by Kim Faulks
“The Queen, you mean?” I murmured.
And there was a sad shake of his head. “Nothing that shallow will look ever beyond themselves. The realm is the one who saved you…that hunger inside. You’ll feel it now…in the quiet moments, you’ll learn to speak to her like no other god, and if you’re worthy, she will answer your call.”
“Like you,” Purity whispered, and then winced from the pain. “Worthy like you?”
The Unseelie tried to answer. His lips parted, but nothing came out. Instead, he shoved against the floor, rising to stand, then turned and walked across the room.
“You okay?” I turned back to her and reached for her hand. “Do you feel this…can you feel anything?”
She took a breath and then gently nodded. “I feel…
“Yes?”
“I feel different.” She glanced at those left behind and then winced.
Boots skimmed the polished floor. I didn’t have to shift my gaze to see they turned away. I grasped her hand and gently pulled her upwards. “Hey, look at me.”
She turned her head, her gaze meeting mine. “I’m the only one you worry about, okay? We’re in this together.”
More than you’ll ever know.
I closed my eyes and leaned close, taking in her warmth and her life. “Don’t ever leave me,” my throat thickened with the words. “You understand? Don’t ever go, not without me…”
Her arms wrapped around me, pulling me in close. “Never,” she whispered. “M and P forever. You’re boring as hell on your own.”
I pulled away from her and smiled. There was a hint of the feisty, pain in the ass I knew. “Hell really isn’t that boring,” I whispered.
“Believe me, I know,” she muttered and then lifted a hand. “Help me up.”
I grasped her hand and pulled her to her feet. Her arms went around me, like it was supposed to be this way…always.
“You okay now?” I murmured into her hair.
Red smears were left on the polished floor, remnants of a life almost lost. I glanced at Redemption. “I owe you a debt I’ll never be able to repay.”
A deep, hungry snarl filled the air as the Unseelie seemed to pale. “I have a feeling you’ll come to regret those words.”
And for a second, I felt an echo race through my soul…but it wasn’t of the past…it was of the future.
A future where I’d repay this debt many times over. I squeezed Purity’s hand. I’d do it all…as many times as it took to keep her safe. My gaze slipped to the mortal, the one dressed in blue who fidgeted and jerked his gaze all around him.
Black blood smeared his cheek…blood which didn’t belong to him. I glanced toward the open door at the end of the hallway, the same door Purity had been drawn to. I gave her a glance and then dropped her hand. “Something’s going on here, something you’re not telling us, Roger.”
I stepped toward the doorway, the smell of Demon blood choking on the air. But it was more than that, almost like all the deaths in Hell had spilled over into the mortal realm.
Deimos.
His name burned through me. Arms and legs torn from limb to limb and piled into a corner…just like a dirty little secret. And the thought blazed in my head. I jerked my head toward the doorway of the office. “He was here…Deimos. He was here.”
I tried to put it all together. Jesse’s mom wasn’t a target…she was a pawn. I left the doorway to the room filled with Demon bodies and strode toward them. Roger flinched as I neared, his pasty skin grew even paler.
“You know, don’t you?”
He shook his head and stumbled backwards, but rage filled me. Deimos was here. “Tell me what happened, or I swear to Lucifer...”
“They paid a lot of money,” the piece of shit growled. “They took what they wanted and they paid for it.”
Jesse wrenched his head toward us. “What do you mean? Where the hell is my mom?”
I strode forward, and with every step, the mortal fucking scumbag stepped backwards. “It was a deal done under the table. How the fuck was I to know it’d go bad? They wanted Pandora…and they got it.”
“You knew?” Jesse’s voice rose an octave. “All this time, you knew someone abducted my mom?”
“No one abducted her,” Roger snapped. “She went of her own free will!”
There was silence for a second, until Jesse shouted, “I don’t believe you!”
“Believe what you want. You think she loved going home to an empty house? You think she liked living an empty life? Take a look around you, kid. Your mom spent more time here than she ever did at home. Think about it.”
