The Lily Harper 8 Book Boxed Set

by HP Mallory

  “Woah, woah, woah, Kemosabe, just hold on one minute there, dude.” Bill waved his hands in front of Asterion’s face. “What makes you think I’m gonna fight anybody? I’m an Angel, remembers? That means I’m a pacifist, so that means you and Nips gotta take them out on yer own.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Since when are you a pacifist?”

  “Since he said those Lemurs are out there.”

  “Lemures,” Asterion corrected with a droll expression. “Don’t let them pierce you.”

  “Wait! Pierce me? What are you talking about?”

  “Look, we don’t have time for a Roman mythology course,” Asterion snapped. “Like I said, we don’t know much about these things, but they have a retractable barb that can pierce your skin and impregnate you with larva that will allow them to control you like a marionette.”

  “Impregnate?!” Bill tried to scramble away, but Asterion pinned the angel against the wall as I watched the corridor. “Yo, I didn’t sign up to get impregnated by some goopy bug monster’s baby, alright? I ain’t gonna get barbed today or any other day.”

  “You will stand beside your companions as you have always done,” Asterion ordered. “Keep up with us and stay focused. If they catch you, you’ll wish you could die.”

  “Let’s talk about that barb-thing,” Bill continued. “It’s not a penis, is it? I don’t think I could handle anything dick-like trying to…”

  “Bill!” My voice cut through his rambling, and Asterion and I pushed our way into the corridor. The angel had no choice but to follow. As soon as we entered the corridor, the soldiers were there to meet us. I didn’t have a weapon, but I struck fast and kicked one of them down the staircase. A group of Alaire’s men moved towards my bedchamber. The door blew off its hinges, and smoke filled the hallway. I coughed and sputtered as debris rained down on us.

  My ears rang something fierce, and my eyes burned from the dust that floated around my head. I blinked past tears and saw a long, slender figure appear in the haze of my mind. It moved closer, coming just inches away from my face. Those sightless eyes flickered rapidly. Its mouth stretched open with a horrific screech. I kicked the creature away, but it barely moved. In the midst of the chaos, someone shouted my name.

  A burst of energy forced the Lemure away from me. I scrambled back on my hands and pulled myself up. My aunt stood at my side with a smile on her face. She ran towards the Lemure, dropped to her knees, and slid between its gangly legs. I looked on with sheer amazement as Annice battled against the creature with a fluid grace I envied. The blade she wielded was small, but lethal.

  ###

  TALLIS

  The door exploded.

  Me eyes shot open, and I rolled onto the floor as the thundering of boots rang in me ears. I saw naught but darkness in the bedchamber, but I could sense me enemy near. Whatever runes that had suppressed me magic broke away, and the very air vibrated with intense energy. I crept along the floor, inching closer to the soldiers in the room.

  I detected a change in the breathing of the one closest to me, and I sprang into action. Me fist hit his side and caused the soldier to crumple to the floor.

  I used me Druid power to turn on the lamp beside the bed and saw that Lily had left her sword behind. Anger penetrated me for a few seconds because she should have known better. The first lesson I’d taught her was never to leave her sword behind, no matter where she was or what she was doing. This circumstance was now proof enough.

  The loud screech from down the hall caused me blood to turn to ice. I grabbed Lily’s sword and hurried towards the others. Creatures I had nae seen in many centuries made their way over to where me lass and Annice fought as hard as they could. The angel lollygagged behind them.

  Bloody coward.

  “Lily!” I shouted and tossed Besom her sword. She caught it with deft hands and drove the blade through a Lemure’s belly. The creature shrieked in terror and recoiled. The Minotaur fought just as hard and the stookie angel soon joined the fray. Lily’s aunt used her abilities to keep Alaire’s hunters contained behind a force field of rippling magic. Sweat beaded on her brow, and her arms trembled with the effort it took to maintain such a powerful shield.

  “Go!” She ordered as she faced the Minotaur. “Asterion, take them to the southern passage.”

