Sacrifice: Book 3 of The Dark Paradise Trilogy

by Isadora Brown

  “How long have I been gone for?” Keirah asked. “I mean, in earth time? Does a day here equal a day on earth?”

  “More or less,” Hades replied. “I would not worry about that. I would worry more about what the catch is, and think about the consequences of your actions.”

  Keirah furrowed her brow once again. “Consequences?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “Every action has a reaction,” he explained. “A known terrorist can’t just disappear from a city he’s been terrorizing for years without some kind of fallout, whether negative or positive. I’m not quite sure what your intentions are once you get back to earth–if you get back to earth–but should you choose to return to Onyx, you can’t simply reintroduce him to the environment without consequences to those actions. In the entire time that you’ve spent with him, Miss Shepherd, have you given any thought to how you and your life are affected by all of this?” He pushed his brows up, his hands placed behind his back.

  “I–” Keirah was about to respond but stopped herself. She refused to look at Hades, but allowed herself a minute or two to process his question. Had she thought about the consequences of her actions and what it would mean for her life?

  No. She hadn’t. She didn’t really take the consequences of her actions seriously. She had given up her schooling, her career, her sister, her family. She had been arrested and beat up by desperate cops. Yet… she didn’t really think about what all of that meant.

  Hades allowed himself a small smirk. “Exactly what I figured,” he said, a slight dash of arrogance tainting his tone. “You need to take this time to really think, Miss Shepherd. Is he worth your life? Is he worth your plans? Is he really, truly, one-hundred percent worth giving everything up for?”

  “He gave everything up for me,” she pointed out to him. “Or else he wouldn’t be here.”

  He smirked. “That is not what I asked.” He turned around now so his tall, sturdy frame blocked the staircase from Keirah’s point of view. “Once you leave–if you leave and are able to get through everything, accomplish what it is I have set out for you–you cannot come back here. If Noir dies again on earth, whether it is for you, by you, in any which way, he will not be allowed to leave again until he serves his penance. Which means he will be condemned here forever. You and I both know that.”

  “And me?” Keirah tore her eyes away from Hades’ shoulder, as though she could somehow see through him, to that staircase. She listened to what he told her, let the words sink in without any hesitation, but her mind was busy coming up with plans, coming up with scenarios. Perhaps she didn’t give herself time to think of the consequences of her life, but she knew she was good at planning, strategizing, doing everything she could to ensure she knew what to expect.

  “I suppose that depends,” he told her. “What you do on earth depends where you go. Perhaps you will be condemned to serve a penance here as well. Perhaps you will be sent directly to Heaven or Hell. Only you can make that choice, with the choices you make now.” He shot his brows up. “Now do you understand the consequences? Now do you understand why it’s so important to think about what this really means for you?”

  “I understand, yes,” Keirah said, “but regardless of the consequences, my choice is and will always be Noir. If he somehow winds up back down here, I will find him again. There’s no doubt in my mind. There’s always a way. People are willing to pay anything when the right price comes along. I am confident we will be together forever, however long that might be.”

  “Romantic.” His smirk was still on his face, but the word didn’t seem particularly complimentary.

  “Not necessarily,” Keirah replied. “It’s just honest. A fact.” A pause. “Now, can you please tell me what the catch is?”

  “You’re ready to leave?”

  “I’m ready to be with him without anything looming over our heads. I’m ready to focus on each other even for just a few days.”

  “Fair enough.” He moved his body and positioned it back so he faced the staircase. “In three days’ time, you and your companion will have the opportunity to leave Purgatory and get back to earth. I cannot tell you where you will end up. Like I said, it will most likely be at a desert or a rain forest, someplace where the environment itself it torturous. How you get back to Onyx or go wherever you wish to go is entirely up to the two of you.”

  Keirah nodded. “Understood,” she said.

