Redeemed In Shadows (28 page)

It was the most emotion she’d seen from her ancestor.

Jes struggled stepping forward. Odessa’s claws were deep but she’d heal, and it would take time, but this was necessary to avenge the life of her unborn. They’d taken the baby from her and now they would suffer the consequences. Gathering her powers, she lifted both of them into the air. Odessa not expecting her move loosened her grip giving Jes the advantage she needed. The other woman screamed as Jes released them both and sent them crashing to the ground. Jes landed on her knees and Odessa on her feet. Clutching her neck, Jes stood toe to toe with her ancestor.

“I’ll end you and show no mercy to your child.”

That wasn’t going to happen. Earth bound Angels could heal, unless their heart was damaged. That was one thing Cyrian told her about her kind. Jes held no love for the woman in front of her. A ruthless need for vengeance carried her fist forward. She hit Odessa once in the chest, twice, she heard her ribs crack. The third hit was enough to punch through flesh and bone. Jes grabbed the organ in her hand and without waiting to watch the other woman fall; she yanked pulling her hand and the heart free of Odessa’s chest cavity. She turned and walked away, crushing the heart in her hand.

Enri smiled.

The All Seeing Eye laughed and clapped her hands. The others all stood in silence, some still emotionless, others curious.

“Fuck with my family. Lose your life.”

No one contested her; no one made a move to avenge either of their deaths. Shoring up what energy she had left she looked to Enri.

“Produce Solon.”

From the far end of the arena, a gate opened and Solon walked through. Dressed in leather a black tank top, black jeans, and his signature leather gloves that covered his hands. To have skin on skin contact with him was death to the person who dared to touch his bare skin. But for Solon it was also painful. He was a hybrid. Half Vampiri and half Phoenix. His father Vivek had taken Belinda’s mother Surelle captive and raped her repeatedly until she was with child. Solon was a result of their union. His ice blue eyes tracked her every move as he neared her.

“I was surprised you agreed to this after everything Jes. After that display of carnage are you sure you want to do this now?”

He’d been the one there for her during her daughter’s birth. At the time he’d work for her now dead ex, Marcus, but he’d always been nice to her. She’d had no reason to doubt his intentions until he showed up claiming to be coming to her aid, when he’d been using her all along from the start.

“You tried to kill my best friend’s mates, and you used me.”

Solon shook his dark head of hair.

“I didn’t use you Jesminda. I had no idea you’d be with Royce. When I did finally figure it out, I simply modified my course of action. I could have gone in for the kill then, but I didn’t. Out of respect for you.”

“Out of respect for me?”

He nodded again. But she didn’t believe him. There was no way. Lies. They were all lies. Solon worked for the Red Hand Organization. He was on the wrong team.

“Are we doing this or what?” She said instead. She was done talking. She just wanted to get on with the killing so they could all get the hell up out of the realm of the crazy and insane.

“Jes, I can end you with one touch,” Belinda’s half-brother said. The fact he was her best friends sibling didn’t truly register. Sometimes people did bad shit to get the happiness they were entitled and she was fucking entitled to a slice of happiness. Life owed it to her. She’d gone through hells fiery pits of agony, stomped through the seven gates with no powers what so ever and now she was an Angel. One of the powerful ones at that, with the ability to protect herself and her family. She’d ask for forgiveness later, provided she felt bad for killing Solon. But she was in the right for killing Cyrian and Odessa, two for one. That was the deal for today. She wanted her man back, and if Enri and the rest of the Angel brigade so much as sniffed in her direction she was taking them all out.

“Choose your weapon,” The amber eyed Angel said. His voice was double layered, filling the arena as if on a microphone. Weapons appeared out of thin air. Some scattered on the ground, others hung high up on the walls of the arena. Broadswords, staffs, knives, and her personal favorite guns. The twins had taught her to use her entire body when it came to a fight, but she was still partial to pulling the trigger. It was easier; less of a mess for the shooter, and it ensured she wouldn’t get her hands dirty.
Too late for that now, you’re neck deep in dirt.

