Unchained Desire

by R. C. Alvarez

  Kyria spun around and swiped at the empty air with shaky hands. At first, she hadn’t recognized Ram with the long blond hair. She had to reach him, give him her blood, then he’d have his wings back.

  “He didn’t want you. You were just a plaything to pass the time with. Oh, and I’m sure your blood was a bonus.”

  “Shut up.” Ram threw his body forward.

  “Ram, you do like it rough, right? Did she live up to your standards in bed?”

  Kyria spun around. But the demon wasn’t there any longer.

  “He needs a stronger woman. Someone who can take him hard and tame him.” Dark laughter echoed all around them as the fire light from the torches flickered. “You’re weak. That’s why he left. He took what he wanted and fled as fast as he could. Just like all the other mud monkeys he feeds from.”

  A flash of something ugly reared its head inside Kyria. An anger so deep it scared her, but she hung on to it. Panting, she turned in circles, trying to find where the bitch was hiding herself.

  From the darkness, Nema’s cold hands cupped Kyria’s face with a strange tenderness and turned her head so she could examine it. “I’m the demon who owned Ramiel for one hundred and fifty years. Treated him. Fed from him. Not you.”

  “Shut up.” Without thinking, Kyria dropped her dagger and reached into her jacket with a free hand. Whipping out a gun, she pushed the muzzle against Nema’s stomach. She didn’t pause to consider what might happen, or hesitate with any shred of compassion. She pulled the trigger. The shot rang loud in her ears. The bullet blasted right through the demon, shattering one of the ice tubes and spilling its gruesome contents.

  Nema staggered back, a hand to her waist. Oozing black blood, she laughed, “Is that it? Oh Kyria. So violent, there might be hope for you yet.” Nema waved her hand, causing Kyria’s gun to fly out of her grip.

  “But first you need to admit you’re nothing but a weak little mouse, dependent on others. Always doing what daddy says. You should have stayed with me. I would have taught you so much. Together, we can be true greatness. You have the juice to give an archangel his wings back. I would be unstoppable with your blood…”

  Flashing closer, Nema grabbed a handful of Kyria’s hair, giving a good, hard twist while pulling her head back. “You’re fighting the wrong person, sweetie. Join me,” the words came out as a hiss.

  Kyria flinched. The physical pain to her scalp drove her to slash her palmed dagger in the demon’s direction. Satisfaction swelled when metal met flesh. The salt of her blade sizzled across the wound.

  The monster screamed, and a surge of power blasted Kyria, who managed to catch herself against the morbid throne, watching Nema from the distance.

  “I’d never work with you. I only fight for family,” she spat.

  Laughing, Nema came at her again. Her words were dark and haunting. “Family? How ironic.” Her arm oozed from the cut Kyria had given her. A rotten smell filled the chamber. Kyria gagged. “Don’t fight me, darling. We can be stronger together. You were created to help me escape Hell. So we could rule Earth together. My blood runs through you.” She smiled. Kyria’s skin crawled at the evilness of that smirk. “You are my daughter, after all. We are true family.”

  Kyria went still except the rise and fall of her chest as she tried to catch her breath. “No. My mom died. She was murdered. She was murdered by demons like you.” She lunged with the dagger.

  “Oh, is that what he told you?” The blond monster turned to smoke again, manifesting behind Kyria to shove her to the ground. “Silly Darius, lying to our daughter. Lies never help at all. I always tell the truth.”

  Ram pulled on his chains, causing skin to bubble and bleed. “Leave her alone. You made a pact.” The ice all around them trembled.

  “I vowed to not seek her out. This, my dear, sweet angel, is fate.” Nema walked to her throne, unfazed. “Don’t you wanna hear the truth for once, Kyria?”

  “Not from you.” This didn’t change anything, it couldn’t. Stop wasting time with her. With Nema’s back turned, she could reach Ram and feed him her blood. With his wings, they could take the bitch.

  She couldn’t listen to her. Her blood pounded in her ears. Ram did not want to be here. He didn’t.

  “Daddy’s been lying to you your whole life, hasn’t he? I wanted you, and he stole you and ran away. No one cared that I was a grieving mother, no milk cartons for me.”

