I cry so hard my stomach hurts. I reach for her but she’s not there. So many tears… They keep me from seeing her leave.
“PLEASE COME BACK, MOMMY!”
Her body shook violently from the painful memory.
Nash’s voice pulled her back. “We’re here, my love.”
The sobs came from deep within her. They jolted her body like a million volts.
“Little one, it’s okay. We’ll never leave you.”
“We promise, sweetheart. You’ll never be alone again.”
Eve felt them remove the cuffs. Her arms hung heavy by her sides. If they hadn’t picked her up, she would’ve fallen to the floor. The convulsions kept rocking her.
Nash and Kronos placed her on the bed between them. They covered her with a blanket.
“I did good, Sirs?”
“Oh, yes.” Nash smile melted her.
Kro squeezed her hand. “The flashback of your mother kept you blocked. The strength of your memories when you were three cemented to your subconscious like steel. Unbelievably powerful. Now that you opened up to us, we’re home free.”
As the sobs subsided, she tried to lean up on her elbows.
“Relax, sweetheart.” Kronos kissed her hand. “You need to sleep. You’ve been through the ringer.”
“I-I’m so sorry.” She heard herself whimper.
Kro kissed her cheek. “Shh. You did great.”
“But we didn’t triple, Kro.”
Nash cupped her chin. “No.” His tone meant business, then he softened it. “You’re too exhausted, sweet girl. But your power lit up like a Christmas tree. And now, you’re ready to bind to us.”
“B-but we should triple now—before David shows up.”
“He’s already here, but don’t worry, you’re ours from now on. Kro and I will make sure he understands that. We can triple and bind with you when you wake up.”
“Sleep now, sweetheart.”
I’m theirs from now on…
* * * *
The conference room at the Ranch could host more than twenty people around its large mahogany table, but only four immortals filled the space.
Kronos sat back and listened. Nash and David continued yelling at each other. Kronos’s respect for Nash kept growing and growing. The other immortal in the room, Parkor, sat back smoking a pipe.
“How dense are you, David?” Nash glared at his commander. “It’s not possible for Eve to bind to any other immortals besides me and Kronos.”
“So you’ve been saying. I’m not convinced. You’ve had seven days, like I promised. I’m through talking about this. The moment we leave this room, I will be sending in two new immortals to triple with her.”
Nash turned smoky green, daggers poised for action. “No one besides me and Kronos will ever triple with Eve.”
“You threatening me?” David smirked.
Kronos stood up, spread his wings, and brought forth his sword. “We’ll do what we have to, David. Be reasonable. She trusts us.”
Parkor banged the table with his pipe. “Enough! David, this needs to be brought to the council.”
“You’re over-stepping.”
“So you say. State your bloody logic to the others. Put away your weapons, soldiers.” Parkor waved his hand and a golden door appeared on the wall next to him. “Nash, you and Kronos can make your case to the Seven, but I doubt you will sway us.”
Parkor snuffed his pipe, placed it in his jacket, and walked through the door into the Secret Room, the chamber where the Alliance’s highest nobility met and issued edicts.
“This is perfect. Now, we don’t need David’s approval.” Nash stepped up to the portal, then turned back to him. “Come on. I know we can win enough of them over to get another night with Eve.”
“I’ve got your back.” Kronos followed his friend through the portal.
David grumbled, but came after them.
Kronos looked around the heptagonal room, comprised of seven walls of gray rock. Every wall had been painted with a large black symbol that he couldn’t decipher. In the center of the room sat a large mahogany table with seven massive chairs nudged against it.
All but one of the Seven entered the room through the doors on the other walls. He knew that a quorum consisted of six of the Seven. No more, no less. One chair always remained empty, representing the absent member.
As each of the rulers entered, their doors vanished. Kronos looked back at the door he’d walked through. It was gone, also.
Ancient Gravian, ruler of Asia sat first. Kronos found it odd that such a powerful archangel walked with a cane.
Parkor took his seat next to Gravian.
