Chapter 16 Holly
HOLLY
“Is all of your world this cold?” My kidnapper hissed, barely audible over the storm. I forced a laugh.
“Th-this isn’t cold,” I said, wishing my teeth would stop chattering and ruining my lie. “If you want c-cold, come back in winter.”
It was a little thing, but I didn’t intend to give him any useful information. Seeker might know nothing about humans or their temperature tolerance. Mostly, I wanted to distract him while I shone my phone light back. If Abaddon saw it, maybe he could track me down.
He’d have to be quick, though. The cold was in my bones already, and I’d be an icicle soon if I didn’t get into shelter.
“Doesn’t matter. All I need is a bit of space from Abaddon, then I can stop, make fire.” Seeker wasn’t speaking to me, just thinking aloud, but it still gave me hope to hear his plans. If he planned to make a fire, I had a chance of survival.
But then Seeker would use me as leverage with Abaddon, and that would be awful no matter the outcome. I had to do something while we were still close enough for Abaddon to find me.
So I did the only think I could think of, slung over a demon’s shoulder as he flew away. I grabbed the base of his right wing, pulled my mouth to it, and bit. The screech of agony that followed was its own reward, so I bit down harder.
Seeker lost control, thrashing in midair and spinning. Tree limbs struck like whips as he flew into them, and I heard the awful tearing noise as one impaled his wing membrane. That was enough to make him let go, and I hit another couple of branches on the way down to the snow-covered ground.
I landed with a thump that knocked the breath out of me, and my phone tumbled from my hand.
From the sound of his cursing, Seeker came down more gently, but I still figured I was ahead.
Woozily pulling myself to my feet, I leaned against a tree trunk to steady myself while I tried to work out which way to go.
Snow crunched under Seeker’s feet, which gave me enough warning to duck aside and put the tree between us. Burning claws carved into the trunk, missing me by inches, and I yelped and stumbled back.
“You mortal bitch,” the scout roared, stalking around the tree and advancing on me. His left wing trailed behind him, the membrane torn in three places. Yeah, you’re not flying anywhere. “I will kill you, skin you, and use your hide for boots.”
His delivery was so matter of fact that it didn’t seem like a threat. Just an angry description of what he was going to do now.
“Hey, hey, you need me for bargaining, remember?” I kept backing away. He kept advancing. And the distance between us shrank with each step.
“Bah. I will do without. Perhaps Abaddon will pay for my new footwear.” Seeker spread his lips into an expression that someone might, from a distance, confuse for a smile. Up close, his rows of pointed teeth didn’t look friendly at all.
I kept backing away, knowing I was only buying time. His stride was longer than mine, and he could see where he was going. But turning my back on him seemed like an even worse idea.
“Now, you’re not thinking straight,” I said, working on the theory that as long as we were talking he wasn’t skinning me.
All I have to do is stay alive until Abaddon finds me, I told myself, deliberately not thinking about how disorienting the storm was.
“If you kill me, Abaddon will kill you too. Killing me isn’t worth dying for, right? ”
“His time has passed. He is weak, too weak to rule, and too proud to serve.” Seeker sneered as he spoke, still advancing. “I don’t need him for anything, and he can’t catch me in this storm. So, no, you aren’t worth dying for, but that won’t save you.”
That was when I ran out of space to retreat into. My foot hit a rock, tripping me to sprawl against a tree trunk. No more running away. I’d delayed as long as I could.
Seeker’s grin widened into a horrific gulf of teeth. He raised his clawed hand, advancing slowly, savoring my last moments.
And then something hit him like a missile out of the darkness. A sleek black shape, soundless and too fast to see properly, slammed into Seeker with enough force to send him staggering.
Belial. Abaddon’s hellhound snapped silently at the scout’s face, and I took advantage of the distraction to get to my feet. My ankle hurt, but it would take my weight. That would have to do.
“Get off me, cur!” Seeker’s shriek followed me as I limped into the woods, heading where the trees grew thickest and hoping my trail wasn’t too obvious.
The demon scout was no slouch in a fight, though.
