Angel of Darkness Books 1-5

by Mackenzie Morris

  "Yes."

  "I'm sorry. I know it is hurting people, but I can't do it. I can't break my vows."

  "I know. That's all right. We will only force you to do so if it is an emergency situation."

  He couldn't take a full breath. "Force me? You would rape me?"

  "Not me personally. We would probably ask Gavin to do it."

  Jaylen's mouth fell open as he turned to glare at her.

  "Don't look at me like that."

  He still stared at her in disbelief.

  "Jaylen, stop it. You're making me feel bad."

  "You should feel bad. You just told me that you would give your father permission to rape me. What is wrong with you?"

  "Only during an emergency."

  He scooted as far forward in the saddle as he could to get away from her. "I don't know if I can still be friends with you."

  "It would have to be something really bad to do that to you."

  Jaylen turned back around. "I'd hope so."

  "Don't be mad."

  "I'm just very, very concerned. Why does everyone think they can throw me around and abuse me?"

  "It's not that, Jaylen. It's not. There are things beyond our control that could really hurt people. Your vows are one of them. To be responsible, we have to have backup plans. This is one of those backup plans. I would never want someone to do that to you, but if the lives of our friends are in danger, I will ask Gavin to do what he does best."

  Jaylen was clutching the reins so tightly that his hand was starting to turn purple as the leather cut off the circulation. He wanted to be anywhere but here with this demon who was talking about him like his own values and his own body didn't matter. Any feelings of love or caring that he had been feeling for Liaxa were quickly fading. How long had they been planning this contingency plan? Who else was involved in this?

  Liaxa gently kissed the back of Jaylen's neck, directly on his hairline. "I'm sorry, baby."

  "Just leave me alone. I don't feel like talking."

  "I love you."

  Jaylen sighed. "I love you too. Can we change the subject?"

  "Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

  "Nothing. Let's ride in silence. I have some thinking to do."

  * * *

  Sweat poured down Zeriel's face and onto his bare chest and legs while he was stretched onto his tiptoes by the enchanted shackles that had been secured to a hook in the ceiling of the stone room. A single torch burned on the wall, casting ominous shadows on the walls as Stephan circled around him with a sadistic grin on his face and his fangs glittering in the light. Zeriel had been here for what felt like hours. His wings ached and throbbed from where they had been sliced with a dagger. The drugs were still wearing off, leaving him woozy and a bit confused as the world spun around him.

  Stephan wrapped a leather strap around his hand then slapped it across Zeriel's face. "This can all end if you give me the answers I need, Zeriel."

  "Why are you doing this?"

  "Isn't it obvious? Your paladin isn't here. Sola has abandoned you. You belong to me and only me now, angel." He unwound the strap then went behind him. "And I do love to make you squirm."

  Zeriel grunted as the thick leather bit into his back.

  "Like that?" Stephan mocked him.

  "What do you think?"

  Zeriel tried to stay as stoic as he could, grinding his teeth together as the lashings continued, but he eventually couldn't take the pain anymore and he cried out as his will was broken. "Sola, have mercy!"

  "The only person you need to be begging for mercy from is me. Do you hear me?" Stephan threw down the leather strap and took a pair of pliers from his belt of torture devices. "Know what these are for? The most sensitive part of your body. Your wings."

  "Don't! Please don't. Please."

  "Do you know how pathetic you look hanging there blubbering as you're crying? I made an angel cry. How delicious. Now, if you don't tell me where Jaylen's soul key is, I will start plucking out your beautiful ebony feathers one by one."

  "I'll never tell you."

  "Fine. Then let's have some fun." Stephan pulled Zeriel's left wing in front of his body then separated one of the long pinion feathers from the rest. He gripped it tightly in the metal pliers. "Ready?"

  "Don't."

  "Let's see how many it takes before you break."

  Zeriel screamed as his feathers were ripped from his wings, sending a flash of intense pain through his body. One after another, the bloody feathers were yanked out and floated to the floor. He panted and his knees buckled under him until the only thing keeping him upright were the enchanted shackles around his wrists. "Please . . . stop. Stop. Stop, please! I'll tell you anything. Whatever you want to know. I'll tell you."

