Текст книги "Bonds of Fire"
Автор книги: T. A. Grey
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Текущая страница: 19 (всего у книги 20 страниц)
Chapter 38
The air was thick with a nasty, pungent odor that left Willow gagging.
Rolling onto her stomach in the cramped space, she crawled along the ground. The ground looked soft like dirt but was actually hard like sharp rocks. Biting her lip to keep from crying out, she kept crawling as the shards stabbed her knees and hands, piercing the skin. She didn’t even think to stand. Something had happened to her leg; whether it was broken or badly sprained, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she couldn’t put pressure on it.
Darkness surrounded her. She couldn’t find any source of light yet something casted the room in a dim, gray glow. Shaking, more scared than she’d been in her whole life, she pushed aside the worries of her baby, of where she was. None of that could help her now. She had to find a way out. Had to get away. Besides she had a feeling she knew where she was.
A particularly sharp rock on the ground stabbed her palm and Willow cried out. She inspected her hand and found a small rock sticking like a large splinter from her hand. Biting her lip, she pulled it out and immediately blood pooled. There was no time for this.
She crawled and crawled. Eventually her body grew tired, limbs heavy with exhaustion and still she had not even touched a wall. How long had she been moving, hours...minutes? Panic kept her going, fear kept her eyes darting about her. She tried to use her senses but what she was seeing and hearing and smelling were so foreign to her that her senses were useless.
The air was so thick, it reminded her of fog yet there was no smokiness around her. Suffocating darkness. She could only see a foot in front of her at a time and with each inch she crawled, she waited for something to jump out at her. The air smelled lightly sulfurous as if a candle had been snuffed several minutes before. Yet the scent never changed, never grew worse or lessened. Everything was constant.
The most unusual thing was the sound. A constant, deep baritone like a motor but not mechanical. As if she was deep in the earth and it spoke down here, one long, unending note.
With that thought, she knew with certainty where she was. Deep inside the rift. Below where the shahoulin reigned, below the violent idummi demons, deep where even the lowliest of creatures dared not tread—where the jaheera terrorized.
The light around her grew brighter, lighting her way. Instead of making her feel better, her stomach tightened with unease. The air, dense and suffocating, lessened with the light. Willow came to sitting position and finally looked around.
She was in a massive, unending room with stone walls that looked so far away. They were the color of sand and clay. Before she could take in anymore the ground shook. Willow held onto the sharp ground as her teeth chattered with the quake. A sharp cry left her as the shaking jarred her wounded leg.
Suddenly her worst nightmare came into the room with her. Dura, the jaheera demon stepped through the stonewall as if it was invisible.
The massive demon, which had towered over those tall trees in the German forest now stood imposing and deadly. Willow looked up and up, craning her neck and that was when she realized there was no ceiling. A dark void rested where a roof or wall or something should be. It looked like an unending, starless, night sky. A black void. Willow had a feeling this was what hell was like.
The demon was the size of a mythical giant with skin, though she was hesitant to call it that, black as tar, thick like scales. It came towards her, each massive, slow step shaking the ground like an earthquake. Willow crab walked backwards, not even noticing she was making the scratches on her palms open more and bleed. The pain in her leg seemed to understand that her escape was more important than hurting, because now she hardly felt it.
It moved slowly yet she couldn’t get away from it fast enough. Stark terror made sweat run down her temples and neck, heart pound, breathing race.
“WIIILLLLOOOOOW!”
The sound pierced her ears, shaking her eardrums. Shaking in utter fear, Willow came to a wobbly stand and screamed.
Suddenly arms banded around her. Faces, human, grabbed her and pulled her towards the demon. She recognized them in an instant. Stephanie, Rachel, and the boy Danny.
“Don’t do this!” she screamed.
She dug her good leg hard into the rocks but they were so strong, stronger than they should be and they wrenched her arms fiercely until she tripped. Her stomach hit the ground hard and she cried again, this time in fear of something else.
Frantically, her hands scraped at the ground as she tried to get away, but they latched onto her arms with tight hands and started dragging her across the rocky surface.
“No!” she screamed repeatedly as her distended stomach scraped along the sharp surfaces. Screaming, Willow threw herself on her side as they continued to ruthlessly drag her. She watched her belly in horror and saw little beads of red appear through her shirt.
They dropped her before the demon. Willow had never felt more helpless than she did right now. The demon’s massive hand raised, the size of a car door, and black, wispy energy came out. The dark energy swept around her body, covering her from head to foot with vile, dark magic. Willow could only watch as the black substance seeped into her body.
