Demons immediately scrambled through and charged them.
Chaos spun and with one swing removed the head of a demon coming at him full speed.
More quickly followed. Impaling one on the end of his blade, he slammed his fist into the face of another. Rocco came up behind the demon and removed his head.
Chaos couldn't stop his gaze from lifting again to the most maddening female he’d ever encountered. She had her bow raised, body lithe and strong, movements graceful yet sure as she fired bolt after bolt with precision, picking off the demons one by one as they fought or ran to escape into the city. Her people rushed in, removing their heads.
The battle raged on, and although they fought to cut them back, the demons kept coming.
One ran out, rushing to the side, pressed up against the brick wall, arms in the air, calling for sanctuary.
It happened occasionally. Demons wanting out, wanting relief from the darkness. Before Lazarus's mate, Eve, had joined them, it had been near impossible to decide who should be allowed to remain. But now they took the demons to her. Her ability to read minds had grown and took out the guesswork.
Most of the demi-demons were now fighting side by side with the knights on the alley floor. Even though they were all dressed the same and wore masks, he knew exactly where she was and wasn't surprised when she made a beeline straight for the demon trying to stay out of the action.
Chaos ground his teeth. Killing indiscriminately was not something they could or should do, for several reasons. Something the little vigilante didn't have the first clue about.
Slinging her crossbow over her shoulder, she slid a blade from her boot and pulled back. Chaos grabbed her wrist before she could let it fly.
He squeezed, and she released the blade, the thing clattering to the pavement.
“Let me go, jackoff…” Her gaze snapped to something over his shoulder.
Chaos spun around.
Two orthon demons rounded the corner at the entrance of the alley and gunned it straight for the portal. Not the brightest bulbs in Hell but deadly, and once given an order they would not stop unless you put them down. A female screamed and fought between them. Her wild, dark hair obscuring her face as she struggled to get free.
Chaos sprinted toward them, but demons crawling from the portal crowded in, blocking his way, and by the time they’d cut them down, the orthon had made it to the gate.
An extremely tall male stepped from the portal, deathly thin, but the power he was radiating was worrying on many levels. He took the female from the orthon, wrapping his fingers around the back of her neck.
Chaos searched for an opening, a way to stop him without hurting the female, a way to get her back, and edged closer.
The powerful demon’s gaze slid to Chaos, and he made a tutting sound. “Not another step.”
Chaos froze, although it went against every instinct he possessed.
Maybe the demon wanted to make a deal? Negotiate his escape from Hell? He hoped like fuck that was it, because there was no way they could get to her. All the demon had to do was take a step back and they’d lose them.
The alley went silent, the fight ceasing all around them. No one drew a goddamned breath as they waited for what would happen next.
Zenon cursed beside him. "Taren. Diemos's right hand."
Fuck.
Taren smiled. “Run, children,” he said to the demons still in the alley, and they immediately took off, disappearing into the city.
Taren’s gaze shifted to Rocco, and the fucker’s smile widened as he brushed the female's hair away from her face.
Rocco roared. The sound bounced off the brick walls, the pain of it hitting Chaos in the chest with force, and he instantly knew who that female was to his brother.
The female stared at Roc, confusion and terror twisting her gentle features. "Rocco? What…what’s happening,” she asked, terror making her voice brittle, small.
The sound that left Rocco was pure animal, so raw it grated like sandpaper across Chaos’s skin.
And that's when he felt it, the reason Roc had kept this female under wraps.
Chaos’s body went haywire. His spine torqued, followed by his demon rocketing to the surface, like the bastard was trying to jump though his skin. If they hadn’t been at the portal, that’s exactly what would have happened.
The female was a hellsgate, a demi-demon who could be used to open and close the gates of Hell at will, and powerful enough that even without going through her transition, without having developed her powers yet, he could feel it.
