The bastard clutched the side of the wall, his talons scraping the stone while he screeched. Bishop held him by the throat. Valor held up his cell and showed the malanum a photo of the twins. “We ken they’re here. Show us the way and we’ll save ye.”
The malanum laughed. Black blood dripped down his chin and he spit on the cell screen. “I’m saved already, dog. Master has saved us all.”
“Master?” Bishop’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to Valor with a frown.
“Drop him,” the alpha commanded.
With a simple flex of hand, Bishop released the malanum’s neck and the darkness sucked him in, dropping his sorry ass back to Hell’s prisons.
How can there be so many down here? Valor wondered. Why wasn’t the Paris pack patrolling the area better?
His flashlight flickered, the light grew dim. Swiftly, Valor reached into his pocket and pulled out another set of batteries. “Hang on.”
He made fast work of changing the old batteries for fresh ones and shined the light towards Bishop. The Hound was braced against the wall, his shoulders bunched, arms shaking. “I… I can’t… I can’t breathe, Val.”
“Aye, ye can.” They were both crammed in the tight space together. “Look at me, Bishop.”
Bishop’s eyes were squeezed shut. He wouldn’t turn his head when he said, “You need to leave me. Go.”
“Never.” Valor grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “We go in together, we come out together.”
“Then we’re going to die here, alpha. I can’t… I fucking can’t… keep going.”
“Then at least ye willna die alone this time.”
He’d reached the end of his rope. Bishop knew deep in his bones that this was a suicide mission. He’d taken the risk because he wanted the punishment. He deserved the punishment.
If he could just be with Valor long enough to find the twins, then he’d wink out of this world knowing he’d done a good thing. He got his pack back. But that wasn’t going to happen. His mind was too weak, too twisted, too dark already to continue this journey.
This place was a coffin. One big motherfucking coffin.
Only it wasn’t a tight pine box for Bishop to scratch and beat on. It wasn’t a small space where the air got sucked away and he’d suffocate swiftly. Nope, this was way worse. It was a labyrinth for the dead. A twisted path to the land of no return: complete madness.
“I thought…” no air, “I could get you there,” face tingly, “and you could save them,” so hot, “and if I could just say I’m sorry,” can’t see, “then they would know,” ears ringing, “I didn’t mean to do what I did,” can’t feel arms, “I didn’t mean to let the malanum into me,” can’t think past the screaming in my head, “I didn’t mean to hurt them.”
Bishop squeezed his eyes tighter. The sounds of a man screaming echoed in his head. The air was gone. Darkness consumed him. Ate him. Gobbled him up and spit him out. There was no way out. No escape. No hope. No life. No answers. Just black, black, black and cold, cold, cold.
Bishop’s world turned upside down. He couldn’t feel his body. Could think past the screaming. Christ! This motherfucking screaming! He felt like he was floating, sinking, flying apart and curling into a ball all at the same time.
He wrapped his arms tightly around his body. He was lost. No longer in control. More screaming. More screaming!
High-pitched echoes vibrated in his bones. He popped his eyes open and realized his mouth was clamped shut by Valor’s hand. His alpha’s expression hardened. Holding Bishop against the wall, Valor urged him to be silent.
In another tunnel that veered to the right, a howl lit Bishop’s world on fire. It spiked in Bishop’s ears and zipped down his bones, igniting a frenzy of Hell Hound instincts to catch fire and burn inside him. Busting free from Valor’s hold, the madman in Bishop’s head stayed curled in the dark recesses of his weak mind, and the Hell Hound in him rose up and busted out of its cage. Baring his teeth, Bishop’s head dipped down and he stepped forward. His boots crunched on broken stone and bits of bone. They were so deep in the tunnels, piles of the dead surrounded them in the corridors. Everywhere they looked, the remnants of life were strewn about in broken bits and shards of bone.
The howl sounded again, this time more choked than the last.
Bishop tore down the tunnel. He wasn’t thinking, only reacting. Valor yelled at him. Bishop didn’t have the sense to respond to his alpha. He was animal. Animals do not have words. They have actions. He ran smack into a dead end.
