“We’ll help you, but the only way I know how starts with us getting Makyle here,” Cree stated as he stood. “For now, perhaps Izzy can help you come up with a protection spell from the physical manifestation of Makyle’s situation, but the mental link needs to remain open.”
“What are you thinking?” Lothar asked as he read Cree’s emotions. He was feeling hopeful and maybe a little smug.
“I have a plan to free Makyle, but we need to take some precautions.”
“For Makiah,” Uriah added. “Part of Makiah’s freedom was based off of us letting Makyle go. A rescue mission may jeopardize that.”
All eyes seemed to land on the child in Uriah’s arms. Marie looked stricken.
“Nothing is going to happen to him,” Izzy stated firmly.
“Not a fucking thing,” Kale added vehemently. “I’ll burn them to the ground if they try to touch a hair on his precious, little head.”
Izzy grinned at Kale. “I’ll join you.”
“You all are fucking nuts,” Samira muttered.
****
Holly smiled as she and Lothar entered the Hole. Marie sat with Uriah while Makiah slept in his swing.
“What’s up, guys?” Lothar asked as he sat in a chair and pulled Holly into his lap.
“We need a favor,” Uriah said, looking at Holly.
Holly arched her golden brows at him. “What do you need?”
“A safe place for Marie and Makiah. I was thinking maybe you could talk to Evan and see if they could stay with him while we sort out this Makyle business.”
Lothar nodded. “It’s smart; there is probably no place safer in this situation.”
“I’m positive Evan and the coven will welcome them.” Holly focused on Marie. “How do you feel about staying with a large coven of awesome vampires?”
Marie sucked in a deep breath. “I’m… not sure. I mean, I’m getting on board, but it’s all new and a bit overwhelming. My brain is working on grasping it all.”
“What about Kat?” Lothar offered. “Perhaps Kat can go as well.”
Uriah considered it and looked to Marie, who shrugged and smiled. Uriah pressed his palm to the side of her neck while his thumb caressed her cheek. “It would solve two concerns.”
“All right, I’ll call Evan. Go pack, and talk to Kale and Kat.”
****
Makyle hung from the rock wall of the eighth level of the Underworld. His wrist had scabbed and reopened more times than he could count. He cracked open one eye and squinted against the glare of light from the fire a group of rather appalling ogres sat around.
“We should just eat him,” one suggested.
“It’s not the rules of his punishment,” another grumbled.
“We don’t have to live by rules.”
“Ah, but you do,” a voice added from the dark depths of the cave that now housed Makyle and the ogres. Makyle tried to lift his head in Josiah’s direction, but he could hardly move. He had more broken bones than he cared to count, his left eye hadn’t opened in days, and his arms were basically numb.
“Josiah, so nice of you to come visit me… However, I am afraid I am in no shape to entertain.” Makyle coughed out the last of his smartass comment and struggled to remain conscious.
Josiah stepped from the shadows, the glow of the fire giving his sandy-colored hair a warm hue, while the flames reflected in his emerald eyes. “Save your energy, Makyle. I need no words from you right now; just rest.”
Makyle recognized the sadness in his brother’s features. While he would have done everything the same, he regretted the loss of trust and connection he’d had with his brothers.
They had been fair in their punishment… a few months in purgatory, moving though all the levels of the Underworld. They could have simply destroyed him and left him to rot. Or they could have tried.
Makyle felt a moment of relief as the space around him cooled and his vision blackened. Nothingness. He was surrounded by pure blissful oblivion.
When the throbbing returned, he opened his eyes to see Josiah standing before him on the black soil of the Phlegethon. This time, as he hung suspended above the shimmering obsidian sand, he found himself on a crucifix. It was such a cliché. Yet, here he was, stretched over the unforgiving wood while the dark sand waited only a few feet below. His gaze drifted past his brother to the river of fire. He had been moved up a level.
“You moved me early,” he choked out.
“Indeed. They would have eaten you. Death isn’t your punishment.”
