by Kristie Cook
“We’re Bella, Penny, and Iris,” Brielle chirped.
Skylar eyed each of us in turn with an olive-green gaze. She didn’t buy it. Brie wasn’t exactly the greatest liar.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Skylar finally said.
We settled in and cautiously questioned her about where she was from and where she’d been. She was a traveler, creating items from nature and selling them when she came upon the markets, such as the dreamcatchers and salves she’d been selling to the vendor earlier in the day. She frequented Misery’s Edge because it was one of the biggest towns in the region. Only Crescent City, where New Orleans had once been, was bigger.
“I don’t know which is more dangerous, though,” Skylar said. “I try to stay out of any town as much as possible, until I’m out of necessities.”
Brielle gave me a pointed look.
“Which means even more dangerous for us,” she silently quipped. I chose to ignore her.
Skylar offered a couple of blankets to us, which Brielle and Charleigh took.
“I’ll take first watch,” I said.
Brielle narrowed her eyes at me, but she didn’t argue. Perhaps she understood that as soon as I closed my eyes, I’d see one of three things—the massacre of that night, the red eyes and black smoky horses, or Sadie’s face—none of which would allow sleep to come.
“Wake me up in two hours,” my twin said. “I’ll take next watch.”
She probably thought me more likely to take off later in the night. She was wrong. As soon as they were all asleep—I tugged on our twin connection to ensure she was truly unconscious—I crept away, leaving my backpack behind so if Brielle woke, she’d think I’d gone to the bathroom or something. Sasha started to follow me, but I ordered her to stay before flashing to the outskirts of Misery’s Edge, to a place in the woods where I could see the gate we’d exited hours before. Charleigh appeared right next to me, apparently following my flash. I wasn’t surprised. Charleigh always had my back.
“You should have stayed with Brielle,” I whispered, patting my glamoured enchanted fighting gear, taking stock of my weapons—the physical and those hidden with their own enchantments, like the sword on my back. “I’m not sure that I trust that Skylar.”
“She has Sasha to protect her. You need me.”
I wouldn’t argue with her. Two sets of ears were better than one, especially since she could cloak us.
“Thank you,” I said with a grateful smile. “So I thought we’d find where the demon-fuckers are congregating and listen first, see what we can learn. We need to find out where Shamara is so I can kill that bitch. Send her back to Hell, anyway.”
“Not even your mom could kill her, Elli, and wasn’t she charged up with Earth’s Angel power?”
I frowned. As our leader, Mom was the only one who could pull on the power of all Earth’s Angels—all of our kin spread around the world. When she did that night, she unleashed a powerful blast, but Charleigh was right. It hadn’t killed Shamara.
But Mom didn’t have a beast like mine. When the time came, annihilating the she-demon would be totally worth freeing her.
“I’ll figure that out later,” I hissed. “For now, we listen. If they have our parents, you know the demons will brag about it. They can’t help themselves. Then we kill them and get Dani.”
“Got it.”
“We’re not leaving without Dani.”
She squeezed my hand. “I know what she means to you.”
I shook my head, denying her implication. The thought of Dani in that way only made my heart ache more for Sadie. “I owe her is all. I couldn’t be there for her then. I can now.”
“Then let’s do it.”
That’s what I loved about Charleigh. Brielle over-analyzed and worried too much. Charleigh was more like me—no fear. Well, at least, we disregarded our fear and did what was necessary to take care of business. She knew we could handle this.
Our reconnaissance didn’t reveal anything, though. It didn’t take long to find the demons and listen in on their conversations, but all we learned was that they held a lot of people captive. Like a whole stockpile of meat suits, as one had said, for when their current ones “expired.” Ew. I fucking hated demons.
Even more, I hated how I was drawn to them just as much as I was appalled by them. Their dark energy called to mine. The beast within was definitely awake, pushing against the holds I had on her. It made me want to destroy them all the more.
“If you attack them, you expose us,” Charleigh warned, knowing me too well.
