Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (26 page)

Annalise looked over at Natara who gave her a silent clap, and over at Ash who looked very surprised that she had fought so hard when Finlay spared w
ith her. She knew then that Ash was her weak spot. If one of the fallen got the best of him, she worried that she would be weakened, or if he betrayed her, that would be the end of her. It scared her to think of these things.

“Alright guys, we need to get you out,” Natara said suddenly as her head snapped over to the back door, “Sounds like I have company.”

The group stood up quickly and followed her to the far side of the room. She lifted up an iron bench that sat there, and placed it off to the side. Natara reached down to the floor, she used her hand to dust off some of the dirt and pull up a trap door. “This is going to take you to the ninth layer, follow the tunnels and it will lead you to the tenth. That’s where you will find Loki. Expect fallen to attack on your journey, and it could take a few days to even reach the bottom layer. Be careful, the ninth layer is home to banished creatures, including many original inhabitants. Trust no one.”

“Well, let’s go,” Finlay said excitedly, being the first to start down into the darkness. When he landed he paused, and looked back up at the group with a smile, “Annalise, don’t forget I am
depending on you for healing for the mortals. I will do it if I need to but it won’t be pleasant. We need to all work together. From now on, put your issues to the side. Deal?”

Everyone looked back and forth to each other and nodded. Annalise wasn’t sure that she wanted to spend too much time with Arie and she knew the girl wasn’t fond of her either, however, she was Ash’s friend and that made her
somewhat important to the seraph. The redhead followed Finlay down into the hole and Ash followed suite. Annalise walked over to the hole in the floor and saw him looking up at her from down below, “Come on down, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

She lowered herself to the floor and peered down past Ash to see what it looked like down there. She moved to place her foot on the ladder that lead downwards and began to move. Before she got out of sight, she looked up to see Natara watching her. She held out a small bag to the seraph, “Take this food. You may all get hungry on your way.
”

Annalise took the small bag from Natara and tied it around her waist. She gave her old friend a smile, “Thank you so much for helping us.”

“It is no problem, dear,” the fallen said as she smiled down at her. She reached up to close the door, “Good luck down there.” And with that, she shut the door, and left the rest of them in the darkness.

Annalise finished walking down the ladder and felt Ash grab her waist and help her down off the last step. She wanted to insist that she could help herself, but did not want to start any more arguments. She turned to see her friends and struggled to see them in the darkness, “Where are the lights?”

“We will have to find a lamp or switch of some sort along the way, if there is one,” Finlay answered and reached into his pocket to pull out a lighter, “This will have to do for now.” He held out his open hand and a small tree grew over the space above it. He used the lighter to set each limb on fire, it helped light up the small space a little better.

He continued on ahead, Arie close behind him. Annalise reached for Ash’s hand and held it tight. She let him lead her on. “I do not like the darkness. I wish that I had an affinity for fire.”

“Don’t wish that, you’re perfect how you are,” he said and turned to look at her with a smile.

“How will we fight the fallen in the darkness?”

“There are lights around here somewhere. We will be fine.”

She pulled herself
closer to him and took his arm. It made her feel more secure. His touch seemed to give her some sort of strength. They continued on, way lit only by the small tree Finlay held up in front of him. Annalise was thankful that the tree wouldn’t burn due to seraph magic. Nothing much was said by either she or Ash for the first hour or so as they walked. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself for that time, so as not to distract any of them. It would be better this way in case they got ambushed. Still, her thoughts continued to drift to the situation with Jaron and she felt the insistent need to speak about it.

“Ash?” she asked
and looked up at him. He was on alert, she could see that, but as she spoke he looked down at her and part of that faded.

He gave her a lazy smile. “Yeah?”

She wasn’t sure how to express herself to him, never having to rely on anyone else other than Finlay and Leon. It was something she didn’t think she would do, but there was something about the mortal that made her want to open up to him and share her feelings. “I find myself trusting you. More than I probably should,” she said, settling on that but not being satisfied with it.

“Okay,” he said with a laugh, confusion and amusement coming over his face. “I don’t know if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not.”

“Oh it is!” Annalise exclaimed and gave his arm a squeeze. “I do not mean it in any other way.”

Ash continued to look at her as if he was waiting for more of an explanation.

“It is just that I-I have never needed to express my feelings to someone else as I think I need to with you. They are so confusing and so many new emotions from this bond. It is difficult to muddle through what is and is not important.”

He gave another laugh and hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her to him, “I make the ladies a little crazy, it’s normal. You will get used to it.”

“Do not put on that show for me, Ash. I am serious.”

Frowning slightly, he leaned into her and whispered, “Anna, really, it’s going to be fine. What’s the matter?”

“It is Jaron…I have never ended someone’s life before. All I knew was that he was going to hurt you if I did not do something, and I had that gun in my hand. I had to, but it was awful.”

“I’m proud of you,” he boasted and wrapped
a second arm around her to give her a hug, “You showed him who’s boss.”

“I do not want to be anyone’s boss, Ash. I took a life. That is not okay.”

“It’s not the end of the world. You did what you had to do and we are alive because of it. Don’t you see killings all the time with your reapings?”

Annalise shook her head, “No I actually do not watch that part. Life is sacred and important. It is not something to play with and smother out. Yes, I reap the souls once they are dying, but I do not watch the act itself. I cannot stand it. That is the first time I have seen it, and it was at my own hands.”

