"Then I'm sorry," I said as I slammed my head into his and rolled, using his shock as a distraction. I was up and moving towards the angry men protecting Arianna instantly. Adams wicked flash-bang grenade spell went off and Ryder’s men hit the floor as planned but they wouldn't stay there for long. As I pulled one of my blades from its sheath strapped to my leg and met the puppets gaze, I took quick aim and whispered the targeting spell and launched the blade forcefully through her chest with a killing blow.
Her body dropped as I was thrown back by something slamming against me hard enough to crush the air from my lungs. I cried out as soon as air came back and met Ryder's angry stare. "Why the fuck did you do that! Shit Syn," he snarled low enough that only I could hear him as he held me against the wall.
I looked down to see a blade protruding from my chest, Zahruk stood a few feet away from us—on his feet and unaffected by Adam's spell. His eyes filled with sorrow as he brought his hand down from where he'd thrown his knife—into my chest.
Ryder's eyes dropped to my chest and then over his shoulder to where Zahruk stood horrified by what he'd done. "Fuck!" He shouted as my body sagged, he scooped me up into his arms. Air escaped from my lungs in a sick sound that made Ryder only cuss more.
I could feel the life draining with the blood that was escaping from the damaged tissue around the wicked blade protruding from my chest. I coughed trying to speak, but blood splattered from my mouth to cover Ryder's crisp white shirt beneath his formal wear.
"She's…" I couldn’t get the words out. I struggled to get air into my lungs as I was drowning on my own blood.
Ryder's eyes showed fear and regret. "Fuck, Syn…" his words trailed off as I smiled and tried another ragged breath.
"Ryder," Ristan yelled.
"Not now!" He shouted to his Demon.
"You need to see this," Ristan persisted.
Ryder spun around with me still in his arms as he faced the Demon and then looked down at where Arianna lay gasping like a fish out of water. "What the fuck?" He snarled looking down at her and then at me.
Arianna had lost whatever spell had been covering up her stench. Even now I could smell the decaying flesh and decomposed organs. Ryder released me and I slid to the floor and met Adam and Larissa's horrified looks. They were under orders to leave me if I couldn’t get back to them. I turned my head at an awkward angle and watched her fingers move. She wasn't dead.
I used everything inside of me to pull the blade Zahruk had stuck in my chest out, to use on her. I pushed up and used the confusion of the crowd as they realized Arianna was pieced together with dead bodies. "I'm going to find you," I growled to the person watching from the dead lifeless eyes. I whispered the targeting spell again and Zahruk’s blade flew from my fingers and slammed into her chest next to my blade. I watched as the reflection of the puppet master faded from her eyes.
I stood on shaky legs and looked at Ryder who looked down at the corpse, Zahruk's and my blades now protruding from its chest. "Told you," I whispered turning to make it back to Larissa and Adam. I got about two steps before Ryder turned me back towards him, which made me fall to my knees at his feet.
"What the fuck was that?" He asked sharply.
I tried to speak, but I was seconds from passing out. His eyes lowered to where Zahruk stabbed me and I watched as the full realization of what his man had done in protection of Arianna set in. "Let…go," I croaked.
"You need a healer," he growled trying to pick me up. I tried fighting against his hold, which caused more blood to flow from the open wound in my chest. He saw it and stopped trying to pull me up. "Why didn’t you just fucking tell me?"
I glared at him. Shook my head and ended up coughing more blood. I moved towards Adam and Larissa who broke the shields protection and ran to me. "She needs a hospital," Larissa cried.
"She won't make it," Adam said barely above a whisper, sheer terror filling his eyes.
We didn’t have time to argue as Ryder reached down and picked me up and sifted out. I landed in some kind of medical ward, more than likely the one Ryder had mentioned at Vlad's bar.
"I need a fucking healer now!" Ryder snarled to the surprised onlookers who watched us silently. "Stab wound to her chest, where the fuck is Eliran?" He continued to snarl at the Fae around us.
"I'm here, you have to set her down Ryder," said a tall blonde Fae with wispy hair.
"Fix her or you die," he seethed.
"You have to set her down Sire, or I won't have a chance to do so," the blonde Fae said clearly.
I watched Ryder step back after he had set me on a table, his eyes searching my face with a rawness I'd never seen before in their molten depths. "Eliran, you have to fix her."
"What is she?" He asked already pulling apart my clothes to get a look at the wound.
"She's unknown Fae."
"She looks human, are you sure she isn't?" He replied as he put oxygen over my mouth and nose.
"I don’t fucking know!" Ryder growled, "She's more human than Fae right now, she has not Transitioned."
"But, Sire—"
"Just fix her Eliran, your life depends on it," Ryder said so softly that I thought I had imagined it.
Thirty Five