by Beth Hendrix
“Yeah one of the guys will take care of it. I don’t want to be in the same room as you let alone touch you.” Canio just gave me the Who are you trying to lie to look. I ignored him and the look, opting to go over and shake Draven. “Hey. Y’all need to wake up. Canio needs a potty break and I refuse to do that.” I was firm on that idea. No matter how much pull I could feel, I didn’t want to touch the bastard.
“I got it.” Draven said stretching and getting out of the bed. “I will hurt you if you try anything.” Unlocking Canio from the chair, Draven headed towards the bathroom. Draven’s voice held a hard edge that, I do not think anyone would want to mess with him. Canio looked properly intimidated, at least for now.
Barrett walked in just as I jumped on the bed to wake up the other two sleeping beauties. “Wake up!” I yelled as I bounced on the bed, startling both Donovan and Ethane. I am thinking I need to make this a morning ritual for whoever slept in. Look at me, making future plans again.
“Damn it Gwen! I told you not to do that.” Ethan squealed while getting out of the bed and getting dressed. I started giggling because the look of irritation on his face was just too funny. I really loved it. He looked so adorable.
“If y’all are done, we need to go scout out the apartment place.” Barrett commanded from across the room. Barrett did not look amused at my antics. Well, he better get used to them if he was sticking around after the case.
Focusing, I told the guys my theory. “I need a picture of one of the missing kids. I wanna see if I can teleport to them using it.” I was really not looking forward to it because I was afraid that it would bring me face to face with a male demon that I would have to take down.
“Sounds like a good idea, but you don’t need to go alone. Take Draven and Ethane with you.” Barrett locked me into a stare. I could sense that he wanted to say more, but for some reason he held back. After this morning, I had hoped that maybe he would be more open about things.
“Here is Tania. She is one of the girls that went missing.” Donovan handed me his phone, touching my hand longer than necessary before pulling back. So I leaned forward and gave him a quick peck.
I examined the photo. She was a beautiful little girl with bright blue eyes and long blond hair. Her nose was a little upturned and she had a beauty mark on the left side of her mouth. I was so terrified by what state she would be in when I found her.
I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. “Okay. I am ready so if your coming with me, you better grab on.” Concentrating, I felt hands grab my legs, so I started to envision Tania in my mind. I could feel the tugging sensation in my stomach. Afraid to open my eyes, I did it anyway, not prepared for what I saw.
We had arrived in an underground dungeon. The walls were lined with single cells and from what I could see had children in them. Looking to my left, I saw that the bars of the cell was made of bone and inside the cell was a tiny girl with blonde hair. Blood splatter covered the floors and with every move we made rats ran across the floor. It had a very musty smell and sounded like there may be some water close by, because I could hear the steady drips hitting the stone floor.
Walking over to the bars, I whispered, “Tania, is that you?” The young girl moved towards the bars and looked terrified when she saw me.
“Yes miss, that is what my mother called me. I am not called that here. We are known as slave.” The girl said in a small shaky voice that went straight to my heart and crushed it.
“Are you ready to go home?” I asked. I was gonna get her out. I was going to get all of the children out, even if it was the last thing I did. All of the cells that I could see held children, some looking like they were barely hanging on. My heart was aching so bad that I could feel the emotional pain as if it was physical.
“Yes miss, please take me to Momma.” She whispered as she moved closer to the bars.
“Watch my back, I am gonna get all the kids out of here.” I said looking back and forth between Draven and Ethane who had been silent since we got here. Their faces gave away how pissed they were about the situation. Draven’s markings had flared to life and looked even darker than I had ever seen them. Okay, it was time for me to embrace my badass demon powers. I only hoped that they would work the way that I needed them to.
15
I imagined where I wanted to be in my mind, and before I knew it, I was standing behind Tania in the cell. The first thing I did was pull the girl into a hug. I could feel her body shake with sobs, every sob tugging on my heart strings. Pulling her back, I told her, “I am going to bring you to a guy that will get you somewhere safe okay?
