Where There's Smoke

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Where There's Smoke Page 24

by Karen Kelley


  Chance whirled around, but Vetis was faster. He pulled a flaming sword from the air and lunged toward Chance. He moved, but not fast enough. The sword plunged into his side. He gasped.

  Vetis moved closer, twisting the metal. “Does it hurt, nephew?” He bared long, pointed teeth, his fetid breath filling the air around Chance. Vetis jerked the sword out of Chance and moved back.

  Chance glanced down at his wound. Blood streamed from his side. He was almost consumed by the burning pain. He looked up at Vetis.

  “Didn’t you know that you can’t heal from a demon’s sword?”

  Vetis lunged again, but this time Chance moved away from the sword’s edge.

  “You can run, but I will find you and finish it!”

  Chance closed his eyes, then reached into the air and brought out a golden sword. When he stepped from behind the tree, he faced the demon with a glint of determination in his eyes.

  “I won’t run, demon, but I will kill you.”

  Vetis was startled enough that he lost the advantage. Chance moved fast, even with his bleeding wound. He thrust hard and caught Vetis in the thigh.

  “What about you, Vetis, will you heal when I wound you?” He stepped back, but saw the fear in Vetis’s eyes and had his answer. So the demon could be killed, and from the look on his face Vetis saw his own destruction.

  Chance raised his sword high, ready to end the game they played, but Vetis’ next words stopped him cold.

  “You might find it difficult to fight me if you’re busy trying to save the woman you love.”

  Cold chills ran down Chance’s spine. “We had a bargain, demon! What have you done with her?”

  “A bargain? With a demon? A bit of an oxymoron if you ask me.” His laughter was like glass falling to a tiled floor and shattering on impact. “Demons don’t honor bargains,” he sneered.

  “Where’s Destiny!”

  “I’m only fulfilling the verdict handed down by the tribunal. She’s burning. Don’t you hear her cries?”

  Chance cocked his head to the side, listening. Destiny’s screams of pain reached his ears.

  “Destiny, where are you?” He whirled around, searching.

  “You can’t help her.”

  Chance grabbed a nearby tree as his legs suddenly went weak. Her screams tore at him, ripping him to shreds.

  “She’s lost to you forever, nephilim! You’ll never be able to save her now.”

  He closed his eyes, could feel her touching the angel necklace he’d bought her. The fire rose up around her, burning her skin.

  And in that moment he knew where Vetis had hidden her.

  Without stopping to think about what he was doing, he ran forward, leaping over the trees, over the lake the nephilim had created so long ago. The closer he got, the louder her cries became. Then the fires were there in front of him.

  Chance had never entered by himself. To do so would be certain death. No one could make it out alone. But he had no choice.

  He stepped into the fire. The flames licked his flesh, burning his skin. “Destiny,” he yelled over the popping and hissing.

  “Chance!”

  He trudged toward her voice, fighting his way through the fire until she was there before him. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to shield her as much as he could, taking the brunt of the heat.

  “I’m sorry. So sorry. I didn’t want you to suffer, too,” she cried. “Oh damn, it hurts so much.”

  “I know, but we’ll find our way out.” He gritted his teeth as flames scraped down his back. For a moment he couldn’t move, then he inched forward, making sure that Destiny was with him all the way.

  “You won’t find your way out.” Vetis’s words cut through the hissing flames. “I have beaten you.”

  “Never!”

  “Stubborn, just like your father. You might as well give up and accept your fate.”

  Destiny whimpered.

  “Everything will be okay,” he whispered close to her ear. But after only a few moments, Chance knew there wasn’t much hope of escaping the flames. Each step he took only led deeper into the fire. Somehow Vetis had trapped them both. They were doomed.

  “I love you,” he told Destiny. “More than life itself.”

  “I love you, too.” She rested her head against his chest, more than likely guessing the truth, knowing there was no hope. The odor of burning flesh surrounded him. Already the pain was unbearable.

  A hand clamped down on his shoulder. Chance turned.