The beautiful Jezzel, ruler of Africa, sat on the other side of Gravian. A string of emeralds draped her neck.
The rest followed suit: the archjinn, Samson, who ruled Australia; then David; and last came Mavin, her skin and hair so pale it reminded Kronos of the lifeless, cold continent she ruled.
Kronos noted the missing noble—the ruler of South America, Ramon, an archangel.
“Parkor, why did you summon us?” Samson asked.
“As many of you know, I’ve brought concerns about how David has been handling our latest threat.”
Jezzel’s eyes burned dark, like ancient earth. “Yes. And?”
“I’ve brought an example of such. We’ve all been told about the bloodliners David has found and about the woman carrying the bloodliner baby. Did you know that he lost one of the bloodliners to the Dark? A woman named Leah?”
David glared at Parkor, but didn’t answer.
“Too many secrets, David. Not good.” Parker turned back to the others. “His attempt to bind the bloodliner Eve Rousseau to Alliance immortals has failed.”
Nash slammed his fist on the table by Ramon’s empty seat. “That’s not true!”
“No? Then tell the council that you and this young angel have succeeded.”
Kronos watched them turn to Nash and fix their gazes on him.
Nash continued, “We have, to a point.”
“Do bloody tell.” Parkor sent a sickening smile across the table.
“Her power is activated.”
“That only makes her more dangerous if the Dark gets to her, jinn.” Parkor pulled out his pipe from his jacket, but didn’t light it. “Do you think the darklings don’t have a plan to capture Eve just like they did poor Leah? Of course they do.”
“Shut up, Parkor.” David stood up. “You told these two to come make their case. So let them.”
“Nash, Parkor is correct that leaving her unbound to Alliance warriors is dangerous.” Gravian stated flatly.
“Thank you, Gravian.” Parkor’s voice turned sing-song. “I believe that this Eve and the pregnant woman should be turned over to me.”
“Fuck you!” Kronos’s rage exploded. He’d fight every one of these royal bastards if he had to. “You’re not taking her away from Nash and me.”
“Relax.” Nash patted him on the shoulder. “Nothing has been decided yet, Kro.”
Gravian nodded. “Tell us, what would you have us do?”
“We had a breakthrough tonight. Grant us one more night with her, and I promise you that she will be joined to Kronos and me.”
David’s wings popped out.
“What’s wrong?” Gravian asked.
“I just got a message from Nadine. The Ranch is under attack.”
* * * *
Eve woke to an explosion. The door opened. Though it wasn’t the two she hoped for, she didn’t mind who it was. “Quade, what is it? What was that sound?” When she saw the gash in his arm, her heart jumped up into her throat.
“The Ranch is under attack. I’ve got to get you out of here. Now!”
Eve dressed in a flash. “Where are Nash and Kronos?”
“They were called away. I promised to keep you safe. Follow me. I know a place where there aren’t any magic-dampening spells. Once we get there, I can conjure a portal to get you out of here. Once you’re saf
e, I’ll get word back to them.” He held out his hand.
“I can’t leave without them.”
“Eve, if you don’t, you’ll likely be killed.”
Another explosion.
“This attack is because of you. The demons are coming for you. As long as you’re here, they won’t stop until everyone is dead.”
Eve grabbed his hand and followed him out of the room.
Chapter 16
Nova-like pain exploded behind Nash’s eyes. Eve was gone.
He knocked Wright to the floor. The sound of cracking bones reverberated through the room. “Don’t fucking lie to me.”
“I swear, sir, I didn’t know anything.” The suspect angel’s wings hung low.
Kronos pounded his fists on the table. “What about your buddy, Quade?”
“Like I told you—he said he was going to the bloodliner’s room to make sure she was safe. That’s the last I saw of him.”
David walked in with Brooke in tow. “Sit.”
“B-But—”
“Brooke, I said sit!” The archangel’s patience had been thinned out small, like a razor’s edge, after learning of the casualties. “Don’t argue with me.”
