“And if something happens to one of them?” Aisling asked.
“Their senses and ability to hunt is far more attuned than any of ours. They’re far less likely to be caught by one of those people than we are,” Caim said. “If you start a ring of fire around the fog, we can stop them from retreating and send the hounds in to destroy them.”
“But the fire will hurt the hounds,” Aisling protested.
“The hounds were born from the fires of Hell,” I said. “They’ll be okay. The fire might flush the fog people out before the hounds go in.”
She turned to study the fog before giving a brisk nod. “It could work.”
Caim sniffed. “It will work. Those puppies won’t leave anyone behind and can hunt down anything. I’ll get them.”
Caim walked away while the fog edged closer to us, and I pulled Aisling against my side. I wanted to beat the shit out of this mist and everyone in it, but I wouldn’t put her at risk by going back in there. She would follow me.
I gazed up the mountain toward where we left the others. Halfway up the hill, the wall of smoke obscured my view, but they were still up there. “Come with me,” I said and nudged Aisling toward the survivors.
She glanced at the fog as we walked, but she didn’t try to enter it again. I stopped in front of the survivors who were gazing nervously at the mist. “Shouldn’t we leave?” a woman asked.
“That’s exactly what you’re going to do,” I told her. “The rest of our group is further up the mountain. Keep going straight until you get above the smoke; once you do, you’ll see smoke coming from a cave further up the mountain. Head for that. When you find them, tell them Wrath is already out of the labyrinth and he’s gone. Also let them know the fog is here and we’re going to take care of it.”
One of the men frowned as he stared at the mist. “How can you take care of fog?”
“We have a plan.”
“But… it’s… fog,” he said slowly.
“It’s not just fog,” Aisling said. “And the others are aware of that.”
“Tell them we’re taking care of it,” I said impatiently. “But you have to go.” When they remained staring at the fog, I barked the word, “Now!”
They all jumped before bowing their heads and scurrying up the mountain. The screams issuing from the fog died away, and silence descended.
Chapter Forty-Five
Aisling
Hawk stayed by my side as I remained on the outskirts of the fog, setting fire to anything that would burn. A solid ring of flames rimmed most of the mist, but on the far side, the scorched earth left little for me to torch.
Hawk and Caim went into the woods and returned with some fallen logs, but they weren’t enough to keep the fog pinned in. Fire danced across the logs and sparks flew into the air as Caim arrived with more wood, but already the fog was shifting toward us.
Prowling restlessly around, the hounds raised their hackles as they growled at the fog. I kept expecting the mist to devour the land it traversed, but when the ground it covered was exposed again, it was the same as before the fog took it over. Still, I couldn’t help seeing this thing as a black hole consuming everything it encountered.
I jerked my hand back when a cold tendril of fog brushed against it. A sick, dirty feeling twisted in my stomach as I recalled the monsters with human faces and hideous souls who resided inside this mist.
When the fog shifted toward me, I felt the ravenous hunger emanating from it as more tendrils brushed against my cheek and neck. I stepped away from it and swore it made an eager chattering noise as fresh wisps searched for me.
It knew I was here, and it was not going to give up as more threads slid free. Hawk stepped in front of me, and some of the fog encompassed his bicep. I rested a hand on his shoulder, but he nudged me back as he edged away from the mist. It chattered again as more of the mist split off to search him out.
“It must sense our body heat,” Hawk said.
“I don’t care what it does,” I said. “It has to be destroyed.”
The crunch of debris jerked my head toward the mountain, and flames shot up my wrists as I prepared to torch any monster approaching us. Corson held his hands up and stepped in front of Wren.
“Easy,” he said. “We’re here to help. Lix and Bale stayed to protect the others in case Wrath returns.”
“Sorry,” I said as my flames went out. “We’re trying to establish a fire barrier, but there’s nothing here for me to burn.”
“Then we’ll establish ourselves here and kill anything that comes out of the fog,” Hawk said.
“And if the fog rolls over us?” I asked.
“We’ll make sure it doesn’t.”
“Then it’s time to send in the hounds,” Caim said.
I gulped as I rested my hand on the head of the hound standing beside me. Its eyes were focused on the fog as it bared its teeth and vibrated with barely leashed power.
“Be careful,” I said and lifted my hand.
“Achó,” Caim said, commanding the beasts to attack.
I swear the hound grinned at me before bounding into the fog. Standing on the edge of the mist and within the unnatural twilight created by the smoke, everything around me stilled. All I heard was the thump of my racing heart pumping blood through my veins.
I barely breathed as I braced myself for one of the hounds to scream in pain. I wouldn’t be able to take it if something happened to one of them, but the silence stretched until the seconds became minutes, and still the only sound was the thump of my heart.
