Return to Me (Storm Lords)

by Nina Croft

  “Go on,” he murmured.

  “The wall is long. I can’t see any end to it, I could walk for days, maybe lifetimes, and I would never reach the end.”

  “Perhaps it goes around in a circle,” Torr said.

  “Maybe, but if it does the circle is so big I can’t even see a curve.”

  “Anything else?”

  “No. Nothing. There are no windows, and no doors. Just the wall.”

  “Knock it down.”

  Her eyes flew open. “What?”

  “Tear the wall down, Bella.”

  “I don’t want to.” Her voice sounded small and pathetic. She swallowed as dread seeped into her, forming a cold solid lump in her belly. The memory of other people’s pain filled her mind. Her mother’s hatred. She didn’t want to open herself up to that again.

  “You don’t need it anymore.”

  Her anger flared. It felt better than her fear and she allowed it to rise up inside her. “How the hell do you know what I need?”

  He ran a hand over his face and leaned back against the sofa, staring up into space. “Why can’t you trust me?”

  She shook her head. “Why should I trust you? I don’t know you.”

  “Open up your mind and you will see who I am.”

  “I can’t, even if I wanted to. Anyway, the wall’s too strong. You’d need a bulldozer to shift it.”

  “Well, use one then.”

  She glanced at his face in surprise. Then closed her eyes and pictured a huge red bulldozer. She put her foot down and aimed it straight for the wall. A foot away, it stalled.

  “I can’t do this,” she said.

  “Yes, you can.”

  ***

  “Where is she?” Lilith could hear the grinding of her own teeth.

  Razul shrugged. “My men had her, but something went wrong.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  He shrugged. “With the Destroyer I presume.”

  Lilith turned away, as the fury rose inside her. She paced the room, coming to a halt in front of him. Perhaps it was time to put an end to this farce. Torr would see reason without Razul’s intervention.

  “Where is the jewel?”

  “In a safe place.”

  She took a deep breath. “Razul, if you fail me in this…”

  “I won’t fail. I have a little trouble brewing. I can guarantee the Destroyer is going to be heading out for a while. I’ll get another chance at the woman.”

  ***

  The frustration mounted inside her, simmering, threatening to explode and make a goddamn horrible mess. However hard she tried, nothing worked. The wall was as solid as when she’d first stepped into Torr’s office that morning.

  So far, Torr had kept his word and his distance. He almost seemed afraid to touch her, but that didn’t stop him from watching her incessantly. He was doing it now. From his enormous chair. Behind his enormous desk. Fingers steepled, deceptively sleepy eyes half-closed, fixed on her.

  “I’m trying, okay,” she muttered.

  “It’s not working.”

  She bit her lip, felt his gaze follow the movement, and the tension in the room ratcheted, heat flowing through her.

  Don’t go there. Business remember.

  She sprang to her feet. “I need to get out of here. I need some fresh air.”

  “Okay.”

  He stood up, and she stared at him.

  “Alone. I want to go out alone. You stay here. And I go out. Comprende?”

  Something flashed in his eyes, and a flicker of guilt stung her. Bloody hell—she’d hurt his feelings now, and there was absolutely no reason why that should bother her. She ground her teeth and fought back the urge to mumble an apology.

  Torr lifted one shoulder then reached for the phone on his desk. “I’ll call Finn and Kill.”

  Her temperature skyrocketed. “I don’t want Finn and Kill. What part of the word ‘alone’ do you not understand?”

  Torr placed the phone gently down, shoved his hands in his pockets, and studied her as he often did. As though she was some sort of puzzle he was trying to take apart. Only trouble was, if he succeeded, she might never be whole again, might never find her way back.

  “Have you forgotten what happened to your friend?” he asked.

  The comment brought her up short.

  Oh, God. Justin.

  She couldn’t believe it, but she had almost forgotten. At least she had pushed her grief to the back of her mind. She’d always been good at that.

