Hell and Back: The Protector Guild Book 4

by Holborn, Gray

  Her blade must have been dipped in some sort of weird poison. At least it seemed to be temporary. Not that it would matter if she kept using it repeatedly until we were nothing but skinned corpses. And being skinned alive was about as awful a way to go as I could imagine.

  My vision went dizzy again and any strength I was gaining over my muscles seemed to be moving in reverse, though slowly. Eli and I gripped each other’s fingers and I dug my nails into his palm when I saw him start to move towards her out of the corner of my eye.

  He seemed to be coming out of his paralysis moment-by-moment but he was still too stuck to take her on like this.

  My stomach twisted at the sight of her holding my flesh above her mouth like she was dropping something as normal as a strand of spaghetti onto her tongue.

  The second it hit, her head whipped down until her eyes were locked on mine, her expression filled with an intoxicated reverence.

  “Good, good, good,” she sang, as she clapped her hands together. She brought her blood-coated fingers up to my face, manually shifting my expression into a smile.

  My muscles were stiff and held where she placed them.

  “Such a tasty treat.” She patted me on the cheek like I was a well-behaved child before digging her blade into my arm again. “I won’t play with my food anymore, time to feast. If you’re good, maybe I’ll shar—”

  The word fell on a breathless gurgle, her face frozen in shock. Her mouth spilled over with blood and I watched in morbid fascination as a stretch of red materialized across her neck. Strong, pale hands, gripped her head on either side and twisted, tearing and dragging until she was out of sight.

  I tried to follow the movements from the corner of my eyes, since I couldn’t shift my head to get a proper view of what was going on. My heart raced against my ribcage as I sent up prayer after silent prayer that whoever the newcomer was, they were friend not foe. I didn’t want to be passed from one cannibal-like creature to another.

  A loud shuffle ensued and my body jolted with fear as I waited for the heavy crashes to silence.

  Please please please let her not be the victor of this battle.

  After a long, drawn out moment, a pair of familiar eyes met mine from just a few inches away. One gold, one dark brown.

  “D-dar—” I started, frustrated with my body for failing me in this moment. I never thought I would be so desperately happy to see a vampire, not least of all when I wasn’t even able to protect myself from an attack.

  “She’s dead,” he said as his eyes moved to Eli briefly before coming back to me. He grabbed my arm in his and ran a careful finger above the spot she’d carved. “There were two others in another building, but I took them out as well. I think she was the last of them.” He shook his head and let out a frustrated breath before falling back on his ass in front of us. “I shouldn’t have left you like that. I thought it was only one, maybe two. They don’t usually work in groups like this, but it seemed to be a sort of family unit.” He exhaled, his shoulders sagging under an invisible weight. “It seems even more than I’ve realized has changed here in my absence.”

  I tried to reach out my arm toward him, to ease the expression of pain creating harsh angles on his face, but settled with trying to relax what was a probably very disturbing grin on my own.

  He winced and gently relaxed my facial muscles himself, his long fingers gentle. “This should wear off completely in an hour or two, and you’ll likely have most of your muscle control back in a few minutes. The venom they use isn’t very strong, and I don’t think it will hold you down for too long. You’re a formidable opponent, so I have a feeling your body will dispel it quicker than most.”

  “Wh-what the h-hell was that thing?” Eli asked, his voice sounding strange and strained as he spoke through his teeth.

  Darius stiffened, his jaw muscles pumping furiously. He stared at Eli in a harsh silence for several long moments, like he was gathering his emotions and thoughts together until they were something more legible to share. “They are a sad abomination. The closest thing from your world I can think to describe them would be the Ojibwe wendigo. Although I suppose they also share some similarities with human portrayals of zombies.” He let out an exacerbated breath and turned his head, likely looking at where the girl’s body was discarded from their skirmish. “They survive by eating the flesh of other demons, but they are doomed to exist in a permanently starved state. No matter how much they consume, their hunger never dies. And since they aren’t really any stronger than most supernatural creatures, they’ve developed a sort of poison that causes paralysis while they feed. Dead flesh isn’t nearly as tasty as that from the living, apparently, so their victims often exist trapped in their bodies until they eventually die or are discarded and abandoned.”

