Broken: Hidden Book Two

by Vanderlinden, Colleen

  “They’re not my buddies. I didn’t even know them.”

  I sensed for him. Nervousness, fear.

  “Or do I let you go? The problem with that is that unleashing a murderous demon on my city is not something I feel comfortable doing.”

  “I’m not murderous. I have killed.”

  I almost smiled. Ridiculous that I could totally relate.

  “No murdering. No raping. No causing pain to innocents. If I hear of you doing any of these things, and I will,” I added, gesturing at my imps, thirty or so of which had gathered around us now, “then I will hunt you down, and I will kill you slowly and painfully, and there will be nothing left for the Guardians to escort to the Nether.”

  He gulped, and he watched me, and he looked at my imps. “Then I’ll be weak, and something else will just kill me anyway.”

  “Use your strength for something good. There are more than enough evil bastards out there to keep you satisfied without ever preying on an innocent.”

  He was watching me. “So you want me to play the hero?”

  I smiled. “I do it, every day of my life. Why not?” I waited as he sorted through it all in his mind. “What is your name?”

  “Levitt.” Not his demon name, that, he was keeping to himself. I understood. Names have power and all that.

  “So, what do you say, Levitt?”

  “You’re giving me a chance to redeem myself,” he said quietly. “Why?”

  I extinguished my flame, looked around. I shook my head, remembering. “Because someone showed me, once upon a time, how much good a demon could do. I’m doing this in memory of him. If you make me regret it, there will be no place dark or far enough for you to hide from me.”

  He looked around at my imps again, who took that moment to bend knee to me, as one, and thump their fists to their chests.

  The demon, Levitt, watched them do it. And then he went to one knee, bowed his head to me, and thumped his chest, in the same way. “I swear I will honor you,” he said and when I sensed for him, there was almost the same sense of adoration and obedience I got from my imps.

  “Go on. Do good,” I said. Levitt stood up, thumped his chest one more time, and made to leave.

  “Oh, Levitt,” I said, smiling.

  He turned. “Yes?”

  “You might want to put on a human skin.”

  He looked down at himself, looked at me. “Oh. Right.” He focused for a moment, and the air shimmered around him. The skin he wore perfectly matched the demon he’d been. Average height, solidly built. Brown hair, brown eyes, a light beard. A black t-shirt and cargo pants. “Good?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Good.”

  “Thank you,” he said, thumping his chest again.

  I nodded, and he turned and walked out of the factory. I watched him go, and took a deep breath. Bash and Dahael came to my side, and Dahael took my hand.

  “Mistress is so good,” she said, smiling up at me.

  “Right thing to do. Good in him,” Bash agreed.

  “Demon skin would have been proud,” Dahael said, giving my hand a squeeze. We stood there for a bit.

  “I’m going to stay here tonight. I can still feel them bashing the gateway,” I said.

  “We will stay, too,” Bash said.

  I pulled out my phone and called the loft, got Ada. I told her to tell Brennan that I was on guard duty, and that he would know what that meant. I did not tell her where I was. I didn’t want any of them anywhere near here. For many reasons.

  I hung up and looked around. Without thinking, I headed toward the last spot I’d seen Nain alive. The concrete was blackened, burned, from when he’d combusted when I’d attacked Astaroth. I sat down, right next to the spot, ran my fingers over the blackened concrete. The imps gave me space.

  “I miss you,” I whispered, feeling stupid for talking to an empty factory. It didn’t matter. “You destroyed me. I should hate you so much for that.” I sat, fighting back tears, and failing. “But I can’t. Not as much as I should.” I closed my eyes, felt his blood still running through my veins, remembered things I’d let myself forget in my anger and grief.

  “You were starving. One night with me, and you’re fully fed. I’ll take that as a compliment, Molls.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  ”All I know is I can’t stop thinking about you. I try, but it’s pointless. You’re addictive.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “I think I might be in love with you, you bastard.”

