Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
KELLAN
“ T he decision is mine.” Kellan stepped away from the girl after gently setting her back down on the stone slab. “I will decide his fate. He will pay for what he’s done.” That familiar rage welled within. Burning a hole through him, igniting his blood. His body begged for the kill. To feel the flesh beneath the tips of his fingers as he ripped the demon to pieces. To hear the sound of his sword as it cleaved through the creature’s bones, one by one.
His gaze lingered on the girl before him for a short moment, and he knew he had to tread carefully to keep himself in check. Before he could change his mind, Kellan turned, stalking toward the demon being restrained by his brother.
“We’re supposed to be restoring the balance, not killing off more!” Gabriel’s words were usually final, whether they liked it or not. “WAR!” The putrid being struggled beneath his brother’s grasp, but Death didn’t budge, his weapon held firm against the demon’s throat.
From the corner of his eye, Kellan watched as the power behind his brother’s voice made the girl flinch. He ignored him still. Eyes deadly calm as he honed in on his target, willing the room around him to disappear. He didn’t recognize the Demon Lord, but loathed him all the same. Curling his lips inward, the male snarled at him, baring a set of deadly fangs.
“What did you have planned for her?” He asked, hand resting dangerously atop the pommel of his sword as he strode closer.
“Why do you care, Horseman? She on your side?” The demon shifted his weight uneasily, but the blade of Gabriel’s scythe didn’t get any further away from his flesh. Kellan watched as a thin line of dark blood dribbled from his unnaturally pale throat. Tracking it as it splattered against the rock at his feet.
“I am the one asking questions.” The growl that erupted was near animalistic, and he felt it rumble through his chest. Dial it down .
“Are you abandoning your council? Are the Horsemen making a play for Earth?”
Kellan wanted to wipe that filthy smirk from his face. To cut him down limb from limb, but he refrained. Barely.
“Answer me, or your head will roll.”
With a sigh that weighed heavily in annoyance, he spoke. “The King is returning to Earth.” The demon stopped his struggles, accepting the deadly weapon before him.
Every bone in Kellan’s body froze at the name. The rage he’d been trying to keep in check nearly ready to explode as it hit a new high. “And who are you to hold this knowledge?” He said through clenched teeth.
“Aaron, Lord of the shadow demons.” The male stood taller, stepping further into Gabriel’s scythe. “He’s been looking for the girl, and I was to deliver her to him.”
Kellan brought his gaze up to Gabriel, the knowing look mirroring his own before dragging his away, meeting the piercing eyes of Eire and Kane. Uneasy. Weary. If that was true, none of what to follow was good.
“We have hidden in the shadows for far too long. It is our time to reign.” The demon laughed in a maniacal way, and it echoed throughout the cavern. “You’re all in danger. He’s already here.”
Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.
There was something so much bigger going on. Bigger than they were told. The council had withheld vital information from them. Demitria wasn’t the enemy they had been led to believe, because there was no way the council didn’t know about him .
“What does he want with her?” Kellan demanded, taking a step closer as his boots crunched something along the floor. He didn’t care to look.
The demon glanced behind Kellan before looking back at him. “Her soul. I was to break it before delivering her soul.” Gabriel tightened his grip on the scythe, pressing deeper into the demon lord’s neck. More blood dripped from the wound, pooling along the floor beneath him.
“They were eating her alive! That is no way to break a human soul!” The anger. He was going to explode. Red. So much red. He couldn’t see anything but red as his power surged within him, begging to break free. He could barely contain it, writhing through his veins, along his arms in dark tendrils.
“Do you feel something for this girl?” The demon lord laughed, spitting at his feet. “How disgusting. How… interesting.”
He’d done it. Had pushed him so far over the edge Kellan had lost the ability to control his own body. Triggering the carnal disease that had taken over so many times before as that darkness within him broke free.
“Capturing her was the biggest fucking mistake you ever made.” Calm, deadly cool.
The demon’s head rolled feet away, blade heavy on the rock where it rested after his swing. It cut through flesh as easily as the wind tossed a leaf.
The sharp intake of air brought Kellan back. The cavern came into focus. His siblings, each and every one of them staring at him. No, at something behind him.
Demitria had slumped over, face pale. The blood pooling in her clothing, staining everything a dark crimson as it flowed. Inky veins marred her face. Every inch of her.
Shit .
Kellan was beside her in a heartbeat, his body moving on its own accord. So much blood. Too much blood for a human. He took everything in. The gaping wounds that littered her body. The darkening of her veins as the poison coursed through her system. “You need to help her!” He faced his kin, meeting each of their eyes. Pleading. “Please brother, I beg of you.”
“It’s one human girl, Kellan.” Gabriel spoke quietly. “I can give life and I can take life, but I can only heal minor injuries.”
“Gabriel, please! You are the eldest and strongest of us all. Heal her.” He would get to his knees and beg if he had to. She would not die. Not on his watch. He picked the girl’s slumped figure up from the rock, cradling her to his chest as he waited for his brother.
Gabriel fluttered toward them, graceful in his strides. Standing over Kellan as he cradled the girl in his arms. “I don’t know if this will work.” With a sigh Gabriel placed his hands above the most gruesome wound above her heart. His eyes closed as he concentrated, and Kellan knew what came next. He watched on as Gabriel commanded his power to leave his body and willed it into Demitria’s.
