Bishop finally swung his body to face hers. "I didn't hear that."
"Me neither."
Tilly slumped in her seat. "I'm going crazy. Is this Hell Hound magic fucking with me? Is this another phase or something? Hearing voices and seeing dead people?"
"Not necessarily," Valor scowled and hung a right, getting onto a highway.
Tilly looked back and saw Drake was practically on Valor's bumper. The twins' mouths were moving a mile a minute and they were arguing about something by the looks on their faces. She turned back and rubbed her temples again. "We can't unravel. We need to stay tight."
Lucifer had been so specific about his deal. She needed to get with the program so she didn't lose this opportunity for salvation. "Did you hear the girl talk, at least?"
"Yes," both men said.
Okay, well that was good. At least she was only halfway hallucinating. Or maybe they were so focused on the girl, they didn't bother to look at Liam dangling like a big tuna. "She said Don't go. But I swear Liam looked right at me with black eyes and said Go."
Go as in leave that house or Go as in go somewhere else? Tilly squeezed her eyes shut. Her head hurt so badly, it felt like someone was driving metal spikes into her temples and electrocuting her eyeballs. The pain was starting to radiate around the back of her head and down her neck. She grunted, her head lolling forward.
A big hand wrapped around her nape and started massaging. "She's hitting the merge, I think." Bishop announced. "Fucking terrible timing."
"Fuck," Valor grabbed his phone and dialed Drake, "Hey. Our girl's merging." There was a pause then, "Tell me about it." Another pause. "I doona want to risk it. We’re going home. I'll call Chloe and tell her plans have changed. She’ll have to come to us."
What’s going on? Tilly wanted to ask, but the pain in her head spread down her spine, wrapped around her ribcage, and was setting her chest on fire. She was too hot, her mouth too dry, and her head… Fuck! My head! She tried to open her eyes, but couldn’t. The light of the streetlamps was too much. More spikes drove into her skull. She was going to die.
This was a thousand times worse than any migraine she’d ever had. “Oh god, I’m going to puke.”
She heaved and nothing came up. The force of her body trying to expel the contents from her belly made her head scream in agony. Bishop grabbed her and twisted her around so she was in his lap. Her head hit the roof of the truck and she yipped in pain.
“She’s too tall for that. Lay her down and get on her.”
“Fuck, she’s on fire, Alpha.”
Tilly felt something big press onto her. Bishop’s scent filled her nose. Her vision darkened to the point where she could no longer see and she had to rely on her other senses. Sinking one hand into Bishop’s hair, she wrapped her other around his neck and held onto him. She was going to burn away.
Don’t let go of me, she tried to say. But all that came out of her mouth was a whimper.
“We’ve got you, Sweetness.”
She felt like she had a mouthful of ashes. Tilly tried to swallow and it was harder than it should have been.
The engine cut off. “Hang on—” Valor’s voice sounded muffled, like she had cotton stuffed in her ears. Then she didn’t hear anything at all. Her sense of smell faded after that.
Tilly was dying a slow death. Her senses were being stripped away, one by one.
Hounds, she tried to say, but her tongue felt fat and heavy in her mouth. HOUNDS!
Chapter 24
Valor stood outside, waiting for Chloe to arrive. While the rest of his pack got Tilly into the house, Valor carried all her un-buried treasures into the foyer. Even with the black eye and busted lip from her wild lash out in the truck getting here, Valor’s instincts screamed for him to be with her in the house. But his place was outside for now.
While he stood in the morning sun waiting for Chloe, he could hear his woman screaming inside their home. “Come on,” Val growled. “Where the hell are ye?”
Chloe needed to hurry the fuck up. Tilly’s situation wasn’t going to improve and of all times to hit The Merging phase, this was the worst possible moment.
Or was it?
She was going to be a full Hell Hound after this. That was a good thing. The best thing.
How long would her merge take? Would she survive it?
Hounds had died going through this last part of their transition. Although The Haunting could last for years even after The Merging, this last phase was survival of the fittest. The Merging was when you were turned inside out, set on fire, and finally rise as a full blown, Satan sanctioned Hell Hound.
