Page 119 of Legion
Sounds of battle.
Sheer panic shuddering through him, he conjured a ball of hellfire to break up the darkness, but it didn’t help much.It did, however, gain him the attention of someone, because ribbons of magick sailed right at him.
He dodged them fast and then tossed the flaming orb.A loud yell of pain sounded, moments before the darkness abruptly lifted, like someone had snapped open blackout curtains.
Luka swept his gaze over his surroundings, searching for Naomi.Bodies littered the floor, some of them clerics.Several people stood around, including Jolene, Tobe, and Ciaran.Since the trio made no attempt to attack the others, he was assuming they were also imps.
He dismissed them, his only concern Naomi ...but she was nowhere to be seen.He touched her mind again, immediately sensing that she’d passed out.Fuck.“They took her.”The words were torn out of him.
Blood rushed to his ears as rage, panic, and dread flooded his system, blindingly intense.There was another emotion.It had been so long since he’d felt fear that he almost didn’t recognize it.Cold and near-overpowering, it seemed bottomless; he could so easily drown in it.
“She’s alive?”asked Nikandr, his face creased in concern.
He nodded hard.“Unconscious, but alive.”
Crouched beside a fallen Konstantin, Mikhail grimaced.“He’s gone.”
Another pulse of anger coursed through Luka.
“Where’s Naomi?”Tobe demanded as he, Jolene, and Ciaran hurried over to them.
“The clerics seem to have snatched her right off the street,” Luka gritted out, feeling his skin stretch as his demons writhed beneath it, furious beyond measure, their minds leaping to the worst-case scenario, ready to burn the fucking world.
Tobe growled at him.“I thought you had a man on her.”The tension in his jaw made the words come out clipped.
“I did.The clerics killed him to get to her.”Luka could hear his heartbeat thrashing in his ears, fast and hard.It hurt to breathe; it felt as if his chest was being squeezed so tight he couldn’t get enough air.“The monastery is the likeliest place they’ve taken her.”
“It has to be somewhere we haven’t already looked,” said Jolene, her eyes blazing with ire, her voice as stiff as her posture.
Having pooled their resources, she and Luka had managed to narrow it down to three locations.But when they’d investigated them, no building had been uncovered.There hadn’t even been signs of life—each area had been barren and uninhabited by anything other than wild animals.
Nikandr shoved a hand through his hair.“I don’t get it.Why would they take Naomi rather than just kill her here and now?They want her dead.”
“I have not one clue,” Luka bit out resentfully, his chest still weighted, his breathing harsh and uneven.Wake up, baby, he urged psychically.I need you to tell me where you are.
But she didn’t.
A craving for vengeance heaved through him and pounded at his insides, threatening to cloud his thoughts.He breathed through it, held himself in check by sheer force of will—Naomi needed that from him right now.Later?Later, when he had the bastards who’d taken her in his custody, he could let that rage fly.
Hurting them wouldn’t be enough.Making them bleed wouldn’t be enough.He wanted to torture them.Dismember them.Castrate them.Whip them.Skin them alive ...only to have a healer tend to their injuries so that he could do it all over again.
Daniil cursed, standing at a spot a few feet away.“What the hell is Iain doing here?”He squatted, examining the psi-demon.“Dead.”He tipped his chin at a nearby unfamiliar male.“So is he, whoever he is.A member of your lair?”he asked the imps, standing upright.
Briefly glancing away from his cell—and what the fuck was he doing on his phone, as if Naomi wasn’t the priority?—Tobe stiffly shook his head and said, “That’s Stefan.He hired the PI.”
Mikhail looked at Luka.“You think Iain was working with the clerics?”
“I don’t know.It could be that he was following Naomi again and attempted to help her.”Naomi, talk to me, baby, he pled.
Her psyche stirred.I’m ...Don’t ...
Luka’s pulse jumped, relief lancing through him.Where are you?Tell me.
Going by ...symbols ...monastery ...temple ...
He frowned.“She’s awake, but she’s psychically weak.And there’s something off about the connection.As though it’s being muddied—likely by magick.”
“I can barely understand her,” said Tobe, his gaze inward.“She’s saying something about ...a temple?”
