by Lexi Ostrow
Anger disappeared into indifference on her visage as quickly as it had appeared. “Well then, thank you for that. I appreciate your concern, but as I said that eve, I have no regrets. Women in my station do not have to pretend to be pure. It helps with securing a husband, but I have no dowry and no chance at a family anyway. It was an interaction to ease the tension that was wrought from our situation. Nothing more, and you do not need to protect me.”
He clenched his jaw together at her callous dismissal. The situation had gone from bad to dastardly before he had known it. He growled in frustration and dug his hands into his wet hair. “McKenna, that’s not how I meant it.”
Her eyes were virtually devoid of emotion as she spoke, “No, but it’s what you said. You were also keen to point out at the moment that it could never be anything more. I had no aspirations for us. I simply did not wish to be treated like a cast-off. A shameful, dirty secret.”
“It couldn’t be that, McKenna. I might know my way around a lady’s chambers, but I do not bed women simply for fun. I was attracted to you. I am attracted to you.” He took a small step towards her but did not touch her. “I cannot help that what I desire is you, any more than we can help that it can never go further than what we do on this mission.”
She lowered her head and looked at the ground, and he assumed she was unable to keep the mask of indifference up. Gently, he reached out and lifted her chin with his hand, forcing her to look at him. Tears shone in her eyes, and he felt as if someone had landed a blow to his gut. He wasn’t lying that nothing more could be for them, but it didn’t stop the strength of the actual emotions he had for her.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, McKenna. Whether you can trust me or not, I wanted what happened with us. I’d want it over and over again if I thought you and I could separate ourselves from one another when it was all done.”
She licked her lips, and he groaned quietly. She was more sensual than she knew, even more so now that he realized he had real feelings for her. “I’m sorry if I overreacted. As you know, I’m not well practiced in the interaction betwixt a man and woman. Thank you for the clarification of intent.” The words were still cold.
Too cold for Jacob. He knew with every fiber of his being that starting anything they could not finish was wrong. Yet, he couldn’t stand to have her look upon him as she was or think he was little more than a cad. Her opinion of him mattered because she mattered.
“McKenna, what can I do to erase what happened?”
“That is what caused this predicament in the first place. Should you not simply leave it alone? I will recover, in time, and perhaps, I will stop wishing a demon did come and get you now that I know your actions were not done out of shame.” She offered him a small, polite smile.
He didn’t believe her words, which meant she didn’t believe his. Jacob had grown up in a society of pleasantries to one’s face and snide remarks behind closed doors. Real connections just were unheard of, it was how so many bastards were born and running about. A life like that was spent watching out for one’s best interests, he had only tried to do that for McKenna. But McKenna was already used to looking out for herself, and he should have known that. He should have been able to see that in her from the way she dressed without a serving girl to how she took down demons far larger than herself. McKenna Caffry was truly an admirable woman, and he had made her feel terrible.
He had never had feelings for a woman before McKenna, and now that he had them, he wished they would leave. The idea of having to give her up was almost as infuriating as the fact that she would not see reason. This dance of theirs was more muddled than anything he could imagine. What had started with a drunken kiss had grown to mean so much more to her. Then, with his foolish lack of memory, he’d let his passion dictate his moves, thinking only of bedding her. Now it was too late.
“I’m going to make you believe me, McKenna. For all the harm that this might do, I need you to trust me.”
Jacob leaned down and kissed her. Their lips collided, and he took her head in his hands, taking control of the intimacy. His tongue slipped along the seam of her mouth, gently pushing its way into her mouth before she could stop the kiss. His hands weaved into her hair, and he felt his body awaken with every stroke of their tongues.
This was what was worth it, the passion betwixt them. This inferno.
She groaned, and then he felt her knee in his gut. With a grunt, he stepped backwards from her. Her eyes were shining, her lips were plump from his kiss, and her mouth was set in an angry line. Her hand slapped across his cheek once more, and the panic around them went silent at the sound.
“We are done. I will not be some toy for which you find pleasure during a time of loneliness.”
She tried to walk past him, and he grabbed her arm, jerking her just slightly. “Let me escort you. You are wet, and your clothing is torn. The men are scared, and who knows what they will do to you.”
She tugged her arm out of his grasp. “Likely no different than you just did. I shall see myself down to the quarters Felicia and I will take from you and Philippe. Do not follow me, or you will be reminded how strong female hunters truly are.”
She slammed her foot down onto his, and the tough booted heel shot pain through him. He chewed his cheek to stop from shouting after her. He’d fouled everything up, and though he shouldn’t care because there was nothing for them after they rescued Kellan, he did.
Thirteen
The knock on the door broke through her thoughts from the journal she had procured from Kellan months before.
“Come in, only if you have information worth your life.” Seraphina snarled and turned a page in the journal.
“My Queen, I have returned with news of the Alliance.”
Her eyes narrowed, and her blood boiled at the mention of the hunting unit. She’d been pouring over the journal for the better part of a year, seeking out anything that could be a hidden message, and she’d found nothing.