Poor Tilly had entered it hard and fast. This shouldna be happening already. Valor remembered how much it hurt when he’d gone through it. He was a monster. The pain was so ferocious, it devoured him from the inside out and he begged the Gods for mercy. They gave none. Valor didn’t have anyone or anything back then - No pack. No friends. No home.
Instead of staying in a cage until his transformation was complete, Valor had asked to be set loose immediately. He couldn’t stomach the idea of Sara and Kalen being in Hell with him at the same time… going through their own horrible transitions. Sara’s screams had tormented him… they still torment him. So, Valor had insisted on putting space between him and those he’d loved and failed the first time around. But when The Merging phase had hit him, Val returned to Hell, crawling like an animal and howling the whole way. He begged Lucifer to help him through it.
Lucifer had tossed him into a fortified cage. Valor was on his own. And when the Devil locked him in the cage and walked away, Valor howled and bayed and went ballistic.
In hind-sight, he understood why, but at the time, Valor wanted to raze the world and Satan too. It was only later that he thanked Lucifer for doing him such a favor. And now… his precious woman was suffering and he couldn’t go in there yet to help her through it. He didn’t want to lock her in a cage. She could hurt herself in there. No, he didn’t want her in a box. Even if she demolished the house and everything in it, he couldn’t stand the thought of her in a box. At least she had the rest of the pack with her right now. That was the only reason Valor was still standing outside, guarding the door and waiting for Chloe.
He pulled his cell out to call her for an ETA when tires peeled and a car fishtailed up the long driveway.
Chloe looked wild behind the wheel. Her mascara was smeared down her cheeks and her hair was falling out of its ponytail. “What the fuck!” she screamed, slamming her door and marching over to him. “Why’d you deviate?”
“We have a situation.” Valor wasn’t going to say more. Right now, Tilly was the weakest she would ever be again. Chloe wasn’t an enemy, but Valor didn’t trust anyone one hundred percent who wasn’t pack. And he knew how cruel jealousy could be.
Chloe tossed her hands in the air, “Are you going to let me in?”
“No.” Whatever she needed to say, she could say out here. She wasn’t getting near his pack right now.
“I can’t say all this out in the open.”
“There’s no one to hear ye. I doona ken why ye couldna just say it on the phone. We’ve a mess on our hands, lass, and time is no longer our friend.”
“Tell me about it.” Chloe swiped under her eyes. “The dead have been too quiet lately. And the cards aren’t talking. I only knew about that guy because he came to me before getting ripped out of the realm.”
“What guy?”
“Liam was his name. He sent me a flash of the girl and said Tilly’s name. I knew it was the same woman. Your woman.”
Valor stiffened.
“Nothing’s flowing right, Valor. Nothing’s working like it should. God, I went blind as a bat for about ten minutes after I possessed that child. Who, by the way, isn’t a child at all. She’s a witch.”
“What kind?”
“A burning one.”
Valor wasn’t familiar with the term but didn’t want to get into it right now. He’d ask Jack about it l
ater. The Voodoo Man knew enough about different witches to give a brief lesson. Right now, Valor needed to finish this chat with Chloe so he could get back to –
Tilly howled from the other side of the door. Someone barked.
“Holy Hell, Val,” Chloe’s eyes widened. “She’s in there? Tilly’s in there?”
Valor licked his lower lip and didn’t answer. “What have ye to say? Be out with it, woman.”
“You’ve got that woman locked up with an animal?”
She is the animal. “She’s fine.” He hoped.
Chloe knew damn well he wasn’t going to budge or offer to say more. She swallowed with a frown. “The psychics are scared, Valor. The dead are rising. Their souls aren’t even their own. It’s like… the memories of the person have been retold to them. The emotions aren’t there. They aren’t mindless zombies but they aren’t alive and free-thinking either.”
“How do you ken this? Have ye seen it?”
Chloe shook her head, “No. Thank god. But it’s what people are saying.”
“People say things all the time,” he didn’t want to spook her by saying she might very well be correct. “I’ll tell Lucifer.”
“Is she in your pack?”
Her question caught him off guard. “Why?”
