The Lily Harper 8 Book Boxed Set

by HP Mallory

  Next, Fletcher dropped a tape recorder that played my phone conversations and things that had been spoken in dark places in the Underground City and the Dark Wood—places where no one was ever supposed to be able to overhear me. When the sounds of Tallis’s and my lovemaking streamed between us, I ordered him to turn it off.

  My privacy had been violated in every possible way.

  “How dare you?!” I yelled at him. “I worked hard for AE, and this is how they repay me?”

  “To be fair, Ms. Harper, you did not work for Afterlife Enterprises. You, and everyone else who comes to the Underground City upon death, are property owned by AE until you can earn your salvation or you succumb to the forces at work in the Underground City.” Fletcher brushed a bony hand over the lapels of his suit jacket, smoothing out an invisible wrinkle as the other man packed up the contents of the briefcase.

  “Why the fuck are you here?” I demanded and then decided to rephrase my question. “Why the fuck am I here… with you?”

  Fletcher cleared his throat. “We are aware that Alaire has spoken to you about a weapon that can defeat The Forsaken should the latter rise.”

  “I thought there was more to this whole situation,” I started, eyeing him narrowly. “You wouldn’t go out of your way to capture me and my companions if this was just about another soul retriever going rogue against AE.”

  “You are correct.”

  “And you, like Alaire, want me to locate this weapon for you?”

  “The thought has crossed my mind, yes. However, you must stand before the board first and they must vote on the subject.”

  “That won’t be happening.” I leaned forward and got right in Fletcher’s face. He seemed unamused with my antics, but that was fine with me. “I’m willing to wager this train never makes it to headquarters.”

  “Is that so?”

  “You made one big mistake, and that was thinking you could trust Alaire,” I snickered mockingly.

  Fletcher reclined against his seat and cocked his head with curiosity. I felt like a bug beneath a microscope. “I noticed you have not asked once where your friends are. I’m surprised, I must admit.”

  Now there was no point in delaying the inevitable. “Where is Tallis?”

  A sly grin formed on the skeletal man’s face. “Your lover was slain on the sands. His body was left to rot along the bank of the river like the vermin he is.”

  I felt as though he’d reached across the table and slapped me across the face.

  Tallis wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be…

  There was no way they could have killed him. Tallis was a Druid, hence he had power. “How?” I asked, keeping my tone neutral and schooling my features into an impassive expression. Fletcher had caught me off guard, but I couldn’t let him know just how much his words affected me. I still wasn’t sure if I could even believe him. This could all be a ploy, a trick, to make sure I did what he wanted me to do.

  “Lemures.”

  Not knowing what to do with the information given to me, I fell back into my seat and closed my eyes for a few seconds. Could I believe Fletcher? But why would he lie to me? Having Tallis alive meant he could force me to his will more easily than if Tallis was dead.

  But then telling me Tallis was dead would also show me Fletcher and AE were serious and meant business. I felt sick to my stomach.

  “Whether Tallis is dead or not, it doesn’t change my answer,” I said finally, my heart in my throat. “I’m not helping you or Alaire get anywhere near the weapon you’re looking for and I have no interest in standing before your board. If anything, you should be afraid I might do something drastic like send this train over the side of a cliff.”

  “You cannot possess such power.”

  I wasn’t sure if I did either but some pretty strange things had happened when I’d fought Asterion. Yes, I was convinced I had abilities, but I wasn’t sure just how strong they were.

  “You have my aunt,” I argued. “You know exactly how much power my family has.” A loud bang echoed through the passenger car, and I trumped his grin with a smile of my own. “Sounds like my Minotaur woke up.” My fingers worked to free the last bit of the metal and leather lining. I had no idea if it would work, but I forced the metal into the lock on the shackles around my wrists. And… nothing.

  So I closed my eyes and focused on the restraints. And in my mind’s eye, I saw them opening, saw the metal clicking open.

