by Lexi Ostrow
“I can walk,” Kellan hissed, and then spoke quickly, “Lucius, I mean no disrespect. I just, I can’t have another demon touch me. Not even you.”
McKenna’s heart broke for Jacob. She’d seen for herself the camaraderie betwixt the pair in the past, even it had been only one moment.
Lucius’s eyes flashed cold for a second, but he nodded. “I’ve had her hands on me too, I understand. She’s a dreadful mix of lust and terror.”
McKenna watched as Lucius looked at Kellan and alarm flickered in Kellan’s eyes. “Let’s get going. It’s been too long with nothing. We have freed her soon to be army, if she knows that, we’re already dead.”
Kellan stood and ignored the hand McKenna offered him. “I need to do this on my own. I’m weak, but I have to beat this.”
She nodded as a tear slipped down her cheek. When this was all over, she would talk to Jacob. He couldn’t be a hunter. She just couldn’t allow it. The silence resumed as they walked until the door appeared, and they were back in the cavern. Lucius tugged the door closed with a bang, and McKenna finally felt the weight of the trip weighing on her like a ton of bricks. She sank to the ground, grateful for even a small rest in the pits of Hell.
The rest period was over far too quickly for McKenna’s liking. But, she was rather grateful she awoke to Felicia gently shaking her, as opposed to a demon attack. McKenna’s body was terribly stiff as she stood and tried to force her muscles to wake up. She looked around as she did and was shocked to find that all the others were awake and ready.
“Take some water and a bag of oats from the sack. We’ve got about six hours to go, and we are all in agreement to move quickly with no breaks,” Felicia said as she passed her the bag.
McKenna’s stomach growled as her hand wrapped around the food. In the past two days, they had hardly slept, drank or ate. It was a wonder they were able to keep going at that pace. Drinking a capful of water, she closed the canteen and placed it back in the pack before handing it to Felicia.
“Is everyone ready?” Philippe asked, standing a good few meters away and looking ready to go.
McKenna mumbled something, and she felt Jacob take her hand. She turned and smiled before giving him a quick kiss.
“Philippe and I had a rather quick chat. I’ll be walking with you this leg of the journey. I hope you don’t mind. I know you are not confined to a female’s role, but I would like to protect you, if you’ll let me.” He kissed her forehead.
She wanted to tug his face down and kiss him, but she refrained, there would be time for that in the submersible. “I would be honored to have you protect me. Let’s just leave the shooting moments to me.” She winked and gave his hand a tug to start them walking.
The torches flickered, and the sound of their breathing and footfalls was all McKenna heard for hours. She couldn’t remember the last time she had as many moments to think on the world as she had those past two days. All she could think about was what would happen when they returned. Hours before, Jacob had all but demanded to join the Alliance in full capacity. Would he feel the same after the journey was over and they had time for their separate lives once again?
The thought sobered her as they walked. There were so many things she could be grateful for on the mission. Instead, she was dreading what the future might bring because she had given her heart to a man that she could never truly have, not in the world they lived in. A world without Jacob seemed as dark and dank as Hell to her. He infuriated her oft, seduced her most of the time and challenged her all the rest. He was the perfect other half for her, and even thinking about their places in the world made her bristle with anger.
There were so many things about the world the Alliance lived in that were stuck in the past. It felt impossible to embrace an outward society that still belittled woman and had no concept of the technology at their fingertips or the horrors that walked beside them. It was so archaic, and it had never truly upset her until it meant the end of the first happiness she had found since her youth.
“Pence for your thoughts,” Jacob whispered into her ear.
She smiled at him and placed a finger over her lips. They were so close to the end. If Seraphina were going to attack, it would be now or never. There was no way to truly tell day from night in Hell, but things had been far too simple since Kellan and Jacob had escaped. Her whole body was tense and on edge, and she just wanted to make it back to the submersible sooner rather than later.
