by D. G. Swank
My eyes fluttered open and I forced myself to focus on the demon lion that stood on the outside of the triangle, about ten feet away. Then I realized what was in its mouth.
A body. A man. I recognized the shirt and sucked in a breath of mind-numbing shock.
“Drop,” Caelius said.
The demon lion dropped the body and it landed with a dull thud, only a few feet in front of us at the edge of the triangle. The face staring up at us was totally recognizable.
My gaze jerked up in horror as Hudson began to laugh.
The man at the far corner of the triangle wasn’t my best friend at all.
It was the Great One.
Chapter 29
My worst fear had come true. I felt my knees weaken, but even as my brain tried to process that my best friend had been murdered, I realized I couldn’t afford to fall apart.
Demon Hudson gave me an evil grin. “Surprise,” it said in my best friend’s voice.
Hudson was dead. The Great One had killed him and cloned his body.
“Hudson!” Rhys wailed.
“Piper!” Jack shouted, trying to be heard above the confusion. “Piper!”
“You’re so gullible,” Demon Hudson said with a sneer, still chuckling. “I only wish I’d had more time to mess with your head.”
When? When did this happen? When did I lose my best friend? I tried to think back over the last few days—weeks, years—to when Hudson might have seemed changed. Had this demon been in my house? Living with me?
Demon Hudson shot me a look of disgust. “Some demon hunter you are…right under your nose, although the pendant helped hide me so thanks for that.”
“When?” I choked out.
He laughed. “Rosalyn’s party. He was so sure you’d come save him. Right up until the end.”
The tidal wave of pain that washed through me nearly dropped me to my knees.
Demon Hudson saw he’d hit home with that comment. “If you weren’t a witness to creation, I’d kill you myself just for the fun of it.”
“Ellie!” Collin shouted. “We have to get her out of there!” He tried to bolt for the triangle, but a demon lion blocked his path.
My grief was so overwhelming I could hardly breathe, but then I heard Rhys’s sobs, jerking me back to why I was here. I needed to pull myself together if I wanted to get Jack and Rhys out of here. That was the whole reason I’d let Caelius drag me in here.
No, I’d done it to save Hudson too, before I’d realized it wasn’t him. Another wave of grief and shock threatened to drag me under.
This couldn’t be happening.
“You are a special kind of fucked up,” Collin shouted as he fought the demon lion. “You obviously get some kind of perverse pleasure from hurting people.”
“I love a good surprise,” Demon Hudson said. “But maybe I chose the wrong friend as my host. Piper’s not as upset as I’d expected. Perhaps she loves the other man more.”
Jack. My panic rose.
“Where’s Abel?” Jack asked, getting pissed. “Deserting you again!”
“Yes,” Demon Hudson said. “Where is Abel? I was hoping he’d be here with you. Perhaps we should make him show his face.”
“I’m going to kill you myself,” Collin asked, inching closer to the triangle. The demon lion stayed close on his heels.
The Great One laughed. “For having a little fun? Surely you’re not avenging Piper’s friend’s death. I didn’t have as long to toy with her like I did with Ellie. Her stepmother was delicious. I used her body for weeks.”
Caelius brushed his hand over my hip, infusing his touch with power, and my body filled with heat, like I was burning from the inside out. He began to chant in a language I didn’t understand. The candles flickered, and then the flames shot higher.
“Piper!” Jack shouted. “Fight him!”
Caelius’s hands were roaming over my body now, his power igniting every nerve ending and filling me with a pleasure I’d never known before.
“Piper!” Jack screamed.
I heard Ellie and Collin shouting as they tried to reach me, but I’d closed my eyes, lost in sensation.
What the fuck are you doing, Piper? Abel shouted in my head.
His intrusion shook me out of my sexual stupor, but Caelius hadn’t noticed. His mouth skimmed my neck and shoulder as he muttered his chant. It almost sounded as though he was praying over me.
Well, crap. He was praying over his sacrifice.
I inched my hand to my left dagger.
