Текст книги "Every Last Breath"

Автор книги: Jennifer L. Armentrout

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 20 страниц)

“You boinked Lilith.”

“Boinked?” Roth chuckled under his breath and then said, “God, I love you.”

Elijah jumped on that comment. “Love? From a demon? Are you serious?”

“Don’t,” I warned, feeling the space below my neck start to tingle. “Don’t try to act like you know anything about love. You’re no better than me, and you’re sure as Hell no better than him. He’s a thousand times better than you could ever hope to be.”

Elijah snorted. “Him? A demon? You are—”

“He’s the Crown Prince,” I snapped, my hands curling tight. “Not just a demon. But even if he was merely a Fiend, he’d still be too good for the likes of you.”

“That’s my girl,” Roth murmured.

“Why are you here?” I demanded, fueled by an anger that burned so deep and so bright, it was like it was my own personal sun. “Wait, let me guess. You want to kill me?”

“I was tracking you. I knew that eventually you’d resurface.” His skin started to darken. “And I should’ve taken care of this when you were nothing but a babe. I should’ve known the moment that bitch left you with me that you weren’t right. You’d be just like the whore—”

“Proceed very carefully with what you’re about to say,” Roth advised softly. “That’s my girl you’re about to insult, and I’m not going to be happy about that. At all.”

“Whatever.” I forced a shrug. Yeah, what Elijah had said stung, but I was so over my daddy issues.

“Same stuff. Different day. Try something new next time.”

The dark-haired Warden behind Elijah bared his fangs, but Elijah cut him off.

“I cannot say I’m surprised to find you with a demon.”

Roth stepped forward, positioning himself between Elijah and me. “I cannot say I’m surprised to find you’re just as ugly as your son. Oh, wait. Dead son. My bad.”

Elijah’s chilled gaze swung in his direction. “Do not speak of my son.”

“I won’t speak of him, only because he’s worse than the scum that lines the streets below,” Roth said, his voice eerily calm. “But do you want to know what I did with his spine after I tore it from his body?”

That did it.

Mostly because after I’d taken Petr ’s soul in self-defense, Roth had removed Petr ’s spine from his body, and I was guessing Elijah had figured that out.

The Wardens shifted. Clothing ripped as bodies expanded and skin hardened. Wings spread and claws appeared. The trench Elijah wore shredded up the back. He was impressive in his true form.

Horns parted his dark hair.

“I’m going to end both of you,” he promised.

“Please,” laughed Roth.

Then Roth went all kinds of badass. He didn’t shift. He didn’t need to at this point, because he didn’t feel that they were a big enough threat to warrant it.

The dark-haired Warden rushed forward and Roth dropped low, kicking out and catching the Warden at the kneecaps, knocking his legs right out from under him. His heavy weight shook the roof, but he was only down for half a second. Back on his feet, he swung at Roth, but he was fast as lightning. Roth ducked under the Warden’s outstretched arm and popped up behind him. He planted his booted foot into the back of the Warden, bringing him to his knees.

Over the Warden’s head, Roth looked up and winked at me.

Winked at me in the middle of a fight.

Wow.

The other two Wardens charged Roth, and my heart seized as one nearly reached him. He spun. Red light pulsed from his palm. Like his fingers were made of gasoline, fire licked over his hand and then shot out like a missile, narrowly missing the Warden.

Elijah started toward me.

“Bambi!” I summoned the familiar. “Help Roth.”

There was a tickle above my belly button and then from under the hem of my sweater, a twisty, dark shadow floated out and spilled into the space in front of me. The shadow broke into a million marble-size balls, bouncing silently off the rooftop. They shot toward one another, piecing together rapidly.

Bambi raised her diamond-shaped head, her red eyes glimmering in the sunlight. Her mouth opened, revealing fangs the size of my hand. She looked hungry.

Then again, Bambi always looked hungry.

