The Keepers of Hell Box Set

by Danielle James

  "Ms. B?" He asked into the blonde hair that was freaking everywhere.

  She pulled her face back from her full body embrace and grinned. "I was worried about you."

  Jamie pulled her in tight for a hug. This was the soul of the woman who had saved his life and many others that fateful day at his high school. This was the teacher that made him want to be something. Someone. The one who gave him courage, strength and ultimately, why he chose the life of a vampire soldier.

  "You're an angel," he said, setting her on her feet.

  "Yes, I am," she beamed.

  "I'm dead, right?" he asked.

  "Yes."

  "This is not Heaven," Jamie said warily.

  "Well, no," Lacy said. She opened her mouth to continue but the clearing of a throat stopped her. All the angels stepped to the side, parting into two halves as another became visible.

  In the fire. There was an angel in the fire. He walked through the flames, unaffected by their heat. His black as night wings reached above his head and dragged the ground behind his shit kicker covered feet. Silence followed him and there was no doubt that this was the angel in charge.

  The devil himself.

  As he breached the fire and the shadows fell, Jamie could see that he was much like the others. Only his eyes were burning red like hot coals on a pit. His face was serious, brows drawn tight. He just looked so tired. The other angels did not seem to fear him. They respected him. That much was obvious.

  "It's about time," the angel growled.

  Jamie said nothing.

  "We don't have time to play reunion or to throw a party. We have some serious shit going on right now. I just have one question for you. Do you wish to stay here, work with us and save the world, or go on to whatever eternity was meant for you?"

  Jamie glanced at Lacy who nodded ever so subtly.

  "Where is here and what? Save the world?" He asked.

  "Yes or no," the angel demanded.

  Jamie knew his answer without considering it. If Ms. B was in, then so was he. "I'm in," he answered firmly with his head high and his spine straight. Whatever it was, he was willing to do it.

  The angel's face softened slightly and his eyes changed from red to a kind shade of blue. "Great. My name is Ash. Welcome to Hell."

  Epilogue

  “What’s with the woman in the cage?” Jamie asked Ash as they entered the angel’s office. He had recognized her immediately. She was the woman he had been seeing flashes of in Limbo. She was the driving force in his return. But who was she and why was she in an iron cage?

  “That’s the witch responsible for Balthazar’s escape,” Ash told him. Ryver had removed her magic as soon as the spell had run its course, just as he wanted her to. “She hasn’t given us anything useful. I kept her in hopes that she would have a change of heart, but so far, nothing. She is just as spiteful as ever and refuses to help. I guess it’s about time to get rid of her.”

  “Get rid of her?” Jamie asked, his heart thundering in his chest. His stomach twisted and he had to resist the urge to vomit.

  “Yeah, well I can’t just let her go. There is no telling what kind of hell she might unleash on us or on the world.” Ash shook his head. “I wish there was another way, but it’s cruel to keep her confined and I can’t set her free. She lives, so she can’t be condemned to her realm of Hell yet. The only option is to kill her.”

  Jamie would later rethink his actions and wonder if he had lost his ever-loving mind, but that would come later. In a flash, he had the leader of Hell on his back with all of his weight on top of the massive angel, snarling, teeth bared, and ready to rip out his throat.

  Ash’s eyes blazed red and he growled right back. “You need to check your attitude,” he snarled at Jamie.

  “You will not harm her,” Jamie commanded. “You can’t.”

  Ash shoved the vampire off his chest and bolted upright. “I can do whatever I wish,” he growled. “And you need a lesson in respect.”

  Ash sent a wave of energy at Jamie that knocked him back on his ass. Then, with the power of his mind, Ash pulled the vampire onto his feet, and then into the air. “You have one second to tell me what the hell has gotten into you before I scatter you to the winds.”

  Jamie’s fists were clenched at his sides and his chin held high, even though his feet were off the floor. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to speak. “You can’t harm her. I won’t let you.”

