A Werewolf's Moon (The Council) (25 page)

Venna flicked her gaze at me, panic in her eyes. “I’ve never phased without
Henry
.”

“Okay,” I said, glancing back at the three young ones behind us. “There are five of us that can fight.”

Garret
growled, “Yeah, and one of him.”

I whipped back. A massive creature opened the balcony door and bent his head to step through. He was layered with muscle and his skin was the color of burnt toast. However it was the curling black horns on the top of his head that made my heart leap into my throat.

“What do we do?” Kylie whispered.

Venna hushed Claire, who was screaming at the sight of the demon, and quietly called, “
Henry
?”

I figured she had the right idea, but I didn’t think being quiet about it would get anyone’s attention. “Quinn!”

The demon snarled and charged.

Venna screamed, “
Run
.”

I spun, shoving at
Garret
and Kylie. Flora and Venna were on our heels. We raced out of the Langley’s wing and down a flight of stairs.

I had no clue where we were. We came to a screeching halt at a flat blank wall. In the center was a tapestry. It was old and fraying, and the symbol depicted on it was the moon and three stars that Quinn had on the inside of his forearm.

Right, why put doors in when you can phase?

Venna passed Claire to Flora and whirled around with her hands up. She sent anything flying into the demon. Pictures, potted plants, a sofa…I had another idea.

“
Garret
, let’s make a door,” I begged for my nails to appear and when they did, attacked the wall behind the tapestry, tearing at the plaster and cement until I could see through to the other side. Kylie came up beside me, clawing as fast as she could, and once the hole was big enough, we practically threw Flora and Claire through it. Kylie followed, and I forced
Garret
to go with them.

Venna shouted above the noise of the demon’s snarls, backing up near the hole. “Go, I’ll hold him off.”

I shook my head, “I’m not leaving you. We both go on the count of three.”

She nodded.
“One.”

“Two.”

She sent the last potted plant sailing into the demon and we turned. “Three!”

I dove through the hole with her and we landed on hard, cold stone floor.
Garret
and Kylie helped us to our feet.

Venna
wiped
blood
oozing
from a cut on her arm. “
Henry
, damn it, where are you?”

I wanted to ask Quinn the same question, but instead started running again, following
Garret
and Kylie out of the room and down the main hallway.

I thought we were in the clear. The demon hadn’t followed us. Flora and Venna were right behind me with Claire. “Where is everyone?”

“I have no idea,” Flora shouted, calling out to see who was around. “The guards should have heard him. They should have heard us screaming for help.”

At the end of the hall
Garret
stopped abruptly. He held up his hand for us to stay back. “I found the guards…”

It felt as if it took me forever to reach him. I stopped by his side and took in the sight on the other side of the fountain.
A dozen men.
All dead.
I couldn’t process it. My vision was swimming. They were just lying on the floor, lifeless. The most innocent part of me that didn’t want to acknowledge what had happened, decided they were sleeping. They had camped out on the floor, sprawled at funny angles, with lots of fake blood.

I turned my back on the horrific site and met with Venna in the center of the room. “How did that one creature kill every single one of those men?”

Venna shook her head, keeping an eye on Claire. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m drowning.”

“Yeah, me too.”
I still didn’t understand where Quinn and
Henry
were. They always came.
Always.
So whatever was going on, it had to be pretty bad.

“I feel
Henry
.” She said. “I can feel everything he’s feeling right now. He’s angry, and tired, and he wants to come to me.”

I thought about what she said, wondering if Quinn and I had the same connection. I was still new at this though. So I closed my eyes and concentrated, searching for my werewolf, until I felt something tug at my chest.

“He’s coming,” I smiled, and opened my eyes, grabbing Venna’s hands. “I can feel it.”

A deafening crack, like
lightning
, sounded over our heads. We looked up just in time to watch the ceiling crumble and the demon dropped from the hole above, his feet cracking the marble floors as he landed.

His hand sailed through the air, closest to Kylie.
Garret
dove, knocking her to the ground. Venna held her palms up and screamed. A pulse stranger than any I’d felt shot through the room. The demon staggered backwards, crashing into the fountain.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” I said as the demon leapt to his feet. He grabbed a chunk of the fountain and hurled it at us. We dove, rolling, and I felt the floors shake from the impact of the large hunk of stone.

It got quiet then.
Too quiet.

“Help!”

I sat up, feeling my eyes burn like fire as they glowed fiercely for the first time. The demon hovered over Flora and Claire, his claws raised above them. Venna was out cold beside me. I couldn’t see Kylie or
Garret
. Someone had to do something.

I pushed to my feet, shouting, waving my arms. He didn’t look at me. I tried throwing a chunk of the fountain at him, but it didn’t get close enough to graze him.

I closed my eyes, said a silent prayer as I felt my f
ingers change.

I opened my eyes and ran at the demon.

My claws sank into his leg with a disgusting pop. He roared, trying to dislodge me. I held on for as long as I could,
gagging
from the unbearable rotting smell of his flesh and the ooze of black blood gushing around my fingers. He kicked hard. My grip slipped, slick from the blood. I flew into the air backwards. My head slammed into something hard and unyielding. It hurt like hell. I knew it was all over when the marble floors leapt up to meet me.

