Avenge (Hillcrest Book 2)

by Cassie Pierce

  “Angel,” Zane starts, his voice even as he turns to me. “I know you want vengeance. That you want to avenge your friend, but Hecate cannot be killed. No witch is strong enough.” I think that he is done but then his voice drops. His face takes on an odd look as he mumbles under his breath.

  “Trust me on that.”

  “You forget,” I laugh, my anger bubbling out of me in the form of irrational laughter. “I am not a witch. I am not an angel. I am not a demon. I am something that this world has never seen before, and I will not rest until I avenge my friend.”

  ∞

  “What in the name of tar hill is going on here?” a new voice says, cutting through the tension in the room. Our heads whip around, stunned to see C.J. standing at the end of the hall. Her eyes take in the scene before her, enlarging to triple their size when they land on Bianca’s cell.

  “Oh hell on a cracker,” she laughs, pointing to Bianca as she passes her cell and makes her way toward us. “I cannot wait to hear this.”

  “I thought that you said you spelled the house,” Cain growls from inside his cell. There is a hint of laughter in his voice as he takes in my bestie.

  “I did,” Zane grumbles, sounding irritated. “She wasn’t in the house.”

  “Spelled? Boy? You spelled the Lux brothers. Oh hell. I do not wanna be you when they realize what you did. Wanna tell me why?” she says, snapping her fingers. I smile as a Mtn. Dew appears out of thin air.

  I still do not care what anyone says. That is the coolest power ever!

  She reaches out, handing me the liquid goodness with a grin. I take it, twisting the cap and taking a long swig before I laugh.

  “Are you trying to bribe me with caffeine?” I tease, and C.J. only looks slightly guilty.

  “Of course. Is it working?” she laughs.

  I roll my eyes. It is me. She knows it is working.

  Carbs, caffeine, and cute boys are like my weakness trifecta.

  “Cain is a demon,” I say, pointing to his cell, but leaving out the part about him being Zane’s brother. That is not my secret to tell. “He knows what happened to Ashlee. Looooong story,” I say, emphasizing the word long.

  “Short version. A super witch killed the love of his life and stole Ashlee’s soul. The Ashlee we know, really Hecate...super witch extraordinaire. We were just getting to the part where Cain was going to tell me how to kill her,” I say, turning back to Cain.

  “You are suicidal. I like it,” Cain laughs. His eyes shine with humor as he looks from C.J. to me and back again.

  “Very well,” he sighs. “I might know of a way to help your friend,” Cain says. Suspicion rises as the tone of Cain’s voice changes. My internal alarms sound as Cain walks closer to the bars.

  “Don’t....” Zane growls. “You promised.” His voice is hard as he addresses his brother.

  Something that looks a lot like regret crosses Cain’s face, but just as quickly as it appears, he tucks it away. C.J. steps closer to my side, like she too can sense the change in the air.

  I love her a little more then, for wanting to protect me. Me? Well...I slowly recap my Mtn Dew.

  You know shit is getting serious when I put down my Mtn. Dew.

  “I will help you, but for my help there is a price. There is always a price,” Cain says, taking another step closer to the bars.

  “What is this price?” I say, wanting to hit myself for thinking that this would be easy. When has anything ever been easy for me?

  Never. The answer is never.

  “When the time comes, I want you to free me,” Cain says simply. I blink, a little shocked. I figured he would demand my first-born child or at the very least, blood. He is a demon after all.

  “Ok,” I say with a shrug. I mean...I don’t know how to open the cell, but I am sure if I just ask Jaxon, I can figure it out.

  “Why not now?” I ask, suspicion refusing to let me go. He smiles, and that smile should tell me all that I need to know. Cain may be good, but he has darkness inside of him. Darkness that he is waiting to let out.

  “I have more to do yet. I will let you know when I am ready. Remember Maci. Promises are different for our kind. I need you to swear that when the time comes you will free me from this prison.”

  I open my mouth, ready to do just that, but before the words leave my lips Zane is there. Stealing words that were mine to say. Making a promise that was mine to make. I don’t get it, but I will.