The roar from the crowd jerked her back into the moment. She’d completely forgotten the audience but it seemed they were looking forward to the spilling of more blood. Solon turned his back to choose his weapon of choice, and although she was no expert on ancient weaponry, she was sure she could use it. Turning she grabbed the first thing she found, a set of knives that lay on the ground, then she walked further until she found a short sword that was a bit on the heavy side, but not too heavy she couldn’t swing it over her head. If it didn’t work, she’d just morph into someone who could hold it. She wasn’t sure if there were rules or not, but since she still had full use of her powers she wasn’t
not
going to use that to her advantage. She booted both knives and palmed the short sword in her left hand. Things would be over faster if she could get to one of the guns and shoot a few holes into his head and then separate it from his shoulders. Ronin of course, would say she’d taken the easy way out.

Fighting to the death was no easy task. It was going to get a lot dirtier before it got better. She was already low on energy from killing Cy and Odessa. Her strength wasn’t at one hundred percent, but it was enough to get her through this. Solon was twice her size and the best strategy was to ensure he didn’t touch her, period. She couldn’t think with all the yelling, her heart was racing. Her chest and throat hurt. This was nothing like fighting in the cages. Beneath her the ground rumbled, confusing her footing. An image of Faith and Draven filled her head and quick on its heels was a faceless person. A small person with dark hair and green eyes. Ten perfect toes and fingers that would now never see the light of day. Jes’ eyes were blurry as she tried to fight back the tears that threaten to cloud her vision further. She’d avenged her baby and now it was time to fight for her family. Solon took the advantage and lunged forward swinging his staff towards her head. She ducked at the last minute feeling the air whoosh by as the staff sliced through the air.

The roar of the crowd was deafening but she saw the large stick coming for her again and jumped back, but not before the end of the staff cut through her shirt piercing skin.

“Shit!” That hurt like a son of a bitch. Pain shot through her side and she breathed through it, calming her racing heart so that she could get a handle on the fight in front of her. Eyes focusing on Solon she noticed his feet weren’t planted properly, so she kicked out taking him to his knees. Before he could right himself and his staff she turned swiftly, sword held high and sliced the staff in half. But Solon was ready for her; he scrambled back on his arms and legs and stood quickly reaching for a broadsword that miraculously appeared next to him.
Cheating bastards!

He advanced lunging forward with his front foot, blade pointing towards her as if ready to pierce her chest. Jes deflected the incoming attack with a sharp striking motion, making sure she stepped back as she did, otherwise she’d come into direct contact with the tip of his sword. She quickly countered beating him back with her own sword in a series of strikes to the middle of his blade, until his sword was no longer protecting his frame.

“This isn’t going to be over you silly broad. The twins, Draven, this, “he swept his sword in an arc encompassing the entire arena. “ We’re nothing but pawns in the grand scheme of things. I know how today ends, but be warned. You won’t like it. This will forever fester and rot in the deepest parts of your subconscious.”

That’s where he was wrong. It wouldn’t fester, because after today. After she killed Solon, she would be free of Enri. She’d get Draven back and this would be a blip on a long list of blips she’d to forget. At this point, she just wanted him to shut up and fight her.

Solon distracted her with his sword hand while stepping forward and punching her in the stomach with his free hand, knocking her off balance. The wind was taken from her, as she tried to remain standing but fell to one knee. She could see Solon quickly advancing and there was no time to react properly. Reaching into her boot she quickly grabbed her dagger, palming it only for a second before she threw it over hand, watching as it went end over end slicing through the air and landing square in his chest. He dropped his sword, and used both hands to pull the blade free, but not before she sent the second blade sailing into his gut. It didn’t stop his momentum as he pulled first the one blade and then the other, out of his body. Blood spilled from his open wounds onto the dirt floor of the arena. His ice blue eyes narrowing, his face split into a wide grin, giving view to his Vampiri fangs. Vivek’s clan were warriors. This would only help Solon, not hinder him. His fangs were longer than most Vampiri’s, thicker too.

Disconnecting momentarily from the scene in front of her, Jes dug deep inside herself gathering all of her powers. Enough of the bullshit, Solon was playing to win, and she needed to adopt the same mentality.

