by Lexi Ostrow
Jacob leaned his forehead against hers and whispered, “I love you, McKenna. I don’t care about your past, as long as your future is for me.”
She closed her eyes and just let his words pass over her. He had proclaimed his feelings at least five times. But are you ready to share yours when you know there can be nothing for you back in London? She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to look at him.
“I love you, Jacob. Two weeks or two months, I want this time with you.” She laced her fingers through his hand and turned to face the others. “I think we have a hunter to save.”
Twenty
Jacob hadn’t felt this energetic since stepping onto the ship to depart London. Whatever Layel had done to him had encompassed a great deal more than stripping the pain from his throat and lungs. He felt as if he were practically skipping through Hell. Even his feet did not tire, nor did his eyes threaten to close, and it had been nearly a day since they had stepped into the darkness.
They had only been attacked once, and Philippe had fired his gun so quickly, all five Skathgard demons had gone down in a blink. Their blue bodies twitched as they died, but Philippe had simply stepped around them. The man was ruthless, and, Jacob suspected, rather on edge.
They had barely spoken. Lucius and Philippe had both made it a point to not draw attention to themselves. Seraphina knew they were there. Even if they had killed every Siren, the bitch knew. Still only the one attack and everyone was walking on eggshells. Including him. He wanted to kill a demon. Jacob thought it would prove to McKenna that she could relax just a little. He could feel her tension and nerves, even though she was behind him. She was wound up so tightly, she was likely to make a misstep if they were attacked.
Without any way to calm her, all he had was taking down a demon and truly proving himself to her. Since none were showing, he was left all alone with his thoughts. All he could think about was Kellan. With every step Jacob took in Hell, he felt the terror fading, but it was still such a terrible place. Like a giant cave with no sunlight and no way out. If he had been Kellan, well, he might have resorted to taking his own life.
“Do we really think Kellan is alive? After over a year?” he asked.
“Seraphina went to an awful lot of trouble to create a mind slave with that Kappa attack. Not to mention, the trouble of testing Odette out, and then taking, not killing her when we were here last. My guess is he’s very much alive, and very much not who he used to be,” Philippe said from next to Jacob.
“He’s right. Seraphina wanted me to kill an Alliance member, and I think it was to play with their soul. Then she went after Odette, well, by proxy Odette. Kellan’s alive. If I know that rank bitch, he’s been fed so much Angel blood, we’ll be lucky if he doesn’t try to kill us for taking him away from her.” Lucius snarled from his place next to McKenna behind him.
“Kellan will get out of this.” Felicia turned, and the strange glow of the torch next to her lit her face in a frightening way. “I trained with him. What he lacks in common sense, he makes up for in dedication and brute strength. Kellan is alive and well. You will all see.” She turned back around with a huff, and her skirts swished the dust about their feet.
“Jacob, I think it best if we all simply focus on getting to Kellan, not on what we will find when we get there,” McKenna’s voice was both soothing and cold at the same time.
“I wish you could walk next to me,” he grumbled.
“I’m keeping you safe. That is more important.”
“We’ve spoken enough. Felicia, pass back a canteen of water, it’s been too long since we’ve drunk,” Philippe ordered.
He saw Felicia digging around in the knapsack that Layel had given them, and a moment later, a canteen was shoved in his face. Hastily, he poured his ration and drank it down. The cold water was a blessing, and he loved that he didn’t shrink back in pain or flashback to a memory of nearly drowning, twice.
As he was turning to pass the water to Philippe the vibration of five pocket watches was loud in the silence of the cave. He jumped, and the water crashed to the floor.
“Flank Jacob. I want a gun and a dagger in everyone’s hands. We don’t know what will come at us or how many. No one dies, no one is left behind,” Philippe said, it was the same command he’d given the last time their pocket watches had gone off.
Jacob’s left hand grabbed the dagger from his boot, and his right pulled the gun from his belt. He should have switched the hands, he was stronger with his right, but he needed more skill with the gun, skill he didn’t have time to learn. His heart thumped in his chest, and the breathing of everyone around him was palpable in the silence.
