by Lexi Ostrow
“Please tell me the arse looks beat up.”
“No dice. He looks fantastic actually.” She turned back to Greyston. “We’re over here. Lucius can’t move. It’s pretty bad.
Greyston jogged up to them, and she noticed the huge bloody mark across his shoulder and the makeshift sling he’d held his arm back with. The big demon was imposing as ever, and she prayed he didn’t look so safe because of his size and that the others had fared better.
“The others?” she asked when he moved closer.
“Agardawes, Kellan and Eliza are inside. I don’t know where the fuck Philippe is.” He sounded angry, almost as if he blamed himself for not knowing.
Dread filled her like the lead weights they used to make the clocks. Philippe had been holding her hand; she could almost still feel his grip. If she had been thrown, it was likely he had too. She refused to think that he hadn’t made it. She was human and was fine, the demons weren’t the only ones to fare okay.
You’re half human. The others aren’t though, Philippe is here.
“I have to find him.” She moved too quick, and the surge of blood made her sway into Greyston.
“Whoa, you’re not fine. That bump to the head is nasty, you’ve lost blood. Start walking to the ship. I’ll pick up the gimp and meet you inside. Then we’ll find your mate.”
She froze mid-step towards the crash site. “I don’t have a mate.” Terror rolled through her, it could be a lie. She was a half demon, and she’d never known if Angels mated or not.
“Sorry, forget you’re human sometimes. You have a very ethereal grace to you when you aren’t falling on your face.”
“Um…excuse me. If you don’t mind, can I point out that I’m lying here in a tremendous amount of pain?”
Greyston nodded. “Right. Go, Odette. It won’t take me long to catch up to you.”
It was her turn to nod and cautiously make her way to the ship. She could hear chatter from inside, but the sound of something crackling drew her attention. She walked to the right, behind one of the giant wings of the ship, and slammed into Philippe.
He caught her, as he always did when she had a fit of clumsiness. When he pulled her to his chest, she laid her head there and inhaled the scent of him. She’d never noticed how much he smelled like cloves until that moment. His hands wrapped around her, and she felt him not touching her with one, it must have been injured. She didn’t move, not wanting to lose the feel of his arms wrapped around her.
Neither of them said anything. They stood together, embracing. Whilst she didn’t know what he was thinking about, all Odette could contemplate was how foolish she was not to live her life whilst she had it. Shawn’s memory or not, she may only have a week and a day left—no a week now—to live. She wanted to spend every stolen moment with Philippe. She knew he would feel the same, she could tell in the way he held her.
“Great, now I don’t have to find you. Come on, we need to get inside.”
Greyston shattered the private moment, and she pulled back.
“We’re all alive, Philippe. Somehow, we’re all alive.”
His mouth pressed against hers in a gentle kiss. She could feel herself melting into him, and when he pulled back, she glowered.
“Forgive me. I had to know what it was like to kiss you again. Almost losing you, we have to talk about this.”
She slipped her hand into his uninjured one, and they closed the small distance to the door of the ship and went in. “There’s nothing to say, Philippe. Just let it happen.”
“Oh thank heavens.” The man who raised her rushed towards her, and she felt her hand torn once more from Philippe’s. She stared into Thomas Agardawes’ eyes. She truly wanted to forgive him, and let his kindness override her anger, but she couldn’t.
“How is everyone?” Her eyes looked around and assessed them. Philippe had a gash on his cheek, and three fingers on his left hand appeared to be broken in various places. Kellan looked blissfully unharmed. There was not a mark on him. No signs of bruising, no blood, his clothing was even fine. It mystified her, but she turned to her leader and looked at him. His head was bandaged on the top, and he was half hunched over. Aside from various scrapes on his arms, he was only as injured as the rest. Somehow, the ship must have protected them.
“No!” She whipped her head and stumbled at Lucius’s outcry. He was still hanging over Greyston’s uninjured shoulder his head turned towards Eliza.
