Kasadya Hellhound Defined (Kasadya Hellhound Series) Page 9

  "Alright, we shift to the location just before the gate," Chax said, taking possession of my hand.

  I closed my eyes and waited for the shift. For a moment there was nothing, and then the awkward pull of us all followed. I felt my feet hit ground and opened my eyes, avoiding Chax's. He released my hand and moved to the edge of what looked like a mountain. Crouching down, he crawled to the edge and leaned over a little. Of course I was next to him just a few seconds later. It wasn’t like I was going to miss out on something dangerous. My breath caught in my throat when I saw what he was so keen on spying on.

  "What in the world is that?" I asked with a shaking voice.

  The things were freaking huge. Six creatures like dragons were crawling or flying around at the bottom. Holy heck, we had a problem, or six.

  "They’re his new weapon," Chax replied and nodded into a direction.

  Frowning, I followed with my eyes and spotted an even bigger problem. No matter how hard I tried, this one was an even bigger problem. "Ah crap," I muttered.

  Mr. Demon was standing at the bottom, looking at a group of demons packing things against the invisible wall. So, this must be the wall, and by the looks of it, they were trying to get through it. Another demon slid to view from the other side of the wall. He kept his head down as he spoke to Mr. Demon. In a split second, he was grabbed and thrown towards the dragon-like creatures. They squirreled and fought amongst each other to get to him. The demon screamed and tried to crawl away from the frenzy around him. One dragon fought another to the ground and jumped over it, snatching the demon and gulping him down. Correction, we have a huge freaking problem.

  "I take it those are the creatures you guys were talking about? How the hell do we get past them?" I asked when everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts.

  "Your guess is as good as ours," Max replied, scouting the scene.

  Another fight broke out between the dragons and one shot another with a ball of fire, the impact sending the other one to the ground. The devil turned around and looked at the new fight that had broken out, his eyebrows frowning. I shuddered when I looked at him, remembering all the stuff that he so playfully did to me. Once, he tricked me by camouflaging himself as Chax. I was so relieved and happy I even giggled. But when Chax stabbed a dagger through my heart, I knew it was just another trick. Hell, I hated him even more after that.

  "Kasadya?" Chax said next to me.

  I turned to look at him, pissed off not only by the ass below and what he did to me but also with Chax and what he most likely was going to have to do. "Yes," I hissed at him.

  He frowned at me but didn’t say what he sure as hell wanted to. Sometimes words just don’t cut it.

  "Gluttire," someone growled, and I looked back to the scene below.

  Sure as hell, there he stood next to the devil, all high and mighty. My hands itched for a fight. Another growl sounded next to me and I snapped my head into the direction. Luxuria or Alexia, whatever, was as pissed off as me. Her eyes were stabbing daggers into him. I recalled the conversation we had when the others were gone. All of her powers were given to him, which meant he was the last one. I looked at him again.

  "Is he the last one?" I asked.

  Silence.

  "I asked if he was the last one?" I asked again, this time a growl of my own accompanying the question.

  "Yes, your last target," Alexia replied when no one else wanted to.

  "Kasadya, you are still too weak to take him on. We will deal with him another day. Now, our only goal is to get through those walls." Chax dismissed my fantasy.

  "He's right there. Let’s get it over with," I hissed back.

  "No, you’re not strong enough," Chax replied.

  I bit back the comeback I was building up. Dammit!

  "So, how are we going to get past them? Even more, how the hell are we going to get the wall open?" Ben asked after Chax and I had a moment of death glare 101.

  "I'm thinking about it. I will open the wall," Chax replied, his focus back on the demons.

  I wanted so bad to ask how he had the power to do that, but just remained silent. I already knew the bloody answer.

  "What about a distraction? Someone leads them away from the walls, and then you open it. Then that person can just shift into the opening," Lada suggested.

  All heads turned to her.

  "No," Chax dismissed.

  "It's worth a shot," I threw back.

  "Yeah, kind of makes sense," Nanini pitched in.

  "Best shot we have," Max agreed.

  "Who's going to lead them away?" Zurita asked.

  "I can," Raven suggested.

  "I said No!" Chax continued on.

  "I agree, Raven. Sorry, I'm taking this one," Caim replied and got up.

  Chax was on his feet and blocking his way.

  "I said NO," he growled at Caim.

  "And it's not up you to decide. You open that damn wall and get them out of here." Caim shuffled him away.

  Chax shifted and brought him to the ground. "No!"

  "Damn you, Chax! We don’t have a choice. We need to get the hell out of here." Caim struggled below him.

  I took a deep breath and shifted. I landed about 500 m from the first dragon. "Hey dragon, do you want to play?" I taunted him.

  All the creatures’ heads turned simultaneously. Including the devil and his pet. "Hey, Gluttire, I see you’re still playing lapdog." I just had to throw that in.

