Just as he rounded the side of the castle, a hand grabbed his arm and yanked him back. The vice-like grip was tight as a steel band and he knew there was no escaping the angel bearing down on him with murder shining in his amethyst eyes. At first Haden didn’t recognize the raven-winged warrior coated in blood. Black goo dripped from the tips of his over-grown hair. Minor cuts and slashes marred his bare chest and arms. It didn’t help a damn thing that their eyes were all the same color—and glowing. The radiant hue masked any discernable features in the veil of darkness that cloaked Sheol. The only bursts of light came from beneath the ground in way of volcanic fissures, but the rising steam created a fog that obscured the bailey.
“Haden? What the hell are you doing here?”
He recognized that growling voice. He’d been on the receiving end of it more times than he ever cared to admit, truthfully. If this were any warrior other than Liam, he’d be in a fight for his life right now, so he couldn’t exactly say he was disappointed to see the asshole.
“I came here to kill Gahn.”
“Where is he now?”
The murderous glint in Liam’s eyes promised a slow painful death was in store for that bastard. Too bad he was already—“Dead.” Haden yanked his arm from Liam’s grip and began making his way toward the rear of the castle. Not exactly an easy feat with the ground splintering into a maze of molten lava.
Before Haden could make it ten steps, Liam was on his heels, jerking him back around to face him. “Are you sure? Because we thought, Max was dead and look how well that turned out.”
“He’s dead, too—again. In case you’re wondering, it isn’t so difficult to kill a ghost, after all. Just wait for them to take corporal form and then cut their head off—worked quite nicely, actually.”
“Good to know.”
Haden again yanked free of Liam’s grasp and skirted a widening fissure racing toward the foundation. The castle shook and began to tilt, sending a new wave of mortar and rock crumbling down around them. The fist gripping his heart squeezed tighter. He had to get to Olivia before it was too late.
“Where is Olivia?” Liam demanded, keeping pace at his side.
“In the tunnels leading from the dungeon to the bailey.”
“You left her in a dungeon?” Liam roared, stepping into his path and forcing Haden to stop.
Exhaling a frustrated sigh, he said, “No, I left her in the tunnels leading to the dungeon.”
“You what? Why in the hell would you do that? This fucking castle is about to come down!”
“Thanks for the FYI,” he growled, shoving past the surly angel. “I wasn’t aware. And here I thought it was raining butterflies on my head instead of rocks—my mistake. What in the hell was I supposed to do, Liam? Waltz her out the front door? Stellar plan, that. How about you stay the fuck out of my way? Better yet, help me find her before it’s too late.”
“The door is that way.” Liam pointed in the opposite direction Haden was headed, shooting him a skeptical glare as if he doubted Haden’s intentions.
“That’s not the door we’re searching for. But thanks for that, Mapquest.”
Of all the ways Olivia imagined dying, not once did she consider it’d be trapped inside the bowels of Hell. Haden should have been here by now. And that he wasn’t could only mean one thing—he was dead. At that thought, tears stung Olivia’s dust-burned eyes and she wiped them away with the back of her hand. Her chest tightened, making it difficult to draw what little breath she could get through the dusty haze, choking on the powder coating her throat. She prayed he didn’t suffer, and that death did not claim him before he’d taken Gahn with him.
Through the stone-cracked walls, she could hear the battle raging outside. Liam was so close, and yet so impossibly far. He was her last hope of getting out of here alive, yet how would he ever find her buried between all this rubble?
Exhaling a defeated sigh, Olivia sat upon the ground and leaned her back against the broken stone wall. She thought about yelling for help, but it was too difficult to force sound past her ash-dry throat. Dropping her hand to her stomach, she caressed the little life growing inside her and whispered, “I’m so sorry this is happening to you. You deserved so much better than this.”
As if in response to her voice, a blossoming heat began to stir beneath her hand and she felt the slightest flutter, gentle as butterflies’ wings, batter against her stomach. A choking sob escaped her throat as joy-laden sorrow clutched her heart.
