Hidden Runes

by G. Bailey

  “Demon portals aren’t made for anything other than demons. When our kind travels through, it knocks us out. It can kill humans if they travel too far in them,” I tell him as he drinks some water and shakes his head at me.

  “You could have mentioned that before we went through the portal!” Trex snaps, going over to his brother, and shaking his shoulder. Nix groggily slaps Trex’s hand away as he wakes up, looking around the room and falling back with a dramatic groan.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Next time, I will leave you with the souls and let them eat you, you ungrateful asshole!” I snap right back at Trex, and his eyes burn with hate and anger as he stands up to walk over, but Connor steps in front of him.

  “She is right. We didn’t have a choice and would be dead if Azi hadn’t opened the portal. Let’s make camp, rather than try to kill each other. We have enough dangerous obstacles ahead that will attempt to maim and murder us. Remember why we are here, Trex,” Connor suggests, but Trex doesn’t take his furious eyes off me.

  “Fine,” he finally spits out, turning around and going over to his brother. At least the asshole listens to someone. I take my bag off, pulling out my blanket first and putting it on the ground. I lay my weapons next to it, keeping my daggers on my thighs just in case.

  “He isn’t waking up,” I hear Trex say, and I look over to see him shaking Nix’s shoulder, and Connor kneeling down next to them. Shit, he got bit.

  “He was bit by a soul on his arm,” I say, standing up, “Nix needs the poison sucked out and the wound disinfected,” I tell them, and they both dart their eyes to me.

  “Sucked out?” Trex asks with a disgusted frown.

  “Boys,” I roll my eyes at them and walk over, nudging Connor out of the way. I begin to lift Nix’s arm, but Trex grabs my wrist, stopping me. I look up, meeting his dark-green eyes. “Why can’t you use your white rune to heal him?”

  “Runes don’t work on the dead or anything they infect. I know this, I've seen people try. Nix will die if we don't get the poison out,” I tell him firmly. I’ve seen it happen so many times in the demon underground. People who ventured into hell for whatever reason and escaped with bites, thinking they were free. This is the only way to save people, the only way I’ve seen work. I was lucky demons found me when I fell into Hell, and the souls didn’t get near me. Not that what the demons did was any better. I remember praying for death at times, and the souls could have given me that.

  “I can help, I want to help him . . . so let me?” I ask him, as gently as I can make myself speak. He watches me for a second, before letting go.

  “If my brother dies, I will hold you responsible,” he growls.

  “I get it. I’m pretty sure this is the second time you have threatened to kill me, and yet, here I am. If I was going to betray you, I would have done it by now,” I tell him, looking down at Nix’s arm and pulling the sleeve up. The bite itself isn’t too bad, but the poison from the dead soul is crawling through his veins near the bite. I can see it spreading underneath the tattoos that cover his arm, right up to his wrist. The bite is between the blue and black runes on his arm. I turn it over and see his rune name written down the side of his arm, hidden in all the other tattoos.

  “He wouldn’t want you to know his name,” Trex tells me.

  “I can’t read runes, so I won’t know it,” I tell him, and he gives me a questioning look. I’m sure he has a million questions to ask, but he doesn’t voice any of them. The room is deadly silent as I kneel down, getting ready.

  “Can you do this? He is my brother; I can do this if you can’t,” Trex tells me firmly.

  “I’ve done worse to save someone I like . . . plus, I’ve seen this done a few times. I know when to stop, and when to wash the poison out of my mouth when it starts burning,” I tell him. He doesn’t reply, but he seems to get the idea that I am trying to help his brother.

  “Connor, go in my bag, and get the bottle of vodka out. We will need it,” I tell him, and he nods sharply, running over to my bag.

  “If he wakes up and tries to fight me off, you need to stop him. Understood?” I ask Trex, who nods, leaning closer and getting ready. “This will hurt.” I say to the unconscious Nix before covering my mouth over the bite and beginning to suck the poison out. I alternate sucking and spitting out the poison, and keep an eye on his arm, watching the veins turning back to normal slowly. It takes about twenty minutes of this before Nix wakes up with a start. His natural reaction is as I predicted it would be, and he immediately tries to push me away. Trex holds him down, but he seems to struggle a bit as his brother goes mad.

