We crashed down on U.S. 41, smack on the double yellow line. Skeiron was behind me, his hands shackling my upper arms. He yanked me back against his body, the fabric of his toga scraping over my exposed skin.
Straight ahead of us, sunlight set the mile marker sign ablaze.
Behind us, thunder boomed. Lightning cracked. I twisted my head around to look back and panic surged in my chest. The thunderstorm overwhelmed the horizon and half the sky above us, and I could just make out the gray-blue rope of the tornado whipping side to side, spiraling ever downward.
Skeiron spun us both around to face the storm. "Your loved ones will be destroyed in a matter of moments. Know you belong to me and there is no one left in any realm who can rescue you."
Metal screeched and clanged. Wood cracked. I couldn't see the shop or the RV, but I realized the tornado was chewing them up. It spat debris in a whirling-dervish cloud. My mind jumped to the worst conclusions, but I did what I do best. I bottled up the terror, the images of mangled bodies, and locked it all away in my mental vault.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I hauled in a breath and steeled my soul. I had to finish this.
Power sizzled in the air.
A phalanx of black-armored sylph soldiers materialized before us, two rows of ten each. Another phalanx appeared beside the first. Then another. And another. I counted the groups as they popped into view, until the last one emerged and Skeiron leaned in to growl in my ear.
"This is one battalion. I have twenty more."
I'd counted a hundred soldiers in this battalion. Twenty more? That would make…
Two thousand soldiers.
If they survived the tornado, I had my parents, Nevan, Travis, Stan, and — if he showed up — Tris. Seven of us against way too many of them. If any of my family and friends were still alive.
My gaze flew to the tornado. The ripping, banging, freight-train racket reverberated in my ears.
Skeiron wheeled us back around toward the mile marker sign. "This is the boundary, delineated by the post there. The energy licks at me even here, thirty paces from the line." He thrust me toward the sign, making me stumble a few steps. "It is time, Janusite."
A pow ripped through the air, originating from the sky behind us.
I whipped my head around.
The tornado scattered. The thundercloud dissipated, like smoke blown away by a hair dryer.
Nevan. Somehow I knew he was responsible, though I had no clue how.
Skeiron clapped a hand on my shoulder, wrenching it backward. I bit back a grunt.
"The boundary," he said. "Now."
Oh God, please let this work.
I took a deep breath, straightened, lifted my chin, and marched down the highway with Skeiron trailing behind me. When we reached the mile marker sign, I hesitated long enough for him to catch up. I took hold of his hand, cringing inwardly at the contact, and led him across the boundary.
Heat flashed over me. I tripped, halted, gasping for air as pressure mounted in my chest.
Skeiron freed my hand and clutched his head in both palms. His eyes went wide, his mouth was agape, and his entire body shuddered violently. Sparks of energy seared his skin.
He crumpled to his knees, his features distorted in agony.
I scrambled away from, toward the boundary. A bizarre mixture of glee and horror tore through me, propelling me forward again to crouch beside Skeiron. I didn't care that my voice came out harsh, not like me at all, rife with an anger I'd suppressed for too long. "I promised to stay with you as long as you're alive and still king."
He bellowed at me.
"Sucks, doesn't it?" I bent closer and the power ripping him apart singed my skin. "You made a bad bargain and you made one too many assumptions. You should've asked me how I managed to take Nevan across the line."
Energy arced over his flesh, into his nostrils and open mouth. He gagged. "You will suffer. My army — "
"Will be stuck on the other side of the boundary, you stupid bastard." I gulped down my gorge, sickened by the blood pouring from his nostrils. I forged on anyway, hungry for a vengeance I hadn't realized I needed. "Let me tell you how this works. I brought Nevan across the line because he matters to me. Love empowers my magic, you sadistic bastard."
The king screamed.
A curtain of white, electrical energy enveloped him. His body seemed to blur and boil, bits of him splitting off to spiral out into the air, forming an ever-growing mist. The realization of what I was witnessing struck me. I staggered backward a few more steps, my hand flying to my mouth.
