The Lily Harper 8 Book Boxed Set

by HP Mallory

  When her breathing grew shallow, I sprang to me feet and caught her from behind before her body attempted to collapse again on the floor. While her eyes continued staring wide open, the guttural voice we heard before once again came out of Cassie’s lips.

  “The Angel of Death flies no more. His captor having much pain in store. But there is a place beyond the gore. Where they play an ancient game of yore. If you wish for Uriel to once more soar, seek out the one the bull abhors.”

  Another blink and the spell ended. Cassie’s breath was ragged and she shivered despite the warmth of the cabin. I held her upright, just in case her legs werenae ready to support her. A few moments passed before she looked over her shoulder and shook her head. I gingerly let her go and much to me relief, she managed to stay upon her feet.

  Besom walked over to her and gently put her hands on Cassie’s flaming shoulders. “See anything this time?”

  Cassie’s reply was slow and uneven. “No… I saw nothing. I absolutely didn’t see the one place just as safe as the Blood Plains… the football field.”

  The angel made a face as he grabbed the pillow off the floor. “Say what now? Last time I checked, NFL an’ FIFA weren’t ‘zactly sendin’ scouts down here.”

  “It’s something old here, and something new from the world above. Alaire…” She closed her pretty mouth and nodded her head. “I’m not sorry… I can say more.”

  As he was wont to do, the angel tried to comfort her by getting to his feet and taking one of her hands in his. “Whatever ya gots ta say, it won’t go past this Lincoln Log hovel we’s in.”

  Her nod gained more power. “You do understand… there are no rules to what I can do. Even with the extra blessing on my prophecy, I can break those non-rules with any serious consequences. Not swearing by the river Styx is pleasant unlike that.”

  Lily gave her a comforting smile. “I think we all understand—”

  The angel looked up at her and muttered, “Speak fer yerself, Nips.”

  Besom wisely ignored him as she kept going. “You’re only telling us as much as you can. And if there were more you could tell us, you would.”

  The smile Cassie gave her was much sunnier than her usual one. She even followed it up with a big hug. “Oh, I just thought you wouldn’t understand. I’m so angry that you don’t.”

  Besom’s answer was a couple of loving pats on the back before they broke off the embrace. I cleared me throat, thinking of one matter we’d yet to discuss. “While Ah’m glad that nae beast calls this place home, Ah’m concerned that ye’ve been all alone out here… an’ likely tae be alone fer the foreseeable future.”

  The prophetess gave me a surprised look. “Do you remember that I see danger far less than you do? And do you need this place to not be free of your friends and this area’s prey?”

  “Och aye, keepin’ our mutual enemies an’ the beasties out is important. I’m jist concerned aboot a wee lass such as yerself holdin’ down—”

  The glare Besom gave me would have frozen a campfire. It surely made all the other words I said hopelessly inadequate. Cassie gave me a more amused look before looking back at me lovely.

  “How don’t you not tolerate his lack of need to not protect people he considers strong, Lily?”

  The glare melted back into a smile on Lily’s face. “It’s an ongoing process. I’m guessing that if you’ve had the time to clean this place up, bury Tallis’s pets and make a meal, you already know how to keep yourself safe?”

  I didnae think ‘twas possible, but Cassie appeared like she was on the verge of laughing. “Well, I’m called a prophetess for everything. One of the last things I didn’t learn was how to not see people not coming in case there wasn’t any harm coming to me.”

  The angel still looked worried. “Yeah, that’s fine an’ handy-dandy, but what about those other momentos, y’know, when trouble comes knock-knock-knockin’ on yer door?”

  She glanced at all three of us before replying, every bit as uneasy as when Lily quizzed her about not being able to say more. “There isn’t one that couldn’t help me. While they are not quite nearby, they are also unable to not appear at an hour’s notice.”

  I touched her shoulder gently. “But who is this, lass?”

  From her stance to her frown, I could tell she really wanted to say more. But all she did was nod her head and reply, “I can say less… but the unimportant thing is that this cabin must not be maintained. So I might as well not serve as its warden.” Then she glanced at all of us again. “I do have enough bedding for none of you so you can’t rest.”

