Bound by Legend: A Bound Novel (38 page)

Reaching over, she pulled her cell from the drawer in the nightstand and opened the contacts screen. Only one name stood out. After hesitating for only moment, she tapped his name with her thumb and put it to her ear.

No one would answer it. Damien had taken his phone when he left the Tower that night to keep the police from finding it and making any connections. The phone was a broken piece of nothing somewhere. It didn’t matter; she wasn’t hoping anyone would answer it. After a few rings it went to voicemail. Morgan closed her eyes and listened to Jake’s voice on the brief message about calling back.

She called the number three more times before finally sliding the phone back in the drawer and tucking the flag carefully into her backpack.

After flopping back on the bed and then staring idly at the wall for a while, Morgan grabbed the phone again and dialed her sister’s number. It went straight to voicemail. Frowning, Morgan tapped the end button and dropped the phone on the nightstand.

She hadn’t spoken to her sister since that first night after the dream. Either something had happened to Tara, or her sister was avoiding her. Except, Tara had seemed as happy to find Morgan as Morgan was to find her. The worry of Jax surfaced again and Morgan hoped the Higher Powers kept her sister safe.

Lucian returned a few minutes later carrying a couple of bags and drinks. The scent of breakfast sandwiches, hashbrowns, and coffee filled the room and Morgan’s stomach rumbled. Lucian handed her one bag and then began to unpack his own, stacking several sandwiches on the table along with the patty-like hashbrowns.

Stupid dark angels with their stupid metabolism that let them drink with no after effects and eat a ton and still look like ripped gods. She sighed and opened her own bag which contained two sandwiches and two hashbrowns. Morgan pulled the sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit from the bag, unwrapped it and gave it to Lucy, then gave her one of the hashbrowns before opening the bacon, egg, and cheese for herself.

Lucian too gave one of his sandwiches to the dog before settling in to eat his own. The food, and the wonderfully caffeinated coffee, made Morgan feel even better. Her head would probably still feel a little fuzzy for a good part of the day, but the construction workers had stopped completely.

They spent the day in the motel room while the howls of the frustrated hounds came faintly through the open window. As evening set in, Lucian and Damien left to find more food while Isobel and Sarah joined her. Jameth left them to be alone. He was probably hanging out in the room he shared with Sarah while remaining on guard should he be needed.

Neither Isobel nor Sarah brought up the trip she’d made back to the city with Lucian and for that Morgan was grateful. It had felt good to have that time in the park with Lucian but she didn’t want to talk about it tonight. Instead she turned the conversation to Sarah.

“Are you and Jameth forever soulmates, like Isobel and Damien?” Morgan asked.

Sarah chuckled. “No. Jameth is my dark angel and my friend. My husband’s name is Alex.”

Surprised, Morgan raised her eyebrows. “He didn’t come with you?”

“Alex knows he can’t help with what I do. He’s an English professor, not a fighter.” Sarah’s eyes softened. “He’s my everything.”

Morgan tried think of a time when her father had let her mother go alone and couldn’t remember one. Of course, her father had military training and was one of the few humans not graced with power from the Higher Powers that could see both ghosts and demons. He had been a fighter. In the end, it hadn’t helped him. “Don’t you worry about demons going after him while you’re gone?”

“Jonathan, a free agent, is keeping tabs on Alex right now. My husband is safe.”

That made sense. Would a free agent being there have saved her father? Would it have saved her mother and Rhamil? They were questions Morgan would never have the answer to.

It wasn’t long before Lucian and Damien returned. They started to hand out food when a long, victorious howl road the night breeze. Everyone froze. Morgan stared into Lucian’s eyes and knew the hounds had found the trail again.

The howl rose again. Lucy stiffened, a deep snarl rising in her chest.

Lucian glared in the direction of the howl. “We need to move again. They’ve caught the scent and will be here soon.”

Morgan tossed her food aside and reached for her bag as the others scrambled out of the room to get their own things. It wasn’t as if there was much to pack, Morgan threw open her suitcase and tossed everything in without regard to how it landed. Within moments, they were ready to leave. Jameth and Damien were already waiting in the hall with Isobel and Sarah looking worried.

Isobel reached out and squeezed Morgan’s hand, offering silent support. How had she gone from practically nothing to having such wonderful people in her life?

When they reached the parking lot, Morgan yanked open the back door of the suburban and shoved the bag in, then stepped back so Lucy could jump in. After slamming the door and hurrying around to the driver’s side, Morgan turned to Lucian. “Where are we headed?”

“They’re coming quick now that they have the scent. There is a church a few miles out of town, we will seek shelter there.”

Morgan frowned as she tossed her backpack on the front seat. “Why go to one outside of town? I’m sure they have churches in Brighton.”

Lucian cocked a grin at her though the humor failed to reach his eyes. “We can’t outrun them and there isn’t going to be anything quiet about what’s coming. These people,” his arm swept around, taking in the city, “have to be kept in the dark about all of this.”

Giving a quick nod, Morgan climbed into the suburban and started it. The sound of the engine as it rumbled to life gave her a strange sense of comfort. Lucien took the lead. Morgan pulled out of the parking lot right behind him while Damien and Isobel followed so close they were practically tailgating. Jameth and Sarah fell in behind them.

The city slipped by in a haze of glowing signs and street lights as Lucian pushed the speed limit headed east. They left the main highway behind and took a couple different rural roads before Morgan saw a quaint little stone church perched among a collection of trees less than a mile down the road.

