Hell’s Key: Siblings of the Underworld, Book 1

by Baxter, Linzi

“It’s not that simple, Paldon. People are going missing. Mary’s daughter didn’t come home last night. I’ve issued a demand that the pack not go running and stay in. A missing pack member has my wolf on edge, but if something happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.”

  I took a closer look at Ryker. He looked tired. I didn’t need to let him know yet that the person who was taking people was ultimately coming after me. Ryker would lock me up in a cell. “I will be careful. You can leave a pack member trailing me like always. But you know I can’t be with you.”

  “No, I don’t know we can’t be together, because you haven’t told me why he did this to you. And I know you are in danger if Atieno showed up. He doesn’t stop by to visit people because he feels like it. Danger and mayhem follow in his wake. Atieno looks into the deep, dark secrets of the council.”

  A shiver went down my spine. “He offered for me to stay at the council until some underworld issue passed over. Like I told you, I told him no.”

  Ryker let out a growl. “Why do you always have to be so stubborn? Nobody will think less of you if you ask for help or let someone help you.”

  I knew people wouldn’t look down on me if I asked for help. It was just that I trusted no one to help me. No matter how close I thought my friends were, they turned their backs on me when I needed them the most. “I will call you tonight when I get home. I need to work, Ryker. I promise to be careful, and if things get bad, I will move into the pack house.”

  The hurt in Ryker’s eyes almost made me cave. The whole situation was exhausting, and I couldn’t deal with the matter anymore. Ryker nodded and placed a kiss on my forehead. His soft lips sent a tingle down my spine. I put my hands in my pockets so I wouldn’t reach out and grab him and beg him to stay.

  Ryker walked to the door and placed his hand on the knob. “This conversation isn’t over. I want you to live with me because of what we have.”

  Before I had time to respond, he left. The emotions from the day took over, and I let myself cry. Why can’t he want me for me and not for another reason?

  Chapter 2

  I had noticed nothing awry until I pressed my hand against the front door. That was when I knew the wards on my house were no longer there. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. The only way the spell could disappear was if someone had killed Cassy, the most powerful witch in the world and my dear friend.

  Rage raced through my body. Someone had entered my house uninvited. Whoever was on the other side of the door would die for hurting my friend. I didn’t care how powerful the person was—I would avenge my friend’s death. Their head would be mine by the end of the night.

  Using all my grit and determination, I twisted the door handle and stepped over the threshold. My wolf’s instinct pushed at my skin to turn and to tear the intruder apart. With one foot through the doorway, I drew in a breath, smelling Ryker’s second-in-command and trolls. The fight would not be easy, but I refused to let myself tremble.

  Carter was a powerful wolf, and I didn’t want to have to fight him. As I slowly walked toward the kitchen, trying hard not to make a sound, I listened to the mumbling voices. Carter hadn’t come alone. He had two trolls with him. Trolls weren’t hard to defeat, but they left a mess when killed. Unfortunately, adding trolls with a strong wolf equated to a hard fight.

  As I passed through the dining room, I placed my purse on the table and grabbed a knife from the china cabinet drawer. It wasn’t the largest knife in the drawer, but it would work. I made a mental note to plant weapons around the house. I’d never expected anyone to break the wards protecting it. Ryker would never ask Carter to come into my house, so that meant he had his own agenda, and I trusted no one, but I planned to hear him out before I made him bleed for entering my house.

  Gripping the knife, I walked toward the back of the house. As I got closer, the voices got louder. I wondered why Carter didn’t realize I’d entered my home. With his acute wolf senses, he should’ve picked up the sound the second I opened the door. As I entered the kitchen, I spotted two trolls with Carter, hovering over someone in a chair, but I couldn’t see the individual because the trolls were blocking my view.

  The person in the chair spoke, and my heart jumped. They had Michelle, who knew nothing about the supernatural world. I had worked hard to hide my other side from her. The situation had gone from shit-tastic to a fucking shit show in a matter of seconds. But I had to hand it to Michelle—she didn’t seem terrified as a seven-foot green troll in a burlap sack spoke to her.

