by Kim Faulks
Purity’s hand slipped from my hold, and at first, I didn’t notice.
My mind was racing, trying to put all the pieces together.
Roger’s fingers danced across the keyboard as someone yanked the door handle. Me.
“You can’t get out,” Roger murmured. “Not without a key.”
Steel howled and then gave a crunch as the door wrenched from its hinges. I jerked my gaze toward the sound as Purity strode through, leaving the twisted remnants behind.
“What the fuck?” Roger snarled.
I strode after her, glancing at the jagged edges of twisted metal. My heart squeezed at the sight. The sight was a slap.
“What the fuck is going on, Hound?” Redemption growled behind me.
But the answer was…I had no idea.
A boom rang out along the hall. Hurried footsteps carried along the space…sirens followed, blaring as Purity lowered her shoulder, took one step back from the doorway at the end of the hall, and drove her body forward.
Metal and wood gave way.
Black crowded the doorway, splashed across the floor, and smeared across the walls inside the room.
I hurried, heart hammering as I neared the doorway…and the unmistakable foul scent of Demon blood filled my nose.
A man’s scream cut through the air behind me. I glanced toward the sound as movement caught the corner of my eye. Roger beat the air in front of him, arms wild. Blood bloomed along his arm.
“Get down!” Redemption screamed as he lunged for the mortal. “It’s a Soulless!”
But as I turned toward the room crammed with Demon bodies, I felt the air move beside me.
Unseen creatures spilled from the doorway…the same doorway where Purity stood.
Long blonde hair whipped from her shoulders as they crowded her.
There wasn’t just one Soulless…
There were too many to count…
Chapter Nine
Purity
Black blood all around me.
Against the walls.
Splashed on the floor.
Bodies in the corner. Arms with no torsos. Heads with no necks.
Acid spilled into my mouth as my boots slipped in the muck.
I was hit from the side and pitched forward, hand punching out to smack against the wall.
“Purity!” Melkor screamed.
His voice was like a blinding light…
Melkor…
Melkor!
Breath seared along my throat as I swung. Pain savaged my shoulder, and panic followed.
“Get down!” Melkor roared.
My knees trembled, threatening to take me down. My Hellhound was a blur through the open doorway. His hands gripped me, yanking me closer as my knees buckled and I fell to the floor.
My hand slipped in cold slick. Get up, the urgency filled me. Get up and fight. Screams all around me. Melkor’s eyes wide, lips moving…but there was no sound. Nothing but the churning inside my head.
Get up…
Get…the…fuck…up…NOW!
I pushed against the floor. My hand trembled, dragging higher to the waistband of my jeans. Something raced toward me…the movement a blur…but this time, I felt it.
I slashed out, midnight steel carving through the air. A scream filled the air, savage and feral…inhuman. Mel’s Hound pushed to the surface. His eyes blazed red with fury.
Behind him, the hallway was filled with darkness as the Unseelie drove his fist through the air, and swung again. I pulled back to myself, to the sense of knowing, and stumbled around the room.
Movement at the edge of my gaze. I turned my head and lost sight of it. But it was there…I could sense it.
Can’t see it…can’t see it.
A rush of movement. I swung with urgency, stabbing right where I knew I had to stab. Reflexes took over. I lunged forward, twisting and carving. My hands moved in a blur of motion as the thing howled and then tore free.
It went for him…my Hellhound, my Melkor. There was no way it was touching a hair on his head. I clenched my jaw and shoved forward, my steps a blur as I lashed out and sliced the air.
Melkor stumbled backwards, missing me by a hairsbreadth. It was all I could do to stay in the moment, hacking and slashing. I whirled from one blur to the next.
Somehow, I just knew where they were. I just knew how to reach out with one hand and impale with the Nephilim blade with the other. Time slipped away from me, seconds like a lifetime. All I cared about was Melkor.
In my head, I saw his torn shoulder. In my heart, I heard his pain.
Not touching him.
I stabbed.
Not hurting him again.
I slashed.
“Purity,” Melkor’s voice crowded in.
Dark eyes stared into mine. Mel lifted a hand and took a step closer. Heavy breaths consumed me, sawing in and out of my throat. I tried to swallow, tried to lick arid lips. But my mouth was numb, hands and heart, too. I looked down at bloody hands and white fingers gripping the hilt of a blade.
“You’re okay now,” Mel murmured. “Look at me, Purity, you’re okay.”
My lips trembled when I stared at him.
He didn’t understand it wasn’t me I was scared for.
It was him.
“What the fuck was that?” Redemption snarled.
He stood in the middle of the walkway, Jesse and the man…his name escaped me, huddled close behind.
The Unseelie cut Melkor a glare. “I thought you told me she was goddamn mortal?”
I sucked in air and my fingers tingled as blood rushed to the tips.
“She is mortal,” my Hellhound murmured, and stared at me.
I focused my gaze on the cuts on his cheeks and the scratches along his arms. “You’re bleeding,” shell-shocked words slipped from my lips.
I tried to move, but my legs refused. My boots were stuck, welded to the floor by exhaustion.
