by Brenda Trim
Adrenaline raced through her veins as Zander and two others ambushed the door. Before she knew it, she was inside and facing chaos that only came with a battle. She’d seen it when she was rescued, but didn’t really appreciate how the warriors actually fought under such circumstances until that moment. Silver glinted as blades were swung and black blood collided with red blood as weapons found their mark.
She caught sight of a pus demon about to launch at Mack and without hesitation she rushed to the female’s side. Kicking out, she felt the familiar give of the slimy body while she thrust one of her knives into an eye socket. Mack, whose back had been to the pus demon, plunged her blade into a skirm’s chest and swiveled, ready for action. “Damn, Shae, you’re fast. Thanks for the save,” the female said when she eyed the creature.
Shae nodded and looked for Gerrick. He was across the room, fighting to get to her side. Azazel was in the corner and the beast inside her wanted loose. She snuck around from the other side, intending to make him pay for every second of torture he’d heaped on her, but was hit from the side by a hellhound. She hit the floor, force knocking the wind out of her. She rolled over ready to attack, but Mack beat her to it and stabbed the beast through its chest.
“Take that, you piece of shit,” Mack quipped, flashing a triumphant smile before taking off towards a group of skirm. Damn, she was a badass.
Panting, on her hands and knees, Shae spotted Azazel in the same location taunting the warriors. Enraged, she was on her feet and running in the next second. This demon would not live beyond tonight.
“Shae, my pet. Good of you to make it to the party,” Azazel purred, his beautiful face appearing genuine as he sauntered around her, the picture of ease. She would never fall for that again. No, she wanted to claw his eyes, especially, when she knew what he wanted to do to her. She knew him well enough after her ordeal to predict where he would begin with her and each move after. There was no way in hell she was allowing that.
“I’ve told you,” she grunted slashing out at him. “I’m not your anything. I’m here to kill you.” She remembered the first time she had seen him. He’d rushed into the room where she was held and told her that he’d been running from the devil and he knew the way out. She was too frightened at the time and fell readily into his arms. He was a twisted demon that had enjoyed playing her.
“You can try, Shae, but you are my creature and in the end you will do what I bid. Do you think you found us by accident?” He rubbed his chin with a wry smile on his face.
Her blood turned to ice with his words. Had this been a trap? Had they set her up so she could lead Zander and the warriors to this house? Frantic, she turned searching for Gerrick or Zander. It was difficult to see beyond the fighting. “Trap!” she yelled. “It’s a tr…” her voice was cut off when a clawed hand covered her mouth.
“Not so fast. I’m not done playing, yet.” He ran a claw down the side of her face and throat, opening an old wound. She felt the blood trickle out in a hot stream. He lapped it up and moaned, “I’ve missed your sweet blood, pet.” Her stomach revolted and knotted into a ball.
“Stop,” she whimpered, not wanting this to happen. He had proven to her time and again that he was stronger than she was and she had no way to fight him.
“That’s my good, Shae. I knew you missed our time together. I promise this time will be far better than anything that came before.”
She was frozen by the fear of being in his grip. Her mind flashed back on the humility of being stripped bare then bitten and raped by the demon at her back. He had torn into her flesh while he decimated her mind and he was going to do it again, only this time she would die. And, Gerrick would never survive losing another mate. That thought was enough to snap her out of her stupor.
There was no way she was sacrificing her mate to this fate. She would go down fighting with everything she had.
Her hands still held the knives and in a swift move she swung back with all her might and buried the titanium into Azazel’s stomach. His curse was satisfying as she managed to twist the weapons before he shoved her away. She stumbled and caught herself on the window. She left a bloody, black palm print and swiveled to engage the injured demon.
Intestines and organs were exposed, preventing a teleportation. She sneered at him, searching for a better weapon. The small blades wouldn’t do much against an archdemon, but a couple feet away she noticed a claymore that had been discarded by someone. Without giving herself away, she inched her way to the sword. “How did you know we were coming?” she asked, drawing his attention.
