“Tony, I can’t find Sarah.” Selena came running for him, her eyes wide with panic. Tony took a deep breath. He had been preparing to go and find her so he could tell her what had happened. He took another calming breath, and reminded himself that she was not guilty in this.
“I need to talk to you, Selena.” She stopped in her tracks and covered her face with her hands. “Come on inside.” He gestured for his cabin, grateful that Elizabeth wasn’t home. She was feeling guilty enough as it was and didn’t need to be part of this conversation. There was no telling how Selena was going to handle this.
“What happened to her, Tony? Please tell me she’s okay.” Tears filled her eyes and Tony looked at her sadly. How was he supposed to tell this woman he had known for years that her only remaining child was never coming home? “Tony,” she said more sternly.
“Something’s happened.”
“Oh no.” Selena sunk to a chair.
“It’s going to be hard to hear.”
“Did a Brute get her? She was always leaving the village. I told her to stay inside the walls,” she said, barely holding on.
He wasn’t sure he should tell her the truth. The only ones who knew what had really happened other than himself were Dakota, Elizabeth, Carmen, and Anastasia. Surely no one else would find out. Still, he knew that nothing good ever came from a lie, and if he were in her place, he would want the truth no matter what. “Vincent manipulated her. She kidnapped Elizabeth in order to lure Anastasia to the Brute world.”
“No, no, no.” She shook her head. “That’s not possible. Sarah would never have done
that.”
“That’s just it, it wasn’t her. At least not alone.”
Selena straightened in her chair. “Well, I saw Elizabeth this morning, so I know she’s back. Where is my daughter? And Anastasia?”
“Anastasia was injured so badly that we don’t know if she is going to survive.”
“Oh no,” she whispered, covering her mouth with her hands. “And Sarah?” she asked weakly.
Tony swallowed hard. “Sarah didn’t make it.”
Selena shot to her feet. “Who killed her?” she growled. “Was it you?”
“No.”
“Anastasia then.”
When he didn’t answer, Selena ground her teeth together.
“She will pay for what she did, Tony, I swear it!”
“She didn’t do anything but protect herself and Elizabeth.”
“She is the reason Brady is dead too.”
“No she is not.” Tony felt his own anger begin to rise, and reminded himself yet again that this woman had just lost her child and was looking for someone to blame. “Selena, the only person who is at fault here is Vincent.”
Selena looked at him, and the pain reflected in her eyes cut straight to his heart. “You may all think that, but I know the truth.” She stormed out and left him staring after her.
Maybe he should have lied to her, he thought. But he knew he had done the right thing by being honest. The last thing they needed was to have the truth making its way out during the most inopportune of times. This way everyone was on the same page.
He headed for the kitchen and pulled a bottle of whiskey from the cupboard.
Elizabeth came in with tears in her eyes. “You told Selena?” she asked.
He nodded. “She came to me asking.”
“It’s good you did.”
Tony noticed the red mark on her cheek. “What happened?” He rushed to her side and touched the inflamed skin. “Did she do this?” He clenched his fist.
Elizabeth nodded again, and tears began to fall down her cheeks. “I can’t blame her. I would be angry too. I-if it h-h-had been Dakota,” she stammered.
“This needs to be dealt with,” he said, and headed for the door.
“Tony, please, she’s just hurting.”
“I don’t give a shit that she’s hurting. It’s not your fault and she had no business putting her hands on you.”
“Please?” Her voice was so small, Tony stopped and let out a breath. She needed him now. He could deal with Selena later, and he certainly would be.
Tony stepped to Elizabeth and wrapped his arms around her. She crumpled into him and released all of the pain and fear she had been holding inside since she had been taken. “I’m so scared,” she said as she buried her face into his chest.
“I know, my love, I am too.”
“What if Anastasia doesn’t come back? What if this Sorceress isn’t able to help her?”
“She will,” Tony assured her. “Anastasia is a warrior, she has been her entire life.” Tony tipped her face up so he could see her tear-filled eyes. The blue of them had captured him the first time he had seen her, and continued to hold his heart to this day.
