Fire on the Island (26 page)

As she listened
to Jeremiah's calm but firm voice, Isla began to take back the control of her
mind. She had heard the voices, acknowledged them, and promised to help. But
Jere was right. She couldn't help if she was down for the count, and she'd be
damned if she was going to break her promise to those people. Putting up her
mental barriers to allow herself to focus, she breathed through the pain.

Squeezing her
eyes shut tightly, she shouted the words to the far recesses of the cave, so
loud that it rose over the sound of the growling.

"
Quid
contineat oportet solvi. Sic fiat semper!
"

And then she
pulled the pin. Pulling energy from stores within her that even she didn't know
were there, she allowed it to swirl and build in her chest until it exploded
out of her.

A ripple of
energy brushed past them and through them, as the mouths of the cave burst with
a supernatural light, followed by a deafening boom.
Isla felt herself
being swept into strong
arms and
carried out while the shields were down.

Collapsing in
the grass circle about ten yards away from the cave, Jeremiah held on tight to
Isla as the others ran full blast to drop down beside them.

As they lay on
the cool, lush grass, panting and gasping to catch their breath, it seemed as
though all eight of them were now covered in dirt, bruises and cuts. But they
were all alive.

Jeremiah looked
down at her and she smiled at him with something akin to...elation.

Reaching up a
delicate, but work-roughened hand to stroke his cheek, she batted her eyelashes
dramatically and placed the back of her other hand across her forehead.
"My hero," she said, in full swoon.

Jeremiah
snorted and grinned. "Yeah, yeah. Get off me, woman!"

With one last
pat to his cheek, Isla hopped up and dusted herself off. Reaching out, she helped
pull Jeremiah up. Gathering all of her friends together, she looked at each of
their faces in turn. "Those people are out there, somewhere. I had them in
my head, begging for help. I'm going on. This is a little more than you signed
up for, so if anyone wants to turn back, now's the time. Any takers?"

Seven pairs of
eyes met hers in hard stares. And, yeah, they weren't going anywhere. Isla
turned to look at the rock formations behind her. Beyond the sharp outgrowth of
sandstone, around the corner of the promontory, was the third and largest cave.