“Thank you so much.” Her small voice quivered on every word. Grabbing her hand, hoping it would not scare her even more, I focused on my hotel room until I felt the tug in my stomach.
“You found her. Where is Draven and Ethane?” Barrett looked shocked as we appeared in the middle of my hotel room.
“I don't have a lot of time, but I think I found all of the kids. I am getting them all out of there so be ready. You need to call Paraoffice so they can take care of the kids and get them to a safe place. Ask Canio if there is any place demons can't teleport into. I have to go back.” I said as quickly as I could before teleporting back to Draven and Ethane. They were now beside different cells talking to the children inside. I could hear their promises that they were going to get them home. It only made me fall a bit more for them.
“Okay, I am gonna go as quick as I can moving them to the room. While I am gone let the next kid know what is going on so that way we can save time. We’ve been lucky so far, but I have a feeling the longer we are here the more we are pushing our luck. I for one do not want to be in a brawl if I can avoid it.” I said as I teleported into the cell with a little boy who was looking at me like his savior.
We settled into a routine after that, for what felt like forever. I got children out of hell - literally. I hoped that Paraoffice would do a mind wipe on them because there was no telling what all they had went through down here. I was so exhausted by the time I had to go back to the dungeon for the last time. There was only one little girl left though, and I refused to give up before I got her out.
“How many are left Gwen? You are very pale.” Barrett said moving over beside me to wrap me up in a warm embrace.
“There is one left.” I responded. Even breathing was starting to get more and more tiring. I pushed away from Barrett and teleported back down. I heard grunts, and a little girl screaming. Opening my eyes to find that Draven and Ethane were knee deep in small demon creatures. What the hell were those things?
“I will get you out I promise. I will be back!” I yelled running past the girls cell as I summoned up a fireball and threw it at the imp creatures coming around to the guy’s backs. That was when I knew I was gonna have to fight without my powers because that one ball had physically hurt. I could feel myself starting to wane under the stress of using my powers.
Luckily, I had carried my katana with me. With speed I still wasn't used to, I was suddenly in the fight with my sword slashing through the creatures that were attacking. It was like the more that we took out, the more that popped up out of nowhere. I started hacking my way to get closer to my guys. When one of them latched onto my leg with his teeth. I screamed as I stabbed him through the eye and kicked him off of me.
“We need a plan guys. I don’t have much demon juice left in me, and the more we fight, the less I have to get us out of here. There's only one child left.” I screamed as I continued to strike at the imps that continued to swarm us. I don't know if the guys didn't hear me or if they were just too concentrated on what they were doing to respond, but we had to get out of here now or we would be stuck. I moved to their sides as quickly as possible and teleported us into the cell with the last remaining child. I could feel my leg throbbing but I didn't have time to worry about that right now. The imps had noticed we were gone and started looking for us. Coming around the corner and behind the last of them was Bael.
&nbs
p; “I know you are in here little mouse. I will take back what’s mine and you too.” I heard him sneer. I could feel the chills that spread all over my body. If I had my way I would never see him again.
Grabbing everyone, I teleported us out of there as quickly as I could. As soon as we got to the room though I fell to my knees. I don't think I had ever been this tired in my whole life. My last thought before everything went black was that I hoped everyone was okay.
“Is she gonna be okay?” I heard a small voice ask as I felt a tiny hand touch my arm and stay there. Struggling to open my eyes, I finally succeeded and found myself looking into the bright green eyes of the last girl that I had saved.
“Why isn't she somewhere safe?” I croaked out. My throat was so dry that I was honestly surprised I was able to speak at all.
“She refused to leave your side till you woke up. We tried to get her out of here, but she puts up one hell, uh I mean heck, of a fight.” Draven turned pink as he fixed his language since we were in the presence of someone so young.
