“Isn’t there someone you can ask?” Ash demanded, getting in Antonio’s face.
“Look,” Antonio snarled back at him, “do I look like I have a direct pipeline to the big guy? Do you think we just sit around and have tea, discussing you? Do you think He just calls my cell and tells me everything? No. He does not. He tells me what He thinks I need to know and nothing more. We gotta figure some shit out ourselves. I’m sorry you can’t find your sister, but it ain’t my fault.” He huffed and then poked Ash in the chest with his finger. “Get a grip, will ya? Get laid, or something.”
“She’s in trouble,” Ash announced. “I know it. I have to find her.”
“Well, then let’s find her instead of sitting here arguing,” Antonio suggested rather loudly.
“I’m going to her house,” Ash said.
“Right on your ass,” the angel said.
The pair flashed to Leanne’s home on Earth. The house was empty and the front door was wide open. “What the fuck,” Antonio breathed out. The house was a wreck. There had definitely been a struggle. The couch was tipped over and there was a shattered potted plant on the floor. It looked like it had hit the wall first.
“Somebody got a plant thrown at their head,” the angel said.
“Lele!” Ash called through the house. “Lele! Where are you?”
“She ain’t here,” Antonio said flatly.
“What the fuck do we do now?” Ash shouted. “Damn it!” He kicked a chair that was already turned over. It flew across the room and smashed into the wall.
“Calm down,” Antonio said.
“Fuck that,” Ash snapped.
“Seriously,” Antonio said. “Look and listen. Who was here? Feel it.”
Ash made the effort to calm himself. He closed his eyes and looked for things he couldn’t see. There was a smell, one that he recognized. It was the distinct scent of sulfur. “Demons,” he muttered under his breath. “Fucking demons.”
“Can you tell which ones?” Antonio asked seriously. Ash shook his head. “Concentrate on your sister. Feel her. Where did she go?”
Ash thought hard about Leanne. Then it was as if someone flipped a switch in his mind. He could see her spirit, for lack of a better word. She had been in the house. Someone came in and took her. He could see pink and lavender swirls, like an aura, where she had been. He followed it out of the house and down the street.
Antonio was right behind him. “That’s it,” he said, “lead us to her.”
Ash spread his wings and flew. He followed his sister’s trail through the city and into the country. He followed it through a forest and over a mountain. Where the hell was she being taken?
Her trail stopped at a small cottage nestled into the trees. He and Antonio dropped silently in front of the small building. “I’m going in,” Ash announced.
“Me too,” Antonio agreed.
They didn’t flash in, nor did they attempt to hide the fact that they were there. Ash raised his foot and kicked in the front door. It splintered and fell from its hinges, crashing into the wall behind it. “Honey, I’m home!” he yelled into the small house.
Immediately, Ash caught sight of movement in the next room and he rushed toward it. A demon, lower level, cowered in the corner of what used to be a kitchen. There were cobwebs along the ceiling and about an inch of dust and grime covering every surface. A forgotten pot still sat on the rusty stove. Ash didn’t waste time. He walked right up to the little demon and grabbed it by the throat.
It was only about three feet tall to begin with, so when Ash raised it up, its feet dangled beneath it. “Where is she?” Ash demanded.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” the little shit stammered. “They made me do it.”
“Who is they?” Ash growled, “And where is Lele?”
The little demon shook its head. Its eyes were solid black and rounded in fear. “I don’t know their names,” it said. “They said to watch them.”
“Watch who?” Ash demanded, tightening his grip on the thing’s throat.
“The humans,” it said.
Ash growled at it. “Why should I let you live?” he demanded.
“Have mercy,” the demon begged.
“Yeah,” Ash agreed. He dropped the demon to the floor and pulled his sword from his hip.
“Please,” it begged, “Mercy!”
“This is me showing mercy,” Ash growled as he brought his blade around. He brought it down in one forceful movement, slicing clean through the demon from the top of its head all the way through its body. When the two halves fell to the floor, Ash turned.