  “Why the hell not?” Ash demanded, “She is a traitor to the human race, a traitor to Heaven and Hell.” He pulled his hand into a fist and restricted the amount of air the vampire could get.

  “I won’t let you hurt her,” Jamie choked out. “Because she is my mate.”

  Ash’s fury cooled, and he dropped Jamie back to his feet. His mate? His fucking mate? Ash scratched his head and kicked the end of his desk in frustration. His mate. What the Hell?

  To be continued…

  [i] Revelation 6:1-2˄ New American Standard Bible (NASB)

  [ii] Revelation 6:3-4˄ NASB

  Revelation

  The Final Chapter

  ©2016 Danielle James

  Chapter One

  “Motherfucker. Son of a bitch, cock sucking dick swallow. Shit up a fucking rope!” Ash cursed as he paced the floor in his office in Hell. He had thrown everyone out except for his wife, who was patiently listening to his rant. He had even asked Ryver to put the spell back on his cage so that the witch in it would not see or hear anything that went on.

  “Saying every curse word you know is not going to change the facts,” Elizabeth said from behind his desk.

  “Why can’t I catch a fucking break,” Ash grumbled. “His mate? His motherfucking ass-chew mate? Fuck me. Fuck me twice on Sunday. I mean, seriously? Holy frankenfuck.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Ass-chew? Frankenfuck?”

  “I’m running out of regular cuss words,” Ash admitted, pushing his hand through his hair.

  “Making up new ones isn’t going to help either,” his mate told him. “She is his mate. Therefore, we have to protect her.”

  “I don’t want to protect her!” Ash growled, “I want her head on a fucking pike!”

  “I know that,” she said softly, “but that really isn’t an option. Not if you want Jamie as a guard.”

  “Why the hell not?” Ash grumbled. “He’s already dead. Not having his mate won’t kill him.”

  “No,” Elizabeth agreed, “but it will keep him from joining us. We need all the power we can get right now and Jamie is pretty powerful. We need him on our side.”

  “Fucking douche licking, assbadger, fuckingfuckfuck,” Ash shouted. “Ahhhhhhg!”

  “I understand completely,” Elizabeth said.

  “How can you sit there and be so damned calm?” he demanded, “The whole fucking world is at risk, everything is falling apart, and now this!”

  “Because getting worked up into a tiff isn’t going to solve anything,” she told him. “We should try to find a way to keep her.”

  “She is only responsible for this whole damned mess!” Ash shouted again.

  “Please do not yell at me,” Elizabeth said calmly. “You are the leader of Hell. You can do anything, including find a solution to this little … issue.”

  “Issue?” Ash laughed. “Little issue? I’d say it’s one fuck ton of a big issue.”

  “Well, it is,” she agreed, “but we have dealt with worse.”

  Ash let out a heavy sigh, his anger finally wearing out. Elizabeth stood from his chair and he sank down into it, pulling her back into his lap. “I just don’t see how this can work,” he admitted.

  “I know,” Elizabeth said, wrapping her arm around his neck. “We will find a way,” she promised before leaning in and taking his lips in a sweet kiss. Just the feel of her lips on his was enough to make Ash forget about the problem at hand and force him to just enjoy the feel of his mate’s touch. She angled her body so that she could straddle him in his chair, pushing her brea
sts into his chest.

  Ash groaned deep in his throat as she moved her mouth away from his and trailed hot kisses down the side of his neck. The mating mark tingled, something it did whenever she was in this close of proximity to him. It seemed like forever ago when her life had been taken from her and the only way to save her was to have her turned into a vampire. That was a decision that he had never regretted, especially now as her sharp fangs scraped the side of his neck.

  “Do it,” he told her as he waved his hand at the heavy doors, locking them tight and ensuring they would not be disturbed. Elizabeth hissed and struck at his neck. Her teeth sank deep into his flesh and Ash’s body came alive for her. He held her to his throat, pushing his hips up and grinding against her body. All hell might have been breaking loose out there, but right then, in that moment, it was only Elizabeth and himself. She was his saving grace, his savior, and his salvation.

