“Hey,” Jared says.
He’s the first person I see when I wake, wearing a grin and hovering over my face. I let him help me up to a seating position. The air’s chilly here. My head’s pounding and my arms are aching, throbbing, like there are ropes around them, relentless and far too tight.
I fish through my memory for what happened before I landed in this strange place—it looks like a church, with benches and stained-glass windows all around. Why are we in a church? I’m surrounded by pillows and blankets and am lying on a mattress.
I press my palm against back of my head. Damn, it hurts. I rub circles there, and the pain begins to subside. “What happened?”
“Bella hit you with one of her poisoned bullets.”
“How long was I out for?”
“Two years.”
I jolt. It sends a slicing sensation up my arm. “Two years!” What the hell’s been going on since I passed out? We’re still alive, apparently, but—
Jared chuckles. “I’m kidding. Just days. Two days.”
I shove him and give him a dirty look.
“You’re so easy to tease. We’ve been here waiting for your recovery. Vickal says he got most of the poison out, but we shouldn’t move you around, lest whatever remains spreads.”
“They waited two days for me?” At least it’s more believable than two years. “I thought they said they were eager to get back to Hell.”
“Yeah, but they were arguing over your wellbeing. I don’t know, Val, they seem to care—”
Xeres strides toward us, with his sinful swagger and gaze that somehow makes whoever he’s looking at feel smaller. He bends down to me. “Hey,” he says nonchalantly, as if he’s brushing the words off his shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
I blink. The intensity in his eyes makes my lips dry. I force my mouth to close so I don’t look like a gaping fool. “I’ve experienced better days.”
“Can you walk?”
I test my legs by scrunching my toes. I slide my feet off the mattress. Needles prickle the soles of my feet. “I think so.”
“Good. ’Cause you’ve slowed us down enough.” He stands. “We’re leaving soon. Get your things, wash up, do whatever you need to, but hurry.” He runs his hands through his long fringe. It’s a casual gesture, but he looks like a god doing so.
He’s acting like an ass, but I’m strangely touched by how they saved my life.
“Thank you,” I say.
He regards me with a squint. “You can thank me by not slowing us down any more.”
“You could have left me behind.” And taken Jared. It wasn’t what I wanted them to do, but it was what I expected. Once I got injured, I became a liability. Don’t people like them discard liabilities?
“We could have.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“Beats me.” He shrugs. “Vickal should be back soon. He’ll have word on the angels. Your interruption has whittled away our time, and they might attack at any moment.” He runs his thumb over his nose and looks uncaring as he strides away. He looks… different. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I see him as a little more dependable. They saved my life, but they did put me in danger in the first place by kidnapping me… so I really don’t know what to think.
I’m going crazy. I need to get a grip on myself.
Sylver greets me next. He kneeling next to my bedside with a warm expression that makes his eyes crinkle at the sides. His stubble has grown a little, and that somehow makes him look more masculine. His eyes search mine. They’re so close that I can see the hazel rim around the green. “You’re okay,” he says. He tucks my hair behind my ear. His touch grazes the side of my face. It tingles on my skin.
There’s no sexual need with his touch, just care and concern. It’s weird, but my heart skips nevertheless.
“I’m breathing,” I say wryly.
He pulls me into an embrace. My heartbeat quickens, and my arms are at an awkward angle between our torsos. Sylver smells of spices and heat, and the scent of him presses against me. “I was worried,” he says. “I’m not sure why, but I was. Your pulse stopped for a second there. Vickal did everything to purge the poison from your bloodstream, but you weren’t reacting so well to it.”
“Why are you guys trying to keep me alive? All you need is Jared. He’s the cipher.”
“Like I said—I’m not sure. All I know is that I didn’t want to see you go. Not me, not Xeres, not Vickal. Maybe it’s because you’re like a fire. It’s sad to see flames that burn so bright get put out.”
“You guys are from Hell. Shouldn’t there be a ton of fires there? There’s plenty more to look at.”
He shakes his head. I expect a lighthearted response to my half-assed joke, but there’s none of that. He takes a lock of my hair between his fingertips and brushes it across his lips. “None like you.”
I chuckle, trying to shrug off how he’s making my chest contract and my pulse unsteady, but he doesn’t share my laughter.
“Try to not get hurt next time,” he says. “I don’t like the way it makes me feel.”
“Do you guys need a room?” Jared says out of nowhere.
I almost forgot that my brother’s next to us. I shoot him a sheepish look. “No. Nothing of the sort.”
