by Marie Harte
The other two attackers paused, and Zelec saw the rest of the Hunger push against the portal they couldn’t seem to pass. Their claws and hands stretched at the band of protection, pressing against it like an unbreakable balloon. Jentaron’s protection spell worked.
“He’s doing it!” Ella shouted. “Stay strong, Jentaron.”
A new problem developed so fast it made Zelec’s head spin. The Hunger Jentaron had ripped apart had vanished, but the others he fought and injured didn’t bleed like a normal monster. Darkness dripped from their torsos, and everything that black stuff touched rotted as if already dead. Some landed on Jentaron, and he smoked and burned, bleeding away.
Ella screamed, but while he battled them, one of the Hunger broke off to face her and Zelec.
“Shit,” he swore.
“Ah, the nephilim. We’ve come for you.” He felt its desire for Ella, so Zelec teleported her away from the dragons, to an unoccupied field some distance away.
The Hunger turned in midflight and continued to hunt her.
Jentaron stayed centered in front of the portal, holding the onslaught back. “Ranton, get ready.”
“Just give me the fucking word, already,” the great black dragon roared.
Zelec felt his mate’s fierce struggle to remain strong. One slip and the rest would break through to overtake them all. Where the hell was their backup?
“Take her out of this realm before they destroy her,” Jentaron shouted. “Hurry, Zelec.”
“Won’t they chase her there?” Too far away for ethereal help.
“Not if I don’t let them free. These two are only scouts, believe it or not. And strong as hell. Hurry.”
Zelec didn’t have to be told twice. He fixated on the bar where he’d first met Ella and teleported them both. Once again in the Ordinary, he set her on her feet. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”
“Wait, Zelec. He needs me.”
He kissed her and darted back to the war. Except the stubborn woman had a hold on him, somehow, so his trip back to the Abyss felt heavy and left him more drained than it should have.
“Jentaron,” she gasped.
Then Ranton shouted, “Dragons, to your king!”
A flurry of wings rushed toward the danger—red, green and black dragons engaging the two Hunger while Jentaron guarded the portal. But with every blow, they suffered terrible wounds. Hurting the Hunger invited chaos and destruction into the realm with every bloody bite or scratch done to the enemy.
“Asael, where the fuck are you? They’re here!” Zelec sent as loud as he could.
He thought he heard his sire’s weak reply, but Jentaron pulled harder on Zelec’s energy. Between that and his jaunts between realms, Zelec had little strength to do more than watch Jentaron fight.
“Ah, there you are.” The voice echoed in his mind, invading like a horde of hungry parasites. Another Hunger managed to slip free from the portal and gained on him and Ella.
“No,” Jentaron growled in a voice loud enough to be heard for miles. “Zelec, watch out!”
The creature stopped in front of him, a massive beast that now looked exactly like Jentaron, but without a soul behind its eyes. “Pretty demon. We hunger.”
It licked him with a tongue made of chaos, and he seized, no longer able to make sense of anything as he dropped to the ground.
Ella shrieked and called on all she had left inside her to protect Zelec. Shocked and not sure how she’d done it, she felt an arrow of light and love shoot from her soul straight into the Hunger. She didn’t know what damage she’d done, if any, but she didn’t care. She had to get to Zelec, because she could feel him fading fast.
The dragon legion continued to fight, but the inherent disorder in the Hunger brought them to their knees. Dragons dropped like stones, shuddering just like Zelec as their bodies and souls were turned into random chaos, breaking up into ash and floating away into the great big nothingness in the sky. Still not enough to satiate their need, because the Hunger were never full, never content.
“And never can be,” whispered the one that looked like Jentaron, cradling its arm as it hovered over her. It kept just out of reach, yet she could feel its yearning to feed.
“Don’t let it touch you,” Jentaron shouted from afar, still fighting with his enormous strength to keep the Hunger from invading as a whole.
