Eileen Wilks - Blood Challenge

Rule asked, “What exactly is it we’re running from?”

“Gate energy’s oscillating, out of sync.” Unburdened and faster than the rest anyway, Cullen could have easily pulled ahead. He stayed beside Rule. “It’s going to blow. That will release a hellish amount of energy. I don’t know what will happen. Earthquake, maybe. Or suck half the mountain into the other realm, or shove matter from that realm here, or do some goddamn thing I’ve never heard of.”

“Friar,” Lily said suddenly. “I don’t know if he had a gun.”

“We should have seen him,” Rule said, “if he came this way, but … Sammy. Take rear guard. Cullen, pull ahead and deal with him if you see him.”

Cullen nodded and put on more speed. His mage light bobbled, but stayed with them even as Cullen vanished into the darkness ahead.

They ran. And ran.

The first part of the tunnel was either natural or had been dug much longer ago, and not by modern equipment. They reached the part Friar had added to join it to his house without seeing Friar, Friar’s body, or Cullen. Without seeing or hearing Benedict, either.

Rule was breathing hard and streaming with sweat when they reached the end, where a simple wooden ladder led up to the trapdoor. He set Lily down. She swayed—no, it was the earth that swayed. Quake, tremor, call it what you like—

“Go!”

She didn’t waste time arguing about who went first, but climbed as fast as she could. Cullen’s face appeared in the square of light at the top. “No one here,” he said. “Hurry.”

She did. He hauled her up as she reached the top, set her on her feet outside the broom closet, and gave her a shove. “Keep going, dammit, you can’t do a thing to help.”

“He’s not coming. He’s sending the others up.” She could feel Rule, motionless, at the bottom of the ladder.

The floor shuddered beneath her.

“Give him this one goddamn thing and get out of here!” Cullen snarled.

He was right. She forced herself to move. Pushed it into a run and pelted out of Friar’s beautiful, empty house, stopping when she reached the car. No keys. She wanted to laugh. No goddamn keys, because they were in her purse, which was back in the house.

Lucas came running out carrying Brian. “How far,” he gasped, “are we supposed to go?”

“I don’t know.” She wasn’t going one step more without Rule.

Then José emerged with Arjenie. And Sammy and Cullen—and hard on his heels, Rule.

The earth groaned almost silently. Behind Friar’s house, the mountain began to move—earth and rock shearing off, beginning to slide down.

“He’s coming,” Arjenie said frantically. “He’s coming. I feel him.”

Where were the militia guys? Calvin Brewster and his sergeant? Lily didn’t see anyone.

The earth growled. And shook, and kept shaking. Lily fell. Lucas went to his knees, hastily setting Brian down. Cullen stumbled. José fell, Arjenie pitching out of his arms. Rule broadened his stance and stood, staring at the house …

Which twisted, groaning like a huge beast in pain. The lights winked out. Part of the second story collapsed. The earth rolled beneath Lily like it was liquid.

Benedict ran out the front door, weaving on the unsteady stone of the veranda like a surfer riding a wave. He leaped—and landed on grassy lawn just as the house shrieked and groaned hugely. The rest of the second story and most of the first collapsed in a horrendous crash. Dust billowed in the moonlit night.

A few feet from the disaster, Benedict sank to his knees, spent. Only then did Lily see Dya. She’d ridden his back like a child, clinging to his neck with one arm. Her other arm clutched a small satchel tightly.

Arjenie burst into tears and limped toward them.

The earth grew quiet.

Dya climbed off Benedict’s back. “This is a brave man,” she said solemnly to her sister as Arjenie reached them. “He says he is yours.”

“Yes,” Arjenie said, sinking to the ground and holding out one hand to Dya—her other arm still hung limp—and leaning in to kiss Benedict lightly. “Yes, he is.”

He gathered her close.

For a moment there was only the groan and crash as the debris that had been a house settled. Lily pushed to her feet, needing Rule.

“Rule,” Lucas said quietly. “We’re losing him.”

Lily moved the few steps to where Brian lay on the ground. Rule got there first. As Lily sank down beside him he was trying to take Bryan’s pulse at the wrist. He abandoned that to lay his ear directly on Brian’s chest … which was rising and falling in quick jerks. Distressed breathing. Not a good sign.

“He’s bad,” Rule said, straightening, “but he’s not gone yet.”

“Dya,” Arjenie said, “Dya, can you help him?”

The little woman shook her head sadly. “I changed back to true venom to kill my lord. After you gave me the tears, I hurried to change it. I knew his death was mine. It is not easy to kill a lord of the sidhe, but the venom of a dereet of the Binai will do so quickly.” She sounded proud. “But now … true venom is very different from what I use to make potions. Especially potions of healing. I can’t change back so quickly.”

Lily unclipped her phone and turned it on. She’d had it off for the op. “I can call Nettie. Maybe she could get here in …” Her breath sucked in. She’d forgotten. For a moment she’d forgotten where Nettie was, and who she was with.

“Isen’s okay,” Rule said, adding mind reading to his other abilities. “Or at least alive. What time is it?”

She glanced at the phone in her hand. “Twelve twenty.”

“The Challenge must be over by now. He survived it.”

Tears stung her eyes, making her feel foolish. Crying over good news? But Isen had made it. Most of them had made it. Most, but not all. “I’ll call,” she said. She touched Nettie’s name in her contacts list.

Rule gripped Brian’s hand. “He didn’t want to die alone. I wonder if he knows …”

“Hearing’s the last to go,” Cullen said quietly as he joined them. “There’s a good chance he knows we’re here.” He sat and reached for Brian’s ankle, shook his head, then took his other hand and tried to find a pulse at the wrist.

Lily got Nettie’s voice mail. She left a brief message. “An ambulance,” she said. I’ll call 9-1-1.”

Rule looked at Cullen, who shrugged. “It can’t hurt,” Rule said.

Lily knew what they meant. They didn’t think he’d last that long. Even if he did, EMTs, paramedics, doctors—none of them would have a clue what to do for a lupus whose magic wasn’t able to fix whatever Rethna had done to him.

But they didn’t know . They had to try. She punched in the numbers and gave the 9-1-1 operator their location and what little information she had about Brian’s condition.

When she ended that call, Brian’s breathing seemed worse. There was a rattling sound in his throat. Cullen was talking to him quietly, recounting aloud some escapade. Lily bit her lip and checked for messages. There was one from Jason, who’d accompanied Isen. That one came in thirty minutes ago. Another from Pete, Benedict’s second, that was only fifteen minutes old. She touched the one for Jason first.

“Isen’s okay,” she said after listening. Rule and Cullen would have heard the message, but Benedict was probably too far away. “He took some damage, including a bullet that creased his skull. Nettie’s keeping Isen in sleep. They’re headed back to Clanhome. Ah … Javier’s alive, too. Jason called the Challenge inconclusive.”

“I’ll talk to Javier,” Lucas said, “when you’re able to lend me your phone. He’ll withdraw it when he knows the truth.”

She nodded, then listened to the message from Pete. “Pete wants to talk to Benedict. The bomb squad’s at Clanhome now.” She looked at Arjenie, huddled against Benedict. “There’s a good chance you saved a few hundred people when you picked Friar’s pocket.”