Hell's Redemption- The Complete Series Boxset

by Grace McGinty

  Franco’s face was still ruddy, but he nodded. “I believe you, Miss Jones. Now get the hell out of my office.”

  I nodded politely, standing and walking out the door of his office. Surprisingly, I did believe him. He seemed like he was genuinely crusading for the people of The Quicksand. It was that or he was a really good con artist. I wasn’t sure I could tell the difference anymore.

  We walked down the three steps and towards the car. I was suddenly exhausted, like I couldn’t draw in enough air to fill me up.

  “Let’s go home,” I said to them as we walked across the gravel parking lot. “Charlie, call NRH and see if we can borrow the jet. If not, let’s just fly commercial.”

  Charlie nodded, leaning over to kiss me, already sliding his phone from his pocket. He climbed in the backseat of the SUV beside Rouen and Naz hopped in the passenger side. I wondered if they meant to split themselves into Alphas and Betas, or if it was just a happy coincidence?

  Romanus hopped in the driver's seat, no surprise, and I stood at the door, taking one last look at The Quicksand. I felt like I was abandoning them already. I understood now why JP couldn’t go home and I’d been here only hours.

  “Miss Jones!” Sunny yelled as he raced down the street toward me, a foil wrapped package in his hand. I met him at the steps of the demountable office buildings. “My grandmother sent this for you to take home. It is the fatoush that you liked.”

  I took the food from Sunny. “You are a lucky boy, Sunny, to have such wonderful grandparents. You tell Helena that I will see her soon, okay?” I waved goodbye, as I walked toward the car, sad but relieved.

  Tick. Tick.

  The car, containing nearly every piece of my heart, exploded into a fiery ball of flames.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  My eyes stung and the world was silent except a high pitch ringing in my ears. I staggered to my feet, weaving as my everything spun.

  I needed to get to the car. They needed me. Why couldn’t I feel the bonds?

  I tripped over some debris, falling to my hands and knees. Blood dripped down my face, and I struggled to see. I wiped my eyes, and immediately wished I’d been blind. Rouen was on the ground, the bottom half his torso missing, his face burned and charred, his golden eye staring sightlessly.

  “Rouen!” I screamed as I struggled to his side, my hands desperately trying to close the wound in his abdomen, to put everything back inside where it was supposed to be. I couldn’t hear anything, not even myself, my throat aching from what I subconsciously realized were my own screams.

  I crawled away from Rouen towards the flames. I had to get to them. They needed me. The doors were already gone and I stood, my hands slick with Rouen's blood slipping when I grabbed the shell of the car.

  I refused to believe what I saw. Romanus was indestructible. He was my alpha. He would survive a tank. I refused to believe the torso still strapped into the driver's seat was Romanus. He could survive a car bomb.

  Naz sat in the back, asleep. His head was at a weird angle, but he would be fine, if I could just get him out of the flames. I reached in, dragging him across the backseat. Why couldn’t I move him?

  “Come on, Naz. I need you. Please,” I sobbed, as I pulled him from the wreckage. I overbalanced, pulling Naz down on top of me, cracking my head on the gravel. His body laid over mine, and my heart knew what my brain refused to contemplate.

  “No, no, no, come on, wake up.” I shifted him off me, trying to do CPR. Where was everyone? “Help me!” There was no thumping of his heart, no steady rise and fall of his chest.

  I felt a tug on my bond. Charlie. I crawled across the gravel, cutting up my hands and knees in my skirt, but I didn’t feel it.

  Charlie was on the other side of the car, blood covering his face. “Rella,” he gasped, blood bubbling past his lips. I grabbed hold of his hand and pressed it to my cheek.

  “I’m here, Charlie. We’re gonna be okay. All of us. We’re gonna be okay. I love you so much. We’re going to be okay.”

  His body started convulsing as he coughed, the blood from his mouth spraying over my face. I turned him on his side, desperately trying to free his airway, but his body shook with wet gasping breaths until they stopped.

  “Charlie? Stay with me. Don’t leave me.”

  I laid my head on his chest, straining to feel the beat of his heart against my cheek. Silence.

