“I do not desire the creature’s existence to become public knowledge, just as his master hoped it would.” Apollyon glared at them all and Erin got the message loud and clear. She wouldn’t say a word about Apollyon’s evil twin to anyone. “I will deal with him if he ever tries to leave Hell, but so far he has shown no indication that he will. He seems content down there, wreaking havoc for his master.”
So, he had been working for the Devil when he had offered to free her. He had wanted to torment her by making her believe she would soon be free and then watch her hope die as she realised she was still his prisoner.
The bastard.
Erin wanted to kill him for that.
“Now that I have proven I am not a subject of the Devil, we should move quickly. What gate were they using?” Apollyon turned his attention to Taylor and Erin held her tongue as the half-demon filled him in on the details. She could tell that this was his way of stopping them from asking any more questions about his clone and she could understand why he needed to talk about something else. She couldn’t imagine what he had been through when the Devil had tortured him, or how it would feel to have an evil doppelganger, especially if you were an angel.
Erin continued to stare at him. He was impressive. Tall, well built, handsome in a dark and glowering sort of way, and his black wings were huge even when furled against his back. His armour reminded her of Veiron’s, only Apollyon’s had gold edging around the obsidian and rampant lions on the cuffs protecting his forearms.
His gaze shifted to her again. “Any idea why the Devil has set his sights on you?”
She shook her head and then hesitated. He had been trusting enough to tell her something he had kept secret for God only knew how long. He deserved a little honesty from her in return. “I do have some sort of power, and I am Amelia’s sister. He gave me a choice between playing bait and killing her.”
Amelia turned on her. “I think you might have mentioned that to me earlier.”
“I said no, so what’s the problem? And Veiron’s convinced that the Devil wants me more than he wants you now.”
“If he wants you rather than Amelia, then your power must be of value to him, which means that it is strong enough to prove a threat to Heaven.” Apollyon’s dark look didn’t make any of what he had said easier to digest.
Was he saying that the Devil thought that her power made her a great weapon against his enemies? Just what was this power that she had and did the Devil really want her so he could use her against Heaven in this twisted game of theirs? Her stomach turned again and bile burned up her throat. She covered her mouth with her hand and breathed slowly to settle her stomach. Losing it now would do her no good. She had to stay strong so she could stop her vision from happening and could save Veiron and everyone else. Amelia gave her a concerned look. Erin set her jaw, straightened, and sucked in a deep breath to fortify herself.
“What are we waiting for?” she said, her determination rising.
Apollyon smiled, as though she had impressed him, and then looked down at his feet and unfurled his black wings. He beat them hard, sending sand swirling in all directions, and lifted off the moonlit beach.
“Step back,” he said and Erin, Taylor and Amelia moved as one, hopping up onto the deck of the villa.
Apollyon held his hand out towards the sand and Erin held her breath. A tiny orange spot appeared and then a jagged line cut across the sand in both directions, forming a glowing crack that stretched like a barrier between them and Apollyon. That crack grew, flickering brighter and spreading like lava. It widened and then the middle collapsed, leaving molten fire spilling down into a black chasm.
“It will lead us down to the bottomless pit. The gate the others used is close to there.” Apollyon spread his wings and glided down to land on the deck.
“And how do we get down there?” Erin eyed the fault line that stretched over forty feet across the shore and was close to twenty feet wide. Waves rolled up the shore and hissed when they touched the edges of the opening Apollyon had created, steam rising and filling the air with the scent of the sea.
“We fly.” Amelia flapped her wings. “Apollyon can carry Taylor and I’ll carry you.”
Erin could deal with that, as long as Amelia kept away from the edges. She didn’t want to burn herself on the way down because her sister couldn’t handle her weight. Erin doubted she was as strong as Veiron and could carry her as easily.
“Let’s go,” Erin said and then froze when heat flashed over her and a sense that she was in danger followed it.
She looked around, the others leaving her behind as she searched for a reason for her bad feeling, and her eyes widened.
“Incoming!” Erin shouted and threw herself at Amelia, tackling her to the ground at the same time as Apollyon grabbed Taylor and shielded her in his arms.
The man who had claimed to be her guardian angel slammed into Apollyon’s back, sending him and Taylor flying. They landed hard in a tangle with the angel but Apollyon came out fighting, his formidable height and power an advantage over the shorter pale-haired angel.
Erin was on her feet in an instant. Taylor shot to hers and growled a ripe curse as she held her arm. Amelia muttered something equally as black under her breath.
Apollyon drew one of his swords and clashed with the guardian angel.
“Go,” he shouted over his shoulder. “I will handle this.”
Erin couldn’t move. Apollyon was no doubt strong enough to deal with her guardian angel but this wasn’t his fight and he shouldn’t have to deal with it for her. Her hands heated and the angel broke past Apollyon, heading straight for her. He didn’t get far.
Amelia yelled and barrelled into him, taking him down. Erin had never seen her sister fight but as she watched her unleash hell on the angel she held pinned beneath her, she could understand why Heaven and Hell feared her. Amelia’s hands glowed blue and she kicked off the angel, leaving him lying in the sand, and beat her silvery wings. An orb formed between her palms and the angel came to his senses just as her sister released it and it shot towards him. Sand exploded upwards from the spot where he had been.
