Page 85 of Helsing: Demon Slayer

At her intake of breath, he grabbed her and tugged her against his chest. Dianne threw her arms around his neck and wriggled until his arms tightened, keeping her secure in his embrace. She grabbed his jaw and pulled his face down, meeting his mouth with her own.

András whooped. Ryan sensed Beta punching her husband on the shoulder, only to be grabbed by the big man and pulled into his arms. She struggled for a moment before settling against him. And then, they too shared a kiss.

Then Dianne slipped from Ryan. He frowned, but she put a finger over his mouth to stop his complaint. “I need to get rid of this,” she said, holding up the charm bracelet that Germaine had given her a lifetime ago.

Dianne ran to the last visible crevice of the vast chasm that thedaemonlord had opened up as he faced Ryan and dropped the bracelet into it. The earth immediately swallowed it up, closing over it as though healing from the unnatural rupture by sending the offensive item to its bowels. Then she ran back to Ryan and kissed him again.

The joy and celebration died down a moment later as the four of them turned to face the remnants of battle. The rising sun threw the dead and dying into stark relief. Dr. Armand moved among them, along with Willem, who applied a Vitae Seal, a palm-sized graphene patch which he keyed to the individual’s fundamental frequency, to those hanging on by a thread. For those less injured, Willem stabilized them with an Aurora Pulse Beacon, with precise bursts of energy before Dr. Armand and his medical staff reached them for triage.

Dianne put her fingers over her mouth as she surveyed the lower slope of the bordering mountain and the rocky ground before it that led to the Aerie. It was her first battlefield, and it was a devastating sight. Ryan knew that she’d spent much of the summer running obstacle courses and tactical drills over its uneven surface. More advanced team members had used the rough ground for reconnaissance and stealth training. Ryan had even begun training an alpha team composed of infantry and cavalry knights in guerrilla combat. He’d believed all of that unnecessary, lessons to sharpen unneeded skills.

Lessons that had turned out to be decisive against thedaemoniacs, many of whom appeared to have military training, all of whom had a level of mental discipline not usually found in the possessed. Even the dire wolves found the defenders to be hard targets.

Despite this, Kastrioti defenders anddonatsnumbered among the dead and injured. Noble, magnificent horses and twisted, ugly dire wolves lay among them.

András’s visage resembled a thundercloud while Beta scowled, her karambit now in her hand as she manipulated the folding mechanism of the Indonesian fighting knife with one hand. Ryan knew from experience that the former Czech Army officer used the activity as a kind of pressure valve for her temper. He smelled smoke anyway. The acrid scent curled at the edges of the breeze, mixing with blood, earth, and the lingering charge of harmonics.

A harmonic bell sounded above them.

The mesh network had been reformed, and now Olivia Kastrioti cantered toward them on horseback, flanked on either side by Elias and Antonio and followed by a small contingent of mounteddonatsand her personal security team, also mounted. Shadows sculpted the planes and hollows of her face. Ryan thought thezonjë, always serenely beautiful and confident, had matured into an imposing presence as she’d taken on her lord’s authority while he healed. Although Olivia hadn’t been present in the tactical operations center for last night’s battle, he’d felt her presence, especially during the final moment facing Abaddon.

She’d even whispered in his mindwell done, good and faithful servantafter he’d slain the Dark Angel of the Abyss’s vessel. The words had ghosted through his thoughts, gentle, solemn, final—a gossamer kiss from a queen.

Now she looked both grim and relieved.

Olivia reined to a halt five meters in front of their small group. Elias, Antonio, and her personal bodyguard Jesse rode and stopped beside her. Elias, who had decades of experience fightingdaemonicfoes, looked much the same, if tired, dirty, and bloody. Antonio, younger and less experienced, nevertheless seemed to take his cues from Elias and watched them gravely. Jesse, a young Australian veteran that Ryan had recruited earlier in the year, looked shellshocked but remained upright and focused.

Olivia studied the four of them for a long moment, calm and contained. When she came to Ryan, she simply nodded. He’d never know what prompted him, but at that regal gesture, he slid to his knee and bowed.

“Zonjë ime,” he said.

Next to him, he felt Dianne glancing between them before she, too, slid to a knee. Before she could say anything (Ryan suspected that she intended to repeat his words), Olivia had dropped from her horse and darted to her younger sister.

Pulling her to her feet, Olivia hugged her sister. “Thank God you’re safe!” she said, strong emotion making her voice rough. “I couldn’t bear to lose you too.”

Ryan saw tears coursing down the face of the woman he loved. He couldn’t believe what it did to him, seeing Dianne cry. Just as he’d seen her crying in the rain last night, when she’d asked him if he really loved her. He couldn’t wait to show her just how much, with his body and with his vow of eternal fidelity, made before man,Elioud, and God.

Because that’s what he was going to give her, as soon as she—and thezotiandzonjë—would let him.

Olivia turned to him, a smile radiating from her tear-stained face. “Well, Helsing, do you have something that you want to ask my sister? Because I can’t say yes until she does.”

Stunned, Ryan, still kneeling on one knee, blinked a moment. And then, before Dianne could ask what they were talking about, he pivoted and pulled the silver ring with its delicate filigree skeleton key from his pocket. He held it out to her. It was time to make their harmonic bond permanent.

Dianne looked down in bemusement at the ring. “You kept this with you?” she asked.

“Not only kept it with me, vowed on it to give my life for yours,” he said. “Will you do me the honor of marrying me so that I can live out that vow for the rest of my life?”

Dianne blinked rapidly, tears escaping her efforts. She looked at Olivia, whose smile had only broadened.

Olivia nodded and said, “Go on, dunderhead! Say yes before his knee gives out and that old wound in his side causes him to topple over.”

Dianne squealed and turned to Ryan. “Yes! Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes, my Beast!” She grabbed his face and kissed him as a large grin split his cheeks from ear to ear.

“Excellent,” said Olivia dryly once Dianne let Ryan go several seconds later. “Then you have my blessing, Helsing. You will have to wait, however, for the chapel to be constructed. Willem and Father Bekim tell me the foundation will be laid this week. Its construction was only delayed due to the problem of the dire wolves.”

“Fully constructed?” asked Ryan shrewdly. Everyone laughed, even the quiet Elias.

Olivia shook her head, still smiling. “Incorrigible! No, the Bishop consecrated the land already, so I’ll leave it to Father Bekim to decide whether he wants more than a foundation in which to perform the sacrament.”

“How about the clinic chapel?” asked Dianne. She sounded tentative. Ryan suspected that she didn’t want to challenge her sister so soon after her blessing. “So Mihàil can attend.”

Olivia said nothing for several long moments, blinking rapidly, while she clearly got her emotions under control. Ryan had never seen her so close to losing it. Everyone waited.

At last, she cleared her throat and said in a strong, confident voice. “Indeed, he will insist on attending, and I don’t think Ryan will wait long enough for him to dress appropriately for church. I’ll have Father Bekim read the banns and set the date for three weeks from now.”

Everyone laughed at the look of disappointment on Ryan’s face, but he only grinned sheepishly and pulled Dianne to her feet before kissing her again.

Then he bent and whispered to her, “You’re my mission from now on, Dianne Markham.”