Hellfire Saga

by Third Cousins

“Are you going to tell me?”

  “Are you going to make it worth my while?” She countered.

  “What do you want?”

  “Lucy.”

  I was finding the demon far more attractive than I should have. “What do you want with her?”

  “She’s not just an enemy to your brothers,” she purred into my ear. “She has a few enemies downstairs, too, and I’d love to take her to them.”

  “In exchange for her, you’ll tell me where Lucifer is?”

  “You have my word,” she said seriously.

  “You better come in then,” I said.

  She was silent as we went into the building, silent as we walked the halls together. She stayed at my side, matching my stride. I could feel the warmth of her body stroking mine.

  I paused at my office door before opening it. “You will ensure that after they are done, those who are her enemies will destroy her?”

  “I can promise you there won’t be enough left of her to be destroyed,” the demon said with a cruel smile.

  “What’s your name?” I asked as I pushed open the door.

  “Lilith,” she said. She walked into the room without any invitation to do so, then stopped. She turned to me in fury. “Is this meant to be a trick?”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. Lucy and Caleb were gone.

  CHAPTER 7

  Lucy

  I was following Caleb through the darkness. We’d left the house through the back door and headed straight down to the woodland that started just beyond the garden. He was walking too quickly for me to be able to keep up properly and I kept stumbling as we made our way forward. He stopped and I stopped right behind him. I saw his hand rise up in the darkness and I waited for him to speak.

  “We need to get to Daniel. You’ll be safe with him,” he said quietly. “The last time I saw him he was staying in a motel, but I’m unsure that he will still be there.” He turned to me “Lucy, you must call to him. You must call him here, so that he can come and collect you. You’re not safe with me. Gabriel will come looking for us both, but he’ll be able to track me much easier than he will you. It will be safer if we split up.”

  “How do I call Daniel?” I asked. “I don’t have a number for him.”

  Caleb chuckled in the darkness. “You don’t need a cell phone to call him,” he said, as though that was blatantly obvious. “You just need to call out to him. Focus on his picture in your mind and call his name. If he’s looking for you then he’ll hear you.”

  “I just say his name?” I asked in disbelief.

  “We are all connected. You are as connected as any of us because of the soul that you share with Daniel. You’ll be able to call him just as our brothers can call each other,” Caleb said with a nod.

  “Daniel?” I called out into the darkness. I waited, but nothing changed. Even the leaves did not stir. “Daniel,” I called out again with more confidence. “Daniel, I need you,” I said desperately.

  “That is all you can do,” Caleb said as he rested his hand on my shoulder. “He will come if he heard you. That I am sure of.”

  “What should I do if he doesn’t come?” I asked.

  “You should run. You should run and you should never stop, until you can no longer put one foot in front of the other. Your existence is the cause of much upset. If you’re not being protected then you will be a target, and I don’t know who or what will come after you,” he said to me in such a way that I knew I had to pay attention.

  “Can you not come with me, Caleb?” I asked. He was the only one who had been willing to do the right thing and protect me. He’d risked his relationship with his brothers, maybe even being expelled as Daniel had been cast out, so that I could be safe. I knew that I could trust him without a doubt.

  “You will stand a better chance without me,” Caleb said. “I am happy that I’ve been able to help you, though. My brother Daniel deserves happiness. I hope that you two find each other and get to experience some.”

  He was just a deeper darkness in the night, but I saw him nod his head and then turn to walk away. “Will I see you again?” I called out to him.

  “I should think that our paths might cross again, although I hope for both our sakes that they don’t,” he said. And then he was gone.

  I stood still in the dark woodland. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how long I should wait for Daniel before I took Caleb’s advice and started to run. I didn’t even know where I was or whether Gabriel was already out looking for me. We hadn’t travelled that far from the house, and I knew that Gabriel would waste no time once he had found that we were gone.

  “Daniel,” I whispered out one last time into the darkness. There was no reply, no sound, nothing. Caleb had been so sure that Daniel would come for me. What if he was wrong? What if I really would have to live the rest of my life running?

  “Lucy?” A familiar voice called out from the dark.

  “Daniel?” I could feel hot tears prickling the corner of my eyes. “Daniel, is that you?”

  “It’s me, Lucy,” he said as he stepped forward, so that I could see his dark shadow against the trees. “I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. The call was so weak that it was hard for me to trace.” He wrapped his arms around my waist.

  “Daniel, Gabriel will be looking for me. Caleb helped me escape, but I don’t think we have long. I can't afford to be caught again,” I said quickly.

  “Did Gabriel hurt you?” Daniel asked me and even though I couldn’t see, I could tell that his eyes were burning into my skin.

  “I don’t think that matters right now,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”

  “You’re right,” Daniel said. “I’m so glad that I’ve found you Lucy,” he said, as his lips gently brushed against mine. I felt a flutter in my stomach. I wanted the kiss to be longer. I wanted to stand in the darkness and enjoy the taste of his lips on mine, but I knew that we had no time left. “Come on,” Daniel said, as though he could sense my thoughts. “I’ve got the perfect place for us to go.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Gabriel

  Lilith was looking at me with eyes that were burning in fury. “Are you trying to waste my time?” she demanded.