  “Where is the key to the underworld?” the troll demanded.

  “What the fuck are you talking about, you gigantic booger?” Her voice came out perfectly even for a woman being interrogated by a giant troll.

  I reached for a second knife from the butcher block on the counter. “Carter.”

  He spun around at the sound of my voice. Something was not right with him. His eyes were severely bloodshot, and his face had red, scaly patches as if pieces of skin had fallen off. Whenever Carter turned into a wolf, his eyes were always a deep amber yellow. When he was in human form, they were dark brown. The last time I’d seen red eyes, I’d killed the wolf. He had been the second to the pack I grew up in. After I killed him, my pack turned me away. Will that happen again if I take out Ryker’s second-in-command? I couldn’t let something happen to Michelle or me.

  The trolls turned their eyes on me. Like Carter’s, their eyes were red. I faintly heard Michelle tell me to run for my life. Silly human, this will be my workout for the week.

  “Are you okay, Michelle?” I spun the knife in my hand as Carter stepped forward.

  Michelle grunted. “It’s been a long time since someone groped me, and I was planning on the next one being a sexy man. Hell, I would have settled for a rich man who wasn’t so sexy, but not this thing from some other dimension. What I don’t understand is why you seem so calm. I’ve been with the boogers and the growly guy for over two hours. Let me tell you, I was in shock when the green trolls appeared.”

  Carter lunged at me, but I sidestepped him. Not only were his eyes and skin off, but his normal wolf abilities were lacking. I looked over my shoulder at Michelle. “There are things about me you don’t know.”

  “Clearly we aren’t as good of friends as I thought. I told you about everything in my life. You’ve left out trolls, men with skin infections—it’s like I don’t even know you.”

  It wasn’t the best time to have a conversation about the supernatural world. I could fight all three and come out alive. Michelle, on the other hand, could die very easily. “I will explain everything once I kill these three. While I distract them, you need to escape. Ryker lives in the house next door. Get out of here and run for him.”

  “This is my first time fighting a booger and whatever that other thing is, but do you think it is the best thing to give away the plan? We should do some kind of hand signal. Fuck, my hands aren’t free. Maybe head nod.”

  God, I hated trolls with a passion. Their smell would be engrained in my house for weeks. The longer Michelle kept rambling about hand signals, the longer the trolls were stinking up my house. I might even have to call Reggie’s Cleaners. He was a raccoon who specialized in cleaning up after supernatural disasters. My stomach turned as I thought of what my house would look like soon.

  “The trolls are too dumb to understand, and something is wrong with Carter.”

  “The skin falling off his face gave me a clue that something... Wait, you know his name. I’ve never met him before. We will really have to reevaluate our friendship after this.”

  The trolls’ red eyes zeroed in on me. Then the smaller of the two stepped forward. Carter had moved back toward Michelle.

  “I will let you borrow a pair of my Prada shoes if we survive this.”

  “No, you will give me a pair.”

  I waited for the troll to take another step forward. Once his foot hit the floor, I leaped forward with the serrated knife in my right hand. The troll moved more
quickly than I’d expected, which caused me to slip and hit the ground with a thud.

  Michelle screamed, tearing my attention away from the way too fast-moving troll. With my attention on Michelle and not the enemy, Carter grabbed me by my hair and pulled me up.

  “You are the key.” He sounded as though something was possessing him. Too bad—I still didn’t believe in demons and angels.

  “I’m nobody’s fucking key.” I brought my knee up and hit him in the crotch. But it seemed like the pain barely registered to him. With the force I’d hit him with, he should have shown some sign of agony. I grasped his face to push him back, and his skin fell off. I couldn’t help gagging, as his skin was still in my hands.

  “Are you okay over there?” Michelle asked.

  “Not sure. His skin is sticking to my hand.” With the knife in my right hand, I jabbed him in the side.

  He didn’t even blink.

  Michelle screamed, “Let me go, you overgrown booger!” The larger troll had untied her and was forcing her toward the door.

