Before the room went black again, she released the grip. I gasped for air. “But I used my powers years ago. Why now?” Her eyes flashed with something I couldn’t figure out.
My mother spoke, though her eyes were closed. “She didn’t have enough power back when you used your powers. Now she’s dying and needs your soul to power her plan.”
Kali turned and glared at her sister, then her phone shrilled in her pocket. When she looked at it, she turned and left the cellar with Joseph in tow.
Before the door had fully closed, Ryker was by my side.
“How?” I asked.
The sexy alpha gave me a cocky grin. “Ropes won’t keep me tied down.” Then he worked to untie us all.
I kneeled next to Marilyn and felt for a pulse—nothing. She had no cuts on her body.
“Kali needs more power, or she will die soon. She took that lady’s soul so her powers would last longer. We can’t do anything to help her now. From the memories my sister gave me back, I know that if she can drain your powers, she will have unstoppable strength,” my mother said.
I grabbed the blanket off the bed and, placing it over Marilyn, I vowed to avenge her death. “I thought I could only die by some sword.”
My mother sank to the ground, and her eyelids closed as she spoke. “Yes, you are immortal like me, but she has some warlock who can take your powers and give them to her. Your body will slowly die without your connection to your powers.”
“How long has she had you captive?”
She gave me a weak smile. “Since the day you were born. Every so often, she lets me have a taste of my magic to keep my body alive. But it’s getting harder and harder each day to stay alive.”
“How are we going to get out?”
Wrath took off her heels and walked toward the cell bars. Ethan and my mother both screamed for her to stop, but it was too late. The second her hand touched the cell bar, she flew back and hit the wall. She slowly opened one eye. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” she gritted out.
“We’ve tried for years to get out of here. Kali has this place enchanted.” My mother let out a breath. “I’m sorry I did this to you.”
I rolled my eyes, “You didn’t do anything. The crazy bitch did, and if we don’t stop her, she’s going to open the gates of hell, and we will all die. Is there a way we can break the enchantment?”
Mary’s daughter whimpered, and I looked over at her.
“I’m not going to let it happen. No matter how much power she has, she won’t open the gates of hell.”
Ryker walked over and grabbed my hand.
“I keep getting attacked by shifters with red eyes, and they keep saying I’m some key and plan to use me to open the gates of hell.”
Ethan shook his head. “That’s not her. She wants to create an army and storm hell. Opening the gates would bring chaos to the world. She wants to rule it. Only true demon blood can rule hell’s creatures, and you aren’t full demon.”
Wrath paced the small cell. “He’s right. Only a true demon can control the creatures. Maybe we are working two separate cases.”
“The demons who carried us here have red eyes. Maybe someone is working to double-cross Kali,” Ryker pointed out.
“Sitting here trying to figure out what this crazy bitch is up to will do us no good while they keep us locked away in these cages. We need to get out of here. How is our magic being siphoned?”
My mom pointed to the far wall. On it hung a globe with swirling pink lights. “We need to break the bulb. It’s the only way the bars become touchable, and we can use our magic. The bulb holds the magic essences she has stolen. It slowly steals the powers and magic from anyone in the room unless you have a ward necklace.”
“Let me guess—the crazy person and my ex possessed alpha both have it?”
She slowly nodded.
“I should have known you left for a reason,” Ethan said. “The story Dad or whoever has him possessed told us was a lie. You would never have left us behind.”
The anger I had for my once-friends evaporated when I knew they had endured pain and suffering since I left. They’d been trapped in a cell with bars that sent you flying to the concrete floor.
The door to the cellar opened, and Kali walked in again with Joseph at her side. When they walked toward our cell, a million ideas on how to get out ran through my mind until she swished her hand and we flew to the back wall. We couldn’t move our limbs.
“I’m going to kill.” Kali laughed and motioned for Joseph to grab me, then she released her grip on me.
