of gray mass shaped like the silhouette of a tiger soared upward, despite the leaping weres in beast form snapping their jaws at it and trying to bring it down.
Shayna’s hands slapped against her limbs and belly, disbelief clouding her features as her body became whole. Emme followed us into the hallway, her cheeks flushed with anger and effort. “Where’s Taran?” Shayna asked.
I yanked the doorknob free and passed it to Shayna. “I don’t know. Find her.”
As Shayna ran, calling for our remaining sister, the knob elongated into a sharp deadly spear. “Taran, we’re coming. We’re coming, T!”
It wasn’t until we rounded another corner and Shayna kicked open a moldy door that I heard Taran. I’d been brave and tough, but I positively froze when I met Anara face-to-face. The Elder who’d robbed me of my baby loomed above us in his humanoid wolf form with my sister tight in his grip.
Taran dangled in the air, sobbing as Anara crushed her zombie limb between his monstrous fangs. Her skin had completely bleached, her eyes had sunk into her skull, and sickly blue veins branched out across her body. And yet that wasn’t the sole cause of her torment.
She may have been blind, but her attention was trained on the far corner of the room where Gemini and Genevieve were making love. It wasn’t just sex they were sharing. Taran could have handled that better. The way Gemini held her, and the way Genevieve met his stare, more than a physical act was taking place.
I wrenched away and forced myself in Taran’s direction, knowing I should act, knowing she needed me to help her fight Anara. But his presence impeded my movements and it was our younger sisters who reached her first.
Shayna raced forward, grunting as she punctured Anara’s chest with her spear. He roared, releasing Taran to slump on the floor. Emme sprinted forward and lifted Taran with her force, away from the swipe of his deadly claws.
Anara roared again, ripping the spear from his chest and dropping on all fours. The thing was, this wasn’t Anara. It was Tura, it was all Tura. And now that I had my sisters, I had to call for the owner of the last remaining voice.
“Aric!”
The voices haunting me were right; I wasn’t alone. I had my sisters, and now my mate arrived in a blast of white light.
Aric’s giant gray wolf form soared into Anara when Anara snapped his fangs inches from Shayna’s throat. My sisters realized what was happening and lunged forward, beating on Anara and yanking at his fur with their bare hands—even Taran, whose grisly appearance melted away with each strike.
Shah materialized in my palm when I opened my hand. He had no voice of his own, and no real way of speaking. But he had sent the voices to me so I’d know how to fight. And now he wanted to fight, too. So I ran forward, leaping into the air and bringing Shah down against Anara’s snarling face.
The entire room exploded, sending me gliding along the snow, right in the middle of the were-vampire smackdown taking place on Den grounds. They stopped their onslaught. But it wasn’t because of me, or my sisters, or Aric sprawled in all directions.
It was because Tura in his corporeal tiger form had materialized before us and he wasn’t pleased with what I’d done. With roars and hisses that shook the ground, every preternatural rushed forward and attacked. Even the witches aimed their magic at Tura. They wanted him to die.
Except for one.
Chapter 29
Delilah’s eyes morphed from their light blue shade to that murderous coal black. Her talisman shimmered as she held out her hand and called forth her power. Shah, who had fallen mere inches from my hand, scooted across the ravaged field and into Delilah’s hand.
I scrambled forward. “No!”
Tura’s giant paw crashed down on my chest when I tried to lurch to my feet. He held me down until Aric’s beast form snapped his bone at the joint. I shoved the limp paw away and bolted down the mountain to where Delilah had disappeared.
The sweeping branches of pines smacked against my face. Delilah glided around the trees with her power, circling the pines and trying to muddle her scent.
She was fast, but so was I, and my tigress demanded blood for her betrayal.
The ground rumbled beneath my feet when I’d almost reached her. Roots as thick as arms broke through the frozen ground, reaching for me. I cut left and right, trying to avoid the tangle of roots while Delilah thickened the barricade to slow me down. I knew what she was doing; she was buying time to build her magic and lock her claim on Shah.
The wall of threading roots grew taller and denser. But if she didn’t think a tigress could climb, she was dead wrong.
My front claws protruded; so did the ones at my feet. They punctured my shearling boots, shredding the leather and helping me scale the wall. I flattened against it as Delilah spat a curse, followed by another.
One sliced into my shoulder, releasing a stream of warm blood. It burned as it cut down to the bone, but the pain I felt only fueled my rage. I reached the top of the wall where she was levitating and pounced, bringing her down to the ground with my weight. I shifted before we hit the frozen earth and surfaced in time to watch her speed away and back toward the clearing.
I sprinted after her. In the distance I heard Tura’s agonized roars. The good guys were tearing him apart. But if Delilah was returning there, instead of fleeing, it was for a reason. And the reason surely wasn’t good.
“Aric!” I called. “Delilah’s headed right toward you!”
Stakes speared out of the ground, puncturing my foot. I screamed, but managed to keep my wits and fall to the side, avoiding the field of stakes blocking my path. With a grunt and an even louder swear, I yanked the stake imbedded in my foot and backed away, racing along the rows of stakes with my bleeding foot until I found a section narrow enough to shift through.
I surfaced in front of the last of the stakes. Lightning struck as I hobbled in the direction of where the fight had begun. The sound that followed was unearthly. A screech, like hell’s fury itself, cut through the forest, forcing the sweeping firs to bend away from its rage.
My attention shot upward to where Delilah floated over the treetops screaming an incantation in Spanish. Particles of gray mass shaped like the silhouette of a tiger soared upward, despite the leaping weres in beast form snapping their jaws at it and trying to bring it down.
