“What would you have done?” I demanded of him.
“Not that,” Bale said. “If some guy did that to me, I’d have his balls hanging from my neck.”
Corson winced and instinctively shielded himself. “Shit, Bale.”
She flung back a piece of her fiery hair. “It’s true, and from what I’ve seen of your Chosen, Kobal, she doesn’t back down and she has no fear. She’s plotting, trust me on this.”
I glanced at where River remained in the truck. She hadn’t moved in the past half hour. An hour ago, she’d been melting in my arms, now she may try and fry me if I went near her. “I won’t have her near the canaghs and you know as well as I that the mission is more valuable than five human lives.”
“Not to her,” Bale said quietly. “You’re rehashing past mistakes by forgetting she’s human and she’s not a soldier like the others here. Most of these humans have been at the wall and fighting this war for at least five years, many longer. They’re more hardened than she is. They obeyed the rules she’s refused to follow from the beginning, and she’s only been with us for a few months.”
I continued to stare at the back of River’s head before turning away. Bale was right, but so was I. “I’ve made my decision and it will not be swayed.”
“I can’t wait to see how that works out for you,” Bale replied with a smile.
“Tact, Kobal, you really should learn how to start using it once in a while,” Corson said.
I snatched a backpack off the ground and tossed it into the back of the truck. “I left our bags by the lake,” I recalled.
“I’ll get them,” Corson offered.
He jogged across the clearing to the tree line. Glancing at the truck again, a bolt of panic shot through me when I realized River wasn’t there. I ran across the ground to the truck. I grabbed for the door handle when I spotted her curled up on the bench seat, her head resting on her hands.
Her gaze flickered toward me and her chin jutted up before she looked away. “You’ll forgive me.”
I knew she’d heard me, but she didn’t so much as glance in my direction again. Slapping my hands on top of the pickup, I turned away and stalked back toward Bale who smirked at me. “Oh yeah, I definitely can’t wait to see how this goes,” she said and turned away.
Apparently, being a woman sympathetic to another woman’s plight was enough for someone to toss aside centuries of friendship. I scowled at her back before returning to gathering the salvageable supplies.
Corson reemerged from the woods and jogged over to throw our bags into the back of the truck River sat in. “What is she doing?” I demanded when he walked over to me.
“Looks like she’s sleeping.”
“Good.” I turned as the humans gathered closer to us. In the light of the moon, I could see the haggardness of their features and the dusky circles under their eyes. No matter how I wanted to push on, they were nearing a breaking point.
Tact, Corson had said. It may not be the wisest choice to stay here with the smoke still rising into the air around us, but the humans didn’t look capable of moving on right now.
“We’ll rest until daybreak. Then we’re leaving.” Some of them nodded at my words, but most of them glanced nervously around the clearing. “The canaghs won’t dare to come back here tonight,” I assured them.
Their shoulders slumped, their relief was nearly palpable as more of them nodded their agreement. Walking away, I returned to the truck and peered inside at River’s slumbering form. Safe, alive. That was all that mattered, I told myself, but I ached to hold her right now, something I knew she wouldn’t let me do again for a while.
I glanced at the moon hanging above the trees as it made its descent. What if I go after them?
I would be able to bring them back if I found them, but I would be leaving River alone here, vulnerable to an attack. I didn’t dare risk sending any of the others and having them not return. We couldn’t hand over more lives for those who had been taken. I’d make her understand that tomorrow, after she’d had a chance to get some sleep.
The truck shifted beneath my weight when I climbed into it and settled with my back to the cab. I didn’t look at Erin and Hawk’s bags tucked into the supplies. They may have been humans, but they had been loyal to River and the mission. They deserved better than they were getting.
I rested my head against the truck as Corson and Bale climbed into the back with me. I watched as they settled in to sleep. Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back, but there would be no sleep for me, not tonight.
My eyes cracked open as the sun broke over the horizon two hours later. I hadn’t fallen asleep, but I’d dozed off for a few minutes before the sun came up. Rising to my feet, I jumped out of the back of the pickup and walked over to the passenger side door. My hand froze on the handle when I saw the empty bench seat inside.
Impossible!
Blood roared in my ears. I grasped the handle so fiercely it broke off beneath my hand. Wrapping my fingers around the edge of the door, I clawed it open with a loud wrenching of metal that woke Corson and Bale. They blinked dazedly at me when I tore the door from the truck and threw it aside.
I froze, my mouth going dry and my body vibrating with the impulse to rip the vehicle to pieces with my bare hands. My eyes latched onto the hole in the passenger side floor. She had burned her way out of the truck. The control of her power it had taken, the patience…
But that couldn’t be possible. I would have smelled the metal and plastic burning away; I’d smelled nothing.
Then I realized her demon ability hadn’t done this. No, this was the devious angel side of her through and through. The use of that power was the only explanation for the lack of smoke and odor.
Bale and Corson hovered at my shoulders. They must have seen the hole in the floor at the same time as they both released an explosive breath and stepped away from me.
