Stolen Fire

by S. Dalambakis

  “Seven.” With that, Lucifer leaves in a flare of hellfire, disappearing from sight, leaving behind scorch marks on the once pristine floor.

  I slump back into my chair and release a breath. I look down at Stolas whose head is still in my lap.

  “At least part one of the plan is complete. But it looks like we might have a long night ahead of us.” Stolas whines and scoots closer to my body. “We’ll be alright. We have to be.”

  Obsidian

  Watching Lucifer touch Finley brought the animal out in me. I wanted to go over and rip his hands from her. It was only due to Verkor and Bael that I didn’t. They held me back, reiterating how this needs to be done in order to put the rest of the plan in place. At this point, I say fuck the map. I don’t like anyone touching what is mine. I felt a little more at ease when they also reminded me that Stolas was there with her, ready to attack. Even though Stolas is with Finley, it didn’t stop the burning desire I had to storm over there and remove her from the devil's presence.

  But just as quickly as their conversation started, it ended. I watched Lucifer walk away from the table then stop. They exchanged a few more words before he disappeared with a burst of hellfire. I waited for a few seconds before I was up and out of my chair, making my way through the tables to my mate. The second I’m within reaching distance, I pull her into my arms, which is awkward because of the wings on her back. I tug them off, tossing them to the floor, before pulling her back into my arms. I bury my face in the crook of her neck, inhaling deeply. She’s safe. She’s fine. I repeat to myself over and over again.

  “Why the hell would you do that? Lighting your wings on fire was careless. Do you know how badly you could have been injured?” I say, trying not to yell in her ear.

  “There’s no way Lucifer could resist something pure and innocent looking burn. It’s the reason I wore white,” she answers softly. I shiver at the thought. It’s not something that I want to see again.

  “It was a stupid risk that I don’t want you to repeat.”

  “Okay,” Finley says, rubbing her hands up and down my back.

  The essence of my shifting ability swirls madly in my mind. I feel its rage about what we had to watch, and it wants to break free. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. I don’t understand what’s happening.

  Mate, a deep, growly voice penetrates by mind. I release Finley, taking a step back from her.

  “What is it?” Finley asks with a frown on her face.

  I turn my shocked gaze on her. I don’t say anything. I don’t think I can. Maybe I’m just hearing things? Maybe I’m losing my mind. The longer I don’t speak, the more worry etches her face. She takes a step in my direction, holding out a hand. I don’t make any moves to stop her. She places her hand on my chest over erratic beating heart.

  Mine, the voice says again.

  “Obsidian?” She says my name like a question. “What’s going on?” I cover her hand on chest with mine.

  Protect. There it is again. I have to be going insane.

  “Obsidian, you better tell me right now what the fuck is wrong.” Anger laces her voice.

  I begin to shake my head, unsure of how to answer her. There’s movement from behind Finley reminding me that we’re inside the club.

  “Let’s take this outside,” I say between gritted teeth.

  We all weave through the tables and file out the door. Stolas pads over to the side of the building ducking into the alley. He emerges a moment later back into his human form. He moves to stand next to Finley, tilting his head to the side, like he’s trying to figure something out. I see the change in his eyes before he smiles.

  “You hear it don’t you?” he asks. “There’s a voice now.”

  I open and close my mouth. I don’t like this. I don’t like not being in control. But if anyone will be able to help me it’s Stolas.

  “Yes,” I clip out. “Why?”

  Stolas shrugs. “I can’t answer that. I’ve always been able to talk to my shifter side. Talk to it. Ask it questions. It will answer if it can.”

  Am I really going to talk to a voice I heard a couple of times in my head? This is nuts. I’ve heard Stolas talk about this in passing. It’s never been that way for me. I don’t know if other hamrammrs have this ability. It’s not like I keep in touch with any. We’re better off scattered around. Don’t want to be easy pickings for the hunters that try to find and kill us.

  “Can I talk to it?” Finley’s voice pulls me back.