“But if she’s not—”
“Lizzie, we can’t think that way. We have to continue to push through it and have faith that everything is going to be all right.”
Elizabeth nodded and they turned at the knock on the door.
“Come in,” Tony said softly.
“Tony, I’m sorry to bother you.” Argento stepped inside, his huge frame more than filling the doorway. “We have a situation.”
“Can it wait?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Tony nodded. “I’m sorry, Lizzie.”
“It’s okay.” She wiped her eyes and offered him a weak smile. “Go, I’ll be fine. I’m probably going to take a nap.”
“Okay, get some rest.” He kissed her hair and stepped outside with Argento.
* * *
As soon as Carmen and Dakota stepped back through the portal, they knew something was wrong. The stench of smoke filled their lungs, and while the village was nearly deserted, Dakota could see Fighters holding the gate.
“What is going on?” Dakota yelled for them, but no one could hear him over the sound of scrams and clashes of metal. The door to the medical cottage was flung open and a somber-faced Elizabeth gestured them inside.
“What happened?” Carmen asked as Elizabeth guided her to a chair. Tilly spoke up from the corner.
“They attacked us. A battalion of Brutes came nearly five hours ago.”
“Five hours? We were only gone thirty minutes at the most!” Dakota insisted, looking at his mother.
“No, Dakota, you’ve been gone nearly a full day.”
“I was afraid of that,” Carmen whispered, and shook her head.
“Afraid of what?” Dakota asked her.
“Time moves much slower in Monique’s world. Makes sense, as she is the only Sorceress until another is born. She would need to keep herself young for as long as possible.”
“How many injured?” he asked his mother.
“We’ve lost two so far.”
“Fuck!”
“Dakota James. Language,” Elizabeth scolded him.
“Sorry, Mom.” It was amazing that even as a grown man, his mother using his middle name could take him back to childhood.
“I need to go and help.” Dakota headed for the door, but stopped when he got a clear look at the exhaustion on Carmen’s face. “Let us take this one, Carmen. Don’t use any magic unless you have to.”
She nodded. “As much as I hate it, I think that’s for the best. I don’t think my magic would be much help right now anyways.”
Elizabeth moved forward and pulled Dakota in for a hug. “I love you so much, Son. I’m glad you’re home. Now go and kick some Brute ass.”
“Language, Mom.” Dakota smiled at her and she smacked him lightly on the arm.
“Go.”
He pushed back outside into the noise and ran for the gate.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked Tony, who was leading a group of Fighters towards the gate.
“They came out of nowhere.”
“How many?”
“Nearly four dozen.”
“Shit.”
“It’s not just the Brutes, though.”
“Trepidos?” Dakota asked, praying it wasn’t the nasty little monsters who had the ability to bring your worst fears to life. A shiver ran through him at the memory of his last encounter with them. They had convinced him that his mother was being beaten by Brutes right before his eyes. It was a horrifying nightmare that had stuck with him even after he learned it was fake.
Tony shook his head. “I’ve never seen whatever is out there before. But they are fast, and Kaley is having a hell of a time keeping up with them,” Tony said, mentioning Anastasia’s lion-sized feline.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Dakota asked, and unsheathed the sword he carried at his back. “Let’s end these fuckers.”
Tony grinned a sadistic smile and let out a yell. The gate opened, and together they ran into battle.
It wasn’t long before Dakota saw what Tony had been talking about. The beasts looked almost similar to small dragons. Their deep-red scales glinted as they moved, and the long tail that trailed behind them whipped around as they attacked. The head was shaped like that of a lizard, and the teeth Dakota caught sight of were razor-sharp. The talons attached to the end of their wings were used to grab at their prey. What the hell were these things? And what hell of a world had they come from?
His eyes caught Kaley, who was currently engaged in a fight with one of them. She was giving it a run for its money, but it was retaliating the same. “Come on, Kaley,” he whispered as it threw her to the ground. She got right back up and pummeled the thing.