She felt her eyes beginning to droop just as Philippe spoke. “We’re here. Take a deep breath, and pray that the submersible, fuck the Angel, are both beyond this door and we didn’t somehow alter our course.”
Jacob squeezed her hand, and though she was terrified Philippe was right, she squeezed Jacob’s as well. McKenna pressed her lips together, sealing them so tightly that she couldn’t breathe, as she watched the door come into view. It was closed, and her heart sank as she let out a disappointed breath.
“Lucius, get your arse up here and touch this bloody door again,” Felicia shouted back. As Lucius shouldered his way past McKenna, Felicia kept speaking, “We don’t know what’s entered or exited. Everyone be at the ready.”
McKenna grabbed her gun, her better weapon, and she saw Jacob draw out a dagger. It felt like forever as she stared at Lucius touching the door with his palm and it creaked open. Jacob was no longer holding her hand, and she suddenly wanted him to be.
“Bloody hell.”
She heard Lucius say from the other side of the door as someone else whistled. McKenna put her finger on the trigger as she made her way forward through the door. Her own gasp shocked her as she took in the sight. It was far worse than how Kellan had appeared in the cell. There were bloodied bodies and body parts strewn everywhere, and Layel stood atop the submersible, his wings practically covered in deep red.
Jacob let out a low whistle as he looked around the cavern. Layel was perched on the top of the submersible, almost like a bird sitting on a branch. From such a distance back, Jacob couldn’t make out any of the Pure Angel’s features, just the blood covering nearly every meter of the demon.
Jacob’s eyes left Layel and scanned the floor. There were so many body parts and colors strewn about from left to right and even floating in the water that he could scarcely make out the three-fingered Imp hand near his foot.
“Mon Dieu, all of this, demon?” Philippe asked as he walked towards his soon to be father-in-law. “Rumors are spread of my tenacity and skill, I should think if you and your brethren would fight for humans once more, there would be little we could not stop.
Layel’s red-splattered, white wings opened, spanning a full twelve meters, and he launched himself at the group. Jacob stepped in front of McKenna, but it didn’t matter, Layel landed, kicking up sand nicely in front of them.
“You must be Kellan.”
“Aye and ye are far too close for me liking without a pair of goggles,” Kellan cursed and kicked at the sand. “I don’t like the sound of my own voice anymore because it makes me think of her,” he said, the British accent slipping back in.
“Close your eyes,” Layel said. “I cannot ease the mental scars, those are woven deep into your soul. I can fix your famished body and restore your perseverance, though. I cannot make you were. I can merely help keep you standing on your own two feet if you’ll allow it.”
“Do it. I watched Odette heal Philippe, and I’ve been bloody attacked by Lucius of my own volition. I don’t want to sound like a stranger to myself forever, and maybe if I don’t feel like a strong gust could fall me, I could learn to accept what I’ve been through.”
Jacob admired Kellan at that moment. The man had literally been a prisoner of Hell. He had some sick attraction to blood—not that Jacob would ever share what he saw pass betwixt Kellan and Seraphina—but still, he was ready to be a hunter again.
“It will be done.” Layel stepped forward and placed his hand over Kellan’s chest as he had done hardly two days earlier to Jacob.
&n
bsp; Which reminded him, he owed Layel a debt. “Layel,” Jacob said and cleared his throat. “I don’t know how much concentration that takes, but I wanted to say thank you. I owe you my life. Whatever you did to me, with your powers, it helped me stay strong in there. It helped me protect McKenna.”
Layel said nothing until the white light emanating from his hands vanished. The light lingered around Kellan, and when it vanished, Jacob almost swallowed his tongue. He was as whole as ever. His body regained its muscular perfection, and the bruises and cuts disappeared completely. Kellan’s hair was still a terrible mess, but the green in his eyes was lighter, and the smile on his lips was lighthearted.
“I didn’t think anything could take the physical pain away. You Angels, you’re something all right,” Kellan quipped, and everyone laughed.
