by Tessa Cole
There was a way to end this, but it meant I was going to have to ask Gideon for help, since there was no way I’d be able to summon enough divine light to burn into the archnephilim’s soul. I wasn’t a magical powerhouse — even if it seemed as if my blasts had grown stronger the last two times I’d used them. It hadn’t been enough to kill the archnephilim then, and it wouldn’t be enough now.
So long as Gideon didn’t know about his brand, I was pretty sure I could convince him of the plan. I doubted I’d be able to convince any of the guys, not until all other avenues had been exhausted, and if I wanted any chance of saving Gideon, using the archnephilim’s brand to kill him had to be done right away before our connection solidified.
I was about to stand when Kol rounded the corner, carrying a bottle of water and a sandwich on a plate.
My brain stalled. Just for a second. He really was breathtaking. Every step radiated power and sensuality, and a hint of desire darkened his eyes. I was pretty sure he wasn’t even aware of his movement or expression. This was just Kol, a demon who survived on sexual energy with a body that ensured he never went hungry.
“How goes it?” he asked.
My stomach rumbled in response.
“Thought so,” he said, a tired smile tugging on his lips and softening his demonic look to almost boy-next-door, if the boy next door had horns. “You strike me as the kind of person who works through meals, so I figured—” He sat across from me, where Marcus had sat, and passed me the plate and water bottle.
I set the book aside and accepted the food and water. “How long have I been down here?”
It hadn’t occurred to me to check the time and even if I’d wanted to, I’d left my phone in my room.
“It’s almost seven. You’ve missed lunch and dinner.”
And breakfast. No wonder I was so hungry. The last time I’d eaten had been yesterday evening, before the disastrous attempt to capture the archnephilim.
“Have you and Jacob found anything?” I took a bite of the sandwich. Ham and cheese again, but I was too hungry to care.
The smile melted from Kol’s face. “No. All I’ve learned is that Michael was a nasty piece of work. I mean, I knew he was nasty. I was manifested into the human realm by him and forced to enthrall his victims into complacency until they were used to conceive his nephilim, but the video of his actual laboratory—” He shuddered. “He documented his experiments and didn’t use demons to conceive his angel-demon hybrids.”
“How could he not—?” Horrified realization swept through me. “He used human women as surrogates for those, too?”
“Humans are easier to control than angels or supers. The hybrids were carried to term, if the surrogate survived — which according to his records didn’t usually happen — then put in tanks to rapidly mature, just like his regular nephilim.” The muscles in his jaw tightened. “The human body wasn’t made to give birth to that kind of monster. I know because I’ve now watched more than enough of Michael’s videos.”
I started to take another bite of my sandwich but didn’t know if it would stay down, and instead set it back on the plate. “And Jacob hasn’t found anything in the journals or records about how to control one of these monsters?”
“No, but he’s only a quarter of the way through.”
Well, damn. I knew they wouldn’t find anything, at least not in the time I needed, but a small part of me had hoped a miracle would show up. Sure, I knew what needed to be done, but that didn’t mean I liked it. “I’m not sure how much longer we can spend searching.”
“It hasn’t even been a day.”
“And by tomorrow, someone else from Gideon’s old squad could be dead.”
Kol rubbed his face, looking as exhausted as I felt. “Well, we can’t do anything about that until the archnephilim attacks or we have a way to find it, so we might as well keep looking.”
“Actually, we can.” I pulled out the book that had mentioned the risks before a mating brand had fully formed and offered it to Kol. “I think I can locate the archnephilim through his brand, and there’s a chance Gideon can get out of this mess unscathed if we deal with the archnephilim before my bond with him solidifies.”
“That would have to happen soon.” Kol didn’t open the book I’d given him. “We wouldn’t have a chance to get through all of Michael’s journals.”
“I know.” I met Kol’s gaze. There wasn’t any hint of desire smoldering in his dark eyes now, only worry and exhaustion. “I’m not willing to sacrifice anyone else on the slim chance that there’s a way to save me.”