Makyle smirked. “Death would be too kind, brother.”
Josiah shook his head. “Do you believe you deserve the easy way out? Our world is built on rules.”
“Fuck the rules,” Makyle ground out.
“No, Makyle; without them, our worlds fall apart. Without them, we fall as the Gods before us fell.”
Makyle shook his head. None of them would ever understand. They couldn’t. They didn’t know what love was. What it meant to fight for something because you felt an emotion that told you it was the right thing to do, that it was worth the consequences. “I hope that one day, something or someone will shake your resolve, make you question what you think you know.”
“That’s not our role. Do you really not understand?”
“I understand more than you know. I understand that my heart beats and fills when I look at the child you would have sacrificed. I know that when I think of Isabelle, I swell with pride. And when I see the faces of the Immortal Warriors, I know there is more to life than what we’ve been told. And I know that I want all that they have.”
“Then you are no longer fit to rule,” Josiah stated solemnly.
Makyle chuckled. “I think we established that the moment I resisted the majority rule on Makiah.”
Josiah shook his head. “We’ll see how you feel when you reach the castle once more.”
Makyle sighed. The call of a banshee rent the air as his brother disappeared into the shadows. Even without their magic, banshees never lost the call of hunger and the instinct to hunt. Makyle waited for the silhouette of the wraith like creature to appear from the very shadows Josiah had used to abandon him to his purgatory.
Chapter Three
Kat stood with her back to Kale as she gazed out their window to the gardens below.
“Kitten?” Kale called to her softly. He knew her so well he swore he felt her despair. “It’s gonna be okay.”
She nodded. “I know, because you, Izzy, and Bain will make it so. While I sit on the sidelines.”
Kale felt his shoulders fall. He had been so protective of her. The moment he got her back, he swore nothing would ever touch her again, and in doing so, he had broken part of her spirit. “I’m sorry, but I’m not the bad guy. I just want you safe.”
Kat nodded and turned to the stunning, black-haired, baby-faced warrior. “I love you, Kale, but I’m not a withering flower. I can help.”
He rose from the bed and made his way to her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her flush to him. “I know you’re no withering flower. Still, I love you too much to risk you. No matter what the plan is… there will be a trip to the Underworld, and I can’t have you there.”
“And I can’t bear to watch you leave me behind. I let you protect me from Darion; I stayed here while you all went to rescue Marie and Holly; and I was worried sick. This is my family, too.” She smiled up at him and cupped his cheeks. “We’re better together. If you go, I go.”
Kale sighed; he had such a hard time arguing with her when she looked at him with such love and stubbornness in her beautiful eyes.
“We’ll see what the plan is. I may not be the best to go with them, anyhow.”
She tilted her head and arched a brow. “You think it’s more a job for Izzy and Uriah?”
Kale nodded. “More like Izzy, Lothar, and Holly. Which means Bain will definitely be going as well.”
“What about Cree? Think he’ll want to be part of the rescue?”
“So will Makiah.”
A new seriousness took residence in Kale’s features as he nodded. “True.”
Kat sighed. “Do you think we’ll ever get a chance to just breathe?”
Kale dipped his forehead to hers. “Someday, Kitten. Someday.”
A knock echoed through the room, causing Kale to let Kat go and answer it. Uriah and Marie stood on the other side with a bright-eyed Makiah in Uriah’s arms. Kale tilted his head. “What’s up, brother?”
Uriah smiled. “I need your help.”
Kale stepped to the side so they could enter. That was when he noticed the two bags hanging from Marie’s shoulders—one blue and brown and the other hot pink and zebra printed.
“What’s going on, Uriah?”
Marie smiled. “Well, it’s more that we need Kat’s help.”
Kat nodded. “What can I do?”
“They can’t stay here,” Uriah started. “I talked to Makyle before his brothers took him. The deal was Makyle’s life in exchange for Makiah’s freedom. He was fine with that deal, but I can’t sit here and allow him to suffer, and we all know that Izzy won’t turn her back on what’s happening. So I need to get my son beyond the Immortals’ reach.”
