Dark Isle (Celtic Legacy Book 2) (10 page)

Flipping myself to my knees, I pushed to my feet as the first
Banshee
hunter came into view. Sharp beauty filled my vision
.
H
er
body glimmered with light
;
everything about her
had
an opalescent sheen from her skin and hair down to the clothes she wore.

The only thing
s
that stood out
w
ere
her weapons
.
They
were a dull black that seemed to throb with a life of their own. As I stared, two more hunters ghosted into view. They didn’t even seem to be touching the ground with their feet.
Just like the queen when she’d downed our helicopter.

“Hunters, you are not needed here
,
”
Aed
nat said
.
C
alm
seemed to flow along with her words, the soothing help
ed
even my nerves
.

They spoke in tandem, their voices rising and falling as they wove a hypnotic tune
.
“We do not bow to you
anymore
little bean sidhe. We follow the
true
Queen
’s orders.” They pointed to us. “S
tand down,
we have no quarrel with you.”

They began to advance on Aednat who screamed and ran behind me. “Please help Aednat,
she
no longer ha
s
strength to fight them alone.”

That did not sound good. I pulled my dagger out and felt my power rise as I reached for it, welling inside me so much
so
that I thought my skin might stretch with the volume of it.

I glanced over at Luke who nodded. “We need her
,
”
I said.

“I know,” was his reply.
Then,
“Steady, Quinn. Let them come to us.”

“Pick me up, Quinn
,
”
Cora commanded.

Scooping her up, she settled on my shoulders.

The three hunters moved towards us, some unspoken signal telling them it was time to attack.

“We each take one
, settle back into a half moon
,
”
Aednat said, cracking her knuckles. The sight startled me, seeming so out of character for the petite
Banshee
.

“Half moon?” I asked.

Pointing with his sword
,
Luke indicated to his right. “
W
e spread out
and
try to keep them apart. We’ll have a better chance
.
”

The first hunter engaged Aednat with a wicked twirling whip that cracked through the air, snapping close to Aednat’s eyes. Aednat danced to the left, dodging the blows
;
then
she
launched an attack of her own
,
her movement drawing my
attention
.
She
slamm
ed
the points of her fingers deep into the throat of
her attacker
. The larger
Banshee
choked and gagged, her glamour falling away for a split second, showing the skull of a
half
-
rotted corpse underneath.

Instinctively
,
I stumbled back from the gruesome sight. “Watch your feet, Quinn
,
”
Cora warned. “I mean it, watch your
—
!”

Too late, I tried to check my progress, but I fell backwards over a downed tree.
One of the hunters was on me immediately, her sharp fingernails inches from my face.

“
Queen
wants to talk to you
, Chosen one
,
”
t
he
Banshee
said as she leaned over the log. A face like a rat
’
s protruded from the cowl around her head
.
T
he
teeth jutting forward were yellow and stained and her eyes were a faded pink that glittered with intent.

That is very, very bad
,
Quinn.
As if Cora needed to explain that to me.

Before I could do or say anything,
Cora struck, her body shooting forward and her fangs burying deep into the
Banshee
’s cheek.

“
Get up
, Quinn
. R
un!”
Cora shouted to me, her words shaking me. With a mad scramble, I made it to my feet and
turned my back. The
Banshee
behind me was howling
.
I glanced
over my shoulder
to see furry brown claws grip Cora’s writhing, striking body and fling her at a tree, her
coils
hitting hard and sliding to the ground with a dull thud. Horror, then rage
,
whipped through me.

“Oh, hell no
,
”
I said, spinning lightly on my right heel to face the
Banshee
. “Come on then bitch, let’s see what you’ve really got.”

The
Banshee
rushed me, tackling me to the ground.
I got an arm between our bodies, but her g
nashing yellow teeth
were only millimetres from my face
and
her dirty
,
crusted claws scrabbl
ed
for purchase in my sides. With a scream I snapped my dagger up
with my free hand
, driving it under her arm. The
Banshee
let out a wail, her breath fetid and hot as she cried
out
. In that moment I thought I had her
; I
let my guard down.

