Chapter 50 Ivy
Ivy
The demon chuckled darkly under his breath as he pulled a whip from his belt, letting it unfold and hit the ground. A sadistic glint entered his dark eyes, a look that made my stomach twist.
I clutched the baby closer as he stepped forward, more hellhounds swarming around him. Their growls echoed through the tunnel, dark and feral.
“No more chances, little bitch Queen,” the demon said, cracking the whip.
It had the shifted children struggling against their leashes, trying to escape him.
Even the sleeping babies woke with cries.
The one in my arms startled and buried her face into my shoulder, though she didn’t cry like the newborns.
Like she already knew better at a few months old.
Bile rose in my throat, as well as anger. An anger I couldn’t feed because I didn’t have my magic.
There was nothing human Ivy could do against the demon and approaching hellhounds.
But if I had my magic…I could have destroyed them all with just a thought.
Instead, I was weak. And all I could do was let Hawk shield me from any possible attack.
“Are you really going to let all of them die for you?” the demon continued, dragging his whip against the rocky ground, the sound just as chilling as the crack. “They were all wrong about you, then.”
I blinked hard against the familiar sting of tears. Pressing my lips together, I stared at him, at the small army of hellhounds. There were a dozen now waiting, each one poised to attack at any moment. The smell of sulphur and blood grew heavier in the air.
By staying quiet, I was confirming everything he said. Maybe I was showing all these people exactly what kind of person I really was. Weak, reliant on others. I’d gotten so used to having my power after fearing it for so long, that now, I couldn’t exist without it.
The demon laughed again, startling me. It was a cruel, sadistic laugh. “What makes you think you’re any better than Dante? You allow these weakened creatures to stand for you, while you hide yourself away. Pathetic.”
I gritted my teeth, heart racing. “You’re right,” I said, voice breaking. “But I’m nothing like Dante. I didn’t weaken these creatures, he did. I didn’t trap them in cages, he did. I didn’t force literal children to shift, didn’t torture them when they couldn’t. He did.”
I stepped out from behind Hawk, each pounding beat of my heart guiding me through our group to the front where Lazarus and Onyx stood, both giving me looks as if to tell me to go back.
From behind, I heard Hawk and Xerxes try and push their way through to me, but Greer’s mates held them back. Stopped them from proving the demon right.
“I might be weaker now,” I said, lifting my chin and meeting his dead stare. “I might not have my power, but you’re wrong about me letting others die for me.”
“Am I?” He cocked his head, lips curled in a dark smirk. “The death toll up there is rising.”
“But so are the number of escapes,” Sunniva said, her voice cutting, dark. “They found a way out. And once they’re out, don’t you realise how easily this place will be found?”
I didn’t take my eyes off him as his expression darkened before settling into one of anger. “There have been escapes before,” he replied, voice low. “But they never found their way back here. This won’t last. They’re easy pickings up there, just like they are down here.”
The demon grinned. “Did you know your mate was amongst the original escapees?” he asked, taking a threatening step towards me. “The wolf. Here, he was known by another name, after his whore of a mother birthed him.”
It felt like ice running down my spine as I stepped back.
He matched my step, the hounds moving in sync behind him. “He was my favourite to break.”
I stared at him as my stomach churned. “The scars…that was you.”
“Cyrus, the traitor, helped.” The demon shrugged as if it were such an easy, throwaway thing. But my mind locked on the fact that my mate’s mentor, the closest thing he had to a father, had been instrumental in hurting him. Had whipped him as a child, put those scars on his back.
Worst of all, Elias had been born down here, just like the baby in my arms.
My throat tightened with emotion as I took another step back, horror filling me. But with that horror came the familiar burn of rage. A fiery sensation that normally called for me to take control over my magic.
I didn’t expect to feel the small flicker of something deep in my chest that felt too right to ignore.
“You won’t survive this,” the demon sneered, taking one last step towards me.
Two of the hounds moved to stand in front of him almost protectively.
“Once the hounds are done with you, you’ll be wishing for death.
You and those little bastards you’re carrying.
I wouldn’t have minded having a chance at the little cunt River’s fathered.
It would have been poetic. His father, him, and then his spawn. ”
I couldn’t stop my lips from pulling back in a snarl as I snapped, “You won’t ever touch my child. Not now, not ever. And you will never touch my mates again.”
The demon laughed, but I felt that familiar tug in my chest towards power. It was there, that familiar beckoning of magic. This time, though, it was almost painful.
Cato and Sunniva moved to stand either side of Onyx and Lazarus; the former handed his gun over to the white-haired demon who’d always unsettled me, especially after the way he’d spoken to my mates about Orion, while the latter raised her weapon, though rather than aiming it at the pain demon, she had it on the hounds.
There were too many for us to take down.
Of course, I’d watched Adrian, Rowan, and Elias take three on when they’d come after me.
But the demon had been right about how weak we were.
Greer’s mates were powerful, but they’d spent more time than me in a cage.
And now that Greer was dead, I wasn’t sure what their power levels were at.
Yet despite that, there was a handoff of children. Those too weak to fight now held two babies and a leash. I was pushed back, away from the front line. Hawk gave me his toddler, eyes dark as he spared me a look.
Do not try and get in the middle of this fight, he said. Stay back.
I gritted my teeth but gave him a nod, holding the toddler on one hip, the baby still against my chest.
Xerxes appeared beside me, and I watched as he lowered Thor to the ground. The bear shifter was still out cold, though his lashes fluttered with sleep, and his chest rose with each breath he took.
