Sleeper_Google, page 32
part #3 of Hunter Series
Gray was proving a very bossy lover, and damn if Trent didn’t let him. They were rapidly finding their places, and I was surprised that didn’t worry me at all.
Losing them both worried me. It worried the hell out of me.
Liv turned my way. “And how is the ménage going? I thought you were a lucky girl when you were doing the vampire. Jeez, Kelsey, how are you going to manage those two?”
I shrugged. “I might not have to. When you think about it, I’ll probably die in the arena or I’ll get dragged to Hell by Gray’s brother, and despite what Trent thinks, I won’t bring him with me and then I’ll only have to deal with Gray, who will likely go mad because of his descent. But it’s okay because I’ve been assured I’ll go wolf loco without Trent’s sweet loving, so we’ll all be bonkers.”
Liv stared my way. “That is not helpful.”
Yeah, maybe my morose phase wasn’t entirely over. Now that we were literally an hour away from calling Jude, I couldn’t help but think about the truth that even if I survived this fight, I would have to deal with the fact that I owed Nemcox my soul. Mine in exchange for my father’s.
I shoved the thought aside. I would deal with that problem another night. Tonight was all about survival. “Do you have the spell to call Jude?”
Liv nodded, but she’d paled a bit. “Dico Angelus. That is the name of this spell. Felicity assures me it will work. I’ve been granted the equivalency of an approved heavenly bounty hunter, so he has to answer my call. Once he’s here, Felicity and Oliver will announce the trial and the winner gets the Sword of Justice. By the way, you’ve agreed to give the sword back to Oliver in exchange for him waking Felix up.”
“He can wake Felix up?”
“Only if Jude is in transition,” she explained. “I’m not supposed to call it death. When Jude’s soul is parted from his body, the ability to right the wrongs he’s done on this plane transfers to the angel who embodies justice. Oliver will wake Felix up, but he can’t bring back the dead. We already asked about potentially bringing back the halflings Jude had murdered. That was a no go. The king has to deal with that on his own, but I heard he’s already planning to meet with the families of the halflings and open talks.”
Marcus was going to be able to get his politics on.
And then he would roam the world until his promised love was old enough to decide.
I was going to miss him so much.
I would miss them all if the next ritual didn’t go well.
“And what have you learned about the sword ritual?”
Liv frowned. “Very little. I had Casey look around and he couldn’t find much either. The lore about that sword was lost, or someone got rid of it. I don’t know which. I do know that the sword is ancient. It’s older than Christ.”
“Jacob was the first prophet to walk the Earth plane, so that makes sense. According to Felicity, he gave the sword to the group we now call the companions.” Which didn’t make sense. “Do you think they were always known as companions?”
Liv shrugged. “No idea. I’m surprised they were once some kind of tribe. Even after the king freed the slaves, they don’t seem eager to get back together. I know the queen has some friends who are companions, but when a group of them gets together they kind of watch each other warily.”
Millenia of enslavement could change whole classes of people.
“Your wine, my lady.” Casey offered Liv a glass of red wine with a flourish.
She took it but shook her head my way. “Forgive him. We’re watching Game of Thrones. He’s a dork.”
“You’re a dork, too. She’s totally obsessed with that show,” Casey said, still grinning like a loon.
“I need you to be obsessed with that sword,” Liv shot back. “We’ve got another hour or so.”
Casey saluted. “As you wish. I’ve got a few theories I’m trying to track down. What do I get if I save the day?”
“Dude, you get to live on a peaceful plane,” I replied.
Liv smiled a secretive smile. “We’ll see. But you have to come through big time.”
He ran off down the hall and I heard the door open and close.
He wouldn’t take much training if his eagerness was any indicator. “That boy has the hots for you.”
“It feels good to have someone interested in me,” Liv admitted. “Though I’ll also admit that I’m enjoying living on my own. I got one of the open apartments with a terrace. It’s weird not to have a full garden, but I’m learning how to grow my herbs in pots. And I’ve got more time to study. It’s been good for me. I feel more like me than I have in years, so I’m not going to take this fast with the vamp.”
