by Lexi Ostrow
The watch in his pocket was silent and still. “I think it’s this one. My watch, it’s not altering me to anything,” he shouted, even as he began to let the beam work its magic on the door.
Jacob heard more doors opening and more shouts and racing footfalls. If nothing else came from breaking into the rooms, and all that came out really were Angels held against their will, then perhaps they had earned more allies. He felt the other’s walk up behind him just as the door opened inward, lock destroyed. Someone, he wasn’t sure who, sucked in a deep breath, and Jacob mimicked them. If they were all behind him, either Kellan was in there—dead, or worse, playing demon with Seraphina.
Closing his eyes, he put his fingertips on the cold metal door and pushed. It opened inward, and every single one of them cursed at what they saw.
Kellan sat in the back of the cell, blood everywhere and daggers, whips and chains on a wooden table off to the side. His hair was past his shoulders and matted with blood, dirt and god only knew what else. He held his head high, and his eyes were crystal clear, save for the tears that sparkled in them. His ankle was cuffed and attached to the wall. He was past emaciated. Seraphina had fed him if, but the strapping, muscular hunter from a year before was gone. The man before them was hardly more than skin and bones. His cheeks were hollowed out, and his mouth was stained with dried blood.
But Kellan was alive.
“Ye came,” Kellan uttered a whisper and tried to stand.
Jacob wasn’t certain what was more disbelieving, that they had actually found Kellan or that Kellan was alive.
“Oh, course we came. What good am I without the partner I had just gotten used to nagging my arse all the time?” Philippe asked.
Jacob could hear the man’s voice trembling with emotion.
“I dinnea ever ken ye would show.”
“I didn’t ever think I’d miss that sorry arse accent, so we are even.” Philippe stepped forward but never made it to Kellan.
Seraphina appeared in the middle of the cell, as easily as Layel flashed in and out. Jacob could only guess that it was her, of course. She was stunning, and for a moment, he could see the Pure Angel she must have been. Her hair was as red and shimmery as any ruby, her eyes an icy blue that seemed to stare holes into him. He tried to fire the crystal gun, but it jerked upwards and shot at the ceiling, sending little bits of rock crumbling around them.
“I must say, I’m shocked to see you all made it. Though, if you did, it will save me the trouble of killing the pathetic Sirens myself for their initial failure.” She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, pure evil shone out. “Lucius. I do so wish you would die already.”
“You bitch!”
Jacob had no clue who shouted, but it was certainly a male’s voice, and both Philippe and Lucius fired. Jacob saw one beam on either side of his vision. Seraphina flicked her wrist, and Jacob flew backwards and slammed into the wall. His head bounced off the stone, and his vision winked in and out but was still blurry when he tried to refocus. The door slammed, and he heard Felicia shout from the other side.
“Jacob! No!” McKenna shouted.
He barely heard her, but she had been right behind him.
His head jerked to the side, and he saw what the blow had done. The door was closed, and the rest of the group was on the other side. It was just the three of them inside, and he wasn’t certain he could kill Seraphina. She was focused too intently on him, but that didn’t mean Kellan couldn’t.
“Pity, you were too far inside the cell for me blast out. Looks like you’ll get to die first.”
The grin on her face sent pure unfiltered fear through Jacob. His gun was still in his hand, and he prayed as he aimed and fired at the spot where the chain holding Kellan connected to the wall.
Seraphina laughed. “My, my. You are a terrible hunter, tell me, is the Alliance so hard up you have allowed initiates down into my world?”
She couldn’t believe they’d sent someone on a rescue mission that appeared to not even be able to save himself. The man was built as sturdy as any hunter, but she could see the slight tremor in his body. She terrified him, and she loved it.
“He’s not a bloody hunter,” Kellan said, voice laced with bitterness.
“I do so wish you would give up the farce. Of all the things I cannot stand about you, your natural accent is one I rather love. Your people have the most sensual tones in your voices, almost like Sirens,” she said with a half chortle.
His eyes flashed at her as if he wanted to respond, but he didn’t.
