by Michele Hauf
“I want to stand on your side, Zen, but...” He sighed heavily.
“Your heart is true. But you mustn’t sacrifice your principles to please me.”
“Sounds like the best reason to sacrifice.” His smile was genuine. “For you.”
If he was serious, she could so get behind his help.
“You don’t need to do this.” She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. “I am capable.”
“I believe you are capable. And I’m not particularly keen about protecting demons. But I want to stand at your side. If you’ll have me.” He pulled her around to stand before him. “You’re becoming more faery every day. The moment you are fully faery you are no good to either the angels or the demons.”
“So we just wait it out?”
“No. I don’t like hiding, doing nothing.”
“You would not.” She tilted up on her toes to kiss him. “But can we wait through the night?”
“Of course. The denizen can’t cross my wards. You’re safe here.”
“And so are you.”
“Is that so?” He kissed her. “I do feel safe in your arms. That, no matter what the world tosses my way, I can overcome. Because if you’re standing there waiting for me when the dust clears, then everything is right.”
“I’ll be there. I promise.”
“What about being queen? Can you give that up?”
“Oh, hell, yes. Though I will miss the crown.”
“You think there’s a crown?”
“There had better be. One can hardly be queen without some sparkly headgear.”
He kissed her head. “When this is over I’ll give you the prettiest, sparkliest crown I can find.”
“Promise?”
“You have my word.”
* * *
They had sex in the shower, and afterward, Zen curled up on the couch with Blade to watch a late-night showing of Dracula. She laughed at all the right places. He loved her for that. He was distracted from the black-and-white flick by the flash of headlights on the ceiling.
Now what?
“Who’s that?”
“Stay here.” Grabbing the halo blade from the kitchen counter, he headed down the stairs and outside.
Trouble hopped out of his truck and strode up to the open garage entrance where Blade stood staring skyward. The massive black cloud had returned. “What the hell is that? Can you ever not attract danger, little brother?”
“I can use your help again,” Blade said. “That cloud comes from the nightclub. Must be some form of demonic spy cloud. And you see those red eyes at the edge of the Darkwood?”
Trouble cast his gaze along the forest edge, and he suddenly jumped. “What the hell?”
“The mimicus denizen,” Blade confirmed. “They’re keeping an eye on me.”
“That’s the ones who fucked you up?”
“Yep.”
Trouble punched a fist into his palm. “How do they play into all this?”
“Kesabel hired them.”
“Kesabel?”
“The Casiphean leader who wants to make Zen their queen.”
Trouble whistled. “This is way beyond my story line, bro. You’re going to have to catch me up. I just stopped by for some gas. Was headed to the casino in the next town and realized I needed a fill.”
“You can fill up and then come inside for coffee. If I’m right, we’re going to have an all-nighter.”
* * *
“So you’re a demon?”
Zen sat up from the couch, where she’d almost dozed during a commercial, and eyed the cocky werewolf who approached. “Trouble, hi. Uh, not demon. Yet.”
“That’s what Blade tells me. We’re heading to the nightclub to take a look around. Guess my casino plans are spoiled...” He plopped onto the couch beside her. “Dracula! I love this one. Did my brother tell you we used to tease him about being Dracula when we were kids?”
“And how many times did I let you get away with that?” Blade called as he topped the stairs.
“Once.” Trouble winked at Zen. “He beat the shit out of me and I gave it up. No one ever gets my jokes.”
Zen pushed the blanket off and sat up straight, stretching out her arms. “If you guys are going to the nightclub, I’m coming along.”
“No,” Blade called as he disappeared into the bedroom. He reappeared with the bowie knife and stuffed it down the side of his combat boot. The halo sword he shoved in the sheath strapped at his hip. “You’re safe if you stay in the barn. I’ve wards that will keep everything out.”
“Those same wards that you said needed refreshing? I don’t want to stay alone. Not with demons lurking in the woods. Besides, I could be of help. I do have the halo.”
“No,” Blade said at the same time that Trouble said, “She could be helpful. If the demons want her, she could play bait.”
Blade gaped at his brother.
Zen shrugged and nodded eagerly. “I can do bait. I think.”
Trouble winked at Blade. He had to admit he’d rather keep Zen in eyesight even if it meant added danger.
“Fine,” he conceded.
Zen slipped on her shoes and bounced.
“But no bait. You do as I say, and keep out of sight when possible. Promise?”
“Whatever you say, boss.”
Chapter 27
Trouble drove because he owned the big, bad Dodge half-ton diesel. The abomination was painted olive-green camouflage. Trouble thought the paint job ironic. His brothers snickered about it behind his back. He navigated the truck down the country road toward the club.
Zen sat next to Blade, arm wrapped around his and head tilted onto his shoulder. She was warm and smelled like sex and apples.
He kissed the crown of her head. “You got your halo along?”
“In my backpack. You told me never to go anywhere without it.”
“In case of emergency...” He wondered if it was wise to suggest such a thing? There could be no other option if things got hairy. “Put the halo above your head.”
He felt her peer up at him but he kept his eyes on the dark country road, peeled for red eyes or moving objects not in human form.
