The demon vanished, leaving her alone in the all too quiet clouds, spread-eagled and bound to the iron posts.
Chapter Twelve
“There are too many levels to hell.” Macba moved closer to the ancient altar, her long white cape moving like gentle waves around her ankles as she approached.
“Not to mention the stench of millions of nasty demons.” One of the other elders spoke up from the back.
Braze didn’t have time for this. “That is where Brigit is, and in her current state she might not be able to figure her way out.”
Dissent shrouded the group of elders assembled in the coven. The special meeting, ordered by Abra, had most of them in a foul mood. These elders, these ancients who had spread their seeds over most of the universe, nonetheless found it irritating to be summoned when problems arose in their own galaxy. Spoiled and lazy—the bunch of them. But the meeting was necessary. They had to assemble. Braze would go after her, but he would be damned if the elders tried to stop him. By meeting, he would know if they would support his decision.
“It bothers me that I have to clarify this point.” Abra straightened, the long robe he wore doing nothing to make him appear any larger. And size did matter. Braze glared down at the man while Abra cleared his throat, continuing, “But it appears necessary to state the obvious.”
Braze glared at the older man, his gaze hooded by the material that hung low around his face. The hood and cape were mere ceremony, no longer needed since the atmosphere had disappeared over a millennium ago with the collapse of this solar system’s star.
“Say what you will.” Braze didn’t take his attention from Abra, his scrutinizing glare making the older man uncomfortable.
Abra shifted, not daring to look away from Braze. The way his lips pursed and then relaxed, his eyes darting down Braze and back to his face, made it more than obvious that Abra viewed him as a threat.
Nothing had changed since the beginning of time. And Braze didn’t give a rat’s ass what Abra, or any of the others, thought of him.
“I do not require your permission to speak.” Abra’s tone turned harsh.
Several in the coven shifted nervously, already bored, and more than anything not wanting this meeting to last any longer than necessary. Well, Braze didn’t want to be there either.
“The reason we are here is to make one point clear. No one will descend into any level of the hells.” Abra didn’t look at Braze now. He looked anywhere but at him, glancing at the others in the group.
“I’m going after her, and I don’t need your permission to do so.” Braze needed to get out of there before he sent them all flinging into space.
“You seem to forget,” Abra maintained his composure and pointed a finger at Braze, his long sleeve almost covering his hand. “Brigit is not your woman.”
“Like hell she isn’t.” Braze took a step toward the older man.
Merco stepped forward, silent but showing his support. At the same time, Braze knew Merco wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything foolish. Merco always chose the peaceful way out of things—a lover, not a fighter. But nonetheless, a good man.
“You took her out of turn.” Another elder, hiding behind Abra, spoke out. “Her ceremony was tainted due to your bullish actions.”
“All brawn and no brain.” Macba clucked her tongue, while several other of the women in the coven chuckled.
Braze ignored the stupid bitches. “Nonetheless, I have taken her. Brigit is mine. And I will not leave her to the demons.”
He looked around at the members of the coven, knowing none of them would stand up to him. “You may all believe what you wish, but all of you were there. You know what happened. And our seeds helped spawn Earth. Brigit has dedicated her life to those people. Now when demons run rampant on that planet, you would turn your back on her, on your own seed that populates that planet, and ignore what you could help fix.”
“So now you are a savior?” Abra smirked, his tone more than mocking. “She has been out of the picture for centuries. Those people abused the power we gave them, either denying they possess any gifts at all, or using what little they understand for trickery and deception. Good riddance, I say.”
The urge to send Abra flying into another century, a little battered and bruised, appealed to Braze immensely at the moment.
His thoughts were too easily detected. The members of the coven began shifting uncomfortably. None of them would take him on, though. And he didn’t care what any of them were thinking. None of their thoughts mattered.
Braze knew they were jealous, and had been since Bridget first approached the altar, offering her purity, offering it to him. She’d never wanted any of the others. And that infuriated the elders. Her powers were so pure, so strong, that they craved her simply to make themselves stronger. The lot of them would have fucked her silly.
“Humans thrived under her protection.” Braze fought with more strength than he wished to exert to keep his voice calm, low. “And you know that as well as anyone here. But as to whether or not she is mine,” he paused, taking in the lot of them. “That topic is not even open for discussion.”
“You’re right.” Abra turned his back on Braze, the others parting so that he could move away from the altar. “If Brigit makes it out of the maze of hells, we will conclude her powers are intact; if not, then the initiation will begin to bring another into the coven.”
Every muscle in Braze’s body tightened. A rush of anger, mixed with the overwhelming urge to pound some sense in Abra’s pompous way of thinking made it hard to hold back. The son of a bitch would pay for turning his back on Bridget.
“It’s all clear to me now.” Braze clenched his teeth, barely speaking over a whisper. “Brigit is too powerful, not within your control. Bring someone young in, someone you can fuck, control. That’s what you want. Well you can rot in the hells yourself before you will get it.”