“You thought your little stunt to track us would work?” he tsked her and shook his head in disappointment. “You should have known better than that, Shae. Once I discovered what you were going to do, I made sure the way was clear. It was positively orgasmic to have you so deep in my mind,” he purred.
She choked on bile and glared at the vile creature. Only something of pure evil would be aroused by the suffering and control of another. “So, Kadir let you come here and take the fall for him? How gallant of him.”
“Oh, no, he wouldn’t have missed this. You are his favorite, Shae, so blood-thirsty.” She didn’t bother giving him the pleasure of getting riled over the obvious provocation.
She’d made her way to the weapon, but now she needed to perfectly time her retrieval. Azazel may be injured, but that didn’t mean he was helpless. For all she knew, he was faking the severity to lull her into complacency.
“I don’t see him coming to your aid. You do realize he will throw you to Lucifer at the first opportunity,” she said, swooping down in a rapid move and bounced on the balls of her feet, emboldened by her small victory.
Tossing the sword from hand to hand, she walked towards Azazel. “I’ve waited a long time for this. I just wish I could make you suffer the way you made me suffer. Sadly, I’ll have to settle for killing you.”
“You aren’t strong enough to take out the likes of me.” She clutched her head when he blasted into her mind and tried to command her to turn her weapon on Zander. Fuck that, she was done being messed with.
Dropping her hand, she gripped the sword and swung in a wide arch. The metal whistled through the air and sliced clean through skin, muscle and bone. Azazel’s shocked face rolled from his body and his headless form collapsed seconds later. “Looks like you were wrong. Just sayin’,” she growled in satisfaction.
*****
Gerrick pulled the fury demon close, careful to keep a lid on his anger. The last thing any of them wanted to do was feed the furies. He wrapped his arm around its neck and glanced around frantically for Shae. They’d been separated as soon as they’d entered the house.
Teeth sank into his forearm and he twisted, breaking vertebrae until he felt the fury go limp. It wasn’t dead yet and Gerrick kept twisting until the head popped off like a grape. Tossing it away, he searched for Shae.
Zander was facing of a pus demon and a hellhound and Kyran was helping Mack with a half dozen skirm, but Shae wasn’t with them. Suddenly, he saw Shae go flying toward the window. He pushed his way through the crowd, keeping his eyes trained on her as she approached Azazel. He howled when she stopped suddenly and clutched her head. The bastard was trying to control her. A skirm stepped into his path and he ashed him without a thought. He made it to Shae just as she relieved Azazel of his head.
He watched as she stared down at one of her personal demons. “Shae,” he called out, yanking her into an embrace.
“Duck,” she snapped and he didn’t hesitate to follow her command. Burning liquid landed on the back of his neck and Gerrick knew she’d killed whatever snuck up on him.
“Stay close this time.” He didn’t have time to wait for her answer as he engaged a hellhound that was slavering for them. Strong jaws clamped around his leg. He stabbed his sgian dubh into the animal’s skull repeatedly until it went limp and Shae used her Claymore to cleave the skull.
They fought back to back and took out demon after demon, b
ut more kept coming, making Gerrick wonder if there was an open portal to the hell realm with how many there were.
“It was a trap,” Shae explained as if she’d heard his thoughts. “The trap backfired on the asshole though, didn’t it?”
Gerrick chuckled at the pride in her tone. “He should know better than to fuck with my female. She’s ferocious and sexy as hell.”
By that point, the floor was slick with blood and it was becoming difficult to fight. The yellow walls were splattered with black and red and he wondered how his fellow warriors were faring.
Fatigued, his arm was shaking as he lifted his hand to take out a skirm. With how tired he was, he couldn’t understand how Shae was continuing to fight with such vigor. She was a thing of beauty in action, but he wasn’t like Kyran. He never wanted to see her fight like this ever again.
Out of the blue, an ice missile flew past his head and he heard Bhric cursing, “Feel the freeze motherfuckers.” He turned and saw Bhric and Breslin fighting together with Rhett at their back. He opened his mouth to warn them, but Breslin had seen the pus demon trying to sneak up on Rhett. Gerrick grimaced when the green, slimy flesh exploded from Breslin’s firebomb. A second later the stench of burning pus reached his nose and almost made him hurl.