It appeared the male laying half dead in her dungeon had simply liked to write his experiences down. Each with a graphic description of how it felt to kill a demon. It sickened her and fueled her forward. It wasn’t just humans in general she needed to take down now, it was specifically the Alliance of Silver and Steam. They may have allied themselves with a demon here or there, but at their core, they would turn on Lucius, Greyston and even Odette if the war truly began. Demons were their enemies. As humans were hers.
Kellan was lost to the blood craze, finally. But it meant she had to continually ply him with blood in order to gain a few moments of controlled sanity on his part. Too much time without it, and he could likely kill them both trying to get it.
“I stayed back as you ordered, the Alliance is coming by sea. They are going through the water entrance, and they are on a perfectly direct path.”
Her hands gripped around a piece of parchment and it crumbled in her grip. With a growl, she tore if from the journal and let it flutter slowly to the floor. She looked at Damon, a Fallen by choice, and noticed the look of fear on his face. He was afraid he’d failed her.
“What of the three that were sent in before you?”
He swallowed and the muscular length of his neck rolled with the effort.
“Bloody hell!” she snarled. “I have to find a better way to attack these fools.”
She meant it. Utilizing a Fallen with wings was risking a Fallen far more evil than those whose wings she’d ripped out—far more evil than even she truly was since she fell in love. Damon was no innocent; he had developed a taste for human blood and had killed seventeen humans the night his wings had turned black.
“My Queen, they will be here within a week. I do not think it would be wise to attack with any less than ten warriors.”
She sauntered over and trailed a fingernail sensually over his exposed chest. “Now, now,” she dug her nails into his pectoral muscle and instinctively flinched as his toxic blood slipped over her fingers, “if I wanted your opinion, I would
have asked for it.”
With a shove, she launched him backwards, some of his muscle tearing out from her nails still being deep in his chest. He howled but quickly steeled his emotions away.
“Give the order to Izazal that there is to be no more forced Fallen until I say otherwise. He is to lead a select group, ones I will let him choose, to find as many Pure Angels on the verge of falling and seduce them to fall by whatever means necessary.”
Still bleeding, Damon nodded. He walked past her, and she used her powers to send a soft towel at him. “Stop the bleeding before you drip everywhere, and then go to Izazal.”
Damon gave a nod of understanding again and stepped outside of her office. She sighed and looked down at her hand. It had been so long since Seraphine had let herself drink any of her brethren’s blood, and as the ruby red wetness glistened on her fingers, she was momentarily tempted to taste it. Her upper lip curled in disgust, and she hastily wiped the blood off on her light blue gown.
Seraphina blew out a deep breath and felt a hand on her lower back. Whirling around, she was faced with no one. Then the familiar laugh slid over her skin like leeches, and she shuddered.
“My my, my little angel. You never were good at resisting temptation,” Demtrious drawled as he pushed off the wall. “Let me see if you still remember what it’s like. Let me show you what you miss.”
His eyes sparkled with seduction, and every part of her was immediately on fire. She reached out, and her hand slipped right through his cheek. He jeered with laughter, and she let out a gasp of frustration.
“Get out! Be gone! I’ll have no more of you in my life. You are a fictitious figment, and one day, I will kill Lucius for this!” she lashed out with her hand, and the vision of him vanished, leaving her panting with a mix of need and terror.
With her body still trembling, she flashed herself, to the very center of Hell. There was a lake there, one that could open to any body of water in the world, and one that demons used to enter and exit Hell when the other options were not safe.
Closing her eyes, she focused on the water and imaged it rippling with life. Taking in a deep breath, she spoke, “Meriscas, I call to you. Come to your Queen. Come do her bidding.” Her voice echoed off the cavernous walls, and she opened her eyes.
A woman that rivaled the beauty of any Angel, Pure or Fallen, began to rise up from the dark depths of the lake. Like any Siren, she was stunning, perfect in the eye of the beholder because she could look anyway their mind desired. Her hair was a corn silk blonde, and shells were interwoven in an intricate pattern. She had breasts that sat high and proud on her chest, barely covered by a piece of seaweed. Her eyes shimmered from green to blue, and back to green as she emerged.
Then the tentacles began. From her waist down, eight deep pink limbs began to show. They curled and moved with a life of their own it seemed, suction cups glistening white in the dim torch light in the cavern. The beauty was truly only skin deep with Sirens, the tentacles were needed to hold onto the men they lured into the ocean to drown them and feed. Meter by meter, Meriscas rose until no part of her was hidden, and she moved about on land, the sound of suction being pried off following in her wake.
“You have called, My Queen?” Meriscas voice was as melodious a sound as Seraphina had ever heard.
Thankfully, as a female, she was immune to the beguiling sound of the Siren’s song. The small hairs on her arms still stood on end at the suggestive sound of Meriscas’s voice, and she rubbed her forearms, trying to make the hair lay back down.
“I have need of your services, and in exchange, I can promise you an entire ship of sailors, free to your people if you make certain that a select group does not make it away from the attack alive.”
The Siren’s eyes lit with hunger. “None survive a Siren’s attack. Humans are lucky we cannot walk upon land. Human females would stand no chance, they are weak.”
