Sexual encounters with Barron seemed to be the outlet. The first one, when he had me coming with his mouth and hand, had released some of his anger. The second was when he let himself go completely with me against the tree. Was sex the only way? How was that going to work where we were going?
“I can hear you,” Barron all but growled in my head as his hand slid down and cupped one of my butt cheeks. Despite the wanton way I sucked his dick earlier and all the ways he’d pinned me down with his body over the last two days, my face still heated. A flourish of desire took root low in my stomach.
How could I still be getting the tingles? Barron chuckled next to me and I glared. “Stop listening to me!”
“Hello?” Kitty said from behind us. “I’m back here. I don’t want to see my brother manhandle his date.”
“His woman,” Barron corrected her.
“I hope that goes beyond your possessiveness,” I whispered to his mind.
“It’s soul deep, Gwendolyn. You have my heart, both figuratively and literally,” he said out loud.
A man I’d never seen before ported in and said, “We have a problem.” His cloak told me that he must be one of the many Reapers that worked for Barron’s family.
“What is it, Charles?” Grim’s cloak swept around his tux as he entered the room with his wife at his side.
“The barrier around the city is different. It’s repelling any Reaper that tries to enter.” The young man fussed with his hood nervously. “It gets worse. The festival has begun. The demons started before the moon turned red.”
My stomach knotted as several hisses and murmurs fell around the room. Barron’s hand stiffened, and I felt his angry pulse. Barron’s red essence lashed out and circled like a cyclone.
Wrath was coming.
“Fuck! Who knows how many have already died? Shit! I’m going to kill them!”
Barron’s thoughts ripped away from me. I could no longer hear him, and it was torturous. Not having him inside my mind left me hollow.
“Barron,” I whispered, reaching for his hands. Once he saw our fingers intertwine, his dark eyes met mine. A few silent seconds went by before recognition dawned in his narrowed gaze. Did he try reaching out to my mind and figure it out?
He squeezed my palm. “It’s okay, dimples.”
“Do you…” I wanted to ask if he needed me already, but he beat me to it.
“Not yet.” Barron placed a light kiss on my forehead before continuing, “You wouldn’t take enough from me. There’s so much more to come. Once I have all of Wrath, then I’ll take you.”
I glimpsed around and saw that everyone was gone. Before I could say a word, Barron faded us. The transition to the new place was as quick as always. I watched in fascination as the sisters materialized swords and jumped into the sky. My brows furrowed as I tried to pinpoint the enemy. They were hitting air. Wait! Was it some sort of barrier? Their weapons bounced off something I couldn’t see and each time a jar impacted the ground.
The City of the Dead was right there in front of us. Unlike the first time Barron had taken me, it was empty. I didn’t understand. I thought there was a festival, but there wasn’t a soul around.
“The barrier isn’t the problem,” Payne said.
“It’s the fact that the festival has been going on for who knows how long,” August spat. He dropped his arms and stared up at his sisters like he was waiting. Were they waiting for something?
“Who knows what those humans have been through already. If any of them are—”
“Don’t Sebastian,” Isabella blurted.
Finally, one last swing of Kitty’s sword, and what they were hitting became visible to me. Kitty’s purple essence rolled into the barrier like a storm and it shattered, dispersing into millions of tiny broken pieces of magic. The impact jarred my feet. The raining black dots from the barrier was beautiful. Then I saw what it was keeping hidden on the other side.
The magical wall had been a mirage. Noo… The blood drained from my face. The city wasn’t barren like the enchantment had led me to believe. True horror happened before my eyes.
Red enclosed me. I could feel the dangerous energies of Barron.
He was right there beside me. Bile rose in my throat. Focus on your soulmate, I told myself. I tried so hard to steer my mind in his direction, but I couldn’t. All I saw was the tentacles slapping against the woman’s thigh in the water fountain. Around her arms, torso, and legs, the appendages held her down as it raped her with them. Inside her mouth so she couldn’t cry. Between her legs. There wasn’t a place on her that the vile creature wasn’t touching.
