Chapter 27
Getting back into the Hive had been easy. Too damn easy, and it had Sam on edge as her hand gripped the rungs of the metal ladder that would lead her and Bellis down into the sewers of Billings. He’d been horrified that the Hive location was so close to StoneCrow. She’d explained that they’d known for some time that the Skin Walker home base was in Montana, but the actual location of StoneCrow hadn’t been divulged to the Megalya until days before the attack. By the time she’d found out, she only had mere minutes to warn Monroe. Apex and the North Fortress had been a concern for Bellis, but she assured him that, as of the date he’d kidnapped her, neither Odium nor any other Megalya knew either location. Apex and the North Fortress were secure…for now.
Twice on their way through the tunnels, Bellis had gripped her arm and had tried to go ahead of her until finally she stopped to hiss, “What in the fuck are you doing? A demon wouldn’t care to go first. He’d want me to test the waters, be the bait. Stop. Being. A fucking. Hero! You’re a demon, remember?” Her eyes pinched nearly closed as she let venom drip from her voice. “Act like it!”
Turning, she quickened her pace. It was best if it didn’t seem like she and Bellis were trying to sneak back into the Hive, so Sam threw her shoulders back, lifted her head and made zero attempt at keeping their approach silent. After a few yards. and when no one approached, she started whistling and swinging her arms as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Behind her she knew Bellis was tense, she could feel worry pouring off him and she knew it was for her. Stupid bastard…sweet bastard!
Her own emotions were tumultuous as well. She was worried about Odium’s reaction, and it wasn’t to her kidnapping and absence. No, she was worried for Bellis. If this didn’t work, if Odium didn’t believe he was a demon, then Bellis’ odds of survival were slim. Sam knew that if Odium went after Bellis, she’d go down defending him, but she had no intention of letting her Wal…the Walker know that.
The sound of running water filled her ears and the putrid scent of the sewers made her eyes water. She’d forgotten how much she despised this place. A light clinking caught her ears, and chills blasted up her spine. Odium. She always knew when he was near, because of those damn halos he wore secured to a belt at his waist. They were his trophies and they never ceased to make her want to puke. Who carried reminders of women and children they’d murdered? What kind of monster could be proud of that?
“Sissster.” Odium’s voice drifted over her skin like sandpaper on satin. Involuntarily, her shoulders lifted as her skin crawled.
“Your monsters are fucking morons,” she spat, turning in a slow circle to gaze at several tunnels, waiting for her brother to show himself. “They shot me during their rescue attempt.” She filled her voice with as much disdain as she could muster. “Fucking idiots!”
Movement to her right caught her attention, and she turned to find Odium standing there in his typical long black trench coat, the bottom soaked with foul sewer water. In the darkness of the sewers, his white skin practically glowed, and she could tell from the fine dots of moisture on his skin that he was his old, disgusting, clammy self.
“Whossse thisss?”
She flicked a glance over her shoulder at Bellis and grinned. “I brought you a Demon.”
“Demon?”
“He was a captive at StoneCrow too. He helped me escape.” She started walking towards one of the tunnels with a flippant, “Keep him or kill him. I’m free, so I don’t really give a fuck.”
Odium’s solid black gaze slid from Bellis to her. “You let yourssself be caught.”
Sam’s feet slowed in the knee-deep sludge. “I’m aware.” She shot him a dark look, swallowing hard to hide her shiver when he grinned, revealing rows of razor sharp, shark-like teeth.
“Punishment.”
He spoke only the one word, and she understood immediately. It’s all he had to say. “Yeah,” she muttered. “Punishment. Let’s get this over with. I have shit to do.”
Sam disappeared into one of the tunnels.
***
The urge to lunge up onto the raised platform where that fuck Odium stood was almost irresistible. He studied Bellis, and Bellis studied him right back, but all he could think about was how he would gut the fucker if he hurt Sam.
Watching her in action was impressive. Hell, she didn’t even scent of treachery or deceit when she lied to her brother. At least, Bellis hoped it was a lie when she’d directed her brother to keep him or kill him. He hoped it mattered to Sam.
She disappeared down a tunnel, and Bellis wanted to follow, but he wasn’t giving Odium his back. Slowly, he let the beasts inside roll through him. He knew how it affected him when they did. His hair moved as if he were underwater, an inky black flag that looked unnatural as he twitched his head and let the blue pinpoints of his eyes dim to practically nothing, until his eyes almost matched Odium’s. Bellis didn’t need to let his incisors elongate, because unlike other Walkers, his never retracted. Pushing his brows down, and peeling back his upper lip, he let a hiss seep from him as he eyed Odium. “We fighting?”
