Jonas (Darkness #7)(31)

She unslung her whips. “Rookie mistake,” she muttered.

“Time to get bloody, baby. Ready?” Jonas connected gazes with her. Something in his chest shifted—he felt grounded. And with her at his back, though she’d probably never really fought a day in her life, he felt guarded. She had his back. He had hers.

He couldn’t help a smile.

She grinned back. “You’re crazy.”

“Yup. Let’s go. Mongrels—there’s nothing in that way. It’s the dungeon and a maze. Get me to Sasha.”

The lead wolf growled once—its version of talking back—before it turned to the north and started loping at a fast pace. Jonas grabbed his sword off the ground and wasted no time, not bothering to look behind him to make sure Emmy was keeping up. And in another few seconds, he didn’t have to look back at all—he was the last in line. Damn, but the female was fast.

They took a turn around a corner as the noise of battle increased. Sword clanks and explosions drifted from the distant front of the building—they must’ve exited in the back. Other than a couple dead warriors with ripped-out throats no one lingered on this side. As they neared the middle of the building, though, Jonas could see fighting through the holes in the side of the structure. His guys had found their way in already! It was looking good.

That thought abruptly shifted as they came to the next corner and saw the larger battle in progress. Vicious, grisly fighting covered the front of the building. Blood pooled and ran in rivulets along the packed dirt. Magic soared and exploded overhead, white and black. Attack spells of all kinds zinged through the fighting, taking out warriors in nasty ways.

Jonas spotted a huge bear rending through a line to get into the building. He saw Cato a ways off, in the street surrounded by magic-workers, all working with fast hand movements as they looked up.

Jonas followed their gaze to a man in a white robe with a grim but expectant expression.

“That’s Nathanial,” Emmy said at his side. She was looking where he was. “He’s better than them. I’d feared he was. They won’t be able to take him with magic.”

Jonas swept the road with his gaze for Sasha or Charles. His stomach started to knot when he didn’t find her with the other magic-workers. Hesitantly, knowing what he would see, he then looked harder at the battle. As he did so, he saw a flash of green unfurl right before a dull roar. A plant grew upwards into the sky, drawing shocked glances.

“She’s in the thick of it. Shit! She’s probably trying to go after that magic-worker.” Jonas glanced up at the robed worker before looking back to the fighting crowd. He glanced ahead of the plant and saw the door she must be trying to reach. She probably only had Charles with her, and possibly Paulie.

“She is such an idiot.” Adrenaline filled Jonas’ body. He flexed and tightened his grip on his sword. He then turned slowly to Emmy.

Her beautiful blue eyes were pools of worry and fear. Her face was even whiter than before as she glanced up at Nathanial and then back at the bloody spectacle before the building. She was way out of her league.

“Go hide,” Jonas said softly. “Stay safe. You’re free now. When this is over, no matter what happens, find someone loyal to Cato and say you need Nathanial’s tracker off of you. I have plenty of money and everything you could possibly need. Find someone from—“

Emmy slapped him across the face. Red blotches appeared on her cheeks. “Don’t be daft. I’m going to kill that sonuvabitch Nathanial and earn my place among your people. Lead the way to this Sasha.”

“You don’t know how to—“ Another slap cut Jonas off. “Fair enough.”

With a grin he couldn’t suppress, he glanced down at the wolves. “You guys going or what?”

With a huff, they took off running. Jonas followed immediately, sword out. In ten paces he reached his first opponent. A sword slashed out, fast and controlled. These guys were an experienced and adjusted class of warrior, if this male was any judge. Of good stock, too. But very… cultivated. Boring.

Jonas knocked the sword to the side and rushed forward with glowing arms. Adrenaline and Emmy’s essence pumped within him. Made him feel stronger and faster. Better. He gored his fingers through the eyes and then ripped down the face. He brought his sword around and stuck it in the male’s gut before he was moving on. He stuck the next warrior, a large female with lightning fast movements and then retreated a step when someone else rushed him. A crack rent the air. A red and white stream of blood and fluid gushed out of the male’s eye socket. Another crack, immediately after the first, took out the other eye.

Jonas couldn’t help a half-second to gawk.

Emmy ran right by him. He was surrounded by survivors in this life, it seemed. And they made the best warriors.

The two of them and the three wolves cut through the front of the building. Aiming for the line that would intersect with the whirling and sizzling cacophony of magic. Nathanial was throwing things down at Sasha and she was answering as only she could—completely unpredictably.

“She’s way out of her league,” Emmy yelled. “Is that a dinosaur?”

“She’s new to all this and she doesn’t have any real teachers. Yeah, she’s way out of her league. But she’ll rally.”

“Not for long.” Emmy pointed to the road. Cato staggered and went down on one knee. She then pointed directly overhead at Nathanial. He turned slowly. Too slowly, it seemed like. White was building around him. His focus shifted to the cluster of warriors and the one mage, struggling to fight her way through. Jonas saw the pale gold of Charles’ sword, and the gold of another sword—Paulie.