Betrayed (Raven Daughter Book 2)

by A. D. Trosper

  When I heard a footstep behind me, I turned with a smile, ready to point out what I’d done. The words died on my tongue and my smile faded. It wasn’t Caius. It was four men who looked an awful lot like the one who had died at the portal in the mortal world. Sentinels. I scrambled to my feet, my heart leaping in my throat.

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  “Nadia’s betrayal would remain forever bitter on my tongue. Not every demonborn cares. I do. Nadia knew that, and did it anyway.” ~Caius

  Chapter 10

  I was right; they were taller than Caius by about half a head, each with features that were perfect except for the icy cold that filled their eyes. “Josephine of the Reapers, your arrest has been ordered, we are here to carry it out.”

  There was no way for me to defeat them. No way even for Caius to. Maybe if I could make the trees…I bolted for the glowing forest, running flat out with fear-choked adrenaline aiding every step. I’d crossed under the first tree at the edge when one of the Sentinels caught my flying hair in his fist and yanked me backward.

  I slammed into the ground at his feet, the wind knocked from me. The Sentinel frowned, his voice calm when he said, “You cannot outrun us or overpower us. Our orders are to bring you in alive if possible, but dead will work if it is the only way. It is best you come quietly.”

  Above him, the branches of the tree started to sway. I moved one hand so it lay palm down on an exposed root. The ancient power rose up and flowed through me as I sent the tree my pain, though I wasn’t sure how I did it. The Sentinel leaped aside as a branch lashed out at him, his startled gaze jumping to the tree.

  I rolled and scrambled past the trunk. The Sentinel attempted to follow only to be smacked down by a branch as thick as my leg. Suddenly, I was rather fond of these trees.

  The Sentinel recovered quickly and caught the next swing in his hands. With a wrench, he broke the branch off. The tree screamed. It wasn’t something I could hear with my ears, but it pierced me nonetheless. The Sentinels now had the attention of the entire forest. The nearest trees lashed out at them.

  Two of the Sentinels moved with speed I couldn’t follow, breaking off branches with their bare hands. The feeling of the trees screaming tore me apart. I couldn’t stand it and the Sentinels were only making the forest angrier. The trees would end up destroyed.

  I leaped to my feet. “Stop!”

  The forest came to a sudden halt. I pushed away from the tree I’d sheltered under and took a few steps toward the Sentinels. “You would destroy the trees to get to me? They are innocent of whatever you are accusing me of.”

  “The arrest order must be carried out. Even at the cost of the forest,” the one who had grabbed me, the one I’d dubbed Sentinel One in my mind since he’d offered no name, said. “Your mix was deemed too dangerous.”

  “By who?” I crossed my arms and glared at him as I inched away. I still hadn’t stepped from beneath the limbs and despite what they said, the Sentinels didn’t seem inclined to come in after me yet. I might yet be able to disappear into the forest.

  “The ranking angels and demons on both sides have decided.” Sentinel One stated as he stepped toward me.

  “So a bunch of angels and demons get to decide my fate? What about the gods?” I asked, trying to stall for time while my brain scrambled for a way out of this.

  “The gods have remained silent either way. In the absence of their counsel, the high ranking on both sides are authorized to make this decision. Enough questions.”

  I flinched away as he reached for me, but his hand clamped over my wrist before I could make any kind of move to escape. Caius’s hand wrapped around my arm before the Sentinel could move me. I couldn’t decide if I was relieved he was there or upset that he was probably going to be taken by the Sentinels as well.

  “Caius.” Sentinel One glanced down at where Caius’s hand held my arm. Great, I was going to become a tug-of-war rope.

  “Asmodias.” Caius’s voice was ice.

  “Her arrest has been ordered, I have to take her in.”

  “I don’t give a damn what’s been ordered. She stays with me.”

  Sentinel One, or rather Asmodias, shook his head. “You cannot hope to defeat the four of us. Your mother may be an Archdemon, but you are only half. If it was you that felled our brother, I can only assume you caught him by surprise however unlikely that might be.”

