Devour, A Paranormal Romance (Warm Delicacy Series, Book 3) (34 page)

“Seriously?” Arrick asked his eyes as wide as Ana’s.

“Yeah,” I answered. “We have bigger fish to fry.” It was true, and if I really wanted to be honest, once Baal was gone Ana wasn’t really a threat. She’d return to being her spiteful, vain, bitchy self and the world would keep on spinning. Maybe I was wrong, but at the moment I was more worried about Baal then her. Ana I could handle, but an ancient, pissed off vampire with an army of minions, evil magic and dark vampires… not so much.

“Deal,” Ana replied quickly, obviously wanting to agree before I changed my mind.

“All right then, open it,” I ordered, nodding to Arrick to release her. He did so reluctantly, but didn’t take more than a step away. If she tried anything, he’d be ready.

“I’m going to need the stone,” she growled, rubbing her red wrist.

“I thought you’d say that,” I chuckled, pulling the stone out from under my shirt. I closed my fingers over the cool pendant around my neck, and offered her my free hand.

“What are you doing?” she looked at my open palm like it was a snake.

“Do you really think I’m just going to give it to you? Channel the power through me Ana. I’m not going to let you have it.” I might have been willing to let her go, but I wasn’t dumb enough to let her leave
with
a stone too. That was just asking for more trouble.

With a snarl she latched her fingers around mine, and squeezed as hard as she could. She wasn’t crushing my fingers, but she wasn’t exactly gentle either. I watched as she lifted her head toward the night sky, and closed her eyes. Immediately heat began radiating from the stone in my hand, starting from comforting warmth to a scalding burn. Pain radiated from the heat, traveling up my arm and across my body to reach Ana. I clenched my teeth, allowing my fangs to pierce my lips in hopes that it would distract me from the seared flesh of my palm.

I cried out, hot tears racing down my face. Arrick darted to my side, attempting to pry my fingers free but they wouldn’t move. I was certain my hand had begun to blister and melt, bonding with the scorching stone.

“Stop it! Stop it now!” Arrick ordered Ana, but she ignored him as a sudden gust of wind nearly knocked us all on our butts. The stone was instantly cool, and I released Ana’s hand to survey the damage. Arrick took my hand in his and scanned my palm. There was no evidence of the burning pain I’d just endured. Not even the remnants of an ache. It almost seemed like I had imagined the whole thing until I felt the sweet taste of blood on my bottom lip. I’d bitten hard enough to break flesh and I slid my tongue along the injury.

“Are you okay?” Arrick asked, kissing my hand.

“I think so. I feel fine,” I answered breathlessly, tucking the stone back under my shirt. My father pushed his way past Arrick and surveyed my hand himself to be sure I was indeed unscathed.

Titan brushed past me, colliding with my shoulder. I opened my mouth to yell at him when I saw what was drawing his attention. It had worked. Ana had opened a portal. Then an eerie thought crept into my mind like a skittering spider. Why was it that Ana could open the portal in the first place? I’d only focused on the fact that she could do it, and not the why.

Right now I didn’t have time to ponder the mysteries of what made Ana the twisted thing that she was, and I focused on the spiraling portal in front of me.

It was about the height of an average doorway, and swirling with black smoke and wisps of dark purple energy. Almost like looking down the funnel of a tornado, except the eye of it was nothing but blackness. I stepped closer feeling the intake of air around me as the portal pulled violently. Ronon stepped up beside his father, both their expressions completely mystified, like they were staring at an alien. Ronon reached out a hand, trying to touch the twirling tendrils of smoky vapor, but I slapped him away.

“Don’t get too close. We need to do this together, remember?” He nodded.

Arrick and I both caught sight of Ana tip-toeing away and I nodded for him to grab her. He sprinted up behind her in seconds, and pulled her back to me as she thrashed at him.

“You said you’d let me go!” she roared.

“I did, and I will, but not here. You’re coming with us first, and then we’ll let you go.”

“You bitch!” she shrieked, snarling and snapping at me as she tried to leap from Arrick’s arms.

“Sorry.” I really wasn’t, but I didn’t have time to fight with her. I needed to concentrate and focus on Ronon and me creating the bond so we could travel through the portal and save Naos.

