“She won’t die without me,” Axel bit out. “She’s strong. She’s so strong. But she’s also fragile. And the world she lives in seems set on shattering her. Almost everyone around her seems to want to hurt her…including herself. She…I can’t…” Axel trailed off. “I can’t leave her to fend for herself yet. I need to show her there’s a better way. I need to show her how precious she is.” Alaric remained silent, his intense eyes fixed on the younger man’s face. He nodded slowly.
“I can get that,” he said. “You want to save her…from herself?”
“For now, yes,” Axel acknowledged. “She’s so…so unentitled. It’s as if she’s convinced that every bad thing in the world is her fault. That every time something goes wrong, it’s because she deserves it somehow.” He was pacing vigorously, punctuating his words by punching a fist into the palm of the other hand. Alaric watched him, his arms crossed over his massive chest.
“She’s so willing to take punishment she doesn’t deserve. It’s just wrong! Somehow, it’s like a magnet to every vulture and abuser out there. Her family…that asshole who’s had his claws in her – he can’t be a man unless he uses someone like her to make himself feel bigger.” Axel stopped pacing, clasping one hand around his fist, his jaw clenching. “So many people crave the company of someone who they can blame all their problems on. She’s it. She’s that punching bag. I can’t allow it anymore.”
“So, what do you plan to do about it?” Alaric asked.
“I was hoping you could help me with that,” Axel responded. “How do I go down to her? How do I stay with her? I know we live off their sexual energy. Will I destroy her if I never leave her side? Can I even make that choice? Someone…” he frowned for a moment, then continued, “someone told me we don’t have to stay up here. In Purgatory. Is that true?”
Alaric rubbed his forehead, not sure how to respond. This had been a subject he’d been mulling over himself. Since the departure of the Spartan king, Anaxandridas, the rules seemed to have changed. Although it occurred to him that he’d never really understood the rules. This was Purgatory, the limbo they lurked in while they fought to avoid Hell. Yet there were those who regularly cohabited with the living. Not for extended periods, as far as he knew, but it didn’t seem impossible.
“I wish I had a clear answer for you, Axel,” he said. “I’ve heard the same thing. In fact…” He stopped, not sure how much to reveal to the young man. “I’ve been down there, outside of the dream space. Outside of the presence of the souls who might call to me,” he finally admitted. Axel’s eyes widened. Although he knew he could take a human form when he wanted to, it had always been contingent on being in the presence of one of his callers.
Even his visits to the roadside bar were facilitated by the call of the buxom barmaid, Lou. While he no longer inhabited her dreams, their connection had never died. He’d always assumed he was able to occupy that space because her mind allowed him to be real there. The same theory had been applied when he’d taken to the road with the unholy bikers. Somehow, he felt that they were the reason he’d been able to occupy that plain.
“Are you saying we can go there whenever we want? Speak to anyone we want?” he asked. Alaric shrugged.
“It seems that way, for some,” he admitted. “Although, within reason. I’ve been exploring for a while now. Working on…” He shrugged again. “Working on my own…projects.”
“Projects?” Axel pressed. “What kind of projects.”
“I think it would be better if I kept that to myself for now,” Alaric answered. His own salvation had become such a complex situation that he’d begun to investigate different ways to make his path more viable. Only one woman could save him…and she could never love him. Not the way he was now. He shook his head, returned to the troubles of the youngster. “I think you can be there with her. Although I don’t think it’s possible…without the ‘transition’.”
“Transition?” Axel asked.
“The death of your demon form as you become human again,” Alaric explained. “It makes you mortal.”
“And then what?”
“Then you stay down there. I guess you could say you get a second chance. At life,” he replied, remembering the Spartan who had made the choice.
“So, that’s the way out of here?” Axel was curious now.
“There are several ways out of here,” said Alaric. “Although, until recently, I was sure we were limited – either Heaven or Hell. But I was wrong. You can go back…try again. The only catch is…”
“Is…?”