He grabbed two swords and ran up a couple stairs then paused taking in the scene. “Come get me,” he taunted those nearby who could hear him. When several had noticed him and broke off from the pack, he launched himself into the air and held his arms akimbo. He managed to remove the tops of a couple skulls and cut one demon in half during his descent down the stairs.
Sweat was pouring into his eyes and he had to use his forearm to clear his vision. When he looked up, his heart stopped. Kadir was standing beside Shae and held a knife to her throat. And Gerrick was too far away to get to her in time.
“Did you bring the amulet? That’s the only thing that will save your Shae now.”
Gerrick threw up his hands in surrender and tried to reason with the archdemon. “I don’t have that kind of access. Trade me for Shae.”
Shae’s eyes went wide. “No, Gerrick. He’ll kill you.”
“You have bigger problems than me killing him right now, Shae. One twist and I liberate your head from your shoulders. It’s a shame really. I had such big hopes for you,” Kadir hissed as his razor-sharp black claws ran over her cheek.
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Shae sneered while Gerrick tried to signal Zander to come up behind Kadir and attack.
“Like you disappointed Azazel? I must say your temerity is surprising, but not altogether unpleasant. Now, warrior, get me the Triskele Amulet and I may let her go.”
“Zander will never trade the amulet for me, Kadir,” Shae spat. “You don’t hold the bargaining chip you’d hoped. Your trap backfired and now Azazel is home telling Lucifer how you’ve failed.”
Kadir shrugged one large grey shoulder, his red hair lifting with the action. “Seems I have no more use for you then,” he murmured, plunging his fist through Shae’s throat, pulling her head from her shoulders.
Gerrick’s entire world stopped and his heart shattered into a million pieces. One tear escaped from Shae’s eye as Kadir tossed her head into the melee. Kadir was barking orders before he disappeared, but it was lost on Gerrick as he caught Shae’s body before it hit the floor.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Everything in the room seemed to stop the second Rhys heard his fellow warrior roar in anguish. It was Gerrick and the agony he heard in the howl sent him to his knees. He looked to his friend who was holding the lifeless body of his Fated Mate. Rhys’ heart stopped as he saw the scene. Gerrick had lost a mate before and didn’t deserve to suffer like this again. Rhys’ heart ached for the male. One thing was certain, Gerrick was about to lose his shit and Rhys needed to help him.
Stumbling to his feet, Rhys grabbed onto the banister to steady himself. Instantly, white light surrounded him before three familiar figures appeared around him. The melee around him continued, but no one reacted to the newcomers. It was then that he glanced around and recognized the signs of the spell the angels had cast last time they’d cornered him.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, now’s not a really good time. Either pick up a sword and start fighting these demons, like a real angel should, or get the fuck out of here,” Rhys snarled.
The black-haired angel’s eyes widened as he got his first full glimpse of the battle. “We felt death surround you and feared it was Illianna. What is going on here?”
Rhys stiffened when the angel mentioned Illianna’s death. The idea bothered Rhys more than it should at the moment. “Let me the fuck out of this bubble of bull-shit, my best friend just lost his Fated Mate and is one second from losing his shit. He needs me.”
The blond-haired angel glanced at him curiously, “Why are you fighting your own kind, demon?”
“I am not a demon, asshole. I’m a cambion and my allegiance is to the Dark Warriors and the Goddess, I told you fuckers that already. Damn, not too many brains in those feathers. Now let me out of here. You may be okay with demons killing innocent beings, but I’m not.”
“You dare impugn a warrior angel?” the brown-haired angel roared. “We were born to fight demons, just like you.”
“Not now, Abraxos. This demon is right. We are needed to help in this fight,” the black-haired angel chastised.
“We’re going to fight beside a demon, Ayil?” Abraxos asked, incredulous.