Brooke sat, her hands shaking. She’d hidden in her closet, avoiding abduction. Eve hadn’t been so lucky.
Fuck! Nash’s blood pulsed in his veins like a blacksmith’s hammer against stone.
At a great cost, the Alliance had pushed back the Dark’s frontal attack. It had been a ruse to distract the guardian troops in order to allow Quade, their person on the inside, time to finish his mission.
Nash didn’t have the luxury to grieve his many fallen comrades like Nadine and Ezra. Every second that passed, the longer they had Eve. He must find her. Nothing else mattered.
He punched Wright, causing the immortal’s head to pop left and blood to spill from his mouth. “You have to know something.”
David grabbed Nash’s arm, hindering him from delivering another blow. “The angel is telling the truth.”
Nash jerked free of David’s grasp. “The truth isn’t really your forte, is it?”
His commander didn’t seemed bothered by his insult. “If he’d been part of the plan, do you think he would’ve stayed behind? Did you think to scan him? His energy is still blue.”
Nash looked Wright up and down. Not one flicker of black.
Fuck!
Kronos swung his sword at one of the chairs. It splintered into a thousand pieces.
Nash couldn’t blame the angel for the display. This nightmare threatened to push him over the edge, too. “Kro, you gotta try to keep it together if we have a snowball’s chance in hell to get Eve back.”
He and Kronos now shared heavy guilt. They’d left Eve defenseless, and the Dark had seized her. His gut winched up tight at what those monsters were capable of doing to any human, let alone the woman he loved—a bloodliner with active power.
Wright stood up, his face filled with regret. “I can’t believe Quade has really fallen. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Kronos hit the wall. “Believe it or not, I don’t give a damn. He is the one who handed her over to the Dark. If I find that turncoat, he’ll pray to be sent to the Ether before I’m done with him.”
“Kro, Quade isn’t the issue.” Nash steadied his own breathing. Like the angel, he also needed to stay focused and control his anger. “We have to figure out how to get Eve back.”
“I agree.” David glanced at Brooke then back at Nash. “Since you got her power online but didn’t get her locked into you, we have to move fast.”
“We shouldn’t have left her.” Kronos’s shoulders sagged. “Where could those bastards have Eve?”
David rubbed his chin. “Since we destroyed Vincorte’s last lair for his minions, I doubt he’s had time to put a new one together.”
Damn it! The archangel was right. That made finding her so much more difficult. “That means Vincorte must have a temporary location for his headquarters.”
“Yes, but I doubt he would take someone as important as Eve there. Even a temporary lair would need to be large to accommodate at least a hundred of his lieutenants, too big to set up magical defenses and to block her red power from our detection.”
Kronos stepped up to David. “You have any idea where they would’ve taken her then?”
“I don’t know where, but I do think it would be a small place that he could spell the walls to absorb her power. It would only work for a short time.”
“So we wait until her power finally breaks through Vincorte’s magic, and then send in the cavalry?” Kronos shook his head. “No way. Eve could be dead by then.”
David shrugged. “Does anyone else have a better idea?”
Nash did. “It’s risky.”
“Whatever it is, if there’s any chance to save Eve, I’m in.” Kro’s wings spread out wide.
“I know.”
“So, how do we start?”
“First, I go see an old friend.”
David scowled. “Who?”
“Azlian.”
* * * *
“In there, Eve.” Quade pointed to the metal door at the end of a long hall. “It’s open.”
After traveling with him through a portal, she would never complain about air travel again. Her stomach still felt queasy, even though they’d been walking for over an hour on the street above before making it to the outside of this building.
“Quade, how did you get the magical passage to work for me?”
The female demon, Azlian, had tried to open a portal at the diner to shove her through but had failed. Plus, Nash had told Eve that something about her kept spells from working.
“With your power now activated, we believed that if you didn’t feel threatened by someone, a simple enchantment might succeed with you.” His voice was monotone, deliberate. “Lucky for us, it did.”
He seemed off to her, Very strange.
“I thought you were taking me back to Zone Three.”