Taren wrapped his hand around the front of her, gripping her throat and leaned in, eyes still on Rocco, who shook with rage so fierce Chaos was surprised the ground didn’t shake with him. "Say goodbye now. This will be the last time you see your female."
“Rocco!” she screamed, tears streaming down her face. “Please…oh, God, please, help me.”
A bolt came out of nowhere and lodged in Taren’s shoulder. Two more quickly followed, taking out both orthon at his side. Taren hissed in pain but held the female tighter, using her as a shield as he backed up.
“Kyler!” Rocco roared and exploded into action, running for them.
Chaos sprinted after him—
Taren yanked the female back, back through the portal.
It would remain open for another few minutes, but they were fucked. Knights couldn't enter Hell. One step through that portal with the angel brands they'd each had burned into their skin, and they'd die almost instantly.
Rocco knew this as well, which was why he’d pressed the bloody knife in his hand against his own forearm and started sawing at the brand, cutting at his flesh.
They all moved as one. Zenon got there first, tackling him hard to the ground. Rocco fought and bucked, determined to go after her, the sounds of his anguish sending a shiver down Chaos’s spine and tearing through him.
In the end, it took four of them to hold him down and wrestle the blade from his hand.
"Get the fuck off me!” Rocco’s voice was almost unrecognizable, fear and rage strangling his vocal cords.
A flash of light lit up the alleyway, followed by a familiar pop, and the portal closed.
Rocco’s tortured scream was like a wild animal being slaughtered in the most inhumane of ways, and they all felt his soul-deep agony. It shredded Chaos. It shredded all of them.
"What have you done?” Rocco rasped, the fight leaving him immediately. His haunted gaze locked on the wall where the portal had been moments ago. He moved up to it, pressing his hands to the cold brick.
“Brother," Zenon choked, stepping forward.
Rocco shoved him away. “If that was Mia?"
Zenon's jaw tightened, his face twisting in agony. “I couldn't let you kill yourself."
Now that the portal was gone, their powers returned, and Rocco shifted, immediately taking his Kishi demon form. His clothes, now nothing but tatters, lay scattered on the ground at his feet. His deep crimson skin, so dark it was almost black, gleamed under the dim light in the alley, making his enormous fangs and black horns almost sparkle. But there was barely anything left of Rocco in his dark blue gaze, and Chaos watched as obsidian crawled in from the edges of his irises, washing away the color completely.
Gunner reached for him. “Roc—”
Without a backward glance, their brother took flight.
Zenon began to strip, and Chaos shook his head. "Leave him. He needs time to cool off."
Laz’s head jerked up and he turned to Chaos, disbelief in his bright green eyes. "Cool off?”
Chaos didn’t know what the fuck to say.
“Our brother just lost his mate,” Lazarus choked. “In the most horrific of ways. She won’t even get the mercy of death. Rocco has to live with the knowledge that she is in Hell, suffering unimaginable torture at the hands of his enemy. Try to live, fucking breathe, while she is unprotected, afraid, in pain, and there’s not one thing he can do to save her. And you think he needs time to cool
off?” Lazarus’s features twisted in rage. “I know you’re made of fucking stone, brother, so let me spell it out for you. Rocco, as you know him, is gone. He will never be the same. Chances are, we’ll lose him just like we lost Tobias. So, no, there will be no cooling off. No amount of time will make this better for him."
Chaos clenched his fingers into a tight fist, the hopelessness of their situation more than he knew how to deal with.
Watching Tobias’s descent into darkness after the tragic death of his mate, as he’d willingly surrendered to his inner demon, choosing a life without the memory of her—as he’d turned against them, before they’d lost him forever—was something that none of them would ever recover from.
Gunner scrubbed his hands over his face. "We should have let him go."
"He would've died. We need him in this war," Chaos said.
Kryos planted his hands on his hips. "We've already lost him."
He understood their pain for Rocco, fuck, he felt it too, but no one was saying what this truly meant. “She was a hellsgate.”
