“And this is for all the suffering, innocent humans in the Nether, you cowardly motherfucking son of a bitch.”
I add an extra twist as I rip his heart out, just to add to his final agony.
For a moment, vengeance is sweet.
But when an unrivaled buzz of power floods through my system with searing potency, I drop his heart, clutching at my own chest. I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself despite the two powerful immortal life forces barely contained inside me.
Just when I think I've reached my limit, I hear them as if they’re far in the distance.
Maven,Everett calls, panic saturating his telepathic voice.
Silas is close behind him.Where the hell are you? Answer us. Now.
Relief at hearing their voices dulls the blistering power in my veins. I breathe out slowly, getting to my feet.
I'll be back soon,I promise.
But where the fuck did you g–
The front door of Del Mar’s safehouse slams open. I block my quintet out immediately, turning to face the next threat as a handful of bounty hunters rush into the room.
Hellhounds howl and snarl as they leap inside, but to my surprise, their masters order them to heel. When the hunters see the dead member of the Immortal Quintet, they shout and swear in alarm while they aim at me, moving as a well-oiled team to surround me. Their red lasers dance over my skin, centered on my head and chest.
One of the hunters snaps a picture of me on a cell phone. Great. I’m guessing that will be all over the news soon.
Oh, well. At least he captured me in my element, coated in blood with Pierce at the ready.
“Don't move,” a dark-skinned fae woman orders. “Come quietly, and we won’t have to hurt you.”
I yawn again, the exhaustion starting to really set in as I squint at these bounty hunters. Gods help them, they just have no idea how not frightening they are. They could all shoot me at once right now, and I would still revive with plenty of time to slaughter them before they could possibly deliver me to the Legacy Council.
“If you’re going to threaten me with a fight, at least bring someone who knows what he’s doing. Where’s Douglas?”
“Still cleaning up the mess you left in Alaska,” another one of the hunters growls. The fearful disgust on his face makes me think his trigger finger is getting itchy. “He wants you brought inalive for questioning—but if you resist, we get to kill you finally. Except I say we just fucking take you out here and now.”
“Stand down, Radley,” the fae girl snaps.
“Look around! She just fucking assassinated everyone here!” he shouts. “Did you forget your cousin was just murdered in Alaska by this bitch? I don’t care what Douglas says. We don’t need answers—we need thetelumdead!”
That makes all of them start shouting. The girl in charge is pissed as she glances over her shoulder at them, snapping that Douglas has a plan and they need to shut up.
Their poor unity is the perfect opening. I send a surge of dark magic through the air, sending them all flying backward with shouts of pain and alarm. Hellhounds bark and whine, caught in the entangled mess of agony that my unique magic causes.
I use the fastest transportation spell I can muster to send me back to an alleyway in Madrid. I stumble, bracing myself against the brick wall beside me as I try to catch my breath.
I can heal more of my injuries before returning to Nebraska. That way, my guys won’t lose their shit when they see me.
And then we’ll have to get the fuck away from any trace of my magic before we’re hunted down again—because killing Del Mar just bought me more time, and I intend to use it.
27
EVERETT
It’s been nearlythree horrible hours since I woke up from what I thought was death.
The first hour was spent in an agonized panic, struggling to form words after whatever the hell that wraith did to me. Silas was the same way, Crypt was nowhere to be found, and Baelfire was still unconscious.
When we tried to reach Maven through the bond, all we got was,I’ll be back soon.