His words were a killing blow. And they hit their mark.
My mind was reeling, trying to catch up, as Redemption turned on the piece of shit and he cowered. “Why did they want the box?”
Shadows slowly grew onto the landing once more, and the chill seeped into the air, still there was a heartbeat of terror…a moment where the Shadowed world pushed in. “Why did they want the box?” he repeated.
Deimos.
The Soulless.
“The keys,” I murmured and jerked my gaze toward the Unseelie. “That’s why they took it…that’s what they were transporting.”
My heart hammered as I lifted my gaze and stared at Roger. There was a twitch at the corner of his eye. A telltale sign I’d hit the mark.
“They wanted the box to transport the keys. Undetectable, isn’t that the word you used?”
I left them behind, striding for the open doorway to Jesse’s mom’s office. Jesse just stood there, staring at a mark on the floor, looking shattered and torn.
The boxes were all open, foam inner cushions cut out into the shape of each gun meant to be transported. It was lies…wasn’t it? All secrets and lies. Deimos had to find a way to not only get the four keys out of Hell, but across the realms.
And it seemed like he’d found it.
And greed led the way.
I tuned from the rows of boxes to find Purity striding through the doorway after me. I knew what had to happen now…what had to be done.
My stomach clenched as I turned to the others…first Jesse, and then Redemption, as I recached into my pocket and pulled out the small device.
The Unseelie’s gaze hardened before he gave a slow nod.
“Mel…wait,” Purity whispered as I hit the button and the pager’s screen came alive.
But there was no more waiting, just like there was no more secrets. I pressed the button, finding his name. My fingers scrolled, giving the address in the mortal realm, and then hit the button…sending…the words filled me with dread.
I shoved the pager into my pocket and stared at the others.
“What’s going on?” Roger muttered and pushed Jesse aside as he strode into the room. “This is a private corporation. I demand to know what is going on?”
“So…do…I.”
The voice was filled with midnight thunder as Lucifer stepped into the doorway behind the mortal.
Heads turned. Gasps followed. Terror lashed the air like a merciless whip. I clenched my jaw, steeling myself for his fury, and my Hound cowered under his power.
There was too much pain now; the death of my father, Hell’s stolen keys, and the escape of the Soulless into the mortal realm, left a Lord with the look of war in his gaze.
Roger turned, took in the man striding through the doorway, and whispered a frantic prayer. “God have mercy…God have mercy…God have mercy.”
Lucifer cut him a glare before he turned to Purity. There was a flicker of surprise, words left unsaid. Could he feel the change in her? Could he sense she was not as mortal as he wanted her to be? Could he sense death slipping away from her now with every fresh beat of her heart? If he did, he said nothing.
Only turned to the Unseelie, gave him a cold stare of distrust. “Melkor, care to explain…”
My Lord didn’t just command the space…he consumed it. Red and silver shone against the backdrop of shining black armor. He was dressed for war. Sixpointed
throwing stars gleamed in a line across his chest, their blades glowing, fresh-forged from the fires of Hell.
He glanced at the open boxes along the one side of the room, and then the steel mortal weapons on the other side of the room. I expected rage…and fury when he turned to me, but all I saw was sadness as he finished. “Why I’m here.”
Chapter Eleven
Purity
He looked right though me…like I didn’t even exist.
I shuddered as the Lord of Hell settled on the Unseelie, then turned to Melkor. But my Hellhound didn’t seem to notice, not the growing darkness all around me, or the whispers inside my head.
“Melkor, care to explain…why I’m here?”
And for a second, I was back in that cold, wet forest with Alma standing in the distance, desperate for me to get it together…and figure it out.
You don’t have to try for me…a dark, low whisper filled my head.
I flinched and scanned the room., my heart beating like a frantic drum.
It’s okay…it’s okay. It’s not real…not real…not real…
And the faint echo of laughter followed.
