by Faulks, Kim
The darkness inside my mind shifted, falling, melting, becoming one as both man and beast collided. And, above me, the seal cracked.
I gulped in gasping breaths, letting the power of the Royal Guard tear through me. There was no going back from this, no returning to the life I’d once had, no returning to the desperate need to escape.
This wasn’t just a falling. It was a sacrifice.
Chunks of stone fell to smash against the ground at my feet. Boom! Thunder slammed into the ceiling overhead, only it came again. Boom. Boom. Boom. BOOM!
The seal shattered, falling in chunks as big as my body to crash to the ground.
“About fucking time, Senator.” The low snarl tore through the opening as the Guardian Marcus dropped through the opening to land on his feet. “It is you, right?”
Red flames etched the darkness in his eyes. He reeked of blood and rage. More came, plunging through the opening to fill the space of the empty tunnel.
Zadoc.
Joslyn.
Alpha.
Ace.
And Gunny.
Gunny, who refused to look at me.
More of them came, making me step backwards as they crammed the space. Power filled the air, choking power, terrifying power. I wanted to claw the walls, to turn and lunge. Anything to get away from them and ease this panic inside.
“We’re ready, Hellhound.” Marcus stepped forward and nodded. “All you have to do is lead the way.”
I stepped backwards, lips curling, baring my teeth. They were on my side, they were some of us. Still the power…the power. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. I knew who they were, knew their names. I’d met with them, fought with them.
But I’d never known them like this, not through the eyes of my Hound.
Not as a force.
My paws scraped the floor as I stepped backwards, and then froze as Gunny lifted her head and met the fire in my eyes. There was a nod, not a forgiveness for lying to her all these years.
But an acknowledgement. Anything we needed to discuss would come later. Now was for fighting, now was for protecting. The crack of a gunshot echoed in the distance. I lowered my head and turned.
Footsteps resounded, filling my ears with the deafening stampede as I raced, tearing back along the tunnel and then to the right.
Heavy breaths chased me, haunting every step as the tunnel led me toward the Dragon’s Breath. The call of Hell was consuming, shattering my nerves as another boom cut through the air.
Guttural cries echoed behind me as I stumbled. Red glowed in the distance and the shrieking howl of a Demon cut through the air.
It was happening. The seals of Hell were shattering, falling to the leader of a new line. To the darkness…to Austine and the Vampires—and the Huntress.
The roar of terror spilled through my throat as I lunged into the opening of the cavern. There were bodies everywhere. Stone was face down, as were Ezre and Kane. Cekresy knelt, hands fisted by her sides, spine bowed backwards as she screamed her pain into the air.
And still the Cursed lash around her neck tightened, squeezing every drop of power from her veins. I searched the cavern for the shattering seal.
A Demon was halfway through, hands reaching, as another stumbled into the space, this side of the gate to Hell.
“More!” A woman’s roar cut through the screams.
I sucked in a hard breath as Austine lashed out, driving his fist into the Princess Amaris. Blood streamed down her face, one eye was swollen closed, her lips split and bleeding.
“Fuck you!” she screamed, blood and spittle flying.
“Again!” the Huntress screamed.
Her hate burst like a torpedo through the seal. Cekresy screamed as the Demons reached inside the cavern, like Hell birthed one of the infernal into the human world.
Instinct took over as I surged, slamming into the Demon headfirst. He howled, but didn’t buckle. Instead, he dug his claws into me, his hot, hateful breath sinking through my fur.
The Dragons roared and charged behind me, but it was the terrifying miasma of rage that rippled through the air that struck me the most. Something hit the wall beside me. A ten-inch barb slammed against the stone, then fell back. The seal came away in chunks, falling to smash on the ground.
“Fuck you!” Xael roared behind me, her voice piercing and strange.
Not human.
Not at all human.
Screams erupted all around me. I bit and savaged, sinking my fangs into the Demon’s arm. The beast howled in agony and pulled away. A massive barb flew past my face, sinking into the Demon’s chest, stopping the infernal beast cold.
Black eyes widening, blood spilled from his lips. I pulled away, watching the Demon stumble backwards, and through the shattered seal, Hell waited for me.
The call hit me like a tornado…making me whimper. My legs trembled, the hackles stood along my spine. It wanted me…calling to that mark inside me.
“There’s no way out now,” Zadoc’s growl blared.
I wanted to turn my head and see him, but I was frozen, shaking and shuddering.
“Stay the fuck away from me, Dragon,” the slurred voice of the Huntress boomed into the cavern.