“Tatzelwurm!” McKenna shouted, and Jacob’s head jerked up just in time to see two beams of light, one green and one purple, strike at the nearest demon beast.
Bile rose in Jacob’s throat. The Tatzelwurm were, without a doubt, the biggest demon he had come across. It was easily two meters, with the head of a feline and the scaled and spiked body of a dragon. The creatures ran at them on all fours, and that was when Jacob counted their numbers—four.
His hand shook as he watched McKenna get far too close to one as it slashed at her with a clawed foot. Lucius rushed past Jacob, and Jacob grabbed his arm.
“Where the bloody hell do you think you’re going? You can’t leave her on the front line by herself!” he shouted as Felicia cried from behind him and a beam of light shot past.
Lucius growled deep in his throat, and Jacob was momentarily reminded the man was very much a demon.
“If I’m to help, I need to be in the back, where I can’t be attacked, you nitwit. So let go of my bloody arm.” Lucius jerked his arm out of Jacob’s grasp as if it was nothing and walked backwards.
He willed himself to squeeze the trigger on the gun, and a beam of green light exploded out and landed right next to the creature Philippe was shooting. It appeared to take an incredible amount to fell the demons, and the thought made him sicker.
“Their skin! It’s too thick for our guns. We have to get close,” McKenna shouted just before dropping her gun and throwing herself at the face of the second Tatzelwurm.
“Bloody hell!” Felicia screamed, and roared a battle cry as she joined McKenna and Philippe.
Their only saving grace was the cavern trail was too small for all four demons to attack at once, which meant, it was only a matter of time before they could make a small break for it. It’s now or never. Prove to her you are the man you wish to be. He stashed the gun back and switched the dagger to his main hand.
With a cry of his own, Jacob launched himself at the same creature McKenna was trying to stab about the head. His dagger slammed into the creature's yellow eye, and it reared back in pain, dislodging McKenna. Jacob watched as she slammed into the wall and fell crumpled to the floor.
“No!”
“Focus, Jacob. She’s furthest away. Focus now,” Philippe shouted at him.
Jacob’s eyes didn’t leave McKenna, looking for any sign of life. She slowly pushed off the ground, and he felt claws slash across his back. A rage, unlike anything he had ever felt settled over him. Time seemed to slow as he registered he’d been attacked for his foolishness. He watched as Philippe and Felicia continued to stab and dodge the other beast, and his anger manifested quicker than he could have anticipated. Grabbing the spikes like the hair of a horse, he swung himself up onto the demon’s back. Over and over, he stabbed his dagger into the scales at its neck. Faster and deeper, until it sank to the ground, still alive, but barely so.
Jacob jumped off and focused on the third Tatzelwurm. It hissed at him from behind the one he had injured and snapped its jaws. Jacob’s eyes traveled around the space, looking for a way to get to it. Finding none, he kissed the hilt of the dagger, took aim and let it fly. At the same moment, he grabbed the gun from his belt again. All he could focus on was the image of McKenna flying into the wall. He aimed, and the green bolt sliced through the creature’s eye. Its scream of pain was the most sa
tisfying sound Jacob thought he had ever heard.
“Baise!” Philippe cursed, and Jacob turned to see him on the ground, blood seeping from a head wound.
“Back up people. These fuckers are going to run in a moment. Well, minus the one Mr. Royal took down. Get out of the way or get trampled,” Lucius shouted from his place further back along the path.
Jacob moved to help Felicia assist Philippe back, and together, they all moved out of the way. Jacob’s eyes darted back and forth, even though he knew he wouldn’t see anything whilst the Nightmare Demon worked. Barely a second passed before the screams began. Jacob wasn’t certain what he was expecting, but the demons did not turn and run. They turned on one another. Claws and teeth flashed in the torchlight as screams and grunts echoed. The Tatzelwurms were taking each other down.