  “No, we can’t leave you here!” Lily lunged for her aunt, but I caught her around the waist and pulled her away.

  “You must!” Annice retorted.

  Lily shook her head. “No, I can’t just leave you here to be taken by Alaire!”

  “Asterion, go,” Annice said as she faced the Minotaur who simply nodded and turned to lead us away.

  The Minotaur showed us through a hidden staircase at the end of the corridor. I followed reluctantly and carried Besom in me arms until she stopped fighting. Then I placed her on her feet and pushed her forward. Luckily, she did not fight me but followed the bull-man.

  Asterion lifted an iron grate concealed beneath planks of wood and helped the angel and me Lily into tunnels beneath the pub. The sounds of war echoed through The Barren Heart as I closed the entrance to the tunnels behind me. Me boots splashed in murky water, and I saw Lily collapse against the stone wall.

  “We shouldn’t have left her behind.”

  “We had nae choice, Besom.”

  “She helped us, and we returned that help by leaving her there… to get captured or killed or…” She swiped away a few stray tears that rolled down her cheeks. “I just met her, and I already got her killed.”

  “No, we did what we were supposed to do,” the Minotaur said.

  “And that was leave her to her fate?” Lily demanded angrily.

  “No. Annice is no ordinary woman, Lily,” he explained. “She knew what she was doing and there was a reason she asked me to lead you to safety. It’s not our place to question her reasons.”

  “Annice is strong, Lily. She must have foreseen this, owin’ to her great knowledge an’ magic.” I kissed her temple and helped her back to her feet. We splashed through the crudely made tunnels until we reached a fork in the path.

  ###

  BILL

  I’d just bathed, and already I smelled like hot ass again. FML!

  Lils and Tido fell behind a bit to talk, so I shuffled along beside Kemosabe in the stupid fucking tunnels. He looked weird with a flesh face and all, so I couldn’t stop staring at him.

  “Yer way prettier in yer human form,” I snickered. “All that luxurious hair and those long lashes. Be still my heart, Bull Boy. I bet your milkshake brought all the boys to the yard, eh?” I pinched my lips together to keep from laughing, but the whatthefuck face he gave me was too good. I leaned against the wall, wheezing as I lost my shit to a bout of laughter. He was too easy to mess with, especially when he looked all serious-like. “You’re no fun,” I grumbled when he didn’t make no response.

  “I could say the same of you,” he answered.

  “Where the hell we goin’ anyway?” I demanded, wanting to change the subject ‘cause Kemosabe had like zero sense of humor.

  “These tunnels will lead us to the river Styx,” he answered with a shrug. “Then we can get a ferry to take us to the Toy Store and Lily can do whatever she needs to do, and hopefully quickly so I don’t have to deal with anymore of your pointless jokes.” Dude lifted his arms and braided his hair back from his face as he slowed his pace, which was just as well ‘cause the dude was like ginormous which meant it was like impossibles to keep up with him.

  “Pointless jokes?” I scoffed. “You should consider yerself lucky to be hangin’ out with me! I’m the funniest shit you come across in ways too long.”

  Dude eyed me with disinterest. “Some would say you use humor to hide how you really feel.”

  “If I didn’t make jokes, then ya’ll wouldn’t be so entertained, now would you? I bring the fun outta you three serious bitches.”

  “There’s a time for humor, William.”

  “There’s a time for humor,
William,” I repeated, making him sound all girly like. “Yer allowed to smile, homie. And don’t call me William. I’m Bill.” I stepped in something sticky and lifted my foot with a shudder. “Dude, Lils’ aunt just gave me these clothes, and they’re already ruined.”

  “You can make as many jokes as you want, but I know the truth in what you hide from Lily and Tallis.”

  “What the hell you talkin’ about, yo?”

  He shrugged. “The three of you were companions long before I came into the picture, and yet none of you actually talks to one another. Not candidly, at least.”

  “Um, we talk to each other all the time.”

  “I mean… really converse with one another—about subjects that truly matter.”

  “Like what kinda subjects?”

