The Keepers of Hell Box Set

by Danielle James

  Jamie felt his eyebrows raise at the idea of torture. It didn’t seem right, an angel saying it was within the boundaries.

  “There is no excuse for one demon to get the better of us!” Ash continued. “God himself gave us this job and today we are going to stop disappointing Him! We will use any and all resources to find the answers we need. It is time to stop acting like a bunch of butt-hurt pansies and get our big girl panties on. The answer is out there. Find it!”

  “Should we go in groups or individually?” Lacy asked.

  “I don’t care,” Ash said. “You were all chosen for a reason. Anyone who isn’t up for the job can quit now because we don’t need hang-ups. Meet back here in twelve hours exactly. Dismissed.”

  Chapter Four

  “So, does anyone else think that Ash is going to blow something up?” Jake asked from outside the office. He and Shelly, Lacy, Kaia, and Antonio all saw themselves out of Ash’s office in a hurry after that display of power and fury. Lucas, Ryver, and Jamie had stayed behind.

  Whatever, Jake thought. It was their asses, not his.

  “It’s inevitable,” Antonio answered.

  “Where the hell are we supposed to go?” Jake asked. “I mean, this fucker is always one step ahead.”

  “I say we follow the demon,” Kaia suggested. “We may not know where he is going, but we know where he’s been.”

  “So you’re suggesting we back track,” Shelly reiterated. “What good would that do?”

  “Maybe he left something behind,” Lacy added. “Maybe someone saw something or heard something. It’s more than we have right now.”

  “I’m in,” Jake agreed. “Shelly and I can go to the Sahara.”

  “We got the Amazon,” Lacy volunteered herself and Liam. “I will be taking my husband with me.”

  “I’m familiar with Washington,” Kaia offered. “Jensen and I can go there.” She had her doubts about whether or not Ash would allow Jensen to go, but he wasn’t there to ask. Better to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission, she told herself.

  “I will go topside and check things out there,” Antonio said. “I know a guy who owes me a favor. But hey, you guys remember that if you take your mates with you, they have to be protected. Stay out of trouble. I’m just a phone call away if you need me.”

  “Do cell phones even work in Heaven?” Jake laughed.

  “Mine does.” Antonio grinned before flashing himself away.

  “Let’s do this,” Kaia said, leaving to find Jensen and get going. They had twelve hours and that wasn’t very long.

  ****

  “Why haven’t you left?” Ash demanded, falling into his chair. Elizabeth sat on the corner of his new desk, facing him. She was always there for him, even when he was an ass.

  “We had an idea that we thought might be helpful,” Lucas told him. “Ryver has discovered something.”

  “I stayed because I don’t know how to flash yet,” Jamie admitted. “But I’m all for hearing this idea.”

  “What is it?” Ash asked them.

  “There is a spell on the witch,” Ryver said. “I couldn’t see it before, but now that I’ve found it, I think I can remove it.”

  “How in the fuck of fucks is that helpful?” Ash asked, rubbing his temples.

  “Maybe she knows more than she can say right now,” Ryver told him. “Maybe she will talk if I remove it.”

  “I’m all for removing the spell,” Jamie told them. “Even if it doesn’t result in new information.”

  “Of course you do,” Ash said sarcastically. “She’s your damn mate.”

  Jamie shrugged and didn’t deny it. He wanted that spell off her yesterday. Now that he knew it was there, it wasn’t part of her and, therefore, had no business on her. Besides, without that spell, maybe she would stop looking at him with so much hate.

  “I am not going to release her,” Ash warned.

  “I just need to get in there with her,” Ryver said. “I can do it inside the cage if you allow my magic in.”

  Ash took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was risky at best. Elizabeth laid a hand on his knee. “I think it is a good idea,” she told him.

  “Fine, but if anything goes wrong, it’s on your head,” Ash said. He waved his hand at the cage and then told Ryver, “Go on, get in there. Make it fast.”

  Ryver opened the cage door and went in immediately. She closed it behind her. Everyone else watched from the outside.