He turned just in time to see a Brute barreling towards him. The large man-like monster stood nearly eight feet tall and was solid muscle. Its nearly translucent skin was peppered with blood that Dakota could only hope was its own. He rolled out of the way and buried his platinum-coated blade into the Brute’s back.
It howled with rage as it fell, and Dakota continued to fight his way through the crowd so he could reach Kaley and help her if she got in over her head. As he moved, his eyes searched for his friend and the Brute king, Argento. He found him minutes later, ending the life of one of the mini dragons. He nodded briefly in greeting and then jumped back into the fight.
“Dakota!” He heard his name and turned to see one of the dragon creatures reaching for him with its wings. He ducked and tried to move out of the way, but its talon grabbed the skin of his arm and latched on. It pulled him towards its gaping mouth, and Dakota fought to get his sword up in time to stop it.
Kaley came to his aid and jumped onto the creature’s back. It was just distracted enough that she was able to get to the soft spot on its throat, and before he knew it, Dakota was covered in the thing’s putrid green blood.
“Well, that’s disgusting,” he said as he fell to the ground. He tried to ignore the pain in his sword arm and stood.
He said a silent thank you to his dad for making him practice shooting with both hands when he was a kid, and pulled the gun from his waistband. Using a firearm on these beasts proved to be futile, though, so it wasn’t long before he stuck it back in its holster and tested his skills using his left hand for his sword. Turns out, he wasn’t too bad at fighting left-handed either.
* * *
It took nearly two hours before Terrenia was victorious. Dakota’s skin was slick with all kinds of blood as he climbed the steps to the cabin Anastasia had lived in with her father.
“Dakota!” He turned to see Tony running towards him. How the man had any energy left at all was a mystery to Dakota.
“What is it?”
“I need to talk to you. It’s about Selena.”
Dakota took a seat on the porch and Tony sat next to him.
“What is it?” he asked.
“She came to me and asked what happened to Sarah.”
Dakota cursed under his breath. “How did she take it?”
“About as well as you can expect. She disappeared afterwards and I haven’t seen her since.”
“Are you worried?”
“A little. I’ve known Selena since before she had her children. She’s a good woman, but could be dangerous if given the opportunity. She used to be one hell of a Fighter.”
“Really?”
Tony nodded. “Just keep an eye out.”
“Will do.” He yawned. “It’s been a long damn day,” he said sadly.
Tony nodded in agreement and then stood. “I want to go check on your mother. She’s been having a hard time.”
“Thanks for being there for her.”
“I love her. No need to thank me.”
“Still, I’m glad she has you.”
“I’m glad that Anastasia has you.” Tony smiled and then headed back towards the village.
Dakota stood as Kaley padded over to him. “You look like you had a long day too, kitty.” He greeted her, and grinned when he saw her narrow her eyes at the nickname. He imagined that if she could speak, she would have offered him some choice words. “Come on.”
He looked over to the bath, which was already full of steaming water. He needed to make sure he found whoever did it and thank them profusely. He looked over at the exhausted Kaley who had followed him in.
“Well?” He motioned for the bath and she stared at him. “Don’t look at me like that, Kaley. You are covered in just as much crap as I am. Go on.” He motioned again and Kaley continued to stare. “I will dump water on you if you don’t, and it won’t be warm.”
As if she were annoyed, but didn’t want to risk that he was bluffing, Kaley stepped elegantly into the bath and sat while Dakota washed her. He had grown attached to the cat that had rescued a teenage Ana from a Brute attack. She was just as much a part of his family as his mother, Ana, and now Tony was.
When she was clean, he dried her off and she went back to lie in the exact spot she had been in before.
“Thank you. Now I don’t have to smell you all night.” He laughed and cleaned out the copper tub, and then hauled the bucket outside to the small pond that sat behind the cottage. He stood for a moment and stared at the glassy surface of the water. He could see his reflection and he hardly recognized the blood- and dirt-covered man who stared back at him. It had been weeks since he’d trimmed his hair, and it was now curling slightly over his ears. His face held a beard that had been growing for nearly two months, and the shadows under his eyes hinted at a man who hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in weeks.
