To Hell and Back (Mel Goes to Hell Series Book 4) (21 page)

It had taken both Keiko and Koyane to get Mel to the train station and settled in her first-class seat after Koyane had revived her. They seemed to hover beside her for the whole trip to Kyoto, and Mel was grateful for their care. She hadn't been this weak in a long time and she was afraid of exposing her true nature if she lost consciousness again.

A taxi transported them from the station to Koyane's house, where she immediately retired to her room. Keiko brought her dinner and informed her that Koyane had offered the use of the hot springs and the miraculous cure they provided. Mel happily accepted, for she knew better than anyone that the stories of miracles were true.

Mel closed her eyes as she lathered up the shower gel before smoothing it over her skin. Japanese communal bathing seemed the most natural thing in the world when she was here, though it was hardly communal when she had the empty bathhouse all to herself.

"Mere-san, would you like me to wash your back?"

Ah, not quite empty.

Keiko's eager smile beamed at her beneath her cherry-coloured knot of hair. "It would be my pleasure, Mere-san."

Mel shook her head slowly as she dipped her bowl into the steaming onsen water. "Thank you, Keiko, but I'm almost finished." She tipped the bowl and poured hot water down her back. Several cascades later, Mel rose from her crouch and stepped toward the murky pool.

"If it is too hot for you, Mere-san, there is a cold tap over there." Keiko pointed with a long, scarlet fingernail.

Mel laughed gently and submerged in the ancient, spring-fed pool. The heat permeated her very bones, releasing her tension and a blissful sigh.

"If there is anything you wish for, you have only to name it and I will give it to you. Koyane, too." Keiko slid gracefully into the pool beside Mel. "You have the most exquisite breasts. I'm not surprised your muscle man stared at them so much."

"My muscle man? Do you mean Luce?"

Keiko nodded.

"Why do you call him that?"

The girl shrugged. "The muscles are his most prominent feature. He evidently thinks with one of them, for his mind is nothing to admire. His actions in Tokyo confirmed it." Keiko's eyes tightened with hurt, as if she'd known the betrayal of many men. Mel wondered how old the youthful-looking siren really was. She'd heard stories of sirens living for centuries. "You have enslaved him without needing the songs of my people. That implies a feeble mind. What use is such a one to you?"

Mel's heart sank. Luce wasn't easy to explain to another angel, let alone this strange siren. "Luce and I share more than may be evident on the surface. Beneath the muscles are hidden depths I doubt even he is aware of. As for his body…" Mel licked her lips, hoping she could find the right words. "Luce knows my desires and he sculpts his body accordingly."

Keiko's giggles made her sound much younger than she looked. "You brought Muscle Man as your bed toy? Oh, so that's why you sent him away – for seducing that hag at the banquet! Now it makes sense. I would be honoured to take his place for as long as you need me, Mere-san." Her eyes shone in anticipation.

"Luce left of his own accord and I will follow him as soon as I'm strong enough," Mel said gently. "As Koyane will tell you, I rest alone, though I thank you for your very kind offer." The girl's face crumpled and Mel quickly added, "Surely you don't find me that irresistible. If you could choose your perfect partner, what would she be like?"

Keiko closed her eyes and breathed deeply. "She would have power, greater than or equal to what I possess. A body with rounder curves than mine. My favourite colours are those of fire, so her hair and her fins would be shades of flame. And she would be both kind and brave enough to risk her life and her people for me, if I were placed in danger." Keiko sighed deeply.

Mel grasped the girl's hand, slipping into the surface layers of her soul. The watery image of a fiery redhead against…ice?...with eyes as blue as the ocean's depths appeared and faded. The girl Keiko spoke of was no fantasy – she was real. "You speak as if you have already met her. What's her name?"

Keiko laughed shakily. "I do not know. She saved my life and swam away without a word. My brother says it's silly to dwell on such a fleeting contact – I must have imagined the girl, not to mention any feelings I might have for her. Red is the rarest colour among my kind. I've heard it was something only those of the Black line possess, and then only if there is Black ancestry on both sides. That line is all but extinct in our ocean and it is the same in the Atlantic. I can dye my hair, my lips and my nails, but my fins tell the truth." Keiko's feet broke the surface of the water, but they were no longer recognisable as human appendages. Her tail flukes extended well past the bones of her toes, a delicate fan of emerald green. "She can only belong to the people of the Indian Ocean, a people so distant I hear stories of a lost Black dragon found there. Have you heard rumours of a fire-coloured mermaid in the Indian Ocean during your time there?"