“Of course we are. Gabriel would have our heads if we ignore our duty. We didn’t kill this scourge before because we didn’t sense evil in him. That hasn’t changed,” the blond added, placing his palm on Abraxos’ shoulder.
Abraxos lowered his head and glanced askance at his blond brother. Rhys watched the exchange raptly. It made sense to him that they were warriors. Their demeanor reminded him of Zander and the Dark Warriors. “Thank you Araton. I lose my head when it comes to Illianna,” Abraxos said then turned to Rhys, “We know you’re involved with our missing sister somehow and we won’t stop until we know.”
“I’m not involved with your sister, but I respect your sense of loyalty and my offer of help finding her stands once I’ve dealt with this fiasco. Speaking of, can you save Shae? Gerrick is one of our best warriors and has the purest heart of anyone I’ve known. He deserves to have a lifetime with his mate.”
Ayil stepped toward Rhys and looked at where Gerrick sat holding Shae’s body. “I’m truly sorry. You’re right about his heart being pure. We may not be able to save the female, but we will help clear the hoard of demons that are waiting outside. We can’t allow your fellow warriors to see us.” With that they disappeared along with the white light and Rhys was suddenly hit from behind by a skirm. Bastards could have warned him, Rhys thought, summoning the sgian dubh on the floor to his hand.
*****
Gerrick threw back his head and roared his anguish to the heavens, hoping the Goddess heard him. He was living another nightmare, only this was so much worse. It was his fault. He never should have allowed Shae to come on this mission. He should have listened to that feral part of him that wanted to lock her in the room, keeping her safe. He hadn’t heeded the warning and now she was dead.
He held her close to his chest, unable to reconcile the events with reality. He didn’t want to believe she was gone. There was no way he could go one minute without seeing her smile and hearing her laugh. He’d been trapped in a dark torment of his own making until she came into his life. Goddess, but he needed her more than he needed air to breathe.
He heard Zander talking to him, but he wasn’t listening. Shae had sacrificed herself and now his chest was being ripped wide open as the portion of her soul he carried vanished. He felt her death in every cell of his body. His mate mark that had been a hot blaze on his leg disappeared. He knew from experience it was because the mate mark was gone, leaving no trace of her existence. The agony of her loss was unbearable and there was no relief. It would be more pleasant
to take a bath in acid.
His heart stopped for several beats in objection. Shae couldn’t be gone. He was nothing without her. No fucking way was he sitting by and allowing this to happen.
Zander grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “We need to get out of here. They’ve set the house on fire.”
Gerrick glanced down and bile rose in his throat. He saw Shae’s pink sweater peeking out the top of her jacket. The necklace he’d given her had fallen off her neck and was on the ground. He picked it up and clutched it in his hand. “I’m not going anywhere,” he declared, a plan formulating in his mind.
Zander gripped his upper arms and pulled. “Did you hear me? The house is on fire and we need to go, now. I’m no’ letting you kill yourself, Gerrick.”
“You don’t have a fucking choice, Zander. I can’t live without her.” He wouldn’t live without her.
“Gerrick, doona do this. Shae wouldna want you to kill yourself.”
“I know. I don’t plan on killing myself. I’m going back to try and save her. I’ve got a ten-minute window. That will be enough.”
Zander gaped at him wide-eyed and his jaw dropped open. He snapped to attention a second later. “Och, what can I do to help?”
Gerrick forced himself to calm and replay the events that led up to Shae’s death. He replayed every move he made and pinpointed the location of everyone in the room. He nearly got lost in the crushing grief of the moment Kadir took everything from him, but the urgency to save her kept him going.
“Where are Bhric and Rhett?” he asked, glancing around.
“Right here,” Bhric replied, coming into view with Rhett next to him.
“Right before Kadir killed Shae you two were the closest to them. I’m going back in time to save her, but I won’t be able to do that without help from you guys. I was too far away to reach her, but you were right there. I need you to turn around and throw whatever power you have at Kadir the moment he appears. Kyran, I need you to sift to Shae and get her out of there the second they attack Kadir.”