  Someone grabbed my shoulder and rolled me off of Charlie. Finally, help had arrived.

  My brain failed to comprehend why I was looking at Pedro the Arms Dealer. What was he doing here?

  He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear him over the high pitch ringing in my ears.

  “What?” I shouted.

  He leaned closer, until he was shouting directly into my ear. “I said, tell Naz no hard feelings. It’s just business.”

  I felt the cold press of a gun barrel against my head. Then black.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The white light of the room threatened to blind me. I squinted, raising my hand to shade my face. Holy shit, was I in heaven?

  “Hardly,” a familiar voice answered my unspoken question.

  I turned and looked at Luc, Ace beside him. They looked pissed.

  I blinked a few times, adjusting to the light. Where the fuck was I?

  The bomb. The guys. Fucking Pedro.

  “Figures she wouldn’t end up with soul amnesia. She’s been one foot in here since high school,” Ace murmured to Luc. She came over and hugged me, and that’s when it all sunk in like I was being doused in acid. I was dead. And in Hell. The kind with a capital H.

  I looked around the room, with its snowy white marble. “This is kind of false advertising, don’t you think?”

  Luc rolled his eyes. “You are in Hell, Estrella. I am the Lord of Hell. Now would be the time to learn to be a little more respectful.”

  Eesh. Probably sound life, er, afterlife advice. I searched the white halls. “Where’s Charlie? Where’s my guys?”

  “My guys,” Luc corrected. “Charles Mulligan has made it just outside the doors of the palace. Nazir’s soul was sorted to the first level, but I have sent someone to fetch him back.”

  I turned to him now, closing the distance between us. “Luc, where’s Romanus and Rouen?” I didn’t like the stubborn set of his jaw. “Luc?”

  “They had one job, Estrella. One. And they failed and now you are dead. I’m unsure you a fully grasping the seriousness of your situation. You are dead.”

  “Luc…” I warned. “Where are they?”

  He raised his chin. “I’m the Devil, I am true to my word. You don’t get to question me, Child. I staked them in the demoness pit as promised.”

  “No!” I shouted.

  “Yes. They let you die!” he roared back. “You are my child and they let your mortal life end at twenty-two. They needed to be punished.” His voice had gotten scarily low, which made all the little hairs on my arm raise.

  I took a deep breath. “It wasn’t their fault. If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. Please, Luc. I need them.”

  He stared at me, his jaw set stubbornly in his scarily handsome face.

  Ace, who’d been silent up until now, sighed heavily. “I have to go. They’ve just discovered your death.” Then she disappeared.

  I didn’t have to ask who They were. My family. I’d never see them again.

  Tears spilled from my eyes to run in a huge deluge down my cheeks until they were wetting my shirt. I scrambled around for my bond to Hope, but it was gone. I couldn’t imagine the pain she was feeling right now, and I couldn’t soothe her, couldn’t wrap her in my arms and protect her from this or any other hurt ever again.

  I was suddenly pressed against a big chest, huge dark wings wrapping around me, as Luc hugged me.

  The shock was enough to slow my tears. “It will be okay, Estrella, Child of my Beloved.” I hadn’t forgotten he called me his child earlier. “I promise it won’t be so bad. You will be happy he
re at the palace with Ace and I. You will see your family again, I will make sure of it.”

  He patted my back awkwardly, then released me. “Let us go get the Gargoille. It is pancake day, and the demonesses should still be gorging themselves in the palace kitchen, so your beasts should be unmolested.”

  I just blinked “Pancake day?”

  “Mmmhmmm. The only thing the demonesses like more than cock is pancakes.”

  Luc led me from the white room and down a hallway, the marble floors getting darker and darker until they were black. Once we stepped outside the palace doors, Luc clicked his fingers and we were somewhere else.

  My eyes fell on Romanus and Rouen, their naked bodies staked to the ground spread eagle.

  “Romanus! Rouen!” I ran from Luc’s side to Rouen who was closer. His eyes found mine, and they were a heartbreaking mixture of relief and guilt. I pulled at his bindings, until his arms were free. They came around my back, crushing me to his bare chest.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he repeated over and over against my ear. My tears started up again.