“Roc thought she was safe. She hadn’t transitioned. He planned to mate with her before bringing her to the compound to be safe,” Zenon said.
Lazarus’s mate, Eve, also a hellsgate, had affected their inner demons in ways they couldn’t fully understand, and being around her had almost tipped them all over the edge into darkness. “You knew about her?”
Zenon dipped his chin.
Rocco had kept this from him. He hadn’t trusted Chaos enough to share he’d found his mate. Pain deep and raw burrowed into his chest.
“Why didn’t he ask me for the amulet?” The piece of jewelry had been imbued with angelic power, and was strong enough to block a demi from demons. Eve had worn it when they found out what she was, before she and Lazarus had mated.
“He didn’t think he’d need it. She didn’t have her power yet and he planned to make her his mate as soon as she did.”
Since mating would have rendered the hellsgate power inside Kyler useless.
“Let’s hope like fuck Diemos doesn’t have any of Golath’s bones.” With Kyler and a bone from Golath, the first demon Lucifer ever created, Diemos would have complete control over the portal.
Zenon pushed away from the wall, black leathery wings snapping out from his back, and without another word, he was gone, no doubt after Rocco.
Chaos worked to control his emotions. “I know this is hard, but we still have a job to do. Go scout the city."
Laz and Gunner aimed disgusted glares at him, and Kryos just shook his head—then they were gone as well.
Planting his hands on his hips, Chaos dropped his head and sucked back several deep breaths, trying to gather his control. When that didn’t work, he smashed his fist into the brick wall with a roar.
"Fuck... Fuck!”
The scrape of a boot had him lifting his head. She stood there, and even without seeing her face, he knew she was pissed, could feel her anger washing over him. She was on her own, her people had gone, chasing the demons that had escaped tonight. Doing his fucking job.
"What in the hell just happened?" she hissed.
He reached out with his senses, to feel her. But she was locked up tight, like she always was. “We’re fucked,” he said.
“I’m gonna need a little more than that.”
“As soon as that female”—he pointed to where the portal had been a short time ago—“comes into her powers, Diemos will have a key to open the gates of Hell at will. She was a hellsgate."
She flew at him without warning, taking him by surprise. Her spinning kick made contact with his shoulder. He managed to block the punch she threw with her left but wasn’t quick enough to avoid her right hook. Her fist slammed into his jaw. Hard. He blocked her next few punches, not wanting to hurt her, but the female was good. She could fight.
She feigned right, then spun to the left and slammed the heel of her palm into his nose, breaking it. There was only one thing he could do to stop her without hitting her; he wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug, holding her immobile.
She hissed and smashed her head into his already busted nose.
“Fuck!”
“How could you let that happen?" She struggled like a wildcat in his arms.
"Calm down.”
One of her hands broke free, and her fingernails dug into the side of his throat, scratching across his skin and taking a nice sample of his DNA with them.
“I have enough to deal with without some unstable demi getting in my face,” he ground out.
She stilled and shoved at him. For some reason, a reason he couldn't explain, he didn’t let her go.
"If it wasn't for this unstable demi, you'd be dead." She pushed at his chest again, clearly pissed. "I should have let that demon take your arrogant-fucking-head when he had the chance.”
She’d saved his ass a while back and wasn’t going to let him forget it. "You really do hate me.”
“More with every breath I take."
He believed her, could feel her shake with rage beneath his hands. "That's a lot of hate."
"You have no idea, pencil dick.”
Pencil dick was a new one. But he didn’t give a shit about her name-calling, this wasn't the first time she'd said how much she hated him, and he wanted...no, needed to know why. "What did I do to you?"
"You were born."
"I didn't exactly have a say in that."
She released a shuddering breath. "Let me the fuck go."
"If you aim those claws at me again, I'll put you over my damned knee. I'll treat you like the immature, pain in the ass you’re behaving like."
She jerked in his arms, and his dick got hard. What the fuck was wrong with him? He had to force himself to release her.