Oh, God. And the screaming and begging. I heard their cries for help in every direction. The crowd was massive. Shoulder to shoulder, creatures bumped and fought each other for humans. Some even shared. It was sickening. More were stepping into the fountain, pumping their odd dicks as if they were waiting for their turn.
Stumbling back, I called for Barron but couldn’t hear myself. Moving forward, I reached out for him but felt only air. An overwhelming sense of dread hit me. The force of it was so strong like it was trying to repel me. I didn’t want to be there. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!” Barron roared next to me. I was only partially aware of it. “We were supposed to get here before—”
Maureen slapped his arm and yelled, “Keep it together!”
“Don’t you dare rage! Look at Gwendolyn.” Joy? Kitty? I wasn’t sure at that point.
The screaming. Oh, God. I could still hear them all.
“Help!”
“Stop, please!”
“Someone save me!”
“Just kill me already!”
Grabbing my ears, I squeezed my eyes shut. Make it stop! Then it got worse when the laughter grew louder than their screams. And the slaps of flesh hitting flesh and the sickening groans. The sounds bled in my brain.
Two large hands gripped my biceps. “Hey!” Barron’s voice was hoarse. “Hey, hey, Gwendolyn.” Slightly better. “Breathe, dimples.” Not better. He was pissed off. “Fuck. I shouldn’t have brought her.”
Deep breath. I dragged my chin up, eyes syncing with Barron’s.
Then I saw the hands in his essence reaching out for me. I knew what it wanted—what wrath needed. What I promised to give him, and panic gripped me. “No, please,” I pushed his hands away. The lines on his forehead faded, and the crinkled fury on his face turned to shock. “No, I can’t here. Barron, please no.”
“Gwendolyn,” he uttered softly.
His words from earlier clawed at me.
“Since you’ll be there, I have every intention of using you if I need to.”
I wanted desperately to help him, but a vile sound full of static bombarded my ears. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“What for?” I asked, trying to stop freaking out.
Look at him, Gwendolyn!
He needed me. He needs me. This was Barron. My erratic heart relaxed a fraction. Barron knew something like this could happen—it was why he tried to get me to stay, even when he knew he’d need me.
Breathe, breathe, Gwendolyn.
I came because I thought I’d be valuable to Barron. The edge of his suit came into view along with clarity. I could relax Barron, but I could do so much more if I’d let determination guide me instead of fear. If I ignored the surrounding chaos, I could be more.
You spent days barely able to breathe; I encouraged myself. You spent days with pain clogging your airway, slowly suffocating you. This fear? It was nothing.
We were there to stop those demons. How could I help if I was too terrified to act? Barron should have been saving people instead of calming me down.
“Barron,” I said again, blinking away the tears.
“Take her away!” My heart sank when Barron shoved me into the arms of a sibling.
“Give her a second.” Joy held me against her. “You need her here. If not, you’ll have to leave. You’ll kill everything in sight if you rage.”
“
I don’t want to see her like this. Take her to Isabella’s coven,” Barron croaked, turning away from us. “I’ll leave before I rage, but not before I make these demons pay for what they’ve done.” He paused a second with his back toward us. “Hear me, dimples. I’ll make them all pay for this. Then, I’ll come get you and we’ll go home. Okay?”
He didn’t give me a chance to reply. A wave of red power rippled out of the sword he materialized, slashing into the first row of demons in the pit. I looked for the other Reapers and realized everyone except Maureen and Joy were already gone. I knew they could be anywhere in the city, and wherever they were the demons were suffering for their crimes.
“I’m going in. You got her?” Maureen asked and then darted off.
Joy leaned down and faced me. My mouth parted as I stared into her startling blue eyes. She was crying.
“You will be okay. This feeling inside you, the tears you’re able to cry for others? That is not a weakness.”
More fat tears poured down her face. I didn’t think this was a pep talk for just me.
