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Kobal
“What happened?”
Closing my book, I placed it beside the bed and leaned forward at the sound of River’s hoarse voice. I didn’t think I’d ever heard anything more pleasing in my life. She blinked at me before her fingers flew up to the tubes in her nose.
“Leave them,” I told her, taking hold of her hand and gently placing it back at her side.
Her eyes crossed as she tried to take in what was stuck in her nose before her gaze traveled around the room. Her fingers twisted into the sheets beneath her. “Where am I?”
“The infirmary.”
Her eyes flew back to me. “Why?”
“You broke a rib during our skirmish; it punctured your right lung.”
“But you didn’t hit me.”
“It broke before our last sparring match, when you hit the ground the second time.”
“Oh.”
She tried to grab at the tubes again, but I pulled her hand away. “You must leave them in. Relax, you will be fine.”
She had better be fine. I had no idea why this woman fascinated me so much, but I’d found myself unable to leave her side since I’d brought her in. The others had tried to pull me away and offered to sit with her, but I’d ordered them all to leave.
Leaning back, she relaxed into the pillows. She looked pale against the white sheets surrounding her, the black of her hair a stark contrast I found myself unable to resist. She watched me as I lifted a strand of her hair and slid the silky length of it between my thumb and index finger.
“You should have told me you were injured. I would have put a stop to it,” I told her.
A small smile tugged at her lips. “Apparently, I wasn’t hurt too badly. I finally managed to get one in on you.”
“Badly enough that you ended up in here, with these tubes coming out of you.” Those tubes and the mortality they represented for her made my skin feel too tight. I could recall the panic that had squeezed my chest when the humans had pulled her from my arms and wheeled her away from me. I’d stalked the medical personnel through the halls, refusing to let her out of my sight as they’d worked on her. “Things could have been much worse if I hadn’t gotten you here in time.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Hmm. How did you manage to land a blow against me?”
“I’m a fast learner and I’ve been well trained,” she replied flippantly.
My fingers stopped their movement over her hair, but I didn’t release it. I found myself unable to part with this small piece of her. “How, River?”
She turned her head away, her eyes focusing on the ceiling. “I just knew. I don’t know why it happened, it never has before, maybe it was because I was in pain, maybe because I was sick of being dumped on my ass, but my ability to see things came over me and I saw each move you were going to make before you made it.”
The breath froze in my lungs when her eyes came back to me. There was a defiance about her I’d never seen before, a look that dared me to doubt her, but I didn’t; I couldn’t. I’d seen her on that field. It was my chest she’d hit.
“How did you move so fast? You were keeping up with me. I wasn’t at full speed, but you shouldn’t have been able to stay with me.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “I didn’t realize I was.”
“River—”
“I really didn’t realize it, not until you just said so. I knew I was moving faster and was somehow able to deflect you, but I didn’t think it was that fast.”
Releasing her hair, I leaned back in my chair to study her as I contemplated her words. I never doubted that she’d kept some of what she was capable of from me, but I didn’t think she was lying about this. She hadn’t known she could move with such speed and see her opponents moves so clearly before they made them until today, which meant there might be far more she didn’t know she could do.
Since my creation, I’d known only one thing—I had to defeat Lucifer.
If River was the one we’d been searching for, there was a good chance she could be the key to accomplishing that, or at least be of some use in closing the unnatural gateway again. In over fifteen hundred years, I’d never been this close to a secret weapon against Lucifer, one he most likely knew we were searching for, but one he may not be able to protect himself against. I’d never been so close, and I found myself wishing I could keep her from the destiny that could be awaiting her.
“Can you at least tell me, this person you’re looking for, what is it you expect them to be able to do?” she asked.
I couldn’t imagine living in the dark as she did, residing in a world of unknowing, away from her brothers and the home she’d spoken of with such reverence. I wanted to give her some shred of an answer to her question, but I couldn’t.
“I cannot tell you,” I replied.
She inhaled a deep breath and then winced.
“Are you okay?” I demanded as I leaned closer to her.
She tried to lift her hand to her side but the needle embedded in the top of it stopped her from getting it off the mattress. “Fine,” she muttered. “Kobal?”
“Yes.”
“Why do all the demons look so different?”
Some of my tension faded away as I relaxed in the chair again. I kept waiting for her to turn on me, to become incensed with my inability to help her and tell me to go away. Instead, she continued to surprise me. She may never be told why she’d been brought here, but she was determined to learn everything she could about her situation.
“There are many different types of demons, and sometimes their Chosen is a different kind of demon. If that is so, they create new breeds and versions of demons.”
“What is their Chosen?”
“Every demon has a fated partner, or Chosen, whether they find their Chosen or not is something else entirely, but when they do, they mark their partner, their strength increases, and they are able to reproduce.”
“So a demon can’t reproduce until they find their Chosen?”
“They cannot.”
“It’s all so strange yet fascinating,” she murmured.
