He slowed as he approached the estate. He knew he was getting closer because he could feel it. Now was the time he had been waiting for. Now he was going to get his woman back.
Frankie was prepared when Samuel burst through the door. Phoenix landed only seconds behind him with the other two in tow. “Now,” Samuel demanded.
Antonio nodded and Frankie began. She held her arms out to her side and breathed in deeply. “Oh dearest goddess above, we beseech you,” she said. Samuel noticed that everyone had joined hands in a circle around her. He knew he was not to join. He ducked under Sebastian and Angel’s joined hands so that he was standing inside the circle. Frankie had drawn several symbols on the floor and on the walls as well. Samuel knew they were for protection. Some of them were meant to trap Abaddon when she called him. He let his eyes wander in the direction of the library. He thought of that button Antonio told him about. God, he hoped they didn’t need to use it.
“Goddess Azerial, we call you to us!” Frankie said. She repeated the phrase in Latin and then in English again. “Goddess Azerial, goddess of the earth, we summon thee, Azerial, Goddess of the earth, we summon thee!” Frankie continued. Her chants were getting louder and Samuel could feel the energy in the room increasing. He knew once Azerial was there, he had to get her. He would keep her safe. He looked at each of his family members one at a time. He hoped it wouldn’t be the last, but there was a growing feeling in his gut that told him it would be.
Azerial had to push a large piece of drywall off of her before she could stand up. She looked at the destruction around her. What and why and who were all going through her head. She examined herself quickly and realized that she was not injured. She had a bump on her head, but otherwise, she was unharmed. She raised her hand to touch it and to heal it. As soon as her fingers touched the tender spot on her forehead, she realized that she shouldn’t have known to do that. Suddenly, her world tilted and images began flashing through her mind. Samuel. The alley. She made a deal with a demon; a deal that he broke. He had lied to her and he had tried to make her forget Samuel. She knew without a doubt that he planned to make her harm her vampire. It was all so very clear. Azerial had never really felt anger before, but she felt it now. Her vision even bled red with her fury. He was going to pay for this, she thought. And he would pay dearly.
She opened her mouth and screamed into the night. Police and fire rescue sirens were going off in the distance as she looked around herself again. What had she been thinking?
Abaddon materialized right in front of her. “Are you all right?” he demanded.
“I’m fine,” Azerial told him. He didn’t realize that his spell was broken.
“What has happened here?” he asked. “I will kill them.”
“What happened here is that you have lost. You will lose.”
“What are you talking about?” he growled. Azerial didn’t answer him. She felt a familiar force pulling her and she let it take her away.
Abaddon stood in the ruins of his precious business and watched her disappear from sight. They had taken her back and destroyed his business. He tossed his head back and let loose a furious roar, which shook the windows in the nearby buildings, before disappearing again.
“Azerial, Goddess of the Earth, we summon thee!” Frankie shouted as the wind in the room picked up and made her hair swirl around her body. “Azerial, Goddess of the earth, we summon thee!”
Samuel watched as his family held on to each other tighter so that the wind wouldn’t separate them. Hell, he was having a hard time standing by himself. But he anchored his feet and continued to watch and wait for his goddess. He had to be fast in order to get her out of harm’s way. The wind blew harder and Samuel heard something crash to the floor. The lights were flickering and the floor was shaking.
Then, it all went silent, and in front of Samuel was his goddess. She was dirty and shaken, but otherwise seemed to be all right, and she looked pissed off. “Now Sam!” Frankie yelled as the wind picked up again. No time to wonder who she was mad at, Samuel thought as he rushed to her and tossed her lithe body over his shoulder. He paused momentarily to look at Angel. The man nodded and Sam took off with his precious cargo in hand.
He used his gift from Serena to move at inhuman speeds, hell it was invampire speeds. He was moving at the speed of light, out of the house and down the beach. The entire way Azerial was pounding on his back. “Let me down!” she kept saying. “Stop!”