She turned her attention back the human on the floor. “Tell me, whom do I have the pleasure of killing, if you’re not a hunter, you must be a Royal. I do so love taking one of you down because, without your funding, we would still be able to roam the streets.”
The stupid human jerked his gun for a second, and she felt a burning sensation on the top of her palm before the beam moved off her.
“I’ve never felt the need to tell people who I am. You are stalling. If you are the great Seraphina, Queen of Hell, stop playing with your toys. Kill me and get it over with. But, know this, they will get that door open, and you will die.”
She snorted. “Do you believe that, or do all humans feel a need to make a speech before they die?” As she spoke, she reached behind her and picked up an iron spike off the table to drive into his heart.
That was when she heard the chain snap. Her eyes widened. She had always intended to let Kellan escape, but when she’d seen them all standing there, hatred had demanded she kill at least half of the hunters. Perhaps throwing all but one of them out and sealing the door had been ill-conceived.
Kellan charged, not directly at her, but to the table of tools covered in his blood. He grabbed a sickle dagger and pressed against her throat as he stepped behind her. She felt the smallest trickle of blood slip down and snarled. She had told him to put up a fight, but the look in his eyes as he’d attacked was one of anger. There was no way to know if he would actually kill her.
“Kill her, Kellan. Slice her now!” the blond man in the room with them shouted.
Seraphina swallowed and felt the dagger slice into her skin just a little more. She had to make a show. She had to let them think Kellan was truly escaping. Her blood boiled at the thought of not being able to kill them, half of the Alliance’s best hunters were there, just outside, and she had to let them live.
His tongue slid along her neck, and she cried out, both in shock and lust. He hadn’t drunk directly from her in some time, and the sensation swept through her. She turned her head, and their eyes locked. He was certainly in control, but, swirling in the depths, she could see the flicker of madness, which was all she needed.
“Sorry, boys, I may be killed one day, but it will not be by a human.” She flashed out and up onto the streets of Paris.
Her heart pounded in her chest. She was bleeding and dressed out of fashion. She had been looking for a place the Alliance would not immediately call to alert and had chosen the city at the moment. Kellan might have slit her throat to drink her blood if she had tarried any longer, and if she had stayed in Hell, they might have left Lucius behind to seek her out.
She snarled loudly, thinking about the Nightmare Demon. One day, she would kill him. She would kill his precious Eliza in front of him to ensure he lived out his greatest nightmare, and then she would do him in for what he had done. The betrayal, the trick.
Stepping into the shadows of a building, she tried to slow her breathing. The scent of humans all around her was sickening. Her skin crawled with the urge to slaughter a human grew stronger. As she stumbled on the cobblestone, a small child bumped into Seraphina. But there was no need to slaughter this one. Seraphina’s compulsion was weaker as a Fallen, but it would work.
“Flee, little human. Do not come back, and do not speak of the bloody woman you saw in the shadows.”
With a nod, the human took off, and Seraphina smirked. The hunters all lived, she would certainly make someone pay
for the Sirens’ failure when she returned, but she had put the chess pieces into play. She had someone, who might be unwilling now, but would soon be the downfall of the entire Alliance of Silver and Steam, beginning in London and branching out until every last one of them had fallen to Seraphina’s army. To the demons that belonged topside. Assuming that Kellan didn’t kill himself when he realized he truly did belong to her.
Twenty-Three
McKenna’s fists pounded on the door for what must have been the thirtieth time. Her throat was growing raw from screaming Jacob’s name over and over again. Tears streaked down her face, and she just kept shouting. It couldn’t have been more than five minutes since the woman had thrown them out and had somehow locked a door without a lock. A woman who could only be Seraphina.
“Jacob! Jacob!” she screamed again, terror consuming her.
“McKenna, assez! Arrêtez maintenant!” Philippe shouted in French as he grabbed her swinging fist and stopped her. “This cannot help. I promise you, we will not leave until this door opens, or we are killed, but you must stop.”
