Kasadya Hellhound Twisted

by Swart, Karen

  “Do you serve because you want to gain access to Heaven? Or do you serve because you want to, because it is in your heart to?” I challenged them, and silence greeted me. The few eyes that had shown aggression now looked to the earth, shamed at the conclusion of my challenge. They serve themselves, for their own cause. They are not here because their hearts tell them that this is the right thing to do.

  “These humans are out there every day, fighting to eliminate the demons, and they do this because they want to. They do this because it was their free willed choice to do it. You speak about honour and love, yet all of you are only doing this for yourselves!” I was pissed off, talk about hypocrites!

  “Not all serve for that reason; there are some of us that serve for a peaceful existence, to look at children and know they are safe from demons. To walk on Earth and hear the sounds of the night without the poison of demons, to see love and not lust,” a man’s voice came from behind me. I turned to see who it was, and found Astin and a huge group of his fallen standing behind us.

  “Astin, what are you doing here?” Jules asked, but he ignored her and walked up to me with Annabelle at his side.

  “Welcome back, hellhound. I see you brought us a present,” he said, greeting me in the fallen way, our hands bracing the arms of the other.

  “Is it true, did you create half-breeds with your blood?” Annabelle asked, greeting me as well.

  “Yes,” I answered, a little thrown off balance with their greeting. Why were they not going ballistic like the rest? Her eyes lit up with excitement, and she looked at the new fallen standing with us.

  “Amon, is that you?” Astin asked, walking over to Amon.

  “You know me, wouldn’t miss a fight with the council,” Amon replied and greeted Astin.

  “You are intruding a fallen gathering, please leave,” Thonyn said. He is such a douchebag.

  Astin looked at Thonyn and smiled. “Yes, I know. As a fallen it is my right, and to see your faces brings me much delight. Now, hellhound, why don’t you show us our new future.” He looked at me. I glanced at Max and the others, not sure if that would be a good thing.

  “It’s okay, Kasadya,” Chax encouraged and nodded to me. These were my friends, my family, by exposing them like this I could bring down the wrath of the fallen. What if they attacked us? We’re good, but we would need a miracle to survive all of them. Could I place them in such danger? How was I going to protect them? From what I have seen, the fallen don’t do well with new things. I stood there looking at my friends, my heart broken and displaced. I knew what was going to happen if we did this, I couldn’t take that chance with them.

  “Kasadya, I will not let harm come to them. I promise you,” Chax whispered in my ear. He was standing at my side. I turned to look at him; his eyes showed confidence, confidence I did not have in my fellow fallen. For some strange reason I believed him. I returned my eyes to Max, Ben and Ryan, and nodded to them. Max was the first to transform, spreading his wings wide and high. Then Ryan joined him, followed by Ben. Again the freaking gasping and stuff broke out in the crowd, the loudest coming from Jules and Thonyn.

  “It’s a miracle,” Annabelle said next to me, and shocked me into silence. What the?

  “It is no miracle!” Jules yelled again, kicking me back into pissed off mode. Annabelle lifted her head, and looked up at Jules. Her green eyes sparkled with the fury she was containing, but there was sadness, too.

  “To you, Jules, it would appear to be a problem. But to me, the last of my kind, it is a miracle. If only we found this before the dragons were extinct, before …” she trailed off, tears running down her face. OMG she was the last one, and dragons? I’d never heard anyone speak of dragons before, but they wouldn’t because they don’t exist anymore. And I also know why she called it a miracle. Maybe we can’t have pure griffon fallen, but we can have half-breed ones. Astin came to soothe her, kissing her on the cheek.

  “You will let our kin be destroyed by a demon lover?” Jules asked again, and at that I turned to look at her.

  “What the hell are you taking about now?” I threw at her. She turned her poisonous eyes on me, and I could see the delight in them. This was her counter attack; she is going to use me to win this debate.

  “I am talking about you, Kasadya Levourne. You deserted Exsilium because of your punishment and joined the demons against us. Chax reported this himself, when you turned away and walked off with a demon.” When she finished, her face was full of triumph. At that, I looked at Chax. Oh you’re gonna hear it when we get out of this buster.

  “I did not choose demons above fallen. Kali Caponito and myself were shifted into Hell against our will. A nightmare demon used a charm placed in the Hellhouse by traitorous fallen to trance her and make her shift into Hell. I shifted with her, trying to get her out of it. We ended up in Hell, where I had to fight demon after demon to save both our lives. I couldn’t ask Chax for help in the club, because they kept Kali as prisoner.”

  “It is true, I found her in Hell fighting against others. She was supposed to fight me, but in return freed me from my captivity. She is no traitor,” Caim said, moving to stand next to me.

  “She just fooled you, Caim. Making you think she was a captive like you. A demon cannot enter Exsilium to place a charm in our houses. And there is no such thing as a traitor fallen working with demons, except for her,” Jules went on, and yip I did the stupid thing again.

  I moved with super speed and transformed in the middle of it. Reaching her, I grabbed her by her shirt and picked her up, slamming her down to the ground hard, her breath rushing out of her.

