by Maya Daniels
Copyright © 2019 by Maya Daniels. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any references, real places, real events, or real persons names and/or persona are used fictitiously. Everything in this story comes from the author’s imagination and any similarities, whatsoever, with events both past and present, or persons living or dead, are purely coincidental.
Cover design by Jessica Allain, Enchanted Whispers
Interior design by Jessica Allain and Zoe Parker
Edited by Cassandra Fear
If you are unable to order paperback copy of this book from your local bookseller, you may contact the author at [email protected] or visit the website
www.authormayadaniels.com
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
From The Author
Also by Maya Daniels
Helena
Assholes!
I’m surrounded by men that are complete idiots, and cavemen. All my worries about making the biggest mistake that humankind has ever made are erased within thirty minutes of walking out through the portal. I’m even debating if staying in Hell and dealing with Mammon and his horde of demons might be a better option.
I found my home in flames, and it wasn’t just Atlanta burning, no. The whole world is in shambles, the demons taking dominion over everything. I stood there, my mouth hanging open in utter disbelief as I wondered, okay hoped, that we took a wrong turn in the portal and we are back in Hell.
We are not.
There is no sign of Maddison, or Raphael either. For two days we’ve been lurking in the shadows, trying to locate them. Only we’ve had no luck. At that point, Colt, Beelzebub, my sidekick Narsi, and Leviathan decided to proclaim themselves my protectors. My keepers, more like it. Overbearing, bullheaded, stubborn assholes is what I call them. My worries about humans and what will happen to them were for nothing because the three men don’t plan on taking over and destroying them. Instead, they took over my life and are killing my sanity with every passing minute I spend with them.
The building where Maddison’s office was hidden with wards is no longer standing. A crater as big as an entire block was what stared me in the face when I lead my band of jerks there. Next stop was the demon sanctuary, which was nothing but a junkyard again. Not a soul stirred, and there were no clues left behind for me to find.
So, here we are in Eric’s penthouse, where the front door has been ripped open and the pristine furniture, along with the paintings, have been shattered into tiny pieces and thrown around the main room. They didn’t just search for whatever they were looking for. It looks like someone had a fit of rage, and since they couldn’t get their hands on him, they took it out on everything else but the walls.
Maybe they wanted to get their hands on you. The voice in my head points out, sending a shiver down my spine.
Anger mixes with my trepidation of what has happened in my absence from the human realm. The empty building shudders, brick and mortar groaning when the ground shakes under us. The Trowe whimpers, clutching at my arm.
“She’s getting angry again.” The urgency in Colt’s voice pisses me off even more.
“Calm down, Helena.” Beelzebub pets me awkwardly on the head.
“Stop touching me, damn it!” Snarling at him, I shove his hand away, and Narsi bares his yellowed teeth at him. He is cool like that.
We’ve been sitting in the dark, destroyed penthouse for a couple of hours now trying to come up with a plan on what to do next. Beelzebub places Eric on top of the shredded fabric we gathered, creating a makeshift mattress. The wound on my mate’s ribs is still open, but Leviathan did some juju, and at least the blood is not flowing from it anymore. The fact that he is not healing but looks like he is sleeping is coiling dread in my chest. Eric should’ve been awake, or at least fully recovered by now.
“It won’t help if you bring the building down on our heads, girl. Control yourself!” Leviathan snaps at me, shocking me into silence. “We have other things to worry about instead of reminding you to calm down every five minutes.”
“Listen to me you jerk!” Shaking off the stunned stare he turns at me, I glare at him. “This might be an okay situation in your demonic head.” Sweeping my arm around, I point out the chaos. “But it does not sit well with me. While I was stuck in Hell, playing your twisted games, look what happened to my world. And it’s all because of me.”
“You should stop feeling sorry for yourself. If it weren’t you, it would’ve been someone else.” The Viking-looking fallen stares down his nose at me. “This was inevitable and a long time coming. It’s on us that we looked the other way while Mammon had his temper tantrums.”
My fingers twitch with the need to stick the pointy bit of my dagger in his forehead. “So, what you’re saying is Lucifer knew this was about to happen, he just didn’t think it was worth his time to stop it?”
“If my father knew, then Michael would’ve as well,” Colt pipes in defensively.
“What, they are buddies now?” Narrowing my gaze at Colt, I watch him squirm, probably thinking I’ll jump and attack him. I might be getting a little unhinged, but I don’t have the time to worry about me right now. “Last time I saw the Holy ass, he was hell bent on killing Lucifer.”
“We are not sure that it was Michael,” Beelzebub states, exposing the obvious elephant in the room.
And there it is. The biggest of our problems. We have no idea who is who, if we have spoken to the real people or a motherfucking jinn disguising as them. It’s all a clusterfuck, and I’m the point zero, the center, of it all. Maybe if I let them kill me, things will get back to normal. They won’t. I just like to have morose thoughts floating through my head right now.