“Ash,” Antonio’s voice called from underneath him. “You better get down here.”
Ash found the stairs leading to the basement and took them three at a time. He was unprepared for what he saw there.
Leanne was shackled to the wall, spread-eagled, wearing her wedding dress. It was ripped and blood- stained, hanging from her shoulders. Her face was bruised and bloodied. “Dear God,” Ash breathed as he ran to his sister. He pushed her hair back from her face and lifted her chin. “Lele,” he said.
“Ash,” she whispered.
“Are you all right?” he asked as he started to figure out a way to get her down. God help the demon who did this to her, because Ash was going to bring all of Hell down on his head for this.
“I’m ok,” she answered in a hoarse voice. “Elizabeth,” she said. Ash looked for the woman in question and found her chained to a cot on the other side of the room. “Help her,” Leanne whispered.
“I got this,” Antonio told him, already going to work on the shackles. “Go check on the doc.”
Ash nodded, satisfied that his sister was safe with the angel, and went over to the cot. “Elizabeth,” he said. He got no response. His stomach turned as he took in her swollen face, her blackened eyes, the bruises on her arms and legs. But what disturbed him the most was that her clothes were torn and she wasn’t wearing any pants. “I’m going to get you out of here,” he told her.
He reached for the chains binding her wrists above her head. His hand brushed against the skin of her wrist and Ash nearly fell back on his ass.
Images, no memories, flooded his mind! He saw her at the hospital, working her ass off to save his life. You will not die… He knew what those words meant to him now. She had pulled him back from the brink of death and an eternity of slavery in Hell. He saw her removing staples from his chest. He saw himself kissing her while he was wearing purple scrubs. He remembered making love to her. He remembered that he loved her. He loved her with everything that he was and he remembered asking God to make them forget.
He had wanted to keep her safe, and look how that worked out. His woman was hurt and it was because of him! His stomach knotted and immediately threatened to return his breakfast. Elizabeth… His Elizabeth… Oh God, what had he done?
***
Elizabeth was fighting just to stay conscious. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. She heard when Leanne’s brother entered the room and she heard him say he was going to help her. Then she felt him touch her wrist.
Everything she hadn’t understood became crystal clear. She remembered. She remembered kissing him. She remembered the story he told her about the demon and Hell. She remembered saving him and she remembered that she loved him. Her heart filled to near bursting with the love she longed for and she ripped her eyes open to see his face above hers. “Ash,” she said through a sheen of tears. “You came for me.”
Ash got a grip on himself. “I’m getting you out of here right now,” he told her and grabbed the chains that bound her. He used his hands to rip them apart. He was only momentarily surprised that he had the strength to do so with his bare hands. He had to get her out of there. When she was free, he gathered her into his arms. “I’m so sorry,” he told her. God was he sorry. He should have been there to protect her. He should have been there to love her.
“I love you,” she whispered. Her head lolled to the side and her eyes closed.
“No!” he demanded. “No way. Don’t you do that. Don’t you dare say goodbye,” Ash said as he pulled her face back to him. “Stay with me.”
“So tired,” she mumbled.
“Come on, talk to me,” Ash told her. “Tell me what happened.”
He got no response and he looked at Antonio for guidance. The angel was looking back at him with an expression he had never seen on the man’s face before. It was empathy. As if he knew firsthand the pain and helplessness Ash was feeling.
“Come on, Baby, talk to me. What happened?” he asked Elizabeth. She opened her mouth slightly and then closed it again. She was too weak to tell him. Ash gritted his teeth and cradled her head to his chest. “Don’t you dare die on me,” he told her as he rocked them both. “Stay with me,” he pleaded. “I’ve only just found you. Stay with me, please.”
Ash looked down into her eyes. He didn’t know where it came from, but he could see what happened. He saw what was done to her, and he could see who did it. His body began to shudder all over as white-hot rage filled his veins. How dare they touch what was his? How dare they hurt her?
“Give her to me,” Antonio said from right beside him.