Arrick handed Ana off to one of the soldiers and followed by my side as I approached Ronon. “You ready?” I asked him, and he grunted.

I gave my Blood Mate one longing glance before I laced my fingers into Ronon’s waiting hand and guided him. I repeated the words I’d said before, only this time I focused my own energies on trying to tether to as many as I could. Of course I latched onto Arrick and my father first, then the soldier and Ana. No offense to Titan and his army, but I gave my team first priority. Plus, I wanted to make sure Ana didn’t have the chance to slip away while we were inside the portal.

With my eyes closed and my fingers wrapped around Ronon’s I almost felt like I was standing in the middle of a plasma globe. Ronon and I were the center and every time we latched onto another hybrid a bolt of energy would shoot out and connect with them.

When our globe was buzzing with activity and full to capacity I knew we’d gotten everyone. I felt electrified, drunk off the amplified power as I released Ronon’s hand. He blinked wildly for a moment like he was waking from a trance until steadying himself.

“You good?” I asked him, grasping his shoulders so I could look him in the eyes.

“Yesss,” he answered, slurring the words. “That was… amazingly strange.”

“Yeah,” I giggled, “but let’s not do it again. Okay?”

“Sounds good to me.”

He stepped away from me, and began to shake off the odd feeling that buzzed around us like a static aura. He rolled his shoulders, and craned his neck at awkward angles until it popped loudly. When he met my gaze again he had regained his rigidity.

“As you enter the portal try to clear your minds of all thoughts. You should feel the bond we created to tether ourselves to you, and I believe it is strong but I don’t want to take any chances.” The army of hybrids nodded their understanding and I continued. “Once on the other side you’ll probably feel disoriented, but form into your groups as quickly as possible. We don’t know what’s going on over on the other side so we might not have much time.”

“I will enter first,” my father said, signaling the King’s Snake to step forward. Mikel stood by my father’s side, always his loyal first guard. I stepped forward, the portal tugging at me as I wrapped myself in my father’s arms. He cupped my cheeks, and planted a firm kiss on my forehead.

“Please keep yourself safe, Claire. I love you,” he said, sadness mixing with the resolution in his eyes. He was a vampire, a man, a father, a king, and a husband preparing for the fight of his life.

I stepped away from his embrace, pressing my back against Arrick’s chest and watched as my father and his guard stepped into the portal.

“You should go next,” I told Ronon, and he lifted his chin as if he had already intended to do so. “We should have one of us on either side until everyone has gone through.”

“I agree.” He spun on his foot and turned toward the army behind him. “Ready!” he shouted at them, fisting his hand in the air. The army roared a battle cry and, following Ronon’s lead, leaped into the spiraling void without hesitation.

As the army jumped one after the other into the portal I felt the tug on our connection as the tether lengthened. I sent a small prayer up to Nyx that it would hold as least until we’d all made it through. If anyone broke off they could end up anywhere with no way to get back.

When the last of the army disappeared through the portal, Titan stepped forward. He flexed his muscles as if he expected to jump right into a heated battle with Baal, and without even a glance back at me he stepped in and vanished.

Arrick and I remained with the one guard who still held a furious Ana in his grasp. I nodded for them to step forward, and despite her trashing the guard coiled his arms around her and allowed the tug of the portal to suck them in.

My fingers closed tightly around Arrick’s and I held my breath as he brought them to his lips. “This ends tonight, Claire. I promise. Baal won’t escape again,” he said, with solid determination. I wanted what he said to be true so badly, but I did know one thing; I would fight to the death to make sure that happened.

I nodded at his words, pulling his face to mine and kissing him deeply. The portal tugged at our bodies as we latched onto one another in a passion filled frenzy. My lips parted, giving him entry as our tongues danced and our hands squeezed onto each other. It felt like fate was threatening to tear us apart, and we were fighting to make our bodies’ one. This could be the last kiss we ever shared. The last time I ever felt his body against mine, or felt the love that united us in ways beyond comprehension. We were one heart in two bodies, and I didn’t want that to end.

Breathlessly, Arrick pulled away. The portal began to flicker and with our hands laced together, we stepped forward. The pull was so strong I felt the very air being sucked from my lungs. I clenched Arrick’s hand as tightly as I could, and looked up at his handsome face as the portal sucked away the tears on my cheeks.

