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Finally, I opened my eyes. The umbra was a place of shadows and darkness. I could see only a little of the beach on this level, but this was the dividing line between earth and the fields, and that was to be expected.
Something moved. I tightened my grip on Amaya, then realized that this time the movement held no threat.
The Dušan had stirred to life.
She coiled up my flesh, then moved across my shoulders and down my right arm. Her eyes glinted in the distant, smoky surrounds of the umbra, and her teeth shone. She wanted out, wanted action.
Not yet, I murmured. Not just yet.
I agree. Taylor’s voice was so close beside me I jumped. Death shall not find you just yet, but it will come, huntress. Even now, your flesh weakens. Soon, your heart will stop, and you will find yourself trapped in this place of nothingness, never to move on or be reborn.
Panic surged and I scrambled upright. Or tried to. My legs were like jelly and they refused to support my weight. One heartbeat later, I was on my knees. Which was stupid, because the wounds weren’t real. The hounds hadn’t chomped and chewed; I was whole and unhurt and fit.
But no matter how much I repeated that to myself, it didn’t seem to make one jot of difference. Maybe the umbra didn’t work that way.
Nevertheless, I took a deep breath, imagined it flowing through my being like a sweet breeze, blowing away the hurt and the pain as it refilled the wells of my strength.
Then slowly—and somewhat unsteadily—I climbed to my feet, Amaya clenched tightly in my hands. Her fire dripped from the end of the steel and formed a wide circle around me, as if drawing a line in the sand and daring Taylor to cross.
He didn’t accept the challenge. He remained where he’d appeared, his arms crossed and satisfaction oozing from his pores.
Standing there watching me die seems a bit anticlimactic after all your huff and puff, I commented. I was under the impression you wanted to kill me yourself.
I wanted a challenge and you certainly provided it. But I am no fool. I have you here now, and here you’ll stay.
I snorted. You can’t stop me from returning to flesh, Taylor—
On the contrary, he interrupted. I can.
Fear slithered through me. I was playing into his hands, I knew that, but he was far too watchful for me to release the one ace I held up my sleeve. Or on my arm, as was the case with the Dušan.
No one has that much power, Taylor. Not even someone like you.
His amusement swam around me, taunting and stinging. Do you remember Dorothy?
Yes. I continued to swing Amaya back and forth, watching him warily. The Dušan had settled into my right forearm, her glow fading but not her readiness. She felt like a coiled spring, ready to explode from my flesh the minute I gave the word.
She was screaming, unraveling, and yet she did not return to her flesh. I prevented that, as I will prevent you.
That’s what you were doing when you touched her forehead, I replied, suddenly realizing what had happened.
He nodded. By touching her, I not only marked her with what she was, but I pinned her in place while I drained her, both in real life and on the plane.
Well, he wasn’t going to be touching me, that was for fucking sure. So basically, you’re a coward.
Anger snapped around me, thick and fast. I am no coward, huntress. As you can see. He made a motion with his hand. Silver spun out of the darkness, slashing toward my torso. I raised Amaya and steel clashed with steel.
Coward, I spat. Everything you do is from a distance, Taylor. Why? Do you fear getting close to someone who can actually defend herself?
More steel came out of the shadows. I slashed and parried and battered it away, calling him a coward at every blow. His anger grew, and the attacks became more furious, until all I could see was silver and all I could feel was blood and pain.
Now, I said to the Dušan. Do it now.
She ripped free with a scream that seemed to echo all the pain and fury that filled me, and formed shape, growing and expanding as she hurtled toward Taylor.
I felt his shock as strongly as if it were my own; then the steel assault stopped and he began to fade—but nowhere near quickly enough to escape. The Dušan whipped across the shadows and wrapped around him, coiling so tightly she would have snapped bones if he’d actually been wearing flesh.
He screamed then, and began to struggle, but to little avail. The hunter had finally been snared.
I blew out a relieved breath, and lowered Amaya as I walked toward him. Fury battered me, but it was tinged now with fear. His fear, not mine.
It felt good.
There’s one thing you don’t know about me, Taylor, I said softly. I’m not human.
His fear increased. God, it was so sweet. No, you’re not. You’re a werewolf.
Oh, I’m much more than that, I’m afraid. I’m what the reapers are—a being of energy rather than just flesh and blood. Remember mentioning that my control was greater than most on this realm? Well, that’s because this place is far more mine than it will ever be yours.
