by Lizzy Ford
“We’ve crossed this bridge before,” she assured her. “Your family will be safe here. Come, I will show you a picture to where you must take the portal through the shadow world.”
An hour later, Katie stood in a similar-looking fortress several times the size of the Caribbean Sanctuary. The courtyard was packed with women in brown robes and Immortals. Large shade trees and bamboo cabanas provided seating and protection from the sun. The Immortals were grouped beneath the trees, and none of them appeared the worse for wear from their escape.
She wandered the courtyard, looking for any sign of Ully or anyone she recognized. The fortress around the courtyard was four stories tall and lined with wooden doors indicating guest rooms. Several were open, and she saw much more comfortable accommodations and beds than at the small Sanctuary. The cafeteria was four times the size of the one she was used to, and she lingered in the doorway, finally catching the attention of a convent member.
“I’m looking for an Immortal named Ully. I don’t know his last name or anything,” she said as the woman approached.
“You’ll have to check the register. We haven’t been able to record everyone’s names yet, but what we have is in the guestbook in the office, down that hall, last door on the right,” the woman replied, pointing to a hallway behind her.
Katie moved quickly in the direction she indicated and found a line in front of the guestbook as Immortals wrote their names. When she reached it, she scanned all the names on each page, disappointed at not finding his anywhere.
She began to wonder if he made it out of the castle.
*
Gabriel stared at the portal in front of him. He dreaded stepping through it. The results of his trip to the mortal world would forever alter his life, and that of his only friend. He would’ve been content to stay in his cottage for another hundred years or never again visit the mortal world. Death, however, had different plans.
You’re going soft.
He hated those words, because he was the biggest and strongest of all Death’s assassins. That he came from the mortal world rather than the Immortal one had left a taint on him that no amount of success could get rid of. He suspected Death always thought him weaker despite service that had been, until now, flawless.
He gathered the tools of the trade, weapons for killing quickly this time, and stepped through the portal to the shadow world. If he tried, he’d be able to locate his target and track her as she moved until she was dead-dead. Instead, he emerged from the shadow world into the center of the Caribbean Sanctuary. He knew she wasn’t there, and the longer she stayed away, the more time he had to think about what to do. He went to a dark corner in the cafeteria to wait.
She’d be safe, as long as she stayed away.
Chapter Six
Katie emerged from the shadow world with her heart pounding. Ully’s lab was a disaster, with glass covering the floor and counters flipped on end. The door was closed but lopsided in its frame while half the lights overhead were burnt out. She heard no signs of demons fighting from outside the room.
“Ully?” she called, picking her way through the broken glass and fallen instruments. A sound came from the back of the large room, and she made her way there. A small door— possibly leading to a bathroom or closet— was closed and blocked by one of Ully’s science toys the size of a copy machine. The sound came from behind it, as if someone were trying to open the door.
Hesitating only a moment, she shoved the machine. It screeched across the floor a few inches. With a deep breath, she shoved again, enough for the door to crack open.
“Ully, is that you?” she called, ready to run if a demon tried to lunge at her.
“Katie!” Ully sounded relieved. “I’m stuck in here!”
“Are you ok, Ully?” she asked, surprised.
“Alive. Did you bring Rhyn?”
“It’s just me.” Ully sighed in disappointment, and she rolled her eyes. “I can leave you in there!”
“It’s probably safer,” he agreed.
“You’re worse than some damsel in distress. Aren’t you supposed to be protecting the weak, puny human?”
He said nothing but pushed at the door. She shoved the machine again until the space was wide enough for him to squeeze through. The scientist’s glasses were missing, his expression growing sorrowful as he looked around at his destroyed lab.
“I brought you something to cheer you up,” she said and dug the vial of blood out of her pocket. “I found it on Sasha.”
“You sure it was Sasha?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Let me see something,” he said, striding to where his desk was. He pushed the wreckage around and dug his notebook out of the mess. Katie watched as he walked through the lab, collecting undestroyed pieces of equipment and tools. One counter was still standing next to the refrigerator tucked in a corner, and he swept the broken glass from the top to create a little work space. She looked around the area where his desk had been and spotted a perfume bottle similar to the one he’d give her before.