“What if it’s too late?” she said in the tiniest voice.
He caught Trouble’s glance that seemed to echo, yeah, what if? What if the angel within her was gone and wouldn’t react to the halo and accept her earthbound soul?
“I’ll have your back,” he said. “Promise.”
She snuggled even closer to him and he wished they were not driving toward danger, but instead away from it all. Could he steal a moment out of time to simply enjoy being with Zen? They’d shared a few moments of bliss, but that had been between running from demons and angels. Could life ever be normal?
Did he want normal?
“Yes,” he murmured. With all his heart and soul he wanted the freedom to exist without having to look over his shoulder all the time.
“Your brother Stryke lives a good life?” she asked.
“Uh...yes?”
“Do you want that?”
“Perfection? No.” Had she been privy to his thoughts? Or was it they shared a connection that they mustn’t ignore? “I want peace,” he said. “Quiet.”
“Seems as if you have quiet out on your little plot of land far from the city and your family members.”
True. And he had been generally demon-free until Zen had entered his life.
“I’ve brought you something more,” she said. “The question is, will it be too much for you? Will you want to return to the peace you had when this is all over? Demons forced back to Daemonia and angels extinguished?”
“All I want is you, Zen.”
“You have me. Now let’s see what you do to keep me.”
He looked down at her and she beamed up a smile curved beneath violet eyes. Violet? Was she so close to faery, then?
Trouble’s grin was so loud that Blade could but smile in response. So he’d gone sappy. If Trouble said so
mething he’d give him the fistfight he deserved. Only problem was, his brother would enjoy that too much.
“Kelyn’s behind us,” Trouble announced.
He slowed the vehicle to a stop. Blade rolled down the window. Kelyn, his faery brother, called out to be heard over the idling diesel engine, “Need some help?”
“You bet. Follow us to the nightclub.”
“You going to kick more demon ass?” Kelyn yelled.
“With hope, no.”
But Blade knew that hope had long been siphoned from his soul.
* * *
After the brothers got out, Zen moved over to the driver’s seat. They stalked up to the stone staircase before the mansion. There stood a man, or probably the demon Kesabel, waiting for him. Zen hadn’t seen Kesabel so she could only guess.
She rolled down the window and the blond brother, Kelyn, was standing by the door. He said, “No matter what happens you stay in the truck. Blade’s orders. And roll up the window.”
She nodded, but didn’t feel like a weakling damsel who needed to be protected by the boys. She was smart enough to know to stay out of the fray, if that should occur. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to jump in should things require another hand. Though she saw no other demons in the darkness surrounding the mansion. And surely their red eyes would reveal them.
She tried to hear what Blade was saying to Kesabel, but the obnoxious rumble of the truck engine made it impossible. Trouble had asked her to keep it idling for a fast getaway, if need be. So she strained to hear through the closed window.
* * *
“You brought an army?” Kesabel asked as Blade stopped at the bottom step. The demon, clad in maroon leather armor Blade was all too familiar with, stood two steps up.
“If you consider three men an army,” Blade said, “then my numbers won’t even blink should you call on yours.”
Kesabel chuckled. “You know my fellow Casipheans are few in this realm.”
“Right. You had to call out the mimicus denizen to help you. I see they lent you some armor. They don’t scare me, Kesabel. You’re going to have to try harder.”
“I’m not attempting to scare. I’m going for the win.” He made a show of glancing over Blade’s shoulder toward the truck. “I see you brought our queen. If you would be so kind as to escort her into the club, we can get started.”
“Started?” Kelyn, who flanked Blade’s side, glanced to him.
Blade shook his head at the idiot demon’s audacity. “She has no desire to become your queen. Listen, Kesabel, and I say this with sincerity and the genuine desire not to slaughter more of your ranks.”
The demon crossed his arms. The small portion of his neck that was exposed revealed many of the dark runes, no doubt, wards against vampires.
“I spoke with Simaseel,” Blade said.
“The very angel who sicced you on us. You finally figured that one out?”
Yeah, so he’d been slow on that one.
“The angels sent Zen to infiltrate your denizen. If you invite her through the portal and make her your queen? She’ll open Daemonia to Sim’s ranks and they will eradicate you.”
“Impossible. Angels cannot access Daemonia.”
“Yeah? All right, then. Let’s give it a go.” Blade made a show of turning toward the trucks. He didn’t give a signal to his brothers to follow because Kesabel cleared his throat.
As expected.
“Truly?” the demon asked.
Blade nodded. “Sim wants to take you guys out. I assume because you possess divinity.”
“A faery tale. Fat lot of good divinity does us in Daemonia.”
“You don’t actually know how to utilize it, do you? You know, you can fight the angels with divinity.”
“Lies told to you by the angel to lure us closer to the brink.”
“Actually, it was told to me by a halo hunter. What did he call himself? An angelologist.”
“A made-up word for a boastful human who thinks he knows things.”
“All righty. If you want to ignore the truth.”
“Divinity is but a remnant. Trust me, vampire. Are you or are you not going to allow Synestriel to approach the portal?”
“That’s a big not.”
