by K.N. Lee
“That’s bloody brilliant,” Halston said as he watched Koa summon the sword to extend to its full length.
She took the sword’s hilt in her hand and nearly stumbled backward at the jolt of energy that filled her body. How many times had she felt its power and the pain it required to wield it? This time, there was no pain. There was just an overwhelming sense of warmth and euphoria. Koa closed her eyes and embraced it.
So much power. Even more than before.
“Well,” Koa said, clenching her jaw. “Let’s go.”
“We will,” Halston said, nodding. “But, we need to find a way into the Netherworld. One Viktor wouldn’t have agents waiting at.”
“I do not care about Viktor. I will rip his pretty face from his head to get past and save my mother.”
“I know. Calm down, love,” he said. “We will do this, together. But, we need a plan. It won’t save your mother to have us all captured or killed by Viktor.”
“Then, what do you suggest. Speak quickly before I go on my own.”
“We all know what happens when you act brash,” Tristan said. “Remember what happened when you tried to take on Bund by yourself? Halston told me all about it.”
Koa glared at him. She didn’t need to be reminded.
“Hey,” Halston said. “Let’s not bring up old mistakes. Like I said, we will make a plan.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “On with it.”
“We simply need a way into the Netherworld without Viktor finding out about it. And, I happen to know a woman who has the solution.”
“Of course, he does,” Tristan said with a huff as he looked to Koa.
“Lady Colleen has a portal in her castle.”
He was right. She’d seen it during the ball.
“We can get into the Netherworld from there,” she said. Hope dared to enter her heart, but she kept it at bay. She wouldn’t survive having her hopes dashed. Not when her mother was concerned.
“Assuming the agents have finally left. They had swarmed the place last I saw,” Tristan said.
“Only one way to find out,” Halston said.
“Right.” Koa led the way to the door, her sword at her side and a wrath to rival the devil himself in her heart. “Let’s go.”
8
The cage bounced and shook after every bump in the golden road from the Wastelands to wherever they were going. Roderick held Raven in his lap, and she felt safe, even though they were both prisoners to a maniac.
“Where do you think she’s taking us?” Raven asked, quietly.
They were in the back of what was much like a train. On electric wheels, the train glided along a series of golden tracks lit up through the darkness of the valleys and underground tunnels. This territory was unknown to her, but perhaps, Roderick was familiar after having been banished there for so many centuries.
He adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and peered through the bars, and the long rectangular windows that looked out on either side of the compartment.
“Looks like we are headed for the Black Keep.”
That didn’t sound good.
“What’s there?” She watched the black trees pass by, and the shining silver rock of the surrounding mountains.
“Don’t know,” Roderick said. “Just know its forbidden. Greggan is rumored to have kept some nasty stuff there. Evil. I stay away from such things.”
“Evil? What kind of nasty stuff?”
“I don’t know. Old magic trinkets. Black magic. He was an odd sort. Always looking for a way to change vampiric powers and make himself stronger.”
“I know all about him. He stole my daughter from me,” she said. “I should have never let her go with her father to the Netherworld. She should have stayed with me.”
“Perhaps,” Roderick said. “
A massive black structure appeared once they climbed the steep hill. It was built into the side of the mountain. Like an old, medieval castle, with towers and pointed rooftops, it was something out of a nightmare. Black windows. Open archways. A moat encircled the three sides that were exposed, and a stone wall stretched along the perimeter.
“I don’t like the look of it.”
“No worries,” Roderick said, stroking her fur. “I’ll protect you.”
She glanced up at him and lifted a brow. “How? You can’t even break my curse. What good are you to curse me and forget how to reverse it?”
She still hadn’t forgiven him for that. Her hopes had been quickly dashed once Lera left them alone and she’d inquired about the highly sought after potion to break her curse.
“Ah,” he said. “It doesn’t work like that. You asked me to protect you and Koa from him. I did that. No one said anything about reversing it. That’s up to you to figure out.”
“Isn’t that just perfect. A lot of help you are. If I would have known I’d be forced to remain a cat forever, I would have faced Greggan on my own.”
He gave her an eerie smile. “Ah, but I am helpful. I assure you. You may be a prisoner, miss. But, I’m just here for the adventure.”
She blinked. “What?”
Roderick’s eyes glowed a dull red. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Haven’t you heard? I’m the Alchemist.”
Raven shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Yes. Don’t you sound full of yourself? Grand wizard. Child genius. But, you’re not a child. You’re almost as old as me.”
“Am I?” Roderick asked, widening his eyes. “How do you know how old I am?”
She didn’t. So, she kept her mouth shut and tensed as the train stopped and the doors all slid upward, letting in the cool air.
“Oh,” he said as Lera’s men hopped onto the platform and headed for them. “Things are about to get interesting.”
“I don’t see how you find any of this fun,” Raven whispered though clenched teeth.
The Netherworld was an odd place. It was too dark, too quiet, and the air had a heavy feeling to it. She missed home. She missed evenings with Koa eating popcorn and watching movies. Even if she was cursed, she at least had the only person in the world who mattered to her by her side.
