She laughed and all of a sudden, she changed the angle of her wings and we skimmed the ground. The plant life around us whooshed outward with our passing. The scrub grasses of the arctic were brown with only hints of color here and there. “Better to land and fight?”

No. Now you will see what a fully trained dragon can do for you, Rylee. Blaz was good, better than any other dragon could have been for the minimal time we had to train. She paused and tipped her head so I could see her violet eye all but sparkling at me. But I am better than him, by a very large margin.

“Humble too,” I said, trying not to laugh. Gods save me from dragons and their pride.

Ophelia let out a roar and did a somersault in the air, flipping us to face the fallen ones. They hovered at a distance of a hundred feet or so. Each held a flaming sword to go with their flaming red eyes.

“Lovely. So best practice, don’t let them touch me. How the hell am I supposed to send them back then?”

You need to be faster with your sending. No more long words. A simple command. “Go” will suffice.

I let out a breath and nodded. “Then let’s kick demon ass, lady bird.”

Ophelia reared back and shot a blast of flame toward the fallen ones. They scattered, and before the flame died, she shot toward those closest to us. I was thrown back in the harness, shocked at her instant velocity.

We raced toward the demons and they swept in at us, swords pointed straight at Ophelia. How the hell was she going to avoid this?

My heart was in my throat as the seconds ticked slower and everything moved as if trapped in the thick ice of the high mountain. Ophelia back winged, essentially slamming on the air brakes right in the middle of the fallen ones while simultaneously rolling in the air, her tail lashing out. They had no choice but to fall back or be sliced by the tip of her tail. I clamped my mouth shut against the quick rise of nausea.

“Holy shit.”

I’ve bought you time.

I was already out of the harness, and stood on her back. “Come on, feather heads, let’s do this.”

Four fallen ones darted toward me at the same time, one from each direction. Below me Ophelia rumbled and shot flames at those encroaching on her space.

Their wings cannot stand the flames. It is their weakness.

“Damn, I wish Pamela was here.” I leapt at the demon closest to me. The glowing red eyes were all I saw as I slammed into it. “Go.”

The fallen one reared its head back in a silent scream, its body arching, bowing backward until its head touched its ankles and it cracked in half. A sharp burst of light and an explosion of air sent me tumbling onto Ophelia’s back. Nothing was left of the fallen one except for a few feathers fluttering through the air. Not that the show deterred its buddies.

One grabbed me from behind, hands icy and burning at the same time. The armband from the Rim broke under its grip, shattering into tiny frozen pieces. But I didn’t slow my sending. “Go!”

Good, you are getting faster.

More blasts of flame lit the sky as Ophelia twisted and rolled beneath me. But our connection allowed me to move with her, timing each step with her moves.

The fallen ones shifted their attention from her and they swept upward, out of the range of her flames.

I’ve downed perhaps ten.

There was a split second where I thought we were going to make it unscathed. The morning light opened up around us and my first thought was the nasty winged fuckers would take off.

But of course, they weren’t vampires. They shifted their formation and came at me en masse, hands outstretched. Sheer numbers alone, I couldn’t possibly send them all back through the Veil at once.

You can and you must! Ophelia yelled at me, and I didn’t hesitate—couldn’t hesitate—as the demons reached for my body.

“GO!” Over and over I yelled the word while clammy hands grasped at me, touched my face, grasped my hand, pulled at my legs. Go. The word was so simple and yet, it held the command I needed. Slowly, they exploded around me, bending back, their wings bursting apart at the seams as their bodies were sucked back through the Veil. They were gone and we survived another round of Orion’s attacks.

But the damage had been done.

A slow, icy paralysis slid through me and I fell to Ophelia’s back, flat on my face.

My mind refused to believe I couldn’t move, and panic reared its head as I demanded my muscles to respond.

Be easy, Rylee. All is not lost.

“How can you say that? I can’t fucking well move!” Even my jaw was freezing up, my words ending in a slurred and broken clip that didn’t sound like anything I was actually trying to say. I felt as though the Hoarfrost demon had found me, again, a thousand times over.

Trust me, this will help. She rolled, dropping me off her back and into the open air. With a sinuous twist of her body, she caught me in her claws, holding me gently. What did she think would help?

The ice forming on my spine was making my teeth ache. My muscles were so stiff, I wondered if it was similar to having rigor mortis while your heart still beat. If that was even a possibility.

Trust me, this will help. She repeated as she threw me into the air, right in front of her. The rumble of fire in her belly was the only warning I got as Ophelia opened her mouth and dragon fire surrounded me.

CHAPTER 27

LIAM / FARIS

HE WAS ONLY a few hours from D.C., but there was no choice; he had to get away from the sun. He’d done well, managing to travel as far as he had in the time allotted. The suburbs he’d entered would have to do to hunker down for the day. The morning was still early enough that very few people were awake.