Pawns Daughters of The Underworld Book 1

by Leighelle Stone

  I wanted to be on his side on this one. I did. I could so relate to the desperation of life and giving in to our dark desires. The sincerity with which she spoke was almost palpable, but Coal wasn’t having any of it. “The daughter of a Lord loses her powers to a witch?”

  Scylla’s face took on a menacing quality, and she narrowed her eyes at Coal’s accusations. “Not just any witch. Hecate took my powers.”

  “Jesus, what did you do?”

  “Trust me, Shay, the things she has done make your father look like a saint,” Coal said. There was no denying the hatred spewing into his voice. No wonder his face twisted every time he looked at her. A shiver of suspense trickled through me. Who the hell was she?

  I certainly didn’t feel any better to be down here in these caves with her, but I thought about how much it would take for me to admit something like that. Coal now knew everything about me, and I didn’t have any choice in the matter. So, to choose to tell us all of that, she must have been desperate to kill Hades. I could relate. I wanted him dead, but it also sparked the thoughts of what was in it for her if Daddy was indeed dead? Would she somehow get her powers back?

  If that was the case, I had to help her. Regardless. I didn’t know who I’d be without my power, and I had faced enough death lately to know that that shit was scary, even for me. To turn old and die … yikes. Not a good look for someone who was three thousand years old. I’d imagine her body wouldn’t last long.

  Plus, how could I judge her for the things she’d done? I was far from a saint.

  Did that mean I trusted her, though? Not one bit.

  “Okay, if we are to continue and I get this dagger for you––” Coal grunted,“––us. If I get this dagger for us, no more lies.”

  Coal gave a sharp, derisive laugh, “You can’t possibly believe her.”

  I pinned him with my gaze, challenging him. Even in the dark, I was sure he could see me because he returned my stare with even more intensity. I would show him that I was learning. I wasn’t going to give too much away. I was going to keep Scylla at arm’s length, but I also wasn’t stupid. I knew desperation when I saw it. I had killed enough to know what it looked like.

  After our silent conversation had passed and he kept his mouth shut, I turned to Scylla and tilted my chin up, so I was looking at her sexy ass down the length of my nose. “I will get this dagger, for us, all of us. You may be the daughter of Hades, but I have three thousand years of killing in every way imaginable behind me. I have no problem taking you out, powers or no, and I won’t make it pretty.”

  I wasn’t sure where my confidence came from. I had killed thousands, yes, but only humans, never anyone supernatural. And although she may have been human, her body was still tolerating the heat, so either she was lying, or she wasn’t as frail as an average human. But the threat in my voice was undeniable and even had me surprised. I would make true my promise, come hell or high water. I would end the bitch.

  For a few moments, we stared at each other, and I waited for her to call my bluff. Instead, she just held out her hand, meeting my gaze without so much as a flinch. I shifted, pulling a brow up and puffing my chest. I was awesome.

  I took her hand, which was surprisingly cold despite the near boiling temperatures we were facing. I stored that fact in my shady bank for later.

  “Okay.” She sighed and stepped back. “I truly don’t know where the dagger is or how to get it. I don’t even know if it is down here, but it is the only thing that makes any sense. The Mata bats were rumored to feed on souls. Hecate said it is where no soul can go. Now, I’m taking that literally and going to bet that it's here.” She placed her hands on her hips. I studied her, though I was nearly pissing myself at the thought of canoodling with giant bats.

  “Do you have any idea how I will know where this thing is at?”

  “About another hour's walk will get you to the bats. I can’t go any further because we’ve hit the barrier.”

  “The barrier?” I questioned.

  “Wards, like I put in around the apartment. The bats have them to keep things from wandering,” Coal informed me.

  “Like anything would wander down here,” I muttered, “but then again, here we are.” Coal hiked his brows up quickly, agreeing with the irony. “So, why can’t you cross the barrier?”

  “No powers, my body is already giving out in this heat.”

  “Right. How do we make it through?”