Willow was immobilized, paralyzed from her eyelids to her feet. She felt tears leaking out of her eyes but didn’t know if she was crying or her dry eyes were desperately trying to lubricate.
Think, think!
Her mind worked hard to figure out what she could do yet it felt like her mind was made up of cogs in a broken down clock slowly shutting down forever. All she wanted to do was shut everything out, curl into a ball and await whatever her fate was. But then she felt something...
She gasped, her heart soaring. The life inside her, her baby, moved.
My baby’s still alive!
She laughed, tears streaming down her face. Willow called upon all her strength and calmed herself. Somehow hope filled her chest and she knew, somehow, someway she could do this.
As if sensing her calm, the demon screeched. Garbled, demonic words came out of its fanged mouth. The young girl Stephanie, eyes dead and vacant, stepped forward.
“How dare you not fear me?” she said in a cold, monotone voice.
Willow blinked at her in confusion. Then she realized...the demon was speaking through her.
Danny, with the same vacant eyes, stiffened then turned and started walking. He disappeared through that same stone wall and reappeared a minute later carrying heavy metal manacles and a wicked looking dagger. The blade curved at the end like a miniature scimitar. It looked freshly sharpened and glinted in the grey light.
Willow started struggling then. Immobilized, she could do nothing mentally but physically try to move against the demon’s dark magic.
The demon’s dark, fathomless eyes looked down at her. Is it working? Willow wished she had her potion and dagger with her. But I have the spell! Hysterical laughter bubbled inside her.
Willow started to open her mouth—but nothing happened. She couldn’t move her lips to speak the spell. Hands grabbed her, putting the heavy manacles around her wrists and ankles. She was useless to do anything.
Then suddenly the paralysis was gone. The demon started speaking. From the rhythm of the tones it almost sounded like a song...or a chant. Willow sat there, unsure if the demon had released her from its magic or if she’d somehow freed herself from the spell. If that were the case then she’d use the element of surprise to her advantage.
Rachel stepped forward carrying a glass jar. Something squirmed inside of it that looked like green ooze. Willow didn’t know what it was but she didn’t want it anywhere near her. She started to mentally chant Lily’s spell faster in her mind, putting all of her energy and power into it.
Danny handed the silver dagger to Rachel. She raised the jar above Willow, held the dagger with the blade facing it.
The demon spoke faster. The room shook or maybe it was just the floor. Willow couldn’t tell. The demon stopped chanting then turned to Rachel; she repeated its words in that same monotone voice.
“Pour Karr’s blood on her.”
Willow realized now was the time to move. As Rachel swung the dagger at the jar with the intent on shattering it and letting all that green blood fall on her, Willow launched herself forward.
She didn’t make it far, the shackled ankles and hands didn’t give her enough movement, her injured leg throbbed, but she pushed off her feet with everything she had and slammed her shoulder into Rachel’s stomach. The glass jar went flying in the air.
The demon screeched madly with ear-piercing, garbled words that sounded a lot like orders. The glass landed against the rocks with a wonderful shattering sound. Willow smiled at her little victory as the green goop slowly slid into the rocky ground. That shit wouldn’t be touching her.
A shiny glint caught the corner of her eye. Stephanie and Danny ran to the goop, trying desperately to pick it up with their fingers; Rachel lay on the floor, dazed. Willow saw it then, the dagger sitting innocently on the floor in front of her.
With her hands bound in front of her, Willow dove forward.
Her fingers had just slid around the cold metal when she was hit with such force she heard her ribs crack a second before the searing, wrenching pain registered in her mind.
Then she was sailing through the air.
Chapter 39
Lyonis flung open the office door so hard it slammed the wall and shattered the glass window in it. His top lieutenants tore away from each other, breathing hard from a fresh batch of kissing.
“Now is hardly the time,” he said darkly.
Thane and Jackie squared instantly, jaws firming, eyes straight ahead. Lyonis nodded at them.
“Any news on Danny?”
“No, Sir. But all of the Atal Warriors have been set along the perimeter and streets. A total of 100 warriors,” Thane said.
“Alpha Lyonis, I still don’t think this is necessary. We don’t need vampires securing our defenses,” Jackie said.
Lyonis sat down only to stand again. He couldn’t stop moving in agitated jerks. Willow was driving him crazy. Why the hell was he feeling guilty? He was doing the right thing! It was his job to protect his mate and child dammit and that’s what he was going to do. But damn the sight of her hurting tore him up inside better than a chain saw could ever do.