  Jamie couldn’t help it. He was nervous as hell. What if Ryver hurt her? What if it didn’t work? What if Laura attacked Ryver? There were too many what-ifs and not enough certainties going on here. He walked slowly along the front of the cage, his hands shoved into his pockets. He didn’t like this. Not at all. But at the same time, he wanted it more than anything. He wanted his mate free. Free from magic and free from her confinement. He wanted to be able to talk to her, touch her, to feel her next to him. Logically, he knew it was absurd. He had only ever met her once and that was in Limbo, where she had tried to hide him from Ash. Their very first meeting had been a lie. She said she could protect him, and she lied.

  Maybe, he thought, she didn’t really lie.

  She hid him from everyone but her. In her own be-spelled mind, was that protecting him from the angels who looked for him? A spark of hope flared in his chest followed by undeniable pride. His mate had tried to protect him, however misguided it was.

  “I won’t hurt you,” Ryver said from inside the cage. Laura had backed herself into a corner, as far away from the woman who was none other than Lucifer’s cast-out daughter. “I only wish to help you.”

  “You lie,” Laura snarled, baring her teeth. “You come to destroy me. That’s what you angels do. Destroy everything!”

  Jamie watched as Ryver bit her lower lip to keep from saying something she might regret later. “I am just going to remove that magic that is surrounding you,” she said.

  “Fuck off and die,” Laura retorted hatefully. His mate had fire that was for sure.

  “Please let her,” he said into the cage. Laura’s eyes snapped to him, full of hate. “It’s the only way to save you.”

  “What if I don’t want to be saved?” she asked. “Why haven’t you killed me yet? I didn’t think angels were all about torture, but here I am, stuck in this hell for months.”

  “You could have talked,” Ryver told her, taking another step toward the witch.

  “Yeah, but I don’t have anything to say,” Laura reminded them. “I told you idiots, I don’t know anything.”

  “I don’t believe that,” Ryver said calmly.

  “I don’t care what you believe,” Laura replied. “Get out of my prison.”

  “No can do,” Ryver said sweetly. “You’re going cold turkey magic free, starting right now.” She lifted her head and spread her wings, which nearly filled the whole cage. Ryver pulled on her own magic, letting it fill her body and soul, and then pushed it out of herself through her hands at Laura.

  A wave of energy slammed into the witch, forcing her back into the bars behind her. “You can’t do this to me!” she shouted, fighting the power surrounding her.

  Ryver hit her again, this time knocking her down. Jamie grabbed the bars of the cage and growled at Ryver, but Lucas was on top of him in a second. “Let her do it, man. Let her try to save your mate.” Jamie hated it that the jarhead was right, but watching this was killing him! Laura twisted as if she were in pain, her face scrunched up and her mouth open in a silent scream.

  As soon as it began, it was over. Ryver dropped her arms and let out a long breath. “It was harder than I thought it would be,” she said, letting herself out of the cage, “but it’s done.”

  Ash nodded his thanks to the half angel and started to secure the cage once again. “Wait,” Jamie shouted. “I want in there. I have to make sure she is okay.”

  “The witch is fine,” Ash told him.

  “Maybe so, but she still has to be questioned and I don’t trust anyone
else to do it,” Jamie replied. “Let me in, and then you can lock it up tight.”

  Ash wasn’t sure how great of an idea this was, but, really, Jamie was right. He nodded once and watched the vampire speed into the small prison. As soon as the door was closed, Ash locked it tight and protected it from magic once again. No magic in, no magic out.

  Once inside, Jamie turned to his new CO. “Would you leave us alone for a few minutes?” he asked. Ash raised a brow at him momentarily and then flashed himself away. Lucas and Ryver followed suit, leaving Jamie alone with his mate.

  It was different, seeing her now. In Limbo, her color had been muted and her edges blurred. After arriving in Hell, he had only seen her through the bars of her prison cell. Now, he was standing in front of her with nothing to separate them.

