Chapter 19 Dianna
DIANNA
Above the patter of rain against the rooftop, I could hear the muttered words and voices of the townspeople as they prepared to head home.
Cameron’s timing had been horrible, but Samkiel and I had known the brief reprieve would be short-lived.
We just hadn’t realized how short. My buzz had worn off, and Samkiel and I were now stone-cold sober.
Finding out your own personal nightmare had come true would do that.
Kaden was not only alive, but he had returned to terrorize the realms once more.
Cameron had looked more than a little worse for wear when he’d arrived in our doorway, his throat mangled and chewed. Samkiel had starved Isaiah for weeks in that dungeon, and I was more shocked Cameron hadn’t lost his head than I was that Isaiah had fed so violently.
My heart slammed against my ribs as everything Cameron had told us bounced around my head in rapid succession.
Kaden was alive. Alive and healthy and …
alive? How? Anger screamed under my skin.
Not only was he alive, but he’d snuck into our house, broke out his demented evil brother, and then kidnapped Miska.
Worry churned in my gut. I told myself that this was why we’d been training her.
So that if something were to happen while we were gone, she would know the basics of how to care for herself, but I’d never prepared for this.
It wasn’t even a possibility in my mind.
The memory of watching Kaden kill Gabby kept filling my head with images that I fought against every day.
I tried to calm the terror threatening to take over and think through my turbulent thoughts, but knowing that he was probably taking Miska back to Nismera made me nearly crazy with panic.
Gods only knew what that evil bitch goddess would do to my kid.
“We will find her. We won’t stop until we do, and then I will kill Kaden again and send Nismera to Oblivion with him,” Samkiel said down our bond. His mental tone was curt and clipped, even as he tried to reassure me.
Samkiel’s anger bubbled just below the surface. I could almost taste it as it rolled and howled like some great dark beast waiting to be unleashed. How much had Oblivion grown? I tried to pry deeper as Cameron fed, but he kept me at bay in his mind, not letting me fully in.
“Why are you shutting me out right now?”
A grumble rolled across his mind before a mental door slammed in my face.
I cut my eyes toward him. Samkiel leaned against one of the buildings that formed the narrow alley, his jaw tight and his eyes a cold, steely gray.
His arms were crossed, the fingers of one hand tapping against his tight biceps, and one muscled thigh was bunched, supporting his weight.
The other leg was cocked, his booted foot pressed flat to the stone wall behind him.
“I’m talking to you,” I said, hitting the mental wall he had raised between us.
No response. Shaking my head, I focused back on Cameron.
I kept Samkiel in my peripheral vision but trained my eyes on Cameron’s back as he fed on a woman we had compelled.
Her small hands gripped the dark coat at his sides, holding him close.
She tipped her head, offering more of her slender neck, her eyelashes fluttering in bliss.
At least I had taught him how to feed properly and not like a starved beast. It only took us about three townspeople and a ton of patience. Patience, neither Samkiel nor I had.
“How could he survive Oblivion?” I asked, still monitoring Cameron.
“I am unsure.” Samkiel’s rage washed into my mind, along with his words.
“Has any—”
“No,” he cut me off, his tone agitated and as harsh as an icy wind.
I turned fully toward him, my eyes narrowing. “Don’t be upset with me.”
Silver flashed in his eyes as lightning skittered through the clouds, thunder cracking and rumbling. It was so loud it shook the ground beneath my feet, but his voice was clear when it filled my mind.
“You can always say someone else’s name when you come. That will make me feel better.”
I scoffed out loud, dropping my arms to my sides.
That was what this was about? I knew Samkiel was a jealous ass, but this?
It had to be an effect of the mark I’d traded for his life.
It was as if some part of him and I remained unsettled, and now he felt threatened because another man’s name had left my lips. Oh gods.
“You can’t be serious? We both know it was only because he barged into our room.”
Samkiel grumbled and stared past me. I couldn’t tell who he was more mad at, Kaden being alive, me or Cameron.
“Samk—” My words met a steel door as he closed the bond, shutting me out again.
I glared at him, about to have this argument out loud, uncaring of who would hear, but a soft moan caught my attention.
I spun around to see that Cameron had wrapped his arms around the woman and was gulping greedily.
Fuck, I should have been paying closer attention.
Her heartbeat was already starting to slow.
“That’s enough,” I said, stepping toward Cameron.
He ignored me, and I reached out to grip his shoulder. Red eyes glared at me as he half-turned, blood spilling past the seal of his lips. The Ig’Morruthen beneath his skin was telling me it was far from done.
I pulled at him again. “I said that’s enough.”
Cameron hunched his shoulders over the woman, adjusting his hold on her limp body.
The color seeped from her skin as pale, cold death took hold.
I shifted and pushed hard at Cameron’s shoulder, prying him from the woman and peeling them apart.
Blood ran down his chin, his eyes burning so red they were damn near blinding in the darkness.
I wrapped my arms around the woman and stepped back.
He bared his fangs and snarled at me, pure predator, angry that his meal had been interrupted.