“Well you better get used to it,” he replied matter-of-fact, “because there will be many more deaths on your hands as we go through the ninth layer. People who enter rarely make it out alive. The creatures down here won’t hesitate to kill you.”

She let out a sigh and leaned over against his arm. He was right of course, and she hated to admit that to herself. What bothered her most about Jaron is that he had been human. Annalise had expected to kill fallen and monsters, but not mortals. Perhaps she could find a way to forgive
herself, and maybe, just maybe, she could find a way to move on from all the carnage they were surely going to create.

“I do not want to be weak,” she said suddenly and looked back up at him.

“You aren’t weak,” Ash said as he stopped walking and turned to look at her. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned into her, just inches away from her face, “You have gotten stronger. You are only as weak as you make yourself. I know you have it in you.”

Annalise nodded and tried to fight the urge to pull herself closer to him as she wanted to
do. This was the first time he had gotten this close to her since she had woken up alone, other than the sparing, and she wanted so badly to close the distance between them. She raised a small hand to run it around the back of his neck and push herself up onto her tiptoes. Her heartbeat sped up at just the thought of his lips on hers.

As she closed her eyes, excitement filling her up, Finlay’s voice rang out, “We aren’t alone, friends.”

Ash pulled back from her as if nothing had happened and took her hand to lead her closer to the rest of the group. She tried to hide the disappointment as she followed him, fear threatened to come over her as they stepped up beside the other duo. She did not want to know what was there in the dark. Even though she thought she was prepared to fight, the time was here and she was worried she wouldn’t do well.

“Who goes there?” a voice came out from the darkness.

“Harper Finlay, seraph guardian,” Finlay called out, his voice loud and intimidating.

“
Ahhhh a seraph,” the voice said, curiosity flowing from it, “you should be thankful the fallen have not found you before I have.”

“We have met, unicorn,” Finlay responds, “You should know I’m not worried about running into a fallen.”

The unicorn laughed and the lights flashed on, that all too familiar florescent sound filling up the small tunnel. Annalise slammed her eyes closed, the light flooded through the area and was painful to her eyes. She would really be happy to return to her realm where there was sun instead of harsh fluorescents.

“Is that Leon’s counterpart I see there?” the voice asked, a little closer now.

“I don’t see why that’s any of your business,” Finlay said sternly.

“Unicorn?” Annalise exclaimed and moved closer so she could see what stood in front of her. There was a tall creature in a humanoid form, long multicolored hair flowing in waves down to his waist. He was very pale, the whitest form she had ever seen, red eyes standing out in the stark, bland face. He was taller than any of them, thin yet muscular from all of the running she knew that unicorns tended to do. In the center of his forehead was a short golden horn. That part of him, she knew, was deadly and poisonous.

Annalise pushed past Ash and tried to get around the other seraph, but he grabbed ahold of her arm and would not let her past. “Let me be, Finlay, he will not hurt us. We are lost and he will help us find our way. ”

Still, he would not let her go. She knew of this creature, he had helped Leon on man
y a journey. Unicorns were rare and normally very evil creatures. They could shape shift, but always carried the same color scheme in any form they took. However, they could make you see what they wanted you to see. If you wanted a beautiful short female or a tall slender male, they could make you see that. They lived off of the essence of other beings and expected that in return for their services. They could drain a being in mere seconds if they wanted to. She had heard horror stories about the species, and they were incredibly dangerous. Still, Leon had told her about this one and had trusted him on several occasions.

“Why, it
is
Miss Annalise,” the pale creature said and bowed slightly at the hip, “What brings you down here where others are forbidden?”

“We seek out Endarial the fallen.”

The unicorn shook his head, still no expression crossing his face, “She is a dangerous one. I think that you should leave that to your counterpart.”

“He is not a part of this,” she clarified, “would you be willing to help us reach the tenth layer?”

He cocked his head to the side and considered her words, “And what would you give me in return?”

Somewhat fearful to get near the creature, she looked at Finlay and begged him with her eyes to let her go. He did so, and Ash was beside her quickly, “You’re not going near that thing alone.”

“Who is this?” the unicorn asked curiously.

“This is my friend, Ash the keeper.”

“A keeper, hmmmmm?”

“Would you stop telling him everything he wants to know?” Ash asked,
clearly irritated that she was doing so.

Annalise turned to him, using the same method of convincing he had used back in the tunnels with Jaron, and mouthed, “Trust me.”

She took a few slow steps forward and could feel Ash right behind her. “You may have some of my essence in reward for your help.”

The unicorn closed his eyes
and inhaled the scent of her as she got closer. It made her slightly nervous on the inside. She knew that he would not hurt her, that as long as she was honest with him, that he would help her. Leon would have his head if he laid a hand on her or anyone in her group. She knew these things, yet she couldn’t tell anyone or she would give herself away. Unicorns expected nothing but truth and sincerity from those they mingled with, even if they did not give the same treatment in return.

Once she reached him, she held out a hand to him and tried to ignore Ash hovering silently by her side. The unicorn smiled at her devilishly, rows of sharp teeth showing as he did so. Ash opened his mouth to say something, but the unicorn’s mouth was lowering to hers, stopping before it touched her and drawing out the essence she had offered.

It caught her off guard, as it flowed from her mouth into his, flashes of his lifetime in her mind, a small child left alone in the darkness, battling to survive until he was fully grown. All of the mortals he had seduced and stolen life force from. It was painful for her to watch, yet she knew Leon had seen the same thing. She felt Ash’s hand on her shoulder, ready to pull her back, when the unicorn let her go and stepped back.