Rising Darkness (A Rylee Adamson Novel, Book 9) (13 page)

CHAPTER 15

Pamela

T
he trance Milly
had me working made my skin prickle, as if a thousand ants ran over my nearly naked body. I was wearing nothing but a bra and panties, the same as Milly as she sat cross-legged in front of me. She’d told me that this was the best way to work the stronger magics, keeping our skin bare to the elements. We were both inside the pentagram, searching for Rylee.

I was supposed to be staring at the central part of the pentagram, which wasn’t really all that hard. But I was also supposed to be thinking about Rylee. About finding her. A drop of blood on the middle of the star was our focal point. The last of what Milly had of Rylee’s blood and she’d created a tracer spell from it. Only, it wasn’t working.

Milly’s eyes narrowed. “Put your thoughts away and let me carry your power to keep the spell going, child.”

She reached over and put her hands on my bare legs, her skin cool as her fingers dug into my thighs. Massaging them. My skin popped up in gooseflesh with the way she touched me. I fought to keep my breathing normal. To keep my mind on the task at hand.

But I couldn’t stop wondering why she would touch me like that. As if she heard my thoughts, she trailed one finger up my thigh to the edge of my panties. “So much I could teach you.”

I scrambled backward, breaking out of the pentagram, disrupting the spell. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break the spell.” I scrubbed my hands over my arms, trying to quell the shivers. Milly was going to teach me how to work my magic. That was all she meant. I had to believe that.

Her eyes flickered, and there was pain there, a deep pain I recognized. I’d seen it in my own face when I looked in the mirror. “No,” she whispered. “Not like this. I won’t allow it. Leave her alone.”

The chills that had started struck through me, icing me until I thought my lips would chatter. Who was she talking to? Those eyes flicked and the pain was gone, the look of calculation back.

Her eyes traced my body in a way that my perverted grandfather used to. Bile rose in my throat as she swayed toward me, a hand on her shoulder, the other at her hip.

“Why do you need to find Rylee, anyway?” I blurted out. Stupid, stupid question.

Milly stopped. “She took my son. I want him back. If I could find where she took the babies, then this would all be over. I would never look for her again.”

“Babies?” What in the world was she talking about? Zane was the only baby.

“Ah, she didn’t trust you enough to tell you, did she? I see that now.” She slid out of her panties, kicking them to one side. I took another step back, but she didn’t follow. “She was pregnant when she left. That’s why she ran away. To protect the brat she gave birth to. The Wolf’s child.”

I realized as I stared at her that she was telling the truth. All the pieces fit together, Rylee’s strange behavior, Liam’s desperation to keep her safe. Why she was gone so long. Could I blame her for going when her child was in danger?

Milly stroked herself in a way that had me blushing. I looked away. “I’ll go back to my room now.”

“I want you to stay. Stay, Pamela.” Her throat was husky and deep, and I knew she was spelling me, charming me. I couldn’t move.

I had to do something to distract her. She continued to fondle herself, faster, and I fought to come up with something, anything that would allow me to break the spell.

“Rylee’s searching for the Destroyer,” I spit out.

“I know.” Her voice dropped another octave, into a range she shouldn’t have been able to reach as a woman. Her eyes were no longer green, but a deep, dark black with flickers of red. “Come here, pet. I want to touch you. I have so missed the touch of a young one.”

My feet remained rooted. The last thing I’d overheard in London was the only thing I had left in my arsenal. “She’s looking for the last one who knows the Destroyer.”

Milly blinked, her eyes fading back to green for a moment. The spell was broken and I took my chance. I bolted for the door and down the hallway to my room. I fell inside the small sanctuary that was my own, Milly’s laughter following me. Struggling with the door, I slammed it shut, leaning hard against it. Sobs rippled in my body and I fought them, fought not to let them out.

A soft knock on the door snapped my head up. I prepped a death spell, the black tendrils wrapping around my fingers. I would not be used like that. “Who is it?”

“Frank,” he said but I knew Milly could impersonate his voice. She’d shown me how that morning.

“Go away.”

“Are you okay?”

Our rooms were side by side, so it was possible he heard me slam the door shut. I didn’t open the door, though. “I’m fine, just tired.” I backed away from the door, slowly lowering my hands.

Footsteps retreated and I started to shake. I wrapped my arms around my middle and clung to myself. “Get a hold, Pam.” My teeth chattered. “Get a fucking hold of yourself.” That’s what Rylee would say.

I straightened. Rylee wouldn’t be afraid. She would deal with this. But how?

