Release (The Protector Book 3) (45 page)

Crouching on one knee, surprise littered his face. A deep growl flowed from his throat as he pulled the dagger out and threw it back towards me.

The world slowed for only a moment, and I snatched the rotating blade from the air, never breaking eye contact with him.

I stalked forward, heat washing over my face. He stumbled back, crawling on his hands and knees. His eyes were scared as he saw the fire light up my eyes. Like discolored night vision, everything became a bright shade of red.

Arian growled and the fear on his face disappeared as he called his beast. His eyes became black and his bones crunched. I could see them sliding in and out of place beneath his skin, and I ran forward in hopes I could beat the shift, but I wasn’t fast enough.

His body morphed, and a snake’s tail slammed into the side of me, knocking me to the ground. To dodge his next strike, I rolled across the grass, dry leaves scattering beneath my weight.

Two long white fangs struck out but landed deep in the earth. Arian’s massive green body coiled as he tried to pull his snout up.

My body protested as I jumped to my feet and blood ran down my spine. I cursed under my breath and lunged forward, thrusting my blade into his skull. It slid into the scaly flesh just as his fangs broke free of the ground. His head smashed into me and sent me flying through the air.

I fell into the swings, and my legs tangled up in the chains. I writhed in the cold steel, and the swing unwound itself slowly, forcing me to wait out its release.

Arian’s body snapped and clear fluid burst into the air as he took on the form of a wolf. He howled in the air, and his voice echoed through the moonless sky.

A few seconds of silence passed and another howl came, but this time it wasn’t from him.

My body hit the ground with a
thud
as the swing finished its final rotation. Sand stuck to my face and hands, and I pushed myself up, searching for my daggers.

Branches snapped and more wolves stepped out of the forest, although they were not shifters—Arian had called real wolves to his side. As they stepped up beside him, his energy changed, and so did the wolves’ fur coats.

Each wolf changed color—the gray, white, red, and brown that made them each unique became a solid black. They stood in a line, lips bared and snarling. Arian’s body shifted and shrunk to their size, and as the wolves paced the ground in front of me, he became lost in the crowd.

Growls rumbled and a deep
boom
echoed as Tiki banged against his stone prison. The wind picked up, sending leaves scattering, and the air was thick with moisture.

Thunder grumbled in the gray skies above me and I scanned the ground for my daggers. I was empty handed now and nearly a dozen wolves were creeping towards me. Magic was my last option.

I climbed onto the playground’s platform, taking refuge along the swinging bridge. I tried to buy myself more time, but the wolves were circling. Wolves climbed to the platforms on either side of me while the others waited below.

I searched their eyes, trying to figure out which wolf was Arian, but just as it was with their fur, they all looked the same.

Two wolves lowered themselves, skulking towards me with bared and jagged teeth.

As I was preparing to jump from the bridge, one of them lunged towards me, but a
bang
echoed through the sky and the wolf went limp in mid-air.

The entire pack turned towards the sound and a group of people stalked forward like a small army. Dozens of men and women moved in the darkness, and as they came closer, I saw Eric leading the group.

He dropped two more shells into his gun and snapped his wrist, locking the barrel of the shotgun into place. “Silver bullets, baby. Werewolf or not, they don’t survive that.”

The pack broke into a run and lashed out at the group. Fire and water burst through the air as their elements came to life. An assault of rocks cracked off the wolves’ skulls and yelps carried on the wind. This was the largest group of hunters I’d seen since my days at the Circle, and they fought like a well-oiled machine.

The walls to Tiki’s prison shattered and gigantic claws swung through the air, crumbling the elemental jail around Willy and Rayna. A wolf howled as they all broke free and magic vibrated in the air. My friends jumped out of the cages I’d built around them and entered the battle, attacking the arriving hunters.

Lashing out at any hunter within their reach, all the wolves fought relentlessly, with the exception of one. The howling wolf stayed at the edge of the battle, its head low to the ground.

I jumped off the platform and rushed towards it. My movement caught its eye and it attacked. Pushing forward, I lowered myself and with a hunter’s strength I caught the wolf by the throat and drove his body into the ground.

He yelped and my grip broke as his body morphed, revealing it was Arian. I stepped back as hard, black scales broke through his furry shell. His tail grew long and thick, a natural arc forming above his head. Legs shot from his sides and massive pinchers burst from his shoulders. A black scorpion that was nearly the size of a small car rushed towards me.

I rolled to the side as Arian’s tail poisoned the earth. His pinchers snapped at the air and his eight legs scurried across the sandy terrain. Hairs covered his face and part of his claws, and if my life hadn’t been on the line, I’d have been terrified.

A whistle sounded and Eric tossed one of my daggers through the air. The silver glinted with each rotation and skidded along the sand at my feet. Eric nodded towards me and turned back to the fight.

Fire lit up the park and the ground shook as more hunters channeled their elements. I scooped up the blade and bent my legs, ready to attack.

The poisonous tip of his tail came at me again and I sidestepped, dodging his attack and cutting into his tail with my blade. Arian hissed as red fluid ran down his scaly tail, and he lashed out with his claws. Massive black pinchers wrapped around my leg and split the skin. I screamed as the claws pressed harder, waiting for my leg to snap.

I twisted around and turned the blade in my hand, driving it just beneath where the protective shell ended and the scorpion’s face began. Smoke poured from his eyes as blood flooded the sand beneath him. I pulled the dagger out and drove it in again. Arian’s tail lashed out in retaliation. The spike on the end hung loosely as blood splattered everywhere.

His magic swelled and his body shifted, leaving a naked Arian curled up on the ground. His left eye was gone, split into pieces and pushed back in its socket. His other eye looked up at me and his lips trembled.

“Spare me, please,” he gasped. “I will disappear from this world, and you will be rid of me forever.”

