Caged by Damnation (Caged #2)(63)

"Iz...? You can talk?" I was incredulous. The last time I had seen her, she’d been leaning towards the feral side and couldn't utter a single word. Now, she had full use of her vocabulary?

She grabbed my bicep, eliciting pain when her fingers braised a raw patch of skin, and steered me towards the door that Maloc had entered.

Maloc's arm shot out, creating a wall between us and the outside. "I don't believe that's wise," he began, but Nicolai cut him off. "Don't waste your breath." His eyes stared pointedly at mine, then he walked back the way he came. Did that mean his room was near mine? I shuddered at the thought.

"She'll be safe with me, and I promise to treat her like the invalid she is," Izzy pronounced with a smile. When Maloc showed signs of protesting, she opened her wings, cleaving a lamp and causing serious damage to the kitchen cabinets. I winced.

Rafe laughed. "You worry too much, old man. That one can handle herself, and I think they need some time away from the rest of us." Maloc's feathers seemed ruffled by the knock at his age, but he reluctantly agreed that we could go outside if we stayed within the perimeter.

My worries faded away once the sun was shining down on me. The overrun garden was majestic in its simplicity and the cottage was divine. On each side of the house I found a trellis, with ivy covering roughly sixty percent of the stone. Izzy wandered with me, trailing behind until we found ourselves sitting on the bench near the bird bath.

"Iz, where is everyone? Did Ash make it?"

She spread her wings carefully, as if shielding us, and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "Well, the other Draconians are in the tunnels beneath the cottage; this is their base. Isis is sleeping. You saw Rafe and Maloc ... Liam's fine. I think he wandered off into the forest with his guard, and Griffin's situation is still critical. Everyone else is missing."

It took a moment for me to digest the news. "Missing or dead?" Izzy suddenly seemed to find great interest in a withered flower at her feet, which then blossomed at her touch. I asked, "Is Griffin going to be okay?"

She shrugged.

"What are we doing to find the others? I can't wait around for them to show up. They're my family!"

She pulled me to her. "I know." She paused while I sobbed against her chest. She then pulled me away and looked me in the eye. "They are doing all they can,” she said. “Most of the Draconians are out looking. Isis has been working spells this whole time, trying to send a telepathic message and ... we'll find them. We just need to hold tight and wait out the storm."

I willed myself to be strong as I brushed away my tears. "What can I do to help?"

"Hmmm ... let me think. You could rest until you're healthy again and keep me company." A huge grin lit up her face before a grim look confiscated it. "Seriously, it's surprising that you're alive at all. You actually died before Nicolai found you. He had to give you some of his blood to restart your heart. If it wasn't for him, you would still be dead."

"You mean the creepy guy in the cabin? Rafe's brother?" She nodded and I groaned. "By giving me his blood, do you mean that I drank it?" The expression on her face was enough of a confirmation. I was a little disgusted, but I supposed drinking his blood was better than dying. "Then I owe him an apology. I was kind of rude earlier." Taking a deep breath, I put it out of my mind. "What happened after we left you and Rafe? He didn't look too good."

She avoided my gaze. "We were overpowered but managed to get away. There isn't really much to the story." Reaching in the pocket of her jeans, she pulled out a charred piece of paper. "I managed to save the prophecy. Well, half of it. The rest went up in a fiery pit."

Glancing down, I confirmed that it was still gibberish to me. "We should show the others." By others I meant our group, but realized that the Draconians had a right to view it too. After all, they were housing and protecting us from the demons.

"Wait, Liam has a guard?"

Izzy fell over; one of her wings gently hit me, but she didn't seem concerned. She was too busy giggling like the Izzy I used to know, and I could help but crack a smile.

Once she sobered, she said. "Yep, if anyone wants to go outside the fence, we have to take one of the Draconians with us. Believe me, Liam hasn't been too happy about it."

"What are the Draconians like? I mean Rafe seems normal enough, but Nicolai is a little stuffy. Are the others like that?"

"Eh, they're just like normal people, but hyped up on battle mojo. I guess some are a little controlling, but others are laidback. They're difficult to describe. Liam's with Ryder, who I guess is the worst of the bunch. He's kind of a drag. I swear, his face is frozen with a scowl on it. I don't think his facial muscles move!" Izzy brushed off her outfit and began walking towards the house, but I stopped her.

"Can we just have a few more minutes of peace before going back in? Out here, I can forget that most of my loved ones are either missing or dead. I don't want reality to set in just yet."

We spent the next hour circling the cottage while Izzy explained what I had missed. I had been unconscious for several days while the rest of them gnawed on their worry for me.

"Iz, do you think they're okay?"

She knew who I meant: Maye and Ash. I could see her processing the question, trying to decide how to answer it with tact. If they were dead, what did that leave me? The demon had been right when he’d said that their blood would be on my hands. How could I ever forgive myself?