Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two)

by Lizzy Ford

  “Lucky bastard,” Rhyn grumbled.

  “Everything okay?”

  “As good as it is for you.”

  Gabriel gave him a ghost of a smile.

  “I didn’t think you’d be allowed away from your mistress,” Rhyn said as he sat on a boulder near Gabriel’s crate of clothes.

  “She ordered me up for a job, but I’m considering not going back.”

  “Life’s a bitch.”

  “It’s worse than that, Rhyn. I think sometimes I should’ve moved into the cell beside yours in Hell. At least there you know what kind of shit you’ll go through.”

  Rhyn listened, sensing his friend was more than troubled: he was deeply disturbed. Gabriel began to beat up the dummy again. Rhyn watched, not wanting to leave for fear of being alone. For the first time in his life, he felt and thought too much, and he wanted to keep himself occupied with the world around him rather than the pain within him. He grabbed one of the Immortal books, fingering the soft, leather-like cover and transparent pages.

  “You know, Gabe, even though we’re no longer bound, I can still control my power. Maybe I just had to reach a certain age,” he said.

  Gabriel froze mid-strike at his words and lowered the bo. “What did you do, Rhyn?”

  “The right thing for once. Sasha told me how to un-mate her, and I did it.”

  “Are you mad?”

  Rhyn looked up from the book. Gabriel looked truly confused.

  “I don’t want to talk about it. Just found it interesting that I’m not having issues blowing things up,” he said. “You know why?”

  “No,” Gabriel said after a long pause. “Unless … you gave up your bond but she didn’t give up hers.”

  “Didn’t know it worked that way.”

  “Because no one ever does that, Rhyn. It’s madness.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it!” he all but shouted. He dropped the book, anger rising. Gabriel returned to his dummy, beating it with renewed strength. Rhyn rested back on the boulder and closed his eyes to the rhythmic sounds of waves and Gabriel trying to kill the practice dummy. He tried to ignore his thoughts and didn’t hear Kris’s approach until his eldest brother spoke.

  “Rhyn, now.”

  He twisted his head to see Kris standing outside of a portal. Unconcerned with what his brother might want, he rested back again.

  “It’s about Katie.”

  His heart almost stopped at the grim note in Kris’s voice. Gabriel turned at the words, and Rhyn rose. Kris gave no explanation, simply strode into the shadow world. Rhyn trailed. They entered Kris’s conference room, where Jade paced on the far side. The object sitting in the middle of the table made his blood run cold.

  It was a severed hand, a woman’s hand by its small size. Fury flooded him, and he started toward Jade. Kris caught him and shoved him back into the wall with his forearm across Rhyn’s throat.

  “We don’t know where she is, brother, and we never will if you kill him!” he hissed.

  “I can make him talk!”

  “No! You know I will not break my oath to you. Let me handle this.”

  Rhyn wanted to change into his demon shape and rip Jade’s head off. But Kris was right; this was time to think, not act. Gritting his teeth loudly enough for Kris to grimace, he nodded.

  “Tell Rhyn what you told me, Jade,” Kris said with calmness that made Rhyn’s blood boil more.

  “You didn’t need to bring the half-breed here. Darkyn wants the untainted vial. I will trade you her for the vial.”

  “You were behind the demons attacking us,” Rhyn snarled.

  “That was Sasha.”

  “Fucking liar!”

  “Rhyn! Shut it, or you’ll wait in the hall!” Kris snapped. “I don’t have the vial, Jade.”

  “Katie gave it to you,” Jade said.

  “It’ll do you no good. Ully modified it.”

  “We have Ully in Hell.”

  Rhyn paced furiously. His gaze fell to the hand, and he stopped suddenly, puzzlement easing his anger. Katie didn’t have fingernail polish on when he last saw her. He wasn’t sure he ever saw her with it on at all.

  “I want both of them back,” Kris demanded. Jade faltered and wiped his mouth. “Go and talk to whoever you have to and make this happen.”

  “Darkyn doesn’t negotiate, Kris,” Jade said.

  “Neither do I. You’re wasting my time,” Kris said coldly. “Go find your master and come back when you have an answer.”