Anger coiled deep in my soul and I shook my head. “You chose to leave your pack once before, and even after that shame, you returned. You’ll never stop.”

“I beg you… this curse your father has put upon me, it has infected my brain!”

“Don’t waste your breath. Before all this, you relished every opportunity to torture your own people.”

Arian’s one eye opened wide with shock.

“Yeah, I know about your past, Arian. How you mutilated your own family and tore their beasts out for pleasure.” As I hovered over him, my knuckles popped from squeezing the dagger so tightly. “You were evil long before Riley, and there’s no place for it in this world, or any other.”

I thrust the dagger down into his throat and Arian screamed. I pushed until the sound turned to a deep warbling, and finally there was nothing. Arian’s head rocked from side to side, separated from his body.

Orange light burst from his eyes, spreading over his flesh as his body consumed itself in flames. His skin flaked and peeled back, lighting up the night as he turned to ash.

As the last few embers extinguished themselves, his magic broke. The few remaining wolves howled, fleeing into the forest behind the park, and the hunters turned to the only demons left.

“Wait!” I stood in front of Tiki, Rayna, and Willy. Blood coated their fur coats, and Tiki had been stabbed in multiple places. “Eric, these are
our
people.”

“They ain’t my people,” he said. “And they attacked us, not the other way around.”

“It was Arian who did this. His magic made them fight. They didn’t do it by choice.”

Bones popped and shifted behind me. I turned to see Rayna and Willy lying hurt and naked on the ground. Tiki’s demon retreated, leaving only fragments of his white pants to cover his groin. Punctures in his side were dripping blood and he fell to one knee.

“Rayna?” Eric asked, both shock and disgust thick in his voice.

“Eric, please,” Rayna said, covering herself with her arms.

Eric turned his eyes away and fidgeted with his shotgun.

I pulled the shirt over my head and moved towards Rayna to cover her body.

“Bloody hell!” Eric shouted, shooting his shotgun off. “I damn near shot you, girl.”

Rayna stretched the shirt down as far as it would go, and black and red strands of hair hung in front of her face. “Hi…” she said.

Eric shook his head. “You four get your asses back to the warehouse. Marcus should be there soon and we need to regroup. If we’re diving head first into hell, everyone needs to get their crap together.” Eric cursed again and pushed past us, each of his hunters falling in line behind him.

As Rayna tried to walk, a deep gash on her leg caused her to wince and limp. Willy’s back was covered in red blisters and burns, and Tiki’s hands were cupped over his wounds.

I searched the ground until I found my second dagger lying just outside the sandy border of the playground. I sighed, looking at the pile of ash that was now Arian. We’d won the battle, but the war was at our doorstep. We’d already paid too much to be rid of just one enemy.

One thing was clear: whatever Arian knew about the Protector, I needed to know. If there was a way to stop my magic from tearing me apart, that was the key to stopping Riley. That was the key we needed to find.

Chapter 34

Our trip to Vortan was postponed a few days. We were already splitting our numbers by going in two groups. It wouldn’t make sense to go with even fewer people, or worse, take the injured with us.

I’d never seen Tiki hurt, but I was amazed at his ability to heal. Within twenty-four hours his wounds had closed, leaving only a small pink scar that he claimed would be gone in another day. Rayna and Willy took a few days longer, but after some rest and another shift, they were ready.

Marcus wasn’t kidding when he said he hadn’t given up his search for Eric, and it had saved our lives. While Marcus and Chief had been at the Hollowlight’s camp getting supplies, Marcus had finally managed to reach him. Eric and the hunters had gone underground when Riley attacked and had only recently reemerged. Lucky for us, Marcus had received one of Grayson’s voicemails, and managed to get in touch with Eric.

I didn’t like Eric’s methods or his attitude—the guy gave me the creeps—but he’d saved my life and I was thankful for that. Without his arrival, there had been no chance all of us would have survived.

After a long talk, Marcus and Eric worked out their issues. Eric wasn’t happy about fighting alongside demons, but now he’d seen firsthand what Riley could do. After losing many of his hunters and being forced to go into hiding, he approached the idea of working with demons with a bit more tact.

I still wasn’t happy about the idea of dividing everyone up, but the other leaders seemed to think it was the smartest idea, even Eric. Part of me felt like too many people were trying to lead all at once, but it hadn’t caused any problems yet, so I tried not to make a fuss. That, and when I had objected again, I’d been shot down before I could state my point.

Everyone gathered in the clearing just outside of Stonewall. I couldn’t feel Elyas’s presence and I missed it. I had tried calling her forward like I was supposed to be able to do, but I had yet to succeed. So far she had only ever spoken to me on her terms, and I needed to figure out why.

Grayson stood in the field with his head down and his arms stretched out. He was Dunopai, and rather than waste Tiki’s and the witches’ energy, he would open the stone archway for both groups. When his magic began to swirl in front of us, small prickles tingled over my skin like my entire body had fallen asleep. The air rippled and our reality faded, blurring in the background as a stone archway appeared.

He repeated this task a second time and created another arch beside it—one that was slightly smaller and covered in vines and moss.

Multiple glyphs in the Dunopai language were chiseled into the stone of each arch. Grayson stepped back and read the words and a yellow light illuminated both his hands.

The inside of the archway became misty. Steam poured from between the stones and the archway slowly turned into a mirrored surface. Each portal now reflected the groups in front of it, magic glimmering back at us.

I took a deep breath and went first, reaching toward the reflective surface. When I touched it, the portal shimmered against my fingers and small ripples moved outward toward the stone. I took another breath and stepped through.

A wash of heat engulfed my body as I stepped into a lightless corridor. Rai gripped my shoulder and magic nipped at my back. I walked faster, rushing towards an emerging blue light.