He released his hold on the demons. They screamed and lunged at me, talons at the ready and wicked teeth bared. I unleashed the lightning and whipped the ragged forks around in a circle, ashing them all in an instant.
All except the ones above.
They screamed, and my gaze jumped up; the sky was filled with claws. I raised both fists and punched the lightning upward. As their soot rained around me, something hit my back, sending me staggering even as claws and teeth tore into flesh. Lightning erupted from my body, ashing not only the thing on my back but all those within close proximity.
But it came at a cost.
Crazy men with ultra-sharp daggers were now hacking away at my brain, and my heart raced so badly it felt as if it would tear out of my chest. I sucked in air and pushed more lightning at the demons that crawled over the wall and lunged at me. They died hard and fast, but blood now seeped over my eyelashes. I was pushing my limits; too much more and I’d—
The thought stalled as the air stirred behind me. I threw myself sideways but wasn’t fast enough. Something hit the fleshy part of my arm, and an odd chill flared, spreading quickly to my shoulder and across my chest.
I pushed to my knees and looked down.
Saw a dart rather than a bullet hole in my arm.
Swore vehemently.
Heard footsteps and looked up, straight into my brother’s gaze.
“I’m sorry” was all he said.
“You will be,” I replied and raised a hand.
Nothing came out. The inner fires had flamed out. As had my strength.
I dropped my head and gave in to capture.
Chapter Nine
Waking was a slow and painful process. Every bit of me ached—even my damn hair pulsed in agony. My shoulders were on fire, and a river of energy surrounded me—one so foul it made my skin crawl even though it wasn’t physically touching me.
That I was even awake was surprising—the last time I’d called on the lightning to the extent that blood blurred my vision, I’d been out for days.
Of course, I may well have been, but surely if I had, I wouldn’t still feel this shitty.
As my other senses slowly came online, the first thing that hit was the stench in the air—it was a putrid mix of rotten meat and human waste. I had no idea what Darkside smelled like, but I didn’t think this was it. It was more likely that I’d been dragged into a sewer of some kind.
If that was true, it really made no sense. Why not simply take me through the nearest dark gate and be done with it? There would have been no escaping and no possibility of rescue from Darkside, and they could have then taken their sweet time to torture the information about Elysian out of me.
Unless, of course, I was bait. Max might not believe the sword he held was fake, but he wouldn’t chance that I was telling the truth. He also knew Mo would move mountains to rescue me, though it was doubtful he was aware that she could literally do that. He’d never really witnessed her using her mage gifts and had no idea just how powerful she truly was. Not even Winter had witnessed the full scope of her skills, though more than a few demons would have found their deaths via them over the centuries.
I tried to move my arms in an effort to ease the fire in my shoulders and discovered my hands had been bound tightly behind my back. It didn’t feel like rope but rather tape of some kind. There was more around my waist—no doubt a means of keeping me upright against the thick pole or pillar or whatever the hell it was I’d been tied to.
My left foot was icy and shoeless. I was still wearing the sock, but it was wet and not helping the ice situation. Given the stench, I hated to think what it was actually wet with.
I tried to open my eyes, but they were caked shut, thanks no doubt to the blood that had dried on my lashes. I attempted to scrub them clean against an arm, but that was a pointless exercise given how tightly I was tied.
“Ah,” a deep and familiar voice said. “You’re finally awake.”
I jumped; fear hit so hard that for several seconds I couldn’t breathe.
Winter. Fuck.
I turned my face toward him and drew in a deeper breath, trying to pinpoint his exact location.
Big mistake.
The wretched foulness of the place burned into my lungs, leaving me gasping and coughing.
Winter chuckled. “Yes, it’s best not to breathe too deep here. The fumes are somewhat toxic.”
“Where are we?” It came out a croak. My throat felt raw and speaking hurt.
“Deep underground and well protected. Your witch of a grandmother won’t be able to use her magic to find you here.”
I wouldn’t bet on that. Whether she could find me before Winter did whatever he planned to do was another matter entirely.
“If you fear her so much, why haven’t you dragged me into the hellhole you call home?”
“Aside from the fact we couldn’t, you mean?”
Of all the answers I’d been expecting, that certainly hadn’t been one of them. “What do you mean, you couldn’t?”
“Has the energy you unleashed at your beloved brother affected your hearing as well as your sight, dear sister-in-law?”
Another shock rolled through me. Sister-in-law? Surely Max wouldn’t have … I gave myself a mental kick. The time for being surprised by anything my brother did had long since passed. “No celebrant in their right mind would officiate a wedding between a human and a half-breed.”
“Which is why we found one who wasn’t in his right mind,” Winter said with a laugh. “It’s quite legal, I assure—”
“I hardly think so, given clones don’t exist in our world let alone have any sort of legal status.”
“Ah, but there are few in this world who would even realize we are more than one. Certainly the poor celebrant didn’t.”
A statement that suggested said celebrant hadn’t survived long past the wedding.
“We will be consort to your brother’s king,” Winter continued, “and quite soon, if all goes according to schedule.”
Not if I had any fucking say in it. Of course, I had to get out of the current situation before I wreaked havoc on their damn plans.
“To repeat, why couldn’t you take me through the gate?”
“That is an extremely interesting question and one we have no answer to. Yet.” Water splashed, suggesting he was moving closer. A vague sense of wrongness washed over me, then a hand forcefully grabbed my chin. I squeaked in surprise and instinctively kicked out—only to discover my legs were tied as well.
Winter didn’t laugh, but he did enjoy my reaction. I felt the ooze of it crawl across my senses and knew then there was far more pain yet to come. “What are you hiding from us, Gwen?”
I spat in his face. I couldn’t see the result, but his grip tightened so abruptly, I thought my jaw would crack.
“I’d personally kill you if the choice were mine. Fortunately for you, it is not. But such a restriction doesn’t mean I cannot inflict a whole lot of pain, and my people have a long history of doing so without causing permanent harm. Perhaps you’ll be more compliant after a little taste of what is to come if you do not give us what we want.”
“What I want,” I growled, even as my insides quailed, “is to see you suffer a long, slow, agonizing death. It will happen, Winter. I promise you that.”