His body was being disassembled atom by atom.
Thunder exploded just down the road behind me.
As the remnants of Skeiron drifted into an amorphous cloud above my head, I risked a glance back down the highway.
The sylph army was advancing on me, swords brandished.
Gulping down the lump in my throat, I stared up at the cloud composed of Skeiron's essence. It floated up, expanding, dispersing. A gust of wind worthy of a hurricane blasted over me. I teetered toward the boundary but held my ground.
The wind scattered the cloud, scattered Skeiron to the Four Winds.
Gone. No longer king, no longer alive.
Our bargain shattered with a palpable tearing sensation. I hissed at the pain, though it was blessedly brief.
The sylph army halted at the boundary, an arm's length from me.
I raised an arm to indicate the last vestiges of the Skeiron cloud. "Your king is gone. You can't cross the boundary, which means there will be no conquest of the mortal realm. Go home."
They didn't move.
What did I have to do to get rid of these creeps?
"It doesn't work that way, love."
Relief gushed through me at the sound of Nevan's voice. Moving only my eyes, I searched the area for Nevan and found him a few feet to my left, angle sideways to me on the opposite side of the boundary. His armor glistened and sunlight bounced off the blade of his sword, gripped in his muscular hand.
"Need a bit of help, darlin'?" he asked with a grin.
"The damn army won't go away."
"I'm afraid they'll have no intention of giving up." He swept his gaze over the army poised a dozen feet from him. "They will complete their mission, even without a king."
I nabbed his hand and towed him over the boundary. As I twined my fingers tightly with his, I said, "It's safer over here. Is my family okay?"
"They are unharmed, as is your employer." He hesitated, then added, "And the sheriff."
"What got rid of the storm?"
"I did."
"I knew it." Though I longed to kiss him, I wouldn't do it in front of the sylph army. "How did you do it?"
"I am an air elemental — and my full power has been restored, which I believe you are responsible for. Aren't ye?"
"Absolutely." Hell with the army. I sealed my lips over his for a firm kiss. "Best deal I ever made."
He brushed the backs of his fingers down my jaw. "I underestimated you. What you did, crafting such a cunning bargain… You will do fine in my world."
"Thanks." A warm glow enveloped me from the inside out. The glow of victory, yes, but mostly it stemmed from his compliment. "I never realized how incredibly powerful you are in your full glory. You are magnificent, Nevan."
He puffed up a little, his closed-mouth smile one of pride and well-earned satisfaction.
My gaze wandered to the army standing motionless mere feet from us. "What mission are they waiting to finish?"
"To destroy me and your family, then take you back to the Unseen realm. They must avenge their king."
"I thought killing him would end this."
"Sorry, love." He sighed. "It's only the first stage."
"What else is there? Do you have a plan?"
"Nothing as foolhardy as yours." He sounded annoyed but his gaze was soft, his eyes muted by worry.
"My ideas are always crazy," I said. "But it worked. Skeiron is no more."
"Yes, I saw what you did." He let out a long sigh, and I swore a burden physically lifted from his shoulders, squaring them. "You freed me, Lindsey. Thank you."
"Are you back at one hundred percent? I mean, did my bargain with Skeiron get undone when I undid him?"
"Agreements previously fulfilled remain and we are both freed from our vows to him. But for the record, you have not yet experienced my full glory." He hit me with his best sensual smile and a pulse of sweet, erotic energy shot through me. "I'll demonstrate it for ye later, in private."
If what he'd shown me so far represented less than his full glory… Another pulse of desire rippled through me.
He dipped his head and pulled me closer. "Think ye can handle me, unrestrained?"
"Absolutely." I swept my hand through the air, indicating the sylph battalion. "You had a plan?"
A soldier separated from the throng and approached the boundary. His face shield revealed only his eyes, but he spoke in a voice gravelly and cold. "Surrender the Janusite or we will slaughter every human within the confines of the boundary."