The snake shot across the rooftop, heading right for a lighter-haired Warden. Roth whirled out of the way as Bambi struck, nailing the Warden in the throat. There was a high-pitched yelping sound.

Roth’s low laugh sent chills over my skin as he moved toward the third Warden, toying with him, clearly enjoying himself. He was sort of beautiful to watch, the grace in the way he moved, almost like a dancer performing on stage.

“You defile your body with familiars now?” Elijah’s voice was laden with disgust.

“Really? Do I need to repeat myself? You hooked up with Lilith!”

Elijah snarled. “And I regret giving you creation with every single breath I take. Just as I’m sure Abbot has regretted saving your life.”

Ouch. That– Okay, that cut deeper than I thought, and I flinched, because the wound was so raw.

But that pain gave way to something red-hot in me. Muscles in my stomach and legs tightened, and I let the shift come over me.

It was on like Donkey Kong.

Cool air hit my back as my shirt tore at the collar. My wings unfurled, arcing behind me as I felt my skin harden as if it was icing over.

Elijah immediately drew up short, his mouth dropping open. “What the...?”

“Yeah. My wings are feathered now. It’s weird. I know.”

He shook his head as he took a step back from me– literally backed away. Instead of gawking over that, I used it to my advantage. Relying on all the offensive techniques that Zayne had showed me over the years, I harnessed the power in my legs and my core. I spun around, faster than I had ever moved before, and kicked out and up, catching Elijah in the chest.

The blow staggered him, but that was a small victory. Throwing a punch that would make a boxer proud, I coldcocked Elijah in the jaw, snapping his head back. Pain burst across my hand, but I ignored it as I looked up, meeting Roth’s gaze.

“Damn,” he said, not taking his eyes off me as his hand snapped out, catching the Warden by the throat. Pride and something far deeper churned in those tawny depths. “Still hot as Hell.”

I flashed a quick grin in his direction before I turned back to Elijah just in time to miss the clawed hand that was aiming for my face.

“You cannot be,” he grunted, pupils dilated.

I jumped back as he reached for me again, but he caught my wing in his grip. He twisted his hand. I heard an almost delicate crack, and startling pain arced across my wing, slamming into my shoulder and powering down my spine.

Unable to stop it, a cry punched out of me, but that spark of pain ignited a fire in me. I started to bring my knee up, but before I could utter “jerk face,” Elijah slammed his palm into my chest.

The blow knocked me off my feet and through the air as if he’d tossed me. I flew back, over the edge of the roof overlooking the alley.

“Layla!” Fear filled Roth’s shout.

As I started to topple into nothing but air, instinct came out of cruise control. The pain in my left wing knocked the air out of my lungs, but I pushed through it, grinding my teeth as I caught myself.

The movement was like taking a lighted match to my wing, but I darted up several feet above the rooftop.

He’d broken my wing!

Startled, Elijah shouted as he reached into the torn coat and pulled out a dagger, and I knew without even getting close that it was iron—and if you had even the tiniest amount of demon blood, iron could be deadly.

He crouched, and then shot into the air, and that fire in me burned into an inferno. I shot across the rooftop as Elijah raised his hand, swinging the dagger toward me. I dropped to the concrete, and the dagger swung over my head. I grabbed hold of his legs, my claws digging in as I yanked down with all my strength.

Elijah hadn’t expected that move, and he went down as I made a pass at him, the tips of my claws missing him by an inch. Spinning around, I swung out my clawed hand. I didn’t graze him this time.

My claws hit him across the chest, digging in deep, tearing open the hardened skin. Blood spurted and then sprayed. Shock splashed across Elijah’s face as he stumbled back, toward the roof’s edge, his hands pressing against his chest. It wasn’t a fatal blow, but as he stared at me, I saw my opening. His throat was vulnerable and exposed. If I caught him there, he wouldn’t recover.

