by Reese Monroe
That meant Votar needed him, and for more than just getting Lena. Maybe there was hope to find a way out of this mess after all. Not that God was listening to him anymore, but he still threw up a quick prayer, because if he couldn’t find a way out of this, he’d be demon soon and God would forever turn His back on him.
Chapter Five
Tugging on Halena’s ears drew her out of the darkness. No, it wasn’t tugging. It was cutting. Pain roared through her, and her back arched on its own.
A wide, firm hand pressed down on her chest, pushing her back against the hard surface she lay on. She flexed her arms, but metal clanked, and pain’s fiery teeth chewed up her skin from her wrists.
Metallic blood poured into her mouth, gagging her. She went to move her tongue to assess the damage, but she had her answer.
She had no tongue.
She was in Hades again. Torture.
Flashbacks to the last time she’d been caught, when her Companion, Drucilla, had died trying to save her, blasted to the front of her mind with the force of a tsunami. Dru had come to rescue her from the demons’ torture. Halena had failed to protect Dru, and she had died. Died saving Halena.
No!
But wait. Halena didn’t smell sulfur so she couldn’t be in Hades. But where? How had she been captured? SLADE!
Her eyes flew open, and she cranked her head to the side. A tall, bulky demon stumbled away from her, knife in hand.
Her fangs descended, and a growl ripped through her.
He simply grinned and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Hello again, Gatekeeper!” Beady black eyes stared back at her, and he licked his lips. Halena probed his mind but was shut down before she got past how much he wanted to kill her.
High-level demon, too. How was he on Earth without the Shomrei knowing?
Theo.
“Don’t bother, Gatekeeper. You can’t call out to your brethren.” The demon nodded toward Slade, who stood near the door, watching. “I’m going to go let Votar know she’s awake. Watch her.”
Slade diverted his focus down in submission to the demon and nodded. He looked about as confused as a five-year-old lost in a supermarket. Son of a bitch. He’d drugged her. “How…?” Her voice was muffled. Pretty tough to talk without a tongue.
She rested against the rock-hard bed and took inventory of her situation. Metal clamps at her wrists and ankles secured her to a concrete slab. But it wasn’t burning granite. There were concrete block walls on three sides of her, but she faced bars. Much like the holding cells at her compound.
She wore a white—well, originally white—shirt that was stained with crimson. How long had she been unconscious? They’d already sliced out her tongue and appeared to have filleted her guts, if the amount of blood on the front of her T-shirt was any indication.
He. Will. Pay.
A snarl tore through her so violently she thought her beast had jumped through her skin. The Shomrei warrior wanted out. Wanted to decimate. So far only the fangs came. These damned restraints kept her pinned down. Vulnerable.
Not to death, just to eons of torture if she didn’t escape.
Theophilus! Beckett!
Nothing from her fellow Gatekeepers. Utter and complete silence.
“Here.” Slade pressed a bottle to her lips. “Just take sips.”
She took in what she could, swallowed some, then spit the rest in his face. “Asshole.”
He was demon? How’d he evade Halena’s detection? She hadn’t seen any charms on him. Nothing. Not even a tan line from a ring that’d been taken off. No mystical tattoos, either.
“I’ll…kill…you.” Damn him. She’d bared herself for him, let him touch her. Anger and embarrassment flamed beneath her skin, burning any feelings she’d ever had for the frat boy.
“I had to. I’m so fucking sorry, Lena. I—”
“Demon.”
Slade fell to his knees beside the concrete slab. “They’ll kill my sister, Lena. Addie. I— Fuck!” He leaped to his feet again. “I signed my soul to Votar in exchange for him releasing hers. I—you’re part of my transition.”
Shit. Slade was in transition. Not quite demon yet. That explained why he didn’t trigger anything in her. But that meant he was doing tasks for his master demon, this Votar asshole the other demon had mentioned, no doubt.
“What weff…” Damn, she couldn’t talk without her tongue. “…to do?”
