Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2)

by Tara West

  Garf brought us to what he called the training hall. I called it Hell’s butthole, a dark and narrow, sweltering cavern that smelled like raw sewage. Oh, and as soon as we descended the last flight of stairs into the musty hole, something else happened. I turned into demon form, Jack changed back to Dogzilla, and Garf was a big grey ogre with wings. At least this time when my back split open, I was prepared. For some reason, it didn’t hurt as much as the first time I’d lost my wing virginity. Maybe by the third or fourth time, I’d actually enjoy it.

  Garf explained we were no longer protected by the magic in the pyramid because we were beneath it. The more I breathed in the noxious fumes, the more I realized it probably was sewage I smelled, Nephilim shit to be exact. Nice. And they expected us to train in this?

  The only positive was I noted Garf’s wings were whole again. He must have bathed in the heavenly water above, which was a contrast to the river that ran through the cavern. Judging by the vapors that rose up from the current, I suspected the Nephilim had been eating a few too many spicy fish tacos. Yeah, nothing heavenly about the water below.

  We spotted King Og at the far end of the cavern, standing beneath the flickering glow of a torch on the wall, lost deep in conversation with Aedan and Sarge who were in their demon forms as well. My gaze was drawn to Sarge’s matching, bulky green legs. Even in demon form, his wound had healed.

  I wondered where the other Nephilim had gone. Garf told me there was supposed to be some sort of warrior training.

  I asked Garf to set me down. Jack followed me as I strode up to the king with purposeful strides, deliberately refusing to look in Aedan’s direction.

  “King Og.” I tilted my chin and pulled back my shoulders, desperately hoping I looked like the angel in charge and not just another law school dropout who’d accidentally electrocuted herself with a blow-dryer and got kicked out of Heaven. “Garf tells me my friend Callum has left.”

  “Yah.” The king nodded, the star emblem on his chest gleaming beneath the dull lights of the cavern. “Friend go last night.”

  Jack’s two heads hovered above my shoulder; he whimpered, creating a puddle of slobber by my feet.

  “They’ll torture him if he’s caught,” I cried, and this time I shot Aedan a glare that could have melted lead.

  Aedan actually had the nerve to flash a wide, bony smile as he folded his arms. “Good. The bastard deserves it.”

  “Aedan,” I spat. “He’s your brother.”

  His demonic eyes flashed a brighter shade of red as he pointed an accusatory finger. “That didn’t stop you from sleeping with him.”

  Oh, no, not this again.

  “I didn’t sleep with him,” I groaned. So that’s what this was about? What was up with my boyfriend?

  He puffed up his chest, bearing down on me with a skeletal snarl. “I heard your confession last night when you were drunk.”

  “What confession?”

  He averted his gaze, staring at something beyond my shoulder as his white knuckles gripped the scythe. “That you two had sex, and he left you unfulfilled.”

  Oh, great. I’d pulled a Mar. Our relationship was doomed if we kept calling out other people’s names in bed.

  “That was a dream,” I said, but he wouldn’t even meet my gaze. “Aedan, are you listening? The sex was a dream, an effect of the tainted water.” I paused, clenching my hands by my sides as I enunciated each word slowly. “Callum and I never had sex.”

  His bones clacked together as he banged his staff on the ground. “You expect me to believe that?”

  His rejection was like a verbal slap across my face, and I couldn’t mask the hurt in my tone. “What reason do I have to lie to you, Aedan?”

  His jaw dropped, and he looked down at me for a long moment without saying a word.

  My chest tightened as I spoke through a voice thick with emotion. “If it wasn’t for Callum, I’d be Scorpius’s blood slave.” I splayed my hands wide, searching his gaze with pleading eyes. “We have to go after him before Scorpius finds him.”

  Aedan didn’t have the decency to acknowledge my suffering as he turned his back on me, marching away with a stiff gait. Jack barked at him, the deep sound echoing across the cavern like a sonic boom and rattling my brain. My heart hammered double time when Aedan stopped, but he hesitated only for a second before he went on.

