Mystik Warrior: (Dark Warrior Alliance Book 2) (25 page)

Cailyn gaped at the harsh, dragon voice that spoke in her head. This was the first time she was able to hear a supernaturals thoughts so clearly. She loved being a part of this realm, there was always something new and exciting, no matter the danger. “Thanks for the reassurance. I trust you. Come on, Jess,” she replied as she climbed onto his bent knee and hoisted herself to his back. “Have a little faith. This is going to be fun.”

Jessie grumbled as she followed suit and reached for Cailyn’s hand. “Easy for you to say, you love all this adventure crap. Don’t forget, I’m afraid of heights.”

Elsie chuckled as she squatted down then sprang up and did an elegant somersault into the air and landed smoothly behind Jessie. The move was shocking. When Elsie was human, she had been a mediocre athlete, at best. Cailyn attributed her grace to her new vampire genes.

Cailyn would never have vampire genes, but that didn’t stop her from wondering what she would be like if she mated Jace, becoming immortal. How much would she change? Would she have super hearing and vision? What about her strength and speed? The idea wasn’t as upsetting as she might have thought.

“Okay, Angus,” Elsie’s voice broke in. “We are seated and ready.” The dragon inclined its head and the huge wings began to beat, stirring up leaves and debris. Cailyn hunkered down and grabbed hold between the shoulders and wings at the base of his long neck. A subtle tingle built in intensity as they left the ground. The lift off was surprisingly quiet and as she looked over to the lights of the house. It became obvious what the tingle was when Cailyn noticed the air around his wing was shimmering like it did off the cement on a hot day. “What is that?” she called over her shoulder as she pointed.

“That lass, is my magic. An invisible shield. It wouldna do to have a giant black dragon seen flying over the city, now would it?”

Her words were swallowed by the air currents, and in moments they were flying over the city. Angus seemed to be flying toward the lightning. Cailyn enjoyed the heat coming off Angus as her skin chilled further. The rain pelted her face with the speed of their flight. The houses and building were a blur beneath them and before she knew it they were approaching the park.

Even from a distance she heard the clang of metal. “Can you see anything?” she called out to Elsie and Jessie.

“I can see the battle, but I can’t see Jace or Zander,” Elsie responded. At that moment they passed over and she looked down at the bloody battle. Angus angled up before she could make any sense of the scene before her and the moon caught her eye.

The large, red-orange globe was haunting in its fullness and presage. It echoed the brief glimpse she had gotten of the battlefield. Angus swooped back around and she felt his sides swell as he took in a breath. They passed over the outer banks of the park and he bellowed fire upon the demons and skirm skirting the edges. She felt the heat from his flames waft up into her face as the vile creatures ignited and fell to the ground writhing. The putrid smell of burnt flesh reached her before he flew them away. Her stomach roiled and her heart began to pound in her chest. She hadn’t seen Jace yet, and needed to find him. She searched the ground as Angus continued flying.

It seemed there were countless demons. Some looked like the ones Orlando had described, and others looked like big black dogs. And, then there were the skirm she recalled all too clearly. Even though they brought in more Dark Warriors, they were outnumbered. She sent a prayer to their Goddess asking for their victory.

She saw Santiago standing on the ground with his arm extended toward the sky. Lightning struck at that moment and she watched in amazement as Santiago directed the bolt to the nearest demon. The creature exploded in a spray of black blood and guts. Santiago didn’t bother to clean the debris from his face before his arm was back in the air once again. He repeated the action time and time again eliminating several skirm and demons. Unfortunately, more took their place.

Her anxiety eased when she saw Hayden run from the trees followed by a large pack of shifters. Wolves and a variety of large feline breeds roared as they ripped into the demons. She hoped this gave them the edge they needed to win.

She scanned everywhere, but still couldn’t find Jace anywhere. She hoped he was okay. He had to be alright, she couldn’t lose him. She needed him, and hadn’t had a chance to tell him how she felt about him. His soul surged in her chest, reaching out to her. It was such a comforting feeling in the midst of this chaos. She realized that during her most trying moments throughout her life, his presence had always been with her. She just hadn’t known it was Jace’s soul.

She saw Zander heft the longest silver sword she had ever seen, and lob head after head off demons and skirm alike. He was an awe-inspiring sight, and she could see why he was the vampire king.

White fur streaked toward the dragon, cutting a path while yowling furiously. Orlando, she realized, and he had seen them. Angus stopped belching fire and began chomping the enemy with every pass. The sound of bone crunching caused bile to rise in her throat as he devoured the enemy.

Something cold rushed past the left side of her face as her sister called out a warning to Orlando. Startled, Cailyn realized Elsie had hurled a ball of ice at a skirm who had been coming at Orlando from behind. The ice slowed the skirm enough that Orlando was able to claw its heart out. Black blood sprayed and stained the snow leopard’s white fur.