  “Evie is helping you, relax,” Trex soothes him in a firm tone. Nix calms down a little before looking up at me with a grin.

  “Sucking me already? We haven’t even gone on a date yet, love,” he flirts even when he must be in a lot of pain. I pull my mouth away, spitting out the last of the poison.

  “You’ll have to return the favour sometime,” I say, smirking as I wink at him. Connor quickly hands me the bottle of vodka, and I drink some, washing my mouth out and spitting out the last of the poison. I quickly pour some on the cut, making Nix hiss, but he doesn’t stop me.

  “Consider it a promise,” Nix replies, his voice tired. Connor hands me a bandage, and I quickly wrap Nix’s arm, pushing him down when he tries to sit up.

  “Rest, we have about six hours until the morning, and we can’t leave at night,” I explain to them, grabbing the bottle of vodka off the floor. Nix holds his good arm out for the bottle, and I hand it to him, watching him guzzle some before he hands it back to me. I drink some more before putting the lid back on.

  “Azi is getting wood for a fire, and we will have to take turns on watch. That army of souls was not normal; they don’t travel together like that. I have a feeling whoever took your princesses has told the souls to kill us and offered them something,” I state, and none of them say anything, but the way they exchange quick glances lets me know they are thinking the same thing. “Let’s hope it’s only souls they have after us. There are much worse things in Hell to send to kill someone.” I walk to the edge of the cave before they can reply to me. Slipping a dagger from its sheath, I sit and watch for Azi to come back, or for anything dangerous lurking in the snow. Whoever has the princesses does not want them found.

  Fifteen

  Nix

  “Hey,” I say, handing Evie a protein bar and sitting down next to her. She looks at the bar in her hand, before she shrugs and opens it up.

  “You should be resting,” she says, not looking at me but still keeping an eye out. Azi came back an hour ago and set the fire up with our help. We have three tents set up in the cave around the fire. Azi offered to swap with Evie, but she didn’t want to and told him to sleep in case we need another portal. It’s clear something bad happened between them, though they clearly still have feelings for each other. Or, at least, Azi does. I’m not sure about Evie. She turns to look at me, her bright-blue eyes reflecting the light from the fire in the cave, and it makes her look so very innocent and stunning. She may be stunning, but we all know “innocent” isn’t a word that can be used to describe her. She has let her hair down, and it frames her face. The dark blue is stunning, so natural and like it was always meant to be that colour.

  “I needed some fresh air,” I tell her, pulling out my own protein bar from my coat and opening it. I bite down on the chewy crap, hating the fake plastic taste.

  “These are crap,” Evie voices my thoughts on the bar, scrunching her face up and putting the bar down after she chews a bit.

  “Crap is a nice word for it,” I say.

  “How does your arm feel?” she asks, not exactly concerned, but more curious.

  “Better. I’m alive, and I owe you for it,” I respond, keeping my eyes locked on hers. I will pay her back for the debt one day. I will never forget what she did for me.

  “Can I sit?” Connor asks from behind me. His question is clearly for Evie more than it was for me, judgi
ng from the way he stares at her.

  “I don’t own Hell, you can sit wherever you like, Connor,” she replies, and he chuckles, going to her other side and sitting down.

  “You both should be sleeping,” she comments.

  “If you keep telling me to go to bed, love, I might start getting excited that you’re going to join me,” I tease her, watching how she turns to look at me with a small grin.

  “You’re such a flirt, Nix,” she says with a low chuckle, and looks back into the cave.

  “Is Azi really your ex?” Connor blurts out, his gaze following to where she is looking. Her whole face tightens with her fists as she looks back at the entrance.

  “Yes,” she replies dryly.

  “You really dated a demon? A demon overlord?” Connor asks in shock. Evie laughs, shaking her head.