“I didn’t catch that.” He stepped toward her with a cloth in his hand.
She tried to say it again but didn’t fare much better.
“What left…to do? What’s left for me to do for transition?”
She nodded.
“Final kill. I thought that’s why I had to get you here, but you can’t be killed.” He shook his head. “This is all fucked up, Lena. I—”
She shook her head and looked the other way, unable to bear the pain in his eyes. He’d seemed so carefree and youthful at the bar, even fun, but it was all a lie? He betrayed her—for his sister.
But he fucking drugged her!
“Warr, ahhh, we?”
“Where are we? Is that what you asked?” He brushed the cloth along her forehead. “France. Some compound. I don’t know how to stop them, Lena. They’re so strong. They’ll kill Addie.”
The desperation almost cramped her heart. Almost. While his motives were pure, she was chained to a slab of concrete, her tongue cut out, and by the looks of how red the once-white shirt was, her stomach had seen some serious action.
“How…long?”
“How long have you been here? Less than a day. You were out for about six hours. I—”
“So, our little Shomrei warrior has awakened.” A demon, at least six foot five with slicked-back hair, strutted into the cell, followed by the demon who’d been cutting her earlier.
This must be Votar.
Flares of orange swirled through his black eyes as he stared down at Halena. “How are you feeling?”
Even if she could talk, she wouldn’t say anything. No, it might be time to withdraw into her mind, disconnect for now. Then strategize once her mind cleared.
“You have many fans down here, Gatekeeper. The great Halena Girard, fervently sending demons to Hades with her trusty Mavet dagger. They’re lined up, waiting to take a blade to your skin.”
But how are they topside? If she’d sent them to Hades, they should not be able to get back. Her Mavet was a final vanquish. And she knew damn well they weren’t in Hades. What the hell was going on here?
“Ha. I can see your confusion.” Votar’s rancid breath covered her like soot. “I have my ways of getting my kind out unnoticed, just to pay you some attention. So, enjoy your time here while we play out the hand we’ve been dealt.”
Hand they’ve been dealt?
He glanced at Slade, then back to Halena and grinned. “This should get interesting…”
Chapter Six
Three demons strode into Lena’s holding cell, and Slade jumped up from the chair beside the concrete altar.
“Our turn,” the leader said.
“No.” Slade fisted his hand. He refused to let anyone hurt Lena again.
The demon growled. “What do you mean, no?” Fangs descended.
If only Slade had fangs, he’d fight all of them, even Votar. If it killed him, so be it. He couldn’t stand this any longer.
Lena was tortured daily, hourly on some of the days. Votar made Slade watch, too. For almost three fucking days he’d watched Halena get cut.
“Back off.” Slade had the blade he’d taken from Lena’s purse shoved down the back of his pants, ready to test out what he’d learned about it. Burning some demon skin would be just fine with him.
The two other demons fanned out so all three faced Slade like an immovable force of evil. A gang.
The leader had to be at least six and a half feet tall with biceps the size of tree trunks. “I’m going to snap you in half, fledgling. That bitch sent me to Hades five hundred years ago. It’s
my turn for payback.”
“She’s mine.”
The leader lunged, his fist landing solidly in Slade’s gut. His back rammed into the altar, and he was sure it cracked. He hopped to his feet, blade drawn. “Fuck you.”
The demon peered over his shoulder to his friends and laughed. Slade took that opportunity and buried the blade deep in the asshole’s chest, cracking through the rib cage. The demon let out a deafening howl before dropping to the floor, motionless, his eyes frantically bobbing from side to side.
The other two glared at Slade.
“That’s right, asswipes.” He kicked the downed demon in the gut.
“That’s a Mavet,” one demon whispered as they both backed away, hands up.
Slade watched them leave, then he dragged the paralyzed demon outside the cell. He wasn’t sure how long the creature would stay paralyzed once he removed the dagger.
Glancing at the open doorway, he realized he could run. Just take off. He could try to get to Addie— Shit, he couldn’t leave Lena. Besides, he was in France, and Votar had arranged everything from day one, so Slade didn’t have any money, no ID, no nothing.
