Once again, fate had come down like a lightning bolt splitting the earth in front of me, jarring me from my path, forcing me to step into the darkness I was so carefully trying to avoid. It seemed no matter how much I tried to shape my destiny, it kept molding it in such a way as to make it unwieldy.
“Hmmm… maybe a kiss to wake my Sleeping Beauty.”
I fluttered my eyes open.
“Ahhh… there she is.” He loomed above me, his face mere inches from mine, a smirk covering it from ear to ear. “Welcome home. Well, technically this isn’t home, but close enough.”
“How?” I managed to ask, my tongue so thick it was difficult to form words. “Where?”
“So many questions,” he said, staying next to me as he stood back up. “We’ll get to them soon enough. First we must say our goodbyes to your escort. I’m sure he’s eager to get back.”
He turned his head toward someone or something in the distance, but I couldn’t see from my angle. I was lying on a cot or bed of some sort and tried to sit up. That was when I realized I was bound to it at the wrists and ankles by metal shackles.
Caleb stared down at me with a spark in his eyes. His features were harder, more prominent, stronger than I remembered. His entire body appeared more powerful than the last I’d seen him. And if he had seemed confident back then, he appeared to hold the world with his bare hands now.
“For your own safety, of course,” he said, referencing my binds.
Don’t you mean yours? I wanted to spit out, but I knew the best way to deal with Caleb was not with idle threats, especially ones my body wasn’t ready to give substance to. My brain was still too fuzzy to process everything, so I lay back down and closed my eyes to try and let it clear.
“If you think I’m leaving here without the body, you’re not as smart as I gave you credit for.”
I shot up again, eyes wide with surprise at Hadraniel’s voice. There he was, standing near the bed now, looking at Caleb as if expecting something. Payment maybe? If I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes, I would’ve thought it was my muddled mind playing tricks on me. But then, the memory of the dining hall, feeling lightheaded, Hadraniel telling me to rest. It all came flooding back.
“You,” I said, with awe and disgust. “How could you?”
His gaze met mine, and I don’t know what I expected to see in his eyes… disgust maybe, but there was nothing.
“Don’t be so surprised, Cassandra,” he said. “I have a universe to protect. Some sacrifices are expected.”
I clenched my teeth so hard, I was sure they’d break from the pressure. The hatred I had for him at that moment emanated from me. I only wished it was palpable and able to knock him on his sorry, sacrificing ass.
“You see, sweetheart,” Caleb said, his enjoyment of this whole scene giving an extra lift to his voice, “your great, great, great granddaddy here and I made a deal. He’d bring you home to me, and I’d give him the other piece to his almighty collection—Nergal’s body.” Caleb looked back at Hadraniel. “It’s too bad he didn’t pay attention to the fine print. The part that reads, ‘Never make a deal with the devil.’ Nergal taught me that one.”
I pierced Hadraniel with a look of complete loathing. “You’re a fucking idiot.”
Caleb laughed.
Hadraniel kept his gaze on Caleb, ignoring my outburst. “Without the Sword, you’re still no closer than before I brought the girl. You’ve gained nothing.”
So, I was just a girl now. Before I was the girl, I’d been the angels’ only hope of luring the big bad wolf in. Caleb wasn’t the only manipulative prick in the universe. Apparently, the most powerful and highest angels hid their horns well.
“I’ve gained a queen,” Caleb said, smiling down at me, making my skin crawl.
“A queen can only satisfy your desire in bed, not your desire for power. You’ll never get the Sword,” Hadraniel argued.
“You do underestimate me, Hadraniel. I’m much smarter than you give me credit for. In fact, the Sword is already on its way to me. You’re not the only angel on my shoulder, you know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’ll bid you goodbye so you can go see for yourself.”
“And I’ll come back with a thousand angels more than your pitiful group of demons could ever handle.”