  Come on, Lily, I whispered to myself and then decided to extend the plea. Sorcha, if you’re in there, now’s a good time to make yourself known. Or The Self, if you can hear me, how about popping open these cuffs?

  When I felt the click of the release, I couldn’t help the relief that suffused me. The shackles fell free from one of my wrists and clanked against the other one. The sound instantly piqued Fletcher’s interest and a second later, I lifted my hands up to defend myself as Fletcher’s lackey tried to restrain me.

  As soon as he touched me, telekinetic energy blasted him across the room, and he hit the wall with a loud sound. I glanced down at my hands in surprise. It was the same power I’d manifested when I’d fought Asterion in the Sanctuary. It was raw power and it was mine…

  Fletcher scrambled over to the far wall of the train car and hit a button that caused an alarm to blare through unseen speakers. “You will be outnumbered in a matter of seconds. I suggest you return to your seat,” he warned with an uppity sneer.

  “Nah, I’ll take my odds instead.”

  The carriage door to the passenger car was knocked off its track.

  “Woohoo! Way to go, Kemosabe!” Bill yelled as Asterion pushed through the opening. Fletcher’s guy started for Asterion but the Minotaur, who was naked as the day he was born, easily overpowered the smaller human and much to everyone’s surprise, flung him out the large door of the car!

  Fletcher cowered in the corner at the sight of Asterion when he turned his murderous gaze to the much smaller man. Even in his natural form, Asterion was far more intimidating than any man I’d ever met, aside from Tallis.

  Tallis…

  No, I can’t think about him now, I decided. I can’t trust Fletcher so I can’t and won’t believe him.

  Tallis isn’t dead, a voice washed over me. You would have felt the loss if he were.

  Asterion nodded towards me without a word, but I understood his meaning perfectly. “I’m alright,” I answered. “Should we take the asshole hostage or something?”

  Bill shrugged, looking far too okay with the prospect. Asterion, however, had very palpable disappointment written on his face. “Absolutely not. Why would you ask that?”

  “I don’t know. He said reinforcements are on their way and... he said… he said they killed Tallis.”

  “What?!” They asked simultaneously.

  “Fletcher said the Lemures killed Tallis on the beach… but I don’t know if I can believe him.”

  Asterion grabbed my arm and forced me to meet his stare. “What does your heart say?”

  “My heart?” I repeated as I shook my head.

  “Come on, Lily. You love Tallis, and your empathic powers would tell you if he was really dead.” He paused for a second or two. “What do you feel inside your heart?”

  “That... Tallis is alive.”

  “Then we have to find him.”

  “No,” Bill interrupted. “We have to get to the Dark Wood and find this Waterfall of Forever like we planned. If Tallis survived the attack, then that’ll be the first place he goes because he’ll stick to the plan, just like we should.”

  “Bill has a point,” I started.

  “Fucking-A I do!”

  ###

  TALLIS

  I was no longer on the sands anymore.

  It felt as though a scorching hot sun blazed down upon me battered body. I tried to turn onto me side, but felt a sharp pain in me gut. With a delicate touch, I probed against the tender flesh and sucked in a harsh breath. The wound was bleeding something fierce, and I c
ould not recall much after pulling meself along the bank. I did not understand how I’d arrived to this particular part of the Underground City, but I’d been left for dead while the others had been taken.

  Lily had been taken…

  The wound in me belly oozed with blood as I struggled to stand.

  The salt of me sweat burned in me eyes as I attempted to find any signs of life in this hell-scape. There was no sound for miles, aside from me labored breathing. It was strange. Here... I did not feel the rage that often lingered beneath the surface. I did not feel the devil hidden behind me eyes like a beast waiting to be unleashed.

  Here I was just Tallis Black.

  Which did nothing to temper my suspicions that I was in one of the hidden locations the stookie angel had spoken of—those places Dante had never included in his book.

  This was a place hidden, a place untouched by Alaire or his henchmen.