  “Demons aren’t all that different from humans and Protectors,” she tells us. I’ve lost count of how many demons I have killed, how many I’ve sent back to Hell on missions. Demons aren’t all roses and sunshine, that’s for sure. I’m certain Azi has done his fair share of evil things.

  “You know he is an overlord? Do Protectors even know much about overlords?” she asks us.

  “We know there are ten overlords, all brothers. All very powerful, and that our old king killed one over three hundred years ago,” I tell her, and she nods her head.

  “Azi said his brother deserved to die, that his sin was controlling him and making him evil. Though, I still wouldn’t bring up his brother again,” she suggests.

  “Sin?” I ask.

  “Each brother has a sin that makes them an overlord. Think of the seven deadly sins, and you get a rough idea,” she shrugs.

  “What is Azi’s?” I ask.

  “Not my secret to tell,” she replies quickly, with a little smirk on her soft, pretty, heart-shaped lips.

  “You protect him, even though he clearly hurt you. What happened?” I ask.

  “Why should I tell you?” she sharply questions in return.

  “We are likely to die down here, so anything you tell us will be kept secret,” Connor says, making her laugh.

  “I’ve seen you all fight, you might not die down here,” she says. That was almost a compliment. She might be starting to like us, after all.

  “Then we will keep our mouths shut, so the big, bad, deadly assassin doesn’t come after us,” I tease her, and she laughs, but it dies off. We are silent for a while before she starts speaking.

  “Azi saved me from Hell when I was eighteen. I fell in here by accident when I was fighting a Protector. I think he was trying to send me here, anyway,” she says, clearing her throat as my fists tighten in anger for her. A Protector came after a child? Why the hell would they do that? “Azi and I hit it off instantly, and I fell for him. I was young and stupid, and he was hot, knowledgeable, and well, off-limits being a demon overlord and all. I have always liked the dangerous shit in life. He was just different from anyone I had met. I trusted him,” she stops, anger burning over her eyes.

  “So, what happened to make you hate him like you do now?” Connor asks gently.

  “I walked into our apartment, seeing him with a half-naked demon girl standing between his legs as he sat on a chair. I opened a portal to Hell and made sure they both went into it. I haven’t talked to him until the club the other day,” she tells us.

  “Then, he is a fucking idiot, Blue. If he had you, he had something he never should have thrown away,” Connor tells her, and she laughs.

  “I know, and he knows that now. I’m sure when he came back to his apartment to see all his designer clothes cut up, and all his expensive shit destroyed, he realised his mistake,” she says, and I laugh.

  “I bet that annoyed him,” Connor laughs.

  “It did, but I was more bothered about other things at the time. Vi also stole my lucky cat statue, which I want back, by the way. Can we talk, Vi?” Azi asks from behind us, and Evie stands up.

  “Stop calling me Vi, and you’re never getting your cat statue back,” she snaps and walks around him as his glowing red eyes fill the cave with light. “I’m going to nap.” We all watch her walk away until she disappears inside the cave.

  “Don’t even think about touching her. She is mine,” Azi states, placing his hands on his hips. I laugh as I stand up, walking over, so we are eye to eye.

  “She sent you to Hell, which you deserved. You don’t stand a chance, and she fucking isn’t yours. She is a Protector,” I tell him, watching him slowly begin to lose his temper. Connor places his hand on my shoulder, pulling me away.

  “Evie doesn’t belong to anyone, not the Protectors and not the demons. I can tell that from just knowing her a few days,” Connor tells us both. “This alpha macho shit won’t get you back in her good graces, Azi,” he tells Azi, and then walks away from us both.

  “I’m watching, go and sleep,” Connor tells me. I pull my eyes away from Azi’s, walking around him. I’m surprised when he doesn’t say a word to me, but maybe he can’t because he knows Connor’s right. Evie isn’t anyone’s. But I like her, and I’m damn well going to try to make her notice me. Evie is worth pissing off a demon for.

  Sixteen

  Evie

  “Is that bacon?” Connor asks, groggily waking up from his nap, and his tired eyes meet mine. He looks like a cute lion teddy in the morning, with his messy gold hair, and his gold eyes look brighter somehow. I clear my throat, looking back at my pan as I cook the bacon.