Without releasing my hand, Nevan rose to full height, shoulders back, head high. He looked so regal, so powerful, so virile. Magnificent.
I observed him — okay, gazed in rapt adoration at him — as he addressed the army.
"Skeiron is no more," he announced, his voice echoing off the trees. "He cannot protect or empower you. All of you have seen what the Jansuite can do. The king possessed more power than all of you combined, and yet she — " Nevan swept a hand in my direction, flashing me a surreptitious wink. " — destroyed him without a single weapon, wielding only the power of the Janusite. Do you dare challenge her?"
All but a dozen of the soldiers vanished.
"If you will not surrender," the leader of the army said, "the battle begins."
Nevan's posture went taut, his demeanor shifted into predator mode. His voice became a soft threat. "So be it."
I nudged him with my shoulder. "This is your plan? Interdimensional war?"
"Trust me." He voiced it as a statement, but uncertainty flickered in his eyes, as if he still couldn't quite believe I did trust him.
"I was just curious," I said. "But I've got complete faith in you."
"As do I, in you."
Someone blipped into view to my right. I blinked at the late-comer.
Tris slouched with arms slack at his sides and scowled at us. To Nevan, he said, "We doing this or what?"
"We are."
I glanced from Tris to Nevan three times before pinning my gaze to the sylph holding my hand. "What the hell is going on?"
At least a dozen men and women appeared, one after the other, individuals of various ages, shapes, and sizes. They wore casual attire, as if they'd just come from the mall — everything from jeans and T-shirts to crop tops and corduroys. One young woman sported a mini skirt.
Every one of them carried a weapon. Daggers. Maces. Swords. Bows and arrows.
"We got this covered," Tris said. "We've endued you team's weapons, temporarily, to give you mortals a leg up with the sylphs at the shop. Ya might wanna go help them, while me and my team cast a little spell."
"A spell?" I said, totally confused.
Nevan hooked an arm around my shoulders. "They will erase the soldiers' memories so they forget both their mission and why they sought you."
"Ah… " I looked at Tris, speechless.
Nevan spoke for me. "She's trying to say she appreciates the fae's assistance."
Tris shrugged, making a noncommittal noise.
"Don't worry," Nevan murmured to me. "Only Tris knows you are the Janusite. The other fae have no idea."
Thank heavens for that. I glanced up at the sky, issuing a prayer for more good fortune. "I need to see my family. Take me, Nevan, please."
He took me. And he didn't even make an off-color joke about my word choice.
The gunshots battered my eardrums in the instant before the world blurred into view. The explosive noise made my ears ring, deafening me.
Over by the RV, Mom and Dad unleashed a volley of gunfire at two sylph warriors. The soldiers flinched at the impact of the bullets but did not relent as bore down on my family.
Stan huddled against the shop building, pinned down by a trio of sylphs. He squeezed off round after round, sweeping his M-16 left and right to hit all three soldiers. One dropped to his knees and clutched at his neck, blood streaming out from between his fingers.
A weak spot. Hallelujah.
Stan's lips moved as he shouted something to Travis and my parents.
From his vantage in the driveway, Travis fired off a shot. The sylph in his path lunged at him, clamping one hand around his shooting arm and wrenching it. Pain contorted his features. He must've cried out, but I couldn't hear a damn thing. The gunfire ricocheting off the metal shop building reverberated off the trees in a feedback loop that amplified the ringing in my ears.
Nevan threw an arm around me, his sword brandished in his other hand. My own voice sounded muffled when I told him, "Go. Help them."
I had no idea how sylph hearing worked but I prayed he could still make out my words, by lip reading if nothing else. He nodded, started to leave, and turned back to me. He offered his open palm to me and two objects appeared in his hand. A box of ammo for my derringer. I took the gift.
Nevan stalked off into the melee.
Heart pounding, I yanked my gun free of the holster inside my waistband, popped open the barrel, dumped out the empty shells, and dropped in two .357 shells. As I clicked the barrel shut, I caught sight of Nevan.