I opened my mouth to ask where they were, but I couldn’t get the words past the lump in my throat. If one of the hounds cried out, I’d cry with them. The beasts had taken great joy in running all of us into every obstacle they could find. They’d given me a few headaches and bruises, but I really liked them.
Please let them get through this.
And then screams pierced the silence. Muffled by the fog, it was impossible to tell exactly where those screams originated from, but they grew louder as they mingled with snarls from the hounds.
I yearned to throw my hands over my ears and block out the noise, but I forced myself to listen. We’d sent the hounds in there; I had to know if one of them was hurt.
As the screams continued, the fog shifted and rolled faster toward us. Tendrils of it snaked rapidly on the air as it tried to ascertain where to go. Even as the sounds of death emanated from the fog, it rushed toward us and excitement radiated from it when those tendrils encountered us.
I wished there was some way to take a knife or sword to the fog and slice it to pieces, but it was as tangible as air. As we backed further away from the questing tendrils, a clammy sweat coated my body and stuck my shirt to me. I tried not to think about the possibility this might not work and these monsters would escape to hunt others.
When a tendril touched my cheek and another caressed my hand, I yanked my arm away and edged further back with the others. Another wisp grazed my neck while the screams abruptly ended.
The abrupt absence of noise confused me; for a second, I assumed my senses had gone haywire and I couldn’t hear. Then, Wren’s foot crunched on the burnt earth and sound flooded in again.
I held my breath as I waited for the screams to restart or for one of the hounds to howl. I didn’t realize I’d clenched my jaw and fingers until my teeth began to ache and blood filled my palms. The longer the silence stretched, the more my tension mounted until I was on the verge of screaming.
Then the fog rolled back like the sea before a tsunami.
I gaped as the vanishing fog revealed the charred land and the bloody bodies scattered across it. With a woman dangling from its jaws, a hound trotted out of what remained of the mist and dropped the body at our feet. Blood coated her face, and her throat was missing, but I recognized Amber when the hound sat beside her.
“Good boy,” Caim said and patted the hound’s head. “She must have been the one who created the fog.”
“Th
at’s not surprising,” I said.
The rest of the hounds came into view as the last of the mist vanished. A few survivors tried to run, but the hounds took them down before they got far. I didn’t cover my ears, but I did turn away from the screams. Every person in that fog deserved to die, and the world was a far better place without them, but I’d seen enough death recently.
When the last scream ended, relief rolled through me and, with it, came exhaustion. Now that there was nothing left to fight and no adrenaline fueling me, my knees trembled, and I almost sank to the ground. Hawk cupped my elbow to steady me before bending and sweeping me into his arms.
“You don’t have to carry me,” I protested. “You must be exhausted.”
“Nowhere near as exhausted as you, Ash,” he said and touched my hands. “You’ve used your ability a lot recently.”
“More than I ever have,” I admitted as I cuddled against his chest. “But I could use it again.”
“I know, but I love having you in my arms.”
And there was no way I could protest when I loved being there.
Chapter Forty-Six
Aisling
The next day, I leaned against the rocks near the entrance of the cave as I watched the humans and demons from town prepare to leave for the wall. Sometime during the night, while I was sleeping, Raphael arrived with word that the others were fine; they lost their telepathic demon when he kicked a calamut tree that kept blocking his way. The tree had not taken kindly to it.
During the night, they decided Raphael would take the survivors to Magnus and Amalia, who would make sure they made it the rest of the way to the wall. Raphael would return to us.
“I never thought I’d leave the Wilds,” Randy said to Wren as he finished tying his boots.
“I never thought I’d be a demon,” she replied.
He chuckled as he rose and embraced her. “Neither did I, but it works for you.”
Wren laughed and stepped away from him as Corson walked over to join them.
“It’s best for Oliver,” Wren said as she took Corson’s hand. “Even after what happened with the attack, he’ll still be safer at the wall, and the queen has a brother about his age.”
I turned my attention to Oliver as he lifted his head from Nadine’s shoulder. I wanted to go with them and make sure he made it safely to the wall, but if we were ever going to have any peace, we had to destroy the last four horsemen. We may not know where they were, but we would find them.
I wasn’t ready for another battle with them, but I yearned for peace and would do everything necessary to achieve it. I’d spent my whole life dreaming about being somewhere else. Now, all I wanted was to see my parents, to have a regular place to lay my head, and to wake up beside Hawk every morning.
Apparently, my wanderlust wasn’t as strong as I’d believed.
No, that wasn’t true.
My wanderlust hadn’t changed; I had. I was so different from the girl who used to dream of standing in the shadows of the pyramids or exploring the Colosseum. That girl planned to explore the Catacombs of Paris before taking a train through the Alps. But now, I didn’t know how many of those places still existed, and if they did, I’d one day see them with Hawk.