“You sure? Because things felt like they were starting to get steamy.”
“Do you have to make this weird?” I ask.
He shoves his hands in his pockets. “Yes, I do. It’s my duty as your brother.”
The large entrance creaks open. It’s already night, and the city sounds of Vegas seep into the church. Vickal saunters in. The door slams shut behind him. His eyes dart to me. I catch his brow rising for a moment, but other than that, his gaze’s hardness doesn’t waver.
“We need to leave,” he says loudly so all of us can hear. His low voice bounces off the walls of the church. “We’ve outstayed our welcome in the city.”
“Why?” Jared asks.
“The angels are nearing. They’ve caught our trail. Bella’s working with them… The stupid bitch. She’s trying to help them find us, and her demons are on the hunt for us. At this rate, the angels will be here at any moment.”
Xeres turns to him. “How many angels are there?”
“Michael and Atia are already pains in the asses to deal with. And we saw Azael and Uriel the other day, so we know they’re close. They have at least another fifteen in their team backing them up, and maybe more are out scouting.”
I tilt my head. “Any chance they might just bypass the church?”
“There is. But if they do decide to check, we’ll be easily surrounded here, and I’m not interested in getting stuck. It’s better to move.”
“To where?” I ask.
Xeres says, “We need to head back to Hell before any of them find us. They won’t be able to do anything to us there.”
“Isn’t the portal close to where that demon army was?”
Vickal nods. “The demon army is probably swarming the portal in greater numbers as we speak. Belial won’t waste this opportunity to get rid of us and rule over Hell.”
“Odds are stacked against us, but we’ll have to face them eventually if we want to go home,” Xeres says. “We’ve agreed that we’d rather fight an army instead of the angels. So, we’re going to force our way through them and head back to the veil’s portal.”
“A thousand demons over a couple dozen angels,” I say. “You’re making perfect sense.”
“Lesser demons,” Sylver says. “Belial’s army is mostly made up of weaker demons. They’re not as strong as full-blooded angels. It’s night, so the veil should be open. We just have to fight our way through and into the portal, back to Hell, where we have our own armies theirs can’t match up to. With luck, all five of us will get out alive.”
“With luck?” I ask.
“As Xeres said, odds are stacked against us.”
“I have about thirty of my men with us,” Vickal says. “They’ll bolster our chances.”
“Get packing,” Xeres says. “We leave in five.”
I try to stand up. My legs are wobbly, but the tingling disappears quickly enough, and I’m back to walking properly in seconds. I assume it’s because of my demon healing abilities.
Jared looks at me. “You can phase, right?”
“Uh… maybe?” I say.
“I saw you do it once.”
“Yeah, by accident. It was more instinctual. Can you?”
“Vickal spent some time teaching me how to control my powers.” Jared frowns. He stares really hard at the other side of a church. He flickers, and his body materializes across the room. Seconds later, he flashes back to me, wearing a satisfied smirk. “I had to be persistent before he’d tutor me, though.”
“You’ve been getting along too well with him.”
Jared grins. “He’s offering lessons for free. Well, kind of. I’m offering him to give me lessons for free. But it’s still nice of him. So why shouldn’t I learn when he accepts?”
“Because he kidnapped you?” Are they even our captors anymore? I realize that I’m about to go willingly with them to Hell, and I’m not even thinking twice about returning to Club Sin. There’s little for me there, other than Kylie and constant rejections from Hollywood. Maybe Jared has a point about the demons being not so bad.
Yeah, it’s more likely that I’m going crazy. It feels that way. I’m not in my right mind.
“That’s all right.” He shrugs. “I’m the kind to forgive and forget.”
“Too easily,” I say.
There’s little for me to pack up. It’s not like they let me bring a change of clothes when whisking Jared and I away. I wish they had, because I’m starting to feel grimy from the days without showers. Then I spot a pile of clothes next to me. It’s a red tank top and a pair of black jeans. There’s even a pair of panties and a bra in the right size. How the hell did they figure it out?
I stare at Jared. “Did you tell them?”
“Tell them what?”
“Never mind.” Jared wouldn’t know my bra size. It’d be creepy if he did. “This church has a washroom, right?”
“Yeah, around the back.” He points to his right.
“Also… doesn’t anybody tend to this church? I mean, it’s not Sunday, but it should get visitors.”
Jared shakes his head. “No idea. They said they took care of it.”
“Took care of it?”
“Not a clue. Ask them.”