“I love you,” I told him, stepping into the portal.

My memory of my first voyage through the portal had been somewhat skewed. Maybe it was the loss of blood, or perhaps the fact that I had been fighting for my life, but traveling through it a second time was worse. It was horrifying on an entirely different level.

As instantly as the darkness consumed us, our hands were ripped apart and I traversed the terrifying void alone, with only the screams of over a hundred other vampires and hybrids to keep me company. I covered my face even though I couldn’t see a thing and held my breath as I tried desperately to focus. The bond Ronon and I had created was beginning to flicker, and if we weren’t careful there was a good chance we would lose people along the way.

I felt my body tremble as I began to give in to the fear that was rippling through me. I shrieked aloud, joining in the cries of fear that spiraled around me as the invisible chain that held the army together began to snap like a rubber band. They flung back, sending shocks of pain rocketing through me. I cried out again despite myself. I felt weightless, but could sense the tug of the portal jettisoning me to our destination as if through a microscopic tunnel that was compounding my body, crushing me with a bone cracking embrace.

My limbs thrashed about as I tried to break away, but I knew it wasn’t possible. My only hope was to hold on until I made it to the other side.

If
I made it to the other side.

I needed to focus. My fingers clenched into fists, my nails digging into my flesh. The screams around me continued, but I no longer allowed them to frighten me. Those screams reminded me of those who depended on me, trusting that I would guide them through this, and I couldn’t let them down.

Finding a sense of calm, no matter how fragile it was, I closed my mind off to what was going on around me and looked within myself. I searched for Ronon, trying to make sure he still held onto the other end of our figurative chain, and at the very edge of what seemed like an abyss, I felt him. It was brief, and fleeting, but it was definitely him.

Sending out more feelers, I looked for the rest of the group trying to make sure everyone was still with us. I couldn’t count each and every one, but I was sure there was still a large number of us. We still had a chance; we just had to hold on a little longer.

A little longer felt more like five seconds. I hadn’t realized I’d even made it out until Arrick was shaking me, calling out my name in an attempt to get me to snap out of whatever trance I’d been in. I opened my eyes, feeling an ache begin to build in my head. I’d been squeezing my eyes shut so tight the muscles in my face felt like they were about to explode.

“Are you hurt?” Arrick asked, sounding concerned.

“No, just give me a sec,” I said, taking his offered hand and standing up. “Did we make it?” I was trying to get my bearings as I rubbed my eyes.

“Yeah,” he replied, not sounding happy that we’d at least landed in the right place.

There was a rattle in my ears, like the screams of the portal had traveled with me and were still repeating in my head over and over, until I looked up and surveyed the sight before me. We’d landed somewhere between the lighthouse and the Château. Nearly half of Titan’s army were collecting themselves, regaining their equilibrium as he barked orders at them to break off into groups. A couple of the detachments were already sprinting for the Château.

“Where’s my father?”

“He’d already left once I came through,” Arrick answered. “I wanted to stay and make sure you made it,” he took me in his arms, hugging me tightly.

“Thanks,” I hugged him back. Over his shoulder I saw the small group he’d formed to go after my mother and I knew I had to let him leave. “Go, find my mother,” I ordered, pulling away from him.

“As soon as she’s safe, I’ll find you,” he said, holding my gaze.

“I know you will.”

He waved the group to follow him and they dashed down the hillside toward the Château. I watched him for a moment, but a moment was all I could spare. I sprinted the short distance between me and Ronon, closing the gap in less than a few seconds. He was surveying his army, making sure they were all in one piece and ordering them to break off into groups of ten.

“Did everyone make it through?” I asked, coming to a stop beside him.

“We’re missing about thirty by my count,” he answered, sounding disheartened.

“Thirty?” I was surprised the number was so high, but there was nothing we could do for them now. The portal would drop them off somewhere eventually, and since it took you to where you wanted to go I imagined most of them would end up back in the Titan region. It wasn’t an entirely bad thing. In case things went wrong, it would be good they had some extra support, but I just prayed we had enough muscle
here
to stop Baal once and for all.