Chapter 5
“How much farther?” Gage whispers as we stop for a second for him to take a few breaths.
A massive spider bat flies through me, and I screech before I can help myself. It’s happened a lot since the lights fully went out about an hour ago.
Two screaming vines lash out, passing through me, and slap Gage right on the ass.
He curses, bolting upright as he casts a glare in my general direction. I can only see with the gray night vision back in place. I doubt he can see at all.
“For the last fucking time, they can’t touch you in that form, so stop screaming. I have welts all over my body because these trees really like your little shrieks.”
“Oops,” I say, very little contrition in my tone.
Closing my eyes, I focus on the guys, reaching out and feeling them nearby.
“Just this way,” I tell him, turning and moving toward their direction. “They must have stopped for the night.”
“With the light down, it’s too dangerous to keep going. We’re getting toward the other side of the forest, and it’ll likely be another battle of survival.”
“You’re not allowed to jump, fall, or stand in the rain. Understood?” I ask him, trying to make light of the situation even as I feel the retroactive fear spike through me like it’s happening all over again.
Exhausted from denying my other form so much, I’m forced to go whole. I grab his hand and guide him easier, hoping we don’t stir another spider-bat.
He releases my hand and slides an arm around my waist, drawing me closer and making walking a tad awkward. I don’t complain, though. I’m not sure why he’s being affectionate, but I certainly have no qualms about it.
His lips brush the top of my head, and I melt a little, leaning into him. Our steps are slow and deliberate, like he’s drawing our bubble-time for a little bit longer.
He’ll probably shove me away in front of the others, and that will suck. But at least I’ll have this memory. It’s a damn good memory. The location of the memory sucks, but the rest is awesome.
“Will more black ice be coming?” I ask warily.
“Yeah. It’ll get more and more frequent the farther away from the fiery lake we get. The screaming vines will continue to get smaller away from their main fire source, which aides in giving us direction.”
“How did you learn all this stuff if this is your first trip to hell’s belly?” I ask him, wondering which books I need to start reading.
“Harold. He’s a balance elder, which means he has very little physical power, but an exceptional amount of knowledge, even though he’s only been around for about a century longer than us. We call him powerful because he’s endured death and came out perfectly balanced—neither good nor evil. He’s the reason we have any books at all, because such things are denied simple surface guardians.”
“Will any of those books give me insight on why you four seem a little moody?” I ask seriously.
He snorts out a laugh as I guide us through a thick grouping of trees.
Just as we get around them, Gage spins me and pins me against one of the ashy trees. My eyes search his face even as my chest rises and falls rapidly.
Fear and excitement always accompanies their mood swings, but right now, it’s just pure unadulterated desire, thanks to his incredible mouth.
The back of his hand ghosts down the side of my face.
“Humans have more balance,” he tells me, pressing closer. “Their emotions are watered down and tempered by that balance. Every emotion we experience is too extreme. We fight feeling anything because it can consume us easily.”
His gaze dips to my mouth, even though I know he can’t really see it. The pad of his thumb brushes over my bottom lip, and his breathing grows heavier.
“And since you came around, we’ve been forced to feel more than we have in a very long time before we leashed those emotions and learned to channel them with Harold’s help and guidance.”
I swallow thickly, even as he continues to touch my mouth and hold me in place.
“How’d he find you?” I ask.
“The summons,” he says as his hand falls away.
He drags me back against his side, and we start walking again, his point now proven. Emotions are definitely more overwhelming when I’m in this form.
They override rational thought and create sort of a primal haze around me. Maybe Harold needs to teach me how to leash my emotions too.
“He was in attendance when we were first called to the graveyard on the day we bonded. We went, even though we were leery. We were so desperate for answers, and we assumed this was going to be that, even if it killed us. Instead, we were given a task. Harold supplied us with weapons and booze, and I guess he felt sorry for us since we had no idea what was going on, so he took us under his wing. In truth, I think he worried someone would kill us if he didn’t help.”
“Just curious, how would one leash their emotions?” I ask, thinking of how easily I’ve been distracted from our predicament just because they have awesome body parts.
It’s rather inconvenient.
He laughs under his breath, but doesn’t answer me. I try to go back phantom to sense the others, but nothing happens.
“I can’t sense the guys like this, but I’m too drained to shift back to my other form,” I say, trying to remember the appropriate direction. “But I think we’re going the right way.”
He keeps me against his side, and we continue to walk.
“I smell a fire now, so I can get us to them,” he murmurs.
“How do you know it’s them? I’ve seen a lot of fire in hell.”