I get the image of a dead pastor in my head. I’m not sure if I want to find out what exactly happened.
I make my way to the washroom and change my clothes. I wipe myself off with paper towels and splash my face with water, letting the coolness simmer down the tension that has been winding me tight ever since I met these demons.
Then I look at my hair in the mirror.
It’s a wreck. It’s like a lavender mop.
I run my fingers through it, but the tangles catch between them. No matter how hard I pull, they won’t unravel, and my hair strains against my scalp, making it hurt.
I give up after a few attempts. We have bigger problems to worry about than messy hair. As a last-ditch effort, I smooth sprinkles of water over some stray strands, but it doesn’t help much. Apparently, I’m a supernatural half-demon with fast-healing abilities, but my hair doesn’t have a supernatural ability to stay neat all the time. I wipe my hands clean and push open the door.
After I head back out to the main hall, Vickal pushes the entrance open and peers out. “It’s clear, for now. We should go while we can.”
Xeres seems to be running through some tips on blackfyre with Jared, and Sylver’s disappeared. Maybe he got lost again. I walk out of the church with Vickal, until it’s just me and him in a relatively quiet part of Vegas, in front of the ancient-looking church.
“So,” I say, “why is this church empty? You didn’t hurt anyone, did you?”
“Tore out the throat of the pastor who works here. We’ve killed about ten helpless passersby who were unfortunate enough to walk in.”
My jaw drops to the ground.
He laughs. It’s so weird to see Vickal laugh. He’s usually filled with so much gravity that it’s often too much. “I’m kidding.”
“That’s not very funny.”
He keeps laughing. “I know the pastor. He owes me a few favors. I made him close the church down.”
“Dealing with the devil?”
“It’s a common with Hell spawn. It’s kind of our thing.”
“What did he owe you for?” I don’t want anything from Vickal. I’m just curious.
Heck—I don’t know what I want from these guys. I guess I’m just hoping to figure out my dual personality when I’m with them. I can’t seem to make up my mind. Love or hate? Flee or stay?
Their thing with the contract or bargain or whatever they call it… What if I accept?
I am out of my mind.
I’m supposed to hate them because they tortured Jared and they’re assholes. But now Jared likes them, and they saved my life, not to mention Vickal’s really good with his tongue… and… and…
I feel like my brain’s going to explode.
Vickal leans on the wall beside the entrance. “The pastor? He used to deal with drugs and all that. Leader of some gangs, and his wife found out. He was going to get ostracized by his family and the church. He told me he’d do anything to just make them forget. So I made them forget.”
“You can do that?” I ask, not showing any of my inner turmoil. “Wipe someone’s memories?”
“I had to pull in some guy from the Belladonnas. He owed me a favor too. Favors, actually. Countless.”
I fold my arms. “Exactly how many people owe you favors?”
“I’ve been collecting them. They’re handy. So, Val, what do you want? I wouldn’t mind getting one from you.”
“Let us go?” I say. But I’m not even sure anymore. What if I don’t get to see them again once this is over?
I should be happy about it.
He laughs. Again. It’s a short one, over as soon as it starts.
“You’re in a good mood. Too much to drink?”
“Maybe.” His eyes search mine, and my stomach flip-flops from his intense gaze. “I guess it’s because you’re okay.” He looks at me and nears, until his breath is hot against my lips. Thump. My heart’s beating so hard that I can hear them in my ears. I think about the way Xeres took me abruptly, and I wonder if Vickal might do the same. Lewd thoughts swarm my mind, so loudly that I don’t think it’s me in my body anymore.
But he backs away and says, “Try phasing.” He’s not giving me his edged, sharp look anymore. There’s some softness there that makes me question his intentions.
“What?”
“We’re going to face an army, and it’ll be better if you have better control of your powers.”
I nod. “Okay…” I ignore how my mouth goes dry, close my eyes, and concentrate. When I open them, I’m standing in exactly the same spot I was before. I feel like a dumbass. “Uh. How does it work?”
Vickal sighs. “You look at where you’re going, envision yourself there, and force yourself to move.”
“Force… myself? You’re not explaining that very clearly.”
“There’s not much to explain.”
“Well, I’m sorry—I don’t get it.” It’s slightly annoying when things don’t just click sometimes. That, combined with my tight deadline, since we’re going to face a demon army and all, makes me frustrated.
“It’s like a muscle,” he says. “How do you make your arms move, or your legs? It’s the same thing. You shouldn’t have to try too hard to do it.”