“I… I was just wondering.” Chloe scratched her arm. “Something’s coming, Val. Something bigger and badder than your master.”
“How did ye possess that child?”
Her mouth formed a thin line. “I’m not the bad one,” she said.
“Are ye convincing me or yourself, Chloe?”
Her gaze turned colder. “I’m the reason you’ve gotten so far, Hound. I’m the reason you found the twins. Don’t act like I’m the enemy now. I’ve always had your pack’s back.”
“Tilly is the reason we found the twins.”
“And who do you think lead you to her? Me. Me!” she balled her hands into fists. “Don’t do this. You always do this, Val.”
“Do what?”
“See betrayal when there isn’t any.”
“You’re using verra accusatory words, lass. I’ve not said anything about betrayal – yours or anyone else’s. Doona pretend to ken my mind. Ye have no idea what I see.” Her aura was going wild. It had no true color, but then again, Chloe’s aura was always hard to interpret. Her magic always fucked with her colors.
“I’m on your side,” she whispered.
“Good,” he wasn’t about to argue. He needed her gone so he could focus on Tilly and then deliver all those magical items to Lucifer.
“She’s the answer, you know.” Chloe gripped her car keys tight in her hand and with stiff movements, she headed back to her car.
“Ye came all the way out here to say that?”
“That wasn’t the only thing,” she tossed him a half-hearted smile. “Tell… Tell Lucifer, okay? Tell him I’m on your side. And stay away from the twins. Those girls are no good to you.”
Valor didn’t tell Chloe that one of those twins helped them escape the Paris catacombs. “Stay safe, lass.”
She started up her convertible and her chin quivered. “Watch your back, Val. Enemies hide in shadows, and your shadow follows you everywhere.” Chloe peeled out of the parking lot and waved goodbye without looking back.
What. The. Fuck.
Valor turned and stepped into his house. He ran down the steps and into the room he ordered the pack to take Tilly into. It wasn’t a cage, but it wasn’t much better. Drake, who was guarding the door, moved out of Valor’s way immediately. When the Alpha entered the room, his gaze sailed to the ceiling and the air whooshed out of him. “Maiden, Mother, and Crone.”
Reggie stood, stiff as a board, guarding the first set of gates in Hell’s prison. Lucifer marched straight over to him, clutching a piece of paper. There was a loud screech from the other side of the bars. Then another and another.
“It’s getting rowdy in there,” Reggie frowned. “Fuckers are restless.”
Lucifer shoved the paper into his hand. “You ever see a spirit with these marks?” Reggie was Lucifer’s greatest Gate Keeper. He also had a memory like an elephant.
Reggie studied the drawing and frowned. “This one of Sara’s pictures?”
“Just answer. You ever see those marks on anyone?” Lucifer looked beyond the gates at a horde of malanum fighting like dogs.
“Shit,” Reggie frowned, “Maybe. I don’t know. What language is that? What’s it say?”
“Death is not the end, it’s the beginning.”
This was something Tilly saw written on the man Valor killed in the catacombs. Inked in angelic lettering on his arm. Whether it was fresh or not didn’t matter, it was the meaning that made Lucifer’s balls tighten and lungs burn.
That and the fact that the other man, the one who they only had a description of his motherfucking hand and partial forearm, had a crudely inked symbol with seven swords penetrating it. Celtic knot work covered most of his skin, and the symbol, but Tilly saw and described it.
That’s what had Lucifer ready to set things on fire. Sara recognized the symbol, the crude coat of arms, while she sketched everything Tilly described. Neither of them said a word about it to Kalen yet, but he knew damn well Sara was going to say something soon.
Time was no longer on anyone’s side. Either this was a cruel trick or someone had the knowledge of a thousand lifetimes and was feeding information to a greater power.
“So you haven’t seen it?”
“I don’t think so,” Reggie sighed, “but I’m not all here anymore, Luce.” Reggie tapped his temple. “Not after everything that happened with Hell’s walls crumbling. I’m amazed I’m back on duty this fast.”