Caleb fixed Hadraniel with a smug look. “It seems you’re in a bit of a catch twenty-two situation then. You see, if you leave, we’ll be gone by the time you return, and you’ll be back to square one, with one less beautiful woman to sacrifice. But if you stay, how will you stop the Sword from making the way to its rightful owner?”
Hadraniel’s forehead creased as he narrowed his eyes at Caleb. After a time of silence, when he seemed to be contemplating the scenario that had just been painted, he said, “I’ll find you.”
He was leaving? No. No, he wouldn’t leave me this way. While listening to him, I’d hated him, but a tiny glimmer of faith had me clinging to the hope he had some ulterior plan, that I really wasn’t being sacrificed and left here with Caleb, to be his plaything. He was an angel, for chrissakes.
“You’re leaving me here?”
My last words dissipated into the air where Hadraniel no longer stood. He was gone.
“I thought he’d never leave,” Caleb said, smiling down at me. “Talk about overstaying your welcome.”
“This will never work. They’ll find you. You know they will and when they do, they’ll shove that Sword down your lying throat.”
“Now how would they do that when they don’t even have the blessed Sword? That, my dear queen, was not a lie. It will be in our possession soon enough.”
Our possession. As if I’d have anything to do with his psychotic plan. He was more demented than he’d ever been.
“You can’t keep me here, Caleb. I’m stronger than you. You know that.”
“You don’t look too strong right now.”
“These drugs won’t last forever. And when they wear off—”
“We’ll be far enough away, and you’ll see where you belong. You’ll feel where you belong.”
“I know where I belong. No drug in the world can take that away from me.”
“You’ll change your mind. I have no doubt about that. Now let’s stop arguing and get this party started.” He started climbing up onto the bed.
“What the hell are you doing?”
He straddled my hips and leaned over me, his face practically nuzzling my neck. I heard him breathe in deep through his nose, smelling me. After a moment of nothing, as if he were holding my scent in, he slowly let his hot breath out while he made his way to my ear. Lips brushing my lobe, he said, “You’re going to thank me for this, I promise.”
With all my strength, I raised my fists, wanting nothing more than to beat them over his head, or grab him by the neck and twist it until it no longer supported his head. But the manacles held my hands fast and too far away to reach him. All I could do was twist my head in his direction, hard enough to force him back.
“I’m going to kill you, Caleb. That’s my promise.”
He smiled at me with that evil smirk I despised and hoped I’d never see again.
“I love it when you’re spunky,” he said, right before he put all of his weight on me and hugged me to him.
I braced myself for what I thought was next, but all that came was darkness. A sweet, welcomed darkness.
***
Cassandra.
The breathy, melodic sound of my name echoed in my head, waking me from what seemed like the deepest sleep I’d ever been under.
Cassandra.
Cassie.
A different voice. That one didn’t sing. One that grated on my nerves like steel against stone.
I opened my eyes to what I’d hoped was a nightmare.
“We’re home,” Caleb said, still straddled over me. “Well, close.”
I closed my eyes. Definitely a nightmare, a living, breathing one.
“Come now, swee
theart. Don’t be like that.”
“Don’t call me that.”
He laughed as he shifted off the bed… and me.
I opened my eyes again. Torch sconces dimly lit the room, dancing light over the stone walls that surrounded us, as far as I could see. An old, dank smell permeated the air, like that of an ancient castle.
The scenery was much the same as the last place we’d just left, but the vibes here smothered me like a dark, weighted blanket. I wanted to be repelled by it, but much to my disgust, it gave me a strange, comforting feeling. Must still be drugged because it seems I’m exactly where I was supposed to be, but I know better. It made me think of the melodious voice I had heard or thought I heard when we first got there—inviting, welcoming me.
I shook my head to rid myself of the traitorous thoughts.
“You feel it, don’t you?” Caleb asked. He was studying my face as if he could read my thoughts.
“I have a lot of emotions right now, Caleb—hatred, repulsion, rage. But you know what I feel the most? Bloodthirsty.” I sneered.