“You need that soul call to start the ball rolling. You can’t just pop up someplace and start living as you please. You need a true calling.” Axel shifted uncomfortably, and Alaric narrowed his eyes on him. “Is that what you’d been planning?”
“No!” he replied quickly. “But… But I had an encounter.”
“What sort of an encounter?” It was Alaric’s turn to ask questions again.
“A group of bikers. I met them at a bar I like to hang out at. There was a woman…a man with her…others. She asked me to join their gang. Said they ride the highways and live as they wish. That I could still visit souls for sex dreams to keep my survival energy. But I wouldn’t have to exist here, in Purgatory.”
Alaric frowned darkly. “And this woman…was she…one of us?”
“I’m pretty sure she was,” Axel acknowledged. “She and the man were both…unholy. It was strange to me. They were visible to the mortals there – yet they hadn’t received any calling that I knew of. I thought we always had to be called.”
“Council members,” Alaric muttered under his breath, his features dark with concern.
“What?” Axel asked, growing confused.
“They must have been Council members. From the Council of Ten. Only they have powers to come and go as they please without connecting to a soul. At least, I think so,” he rubbed his eyes. His recent explorations weren’t strictly related to a full-blown call. But he’d convinced himself that he’d been capable of establishing his presence on earth because his salvation was so close at hand.
Axel was watching his face carefully. For the first time, Alaric noticed an alertness about the biker…a keenness that hinted at perception. “You’ve found her, haven’t you?” Axel asked.
Alaric nodded slowly. “Yes, it’s her.” His damnation had been a cruel one. No soul could save him except fora woman born of one particular bloodline – a family line his soldiers had all but wiped out during a war-raid, countless generations before. He remembered looking into the eyes of a blood-splattered old woman, her body shielding a weeping girl-child. Remembered her words before they’d hurried away. “You...I curse you! I curse you to Hell! You will spend eternity seeking forgiveness for what you have done here today!” He’d remembered those hate-filled eyes until he reached his own deathbed. They were still burned into his soul now. He shook his head, turned back to Axel.
“You must go to the Council. They need to know what has happened. About the traitors. There is mutiny at work,” he said to the kid.
“There’s more. The woman came to me…tried to seduce me, said she wanted me to join her, and we could live there – on Earth – together,” Axel added.
Alaric frowned. “That is unusual. There is no reason for a succubus to lay with an incubus. She had other motives…” He pondered for a moment. “They know how close you are to making your final connection with your woman. She was trying to draw you away.”
Axel looked confused. “Why would she do that? What difference would it make?”
“She wanted you to make the wrong decision. To compromise your soul. It may not seem like it, but we don’t have unlimited opportunities to fuck up round here. And for some reason, she needs you to mess this particular opportunity up. You’ve seen the Threshers at work?”
Axel nodded and shuddered. There’d been more than one occasion when he’d observed the minions of Hell tearing a screaming soul from Purgatory. Destined for
eternal damnation.
“From the sounds of it, these Council members are deliberately luring souls to Hell. That isn’t their role. They’re supposed to be our guardians…provide guidance. Actually, if they’re hoping to find their own place in Heaven, they should be working to make sure we all ascend.” Alaric rolled his shoulders, his expression grimly determined. “We must seek an audience with the Ten.”
“But won’t we be opening ourselves to attack? If these traitors are among them?” asked Axel.
“There’s only one way to find out,” replied Alaric. “And I don’t see any other way to tackle the problem. We, alone, are not strong enough to face what’s out there.”
Chapter 13
“There has been a request for an audience, Lady,” Cato appeared silently and addressed Lilith. She frowned as she turned to him. She’d been meditating in her favorite space – a small grove of trees beside a mountain lake. The air was crisp and clear; it always opened her mind. She stood and stretched, swathed in a warm cloak of green velvet, a voluminous hood framing her face. She met his eyes.
“I’m assuming it’s important?” she asked.