“Take that, motherfuckers! Get ‘em Angus,” Jessie called out. Cailyn glanced over her shoulder at her friend and noted the excitement in her eyes while she watched the battle. This was not the same girl she had grown up with. Before, Jessie would have balked at such violence, not relish in it.

Silver flashed out of the corner of her eye as a small blade flew into the chest of a skirm that was trying to jump onto Angus as he flew low. She looked back and saw Rhys call the knife back to his hand as the skirm flashed on fire and turned to ash. She broke out in a cold sweat at the close call. She was feeling very human and wanted to be anywhere but where she was. She told herself to suck it up because she wasn’t leaving everyone she loved in this alone. She may not be able to do much, but she could try.

She refocused on the ground and noticed black blood and bodies were strewn about the field and amongst the trees. She saw Kyran swing his sword through necks only to disappear before the severed heads hit the ground. She thought that ability would keep him from harm until he was caught by one of those demon dogs when he reappeared. She and Elsie screamed out at the same time when the dog bit into Kyran’s leg, shaking its big head from side to side.

Elsie jumped off the dragon’s back when they got close. “Zander, help Kyran,” she called out and had two blades in her hands the second she touched the ground. Zander was running in their direction while Elsie stabbed the dog repeatedly. Cailyn’s heart sank when skirm seemed to sense Elsie’s appearance and broke off to head her way. No one had seen the danger approaching her sister.

“Angus,” she yelled, “we have to do something. Can you get those guys running to Elsie and Kyran?” She felt rather than saw his nod, and faster than she could blink he had several of them in his jaws. There were still too many of them, she could not lose her sister like this. Scanning about she searched for something, anything. Recalling her own weapons, she withdrew one from the waistband of her pants.

Warriors were crying out in anguish all around her. She saw Thane go down and he didn’t get up. She screamed out her denial. She hated to see any of these powerful men hurt, and refused to believe he was dead. She sat upright and searched for Jace but didn’t see him. She did see Rhys. “Rhys,” she called out, “help Thane!” He drew his hand back and let lose one of the small knives. Silver glinted in the red moonlight before the blade sunk into skirm flesh.

“He has to get up,” Jessie breathed against her ear. “Come on, Thane.” Cailyn reached back and briefly squeezed her thigh.

Scanning for Jace again, she finally saw his distinct braid. He was a beautiful and ferocious sight. Her chest swelled with pride as she watched him. She lost sight of him as Angus increased his height to avoid the trees.

When they came back around, she noted that they were making a dent in the demons. Angus had continued his low swoops to either breathe fire on or eat the combatants. She was relieved to see that Zander had reached Elsie and Kyran’s side. Kyran was limping, but still fighting. In fact, the three of them had formed a triangle and stood shoulder to shoulder. Elsie was a better fighter than Cailyn had thought, and had taken out her share of enemies. The sword her sister wielded looked far too big for her petite body, but she swung it with ease.

For the first time, she thought they could win this until a loud shriek pierced her ears.

The world pitched end over end for several terrifying moments and suddenly, Cailyn was momentarily transported back in time to the car accident when she heard Jessie scream. Strong hands grabbed her and pulled her into a warm body before she found herself flying through the air. She remembered the Fae, and how he had yanked her from the wreckage. Thank God this time it was Jessie that had grabbed her, catapulting them off the dragon. They landed roughly in a tangle of limbs, snapping her out of the memory. Even though Jessie had shielded her from the worst of the fall, Cailyn hurt all over.

Cailyn looked up and saw Angus hit the ground, taking out several skirm and plowing a furrow several yards long. Dirt flew and rained over them as they hurried to his side. Her left side hurt the most, but she didn’t think anything was broken. She had lost her weapon in the shuffle and scooped up a random blade she saw as she approached the downed dragon. “Are you ok?” she asked the dragon.

The large creature blinked his eyes open and spoke in her mind.
“I will live, unlike the two demons who dared claw my wings. Get doon, lass.”
She ducked as his paw pulled her safely under his belly, along with Jessie, before a searing heat left his throat. The flames engulfed the skirm approaching them.

“You ok, Jess?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Yeah. Did you see Jace before we went down?”

“No. You stay here, I can help them take out the rest of these guys and I’ll look for him.”

Before Cailyn could respond Jessie had taken off and was scooping up a new weapon. Cailyn stood up, more sore than before. Adrenaline had her heart racing and her body ready for battle. She took breaths to calm herself, and looked around for her sister and Jace. Coughing, she placed her hand over her mouth when the stench of rotten meat suffocated her. These demons didn’t turn to ash when they died, and smelled far worse than a sewer.

