by Faulks, Kim
I snatched my hand away, my feet sliding me out of his reach.
“Come here, Kalliste,” Blaze warned and held out his hand.
But the floor underneath him was cracking and gaping like a wide-open mouth. Panic filled his eyes, panic and hate. Those cracks that raced along the floor raced toward me.
I didn’t dare move.
“You’ll die.”
I flinched at his words and cast a panicked gaze toward the hole that’d once been the hallway. Amaris. She was standing there…and Oryn, and everyone. Fragments came back to me. My heart raced with the memories. Power did this…my power.
I swallowed hard as the floor gave another tremble and slipped sideways a little. Something fell…a wall, or a window, and seconds later it crashed with a boom against the mountain.
Orange flickers danced in Blaze’s gaze and his lips curled, revealing white teeth. “Come to me now.”
There was a moan behind me as a shadow shifted, rising from the floor.
Blaze glanced toward the movement, and I caught the flicker of fear in his eyes. My feet slipped as what was left of the floor parted. Fear slammed into me. I took a step back from Blaze, reaching behind me in the dark for something to hold onto.
“Kalliste.” Blaze warned, but his gaze never shifted from the man behind me.
Until, with a growl, Blaze lunged.
He clawed my arm, and slipped as the fissure in the floor widened and dragged me with him.
I tore from his grasp, lunging for something...anything, and bounced against a wall of muscle.
“Kalliste!” Fear found the sick sonofabitch who’d held me prisoner.
He staggered, and crashed to the floor, gripping the edge, hands splayed wide, and then lifted his head. Shuddered breaths. Infernal rage.
I tensed, waiting for him to lunge and take me down with him.
Until the shadow at my back took a step forward.
Arms went around me, and I turned my head to stared into fire-filled eyes as Blaze gave a cry and was gone. Just like that. Wind buffeted my face as I jerked my gaze to the spot where he’d been and found nothing.
Strands of hair whipped my eyes, blinding me. I held onto him, this Hellhound, as he shoved forward and caught hold of a beam.
Screams erupted all around us as parts of the house fell, crashing with booms into the side of the mountain. I searched the terror, trying to find her. “Amaris!”
But there were too many...too many crying out in terror, too many fighting all at once. Power roared through my body, tearing from the darkness of my mind.
“I’ve got you,” the Hellhound snarled in my ear, one hand around my waist, as he gripped the shattered beam with the other.
I looked over my shoulder, staring down at the sulphur-filled city far below, then turned back.
“Can you grab onto the bar?”
I followed his gaze to the rod of steel jutting out from what was left of a wall. It was shattered now, cracked down the middle and torn in two.
My footing slipped again, and my heart lunged to slam against the confines of my chest. I focused on that steel, swallowed, and shoved against my footing. My fingers curled around the rod, but the broken end stabbed into my palm. Pain followed, sharp and biting. But I focused on my grip and tried to understand what had happened.
My memory was warped and strange. I remembered the room downstairs, remembered feeling terrified. Boom...I remembered an explosion, and Amaris.
“We need to get higher. Can you do that? Can you climb?” The growl tore me away from my shattered memories.
I sucked in the hot sulphur air and nodded. The small piece of floor left to us tilted under my feet. His arm gripped me tighter, grinding muscle against bone. I looked upwards, reached, and grasped.
He pushed me, driving me up and up, until parts of the ceiling were below us.
“I need to find a way out of here. Can you stay here, for just a second?”
I gave a small nod in the dark, but he never looked, only turned those burning red eyes skyward. A grunt tore from his lips, and then a groan as he shuffled right, stepping away until he was gone from my sight. My pulse sped at the sight. I gripped the beam and held on as cries echoed below us in the distance.
It could be Amaris. She could be hurt…could be dying.
Purple flames filled my mind. She was with the Dragon. I closed my eyes for a second and took a breath. If she was with him, then she had to be safe.
They all had to be safe.
