Guardians of Hellfire (Guardians of the Fae Book 2)

by Elizabeth Hartwell

  “Move!” Cole yells. Jacob grabs one of the horses, trying to put Eve up on its back, but it’s too skittish, pawing and keeping some of the crowd away in that direction. Where are they coming from?

  Cole . . . look! Noah sends back, and Cole watches as the man Noah kicked gets up, his eyes blank, but still, he presses forward with the rest of the crowd.

  Shit. Magic, Cole growls back as he kicks again. But the crowd’s not stopping, and Cole is forced back another step. Tyler, we need assistance!

  One minute, Tyler replies, and Cole nods grimly. Noah’s staff is whirling as Eve reestablishes her footing, and Cole knows he’s about to cross a line he doesn’t like crossing.

  One of the first lessons Cole learned long ago was that in such a situation, running away is the best option. They don’t have full knowledge of what is happening, and until they do, the best course of action is to retreat.

  But now the crowd is closing on all sides, and that option is quickly fading. It’s either fight or run now, or eventually be surrounded. Cole steadies himself for the next option, one that he never likes against people who are clearly being manipulated.

  “No!” Eve says as Cole’s next slash cuts deeply into a man’s thigh, sending him tumbling to the ground. “Don’t hurt them!”

  “Very hard to avoid right now, Princess!” Cole yells as Tyler arrives. Just as Tyler barrels his way through, one of the horses gets spooked by the screams. Rearing, it kicks, and Tyler gets knocked to the ground, crying out in pain as his leg buckles.

  “Tyler!” Eve screams.

  Noah, always a man of few words, springs into action. Swinging his staff in a wide sweep, he knocks back three members of the crowd while grabbing Tyler and heaving him onto one horse before throwing Eve into the saddle of the other.

  “Ride!”

  He smacks the flank of Eve’s horse, and the two run through the crowd as Noah, Jacob, and Cole stand in a circle, facing dozens of angry villagers.

  “Wound if you must, but do not kill. Retreat at the first opportunity,” Cole says, disarming another villager and kicking him in the knee. At least this one won’t be able to pursue them, not with a dislocated kneecap.

  “Well, it’s broken.”

  “No shit. I’m the doctor, remember?” Tyler growls at Jacob as the group looks at his swollen lower leg. “Cole . . . I need you to set it.”

  “Can you do that?” Eve asks, and Cole nods. “How?”

  “Tyler might be our medic, but all of us are trained in how to deal with basic battlefield injuries,” Cole says, looking Tyler in the eyes. “Are you ready?”

  “Do it before I lose my nerve,” Tyler says, gritting his teeth as Cole takes his foot and leans back. Eve winces as a grating crack comes from Tyler’s leg and he growls in pain. “Fucking . . . gah!”

  “Done,” Cole says, letting go. Eve kneels, stroking Tyler’s forehead as he lies back, gasping for breath. “You’re going to be laid up awhile. At least twenty-four hours.”

  “Twenty-four . . .” Eve starts wonderingly, but stops as she realizes it is because of Fae magic. She pats Tyler’s chest, giving him a brave smile. “A day isn’t too bad, right?”

  “It is very bad,” Cole replies. “Tyler?”

  “I know . . . and you know what you must do,” Tyler says, taking Eve’s hand and kissing it. “It seems we must have a temporary parting.”

  “What?” Eve asks, looking up in dismay. “We’re just going to leave him here?”

  “Lysette’s group was already pushing hard to catch up with us,” Tyler gasps, squeezing Eve’s hand before releasing it. “And you can’t allow yourself to be captured. So for now, we must split up.”

  “He’s right, Eve,” Jacob says softly, kneeling next to his friend. “He can lie low while we continue on our way. It’ll slow us down trying to transport him. Tyler can’t shift while injured without risking injuring his leg permanently. We must split up temporarily.”

  “Here is where we shall meet again,” Cole says, searching his memories and recalling the route to take. He mentally sends the image to his brothers, who all nod when they understand. “It would be best if we can meet before crossing the Winter’s Pass, but if not, at The Vale.”

  Eve swallows, then nods. “Shouldn’t someone stay with him? Just in case he’s found?”

