“I said the killer wouldn’t be in the house,” she said as she walked without fear. Muffled cries came from the large open room. Meegan and Maddie were tied to support posts. Meegan struggled against her restraints when she saw us. Esther rushed to Maddie while I removed the gag from Meegan’s mouth.
“I knew you’d save me, Vince,” Meegan choked out. Her face was stained with tears and smudged makeup. “I told him you’d come for us and you’d kill him. Was that the noise we heard?”
Meegan continued in her AK-47 gunfire style of questions, not even giving me time to respond. You’d think she’d rescued me, not the other way around. A thud sounded upstairs and Esther stiffened.
“Shut her up,” she spat and I placed my index finger over my lips as I got the last of Meegan’s bindings undone.
Footsteps sounded above us as angry voices raged. Luckily this was a relatively new home which meant egress windows. I pulled Meegan to an empty room that in a normal home would have been an office or bedroom.
Cracking the window we were able to climb out. In the backyard, I saw mounds that couldn’t be from random snow piling. An excavation would need to be done at some point for no other reason than putting the women in a final resting place.
“We need a car,” I said.
“Mine’s parked in front of the house,” Meegan offered.
“We need another car.”
I tried examining Maddie, but Meegan wouldn’t let go of me. Compared to Maddie, Meegan had a paper cut. She had a few scrapes and bruises, but Esther could barely keep Maddie upright. She looked drugged.
“Meegan, please,” I said as I unhooked her arms from my neck, only to have them hook around my waist just as Maddie fell into my arms. Esther took off to the front of the home and I trudged after with one woman clinging to my waist and another in my arms. The experience strained my arms and pointed out every missed day at the gym, which since moving to the butt-fuck Egypt that is Southeast Iowa had been quite a few.
Just when I thought my back and biceps were going to give out, squealing tires brought my salvation in the form of a large SUV. Nye stopped right at my side and the doors to the black Ford Excursion flew open. Esther popped out and helped me place Maddie across the back bench seat. Meegan finally unlatched from me, climbed in the vehicle, and took in her surroundings. It would have been too much to ask for her to be to in shock to notice the remnants of demons still fighting with Frozen or for her to assume there was a big fire causing the thick ash. For the first time there was an uneasy silence as Yappy sat with words hanging from her tongue, but unable to escape.
Soon we were off and rushing them to the emergency room…at least that was where I hoped we were going. What could we possibly say happened? The paperwork alone stabbed my brain with a headache and I now understood Esther’s imperviousness to cold when in the moment. My shoulder reminded me it was injured. Burning pain seared the joint and spread like a wildfire doused with gasoline.
Biting back the pain I gripped the armrest with my good arm and prayed the pain could stay on one side of my body. Nye took a corner going eighty…or twenty-five with icy conditions. Either way I smashed against the other armrest and a howl echoed in the cavernous vehicle.
“Vincent.” Esther’s worried eyes caught mine and I waved her off while tamping down the agony-induced vomit scorching my throat. It wasn’t until the vehicle spun out that I became really worried, especially since it was still driving straight.
Chapter 13
Esther Benson
“SOMETHING’S wrong with him,” I cried to Nye who threw the truck into park outside the ER door. “His eyes…Nye…”
“The normals can help him, we’ve done all we can.” He took off to get help inside, but I feared any help he could bring back wouldn’t be enough.
Vincent wouldn’t answer me or respond when I shook him. The woman who wouldn’t unlatch from him earlier looked just as worried. We both shook him as Nye helped an orderly unload the woman from the backseat.
“She looks like the other one,” he said, and I turned my head sharply.
“What other one?”
“We just had another patient come in like this. Where did you find her?”
“Help her…then him.”
“Detective? What’s wrong with him?”
“The Cubs won a game, he’s in shock.”
“It’s December, that would be shocking. What is going on here?”
“Sick and dying patients,” I spat. “How about you deal with that?”
Nye helped everyone into the ER. When he returned to the car his face was grim.
“We can’t leave them unguarded,” he said. “I can smell a demon.”
Sprinting through the door I was prepared to lay down my life to save Vince’s again. Nye was at my hip and placed his hand over the hand I had wrapped around my claustranima.
“Not in front of the humans,” he whispered, then led me to where Vince was.
Meegan stood next to his gurney even though a nurse fought with her.
“Miss, you need to go back to your bed,” the nurse scolded. “I need to examine you.”
“I can’t leave him,” she cried. “He saved my life. He’s…he…”
Meegan broke down and the nurse helped her to her own bed right next to Vince’s. What caught my eye was how she held his hand and her fingers trailed off his when they separated. They meant something to each other. The nurse pulled a curtain between the two and I took in Vince’s pallor. Again he was pale.
“He injured his shoulder,” Nye said as they cut off Vince’s shirt. “We’re not sure how bad.”
“Are you police too?” a doctor asked.
“I am,” I replied firmly. “Special Agent Benson, I’m with the FBI.”
“FBI?” a nurse balked. “Why is the FBI in Mount Pleasant, Iowa?”
“That’s classified,” Nye said.
“What drugs are they on?”
“Drugs?” I asked.