I jerked on clothes, jeans and a long sleeved shirt despite the heat. Under my pillow was the short knife Rylee gave me for my last birthday. I strapped it to my lower back, the way she’d shown me. Squaring my shoulders, I opened the door and strode back to the spelling room. Rylee wouldn’t let anyone intimidate her, and I’d be damned if I let Milly scare me.

She sat in the middle of the pentagram completely naked and swaying in a circle. Blood ran down her body from two cuts, one over each breast. I gritted my teeth, took a breath and lifted my hands. I would show her I was not to be played with.

A power move, one that required a lot of energy for most witches, leapt to my fingers. Sheer energy erupted from my fingertips and raced toward her. My aim was perfect and the bolt of magic slammed into her chest, bowling her over and out of the pentagram.

“I’m not afraid of you, Milly. If you’re going to teach me, then teach me. But if you aren’t, then I’m leaving.”

She was crumpled in a heap by the wall and for a moment, I thought maybe I’d hurt her. With a quick move, she flung a hand at me. Lightning arced off her fingers and zipped toward me. I held my ground and caught the lightning, absorbing it. That was a trick of Deanna’s. One on my list I’d been studying and thought I would never use.

She slowly stood, her eyes never leaving my face. “You are stronger than I thought.”

I didn’t respond, just waited for her to answer me.

A robe hung on a chair beside her. She reached for it, and swirled it around her body. I should have known that it was a ruse.

The swirl of the robe hid her hand and she shot a bolt of power the hit me square in the chest, flinging me back through the open doors and against the wall on the far side. I couldn’t breathe and I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to again. I rolled to my side, fighting for air, knowing I had to get up. To fight.

From my room came a soft cry that slowly turned into a roar. For just a moment, I thought Alex was here, that Rylee had come to rescue me. But it wasn’t Alex who bounded out of my room and stood between me and Milly.

The snow leopard wasn’t what I expected at all. But the green eyes were exactly like . . . “Peta?”

Her tail lashed from side to side and her body tensed as Milly came to the doorway. “Well, what do have we here? I thought you looked familiar, kitty cat. Where is your mistress?”

Milly flicked a hand at Peta. The spell was a powerful one, meant to break the blood vessels in the heart. I cried out and raised a hand, but I knew I’d be too slow. Peta jerked as the spell hit her, body convulsing as she screamed out a final cry.

“NO!” I tried to get up, tried to get to her. I managed to grab her tail and flooded her body with my power. She couldn’t die. I wouldn’t let her. My ability to heal, though . . . it was so small. So weak.

Peta rolled and coughed as I patched her up as best I could. Sweating profusely, I’d been able to staunch the bleeding. “Heal her, Milly.”

“Oh, now you want my help after you attack me?”

“You started it,” I snarled up at her, wanting nothing more than to stick my blade into her heart. “Heal her!”

Milly smirked. “No. She won’t die.”

Peta growled, her fangs covered in her own blood. I put a hand on her back and she shrunk to the house cat I knew. I scooped her up, cradling her against my chest. “I’m leaving.”

“And what about Frankie baby?” Milly pouted at me.

I stood straighter and raised an eyebrow at her. But I didn’t need to say anything. He was suddenly there at my side.

“I go where Pamela goes.”

Milly laughed. “You children. All these games to test you and you think I would actually hurt you? Please. Go calm yourselves and then we’ll have dinner.”

I frowned. “What are you saying?”

“This was a test.” She waved her hand and I flinched. “I need to see how strong you really are. You don’t think I’d actually hurt you, do you?” Her voice was full of disbelief, and I thought maybe I was wrong. Maybe this was exactly what she claimed.

“But you did hurt her, and you almost killed Peta,” Frank said.

I looked from him to Milly and back again. She snorted softly. “Frankie, please. How is she going to break through her barriers if she isn’t pushed? You know as well as I do that she is a terrible healer.”

That was true. I put a hand to my head. “Frank, will you come with me?”

He tucked a hand under my elbow and helped me to my room, shutting the door behind us. I heard the click of the lock, and while it made me feel better, I knew it wouldn’t keep her out if she wanted in.

I laid Peta on the bed. She stretched out with a soft meow that nearly broke my heart. “I’m so sorry, Peta.” I looked at Frank. “I’m sorry I pulled you into this, too.”

“We’ll go. Right now, pack your stuff and we’ll leave.”

A tear slipped from my eye. “I can’t.”

