Mystic Realms: A Limited Edition Collection

by Nicole Morgan

  “Wait,” Spike cried out, and I allowed myself to peek. “I’ll tell you, okay. They’re―”

  Before he could say another word, the door creaked open. I panicked and lunged for the lone intruder, tackling him to the floor before I could get a good look at him.

  “It’s me, Abby.” Eli’s voice in my ear was too good to be true.

  “Eli?” I sat up on my knees and looked down at the Angel, goatee and all. He didn’t look as tidy as he usually did, but at least he wasn’t covered in blood like the rest of us.

  “Holy cow. Eli! What are you doing here? Are there other Angels? Did you come to help rescue us?” My words slipped out faster than I could think.

  Why would an Angel of Death go on a rescue mission? He wasn’t mentally equipped.

  Another question popped into my head. “Did they capture you too?”

  “Sure,” was all he said. He pushed himself to his feet and tucked a portion of his shirt back into his slacks.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Judd asked, still pressing Spike to the wall. “We’ve been looking all over for you.”

  I stood and gave Eli some space. He didn’t look so good. Perspiration beaded his forehead and upper lip. His usual olive-toned skin had drained to a pale yellow. His hands clamped and unclamped.

  “Eli?” I gripped his forearm. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

  “I, uh...” He gulped and pulled me to him.

  I opened my arms to give him a hug, but before I knew what was happening, he swung me around and held me tight to his chest with one arm. His other hand reached behind him and pulled out a gun. In a matter of seconds, the barrel was nudged against my temple.

  Everyone in the room stilled, including me. Never in a million years would I have expected this. Not from Eli.

  Was this a joke?

  “Put it down, Eli,” Judd yelled. “What are you thinking?”

  Simeon took a step toward us, and the gun cocked in my ear. “Stay back or I’ll shoot her. I swear I will.”

  I wanted to form some words to reason with him, but my breath caught in my throat. This wasn’t the friend I used to joke around with while watching a ballgame. That man didn’t have a mean thought in him.

  Did he?

  “Let Freddie go,” Eli said to Judd. “Let him go, or I’ll shoot Abby.”

  “Dude, you gotta think this through,” Judd said.

  The barrel of the revolver pressed harder into my temple.

  “You listen to me, Judd,” Eli said, his voice filled with malice. “You don’t want to lose her, do you? I know how you feel about her.” He backed up into the wall, taking me with him. “None of you want me to kill her, so you’d better not try to pull any tricks on me.”

  “Eli,” I gathered the courage to speak. “Don’t do this. You know what’ll happen if you go through with this. You’re already in deep shit for carrying a gun. Just put it down, and we’ll talk this through.”

  “Shut your big mouth,” he growled in my ear. “I don’t need some bossy bitch Angel to tell me what to do. Those days are in the past.”

  I gulped down the knot in my throat and centered my attention between Judd and Simeon, attempting to gain some sort of calmness. Judd looked furious, showing no effort to hide his new disdain for his former pal. Simeon was mostly expressionless, a hint of calculation behind his silver eyes.

  “It’s no use, Abigail,” Simeon said. “The Angel has fallen. He’s no longer one of you.”

  “What?” The words shocked me at first, but it became obvious after I gave it a moment’s thought. “You gave up your soul?” I asked Eli.

  “I said shut up!” His body shook with what I thought was rage. Or maybe it was nerves?

  “Relax,” Judd said. “We’ll do what you say. Just be careful with that gun.” He released Spike-Freddie and put his hands up in surrender.

  “Get over there and hold the human,” Eli said to Freddie.

  Sure. Pick on the weakest one. Jerk. I didn’t like this new Eli at all.

  Freddie smiled as he crossed the room to Kaleb, pulled him to his feet, and held his hands behind his back.

  “Hey, watch it, man,” Kaleb grumbled. “No need to get all frisky.”

  “You,” Eli said to Simeon. “Open the door. We’re all going to step outside. First you, then Judd. And don’t try anything stupid.”

  “Funny you should use the word stupid,” I muttered under my breath.