  “Troll,” I told her.

  Michelle was hitting the troll on the back. She raised her head. “Are we really going to debate what this thing is in the middle of a fight, or are we going to kill them?”

  I couldn’t let Michelle out of my sight, but before I made my next move, Carter threw me across the kitchen. My back slammed against the refrigerator with so much force, I felt the door bend, then I slid to the floor.

  I kept my focus on Carter. He was the strongest out of the two left in the kitchen. I knew I had to hurry because I didn’t know how long Michelle would hold against the troll who had her. “Why are you doing this, Carter?”

  “You are the key. You are the key.” He kept chanting as he walked forward. “Must bring you to my leader.”

  When he was at arm’s length, I grabbed the knife that had fallen to the ground and stabbed it into Carter’s heart. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me up as the blood poured from his body. Most of his face had fallen off, and I could see the muscles. The knife to the heart should’ve killed him. His grip tightened around me as he dragged me toward the back door. I clawed at his arms, but more skin fell off his body.

  I heard Michelle scream, then two gunshots, and prayed I could get to her in time. The last thing I wanted was Michelle to die. More gunfire sounded along with a large thud.

  Carter’s grip lessened after a couple steps. With his loss of blood, he stumbled, and I was behind him in seconds. I wrapped my hands around his head and snapped his neck. Though I hadn’t been close to Carter, watching the light drain from someone I knew was hard. I couldn’t hold back the tears.

  The troll I’d tried to take down earlier stood in the doorway between Michelle and me. I pulled the knife out of Carter’s heart and used all of my wolf strength to throw the knife across the room. It hit the troll dead on, and he dropped to his knees. I let out a sigh. He didn’t leak much green blood. So far, I wouldn’t have to deal with Reggie’s overpriced cleaning service.

  I ran to the living room and stopped dead in my tracks. Michelle had killed the giant troll with her gun. His green blood covered the white carpet. Well, that sucks. It would be a week before I could stay there again. I had to breathe through my nose because of the stench of the trolls.

  To make matters worse, twenty-three three-foot red men were standing in the room. They looked a lot like demons, if I believed in them.

  “What are they?” Michelle asked.

  Fuck if I know. All I knew was they didn’t look friendly, and we probably needed to figure out a way to kill them. “Not quite sure. Never seen them before.”

  Suddenly, one took off toward Michelle. She raised her gun, aimed, and shot the red devil-looking man between the eyes. He fell to the ground, and we let out a breath for a second before he popped right back up.

  “Well, that sucks” I murmured.

  “That’s all you’re going to say? These look more dangerous than the giant booger.”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Trolls. The green guys were trolls. These, I’ve never seen or heard of. My guess is they’re something a witch resurrected from the ground. I can’t smell them over the stench the trolls left behind.”

  Another one lunged forward, and Michelle shot at him, but all we heard was a click. She was out of bullets. It jumped on Michelle, took her to the ground, and bit her arm. Her scream echoed through the room. I pulled on my magic and turned into my wolf. The change happened instantly for me. Most wolves took minutes to change, and it was painful. Not me, though. I changed right away and lunged for the red man.

  With my teeth, I tore at his neck, and he went limp. I jumped back and eyed the devil men. The odds didn’t look good for me. Two demons dove at me with extreme speed. I dodged the first one and went for the neck of the second. The taste of the demon blood burned in my mouth, but I couldn’t think about that. I needed to protect Michelle.

  Wide-eyed, Michelle pointed at me. “Wolf.”

  I huffed at her and turned back to the red men who had invaded my home. Within a few minutes, my wolf tore through them. Bodies were slumped around me, and limbs lay across my living room floor. But it didn’t matter how many I killed—more and more appeared. Every time I killed one, three more took his place.

  Blood from the gaping hole in my back drenched my coat. The last demon had dug his razor-sharp nails into my skin, and I hadn’t seen it coming, as I was keeping one eye on Michelle. I closed my eyes and called on my magic. In the back of my mind, I was worried that I would kill everyone in the room, including Michelle, but if I didn’t do something soon, she would be dead anyway.