“I’m bleeding?” stunned words slipped from Mel’s lips. “I’m bleeding?”
He took a slow step toward me, making me flinch. Careful hands, slow hands reaching for me. “Purity, did you see what you just did?”
I tried to remember what had happened, tried to piece it all together inside my head. But it was all a blur under the feeling of desperation. “I didn’t want them to hurt you.”
The flames in his eyes brightened, red turned to amber tinged with gold. “It’s just a scratch. That’s all…just a scratch. You…were…incredible.” He reached out, fingers dancing along my arm before they made contact.
Warmth swallowed me. I stumbled forward, lowering the dagger. His breath against my neck, words filled my ears. Tears flooded my eyes and spilled as my throat thickened.
A shudder broke free as I opened my hand and the blade crashed to the floor. I held onto him, fingers desperate to feel and touch…to make sure he was okay now.
To make sure he was whole.
He leaned backwards and captured my face in the palms of his hands. “You saved me. You saved all of us.”
Tears slipped free, leaving slick lines down my cheeks.
“That was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” Jesse muttered.
Anger burned in Melkor’s gaze as he turned his head and growled. “You’re fucking welcome. She just saved your goddamn life.”
Melkor lowered his hand to my shoulder. Concern flared in his gaze. “You’re hurt.”
I stumbled under the force of his touch. Fabric ripped. Agony flared where he pressed. The world seemed to wash away in front of me, gray replaced colors as my knees trembled once more.
“Hey,” Melkor called as my knees buckled.
He took my weight, cradling my body against his as we sank to the floor.
“I’ll get the pack!” Redemption roared.
Boots were thunder echoing in the air. A man cried out, snarling and demanding. I lifted my gaze to the balding man in the navy suit as the Unseelie warrior tore his key from the waistband of his trousers and made for
the stairs.
He was gone in an instant as the cold crept in. My teeth gnashed, chattered.
“It’s okay, honey,” Melkor murmured. “I’ve got you, it’s okay.”
“S-so c-cold-d…” mumbled words were all I could give him.
Red on his fingers as he pulled away from my back…red slipping down his hand.
Red all around me…except in my head. My eyelids fluttered, and then closed.
“Purity, stay with me. Purity…babe, you need to stay awake.”
Terror filled his voice…just like moments ago it filled his eyes. I wanted to stay here, to feel the touch of his hands.
But the warmth was slipping away from me, leaving an icy touch behind.
“Purity!”
Panic filled the air.
Boots thundered once more.
But I was lost to them, lost to my Hellhound…the man I loved.
Sleep called me, a dreamless slumber…a forgotten darkness.
My pulse thundered…and in the space between one thud and the next…I swore I called his name…
Melkor!
Chapter Ten
Melkor
“Purity!” I wrenched her shoulders from the floor, my fingers slipping in her blood. The metallic scent was all around me, filling my nose, burning in my mouth.
Voices slipped in. Gasps of horror, cries of shock.
“I’ll call a paramedic,” the asshole in the suit stuttered. “S-she’s b-bleeding all over the floor.”
I wrenched my gaze toward him, and rage spilled out. “Get the fuck away from her. Everyone…get the fuck away!”
Jesse stared at me like I was an animal…and in the moment, I was.
Her shoulders curled, long blonde hair spilled, soaking in the pool of blood. I pulled her close as boots thundered on the stairs and the Unseelie warrior charged along the landing. “Get the fuck outta my way!”
I lifted my gaze as he dropped to his knees, momentum taking him the rest of the way, sliding to a stop beside her. “She’s going to be okay, kid…she’s going to be okay.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I clutched her. Redemption tore the zipper of the med bag open with one hand and reached into his pocket with the other. Frantic snarls and demands filled my ears as I held her.
Not Purity…
Not Purity…
Not Purity…
“There’s a lot of blood,” Redemption barked into the phone. “Loss of life?”
He jerked his gaze toward me. Dark eyes clashed.
I shook my head. That wasn’t happening.
“Can I help her? No…I can’t do that. I said, no! Don’t fucking tell me. You know what happened the last time.”
And in a heartbeat, all the hurt came rushing back to me. All I saw was my father’s limp body in my arms. Redemption’s screams of desperation turned into Rykor’s. The pain swallowed me whole.
Her perfect face shimmered under my tears. “I can’t lose her,” thick, warped words slipped free. “I can’t…”
The Unseelie warrior met my gaze, cold dark eyes shimmered with power. There was an edge to the darkness now. His face contorted, his brow furrowed, twisting in pain. He cried out, dropped the phone, and the thing clattered to the hard floor. “What the fuck!”
Black markings rose along the side of his cheek, curling upwards and around his temple. He slapped a hand against his face, fingers probing for blood, before he lowered his hand and stared at his fingers.
But the black markings weren’t done, running along the hollow of his neck to disappear under the open collar of his shirt.
Something was happening to him…his body shook. His dark eyes glinted with something cruel and powerful.
“This…isn’t happening,” he snarled. “Not now…not after…”
He let out a tortured groan and rocked forward on his hands, dropping his head.
Something snarled in the air around us, something alive, and my Hound whimpered in fear.
