“That could be our chance to escape,” Mal says.
I do value his optimism. It fuels my determination, because I know if we fail, if these bastards get us to Mammon, then nothing will save us.
“I kinda wish I’d stayed longer with Fee,” Mal says softly.
We’re both thinking the same thing: what if we never see her again?
“Can you get a message to her?” Mal asks. “Let her feel we’re alive?”
I shake my head. “The drug’s messing with the soul bond right now.”
He sighs and drops his head back against the wood. “Yeah, makes sense. Let’s hope the messengers we dispatched made it out.”
I don’t have the heart to tell him I saw one take an arrow to the leg and the other…I watched several of Mammon’s demons chase him.
If either made it out, it would be a miracle. But maybe a miracle is just what we need right now.
“Fee will have made it, though,” Mal says. The moonlight lancing in through the gaps in the wood highlights his wistful smile. “She’ll fucking make it, Az. That woman is resilient as fuck.”
I close my eyes and picture her face. I can’t give up. I won’t.
I will find my way back to you, Fee. Or I’ll die trying. And then an idea forms in my mind, so obvious I want to kick myself for not having thought of it sooner.
My eyes snap open. “We need to move about.”
“What?” Mal asks.
“Metabolize this shit in our systems. Come on.”
“There’s not exactly much room in here.” Mal’s eyes light up. “But all we need to do is get our heart rates pumping. Exertion will do it.” He grins. “Fancy an arm wrestle?”
Chapter Fifteen
Fee
“I’m not leaving you,” Uriel said. “I let you down in Limbo, I know, but I won’t let you down again.” His expression was a mixture of determination and shame.
Oh God, did he think that was the reason I was sending him back? “Uri…” I grasped his hand and looked up into his face searchingly. “You did not let me down. That is not why I’m asking you to head back.”
“It isn’t?” He looked confused. “Then why?”
“I need you to let Grayson and Cora know what went down. They need to know the power is free, and they need to know what Keon and I are about to do in case…in case we fail. I need you to make sure that the power is doing what he’s meant to and that the Righteous keep their end of the bargain.” His shoulders dropped, and I lifted his hand and clasped it to my chest. “I need you to do this for me.”
“Of course,” he said. “But if you’re not back in a few hours, I’m coming after you. I’ll find a way into the Underealm.”
I believed him. I pushed up on my tiptoes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and hugged him, allowing his aura to roll over me. He went still, but I didn’t care. I needed this hug. He needed this hug. We all needed hugs, but then his arms were around me. Me, and he was hugging me back. My heart bloomed with joy.
“Keep her safe.” Uriel’s chest vibrated against me as he spoke.
“It’s what I do,” Keon said.
Uriel pulled back and looked down at me, his ember gaze a soft caress. “What did happen while we were unconscious?”
I kissed the corner of his mouth, savoring his magnolia scent, and then stepped away from him.
“I’ll tell you over coffee and donuts when this is all over.”
He gave me a pointed look as if to say, I’ll hold you to that, and then he winked out.
“Come on,” Keon said. “Night’s still young, and there’s blood to be shed.”
“Or you could just say we have saving to do.”
“I like my way better.”
Figured.
Keon made sure we approached the crossroads tavern from the opposite direction he believed Mammon’s men would arrive. We landed in the shadows by a creek behind the tavern and crouched in the darkness.
“Stay here,” Keon said. “Let me scope out the place.”
I nodded and he set off, moving so sinuously he was one with the shadows and I lost sight of him. How the fuck did he do that? I guess that’s what made him an excellent assassin.
Would I see him coming when I was his target?
No, don’t think about it. That day might never come.
But the squirm in my gut told me it would and that I was playing with fire and that I needed to stop moving forward with Keon and take several steps back. But that kiss…
The crack of a twig had my head whipping around to search the shadows behind me. “Keon?” I whisper-hissed.
A shadow rushed me, and my pending scream was cut off by a hand over my mouth. My instinct was to fight, and I inhaled through my nose, ready to do just that, and froze as my attacker’s scent permeated my senses.
My eyes grew hot, and I sagged back against him. He slowly removed his hand and gripped my shoulders gently.
My body trembled as I turned to face him. His sapphire gaze lit up as it scanned my face, and then the corner of his mouth turned up slightly.
“Hello, Fee.”
“Conah…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What are you doing here?”
“I received a message from Azazel. I figure the caravan will head this way.”
I nodded mutely.
“Is Keon with you?”
I nodded again. God, I’d forgotten how beautiful he was. I’d forgotten what his voice could do to me.
“Keon’s scouting.”
“Good,” Conah said. “I have a small group of men with me. We’ll get them back.”
I wanted to ask him how he was doing? I wanted to hug him, but the last words he’d said to me lingered in my mind.
He’d made it clear we wouldn’t be friends, that all we could ever be was colleagues.
I pushed back the emotions and tore my gaze from his face, fixing it on the tavern in the distance. I caught a flash of movement so quick I would have thought I imagined it if I didn’t know Keon was out there.
