Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (36 page)

“Finlay and Arie!”

Annalise looked at him with heavy eyelids. “What about them?”

“I don’t remember seeing them when we were caught. I think they got away.”

“It does not matter, nothing matters without him. Do you not understand? Nothing will be okay!”

He had never seen her get so angry before, so emotional.
She had kept such a tight cap on her feelings lately. It was then that he realized how much she meant to him. It was more than just wanting to keep the bond. Hearing her pain made him want to reach out to sooth her. But he couldn’t, all he could do was watch while she suffered. He continued to wiggle on his ropes, they were starting to loosen. Maybe if he kept on he would be out soon.

“You can’t give up now, you hear me?” he told her, “Where would I be without you? You are such a good person. Everyone loves you, when you talk, people listen. When you smile, everyone
else smiles. When your face lights up with that cute little dimple, I fall in love with you every time I see it.  You make me a better man, I can’t do this alone Anna- please.” Ash didn’t cry, but if he could- there would be tears running down his face. As a keeper, they weren’t allowed to show weaknesses and he had gotten so good at holding back the tears. Now he wished he could let the dam break loose and show her all of the pain she would cause him if she gave up. He looked around the room, in a corner table all of their belongings were laid out. Their guns, knives, and his keeper blade all foolishly within reach, he just needed to move the chair a few feet to the left.

“No,” she replied “I messed everything up.”

The sound of the door slamming open and hitting the wall made them both jump in fear. In the doorway stood a fallen with his wings spread out around him. His eyes were pitch black and he wore only a pair of black cotton pants. He had long brown hair that flowed down his back.  A long scar ran down his left cheek. He had high cheekbones and a cleft chin. The fallen cracked his knuckles, it drew attention to the large black ring on his middle finger.

“My, my
, what do we have here?” he teased. His eyes were dead set on Ash as he walked closer. The fallen was big, the muscles on his arms and chest were chiseled to perfection and in his hands he drew a small ball of fire.

“When Natara said she had found a bonded pair I didn’t believe her, but here you two are. Pretty soon you will both be one of us and if we can figure out how you were bonded, we can start turning humans into fallen and get out of this hole.
”

Ash felt a half smile creep over his face. He needed to distract the fallen from the fact that his leg ties were now lo
ose enough to step out of. The fallen, they didn’t know how tie a knot to save their life. And really, it would have saved the fallens’ life because now that he was out he would kill each one of them.

“Jus
t spill your entire secret plan while you’re at it.”

The fallen did
n’t find Ash funny; he held up the fire ball in his hand and brought it close to Ash’s face. He could feel his face start to get hot; a small trickle of sweat fell down his forehead.

Just as quickly as it appeared, the fallen let the ball of fire burn out.
His black eyes turned green in color, and he walked over to Annalise. He took the silver contraption out of her arm. He pulled a few small bottles filled with a colored liquid from his pants pocket. “Too bad my orders aren’t to kill you. Instead, I get to interrogate you and Leon’s counterpart.”

Ash bit his lip as to not make the fallen angry, but his curiosity got the best of him.

“What do you want to know?” he asked plainly.

“I want to know how you both were bonded, but most importantly Leon’s counterpart is going to tell me how the seraphs strip our powers and make us into fallen.”

Ash snorted and shook his head. “She doesn’t know anything, why would she know? She was just a healer.”

The fallen’s eyes turned black
again and in a flash his wings expanded and he flew across the room to just a few inches in front of Ash’s face. His wings knocked a few bottles onto the ground.

“She was with Leon for
over a thousand years!” He shouted. “You think there is any way she doesn’t know what Leon did? Leon casts us out, changes us, and makes us into what we are today. Our own alchemist can’t even replicate the potion used. He can give us all the potions we need, but not this one. And…” The fallen walked over to a small table and started to play with a few metal instruments. “If we are going to take over- we need to increase our numbers…starting with her.” Ash screamed at the mention of Annalise. He struggled against the loosening ropes with every fiber of his being.