  “Aedan, what the hell is wrong with you?” My wings snapped open and buzzed. “He’s your brother!” I screamed as I flew around him, blocking his path.

  He skirted me, his bones rattling as he headed toward the stairs. I was so beyond frustrated and hurt, I couldn’t control my tears.

  Sarge came up beside me, laying a meaty hand on my shoulder. “Let him go cool down.”

  I folded my arms and glared at Aedan’s retreating backside. I was so damn glad his bony ass didn’t look tempting as he walked up the stairs. Instead of wanting to screw him and throttle him, I just wanted to throttle him. What gave him the right to hurl accusations at me and then walk away? I’d come clean. I’d told him about the dream sex. What about him calling me Mar? Was he the only one allowed to dream of having sex with other people? Asswipe! Asswipe times infinity!

  Jack gave both sides of my face sloppy, wet sympathy licks. I wanted to shoo him away, but I thought better of it. No need for two broken hearts.

  Heavy feet stomped up behind me. I turned to see Og bending on one knee and flashing a sympathetic smile. “Angel no cry. Og send warriors to find him.”

  I wiped my eyes before squaring my shoulders, refusing to shed any more tears because Aedan was a hardheaded heart breaker. “Thank you.”

  Og tilted his head back and let out five short whistles that nearly blew out my eardrums. They were louder than a screeching fire engine. Jack whimpered, falling to his belly and covering all four ears with his paws. And then I ducked, shielding my head with my hands as five giant shadows descended from the cavern’s ceiling. That’s when I saw them, over a thousand Nephilim hanging upside-down from the ceiling and walls of the cavern. Holy Nephilim bat shit! The Nephilim demons had turned into Gargoyles!

  Five Nephilim landed on the cavern floor with resounding thuds, causing my legs to wobble like jelly. Sarge grabbed my elbow, steadying me as the Nephilim bowed before us.

  “Bring back dragon demon,” Og ordered.

  They stood and saluted their assent before jumping into the air and flying toward the ceiling. I leaned into Sarge as I watched them disappear into the darkness.

  “Where are they going?” I asked.

  “Secret Nephilim passage,” Og said. “Don’t worry. Warriors find dragon friend.”

  “Secret passage?” I asked Og. I sure hoped the demons wouldn’t find out about it.

  “Yah,” Og grinned. “Only Nephilim find it. Passage is dark and long and no use eyes to fly through.” He tapped his skull. “Nephilim use brains.”

  Wow. They really were bat monsters, because what he was describing sounded just like echolocation.

  See? I did pay attention to my college biology professor once.

  “Thank you, again,” I told Og.

  He flashed a lopsided smile as he bent down, looking into my eyes. “Nephilim will be thanking angel soon.”

  I swallowed back a ball of tension as his large grey orbs searched my gaze. I sure as heck hoped they’d be thanking me, and we all didn’t get knocked down to a lower level of Hell by angry demons.

  Og stood, clapping his hands and whistling again. This time, every Nephilim in the cavern descended, filling the air with what felt like hurricane force winds from the heavy beating of their wings. I turned into Sarge, and he wrapped his strong arms around my waist as giant after giant shook the ground with violent tremors.

  Og looked at me with a crazy gleam in his eyes. “Now we train for war.”

  Sarge bent over, whispering in my ear. “I wish I’d had these bad-asses with me in Afghanistan.”

  “I wish I’d had them with me on my first blind date,” I
said. “That Amway meeting would have been a whole lot more interesting.”

  Sarge laughed under his breath, casting me a mischievous sideways look. I was glad to have him with me, especially since my jerk-wad boyfriend wasn’t around. How could he leave me at a time like this? It wasn’t every day I trained for battle with thousands of giants. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.

  His leaving reminded me of one time when Travis walked out on me at the mall, because I didn’t approve of his choice of shoes. Yes, the asshole had stranded me over shoes. I had to call my sister to come get me, and I’d been forced to listen to her nagging me about my lousy taste in men all the way back to my apartment.

  So imagine asshole Travis stranding me in downtown Seattle, then magnify that by a hundred. That’s about how pissed off I was at Aedan’s behavior. There was no excuse for it. He’d accused me of cheating and walked out on me in front of everyone. I’d been humiliated and rejected in the blink of an eye. And here I thought Hell couldn’t have gotten any worse.