  “You will lead Noir up the staircase,” Hades continued. “He will follow you. He will be right behind you. The catch is that you are not allowed to look back. You claim to love this soul, and perhaps you do. But without trust, there is no love. You must trust that he is following you. You must trust that he remains right behind you.”

  “And if I were to look back?” Keirah asked, her mind exploding with possibility. “What happens then?”

  “If you were to look back, Noir would be condemned to Purgatory, like I said. You would be forced to leave, and you wouldn’t be allowed back.” His steel blue eyes took in Keirah, took in the angle of her jaw, the roundness of her cheeks, took in her dark, calculating eyes, and something in him realized something. “You aren’t… plotting something, are you Miss Shepherd?”

  She furrowed her brow, looked at him through hooded eyes. “I’m sorry?” she asked.

  “Plotting.” Hades repeated, though there was no frustration in his tone. “Somehow, you managed to swindle Henry into getting here. I know you did, because Henry would have charged a high price. Something like your soul. And since your soul is still clearly in your possession, I know you got around it. You’re clever, Miss Shepherd. Calculating. I can see it in your eyes. And if you’re clever enough to get around Henry, then I know you’re going to attempt to give me a problem. I’m telling you right now: don’t do it. You will regret it.”

  Keirah wasn’t sure whether to be on guard or flattered that he took her as a threat. She hoped her face was a mask of innocence, because she was plotting something. “I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about,” she murmured.

  “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Do not play coy with me. You do not know me well enough to get to me. You are not that resourceful. Whatever you want to try, I’m telling you don’t. And if you do, I can promise you–I do promise you–that you will not like the consequences. Are we clear?”

  Keirah allowed a smile to crawl onto her face. “Crystal,” she told him.

  34

  When Andie woke up, she had the sudden urge to keel over and wretch those delicious pancakes she had for breakfast that morning. She gagged a few times, leaning as far over herself as she possibly could in case something did come out, it wouldn’t get her clothes dirty.

  It suddenly hit her that she had been kidnapped. When she realized her current predicament, her blood ran cold and she warily looked around. She was in some sort of vacant warehouse with cardboard boxes scattered around. Whoever originally owned this place must have cleared out a while ago.

  Out of all days for her to be kidnapped, though, it just had to be the day of Melinda’s bachelorette party. This was most inconvenient, to say the least. She let a frustrated frown touch her features, trying to piece who would take her and why. If this had to do with Jack Phillip, billionaire, it might be to acquire a large sum of money. If this was the case, Andie wasn’t particularly worried because Jack would pay the ransom and there wasn’t a good possibility that Andie would be hurt in any way. However, if this was an attack against Jack Phillip, also known as the Black Wing…

  Well, then what would she do? Jack couldn’t reveal who he really was in fear of the danger that would surely come to him, his home, his company, and to her. Was her life worth less than those Jack, as the Black Wing, would no doubt save? Maybe it didn’t even have to come down to that at all. Maybe they didn’t know who she was and just wanted money. Her head started to sear in pain, an affect from the chloroform they no doubt used on her. She wouldn’t have gone without a fight, that much she kn
ew.

  “Well, well boys,” an unfamiliar voice drawled as he drew nearer to the woman. “Look who’s up and alert – and who hasn’t thrown up on the floor. Congratulations, Miss Shepherd. I commend you on your ability to hold your bile.” He flashed her what might have been a charming grin if Andie wasn’t tied to a chair with a massive headache to end all other headaches.

  From the chair Andie was tied to, she could hear low footsteps headed in her direction. She sucked in a sharp breath and tried her best to put on a look of contentment – anything, really, except fear, deciding to ignore the comment he had directed at her. She had been in this position before, but then again, it wasn’t like Bill really knew what he was doing. Now, though… Lucas Burr before her certainly seemed to look like he knew what he was doing.

  “What do you want from me?” Andie tried to make her voice sound firm, but due to the chloroform, it was still sort of tipsy and came out sounding as though she was drunk. No matter. Her face conveyed what her words could not, contorted into scowl, her eyes narrowed, her jaw locked together.