“You are not going to touch her! If you do I will kill you.” He roared. This only made the fallen laugh.

“If she tells me everything, I will make this…less painful.”

He pulled out a
tube similar to what Annalise had in her arm from his pants pocket. He stretched it out and bent over to insert it into Ash’s arm.

“Let’s see if silver affects a bonded human as well,” the fallen said.

Ash felt the prick on his skin and while the fallen was concentrating, he pulled his legs from the rope and stood up abruptly. He knocked the fallen backwards and onto the ground. Ash knew he only had a few seconds to spare before the fallen would be back up, so he took a hop to the left. His arms were still tied to the chair arms. Suddenly, he felt a ball of fire nearly miss the chair. He ran to the corner of the room to grab the silver blade he had been eyeing. As soon as the blade was in his grip he felt someone grab the chair he was attached to and lift him high up in the air. Ash used his free legs to kick the fallen below him, but he didn’t seem to notice the kicks.  The fallen tossed Ash against the wall head first. Ash prepared for the blow and gripped the blade tighter. He couldn’t drop it. A sharp pain radiated throughout his body as he felt his head make impact with the white wall. He let himself fall to the ground and stayed as still as possible. He had been trained to fight his entire life, he knew to keep calm and wait for the opportune moment to strike. He wouldn’t let anything distract him this time. Just like he knew he would, the fallen walked over to Ash’s body and began to pick him up.  As the fallen turned the chair around to face him, Ash plunged the blade deep into the fallen’s hip. The silver in the blade was enough to stun the fallen, causing him to fall and temporarily paralyzing him. Ash stood up and kicked the fallen in the ribs as hard as he could. All that tossing around had caused his ropes to loosen considerably so he wiggled the rest of the way out and ran over to Annalise.

He
undid the restraints that held her against the chair. He threw her over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure how long the fallen would be stunned, but he didn’t want to be around long enough to find out.

He opened the door
gradually. He was unsure of who stood outside that door. The room outside was completely white, so different from the ancient ninth layer they had walked through. The room was circular in shape with doors all around the perimeter. In the middle of the room sat one plain white desk, behind it stood one really pissed off fallen. He looked small with blonde hair and blue eyes like Annalise. The fallen immediately threw up his hand and water flew from the bowl of water at his side and toward Ash. Ash tried not to smile; it was like fate was truly looking out for them. Ash fell to the ground, careful to move Annalise so she didn’t get smashed by his large body. Annalise cried out once, but the silver still left her weak and unable to move much. Once she was safely on the ground Ash stood up, his eyes blazing with anger. He didn’t like being attacked, and he sure as moons didn’t like getting wet. The water splashed off the wall behind him and trickles hit his back. Clearing his mind, Ash used his new powers to reach out and move the water from behind him straight toward the fallen. It flew quickly in a stream back to the fallen. The look of pure shock on the fallen’s face was priceless. It was hard to manipulate the water this time, when another was trying so hard to do the opposite. Ash could feel his concentration grow weak, but he knew he couldn’t give up. If he made one wrong move they would both be back in the room locked up and tortured. He struggled to pull the remaining strength from his body and with his hands in the air he pushed the waves of water back toward the fallen, surrounding and trapping him with it. Ash pulled the silver dagger from his belt and ran it through the wall of water, straight into the chest of the fallen enemy. When he felt like he had done enough damage he let the water fall to the ground. Ash fell to his knees along with it, the affinity had left him feeling faint, but he knew they wouldn’t be safe until they out of there.

Ash
stood up and ran back to Annalise. He grabbed her tightly by the shoulders. Her clothes were tattered and torn; her hair was pulled out of the ponytail and fell over her face. She needed to wake up out of this emotional mess she was in. He had never seen her like this; her emotions were out of control. Ash felt a bit responsible for what was happening to her, but she needed to get control of herself. Pity would not bring Leon back.