  “It’s about fucking time, woman. I’ve been in love with you since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  “Now, you’re officially mine.”

  “Already was.”

  ”What am I supposed to do now, you bastard?” I whispered into the empty factory.

  Part of me still belonged to him, whether he was here or not. And I knew that it had nothing to do with blood, and everything to do with the fact that, for a little while, at least, we had been two halves of one person. How did I move forward from that? Maybe it was pointless to even try. I thought of Brennan, the things he'd said to me. I wished I could give him what he wanted, but I was not whole. Maybe I never would be.

  I stretched out on the concrete, kept my hand on the last spot he’d been alive. I sensed for the gateway, which had finally gone quiet. And I closed my eyes and slept, and dreamed that Nain was with me and I felt whole again, if only for a little while.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  I spent the next two days guarding the gateway. Four times, a demon or two got lucky and managed to get through. None seemed to have the humanity in them that Levitt had, and I finished them off before they could go out and cause any pain. I slept, fitfully. The imps brought me food and stuff to drink when I needed it, sneaking into restaurants and stores, invisible to the Normals.

  It was my third night in the abandoned factory. I sat, leaned up against the wall. This was like one of my own personal hells, just me, alone in this crumbling factory with all of its ghosts. When I wasn’t remembering Nain, I was thinking about Brennan.

  I felt alone. More than just physically. I hadn’t gone more than a day without talking to Brennan since we’d met. I’d gone longer without talking to Nain, actually, than I ever had with Brennan. This was three days of not talking, using Ada or Stone as intermediaries, after over a week of arguing. I wondered how strong our friendship actually was; whether I could get over this, and, more, whether he could forgive me for acting like a complete jerk.

  Night was falling again. It usually didn’t bother me; night was my time. But tonight, it did. I wanted lamplight, and noise, and warmth. I hated this. Every second of it. It was necessary, and I’d do it, but I hated it.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket, and my stomach fluttered stupidly when I saw the number. Bren. I took a breath, and answered.

  “Molly,” he said, and I could hear the tension, the worry, in that one word. “How is everything?”

  “Everything is a mess,” I said, and hated the lump that rose in my throat.

  “Yeah,” he said, an edge of emotion in his voice as well. “Stone said you said earlier that a few had come through. Any more?”

  “Three came through today. So far I’m doing okay with getting rid of them as soon as they come through. E says they’re working hard to shore up their side of the gateway. These are just random lucky ones getting through right now,” I said.

  He was quiet on his end.

  “How are things there?” I asked.

  “Okay. I’ve been handling the meetings we had scheduled. You’ve had lots of 'call me,' messages from the people I’ve met with, which I just know you’ll love dealing with when you get back.”

  “Right.”

  We both went silent again. “Do you want some company? I mean, I can send Stone or Ada if you want.”

  “Are you worried about me?”

  “Yeah. Do you want them to come or not?”

  “No. I don’t want them to come,” I said, and I
heard him sigh at the other end.

  “Molly…”

  “But if you feel like hanging out in a dark, depressing place with me for a while, I wouldn’t mind that,” I said.

  “Honestly, that sounds better than anything else has in a long time. Where are you?”

  “Packard plant,” I said.

  Silence.

  “Oh, shit. Molly,” he said.

  “I’m okay.”

  “I know. I’ll be there in a few minutes. Do you want clean clothes?”

  I wished I could have hugged him through the phone. “That would be great. Thank you.”

  “Okay. I’ll be there soon.” We hung up, and I waited.

  True to his word, within fifteen minutes, I heard footsteps at the far end of the plant. Dahael gestured that she’d go guide him to where I was, and I nodded. I stood up, and soon, I saw his flashlight beam. He reached me, and looked me over.

