Hands closed around my arms, whirling me around.
Quinn’s shocked face was only inches away. He stared at me like I was the Oogie Boogie.
“You might wanna do your Vulcan Mind Meld thing,” I said, my voice only a little shaky. “This guy’s alive, but he’s in bad shape.”
Quinn opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Closed it again. “You—you—” his eyes looked ready to bulge out of his head.
“Yeah, yeah. Looks like I am a hybrid after all,” I said. “Whoop-de-fucking do. But it means I can help. I can get people out of these buildings.”
Over Quinn’s shoulder, I saw Cheriour, still assembling his soldiers by the castle steps. He turned to look at me, a brief smile touching his lips, and nodded.
Quinn’s hands slid away from my arms. “Go,” he said.
I didn’t need to be told twice. The quicker I moved, the sooner I could put this hell night behind me. Right?
Right??
I sprinted from building to building, busting down doors, walking through flames, and searching for signs of life. If I found people alive, I dragged them to the street, where Cheriour had assembled a group of soldiers to help me.
“I’ve got her, Addie.” Braxton took a little girl out of my arms. Poor kid. She wasn’t in bad shape, but her mother…
Well, tearing a terrified child out of her dead mother’s arms wouldn’t go down as the highlight of my life.
“Bless you, Addie,” a bald guy said a few minutes later as I handed a heaving man over.
I didn’t know how long this rescue mission took. Minutes. Hours. I was trying not to think about it.Thinking would’ve led to fear. Or doubt. And I didn’t have time for that shit. So I pushed myself forward. Even as my boots and breeches wentpoof,putting my pearly white legs out on full display. The leather harnessing had bubbled away, but my poleaxe was still intact, although the blades were a-cookin’.
But my blue/pink shirt? Still cool to the touch.
Celestial-made shirts were the freakingbomb!
I’d have to ask Cheriour what this thing was made of. Assuming, of course, we both survived this nightmare.
“Hey, kiddo…what’ya say we get out of your parent’s hair. Huh?” I plucked a toddler out of his cradle. His parents were in the other room, both dead. The little boy was unconscious, but still alive. His shallow breaths brushed against the side of my neck as I clutched him to my chest and booked it out the door.
“Gah!” I grunted when my toe caught on something solid. And mushy. And wet.
A body lay in a crumbled heap in the middle of the street. Blood pooled around it, still warm. My bare feet slipped as I staggered back.
I knew this body.
My gut churned.
“Garvin?” I whispered.
His head sat two feet away from his torso, but it was him.
“Fuck.” I clutched the little boy closer to my chest as I peered through the black smoke, looking for a Wraith, or a hellhound, or…
“So, they sent you after all.”
A woman’s voice drifted over to me.
I spun, nearly falling on my ass when I lost my balance, as a figure emerged from the smoke. A woman—and a damn pretty one at that. Perfect hourglass figure. And she wore a gauzy scarlet dress that accentuatedevery…single…curve. Shimmering black hair lay over her shoulder, twisted into an intricate braid. Her red-painted lips curved into a coy smile.
It would’ve been enough of a red flag to see this runway-ready model strolling through a medieval slum. But y’know what made it ten times worse?
Two expansive red-and-black wings unfurled from behind her back. Those suckers had to be at least fifteen feet from tip to tip, if not more.