In a distracted voice he said, “Sometimes we have to push aside our pride in order to be stronger. To take care of the ones we love.”
He didn’t see the intense look shared between Thane and Jackie at his words. Too focused was he on Willow. Willow, Willow, Willow. Why couldn’t she understand that this was necessary, that he was doing it to protect her?
“I hurt her.”
He didn’t realize he said the words aloud until Thane stepped forward and said, “These are difficult times. As long as you love her and tell her often she'll realize it’s the right thing.”
Lyonis stared at Thane in surprise. Had he ever told her he loved her? He thought he might have mentioned it in passing, but had he ever said the words to her? Hell, how could she not know it when his feelings radiated from his very pores?
“Of course she knows I love her,” he said softly, unsure.
Thane raised a dark eyebrow. “You don’t sound certain, Alpha. Maybe it’s time you tell her...as many times as it takes. Sometimes women need to hear it, a lot, before they’ll soften up.” The shapeshifter’s lips twitched like he wanted to laugh. Jackie’s hand shot out and slapped his arm almost too fast to see. Thane straightened again but a grin played at his lips.
Lyonis’ gaze slid over to Jackie’s exposed neck and there he saw the fresh, pink bite. The tension in his shoulders lessened.
“You two finally mated, huh? Congratulations.” Still the happy news didn’t fix his mood any.
“Yes, Alpha,” Jackie said, pink coloring her cheeks.
A guard ran into the room, panting from a sprint. “Sir, we have a problem!”
Lyonis stiffened, his heart pounding frantically. “What is it?” In his gut, he already knew.
“The Queen, Sir, she’s missing.”
Lyonis was out the door the next second. The cabin door was standing wide open as he entered it a minute later. He ran through the house, searching every door and closet. Under the bed he found her backpack, which previously had been empty in the corner of the room. His fist clenched over the packed bag. She was going to leave him but then why didn’t she take her bag?
Jackie and Thane came into the room after him.
“How did she leave?”
“Sir, the guard said none of the other guards let her through the perimeter. That it would be impossible for her to get through.”
Lyonis ran back downstairs and finished searching the rooms. Last, he stopped in the kitchen. A frown came over him as he looked at the open cabinets and a pot lying on the floor.
“What happened in here?”
The guard who had run to tell him the news stepped forward. “Sir, Rachel Harbrow stopped by. The ladies chatted for at least an hour. When another hour passed and I didn’t hear anything, I knocked on the door but no one answered. So I came in and searched the place but found it empty.”
“There was a struggle,” Thane said, inspecting the kitchen.
Lyonis nodded and the words were out of his mouth before he could think about it. “Call Tyrian en Kulev and get the sisters out here.”
“But, Alpha, I’m sure we can figure this out without any help from more Atal Warriors,” Jackie said.
Lyonis saw black. He stood; hands fisted tightly at his sides and in a cold, controlled voice said, “Don’t question me again. The demon took her and Rachel, too. Unless you know how to get her back then shut up and do what I say.”
Jackie bowed her head respectfully. “Of course, Alpha. You’re right. My pride bested me again.” She turned from the room.
* * *
“Where are they!” he screamed. Everyone around him recoiled.
“I called them right away, Alpha. They said they’d be here right away. I don’t know what’s taking so long,” Jackie said.
Lyonis paced back and forth in his living room. Guards stood all around him but wisely didn’t ask him to calm down or sit. They knew he’d tear off their heads with such nonsense.
It had been almost a whole hour and they still hadn’t showed up. Each second that ticked by made him feel like he was slowly feeling Willow slip through his fingers.
A guard rushed into the house. “Sir, they’re here!”
Lyonis was outside in the blink of an eye. Tyrian, Chloe, Lily, Telal, and a guard walked towards him.
“What the hell took you so long?” he roared. His pack knew the intensity of his anger and flinched at his voice.
Chloe gave a disgusted glace at the demon Telal. “Ask him.”
Telal merely shrugged and Lyonis saw red. He had the demon on his back, his hands on his throat in the next second. His hands transformed, forming sharp taloned claws that dug into the demon’s neck.
“I’ll kill you,” Lyonis spit out.
The demon didn’t flinch. “Then do it. Otherwise get the hell off me, shapeshifter.”
Lily stepped forward with a fierce scowl on her face. She planted her hands on her hips and glared down at Telal. “You don’t have to be such a bastard. His pregnant mate has just been stolen by the demon and he has no way to get to her. You’d be freaked out too.”