Conah sucked in a sharp breath, and I turned to find a dagger at his throat. He grimaced.
“I could have killed you,” Keon said. “I thought you were trained not to be distracted by the shiny stuff?”
Shiny stuff, as in me?
Conah dropped his gaze. “Keon, what did you find?”
“The caravan just pulled up. There are three carriages. I believe one holds the cadets, and the one laced with obsidian holds Azazel and Malachi. The final one must be for Mammon’s men.”
“The fact that Az and Mal haven’t broken free means they’ve been incapacitated,” Conah said.
Oh shit. “You don’t think they’ve been drugged with that stuff…The stuff they used on you last time?”
Conah pressed his lips together and nodded.
Shit. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
“We cause a diversion,” Keon said. “Draw the guards to the tavern, and then one of us sets them free.”
“How many guards?” Conah asked.
“Six have been left behind to guard the two carriages. No sign of Master Luena; she may be in the carriage with the cadets. The rest of Mammon’s men are inside the tavern. I counted six more.”
“There had to have been more men,” Conah said. “They probably left by air.”
“So we create a distraction.” I looked from Keon to Conah. “What kind?”
Keon fixed his yellow eyes on me. “There are no females in the tavern.”
Conah’s brows went up. “That could work.”
I was suddenly afraid to ask.
Conah steered me into the musty, warm confines of the tavern and then wrapped his arm around my waist possessively, pulling me against him.
“Where do you think you’re going, woman,” he said boisterously. “You stay close.”
“Get off me.” I pulled away, glaring at him. “You don’t own me.”
“I paid good coin for you.”
“Fuck you. You can have your co
in. I’m sure there are better demons in this place than the likes of you who’d willingly set me free.”
I looked about, zeroing in on the table to the left of the door, the one that housed Mammon’s men. They were dressed in black, cloaked, and trying to look inconspicuous, which made them stand out even more.
“You there!” I strode over to the table. “You’ll help me, won’t you?” I pouted prettily and fluttered my lashes at the nearest demon. His stern gaze softened a little. “Please, don’t let him take me. He has no idea how to please a woman.”
The demon’s companion nudged him.
These demons had no clue who Conah was. He wasn’t in the public eye like Azazel, and his features weren’t as distinctive as Keon’s.
“Please.” I made a grab for the demon closest to me and Conah hauled me back against his chest, wrapping his arms around me and nuzzling my neck.
“You’re mine.” There was a growl to his tone that sent a delicious shock through me.
Even though I knew this was an act, my body obviously hadn’t gotten the memo because it reacted to his proximity like a moth to a flame by leaning into him.
Conah gripped me tighter, punishingly, reminding me what role I needed to play.
I gasped and pulled away from him. “Please,” I pleaded with the demons at the table.
According to Conah, most demon males were instinctually programmed to protect females. Yeah, they could be chauvinistic at times, but females were prized, and the reasoning was that these rogues that worked for Mammon wouldn’t be able to turn their backs on a demon female in need.
Sure enough, two of them pushed back their seats and stood. “Let go of her,” one of them said.
The other pulled out a dagger. “Or we’ll make you.”
Conah gave me a squeeze as if to say, it’s on now, and then he released me and stepped around me to face the demons.
“Oh?” he said. “You think you can take what’s mine?” He drew his sword, obsidian and gleaming, and then grabbed my arm and tugged me behind him. “Come and get it.”
This was the part I didn’t like. The part where Conah took on six demons. But this was where part two of the plan came into play.
As the demons attacked Conah, I turned, grabbed a clay jug, and slammed it into another patron’s head. He was huge, red-eyed, and pissed, and as he leaped to his feet with a growl, I shoved him into the table behind him. It started a ripple effect, and suddenly, everyone was on their feet, and the place was one big brawl.
I rushed to the door and flung it open. “Fight!”
I caught sight of movement by the carriage parked a few meters away, and then demons were rushing toward the tavern.
I backed up, eyes scanning the room, which was now in an uproar, to spot Conah blade to blade with one of Mammon’s demons. I ducked through the fray, dodging fists to reach him. I came up between the two guys and punched the demon in the face.
His head whipped back, and Conah grabbed him and hauled him toward the exit. Shit, the other demons were pouring in. I shoved Conah against the wall. Pressing him to it while the rest of Mammon’s men joined the brawl.
Fuck, it was as if the aggression was contagious, or maybe these demons just needed a reason, any reason, to kick ass.
The demon I’d punched groaned, coming to.
“Shit,” Conah said. “Move.”
We dragged the demon out of the tavern and into the night.
Keon was by one of the carriages, the one with no windows and huge wheels.
“I can’t get in,” he said. “My daggers won’t cut it.”
My scythe flared to life as I strode toward the contraption. We had minutes, if that, before the demons realized the brawl was a distraction.
My blade arced toward the carriage, but before I could slice it open, the wall cracked outward and blinding light seared my eyes. I blinked away the dots in time to see Azazel climb out of the aperture.
I rushed toward him, and he swept me up into his arms, crushing me against him with a sigh. I wanted to stay there in his arms, but there was no time.
