Page 66 of Curses & Keys
Surprisingly, most of them stay to fight, blue weapons glowing in their hands. This is what Gatlin was saying. I draw a golden lasso with my magic and use it to keep them at bay. One particular soldier gets too close, and I drop it around his neck and sever his head from his shoulders.
I hear a scream to my right and see one of my mages getting stabbed with the same type of weapon that took out Letz. Furious, I whip my rope around the guy’s wrist and cut off the hand with the weapon. Without missing a beat, he bends down to pick it up with his other hand but never makes it. A talon flings him into the hands of a vampire waiting nearby.
“Surrender!” I shout. “And we’ll spare your men!”
A massive grey-haired man in the back laughs. “Never. We’ve given too much to you bastards over the years. It’s time to take back this world. Make it safe for humans again.” I see him raise his phone to his ear. “Now.”
I hear the first detonation and see Gatlin’s eagle head jerk up. Running outside, I watch in horror as explosions go off around the camp. Screams are heard from every corner. I see a shimmer to my right and turn as a portal opens. The enemy rushes into it. Another shimmer across from me. Another portal.
“Cover the portals,” I yell into the comms. “Take down as many as you can before they escape.” I glance up at Gatlin and turn to rush back inside, but a bomb goes off, sending me flying back from the tent in the other direction.
Darkness closes in on me.
Beeping machines.Pain everywhere. I pry my eyes open and see white walls and Mathias typing furiously on a computer beside me. Bright lights pierce my eyes, making my headache worse.
“Turn the damn lights off,” I order in a gravelly voice.
Mathias turns off the lights and closes the curtains. “Better?”
“Water,” I plead, my throat scratching like sandpaper. He holds a glass to my lips, and I take a few sips. “Thanks. How long have I been out?”
“A week,” Mathias tersely replies.
Damn.
“Status,” I demand with a grimace, knowing it’s going to be bad.
“The council has placed you on medical leave until further notice,” he begins. When I raise a demanding eyebrow, he shakes his head. “It’s bad. The entire place was one big minefield ready to blow. Forty-seven of ours gone. Most from the explosions. They were laced with magical fire.”
“And the enemy?” I ask, exhaling heavily. “They had one hell of an exit plan.”
“Quite a few died but almost half escaped,” he says, sitting on the bed beside me. “We don’t know who opened the portals.” He pauses and flashes me a look, telling me he has an idea, then he subtly nods at the window of my room where a guard is posted.
Who are they guarding? Me from the enemy? Or are they here to prevent me from leaving? Probably all of the above.
“Where is everyone?” I ask with a frown. Is Phaedra safe?
“Gatlin’s on a rampage, but he’s good,” Mathias informs me. “We haven’t heard from Hawthorne or Phaedra. Somehow,they’re blocking all messages and calls between us.” He curses. “I don’t know how they’re fucking doing it.” Anger flares in the depths of his eyes. He’s pissed he missed it. “I’ve ordered phones, but she won’t have our new numbers. And the locator on the laptop is still off.”
He leans down and whispers to me. “I’ve been in touch with Charlie. He dropped them off in Rome, but he doesn’t have an address. I’m searching all the available footage but haven’t located them yet.”
My brows draw together. “Why did they go there?”
Mathias darts a glance at the guard and shakes his head. “Later.”
“I do have good news,” Mathias says with a sardonic smile. “We captured a few of the leaders. That’s where Gatlin is now. He insisted on being in on the interrogation despite the council’s best efforts to keep him out of it.”
I push to my elbows, trying to sit up, but the world spins around me.
“Damn it, be careful. The blast nearly killed you,” he spits out. “There isn’t anything you can do except get better. This is getting nasty. We need you at your best.”
“What did the doctor say?” I ask, easing back down on the bed.
“A week,” Mathias retorts. “But I doubt you’ll wait that long. Give it at least another day. Two would be better. We’re working on figuring a few things out anyway.”
I shake my head. “We need to search for them. In person. Now.”
What if something happened to her? My mind goes to the last time I saw her. Our kiss. Gatlin’s right. We never should have split up. At the time, it seemed safer for them to go to Athens, but it was a bad call.