“The woman barely conscious in the first bed…Vince here. Dr. Pound is in the other room and appears beat. Is the guy with her one of yours?”
“Yes,” I said as I swallowed. “Can I see him?”
I didn’t need to ask because the moment I turned around the male demon from the compound slammed me into the wall.
“Get me the cure,” he snarled as Nye tried to pull him off. “Not now, Dark One.”
“Not here.” Nye’s voice had a growl to it as if he were a dog warning of an attack.
“We can’t have this,” an older nurse said. “Take it outside.”
In the hallway we stood toe to toe with eyes glaring unable to attack. The tug of duty strained against the need to kill. Why couldn’t I just rip out his heart? Vince was lying in the other room clinging…he wasn’t bit. He didn’t have a reason to be so ill unless…
“We need Ashworth here now,” I snapped at Nye. “Vince wouldn’t have been poisoned.”
“He’s going to be tied up with casualties. I’m sure the reality of everything finally hit Vince.”
“What if it’s more?” I shoved the male demon. “What do bantling bites do to humans?”
“I haven’t been a bantling for hundreds of years.”
“You raise them.”
“No…I don’t, Deumos do. I need your angel.”
“Gabriel?” I scoffed. “Why would he help you?”
“Because she’s dying and I did it. There has to be a cure. The angels cursed us…they can cure us. Would he really let her die?”
“Why do you care?” Nye asked.
“She’s a casualty we can’t afford.”
“Ask your princess.” I turned around, only to have my hips pulled back and quickly released.
Fear struck me as the weight I’d become accustomed to from my claustranima was gone. I spun to see a beast of the devil holding my soul in his hands.
“Get me a cure or your soul goes to Hell wi
th me.”
Nye rushed him, but he held his hand up halting his momentum. Never had I encountered a demon with this much power. Vermillion and crimson swirls of rage filled his eyes.
Even though my soul was safe in the handle of my blade, the light was dim. I could feel the separation as if it were a thousand miles away and I was but an empty shell moving around the world. My soul had been stolen. I could never give it to another or be reborn. Nye was behind me and pulling me away.
“He’s got my soul…he’s got my soul…” The words seemed foreign to me. The idea. “Nye, he has my soul…a demon has my soul…why is he not dead? He should be back in Hell…he shouldn’t have my soul…He’ll kill Vince…”
Words tumbled from my mouth like droplets of water culminating into a waterfall. Time and place was gone. All I saw was his dark eyes and long hair. The way his hand held onto the handle. Curling fingers clutching the last bit that was still me. What made me human and not a soulless monster? What if he found a way to shatter the handle? Could he absorb my soul?
“Hey there…” Kiriana’s voice shook me. “Esther.”
Kiriana’s velvet brown eyes startled me. I shook and saw I was in the healing room. Nye was there with Kiriana and I sat on the cold slab of granite.
“What…”
“Just focus on my voice,” Kiriana said in a soft comforting way. “There you go, you’re coming out of it.”
“Out of what?” I asked and felt for my blade.
“Shock. I need you back so we can figure this all out.”
“Figure out what? That monster has my soul and Nye couldn’t touch him.”
“What did he want in exchange? They always want to deal.”
“The cure for something. He wanted Gabriel.”
Kiriana gave Nye a worried look.
“What’s wrong?”
“Gabriel is…he’s…”
“He’s what? One of the devil’s disciples has my soul. I don’t care if his wings were cut off. He will help me.”
“She might be able to handle him,” Kiriana said in a relaxed tone. “She came out of that better than I thought.”
“Handle him?” A shiver tore through me and I suddenly wasn’t so calm. Rage and fear filled me, but the calm needed to handle an archangel…didn’t seem to be present.
* * * *
Pivane
Eliza stopped breathing at eight fifty-three. I breathed life into her while yelling at the people charged with saving her to do their damn job. Now a machine with an accordion pump squeezed breath into her lungs. Her heart still beat on its own. At least that was what they told me. Her eyes reacted to light. A tube hung from the side of her mouth. Friends and colleagues stopped in the room to give their expert opinions. They spoke of life-flighting her to another hospital, but I wouldn’t hear of it. The Frozen knew where I was and would bring Gabriel soon enough. Luckily when human minds were coursing with grief and guilt, manipulating thoughts from them was easy. Then again my powers were greater than I’d known before.
“Where’s my sister?” Lucifer asked as he entered the room and peered at Eliza who seemed small and vulnerable next to Lucifer’s large frame.
The youngest Lucifer had the black eyes with silver irises of the royalty. At six-seven and quite muscular, his body strained against his clothing which was perfectly tailored. The suit stood out in this town where rarely did a suit not come off the rack. His shaved head with flame tattoos glowing red were also a dead giveaway he wasn’t local.
“Have you lost your tongue along with your balls?” he asked, shifting his stance and placing his hands in his pockets.
“Last I saw she was flying above the Hell’s Mouth sending feather knives out among the masses. Think she took out some demons in the process, needs to work on her aim.”
“Why are you here grieving for a woman? A human woman at that.”
“I’m using her. The Frozen will be bringing the Archangel Gabriel to me.”