  “Big guy over here uses magic,” she pointed to Coal but didn’t meet his stare. I realized just how much of the perfect help we were for her. How the hell did she manage to just stumble upon us? I was glad she at least heeded my warning. “He’ll get you through.”

  I glanced over my shoulder, questioning the validity of her statement. I knew Coal practiced magic, but I had no clue what that entailed. Add it to my list of actually learning the supernatural world.

  “Already got it worked out.” He shrugged, looking smug.

  “Once you pass through, it will alert the bats. They’ll know you’re coming, so be careful.” I gulped, hating to admit that I wanted nothing to do with bats. Thankfully, it would all be in my head. They couldn’t steal my soul because I didn’t have one to take.

  But Coal did. An inch of worry flashed through my mind, but I squashed it. I couldn’t let myself worry about him. He could handle himself.

  Right?

  Or maybe you can’t worry about him because you’re terrified of losing him.

  I groaned, pulling myself away from the thirsty bitch inside of me.

  I had bats to worry about, big nasty gross ones.

  21

  Coal and I walked in silence most of the way. When he did talk, it was clear that he wasn’t the happiest to be accompanying me in these caves. Claustrophobia was setting in for me, and I was almost welcoming the fact that the caves would open up. It had to be big enough for life-sized bats to fly around. The thought left me hopeful that I would at least get a break from the walls closing in. I dreaded the walk back. I could only hope that I would have the dagger in my hands.

  My body was burning, and I felt like I had sunburn on the underside of my skin. Like maybe my blood was boiling from the inside out. Thick air was making it hard to get a full breath, and it was so humid it felt like I was drowning. Pressure against my skull caused a throb to pound in my ears. I brought my hands to the sides of my head and massaged my temples.

  I wasn’t sure how much more of the heat I could take. Sweat soaked into my clothes, making my jeans rub uncomfortably against my skin, chafing some places raw. And I had thrown away the long sleeve shirt I had on, left only with the camisole Coal made sure I had on underneath. I was thankful for the slight relief when I wanted nothing more than to crawl out of all of it and spray myself down with an icy garden hose.

  Exhausted didn’t even begin to cover what I was feeling.

  Behind me, Coal’s slow steps sounded in the distance. I halted the agonizingly slow forward momentum to glance back at him. I hadn’t realized he had gotten so far away. About twenty feet from me, he was only a shadow. He had one arm running along the cave wall and his head ducked forward. He stumbled over every step, and he was panting so hard I thought he was going to pass out.

  Worry cramped my stomach, and my heart stepped into overdrive, stealing my breath. I let it overcome me, freaking out at the thought of him dying. As much as I didn’t want to admit it and I had told myself I couldn’t worry, Coal had made things better for me. Our long talks in the early morning hours about absolutely nothing and everything under the sun were something I now looked forward to. Countless hours of arguing over stupid shit that meant nothing, but we were both passionate enough to piss the other off. His snide remarks about my slutty ways and revealing outfits.

  Hell, even the small things like the thought of missing his fresh out of the shower smell through the apartment had my adrenaline spiking. It scared the shit out of me, but he meant something to me. Dare I say I liked him, and without
him, I wouldn’t know where my next meal came from or how to clean the apartment anymore. He had left a mark in every part of my life.

  I hated him for it. It wasn’t fair that he could just come in and turn my life upside down, then have the audacity to die in these caves? No way. I forced my lagging legs to pick up and carry my ass over to him.

  A gasp spilled from his lungs, and he nearly fell crashing to the ground. There was barely enough room for him to be down here, let alone to fall flat on his face. I jumped over the rock formation that had me stubbing my toes on the way through and ducked my head under spikes hanging from the ceiling. The air filled with a metallic, bloody scent. Was he injured?

  His body stilled, and he just leaned against the wall, taking a break.

  “Coal, talk to me.” I tried to hide the nervous edge in my voice, but my efforts were worthless. There was no denying how I felt. I reached for his face, placing my palm against his cheek. The surface of his skin was so hot my skin sizzled against it. I yanked my hand back. It was saturated with a shiny, molten substance that burned.