  Rushing to Ram, Kyria halted halfway. He was gone. No. No. No. No.

  The room changed. Biting back a scream, she spun around, expecting to see the throne, but there was a dark crib in the middle of the frozen room.

  Her breath clouded in front of her as she moved closer. Then a figure entered, looming over the crib. She joined it, looking in. Wrapped in blankets with golden flecked eyes, a redheaded baby reached up for the mysterious stranger.

  It was Nema over the crib, singing a lullaby to the child. Kyria jerked back, stuttering in confusion. “This…it’s a lie. A hallucination.” She spun around and bumped into Nema.

  “No. It’s a memory. And you know it. Deep down, you can feel it. You remember.”

  Her eyes, black and wicked and cold, told the truth. The truth of all her father’s lies. Kyria turned away and clung to the only weapon she had left, pressing her fist and the hilt of the dagger to her pounding head.

  The woman in the vision rocked the baby. A man, her father, crept out of the darkness and slit the woman’s throat. Laughing, he grabbed the baby and left.

  “He tried to kill me, but he wasn’t strong enough. The only thing he managed to do was steal my most precious treasure. You, my daughter.”

  As the walls shifted her world fell out from under her. There was no loving mother named Nancy who had sacrificed her life for her baby daughter. There was no pendant of love and motherly protection. Kyria was a demon spawn.

  “Oh God.”

  Nema’s laughter echoed off the walls. “They all left you, didn’t they, Kyria? They took you away from me. And then they abandoned you to this fate.”

  “No…” Kyria spun around. They were in the throne room again, and the demon that claimed to be her mother stood next to Ram. Hatred and disgust burned in his eyes.

  There was no way.

  “Come with me, Kyria. I’ll show you the way. The truth. They’ll never lie to you again. You’ll finally have a mother, and I will have my daughter to rule with me.”

  Kyria grimaced as the pounding in her head grew worse, an insurmountable pressure building up inside.

  Nema hustled closer, reeking and invading her space, enveloping her in darkness. “Join me. We’ll make them pay for hurting us. Embrace the rage, Kyria. Open up and let it free. Join me, and we will have the greatness fate intended.” Then she sliced Ram’s arm and, without breaking eye contact with Kyria, drank the blood that spilled free.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Something hard and cold shattered inside Kyria. A million sharp pieces broke free in a rush of violence as she flew at Nema. Her wings surged forth from her back with a blast of energy she didn’t know she had.

  Her soul screamed. Her whole body burned and ached. With the need to kill, she targeted the demon. Nema caused all this pain.

  A power kept hidden made her faster than before. Nema couldn’t avoid the salted dagger this time. Kyria stabbed the demon in the throat, embedding the blade deep with a force that knocked Nema onto her back. Kyria let out another cry of rage as she twisted the knife and carved it down the demon’s screaming body, opening up her sternum. She couldn’t stop.

  She didn’t want to.

  Nema’s flawless skin disappeared and short tentacles were released, wiggling over raw tissue and bones. Taking on a life of their own, they reached out to her. This monster gave birth to me. The demon that had imprisoned and tortured Ramiel. And her father.

  This could not be her mother.

  She stabbed again. And again. And again. A sizzling ooze and spray of black tissue ate away the last rema
ining pieces of Nema’s luster and shine.

  The mystical mask Nema wore completely dissolved. Kyria’s wrath turned to horror. This wasn’t her. She was neither blood thirsty, nor vengeful. But now she was covered in the proof of her own rage.

  “Oh God.” She stared down at the writhing monster beneath her. She had been told her mother was a self-sacrificing woman named Nancy. Now she was faced with the reality that this thing was her mother. Where had all this rage and violence come from? Kyria tried not to gag again as she scrambled away on all fours.

  The ice walls of the throne room shifted and moved again, appearing and disappearing from the depths of the great abyss. She lost her balance and slid to the edge of the floor as parts of it split and fell away. Just below, she caught a glimpse of a level of Hell she’d never read about in Val’s books, a deep black emptiness.

  “Oh look. The walls are crumbling down, down, down.” Is that Bishop’s voice?

