LAILAH
THIRTY
My eyes blinked open to the sight of all five of my knights leaning over me with worried expressions. Tugging on whoever's hand I was holding, which turned out to be Parker, I sat up with a groan. My body was beat to hell and back—literally. "She's gone."
All of them seemed to release a breath they'd been holding, as their shoulders sagged and they relaxed slightly.
"Now, we just need to find a way to get out of this shit hole," I muttered.
Parker cleared his throat, drawing our attention. "I have a car hidden not too far from here."
"That's great dick-munch, but what are we going to do with all the demons lurking around on the property?" Micah demanded.
As tired as I was from everything that's happened so far, I knew the answer. "We have to send the demons back."
"That will kill everyone." Brayden argued.
"I know…" I whispered, covering my face with my hands.
"She's right though," Jay spoke up. "If we fought our way out of here it would kill them, maybe not all of them, but most. Then what? We just leave them to their own devices until the Elementi comes to kill them?"
Brayden opened his mouth to speak, but then thought about what Jay said and closed his mouth, hanging his head in defeat.
"If I can make a barrier like the one back home, it will force out any demons inside its walls. It will be painless for the human and who knows, they might not die," I hedged.
"We don't really have a choice, they will die one way or another. Better to have us do it and know it was done as humanly as we can," Hudson concluded.
Shifting so I was on my knees, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Alright I'm gonna need all of you to touch me for this to work with how tired I am."
"Even him," Micah growled.
"Yes, it's harder to do this with no connection at all," I sighed.
Once they were all in contact with me again, I started the process, but I did it the same way I did for Lilith and put my power as the foundation.
The layers went smoother than it had back home, but it might be because I've now done it and the second time is easier.
Only when I got to the last layer using Parker's energy, did I have trouble working with it.
Each time I held onto it and tried to pull it over the others it seemed to rip, leaving holes that I needed to go back and patch up, almost as if it was a representation of our personal struggles.
Finally, I managed to get it how I needed it before I thrust it into the ground, putting my intention behind it and shaking the whole building around us in a much more visual example of what we did before.
Then the air started to fill with screaming, as demons were ejected out of the humans they were living in.
It was as if the gates of Hell opened wide, ready to receive them hurtled out of this existence back where they came from.
Unlike the barrier at home, I wasn't leaving it permanently, this was only to exist for as long as I held it, which was getting harder and harder with how maxed out I was.
"Lailah, you need to let go," Parker demanded. "Your nose is bleeding and you're pale as a ghost, please Trouble, let the barrier go."
Gritting my teeth, I held on for a few moments longer, until I felt the last demon getting thrown from its host. The second I released it, I collapsed panting and sweating like I'd run a marathon.
"Don't touch her," Hudson snapped as I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders.
"You guys are beat to hell. Would you trust yourself to carry her two miles back to where my car is?
" Parker challenged as he slipped another arm under my legs.
"Yeah, I didn't think so. Micah needs more than Brayden to help him and Hudson, it's a miracle that you're even conscious right now with how much blood you probably lost with a gash like that. "
"Please, can we just get out of here?" I begged, really wanting to take a shower to wash off all the death that I'd just experienced, in an effort to keep from having a mental breakdown about it.
The guys all scowled at me in Parker's arms but didn't say anything more.
The way back to where Parker hid the car was much farther than two miles, but we managed.
Thankfully, it was a Suburban and we could all fit in it and by the looks of it he'd been planning to sleep in the back of it.
It reminded me of what Mozog said about Parker showing up here and causing trouble for them.
Had he been planning on dealing with all this himself?
Quickly, I shook myself out of worrying about it, not having the energy to process it all.
We did discover that the factory was a food processing plant just outside of Madison, that got shut down when the company went under.
The drive took about an hour to get back home but it was over in the blink of an eye, since Hudson and I snuggled up and fell right to sleep.
"Angel, we're home," Brayden called softly, running his hand up and down my arm.
Groaning in irritation for being woken up, I cracked an eye and looked out the windows just to be sure.
Seeing that we were indeed home, I let Jay pull me up out of Hudson's arms and out of the SUV.
Hudson took his time, but he managed to get out on his own, wearing a purple shirt that Parker had given him.
My gaze shifted to where Parker still sat behind the wheel making no move to stay, even going so far as to keep the engine running.
"Thank you for being there," I said when he looked back at me through the rearview mirror.
Turning to face me so I could see his whole face, he responded. "Words are fleeting but actions are permanent. I know I still have a lot of work to do to fix this, but I will do everything in my power to try, until you tell me there is no hope for us."
Unable to say anything, I just nodded and let Jay pull me away from him to head into the house as he pulled out of the drive.
"While you were sleeping, I called the Elementi and they are going to the plant now to retrieve all the bodies so that their families can be notified.
They are going to say it was a cult that performed mass suicide to prove some political point," Jay shared.
"This way the families will have closure and can bury their loved ones. "
Hearing him say that made me realize something. "Jay."
Stopping, he looked at me with a questioning brow. "There is a lot that I learned from sharing a brain with Lilith, things that I will be more than happy to share with you all later. But there's something we have to deal with right away."
"Beautiful, I'm sure it can wait until we get in the house at least."
"No Jay, it can't," I demanded. "The demons have your Mother…"
The end!
Rescuing Air coming 2022