Page 94 of Peacemaker

I fought with my one remaining blade, my blood and my hunter status lending me the ability to kick rifter ass. They might not die from my attack, but I only needed them to get the hell out of my way.

It was time to be with Rhys. He would end the rifters once his curse was broken and he came into his power. I knew it, and I could not wait to see it.

Rhys transformed his hands into black blades and together, we frantically fought our way toward an alley between two multistoried businesses. Still, our vicious desperation was not enough to get us out of the horde—not without injury or, more likely, death.

Then Amias was there, scattering vampires and rifters alike, and before I could catch my breath he caught both of us with an arm across our backs, and he propelled us out of the thick of the battle.

He shoved us not into the alley toward which we’d been heading, but into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant. “If you kill her,” he told Rhys, “I will come. Protect her body until I can get here.” And then he was gone.

He seemed to think my dying was a distinct possibility.

I shuddered, and then I let it go. What happened would happen.

I let it all go.

But…

“The mayor is dead,” I whispered, watching him.

He stared back at me, and his eyes didn’t change. “Yes.”

Nothing more.

So I nodded, and I let that go, too.

Had he killed Delaney? Was that one of his tasks? Probably. But it could just as easily have been someone else.

Crawford, for instance. Or even Shane. Or Alejandro.

I did not care.

I closed my ears to the battle, to the slaughter, and looked away from the newly turned vampires and the pavement littered with corpses.

I pushed away thoughts of my men, the terror I felt for them, and I turned to Rhys. “You will end this? You will end the rifters?”

He hesitated. “We will, love.”

I nodded. “And you’ll need the rifters away from the humans.”

“And away from the vampires.” He took my hand. “We need to hurry.”

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, as he pulled me to the restaurant doors. “Your eyes. Your skin. Are you in pain?”

Yes, I was jabbering. But I had to fixate on something other than the reality of the world around me. I had to feel something besides the awful shit inside the vampires’ and rifters’ minds. I had to force out images of my men lying broken and dying and alone. “Why doesn’t Himself help us?” I cried, finally.

“Himself and Nadine are hanging in the dark sky.” He kicked a side door and it crumbled, and then he shoved me through the doorway. “They’re keeping the rifters from spilling out of the city. But they won’t be able to hold the walls for long.”

His fingers were hot on my arm, and I finally had to pull away. I was worried about him. I was afraid his fever would kill him.

And I was afraid he was a demon.

What type of demon I had no idea, but he was just so blistering hot. Who but a demon would burn from the inside out?

My borrowed power from the vampires was waning. Whatever Rhys did to me needed to happen before the power was gone completely. I just had a feeling.

He went from area to area, looking for something, saying nothing. Finally, he shook his head and rushed me through another door and into a somewhat protected courtyard. It was surrounded by a short fence and held three picnic tables.

“We’re not safe here,” he said, “but I won’t need much time.” He wiped his hands on his shirt, then pulled me to him. “The first time will be the hardest, but it will also be the shortest. I’m sorry, Trinity. I can’t take time to ready your body. Or your mind.”

He waited then, for me to acknowledge his words. The skin of his face cracked a little more and he tightened his fingers on my shoulders, but he gave me a few precious seconds.

“I’m ready,” I said, for the second time that night. “I’m ready, Rhys.”

But he knew the truth, just as I knew the truth.

I was a fucking liar.