“I’m sure if Gideon knew the truth, he’d disagree.” Kol broke eye contact and studied the cover of the book I’d given him. “You have to tell him. You have to tell both of them. It’s going to come out whether you want it to or not. Who do you think Marcus would rather hear it from? You or Gideon?”
“You’re assuming there’s actually something between me and Marcus.”
Kol’s gaze rose back to me and a hint of seductive hellfire burned in his eyes. “I felt that kiss. I know there’s something between you and Marcus.”
“Jeez.” I took a swig of water as heat flushed my face. “Can’t hide anything from an incubus.”
“Well, you can’t hide that. Although next time, if you want to hold my hand or let me… I don’t know, touch your back, flesh to flesh would be ideal if we’re not talking actual sex…” He batted his eyelashes at me, doing nothing to look innocent, then dropped his act, his expression serious… and strained. “Honestly, though, I could use a meal too, but I don’t want to waste time going out.”
I had no idea what to say to that. There were probably rules about seducing co-workers and while it had looked like the cafeteria catered to those supers with human dietary needs as well as vampires, I doubt it catered to incubi. And it didn’t sound like he was willing to order in. “How about hanging out near Gideon and Zella?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “Wrong emotion. I need sex, not love, and what they have isn’t going to turn into sex. At least it won’t until she’s healed up, which is going to be days longer than I can hold out and even then it probably won’t turn into anything because of… well…” He waved at my arm.
“Because of this.” I moved to press my palm to Gideon’s brand, but thought better of it and took another sip of water.
Kol pursed his lips, his expression tight, the strain even more obvious and, now that I knew what I was looking for, so was his hunger. When was the last time he’d eaten? I knew many demons who sustained themselves on humans — be it memories or emotions or something else — didn’t need three meals a day. Some could go days without eating unless they sustained injuries or expended more then their usual amount of energy.
Kol had been going since I’d met him in the hospital yesterday. There might have been a time after rescuing Zella and before trying to capture the archnephilim that he’d had an opportunity for a meal, but then he’d broken his ribs and healing that had probably expended a lot of the magic that sustained him.
“You should make time sooner rather than later to replenish your magic.” He’d gotten up just fine after last night’s fight, but if he didn’t replenish his magical essence, another fight could seriously injure or kill him.
He flashed me a wicked grin that made my pulse stutter and heat flood me. “Are you making an offer?”
“I… ah…” He was low because of me, and if he could replenish some of his magic by riding along on someone else’s kiss, then I could help him out by kissing him. I didn’t actually need to have sex with him. And really, I doubted kissing him would be a serious hardship. “How hungry are you?”
Surprise flashed across his expression. “You can’t be serious. I must have slipped with my enthrall and I’m influencing you. You don’t mean that.”
“I’m not talking sex.” I really couldn’t believe I was saying this, and I knew — if all the stories about incubi were true — that while in the moment I’d beg for sex and I
’d have to trust him to keep his word. “But I can offer you a kiss.”
“That’s not a good idea.”
“If the archnephilim attacks, will you survive the fight?” I asked. “How hungry are you?”
“Hungry.” The hellfire in his eyes burned brighter and the muscles in his jaw twitched. “But you’re Gideon’s mate. So not that hungry.”
“So you won’t kiss me because of Gideon even though I’m offering, but you’d ride along if I wanted to make out with Marcus?”
“You and Marcus clearly had a thing before all this started. That could be forgiven,” Kol said.
“And I don’t get a say in any of this?” I really didn’t like the implications of this belonging to Gideon thing. What if I’d wanted to have sex with Kol or Marcus or anyone else before the archnephilim killed me? I didn’t ask to be mated with Gideon. I didn’t even know him.
“I owe Gideon my life. I won’t do something that I know will hurt him.”
And that was the crux of it. I didn’t really belong to Gideon. I probably could have sex with anyone I wanted except his teammates, because they were standup guys and didn’t do that kind of thing to their friends.
