rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (26 page)

That was about all I had to keep myself going; knowing for the moment, they were alive and as well as they could be while in Orion’s “care.”

As the sun climbed in the east, we neared my old farm. Or what was left of it.

Rylee, I have to ask. How do you know this is the place the final battle is to happen? Even your father never figured that out. Even Jack wasn’t sure, I think.

“The books of prophecy, or one in particular, I should say.” I frowned into the bright sunlight. “The book of the Blood of the Lost was very straightforward, there was no double entendre to the words. It said, ‘The Blood of the Lost shall be spilled on the steps of her home, and therein will the world see not all is forsaken, but as it should be.’”

But your home, it could be anywhere you’ve lived, couldn’t it?

“Not in this case.” We flew over the farm in a big sweep, the cornfields bending under the downdraft of her wings. “Stay up for a minute. What do you see where the house burnt down?”

Ophelia back winged, and tread the air with ease.
The remnants of your home, the charred out timbers.

“And under that?”

She strained her neck forward and then shook herself.
A ceremonial slab. That is where your blood will be spilt.

I nodded, a sense of relief flowing through me. “So you see, this is the right place. I think I knew it all along, which is why I was drawn to it. Why so many fights happened right here. This land . . . I’ve been fighting for it all along.” And the loss of my home made sense now. Without being burned to ash, we’d have had a bitch of a time getting to the slab.

Ophelia spiraled to the ground, landing beside the barn.

I will clear the rest of the timbers so the pathway is clear. How soon before the ceremony starts?

“That will depend, I guess.” I slid from her back and dropped to my feet. “There is more than one factor involved here.”

The barn door creaked open and I was relieved Doran stepped out. He swept me into a hug, holding me tightly. “We’ll get her back, don’t doubt it for an instant. That girl has too much ahead of her to have it any other way.”

I squeezed him as hard as I could. “I want to believe that.”

A loud racket of wood cracking turned us both to where Ophelia was tearing the remains of the farmhouse down and away from the ceremonial slab with no little amount of glee on her face. “Dragons and their love of demolition. Never gets old for them,” I said.

Doran gave me another squeeze. “I’m going to set things up for you. To a fucking T as per your paperwork you sent.” He let go of my arms and pulled from his back pocket a tattered piece of paper with my handwriting on one side. It was only then I noticed the braided rope looped around his neck and over his shoulders. Unicorn hair. I stroked a hand down it.

“Let’s hope it holds. The book of the Blood of the Lost said it would,” I whispered.

“Believe it, Rylee. You can do this. Now go and get the job done.”

His words helped me center myself. The long road was almost finished; a little further and everyone would be safe.

Will stuck his head out of the barn. “Rylee, I’m sorry, but the crazy boy wants to talk to you.”

“Factor number one in dealing with this shit,” I muttered under my breath.

Lark said Jonathan was a key in deciding my fate. But I’d heard those words before about other people. Alex was also supposed to be a key in the final battle. So was Pamela, and of course Lark. Hell, Liam wasn’t even supposed to be at the battle, though I supposed since his physical body wasn’t there that was perhaps still holding true.

But since none of them were here, I was about to see how big a factor Jonathan was going to play. Trusting Lark was easy and she said he was important.

That was good enough for me. I walked into the barn, the sunrays coming through a couple slats, highlighting dust motes in the air. A deep breath and my lungs filled with the scent of hay and old leather. Jonathan sat up at the back of the barn with Deanna beside him.

“Jonathan, you have to help us. The world is depending on it.” She was cajoling him, holding his hand in hers. He snatched his fingers away like she’d pinched him.

“No. I have to have proper payment. That’s how this works.” His eyes met mine. “Tracker. You understand, don’t you? I can’t just help you; there has to be appropriate payment or this won’t work.”

Deanna let out a deep sigh and glanced at me before looking at him again. “Can you tell me what the payment is? Then we can get it for you.”

He shook his head violently and I wondered if that was why his eyes were all screwball. Too much head shaking for the freaky-assed kid.

“No, no, that’s not how this works. If you deserve to be Read, then you have to have the payment. You have to understand what it is I want. I can’t tell you.”

I crossed my arms, thinking about what Belladonna had said. That they’d given him money, jewels, and precious gifts in an effort to get him to write the future for certain things. The elementals had gone so far as to send beautiful women to his bed; none of which was the correct payment. At least in his mind. Which meant it would be something so out there that we likely wouldn’t be able to figure it out.

“Let me think a minute.” Fuckity, fuck, fuck. What the hell did he want? What would a boy his age want for payment?

Each minute that ticked by was one closer to facing Orion. Although it was early morning, by the time the sun set we would be battling for the world. “Fuck.” I paced through the barn. There was something in the back of my mind, from what seemed so long ago it could have been another lifetime.

My feet came to a halt in front of Jonathan as the possibility solidified in my mind. Could it be that simple? That easy? “If I get you two pieces of payment, will you Read for me two futures?”

He nodded. “Do you think you know what the payment is?”

“Believe it or not, I think I do.” I turned to leave when a hand shot out of the shadows and pulled me in. Liam.

