“Gabe, please.”
His eyes flickered to mine and then stared resolutely at the thick red and black carpet under our feet. “He’s right. I’m sorry.”
Adam followed him out the door and turned to shrug his shoulders at me. I nearly screamed as he closed the door behind him. They were shutting me out. Again. It was Adam’s idea to go out there tonight, and he wasn’t being punished.
Turning back to the drawings on the armoire, I stared at Gabe’s sketches of me. My hands itched to tear them down and rip them into a million little pieces, but I couldn’t. They weren’t mine to destroy.
“Keep your pretty pictures,” I whispered, snatching my bloody shirt off the ground where Gabe had thrown it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
They put me on total lockdown for two weeks. No trips to town and no midnight walks in the forest. Everywhere I went, my movements were monitored. If I went to the stables, someone trailed me. If I didn’t show up at dinner, someone would come barging in my room two minutes later. Even though Ashley had been released from the infirmary a week ago, just as haughty and annoying as ever, they were still punishing me. The manor was beginning to feel more like a prison than a home.
Since the embarrassing night in Gabe’s room, I’d refused to train with him. I didn’t need someone who thought I couldn’t handle a strategy meeting as a partner. So instead, I joined Raquel’s training class under Eric Lutz and immersed myself in learning demon lore and defense. Gabe could give me all the hurt looks he wanted from across the room, but I wasn’t giving in anytime soon.
By the thirteenth day of my prison sentence, the manor began to feel stuffy. I excused myself from dinner that night and went outside, breathing in the cool air of the evening. The sun was still setting over the trees, casting long shadows on the green lawn.
A few steps behind me, my customary guard tailed me. Adam was on tonight’s Lizzy-watch. It was laughable that the same guy who’d helped me escape last time was now responsible for keeping me in. Despite the irony of it, Adam wouldn’t crack when I tried to get him to leave me alone. So, I was stuck with him for the time being.
I wandered up to the stables and entered the quiet barn. All the horses were in their stalls for the night. Reba greeted me with a snort and lowered her head for the carrot I brought. The only good thing this past two weeks had been my time with her. We rode together at least once every day. It was the only feeling of freedom I got.
“I heard you have quite the knack for throwing knives. Eric told me he’s impressed by your skills.”
I turned to see Gabe entering the stables, his sword strapped to his back. He paused at Clint’s stall and gave the black horse a pat on the nose.
“Where’s Adam?” I frowned and put my hands on my hips.
He nodded his head at the door. “I relieved him from duty. We just got back from a patrol and I thought I’d come see you.”
I raised my eyebrows and then slowly turned away to face Reba. A voice inside told me I was being stupid and stubborn and possibly ruining everything between us. But the monster that reared its head told me to make Gabe pay for being a part of the plan to keep me hostage. That, and I couldn’t quite forgive him for treating me the way he did after Luke and Adam caught us on his bed.
“I know you’re still angry.”
Gabe’s voice came a short distance behind me. I had to fight back the sudden wish to rush into his arms. That desire was doused by flashbacks of two weeks ago and his cold treatment of me. Never again.
As if he could read my mind, he sighed. “And I’m sorry for being a total idiot that night. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. With Luke standing there, I just got so…”
“So what?” I spun to face him, heat building in my cheeks. “Embarrassed? Ashamed? Regretful? What exactly were you going to say?”
He clamped his mouth shut, the muscles flexing in his jaw. I waved a hand in dismissal and turned back to Reba, whose nose searched my hand for another treat.
I wasn’t being fair to him. If he didn’t want to be with me, I should just get over it. Twice now, I’d been rejected by him. It was more than clear. Gabe and I didn’t belong together. Not as partners and not as… lovers? The word seemed so old and out of place. Either way, we didn’t belong and I needed to get over it before it ruined our friendship.
“Let’s not do this anymore,” I said with a sigh. “I’m tired of feeling angry. I just wish everyone would stop treating me like a porcelain doll and let me know what’s going on out there. Luke won’t say anything during our meetings, and everyone else dodges my questions. I have a right to know.”