“You and me Jes are on the same team,” she heard him say, but his voice was muffled. Her power growing exponentially as she tried to reign in what control she had. In front of her Solon was still talking, but she couldn’t hear, she was focused on the Angel up on the dais with the amber eyes and black hair. He was talking to the other Angels, and they all looked worried. When sound finally returned she could hear Solon cursing as he backed away while the crowd was going absolutely bat-shit crazy. She knew her eyes were cold, lifeless. Standing, she lifted her hand, and she could feel the energy rushing forward to the tips of her fingers as her power tossed Solon up and away from her. He hit the ground with a hollow thud, dirt sprayed around in a plume of brown smoke. She walked toward her intended target when she was grabbed from behind. Jerking forward, she wrenched from her would-be captor and turned to see a not so small group of Death Walkers advancing.

Fucking zombies!

She knew this was Enri’s doing, and as soon as she was able, she was going to rip him apart, slowly and then gut out his insides. The Death Walkers approached her calmly, although some of them didn’t look rotted or grotesque like your typical zombies, they were just that. The living dead. She might as well have starred in her own version of Resident Evil, with a side of Spartacus Blood and Sand, only immortal style. Death Walkers were not only advancing on her, but they were attacking Solon as well. Part of her wanted to help him; the other half of her could care less. She had her own shit to deal with.

Three Death Walkers came at her and Jes wished she’d taken the guns. Now she would have to get up close and personal. Palming the sword at her feet, she picked it up, and in a swinging motion clipped a zombie on the shoulder. It was a woman with blonde hair. Blondie moved to the side and back to avoid being sliced in half, but caught the sword in her hand yanking it away.

Fucking bitch.

The other two zombies were huge ass linebacker types who rushed her. Linebacker one grabbed her by the throat lifting her in the air and linebacker number two stumbled forward smiling, he stood there and watched as her feet dangled as the other zombie shook her back and forth like a rag doll. She grabbed his wrists with both hands trying her best to get free. From her peripheral, she could see Solon taking down zombie after zombie as she struggled with her three assailants. Air was leaving her quickly making her weak. Black spots crowded her vision almost taking her under. She stopped struggling long enough to use her legs, wrapping them tight around the waist of the zombie currently trying to choke the life out of her. Squeezing as hard as she could with her thighs, she tried taking him down, but Mr. Smiley went to his friend’s aid, grabbing her sharply by her hair and jerking her head back. His black eyes alight with death as he pulled making Jes scream out in pain. She refused to let go of the other zombie and was rewarded when he finally let up on her neck. She saw her opening and used it to her advantage when the zombie pulling her hair leaned over her face, his breath rancid with decay. She used her head, jerking forward. He released her tearing roots of her hair from her scalp. The pain alone made her eyes water. As her body was dropped, her back cracked loud against the dirt floor. She was being dragged around the arena by her hair.

Fuck but that hurt.

She wouldn’t have any hair left if he dragged her any further. Gathering up more strength, she let loose a large burst of power that knocked both linebackers away, but not before Blondie was there, kicking her in the side. Jes curled into a ball as the kicks continued to descend. She felt as well as heard the distinct sound of one of her ribs cracking. Her lungs turned to fire and the pain in her chest intensified. Something cold was against her arm and Jes realized it was the sword she’d dropped earlier. Turning to her side, she grabbed the sword, chopped Blondie’s legs from her, and watched as blood bathed the dirt floor and the front of her shirt as the woman went down. Still alive, Jes made her way over to the Blondie, and severed her head. More blood sprayed in all directions misting her face. Jes didn’t have time to be grossed out. She still had two more Death Walkers to deal with and then she’d kill Solon.



Black watched his mate take down every Death Walker in her path. She hadn’t seen him yet, and the fact she was not able to sense him bothered him a little. She was merciless when she took out the broker demon and her ancestor on the council. Now she was fighting Solon. A part of him was delighted when Solon had gotten the better part of her, but another side, one that tried to school his malevolent emotions and replace them with warmth and longing, wanted her to win so she could return to his arms. That was the weaker version of him. He was in agreement with his master. Total annihilation of the human race. There were screams coming from the crowd as well as chants of, “kill…kill…kill.” The Elite and Elder council were there looking on, but not really paying too much attention to the action. They were conversing among themselves about prophecies and other things he wasn’t too interested in. He picked out pieces of their conversations, but nothing was of interest to him. There was one Elite Angel that took too much interest in Jesminda. Enri said his name was Dacio.