I used the opportunity to pull back and hit him with my fist, but Kali sent a beam of magic at me that threw me against the wall again. With another wave of her hand, I couldn’t move my limbs again. Joseph dragged me out of the cell by my hair, and Ryker screamed something, but the pain as my body bumped across the floor blocked everything else.
He lifted my body and attached it to a cross on the wall then strapped my wrists down with leather cuffs. Kali held a knife under my neck. I looked away from her to the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. He reached for the bars, and I could smell his skin burning under the magic, but he didn’t let go. The bars started to bend under his strength.
Kali raised her hand, and Ryker’s feet left the ground, his hands still prying at the bars. Her magic was struggling against Ryker’s strength. Wrath moved in the corner of his cell. She had the heel of her boot in her hand. Both Kali and Joseph were concentrating on me and didn’t see the silver heel fly across the room. I held my breath as the heel hit the globe and bounced off. A fine crack formed in the glass, but it was barely enough to feel a little of my magic come back. I closed my eyes, concentrated on the bulb, and sent another spark toward the orb. It cracked a little more. My mother stood and threw a weak magic pulse at the sphere. The sight of her magic had Kali tear her concentration from Ryker, and he fell to the ground. Wrath kicked at the cell door and had it open within seconds.
She wrapped her hands around Kali’s neck, and Ryker put Joseph in a chokehold. His eyes rolled back, and he dropped to the ground, and Ryker pulled him into the cell and locked the door. Wrath was in hand-to-hand battle with Kali, and she somersaulted across the room, grabbed her heel, and threw it with precision directly into Kali’s heart. Kali clutched her chest and promised she would be back before she dropped to the ground.
I walked over to the cage that held my old friends. The younger brothers were still lying on the ground, and they almost looked dead. Ethan stood by the door.
“Stand back,” I said. When he stepped back, I sent a magic bullet at the gate.
Ethan collapsed into my arms.
“Your brothers?”
“Weak but alive,” he whispered.
Ryker walked over and pulled Ethan out of my arms. “Mine,” he growled.
Ethan’s lip twitched. “She’s like a sister to me, man. Even after all these years, she is only a sister.”
Wrath had released my mom from the cage, and she walked over and hugged me. Her frail body was skin and bones. “I’m so sorry, my daughter.”
“Does anyone know how many guards they had?”
Ethan sat back down on the ground. “Joseph dropped off food once every few weeks. I know he’s possessed, but I want to kill him.”
Ryker looked at Ethan then Joseph. “He will stand trial once we figure out what happened.” He walked over to the cage that held Joseph. “You are no longer the North American alpha. If you don’t give up the title, I will challenge you for it.”
“I will never give up.”
When Ryker reached to open the door, my mom spoke. “Wait.” She rushed over and chanted, and white magic swarmed around Joseph before a red soul left his body.
Joseph dropped to the ground, then his body no longer moved. Ryker walked in and placed a finger to his throat and shook his head.
Sasha and Mary were sitting next to each other, hugging. Around them, rows and rows of cells were filled with shifters a
nd other magical creatures.
“I’m going to go look around quickly.” Ryker placed a kiss on my forehead.
“I’m coming with you,” Ethan said. His voice held no room for argument, and the two of them left.
Wrath leaned against the wall where she had the two brothers propped up. “This seems too easy.”
“Really? They had me tied to a wall while Ryker’s life was being drained.”
She waved her hand. “Ryker can’t die. You know, the whole immortal thing. It takes more than strangling to kill us.”
“Good to know for the next time I get into a fight. I’m going to start releasing people.”
I walked from cage to cage and opened the doors. Most of the shifters looked okay. A few were too weak to stand, and they all needed food. When I reached the last cage, my heart stopped. Cassy was lying on the floor. I blasted the door, and her eyes opened. “You’re alive.”
“Yes, but my head hurts.”
I reached out and helped her stand. When I walked to the main area, it was hard to move with the number of shifters waiting to be let free.
