by Brenda Trim
She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. Her fire and fight was one of her sexiest traits and he wondered if he was seeing more of how she used to be before her enslavement. Little by little, she was relaxing and opening up, leaving fear and hatred behind.
“I don’t carry your soul and it is impossible for you to carry a piece of any angel unless she chooses you as her mate, and I assure you that I haven’t chosen you. I could never mate with a demon,” she practically spat at him. He cringed at the venom in her voice. Maybe she did still hate his kind because she was all but rejecting him. “And, if what you’re saying is true, then where is my mark? Or, don’t you want an angel for a mate?” she asked, her annoyance obvious.
Rhys stepped into her path, forcing her to stop pacing and look at him. “Trust me, Illianna, I carry part of your soul. It has helped me throughout my life. Held me up during my worst moments and celebrated victories. I have always felt you. I just didn’t know it was you. I want you more than I can adequately express. The question is, how do angels mate?” he asked, cocking his head to study her nervous movements.
“Like most anyone else, we fall in love. Like many species, angels mate for life. We have to consciously choose who we want to be mated to. That often involves a sacrifice followed by our acceptance of them into our hearts,” she shared, coming to a standstill.
“Your way is vastly different than the Tehrex Realm’s way. We discover our Fated Mate the first time we have sex with them and are marked by a brand at completion of sex,” he explained pointing to his groin. “That is followed by a mating ceremony and blood exchange to join us fully. After we are fully mated, we can communicate telepathically with one another. I suspect that the reason you don’t carry my mark is because you haven’t chosen me,” he explained.
“And, I’m not going to choose you,” she informed him. Her rejection would have been more believable if there was more vehemence in her voice.
“We will see about that. We don’t need to figure it all out right now. But, remember our deal. You promised I could give you orgasms whenever and however I want, Luscious. Now, we need to grab some food and meet Dante and Kellen outside,” he said changing the subject.
If he didn’t get out of the room that smelled of sex, he’d be fucking her again and wouldn’t stop. Her lemony powder scent clung to him and was driving him mad. He wanted to throw her against the wall and take her again, but that wasn’t an option at the moment.
“I never agreed to that,” she grumbled, following him out of the room. “Where was that food anyway?”
He resisted the urge to laugh. He doubted she would appreciate that he found her irritation amusing. “You didn’t have to say yes for me to see the agreement in your eyes. And, one of the rooms we passed was a storage room that was full of food and demon brew.”
“God, I hope there is actual food in there. I can’t stomach that rotten demon flesh they’ve been feeding me. Not after tasting real food again,” she stated as they headed for the door.
He hoped so, too, for her sake. He could go for longer periods without food as long as his demon was fed, but he didn’t know enough about angels. “How long can angels go without food?”
She walked past him as he held the door open and he enjoyed the sway of her ass as she walked by. “If we are in Heaven we can go several days, but anywhere else we need food and water daily. Like most creatures, water is far more important for us than food. Don’t worry, I’ve become accustomed to demon brew and prefer it over what they call water down here,” she shared easily. He was glad that they were still sharing openly. He’d feared she would shut him out completely after learning about the mating.
Returning to the room where he had seen the supplies, he opened the door and entered a room the size of a large bedroom. Shelving units were arranged in aisles. It wasn’t a warehouse, exactly, but set up very similar. It was easy to see what the glass jars held inside. Rhys knew the red jars contained demon brew, the Underworld’s version of alcohol. The shit was potent and would get a first-time user drunk off one sip.
The first shelves they inspected contained jars with writhing pieces of gray flesh. She made a facial expression of displeasure and stuck her finger in her throat as if she were gagging.
“That stuff is so vile, it’s unreal. What else is in here?” she mumbled more to herself as she continued down the aisles.
Rhys was content to watch Illianna as she inspected each jar, picking it up and then setting it down. He wasn’t familiar with all the different colored jars. “Are you going to help? This would go a lot faster, you know?”
“I’m enjoying the view too much,” he teased, rubbing his mate mark as pain and arousal shot through him. It hurt like a bitch when it appeared and it continued to burn.
“Well, stop enjoying the view. The last thing I want is to be caught stealing from God-only-knows-who. It’s bad enough that we’re stealing, I don’t need to be tortured for it, as well.”
That got him into gear. She was right. The longer this took, the more she was exposed and at risk. It wasn’t wise to stay in one place too long. He snatched several bottles of demon brew and picked up a green jar. He twisted the top off and was happy to see what looked like a potato. He smelled the contents and noted they had an earthy scent. He grabbed several jars and added them to his pack.
He glanced over and watched Illianna shove a couple of jars into the jacket pockets. “What did you find?” he asked.
She looked up and smiled, “I have no idea, but it smelled like chicken.”
He chuckled at that and finished filling his pack, wishing he had more room. He needed to keep Illianna fed and had no idea what else they would face or how much longer they would be there. On their way out of the room, they each grabbed a couple jars and opened them, eating as they made their way from the house. The mystery meat did, indeed, taste like chicken, Rhys mused.