  “Hey,” Brennan said, setting down his flashlight and a big duffel. His eyes roamed me, looking, I knew, for signs of injury, even though he knew better than just about anyone how well I could heal. He set the flashlight and duffel bag down without taking his eyes off of me. Love, relief, came from him, strong and warm, and I was on the verge of tears. He walked up to me and only hesitated a second before pulling me into his arms, and I leaned against him and felt like for the first time in a long time, something was right for once. I pressed my face into his chest and breathed him in. He held me tighter, and we didn’t say a word for several long minutes.

  “I missed you, Molly,” he said after a while.

  “I missed you too,” I whispered. “I’m sorry about how I acted. I said some shitty, awful things to you, and I didn’t mean them.”

  I felt surprise from him. How terrible was I that he was surprised I’d apologized? He took a breath. “I’m sorry too. I know this isn’t easy for you. You’ve got the weight of the world on you, and then you have me here and I can’t hide what I feel from you and I just made things weirder the other night. It has to be crazy for you.”

  “You don’t deserve the way I treat you,” I said, looking up at him.”I don’t want to hurt you anymore,” I whispered.

  “I’m here, no matter what. You know that,” he said.

  I nodded. “I’m glad you’re here, Bren. I couldn’t do this without you.”

  He let me go, looked down at me. I met his eyes and he smiled at me. “You don’t have to do anything without me.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” I said softly.

  He looked around, then he studied me. “I’ve been overstepping lately.”

  “Meaning?”

  He took a breath. “I was thinking while you were gone.”

  “Dangerous.”

  He laughed. “Shut up, Molly.”

  I laughed, and waited for him to continue.

  “I was thinking that no matter how much I would like it to be otherwise, you’ll probably never be mine. I can see it every time you look at me. You’d like to be able to take a chance. The idea of being loved again is attractive. And maybe you do love me, at least a little bit. But you’re still in love with someone else. And when he died, it knocked you on your ass and you're not sure you'll ever be right again. And I can’t even begin to understand what you had with him.” He paused, looked at me. “Right?”

  “I’m sorry, Bren.”

  “Don’t be. It’s who you are. When you say something, when you make a promise, you mean it. And I know you’ve been going through the grieving process, and anger is part of it. I mistook your anger at Nain as a possibility for something between us. I have no interest in being a second-class replacement.”

  “There is nothing second-class about you,” I said.

  “Okay. Well. Nice to see we’re on the same page. I love you Molly. You’re the person I’m closest to in this world. That’s not changing. But if I need some distance sometimes, I hope it doesn’t hurt you. I have to figure out a way to handle the way I feel about you. I think we both needed these few days apart to get some breathing room.”

  Tears pricked my eyes, and I nodded. “Okay.”

  He nodded. “Okay.” Then he bent down and started rifling through the duffel bag. He pulled out a pile of my clothes and set them down. Then he pulled out two sleeping bags and I stared.

  “You’re a damn genius,” I said, and he laughed.

  “I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet.” He pulled out a large metal thermos and two coffee cups.

  “Oh god thank you,” I said, sitting next to him.

  He laughed and poured me some coffee. We sat and he filled me in on what was going on at the loft. He stopped partway through, coughing harshly.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. He nodded and took another gulp of coffee.

  “I feel like I’m coming down with a little something,” he said, waving me off.

  “Bren, you should be at home. It’s damp and cold here, and you never get sick…”

  “Molly. It’s a cold. It’s fine.” I watched him, and we went back to finishing off the thermos of coffee. The peace was only interrupted when I started feeling something bashing the gate.

  “Ready to fight some demons?” I asked, standing up.

  He grinned at me. “I thought you’d never ask.” We stood ready, in front of the gate, and within moments, a group of demons was hurtling through. I saw ax blades, and glowing eyes, and way, way too many of them.

  I started blasting them with flames, but one of them just laughed and ignited. “Fire demon?” I asked him, and he nodded, still laughing.

  “Fine,” I said, and I hurled mental knives at him, shredding his throat, and he fell, clutching his neck fruitlessly. I glanced around and saw Brennan fighting two more, while five surrounded me.