What were they going to do if Ana didn’t make it? No one wanted to talk about it—hell he didn’t want to talk about it, but they were going to need to face the facts if they were going to survive the coming war.
He refused to let Ana lose the world she loved, even if she wasn’t going to be here to fight for it with them. He looked up at the stars and closed his eyes, allowing the breeze to lift the hair from his forehead. He wondered what she was doing now. Had Monique been able to wake her up? Would she hate him when she woke up? He’d be lying if he didn’t admit that he hated himself at this point. How different things might have been if only he’d reacted better to his mother’s kidnapping. If he hadn’t treated Ana so shitty before he left her behind.
He looked back at his reflection. “You’re a damn fool,” he said to himself. A small ripple crossed the water and he felt a chill in the air. He got the feeling he wasn’t alone anymore, and turned to look behind him. There was no one there, which somehow only made the feeling grow. Strange. He dipped the bucket into the water and headed back towards the house to heat it up. Man, what he would give for a damn shower right now. Or at least running water.
He continued the task until he had enough water to sink into, and stripped naked. His arm was killing him where the dragon had grabbed it, but he knew he needed to wash the wound before it could be dressed, and his mother had enough on her plate as it was.
He climbed into the hot water and let out a groan as it engulfed his aching muscles. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tub.
* * *
The knock on the door came much too soon, and Dakota considered telling whoever it was to go the hell away. But instead he stood and wrapped a towel around his waist. He pulled the door open to see Serena standing on the other side.
“I heard you were injured,” she said curtly, and held up a bag.
Dakota glanced at the nasty wound on his shoulder. “I’m all right.”
“I may not be an actual doctor, but I used to help Annabelle stitch up wounds on Fighters. I did it plenty of times on my husband. Please let me help.”
Dakota nodded hesitantly and stepped to the side. Kaley lifted her head and eyed Selena as she set up on the counter.
She noticed the bath in the corner. “I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I can come back.”
“No worries. Thanks for coming.” He took a seat and winced when she touched the open flesh on his arm.
“You should have gone straight to your mother.”
Dakota snorted. “Did she tell you to say that?”
“She doesn’t know I’m here.” Her tone had gone cold, and Dakota didn’t have to surmise why. His mother had been the bait, and Selena probably blamed her for it just as much as she surely blamed Ana. So he had to wonder, why was she here helping him?
He sat in silence while she cleaned and dressed his wound, than stood when she began packing her things. “Thank you, Selena.”
She nodded and headed for the door.
Dakota knew there was nothing he could do to ease her pain, so he let her leave without another word.
He couldn’t even imagine what she was going through. He shed his towel and climbed back into the now lukewarm bath to continue washing the day off him.
* * *
Selena gripped her bag to her chest and continued towards her home. Her empty home, she reminded herself. She closed her eyes against the tears that began to spill down her cheeks. She had been awful to Sarah after Brady’s death, had turned her back on the daughter that had been suffering the loss of her brother. What kind of person was she? That she was capable of shutting out the only living child she’d had?
Selena tossed her bag onto the counter of her kitchen and crumpled to the floor. The dagger at her back dug into her skin, but she didn’t move it. She had forced herself to follow Dakota, had every intention of driving that dagger into his heart and taking away someone that Anastasia had loved.
She could have, too; physically, she would have been able to had she surprised him. But she wasn’t a killer, and she would have been fooling herself to think she would have been able to go through with it. Dakota had done nothing to her; he had never been anything but kind to her.
Her revenge would be against Anastasia, the one who was the cause of all of her pain. That girl had befriended her son, and then sent him to his death when she wasn’t there to protect him. Now she had killed her daughter, who had merely been ensnared in a trap. Surely Anastasia had been powerful enough to stop her without killing her.
Anastasia was a murderer, and she had to pay.