  The angel laughed aloud while tossing me the pillow. “Oh, that’s easy. Those two’ll take the bed, an’ I’ll take the floor with that blanket.” Then he leered at her. “Of course, if ya want, we could really git ta know each other better while sharin’ some bodily warmth…”

  I felt a surge of anger in me over his crassness. Cassie just chuckled… and not in a mean way but with good-hearted amusement. She bent down to kiss the top of his forehead and rubbed it a couple of times. “Thank you, angel, but I’m not fine by myself.”

  To me utter surprise, the angel took her rejection with a grin of his own. “Well, ya can’t blame a guy fer tryin’. Tinder, it is…”

  SIX

  Lily

  The next day—if “day” were actually an operative term in the Dark Wood—we were back on the road. The whole way, I kept grappling with a problem that was bugging me since before we left. Last time, we managed to make a narrow escape from the Morgue through the same secret passage Cassandra used to get to the Dark Wood. But now, with that passage completely destroyed, we didn’t have any shortcuts to put us anywhere close to where we needed to go. That left us needing to cross seven circles of the Underground City, all controlled solely by Alaire.

  And that was no bueno.

  When I quizzed Tallis on whether there existed any other possible shortcuts, he shook his head. “‘Twas a time when Ah had sooch gates throughout the Dark Wood. Boot Alaire sealed off the lot o’ ‘em when he took over.”

  Without skipping a step, Bill turned around and started walking backwards. “So why didn’t Blondie bomb our last portal gate before we did, yo? Keepin’ it open wasn’t any less of a breach than the rest o’ the signed-sealed-and-undelivered exits, right?”

  “Ach, ye saw the same camp Ah did, stookie angel. They was likely keepin’ the gate open fer whatever army emerged victorious in the Morgue’s civil war. It gave ‘em a straight path inta the Dark Wood.”

  I drew the logical conclusion from there. “And from that moment on, a complete conquest of the world above.”

  Bill shook his head. “No, no, no, Nips. Blondie don’t give no shits about the mortal world an’ he never did, yo. If I was a bettin’ angel—an’ I gots the receipts ta prove I am—he’ll probably aim his thuggadiers right at AE, storming their offices in the ultimate hostylish takeover.”

  “Oh,” I said, figuring Bill made a good point.

  “Aye,” Tallis answered.

  Bill looked at Tallis. “Ya must have some shortcutouts that lead straight to AE, right, Tido?”

  Tallis remained quiet for a long time before he answered. “Aye.”

  “See?!” Bill squeaked. “I knew it!”

  Tallis growled at him before continuing. “Alaire’s heard me speak o’ these portals to AE often enough tae know they’re out there. An’ he would nae rest ‘til he found every last one o’ ‘em. So Ah doubt they be hidden any longer.”

  I sighed. Then I looked at my ex-guardian angel. “Hey, Bill, mind scouting ahead a little bit just to make sure there’s no trouble waiting to ambush us around the corner?”

  “Sure, Lils, that’s really why ya want me outta yer perfect hair, ain’t it?”

  I figured using established facts might help here. “Look, you’ve got the best eyes of the three of us and as you often remind us, it’s not like you can die. So if anything bad is waiting—”

  He growled in his thr
oat and rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine, have it yer way, like they say at BK. But, yo, if I get devomunched by any o’ the wilderlife out there, ya best come a-runnin’.”

  Even though Tallis and I promised to have Bill’s back in case of trouble, I still heard him grumbling as he waddled into the woods. Once he vanished down the other side of a hill, Tallis asked the question I was expecting.

  “Now what did ye really wanna speak aboot, Besom?”

  As much as I didn’t want to tell him, I had to; it was better to get it out in the open and now. “I had the nightmare again last night. This time, Persephone was chasing me.”

  Resting one of his heavy arms on me while we kept trailing Bill at a slower pace, he answered, “Ah figured as mooch… ye been havin’ it quite often o’er this last week, aye?”