The woman wasn’t dead, or Greyston would have said something; she couldn’t be. She wasn’t conscious, though, and if she was breathing, it was just barely. Blood stained her abdomen, and her foot looked as if it had been snapped. It was bent straight up as oddly as Lucius’ had been. The screams coming from Lucius were as inhuman as the Angels’ had been. She was reminded he wasn’t a man, but a demon.
“Put me down, Westham. Put me the fuck down!” Lucius roared.
“Calm down. She’s not dead. She was awake for mere moments. The banshee was wrong,” Greyston said to his friend.
Lucius continued to growl, and she saw his fists strike Greyston, but the bigger demon barely indicated he felt the blows.
“She’s survived a wound like this before. It’s surface deep. I think her ankle pain knocked her out.”
Greyston walked next to Eliza and set Lucius down.
She was near tears watching the love and tenderness the demon showed as he ran his hands over his mate’s body, and then she turned away, burying her face in Philippe’s chest as if she were intruding on a private moment.
“Lucius she spoke. She will live. She is strong, and you know it,” Agardawes’ voice was gravely, but held a note of authority, even in a crisis.
The demon picked his head up, and his eyes were so cold and dead Odette shuddered. “I’ll kill her. I’ll fucking kill her. I’ll make what I did on the street seem like a bloody fucking blessing!”
She had no clue who or what he was talking about, but Greyston did.
“You will, Lucius. You will. For now, we need to get to Hell for Odette and find out why Pure Angels would attack us.”
“Yes, we need to keep going.” Philippe’s chest rumbled under her head as he spoke and she pulled back.
“The plan has not changed. However, someone must stay behind and look after Eliza. She will need attention and help to repair the ship so that we can leave. The trains do not run to Sweden, not yet, and it would be a long walk home.” Agardawes’ tone left no room for questions.
She looked at the man who should’ve been her father and willed herself to feel a positive emotion for him in light of everything he was doing for her, but she simply couldn’t.
“I’ll stay behind. I need someone to find me a victim, or for one of you allow me to feed off your own dreams. I’ll heal immediately,” Lucius still sounded like the deadly assassin he was.
“I’m going ta regret this, but ye can use me.” Kellan stepped forward looking terribly uncomfortable.
“That’s a good start, but Lucius, you are not to stay behind.” Agardawes leveled his gaze at the demon, challenging him. “Greyston cannot heal and is injured. He is by far the stronger physical fighter but is of little use with an injured shoulder. His scent could be useful, but it is the lesser of the two strengths betwixt you.”
Greyston mumbled something she couldn’t understand.
“Lucius, you are our greatest weapon. If we surround you and let you do what is in your nature, you could easily save us all many times over down there.” The words were logical, but the response was not.
“Sod off. I’m not leaving her. Period. End of discussion.”
The man’s voice was commanding, but not harsh, “That was an order, Lucius. Do I need to remind you of the terms to which you agreed to save your life and remain with her?”
Lucius snarled, and Greyston put a hand on his shoulder to silence his friend.
Odette’s mind was darting back and forth, not landing on a thought for long enough to process everything. It was all
her fault. The crash, the tension, Eliza’s injuries, all of their injuries. She should have simply asked for them to kill her.
“If he doesn’t want to go, he can stay. It is my fault you are here, my fault she is in trouble.” She walked to Lucius, and for the first time since meeting him, truly saw and respected both man and demon. “I lost my husband. It is a tragic thing to lose a love.” She turned back to the others and continued, “There are enough of us to guard one another in the cave. I will not have his anger hindering my one chance to live.”
“No. You are right. I’m far more useful than sex toy over here,” Lucius’s voice had lost the dark edge and hissed quality. “She would be furious if I stayed behind, and she decided her injuries were scratches.” His lips turned slightly into a pathetic attempt at a smile from where he sat, leaned against a beam to support his own battered body.