Her eyes widened as she took in a sharp intake of breath. Kellan knew the pain she was in, feeling the power weaving its way through her body as her skin began to reattach, growing closed over the wounds. He’d felt the burn of Gabriel’s power more times than he could count, and it never got easier. Demitria ground her teeth together, burying her head in his chest, fists clenched tight as she fought the scream he was sure threatened to emerge.
Gabriel opened his eyes and looked down at her, her breathing rapid as she lay there. “I never said it would be painless.” He took a step back. When Kellan was sure she was stable, he set her back down.
“Thank you.” She stared up at him with wide eyes. Her body was covered in blood, clothes torn, but she was… healed. “My name is Demitria Collins. I am indebted to you for saving my life. All of you.” She met the eyes of each and every one of the Horsemen, driving the words home.
“You have obviously met my brother.” Gabriel was the first to speak. “My name is Gabriel, but your people know me as Death. I am the eldest of the Horsemen. These two are my other siblings.” He motioned toward them with a hand before grabbing the scythe he’d leaned against the wall, fitting it into the leather at his back.
Eire was leaning against the cavern wall, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Eire.” She mumbled, flipping a long black braid over her shoulder. “I am the second eldest, Famine.” She stared at Demitria with questioning eyes. Kane walked straight over to them, extending out his hand as he smiled. “The name’s Kane.” He grinned. “I am the Horseman Pestilence. Now how in the world do you know our baby brother?” He said the word ‘baby brother’ in a near mocking tone, and Kellan could have killed him for it. He’d been dealing with his shit for over a millennium, and it never got easier. He knew they’d ask questions. His only problem? He wouldn’t have the answers to any of them.
“He-He saved my life.” She looked down at her hands, anxious at the attention as her fingers fumbled with the hem of her shirt.
“And she saved mine, a feat no other soul in existence has dared aside from you.” Kellan didn’t dare to meet the questioning eyes of his siblings. Refused to see the looks on each of their faces. “Why don’t we settle for the night? The demons won't be back. We could all use a rest.”
“Is no one going to talk about what just happened?” Eire questioned, her hands planting along her leather-clad hips as stormy gray eyes shot around the room between Gabriel and Kane.
“No, we’re not.” Kellan huffed, running a hand through his hair. He stared at them a moment later. At the blood that still coated them, and he’d seemingly streaked through his hair. Her blood. Any being would have been revulsed at the thought, but he’d seen so much bloodshed that even the thought of it didn’t seem to faze him.
“What you asked of him goes against everything we were sent here to do.” Eire took a step toward him, and he couldn’t help the audible groan that left his lips.
“They were wrong.” They’d all been through this. The claims made by the Demon Lord had proved it. The council kept tabs on the Dark King, and there was no way in hell they weren’t aware of his presence here.
“You should have let them k?—”
“Silence!” Gabriel shouted, cutting Eire off before she could finish as he stood between them. “I will not hear any more of this tonight.” His nostrils flared, his jaw clenched tight.
Kellan turned from his siblings, eyeing the girl behind him. She hadn’t moved from the rock slab, but watched the exchange between his siblings curiously, her full lips turned in a frown.
“Kellan is right. We’ll rest for the night, convene in the morning.” Finally, Gabriel sighed. “Someone should take first watch. I have some things to take care of.” He watched as his brother disappeared through the mouth of the tunnel, and he knew exactly what Gabriel was doing. He already knew the council wouldn’t answer Gabriel’s summons.
“I’ll do it.” Flipping her braid over her shoulder, Eire followed behind their eldest sibling. “Don’t bother changing me out.”
Kellan watched her leave for a moment before turning away, the sigh heavy on his lips. He met Kane’s icy stare and could see the questions in his pale blue eyes. He turned away from him, too.
Spotting the discarded dark cloak on the floor, Kellan swiped it up, setting it down on the cool stone along the wall, far away from the rock slab where she’d been brutalized. It was the one clothing item that hadn’t been torn during the attack. He helped her off the slab, and she walked on shaking legs toward it before settling her back against the wall.
“I’m going to be okay.” She whispered as he took a seat beside her.
She still looked weak, but the color had returned to her fair cheeks, now tinged with a hue of soft pink. Something akin to relief washed through him as the dark veins were slowly dissipating into nothing.
“No thanks to you… again.” The chuckle left her lips as she rested a head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. Her body relaxed against his. Every bone in his body froze at the closeness, his body going ramrod straight. The willingness to lean against him. Kellan bit his tongue to suppress the shudder at the foreign feeling. “Why do you do it? Why do you keep helping me when everyone else wants me dead. I don’t understand it.”
Well shit…
“I don’t know what it is about you.” Kellan stared at the girl resting easily beside him as he felt the hint of a smile slowly creep its way across his face. “I can’t explain it. What it is that you’re doing to me.” His words left him in a rushed whisper, the truths he so easily gave, sent a wave of shock throughout his body. “But I—” He didn’t have a chance to continue as Demitria reached a tired hand toward him, soft on his face as she caressed his cheek. Those piercing green-gold eyes pinning him to the stone as she stared at him.
“Despite what others think, you’re good, Kellan.” She smiled up at him. Genuine. Kind .
He had no words. No words to describe the emotions within, like a bomb had ignited, exploding and tearing him open for the entire world to see.