If he’d had a face, I think his eyes would have been wide and staring. I stepped closer to him and stopped.
This is for Dorothy, I said. As well as Vonda and Dani Belmore, and all the other countless women you’ve killed over your many years of hunting.
He snarled and spat at me. I sidestepped, and the globule landed near Amaya’s point, hissing like acid.
Do your worst, he snapped. I will be reborn, and I will remember. Fear for the future, huntress, because I will be back.
I snorted. I may fear for my future, Taylor, but it won’t be because of anything you might or might not do—because you won’t be doing anything. We’re in the umbra, remember. Death here is final.
He screamed then. Screamed long and loud and fearfully.
I raised Amaya and killed him.
Chapter 15
I rose through the levels of consciousness slowly, gradually becoming aware of the sounds and scents that surrounded me.
They were not pleasant scents. Not to the sensitive nose of a wolf, anyway. Antiseptic mingled with the smells of the dying and the diseased, creating a veil of misery and pain that permeated not only the air but the very foundations of the building. The minute I became aware of them, they became a weight that pressed down on my chest and made it difficult to breathe.
I was in a goddamn hospital. God, I had to get out of here, had to move—
A hand caught mine. Warm, familiar, feminine hands. Ilianna, not Azriel.
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “You’re okay, Risa. ”
“No, I’m not. ” My voice cracked, and my throat felt raw. I opened my eyes. Ilianna smiled, but there was little disguising the worry in her expression. Not out of the woods yet, obviously. “I’m in a goddamn hospital, so how the hell can I be okay?”
“You’re alive, and that’s pretty amazing considering all you’ve been through. ”
She poured a glass of water, then offered it to me, straw first. I tried to lift my head, but it suddenly seemed heavier than a thousand bricks. She tilted the cup a little more, and managed to get some moisture down my throat.
I closed my eyes for a moment, then asked, “Where’s everyone else?”
“Tao and I have been taking turns sitting by your side. He headed to the café about twenty minutes ago. ”
I frowned. Even that hurt. “How long have I been out?”
“Five days—longer than Rhoan, in fact. ”
Relief hit, so thick and fast tears stung my closed eyelids. “He’s alive?”
It was an inane question—if he was awake he was obviously alive—but I still wanted her to say the words.
“Not only alive, but home. He got the all clear yesterday. ”
“Thank god. ”
“Yeah. Riley had Quinn stationed in here so she co
uld get constant updates on your condition while she was beside Rhoan. ”
I glanced past her, for the first time seeing Uncle Quinn sitting in the corner. His warm smile crinkled the corners of his dark eyes. “Riley says to hurry up and get well, because she intends on knocking both your and Rhoan’s thick heads together. ”
I laughed, which hurt, but at that particular moment I didn’t really care. I was alive, Rhoan was alive, and Taylor was dead.
“Now that I have seen for myself that you are awake, I shall leave. ” He pushed to his feet. “I’m afraid I need to eat. ”
I half smiled. “I’m sure there would have been more than a couple of nurses willing to offer their services. ”
“Ah, but there is only one neck I desire. ” He walked over to the bed and dropped a kiss on my forehead. “Do not lapse back into a coma. Riley would be most displeased. ”
If he thought I was in any danger of lapsing, he wouldn’t be leaving. “Give her a kiss for me. ”
“I will. ”
He left, and my gaze returned to Ilianna. “So why was I out so long? Even if I’d lost a lot of blood, I shouldn’t have been out for five days. ”
“It was the poison. ”
I raised my eyebrows. “Poison? What poison?”
“From the hounds that attacked you on the astral plane,” Azriel replied, and suddenly appeared on the other side of the bed.
I very much suspected he’d been there the entire time, though I hadn’t actually sensed him. But there was more than one reaper in this place, so maybe I was suffering some sort of temporary sensory overload.
My gaze met his. Anger and relief vied for dominance in the turbulent depths of his blue eyes. “But they weren’t real. They were just a product of Taylor’s imag—”
“No, they weren’t,” he cut in. “And because these particular beasts were little more than plague bearers, the wounds became poisoned. ”
“I wouldn’t have thought the hospital would have known how to cope with that sort of poisoning. ”
“They didn’t,” Ilianna said. “Kiandra did. ”
“She was here?” Holy shit!
“And I didn’t even have to call her. ” Ilianna wrinkled her nose. “She didn’t have an easy time of pinning down the particular branch of poison, though. It really was touch and go for a while there. ”