The skin on my arm tingled as he stepped beside me and put a hand on Reba’s forehead.
“Luke just wants to keep you safe. He’s already lost his wife. He doesn’t want to lose you, too.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of the hay that lined the floor of Reba’s stall. My daily meetings with Luke had been amazing. Little by little, we were breaking down the walls that twenty-one years of separation had put between us. I even managed to ask him the other day if I looked like my mother. His eyes had gone all misty and he nodded his head, telling me that I had her perfect nose and her facial expressions.
“I know, and I don’t want to lose him either.” Opening my eyes, I turned to Gabe. “But that demon is after me. I’m a part of this, whether you guys like it or not. How would you like to be kept in the dark?”
He sighed and pursed his lips. “Are you sure that’s what you want? Sometimes it’s less painful to remain in the dark.”
His foreboding tone made me pause for the smallest of seconds. But my curiosity, as usual, got the better of me. “Yes, I’m sure. Tell me what’s going on out there.”
He took my hand and pulled me toward the door. “Luke’s going to kill me,” he grumbled.
We walked north of the stables and arena and into the forest. It was dark, the thick pine needles blocking out most of the sunset. Gabe didn’t release my hand, but pulled me along until we were about a hundred yards away from the stables.
“What are you showing me?” I asked. Being this far from the manor without a weapon made me nervous. Margaret Thatcher could attack any minute.
“Don’t worry, we’re still in the boundaries of the manor’s protection,” Gabe said, as if he could sense my insecurity. “But, you have to see what’s waiting for you outside the circle.”
We stopped next to a rock jutting from the ground. I looked around, but there was nothing in the forest that looked off. Just trees, rocks, and ground.
“I don’t see…” my voice cut off as they began to show themselves. Six people hiding in the shadows of the trees. They moved toward us, stopping just short of the rock.
My eyes were drawn immediately to a petite one with long graying hair and a mousy little nose. With a gasp, I realized it was Elder Sarah. The goddess hadn’t killed her. She was standing right in front of me, as alive as ever. I nearly ran to her, but Gabe pulled me back.
“It’s not them.” He held tight to my arm. “They’re possessed by deceivers.”
I stopped fighting him and stared at the woman. It looked like Sarah. Her spine curved a little, giving her a bit of a hunched back. I’d seen her wear that ill-fitting floral patterned dress more times than I could count. Deep brown irises gazed at me through her heavily lidded eyes. Her movements were jerkier, like an insect. She cocked her gray head and fixed me with a wide-eyed stare that sent shivers down my spine.
“Hello, Lizzy.” Her squeaky voice was familiar, yet there was an icy chill underneath it. “Come home with me. Granny misses you.”
“Let her go, demon!” I yelled.
Gabe restrained me as I tried to lunge forward. This wasn’t fair. Elder Sarah may have been one of the women who decided to burn me to death, but she didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve to be a host to a demon parasite that infiltrated her body with an evil that oozed through her every pore. As I fought against Gabe’s
arms, Sarah threw back her head and laughed.
Every winter’s solstice, Sarah had been the one that insisted on throwing a town celebration. Even when Granny grumbled at the expense, Sarah had refused to let the tradition die. Holiday lights, wreaths, and presents were her specialties. She’d made sure every child got a homemade scarf from her very own knitting needles. It hadn’t meant much then, but now, watching her shell of a body inhabited by an evil spirit, I wanted to turn back time and relive those special moments in Hanna.
The fight went out of my body. What could I do? That demon would hold on to Sarah until it died and went back to Hell.
“I don’t understand.” I turned to Gabe. “How is this happening?”
He gave me a sympathetic frown. “The goddess has been recruiting demons to her efforts. It started three weeks ago. We’ve never seen so many deceivers slip through the Hell Gate at one time. They’re infecting tourists and locals, and sending them here to attack our patrols. We’ve no other choice but to cut them down.”