  “Bella, until I find out why Justin was targeted, I need to keep you safe.”

  She regarded him suspiciously. “You seriously expect me to believe that you don’t already know why he was killed?”

  She’d been thinking about this a lot over the last few hours, in the meager moments she’d had to herself. And she’d concluded that she had landed right in the middle of something extremely dodgy. What she hadn’t worked out yet was whether she was an accidental participant—just in the wrong place at the wrong time—or whether she was the catalyst that had started it all.

  While she didn’t particularly like the first explanation, the second— that she was responsible—filled her with horror. Justin had saved her life, and she’d been the death of him.

  Torr’s face had reverted to that state of blankness she had come to expect when he didn’t want to answer her questions.

  Enough!

  She stalked toward him, coming to a halt only inches away. “Well?”

  “I’ve told you what I can.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Today, it hung loose around his shoulders, dark as midnight, framing his pale, bony face. She put her hand behind her back to fight the urge to reach up and stroke the silky strands. She could remember the feel of it from the night before. Her body tingled at the memory.

  “I’d tell you more if I could.” Torr spoke again, dragging her from her thoughts. “But there are reasons. Good reasons.”

  Bella didn’t need her powers back to sense his frustration. She wasn’t giving up so easily, but at the same time, she wasn’t unreasonable. “What reasons?”

  He looked away, and her own frustrations rose up, threatening to swamp her. “Hey, you know what?” she snapped. “I bet you can’t tell me that either, can you?”

  “A few more days and I’ll explain everything. Trust me until then.”

  The strange thing was she did trust him. That didn’t stop her from wanting to know what was going on right now though.

  She also believed he had valid reasons for not telling her more. Something strange was going on. Something that couldn’t be explained by logical reasoning. A vision of crimson eyes flashed across her mind. Inhuman eyes.

  All her life she’d tried to ignore the part of herself that couldn’t be explained by rational argument.

  Freak. Monster.

  When she was young, she’d tried to pretend she had some sort of medical condition, maybe a genetic disorder inherited from the father she’d never known. But she’d never really believed it.

  Once, when she was six, in her desperation, she’d sneaked into a church, hoping to find some sort of sanctuary from the pain of others. But she’d found no peace there. Instead, the feelings had intensified, pounding through her, like a physical assault; she’d run, and sworn never to try that again.

  Since she’d closed her powers off, she’d found ignoring that side of her nature much easier. But it was still part of her, slumbering deep inside, safe behind the wall.

  And Torr wanted her to let it out.

  With a huge sigh, she wandered back to the sofa. Sinking down onto the soft leather, she leaned her head back, and closed her eyes.

  She sensed him sitting opposite from her and peeked through her lashes. He appeared tense, unsure which way she would turn, and inconvenient guilt flashed through her again. She didn’t want to feel responsible for Torr’s hurt feelings. But as usual, what she wanted bore no relationship to what she got. She sighed again and sat up
straight. “I don’t suppose there’s more coffee.” She tried for a faint smile. “Smashing walls is thirsty work.”

  He flashed her a smile in return and nodded, but at that moment, there was a low tap on the door. Torr rose to his feet and strode across the room, flinging open the double doors.

  Cade stood there and said, “We need to talk.”

  Bella could tell from his expression that something bad must have happened. Torr glanced from Cade back to her. He’d obviously reached the same conclusion. His eyes narrowed and she was pretty sure he was considering sending her away.

  A few minutes ago, she’d wanted out. Now, she wasn’t going anywhere.

  She wanted to know what was going on. She was in the middle of this and she wasn’t budging when things got interesting. Leaning back, she folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow.

  Torr nodded and turned back to Cade. “Come in.”

  Cade walked past him, glancing to where Bella sat. “The others should be here for this,” he said.

  “Call them,” Torr replied.