“All right…” I close my eyes and attempt to phase again. Aaand it doesn’t work.
The gothic door creaks open and Xeres walks out. Sylver and Jared are behind him. Where did Sylver come from? I didn’t see him inside when I came out of the washroom.
“Ready?” Xeres asks.
“I’m trying to teach her how to phase,” Vickal says.
“And?”
“She’s not getting it.”
Sylver winks at me. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll come with time.”
Xeres rolls his eyes and strides forward. “It takes more energy to phase two people, you know. It’s going to be tiring to move you back.”
“Well, I’m sorry.” Is he trying to make me feel guilty? Because I don’t. They’re the reason why I’m in this spot in the first place, regardless of whether they saved my life.
“I’ll help you out with traveling again,” Xeres says. “Try and learn how to phase next time.”
I bite my tongue. “So, you think you’re helping me out by sending me straight to a horde of bloodsucking demons?”
“Yeah,” he says, not batting an eyelid.
“Maybe it’s better with the angels. I’m not your accomplice. They won’t take my head off, will they? Maybe they’ll let Jared and me go back to L.A. and be nice about it.”
“Yeah, fat chance.” Xeres pulls his upper lip into a sneer. “I heard the last cipher who fell in their hands ended up getting tortured nonstop to quicken the rate of those visions.”
“And you scary demons stopped doing this because…?”
“I actually like you and Jared.”
Jared hits his chest and raises two fingers in a salute. “Hey, thanks, man.”
“But I might reconsider. You’re right—we might be playing too nice.”
Jared’s posture slackens. He’s like a sad puppy. “That’s a joke, right?”
Xeres brushes Jared’s question off, and that makes me worried. “Are we leaving, or not?”
“Lead the way, boss,” Vickal says wryly.
I suck in a deep breath. Vegas kind of looks normal from here, except for the couple of drunk people across the street throwing crushed cans against the wall. They’re shouting obscenities that hardly make sense.
There’s a mutt barking in a distance, and a gruff-sounding woman shouts at it, asking it to shut up. She sounds like she’s had a bad day.
I don’t have much time to take in the admirable sights of the city.
Xeres grabs my hand. A sharp sensation spikes through me. I remember him inside me…
Crap, we actually fucked, didn’t we?
It definitely was fucking, because there was no love. He had a need, and my feminine parts were spiraling out of control. They’re going crazy right now.
Then again, he didn’t abandon me like someone with a cold heart would when Bella hurt me, did he?
And Porky liked him.
Damn, I miss Porky.
My internal musings don’t last long. I’m snapped back to reality when Xeres phases, tugging me along with him, and we blitz through the streets of Vegas and out of the city. Some confused people look at us, but we’re gone before they can get a second glance, and we disappear like hallucinations.
* * *
The guys were apparently running away from angels, but the angels didn’t catch up to us. Vickal explained that they can’t phase, but can move at super speeds with their wings. That still means that they’re slower, however.
So now, all we have to worry about is Belial’s demon horde in front of us. We’re standing next to a huge rock, using it as cover. We’re back in the wilderness of Cali, with its dry landscapes and distinct lack of buildings…and strippers, except for yours truly. I’m getting whiplash from the sudden changes in scenery and the constant phasing.
I gape at the demon horde, feeling fear rise in my belly. I’ve seen a ton of messed-up shit in my short twenty-four years, but this will take some getting used to. There are possibly thousands of them, and they’re spilling out of the forest. They’ve formed a giant wall of teeth, claws, and swords.
“Are you sure about this?” I ask.
“You didn’t have to piss off the Belladonnas,” Vickal says. “They could’ve helped us instead of turning on us.”
“I’d rather be eaten alive by scary demons than do what you guys were about to do to those girls.” Maybe. Because right now, the prospect of getting ripped to shreds is getting increasingly real, and my hands are sweating from the thought.
“I’m not so ready to give myself up,” Xeres says. “Are you sure these guys can handle it?” There are about thirty other demons behind us, all in various shades of intimidating. They have weapons strapped all over their bodies, and there’s a lady with a third eye on her forehead. It gives me the heebie-jeebies, and Jared keeps staring at her, making no attempt at being coy about it.
“They’re in your clan,” Vickal says.
Xeres shrugs. “I’m too busy dealing with the other clans.”
Vickal shakes his head, rests a hand on a boulder, and turns his attention back to our enemies.