  “Don’t give up yet, brother,” Ryder yelled above the crackling fire. He turned. Gripping his hand was Dillon, and with Dillon was Hunter.

  Chance couldn’t speak as emotions welled inside him. Of course they wouldn’t let him face a demon alone. They were brothers, not by blood but by the bond they’d formed over the centuries.

  Chance held Destiny close and together they forged their way out of the fire. When they stepped from the fire, rain showered down on their heads. Chance dropped to his knees, consumed by weakness. He held Destiny close, letting the rain once again heal his scars and ease his pain, until he was whole except for the wound Vetis had inflicted, but even that had been cauterized by the fire.

  Chance should have known the others watched over him, as they had done for centuries. He was safe. Destiny was safe. He’d never let the demons have her!

  “You’re free, my love,” he told her as he glanced down. Her scars healed, but there was no breath left in her. His world crumbled as he pulled her lifeless body against his chest.

  “No!” he cried. “You cannot take her from me!”

  “She’s dead,” Vetis scoffed. “Haven’t you realized yet that I own her soul?” He held up a glass bottle with bright colors swirling inside.

  “Give her back. We had a bargain!”

  “Never!” Vetis shot back. “Only when I have your soul will I open the bottle and free hers.”

  Chance gently laid Destiny on the ground and stood.

  “Don’t do it, Chance,” Ryder told him.

  “You can’t,” Dillon and Hunter chimed in.

  “I’ll do whatever it takes.” Chance squared his shoulders.

  “Fool!” Vetis told him, but then he smiled. “You’re just as stupid as your father. He fell in love with a mortal woman and was banned from returning to Earth. He could have had his family if he would have changed allegiances. He chose to give you up instead, and now you’re mine!”

  Chance raised his chin. “First, let her go.”

  “You want to spend all eternity with her?” Vetis laughed.

  “Free her,” he quietly told the demon. “Free her and you can have me.”

  “Then let it be done.” Vetis threw the vessel that held Destiny’s soul. The bottle crashed against a tree. The vapor inside swirled in the air before coming to rest on Destiny.

  Destiny inhaled a deep breath. Her eyes fluttered open, her gaze fearful, then softening when it landed on Chance. “You saved me.”

  His own smile was bittersweet. “Always know that I have loved you since the moment we first met.” Chance turned to Vetis. “End it,” he growled.

  Chapter 27

  Vetis howled with glee. “I have won!”

  Ryder glared at the demon and stepped forward, Dillon and Hunter at his side. Before they could take more than a couple of steps, Chance stepped in front of them.

  “We made a bargain,” he told them.

  “A bargain with a demon,” Hunter spat. “We won’t let him take you.”

  “Her soul or yours?” Vetis said. In his hand was a bottle just like the one he broke to set Destiny’s soul free.

  “No!” Destiny cried as she struggled to her feet and rushed to Chance’s side. She clung to his arm, her eyes filled with tears. “What have you done?”

  “I’ve set you free. Hunter, Dillon, and Ryder will take care of you. No one will ever hurt you again.”

  She suddenly pushed away from him. “And you think that is supposed to make me feel better?
My life was messed up from the start.” She shook her head. “I won’t let you take my place in Hell.”

  “You have no choice. His soul belongs to me!” Vetis stretched his arm toward Chance.

  Chance gasped as he felt the demon’s power reach inside him. He dropped to his knees as his life force began to leave his body. His world grew bleak and dark. From a distance, he heard Destiny cry out.

  “God forgive me, but I had no choice,” he whispered.

  The clouds above split apart and a burst of blinding light crashed to earth. The ground shook beneath their feet.

  “No!” Vetis shouted to the heavens. “You have no right!”

  With Vetis’s attention diverted, Chance’s soul was released. He gasped, his knees growing weak. Ryder grabbed him on one side, Destiny on the other as they supported him.

  He looked around. “What happened?”

  Vetis slouched to the ground, his body trembling as he tried to cover his head. “You’re not allowed,” he whined.