“Sorry, Baby,” he told her, “No time for that now. We gotta get you to safety. I know you don’t know me and don’t trust me, but your life is in danger.”
Her beating got harder as Samuel ran faster. The further away from the demon he could get her, the better. “Sam! Stop!”
Samuel jerked to a sudden halt. “What did you say?” he asked her, setting her gently on her feet.
“I said stop,” she repeated.
“You said my name,” Sam pointed out.
“Well what else do you want me to call you?” she said rolling her beautiful blue eyes.
“You know me,” he breathed. And yeah, his heart did a little happy dance in his chest.
“Of course I know you,” she retorted. “And we cannot run.”
“How?”
“I don’t have time to explain,” Azerial told him. “Abaddon was there when you summoned me. He is coming for our family and they need us to stop him.”
“I was told to protect you,” Sam argued. “And I intend to do it.”
“Oh for the love of Frigg,” Azerial said, exasperated. “You need me. And I need to help them. End of story.”
Samuel grinned. He couldn’t help it. His woman was back.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Frankie watched with relief as Samuel rushed Azerial out of the house. That relief, however, was short lived. The house began to vibrate and cruel, evil laughter filled it. It came from everywhere at the same time. “Now,” she shouted, “The summoning spell! We have to get him in the circle.”
Her family took the position she had described to them, but it was too late. “You have no need to call me,” Abaddon said, “I am already here.” He stepped forward from the shadows and grinned. “I am very displeased about my company,” he continued, “But what upsets me most is that you have stolen my goddess. Now, if you will just return her to me, I shall make your deaths very quick.”
“We will give you nothing,” Angel snarled at him. Frankie eyed the drawing on the floor meant to trap Abaddon. He followed her gaze and laughed. “You meant to stop me with a crayon drawing?” he waved his hand and the paint she had used smeared over the symbol, making it useless. “Again, I ask you to return what is mine.”
“And again, we will give you nothing,” Gage said, stepping forward.
Abaddon didn’t change his relaxed pose. “Ah, the king of vampires,” he said. “We meet again. Just as I told you.”
“Go back to Hell,” Gage growled.
“Only if you go with me,” Abaddon said lightly. Then, he held his hand out, palm up and produced a ball of light. He flicked it and it soared through the air toward Gage.
Gage saw it coming and ducked out of the way just barely in time. The ball hit the wall and crashed through it, leaving a burnt ring where it went through. That was the proverbial shot heard all over LA. Angel armed himself with his katana and stepped forward. Gage pulled his guns from his waist and so did Antonio. Phoenix allowed the fire in his wings to spread, covering his body. Serena and Frankie began chanting a protection spell as the men formed a barrier in front of them and Leigh.
“So this is how it will be?” Abaddon asked innocently.
Angel nodded.
“It shall be my pleasure killing you today,” Abaddon said as he produced another light ball.
No one gave an order to move, but the family lunged forward. Bullets rained on the demon and his body jerked furiously as the guys pumped him full of bullets. When they stopped to reload, Angel took a swing with his sword. It cut through th
e demon at the shoulder level. Phoenix tossed a handful of fire at the demon and they watched as his body burned.
Abaddon screamed in agony. He screamed as the flames engulfed him and reached toward the ceiling. Then there was no screaming. No, he was laughing. The flames died down and Abaddon was standing there, unharmed. “I hope that isn’t the best you got,” he drawled, “or this is going to be one fast fight.” He curled his hand around another ball and threw it at Angel’s head.
Leigh saw it in his eyes before he moved. She jumped and landed on Angel’s back hard, knocking him to the floor and out of the way of danger. “Fight like a man you pussy,” she snarled.
Abaddon laughed as he tossed another ball. Everyone dove for cover. He just kept flinging the shit everywhere. Frankie was quick to make up a spell that would take his damned light. “Darkness makes you and you are dark. You shall have no light.”
