Valen curled his fingers into tight fists and gave the bastard the whole of his attention.
“Let her go,” he barked.
Benares smiled wickedly. “I cannot do that… but I will offer you an exchange. Your life in exchange for hers.”
“No!” Eva screamed and shot to her feet.
Benares backhanded her and she collapsed to her knees, hitting the pale grey marble tiles with a harsh thud.
“Son of a bitch,” Valen growled and stepped forwards, arcs of electricity twining around his arms and snapping against his skin as his rage boiled back to the surface. “You lay a fucking hand on her again and I will end you.”
Benares had the audacity to laugh at that. “I would love to see you try… but we are not here to fight… we are here to do business. Pledge yourself to us, and she will be spared.”
The relief in Eva’s eyes said that she had been convinced Benares meant to kill him, and that had his mouth moving before the fragment of sense that remained in his thick skull could speak up and convince him to stick to the plan.
“She’ll be safe if I kill you.” Valen shot his hand forwards and lightning arced from his fingers, six bolts twining together to form one, aimed at Benares’s chest.
Benares didn’t move to block or evade.
Valen grinned.
Piece of cake.
That grin died as his lightning hit an invisible barrier and shot back at him, and he had to throw himself on the ground to avoid the blast. White-purple arcs scorched the walls as they hit it, leaving smouldering circles in the black plaster.
Valen looked across at Benares as he pushed back onto his feet.
Hexagonal glyphs shimmered across the air between them, pale blue and lasting only as long as it took for the ripples created by his attack to pass over them.
The damned barrier stretched the width of the room, and from the floor to the ceiling.
Fuck.
Eva was on the other side of that barrier.
He tried to step through it, but when he reappeared he was stood against the invisible wall.
He couldn’t get to her.
Rage curled through his blood, setting it on fire, and he snarled and banged his fists against it. Eva stared up at him, fear shining in her eyes, fear he wanted to take away but he couldn’t.
He couldn’t do anything for her.
He shifted his gaze to Benares and growled at the bastard.
Benares shook his head and sighed. “Did you really think it would be that easy?”
Valen shrugged, but it was stiff, his body coiled tight with a need to attack. “I had kinda hoped it would be, yeah.”
He looked off to this left, to the windows there. If he went outside the building, could he teleport back into it on the other side of the barrier. He eyed where it was, tipped his head back and checked out the ceiling.
“I can assure you, there is not a crack you can exploit. My sister is very good at what she does.”
Jin blushed and stared at Benares with the same moon eyes that Ares gave Megan.
Sick.
He curled his lip at the bitch, and she just smiled at him.
Her laugh grated down his spine.
“We have something you want. All you have to do is work for us,” she said, her smile holding, her blue eyes shining brightly as she swayed her hips and flicked her fall of blonde hair over her left shoulder. “You do want her, don’t you?”
Valen looked down at Eva where she still knelt on the floor, locking eyes with her. “More than anything in this world.”
Benares growled, and Eva flinched, and Valen shot him a glare. Something was going on, something he wasn’t aware of and wanted to know about right now.
Because from where he was standing, it looked as if Benares wanted Eva for himself.
Over Valen’s dead body.
Even then he wouldn’t let Benares have her.
He would make his father release his soul from the Underworld so he could kill the bastard from beyond the grave.
“What about more than anything in your world?” Benares hissed and pushed away from the desk, coming to stand opposite him. Gods, Valen wanted to punch him. Stupid barrier. He was going to find a way to get rid of it and then it was lights out for Benares. The bastard smirked at him. “Do you want her more than say… your sister’s soul?”
Valen had to take a step back to brace himself as that hit him, and he saw in Benares’s eyes that he was being serious.
“You fucking son of a bitch.” Valen flew at the barrier, raining blows down on it that sent sparks of lightning flying in all directions. He felt his teeth shift, and his eyes join them as his fury got the better of him, the need to find Calindria’s soul seizing control of him and demanding he beat the location out of the bastard.
That need warred with the need he felt to do anything to save Eva, to take her back from Benares and keep her safe, protecting her as he had promised.
But Calindria.
It tore him in two, ripping his heart straight down the middle as he battered the barrier, hammering it so hard that his hands hurt.
“We could get that soul for you,” Benares whispered, not moving from his spot on the other side of the invisible wall that separated them, not even flinching as Valen rained unholy hell down upon it, desperately trying to break through.
Gods, that was so tempting.
His punches slowed as that temptation swept through him, whispering seductive words in his ear and to his heart.
If he could get Calindria’s soul back, if he could save her, the redemption he had always desired would be his.
“Don’t do it,” Eva hollered and pushed forwards, coming to the barrier and pressing her hands to it.
He looked down at her, his ears ringing and shoulders slumping as his fight left him.
“Don’t do it.” Eva’s eyes narrowed with her frown and she shook her head. “We will help her somehow, but not this way… she wouldn’t want it this way.”
Valen stared at her.
She was right.