  “She was here before,” I said. “I think it’s obvious that I’m just as shocked as you are.”

  “Well, if you took better care of those that you were supposed to be holding captive then this wouldn't have happened. If you ever had her at all. So I think either way we can say that you’ve wasted my time,” she said.

  “Are you going to help me find her?” I asked. “We’re just wasting time here.”

  “I’m going to go find her, all right,” Lilith said with a twisted smile. “But, it won’t be for you. You’ve just lost all of your leverage, so I guess you’re not going to find Lucifer any time soon.” She gave a small shrug and walked out the door.

  I slammed my hands down on my desk in frustration. I should have never have left Caleb with Lucy. I should have trusted my gut and guarded the door. “Caleb,” I called out into the silence that surrounded me. “Caleb, wherever you, are I will find you.”

  “You don’t need to find me,” Caleb said as he walked into the room.

  I turned to look at him. I could feel the disbelief on my face over his stupidity. “You came back?” I said. “You are not only stupid enough to defy me, but you came back?”

  “Gabriel, you own no position of power. I do not defy you. I cannot defy you. There is nothing to defy,” Caleb said calmly.

  “I think our brothers would disagree with you.”

  “I think our brothers were so lost for a leader that they turned to anyone who was willing to take the job. That doesn’t mean that you are the right person for the job.”

  “I’m going to make you pay for your decision to betray us,” I said in an even tone.

  “I’m sure you will,” Caleb said with a small nod. “I take all punishment willingly, because I know that I did the right thing
.”

  “Why did you come back, Caleb? Why did you come back when you knew what I would do to you?” I had to know what had led him to make the choice. I didn't understand.

  Somewhere in a corner of my mind a voice was whispering, There's a lot you haven't understood. I squelched the voice as best I could.

  Caleb smiled at me. His smile was cold and calculating, and nothing like the smile that I was used to seeing on his face. “I knew that if I came back, then Lucy would have some extra time to escape,” he said. “I knew that you would be too fuelled by your hurt pride to realize that I was using myself as a decoy. I knew that you would waste your time threatening me, instead of going after her.”

  He was right. I hadn’t gone after Lucy, but I had no real reason to any more. She wasn’t going to reveal the information that I needed. I knew I needed Lucifer for that. “I may not be chasing after her, but that doesn’t mean that she’s on her own out there,” I said with a cruel smile of my own. “I got a visit from an angry little demon earlier that seemed hell bent on getting her grubby hands on Lucy.”

  “Lucy will have been far gone by the time any demon friend of yours can catch on to her trail,” Caleb said with a confidence that grated against patience.

  “And, how do you know that?”

  “I taught her how to make calls,” Caleb said cheerfully. “She called Lucifer, although he’s better known around these parts as Daniel.”

  “She called Daniel here?” I asked in fury.

  “She did. And if he’s in his right mind then he will have already picked her up,” Caleb's eyes were sparkling.

  “I don’t know how you could do this to us, Caleb. I don’t know how you could betray your brothers like this. Lucifer broke the rules. He was expelled and that should have been the end of it.”

  “You know as well as I do that he broke no real rules. This has everything to do with you, with your feeling betrayed, and almost nothing to do with Lucifer, or with our father, or with rules.”

  “We weren’t meant to love,” I said firmly. I knew that our father had created me with the inability to love because we weren’t meant to love. I knew that he had created me to ensure that balance remained after he was gone.

  “Our father gave me abilities not all our brothers have. Yes, he created you unable to love for some reason of his, as some part of his plan. But he didn't create us all that way. You are not the decider, Gabriel. You never have been and you never will be.”

  I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to force my authority down his throat, but I knew it would do no good. Caleb had chosen a side and it was too late for him to avoid the consequences. “I’m sorry that I’m going to have to do this,” I said, as I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out the silver knife that I had used to remove Lucy’s soul. “I truly am.” I plunged the knife into Caleb’s chest, so that I could cut free his soul.

  He made a pained noise, before he fell to the floor. “This won’t help you in your quest,” he said to me, before his eyes closed.

  “Perhaps not,” I said to his unconscious body. “But, I’m sure that your soul, which you have been misusing, will at least come in a little useful.

  I took his soul and placed it in the box that I’d been using earlier. “After all,” I said, “you’re probably the only person that Lucy trusts. Now that I have your soul, I control you.”

  I slammed the box shut.

  Hellfire

  When The War Begins

  Paranormal Romance

  Book 5

  By: Stacia Ford & Third Cousins

  A SYNOPSIS...

  Lucy is finally back with Daniel, but for how long? When she has a dream about Caleb being seriously hurt, she knows that she must do what she can to help him. She gets Caleb back to the motel where she and Daniel are staying, but something isn’t right. When Caleb pushes Lucy for answers, she finds herself in an impossible position with far too much to lose.