  Caius smiled, but there was nothing friendly in it. “He wasn’t caught by surprise.”

  “Then you admit to taking the life of a Sentinel?” Asmodias asked, his eyebrows rising.

  “He was in my way.” Caius let the implied threat hang between them.

  I stood motionless as the tension between the two practically vibrated and really wished I wasn’t standing between them. Was Caius trying to get himself killed?

  “Then you will be arrested as well.” Asmodias motioned toward another Sentinel. “Thedon will take you into custody.”

  Fangs gleamed in Caius’s smile. “No, he won’t. No more than you will take Josephine into yours.”

  “You are willing to forfeit your life by fighting us?”

  “I forfeit nothing.” Caius’s hand moved, leaving my arm and clamping down on Asmodias’s.

  The tendons and muscles of Caius’s forearm stood out as he squeezed the Sentinel’s wrist. Asmodias stared at Caius, shock plain on his face as I felt his hand loosen. As soon as it was possible, I jerked my arm away and retreated. I didn’t want to be in the middle of what was coming.

  The Sentinel moved in another blur, a long dagger appearing in his hand. Caius blocked the attack before backing away, taking the fight farther from me and out into the open. The other three Sentinels surrounded Caius, each pulling a long dagger from the sheaths at their waists. Caius moved with speed I hadn’t seen him use, the claws of his demon half ripped across the face of one Sentinel. The glow of the trees cast the five in eerie light as they continued to fight in what was a graceful, yet violent and deadly dance. Caius’s claws raked down Asmodias’s side, tearing through the armor the Sentinel wore. Thedon’s dagger scored a line across Caius’s chest and I pressed a hand to my own as a red stain spread on my shirt.

  Even with all four Sentinels bleeding, and the one with the torn face having trouble keeping up, I could tell Caius wasn’t going to be able to defeat four Sentinels at once, despite all of his strength and speed. My stomach knotted as I watched them inflict wound after wound, felt reflected injuries tear open my own skin. Asmodias and Thedon and the third whose name I didn’t know landed simultaneous hits that sent Caius flying. He landed hard on his back and skidded across the ground. Burning scrapes opened up on my back.

  I edged closer to the forest, afraid of endangering myself, but also afraid of being taken by the Sentinels.

  Asmodias took a step toward Caius as he leaped to his feet. “Surely even you can see that you cannot defeat us, demonborn. Do you concede?”

  Caius wiped blood from his mouth. “I do not.”

  “If you wish to continue this…” Asmodias glanced in my direction and motioned toward Thedon. “Collect the reaper.”

  I no more than turned to bolt for the tree than he grabbed my hair and tossed me face first on the ground. His knee came down between my shoulder blades. Pain flared from the scrapes on my back. I struggled to escape, but when even someone like Caius was having trouble standing against them, I was no match. Thedon easily caught my flailing arms and pinned them behind my back.

  During my embarrassingly short and futile struggle, the battle had begun again. Asmodias and the other two Sentinels continued to come at Caius. I almost wished he would take the fight closer to the trees, but realized it didn’t work that way. Without me channeling whatever it was into the trees, Caius would be as much an enemy as the Sentinels.

  I closed my eyes to the fight and sought the Morrigan power inside me. If I could use it to gain the protection of the trees once more, then maybe they could be a distraction if nothing else.

  “No
t going to happen,” Thedon said as metal rattled in my ear. I twisted my head to see him pull a pair of shackles covered in runes from his belt. The heavy energy resonating off them had me squirming in panic. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t want those things on me.

  I fought harder as Thedon snatched one wrist and slapped a shackle around it. Emptiness crept through me. Though one of his knees was in the middle of my back, the other leg was close to my face. I thrashed against Thedon’s superior strength, twisted, and sank my teeth into the skin on his inner thigh.

  Thedon snarled, his knee pulling away from my back as he swatted me in the side of the head hard enough to daze me. He reached for my other wrist. Twisting me around, he snapped the second cuff around it, binding my hands in front of me. Yawning emptiness ripped open and I fell into it as if dropped into a bottomless canyon. Disorientated, I barely noticed him haul me to my feet.