Mel shook her head. "There are few rumours about your kind there at all. They are as adept at hiding as the people of your ocean. I've only met one of them, but that was such a long time ago…yet I do remember she left to follow a red-haired man. Coincidence, perhaps, but who can say?" She hoisted herself out of the steaming pool and left wet footprints on the wooden slats to her clothes. "Thank you for your kindness and your confidence. I need rest, so I bid you good night, Keiko-san." Mel dressed and headed out of the bathhouse into the cool night air.

She paused to change from bath slippers to outdoor shoes for the short walk through the moonlit formal garden. Her house slippers waited inside, lined with something soft and fluffy. She was Koyane's honoured guest, but she didn't use guest slippers – he kept this special pair for her. She padded quietly to the kitchen, shivering a little as the rice paper screens did little to protect her from the falling temperature outside.

Koyane was waiting, as she knew he would be. He poured two cups of tea and pushed one across the table toward the empty place across from him. "Do you feel better now?"

Mel smiled and sat, inhaling the steam from her handleless cup. "I do, thank you. The waters from your hot spring work miracles."

"Not as brilliantly as you do. I still can't believe you managed to get Han to make the right decision, though for the wrong reasons. There are a lot of people in Korea and Japan who will breathe easier for a time because of you. Thank you."

Mel's gaze dropped to her cup. Luce had made it happen, not her, yet he wasn't here to celebrate his victory. She said nothing for a few seconds as she sipped her tea and wished the miracle spring could have washed away her exhaustion, too. Her body badly needed sleep.

"Did Keiko join you? I told her you wished to be alone, but I believe her excitement at your presence has overwhelmed her sense of courtesy. You'd think she was still a child, she's so thrilled to be around you."

Mel swallowed. "How old is Keiko?"

Koyane smiled broadly. "Would you believe me if I told you she is close to a century?"

Recalling the knowledge in the girl's shining eyes as she voiced her strongly held views on men, Mel nodded. "Is she one of the elders in her ocean?"

"Yes. One of the most influential, too, so it's amusing to see her fawning over you. A woman who holds more power than she does – I'm surprised she didn't beg to share your mat tonight."

"She offered," Mel admitted, "but while I'm close to her ideal, she's met someone who is closer to it than I will ever be. A red-haired girl, one of her kind, she said. I guess I'm lucky I don't have red hair, or she wouldn't be able to resist me at all." She dropped her gaze. "Besides, what I need is rest and not companionship tonight."

Koyane's eyes darkened with concern. "So Patrick said. He asked me to watch you carefully for signs that you have done too much. He wanted me to remind your companion, too, to take care of you every moment, but I didn't manage to catch him before he left. I admit, I found what Patrick said very difficult to believe. You have spent time in Heaven and an extended stay in Western Australia, where I know you keep a retreat. What has worn you out so much?"

"Work. Raphael had a demon problem in Western Australia. I helped him take care of it, but at great personal cost."

"And…the fallen angel who travelled with you? Was he part of the problem? Is he still?"

Mel shook her head slowly. "Raphael thought he was, but the politics of Hell turned out to be more complex than I'd realised. It also seems that a fallen angel might not have fallen, had he not been pushed at the point of a flaming sword." She closed her eyes. "Luce…is a complete contradiction. A risen angel and a redeemed demon, yet still the Lord of Hell. And a surprisingly caring man whose soul speaks eloquently to mine. It's been centuries since I've mentored anyone, yet who else understands him well enough to provide the support he needs to find his place among us again? He has been betrayed by too many angels in the past to trust easily." She finished her tea and allowed Koyane to pour her another cup.

"If what Patrick says is true, and I have seen the evidence with my own eyes this morning, the only thing you should be doing now is resting. If you are the only one he trusts, I'm sure he can wait until you have recovered before resuming his training with you." Koyane's worried eyes never left hers as he took a deep draught of tea. He set his cup down and extended his hand. "Please, will you permit me to see?"

Mel nodded and pressed her palm against his. She felt the gentle touch of Koyane's soul brushing the edges of hers, but she relaxed and concentrated on enjoying her tea. She had no secrets to hide.

After several minutes, Koyane released her hand and held her gaze instead. "You must already know that you are even more drained than you were in London. Barely a shimmer is left of the blinding light I have seen whenever you have allowed my touch in the past. Please permit me the honour of restoring you, as you did after the Second World War. My home, my bathhouse, everything I own is yours to aid your recovery. Tell me what you need and it is yours."