The next light ball he tried to throw fizzled out and died in his hand. “Well that is different,” he said. “A formidable tool.”
That was when the guys took the shot they were given. Angel swung his sword again and when Abaddon moved to dodge it, Gage grabbed him by the neck. He wrapped his arm around the demon’s neck and held on tight. Abaddon started bucking wildly in an effort to remove Gage from him, but it wasn’t working.
Serena pulled her fey magic and threw a spell at him. “Your will is not your own, my bidding you shall do.”
Abaddon laughed. “Your spell won’t work on me, little fey princess. I have protection from that.”
And right on cue, another showed up. “I said I want them dead you imbecile!” Anora’s voice boomed into the room. “Not to dance with them. Stop playing and do what you have been paid dearly to do!”
Serena stopped. Her mother? Her own mother? She had known that her mother was upset when she didn’t marry Prince Adeer, but this? “You were working with him?” she asked. Everyone more or less froze where they were.
“Yes, I was working with him,” Anora spat. “These fools took what was rightfully mine away. Now I have come for my pound of flesh.”
Serena couldn’t believe it, but at the same time, she wasn’t really surprised. She had known that her mother was evil. Now she had proof. “You will not harm them, Mother.”
“Oh shut up,” Anora barked and said a spell.
Serena couldn’t speak. In fact, she couldn’t move.
Leigh began to pull her magic in preparation to change into the dragon. “Oh no you don’t,” Anora said, and with a wave of her hand, sent Leigh flying into the wall. She hit hard and then slumped to the floor in an unconscious heap. Rebel ran to his wife, but Anora gave him an invisible punch as well. Then she turned her attention to Abaddon and said a spell that released him from Frankie’s magic.
Gage flew off his back as if thrown by some unseen force and slammed into the wall on the far side of the room. “Now, kill them before I have to do it myself,” she ordered Abaddon.
“Not until I have my goddess back,” he snapped at her.
“She isn’t your goddess,” Frankie reminded him. “You will never find her. She is gone.”
Abaddon groaned aloud. “I grow tired of this nonsense,” he said and waved his hand in the air. Everyone was pinned against a wall, unable to move. “Now, I know that at least one of you knows where she is. One of you can contact the vampire that is traveling with her.”
“You are wrong,” Gage grunted against his invisible restraints. “We taught him to block us out. Not even we know where they went.”
“I really dislike you, Vampire,” Abaddon said. He walked right up to Gage and punched him in the throat. He smiled as Gage choked and struggled to force air into his lungs. “Now, tell me what I want to know.”
“Fuck. You.”
“Allow me,” Anora said sweetly. She walked up to Gage, who was still gasping for breath. “You took my daughter. You took my title and my future. Now you are going to pay me back for that.” She raked her nail down his face and blood welled up in its wake. Still Gage said nothing. Then she punched his chest. Her fist went through his ribs and into his body. Gage screamed out in pain and when Anora pulled her hand back, she was holding his still beating heart. The last words to leave Gage’s lips were, “Fuck you bitch.”
Serena screamed in her paralyzed mind as she watched her mate drop to the floor. Anora tossed a wicked grin to her daughter. “Do not fear,” she said, “I plan to let you join him. You are nothing to me now. But you shall be punished by watching your precious vampires die.”
Anora moved on to Antonio. “Well?” she asked expectantly.
Antonio said nothing. He merely raised his eyebrow at her. Yeah he was so not telling that bitch a damned thing.
“So be it,” she said softly. Anora punched through his chest and just like Gage, ripped his heart from his chest.
“You won’t get any information out of them if you keep killing them,” Abaddon told her. He had taken a seat in a chair to watch the theatrics.
“Shut up,” she snapped at him. “I came here for my revenge and I shall have it.”
“And I want my goddess back,” Abaddon told her. “I want my prize.”
“That vampire will come back here eventually with your precious goddess,” Anora snarked. “You are such an imbecile.”
