She was cut off by a scream, but not her own. It came from somewhere in the distance and was not from someone I recognised. And yet, it rang through the air, making everything stand still. The hairs that I had lifted, reacting to the way the sound carried in the air. It was full of terror, of pain.
“I can hear your vampire mate,” a darker voice stated, causing the female to shift. “They are trapped on the island.”
“What?” I listened to her move, her scent drifting away. “What does that mean?”
“Someone put a barrier around it,” one of the other males explained. “Likely Dante. They must have triggered it when they landed there.”
The female was silent for a moment before moving closer again, her scent becoming stronger. Her proximity alone made my heart race faster.
She came to a stop near my head. “Who are they?”
I wished I could see what she did, but no matter what happened, the other world creature kept hold of me.
“Those are my cousins,” one of the males said, his voice unfamiliar. “Demons of Elysian. They are here. Let the barrier down enough for them to join us, Magnus. They will get us out.”
The female made a sound in the back of her throat. “Put Thor down.”
“Are you certain?” the creature asked, the rumble of his voice rushing through me. It was a strange feeling.
“Yes. Put him down. Goddess above, he won’t be able to stand on his own. The blood rushing to his head right now…” She trailed off as the creature did as instructed and set me down on the cold earth. I didn’t recognise the substance beneath me; it was entirely unfamiliar. But as soon as I was down, I saw everything beyond us.
A dozen adult faces, most familiar. Nearly twice as many little faces, none I could place. Rushing water behind them, and stars, so many of them that they completely covered the sky. They were different to the ones from the other world. These seemed brighter, bigger.
I blinked hard when she came into view. The female from the cage. She seemed even more beautiful against the backdrop of stars.
Three loudbangssounded ahead, the kind of pops that usually signalled an execution. I flinched, though it wasn’t nearly as loud as it once used to be. It was almost muffled now, like I was hearing it through different ears.
Maybe I was. I glanced down at my body and stiffened. I was not covered in brown fur anymore. I knew I wasn’t, had felt it, but seeing it was an entirely different experience. Instead of paws, I had hands. Hands like the ones that once hurt me, that could handle a whip. And legs, dusted in some hair, though otherwise bare. With toes like hers, only larger.
There was cloth covering me around the waist, creating an irritation beneath. I tried to swipe it away, but the female made a sound, eyes widening.
“Nope,” she hissed, waving a hand. “Not where children can see.”
I frowned up at her, but she shook her head, shifting the small thing on her hip. “I will explain it to you later.”
I hoped she would, if only I could hear her speak more.
Ahead, the female shifter from the maze of corridors, with the red hair who smelled sweet, lifted her gun. “Three down. I only have two bullets left.”
“I’m out,” the cold smelling one said, not even pulling it free. His eyes darted to me, then away. “Weird.”
The shifter female stepped into the water carefully before walking along the rocks. “They’re being swept away. Dumb as hell jumping into water if you ask me. Can we open the barrier enough for the Elysian demons?”
“I hope so,” the female beside me said, looking across the water at something. “Because I give it all but a few moments before Damon tries coming here himself.”
“The fact that they have restrained themselves thus far is admirable,” one of the males said, white hair glinting in the moonlight. “I would not have in their place.”
“They know how dangerous it is,” the female snapped. “The barrier might not let them back in, and Damon can’t take us all.”
“He would be forced to leave some behind,” the winged male replied. Something strange tinted his scent as he came into view. “Dante learned his lesson about the island. He knew this could happen again, and made certain if anyone made it there, they would not escape him again.”
“Then how did they get over here?” the female asked, looking up.
I followed her line of sight up the cliff to see four figures standing in darkness. Unfamiliar to me, their scents were nothing I’d encountered before. Like the smoke of fire but tinged with something else. Something sweet.
There were three males and one female. One moment, they were standing there against the outline of trees, but in the next, they were leaping into a small opening created in a barrier Ihadn’t noticed before. The air rippled as they hit the ground and rolled, each one climbing to their feet with ease.
Each one had dark red eyes, sharing almost identical features. And they all lowered themselves to one knee, fist thumping against their hearts.
