by Betty Legend
Griffin takes a good look at it. “Yeah. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Can you get all of us to the top of that tower?” Phoenix challenges, a smirk pulling at his lips.
Griffin chuckles. “Definitely.”
“Climb on my back.” Killian steps to the front and discards his sweatpants. “We need to conserve your energy.” Shifting, his skin transitions to fur, hands and feet becoming paws. With a huff, he blows falling ash away from his muzzle. Brushing my fingers through his fur, I rub his neck and ear before climbing atop his large, sturdy back.
“Lead the way, babe.”
Killian is panting by the time we reach the castle. He normally carries me without any loss of breath. I know it’s the dry, ashen air here in hell. As I climb off, sweat covers my hands from his fur. Shifting back into man, he brushes his hand through his damp hair, his cheeks flushed. Cyrus hands him a bottle of water, and we pass it around until it’s empty.
Killian grimaces. “I hate this heat.”
“Me too.”
Griffin puts his hand over my head and cool droplets of water land on me, trickling down my hair and neck.
“That’s better.”
Killian points to his head, and Griffin does the same for him.
“Thanks, brother.”
“Anytime.”
Looking up to the top of the tower, Griffin gauges the height.
“I’ll take Killian first. He’s the heaviest.”
Killian gives an acknowledging nod. The two, stand side-by-side as Griffin’s magic leaves his hands and swirls around them. Inside the turquoise glow, their feet rise off the ground. Higher and higher, they lift into the air until they reach the landing on the tower. Worry builds in my chest as I wait several minutes for them to be visible or for Griffin to return.
“They probably had to kill a few demons.” Cyrus rubs my back just as Killian leans over the edge and gives an all-clear signal. With a breath of relief, I watch as Griffin comes back down.
“The landing is clear now.” Griffin has a new scratch across his cheek. Putting my hand to it, I release my earth magic, healing the wound. “Thanks, love. I’ll take you up next.”
Standing next to him, my smile erupts as my feet rise off the ground. Next to me, he winks.
“I got you, love.” Turquoise glow surrounds us, twirling around our feet and legs as we rise higher and higher. Reaching the landing of the tower, Killian takes hold of my waist. Keeping our eyes on our surroundings, we watch our backs as Griffin brings Phoenix, then Cyrus.
A squawking zombie-like bird spots us and swoops down. In wolf form, Killian leaps through the air, biting into the neck of the bird. Landing gracefully on his feet, he snaps its neck and tosses it off the tower landing.
“So much for that.” I watch it freefall and land on the ground below.
Shifting back into man, Killian wipes at his mouth. “That tasted disgusting.”
Cyrus adjusts the backpack on his shoulder. “Pretty sure everything here is dead or undead.” He gives a glance at Phoenix. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Phoenix smirks.
Looking at the layout in front of us, Cyrus points to the main building of the castle. “We’ll go across the tower wall, then search for an opening into the castle.”
“I’ll blow holes through walls if that’s what it takes to find him.”
Cyrus nods in approval. “If that’s what it takes, we’ll do it.”
Cyrus leads the way across the wall from the tower to the main part of the castle. On the rooftop, we spread out in search of an entrance. Phoenix finds it first and whistles for us to join him. It takes the strength of Phoenix and Killian to break the lock and push open the iron door. Once inside, it’s pitch black. Cyrus casts a spell, and a light orb emerges in his hand. With him leading, we follow the winding, dingy stairwell into the castle.
Echoes of screams can be heard as we descend the stairs. My muscles tighten, and Killian moves closer, his hand at my back. Using the wall as a railing down the steep steps, I peel my hand back from the dampness on my skin.
“What is this?”
Cyrus moves the orb toward my hand, and I gasp.
“Don’t touch it,” Cyrus warns. Taking a rag from the backpack, he wipes off my hand. My stomach grows nauseous.
“The walls are seeping with blood.”
“Are you going to be sick?” Cyrus asks, his tone soft with concern.