He stopped mid-stride toward my closet. “What do you mean
you can’t
?”

“She had me swear a binding oath to her this morning. It . . . keeps me here.”

He sank to the floor, his eyes wide. “Why, why would you do that?”

Crying, I shook my head. “She . . . I don’t know. I thought she cared about me like Rylee did. I trusted her.”

I waited for him to yell at me, to tell me I was stupid. I knew it now, but now was too late. He sat beside me on the bed and wrapped his arms around me gently as I cried. “We’ll find a way to break the bond. That’s all there is to it.”

I clung to him, hoping he was right, but knowing there was no turning back. I’d tied myself to a witch who was obviously psychotic. Rylee had been right. I couldn’t trust Milly. Which meant no matter what I thought of Rylee, all the things Milly had told me about her were lies.

The tears soaked my face. Frank was wrong, there was no way I’d be able to get away now. “Frank, you should go. Get to Rylee. Tell her what happened and that I . . . I don’t want her to come save me. I made this bed, and now I’ll sleep in it.”

Frank didn’t leave, though. “Rylee can get you out of this.”

“She can’t,” I sobbed, clinging to him.

“She can. She’s a goddamned demon slayer and Milly is obviously possessed by a demon. So there is only one thing we can do now.” He shook me, stopping me in the middle of my pity party.

His eyes were hard. “We play this game that Milly, or whoever she is, has laid out. We play hard. And we learn everything we can. And we wait for Rylee to come.”

A shiver swept through me as his words sunk in, and I understood what he meant. A fierce sense of purpose filled me, pushing away the fear and the shame. I would make this work, somehow. Somehow.

CHAPTER 16

Rylee

B
erget as my
sister? Wonderful. Berget as a vampire? Groovy.

Berget as a teenage driver?

“We’re going to die,” Alex whispered in the back of the mini-van we pinched. His eyes were wide and three cheerios stuck to one side of his face. I clenched my teeth together. I would have answered him, but I was too busy trying to keep my stomach in one place. The wind in the car rushed around us, tangling hair and ruffling clothes. We’d rolled all the windows down not to keep the van cool, but to air out the scent of baby shit and some sort of green and black fungus growing on the back window. Humans were fucking disgusting.

Berget laughed. “I have this under control. I don’t know what you were talking about, Rylee. Driving’s easy.”

My gorge rose along the back of my throat as we took a corner at a speed and angle that made me wonder if we would still be upright in a few seconds. The mini-van’s tires squealed on the blacktop and I clutched the seat in front of me. Faris sat in the passenger’s seat next to Berget.

“She really is doing quite well,” he said softly.

She laughed. “Thanks, Liam.”

And just like that, the ridiculousness of the moment evaporated. Faris stiffened. “As much as I am handling him being in me, that is not my name.”

Berget shrugged. “He was the one speaking to me. Not you.”

Maybe the conversation would have escalated from there, they might have even started fighting. There would be no chance to ever know, though.

Something rammed the side of the mini-van, picking it up off the blacktop. The tires spun in the air, engine whirring as Berget gunned the gas pedal. She twisted in her seat so her feet were against the door. “Oh no, you don’t!”

A large, furry hand the size of two frying pans shot through the open window, grabbed her around the waist and yanked her out.

The car dropped, bounced once and flipped onto its side. I didn’t wait to ask questions or wonder what the hell was going on. I scrambled up through the center of the van and into the driver’s seat, then right out the window. Faris was already out and Alex was behind me.

I lowered myself from the side of the van and stared at the scene in front of me. Berget seemed to be okay, but she was pleading with a rather large, hairy looking beast that resembled an oversized ape. I ran a hand through my hair. “Big foot? Really, man?”

His eyes—bright, brilliant green—raised to mine. He lifted his hands up, the long hair hanging from them in dreadlocks in several places. In the dark of the night it was hard to see what color he was. But I was guessing shades of brown and maybe even green if what I was seeing was right. Not that any of it mattered. His fingers twitched as if beckoning me closer. “Blood heals. I need.” It was only after he spoke that I saw the pustules on his face, partially hidden by matted hair and dirt. Shit.

“You can’t, Rylee.” Faris put his hand on me. “Your blood is mingled with mine right now. There is a chance you could create some sort of big foot with vampiric qualities.”

I stared at him. “You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

He shook his head. “Unless we stop exchanging, you can’t give your blood to anyone. It is no longer Immune like it was before.”

Now that was a pickle I wasn’t expecting. Alex sniffed the air beside me, rising up on his hind quarters until he stood fully erect beside me. “More coming.”