“There is the partner I lost. Welcome back, Kellan, truly welcome back,” Philippe said as he embraced the other man.
“You’re going to ruin any shot I have with the lovely blonde,” Kellan teased, still using his British accent.
“The blonde is well and truly spoken for,” McKenna said as she took Jacob’s hand and flushed. “If he would still have me.”
“Oh, he will. Kellan, I might have risked my life to save you, but if you flirt with her more on this long journey back, I will see to it that your lips are sewn shut.”
Everyone laughed, everyone except Layel. The man’s expression wasn’t its usual stoney tablet. In fact, if Jacob didn’t know better, he thought he saw a look of terror deep in the Angel’s eyes.
Layel took a step back and wrapped his wings around his body as if he was protecting himself. Then he spoke.“You are in far more danger than I could have realized, Kellan. Your survival was at the hands of a blood addiction. Your soul is painted red.”
Kellan froze, and the laughter faded quickly. “I was going to tell everyone about it. Just, when things had calmed down.”
Lucius spoke before anyone else could. “We knew you would be different. We will get you through this, no matter how unpleasant it will be. You are Alliance, you are family, and you will not be left behind again.”
“That is not what I was speaking on. Kellan, do you not feel it?” Layel said, still acting strangely.
A look passed over Kellan, and for a brief moment, Jacob believed there was more to the story than what he had seen betwixt Kellan and Seraphina.
“Do you have feelings for her? Did you hesitate to kill her?”
Kellan’s foot spun out and connected with Jacob’s chest so quickly, he didn’t have time to react, and his arse slammed into the ground. No one spoke, no one moved, and Jacob slowly stood up, hands in the air as if he were surrendering. Kellan had his strength back, and Jacob was likely not a match for the hunter.
“Do not ask me questions that do not require an answer,” Kellan said.
Jacob began to wonder for what reason had Kellan licked at Seraphina’s blood.
“He needs to be left behind,” Layel said simply, a brief hint of disgust in his tone.
Lucius stepped up to the other demon. “I can take you down. You have a weakness, and I know what it is. You say he has a problem? Then get his arse back to the Alliance. Take him home, take him where he can be healed and whatever you see in him can be erased.”
“Kellan, do you think that the blood connection has given you feelings for the Fallen? Answer truthfully, I can sense a lie.”
Jacob thought Kellan was going to punch out, but he did not. His head tilted backwards, and then fell forward until his chin rested on his bare chest.
“I don’t know what it did. I just know that I can feel how crazy I was without it, that I’m going to need to be locked up until whatever this is passes because, as much as I hate her, I can still feel the way her body pressed into mine. She is ruthless and heartless, but she is stunning in all that she is, and I dare any man to spend time with her and not see some of that slip through.”
“I’ve slept with the bitch. I’m not going to judge you. Captivity does things. But you are going home. Now.”
Lucius was stepping up again, and Jacob had to smile.
“Take Kellan and the women home. Lucius will journey by sea and return the submersible. If Eliza’s reaction to the wrecked airship was any indication of her feelings towards her inventions, if we abandon this in Hell, she will send us back after it,” Philippe said, adding his unspoken order to the Angel.
“Do you think I could flash you all such a great distance? If I could, none of the pomp, pretense, and waiting would have been necessary. I am hardly sure that after a healing so intense, I can transport four beings such a distance. But Kellan is right, he will be dangerous when the cravings begin and locked in a small death trap under the ocean is no place for that to commense.”
“Then it is decided. Jacob, Lucius and I will take the long route. I would like to see more of the underwater realm and what demons and treasures it holds anyway.” Philippe turned to Kellan. “I will not judge you, partners protect, but you need to go with him. If you could be dangerous, if you have some sort of blind allegiance to her just simmering beneath the surface, we need you back in London.”
Kellan gave a curt nod of his head and offered his hands to the women. “Ordinarily, I would make some sort of a jest in this situation. I do not think I can just yet, so will you honor me by escorting me back to London?”