“I can’t sit around and wait for a bright idea to strike me on what our next move should be. I need to do something.” I need to hunt some jinn is more like it, but I don’t say that out loud.
“We can go to that Sanctuary you told us about,” Colt says helpfully. “Maybe we can find some clues there.”
“I will go to see if I can find someone willing to shed some light on the situation.” Leviathan stretches his muscly arms over his head. “I’ll meet you back here when I’m done.”
“Not as a freaking dragon!”
Oops. I might’ve shouted louder than I should’ve.
The last thing I need is everyone seeing a dragon with hellfire down its spine right now. I know without seeing any humans around that they are freaked out of their minds. The Order protected them from things they shouldn’t be seeing, or even know about. Now, nothing is standing between them and their worst nightmares.
“Not
as a dragon, no,” Leviathan smirks at me, and I do throw a piece of broken furniture at his head.
A wooden leg, I think from one of the sofas, sails through the air but the fallen moves too fast, ducks, and the wood bounces off the wall behind him, falling with a thud. Beelzebub chuckles, shaking his head, amusement dancing in his eyes. Shrugging a shoulder, I ignore the death glare from Leviathan.
“Well, go on then, dragon boy.” Shooing him with my hand, I bare my teeth at him like a deranged person. “Go fetch.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when a feral growl rumbles from Leviathan’s chest. The icy-blue eyes, cold as a glacier, glare at me, and I give him the sweetest smile. Even Colt laughs at this, angering the fallen angel more. I either really have a death wish, or I’m confident that he won’t hurt me. It’s an unsettling thought, so I push it with the rest of the things I’ve become good at ignoring. Turning on his heels, Leviathan storms out of the apartment. Luckily, the door is still hanging askew, or I’m sure he would’ve slammed it when making his exit.
“You shouldn’t antagonize him that much, Helena.” Beelzebub chuckles again. “I don’t think the old man has dealt with females from this time. It’s a very big adjustment for him.”
“Do you know how many fucks I have to give for his adjustment right now?” Petting my pockets, I blink at Beelzebub innocently. “None. I have no fucks left.”
Colt roars with laughter and Beelzebub, throwing his head back, joins him. Even Narsi snickers creepily from next to me. My lips twitch, but that’s all I manage when my eyes fall on Eric’s sleeping form. Reaching my hand out, I glide my fingers over his good wing, the feathers soft on my skin. Wake up, please, I urge him with everything in me. Only the slow lifting of his chest keeps me from breaking down into a sobbing mess.
I can’t do this without him.
He can be annoying, overprotective, and everything else that he is, but he’s also the only thing keeping me fighting for my life and not giving up. When the world tilted under my feet, it was him that grabbed my hand and never let go. I need to find answers. If not for myself than for Eric. He almost got himself killed to protect me.
And I will kill to wake him up.
The thought is a very sobering one, and I blink fast, pulling myself out of the dark ideas swirling through my mind. Sitting around won’t solve anything. As much as I like to hide here in hopes everything will go away or sort itself out, I know it won’t.
They want me.
I’ll just make sure my dagger is shoved between their ribs before they get a chance to strike. Turning around, I search the solemn faces of Colt and Beelzebub, ignoring the weird purring sound from my sidekick. They watch me warily, and I’m grateful there is no pity in their eyes.
“Let’s go.” Lifting myself off the floor, I don’t wait for them. “Narsi, you stay and guard Eric. If one feather is missing from him, I’m going to skin you alive.” Heading for the door, I only pause for a second when Colt speaks.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Raphael.” I continue walking without turning to look if they will follow. “The Archangel has a lot of explaining to do.”
Slinking through the streets of my city like a thief, I push away the GPS that is blaring alarms in my head, destructing me. I used to hate the gut feeling because it made me so giddy, and because it only came on during hunts. Now, while I hide like I don’t belong in my own world, the anxiety and giddiness that accompanies it is a constant reminder that I shouldn’t bitch about things, because they can always get worse.
Plastering myself to the wall of the Bank of America, it’s building broken in half and sticking in the air like a shard of glass, I blow breath through pursed lips. My heart is jackhammering in my rib cage, every thump painful like it’s trying to break free. Across the street, a massive billboard with two cows painting the words “Eat more chicken” is like a painful reminder of the dream I had the day my life went to shit.
Memories of me running through the deserted streets of Atlanta with Michael hot on my heels while Eric was trying to wake me up push to the front of my mind. Was that some sort of premonition, telling me what was on its way? Did I miss the significance of it, assuming the Holy ass was simply trying to murder me in my sleep? My dreams have always been messed up, showing me things in a mirror image. If I dreamed about something good happening, the opposite would happen in real life. Was that what that nightmare was? Because here I am, in the empty streets of Atlanta, running around while I’m desperate for Eric to wake up.