Another howl rose from the darkness.
Bishop tilted his head and sniffed the air. Recognizing the scent, his eyes darkened and he slammed his shoulder into the wall as he turned around and headed in another direction. Valor stayed hot on his heels, but wasn’t able to control or stop him from progressing deeper into the nothing. Into the deep. Into the crypt.
The roar in his ears was mind-numbing. Grabbing the corner of another wall, Bishop swung his body and got onto all fours. He took off like an animal. The world was upside down, sideways, no ways, all the ways. He howled, expecting a response, and when he got one, his heart hammered in his chest. Cold air cooled his burning skin as he continued to follow the sound.
“NO!” Valor roared.
Up ahead, a malanum attacked their Hound. Bishop’s body tightened and his aggression elevated more. He slammed into the enemy, tackling it to the ground, and began tearing it limb from limb. Black malanum blood splattered all over his face and arms. The ringing in his ears intensified. The malanum laid limp, trapped under Bishop’s powerful legs, and when it bellowed in agony, Bishop met its screams with a louder one of his own.
The scent in the air fucked with his head. Valor was saying something, but Bishop couldn’t make out what it was. The ringing, the screaming, the madness in his head was starting to drown out everything else. Bishop caught the familiar scent again.
Valor jabbed a finger in the air towards the wall. As if someone slowly turned up the volume in Bishop’s brain, the ringing faded and the sounds of his alpha’s voice increased. “Grab her!” he yelled.
Bishop swung around to where Valor pointed. “Oh shit!”
Curled into a tight ball with her arms over her head, legs tucked in tight, Tilly sat with her back against the wall. Dirt and tears stained her cheeks, her green eyes wild with fear as she stared at the malanum he’d just shred to pieces.
“Tilly,” Bishop tried to say it softly, but his Hound instincts were still rocking his system hard, so it came out as more of a growl. She looked up at him. Gulping, she flicked her gaze back to the mangled malanum still rolling around, limbless on the ground.
Bishop tried to approach her as careful as possible. Was she going into shock? What the fuck was she even doing here at all?
Oh shit… was this a hallucination? Mad people see shit all the time. Maybe Tilly was a figment of his fucked up insanity. “Sweetness,” he reached down and touched her face. Her eyes were glued to the malanum.
Valor opened a Hell hole and kicked the fucker inside it. Once the Hell hole closed, Tilly let out a long, shaky breath. Quick as a flash, she gripped Bishop’s arm and dug her nails into his flesh. “Am I dead?”
“No, lass,” Valor said when Bishop hadn’t answered her. “You’re not dead.”
Bishop took her hand and helped her stand. It took her a minute to collect herself. “That thing ran at me and I freaked. I howled and it backed off. So I just kept howling at it. It looked like it was hesitating to eat me or not.”
“Malanum are scared of us,” Bishop explained.
“Maiden, Mother, and Crone, lass. What the hell are ye doing here?”
“Helping,” She went from scared shitless to tough as nails. “Obviously.”
Bishop was so confused he didn’t know if he wanted to laugh, cry, or yell. “How the hell did you get all the way down here?”
“Why?” Valor spoke over Bishop. “Why the fuck are ye here when we told ye to stay home where ye were safe?”
“I’m just as safe here as I would have been at your house.” She readjusted a black backpack strapped to her shoulders and Bishop recognized it as one of his. Holy shit, was this actually really real?
“How?” he croaked. “How could you possibly think this was a safe and good idea, Tilly?”
She tucked her hair behind her ears and lifted her gaze to meet his. That green fire glowing in her eyes seared him. “Because,” she bent down and picked up a flashlight, “I knew you’d find me. I knew if I didn’t find you first, I could howl for you and you’d find me.”
Her confidence behind those words nearly made Bishop’s knees buckle.
“Come on, boys,” the fear that consumed her moments ago had burned away to a hard, determined exterior. “We need to go this way.”