  Simeon kept a keen eye on Eli as he walked to the door and opened it, revealing a thick wooded forest and a night sky, crowded with stars. Simeon had been right. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground, and it appeared we were somewhere high up in the mountains with no signs of civilization in sight.

  Judd followed him out the door, giving Eli the death glare as he passed.

  Freddie pushed Kaleb by next.

  Kaleb gave me a weak smile. “Hang in there, sugar.”

  It wasn’t until then that I realized my body was trembling, and I was sweating bullets. No pun intended, trust me. This was ridiculous. I needed to get a grip. I needed to stop being the damn damsel in distress and find a way to knock that gun out of Eli’s hand. As an Angel, he was just an AOD. His job was to come in after the violence had occurred. I was a Demon Control Angel. I’d been trained to kick ass, and I could kick his newly demon ass across the Rockies and back again.

  If only he didn’t have a firearm pointed at my head.

  He nudged me out the door, and I got a good look at what greeted us. A large pentagram was painted in what appeared to be blood on the snow-covered ground. A demon stood at each tip, and Malakai stood in the center. His platinum blond hair hung low to his waist. He wore a long black robe and there was some sort of symbol painted on his forehead.

  Cheesy son of a bitch. Could he be more cliche? And what was he planning? Some sort of a ritual?

  He held out his arms, palms up, and nodded toward us. “Excellent job, Eli. You’ve passed your test.”

  Eli stood tall behind me. “I am honored, your greatness.”

  Your greatness? I had a strong urge to jam my elbow into his gut. It might be worth it to get in one shot. One thing was for sure, I was never letting him watch my DVR recordings ever again. Forget it.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Judd said. “You fucked up, Eli. You joined the wrong fucking side, and you’re going to fucking pay for this shit.”

  “Silence,” Malakai warned.

  “Fuck you, Satan’s Senior Ass Licker.” Oh boy. Here we go.

  Judd continued. “I was wondering what that smell was. I thought it was Simeon, here. But apparently it’s coming from your mouth. Sorry ’bout that, Sim. Honest mistake.”

  “I said silence!” Malakai’s voice boomed and echoed off the mountaintops.

  Judd chuckled. “I thought I had anger management issues. Boy, was I―” He stopped mid-sentence, let out a whoosh of air and bent over.

  I glanced toward Malakai to see his eyes glazed with red again, and his hand was pointed toward Judd.

  “Hey,” I yelled. “Leave him alone, you jerk.” I took a step toward Judd, but Eli held me tighter and tapped the revolver against my temple, reminding me it was still there.

  Screw this.

  Instinct took over, and I sprouted my wings. They whooshed up as far as they could, knocking the gun from Eli’s hand. I hovered over to Judd, who had fallen to the ground. Willing my wings back in, I kneeled next to him. Thankfully he was still breathing. Just unconscious.

  Eli ran toward me with the gun in his hand, but Simeon grabbed him and threw him to the ground.

  “How can you let them do this?” I yelled to Eli. “We were your friends. These guys just want to use you.”

  He got to his feet and looked to Malakai for instruction.

  Malakai’s eyes had transformed back to their normal color, and he seemed to have gained his composure. “Just leave her,” he said. “I’ll take care of her if she tries anything.” He swiveled on
his heel and found Simeon. “Now we can get down to business.”

  Simeon crossed his arms in front of him and took on a macho stance. “I have no business with you. You’re dead to me.”

  Malakai waved as if to dismiss Simeon’s words. “I wanted the family reunion to be bigger than this, but we’ll have to make do.”

  “My family is not your family,” Simeon said. “Leave them alone, and let Kaleb and the Angels go. They have nothing to do with your anger toward me.”

  “Maybe, but what better way to punish you? Torture your human relative and execute your Angel lover in front of your eyes. I think that would teach you a lesson, don’t you?”

  “Sir?” Cesar Knight spoke up from his spot on the pentagram. “Can we not just kill them all so we can move on? This is taking up precious time. And we must move to a different location soon before―”

  “Shush, Cesar. We will leave when I say it is time and not a moment before.”

  Huh. Why the hurry? I wondered.