He grabbed the weapon and bolted into the cell, closing the door behind him. Wiping the blade on his thigh, he backed toward Lena, still watching the demon.
The creature didn’t stir. No movement. Slade shoved the weapon in the back of his pants and returned to Lena’s side.
He dipped the cloth he’d torn from her shirt in his glass of water and dabbed at a cut on her thigh. It wasn’t healing as fast as the others.
“I’m so sorry, Lena.”
“I so want to kill you right now,” she whispered.
He froze. She’d not said a word since Votar had removed her tongue. Slade had almost puked when he’d done that, but it must have grown back.
“Get me out of here and…I’ll let you live.”
“I don’t have the key to your cuffs.”
She mumbled some things in French he didn’t understand, but he was fairly certain she’d cussed him up and down and called him every version of stupid in the French dictionary.
Slade glanced out the door and noticed the demon was gone. He hadn’t even heard him leave. It’d only be a matter of time before Votar came down here.
She growled. The menacing sound hit him hard in the chest, and there went that rumbling again deep inside him. What was that? It sounded like distant thunder, and his stomach always cramped after, like he was going to be sick.
Or like a vision was trying to come through.
The cuffs rattled, and she grunted. “If only I had my Mavets.”
Slade whipped around. “Your—”
The door swung open, and Votar palmed the bars as the door bounced back at him. Too bad it hadn’t smacked him in the face. That would have been sweet.
“Where is it?” Votar stormed Slade and wrapped his hand around his throat.
“What?” He clawed at the demon’s wrist, knowing full well what he was asking about.
Votar threw Slade across the room. He hit the brick wall with a thud and flopped to the ground, but pushed up right away. “Jinx said you stabbed him with a Mavet. Where is it and how did you touch it?”
Slade glanced at Halena. She was staring at him, eyes wide.
Votar curled his fingers around Slade’s throat and ripped the sleeve off his shirt. “You’re not marked. How are you touching the Mavet?”
“Marked?” Slade asked best he could through the noose around his neck.
“The Ahavah. It surfaces on the Gatekeeper’s human Mate. That’s the only explanation for how you can touch it.” He rubbed his hand along Slade’s shoulder. “Nothing.”
“He’s not my fucking Mate,” Halena said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Never.”
“My Oracles suggest otherwise, but there’s no Mark. Well, none yet. Now where is the dagger?”
He pinned Slade against the brick wall with one hand and used the other to grope along Slade’s sides, then around back.
“Ah!” Votar pushed off him, holding his smoking hand. Flesh sizzled on his fingers, and a slew of curses gushed out of his tight-lipped mouth.
Slade pulled the dagger from his waistline and held it up. “I hear that’s painful.”
“Don’t you get any ideas or I’ll kill Addie, Slade.” Votar pointed at him. “I won’t hesitate to slice her up in pieces until she’s not even recognizable through dental records. You hear me?”
“You can’t. We have a contract. My soul for hers. So don’t fucking go near her!” Slade pointed the weapon at Votar, working hard to keep the trembling to a minimum.
“If you weren’t the One, I’d slit your throat.”
“The One, huh? What’s that mean?” At least that explained why Slade was still alive. Votar needed him for something.
The veins along Votar’s forehead pulsed, and his eyes narrowed, but the prick didn’t say anything more. Slade had never seen him more angry. Plus, Votar’s hand was oozing, and two of his fingers were nothing but bones sticking up.
That alone gave Slade hope. If this Mavet was so powerful, maybe Lena could use it to get free and go protect Addie. But why would she do anything for him? He’d betrayed her.
Then again, when he’d told her why, the hard, tense edge to her face softened—a fraction.
Maybe, just maybe…
…
“You’ve got a Mavet?” Halena twisted against her restraints. “Give it to me.”
Slade stepped toward her, then stopped and glanced at the door. “You said this might help free you?”
