“Why didn’t you express this opinion before?”
“I never believed you would ever consider it. You were always so adamant about defeating Lucifer and returning to Hell. It is your throne.”
“It will be my throne here too.”
“What if the humans object?” she inquired.
“They won’t have any choice as far as I’m concerned.”
Bale’s mouth quirked in a smile. “No, they wouldn’t. We all would return to Hell with you if that was what you decided, but I’d prefer to stay. Hell was the only home we’d ever known for centuries, but I actually like this planet. Our queen is also here, and she’s one of the few humans I actually respect and admire, as do the others.”
A muscle twitched in my jaw as we bounced over another rut in the road. “If I could, I would take her mortality from her now, but I can’t try to do it until this is over. I can’t take the risk she won’t survive it while the gateway is still open.”
“I know.”
I focused on the road again as the headlights bounced over the broken asphalt before us. “We’re getting close to Pearl’s.”
But would it be in time?
***
River
“Come on,” Corson said.
He kept his back against the building as we made our way toward the trailer-less Mac trucks I’d seen parked beside the building when we first arrived. Slipping past the front tires of one, we knelt by the bumper of a large blue truck to survey the parking lot while Erin, Vargas, and Hawk kept an eye on the building behind us.
I could see our white pickup parked about a hundred and fifty feet away. It was so close yet so unbelievably far away. “Are we going to make a run for it?” Vargas inquired.
“They were right behind us inside the building. We might be able to make it,” I said.
“And if they split up before entering the building, or after they entered, and one of them is out front now?” Corson inquired. “Bullets hurt us, but they don’t stop demons, and your abilities are too sporadic to rely on right now.”
“They’ve gotten better,” I reminded him.
“They have, but are you willing to run out there and expose all of us to someone who may be waiting? These aren’t the same as the creatures we’ve seen so far. These are Lucifer’s followers, and if one of them isn’t a lower-level demon, then he has abilities.”
I shuddered at the implication of his words and the calculation our trackers were probably using. One of them would be waiting for us up front somewhere, and I had a feeling I knew who it would be. I felt trapped, pinned to the spot, as I glanced at the door behind us before turning back to look at our pickup again. Why couldn’t I have a vision when I really wanted to have one?
“Do you hear or see anything back there?” I asked.
“No one has come out yet,” Erin replied.
“They won’t be much longer,” Hawk said.
Vargas crept closer to the rest of us. “We can’t continue to sit here.”
“We wait to see who comes out the back,” Corson replied.
“And if they have split up and pin us in between them?” I asked.
“They’ve already pinned us if that’s the case.”
“What if we went around to the back of the building and out the other side of it? We’d have to leave the truck, but it sounds like we may have already been forced to abandon it.” As soon as I said this, my fingers curled with the compulsion to wrap them around the angel I’d left on the dashboard of the truck.
No such thing as a good luck charm.
Maybe not, but I wanted it back.
“We won’t have enough time to get by the door before they come out,” Corson said.
“We could get in one of these trucks and wait for them to come by,” Hawk suggested.
Corson’s head tipped back as he studied the doors above our heads. “Do it. You two, get in that one,” he pointed to Hawk and Erin before pointing at the blue truck to our left. “You get in that one,” he said to Vargas and pointed to the red one on our right. Finally, he turned to me. “You, come with me.”
The three of them rose and cautiously pulled open the doors of the trucks. Hawk waited for Erin to climb in before following behind her. Vargas didn’t bother with the door, but climbed up the side of the wheel well and in through the open passenger window. I followed Corson around the front of the red truck and over to a black one. Rising up, Corson slid his hand under the handle and cautiously pulled open the passenger side door before stepping aside and waving his hand for me to enter.
I scrambled inside. He climbed in behind me and noiselessly closed the door. “Stay down.”
He gestured for me to sit back so he could move in front of me on the bench seat to the driver’s side. Lying down, he tilted his head so he could watch the driver’s side mirror. I pushed my back against the seat and turned so I’d be able to see out the passenger mirror.
From my angle in the mirror, I saw more of the other trucks in the alley than anything else. I couldn’t see the door into the garage bay, but I could see enough of the alley that I would spot the demons when they were twenty feet away from the truck.
My heart pounded against my ribs, and sweat trickled down my forehead and temple. I steadied the tremor in my hand when I held my gun against my chest. I felt like I’d turned into a piece of stone as all of my muscles froze, and I barely breathed while time seemed to stretch on endlessly.
The interior of the truck reeked of mildew and something feral, probably mice or some other wild creature that had made this truck its home. Cracks lined the seat beneath me and springs jabbed me in my back and ass. Tufts of yellow cushion poked through the pieces of vinyl seating, which had been chewed off completely in some places. Light from the front of the building dimly illuminated the dashboard.
Something squeaked beneath the truck, causing Corson’s head to snap around and adrenaline to rush through me. When another squeal sounded, Corson relaxed and my shoulders sagged at the realization it was some animal making its way through the night. I lifted my head a little over the top of the dashboard, but I saw no shadows or movement on the brightly lit pavement in front of me.
