Two for Tamara (21 page)

The other demon women had been freed from their chains and were engaging in battle with the many things Cronus had brought with him.

He linked with Rafe. “
You done resting yet?”

Rafe grunted through their link, his essence much stronger than it had been. “
I want to flash Tam to Selena.”

“Oh, hell to the no,”
Tamara snarled.

Vin flashed over to where he’d left Rafe leaning against Tamara, happy to see he was now standing and his color was back to a healthy hue.

“Our focus will be fractured if you’re here,
agape mou
.” Vin took Tamara’s face between his palms.

Rafe ran his hands over her still-healing stomach. “Do you really think either of us could concentrate on anything, other than keeping you safe, if you were here? I know for a fact Vin here”—he nudged Vin in the arm—“kept looking back to where he’d left us. In battle that can cost our lives,
omorfia mou
.”

Vin nodded.

“I can help you,” she pleaded.

“You’d help more by being safe.” Rafe covered the torn skin, sending out more healing light.

“Stop that.” She slapped at his hands.

“See? If anything happened, our first concern would be healing you, not us.” Vin tilted her face up to his, needing her to understand it was just as hard for them to send her away.

“Fine. But if either of you get hurt, I will so make you wish you were…I don’t know what I will do, but I promise it won’t be good.”

Before she could change her mind, Vin covered her mouth with his own, claiming her in a heated kiss, promising without words that he loved and appreciated her.

“Rafe, you take her, see if Hera can heal you before you return. We need you at a hundred percent.”

They were equals in all things, and the fact Rafe didn’t argue was more than telling.

He watched his best friend and their Fated disappear. While it eased one fear, another weight pressed on his heart.

Vin turned back to the demons that’d saved his Tamara. He owed them, especially Akra for what she’d done. They really were quite beautiful.

There was something very primitive about them—an intense beauty is how he’d describe their wild looks.

The growls emitting from deep within their chests made a shiver go up his spine. Akra’s head went back, and a long, low howl split the air. He looked to see what caused that reaction, and his own heart ached. There, on the ground, lay one of the women.

They fought in a pattern that he recognized, and he wasn’t sure how the demon had been attacked. He ghosted, a state of being that took very little effort, searching for what had killed one of Tamara’s friends.

He found what he was looking for in the stadium seating. Talk about a coward. Still in ghost form, Vin partially materialized behind him, slicing through tissue and bone. He then shot a flame hot enough to incinerate what was left of it, not wanting it to come back to attack again.

Akra’s fatalistic howl ended on an unholy scream that shook the rafters. Vin stood in awe as she and her friends stood, eyes glowing red as they attacked beasts three times their size.

“Tamara felt the loss,” Rafe said from beside him.

Vin looked his friend over, and he nodded. “Let’s go kill some shit.”

They scanned the arena, amazed at the destruction that had already taken place. Vin wasn’t sure how the building was still standing and could only assume it was thanks to a little help from some gods.

The ground beneath the center rippled. The air settled for a moment before fire shimmered around the women.

“
Akra, watch out.”
Vin and Rafe both dematerialized.

He felt responsible for the women. If anything happened to any of them, he’d always carry that with him. Already the loss of the demoness was heavy on his soul. He’d do everything he could to prevent another from falling.

The demon didn’t balk at his words. Her resolve to avenge the one named Gerna rang through the tenuous link they had. None of the women could be described as helpless, more like modern day versions of Amazon warrior women.

Tamara sent him and Rafe a sense of warmth and her love.

With so many friends and foes, the Ravens couldn’t send out too powerful of a blast, not like the gods and goddesses could.

Rafe and he had fought more battles than he could remember. Without having to use words or thoughts, they engaged. They’d both been wounded, even mortally so, more times than humanly possible, but never had they faced an army such as this. It seemed with each demon or beast they slayed, another took its place.

Vin realized somewhere there was a gate, or portal allowing entrance into the Earth realm. If they were going to win this, they’d have to close that, or it was a matter of swatting flies with a bat. You may hit a few but the hordes kept coming.

