“Go on,” I said to River before stepping into the room after her.
I turned by the entrance to wait for the others and allow the hounds to slip by me. Corson stepped through last behind the skelleins. He held the wraith in his grasp and immediately moved to get as far from River as possible with his prisoner.
I contemplated having the hounds return to guard the seals, but I didn’t think it was possible Lucifer had another wraith like River’s father to do his bidding. The seals would be safe, and the hounds wanted to say good-bye to their packmate, as was their right.
Stepping away from the rock, I watched as it began to slide closed. When it had firmly settled into place, a loud, piercing scream erupted within the cavern.
CHAPTER 46
Kobal
I swung my arm out and thrust River behind me. Grabbing the paws of the dead hound, I swung her over my shoulder and set her on the ground before spinning to face whatever threat had somehow managed to make its way into these sacred walls. Across the way, Corson still clutched the wraith, his mouth agape as the creature thrashed and screamed within his grasp.
I’d drained it so thoroughly that I hadn’t believed this degree of movement could be possible, but its whole body was writhing. Its head whipped back and forth so fast that its already distorted features became more so as its screams grew. Behind me, River slapped her hands over her ears, and Hawk stumbled away from the spirit.
“What is going on?” I bellowed to be heard over the cacophony bouncing off the crystal walls.
Corson’s mouth opened and closed. If he was speaking, I couldn’t hear one word he said. The wraith wrenched backward, tearing free from Corson’s grasp. Turning, I slammed my hands onto the wall beside River’s head and molded my body protectively over hers as the wraith bounced back and forth across the cavern.
River’s head bowed before me, her hands remained over her ears as the wraith’s cries reached a ground-shaking crescendo. Then, just as suddenly as the screams started, they stopped. The wraith froze in the middle of the cavern. It hovered in the air beneath the dome and above the fire that had forged me. Its back bent until its flapping black ends nearly touched its head.
The wraith released one more strangled sound before it was sucked into the hole below. A plume of sparks shooting into the cavern was the only indication the spirit had plunged into the fire. The harsh breaths of those within the room was all that could be heard in the hush following the wraith’s disappearance.
“Stay here,” I commanded River.
She seized my arm when I started to step away. “It’s not safe.”
“If it wanted any of us dead, we never would have left this room before.”
I kissed her forehead before stepping away from her and approaching the fire. The others all watched me with wide eyes as they remained unmoving within the cavern. Stepping over the rocks, I walked to the edge of the hole and peered over the side. Below, all I saw was the fire and lava as it rolled over and around before leaping high into the air.
The wraith was nowhere to be seen, and I knew he never would be again. I moved away from the fires and stepped back over the rocks to where River had crept closer to me. “What happened?” she asked.
“If someone is not welcome here, they will not survive it,” I repeated the same words I’d said to her earlier, but now I’d actually seen them in action for the first time. Before I’d only known what all varcolacs knew upon rising; this chamber would not allow an enemy within it.
River’s gaze darted toward the pit. “Did you know that would happen?”
“No. I didn’t think anything could destroy a soul.”
“They are more than the Fires of Creation,” Magnus murmured. “They are also fires of destruction.”
“How?” Bale asked.
“How do they create?” I replied as I slipped my arms around River’s waist and lifted her from the ground. She didn’t protest or tell me to put her down as she draped her arms around my shoulders and rested her lips against my throat. “This chamber holds secrets we’ve never known the answers to and likely never will. We will no longer have to worry about the wraith regaining its strength and aiding Lucifer again. That is all that matters now.”
“Too bad we couldn’t get Lucifer in here somehow,” Hawk said.
“He’d never be foolish enough to enter here,” I replied. “And I’m not sure the chamber would grant him entrance. The fires destroyed a depleted wraith. Lucifer is something else entirely.”
I moved River further away from the fire before setting her down and walking over to retrieve the limp body of the hound. The remaining hounds circled around me as I carried her over to the fires.
I waited until all of them had gathered around the edge of the pit with me before lifting her from my shoulders. Placing her on the ground, I stepped back to allow each one of them some time to come and say good-bye to her.
They whimpered as they nuzzled at her and touched their noses against hers. When they were done, they stepped away and fanned out to form a circle around the fires. They all sat and watched me as I lifted our lost friend for a final time.
The hounds emitted a low howl when I tossed her body into the fires that had spawned her first ancestors, and had reclaimed many of the hounds who had since died. The fire rolled over her and buried her within the thick lava depths as if it were embracing her within a cocoon.
Sorrow shimmered through the bond connecting me to the hounds. My hands rested on the head of the hounds closest to me. I ran my fingers over their fur to comfort them, but there was no comforting this loss. The hounds remained seated around the fire, staring into the pit when I turned away from them. Phenex and Crux would remain free tonight to grieve with their family members.
Tears glistened in River’s eyes as she gazed at the hounds. “Will they be okay?” she whispered.
