by Swart, Karen
I kissed him back, closing my eyes and trying to push back the sudden tears that were appearing in them. We broke apart and he started to rub my cheek.
"I can feel your sadness. Speak to me."
Hell, what can I say? Hey, I have an idea. Let’s ditch our responsibilities and just run away? Yeah, no luck.
"We'll work things out, Chax," I replied. "Something’s wrong with Raven." I changed the subject.
"I have noticed. Since the battle with him, she has been acting strange. Have you tried to talk to her?" He knew I changed the subject on purpose, but was humoring me.
“I tried but she exploded and took off. What is worrying me is the fact that I can read every hellhound’s emotions here where I sit, but not hers. She totally vanished, Chax."
"Do you want us to look for her?" he asked, his face concerned.
"No. I want to give her some space, Chax. She was clearly not ready to talk about it, and I don’t want to push her and make things even worse."
"From experience, I can tell you that your decision is a good one." He smiled at me crookedly.
"Ha Ha. You drove me insane all those times."
"I can assure you that you were the one driving me insane. I was constantly concerned about you, and then you always managed to end up fighting me. Not to mention the emotional whiplash you gave me every time."
I laughed. Silly man.
"See, that’s why I want to give her some space. You totally drove me crazy!"
We burst out laughing at each other.
"I think I prefer you crazy. I like fighting with you," he said, getting up and holding me in his arms.
"I like fighting with you too. Gets my blood all pumping." I giggled as we made our way into the bedroom.
He stopped at the bed and looked at me. "You are my love, Kasadya, and nothing will ever change that. The future may be full of responsibilities, but you are my first and last." He kissed me so perfectly, the world spun around me. I could never live without him. Of that I was certain. Those days in hell were torture not to see him, feel him, and just be with him. He’s my heart and soul wrapped into one gorgeously handsome package. My love.
Chapter 13
For the first time, I was the first one to be awake. I watched Chax sleep, his face so calm and relaxed that he almost looked like a stranger. Softly, I traced my finger around his cheek, following his smile lines and then gently touching those perfect lips. His eyes fluttered open and he smiled at me. "Morning," I greeted him.
"Morning," he greeted back, leaning in to kiss me.
The kiss drowned out all noise in the background. He was ambrosia. He backed away and gave me that gorgeous smile of his. I traced his smile lines again. It’s unbelievable that I never noticed them before. You have to smile a lot to get them, don’t you? "So, are we going to war again?" I asked, still tracing his beautiful face.
"Yes, we don’t have much of a choice. I didn’t find a lot of information about the creatures, but we have to find a way to destroy them and stop his plans."
His brother’s plans, he meant. Gosh, that was something to get used to. "I can’t believe he is your brother. The evil inside him is so evident that it rolls over his entire body." I shuddered just thinking about his evil smile every time he approached me.
"He is not my brother anymore. That was also taken from him when he decided to embrace evil. He is nothing but a bad memory," Chax growled, turning around to face the ceiling.
"Was he always like that?" I couldn’t help it. I was curious.
"No, he used to be just like me. Strong, dedicated and protective. But as time moved on and he grew in power and status in the heavens, he started changing. The divinity isn’t meant for everyone; that is why only a few, like you, are graced with it. The power that comes from it can be consuming and destroy the being it was meant to enhance. He is proof of that." Chax rubbed his eyes, looking tired.
I hope I am able to handle mine when I have completed my divinity. So far, the power that I had received and my new abilities had been something to get used to. But I was not going to turn into a scumbag like him, never. I won’t allow myself to be fall like that.
"Hey, what happened to Alexia? I kind of missed that part." I suddenly remembered the demon female.
He turned to look at me, his face lighting up into a breathtaking smile. "Would you like to see what Melissa and Amon have been up to all this time?" He suddenly looked like a school boy, playful and delighted.
"Sure, let me just catch a shower and get dressed, and you can show me." I smiled back at him.
Half an hour later I was dressed, well, sort of. When the divinity slammed into me when I killed the skinny one down there, my swords were the first thing they took away from me. Helpless, I laid on the ground and watched demons snatch them up and carry them away, leaving me defenseless when Mr. Demon came storming down on me.
"Something wrong?" Chax asked waking into the room.
"I don’t have swords anymore. They took mine. I feel kind of naked without them." I shrugged, wondering if there was like a weapon shop in Exsilium, which I very much doubt.
"Here, let's go get you some new ones." Chax offered his hand.
I took it and he shifted us to the middle of a bloody volcano. Heat slammed into my face, and I took a step back. "What the hell?" I looked around.
Laughing, Chax walked towards another fallen beating the crap out of something. "Alan!" he yelled to get the fallen’s attention.