  “I swear, that so you ask it, so it shall be,” Zane says. He steps in front of me so that I cannot see his brother.

  Sadness flashes across Cain’s face, but he simply nods before turning to me.

  “The weapon needed to kill Hecate is a dagger made of the same sea glass that Lila once wore around her neck. The handle is crafted from the bone of the warrior Maximus. The blade from the sea that surrounds the Elysian island. It is said to contain the soul of the god Sol, the master of the sun. Only the worthy can wield it. To touch it and be unworthy means death. This is what you need to kill Hecate. The blade will separate her soul from Ashlee’s and return the good soul to Paradise and trap the evil soul within the blade.”

  “Ok.....where do I find this blade?” I ask, hoping that he is going to say Target.

  Knowing that it is going to be something totally ridiculous like the hottest corner of hell.

  “It is hidden within the void. Which is fortunate for you, as my.....” he says, catching himself before continuing. “As Zane tells me that you can travel there. Many cannot. It is in the land of forgotten souls, beneath the waterfall of tears. Deep in the Valley of Despair. None who travel there have ever returned.” Cain looks almost sorry as he tells me this.

  I take a deep breath, letting everything he just said sink in. Impossible. It is impossible, yet I know that I will still try. That I have to. That if the roles were reversed, she would do it for me.

  “Well.....sounds like a party. When do we leave?” C.J. pipes in from beside me. I shake my head, the word no forming on my tongue before I even turn around. Zane beats me to it.

  “Sorry Little Bit,” Zane says to C.J., “but even if I wanted to let you come...I can’t. You can’t travel the void. You can’t go.”

  I have never been more thankful in my life that I am cursed to walk that dark place alone. That is the absolute last place that I would ever want C.J. to go. That I would want anyone to go.

  I can tell that C.J. wants to argue, but she knows that he is right. Besides, I have a feeling that I am going to need her here. When Jaxon finds out about what I am about to do...he is going to lose his mind.

  C.J. isn’t the only one who can’t travel the void. It is also off limits to Jaxon and his brothers. All angels really. Which means that this is one journey that I will be taking alone.

  “Please C.J. Stay here. I need to do this alone. I need you to make sure that Jaxon doesn’t do anything stupid,” I say with a laugh.

  He nearly drowned the poor town of Carson Hill the last time I disappeared. There is no telling what he is going to do this time. Without his power, I have no idea how he will deal with his rage. I don’t want him making any more deals that might get him killed.

  Her shoulders slump in defeat but she reluctantly nods her head. “It’s Jaxon. He probably does at least twelve stupid things before breakfast, but I will do my best.”

  I smile, glad that she trusts me enough to handle myself.

  She might be the only person that does.

  “Ok. When do I leave?” I ask, turning to Zane. His golden eyes widen as a laugh slips free.

  “We Angel. When do we leave? There is no way that you are doing this without me. No arguments. The Angel brothers can’t step foot into the void, so looks like you are stuck with me.”

  Yep. I was right. Jaxon is going to lose his shit.

  ∞

  ~ Chapter 15~

  “Ok,” I say with less reluctance than I probably should. Truth be told I am glad that Zane is willing to take this crazy journe
y with me. The thought of navigating that place for days alone makes me want to throw up my precious Mtn. Dew.

  “When do we leave?” I correct myself, my eyes turning to Zane as I say it. I scan his face, looking for doubt or remorse over this no doubt stupid decision to come with me, but I see none. His handsome jaw is set in a firm line and the only thing that I see on his face is the same steely resolve that he always wears there.

  “Now Angel. We have to leave now. My spell will only hold for a few more minutes. I am thinking that it would be wise if we got out of here before Jaxon realizes we are gone.” Zane says it with a hint of laughter, like the idea of Jaxon having a coronary amuses him. Me on the other hand? It makes me sick.

  “You want me to leave without telling him?” I ask, feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of betraying him. He has already been through so much because of me. This....this will kill him.