However, I’d seen enough of this new world to know I preferred a house at the wall with Hawk. I didn’t want a tent anymore; I wanted a place to hang pictures and play games with friends. A home with a room for my parents to stay when they came to visit.
I wanted a home.
When he rested his hand on my shoulder, Hawk pulled me from my reverie. “They’re leaving,” he said.
I pushed myself away from the rocks and walked over to join the others. I didn’t know any of them well, but I wanted to say goodbye to Oliver. Taking his small hand in mine, I bent to look into his eyes. I blinked away the unexpected tears burning my eyes when he smiled at me and used his other hand to pat my face. This resilient, beautiful, loving child was a brilliant hope for all our futures.
“Be safe,” he said.
“I will,” I vowed. “You’re going to be okay.” I shouldn’t make him any promises when I didn’t know if they would come true, but I had to believe he would make it to the wall. “And they’re going to protect you.”
At least I knew that much was true. Nadine and Randy would fight to the death for him. He would make it to the wall.
I hugged him and kissed his forehead before releasing him and stepping away. When I was sure no one was looking, I wiped tears from my eyes. Hawk slid his arm around my waist and pulled me against him as the survivors started down the mountain with Raphael soaring through the trees ahead of them.
“He’ll be okay,” Hawk said.
“I know,” I muttered, but my voice was raw with emotion.
“We should go.”
I turned to gaze up the mountain. With no idea where to find the four horsemen, we’d decided to move further up the mountain where we would rest until Raphael returned.
The still-rising smoke would probably deter a lot of things from coming this way, but it would attract others. We planned to be further away from the town and cave before those things started arriving.
Plus, after the exhausting events of yesterday, we needed a few days to recoup and formulate a new plan. What that plan would be, I didn’t know, but I had no doubt we would find the remaining horsemen, or they would find us.
Resting my head against Hawk’s chest, I listened to the beautiful, reassuring beat of his heart as I closed my eyes. In the beginning, I didn’t want to be tied down by this man, but now I couldn’t imagine my life without him, and I would fight to the death for him. I was madly and hopelessly in love with him, and I was never going to let him go.
“When this is over, I want to start a family,” I said.
“I thought you didn’t want kids,” he said.
“I was wrong.” I tilted my head back to smile at him. “Because I want your kids.”
* * *
Hawk
My heart skipped a beat when she uttered these words; not because she was willing to give me something I’d always dreamed of, but because I could not wait to see her holding our child. I stroked her cheek as I closed my eyes and savored the softness of her skin.
“But only if our kid is as cute as Oliver,” she said.
I laughed as I leaned back to look at her. “They’ll be cuter.”
“Especially if they take after me.” She playfully bumped my hip and smiled before bending to lift a scavenged spear from the ground.
She was so different than the woman I first encountered. Then, she looked ready to bolt from me or throw up when learning she was my Chosen. But then, I wasn’t the same man either. It was impossible to hate myself as much over what happened with Sarah when Aisling was looking at me with so much love.
She didn’t see me as the monster I’d seen myself as for so long; she saw me as the man she loved.
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?”
“For loving me.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but I silenced her with a kiss; something I couldn’t have done before she walked into my life. Lifting her against me, I deepened the kiss until I had to break it off before we gave everyone here a show.
When I set her on her feet, she swayed before she broke into a beautiful grin. “I’m going to make you finish what you just started later,” she said.
“You better,” I told her and lifted an ax from the ground as the others started up the mountain.
We fell into line behind Corson and Wren as Lix and Bale walked beside us. Bale still seemed distracted but determined as she stalked over the terrain. We’d scavenged clothes from the dead fog people, but most of them didn’t fit well.
I kept Aisling’s hand in mine while we picked our way over the rocks and further up the mountain. I didn’t know what the future held with the horsemen, but when all this was over, I knew it would contain only joy and love for Aisling and me.
I
n her, I’d found my home, and she was my family. One day, we would have children, and they would grow up knowing how much their parents loved them and how loved they were. We would put an end to our enemies and give them the secure future they deserved.
When I squeezed Aisling’s hand, she looked at me and smiled. Love swelled in my chest as I bent to kiss her.
The End
The Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth, Book 4) will focus on Bale and Wrath!
Look for the final book in the series to release in 2020.
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Also from the Author
Books written under the pen name
Brenda K. Davies
The Vampire Awakenings Series
Awakened (Book 1)
Destined (Book 2)
Untamed (Book 3)
Enraptured (Book 4)
Undone (Book 5)
Fractured (Book 6)
Ravaged (Book 7)
Consumed (Book 8)
Unforeseen (Book 9)
Forsaken (Book 10)
Coming 2019/2020
Kiss of Death: Hell on Earth Series, Book 3 Page 27