The men pulled the metal cage from the compartment and into the darkness. Lera walked ahead with her two sidekicks. The rocky path that lead from the tracks was lit up by small glowing discs placed into the ground. They sensed motion, and lit up after detecting anyone’s approach.
Roderick and Raven were carried along the path and up a tall flight of smooth, stone steps. She looked around, searching for an escape. All she could see for miles were rolling dark hills, red mountains that glittered under the giant disc light that mocked the sun of the human world.
“Take them up to the east tower and lock the door,” Lera commanded as they entered the Black Keep.
She stepped aside as the cage was carried past her, and Raven caught a glimpse of someone waiting inside for them.
Her brows furrowed. He looked familiar.
His hair was silver, as were his eyes, and he wore an expensive gray suit.
What was especially curious was how he looked at her when she was brought in.
And, his silver wings.
9
Flying from the mountain’s peak and up into the clouds, Koa’s heart raced as she hovered above Lady Colleen’s castle. In the cloak of night, she hoped the dark and the clouds would shroud her body as she surveilled the castle grounds below.
To her surprise, the Netherworld Division had sectioned it off, but the mess from the massacre had been cleaned up. The castle was quiet and from what she could see, empty.
She peered down and searched for any agents, vampires, or humans who had been at the ball on that fateful evening when everything changed. Koa knew that any humans would have had their minds wiped clean of the entire ordeal by an angel with the skill to replace memories.
Like Alice. She couldn’t help but resent Alice for letting her mother get taken, but then she thought of what Lera must have done to her. Alice might be dead for all
Koa knew. Her death wouldn’t make her feel any better. If they were going against an army, they’d need everyone, and a force of their own. Jax, Evina, and Ian were still missing. They’d suffered devastating torment from Bund, and she’d lost sight of Ian during the battle with the Netherworld agents.
Wherever they were, Koa needed them. Halston and Tristan were right. They had to make a plan.
Satisfied that the coast was clear, she flew back down to Halston and Tristan who waited in the forest behind the castle grounds.
Landing, she walked to them and nodded over her shoulder toward the looming ancient stone castle. “I didn’t see anyone. I think the agents have cleared the place out and left days ago.”
Halston didn’t look so sure.
“Only one way to find out,” Tristan said.
Nodding, Koa agreed. “I say we go in and take a look.”
“It’s risky,” Halston said.
“Well, if we want to get into the Netherworld without a gate key, we have no choice,” Koa said. “I have to see if Jax, Evina, and Ian made it out safely.”
“We won’t find them here,” Halston said. “Either they’ve gotten away or the Division has killed them. There will be no prisoners.”
“Jax and Evina should’ve had enough time to flee when I killed Bund,” Koa reasoned, more for herself than anyone else. “I’m not sure about Ian.”
Koa couldn’t fail him. He was her charge and she was supposed to teach and protect him.
“Come on, don’t be cowards. I mean, we have a War-Breeder, a vampire/angel hybrid, and a demon. No one is going to fuck with us. So, let’s go inside and have a look,” Tristan said.
“Fine,” Halston said with a sigh.
What was he afraid of? Koa had never seen him look so worried. Then, she remembered what he was.
As a demon, Halston was not the same. There was something feral in her eyes, a darkness she recalled seeing in Bunds. The thought that Halston might become like the demon who had tormented her made her blood run cold.
Tristan climbed over as Halston and Koa flew to the other side.
The War-Breeder landed with a thud that shook the ground beneath them. Together, they crossed the lush garden and entered through one of the back doors of the castle. It had been left open and the darkness that awaited was unsettling. It was the heaviness in the air. Horrible things had happened, and the castle was imprinted with that terror. The feel of it was almost strong enough to make Koa turn away. But, her mother’s life was in the balance.
Nothing would stop her.
As she stepped inside, the silence that welcomed them made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. The scent of blood was overwhelming.
“I don’t hear anything,” Tristan said, narrowing his eyes as he looked from side to side at the empty room. The walls were close, and the only light came from the moon shining in from the open doors.
Halston glanced back at them. His pale face almost glowed in the darkness as he stood a few feet ahead at the base of a narrow staircase. “She’s here,” he whispered in an eerily menacing voice. “I can feel her. I can smell her fear.”
Those words made Koa’s skin crawl. It was something about the way he said them, and the way his eyes went completely black.
She never imagined Halston could frighten her, but he did just that. His eyes returned to normal, and he seemed embarrassed by what he’d done.
She swallowed as she and Tristan exchanged troubled looks. Though his new demonic powers were proving helpful, they had to find a way to change Halston back.
“Who is here?” Koa asked, though her throat had gone so dry her voice came out more like a croak.
Halston turned and led the way toward the lower levels. “Lady Colleen. She’s managed to keep herself hidden in her secret rooms to escape the agents.”
They made the descent into Lady Colleen’s dungeons. The coldness in the air and the drips of water from a leaky ceiling heightened Koa’s sense of dread. That dripping sound wasn’t water. It was blood.
She grimaced at the sight of blood that covered the walls and floors. She wasn’t a stranger to blood and death, but this scene brought back memories that were too painful to relive this soon after they’d occurred.
