rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (6 page)

“I’m not leaving you,” Faris snarled, a growl trickling past his lips. Berget smacked him hard, her hand leaving a sharp imprint of her fingers on his cheek, and I had to fight not to smile. I loved her even more when she put him in his place.

“Listen, dumbass. The sun is rising. You have to let her do this on her own. You have to trust that she can survive this,” she snapped.

Faris glared at my sister. “It’s a demon of the apocalypse she’s facing. This is as bad as it gets.”

Berget shook her head. “No, it’s not.
Orion
is as bad as it gets. When she faces Orion you do whatever you can then. But not now. Right now we need to survive to help her with the battle.”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the building sharing the parking lot. I watched them go, wondering if I’d see them again.

I didn’t even hug them goodbye or tell Berget that I loved her.

Stop fucking moaning and groaning. This is your life, fucking well deal with it.
Blaz’s words were a perfect echo of Jack’s; so much so, I actually looked around with my second sight to see if Jack’s spirit floated close by.

I sucked in a sharp breath and ran for Blaz. “Thanks, I needed that ass kicking.”

Yeah, the soft words weren’t doing shit. You’ve got others for that garbage.

My lips twitched as I buckled myself into his harness. He launched into the air, his wings sending litter skittering across the parking lot. I took a deep breath and tried to send the fear away. Blaz’s words helped, but I still couldn’t shake the dread that clung to my heart—not completely.

Marco waited, his big eyes seeming larger in the early morning light. He clacked his beak a few times as he tread air.

Lark looked at me. “We’re drawing his attention. Get your ass in gear and swing behind him. We don’t have a lot of time, so don’t dawdle.”

So much for soft words from others. Blaz and I peeled away to the south and I put a hand on his neck. “There won’t be much surprise if we come at him from behind.”

What are you thinking?

“Dive bomb him.”

That’s a one shot move, Rylee. At least if we miss from behind, gravity isn’t working against us.

He winged away fast, and I knew what the demon would see if he looked our way. We were making a run for it, leaving our friends behind.

Something about the setup was wrong, though. “Blaz, go high.”

Shit, Rylee, this is not the plan. Lark has it right.

I reached for my crossbow on my back. “Well, she isn’t running the show, is she?” I wasn’t being petulant. Something felt off about this demon’s attack. There was no way to put my finger on it, so I opened myself to Blaz and let him feel what my instincts warned: this was not the way to fight Pestilence. If we did this Lark’s way, something very bad would happen.

Blaz grunted as my emotions and thoughts rolled through him.

What do you want to do, then?

“The demon is after me, right?”

Rylee . . . .

“So let’s make sure he sees us and comes our way, instead of theirs. Unless, of course, you don’t think you can outfly him?”

Don’t insult me.

He dipped his wings and within seconds we were turned, heading straight for the rolling black clouds. I couldn’t see Eve and Marco, or any of my friends, but a bright light lit the darkness that was the demon, like a nuclear bomb exploding inside of it.

That was either Pamela or Cactus, but I was betting on Pamela. She wouldn’t wait, she’d rush in like the headstrong girl she was. Like I encouraged her to be.

“Hurry, Blaz, we have to get to that fucker before he gets to them.” Already the wind had gained momentum. I could see the particles of disease on the air spinning outward. Infecting my family with whatever deadly disease he had up his fucking sleeve.

Blaz stretched his neck, flattening his body as his wings picked up speed. Another light lit the clouds, like a storm brewed deep within. For a split second, I thought I saw a figure in the middle of the maelstrom. The demon floated what looked like a hundred feet above the tarmac of the parking lot, hiding within the smoke and mirrors he’d created with the storm. All around him, darted tiny lights, like oversized fireflies.

The edge of the clouds reached out to us and I took a deep breath. The scent of road tar filled my nostrils, a scent I hadn’t smelled since my first run-in with a demon almost a year ago. It clung to my tongue and coated my throat as I breathed, gagging me.

Mist and shadows wrapped around us and the demon spun slowly, his face a mixture of pleasure and surprise. He was lean and wiry with long hair that curled around his face. Young, was my first thought; he couldn’t be much older than me. Or at least, the body he’d stolen wasn’t older than me.

All around us lightning danced, and through what I could feel of Blaz, it was his doing; a strength of his we hadn’t used often. Able to control the weather, he broke up the storm and sent the clouds at the front of it skittering away.

I unbuckled the harness and stood as I pulled a sword from my back. I pointed it at Pestilence. “You want me? Then you’d better get your ass over here and see if—”

Claws dug into my shoulder, slicing through the leather jacket, and I was yanked upward, clear of Blaz. I swung my sword over my head without looking, cutting the creature’s legs off. They fell away from me, the claws releasing in death as a scream rent the air, like the cry of a rabbit being tortured by an overzealous cat.

I fell, blood pouring around me from the creature’s now amputated legs. Before I could wonder how high I’d been taken, I hit Blaz’s back and rolled, stopping when I came against his spine. “What are they?”

Blaz did not answer me.

Pestilence did.

“My pets? You don’t know what they are?” The demon floated slowly toward us, his feet stepping as if he were on the ground, not a hundred feet up. He was dressed in a suit and tie like a high-end businessman, right down to his polished shoes. I found myself staring as he tugged the cufflinks on his shirt.

