Keep Jann focused on guarding Diadre. Don’t give him a chance to betray Melek. Please…
I couldn’t give energy up to weeping. But when this was done, I knew I’d collapse into tears, just like Diadre had.
There was a darkness out tonight. A weight in the air. Lucifer’s sick power. It sucked at all of us—and was a siren call to the Nephilim.
Please… keep Melek safe. Keep all of them safe, but Melek most of all.
Please.
My head filled with images of the frenzied Nephilim, eyes blazing, tearing through the city with bared teeth and clawed hands.
It wasn’t until I was two blocks from the outer walls of the city that I heard the puttering snarl, and was reminded that it wasn’t just Nephilim on the prowl tonight.
The hounds were loose.
34. Reunited
~ MELEK ~
I made it to the caverns in record time—only to discover that unease travelled the tunnels. Two of the Neph, the unknown allies that we’d planted to patrol the city when Gall made his announcement, had flown back and warned them about the hunt.
Of course, they were low ranking Neph—only those viewed as lowborn possessed green eyes in Ebonreach. They’d fled back to the caverns, rightly worried for their own skins, when Gall had given the Neph permission to kill anyone—or anything—they found outside. Without our insight, while the groups were preparing to blockade themselves, instructions were vague, and there was vacillation.
They hadn’t wanted to blockusout.
It took some time to unwind the mess—to form a strategy for which groups should hide in which area, and make sure everyone was on the same page. I’d had to show some leadersthe best caves for hiding, with only one or two accessways to be blocked.
Of course, every movement left scent trails if the hounds did make it out here.
My worry was only slightly eased by the fact that there’d been no sign of Neph or hounds, traveling outside the city when I came out.
Still, there were too many groups, too manysoulsout here to simply warn them and walk. Jann and I knew the tunnels better than anyone there—and Jann was stuck back at the palace, trying to get to Gall. So, it was up to me to make the map about where to consolidate troops, break them into different portions of the maze of tunnels, and then appoint leaders for each.
It was hours before I could finally turn back, confident that, at worst, our allies were able to barricade themselves in. And at best, they were fortified tofight.
All I could think about was getting back to Yilan. I knew she’d be beside herself about Istral, and I prayed Jann had found a lead. A way to reach Gall—and that once again, Lucifer had brought Istral to him, since all the others held their women.
I was preoccupied, debating with myself whether Lucifer was on to us, and had learned about our allies. Was that what spawned this? Or was this just a scattershot attack to build fear, because he knew we had to be hiding somewhere, but didn’t know where?
I didn’t have the answer.
As I reached the mouth of the caves, the chill night air sweeping into the tunnel, bringing with it the scent of water in the air and possible snow, I heard a howl and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
I froze, one hand gripping a large rock above me, the other bracing my weight on the boulder below, as I climbed. I entered and exited the caverns from a different tunnel every time, andI’d been saving this one for exactly this kind of emergency. It was the closest to the city, but the most difficult to traverse, and most hidden from casual eyes. Unless someoneknewthere was a cave entrance here, their eyes would brush right past the mossy stones, and the black space camouflaged by ancient ferns growing between the rocks.
I went still, listening.
Had I heard that hound’s call blown by the wind all the way from the city? Or did Lucifer knowwe were out here, and the hounds were already on their way out of the city limits?
Then it rose again—a chilling, exultant call.
They were on a trail.
Nothing muffled the sound. I could detect nothing between the source of that sound and my ear, except space.
The hounds were out of the city, and moving in this direction where we’d hidden thousands of souls.
Frantic, I scrambled the last twenty feet to the cave’s exit, then launched immediately into flight so there would be no trail on the ground.
