Page 56 of Witch Untold
Right now, we needed to find Sloane, Bramble, and Lauris and get the hell out of this fucking town. The Sons of Adam had pulled me out of the fight, leaving my friends to face the threat alone. My stomach trembled as I tried my best to ignore the real possibility that they might be dead.
Please let them have gotten to safety.
Sloane’s face filled my mind and a hollow feeling threatened to consume me. I focused on Jasper’s hand laced with mine as we crunched through the snow. Yeah, we were holding hands, and it should feel freaky, but it didn’t. The way he’d looked at me when I’d surfaced from almost death made my pulse flutter with hope. Things had shifted between us again, and once we were safely at Grimswood, I’d examine the dynamic.
We headed for the steps to the station just as three figures came barreling out. My gaze zeroed in on Sloane, breath rushing out of my lungs in relief.
“Cora.” She rushed down the stairs but stopped a few feet away. “You’re okay.” She scanned my company and shook her head in wonder. “You’re all okay.”
I wanted to hug her. “We’re fine.”
She swallowed and nodded. “Good. The Sons of Adam seem to have these ice walkers under control.”
Bramble climbed down the steps with Lauris. “What did they do to you?”
“They drained me.”
Her eyes grew round. “But…You’re here.”
“I guess I’m just hard to kill.” I gave her my best cocky grin. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick of this place. Let’s get back to the portal and go home.”
A gust of wind hit me in the face and three figures appeared at the top of the steps.
Rage unfurled in my belly at the sight of the Sons of Adam, quickly followed by satisfaction at the look of shock on their faces.
Yeah. They thought they’d killed me.
The central figure, the one with the long hair and amber eyes so rich in color they looked like blood, moved down the steps, his attention fixed on me.
“You’re alive…” Vlad said.
“And you’re observant,” I snapped.
Jasper stepped in front of me, power crackling off him in jagged waves. “I owe you pain, Vlad.”
Vlad’s gaze flicked from Jasper to me and a small smile teased his lips. “Of course you do. But it would be a pointless exercise and a waste of power. Save it for the ice walkers.”
Elijah stepped forward, his expression dark with anger. I hated the sight of the blood on his neck, the reminder of what had been done to him. Conah too. It made me sick.
“The ice walkers are your problem, not ours,” Elijah said. “And you took what you needed to deal with them.”
“And we have,” Vlad said. “There are no more ice walkers here, but some have escaped Lilith’s barrier and we need to know how.”
“What barrier?” Sloane asked.
Vlad slow-blinked and transferred his focus to The Elite. “The ice walkers are bound to this land and the surrounding areas, just as we are. Lilith made sure of it. But some have escaped.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because if they were all dead, then we would no longer be here,” Radu snapped. “They all die, we’re free. That’s how it works.”
“Unless she lied to you,” Elijah suggested.
Vlad’s lip curled in a cynical smile. “It’s more than that. We killed the ice walkers, but we haven’t killed their source. The original who possesses the mutated strain of the virus in his blood. Their creator.”
Oh, shit. “The man with the razor smile?”
“Yes. The only original Lilith was unable to kill. Only we can kill him, but he’s surrounded himself with his creations and now he’s escaped. He’ll regroup and make more ice walkers. We need to stop him, but first we need to figure out how he broke through the barrier.” His jaw ticked. “We need your help.”