“You can hear me, can’t you?”
Spreading heat and another flicker of movement answered her.
“I want you to know that your daddy and I love you very much. And he’s fighting very hard to reach us. Outside theses walls, there’s an entire army warring to bring us home. We must pray for their safety and perseverance. As long as your daddy draws breath, he won’t ever stop searching for us.”
Olivia wasn’t sure if it was hearing her promises spoken out loud, or perhaps the supernatural stirring deep in her womb that flooded her with inner peace and hope. But the rising panic that had clutched her heart, shredding her resolve, slowly began to ebb. She was talking to her little one when the sound of muffled voices, curt and bantering, echoed through the mound of collapsed rock.
Her heart leapt with hope and she scrambled to her feet. Bracing her hands against the rubble, she leaned closer, straining her ears to hear while praying it wasn’t her imagination.
“I still can’t believe you left her down here alone!”
“I already told you why I had to leave her. Ungrateful prick...”
“If anything has happened to her, I swear to God…”
Liam? “Liam!” Olivia cried into the rock pile. Her throat closed around her cry, sending her into a coughing-fit.
The ass-chewing abruptly quit, followed by a moment of silence. Then, “Olivia? Olivia can you hear me?”
Relief swept through her like a tidal wave. Oh, thank God he’d found her! And by the sounds of it, Haden was with him. He wasn’t dead, after all. “Yes!” she cried. “I can hear you!”
“Are you hurt?” Tension strained his voice.
“No. I’m just a little scraped up, but I’m okay.”
“Can you backtrack to the stairwell?” Haden asked, sounding just as torn up as Liam did.
“No. I can’t go back that far.”
“We’re just going to have to dig her out,” Liam told Haden.
“I’m not sure we have time,” Haden replied, his voice hushed. “This castle could come down any moment.”
Yeah, they probably hadn’t intended for her to hear that.
“Well, if you have any better ideas, I’d love to hear them.”
Haden muttered an ear-blistering curse, and the scuttle of sliding rock and thud of thrown boulders echoed through the wall. “Hang on, sweetheart. We’re going to dig you out.” The confident ring of Liam’s low commanding voice did not mirror the bantering conversation between him and Haden. She knew he was just as scared as Haden was that they wouldn’t reach her in time.
As if on cue, the earth trembled again and the castle groaned in pain. The ceiling above her began to crack, fissuring like a sheet of ice. After another round of muffled expletives, the thundering pace of rocks hitting the ground intensified.
“What side are you digging on? I’ll start from this end.”
“Left,” they shouted in unison.
“My left or your left?”
“Your left.”
All right then. Olivia climbed the mountain of rock as high as she dared and began shoving them to the ground. If she didn’t get out of here alive, no one would ever say they hadn’t done everything in their power to save her.
“Get out of the way, Kyro,” Liam growled.
“Let him through,” Haden said. “He’s a dog, for crissake. He can dig faster than we can.”
“Kyro is here?”
Had Liam taken her dog into battle? Before either of them could answer, the hell-hound let out o
f deep woof that sounded surprisingly…close. The cacophony of tumbling rock filled the tunnel and within minutes, a little hole in the pile of rocks began to appear.
“He’s almost through!” she cried. A moment later, a slobbery snout poked through and Kyro shook his head as he wedged it past the narrow opening, making it wider.
The beast greeted her with another woof that was nearly deafening as it boomed in the small space.
“Kyro, get back,” Haden commanded.
The massive boxy head disappeared and then an arm reached for her through the opening. She couldn’t tell who the arm belonged to in the torch’s low light. It didn’t matter. She just wanted out of here.
“Take my torch,” she said, shoving it into the outstretched hand. She didn’t want to extinguish her only source of light. The hand and the torch momentarily disappeared, leaving her in total darkness. Okay, perhaps she should have kept that, though crawling through a small hole with a blazing fire stick didn’t exactly sound like the greatest plan, either.