  Feeling like I’d somehow been torn in half, or had a part of me ripped out, I had trouble standing at first. It was weird to be on my feet, on solid ground, and to be falling at the same time. Everything looked dimmed and it took me a moment to realize that my power and my enhanced vision must be intertwined.

  Thedon pulled his dagger and laid the point against my neck. “You will cease this useless fighting.”

  Although Thedon barely raised his voice, the fighting paused as if a switch had been thrown. Caius slowly turned. Blood slicked his skin, but the dangerous fire burning in his molten eyes sent a chill through me. He pinned the Sentinel holding me with a deadly look. “You will die, Thedon.”

  “A bold declaration from someone who has lost the battle,” Asmodias said.

  A dark laugh rose in Caius’s chest. “I never lose a battle, Sentinel.”

  Asmodias sighed. “You are losing more blood than we. You cannot hope to defeat three of us before Thedon uses that knife. You should not keep pushing this.”

  “You shouldn’t underestimate me.” Caius brought his fists together so his arms from little fingers to elbow pressed against each other. The half-moon markings on his forearms lined up. A bright flash of light blinded me.

  I blinked hard to get my sight back, trying to figure out what happened. My gaze found Caius standing braced in front of Asmodias, and my jaw dropped. Thedon had lowered the dagger and seemed frozen in shock. Not that I blamed him.

  The glow of the trees illuminated the massive, gray-feathered wings spreading out from Caius’s back. His shirt hung shredded on him. When he tore it away, the tattoos running up his sides and around his shoulders were a glowing in a swirl of gray and gold.

  How could Caius have wings? Only Archangels had wings and Caius was undoubtedly half-demon.

  I wasn’t the only one struggling with Caius’s revelation. Asmodias looked like he was on the verge of apoplexy. “That cannot be!”

  Caius gave him a savage smile, his fangs flashing. His next movement was so fast I couldn’t track it. Only the sickening sounds of grinding bones and wet ripping signaled his connecting with Asmodias. The Sentinel’s body dropped to the ground. Caius tossed Asmodias’s head away and turned on the other two who broke out of their shock and threw themselves at him.

  Thedon started pulling me backward as if he hoped to drag me out of there while Caius was busy with the other two. I tried to put up a fight, but my insides felt disconnected and my mind was still falling. Losing my balance, I staggered into the Sentinel. His grip on my arm tightened as he cursed and righted me.

  My confused gaze settled on a shadow slinking to the very tip of one of the tree’s branches that remained strangely still for it.

  No!

  The kitten launched herself with surprising power. She sailed through the air in a perfect arc and landed with a snarl of fury on Thedon’s head and shoulders. The Sentinel released me as the large kitten turned into a tornado of claws and teeth.

  Thedon reached for the kitten, but she leaped toward me before he could grab her. I grunted and staggered when her almost twenty pounds hit me. Her claws dug into my skin as she slid down my arms, digging deep grooves. She twisted until she had the metal of the shackles between her teeth. Her charcoal fur shimmered with waves of bright blue light as she tore through the rune-covered metal like it was paper. My hands came free and the emptiness washed away, the sensation of falling stopped abruptly and whatever was ripped away mended, leaving me feeling whole and my full vision returned

  The kitten pushed off me and launched herself at Thedon again. He stumbled back under the renewed attack, which concentrated on his face this time. When he reached for her again I lunged forward, grabbing at his arms. It didn’t even slow him as he caught the kitten in a rough grip and slung her into the trees.

  Ignoring the deep tears and bites all over his head and face, the Sentinel grabbed me again. Fury over what he’d done to the kitten and desperate to keep from being captured again, I threw caution to the wind. Two things happened at once; I burst into flame and shifted into the raven at the same time.

  Startled, Thedon lost his grip on me. With an enraged cry, I flew into his face, my sharp beak ripping at his eyes as my wings beat fire around his head. Before he could get hold of me again, I propelled away from him, climbing into the sky beyond his reach.