  Jacob looks like he wants to agree, and Cole understands . . . but their priority is Eve. To further weaken the group protecting Eve, even for only twenty-four hours with Lysette’s group close behind . . .

  But before Cole responds, Noah does. “I will stay,” Noah says, standing up. “It is a dangerous plan, Eve, but if anyone can help Tyler for the next twenty-four hours, I can. I know these woods and how to stay unseen better than anyone. But you all have to get going. Lysette will be closing on us with every minute we debate this.”

  Eve nods reluctantly, leaning over and kissing Tyler. “You promise me one thing, my soulful one. You and big man here stay safe. Stay alive.”

  Tyler nods, stroking Eve’s face. “I will see you in a few days, Princess.”

  Chapter 21

  Eve

  “I’m glad you know where we’re going,” I grumble as the sun sets and we keep going. “I feel like I’ve been riding Trigger here in circles.”

  “Where do you get the names for the horses from?” Cole asks as he walks next to me. Jacob’s out scouting, but not so far that he can’t give signals if there’s danger.

  “I didn’t think of it when I said it initially, but now that you ask, I guess from television,” I reply, patting the horse’s neck. “After my parents died, ‘Lyssa and I went to the state orphanage. Budgets were tight, and their idea of entertainment for the kids were two TVs in two rooms . . . no cable, just free TV and YouTube that was controlled by the staff. Which meant lots and lots of public domain movies. So, Mr. Ed, Trigger . . . if this boy were gray, I’d call him Silver.”

  Cole tilts his head, not quite understanding, but nods anyway.

  “So, are we walking in circles or not?” I ask, bringing things back to the question at hand. “I swear you keep making turns.”

  “I am winding us, yes,” Cole admits. “We are making progress toward the Winter’s Pass, but I am taking it slowly and surely. We will stay on this side of the pass if we can. I would prefer to keep us in a group . . . and maybe provide support if Tyler and Noah need it.”

  Cole breaks into a jog ,and I pick my horse up into a trot, Cole’s Fae abilities allowing him to keep up even as I get tired just watching him. I hear rustling in the woods to our right, and suddenly, they burst from the thicket, four Fae dressed in Guardsmen uniforms. With them is a face I prayed I’d never see again, Lysette.

  “Get them!”

  Cole and I wheel, rushing away from our pursuers, but my horse-riding skills are nowhere near what’s needed to take a warhorse into a gallop through the woods. Still, Cole swings up into the saddle behind me as I urge my horse as fast as I can.

  “I’m not ready for the Kentucky Derby!”

  Cole reaches around me, pushing me forward and pressing his body against me as he takes control, sandwiching me between the neck of the horse and his warm, slightly sweaty body.

  Cole’s breath whistles in my ear and I feel his arms press against my sides to keep me on the horse. He pulls us into a halt as another group of nearly a dozen Guardsmen emerge in front of us, all heavily armed.

  “Halt, Cole of the Queen’s Guard! In the name of her—”

  Cole doesn’t give the leader of the patrol a chance to respond, leaping from the saddle even as he pulls his sword from his back, a warrior’s battle cry tearing from his throat as he cleaves the Guardsman in half. I leap down, pulling my own swords as the Guard attacks, Cole their main target while two more try to hem me in.

  “Careful, Liam,” one says to the other, “this one has powerful magic.”

  “Aye, but see those bracers? Lysette was right. This kitty’s got no claws except for that butter knife in her ha
nd.”

  “We’ll see who’s got no claws when your balls are roasting over a campfire,” I growl, feeling the anger fill my mind again. This isn’t the scary anger of the past few weeks but the battle anger I’ve felt plenty of times during my time on the Para Squad, and I seize the initiative, striking at one of the Guardsmen while the other still circles to get into position.

  It works, and my parrying knife deflects Liam’s sword while my courtsword thrusts deep into his left shoulder, making my opponent groan in pain.

  “Bitch!”

  I pull back and attack in the other direction, trying to take advantage of any surprise I may have caused. It becomes a chaos of movement, my body a whirlwind of violence. I pivot, move, my blades flashing in the dim forested sunlight. It’s a fight that is more difficult than anything Cole’s put me through . . . because this is real. I could seriously get hurt. Or worse.

