Edge of the Darkness (Hell on Earth Book 4)

by Brenda K. Davies

  His finger stilled against me while he pulled most of the way out before slipping slowly back in. When my eyes met his again, a fire burned hotly in his gaze as he continued his languid, torturous, and oh-so delicious movements within me.

  He bent his head again and reclaimed my mouth. His kiss warmed me to my toes before he broke it. His mouth left a searing trail of kisses across my cheek, down my neck, and to my shoulder.

  Once there, his fangs pierced my flesh, and he pinned me to the ground as his movements became more demanding, and his finger stroked my clit once more. I drew him closer, but it wasn’t close enough. I needed more, but somehow, my brain stuck stubbornly to resistance.

  My fangs throbbed to mark him as I rode out the storm of passion he so easily evoked. My breath came faster, my pulse raced, and this time I felt the pressure building inside me and cresting over into a release that caused me to bow off the floor as tingles swept my spine. He muffled my cry with his hand and his bite on me stifled his shout while his semen branded me deep inside.

  I gradually came down from the euphoria created by what transpired between us. I never should have allowed this to happen, but now that it had, I wanted more. My body had never been this satisfied, this well used, and this deliciously sore in all the right places.

  I’d never felt closer to another, yet I still felt so far away from him. I hadn’t known it was possible to feel this whole and empty at the same time. I knew what was missing between us; I hadn’t marked him too, so the bond wasn’t complete.

  I hadn’t been able to give him that last little piece of myself. However, the yawning emptiness spreading inside me was growing to the point where I was afraid it would consume me as effectively as the darkness of this place.

  Unhappiness swirled like poison in my belly. I was so tired of fighting my Chosen. We’d started as enemies, and I wasn’t sure what we were now, but there was something so right in this that there had to be a little good in it.

  Opening my eyes, I was about to bite into his shoulder and ease our misery when I saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring at us from the end of the cave.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Wrath

  I retracted my bite on Bale’s shoulder. I’d never known what I was missing by not being with my Chosen, but I’d never known such satisfaction before. I never would have considered it possible to be so content in the arms of a woman.

  Sex was always a way to get off or pass the time. With Bale, it was a life-altering experience. I couldn’t remember the women before her, and there would never be another after her. It may not be love between us, but I was never letting it go.

  I was still shaking as the sperm I’d never released before flowed into her body. The new sensation was more awing than I ever could have imagined. With her, my orgasm was more potent and more prolonged, and though I’d already taken her twice, I was ready to go again.

  However, I was acutely aware that while I’d claimed her completely, she hadn’t claimed me. My resentment from earlier started to build inside me again. I’d given her everything, but she hadn’t done the same. Even after what we just experienced, she was still pushing me away.

  I wanted to choke her as badly as I wanted to fuck her again. I had to get away from her, but as I started to withdraw from her, she stiffened beneath me. Her hands hit my chest so hard the slap echoed through the cavern as she lifted me and flung me away.

  At first, I was so startled by the abrupt rejection and hitting the wall across the way that the word she shouted didn’t sink in. Then I realized that she’d yelled, “Mytaz!” as she threw me.

  Rolling to the side, I lifted my head as the demon charged at us from the entrance of the cave. “Shit,” I hissed as the giant raced down the tunnel.

  I rolled as one of his enormous hands swung at me. Somehow, I managed to avoid his grasp, but I felt the wind of its passing against my back and realized how close I’d come to becoming one of his trophies.

  Mytaz lumbered past me a few steps before skidding to a halt and spinning back.

  “Get the sword!” Bale shouted.

  Before I could reply, she ran straight at Mytaz. Despite my anger at her, my heart plummeted. She was almost to him when she threw herself down and slid across the floor and between his legs.

  Mytaz grabbed for her, but she was already on the other side of him and rising to her feet. I sprinted across the tunnel and snatched up the sword as he turned to face her. The ground vibrated beneath my feet when he went at her again, and I cursed myself for not feeling that movement earlier. I was so lost in her that I put her in jeopardy.