  Once my eyes focused, I could see he was in his full natural state, absolutely beautiful. His skin was like granite.

  I gasped. His silver and gold streaks were melting, running down his face and pouring from the scar in his brow. He staggered forward, determination hardening his features. I wanted so badly to hold him, but my hand was still burning from my previous contact.

  “Coal. Oh my god, stop. Stop trying to move, babe. You’re fucking melting.” Fear was bitter on my tongue, and I almost growled. Never had I felt pure dread for losing something. I was always in control until he came into my life. I was the one who ended lives, I never left things to fate, but here I was, fretting over some man I had just met. He was literally melting in front of me like a metal snowman on a sunny winter day.

  His dull eyes found mine, and the edges of his lips turned up around his enlarged canines. “Careful, Shay.” His voice was barely more than a whisper.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, I like you. Is that so much of a surprise?” I placed my hands against his chest, trying to stop him from coming any further into the caves, but his stubborn ass refused.

  “I’m okay,” he struggled for breath, and I wished I could hear his voice. If this was the last time I was going to see him, dammit, I wanted to hear that sexy, gravelly voice.

  “Screw that, Coal. You’re not okay. There is silver running from your forehead. You have to stop.” Desperation clouded my judgment, and I placed my hands around his neck, cringing against my burning flesh.

  “Dagger,” he groaned, wheezing and taking another step forward, despite my protests.

  “Take another step, and I’m going to cut your feet off. Do you hear me?” I tried to place all the authority into my words like he always did, but I was sure it didn’t matter. He was going to do what he wanted, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

  “I’m not leaving you alone,” he promised in between ragged breaths.

  “You have to, Coal. You won’t make it through this. Not without turning into a puddle of goo, anyway.” I sighed, sure I would regret my next words. “And that I can’t have.”

  At least not before we were able to see where this thing with us was going. I let my inner bitch have her moment because, to be honest, it was my moment, even if I did finish the sentence in my head.

  Heat blazed in Coal’s eyes, and I tried to avoid going there as best I could. I had to get the dagger. Then we could discuss whatever this was. Maybe. “Careful, big guy, you’re getting in over your head, and your head’s pretty high.” A soft chuckle shook his body, and he coughed lightly. “Take it easy, either stay here or work your way back. I’ll try not to take too long, okay?”

  He gave a short nod. I took one last look at all his gargoyle glory––he was gorgeous. I logged the picture away for safekeeping and pivoted to continue my journey. Alone.

  Not even one step in, Coal’s hand wrapped around my hip. I sighed and turned back, acting like the heat it triggered didn’t matter. If he was looking for a kiss, he was going to be denied. It just wasn’t going to happen, especially not now.

  “Be careful, Shay.” I nearly choked on the anxiety in his voice and nodded.

  “I will,” I promised quietly, though I had no idea if that were true. I was way out of my league as usual.

  He leaned in, and I stiffened. Much to my surprise, he aimed a kiss on my cheek. My heart thumped in my chest, but that may have just been because of what I was planning to do.

  When he pulled back, I refused myself one more look before I turned and took off.

  I bolted from Coal, hoping that he would turn and make his way back toward the opening of the caves. But he was too stubborn and had developed some major feelings for me. Why I wouldn’t even try to understand, so he was most likely going to sit there and wait for me, in so much pain and discomfort. He could barely breathe, and he was melting. Melting!

  However, a small part of me was glad he wanted to stay so close. I just hoped he’d be able to make the walk back, especially since we couldn’t just blink through the barrier, and we had to at least get past that to grab Scylla and take her back with us.

  I tripped more than a few times, but my vision served me well, and I managed to stay on my feet. My arms were pumping wildly, my breath came in odd short gasps, and I was pretty sure my human body was slowly dying. So much so that I was starting to lose the ability to control it, but still, I pushed on.