“What do you think is wrong with it?” she asked as she bent to retrieve the bottle. Demon was scribbled on the side. She sniffed at it and sneezed at the familiar skunk scent before shoving it in her pocket.
“I don’t think anything is wrong with it, but I want to make sure,” he explained.
“Good thing Sasha washed up on shore at the Sanctuary or the demons would have this one,” she said. “I guess it wouldn’t matter if you succeeded in altering it like Kris said.”
“Altering it?”
“Did you get hit on the head or something? Kris told you to make a toxic version he could trade back to the demons.”
“I do have a headache,” he said, distracted. “You say Sasha washed up somewhere?”
“Really weird, Ully. I don’t know what he’s doing. The women at the Sanctuary said they pulled him out of the water, and he looks awful.”
“Which Sanctuary?”
She looked up at the uncharacteristic demand. Ully appeared to be prepping his tools for whatever tests he wanted to run. The vial sat on the counter next to his notebook, and she watched him pick up a syringe. She’d never noticed how long his nails were or the sinewy strength in his forearms. Suddenly, she wondered just how well demons could shapeshift and why they’d lock Ully in the closet instead of killing him.
“I’m feeling really sick, Ully. Do you have any food?” she asked. She sagged against a counter, hoping he believed her. She reached for the perfume in her pocket. For once, she hoped Ully’s oddball experiment didn’t let her down.
“Sure,” he said, the dark note in his voice gone. “This won’t take long. I should have something in the fridge and then we can go get some real food.”
Having spent many afternoons with him in the lab, she knew he kept only serums and instruments in the refrigerator. He made his way to the appliance, and she darted for the vial, snatching it off the counter then running through the mess to the door. The demon that was Ully gave a half-bark, half-roar before he smashed through the lab toward her. He snatched one arm and she sprayed him with the perfume.
The demon coughed and batted at his face.
Thank you, Ully, thank you!
Uncertain whether or not the battle still waged between demons and Immortals, she braced herself to be attacked as she flew past every doorway towards the back stairwell. Bodies blocked her descent to the basements where the warriors were, and she struck off down a narrow corridor that dead-ended in another set of stairs leading to a door hanging from one hinge.
She heard no signs of the demon pursing but trotted down the stairs, hoping to find another way into the dungeons where the Immortal warriors lived. It took all her strength to shove the hefty door wide enough for her to enter the dark chamber beyond that was lit by a single torch.
It looked like a crypt. The altar in the center was empty while seven statues kept watch over it. The air was heavy and her attention was drawn to the life-like st
atues. The tallest looked a great deal like Andre, the deceased Immortal she’d met a short time before he was killed. The second looked like Kris might’ve in his younger days, when his face still glowed with hope. Sasha’s wore a genuine smile. She vaguely recognized the other three and knelt beside the statue of Rhyn, who was no older than Toby had been the day before.
Even at such a young age, Rhyn’s features were troubled and somber, as if he knew what kind of a life awaited him. She sat back with a frown, unable to feel anything but pity for the half-demon child who knew no acceptance anywhere in life. She touched her stomach with a flutter of panic. The idea of bringing a new life into such a horrific world made her feel sick. No child of hers would end up like Rhyn— tormented, rejected, and abused!
“What’re you doing here?”
She whipped around to see Kris standing in the doorway, holding the door open as if debating whether to enter.
“Is that really you?” she asked suspiciously. She rose to keep the altar between them.
“What kind of stupid question is that?”
“Tell me something only you and I would know,” she ordered.
“I slept with your sister.”
“God, Kris, did you have to go there?”
“You delusional or do you have a reason to think I’m someone else?” he asked and entered fully.
“I ran into someone I thought was Ully in the lab. Turned out to be a demon. I didn’t know they could shapeshift into someone else’s form.”