“No, it’s just… it’s so gross and sad.”
Killian takes hold of the hand Cyrus wiped clean. “Don’t think about it, sweetheart.”
Nodding, I focus on the task at hand—finding Emeric in this house of horrors.
Cautiously, we make our way to the bottom of the stairwell into a hallway with multiple closed doors. Putting my hands over my ears, I block out the terrifying bellows, screams, and screeches. Killian puts his hand on my back and ushers me forward to the next stairwell.
From the looks of it, we’re in a central stairwell of the castle leading to all floors. Keeping to it, we descend to the next floor. Coming out of that stairwell, it’s another floor of the same thing—closed doors with more terrifying sounds coming from the other side of the doors.
“How many floors are there?”
“Six,” Phoenix tells me. “I counted the windows.”
“I’m not sure that’s accurate,” Cyrus stops before descending the next flight of stairs. “It might be an illusion.”
“What do we do? Keep going in hopes of reaching the ground floor?”
“No, you and Griffin can put your magic together to look past the floors. Look for Emeric. Find him in this castle.” When we look at Cyrus with surprise, he continues. “Remember, Cataleya said we could only defeat the devil with our bonded magic? I’ve been thinking about it. I believe we can tap into stronger magic when we use it together.”
“You’re right,” I tell him. “My own magic is much stronger when I use it all together.”
“Let’s try it then. Both of you sit on the step.”
Griffin and I take a seat next to each other and put our hands together. Turquoise essence swirls around our joined hands.
“Good,” Cyrus encourages. “Now concentrate on Emeric, search for images or his feelings.”
Closing my eyes, I think of his attractive face, his characteristic scar on his cheek, his wicked grin, the way I feel when he touches me.
Like a dream, my mind’s eye travels through the stairwell, to the ground floor, past several rooms. A fuzzy image emerges in front of me—red wings with white tips have golden-white fire dripping from them. A blade in hand, he’s moving through the castle, keeping to the darkness for protection. Looking around a doorway, he freezes. There’s a room full of… him! There are between ten and fifteen exact duplicates of Emeric, all staring at him with red beady eyes.
My eyes snap open. “What the hell?” With furrowed brows, my hands squeeze Griffin’s. “Did you see that?”
“I did.” Griffin looks as confused as I feel. “The devil is up to something,” he warns the others. “He has a room full of demons who have shapeshifted to look identical to Emeric.”
“It’s a ruse.” Phoenix clicks his tongue against his cheek. “When we find Emeric, he wants to make it impossible to pick him out of the crowd.”
Touching the feathers on my arm causes our bonded magic to react. “I don’t think it’ll work. I just need to be able to touch him, and I’ll know if it’s him or not. Which means we can’t kill any of the demons until I’m sure it’s not the real Emeric.”
Phoenix squats down and caresses my back. “You touch them, say the word, we kill them.”
“What’s the word going to be?”
“Death.”
In agreement, I rise from the step.
“Let’s get Emeric back and bind his father to hell.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
SELENE
Demons and ghouls ascend the stairway as we near the ground floor. The de
vil must know we’re here. Taking them out, we step over their grotesque bodies. My foot slips into the carcass of one of the ghouls, and I gag as warm juices cover my shoe and ankle. Killian lifts me, the juices making a squishy noise as my foot is extracted from the body. Putting me on the ground in front of him, he rubs my back.
“I know, the sights and smells are pushing your limits, being sensitive from your pregnancy.”
“They are,” I confirm, covering my mouth as I gag again. “This place is horrible.”
Phoenix passes me, his hand caressing along my lower back as he does. “Do you need to drink my blood?”
“Yes.”
Biting his wrist, he gives it to me. Immediately after drinking, the nausea dissipates, as does my fatigue and sore muscles.
“Thank you.”
Pulling me in close, he hugs me. “Whatever it takes. I think that’s become our group mantra.”
The guys chuckle.