  “I am no demon lover,” I growled at her. “If you accuse me again, I will kill you.” She looked at me, totally shocked, and then someone grabbed my wings, and I froze. Crap I didn’t concentrate on my wings signals, crap!

  “If you don’t take your hands off her right now, I will personally take your head for it!” a woman yelled from my left. I looked at her and was completely shocked.

  “Release her, if you want to live,” she said moving toward us, swords drawn and scaring the hell out of me.

  The one holding my wings released them and moved away. I just stayed still, too freaking scared to make a move. Because the face looking at me was the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life.

  “Mother?” I whispered.

  “Release her, Kas,” she said, stopping in front of me. I let go immediately and backed off, trying to save myself from my own mother. Power was jumping off her, but what was slamming into me was her anger. She was really mad. Her face was still a mask of perfection, but her eyes spoke of death.

  Jules got up and dusted off the ground that was on her Prada whatever pants, and looked at my mother. “Thank you. This traitor will die for her insole—” Jules tried to finish, but my mother hit her with such force a sonic boom sounded. Jules flew through the air and landed yards away from us. Dust slammed up around her body, as she lay limp and unconscious. The crowd and I stood there in silence and shock. It was a huge blow, one only a vampire could make because of their ability.

  “The one that touches or calls my daughter a traitor again will die by my hands!” my mother yelled, glaring at the crowd. Everyone was silent and some even took a few steps back. Holy hell she was a sight! I could see that she was containing her anger, her face never revealed it, but her eyes gave it away.

  “Nice work, honey,” my father said, moving around her and grabbing me in a death hug.

  “Thank the Heavens you’re okay, my Filiola.” My father continued kissing my cheeks and hugging me, but I just looked at my mother. Wow I am so glad I didn’t go all the way in our fights. Man she would have handed me my ass on a plate. My father noticed that I wasn’t really paying attention to his affection and released me, stepping back to look me over. I just kept my eyes on my mother, who was looking at us.

  My mother stared at me in silence, checking me out from head to toe, and then walked over and hugged me. “Don’t ever
do that to me again,” she whispered into my ear. Stunned, I hugged her back. I stood there trying to remember the last time my mom hugged me like this, and came up empty. Releasing me and stepping back, she took hold of my father’s hand and the two of them looked at me, smiles on their faces. Okay, this is just freaky.

  “Um, should we continue?” Vulcan asked from behind us. We snapped out of it, glancing over at him.

  “Yes, continue,” my mother said, giving him the space he needed. Doesn’t seem like anyone is helping out Jules. Poor baby got her butt kicked by my mother big time. Yes I am grinning like mad. It’s not every day a girl gets to see her mom kick butt.

  He smiled at her and went on, “We have a choice today, we can make the same mistake as mankind and view this as a threat, or we can embrace this and make good of it for the better of all involved in this war. So, my kin, what do you say?” There was silence for a while, and then some started to talk amongst themselves. Oh great this was not going to end well, I could just feel it in my bones.

  “I agree with you, we need to embrace this and make good of it. But I fear that the half-breeds will lack the necessary skills and knowledge to take the right steps as fallen. And given the circumstances of the hellhound, she too needs to be evaluated,” a male said, walking out of the crowd and stopping in front of us. What the hell does that mean?

  “I agree, it would be dangerous to all if we send out untrained or unskilled fallen. They need to be ready for this war,” Astin agreed.

  “Hey, guys. Trust me when I say this, we already know how to kill demons, so don’t worry about that,” I said, looking at the two.

  “Agreed, if we are forced to accept this, they need to be trained properly. Just like all our young ones, they will be assigned to a Custos and trained as an Apprendo,” Thonyn said behind me. I turned around.

  “You have got to be freaking kidding me! I have taken more demons than you ever will,” I threw back at him.

  “There is more than just killing. A Custos takes responsibility for more than just his or her own life, and they make decisions to ensure the safety of many. You think because you killed a few hundred demons you have the right to be called one? No, Kasadya, Custos are trained and honed to perfection. You and your friends will begin as Apprendos and earn your right to be a Custos,” Thonyn finished, smiling at me. Oh he is so dead.

  “Th—” I started to say, but Chax all mighty cut me off.

  “Agreed. Kasadya was already assigned to me; I will train her and Abby together. The rest of the half-breeds will need to be assigned,” Chax said. I was giving him the death glare. He was casually leaning against a beam, never even looking at me. His hair dropped a little over his face, but I was sure that he was keeping me in the corner of his eye.

  “Are there any volunteers?” Vulcan asked, looking at the crowd.

  “Oh me, me, I want one!” Nanini yelled, storming forward.

  “Great, that leaves three more, anyone else?” Vulcan asked.

  “I will take one,” a female said, walking out of the crowd.

  “I will train my mate,” Amon pitched in, clearly not allowing another male to.

  “And I will take the last,” my mother said, joining the so called fun. Apprendo? I mean really, these guys are freaking nuts.