“No,” Ash growled, gripping Elizabeth’s body closer to him.
“I know a guy,” Antonio said. “It’s her only chance.”
Elizabeth was dying in his arms. Ash shook his head no. His heart wanted to keep her with him, even though his head knew he should allow Antonio to take her.
“If you don’t,” Antonio said softly, “she will surely die. Let me try to help her.”
Ash looked up at the angel. He searched his face for any signs of a lie. All he found was compassion and determination. He had grown to trust Antonio, even if he was an irritating shit. And really, he was Elizabeth’s only option. “I can keep them safe,” Antonio said. “Both of them.”
Antonio watched as Ash fought with himself. The man was vibrating from his anger and he feared that if Ash let it go, the women would be hurt further. He held out a hand and Ash finally took it. He stood with his precious cargo and kissed her lips once. “I have to let Antonio take you now,” Ash told her. “He’s an angel and he will keep you safe.”
Elizabeth clung to him tighter, and in an almost imperceptive movement, shook her head no. “It’s the only way,” Ash said softly, “I will see you soon,” he promised. Then, Ash handed Elizabeth over to Antonio. He took her into his arms and held her gently.
“I have to go,” Ash said through gritted teeth. Antonio nodded. “Take them somewhere safe,” he said as he stepped away from them and spread his black as night wings. He threw his head back and roared into the night. The ground shook with the force of Ash’s pain and anger. Black flames erupted from his entire body, and when he looked back at Antonio his eyes were glowing red. Antonio nodded at him once and then Ash disappeared.
Antonio flashed himself and both women to the only place he knew would be safe….his old home where his family lived.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Elizabeth was going in and out of consciousness. She could hear voices around her, and she surmised that she was in a hospital. She forced her eyes to open for a moment, realizing that this was like no hospital she had ever seen. The walls were decorated with pictures and heavy, dark blue drapes covered the windows.
It didn’t smell like a hospital, either. It smelled like someone had just cooked Italian for dinner. How long had it been since she ate real Italian food? And why was she wondering about that in the first place?
“Please, help her,” she heard someone say. Antonio, she thought. She had met the man enough to recognize his voice. Help who? She was a doctor, she could help.
She tried to sit up, only to realize that she couldn’t move. Not a single muscle. And she hurt. Literally, everywhere she had nerve endings was pulsing in pain.
“Help her!” he shouted. “She is screaming in pain. You have to do it!”
Elizabeth realized that she was screaming, but it was as if her body was reacting on its own. She was locked behind some wall that wouldn’t let her out to tell them she was ok. She was ok, wasn’t she?
“I cannot do it without consent,” another man said, one she didn’t recognize.
“I have done all I can,” the most beautiful female voice Elizabeth had ever heard, said. “There is just too much internal injury.”
“Wake her up then and ask her,” Antonio barked. “Do it King Smurf. She’s his mate!”
“First of all, fuck you. Second of all, I know that,” King Smurf replied. “But it’s the law. She has to wake up.”
Elizabeth wondered what kind of trip she was on. She imagined that Antonio was talking to a giant blue man with a gold crown on his head. And big white feet.
“Cherie,” a lovely man’s voice said right by her ear, “We are going to wake you. It will be painful, but we need to you to be with us for a moment.”
There were other voices around; some male, some female, and Elizabeth got the impression that they were a family. It was the way they talked to each other.
Then she heard a woman’s voice. “Awaken, child of mine, bring yourself forward, cross the line.”
Elizabeth felt like she was being hauled up off her ass from the inside out, then, she was awake. Really awake. She opened her eyes and squinted from the light, and then realized what pain really was. She threw her head back and screamed.
“Elizabeth! Elizabeth!” someone was saying.
“Doctor Rone!” a sharp, commanding voice shouted. Elizabeth snapped her head up and looked into the eyes of a man with sandy brown hair and a crooked grin. “I need you to listen to me now,” he said. “I am the King of Vampires and you are dying faster than he we can stop it.”