“Shut up,” Benares snarled, grabbed hold of her black hair and hauled her onto her feet, twisting her to face him. “Good angels know when to be fucking quiet.”
Valen lost it when Benares backhanded her and she screamed, falling for a moment before the daemon pulled her back onto her feet and struck her again, and again, until her lips were bloodied and her left eye began to swell, a cut near it pouring blood down her cheek.
“Get the fuck off her!” He pressed his hands to the barrier and put all he had into it, unleashing as much power as he could in his limited state.
Limited.
He growled and reached for the band around his left wrist, and froze with his fingers against it, duty and desire pulling him in two opposite directions. He couldn’t. If he did, his brothers would never forgive him.
His father would never forgive him.
His mother too.
“Godsdammit!” he bellowed and hit the barrier again, lighting it up with more juice this time, cracking a few of the bright blue hexagonal glyphs.
But it still didn’t break.
He sank to his knees, breathing hard, his heart labouring as pain devoured it.
His brothers would never forgive him for this either. His father would never forgive him. His mother too.
But he had to do it.
He shook his head and pressed his hands to the barrier. “Stop… I’ll join you… just don’t hurt her any more.”
Benares released her and she collapsed in a heap on the floor, her left eye swollen and dark, and blood covering that side of her face. It dripped from her lips onto the marble tiles, forming a stark crimson pool.
“Eva,” he whispered and shuffled so he was in front of her. “Look at me, Eva.”
She continued staring straight ahead, her right eye glassy and empty.
Damn it.
“Eva!” He banged his fists against the barrier. “Look at me.”
Ple
ase.
He sagged and leaned against the barrier, pressing his forehead to it, his rage draining from him together with his strength as he stared at her, willing her to respond.
Because he couldn’t lose her.
Eva weakly lifted her head and her lips moved silently.
He growled and shot to his feet, flashing fangs at Benares. “Let me through. Let me get to her. I need to see she’s going to be okay.”
Benares sneered at him, flashing his own sharp teeth, and that look entered his eyes again, the one that said he wanted Eva to belong to him. Never. She was his, and she always would be.
He would kill anyone who stood between them or tried to take her from him.
He growled again as he remembered he had promised Keras that he wouldn’t kill Benares.
Fucking damn it.
Fine. Benares got a stay of execution, and he would be a good boy for once.
And then as soon as they had all the information they could get out of him, he would kill him.
Benares would die for what he had done to Eva.
“Eva,” he rasped and she frowned, moaned and tried to get up, but she collapsed back against the floor. Her cheek landed in the blood. He returned his gaze to Benares. “Let me in.”
“Why don’t we sweeten the deal? Say the words to pledge your allegiance to us, and you can have Eva, and me too.” Jin moved to stand between Eva and Benares, her red lips curved in a sultry smile and blue eyes promising all the pleasure he could ever desire.
It made him want to vomit.
Benares stepped forwards, towards the barrier, but either Valen’s head was more screwy than usual because he was barely keeping a leash on his temper, or the daemon was slowing down, moving through the air as if it was molasses.
The hairs on the back of Valen’s neck prickled and rose on end.
Keras.
His power flowed over the building and it should have brought everyone except those Keras had made exempt from it to a halt, yet Benares and Jin were still moving.
Eva too.
The prickle danced down his spine as her face darkened, her eyes on Jin, and she reached for her ankle. She was on her feet a moment later, a war cry leaving her lips and rage burning in her eyes. Something flashed in her hand as she brought it up.
A blade.
Valen threw his hands towards the barrier to pound on it and stop her.
Eva brought the blade up as Jin slowly turned towards her, blue eyes enormous and red lips parting in shock.
The knife struck hard, plunging deep into Jin’s side.
Valen’s hands went straight through the barrier and landed on Benares’s chest.
Jin screamed as she toppled and Eva went down with her behind Benares.
Benares stared down at his chest, at Valen’s hands, and roared as he shoved his own hands forwards, catching Valen hard in his own chest before he could unleash even a tiny bolt of lightning into the bastard.
Valen flew across the room and grunted as he slammed into the wall and dropped to his knees.
Jin had created the barrier, and she must have been maintaining it by focusing on whatever power had called it forth, constantly nurturing and repairing it.
Eva had shattered that focus.
She had found a way to let him in.
Eva pushed up and pulled the blade out, and Valen felt a little hot all over as she tossed her head back, her blue-streaked black hair flying in slow motion as Keras’s power increased in strength and began to slow even her, and she unleashed another battle cry and brought the blade down again, thrusting it to the hilt between Jin’s breasts.
Sweet gods.
He shouldn’t be as aroused as this on the battlefield, it was wrong on so many levels, but he just couldn’t help himself as he watched her fight.
It wasn’t only her prowess as a warrior that had him flustered though.
It was her fury at the succubus’s offer to be his lover too.
His little assassin wanted him all to herself.
Would kill anyone who stood between them.
Damn.
He loved her.
He grinned and kicked off, launching himself at Benares. Once they had him subdued, Keras could question him.
Valen stopped mid stride, grinding to a halt just a few feet from Benares.