A crunch of gravel and the rustling of fabric yanks me out of my head. Jerking my head to the right, I see Colt gliding towards me, Beelzebub not far behind him. So, they decided to come along. Oh, the joy! A giddy feeling stirs in my belly when Colt’s face gets partially illuminated by the street lights. My heart leaps in my throat, the stupid organ not realizing that it’s not Eric. They look exactly the same. Physically at least, and only in their human form. I have no clue what my face displays because Colt’s eyes soften when he stops next to me. I scowl at him, not wanting his sympathy.
I want blood.
Beelzebub walks by me, his body brushing mine when he sticks his head out to survey our surroundings. I know the moment he sees the group of demons from the ilk of Abaddon, who are gathered a few buildings down from where we are hiding. His body stiffens, a muscle jumping in his jaw.
“There are five of them.” Looking over his shoulder at Colt, something passes between them that I’m apparently not privy to.
Colt nods, turning around and disappearing in the shadows. In my head, since I obviously haven’t come to terms with the fact that demons are not mindless creatures that only like to eat and rip apart humans, I still expect them to plow blindly into a fray, horns, and claws lashing out. Their powers are overwhelming, the status of being Archdemons and Princes of Hell evident to anyone in their proximity, so to me, they seem untouchable. Eric’s sleeping face reminds me of how stupid that thought is. So, they do think strategically and look for ways to come out on top in every situation because they can get hurt, or killed, just like anyone else. It makes me feel better about myself.
Yeah, I know. I’ve become petty like that.
“Stay here,” Beelzebub looks down at me, his eyes glinting like flames on his handsome face. “We will get rid of them, then we will continue to your Sanctuary.”
“How noble of you, asshole.” Shouldering away from his overwhelming presence, I ignore the growl coming from his chest. “If you think I’ll sit here like a scared little girl while the two of you fight my battles, you’ll be sorely disappointed. This is my city, and you are only visiting, for now. As soon as this shit is over, your asses are going back to Hell if it’s the last thing I do.” Locking my gaze with his, even though my neck hurts because I have to look up, I make sure he sees how serious I am. “Every chance I get to kill one of those motherfuckers, I’m taking it. If you stand in my way, you might just end up with my dagger in your chest.”
“Easy there.” Lifting both hands in surrender, he eyes my fingers, which are grazing the hilt of my dagger, warily. “We need you alive and not bleeding all over the place. There is enough of them here already to deal with, so there’s no need to open another portal for Mammon to send more.”
Okay, so he has a point, but I’ll die before I tell him that he is right. I can’t sit back and watch while everything is falling apart. Flaring my nostrils, I take a deep breath, still unwilling to accept his reasonable words.
“I don’t have to go first.” Acting like I’m doing him a solid by letting him join me, I shrug. “I can follow behind and get the strays trying to get away from the two of you.” Poking him with a finger in his firm chest, my lips press in a thin line. “But I’m not hiding while they terrorize my world.”
Beelzebub searches my face for a long moment, those phantom-less eyes staring right into my soul. A shiver crawls up and down my spine, but I don’t look away. I’m surrounded by predators
, and the second I yield to their stubborn ass, they’ll walk all over me. Like hell, I’ll let that happen.
“You stay behind me.” His voice is firm and breaks no argument.
“Yeah, sure.” Shrugging both shoulders slightly, I pull out my dagger. “Lead the way, oh great one, and I shall follow in your shadow.”
He shakes his head at my antics, rubbing his forehead as if I’m giving him a headache. It makes me miss Eric more because even when he is an overprotective jerk, he never rolls his eyes at me or makes me feel like I’m a hassle. The fact that he might’ve been an enabler, allowing me to have my temper tantrums and act on impulse—which might have been what led us all the way to hell— is not important. I miss his annoying ass.
Something powerful and dark stirs in my chest, taking me by surprise. Staggering on my feet, Beelzebub’s hand snatching my arm is the only thing stopping me from dropping on my knees from its force. A war drum beats at the center of my chest, the darkness around us illuminating in a reddish hue. The feeling swirls like a tornado, nausea bringing bile to my throat. I’ve only felt this at times around the Holy ass Michael when he held me hostage, and when Lucifer had me up in the air the day Eric got hurt. You also felt it few other times. The thought fleets through my mind, but I can’t concentrate enough to think about it.
“Helena?” The urgency in Beelzebub’s voice helps me push the storm inside me away, at least enough to look up at him.
“A jinn.” My lips are numb and barely moving enough to utter the word.
“Colt.” Beelzebub’s eyes widen, and I can tell he is torn between staying with me and leaving to make sure Colt doesn’t end up like a shish kebab.