  Chance stilled as the light crept over the ground, settling on Vetis. The demon cried out as if he’d been burned.

  “What have you done, Brother?” came a voice from the heavens.

  Brother? Chance searched the sky until finally the beams of light came together and an angel drifted slowly to earth. He was the most beautiful man Chance had ever seen. The angel was larger than life.

  He wore a white robe and there were golden sandals on his feet. His face was lined and there were streaks of gray in his dark hair. But the gentleness Chance saw on the angel’s face brought tears to his eyes.

  Chance knew him, even though he’d never met him before now. This was not a man who would ever forget his child. This was his father, and he’d felt his presence before but hadn’t known the intense feeling of love had come from him. Chance thought his father hadn’t cared, but he’d been there all the time.

  “You owe me, Jacob!” Vetis snarled, drawing everyone’s attention back to him.

  “I owe you nothing.” Jacob sadly shook his head.

  Vetis glared at his brother. “You left me to burn in the fires of Hell!”

  Chance felt his father’s deep sadness. His emotions ran so deep that Chance ached all the way to his soul.

  “It wasn’t I who caused your downfall, Brother. You chose the wrong path, even after I begged you to stay.”

  Vetis crept behind a tree, crouching low as if he was afraid of the aura surrounding the angel. “We had nothing! Only crumbs.”

  “We had everything. You never saw the perfection of our world.”

  “You gave up your wife, your child!”

  “But I have my wife back, and someday, when the time is right, Chance will join us. We’ll live the rest of eternity together.”

  “But I have your son’s soul!” Vetis reminded him.

  “You never had his soul.” A tear fell from Jacob’s eye. “I can’t save you, Brother.”

  “Do you still think I want to be saved?” He stood, coming from behind the tree, proud of his demon form. “I am who I am!” His gaze darted over the others until it landed on Destiny. “And she will return with me as well!”

  Chance grabbed Destiny, pulling her against his side. “Never!”

  His father’s light moved to surround all four nephilim and Destiny. Chance gasped as the beauty filled him with an unbelievable peace and joy.

  “The girl no longer belongs to you. She redeemed herself many times over.”

  “She gave her soul to Satan!”

  The angel shook his head. “No, she gave up her soul so that she could protect a friend, then again to protect my son. Her soul is no longer yours to take.”

  “We had a bargain. What do you say to that? You can’t go against the rules. You know that as well as I.”

  “But I haven’t,” Jacob told him.

  “You’re trying to trick me.”

  Chance looked at his father, wondering what he was up to. His father looked at him and smiled.

  “A deal was made that if a person not yet a demon were to stay on Earth for one week and one day, their soul would be returned from whence it came.” He looked at the sky as the sun began to rise on the horizon. “It has been one week and one day. Her soul no longer belongs to you.”

  “I took her to Hell!”

  “No, you created an image to bring my son to you. She never returned to Hell. There was no tribunal. It was only a lure to steal something that didn’t belong to you. But you forgot about the passage of time while you fought with Chance.”

  Vetis yelled and shook his fist. “You cheated! This isn’t over, Brother!” Before anyone could blink, Vetis reared back his arm and threw a deadly bolt of lightning straight toward Chance’s heart.

  Chance shoved Destiny out of the way, bracing for the death blow, but a golden shield shot up in front of him. The bolt of lightning hit with such force that it ricocheted off the shield and shot back toward Vetis. Before the demon could even move, the bolt plunged into his chest.

  Vetis stumbled back, hands grasping the bolt of lightning. In stunned surprise, he looked up. “You have killed your own brother? Flesh of your flesh?”

  Jacob sadly shook his head. “No, I would not harm you, Vetis. It is by your own hand that you die.”

  Vetis reached toward Jacob. “Then I am free at last?”

  Jacob cast a warm light over Vetis and he transformed from demon to a man with similar features of his angel brother. “Yes, you are now free.” A tear dropped from Jacob’s eye, landing on Vetis. His body dissolved into a mist and was no more.

  Chance closed his eyes, brushing his lips against the top of Destiny’s head. He felt as if he’d aged ten lifetimes.