Benares stood in the middle of the room, green eyes wide as he stared down at his chest.
At the wet patch spreading across his black shirt.
Valen’s eyes leaped to Jin and the blade sticking out of her chest.
Fuck.
They were more than brother and sister.
They were bound.
No.
Benares laughed, black blood trickling from his obsidian lips as he touched the wet spot on his chest and brought his hand away, and stared at his black-stained fingertips.
He lifted his green eyes from them to Valen.
“It wasn’t meant to end like this… we were meant to rule this world,” he whispered and the black around his eyes faded, the blue lightning disappearing, and his green eyes dulled. “She promised.”
He collapsed, landing hard on the marble floor, and grunted as he twisted onto his back and reached for Jin.
Jin reached for him, stretched her arm as far as it would go, and her fingers twitched and then stilled as her hand dropped to the floor.
Benares took hold of her hand and clutched it. “She promised.”
“No. Fuck it. No!” Valen’s knees hit the marble tiles next to Benares and he took hold of his shoulders and shook him, staring down into his fading eyes. “I need answers, you fucking bastard.”
Benares sank back against the tiles and exhaled on a sigh.
No heartbeat reached Valen’s ears.
“Fuck!” He shoved away from Benares and growled as he paced the room.
“I didn’t know,” Eva whispered and he stopped and looked down at her, and let all of his rage drain away. Her right eye was wide, a flicker of fear in it, remorse and guilt, and he sighed as he sank down into a crouch beside her. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head and wanted to growl as he touched her cut cheek just below her swollen left eye and she flinched. “I know. I didn’t know either. None of us did.”
But now he had no daemon to hand over to Keras, and they had no leads to go on.
“The wraith was here,” Eva said, dragging his focus back to her, and he stared at her, reeling a little as that sank in.
“You saw him?” he said and she nodded. “Clearly?”
“He was in this room.”
“You could describe him… like a photo fit thing mortal police do?” When she nodded, the ache in his chest eased just a little, because at least they had something they could work on, something that might help them uncover who was behind the plot to destroy the gates.
She eased closer to him, and he tore a strip off his black t-shirt and used it to carefully clean the blood off her cheek.
“There’s another thing too.” She flinched when he dabbed a little too hard in response to that and he issued a silent apology to her. “The wraith mentioned a woman too… and… I have the feeling she’s higher up the command chain because he was worried he had killed Esher.”
“What does Esher have to do with this?” His blood ran cold at the thought of anyone targeting his brother.
Esher was a ticking bomb on the best of days, and when he came around from recovering from the wraith’s attack, it was not going to be a good day.
Eva winced as she touched her split lip. “The wraith said Esher was to be her pet.”
Pet?
What the fuck did that mean?
It conjured images of this mystery woman holding Esher captive, chained, and like hell he was going to let that sort of thing happen to his brother again.
“We need to tell Keras. Gods, he’s going to tear me a new one for this though.” Valen stood and held his hand out to Eva.
“Tear you a new one for what?” Keras
’s deep voice rolled through the room.
Valen tensed as Eva placed her hand into his, and slowly pulled her onto her feet, turning a sheepish smile on his older brother at the same time.
Keras looked from him to the two dead daemons, rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed.
“They were bound,” Eva said before he could even try to explain, and stepped in front of him. Fighting in his corner? Gods, it had been a long time since anyone had done that and it felt so good that he wanted to grin at his brother and then kiss her. She folded her arms across her chest. “I did it… so if you’re going to be angry with anyone, be angry with me.”
Fuck, he did love this woman.
Keras shot her an irritated look that melted away as he really took a look at her and spotted her injuries. “We need to take you to Megan.”
Valen frowned at that. He was pretty sure that if he had been the one in Eva’s position, and had killed Jin, and accidentally Benares in the process, that his big brother would have been close to losing his temper, not fussing over his injuries.
He glared at Keras.
Plus, fussing over Eva was his job.
“Temper,” Keras murmured, and Valen reined it in just this once.
“We did get some new information about the wraith, and that there’s a female targeting Esher.” Valen pulled down a breath to steady his heart and considered not mentioning everything else that happened, but he couldn’t hold it in.
He didn’t want to keep things from his brothers anymore, no longer wanted that divide between them. It had almost cost him everything.
He glanced down at Eva.
Grew some balls.
And put it all out there.
“Benares said he could get Calindria’s soul.” Valen raked a hand over his hair as Marek walked in just in time to hear that, wiping black blood off his hands. “He offered to get it for me… and I couldn’t do it. I could have saved her.”
Keras crossed the room to him, placed his right hand on his left shoulder, and squeezed it gently. “You did the right thing, Valen. We will save her one day, but not like that.”
The warmth in his green eyes, the relief that shone there, told Valen that he meant every word.
“We will find the wraith who killed her and we will free her soul, but we will do it together. As brothers.” Keras gave his shoulder another squeeze. “As family.”
Valen (Guardians of Hades Romance Series Book 2) Page 36