Mel summoned a smile. "Right now, all I'd like is a cup of milk and some sleep. In the morning, over breakfast, we can discuss a future past tonight."

Koyane bowed. "As you wish." He rose and headed for the fridge. Time ticked as he stared at the contents before he turned to Mel. "We only have soy milk – no cow's milk. I completely forgot to buy any. I can send Keiko out first thing tomorrow for some. Will you have the soy now, or would you prefer something different?"

"Soy is fine." Mel yawned, barely tasting the cold liquid as she gulped it down. With Koyane's assistance, she stumbled to her room. Barely a minute after her body had stretched out on the futon, the angel was asleep.

"Oh God, Melody, I'm so sorry. So sorry." Luce's agonised voice cut through Mel's consciousness and cleaved her heart. "Melody…"

Her soul reached for him, hoping to soothe some of the pain. Somehow, their bond bridged the distance so that she could sense him as if he were in the next room and not on the far side of a different continent.

Darkness and despair. Mel tried to surface from the depths of his soul to his thoughts. Faintly, she smelled her own perfume and followed the scent. It was under Luce's nose, though mixed with cotton and laundry detergent. His arms crushed something soft to his chest and the fragrance intensified.

"God, what I'd give for it to be you in my arms again. I'm sorry, Melody. I'll do anything to make it up to you."

Pillow. He was holding her pillow and he'd sprayed her perfume on it before burying his face in the cotton cover.

"I love you, Luce," Mel heard her own laughing voice say. Luce's soul swelled with a cocktail of love and despair, allowing Mel to see the blurry video on his big-screen TV through his eyes. He hadn't been taking pictures at the Hans' party – he'd recorded a video on his phone.

The short video replayed from the beginning. She heard Luce complimenting her appearance and begging to be allowed to take photos so he could remember her when they were apart. His emotional state rollercoastered from joy to piercing despair.

"And I love you, Luce," her recorded self repeated.

Mel would have gasped at the sharp pain penetrating his soul so deeply that it pierced hers, but she couldn't make a sound. She wanted to reassure him and tried projecting the soothing love within her own soul, but he didn't seem to sense her at all.

His arms tightened around the pillow and she felt her own despair when he dragged up the memory of losing her at Heaven's gates. Her body fading in his arms as it lost substance when her soul deserted the damaged shell. Luce was linking the past to his belief that he'd lost her again through his own misguided actions. "Melody…"

Mel jerked awake, unable to stand Luce's pain. She needed to be home with him. Hot springs be damned. He needed her. And, though it surprised her to admit it, she needed him. Not Koyane, not Patrick, not anyone else – only Luce.

The grey pre-dawn light filtered through the screens as Mel made her way to the kitchen. She set up her laptop and made tea while it powered up.

When she turned to check the laptop, her eyes met Koyane's grave gaze. "I need to go home, my friend."

"You need rest, Murielle-sama," he responded.

"I cannot rest here while Luce needs me elsewhere."

"Why can't your fallen angel wait for you to recover? What is so urgent? New angels can wait months before a proper mentor is assigned to them. Why is he so special?"

"Luce isn't a new angel. He's the redeemed Lord of Hell and a former demon. He's spent as many centuries corrupting souls as I have saving them and he believes he belongs with them. He's trying – you have no idea how hard he's trying – but it's miraculous that he can even break that many millennia of indoctrination to become what he is now. The longer I leave him without a mentor, the more likely it is that he'll retreat to Hell and revert to what he used to be. And I will have to go in after him, because no one else will. I won't lose his soul to the darkness, Koyane. He used to be one of the most powerful angels in Heaven and he's earned the right to stand among us once more, and the opportunity to rise again if that is his desire. I will not let my weakness lose that for him."

A solitary tear trickled down Koyane's nose as he bowed deeply. "Your love and sacrifice is an honour he does not deserve, Murielle-sama."

Mel swallowed with difficulty. "It is no sacrifice. Even if it were, it wouldn't be the first time." She wouldn't let Luce lose her again. She alone understood what it did to him. He didn't deserve the pain.

"Permit me to arrange your flights while you rest and pack your things." Mel nodded and he sat down at her laptop. His fingers ticked across the keys and a travel website appeared on the screen.

Mel set her empty cup on the table beside him and headed back to her room. She quickly packed her few belongings before stretching out on the futon for a moment's rest. When she landed, she intended to persuade the devil to take a holiday from Hell.

Heaven help her.