Kesabel scratched his head near the horn. “Then, we’ll have to give her reason to want to make such a sacrifice.” The demon glanced at Trouble, who flanked Blade five feet to the right, and then to Kelyn, who stood to his left.
“There’s nothing you can do that will make her come to you.”
“How about this?”
Blade saw the demon swing forward his arm, but as he deflected it expertly with a forearm, the demon’s other arm shot up with an undercut. He felt the wooden stake enter his chest, plunge between rib bones and tear through heart muscle.
Gripping the wood dowel stuck in his chest, Blade dropped to his knees. Behind him Trouble and Kelyn swore. And Zen’s scream was the sound that kept him in this world, alive, but struggling for consciousness.
Chapter 28
Zen ran toward her lover, on his knees before the demon. The brothers hadn’t had a chance to stop the inevitable staking. Even Blade hadn’t seen it coming in time to retreat. Damned demon!
A skitter in the air averted her gaze upward as she ran. A black cloud swirled toward earth.
“Demons!” Trouble yelled. The eldest brother shifted to werewolf shape in a matter of seconds. His clothing tore and fell away from the incredible growing musculature, and his wolf head and maw tilted back to howl.
From out of the mansion poured the denizen in demon form, talons scything the air and wicked menace clouding the night atmosphere.
Kelyn grasped Zen’s arm before she could get to Blade. “You’re not safe! Get back in the truck.”
“No! He’s been staked.”
And yet, when most vampires would disintegrate and sift to ash on the ground, Blade had not. He knelt there, gripping the thick wooden dowel as Kesabel looked over him.
“It’s what the demons want,” Kelyn said. “To get you out in the open.”
Zen met her lover’s fierce gaze. He yelled something at her, but she couldn’t hear for the noise from above. It wasn’t the usual demonic din that accompanied their ranks, but instead was populated with animal sounds of all species. They weren’t demons...
“Angels,” Kesabel hissed. And to the heavens he shouted, “Thou shall not pass!”
The spoken angel ward was not effective when issued by a demon. Dozens of angels aimed for the ground where the vampire knelt, flanked by a werewolf and a faery.
Zen wielded her halo. She managed to make it to Blade’s side. He stood, still clasping the stake.
“Get in the truck,” he demanded.
“Nope. Got a battle going on right now. And you look as though you need some help.”
“I’m fine.”
She studied the stake in his chest. “That’s your definition of fine?”
“If I don’t yank it out...” He winced. “I’m good.”
“Just need to process, eh?”
He nodded and managed a smile.
“Blade!” Kelyn stopped before Blade and Zen, back to them. He wielded a bow and arrow aimed toward the descending angels. “You good?”
Blade nodded to his brother. “Let’s do this!”
* * *
The werewolf took a hit to the chest from two demons working in tandem. But even as the wolf’s back landed on the ground, his arms arced forward, catching his attackers by the necks and crushing their heads together. He flung them aside and leaped into the fray.
Bow and arrows in hand, Kelyn utilized his wings effectively as weapons as he flew over demon heads and clashed with angels. Before placing the arrow to the bow, he sliced through his skin with the arrow tip. Ichor glittered on the sharp point. Sure poison that dropped the demons to the ground and momentarily stunned the angels.
Blade held strong, even though the stake in his heart pulsed and burned like
a mother. But he knew to keep it in. Removing it would allow his heart to deflate and burst—sure death. He swung at Kesabel, then realized who it was and pulled the swing just before the halo blade slashed the demon.
Kesabel paused, hands up in surrender. “Take your shot, demon slayer.”
“You are not my enemy. Use your divinity,” Blade growled. “It’s the only way to defeat these bastards!”
“But I don’t— I’ve...staked you. And still you insist...” Kesabel studied his palms. “Really?”
All around the two men the battle raged, angels taking out demons and vice versa. The werewolf and faery had joined forces and stood back-to-back, with Zen at their sides. She wielded her halo expertly, having learned that throwing it toward an opponent would slice through skin and bone, and then the halo would return to her grip. Like a boomerang with unholy intent.
While Kesabel considered the power within him, Blade struck the angel who loomed overhead. The opponent grasped him by the wrist and took flight. Midair, Blade unfurled his wings, but one appendage was struck by a passing angel, and that upset the sword from his grasp. The halo blade fell to earth. Trouble looked up just in time to catch the sword and wield it, leaping over falling demons to go for the angel who shrieked in defiance.
Using his wings as weapons, Blade sliced at the angel but only succeeded in cutting arms and legs. He couldn’t get to any part that would cause death. And really, the only effective weapon for killing these bedamned things was the halo blade or Zen’s intact halo.
Fangs descending in anger, he resisted the urge to bite, for that would bring his death. And yet, death sat lodged in his heart. The organ pulsed and pushed blood around the wood column, yet had not given up on him. On life.
On Zen. He had to survive for Zen.
Sure that his brothers would have Zen’s back while he was air-bound, Blade twisted in the air, bringing the angel around with him, so he was under him. He slashed his wing across the angel’s, and his opponent retaliated with a howl. It was then Blade realized he fought Simaseel. The bastard who had tricked him into taking demon lives. Easy enough to do when he’d been so down on himself over the torture.