  The magic flowed through my body as I pulled at a ring of fire created in my mind. The red flickered and called to me, beckoning me to pull more. With each poke from the demon on my back, I pulled more magic. Suddenly, a flash of red lit the room, then it was quiet.

  I looked toward the couch and saw Michelle sitting up. She’d survived. With a quick glance, I noticed the floor was covered with a sea of red and green. All of the demons were dead. My wolf dropped to the ground, exhausted from the fight and using magic. Right before the world went black, I heard Michelle’s voice.

  Chapter 3

  My head throbbed, and I heard voices around me.

  “We need to get her to a hospital.”

  “Just give her my blood.”

  “You will not give my mate your blood again if you ever want to see the light of day, undead,” Ryker said.

  I had denied my wolf for years, telling her we couldn’t take Ryker as a mate. We weren’t good enough for him and came with baggage. But at his words, my wolf pushed to come out and lick her mate. I mentally flicked my wolf’s nose, and she went back to her corner.

  I couldn’t stand the arguing, as it was causing the pounding in my head to increase. “Shut up,” I groaned out somehow.

  Ryker was at my side within seconds. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know how close he was, and his calloused hand gripped mine. “Paldon?”

  “Yes,” I answered as I opened my eyes. I was in Ryker’s room, in his bed. His smell surrounded me and called to my inner wolf.

  Slowly, I looked around the room. Michelle stood nearby, wearing a pair of sweats, and her long brown hair was damp and twisted into a bun. My friend and favorite vampire sat on one side of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest. Ryker sat on the other side of the bed and was running a damp cloth over my face.

  “Are you okay?” Ryker’s voice was hoarse with concern.

  I rolled my eyes and sat up. “Of course I am. Michelle, you need to get to the hospital.” I tried to sit up, but Ryker pushed me back down. “And we need to get Michelle into hiding. If someone finds out she knows about us, they will kill her.”

  Michelle quickly spoke. “It was only a few cuts and bruises. That man over there gave me something, and I healed right away. I feel like I could run a marathon. As for hiding, not going to happen. You owe me an explanation
and those red Prada shoes from your closet. I’m not leaving your side, and I’m sure as hell not going into hiding.” Of course she felt superhuman. Archer had given her his vampire blood, which could heal humans and shifters quickly.

  Archer stood and stretched his handsome body. “Don’t worry about it, cupcake. I will protect her with my life.” Something flashed across his face, and I groaned. Archer had a thing for Michelle, and they were both extremely close to me. It could end badly for me.

  I didn’t have time to figure out exactly what Archer had planned. “Michelle, how did you end up at my house?”

  She let out an aggravated sigh. “I wasn’t paying attention when I locked up, and a large man grabbed me, blindfolded me, and took me there.”

  I tried to pull my hand away from Ryker’s, but he gripped it harder. The scene of killing Ryker’s second-in-command flashed through my mind. “Ryker, I killed Carter.”

  He ran his other hand through his hair. “I know. Michelle told us everything. You had to survive. I’m not your old alpha, Paldon. I listen to all sides before deciding. We were having issues with him already, and Keith was planning to challenge him this weekend. But as of right now, that makes you second in the pack.”

  “I’m not pack.”

  Ryker squeezed my hand. “The second you killed Carter, you became the second to my pack. You are now pack.”

  “You don’t understand. I’m not allowed in the pa—”

  I didn’t have time to finish my sentence. The room buzzed with energy, the air became heavy, and a warm breeze blew through the room, followed by the smell of brimstone. I squeezed Ryker’s hand. A six-foot man with short black hair and an expensive suit appeared in front of us. I couldn’t help but cough at the smell. But it wasn’t the man who drew my attention, even if he did seem charming. It was the four-foot panda with a horn. It was a fucking pandacorn. His cuteness drew me in. I wanted to wrap him up in a hug and never let him go. My body involuntarily went toward the panda.