Double shits. “How many?”

He took three exaggerated sniffs. “Seven, maybe more.”

Seven more big foot? Big feet? Whatever the plural was, didn’t matter. “We have to go then.”

The creature in front of us growled and it made me think of the slow, hissing rumble of a crocodile. Only louder and deeper. I lifted my hands. “Sorry, buddy. We can’t help you.”

“Blood helps. Heals babies. Tracker helps. Tracker always helps.” He pleaded with me and my heart squeezed painfully. Babies, they had sick babies. “Faris, how sure are you?”

“Sure enough. You can’t help them. The only way to help them is to get to the Destroyer.” That sounded like advice Liam would give and I fought not to look at Faris to confirm my suspicions.

“Berget, are you okay?”

“Ready to go.” She spoke from behind the big foot, who let out another low rumbling hiss. I racked my brain, trying to remember just how fast the American apes were. Faster than me most likely.

“On three, we run.” I clutched at the threads I’d tied to the Great Wolf. He was close, only a few miles away now. Maybe we’d luck out.

“Why not just kill them?” Faris griped.

“Too many dead already, and Doran is right about that. We might need them later,” I said. I took a breath, spun, and bolted into the forest behind me. Alex was with me, and Faris wasn’t far behind, guarding our rear. Berget caught up with ease.

“He’s fast,” she said with a glance over her shoulder. I couldn’t look. Everything I had focused on not falling flat on my face. Within the shadow of the trees, the darkness of the night was deep enough that gauging where the fuck my feet landed was bitching hard.

My foot caught a root and Berget grabbed me, yanking me upright. “How close is the Great Wolf?”

“Two miles,” I spit out as something grabbed my hair from behind and yanked me to a stop. Before I could do anything, the big foot had me in the air, benched over his head like he was fucking King Kong.

“Put me down, you idiot!” I yelled, hoping he would listen. No such luck. With the tip of one ragged fingernail—which happened to be the size of a small steak knife—he gouged a shallow furrow on my bare arm. The blood welled and he held his mouth open, shaking me like I was some kind of soda pop and he was trying to get the last damn drop from the bottom. My blood dripped into his open mouth.

“Must heal,” he said, holding me with one hand and slowly lowering me back to the ground. He didn’t let me go.

I pulled one of my blades and pressed the tip into his belly. “Let me go. Now.”

His fingers unleashed me as he groaned and clutched at his own belly.

“I thought you said you weren’t going to hurt them?” Berget was at my side, helping me navigate the terrain away from the big foot.

“I didn’t.” Which worried me. He groaned again and a loud rumble in his guts made me think we might be in for a show I didn’t want. Last time I’d hear noises like that, Alex had gotten into the spicy Thai food and no one had been able to stand within twenty feet of him for days. Apparently, my blood didn’t agree with him.

The hair on the big foot’s body lifted as if with a life of its own, and a guttural moan slipped out of his mouth giving me a glimpse of flat, broad teeth. He ground them together, a crack rebounding through the air.

“Faris . . .”

“I told you, your blood isn’t really your blood anymore. It’s a blend of yours and mine. I have no idea what it’s going to do to him.”

I opened my mouth, was going to ask what the hell we were supposed to do when a series of wolf howls rolled through the air. I did a quick count. Ten. There were ten werewolves coming our way along with the seven other friends of the big foot. Fucking hell. This was not how I wanted to deal with things.

The big foot in front of us suddenly let out a mind numbing roar that rooted my feet to the ground. Like a spell. He lurched toward me, his eyes blood shot and saliva dripping from his mouth.

“You have to kill him!” Faris shouted.

I knew it, damn, I knew it. I pulled my second sword and stepped toward the towering big foot. “I’m sorry.” I whipped my swords forward, crossing them in front of me. They cut through the big foot’s guts, opening him like a stuffed tick. He dropped to his knees and I spun into him, slamming my blades through the neck, taking his head.

I jammed my blades back into their sheaths and started toward the Great Wolf. A couple of miles.

“Why aren’t we running?” Berget whispered beside me, looking over her shoulder several times.

“They’ll catch us anyway because I’m too slow, and even if one of you carries me they’ll catch us. So we walk and conserve our energy.” Alex bounced beside me, his hair flopping as he went up and down.

“Rylee, big wolves coming. Big, bigger than boss.”