  I held Judd’s hand in mine and clamped my mouth shut, not wanting to draw any attention to us. He was here because of me, and I refused to let anything happen to him. How the heck was I going to get him out of here?

  I glanced from Simeon to Kaleb and found that I cared for their safety just as much as I cared for Judd.

  How were we all going to escape?

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  At Malakai’s command, Freddie dragged Kaleb to the middle of the pentagram and made him kneel in front of Malakai. I had no idea why. Kaleb was a harmless human. But these were malicious demons. There was never any rhyme or reason behind their evil.

  Malakai pulled a dagger out from somewhere in his cloak and held it above Kaleb’s head.

  “Whoa there, buddy!” Kaleb struggled a bit but was held down by Freddie.

  I jumped to my feet and moved to save him from whatever it was the demon was planning on doing. Simeon must’ve had the same idea. He moved beside me. But right before we reached the perimeter of the pentagram, a sharp pain pounded against my stomach, and I flew back onto my butt.

  Right. I’d forgotten about Malakai’s power. I caught my breath and stood to my feet once more. At least it wasn’t as bad as last time. At least I still had my wits about me.

  Simeon stopped dead in his tracks and looked to me. “Abigail, are you okay?” He glanced back to Kaleb and to me again, probably deliberating which path to take next.

  Apparently, Malakai’s little magic trick didn’t work on Simeon. Thank MOG.

  “I’m fine.” I took a calming breath.

  I was sure Simeon was strong enough to escape. If it wasn’t for Kaleb and me, he’d most likely be long gone by now. He’d steered clear of Malakai for all these years. Heck, he’d even stolen money from him and survived. I was sure he could walk away now, if not fight his way out. He’d nearly beaten off all those demons at his home. If it weren’t for me, he would’ve won.

  And Kaleb. He was able to defy a demon’s power of persuasion and view all our unearthly acts. As unusual as he was, could he also evade Malakai’s power?

  Could it be that Judd and I were the weak links here? Were we what kept Kaleb and Simeon in danger?

  Kaleb looked over his shoulder at me. His arms were still clasped behind his back, held by Freddie. And the dagger Malakai grasped still angled threateningly above his head. Instead of fear, anger had formed on his stunning face. He was strong for a human, mentally and physically. He could survive this with Simeon’s help.

  “Save him,” I said to Simeon, the words slipping from my mouth before I could stop them. “Save him and leave Judd and me. We’ll be fine.”

  “I won’t leave you, Abigail.” Simeon’s Adam’s apple rose and fell.

  Malakai chuckled and let the dagger fall to his side. “Therein lies the problem, my son. You’ve made the mistake of allying with the enemy. The enemy who will be extinct in a matter of months as far as I’m concerned. We are spreading the word of our plan, and demons from all over the world are ready to join us.”

  That explained how Mikey Tyson in Golden knew about the rebellion. Damn. This wasn’t good news.

  Simeon shook his head. “Your plan is asinine, Father. The world would be chaos without the Angels. There is a reason for the Powers That Be Pact. The Lord of Hell, himself, realizes that. Without some sort of control on this Earth, there would only be pandemonium. And how could any of us benefit from that?”

  Malakai’s face lost its golden color, and his eyes clouded over. “The Lord of Hell does not want us controlled by them.” He pointed the dagger at me.

  Another shooting pain stabbed my gut. I bent over but managed to remain standing.

  “Do you see how weak they are, son? Who are they to think they can police us. We are above them. We are the superior beings. They are only pests to be exterminated. The leash will be shredded, son, and you stand there and tell me you would rather be on the other end of it.” He shook his head. “I have no more patience for this.”

  What a freak of nature. How did Simeon grow up to be normal when he shared this guy’s genes? Okay, maybe normal isn’t the right term for Sim, but he definitely wasn’t the maniacal, I’m-going-to-take-over-the-world demon his father was.

  I looked back at Eli to see if he was getting all this. Yep. He was. And he didn’t seem to care. He stood lifeless with a big ole frown on his face. Not only had he given up his soul, he’d thrown in his personality as a bonus. I didn’t know whether to cry or break out into hysterical laughter. It wasn’t like I had friends to spare.

  “It’s true,” Simeon said, glancing back at me.