I took a step toward him, my wings twitching as I raised my hand again. My muscles were strung tight with anticipation. I wanted to bring him to his knees, end him. He was my father and he’d tried to have me killed more times than I probably even knew of. Killing him would be understandable, justified even, because if I didn’t, he was surely going to come after me again and again.

My eyes locked with his blue ones, and all that fury, and all that hurt swirled together into a cyclone of messy, dirty emotions. All those years of feeling like I didn’t belong, that I was cast out and unwanted. The shock of knowing that my own flesh and blood wanted me dead slammed into me just as hard as it had when I’d first learned the truth, and I...

I felt sad for him.

I could’ve been the little girl that looked up to him. I could’ve been a good daughter to him. I could’ve had years getting to know him. I could’ve loved him.

But he had made the choice to never have any of that.

In the end, he wasn’t worth the lifetime of guilt I’d shoulder.

Lowering my hand, I took a step back from Elijah as I felt a Warden hit the rooftop, hard enough to crack the cement. Even as I started to speak, a dark blur—a shadow—appeared over the ledge, and then shot across the rooftop.

Before any of us could move or react, Sam was there, standing in between Elijah and me. Not Sam, I realized with a fresh jolt of pain, but the Lilin. It didn’t stop to chat as it darted toward Elijah. The last Warden standing shouted, his words garbled by his cracked face and his yell cut short as Roth took him down, knocking him out.

The Lilin was on Elijah in a nanosecond, wrapping its hand around the Warden’s throat and dragging him down a foot to its level. At first, I was just stunned into immobility. Seeing what looked like Sam completely incapacitate a Warden was bizarre. My head almost couldn’t wrap around the fact that this wasn’t scrawny Sam, but a souped-up version of everyone’s worse nightmare.

The Lilin’s shoulders rose as it inhaled deeply. Horror swamped me as I realized it was feeding on Elijah. His aura blinked like a light going out, and then it was gone. Cold wind blasted into me, throwing around the strands of hair that had come loose across my face as I staggered to the side, already knowing it was too late. The Lilin was too fast, too deadly. It had struck like a cobra, and its venom was the deadliest.

Roth was suddenly behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist, holding me back, but truth be told, I wasn’t moving, because I knew—God, I knew—it was done.

Within seconds, the Lilin released Elijah. The Warden’s back was unnaturally stiff as he backed into the ledge. I expected him to transform into something horrifying at that point, like Petr had when I stripped his soul away, but that didn’t happen.

Elijah’s skin pinked as he slipped back into his human form and his wings folded into his back.

Fangs and claws receded. The wound in his chest, the wound I’d given him, was even gorier now, and the scar along his face stood out starkly.

There was no wraith.

There was nothing left of Elijah’s soul.

Those blue eyes usually filled with such hate were dull and unfocused as Elijah fell backward, over the ledge. Gone.

Whipping around, the Lilin faced us. Immediately, it began to transform, its body contorted as it doubled over before it straightened, throwing its head back. The length of it stretched, and then it expanded, bulking up.

“Oh my God,” I whispered as an all-new awfulness hit me.

The Lilin was taking on Elijah’s form, just as it had Sam’s. It was becoming something totally different, and within mere moments, what looked like Sam was no longer standing in front of us.

Instead, there was an exact replica of Elijah, down to the scar cutting across the side of his face, right to the corner of his lips.

“You’re welcome.” The Lilin even sounded like Elijah. The only thing missing was his aura. As had been the case with the Sam doppelgänger, there was nothing around the Lilin.

The Lilin bent on powerful legs as it shook out its shoulders. Its skin hardened to granite and massive wings appeared, spreading out from behind it. One side of its lips curled up in a smirk, and then it launched into the air, quickly disappearing over the rise of the other buildings.

Breathing heavily, I tugged on Roth and his arm slipped away from me. I walked toward the edge of the building and peered down, all the way down to the street below. A crowd of people had gathered. Some were backing away, their hands fluttering to their mouths. Someone whipped around and doubled over.

