The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 (7 page)

“You’ve got yourself a demon problem, and you will continue to have a demon problem until you close the gate,” Riley said. “And if you have a demon problem, I guarantee we all have a demon problem. That gate needs to be shut.”

“As if it were that easy,” Benjamin shorted dismissively. “The matter is a bit more complicated than that.”

“Yes, I know. Magic beings go poof when they get too close,” Riley said. “But there’s got to be a way around that. Considering Eva was the one to close that thing up that last time and she was an angel, she had to have figured out a way.”

“Eva closed it the last time?” I blinked.

“Coincidence?” Riley asked. “I think not.”

“Surely you don't think that Paige can close the gate? That’s too dangerous.”

“Since we’re all here and apparently headed in the same direction, it looks like we’re going to kill two birds with one stone,” Riley said. “And I’m not planning to put Paige in any danger. She might just be able to see something that we can’t see.”

“I’ll do it,” I said. “But after we get the relic.” I saw Riley’s eyebrow raise as he processed my words.

“Interesting choice of the location for your storage locker. Next to the Hell Gate and all.” He looked at Benjamin with an eyebrow raised.

“It’s a long story,” I said, bumping his arm. “We were on our way there now.”

Riley shrugged. “Then what are we waiting for?”

“What are we waiting for indeed?” Benjamin turned left into another tunnel that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

I caught Riley’s eye and shook my head. There was too much to explain, and we were woefully short on time.

CHAPTER SEVEN –
RILEY

I don’t know why I bothered worrying. The universe had determined that Paige and I were supposed to be together, and it seemed as if time and space maneuvered around us to always ensure that happened in short order. I was relieved that Paige appeared to be in one piece. But the look Benjamin gave me when I held her in my arms made me wonder again if I was going to find out what it was like to be smited by an angel.

Although I had acted nonchalant about yet another not so random occurrence being thrown at us, it had me concerned that once again I was missing a bigger picture. I was looking for the Hell Gate while Paige was supposed to be somewhere else on the island looking for the relic, and it ended up those two things were in almost the same spot. I didn’t like feeling as if I were a pawn in someone else’s game, but I couldn’t shake the sensation.

As Benjamin led us further into the caves, I reached out to cross the distance between us and grabbed Paige’s hand. She didn’t turn to acknowledge me, but her fingers squeezed mine briefly before falling away. Although I felt as if I should be the one following directly behind Benjamin, I couldn’t deny that I was enjoying the view of Paige’s backside. I knew that I had other things I should be thinking about, like how in the hell we were going to shut down a gate that not one of the four of us could get close to. But it seemed like my mind preferred to think about pulling Paige into one of the many side tunnels that we passed and having my way with her. It wouldn’t be the first time we had made use of the Calamata Island caves that way.

In the beam of my flashlight, I caught Paige peeking over her shoulder at me. I moved the beam to illuminate my face before flashing her a wide grin, and then I winked at her. I saw a smile ghost across her face before she shook her head. That was good. The whole situation had gotten a little bit too serious for my comfort. I worked best when I was loose and cool. Having Paige in the middle of this mess would normally spark the exact opposite emotions for me, but I was starting to settle into the idea of having Paige next to me in a fight. She knew how to use a gun. She carried herself like a girl who knew how to use her fists if necessary. In the right circumstance, she could draw on a hell of a lot of magic. All things considered, she would definitely be a better back up than Klein. Plus, I trusted her implicitly, and there was no substitute for that.

The wildcards in the whole equation were the two archangels who flanked us. I knew that Benjamin could fight, but the question was if he’d want to. I had no doubt he had tried to finagle his way back into Paige’s good graces during their time alone. If Paige gave him the brush-off, I wasn’t sure that Benjamin would be so keen on backing us up any longer. I had to give myself props that I wasn’t getting insanely jealous about the whole situation. It appeared I was settling into this new thing between me and Paige, after all. Benjamin was still there, and the good thing was that he didn’t appear to be backing out on his promise to help Paige with the relic.

I hadn’t let on that I really knew anything about Samuel’s backstory. It was part of my job to know at least a little something about every being worth a grain of salt who crossed between the realms. Samuel wasn’t as well-known as his brothers, but there were still stories, and not all of them were good. That’s why as much as I could tell the guy wanted me to like him, I held him at arm’s length. There wasn’t an archangel in the bunch who didn’t have a lengthy list of demons killed attached to his name. The variables were the length of human names on that list, and Samuel was no exception to that rule.

