Page 92 of Bite of Passage
Fontaine backed away, avoiding eye contact.
Fuck this.
Skarde paced toward the smaller being but stopped within a few feet.His boots made squishy sounds on the leaf bed.“Everyone expects me…me…”He pointed at himself.“To go deal with Petra and her demon summoning session.They expectmeto save Gemma and keep the world from burning.To deal with any creature with supernatural abilities who goes the slightest bit crazy.There’s nothing special aboutme.I’m no hero.I didn’t make a secret pledge to some higher power to do this.I took a few jobs that paid well and figured out how to succeed.Word spread and here we are.That’s how this works.Someone pays me and I go deal with the problem.Cade is right.You and a few of your friends could waltz over to Petra’s place, throw a bit of your magic in there, and nix the whole thing.Why should it beme?”
Fontaine winced.
The dwarf backed up when Skarde took a few steps closer and leaned down to his level.“Why is everyone screwing around with our lives?”
Fontaine held up his hand.
Skarde scowled but didn’t move.
The dwarf ducked his head.“I wish the mages would’ve simply told you rather than create all this clandestine business.Several mages took Gemma, arguably saved her, after Tania killed her parents.At four-years-old, she became the last living medicinal.She’s the only medicinal in our realm.The mages hid her away in an alternate realm.Serina stayed there to protect her.From what I heard, Gemma’s life wasn’t easy as an orphan, and I’m not sure Serina did the best job as her guardian.She’s easily distracted.When Serina heard of your prophecy, she suspected Gemma’s fate was linked to yours and conspired with her kind to let Gemma see you through the glass.”
“How did she come to fall through a mirror to here?”
“The mages worked a spell to open the doorway.As expected, our realm pulled her back.”
“I felt a link to her the first time I saw her as a reflection.Was that the product of magic?”Everything he’d experienced with Gemma bittered in his mind.
Fontaine shrugged.“Magic, destiny, purpose…maybe a bit of all of them.I can’t answer that question.You alone must decide whether you will resist it and risking one or both of you ending up dead.Or you can accept it and see where it takes you.”
The weight of what must be done descended on Skarde’s shoulders.He had to save Gemma.He had to save the world from the darkness of Petra’s demons.With a sigh, he stopped bullshitting himself.Perhaps, this was his chance to get something more out of life.But even that didn’t matter in the long run.He was uniquely trained for this fight.Of course, he would risk his life for her.
Fontaine slipped back into the cover of the woods.
Skarde mounted.“I can’t ask you to do this with me, Cade.Demons are on another level, dangerous beyond anything you can imagine.”
“Blood brothers to the bitter end.”Cade repeated their old mantra.The one they used to say to each other before every battle, back when they were human mercenaries.“I may not know how to deal with demons, but I’m more than decent in a fight.No one knows more about countering demons than you.Damn if I’m not desperate for a good fight.”
He’d missed this, the knowledge there’d be at least one person who had his back and would never screw him over.“Blood to the bitter end.”
ChapterThirty-Eight
The brothers laybelly-down in the wet grass, staring at the fortified keep with double stone walls guarded by dozens of minion vampires.
Tendrils of steam came from Skarde’s mouth as he whispered, “The front door isn’t a bad option, but it’ll be messy.We’ll lose any chance for surprise.”
“We can swim the moat.”
He scrunched up his nose.“Wasn’t it VanFliet who first suggested we swim the moat and use the sewer system to invade a keep?”
“Ironic, if we pull it off.If he’s smart, the underwater entry points will be sealed.Good thing we’re stronger than the last time we considered this option.We can yank any metal grates apart.”
Skarde squinted but couldn’t make much out about what might be under the water.“There are a lot of plants.I’m suspecting they’re the nasty kind.”
“Before we do this, we have to talk about Gemma.You’re going to lose control when you see her tied up, maybe even dead.”
“I won’t.I’m tight.”
Cade chuckled.“That’s funny.I’m sayingI told you sowhen you lose it.You’re going to panic.”
“Hey, guys.What’s going on?”Craig, the hunter, asked, throwing himself next to Skarde and peeked over the embankment.“Ooooh.Lots of minions for me to kill.”
Lees and Malory landed next to Craig.
“How the hell did you find us?”Cade whispered.
