Christian stiffened. “Raquel?”
“I’m fine,” she said, and Christian bent again over the neck of his horse. The horses could ride faster than the demons could run and it was a full out race to the portal now. The only demons they engaged were the ones they couldn’t avoid. Those they trampled when they could, attempted to behead them if they got within range of their weapons.
Kamis’s consciousness crowded her and Raquel pushed against it, aware that she needed to lock her own thoughts inside her head. As they streaked through the shadow world that Asgard had become, she built a mental shield. She didn’t want the Vanir to be able to pick up on her thoughts. Even more than that, she didn’t want to know his.
Ahead, the portal was an open gash, bleeding the warmth of Midgard into this dead world. At the edge of her consciousness, she felt Aiden removing the blocks he’d placed after they crossed. As they barreled toward the portal, he widened the flow so that the hunt could pass through again and return home. She and Kamis should go last...just in case.
Christian and Aiden seemed to think the same thing because they slowed, allowing the rest to push forward. A flash of movement caught her eye and she sucked in a mouthful of cold, metallic air before realizing that it was Fen. How long had he been there? Pacing along a step behind them, protecting their flank.
The static hum of the portal increased as the first riders reached it. Almost there.
Five yards before they reached the shimmering air that marked their goal, a large demon unfolded from the shadows. Christian’s horse screamed and instinctively tried to stop. Fighting for control, Christian urged his panicked mount forward as the animal tried to turn and run. The portal was their only chance and they were so freaking close. Fen leaped at the demon’s throat and was swatted aside with a heavy sound that made her stomach clench in fear. She turned her head to follow him, but her attention snapped back when Christian wheeled his horse around. The demon went directly for Aiden and Kamis. Aiden was hampered by Kamis, slung over the horse’s back like the deadweight he currently was. Christian swore and she felt his indecision.
“Put me down. I can make it through on my own. Bring me Kamis if you can. Aiden needs you.”
There wasn’t time to discuss it and Christian damn well knew it. He dropped her to her feet and shouted at her to run. She couldn’t help scanning the area for a sign of Fen. She didn’t know where—
There, beside Aiden, crouched, snarling and ready to lunge for the demon’s throat at the first opening. A sob of relief and frustration escaped her. She lowered her newly built shields and said to Kamis, “You need to get to me. We need to cross together.”
“I don’t—”
Christian engaged the demon and shouted something at Aiden she couldn’t hear. Aiden dropped back and lowered Kamis into Raquel’s waiting arms before returning to the fight. Her legs nearly buckled beneath his weight until he managed to stand on his own. She placed her shoulder under his armpit and dragged him toward the portal. The demons that had been chasing them on their ride were there now too, some distracted by the higher level demon fighting Aiden, Fen and Christian beside the portal, but a few were headed their way. She gathered electricity from the air and zapped the first one stupid enough to get close.
“Five more feet,” she said as much to Kamis as to herself. “You can do this.”
But his legs were barely moving. He couldn’t support his own weight and the demons, even the singed ones, were drawing closer. The Vanir’s cold, thin arms wrapped around her waist and his breath touched her ear. But when he spoke, his voice was inside her head. “Am I worth this, little girl?”
“Shut up,” she snapped and turned them toward the portal.
She directed another bolt at the closest demon, but defending herself in this way required both an enormous amount of energy and concentration. She heard Fen howl in rage or pain and turned her head. Mistake.
A demon leaped down on them from a boulder and hit her shoulder hard. She heard a ripping noise and felt the warmth of the blood before the pain hit. She wouldn’t look. Struggling to her feet, it was now Kamis trying to pull her toward the portal. With a last heroic effort, she managed to get her feet under her and lunged forward. They hit the portal just as the injured demon rolled to its feet. White light exploded in her head. Behind her eyes. For an instant there was nothing except her and Kamis and that cursed silver amulet binding them. Then there was pain.
And darkness.
They passed through and for a second she thought she’d made a mistake. That the
It was snowing.
She looked down. Blood stained the snow red where her hand pressed to the ground. She still had a hand though, two of them, so that was something. A shout came from the left followed by the clean whistling slice of a Skimstrok blade. Hard hands dragged her away from the portal, but she could barely open her eyes. She didn’t know who lifted her onto a horse. Someone cradled her on his lap, but she couldn’t drag her attention away from the portal. They would make it out. They had to.
Snow drifted down so sweet and soft and gentle.
The open portal shimmered in the air like heat from a hot sidewalk on a summer’s day but didn’t melt the snow. The heaped body of the demon stupid enough to chase them directly into the waiting hunt lay beside the portal. She stared until her eyes burned. And then Christian emerged, followed by a bloody Aiden hunched over his horse’s neck. And finally, after a brief pause, there was Fen. She closed her eyes.
“Ouch, Alan.” Raquel tried to pull her arm back, but Alan had a firm hold on her wrist and the pain that accompanied her attempt made her vision go gray at the edges.
He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and cut through what was left of her shirt. With one last snip, he clipped her bra strap and grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m a doctor and happily married
“Ha.” He wasn’t interested in her body aside from the great gaping slash on her shoulder and she knew it. There were actually three gashes at the top of her shoulder that sort of blended into one tear ending beneath her armpit. It was still weeping blood, and she’d been dizzy and a little nauseous
He whistled softly. “That is a beauty. Here, you can lie down. It stops before it reaches your back. Okay, now you have to let me in.”
He placed his hand directly over the wound, not touching her skin but close enough to breach her personal shields. She closed her eyes and set aside her protective blocks. Normally, she didn’t bother with them though some witches kept them up all the time. She’d placed them before the crossing and held them because they added an extra barrier of protection between her and Kamis. Now, as she dropped her shields, her awareness of the Vanir witch increased. He was sleeping, thank the gods.
“Did you look at the witch’s legs yet?” she asked and then hissed as Alan began to repair the deeper wound in the muscle.
“Briefly. Whatever Surtr did, it didn’t affect blood flow so there’s no permanent damage. Mostly muscle atrophy. A burn where the chain was wrapped. He needs rest...if Aiden decides you can keep him.”
“He’s not mine.”
Alan gave a huff of laughter. “Says the woman who ensorcelled him. I think it’s something like ‘you brought him home now you have to take care of him.’”
“He’s not a stray dog.”
“No.” The smile left his face. “He’s a Vanir witch exiled to Asgard for reasons we don’t understand, and you’re the only one who can control him.”
She winced and he patted her leg before sitting back to reach for the washbasin. “Make sure you do that,