  Jade’s face skewed, and he whipped open a portal, storming out. Rhyn moved to the table.

  “It’s not hers,” he said, relief pouring through him.

  “It’s Iliana,” Kris said. “We hadn’t seen her in a few days. I can’t imagine Jade would …”

  Rhyn saw the pained look that crossed Kris’s face. He wasn’t about to comfort a man he tolerated but didn’t like. He could, however, pity the woman whose hand was cut off.

  “He does have Katie,” Kris said. Rhyn looked up, anger stirring again. “He didn’t take her hand, which means Darkyn probably wants her alive. If they can’t figure out what Sasha did about the vial, they’ll need her and Ully.”

  “I’ll go to Hell and get them both.”

  “You wouldn’t survive. Jade said if they don’t get what they want, they’d unleash their demons on the human village. Darkyn’s smarter than I thought.”

  “I’m not going to leave her there to the demons!”

  “I’m the brain, you’re the brawn. You don’t think, Rhyn,” Kris said. “For now, your former mate is safe. That probably won’t last.”

  I doomed her. He couldn’t help the thought, and he dwelled on Gabriel’s words. He broke her ability to use his power while retaining her calming effect on him. He’d left her defenseless when he meant to leave her in peace. She probably couldn’t call forth a portal. How did he undo what he’d done when he wasn’t sure how she became his mate in the first place?

  “If you don’t figure it out in sixty seconds, I’m going to Hell,” he said and began pacing again.

  *

  Jade walked into Darkyn’s open chamber to find the demon arming himself for battle.

  “Master,” he said with a bow of his head. “I tried to get the vial from Kris. He’s demanding we return Ully.”

  “If we return the scientist, we won’t know if it’s tainted.”

  “Didn’t Sasha’s lab figure it out?”

  “He slaughtered everyone before he left. No one knows but those who are dead-dead.”

  Jade paced. There had to be a way to get the vial and keep the girl. He wanted her dead, but he couldn’t risk Darkyn’s anger before he had it. And if Darkyn knew the human was meters down the hall …

  “No doubt, you delivered my message to Kris that if I don’t get what I want, I’m taking out the human village,” Darkyn said. “I plan on doing it anyway. I want that vial or the girl, Jade.”

  “I’m not sure how to get it. I’ve got nothing to offer him.”

  “Didn’t Sasha have one of Kris’s Immortals? The demons passed her around. Give her back. And do it quick. I’m losing patience with you, my pet.”

  Darkyn strode past him, and Jade bowed his head again. He wiped his face and walked slowly down the hall. He didn’t even know if Iliana had survived what he did to her. He hadn’t thought he’d need her, or he would’ve taken the hand of someone else. He pushed the door open to his chamber and saw Katie on the bed with an unconscious Iliana. The woman had wrapped Iliana’s hand and elevated it, though the blonde’s wheezing led him to believe she wouldn’t last long.

  “You have to get her help, Jade,” the human whispered. “Isn’t there some part of you that wants to make this right?”

  “It’s too late for that. I’ve crossed all the lines.”

  “What lines? You hurt her, but you can fix it. It’ll be like you didn’t do anything to her at all.”

  “She’s not the only one I hurt,” he said. “The Immortals in the castle
.”

  “Sasha did that.”

  “I made him.”

  A look of horror crossed her face, and his anger boiled.

  “This is all because of you!” he shouted. “You made me do this! You made me hurt them.” He strode toward her, determined to beat some sense into her. She scrambled over Iliana’s body.

  “I believe you, Jade!” she said as she fled. “Sasha didn’t have to do what he did. He had a choice, and he made it. You can still make things right!”

  He shoved her against the wall, and she hunkered down.

  “You can make this right, Jade. Just get her somewhere safe. Leave me here for the demons to guard, if you want. She’s an innocent.”

  Her words fed at the small piece of him that didn’t want to live in Hell forever, that still thought he could go back to the Immortals and his old life. He released her and turned to look at Iliana.

  “Take her to a Sanctuary,” Katie said softly. “There’s an Ancient healer at the Caribbean Sanctuary. I know because I came from there. He could fix her fast.”