“King Smurf,” Elizabeth whispered. Funny, he didn’t look like a smurf.
“I am going to kill Antonio for that later,” he said.
“I like Antonio,” Elizabeth said, feeling drunk. Had they given her something for pain?
“Listen,” King Smurf said again. “You are going to die if we don’t do something. Antonio thinks it is a good idea to change you. We need your consent before we can do it.”
“Change me? Into a smurf?” she asked.
King Smurf rolled his eyes and then he opened his mouth wide. Elizabeth felt her own eyes widen when she saw the long, sharp fangs in his mouth. “I need your consent,” he reminded her.
“Ok,” she agreed, feeling sleepy and drunk. She was too tired to deal with this craziness anymore. “Do what you must.” Then, she slipped back into the abyss of unconsciousness.
***
“That’ll do it!” Antonio barked. “She consented.”
“I don’t know,” his brother, the king replied.
“She is the mate to the leader of Hell. A position we helped create. I have to deliver her to her mate in one piece. He needs her to do his job, and it’s my job to see that they get together and stay together. So I am asking you to help me help her help him!” Antonio barked out. “Please. Your blood is pure and it’s strong enough. Please, help her.”
His brother nodded and bit into his own wrist. Then, he placed his wrist over Elizabeth’s mouth and allowed her to drink.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ash materialized in the depths of Hell a flaming, cursing, madman. No, not crazy, but filled with rage. He had never felt the kind of anger that was coursing through his veins. He felt so many things. Betrayal. Hate. Sadness. All rolled into one giant ball of fury that needed its own zip code. The minions who lived in the caverns scampered away without looking him in the eye. The black flames danced over his skin as he stomped his way through the wall of fire. He didn’t bother with the elevator. He flashed himself to Mali’s sleeping room.
“Where are they?” he demanded.
“Sir?” Mali asked as he looked up from the book he had been reading. “What is it?”
Ash gritted his teeth. His vision had taken on a red hue. “Wrath. Murder. Where the fuck are they right
now?” he growled.
“I…I don’t know,” Mali answered him. “Sir, are you ok?”
“Fuck no I’m not,” Ash spat. “I will find their fucking asses and when I do…”
“You should check Murder’s sanction. They like to hang out there. Sometimes they hide in Lust too,” Mali offered. “Can I do anything to help?”
“No,” Ash said. “This is something I have to do on my own.” Then he flashed to Murder, leaving his assistant alone and with his mouth open. Ash didn’t see it, but Mali felt sorry for the ones who crossed Ash. He grinned. Their leader had found his power and things were going to change.
Ash walked past the souls who were being tortured. They were lucky compared to what Ash was going to do to their leader. His heavy footsteps echoed in the cavernous space, an ominous sound that preceded his anger. Little minions tried to approach him, but Ash sent them flying with a wave of his hand. Everything within three feet of his body caught fire from the black flames. He was a walking destruction in every sense of the word.
Demons scattered as he searched the realm. A dark cloud of menace preceded him as he searched for his targets. When he didn’t find what he wanted, Ash flashed to Wrath. He exploded through the entrance, sending demons and souls flying as he went. “Marcus! Adule!” he shouted. His voice boomed and shook the very foundation they stood on. “Come out, Come out, wherever you are!”
Ash felt his rage grow hotter when no one, NO ONE, responded to him. He flashed back to the caverns and began shouting. “You wanted to get to me?” he shouted, “come and get me!”
Marcus and Adule appeared with twin grins on their faces. “Hello, Sir,” Marcus said through his fangs.
“You hurt them,” Ash spat in their direction.
“Mere humans,” Adule answered flippantly.
“Not just humans,” Ash growled. “My sister. My mate! How fucking dare you?”
“Just wanted to prove the new leader of Hell was a softie. And look at you. You’re all bent out of shape because we played with a couple of humans.” Adule looked at Marcus. “And you can’t afford soft spots. Which is why we are taking you down.”
The Keepers of Hell Box Set Page 20