Page 79 of Castor
“That you know of,” Alastair growled, getting in his face. They were around the same height, but Baxter had way more muscle. But still, I’d put all my money on Alastair in a fight between them. “How could you be so goddammed stupid? You should’ve told me about this sooner.”
“Al.” Bellamy grabbed his arm. “Fighting with Baxter won’t solve anything right now.”
“Don’t forget you still need my warriors,” Baxter said with an indignant glare. “I took a chance on you, Pride, and vowed to fight beside you, but keep insulting me and we’re going to have a problem.”
“Is that some kind of threat?” Alastair bared his teeth.
“I don’t make threats. Only promises.”
“All right. Break it up,” Sirena called out, walking up the trail with three warriors behind her. “Gods. You fight like children. Now tell me what’s going on.”
No one got a chance to say anything before a high-pitched scream pierced the air.
It sounded like it had come from the beach.
Sirena and the three warriors dashed down the hill, and the rest of us dropped our luggage, grabbed our weapons, and followed. The shrill scream was exactly like the ones I’d heard countless times throughout the years. It rang of anguish. Anger.
A bundle of nerves tangled in my gut. Images flashed through my mind of my brothers dead—the shit Belphegor had made me see. While I knew the visions weren’t real, they left a sense of foreboding inside me that refused to lift no matter how many months had passed since the fight in the underworld.
“Focus, Cas,”Alastair said as we moved through the wooded terrain toward the shore.“We don’t know if this is demon related yet.”
When we reached the beach, Lysandra and four other females stood near the water. One knelt down and sobbed.
“Lysandra?” Sirena rushed toward her. “What’s…” Her voice trailed off as she stopped in her tracks.
A body lay in the wet sand, blood clouding in the water as the tide rolled in around it. I didn’t know the warrior’s name, but I had seen her on the beach the night before when we’d first arrived. What drew my attention the most though? The arrow sticking out of her chest.
“Elon, you goddamn bastard,” Baxter said under his breath. “What have you done?”
“You.” Sirena turned to us, rage distorting her features. The other warriors—apart from the one holding the dead female and crying—stepped up next to her and glared. “I allowed you into my home, and this is how you repay me? By killing one of my sisters?”
“Sirena,” Alastair said, stepping toward her. The warriors hissed and thrust their spears forward, the sharp tips aimed at his throat, stopping his advance. “We didn’t know this would happen.”
“One of your men killed her!” Sirena drew her sword and then looked at Naida. “How could you bring them here? I trusted you.”
I stepped closer to Kyo, putting myself a bit in front of him on impulse. “Don’t leave my side. This looks like it’s gonna get ugly.”
“Then my place is beside you,” he said, stepping forward. “Not with you shielding me.”
He hadn’t changed into his dragon form, though I saw indecision on his face, as if he was debating whether he should or not. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, but it didn’t look good. We had just lost any trust we’d gained with Sirena’s clan.
Baxter put away his sword and held up both hands. “Sirena, listen to me. None of us on this beach is responsible for this.”
She snarled. “Your man. Your responsibility.”
“So holdmeaccountable,” he said. “Alastair and the others aren’t at fault. Your warrior was killed with an arrow. Only one person in my party wields a bow.”
“The one called Elon,” she said. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.” Baxter shook his head. “But I swear to you, if I knew he would do something like this, I—”
“Save your words. Traitors do not get to speak.” She tipped her chin up and pointed her sword at the center of his chest. “You had me so focused on the enemies outside the barrier that I failed to see the ones lurking within. I will not repeat that mistake. No one is leaving this island until we have justice for our sister’s death. And if that means killing every last one of you, so be it.”
As she spoke, more of her clan gathered on the beach, surrounding us.
Alastair surveyed the area, calculating our chances of success should a fight, indeed, break out. We were strong, but defeating eight hundred exceptionally skilled Nephilim warriors would be close to impossible, even for us.
Maybe if we had Galen with us… but we didn’t.