The fallen stopped and turned around, a giant smile on his face. "Salve, Chax. You need more swords, I take it." They greeted each other and I rolled my eyes at his teasing tone.
"Indeed, old friend," Chax replied and Alan’s eyes went huge.dpg! He just noticed the wings sticking out from Chax’s back. "You’re… you’re…" was all he could get out.
Chax’s smile faded and he nodded. "The first," Chax assisted him. Alan paled to the color of a sheet and all the cheer left him when he registered what that meant. Wow, Chax can do an intro.
"How... how can I be of assistance?" Alan finally managed to choke out.
"This is my mate, Kasadya. She lost her swords down in hell and needs a new pair," Chax said, pushing me forward to greet him.
If I thought the male couldn’t go any whiter, I was mistaken. With huge green eyes he reluctantly grabbed my arms and greeted me, somewhat. "Salve, Alan," I greeted back.
Hey, at least I got a nod from him. That's good, right?
He released me and started shuffling about, grabbing one sword after the other. He was tall and his arm muscles were popping out everywhere. His dark hair jumped as he twirled about, searching for swords. "Alan is our blacksmith. He has created some amazing swords over the centuries. Mine included," Chax explained as we watched Alan run around.
"Ah ha!" he finally said, grabbing a pair of swords. "I believe these will do." He walked over to me and placed them in my hands.
They were not as pretty as mine, but hell, who could complain. They were about to go to war.
"I'll see if I can’t make you the same ones as before," he said as I whipped them through the air.
“That would be awesome. Thanks, Alan." I smiled at him. His face turned bright red, but he smiled at me.
"Have you started with the swords I requested for the other hellhound yet?" Chax asked when he saw that the male wasn’t moving at all, but just standing there, beaming at us.
I place them into my sleuths and watched as Alan stormed off to a pair of other swords.
"I am done with them. They are what you requested. Charmed as powerful as Kasadya’s, yet cannot be yielded by anyone except the female hellhound." Alan came back and gave Chax a stunning pair of swords.
"They are beautiful. Thank you, Alan. I will make sure that she gets them, and place the final charm on them," Chax replied, placing them into another set of sleuths at his back.
We greeted Alan and he shifted me to the compound where we landed on the helipad.
"Are those Raven
's?" I asked as we walked towards the door.
"Yes, I had requested them to be made before we went to retrieve you," Chax replied with a frown.
"Why all the extra charms?" I had a feeling he wasn’t telling me something.
"After the incident when we rescued you, I had Alan place a powerful charm in them. My instinct told me that, just like with you, Raven is going to need it," Chax replied, the frown still there.
We turned into the hallway and continued down. “Do you know what's happening to her?"
"No. Why he reacted the way he did, I don’t know, and her behavior afterwards has me concerned. I just want to make sure that if she is ever in battle, her swords could not be wielded by another. It’s all my instincts are pointing to." Chax held the door to the Intel room open and we stepped in.
A mixture of fallen and humans was sitting around gathering Intel. In the middle of the room was the huge glass globe with the specials dots. My eye, however, caught a small Cora version, spinning in the corner of the room, its rainbow lights hitting the wall and faces of everyone inside. "Is that a small Corra?" I asked, walking closer.
"Indeed," Chax replied as the door swung open and Amon came walking into the room.
"Chax. Kas. Glad to see you." He walked straight for me and embraced me. "We are so thrilled you are back safely." He hugged me.
"Me too." I smiled as we broke apart.
"I thought we could show Kasadya the progress you and your team have made so far." Chax smiled at him.
"Yes, definitely. You’re going to be blown away, Kas," Amon stated, moving to a computer monitor.
"Do you see that small orb?” He motioned to the small Corra version. “That is the small link created between our system and Corra. We are now able to send updates to any Dominos Custos within seconds. So far, it's been working magnificently. Abby was also able to create a link to Michael, and he is able to communicate with us too. We have turned the Intel room into the best system possible." Amon was beaming.
The geeky side of him was just dorky, and I just had to laugh a little.
"Wait, let me show you the progress with your and Max's blood." He gestured for us to follow.
We walked down the corridor and ended up in a huge lab. Ben and Abby were part of the crowd inside.
"Hey, Kas, Chax," they greeted us as Amon swept us past them.
We stopped at huge computer monitor and looked at all the stuff jumping around on it.
"Kas, nice to see you," Melissa's voice made me jump.
She turned around in the chair, sporting a huge belly and smiling at me. She was wearing clogs and a pair of what looked like magnifying glasses.
"Hey, Melissa, how are things going?" I asked, but took a small step back.
"Wonderful. Here let me show you." She indicated for me to take the step back.
