Melkor & Purity: Book Two

by Kim Faulks

  “Is this worth dying for?” I snarled, desperate for him to understand. “They will kill you, but I can help. Take these off me and I can help you.”

  He glanced at the cuffs, and for a second, I thought he was going to shake his head and back away. But then he met my gaze. “You won’t just run?”

  “I promise.”

  He took a step, another, and then in the space of a heartbeat, he was gone. A Soulless plunged down from the air above him and sank unseen fangs into the side of his neck.

  Warmth splattered my face, and the scent of blood filled the air. “No!” I roared, stumbling forwards.

  But there was nothing I could do as the Soulless tore the Wolf to pieces right in front of me.

  “Goddamn you!” Blood and spittle flew from my lips.

  Terror built inside me. I was lost…lost to her now.

  Lost to Purity.

  A chill raced along my spine as that thing turned its focus to me. The Wolf’s severed arm dropped through the air to hit the ground. My muscles strained, wrists ground against the steel cuffs.

  My heart thundered.

  Breaths were like fire in my chest.

  I shook my head as the Soulless came closer.

  “No,” I yanked against the cuffs. “NO!”

  And the unmerciful spirit screamed its rage and lunged.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Purity

  “Purity, wait!” Jesse screamed behind me.

  I hesitated, the Unblessed snarling at my side. “Easy,” I lifted my hand to the creature. “Friend.”

  Thorny tentacles lashed the air in front of us as I turned. Jesse stood in the doorway, covered in blood. Behind him, Redemption still battled those who were left, until he stopped in an instant and lifted his head, meeting my gaze.

  “My Mom,” shell-shocked and disconnected, Jesse’s tone told me all I needed to know.

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I have nothing left but Melkor…I have to go.”

  “Kill them,” the deep snarl was almost a whisper. He searched my eyes, desperate to make me understand. “Kill them all.”

  I gave a slow nod and took a step backwards. He wanted retribution.

  He wanted them to feel the kind of pain nailing him to the spot. He wanted to destroy, and in this moment, he would. But this wasn’t about retribution.

  Not for me.

  Not yet.

  Redemption took a step toward the jagged, open hole in the wall. But the darkness was already calling. A tiny, newborn tendril reached out and wrapped around my wrist. The thorns were soft and pliable, barely scratching my skin as the Unseelie creature gave a gentle tug.

  Redemption stared at the creature, his midnight eyes shining bright. He opened his mouth to say something, but there were no words. There was only an echo of sadness in his gaze, an ache he couldn’t find the words for.

  The tug on my arm was insistent. The creature stared at Redemption with the same longing. It was easy to see the pain and love between him and this…this beast. He said it wasn’t just a creature, but it was the Unseelie realm herself, that this tendriled warrior and the voice inside my head were one and the same.

  But right now, I needed someone by my side, someone fierce.

  “Let me come,” Redemption murmured.

  And the creature shook its head and threw it back, letting loose an unmerciful sound. I winced and lifted my hand, the hilt of the Nephilim dagger slamming against the side of my head.

  Pain tore through Redemption’s midnight eyes before he turned away and that tug on my arm wrenched me forward.

  We were moving before I knew, thundering through the forest under an Unseelie sky. Death was coming. Death in all its sickening, vile forms. But it wouldn’t touch my Melkor. I wouldn’t allow it.

  I drove my boots into the earth, head down, charging through the forest. Branches and twigs scratched as I ran. I lifted my arm to protect my eyes and kept going.

  And in my head, I was back in that forest sprinting toward Alma, desperate to straddle these immortal realms. I did it all for Melkor. I hated. I raged. I dug deep into a part of myself I never knew excited.

  Just like I did now.

  I plunged down, into the darkness of my own existence, into the hate and the terror, and I screamed it all into the night.

  The creature beside me mirrored my rage with a shrill cry of its own. We were one and the same. We were the hunter…

  And as the night breeze filled my nose with the scent of Wolf and Vampire, I knew we were closing in on your prey.