She was breathing so hard, she could hardly hear Philippe over the sound of her deep inhalations. She stared at him, trying to decide if he was cruel or logical. However, when he let go of her hand, she didn’t resume banging on the door.
“What if they never come out?” she whispered.
Philippe did quite possibly the most unexpected thing in the time since she had been acquainted with him—he pulled her into a hug.
“I have been here before, ma fille. There might not be another living soul who understands what you feel as I do. We are humans, and those we love are not as invincible as we would like. He is by far stronger than any of us realized, though, and if Seraphina were through with the pair of them, she would have already burst out to finish us off.”
“Try to. There’s not much that bitch can do with me around and awake,” Lucius said darkly.
Even Felicia stepped up to McKenna and squeezed her hand. “I’ve been taken. I’ve watched my parents cut down before my eyes, and I’ve become a mate and mother myself. There is little we can control in this life, our own selves is likely the only thing. So breathe deep, let it out slow, and I promise you, they will be okay.”
Tears filled McKenna’s eyes. Just over a day before, she had been ready to write them off for keeping Odette’s secret from her. Now, she couldn’t imagine her life without them. She couldn’t go back to simply being a hunter when this was all over. Not after she had been a part of the inner circle and had found a place there. She sniffled deeply and let out a long sigh. The action seemed to calm her some, but not as much as the sound of a door opening just behind her back.
McKenna whirled and screamed with delight as Jacob stepped out of the cell. She threw herself into his arms and placed a kiss anywhere she could find the space to on his face. Tears were flowing freely down her face, and McKenna didn’t care. She wrapped her hands in his hair, tugged his mouth to hers and kissed him deeply, not caring who was watching or where they were.
She pulled back and kissed the tip of his nose before unwinding her hands from around his neck, where they’d naturally slipped to during the kiss. Kellan stood just behind Jacob, and though she’d only ever seen him before, she wrapped him in almost as big of a hug and kissed his cheek. He deserved to have a fuss made over him after all he had encountered.
“What happened?” Lucius asked as he stepped up to them.
“She got away. Nearly not, thanks to Kellan, but she did,” Jacob said, taking McKenna’s hand in his and kissing the top of it. “For being down here for a year, he’s still quick.”
Kellan and Jacob shared a look that puzzled McKenna, but she did not question anything. She was too grateful that, for whatever the reason, they were still standing.
“If you had not disintegrated my chains, I would not have been able to sneak up on her,” Kellan said, no trace of the accent she had heard just minutes before.
“Kellan, it’s just us. I don’t care what you were told before, you’re with us, you don’t need to pretend,” Philippe said as he embraced his old partner.
Kellan stiffened before clapping Philippe on the back. His eyes and smile were dead as he spoke. “She liked it, Philippe. Dare I say she loved it. That part of me will be forever hidden. I have no wish to ever be something that woman would like to play with again.”
McKenna saw him shudder, and her heart broke for him. Even if there was a strange longing in his eyes right after it. Aside from how terrible he looked, the Kellan she had heard poking fun in the halls was not there, and she thought he might never be again.
“I don’t mean to cut this party short, and I’d love to hug you myself, bloke, but I think it would be best if we don’t dally here too long. I know Seraphina, and if she flashed out, there are two possibilities. She’s looking for backup, or she’s running away because you might have won otherwise. Given Jacob doesn’t have a fresh injury on him, and Kellan is likely not healthy enough to have truly gotten the jump on her, she’s going to come at us again. It’s time to leave,” Lucius said, never taking his eyes off Kellan.
Kellan growled, his green eyes narrowed and filled with anger. “I don’t like the tone in your voice, Lucius.”
Lucius stepped up and boxed the rest of them away from Kellan. “I am the only one who knows Seraphina, aside from you. It was not an accusation, but it is time to go.”
McKenna could have cut the tension with a knife, and she took it upon herself to ease it. Slipping her goggles on her head, she wrapped her fingers in Jacob’s hand and cleared her throat.