“Yes, it has,” Griffin agrees. Taking the lead, he accepts the magical light orb Cyrus hands him, then guides us past several rooms that look as if they’re set up for a real castle except for the foul stench, blood-dripping walls, and the deadly staff.
Outside the room we saw Emeric enter, we pause. We can hear Emeric’s voice, but it’s coming from all around the room. Pushing the door open, I take the lead inside, and my heart momentarily stops.
Just like in the vision, there are twelve Emerics in the room arguing, some fighting with different weapons. It’s chaotic and disturbing. The first thing I search for is Emeric’s angel blade. I can’t imagine it can be duplicated. The other guys are at my back, watching this bizarre scene as I am.
“None of them have the angel’s blade.”
“You’re right,” Cyrus confirms. “I don’t think any of these demons are him.”
At the word demon, all eyes face us, and the fighting stops. Shit. Wings expanded, fire in their hands, all twelve Emerics come at us.
“We need all of our magic at once,” I yell.
Our hands rise, and our magic is freed, soaring through the air at the demon look-alikes. Our magic essence twists and swirls around the magic next to it until it merges into a moving wall of energy, blasting the demon look-alikes, turning them to ash.
Breathing again, I remain still, stunned by the power of our magic and that we just killed Emeric doppelgangers.
“It wasn’t him.” Griffin cups my shoulders, pulling me to him. “It wasn’t him, love.”
Tears pool in my eyes. “That didn’t make it any easier.”
“Seleeeeene…” The devil’s voice echoes from the hall, putting my hair on end. “I know you’re here, witch. You’ve left a trail of bodies…” His voice is coming nearer. “…leading…” Abruptly, I turn to face the door. “…right to you.”
The devil walks into the room, and we back up, putting more space between us and him.
“I want to play a game.”
“We’re not here to play games,” I bark. “Where is Emeric?”
“That’s the game, witch.” With a wave of his hand, a black hour-glass sand timer emerges in his hand. “Find him before the sand runs out, and you all get to leave. If you don’t, well…” His smirk is pure evil. “Then I get to keep all of you for eternity.”
“Stop with the tricks and pathetic show of power. Where is he?” I grit my teeth as anger rages inside of me.
The sand continues falling, and the devil taps a claw on the side of the timer. My heart pounds heavily in my chest.
“Time is wasting, witch.”
Cataleya was right. It’s going to take all of us.
“Death!”
The moment the word leaves my mouth, our hands rise, magic forms in our palms, and we release it. A torrent of magical energy erupts in front of us, combining into a sphere of dangerous power. Pushing my energy forward, the sphere of magic hurls toward the devil. The glass sand timer crashes to the floor, shattering into pieces as our magic binds him, holding the devil in place.
“With these words, let my power be free, free to condemn, to bind, to hold this creature to the dimension where he belongs.”
“You pitiful witch! You think you can contain me!” The devil fights the magic binding his arms to his back, his feet to the floor, but he’s unable to break it.
A ruckus breaks out in the hallway, but I don’t stop the force of magic flowing from us.
“With our magic, we bind thee, we bind you Lucifer to hell, unable to leave your plane, unable to shift from the confines of your being, unable to seek out the blood of your blood, unable to hurt the innocent. We bind thee to your body and form, to your dimension, and to only the magic that serves this dimension. Now and forevermore!”
Blood covering his face and left side, Emeric bursts through the threshold and spears the angel blade through the devil’s chest. A roar, grisly and grotesque, erupts from his throat. Black blood spatters across the floor and onto my legs. Holding the magic steady, my body trembles as the devil rises in the air, our magic controlling his motions. Magical chains form across his chest, around his arms and legs, then seep into his leathery skin, tearing flesh from bone. As the chains disappear inside him, the magic explodes, sparks of light and color dissipating as the devil slams to the ground.