Power rippled against the walls and from the cracks. Flames danced through the crevice, like the eye of a storm. I was that eye. The end and the beginning. I was both the enemy and the salvation.
“Sevan.” I spun at the call of my name.
She was there, stumbling into the cavern…my Queen, Kalliste.
She turned her head to the Hellhound in front of her sister, and, in an instant, I knew exactly what I had to do.
I hurled myself through the air as screams echoed behind me, terrible screams, unmerciful screams. The fetid stench of Vampire blood followed me as I hit the Hellhound hard, knocking him away from the Princess.
Chains clinked and clattered as she slumped forward. Purpose filled me. I wanted to rise and fight with the Guardians, but this was my fight.
This was my purpose.
Cekresy slumped forward, the lash falling to the ground in front of her. I hit the Hellhound again, knocking him to the ground, and bit, whipping my head from side to side. Warmth spurted against my face and the heady metallic taste of blood slipped between my lips. Deep, gasping breaths sawed in and out of my chest, but I tightened my grip, sinking my fangs deeper into his neck.
He spluttered and gasped, sending a fresh spill of blood across my face to drip to the ground. Flames flickered in his eyes, amber dulling to yellow before the darkness crept in. I wrenched my head to the left and jerked back, tearing the flesh of his throat free before I released my jaw and let the Hound fall to the ground at my feet.
The Princess stared at me, one eye swollen shut, most of her face coated with blood. The younger one, Oryn, cried out and yanked at her chains. I stilled, sucking in hard breaths. She was a baby the last time I saw her, just a newborn. Her lips curled back, dried blood flaring from the corner of her mouth.
Both of them looked badly beaten, but the younger Princess glanced to the rest of my line and then turned to me. “Kane,” she cried, desperation blooming in her eyes. “Please help him.”
Kalliste stumbled forward, the gun still in her grasp. She dropped the weapon to yank on her sister’s chains. One panicked glance over her shoulder, and she seized my stare. “I shot him, but he’s coming.”
I swept my gaze to the tunnel opening and felt the air rise along my spine as the Huntress screamed behind me.
“This is for my daughter,” Joslyn’s voice dragged my focus behind me.
She stood above the cowering Witch as the Huntress’s blood hissed when it hit the stone floor of the cavern. Magic and Hell were a deadly combination, but there was no mercy from the young mother. Blood coated her arm and her shirt was a torn, bloody mess.
She was vengeance.
Wrathful vengeance.
And behind her rose death in the form of a Dragon, as Zadoc shifted in the underground sp
ace. His black wings drooped to the ground, mutated and twisted. He was changed, powerful and gruesome…towering behind the woman he loved.
The others stood around them, witnesses to the kill. There was no getting out of this now, no crawling into the protection of Hell. I turned my head to the flames that called to me through the gaping cracks in the seal.
A shudder raced through the cavern as the Huntress’s whimpers turned into laughter.
Joslyn took a step backwards, never once taking her eyes from the bitch of pure evil.
The Huntress shifted her gaze to Abrial, the Alpha of the Bloodstone Pack. “I’m still your mother,” she called, and then her gaze moved to the tiny wolf, Odessa. “I will always be your mother.”
“Only in death,” Odessa murmured, and lifted her gaze to the towering black Dragon standing beside her.
And with one nod from the mother of his children, the Wretched descended. Flames burst from his nostrils to splash against the walls leading to Hell. There was no time for the Huntress to scream, no time for anything.
One second there was a body, and the next, there was only ash.
Only fire…and flame.
And nothing.
The cavern shuddered and shook around me. The inferno from the Dragon ended. He stood there, staring into the space where she’d been seconds before. They were stunned, waiting for the bitch to come back to life somehow and for this nightmare to start all over again.
But there was no coming back.
Not from this.
Not now.
Not ever.
The scuff of steps drew my focus as the wall between the cavern and Hell cracked.
Shudders through the ground turned into quakes. Kalliste screamed and yanked on the shackles holding her sister. I rushed forward, clamped my jaws around the chains, and heaved. But the inch-thick steel refused to budge.
Dust rained down from above. Sections of the ceiling collapsed.
“It’s okay,” Amaris slurred from the ground.
Somewhere behind the far wall of the cavern, a shriek cut through the chaos. Amaris lifted her head at the sound and stared into the cavern. “Tell Bastian…tell him I love him.”
Demons screamed through the fissure, climbing over their own fallen to reach into the mortal world.