A hush fell over the coven, the blackness of the dead planet around them seeming to grow darker while they all waited for Abra to respond. The older man didn’t bother to turn around.
“Go after her and cast yourself from the coven.” Abra raised his hands in the air, disappearing in a flash of lightning.
The sudden burst of light was mere dramatics, impressing Braze even less than the elder himself had. Several of the other elders quickly disappeared, the party over as far as they were concerned. They would stay in close contact though, morbid curiosity keeping their interest piqued.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Merco stepped closer, keeping his voice low so the others wouldn’t hear.
More than likely those remaining struggled to hear every word. Braze could feel them hovering closer than they appeared. What they knew or didn’t know mattered little to him at this point.
He smiled at his friend. “You would risk being cast out of the coven?”
Merco grinned, his expression showing he was up for the adventure. “The coven needs rattling a bit. They’ve all grown lazy in their old age.”
Braze gestured with his head that it was time to leave. The remaining busybodies were clamoring over every word they said.
The two of them vanished, floating through space side by side.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Abra is off looking for Bridget now. What he wouldn’t do to get his hands on her before you do.” Merco’s words hit a little too close for comfort.
Thoughts of what those demons would try to do to Bridget already haunted him. Imagining them touching her, violating her, fucking her against her will, brought out a beast in him too dangerous to release. Those demons didn’t want to fuck with him. And if any of them laid a hand on Bridget, their miserable existence would come to a torturous end.
Braze was no fool. The second she entered the hells, they would be all over her. Any man or woman, dead or alive, would do anything to have a chance at her. Her long hair, drifting over her full curves and tight tummy and ass was enough alone to give any man a raging hard-on. But if anyone
had just the smallest bit of knowledge on how incredibly powerful she was, yet not aggressive, they would fight, lie and risk death to chance owning her.
Just for a few moments caressing those full round breasts, running their nasty claws over her soft sensual skin, and exploring the sensitive folds between her legs, would make any man lose his mind. Lust would consume them and they would fight to have more of her, risking everything they had.
There was no way Braze would allow her to fend for herself against the odds of the hells. Damn the coven. Abra could rot—the lousy bastard.
The heat of the outer levels of hell began to soak through his soul while Braze searched for Bridget’s thoughts. He worried the stubborn woman had still banned him from reading her mind, which would make it a hell of a lot harder to find her.
“She’s in there,” Merco’s thoughts expressed his concern. “Every demon in hell is thinking about her.”
“Yeah, and they will die for their thoughts.” Braze had already singled out those who had touched her, violated her.
He found a little bit of satisfaction in blowing them up, internal combustion. One by one, they exploded.
“You are only going to make this harder if you alert them of our presence.” But Merco chuckled.
His friend might not be a fighter by nature, but Braze knew he was no coward.
“They are fools if they think I wouldn’t go in after her.” Braze flew through the first level of hell, doubting Bridget would be anywhere close to the surface. “But the largest fool of all is their leader, and he will die before I leave here.”
He would enjoy taking the bastard out, too. For centuries the asshole, the leader of all evil, so ugly and despicable he didn’t even rate a name, had tortured Bridget. Stealing her memory, washing away all of her efforts to improve life on Earth. Braze was certain the leader of the demons was responsible. And daring to touch her. No one messed with his woman and lived through the act. And he was about to make that message loud and clear to the lot of them, demons and elders. Fuck with Bridget, and you fucked with him.
Evil washed through them, nasty and unclean. Braze tightened his being, making his soul small, and moved quickly. Merco was right next to him, two balls of energy rushing through the thick mass of undesirables around them.
“Do you feel that?” Merco asked at the same moment that everything around them seemed to still.
Braze didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. Everything around them had grown still. Where a moment before, hundreds of thousands of lost souls, their anger, their fear, their distrust, clogged the atmosphere around them, now there was nothing.
“We are still in hell,” Braze said as he turned cautiously, wondering what force had rid the area of the disgusting beings.
Something didn’t sit right. He searched the blackness around them, unable to lock on anything concrete or alive. They hovered in a void of nothing. They were still buried deep in one of the inner levels of the hells because no stars shone, no solar systems offered their light. Nothing floated around them.
“Something has evacuated the area.” Merco’s defenses were up, the tension in his thoughts making it clear he was ready to take on whatever might come at them. Slowly he moved alongside Braze.
“Or someone,” Braze added, pushing his way forward through the thick darkness.
“Fuck, man.” Merco’s astonishment was almost humorous. “Has Bridget really become this powerful?”
“If her memory is intact, it’s hard saying.”
But no one else could have done this. Never had the hells been so cleaned out, nothing more than a black void. He moved faster, the thickness of the nothing around him grabbing at his soul, making it hard to continue.
Let me in, Bridget. He made his thoughts clear, calling out to her.
Suddenly the two of them were flying through the air, being sucked in as if a giant vacuum had suddenly turned on, sucking them toward its source.
Braze almost stumbled into the dense clouds, suddenly aware of ground underneath him. Taking on his human form, he made eye contact with Merco who now walked next to him. His friend ran his hand through his dark curls, taking in their surroundings.