  I raced toward the two of them as Mytaz stalked her down the tunnel. He swung his hands at her while she weaved expertly in and out of the way. Growing frustrated, he charged forward. Bale spun and barely managed to avoid connecting with his foot as she flattened herself against the wall and slid past him.

  I didn’t realize I’d stopped breathing until she squeezed by him and ran toward me. The lean muscles in her lithe, agile body flexed with every step. She kept her head down as her arms and legs pumped while she ran. For as large as he was, Mytaz was surprisingly agile as he spun and ran after her.

  “Run,” Bale breathed as she sprinted past me.

  I had no intention of running; I would buy her time to get to safety.

  Mytaz was nearly on top of me when I backed away a few steps and swung the blade at his feet. The lumbering giant chuckled, but at the last second, I jerked the blade back before it could hit him or he could stomp on it.

  A glance over my shoulder revealed Bale hadn’t left the cave. She’d stopped a few feet from the end and was coming back toward me.

  “Get out of here!” I shouted at her.

  “I’m not leaving without you.”

  I swung at Mytaz’s feet again, and this time when he laughed, I jerked the sword up and leapt into the air. With a ferocious shout, I swung it down and into his neck. The blade sank into the sinew of his thick neck before catching on his spine and halting halfway through.

  “Let go of the sword!” Bale shrieked.

  Gold spread through the blade so fast it was to the hilt by the time I released it. Bale warned me his power traveled through things, but I hadn’t expected it to do so with such speed. This demon was a bigger adversary than I’d realized.

  I backed away as Mytaz’s red eyes narrowed on me. He wrapped one meaty hand around the sword’s hilt and plucked it free. Blood, the color and consistency of mud, oozed down his neck and dripped off his chest.

  In his hands, the sword looked small and ineffective. He eyed the weapon before spinning it and flinging it at me with a flick of his wrist. I threw myself down in time to avoid taking the spinning blade to an eyeball, but my head spun toward Bale as I hit the ground. She avoided the sword that flew out the opening by falling straight back.

  The sword clattered as it hit the ground and spun across it before crashing into a statue. The earth vibrated beneath me as Mytaz barreled toward me. I scrambled to my feet and sprinted toward Bale as she rose. When she saw me coming at her, she turned and bolted out of the cave.

  Bale

  I was almost to my sword when something flew by my head. Instinctively, I threw up my arms to protect myself from whatever it was. Then I realized a flash of black had accompanied the movement. Lowering my arms, I skidded to a halt when Caim settled onto the earth a few feet in front of me.

  “Here you are!” And then his eyes widened as they ran over my naked body, and he grinned. “Here. You. Are. Looking good, Bale.”

  I didn’t realize Wrath had caught up to us until he punched the side of Caim’s head. The angel let out a muffled cry and staggered to the side as his hand flew to his battered cheek.

  “Don’t look at her!” Wrath snarled.

  “Don’t!” I shouted and leapt forward to stand between them.

  Fire shimmered in Wrath’s eyes as he bared his fangs at Caim.

  “Ow, damn,” Caim said as he rubbed his cheek
, and his head turned back toward us. “What? She looks good.” Then Caim’s eyes landed on the bite mark on my shoulder. He stopped rubbing his cheek as his mouth dropped. His gaze shot from me to Wrath and back again. Finally, his black eyes, full of concern, landed on me. “Well, it seems we’ve missed a lot.”

  “We have to get out of here,” I said to him. “Now.”

  “The others—”

  I had no idea what he was about to say as a roar sent us all scrambling seconds before Mytaz’s fists crashed into a statue, shattering it. Caim took to the air, and Wrath stayed by my side as I ran for my sword.

  “Who’s the big guy?” Caim asked as he swooped past me.

  He didn’t wait for an answer as he rose higher into the sky and looped over toward the other mountain. I lunged forward and grasped the hilt of my now golden sword. It was heavier in my hands, but it felt so right as my hands had molded the handle to fit them over the centuries.

