Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1) (32 page)

He was a demon, of that Erias was sure.

“We don’t have time for this. Leave the trash where it belongs, we’re out of time.” He started walking out when Behr reached up and clasped his arm, stopping him dead in his tracks.

With a stern, deadly serious look, he stared up at him. “I think you need to spare a moment of your time and take a look.”

Impatient, Erias cut a quick look down at the demon and shrugged. “Fine, I looked, are you happy? Can we go now?”

Unusually annoyed at Erias’s normal cocky imp
a
tience, Behr blurted out what was obvious to him but E
r
ias’s advanced age and apparently poor eyesight had missed. “It’s Dehstroy, E,” he called back to him, satisfied that he had finally gotten through when he heard the crunch of his boots on the dirt come to a standstill.

“Bring him,” Erias said after a long, silent
moment,
then trudged off the way they’d
come.

Kris gave him an apologetic look then disappeared along with Erias.

Bending over, Behr slipped his arms under the too thin frame, gathered him in his arms, and followed them out, wondering what the hell could have broken a man as strong and resourceful as Dehstroy, down to the shell he now cradled in his arms.

C
hapter 24

Cheyenne couldn’t make out the conversation Erias, Atheros, and his friend were having. They stood several feet away, their faces stern, their whisperings harsh, almost argumentative.
Except
for Atheros, he was so huge, like Erias and the other guy, but his body was thin and fragile looking. His eyes, a deep fiery red, like nothing she had ever seen before, burned
intensely.

No, no matter how weak he appeared on the
ou
t
side; he
was
fierce.

Her thoughts were confirmed when he suddenly cursed a loud, angry slew of words that would have made her blush if not for the fear that was overwhelming her.

Erias had come for her. He had saved her from that cell, from Leseot’s terrible hands, just as she had dreamed of so many
times, but
they were not out of the woods
yet.

She smiled warily as Erias approached and slipped his arms around her waist. “Are you alright? You’re sha
k
ing.”

Though she was still trying to believe that he was here, her many prayers finally answered, she clutched him to her, afraid it was all a
dream,
and he’d disappear if she let him
go,
and she would wake up back in the cell, dirtied and broken and waiting for death to claim
her.

Their hours together had been so brief, and even though their last moments had been tainted by the une
x
pected visit of that vile woman, he had come for her, which had to mean something.

Tremors racked her
body,
and he tightened his hold. “I’m okay. I’m fine,” she lied. She was anything but
okay, but
she wouldn’t burden him with her problems right now. This wasn’t the right time. They needed to escape, and the sooner the better.

Cheyenne looked to where Kris stood. He had his arms wrapped around himself, his head slumped, and seemed to be murmuring prayers into his chest. He didn’t seem to be
faring
much better than her right
now.

“We need to get Kris out of here.” She frowned, feeling somehow responsible for his plight even though E
r
ias and Kris both had told her numerous times that he had made the decision to come himself. Then she remembered that she was caught up in this too, as well as the rest of them. She looked up, their eyes meeting. “We need to get out of here,” she said more urgently, hearing the hysteria in her own voice.

Erias pressed his lips to her hair, then another on her lips. “I’ll get you all out.”

“Promise me.”

He kissed her again, lingering a little longer this time. “I swear on my life,” he said when he pulled away.

“E, it’s now or never.” Behr came up behind
them; Dehstroy
clutched tightly to his chest, though Erias had to laugh when he caught his expression. For a man like Dehstroy to be so weak that he couldn’t carry his own weight, it had to be killing him. In fact, Dehstroy looked like he was about to destroy something…or someone, he thought, catching the
if you
smile,
I’ll string you up by your
toes and
your balls
look.

It wasn’t hard to wipe the humor from his face. Glancing over Behr’s shoulder, he caught sight of mov
e
ment quickly followed by the sight of Leseot and his horde of freaks. Some flew overhead, swooping and diving, weaving their ethereal bodies between and threw the others who bore venomous claws and sharpened fangs. All of them had eyes that glowed red.

“I couldn’t agree more, brother.” Behr didn’t wait for a signal. He raced forward, grabbing Kris by the collar and wrenching him off his feet. Erias watched for a second longer as his brother moved deftly up the steep incline, Dehstroy in one arm, Kris tucked under the other like a football as if their weight meant nothing to him. A true te
s
tament to his strength indeed.

“Come.” Erias wove his fingers through Che
y
enne’s and urged her to the gravelly hillside.

“I can’t.” She tugged back, forcing him
to stop.
“It’s too high.” She shook her head back and forth frantically, fear etching lines in her brows as she looked up, and up, and
up.

“It’s not too high,” Erias assured her, tugging on her arm. They had to move, Leseot and his depraved minions were closing in. Their screeches and cackles piercing his ears as their excitement grew.

She pulled back more forcefully; looking up at him with eyes that pleaded for him to understand. “I’m terrified of heights. I can’t even climb on a stepstool without getting dizzy. I can’t,”—she pointed up after
Behr,
who was hal
f
way to the summit—“climb that. I’ll never make
it.”