Fantastic. That was just what I wanted to hear. I pulled my crossbow free and fitted it with a bolt. Carried it loosely at my side. The bolt, edged in silver, would do serious damage to a werewolf or vampire. Same as my whip laced with silver filament.

“Thought you weren’t going to hurt them?” Faris laughed the words at me and I had to restrain myself from using the crossbow on him.

“Everyone keeps pointing out that if I don’t make it, the world is royally screwed. Maybe I finally believe that shit.”

I tapped Alex lightly on the head. “Tell me when the wolves are thirty feet out.”

“Yuppy doody, Rylee.” He spun around to stare into the darkness, walking backward with high, exaggerated steps until he was in front of me, ears and eyes trained on the forest behind us.

My heart was racing. This was not how I normally did things and it rubbed me the wrong way. Twitching, I fought not to spin around. Fuck it.

“Alex, stay close.” I turned, bringing my crossbow up to my cheek, sighting down the channel. Faris and Berget let out twin groans that at another time would have made me laugh. Ten werewolves, we could take them. They were probably sick anyway.

There could be no mercy in me, not if I wanted to keep the world whole and my loved ones safe. I stood, watching the darkness, waiting for a glimmer of golden werewolf eyes.

A shimmer of silver to the left and I adjusted my aim, saw the eyes, pulled the trigger. As the snarl of pain erupted, I was already fitting the crossbow with another bolt. A glimmer of eyes to my left and I loosed a second bolt. A yelping cry told me my aim was true.

“Alex, stay back.” Like everyone else, he’d taken my blood, but what if the effects wore off? He would be vulnerable to the pox. I managed to get a third bolt in, but not before they were on us.

Alex didn’t listen to me, but threw himself into the fray, snarling and snapping. Berget and Faris were there, breaking necks like they were brittle twigs. From the corner of my eye, I saw Berget feed on one of the werewolves, drinking him down. A massive, brindled wolf leapt at me, claws and mouth extended. I fell backward as I shot the last bolt. It caught the werewolf through the lower jaw and slammed into his brain. The wolf jerked in mid-flight and fell to the ground at my feet.

I scrambled up and looked around. They were all dead. Every last one of the pack was killed. A sick, horrible feeling rolled through me. If the supernaturals kept coming after me, I would be forced to kill them. The only ones who might be able to stand with me in the last showdown with Orion. And the bastard demon knew it. I was effectively killing off my own potential allies in order to survive, yet the paradox was that it could kill me in the end.

I didn’t have time to think more on that. In the distance, another set of howls made the hair rise along the back of my neck.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I swung my bow onto my back and looked around. The Great Wolf was closer, which meant he was coming our way.

“Alex, howl for the Great Wolf.”

“You gots it.” He tipped his head back. “Greeeaaaaaaat Woooooolf. Coooooome.”

Berget raised her eyebrows. “That is not what I thought he would do.” Beside her, Faris burst out laughing, the gold rim back around the edge of his eyes. Once more I decided not to point it out to him. No need to provoke him.

Alex panted slowly, his head swiveling first to one side, then the other. “Great Wolf is close. He says so.”

A chill danced across my shoulders. I turned slowly in a full circle, Tracking the Great Wolf. He
was
close, as in I-should-be-seeing-his-furry-ass close.

“Hey, wolf boy. You want to show yourself?” I turned and found myself staring down into the face of a rather large, black wolf. The scar down his shoulder drew my eye. At least I had the right wolf. His dark eyes were bottomless and there was no mercy in them.

I didn’t flinch. Just stared. “I need your help.”

He pressed his muzzle against the hollow of my throat, then turned to look at Faris who gave a low growl that was not a vampire’s. The Great Wolf looked over my shoulder and for just a minute, I thought I heard him say
grandson?

I blinked several times. “Did you say
grandson
?”

The Great Wolf’s eyes shot to mine, narrowing, lips pulling up over teeth big enough to do some serious damage. I held my ground. “I’ll ask again. I need your help. Please.”

He stepped back, his jet-black fur and eyes making him difficult to see. If it hadn’t been for that scar on his shoulder, I would have lost him in the trees. No wonder I hadn’t seen him sneaking up on me.

The second werewolf pack skidded to a stop. A series of whimpers leaked from their lips as they went from snarling maniacs, to whimpering puppies.

Alex shook a fist at them and snarled. “Yes, that’s right, scaredy cats!”

I shushed him. “Alex, don’t tempt fate.”

The Great Wolf let out a low chuckle and shook his head. Again, I heard a single word said with a strange mixture of sarcasm and laughter.
Submissive.