  Kyria got to her feet. “Hang on.” She pushed herself with all she had to run toward Ram, but Tamiel was there, working to free him from the wall. The others were there, too, even Bishop, fighting off four-legged beasts and crawling creatures.

  “No. Oh noooo.” Nema’s limbs extended, her neck stretched out, and her face became a snarling snout of dripping fangs and forked tongues. “I will always win, you little whore.” She cackled as she lunged at Kyria’s ankles, tripping her up.

  No, get up. I have to reach him.

  “Stop fighting and go to the ranch. She can’t touch you there.” Ramiel yelled at her.

  “No. I’m taking you home.” It would be too late by the time Tam managed to break all the enchantments on Ram’s restraints. She only just managed to tear a spike out of his wrist.

  Twisting her body, Kyria stabbed the tentacle attached to her ankle and freed herself. She scrambled to her feet and ran as Nema writhed in pain from the purified blade.

  When she reached Ram, she bit into her wrist and pressed the fresh wound to his mouth. “Drink. Now.” Last time he drank her blood, it freed him. Returned his powers and his wings. We can do it again. I can’t lose him. Tears now ran down her face.

  He twisted his head away. “This banishment ritual won’t work if I don’t sacrifice myself. You need to leave.”

  Dread sapped heat from her limbs. He’s going to sacrifice himself?

  “I told you not to do this.” Tammy pulled at the stubborn spikes holding him to the wall.

  Kyria grabbed his face, her blood staining them both. She didn’t care.

  “Ram, what are you thinking?” You can’t leave me. Not like this.

  He ignored her, focusing on Tammy. “We both know it’s the only way.”

  The ground shook, and Ram slapped his free hand over his sternum, voice deepening as he began to recite Enochian phrases. A dim light glowed from the center of his chest. The floor cracked, ice groaning like a sleeping giant woken from its deep sleep.

  “Wait.” She grabbed his arm, digging her fingertips into his skin. “What are you doing?”

  Each chant grew louder and fiercer as he glared at the thrashing mass Nema had become.

  “Stop that.” Nema scuttled up the walls and screeched in an unholy mass of rotten body parts. Extra appendages appeared, slithering out of the demon’s crooked back, seeking a way to escape.

  The chanting ceased. Determined to escape this hell hole, Kyria pulled at Ram. “Let’s go. Now.”

  Without saying a word, he looked past her to the other angel.

  Tammy nodded and flared her wings, throwing herself at the demon. Nema dodged, crawling toward Ram and Kyria. No! Kyria moved without strategizing, meeting Nema halfway in a burst of inhuman speed fueled by a desperate need to protect what was hers.

  They collided, her dagger buried in the back of Nema’s neck. One hard yank down ripped the demon’s back wide open. “I won’t. Let you. Have him.”

  Blood spewed everywhere, black and red. Oh God, the smell. A few of the demon’s coils of dark energy slammed into Kyria and sent her sliding across the ice floor.

  Ram’s voice picked up again, angry, echoing louder throughout the chamber. The temperature in the room changed. Steam rolled off his broad, broken shoulders.

  Nema screamed and turned, looking like she wanted to jump to the ice stiletto hanging from the ceiling.

  Now was the time to run. Ram grabbed her with his free arm, and for a minute pulled her close. “I’m sorry.” Then with one heave, he shoved her across the room toward the doors. “Go. Now.”

  Idiot! She wasn’t leaving without him.

  Get up. Save him before he does something stupid. But something held her down.

  His light grew as he recited faster. Words that Kyria had only read about, except different. More powerful.

  The ground cracked again. It splintered in different directions, the fractures running up the walls of ice. Shards and chunks fell around them.

  Nema roared and raced to him. The mass of tentacles and claws tore at him, trying to stop Ramiel from doing what he was striving to do.

  The demon’s hoarse voice rang out in frantic protest. “No no no no no. Stop it. Stop what you’re doing.”

  She ripped him apart, tearing flesh and cracking open his rib cage to stop the light that was burning her even as she attacked.

  Kyria screamed and fought as she was dragged away by Daniel. God, somebody save him. He’s dying!