He let out a frustrated growl from high above them. His silver-blue wings shone in the moonlight and his pale hair glowed like a halo, but Erin felt nothing good in this angel. His expression was blacker than midnight and promised violence and pain.
“I cannot hold the gate open and fight. Get out of here.” Apollyon shoved Amelia and she tumbled through the air and hit the sand close to the deck, spraying it everywhere.
“Bastard,” Amelia mumbled, righted herself and checked her wings over.
The guardian angel shot towards Apollyon and the dark angel grinned as he beat his broad black wings and rose to meet him.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go.” Amelia grabbed Erin around the waist with one arm and Taylor with the other, beat her wings and dropped into the black crevasse.
Erin held onto her sister for dear life as they sped downwards. It was far from a controlled descent. They plummeted towards a growing fiery line far below them and she had the terrible feeling that their landing was going to be bumpy at best.
At worst, they were going to crash into what looked like it might be a lake of lava.
Erin closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
CHAPTER 24
No problems so far, but Veiron wasn’t going to delude himself into thinking that things would be smooth sailing all the way to the Devil’s cosy little home just beyond the bottomless pit. He trudged along a wide black path that wound down from the gate towards the plains they needed to traverse to reach the fortress. The right side of the path dropped straight down to the plain and one of the major rivers of Hell and a tall black cliff rose up on his left. At the top of that cliff was a plateau that stretched for miles and was home to Heaven’s only contingent of angels in Hell. They guarded the bottomless pit and the pool that recorded the events of Earth and Hell.
His happy trio had only left th
e gate behind an hour ago and already they weren’t speaking to each other. It wasn’t as though they had argued and fallen out. There was a general air of melancholy hanging over them that had one root cause.
Women.
Fuck, he missed Erin.
He wasn’t about to voice those words for the other two men to hear but they beat in his heart and his blood, a visceral ache to see her again even though he had only just left her.
What was she doing?
Was she sitting on the deck of their villa waiting for him to return?
Not likely. That didn’t fit with her personality. She might be sitting there staring out at a moonlit ocean but she wouldn’t be alone, and she would probably be nursing a cocktail and have snacks on hand. The women were probably talking about them, griping about their heroics and not being allowed to participate. Taylor would send her to sleep soon together with Amelia, if she hadn’t already.
Was Erin worried about him? He knew the answer to that. Erin always worried about him, and it touched him more than she would ever know. He loved her for her concern and how she placed importance on his feelings and understood him so well. He had never known a woman like her.
He frowned.
Taylor had better be treating her well. He hadn’t failed to notice the half-demon’s attitude around his little nymph or the look she had given Erin when they had shared that ‘I love you’ swap on the jetty.
Veiron grinned, unable to stop it from curving his lips.
Erin loved him.
He hadn’t realised how much he had needed to hear her tell him that until she had said the words. It had overwhelmed him then, hitting him with the force of a tidal wave, leaving him aching to kiss her and pour out all of his feelings for her so she knew that he felt the same way about her. She was his Erin. His willowy wicked woman now and forever. Yeah, he had reasoned that tacking on forever wasn’t a good idea, but a series of bad ones had led him to find the love of his immortal life and since he was on a roll, he figured that he would go with it. Forever.
“Am I the only one who finds that look on Veiron’s face disturbing?” Marcus said from beside him, the tall dark-haired warrior frowning across at him and then looking over his shoulder at Einar.
“Why do you think I decided to walk back here?” Einar practically chuckled the words.
Veiron scowled at both of them. “You want me to accidentally lose you in some of the less friendly parts of Hell?”
They shook their heads.
“Shut the fuck up then,” he said on a snarl and resumed his grinning.
“It is actually an improvement on his usual expression,” Einar said, clearly wanting to be dropped off the tall sheer cliff that edged one side of the path and into the bubbling river of lava hundreds of feet below.
“Listen, I’ve had just about enough of your shit—” A loud crack echoed around them, cutting Veiron off.
It bounced between the jagged spires of black rock that punctuated the boiling river and rolled like thunder across the plain.
Light suddenly broke through the constant dimness of Hell. Veiron’s head snapped up. A huge split had opened in the vault of Hell above them. Above the plateau.
Were angels coming down?
He wanted to call his spear to him but he couldn’t risk alerting the Devil to his presence. He stared up at the wide crooked gap in the black ceiling, seeing a streak of inky sky beyond. Part of that streak stuttered, a sure sign that someone was descending, and they were coming down fast.
“Amelia,” Marcus breathed and Veiron’s eyes widened when he finally made out her silvery half-feather half-leather wings.
She was coming down too quickly, Erin and Taylor hanging from her arms, both of them struggling to hold on and close to falling.
Veiron’s crimson wings erupted from his back, tearing through his black t-shirt and he beat them hard, his eyes fixed on Erin and his heart hammering against his chest. He shot upwards, beyond the plateau, heading for her at maximum speed. He could hear Marcus behind him, his wings beating the hot air as urgently as Veiron’s were.