She’d been down there in the dungeons once before and Lady Colleen had almost shot her with her bow and arrow. Memories of black figures with poles and burnt bodies came back to her, bringing along that same fear she’d felt the first time she’d made her descent down there. It was a place of horrors, built to keep intruders out. She hoped that this time they were the most dangerous creatures to walk those halls.
Once they reached the bottom of the stairs and stood in the center of the large landing that branched in several directions, Halston tilted his head to the side, and listened.
“What is it?” Tristan asked.
Halston held up a hand to quiet him.
Koa looked down the tunnels and tried to remember which she’d taken to get to Lady Colleen’s secret lounge area. The ancient castle had many secret tunnels and corridors, and any number of them could lead to a trap or prison.
“This way,” Halston said and took the tunnel to the left. Trusting his otherworldly intuition, she and Tristan followed without question.
The tunnel seemed to go on for a mile before opening into another fork.
Halston clasped his hands and turned to the stone wall at the right. “You can come out,” he said. “It’s Halston and Koa. We mean you no harm.”
Koa’s brows furrowed as she looked at the wall. Her eyes widened as it was pushed outward and Lady Colleen peered at them from a dimly lit room hidden behind the wall. She still wore her corset and royal blue bustle and skirt from the ball. Her black hair was disheveled and her makeup ruined. She’d clearly hidden there during the attack and was too afraid to leave.
Behind her stood a white wolf.
Oren.
His purple eyes went to Koa’s and she recalled the uneasiness she’d felt the first time they’d met.
Somehow, seeing them brought her comfort. If they’d managed to hide, perhaps there was hope.
“Koa, my dear,” she said. “You’ve come back to save me.”
Not really. She nodded despite her thoughts.
“Have they left?” Colleen asked Koa.
“Yes, everyone is gone. We’ve just come back to see who survived.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Lady Colleen closed her eyes and placed her hand over her heart. “Good,” she said. “We thought they’d never leave.”
“You’re lucky you all got away,” Tristan said.
Her face paled as she looked up at him. “What is he doing here?” She stepped away in fear.
“It’s okay,” Koa assured her. “Tristan is with us. He won’t harm you.”
“Like hell he won’t. I saw what he did to my friends. He is a monster.”
“No, he is a friend. He did what he had to that night, but he is on our side.”
Her brows furrowed. “I know all too well about ‘friends.’ Nicolai is responsible for setting us up. I just know it.”
Koa and Halston looked to one another. She’d almost forgotten about the infamous agent and his Dorian Gray powers of staying forever young.
“Are you certain he betrayed you?” Koa asked.
“Nicolai is a spy for Viktor. He most certainly did,” Halston replied.
“That’s right,” Colleen said, nodding at Halston. “He vanished as soon as the agents showed up, but not before killing my guards. That bastard.”
Koa placed a hand on Colleen’s shoulder. “Well, Tristan is more loyal than anyone I know. You don’t have to worry about him.”
Colleen didn’t seem to be put at ease by Koa’s reassuring words, but she didn’t say so. She simply watched him with widened eyes and hugged her arms around herself.
“Has anyone else survived?” Koa asked, looking behind Colleen in hopes of seeing any of her friends hiding out with her. To her dismay, th
e room was empty except for what appeared to be service worker twin-sized beds and a wash basin under a single faucet. The white wolf, Oren watched her, its gray eyes fixed on hers.
“No, they’ve all been killed.”
Those words struck such a sadness in Koa’s heart that her eyes burned with tears. That couldn’t be. She couldn’t lose everyone.
Halston looked to her as her shoulders slumped in defeat. “There is still hope that they’ve escaped,” he said.
She chewed her bottom lip against the sob that threatened to escape, and nodded. She hoped he was right, but feared the worst.
“Get us out of here,” she said, grabbing her enchanted Netherworld bow and arrows from behind the door. She stepped into the dark corridor, and nodded to Oren. “Come, now. Don’t be shy, my love.”
Koa’s eyes widened as Oren shifted into a man and stood.
Shifters. She still couldn’t pick them out from normal humans or when in their other forms.
He still watched her with curiosity as if reading her thoughts. With shoulder length purple hair—the same shade as his ethereal eyes—he appeared to be in his late twenties. Tall, well-built, and dressed in a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans he must have been wearing before the magic of his transformation changed him into a wolf, he looked away from Koa and to Colleen, ready to do her bidding.
“We must go before they decide to come back,” Colleen said. “I have another home in London we can hide out in until things calm down.”
Halston lifted a brow. “Nowhere is safe right now. You’re better off coming with us back to the Netherworld.”
Colleen frowned as she looked up to him. “Not possible,” she said.
Koa looked from Halston to Colleen. “Why not?”
She shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. “They’ve destroyed my only portal.”
“Just brilliant,” Tristan said with a sigh. He shook his head. “What did I tell you? There is no way we will get back into the Netherworld without a portal.”
Nodding, Colleen motioned for them to follow. “Unless one of you knows of another portal, or have the Enchanted Elyan Dagger, we’d better find a safer place to hide.”