  The heat was becoming unbearable, and it felt like my shoes were melting, so I knew I had to be close. Magic had to have been keeping them going, and now that Coal was no longer with me, my boots were starting to fail. He really did do a lot for me. No wonder he was so worn out.

  An echoing screech sent my nerves into a frenzy, and I worked to keep my churning stomach at bay. Boiling vomit was not something I wanted coming back up. I needed my throat intact so I could scream when I saw the bats.

  The cave opened up about ten feet in front of me. I nearly screamed then, but I had to save my breath to keep myself propelling forward. A rock flew from my boot, scaring the shit out of me. I jolted, losing my barely-there balance and tumbled painfully into the wall. The skin of my arm seared on contact. Hissing, I jerked it from the wall and held it close to my body. Pain didn’t usually bother me, but I figured I had felt a lot of it lately that my body was just getting used to the sensations. I wished it wouldn’t.

  My mind was so wrapped up in what my weakened body was feeling that I didn’t see the edge. Instead, I kept running and ran straight off of it.

  The cave opened up into a massive dwelling that housed hundreds of freakishly large bats and a shit load of magma. The heat was so intense it took my breath away and made me wish I could just melt into nothing. It was just too much, and my body was so starved of oxygen.

  I fell for a short time, which was way too long and put me dangerously close to a slow-moving stream of lava before I finally gathered my wits and forced what little energy I had left to dissolve myself into shadow. My cells exploded in agony as the inferno blasted each individual one. It felt like a million tiny, red hot needles jabbed into me at once. A howl of agony escaped me and echoed through the caves.

  Despite being so large, the bats still had beady little black eyes, and my outcry had hundreds of them pointed my way. I may have been a shadow, but I was a black, dusty blob in the middle of a ton of orange magma in a large open space. AKA, I stuck out like a sore thumb.

  Making myself paper-thin and stretching my cells as far as I possibly could, I searched the place for a shadow. Down low, way low behind a free flow of magma that would make any waterfall on earth envious, was a small cave. It would have to do. I could slip into the darkness, and no one would even know I was there. Hopefully. Knowing them, they probably had some voodoo magic all over this place and would know exactly where I was at all times.

  I moved slowly this time, hoping to keep them from noticing me, and by the ti
me I had made it across the way, I was close to a football field length of a thin rope. I peeked in behind the magma fall, carefully avoiding touching me, and sighed when I saw the cave empty. Not that they would have seen me anyway, but I certainly didn’t want them anymore on edge. Most of the bats moved on to their regularly scheduled programming, but some were staring off into the distance. Their eyes darted around as if they knew something was in their territory, but they couldn’t quite find it.

  If the dagger was in here, it wasn’t obvious. I mean, why the hell would it be? It was only a cave beneath the ocean, in the middle of the earth with Coal sized fucking bats flying around. My nerves just could not handle this much more. I didn’t have the smarts to know what I was doing here. But of course, it had to be me. So, if I were going to make it out of this alive, I had to woman up and get the job done.

  I tried to think of what Coal would do or what he would be ordering me to do. I had to assess the situation. Whenever he went into a room, he took in his surroundings, sized everyone up. Any situation could be war. Right. A gazillion bats was as good a war as any in my book.

  Fighting back a wave of vomit that wanted desperately out of my body, I moved to the edge of the cave and glanced around. Dozens of bats flew in formation, like jets over a football game. Their eyes darted skillfully around as they examined their surroundings. No doubt pissed that they could feel me but not find me. Others flew about like life was normal. They must have been the civilians. Still, nothing screamed dagger to me in a cave full of nothing but rock and magma. Nothing was out of the ordinary, or at least to me. Nothing glowed like in the video games when there was something special I needed to pick up. There were no hints or anything obvious.

  But on the far wall, another formation of bats formed, like soldiers protecting an entrance. Their eyes sat straight forward, alert and ready for anything. They perched upside down on the wall; their wings tucked neatly behind them. In between them was another magma fall. Only this one was so tight to the wall I could only see a sliver of shadow behind it.