1001 Dark Nights: Bundle Five

by Julie Kenner

  “No.” His tone was harsh, but he softened it as he continued. “The demons were using you for something. Until I know what, we can’t risk you being out in the general population. Stay here. I’ll be back soon.” Before she could protest, he stepped through the portal and disappeared.

  “Bastard,” she shouted after him.

  She swore she heard laughter echo from out of the portal.

  * * * *

  Lilliana strode through the halls of the building that, just a few short months ago, she’d thought of as her prison. Now it was her home, and the male who ran it was the love of her life.

  She found him in his library, standing in front of the fire, his big body outlined by its orange glow. He didn’t turn when she entered, even though she knew he’d heard her approach. Coming up behind Azagoth, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his broad back.

  “Hey.”

  He covered her hands with his. “My love,” he purred. She adored that, how he saved certain tones and words for her and her alone. “What’s up? I thought you were busy with the new Unfallen recruits.”

  “I was, but I couldn’t get Cat off my mind.”

  “Cat? Is she okay?”

  She sighed. “I don’t know. Have you seen her?”

  “Not today.” His voice rumbled through her as he spoke. “But I’ve been busy trying to figure out why Hades won’t respond to my messages and why the fucking portals to the Inner Sanctum are sealed.”

  Yeah, Azagoth hadn’t just been busy with that mess––he’d been obsessed. Something was terribly wrong in the Inner Sanctum, and with Heaven breathing down his back over the human stuck inside, Azagoth had been going nonstop. Between researching ways to open the portals and requesting help from the best demon engineers alive, he’d barely had time to eat, let alone sleep.

  “You haven’t made any progress, I take it?” He made a hellish sound she was going to take as a no. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and that fast, he relaxed a little.

  “S’okay.” Within the cage of her arms, he turned to her, his gaze intense but concerned. “Now, what’s going on with Cat?”

  “Did you send her on an errand to the human realm?”

  Concern creased his forehead. “No. What’s this about? Is she missing?”

  “For two days.” She stepped away from him, needing room to pace off her nervous energy now that she knew her friend was truly missing. “I didn’t worry until today because you sometimes send her off with messages or to fetch things. But she’s never been gone this long.”

  “And you’ve looked everywhere? The forest? The dorms? The old buildings? You know how she likes to explore.”

  True. Lilliana had never seen anyone so inquisitive and curious about the world around her. When Cat had first arrived, her constant, prying questions had irked Lilliana until she realized that Cat was simply trying to learn and experience.

  “I’ve scoured all of Sheoul-gra,” Lilliana sighed. “I suppose she could be hiding, but there’s no reason to do that.”

  “Maybe she got tired of working here.”

  She shook her head. “She feels safe here. And even if she did decide to leave, she wouldn’t have done it without saying good-bye first.” A bad feeling tightened her chest. “Could someone have hurt her?”

  He stiffened a little, just a slight shift of his broad shoulders, but Lilliana knew him well enough to recognize genuine unease. “You think one of the Unfallen living here has done something to her?”

  God, she hoped not. It had been Lilliana’s idea to use the old outer buildings to house Unfallen who didn’t want to enter Sheoul, who wanted a chance to make amends for whatever had gotten them booted from Heaven. If one of them had harmed Cat, she’d never forgive herself.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “But I’m telling you, she wouldn’t have gone this long without telling one of us. And Sheoul-gra is huge. I searched for her, but there are a lot of places where a person could hide a body or hold someone captive.”

  Azagoth’s eyes went stormy, and Lilliana was very glad the tempest of fury wasn’t aimed at her. “If anyone has dared to so much as touch a female under my protection,” he growled, “I will create a 6th Ring in the Inner Sanctum just for them, and I will fill it with every nightmare they’ve ever had. They will spend eternity alone, running from the things that scare them most, and just when they think they can’t take it anymore, I will become the thing they run from.”

  She shivered. And how twisted was she that she found his threats sexy? Not long ago she’d have thought him a fiend. Okay, he was still a fiend, but only to those who deserved it...and with them, he showed not a shred of mercy. Not even Lilliana would dare get between him and someone he set his vengeful sights on.

