by Lexi Ostrow
Philippe didn’t need to be held twice. He depressed the trigger in two quick successions into the demon’s chest. Three holes, including the one prior, and he was convinced the nasty fucker was done.
In the silence, both men’s breathing was intensely loud. That was when he started to feel the burning pain tearing through his body from the injury to his shoulder. “Lucius, I need your jacket, I need you to tie it around me.”
“Fuck. I thought that was old blood. Damnit, Clemis.” He shrugged his jacket off and muttered something under his breath before rolling it into a line and setting it over Philippe’s chest. It took a few shots because he was broader than Lucius, but the demon got it tied. He vindictively slapped Philippe’s wound, grinning as he stepped out from behind him. “You’re buying me a new one.”
“Fine. What the fuck happened?”
“Seraphina has a little gift from me following her around. It’s all in her head, and being a Fallen, her mental wards trapped it there once I had snuck it in. It was easy to tap into it.”
He growled and resisted the urge to punch Lucius in the head. “I mean with Odette. Where did they go?”
“My guess? A holding cell in Hell. You’re not really in any condition to go and save her either. We need to use the communicators. All four of us need to go get her because now, it’s about a lot more than a yellow flower.
“I don’t need to wait.” He started to walk further into the tunnel when Lucius spoke.
“Keep walking hunter, and I’ll blast you with your fear. Nothing is stopping me from trancing.”
Philippe froze at the statement and growled low.
“You’re no use to her injured. We need a stealthy plan, along with hard hitting. We all need to be here.”
Lucius was right. He had no idea what sort of things they would be walking into. They’d never fought demons that possessed the advantage. Charging in simply because he’d failed to save her and wanted to get her back immediately could get them both killed. Well, him killed, her fully controlled.
“She fought Seraphina’s orders. How much longer do you suppose she can do that?” He sat down on the floor and fumbled, twisting the knobs on the communicator to call Kellan.
“Pure Angels are typically stronger. She’s a Halfling so I would guess if it weren’t you, she wouldn’t have listened. Angels don’t mate. It’s a punishment of sorts. They do however connect stronger than humans do. You’re that for her, and there’s a small chance she’ll listen to you at all times. Even if we fail to save her.”
“We. Won’t. Fail,” he said the words through gritted teeth, annoyed that Kellan wasn’t answering as much as he was at Lucius’ words. The cave could be blocking the transmission, or they could be in trouble, and not knowing was driving him to the edge. Slamming the knob back in, he pulled two more out and twisted to call Agardawes.
“I thought I told you not to use these here.”
The cranky voice was a relieving sound, and Lucius cracked a laugh.
“Seraphina took Odette. We were ambushed. Lucius tried to take her down, but she was ordered the Kappa to give her control of Odette. It was essentially two to four.”
Silence on the other end unnerved him.
“Then she’s turned?”
“No sir, but she must be close enough that some commands get through. Some don’t. She refused to attack me. We need to go after her, but I’m injured. All four of us need to go.”
“We are actually heading towards you. All the other tunnels were distractions. Somehow, Odette picked the proper tunnel right away. Has the tunnel you’re in been straight the whole way? We haven’t seen any sign of it changing.”
“Yes. We walked for over a day. We’ll be down to two days by the time you’re here.” He couldn’t wait that long. They didn’t know how long into Hell it would be.
“I’ll go after Odette now. I’m less likely to be attacked if there are more demons. You two come meet Philippe and then come after us if we don’t get back to you,” Lucius cut in.
For the first time, Philippe truly respected him. He was going to put his life in danger for a woman who wasn’t his mate.
“Fine. Do it. Stay with him till he gets some rest and then run. Do you hear me, Lucius? Don’t walk towards her and the flower, run.”
Anyone could hear the nervousness in the older man’s voice. A nervousness Philippe shared. The communication cut out, the power was gone on the crystal that charged the magnetic signal, drained quickly due to their location.