“Wake up Anna!” he said, shaking her. She moaned slightly and moved her head. A few more tears fell down her face, but she didn’t come to.

“Wake up Anna. I can’t do this alone. I know I like to pretend I’m all big and bad, but I need you.” He kissed her forehead gently, making her sob a little harder.

The sound of movement from the room behind th
em made Ash tense up. Was it a fallen?

“Snap out of it!” he demanded. Without thinking, Ash raised his right palm and brought it across Annalise’s face. He felt bad for going to such extreme measures, but he needed her to get up and help him find a way out.

Annalise put her hand to her cheek and opened her blue eyes. “Did you just smack me?”

Ash nodded and pulled her up. “Leon didn’t die so you could waste away crying. I lost Jedzia, so I know how you feel. It hurts, Anna. I know. So make him proud, we need to get out of here.”

She paused to think for a moment before giving him a sharp nod. Ash took her hand and ran to one of the doors. One of them had to be a way out. The first door contained some sort of scientific lab; he shut it quickly and ran to the next door. Once he opened it, he noticed the cave-like walls and dirt floor.

“Got it,” he said. Without thinking, he ran outside pulling Annalise behind him. The seraphs and fallen lived in such different environments, it was hard to imagine that the fallen were once seraphs too. He crept slowly in the shadows, looking for signs of movement. There were a few smaller buildings outside; they looked like pods or quite possibly living quarters.
Only a few torches along the walls lit up the darkness.

“None of this looks familiar,” he told Annalise. He had no idea which way to get back to the tenth layer entrance. “I need to get you to safety.”

Annalise shook her head. “I am not going anywhere.”

Ash groaned in frustration. Why couldn’t she do what he asked, just this once.

“Coming down here was a bad idea, I see that now. We were outnumbered and they are stronger than I expected. They weren’t supposed to all have these powers. Natara didn’t warn us, that traitor cowl. Once we get to safety, I will get the other keepers. They will know what to do. They will be interested to know about the fallens’ plans.”

She clutched his arm in fear. “You cannot. If you go to them; they will kill you.”

Ash put his arms around her to sooth her shaking body. He ran his hands down her hair to smooth it down. “Shhh… I don’t care. I will do anything to keep you safe. Plus, we don’t know for sure if they want to kill me. They may be looking to take me back.” He forced out a small laugh, but even he didn’t believe it. They sat there in silence for a few moments trying to decide what to do or where to go. He couldn’t believe he had just suggested they go to the keepers for help, but they didn’t have anywhere else to turn.

There were only two guards
in the round room. When they were attacked, Ash was sure they must have killed at least a dozen fallen before they were caught. Where was everyone else?

“This was too easy,” he told her
, “Where are the other fallen?”

They both looked around, nothing moved within sight. Staying close to the shadows they both ran. Ash had no
idea where he was going or which direction was the right one, but something inside of him told him this was the right way and he never ignored his instincts.

“Where are Finlay and Arie?” Annalise whispered when they stopped to scope out a new landscape.

“They got away, I hope they got away,” he told her. Suddenly, in the distance, he heard sounds of yelling. “I hear something.”

He put a hand out to stop Annalise from moving and stood still so he could listen. The screams brought chills down his spine. It was the sounds of death and pain.

“We need to go the other way,” Annalise said, she tried to pull on his arm and tug him in the opposite direction of the screams, but Ash shook her grip off his arm.

“Wait.” He recognized one of the voices. If it was who he thought it was, there was no way he was going to leave her there to die. He crept slowly to the end of the cave, where the room branched off into three separate directions.

“Come on Anna,” he said, walking slowly through one of the openings. He wanted to be as quiet as possible; the last thing he wanted to do was to get caught again. The end of the path brought them into a huge room, it was lit up with candles all along the ceiling. The walls were empty, but stalagmites and stalactites pointed from every direction. In the middle of the room he saw a group of five or six fallen, but his eyes zeroed in on a girl with fiery red hair.