Seraphina lashed out, her hand striking against Meriscas’s cheek, leaving blood from her nails in its wake. “Do not be a fool. If that were true, your people would have made land your home eons ago. And if there are females with this group, they will be unlike any you have ever experienced.”
Meriscas raised a perfect eyebrow. “How so?”
“They are Alliance.”
Meriscas hissed, and her face twisted into an ugly scowl that befitted a sea monster.
“I see, despite your home, you know of them from their triumphs against our kind. Delightful, that should make your hatred run nearly as deep as mine.”
“My kind has never had anything to fear from them, but we have heard the stories,” Meriscas’s voice lost its singsong quality and was ripe with anger.
“I am quite glad to hear it,” Seraphina said and a twisted smirk pulled at her lips. “Then you find nothing wrong with my terms?”
Meriscas shook her head.
“Good, then it is my pleasure to work alongside such an…intriguing species of demon for once.”
“It is our pleasure to serve and benefit from this, My Queen.” Meriscas bowed and turned to leave, her tentacle appendages whirling in the air.
Seraphina watched her go, and just as the woman’s head was about to sink beneath the water, she called out to her, “Oh and Meriscas.”
The beautiful demon turned her head to look back.
“If I find out they lived, and your kind still feasted, I will make an example out of your species’ failure.”
Pure terror crossed over the Siren’s face as she sunk beneath the water. Seraphina crossed her arms over her chest, still grinning. “It’s going to be a wonderful time in Hell.”
With a flourished turn, she flashed herself to just outside the cells. Her body threatened to collapse, for the briefest of moments, from flashing too many times in a short period. Angels were powerful, but all power had limitations.
She was pleased to see that none of her Fallen lingered in the circular hallway. Damon had delivered his message most efficiently, and her legion was off to do her bidding. She could hear a mixture of silent sobs and shouted curses from the Pure Angels that were locked away in the cells. However, Seraphina was not there for them. She was there for Kellan.
You are always here for Kellan as of late, Seraphina thought to herself as she slipped the key into the lock and twisted it. That is because your time is running out. She shook her head when she realized she’d responded to her own thoughts and pushed the heavy door open.
Kellan lay on his side near the back, his foot chained to the wall with a heavy silver demon chain. It had been necessary with the way the blood craze caused him to attack when he saw her. Sometimes, it was with his nails and teeth, other times it was through seduction. No two methods were ever the same, but his desperation for the blood would lead him to do almost anything.
His eyes opened, revealing streaks of red lines marring the perfect white of his eyes. It was unlikely he had slept the past month, and delirium would make him as dangerous as the craze. He moved slowly to a crouching position, much like a scared animal, and she almost felt guilty. She had taken a proud and virile warrior and turned him into little more than a rodent scurrying from harm and begging for scraps. His muscled body was long past losing its shape, and his hair was long and hung to the middle of his back. His skin was a pale white, not from being locked without the sun, but from his addiction to her blood.
She titled her head to the side and studied him as he studied her, likely thinking of how to get her blood. A pang of remorse wrapped around her as she looked upon him and disgust followed in its wake. Kellan had been a hunter, he had killed plenty of her kind, and she would do anything to let demons run free topside. She clenched her hands and took a step in his direction.
“Why are you looking at me as if I’m Devil?” she asked with a callous laugh.
“I need it. Seraphina, please. The sounds in my head, they won’t stop. They don’t stop until you let me drink.” He dug his hands into his hair and pulled on the lovely orange-red strands
until the skin on his face tightened. “I need it. I’ll do anything.”
She’d heard those words before. Yet, as of three days before, when she’d last fed Kellan, he’d made no attempt to share anything about the Alliance. She’d almost believed he truly knew nothing. But he wouldn’t have been on a mission to save someone as important as Odette if he was useless to them. Especially given his Irish background. Bringing him to Hell had made him a target, it was smart they had him change his voice, but not good enough during torture.
“So, you have said in the past.” She stayed a good distance back but could tell it would not be one of the days he attacked. “Yet, you have failed to behave in the manner I need you to. First things first, do not address me with your British accent, show me you are loyal by speaking in your native tongue.”
Something she couldn’t describe flashed in his eyes before he spoke. “Aye, Seraphina t’would be a pleasure.”
His accent sent a wave of lust rolling over her, and she snarled. She’d always loved the accent, many demons did, but it irked her that it could affect her so. One weakness was plenty. Leaning down, she patted his head, and he leaned into it like a common mutt.
“Splendid. Now, should you wish to drink, you will have to do something for me. Tell me, who holds the keys that open the guild doors.”
She could see the internal battle written in his eyes as his logic warred with his need. “We all hold them.”
She slapped him. “Lies, you had no keys in your possessions.”
“Nay, I dinnea need one. I was traveling with tha Guildmaster, he held tha key.” The words sounded as if someone were tearing them from his mouth.
“Then any hunter out on a nightly jaunt would hold one?”
Kellan’s lips pursed and his eyes watered, but eventually, his head nodded.
Pleased with him, she used her nail to draw a small slice over her wrist and watched as the crimson red blood welled up in little dots along the line. “Tell me, Kellan, what would you do for this? What other information would you be able to give me about the technology you have hidden away?”