  If Lily and the others found a way out, they were most likely headed towards the rebel hideout. But how to find it? As soon as the thought hit me, me bracelet Annice had gifted each of us, began to glow and the runes written across its surface began to grow even brighter.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” I whispered to meself.

  The bracelet would lead me to Metra and to the rebels, I was certain. Thus, I pushed to me wobbly feet and started forward. But each stumbling step I took towards me destination was like being stabbed with rusty knives in every inch of me body.

  It was not long before I lost consciousness….

  “Wake up, Bladesmith.”

  I blinked open me groggy eyes and winced at the pain in me head. I recognized that voice… I opened me eyes wider as the woman in front of me began to delineate into a shape I knew well. “Jenny? Ah thought ye were dead!”

  “You, of all people, should know I can’t be killed. Not even by one of those slimy freaks.” She stood over me in tight leathers and heeled boots, a corset that pushed her breasts high up on her chest, and her hair pulled back into a long ponytail. She looked... alive. More than she ought to look after being cut down by a Lemure. Jenny had never been ordinary, but the sort of power from the Lemures went beyond that of regular demons.

  “How did ye survive?”

  She pulled out the blade that had been beside her body at the Toy Store. “Uriel gave the blade to me. It can kill almost anything, and when it does, it feeds me the life force of the creature killed. Like you, it took me a while to heal from my injuries, but here I am.”

  “An’ ye connection to the Angel o’ Death, Uriel? Ah find it hard to believe ye…”

  “Are his lover?” she asked with an arched brow and a smirk.

  “Aye.”

  “I may flirt with you and others, Bladesmith. But my heart belongs to Uriel and it always has. Forbidden though it may be, our love is real.”

  “Ah once thought my and Lily’s love was forbidden. It took time, but I realized it was only forbidden owin’ to the opinions o’ those who still lived by rules o’ the past. Now I believe naethin’ is forbidden.”

  She smiled but then shook her head. “Uriel’s an angel. I’m a demon. There are still rules that apply to us that don’t apply to you and Lily,” Jenny sighed. “We’re on opposite sides, Uriel and me. And we accepted that long before even you were damned to these depths.”

  Jenny pulled something from her bag and rubbed it into me wound. It burned like nothing I’d ever felt before, but I watched the gash sew itself up before me own eyes. She smiled at her work and helped me to me feet. “Ah’m sorry ye lost Elizaveta an’ the others.”

  “And I’m sorry for the Trials you have yet to complete.”

  “How did ye know aboot the Trials?”

  “I gave Lily my locket for a reason,” she said as she rolled her eyes and dug back into that pouch at her hip. “The same reason I’m giving you this.”

  “What is it?”

  “A compass to the rebels. They’re camped right outside the Dark Wood in a place that marks the entrance to the Trials.”

  “I dinnae need it, Jenny,” I answered and held up me wrist. “I have me own sort of compass.”

  She frowned as she beheld the bracelet. “Are you sure?”

  “Aye,” I answered.

  She shrugged then and replaced the compass into her pouch. “We are goin’ after Uriel,” I said.

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “You could come with us.”

  She shook her head. “The only way to get to Uriel is through the Trials and the Trials are held by AE.” She took a breath. “And when have you ever heard of AE allowing a demon into their proceedings?”

  I nodded. “Ye have a point.”

  “I know.”

  “Where will you go then?” I asked.

  She sighed. “I must go back to the Toy Store and try to rebuild it. Alaire and AE aren’t taking it from me after all these years.” She nodded and then frowned at me. “I’m sorry, Tallis Black, but you’re on your own from here forward.”

  “I’ve been on me own a verra long time, Jenny.”

  She nodded. “When you see Uriel, give him… my best and tell him I’ve… missed him.”

  “I will.”

  Jenny gathered the rest of her things and walked away, without looking back. I made a silent vow to meself to honor her loyalty to me and to me companions, should she ever have the need to call on us in the future.

  I pressed me lips into a firm line and walked in the opposite direction.