A blade made of pure silver glowed beneath Cameron’s chin. The feral, raw need leached from his eyes at the new threat. Samkiel had stepped between us so fast I hadn’t even felt the air move. The power emanating from him consumed all the space in the alley.
“She said that’s enough.” Samkiel’s voice vibrated with the icy, deep tone that caused his enemies to damn near piss in their pants.
He invaded Cameron’s space, drawing the full attention of the beast living under his skin.
Samkiel angled the blade’s edge against Cameron’s neck, pressing a bit deeper.
“My temper is frail, Cameron. If you snarl at my wife again, I’ll remove your fangs and make you eat them. ”
Cameron blinked, his lips lowering as his fangs disappeared. The deep-seated primal need receded, and his eyes returned to their usual soft blue as he shook himself from the bloodlust. He lowered his head before Samkiel in an act of submission to a predator far larger than he.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
Samkiel said nothing, but the blade disappeared back into his ring as he continued to stare at Cameron.
I stepped closer with the woman and touched Samkiel’s arm, gaining his attention before passing her off to him.
She swayed, still glassy-eyed as if lost in a dream.
Her heartbeat was present if fluttery and a bit weak.
Samkiel steadied her and placed his hand on her neck, a soft light glowing as he healed the wound on her neck.
“I-I—”
I held up my hand, cutting Cameron off. “First, stop apologizing. You were injured, practically starved, and you are still learning. That was why I wanted to be with you when you did it. I’m proud you made it to us without decimating an entire village along the way.”
His eyes flicked toward Samkiel, but he quickly dropped his gaze as if he were ashamed or feared what he’d think of him now.
“Drop the attitude,” I snarled at Samkiel. “We have more to worry about than your bruised male ego. There is no reason for it to be, anyway.”
Sometimes I forgot I wasn’t dealing with a mortal man.
Immortal ones, it seemed, were far more feral and protective over those they claimed, and I refused to have him kill one of his best friends because I wounded his ego or pride.
It was a conversation and temper I needed to deal with, but it would need to be handled later.
My gaze whipped to Cameron, and I placed my hands on his shoulders. A sharp snap of teeth and a low growl came from behind me, and I could feel the heat of Samkiel’s fury slamming against my back.
“Stop it,” I snarled at Samkiel without turning.
“Ignore him,” I said to Cameron, but I did drop my hands from his arms. “Killing is killing, Cameron. Monsters, men, or a woman.” I waved my hand toward her as she slowly came to in Samkiel’s arms. “It’s all the same.
You’re stopping a life, whether in defense or in an attempt to obtain the food you need to live.
Don’t be ashamed. You’re standing in an alley with killers.
” I nodded toward Samkiel. “Even this honorable beast has ended lives.”
“To be fair,” Samkiel started. I cut him a glare that had him stopping and clearing his throat before continuing. “She is right.”
Cameron raised his hand, wiping at his mouth. “If I could have just listened, maybe I could have—”
“You couldn’t have known he was alive or what he would do. Miska is not your fault. We’ll find her. You did not fail her.”
Cameron forced a half-smirk, the light that always burned so brightly in him seemingly extinguished. Samkiel made a noise of agreement and shifted the woman in his arms as she started to come out of the compulsion. I stepped in front of her and gripped her shoulders.
“Go home, pack your bags, and follow your family to the portal at the end of the street.”
She blinked as the world rushed back to her.
A smile bloomed on her pretty face as she looked at me, growing brighter when she looked at Cameron.
She waved at him before leaving the alley and blending in with the crowd.
Samkiel wasn’t taking any risks with this town after what we’d learned.
These people would be far safer in our city than here.
Once we explained and gave them the option, they eagerly gathered their most precious items and what they would need to survive.
Now, with sacks tossed over their shoulders and pushing heavy carts, they entered the swirling portal at the end of the street.
On the other side, our city was bright and green, with people waiting to welcome them.
It was such a bright contrast to what they lived and breathed here.
“Are you sure the city is safe now that Kaden knows where it is?” Cameron asked, watching her leave. “Kaden will tell Nismera when he reaches her.”
“It will be fine,” Samkiel answered, coming to stand at my side.
“How can you be so sure?” Cameron asked.
Lightning flashed, thunder cracked, and rain came down in a deluge. “Because we are going to kill him before he ever makes it to her,” Samkiel said with lethal calm.
This changed everything. If Kaden could escape death by Oblivion, what did that mean?
And why would he take Miska? Was it to replace Gabby?
A way to control me again? That cold, killing calm washed over me, drowning out emotion and reason.
I needed to be smart about our next move, and we needed to act now.
My soul, the world, all of it would need to wait.
Getting Miska back and killing Kaden and Isaiah permanently just became our top priority.
“What do we do now?” Cameron asked, the portal to our new home closing as the last person stepped through. Samkiel cast another behind us, the wind chilly as a mountainside capped in snow came into view.
“Simple,” I responded with a predatory grin. “We go hunting.”