  “I can make things right,” he repeated.

  “Yes, Jade.”

  A knock at the door jarred him, and he whirled to see the demon that entered. It froze, looking from him to the woman on the bed before his eyes settled on Katie. Recognition passed over his face. Terror of Darkyn finding out made Jade snap, and he withdrew his machete. The demon was too surprised to react, and Jade hacked him down until the black walls were sprayed with demon blood.

  Chest heaving, he dropped the machete from his hand as he realized what he’d done. Darkyn would know he killed a demon. They’d do the same to him that they did to Sasha.

  “Sanctuary, Jade.”

  He turned at her voice and saw the girl shaking with her eyes averted from the mess. He snatched up his machete and crossed to the bed to grab and sling Iliana over his shoulder. He motioned Katie forward with his machete, then stopped her to drape the pillowcase over her head as he had when she entered Hell with him.

  Darkyn followed Jade as the madman hauled his two prisoners toward the portal to the shadow world. So far, everything was going as planned. Jade and Sasha would soon be out of his way, and his gamble on the hidden honor of Rhyn had paid off. Feeding Sasha information about the only way to break the bond— without telling him the breakage was only temporary— rendered the girl he’d been tracking for weeks vulnerable. The window of her weakness was short, only a week in mortals’ time, but long enough for him to act. If he took down the Council, too, he would be all the more content.

  Satisfied he’d outsmarted everyone, he waited for Jade to hack apart the demon warrior guarding the portal and then disappear into the shadow world on his way to where Sasha was, the one piece of information Darkyn didn’t have. He’d have the girl soon, and he’d create an army unlike any that preceded him.

  He leapt through the portal before it closed in time to see which one Jade chose. Darkyn pursued and peered through it with a slow smile, recognizing the place from Katie’s dream.

  Katie had never been so relieved to feel the chill of the shadow world! She stumbled but pressed herself to keep up, in case he left her there and she was trapped. When she emerged, she dropped to her knees, crippled once again by the sensation that hadn’t bothered her when she was bound to Rhyn.

  She whipped the pillowcase off her head and vomited, her insides burning hot then turning cold. Jade had led them onto a beach. She couldn’t see the Sanctuary through her blurry eyes, just the blue of water and the tan sand beneath her hands. When her body adjusted, she sat back.

  Jade was marching up the beach, Iliana flopping over his shoulder like a ragdoll. He seemed to have forgotten about her, and Katie stood unsteadily, hoping he’d brought them to the Sanctuary— and safety.

  She stumbled through the deep sand until her calves ached and her breathing was hard. When she reached the top of the beach, she paused to catch her breath before hurrying after Jade, whose determined walk soon outdistanced her. The Caribbean air was heavy and her body was soon covered with sweat. The outer wall of the Sanctuary appeared over a rise. Jade stopped and crouched, all but flinging Iliana’s body down. She drew near, both hopeful and dreading what he intended to do.

  “Stay here,” he ordered. “I want to kill Sasha first.”

  The madman had lost it. She said nothing to dissuade him. He darted up the hill and disappeared from view over the top. Carefully, she rolled Iliana onto her back and propped up her injured arm again. Blood was everywhere, and Katie peeled off her sweater to wrap around Iliana’s severed wrist. There were no trees for shade, and Iliana’s labored breathing worried her.

  She feared leaving the injured woman, in case Jade lurked on the other side of the hill or there were animals that might drag her away. Yet she wasn’t sure how else to get help. A group of boulders nearby offered some escape from the sun. Katie rose, hefted Iliana beneath the shoulders, and dragged the woman over to the shade. She lowered her and sagged against the boulder.

  “Sasha and Jade will soon be out of the way, leaving just us.”

  She recognized the familiar voice and froze. Her nightmares returned and for a moment, she wondered if this was one of them. She turned to face the creature who’d been stalking her in her dreams.

  He stood a head taller than her and thick, his eyes colder than Gabriel’s, and his heavy, lopsided features set off by neatly trimmed dark hair. She’d heard his name before.

  “Darkyn,” she whispered.

  “Katie.”

  “What do you want?”