Braze did the same. Thick clouds, like a dense fog, rolled around them. Above and below, the grayish atmosphere clung to his skin, moisture seeping through his clothing while he stepped forward.
“It’s about time you got here.” Bridget’s voice, calm, relaxed, spoke quietly through the clouds.
Braze tensed, looking around him. It was her. There was no trickery. But where in the hell was she?
“Damn.” Merco gestured with his head and at the same time pointed through the clouds.
Ahead of them a black iron structure appeared, standing alone amidst the dense atmosphere around it. Bound tight and spread-eagled, Bridget hung, her head lowered.
Braze waved the structure away and then moved in quickly to catch Bridget when she was no longer held tight by her restraints. She collapsed into his arms, her body warm and soft.
Instantly his protective instincts took over. “Who did this to you?”
“He’s gone.” She sounded calm, and pushed against his chest as she spoke.
Braze wasn’t ready to let her go. But Bridget pushed harder, freeing herself without using her powers and took a step backward. The strength of her abilities had returned. Powerful, too damned powerful, and all-knowing, she faced the two of them completely naked.
The urge to pull her back into his arms surged through him with the ferocity of a tidal wave, his blood rushing through him hard and fast. His cock stirred to life, demanding he lay claim, establish territory, make it clear that she belonged to him.
Bridget didn’t look at him but instead smiled toward Merco.
“Merco. It’s been a long time. How are you?” She waved her hand over her body, an off-white gown suddenly covering her.
It was one of Braze’s favorite styles that she chose, a close-fitting delicate material that clung to her, showing off her firm large breasts and flat tummy. The way the material fell over the gentle curve of her hips made her even sexier. She slowly combed her fingers through her long locks, pushing them behind her shoulder. Her long brown lashes fluttered over deep pools of sensual green, her eyes full of wisdom and knowledge.
“Doing a lot better now that we’ve found you.” The smooth chivalry had returned in Merco’s voice.
Any other man would suffer for flirting with her. But Braze knew Merco well enough to know his friend would protect Bridget forever, and never lay a hand on her. Nonetheless, he gave his friend a quick glance, just to make sure he wasn’t reacting to her intense beauty too strongly.
“Where is the one who did this to you?” Braze looked around them, although he sensed no pending danger.
Bridget didn’t answer but instead looked up, as if taking in the sky, although there was nothing to see above them. The narrow curve of her neck, the profile of her adorable upturned nose and full pouty lips, not to mention the way her long hair drifted down her back to her ass, had Braze hard instantly.
Her gaze darted to him quickly, making it clear she was all too aware of how her presence moved him.
“Tell me why the coven wants me dead.” Her body straightened as she made her request, a hard determination covering her pretty face. “What have I done that the leader of the demons aches so desperately to possess me?”
The answer to that was so obvious. But Bridget hadn’t changed over the centuries. She still didn’t see how incredibly beautiful she was, how her mere presence would make any man throb with a hard-on. She didn’t realize her powers surpassed almost all others in the galaxy.
“Your beauty and strength would attract any man,” Merco said quietly.
Bridget smiled warmly, although concern fluttered in her pretty green eyes. Finally she turned her attention to Braze. Warmth spread through him. True knowledge filled her eyes, wisdom, memories. He didn’t know what had triggered it, what act had cancelled the spell
that tore her from him, but it was over. The love he knew she felt for him over the centuries had returned. And it sent a powerful need stabbing through him.
“Don’t worry about the coven, or any of the elders. No one will hurt you,” he told her, wanting to reassure her.
“I know no one will hurt me. Never again.” She straightened.
There were no undergarments under her dress and her nipples hardened against the material, teasing him ruthlessly.
Underneath her defiance though, Braze didn’t miss her fear. She may have realized the scope of her powers. And he was sure she was damned proud of herself for casting out the demon. But they had found her spread-eagled, bound to the iron poles. Either she liked the position, or she had exhausted herself and couldn’t get free alone. He knew for a fact that she had loved the times when he’d bound her before. The thought of her enjoying it from someone else made his blood boil. But he knew better. Bridget wouldn’t enjoy such an act with anyone but him. She was worn out and needed him to rescue her.
Reaching for her, her gaze met his when he combed his fingers through her hair, tangling his hand in the thick locks. He pulled, forcing her head back, wanting more than anything to devour her, claim her again and again.
“Surrender your thoughts to me, woman,” he demanded.
“I am not yours, remember?” Her eyes turned a fiery green, bold and daring. “You fucked up my initiation ceremony. At least that is what the elders think. They don’t believe me one of them.”
“You know as well as I do that your initiation was legitimate. Unless you want to fuck every member of the coven.”
And with that she disappeared, leaving him grabbing at a cloud of smoke.
Chapter Thirteen
Bridget flew through the different levels of hell, her heart beating so wildly it made her dizzy. The demons were after her, the petty little creatures, no better than cockroaches. She batted them away with a wave of her hand.
Fallen Gods: Tainted Purity Page 13