“Then let’s move on,” I snarled between clenched teeth. “Let’s find Dani.”
Too much time had passed, and Brielle would be waking soon and discovering we’d left. If she hadn’t already. We needed to hurry and return to the camp before she did something I’d regret forever.
Finally, we found Dani by peeking in the back window of a lean-to propped up against a semi-trailer. She was curled up on a cot. Around the front of the one-room building stood two demons in human bodies, guarding the door. The norms’ souls were completely gone, thank the angels. That meant I could kill these two. I pulled two throwing stars out of their hiding place in my vest and with a swish of each wrist, the stars’ edges slid across their throats, killing them both. Well, I ended the existences of the bodies. The demons inside plumed out in a cloud of black smoke and disappeared, sent back to Hell.
“Stand guard,” I told Charleigh before I slipped inside the lean-to.
Dani shot upright on her cot. Good, I didn’t have to wake her. “Who’s there?”
Shit. She wouldn’t recognize me. I had to drop the glamour.
“It’s okay, Dani,” I whispered. “It’s me, Elliana.”
Her dark brows furrowed together as she tilted her head, her dark brown ponytail falling over her shoulder. “Elli? Is it really you?”
I tried to smile, though tears stung my eyes. “It is. I’m going to get you out of here.”
Her nearly black eyes blazed with anger. “What the hell happened to you? You left me when … when …”
Guilt crushed me inside as she choked on the words. “I’m sorry! I know leaving you was horrible, but I’ll explain everything once you’re out of here and we’re safe. Then you can decide if you want to hate me. I’ll understand.”
As she sat there glaring at me, I began to think it was too late. She already hated me with the heat of a million suns, and as much as it broke my heart, I couldn’t blame her. But I really needed to get her out of here.
“At least let me help you now. Then you can be free to do whatever you want. You don’t have to listen to my lame excuses or anything. Just please, Dani. I can help you this time. Let me.”
Her gaze swept around the small room, then she finally stood. I cracked the door open to find the area outside empty.
“Charleigh?” I whispered, unable to see through her cloak.
She dropped it for a second before cloaking all of us. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
With Dani between us, we hurried for the town’s gate, demons nearly running into us on more than one occasion. Dani grabbed my hand, her entire body trembling. I could only imagine how terrified she’d been, a human held captive by these evil abominations. I hoped it hadn’t been for long. If she’d been here since I left … I already struggled with the guilt of leaving her. Finding out they’d had her all this time just might kill me. I started to wrap my arm around her shoulder to calm her, but she shrugged me off. I couldn’t say that didn’t hurt.
We picked up our pace when the gate came into view, and Charleigh went ahead a few strides to scope out the other side. She’d just passed through and we were only a few yards behind her when suddenly I couldn’t move forward. I couldn’t move at all.
“What the fuck?” I gasped.
Charleigh turned toward us, her light brown eyes filled with fear. Her cloak had dropped, and we were surrounded by demons in human form, their empty black eyes giving them away.
>
“No!” Charleigh screamed. They paid no attention to her, thank the angels.
“Run!” I yelled back at her, and she did, disappearing from my sight. I stepped in front of Dani, my arms held back behind me to try to protect her as I moved in a circle, assessing the enemy. “Let her go and deal with me. She’s only human. You want me, not her.”
Dani laughed from behind me. “Who do you think called for them?”
Chapter 6
I deserved this. I knew I did, but it still pissed me off that Dani had betrayed me like this. Why? What could she possibly gain? Of course she was mad at me, but getting us both locked up accomplished nothing for her but more misery. She could have at least waited until we got her out of town and she was safe. I didn’t think she was stupid, but now I began to wonder because it just didn’t make sense.
