Wounded: Book 8 (A Rylee Adamson Novel) by Shannon Mayer Page B

as he flew into the last of the night.
    “Going, we’re going!” I snapped. Of course, that was the plan. Problem was, we didn’t quite make it.
    At least, not all of us.
     
     

Chapter 5
    BLAZ WAS GONE and Eve was about to leave with Marco when the ogres swarmed into the courtyard. Doran dragged me toward the veil where Faris stood on the other side, his face grim.
    “Hurry up!” Faris beckoned with his one hand. Like we didn’t fucking well know we needed to hurry.
    The problem was, I couldn’t hurry; my legs were leaden. Between donating blood to Doran and giving Liam my strength, I was done in.
    “Come on, Niece, let’s get you out of here.” Erik scooped me up into his arms. Pamela ran beside him, Alex beside her, and Doran led the way. We were only twenty feet from the slash in the veil when an ogre got in our way. Or more accurately, it got between Doran and us. Big and blue, it hurt me to see him. He looked so much like Dox, yet was obviously possessed by a demon.
    “Rylee!” Doran yelled and his feet stopped (the only part of him I could see past the ogre) and then he was yanked forward.
    My stomach sank. “Faris, you’d better have that fucking door open!” I screamed from Erik’s arms, already knowing something was very, very wrong. Pamela snapped a hand out and flipped the ogre out of our way, sticking him to the side of the house like a fly trapped in honey.
    The house was in front of us, but there was no opening through the veil.
    Faris had fucked us over.
    “EVE!” Pamela screamed and Erik spun back the way we’d come. Eve and Marco were above us, but between the house on one side and the amount of ogres flooding the courtyard on the other, there was no way they could get to us.
    Alex kept tight to Erik’s side. “Killing demons time.”
    “No time today,” Erik said. And then out of nowhere, Bert was at our side.
    Fuck, I’d forgotten about the doppelganger. “Follow me, I can get you around them.”
    We had no choice but to trust him, and since his life was tied to Erik’s, I had to believe he wouldn’t put us into harm’s way.
    Following Bert, he led us into the house. Pamela brought up the rear. I could see her over Erik’s shoulder, sending out blasts of fire to keep the ogres from us. Damn, she was a witch to be proud of. At fifteen, she was taking everything that happened completely in stride. Like it was an everyday event. And maybe for her now it was just that.
    Erik ducked around a corner, banging my knees into the wall as we ran (and I use that loosely since I was doing no running) through the kitchen. “You know, you could stand to lose a pound or two.”
    “I love you, too, Uncle Erik,” I mumbled, my head fuzzy as I bounced in his arms.
    “This way, quick!” Bert shouted and we didn’t question him.
    We should have.
    He led us into the back of the house, the morning sun peering over the horizon, highlighting the row upon row of ogres waiting for us. The prick had turned on us; I don’t know why I was surprised.
    “Bert,” I said and wormed out of Erik’s arms, my hand going to a sword on my back.
    His eyes watered as he looked up at me. “I can’t help you, I wish I could. I am bound; my mouth is literally unable to speak the words. It is a curse placed on all the demons Orion uses, so we cannot turn on him.”
    So he would take death over dishonor. If he hadn’t been a demon, I would have thought better of him for that choice. Honor I understood, but coming from a demon, I wasn’t so sure about it. Besides, he’d just admitted that he would have spilled his guts if he’d been able to.
    The ogre closest to us was red-skinned and, for a second, I thought it was Raw. He chucked a spear at Bert, pinning him to the ground. The doppelganger’s eyes went wide and then slowly the image he’d projected faded, leaving the bare husk of a body I didn’t recognize. Whoever he’d possessed hadn’t been a large person. Hell, I couldn’t even tell if it had