After dispatching a couple more beasts, Vin zoned in on where the greatest energy came from. That was when he noticed the man named Balky. He was chained similarly to the women, only instead of in an upright position he was lying flat. The chains that held him wrapped from his forehead to just under his eyes and again around his jaw, continuing in the same fashion down his body. Where the ladies were held spread eagle, Balky was wrapped more like a mummy in chains. Even from a distance, Vin could see the burning of Balky’s skin was causing him endless pain, but no fear shone in his eyes. Although he was clearly helpless and had to be in horrendous agony, he didn’t flinch as he was lashed with a whip made of razor wire.

There was that niggling feeling that he knew him, something in the eyes that flashed from black to amethyst. Vin followed a spiral path that he hadn’t used since he was a trainee on Olympus. “
Who are you?”

“
Get out of my fucking head, Raven bastard.”

Vin watched the first real sign of emotion show on Balky’s face. Clearly, Balky had a connection to Olympus. Maybe he was the traitor who’d been feeding Cronus information all these years, but as he searched deeper, he couldn’t find any trace of Olympus in the recesses of Balky’s mind. Had he not been in so much pain, Vin had no doubt he’d have kicked him out of his head. He saw Balky’s need to rip the throat out of Cronus and all of his tormentors.

His hatred was a living, breathing force. It ran deep, and Vin hoped to use it to win this war.

“
Tell me how he keeps bringing these abominations in and I’ll get you out of there.”

Balky laughed, a rough sound like he’d didn’t do it often, if ever.

Vin had known hatred. He’d hunted and killed many, from those who’d been completely emotionless, to those who were filled with so much rage they didn’t care who they hurt. He had no problem ending their lives. But that wasn’t what he saw inside Balky. He hadn’t hurt any innocent men or women in his extremely long life, just the opposite when he was allowed on Earth. Yes, he came to this realm to collect souls, but he also took care to save those who may have been in the path of those evil beings.

“
I too am one of his abominations.”

“You are more,”
Vin said. Balky wasn’t evil. He didn’t murder innocents, and he didn’t take joy in killing. They all had jobs, and Balky’s job was soul collector for Cronus and all-around lackey. Had it not been for the last task he was given, Vin wasn’t sure what he would’ve done with Balky. Before being told to collect an innocent woman and bring her to him, dead or alive, Balky did as he was told. He did in fact take Selena, however he’d left a trail for Max and Malcolm to follow.

“
Why are you being tortured now instead of allowed to fight for your boss?”
Rafe asked, killing another beast as they made their way to where Vin had noticed the energy.

“
Oh, you know. I didn’t clean up my room. Why the fuck do you care?”
Balky’s words were getting less firm, meaning he was close to true death.

“
You are not that evil, Balky. Please just help us, and I swear we will help you.”

Vin could sense the presence of the other being trying to read his mind, he let him see his honesty, his desire to truly help him get free.

With Balky’s help, they realized Cronus could only bring so many beings into the Earth realm at a time because of his connection to the demon women. He was using his blood tie with them to allow him entrance. If they took the women off of Earth and onto Olympus, would that allow Cronus to enter that realm?

He followed the spiral path to Zeus, even though the god was locked in battle with his father. Vin needed to know if they could safely send the demons to his realm. At least then they could level the playing field. Without losing ground with Cronus, Zeus’s eyes swirled an eerie silver seconds before he flashed the demons out of the arena.

Vin heard Akra shouting at him through the link he shared with Tamara, but felt no regret in sending them away.

Cronus fell to his knees at the loss of his connection.

“You bastard. I should’ve eaten you when you were born like the others,” Cronus roared, snapping his rows of shark-like teeth.

“You tried and didn’t succeed.” Zeus held the horn that he’d ripped from his father’s head in his hand.

Once the portal that allowed more beasts to enter was closed, the tide swung in the Ravens’ favor. Vin wanted to watch the king of gods fight his father, but he’d made a promise to Balky.