I squeezed my eyes shut as my stomach twisted. The real Elijah had hit the sidewalk below and it was...messy. Throat tight, I turned away and forced a deep breath. “We have to warn the other Wardens.”

ten

FLURRIES FELL FROM the thick clouds above and a fine coating of snow dusted the roofs of the buildings. Dusk was slowly invading the city, and down below, streetlamps were flickering on, along with the white Christmas lights that had been strung along the trees.

As I stood near the ledge and stared down, watching humans hurry along or stopping to hail a cab, I thought if I could capture this moment with a camera, it would almost look like the perfect holiday greeting card.

There was something calming about the fact that millions of people were going about their lives, completely unaware of the very real darkness threatening their city. After all this time, I finally got it

–why the Alphas demanded that humans remain clueless when it came to the existence of demons. It had to do with more than just the desire for faith in a higher power. It was also about protection, allowing the humans to live their lives every day, because if they did know the truth, the world would be irrevocably changed, damaged beyond merely the careless way humans treated other humans.

Warmth beat back the cold as Roth came to stand behind me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and rested his chin atop my head. There was no stiffness in his embrace or in my reaction to it.

Although this was all new to both of us, this openness about our feelings, there was none of that awkwardness that I imagined most couples faced.

We weren’t on the same building as earlier. Now we were near the federal district, waiting for members of my clan. Out of habit, I had texted Zayne a short message, telling him not to trust Elijah, that if they saw him, it wasn’t the Warden they knew. Minutes had gone by before he’d responded, proving that he hadn’t been asleep, encased in stone, like he should’ve been at that time. He’d requested a meeting, and so now we were waiting. Nerves formed a tangle in the pit of my stomach. I was going to see Zayne again, and that was going to be tough enough, but worse still, I figured I would also see other clan members. Maybe even Abbot, and I was nothing but a ball of anxious dread.

Roth hadn’t been too thrilled about any of this, which explained why Bambi was once again curled around my waist and Cayman was also here, along with Edward. They stood on the corners of the building like two sentries.

Really well-dressed sentries.

Both were in dark trousers and a white shirt, donning polished leather shoes. I had no idea why.

Maybe they had left ballroom dancing classes or something. I could totally see Cayman doing that.

“How’s your back?” Roth asked after a few moments.

I hadn’t mentioned that my back ached from where Elijah had gripped my wing, but Roth was careful to avoid the area and not irritate the dull pulse. “It doesn’t hurt that bad, but I think he might’ve broken something.”

The muscles along his arm bunched. “When we get home, I want to check it out if shifting doesn’t hurt you too badly.”

Home. Home was with Roth. That was so right I didn’t even need to question it. We stood in silence for a handful of seconds, and then I blurted out, “I get it.”

His hand flattened along my stomach, just above my navel as he lifted his chin. Bambi moved on my skin, stretching out and shifting closer to him. “You get what?” he asked quietly.

“Why the Alphas demand that the humans don’t know the truth,” I explained, resting my head back against his chest. “I used to think that it was so stupid. How did knowing the truth really hurt anything?

They’d know there really was a Heaven and Hell and everything in between. Maybe people would act right then.”

“Maybe,” he murmured, his arm tightening as he shifted us slightly.

“But that’s the thing. People probably would act right, but only because they wouldn’t live, not in the moment.” The wind picked up, and I smiled a little when I realized that Roth had moved to block it.

“They would be petrified. That’s why they can’t know. Or at least part of the reason.”

“Makes sense, I guess. It’s hard for me to understand, being that I came into creation knowing, well, everything.” He chuckled when I rolled my eyes even though there was no way he could’ve seen that.

“So, what? You want to protect them now?”

I frowned slightly as I stared down at the city. “I’ve always wanted to protect them.”

His chest rose against my back. “You’re more than that, Layla. Don’t you want a life outside of tagging demons?”