“It’s not safe at the club. This is better.”
Maybe this was like the house Nash had first taken her to, a kind of outpost of the Alliance. “You will get back to Nash and Kro and tell them where I am?”
His jaw clenched as if he were in pain. Then his facial muscles relaxed. “We’ve got a surprise for you. You’ll never guess who is inside there waiting?”
Oh God yes! Nash! Kro!
She ran to the door, swung it open.
Three men stood in the middle of the room. One she knew, the others she didn’t. None were Nash or Kro. Disappointment drained her hope.
“Hello, Eve.” Parkor smoked a pipe. He turned to the man to his left. “Connor, the room is perfect.”
Connor was quite tall. Six-six, at least. Very handsome. He had a regal bearing. “Ms. Rousseau, would you like something to eat or drink?”
“That will be all, Connor.” The man to Parkor’s left pointed to the door.
He was dressed to the nines with a dark suit and silk tie and wore mirrored sunglasses. Strange. Eve had counted four flights she and Quade had descended from street level. Not a single ray of sunshine could make it down here. His stature was six-two, at least, and his shoulders were wide enough for the football field.
Connor bowed to the man and turned back to her. “Ms. Rousseau.” Then he left the room.
Parkor looked her straight in the eyes, daring her to try to escape. “Let me introduce a friend of mine.”
“I don’t care about meeting your friends. Just take me to Nash and Kronos, or bring them here.” She didn’t trust the archangel. He gave her the creeps.
“Now, that’s quite rude and foolish, human. Vincorte has gone to a great deal of trouble to set up this audience for you. You’re not the only bloodliner he’s hosting.”
Damn! Nausea stirred the contents of her stomach, as she realized to whom Quade had taken her. A demon of the Dark and Parkor was in on it. Parkor’s true colors showed through, figuratively and literally. Eve
n his wings looked grayish to her. The few white feathers remaining were small and thin.
“My dear, I’m pleased to meet you.” The man’s voice came out silky and strong. Movie star looks, but she had no doubt that he wasn’t human.
This was nothing more than a meeting that had a beginning and an end. Vincorte would never let her leave. Not alive, anyway.
The diabolical man motioned to Quade.
The jinn walked up behind her and pushed her forward.
“Watch it.” She turned around to Quade. His eyes looked strange, as if fixed on something invisible.
“Forgive Parkor and this foolish jinn puppet. Their manners are a bit crude. I am Vincorte, your host. I hope you like the accommodations I’ve prepared for you.”
At first glance, the room looked like any other commercial building’s equipment rooms, what with the exposed air ducts and wires and no windows. The walls, floors, and ceiling were a dark gray. Glaring fluorescent lights lit the place. There was a single table and one pegboard wall that held lots of tools.
The more Eve studied the place, the more she realized the danger in front of her. Whips, chains, paddles, and knives were the few things on the pegboard that she could identify. The ones she couldn’t looked capable of much more than just pain.
Oh God! She’d been led straight to hell. Her gut clenched with immense fear. She closed her eyes tight, praying for the impossible—for Nash and Kro to come rescue her.
Parkor ordered, “Quade, chain her up.”
She felt the jinn’s hands clamp down on her. Her inner cauldron began to boil red. “Get your fucking hands off of me!”
She felt him release her then heard a thud from behind. She turned around. Quade lay sprawled out on the ground, writhing. Did I do that?
Renewed hope sprung up like a fountain inside her. Maybe she could find a way to escape, to get back to Nash and Kronos. But when a searing pain seized her, her optimism dried up.
She jerked her head back around. Parkor stood with one hand pointing at her. A blue band of light shot from his fingertips to her waist. The torture it caused in her stomach felt like a giant snake’s death-grip squeeze.
The bastard smiled. “Very interesting, bitch.”
“Ms. Rousseau is quite a treasure.” Vincorte walked up next to her. He removed his sunglasses. Steel-blue eyes fixed on her.
Cook, Kris - Captivation [Eternally Three 2] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Page 19