  “It’s okay. Let’s get you out of here.” He sat up and worked the knots around his ankles while I went to work on Romanus.

  I knelt beside him, but Rom refused to meet my gaze. “Leave,” he growled, shaking his wrists and making it almost impossible to untie the bindings.

  “As if. Now sit still.”

  He continued to struggle. “You need to go. Take Rouen. I failed you both. I deserve punishment. Damnation. Your mortal body is gone, because of me.”

  I gripped his face, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Listen to me. This was not your fault. This was all Tenebre, and that fucker Pedro, and we are going to make sure they get their karmic punishment. But I need my Alpha. I need you to love me, and tell me it’ll be okay as long as we are together. I need you.”

  His green and blue eyes stared at me, looking past my face and deep into my soul. He heaved out a breath that shook his whole body, and stopped struggling so I could untie his bindings. Rouen did his feet, his hand squeezing Romanus’ leg in silent support.

  When they were free, all three of us stood before Luc, a united front.

  The King of Hell, the Devil himself, heaved an exasperated sigh. “Even when you were a tiny infant, barely weeks old, I just knew you were going to be trouble, Estrella Jones.” He turned and left the demoness pit, and I averted my eyes from the other souls staked in the ground. I hadn’t noticed them before, my focus totally on my guys. People being punished was a sight I would have to get used to if I was going to live in Hell.

  Luc snapped his fingers, and we were back in the palace. Charlie and Nazir stood talking to Gusion, the beautiful Prince of Hell.

  I let go of Romanus and Rouen’s hands, tearing across the marble to throw myself into Naz’s arms. I reached out for Charlie and dragged him to me. I felt the press of the gargoyles to my back, and finally I could breathe.

  “You can get emotional later. Come. I’ll show you to your suite. I had it prepared twenty odd years ago for your parents, and look how that turned out?” Luc strode out of the great hall, walking up a winding set of dark marble stairs.

  I stepped away from the guys, pausing on the first step. This was it. The first step to the remainder of my afterlife.

  I looked around the palace, and then back at my guys.

  There were definitely worse ways to spend eternity.

  For The Triptych of Terror.

  I love you guys.

  Part I

  Chapter One

  I woke to an angel standing over me, a dagger pointed at my chest. I smiled, well, at least I tried to. The searing ache in my jaw told me it was probably broken.

  Azriel. I spoke into his mind and he stilled, his dagger still pressed to my chest. I took a quick inventory of my body. I was one solid mass of pain, and it felt like they’d kicked me into the room. I was chained to a bar, like a side of beef. I was naked.

  Azriel, I whispered again. This time he reared back as if I’d struck him. I guess it makes sense you’re here.

  I couldn’t draw breath, a rib must have broken and punctured my lung, and my heart was beginning to feel sluggish.

  “Who are you?” Azriel hissed, finding his voice at last. His dagger was still pressed firmly to the space above my heart, indenting my skin. “What are you? No human should be able to speak into my mind, Witch.”

  I’m Hope. You know my mother and… I struggled to define my relationship with Ace. It was part maternal, part bad influence. And my Ace?

  Again, he pulled away as if I had struck him. He had such a beautiful face, achingly perfect even when he was gaping like a codfish.

  His dagger slipped to his side. “You were one of her children. The aberrations.”

  Hey! I protested, but it wasn’t as forceful as I’d have liked. I was dying, quickly. Finish it. I hurt.

  He just stared at me, at the ruins of my face, the length of my bruised and broken naked body. But he didn’t leer. It was like he was cataloguing me, as if I was a puzzle that looked complete, but he still had an extra piece left over.

  Luckily, he didn’t grant my request immediately. In the next flash, Luc, my twin Estrella and Memphis sifted in.

  “Azriel, no!” Memphis shouted, lunging toward us. Azriel looked between me and the pair of Fallen angels, his face scrunched in confusion as he disappeared.

  Estrella was beside me in the next breath. Blood was beginning to spill over my lips and down my chin. Estrella was pale, her beautiful blue eyes huge and wild in her face.

  Rella, I whispered. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, and that she had to be strong. We were twins, but we had a connection greater than any other. My death would break her.