“Isn’t it always?” he responded. She sighed, took his hand, and they stepped into the void that would return them to Purgatory.
In the great hall, the others were assembled. Salazar looked unusually intense. He paced like a cougar, dark, and dangerous. As she arrived, he stopped and moved closer, almost reaching out, but then stopping. There was a tension within the group that felt dangerous. Something was seriously wrong. She looked into Salazar’s eyes, hoping for some sort of answer, but he glanced away, turned his attention to the two souls who lingered in the center of their sweeping court. As usual, the hall was undefined by walls or floors – yet it was clearly an enclosed space. Even after all these millennia, she found her eyes drawn to the floor, through which she could see the entire Earth spread out beneath them. Small flares of light swirled, glittered, and burst – the soul calls she’d grown to recognize.
“Lilith,” a voice pulled her attention back to the group. She glanced up at its owner, Salazar, and then to the souls in their midst. The soldier, Alaric, and her sweet Axel. She wanted to draw a breath but carefully hid her expression.
Cato stepped forward, taking control. As the keeper of the gates, he was the one who dealt with matters of internal conflict. This was serious. Lilith looked over at Salazar, who nodded at her. Jezebel moved to her side and slipped a warm hand through the crook of her elbow. On the periphery, Calliope was a buzzing hummingbird, brightly colored and beautiful as always. Lilith knew that this was connected to their recent suspicions.
“We have been called by these spirits, the incubus Alaric, and the incubus Axel, to discuss a matter of importance,” Cato began. His partner, Marcia, had moved to his side, running her fingers over his arm in gentle support. “These souls have raised an urgent matter…a matter of mutiny.”
The spirits in the hall murmured and whispered, the sounds shifting and hissing on the air.
Mutiny!
Jezebel stepped closer to Lilith, their bodies pressing together. Lilith met Salazar’s eyes again. Of course, they’d known this would play out soon. The problem had been to pinpoint the culprits. Something had been masking their identity. This was unprecedented and smacked of intervention from a much stronger force. A darker force. She pressed her lips together. Something at the back of her consciousness crackled and burned, black and evil.
Cato began again. “Speak now,” he addressed the two spirits. Alaric stepped forward.
“My young friend has had an encounter,” he spoke clearly. The fact that the two had chosen to present their case together made it apparent that they were afraid that their message might not be well received. “He was…lured by someone…one who I can only imagine to be a member of Council.”
There was a gasp from the members that seemed to suck the air from the room. Lilith remained unmoved, as did Jezebel and Salazar. Calliope’s hummingbird wings seemed to beat faster, if that was possible.
Lilith glanced around the room, trying to gauge the reactions of the others. Cain remained as implacable as ever, brooding in a corner. Marcia and Cato were clearly in the thick of things, as curious as the rest of them. She and Jezebel had been investigating this thing from the start, along with Salazar. And Calliope was…well, Calliope was above reproach. As for Arawn, he’d barely taken his eyes off the brilliant bird since she’d arrived. The man could barely remember his own name when Calliope was around.
Lilith continued to cast her eyes around the group. Azazel lurked not far from Cain. He’d donned a crisp, white suit, and his hair was glittering silver. For a second, she had to look again to be sure it was him, although the essence of his spirit confirmed it. As immortal souls in a spirit realm, it really didn’t matter what they looked like – many of them changed their appearance at every encounter, Calliope being a case in point. Jezebel liked to change herself too, although she loved that flaming hair of hers. Yet, Azazel seldom chose to portray himself so…brightly. He was normally a glowering, dark presence, mirrored by the equally dark Imentet, who was invariably at his side.
Imentet.
Lilith spun around, trying to get a bearing on her. Not seeing or even sensing the other woman. She noticed Salazar doing the same thing and was certain he shared her thoughts.
“Let the one called Axel, bear witness,” Cain’s voice interrupted her swirling thoughts. She watched as her young champion stepped forward, almost reluctantly.