“It’s time to go. Now. Now. Jacob, help McKenna. I’ll help with Philippe. Move as fast as you can because, when I’m not near, that vision is going to vanish. Whilst it might linger, it won’t be long enough if they haven’t killed each other.”
Jacob moved in a flash. He raced to McKenna and wrapped his hands around her underarms. With a swift jerk, she was up, and he kicked her ankles out from under her and scooped her up in his arms. No one was touching her again as long as he breathed.
“Are you all right?” he looked into her eyes searching for any sign that she wasn’t.
“My head hurts just a bit.”
He nodded curtly and took off at a run. McKenna jostled and bounced in his arms as he raced down the path. Footfalls behind him told him the others were close, and he hoped it meant Philippe’s head wasn’t as badly wounded as it had looked.
“Jacob, Jacob slow down. You could be barreling into another attack. Just slow down,” Felicia shouted at him from what sounded like quite a way back.
His feet warred with his brain. He heard the order and slowed, and then sped up again, wanting to do anything and everything to keep McKenna safe. His heart had stopped when she’d been thrown into the wall. The whole journey, it had never been her in trouble. He had never had to think of what his life would be like without her. It had been only for a moment, but it wasn’t a thought he ever wanted to have again.
Being in the Alliance had always been a curiosity for him. Almost all of the hunters had had their worlds torn apart by the demons. McKenna’s parents had been killed in a carriage robbery, but he knew most joined out of vengeance. Jacob knew as he ran through Hell, clutching the hellion of a woman to his chest, that he had found his reason.
Jacob was going to dig his heels until the Alliance accepted him into training in when they returned. He would give up his title to run in the darkness with them. Jacob had someone to protect now, and he would never be okay with turning his back on her because she was born to the wrong parents. It didn’t matter what it took, he was going to be with McKenna long after the mission concluded.
“Jacob, please. Philippe can’t go that fast,” Felicia called out, snapping him from his thoughts.
He stopped that time, remembering that McKenna was safe, and Philippe had been badly off. The action of not running, after moving so quickly, sent waves of pain through him. But he still wasn’t tired.
“They need to bottle that Angel healing. They’d make far more than the traveling medicine men. Betwixt the compulsion and the power of it, there is nothing better.”
McKenna smirked up at him. “I am glad you’re well, do you think you might put me on my own two feet? I find it rather alarming that you are carrying me about.”
He leaned his head down and kissed her quickly before gently setting her down.
“You did well back there. Shocked us all I think,” Philippe said as he clapped a hand on Jacob’s shoulder.
“Are we far enough away?” Jacob asked.
“They’re dead. I had such a surge of energy, I think I could take down Seraphina on my own if it came to it,” Lucius said as he helped Philippe sit on the floor.
“About all of that.” Jacob looked Philippe dead in the eye as the Frenchman raised a brow. “When this is over when we return, I want into the Alliance. I want to be a hunter. I’ll need some training, but I won’t take no for an answer.” He looked at McKenna and smiled. “I have someone worth protecting now.”
Philippe grinned wide. “I think we can manage that. You just get that father of yours to be all right with it. He approves every Alliance hunter, even if no one else knows it.”
Jacob pondered the thought and wondered how his father could willingly send women into battle. Then he looked at McKenna just a few steps away and had his answer. Women of the ton, and especially the court, might be frail and easy to scare, but women from the streets—they were a whole different species.
“I think we need to rest. All of us. I don’t care what demon juice you got Lucius. Look,” Felicia said and pointed.
Jacob whistled low, and McKenna tried to bolt forward, but he grabbed her head. “You were just squished like a bug against a wall. We are not going one step further.”
Ahead of them was the next section of the drawing on the map Layel had given them. Eight stone doors were inset on the rocky side of the mountain. Seven would lead to the seven true divisions of Hell, and one would lead directly to Seraphina and her Fallen. He shivered at the thought.