  “I told you I’d get my sword back,” I said to Wrath, who stood beside me.

  “I’m happy for you,” Wrath replied, though his tone sounded anything but happy. “Do you think you can kill him with it?”

  I doubted that, but I couldn’t get those words out of my mouth. The wound in his neck was already healing, and the blood was only a trickle. He looked unaffected by the injury Wrath delivered, but he’d forever altered my sword.

  A look of concentration and malevolence etched his furrowed brow. He opened his mouth to reveal his large, blunt teeth and released a roar that, from thirty feet away, blew the hair back from my face. Completely nude, the enormous appendage between his legs slapped against his thighs as it swung back and forth. The fact his dick could take that kind of abuse made me question our chances of stopping him.

  Something shrieked, and I looked up as Caim, in his raven form, descended from the sky with his wings behind him and his talons fully extended.

  “Caim, no!” I screamed.

  But it was already too late as his talons sank into Mytaz’s meaty arm. Blood oozed from the demon as gold seeped into Caim’s talons. His wings flapped as he tried to jerk free, but Mytaz seized one of his talons, locking him into place.

  “No, no, no, no,” I pleaded as I ran toward Mytaz.

  Mytaz released Caim’s talon and gripped a fluttering wing. Gold seeped faster through the fallen angel until it swirled up his neck and spilled into his face. Sorrow twisted my heart as the raven released a strangled caw before his beak turned to gold. His black eyes, full of terror and understanding that this was his end, met mine.

  Then the black also became gold, and Caim was gone.

  Chapter Thirty

  Bale

  “No!” I screamed.

  Disbelief shot through me. I had no idea who this demon was that grieved for fallen angels and fucked a horseman, but she was so different from the woman I was a year ago, that I barely recognized myself.

  Rage and grief propelled me faster across the ground. I was almost to Mytaz when he plucked the three-foot-tall raven from his arm and threw it at me. I ducked, but not in time to avoid one of the wings slamming into my back and knocking me forward.

  Before I recovered, Wrath pulled me to the ground and rolled across the earth with me. When we came to a stop, I watched Caim’s frozen form clink and bounce across the ground before halting against a pair of feet…. Except these feet weren’t frozen.

  I hadn’t realized Raphael was here until he knelt at Caim’s side and touched one of his extended wings. The relationship between the two angels was adversarial at best, but the sorrow on Raphael’s face was so raw and open that tears stung my eyes as I watched him.

  “Brother,” Raphael breathed as he ran his hand over Caim’s wing.

  Then he lifted his head to level Mytaz with a murderous look. A muscle twitched in his cheek as he braced his legs apart and raised his hands.

  “We have to move,” Wrath said.

  His breath tickled my ear before he lifted me off the ground. Keeping hold of my sword, I ran with him toward Raphael as the angel stepped away from Caim. Raphael’s ability to draw on life and unleash it on his enemies had always been a little unnerving, but now I looked forward to him unleashing the power of Heaven on Mytaz.

  However, it didn’t come.

  “Why are you waiting?” I demanded when I arrived at his side. “Kill that thing.”

  “There’s no life for me to draw from here,” Raphael said. “Whatever he’s done to this place has destroyed it or buried it.”

  My blood ran cold as Mytaz stalked toward us. With every step he took, Caim’s wings rattled against the ground. That clinking sound reminded me of everything Mytaz had stolen from us.

  Mytaz’s large nose wrinkled as he released a roar that reverberated off the golden walls and statues. With his massive hands out at his sides, the monster charged at us.

  When Raphael rested his hand on Wrath’s shoulder, the look on Wrath’s face would have been comical if it wasn’t for the impending death running at us. This time the ground didn’t vibrate beneath Mytaz’s steps; it heaved, lurched, and quaked so much I swayed to the side before bracing my legs apart to steady myself.

  “You have a lot of life in you,” Raphael said to Wrath. “I need it to fuel me.”

