Page 75 of Blue Embers
We were rounded up like cattle for the slaughter. Two dragons and all but one Zephyre witch remained. The male. He and the others herded us into the driveway in front of the cabin. Both Malice and Lukan had been shot at least once with those black bullets and their bodies weren’t healing from whatever wounds they’d acquired afterwards. How they managed to fight their way to us in the woods was beyond me, but even so, they only succeeded in delaying our capture.
Keera was weeping silently, embracing her son with a grip that might suffocate a human boy. She looked on as Lukan and Malice’s bodies were dragged across the icy ground and dropped by one of the SUVs. They were breathing. That much I could see, but they were weak, their injuries oozing red blood and a dark, tar-like substance I assumed was from the Phyre Glass.
Everly held her cut arm tight. Despite how much blood she’d painted the snow with, she didn’t seem too affected by it and the sharpness of her fierce glare hadn’t dulled. Even when she was knocked to her knees by one of the red-haired women, she looked like a viper ready to strike if someone’s hand got too close.
The two other Draak stood back like two pitbulls obeying their masters. They were disheveled and had a slight slouch to their posture indicating the fight had taken a lot out of them. Even with the forces of young Draak at their backs and dragon-killing weapons, Malice and Lukan had managed to take out two of the four attacking beasts as well as one of the red witches.
Even with the losses the other side had suffered, at the moment, we seemed pretty screwed. I stole a quick glance at Malice and Lukan lying on the ground, their breath straining in their punctured lungs. I felt powerless to help anyone, especially withherthere taunting me.
The woman from the museum was not among the red-haired, half-Zephyre’s. Now that I was able to see her in more light and with more sense about me, I was able to realize how different she really was.
She was tall. Taller than the others even. Taller than me and with a firmness to her build that suggested strength beyond any human woman’s. Long, ash-blond hair hung in rope-like tendrils down her back and past her waist. It was tied back with braids and leather string. Her skin was pale in color with an odd yet subtle sheen to it that only showed up when she turned a certain way, like glass dust was embedded in her flesh.
The woman looked at me with her empty, black eyes. My heart stopped as I recalled our last encounter again. Slowly pivoting her entire body toward me, she cocked her head. The gesture was animalistic, much like her appearance. Decked out in an elegant, red coat and tight, black leather pants, this woman was like something out of a fantasy. She took a step toward me, examining me like I was a creature she’d never seen before. Everly tensed, her lip twitching with ferocity. The woman’s eyes glanced toward her for only a moment before she decided what she was going to do.
“I only need this one,” she spoke in that dual-toned voice of hers.
The Zephyre man and one of the men in tactical gear stepped forward, silver pistols holstered on their thighs. The Zephyre firmly grasped my arms. Everly attempted to get on her feet, but was pushed down again with a swift kick to the back of her leg.
I struggled against the man’s inhuman strength as he escorted me toward the house. Glancing at the driveway, I saw little hope in our situation. Our two Draak companions were close to death on the snowy ground, their own blood surrounding them along with the torn bodies of their transformed opponents across the way. It was a crimson scene of destruction that tainted the white snow.
Everly sat holding pressure on her arm and Keera was standing, tears glistening on her cheeks as she looked helplessly toward her lover. We were outnumbered, even without the ones Lukan and Malice had picked off. Now I was being separated from the others and behind me walked that menacing woman whose intentions couldn’t be good.
Once inside, the Zephyre half-blood pulled me into the living room where the hearth was still hot with red coals. He released me then and stepped away as the blond woman moved into the space. She was quiet for a while, staring at me again, but this time like she was looking through a window. She was studying me. I wondered if she was looking at my thoughts. My memories. I wondered what she was seeing, trying to put up walls, though I was sure it did nothing to sway her. Her expression gave nothing away. I couldn't tell if she was feeling anything or if she was even capable. Her face was flat as a placid lake with a black surface that showed nothing beneath it. I held my breath as she stepped in and slowly began to circle around me.
“It doesn’t appear that you’ve learned anything new since we last met,” she spoke, whispers slithering beneath the feminine tone of her words.
“No,” I shook my head, my skin crawling with dread when the woman stepped out of my view for a moment before coming back around. “We don’t know anything.”
“I doubt that. You all know more than you think. I just have to dig deeper than most are willing to go.”
“What do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter. Do you know who I am?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t know who...I don’t knowwhatyou are. I don’t even know what you really want.”
“No one truly does,” she spoke, her eyes moving off into the distance somehow like she’d just lost herself in a brief memory. “But I know what I’m after. I’m after the Leviathan. You know that much. I know you do. The only one who can tell me where they are is your sister’s child.”
She cocked her head, stepping toward me. She was a few inches taller than me with small heels on her boots that only accentuated that fact. This woman...this creature, whatever she was, could tear me in half if she wanted to. That much I could sense.
“I think the answer is here,” she said. “Someone knows where the child is.”
“We don’t,” I whispered on a quivering breath. “W--we made sure not to know so that you couldn’t figure it out.”
“Then you will just have tofindout.”
“I can’t…”
Suddenly the woman’s hand flew up and grasped my shoulder with a sharp force that dug beneath my collarbone. She turned me around with enough strength to subdue a bear and looked at my waist. Her eyes were on the area where Killian had placed his mark like she could see right through the fibers of my sweater. She stared like it aggravated and elated her at the same time to know it was there. She took a deep breath as if she could smell Killian on my skin and grinned faintly.
“So predictable,” she sighed. “The Blue Breath marked you.”
I pulled from her grip and stepped away, feeling violated in the strangest of ways.
“Whatdo youwant?” I emphasized, my brow quivering with fear. “I don’t know anything. I never have.”
Pushing the front of her deep-red coat aside in a calm, elegant manner, the woman...Haera...revealed a small sheath in which a thin dagger was concealed. She wrapped her long fingers around it and slowly pulled it from the leather binds, showing a narrow, black blade made of Phyre Glass. She stepped toward me, again looking at me like I was more of a specimen than a person. My body tensed in anticipation for whatever was about to happen.