  He shrugged again. “How about everything each of you has been through and how it’s affected you?”

  “Why’s that matter?”

  He sighed. “I’m just saying I know what it’s like to be born one thing and then be forced to become something else, to have past mistakes dictate your entire existence until everyone forgets the good you’ve done.”

  “For a guy who seems to know everything, you don’t know jack shit about me.”

  “You forget I knew Uriel,” he said softly.

  I stopped mid-stride. It felt like a bowling ball dropped into the pit of my stomach. “You knew Uriel?”

  He nodded. “We didn’t know each other very long, but he spoke of an angel that was passionate and full of life. An angel he respected above all his heavenly brothers and sisters. He said this angel mimicked human behavior and found joy in the littlest things. I figured you were that angel when we first met.”

  Sadness I hadn’t felt in a long time came tumbling back. “I’m not that guy anymore.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m just not.”

  “That’s not much of an answer.”

  “It’s the only answer I got.”

  He glanced down at me and frowned. “You’re sure?”

  I exhaled real deep like and then felt this like burning need to explain myself so I figured what the fuck. Why not? “When Uriel disappeared, I was real sad, you know?”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Right. So, management gave me a job to do. I was supposed to look after Lily, but I screwed the pooch, and no one ever let me forget it.”

  “Screwed Lily?”

  I nodded. “It was my fault she died befores she was supposed to.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “Well, it’s true.”

  “Lily died when she was supposed to.”

  I laughed real not funny like. “Explain that to AE.”

  “What was your punishment?”

  “Got put on probation, and I figured I might as well become the dipstick everybody already thought I was. Soze I got comfortable being a failure.”

  Kemosabe put his hand on my shoulder and forced me to meet his gaze. “You don’t think all the good you’ve done with Lily is enough to atone for that one mistake which, most likely, wasn’t even a mistake at all?”

  “Whatchu getting at, Bull Boy?”

  “Lily is held back by her insecurities. You’re held back by your denial. Tallis struggles with pride. Me? I blame other people for my problems. And all of us are haunted by things we did in the past, things we haven’t been able to get away from and, consequently, those things hold us back.”

  I nodded as I thought about his words. “Hey, you gotta good point there, man, even if you’re like that Jung dude who’s always thinkin’ everythin’ got some kinda hidden meaning.”

  He nodded. “I feel as though something big is going to happen soon, Bill, and we’ll all have to answer for our mistakes. No more hiding, no more feeling sorry for ourselves. I believe the time of reckoning is heading our way.”

  “Shit.” I was quiet for a few seconds. “I ain’t sure I’m ready for no time o’ reckonin’.”

  ###

  LILY

  “We need to talk, Tallis.” I leaned against him as we made our way through the underground tunnels. In the back of my mind, I wondered if Annice had survived and escaped Alaire’s hunters, and I hoped and prayed she had. It was frustrating, but the only way I’d ever find out what had happened to her was by returning to the tavern, something I intended to do after we finished our business in the Underground City—if we were able to escape.

  In the meantime, my relationship with Tallis was weighing on me as well. “I know I’ve been distant.”

  “Aye, ye have been.” He didn’t look at me but continue walking, staring straight ahead.

  “I’m sorry for that, and I want to discuss the reasons why I’ve been distant.”

  “I would like that,” he answered as he finally turned to look at me.

  “I feel like you don’t even try to figure out what might be the matter with me. It’s like I say stuff and it goes in one ear and out the other, like you don’t even comment on it.”

  “I dinnae oonderstand, lass.”

  I nodded, figuring I wasn’t making much sense. “When I come to you about my problems, you tell me what you think I want to hear, and then the subject gets brushed aside and forgotten. Or it escalates into an argument until I can’t talk about it anymore or don’t want to think about it anymore.”

  “I see.”

  I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I stormed off earlier, before Alaire’s soldiers attacked,” I continued on an exhale. “It just… really bothered me that I felt like you were accusing me of cheating on you with Asterion.”