Lucius looked at him as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. Not right away at least. “I’ll find the flower, Philippe. I promise you that. You just focus on getting the three of you to Odette. I won’t go look for her, but I’ll start right back down this tunnel once that bloody flower is in my hand. I promise.”
Philippe nodded, truly grateful for the demon he was beginning to think of as only a man. “This is just as hard for you isn’t? Your eyes, you’re thinking about eight months ago with Eliza aren’t you?”
“I’m thinking about right fucking now with Eliza. Thinking that you might not be mated to Odette, but you certainly look at her as if you were. I switched sides. I’m not the bad guy anymore, which must make me the good guy.” He smirked and chuckled.
Philippe laughed and coughed, pain shooting through him. “What I wouldn’t give for a little Angel healing now.”
“You’ll make it. The suit jacket isn’t painted red, so the bleeding has faded out, and you’re not in danger from a regular old Thrasher bite. Just promise me you won’t die if I leave you. The last thing I need is to find the flower and you be too dead to give it to her.”
“Don’t count on it, demon.”
He said the term lightly and Lucius smiled. “Well then. This is where I leave you. You’ll be ok in this small space. Sleep, Philippe. No demons will come now. I can promise you that. Seraphina is playing a game. She won’t be ready to send anyone else until she’s played with Odette.”
A shudder went through Lucius, and Philippe ground his teeth, angry at what Odette would face. “Thank you, Lucius.”
“Don’t mention it. Save your life, save your love’s life. All in a night’s work for a Nightmare Demon. Now if only it would be night so I could be stronger,” Lucius muttered as he jogged off down the tunnel.
Philippe watched him as he turned into a small black dot in the darkness before he turned with what Philippe could only hope was a forced turn. They had to rely on the path staying straight. They simply had too.
Pain throbbed in his shoulder and his head. He’d had his arse kicked too many times in a short time period. Not only was his pride wounded, but he was too. “Lucius, you had better be fucking right. Nothing better come.” His eyes closed, partially on their own, and he did the only thing he could whilst he waited for the cavalry to arrive.
Seventeen
Tears pricked in her eyes as the demon’s hand closed tighter around her neck. Odette knew she had been lifted off the floor, but the pain and loss of air made it impossible for her to think about it.
The torture had started the minute she’d failed to trick the beautiful Fallen Angel into thinking she was under her control. For what felt like three hours, the woman had tested her. She’d passed every test, still predominately in control of herself. Twice, she felt her mind black out and had awakened to find herself doing something she couldn’t recall.
She’d failed to prove it when Seraphina had ordered her to slice the wings off a Pure Angel named Rafe. She’d looked into his eyes and had only had the urge to protect and serve him. Seraphina didn’t even bother to check if she could be swayed by a different Fallen. She’d simply taken the scythe and pulled it clean through the wings. The scream had been so inhuman that Odette had screamed as well.
Then she’d found herself locked in a cell with visits from many different demon species. A Thrasher had come and made thin paper-like slices all over her body. An Imp had set fire on the ground around her, and a
Succubus had seduced her. She couldn’t remember if she’d given in, or if she’d fought him off. Each time Seraphina had made her heal herself.
The Stranglehold Demon would kill her. She’d never used her healing ability until the day of the crash and using it three times so close together had left her weak. She hadn’t even fought the gigantic demon when it had walked into the cell. She’d been too worn out to scream or even back away in fear.
“Enough!”
She heard the voice she’d grown used to ring out in the cell. Suddenly her arse hit the stone floor. Pain may have shot through her, but the feeling of air surging into her lungs and down her damaged windpipe far outweighed what hitting the ground caused.
Everything burned, and her chest heaved, almost rejecting the air as she fitfully sucked it into her lungs. Her hands rubbed at her throat, trying to ensure herself it wasn’t broken or mangled into a bizarre shape.