  Freedom beckoned, its call sweet and pulling. It begged me to forget, to let the human fall away, to embrace the raven fully and live as something other than me. The appeal held me for only a fraction of a second. I didn’t want to be something else, I liked me.

  I tilted my wings and made a sharp turn as Thedon abandoned his attempts to catch me and joined with the other Sentinels against Caius. Although it was obvious the odds were in Caius’s favor, he didn’t need yet another adversary. I tucked my wings close to my body and plummeted through the air, dive-bombing Thedon and the other Sentinels.

  Swooping among them, every feather still aflame, I tore at them with my small talons and jabbed my beak in their faces before flapping away only to return. I was so single-minded in my attacks, it took me a second to realize it was over. I made a slow circle as I took in the demolished Sentinels through my raven eyes.

  “Jo!” Caius’s voice cracked like a whip as he held out his hand.

  Startled, the fire that engulfed me snuffed out. I coasted to him and landed on the offered resting place. As soon as I settled, his thumb came down over my foot as if he worried I would fly away again. I cocked my head, trying to understand the expression on his face. Fury, mixed with…fear? Yeah right, he wasn’t afraid of anything.

  “What in the nine hells have you done?”

  Well, I was right about the fury anyway. I ruffled my feathers in the best approximation of a shrug I could do as a bird. What was the big deal? I’d managed to get free of Thedon on my own. Okay, the kitten helped, but I had still managed after getting caught again, and then went on to help him fight. Ungrateful much? Of course, I couldn’t say any of that because I was currently a bird, but it didn’t stop me from participating in a mental rant.

  Caius took a deep breath and his other hand shook slightly when he pinched the bridge of his nose. “You shifted in the Between.”

  So? I shook my feathers and cocked my head, hoping he would see my confusion.

  “You won’t be able to change back.”

  Of course, I could. I squawked and bobbed my head.

  “You are certain?” Caius sounded like he didn’t believe me, which was irritating.

  I bobbed my head again then followed it with an eye roll, or rather my raven version of it. Shifting to a raven and back had always come as easy as breathing, unlike pretty much everything else.

  “I’m going to set you down…so you can try,” he said, lowering me to the ground. There was that disbelief again. I pecked his finger in reproof as he let me go with reluctance I didn’t understand. Did he actually think I was going to fly away? There really did seem to be some fear buried beneath the anger. Once on the ground, I ruffled my feathers again, this time to settle them all in place.

/>   It was harder to reach for the person than it should have been and I struggled to bring on the change.

  “Jo?”

  I squawked irritably at him. Would it kill him to give me a minute?

  Caius pointed a finger at me. “Wait.”

  First, he’s all impatient and then he’s telling me to wait. I made a variety of noises as my bird form told him what I thought of that. Caius picked up his cloak from where he must have ditched it just before he began his killing spree. After giving it a good shake, he it carried to where I stood and draped it over me. He tucked it around me until only my head was showing. What on earth was he doing?

  He straightened and stepped back. “The clothes you were wearing didn’t come from Midtween, they won’t have shifted with you.” He glanced to where Thedon had held me. “And they certainly didn’t survive the fire.”

  I swiveled my head to look in the direction he was. A pile of charred material lay crumpled on the ground. Oh. If I had shifted back when I first tried, I would have ended up standing completely naked in front of him. Giving my head a shake, I concentrated on the shift.

  At first, it didn’t come, the raven held me tightly. The sense of freedom kept trying to pull me away. For a moment, I saw life as only a raven. I wouldn’t carry my emotional scars into that life. I wouldn’t remember being me. I wouldn’t remember my mother. The thought of not remembering her made me push harder to become the person again. Whatever else came at me in life, I didn’t want to forget my mother.

  Even so, instead of the quick change I was used to seeing, the world shifted sluggishly as my raven eyes slowly became my person eyes. The transformation took much longer than it should have. Dizziness swamped me as it finally finished and I found myself abruptly sitting down. Relief rushed through me. I liked shifting into my raven, but I didn’t want to be trapped that way.

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