Vengeance: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 3 (39 page)

Micah’s story rushed back to me, how the angels had fathered the supernatural races and unleashed magic on the Earth. “You want to use me.”

“No more than any of the men around you do. Bahlin? He’s anxious to ensure he’s not supplanted on the Council. Darius? He craves the opportunity to cling to his heartbeat, to live again through you and the child he might foist off on you and then many other women. Connell Darach? He seeks to defeat Hellion at every turn. If that means stealing your affections, he’ll come for you like a thief in the night.” He stepped in front of me, demanding my attention, filling up my vision. “And Hellion? He’s the worst of them all. He toys with you, playing with love when what he wants is to control the Council through you. Oh, he professes no desire to rule.” Asmodeus bent close. “He. Lies.”

The ground shook under me again.

“You’ll come to see I’m the only one who’s ever been honest with you.”

“Liar.” The snarled word curled out of the depths of my belly. The crack of his backhand echoed a second time.

“You’ve two choices. Let Hellion live, or let Hellion die.”

My mouth bled, both for itself and my heart. “I can’t.”

Asmodeus moved in close and ground his erection against my ass. “Shame, that.”

I fought the urge to respond that coursed through me.
You’re stronger than this. You’re stronger than this. You’re stronger than this.
When the ground trembled harder than I did, I knew something outside Asmodeus’s control was going on beyond what had to be illusion.

His fingers dug into my hips, flooding me with such a carnal craving that my knees buckled. I’d have fallen if he hadn’t been holding me so tightly.
 

“You’ll choose now. Either let Agares have Hellion, or put a stop to this.”

“Hellion can’t—” I gasped as the demon ran a hand over the plane of my stomach.
Remember Hellion. Hold on to those memories.

“Oh, love, that’s where you’re wrong. He can, and he will, unless you strike this bargain with me.”

I considered stalling, letting the quake beneath me do its thing before deciding.

“Don’t,” he advised, stroking my shoulders.

“Stay out of my head.”

The platform beneath our feet groaned.

“Decide, and now!” he shouted, his fingers digging into the skin and muscle between neck and shoulder hard enough to bruise.

“You let Hellion go. Not just now, but for good. No more Agares. And you’ll leave the two Nephilim in my care alone.” Bile rose up the back of my throat. “And once you’ve impregnated me, you’ll let me go. Forever. Swear it.”

“I swear.”
 

He leaned in and licked the shell of my ear, his tongue long and prehensile. I couldn’t control my shudder of repulsion, but that very thing helped further clear my mind. “I have to see Hellion first.”

“Give me your word you’ll come with me, no pun intended, as soon as this is over. No hesitation, Niteclif. You’ll walk straight to me once you’re reassured Hellion is alive.”

“I give you my word.” Choking out the promise was almost impossible. Keeping my mind clear of any and all thoughts even more so.

He panted in my ear, his arousal kicking in his breeks. “I can make this the most orgasmic experience of your life.” When I started to shake my head in denial, he leaned in and ran his hands up my front to cup my breasts. “Or I can make it your singular worst nightmare. Break your vow and I’ll see to it you don’t walk away from this.”

“Let me go.”

A sliver of twilight pierced the darkness at the same time a huge hand grabbed my ankle. I screamed and kicked out as Asmodeus shoved me forward. Stumbling, I broke free and found my feet. Then I was running, arms pumping, lungs working like bellows. The smell of lemon wax and time overwhelmed me as my senses came online. The wounds on my neck mixed with sweat and stung like a bitch. Gravity pulled at my body as I hurdled three huge holes in the floor. The sound of my pounding feet thundered in my ears. That sliver of light was all I could focus on. My eyes watered so much it had to look like I was crying, but I wasn’t. I
wasn’t
. There was no room for tears.

My gun was gone, so I paused long enough to grab a short sword off one of the displays in the hallway. Dirk unsheathed, sword in hand, I chanced a glance back. The hallway was empty. Walls still bled, the holes in the floor appearing like an oversized version of that whack-a-mole game. I wasn’t going to hang around long enough to find out what was popping out of there, though.

