On Wicked Ground (Solsti Prophecy Book 4) (37 page)

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY

E
LEGIA
PACED
THE
ROUGH
-
HEWN
halls of her mountain lair, Razor at her heels. She mentally retraced the night’s obstacles. A magic barrier so strong it repelled her hellhound and one of her guards. Coordinates that showed different locations on different days. And security cameras…

Had to belong to someone powerful and wealthy. A crime lord? She frowned. The most wealthy and corrupt one on Torth had worked for her until a few months ago. Until he was killed by having all the water sucked out of his body by someone she hadn’t been able to find. If she could capture a creature with that kind of power… but who the hell had a spell strong enough to do that?

Water, she fumed, is in our very cells. A spell caster would have to understand basic biology, unless—

She skidded to a halt. What if it wasn’t a spell, but an individual?

No creature alive had that power. Water sprites could do a few tricks with water, but nothing lethal.

So either someone out there possessed a spell more powerful than any she’d seen, or there existed an individual more powerful than any in the realms.

She stared at the splotches of gray, white, and pink in the rock wall as if its random swirls could provide an answer. Her eyes unfocused and the colors blended together. She’d captured at least one member of every species alive. Who was left? Who could accomplish—

The rumors that had been flying around the realm burst like a firework in her mind and she sucked in a disbelieving breath.
The Solsti.

Supposedly they were back, or at least three of them. Another part of the rumor was that one was missing. The gossip circles were giddy with the idea that the legend had changed.

Women of extraordinary strength and power, who each controlled an element…

The one who controlled water could have killed her henchman.

Images from her vision flooded back to her. One woman looking for three others…
No!

A scream tore from her throat, reverberating off the walls.

Razor abruptly lay down as if submitting to her, as if he knew not to challenge her, especially not now.

“The Solsti?” Elegia shrieked, to the empty hall. Then she threw back her head and laughed. They were only four females, and she had tens of thousands of soldiers.

But wait. She fell silent, wondering at the scope of the water female’s power. Could she eliminate an army? Elegia shook her head. Her lily extract was potent enough to ensure the safety of her soldiers. After all, the man who the Solsti had killed wasn’t ingesting the potion.

Elegia’s cackle began anew. A few of her servants who’d started down the hall backed up, turned around, and hurried away. Wisely, no one approached her. The blond fae with Sebastian was a
Solsti
? “Oh, this is wonderful,” she said to her hound. “Imagine what I could accomplish with them at my fingertips.”

She sank to the floor and scratched Razor’s huge head. “But who’s harboring them, my overgrown, slobbering puppy? What do you think? You were there.”

Razor raised his eyebrows as if he hadn’t a clue.

“Let’s see,” she continued talking to him. “Let’s think back…” And suddenly, realization crystallized with stunning perfection.

The guards she had taken to Halice, to the hotel where Sebastian and the female had stayed, reported the scent of Lash demon in the room. And Boar, her henchman on Earth, had reported the house contained three females and several Lash Watchers. Add to that a location with impenetrable defenses and high-tech security?

She’d discovered Lash demon HQ.

Never mind that Boar’s mission had failed. When he hadn’t reported in, she sent another demon to investigate and found the home still standing. If Boar wasn’t already dead, she’d kill him when she saw him. And for now, she’d get to kill the Solsti herself.

“Yes!” She clutched Razor’s scruff in her fist, reveling in the serendipity of the moment. All her life’s struggles and triumphs came down to this night. She leaped to her feet and snapped her fingers for Razor to do the same.

Her lethal unit here in the mountains could be ready in an hour. “Baul!” she yelled, and in seconds he rounded a corner and bowed. Such a good lackey. He was always within shouting range.

“Contact the generals of various ranks around the realm and tell them to mobilize. They have their orders on how to proceed.”

“Yes, my queen.”

“Walk with me. We have a battle to win.” She strode to the command center.

An eerie stillness descended on the grounds as Caine lay behind the berm with Alina, Gin, and Mathias. They faced the perimeter, able to see through the barrier to the flat land beyond. The enemy couldn’t see in, and instead would see a random landscape. The warding spells even tricked approachers into thinking they were in totally different terrain, like a swamp or a mountain. Caine’s heart beat a steady rhythm, calm and focused. Battle was easy. The blonde at his side was most definitely not.