  No. I won’t do it. I can’t. This is Jaxon we are talking about. My other half. My freaking soul mate! The man gave up his wings for me. He loves me. I can’t...I won’t betray that.

  “Sorry Maci, but I am with pretty boy on this one. There is no way that Jaxon is going to be on board with this plan. I know you don’t wanna lie, but this might be your only chance to save Ashlee.” Even as C.J. says the words, she doesn’t sound one hundred percent sure.

  “So, you would lie to Talon?” I fire back, suddenly angry at what they are asking me to do. It isn’t that I am angry at them per say...I am angry that they might be right.

  Sometimes I just take out my anger on innocent people. Like C.J., who is just doing what a friend is supposed to. Telling me the truth.

  “If it were Talon, he would tie me up and lock me in a dungeon to keep me from doing something stupid. I think Jaxon would do the same. So yes....if I knew that I had to go, I wouldn’t risk it. I would trust that he loved me enough to forgive me if I made it back.”

  Well hell. She is right. When isn’t she right?

  I turn to Zane before I can change my mind, knowing that I am a classic overthinker. That I will often talk myself out of things if I dwell on them too long. Which is why most of my decisions are totally reckless. I don’t let myself think. I just act with blind stupidity and pray for the best.

  “Let’s go then,” I say, stepping up to him and taking his hand. I don’t have to ask to know that we will be traveling by his preferred method of teleport.

  At the last second my eyes find C.J.’s. I pull my hand free from Zane, springing forward and wrapping my new best friend in a fierce hug.

  Look at me. Am I becoming a hugger?

  “Tell him I am sorry. Make him understand. I will see you soon. I....I am glad that I met you,” I whisper, squeezing her once more before walking back to Zane.

  I take his hand again, and his eyes find mine and lock there. He nods, his mouth forming the word ready. I nod back, pulling my strength and courage to the forefront of my mind.

  I think of Jaxon, and the perfect night that we shared. I think of his whispered promises and his soft kisses as we sealed our love and our bond in the most perfect way. I think of everything that I never got to tell him, and I whisper a prayer out into the universe that I will get a chance to say all of those things. That the last I love you, will not be the last. That he will forgive me. That I will forgive myself.

  That is my last thought as I splinter into a million tiny atoms, and scatter into the darkness. How ironic that I keep getting broken into a million pieces. A part of me wonders, if each time a few aren’t missing when I get put back together.

  ∞

  The void.

  I forgot how much I hate it here. How vast, and dark, and utterly empty that it is. How the air taste of grief, and carries the lingering scent of despair. How even the dead seem haunted by this place. How everything here is coated with a sticky film of darkness that seeps into you.

  Yeah. This is one vacation that I would have gladly skipped.

  It takes my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the vast darkness. A heartbeat passes and then another before slowly the uneven horizon takes shape. I squint as the hills in the distance form jagged peaks, and the trees, barren of any greenery stick up like bones from the scorched earth below.

  Smoke drifts through the air, taking my oxygen with it, and my eyes search for the source. I almost trip over my own feet when I realize that the smoke is rolling out from the cracks in the ground below.

  “What the?” I say, jumping back and into Zane as a flash of fire shoots out beside my left foot.

  Beside me, he laughs. A rich, hearty sound that tells me he finds my girly reflexes comical. He closes his eyes, whispering words that I don’t understand, in a language that sounds as beautiful as it does complex.

  “Et oblinito a facie pit. Nostro succursum sinistrum.”

  The spell rolls off his lips, his odd accent giving it a musical lit as he waves his hands in the direction of the rolling flames.

  I gasp as they disappear, sinking back into mother earth like a scolded child returning to their room. I stare at him, taking in his firm stance and his wide shoulders. The way that his eyes shine as he commands the forces of darkness to do his bidding. It is in this moment that I remember.

  I remember exactly who Zane really is. How powerful he is. How dark.

  It is easy to forget, since he is the opposite of everything dark to me. Easy to forget that behind that gentle smile and those thoughtful words, a warrior lives. A dark warrior.