  So Heaven help anyone who touched Cat, because Azagoth sure as hell wouldn’t.

  Chapter Ten

  Cataclysm spent the next few hours rummaging through Hades’s house-crypt. It was probably all kinds of rude to sort through his things, but it was also all kinds of rude to get her worked up and then suddenly back out, tell her to clean his dusty tomb, and then take off. So she didn’t feel too bad about snooping through his stuff.

  And what interesting stuff it was. Hell, his entire crypt turned out to be a treasure trove of mystery. In addition to the hidden kitchen and bathroom, there was an office, but instead of it being concealed behind a wall, it had been camouflaged by sorcery. His desk, a blocky monstrosity that appeared to have been carved with a pocket knife, sat just inches away from the rickety chair she’d sat in, but she never would have seen it––or bumped into it––if she hadn’t picked up the hollowed-out book she found on a shelf. The simple act of opening the book had revealed the hidden desk and file cabinets.

  Unfortunately, the cabinets were locked, presumably by more sorcery. But the contents of his desk were more than enough to keep her occupied. She found building plans for an expansion of the 1st Ring, an accounting of the prisoners in some fortress called the Rot, and a list of every fallen angel warden employed in the Inner Sanctum. Then there were the knickknacks on his desktop.

  She ran her finger over an egg-sized stone carving of a hellhound, laughing every time she touched its tail because the carving would come to life and snap at her before freezing again in its snarly, crouched stance. Then there was a framed photo of a blue lake nestled between snowcapped mountains. It was beautiful, but why did he have it?

  As she went to put it back on the desk, she bumped her elbow, and the picture fell to the floor. Glass shattered, sending shards skidding all over the place.

  Shit. Hades was going to kill her.

  As she scrambled to clean up the mess, the portal Hades had gone through opened. Of course. Apparently, Hades had the same impeccable timing as Azagoth when it came to her breaking stuff.

  “I’m sorr––”

  “Who are you?” The deep, unfamiliar voice made her yelp in surprise.

  She leaped to her feet, and her surprise veered to terror. A huge male strode into the room, his craggy face shadowed by a filthy, hooded cape that flapped over boiled leather armor as he walked. The necklace of teeth around his neck and the string of ears dangling from the belt around his waist said he was pretty damned comfortable with cutting things off, and she hoped the gore-crusted halberd he carried in one gloved fist wasn’t going to be the weapon he used to cut her things off.

  “W-who are you?” she asked, her voice trembling as fiercely as her hands.

  As he strode toward her, crusty stuff fell off his boots with every step, and wasn’t it crazy that she wanted to yell at him for leaving a mess?

  “I’m a warden in the 4th Ring, and you”—he seized her by the throat—“you are an intruder.”

  “No,” she gasped, and then she just tried to breathe because he squeezed harder, cutting off her voice and her air.

  His lips peeled back from blackened teeth and a wicked set of fangs as he put his face in hers. “The 4th and 5th Rin
gs are in chaos, and do you know why? There are reports of unauthorized beings in the Inner Sanctum, and it looks like I caught one of them.” He grinned, and if she hadn’t been struggling to breathe, she’d have screamed. “Do you know what we do to intruders, female? I dare you to imagine the worst because I promise the reality will look far, far more horrible.”

  His meaty fist filled her vision, and then there was blackness.

  * * * *

  Hades was balls deep in a demon horde. The 5th Ring had literally been set on fire, and all around, smoke and flame erupted from crude bombs and fire arrows.

  He and every 5th Ring warden had been fighting for hours, and they hadn’t come any closer to finding the human. Reports of violence were coming in from the 3rd and 4th Rings, as well, and just moments ago, Silth had brought extremely troubling news.

  He’d found a weak spot in the membrane that separated the Inner Sanctum from the rest of Sheoul-gra. If the spot wasn’t shored up, and fast, demons would overrun Azagoth’s realm, which could result in a catastrophic destabilization and allow the souls to escape, flooding human lands.

  At least Cat was safely ensconced in his home, although he’d come to realize there was nothing “safe” about her. She might have been an angel once, but he wouldn’t be surprised if there was a little succubus in her family tree.