  Wrath’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t jerk away from the angel as a golden glow sprang to life at the tips of Raphael’s fingers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t happening fast enough. Mytaz would be on top of us before Raphael had enough power to destroy him.

  With a savage cry, I raced toward Mytaz to slow him down. I didn’t care what it took to destroy him; I would make sure this bastard died today.

  “Bale, no!” Wrath bellowed.

  I was almost to the demon when I threw myself down and slid across the smooth floor on my back. As I slipped past him, I swung out my sword; it cleaved into his ankle and embedded in the bone before stopping there. I released the blade as soon as it hit him and slid past the demon.

  The ground lurched when he fell to one knee. My slide across the floor came to an end against a couple of demons hugging each other. I rolled onto my knees as Mytaz spun to face me and plucked my blade from his ankle.

  He rose and started toward me as I scrambled to my feet.

  “Bale, run!” Wrath shouted.

  The distress in his voice propelled me faster but, unable to gain purchase, my feet slipped on the floor and one of my knees hit the ground as the vibrations in it strengthened.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  I grasped a statue and used it to pull myself up as a hand enclosed on my ankle and swallowed most of my calf. I was sure my heart would rupture as it battered my ribs before lodging in my throat. The coldness seeping through my leg caused me to lose feeling in it instantly.

  I looked back to discover Mytaz’s thick hand engulfing what was now a golden calf. I watched in dismay as gold encompassed my foot and toes while spreading toward my knee.

  No!

  I was not supposed to go this way. I was not supposed to die at the hands of this monster. I couldn’t be another trophy for this thing.

  I tried to jerk my leg free of his grasp. My thigh moved, but there was no movement in my calf, and my jerking caused no reaction from him. I was about to kick him with my other leg but stopped myself. It would only cause the gold to spread faster through me if I kicked him. These were the last seconds of my life, and I would experience every single one of them.

  Fiora.

  I would soon learn what my sister experienced in her last moments, and I understood the helplessness she endured. My leg now belonged to him and his collection; soon, the rest of me would too as gold seeped into my hips and spread throughout my left leg.

  Wrath.

  The amount of sadness that accompanied his name in my mind stunned me more than my golden toes. We’d just found each other; what was between us never should have existed, but it did. And now it was over, and not only would I die, but so would he.

  My mind was flooded
with memories of the way he made me feel so alive when he was touching me and inside me. When I recalled the dimple in his cheek and the sound of his laughter, tears pooled in my eyes. I blinked them hastily away. Mytaz couldn’t think I was crying because of him. I wouldn’t give this monster that satisfaction.

  Lifting my chin, I met Mytaz’s red eyes and saw the malicious amusement glimmering in them as gold spread into my belly and toward my breasts. The breath froze in my chest, and air stopped entering my lungs.

  Wrath

  I didn’t know it was possible to experience the level of terror that engulfed me when Mytaz grasped Bale’s ankle. A shout rose in my throat and strangled there as rage exploded through me. It was so fierce it knocked Raphael’s hand away as my power crackled and reverberated off the mountain walls.

  A snarl erupted from me, and I started to run at Mytaz. Before I could attack him, Raphael seized my wrist and pulled me back.

  “You’ll only get yourself killed. I can destroy him. Let me do it,” Raphael said.

  I tried to jerk my wrist free of the angel’s hold, but he refused to let go. When I met his violet eyes, I saw the intensity of the anger boiling there. Yes, he’d lost his brother, but my fury escalated his and enhanced the powerful ball forming at the tips of his fingers.

  “You better kill him,” I grated through my teeth.

  Raphael’s fingers tightened on my wrist. “I will.”

  I turned to watch as gold seeped into Bale’s chest. I almost sank to the ground as I watched Mytaz’s ability take her over. I’d just found her and this small bit of happiness in what was an otherwise dull, lonely, and brutal existence. Things were still so difficult between us, but they were also so incredibly good. I was meant to protect her, but now, I was watching her die.