Kat furrowed her brows. “What do you need from me?”
“Holly spoke with Evan. He’s agreed to take Marie and Makiah in… I was hoping you’d be willing to go with them. Marie is new to our world, and you know the vampires.”
“You need me because Holly is going with Bain and Izzy,” Kat said with a sad smile. She was always going to be the one they sent fleeing.
Uriah handed Makiah to Kale as he shook his head and stepped closer to Kat. “No. I want you to go because you are strong enough to survive the human world and keep the two most important people in my life safe. I am responsible for what is happening here, and I can’t leave my brothers to fix things while I protect my son and the woman I love. But I also can’t help my brothers unless I know Marie and Makiah are safe. Will you help us?”
Kat smiled and nodded. “On one condition.”
Uriah tilted his head, but nodded. “Sure. Name it.”
“You keep my true mate safe. And you protect my family… I am nothing without all of you.”
Uriah smiled and pulled her into his arms. “That’s where you’re wrong, Katarina. You’re purer and stronger than anyone I’ve ever met.”
She laughed softly… she was far from pure, but she didn’t argue. “When do we leave?”
Uriah’s gaze shifted to Kale. “A couple hours. If that works for the two of you.”
Kale handed Makiah to Marie and nodded. “We’ll make it work.”
Marie looked to Kat. “Thank you.”
Kat nodded and moved to Kale. She wrapped her arm around his waist. He pulled her tight to his side and dropped his lips to her temple. “We’d do anything for that little one.”
“That we would,” Kale agreed. “But now you two need to get out so I can enjoy those couple hours with my Kitten.”
Marie laughed. “I’d say have fun, but we all know you already plan on it. We’ll meet you in the Hole in a bit.”
Kale lifted Kat into his arms the second the door closed behind Uriah and Marie. With swift movements, her jeans were in shreds on the floor and his were joining them. Pressing her back to the wall, he made quick work of the buttons on her shirt, and his lips devoured her skin as he sank deep inside of her. Lifting his face to hers, he whispered, “I love you,” before capturing her mouth in a needy, heat-filled kiss.
Chapter Four
“You moved him ahead of schedule,” Zarek accused, as he entered the great room of the black castle.
Josiah lifted his gaze and nodded. “I did, in fact. It was my shift to watch over him, and I made the call to move him from the Ogres’ cave. He was meant to be on display and left to the mercy of those who reside in each level. He was not to be their dinner, and that was where he was headed.”
“You look at me as though I came to this punishment on my own. We chose this.”
“Correct… only you seem to find more joy in it than myself and Alistair.”
Zarek scoffed. “I believe it is time for Makyle to remember his place. He’s been weakened by his relationship with the Fae. Our world is black and white! You break the rules, you must be punished in order to restore balance.”
“We may live in a world of black and white, but Makyle—and even our sisters—see many shades of gray, which means Makyle sees his relationship with the warriors and the half-breed, Izzy, in a much different light than you or even I. He believes those relationships have made him better… stronger and wiser.”
Zarek groaned. At some point over the past few years, he had become the unreasonable one because he refused to yield when it came to his responsibilities to his domain and the Fae species in general. He was losing his brothers to free will and emotions. How could they have lived so long in the routine and roles the Fates set forth for them just to suddenly question all they had been created for?
“Perhaps by the time he moves through the nine levels, he will see things the way we do—or the way we all used to—If not, we will be forced to reevaluate his position among us.”
“You wish to relieve him of his role?” Josiah questioned.
“Of course not… we will just have to reevaluate his level of involvement.”
Alistair entered the room then. “I don’t believe it will come to that; from what I gather, he may no longer wish to rule at all.”
Josiah tilted his head at his brother. “What makes you say that?”
“It may have been your shift, Josiah, but I never trust an ogre, especially when there is fresh flesh involved. I heard your conversation with Makyle. The rule of the Underworld may shift to just three.”