“Then it’s settled. I do not want us losing time. I will go with you and Philippe to the caves, assuming his hand is usable.” She looked at the two men who cared for her most and saw the nod pass betwixt them. “Kellan, you and Lucius will catch up when he is healed. The communicators may not work, but we each have a map. It doesn’t matter if we are all together, what matters is we are safe and come out alive.”
“Not ta sound selfish, but can ye stay back? Should Lucius get all wonky, I’d like ta have multiple people ta knock him out,” Kellan interrupted, and she felt a pang of guilt for him. He was sincerely taking his life into a dangerous realm by letting a Nightmare Demon walk in his dreams to terrify him.
Agardawes shook his head, “I don’t want to leave two people in the caves, Kellan. I’m sorry.”
“No. Stay. If I trust anyone with my life, it is Philippe. Don’t ask the question as to why. He is the best hunter at the Alliance, you said so yourself the night you made him my caretaker. We will be fine.” Odette waited for a challenge, but none came.
“Also, whose guns work?” Philippe asked. “I don’t have either.”
“Mine are crushed, the crystal destroyed,” offered Greyston.
“Mine are fine.” Kellan truly had been lucky, aside from his gift to Lucius.
“I have one. So I suppose one gun and a lot of daggers are our odds,” she chimed in.
“And one Nightmare Demon,” quipped Lucius. He held Eliza’s hand, appearing to be himself again, and convinced her injuries weren’t fatal.
“Then it is decided.” Agardawes pointed at the map he had spread out on the floor. “We look only a day’s walk from the cave if this is the same lake drawn here. Go and be quick, but do not enter that cave at night. I don’t care what delay it causes. You have nothing for illumination with your crystals broken, and you do not want to be in the dark with your pocket watches, conjuring images every time a demon is near.”
She shuddered. She had never thought about the implications of the crystals breaking and bit her tongue instead of asking if anyone had checked their watch—she hadn’t. They’d see the demons coming for certain, but should any lesser demons—the ones that could take human form—be there, they would never know.
“I’ll protect her. My fingers are useless, but it isn’t my fighting hand.”
She’d almost forgotten his injury, and yet, she wondered if she couldn’t fix something as small as a few broken bones. The Pure could, perhaps the half Pure could as well.
“May I try something?” she spoke before she’d even realized it.
She looked into his eyes and asked the question. Did he trust her? He nodded, and she walked forward. As gently as she could, she laid his left hand on hers and covered it with her right. If it worked, he would be healed, and she would be exposed.
She blew out a deep breath and closed her eyes. She focused on an image in her head, of his fingers straight, the breaks gone and them long and slender. Her head began to throb as she focused hard on the image, willing it to pass.
“Odette, stop,” Philippe’s voice was gentle.
Opening her eyes, she looked at him wiggling his fingers. She’d done it. For a second, her vision clouded, and she was retching before she even had a chance to turn away. Her cheeks flamed red as she heaved and dispelled the sickness she felt inside of her.
“When an Angel heals, they take the injury into themselves. It had to come out somehow, Daughter.”
“Angel?”
She heard the question from at least four voices and couldn’t care who. Her stomach was rolling, and her head pounding from more than just the gash and bump above her eye. She’d used too much of herself, and her body was threatening to give out.
“I don’t think she should do that again. Not even on herself.” Philippe was looking at her as if she was going to break into pieces, and she couldn’t deny she felt as if she already had.
She lowered herself to the floor and tried to focus on breathing.
“Can someone tell me what just happened?” Gresyton asked with suspicion in his voice.
She felt her heart tear. The distrust was what she’d been afraid of, but it Philippe was helping protect her, and she had to try to heal him.
“I’m half Angel, Pure Angel.”
“How can that be? Angels that fornicate fall…I thought?” Lucius interjected.
She was pleased both demons were as confused as she was.