“I’d have to care about her first.”
Lyonis’ fist slammed into the demon face. The demon cocked his head to the side to spit out blood. Still, his face was impassive, uncaring.
“If you want my help get off of me now. Or I’ll make you get off,” he said softly.
Lyonis was forcefully tugged off the demon by his guards and he let them because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to get off him on his own.
Telal flashed to a stand. “Why was I called here?” He sounded bored. Lyonis shook against the arms holding him. He knew he wasn’t mad at the demon—much—but that he wanted an outlet to release energy on. Still that didn’t stop him from lunging again at the demon.
The blue-haired demon looked at him as if he was no greater a threat than a fly.
“What happened to our sister,” Chloe asked, her hand clenched in Tyrian’s.
“She gone,” Lyonis said, then restated what had happened in the house with Rachel.
“The demon took them both?” Chloe said.
Telal scoffed. “Dura is a jaheera demon that thrives off fear and death. Its powers are magnificent when at full strength. Even now I doubt she’d taken Rachel. The shapeshifter is useless, unless she was being controlled.”
“Controlled?” Chloe said.
“Yes, I’m sure the other members of your little pack that have gone missing are gone right now. Go ahead, check,” Telal said with that same straight face.
Lily marched up to him and slapped him across the face. He slowly turned his head to look at her and a small spark of anger, or something, was there.
“Don’t ever hit me, lilit.” His words were deathly quiet, controlled.
“Then don’t pull this nonchalant attitude with me. This is my sister you’re talking about.”
He shrugged.
Thane had already taken off into the pack to find out about Stephanie. He came back a few minutes later, a grim look on his face.
“Stephanie’s parents say she left the house to go to a friend’s house, but none of the guards have seen her all night.”
“See, she’s been using them all along. It’s a smart way to infiltrate the enemy really,” Telal said.
Lyonis made another lunge for the demon, but stopped when Lily stretched up on her toes, grabbed the demon’s golden-skinned face in her small hands, and planted a big kiss on him.
She pulled away before he could push her off. The demon looked...stunned.
“I told you not to touch me.”
“You said not to hit you. Say another smart-ass comment while my sister’s in danger and I’ll keep planting them on you. One horrible kiss at a time, got me?” The hard edge to her voice belied the teasing words. The demon twitched but didn’t say anything.
“How do I get to her?” While she’s still alive, he added silently. He could sense her, feel her, as all mates could do. He could feel the strength of her soul still beating, but for how long?
All eyes trained on Telal.
He crossed his arms across his big chest. “I can teleport to the deepest level of the rift.”
Lyonis shook off the arms holding him. “Take me now.”
“But,” Telal interjected, “I can only take one other person with me at a time and you won’t be able to kill the demon.”
“Yes he can!” Lily said. “She was stolen from the house so the potion and dagger should still be here. He can take that down there and use it.”
Telal rounded on her. “A mere dag and vanishing spell will not kill Dura.”
Lily cocked her head to the side. “Yes. It. Will. The dagger was enchanted and blessed by a good friend of mine.”
Telal tossed back his head and laughed.
“You may have heard of her, Rosa El Blanco.”
His laughter died, his expression almost becoming angry. “You know Rosa the White?”
“We’re besties,” she whispered fiercely.
Telal looked as if he didn’t believe her but then he just shrugged. “If the white witch has truly enspelled the weapon then you may serve to deal damage to the demon. Though I doubt it can kill it; perhaps just hurt it.”
“Take me there now,” he said to Telal.
Turning, Lyonis ordered Jackie to grab the dagger and spell. She returned with it a minute later. He saw the worry and hesitation in her eyes. She was worried about her Alpha. But he could issue no comforting words to her now.
Lyonis took the dagger from her and instantly felt the power in it. It was heavy but not from its mass; the spell held a positive, wavering energy around it like an aura. He clenched it in his hand then stepped towards the demon.
“Please bring her back,” Chloe said, tears falling down her face. The sisters huddled next to each other, hands held tightly.
Telal stepped forward, clasped Lyonis’ shoulder in his hand and said, “Hold tight.”
And then they disappeared.
Chapter 40
The dark, endless sky above cracked with streaks of silver lightning. Thunder boomed in the open space around her and Willow struggled to sit up to see. What kind of magic was this?
She cried out as her broken ribs stabbed at her. The sky formed a white slit that reminded her of a thin cloud, and then it was gone and two men appeared on the ground. The demon roared and spewed garbled words. Danny, Stephanie, and Rachel launched themselves at the intruders.