  The creatures screeched and bolted for me. I turned and transformed at the same time, pain shooting into my ribcage. Lifting up into the air, I pushed off with my wings, clearing just above the others.

  "Get them the hell out of here!" I yelled as I climbed even higher into the air.

  There were a few mental shouts and curses. I ignored them, of course. My wings picked up something coming at me so I turned and tumbled down to the ground. A ball of fire missed me by inches, the owner screeching its failure. Huge bodies were closing in around me. I turned and tumbled. In midair, I stopped and pushed back up again. Giant mouths snapped around me, the sound vibrating into me. Two dragons crashed into each other, trying to reach me. High enough again, I closed my wings and dived for the ground. All six dragons were trying to reach me. Turning my body, I swirled between them, missing giant teeth and bodies by inches. Reaching the ground, I pushed my wings out and started to climb into the air away from the frenzy.

  Just as I cleared the dragons, something slammed into me. Numb for a few seconds, I got my bearings back and looked down as I once again tumbled to the earth. I tried opening my wings but something was holding them shut. Bending my head up I looked straight into a pair of eyes I really wanted to see at the moment.

  "Ballen, should have known," I grumbled as I pulled my head back.

  With all I had, I smashed it into his, my horn piercing his face. I really loved the upgrade.

  He released my wings and grabbed my horns. Alright, time to play. I stretched out my wings and started to flap against the fall. With a lot of strain and effort, I stopped the free fall and was now pushing back up.

  "Hellhound," Ballen growled and tried to get my horns out of him, but I wrapped my hands around his throat, ready to rip it apart.

  Which never happened because one of the dragons decided to give us a whack. My horn was torn from Ballen's face and I tumbled towards the earth. Opening my wings, I tried to slow the momentum to start pushing back up.

  "Kasadya, shift to me!" Chax’s voice broke my concentration.

  I looked to the wall and found him holding his hands against it. Caim, Max and Ben were fighting off a few demons and Nanini just entered the hole created by him. I closed my eyes and shifted. I landed close to them and started running. I was almost there when something huge hit me from the front. I flew backwards until I hit solid rock. My wind was knocked out of me; I coughed to try to breathe again while my body slipped down towards the ground. With each cough, liquid splattered on my face as the wind whipped it back. I landed hard and
ugly, my body slumping into a heap of nothing.

  Oh damn, that hurts.

  With my cheek on the ground, I coughed again, only then registering that I was coughing blood. Okay, not good. A growl had me raising my eyes to see three dragons storming towards me. They fought each other, eager to get to their meal. Oh no, really not good. I tried to move my arms but they were nothing but dead weight. Dread grew in my chest as I watched the monsters advance to me. I wondered if I would feel anything.

  Chapter 11

  My vision was suddenly blocked by a body and someone grabbed hold of me. With a shift I was wrapped around in frigid cold until finally the beautiful sun greeted me by blinding me. Another shift had me almost heaving out any content left in my stomach.

  "Maia!" Chax’s voice boomed around me.

  I peeked open my eyes and was greeted with a familiar scene, one I seemed to visit a lot. Maia came storming from somewhere. She cursed, crossed herself, and then moved with us toward a bed I knew all too well. I was placed down onto the bed while Chax stepped back for Maia to heal me.

  "Kas," she all but whispered as she placed her hands on me and sent a huge surge of healing energy into me. My back arched under the impact, and my stomach and chest buzzed with magic.

  "You’re doing it too fast!" Chax’s voice vibrated around my aching skull.

  “Sorry, I'm just... I can’t believe you found her and she is still alive," Maia replied and the surge of energy died down to a low hum.

  I relaxed back onto the bed and opened my eyes. A pair of eyes were trying to rip me apart. "Oh no," I breathed.

  "Oh, I can assure you that the two of us are going to have a nice long talk when we are done here. How could you do that to us? How could you put us all through that? Do you know that I almost blew up the compound when I heard the news?!" Melissa bombarded me as her hands joined Maia's.

  "I can’t believe that you did that to us!" she continued. "May I ask what the hell sliced you almost in half?!"

  Oh yeah, she was really pissed.

  "An ancient creature awoken to descend upon earth and destroy everything," Chax replied so casually that both the females froze and turned to look at him, their eyes filled with dread.

  Melissa and Maia both inhaled at the same time. The Chax before them now wasn’t just another fallen, but something else. Melissa's hand moved to her stomach, instinct reacting without any assistance.

  "Please take care of her. I will return shortly. I need to speak to the archangels," Chax replied to their shocked faces, his eyes meeting mine before he shifted away.

  "What the hell happened?" Melissa breathed as she turned around and started the healing process again.

  "You saw the pair of wings too, didn’t you?" she asked Maia, who nodded, still in a daze.

  "He said that he reclaimed his place," I struggled to inform them, hoping Maia may know a little more about that.