Slow was a good idea. Just not for me. I had little time left, and that meant getting in all the hot, soul-filling sex I could.
Chad poured a glass of champagne and passed it over to his husband as Neil continued with his story.
I could see the whole thing was making Gray uncomfortable, but he’d insisted on coming.
The queen stood and hugged her bestie and then looked over at me. She tilted her head toward the kitchen before she started walking that way.
It was time. The kitchen was probably as good a place as any to do this.
The minute I started moving, Gray stood up, but Trent got up as well and put a hand on his arm. Trent whispered something and Gray nodded. They both started to move, but not my way. They walked out to the balcony.
How did I handle Gray before Trent? If he hadn’t been around, I would have been fighting to get some privacy. We’d decided to keep this ritual as private as possible. We had no idea if it would work, and if it did the fewer people who knew the queen’s blood unlocked some magical property in the sword, the better. It was me and Liv, the royals, and Evangeline.
Which made me stop and look around because my dad could be sneaky. I listened carefully and heard both Rhys and Lee talking, and then the quiet sounds of Mia saying something I barely could hear.
At least I didn’t have to worry about Lee.
I walked into the kitchen and Donovan was there with the queen, their daughter in his arms.
Gladys was sitting on the counter, Dev having brought her up from the armory. He stood behind the queen, a frown on his handsome face.
“I don’t like it,” he said.
Donovan sighed. “It’s only a little blood. She’ll barely feel it.”
“She’s so young.” Quinn walked to his daughter and put a hand on her head.
“Unfortunately, she’s also incredibly strong, according to the angels,” Liv explained as she picked up the sword and brought it to the island in the center of the kitchen. She laid it carefully in the middle. “They didn’t tell me much. This was a secret ritual among the companions. I was told that the queen’s blood would unlock the sword but also that the companions would crown the strongest queen. Zoey’s title comes from the vampires, not the companions.”
“Because we’re a sad-sack group that serves our masters now,” Zoey grumbled. “We’re not a tribe at all.”
“Yeah, baby, you serve me so often,” Donovan replied. “You’re so submissive.”
Dev’s lips curled up. “Well, she can be.”
The queen sent him a look that would have frozen fire. “Discretion, Dev.” She looked down at the sword. “I can’t help thinking about the fact that we were once powerful. I spent so much of my life without any power, but I come from a line of women who had it.”
“And who owned this sword once,” I murmured. There was something odd about being in a room with the queen and her daughter and Gladys. It made me realize I’d rarely been so close to the queen when I had my sword. Something felt…powerful about being with them, and I knew instinctively the sword recognized either Zoey or Evan.
The queen touched the sword, her fingers skimming over it. “It hums for me.”
Something we had in common. “Me, too. Sometimes when I’m fighting with her, I can feel her pull me this way or that. Just a bit. Just enough that I know what she wants me to do.”
“That’s so cool.” The queen was looking at the sword like she wished she could hold it, fight with it.
“You can pick her up.” If the lore was true, Gladys was as much the queen’s as mine. If we’d been back a couple of thousand years before, it would have been the queen and not the king to invest its power in me.
For a second I thought she would pick it up, but then she stepped back. “I’m afraid my warrior queen days are done. Besides, according to the lore Marcus gave me, the queen didn’t use the sword herself. She appointed a warrior. Who wants to bet that’s where the vampires got the idea for the Nex Apparatus?” She glanced Liv’s way. “Does the sword react to all females?”
Liv shook her head. “I felt nothing. When I picked it up all I thought was Kelsey’s got amazing upper-body strength because that sucker is heavy.”
“I find it interesting that Kelsey can feel the sword but Liv can’t,” Dev said. “It makes you wonder.”
“If the Hunters and the companions have something in common?” Donovan asked, shifting Evangeline in his arms. The girl was trying to reach down toward the sword. “Yes, I was wondering that myself. Companions are humans descended from fallen angels. Hunters are demon fighters. They kind of go together. What if Hunters are another class of companions?”