“They will go on,” I replied. I lifted her into my arms and turned to speak with the others. “We’ll be using the water in the pool, and then retreating to the shadows over there,” I pointed at the opposite end of the cavern, toward a place that wasn’t visible from here. “I’ll let you know when we’re done with the water. Do not bother us unless it’s necessary.”
Turning away from the others, I carried River across the chamber and into the shadows dancing over the back wall. The scent of the water drifted to me, but I already knew where it was located without having to see it. I brought her to the place where the water trickled out of the wall and over rocks made smooth by millennia of wear from the water.
The pool that had collected in a worn crater beneath the insignificant waterfall was about eight inches deep. It was not enough to completely immerse our bodies in, but it would be enough to clean ourselves while we remained out of sight of the others.
I gently pulled River’s dress over her head to reveal her full breasts and pert nipples as I dropped the dress beside her. I also revealed numerous small blue veins running throughout her abnormally pale skin. Lifting my finger, I traced the veins that had never been visible on her before.
“You’re exhausted,” I said as I pulled her into my arms.
The fact that she didn’t deny it, or say she was fine, was more evidence of how beaten down she was. I stripped out of my pants and tossed them aside before lifting her and settling her in my lap. I knelt before the pool and cupped my right hand to dip it into the water. Ever so carefully, I lifted the water to her lips and let her drink her fill before using it to wash away the blood and dust on her body.
I rinsed her hair the best I could before setting her carefully aside and turning my attention to the filth clinging to my skin. River’s hands were tender against my back as she helped to clean me. “Your back is nearly healed,” she said while her fingers stroked the edges of the fading wound.
My entire body was sore, my muscles bruised and torn, but it had felt unbelievably good to drive my thumbs into Lucifer’s eyes and pummel his too-perfect face. “It will be healed within the hou
r,” I assured her.
She ran water over my hair before massaging my scalp as she washed the dirt free. “I’m sorry about the hound.”
“It happens.”
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
I turned my head to find her eyes on mine as she moved closer to me. I squeezed her hand within mine. “The hole is never filled after the loss of one,” I admitted.
She rested her cheek against my shoulder. “How bad was it, to be born from here?”
My gaze slid to the fires in the distance and the hounds sitting vigil around them. I could never tell her that it had been like having the skin seared from my bones before having it forged back on again. Never let her know what it had been like to be battered, broken, pushed together, pulled apart, and reinvented by the fires molding my being into existence.
I knew that River had been right, that I’d endured far more than any of the varcolacs who had risen before me during my creation. The fires had forged me to be stronger than my ancestors. There were many burdens River had to carry in her life; this would not be one of them, but I could not lie to her.
“Unlike almost all of the other pains I’ve ever experienced in my life, rising from here is one I will never forget,” I said simply.
Her arms slid around my chest and shoulders as she pressed closer. She lifted her head, and I nibbled at her bottom lip before taking possession of her mouth. I felt a spark against my thigh when she opened her mouth to mine. My tongue slid in to taste her in a leisurely dance that allowed me to savor her.
Pulling away from her, I rested my forehead on hers as her shadowed eyes lifted to mine. “You must rest,” I told her.
She smiled at me as she leaned against my side. Helping her to her feet, I retrieved the dress and slid it over her head once more. Blood splatters and dust clung to the material. However, it wasn’t in as bad of condition as my pants which I tugged on and buttoned into place.
Turning, I lifted River into my arms once more and carried her along the back wall to a place deeper in the shadows, tucked away between some rocks. I hadn’t spent much time in this place over my life. It was a place I associated with great suffering and death, as well as power and life, but I knew every inch of it.
“We are done with the water,” I called to the others.
“Will Lucifer be waiting for us when we leave here?” River asked.
“No. We’ll leave the way we came in. He has no idea about that entrance.”
Settling onto the floor, I gathered her within my lap and cradled her there. She nestled closer against me; her mouth heated my neck as her breaths danced over my skin. Her body was limp from the amount of power she’d used today.
I ran my hands over her flesh, looking to revitalize her. Taking hold of her hand, I kissed her palm before resting her hand against the crystals behind my back. “Oh,” she whispered as the cavern gave her an influx of life. Her lashes fluttered open before closing again.
“There is much power here.”
“Yes,” she murmured. “My real father was a monster who was sent to Hell and my mother never intended to love me. That’s why she named me after him. She always planned to keep herself distanced from me, to hate me.”
My teeth grated together as I clutched her closer against my chest. “She’s an asshole and so was your father.”
“Which father?”
“Both of them.”
She smiled as she moved her head so her ear was directly over my heart, but I felt the sadness in her.
“So many others do love you,” I told her. “Your brothers, the friends you left them with, Hawk, Erin, Vargas, me. The demons here care for you, and believe me, they don’t often care for anyone or anything.”
“They are like you in that way.”
I lowered my head to her hair. Even deep within Hell, her fresh rain scent wafted from her skin. I rubbed my hands over her arms, looking to comfort her as I contented myself with images of tearing her bitch of a mother to shreds. I had no idea how River had grown up to be like she was. It certainly hadn’t come from her demon or angel ancestry, and her human background had been pretty shitty, but she was the most protective and loving creature I’d ever encountered.
