Liam let out a slow breath. “I hope you’re right.”
Gods help me if I ever lost Liam; there would never be another like him, no matter what Doran said.
“On the count of three.” I tightened my grip on my sword. “One, two, three.”
In tandem, we lurched upward, the mud not only slowing us down, but throwing us off balance. The Roc shot forward, mouth open wide, eyes staring wide.
Our timing, though, was perfect even if our balance was off. Liam’s blade shot upward for the top jaw as mine sliced down and through the bone and cartilage, the spelled blades driving through with ease. Teeth shattered, blood gushed and the Roc backpedaled, mud spraying all over us. We scrambled, fighting against the mud to get to the opening and the drop.
But I wasn’t looking forward, my eyes trained on the flailing, bleeding Roc, and when Liam missed the step down, I tumbled after him. Stairs cut into the mountain rose up to smash into me as I slid down them, the mud coating us acting like a fucking slippery slide.
The stairs curled and I got a glimpse of something bright red and bubbling, a swirl of a brown cloak and a flash of Calliope’s bright white coat.
We hit the ground and Liam was on his feet first. “Rylee, you aren’t going to believe this. Hell, I can’t believe it.”
I rolled to my feet, sword still in hand, and turned to see what he was talking about.
He was right, I didn’t believe it. Not for one second.
Daniels, my nemesis from London, stood slack-jawed in front of an open pit that looked to go straight into the heart of the mountain. Or, more accurately, the gods-be-damned big ass, half awake volcano. A deep rotten egg, gag-inducing, tongue-coating scent of sulfur lay heavy in the air. Being deep in the mud up top must have kept the smell from us. Because there was no way we could miss it where we stood.
“Couldn’t you have picked a place that didn’t smell like goblin shit? Seriously.” I sidled toward Calliope, huddled in the corner. Not that I didn’t want to run Daniels through, but my main objective was the foal, bringing her home to her parents and freeing Eve. Priorities, and Daniels was low on the list right now.
She lifted her hands, her voice deepening as she intoned something I’d heard before. “It is the heart of the mountains that we will prick, and the land will know Orion’s fury for being condemned to the seventh veil. He shall cleanse the land with fire for his coming.”
Wait … that was what Agent Valley had asked us about, before we’d left London. I was an idiot. Why hadn’t I listened? Too bloody ready to run away, to hide from the prophecies … and now I was paying the price, as would Calliope if I didn’t get her out of here.#p#分页标题#e#
Daniels smiled at us, her eyes wild with the power she’d been given. We had to take her out. Possession might seem like a good idea at first, a demon giving their vessel fantastic abilities, but it wouldn’t be long before Daniels found out that she’d gotten the raw end of the deal.
Liam lunged for her first, and with a flick of her hand, she wove her magic around him and lifted him into the air. I hit her hard, tackling her to the ground, but she didn’t release Liam. She kept talking as if we were having a pleasant conversation.
I moved to cover her hands with mine, take away her magic and let Liam go.
“Rylee don’t!” He yelled and I looked up. Daniels had shifted him over the middle of the pit. If I used my Immunity to block her magic … .
“FUCK!” I scrambled off Daniels, and she stood back up, brushing off her brown cloak.
“Rylee, you are the last person I expected to see here. I take it Milly did not slow you down at the castle? Orion said that she was weakening, but I’d hoped to use her a little longer.”
Fuck, shit, damn it all to hell and back. Of course it was Milly. Yet, if she had laid the trap and Giselle was right, then Milly had tried to help us too. Which meant that maybe, just maybe, she’d been telling the truth at the coffee shop. But that was for another time, when we weren’t dealing with a psycho druid, a pit of lava, and a demon. Like some sort of twisted riddle, I had to get us all out of here. Right now, the only thing I could think about was keeping the ex-druid talking.
“Daniels, how did you get away from the Beast?”
She paused, her left eye twitching as she smiled at me. “I killed him. My master gave me the strength and now I cannot be stopped.”
Liam shook his head. “Impossible.”
“I don’t think you should take that tone with me, wolf. You will be far easier for my master to kill than the Beast was.” Her voice was off, and it took me a moment to realize what was different about her.