  Daniel knows that Gabriel is getting ready for the war. He knows that Gabriel is going to do everything in his power to ensure that Daniel doesn’t get his happily ever after. This isn’t even about going home any more. Daniel doesn’t care about that. All he cares about is making sure that Lucy survives. But can he defeat the forces ranged against her—and against him?

  INSPIRING WORDS

  “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”

  - C.S. Lewis

  CHAPTER 1

  Lucy

  The motel room where Daniel was staying was grotty. The smell of rotten wood and damp carpet filled my nose from the moment that I stepped inside it, but I didn’t say anything to Daniel. The old, creaking bed sagged in the middle. You could tell from the way the stained duvet covers dipped. There was a television in the corner, but I doubted that it was color, and would be surprised if it worked. I could see that it had a small coin slot at the side, as though any one in their right mind would pay to stare at the tiny, ancient screen that it offered.

  “I know it isn’t much,” Daniel said in apology when he took in the look on my face.

  “It’s fine,” I lied to him quickly, my eyes caught by a greasy stain that was smeared down one of the walls.

  “It’s a dump,” Daniel said good-naturedly. “It’s just a good place to keep your head down. You won’t find many of my brothers walking around in this part of town.”

  “I can understand that,” I said, as a loud scream filled the air from somewhere outside. “This doesn’t seem like the kind of place that anyone in their right mind would come to.”

  I tried to decide whether the rickety looking chair in the corner looked safer to sit on than the bed. I decided to gamble on the chair, so I walked across the room and sat down in it. It moaned under my weight, but it managed to withstand me.

  We were quiet for a little bit, having too much to say to know quite where to start. “I’m sorry that I left you to get taken by Gabriel,” Daniel finally said.

  “It’s okay. I understand,” I said with a small smile. I knew why Daniel had let me get arrested. It was because he couldn’t do anything without revealing himself to the world.

  He asked the question I knew he had been dying to ask. “So, do you remember everything now?”

  “I remember everything,” I said with a small nod.

  “Does that mean you remember the last time we spoke, before I took away your memories?” There was a kind of hopeful glint in his eyes that told me that he really hoped that I didn’t.

  “I remember everything,” I repeated. “It’s okay though. I spoke with Caleb when we were making our escape. He told me everything. He told my why you were expelled from your home and I can totally understand why you would want to go back.”

  “I’m sorry that I lied to you about it,” Daniel said with eyes full of honesty.

  “I know you are,” I wanted to change the subject, though. “What have you been doing since I got taken?”

  “I’ve mostly been looking for you,” he said with a sheepish smile.

  “Mostly?”

  “I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to find you. I had to make sure that I’d be able to strike at Gabriel if I found out that you’d come to any harm,” he explained.

  “You knew that I’d come to harm though. Surely you felt the same devastating crush to your chest that I did, when Gabriel had my soul?”

  “I did,” he said quickly.

  “You didn’t strike, though?”

  “I knew that that he wasn’t going to kill you. I knew that I still had some time to get you out, before you were at any real risk.”

  “That's not how it felt.” I was kind of hurt by his answer, but I had to respect his brutal honesty. His honesty was all I’d ever asked of him and it felt good that I was finally getting it.

  “I admit that I was reluctant to start a war with my brothers,” Daniel said. “Even when I knew it was you who would suffer.” He sounded as though he was
ashamed. He sounded as though he felt that I might judge him for not wanting to hurt his family.

  “I understand that,” I responded. “I can understand why you wouldn’t want to make the first move in the war, Daniel, but you must know there will be a war.”

  “What makes you think that?” He asked curiously. “I have found you now. There doesn’t have to be any bloodshed.”

  “Gabriel won’t settle until he has destroyed me. And now I doubt he will stop until he has destroyed you, too. He seems to think that you’re a threat, Daniel, and he’s taking that threat very seriously.”

  “I never meant for this to happen,” Daniel said softly.

  “But it has, and now you must do what you have must to put a stop to it,” I said. I knew the idea of a war would not just go away. I’d seen it in Gabriel’s eyes. I’d seen the lust for destruction burning within them and that wasn’t the kind of fire that simply just went out. Daniel would have to find a way of extinguishing it.

  “What did you tell him of my plans?” Daniel asked me suddenly.

  “I told him nothing. I was unsure whether you were even still following through with them. I refused to reveal your secrets.”

  “He knows nothing at all?”

  “He knows that you intend to attack. That much he has worked out for himself, but he doesn’t know when and he doesn’t know how. That was what he was trying to find out from me,” I said.

  “Then I suppose we still have the element of surprise,” Daniel said with a look of shallow relief on his face.

  I got up and walked over to him where he was leaning against a wall, and took his hands in mine. “Daniel, your brothers are sure to see that Gabriel was in the wrong before any blood is split.” I wanted to reassure him. I wanted to make him feel better because I could tell from the way his palms were turning sweaty that he was worried.

  CHAPTER 2