I would never allow anything to change that.
Her soft breaths against my flesh and the easing of her body alerted me she had fallen asleep. Lifting my head, I took in the others on the other side of the fire. Magnus stood with the hounds, his arms folded over his chest as he stared at the fires.
I hadn’t known whether or not to believe him about his reasons for retreating from the war, but he’d proven tonight he would not turn and run when faced with danger, and I could not deny his powers had grown exponentially. The chamber had allowed him to enter, and he remained alive within it. I suspected that wouldn’t have happened if malice resided in his heart.
He’d also gone out of his way to protect River. I may want to kill him more times than not, but as long as he continued as he was, his head would remain safely on his shoulders.
They all looked battered, but they would leave here when we were ready, and they would continue to battle their way through until Lucifer was dead.
***
Kobal
“Kobal?” I lifted my cheek from River’s head and looked at Corson. I’d watched him stay close to the wall of the chamber as he’d circled around the fire to approach us.
“You can come closer,” I told him.
He shuffled out of the shadows to kneel by my side. He handed some jerky and a canteen of water toward me. “For when she wakes.”
“You can put them over there.”
He set the food aside and turned toward me. “How is she doing?”
Sitting back, I brushed River’s raven hair back to expose her face. The massive flow of power in the chamber and being held within my arms while she slept had helped to revitalize her. Rosy circles of color were high on her cheeks, the blue veins in her skin were no longer visible, and the shadows had faded from under her eyes.
“Much better,” I murmured and kissed the top of her head.
“Good. We are ready to move on whenever you are.”
“We will go as soon as she feels up to it.”
Corson nodded and turned away from me. I watched as he walked back to rejoin the others. River stirred in my arms when she woke. Her lips skimmed back and her teeth sank into my shoulder. My hands clenched on her when she bit deeper, her fingers curling into my nape.
I didn’t know what she had dreamed, but I could feel her desperation as she marked me. “Shh, Mah Kush-la,” I soothed. “I will never leave you.”
Her fingers eased their grip on me, but her teeth did not. Despite my good intentions, I felt my body stirring in response to her need as blood filled my dick. Across the way, I watched as the others huddled together near the fire. Given where they were standing, I could see them, but they couldn’t see us.
Her hands ran down the front of my chest before falling against the waistband of my pants. Her fingers tugged impatiently at the button until it gave way beneath her grasp. She sighed against me as her hand dipped down to caress my swollen cock. A bead of precum had already formed on the head. She rubbed it over my flesh with her thumb, circling it around me before stroking my shaft.
“The others are still within the cavern,” I grated through my teeth. This was not a problem for me. As long as they couldn’t see her body, I didn’t care who knew she belonged to me, but in so many ways, River still had her human sensibilities.
I bit back a groan when she released her bite on my neck and her hand stilled on me. She turned her head to look at where they stood. “Can they see us?” she whispered.
“No.”
Her eyes were pure violet and vivid with the resurgence of life filling her when she focused on me. “I can be quiet,” she said with a sultry smile.
I lifted an eyebrow at her statement. “Can you?”
She grinned at me as she adjusted herself in m
y lap. Her hands impatiently tugged my pants further down before she pulled up her dress and straddled my waist. My eager cock jumped when her wet center slid over it.
“I can if you’re kissing me,” she said.
Wrapping my hand around the back of her head, I dragged her down for a kiss. I wrapped my hand around my cock and teasingly ran it across her sex until her hips were rolling on top of mine and her nails were raking my flesh in demand for more. Releasing her head, I locked my arm around her waist and thrust up as I drove her down. She cried out against my mouth when I buried myself deep within her.
She froze for a minute; then her head lifted. I stared into her striking eyes, memorizing every one of her features as I lifted my hands to run my thumbs over her silken cheeks. She never broke my gaze as her hands slid up to run tenderly over my face.
“We will be going after him soon,” she whispered.
“We’ve stopped the seals from falling, River. No more of them will be opened. It was what we set out to do when we left Magnus’s, and we have succeeded. We are steadily weakening him. We will defeat him.”
Her lips brushed over mine before her tongue stroked my mouth. Dragging her against me, I took possession of her lips as she moved her hips languidly against mine. When she came apart, I caught her cry of ecstasy with my mouth before breaking the kiss and sinking my fangs into her throat as I withdrew from her body and found my own release.
Out of control, I’d spent myself within her in the forest, but I couldn’t continue to risk doing so while we were still in Hell and Lucifer was still alive. He would do everything he could to get his hands on our child.
I held her against me, my fingers running over the strands of her hair.
“We will beat him,” she said against my chest.
“We will,” I confirmed. “And when we do, I’d like to ask you to do something for me.”
She lifted her head from my chest to look at me. “What is it?”
I slid my hand under her skirt to squeeze her ass. “Wear dresses more often.”
The Road (The Road to Hell Series, Book 3) Page 33