Valor grabbed her elbow, halting her. “How do ye ken?”
“That’s the direction everything else has been running out of.” She yanked her elbow out of Valor’s hold. “I know these tunnels. Well, I knew these tunnels, more stuff has crumbled since I was last here. I’m afraid I’m almost to the end of my familiarity. But from what I’ve seen, this is the way.”
Again, Bishop was all mixed emotions – part of him was strangely relieved to see Tilly, another part of him was furious that she’d jumped into a deathtrap for no good goddamn reason, and another piece of him was so overwhelmed with the potential of getting closer to rescuing the twins, he’d almost lost focus on the fact that he was trapped in his worst nightmare.
Tilly turned and headed down another tight tunnel, “Onward, Buttercups, we’ve got Hell Hounds to find.”
Chapter 45
Somewhere between point A and point B, Bishop lost. He lost the will to live.
Lost the need to escape.
Lost his fight against the enemy within.
Lost his mind to the darkest pieces of his past that had been buried with him long ago.
And he’d come to the point where he needed to accept that he’d lost his pack.
Fury ate away at him, leaving nothing but a gaping black hole where once his heart beat. Despair so deep and raw hollowed him out, and it felt too powerful to be just his to own. Valor’s energy must be seeping into him… or was it the twins?
Holy Hell.
This was the final stage of death. Bishop knew it well. Been here before. It was when the world shut you out and closed all the doors and windows so you couldn’t go inside and get warm again. The lights turn off, plunging your pathetic lonesome ass into darkness so thick you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. You give up on telling your body to breathe.
You give up on every fucking thing.
Bishop crawled behind his alpha and Tilly. The last thing he wanted was to let Tilly see him a frail and weak man. He wasn’t going to physically die here this easily or swiftly. Not like the humans could.
Not like Tilly could.
So his body moved forward because that’s all he knew to do. They would have to give up soon. Tilly would need food, rest, fresh air.
Fragile. She was so fucking fragile. So damned temporary.
And she was wasting her time searching for two Hounds she didn’t know. Risking her life for total strangers she’d never meet. It didn’t make sense.
Nothing made sense.
Leading the way as they crawled on hands and knees through another tunnel, Valor held the flashlight in his mouth. His night vision used to be so much better, but not now that his balance wasn’t what it should be, which made the flashlight necessary and a bitch. Manholes and rusty ladders were left behind in favor of too tight spaces for him to squeeze through. He felt like they’d been searching for weeks down here.
For the love of the Gods, why anyone would have a fascination with this place was beyond him. The dead were everywhere – and some of the bodies were fresh. He figured they were urban explorers that had gotten lost and died while trying to find their way out.
He couldn’t help but think that could have been Tilly’s fate had they not found her. It made him feel uneasy. A lot of things about that woman made Valor feel uneasy.
She was a dangerous creature. A suicidal, impulsive woman with nothing to lose.
And now, under his protection, she was his responsibility. Valor wanted to wring her neck and kiss her hard at the same time.
They belly-crawled forward, and with his head and back scraping the ceiling, all Valor could think was, At least Tilly will be an added distraction for Bishop. The Hound needed all the help he could get. This mission had pushed Bishop well past his limits and Valor doubted very much that he would reach a full recovery from this.
If only they could reach the twins…
Tilly snatched his boot and tugged it hard, silently halting Valor. “Bonjour,” she said nervously, “Oh, English, good.”
Valor looked ahead but didn’t see anything. Then he looked back at Tilly and saw her aura pulse like it did when she was scared. The alpha stiffened. Pulling the flashlight out of his mouth he whispered, “What do ye see, lass?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper, “There’s a man with a bottle standing at the mouth of the tunnel up ahead. He looks like he’s been down here awhile.”
Valor would have noticed if a man was standing before him. “Is he all or partially black and leathery looking?”
Her gaze flicked past Valor and she shook her head. “He’s just a guy, but…” she flinched and the air temp dropped, “Something’s wrong with him. He’s… he’s not right.”