Odium watched him, his face an almost comical mix of fascination and dislike.
“What are you?” Odium asked.
Unable to stop himself, Bellis took a step closer, lifting his head and flashing his sharp teeth before boasting, “DEMON!”
Odium looked almost delighted as his eyes drifted up and down Bellis’ large frame. Before they’d left StoneCrow, Sam had approved his outfit. She’d drummed up black leather pants that were too snug and squished his nuts. Matching thick-soled biker boots and a sleeveless shirt with a high collar had him feeling like a fucktard, but Sam was adamant that his apparel be nowhere close to the BDU’s of the Walkers and Keepers. “I killed a Skin Walker and they captured me. I didn’t realize they numbered so many. They were running tests on me to determine what I am, but I’d found a way out when they brought Sam in.”
“What do you eat?”
Bellis frowned harder. What kind of dumb question was that? Clearly, one that held some weight, because he was watching Bellis intently. He tried to think of a hideous response, and oddly enough wondered what Sam would say if she were him. She’s say something crass and offensive. The words were out in a flash. “Souls and pussy.”
Odium’s eyes lit with amusement and he backed up, keeping on until he was swallowed up into the darkness, the pale bulb of his head the last to disappear. Weird, Uncle Fester looking motherfucker!
Bellis stormed down the tunnel where Sam disappeared, his ears pricked for any sound, his eyes flicking back and forth, unsure whether or not this was a trap.
Ahead, he heard a sound and slammed to a halt. It sounded like fists on skin followed by an exhalation and then a feminine grunt. Sam’s punishment! And this is where his hell started.
Stalling in the tunnel, he listened to her mock whoever was hitting her. She was goading them. ‘Is that all you got?’ and ‘Fucking Skin Walker children hit harder than you.’ She was taking her beating. She was brave, and Bellis was a coward because he couldn’t bring his feet to carry him any closer. He knew what would happen if he walked in on what was happening. He’d lose his shit, blow their cover, and get them both killed.
Sam laughed, a humorless sound, and then grunted again when a loud smack was heard.
“Sissster.”
Odium joining the fray changed the deal, and Bellis’ feet were moving before he could stop himself. He’d be good goddamned if a group of Megalya monsters were going to gang up on Sam while he stood idly by. Fuck that!
Before he cleared the tunnel, he lifted the palm of his hand and bit into it hard. Seconds later, he stepped out into an open room much like the one where they’d first encountered Odium, only this one was larger, with twice as many tunnels leading out of it. Sam stood in the center of the room, in the middle of a group of Megalya that looked exactly like Odium. All of them had their hands balled into fists, and when Sam looked up, her nose and lips were bleeding and there was a bruise forming high on her cheek.
Because it was dark in the tunnel, no one saw Bellis until he was two steps from Sam. No one but Odium. Their leader stood on another concrete platform, staring down at him, with his pale hands curled over the bar railing. Bellis only flicked him a glance before he used his super-human speed to get to Sam. He jerked her hard to him, and she gasped, her eyes rounding in startled surprised. Without hesitation, Bellis cupped her jaw with both hands and pulled her to him, making a show of flashing his wicked incisors before slamming his head forward, his teeth going for her soft flesh. Just before he bit into her, he gave her a command with the faintest of words so none of the Megalya would hear. The demand was simple. “Scream.”
His teeth sunk into the flesh at the base of her neck, and whether it was for show, or from actual pain, Sam screamed. Tiny hands lifted to his biceps and she fought him, but he had her locked firm.
He inched his palm closer to her mouth and forced her head down, praying she would understand his silent direction. Thank the Gods she did, because she screamed one last anguished sound that he knew would torment his soul forever, before she let his blood flow into her mouth.
They stayed like this, and all the while, Bellis kept his eyes on the Megalya around him. They watched with shocked expressions, confused eyes shooting to Odium then back to him.
When he felt the familiar tilting of Sam’s body, he continued to feed her until she finally went lax in his arms.
Odium bellowed, “DON’T KILLL HER!”
Bellis jerked back, keeping some of Sam’s blood in his mouth and letting it spill out of his mouth and pour onto the bottom half of her face to hide the fact that she’d drank from him. “You said to punish her,” Bellis accused. “I eat souls.”
“Not hers!” Odium barked. “I still need her.” He jerked his head toward one of the tunnels. “Take them to the pit!”
Bellis tensed as the other Megalya circled around him and Sam. With nothing else he could do, he lifted Sam’s unconscious frame into his arms as the Megalya ushered him toward the tunnel.