“Only a very few of them can assume the form of another human. Demons are born with predetermined forms that are unique to the demon. A few can assume forms, but they’re rare,” he said. “You say there was one in Ully’s lab?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll have to scrub this place from top to bottom to make sure no one else pops up somewhere they shouldn’t be. Like you being here.”
“I was more concerned with hiding than with where I went,” she said, agitated by his accusing look. “What is this place?”
“It was our father’s crypt, until yesterday, when Sasha stole our father’s body.”
Her gaze went to the altar, and she shivered. The Council That Was Seven had been immortalized safeguarding their father in death. It was creepy. Who kept a dead man on a shrine in the basement?
“The statues are beautiful,” she managed. “It’s hard to imagine Rhyn as a child.”
“He was cast out of the Immortal world fairly young. None of us know— or care— where he went, except Andre, who saw something in him that— to this day— never materialized.”
Her face grew red at his easy dismissal of his youngest brother. Her gaze settled on the statue of Rhyn, whose large eyes held an ominous look too old for his chubby little face.
“How can you be like this, Kris?” she asked, unable to stop the angry words. “You take great precautions to safeguard Toby, and yet, you rejected your own brother?”
“Someone like you could never understand.”
“You’re right, Kris, I can’t understand how you could turn your back on the person who needed you most and justify it with your shortsighted arrogance. I pray to God Hannah doesn’t choose you as a mate!”
“I believe she already has,” he said, irritation in his voice. “Rhyn was a lost cause from the beginning. Our own father wanted him dead. I’m sworn to protect Toby, and I’ve done my duty in protecting Sasha, who is also my brother, according to the Code and the oaths I swore to my father and the Council!”
“You chose the wrong side, Kris. If you had half a brain, you’d have helped Rhyn and killed Sasha.”
“I do what I am obligated to do, and that’s all that should concern you,” he said through gritted teeth. “I won’t have some stupid mortal telling me how to do things!”
With all the insults and arrogance, she couldn’t take her mind off the statue of Rhyn and her sister being at the mercy of such a man.
“I’m going to tell you a secret someone told me, Kris,” she said, facing him. “Do you know why Rhyn killed Lilith?”
He stared at her.
“Yes, I know the story,” she said. “It was revealed to me by someone you trust when I was at the Sanctuary a few weeks ago. Lilith was trying to destroy the Council. She was a plant by the Dark One who lured you and probably the rest of your brothers into bed. Rhyn killed her to protect you, Kris. You owe him your life. He’s the most flawed of anyone I’ve ever met, but he’s a more honorable man than you’ll ever be!”
He crossed the distance between them in three strides and slapped her hard. Pain flared through her. She touched the blood that bubbled at the side of her mouth.
“Get the fuck out of here,” he hissed.
She reached into her pocket and withdrew the vial, shoving it at him.
“I may be a stupid mortal, but I know right from wrong,” she said in a trembling voice. “Sasha’s at the Caribbean Sanctuary. Go rescue him again, so he can kill more of the Immortals, like those you sacrificed to protect him the first time!”
She fled, her ears ringing and cheek burning from his strike. She’d never understand a man like Kris, who saw the world only in black and white! The image of baby Rhyn and Kris’s words distracted her as she hurried through the hall back to the stairs. She couldn’t imagine what he’d been through: thrown out at such an age with a father who wanted him dead and brothers who hated him. He wasn’t the kind to pity himself. She doubted he saw anything wrong with the treatment he was accustomed to.
Soon enough, nothing would matter, not when Gabriel came for her.
For the first time since arriving over three weeks ago, she missed her cavernous chamber. She wondered if twelve-year-old boys played with stuffed animals. Toby had tons of them in his small bedchamber off hers. She found herself ascending the servants’ stairwell at a run, in case the Ully-demon was still stalking her, until she reached her floor, which appeared blessedly free of any signs of battle and death. She pushed her door open and scanned the room before entering and closing it fast.