“Well, we’ll never know.” I didn’t glow the way a companion did so I seriously doubted I had angelic blood running through my veins. “Let Evan touch the hilt. She can’t hurt herself on that. We’re asking her to bleed for that sword. The least she can do is touch it.”
Donovan snorted slightly. “I suppose you’re right. I don’t like the idea of hurting her though.”
Evan shook her red curls. “I’m not scared.” Her eyes hadn’t left the sword. “It’s pretty, Mama.”
“It is, baby.” The queen took her out of Donovan’s arms and lowered her down. “Once it was ours. Once it belonged to a whole tribe of women like us.”
“Still. Still,” Evan said as she reached for it. She stared at the sword with pure fascination on her face.
“It won’t move, sweetie.” Dev hovered close, as though ready to clutch his daughter from the jaws of evil if he had to. “I promise it will stay still for you.”
But Evan wasn’t scared. She tried to wind her tiny hand around the sword’s hilt. She grinned, her face lighting up. “She feels fizzy. I like her.” She looked up at me. “She likes you.”
“Good, my daughter likes weapons. Daddy’s girl.” Donovan sobered. “Let’s do this. I want it done long before that angelic asshole can know what’s happening.” He held out a hand and popped a claw as elegantly as any alpha wolf. “Who’s first?”
Zoey looked at her daughter. “You ready to help your Auntie Kelsey?”
That damn near brought a tear to my eye. I loved those kids.
Evan held her hand out, looking back at Quinn. “It’s only blood, Papa.”
Donovan nicked her palm and she flinched a little, but shed not a tear.
“Squeeze the blood on the sword and watch her drink it up,” Zoey whispered. “Our blood can make her strong so Aunt Kelsey can fight the bad man.”
Evan squeezed her small fist tight and droplets of blood hit the blade. They disappeared almost instantly.
The queen held her hand out and did the same, dripping her blood over the blade and allowing Gladys to soak in her strength.
We stood back and waited.
Nothing. The sword was perfectly silent.
“Should it glow or something?” Quinn asked.
I picked her up and tried to sense some change in her. She hummed against my palm but otherwise was silent. “Feels normal to me. If I’m supposed to feel some kind of power, I don’t.”
Liv frowned. “Perhaps it won’t show up until battle. The problem is we have so little information about it. I don’t know what it’s supposed to do when it’s primed.”
“Because the vampires wiped out the information,” Zoey said sullenly.
Donovan sighed. “I didn’t do that personally, Z.”
She looked up at him. “I know, babe. I’m sorry I’m being difficult. It feels like there should be more. It feels like I should do something more. Cut me again. Let’s give it another try. It’s all right. I’ll heal.”
Donovan nicked her again and I stood back, praying this would work.
Chapter Twenty-One
I stood at the edge of the arena and couldn’t help but think back to that first time I’d walked into this place. It hadn’t been so long ago and yet it felt like ages. I was older, some might say wiser, but I felt a bit like the girl who’d stood at the edge of the sandy arena floor wondering if she would live to see the next day.
Of course, I found it interesting that this time the aisles weren’t filled with wolves and deer. This time I was being watched by Heaven and Hell.
It was easy to pick them out. The angels were the ones who sat in perfect silence, their odd silvery eyes shining in the low light. They each wore white, and I wondered if this wasn’t a part of the ritual for them. I picked out Felicity from the silent crowd. She sat next to Oliver, her hand in his. He looked paler than before and I wondered what being parted from his sword was doing to him.
The demons, on the other hand, weren’t silent at all. And they wore no uniform. They were here in their natural forms. For some that meant almost human looking. I picked out Gray’s father in a tailored business suit. He was with a group of men who looked an awful lot like him. Power suits and serious expressions. I assume they were some of Hell’s heavy hitters because they could hold their human forms naturally, a rule Donovan had put in place for any demon attending this ritual battle. So we had a nicely dressed portion of the contingent. For others, well, I was glad I didn’t have to be the one to clean up because some of them oozed slime.