Reluctantly, I stepped forward and looked at the screen. “We have taken your blood and broke it down into the DNA compounds. From there, we have started to experiment a little. We identified the DNA string carrying the demon cure and have extracted that from the DNA code. All we need to do now is find a suitable serum substance to be able to genetically be infused with your blood. If we can manage this, we would be able to produce a demon cure in the form of a serum." She beamed. I think I caught half of all of that.
"O...kay." I gave her a little smile.:)
"You have no idea what I just said, do you?" She rolled her eyes and turned around before I could reply.
"Let’s make it short. We took your blood, found the part that makes demons human, and are now going to make an antidote from it." Okay, that I got.
"Wow, that's amazing!" I exclaimed and looked at the monitor again.
"If we are able to produce a serum, we can start looking into ways to get it into their system," Ben said, now standing next to her.
"Max is experimenting on a few weapons that we can most likely use." Abby beamed next.
"Holy crap, you mean like we just shoot them and they will turn into humans?" I couldn’t believe this.
"Yes, well, in a day or two. So far, all the turnings have been successful." Melissa's smile was about to run away with her.
Unbelievable.
"Even Alexia has been turned. She just got through it this morning," Abby continued.
"Good, then I can speak with her," Chax interrupted. "I'm going to show Kasadya what my brother and his mate were up to all this time." Chax smiled and grabbed my hand.
I waved goodbye to the others and he shifted us again. We landed in a huge lounge. Holding my hand, he started to guide me to the door.
“My brother and his mate have been busy. So far, we have been able to turn his entire group. All successful. But we had a problem of what we were going to do with all the demons that were turned. They have no identification or skills to enter the human world and continue their lives. That's when Melissa and my brother's mate had an idea." Chax steered us into a hall and we descended down it. Rooms were lined on both sides.
'They opened a halfway house for them. From here, the former demons will be taught how to write, speak languages and even some important human skills. My brother has apparently just joined a college program." Chax was smiling again.
I love it when he smiles like that, and from the delight in his eyes, I could see that this was something he was very proud of. He turned us into a kitchen where a few females were busy prepping lunch. The scent of the food hit me and my stomach growled in response. "Chax, it's great to see you. And what do we have here?" a female with red flame hair and blue eyes greeted.
"This is my mate, Kasadya. This is my brother’s mate, Sharon," Chax introduced us. She smiled and we greeted in a human way, it would seem.
"Sorry, we need to be active in human customs to help us fit in again," she replied to my confused look. "Would you like to join us for lunch?" She invited us to the large table.
"Oh yes, please," I almost squealed and made a bee line for the chair. I was so hungry I could eat an elephant.
Chax’s laughter lit up the room even more as he sat down next to me. I blushed, embarrassed that I would get all consumed on eating.
"You’re so beautiful." He smiled and leaned in for a kiss.
His brother and a few others joined us at the table. It was amazing to hear their success stories and how they were fitting back into a normal life. Chax’s brother was studying Physics, and wanted to join the geek world. Another male was about to enroll for a bachelor’s degree in Financial Management. One after the other I was just amazed how these ex-demons were turning their lives around and making new ones. They also explained that once settled, reformed demons would get their own houses and start a families like any human. I was really happy for them. They looked like they were all on cloud nine. The door swung open and a familiar face came strolling in. He stopped when he saw me, and I swallowed the eggs I was chewing.
"Hellhound, Chax," Draco greeted us.
"Um, hi," I greeted back. Chax just nodded.
He walked over to join us at the table. After scooping his plate and taking a bite he looked back up at me. I just couldn’t help myself.
"So, what have you been up to?"
He narrowed his eyes at me. "I have discovered that I have an amazing talent with style, I would let you know." Sharon giggled at his reply.
"He really does. He has made some amazing dresses you should see. He is starting a bridal line." She beamed.
Seriously?! You have got to be kidding me!
"And he has an amazing gift for jewelry too," another female, Amanda pitched in.
Draco was just enjoying the compliments. "I have my own shop a few blocks from here, and an apartment," he continued.
Holy crap!
"Don’t look so surprised. I had to fit in again, and struggled to find a new passion, something I was good at. And then, voila, it came to me." Draco smiled at my stunned expression.
"Wow, I just… wow." I was speechless. Holy crap!
Laughing, the ot
hers started chatting again. Discussing normal human stuff like they were never even demons. I looked at Chax and he smiled at me.
"They are going to be just fine, Kasadya. You gave them a second chance."
For the first time in a really long time, I felt exhilarated that I finally did something right. We finished our lunch and I must admit I had never talked so much in a long time. I even managed a conversation with Draco.
Un-freaking believable.
“Is Alexia around?” Chax asked his brother.