“I don’t know about that anymore. You know that.” I twisted around and tilted my head back, facing him. He was staring down, his head cocked in the way he did whenever he was trying to understand some kind of human emotion he just couldn’t grasp. “And I do want more.”

“Like what?” he challenged. “What do you want to do when this is over?”

When what was over? The fight with the Lilin? Reclaiming Sam’s soul? The war between the Wardens and demons? I had no idea if or when any of this would be over, but I had to hang on to hope that it would be. That both of us would still be standing, as would all those I cherished. I couldn’t allow myself to even briefly consider the idea that there wouldn’t be an after.

“I think... I think I’d like to go to college,” I told him. “Well, that means I have to finish high school first. That makes sense.”

His lips twitched. “That’s your big plan?”

I thought back to all those applications I had lining my old bedroom floor back at the compound and I nodded. “Yeah, and I... I want to travel first. I want to see places outside of this city.”

“Like where?” he asked, raising his hand and tracing the line of my jaw with his fingers. “I’m still banking on Hawaii.”

I grinned. “That would be nice. So, yeah, put that on the list.”

“Need other places to make a list, Shortie.”

“Okay. I want to see New York City—Dez says it’s amazing. And Miami. I want to walk on a beach.”

Getting into it, I started ticking off places. “I want to stroll the French Quarter in New Orleans, and I want to visit Galveston—”

“Galveston...Texas? Why?”

“Read a book once that took place there. It doesn’t matter. I want to see Dallas, like real cowboys and stuff.”

He laughed as he tucked a strand of my hair back. “Real cowboys are kind of hard to find.”

“We’ll find them. I’m positive. And then I want to see the Hollywood sign and maybe even Portland.

It rains there a lot, right? Not sure I’d want to stay there long, but I think I’d actually like to see Mount Rushmore– Oh, and Canada. I can keep going,” I said. “But I think that’s a good start.”

His eyes had that hooded quality that brought a flush to my cheeks. “That’s a great list.”

“What about you?” I asked. “What do you want to do when this is all over?”

“For real?” When I nodded, he lowered his head, dropping a quick kiss on the tip of my nose. “I can’t believe you even have to ask that. I plan to be wherever you are.”

My lips immediately curved into one of those big, funny-looking smiles as my heart swelled in my chest like an old-school cartoon character ’s. I was waiting for my eyes to turn into exaggerated hearts that popped out. “That is...that is the perfect answer.”

“That’s because I am perfect.”

“Well, that wasn’t the perfect answer,” I said drily.

Cayman’s warning cut off Roth’s answering laugh. “They’re coming.”

We turned to where he gestured. Off in the distance, they looked like great birds parting the clouds.

My stomach dropped as they dipped low, coming in for a landing. Zayne was definitely there; he was in the middle of the bunch, and even in his true form, I knew that it was him.

Three other Wardens were with him, and as they neared the rooftop, I recognized them as Nicolai and Dez. A bit of the unease, not all of it, lessened. Dez was from the New York clan and he’d first visited DC with his mate, Jasmine. While he’d been unsure of me at first, he’d quickly seemed to like me. I suppose it was because we were both outsiders, in our way. Nicolai had always had a soft spot for me, and I for him. He wasn’t that much older than Zayne when he’d lost his mate and child.

Nicolai rarely smiled, but when he did, he could take your breath away.

The fourth member of their crew shocked me.

It had to be Danika.

“Interesting,” Roth said, unfolding his arm from around me. He didn’t move away, though.

Interesting didn’t really sum it up. Wardens didn’t allow their females out much, preferring to keep them in gilded cages. It was one of the many things I’d hated about our kind. Granted, I understood that the Warden population was dwindling and females were prime targets for Upper Level demons, but still, the idea of being kept sequestered made me want to punch something.

Just like I knew it drove Danika nuts.