  SIXTEEN

  TALLIS

  I don’t know how long it was that I walked.

  Eventually, me bracelet led me to a rippling wall that gave way when me hand touched its surface. Magic caused tingles to shoot up me arm until I jerked me hand away. Mist clung to the air and fog hovered above the ground.

  The scent of damp soil and soft tree bark brought a smile to me face.

  I was home. I was in the Dark Wood.

  But the bracelet took me somewhere unknown to me within the Wood. It was nae a place I had ever ventured before, but I recognized the atmosphere of the forest I had called home for centuries. Without hesitation, I followed the pull of the bracelet until I reached a large stone with the mark of a raven painted upon its surface.

  I heard the whistle of an arrow before it flew past me face.

  I dodged the arrow and took cover.

  “Stand down!” A voice ordered.

  I halted in me retreat and saw Metra step out from the underbrush. I could not contain my surprise. “Ye should know better than to trespass on me land.”

  I did not intend to sound so unfriendly but the lass had shocked me and me foul temper was the result.

  Her hands braced upon her hip, Metra smirked. “That would be true if this land belonged to anyone. But it doesn’t. Neither you nor I could ever tame this forest.”

  “’Tis true, then,” I said as I watched her and felt her power radiate from her being. “Ye are a Druid?”

  “One of the last.”

  ###

  LILY

  Asterion forced open the loading doors of the livery car.

  Wind whipped past my face and caused my eyes to water as I walked towards the edge. I couldn’t believe we were actually going to jump from a moving train. The carriage door at the far end of the car burst open, and I saw eight of Alaire’s soldiers flood into the compartment. Lemures followed close behind, their disgusting shrieks piercing the night.

  “We gotta go now, Nips!” Bill yelled.

  Asterion was the first to jump. He rolled when he hit the ground and stood up, looking none the worse for wear. Even if he was still completely naked.

  Bill jumped next, and I took one look back at the inside of the car which was now flooding with Alaire’s men, before I took the leap of faith. My landing wasn’t as graceful as Asterion’s as I landed in a heap on top of Bill. The angel shoved me to my feet and brushed the dirt from his clothes.

  “Jeez, Lils. I know I’m the best eye candy you got around h
ere, but that don’t mean I want to be groped when we’re hightailin’ it from Alaire’s men!”

  “As if,” I said with a laugh as the three of us watched the train roll onward. Of course it would soon come to a halt, once Alaire’s men alerted the engineer that we’d jumped ship. But by the time they returned, we would be long gone.

  My wrists were chafed and raw from the shackles, and my sword was nowhere to be seen, but I felt fine otherwise. Asterion looked worried, and Bill was too busy thinking about himself to really pay much attention to anything else.

  “So, where to?” I asked Asterion at the same time Bill turned his gaze on the Minotaur. Asterion simply shrugged and that was when the bracelets we wore around our wrists began to hum and then glow. The runes lit up and glowed even more brightly.

  “What the hey?” Bill asked.

  Asterion smiled.

  “Yo, why are these things buzzin’ an’ glowin’? Are they about to self destruct?”

  I shook my head. “No, I think they’re about to lead us the way we need to go.”

  “I agree,” Asterion said as he glanced at me and a warm smile took hold of his handsome face.

  We started in the direction the bracelets were pulling, all three of us walking alongside one another, me in the middle.

  “Dude, you want my shirt?” Bill asked as he glanced down at Asterion’s nether region which was swinging left to right.

  “No, I prefer my nude state.”

  “Well, I don’t,” Bill continued.

  I did, but it wasn’t like I could admit that. So I just smiled and looked the other way.

  ###

  We might have been walking for about an hour or so, the bracelets on each of our wrists continuing to glow as they pulled us forward. The terrain had changed and now we were surrounded on either side by a meandering and thorny thicket of dense foliage. Darkness had begun to descend over the Dark Wood and I noticed Asterion beginning to worry his lower lip as he slowed his pace.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.