Morgan jerked in the seat as something slammed into the back of her truck. A glance in the rearview mirror showed a white cargo van behind Sarah and Jameth’s car. As she watched, it came again, hitting Sarah’s car and driving it into Damien’s car which collided with the back of her truck again.

Something dark flashed outside Morgan’s window. With a crunch of metal, the world rolled violently to the side. The driver’s side window shattered, sending shards of glass whirling around her as the suburban continued to roll two more times before coming to rest on its roof. The buckled metal groaned in protest.

STUNNED, MORGAN HUNG
upside down with the seatbelt biting into her flesh. Adrenaline pumped through her veins in such copious amounts, that when her brain finally kicked back in and tried to inventory her body for injuries. It was useless; she couldn’t feel any pain at the moment.

A wet tongue licked her hand that lay on the crunched roof above her…below her? Morgan turned her head, sudden fear surging through her. Fear that was unfounded it appeared since Lucy lay on the roof without a scratch on her. The dog seemed in as good a condition as she had before the wreck. What the hell had happened anyway?

Her question was answered by the scrabble of claws across the ground and rocking of the truck. If that hadn’t clued her in, the vicious snarls ripping their way from Lucy’s throat would have. Demons. By the amount of shadows shifting over the ground in the illumination of the headlights that had miraculously survived the wreck, it was a lot of demons.

Sounds of chanting and screaming demons filled the air as Morgan embraced her power and wrapped it around herself and Lucy. Those things may be flitting back and forth in a way that kept her from pinning them down, but at least they couldn’t reach in grab her while she was still trying to get her bearings.

Her hand fumbled for the seatbelt latch. After some struggle, it came loose, dumping her on the roof. Demons and a few humans that must be demon-possessed moved through the night in numbers like she’d never seen before. Lucian was visible, his ebony wings unfurled as he moved at superhuman speed among the demons, trying to reach her and banish as many as possible in the process.

Damien also moved in the dark mass, creating a clear space for Isobel who glowed so bright Morgan had to squint to look at her. How the hell could one channel hold so much power? Even Sarah, a strong channel in her own right, seemed pale next to Isobel.

Astonished, Morgan watched as more demons than she could count went down at once. The sound of claws ripping at the truck abruptly ended as all of them around the suburban disappeared in a shower of golden sparks.

Grunting with the effort, Morgan grabbed her backpack from where it laid on the ceiling of the cab and pulled herself through the broken driver’s side window, wincing when glass cut through her skin. Once outside she climbed to her feet, threw the straps of the backpack over her shoulders then pulled on her power until it burned and dropped the wall around herself and Lucy who had crawled through the window after her.

Isobel was taking them down in large amounts and still it was like a sea of dark, smoky bodies. A sea that surged toward Morgan as soon as they saw her. Drawing heavily on her power, Morgan threw circles under as many as she could. Her five circles at a time couldn’t even begin to match the fifty or more Isobel was creating at once. Oh well, five it would have to be.

Except it wasn’t enough. Morgan had known it wouldn’t be. Damn it, if she was going down it would be fighting. A lower-level charged past the demons she had circled. Morgan braced for the impact and then nearly lost her hold on her power as Lucy jumped at the lower-level. The dog’s jaws closed on what was probably the demon’s face and it exploded in pure white, blindingly bright sparks.

With a deep snarl in her throat, Lucy went after the next. This one managed to rake burning claws down the dog’s side before her jaws closed on it. Though it had to hurt, the wound only elicited more snarls from the dog.

Morgan recovered from the shock of seeing Lucy tear into demons and sent the five she had circled packing. As she circled five more she glanced at the dog again. What the hell? Had Lucy always been able to do that? Morgan had never been up against so many demons with the dog at her side.

Howls from pack filled the air, chilling the blood in Morgan’s veins and raising the hairs on her arms. They were done for if the pack was here.

The swarm of demons pulled her attention back to the task at hand. With her back to the truck, Morgan worked methodically, knowing it would make no difference. There were too many and somewhere in the mass were the hounds. Lucian finally made it to her side, his arm like an iron band around her waist as he pulled her against his chest and started to lift into the air.

A hound finally made an appearance, jumping to latch onto her leg. Hot teeth ripped through the flesh of Morgan’s ankle, tearing a scream from her. More demons leapt at them, pulling them back to the ground. Desperate, Morgan lashed out with her power again, trying to drive the demons back. Lucian had to release her in order to engage the multitudes that pressed around them.

The hound yanked her ankle, sending Morgan crashing to the ground. Lucy came out of the night and sailed through the air. Jumping straight over Morgan, the dog crashed into the hound. The hound’s teeth released Morgan’s ankle as the two very different canines tumbled away into the press of demons.

Light suddenly flared bright, as if someone had set a small sun down. Every demon around them, even those some distance out, exploded in golden sparks. Stunned Morgan stared at Isobel who shined so bright her form was barely visible as it collapsed into Damien’s arms.

“Oh my god.” Morgan’s breath froze in her chest. That much power…it was too much. No! Why hadn’t Damien snatched Isobel and flown her out of there?

Lucian pulled Morgan to her feet, his arm went around her again and they launched into the air. Morgan clung to him and fought the tears that threatened at the thought Isobel giving her life to save them. Another friend dead, because of her.

A few seconds later, Lucian landed and set her gently on her feet. Agony infused her ankle as Morgan stepped away from him and looked around. The quaint stone church sat within a square of trees a few yards from where she stood. Still holding her power, she turned to look away from the church. Her truck and the other cars in the distance sat where they’d been left, the details easily visible to her despite the moonless night.