“Then you should slip out now before Gideon assembles the team and asks me to find the archneph—”
Pain lanced through the archnephilim’s brand. The plate slipped from my suddenly numb fingers, dumping the sandwich on the floor, and a fire alarm began to wail.
“He’s here.” I could feel his inky darkness sliding against my mind, trying to find a way into my soul.
Kol leaped to his feet. I scrambled to stand as well.
“Stay here.”
“Do you really think leaving me alone in the archives is a good idea?” That, and I needed to get to Gideon to have him blast divine light into the archnephilim’s brand.
“Fine,” he said, and we darted down the aisle, back to the front of the archives where the table and couch were.
Books still covered the table but Jacob was gone. I didn’t know if he’d been gone before the alarm had started or if he’d just left.
Kol ignored the elevator and headed to a door a little ways down and around a corner. He jerked it open, revealing a plain metal and concrete stairwell, and ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time with his long legs.
I followed, but with my slightly shorter legs I could only safely manage two at a time.
Kol wrenched open the door at the first floor landing and someone screamed. He drew his daggers, hidden in sheaths under his shirt and strapped to his back, and rushed out.
I reached the doorway and stopped. I didn’t have a weapon, and while I was sure the archnephilim knew where I was, I wasn’t going to make it easy to grab me by running headlong into danger.
The doorway opened into the cafeteria near the shallow steps. In the center of the room was the archnephilim in his wraith form. Zella writhed in his tentacled grip, gasping against the smoke crushing her chest. Her hospital gown had ridden high, exposing the bandaged stump of her right leg. One wing was still captured in a brace and stuck straight out, while the other hung limp at her side, bumping into a knocked-over table.
More knocked-over tables and chairs littered the area, along with two that had crashed into the fridges holding food and drinks for when the kitchen was closed. Dark liquid, thick like blood, oozed across the floor beneath them.
Gideon stood at least ten feet back, his expression desperate. He yelled for Zella, swinging a massive sword of divine light and slicing through tentacle after tentacle but not gaining any ground.
The archnephilim threw a table at him. He dove out of the way as it crashed to the floor, but another tentacle swept up and slammed him across the room. Gideon’s temple cracked against the step and his sword vanished. His eyes rolled back for a second, then he gasped and his gaze locked onto me.
“Stay back.” He shoved to his feet and his sword returned.
“I know how to stop him,” I said.
His eyes widened, but Zella screamed, jerking his attention away from me.
The archnephilim slammed her against the ceiling, drawing a strangled cry. Kol dove in, slashing at the tentacles near her, but couldn’t get close enough to free her.
Jacob and Marcus ran onto the half dozen shallow steps leading down to the cafeteria, and Gideon leaped back toward the nephilim.
“Get the hell out of here,” Marcus said to me, his fingers extending into claws.
Jacob drew both of his sidearms and fired four shots as fast as the weapons would allow. The bullets slammed into what was probably the archnephilim’s chest.
“Stop trying to kill Essie,” Marcus growled, and he raced after Gideon.
The archnephilim swept a tentacle at Kol, who twisted out of the way and sliced it off, as more of its smoke wrapped around Zella.
“This blood is on your hands, angel,” the archnephilim said, his voice booming more in my head than in the room, and he ripped off Zella’s dangling wing.
Chapter 17
Zella screamed, her blood spraying across the room and rushing onto the floor. Gideon yelled her name and staggered, his face a mask of utter horror.
The world froze. I couldn’t look away as the horrific image burned into my mind. Zella, bleeding, broken, her face locked in agony and eyes wide with terror, captured in the archnephilim’s smoke. Her arms were wrenched taut and tentacles crushed her chest and choked her.
Then the world snapped back into action, and the archnephilim shot a tentacle at Gideon. He tried to twist out of the way, but wasn’t fast enough. The tentacle swept around his neck and wrenched him up to Zella’s level.
“This is for me and mine,” the archnephilim said and speared a massive tentacle through Zella’s chest.