  “Are they born?” Eli asked, tone in full protector mode. I felt him shift slightly next to me. “Or made?”

  Darius rolled his teeth over his bottom lip, his fingers now playing unconsciously with my own, clenching them into a fist and then relaxing, like he was trying to force movement back into my body. “They are made. The magic here, the lack of resources—it can sometimes be enough to turn them. But we don’t always know how or why it happens. They exist as a perversion of the magic that contains the creatures of hell. It’s why vampires are sure to never consume their blood. They are considered bad luck, but unfortunate byproducts of an unstable and cruel land all the same. They are pitiable beasts, victims of circumstance.”

  I arched my brow, or at least I tried to. The girl was anything but pitiable as far as I was concerned. She literally ate a chunk of my flesh. And when it came to zombie movies, I was never one to be on Team Dead Guy Who Likes To Eat Brains For Breakfast. No thank you.

  That said, I could understand that it wasn’t entirely her fault. But if it was us or her, I was supremely glad that it was us.

  “The o-others,” I said, squeezing my fingers gently around his. “Where?”

  Darius’s mouth turned down, like he’d all but forgotten about Declan and Atlas. “Oh, right, them. I guess I could go track them down if you want me to. I don’t think the grumpy one could keep up with us, so she’s probably still making her way with the wolf, trying to track us here.” Darius shrugged, lip curled slightly in disgust. “And since he’s not exactly in tune with his wolf, I imagine it will take them a while if they carry on solo.”

  I thought back to the way that Darius had guided me as we ran after Eli. How I’d somehow felt intuitively that I could find Eli.

  And I was fucking terrible at tracking.

  Had our pace really been that fast? Maybe vampires were somehow able to transfer some of their speed if they held your hand. Weirder things had happened. Today, even.

  * * *

  Within an hour or two, Darius was back with a very angry Declan and Atlas in tow. The two were glaring daggers at him as they checked Eli and I over for any permanent damage, like they didn’t trust his assurances. We filled them in on what happened with the wendigo creature, the expressions on their faces mirroring the disgust likely visible on my own.

  Atlas was currently bent down, studying the dead girl with that objective fascination he seemed to have about anything pertaining to the hunt. The tension in his body suggested that he was partially upset he missed out on all the fun. That was two attacks on us now, since we arrived in the hell realm, and he’d been absent for both of them.

  I could tell the control freak in him was itching for a battle of his own. I held back my scoff though, knowing that if I were him, I’d be feeling left out of the action too. Protectors were a ridiculous species. No wonder we died so young.

  For now though, I was just happy that we were all together. And that the creepy girl didn’t devour more of Eli and I than a few scraps of skin—as disgusting as that was.

  For the most part, Eli and I had control over our bodies again and our wounds were on their way to healing. I’d used the rest of my water cleaning them out, on the off chance any of
that grimy nastiness was lingering. Protectors didn’t develop infections very often, but something told me that if anything was going to fight its way into our system and do some damage, it was hell slime.

  Temporarily satisfied, I searched around the room and collected my dagger and all of the contents from my bag the little creep had dumped throughout the room. I tried not to grimace at the fact that my stuff was lying around in a pile of garbage and what looked peculiarly like some discarded bones. She’d clearly lured us back to her nest of sorts.

  When in hell, I guess.

  “We should get moving,” Atlas said, shoving the girl’s body with his shoe. Darius had not only stabbed her in the heart, but decapitated her for good measure. “This must’ve been their hunting ground.”

  Darius collected his things from the ground and shook his head. “We can’t just move through the night. We aren’t in the human realm. It’s dangerous enough moving about during the light hours.” He nodded towards me and Eli. “They need to rest up, make sure that they are back to full strength before we take on anything else. The venom they use can linger for hours and wandering through hell without full control of your body is a dangerous and reckless thing to do.”