“We will wait. My blood loss was significant, though it has stopped now. Lucius and I have been inside Seraphina's little corridor. It is oddly unarmed, but I do not want us flying in without preparation. We have been lucky thus far, but we do not have Layel to flash us out or heal us. There is no Rafe to save us either. If there are Pure trapped here, they will likely not be our friends, but our foes. We will sleep in shifts, and tomorrow, we will get our lost man,” Philippe’s words resonated throughout the cave.
Jacob heard the words but couldn’t take his eyes off the doors. They were as tall as the cave was high, which was easily fifty meters. Rocks jutted out over some and vines grew up over others. The room seemed far too narrow for so many doors, and yet, when he really looked around, he could see the vast expanse of things.
Lucius walked up to Felicia and pulled the map out of her sack, whistling. Jacob watched as he unrolled it, and Lucius pointed to a big “X” on the drawing.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the door to the Queen of Hell,” Lucius said and pointed at the third door on the left. “Rest up. The time for heroes is upon us.”
Twenty-One
Seraphina rolled in the bed and lazily opened one grey-blue eye.
“Did you really think your life could be so simple? That you can kill my soul and simply get to walk away, Queen of Hell?” the voice poured into the room like liquid.
Seraphina froze, her whole body tensing as the voice of her greatest nightmare spoke. Chills raced through her and left little bumps on her arms. Demetrious’ visage hadn’t plagued her in weeks. Ever since she had given in and allowed herself to believe blood could make her a little attracted to Kellan. But he was there now, leaning against the far wall of her room with a smirk on his lips.
“You aren’t real,” she hissed and pulled a feather pillow over her head.
His voice was practically in her ear, “Which is why I can be everywhere, baby. Why I can be your greatest demon yet.”
She bolted upright, expecting to find him in the bed with her, but she was alone. The room held no dark and brooding mental illusion. There wasn’t even a sign of the Rock Demon that had briefly inhabited her bed—until he’d failed to make her climax and she’d shattered his rocky head.
A candle still flickered by the doorway, but it had burnt so low, it had to be morning. She had ordered her demons not to attack the hunters if they’d been found. She wanted Kellan to be rescued, if they were talented enough to survive because it would look so much less suspicious than if she suddenly set him free with an escape story.
Convinced she was well and truly alone in the room, she slipped her leg out of the covers and climbed out of the plush sheets.
Her bare breasts hardened in the chill of the chamber, and she decided not to taunt Kellan with the possibility of her body after all. Swinging her hands, the door to her wardrobe opened, and she spied a ruby red dress. Sliding it off the hanger, she raised her hands and let it fall over her head. The silk caressed her skin as it clung to her curves, and she ran her hands down her form to smooth out the wrinkles. Women didn’t dress like this, in shapely dresses. It was why she did it. So everyone that saw her would know she wasn’t one of the crowd.
She looked at her icy eyes staring back at her from the mirror and smiled. Her hair matched the dress so perfectly—and it matched Kellan’s hair as well. A snarl twitched on her lips that she even had gone there. Killing him was going to be difficult, but she couldn’t wait to end the wretched bond.
Grabbing the vial of Izazal’s blood that she’d procured the night before off the vanity, she flashed directly into Kellan’s cell. His eyes blazed at her, tiny green pricks of solid anger, and he lunged. The chains around his ankle snapped him backward, and she was grateful they were short. He was far too lucid with the feedings so close together.
“You don’t look very excited to see me,” she teased as she stopped just out of his reach.
“Demon bitch,” he snarled.
She fingered the dagger on the table, and with a flick of her wrist, let it sail into his right shoulder. He didn’t cry out, but his eyes bulged in his face just enough for her to know it was painful. A grunt sounded betwixt them as he tore the dagger from his arm. She waited, breath held, to see what he would do. His body shook, and he threw the knife in her direction. His toss was too far to the right, and it fell harmlessly to the floor.
“Well, that saddens me, you can still try to attack me. Yet, you did miss. I happen to know, with your training, you wouldn’t have missed if you truly wanted me dead,” she cooed at him, relishing every moment of the interaction.