“We have to close the portal,” she said to anyone who would listen as she cradled Zelec’s head in her lap. She stroked his hair and pushed any power left in her into him, ignoring the threat looming over her.
Then a huge wave of energy infused her and Zelec. The Hunger by her shrieked, then disappeared.
Jentaron had given them back what he didn’t have to spare. The shield holding the Hunger back would surely crumble under the weight of so much negative energy.
“Hold on, Jentaron,” she kept repeating. “Just a little longer.”
But her hope vanished as the Hunger sang of freedom in her mind. Jubilant hisses and cries for gratification swarmed the lower realm. Masses of disorder, of what felt like real evil, poured through the portal straight at Jentaron.
As if it would go through him and rip out his heart, the Hunger coalesced into one giant, massive ball of seething darkness and battered her mate. Like a shark ripping a piece of meat to shreds, the Hunger cleaved and tugged, leaving Jentaron a bleeding, swearing mess.
She felt his light start to fade, and with it, Zelec’s frantic pulse of denial. He screamed inside for Jentaron and Ella and shoved more of his energy at the dragon. But Ella feared it was too late. The Hunger swarmed their dragon, surrounding him in a sickly miasma that would never heal.
Tears poured down her cheeks. She let the rest of her energy go to her mates, needing to be more than a mere human, to be that source of love that would stay with them, in this life and the next.
“Not yet, Ella,” came the bright and terrible voice of Lucifer himself. The Light Bringer, the Morning Star, rose up on white wings, accompanied by hundreds, no, thousands of winged demons, angels and dragons, while havoc and blood elves from the ground attacked with mystical weapons and iron-forged arrows. Magic rushed through the air while order ebbed and flowed as a battle for the world raged on.
She tried to stay conscious for her mates, to feed them the energy they needed to survive.
“Good girl. Keep holding on.” She recognized Kingu’s voice.
The creator was a living wall of flame as it shot past her up into the air and beamed straight into the plague of their enemy. Angels and demons fell to the ground, torn apart and rearranged, arms and legs where eyes and ears should be. As if sundered and put back together like dolls, they floundered and died in agony just steps from her and Zelec.
Her vision grayed, and she could no longer see or feel Jentaron.
No, she cried out, loving her mates so much.
Just a little longer, Kingu had said.
But she had nothing more to give.
Chapter Eleven
When Ella woke, she expected to be in some version of the afterlife. An existence where she and her mates could be together.
She hadn’t expected to see her mother, aunt and cousin hovering over her deathbed.
“She’s back.” Milo beamed at her. “About time, lazybones.”
Aunt Jo fanned herself. “Dear Lord, what did you get into? We felt that all the way from here. They’re gone now, but they did something to the world, didn’t they?”
“Zelec? Jentaron?” Ella said through chapped lips. Her entire body ached, as if she’d been beaten while sleeping. “I’m not dead?”
Milo frowned. “I don’t think so.” He felt himself with his hands. “I don’t feel dead, and I’m standing here in Aunt Jen’s house in your old bedroom. Do you feel dead, Aunt Jen?”
“Don’t be a smartass, honey.” Her mother rolled her eyes.
“Boy is full of drama. Like his mother.”
“I heard that,” Jo snapped.
The familiar banter brought tears to Ella’s eyes. “You’re really here.”
“And so are you.” Her mother leaned in to kiss her brow. “I’m so glad you’re all right.” She had tears in her eyes and her lips trembled. “You were so close to leaving us, sweetie. So close.”
Her mother left with her aunt, and Milo sat next to her on the bed. “Here. Drink this.” He lifted a glass with a straw in it, and she sipped the best glass of water she’d ever tasted.
“Are they okay?” He would know what she meant.
“One is. The other’s in bad shape, Ella. I’m sorry.”
She couldn’t stop her tears, any more than she could get out of bed and hunt down her missing mates. It scared the hell out of her that she couldn’t sense either one.