Corson grasped my arm and jerked me down. He pointed at his ear before laying further down in his seat once more. My attention returned to the mirror as the first boot and pant leg stepped into view. I tensed and gritted my teeth together.
Another leg materialized and then a third and fourth, only two demons. I glanced at Corson, reading the truth in his eyes. The other one, and I knew it was Handsome, was at the front of the building, waiting for us.
The demons didn’t speak as they moved past my line of vision in the mirror, but stone crunched beneath their boots when they stopped beside the truck. I could almost feel them through the metal separating us, standing there, searching the night.
My lungs burned, but I refused to so much as breathe while I waited to see what they would do.
Then I heard the stone crunch again as their steps continued on. I didn’t kid myself into believing they would leave or think we’d somehow managed to escape them. No, they would be coming back and there was only one place for them to look when they did.
CHAPTER 23
Kobal
I stepped out of the truck to survey the wreckage blocking the middle of the road. Four vehicles had tumbled across the roadway and crashed into each other between the rock wall and the guardrail lining the other side of the road.
“They would have come this way,” I said as I stepped away from the driver’s side door. “Pearl’s is five miles straight ahead.”
“They may have doubled back,” Bale suggested, but I heard the tone of disbelief in her voice.
“This was recent,” I said.
“How can you tell?” one of the humans inquired.
“Gas is still dripping from that car.” I pointed at the side of the small, overturned, red car and the bead of gas forming at the bottom of the gas tank. “This was
n’t an accident. These cars were purposely put here.”
“Why would someone do that?” Verin inquired.
A cold chill shot through my heart as my fangs burst free. “They know where River is.”
“How could they possibly know that?” Bale asked.
“Ghosts,” Shax sneered.
“Lucifer is behind this,” I said. “He’s sent someone for her.”
“How do you know that?” Shax asked.
I switched into our language to answer him. I didn’t care if it upset the humans not to know what we were speaking about; I didn’t want them to have any information about River that they didn’t need to know. “She connected with Lucifer in that dream she had a while back. He knows she is my Chosen and his progeny. He didn’t know where she was living before, but he would have surmised she is American from speaking with her, and her dialect is of the northeast. He must have sent some of his minions in search of her, and now they know where she is.”
“Shit,” Morax said.
Desperate to get to her, I stormed over to one of the overturned cars. My muscles bulged and sweat beaded my brow as I grasped the roof of the car. With a low growl, I lifted it from the ground and flipped it away. The screeching sound of metal twisting filled the air as the vehicle bounced over the road.
Springs and glass scattered across the road before the car slammed into the guardrail and teetered precariously on its side against the rail. Beneath the weight of the car, the guardrail bowed outward before giving way. The car slid over the side of the embankment.
Turning away, I gripped the front bumper of the other car and bent down to lift it up. My shirt tore across my back as I threw the vehicle aside. More metal screeched and sparked across the asphalt, but I barely noticed it before I turned my attention to removing the truck and finally the SUV from the road.
When I’d cleared the truck out of the way, the broken road lay beyond, stretching endlessly into the night. River was only five miles away, but it felt like hundreds of miles separated us. Running back to the vehicle, I didn’t wait for Bale to get completely inside before stomping on the gas. She cursed loudly and grabbed the door to close it.
“Easy, Kobal, you’re going to break one of the tires off,” she cautioned.
My teeth ground together as the truck bounced over the ruts so hard that my knees hit the wheel and my head bounced off the roof. I didn’t ease off the gas. I couldn’t. We were so close, yet I could feel River slipping away.
She was in danger, and whoever was in pursuit of her now would take her to Lucifer, where he would try to twist her and do things to her that would break her. Or he would kill her outright if he felt she couldn’t be of use to him.
I’d die before I ever let anyone hurt her in such a way.
An unfamiliar emotion swelled within me. It was more than fear, more than desperation and it took me a minute to pinpoint exactly what it was; terror. I’d never experienced it before, not even when Lucifer had nearly killed me all those years ago, had I felt terror. I’d only known anger then and a determination to survive so that I could destroy him.
River was mine to protect and cherish, but I began to realize there was more to what I felt for her than the Chosen bond forged between us. I cared for her, I respected and admired her, and now it sank in that I was also in love with her.
I’d told her that demons loved too, and I had meant it. However, I never thought I’d be talking about myself when I said those words to her. I’d seen the love between Morax and Verin, as well as other demons with their Chosen. I’d witnessed the love of demon parents for their offspring, but I’d never had parents and I’d never been in love, before.
Being bonded to her as my Chosen was one thing, this was something else entirely, something deeper. I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen it sooner, why I hadn’t told her, but I saw it now. Love for her swelled within my chest, clutched at my heart and drove me to push down harder on the gas pedal.
The truck groaned when it left the road and crashed down with enough force to crack something beneath it. “Kobal!” Bale hissed when her head hit the ceiling.
“Hold on!”