Erias was half desperate enough to throw her over his shoulder and carry her to the top. And he would if she didn’t get her ass
moving, but
he wanted to handle this di
p
lomatically. He didn’t want her last memory to be of him muscling her against her wishes or ordering her around. Not unless she left him with no other
choice.

As patiently as he could manage, Erias pulled her into his chest and looked deeply into her eyes. “Do you trust me?” She
nodded,
and he sent up a silent prayer of thanks. Maybe this wouldn’t be so difficult after all. “Do you believe that I will get you out of here?”
Again,
she nodded. “Do you think I would ever let anything happen to you?” She shook her head. “Good, then trust me on this. You can do it. I will be right by your side. I won’t let you
fall,
and I won’t let them”–he pointed at the advancing d
e
mons, satisfied that the growing fear in her eyes just might be enough to get her to listen—“touch you. Not ever. Now, let’s go.”

“But…” Cheyenne looked around her, torn between what she knew she needed to do and what her weary, ra
v
aged mind told her she couldn’t. “I…can’t.”

Her voice was small
and decided,
he realized. His eyes went wide at the knowledge that she would be willing to fall to the underworld rather than run for the home plate that was within sight.

When her shoulders slumped in defeat, Erias felt anger pool in his belly. In one swift motion, he scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder, slipping up the incline, flashing ahead a few feet, and stumbling up a few more. Yeah, he knew he was being a Neanderthal, but she forced it out of him.

It took him longer than it had Behr to reach the top, but he made it all the same. With Leseot hot on his heels.

Settling her on her feet, Erias joined Behr at the wall, the Gate that Cheyenne and her team had been trying to find when they’d first met. A deep fissure ran down the length of the stone. Long gouges and scratches running the length of it. Dried, black blood stained it and the ground at their feet. All signs of where the demons had been trying to dig their way free from the confines of Hell. And could he blame them? He wanted out too.

But that would never be a reality for him.

Erias and Behr pried at the crevasse with their tools, their fingers, putting all their weight
into 
it to no
avail.

“It won’t budge,” Behr panted, leaning his back against the wall.

Erias felt panic take up residence in his gut. He had to get Cheyenne out. This would not be in vain. Leseot was nearing the top, but his flying battalion
was
already su
r
rounding them, breathing fire and swiping at them with their long, jagged
nails.

Grabbing Cheyenne, pulling her forcefully behind his back, Erias planted himself firmly in front of her. He wasn’t sure at this point how he would manage
it,
but if it meant fighting his way through the entire legion of the damned, he’d do it. He would do anything for
her.

“Fucking snake!” Behr gritted, whipping out his glock and checked the clip, then pulled out a silver handled samurai sword with a curved blade for his other hand. “Knew better than to trust the Devil.” He glimpsed his r
e
flection in his blade and bared his teeth. “Well, at least I’ll go down as the most beautiful
mother
fucker this side of the underworld.”

Erias would have smiled at that
was
it not for Che
y
enne’s
blood-curdling scream.
He spun around, cur
s
ing that he’d allowed himself to be distracted for even the briefest of seconds. A wraith was careening through the air, abra
d
ing her upturned palms with its talons and snagging her
hair.

He felt when his eyes went red, glimpsed the reco
g
nition in the
wraith's
beady eyes a second before he snatched it out of the air with a movement so fast it couldn’t track it. Rage boiling in his veins, Erias ripped the wings from its body, methodically dismembering it until there was nothing left but hunks of unrecognizable
flesh.

Agonizing screams rent the air as the remaining wraiths retreated, leaving Leseot and the others on foot to fend for themselves.

Erias let out a roar, the craving for more death, more destruction, seizing hold of him. All he saw was red; all he wanted was more blood. It was the whimper that ca
p
tured his attention. Faster than a blink, he spun around and grabbed the thing that made the sound in his hands, pr
e
pared to tear it to pieces too.

Big brown eyes were wide and terrified. Of him, he realized. Her fear of him brought wash of calm over him. “I’m
sorry. I'm
sorry.” He tucked her head under his chin, damning himself for losing control like that as her silent sobs let loose against his
chest.

Behind him, Erias could hear the clashing of Behr’s blade and the pops of his gun going off. Hooking her chin with his finger, he brought Cheyenne’s face up so he could look at her. “Stay here. Right here.” She nodded, tears staining her cheeks, but she was trying hard to stifle them. “Good girl.” He kissed her before turning back to jump into the fray.

Erias was tall and darkly handsome,
complex,
and though
he held secrets and could at times be brutal, she knew beyond a doubt that he would shelter her from any storm. Just as he was doing
now.

Cheyenne watched Erias battling with Leseot, gi
v
ing and receiving blows so savage she cringed and had
to
shut her eyes.

She hadn’t realized she was moving until her back suddenly slammed into a wall. She felt exposed and vulne
r
able and desperate, sick from all the horrors she’d endured recently and was still enduring now.

Her hand felt around, seeking comfort, seeking Kris. Sure, they had ended things on a bad note, but he had come here to help
her,
so she thought that had to mean he still cared. And she was still his friend anyway. She needed human contact, something to ground her while she worked through the terror riddling her
insides.

The wall behind her let out a loud moan and began shifting under her hands. She spun around, watching in awe as the fissure splintered and light began filtering in.