  Burr chuckled at Andie’s attempt at being tough. Women these days, always thinking they were stronger than they actually were. Sliding his hands into his pockets, the man slid into a kneeling position so he was now eye-to-eye with his prisoner, that smirk still chiseled onto his face. If Andie wasn’t tied up, she’d probably sock him.

  “You’ve been quite the nuisance, Andrea Shepherd, haven’t you?” he asked her, cocking his head to the side as his eyes took in her face.

  “I’m sorry,” she all but spat, and then gave him a smirk of her own. “I didn’t realize I answered to you, asshole.”

  “You know,” the man said, amused and upset at how freely she spoke to him, “I’m surprised how that mouth of yours hasn’t yet got you into trouble, Miss Shepherd.”

  “Don’t worry,” Andie cracked. “It has.”

  “I’m the devil,” Burr said bluntly. “I’m here to recruit souls for my army, and Black Wing is making the process difficult at the moment by giving everyone here hope. Can you believe it? Hope, in Onyx. However, Jack has some hope of his own. Your sister told me everything, Miss Shepherd. She came to me, desperate for Noir, and I told her how to get him back.”

  The color drained from Andie’s face. Keirah helped Burr get her just to get Noir back?

  “Why do you want me?” Andie asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “You wouldn’t. Your puny little mind wouldn’t be able to comprehend it. If I take away Black Wing’s hope–that’s you–he won’t have the fire in him to provide people hope. Which means people will lose their faith and turn away from God. They’ll turn towards me.”

  “So you plan to kill me?”

  He nodded. “In front of him.” He began to pace in a dignified manner, his chin tilted up, his hands behind his back. “He’ll never forgive himself. I just need to know where he is, so I can get word to him.”

  “I’m not going to tell you,” Andie murmured, though the confidence she had had nearly disappeared by now. He was going to use her to get to Jack, and she couldn’t let that happen, no matter what.

  Burr grinned at this, as though he expected her to say something along those lines. “I was hoping you would help me out,” he told her, standing up. “You are a member of the fairer sex and I would really not wish to hurt you, but heed my warning: Black Wing is something I want more than anything. He is more important than your life. If you do not tell me what you know about him, why he cares for you so, you will feel excruciating pain. Do I make myself clear?” He arched a brow at her.

  Andie swallowed, fear seeping through her bloodstream, but she couldn’t falter. Not now. “Crystal,” she managed to say in a low voice.

  Burr smiled. He always had liked a challenge.

  Jack couldn’t get home fast enough. As usual, he ran as many red lights as he could, he drove way past the speed limit, and he cut off as many people as he could. If he wasn’t a businessman, he could surely have been a racecar driver. When he pulled up in front of the guesthouse, he threw open the door and dashed outside and up the steps before lodging himself into the room. Beverly was already there, and merely from the looks on her face something had happened.

  “What happened?” he asked, his voice coming out guttural. “Where is she?”

  “Now, Jack, you need to calm down,” Beverly began, but Jack cut her off with a snarl.

  “How can I possibly calm down, Beverly?” he shouted, his brow furrowing low. “Melinda called me to say that Andie hasn’t showed up at her apartment yet, and then you tell me to get back to the house! I think I’m entitled to be upset! Where is she?”

  “She’s not here,” Beverly replied in a calm voice, though her green eyes were just as worried as Jack’s were. “I came in here and couldn’t find her. At first, I thought she had already left, maybe a little later than originally intended. But I found something that you should see.”

  “What?” Jack asked, all patience completely lost by this point. “What is it?!”

  Beverly turned, without a word, and began to walk through the living room and into the kitchen where there was a door that led out back to a one-acre backyard. However, she gestured at the door itself and found that the lock itself was jammed as though someone had broken it to get inside. Andie wouldn’t have done something like that because she had keys, nor would she leave the back door unlocked – she was paranoid about burglars.