Lucifer was too. Reggie was so fucking strong, it was beyond impressive. The Devil didn’t have many blessings, but he was sure as fuck blessed with his Gate Keeper and best friend. He’d have given Reggie more time to heal if things weren’t going sideways again so soon. As long as Reggie could draw breath and wield a weapon, Lucifer wanted him on his feet and at a Gate, if only to keep track of the rise and fall in malanum numbers.
“Should I look for it?”
“No, Reggie. If you don’t remember, it’s fine.” It was too late now, anyway. What’s done was done. Goddamnit. Lucifer tucked the most-likely useless drawing into his back pocket.
“How are you holding up, sire?”
“Well enough.”
Another fight broke out beyond the gate. Reggie nodded towards the mass of black souls, “It’s getting crowded in there. We’ve had a surge of fresh ones arrive during the night. Must have been a cult or something gone wrong and took the whole lot of them out.”
That wasn’t uncommon. Mass suicides happened all the time, and there were more sinners than saints in the world. “Why aren’t they in purgatory?”
“Must’ve been really fucking naughty, sire.” Reggie almost smiled. “What’s the world coming to, eh?”
“Help! Help me!” a soul screamed from the other side of the gates. “Open the door! Fuck! Open the motherfucking cocksucking door!”
Lucifer and Reggie both stepped closer to the gate. “Tanner?”
“FUCKETY FUCK! OPEN IT!”
Yup, it was Tanner. He crashed right through the horde of fighting malanum like a wrecking ball. And he was covered in blood – both human and malanum. Lucifer stepped back as Reggie opened the door and Tanner leapt out of the prison, sailed about six feet forward, tucked in and rolled on the ground, popping up to his feet with a great big smile. “Fuck that was fun and scary. Got dragged in by the back of my shirt.”
“You shouldn’t have turned your back on your enemy,” Lucifer growled.
“Didn’t mean to. There was so much going on. Let me talk to Eli real quick, let him know I’m alright and then we gotta talk. Shit’s going fucking nuts up there, Luce.” Tanner rushed towards the door – most likely to get topside long enough to communicate with his cell.
Lucifer gave Reggie one last nod a
nd then he followed Tanner out of the prison. Fucker walked so fast, Lucifer had trouble keeping up. It made him angry. It wasn’t that Tanner was faster that pissed him off. It was that Lucifer was weakening to the point where he wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer.
“Handle your pack, then meet me in the big room.” Lucifer didn’t bother to catch up with the Hound. At least he was already sitting on his throne when Tanner came back down with Kalen and Jack. “Where’s Eli?”
“Coming,” Tanner took a seat, his knee already bobbing with nervous energy. “Where’s Beautiful?”
“Here!” She came from one of the back doors that led to Lucifer’s private chambers. “I’m here!”
Tanner popped up and met her halfway. He was careful giving her a hug and swept her hair back from her face before planting a kiss on her mouth.
“Hound,” Lucifer growled, “Tell me what the fuck is going on and then you can take her back and spend time with her.”
Keeping a firm grip on Sara’s hand, Tanner headed back to his seat and Sara sat next to him. Lucifer’s eyes flicked to their clasped hands. They hadn’t seen each other in a few days, they were going to stay glued to each other for a while because of it.
Satan rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Now, Tanner. Speak.”
Eli came running in through the main doors looking almost as disheveled as Tanner. “Fuck me running, you scared the shit out of me, Hound.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Tanner re-focused on the Devil. “Paris is a madhouse.”
Lucifer had reassigned Sara’s Hounds to Paris while Asher and his pack were in Hell. Jack and Kalen were taking their territory, Tanner and Eli were running Paris, and Sara was staying in Hell.
Lucifer had his reasons for shifting districts. He’d made a bargain and wasn’t squelching on his side of the deal. Can’t betray trust when it was freshly earned. But it almost just cost him a motherfucking Hound. Lucifer didn’t know how he was going to handle this moving forward.
“Paris has been so damn quiet, I almost envied Chess’s pack.” Tanner brought Sara’s hand up and kissed it. “Fuck you’re gorgeous carrying our baby.”
Hard to Kill (Hell Hounds Harem Book 6) Page 21