Power flared, like lightning racing through my veins. Redemption turned his head and stared at me, his lips parted, eyes searching mine. “Are you okay?”
The warped words sounded strange. I tried to swallow, tried to breathe, and slowly nodded. Something tight banded across my chest. I skimmed fingers across my breast…searching.
Shuddered breaths made the room brighten.
“Slow it down, mortal, or you’ll pass out.”
I jerked my gaze upwards, finding his cold Unseelie stare. He was too close, towering over me, and I hadn’t even seen him move. But it was those glinting, bottomless eyes I held onto like an anchor and, slowly, the band across my chest eased.
He cocked his head, nostrils flaring. “You smell like Unseelie,” he murmured and then turned away to the Lord, who stared at the row of empty compartments along the wall.
I flinched at the words, panic racing, then discreetly lowered my nose to my body and sniffed. I didn’t smell anything…just a little sweat. Still, the thought of smelling like anything other than myself made me turn toward Mel.
“Deimos was here,” Melkor took a step closer to Lucifer. “And he left a parting gift of dead Demons behind. He’s transporting the keys in a box like this one. It’s virtually undetectable.”
Lucifer froze, staring at the open boxes. “My keys…my goddamn keys are in this?”
Melkor flinched at the sting of rage in his tone as the Lord of Hell looked around the room. “Who is responsible for this?”
Silence consumed the space.
Until there was a whimper.
“That would be him,” Melkor pointed to the asshole in blue.
“N-now w-wait a minute,” Roger cried, jerking his hands into the air. “We don’t know about any keys. We only sell the boxes.”
Lucifer turned on the pathetic piece of shit in an instant, striding across the space to stand in front of him as Roger’s body gave way and he fell to his knees.
“And this is the price you pay when you care about money over due diligence.” Lucifer lifted his hand, and the waves of power shook the building.
Roger wrenched his hands high, as though they would somehow protect him. “I just work here…I just work here!”
And as we stood there, the walls seemed to melt away, and the heady scent of sulphur filled my nose. I knew that smell…knew that heat.
It was Hell.
“I’m sorry!” Roger screamed, until his face turned red and the faint smell of urine filled the air. “I’ll tell you everything…we have a tracking system! YES! We have a tracking system fitted into every box.”
Lucifer lowered his hand and stared at the imbecile.
“But you didn’t give that to the police?” Jesse muttered and stepped closer. “They have my mom, you fucking asshole. They have my mom!”
Jesse was pale and shaking. He wasn’t the kid who’d made fun of me, the one so cocky and cruel. This one was humbled by fear.
He lunged forward, grabbing the piece of shit from the ground. Tears welled in Jesse’s eyes. “I want her back!”
“Easy now,” Lucifer urged.
Melkor came toward Jesse. “We’ll get her back, okay. Look at me…we’ll get her back.”
I understood what bound them together. First it had been Melkor’s disgust for the kind of person Jesse was, but now it was something different. An aching loneliness echoed in both of them. Melkor was hurting. He missed his family, but most of all, he missed his mom.
I looked away, an ache filling my chest.
It was my fault he was here. My fault I couldn’t get it together and be the kind of partner he needed me to be.
I glanced over my shoulder at the landing outside the door. Fragments came back to me, desperation…fear. The foul stench of Demon blood lingered in my nose. I’d fought for Melkor, fought for us. In my head, movements blurred as I’d hacked and cleaved. The sounds of the Soulless resurrected.
“Are you telling me Purity killed them all?”
I jerked my gaze toward the Lord of Hell, standing in the middle of the room.
All eyes were on me…somehow, I hadn’t heard what they said.
“Purity,” Lucifer murmured, concern furrowing his brow. “You killed the Soulless, you sent them back to Hell.”
I swallowed hard. The dark forest filled me, at first, I thought it was the forest with Alma, and then it changed…the air grew darker…and ravenous.
“She almost died,” Melkor murmured.
“But she didn’t,” Lucifer took a step toward me.