“I suppose it is.”
“Have you found your Chosen?”
Had that been distress in her voice or was I looking for something that wasn’t there? “No, I have not.”
She smiled at me and I found myself irresistibly drawn toward her once more. I inhaled her fresh scent, relishing in it as I brushed a strand of raven hair off her forehead. My fingers slid over her soft skin. Her eyes briefly closed before opening once more.
“Do you want children?” she inquired.
“It is unlikely that will happen,” I replied. “If it did, my children would not possess any of my demon traits, only their mother’s. They may look like me, but they will not be a varcolac demon such as myself.”
With my fingers, I smoothed the lines that appeared on her brow. “Why not?”
“Because unlike other demons who come from a pairing like you humans, my type of demon is only born from the fires of Hell.”
CHAPTER 17
Kobal
“Wait… what?” River sputtered.
I couldn’t help but smile at the confusion in her voice as my finger trailed over the small scar on her eyebrow. Touching her helped to ease some of the burden and wrath that had been a part of me since the moment I’d been born. It was the strangest sensation, to feel freed in such a way by this frail mortal, and I didn’t want it to stop.
“There is only one varcolac in existence at any given time. When that one dies, another rises from the Fires of Creation to take their place. I was born from those fires and rose within the chamber as you see me now. The varcolac before me was a woman who lived for sixty years.”
“Why is there only one at a time?”
“Because there can only be one ruler of Hell at a time.”
“You are the rightful ruler of Hell?”
“I am, and I will be the one to see Lucifer cast aside a
nd defeated. I am the most powerful of my kind to ever rise. I will not fail in this.”
“So you are not born of two demons?”
“I am born of anguish, hate, pride, torment, wrath, envy, lust, greed, and sorrow. I am born of the suffering of the souls and of the necessity to replace a leader who had fallen. Before Lucifer arrived, there had been only six varcolacs born in Hell over a couple hundred thousand years. They were killed during battles with other demons. In the six thousand years Lucifer has been in Hell, there have been over fifty varcolacs. I have survived the longest and am the eldest demon now. I was born with the knowledge of what I am and what I am to carry out. I have none of the memories of my predecessors, but I know I am to rule.”
“Why are varcolacs the rulers?”
“We have always been the strongest of the demons. Varcolacs are the fastest and by far the most brutal. I fight with the fires of Hell on my side. We are also the only kind who can create and open a natural gateway within Hell, as well as close it. The varcolac also controls the hellhounds.”
“Those are real?” she breathed.
“They are, and they’re more ferocious than you could imagine. They obey my every command. I have left most of them in Hell, guarding the seals to keep Lucifer from opening them.”
As her pulse quickened, I cradled her cheek with my palm, looking to comfort her in some way, though I had no idea how to do so or why I wanted to do it.
“Why do they obey you?” she inquired.
“The first pair of hellhounds was also born of the fires with the first varcolac. Though those firsts have all since died, I still share a kindred spirit with the hounds that is forged through the fires. Unlike me, the hounds are able to breed others like them, but like demons they can only do so with their mate.”
“Amazing,” she whispered. “If you were born of all those things, why are you not more evil? Why aren’t you cruel and vicious?”
Her words left me speechless. She was the first to believe I wasn’t those things. That was exactly what I was, what I had always been and would always be. Except with her, I wasn’t that way for some reason.
“I am,” I said flatly. “Don’t ever doubt I’m not. I will do what must be done in order to survive and put an end to all of this. I’ve twisted and tortured souls in ways you could never imagine possible, and I thrive on it. There is a reason I was forged in those fires.”
She swallowed before nervously licking her lips. My gaze fastened on her mouth; I resisted leaning down to follow her tongue with my own. To taste her. I had a feeling she would taste better than she smelled, and feel even better beneath my hands.
“How are you created from the fires? How is that possible?” she asked.
I shrugged as I dragged my gaze away from her enticingly wet lips. “It is simply the way it has always been.”
“The demons who are born, are they born babies who grow?”
“They are and they have the same developmental time frame as humans do.”
“Do they stop aging at a certain point and become immortal?”
“It is different for all, but most stop aging between their mid-twenties and mid-thirties when they reach their strongest potential.”
“What other kinds of demons are there?” she asked.
“So many,” I replied. “There are fire demons, visionary demons, lanavours, adhenes, canaghs, chimera, and many more. Plus, there are demons who are mixes.”
“What about the demons who are always with you, what are they?”
“Most of them are a mix. Corson is the only purebred amongst them, and he’s an adhene. They’re mischievous and what you would know as elf-like demons.”
A small smiled curled her mouth. “That makes sense for him.”
I didn’t tell her Corson may be the most easygoing and fun-loving one of us, but when he unleashed his abilities, he became one of the most savage and brutal bastards I’d ever encountered. It was why he’d risen to his position by my side.
She licked her lips again. “May I have a drink?” she inquired.