  “No!” Melkor’s scream ripped through the night.

  Panic punched through my chest at the sound. “Hurry!” I screamed.

  Movement came through the trees as a Vampire charged, his hand lifted, gun aimed at me. I gripped the blade, cocked back my arm. But the creature was faster, whipping out its thorny arms through the air to wrap around the Vampire and squeeze.

  A sickening crunch filled my ears. He fell as I rushed past, head down, legs spasming. All I cared about was Melkor…

  And through the gap in the trees, I saw him stumble backwards.

  I knew it more than saw it.

  That beast…that Soulless.

  And as I arced the Nephilim blade downwards, Melkor closed his eyes, readying himself for death by the unseen beast.

  I screamed my rage, my fury. I screamed my fear and my…power. And I plunged the dagger into that shift in the air.

  The Soulless screamed as the Nephilim blade seared my hand. Still, I gripped the hilt, and landed hard on my splayed-out hand and my knees, straddling Hell’s escaped soul.

  Energy thrashed underneath me as the thing squirmed and fought. Pain slashed my thigh, and again along my side. But I didn’t care. I plunged the dagger down for the last time, burying the tip into the ground as it passed through the Soulless.

  And in an instant, it was gone, turned into nothing and sent back to Hell.

  “Purity?” Mel’s voice was savage and raw.

  I shoved from the ground as the Unblessed raged all around me. The howls and screams of Wolves, Vampires, and Soulless mingled together in terrifying waves as I turned to the man I loved.

  Melkor stumbled toward me, his arms behind his back. “Thank God…I thought…I thought…”

  “Not gonna happen, Hellhound,” I snarled and stumbled forward. I grasped his arm, gently turning him, to find thick steel cuffs around his wrists.

  But they weren’t just any cuffs. Markings glowed on the steel, sigils like those I’d seen on my arms. But these were different. The energy wasn’t Unseelie.

  It was something else.

  “What kind of magic is this?” I lifted my gaze to Melkor.

  He just shook his head, as a shifter charged for us through the trees. I lifted my blade and spun, meeting the bastard head on.

  But Melkor had other ideas, charging forward like a locomotive. The impact was brutal, sending both of them flying backwards. Mel hit the ground with a hard thud, but it wasn’t him I raced for. I lunged to grasp the shifter. I lifted my weapon, pressing the razored edge to his neck. “Tell me how to unlock the handcuffs, or you die.”

  Silver glinted in his eyes as he shook his head. “You won’t.”

  I pressed the blade harder into his neck, the tip pressed against the vein. “Now, I’m new at this. I haven’t yet worked out how much pressure I need to slice someone open from stem to stern. But I’m sure I could practice…that is, unless you want my friend over there to take over.”

  The Unblessed stilled, thin, thorny arms wrapped around a Soulless and another one of the shifter’s comrades. The beast was terrifying, dripping with blood, which shone in the night.

  “No…no fucking way,” the Wolf whimpered. “Not that thing.”

  “Then the cuffs…now.”

  He looked to Melkor, who shoved against the ground and struggled to his knees, shaking his head.

  The Unseelie creature howled and hauled the shifter over its head. My world fr
oze. I saw myself then, saw this horrific scene through the eyes of another. Saw my blood-splattered face and the chilling brutality in my eyes.

  I saw the woman I’d become.

  And it scared me.

  “Purity,” Mel called my name.

  But what scared me more was the thought of losing him. Slick fingers clenched the hilt of my blade. “I’m done waiting.”

  I pushed forward. “Unblessed.” I called the creature that somehow had found its way into this world to stand and fight at my side.

  “Wait!” Panicked words spilled from the shifter. “I’ll do it! I said, I’ll do it!”

  I pulled the blade from his neck. “One wrong fucking move and it’ll be your last.”

  He just nodded and looked to Melkor. “They’re spelled. You have to know the combination.”

  He moved slowly as Melkor struggled to his feet and then turned. The shifter stepped closer, hands moving to the steel cuffs.