I pulled away. “We need to move.”
Mal took my hand, and we broke into a run, away from the tavern and across the road, headed for the tree line for cover. Keon and Conah lugged the demon who was barely semi-conscious. I think Conah may have punched him again.
We hit the tree line and kept going for long minutes. Mal tugged me along, his grip tight. I wanted to stop and hug him. To tell them both how fucking relieved I was to have them back, but we weren’t out of the woods yet, pun intended.
“Can you fly?” Keon asked Azazel.
“I think the drug is mostly out of our systems, but I wouldn’t risk a flight.”
“This run should help metabolize,” Mal said.
“There’s a barn a quarter of a mile up ahead,” Keon said. “We can regroup there.”
We picked up the pace. I had my guys back, now all I needed to do was keep them safe.
Chapter Sixteen
The barn was isolated and abandoned, but it kept out the worst of the chill, and the acres of land around it meant that the demon’s screams wouldn’t be heard by anyone but us. I stood by the doors as Keon worked on Mammon’s man, unable to watch him slice and remove talons.
“Are you all right?” Mal asked, joining me by the doors to look out at the night.
I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I’m fine. What about you?”
“Better for seeing you.” He slipped his arm around my waist. “For a moment there, I thought we were fucked. That I’d never see you again.”
My mind drifted to Limbo, to my sacrifice. “You have no idea.”
“Huh?” He nudged me to look at him. “What happened in Limbo?”
“Tons.” I filled him in on the weird nature of the place, on the man, and on how Uriel had been captivated by the music. I told him about Keon and how he’d tried to kill me and what I’d done to bring him out of his trance.
“You kissed him.” Mal’s jaw tightened.
I licked my lips. “It felt…right.”
He searched my face. “Fee…not him. Please tell me you don’t have feelings for that creature.”
I wanted to tell him exactly that, but the words wouldn’t come. I shook my head. “Look, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the power is free. It was the man all along.” I recounted what the divine power had told me. “So, the end of the worlds has been postponed.”
Mal touched my face. “You offered your life?”
Ah, yeah, I’d glossed over that part, hoping he wouldn’t dwell.
“Fee…”
I shrugged.
He looked pained. “When will you learn how much your life means to us? Did you even stop to consider what your loss would do to us?”
“I did. I considered it all, and I couldn’t sentence another soul to burn. It just isn’t who I am.”
He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me to his chest. “I fucking love you, Fee. More than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything. Please, don’t put yourself in the line of fire like that again.”
His tone was calm, but his heart was thundering against my cheek.
I slipped my hands up his back and clasped him to me. My breasts were squished against his hard torso. The contact was warming and soothing, and for a moment, I allowed myself to imagine we were back at quarters and everything was in order—no looming war, no quest for a queen, nothing but the regular grind.
Keon’s victim’s shrill scream of pain pierced my head.
I pulled sharply away from Mal, stomach churning as the scream tapered off into a gurgle. “How can he do it? Hurt someone so coldly?”
“He’s not Lilith’s Blade for nothing,” Mal said.
But I’d seen the vulnerable side of him, the soft side, the side that could save a life, not take it. “It’s just so brutal. He’s so brutal.”
“I have something,” Keon said from behind us. His tone was even and cold.
&n
bsp; I looked at his blood-spattered face. He leaned his head to the side and regarded me evenly.
“He’s a grunt. Doesn’t know details but had a location. Something he overheard.” He dragged his attention from me to Mal. “The pit.”
“Fuck.” Mal blew out an angry breath.
“What? Wait…Weren’t the circles called the pit?”
“Maybe as a nickname a long time ago,” Mal said. “But the real pit is several hundred miles north from the keep. It’s a no-man’s land. Nothing survives there, and the air is toxic.”
“Sounds like the perfect place to hide out.”
Azazel and Conah joined us.
“We never considered it as an option,” Conah said. “Not many daemons or demons can process the air there.”
“Mammon obviously can,” Mal said.
“Lilith would be able to,” Keon said.
“And he could have the others on Limarax,” Conah said.
“Oh, shit,” Mal added.
“What’s Limarax?”
“A rare herb that can counter the effects of the toxic elements in the air,” Conah explained. “We’ll need to harvest and create a tincture.”
“How long?” Azazel asked.
“From what I recall, it can take a week to steep; that, coupled with the time it would take to locate and harvest…probably ten days to two weeks.”
Two weeks? “We can’t do nothing for two weeks.” I looked from Conah to Keon. “Mammon has Lilith. He could attack Imperium at any time.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Conah said. “We need the tincture to go after her.”
“I might not need it,” Azazel said.
Mal rolled his eyes. “You’re not a one-man army, Az. We need to play this smart.”
Azazel made a sound of exasperation. “Fortify the city and find plans of the pit.”
“I’ll get on it,” Conah said. “You should get back to quarters. Rest up, and I’ll send a phoenix when the tincture is ready.”
Reaper Unhinged (Deadside Reapers Book 6) Page 9