“Stay under my flank, lass. I will protect you with my life.”

“I knew I should have stayed home. You should be helping the others not protecting…” she trailed off when Kadir and Azazel appeared at the edge of the clearing. She would never forget the large, ugly demon. While Azazel looked like a beautiful male model, Kadir was a seven foot monster. He had gray skin and horns on his head. His eyes and hair were red as blood, and his black fangs were the size of small swords.

She realized that they were holding someone between them and her heart stopped when the young man turned around. She knew him, it was John! She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and she screamed a denial when she saw his glowing eyes and fangs. They had turned him into a skirm. Her world collapsed around her as she saw the wild need in his eyes to kill and consume. The confident, loyal, independent man she had known was gone and she wondered if he recognized her.

Her heart ached for the man she had loved. It didn’t matter that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with him, he deserved better than the fate he now faced. Maybe there was a way to save him. Could they come up with a cure for John with the new information the realm scientists had gathered from studying Jessie’s envenomation? She was determined to keep him alive so they had the chance to find out.

As she looked around she had no idea where her best friend was. Jessie had disappeared in the midst of the battle and all she could heard was yelling and cursing and the clashing of metal. Her sister was fighting back to back with Zander and they were surrounded. Jace was MIA and she was close to losing her shit. If anything happened to those she loved, she would be left with nothing. There had to be something she could do.

*****

Jace heard Angus go down and began running toward the bloom of dust. Panic had him cutting through everything in his path. He had heard Zander curse when the dragon first flew overhead and had looked up to see his mate riding on the back of the dragon. Jace’s heart had stopped when he knew she had gone down along with Angus and she was so close to danger. He tried with all his might to send a message to Angus that the bastard had better keep his mate safe.

A large hellhound stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. Jace slashed out and stepped into the demon, but it repeatedly sidestepped out of the way. After several minutes of dodging blows, Jace roared his rage and rushed the hellhound, taking it to the ground. The dog got in a couple swipes and flayed Jace’s side. His worry and anger blocked the pain and Jace put all of his effort behind his swing, finally removing the demon’s head.

Panting, he jumped to his feet and searched for Angus and Cailyn, trusting the dragon would keep her close. At the edge of the clearing, he caught sight of Kadir and Azazel with several skirm, surrounding Breslin. The feisty Vampire Princess looked tired and wasn’t producing any of her fire. He had to help her and rushed toward her, still searching for his mate.

He saw Cailyn safe by Angus’ side and continued to Breslin. He hoped she stayed by Angus, Breslin needed him. He swiped up a fallen claymore as he ran.

“Breslin,” Jace called out as he got close, “here! Take this!” He tossed the sword to her and she reached out, catching it without stopping her attack. Jace liberated three skirm of their heads with one swing of his sword.

“Thanks, Jace. These arseholes have been bragging aboot setting this up and getting us to leave Zeum unattended,” Breslin gritted out as she blocked blows. “Och, and they claim that skirm is going to take down Elsie’s sister, and thus, Elsie.”

Jace’s head swung to the skirm Breslin had pointed to and noticed he had started to walk away from their group. Jace ignored the taunts Breslin and the archdemons were exchanging and really looked at the guy. There was no way Jace would allow this guy within inches of Cailyn, but what made the archdemons put so much faith in this particular skirm evaded him. He wasn’t anything special, and certainly wasn’t stronger than the Dark Warriors.

The male picked up his pace, and the closer he got the Cailyn and Angus, the more panicked Jace became. He didn’t want to leave Breslin alone with the archdemons, but he had to get to Cailyn. He glanced back and was happy to see that Zander and Elsie had fought their way to Breslin’s side, and between the three, they had the archdemons and their skirm in hand.

Jace turned around and leapt forward, grabbing the skirm’s shoulder before he made it two more feet. He tackled him to the ground and scrambled to find the claymore he had dropped in his efforts. The male flipped over and snarled in Jace’s face. “Let me go, sorcerer. That’s right, I know who you are. I was told about the sorcerer with the braid who stole my girl from me.”

Shocked, Jace crab-crawled backwards and took in the male. This had to be Cailyn’s fiancé, John. Several things hit Jace at once. Cailyn was going to be heartbroken over John’s envenomation. This was going to devastate her, and she was undoubtedly going to blame herself for his turning. She felt it was her responsibility to take care of those she loved and would see this as her failure. He also knew without doubt that she would want to seek a way to save him. The way she had fought for Jessie had made him proud of her, but now he cursed how vehemently she fought for what she believed in. There was no saving male skirm. The centuries of study by realm scientists hadn’t even garnered enough information to develop a treatment for their venom.

John lunged at Jace with knives in both his hands. Jace knocked him back and jumped to his feet, snatching one of the blades. He dodged John’s next blow, reluctant to cause the male any harm. “You will never have her. Kadir has promised to turn her and give her to me,” John spat.