The door to the outside swung open. “Let’s go,” Ryker said, then his eyes grew wide as he took in the amount of shifters. “I can’t take you all with me right now.”
Ethan stepped forward. “I’m in charge of the Georgia pack now. Anyone who wants to stay and rebuild has a home here. I promise to protect you better than my father.”
Most of the shifters without homes stayed.
“Ryker, we need to take Marilyn with us,” I said.
Paul walked over and grabbed her lifeless body.
“Where did the creatures from earlier go?”
Ryker pressed his fingers to his nose. “They aren’t around here at this second, so let’s get the wounded out, and we can come back. The pack will send Ethan funds so he can protect the ones who want to stay.”
I followed my mother up the creaky wooden stairs, and when we got to the top, we were in the middle of the pack camp. It had changed so much over the ten years. The once well-kept yards had knee-high weeds. Windows were missing from most of the cabins, and the once-bright-white alpha house was chipped and peeling, and the door hung off the hinges. The pack area looked more like a ghost town.
Before we headed into the forest, I hugged Ethan goodbye and promised to return. The couple who’d raised me hadn’t woken up yet, and a few shifters were still on the cusp of dying. Ryker planned to send help as soon as we got back to Orlando. The purple portal was in sight when the creatures from earlier surrounded us.
“How are these guys still alive with Kali dead?”
“You think that stupid bitch was the one behind this?” someone with a raspy voice said.
“Really, Uncle Glen?” Wrath said.
“This is all your fault, Jasmin. You didn’t pick me. Instead, you chose my worthless brother.”
My mother’s face paled. “I don’t know who you are or why would you keep me caged. Kali erased my memories, and when she wants, she dumps them on me.”
Glen raised his hands, and black lightning bolts hit the ground, and the earth shook. “I planned to take over hell so you would love me like you loved my brother.”
“That’s kind of a nice gesture but really fucked up. Why go through all of this just to take over hell? You couldn’t find an easier way? The thirty-year plan seems a little overboard,” I said.
“I couldn’t let him know he’d fathered another child, so I played to Kali’s crazy side and had her hide you and Jasmin.”
Glen hissed like a venomous snake as he threw another lightning bolt at us. The ground split between my feet, and Ryker pulled me aside.
“Kali was supposed to find a way to kill Lucifer. Instead, she kept taking power and lost track of the true mission. Thank you for killing her and getting her out of my way. Now all I have to do is take your soul to hell and unlock the gates.”
How can someone so good-looking have so much evil in them? His brown eyes sparkled, and long blond hair blew in the wind. His attitude and demeanor matched his place of birth—hell.
“Are you fucking serious? You destroyed so many lives because you thought you could get a girl with power?” I snapped before I could stop myself, but no way would I take back what I said.
His glare burned into my skin. In a flash, he stood in front of me, and his eyes turned red. Ryker jumped in front of me and took the blast of magic Glen sent out. His body flew back and hit a tree. My mother was the next to stand in front of me.
“How cute,” Glen said as he ran a finger down her face. “You think you can save the child now?”
“I’m not a child. I’m the daughter of Lucifer. Step away from my mother.”
My magic wanted out, so I closed my eyes and pulled every ounce of it I could and sent it at my soon-to-be-dead uncle. When the magic left my body, I dropped to my knees, weak from using so much energy. Glen lay on the ground, and Wrath and Ryker took out the other demons surrounding the shifters.
Ryker kneeled by my side, then a bright light flashed, and Lucifer appeared in a freshly pressed suit.
“Nobody called me to the party.”
Glen started to rise, but Lucifer waved his hand at his brother, and he froze.
“I’ve been looking for you for years, brother.” Lucifer said. “It seems you somehow played a trick on my memories. But I knew you were behind this, and you couldn’t help showing up for the party.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You knew who was behind this all along?” I snapped.
Lucifer shrugged. “I’ve had a hard time getting him out of hiding. It looks like you did a good job, Daughter. Jasmin, it’s been so long. It seems you didn’t stand me up after all.”