The cool and/or scary (I can’t decide which yet) demons behind us belong to the Nightshade clan. They’re normally situated on Earth, patrolling and doing Earth-related errands. Vickal explained that he’s been using them to scout and guard us since we fled the angels. They were always nearby, but they never had reason to show before.
“So… what’s the plan?” I ask.
Xeres cracks his knuckles. “Charge in, avoid higher demons like Belial, and dive for the portal into the veil.” He’s saying it with such a serious face that I actually think he believes he has a plan.
Okay, so maybe it is a plan, but it doesn’t sound like he thought it over much.
“There has to be something better,” I say. “A distraction, maybe? Some of your Matrix sidekicks can create a diversion and we’ll slip through. Easy.”
Sylver regards me with an aw-she’s-so-stupid-its-almost-cute face. I would be irked if not for how handsome his strong-jawed face is. It’d be a shame to leave a mark on a face as pretty as his. Then again, demons heal quickly. “A diversion for a whole army like that?” he says. “Some parts of them might break off, but it’s not going to make that much of a difference.”
“Worth suggesting,” I say.
“The plan,” Xeres says, sounding annoyed, “was to have the Belladonnas go in and subdue part of the army so it’ll be easier for us. But someone ruined that for us.”
I nod. “Still don’t regret it.”
Jared’s constantly shifting his feet. He’s trying to act tough, but nervousness drips from him. “Guess it’s charge in and die time. Well, Val, in case I die, I want you to know you’re the best sister I’ve ever had.”
“I’m the only sister you’ve ever had.”
“And that’s why.” He puckers his lips in my direction.
Cheeky bastard.
I’m not ready for this. I like to think of myself as kickass, but it’s one thing to face down Anya and her grimy, money-grabbing paws. Or even Bella and her scary eyes. It’s another thing facing off with a demon army large enough to look like they might fill the Red Sea.
“You might get lost in the chaos,” Vickal says. “So, stay close.”
I gesture circles around my head.
“My sister’s trying to tell you guys that she’s lost it,” Jared deadpans.
I send a thwack across his shoulder. “No! I’m talking about the compulsion. Xeres, remove it.”
“So you can run?” Xeres asks.
“So I won’t die when it takes effect if we get separated or something.”
Xeres mutters a complaint. I think I hear the word “bitch,” but his voice is so low that I’m not sure. He looks into my eyes and does the same thing he did in the first demon fight, increasing the distance to a mile. He slips in that thing about obeying again, but once again, it doesn’t take effect.
“There. Now try not to slow us down like that thing you did with passing out,” Xeres says.
“Oh, you mean getting poisoned?” I say.
He smiles. “Yes.” Is he joking?
Asshole.
“I’ll try to remember that when I’m avoiding getting sliced into two.” I test my fire. I can control it pretty easily. The white flames dance in front of me, too bright to look at directly. I’m also wielding a dagger, courtesy of Xeres. Its blade is slim and short—too slender for the huge creatures we’re about to face.
“Try phasing again,” Xeres says.
I grit my teeth and summon all the demon voodoo I have in me. Move, stupid body. My body refuses to listen, and I’m beginning to wonder if that first phase was a hoax.
Jared flickers back and forth, phasing himself and providing a demonstration that’s more grating than useful. “It’s easy, Val, just like that.”
“Hey, don’t tire yourself out,” Vickal warns Jared.
“Yeah, yeah.” Jared stops next to me and shoots me an encouraging look.
“You’re not helping.” I sigh. I brush my hair back. It’d be nice to have an extra power now, but the universe isn’t on my side today.
“It’s all right,” Sylver tells me. “We’ll protect you.” His smile is so bright that it makes my heart dance a little. He grabs my hand, looking like he’s about to take me into some fairytale, not toward a demon army.
I nervously gulp.
“Ready?” Vickal asks me. He’s twirling a couple of fire blades around him.
“No,” I say.
“I think I’m about to shit my pants,” Jared murmurs.
“Keep fighting even if you do,” Xeres says dryly.
Sheesh. That is not a mental image I need.
Xeres sucks in a deep breath. “Go.”
We blitz forward in a series of phases. Sylver guides me, and Jared lags behind. I think I feel tremors of fear through my body, but the rush of adrenaline is numbing me too much to tell. We travel across the rocky expanse separating us from the demons and forest. We’re rushing to our doom like a bunch of fools…
And yet I realize I’m not completely terrified. I cling to the hope that these three demons will keep me safe, and I wonder why the hell I feel this way.