I jerked my hand out, too late to do anything — not that I could stop him — and screamed. Gideon’s grief and rage burst around me like a steamy sauna.
Zella sputtered and convulsed, and the archnephilim tossed her against the rock wall. She fell, tearing plants from their crannies and splashing into the water, her head and torso submerged.
Gideon howled and light exploded from his hands, consuming the tentacle around his neck. He hit the floor, barely kept his balance, and rushed to Zella as Marcus slashed through a tentacle and raced to her as well.
Marcus got to her first and dragged her out of the water, but she didn’t move, her body limp. Gideon dropped to his knees, grabbed her from Marcus, and wrapped his arms around her. Blood pooled around them, but his gaze was frozen on Zella. His whole body was frozen, as if his whole essence had stalled, unable to get past holding Zella’s lifeless form. His grief burned stronger than his rage and the steam thickened, obscuring the room, but his emotions also cut into me, squeezing my chest and making me gasp for breath.
“Now I’m taking what’s mine,” the archnephilim said. “Essie. Come.”
Searing agony exploded in the archnephilim’s brand and my body jerked forward a step.
Panic, my panic, sliced through Gideon’s grief, giving me a jagged breath and evaporating the steam. I clenched every muscle within me, squeezing as tight as I could, and forced myself to not take another step.
“I said come,” the archnephilim hissed, his voice in my head screeching across my nerves like nails on a chalkboard.
More agony blazed through the brand, and the buzz burst past the nicotine from the patch and snapped under my skin. I staggered forward two more steps.
No. Please, no. I gritted my teeth and mentally heaved at the archnephilim’s command.
“Essie.” Marcus jerked away from Gideon and Zella and barreled toward the archnephilim.
Jacob fired another four rounds, center of mass again.
“Jacob, please,” Marcus begged, slashing at tentacle after tentacle.
Kol also dove in, ramming his blades into what was probably the archnephilim’s shoulder. The archnephilim seized Kol and flung him out the cafeteria entrance, sending him tumbling into the hall
near the elevator.
I took another staggering step forward.
Come on. No. This was my body. I had to be stronger than him. Please, let me be stronger than him.
The fire from the brand screamed through me, and my breath came in ragged gasps. I tried to drop to my knees but my muscles wouldn’t obey. I tried to fall, to step back, to do anything, but I could only clench everything within me and force myself still. Except the buzz was chewing away at my concentration and I didn’t know how long I could resist him.
“You’re taking too long,” the archnephilim growled, and an inferno, a hundred times more ferocious than anything I’d felt before, erupted from the brand and devoured every other sensation within me. It rushed up my arm, across my chest, and crushed around my heart. I was burning up, being consumed from the inside out. Every breath I took burned, every thought evaporated the moment I thought it. I shuddered and broke into a run. Toward the archnephilim.
My mind screamed at me, cold panic fighting through the fire, but I couldn’t get my thoughts out of my head and into my body enough to just slow down. I hurdled over a fallen table and a flicker of control seized my muscles. I staggered, but caught my balance and kept running.
Jacob jerked toward me. “Essie.” He locked gazes with me, the dark intensity in his eyes capturing my essence. “Stop.”
I jerked to a stop, lost my balance, and fell, cracking my knees against the linoleum floor. Jacob’s command flash-froze through the archnephilim’s fire, and everything within me trembled with the need to obey both Jacob and the archnephilim. I pressed my palms to the floor and locked my gaze on the tile beneath them.
Just stay. All I have to do is stay where I am.
But the contrary commands ripped at my will, and the buzz had returned, threatening to steal my concentration.
The archnephilim’s power jerked my head up as Marcus roared and dove at the archnephilim, his claws slicing through tentacles. Jacob fired at the center of the archnephilim’s mass, making Marcus roar again, this time with desperation. But no matter what Marcus wanted, it was the right call. The guys were barely making a dent against the archnephilim. It would be a miracle if they managed to kill it. No way were they going to be able to capture it.