The loss of so many innocent lives nearly brought me to my knees. There was no way they’d be able to survive a fight with the Nephilim.
I pressed a hand to my chest and sucked in a breath. “She’s killing innocents to force you to give me up, isn’t she?”
Gabe nodded with a solemn frown. “That’s why Luke didn’t want you in those meetings. He knew it would kill you to find out.”
“And what about you?” Gabe had been keeping it a secret from me too, but here he was, breaking the silence out of the blue. “Why did you tell me all this?”
He bit his bottom lip and shook his head. “Because we’re partners, and I hate this rift between us. I can’t stand another minute of you looking at me the way you’ve looked at me these past couple weeks. That, and I don’t want you escaping into the woods anytime soon because of your curiosity, and getting into trouble again.”
It was slightly satisfying to know that my silent treatment had paid off, but at the same time I felt a little guilty. Luke and Gabe were just trying to protect me. They knew this massive guilt currently eating away at my stomach would intensify the moment I knew about the humans the goddess was sending to the slaughter. They were right.
I looked back at the humans still standing partly in the shadow of the pines. It was then that I realized I knew two more of them. Dirk and Stephen were there, too, in their customary cut off flannels and jeans. Dirk tilted his head and licked his lips when we locked eyes. The memory of his hands groping my body played in my head. I couldn’t help grimacing.
Gabe grabbed my shoulder. “What? What’s wrong?”
“Remember that giant bruise I got on my face when you were healing in the shack?”
He nodded.
“Those are the jerks responsible.” I pointed Stephen and Dirk out to him.
He reached for his sword and stepped forward with anger burning in his eyes.
“Those are two humans I’d be happy to dispatch.”
I pulled on his arm to stop him. There were still four other humans out there, and I didn’t want Sarah hurt if I could help it. This wasn’t the time or place.
“Not tonight.”
Dropping the sword back into the sheath, he grabbed my hand again.
“Tell me I did the right thing, showing you this. And tell me you won’t do anything stupid.”
I smiled at him. That wasn’t a promise I could make, especially now that I knew the body count was stacking so high. But, if there was one thing I’d learned living with Granny, it was that I could lie through my teeth.
“You did the right thing, Gabe. Thank you.”
His green eyes shone with hope, which made it even harder to keep my face from giving me away.
“Answer just one more question for me,” I said as we turned toward the manor. “Why me? Does a human sacrifice really give her so much power?”
He groaned and ran a hand over his head. “I was really hoping you wouldn’t ask me that…”
I stopped walking and tilted my head at him. “Why?”
“Because that’s the part I didn’t want to tell you.”
He’d already started confessing, he might as well get it all over with. “What is it?”
Heavy silence accompanied us for a few moments while he gathered his thoughts. Although I wanted to press him for answers, I waited patiently. He’d have to tell me everything eventually.
“Luke’s been doing some research.” He stopped to pull a foxtail from the overgrown weeds by the stables, and slowly chewed on the stalk before continuing. “He thinks that Margaret Thatcher is getting a little too uncomfortable for the demon. It’s impossible for her to possess you, because you’re Nephilim. And demons can’t just jump bodies at random.”
I nodded along. It all made sense. Margaret’s body hardly looked human anymore. She could hardly enter civilization, the way she looked now.
Gabe spit out the foxtail with a sour look and gazed at the ground, shuffling his feet. “So, he thinks the goddess is planning to rejuvenate her human host with your sacrificial blood.”
That sounded like your basic late night horror movie plot to me.
“Basically, she drains me like a vampire?”
“Yes…” He frowned at me, the muscles in his jaw tense.
This was the same plot line I’d heard over and over. The demon would kill me. It didn’t seem that shocking, but I could tell he didn’t want to tell me something.
“What aren’t you saying?”
He ran both his hands roughly through his hair and turned away. I wanted to wrap my arms around his torso to comfort him, but I stuck my thumbs in my pockets to keep them still.