  ***

  Balthazar watched with greedy anticipation as the unmanned mini-sub surfaced. Clutched in its pincher claws was the box they had been searching for.

  “Can you believe it?” the captain of the ship asked with the same excitement. “What do you suppose is inside? Look at those markings! Beautiful.”

  “It is a treasure indeed,” Balthazar agreed. “Let’s get it on deck so we can have a closer look.”

  The human nodded his agreement and pulled his parka tighter around himself. Balthazar had forgotten that he was supposed to be cold—it was the Arctic Ocean. He watched as the box was retrieved from the sub and carried very carefully to the deck where he waited.

  “This is unlike anything I have ever seen,” the captain said. “These markings date back to before Christ. Hell, before the written language as we know it. I am thinking it is a primitive form of hieroglyphics. I can’t wait to see what’s inside.”

  “Why don’t you open it, then?” Balthazar offered.

  “Oh, no, this is your expedition. I’m just along for the ride,” the human said.

  “I can tell this is important to you,” the demon said, disguising the bulk of his excitement with sincere words. “It would be unfair of me to claim the find and all the glory. Go ahead. Open it.” The human had to want to open the box and Balthazar had to keep up pretenses until then.

  The human grinned and searched the box for the latch. “I’m not sure how to open it,” he admitted.

  “There is a seal, right there,” the demon pointed out. “You have to break it.”

  “Oh no. We have to be very careful. I wouldn’t want to damage a find this great in any way. We can take it to the labs on shore and do it right.”

  Balthazar rolled his eyes. So far, he hadn’t had to influence the humans to open the boxes, but this one was going to be difficult. “Open the box,” he commanded, forcing his will onto the lamb.

  “Yes,” the human captain agreed absently, shoving his thumb into the seal. It cracked and splintered, then the lid popped open.

  The fog that escaped surrounded the man and lifted him from the ground. The human might have screamed, but Balthazar couldn’t hear it over his own excitement. Hell, he even had a hard on. This was going to be so much fun. As the fog settled into the form of a rider, the human’s body dropped to the deck, all of his life force drained from his pathetic body. The box dropped to the deck, clattering on the wood, a now forgotten token.

  The rider sat atop a black horse, his scales in hand. “Hello, Famine,” Balthazar said. “We have work to do.”

  Chapter Two

  “Ash, I swear if you don’t open up, I am gonna break this door down!” Lucas shouted from outside the office. Ash and Elizabeth were lying in a naked heap on the floor, sweaty, and finally relaxed just a little bit.

  “I think he means it,” Elizabeth chuckled.

  “Good luck,” Ash said with a smile. “No one is getting in until I let them.”

  “It might be important,” she pointed out. “I’ll get out of here and get dressed. You might clean up a little, too, before opening the door.”

  She got up and walked to their bedroom which was just off the office, her ass swaying with each step, and Ash was helpless but to watch. God, he loved that woman.

  The pounding on the door got more insistent. “Okay, Okay,” Ash said, standing and willing his clothing back on. He waved his hand at the door and it opened, allowing Lucas and Ryver inside.

  “What the hell, man,” Lucas said, coming right on in. “The Apocalypse is on top of us and you lock us out? We have news.” Then, he actually looked around the room. The desk was broken into two pieces, lying dead on the floor. The large mirror was on its side and the entire room looked a little like a hurricane had blown through. “What happened in here? Are you okay?”

  Ryver laughed and elbowed Lucas in the side. “I think everything is just fine,” she said with a knowing look at Ash who blushed slightly before regaining control of his body.

  “What did you want to tell me?” Ash asked, kicking a piece of broken chair out of the way. Man, they really had done a number on his office.

  “We should turn on the news,” Lucas said, stepping over the assorted debris to do just that.