  “You’ll have to let her go,” his father said as he turned toward his son.

  Destiny stiffened in his arms. “I won’t be born again,” she said, stepping away from Chance.

  Chance wanted to pull her back against him and protect her from his father. Angels were notorious for their tempers if someone pushed them a little too much. What the hell was she thinking?

  “Destiny, we don’t have a choice,” he told her. “I’ll make sure your next life is better than your last. I swear.”

  “As my guardian angel?”

  “Yes. I’ll watch over you.”

  “It ain’t happenin’, babe.” She shook her head. “I’ve never had a choice. It’s time I did.”

  As brave as she tried to act, Chance saw the fear in her eyes, but she didn’t look as if she would budge.

  She planted her hands on her hips and faced the angel. “I refuse to be born again.”

  Chance’s father turned his full attention upon Destiny, glaring at her. “You would question me? An angel?”

  She drew in a deep breath and stood tall. “Yes, I would.”

  The angel looked at his son. “And you want her? Still? In all her stubbornness?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “And so you should,” the angel told her.

  Chance stepped to her side once more. He felt her body trembling, but she held her ground.

  “She deserves some happiness,” Chance told Jacob.

  “And can you give her what she desires?”

  “I think so.”

  “For all eternity?”

  “And then some,” Destiny told him, raising her chin.

  The angel shook his head. “The nephilim have always been unconventional.”

  Jacob exhaled a deep breath, then narrowed his eyes as his gaze moved from one nephilim to the next. Dillon, Hunter, and Ryder began to fidget as they came under his scrutiny.

  “But the fathers have all loved their offspring. We did not forget, as Vetis claimed. We have watched over all of you, even though you worry us at times. You are our sons and our daughters. We could do no less.”

  “Then I can stay?” Destiny asked.

  “Yes, you may stay.” He suddenly frowned. “But be warned: you are not to meddle in the lives of mortals. Our children do e
nough of that already.”

  Chance bowed his head toward the angel. “Thank you, Father.”

  As Jacob began to ascend, he spoke one last time. “Remember, you are all part angel, immortals. Try to at least be somewhat circumspect in your dealings with mortals. The occasional miracle, yes, barroom fights, no.”

  Hunter fidgeted.

  “And womanizing,” his attention turned to Ryder, whose gaze dropped to his feet, “will not be tolerated.” Jacob sighed. “Please try for a little decorum.” The clouds closed as he blended in and disappeared.

  “Is he gone?” Destiny asked.

  “Yes, he’s gone.”

  “That was your father?”

  Chance grinned. “Yeah, it was.”

  Hunter frowned, not looking at all happy with the events that had transpired.

  Ryder lightly punched Hunter on the arm. “What’s wrong with you? Everything has turned out pretty good, but you’re frowning. What’s up?”

  Hunter looked at everyone. “Didn’t you hear him? He said all our fathers have been watching us.”

  Ryder shrugged. “So?”

  “Oh yeah. I see what you mean,” Dillon said, looking as though a light bulb was suddenly turned on.

  “What?” Ryder demanded.

  “Think about it, Romeo,” Dillon said as he stared at Ryder. “They’ve been watching us—watching us. We haven’t exactly been saints.”

  Ryder’s mouth dropped open. “Oh fuck,” he breathed, then quickly looked upward. “I mean crap… Oh hell, I don’t know what I mean.”

  Chance laughed. “If they were going to do anything, don’t you think they would’ve done it before now?”

  Hunter slowly nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  Chance sensed how nervous Destiny had suddenly become. Being around four men would take a little getting used to, but he had no doubts she would soon fit in. When she eased out of Chance’s arms, he knew he wasn’t about to let her run away.

  “Don’t even think about it.” Chance grabbed her arm and pulled her back into his embrace.

  “Think about what?” she asked, evading his gaze.

  “That you’re not a part of me now. You’re a part of me forever.”

  “You could at least introduce us to our new sister,” Ryder said.

 

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