“I’ve always wanted to see the Hell Gate,” Samuel said in a hushed voice. “It’s one of those things that’s practically a myth even to my kind given the limitations.”

“I’m pretty sure that an angel or demon created pretty much every myth out there,” I replied, keeping my voice pitched equally low. “By the way, excellent plan and all with your boss creating something that you guys can’t actually patrol to keep everybody safe.”

“His methods and reasons are not for us to question,” Samuel said.

I snorted. “A rather convenient excuse that you pull out of your pocket whenever you want to avoid answering a question.”

“Did you ask a question?” Samuel said.

I chuckled. I had the give the guy credit. He was quick.

“Be quiet!” Benjamin twisted around to look at us stopping the entire procession. “Do you want to bring an army of demons down on our heads so they can swoop in and take the relic?”

“What makes demons different?” Paige asked.

We all looked confused about her seemingly random question. “What are you talking about?” Benjamin said.

Then it hit me. It was the elephant in the room that I hadn’t seen until just that moment. “She’s right. Demons are inherently mystical beings. You’ve both said that anyone who uses magic can’t go near the gate. Answer the lady. What makes demons different?”

There was a long pause, and I knew that we had hit on something good.

“It’s dark magic,” Samuel said. Benjamin hissed and looked away from us.

“That’s a pretty important distinction, Samuel,” I said.

“Dark magic meaning what?” Paige asked. Small wrinkle lines appeared as she furrowed her brow. I wondered if I would ever stop thinking how beautiful she was every time I looked at her. “I guess I didn’t realize that there was a difference.”

“It’s something they don’t like talking about,” I scoffed. “It’s the reason that my mother wanted Alice to help me as I made the transition into being part of both realms. The energy that I have access to being a necromancer is so unlike what everyone thinks is regular magic that it’s like it can go either way. She wanted to make sure that I ended up on the right side.” Now everyone’s gaze had shifted to me. “What?”

“If only those who use dark magic can get near the gate, then you might be our best chance to do something about those demons, after all,” Samuel said. His voice held a note of wonder.

“I should have known,” Benjamin said. “How comforting that our fate rests in the hands of a mortal necromancer.”

Paige touched my arm before swinging back to face Benjamin. “Riley is a good man. He had been helping teach me magic to be able to defend myself and help other people, and it’s been with his help that I’ve been able to do so. That doesn’t sound like dark magic to me. It can’t be.”

“You saw what he did in the church,” Benjamin said. His tone told everyone exactly what he thought of me. “He gathered the dead unwillingly to his side and forced them to fight demons. He called the demons that died around him into his employ as well. Over the years, he has sent a host of both demons and humans into a place where their souls will never find rest, and that was after torturing their spirits. I’m not sure how you can consider anything about that good, Paige.”

I wanted to punch the guy right in the face, angel or not. “I did what I did at the church to protect her,” I growled.

Paige put her hand on my chest and stepped closer to me. “Riley.”

But I wasn’t about to stop my tirade now. “And that is more than I can say about you. I don’t believe in the light and dark magic shit. I never have. It has everything to do with the intention of how you use it. Let’s do this. Let’s go walking up to that gate and see if that little theory of yours really holds true. Because I guarantee you that your angel wings are far from pure as driven snow.”

“Riley,” Paige’s voice carried a sterner tone that caused me to look down at her. Her blue eyes flashed a warning at me. “You don’t have to explain anything to me or them. That’s not why you are here. You came to find a way to close the gate, and it sounds like you are the only one who can. Do you know what that means? You were meant to do this, and I’ll help you.”

“You can’t.” The words were in stereo. I hated it when Benjamin decided to say the same thing as me in stereo.

“If I have the relic, I’ll have something that is magical and cursed with what I can only assume is dark magic given its history,” Paige continued as if she hadn’t heard either of us. “It brings death and mayhem. Dark magic? Check. If we work together, I can access Eva’s magic through the relic, and we’ll close the gate.”

I thought about Paige’s plan. It was crazy. It was riskier than just about anything I could think of. It was also fucking brilliant, which I hated, but for a completely different reason.