  From the frown on her face, I knew she didn’t. The air shifted and Raven was standing at the bed’s end. "Hey there, how are you doing?" she asked, her face as white as a sheet. My divinity zoned in on her and I could feel her distress. Something was wrong.

  "What's wrong?" I asked, trying to sit up as the two females pushed me down.

  Raven shook her head. "Nothing, I was just concerned." My divinity said otherwise.

  "Raven, what is going on?" I asked again.

  Realizing that I knew what she was feeling, she turned around to avoid my eyes. “It's nothing. I'm just still spooked about all of it." She dismissed me, but my divinity recognized the lie.

  Fine, I'll deal with Raven later.

  The air shifted again, and I picked up my head to see my parents’ ashen faces.

  My mother stormed me and grabbed me, pushing the two fae away.

  Sobs and tears broke out from her as she held me. The others had stepped away, giving her a moment to just be… a mother.

  “Thank the Lord.” My father grabbed me from the other side.

  “I thought… Never again, Kas. Never again. Promise me this,” my mother said between tears and sobs.

  “Dear heavens, you’re covered in blood,” my father said, stepping back from me and looking at my body.

  “Dear heavens,” My mother breathed, stepping away as well.

  Maia and Melissa silently stepped back next to me and placed their hands on me again. I kept my eyes on my parents holding each other and looking at me.

  “I can’t make that promise, mother. You know as well as me. This is our lives. It will always be,” I finally said after trying to find the right words.

  “You-”

  “Am a fallen, destined to become the first arch fallen. There is always a price in this world. I learned that the hard way, but learned it well.” Holy heck, did that just came from me?

  They nodded, knowing that what I just said was the truth. No one, not even Chax could change that.

  “I’m going to be okay.” I tried to comfort them.

  After what seemed like hours, the fae were done. I was almost completely healed. My parents stayed close and made small talk with me. Trying to cheer them up, I tried to make a few jokes, and failed. I had never seen my parents like this. They looked old. They looked like parents. Maia ordered them all to leave and give me some time to rest. With much effort and insistence on her part, they finally agreed to leave. Even Raven, who was still here, left without a word.

  I closed my eyes and relaxed into the bed. Thousands of questions popped up, and very few answers greeted them. I had a feeling that we were in for an even more epic ride than the last time, and this time, a lot of things changed inside my world as well. Tired, I closed my eyes and surrendered to the darkness.

  Small circles were being traced over the bridge of my hand. Contented, I didn’t rush out of my sleep but stayed still to enjoy them.

  "Kasadya, we need to talk." Chax ruined the moment.

  "I have a feeling it's not good news," I replied.

  "Some is; some is not. It is the way of the world," Chax replied, his voice betraying his true age.

  I opened my eyes and found him sitting next to me. He was dressed in black jeans and a black shirt. Sexy written all over him. His wings were spread out behind him, lying on the ground to accommodate the awkwardness of the chair's back. His eyes, now a light green, were shining again but filled with concern.

  "I take it that this is the part where we discuss your wings and what they mean," I said, sitting up on the bed.

  With a frown, he nodded. I wanted so bad to rub that frown away, but I had a sinking feeling it wasn’t going to be the same anymore.

  "I need to explain to the team as well, Caim being the only one that knows what happened," he said, extending his hand for mine.

  I reached out and placed my hand in his, watching it close around mine. Suddenly I felt small; I hadn’t realized before how small I was against him. My hand completely disappeared in his. I swallowed hard. I was never going to be able to match him, never able to truly stand next to him. He stood up and pulled me towards him. My feet hit the ground and I stopped inches from him. My heart was racing with dread and adrenaline at the same time. His scent was overriding all others and making me dizzy. His hand lifted my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes. I swallowed hard when we locked eyes. I wanted to run away. I wanted to jump him and kiss him senseless. He leaned in and kissed me softly, his breath washing over my face and sending my mind into a stupor. Slowly, and amazingly delightfully, our kiss deepened and we were kissing the hell out of each other. I never noticed my arms grabbing him to pull him even closer, our tongues dancing to the hunger of our kiss. Breathless, we pulled apart and just held on to each other.

  "You broke my heart into a million pieces. I have never in my existence felt so torn and broken," he whispered.

  Guilt ate away the blissfulness. "I had no choice, Chax. It was my destiny to follow. Ignoring it would have meant the end of the fallen. I could not let that happen. I am sorry."

  "Please, d
on’t ever do that again," he begged, the pain in his eyes mirroring the pain in his voice.

  For a second time tonight, I couldn’t give him such a promise. My journey wasn’t over yet. I had no idea what was still to come. "I can’t promise you that. You know I can’t." I pulled away from him and stepped back.

  "Yes, you can. I will take care of any danger in the future."

  "It doesn’t work that way, and you know it. We don’t choose our destinies; they choose us."

  He wasn’t budging. In fact, the look in his eyes told me that whenever there was a situation like the last one, I was going to have to go through him.