Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) (36 page)

Lexy snickered at Kayn’s cocky behavior as she left her counterpart there in the midst of the mayhem, knowing now, that she was more than capable of covering the back of the cabin.

Lexy tore through the bushes slaying everyone she came across in a blur of whipping branches, she then sprinted through the woods in pursuit of the demons that had attempted to escape. The Dragon within her ended each and every demonic entity that she came across before they’d even had a chance to make it out of the bushes and into the open area in front of the cabin. Lexy had lost the ability for reason long before she emerged from the woods covered in the blood of her enemies. The demons in front of the cabin were ready for her as she savaged a brutal path of destruction through the herd of demonic violations of the immortal code, slashing and stabbing, slicing and dicing each one until nothing remained of her but the instinct for the kill. She’d lost count of the amount of times she felt their blades slice into her skin and stab her flesh. Her palm kept flashing and her torso was nothing but the surging fire of her healing energy, as it fought to keep her standing by working overtime. A blade sliced into her stomach and then another plunged into her back, and it was close enough to her heart to cause her some serious discomfort. Lexy was now mortally wounded, yet that had never stopped her before, she continued to take out her assailants one by one with each masterful swift swiping motion of her blade. They were coming at her faster than she could manage to execute them yet she continued to brawl with her adversaries, hurling each one aside with her superhuman strength in an attempt to distract them from adjusting the knife.
If she could somehow reach the one in her back, she might still have a chance to finish this
…She had to keep them occupied long enough for her to make an attempt to reach for the blade without any of them noticing the dicey situation she’d found herself in. If any of her attackers so much as touched the knifes sticking out of her back, she’d be down for the count. Lexy unceremoniously yanked the blade out of her stomach and the wound immediately began to heal.
Focus…she had to focus and take as many out as she could before she went down.
She let out an ear-piercing battle cry as a distraction, and with both blades now in one hand, Lexy reached for the blade that had shifted around with her continuous movement and become even more detrimental to her health.
There was no way she was going to be able to reach it. The wound wouldn’t even begin to heal until she got it out… Shit.
Lexy reeled around while wielding the blades and rotating her body, so none of her attackers would be able to make the necessary adjustments to the knife in her back. Adrenaline surged through her being as she pivoted again.
She couldn’t think. She was in quite the predicament.
Lexy staggered and the group around her stepped back.
She was finding it difficult to breathe…she couldn’t breathe.
The fighting ceased for a second and from what could only be explained as the end of a tunnel she heard the echo of Grey’s voice.
He was calling her name. Lexy…Lexy. Don’t make me come out there to pull that out… Lexy!
She was dizzy from blood loss but the sound of her Handler’s voice pulled her back from the edge of the abyss and gave a surge of strength created by the sheer will to protect the one thing she truly loved.
You can’t let him come out here. He can’t heal.
She tried to grab the blade from another angle and managed to yank it out just as the hoard started to come at her again. Lexy spun around in a circular motion while booting the cannibalistic creatures in their mortal skin suits away from her. She swung at them and each time she lacerated one with her weapon a cloud of gray smoke signified the destruction of their demonic being as they disintegrated into the ground. She held on to the visual of Grey’s smiling face as she carved up each and every one of the demons that accosted her.
Protect him. Fight for him.
They just kept coming out of the bushes as quickly as she could destroy them. Lexy remained in the middle of the hoard slicing at them until one of their blades hit its mark as it plunged into her stomach. Lexy gasped, more annoyed than anything as she recoiled from the direct hit and then with a surge of fury she launched her assailant through the air and into the crowd, yanked the weapon from her gut and tossed it aside.
That dirty rotten son of a…
She’d no sooner disposed of that momentary irritation when another blade sunk into her back. She flipped the being over her shoulder, while twirling around at the same time and with all of her strength she took down half a dozen by using the body of one of their own as a weapon. She sputtered up some of her own blood and licked it from the corner of her mouth.
Now, she was pissed off!
Lexy let out a primal scream, intimidating a few while giving her an extra second to boot the others away from her. It was then that she sensed the other Dragon in the midst of the action. Lexy didn’t have to see her to know that she was there. She had back up, and the chaos caused by the addition of the second Dragon gave her sufficient time to heal. Lexy was able to keep her footing as the demonic swarm of cannibalistic beings, closed in around her. She slashed at them and fought with everything she had as they dropped to the ground around her followed by the trail of smoke. With two of them fighting it started to feel like they were making a bit of headway as they dropped to the ground from both the inside and the outside of the herd. Another surge of demons burst out of the bushes and they took them out, one by one. The next hour was a haze of blood spray and smoke until two Dragons were the only beings left standing.