“You okay?”
I flinched at the sound and jerked my gaze toward him.
“There’s a hole in the roof, we can get through and climb back down the other side to the mountain. Are you hurt anywhere?”
He moved closer and reached out to touch me. I cowered from his touch.
Mommy?
The child’s voice filled me, more memories slipped in. “The hallway.”
“What…did you say?”
My heart was thundering, filling my head with the sound. Mommy? Footsteps clattered from the darkness of my mind. I was back there in Hell, racing toward the sound of my mother’s cry. “You?”
He flinched at the word, and stilled.
“You’re him…you’re Sevan.”
He froze, breaths heavy in the dark before he answered. “I am.”
Mommy? I remembered the sound of my footsteps, the way my heart had crawled into my throat. But the closer I came to the memory of her lying there, the darker the memory became. Except for one. One word…one whisper.
Princess…
It was his voice that whispered in my head. His voice I’d heard my entire life. His voice I grew up knowing better than my own.
“Princess?” he murmured now.
I closed my eyes with the title and felt the night gather around me. “No. Not a Princess. Not anymore.”
I opened my eyes, watching as the information took hold, and then he bowed his head. “My Queen.”
Energy coursed through me with the words, like a first breath. A first welcoming. A first allegiance. My hand slipped, and splinters dug deep. “Can you get me out of here?”
There was no second guessing, just a nod of his head. “I can do better than that. I can get you off the mountain and down to your people.”
Hope burst inside my chest as he reached out, hesitant at first, and wound his arm around my waist. “We just need to get across the ledge and up and over. Careful, there’s a lot of broken glass. We don’t want you…”
Blood everywhere…spilling from the tips of her fingers across the throne room floor.
I jerked away from the memory as a whimper slipped free.
“My Queen? What is it?” The Hellhound shifted closer, grasping the same broken piece of frame.
“Why are you here?” I tried to keep the bite from my tone.
The flames in his eyes dulled. I thought for a second he’d pull away before he answered. “I’m here to save you.”
Anger tore through me. Save me? I fought the need to look over my shoulder…like I needed another man to leave his mark.
I shifted my hand. “Just tell me where I need to climb and I’ll do it.”
One nod, one simple nod. He lifted his hand. “There’s an opening in the roof over there, and, My Queen…”
“Be careful of the glass,” I ground my teeth. “I get it.”
I shoved upwards and pulled. Splinters dug deep I as rose. My muscles strained and trembled, but still I shoved higher, dragging one knee, and rose. I wasn’t strong like Amaris, not hardened with war. I wanted to be. I yearned to be.
I caught sight of the gaping hole in the roof above me and pushed myself higher. The Hellhound waited while another chunk of my prison fell and shattered against the rocks far below.
Howls of rage filled the air around me, screams followed.
“Bastian!” a woman roared in the distance. “Bastian, can you hear me?”
The Dragon came to me as I shoved through the opening and crawled upw
ards. Searing night air buffeted my face. I squinted into the blast and tried to find the others. Amaris drove me forward. I had to find her, had to make sure she was safe.
And Blaze?
I gritted my teeth as the Hellhound rose out of the ruin beside me. I wanted nothing more than to find Blaze’s body broken and bleeding at the bottom of this ravine. But that would need to wait. My people were waiting for a Queen.
Sevan stood on the remains of the roof and pointed to the side of the mountain. “We just climb down and over. Then you’re free. I won’t follow…not unless you want me to.”
I swallowed and moved forward. Steel howled, and the roof tilted, barely holding on.
“We need to move…” the Hellhound snarled and shoved out his hand. “Now!”
I never waited, just jammed my hand into his and let him lift me. The darkness blurred as the remnants of the shattered house jolted, and fell. A scream tore free as the Hellhound bent, grabbed me around the waist, and jumped.
The steel frame howled behind me as we hurtled through the darkness. His grip tightened, pulling me hard against him as we hit the ground with a thud. Something snapped underneath me as my head cracked forward and hit something hard…and warm.