In agony, he spits blood from his mouth and struggles to stand. Fire blazes in his eyes as he locks his gaze on me. Charging me, his wings expand, and his fingers bend to reveal more of his sharp claws. Just as he reaches for me, he’s thrown back, a magical protective barrier stopping him from touching me. Landing on his back, he roars with fury.
“Get Emeric! We need to leave, now!”
The guys grab his wounded body and help him stand. Rushing to him, I place my hands over the worst wounds I can see, allowing them to heal.
“Can you get us out of here?”
Emeric grimaces as he nods. “Yes.”
Like a flash of light, we’re transported, all of us landing on the cave floor of Catskill Mountains.
“Close it,” Emeric sputters, holding his side as blood trickles from the wound. “Close the gateway.”
Phoenix takes one look at Emeric’s wounds and pulls him close, biting into his neck. As Phoenix drinks from him, removing the demon venom, I raise my hands over the gateway.
“With these words, let my power be free, free to seal all gateways to and from hell.”
Killian, Cyrus, and Griffin place their hands over mine, adding to my flow of magic. Together, the magic builds, forming a circle of essence over the gateway. The ground closes, a circle of bluish-white light looping around it, sealing it and every other gateway that exists.
“It’s done.”
Rushing to Emeric’s side, I wait for Phoenix to finish removing the demon venom. When he does, Emeric collapses into my lap. Placing my hands over him, I heal all his wounds, then lift his head, staring into his crimson and black eyes.
“You’re going to be a father.”
Lifting his hand, he cups my face. “You and my son are the best damn things that have ever happened to me.”
Tears fill my eyes as I smile at him, my heart so full, it aches from the swell of love.
“It’s time to go home.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SELENE
SIX MONTHS LATER…
My son leaves my body wailing into this world. The midwife places him on a blanket, cuts the umbilical cord, then cleans him as Ancor checks his health. After wrapping my son in a soft new blanket, Carmella hands him to me. Looking down at my son, I cry. He’s beautiful, soft, his tiny hands and feet so precious. Under the blanket, I feel him shift. As he latches onto my nipple, the rounded tops of his wings peek out from the blanket.
“Emeric, look!”
Emeric slides onto my bed next to me and hugs me and his son.
“He’s breathtaking, Selene, completely breathtaking.”
“I love his tiny wings. Did you notice they’re all white? Will they stay like that?”
“Yes, babe, they will.” Emeric kisses my temple. “He has wings just like my mother’s. Hers looked like that.”
“I love him so much.”
“I love him, too.” Emeric caresses our son’s forehead. “You both are my world. I’ll always protect the two of you.” Looking at Emeric, there are tears pooling in his dark eyes. He looks at me and laughs to himself. “This is the best day of my life.”
Leaning over, I kiss him, our love shown through the heat between our lips.
“What do you want to name him?” Emeric asks me.
“Something with an E, after his father.”
A single tear falls down Emeric’s cheek. “Babe, you’re killing me.” He wipes at his face. “I’m fucking crying.”
“I know, and I love it.” I giggle.
Emeric sniffles. “Do you like the name Edric?”
Staring down at my son, so cozy and content in my arms, I smile, my heart so full.
“Edric is perfect.”
Looking out into the hall where Ancor and Carmella are standing, talking to the other guys, I laugh to myself.
“Edric, the druid angel.”
Ancor knew all along.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
SELENE
EIGHT YEARS LATER…
Edric flaps his wings and rises in the air above my nephew, Devon, then rustles his dark hair.
“Hey!” Devon shouts before outstretching his arm and releasing water magic at Edric.
“Boys!” My mother calls as they head toward the living room.
Rachel and I laugh from our spots at the kitchen counter. Rachel pats her pregnant belly.
“I love how well they get along.”
“Me too.” Grabbing a peanut butter blossom cookie off my mother’s plate, I take a bite.
“Where are all the guys?” Mom asks, sliding another tray of cookies into the oven.
“Phoenix and Pierce are visiting grandpa Kristo.”