  "Where is Jaylen's soul key?" Stephan asked. "I know you have it. Where did you hide it?"

  "It's in the vampire coven. I hid it . . . in the top drawer of my dresser in my bedroom. It's inside a sock."

  "If I go there and don't find anything, you will pay for lying to me when I get back." Stephan unhooked the shackles from the hook in the ceiling then laughed darkly as Zeriel collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood. "I will be back in two hours. I suggest that you do what you can to stop that bleeding, or you will pass out. You better start praying for your own sake that I find that key."

  Chapter 14

  "Welcome to Hell."

  Once they passed through the glittering barrier of the rift and Jaylen's senses returned to him, he opened his eyes and took a deep breath, only to break down in a fit of coughing. "Sola, help me. What is wrong with this air?"

  Liaxa held tightly to him as she took the reins while he recovered. "Smoke. There is always something burning down here."

  "No. Not that. There's something else."

  "Oh. The sweet smell? Cookies."

  "Cookies?"

  "Everyone in Hell bakes cookies. Think of it like a grandmother who always bakes cookies for her grandchildren, only her grandchildren are bloodthirsty demons."

  Jaylen shook his head as he tried to wrap his mind around that description. In the meantime, his other senses were overwhelmed by the tall sparkling obsidian spires, the waterfalls of brightly glowing orange and red lava that spilled from clear platforms high up in the sky, a constant low churning hymn that came from somewhere below them, and a warm yet uninviting feeling that crawled across his skin like millions of angry ants gnawing without end. Despite the uncomfortable feelings, there was something truly beautiful and enchanting about the clear trees topped with yellow flowers that lined the deep red rivers that twisted across the landscape and around large black crystals. The light that hovered in the sky was like mage-glow, only made of luminescent shadows, always swirling like thin clouds in the far reaches of the atmosphere. The light reflected off of mirrored panels that served as walkways in the populated areas where spherical buildings were clustered together around sand pits. In those sand pits, elves and humans were being slowly sucked down into the quicksand as they screamed and reached out for help. The demon citizens only mocked and laughed at them, sometimes dragging one of the poor beings out only to toss them back in heartlessly.

  "Don't worry about those people in the sand pits. They won't die. The demons like tormenting them too much. They are pets."

  "Pets?"

  "Yeah. Humans have dogs, cats, or rabbits. Demons have humans and elves."

  "Aren't elves demons as well?" Jaylen asked.

  "They are more like pseudo demons. They have demonic tendencies and can live in Hell, but they will never be full demons. Oh, look down there in the plaza. You know what they are."

  Jaylen spotted the procession of black-winged angels in long robes as they walked slowly out of a temple-like building. "Fallen."

  "Yes. The fallen angels keep the peace. I guess once an angel, always an angel. They never lose that sense of judgment and order."

  "Do they have Tainted they serve?"

  "Like you? Not all of them. Some do, b
ut most revel in the freedom they have here."

  "As much as I would love to stay here and learn all about the awful things that go on in this place, we need to find Zeriel before something even worse happens to him. Where are we going?"

  "You're the one who is bonded to him. Can't you sense where he is?" Liaxa asked. "I thought that was thing."

  "If it is a thing, I haven't figured it out yet."

  "Okay. I have an idea. Stephan has an underground bunker that he claims is for storing his human documents that he restores. I don't believe him one bit. I bet he is keeping Zeriel in there."

  They flew along until Liaxa pointed out a mirrored sphere on the horizon between two black crystals. "There's Stephan's bunker. Let's land a little ways away so no one suspects anything.

  He brought Pegasa to a landing then slipped the amulet off of his neck. "Ugh." Jaylen groaned as he slid off of Pegasa's back and grabbed his groin.

  "Are you okay?" Liaxa asked, joining him on the ground.

  "Just hurting. All this riding is not doing my injuries any good."

  "Let me see."

  "Are you serious?" Jaylen asked as he shielded himself from her. "No. It's embarrassing. They are very private wounds. I'm fine."

  "Did you have Oviel look at them?"

  "No."

  "When we get back to the vampire coven, you need to see if he can help you."