They were lucky the inhabitants of that realm were too preoccupied with their games. On their way back through, he saw guards that he hadn’t seen before, but they weren’t paying them any attention and they slipped out the front door completely unnoticed.
His body shivered the second they stepped foot back outside. He had been so engrossed in his mate that he had forgotten how cold it was in that realm. His mind was still reeling that he had been blessed with his Fated Mate, in Hell, of all places. Not only was it unbelievable where he had found her, but that she was an angel, for shits sake. The Dark Warriors would never believe it.
To say they were complete opposites was an understatement. The Goddess had a twisted sense of humor. He had never doubted her wisdom, but worried about her choice for him. Illianna had to choose him and she hated all demons.
To make matters worse, it didn’t appear that he was given the benefit of the mating compulsion between them. He’d watched Zander and Jace with their human mates, as well as, Gerrick with his vampires, and, in all of their cases, the females had been helplessly drawn to them. Illianna, on the other hand, had no problem resisting him and had made it clear she would never choose him.
He was merely a means to an end for her which wasn’t very comforting. He climbed down the stairs and found Dante and Kellen waiting for them.
“Thank the Goddess you found food,” Kellen blurted, taking the open jar from his hand.
“Good to see you guys were able to control your appetites,” he told Dante, handing him a jar of the potatoes. He had been worried his Lord and colleague wouldn’t be able to stop once they started.
Dante swallowed a bite of food before responding. “It was a close one, Beelzebub and his Lieutenants raided the house looking for an angel. Otherwise, I fear we would have failed the test in this realm. How did you manage to stop?” Dante asked.
Rhys went on instant alert. His father had managed to get word out about Illianna. Suddenly, he remembered the shedims that allowed communication across realms and circles. “Fuck. We need to get out of here right now and keep Illianna safe,”
he declared, grabbing Illianna’s hand and walking at a rapid clip.
Dante’s hand on his shoulder was an unwelcome presence. He glared at his Lord. “Slow down. You will draw attention to yourself if you rush around like this,” Dante warned.
Rhys took a deep breath. The male was right. Still, it was a test of his control to remain in place and not whisk Illianna back to Limbo and out of the portal in Tennessee.
“I don’t know if I can. She’s my mate, dammit. My beast is snarling at me to get her the fuck out of here,” Rhys told his companions. Dante and Kellen’s eyes bulged and they looked to him then Illianna.
“Hot damn, brother!” Dante shouted, slapping his back. “Congratulations. At least now we know why you couldn’t leave without taking her with us. Now, calm down, walk slowly and listen to me. They targeted the brothel because they knew you were with her. We need to steer clear of any establishment associated with sex. That’s where they will expect us to be. We understand how important it is to protect your mate, but you are going to need to listen to me. If you’re anything like what we’ve seen with Zander and the others, you won’t be able to see reason where her safety is concerned. Trust that we will never take unnecessary risk.”
Illianna snatched her hand from his clasp, angrily, “Now, listen to me. I can appreciate the fact that you have this belief in Fated Mates, but that’s not how it works for angels. I haven’t chosen him and I’m not going to. Not that I don’t appreciate all you’ve done for me, but I don’t see my future with a demon and I can’t allow you to help me on the belief that I will.”
“To know me is to love me, Luscious,” he murmured winking at her, “but I will do anything necessary to protect you, regardless. All I ask is that you don’t make a decision until you get to know me better. Besides, you haven’t even tried my hey juice yet.”
“We all know about Rhys’ infamous hey juice and how it has the females spreading their legs,” Kellen chuckled.
Unsure of Kellen’s comment, Rhys glanced at his angel and noticed how she narrowed her eyes in displeasure. He grinned, her jealousy giving him hope.
“The portal is to the east of here, not that far,” Kellen continued, oblivious to the effect of his words.
“Are you certain?” Rhys asked, curious where he’d received his information.
“Very certain. The female I fucked patrols the border and liked to talk so I used that to my advantage,” Kellen replied silkily, skirting to the east.
“That was convenient,” Illianna grumbled. She was clearly annoyed with Kellen and unable to curb it.
“The Goddess does what she can to help her subjects. It was no mistake I was led to that female, just like it wasn’t a coincidence that we entered that club and Rhys insisted on taking you with us,” Kellen explained.
“He’s right,” Dante added. “I have faith that the Goddess is actively working to help us every step of the way.”
“You guys really believe your Goddess is helping demons?” Illianna asked, surprise in her tone. Any further words died on her tongue as they approached the veil.
There was a dark, iridescent shimmer in the air where the icy rain suddenly ceased. They had reached the entrance to the Fourth Circle. Rhys wrapped an arm around Illianna as they passed through. Taking the four steps to the next circle was harder than walking through ankle-deep mud. But, the flames banished the cold of the Third Circle as they danced across their skin. The eerie sensation of his soul pulling away from his body was minimal, maybe from having his Fated Mate at his side, he couldn’t tell.
Once on the other side, the lack of icy rains or high winds was a huge relief. The weather in the Fourth Circle was temperate, if a bit hot. Rhys wasn’t entirely certain the heat wasn’t just a lack of the cold.