  Og’s giants lined up in uniform rows down the cavern, their numbers so vast, I couldn’t make out the back rows behind the shadows.

  “Okay,” I whispered to Sarge, “what am I supposed to do?”

  He placed a steady hand on my shoulder, gazing at the throng of Nephilim warriors. “Just watch,” he breathed.

  Og lifted a hand, and I shielded my ears, expecting him to whistle again. “Release nettles,” he commanded, as two hairy looking giants began pushing a round rock away from what I realized was a cave entrance.

  A whole bunch of emaciated bodies poured out. The cavern was awash with their clatter, as they began buzzing like bees. It took me a moment to realize they were nagging the Nephilim, pointing their fingers at them as if they were wayward children.

  “Omigod!” My wings buzzed with excitement as I flew to Og’s height. “I didn’t know Nephilim had nettles.”

  He waved his club at them. “Nephilim keep nettles in dungeon. Good for training.” He waved over a giant who was almost a head taller than the others. “Goliath, show angel magic.”

  “Goliath,” I breathed. As in David and Goliath?

  The giant turned, facing down a teenage boy in a short brown toga and leather sandals. The teen sneered at Goliath, aiming a slingshot at his head. Before he could strike, Goliath raised his finger and pointed at the teen. He froze in place, becoming as still as a statue, and then to my amazement, dust rose from the ground, swarming him like bees to honey, molding around his body until it formed one solid stone. I flew down to the stone, a mixture of amazement and dread washing over me. I could barely make out the boy’s features through the smooth surface, as if the stone was made of glass and he had been trapped underneath.

  Creepy.

  I watched as other giants disposed of their nettles, mostly by breathing fire, but those with no special powers used their gigantic clubs to whack off their heads. Seemed effective. There was one nettle, though, who caught my eye. Garf’s nettle, a beautiful pale-skinned woman with long blonde hair flowing down her back. A serpent coiled on top of her head, hissing at Garf as he cowered. Despite encouragement from the other Nephilim, Garf was too terrified to do anything other than shield his eyes and curl into a ball.

  Poor Garf. That bitch had really messed him up good. I figured a hundred years of torture would do the trick.

  Her shrill laughter was more nerve-wracking than the sound of a dying cat in heat. “Stand up and face me, you stupid lummox,” she screeched.

  Garf cried like a baby, curling into himself and rocking on his haunches. It was enough to shatter what little of my heart wasn’t already broken into pieces. I flew over to Garf and landed, wrapping an arm around his big neck.

  “She’s not going to hurt you, Garf,” I soothed in his ear. “It’s okay.”

  He simply sobbed louder. “Garf no wanna!” he said on a sniffle.

  “What’s the matter, big baby? Afraid of a little nettle?” she taunted.

  I turned to her with a snarl. I’d had enough of the bitch’s shit in captivity, and I certainly wasn’t about to put up with it now. I pulled back my shoulders as I raised my hands, aiming them at the cavity where her heart should have been. I channeled all my pent-up frustration from Scorpius, Katherine, and even Aedan, and fired off a blast.

  Both streaks of lightning merged into one powerful bolt, zapping her like a bug in a porch light. In a heated split second, she was gone.

  Holy shit! Did I just do that?

  Sarge raced up to me. “Whoa! You blasted that bitch!”

  I squinted as the smoke cleared. “Where did she go?”

  Goliath stomped over to the black streak on the ground and frowned down at it. “No ashes,” he said.

  I craned my neck up at Og, whose chest was heaving as he joined us. “What does that mean?”

  Og let out a low whistle. “She go down many levels, maybe all thirteen.”

  Og raised his club, pointed it at me, and bellowed. “It is she. Fawen angel. Mother of Nephilim. You will free us from Hell. All hail angel,” he decreed before bending down on one knee.

  The other Nephilim followed his order, and the ground shook as they all fell to their knees. Garf peered at me, smiling through his sheen of tears.

