Part 30 (1/2)

Vanessa was on her feet, already tugging at my hand. ”He's playing a game. Let's go while we can!”

But I didn't move, my eyes on my dagger still in Lucas's hand. I needed my weapon. I needed Ca.s.sandra.

”My dagger?” I boldly asked. ”You've given me nothing for it in fair trade, so can I have it back?”

”I'm giving you your life!” he roared, all sick humor gone, replaced by the intense anger of an overpowered tyrant.

A hissing sound whistled through his teeth. The Weres crouched, ready to pounce, the hair along their spines standing on end and their lips pulled back from their saliva-dripping fangs. Vanessa wasted no more time. She bolted, pulling me with her, through the doorway and down the tunnel, the werewolves right on our heels. But not the cheetah. Lucas really was giving us a head start.

I shot electricity blindly behind us, but it sounded as though it hit the walls and not our pursuers. I glanced over my shoulder and a wolf's golden eyes were right. there. I flicked my wrist, and he flew back, plowing into the others like a bowling ball. They recovered immediately.

”Faster!” Vanessa said. We moved so quickly, the walls became a brown blur on either side of us.

But we weren't fast enough. As we rounded the bend, claws dug grooves down my back. I stumbled, then fell face first.

My fingers fumbled for the back-up weapon I kept in my boot as long teeth sc.r.a.ped against my knuckles, trying to stop me. I eventually found the knife, and flipped it open while trying to roll over, but the wolf pinned me to the ground with one paw on each shoulder. Its jaw snapped near my head, its hot breath blowing on my ear. I wiggled and squirmed and finally pushed myself over. As I rolled, I plunged the knife in between the gray wolf's ribs. It arfed like a dog, but the wail trailed into a human moan of pain. I scurried out crab-like from under the naked man's body, and yanked my knife out of his side. I stared, mesmerized, at the blood pooling under him. My chest contracted. I'd killed him? Was this my first kill?

”Alexis!” Vanessa shrieked.

I spun to find a wolf's mouth attached to her arm and another yanking on her calf, about to pull her down. I pushed a wave of power at them, and they both flew off her, their bodies cras.h.i.+ng to the ground. Now freed, Vanessa took off in a blur and a second later, reappeared right where she'd been, her tongue licking blood from her lips. All of the wolves morphed back into their human forms. All of them dead.

”Let's go!” She grabbed my forearm and ran again. I stumbled after her at first, still in shock, but my survival instinct finally kicked in, and I ran.

The large room where the tunnels met felt so much farther away than it had been before, but we finally flew into it. And so did more wolves from all directions, blocking our way out. We had no choice but to fight.

One or two wolves would have been no problem. Even five or six or seven. But this many? And still more poured out of the tunnels. Vanessa grabbed the ones that lunged at her by the heads, snapped their necks and flung them away like ragdolls. I blasted them with Amadis power and electricity until the putrid odor of burnt fur made us gag. But there were more than a handful to pick off one-by-one. A pack of twenty or so attacked us, jaws snapping and claws swiping.

Our fists and feet pounded at the creatures' bodies. Vanessa ripped into their necks with her fangs, and my knife sliced into their limbs and shoulders and haunches, but this smaller blade didn't compare to my dagger, and the damage was minimal. A wolf's claws raked through my hair, ripping out a clump. Other claws ripped through my leathers and into my skin. Snouts clamped down on my arms and legs and shook like a dog does with a rope, tossing me back and forth. My head smacked the wall, then the floor, then the wall again, each impact rattling my brain. I formed a bubble of Amadis power within me and pushed it outwards. They all let go.

But only for a moment. They lunged again and grabbed on to whatever part of my body their teeth found. I gathered more Amadis power, worked it into a frenzy and exploded it out of my body. The wolves yelped and whimpered as their bodies crashed into the walls and floor. We seized the opportunity and ran again.

But something was wrong.

I thought we'd chosen the same pa.s.sageway we'd come through, the one that led back to the icy cave. But that one had been long and empty, no signs of life surrounding it. As we continued running now, I sensed mind signatures up ahead. Tons of them. Way too many to fill a tunnel. Way too many to fill a cavern or even a large building. Enough for a small town ...