  He whacked an ugly-ass demon on its scaly head with his battle-ax and shot a lightning bolt at another. The bolt bounced around the crowd of demons, taking out another dozen before it fizzled away. Shit, this sucked. He’d always liked a good fight, but this was on a scale he hadn’t seen since...well, ever.

  Panting with exhaustion, he took advantage of the brief reprieve from charging demons. They were all around him, but they were busy fighting wardens, so he figured he had about thirty seconds to breathe.

  “My lord!” A towering warden from the 4th Ring powered his way through the crowd and jogged over, his sword dripping with blood. “Malonius sent me with a message. He needs you at the Rot right away.”

  “Do not tell me we’re dealing with prison riots, too,” Hades growled.

  The warden, Rhoni, wiped grime out of his eyes with the back of his gauntleted hand. “No, sir. He captured an intruder.”

  He frowned. “Someone else was able to get into the Inner Sanctum?”

  “Apparently, sir.”

  Yes. The portals must be operating again. Azagoth must have realized something was wrong and had people working on the problem from his side. Finally. Now he could get Cat back where she belonged.

  An uncomfortable sensation caught tight in his chest. He wasn’t ready to give her up yet. Sure, he couldn’t have her, not in the way he wanted, but now that he’d gotten a taste––so to speak—he wanted more. Her bravery and impulsiveness fascinated him, and her unique blend of artlessness and seductiveness enchanted him. He loved the way her kisses were eager but unpracticed, and her emotions were so unguarded. Such a rare thing for a fallen angel.

  Yes, she was newly fallen, and no doubt she’d lose that innocent patina eventually, but only if she was exposed to ugliness. Something inside him wanted to protect her from that ugliness, the way he’d protected humans back when he’d been an angel.

  Back then, he’d gone too far in his desire to protect the innocent, and it had cost him his wings and his soul. But how far would he go to protect Cat?

  He knew the answer immediately. He’d stop at nothing. Which meant that, if the portals were open, he had to send her back. With only one exception, the Inner Sanctum was ugly, and Cat deserved better. She deserved to not lose her shiny.

  The whisper of a spear passed too close to Hades’s ear for comfort, jolting him back to the ugliness around him. The kind he needed to protect Cat from.

  “How are things in the 4th Ring?” he asked.

  “They’re bad,” Rhoni said, “but not this bad.”

  Hades clapped the guy on the shoulder. “Get back to it. I’ll head to the prison.”

  Extending his wings, he launched into the air, spinning and diving to avoid projectiles. The icy burn of some sort of weapon ripped through one wing, but a few heartbeats later, he punched through the portal and was striding down the Rot’s dark, damp halls to the processing center where all guests were interrogated before being sent to either a cell or a torture chamber. When he arrived in the chilly antechamber, Malonius greeted him.

  “She’s in Jellybean,” he said, his breath visible in the freezing air. “Seems her greatest fear is spiders.”

  From its pulsating walls to its seeping ceiling, Jellybean was a room that fed on fear and came alive when someone was locked inside. Once it got hold of someone’s fears, it made them real. He’d once seen the room fill with jellybeans while the demon inside screamed in terror...hence, the name of the room.

  Malonius had shoved an orange bean up the guy’s nose, and the demon had confessed all of his considerable sins. Freaking jellybeans.

  “Wait. She?” Hades asked, every internal alarm clanging as what Malonius said sank in. He opened his mouth, but whatever he was about to say fled when he saw the pile of clothes on the table behind the other fallen angel.

  A pair of faded, ripped jeans and a corset.

  Cat.

  Fuck! Wheeling around, he tore out of the room and charged down the hall, his pulse pounding in his ears even louder than the strike of his boots on the stone floor. Holy hell, if she was hurt, someone was going to pay in blood and bone and pain, and Hades was going to be the one to collect.

  Up ahead, a warden stood guard outside Jellybean. “Open that fucking room!” Hades shouted.

  The guy jumped, fumbled at his side for the key, but before he could unlock the door, Hades was there. He wrenched the key from the warden’s hand and knocked him aside.

