Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (34 page)

“Yes he would have. If he is any kind of man, he would show his feelings for you and ask you to stay. He just wants to use you for your power, for the bond. He can manipulate water now and no other mortal can do that. I’m sure that he would love to keep you around for that reason alone.”

Annalise frowned, the thought never occurring to her before. She had assumed that his feelings were deeper than the bond, but Leon was intelligent and usually right. She could not see why she shouldn’t listen to him. As if he knew she was thinking about her, Ash turned to look at them. His frown matched hers when he saw her counterpart’s arm around her. Pulling herself out from under his wings, she couldn’t help but be sad that she wasn’t walking beside of the mortal like she had been the entire trip.

“But you meant it when you promised you will return to the seraph realm? You will be safer there.”

Annalise sighed and let the frustration show on her face, “Yes. I told you that I would and you know that I keep my promises.”

Ahead of them, Finlay threw his hand out in front of Arie dramatically, “Stop.”

“Watch it Fin,” Arie exclaimed as she ran into his arm and almost fell over it.

“Sorry dear.” He turned to address the group, “We have reached the entrance to the tenth layer, home of the fallen.”

Leon stepped up to the rest of them, but Annalise stayed slightly away from them, afraid to get too close. “I do not see anything.”

“Hole in the ground, meet Annalise. Annalise, meet hole in the ground. Do the fallen really deserve more than that?” Finlay laughed and pointed in front of him.

She stepped forward, eyes averting away from Ash’s stare and peered into the hole. It was large enough for one person at a time to fit through, and she could tell it was very dark down there. This was it, their last chance to turn around. However, she knew that destroying a fallen and showing the Elders that she was serious and regretful about what she had done was the only way they would forgive her. Still, she was terrified that one or more of the five of them would not come out alive.

Finlay led the way as he jumped
into it without hesitation. Arie was next, followed by Leon and Ash. Annalise hesitated and peered down into the hole again. After several minutes, she heard them whispering below.  Suddenly Ash’s form appeared and looked up at her. She assumed that the others had sent him to fetch her.

“Come on, Anna, i
t’s okay,” Ash called.

Annalise shook her head, not being ready to go down there.

“Annalise,” Ash insisted, “we are alone down here. If you aren’t coming and we get hurt, what will we do?”

She gave him a scowl and held her breath as she gave in and slipped down into the small space and landed harshly on her feet. He was right, they had to work together, but she was not ready for this part to happen, and she wasn’t sure that she would ever be. It was best to just go.

“That was less than pleasant,” she said and took Ash’s hand as he offered it to her. It made her feel a little bit more comfortable.

He led her behind Finlay, Leon, and Arie through the tunnel. There were no longer florescent lights, no more jungle
or mountains, just dirt and lanterns hanging along either side of the walls. It reminded her that she was underground and it made her cringe. As soon as they were out, she would take Ash back to the surface and look up at his moons before leaving. She turned to give him the suggestion when he opened his mouth to speak and she closed her own.

“Are you really going home with him?” he asked suddenly.

“Do not be upset with me,” she pleaded, blue eyes moving over to him and begging him to try and understand what she could not say out loud. She hoped that he would ask her to stay…for him and not the bond.

“How can you expect me not to be?”

“Because you should understand.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Biting her lip, she shook her head to avoid spilling it all out. If she told him exactly how she felt, with Leon in hearing distance, their mission would be over, and Ash would possibly be dead at the guardian’s sword. “You must trust me.”

“I think you have trusted him enough,” Leon muttered and turned to give the two of them a less than happy look. “Don’t think that I have not seen there is something different
about you, Annalise.” His gaze moved over to Ash, “I know he has kissed you, and I know more about what you are feeling than you do. Don’t push it. ”

Annalise could feel her face flame a bright red, hoping to have hidden that from Leon until they could have had some time to talk. Ash, however, just smirked at the seraph, a boastful smile coming over his face. Leon looked as if he would throw fire at him that instant, and she thought she saw it licking at his fingertips anxiously.

“Quiet,” Finlay said suddenly as he paused ahead of them and pulled Arie behind him, “I think we have company.” Arie shook Finlay off of her and pulled out her gun. Ash reached down to pull out his blade.

As if on cue, Endarial stepped into view, followed by three male and two female minions, each with a
different colored ring that glistened on their fingers, “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Not just little Miss Innocent, but her counterpart and Finlay? It must be my lucky day.”

“Anna, stay back,” Leon instructed and glanced back at them. Annalise could see the ball of fire growing in his hands as he stepped in front of her.

She tried not to frown, proud of herself for all of the training she had done and hard work into learning to be more assertive and understanding of things unknown to her before. He was still treating her as a child.

“I assure you that I will not harm a
feather on her wings,” the redhead said, holding her pinky finger up in the air, “Pinky promise. It’s your blue blood that I wish to have flowing on the ground below me.”

Leon glared at her, menacingly, “You have tried before and failed, what makes you think that you will succeed this time?”

Suddenly, one of her minions ran at Annalise, not giving her a chance to move before he had her by the throat and up against the cave wall. She let out a cry and could see Ash tense up to come after her. She had been torn from his hands and she could feel him beating himself up on the inside for letting her get taken. Annalise shook her head in response and hoped he would stay back. She wanted to try to defend herself and raised her hands to grip the fallen’s wrists and hold herself up. Her wings fanned back and forth to fight to hover above the ground.

“For starters, I have your
counterpart,” Endarial laughed as she pulled her lighter from her hands and aimed the fire straight at the blonde seraph.