The demons bound my arms to my side with their deep black demonic magic. Calling on all of my elemental power, I tried to fight it, blasting them with fire, ice, and air the best I could with my hands pinned to my sides, but there were a dozen of them, too many to fight by myself. Even my Amadis power wasn’t enough. They tensed and a couple even groaned in pain, so I knew they felt it, just not strong enough to take them all down. These assholes were powerful, way up on the demon hierarchy. The intense dark energy oozing off them made me heady. I just didn’t have enough goodness in me to fight them all at once. Maybe Brielle did, but not me. In fact, the desire to just give in to them grew with every step we took toward wherever they were hauling me.
We came to a brick-and-mortar building, and I realized it was the city hall Mom and Dad had gone in with the mayor, Camila—who’d actually been Shamara. A mix of dread and anticipation swirled in me. Maybe my chance to kill her had come sooner than later. The demons shoved me down the steps into the basement, to what must have been the town’s jail. They shoved me into a cell, then cast some nasty demon magic, ugly markings with a crimson glow on every wall and the door—spells that locked down my powers and warded the door, preventing any chance of escape.
Then they left me in the small, dark space.
I had no idea how much time passed. It felt like hours, days maybe. But possibly only minutes. I sat in the corner, my back against the wall, and curled my legs into my chest as my eyes drooped, then fell closed. Sadie’s face faded in and out and then . . . blackness.
Bolting upright, I gasped for air. I sat in a bed, or a cot, was more like it, the mattress thin and lumpy. The space was dark, a dull light shining in from another room. It was unfamiliar, tiny, with three stone walls and the fourth comprised of vertical bars. I jumped to my feet, sharp pain ripping across my shoulders and down my spine. My wings. They were gone. They’d been hidden since I was a baby, but the last thing I remembered until waking just now was my wings exploding from my back for the first time. Had I already lost them again? How? Could I bring them back? With that thought, they burst free. Big, as tall as me, and black and purple, just like my mother’s. Whew. They weren’t gone for good. I had the power to bring them back. Maybe this meant I was coming into my other powers, too.
I crossed from the cot to the bars in one stride and reached for them.
“Son of a bitch!” I yelped, jerking my hands back as soon as they touched the metal, my skin sizzling and smoking. What the hell were these things made of? They looked silver in the dim light but only demons and the Daemoni were allergic to silver. I’d never had issues with it before. Could they be iron? Though we were part fae, iron had never bothered us before, either. Of course, if I was coming into all of my powers, maybe they were strong on the fae side and iron had suddenly become a weakness. I could sense a magical energy permeating the area, though, and especially at the bars. Maybe they were simply enchanted, a magical insurance that I couldn’t break free.
Where the hell was I anyway? And where were my sister and cousin?
I leaned as close as I could to the bars without touching them, trying to make out what was beyond them. Some kind of corridor. The dim light shone from an orb hovering near the stone ceiling a few yards to the right and another one several yards to the left, creating deep, dark shadows.
I had the sense I was underground, but there was nothing like this in the Loft, and the smell was all wrong. Too dank and sour for our home. Other barred openings lined each side of the corridor. Was this some kind of prison? How did I get here? Why? And again, where the hell were my sister and Charleigh?
“Brielle?” I called out, unable to sense her through our twin bond. Noises came from the other . . . cells. That had to be what they were. Scuffing, shuffling noises. A hiss from one. A groan from another. “Charleigh?”
Neither answered me. I yelled louder for them. An unfamiliar voice told me to shut up, but I paid them no attention. I needed to know they were okay.
“Brielle!” I shouted again. “Charleigh!” Were they even here? Maybe they’d been lucky and had eluded whatever mess I’d found myself in.
“You’re asking for it,” a female voice hissed. Some kind of threat. Like anyone in those cells could do anything to me. Because we were in cells. Mother-effin cells!
Was this some kind of supernatural prison? At least, one controlled by magic? Did our parents know where this place was? If they did and had any idea I was here, I would have been out already. They would have come for me. For us—if my sister and cousin were here, too. Or maybe that’s why I couldn’t feel Brielle through our bond, because they’d already freed her and were still searching for me.