The tears fell from her eyes, and suddenly her vision was clear, and she was able to breathe. The cell came back into focus as the pain began to recede. She’d unconsciously started to heal herself, and she felt the healing warmth pass over her body. She shuddered when she had finished healing herself, and she slumped against the wall.
Seraphina took a step towards her and ordered the Stranglehold Demon out of the room. Her beauty was devastating and yet, Odette felt no compulsion to listen or help the Fallen. Quite the opposite.
She’d been pulled from the fight and dragged to the cell and not knowing what had become of Philippe was driving her mad. At one point, when the Thrasher’s claws had been slowly shredding her skin slice by slice, she’d sworn Philippe was in the cell speaking to her, telling her to hold on. It was the only reason she had.
Merely meters away, Seraphina sat down on the floor. The action surprised Odette, and she watched as the ruby red gown pooled around the Fallen. Her eyes were as eerie, silver blue as Lucius’ were a fathomless black. Her skin looked like the porcelain dolls she and Felicia had both gotten for their eleventh birthday. A part of her wanted to reach out and touch her, to see if such a creature was real. Odette had looked upon only a few Pure Angels, but Seraphina was certainly the most beautiful creature she had ever seen, which made what she was on the inside even more terrifying.
“You know, I’ve asked about you. Little Odette.” Seraphina reached a hand up and drew it rather gently down her cheek.
Odette forced back a gag, the sensation felt like nothing she’d ever experienced, and not in a positive way. When she moved her hand to trace a line on her other cheek, Odette physically pulled back.
“Well, I see the human entrusted with your life didn’t pay much mind to manners. No matter, I don’t have a need to use mine, anyway.” She stood up and walked to the cell door.
Odette swore that she couldn’t seem to make her body stand up and work.
“Your father is a truly powerful adversary. He was not alive during my time amongst the Pure, but his name is not unknown to me. Layel the Magnificent.” She turned to look at Odette once more. “Did you know that’s what they call him? He lay with a disgusting human after getting her addicted to his blood, and he retained his status somehow.”
“I have no desire to learn anything about Layel. He is the reason my mother is gone and why I can no longer trust the man who raised me,” she spat the words.
Seraphina delicately tossed her head back and laughed. “Well, your mighty father is going to be responsible for something else you aren’t going to like.”
Breathe, don’t react to her and she will leave and bring her demons back. The thought came out of nowhere and startled her. She didn’t give in, and she certainly preferred Seraphina to torture. That was when she realized it wasn’t her thought.
Correct, Halfling. Pure Angels can communicate to one another through thought. I’m weakened, but when I get out, I will free you. Your father would expect nothing less.
As quickly as the voice was in her head, it was gone. She felt something towards Rafe—gratitude. He didn’t realize it, but the simple knowledge that she was not the only one held there, changed things.
The slap across her face stung and came out of nowhere. Seraphina’s eyes were glowing with hate when she looked into them.
“Nothing to say to that? Do you think your silence will spare you from anything? It won’t. I already know the transition is incomplete so you won’t fool me twice.”
Odette’s lip pulled back in a snarl of her own. Rafe’s words had given her a small boost of strength, and she was tired of being spoken to in such a way. “Did it occur to you that I couldn’t care less?”
“Oh, you’ll care about this. Tell me, what do you know about Angel Blood?”
She resisted the urge to answer.
“Tell me, I order you.”
It felt as if someone else had a hold of her mouth, her tongue was not her own to control, and she once again cursed that the blood slave turn was nearing closer and closer to fulfillment. “That it causes a deadly addiction.”
Seraphina’s smile sent ice through Odette’s veins.
“Do you know that Angels have side effects from it as well?”
She bit down on her tongue, intent on ignoring the question. Seraphina looked at her, and her head nodded on its own.
Gracefully, Seraphina walked a circled around her and ran her hand through Odette’s dirty dark hair. The Fallen stopped on her left side and leaned next to her ear, whispering her next statement. “It bonds us together. You will feel everything the person that shares blood with you feels.”