  “Ok, so you are also a fire ninja,” I say, laughing as I straighten. “Do not tell C.J. that I said this, but that was right up there with how cool her power is. Close, but not quite as awesome. I mean.....it is going to be hard to beat conjuring Mtn Dew.” I say with a laugh.

  “Thanks....I think,” he says, turning to take in the land before us. I don’t ask him, but something makes me think that he can see it much better than I can. That he has no trouble navigating the dark.

  “So,” I ask, bumping my shoulder into his. “Which way first? It all looks the same to me.” I say, meaning it. To me it all looks like death.

  “Cain said that it was in the Land of Forgotten Souls, so we travel there first. Once there, we should be able to use the river Styx to navigate to the Waterfall of Tears. The waterfall should empty out into the Valley of Despair, but I am not certain. I have never traveled that far before,” he says with a shrug.

  He starts walking, and I follow him. I want to ask a million more questions like always, but the ominous mood here has me clamping my mouth shut for once.

  That lasts about five minutes, my feet crunching over what I am fairly certain are bones. I shudder inside, my mind trying to do the math on how many people would have had to die to have this many bones.

  I quickly give up. Math is not my friend on a good day. Counting bones while walking to my certain death....

  Nope. Not doing it. If I have to die, it will be without the added torture of doing math problems in my head.

  The few minutes of silence give time for guilt to settle in. Jaxon will know that I am gone by now. C.J. will have told him. He will discover my betrayal, and I fear that he will hate me for it.

  I didn’t have to lie to him. I could have trusted him with the truth. I could have convinced him that this needed to be done. Anything really would have been better than what I did.

  Sneaking off in silence with someone that he hates is not going to end well for me. Jaxon is convinced that Zane isn’t who he says he is. He all but begged me to listen moments before everything went crazy. He asked me to trust him, and what do I do?

  I sneak off with the enemy.

  “He will get over it you know,” Zane says, turning around and placing a gentle hand to my shoulder. I look up, not realizing until now that I was not looking at where I was going.

  “He won’t,” I sigh, cringing as my eyes take notice of my surroundings. The bones have multiplied, and some of them have skin still hanging from them. Little patches of fire light the
earth in an eerie crimson glow, but the flames stay away from us. It is almost like whatever words Zane spoke have chased them away. My foot sinks into something mushy, and I suppress a scream when I see that it isn’t a mudhole like I first thought.

  “Is that...blood?” I shriek, my stomach revolting at the sight of the offensive liquid. I have never liked blood. My own or anyone else’s. It seems being the demonic daughter of an evil angel hasn’t changed that.

  “Yes,” Zane laughs, trying to keep a straight face as I struggle to pull my foot free. It makes an icky squishing sound as it finally gives way, and I have never been more thankful that I ditched my beloved heels for much more sensible shoes.

  “Christ,” I shudder, careful to watch my next step as I fall in behind him.

  “Not even close Angel,” Zane laughs, like something I said entertains him. “Not even close.”

  “So...Cain is your brother? Want to tell me the story behind that?” I venture, only half hopeful that he actually will. He takes a long breath, staring at something that I can’t see for so long that at first, I don’t think that he is going to answer.

  “Cain and I share the same mother. My father is a witch. Cain’s is a demon. That is why he is a demon, and I am not.” Zane says, waiting for me to catch up.

  I know this part. That means that in Zane’s case, his mother is the demon. The same mother that he shares with Cain. Poor Cain got a double dose of demon, so there was only ever one option for him. A demon plus a demon always equals a demon. A demon plus a witch on the other hand, equals one Zane.

  Badass dark witch extraordinaire.

  It is also why he is considered dark. His magic comes from demonic blood. What I don’t get.... What still confuses me, is why he lied about it.

  “So, why the big secret? Why not tell the brothers?” I ask, feeling sick to my stomach as I step over a pile of bones that is way too tiny to belong in a place like this.

  Zane stops walking, his caramel gaze finding mine as he takes a shuddering breath. For the first time since meeting him, he looks a little nervous.