Vanessa!

”Oh, s.h.i.+t!” she said at the same time. ”That's the marketplace.”

She spun on the spot and grabbed my wrist again.

”Hurry! Before they sense us!”

We ran back the way we came, but before we returned to the junction, the tunnel suddenly veered off to the left when it had been straight just a moment ago.

”Mages are changing the paths. He's messing with us,” Vanessa said.

We pa.s.sed a wide opening, and Vanessa darted inside the room. She bent over, her hands on her knees and looked up at me.

”We need to regroup,” she said, keeping her voice low.

I leaned my b.u.t.t against the wall and a.s.sumed her same position. Neither of us was out of breath, but at least for me, my heart raced and adrenaline pumped too quickly in my veins. My pulse pounded and whirred in my head.

Then the wall disappeared from behind me, and I fell on my b.u.t.t.

Lucas stood over me, and his lips turned up in a smirk. ”Change your mind, my daughter?”

I jumped to my feet and Vanessa straightened up. One glance around told me we were back in the room where we'd started.

What now? I asked Vanessa. She gave me an I-have-no-clue look. Actually, knowing her, it was more like a we're-f.u.c.king-dead look.

So Lucas really was just playing a game with us. He had no intention of letting us go.

”Did you change yours?” I asked bravely. Or stupidly. Whatever. It didn't matter anymore, if Vanessa was right. ”Did you decide it's okay for Dorian to break the curse? Or that it's okay to kill me?”

Lucas grinned, exposing his perfectly straight, snow-white teeth. ”See, I can't bring myself to kill you. You have too much potential for me.” He tsked and Rene the cheetah, in animal form, sauntered over to his side. ”My followers, however ...” He ran a hand down the cheetah's spine. ”... I can't always control them.”

”So you're still letting us go?” I asked.

”Like I said, if you can find your way out alive, yes. This time.”

Vanessa and I exchanged another glance, then moved for the doorway.

”One more thing, Alexis,” Lucas said, and I hesitated. ”Since you were so kind to return, I must offer you another deal. I think you wanted this?”

I looked over my shoulder. He held his hand out, my dagger lying across his palm. I lunged, but he clamped his fist around the blade faster than I could grab it.

”Now, now. Fair trade, remember? But I'll need more than just the garbage taken out this time,” he added, his eyes flickering to Vanessa then back to me. ”Seth or Dorian will do.”

A dagger over 2,000 years old, forged by the Angels themselves, probably more precious than anything in Amadis history. And it was my best weapon, especially with Ca.s.sandra's power behind it, my connection to her. I needed the dagger to give us any hope of escaping Hades. I needed Ca.s.sandra's power to live through this. But nothing, not even the possibility of my own survival or even Vanessa's, was worth the lives of my son or husband.

”Not a chance in h.e.l.l,” I said.

”Ah, you'll regret that. But don't worry. I always get what I want. I will get what's mine.” He glanced at his bare wrist. ”Oh, sorry. Out of time. You've lost your head start.”

He hissed and instead of werewolves coming after us, Rene did.

Vanessa and I ran again, the cheetah chasing us down. I'd never run so fast in my life, but it wasn't fast enough. With a peek over my shoulder, I looked right into amber eyes. The cat roared, drool hanging from her five-inch-long fangs. Then she sprang off her back legs, and those same fangs tore into my bicep. I cried out as I spun around and slammed her with electricity.

I held the current on her, even as we ran, and the cheetah slowed enough to give us a chance. Then her footsteps behind us fell away, and I looked over my shoulder once again. The cat took off down a corridor we'd just pa.s.sed.

”Where's she going?” I asked Vanessa.

We ran another hundred yards or so, then Vanessa slowed almost to a walk now that nothing chased us. Her head turned at each corridor we pa.s.sed, inspecting it even as we moved on.

”To get help?” she finally answered my question. ”To spring ahead and cut us off? Who kno-”