“Davind,” Tyson replied. “He was insanely powerful. His energy literally cut through ours.”
Swallowing roughly, I tried to steady my breathing. “Davind is one of their leaders. There’s almost none as powerful as he is. Louis knew this. He has fought that particular demon before, and he knew….”
That there was no other way. Davind didn’t steal Louis’s soul and take it back. Louis attached himself to the demon and then used his energy to send them both back to the land between.
“He knew what would happen?” Jessa breathed. “He knew he would be taken to the land of demons, and he still chose that path.”
“He chose to save us all.” Mischa was crying now, tears silently tracking down her cheeks, barely visible in the low light. “To save our babies.”
“Yes,” I confirmed, not at all surprised. My feelings for Louis were hard to define, because there was a lot of anger and pain intertwined with all of the millions of good memories, but I would never deny the pureness and light of his soul. He was one of the best supernaturals I’d ever known, and just because he’d broken my heart didn’t make that any less true.
“So how do we find him,” Jessa whispered, leaning in even closer. The wild scent of shifter washed across my senses, and despite our current dire circumstances, a flicker of joy at being back with supernaturals hit me.
I was so ready to return to this world.
“I’m going to track him,” I said quietly. “We will have to move quickly because demons will be drawn to our energy. This world is dead, the ley lines depleted to the point where I almost can’t feel them. So we’re going to stand out.”
The three dragons especially.
I eyed the fourth Compass, the huge vampire who apparently didn’t have a dragon yet. But I could see what a lot of them wouldn’t be able to; his dragon was there, just under the surface.
Maximus regarded me while I watched him, amusement flickering across his dark eyes. “What are you seeing?” he finally asked.
“You have the energy of a dragon,” I murmured. “It’s not released yet, but it will come in time.”
My words seemed to please him. He stood even taller, towering over Mischa, who was at his side. Wasting no more time on that, I focused instead on finding Louis. His energy was more familiar to me than almost anyone’s, and I found him with ease. “Got him,” I said, locking my own energy onto his.
I got a wisp of power in return, and worry bloomed with full force in my mind. He was weak.
“Hang on, I’m going to open a step-through. We don’t have any time to waste,” I said, before reaching for the stores of my power inside. It was odd using my own power only, but there was no other choice here. I just had to be careful not to use too much, in case we had to fight.
Darkness washed across my senses just as the doorway swirled into existence. “Demons,” I bit out harshly, before sending out a shield to delay the evil entities heading our way. “Move. Now.”
I let them go through first, until there was only Braxton and me left. “You go,” he said, “I'll keep the demons at bay.”
I shook my head. “No, you will be overwhelmed in seconds. I'm holding them back right now, but there’s literally a thousand of them closing in on us. They like to stay close to the portal of Faerie. Close to a land of energy.”
Braxton grumbled, his huge chest lifting. “Then we go together. No one gets left behind on my watch.”
I knew it was bothering him to be here while the rest of his pack was on the other side of my step-through. I felt the same way, so I just nodded and reached out to link my arm through his. That way I knew we'd both make it through and I could shut the doorway down before the demons broke through the last of my barrier.
When we popped out on the other side, there were multiple breaths of relief. “You scared me a little,” Grace admitted, moving forward. “I wasn't sure you were going to make it through.”
“Lizzie was holding the demons back,” Braxton told her. “I had to make sure she didn't get left behind.”
Without seeing our surroundings, I shut down the step-through, making sure nothing followed us. When I finally got a chance to look around, I had to blink at the unnatural brightness a few hundred yards away from us.
“Circus of Souls, I'm going to assume,” Justice said, her eyes locked on the flashing and zigzagging illumination. “This is where Louis is supposed to be?”
“That’s where they said he was,” Jessa bit out. “Let's go pay them a visit.” Determination creased her brow. “I'm ready to have him back. I need him back.”
Everyone moved closer together, keeping an eye out as we started to walk in the direction of the lights. I could feel Louis’s waning energy with each step we took toward that place.
Instinctively, I knew one thing for sure.
We were running out of time.
4