I jerked the wheel in order to avoid a hole that would have broken off a tire if we’d been doing ten instead of pushing sixty. None of the other vehicles kept up with our pace, except for the one Shax drove, and he was a good fifty feet behind us. Bale clutched the handle over her head, but she still slammed into the passenger side window so hard the glass fractured beneath the impact of her elbow. She rubbed at her injury while she glowered at me.
We were only two miles from the truck stop when another rut in the road sent us into the air again. Crashing back to the earth, whatever had cracked beneath before, now gave way with a reverberating bang. The entire truck wobbled before the passenger side tire spun away from the vehicle. The truck tilted to the right, the bumper leaning toward the road before plowing into the asphalt.
Sparks flew up against the windshield as the vehicle continued its skid across the pavement. It tore up the roadway and sent chunks of asphalt flying by us before it dug in entirely and the ass end of the truck lifted behind us. I pressed my hands against the roof, bracing myself when I realized the truck was going to flip.
A creaking sound filled the cab as the back wheels rose directly above us so the vehicle stood on its front bumper. The truck hesitated there for a second before going over with a loud squeal. My teeth jarred together from the impact as the truck rolled over. Going over the guardrail, the truck flipped end over end as it plunged down the hillside.
The world became a blur as supplies tumbled out and smashed into the window behind me. The window finally gave way. Glass crashed and bounced around us as it filled the cab. Metal crumpled and broke in a rising cacophony of sound. Packs of food, water, and clothing slipped in from the cab to bash against my side and face as the truck rolled one more time before coming to a stop on the passenger side against a grouping of trees.
The roof all around me was dented in, but my hands had kept the roof directly above me from caving in. My side and jaw throbbed from where debris had pummeled against me. Taking stock of the rest of my body, I realized everything else remained intact.
“Bale?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she muttered, and I spotted her as she pushed herself up from the floor. Blood trickled down her cheek as she glared at me, but I saw no other injuries on her. “Fantastic driving.”
I ignored her as I tore the steering wheel from the column and tossed it aside. Lifting my feet, I drove them into the windshield that had somehow managed to stay intact. The splintered glass shattered beneath my boots. Grasping what remained of the roof, I pulled myself from the wreckage. Once I perched on the dented and torn remains of the hood, I turned to take hold of Bale’s arm to help her out of the demolished vehicle.
She perched beside me, her hair a tangled mess around her as she surveyed the hill we’d crashed down.
“I have to go.” I leapt away from Bale, my feet hitting the soft ground with a thud.
I didn’t look back as I raced up the side of the embankment toward the road. Rage swirled within me as my heart raced. Anyone who dared to touch one hair on River’s head, I’d tear them to shreds and bathe in their blood.
Bale cursed loudly, but I heard her footsteps as she followed me up the hill. Lights from Shax’s vehicle lit the roadway when it came to a stop at the top of the hill just as I burst free of the broken trees the truck had destroyed on its tumble down the hill.
“Stay with the humans!” I barked at him. “Wait for them to catch up!”
Turning, I fled down the road, forcing myself to run faster than I ever had before.
CHAPTER 24
River
“What do we do?” I whispered to Corson.
“You don’t do anything but stay in this truck if they come back. Kobal will have my ass if something happens to you.”
I knew he could feel me staring daggers into his back, but he didn
’t bother to look at me again. I refrained from saying I could take care of myself. It would be pointless; he wouldn’t change his mind.
Corson’s hand stretched out for the handle as Daisy’s upper body materialized through the floor of the truck to her waist. Corson and I recoiled from her. Blood burst into my mouth when I bit my tongue to keep from shrieking. Daisy lowered her lashes, fluttering them in what I took to be an abashed expression, but I thought she was also fighting a giggle.
“Don’t do that!” Corson spat.
“Sorry, I came to warn you they were at the front of the building,” she apologized.
“We know.”
“Thank you, Daisy,” I said and glared at Corson.
He scowled back at me before turning to watch the mirror again. Daisy’s head and torso remained floating half in and half out of the truck. The disconcerting sight gave me the creeps; I wanted to tell her to make it stop and either get in or out, but I couldn’t bring myself to hurt her feelings. We wouldn’t have made it this far without her help, and she had braved the dark to come help us further.
“Can I do something else to help?” she asked.
“You’ve done more than enough,” I assured her.
“Stay in here so they don’t see you leaving,” Corson told her and rested his hand on the handle.
“You can’t go out there,” I said to him.
“Can’t stay in here,” he replied.
I opened my mouth to protest, but the muffled sound of a click stopped me. He edged the door open enough for him to slide down the side of the truck and land on the ground. “Stay,” he said to me before quietly closing the door.
Lifting my head a little, I cautiously peered over the dash as Corson stepped into view in front of the truck. I held my breath as he strode toward the gas pumps and the front of the building with an actual swagger in his step.
“When will they be able to see him?” I asked Daisy.
“When he gets around the corner, or at least that’s where they were before I came out here.”
Carved (The Road to Hell Series, Book 2) Page 16