  Crops all across the Midwest are being infected by this unknown disease. The damage does not stop at the plant life, but the animals that eat it. Cattle farmers are desperately looking for a cure to the sudden, new disease that is killing farm life faster than they can stop it.

  At this rate, the entire U.S. will be affected as cost for untainted food skyrockets.

  “You see?” Lucas said, “I don’t know too much about the horsemen, but I’m thinking this is part of it.”

  “When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine.[i]” Ash quoted. “I know what it is. It’s Famine.”

  “Well fuck,” Lucas grunted. “Now what?”

  “I don’t fucking know,” Ash said, pushing his hands through his hair again. It was a wonder he had any hair at all at this rate.

  “Can I take the cover off the witch now?” Ryver asked. “I need to look at her again.”

  “Why?” Ash asked her, his irritation growing. “How can looking at her possibly help at this point?”

  “I’m not sure,” she answered. “I just need to do it.”

  “Fine,” Ash told her. His wings were itching to fly and he knew it was his fight or flight mechanism kicking in. He felt claustrophobic and overwhelmed, unable to deal with everything that was going on all at once. “I’m going somewhere else. Anywhere else for a few.” Without waiting for a reply, he flashed himself away.

  “I think he is working on a mental breakdown,” Lucas said to Ryver after Ash disappeared.

  “Can you blame him?” she asked. “The whole world is going to Hell in a handbasket and we always seem to be just one step behind Balthazar. He’ll be back. He just needs space.”

  “It’s bad, ya know,” Lucas said with a shake of his head. “When the CO is panicking, the troops are soon to follow.”

  “I know, but the solution is right in front of us,” Ryver told him as she waved her arms out to her sides, removing the darkness from the cage. “We just haven’t found the way to see it yet. It’s like when you look all over the place for your phone or car keys and when you find them it was so obvious where they were you have to facepalm yourself.”

  “I think a rogue demon is a little worse than lost keys,” Lucas said on a laugh, “but I get the analogy.”

  “Okay, back up, let me do this,” she told her mate.

  Lucas watched as Ryver’s incandescent wings twitched on her back. She walked around one side of the make-shift prison and then back the other way, looking for whatever it was she was searching for. He couldn’t believe his mate was
the long-since-exiled daughter of Lucifer. Ryver was half good, half evil, but had suppressed her black magic for centuries, refusing to be like her father. In order to truly embrace her power, which was significant, she had to embrace both sides of her heritage—Lucifer’s side and her mother’s side, which was a white angel that Ryver had never known. Lucas never had any doubt how it would turn out because he knew in his soul that Ryver was not evil and she had proven him right. She was the epitome of good, and it showed in everything she did.

  Ryver cocked her head to the side as she studied the witch behind the thick iron bars. And then, it occurred to her. Why hadn’t she seen it before? It was well hidden, but now that she could see it, it was as plain as the nose on her face.

  “There is a spell around her,” Ryver said, her eyes going wide. “I don’t know how I missed it before, but there it is.”

  “Can you remove it?” Lucas asked, putting his arm around his mate.

  “Of course I can, now that I can see it,” Ryver replied confidently. “Piece of cake.”

  "I think we should wait on that until Ash returns," Kaia said, entering the room. "It seems like something he would want to know about in advance." She was carrying a medium sized box in her arms. She glanced around the room and raised a brow. “Did I miss something?”

  “Nothing important,” Ryver told her with a smile.

  “Ok then,” Kaia continued, noticing the broken furniture. “Anyhow, I need to talk to Ash.”

  "Ugh," Lucas growled. "You're probably right. In case you didn't hear, though, he is off on a mental day."

  "Can you blame him?" Kaia asked, shifting the box in her arms. "In the meantime, I have something to keep us busy." She dropped the box on the floor and used his letter opener to slice through the tape. "I had these shipped two-day delivery to my old house," she continued, pulling brown packing paper out by the mile. When she finally reached what was inside, Kaia lifted a stack of books.