And before tonight, she had been.
They
had been. Her words threatened to invade his mind, but he compartmentalized them. He had to. Everything distilled down to now.

Every Watcher knew what to do and where to go. They were stationed inside the grounds and out, in bunkers, in trees, and some in plain sight. Ashina and Sonja were ready for any casualties that may occur. The witches were waiting in an upper floor, watching with cameras, binoculars, and good old fashioned scrying mirrors to monitor the action and throw out spells as needed.

It was go time.

He felt, rather than heard, the crackle and hum of a portal about to open. The hair on his arms stood on end at the intensity. He glanced at Mathias, who caught his eye and nodded.

“What is it?” Alina asked.

“Portals about to open. A lot of them.” Caine looked straight ahead, willing himself to think of her as an ally, a comrade, or hell, a fellow warrior. Anything but the woman who he’d fallen for.

Alina sucked in a breath as the first series of portals opened beyond the barrier. They appeared like holes in the middle of the air, some close to the ground and some as high as trees. Whoever was traveling through them simply dropped to the ground. And holy hell…every predator he knew of was falling from the skies.

Ghazsul demons, Vipers, Neshis, Serus. Deserati, dark elves and mountain elves. And not actually predators but just as dangerous—witches.

The Watchers in the perimeter trees fired a quick volley of arrows dipped in poison. Caine didn’t know the exact formula, but it had been specifically created by one of their witch staff to cause quick and catastrophic damage.

It worked…on some of the creatures. The elves fell instantly. The witches had retreated into a huddle and avoided the arrows. Arawn had anticipated this, knowing his own spell casters were similarly grouped away from the main fight. He had assigned Scorpio and two others to take care of the witches.

But the predatory species simply yanked out the arrows and rushed the trees.

“Poison’s not strong enough,” Mathias muttered.

“Poison?” Gin asked.

“On the arrows. Guess it wasn’t too effective.”

“Well, um, I can do my thing.” Gin swallowed hard. “Just let me know. I’ve had a lot of practice with hitting small targets.”

“Small targets?” Alina asked. “Those guys are huge—”

“Small as in, eyes and mouths.” Gin’s face paled, but resolve shown in her green eyes. “So gross. But I’ll do it.”

“Be nice if Nicole gets back and can toss your fire hoops around some of these bastards,” Mathias said.

Caine studied the next wave of fighters coming through portals. More of the same. And another wave came. Shit. Hundreds were on the ground and it had only been five minutes. Snarls and roars split the air. Metal clanged. The grounds were covered in Watchers and their opponents.

He slid a glance to Mathias. The Hunter was one of the most gifted Watchers alive, but things hadn’t gone as planned when he had faced off against a Deserati pumped full of lily extract. As if to illustrate his thoughts, a Lash demon near the edge of fighting closest to them was suddenly yanked upside down by his Deserati opponent’s tail.

Alina gasped. “They’re too close together for me to open a hole in the ground. I might accidentally take down one of our fighters.”

“Shit,” Gin muttered. “I need some fire, baby.”

Mathias held out his hand and produced a ball of demonfire. Warmth pulsed through the air as Gin’s power gathered. It made the hair on Caine’s arms stand up again because it was pure, raw, wild, and surreal.

He watched in amazement as the ball of fire elongated into a long tendril, then split into three. With lightning speed, Gin sent it blazing toward the Deserati. Before he’d even gotten a good look at what was coming his way, the three lines of fire shot into his eyes and mouth. He dropped, and his Lash opponent fell free.

The Lash stared in amazement at Gin, then looked back at the Deserati, whose body was smoking from the inside out. He mouthed thanks to Gin, then jumped back into the fray.

“Oh my gosh.” Alina’s words came out slow and awed. “That really was gross, but awesome.”

“Good one, Ginger.” Mathias gave her a swift kiss. “You feel okay?”

Gin swallowed hard. “Yeah. Crap, there’s another Lash in trouble.” She pointed to a Watcher engaged with a Neshi demon, who had managed to back it up and land several slicing blows. “More fire.”