“You aren’t thinking straight,” Benjamin started.

“No, you aren’t thinking straight,” I said. I pointed at Samuel. “You told me that it was Eva who closed the gate the last time, right?”

“Yes,” Samuel said. He caught Benjamin’s glare and grimaced. I had the feeling that he had told me something that wasn’t supposed to be common knowledge, and it was annoying Benjamin to no end that I kept bringing it up.

“What did Eva have that the rest of you didn’t have?”

Paige’s face broke out into a small smile. “She had her Protector.”

I snapped my fingers. “That’s right. And the Protector was a necromancer like me. Once Eva shared her life force with him to make him immortal, they shared a bond. A bond that would have given Eva just enough of a taint that she would have been able to get close to the gate.”

“How do you know all of this?” Benjamin asked. “How can you be so certain? And even if what you said was true, you and Paige are not Eva and her Protector. You also are not bonded.”

I was back to wanting to punch him in the face again. “If Paige has the relic, she has a piece of Eva’s life force, and it was cursed just like she said. That gives her two footholds into the ability to use Eva’s magic. I’ll help her figure out what to do.”

“So this all rides on me giving up the relic to Paige,” Benjamin said.

“That’s what you said you were going to do,” Paige said. “You said you’d help me so that I could defeat Eva and end all of that forever. I’d finally be free.”

What happened next was so fast that my eyes never registered the movement. One moment Benjamin was standing to my left, and the next he plunged a knife that had appeared out of nowhere deep in Samuel’s chest.

Paige gasped even as I moved to help the younger angel.

“Go!” Benjamin said. “This is only going to slow him down. We don’t have much time. I’ll be right behind you.” He looked at me and somehow I knew that he was telling the truth. I wasn’t sure why or how, but Samuel was a threat and Benjamin had felt it was necessary to deal with him.

I grabbed Paige’s elbow and thrust her body forward. “C’mon. We need to go.”

“
No more than two hundred paces. Otherwise, you risk crossing a barrier where I cannot follow you.”
Benjamin’s voice rattled in my mind.

I moved us as quickly as I dared. I didn’t want the archangel spending any more time in my head.

“What happened?” Paige whispered.

“I think somebody just got a bit of a comeuppance, which is too bad because I kinda liked the guy,” I replied. I swept the beam around the cave walls. I didn’t have to be an archangel to have my spidey-senses go off. We were close. “You feel that?”

“I don’t think you’d even need to be a sensitive to feel that,” Paige said. “It feels…oppressive. Heavy.”

I hadn’t put my finger on why the air felt different, but once again Paige rescued me by capturing the emotion exactly. “We have to be careful. If we cross the boundary, Benjamin won’t be able to cross over, and we’ll be in demon territory without the relic.”

Paige stopped and quickly swept my flashlight beam all around us.

“What’s wrong?” I barely had time to catch my breath before she pressed against me and took my face in her hands. “I don’t know what’s about to happen next, but I didn’t want to go any further without telling you that I love you.”

All other thoughts slipped away, and I felt as if the weight of the world fell off my shoulders. I knew what she wanted, and I was more than happy to oblige. I gripped her hips and pushed her back against the cave wall even as my lips crossed the short distance between us and claimed her lips as mine.

She met my tongue with a hungry urgency of her own. Extremely pleasant memories of me and Paige with our limbs intertwined rolling around on another cave floor rose unbidden in my mind, and I felt my body responding. I love feeling her soft body pressed against mine. I broke off the kiss sooner than I wanted because I knew that Benjamin was about to show up, and I didn’t want to give the guy a reason to decide not to help us.

I brushed my lips against her forehead. “I love you too.”

We stood that way for another moment before I stepped backward. It was none too soon as Benjamin materialized from the darkness.

“What’s the deal with Samuel?” I asked.

“Let’s just say that I have trust issues,” Benjamin replied. His voice could have chilled boiling lava, which told me that he had probably caught the end of my lip lock with Paige after all. “We need to get on with it.”

“Where is the relic?” Paige asked. “Do you know or remember now?”

“I would have thought that it was abundantly clear,” Benjamin said.

“I don’t understand,” Paige said.

Benjamin stepped around me and before I could grab him, placed his hand on Paige’s chest. Paige hissed. I shoved Benjamin away from her.

“Don’t touch her!”