“Hold on.” Milo left her, and to her shock, a bedraggled Zelec stumbled into her room.
Seeing her must have broken something inside him, because he looked as if he were about to cry. That scared, grief-stricken expression burned itself into her brain for eternity. “Zelec.”
He knelt by her side and buried his face against her neck. Long, deep breaths. His shaking body alarmed her.
“Come in with me,” she ordered, not yet able to do more than whisper.
He crawled into bed with her and hugged her tight. “So close to losing it all. Hell, Ella. I…”
“It’s okay.” Better now that she had him, she hugged his arm over her waist and closed her eyes. Just for a second, she told herself.
“Ella, wake up.” He cuddled closer. “Much as I’d rather stay with you right here, we need to get back.”
She was afraid to ask. “Jentaron?”
“He’s not healing. He needs us.”
She struggled to get out of bed but couldn’t stand.
“Easy.” He helped her but wasn’t in much better shape than she was. “Hold on.”
Before she could ask for a robe to cover her ratty pajamas, they’d teleported into the brownstone in Philadelphia where she’d first met Jentaron. Inside the home, Asael, Eve, James and his twin, and Kihra waited, looking tense. From out of the hallway Ranton and Teban appeared.
“He’s barely there,” Teban was saying.
Ranton looked awful—haggard, enraged but full of sadness.
When everyone saw Ella standing with Zelec, they stopped talking.
Ranton perked up. “At last. Come with me.” He didn’t give them a chance to move before he was carrying them both over either shoulder and hurrying to one of the bedrooms, where he deposited them gently on their feet. “Heal him. We’ll be back tomorrow. You need us, Zelec, call.” He tapped his temple.
Zelec nodded, but Ranton was already on the move and gone in a flash.
She heard murmured voices from the living room then the others left, and she turned back to see Jentaron in his human form bandaged in several places—his face, his ribs, his hands and legs—looking like grim death. His hair seemed limp, his skin sallow. Even his breathing sounded raspy, barely there.
Zelec sat on one side of him. “I can’t heal him. I’m too tapped out,” he said to Ella. “Jentaron.” He laid down, next to his lover, and stroked Jentaron’s chest. “Come back.”
Ella joined him on Jentaron’s other side and sniffed. “I miss you. Please, come back.”
She reached for Zelec’s hand over Jentaron’s body. “I love you, Zelec. And I love our dragon. We’re a strange threesome for sure.” She smiled through her tears, surprised to see Zelec’s acceptance.
“He almost died for us.” He sounded surprised. “He could have held on and used our energy to keep them out, but he gave us enough to save us. At a great cost.”
Ella nodded. The bandages scared her, but she could deal with scars. She couldn’t handle him not waking up. “What happened to the Hunger, do you know?”
“You and I were about done when Jentaron gave us back too much energy. It weakened him, and the Hunger attacked. Everyone got there just as he was near death. Ranton pulled him away while his dragons ripped into the enemy. Teban and James attacked the Hunger from the ground with a fire that burned them, so much that their black blood ate through everything. You saw that, didn’t you?”
“Yes. It was worse than their attack.”
“But that hot fire burned the blood before it could hurt our forces. Lucifer led a charge that had angels and demons fighting side by side against a common enemy.” He sounded in awe. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Demons and blood elves, havoc and devils. Everyone pushed the Hunger back. And they all took losses.”
“Angels too?”
“Yeah. They were hit hard because their numbers are less than ours. Still, the battle was touch-and-go. It took all of them, along with Kingu, to send the Hunger back through their portal then destroy it.”
She squeezed his fingers and continued to pet Jentaron, searching for the feel of her dragon’s mighty pulse under her hand. “So the threat is gone?”
“For now.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Kingu said something about humanity’s inclusion helping to shield our world in the future, but didn’t say more than that. I was so scared when you tagged along back to the Abyss with me. You were supposed to stay behind. Stay safe.”
“You weren’t safe.”
“But I’m just a demon.”