She stumbled back a step and reached behind her head, yanking her full mask off, revealing herself. She was breathing heavily, fire flashing in her expressive, mahogany eyes. “Asshole.”
He clenched his fists tighter. Her lips were full, and they thinned when her gaze locked on his, full of fury and hatred. She ran those long, graceful fingers over her hair, brushing back loose strands of the palest gold.
Finally seeing her face for the first time had a serious effect on him. So sudden, he had to lock his knees. The rich brown of her eyes, soft and sumptuous, like umber velvet, got darker. She took another step back, shaking her head. “Fix this. Do your goddamn job and fix this,” she yelled, fury exploding from her.
Then before he could say another word, she spun and sprinted into the night.
Chaos stood there alone, boots all but buried in the ashy remains of the demons they'd slaughtered, but his mind wasn't on the coming war, or what he could do to stop what could only be described as the fucking apocalypse.
Worse, it wasn’t even on Rocco and the pain he was going through.
No, all he could think was, he still didn't know her name.
Chapter 3
Grace wiped the sweat from her face and tossed the towel by her gym bag. Her advanced combat and defense class was coming along well, really well. In fact, there were three demi that showed real promise.
After what happened during the equinox, they desperately needed to increase their numbers. Recruitment was the main reason she’d started her advanced classes. The other classes she taught, the basic self-defense and assertive verbal skills classes, they were different. And to her, were just as important. No one, human or demi, deserved to feel defenseless, helpless. No one.
Most of her students had left, and she made her way over to the females gathering their stuff. "Mia?”
The lovely redhead turned to face her. "Hey, Grace. Class was awesome as always.”
“You’ve been practicing while you've been gone.”
Mia had been coming to her classes for a while, and Grace had immediately seen her potential, then she’d vanished for several months—thanks to one scary-as-fuck knight. She’d mated Zenon, which blew Grace’s mind. The male was standoffish and te
rrifying, and Mia was all warmth and sweetness. But then, they say opposites attract. Though, attraction had nothing to do with it, did it? The bond between mates bypassed all of that—whether you wanted it or not.
Grace was also good friends with Mia’s older sister, Chaya. Chaya had worked with her a few months back. Still worked with her when she could, getting intel through the sex club she owned with her husband, Brent.
Chaya had kept Grace’s identity secret, and if Chaos hadn’t seen her face, she wouldn’t even consider revealing herself to the mate of a knight. But he had, and it was only a matter of time before Chaos found her, anyway. May as well go for it. And it wasn’t like she was trying to recruit Mia, no way would Zenon let her fight.
But thankfully, she’d found her way back to Grace’s classes here at Deluca Gym, and she’d brought two of her extremely skilled friends with her.
“Yep, I train most days.” Mia motioned to her friends. “This is Eve and Meredith."
Grace shook their hands. “Where do you both train? You’re amazing.”
Eve smiled. “With my…husband.”
Meredith nodded. “Me too. I mean, with mine. My ah…husband.”
The three friends smiled, like they were having trouble controlling their amusement. Grace had never had that kind of friendship with anyone, too busy killing demons for close girlfriends and in-jokes. Whatever had them so entertained didn't have anything to do with her. These females could fight, and that’s all she cared about.
"Would you mind sticking around for a bit? There's something I'd like to discuss with you."
Mia frowned. "Yeah, sure."
Grace led them to the small office at the back of the gym and shut the door behind her. She didn't waste time with chitchat. Eve and Meredith were either up for it or they weren’t. “Did you tell your friends that I’m a demi?” Grace asked Mia.
Mia nodded, frowning a little.
Eve crossed her arms. "I'm usually pretty good at sensing it. But if Mia hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known." All three females’ postures had changed, now defensive. And that just confirmed to Grace that she'd picked correctly. It was a damned shame Mia was mated to a knight. She could have been extremely useful.
Knight's Dominion (Knights of Hell Book 4) Page 2