  Bella sat in silence while Cade made the calls, and then Torr made one of his own to get her more coffee. With the calls made, Torr paced the room, while Cade, perched on the edge of the desk, and studied her.

  Bella scowled. She was getting a little pissed off with being studied.

  “So, how’s it going?” Cade asked.

  “How’s what going?”

  He lifted one elegant eyebrow. “Torr said you were trying to break through to your powers.”

  The thought of them discussing her, made her squirm. “Did he?”

  Cade opened his mouth to say something else, when she heard footsteps outside. The ‘others’ whoever they were—and she had to admit to a certain curiosity—must have been close by, waiting for the call.

  Four men entered the room. She recognized Finn and Killian, but the other two were strangers.

  Finn brought up the rear, carrying a tray of coffee, with one cup and a large pot. He put it down on the coffee table in front of Bella, but she was too busy inspecting the newcomers.

  They all had a look of Torr about them, despite their varying coloring. All tall with broad shoulders and lean rangy builds. Finn was blond, Killian dark. The two others were both black haired and looked the most similar of all the men, with olive skin and eyes like the summer sky.

  Perhaps she should have felt intimidated, but she didn’t, just curious and her gaze flickered from one man to the next.

  When she didn’t move to pour the coffee, Torr came across the room and sank down beside her. He leaned forward and poured her a cup, wrapping her fingers around it.

  She took a sip and sighed, then looked at him. “Are you going to introduce me?”

  “Cade, Finn, and Kill, you know.” They all nodded and took up places around the room, with Finn and Kill lounging on the sofa opposite hers, and Cade leaning on the desk, arms folded across his chest. “The others are Roark and Devlin.” He nodded toward the other two and they came forward.

  Roark stretched out a hand to her, and Bella put down her coffee and shook it. Next Devlin took her hand, but instead of shaking, he brought it to his lips and kissed the back. Beside her, Torr stiffened and then shifted closer. A smile flickered across Devlin’s face. He dropped her hand and stepped back, moving away to lean against the wall beside Roark.

  She waited for someone to speak, but they all appeared to be waiting for something and watching her. What was that about? She sipped her coffee and tried to curb her impatience. Was she finally going to learn something? Excitement fizzed in her veins.

  There was a sound from the door. It was pushed open without a knock and Phoebe stood there. She smiled at Bella as she passed and went to stand by Cade, who wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him.

  They were so intensely in love. Bella had never really considered the emotion before. It wasn’t something that impinged on her life. But Cade and Phoebe appeared wrapped in a golden haze.

  She was getting fanciful.

  And the golden haze was getting thicker. She put her hand up and rubbed her forehead. Phoebe spoke, but the words were jumbled and refused to make sense. Bella stared down at her coffee, her hands were shaking, and Torr reached out and took the cup gently from her.

  Something was wrong here.

  Her gaze flew to Torr. His expression was rueful. She glanced at the coffeepot on the tray, the single cup. Yeah, there was definitely something wrong. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t seem to get her brain in gear.

  Darkness was closing in on her, framing Torr’s face. His arms came around her and he lowered her so she lay on the sofa. The world narrowed to a pinprick of light.

  It came to her then in a moment of clarity. The sneaky, rotten bastard had drugged her coffee. What sort of…

  Then the last light vanished and she was swallowed by darkness.

  ***

  “She’s not going to forgive you for this,” Phoebe said.

  Torr reached down, tugged off Bella’s boots, and lifted her feet so she lay full length on the couch. Rolling away from him, she curled onto her side. She was under deep, and he stroked a finger down her soft cheek before glancing across at Phoebe. He bit down the urge to growl. Phoebe was telling the truth, but what choice did he have.

  “Probably not, but I needed you all here, and I’m not leaving her on her own.”

  Phoebe shrugged. “Just saying.”

  “She’ll understand.”

  Phoebe snorted. “If Cade had ever drugged me, he wouldn’t be around to be understood.”