Valor swallowed the possessive growl he wanted to set lose on the new threat, “I canna see him.”
Bishop mumbled to himself from the back, as he had since shortly after they started crawling – most likely because he was clutching onto his sanity again.
Valor wished he had a goddamn headlight so he could have both his hands free, but they’d been unable to find any at the stores earlier. Making do with what he had, he handed the flashlight to Tilly, “Hold this so I have both my hands free.”
Valor pulled out a blade and holding it between his teeth, he moved forward cautiously. If it was a ghost, the damn thing might run away as the Hell Hound got closer. Or…
His boot was yanked again. He didn’t turn to look at Tilly, because he wanted to keep his focus on any movements up ahead. He growled as his method of asking What?
“He says it’s not safe.”
Well no shit, Sherlock.
“He… he says the dead rise in the House of Hell.”
Great, he’s a quack ghost. Valor pushed forward, determined to keep moving until he reached the twins.
“Pete? Your name is Pete?” Tilly asked. “Yes, I’ll make sure I tell them,” she cooed. “Okay, okay. I will. Yes, I swear it.”
Valor stopped moving again, his teeth grinding against the blade in his mouth. Bishop growled like a caged predator in the back of the line.
Valor’s teeth ground against the blade. Tilly didn’t grab his boot this time, instead, she squeezed his leg. Valor tried to ignore the feeling of her hand on him like that.
“He wants his family to know he died looking for the booze, but he did find the booze so at least he found what he was looking for. He also said the howls will stop once they turn.”
All the air sucked out of Valor on that note. He crawled forward faster and his broad body scraped and clothes snagged the walls. Stone and bone cut into his knees and palms. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they were at another dead end. Symbols ran across the stone.
Valor flashed his light everywhere, looking for another opening. There wasn’t one. It was an absolute dead end. Tilly tried to hit the stone as if one of them would be some kind of hidden key or lever. It wasn’t The Goonies down here. It was war. And they were behind enemy lines and most likely outnumbered.
A howl from the other side of the wall cracked Valor’s soul, splintering it into a million pieces. “Oh gods,” he said, pressing his hands against the stone. “They’re in there.”
Bish
op’s head snapped up at the sound of a familiar howl. Oh. Fuck. No. “Baz!”
On hands and knees, Bishop crashed into the stone wall. Baz… Drake… they were there, just beyond his reach! Bishop’s heart slammed into his chest while his fists pounded into the stone. Sparks of fire and ice zapped his system but he was too far gone to care. His mind had no space for pain to register. His body had no limits it would not endure.
Not when it came to rescuing his pack.
On his left, Tilly was chanting and etching into the stone with a piece of rock. To his right, Valor was trying to break his way through the walls. Bishop screamed like a madman as he clawed at the barrier separating him from his pack.
God, to be so close to everything and not be able to reach it!
“FUCK!” Bishop roared. His fingertips grew numb as he scratched and clawed at the wall. Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig. In no time at all, blood streaked the stone from him tearing his skin on the rough edges. He wasn’t going to stop. Not until he reached what lay beyond this wall. He’d wear his fingers down to stubs if that’s what it took to break through this motherfucking rock.
“GOD DAMNIT!” He pulled out his gun, racked the slide, and shot at the wall. The bullets ricocheted around the room and Tilly screamed. Valor slammed Bishop into the wall, knocking the gun out of his hands.
“You’ll hurt Tilly!” Valor yelled in his face.
Bishop tried to get a grip. He hadn’t thought about her safety, only that the twins were behind the wall. Fuck him straight to Hell, he could have killed her with a stray bullet just now.
This was going from bad to worse.
“Are ye alright, Tilly?” Valor asked when Bishop didn’t seem to have the right mindset to communicate.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Tilly hadn’t stopped her scratching into the wall with a stone. “I can’t hear out of my left ear now, though.”
Valor let go of Bishop. “Doona use the gun again. Not around her. Not down here. Understood?”
Hard to Find (Hell Hounds Harem Book 4) Page 33