Amelia screamed and Erin slipped, almost losing her grip on her sister’s arm. Taylor reached for her. Veiron growled and Erin looked at him, her wide amber eyes brimming with fear. He doubled his effort, his wings aching with each beat, and reached for her. She shrieked and slid another few inches down her sister’s arm. Amelia rolled that way, dragged by Erin’s weight. Erin flailed her legs and closed her eyes. Her hands slipped.
Veiron grabbed her around the waist as she dropped and gathered her close to him, heart racing with the need to feel she was safe in his arms. Amelia used her now free hand to grab Taylor and keep hold of her. Marcus reached them and caught Taylor under her arms, and Taylor released her death-grip on Amelia so she could right herself and fall into a steady glide.
They all drifted down on the hot air to land on the black plateau.
“Everything alright up there?” Einar called, a detached voice curling up from the abyss.
Veiron had forgotten that the angel couldn’t fly.
Marcus shouted, “All fine. Wait there, I will come and get you.”
He shot off towards the edge of the plateau and then dropped over it.
Veiron looked down at Erin. She curled into him, her eyes still closed and her heart beating frantically against his chest. He sighed and stroked her sleek black hair, paying close attention to the lilac streak down one side. She felt so small in his arms as she shook against him, her fear still palpable. He wrapped his crimson wings around her and held her closer, wanting to reassure both her and himself that she was fine now. He would never let anything bad happen to her.
He would sooner die than let that happen.
He frowned. All this time he had been intent on living and never dying so he couldn’t be dragged back into the game through rebirth as a guardian angel. Now he would let that happen if Erin was in danger. He would die to protect her.
“You okay?” he whispered down at her and she nodded and finally lifted her head. Her amber eyes met his and he was glad that the touch of fear that had been in them was gone. He smiled. “So you want to tell me what the fuck you’re all doing down here? I take it this visit isn’t because you all missed us so much and can’t live without us?”
Marcus landed hard beside him, almost dropping Einar. The fallen hunter angel straightened himself out and then wrapped Taylor in his thickly muscled arms.
Marcus frowned, his pale blue eyes intense and hard. “I second that question. What are you doing here, Amelia?”
Amelia looked down at her feet and her wings shrank into her back and disappeared. Veiron focused so his disappeared too. His black t-shirt hung in tatters on his back so he removed it and tossed it onto the ground.
“I had a vision,” Erin said and his attention was immediately with her. The fear was back in her beautiful eyes. She pressed her hands against his bare chest and he felt her shaking. “The Devil killed you all. Apollyon came to help us get down here and get you out before anything happened.”
“Apollyon?” Marcus said on a growl. “Where is he now?”
“He was supposed to come with us but that guardian angel attacked before we could all come down. He’s still up there fighting him. We have to go now.”
Veiron stroked her cheek. “We’ll go, and when we get topside I will kick that angel’s arse so he never bothers you again.”
She smiled shakily. “Sounds good to me.”
“Change of plans?” Einar said and Veiron nodded. As much as he wanted to see what his future held in store for him and discover more about Erin’s powers, he needed to get the women out of Hell and back to safety, and ensure that Erin’s so-called guardian angel stopped coming after her.
“We use the pathway that Apollyon opened. All agreed, raise your hand and let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Marcus actually raised his hand and then scowled at everyone when no one else did. Veiron stifled his laughter. Trust Marc
us to think he was talking literally. The former angel still had a lot to learn about the world and mortal turns of phrase.
“I’ll take Erin. Amelia takes Taylor and Marcus takes Einar.” Veiron stooped, grabbed Erin’s bottom, and lifted her. She wrapped her legs around his waist and looped her arms around his neck. She felt so good against him. He was never getting tired of carrying her. His wings grew from his back and he flapped them to get all the feathers into line. “Let’s go.”
Before he could lift off, the rift above them began to shrink and heal.
That wasn’t good.
Einar exhaled a black curse. Veiron looked across at him where he stood in front of Marcus, ready to agree with him, but he wasn’t looking at the ceiling and the closing gate to the mortal realm. He was looking towards the edge of the plateau where it dropped into the bottomless pit.
The low thunderous hum of hundreds of wings filled the air.
Veiron turned slowly and swallowed.
A legion of Hell’s angels approached and the nearest escape route had just closed. He couldn’t create portals large enough for all of them and the gate they had entered through was too far away even by flight. The angels would be upon them before they reached it.
This really wasn’t good.
CHAPTER 25
Erin couldn’t keep up with the insanity erupting around her. Her heart beat like a jackhammer against her chest, thundering so hard it felt as though it would either break through her ribs or stop. Veiron dragged her with him as he ducked and wove through the battle, one hand on his spear and the other clutching her wrist. He shoved her behind him whenever they came under attack, shielding her with his body as he fought his own kind.
Her amber eyes wildly searched the fight, scouring the chaos for her sister. She spotted Amelia hovering above it all over fifty metres away, unleashing bright blue orbs of power at any Hell’s angel who came too close. Marcus had her back, fending off all who tried to attack her from behind.
Her Demonic Angel (Her Angel Romance Series Book 5) Page 25