“The rules stated that the festival wasn’t supposed to start until the moon shines red. The moon down here is only real on the night of a blood moon. When that happens, it isn’t pretty. We should have known they wouldn’t follow the rules.” She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “Without fear of the Reapers, the rules don’t matter to the demons. What's happening is just a fraction of what awaits the human world if we can't stop the apocalypse.
“We came late, but tonight we’ll cover the streets with demon blood.” Standing to her full height, Joy stood taller than me. She straightened her back and pinned me with a Barron-like glower through her tears. “Gwendolyn Dolson, you are a Reaper now. Before the end was approaching, we terrorized no-good demons. Things like this didn’t happen anymore. Harness the sickness that’s twisting inside you. By the time the blood moon is over, we will have reminded them of our power.”
When she dropped my hand, I reached out and wiped her eyes for her. She returned the favor. We shared a look, and in that moment, I felt her strength as if it were my own. Or maybe it was mine. Not that it mattered because I was done being afraid.
It was time to pull a Barron. It was time to be angry.
Chapter 34
Barron
Anguish set my soul on fire. The bleak look on Gwendolyn’s face when she saw the demons would haunt me until the end of my existence. I heard the stories, knew what to expect, but we all thought we’d get there before anything would be done to the humans. We were wrong.
No one listened to the rules anymore. No one gave a damn. In the Underworld, the end was already there, and they were waiting to ascend into the human world.
I shouldn’t have brought Gwendolyn. Fuck Wrath for needing her. I said I’d take her help, but one glimpse at those tears and I couldn’t ask for her pleasure in the middle of that mess. I couldn’t do that to her. Or me.
I loved dimples with absolute certainty.
That’s why her tears in the mists of that mess were tearing my sin to pieces. I wanted to kill everything in sight. At that point, I was afraid I’d hurt a human while trying to save them.
Fury was consuming me. Blood coated my fingers and touched my soul.
And yet, I thirsted for more.
Let the city fall by my hands.
For once, I didn’t care about Wrath and the dangers I carried. I had a home to return to afterward. A body to hold. A love to keep. A life to cherish. I wasn’t about to ruin it because of this place and my curse.
Chapter 35
Gwendolyn
Materializing my scythe, I ran behind Joy toward the heap of dead demons lying at the entrance. The very monsters I first saw when the barrier broke. We had to check on the humans left behind after the Reapers began killing the demons. Blood, in a variety of colors, coated everything—the ground and even the humans huddled together. Some humans stood while others hid beneath the dead bodies. Some cried, and some were unconscious—at least I hoped that was why their eyes were closed.
“The others can deal with the demons. We need to aid the humans,” Joy said.
With an inhale, I glanced over at the water demon with the tentacles. The top of his head was several feet away from his mangled body. His tentacles were torn and scattered around the fountain. That was when I exhaled. One less monster that could hurt someone. When I saw his victim lying unconscious in the water, I bent down and pulled her out. Jesus, she was freezing. I checked her pulse and smiled when I felt it. Then I noticed how sticky her naked flesh was.
Don’t got there, I told myself. She was alive.
Joy dropped to one knee beside me, and I frowned. “How will they live through what they’ve witnessed and…”.
A bright, green glow emitted from Joy’s palm as she laid it over the woman’s stomach. The light was similar to her essence. “Like my mother, I’m a healer,” Joy said. “I can heal her body and mind. Not a trace of this world will follow her into the human world.” Her sea-colored eyes gazed at me.
First, the slime and grit covering the human’s body faded away. Then her bruises and scrapes were leaving her. Green lines within the wounds pulled her skin together from the inside out. Within seconds, a healthy glow cast over her skin. My lips parted. Joy didn’t leave a trace of what the woman had gone through. “You guys take their memories.” It wasn’t a question. I knew that was what they’d do, and I didn’t blame them.