The Primal then cupped my cheek, his large hand covering almost half of my face. “Stay.”
“I will,” I whispered, moving to stand protectively in front of Thor as Theon, Otto, and Leith moved to stand with me. Ya’Dahir, Magnus, Amais, Lazarus, Onyx, and Hugo created almost a barrier around us and the children, while Hawk, Xerxes, Cato, and Sunniva took the lead.
A sinking feeling hit me hard as I stared through the barrier at the hellhounds. Only one thought raced through my head. This is going to be a blood bath.
“If this is how you want to play this,” the demon shouted, moving to allow the dozen or so hellhounds to stand in front of him, “then so be it, bitch queen! Let them bleed for you, die for you. Then I will cut those babies from your belly myself and feed them to the hounds!”
Disgust rolled through me, but I couldn’t do anything as I watched the first hound leap forward and try to clamp its jaw around Xerxes.
A breath caught in my throat as I watched the tall Primal swing his arm into the hound and knock it back into the others.
Gunfire rang through the air as Sunniva and Lazarus let off several rounds of bullets.
Some cut through the hounds, but that didn’t stop them.
It angered the beasts, urging them on with a far more vicious attack.
Somehow, a visible shield appeared around the small group of us hiding away; Theon tried to hush one of the crying infants, while Otto continued to silently hold two of the smaller children to his chest, eyes staring into the dark tunnel, not at the battle playing out around us.
I couldn’t help but follow his stare. “Are you waiting for Dante to show himself?” I asked without looking at him.
“I have a feeling he will not stop us,” he replied, voice hoarse. “My son is a coward. And I do not know what I will do if I see him again.”
A shiver rolled down my spine as Otto’s dark eyes found mine. He said nothing else as he turned towards the fight, and I couldn’t help but do the same.
Cato’s ice magic chilled the air, especially as he sent spears through the hounds, skewering them to the ceiling and walls. Xerxes flung another hellhound off him, this time slamming it against the wall and trapping it in the stone with his own magic.
Hawk, though, circled the demon. I held my breath as the whip was put away, replaced by a knife, the blade long. It glinted in the witch light, the end already stained with blood.
Over Hawk’s shoulder, the pain demon looked at me, eyes shining with a familiar cruelty, with an excitement that made nausea churn in my stomach.
And yet, I couldn’t tear my eyes off them, not even when the demon launched his attack.
He came at Hawk swinging, the blade racing through the air.
But Hawk swerved, ducking beneath his arm, and slammed his elbow into the demon’s back.
I choked on a sound as the demon only stumbled before righting himself and came at Hawk harder.
Several guttural howls sounded somewhere beyond the tunnel. Not in the direction we’d come down, but towards the exit.
No. More hellhounds appeared, at least a dozen.
But before they could throw themselves into the fight, they came to an eerie halt. They made no sound, and only the glow of their eyes could be seen in the darkness.
I looked to Theon, who stilled beside me. “Why aren’t they attacking?” I whispered, checking over my shoulder for their master. Only Dante had the power to control them. But when I searched for any sign of him, there was nothing but the thick darkness we’d walked through.
When I turned to Theon again, his eyes weren’t on the new army of hellhounds. I followed his line of sight and took in Otto’s still form, the glow of his eyes as he focused on the hounds.
“Is he…is he controlling them now?” I asked.
Theon cleared his throat. “I guess he is.”
Behind me, I heard a yell and spun to take in Hawk breathing hard as he stood over the fallen demon.
The half-Fae male looked up, eyes black, and met my stare. For a moment, I watched the war play out in his eyes as he considered whether he should slaughter the demon or keep him alive.
For me, it was an easy choice. He was a torturer, had hurt nearly everyone in this tunnel. He was vicious, wicked, and he felt no remorse for what he’d done. For Goddess knew how long, he’d been the perfect weapon for Dante to enact his cruelty, and the male saw no problem with that.
The last thing I wanted was to give him another chance. I didn’t want him to continue being a nightmare to these children—to my mates.
It might not have been my decision; I probably shouldn’t act as judge and jury, but he also didn’t deserve to live.
Males like him, if given the chance, found ways to survive. Just like Dante would if he wasn’t taken out. Like Hyperion Black and the rest of that supposed High Council Dante had. If given the chance, they’d find a way to escape punishment.
And yet, I knew better than to take the choice away from those he hurt.
As if hearing that thought, Hawk bowed his head.
He cocked his arm and slammed his fist into the demon’s face before the male could find his footing again.
And then, black marks snaked their way up the demon’s arms and face.
Horror filled his eyes as he looked back at me, fear shining in them as they rolled into the back of his head.
I didn’t flinch or look away this time as Hawk sucked the power from his body and claimed it as his own.
The pain demon went limp, falling to the ground in a heap. I blinked hard as I stared at his crumpled body, then Hawk’s bleeding eyes as he shuddered. He took a stumbling step over the demon towards us.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked Theon, taking a step forward, unable to take my eyes off Hawk.
“Is he bonded to you?”
I shook my head, heart racing. “No, we never…he didn’t…”
“He might be on the brink of overconsumption,” Leith said, keeping his voice soft. “A wraith can only take so much, and since he’s half…”
Despite knowing literally nothing about wraiths, I didn’t need to hear anything else. It was obvious; Hawk took more than he could hold.
Now, I prayed to the Goddess it didn’t harm him. I couldn’t lose him. Not when we were so close to freedom.
I refused to lose him, again.