“Alaric is right,” he began, “I was approached. A female spirit who attempted to seduce me. She and her partner had initially tried to enlist me to join her…her tribe,” he told them. The hissing and murmuring among the spirits raised and then hummed to silence.
“And why do you believe that this should indicate mutiny?” Asked Cain.
“Because Alaric said it was likely,” Axel answered flatly. “I know little of these things, but when I explained it to him, he said that what I had seen could only have been the work of a High Council member.”
“Why is this, Alaric?” Cain turned to the other man.
“My lord, these spirits are capable of existing among mortals without answering to a call. They are visible to living humans, can inhabit their world as well as ours. It was only recently that I became aware that it was possible for us to become real among mortals. But I was under the impression that we could only do this in response to a call from our salvation soul.”
The Council members murmured among themselves.
“It is true,” answered Cain. “A fledgling incubus needs the energy of his caller to take on a material form. Sometimes this will be the sexual energy you take from their dreams. Or you can draw from the deeper need you sense within them. But without it, you’re simply a wraith, a memory of what you once were.”
Axel mulled it over. It made sense to him. He’d frequently occupied areas on Earth, but always near someone who had called to him. Lou’s biker tavern was a perfect example. Even though their days together were long over, he could still feel her pull. He doubted she really remembered much about their time, it had been so many years ago, and he’d only ever met her in her dreams. But what dreams they were!
He hauled himself back to the moment. To the air of quiet menace that surrounded him. Cain was addressing him again.
“And why do you believe that the encounter you had represented a mutiny, biker?” he demanded. “What makes you so sure.”
“I’m not truly sure, my lord,” Axel admitted. “It was Alaric who drew the conclusion. But I was certain I was the target of some unholy intent. That my soul was at risk.”
Salazar had moved closer to Lilith and Jezebel now. The three exchanged looks, and Salazar inclined his head. Once before, with the Spartan, they had experienced the intervention of an unholy entity to derail a spirit on a path towards purity. They’d already suspected that there would be another attempt, and Lilith had predicted Axel would be targete
d. This all made perfect sense to them.
‘But who?’ thought Lilith, her mind racing. As if reading her thoughts, Salazar shot a sidelong glance towards Azazel, then looked back at her. She stepped forward to address Alaric and Axel.
“If you are so certain that the people of whom you speak are members of the Council, can you tell us if you see them here today?”
Alaric shook his head, while Axel took a deep breath, then stared intently at each Council member in turn.
“No, mistress. I can’t be sure. Although, there was a woman and a man. She was the one who approached me, tried to tempt me. She said I didn’t have to stay in Purgatory. Told me to abandon the call of the woman, Desirée.”
“Could you describe this woman?” Asked Lilith. “Not necessarily her physical appearance, but her…essence?”
“She was a snake, mistress,” Axel replied without hesitation.
“Imentet,” spat Salazar, then spun to look at Azazel. “Where is she?” he demanded. The other man shrugged, stifled a yawn.
“No idea,” he answered coldly. “I’m not her keeper. You figure it out for yourselves.”
Calliope’s hummingbird wings were fluttering, she darted and swirled and then in a blinding flash of rainbow colors, was standing before them, naked and glorious. Her beautiful eyes were wide, filled with fear.
“Desirée!” she cried.
Without another word, they understood.
◆◆◆
Desirée woke that morning feeling as if she’d emerged into a new life. She felt clean, refreshed. Somehow the black cloud that had hovered over her head for weeks was dissipating. She stretched out on the bed and smiled as morning sunlight filtered over her face. The bedclothes were tousled, sheets draping onto the floor. She was naked, barely covered by the tangle of linen that remained on the bed. The feeling was sensuous, and her thoughts filled with images of the night before. He’d been there. Really been there. It hadn’t been a dream or a drunken haze. He’d held her, touched her, made love to her… Such sweet, achingly beautiful love. She’d never known it existed. How had she lived this long without having some inkling of what it should feel like?
Saving Her Page 16