  His fingers shook as he jammed the heavy iron skeleton key into the lock, but somehow he managed to open the door. He whipped it open, and a wave of spiders of all species and sizes skittered out, spilling over his boots.

  “Dach niek!”

  The Sheoulic command put the room to rest, and the arachnids disappeared. He burst inside, and his knees nearly gave out at the sight of Cat huddled in the corner, naked and shivering. Her arms covered her head as she rocked back and forth on her heels. Bruises marred her pale skin, and fury made his blood steam.

  “Cat.” He knelt next to her and laid his palm gently on her shoulder, cursing when she flinched. “Cat, it’s me. It’s Hades.”

  A shudder wracked her body, and she made a sobbing noise that pricked him in the heart he’d long ago thought immune to pretty much anything emotional.

  He lowered his voice, shooting for something that might resemble soothing. “The spiders are gone. They weren’t real. It’s okay.”

  Very slowly, her arms came down, and she peeked at him through splayed fingers. Her bloodshot, red-rimmed eyes were a punch in the gut. “Hades?”

  “Yeah.” He cleared his voice of the hoarseness that had crept into it. “It’s okay, I promise.”

  She lowered her hands, but her gaze shifted and her eyes went wide as the sound of footsteps indicated that someone had come into the room.

  “My lord,” Malonius began, his voice pitched with fear, proving he wasn’t completely stupid. Clearly he realized he’d fucked up in a very, very big way. “I found her in your crypt...she’d ransacked the place...I thought––”

  “I know what you thought,” Hades snapped. He didn’t turn to look at the male because if he did, he wouldn’t be able to control the murderous rage pounding through his veins. “And that’s the only reason you aren’t hanging by your entrails right now.”

  As much as he wanted to blame the warden for this, it was ultimately Hades’s fault. He hadn’t thought to tell all of his staff about Cat, but that was a mistake he wouldn’t make again.

  “Tell the others,” he said. “Tell them that this Unfallen is mine, and she’s not to be harmed, or ogled, or even fucking breathed on.”

  “Yes, si
r.” Malonius tossed Cat’s clothes to Hades, and a heartbeat later, they were alone again.

  “Cat? I’m going to take you home...ah, I mean, to my place.”

  He started to pull her into his arms, but he jerked back at the sight of the gore streaking his arms. Cursing, he looked down at himself, realized he must look like he’d showered in a slaughterhouse. The fact that he was covered in blood wasn’t the most unusual thing ever, but after what Cat had just been through, she didn’t need this, too.

  So much for protecting her from the ugliness of the Inner Sanctum.

  Guilt churned inside him like a living thing, and this thing had teeth. It gnawed at his heart and clawed at his soul because this could have been prevented.

  Cat’s teeth began to chatter, so he let the guilt monster feed as he gathered her in his filthy arms and tucked her against his grimy chest and got her out of there, snarling at everyone who got in his way. Or who looked at her naked body. Or breathed in his general direction.

  He reached the exit portal in record time, but as he stepped inside, he wondered what else could possibly go wrong.

  Chapter Eleven

  Face buried against Hades’s powerful chest, Cat clung to him with all her strength, which seemed to be in short supply. She couldn’t stop the shaking, but when Hades held her tighter and whispered comforting things in her ear, the wonderful whiskey-fizz sensation he gave off wrapped around her like a warm blanket and helped ease the trembling a little.

  She didn’t open her eyes to see where they were going. She didn’t care. As long as she wasn’t trapped with spiders in that horrible room with pulsing walls and the faint sound of a heartbeat, she was thrilled. Besides, she trusted Hades. He’d given her no reason not to. More importantly, he worked for Azagoth, and no one in their right minds would do anything to intentionally harm anyone in the Grim Reaper’s employ.

  Hades let out a hardcore curse, grumbled, and cursed again. She didn’t look. Whatever had pissed him off wasn’t something she wanted to see. He started moving again, and then suddenly, she felt a cool, fresh breeze on her bare skin. The scent of freshly mown grass and flowers filled her nostrils, and riding on the raft of air was the faint tang of the ocean.