  She was lying on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chin, her arms wrapped around her as if to hold herself together. Her chocolate brown hair curled in unruly spirals all around her, covering her like a blanket. He wanted so badly to see her face and to pick her up and hold her tight, but that would likely scare the crap out of her. So, instead, Jamie folded his large body into a sitting position next to her.

  For just a few minutes, he sat there silently and listened to the sound of her breathing. Every few seconds her breath would hitch as if she were fighting tears. It tugged at his heart, but he knew that if he forced her to talk right now, she would shut down. She might have been under the influence of dark magic, but her personality was her own. She was a strong, independent fighter. She had fire, and she had guts. He would wait all night, if that was what it took, for her to come to him.

  Just about the time Jamie’s legs began to go numb, it happened.

  “Why did you want to be the one to question me?” she asked from under the curtain of her hair.

  “I don’t trust anyone else,” Jamie answered her honestly.

  “Because I am your mate,” she said.

  “Yes,” he answered plainly.

  “I don’t even know how I got here,” she whispered. “I don’t know you. I don’t understand any of this.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know?” Jamie asked, moving to sit in front of her. He pushed her hair back from her face, taking slightly longer than necessary to enjoy the silken strands between his fingers. Lifting her face to look at him, Jamie got his first real look at his mate. Her skin was clear and slightly tanned, her face round like a cherub. The brown curls framed her face beautifully. Those eyes—those lovely eyes were a light shade of blue, but this time, they weren’t filled with hate. This time, they were afraid.

  “I mean, I don’t remember this—well, most of it anyway. I remember you. I dreamed of you. I remember seeing you in a strange place. I tried to hide you.” Laura shook her head. “This doesn’t make any sense. I was at home, minding my own business, and the next thing I know I’m here, in a cage with a huge ass angel demanding to question me.”

  “You did try to hide me,” Jamie told her. “From Ash and the other angels. And you remembered that you are my mate.”

  “I don’t even know what that means, really,” Laura said, sitting upright and leaning against the back of the cage. “It’s just something I know.”

  “You don’t remember how you got here or anything that has happened in the last year?”

  “I’ve been here for a year?” Laura squealed.

  “Well, I don’t think you have been here,” Jamie told her, “but things have been going very badly for about a year now.”

  “I remember a man came to visit me,” Laura said thoughtfully. “I can’t remember his name. It was weird, like Ax or Pax. I am nearly sure it had an X in it. And then, nothing. Complete blank.”

  Jamie let his head fall back on his shoulders. He could plainly see the apprehension in her eyes. Laura was telling the truth. She really didn’t remember what she had done. He knew he had to tell her, but lord, he didn’t want to. It was going to crush her. He certainly wasn’t going to let anyone else do it, though. No one would be able to comfort her after the blow, but he was damn well going to try.

  “Look,” he said to her, reaching over and taking her hand. Her skin was soft under his and Jamie nearly forgot what he was going to say. He cleared his throat and started over. “I have some pretty hard stuff to tell you, and you’re not going to like it. You may not even believe me, but I assure you, it is all true. I also want you to know that I do not blame you for any of it. Not one bit.”

  “Uh oh,” Laura said. “You don’t blame me, but everyone else does, right?”

  “Let me just start at the beginning,” Jamie said, and then began to tell his mate the story of how she betrayed Ash, let out an insane demon, and helped to start the Apocalypse.

  Chapter Five

  Who would have thought a dead person could sweat so much? Lacy blew her hair out of her face and trudged onward through the thick growth of the sweltering jungle.

  “I don’t know why you don’t just fly,” Liam offered from behind her, drenched in sweat himself. “It would be faster.”

  “Because the tribe we’re looking for is very superstitious. If they even think we might be anything other than human, they won’t tell us a thing. We don’t have time for delays.”

  “It’s a good thing I love you,” Liam grumbled from behind her, smashing the greenery underfoot. “There is a carrion bird up there just following us around, waiting for us to die.”