I shoved forward, dragging Purity’s body closer. “Stop this.”
Redemption jerked his head up, black runes now covering his entire face. “It’s…not…me. It’s her…Unseelie.”
His hands shuddered and shook, his elbows buckled and then straightened, as though his body was not his to command anymore. “She wants…”
My fingers clenched around Purity, drawing her close. Unseelie? He meant the realm…that hunger, that darkness. It was all around me, spreading like a rash along his skin, whispering in my ear.
“How far are you willing to go?”
My stomach clenched in warning.
I knew what he was asking…knew deep down in my soul. There was a line we were nearing…a line no mortal could cross and survive.
“I can’t…stop…her. But…she will stop if you want to…let Purity go.”
Let her go…let her go…
I closed my eyes as Purity came to life inside my head. She was beautiful and glorious…and merciless in her love. She’d fought to protect me, gave her life for mine. She was better than anything I’d every believed I deserved.
Better than any realm could contain.
I’d never have another friend…not like Purity.
The woman who’d stolen my heart.
“Do it,” they weren’t words. They were nothing, they were aching. They were loneliness and betrayal…they were the glimpse of a future without her.
Tears slipped down my cheeks…she was so pale now. So still, so at peace.
Still the Unseelie stared at me and the landing around us grew cold. Shadows crept out from under doorways. Those who stood around us cried out in fear.
And the heavy thudding of my heart was all I could hear now.
“We do this and there’s no coming back, you hear me, Hound?”
I didn’t need to lift my head.
I didn’t need to see the truth in his eyes.
I saw it all…my truth without her. My truth hollow, consumed with rage. “If she goes…then I go, too.”
Night swept in with an icy wind. The Unseelie lowered his head, whispering words I didn’t understand.
Thick black markings rose under the surface of his skin, drawing lines like tattoos on his skin. I’d seen sigils like that once before…not witchs’ sigils…but those of the Shadowed world.
Death magic…Necromancy.
“Give me your hand,” he commanded, his voice savage and raw.
Something moved in the air around us. Not a Soulless…something darker…something hungry.
I reached out, fingers splayed, ready for whatever might come for me.
And I was thrust into the hallway once more. That’s how it felt, that desperation…that need.
“Hold onto her,” Redemption commanded. “Whatever happens, do not let her go.”
I shifted closer, blood soaked into the knees of my jeans. Someone cried out as the landing plunged into darkness…and the Unseelie realm crept in.
I gripped her hand tighter than I should. I was hurting her, clutching her fingers between mine.
“Will you sacrifice?” Redemption commanded. “Will you join with her for now and always?”
“Yes.”
The husky word tore free. There was no thinking, no decision. It was us together or there was nothing. I closed my eyes and I remembered her as a kid…and a total pain in my ass. She was the one at my back, urging me to do it…I’ll take the blame.
She was trouble from the moment I first saw her…and she’ll be trouble until the last. But it will not be this last. It will not end here.
“Do it!” I closed my eyes as my Hound whimpered.
A thousand paws pounded the earth inside my head…running…running…running. Each beat swallowed me as the night closed in. All I felt was Purity’s hand in mine. All I knew was we were closer now…closer than we ever had been before.
I love you, Melkor, she whispered…I’ll always love you.
My Hound gave a savage whimper as pain cut through my chest…
Redemption’s voice crowded in as I curled forward over our hands. I’d hold onto her…until the end of days.
The tang of old blood welled in the back of my throat, like a kill now stale and old. I swallowed it, swallowed it all down until it was heavy in my stomach.
My forehead touched the back of Purity’s hand as a stranger’s whisper filled my ears, a woman’s whisper…that’s my blood inside you…you belong to me now, Hound…and so does she.
And in an instant, the pain lifted.
I sucked in hard breaths and opened my eyes. And as the darkness brightened and shadows slunk back into the corners, Purity’s ashen skin started to change. Tiny movements of her fingers drew my gaze. I stared through clumped lashes wet with tears as her hand twitched in mine.
She was moving.
A cry ripped free, burning along the back of my throat, and with it came the fresh taste of blood...my blood.
“Hound,” Redemption murmured.
I wrenched my gaze to her face as her eyelids fluttered and then opened. Pale lips pinkened as I watched. “You’re okay,” I leaned in and kissed her mouth. “You’re okay.”
She shuddered and stared at me. Her brown eyes darkened, her lips moved, but there was no sound …like she couldn’t speak. Panic gripped me. I glanced toward the Unseelie, who just shook his head.
Her brow furrowed.
Pain roared in her gaze.
She cried out and lifted her arms…black markings curved along her skin. They were sigils…just like the Unseelie. “Is she?”
“No,” Redemption murmured and leaned closer, touching fingers to her skin.
He turned her wrist gently, reading the markings. “Half life, it says,” and met my gaze. “Half mortal…half owned by the Shadowed realm.”
Purity wrenched her gaze toward him. “You mean I’m not human?”
“Let’s put it this way, a little less than you were before.”
He dropped his hand and sank back on his haunches. “I didn’t think she’d ever come to me. Not again so soon.”