My mother rolled her eyes. “I still don’t remember how you got me to sleep with you.”
Dad smirked. “I think it was the other way around. I’m surprised Kali is your sister. I didn’t know that.”
“Me either until she kidnapped me. I suppose I was some secret love child. But my head hurts, and all I want is a bath and to get to know my daughter.”
Lucifer snapped his fingers. “Well, it seems, Daughter, you solved the crime of the missing shifters.”
Ryker grabbed my hand. “We are going home, Lucifer. I take it you will take care of that.” He nodded at my uncle.
Lucifer said he would, and we stepped through the purple portal.
18
A month later, I stood on the back porch and watched Wrath spar with Paul. He ducked a second too late, and Wrath’s fist connected with his upper jaw, sending him flying against the giant magical bubble Marilyn had created. At the thought of her, sadness came over me. When we’d gotten back to Ryker’s land, we buried her in the back, next to other pack members. Frank had stuck around, but he always seemed sad and searching for something.
Ryker and I never believed Wrath would move into the neighborhood, but she took over my house the day we came back. I ran home to grab more clothes, and she had moved all my things to the backyard. She said she didn’t see the point in me not moving in with Ryker, and she wanted a place to stay.
Lust had shown up two days after the fight and was mad she didn’t get to help take down Kali. She took over the guest bedroom in my old house. Ryker was worried all seven sisters would rain down on our neighborhood.
One thing I had been glad about was being part of a pack again and spending time with my mother. She was sitting on the back porch, watching the sparring. I had seen her work with Wrath a couple of times, and she moved with grace and beauty.
I rubbed a hand over my flat belly. In nine months, Ryker and I would welcome our first child. We had been standing in the middle of the kitchen two days ago when Ryker dropped to his knees in front of me. He placed his ear to my belly, and a smile spread across his face. I had felt off for a couple days, but when Ryker said he heard a heartbeat, excitement coursed through me. Then he said he heard two. I almost fainted. Shifter hearing was good, but I was hoping he�
�d heard wrong. Two little ones would turn our world upside down.
The pack was excited about the new member. A few even told me they heard two heartbeats as well. My mate, on the other hand, had become way too protective and was on the verge of driving me crazy. But no matter how crazy he made me, I always wanted him by my side.
He walked up and said something to Wrath that made her throw her head back and laugh. The pack was full of laughter with everyone home and no more crazy demons trying to attack. Tyler and Sasha were both heading to Harvard. He’d gotten a scholarship to play basketball, and they expected Sasha to go to med school. Mary was worried about her daughter going out of state, but she knew it was the right path for both of them.
The local pack doctor had checked my mom out, and she didn’t have any lasting damage from her years in captivity. Her memories still hadn’t come back, and I knew it frustrated her that she couldn’t remember more. The doctor had told us they might come back over time and not to stress over it.
Dr. Henderson thought my mom had only survived because of her genetics. We knew Mom and Kali might be related, but we didn’t know how. Wrath had killed her before we could ask. Mom and I had spent hours reading through books, seeing if any of them talked about her parents. We were starting to think Kali might’ve been lying about Jasmin being her sister. Also, Lucifer didn’t remember much about Jasmin. He was trying to figure out how someone erased parts of her from his mind.
Ryker walked up on the porch and pulled me into his arms.
“What did you say to Wrath?” I asked. “I could hear her laugh over here.”
My sexy mate pulled me over to the white bench swing. “I told her she was getting slow and we might need to call in Lust to take over.”
I smiled at the thought. Wrath fought dirty with swords and magic. Lust wielded her powers to win.
“How was work today?” Ryker asked.
That was a sore subject between Ryker and me. He thought running the PI firm was too dangerous and didn’t understand that the bail jumpers I went after didn’t have magic or want to raise the dead. My job was a lot safer than the underworld.
Shadows and Sorcery: A Collection of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 39