Isla knew deep
down to her core that they would find something there. What
...
was anyone's guess.

~~~

The King's Cave
had a wide, domed mouth covered by an ornate iron gate. It was said that the
intention of the gate was to protect the cave paintings and carvings from
damage, but it was never locked.

The iron hinges
squealed as Callum swung the gate wide enough for them to pass through.
Isla
and Jeremiah entered the enormous cave behind him
. Though not too large in area, the main cavern
expanded upwards with high, vaulted ceilings.

At the back of
the cavern, Isla noticed that there were several narrow tunnels. God only knew
where those led, or if they were even passable.

Cautiously, the
eight of them stepped into the middle of the cave. Eerily quiet and dark, the
cave had a very sinister atmosphere. The daylight from outside the mouth
contrasted sharply with the stale darkness in the interior, leaving Isla
struggling to adjust her eyes.

There was nothing
but silence. Darkness. Stagnant air and water. But no missing islanders and,
clearly, no demons either.

"Damn
it!" Amy's quiet whisper voiced their collective thoughts. "I was
sure we would find
some
kind of clue in here."

"I was
too," Isla answered, frowning. "Still am, actually." She
couldn't explain the feeling she had. Her skin crawled and her stomach jumped
with uneasiness. Studying the recesses of the cave, Isla turned in a circle
until her gaze rested on the far left tunnel.

She stared for
so long, completely and utterly still, that the others began to fidget and
clear their throats. She knew Jeremiah stood by, waiting patiently. She'd drawn
a bead on something and was trying to work it out in her head.

Brynna shifted
on her feet nervously. "Maybe we should—"

"Shh!"
Isla hissed, holding up a hand. And then she heard it. A muffled voice, a sound
somewhere between a moan and a sob, coming from the tunnel. Isla rushed
forward, ready to leap to the rescue, when a hand on her arm stopped her.

Turning, she
gave Jeremiah a questioning look. "Wait. Think," he whispered.
"It could be a trap. You need to go in there expecting the worst."

At Isla's nod,
he released her but followed close behind, ducking his head to
clear the
low
sandstone ceiling. The tunnel
was wide enough for two people to fit side by side but soon began narrowing.

After a few
feet, it curved sharply to the left. Not one to make the same mistake twice,
Isla peered round the bend to check out what was beyond. It was a dead end, but
it wasn't empty. She gasped when she saw a body curled up on the cold ground.

Grabbing
Jeremiah's hand, she pulled him up close behind her. "There's someone
there," she whispered.

Slowly, they
made their way around the corner and approached the figure cautiously. Hearing
their arrival, the figure raised its head, face curtained by muddy brown hair.
Wide, unfocused amber eyes stared up at them with blatant terror.

Isla looked at
Jeremiah out of the corner of her eye and he nodded almost imperceptibly.
Claire Corrie. They'd found her.

Not wanting to
frighten the woman, Isla inched forward with Jeremiah close behind her.
"Claire? Is that you? We've been looking for you."

Claire cringed
away when Isla reached out to touch her shoulder. "P-Please...," she
said through chattering teeth, "please go. They'll be back any
minute!" Her voice rose in panic as she spoke.

"Claire,
it's okay. We're here for you. The search party."

"No. No,
no, no!" Claire screamed, covering her ears and rocking. "You can't
help me! You have to go!" The woman let out an agonized wail and then
opened her eyes. They had gone from amber to completely clear with shadows
swirling in them.

Before they had
time to process that new development, Claire seemed to be grabbed by invisible
hands, yanked back through the stone wall. Isla stood there, momentarily
stunned, staring at the empty tunnel.

Isla pinched
the bridge of her nose to keep from screaming. "You've
got
to be
kidding me. Astral projection?"

"Has to
be. I don't think it would be physically possible otherwise. But it was a damn
good one," he answered, frowning. "They must have siphoned a good
supply of energy off of their new captures."

"They're
not here, are they?"

"Doesn't
seem that way."

Suddenly, Isla
felt a tremor in the atmosphere. It wasn't like the earth shaking quakes from
the second cave. It was as if the air had a pulse, and it was beating steadily,
harshly, like the rotor blades on a helicopter.

She grabbed
Jeremiah's arm at the same time that he spoke the words she was thinking.
"It's a trap!"

The two of them
took off down the tunnel, back the way they came, skidding to a halt when they
reached the main cabin. The rest of the searchers stood shoulder to shoulder
with their backs to them.

Standing
between the group and the mouth of the cave was a throng of pale skinned,
raven- haired figures. A fine mist swirled around the macabre gathering,
further obscuring the searchers' escape route.

"It's a
whole hive of the things," Jeremiah whispered. The
auchrim
merely
stared at them, unmoving. Through the enveloping mist, they were strangely
androgynous. Multiple copies of the original, a perfect simulacra of Alastore.

The creatures
parted, making way for a lone figure to step forward. Well, if it wasn't the
original himself.

Alastore was
dressed impeccably in steel gray trousers and a black dress shirt. His black
hair was swept away from his face and slicked back. He looked every bit the
gentleman, from the sharp, patrician features, all the way to the tips of his
black Gucci loafers.

He was the proverbial
wolf in sheep's clothing.

Squeezing
between Callum and Amy, Isla moved to stand in front of her friends. Jeremiah
and Marduk flanked her on either side, bracing for the worst.

While the three
of them knew exactly what they were dealing with, the rest of the searchers had
been left in the dark. Callum's gruff voice echoed in the cavern.

"Just who
in the
hell
is this joker?"

Fiddling with
his diamond cufflink, Alastore raised an eyebrow and his lips quirked in a
half-smile. Rich, disembodied laughter bounced around the recesses of the cave.

"
Legio
nomen mihi est, quia multi sumus
," came the quiet answer.

"What?
What did he say?"

Jere cleared
his throat and flicked a nervous glance behind him at Callum. “He said ‘My name
is Legion, for we are many.’”

"Demon
that quotes the Bible. Cute," Amy said.

Alastore glided
closer to where Isla stood, causing Jeremiah to surge forward. He was stayed by
a calm hand on his arm.

"It was
generous of you, witch, to bring us all of these extra souls. I can assure you,
they will be put to good use." The demon smiled his gruesome, serrated
smile, and actually winked at her.
Winked
. This time Jeremiah was the
one who had to restrain her from going for his throat.

After a brief
moment of stillness, Alastore executed a crisp about-face and walked back to
his minions who, again, made way for him. Just as he passed the front ranks, he
paused and turned his head toward the
auchrim
closest to him.

His voice was
as gentle as it was deadly when he spoke.

"Take
them."

None of them
had a moment more to think as the
auchrim
swarmed them, surrounding them
on all sides. The cave was filled with a cacophony of hisses and screeches, and
the eight of them were sucked into a cloud of scratching, biting, and clawing
monsters.

Isla could hear
Jeremiah shouting to them over the din. "We've got to separate. Divide and
conquer!"

An auchrim
immediately attacked her, but she spun around and caught him in the back with
her knife. There was a bright flash of blue fire as the creature's body
exploded into vapor. Isla immediately searched for Jeremiah and found him
facing off with another one. Ducking under the arm of the screaming beast as it
swung for him, he ran through it with his machete.

Caught off
guard by the disappearing demon, Jeremiah left his back unguarded. Isla watched
in horror as an
auchrim
grabbed him from behind, wrapping a bony hand
around his throat, and dug its fingernails into the sensitive skin over his
jugular.

Having just
dispatched another demon with her machete, Isla spun on her heel when she heard
Jeremiah yell. The sound was quickly cut off by the creature that was squeezing
his neck.

She didn't
think. She just reacted instinctively to protect her mate. Stretching out her
arms, she summoned all the extra energy she could find and shot a fireball out
of her hands. She prayed the two bodies locked in combat didn't turn as the
flames hurtled toward the
auchrim
's back.

As the demon
combusted, Jeremiah staggered forward, coughing and gasping for air. "Son
of a—" He was cut off as another
auchrim
lunged at him, and he
quickly raised his machete and relieved the thing of its head.

All around
them, demons burst into flames, but it seemed like they just kept coming. Ants
from an ant hill, bees from a hive. Wild laughter bubbled up inside Isla as she
heard Freddie Mercury's voice in her head.

She stabbed
another demon in the heart with her blade, watched as flames engulfed it, and
it was vaporized.

Another one
bites the dust.

She yelled at
Kieran to duck, and she tossed a fireball at the
auchrim
who had been
stalking him.

And another
one gone
.

Striking
another demon with a mean roundhouse kick, flooring him, Isla pounced on the creature.
It screeched as she placed a hand over its face, summoned her power, and
blasted it home.

And another
one gone.

During a brief
reprieve, Isla searched the cave for the others. Brynna and Kieran were
fighting back to back, as were Callum and Jack. Amy flipped a rather large
demon over her shoulder. When it landed flat on its back, she pressed her
booted foot into its windpipe.

The creature
screamed and thrashed, swiping at Amy's leg with its claws. Calmly, coldly, she
sliced the
auchrim
's throat with her machete and smiled as it dusted.