  “So you want us to just stay here for the night, with the dead body?” I tried to keep the disgust from my voice, but it was definitely there. The wendigo creeped me out more than any creature I’d ever encountered before. Maybe because I’d never heard of one. And while a bloodsucker wasn’t entirely different from a flesheater, it would take some time for the heebies to disappear. I didn’t even want to think about what kind of pain I’d be in now if Darius hadn’t rescued us—who knows how much of me would even be left.

  Darius’s expression was stern as he turned towards me, but I caught the way his lips pulled slightly in that devilish grin he wore so often. “There are other rooms here. You don’t need to stay in this one. No one is asking you to play naptime with a corpse.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him because it sounded suspiciously like he was planning on leaving us here. After we’d spent our first however many hours in hell trying to collect everyone in one place. “And what do you plan on doing while we rest up, exactly?”

  “I need to see if I can track down some of my old contacts. It’s been years since I’ve been in this realm and if we try to traverse it carelessly, we will fail. Hell is not the sort of place you try to conquer without a plan. And things—they’re different here than they were before. The magic and environment are devolving at a speed I hadn’t anticipated.”

  I opened my mouth to argue but he raised a hand stopping me.

  “If we fail, that means your beloved incubus will not be rescued, little protector. Which, last I understood, you were willing to sacrifice everything to achieve. Has that changed? Because tell me now, and I’m happy to brainstorm a plan that involves everyone telling ghost stories around a campfire while I fill up on food.”

  My lips snapped closed, answer enough. But I glared at him all the same for his taunting. If Darius could use his contacts to speed up the trip to hell, all the better. But—

  I hated to admit it, but I was actually worried about him getting himself killed. He clearly wasn’t exactly popular amongst his kind, so who knew what sort of reception he’d meet with once he found whoever it was he was going to look for. And would the rest of us just be left here in the meantime? Waiting around on the off chance he actually returned to us?

  As if he could read my thoughts, he nodded towards Declan and Atlas. “You two should scout for some food, water. She needs resources, as do you all. We’re almost out. Most vegetation is an offshoot of what you’d find in your realm, so it should be edible. But to be safe, bring everything you find back here and let me check it out before you ingest anything. Last thing we need is to worry about you lot either dying or hallucinating from eating the wrong kind of mushroom. Protectors don’t exactly live in this realm, so it might be a bit of a guessing game as we figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. Resources are, unfortunately, quite limited. More so even than they were last time I was here. Luckily, water is relatively plentiful, so that should be easy enough at least.

  “All the same, it’s dangerous here so move about mindfully. The wolf should help you blend in if necessary, but I’d rather not have to come hunt you both down and save you if it comes to it.” He paused and turned towards me, his expression an innocent pout. “And just to be clear, I’d have to save them, right? We couldn’t just cut our losses and keep going if it came down to it?”

  I shot him a glare in answer.

  He shrugged before moving towards the door, his posture lazy but confident. “Doesn’t hurt to ask. It’s not like my life is tethered to either of theirs.”

  14

  Max

  Twenty minutes later, Eli and I were clearing out a room, layering the floor with our extra change of clothes. Alone.

  “I can’t believe they just left us here.” I couldn’t keep the dejection from my voice, even though I knew it made me sound like a child. “I feel perfectly fine now. I should be helping. What if they get ambushed and need us? Sitting around just feels so useless, like we’re wasting valuable time.”

  Eli chuckled and threw down his jacket before pressing down gently on my shoulder until I sat down on top of it.

  “You were almost eaten up just a couple of hours ago, love. You do realize that, right? If they think we’d do more harm than good, it’s best that we stay hunkered down here and take sleep in shifts. When they get back with provisions, we’ll keep watch while they get rest.” I glared at him but he shrugged me off and ran his hand playfully through my hair, knotting it all up. Thank god there weren’t any mirrors around, I was better off not knowing how terrible I looked. “Sometimes working in a team isn’t as glamorous as it appears. You have to share the glory and make sure everyone is at the top of their game, whatever it takes. Right now, it takes us staying here and out of the way until we can be certain that all of that nasty shit is out of our bloodstream. Glory and stubbornness aren’t so great if the result is someone getting hurt or killed.”