  Jaylen took a black cloak out of his saddle bag then wrapped it around his shoulders and pulled the hood down over his head. "Forget it. I'm a man. I don't need to be coddled anymore."

  "No one is trying to coddle you, Jaylen. Even the manliest men need help sometimes. If your father had-"

  "Don't talk about my father!" Jaylen's hand tightened into a fist as he turned away from her. "You aren't worthy of even speaking his name."

  "But you hate your father."

  "No. I hate who became. I loved my father more than anything else in the world. I'm not the one who betrayed him. I was innocent. Don't you get that? I was innocent!"

  Her voice turned soft again. "I wasn't accusing you of anything, Jaylen."

  "Then drop it. Let's go. I want to get out of here as quickly as possible. There is a storm brewing."

  Liaxa looked up at the red sky. "What storm?"

  "Figuratively. I don't have much time left."

  "What do you mean by that?" She asked. "Stop speaking in riddles. You're scaring me."

  "Good. Everyone needs something to be afraid of, to keep them grounded. Fear is a blessing. It turns blundering idiots into cautious observers. It turns battlefields into graveyards. Death and life both end in fear."

  Liaxa grabbed his hand. "Give me that amulet. It's doing something to you."

  "It's mine. Carvael gave it to me!"

  "Think about that for a second. The angel who hurt you and abused you gave you something so great? There has to be a downside. You are changing into something dark. Give it to me."

  "No!" Jaylen shoved the amulet down the front of his pants. "There. You can't get it now."

  "Nice, Jaylen. How mature."

  "Let's go."

  * * *

  Black feathers and blood coated the floor of the cell. Curled up in the corner with his wrists bound by golden shackles, was Zeriel, completely naked. Red welts and dark, swollen bruises covered his arms, chest, and legs. He was shivering in the cold air as he sat on the stone floor and hid his face in his arms. His black wings were tattered and matted with blood. Some of the longest feathers had been clipped short.

  Jaylen ran down the metal hallway until he slid to a stop in front of the bars of the cell. "Zeriel? Zeriel! Liaxa, it's Zeriel."

  The beaten angel looked up at him with his black eye and bloody lip. "Jaylen . . . what are you doing here?"

  "We came to save you. You're injured."

  "I can deal with it."

  "No. It's bad, isn't it?"

  He crawled over to the bars and took Jaylen's hand in his. "Stephan is evil."

  "I know. I know everything. Gavin drugged you."

  "Yes. I remember him doing it. I thought it was a joke, but it wasn't." Zeriel wiped the blood from his chin. "Go back to the coven. Get Oviel and tell him what's going on. You can't be here. There are very evil demons here who would devour you, Jaylen. I heard them talking through the door when it was opened earlier. They've been plotting what they would do to you. Horrible, horrible things. Run. Run away and don't come back. Let them kill me. Break our bond so you won't die as well."

  "No. I can't leave you."

  "Listen to me closely. I will tell you exactly what to do to end our bond. Go back into the rift. Find your soul chest and open it with this key." Zeriel pushed the tiny silver soul key into Jaylen's hand. "Take it and open the chest. Then cut your hand and smear the blood over the contents."

  "What's in there?" Liaxa asked. "It should be empty if all his soul segments are accounted for."

  "Sulstair the elf hid his three soul segments he got from me in the chest. He told me."

  Jaylen held Zeriel's bloody hand tightly. "I don't understand."

  "Whereas demons make bonds in blood, ones with angels are broken that way. If you can't figure it out, talk to Xair. He knows this stuff."

  "No. I won't do it. I'm not leaving you. There has to be a way to get you out of here."

  "Let me try it!" Liam ran up to the lock and began tampering with it.

  Jaylen took a step back. "Liam? How did you get here?"

  "I came with Oviel. We followed you in case you were gonna do somethin' dumb."

  "But how did you get through the rift? Isn't it impossible for a human without magic to do that?"

  Oviel joined them. "Liam is a special case. We will discuss his status later."

  "You told me it was our secret, Oviel." Liam complained as he continued tinkering with the lock on the cell.

  "Do not forget that Jaylen is your owner. Don't you think he deserves to know?"