“I’m just a nephilim.” She wore the badge with honor.
“Damn it, woman,” he growled. “You nearly got yourself killed.”
“For you. And for him. Without you two, I’m nothing.”
“That’s not true.” But his denial rang hollow.
“Oh? So if I died right now, you’d be boning some human in a bar to celebrate?”
“Hell no. I’d die too. I’m tied to you, you stupid woman.” He rose on one elbow and glared at her. “Why did you come back with me? You almost died.” Gruff and enraged and…a tear ran down his cheek that he angrily wiped away.
She stared in shock.
As if aware he’d let too much of himself show, he morphed into a black-skinned, red-eyed demon with fangs and scowled.
“Oh no you don’t, tough guy. I saw those tears. You care if I live or die. You care about Jentaron too.”
He mumbled something but all she heard was “Fuck you.”
She raised a brow, and he choked on a laugh.
“You know I said I’d like to fuck you. Even now, when I still ache everywhere, I’m right if I’m with you, and a part of me needs to be joined to you.”
“A part, hmm?” Her joy that Zelec cared for her helped to ease her worry for her unresponsive mate. But the anxiety refused to fade completely. Jentaron continued to lie beneath them, unmoving.
“I’m not kidding. I was worried. Happy now?”
“What about Jentaron? Do you care if he comes back?”
“Of course I do,” he snapped.
Good. He was back to angry again.
“Because you love him, the way you love me?” Was it her, or did she feel a spark of Jentaron come to life under her hand?
Zelec didn’t answer.
“Why can’t you say it? Do you need to hear it? Fine. I love you. I love Jentaron. You’re both a part of me and I won’t let you go.”
She sensed his worry, his fear. And it saddened her, the brutal, exacting demon with a heart of glass. “I’m not kidding, Zelec. You’re mine. Forever.”
“Jesus. And I don’t use that word lightly.” He stared over Jentaron at her. “That’s a pretty big commitment for someone who just met me a few days ago.”
“Try again.”
“You’re throwing your normal life away if you stay with me. Asael holds a grudge, and he’ll torture you to get to me.”
“Again.”
“I’m serious.”
“Still waiting.”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “Fine. You’re mine. So is the dumbass under me who Won’t. Wake. Up.” Despite his harsh words, his touch remained light and tender on the dragon. “When I felt them taking him, I panicked. I didn’t want to lose him, any more than I can handle losing you. Fucked up as it is, I’m mated to a dragon and a nephilim. I’m now brother to three annoying as hell demons I used to babysit, and I’m probably on Asael’s Most Wanted list. That’s a real prize you have in your mate.”
“I know.” She leaned over Jentaron to kiss Zelec on the mouth. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m the weak link in our chain. I don’t breathe fire, I can’t teleport and my mother will drive you nuts in under seven minutes flat. And then there’s Milo…”
“I’ve met Milo. And I can handle your mom.”
“Your mom too. She’s always wanted a son-in-law.”
He stared at her, eyes wide. “I’m a demon. We don’t do grand affection and barbecues.”
“Nice try. My mother is down with angels, demons and the afterlife. And she’s going to love you, especially if you do the black thing with your skin.” She shivered. “So sexy. Just like Big Blue here when he gets all scaly.”
A slow groan under her had her heart racing.
“Jentaron?”
“Talk too much,” he mumbled in her mind and dragged hers and Zelec’s entwined hands toward his crotch. “Mouth this instead.”
Zelec laughed. “Oh yeah. He’s back.”
Relieved Jentaron would be with them again, she laid her head on his chest and listened. “I still don’t hear his heartbeat.”
“It’s there. He’s in deep healing mode.” Zelec sighed. “Let’s nap and heal ourselves. We can talk more after.”
After, it turned out, meant waking up to her aroused mates’ pressing needs. Though they’d all been near death, the rush of new life and second chances played havoc with their priorities. Ella should have requested a shower and some food.