“Careful of your tongue woman,” Abaddon warned her. “I am only letting you play because it amuses me.”
Anora rolled her eyes at him and continued with her interrogation. She didn’t care one way or the other if any of them gave up the vampire, but because she never would have gotten this close to them without Abaddon’s help, she at least pretended to want information.
To each man in the family Anora gave the option of talking, and each refused. Then she moved on to Frankie and Leigh. A single tear escaped Angel’s eye when there was no one left but himself and Serena. Anora stood in front of him. “What have you to say, vampire?”
Angel gathered his thoughts for a moment. “You are a disgusting excuse for a fey, and you are an even worse mother.” He sent a mental Hail Mary to Sam’s mind as he felt her hand grip his heart in his chest. He thought of Brea and Jade. In his mind, he told them that he loved them and would be waiting for them on the other side. He heard his mate scream for him and Brea’s face was the last thing he saw before darkness overtook him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Brea heard Angel’s rough voice in her head as she was helping to clean up after dinner. You are my everything, he said to her in her head. Take care of our daughter. I will wait for you in the beyond. And then, he was gone. She dropped the plate she was holding and it shattered into a million pieces on the floor. Brea knew in her heart what was happening; she felt his loss both in her mind and in her heart. Her mate was dead. The man that she was reluctant to be with and finally married and had a child with, the man she couldn’t imagine her life without, was gone. The pain was overwhelming and she fell to the floor, screaming. Jessica burst through the door with tears in her eyes and as the women embraced each other on the floor of the kitchen, they knew that their lives were going to change forever.
“What has happened,” Victor, the clan leader and the man whose home they were staying in, demanded. He went immediately to the women on the floor, ignoring the broken glass as it crunched under his feet.
Neither of the women could say anything. Keelie burst through the kitchen door in her wolf form. She scanned the room for whatever danger had made Brea scream out. All she saw was her friend sitting on the floor. Ricco was right behind her. She growled and then felt his hand on the back her neck. He stroked her fur gently, letting her know that there was no danger here.
Keelie trotted up to Brea and licked her cheek. Brea turned, with tears pouring from her eyes, and yanked Keelie to her. She wrapped her arm around her furry neck and sobbed into her soft fur. Keelie sat perfectly still while the sobs began to rock Brea’s body.
“Oh no,” Victor whispered.
Ricco only looked
at him and nodded.
“What’s wrong?” Macy asked helplessly as she tried to catch Toni. The little dragon was flying erratically around the nursery they had made for her and was shrieking hysterically. She was flying in zig-zags and even flew straight into the wall at one point. “Come down, Toni,” she begged.
“She knows,” Antonio’s voice said from behind her.
Macy spun around and saw her husband. He was standing in the same room with her, but just like she had known when she first met him, she knew that he was dead. “Oh no,” she whispered. “How bad is it?” She didn’t worry too much about the fact that Antonio was dead. Technically, so was she. The fact that she was a necromancer was how she could see him here. It was the way Toni was acting that worried her the most.
Antonio shook his head. “It’s bad. Very bad.”
“Leigh?” Macy asked, going on her first impulse.
“And Rebel,” Antonio answered her. “And Sebastian, Angel, Gage, Serena, Frankie, and Jacque. All of them. Samuel got away with Azerial before it happened.”
“Oh dearest Goddess,” Macy said, temporarily forgetting everything else. Then Toni howled in pain. She knew. Macy didn’t know how the baby knew, but she did. “Come down, Little One,” Macy said softly. “It’s going to be all right.”
Toni finally ran out of energy and allowed Macy to hold her. The dragon shifted into human form and snuggled into Macy’s arms. Little whimpers escaped her as she cried softly. “What is she going to do?” Macy asked Antonio. “Who will care for her?”
“I imagine Brea and Jessica will now,” he answered. “They are all she has left.”
Forbidden Love Series Book 6: Into The Divine Page 14