Willow gasped at the sight, blinking several times as unbelievable hope filled her chest.
“Lyonis!” It came out more as a croak, but he heard her.
He turned back to look at her just as Danny tackled him down to the ground. His eyes took in everything in a blink, then his gaze focused on the boy on top of him, and she saw his pained expression.
The blue-haired demon was here too. He locked into a battle with Rachel as Stephanie sidestepped around him to engage with Lyonis. Telal quickly got Rachel in a chokehold.
Willow struggled to her feet, favoring her good leg. Her chest hurt to breathe, to move, and hell, it hurt even when she didn’t move, but she stood.
“Don’t kill her!” she screamed.
The blue-haired demon flicked her an annoyed gaze, and tightened the pressure around Rachel’s neck. Her eyes fluttered shut slowly and her body slumped. Telal dropped her to the ground, surprisingly gently.
He squared off with the demon who started chanting more dark words. Black, wispy smoke came out from the ground and slowly took the shape of clawed hands. Another arm appeared then dozens of skeletal bodies, black and oozing like tar, pulled out from the sharp ground with groans and moans.
Willow made her way towards Lyonis, dragging her useless leg and holding her ribs. She had to help him, had to kiss him one last time just in case they didn’t make it.
Telal suddenly let out a fierce battle cry. The sound brought chills down her body and made her pause at its power.
Lyonis also knocked down Danny and Stephanie without killing them, and then he rounded on Dura. Dura took a hard step back and Willow toppled to the ground with a choked scream as her hurt leg roared with pain. Only Telal and Lyonis didn’t budge as the demon moved with quaking steps.
Willow refused to give up. She had to help them.
The black, oozing monsters she’d summoned surrounded Lyonis and Telal, screeching war cries. Willow rolled onto her stomach and used her elbows to lift herself off her broken ribs. The pain was excruciating; tears fell again and again, intermixed with her sobs of pain as she crawled, dragging her useless leg behind her.
Lyonis transformed. She’d never seen anything like it.
He let out an unholy roar as his body grew into a great monstrous beast. A gigantic wolverine, Lyonis towered as tall as the demon with claws as long as a butcher’s knife, legs as thick as tree trunks and brown shaggy fur covered pointed ears, a fanged mouth, and a monstrous chest. Still, he clenched the miniscule dagger in his paw and launched himself at the demon.
He hit it, knocking the demon to the ground. They rolled together and then he plunged the dagger into the demon’s big rounded belly.
Telal spun on the black summoned beings. He held out his hands and spoke harsh demonic words. The beings slammed against an invisible barrier, falling backwards, only to charge again and again at it.
Telal’s expression was fierce as he kept his palm out, then faced his other palm to the ground as if he was coaxing something to come out of it. And then white streaks of energy like shafts of sunlight came out. Brilliant blinding light. The demons screamed and scuttled away from the light as they ran. Those that were too late, too slow, were pierced with the light and exploded in a buff of black smoke.
Willow continued to crawl, somehow managing to move with the intense pain inside her. Lyonis and the demon continued to fight, claws slashing and missing as they both dodged each other’s blows.
She had eyes only for him as Telal continued to destroy the summoned creatures.
Lyonis faced off against the demon. The slash in its belly oozed black blood on the sharp ground. Lyonis lunged forward in his great form and slashed two-handed down the demon’s middle. He caught scaly skin, ripping it in shreds down the front. More blood spilled, but the demon didn’t drop, didn’t seem to weaken.
Telal turned to her with wide eyes. “The spell!” he shouted over the screams and shouts of the monsters.
Startled, she remembered the words and started chanting. Her voice was a croak. Each time she tried to scream to be heard over the monsters, her chest constricted, ribs stabbing at her. Still she continued to crawl forward, chanting the words.
“Go back whence you came, I unsummon thee, demon!”
The demon slashed forward, and Willow stopped moving as the demon’s black claws caught at Lyonis’ shoulder and slashed down. He let out a painful cry as he dropped to his knees. He wobbled for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, his body once again returning to its human state.
“No, no, no,” she cried over and over again as she crawled faster.
Telal spoke louder, fiercer and then the entire room was blinded in piercing white light. The summoned demons exploded in loud cracking explosions like firecrackers. Their black bodies formed a big smoky cloud that smelled so strongly of sulfur that Willow’s eyes burned.