“It would be our pleasure,” Felicia and McKenna said simultaneously.
McKenna didn’t take Kellan’s hand immediately. Instead, she kissed him, and Jacob felt a possessiveness roar to life within him when she stepped back and held another’s hand.
“I love you, Jacob, and when you have returned home, we will find a way. That is what the Alliance does.”
Layel reached out and touched them, and in a blink, all four were gone from the room. Jacob sputtered at the place where McKenna had been not seconds prior.
“So, who wants to get rip-roaring sloshed and get this lady back in open water?” Lucius asked.
Jacob turned to see Lucius was dangling a flask and had a smirk on his lips.
“Have you had that the whole bloody time? You louse!” Philippe lunged for the flask, and Lucius tossed it at him.
“I didn’t think it would be fitting for the womankind to see us knackered and firing our guns off the wrong way. But, if I’m going to be stuck in a small space with the pair of you for two months, I’ll be showing you where my stash is.”
Jacob barked out a laugh. This had quite literally been a time in Hell, and yet, he’d never felt better. He’d come on a mission simply to preserve a made up title his father had given him in court and had found a whole new life.
Twenty-Four
“Are you certain you’re all right?” McKenna asked Kellan as they waited for a cleanup team.
“Aye. Tis nothing,” his Irish accent seeped out into the alley.
They’d been home almost two months, and he’d had to be locked up at first, but not now. But, oh heavens, had he in the beginning. McKenna shuddered as she thought about the screams that had torn through the guild when he had slept.
She, and a few others had spent time guarding him at night, but all it led to was a row when he woke up, completely unaware of what had gone on. Nothing had been more terrifying than the night he’d confessed in his sleep to wanting Seraphina. She’d wished she could drag Kellan to Lucius and confirm Kellan’s greatest fear. He, like Jacob and Philippe, were still drifting through the ocean without a way to contact them.
Kellan had vanished two times since they’d returned, only to find him rocking himself on a chair in the guild study. There were moments of utter insanity in him. He would be his usual self one day, and two days later, he would be raving and shouting things that no one could understand. Layel had said it was the blood craze, and it would only get worse. But, Kellan always got better after. Her faith in the Angel was dimming by the day. She’d watched Layel create miracles, but it seemed as if healing Kellan might have
splintered his mind.
Having cleared that up didn’t make her any happier to be patrolling with him. She’d assumed she would have been paired with someone from her training group, but they were all assigned whilst she had been working on the mission for the past year. Kellan was ruthless on a hunt, he cut demons down quicker than she could get her gun cocked.
Tonight was no different. McKenna looked down at the body of the Thrasher that Kellan had sliced from navel to nose with a cutlass, not even an Alliance weapon.
“Stop looking at me like I can grow two heads. I’m bloody fine, blimey!” He threw up his hands and walked a few paces away from her.
McKenna sighed rather dramatically and followed him. She missed Jacob. All she wanted was for him to be home so they could work on a way to be together. Instead, she finally had her dream of being on hunts, and her partner terrified her. She reached out to touch his shoulder and stopped, he didn’t react well to touches he couldn’t see.
“Kellan.”
“Aye?” he asked as he turned around.
“I’m sorry. I know you keep telling me that everything is well. But I saw you in that cell, Kellan. I heard the fear, anger and loathing in your voice. A month passed, and suddenly, you were yourself again, minus some outbursts.”
He put his hand on her shoulder and gave a little squeeze. “Lass, dinnea worry yeself. I promise. I’m dandy in me head. I just needed time ta get the demons out.” He gave her a charming smile.
“Fine, fine. I promise to stop pestering as a mother would, especially given you are older than me.” As she spoke, a motorbike could be heard in the distance. It was faint, and only one that knew the noise would even notice it. “Sounds like we will be relieved soon. Just in time for the sun to join us.”
“You seem tired, lass. Go ahead back ta the Alliance. I’ll stand watch fer now.”