That made sense. It had to be the case. Right? Unless . . . unless this was my punishment. Dad had warned us before we left. Was this his way of scaring me into being a little less wild and a little more obedient, like my sister?
I grabbed the bars again, ignoring the pain this time as my skin sizzled and melted. I needed to know, damn it. “BRIELLE! Where are you?”
An electric shock blasted from the bars, and I went sailing across the cell. My back slammed into the stone wall, and I sunk to the floor next to a built-in toilet I only noticed now. Springing to my feet, I charged for the bars again. I didn’t even notice the pain this time as I tried to shake them, screaming for my sister. Another zap sent me across the room, but I wasn’t giving up.
The beast within me clawed at the walls of my soul, threatening to break free. One I normally kept suppressed, shoved into the deepest, darkest corner of my being. I couldn’t stomach the thought of calling it my demon side, but deep down I knew that’s what it was. I ignored it most of the time, but sometimes it could be helpful. Like maybe right now, especially as I felt it stirring stronger than ever. As if it had also come into its real power.
“WHERE. IS. MY. SISTER?” I roared as I sprang for the bars, the only opening, the only way out, once more.
“That’s enough out of you,” came another voice, male—deeper but flat, void of any emotion.
Then everything went black.
Blinking, I looked around, disoriented, dazed. I wasn’t in the stone cell but in boring one with walls made of cement blocks, those gnarly runes still glowing blood-red. What had I just seen? Was that where I was going next? Or had I nodded off, dreaming about the school under the mountain and mashing it up with my current predicament? My brain didn’t seem to be working right to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. The dark magic surrounding me was too much.
My beast mewled from deep within, wanting out. She could handle this. I always thought of her as my hybrid version of an animal’s soul, a gift from the shifter DNA in my blood that wasn’t like any animal in this world. I fed her my darkness, but she often wanted to give it back. Like now. Perhaps she couldn’t take anymore while imprisoned inside of me. Perhaps I should just let her free. At least one of us could be.
I’d almost given in when I opened my eyes to find Dani standing outside the cell.
“You have no idea how many times I dreamed about this,” she said, practically spitting the words out. Still feeling confused, I only stared at her. She g
lared back with expectation.
“Why?” I finally asked, not moving from my corner.
She laughed. “It’s the least of what you deserve. You and your cunt mother killed my papa. Killed him, Elliana. And then you just ran off, protecting your own asses instead of owning up to what you did. I thought you loved me!”
“I thought I did, too,” I whispered. As much as we probably did deserve it, I wanted to throat-punch her for calling my mother that. “She’d only been trying to protect us all,” I said, louder now.
Dani’s laugh sounded like a shrill siren. “Protect? You expect me to believe that? She only wanted to protect you and Brielle. Your mother doesn’t give a flying fuck about anyone else!”
Without thought, I sprang to my feet and flew at the bars between us. When I touched them, dark magic blasted through me. At the same time, my vision swam, and I was in that stone cell again. I felt my spine crack against the back wall after I’d touched those bars and went flying from the shock. I shook my head, trying to erase the vision, not knowing where it came from.
“She protected you!” I shouted at Dani. “Not just Brielle and me, but all of the humans, too. Including you!”
“Then why is my papa dead?” she snarled.
My mouth opened to explain, but the words lodged in my throat, and my chest tightened. I had to spit them out, as much as it hurt me and would hurt her.
“Your papa was no longer your papa,” I said quietly, the truth carving through me. I’d adored Papa Miguel. He hadn’t deserved what had happened to him. “He was possessed, Dani. A demon had taken over his body, probably devoured his soul, long before that night. What my mother did—she destroyed the demons. Not just sent them back to Hell but actually destroyed them. Unfortunately, that means their human hosts died, too. But it wasn’t him anymore. It wasn’t him. Camila . . . Shamara did that to him.”
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you think I’m stupid enough to believe that. Camila was Papa’s childhood friend. We came all the way from Brazil on foot to find her. She wouldn’t have hurt him.”