Immortals After Dark 06 - Dark Desires After Dusk

for her, Tera.”
    “I remember,” she said. “And am happy your wait is over. Is it possible your female could already be carrying your babe?”
    Those words made his body go still, even as his heart began to thunder. His female carrying his babe. “She could be,” he lied.
    Tera visibly relaxed, motioning the four bowmen behind her to stand down. “Then the warrior will be for good.”
    He couldn’t help but ask, “You really believe that?”
    “You’ve done some…questionable things, and you can be menacing and violent. But you’re not evil. So what’s your plan for Groot?”
    “I can’t divulge it. Not when it could put my female in jeopardy.”
    “Very well,” the fey said. “Do you need our aid?”
    “Yeah, get the word out to the good guys that Holly’s not fair game.”
    “I will, gladly.”
    “And you can tell me how you knew to come here.”
    “We had an informant at Imatra’s bar,” she said.
    “Could others have gotten the information you had?”
    “Probably. Our contact wasn’t fey. His loyalty was to currency.”
    Cade ran his hand over his forehead, frowning to find it dripping with sweat. “I’ve got to get Holly out of here.” He would return alone at midnight tomorrow. Switching to English, he said, “Come on, halfling. We’re leaving!”
    Guardedly, she made her way toward them.
    To both Holly and Cade, Tera said, “Then we part ways here, hopefully with peace still between us.”
    Cade shrugged. “What’s a few arrow wounds among friends, yeah?”
    With a wince, she said, “About those arrows, Cade. They were dipped in poison—”
    “Poison!” Cade bellowed. “Ah, come on, Tera!”
    Holly gave a cry behind him. “What poison? You’re poisoned?”
    Cade turned to her. “No, I’ll be fine. It’ll just hurt like—”
    From out of nowhere, fire hurtled down at him with the force of a rocket. Flames engulfed him as the impact sent him flying.

    Just as Holly screamed, “Cadeon!” one of the archers yelled, “Fire demons on the cliffs!”
    The blast that hit Cadeon looked like a cannonball shot from a flamethrower. His burning body slammed into a ridge, crushing solid rock before falling to the ground still ablaze.
    At once, she sprinted for him, yanking off her coat.
    “Bows up—shoot to kill!” Tera ordered, her delicate voice now booming as her own bow joined the salvo.
    As Holly ran, she chanced a glance at the cliff above the bridge. Through the wispy mist, she saw four demons. Liquid fire danced in their palms.
    When she reached Cadeon, Holly spread her coat over him, shoving the material against the flames. Once she’d put them out and drew her coat back, she stared in shock at the damage to his upper body.
    His hands were…gone, melted to stumps from where he’d tried to ward off the flames. On the right side of his head, his face and hair were burned completely away. That eye was missing, and she thought she could see bone.
    Tera yelled to her, “Get out of here!” A stream of arrows flew at the demons, the fey launching them with supernatural speed. “We’ll stall them!”
    Holly nodded, even as she had no idea how she’d get Cadeon to the car. She stooped down to drape his damaged arm over her shoulders as she’d seen people do on TV, then heaved upward.
    What the…? She’d easily lifted him to his feet.
    Cadeon grated something that sounded like “Can’t touch me.”
    “What?”
    “Poison—”
    “We’ll talk about this later!” She’d heard what Tera had said and was aware that they faced a subset of problems—but she really couldn’t think about that right now!
    At the car, she slung him into the passenger seat, then stuffed his long legs in, trying not to freak out about all the damage he’d sustained.
    As she yanked open her own door, she spied the fey’s truck just around the bend, parked sideways, blocking the road between rock faces.
    Holly swung her head in the other direction. A flimsy roadblock, a questionable bridge, and a demon-filled ridge awaited.
    Reasoning trail? This car can fly. Bust through the roadblock, gain more speed on the bridge, then jet right under the demons….
    If the bridge held. Hadn’t Cadeon said this car was heavy as a tank?
    Don’t hesitate…follow instinct. Inside the car, she pushed the start button. Need momentum to hit the roadblock. Oh, God, oh, God… She shifted into reverse, then floored the gas.
    “I’m going to get you out of here, Cadeon. We’re going to lose