“Lord of Darkness,” Caelius cried out, “we have brought you a gift. A witness to creation to carry your child.”
“Collin!” Ellie shouted in alarm.
“Yeah, I know,” he yelled back.
Demon Hudson was watching us, and grief washed through me just as Caelius intensified his power. The grief and sexual longing mixed into a bittersweet sensation that consumed every cell of my body.
My eyes rolled back and I relaxed into the demon’s embrace.
Piper! Abel shouted in my head, worming its way into my consciousness. Fight him!
His voice loosened the hold Caelius had on me enough for me to realize it was time to make a move.
Caelius sent a new wave of power through me, ramping up the tension, but the mark in my hand began to burn. I had enough control to let the power seep out slowly—enough to block the force of Caelius’s seduction, but hopefully not enough to alert him to the fact that I was back to my senses. I needed the element of surprise to make this work.
Caelius slid his hands back, across my ribs, reaching for the hooks on the back of my bra. In one continuous move, I whipped St. Michael out of its sheath and spun around, aiming for the bastard’s heart.
He whisked a hand up and snagged my wrist, stopping the dagger just as the tip went through his clothes and pricked his skin.
Caelius shot me an evil grin. “Even if you kill me, you’re trapped. Okeus is on his way, and you can’t leave this triangle.”
I shot a glance to Jack, who stared at me in panic…not a good sign.
Time to play my Hail Mary card.
“One problem at a time,” I said, cocking my head and showing him the mark at the base of my neck. “Do you know what this is?”
Caelius stared at it in confusion. “It’s a bite.”
“I already belong to a god. And he won’t be happy that you’re pawning me off on someone else.”
He grinned, not looking as nervous as I’d expected. “Abel? Where is he now?”
Good question. This was likely a stupid move on my part, but desperate times… “He’s busy.”
“Then he won’t be here to stop me.” Caelius concentrated his power on my hand, and my hold on the dagger loosened.
I let my own power surge, momentarily taking control before Caelius sent a rush of sensation through me that dropped me to my knees.
“Okeus told me to make you ready,” Caelius said. He brushed a hand over my head. “Are you ready?”
“Never,” I forced out even though my body suggested otherwise.
He squatted in front of me and lifted my face to look up at him. I could feel him sucking energy from me, and it felt divine. I struggled to remember why this was a bad thing.
“Lord of hell,” Caelius whispered. “Lord of light. We offer you this woman and the hope of life.”
No. I was not going to allow some psycho demon god to impregnate me today.
I reached deep down into my power source and pushed it all into my hand, then shoved the dagger into Caelius’s chest.
He gasped as his eyes widened. His control over me abruptly ceased, and he fell onto his butt, my dagger still embedded in his chest, my hand still on the hilt. The life hadn’t left him yet, which meant I hadn’t freed the lost souls, the young people he’d gorged himself on. Tightening my grip on the hilt, I dragged the blade to my right.
He cried out in pain and fell onto his back, but he was still alive.
“Piper,” Jack called ou
t. He’d moved from his spot and was reaching for the hilt of my sword. The spells keeping him and Rhys in place must have weakened as Caelius’s power leached from him.
“Here!” Jack shouted, shoving the sword across the floor toward me.
I twisted my dagger out of the demon’s chest as I leaned down to take hold of the sword. Kneeling at Caelius’s side, I held the point to his chest.
Caelius’s eyes lit up with happiness and I wondered if he’d lost his mind, but a quick glance revealed storm clouds were gathering in the ceiling of the warehouse—not unlike the ones I’d seen from the windows in Tommy’s version of the attic.
“Okeus is here to save me,” Caelius whispered in rapture.
“Sorry you have to miss the rest of the show,” I said, then struck deep. At last Caelius’s body turned to dust, releasing the orb of souls like an exhaled breath. It floated upward, wafting in the remnants of discharged energy, and I picked up my dagger and pricked it, sending the tiny firefly-like souls on their way.
A boom of thunder shook the floor beneath us.