  “You’re already dead,” Lacy reminded him.

  “Semantics. Tell that to the bird.”

  “Stop being such a pansy,” Lacy grumbled. “You’re worse than a woman.”

  “That’s not what you said last night,” he chuckled from behind.

  Lacy smiled and shook her head. Her mate was an unusual one, for sure. He had been a prisoner of Greed when she first arrived in Hell, but he managed to earn his way out. That was something that had never been recorded before, although Lacy thought under previous management that it just wasn’t reported. Liam had proven his worth to Ash and earned himself the right to run Wrath and he had won Lacy’s heart. She could never have forgiven herself for what she did on earth, for the life she took, but with Liam at her side, she found her absolution. His love and his commitment to her had healed her soul from the inside out.

  The trees thinned just enough so that Lacy could see a small village ahead. “There it is!” she pseudo-whispered. “Let’s go.”

  She grabbed Liam’s hand and dragged him through the heavy brush. She was much smaller than he was, and it was easier for her to navigate the vines and plant life that filled the area, but he was more like a bull, trampling everything in his path.

  They finally made it to the clearing and took a breath. For a village of two hundred, there weren’t many homes in sight. The ones there looked to be little more than tents. A dozen or so small children were playing near the river as their mothers watched.

  “What are you doing here ghost?” a man demanded, coming up to them. Lacy knew he was not speaking English, but thankfully, now that she was an angel, she could understand any language.

  “We need your help,” Lacy told the man.

  He was quite menacing. His face was painted black and white, his nose and ears pierced with what looked like sharpened tiger teeth. In one hand, he held the body of a spear, and in the other was a machete blade. Lacy stood her ground with Liam beside her. She supposed to these people, they did look like ghosts. Lacy was dressed all in white with pale hair and eyes, and Liam wasn’t much different. He looked like a Norse god as far as she was concerned.

  “We do not help outsiders,” the man finally told her. “You must leave now.”

  When the man turned to leave, Lacy stopped him. “Wait!” she cried out. “We have traveled very far to see you. There was a man here, an evil man, and we need to stop him. Will you please help us?”

  “Demon,” the man growled.

  “Yes, a demon,” Lacy agreed. “We want to stop him.”

  The man
looked Lacy up and down and then Liam as well. “Who is this man?” he asked suspiciously.

  “That is my husband,” Lacy told him. “He is here to help and to protect me.”

  The man’s eyes went back to Lacy. “Angel,” he said. Lacy smiled. “Come.”

  They followed him further into the village until he stopped at one of the tents. “Inside.” He lifted the flap on the entrance so that Lacy and Liam could enter. “I am Chief Annuke. How do you know of this demon man?”

  “He escaped his prison,” Lacy told him honestly. “We need to put him back.”

  “He digs,” Chief Annuke told them. “He make my people dig. Then he takes the treasure and runs, but not before letting another demon out.”

  Lacy nodded, knowing that this man knew exactly who she was looking for. “Where did he go?” she asked.

  “I do not know,” Chief Annuke told her. He opened a chest on the floor and got something out. “But he leave this behind.” He held out a box to her and Lacy took it. It was golden on the outside with sophisticated designs and lettering on it. The letters were in a language that Lacy couldn’t read, but she recognized it as a warning of some sort. She tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.

  “We have tried to open it,” Chief Annuke told her. “No man, fire, or weapon can open it.”

  Lacy pressed her lips together, her frustration growing. “What do we do now?” she asked no one in particular.

  “Can we take this box?” Liam asked. “We might be able to put the demon back in it.”

  Chief Annuke nodded. “I do not want such evil in my village,” he told them. “Go. May the gods be with you.”

  Knowing they were running out of time and there was no reason to hide what she was to this man, Lacy took Liam’s hand and the box, and flashed them back to Hell.

  ***

  “It’s freaking hot,” Shelly complained.

  “You’re a demon,” Jake countered. “You live in Hell.”

  “Yeah,” she agreed, “with air conditioning.”