“The details do not matter. Odette did not know until after the threat to her life. I raised her as my own, and as far as I am concerned, she is mine. Her mother was my wife, she is my daughter and any who dislike that can deal with it or be stranded here.”
No one said anything. Anger ran high in the room, and it was all from the man who raised her, trying to protect her.
“I’m a fucking demon, what do I care if she is?” Lucius responded first with a grin.
Odette saw Eliza lifting her head, fully awake.
“Though I don’t know why you picked a small injury when we have worse,” Lucius muttered.
“And she has a lump and bloody mark above her head. Only Kellan didn’t need her. Do not attack her, demon, not when I’m starting to like you.” Philippe stood in front of her and betwixt her and Lucius. Her heart soared as he protected her once more, and she was fully ready to embrace the rush of feelings she had for him, no matter how strong they might be.
“Please don’t fight. I’m sorry, Lucius. My feelings for him, they made me want to try.”
“I understand.”
“We need to go, though. Time runs differently in other parts of the world, and we don’t know when it gets dark.”
Philippe nodded and extended a hand to help her up. Unlike the last time they had been in a similar situation, she took it. “Please be careful everyone.”
“Odette.”
She drew a deep breath and looked at the only man who had protected her until Philippe. She didn’t say anything, though. She couldn’t. Part of her had already begun to forgive him, but the other part was still so angry.
“I will see you shortly. Go get that flower.”
She nodded, and she and Philippe walked out of the airship door. For the first time, she truly felt afraid. Once again, demons had attacked her. They’d made people hurt and lowered her search party from seven to five. Selfish as it might have been, she was sick of it.
Their footsteps crunched the grass, and she stopped for a second. “Philippe, I want you to know, when this is all over, I want to go on a hunt. I don’t care what the new Alliance rule on killing demons is. I want to hunt some down.”
His face hardened, but he nodded in agreement, and they continued to walk.
Thirteen
Pain laced its way through her with every step. It was as if each footfall was in direct connection with her brain, and she flinched in pain from the blow to her head. Her muscles in her back had begun to seize up as well, undoubtedly due to slamming down on the ground. They didn’t have time to stop, though, and she had no idea if she could inwardly heal herself.
“This is unbearably cold for what should be the spring s
eason.” Odette rubbed her hands over her arms and stepped carefully across a big boulder.
Philippe turned back to her and smiled, her whole body reacted to the smile, and she didn’t even feel like chastising herself for it.
“We are in Europe now, Ms. Cosgrove. I should think it is much colder here than Baltimore.”
“You would be quite surprised at the level of frozen that America can achieve in the winter. However, she has the wisdom to warm up when it is all over.”
“Perhaps I will get a chance to see firsthand, Odette.”
His words held a lingering promise that she couldn’t quite ascertain, but the idea of him joining her in America if she went back made her smile.
“So since we are once more stuck together, how about we finish the conversation we had before the Angels attacking?”
“That would be easy, except I do not remember the conversation.”
His tone was a little off, and she knew she’d hit a sensitive subject. They had been speaking of why he hunted alone just before the attack, and he had deflected her question. She had grown up in the guild halls and the Alliance meetings, there was one thing she knew about all hunters—herself included. They all hunted for revenge or fear. Since she knew his was not revenge, then that left fear.
“You are aware that I grew up inside the Alliance as it formed correct?”
“Relevance?”
She hated that she was talking to his back, especially as it was impossible not to check his backside out as he climbed some of the larger rock piles or stepped up.
“That means I have seen practically every hunter get their beginning. From Sir Giles di Plume, the first hunter to lose his life in the line of duty, to Felicia, who had her family murdered violently before her eyes. There is something that all hunters have in common, Philippe. We are all seeking revenge or fear. We are all lashing out for those reasons, and it unites us.”
He stopped walking and turned. Stress lines formed around his mouth as he sighed. “I do not fight for revenge. I was a soldier. Demons killing my brothers in arms is no different than any other enemy doing it.”
