Blackbird Broken (The Witch King's Crown #2) - Keri Arthur Page 0,108

as I readied for impact. The red demon hit it hard enough to force me back several feet. One foot hit the cavern wall, and I braced against it as the net consumed the demon. Not even ash remained.

As Vita’s energy drew back to her blade, an arrow of utter agony shot through my head. It was a warning I had no choice but to ignore. I sucked in several breaths that did little to ease the fire in my brain and glanced again at Mo. Her magic still spun up the copper probe, and though its point now seemed lower than before, it remained attached to the ley line.

No resting just yet, then …

The two-way squawked in my ear, making me jump. “Gwen?” Barney said, voice urgent. “You there?”

“Yep. What’s wrong?”

“We’re under attack. At least six people got inside the house—”

“How the hell did that happen?”

“Long story short, they hit with magic and muscle from several angles. You’ve probably got a couple of minutes, if that, before the six are on you. We’ve stopped the rest.”

“Good.” I hesitated. “Anyone hurt?”

“One of the councilors is down, but other than that, no. The ribbons are still active though—Luc attempted to get in after them and was attacked. He’s burned but fine.”

Burned didn’t equate with fine in my opinion. I ignored the flood of concern and then glanced sharply at the nearby tunnel. While there was no immediate indication of another wave of demons, something was coming. Something that had dread crawling down my bleeding spine …

“Gotta go,” I said. “Please don’t let anything else in.”

“We’ll do our best.”

I moved cautiously toward the tunnel. It remained silent, and yet the sense that something approached was definitely stronger. I didn’t think it was a demon, but it didn’t feel like a dark elf, either.

I should bring the whole damn tunnel down on whoever—whatever—approached. But Barney’s comment echoed through my mind; the last thing I wanted to do was endanger anyone whose house lay above us.

I glanced back to the house tunnel. They were closer than whatever was coming down this one. I needed to take care of them first, especially when surprise would give me the advantage.

But that didn’t mean I dared leave this tunnel unguarded. I stretched several hair-fine slivers of light across the tunnel exit. Hopefully, the ley line’s brightness would conceal their presence, because I had a bad feeling I’d need the warning to survive.

I spun and ran down the stairs. A quick glance at Mo revealed there was now only an inch or two of the copper probe set within the ley line’s flow. But sweat slicked her glowing skin, and I could feel her strength waning—something that shouldn’t have been possible, given I didn’t have the De Montfort gift.

And yet, Vita had healed me. Was she the key to unlocking what I supposedly didn’t have?

Before I could contemplate that particular thought, a soft scrape had my gaze snapping back to the house tunnel.

The bastards were coming.

I ran through the water and braced against the wall close to the tunnel exit. There was little to be heard now other than the steady dripping of water; whatever these six were—human, halflings, or even demons—they were certainly far more cautious in their approach than those who’d erupted from the other tunnel.

My heart pounded so hard it felt like it was reverberating through the wall behind me. I swallowed to ease the dryness in my throat and swiped at the sweat running down my face. It was damnably hot in here … or was that simply a by-product of exertion and fear?

I flexed my fingers on the daggers’ hilts and felt comforted by their steady pulsing. My head might be on fire, but the steady heartbeat running through the two blades suggested it wasn’t at a cataclysmic point just yet.

A solitary scrape echoed. Deliberately, I suspected. I waited, my gaze on the other tunnel even if every other sense was tuned to this one. The unknown presence still strode toward the cavern; an odd sort of trembling rose in my soul, one that was deeply entrenched in fear.

Not of the person, or even what I would have to do, but rather of the consequences that would follow.

Which made absolutely no sense.

There was another soft scrape of sound—the slip of a boot on rock. It came from a little further than a few feet inside the tunnel. They were baiting me.

My breath caught in my throat, my grip so tight on Vita and