They were in a heavily-populated, suburban area with homes dotting clearly defined streets. What drew Rhys’ attention were the individuals jousting on the backs of hellhounds. That was a new one, he thought, as a loud roar split the night, rising above the noise of the crowd before two opponents rushed each other.
They met with a clash of lances against shields, resulting in exploding wood. A horned-demon shoved what remained of his lance through the chest of a large human. The male crumpled to the ground and the demon jumped from the hellhound’s back onto the porch of a nearby house, claiming it as his own.
The sight was primal and violent. It was as if they’d stepped back to medieval times, clear that you had to fight for anything you obtained in this circle. How many of those watching wouldn’t turn them in to get the big house down the street? With word out about Illianna, Rhys feared their predicament was about to get worse.
CHAPTER TEN
Illianna couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Creatures were savagely fighting to procure homes. She didn’t understand why they would be willing to kill rather than cooperate and share the homes. They were all in the same boat of being trapped in the Fourth Circle of Hell. What led people to act like this? She wondered if there was a shortage of homes. From her vantage point it didn’t seem as if that was the case.
It could be that the leader in this circle created a shortage, forcing this type of behavior. Whatever the reason, she couldn’t relate, and, for the first time, had no desire to stop and try to bring them happiness and joy. She preferred to focus on fostering relationships, not material belongings.
“Looks like any neighborhood on earth,” Kellen commented.
Rhys snorted, “Yeah, if you ignore the slobbering hellhounds and demons on their backs. That’s not something you see in Queen Anne. Well, not usually, anyway.”
“I still can’t believe you’ve had demons in Seattle,” Kellen acknowledged. “Damn, we never get that kind of action in Tennessee and we have the Cave of Cruachan in our backyard. We have skirm out the ass, but rarely anything more. Maybe a Fae, or two, and Azazel did come through once.”
“I hate that fucking Azazel. He’s a cockroach that keeps coming back. And Kadir opened a portal right in the middle of Seattle, allowing several lesser demons to come through. You’ll never hear us complain about being bored in our city,” Rhys stated.
“True that,” Dante echoed. “Somehow, I imagined more gems and bigger houses in this circle. But then, when you are driven by greed, value is relative. It’s a disgusting display for sure.”
Illianna hated everything about Hell, she thought, as she watched the man who had been impaled pull the lance free and crawl away. They were surrounded by chaos, making it difficult to weave around the crowd and avoid the guards. She was too preoccupied by the scene around her and having a hard time keeping up with their group.
A guard glanced at her sharply and she touched her head, hoping her lack of hair didn’t tip anyone off to who she was. The guard quickly signaled another and then another and she panicked when she realized they were pushing through the crowd toward her. Hurrying to Rhys’ side, she prayed this didn’t escalate into further violence.
Rhys pushed her behind his body and Dante took up next to him. Kellen positioned himself beside Dante, caging her in. They had formed a wall of muscle trying to protect her, but it was useless, they were outnumbered. There were a dozen heavily armed guards surrounding them, their swords and guns glinting in the low light.
Rhys tensed and reached to the sheath at the back of his waistband. When she saw his fingers curl around the hilt of his weapons, she placed her hand on his, stopping him. He looked over his shoulder at her and she shook her head. They would all be killed if he began fighting and she had no desire to die in the Underworld or see these men die defending her.
Rhys regarded her for another second before looking away. His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched while his hand stayed curled to the weapon under hers. Having that connection to him made her feel safe, despite the odds against them.
“Mammon has been expecting you. He wants the angel. Come with us,” one of the guards murmured.
“And, here I thought our lack of a reservation was going to be a
problem,” Rhys quipped. “Mammon can’t have the angel, but please, lead the way, Jeeves.” Illianna couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped. She appreciated his sense of humor even though this wasn’t the best time for it. Laughter had been the one thing she had missed most during her captivity. As an angel of joy and happiness, humor and laughter were vital to her. That was another way Rhys made her feel alive again and it was exhilarating to reconnect with that lost part of her soul. Clearly, the guards didn’t agree with his humor as they shoved them through the crowd.
When one of the guards grabbed her arm, pulling her along, Rhys shouted for them to get their hands off her. She glanced back to see him being struck in the face with the butt of a gun. Panicking, she shook her head, silently pleading with him to keep his mouth shut. He was being injured because of her and she couldn’t stand it.
None of them went quietly. It wasn’t in their nature. They were warriors and would die fighting until their last breath. They pushed against the guards, protesting every step of the way. When they reached the end of the block, she was pushed up a set of steep stairs leading to a large mansion.
The house was the same dark stone as most buildings of the Underworld, but these were smooth, flat squares that made up the walls to the multi-story home. There were stained glass windows set at intervals in the facade. It was gaudy and ostentatious and couldn’t be more out of place in Hell.
The guard gripping her arm paused outside the large double doors and stopped. The doors were massive, larger than any she’d ever seen, making her wonder who or what lived there. Her pulse raced and she broke out in a sweat, contemplating what they were going to encounter. She was fairly certain she would be kept alive for the continued harvesting of her wings, but she hated the thought of Rhys or the others being hurt.