“Yes. Give it to me before he gets back with reinforcements.”
“Do you know why I can touch it?”
“You shouldn’t be able to. Not unless we—mate.” And that wasn’t going to happen. “Come on, hurry.”
Stepping closer, Slade cupped his shoulder. “Ahavah Mark. That’s a tattoo of some sort that surfaces on a human, identifies them as a Gatekeeper Mate.”
“Look. I promise I won’t kill you if you help me out of here. Give—”
“Tell me, first.”
“Infuriating frat boy.” Halena rested her head back and closed her eyes. “The Great One chooses a Mate for every Gatekeeper. A human. He or she is marked with a tattoo—the sacred Ahavah. When it surfaces, the Shomrei—”
“That word, Shomrei, that’s another word for Gatekeeper?”
“We’re Shomrei warriors, the Gatekeepers of Hades. So yeah, Shomrei, Gatekeeper, they’re both me.”
“What happens when the Ahavah surfaces on the human?”
“The Shomrei feels it. We can find our Mate anywhere, for the most part. The Mark calls to us. The human gets sick, his or her body preparing for the changes.”
“Changes. Like what?”
“Becoming a Shomrei. Immortal. Now, can you please get me out of here?”
“Then what happens?”
“First, you tell me something. What do you think he meant by the One?”
“Whatever it is, it’s keeping him from killing me. I haven’t cooperated much when it comes to you. Especially when I melted Votar’s hand with this.” He held up the Mavet. “And that other demon was here to torture you, and I stabbed him. It paralyzes the demons, doesn’t it?”
Halena nodded. “If the blade’s in his body, yes. Once out, it’s not long until they can move again. So, the One. Meaning…?”
“Votar said that I was the only one who could have gotten you here. That the Oracle, Bastian, had foreseen it or something. Well, saw me and you together somehow.”
Halena didn’t like the sound of “together” at all. And all this Mate talk. Theo’s Mate, Sadie, had been able to touch the Mavet before they fully mated. But she’d already had her Mark. So what the hell was Slade?
“What happens after the Mark on the human?”
“Shomrei touches the human and gets his or her Mark. When they…kiss, the bond strengthens, and when they fully mate—have sex—their lives are c
onnected.”
“And you’re immortal… How old are you then?”
She eased up again as much as the restraints would allow her. “Eight hundred three. Are we done playing Twenty Questions yet? I’d really like to get out of here before your master shows up.”
“One more thing.” He cleared his throat. “I need a favor.”
“You did not just say that.”
“If I help you escape, you have to promise to go to Addie. Protect her.”
“And why would I do that?” Shit. Playing on my protective gene, so not fair.
“By you escaping…what if they take it out on her? Like, punish her. I don’t know. I just…need her safe.”
Damn, this guy never stopped thinking about his sister, did he? Had to respect him for that. There weren’t many selfless humans out there anymore. Not that she wanted to respect him at the moment, considering she was chained to a concrete slab. And she really wanted to hate his guts for betraying her.
Though the concern in his eyes wasn’t helping her resolve any.
“Fine.”
“Vow it.”
“Excuse me?”
“I heard demons do vows and swear by the blood of—”
“For crying out loud, I vow it on my honor as a Shomrei. I will find your sister.”
“And protect her.”
“And protect her.”
“Just get to my hotel. My computer has her contact info. Addison. Password Addster.”
“Done. Now, can we get on with it?”
Holding up the dagger, he asked, “What do I do?”
“Just swing away. Try not to cut off my hand, though. It takes a while to grow back.”
Four well-timed swings on Slade’s part had Halena free. In a flash she was on him, hand secured around his throat, and pinned him to the wall.
Images of them together at his hotel, at the bar dancing and smiling, flashed before her eyes. It’d all been a lie, hadn’t it? To get her to his place and drug her.
“You vowed it.”
“Vowed to protect Addie, yes. Never said anything about you.” Empty words, she knew. She wasn’t going to hurt him, but he at least deserved a little scare for what he’d done to her.