  “What kind of sigils are those?” I stepped closer as pure white light spilled from the markings.

  “If I tell you that, then I’m dead for sure. If not by your hand, then by another’s.”

  He focused on the cuffs as the white light grew brighter, and suddenly there was a click. The steel shackles slipped free. Melkor pulled his hands around to his front and massaged his wrists.

  “There’s no way you’re getting the keys,” Mel growled.

  “We will,” the shifter dropped the cuffs and stepped away, keeping his eyes on both of us. “We have no option but to.”

  I gripped the blade and stepped toward him as he glanced toward the Unseelie creature and backed away.

  But Mel reached out and placed his hand on my arm. “Let him go.”

  The shifter was gone in an instant, turning to tear through the trees as the light from the cuffs slowly faded. I bent down, grabbing the steel cuffs from the ground.

  He’d made the mistake of leaving them behind.

  The markings would lead us to whoever had paid them.

  The Unseelie creature turned and whipped its tendriled arms through the air, but there were no more mercenaries alive now…and no more Soulless.

  It sucked in hard breaths, turning to find me.

  I stepped closer, lifted my blade and slipped it into the sheath against my hip. “I can’t thank you enough. You were there when no one else was. I don’t understand this connection. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

  It watched me as I came closer, its dark eyes glinting.

  “But I’m okay now. Melkor is safe. So, if you want to go home…you can.”

  The creature raised its gaze to my Hellhound behind me.

  “Thank you,” Mel murmured. “Thank you for saving me. Thank you for keeping Purity safe.”

  And then, without a nod or a screech, the creature lifted a soft, new tendril and slid it along my hand, over my thumb, and along my wrist. Black markings rose to the surface. Markings that meant more than a brush of death now.

  Markings that meant protection.

  The soft touch slipped away as the creature lowered its arm, and in a heartbeat, it turned to escape through the trees.

  Trees bowed, twigs crunched. The vibration that had filled the air around it was now gone, leaving me feeling empty in its wake.

  Someone called out in the distance.

  A faint voice.

  But it was there…and so were the others.

  We weren’t done here…not by a long shot.

  Chapter Twenty

  Melkor

  She turned from that faint voice in the distance and shoved the cuffs into her pocket. The old Purity won’t have been able to hear that. She wouldn’t have been able to do a great many things…but this was her.

  This was the real her.

  The woman desperate to crawl out of the mortal confines and scratch her name onto the heart of the world. This woman was more than I’d ever thought possible. “I love you, Purity Jane Andersen.”

  She jerked her head toward me, eyes shining. “That’s good to know, Hound, because I love you, too. The bad guys and the keys are still out there, you ready to hunt them down?”

  I took a step toward her and swallowed the wince as I lifted my arm to caress her face, and then leaned in. It was instinct more than anything, a need to know she was safe, she was here and so was I.

  The kiss was soft and warm. I’d give anything to be alone with her, to be safe and far from here. Soon…a whisper breathed across my mind. I pulled away. “Yeah, I am.”

  She turned her head, my fingers sliding along her cheek. “I can feel them out there…in the Unseelie world. Lucifer and Arrow are trying to get back…trying to break through the veil. If I could just…”

  She took a step, scanned the air around us, and then stopped. “I think there’s something out there, some kind of pull.”

  I couldn’t see a damn thing. I could only feel the Shadowed world closing in. I glanced at Purity, that’s what she was feeling…the energy in the Shadowed world.

  “This way,” she murmured and took a step, heading in the direction that the rest of the mercenaries had disappeared.

  I followed, taking a last look at the dead before we left them behind. Purity moved fast, ducking her head to push through the trees. A bolt of neon white cut through the sky overhead…but it was silent. No boom of thunder, no bitter scent of ozone in the air.

  Purity picked up speed, striding out with long legs, and I was close behind her.

  “I can feel it. There’s a battle…Lucifer…Arrow, and the others.” she murmured.

  “The keys…the keys are calling.”