With his back to me, he clashed swords with a sylph taller and broader than he was. Their blades locked as the soldier drove Nevan backward.
My mom shot a sylph in the neck. Blood spurted. The warrior tumbled backward onto the ground.
The gigantic soldier battling Nevan swung his sword back and slashed it at Nevan, who thrust his own blade up to meet the assault. The other sylph pounded his sword into Nevan's with brutal force, knocking Nevan off balance. He lost his footing and his knees smacked into ground.
With deadly precision, the other sylph hefted his sword up, aimed the tip down, and drove the blade toward Nevan's throat, exposed above his metal breastplate.
I pulled the trigger on my derringer, slamming both .357 rounds into the soldier. One round fractured his collarbone, blood running down his breastplate. His head jerked as the second round slammed into his neck. His sword veered sideways to puncture the ground beside Nevan's head.
The warrior collapsed, face down in the gravel.
With one hand, Nevan braced his sword on the ground and levered his body off the gravel. I rose with him, oblivious to the battle raging around us.
Nevan shoved me behind him and thrust his sword straight into the sylph who'd been targeting me with his own blade — the soldier I hadn't seen coming. Nevan's blade pierced the warrior's neck, nearly decapitating him, and he fell down dead.
Travis dispatched the last soldier with a shot to the larynx.
Blood stained Nevan's armor and his sword. My gaze traveled around the parking lot, taking in the blood pooling around the dead sylphs, the red stains on the clothing of my friends and family. I was the only one not marked by the battle. My stomach twisted, at the gore and at the realization the ones I loved most in the world had risked their lives to protect me.
Even Travis, the man who'd harassed me for three years, had stood by me in this fight. Of course, I now realized he'd been in love with me for years. I scratched my arms, plagued by a sudden itching all over me. Travis loved me. I had no idea how to deal with that, but the time had come to stop hiding from life and the problems it handed me.
I holstered my gun.
None of this would've happened if I weren't the Janusite. Nobody asked me if I wanted this burden. I was stuck with it, though, and I still had no conception of what the job entailed — or what I might become.
Shedding his armor, vanishing it to wherever he sent his possessions, Nevan drew me into his arms. I wrapped mine around him and buried my face against his chest, the heat of him comforting me like it always did, though I needed it even more today. The ringing in my ears died away and I noticed sounds. My parents, Travis, and Stan chattering. The ka-chunk of rounds being chambered into firearms. The thump-thump of Nevan's heart.
We both needed a cuddle. And damn, we'd earned it this time.
"Is everyone okay?" I called out, unwilling to peel myself away from Nevan yet.
"Fine," said Mom, Dad, Travis, and Stan.
My head shot up and, without relinquishing my hold on Nevan, I twisted my head around to study my parents. "Where's Ash?"
On cue, Tris and Ash poofed in. The leprechaun shrugged and poofed out again, as my brother exploded with glee. "Whoa, Zee, that was awesome! Teleportation rocks."
I resettled my head on Nevan's chest. Warm. Solid. Velvety against my cheek. "Thank you, Nevan. For saving my life — again."
"You saved my life as well." He combed a hand through my hair. "Once again, we're even on the gratitude front."
"I like equality. Then I know you're here because you want to be, not because you owe me."
"Never doubt that, love."
"But we need to zip on over to the other side of the falls and officially cancel out your life debt."
"We will. Later."
A whoosh-whoosh-whoosh made all of us glance skyward.
Brennus, the raven, soared overhead in a wide circle.
My dad swung his shotgun up and loosed three rounds. The bird cackled and swerved out of sight behind the trees.
We'd forgotten all about Skeiron's pet assassin.
The raven swooped down with stunning speed, his body a blur of motion. His talons sank into my shoulders. I clawed at them, but as swiftly as he'd descended, Brennus ripped me away from Nevan and launched into the sky with me in his clutches.