  “Yes, my bacon,” I explain to him tartly. I look around at Azi and Nix talking by the door and to Trex who is resting his back against a wall, watching me like a hawk. He acts like I’m about to try and stab him or something. I mean, it’s not a move far from my mind, because he is an ass, but I care more about my bacon at the moment.

  “She doesn’t share bacon, man. She would most likely stab you for even attempting to touch it," Azi warns Connor, who chuckles.

  “I hate to admit it, but he is right. I don’t share bacon, not with anyone,” I say seriously and Connor grins, standing up. I watch as he stretches, his arms lifting above his head and raising his shirt to show off his flat, toned stomach. My eyes can't help but follow the trail of golden hair that leads from his stomach and into his trousers. I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes? I pull my eyes away from Connor to see Azi glaring at me, his eyes drifting between me and Connor.

  “Connor, we need to have a look around, see if we can spot an entrance to the mountains. Come with Nix and me. Evie and Trex can stay here and keep watch,” Azi demands, picking up his sword and walking out of the cave. Connor laughs, clearly picking up on Azi’s jealousy as he leans closer to me.

  “See you in a bit, Blue,” he twirls a bit of my blue hair around his finger, making me wonder if he is an idiot, or perhaps he’s just a brave idiot. Connor then grabs his sword and cloak, shooting me a smirk and wink, before walking out. There’s an awkward silence as I finish cooking my bacon. I savour it, eating the bacon slowly, before I clean my pot and put it back in my bag.

  “Why do I have the feeling you are going to try and attack me, Trexy?” I ask him, knowing he is thinking about it. The way he has been watching me, and the dagger hidden in his right hand, tells me all I need to know.

  “What the fuck did you just call me?” he growls.

  “Trexy . . . it suits you, I think,” I chuckle, standing up as he does. We walk in sync with each other in circles. At least he isn’t pretending he doesn’t want to kill me.

  “Trying to kill me now is your best option. The others will be back soon, and they won’t let you attempt it,” I say, wanting to get this over with. He does exactly what I thought he would, and runs straight at me. I dive under his dagger-holding arm, grabbing his wrist and twisting. He drops the dagger, and I grab it quickly, kicking his back to make him stumble. He turns around, glaring at me.

  “Is that what they teach you at Protector school? If so, no wonder you guys are so easy to kill,” I say honestly, and
he runs at me again. I chuckle, running as well and diving onto the floor, skidding across and grabbing his leg, bringing him to the floor. He grabs me, trying to pull me to him, and I let him for second, before kicking his face with my boot and jumping on him, pressing the dagger to his throat. He watches me carefully with his dirt-smothered face, and his green eyes that are far prettier up close. He is more gorgeous than I thought now that I’m closer to him. Shame about the whole hating me and being engaged thing.

  “Why the fuck do you hate me so much, Trex?” I ask him, honestly wanting to know why.

  “You killed my uncle. I was eleven when they dragged his body to our home. He was my uncle, and you murdered him,” he growls.

  “I was and still am hunted. I've never had another option; it's kill or be killed. Think about it. We aren't all that different in age, I was obviously only a child myself when your uncle tried to kill me. You know what’s worse? I don’t even remember him, just another Protector that came after me. I don’t like to kill, but I had, and still have, no choice,” I tell him.

  “You do like to kill, it’s who you are. I can see it in your cold eyes,” he chuckles darkly.

  “You don’t know a thing, Trexy,” I bite back, holding the dagger closer, trying to resist the urge to kill the bastard and prove him right.

  “Go on, do it. Be the assassin, the killer we all know you are,” Trex taunts me. I move my legs closer around his waist and lean down, pressing my lips close to his, but not quite close enough to touch. His whole body goes tense as his eyes burn with anger.

  “That’s the funny thing, though . . . you don’t know a thing about me,” I reply sweetly.

  “I know you kill anyone that gets in your way, and I know your name is whispered in fear by every Protector,” he spits out, and I lean back with a dramatic sigh.