The front door of the cabin opened and Frost came out talking. She noticed Kayn, in the fetal position on the ground and then she saw Grey. He smiled at her as her vision wavered and everything went black as she crumpled to the ground and her world was lost in the darkness.

Lexy awoke to the overpowering scent of bleach. It only took her a moment to know that she was safe and in Grey’s arms. He was playing with her hair, it felt nice and she didn’t want him to stop so she didn’t open her eyes.

He tenderly touched her nose and whispered, “I know you’re awake.”

She smiled.
He’d totally caught her.
Lexy opened her eyes and quietly responded, “I love it when you do that to my hair. I just didn’t want you to stop.”

He kept gently running his fingers down the long crimson strands of her hair as he questioned, “You heard me calling your name didn’t you?”

“Always,” she whispered as she gazed into his eyes, knowing their devotion for each other would never end.

Emotion flickered across his expression as he explained, “I was going insane. They had to hold me down when you had that knife that you couldn’t reach stuck in your back.”

“I would have been absolutely furious with you if you’d come out there in the middle of that insanity,” Lexy whispered as she touched his cheek. She stared into his hypnotizing eyes as she fought against the familiar urge to kiss his lips, she was forced to look away. Lexy got up and shimmied away from him on the bed; with her back flush against the wooden head board she noticed that he’d bathed her.
Of, course he had
.
He would always take care of her and she would always move heaven and earth to protect him.
Greydon leaned back against the headboard right next to her, took her hand in his and began to play with her fingers. She closed her eyes as her heart fought to regain its senses. Always the Handler, Grey raised their interlaced fingers to his lips, Lexy’s heart swelled as her emotional tether to him gave her peace.

He suggested, “Do you want to go outside and see the bodies?”

He knew her so well. She totally did.

Zach cleared his throat and they both looked at him.

Yes, there were still other people in the room. Sometimes, in those first moments after he’d brought her back to the land of sanity it could be rather difficult to see anyone else in the room but him.

Zach whispered, “Kayn’s having a horrible nightmare and she’s not waking up. What should I do? I feel like I should be doing something.”

She really wanted to see the bodies.
Lexy sighed, “I think I know what this is about.” Lexy sat down on the edge of the bed, noting that Kayn was already healed. She felt her forehead.
Miss Brighton was burning up.
Lexy sighed, now certain of the cause.
She’d fed from a demon’s energy, presumably to heal herself during the fight. It was a newbie Healer mistake, because even though her assailants had been physically mortal, spiritually they were not
.

Lexy laid her hands flush with Kayn’s skin, unsure of whether or not giving her a jump start with her energy would be enough to counteract the dark essence she’d ingested. She’d released only a small amount of energy when Lexy felt Kayn’s Conduit ability beginning to siphon the power out of her. She ordered, “That’s enough, Kayn! You’re taking too much!” Lexy yanked her hands away and stood up, barely able to keep her balance.

Kayn groggily whispered, “What happened? Did I hurt you?”

Lexy sat back down on the edge of the bed and questioned, “You absorbed some of that dark energy last night, didn’t you? That can send you on one hell of a disturbing trip.”
She was dizzy. Kayn had taken way too much from her.

Grey noticed her distress, wandered over, and sat down beside her on the bed. He offered, “Here, take some from me.”