Working as a perfect team, Gin and Mathias repeated the process.

“What can I do?” Alina asked. “Everyone is clustered together. I could open holes in the ground beneath each portal but Nicole and Brooke aren’t back yet. What if they come through in the middle of all that?”

Caine assessed the field. The warded barrier still held, but with every passing minute, more of the enemy popped in through portals. “There, Boots.” He pointed to a group of four Serus demons that stood, backs together, as if deciding who to attack first. “You can open a hole under them.”

“Got it.” Alina stared at the demons. Her power built in the air like static electricity.

“Now,” he said.

The earth gave a slight tremor, drawing the attention of several fighting pairs. With a crumbling, crashing sound, the ground under the Serus demons opened in a perfect circle. In a tumble of dirt and flailing limbs, they dropped.

Alina sealed up the hole immediately, heaving a huge sigh. “Okay, that worked and I didn’t cause any lasting damage, but—”

A group of Vipers who had witnessed the sinkhole looked in the direction of the barrier and roared.

Caine’s hand went to his sword. “They can’t see us—”

Abruptly, the wavy perimeter flared with an eerie white light then split open, exposing the inner yard.

Watchers stationed inside the grounds rushed to the gap. From somewhere close, Caine heard Arawn on his phone to his spell casters, bellowing at them to fix the rip. But Caine knew it wouldn’t matter. He exchanged a glance with Mathias. “If they got through it once…”

“…they’ll do it again,” the Hunter finished grimly.

Rosa walked toward her charred front door with Gunnar at her back. Nicole and Brooke followed and Kai brought up the rear, on alert for any nasty arrivals in the front yard.

They crossed the threshold and were met with a wall of black smoke. Nicole coughed and swore under her breath, then Brooke felt the telltale hum of Nicole’s power in the air. It was like a breeze, but one with purpose. It always felt like a feather-light blanket wrapping around her, swaddling her in safety. As she watched, the smoke gathered and rose, whooshing out through the holes in the roof.

“Much better,” Nicole said. “Now those of us without special demon-enhanced vision can see.”

Gunnar took a position by the door and Kai walked ahead, inspecting the rooms in the cottage.
Anything?
Brooke asked her mate.

Nothing
, he grumbled.
And that makes no sense.

She looked at Nicole and frowned. “Well, someone created that weird shockwave.” The home had the illusory effect of being much larger inside than it appeared outside, a phenomena Brooke had witnessed before with Rosa. There were a lot of doorways to explore.

“You want to check that room and I’ll check this one?” Nicole said, pointing to doors on opposite sides of a hallway.

“Sure.” Brooke ducked into the first one and found herself in a small bedroom with a stone floor. It was rather Spartan, and everything had a layer of soot, but nothing seemed amiss—

Another shock wave reverberated through the house. The fire bulbs in the room went out. Warning bells clamored in her mind. “Nicole? Kai?” she called.

A figure appeared at the door. A woman whose movements were clumsy, as if she didn’t know her way around the home. Suddenly the woman rushed toward her.

“Who are you?” Brooke tried to back up, but her feet were rooted in place.

The woman drew closer. Blond hair floated around her drawn face, and coal black eyes stared with a maniacal focus. Brooke struggled, but she was frozen. Literally. She couldn’t move her feet and no sound came from her mouth.
Kai!
she screamed in her mind.

The thing came closer, mouth open and hissing to reveal…fangs.
Oh shit. No, no no.
She’d dreamed this, and hadn’t seen the outcome.

Spindly arms shot out from the creature and her black eyes turned red. Brooke tried to summon her power, but her mind was frantic, unable to focus. The vampire drew closer, mouth open, leaning toward Brooke’s neck—

A roar split the air as the thing’s arms were wrenched behind her with a sickening pop. Kai radiated raw fury as he held the vampire, who hissed and cursed as she struggled to get free. “Elegia?” Kai yelled, and shook her.

The vampire cackled. “If my queen were here, you would not still be standing, Lash. “

Gunnar ran into the room, Nicole close behind. “Brooke!” She darted to Brooke’s side and grabbed her elbow. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”