Page 24 of Cimmerian

In front of me, the demon hissed. “Do not speak the name, Venator.”

Baby, Jasper warned.

I was tired. I wasn’t scared of the demon in front of me, or my mother cowering. I wasn’t afraid of what would come next. I was just tired of having to watch my back again and again for my family’s poor choices. I was exhausted, and I wasdone. “I apologize. I brought you Monica. Can you take her and give me my friend back now?” Was I seriously reasoning with a demon? Jesus.

The demon shrugged, lifting one of Lucy’s slim shoulders. “Very well.”

Monica looked at me, imploring me to save her, to do something. But there was nothing left to be done, and I shook my head. This was her fate, just as mine was next to Jasper. Something shifted in her eyes, and all hell broke loose. “No!” she cried. “I refuse!” She turned to the closest shifter, who happened to be Adrian, and charged him, knives out. Adrian didn’t have any time to dodge, and her blade sliced through his shoulder. The young wolf yelped, and Monica barreled past him.

Chapter Seven

“I’ve got her,” Jasper called.

“No!” I shouted. “She’s mine.” I narrowed my gaze and steeled myself for what would come next, sprinting after my mother.

Orcus’s lackey was cackling in the circle. “I was expecting payment. I wasn’t expecting such delicious entertainment. Maybe I should come to your realm more often.”

“Shut the hell up,” I muttered, quickly catching up to my mother’s dark form. I sprinted after her, grateful for all my early morning runs and Jasper’s endless training. I tucked my blades back into their sheaths, and leapt for Monica, tackling her to the ground. Her blade flew out of her hand, landing softly on the grass in front of us.

We landed with a heavy breath, and a moment later Monica was kicking me in the chest, pushing me away. “No. I will not go willingly, Ava. You don’t know what this means for me.”

I wrestled her arms away from my face. “You don’t have to go willingly. You just have to go.”

“No!” She clipped me with a short uppercut to my jaw and I went sprawling back, clutching my chin. I looked up at her, already standing, blade in hand once more. She stood between the pentagram and myself, chest heaving. “You don’t know what this means for people like us.”

“Venators?” I jumped to my feet, grabbing my blades from my back once more.

Monica got into a defensive stance as well. “And then some.”

What? “Don’t play games with me.”

She shrugged. “Fine.” Monica ran at me, blade directed at my stomach. I blocked her attack, steel ringing against steel in the night. The wolves had moved, blocking her escape, but they knew this was my battle. My fight. My moment. The demon skulked behind Monica as I blocked attack after attack. Somewhere ahead of us lightning flashed. Thunder boomed. A storm was coming -- how fitting.

Monica raised her knife at me once more over her head. This was what I had been waiting for -- her tendency to not protect the soft skin under her arms as she ran. She was used to being the quickest in battle. Not anymore. I ducked underneath her outstretched arms, slicing my blade into the unprotected flesh there, and she cried out. Behind her, the demon sniffed, smelling the fresh blood.

Monica was game after game, lie after lie. I was done with it. She wasn’t my family. These wolves were my family, and I would protect them at all costs. I met her eyes as she clutched her wound, and I kicked her back into the waiting arms of the demon.

They grinned, a toothy smile I had never seen on Lucy’s face before and reached for Monica. She didn’t even have time to scream before the demon’s arms were wrapping around her, clasping her tight.

“Thank you, storm summoner,” the demon whispered in a voice I was certain only I could hear.

There was a crack so sharp I was certain my eardrum was being split into two. Above me, thunder rolled and rain poured. I dropped to the ground, covering my head with my hands until the nausea passed. Had I really just done that? Had I really just sacrificed my mother to whatever lay beyond this life?

Did I even really consider her my mother? Besides, it had to be done. I had a pack counting on me here.Jasperwas counting on me. No. I had done what I had to do, and what I should’ve done long ago. I had protected myself. When the world stopped spinning I peeked up from my knees. In front of me, a now human Duke was bent over Lucy who was stroking his face with a gentle hand.Thank God.

“Lucy?” I called.

She turned to smile at me, Duke also offering a grateful smile. “I’m okay.” Duke mouthed a thank you to me before turning back to embrace Lucy. She looked pale, but alive.

Relief flooded my body, and I wanted to sink back to the ground. But there were still others I needed to check on, so I got to my feet, willing my legs to move. Mollie and Merrick were locked in a passionate kiss in the middle of the pentagram. I probably should’ve been more shocked at the scene of my best friend kissing someone other than her soon-to-be ex-fiancé, but I also knew the mate bond was hard to fight -- especially after a scene like we had just experienced. Ben would be a tomorrow problem.

Behind them a human Beau was checking out Adrian’s slash wound. I jogged over to them, making gagging sounds as I passed Mollie. She shot me the finger, never stopping and I wanted to laugh. Just like old times. We had lots of things to talk about, and time to make up for, but that could wait. A tomorrow problem, like Ben. I pulled up in front of the shaggy wolf. “Beau, is he okay?”

Beau gave me a grin. “He’ll be fine. Already close to healed. It was a clean cut. Might scar a bit, but that’s just more ammunition for the ladies.” I could’ve sworn the wolf Adrian winked at me. Good lord.

There was just one more wolf I needed to check on. “Jasper!” I called, putting my hands around my mouth. And then, once more in my head, down the bond.Jasp! Where the hell was he?

Before I could get worried, his grey wolf trotted out of the woods toward me, shifting in mid stride like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Ava!”

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