  “A new breed of demon warrior, one that cannot be defeated by Immortals,” he said and glanced at her stomach.

  “You want more than my blood?” she asked, confused.

  “Much more. I want your daughter.”

  She stared at him.

  “Part demon, part Immortal, part human who’s immune to magic? Incredible.” He shook his head, and his eyes glowed. “And you, unmated by the half-breed, are ripe for the picking.”

  She didn’t want to remember she was utterly alone in facing him. He radiated the kind of quiet power Gabriel did. She wanted nothing to do with anything from Hell, especially this creature.

  “Who do you think told Sasha how your mating could be undone?” he went on. “Or who let him have the vial or who knew how to use Jade to get to Kris? I knew you were in Hell in Jade’s chamber.”

  “You couldn’t have known Rhyn would leave me.”

  “I took a chance, and it paid off. I helped strip away his chances of staying with you. He’s wild, like his mother, with an Immortal’s honor.”

  Coldness slid through her. Rhyn had been as manipulated as poor Jade, who was now crazy with guilt and anger. Rhyn had quit on her in the hopes she’d be safe, only to leave her more vulnerable than ever.

  Exactly where Darkyn wanted her.

  “Darkyn.” Gabriel’s voice startled her, and dread settled deeper into her stomach. “She’s on my list.”

  Darkyn looked from her to the assassin. Her tears rose at the sight of both creatures, one who wanted to drag her to Hell and the other who wanted her dead.

  “Normally I respect Death’s wishes,” Darkyn said. “But this time, I cannot, assassin.”

  “You cannot obstruct Death,” Gabriel warned. “This is one Code even a demon can’t break.”

  “If I may interject,” Katie voiced. “I understand my fate is either bad or really bad. But Gabriel, can you please help Iliana? Then you can argue all you want over who gets to kill me.”

  Gabriel glanced at Iliana’s still form.

  “You can save her or I can kill her,” Darkyn offered. Gabriel moved forward and touched his hand briefly to Katie’s head. She felt nothing.

  “She’s marked as Death’s,” he said. “You cannot take her to Hell.”

  “My master may disagree,” Darkyn said, dark eyes flashing. “I’m certain we can work this out between us, assassin. I have something you want and will trade her f
or it.”

  “You have nothing I want.”

  “The key to your newfound chains.”

  Gabriel went silent and still, and Katie looked up at him. His face was emotionless, but the impact of Darkyn’s words was unmistakable.

  “Gabriel, help Iliana,” she urged. “Deal with this shit when you get back.”

  He moved woodenly to lift the body at her feet and walked away, disappearing into a portal.

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

  “He sold his Immortal soul to Death so she wouldn’t kill Rhyn.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “Death bragged about her latest acquisition. It wasn’t hard to figure out why he did it after so long refusing to become Death’s slave,” Darkyn answered. His honesty terrified her; he knew he wasn’t going to lose and didn’t care what she knew before he took her to Hell.

  She’d never guessed the depth of Gabriel’s friendship with Rhyn. The assassin she’d come to accept as a fixture in her unusual life was suddenly more: he was Rhyn’s guardian angel as well as Toby’s, and her friend. She felt his pain once more at taking away everything Rhyn had and pitied the assassin, despite her predicament.

  Her gaze went to the sky, where the demon bird had appeared in her dream. Rhyn wasn’t there. Her soul felt empty, and tears rose. Her fate would be decided by a demon and an assassin, and she’d never see her Rhyn again.

  *

  “He’s not coming back,” Rhyn warned as they waited for Jade to reappear in the conference room.

  “Give him time,” Kris said again, though he’d begun to look more concerned.

  It’d been an hour. It felt like five hundred years in Hell. He was about to rise and open a portal to Hell— Kris be damned!— when an Immortal knocked and opened the door.

  “A lady from the Caribbean Sanctuary has come with news,” the Immortal said. “May I show her in?”

  “Don’t ask, just do it,” Rhyn snapped, earning him an irritated look from his oldest brother. He issued a challenging look in return. They’d spent the hour in the conference room without fighting or threatening to kill each other. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but it seemed to be a good thing. For now.