Jace was surprised at the amount of reasoning John had for a skirm. Of course, it was a ploy. If Cailyn saw a piece of John’s personality, she would trust him. She would believe there was a way to save him, and wouldn’t allow one of the other warriors to kill him either. Jace’s gut clenched at the thought of the hopelessness of the situation. John needed to die, there was no saving him, and Jace was the one who stood between him reaching Cailyn.

Jace stabbed out, catching John’s arm. The black blood flowed to the grass where it sizzled and popped. They circled one another and John tried to catch Jace. Jace danced back a few steps with John following him. Jace had an opening when John stumbled, but Jace hesitated to deliver the killing blow.

Cailyn would never forgive him if he killed John. Jace had no doubt that the demon had made false promises and would kill Cailyn after he used her to capture Elsie. That could never happen, John needed to die. What stopped Jace was the fact that Cailyn would never be able to look at him without seeing a cold-blooded killer. He wanted to win her heart, not her wrath. How could he kill the male his mate loved?

John slashed Jace’s arm and Jace responded by slicing John’s cheek. At that moment, he heard Cailyn cry out John’s name and he swung his head around, making eye contact with her.

The distraction was all John needed to sink a blade into Jace’s back. He felt the titanium nick his heart and cursed before jumping away. Jace fought hard as they scuffled and felt the blood pour down his back. His power waning and John now had the advantage with his strength leaking with every beat of his heart. Jace didn’t have the time needed to heal. John swiped up a sword from the ground and Jace’s heart sank when he realized he was done for. Normally, beheading an immortal was difficult, but right now it would be easy for John to end Jace’s life. He had no more power than a human male while John had the strength of a demon coursing through his veins. He may have lived for over seven hundred years, but wasn’t ready to die. His life had just begun.

He looked back to Cailyn and saw the tears flowing from her eyes. “I love you,” he whispered.

*****

Cailyn watched in horror as John drove a knife into Jace’s chest. As she had watched them fight while she made her way to their side, she noticed how John was more agile than she had ever seen him.

John hadn’t hesitated in injuring Jace, but she saw Jace holding back. Jace typically fought with vigor and confidence and she hadn’t once seen him pause. Through her connection to Jace, Cailyn felt his debate and knew he didn’t want to kill John because of her.

She foolishly had held onto the idea of a man whom was safe and comfortable. She wasn’t at risk of losing her heart or anything else if she stayed with John. If she lost him, she would move on and be fine, but if she ever lost Jace, her life would be over. To acknowledge that she loved him would be giving up everything to him. He owned every last cell in her body and would literally change them when they mated. He wanted centuries together. She’d known this the entire time and had been afraid of opening herself up. She had been a fool. Now, she wanted to run into his arms, proclaim her love for him, and accept his mating claim.

Jace whispered that he loved her and she saw the acceptance of his death in his eyes, sparking anger in Cailyn that roared from her mouth. She ran as Jace’s knees gave out and he toppled to the ground, his eyes never leaving her.

She looked away from Jace when she saw John’s arm rise. The glint of silver from John’s sword sent her heart racing with determination to save her mate. Putting all her love for Jace into her legs, she flew across the space, and without hesitation, she plunged the knife she was holding into John’s chest. She must have missed his heart because he snarled at her, revealing bloody fangs. She didn’t have time to stop and think, he was going to kill her and Jace, so she pulled the blade from his chest and shoved it back in.

She had loved this man, and had wanted to give him a chance at a cure, but she wasn’t willing to sacrifice Jace for it. Pouring all her anger at the demons into her force, she shoved the blade deeper. She cried out and snatched her hand back as flames flashed and John turned to ash. He remained an eerie ash statue for a timeless moment, and the look of betrayal would forever be etched in her mind.

“Jace,” she cried out as she sank to her knees by his side.

“
Shijéí
,” Jace murmured.

She grabbed his hand and brought it to her chest, looking into stunning amethyst eyes that never failed to captivate her. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck, careful of his wounds. His warm, masculine scent soothed her, and the steady beat of his heart reassured her that he was going to live. She clung to him for several long moments as she let the tears flow. He cooed words in her ear and kissed the top of her head. Her heart broke as the enormity of the situation hit home.

She had killed John.

*****

Mackendra slunk through the back alleys and ducked behind a greasy dumpster to hide from the vampire she was following. Last week, she had been on patrol with Stitch, when they heard the vampires talking about kidnapping women. Since then, every SOVA member had been trying to discover more information about vampire activities while they researched missing persons’ reports. They had increased nightly patrols, but unfortunately, they revealed nothing. There hadn’t been one vampire sighting, and everyone was burnt out.