Rising to my feet, I lifted the pitcher from the table beside the bed and poured her a glass of water. I helped her to rise and made sure she was comfortable before handing her the glass. She tried to take it, but the needle in the back of one hand and the broken rib on her other side made it difficult for her to move.
“I got it,” I told her and held the glass against her lips.
She drank some of the water before pulling away. “Thank you.”
I returned the glass to the table and sat again.
“Why do most of you look almost human?” she asked.
“All the beings on the three planes have some of the same features, as you can tell.”
“Why is that?” she asked.
“Millions of years ago, when the planet itself was created, the three planes were also forged. In the beginning, the planes were more together, fighting against one another to try to thrive, but as time moved on and the colossal force of energy that created the planet expanded, the dimensions were more clearly divided.
“Hell broke off first, leaving the planet cooler and more inhabitable. The increasing amount of water on the earth made it easier for life of all kinds to flourish. The kinds of life meant to flourish in extreme heat and with less water went with Hell. That life thrived in the underworld and evolved into demons and other creatures who resided within Hell’s bowels. As humans evolved, so did demons,” I told her.
“And what of Heaven?” she asked.
“The energy that had originally created the three planes broke Heaven away after Hell. It is believed by demons that Heaven was separated to remove the toxic gases remaining on the planet after creation and leave the air more breathable on your plane. Over time, the air within Heaven has filtered itself out.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because the fallen angels have been able to survive on Earth and Hell; they wouldn’t have done so if their air was drastically different than ours.”
“I see. So what about God? How does he or she or it fit into all of this?” she asked.
“The energy that created the planet was powerful enough to also create the force you know as God. However, it has been called many various names over the years and many different Gods and Goddesses. When Heaven went last, that force broke away with it and forged the angels from the image of what man was becoming.
“Over time, the planes became a symbiotic network of different species. Some of us are more different from others, but for the most part, demons and angels are all men and women. The angels all look very similar to each other too, though the fallen ones changed upon plummeting to Earth and entering Hell. They became more demonic in appearance than their cloud-hopping counterparts.”
She started to laugh then winced when the movement jarred her ribs. Taking hold of her hand, I squeezed it within mine. I’d tried not to harm her during our sparring sessions, but I had done this to her, and I would have given anything to take her pain away from her. I wouldn’t be able to take it easy on her when she was healed either. In battle, no demon would take it easy on her, and she must learn how to kill in order to survive.
“How do you know the fallen angels changed?” she asked.
“Legends passed down through the generations.”
“What do the angels who are still in Heaven look like?”
“Like humans, they’re all different colors and races. They have their feathery wings and glowing auras. Disappointingly, there is no halo.”
“That is disappointing,” she agreed. “What else do you know about them?”
“Like us, they’re exceptionally powerful, but some of their abilities are different than ours.” I held up my hand to fend off her next barrage of questions. “No, I can’t tell you what they can do.”
I also wasn’t going to tell her that all non-fallen angels had one distinctive feature in common.
Her face fell, and her mouth twisted to the side as she star
ed thoughtfully at me. “Can you tell me everything you’re capable of?”
“Maybe one day, but not today.”
She started to sigh but broke off on a hiss. She waved me away when I rose and reached for her. “I’m fine.”
My hands fisted impotently as I sat in the chair again.
“Do Heaven and Hell fight each other?” she asked.
“No. We have no contact with each other, and until they tossed out their garbage, we had no problem with the flying saints. Now, I’d happily pluck the feathers from their wings before cutting their heads off. They may not have known what would happen when they threw those angels from Heaven, but we’re the ones who have had to deal with the consequences of their actions.”
“That sucks,” she mumbled.
I hated the pallor of her skin and the shadows beneath her striking eyes. Mortal. The reminder caused my claws to lengthen slightly as they dug into the palms of my hands. I felt the almost overwhelming need to make her immortal…
Then what? Stay with her? That was not my way. That was not the demon way unless it was with their Chosen, and she could not be mine. There had only been two varcolacs in history who had found their Chosen. They had been some of the first leaders, before Lucifer entered Hell, and it had taken both of them tens of thousands of years to discover their Chosen. I did not expect to find mine.
“How old are you?” she inquired.
“Far older than you. I am fifteen hundred and sixty-two years.”
Her eyes widened as she gawked at me. “Holy shit that’s old!”
I couldn’t help but smile as I ran my finger over her brow again. “I suppose, to a human, it is.”
“To anyone it is.” I wondered if her eyes might actually pop out of her head as she watched me. A smile tugged at my lips as her eyes ran over me again. “Amazing.”
“And how old are you?” I inquired.
“I turned twenty-two on March eleventh.”
So young, and yet there was such an aura of wisdom and age about her, of knowing things one her age should never know, at least not on this plane. I’d been far younger than her, barely free of the fires, when I’d waged my first battle and killed my first of Lucifer’s followers.
Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1) Page 13