  “Good, now before we assign your Apprendos let’s get a final vote. So now that the new ones have a Custos and will be trained as Apprendos, what do you say fallen?” Vulcan asked the crowd.

  “Aye,” said the first one, followed by many. Oh freaking great, I am back where I started two years ago.

  With the last “Aye” Vulcan turned to look at the volunteer Custos and then at the half-breeds. He walked to Ben and held out his hand. Ben looked at him for a moment confused, but placed his hand in his. Vulcan closed his eyes for a while, then opened them. “Mila, this is your Apprendo.” Then he moved over to Ryan, “This will be yours, Freya,” he finished and finally ended up at Max who didn’t look impressed at all.

  Turning around there was only one Custos left, and she was pissed off as hell. “Why do I get Godzilla? Come on, he is so going to ruin my mojo,” she complained, pleading with Vulcan. I couldn’t help it, regardless of my own pissed off mood, this was just hilarious, and so I started to laugh.

  “I do not see the humour in this, Kas.” Max looked at me; I was cracking myself up with this. It’s payback time for all the grief he gave me when I trained him.

  Trying to suppress his own laugh, Vulcan looked at Nanini. “Believe me when I say that this will be for the best. Have I ever given you wrong guidance?” he asked her.

  Lifting her nose in the air and trying not to pout, she looked at him. “No, but he is so mean and a complete bully, how am I going to work with that?”

  “It will come to you. Now that we are finished, I believe we can end of this morning and get in some sleep,” Vulcan finished. Only then did I notice that the sun was already climbing higher in the sky, it was a really long day. Funny how time flies in my world. One moment we’re just starting off the night in a club, the next the sun is high in the sky and we’re back in Exsilium. Oh and a new version of Hell. Will I ever get past stage one?

  “Where will they all stay?” Chax asked and for a moment I could swear I saw fear in his eyes. Can’t be, I must be more tired than I thought. I mean Chax De Luca fear something, nope never gonna happen. I looked at Vulcan, trying to think away this one.

  “That is a good question, now let me think,” Vulcan said, moving around, his hand on his chin. Getting frustrated with his up and down moving I looked back at Chax. He was starting to get a green colour around his cheeks and really didn’t look well. What on earth was wrong with him? Nanini and Kali started snickering behind him, Lotan was shaking his head, but a small smile escaped when he tried to hide his face from us.

  Vulcan stopped and looked up at him. “Chax, it would seem that once again you are the only one with enough space, best of luck.” He shifted out, and Chax’s face was left in dread. Okay, what the hell did I just miss here?

  “Totally wicked! You guys are going to stay with us. The whole gang is at Chax’s place,” Nanini said, walking over to me and giving me a shoulder bump. With that little bit of info, I looked at Chax again to see that he was real close to puking.

  “Chax, are you okay?” Amon asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Chax just stared at the ground, lost in another world.

  “Ignore him. Come on, let’s go say hi to some of the fallen and we can introduce your half-breeds,” Nanini said, taking my hand and shoving me into the crowd, which was now moving either towards us or away. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught two males carrying away an unconscious Jules.

  Many fallen came to greet us, and some were really nice to the guys and me. Every time I could I would see Caim or someone trying to cheer up Chax, but he was still lost.

  “Kasadya?” a beautiful voice said, and I turned to look into a handsome werewolf’s face.

  “Hi, Seth, long time no see,” I greeted back, but as I took the first step to greet him Arianna stormed forward and blocked him off. Confused I looked at her and then Seth, and then my brain kicked in.

  “Arianna, it’s good to see you, too,” I said holding my arms for her to take; she hesitated for a second but then greeted me, her eyes piercing daggers into me.

  “I’m glad to see you’re safe,” she replied. Yeah, I just bet you are.

  “Yes, thank you. Was a bumpy ride, but hell who’s complaining?” I replied, looking over her to see Seth’s concerned face. Yeah I got the picture. Seth didn’t wait and he is Arianna’s territory now, bummer. Well hell, there is more than just one guy around, right?

  “Are you okay?” he asked from behind her.

  “Yes, thank you. Luckily for me and Kali we ran into Amon and his gang, and well from there we just winged it,” I replied, keeping my distance so as not to piss of Arianna. Well at least I could throw away the hope that someone special was waiting for me. Arianna moved
closer to him and we just stood there looking at each other.

  “Kas, sorry guys, but can I borrow her?” my father asked, interrupting us. I was glad, this was just awkward.

  “Okay, see you guys,” I said walking off with my dad. I was a little disappointed in what just happened. It was kind of nice thinking someone would be waiting for me, other than my parents.

  “Your mother is drilling Chax and I don’t think he is going to survive this one,” my father said. Confused, I wondered what the hell was going on so I followed him to find my mom facing off with Chax in an argument.

  “You will not fail me again, Chax! So help me, this time I will kill you,” she sneered into his face. This version of my mom was kind of freaking scary. Wow, she went from Mrs. Perfect to Mrs. Freaking Bad Ass. Mmm, now that I think of it, I really do prefer this version; I could work with this one.