I caught sight of Nemcox. I knew it was him because he was staring directly at me, his black eyes watching. When he wasn’t possessing a human body, he was a medium-sized, red-skinned devil, as I liked to call them. Demons come in many shapes and forms, but Nemcox was mostly human, if one forgave the cloven hooves, red demon skin, and flowing horns. He was the classic demon and I couldn’t help but wonder how many like him I would be surrounded by if I was forced to descend.
“Don’t pay attention to him,” Donovan said, coming to stand beside me. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t interfere. None of them will, demon or angel. Focus on killing the betrayer and I’ll take care of everything else.”
I wasn’t sure what else he intended to take care of. As far as I knew if I killed Jude, everything would be all right, but it didn’t matter because the clock chimed midnight and it was time.
Liv stood in the center of the arena, a book in her hand. She wore a white gown that made her look somewhat like our angelic audience. Her auburn hair was piled high in an elegant bun as she said a bunch of stuff in Latin. Naturally I understood none of it, so I gazed up into the crowd again. I was looking for their faces because I so needed to see them again, to know that they were here with me.
Trent and Gray sat in the royal section below the angels. The royal trio had a box with the best view, and they kept their Council friends close around them. Trent and Gray were seated next to the queen and Devinshea, with Jamie on Gray’s other side. My uncle was there with his wife. The academics were all together in a row, but I saw the moment Marcus realized I had stepped out into the arena.
He nodded my way, his smile genuinely warm, and though I couldn’t hear him I saw him mouth the word. Bella.
And I said good-bye silently, understanding that our connection was gone forever but our friendship might remain. I’d needed the sexual connection with Marcus in the beginning, but now I had another bond, a tighter one that I would need for the rest of my perhaps short life.
There was a crack and a wave of energy went through the arena, and I felt the ground tremble beneath me. Liv took a step back as the world seemed filled with light.
Donovan cursed as a blinding white light flashed through the arena. I glanced up and saw the king’s skin smoke and char.
It dimmed almost immediately and two winged angels stood in front of Liv. They were both male, their wings gloriously white and spread in a show of power and grace and beauty. All around me the crowd was whispering.
I watched as Donovan’s skin began to heal.
“Fucking angels.” He started toward the center of the arena.
I followed, Gladys humming in my hand. She hadn’t done anything special and I was sincerely hoping she was waiting for the main event to start to unveil her secret abilities. Whatever they were.
The whole place had gone quiet, even the demons seeming to realize this was serious shit. I stuck close to the king, watching the two angels ahead of me.
Jude the Betrayer looked perfectly pouty. I have to admit in some ways he reminded me of a teen pop star with his floppy hair and dreamy, youthful face, and now he looked even more teen-idol like because he had that air of complete ennui, the-world-is-so-boring look on his face.
The second angel didn’t look bored at all. He was taller than Jude, his broad body masculine and strong. His hair was dark, his eyes finding mine, and I swear I saw a flare of recognition there. I didn’t know the man, had definitely not met this angel before, but I would have sworn he knew me.
Jude looked around the arena. “Who thinks to call me to this lesser plane?”
Liv stood there, looking at the two heavenly beings she’d summoned. She’d gone a nice shade of white. I had to poke her to get her to talk. “Me. I mean, it was I.”
I frowned her way because there was a whole lot of ritual that was supposed to happen here.
Liv nodded and stood up straighter. “I, Olivia Carey, a witch of the Earth plane, have called this trial by combat in the name of the king of the Earth plane and all its creatures. Our plane has been defiled. I demand that Jude the Faithful meet our champion and that justice be served. May I know the archangel’s name?”
By calling Jude to a trial by combat, we got an archangel, too. One of the seven archangels would come and serve as witness, ensuring no funny business went on. I was sure he would have some long-winded description of his job, but I rather thought he was there to make sure no one cheated.