A nail ran down her neck, and Odette shuddered in revulsion.
“You and I are about to become a little closer than before. Since you’re a Halfling, I’m confident you won’t be addicted, just connected.”
She watched out of the corner of her eye as Seraphina drew a small knife over her wrist. The blood was vibrant against her pale skin. A pang shot through Odette, and she doubled over. She felt her new fangs drop and the gums around them throb as her stomach clenched.
“I see you’re hungry. You might have a slight bit of strength against the conversion, but it can’t be long now.”
Fear wrapped around Odette’s throat like a clamp, and she felt the word tilt as panic joined the dread. Seraphina was right. She was looking at two and a half or three days until it was all over.
“Now then,” Seraphina said as she slid her bleeding wrist closer to Odette’s lips.
A sharp pain shot through her body again, and she felt her tongue slip betwixt her lips, wanting the blood.
Seraphina was torn betwixt feeling as if she had won and simply wanting to slit the female’s throat for being an unknown variable.
She felt the wet tip of tongue slide over her bleeding wrist. It had been awhilst since she had shared blood with anyone except Izazal, and that had always been done in fits of passion. The sensation was a little, unnerving. She could almost understand why humans saw such an aversion to it.
As Odette Cosgrove slowly ran her tongue over her wrist, Seraphina thought about what had happened. Philippe had been the intended target. Yet, stumbling upon one who shared blood with a Pure Angel was a gift she couldn’t deny. Odette had most likely never noticed how people caved to her will and did what she asked. It was the blood in her veins that caused such compliance, and Seraphina was more than content to exploit it for her own goals.
Odette switched from dragging her tongue over the blood to latching her mouth on Seraphina’s wrist and sucking down the thick liquid. Seraphina’s lip twitched in annoyance. Her blood shouldn’t be addicting to a Halfling, which meant the greedy female was more Kappa than she knew.
After a few moments of suckling, she pulled her wrist back. Odette hissed and bared her fangs, and Seraphina rolled her eyes. “You need to stop now. We are not finished talking.” She watched as the Halfling fought a double battle: one to ignore Seraphina and one to get a hold on the turn overtaking her.
After a moment, disgust lit Odette�
�s green eyes. She jumped up and lunged at Seraphina.
She had stopped the attack before Odette had even raised her hand. “Did you see what happened? My blood runs in you, you’d think that would mean you could sense me, but it means I can detect and control you. If at least a little bit.”
“Get. Out. Of. My. Head.”
“Oh trust me, I am not in there. I can simply sense actions. A buzz passes through the air, and I can feel your motion. If you were to share your blood with me, you would experience the same.”
“Not a shot in hell.”
She laughed. “I don’t believe I asked. I have no desire to have any connection. I made that mistake once, and I will never succumb to it again. Connections make you weak. Like yours to Philippe.”
“There is no connection there.” Odette lifted her chin in abstinence.
Seraphina only smiled as the human confirmed what she had suspected. “Someone ought to teach you to control your emotions. Good thing I can do it with a simple command as soon as the transition finishes. You will be my greatest advantage yet. A person on the inside that can take down the Alliance for me when they aren’t expecting it.” Her smile widened at the idea, a Trojan Horse.
“It’s such a shame you’re delusional. The Alliance could never be taken down by one person. Besides, people are aware of what happened to me. If I return, they’ll kill me.”
Seraphina knew exactly how many people were in the caves, but that didn’t mean she knew how many knew the secret or how many hadn’t entered. For just a split second, she doubted herself, but she did not let it show.
“I suppose it’s in my best interest to ask some questions then.” She walked to the chair on the far side of the cell and sat in it, trying to ignore the dried blood from whoever had been held there last. “How many people survived that little airship crash?”
“Everyone,” Odette smirked, either proud they had all survived or proud that she’d managed to side step answering.
“I command you to comply with all my questions. If you don’t, a little more of my blood, and you’ll be forced to for a short time. The choice is yours.”