  “Someone took her,” Jack stated, pressing his hands together in hopes that would keep his temper under wraps. “Someone took her while I was just across the street! What the fuck am I going to do?”

  “If you don’t calm down,” Beverly clipped, narrowing her eyes at her ward, “whatever it is you do intend to do will not go off without a hitch and not only endanger your life, but enhance the danger to Miss Shepherd’s as well.” A pause. “Perhaps you should call Miss Lespoir.”

  Jack nodded, taking Beverly’s warning into consideration, but his breathing was still rigid and he was still incredibly upset. Without warning, he grabbed one of the plates that were in the sink and threw it across the room so it shattered on the opposite wall.

  “If I’m being honest,” Beverly murmured to herself, “that was actually quite calm, considering.”

  “Phone,” Jack demanded, his hands shaking. “Phone.” He intended to call Reese and get Andie back. Now.

  35

  “It’s Burr,” Jack said, running his fingers through his hair, disheveling it even more. “Burr has her. I don’t know how, but he has Andie.”

  “Okay,” Reese said. “Then go get changed. We’ll get her back, Jack. I’m with you. Let’s get her.”

  Jack nodded his head and disappeared without another word. From there, Reese immediately turned and headed out the door and to her car. She knew where Burr was, knew where he kept Andie. Her mother had been working on this Vigilante Registration Act, and plenty of times, it referred to warehouses in The Zone. No one would expect Burr to be at a place like the Zone. It was the perfect place to take a captive.

  It must have been where Gabriel had attempted to take her when she spotted Andie outside the restaurant. Father and son must be working together. But why?

  Reese was already driving, not sure if Jack had wanted her to wait. There was no time to wait, however. Andie needed to be found and she needed to be found now. This wasn’t the first time the Burrs had tried to take her. The motive, as of right now, didn’t matter, but Reese was positive it had to do with Jack. She wasn’t sure if Burr knew Jack was Black Wing. Burr was the devil; did he have the same cognitive ability God had where he knew everything? Reese wasn’t certain. But for whatever reason, Burr wanted to get to Jack-slash-Black Wing, and somehow, he knew he could do it through Andie.

  She parked her car in front of the warehouse. She didn’t care if he heard her approach or if her car ended up stolen. Didn’t care about any of all of that. All she cared about was getting Andie back. And in order to do that
, she needed to buy time for Jack to make his entrance.

  There was no way she could take on the devil herself. But she could try. She could distract him.

  When she reached the doorway to a warehouse, she was surprised to find it unlocked. Then again, perhaps he was expecting Jack. Perhaps Burr wanted to be found. She slid it open with all of her strength–it was heavier than it looked–and the first thing she saw besides the electricity running through the building was Andie, tied up and beaten, battered and barely moving, in the center of the empty room, on the cold hard cement.

  Slow clapping echoing through the room caused the hairs on her neck to stand up, and it prevented her from running over to Andie to make sure she was still alive. Reese hated herself in that moment, hated that she was truly afraid. Not for Andie, though she was worried, but for herself. For her life. Now that she knew Burr was the devil–the real, actual devil who was evil and ruled in Hell and wanted nothing more than to see people suffer–she was more than scared of him.

  What the fuck am I doing?

  You’re here for Andie. You’re here for the people of Onyx. Jack will be here soon. He’ll know what to do.

  She took a deep breath and released it. It might have calmed her body down, but it did nothing for her nerves.

  “Miss Lespoir.”

  His voice was familiar and silky and she immediately hated it. The more she thought about it, the more she couldn’t believe that her mother worked for this man. That the city believed he could be trusted to do what was best for them as their district attorney. She wished her mother was here, wished her mother had told her more about her work and what she did and whether or not she liked Burr. If she liked working for him. She hated that she couldn’t talk to her mother now. God, she hated it.