The Failsafe Prophecies (9 page)

Luxe took Bala’s hand and squeezed.
Her smile back forced him to take a breath and trust that this was
all going exactly as they planned. Getting Blu was the hardest
part, now in just moments, she’d be on her way back to Elethiya,
and so would they.

“Are you well, my darling?” Luxe had
to hear her confirm it.

She kissed his cheek and he gladly
accepted her warmth as she hugged him.

“Perfectly so.” She smiled at him,
making him feel like an overprotective grandfather.

He felt the tiniest hint of shame for
ever doubting her.

“I just love you so.” He
would never be able to express how much a part of himself she had
become. He stared into her eyes and what he saw reflected back
was
knowing
. His
love was returned tenfold.

Kane gently handed over Blu to Rigo,
who took her with just as much care as she was presented to him.
The sleeping Blu never made a sound, or gave any indication of
consciousness.

“I can’t shift with this.” Rigo
plucked the rose from her body and tossed it.

Bala reached out to catch
it.

“Don’t…” She didn’t get a chance to
finish her statement, or catch the rose. Instead she watched in
guarded horror as it transformed midair into a large black and gold
dragon, breathing green-yellow fire at them all.

Hayden and the three men beside her,
Thornton, Wraithe, and Luxe, all drew bladed weapons from the
enchanted sheaths that had previously masked their
appearance.

“Shit.” Rigo couldn’t release Blu. It
was his duty to get her out of there. “I have to leave.” He shouted
out to the group.

“We’ve got this, Rigo. Go! Keep her
safe!” Wraithe shouted back.

“Aye.” He couldn’t believe he was
leaving his brother and Hayden mid-battle. “You, as well,
brother.”

He wrapped his essence around Blu’s
body, concentrating on the designated spot in Elethiya. A crack of
energy later, they were gone in the vortex.

The dragon blasted them all with a
steady stream of flame as it bellowed in distress.

Screams and cheers went up from the
crowd now watching every move.

“We need to get these people out of
here.” Kane whispered to Ivin. “I’m not good with a dragon or a
sword, but I can do crowd control.

“This is completely out of hand.” She
nodded. “I can use magic to hold them back.”

She raised her hands and sent out an
energy wave across the crowd, erecting an invisible shield around
the dragon and around their people.

Thornton’s jacket caught the edge of
the fire and the flames multiplied in the leather fabric. He
quickly tore it off and beat it against the stone façade of the
castle while the dragon rose into the air… Or attempted
to.

Wraithe caught its wing with one of
his curved daggers and tore through the beast’s flesh. It shrieked
as it attempted to fly anyway. Hitting the bubble Ivin erected, it
didn’t get far. Its tail snagged a stroller parking lot, knocking
over a sea of plastic, steel, and aluminum. It spat flame at the
crowd, sounding like a faulty blow torch before it slammed into the
storefront directly behind them, flattening an awning, cracking the
plaster and knocking decorative stones from the roof.

As the façade came slamming to the
ground, Kane charged at two little children, breaking through
Ivin’s barrier and just barely saving them from the falling
debris.

“Don’t hurt it!” Bala
shrieked.

Wraithe moved in close on her left and
signaled for Hayden and Thornton to come in from the other side.
Luxe only saw Bala, and wasn’t taking orders from
anyone.

“I’m not going to let you hurt it.
Thornton, Hayden, back off!”

“Stay back, Bala.” Luxe attempted to
shield her, but she pushed past him.

She ran to the dragon as it lay in a
small heap on the ground and attempted to throw herself over
it.

The dragon watched her coming, shook
its head and lashed out with more flames.

Ivin manifested a shield for Wraithe,
who was closest. With it he managed to reflect the flame away. It
hit the energetic shield and immediately extinguished.

“That was new.” Kane returned to stand
by Ivin and spoke calmly.

“I don’t have enough magic to fix all
this.” She covered her face with her palm.

The crowd around them either ran, or
applauded and cheered, clearly thinking this was all part of the
magic on display for them.

“Stop!” Bala screamed. “It’s her
protector.”

She again tried to calm the wild
animal, only to have it snap at her with its enormous
jaw.

She screamed and from nowhere,
Obsidian came flying onto the scene, lunging at the
dragon.

Luxe grabbed for Bala, but as he
reached for her, the dragon bit into Obsidian’s shoulder blade.
Luxe was thrown to the ground as a tearing pain from nothing he
could perceive spanned the entire length of his body. Breathless,
he put every ounce of energy into getting to Bala. He reached her
just as a roahn-ami plunged a dagger into Obsidian’s
fur.

“It has weapons?” Luxe stared at what
he was seeing for a moment, then shouted, “It has
weapons!”

The cry of the dog pained everyone
within earshot.

Bala’s attention was
focused only on her beloved wolf-protector. She didn’t fear the
roahn-ami now. She wanted to
kill
it.

She reached out to dig her fingers
into its vaporish being. If she could get the right grip, she could
tear it apart.

“Bala, no!” Luxe yelled.

The demon reached for her as well, but
stopped just short of impaling her with its claws. For a series of
heartbeats, it was as if the world was silenced. It was only her
and the roahn-ami. She was unable to move. It was as if she had no
control over her own body. Her hands wouldn’t move, her feet,
nothing. The roahn-ami stared deep into her soul, sending a shiver
of ice into the deepest part of her.

A mere second later, the beast
evaporated without touching her in the slightest.

Released from its grasp, she fell
across Obsidian, breathing as if she hadn’t been able to get air
for hours.

“No. No. No. No. Obsidian.” She
grabbed the wolf, tears ran down her cheeks as she saw the deep red
slash across its jet black fur.