“I do nothing halfway. When they leave here, their bodies and minds will be restored.” Joy’s lips tightened before she sighed. “We’re the ones stuck with the memories.”
Joy stood. “If you guys could wait here, we’ll take you all home.”
I hadn’t realized the humans had followed Joy until I looked up and seen their startled faces blinking at us.
An ominous chill slithered down my back right before a voice called out, “Is she the one?”
I turned around and saw dozens of red cloaks and white masks. We were trapped by the same group of demons that had attacked the castle—the ones who killed me.
Joy sighed. “Harvesters.” A scythe materialized next to Joy. It hovered beside her, but she didn’t reach for it. The green emitting from the weapon indicated it belonged to her. “They’re here for someone.”
“They’re looking at you,” I told her.
“I know.”
Everyone was frozen in place. I held my breath.
“Get her!” one barked out.
Red cloaked swirled as the beings closed in.
Joy jerked her head to the women. “Get in the buildings.” It didn’t take the humans long to listen. As they ran toward a building, several of the cloaked figures hissed at them. The females screamed and stumbled but they made it inside. The ones that were able, anyway. Some were still lying on the ground.
Those greenish-blue tentacles? Jerked to life. Each separated limb lurched and slithered away down the stairs and away from the fountain. Suddenly, four tentacles took to the sky, twisting and gyrating. They didn’t stop until they pierced the chests of four of Harvester’s followers. Their cloaks billowed and then fell. The bodies beneath them collided to the pavement.
I gawked at Joy. That was no ordinary attack. Woven around the dead body parts had been her green essence. “You did that?”
She didn’t look away from all the approaching demons. “Your power is only as weak as your mind. Try doing it yourself.”
Sure, she made it look easy.
In the distance, boots thudded against the concrete. The stomping grew closer but Joy never moved. She simply stood and waited.
A black pulsing magic ball sailed toward me. Before I could react, Joy stepped in front of me and held her palm up. Green power slammed into the black magic. The ball crackled like electricity before shattering. Then she moved. Her scythe flew to her waiting hand, morphing into a humongous sword. Her body twisted in the air—she almost looked like she was dancing as she sliced into them effortlessly. S
ome fell back in a line, preparing for a new attack. Others came charging at me.
I glanced at the ground beneath my feet, then at my heels. An idea struck me. Water. I needed water. From the crevices of the broken pavement, water began to form. Skates. I formed the idea and watched my heels change. My mind was not weak. I smiled, lifting one foot up. I took the first step.
Ice scattered through the streets.
The new ground spread underneath the demons’ feet. Their masks looked down and gasped in sync. Feet spread, arms flayed, butts and stomachs fell on the ice.
I smiled. Later, I’d thank Barron for that idea.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Joy’s arms flaying with the cloaked figures before she jumped in the air. Her gaze found mine, and she smirked. “A warning next time!” she yelled.
I lifted my hand and quickly changed my scythe into a pistol.
Gathering my thoughts to it, I wanted more than a normal gunshot. I needed an explosion.
Thinking of a giant orb of fire, I fired the pistol. A huge ball of red shot out. The shell threw my hand in the air from the force of its release. I watched as the magic ripped up the concrete and plowed through the demons. It wrecked everything in its path.
My eyes bulged at the destruction I’d made. Wow. I might have envisioned what I wanted a little too loudly.
When I saw more demons closing in on my right, I skated forward. Since parts of the ground was ripped up, I had to jump over the mess I made. Midair, I spun around and fired the pistol two more times. That time I knew to hold my free hand over the top of the pistol so it wouldn’t throw my other one back. While I had made my shots and hit the demons, I had missed my landing. Oh—I caught myself on one skate then staggered trying to regain my footing and fell forward on my knees. Ow! That went better in my head.
Standing up, I felt a cold hand over my shoulder. Pivoting, I fired the pistol into his chest. Blood splattered against me. His body fell to the ground with a giant hole where his heart once was.
Conjuring Wrath (Seven Deadly Book 3) Page 23