  I waved at them, mouthing to Og to stand up. “It was nothing, really.”

  I looked down at my smoking hands, which I now realized were badly burned. Little black swirls were etched into my palms. Ouch! I was so going to need a manicure with some serious exfoliating. As soon as I got back to Purgatory, I was going to schedule an appointment, so long as I made it out of here in one piece.

  Aedan

  What reason do I have to lie to you, Aedan?

  Ash’s words reverberated in my brain as I stormed up the cellar stairs, feeling as if I’d left my heart behind with her.

  How could I have turned my back on her? She’d sworn she hadn’t slept with Callum, so why did I refuse to believe her? Because I knew what Hell water did to people. I knew. Callum was already damned for sleeping with my wife. What would stop him from sleeping with my girlfriend? And why had he helped her escape from Scorpius in the first place, knowing he’d put his soul in danger?

  Could he, after over a hundred years, have a sense of loyalty to me? Could the regret of his betrayal have stayed with him all this time?

  Over the years, Callum and I had crossed paths at least a few dozen times on Earth. Though our encounters were brief, and we were on opposite sides of good and evil, we had developed an unwritten pact, sparing each other even during heated battles.

  There were so many things I’d wanted to tell my brother during those times, like I’d forgiven him for his betrayal and I missed him beyond words. I’d wanted to ask him how he fared in Hell, though I feared his answer would shatter my already-broken heart.

  Mostly, I wanted to tell Callum I loved him.

  But since I was too busy chopping off his accomplices’ heads, there was never any time.

  I’d had the chance to reconcile with my twin and instead, I’d punched him in the face and sent him away. Ash was right. Scorpius would torture Callum if he found him.

  Ash had never lied to me before. Why would I doubt her now, leaving her when she needed me most? Had I been blinded by jealousy? Some part of me hoped I was wrong, but another part of me realized if Callum truly had been loyal, then I’d just foolishly sent my brother to his doom.

  Ash

  I practiced my blasting skills on several more nettles as they poured out of the cave. Where they’d all come from, I had no idea, but I gasped when Mar stormed out, pointing her finger at me.

  “How many men are you going to seduce before Aedan rids himself of you?”

  I lifted my hands, preparing to strike. I couldn’t wait to banish this particular nettle to the thirteenth dimension. “I didn’t seduce anyone,” I spat.

  She folded her hands demurely in front of her, batting innocent eyes. “You were warned about the water
, yet you drank it anyway.” She wagged a disapproving finger. “Shame on you. Have you no self-control?”

  Flaming pyres of anger surged inside my skull as electricity pumped through my veins. Forget banishing this nettle to any dimension; I was going to obliterate her from all existence. I slowly raised my hands to strike, feeling the charge race across my arms and pool in my fingers.

  Og came up beside me, holding out a staying hand. “Wait, angel.”

  I turned to him with wide eyes. “Why?”

  His massive brow bunched over his eyes as he frowned down at Mar. “She look like angel.”

  “I know,” I groaned, “but she’s not me. She’s her own, very annoying person.”

  Og frowned as he tapped my wrist. “Angel is injured. Angel need healing.”

  I looked down at the two black bulls-eyes burned into my palms. The skin puckered around the scorched parts, festering in bloody, bubbly boils. Charred flesh flaked and peeled within the holes, fluttering to the ground. Gross.

  Og stepped in front of me and let out a low whistle. He looked down at me with sadness in his big, luminous eyes. “We no more train today.” He motioned to two giants guarding the cave. “Put nettles back.”

  I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t let me toast Mar. Was he that concerned about my injuries, or was he having doubts because she looked like me? He of all creatures should have understood she wasn’t real. Just like my sex dream with Callum wasn’t real, I reminded myself for at least the hundredth time that day. So why did I still feel guilty about it? Maybe my nettle was right. Maybe I didn’t deserve Aedan.

  Garf took me back upstairs and washed my hands in holy water while the others stayed below to finish their training. The angry black holes in my palms fused together and healed in a matter of seconds. I held up my hands, admiring them.

  I smiled up at him. “Thanks, Garf. That was way more effective than a manicure.”