Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dom blinked rapidly to regain vision after the blinding light.
Where’d the demon go? Usually, he used the shotgun to slow them down but it didn’t destroy them.
It gave him enough time to do the return spell on their bodies and send them back to the underworld.
The opal explosion must’ve destroyed it.
The Sol Opal had broken.
Holy hell.
How did Evie…
His hand and arm were a web of bloody lacerations from where opal shards had cut his skin.
Calls from below reminded him that Roman and Ky could probably see him. They weren’t oblivious enough to miss two shotgun blasts and whatever had happened to the opal.
He’d sensed them at risk and gone to check on them. Now, his job to protect them was over. He transported himself to an isolated house he maintained outside of Valencia, a house he hadn’t visited in decades.
Motionless, with a knife in each hand, he sensed everything around him inside the two-bedroom, one-story stone house.
No Dojin.
He laughed. For the first time in over six years, he was alone. Unmonitored.
Once the Fates had removed the monitor bands, Dojin couldn’t find him anymore. Not that Dom resented the other mage. They’d forged an understanding built on respect over the past few years.
Rain battered against the roof and windows.
The only light came from a few solar walkway lights around the house.
No energies from anything living came from within the house.
He reached out with his magic to confirm the incantation bowls he’d buried them along the perimeter of the house remained intact.
The Mesopotamian antique bowls captured demons who tried to cross the line. Nothing roamed outside.
The Babylonian talismans affixed to the front and back doors remained intact to prevent entry by anyone who didn’t have permission.
He slumped to the floor, lacking the energy to move to even the closest soft surface.
Although exhausted, the weight of his isolation lifted.
Evie would remember him. In the wake of the anticipation came responsibility.
Evie being on Marik’s radar wasn’t good.
The blast would also cause more than a ripple in the Source.
More like a tidal wave. That meant he’d be summoned, or perhaps visited.
Everything he’d sacrificed evaporated when the opal exploded.
How Evie managed to destroy the stone baffled him, but Cora had probably helped. The how of it didn’t matter. It was done.
He’d sensed a fellow mage’s magic right before the stone exploded.
Dom fully expected Evie to rain down the fires of hell on him. He couldn’t wait.
Fatigue engulfed him.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Dom blinked his eyes open. For long seconds, he struggled to orient himself to place and time. He pushed himself upright to a sit. His back ached from sleeping for who-knew-how-long on the wood floor. A glance at his watch showed it’d only be a few hours since he passed out.
Shooting pain gathered on the right side of his neck and radiated up to a squeezing headache. A few rolls of his neck didn’t ease the cramp.
Boom. Boom. Boom-boom.
The noise came from the front door. A quick sense for energy to see if it might be her… He released a heavy sigh and collapsed back on the floor.
Not her.
Not a mage.
His visitor could pound all he wanted. No one could enter unless he let them in, which he wouldn’t.
It still rained outside.
Boom. Boom. Boom. “I know you’re in there. I can sense you. Answer the door, you sonofabitch, and tell me what you did to all of us.”
“Go away,” he whispered, putting a mental push into the words. He’d expended too much energy last night to make the push effective, though.
“I’m not going away,” Roman yelled through the door. Boom. Boom. Boom. “You will talk to me!” Boom. Boom. Boom.
He stared at the ceiling, evaluating his options.
He could incinerate Roman without moving from here.
On the positive side, the noise would stop.
Negative aspect was Evie would never forgive him for killing her eldest. Afterward, an angel might be pissed he’d killed one of God’s precious chosen warriors.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Dom staggered upright. He caught himself from falling by leaning into the wall. He stood there until the world righted itself. He needed another day of rest. And food. He couldn’t remember how long it’d been since he’d eaten.
The pounding on the door continued.
He stumbled to the door and yanked it open. To keep from careening over, he gripped the doorframe.
Frustrated, and wet from the spitting rain, the lycan appeared to be alone. He bet Evie didn’t know Roman was here. She’d be cranky about it. The thought almost made him crack a smile.
Roman might be tall and unquestionably fierce from fighting all manner of monsters, but Dom had him beat him in height by a few inches.
“I guessed you’d be here since we were less than an hour from here last night. What the fuck were you doing there? Why do I suddenly remember you?”
He glared, but said nothing while Roman ranted on and on in English. When Dom’s headache eased, he picked up the lycan’s words. English wasn’t his first language.
“…last night there was a light. What were you doing there? Why the hell were you shooting a demon? How is it that I forgot you, but now I remember? What the hell is going on? What did you do?”
He ignored Roman to stare into the gray dawn, relieved to see the rain pick up in tandem with Roman resuming his speech. A burst of clean, cool air blew onto his face along with a misting of rain.
When Roman stopped vomiting words, Dom still didn’t speak. Water droplets trickled down Roman’s face.
Roman opened his mouth to continue, but Dom held up a hand to silence him.
He reached forward and did something he’d never done with Roman.
He pulled him into a tight, one-armed hug and held him until the lycan relaxed.
“You’re a pain in the ass, but I’m bloody relieved you remember me.
” He pushed him away but kept a hand on Roman’s shoulders.
“You forgetting me was the only way I could protect all of you from mages hellbent on controlling the future. All of us are in danger. We have to figure out why, and from what.” Dom pushed Roman toward the walkway.
“Get to Evie as fast as you can. Don’t trust anyone outside of family.
” He rubbed his head, which did nothing to alleviate the pounding in his left temple.
“I can’t sort this right now. If you pound a single time more on my door, I’ll burn off your fingers.
” To punctuate the words, he directed a lightning bolt to strike a nearby tree.
Roman startled.
Dom slammed the door.