The sheathed knives at his chest burned with Hell’s own fury. He didn’t just command Hell…he was a part of it.
Just like you’re now part of me, the Shadowed world whispered.
“I think you need to show them this tracking system,” Lucifer growled toward Roger. “And you need to do it now. Unfortunately, I’m required elsewhere.”
I glanced at Melkor, catching the sudden look of surprise. What could be more important than this? But no one voiced the words.
No one dared.
Lucifer just took a step towards the doorway, cutting the asshole still cowering on the floor a look of disgust. “When your money is all gone, you’ll be left with nothing but a hollow, empty shell where a soul should’ve been. I’ll own that soul one day…if you’re not careful.”
Fire raged in his eyes as they swept over me, and then the Lord of Hell was gone, striding through the doorway of Varday Corporation like he was about to set the world on fire.
And sit back and watch it burn…
Redemption strode forward, grasped the sniveling man in the middle of the room, and hauled him to his feet. “You heard the Lord of Hell. The tracking system…now.”
“What?” He wrenched his gaze toward the towering Unseelie. “We can access it here. I mean…we have to put in a request. It can take hours, a day maybe.”
Redemption just stilled, his top lip curling as he dragged the piece of shit from the floor. “A day? What kind of antique goddamn systems are you running here? A goddamn day?”
“I told you, I just work here. I’m not in charge,” Roger snapped.
Redemption curled his spine and dragged him upwards, until the buttons of his shirt popped. “Then you’d better take us to someone who is.”
“T-that’ll be Mr. Keystone. A-Alexander Keystone.”
With a sneer of revulsion, Redemption dropped him to fall back in a heap on the floor.
“You disgust me,” Jesse spat. “I never want to turn into someone like you.”
Hate blazed in the asshole’s gaze as he yanked his torn jacket and shirt into place. There was a darkened wet spot on the front of his trousers and a trail down his leg as he slowly climbed to his feet. I turned my gaze, looking away, and my own insecurities came to life. Almost no one deserved to be humiliated like that, but the guy’d had it
coming.
One hard shove from Redemption, and he stumbled toward the door. But Melkor didn’t follow, instead he turned to the scattered blueprints across the desk.
Paper scrunched as he rolled them up. I stepped closer and reached out to help him. “Mel.”
He stilled, and then lifted his head.
“I want to let them find where the case is. I think we have something that needs our attention more.” I told him.
He turned to me, trying his best to smother the pain. “What?”
I slid my hand along his arm, gathering his sleeve. “I think we need to see your family. You need them, Mel, and I’m damn sure they need you. We can take a second…”
Hope flared for a second before he shook his head. “We can’t.”
“We can…and we’re going to. I won’t let you turn yourself into a machine for this. I won’t do it, not for me, not for anyone. You hurt, I hurt…we need family. We need a reason to get us through this.”
“Do you want to see yours, too?” He waited for an answer.
I thought about their cruel taunts and hatred. I loved them. I’d never stop loving them, but there was a clear distinction here. Melkor’s family filled him with love and strength, even with the pain.
All mine every gave me was a forced acceptance. Melkor’s dad wasn’t here anymore to defend us, and there were no more threats from the Lord of Hell. There was only us, and them.
I wasn’t ready, not for that. “Maybe one day, but not today.”
He rolled the plans together and straightened.
“Send me a message when you’re ready,” Redemption stopped at the door. “I’ll give you directions.”
“What about me?” Jesse murmured. “I don’t want to be here all alone.”
“You’re coming with me,” the Unseelie growled. “You want to find your mom, then this is your chance. You’re in charge of tracking this thing and when we get a location, then we’ll go together.”
“You want me to be a…a hunter?” Jesse jerked his gaze from Redemption to me.
And in that moment, I saw the kind of man he could be. One who had purpose. One who wasn’t a fucking asshole.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid,” Redemption gave a soft growl. “Let’s see how this all pans out.”