A piece of paper on the dashboard grabbed my attention. I snatched it and looked down at the scrawled words…
The mission is taking a detour.
***
River
Once I managed to escape the truck undetected, I fled for the woods line, determined to get as far from the camp as possible before Kobal realized I was gone. I’d only have an hour at most to gain ground on him, and I didn’t know if that would be enough. He’d be coming for me, and he would destroy anything in his path to get to me.
What I hadn’t expected was to find Vargas hiding in the woods, waiting for me. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“I’ve learned you don’t take orders well. I knew it was only a matter of time before you figured some way to get out of that truck and go after them.”
“I’m not going back.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“You were okay with leaving them behind before.”
His mouth quirked in a smile. “I know we must stay focused on the mission, but as Kobal pointed out, you are the mission, and we have to keep you protected.” Oh, wouldn’t Kobal love to hear his words thrown back at him in such a way. “I’m going to keep you safe. Besides, they’re my friends too. However, if we survive this, could you please keep Kobal from killing me?”
I grinned at him. “I will, but we have to go.”
He nodded his agreement and followed me into the woods. I ran so fast I barely saw the branches and underbrush snatching and tearing at me as I plummeted down the side of an embankment. Beside me, Vargas cursed and almost lost his balance when we slid through the wet leaves coating the side of the hill. His breath sounded loudly beside me, but neither of us slowed. We had no time to lose.
After a quarter of a mile, I realized how lucky I was he’d anticipated my actions and joined me. I’d planned on running in the direction those creatures had fled in the hopes of somehow stumbling across them, or maybe having my visions or Angela help guide the way.
Instead, Vargas tracked the black blood falling from the injured creatures as they ran through the wood
s. Blood I never would have noticed or even seen with the small flashlight he held clasped between his teeth as he moved. The sun broke over the horizon as we stumbled across a road with large splatters of blood leading to the right.
The weight of the katana bouncing against my back was reassuring as we followed the trail. My hands brushed over the guns at my side, but they would be my back-up weapons. As we ran, I kept myself attuned to the pulse of life around me. Somehow, I’d managed to pull power from the earth while inside the truck. I don’t know if it was because I was panicked or furious, but there was no denying my power was growing, and I’d crisp fry every demon who stood in the way of getting our friends back.
My legs and lungs burned but even though it was different here, the earth beneath my feet revitalized me. After a mile, Vargas gestured for the two of us to go back into the woods. Slipping behind some boulders, he pulled off his pack and handed me a bottle of water. I almost wrenched the cap off to gulp down the warm water. When I was done, I poured some into my hands and scrubbed at the dust from the road sticking to my face and eyelashes.
It was so tempting to lean against the boulders and sit for a minute, but there was no time for rest, not now. I could almost feel Kobal breathing down my neck. He would have noticed I was gone by now. He was faster than us, and he would be infuriated.
I took another swig of water and capped it. “I don’t think it will be much farther,” Vargas said.
“Why not?” I inquired.
“They probably hunt close to where they live.”
I glanced at the road again. “Let’s go.”
We broke away from the boulders and ran up the small hill to the dirt road. My feet thudded against the dirt as we ran. Dust kicked up around us, coating my clothes and hair and sticking to the sweat trickling down my face, but I didn’t dare slow down.
Not until we reached the edge of the darkness.
Vargas and I stopped abruptly at the edge of the black circle created by the branches and vines growing up to create a canopy around the massive structure before us. The vines pressed against the sides of the building, making it impossible to move around to the back of it. There was only one way to get inside this place.
Looking more closely at the tangled branches and vines, I realized it wasn’t akalia vine mixed in with everything. These vines were thick and black with thorns the length of my fingers growing from them. I never would have been able to close my hand all the way around one, if I dared to touch it.
My head tilted back to take in the structure in the center of the vines. Holes and cracks marred the graying boards; they were all crooked in one way or another and some were nailed haphazardly to the building. Maroon streaks smeared at least half of them.
Is that blood?
Tearing my attention away from the boards and the disconcerting possibility, I strained to see past the gauzy red material covering all of the windows. The candlelight dancing behind the material was the only source of illumination within the thick shadows surrounding the building.
Bordello. I didn’t know where I’d ever heard the word before, but it fit this place perfectly. Bordello of the damned.
I rested my hand on the guns strapped to my waist. Beneath my feet, I felt the sluggish pulse of life. I had to keep focused on that life; it was our best option for making it out of this place alive.
This is a bad idea! I didn’t know if death waited for us in there or something far worse, but it was too late to turn back now; we were here. I had an irate demon closing in on me and Hawk and Erin were inside this place.
“They’re going to know we’re coming,” Vargas said.
“Maybe this doesn’t have to be a fight.” My voice sounded nowhere near as casual as I’d intended.
“I’ll go alone,” Vargas volunteered.
“No one is going in there alone.”
His chocolate eyes surveyed me as he seemed to be debating what to say next. “Keeping you safe is the mission.”
I was unable to stop myself from wincing. This whole being referred to as the mission thing was really starting to grate on my nerves. “Don’t. I’m not a mission. I’m me, and I’m going in there.”