  “I don’t see why not. You can talk to my hellhound. He’ll answer in my head and I can relay the message. I don’t see why it would be any different.” She nods, searching my eyes, looking for something.

  “Shit, what do I call it?” she questions. “It doesn't have just one form.”

  “Just call it your mate. That should do the trick,” Stolas replies.

  “Okay,” she releases a breath. My grip on her hand tightens. I don’t know who I’m trying to comfort; her or me. “Mate,” she whispers. “Can you hear me?” She pauses for a moment. “You know I feel stupid doing this.” She takes a deep breath. “My mate,” she says stronger, and my essence swirls to life.

  Mate. The voice startles me and I jump, causing Finley to jump.

  “Holy hell. Y’all are trying to kill me,” she screeches. “What the hell? Scaring the shit out of me like that.” With her free hand she smacks my chest.

  “Sorry,” I mutter. “The voice spoke, and it scared me.”

  “What did it say?”

  “It called you mate.”

  “Okay.” Finley squares her shoulders. “My mate, why do you have a voice now?”

  Strong enough.

  “He says he’s strong enough.”

  No, we are stronger.

  What do you mean? I ask.

  We are more powerful.

  How? I question.

  Our mate.

  “What’s going on? What’s he saying?” Finley inquiries.

  “He says we are stronger, more powerful, because of you,” I respond.

  “But-but I don’t understand. What do I have to do with any of this?”

  “Love,” Stolas moves to stand in Finley’s line of sight. “What you have to understand is that, as shifters, we will do anything and everything to protect our mate. Something finally triggered the voice inside Obsidian. It’s been there all along, but something was blocking it.” Stolas turns and faces me. “What was different about tonight?”

  “Lucifer. He was touching what was mine.”

  “Okay, but Verkor and I also touch her. What made this different?” he questions.

  She is not his to touch! The voice booms in my head, which I voice equally as loud.

  “She’s not his to touch!”

  “Well, there we go,” Stolas states like that explains everything.

  “Wait, what?” The confusion evident in Finley’s voice.

  “You sealed that bond when you marked and claimed us. Anyone, well, any male outside of those bonds will test him.”

  “What about you? How come you’re not acting that way?” Finley asks.

  “I feel the same way he does, but I’m better at controlling it,” Stolas answers.

  Finley sighs. “Okay.” She pulls her hand from my grip. She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Let’s table this for later. I’m hungry and we need to make sure our plan is set because I’m having dinner with Lucifer tomorrow night.” I growl.

  “Maybe we should leave and head back to Bael’s,” Verkor interjects.

  “He’s right,” Bael says. “Here,” he shoves his house keys into Stolas’ hand. “Take them back to my house. I’ll stop and grab food. Plus, I’m going to stick around for a little bit and make sure no one here is talking about what just happened. You guys weren’t exactly quiet.” I wince at the tone in his voice. He’s not wrong, and it’s mostly my fault.

  I rub the back of my neck. “Sorry.”

  “Someone grab a calendar and mark this down a
s another historic occasion. Obsidian apologized,” Stolas says laughing.

  “Why you…” I trail off lunging at Stolas who moves out of the way in the nick of time. I move to grab at him again, but he jumps out of the way while cackling like one of those Earth Realm hyenas.

  “Enough,” Verkor booms. We stop and stare at him. He walks over to Stolas ripping the keys from his hand before interlacing his fingers with Finley. “I’m taking her back to the house. You two better get your shit together. Better yet, help Bael make sure no one here saw or heard what happened. Too much was riding on tonight and you better hope your antics didn’t fuck it up,” he says between gritted teeth. Verkor walks away, tugging Finley with him.

  “Damn,” Stolas exclaims.

  It’s not very often I feel chastised, because usually I’m the one doing it, but I do in this moment.

  “You heard him. I’ll grab her violin if you grab her bag from the back.” Stolas nods and takes off. I walk over to the table she sat at with Lucifer and grab her violin and bow. Stolas returns a few moments later with her bag in his hand. “Let’s make sure we didn’t cause more problems,” I say. Luckily, we didn’t.