“Take my hand, Olivia.”
Liam… Just the sound of his voice nearly brought tears to her eyes. She reached out in the darkness toward where she’d seen his arm. Her hand connected with his and he gripped her in a hold that promised he’d never let go.
“Now climb through,” he instructed.
Jagged rocks bit into her knees and palm as she climbed through. She’d just poked her head through the hole when the earth began to tremble and the castle shook like it had a bad case of the rigors. The tenuous ceiling began raining down bits of rock and sand around her.
“The ceiling is going to coming down!”
Both Liam and Haden growled some nasty curses, and with less than a gentle tug, Liam yanked her through the small opening and into his arms. It hurt like hell and she let out a surprised yelp as sharp rocks scraped her stomach and legs. He crushed her against his chest, his heart beating wildly against her breast.
“You came!” It was all she could manage to get out past the tears clogging her throat.
“Of course, I did,” he crooned. Something downy soft brushed against her arms, wrapping her in a cocoon of masculine strength and warm muted spices. She inhaled a shuddering breath, trying to rein in her crumbling emotions before she completely lost it.
“We’ve gotta go,” Haden urged Liam under his breath when the castle groaned again, raining down another round of rock and sand. “This ceiling is coming down any minute.”
Despite the tenuous situation they currently faced, Olivia no longer feared she wouldn’t make it out alive. Perhaps it was a fanciful and unrealistic thought, but in her eyes, Liam was larger than life—a holy force to be reckoned with. He would keep her safe. That she stood here now, sheltered in his arms in a forbidden realm that was crumbling under the power of his mighty hand, was proof she had nothing to fear. Everything was going to be all right. With Haden at Liam’s right hand and Kyro at his left, who could stop them? They would get out of here, and she’d be home before she knew it.
In the years to come, every time Olivia would think back on this moment, a pang of regret would pierce her heart and she’d curse her stupidity. Had she really been so naïve to believe that Sheol would willingly release them from its unholy clutches?—not without a blood sacrifice, one of them would have to pay.
Chapter Forty-One
Liam pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and swept her into his arms as Haden led them through the tunnels. Olivia wrapped her arms around Liam’s shoulders and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes and pulled his familiar scent deep into her lungs. For some reason, his scent soothed the irritated sulfuric burn that set her throat and chest on fire.
She could hardly believe it. Liam was here… Everything was going to be okay…
He shifted his hold on her, pulling her tighter against his hard muscled chest. The welcoming heat of a down-filled blanket wrapped around her. His wings! Liam had gotten his wings back! But how? What promises had he given? What sacrifice had he made to be restored to his full angelic form? Everything came at a cost, and Olivia hoped the price he’d paid to rescue her wouldn’t be too great.
She resisted the temptation to ask him about his wings, or put voice to the hundred other questions flooding her mind right now, deciding instead to keep silent as Liam and Haden strode through the darkness at a brisk, determined clip. The torchlight offered little in the way of visual aid, though Haden charged through the tunnels as if sight were not an issue. The rattle of Kyro’s chain-link collar and the staccato clip of his claws sounded past the groaning of the castle.
Neither Haden nor Liam spoke beyond a short clipped comment or command. The chaos of war raged outside, straining the mounting tension as they raced for the exit, each step bringing them closer to either freedom or death—both awaited them beyond these castle walls.
What must have been seconds felt like an eternity, when suddenly they came to a dead end and stopped. What now? Had Haden taken a wrong turn somewhere?
“Here, Olivia hold this.”
Haden handed her the torch. Liam made no move to put her down and she was glad for it, much preferring the safety of his arms. In truth, after the day she’d had, she was utterly exhausted. Keeping up with these two as they raced through the tunnels, dodging falling rock, would have been an impossible feat. Haden quickly found the hidden door and wasted no time putting his back against it. Slowly, the rock wall slid open.