Silence was so deep it was painful.
The dragon had vanished. The roahn-ami had retreated to the
rooftops, and the containment crew had arrived and were doing
whatever it was they did, working with instruments that clicked and
pinged.

“I have magic for this.” Ivin rushed
in and fell to her knees beside them. “Hayden, can you transport
him?”

Bala looked at the beautiful serahn, a
god to her people, and silently begged for her help.

Hayden looked from Bala, to Obsidian,
then to Ivin. “Of course. Where should I take him?”

“My house.” Ivin cast a short spell on
the dog to put it into a deep sleep and slow the flow of blood.
“Tell my sisters this dog needs the magic of the purple moon and
they can prepare it for me. Also, tell them if they refuse you,
they’ll wish they’d never looked to my doorstep for safety. I know
where their enemies are and I’ll turn them over as easy as taking
my next breath.”

Hayden nodded to Ivin and began to
wrap herself around the wolf.

In a moment, they had
disappeared.

Again the crowd cheered.

Bala fell to the ground with a
whimper, feeling dark terror rising up from within. She felt Luxe
wrap his arms around her. She vaguely heard the commotion going on.
None of it mattered.

“I’ve got my bike, she’s
pretty
and
fast.
I’ll get you back home sooner than anyone else, Ivin.” Kane
offered.

Ivin looked briefly to the others, but
then spoke for herself. “Agreed.”

He braced her hand in his to help her
up off the ground, but when he looked at her attire, he
reconsidered his offer.

“I hadn’t considered what you were
wearing.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

She looked down at her long dress. It
was lightweight in fabric, but dragged the ground
slightly.

With a flick of her wrist, a haze of
purple smoke surrounded her for no more than the flash of an eye.
When it left, her hair was slicked back in a long braid, she had on
leather pants and a black knit top that hung off one
shoulder.

“Never underestimate me, Kane.” She
gave him a knowing smile steeped in confidence.

He chuckled. “It
will
never
happen
again.”

He bowed accordingly.

She rolled her eyes.

Ivin released the bubble she’d erected
to protect the crowd, and realized the containment crew had arrived
and had erected their own, only their bubble would erase all memory
of the event from anyone who stepped through it, not under a
protection spell, or carrying a sacred amulet.

“Please save him, Ivin.” Bala
pleaded.

Ivin gave her a quick
squeeze.

“I have every intention to do so,
Bala.” She pressed her palm against Bala’s cheek before she turned
to Kane. “You ready?”

He gave her a brief nod and gestured
with his arm for her to lead. She looked back for just a moment
before stepping through the first containment bubble.

“See you back at the fort.” She
smiled, then left with Kane without looking back.

“We need to get Bala out of here,
Luxe.” Wraithe spoke soft, but firm.

The surrounding crowd was moving from
cheering to simply moving about their business as the containment
spell washed over everyone.

Luxe stood and went to pull Bala up
into his arms, when he heard a soft whimper. He looked down to see
the smallest puppy he’d ever seen, ragged and dirty, hiding behind
her skirts.

“How in the world…”

“It’s Blu’s protector. He knows now.
He won’t attack us again.” Bala reached out and scooped up the
small puppy, holding it close to her chest.

“We don’t have time to argue. I’ll
trust your judgment on this, Bala, but I want Ivin to put a spell
on it to restrain its shifting abilities for now.” Wraithe took
control of the situation. “We need to go. Can you walk?”

He helped balance her between himself
and Luxe.

“I’m fine. I’m sorry about
before.”

“Don’t apologize. Just
walk.”

Wraithe looked around at the crowd who
was no longer paying any of them the least bit of attention. He
sure as hell hoped Oz had scrubbed all the surveillance by this
point. The four of them made their way into the crowd and through
the bubble. They quickly made their way down Main Street to the
main entrance, headed back for safety, home, Elethiya.

Chapter Seven

Luxe stared at Bala lying on the floor
of their living room, standing guard over Obsidian. Today had not
been an easy day. In truth, it was the first display of the dark
they’d come to know back home that they’d faced since coming to the
human realm. Everything here had been so easy, up until today. He’d
been a fool to hope for even a second that the dark wouldn’t follow
them, wouldn’t come to reclaim them to the Marrow.

He drew a breath and shook off his
dourness. She needed him and he’d be strong for her.

“He’ll be just fine. Everything is
going to be okay.” He moved in to sit beside Bala on the
floor.

Obsidian was still unconscious from
Ivin’s magic. Blu’s protector was still holding its ragamuffin
puppy shape and was curled up beneath Obsidian’s long fur. He had
to assume Ivin’s magic was at play there, as well, and that the
spell she cast on him would keep him from transforming into anymore
dragons.

Bala hadn’t even acknowledged him. She
stared into the fire as if he hadn’t said a word.

“I saw you today. I saw you start to
transform.” Now she turned to look over her shoulder. “How is
everything going to be okay if you slip back into the
darkness?”

He drew a breath and ran his hand
through his thick dark hair.

“Bala, for your life, I’d
risk the dark.” It was the truth. Nothing else mattered but her,
and he’d risk
anything
, even his own life and that of the entire human realm for
her. “After everything we’ve been through, I will
not
lose you. I will
tempt
anything
to
make certain of it.”

She turned and took both his hands in
hers.

“No. You cannot let those
thoughts in. I love you, my darling, more than anyone has ever
loved another soul, but we have responsibilities and we can
never
tempt the dark.
You can
never
slip on this. Otherwise, all we went through—” She shrugged
and a tear slipped down her cheek. “—it will be worthless. It will
mean nothing.”