Page 72 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
Tightness gripped Ryan’s chest. Heat flamed in his wound. For a moment, he struggled again with Germaine, who raked her claws into his gut.
He looked at András and Beta. “The lure?” he asked, not elaborating. Miró had briefed the senior command staffat the after-action conference they’d held in order to review the state of the world post-geomagnetic flare when Ryan had recovered enough to attend.
The couple exchanged glances with Elias, who looked grim. His hand tightened on the hilt of his harmonic ribbon, one of the weapons the Archangel Zophiel had gifted the mysterious Order after the war with Kôkabîêl, the Fallen Watcher Angel known as the Star of God. Antonio, who stood next to his order’s commander, shifted but said nothing.
Before the twoElioudwarriors could answer, Willem took a step forward. “Miró sequestered the charm you brought back from Split, Demon Slayer.” He shook his head. “This is not from that one.”
He paused, seeming to gather himself before plunging on. “It is from the bracelet that Germaine Grimes wears that I discovered not half an hour ago. I was unable to remove it before I came, not without risking her life. It is powerful enough to warp susceptible creatures within a sphere of influence, although I do not know yet how wide that is.”
He pointed toward the head that Beta still gripped. “These animals are neither dumb nor acting on their own evil instincts. Abaddon watches us even now through its eyes.”
“Sweet Saint Zophiel,” said Elias in a low murmur.
The pitspawn prick, Abaddon, had a toehold inside Albania. It was only a matter of time before he and his Locusts appeared. The dire wolves had been more than a harbinger: they’d been advance shock troops.
Before Ryan could lead the next conversation to a tactical response, the humming drones overhead began to shriek a high-pitched, staccato warning.
“Intrusion! Intrusion! Intrusion! Sectors Six, Seven, and Eight. Tactical breach confirmed. Deploy to assigned rally points. Condition Umbra. This is not a drill.”
Holy crap. The dire wolves had used the straggler as a distraction to slip past their perimeter. The Kastrioti Estate was under attack with half-trained recruits as defenders.
Dianne.
Dianne had no one there to save her from the dire wolves.
In that moment, Ryan knew that whatever wall he’d erected to protect her from him had detonated into a fine mist of urgency, protectiveness, and love.
Love.
The realization he’d tried to bury echoed around his heart.
He wasn’t about to lose the woman he loved to the motherfarging Angel of the Abyss. Abaddon could go screw himself—with a flaming sword.
Twenty
Diannefeltrestless.Shedidn’t know why. She’d spent the past weeks pushing herself to exhausted oblivion, training during the day using the workout regimen that Beta had provided her, learning hand-to-hand combat with the laconicElioudwarrior (in baby steps, yes), and hours at the range where she’d shown remarkable ability with guns of all types. When she wasn’t running, grappling, or shooting, she was trying to learn her new world in as much detail as she could, the people, places, and culture.
Beyond that, she kept watch over her silent brother-in-law deep at night while Olivia slept, passed out in a nearby chair, or spent time with her niece, who’d decided to pull up and take her first wobbling steps in the midst of an adult world that had no time or awareness to celebrate.
Not unlike her.
Tonight, something pulsed in the air. Expectation. Warning. Foreboding. Dread. Whatever made up this toxic brew, it gripped her by the shoulders and twisted in her gut. The air was unnaturally still, a pungent hint of rot lingering like a bad taste over the training compound.
She wished she knew where Ryan was. She’d tried, over and over, to put him out of her mind. Out of her heart. But he always returned to her during her sleep. Him in the library of the cruise ship, startled and speechless as she leaned in to kiss him. At dinner in the steakhouse, his hazel eyes drawing her in, his powerful body a lure that still made her breathless thinking about it. Fighting againstdaemoniacson the dock in Split. At her side as they made Molotov cocktails together, his fingers brushing hers when she handed him a bottle.
In Medugorje where the geomagnetic flare seemed to bring Heaven and Earth together. Where she’d first realized that she was all in. Falling in love and seeing it through. Even with Ryan’s rejection, she wouldn’t change that decision if she could. Because now she’d experienced something real, something worthy and lifechanging. The pain only brought that truth home.
What was the saying the British had? Keep calm and carry on. She just needed to face her own fears without Ryan at her side. Her fingers drifted to the thigh rig she wore, drawn to the grip of the Glock—Ryan’s weapon of choice—she now carried openly everywhere with her, much to her mother’s consternation and her brother’s amusement.
“Rangers lead the way,” she said to herself, remembering his quiet comment when Olivia had ordered her to support his efforts to get them safely back to Fushë-Arrëz.
As she walked toward the guesthouse that Olivia had offered her not far from the main Kastrioti house, Dianne saw Olivia’s nanny emerge into the twilight with Luljeta. The little girl had likely had a late afternoon nap and would be awake into the evening, eager for stimulation and distraction. Dianne hastened her steps toward them, longing for the same.
The deep rumble of wolves caught her up short.
The hairs on the back of Dianne’s neck fluttered as the skin there tightened uncomfortably in the suddenly chill air. She surveyed the area around them as she’d seen Beta do, almost as a tic it was so second nature for theElioudwarrior.
And then she saw them: half a dozen wolves as tall as a pony skulking under the dwarf ornamental trees on the far side of the back garden, the evening sunlight glinting from their hollow eyes.