“We’ve done what we came to. I want to listen to Lucius. I know I don’t matter in terms of my opinion, but I’m voicing it. I’m taking the man I love and getting the hell out of here. No pun intended,” McKenna said sharply, daring them to challenge her.
“Whatever we’ve lead you to believe, you’re not a junior member, and I for one, could not be more thrilled than to get out here, “ Felicia said, securing her own goggles as she looked at Philippe.
“Then we leave. Kellan, you’ll walk next to McKenna. Jacob is still our priority for protection, so the king doesn’t hang us. Lucius, take up the rear, and if you can manage, walk backwards for a bit. Keep your eye out for the wretched bitch. Felicia, you and I will take point. We will rest once, if and only if the demons do not come after us.” He paused and looked at Kellan. “If you can’t make it, speak up. I have every intention of carrying you out on my back if I have too. Let’s go.”
Silently, they filed into the order Philippe had commanded, and McKenna couldn’t help but feel torn betwixt happiness and annoyance. Trusting her to protect and walk with Kellan felt like an honor. Separating her from walking side by side with Jacob was infuriating.
As they walked, she kept taking sideways glances at Kellan. His face was so much narrower, as was the rest of him. But it was the hardness about him that worried her. When she had met him, he’d been a philandering flirt. He’d been able to make women’s knickers slide off with nearly a word, and his smile hadn’t been as dark as the one he gave her when he caught her staring. Hours had passed, and she recognized the formation of rocks, they were almost to the set of doors leading out of Seraphina’s little realm in Hell.
You can’t pretend to know what was done to him.
The thought sent a shiver through her. Kellan had been a hunter by choice. Nothing had forced him into the life, as far as she knew, just his parents. Kellan, like Eliza, was high born. His parents had heard of the demons because they had been in court the night a young Royal was attacked, the night the Alliance was dreamed up. He’d volunteered to join the life, and she wondered if it hadn’t ruined him.
“Kellan?” she asked quietly, not wanting to attract attention to their group.
“Yes, McKenna?”
She paused for a moment, shocked that he knew her name. “Do you think you will ever be okay again? In time?”
His lips twisted into a s
mile that was neither cruel nor sincere, but somewhere in the middle. “When she is dead. Only when she is dead.”
The words lacked any conviction, but McKenna didn’t push him.
“If we’re talking,” Kellan said and paused, “Jacob, I never thanked you. Not properly. I owe you all my life, but especially him. What happened back there—”
“Was betwixt us. We did what we needed to do to get out. You tried to kill her, Kellan. You drew a fair amount of blood,” Jacob said from behind them, voice hard.
She saw Kellan’s body tense out of the corner of her eye, and for the second time, she knew there was a secret passing betwixt the two men. Whilst she respected them both, keeping secrets about Kellan’s mental state would do them no good. He might seem less chipper, but there was no way he had spent a year there and look as he did without consequences.
Her thoughts were cut off as Kellan stumbled and hit the ground knees first. She tried to reach out to grasp his hand, as he had no shirt but failed. She bent to help him rise, and an angry snarl tore from Kellan as he jumped up so quickly, his head smashed into McKenna’s chin. Her cry was sharp, and Jacob was betwixt her and Kellan before she could blink.
She stared into the green eyes of a man not so much older than herself and found herself looking at the soul of a man who would never be young again, not without someone to help heal his heart and mind.
She put a hand on Jacob’s arm. “I am fine. It was an accident. Philippe, we need to rest. You cannot carry Kellan with your injuries. I will stand watch if required, but for Kellan’s sake, we need to rest.”
No one argued with her. Kellan nodded and gave her the first genuine smile she’d seen over the past few hours as he sat down.
“Sorry, Kellan. Give us five more minutes. I’d prefer to rest in an area where we can’t be boxed in,” Philippe said as he turned. “Small spaces is how I lost the Guildmaster. We can’t rest in one, we just can’t.”
Felicia put her hand on Philippe’s arm. “Lucius, if you need, carry Kellan. The door isn’t far, and we left it open, so it’s doubtful we will need your hand.”