Danika was a lot wilder and crazier than her older sister, Jasmine, and I’d spent the better part of my formative years hating on her for no other reason than the fact that she liked Zayne and would be able to monopolize all his time with a flick of her glossy black hair.

Cayman and Edward didn’t move from their perches with the exception of facing the direction the Wardens were coming from. The crew of four landed on the rooftop, their impact cracking like thunder. Then Cayman glanced at Roth, who nodded. Both Cayman and Edward disappeared, as if they were never there, but I could still feel them. They were nearby, monitoring the situation, and if I could feel them, so could the Wardens.

Zayne strode forward, his chin bent low and his wings tucked back. My stomach flopped unsteadily as my gaze swerved to Nicolai and then to Danika. They were blocking her, keeping her behind them.

Something she clearly wasn’t too thrilled about.

Charging forward, she brushed past Zayne, who cast his gaze to the sky, a muscle throbbing along his jaw. She shifted into human form as she headed straight for where Roth and I stood, her gray skin giving way to flawless alabaster. Dez muttered something under his breath while Nicolai followed after her, a look of concern pulling at the corners of his lips.

Without looking back at the males, she threw her hand up in their direction and all she said was,

“Don’t even try to stop me.”

Nicolai skidded to a stop, his brows raised.

I stiffened, as did Roth.

Absolutely fearless, Danika stalked right up to us and before I could blink an eye, she’d thrown her arms around me and squeezed. A fruity scent, like apples, surrounded me as Bambi slithered onto my back, away from her. Danika was as strong as a linebacker, and I swallowed a squeak as I was pressed against her hard chest. The dull ache flared into a sharp throbbing sensation on either side of my spine, reinforcing my paranoid belief that Elijah might have broken one of my wings—one of my feathered wings.

“Careful,” Roth advised, only loud enough for us to hear. “She’s been hurt.”

“Oh God! I’m sorry.” Danika immediately released me, and I would’ve stumbled back if Roth hadn’t been there to steady me. “What happened? What’s—”

“I’m all right,” I assured her, caught off guard by her welcome. I still wasn’t used to our new friendship.

She glanced at Roth warily and it was obvious she didn’t 100 percent trust him. He smiled back at her, tight-lipped and daring. “I’ve been so worried,” she continued, taking a small step back as she ran her hands along her denim-clad hips.

“When Zayne said you reached out because something happened and they were coming to meet you, I had to come. I needed to say I’m sorry.”

“Danika,” Nicolai called gently.

“Sorry for what?” I asked, looking toward the other Wardens. Zayne was now eyeballing Roth like he wanted to toss him off the roof. Dez didn’t look entirely surprised, but Nicolai—well, he looked like he wanted to scoop her up and fly off, which was... That was odd.

“For what they did to you,” she said, her cheeks flushing pink. “This clan. It wasn’t right, and I wanted to kick Abbot in the balls.”

“Apologies are given out far too often to mean anything, but I like you,” murmured Roth. “I really do.”

Her gaze darted from him to me, and she then took another step back while Nicolai moved in closer. “Anyway, it was wrong. You would never purposely hurt Zayne or anyone else.”

Well, the thing was, I had hurt Zayne, even if not physically, and there was no mistaking that. I had to believe that she knew. When I glanced at him again, he still hadn’t looked in my direction. Feeling icky about that, I refocused. “Thank you, Danika, I...um, I appreciate that.” I turned to Nicolai and Dez.

“And I owe you guys everything, too. Thank you for finding Roth and helping me get out of that warehouse. You all helped save my life.”

And that was true.

Because of them, I was standing today. Instead of going along with Abbot, they had found Roth and stood against their own clan at great personal risk to save me.

“It’s good to see that you’re recovered,” Dez said, and I smiled.

“I second that. I’ve known you most of your life, little one, and I never once believed you were responsible for what was happening at the compound or outside of it,” Nicolai added, and I got warm and fuzzy on the inside. “You might be glad to know that the place is hardly trouble-free with you gone. We still haven’t managed to exorcise Petr ’s wraith. Whenever we try, he senses it and leaves the house.”