  Chapter 21

  Finley

  Verkor drew me a bath and I got to soak and relax in the hot water and it was the best feeling. He even left me alone to do it. By the time I got out of the tub, the water had turned ice cold, and my fingertips were wrinkly. I was padding down the hall when I heard a door open. My heart started to beat faster. I move to the closet door, getting ready to duck inside, when Stolas’ voice calls out.

  “Finley, love, we have food!”

  I slump against the door, placing a hand over my heart, willing it to calm down. I don’t know why I thought someone was breaking in. Wait? If they just walked in did that mean Verkor left the door unlocked this whole time? Is he trying to get us killed? I haven’t moved from my spot when Stolas peeks around the corner.

  “There you are.”

  He walks over to me and places a soft kiss to my lips. He takes my wrist and tugs me down the hall and into the kitchen. Everyone is already seated around the table. Stolas guides me to the empty chair next to Obsidian. He takes the empty seat across from me.

  Obsidian leans down, putting his mouth next to my ear. “I’m sorry about earlier.” I put my hand on his thigh and squeeze.

  “It’s okay. Everything turned out okay, right?” It’s my subtle way of asking what happened after Verkor dragged me out The Inferno. He pulls back, looking me in the eye before nodding. “Then don’t worry about it. Besides, I get jealous tendencies where you guys are concerned too. It’s not all one-sided.”

  Verkor passes me a plate filled with food. It smells heavenly, especially the meat. I haven’t asked what anything I’ve eaten here is because I’m damn sure I don’t want to know. It tastes amazing and that’s all I care about. We all eat in companionable silence. At least they waited until we were done eating before the barrage of questions started.

  “What did Lucifer say to you?” Obsidian asks.

  “Nothing really.” I shrug. “He said that I intrigued him, which is what we wanted. He kept calling me a little muse.”

  “You mean like the minor goddess?” Bael asks. I nod.

  “They aren’t real, are they?” I question.

  “They are. They live in heaven sequestered in their ivory towers, only making an appearance every ten or so years. Usually you can tell, for instance when the style of popular music changes, or when certain genres of books become more popular and in demand. Art and fashion trends are big ones. They inspire the arts,” Verkor states. “He probably called you that because of the music.”

  “We’re getting off topic. What else did he say?” Obsidian interjects.

  “Nothing really. Just that my pet hellhound was more than he seems,” I reply, looking at Stolas who winks.

  “He called you a lovely creature,” Stolas says.

  “But what would that have to do with anything?” I ask. Stolas shrugs.

  “I don’t know, but you could bring it up with at dinner tomorrow. See if he’ll answer,” he replies.

  I sigh, running a hand over my face. “You know, I’m starting to think no one down here will give you a straight answer.”

  “Now she gets it.” I look over to Stolas, narrowing my eyes at him.

  He leans back in his chair, crossing his arms. “Everything said here should be taken with a grain of salt. People didn’t get here by being saints. Demons are just as bad as the humans. Everyone always wants something, and nothing is free.”

  Great, just great. “So, what I am looking at with Lucifer then?”

  “Answers his questions, but never give the whole truth. Try to keep the conversation about him. He’s vain so it shouldn’t be too hard. Stolas will be with you, but if he tries anything be smart about your reaction and responses. He’s Lucifer, the devil, he’s the strongest being down here. You’ll never win in a fight against him alone. I suggest the second you can get away from him the better off you’ll be,” Bael voices.

  “And how exactly am I going to do that?”

  “By playing for him,” Verkor states.

  A slow grin takes over my face. “That I can do.”

  Stolas

  I don’t like that mischievous look in Finley’s eyes, and I’m the first one that would be down to raise a little hell, but this is different. Luckily, I’ll be with her to keep her out of trouble… I hope. Bael is right, the devil isn’t one you want to mess with, and we’re all certifiable for going through with this plan. Speaking of, we need to make sure everyone is on the same page and knows what they’re doing.