“Ash!” Annalise called and let the water flow from her hand and down onto the floor. She hoped he would use it as he needed during battle, bu
t after their failure with the hulmiens she wasn’t so sure they could be successful. The fallen’s grip tightened on her neck but it was just enough for Ash to focus the flowing water back at Endarial.

The water put out her fire and splashed in her face, drenching her tall form. The angry fallen leader let out a growl and pulled her sword from its resting place and held it out in front of her, “I will kill you all.”

“It’s made of silver!” Arie exclaimed, making sure the others knew to be careful.

Finlay and Leon both pulled their swords from their hilts as well and charged towards Endarial before Annalise could beg them to stop. She turned her attention to the fallen squeezing her throat. The world was getting blurry as she kicked at him.

“This will be so much fun,” he laughed, his voice loudly echoing off the walls as she heard her friends fighting for their lives.

His laughter was
cut short, however, as he froze and dropped her to the ground. His large form fell to the ground. Annalise’s hands went up to her throat as she gasped for air, Ash looking back at her, gun in hand. She pulled the dagger dipped in silver from her side and cringed as she flipped him over, not wanting to be the one to remove his wings.

Finlay came running over to her and took it from her, “Here let me do the dirty work, you go work your magic.”

She nodded in agreement and ran to join in on the battle. She was happy not to have to cut the wings off the fallen. It was sword against sword as Leon and Endarial fought. Arie was fighting fist for fist with a fallen, pulling her gun out to stun them before she moved on to the next. Trees were sprouting all around Annalise, vines whipped at her as she tried to get her eyes focused on the world around her. Fireballs flew past her face as she tried desperately to get to Ash. He was trying to fight off a fallen, one of the females quite intent on removing his head with her sword.

As the clouds rolled in, she barely noticed them, not even thinking that it was unnatural for them to
be here in the tunnels. Her sights were clear as she grabbed the female and focused her water around her face and down into her throat. She choked on it and let Ash go. She tumbled backwards onto Annalise.

“You human loving piece of-” she started, unable to finish due to the water being forced down her throat. Annalise pulled herself off the ground with her wings
. She pushed the fallen hard against the wall which knocked her out. Her fear of losing Ash fed every drop of her affinity and fight.

She dropped to her feet, hand going up to move Ash’s bangs to the side, “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine,” he said. He kissed the back of her palm and raised his blade up to continue fighting.

His eyes went wide, focused behind her, and she heard a terrifying laughter fill the space.

Loki.

Thunder echoed behind his laughter, a sudden blood curling scream following behind it. Her breath caught in her throat as fear gripped her.  She felt as if a knife cut at her. She screamed in agony as she tried to get up, confused as what was happening.

“Anna, don’t,” Ash whispered as he grabbed her and tried to keep her from going. There was clearly something he didn’t want her to see.  He shook his head and asked her to stay with him. Again her cries filled the cave, echoed by a deeper cry nearby.

She jerked her arm from his and turned to see who was screaming, a fear rising in her as she felt as if her own wings were ripped away. It took her breath away and she had to fight the need to fall to the ground in pain. Finally, her eyes settled on Loki. His dark hair fell to his shoulders, tucked behind his ear
s, his eyes were dark black depths looking back at her. They were full of hate and evil, yet entertained by whatever it was that he was doing. As she looked at the wings held in his hands, dripping with blue blood, she could feel her world stop around her.

Leon lay at
Loki’s feet, blood poured out from the holes in his back as his weakened form struggled to get up. Three different fallen held him down and fought to keep him there. Even in his weakened form, he was difficult to hold down. He called his fire to attack them, covering his body in flames and burning the hands of those who held him down. Their faces only showed pain for a moment, but then they tightened their grip on him.

Loki let out another laugh as he straddled her counterpart
. He slammed Leon’s head into the ground and pulled it back up by the hair. Annalise could see the blood seeping from his nose as she let out a horrified scream. Her legs took off before she could completely register what was happening, tears stinging at her eyes and falling freely as she ran towards him, the world still frozen in place. Arie and Finlay both tried to stop her but she pushed them out of the way, making sure she kept them down by slamming water into them.

“Please stop!” she screamed, “Do not do this, Loki, please!”

He cocked his head to the side, smile still spread over his face as he laughed, “This is your fault. Don’t you see? You chose the mortal over your own kind, and you must pay.”

“No, Anna,” Leon whispered, loud enough for her to hear as she neared them.

“Shut up, you pathetic fool,” Loki said, suddenly growing serious as he lowered his head to the side of Leon’s pale face, “Awww, it’s so tragic.” As he sneered once more, the fallen sliced the silver blade across the seraph’s strained neck and kicked him across the room.

“Nooooo
!!!!” Annalise screamed as she came to halt at Leon’s lifeless form and fell to the ground beside him. “No, Leon, no. Do not leave me,” she begged. Her tears fell uncontrollably as the sobs took her over. She flipped his body over and mumbled prayers forcefully as she did so, praying to the gods or whoever was listening to save her counterpart. She could feel the pain radiating in her own being, her throat burning as if she were sliced open, the illusion of her own blood pouring from her neck and back. The mortal language mixed with that of the seraph language as she tried to bring him back. The world was a blur around her, her words not even making sense to her own self.

“Leon!! Leon!!!”
she cried. Annalise had never felt such pain before, emotionally or physically and she just wanted to die with him. She understood now what it felt like for Finlay to lose his counterpart, how it affected him and she knew she would never ever be okay again. She did not care that Loki still laughed nearby, and took pleasure in her pain. She had never felt such anguish before. The bond with Ash had made her emotions run incredibly deep and now they were destroying her.