  Ram did nothing but chant, lost in his spell as his flesh was torn from his muscle and bones. His blood took on a life of its own, steaming as hotly as his glowing body. It ran against the wall and trailed across the cold floor, cutting a deep path in the ice. It quickly carved angelic runes and perfect circles before it crept toward the throne.

  A warm wind whipped around the room. Silence filled the chamber for the few seconds it took for Ram’s enchantment to seal itself in a suction of air that pulled at her lungs.

  They caught sight of each other. In a dangling desperate moment of connection, he became her anchor.

  He’s really doing this. Sacrificing himself. Hot tears streamed down her face. I have to do something…

  She couldn’t stand. But I don’t need to. She channeled all the simmering anger, fear, and anguish into her magic.

  Power surged through her as she fought to move. She feared it wasn’t enough. He had given her life, and now he was forcing her to watch him die.

  She belonged at his side. Even if it meant going to the void with him. She was his.

  Hands outstretched, Kyria flung herself forward against the arms that held her. Her light reached for him, gracing his battered body one last time.

  If she could just reach him—power surged through her in one last attempt—she could heal him.

  His chanting ended. Oh no. “No! Ramiel!”

  Nema switched gears and tried to escape the wind tunnel of powerful magic he created with his ritual.

  But Ram had a hold on her. Carved into the front of his throat was a sigil not unlike Tamiel’s work. The light glowing from it grew until it encompassed him. And the demon.

  Nema screamed one last time. The powerful wind coming from the chair of bones sucked Ramiel’s light in, pulling at the demon in the process, bit by bit. Her ugly screech twisted and funneled into a small shriek as the light tore her apart the way she tore into Ramiel.

  It took her away, every single piece of her drawn into her own throne until it trapped her corrupted essence within the skulls she once sat on. Skulls couldn’t smile without lips, but they almost appeared to laugh in childish delight.

  Then the throne fell over the edge, plummeting into the pit below as the crack in the frozen ground grew wider.

  Ramiel! He’s free now. His blood swirled around him and the ice behind him cracked. The other walls continued to collapse, chunks of the ceiling crashing down. The room trembled and crumbled into the dark void where the throne disappeared.

  Why is he smiling at me? He’s going to fall.

  She lunged
after Ram, but arms pulled her back again. Dan and Tammy stood on each side of her like prison guards. “Let me get him.”

  A deep rumble rattled her bones and the ground tilted. Ramiel closed his eyes. He’s slipping away, fading. That gaping wreckage of his chest cavity was too much.

  And then the wall Ram was chained to began to slide away, down into the empty chasm.

  A scream ripped from her throat as she pulled against those restraining her. The mark on the back of her neck burned. Every fiber of her being reached for him, desperate to touch him, to connect one last time.

  She gathered all the magic she’d been building up and threw it outward. Take my light, Ram. Live!

  But it didn’t help. He slipped from view, swallowed by the darkness. Her archangel, her fated, so rough with others but tender and vulnerable for her. The man who protected her from demons and bought her silly crystal trinkets…gone.

  NO. She fought, a deafening rush of blood blocking her own screams from her ears.

  With a small burst of power, someone blasted a few razor shards of ice that would have fallen on the group.

  Kyria anchored herself, too stubborn to move. “We can’t go without Ram.” She turned to Bishop. Her last hope. “Help me.”

  He took her face in his hands. Sound returned, but it was only his voice in a ringing silence. “You already saved him, Kyria. Like I said you would.” He was calm and steady as the room fell apart around them. “He accepted your love. So, he sacrificed himself. I can’t refund this one. No rewinds. He did it for you.”

  “No…I’m not leaving him here alone.”

  Bishop grabbed her upper arms. Worlds collided in his eyes. With a firm hold, his hands tightened. “Don’t let it be in vain.”

  She opened her mouth to protest again, but the room roared. Everything shattered.

  The angels shouted, and Bishop wrapped himself around her. Darkness smothered what was left of the icy chamber as he flashed her away against her will.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Days later at the ranch, Kyria stood in Val’s study, surrounded by books. But in her mind, she kept replaying the last image of Ram right before he took a nose dive into the void. The words he chanted, her mark, the charm she wore. There had to be a clue. The panicked need to find her father was nothing compared to the new obsessive drive to retrieve Ram. Bishop was no help at all.