“The blood fix is only temporary.” He sighed. “A year at best, if she drained you completely. She’d have to keep you alive to rejuvenate herself each year.”
“Are you saying…?”
The only thing worse than being a host to a demon, was being a literal blood bag to a filthy rotten deceiver that thrived on blood and violence. Margaret Thatcher’s demon had avoided the Nephilim for centuries. She could easily hide me away in some Black Hills cave to use as her fountain of youth. And with my newly extended life period, she could torture me for centuries. No quick death for me.
I wanted to throw up the few bites of dinner I’d managed to get down. Stumbling to the side of the stables, I held on to the rough wooden panels as the world spun around me.
Gabe pulled me into a tight embrace, his arms circling my back and keeping me from collapsing. The smell of sweat and soap filled my nose as I pressed my face into his chest. His hands ran over my hair, much like the way I’d comforted him when he was sick in the shack.
The hardest part about being in his arms was knowing that he simply thought I was overwhelmed with panic. That the idea of the goddess slowly draining my blood had turned me into this weepy young woman. But that wasn’t all that made me tremble.
I’d already made up my mind. Tonight, the goddess and I would meet one last time and end this bloodshed. Either I’d kill her or she’d take me. It was as simple as that.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Staring at the ceiling above my bed, I listed all the reasons I shouldn’t move ahead with my insane plan to confront the goddess myself.
One – I didn’t want to be a demon’s dinner for the next millennium. There was a pretty good chance I’d lose, and she’d take me to a place no one would ever find.
Two – I’d just found my long lost father, and it would kill him to lose me again.
And three – Gabe.
Despite the anger I’d felt toward him these past couple of weeks, he was still everything to me. If I closed my eyes, I could still taste him on my lips, and feel his hands as they roamed my body. I didn’t want to leave him.
Raquel’s soft snores from across the room brought an unexpected smile from me. There were a thousand reasons for me to go through with the plan, and that also included Gabe, Luke, and Raquel. If I did this, it ensured their
safety.
Even if I didn’t kill her, the demon would be satisfied with having me, and retreat back to its home in the Black Hills where it had survived for hundreds of years. No more innocent humans will be killed because of me. The Nephilim hadn’t been able to kill the goddess for so long. There was no reason to think they could do it now.
So, it was all up to me.
Sliding out of bed and padding across the floor, I pulled on some clothes and a pair of boots. It was super early in the morning. Too early for my guard to be on alert. I could get into the woods before anyone even realized I was gone.
Buried deep in my armoire was the silver dagger I’d stolen from the weapons storage last night. It was a match in every way to Gabe’s dagger, which I’d taken from him the day I helped him in the forest. I didn’t dare take any of the other weapons. My skills weren’t that advanced yet and the more I stole, the more likely I’d get caught. I stuffed the single dagger in my back pocket and prayed that it would be enough. One stab to the heart, and the goddess would be no more.
Sure enough, no one stopped me at the edge of the lawn. I wasn’t sure where I would meet the goddess, but my feet carried me forward like they knew instinctively where to go. There was a thread that pulled at my insides, a feeling that I’d had all my life, but never realized until now. The Hell Gate was where the demon would find me. That’s where we’d end this thing.
As I walked through the thick ponderosa pine, I saw movement out of the corner of my eyes. The deceivers were watching me, tracking my every move. They flitted between trees with unimaginable speed, never pausing long enough for me to get a good look at them. They didn’t bother me as I trekked further into the forest.
It seemed like only seconds later and I was nearing my destination. The forest floor had become rockier and the trees sparse. Stepping past a large boulder, I feasted my eyes on what I knew was the Hell Gate. A gaping hole in the Earth’s crust sat before me. Rock and dirt made up the walls of the hole and descended at least twenty feet before leading to a dark cave. Light didn’t dare enter its yawning darkness. It was a carnivorous black mouth full of stalactite teeth that led to hell. Evil emanated from the dark like stink from a rotten corpse.
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