Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(3)

From where I stood, I saw how far in the Veil had been opened. Literally, every layer had been pared back to see through to the seventh level where the demons had been confined.

Talan caught up with me then. He said nothing, just watched what was playing out in front of us.

The sound of an engine cut through the air, and Pamela twisted around, though she didn't let go of the sword's handle. I couldn't hear the words, but didn't need to.

Rylee Adamson had arrived along with her mate, Liam. They were a powerful pair, not to be crossed. Between their combined abilities, they had survived what would have wiped out any lesser supernatural.

They had been the ones to put the demons behind the seventh level of the Veil. In their blood, sweat, and tears, they bore the brunt of the cost in losing so many they had loved. And here Pamela was, opening the Veil to that level again.



       
         
       
        

I knew in my gut that Rylee-Pamela's guardian and surrogate family-would be devastated by what she was seeing. A girl she'd loved as her own, turning on her. I prepared to help Rylee end things.

She would not be able to kill Pamela. The witch was like her little sister, a child she'd rescued.

But I could kill Pamela. I reached for the spear at my side, steeling myself for what I was about to do.

The mother goddess spoke to me softly then, almost as if she didn't want to be heard by anyone else.

What the witch does, she does with my blessing. Save her, Lark. Save her, and she will help you save the world.

I needed nothing more than that to move. I shot forward. "Peta, we're getting her out of here."

"On it." There was no questioning me. From behind, Talan grunted as if I'd slapped him, but he was too far away to stop me.

The scene we raced into was utter madness, but not from fighting. From the emotions running so high. My connection with Spirit tuned me into the raging emotions, the fear, hope, disappointment, and anger swelling amongst the three people in front of me.

The Veil was open on my right. Pamela stood in front of it. She turned her back to Rylee and spoke to someone on the other side of the Veil.

"Come home." The words resonated through the air, stealing my breath. She was calling someone out, someone who had died. I didn't think it truly possible, but we were about to find out.

No, you must go, now. You must take her away from this. The mother goddess spoke softly again, yet I heard her and heeded her words.

A large tiger with orange and white stripes tangled with Liam in his guardian form of a monstrous black wolf. A shimmering line linked Pamela and the tiger. They were connected-it looked like Pamela had gained herself a partner in crime.

"Peta, help the cat!" I pointed as I slid to a stop beside Pamela. From the corner of my eye, I could see Peta in her snow leopard form slam into the tangled bodies, barely saving the tiger from having her throat crushed by the massive wolf.

Pamela looked up at me, her hands gripped hard on the sword. Her huge blue eyes were full of tears, both shed and unshed. "Don't try to stop me."

"I'm not."

Rylee gasped and when she moved to come at us, I flicked a hand at her as I called up the earth. The ground swallowed her all the way to her knees, holding her firmly.

"LARK! Don't do this! She's letting the demons out!" Rylee screamed, and I could feel the rage and shock in her words slide over me. I shook my head, turned, and beckoned the ground up around the wolf's legs, tying him in place too.

"I'm sorry, Rylee," I said. "Time for Pamela to come with me." 

Rylee fought hard to get out of the rock I'd sealed around her, and I knew we wouldn't have much time. She was strong and she was determined. And I didn't want to fight her.

I hoped it would never come to that.

I slid an arm around Pamela's waist. "Leave the sword."

"The Veil will close," she said. "I can't let it."

I stared into the swirling that was the Veil. I saw the one she was calling forward.

Peta and the tiger limped away from the wolf.

Time was ticking.

"He will either make it or he won't; there is nothing any of us can do now," Talan said from several feet away. His voice wavered through my ears, almost a warble. "We all must go. Lark, bring her to me at the top of the waterfall." An image flickered through my mind and nothing in me could stop the command.

The asshole had just manipulated me with Spirit once more.

Shit.

"It will be done, asshat." I spoke even though a part of me knew I was falling under his spell again. How was he doing it? I didn't understand. I was strong enough to throw off the chains during other times Spirit had been used against me.