  An icy breeze tickled the back of my neck. I could feel them, an aching inside. A need to hunt and protect, and kill…

  Lightning came once more, only this time it was closer. The air shifted around us, the wind rose up to whip Purity’s hair behind her.

  A slash of pain came at my cheek. I winced, stumbled, and lifted my hand. The tip of my fingers slipped against my skin and came away wet and warm. “Purity.”

  The wind was howling now, like the birth of a summer’s squall.

  But this was like no storm we’d ever known.

  The slash of neon white cut across the sky once more. I lifted my gaze to the blur, feeling the air pulse with rage.

  Purity felt it, too, following my gaze. “What the fuck is that?”

  Screams echoed…tearing through the air, and in an instant, Hell had come to the mortal realm. “That’s the Soulless screaming.” I answered. “And they’re heading here.”

  “Jesus…” she murmured as lightning brightened the sky once more.

  I glanced at my fingers as the wind whipped blonde strands of her hair into a frenzy. “We need to get out of here,” I closed the distance between us. “Like now.”

  She jerked her gaze toward me, fear filling her eyes. I took a step, tugged her hand, and then pushed off. A jog turned into a full-out run and I shoved branches aside as the wind howled its fury.

  Pain came again. But this time it descended. Purity tore her blade free and howled in pain. She slapped her hand over her arm, and the scent of her blood filled the air.

  “Run!” I dropped her hand and roared. “Find cover!”

  She lunged forward, tearing through the darkness. My Hound rushed to the surface in an instant, driving claws beyond my nails, and fangs from my jaws. I slashed the air, and raced after her.

  My pulse made up for the lack of thunder overhead.

  Go…go…go! I drove my boots into the ground, gaining on her in a heartbeat. She screamed out and slashed the air as the tornado of Soulless swept around us.

  And we were in the eye of the storm. A cry ripped through the air, piercing, howling…as Purity hacked and slashed, slicing unseen bodies in the night. But they were there…hundreds of them, whipping past in a frenzy—drawing as much blood as they could.

  The faint outline of a mountain rose in the distance. “We need to get to the mountain!”

&
nbsp; She drove her body through the trees toward the faint outline of towering darkness. The Soulless came for her, barrelling through the air. I punched my boots into the ground and lunged, slashing the air inches behind her, catching a malevolent entity.

  The thing howled and screamed as I wrenched my fist backwards and lashed out. Purity turned, glancing over her shoulder, as I slashed the air. The thing in my hand howled in pain and thrashed.

  The sting on my hand was instant, blood welled in the cut, before another came, and again. The Soulless tore from my hold and was gone. I stumbled, racing after her as the mountain rose in front of us.

  Lightning blazed through the sky, and the glow splashed against the rocky cliffside. Movement came at my right, a pale blur stumbling and running.

  I wrenched my gaze toward the movement as the blur cut through the trees, and with the guttural snarl it hit me from the side.

  The scent of Hound consumed me. Pale skin shone against the dark as I stared into Deimos’s remorseless eyes. Rage and shock froze me, and it was all the time he needed.

  Cruel lips twisted into a sneer as he rolled, forcing me underneath him. I was always on the bottom. Always the runt, the one who never amounted to anything. The one whose powerful father was taken from him in an instant.

  And Rykor’s screams filled my head once more.

  Gut-wrenching, and shattering.

  I was broken inside. But the edges were ready to cut and tear. Revenge filled me, burning deep down in the pit of my soul. That was all I needed. With a roar, I swung my fist, catching him in the jaw.

  My fists were a blur as Purity cried out and something crashed through the tress. I had to get on top, had to stand, had to protect her. I lashed out with my fist. He winced and raised a bloodsmeared arm, blocking my blow.

  But he left his side exposed.

  Blood covered the front of his shirt. He was hurt, and the sight of his blood filled me with determination. I drove my right claws into his side, slicing all the way to bone.

  He stiffened, and then crumbled, throwing out his fist to knock me aside. I rolled, pushed against the ground to stand. One glance and I found Irael, the leader of the Demon army.