  “Finley completed the first step in our plan. She got a date with the devil,” I say.

  “Another part of the poem checked off,” Finley states. We all nod.

  “What was the last part?” Bael asks.

  “A date with the devil is what you’ll get, but you’ll have to be quick. For your gift will only get you so far and you’ll have to rely more on your wit,” Finley replies.

  “You got the date, and I’m going to assume that we won’t have much time to get inside the office, find the map, and get the hell out,” Bael states.

  “Okay, if time is going to be an issue, having Finley play her violin may buy us some more time,” Verkor says.

  “The second her and Stolas enter the castle we have to quickly get inside. It’ll give us more time to figure out how to find the hidden drawer in his desk, assuming the information we received is correct,” Obsidian interjects.

  “Well, for all of our sakes, let’s hope that it is,” Bael says with a sigh.

  “So, while Finley and I distract Lucifer and try to hold him off for as long as possible, how do you three plan to get in?” I question.

  “We slip in through the gardens,” Bael answers.

  “If there are guards, I can take care of them,” Verkor interjects, looking around the table. “I blend in with the shadows and can use my magic, or I can control the shadows to incapacitate them long enough so we can slip by.”

  “That works,” Bael agrees. He turns to look at Obsidian. “We should try to wait until we are inside the castle before we shift. I don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves outside. The longer we hold off the better we’ll be. Abaddon is huge, and if he’s seen walking around outside the castle, I’m sure a guard will alert Lucifer, and that is the last thing we need.” Obsidian nods.

  “We’ll wait until we get inside, shift so no one questions why we’re there, and then what? Do you remember where his office is?” Obsidian grumbles.

  He hates relying on other people, but Bael is our best option for getting this done. I know the rest of us feel better that one of us will be with Finley, but this still adds another player to the game, but since none of us have been in the castle before, this is our best option.

  “I’ve been there a few times. I can get us in.” Obsidian grunts.

  “Once we’re in
, our focus should be the desk. We need to figure out fast if we’re wasting our time on it,” Verkor expresses. “I suggest, since three of us are going to be in the room, that two of us focus on the desk and the third focus on the rest of the room.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Finley agrees. “Verkor and Obsidian on the desk, and Bael on the room.”

  Finley glances at me from the corner of her eyes. I wink, seeing what she did there. She put Verkor and Obsidian on desk, keeping Bael away from it if the map does turn out to be in there. As much as I love and trust my brother, I understand why she wouldn’t want him to find it.

  “That works for me,” Bael says, shrugging his shoulders.

  “Now that we have that settled, how are Stolas and I going to know when you’re done? Or are we going to meet you at the gateway? Also, what about our bags? We need to leave the second we get the map.” Finley rattles off her questions.

  “We’ll meet at the gateway. Verkor and I will have the bags with us. We’ll leave them under some flower bushes near the gateway to grab on our way through,” Obsidian answers. Everyone hums their agreement.

  “Alright, everyone knows what they’re doing tomorrow, and we all need to get rest. It’s going to be fast paced once we get there,” I say. I push back my chair, walk over to Finley, and hold out my hand, which she takes.

  “What about clean up?” she asks, gesturing towards the kitchen table, still littered with evidence from our dinner.

  “I’ll get it,” Bael says as he stands and stretches.

  “I help him,” Verkor says standing as well. Finley nods.

  I guide her down the hall to the bedroom we’ve been sharing. She walks over to the bed and flops down on her back. I climb on and lay down next to her. She rolls to her side, facing me, using her arms as a pillow.

  “We’re actually going to do this,” she states. “We’re going to steal from the devil.”

  I chuckle. “How is this any different than stealing from the President and Winter Court Fae King?”

  “Because this is Lucifer, the King of Hell. We’re definitely going to be coming here when we die,” she groans. I can’t help but laugh.