A small bit of laughter spills from his lips. “Hellfire and eternal flames have no scent. This is a handmade, regular, nothing special or harmful about it, fire,” he assures me.
“Let’s just hope it’s not other competitors.”
“I can kill them easily enough,” he says with a shrug.
A yawn escapes me as I start leaning on him a little. Talking about killing apparently bores me. Maybe I’m the psychopath after all.
His hold tightens, and once again he kisses the top of my head.
I’m going to have to get some sleep to have enough strength to go phantom for the last day. I need to be my strongest. We’ve already survived longer than any of them anticipated.
“It’s not mood swings,” he tells me randomly, drawing me out of my tired reverie. Clearing his throat when I peer up at him curiously, he adds, “When we get angry and pull back, it’s us reining in emotions we haven’t been forced to feel in such extremes in quite some time. You aren’t seeing a shift in moods; you’re seeing us force ourselves to take a step back and search for rational answers as to why you’re penetrating our shields so effortlessly.”
“Because I’m awesome and my ass looks good in lace?” I guess.
He bursts out laughing, and I hear three groans from the distance. I stiffen, but Gage drags me in the direction the groans came from.
“Always the vanity,” I hear Ezekiel say.
My eyes scan the area, but I don’t see them immediately. Finally, I catch sight of a flickering flame inside a cave, and the closer we get, the more distinctly I can make out three figures sitting or lying near it.
“About damn time you two found us,” Kai drawls, his eyes drifting over the way Gage is still holding me to him as we near. “I’m guessing you’re her favorite now?”
Jude glares at me like I’ve tarnished yet another one of them, as Gage smirks. “It’ll be hard to take my place right now,” Gage boasts.
Kai laughs under his breath. Ezekiel grins and shakes his head before stretching out and lying down. Jude looks away from me.
“What are you wearing?” Ezekiel groans.
I shrug a bare shoulder in my strapless black corset, idly glancing down at my really slinky attire. I’m also in a black top hat, and since we’re still in hell, I’m also wearing phantom-made body paint that makes me look like the walking dead.
“Admit it. This is the sexiest I’ve been yet.”
I swear, it’s like pulling teeth to get a compliment. All I get are more groans.
Here they are bitching about my attire, and they’re all still in boxers or naked—like Jude. I’m trying not to be distracted, because I have no idea how to leash my emotions like they do, and yet I’m surrounded by a lot of bare skin.
“The clothes haven’t dried?” I ask, even though I distinctly remember Gage leaving his own clothes behind.
“Black ice on clothes is a bad idea. It’s the reason it has time to penetrate the skin before our natural body heat can melt it back. The fabric gives it time to be absorbed instead of instantly evaporating. It’s actually safer to go naked,” Ezekiel says as he winks at me.
“So you’re all going to be naked or mostly naked for the remainder of this trial?” I muse, my lips curling into a grin, eliciting more groans. “This is going to be interesting.” It makes it sound less genuine when I yawn directly after saying it’d be interesting.
“She needs rest. She’s strained herself too much these past two days. Her new form is a lot more demanding,” Gage says, pushing me toward Ezekiel.
I stumble sleepily toward him, and Ezekiel snatches my hand, tugging me down on top of him. My breath catches when I’m mid-fall, but he quickly grabs my waist and easily—and gently—pulls me against his side.
I practically moan at how comfortable it is to be pressed down the side of his body without worrying he might kill me.
My head settles on his bare chest as my eyelids start fluttering shut.
“I’ll take first watch for two hours. I’m still a little wired,” Gage says. “The three of you should sleep. Near her. Get the best rest you can, because tomorrow we do the impossible and beat these fucking trials or get lost in here forever.”
“Wired from what exactly?” Kai asks with a taunting smirk.
Gage winks at me, flips Kai off, and walks out as Ezekiel and Kai laugh lightly.
“I’m sure none of you will regret those decisions,” Jude states dryly, ever the Scrooge.
He lies down and closes his eyes, staying far away from me.
“Just remember you would have died if that black ice had spread all over you,” Ezekiel tells him like he’s defending me.
I pat his chest even as I yawn again, and his arms tighten around me as I snuggle closer.
Another body slithers up to my other side, and a set of lips graze over my shoulder.
“Sleep, little spirit. We find out our fate tomorrow, and it seems you’ll be stuck with whatever decision is made,” Kai says against my ear.
“As long as you four are still safe,” I say in a sleepy rumble, not really stringing together the sentence I mean to.
Just before I fall asleep, I feel a gentle, almost ghost of a touch at my ankle, but I can’t open my eyes to see who it is.
For the first time, I allow them be the ones to look over me while I sleep.
“Goodnight,” someone whispers close to my ear.