“I’m going to kill them.”

“Ah, but I’m so proud of them. My first of what will be many creations now that I am free of the Veil. Flying monkeys are something humans invented. I wondered if I could actually create them and . . . I could. Lovely, don’t you think?”

I glanced where he pointed. Above us were indeed flying monkeys. Though they were like no monkeys I’d ever seen—even discounting the wings. Their bodies were out of proportion, limbs askew, eyes dead. And they were silent; their wings barely moving enough to keep them afloat.

“They are infected with the pox, all of them. Just in case your friends were wondering.” He flicked his hand at the monkeys and they plummeted from the sky, heading toward my friends.

My family.

Blaz didn’t wait for me to tell him to go after them. He tucked his wings tight and dropped, lightning dancing around us as he tried to take them out. I swung my crossbow around and shot three monkeys, dropping them out of the sky. Three of more than a hundred of the infected little bastards.

Behind us, laughter echoed through the sky. “So predictable.”

My heart clenched, but I didn’t care that I was predictable. Not in that moment. The monkeys screeched, coming to life as they seemed to understand the dragon behind them was doing serious damage. I swung my crossbow to my back and pulled both swords.

“Grin at them, Blaz.”

What the hell—

“Bare your teeth. It’s a challenge.”

I stood on his back and grinned at the stupid fuckers for all I was worth. “Come on, you little assholes!”

The first monkey who saw me let out an unearthly howl as he arched his back, wings flapping furiously.

Like a rocket, he dropped toward me, his wings not even fluttering for a second as he came with all four clawed feet outstretched.

I swung my sword hard, slicing through his stomach and cutting him completely in half. He fell to either side of me; his death seemed to be a signal to his buddies.

En masse, they attacked.

“Blaz, get Eve and Pamela closer. We need firepower. But not too close! I don’t want them infected.”

You got it.

The monkeys swarmed, ignoring the dragon, coming straight for me. Fine and dandy as far as I was concerned. The first wave leapt in threes, one from each side and straight on. I kicked out at the one on my left as I slashed my sword to the one on my right.

The one in the middle slammed into me, driving me to Blaz’s back. We rolled and another monkey jumped onto my back, grabbed my hair and yanked me toward him.

In the distance, Pestilence laughed, a deep belly laugh that drove my anger to a peak I didn’t know existed. I swung my elbow back, catching the monkey behind me in the face and launching him off. I might have lost hair as I sent him flying, but I didn’t slow for a second. Couldn’t, not if we were making it through this shit.

I drove my sword through the first monkey, then the second, then the third. Over and over I slashed through Pestilence’s creations, taking them apart piece by piece until I was slick with blood and my arms shook with fatigue.

Their teeth found my bare skin, and their claws swiped my face more than once, barely missing my eyes on several occasions.

One grabbed at my legs, tried to yank me off my feet. I stomped at him, then kicked him hard toward Blaz’s head. The dragon snapped his mouth over the flying monkey, crushing him and then spitting him out.

They taste like shit.

“Not a surprise,” I breathed out as I spun on his back. “They’re demon made.”

The minutes ticked by, and I wondered at Pestilence and his motivation. Why the fuck hadn’t he tried to take me while I was dealing with his flying butt monkeys?

What kind of game was the demon playing?

Only a few left, Rylee.
Blaz’s words snapped me out of my fog. Sweat slid down my skin, soaking my shirt and jeans as if I showered with my clothes on. I shrugged out of my leather jacket.

“Let’s finish this then.”

It was only then I realized Pamela and Lark had never arrived.

Motherfucking demon, his monkeys must have broken through to them.

Unless, Pestilence had something else up his sleeve. Gods be damned, I hoped that wasn’t the case.

CHAPTER 7

RYLEE

BLOOD AND GORE splattered my white shirt, though Blaz’s back had gotten the worst of the mess, and was covered with fur and bits of monkey. The remaining seven bastards flew toward their master.

He gave a slow, haughty clap. “Well done. I see why you’ve survived this long, Tracker. Orion is afraid of you. Did you know that?”

I struggled to get my breathing under control. “What did you do to my friends?”

I didn’t give a flying fuck about Orion. His time would come soon enough.

Pestilence raised an eyebrow at me. “You mean them?” The remaining clouds parted as he pointed. On the tarmac lay Eve and Marco, flat out.

Lark, Cactus, Pamela, and Alex were nowhere to be seen, which gave me a little hope.

I pointed both my swords at Pestilence. “You know, most demons rush me and I kill them. I’m guessing you don’t want to play that way.”

He smiled at me, his eyes crinkling around the edges.

“Rylee, correct? Perhaps you and I can come to an understanding.”

“I’m sorry, do I look like a dumb shit to you?” I wanted to reach for my crossbow. While I could imbue my weapons with my slayer abilities while I held them, the crossbow only gave me a few seconds. But with Pestilence this close, those seconds would be enough. But that would mean putting my swords down and I didn’t want to do that, either.

His grin widened, mouth stretching impossibly as his eyes bled from a dark brown to a flickering red. “Perhaps the word
dumb
would be giving you too much credit.”

I raised an eyebrow along with the tips of my swords. “Perhaps you’d like to rephrase that?”

He threw back his head and laughed.