“He’s proving to be as much of a jackass as he was in real life,” Dez commented, proving that Elijah’s son, my half brother, had not been well liked. He paused. “Jasmine says hi, by the way.”

“Tell her hi from me,” I replied lamely, and like an idiot, I raised my hand and wiggled my fingers.

Dez grinned as he looked away, something he often did around me. I sort of wanted to jab myself in the eyes with my jazz fingers.

“What happened?” Zayne finally spoke, and when he did, my gaze swung to him. He was staring at Roth, and that made my stomach twist painfully. “The text said there was an incident with Elijah and not to trust him?”

Nicolai crossed his arms along his chest as he tucked his wings back. Remaining in his Warden form, like the other two, he was an impressive sight. “We have never trusted Elijah.” His eyes were focused on me. “His beliefs and actions have always been a source of discontent among us.”

“Well.” Roth drew the word out. “Elijah isn’t going to be a source of much of anything anymore.”

All the Wardens’ gazes shot to him, and his tight-lipped grin spread. “Details would be nice,” Zayne demanded, the cool breeze tossing fair strands around his dark horns.

I waded in before the conversation went downhill. “Elijah is...he’s no more,” I explained, and then rushed on when I heard Dez’s sharp curse. “We didn’t kill him.”

“Not that we didn’t try,” Roth amended, and when I shot him a look, he shrugged. “Why lie, Shortie? We were out searching for the Lilin—”

“We are handling that,” Zayne cut in, his chin rising.

“Sure you are,” Roth replied, and although that was a taunt, I knew he was capable of far more when it came to being an asshole to Zayne. This was watered down. “And how’s that going for you all?”

Zayne’s jaw worked as if he were going to grind down every one of his teeth. When there was no immediate response, Roth threw out, “Any leads? Nope. Didn’t think so.”

I shifted my weight from foot to foot while Dez narrowed his eyes and Danika started staring at the floor of the rooftop.

“Anyway, as I was saying, we were out searching for the Lilin when Layla saw Elijah. He and three other clan members were tracking us from the rooftops. We confronted them and they attacked.”

“He still wants me dead,” I explained. “Nothing new there.”

Zayne glanced in my direction, but didn’t make eye contact. “So what happened?”

“Well, Bambi ate one of the Wardens. So kind of not sorry about that,” Roth went on, and Bambi flicked her tail along my hip, as if she was happy at the shout-out. I squeezed my eyes shut briefly. “I sort of put another out of commission. Permanently. Self-defense. I swear.”

“I’m sure of that,” Nicolai murmured as he moved to stand slightly in front of Danika.

She didn’t appear all that bothered. “If they were from his clan, they won’t be missed.”

“Danika,” Dez admonished.

“What?” She threw her hands up. “It’s the truth. They’re all jackasses. We all know that.”

Nicolai’s lips twitched. “What happened to the third Warden?”

“He was taking a nap on the rooftop when we left him. Not sure if he’s woken up or some demon has come along and done bad, bad things to him.” Roth shrugged again. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”

“And Elijah?” Zayne asked, his voice tight.

I drew in a deep breath as I reached up, pushing the loose hair back from my face. “I was fighting him—”

“You were fighting Elijah?” Nicolai’s brows flew up.

“Uh. Yeah?”

Danika smiled broadly. “Awesome.”

I shook my head. “The Lilin showed up and got between us. It took Elijah’s soul—it consumed it.

There was no wraith. Nothing left, and then the Lilin changed its appearance.”

“It looks like Elijah now,” Roth tacked on. “That’s why Layla thought it would be a smart idea to warn you. The other Warden that was with him, if that Warden is still alive, was out cold when the Lilin took Elijah’s soul. He would have no idea that isn’t the real Elijah if the Lilin goes back to the clan.”