A grunt was followed with a whimper. It took me a second to understand what had happened. He’d saved me…using his body as a buffer between me and the ground. I thrust out a hand, finding hard muscles.
“Oof.”
I jerked my gaze high and scurried backwards. “I’m sorry. Are you hurt?”
There was a flicker of blue in his eyes before it was swallowed by red. He moaned and slowly rolled onto his side before stilling for a second, then rose to his knees.
A blur of black cut through to my right. Terrifying howls followed, tearing from the trees all around us. Those weren’t sound of pain, but of ravenous hunger.
The Hellhound growled a warning. “We have to move, my Queen. It’s not safe here.”
I shoved upwards as the shadows stilled, white fangs flashed in the night, and the sickening stench of blood wafted to me on the cold night air. We were surrounded…and these weren’t Hellhounds. These were Vampires.
12
Artemas
I shoved against the ground and stumbled forward. “Behind me, my Queen. Now.”
She moved without question, staring into the dark, and took a step backwards.
Pain tore through my side. My jagged breaths were mingled with agony as one of the infernal creatures stepped out into the light. There were a lot of them…too many.
I could run, and if it came to it…I’d fight.
I glanced at her, then took a step forward, moving out into the line of attack. But the beast in front of me never moved, just stood there, watching me.
“What the fuck are you waiting for?” I clenched my fist, catching movement blur behind it.
They were running, tearing through the mountain, but to get to where? I followed the movement, hearing the faint screams of survivors far below us on the mountain.
We needed to get out of here. I shifted my gaze to the red veins of lava carving through the city below, and felt the call of Hell deep in my soul. Hell’s Gate was overrun, most of the buildings all but destroyed. I’d find a place to hide, a place for the two of us, just long enough to figure this out. “We need to move, my Queen.”
“How do you suggest we do that?” she murmured. “We’re surrounded.”
I fought the need to reach for her hand, and instead, I guided her and moved sideways, never once taking my eyes from the creature in front of me—the one who looked at me with hunger. “We do it very…very slowly.”
My Hound let out a savage snarl, and the sound echoed through my head.
Easy. I sent the word through my head. The beast inside hated, he raged, and he wanted control. I closed my eyes for a second and took a breath. His hold had slipped for a second.
And a second was all it took.
Enough for me to push through from the wall inside my mind. The wall I’d smashed my fists against…the wall where I could only stand and watch as my life slipped by and the beast took over.
“Gunny, NO!”
The faint scream cut through the air. I turned at the sound, heart hammering. One glance at the darkened trees, and I jerked my gaze toward her. “The Dragons…they’ll help us.”
“The Guardians?” She followed the sound and then shook her head. “We don’t know that. It could be a trap.”
The Vampire in front of me sniffed the air, then turned to the sound as more screams erupted with a burning ball of fire.
“I do know that,” I urged. “They will help us.”
I flinched as a memory surfaced. Pain echoed in every set of eyes as the rest of my line watched me succumb to the call of the whip. But it was the Dragon’s voice that lingered, betrayal etched in his tone as he whispered…Artemas? Artemas...no.
I had no choice. Not then, and not now. I wasn’t the man they thought I was…I wasn’t the man I’d led them to believe. If the sting of treachery cut like a lash with Bastian, then what about Marcus…or Alpha…or Gunny?
Shrieks of raving hunger surrounded us as more of the fast-moving horde raced along the mountain heading toward the Dragons. So why weren’t they attacking us?
No sudden movements. That’s all we needed. I needed to get closer, to find out who controlled these fucking undead things.
“I need to get back to my people,” Kalliste stepped forward, drawing the beast’s gaze. “I need to find my sister…I need…”
“We need to stay alive.” I forced through clenched teeth. “And that means we take it slow, okay? Slow and steady.”
The forest brightened in the distance as a mammoth fireball erupted. The Dragons raged, doing what they did best, burning and killing…protecting their own.
