Page 73 of Judgment Day

“I can’t lose her. Not again.”

“You won’t.” We wouldn’t. “We need to hurry,” I said, then I walked out the door.

The path back to the town was about three miles long, four at the most. If we hurried, it wouldn’t take long. I looked around outside the house for a bike, growling when I didn’t find one. We passed the little white church with the red roof, the one the man had dropped me off at the day I found Ciaran. The tire tracks on the narrow dirt lane that led to the church caught my attention first. It had been months since the old man had dropped me off at this old, abandoned building. Those tracks would have been long gone by now.

They were new.

“Stop,” I told Lincoln as I held up a hand. I brought a finger to my lips.

Every step was a hushed footfall on the hard dirt. Every heartbeat pounded in my ears. The wind had stilled in the trees. The world held its breath, waiting. Still.

Sadie had Lyric. She was crazy enough to steal her from under our noses in the middle of the day. There was no telling what we were about to walk into.

We carefully approached the concrete steps, slowly pushed open the old, wooden door. It moaned and whined with a creak as it slid across the church floor.

“You can’t save her,” Sadie’s voice echoed from somewhere behind the altar. “Not this time.”

Lincoln ran past me the moment he saw what I saw—at the front of the church, on the chancel, there were two chairs surrounded by hundreds of candles. Lyric was strapped to the one on the left, and Isla was bound to the one on the right. What the fuck did she have to do with any of this? Unless…

Ciaran.

Ice prickled a trail up my spine. Rage took hold of my veins. Fury bled out of my soul.

Sadie had done something to my son.

I snapped a hand to Lincoln’s chest to halt him. “This is not your fight.” This was my fault. They were here because of me—because twelve years ago, on a dark night, in the depth of a forest, I let the dragon steal the princess.

He shoved my hand out of the way. “But thatismy wife.”

She’s my wife, too.

I followed him to the stage. My heart stopped beating when we got there. Lincoln screamed words I didn’t comprehend. All I heard was the rage thrumming in my ears. The demons inside me roared to life, bringing the wrath and fire of hell with them.

Isla was fully clothed and bound to the chair with zip ties. A cloth gag was tied around her mouth. Lyric’s hands were strapped to the arms of the chair with a spreader bar at her ankles. Acid burned my lungs, all the way up my throat as my eyes traveled over her naked body. The familiar handle of the petal device invaded her body. Trails of blood coated the insides of her thighs. Two clamps that looked like they’d been taken from a set of jumper cables pinched her nipples, leaving a stream of blood trickling from her breasts down her stomach. Her flawless face was stained with tears.

Her whole body retched when she saw us. “You have to leave,” she said—begged. Pleaded. “She’ll kill you both. She’s fucking crazy.”

Tears spilled from Isla’s eyes.

“You’re talking to them like I can’t hear you,” Sadie said as she appeared from behind a wall. She wore black jeans and a black hoodie that swallowed her small frame. Her blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail. Eyes that once hypnotized me were distant and cold. Her once-beautiful smile was sinister. This was not the girl I once knew.

Lincoln tugged and pulled on the zip ties that held Lyric to the chair, and she winced at the motion. “We’re going to get you out of here, Songbird. Right fucking now.” He unclasped the clamps from her nipples, causing another rush of blood where the metal teeth had bitten into her delicate skin.

I wished I could snap my fingers and make this all go away, wished I could make time bow to my fucking will, wished I had never left her alone. My fiery, vibrant, beautiful girl.

I harnessed my rage, used it like a weapon.

I charged at Sadie, slamming her into the wall she’d been hiding behind. I pinned her arms above her head and leaned in close to her face. “Where is Ciaran?”

She smiled, silent.I knew it.

My rage burned. “You’re going to tell me what you’ve done with my son. You’re going to let both of those women go, and then I’m going to find somewhere to send you, somewhere far away, somewhere without light or food or a single other human soul. And I’m going to let you rot.”

“Ciaran is fine. But if you choose to save her, or if you kill me, you’ll never find him. You don’t get to save them both.” She rested her head against the wall behind her. “You have to choose.”

I gripped her wrists tighter, squeezing hard enough to almost break the bones. “Bullshit.”

Choosing between Lyric and Ciaran was like choosing to either breathe or eat. They were both necessary to survive.

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