  "Please don't. He will be scared of me. I know he will be."

  "Tell me now." Jaylen insisted. "This is no time to be keeping secrets."

  Oviel placed his hand protectively on the boy's shoulder. "Liam is dead."

  "I don't . . ."

  "Those red paladins who tortured him didn't stop torturing him. They drowned him. He died in the stream. But after the paladins left, a necromancer found the fresh corpse and brought it back to life. The necromancer began to train Liam and corrupt his soul, but stopped and ran off when the red paladins returned to hide the body. Finding Liam alive, they believed he hadn't died, so they sold him."

  "It's true. I told him that story." Liam said meekly. "I'm dead. I don't feel good things. I pretend to feel more than pain, but I don't feel anythin' else. It's always pain or fear. I hurt all the time, all over. I don't have to eat or sleep. My real Master is out there somewhere, keepin' me in this half-alive state. I don't know why. But here I am. Sometimes he makes me do things that I wouldn't want to do if I was still alive. I deal with it. I can't fight him. I don't even know who he is."

  "You're dead?" Jaylen asked. "Like actually dead?"

  "Think undead." Oviel said. "He is a reanimated corpse that was brought back to life with demonic magic."

  Liaxa shook her head. "Oh, no, no, no. Don't go around saying things like that and blaming demons for these monstrosities. We don't do this. We're not into necromancy. Corpses should stay corpses. Necromancers are their own things. They don't even live in Hell. We hate them."

  Zeriel reached out through the bars, breathing heavily through the agony. "Not to change the subject or anything, but I'm bleeding out in here."

  "I've got it." There was a loud click then Liam slid the bars open. "There. Easy peasy."

  Jaylen helped his angel to his feet then wrapped his cloak around Zeriel's waist. "We can't have a naked angel, now can we?"

  Zeriel managed a smile as he held the cloak around him. "Thanks, Jay."

  "Come on. Can you fly?"

  "Not until my feat
hers grow back. I won't get very far at all."

  Oviel pushed the door open and the red light spilled into the corridor. "Don't worry, Jaylen. I will carry Liam so you and Zeriel can take Pegasa. Liaxa, ride your father's gryphon. We have to get out of here before Stephan returns or any of the archdemons become aware of our presence."

  * * *

  Zeriel was already starting to feel better as he took a deep breath of fresh air, or as close to fresh as the air in Hell could be. As he walked, he was partially carried between Jaylen and Liaxa as Oviel hurriedly bandaged the wounds to stop the bleeding. The sharp rocks and rough sand scraped the bottoms of his bare feet, adding insult to his more serious injuries.

  Just when they reached the quiet grove of clear glass trees where Pegasa and Gavy were tied up, a ground-shaking shriek filled with sky followed by the sound of massive wings. The light from the sky was momentarily blotted out as an enormous shadow passed over them. A dragon-like being with two legs and massive shadowy black claws on its front arms landed in front of them.

  Liam whimpered as he hid behind Oviel's turquoise wings. "What is that thing?"

  Liaxa ducked behind a black crystal nearby then gathered everyone else behind it as well. "An archdemon! Oviel, hide Jaylen."

  "Damn it. How did they find us?" Zeriel asked weakly.

  "How did they find us?" Jaylen asked. "Really? We're a paladin, two angels, a resurrected corpse, and a succubus in Hell together and you're asking how they found us? We don't stick out at all!"

  "Now is not the time for your sarcastic rants, Jaylen."

  Jaylen snapped back at him. "You're in no condition to be talking, Zeriel."

  "If you want to go get yourself killed, then be my guest."

  "Oh, how nice of you!"

  Oviel glared at them then slapped Jaylen on the back of his head. "Both of you, stop. I would have slapped you too, Zeriel, but you're already hurting. We need to work together to get a plan going or we are all going to be killed here."

  "Well, I wasn't trying to argue. You know how he is."

  Liaxa looked around frantically. "Guys, where's Jaylen?"

  Zeriel had a sinking feeling in his chest as he peered out from behind the black crystal to see his paladin running through the sand. "No! Jaylen, don't! It will kill you."