  I exhaled and gave him a reluctant nod, thinking about the last time I’d forced my way into a battle I shouldn’t have been in. If I’d stayed back then, it’s possible we wouldn’t even be in this mess in the first place; hell, it’s possible Wade’s incubus side would never have been triggered at all if I hadn’t gone barging out that night, determined to rescue Ralph.

  So on some level, yes, I knew that he was right, but it didn’t stop the lingering frustration and helplessness. I wanted so desperately to actually do something, to help. I hated feeling powerless, and like I was the weak link in the group, constantly being rescued instead of doing the rescuing. It was infuriating.

  I wanted to be strong. Powerful. More.

  We sat in silence for a few long moments, until I became acutely aware of the fact that this was the first time I’d been alone with Eli since I’d woken up from that dream with him and Wade. The memory of it sent a rush of heat flooding through my body and I suddenly found myself embarrassed about being in his presence. Alone. In a quiet room with our clothes ripped to shreds.

  My dreams with Wade tended to fade after a while, but the details of that one still lingered along my skin. I could almost still feel every stroke of Eli’s finger, of his tongue. Did he remember what happened? Did he regret it if he did?

  “I wonder how things back at The Guild are going,” he mused, completely oblivious to the maelstrom of emotions fluttering through my stomach. His lips turned down and he started to fiddle with the fabric underneath us. “I hope my dad isn’t too upset about us leaving,” he chuckled and stared down at me, his brown eyes filled with a soft vulnerability that I rarely saw in them. The rare occasions it had made an appearance, we’d been sitting out at his peaceful lake. This room...had a completely different vibe. “I mean, of course he’s pissed. But I hope he isn’t too worried. Maybe having Cy there will help take some o
f the edge off.” He paused and shook his head, his lips turning up slightly in a shadow of a grin, though there was no humor behind it. “Doubt it though. Neither of them are particularly warm and comforting, least of all Cyrus.”

  I could tell in the short time that I’d known them that while Eli and Seamus were both incredibly guarded and stubborn, that they cared deeply for each other. And I knew that leaving without telling his father was ripping Eli up inside. It was a sharp betrayal. Not only was he acting without his father’s knowledge, but he was directly working against everything The Guild stood for—all for the chance to save Wade.

  It was something I acutely understood—I’d been forcing Ro and Cyrus from my thoughts as much as possible, otherwise the guilt at leaving them behind without a thorough explanation would unravel me completely.

  “Did your father talk much about Cy?” I asked, realizing that Eli and I had never really discussed this before, despite the fact that Cy was his uncle. Part of me was filled with a petty jealousy that he had a tie to Cy that I never would—blood. It was an undeniable family connection and one, I was learning, that protectors seemed to value above all else. My own lack of a family gene pool was something I was only becoming more and more aware of, the more entrenched in Guild society I became.

  He shook his head and leaned back on his arms, his brows pinched together slightly in thought. I tried to ignore the way his shirt pulled up slightly from the stretch, revealing the toned lines of his lower abs. He was an infuriatingly beautiful creature and sometimes it felt almost impossible to ignore my obvious attraction to him.

  “Not really. I met him maybe once or twice while I was growing up. My father would go to see him on occasion in this small town a few hours out and he’d occasionally bring me with him. But Cyrus was always standoffish and gruff when we met, barely sparing me more than a nod and sentence or two, before sending me off to go run some useless grocery errand while he and my father caught up.” He bit his bottom lip, lost in the memory. “I always got the feeling that Cyrus didn’t want to be there, that he was just doing it as a formality to keep his brother happy, you know? Like it was a strange family obligation more than anything else—the only way to keep my father off his back about returning to The Guild.” He ran a lazy hand through his hair, pulling out a few leaves and debris from the fight. “They were close, you know? Not like you and Ro close, maybe, but close all the same.”