  But I do have one advantage. I don’t have to hold back either.

  Liam, my wounded opponent, is armed with a one-handed sword that’s longer and thicker than my courtsword but is also slower. The other one’s armed with what I remember Cole called a halberd, like an axe at the end of a pole.

  But neither of them is as good as Cole or Jacob, and when Liam tries to lunge in again, I spin just like they taught me, stabbing him deeply in the hip with my knife as I roll past his body. He drops, not dead but also not getting back up, and I turn to the Guardsman with the halberd.

  “I’ll see your blood stain the ground, demon seed,” he tells me, thrusting his weapon. The extra length the nearly six-foot-long shaft of his weapon gives him is difficult, and he knows how to twist the axe head this way and that so that I’m never in a safe space. Twice, I barely duck out of the way in time.

  The breath burns in my lungs, but I try to keep my breathing even so he doesn’t notice. Fighting for your life is exhausting, even if I’m in good shape after all the training Cole and Jacob have helped me with.

  I hear people behind me, though, and suddenly, a woman’s laughter. “This was easier than I thought.”

  I circle, trying to keep the man with the halberd in front of me, to see Lysette dismounting from a magnificent horse while her group of Guardsmen close in on us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cole overwhelmed and knocked to the ground, six attackers raising their weapons high to end him.

  “Cole!”

  “Oh, the demon bitch does have feelings?” Lysette says, smirking. “And here I thought she just wanted a good old-fashioned faerie fuck when I walked in on her last time. Hold your ground.”

  Lysette’s Guardsmen stop, and Cole is allowed to stand while Lysette stays back, her other troops surrounding us. “What do you want?” I ask her, trying to figure out a way to get my bracers off. If I’m going to die, I should find a way to take this evil woman with me. “I thought I was Kill On Sight.”

  “For some untrained country guard, of course. But Her Highness thinks that you do have value, and that perhaps your power would . . . enhance hers.”

  “You wouldn’t dare, Lysette!” Cole yells but is met with a punch to the jaw for his troubles. “She cannot be drained!”

  “And why not?” Lysette chuckles. “Cassina’s an expert at the draining spell. Why do you think she still looks so young and beautiful after all these years? Did you really think it was the hot water spa treatments and clean eating?”

  “Not going to happen,” I growl, lifting my sword. “I’ll die before I surrender to you. I saw the Warrens. I saw what you did to Tyler and Jacob. You think I’d let myself be taken alive?”

  “Jacob?” Lysette asks, her skin flushing pink. “That one . . . and somehow, you actually got to him. I’d ask how, but it doesn’t matter.”

  I lower my blade slowly, surprised at what I hear but also . . . maybe a weakness? “You have a thing for Jacob, don’t you? What, did he break your heart?”

  “My heart belongs to only one, Her Highness,” Lysette says, uncoiling her whip and flicking it along the ground. “But I will admit, you robbed Cassina of her next two conquests. She had plans for Jacob . . . and Cole.”

  The more Lysette talks, the greater the chance of something happening. Noah and Tyler must know. Cole must have told them . . . I hope. If it wasn’t for these accursed bracers, I’d know for sure.

  “Too bad,” Jacob says, springing seemingly out of nowhere and bringing his blade to Lysette’s throat. “How’re you doing, Princess?”

  “Wondering if you were going to show up,” I reply casually, lifting my swords again, putting on a show like we’re ready to fight. Hopefully, these men are not willing to die for a woman like Lysette. They should know now that both Jacob and Cole are here. Their numbers don’t amount to much, especially if Jacob takes Lysette out before the fighting begins again.

  It’s a gamble, I know. While I’m sure Lysette would gladly sacrifice the life of any of the Guardsmen in a chance to get me, Cassina must value the life of her chief advisor and most senior handmaiden. Hopefully, she tells them to stand down. And even if not, the Guard must know that and would not want to watch her die.

  The Guardsmen look at each other, and the one I was fighting with the Halberd raises his weapon. “Fine. Release Lysette.”

  “Hold on there, Slick,” Jacob says, looking back at Lysette’s horse. “Princess, I think we just found ourselves some more horses.”

  I nod, walking over and mounting Lysette’s beautiful horse. “Nice saddle, too. Much more ladylike than what we had.”