Lexy smiled at her Handler as she took his hands so she could top up the energy she’d lost by helping Kayn heal from her demonically induced hangover. She was distracted as her eyes were drawn to the budding Dragon, Handler relationship and when she snapped back to reality she realized what she was doing to her own. She let go of Grey’s hands, and he fell off of the bed into a crumpled heap on the floor. “Whoops,” she chuckled. “Am I bad? I gave you shit and then took too much myself. I’ll deal with him in a second. Can you chuck him up on the other bed Frost?”

Frost grinned and sighed, “I’ve got him.” He dragged him towards the other bed. Lily helped by grabbing Grey’s legs and they tossed his limp body onto the bed.

After a brief discussion with Kayn about her abilities, she healed Grey, and after apologizing her butt off for over feeding, she finally got a chance to see the piles of bodies they’d created the night before. It was a rather impressive sight. After a speech about how they were going to go about searching the town they left the site of the mayhem they’d been a part of the night before and began to search the town for any demons they’d missed. The diner had been just as messed up as she’d suspected it would be with a freezer full of hanging frozen mortal-sicles. They found the odd freezer full of tourists as they searched the residences but no live ones.

Last on the Ankh’s to do list was a thorough search of the school. They made their way as a group, down the dimly lit hall, methodically searching each classroom they passed. The walls of the long hall were adorned with pictures the children had drawn. Kayn reached up and touched one of the pictures. She appeared to be entranced by the simplistically wistful art. Lexy couldn’t allow herself to think about it because she knew how these situations worked; they’d probably eaten the children first. Their mortal shells wouldn’t have been a desirable location for a demon to take up residence. Against her better judgment Lexy allowed her eyes to drift towards the snapshot of the child that created the picture.
Mary was five years old. She liked the movie Frozen and her favorite food was spaghetti
. Lexy looked away, as she teared up. The little girl in the picture looked like her Charlotte. For many years she’d searched for Charlotte in the smile of every child she’d come across, hoping to see the reincarnated version of her, happy, healthy and well. Eventually she’d given up and carried on through her afterlife with the notion that it was for the best if she never found her. She probably had children by now and a wonderful life that had nothing to do with the insanity of all of this. Her eyes followed Kayn as she wandered away from the group towards the end of the hallway.
If there were bodies to be found she’d rather it not be Kayn that found them.
Lexy did her best to ignore the fact that almost all of the children had missing front teeth as she tried to catch up with Kayn but as she neared the end of the hall they became even younger.
There must have been a pre-school class here
. These pictures on the wall in front of this last classroom were all no more than toddlers. Kayn hesitated before opening the final door and glanced back at her. Lexy nodded and they both tried the door…together.
It was locked
. Something flickered in her soul. Lexy could sense the living breathing energy on the other side.
Someone was alive in there.
Kayn was obviously sensing the same thing as she laid her ear flush against the door. Kayn was smiling as she pulled away.
She’d heard something.
They both shoved on the door at the same time, breaking the lock, and it swung open. They heard the sound of tiny feet scurrying around in the dark. Lexy felt around on the wall until she found the switch, and flicked on the light. On one side of the room, three toddlers cowered in the corner. There was a yellow aura around the babies and Lexy’s jaw dropped.
What was this? How were they here?
She looked at Kayn and whispered, “Do you know what that aura means?”

“I thought the yellow haze was around the newly claimed?” Kayn whispered.

Lexy responded, “It is. The glow usually means they’ve been corrected and survived. I’ll need to check to see if they’ve been marked. I think someone is trying to break the rules.” Lexy knelt down on the ground and whispered, “Little ones. We’ve come to take you home.”

The three toddlers hesitantly came out of the corner and shyly moved towards where Lexy was kneeling on the floor.

Kayn said, “I have an idea.” She slowly stood up so she wouldn’t upset the little ones, stuck her head out of the door and called for Frost and waved him towards the room.

What was she up to?

Frost appeared in the doorway with a fluffy kitten and he placed it in Kayn’s arms. She walked back into the room, knelt down looked directly at the little boy that had ventured closest and whispered, “Look who I have here.” The child’s face exploded into an enormous grin and he ran towards her. She placed the kitten gently in his arms, and whispered, “Is this your kitty?” The little boy nodded and cuddled it against him. She knew the toddlers name. “Matty?” she whispered. “Is that you?”