“She saved my life. I wasn't just gonna leave her until I knew she was okay.” The little girl replied with fire in her words. They must have went round and round over this for his words to elicit such a response from her.
Donovan came up from behind Draven holding a glass of water and handed it to me. I was so parched that I drank it down way quicker than I probably needed to, but I really didn't give a shit at this moment.
“What is your name?” I asked the brave little girl who had stood up to my four beautiful men. She was so dirty that it made her green eyes pop. I just couldn’t believe someone so frail looking had took the men on and won.
“Kim. Thank you so much for getting me home. I am glad that you are okay.” She had a beautiful little voice. “I am going to be like you when I get big. You are my hero.” Looking at me like I was the hero of her story, and I guess I was, but stuff like this made me uncomfortable. However, at the same time they meant the world to me, because I had saved not just her but all of the children from their tormentors.
Her words brought tears to my eyes. I knew what I had done was a big deal, but to hear that come from the mouth of one of the children was too much. I started sobbing and before I knew it, Kim had gotten on the bed and hugged me like she was afraid that I would disappear and she would be back in hell.
“You are gonna do amazing things, Kim, but now we need to get you where you belong.” I said to her as I broke the hug and sat up so that I could make my way to the bathroom. I felt a pinch from my leg, but ignored it. I probably just scraped it or something and could look at it after Kim left to not upset her more.
“I will never forget you, maybe you can visit me and I can show you all my toys. I have a big sword that looks like yours.” Kim said to me as Donovan took her hand to lead her out of the room. “Bye Gwen.” After seeing the guys with Kim, it made me think and about how they would be with their own kids. Not going down that road yet but the future had possibilities I had never imagined for myself, or even wanting. Feeling Draven shift his stance towards me, I turned to him.
“You are amazing.” Draven stated as he bent down and kissed me. I melted into the kiss. I went to move closer to him and hissed at the pain radiating up my leg. Pulling back the covers, I knew instantly that I was gonna need help soon. I heard Draven gasp as if it was the first time he was getting a good look at it. Most of my calf was purple and had a spider web shape arching out of the bite mark that was in the dead center of it all. A wave of nausea hit me, and made me realize that I needed help, now. Hopefully Alyanna would know what to do, because what little strength I had left was waning. I gripped onto Draven’s arm and teleported us to the back room of the tattoo parlor.
Startling both Draven, who looked a bit disoriented, and Alyanna, who had been drawing at the tattoo table, we landed on the floor. I was just so glad that I had been able to teleport us here, but it sucked all the strength from my body. Once again I could feel myself being pulled under, but I knew that Draven would take care of me. I just hoped that Alyanna turned out to really be a friend and not a foe. That was my last thought before everything went black.
16
Excruciating pain roused me from unconsciousness. I could hear someone screaming, only to realize what I was hearing was myself. Opening my eyes, I looked towards my leg that was in severe pain. Alyanna had my leg on her lap and was digging into it with a black-bladed knife. I could feel what I hoped was Draven behind me, holding my arms to my sides as I attempted to struggle to get away from her and the pain that she was inflicting on my leg.
“It's almost out, quit squirming or I am gonna keep having to dig around for the tooth.” Alyanna sounded completely unfazed as she shoved the knife in deeper, making me scream once again. I could hear Draven start to sing something in my ear, and the pain started to lessen. Slowly, the more he sang, the more I relaxed. I knew he was using his vampire mojo on me, but at this moment I did not care at all. I was just relieved that the pain had mostly went away.
I watched as Alyanna pulled what looked like a tiger fang from my leg. I thought I was gonna be sick. That was just disgusting.
“Done. She should heal up completely in the next hour or so.” Alyanna dropped the tooth on the ground and wiped away my blood that had splattered on her face as a result of her digging in my leg.
“What the hell were those things?” Draven bellowed at her. She took it in stride, seeming to know that he wasn't upset with her but at the situation that we had all been in.