“Impossible… we are the Immortal Four—we were created to rule,” Zarek stated firmly.
“Perhaps, but do you honestly not find it funny that there are four of us and only three sisters? The Underworld is out of balance; it always has been.”
“The Fates created us this way for a reason,” Zarek said with barely veiled annoyance. He was getting tired of all his siblings questioning everything.
“And the Fates aren’t ill-behaved? They don’t do things for their own amusement?” Josiah countered in a deadpan tone.
Zarek grunted and exited the room. “It’s my turn to watch over our brother.”
“Keep an eye out for the banshees; they were all over him earlier.”
****
Samira’s lids fell heavily. She’d fought it as long as she could, but the bed in the room the warriors had provided her in the Light Castle called to her. There wasn’t any magic protecting her yet, and there wasn’t even a plan to help her thus far.
Bain’s mate, Izzy, was a feisty bitch. She hated to admit to herself that she liked her. The once human was eternally loyal, and she loved that bastard, Makyle. Samira couldn’t help but wonder if she was what had changed Makyle from the man she’d met so many years ago. Sure, he had saved her, so there was softness in him all those years ago, but he was different now—with the child, with the warriors, and even with her.
As sleep took her, the peace of a dreamless slumber was soon replaced with the blazing orange and red of liquid fire cutting through the dark landscape. Sweat began to form on Samira’s lip as she stood upon the onyx shore of the rapidly moving river of fire, flames licked at the shore reaching out to light the darkness and cast eerie shadows around her. With each popping bubble, fire was spat into the sky. Swiping at the moisture that clung to her delicate skin, she turned from the mesmerizing scene. The river was deadly and gorgeous, all at the same time, but she knew it meant she was visiting the Underworld. She scanned the barren land until her gaze fell upon Makyle, bound by barbed wire to a cross on the black sand of the river’s bank. His eyes were closed, but his lips moved slowly as he mo
uthed a string of words. Moving closer to him, Samira studied his lips. Isabelle, Makiah, Jelena, the warriors, Samir—Sam.
Sam? Was he somehow finding strength in the thought of her?
She sighed and felt her heart ache at the site of the once-proud Ruler. Blood crusted where the barbs held him to the cross that suspended him above the sandy shores of the Underworld’s prominent river.
“They’re going to come for you,” she whispered to him.
His one eye cracked open and seemed to search for the source of the words she’d just spoken.
With a hopeful step, she moved closer. For all her anger and hate… even she could admit that he didn’t deserve this. “Makyle? Can you hear me?” she asked hopefully.
A smile pulled at his cracked lips.
“Hallucinations. I would prefer the visual kind, but a conversation is good too… So tell me, Samira, who do you suspect is going to come for me?”
Samira’s eyes widened. He could hear her. Stepping even closer to him, she cautiously lifted her palm to his chest. “Izzy. She would fight through heaven and hell to save you. She loves you.”
Makyle chuckled, which lead to a bout of coughing, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. “Now I know for sure that this is all in my head. My Sam would have nothing of kind words for me.”
Samira’s head fell back… was she truly so cruel to him that even now, as she attempted to relieve some of his suffering, he couldn’t accept it because the words were spoken from her tainted lips?
“I’m sorry that my anger has poisoned even these words. But your Izzy loves you, and she will come for you.”
“My baby Fae,” he murmured, before his head fell forward once more.
Sam held her gaze on his beaten form as he began to fade and she found herself in the comforts of the Light Fae castle once more. Blowing out a deep breath, she rolled to her side. Confusion was swelling and crashing over her.
What was wrong with her?
Her emotions were all over the place, and deep down, she knew it was because she’d never been allowed to feel what was truly churning inside of her. All her life, she had lived at the whim of others. When she finally found herself in the Human world, she felt cut off from any emotion that weakened her. All she really knew was survival.
Immortal Awakening: Immortal Heart Page 2