But that wasn’t me. Not anymore.
The beautiful face of my wife drifted to the surface of my mind.
Protect the Queen. That’s what I came here to do.
I reached out through the darkness to the rest of my line and found a flicker of anger from Cekresy before I pulled away.
“Looks like we’re on our own here.” I scanned the ruins and the sheer cliff behind me. “We either follow this line and wage battle with the Dragons, or we climb and find somewhere safe.”
“To hide, you mean?” she snarled, and shook her head.
My stomach clenched, and my fingers curled into fists. I tried to control the uncontrollable. “It’s not hiding if you’re the Queen. It’s making sure you stay alive, ensuring your survival is all I care about.”
The sharp taste of her fear filled my nostrils. Red flames burned in her eyes as she jerked her gaze toward me. “I’m not running while my people are slaughtered, Queen or not. And if that’s all you came for, then I’m better off on my own.”
I sucked in the cold night air and it met with the fire inside. “I came here because you were dead.”
She stiffened, her top lip curling for an instant, before she glanced to the screams in the distance and then turned back. “As you can see, I’m not dead anymore. So, feel free to run along.”
Run along? The woman was impossible. She clasped her arms across her chest and stood her ground.
No…no…no…no. This wasn’t how this was going down. This wasn’t what I’d fought for. Muscles trembling, I fought the need to snap back. “You confuse me, My Queen. I don’t think you know who I am.”
“I know exactly who you are.”
My breath caught. I searched her eyes for the truth and found it amongst the flames. The muscles of her jaw flared before she pushed her shoulders back and straightened her spine.
I swallowed hard. “You don’t know anything at all.”
She lowered her hands, and crossed the distance between us before poking a finger in the center of my chest. “You think I don’t know you? You think I don’t hear your goddamn voice inside my head? You don’t think I’m not haunted by you…terrorized
by you? Dragged back to that moment you found my mother dead? I think it’s you who doesn’t know me, Hellhound…and neither do you know your damn place.”
My damn place? I swallowed her words. I wasn’t the man here…wasn’t the Senator. I was Sevan…I was Cursed.
She sucked in a hard breath. “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean…”
I just nodded, letting the hurt sink deep. “Yes, you did. You’re right. If you want to find a way to get to your sister and the Dragons? Then I’ll find it.”
She lifted her hand. “Sevan.”
It’d been centuries since someone called me that, a lifetime of hiding…an eternity of guilt, and the beast in me shifted under my skin and dragged in a breath.
“Your eyes,” she murmured, staring. “They changed…Sevan,” she called him once more.
He obeyed the call, letting a soft growl free. My muscles trembled as I fought the beast for control. He wanted to lower his head to her…he wanted to fall.
Just like the others had.
The call of the royal line was undeniable. But so was the need to survive. Not for me, I was gone from this world one way or another—but for her. For the Queen of the Hellhound line.
One way or another, I’d fix what I’d ruined.
Even if I had to kill a thousand newborn Vampires to do it.
She flinched and pulled away. “My sister,” she said carefully, as though she finally realized who she commanded. “Take me to her.”
One nod and I turned. I shuddered with the command, and my Hound rose to the surface. Just like old fucking times.
The bitter stench of sulphur mingled with the odor of burning pine. But under that was the heady scent of pain and rage, and blood, both beasts’ and humans’. “Then you’d better keep close,” my voice deepened, guttural and raw.
Shadows sharpened, scents swam, as I saw through his eyes. My lips curled as he focused on the Vampire watching us in the dark, and I took a step forward. The creature hissed and scurried backward, the scent now wafting to the creature was different. It was a scent of danger and death.
I pushed forward, not looking back, letting instinct guide my way. Footsteps echoed behind me, but I was focussed on the blur of creatures swarming past us. Some slowed, one sniffed the air and glanced her way, until I stepped to the left and blocked the scent.