The smells of fall whipped around me when I yanked the door open, dry leaves skittering and swirling around my feet in a wind-driven dance. Shouts and magic fouled the otherwise crisp air. Somewhere nearby, a gun discharged. The house had been soundproofed somehow. With the world tilting on its axis, I raced toward the sound, knowing both Bahlin and Hellion were armed.
 

My shoulder plowed into a corner of the house as I rounded the path that led to the gardens…and came face to face with utter chaos.

Dragons had shifted—some partially, others completely—and were fighting with single-minded fury. Tails whipped and some of our own people had to duck and dodge simply to survive. Magic was being used by every coven member, and I watched for the briefest second as one of the women took down some kind of two-headed dog with swift efficiency. I’d scream for girl power later. My immediate priority was finding Hellion, Bahlin and Father O’Cleary.

I raced into the fray, swinging and stabbing with studied precision, managing to dispatch two demons via beheading before I caught sight of Hellion.
 

He fought Agares one-on-one. Both bled freely. Hellion’s eyes were entirely black. His shoulders bulged with the effort of casting spell after spell.
 

Agares’s eyes gleamed with delight. He was pushing Hellion, herding him toward the edge of the garden.
 

I chanced a quick glance and stopped dead. The planes of existence had split, and someone had opened a doorway to Hell. Demons poured out. Dragons dispatched what they could. Amid the corpses and stains, a shifted dragon lay dead. And still, the demons came.

A hard blow to the back convinced me I’d be pissing blood for a month as I spun and gutted the offender. Whirling back to Hellion, I fought my way to his side.

He spared me the briefest glance. “Get out of here!”

Instead of answering, I defended his back, searching in the brief lulls for the priest. I didn’t see him or either of the Nephilim anywhere. Anger burned in me, followed closely by near debilitating terror. I was going to fail. We couldn’t defend against unlimited forces. We couldn’t close the portal. We couldn’t exorcise the demon without the priest. And we sure as shit couldn’t take critical losses when the whole thing could be stopped.

I took a large step away from Hellion and screamed, “Asmodeus!”

Everything took on a dream-like quality. I turned to the portal and watched as the demon, as beautiful as any angel, stepped through. He dragged with him a severely beaten man. It took a few ticks of the second hand for comprehension to dawn, brilliant as any sunrise.
 

Bahlin.
 

Chapter Twenty-Two

I stepped toward them, but Asmodeus shook his head, smiling. With his guttural command, fighting stopped. It took the dragons a handful of kills to realize things were turning, and it wasn’t in their favor. They turned their giant heads toward us, and the intelligence in their eyes was ageless, understanding, fearless. Under any other circumstance, they’d continue to fight until the last of them fell or they were victorious. But with Bahlin in Asmodeus’s hands, they went to their bellies and waited, watched, tails twitching and swishing.

Hellion stepped up to my side, though the set of his shoulders and the knot in his clenched jaw told me that Agares was behind us long before I registered his presence. It was a smothering sensation, a pressure at the back of the throat that made me want to gag.
 

I didn’t flinch when he stroked a finger down my back and leaned in to whisper, “Seems you and Asmodeus struck an accord. He marked you hard.”

“Fuck you.”

“Only if I get tired of my new pet.” He rested a hand on Hellion’s shoulder.

That was my breaking point. I turned and swung up in a single, deft movement, divesting him of his forearm and hand. They fell to the ground, turning to ash where they hit.
 

“You bitch!” He swung with his remaining hand.

The blow to the jaw spun me round, Hollywood-style.

Hellion was on him between heartbeats. He shoved his hand to the demon’s chest, just above his heart. Blackness poured out of his palm and wound around Agares’s chest.
 

“Finally broke you.” Agares’s panted words were pained.

“You touch her again, I’ll delve deeper without hesitation.” Hellion’s words resonated with raw, undiluted power.
 