“From the tooth I just pulled from Gwen's leg, I would say that you had just come up against the serfs. The underworld is still stuck in the middle ages, but they are imp like creatures who serve their master. They are normally not harmful, but if you get a tooth embedded in you it will poison the host. Which is why Gwen’s leg looked the way that it did. Wanna tell me exactly what y’all were doing to come up against the serfs?” Alyanna demanded as she pinned us with a serious look that said we weren’t getting out of here until we told her what was going on.
“Draven can catch you up on what happened. Is there somewhere I can go to get cleaned up and use the restroom?” I wasn't trying to avoid what happened, but my bladder was screaming at me for a bathroom. She pointed towards a door that I hadn't noticed when I was there the other day. I headed towards it as quickly as I could hobble away.
Making it to the bathroom, I went directly to the toilet. Damn, that was a relief. I felt like I hadn’t peed in forever. Why is it that the bad guys always get you when you have to pee the most? Finishing up with that, I looked into the mirror. I looked deathly pale. My hair was a mess and I was covered in blood and goo - ewww. I turned on the water to wash my face when I heard a soft, barely there noise behind me. Thinking it was Alyanna, I ignored it. Big mistake.
“Little mouse, we finally meet.” Sneered a voice that made my entire body cold. I turned slowly and came face to face with the one demon that I wanted to never be near. I saw his hands move and the only thing I was able to get out before everything went black was a scream.
Draven:
I was in the middle of explaining what had happened to Gwen, when I heard a scream from the bathroom. Moving as quickly as I could, I opened the door and saw nothing but a spot of blood on the floor.
Turning and grabbing Alyanna by the throat, I growled, “Where is she?” I growled with such menace that I saw her tremble. I knew my markings were flaring because I could feel them burning my face. I had to ease up my grip a bit because her face was starting to turn colors and I can't get answers from a dead woman.
“I smell Bael. He had to have taken her. I will do whatever I can to get her back. You are not the only one who is worried. He will force her to turn completely demon, and when he does, who knows what she will become. So put me down and call your brothers. Canio needs to come too because he knows Bael’s home. I do not.” Alyanna choked out as I let go of her throat and she landed on her feet.
I let out a yell
hoping that that would help the frustration that was building inside of me right now. I hadn’t known Gwen long, but I knew enough that I was hooked and I couldn't lose her. I knew that the others felt the same. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and called Barrett.
“What’s up brother? We just got all the kids relocated into a safe spot where no demon can get to.” Barrett informed me, sounding relieved, not knowing that I was about to ruin that victory with the next words out of my mouth.
“You need to get the guys and come to the tattoo shop. Bael has Gwen. Bring Canio with you. Alyanna thinks he can help and we need to get Gwen back before she is forced to do something she will never get over.” I said with as much control as I possibly could because inside I was a mess.
“Be there in ten.” Barrett growled through the phone, making me feel like an even bigger failure than I already felt. Even if Gwen forgave me for failing her, I am not sure the guys would.
“What is Bael going to do with her?” I asked quietly, afraid of the answer that Alyanna was going to give me.
“She will probably be forced to kill a innocent. Bael can control people, and once he gets into her head, it will not matter what she does. He will get his way, and even though she is being controlled, she will become a true demon once it is completed. Then he will force himself on her and make her his wife.” She looked away at the door as if she might cry, reliving a memory she would rather forget.
“Well that’s not going to fucking happen.” Barrett asserted, barging into the door with Donovan and Ethane behind him. I will give Canio credit, he walked like he had purpose. I had to fight myself from going after him. If he hadn't turned Gwen, we wouldn't be in this position.
Gwen:
I awoke tied to a bed. My brain was so foggy I wasn’t sure what had happened. I knew it had to be bad because the bedroom I was in did not belong to any of my men. It looked as if the walls were made out of rock and it had a faint musty smell. I may not know much, but I knew with all my being that I had to get out of here. I started to pull against the bindings holding me to the bed when I heard a voice that froze me to the core.