“He’s making a grand entrance this time,” Collin shouted.
“He sure loves the drama,” Ellie yelled back.
With Caelius dead, I turned my attention to Jack and Rhys, realizing Demon Hudson was no longer contained in the triangle with us. Instead, my Hudson’s lifeless body was in its place at the triangle tip.
I had failed to save him, but I could still save them. I wiped my dagger on Caelius’s shirt, then stuffed it back in its sheath, leaving the sword bloodied. “You two have to go.”
“What?” Jack shouted over the thunder of the growing storm over our heads. Flashes of fire shot out across the ceiling. “I’m not leaving you.”
“You have to get Rhys out of here. There’s a man named David outside. He’s Ellie Lancaster’s boyfriend. He’ll help you both get away.”
“Piper,” he said insistently. “I can’t leave you.”
“I have to help Collin and Ellie. We’ll finish this, and I’ll be out soon.” I glanced up at the clouds as the center began to glow. That couldn’t be good. “Now go!”
“We can’t,” Jack said. “Caelius was right. We’re stuck in this triangle.”
I tried to walk over the chalk line, but a strong band of power held me. Shit. I pulled St. Michael back out and slashed through the spell, but flashes of light sprayed everywhere like someone had lit a sparkler.
“It’s part of the spell,” Jack said. “Based on what they said, the only way to break it is if the being you’re meant to belong to walks in or if someone finishes the sacrifices.”
“Obviously I’m not letting that happen,” I muttered. But what was I going to do?
Abel claimed I belonged to him, but I didn’t see him strutting in, and it was too much to hope that Caelius would have allowed a loophole like that. Okeus was the only one who could get us out.
I took a breath. “So I need to get Okeus to willingly break the spell and allow you two to leave?” I asked, already working on a plan.
“No, Piper,” Jack said, leaning into my ear, “we overheard them talking before you got here. The sacrifices are to help increase the chances of getting you pregnant. He’s never going to let us go.”
My eyes widened in panic and I lifted my gaze to the storm. A man with black hair and a black suit and tie stood in the middle of a bank of tiny clouds descending from the storm. He held out his hands and watched me with a hungry smile.
Part two of this nightmare had just arrived.
Chapter 30
Collin and Ellie were still fighting Demon Hudson, who was flanked by three demon lions. The Native American warriors had joined Collin and Ellie, but all of the fighting stopped abruptly as Okeus made his entrance.
Collin looked up and cursed. Then he and two warriors bolted in front of me, standing guard between me and the god.
My heart raced, and I turned to Jack, trying to fight my panic. “Any ideas?”
He swallowed. “None.”
“No holy water in your pocket?” I asked dryly.
“I wish.”
“Piper,” Rhys said in a high-pitched voice. “What are we going to do?”
I lifted my chin. “I’ll do what any self-respecting lawyer would do. Negotiate.”
“I don’t think you can negotiate your way out of this,” Rhys said.
“Of course I can,” I whispered with more confidence than I felt. I might not have finished law school, but I was the daughter of two successful lawyers. Surely that counted for something. “I just need to use what he wants to my advantage.”
“He wants you to have his demon baby,” Rhys said. “How do you work that to your advantage?”
“At least Nana will get that grandbaby she’s dying to have.”
“Not funny,” Jack spat out.
He was right, but I was clueless about what to do. I turned to them and took both of their hands. “We all have to agree that we’ll endure anything to survive this. I mean it. Anything.”
Tears filled Rhys’s eyes. “Piper. No.”
“Rhys, listen to me,” I said, my voice breaking. “I already lost Hudson. I can’t lose you and Jack. Please. Trust me.”
She nodded, tears streaming down her face. “Okay.”
I gave her a quick hug, then turned to Jack.
“No. No way do I plan to stand back and watch that monster rape you.”
I grabbed his hand and squeezed until my nails dug into his skin. “Listen to me. I’m not going down without a fight, but I also know that sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war.”
“This feels like the war to me, Piper.”