“I really wish you’d stop leaving me behind, Rylee.” His lips were against mine as he spoke, and in the darkness I didn’t feel or see anything but him. And for a split second I was sad. Faris . . . I didn’t love him like I loved Liam. No one could ever come close to that.

But . . . he spoke to a darker part of me. A part that maybe, if I were honest with myself, even Liam didn’t quite understand. The part that could kill without remorse, and could stand in the darkness without fear. A part that perhaps liked that darkness more than the light on certain days.

I kissed him, thinking all those things as he snaked his arms around me. Our mouths and tongues tangled in a heated kiss that was bittersweet because I was about to do exactly what he’d said and leave him behind again. “I have to go.”

“I know. I’ll be here.” The words were weighted with more than their straightforward meaning. Liam would always be there for me. Of that, I had no doubt.

I stepped back and ran for the barn door. We didn’t have long, and I had to get to Bismarck for Jonathan’s payment. I went to Doran first. “You got any human cash on you?’

His green eyes widened. “What will you give me for it?”

“I already owe you a kiss? Isn’t that enough?”

He grinned at me, wide enough for his fangs to hang out. At times like this, I still wondered how he’d become the leader of the vampire nation, and I helped him do it. He pulled out a wad of hundred dollar bills. “This enough?”

I flipped through them and nodded. “Yes, thanks.”

“That kiss is coming, Rylee. I feel it in my bones,” he called after me as I ran toward Ophelia resting in the cornfield.

“My friend, we’ve got to fly a little more, can you do it?”

Even as I asked, her fatigue washed through me.

Not if you want me to fly tonight with you in the battle. I need to rest, Rylee.

Something butted me from behind. I turned to see Calliope, the young leader of the Tamoskin Unicorn Crush. She was the most unusual of colors, all white except for a black mane and tail, and black stockings up her legs; a stunning coat with a personality to match. And now a horn that was no longer a nub, but a deadly weapon two feet long.

Even though she was barely out of being a foal, she led their herd.

Her thoughts drifted over mine, not unlike the way Ophelia spoke, only much softer.
One of us could take you. We are faster than those human vehicles, even though we could not match the dragon for speed.

Looking past her, I was shocked to only see a dozen unicorns. All that were left after the pox swept through. Another piece of my heart chipped away. The unicorns were one of the few pristine spots in our world, and I loved every moment I had with them. So many were gone, and I felt their loss as keenly as if I knew them each personally.

“Thank you.” I swept a hand down her neck, the soft fur still very much that of a baby.

Tiomon, please take her. You are the swiftest of us all.

A petite bay mare trotted forward. Her black stockings rode up over her knees and her black mane and tail hung low. The golden horn jutted out of a tiny white mark on her forehead.
It would honor me.
She bent a knee, and dropped her head. An invitation to mount. I leapt onto her back and checked my weapons. Why did I think I was going to need them?

Call it a hunch.

Or maybe call it my life.

“Tiomon, are you ready?”

Her laughter sparkled through my mind.
Tracker, I am always ready. The question is, are you?

“Oh, probably not, but I’m kinda used to that.”

Again, she laughed, and I tangled my hands into her long black mane, weaving the silky strands through my fingers. Her energy flowed along my skin, and with it, the smell of hot sand and exotic wildflowers. A flash of an oasis in the desert rolled through me. Home. That was her home, so far from here, across the world, and yet she’d come.

Hang on, Tracker. We are going to fly on the back of the wind.

Tiomon leapt forward and I thought maybe she was shitting me about the wind thing.

Her hooves made no sound as she skimmed the earth. I dared a look down only to see a blur of legs and ground. “Tiomon, I need to go into the heart of the city. You sure that’s going to work?”

She flicked her head once, her horn catching the light and reflecting it around us.

Watch me, Tracker, watch me.

CHAPTER 33

RYLEE

TIOMON SKIDDED TO a stop where I directed, her hooves sparking along the pavement. What would have taken three hours to drive, she’d done in about an hour. I slid off her back, my legs trembling from gripping her sides so tightly. Sweat slicked her body, but she pranced on the spot, flipping her head up and down several times.

You are a good rider, Rylee. I think I would like to run with you again after the battle is over.
She blew a big gust of air through her nostrils as if clearing her lungs. I patted her on the hip.

“Thanks. Let’s make that a plan, Tiomon.”

She flicked her head up and down again, her mane floating through the air as her horn caught the light. All around us, humans walked, shopped and drove. And they didn’t even look our way.

There was a freaking unicorn standing in front of them and they didn’t even see her. A little girl stepped out of the shop I’d come to and looked right at Tiomon. Her blue eyes welled up and she whispered a single word, “Unicorn.”

I crouched to her and nodded. “She is that, indeed. Don’t ever forget it, kid. You’re one of the lucky few.”

The little girl reached up and Tiomon dropped her head to nuzzle her hand. I left them. I had things to do.

The shop in front of me was one I’d visited more than once.

Hannigan’s Shenanigans. A toy store extraordinaire. Swallowing hard past the memories the store brought up, I pushed the door open and stepped inside. I swept through the front part of the building, ignoring the looks I got. While Tiomon was invisible to the human world, I, with my bristling weapons, most certainly was not.