One of his eyebrows lifted when a smug expression came over his face. “Good. I knew you’d be the perfect queen.”
“You’re delusional. I am not your queen and never will be. Do whatever you want to me. I’ve already been through worse than you could ever dream up. You’re nothing but a flunky wannabe.”
“Be careful, Cassie.”
“Oh, please. I was tortured for months by Nergal, someone more powerful than you.”
A searing pain shot through my head, like a knife slicing through my brain. I squeezed my eyes shut and cried out. Shit. Where’d he learn to do that?
“Are you sure? I’ve got more tricks I wouldn’t mind showing you. You could take notes, then we could compare.”
“Fuck you.”
Another blast of pain erupted under my skull, and I swear my eyeballs bulged out of their sockets from it.
“Are you ready to be a good girl?”
The pain eased up, but tiny aftershocks echoed. Once they were finally gone, or at least bearable, I opened my eyes and glared at him, but said nothing.
“You really need to lighten up, Cassie. Once you do, you’ll see this will be a very pleasant and uplifting experience for you. You’re finally on the right path. Fate has beckoned you here for a reason.”
Yeah, to kill you.
“No, sweetheart, not to kill me.”
Wonderful. He’d added mind reading to his big bag of tricks. That wouldn’t be helpful.
He smiled. “To rule with me. With me, you are an integral part of the world order, fate’s plan. Without me, you’re only a lost little hybrid.”
“I’m not lost,” I said through pursed lips, unable to hold my tongue through all his bullshit.
“Oh, really? Was Hadraniel showing you the way? Did he take you in with open arms, horns and all?”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Ahhh, that’s right. Grandpappy sold you to the highest bidder. Oh, but then there’s Hunter,” he said, looking thoughtful. “Tell me, how long do you think it would have taken before you acted out those deliciously murderous dreams you were having of him?”
He couldn’t know my dreams. But he did. That sparkle in his eyes as he gazed down at me told me so.
Caleb leaned down to me and put his lips to my ear. “Still think I’m a flunky wannabe?”
After placing a soft kiss on my cheek, he stood back up. “Unlike them, I want to help you reach your full potential, Cassie. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. Well, maybe a wee bit more than that,” he added with a devious smirk, “but my desire for you only makes me want you to realize your true calling even more. And now, after all this time, I have the knowledge and the power to make it happen. But I need you to work with me on this. The more you fight, the more difficult, and painful, it will be.”
His proclamations of grandeur sounded like the same old Caleb, but the powers he was displaying warned me they might not be as delusional as they were before. He’d obviously become more powerful, but how?
Defiance was not working, so I wasn’t going to waste more energy on it. One thing I was sure hadn’t changed about him was his ego, and how he loved to have it stroked.
“You’ve obviously been working out. Where’d you learn all those cool new tricks?”
He smiled. “Be my queen, and I’ll show you.”
“Always the fine print. What happened to Alison? She was the one who helped you escape, so obviously she had a thing for you. Why didn’t you just pick her to be your queen?”
“She helped pass the time, but she was never queen material. There’s only ever been one queen in my eyes, Cassie. Alison found that out the hard way.”
The hard way meant he killed her, of that I had no doubt. Although I might not have been in this situation had Alison been his queen material girl, I couldn’t say I was saddened to hear she met a fitting fate.
“Am I to be your queen bound to this bed?” I asked, changing tactics.
He closed his eyes and smiled languidly as if savoring something delicious. “Oh, the fantasies you arouse.”
“Free me, Caleb.”
He contemplated the possibility. “Not yet,” he said, shaking his head. “I can see you’re still not fully succumbing to your fate. I’ll give you some time.”
Caleb started to walk away.
“You can’t leave me like this.”
Who was I kidding? He could leave me any way he wanted.
“Don’t worry, Cassie. It won’t take long for you to realize there’s no other way.”