  Cade grinned and tightened his arms around her. Then the smile faded. He put her from him and came to stand in front of Torr. Torr could see from his expression that something was badly wrong.

  “We have problems.”

  “What sort of problems?”

  “Big ones.”

  “For fucks sake, just tell me.” Torr got to his feet, unable to stand the inactivity any longer. He paced the room, staring out of the window, down to the city of London below. He’d always believed the hardest part would be finding her. It had taken nearly a thousand years. But it had finally happened.

  He’d seen Bryce fail, but it had never occurred to him that Soraya would not know him. Now fear clawed at his guts.

  What if he failed? The darkness was closing in on him.

  He didn’t need these distractions right now. And he knew there was no coincidence here. This was a carefully thought out strategy.

  A thousand years ago, he’d planned to help Lilith escape the confines of the Abyss. Those created as demons did not have the power to open the portals between the worlds. And while the portals remained closed, the physical manifestation of a demon was limited to the Abyss.

  They could visit earth in two ways, either by possessing the human’s body, as Razul had done the previous night. There were always humans open to the sweet persuasions of the demon. Humans who thought they could benefit from the possession, only realizing too late that their souls were damned to Hell for eternity. But there were limitations to such possessions, the host’s body and mind started deteriorating.

  The alternative was an astral projection, such as the demons who had killed Bella’s friend. They had great strength for a limited period of time, but the projection took an enormous amount of power, which could not be maintained for long. However, they did have the advantage that if they were killed here on earth, then their physical form re-manifested itself in the Abyss. If he wanted to get Bella’s revenge on the ones who had slaughtered her friend, as he had promised, then he would have to hunt them down and slay them on their home ground.

  Torr and his brothers were not creatures of the Abyss, and as such, they had the ability to open the portals and move freely between the realms.

  They could also open a portal to Heaven, but they would not be welcomed there. Once they had all called it home, but he hadn’t entered Heaven in over two thousand years.

&nb
sp; Torr glanced across the room at Bella.

  Had it been worth it?

  Watching her sleep, warmth stole over his heart. She looked young, innocent. The cynicism, so much part of her current life, was smoothed away. He would never regret what he had done, all he had given up. Before her, love had been an abstract concept; it was only in Soraya’s arms that he had learned its true meaning.

  He did regret what he had become after she was taken from him, the dark deeds he had performed. Sometimes he believed he would never be able to atone for all the evil he had committed.

  He could only try.

  He had spent the years since fighting evil where he found it. Even though demons were confined to the Abyss, there were plenty of other creatures to battle. There had been times through history where the portals had opened, demons had escaped, and many had bred with humans. The same was true of angels. He couldn’t believe he was the first angel ever to have fallen in love. Though he was certain, he’d been the first one to steal the Elixir.

  Most humans with some sort of powers, the witches, warlocks, shape-shifters, had demon or angel blood. He’d even met beings he was sure had both.

  He’d always believed that Soraya had angel’s blood, and that it was the reason she called to him. He remembered their first meeting. He’d been speechless, overcome by her innate goodness.

  He moved to the center of the room, and turned to Cade. “Okay, tell me what’s going on.”

  “I’ll let the others tell you,” Cade said. He turned to Roark. “Go ahead.”

  Roark pushed himself off the wall and came forward. “We just got back from the Abyss. The whole place is on the move. An army is being mobilized.”

  Torr heaved a huge sigh. All he wanted was to be left alone with Bella. “Could it be internal?” he asked the question, but knew what the answer was going to be before Roark spoke.

  “Not likely.”

  “Damn.” There was always internal squabbling going on somewhere in the Abyss. Lilith encouraged it, though she would never admit that.

  Roark shrugged. “It seems that this time everyone is on the same side, and your friend, Razul, is right in the thick of it. There’s a total buzz going on down there. No one knows what’s going down, or at least no one’s talking even if they do know. But everyone knows something big is happening, and it’s happening soon. They all want to be part of it.”