She’d never liked her room, but she found some comfort in its familiarity. One of Toby’s stuffed animals had fallen to the floor when she carried him to the basement before the demon attacks. She retrieved it and hugged it, not at all certain what the new Toby would and wouldn’t want that the old Toby had loved. The bag she’d started to pack still gaped open, half-full on the trunk at the base of her bed.
“Hey.”
She turned at the familiar voice, pleased and surprised to see Megan, the Immortal warrior who befriended her and showed her around when she arrived to the castle several weeks before. Megan’s dark eyes were glowing though her clothing was covered in blood.
“You shouldn’t be alone up here yet,” Megan warned. “Bad guys in the castle still. We’re sweeping the castle now.”
“So it’s over?”
“Mostly. The Council sent in their warriors to help Kris. We lost quite a few of our friends,” she said with a frown. “Defeated the demons, except for a few hiding out here.”
“I’m so sorry, Megan,” she said softly.
“It’s what we train for. Doesn’t make it easier but …” Megan shrugged. “C’mon. We cleared out the basements. You can stay in your old room.”
“I’d like that,” Katie said. “Let me grab a few more things.” She packed hurriedly and grabbed another of Toby’s stuffed animals before meeting the female warrior in the hallway. Megan spoke with a gentle British lilt, and her dark eyes took in everything as they walked.
“How many are lost?” Katie asked as they walked.
“About half of Kris’s warriors. Not sure about the others. Your mate can fight like a monster. Never seen anything like that before. He was shapeshifting like a maniac and just tearing demons’ heads off. He kept up at it all night.”
“I imagine.” She suspected she knew what made Rhyn fight like a demon. For once, it wasn’t his half-demon blood.
“He brought the Council back together,�
�� Megan said in a whisper. “At least, that’s what some of Ancient Erik’s warriors said. Ancient Kris would never admit to that.”
“What do you mean, brought the Council together?”
“They split before the demon battle, and Rhyn rounded up all the brothers. The guy I spoke to said he beat the ever-living shit out of them all at once, until they agreed to come back and do what Kris says.”
A laugh bubbled up. Katie tried to suppress it, not wanting to offend her friend, but it escaped. Megan looked at her curiously.
“Sorry. I guess I can see him doing that,” she explained. She doubted it happened as the rumor mill said, but if Rhyn of all people had brought the Council together … She was impressed. He’d saved the Immortals that shunned him. She was pleased by the news, despite knowing none of his brothers remotely deserved to be saved.
“They went hunting for Sasha,” Megan added. “I hope they find him.”
Katie said nothing. She wanted to return to the Sanctuary, though not before she found out what happened to Ully. They descended to the warrior’s barracks level of the basements. For the first time in three weeks, she felt safe and relieved as she looked around the tiny room that had been hers when she first arrived. The barracks area was heavily guarded, but she was struck by the lack of activity in the part of the castle that normally hummed with life.
“You know where everything is,” Megan said at the doorway. “I gotta keep looking for demons or any other Immortal survivors.”
“Have you seen Ully by chance?” Katie asked.
“Not yet. We’re trying to get a handle on who went to which Sanctuary and where else Immortals scattered to. We should know by nightfall.”
“Thanks.”
Megan closed the door behind her, and Katie sank down onto the bed.
*
Rhyn finished his task of clearing Kris’s floor of dead bodies. He tossed the last one out the window. Kris was glaring up at him, he knew without looking. But he wasn’t about to walk up and down the stairwell or traipse through the shadow world a million times to accomplish the same goal.
A pyre had been built in the middle of the cobblestone courtyard to burn the bodies of the demons before nightfall, when they’d come back alive. He wiped his bloodied hands on his shirt and trotted down the hall. He’d sensed Katie’s appearance in the castle a short time ago and had avoided going directly to her, for fear he wasn’t quite ready to say what he needed to. With nothing left to occupy him, he strode to the familiar room where they’d shared the fateful night weeks before. Katie looked up from her spot seated on the bed as he entered, her face troubled.