I sounded far braver than I felt as sweat trickled down my back and my hands trembled. I hadn’t come this far to back down now.
“I doubt you would listen anyway,” Vargas said.
“I wouldn’t,” I confirmed.
A smile tugged at the corners of his full mouth before he focused on the building before us again. Taking a deep breath, I turned my attention back to the monstrosity once more and stepped forward. I could feel the cool hand of death creeping over my flesh to encircle my neck when we left the warmth of the sun behind for the shade of the vines. I held my breath as I waited for the vines to come alive and attack us, but they remained where they were as I took another step.
I decided as we approached the sagging porch that Kobal had every right to kill me when he caught up to us. I had no doubt he would find me; I only hoped we were free of this place with our friends in tow when it happened.
We were almost to the porch when the shimmering image of Angela materialized at the top of the stairs. I didn’t need her incessantly pointing behind us and bouncing on the balls of her feet to tell me the best idea would be to turn around and go back, but I climbed onto the first step and continued onward. Her arms started to wave as she pointed behind us again; her mouth opened and closed in words I couldn’t hear.
She threw her arms out before her as if she could push me back when I stepped from the top stair and onto the porch. Unlike the ghosts, I didn’t feel cold, or really anything at all when I passed through her. She stopped waving her arms. Her eyes filled with apprehension, and if I hadn’t known better, I thought tears glistened within them as she turned to watch us stop before the door.
The doorknob didn’t move beneath my hand when I took hold of it. I could blast the door open with a ball of energy, or maybe we could shoot the handle out with our guns, but there was the possibility our friends were close to the door.
Bordello of the damned. And I was going to knock on the door as if it were any other place.
I grabbed the metal piece of the heavy knocker attached to the door. I didn’t know what the creature with the fangs and pointed snout attached to the knocker was, but I prayed it didn’t reside inside.
The metal clanged loudly upon the door and echoed in the air around us. Goose bumps covered my flesh as the door swung open.
CHAPTER 37
Kobal
I detected River’s fresh-rain scent on the air as I pursued her, along with a spicier and more masculine odor. Vargas.
The three of them had shown they were more loyal to River now, but I hadn’t expected this kind of mutiny. I’d kill the man for going with her instead of stopping her.
Easy. Killing him would be the way to guarantee River forever shut me out, but since I couldn’t choke her, I’d happily choke him for a little while.
Judging by her scent, they weren’t far ahead of me, but still too far for my liking. Splotches of black blood amongst the leaves caught my eye as I ran. The sickly sweet scent of that blood wasn’t enough to throw me off of River’s trail, but I despised the cloying odor. They were definitely following the canagh demons.
What they’d do to her, especially if it is Lilitu…
I shut the possibility down; I’d lose my mind if I dwelled on it too much. Racing up a small embankment, I burst out onto a road where I spotted more blood splatters trailing over the dirt and booted footprints. Turning, I followed the blood trail and the increasing allure of River’s scent.
Behind me, other footsteps slapped onto the dirt road, but I didn’t look back at Corson and Bale as they followed. The delay of even a second could cost me her.
***
River
Vargas and I stepped into the cavernous building. I was studying the shadows playing over the large single room we’d entered when the heavy door closed behind
us. I spun, but instead of someone standing behind us there were only more light and dark shadows coalescing in a way that made my vision blur before coming back into focus.
What did I do by coming here? Just find the others and go!
Turning, I focused on the building once more as I searched for anyone I knew within the large, barn-like building. The eaves of the building sagged above us. Bits of the vine overhead could be seen through the cracks in the ceiling. Wails of decadence and woe rose and fell in volume as the cries bounced off the walls.
All around us, figures crept forward from behind the sheer red material hanging throughout the room from the rafters to the floor. The building was almost entirely wide open inside, except for the material dividing this lower level into smaller room-like sections and a set of stairs leading to a loft across the way. More candlelight danced across the gauzy material blocking off the loft above.
The staircase to the loft wound down to a stage at the other end of the building. My heart leapt when I spotted Hawk and Erin lying on the stage with two of the others who had been taken. They appeared to be sleeping or unconscious. I refused to believe they were dead, but then if they were dead, they probably had little value to these creatures surrounding us. I didn’t know what had happened to the fifth person, but I had a pretty good guess as the moans grew louder within the room.
Pale, delicate fingers curled around the edge of the red material beside me. My breath froze in my chest at the sight of the pink claws that stood out starkly against the red. A head appeared next to reveal a gorgeous blonde woman peering out at me.
From behind her, more men and women emerged from the shadows, moving with surreal grace and all possessing a mesmerizing beauty. What little clothing they wore was so sheer there was nothing left to the imagination.
Beside me, Vargas’s eyebrows were in his hairline. His hands clenched around his gun as the canagh demons closed in around us. The demons’ heads tilted to the side. Their gazes were curious as they licked their lips and eyed us with a hunger that had my flight reflex screaming at me to listen to it.
Carved (The Road to Hell Series, Book 2) Page 26