“As long as we’re all alive, it’s just a battle.” I squeezed tighter. “Jack. Please.”
“Only as a last resort. Swear to me.”
I nodded, my heart hammering against my chest.
“I swear,” I said. Because bottom line, I probably didn’t have a choice in the matter. I needed to focus on surviving.
I gave him a quick hug and turned to face Okeus.
His cloud bank had just reached the floor and it dissipated into a mist. He held his hands out from his sides. “Ellie, so nice to see you again. I see you’ve brought me a gift.”
“We brought you the gift,” Demon Hudson said. “Caelius and me.”
Okeus held his hands out from his body again. “And where is Caelius?”
Demon Hudson’s gaze drifted to the pile of ash next to me. “Gone.”
“So cocky, you two,” Okeus said with a chuckle. “It will be your downfall, but then it looks like it was already Caelius’s.” He turned to Ellie and his gaze dropped to her sword. “I’d heard you found the Sword of Galahad. Any particular god you plan to subdue with it?”
“I have a couple in mind,” Ellie said in a sassy retort.
Ellie had a sword that could subdue gods?
“Unfortunately,” Okeus said, “I have other plans for tonight. Perhaps another time.”
Then he slowly turned to face me.
I lifted my own sword, pushing Jack and Rhys behind me.
Collin took a step forward, his body tense and ready to attack. “You’re not getting her either, Okeus.”
“Collin,” Okeus said in a mocking tone. “You continue to disappoint me. It’s not too late to return to the fold. All will be forgiven.”
“After a small punishment, of course,” Collin said in a bored tone.
“That’s a given.”
“I’ve made my decision,” Collin said. “I stand with Ellie.”
“And with Piper as well, I see,” Okeus said with an amused grin. “I can see the resemblance to her cousin. You both hid her from me quite well.”
Collin didn’t answer.
The god held out his hands, giving the impression of trying to be reasonable. “We don’t have to do this, Collin. Just move aside and let me chat with the girl.”
“No.”
Anger filled Okeus’s eyes.
�
��Collin,” I said, trying to sound calm. “Let him pass.”
“No, Piper,” he said with his back to me.
“He won’t kill me,” I said, straightening my back. “He has a purpose for me. He won’t risk it.”
“She’s right, Collin,” Ellie said. “Let him pass.”
I couldn’t see the expression on Collin’s face, but the way he gripped his sword suggested he was furious. He turned back to look at me and I gave him a slight nod.
“I’m okay,” I said.
Then his gaze shot to my friends behind me. We both knew they might not be okay. But Collin was facing a powerful god, one even Abel feared. I didn’t want him to needlessly die for me. Like I’d told Jack and Rhys—this was a battle, not the war. As long as Okeus didn’t kill me, I could endure anything.
And hopefully Abel wouldn’t kill me.
Oh crap. I hadn’t factored that into the equation.
Okeus moved over to Ellie, but the warriors still stood their ground.
The god gave them a disinterested glance. “A father should know all of his children, yet I don’t remember any of you.”
“Not all supernatural beings are your children, Okeus.”
The god scoffed. “Most are, and those who aren’t are lowly creatures not worthy of my time or attention.”
“Yet the curse banished us as well,” a woman warrior said. “We were all equals in the curse.”
Okeus laughed. “Equals? There are none equal to me. Especially now.”
“Ahone is your equal,” Ellie called out.
Anger washed over the god’s face. “I will end Ahone with my child,” Okeus said. “Which brings me to the reason I’m here.” He began to turn away with a dramatic sweep of his hand toward me, then halted at the sound of the warrior woman’s voice.
“No,” she said, softly but commanding.
Okeus turned back, his eyes wide with fury.
Still the warriors held their ground.
“Brave warriors,” I said in a firm voice. “This is not your fight either.”
“Our fight is for the salvation of the world. If you bear the god a son, you will make our fight more difficult,” the warrior woman said. Then, before I realized what she was doing, she swiveled to the side and pointed her bow at me, letting her arrow fly.