Lyonis pulled his shaking body up onto his knees, but then the demon cried out a garbled sound and slammed its massive leg into his back. Willow stopped moving.
As if in slow motion, she watched as Lyonis cried out then slammed against the ground with a nasty crunch of breaking bones. He laid there, body unmoving.
Telal cursed loudly and dove for the dagger. Turning back to her he yelled, “Don’t fear it! Its power is based off your fear; you summoned it!”
Willow heard his words but they didn’t break through the cold shell around her. Her eyes couldn’t move from Lyonis’ prone body. She moved towards him, the pain she’d been feeling nothing to what her heart was feeling in her chest. The sobs couldn’t be stopped by time she reached his side.
She heard both demons speaking in that dark demonic language, heard the chanting of spells going back and forth but she couldn’t watch. Didn’t even care anymore. She collapsed next to Lyonis and lifted his head onto her lap.
The tears were blocking her vision, making it blurry, so she wiped them away fiercely.
“My love,” she said. She couldn’t stop touching his face, his lifeless body.
Telal let out a pained shout and then he landed in a hard mass next to them. Willow lifted her gaze from Lyonis with a serene, calm look on her face.
Telal looked at her and sighed as he grimaced his way to a sitting position. “Glad you do not fear it anymore, but I need you to do one more thing.”
Willow heard his words but didn’t comprehend them. He handed the silver dagger to her and when her lax fingers dropped it, he picked it up and curled her fingers hard around the handle.
Grabbing her by the back of her neck, he leaned his face close to hers. “I can save him if you kill it.”
She blinked, his words finding their way into the thick, numb cloud in her mind.
“Huh,” she said slowly.
He spoke clearly, slowly. “I said I can save him if you kill the demon. No fear, you know what to do.”
Her heart pounded with a wild, frantic beat as she came to a wobbling stand. The demon teetered on its feet, so much black blood spilling out of its wounds and pooling around it. It must be hurt or else it would have come after her.
Willow cradled her ribs gently, dragged her hurt leg behind her, as she slowly made her way towards the demon. No fear. Save Lyonis. Save the baby.
“I love him so damned much demon. You can’t take that away from me,” she said fiercely. Tears slid down her face.
The demon held out its big hand and started chanting.
From behind her Telal shouted, “Now, Willow!”
Willow flung the dagger hard. It whipped around flying end over end. It seemed to take forever to watch it move. Willow waited, body still, breath held. With a dull thud it landed in the demon’s chest. The spell Lily’d given her came from her mouth, faster and faster, louder and louder.
“Go back whence you came, I unsummon thee, demon!”
The demon squealed; the horrendous sound carrying so much energy it knocked Willow down to the ground. Still, she kept saying the words, over and over again. A loud rumble came from the ground; the distant walls shook and crumbled to the floor in large chunks. The place was going to collapse in on itself, she thought rather calmly.
The demon dropped to its knees and pulled the dagger out. It glowed white as the holiest of lights in its black hand. The light became so blinding that Willow looked away as she whispered the spell from her chapped lips.
The demon became engulfed in the surrounding white light. With a final terrifying cry, the demon exploded. Thick, black, viscous fluid flew in every direction with a loud boom. Willow ducked away, covering her face as the black filth landed over her clothes, hair, and skin like tar.
Then all was quiet.
Willow looked around in a daze. Telal watched her with a peculiar look on his face. Then he glanced down at Lyonis and said, “Come, lilit, I’ll do this thing for you.”
How could he bring back the dead? The cold, harsh word brought forth a rush of hot tears as she crawled so damned slowly back to her mate. A sob left her followed by more as she fell onto his cooling body.
Telal grabbed her shoulder and nudged her back. “Move on now, the quicker I do this the better chance it’ll work.”
Willow moved back from him, feeling drugged and drunk, her body and mind loopy.
Telal leaned over Lyonis and pressed his palms over one shoulder and then the other. His eyes closed, breathing became deep, each breath being held longer than the next. Soft, strange words left him in a rush. He spoke with a passionate energy that even Willow could feel. Goose bumps spread over her body, the hair on her arms stood up—and she had the distinct, peculiar feeling that something great was happening.
White energy blasted out of Telal’s hands. He grunted, but kept speaking. Willow watched as the color came back into Lyonis’ face with a jolt. His chest moved as if he’d been zapped with a defibrillator. Telal’s arms started shaking, his eyes closed as if in pain, but still he kept chanting those strange words. Lyonis’ body jerked again and then his eyes were blinking frantically; he gasped one ragged breath of air.
