Page 76 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
The hideous image of an immense black locust with a human head wearing a glittering obsidian diadem invaded her thoughts. The creature who’d roasted her powerful brother-in-law, who’d come to extract them on the highway as they escaped from Split?
She shoved it away, knowing it would surface later in her all-too-vivid nightmares.
Ryan gripped Dianne’s elbows and, rising to his feet, hefted her to hers.
Dianne winced as the bracelet burned her.
“What? What is it?” Ryan began running his hands over her midsection, turning her to check her back and waist.
“It’s nothing,” she said, waving her unencumbered arm. “Just not really in shape to race up a mountainside and then sprawl in the dirt.” She glanced down. “Make that mud.”
Ryan ignored her for a moment to run his big hands down her thighs and calves. The pleasure that gave Dianne brought a low moan from her. Ryan shot a narrowed gaze at her. Dianne looked up, blushing. Before she could explain, his gaze softened and traveled to her mouth.
She closed her eyes and leaned toward him …
… only to stiffen and pull back at the sound of her sister’s voice on the terrace above them.
Ryan pivoted, putting distance between them as he did. A sour taste filled Dianne’s mouth. Was whatever happened between them only moments before gone, like the dire wolves?
Olivia took in both of them, assessing Ryan’s proximity to her sister. Dianne recognized the subtle tightening at the other woman’s temple, the controlled breath that Olivia took. She found herself straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin in response.
“Demon Slayer, sitrep,” said Olivia after a deliberate pause, her demeanor as brisk and focused as Dianne had ever seen it. Commanding warriors was clearly a familiar—and comfortable—role for her.
Dianne had the unsettling feeling that Olivia had seen everything that had just transpired between her and Ryan, and in fact understood better than they did what was going on. Yet Olivia’s inscrutable expression gave away nothing regarding her approval or disapproval.
As Ryan cleared his throat to answer, Olivia signed with a sharp hand movement for several of the men behind her to go on toward the silent, unlit clinic. Four burly men in black tactical clothing and combat boots, wearing glowing eyepieces and earpieces with attached curved microphones, took off at a run for the entrance.
Ryan’s gaze remained on his commanding officer. His jaw tightened ever so slightly as the men passed, and Dianne sensed a shift in his stance. The team reached the security grille, moving in a coordinated, precise series of actions with few words. In that moment, Dianne realized that these were Ryan’s men, men he’d personally trained and led.
Not a twitch. Not a glance of recognition from them.
His men.
It dawned on her that perhaps his first order of business should have been to secure Mihàil, the commander-in-chief of all the security forces.
“I’m waiting, Demon Slayer,” said Olivia, her voice tinged with impatience. Despite the steady rain now falling, she remained dry as her harmonics turned the water into a misty rose-tinted aura.
Ryan’s chin came up in a subtle angle of confidence as he prepared to speak. Dianne wanted to move closer to him and take his hand, but she refrained. There was no telling how anyone would react if she did that, and she didn’t want to add to the already fraught situation.
“Clinic is secured, ma’am,” said Ryan, holding Olivia’s gaze without waver. “My team accessed it through the emergency lift while I continued to this location to provide Ms. Markham with backup. Elias and Antonio remained behind with the staff and patients while Draka, Giant, and DeVries entered through the elevator and secured the clinic. As I’m sure you’re aware, ma’am, thezotihas been moved to the secure bunker and is now guarded by Draka and Giant. DeVries has secured the harmonic healing suite and will remain in that post until I give him the order to stand down.”
Something in Ryan’s voice alerted Dianne about this last detail.Germaine. She’d been in a special suite at the top of the clinic. A place where theElioudattempted to break the hold that Abaddon had on her. They’d let Dianne visit her best friend a few times. Her friend looked awful, pale and restless with her broken leg in a cast. Invisible harmonic bands kept Germaine from moving the leg with its high-tech brace, but even so, whenever Dianne came anywhere near her, Germaine began to thrash and utter guttural sounds. Only the staidElioudnamed Willem could calm her. Dianne had glimpsed him staring at Germaine, a look of pity and compassion on his features so profound that she prayed he would continue to fight for Germaine’s life and soul.
Olivia nodded. Across from them, the security team had disengaged the security grille and now had the steel screens raised. “Good work, Demon Slayer. I and this team will remain here at the secure bunker with thezotiand Dr. Armand. Everyone else will be transported to the Aerie where you will lock down the compound after the last of the townspeople arrive. Everyone from the estate has already been sent there.”
She inhaled, straightened. For the briefest moment, she seemed to burn brighter against the deepening night. “We’re surrounded, Demon Slayer. The dire wolves are just the tip of the spear. Abaddon’s Locusts wait at the head of an army of thousands of frothingdaemoniacs, who muster in the mountains around us. And we don’t yet know who the dire wolves fought here in front of the clinic. Their harmonic signatures weren’t human, but neither were they angelic.”
Dianne chose to speak up. “Mihàil knows who they are.”
Olivia swiveled her haunting gaze on Dianne, who was astounded to see the glowing blue-gray of her irises. Her sister looked angelic herself in this moment. There was even a faint radiance limning her skin. “What makes you say this?”
Dianne swallowed and held her sister’s gaze. She wished that Ryan stood at her side rather than a step ahead and away. “I saw him. Ryan can confirm it. He stood at that window”–she gestured to the third-floor window—“and glared at the storm until lightning flashed and dark-winged figures dropped from the sky. He didn’t stop until they fought the dire wolves.”
Olivia narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. Instead, she dipped her chin. “Thank you for your report.” When she went on, a husky note vibrated in her voice. “And thank you for saving Luljeta and Lirika. I hear that you’re quite a shot.” She looked at Ryan. “Make sure you use her wisely, Demon Slayer. I already know you’ll protect her with your life.” She paused a fraction of a breath. “See you both on the other side.”
Olivia turned without a backward glance and entered into the now-open clinic entrance. The four security members fell in behind her, followed by the steel security screens descending again with a clang. This time, when the reinforced grilles descended, they hummed with a dangerous energy that sparked into the heavy stillness as if thezonjëhad powered them with her very own indomitable spirit.
Ryan led Dianne down the terraced path where low-voltage landscape lighting lit the levels in a warm glow despite the heavy rain. The emergency generator, a microreactor, had kicked on, powering essential equipment for the entire valley, estate to clinic, village to operations center.