  Cole retrieves another horse and climbs on, slightly stiff from a concealed wound.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Lysette cackles. “Go . . . but you will never get through the Winter’s Pass. A whole battalion awaits you there. You can’t bounce between them, the mountains, and my forces, which will be hot on your heels.”

  “But not for a few hours, at least,” Jacob says, taking Lysette’s whip and coiling it around her arms and feet before plopping her in front of Cole on his horse, face down, ass up.

  “Do not follow us if you wish to see her alive again,” Cole says as Jacob swings onto another horse. The Guardsmen, obviously worried that killing Cassina’s favorite handmaiden might incur more of her wrath than letting me go, stay where they are as we gallop off.

  “You think that’ll hold them for long?” Jacob asks as we haul ass. “They’re going to want her back.”

  “I’m going to dance on your graves!” Lysette growls, and I’m a little guilty at the grin I give when Cole gives her an elbow in the side.

  “Shut your mouth, bitch,” Cole growls, the foulest words I’ve heard him say. We thunder on, slowing after a few miles and coming to a trot. “We need to water these horses.”

  At the next stream we find, we stop. Cole pulls Lysette down and pushes her down against a tree.

  “We should kill her,” Jacob says, pulling his knife. “She’s too dangerous and is probably telling Cassina exactly where we are right now.”

  “No,” I reply, putting a hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “Don’t.”

  Jacob looks at me questioningly, and Cole mirrors him. “Eve, think about this. Lysette is dangerous and our enemy.”

  “Perhaps,” I reply, looking at Lysette, “but I think we’re better than that.”

  Lysette laughs derisively. “You’ve already killed, bitch. Or do you forget what you did to my assistants?”

  “No,” I reply. “In fact, that’s why I’m saying not to kill you. Last time, it was in self-defense. But I’m not a murderer.”

  Lysette scoffs, rolling her eyes. “You’re nothing compared to her glorious Highness. I’m going to rejoice when Cassina crushes you under her heel like the pathetic little Halfing tramp you are! You’re going to—”

  Her words are cut off as I close the distance and viciously uppercut her, snapping her head back and knocking her out. “I said I’m not a murderer,” I tell her unconscious body. “Didn’t say I’m a fucking saint.”

  “Whoa . . . Princess is a badass,”
Jacob says with a chuckle. “Are you sure about this?”

  I go over, mounting my horse. “I’m sure. I’m afraid if we do kill her, it will just feed this darkness inside me. Besides, if we get these bracers off and my power under control, Lysette’s being alive won’t make any difference.”

  We push hard for the rest of the day, and by the time we make camp the sun’s down and the horses are steaming in the moonlight. I shiver, climbing down, and tying my horse off. It was hard to let Lysette go. I know I’ve just delayed a final reckoning with her, but I have to trust that maybe she’s not as psycho as she lets on. I have to believe that I’m more than the violent, evil demonic side of me.

  Cole comes over and lays a hand on my shoulder.

  “Yeah?”

  “Tyler and Noah are on their way. I’ve told them where to meet us. Do not worry, Princess. We will all be together again soon.”

  I let out a soft whoosh of air, tension draining out of me. “Thank you. And Cole?”

  “Yes?” he asks, getting ready to take a shift of watch.

  “Are you okay? The wound?”

  Cole nods, rubbing his hip. “I’m fine. Eve . . . you fought very well today. I’m proud of you.”

  Jacob emerges from the woods, a collection of foraged nuts, berries, and edible roots in his hands. “It was all me. I’m a great teacher,” he chuckles. “Better than Yoda.”

  Chapter 22

  Eve

  Jacob holds me close for warmth as we settle down for the night, but after today’s battle, it’s hard to calm my nerves. Finally, Jacob pulls back, stroking my face. “What is it, Princess? You kicked ass today from what Cole said.”

  I push him onto his back, swinging my leg over his body and running my fingers down his compact, muscular chest. “What it is, is that I need less talk, and more . . . something else.”

  I kiss Jacob hard, grinding against his hard body as he responds quickly, pulling me tight to him. His immense strength is nothing against my passion though as I grab his hair, pinning him to the ground as I bite his neck. Jacob gasps, grabbing my ass and kneading it.