He and Rafe made their way to the injured man. The brutal torture had sapped his strength. With the lack of sustenance or ability to heal, Vin couldn’t see how the being had survived as long as he had. Their senses stretched out, Vin and Rafe had worked together as a team too long to rush in without checking for danger, hidden or out in the open.

The large man wielding the whip didn’t even hear them as they walked up behind him. Rafe ripped the rope out of his hands, jerking his head from his shoulders. He wasted no time on him, sending a flare to both halves.

Searing pain slashed Vin’s arm, and he turned to see another whip-wielding man. The razor wire was every bit as painful as it looked. Vin waited for the next blow, covering his body with armor, his gloved hand shot out, grabbing the tail in his fist. He reeled the man in like a fish. There was no sort of awareness in the man’s eyes. He was nothing but a puppet like all the other beasts Cronus controlled. Vin used the razor wire to separate the being’s head. None of them could be saved—once they died and went to Hell, they were already too far gone.

Balky, on the other hand, wasn’t dead. Vin wasn’t sure what he was, what his origins were, or where his birthplace was, but he vowed to find out. Unlike the chains that held Tamara, these were made of silver, burning him and incapacitating the man.

“Are you Lycan?” Vin asked, working to remove the chains at the feet first.

Vin knew they were hypersensitive to silver. Balky only grunted.

The back of his neck tingled in alarm. Vin sent a warning out to Rafe, but the other Raven was already dispatching the snake-like creature.

“We are making headway now that the portal is closed. Cronus can take a beating, though.” Rafe knelt beside Vin.

“Did you notice the nice little hooks in the back?” Rafe indicated under Balky.

Vin shook his head. The man was a mass of blackened skin with the chains literally eating into his body. The chains around his face hadn’t been made of the same material, or he wasn’t having the same reaction, which was both a blessing and a curse. The man probably wished he would pass out to escape the pain.

“There is no escape, Raven,” Balky mumbled.

Through their link, he felt Tamara’s soothing touch. Their woman wanted to cry for this being.

They finally got the last of the burning links off of his body, careful to keep him floating. The unassuming chains around his head were actually attached to hooks in the back of his skull. Vin had no clue how to get him out of that without damaging him more.

“Just do it. Rip them out.”

Vin watched the man’s jaws bunch. Rafe gave a nod. Flipping the entire contraption over wouldn’t work so they lifted him up, keeping him secured with invisible bonds.

He refused to rip them out, so instead he shed his body and went inside his.
Holy fuck.
Vin wasn’t sure how Balky survived having the three screws inserted into his thick skull, but he now knew how to get them out. He also knew how to heal him as he went. Even though Balky was the enemy, a promise was a promise.

Tamara wanted to weep at the compassion her men showed for their enemy, and she wanted to cry at the pain Vin and Rafe were taking on for him. They didn’t need to shield him or endure some of his suffering the way they were.

Watching the scene with Selena and the demon women she called friends, Tamara gasped at the brutal fighting. Every Raven had mad skills from what she could see. The man named Uri and his partner Blade used their hands, only they had long claws extending from their knuckles. Two beings attacked each man at once. Uri and Blade twisted, their arms extended, taking out the throats of all four opponents in a seamless move. Quick as they fell, both men called down a bolt of fire, followed by another. Had the scene not been gruesome, it would have been beautiful to watch.

Distracted, she turned to see men surround Vin and Rafe. They were trying to free a horribly burned and tortured man. The look of concentration on Vin’s face let her know he’d gone inside Balky to help him. Rafe spun and kicked a demon so hard he went airborne, landing on another demon. He flipped in the air ready to strike again, stopping a hair’s breadth from punching Uri in the face.

“Thank god,” Tamara breathed.

“Are you happy he didn’t hit his friend?” Akra asked.

“What?” She watched Rafe duck another attacker, using his body to throw him over his back. The blood that appeared on Rafe’s arm made her bite her lip, but when he shot a blast of power into the thing, the beast exploded in a burst of flame and debris.