I forced my eyes to stay open. They wanted to slide closed. My vision blurred and wavered. Passing out wasn’t an option. If I succumbed to the blackness dancing in my peripheral vision, t
hen who would protect everyone?

I searched the room. My vision had doubled. I saw two of Flora lying on the floor. I couldn’t tell if she was alright. Claire was sobbing beside her. She pushed to her feet and ran across the room toward
Garret
and Kylie.

The demon started after the little girl.

“Over here you bastard!”
I didn’t recognize the voice that had wrenched from me. My throat felt raw from the effort to get his attention. “Touch that kid and I swear to God I’ll kill you if it’s the last thing I do.”

The demon flinched, turning. “It will be you?”

I put my hand on the wall behind me, using it to help me stand. I tried to take a step. My right ankle buckled and pain shot up my leg. “What do you think?”

He crossed the room, fangs bared. “So be it.”

I waited for my fate, knowing that he’d send me over to free one of his
kind
. I may never see Quinn again, but at least Claire and
Garret
and Kylie would be safe. They would have a chance.

Before the demon reached me, a flash of green and grey light lit the room. The light was so bright and startling I fell against the wall and slid onto the cold floor.

We were safe now, and I wasn’t going anywhere, other than the hospital. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to look down. I knew my ankle would be a scary thing to look at.

“Venna!”
I heard
Henry
’s voice and opened my eyes just in time to see him
phase
her from the room. She st
ill hadn’t woken up. I hop
ed she was okay.

Lights flashed all around me. Flora disappeared, and then a yellow light engulfed Claire.
Garret
and Kylie vanished.

I felt a gust of wind. It blasted me from out of nowhere. I let out a hoarse scream. But then I realized it was Quinn and latched onto him.

We appeared in the circular stone room we’d had the meeting in earlier that day. I kept my arms locked around his neck and wouldn’t let him set me down. “Hey, you’re okay.”

I squeezed eyes closed even tighter.
“My ankle.”

He cursed. “
Henry
, can you come over here?”

A tingly cool crept into my skin. The pain faded. I even felt the skin on my head ripple at my temple. “Thanks,”

Henry
smiled as I opened my eyes, “No problem. You’re good as new now.”

Quinn set me on my feet and I looked at the blood covering my right ankle. Then I saw the black sticky demon blood on my hands, arms and clothes. I felt my head and found the sticky red there too. “He threw me into the wall.”

“I know. I felt it.” Quinn bent so we were nose to nose and rested his forehead against mine. “It won’t happen again. I promise.”

I bit my lip. I wasn’t going to cry, but damn it I wanted to. “What took you so long?”

“Got held up by a demon,” he stepped back and gestured to his shirt. It was in shreds. A similar black blood had sprayed his clothes too. “He was in the throne room.”

“There were two!”

“We got them.” He kissed my forehead and nodded at something behind me. “Kylie wants to see you.”

I turned back and barely had time to brace myself as the girl threw herself at me and squeezed me tight.
“
Pepper
, thank you.”

I hugged her. “It’s
okay,
I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt you guys.”

Garret
hung back, but he hugged me once Kylie moved. “Best sister I could ever have.
Should have seen her Quinn, she tore through a wall to get us out.”

I looked up to find Quinn shaking his head. I reached out and took his hand. “I’m okay, promise.”

“I’m not.” He tugged me to his side and we went across the room to see Venna and
Henry
. They were kissing in a corner.
But broke apart once we neared.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked.

She nodded, “I got knocked out by a rock or something. It’s all kind of fuzzy.”

I glanced around, “Wait,
where’s Flora
?”

Quinn shrugged. “I thought she was phased out.”

“Not by me…”
Henry
said, visibly concerned now. Even covered in demon blood he still looked like a million bucks. “My mother took Claire.”

“I saw her disappear.” I said.

I felt someone watching us and looked back at the doorway. Zane was on the threshold staring at us. “I just saw Davy. She’s not with him.”

No one could answer him.

We tore out of the room after him, back to where we’d left the demon. There was a hole in the floor, right where Flora had been lying. The compound was being turned upside down looking for her.

“Can demon’s phase?”
I asked Quinn.

“No,” he said.
“Thankfully.”

We walked up and down the halls, trying to track her scent. It was kind of herby and Floral, much
like
the plants and flowers she loved so much.

“It’s stronger here,” Quinn started running, I kept right behind him.

“But there were only two…” I skidded to a halt, catching something move out of the corner of my eye. We were next to a massive window on the second floor near the main hallway. “What’s that?”

He walked with me to the windows and we looked down into the gardens surrounding the compound. There, in the center of the maze of flowers was the raven haired witch. She was on the ground. And she wasn’t moving.

Quinn took my hand and
phased
us outside. We stayed at a distance, keeping our noses to the air. I smelled something rank, like rotting meat.
“Demon.”

“Yeah,” my lips curled. “I smell him.”

He pulled out his phone and called Zane, telling him where we were.

Zane was with us in a blink. Beside him
Henry
and Venna appeared.

Quinn looked at the boy, “You’re fast enough to snatch her. I’ll be right behind you.”

Henry
gave Venna a wink and smiled, “You with me?”