Dark magic.
“Hellion, stop.” I laid a hand on his arm.

“Back off, Maddy.” He shook free of me.

Asmodeus stepped closer, Bahlin dogging his heels due to the grip the demon had on his hair. “Let’s stop this, shall we?” He shoved the dragon to the ground. Bahlin went down and stayed there. “Seems your pet didn’t care for Hell’s Pits.”

“Pits?”

“Similar to gladiator rings. More brutal, really. And when I bound his power to shift, he seemed to sincerely suffer.” He reached down and hauled Bahlin’s head up. “Hard to defend yourself as a man, is it not?” Asmodeus shoved Bahlin’s face to the dirt.

“Stop it. Just…stop it. This wasn’t part of the deal.”
 

Hellion spun on me and grabbed me by the upper arm. “What ‘deal,’ Maddy? What have ye done?”

I pulled free of his grasp and stepped toward Asmodeus.
 

The Dominae, led by Agares, moved in closer.
 

“You let Bahlin go. Now.” I was standing my ground on this, determined to save both men I loved.

“He’s insurance, pet. Nothing more.” He negligently kicked the downed man. “You’ll come to me of your own free will.”

“And you’ll let both Hellion and Bahlin go. Permanently.”

“You think to change the deal?” Asmodeus asked, a lethal edge to his voice.

Agares began to sputter and object.
 

Asmodeus shot him a hard look and the demon immediately quieted.

“You changed everything when you took Bahlin.”
 

“As I said, insurance. Drop your weapons and come to me now. We’ll seal our bargain, and I’ll return you to your lover tomorrow at sunrise.” He held out his hand.

I looked between him and Bahlin, avoiding Hellion’s hard stare. Finally, with slow deliberation, I turned to him. “I have to do this.”

“I won’t allow it, Maddy.” He stepped forward. “Take me instead.”

“Unless you can bear the child, I’m not interested. At the moment, anyway.” Asmodeus smiled benignly. “Courteous of you to try and step in, though.”

Hellion spun on me, getting in my face. “No.”

“There’s no choice.” My voice broke on the last word. A hot tear trailed down my cheek, burning across skin gone icy with fear and near shock. I dropped my sword and dirk, stepped around Hellion and reached for Asmodeus’s hand.

“
Ecce crucem Domini
.
In the name of the Holy Mother, by the power of Christ, and with the spirit of St. Peter, I cast you out. I cast you out. I cast you out.” Father O’Cleary moved into the cast of players, a crucifix held in his shaking hand. Behind him, Zerachiel laid a hand on his shoulder, following and praying. Demons cowered away from them.

Asmodeus grinned, indulgent. “You think to do what? Cast me back to Hell? I come and go as I please.”

“No longer,” the priest proclaimed, uttering prayers and reciting scripture as he moved forward.
 

“You seek to do the impossible. Has the Church taught you nothing in the ways and means of probabilities? Poor form,
Father
,” Asmodeus said, sneering. “And what do you bring for me but a treat on the back of your cassock? He hides there like a mouse from a wily cat.” He stepped wide and looked over Zerachiel. Asmodeus’s eyes narrowed. “Nephilim. What is your name?”

Zerachiel continued to pray.

“Answer me. Now.”
 

The command made my bones ache.

When Zerachiel failed to answer, Asmodeus turned to Agares. “Do your worst, you and your Dominae.”

They moved as a unit, circling Zerachiel and the priest. Taunts poured from their mouths, vicious and cutting. Father O’Cleary faltered as they verbally assaulted him, singling him out with cruel efficiency. They called him out on his vanity and pride, his belief that he might be able to conquer the Dominae with his measly faith in a god who couldn’t be seen.
 

“Faith, Father. Fortify me,” O’Cleary murmured, holding the crucifix higher.

Hellion materialized at his side. “I’ll fortify you, Father.” He turned and cursed the nearest Dominae. Magic stained his palms black. Wind whipped around the clearing, unnatural, funneling tension into the situation.