His stone-like skin helped against Belial’s bites, letting him ignore the hellhound’s attacks and take control of the grapple.
A canine yelp had me looking over my shoulder to see Seeker throw him into a tree.
He dropped to the ground and didn’t rise.
Puffs of smoke rising from his mouth were the only evidence the hellhound still lived
Crap. I hoped he’d be okay, but I couldn’t go back and help. All that would accomplish was getting myself caught again. Instead, I hurried on as Seeker set out in pursuit. If I can’t help Belial, perhaps I can lead that fucker away.
Which was a fine theory, but less practical than I’d like. My top limping speed wouldn’t get me far, so I headed into the thickest parts of the forest. At least there, the trees would slow Seeker down too.
It felt like a slasher movie, with me hobbling from tree to tree and a monster behind me, slowly but surely catching up.
My plan, if it could be called that, was to head in the direction Belial had come from, hoping it was a straight line back to the cabin.
Among the trees, though, I couldn’t exactly stop and look for signs.
Ten seconds in and I was hopelessly turned around. The only clue I had to navigate by was the noise Seeker made, which got closer and closer. I was running out of options.
Then I ran out of forest.
The clearing took me by surprise and I’d stumbled into it before I realized it was there. Without a tree for support, my bad ankle gave out, reducing me to undignified hops to keep my balance.
Seeker burst out of the woods behind me before I could get myself back into cover.
“Got you,” he hissed, his voice colder than the snow. “And now—”
“Now, nothing.”
Startled, I snapped my head around to see Abaddon entering the clearing, his heavy steps crunching through the snow.
Fury etched into his face, hellfire blazing in his eyes, lips drawn back in a snarl, he would have terrified a company of marines.
The sheer force of his rage knocked me on my ass, and it wasn’t even aimed at me.
Seeker froze for a second, but the gargoyle didn’t wilt and flee. Instead, he made the stupid choice and leaped at me, grabbing me by the throat. Sharp claws digging into my neck, he hauled me up in front of him.
“Release her,” Abaddon said in a cold, hard voice a thousand times scarier than any rant could have been.
“Oh no, no. You stay back, or I’ll spill your pretty’s blood all over this clearing, yesss?”
Abaddon didn’t stop advancing. “You will not. If you harm her, you will regret it for the rest of your miserable life. Which I will make last.”
It dawned on me that, as scared as I’d been of him, I’d never really taken Abaddon seriously as a demon. Now, issuing that threat? I believed him in a way I hadn’t before, and I almost felt sorry for Seeker.
Almost.
My captor backed away from Abaddon, dragging me with him. “She will still be dead if you attack me. Come, Lord, be reasonable, we can work something out.”
His pitch crept upward, desperation in his voice, and his hand shook, driving his claws into my neck far enough to make me yelp at the sudden pain.
As though that was a signal, Abaddon moved. He switched from a slow, ominous advance to a charge without warning, and his hand closed on Seeker’s wrist with a crunch. The hunter’s fingers spasmed open, dropping me, and Abaddon spun, throwing the other demon into a nearby tree.
The impact knocked the snow from its limbs, and it fell on Seeker like a mini-avalanche. With his free hand, Abaddon caught me before I’d fallen halfway to the ground. I latched onto his arm like a drowning woman grabbing a lifeline, and felt the roaring inferno under his crimson skin.
“You came,” I gasped. Not the smoothest line. Abaddon lifted me carefully, his gaze flicking up and down my body.
“He hurt you.” It wasn’t a question.
“Not badly, just a sprain,” I answered in a hurry. “I hurt him first.”
My demon lord’s snarl turned, for just a second, into an approving grin. “That’s my mortal.”
“She’s your dead mortal. I will eat her soul and flay her body.” Shaking off the snow, Seeker pulled himself to his feet. His stone skin had cracked under Abaddon’s grip, and both wings trailed behind him. Rage blazed in his eyes, and black flame surrounded him like a reverse halo.
He looked like a monster, and he looked at me with a hunger that was nothing like Abaddon’s. Where Abaddon wanted to claim me, Seeker wanted to consume and destroy me. And he might do just that.