Leaving Anna was more painful than pulling off my arms and shoving them up my ass. At least, I assumed it was. I was that desperate to go with her. And after she was gone, I had to sit on myself to keep from pestering her every three seconds.
To pull this off, Anna needed to concentrate.
So did I. Maddy hid us as we took the side tunnel in the path of the three coven members. Laden Trantils were being led toward the courtyard with the gate—how many of those crystals were loaded with blood? Was any of it Sebastian’s?
The thought twisted me up inside and helped me focus away from Anna and on to the task at hand—saving our arrogant bloody Bellati.
Ahead, the tunnel opened into another courtyard. Maddy and I froze.
Bodies were everywhere. Trantils, most motionless, lying on cold stone that was stained with guts and gore.
Some were already dead and looked as though they’d been partly butchered. The scent of blood permeated the air. Others were tied down, with tubes running from them into containers. Once filled, mercenaries moved the vessels to where the three coven members stood before a series of tables.
Laid out before them were crystals. As the woman spread glowing hands over the crystals, their helpers poured the blood. It steamed as it came in contact, and tendrils of red light danced over and around them. Another line of tables held the finished product—crystals that glowed with red energy as the mercenaries gathered them into baskets strapped to Trantils.
I swallowed, ripping my gaze from the gruesome spectacle to look for a distinctive form. Maddy was already ahead of me.
“There!” she whispered.
I spotted him at almost the same instant. Staked out to the stone, his muscled gray form in stark contrast to the more willowy Trantils. He, too, had tubes running red liquid into containers.
Sebastian. My lips peeled back in a snarl, and I gripped the horn more tightly in my fist.
There weren’t any mercenaries near him. I exchanged glances with Maddy and moved out into the courtyard. She stayed right with me as we made our way through the dead and dying Trantils, using her talent to block us from view. The creatures had large bore needles with tubes inserted into their jugulars. I wanted to rip all the tubing free...
“We can’t leave them like this,” Maddy whispered. “This is wrong on so many levels.”
I gritted my teeth, but I had an idea. I halted beside a critter whose eyes bulged with terror, and I grew my talons.
Maddy’s eyes widened at the clear indication that I was no longer a Dire. I used them to slice a thin strip off my cloak and hack the fabric into smaller bits.
Checking that there weren’t any eyes on us, I leaned over the container filling with blood. I lifted the end, shoved a wad into it, then dropped the tube back into the container.
It bought the poor creature time.
We managed it with seven more before we reached Sebastian. His nostrils flared as we leaned over him, and then Maddy dropped her blocking talent away from him.
His ears twitched. “Matt—”
“Shhh,” I whispered to him. My mouth dropped open—I could count all his ribs, and his hip bones protruded. But it was his eyes that upset me the most—instead of silver, they were clouded and dark.
They weren’t Bellati eyes anymore.
I looked around. With all these people here, we couldn’t move him. We would have to hold until we called in reinforcements.
I went to crouch over Sebastian, and Maddy whispered, “Wait a minute.” I froze, until she said, “Okay, now.”
I pulled the wrapping off the horn, and Sebastian’s eyes widened. His thick mane had been pushed back off his neck, and I placed the softly glowing spiral on him before pulling the hair over it.
He groaned, very low. “How—”
“Shhh.” I repeated. He was so weak. No wonder, with the blood pumping from him. But the length of the hair gave me an idea. “We still good?” I asked Maddy.
“Yes.”
I lifted the end of the tube and blocked it as we had with the Trantils. Then I pulled the needle from his neck, keeping pressure on the vein until it stopped bleeding.
“Don’t move,” Maddy hissed, her gaze focused on the nearby mercenaries.