  “Shh. I’m getting you down and then we’ll get you to a hospital. I got you now. It’s okay.” She was fiddling with the chains and Luc came over, snapping them quickly. Memphis was there to catch me in his arms. I caught a quick glimpse of the naked rage in his eyes before a pain so intense swept over me that I screamed through my broken jaw. Everything in my body twisted, and sadness chased away the rage on Memphis’ face. My empathic abilities were swamped with the depth of his pain, almost drowning out my own. He knew I was dying, that I wouldn’t make it to hospital. I looked around desperately for Rella, wanting to send her one last reassurance, but my eyelids closed heavily, my body desperately trying to heal. Too late.

  When I managed to open a single eye, we were no longer in dank basement that was to be my tomb. Instead, sun burned hot against my naked skin.

  “Mephistopheles! What have you done?” I turned my face toward the beautiful voice that spoke. If I could have drawn enough breath, I would have gasped.

  An angel stood before me, more beautiful than any I had ever seen. More beautiful than Luc or Memphis, who weren’t actually beautiful so much as awe inspiring, or maybe terrifying would be more accurate. He was even more beautiful than Azriel.

  “I didn’t do this, Raphael.” Memphis sounded hurt that the other angel had even suggested it. The cold note of vengeance had threaded its way back into his emotions. “Humans did this. You must heal her.”

  “Must I?” Raphael almost seemed amused, his hand reaching out to stroke my face. I turned my face into his palm. “Ah, you are one of Acerezeal’s progeny.” He gave me a warm smile, and it felt as if my body was healing itself from the strength of his gaze alone. That, or it no longer cared about dying.

  “It is too late, old friend. She is the domain of Azriel now.”

  I couldn’t even feel mad that this beautiful Archangel had just sentenced me to death, as long as he didn’t stop stroking my cheek. His touch chased away the pain.

  “Azriel came and left again. He rejected the call. Isn’t that proof enough? Please, Raphael.” I'd never heard any of the Fallen beg before, but I knew without a doubt that Memphis was begging for my life. Kinda gave me the warm fuzzies. Or that might have been the beginnings of my nervous system s
hutting down. At this point, I didn’t care which.

  Raphael was pondering Memphis’ words. “How unusual. Well, I guess if she isn’t slated for ascension by the Angel of Death, there’s no harm in healing her a little. Most unprecedented, though.”

  He pressed a hand to my chest, inches from my exposed breast, and a healing warmth spread through my body. I grimaced as my ribs realigned, and my jaw snapped back into place, but the Archangel was buffering me from my pain. I knew this because he took it into himself. I could feel the waves of pain hitting him through my empathic senses.

  My breathing became less labored, every movement no longer an agonizing torture.

  “There, still broken but not beyond repair. Sometimes the human body needs to heal itself.”

  I tried to speak, but the pain in my jaw was still intense.

  Instead I spoke into his mind. Thank you.

  Raphael raised his brows. “You are welcome, little one.” He turned to Memphis. “Does Michael know she can mindspeak?”

  Memphis shrugged, jostling me a little in his arms and I grimaced.

  “Sorry,” he grunted at me. “I assume Michael knows. He knows all.”

  The Archangel Raphael laughed. “True. But he isn’t as omniscient as some people wish to believe.”

  I summoned enough energy to look around. Wherever we were must have been somewhere in Africa, poor and rural, because out the window there was an abundance of children with big smiles but heartbreakingly thin limbs. There was a Red Cross on the door. Some kind of clinic maybe?

  Where are we?

  “Malawi,” Raphael answered, his eyes watching me closely.

  The gaunt faces broke my heart. What do they need?

  Raphael gave me a smile that threatened to light up my world. “I see you inherited your mother’s warm heart and inability to turn your back on suffering. They need what all these countries need. Food, water and infrastructure. Access to consistent healthcare services. A stable, uncorrupt government and a good influx of funds to help lift themselves above the poverty line.” His emotions threatened to overwhelm me, and I mentally locked them in the box with all the other shit that needed to be processed later. Estrella had always stressed the need to keep my empathy a secret from everyone.