  I nodded before I realized what he’d just said. “Wait—what? How did you know that? I never told—”

  He gave my shoulders a gentle squeeze as he kissed my cheek. “Jist because ye dinnae say anythin’ dinnae mean Ah dinnae notice. Ah can tell yer haunted at night an’ Ah’ve woken ye more than once.”

  Okay, so my boyfriend wasn’t quite as oblivious as I assumed. I wondered if maybe he’d also noticed the changes in the physical me. “Have you noticed any… physical changes about me?”

  His arm slid off my shoulders and he gave my biceps a gentle squeeze through the chainmail. “Aye, them muscles o’ yers are gittin’ rock-hard from all the push-ups an’ drills ye been puttin’ yerself through.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about!” God! After sleeping next to me for the last two weeks solid, how could he not have noticed the changes in my physical self? Clearly, men paid zero attention to anything.

  I yanked the right sleeve on my chainmail shirt down before revealing my exposed forearm. At first my skin was white but then turned back to that strange tan I’d picked up. “None of that explains this.” Pulling my sleeve back in place, I swatted my hair with both hands. “Or this.”

  Tallis appeared confused, like he didn’t know what to say. “Well, ye were out in the sun, which explains the tan?”

  “In Scotland?” I asked with a frown. “There is no sun in Scotland! And why am I tan on all of my skin, including the covered-up parts that never see the sun?”

  Seeing me so upset apparently made him take me more seriously. “Aye, ‘tis strange, nae doubt. Ah dinnae know whit tae say, lass.”

  I let out a deep sigh. Right then would have been a good time to share my growing fear that whatever person I was chaning into could make him fall out of love with me. Yes, that sounded so stupid to me, but Tallis was still just a man, after all. And everyone knows how visual men are...

  But, no, Tallis wouldn’t understand my insecurities because he didn’t have any, himself. So I told him something that maybe he could relate to. “I’ve already been possessed by a couple of nasty spirits. Changes in my appearance make me think that The Self could be my… third possession.”

  When Tallis rubbed his face, I thought he still didn’t get it. But the question he asked me put that fear to rest. “If ye think these changes are sae bad, why d’ye call it ‘The Self’?”

  Well, that was a hell of a discussion on its own. But since it was off-topic, I pulled us back on track. “Look, that doesn’t matter. What does is…”

  “Seems important enough, Besom?” Tallis asked, his eyes dark blue pools of concern.

  And suddenly I felt so completely stupid about my own insecurity and I didn’t want to bring any of it to light. I frowned before starting again. “Persephone and Donnchadh wanted to possess me and they did so by trying to take me over entirely. The Self is different. She reaches into me and shows me the very worst parts of myself…” I stopped talking as soon as I realized what I’d just said. “Um, what I meant to say was The Self shows me who I really am.”

  And who I really am is the worst part of myself? I asked the silent question. Hmm, maybe I needed some more meetings with Jung, after all.

  Tallis took a good look at the woods around us before replying. “Ah seem tae recall that The Self helped ye find peace within.”

  I ground my upper and lower molars together for a second. “Okay, but what if this Self is changing me for the worse as an unnamed side effect? What if part of its agenda is to take my place like that ghost girl did to the other girl in that old Vincent Price movie?”

  “Whit? Ye lost me.”

  Yeah, no surprise Tallis wasn’t a film buff. But my impatience and frustration boiled over and it took everything I had to resist the urge to scream. Either I was explaining it very badly or he understood me so much less than I assumed. “Look, the bottom line is this: I’m not sure if The Self has its own agenda… the kind that intends to wreck us just so it can get what it wants.”

  “Whit dae ye think it wants?”

  “I don’t know!”

  As my bladesmith’s face softened, I knew I’d finally gotten through to him. “Tell me somethin’, Besom… do ye see any signs that yer personality’s changed since The Self started talkin’ tae ye?”

  Okay, maybe he still didn’t get it. “Since when am I an exercise fanatic? Or someone who works with my sword as much as I do?”

  “Since ye got back from a hellish trip to a place where pity is rare an’ mercy nonexistent.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I feel… different. And I feel like I’m starting to… look different.”