  He was a striking vision standing there with the moonlight reflecting its glow off the snow and onto him. His upper body was bare and splattered with signs of brutal combat.

  His muscles flexed, ready. “I’d rather live out my life in Hell than join in on your Angel hunt.”

  No. Those couldn’t be the only two options. There had to be another way.

  Malakai laughed. “As if I’d have you now. You are an embarrassment to me, Simeon. I’d had such high hopes for you. You were a miracle child, born of my seed planted in a human. It’s a rare and splendid act, therefore I was willing to ignore your weak human characteristics. I was willing to mold you and share my legacy with you.”

  Blah. Blah. Blah. No wonder Sim didn’t want to have anything to do with him. He was bo-ring. Like pity-party-for-one boring. Like someone-pluck-the-feathers-out-of- my-wings-to-keep-me-awake boring. And he wasn’t even done yet. I let out a sigh as he continued.

  “You have failed me in so many ways over the years, and I have turned the other cheek. But I can no longer do that. I―”

  “Sir.” Cesar lifted his hand cautiously.

  Thank MOG somebody else stopped the insipid whining before I had to.

  Malakai’s eyes flared with anger. “Do you dare interrupt me, Cesar?”

  “My apologies, sir, but I believe it is of the utmost importance that we move on. Do you not smell them?”

  Smell them? I sniffed the air, as did everyone else, including Malakai. The only scent I could pick up was pine and occasionally the odor of sweaty demon when the wind shifted in my direction.

  “You all want to tell me what you’re sniffing for?” Kaleb asked. “I can’t smell a damn thing but B.O.”

  Simeon looked over his shoulder at me and grinned. “Angels”, he mouthed to me.

  Angels? They smelled Angels. A rescue team, maybe? I couldn’t get my hopes up. How could they have found us?

  I noticed Judd stir a little from the corner of my eye. Good. If there was a rescue team on the way, then I wanted him to be awake to hold his own so we could get the heck out of here alive.

  Malakai let out a low hiss between his clenched teeth. “Freddie, take the human away from me. There is a change of plans, I am afraid.”

  Freddie jerked Kaleb to his feet and pulled him out of the pentagram. Kaleb met my eyes and simply said, “Citroën.”

&nb
sp; I nodded. I loved the Citroën, but my motivation to save Kaleb had nothing to do with a car. If anything, I could imagine a budding friendship between the human and me. We seemed to have a lot in common, and I wouldn’t mind hanging out in his garage, singing off-key right alongside him.

  If we could just get out of this mess. I wanted nothing more than to have my normal life back.

  “Simeon, my son,” Malakai called. “Would you really like to be a hero for the Angels?”

  “I’d only like you to allow Abigail and Kaleb to go free. That’s all I ask.”

  “And Judd,” I added.

  Simeon let out a breath. “And Judd.”

  “I’ll make you a deal.” Malakai clapped his hands together. “You deserve to be punished, and I have all the time in the world to kill off these Angels.” He smiled an evil smile. “I’ll agree to let them go...for now. We can consider it a head start, of sorts.”

  “And?” Simeon asked.

  “Before they leave, I would like to see your precious pet press a final thumbprint to your heart.”

  “I won’t do that,” I said. “No way. That’s not going to happen.” Just the thought of Simeon suffering in Hell brought stinging tears to my eyes.

  “No?” Malakai chuckled. “Hell is where Angels believe demons belong, is it not? Are you telling me you don’t agree?”

  “Simeon is different.”

  Malakai lowered his head as if to consider this and then gave me his attention again. “Do you not know that being different will only get you in trouble?” He smiled again and let his eyes drop down and back up my body. “Maybe you do know that.”

  “I―”

  Simeon put up a finger for me to wait. “And how do I know you’ll stick to your word? If she deports me, how do I know you won’t kill them anyway?”

  Malakai shrugged. Locks of platinum hair fell across his shoulders. “There’s no time to deliberate this, son. You know that. I can set you free and kill them all right now as your punishment, if that is what you wish. I will give you five minutes to make your choice. If the Hell Spirits haven’t risen by then, I’ll kill them.”