***
After a while of seething over Caleb leaving me tied to a bed in the middle of some dank, archaic room of what was probably a primeval castle in the middle of no man’s land, I finally told myself to calm down and let my energy regenerate. I was too wired up to even think about sleeping, so I lay there, staring up at the cracked stone ceiling, listening.
Somewhere beyond the walls, the clanking of metal echoed. I could barely hear it. No voices to be heard so I couldn’t discern how many were here with Caleb. I knew there were others because Hadraniel had been flanked by two other men. Caleb’s minions, I assumed. I wondered how many more existed. He’d already assembled a small army when we’d been in Hell. In the time he’d been gone, it could have grown to any number. Power was a magnet to demons, and he seemed to have plenty of it.
My smart move was to tread carefully. He wasn’t stupid, by any means. He’d be wary if I showed too much interest in being his queen. I’d have to take things slow, get him to trust me, and then I could…
Could what? The truth was I had no idea what to do, with or without Caleb’s trust in me. I didn’t even know where the hell I was. And it wasn’t as if I could transport back to the Sanctuary. As far as I knew, I didn’t have that power. The only times I’d transported anywhere was when someone else was in control.
The situation here was feeling more hopeless than when I was chained to pillars in Hell at the tortuous mercy of the devil. At least then Hunter knew where I was. I doubted anyone knew where Caleb had taken me. Since he had eluded us for months, this was quite possibly where he’d been hiding out.
My head throbbed from hitting mental brick walls.
Cassandra.
It was the same voice I heard before. The silvery quality of it was just as pacifying, but now with the knowledge of my whereabouts and company, there was no way it could charm me.
“Who’s there?” I called out.
I’ve been waiting for you. Come to me.
I searched the room from my supine position as much as possible but saw no one. The room wasn’t that big, so whoever it was would have to be crouched down somewhere behind me, but it didn’t sound like it was coming from there. The voice echoed in the air around me, near but distant at the same time, as if it had been caught somewhere else on the wind and brought to me.
“Where are you?” I whispered.
Close.
With
out thinking, I lurched up, intent on whipping around to see the full extent of the room, but my binds jerked me in place. I let out a loud, frustrated growl.
“Where are you? Who are you?”
“Miss me already?” Caleb sauntered through the door. “I haven’t been gone long. And I’ll never be too far away, I assure you. As far as who I am, well, I guess you could say I’m the new and improved Caleb. I still have all the same parts. Would you like to see?”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Ah, so you’re starting to trust me. We’re on the right track.”
“I won’t lie. I still don’t trust you. Your track record has me stepping very carefully, Caleb.”
“At least you’re honest. I’ll give you that. I wasn’t a very trustworthy person then, was I? I was desperate for power, but now I have it.”
“Not the ultimate power. You still don’t have the Sword.”
“True, but I will.”
“So, why do you need me then?”
“I told you, you’re my queen. We’re connected, Cassie, in so many ways. You may not appreciate that fact right now, but you will. It’s fate’s plan, and the quicker you realize it, the sooner you will be free.”
“So, what? I’m stuck here in this bed until I reach some kind of epiphany? I’m just supposed to find it in my heart to believe you? You know it doesn’t work that way with me anymore, Caleb. I’ve been burned too many times… quite literally, as you well know.”
He stood next to the bed and took my hand in his.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“A peace offering.”
With less than a blink of his eyes, my bindings disappeared. Instinctually, I went to draw my hands together, but Caleb kept his grip on the one he held.
“They go back on as easily as they came off, Cassie. Don’t forget.”
His powers scared the hell out of me. They reminded me of Nergal. Was it possible he’d gained them just from having Nergal’s body in his possession? Had he found some way without the Sword to extract powers? Maybe the angels weren’t as all-knowing as they claimed. But then, he still wanted the Sword. It was all quite confusing. Too many questions swirled in my head that only he seemed able to answer, but I was horrified to put any trust in Caleb to get that clarity.
Angel Of Fate (Fate Series Book 3) Page 14