“We have to leave!” Marcus roared.
“No,” the whimper came from the ground. Cekresy shoved a hand against the ground as she struggled to rise. “Not again…Can’t fail them.”
She swayed as she slowly rose from her hands and knees to stand and stumble toward us. “We need help!” she roared over her shoulder.
I stopped thrashing, my fangs aching from the steel as she gripped the chain.
“It’s okay,” she murmured, meeting my gaze. “I’ve got this.”
Footsteps sounded behind me. More hands gripped the steel. The links finally gave way, bowing until they broke with a groan.
Amaris struggled to rise and step forward, nearly falling before she was caught in Kalliste’s arms.
“I’ve got you,” the Hellhound Queen murmured.
A deafening boom felt like it shook the world. Demons spilled into the cavern. Fire followed from Zadoc. The Guardians herded, charging to drive the Demon swarm into Hell once more.
But there were too many. They massed against the opening until the edges began to fall away.
“We have to leave!” Kalliste roared as the wall beside her bowed outwards and then showed widening cracks.
19
Artemas
Demon blood filled my mouth as I bit. Still, the Demon reached for Kalliste raking its talons through the air as it screamed and howled.
“This way!” Kalliste roared and staggered forward her eyes wide with terror. “Sevan,” she commanded.
But there was no leaving, not until they were all safe. The Guardians rushed forward, heaving Kane, Ezre, and Stone from the ground. Marcus threw one over his shoulder. Alpha and Ace, the others. Gunny opened fire on the Demons, unlashing the bitter scent of gunpowder into the air.
They stumbled.
They ran.
I savaged, biting and clawing, tearing limb from limb.
Protect her.
The need consumed me.
“Artemas,” Gunny called. “We have to go.”
She was rock fucking steady, all warrior with silver markings glowing under her skin. She’d changed. We’d all changed. Some for the better, others, like me, were yet to decide. I released my hold on the Demon’s body and moved in behind her, watching her back as she ran to catch up to the others.
We left death behind…ash and Hell mingled until, with a huge tremor, Hell fractured and spilled into the mortal world.
I raced as the screams of the damned descended, paws pounding a heartbeat behind Gunny.
“Through here!” Kalliste yelled.
Power flared across my skin as Gunny hurtled through a doorway and I raced in after her.
“Amaris? Kalliste? Oryn, baby,” a man called as he stumbled forward. “Thank the Goddess you’re all safe.”
“Parry?” Amaris blinked her good eye, one arm wrapped around her younger sister’s shoulder.
The Guardians gently dropped the rest of my line to the ground. Others moved in, men and women with blood-smeared faces, looking drawn and beaten. The cavern was massive, ramshackle buildings and broken chairs were scattered everywhere, pots and pans were tossed aside on the ground. It was an underground city. Whoever lived here had left in a hurry.
“We need to get out of here, Parry,” Amaris commanded.
One nod and the old man was turning, lifting his hand into the air. “Start ’em up, boys!”
Trucks started in the distance. Four. Five. Enough to get us all out of there.
“Amaris!” The Guardian raced toward her, wearing shredded khakis.
“Bastian!” Amaris stepped forward, sliding her arm from around her sister.
She met the warrior with an ecstatic cry, flinging herself into his arms. Everyone turned to watch them…everyone but me.
My eyes were for Kalliste.
The leader of our Hellhound line.
“Here,” Parry shoved a pair of dirty khakis toward me. “Nice to have you back, Sevan.”
Epilogue
Headlights splashed against the darkened streets of Hell’s Gate. I gripped the seat in front of me as the truck climbed out of the cavern and onto the city street. Alpha was at the wheel, working the gears of the old mover, with Gunny sitting shotgun.
Three more trucks were in front of us, carrying everyone from the rebellion.
Hell’s Gate burned like Hell itself. The city was falling into the sinking caverns. Vampires and Demons spilled out, crawling from the fires of eternity, slinking from molten pools of hate. They were birthed raw and rotting, hungry for nothing but pain.
Blaze Trigg was amongst them. With any luck, they’d tear him apart on their way topside.
But I doubted it.
We’d meet each other again, of that I was sure.
Warm fingers touched my hand. I found her in the dark.
My lover.
My Queen.
I squeezed her hand back, tearing my gaze from behind us as we headed for a new home. One I’d been building for a woman who’d been my past…for the one who was now my future.
The End
Thank you!
Thank you for reading Sevan, I hope you enjoyed this book in the mighty Dragon Guardian World.
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