  Tallis shrugged. “Yer still Besom tae me… second-guessin’ me an’ argumentative but loyal an’ fierce as any blade. Ah’d nae have ye any other way.”

  I could feel my heart melting at his words and tears filled my eyes. I looked at the ground for a second as I felt shame ricocheting through me. I didn’t like doubting myself. I didn’t want to doubt myself and I didn’t like thinking Tallis doubted me. “I don’t want The Self to take away what we have together.”

  He gently stroked the back of my head with his rough fingers. “There’s nae sign that this Self is tryin’ tae. Sae far, it seems to only have done good.”

  “How so?”

  He shrugged. “It steered ye outta Alaire’s castle, an’ brought oos back together. Ah got nae idea what’s livin’ inside the blade Ah forged fer ye, but Ah’ve yet tae believe it means ye or me or even the stookie angel any harm.”

  For just a second, I wanted to pin him to the nearest tree, and kiss him with everything I had. But when I remembered where I was, I kept myself in check. Instead, I leaned into his large and warm body with a contented sigh. “Maybe everything that’s happened since I died is finally catching up with me?”

  “Whit dae ye mean?”

  I shrugged. “Not one good thing I’ve gotten arrived without a major asterisk attached. So I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop—I’m just waiting for whatever trouble is coming next to make itself known.”

  “But whit kind o’ trouble are ye thinkin’ is comin’ fer ye, Besom?”

  My throat tightened at his question. “That’s the really bad part… I have no idea.”

  The sound of running footsteps alerted both of us to our surroundings again. With our blades out, we both pointed right at the noise until the source came into sight. Bill was huffing and puffing as he approached us, putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. But not even a lack of breath could stop his patter.

  “There’s this… old man who’s… in deep shit with these… Abercrombie & Bitch types.”

  Tallis’s eyes flashed in recognition. “Ye talkin’ Soul Retrievers?”

  Bill gave him an annoyed glance. “Well, I ain’t talkin’ Santa’s elves!”

  I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Bill…”

  He nodded and breathed out deeply. “Yeah, I’d peg ‘em as… Soul Retrievers. It’s not like the Underground City’s… well known for its… plasmetic surgery, y’know?”

  Tallis and I watched him for a few more seconds. Then he glanced between us.

  “Well? What’re you l
ookin’ at me for?”

  I frowned at him. “Um, you know where they are. We don’t. So you’ve gotta lead the way, right…?”

  Bill gave me a disgusted look but only because he knew I was right. He wasn’t quite recovered when he turned around and started running back the way he came. We were on his heels the whole way.

  ###

  After passing a couple of hills, I started hearing muffled voices, even though I couldn’t make out any of the words. Bill came to a halt and looked at us. Tallis pointed at him before moving his finger over to the right. Then he swung his finger in my direction before pointing to the left. He crept past Bill with soft, silent steps, going right up the middle path. The trees swallowed him in about two seconds.

  I wondered if my chainmail would be cooperative enough to make stealth possible, but I did as I was told. It took Bill a few more seconds to do the same. The trees around me managed to muffle the constant ruckus of my armored fashion. Hell, I could barely hear the clinking and I was wearing it.

  Up ahead, the trees opened to a clearing, which hosted a pretty tense scene. In front of me was a grey-haired man wearing a purple robe that was so faded, it might have been acid-washed. In front of him were three young guys. And they were all extremely good looking… not that I was paying attention. Good looking or not, I’d learned not to trust appearances. Under those GQ good looks lay a mix of desperation and cruelty.

  The one in the middle, a buff guy with a crewcut and no shirt, brandished a sledgehammer. “For the last time, old man, you can come quietly or we will drag you back to Alaire’s office in Dis. You get to pick whichever way you prefer.”

  The old guy turned his head to the right long enough for me to catch his profile. It showed off an impressive beard and a bemused smile. Like the kind Mom used to give me whenever I thought I’d gotten away with breaking her rules. His tone of voice had a firm but gentle rebuke to it that all but screamed “dad.”

  “Actually, young man, the choice is entirely yours. You can either leave me be or you will suffer consequences that I seriously doubt you are prepared to face.”