“Okay, when we leave here, head to the east gate. It will be the least guarded. The majority of the fighting right now is on the western side—” Just as he said that, three demons armed with a battle ax, a medieval broadsword, and a scythe-type blade, all charged past them. Haden shrunk back against the wall and scowled. “Or at least it was.”
For once, Olivia was grateful for the shadows, because the guards raced by without even a glance in their direction. Haden poked his head outside, checking to make sure all was clear and then glanced back at them. “If we’re going to go, now’s the time.”
Olivia didn’t think for one moment that either of these warriors hesitated out of fear—for themselves, anyway. They were trying to avoid getting into a situation that would leave her vulnerable.
Liam nodded, and as they passed Haden on the way out, he took Olivia’s torch, snuffing it out on the ground beneath his booted heel. She was about to protest when he explained, “We don’t need the light drawing attention to us. We’ll stay in the shadows as much as possible.” Then to Liam he said, “Be careful where you’re walking. This ground is like glass.”
With that final warning, they left the castle. Haden lead and Kyro took point. It was a good plan—a plan that would have no doubt worked splendidly if those three demons hadn’t doubled back.
Kyro’s low-warning growl sent the fine hairs on the back of Olivia’s neck standing on end. Both Haden and Liam froze in tandem, each whispering a muttered oath under their breath as they turned to see the demonic soldiers flanking them.
“Going somewhere?” the largest soldier growled, taking a bold step forward. Olivia wondered if he was the highest ranked among the three or perhaps just the most arrogant. Before he could get any closer, Kyro cut him off, the hell-hound’s eyes glowing crimson in the darkness. The dog peeled back his top lip, revealing a set of terrifying fangs that would make man or beast think twice about crossing his path.
“Here,” Liam turned to Haden and dumped her into his arms. “Take Olivia past the gates and transcend her back home. I’ll hold them off.”
“I’m not so sure you should try to fight them alone,” Haden said under his breath. “That one with the battle ax is the captain of Gahn’s guard. He’s very skilled and very deadly.”
“I’ll be fine. Kyro can stay with me. Just get Olivia out of here.”
Liam’s command broached no room for argument. She wanted to protest when Haden acquiesced, his grip on her tightening as if he expected her to start kicking up a fuss any secon
d. He knew her well, because she was ready to lay into both of them when Liam placed his hand on the side of her face and sternly told her, “Go with Haden—quietly. Don’t make any noise or you’ll only attract more of them. I promise I’ll meet you at home.”
Tears flooded her eyes. This couldn’t be happening. They couldn’t leave Liam behind! “No…” she whispered in a broken sob and reached for him, but Haden held her tight and took a step back, pulling him out of her reach. “Don’t do this!” she begged, struggling against Haden’s steely grip. She shot him a quick scowl that he returned with unwavering determination. There was no way in hell Haden was going to let her go.
“I have to, Olivia. It’s the only way you’re going to get out of here.”
Before she could protest further, Liam glanced at Haden and his handsome angelic face hardened to stone. “Take her,” Liam commanded briskly. “Now!”
It was a good thing Haden was holding her or she never would have let him take her away. With preternatural speed, he turned and raced for the gates. Olivia craned her head to see Liam, praying this wasn’t the last time she’d ever lay eyes on her heroic angel.
As he faced-off with the three demons, Kyro lunged for the closest, taking him to the ground. They hit hard, sending a vibration rippling through the ground like a tsunami. The rasp of Liam’s blade slipping free of the baldric nestled between his wings was the last thing she heard right before the rumbling sound of cracking earth. The ground splintered, and before Haden could get out of the way, it opened up and swallowed them both.
Fuck! As the ground gave away, the overwhelming sense of complete and utter failure clung to Haden like an anchor, accelerating their freefall into the fiery pit of Hell. A terrified scream tore from Olivia’s throat, piercing his heart. Acting on pure survival instinct, he shifted his hold on her, wrapping an arm around her waist and using his free hand to grasp at the roots reaching out toward them through the fractured earth.
The Redemption Series Page 134