  “I never accused ye o’ cheatin’ on me.”

  “But you made it sound like it was something that was going to happen.”

  “Aye, because it seems ye both cannae keep yer eyes off each other.”

  “Annice says that’s because Asterion probably figured in my life in the past… as in I have met him before…”

  And then I thought about talking to him about Sorcha. About bringing up the fact that I’d been having visions of her and telling him what Annice had told me—that I was most likely sharing my soul with Sorcha—that she was me as much as I was her.

  But when I opened my mouth to tell him, the words wouldn’t come. And, in their place was the sudden worry he might not believe me, or if he did believe me, he might not like what I had to say. What if it was suddenly too hard on him to know that Sorcha still lived within me? What if he looked at me differently? What if I was no longer Lily to him?

  Tallis cocked his head to the side and appeared thoughtful. “I had nae considered that a soul connection could unite ye and the Minotaur.”

  “Then you believe it could be true?”

  He shrugged. “Anythin’ can be true, Besom.”

  “Regardless,” I continued. “It doesn’t change the fact that I will never cheat on you.”

  He nodded. “I’m sorry for doubtin’ ye, Besom.”

  “I don’t want an apology, Tallis,” I replied as I took a deep breath. “I want you to listen me and sometimes, that’s all I want.”

  “’Tis hard for me.”

  “I know, but I’m asking you to try.”

  He nodded. “Aye. I will try.”

  “I want us both to try to do better from now on.” I paused for a few seconds. “I love you, and I want to be with you. I get that it must be hard for you to see this strange attraction between Asterion and me…”

  “’Tis nae easy.”

  “I know, but you need to understand something, Tallis,” I started as I turned to him and stopped walking, taking his hands in my own as he, too, stopped walking. “I want to be with you. You are the one I choose.”

  He pulled away from me and wrapped his arms against his massive chest. Clearly, he was still upset and his anger worried me. Did he honestly believe I would do something with Asterion? Did he honestly believe I would cheat on him?

  “I want to believe yer words, lass, but then I remember the look in yer eyes when ye
look oopon him.” He turned his attention turned to something in the distance. I didn’t think it was something threatening because he didn’t seem worried. Just pensive.

  “Whatever is going on between Asterion and me is something we can’t just turn off, especially because neither of us understands it.” I paused for a second or two to catch my thoughts. “But, what I can promise you is that nothing will happen between us, Tallis.”

  He looked at me and nodded. “I am sorry me words stoong ye like they did, Lily, beyond sorry.”

  “I… I need you to understand something,” I started and tried to blink the tears back as they burned my eyes. This subject always hit me hard. “After I died and ended up having to choose another body, I felt good every time I looked at my reflection and saw that I wasn’t the same frumpy girl I’d always been. I was finally beautiful, strong, and confident. I felt like it was the only reason I was able to get the attention of a man like you,” I admitted.

  Tallis shook his head. “Yer looks had naethin’ to do with it, Besom…”

  I held up my hand to say I wasn’t finished. “But the longer I’m in this body and I watch it change every day, I realize the person I left behind was never really left. I look like I do now, in a body that isn’t my own, and even though I can recognize the fact that I’m beautiful, when you say it to me, I don’t believe you. When you whisper to me in bed at night about how much you love me, I fight against your words because I’m still not convinced a man like you could ever love me, the real me.”

  “Ye doubt yerself this mooch, Besom? Ye doubt me this mooch?”

  “My insecurities have gotten in the way of us before, Tallis.”

  “Aye an’ I thought we took care o’ them. I thought ye oonderstood just how mooch ye mean to me?”

  I nodded. “Old habits die hard, I guess,” I said with a shrug. “Regardless, words of affirmation aren’t working on me anymore.”

  “Why not?”

  “I can’t shut the voice up in my head that tells me I’m worthless... unless I’m holding my sword. Then everything is different. It’s like The Self fills me with this jolt of ‘I can do this’, you know?” I looked over at him and he nodded. “I don’t know what the reason is or why, but the sword gives me power.”