Lucifer’s head tilted to the side as he walked around the bed and examined Eliza. Part of me reached for the blade at my hip. Killing the crown prince had its negatives, but Eliza’s life was more to me than all the tortures of Hell.
“And my sister, she’s close?”
“I don’t know. Is the mouth closed?”
“The first one has been for some time now. All my coven members were killed and they had such a great place to rule in the south of France. Was that your goal? Not return to your station with my sister to sit at my side during family gatherings.”
“She won’t accept me. I’ve tried. She has her heart and other parts set on Damarion.”
“That creature has become a pain in my ass.” Lucifer drummed his fingers on top of the ventilator as his back was turned to me. “Was he not killed by the Frozen?”
“And resurrected.”
“No, I mean a second time.” His index finger spun like he was remembering an old movie. “He should have been disposed of once my sister left his side.”
“I fear her cousin has a soft spot for him too.”
“My father and his whores,” he let out a long sigh. “I need you to focus on LaDressa. Leave this woman. Gabriel would not waste his time on her.”
“The members of the Frozen here tend to have a soft spot for humans.”
“Do they?” Lucifer stroked his chin as he contemplated my current situation. “What else do they have?”
“I don’t understand, my Lord.” I fought the urge to take Eliza’s hand in mine.
“They have a soft spot for Damarion and this woman, what else can we use against them. What of my sister? Have they not had time enough to kill her?”
“I suppose.”
“Yet they have not.”
“Right.”
“And you have not, why was that?”
“I needed the coven to stay on my side. LaDressa could fall at anyone’s hand but my own.”
“Pity. Then you are of no use to me either.”
I stood with the knife at my side. He laughed and flicked his wrist, only this time I didn’t go flying. Fear crossed his face as my body surged with energy. Was it from Eliza? Being on Earth weakening him? Somehow the blast from him turned into a breeze that bounced back to him.
Forming a fireball in his hand he tossed it at Eliza. Leaping in front of the flame I took its full force, only to have it sizzle and pop on my chest. Tables were turning. Not that I wanted to help LaDressa ascend to the throne, but I might have better luck with her. Priorities shifted, as did I. Lunging with a blade out I caught the edge of his nicely tailored suit, but did not hit skin. As they circled each other the room became tighter with each step.
“I’ve let you play for too many years here,” Lucifer cackled. “You’ve lost your way.”
“Not really, I think I’ve finally stepped on the path set forth by you. You just didn’t realize where it ended.”
“Now you’re on her side?”
“I’m on mine. It’s the only side I can truly trust and even that is suspect most days.”
Flipping the knife in my hand I was poised to strike. Lucifer held his hand out and a staff emerged. Five feet long, he spun it in a circle and brought it to rest on his shoulder. His eyes locked on mine. The way he wielded the staff told me it was solid metal. Balanced perfectly. If it made contact the bone would shatter under it. He and I last sparred when we were but children a millennium ago. Having fought with humans I wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be. Then again I shouldn’t have been able to stop Lucifer in any capacity so maybe…just maybe…
The staff swung and I ducked. Like a helicopter he twirled the staff over his head until I stood upright again and another pass was made, this time smashing into my arm. He’d aimed down. Whether it was my leg or my arm I was getting hit.
Lucifer then spun the staff in front of him. The only way to stab him would be to take my chance with the fan blade of his staff. Not happening. My left arm
throbbed, but I couldn’t show the injury to Lucifer. Not if I wanted to live. With a clenched jaw, I stared him down.
“Beat me all you want, it won’t do you a bit of good,” I said. “Your sister’s seen the gates of Heaven. She rained down angels. Their corpses littered the streets. And she’s mad, but not at me. When was the last time you sent her a kind word? Did she return when the Hell’s Mouth closed? No…you said that. You’re still looking for her.”
I stepped to make sure Eliza’s bed would not be in the path of his staff if he swung.
“But you know where she is. You’d have to. Are you scared?”
“You know not of what you speak.”
“I know fear. You taught me the emotion quite well. You can feel your blood as it courses through your body because it’s sluggish and cold. Sweat that never escapes your body is suddenly dampening your forehead…arms…back.”
Lucifer kept his staff at a forty-five degree angle in front of his body. He had the reflexes of a snake. Staying still until the prey comes within striking distance.
“Pivane, I took you into my home. Promised you my sister—”
“Next time, ask me if I want to be a eunuch. That might be more fun.”
“What changed? A few days ago you were ready to take her by force if necessary.”
“Force has never been my first choice. Especially in a long-term mate.”
“Yes, you made that mistake once before, didn’t you?” He cackled at me. “Her family is still high among those in Hell. Shall I tell them of her true fate? The slip aided by a hand.”
“And unaided by yours. Every demon worth their weight knows you could have caught her if you wished. Your powers are great, Lucifer, but I fear for you now. LaDressa has grown angry and lustful of power. The combination shall make your ascension perilous. No longer is she the docile creature tucked away in a tower. No one can control her…save Damarion. And even he I fear will end up one of her victims.”
“If there be a fall to the royal family in Hell I shall not be its first victim.”
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