S
he
took advantage of
the moment;
rais
ed
her head up with alarming speed
,
and snapp
ed
it towards my face
. I
manage
d
to jerk my head out of her way, but her
blunt incisors bit hard into my shoulder, my collarbone creaking under the pressure she exerted.
For a moment, the pain brought me to the edge of consciousness, her teeth grinding over my bones, blood seeping down into my shirt and the mossy ground.

The
Banshee
sat up, her body a heavy weight on my chest, my blood trickling down her chin and
into the
furry brown
pel
t.

“You taste good
—
like honey
,
”
s
he
said, the tip of her black tongue
snaked out
gathering up the drops of my blood on her face.

Concentrating on my good arm, I envisioned the fire that Bres had taught me to hold. Blue flames flickered at my fingertips and then shot forward, catching the
Banshee
in the chest. She rolled away from me, sla
mming her body into the ground in an attempt to put the fire out.

Shaking, I stood up, my right arm hanging limply at my side. The
Banshee
curled up at my feet, whimpering, her fur charred and gone, the skin blackened and oozing
with blisters
.

“Please, no more
,
”
s
he
whispered, lifting one hand up, the tips of her claws still stained with mine and Cora’s blood.

The thought of th
e damage she’d done to Cora
threatened to make me into a person I didn’t want to be.
The hand that held my dagger quivered with the desire to bury it into her chest.

“Tell your
Queen
, that if she attacks us again, we
will
finish what she has started
,
”
I said, pointing my dagger at her. The
Banshee
curled away from me.

“Yes. I will tell her.”

A nod and I turned away, heading to where Cora lay
so
still at the base of the tree. My heart was hammering. What if she was more than hurt? What if . . . ? I couldn’t even finish the thought.

“Quinn!” Luke cried out and I spun to see the
rat
-
faced
Banshee
rushing me.

There was no time to think, only act.

I threw my dagger, propell
ing it with
a bolt of fire from my hands. A streak of blue and silver shot from me, like an arrow
,
and ripped straight through the
Banshee
’s heart.

With a bare widening of her
pink
-
tinged eyes, the
Banshee
slid to the ground, her teeth clicking
,
as her body went into its death throes.

“Well done, Quinn
,
”
Aednat said, her hand touching my bad arm. I flinched
,
and swallowed hard against the nausea that was rising fast.

Luke ran to my side, his eyes catching mine. I gave him a small nod. “I’ll be okay, but what about Cora?”

The two of them shared a glance that I didn’t like, not one bit. As fast as my battered
frame
could move, I made my way over to the tree Cora had been slammed into.

Crumpled at the bottom was her twisted, still body, the neon blue and scarlet red already seemed to have faded.

“No
,
”
I whispered, falling to my knees and reaching out to touch her. “No, this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

My fingers brushed the middle of her body as the tears that wanted to fall pooled in my eyes, my whole body
quivering in disbelief.
“I thought
we were harder to kill
,
” I said
.

Not Cora, she wasn’t supposed to sacrifice herself for me. A part of me wanted to believe
I could change this
;
I forced my body to stillness
,
seeking
out the power that resided in me.
My hands rested on her coils
.
I gathered myself, already knowing the outcome. I wasn’t a healer, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try.

Pulse after pulse, I tried to
bring her back
, I
truly
did.
H
er body shivered under
my hands as I
pushed
my power
through her, but it was far too late,
she was
broken beyond repair. I lowered my forehead to the ground beside her to hide the tears. I didn’t want to share this moment with anyone, not even Luke
,
who had known Cora far longer than I had.

Luke crouched beside me, tears tracking down his face. He took my good hand and held it against his heart. “She was very, very old, Quinn. It’s why . . .”

“
…
You didn’t want her to come here
,
”
I said,
completing his sentence. T
he
reality that I was the cause of her death settl
ed
heav
il
y on me
, weighing me down as nothing else could have
.

H
e nodded, then put my hand to his lips. “She did this because she cared for you, Quinn. She believed in you. Don’t let her death sidetrack you, don’t let it derail you from doing what you must.”

Anger bloomed and I opened my mouth to speak
,
but instead
let out a cough, and spit
a gob
of black blood.

“Oh shit
,
”
Luke whispered
, as he caught me around the waist
. “Aednat!”
h
e
yelled.

I blinked up at him, the world around me going fuzzy.
I could barely make out Aednat as she
came to stand in front of
me
.