  “Hey. This is her,” one said.

  “How convenient,” the other, taller one said, grinning, exposing a row of sharp teeth. The first tried to grab me, and I fought him back, started hurling flames and knives.

  These were not the amateurs that had been coming through. These demons were organized. They were focused. On me.

  I heard Brennan howl, and I looked over to see him bleeding. I hurled fire at one of the demons attacking him, and it gave him enough of a distraction to be able to jump and rip the other demon’s throat out with his teeth. Once that was finished, he leapt into the group of demons surrounding me.

  All were fire demons. My fire was worthless. These demons knew me. They were not as prepared for the mental knives, but they were determined, even bleeding and in pain, to get what they came for.

  Brennan and I fought on, and soon my arms were aching from punching, and my sides and stomach were bleeding. I limped after one sliced through the back of my knee with his sword. I finally managed to get one down, slicing roughly across his throat with the knife I always carried in my pocket.

  I glanced toward Brennan. He had gashes along his side, and his right front leg bled.

  “Brennan, you should go,” I shouted.

  Panther-Brennan gave me a very Brennan look, one of his “are you insane?” looks, and continued fighting. We were so screwed.

  I managed to get one more down, and we were down to three. One of them slashed out with his sword, cutting me deep across the abdomen, and I fell to my knees in agony. I heard Brennan roar, saw the same demon ready his blade for another strike. If Brennan hadn’t been there with me, I would have, maybe, been okay with letting him end me. I figured beheading would do it.

  But Brennan was there, and I wasn’t going to let them kill him, too. I jabbed my knife up into the demon’s stomach, sliced hard upward, gutting him, and he fell on top of me, roaring in pain, his blood soaking through my clothing. Good thing Brennan brought extras, I thought numbly.

  My imps were helping Brennan with the last two, but it was not going well, and the freaking fire demon who’d landed on top of me weighed at least four hundred pounds. I shoved at him uselessly, watched as one of the demons fighting Brennan moved to hit Br
en with his ax.

  And then I felt something powerful come through the gateway. Like, easily as powerful as me. And my breath caught in my throat and my heart raced as I saw the being that came through the gateway, flying with great, bat-like wings. She carried a flaming sword in her hand, and beheaded the final two demons within seconds.

  Brennan shifted back, helped pull the fallen demon off of me, and then he pulled me up. We were both bleeding, exhausted, and we looked at the being who had saved us, who now stood there, staring at me.

  Eunomia and her sisters had arrived to claim the souls of the dead, and Eunomia landed next to me. “Demon girl,” she said. Then she looked at the being that had saved our asses, and gave her a respectful nod. “Tisiphone,” she murmured.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of the Fury. Tisiphone. I looked into my own white glowing eyes. Dark hair, alabaster skin.

  She stared, and I stared back. Except for her black, bat-like wings, she looked almost exactly like me. Taller, thinner, but the similarities were remarkable.

  “Oh, no,” she whispered, and her voice soothed me in a way I couldn’t understand. “They found you.”

  “Who?” I asked, chills going up my spine.

  “Oh, my dearest daughter. My love. I thought I had hidden you so well.”

  Chapter Ten

  The factory was deathly silent around us. Eunomia, Brennan, the Fury and I stood like statues. I stared at the Fury, the Fury looked at me, and Eunomia looked back and forth between us, one of those little half-smiles on her face. Brennan took my hand, squeezed it reassuringly.

  Daughter.

  That one word was enough to knock me on my ass, make me wonder if I hadn’t finally just lost my damn mind.

  “Excuse me?” I finally said. I could hear the tremor in my voice.

  “You are my daughter. And I would like to know how in the Nether you managed to break the enchantments I put on you to keep you hidden,” the Fury said, watching me. Her power thundered over me, around me, and I recognized my own strength in it. I felt for her. Worry. Warmth. Pride. Mostly worry, though.