The Damned (The Unearthly Book 5)

  I wrapped my hands around the cell’s iron bars. “I’m worse than dead. I wasn’t the anti-Christ when you shot me, but now I am.”

  Chapter 4

  Andre

  “The news captured footage of her in Jerusalem earlier this evening,” the vampire explained, talking as they headed down Bishopcourt’s hallway.

  Impossible. Andre would’ve felt it. That hollow ache inside him only worsened with every minute that ticked by. But damn his heart; even the shredded remains of it seized on the possibility of Gabrielle being alive.

  Andre strode into Bishopcourt’s conference room, where the television had been set up. The sound had been muted, but footage from a camera phone played out on the screen.

  Andre staggered at the sight, bracing his hand against the conference table, his eyes transfixed.

  There she was. His soulmate. His queen.

  Clad in some dark dress that shimmered even under all that dirt. Her startled eyes swept over the camera as she stared out at the crowd.

  “Dios mio,” he whispered. A tear leaked out.

  His mouth had gone dry. He reached out and touched the screen. “Gabrielle.”

  Even newly risen from the ground, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on.

  Absently he rubbed his heart as he watched Oliver—Oliver?—step up to her and—

  Kiss her?

  I’m going to remove that fairy’s organs and slowly feed them to him.

  Then the two disappeared.

  Andre let out a gasping noise. She was gone once more.

  He read the banner at the bottom of the screen.

  Angels of Jerusalem.

  The news looped the footage again. Of the earth shaking, rolling, rising. Of it giving a final heave and pushing Gabrielle out from it. Dirt fell from her, not like it would a normal living thing. It fell off completely. As though it wanted to get away from her.

  This wasn’t a supernatural news channel. Mortals had witnessed the spectacle. The Politia would be stepping in. They’d have to.

  Andre watched the kiss and her subsequent disappearance all over again, anger then anguish rising in him once more.

  Somehow Oliver had known where to retrieve her, and he’d whisked her away via ley line. Which meant she could be anywhere in the world.

  Behind him, several vampires and the head of his security team entered.

  “I want all personnel plugged into the media.” Andre spoke to them without tearing his gaze away from the screen. “Find what you can about Gabrielle Fiori’s whereabouts. Once you’ve located her, put together travel arrangements.”

  He was going to find his soulmate.

  Gabrielle

  A bloody tear snaked down my cheek. Normally, it would’ve horrified me to let someone see me cry. At the moment, however, I was high off of anger and power and retribution. Not even a tear could make me feel weak.

  “After you fled last night, the devil came and claimed me. While you wallowed here on earth, I spent the day in hell.”

  “You spent the day … in hell?” Horror bloomed on Caleb’s face.

  I tilted my head to the side. “Did you really think I wouldn’t?”

  “I thought I had saved you in time …”

  “This is the Politia. Come out willingly and we won’t kill you.” The order boomed throughout the cellblock.

  My tear slid off my chin, the drop of blood splattering against the floor.

  I could go round and round, trying to understand why I deserved the fate I received. But that logic required the belief that life was fair when it wasn’t.

  It really wasn’t.

  Caleb wrapped his hands around the bars. “You need to leave.”

  I didn’t want advice from him, my would-be killer. “They don’t scare me.”

  Caleb stared into my eyes. “No, I guess they wouldn’t. Why did you come?” he asked.

  “I wanted to make you pay,” I said. I caught the faint whiff of smoke as I stared into Caleb’s eyes.

  “And this is your revenge? Putting me in a cage?”

  I backed away from him, the smell of smoke getting stronger.

  “I expected worse,” he said.

  “I just wanted to remind you who the true monster is.” The world might believe I was evil—and I felt thoroughly wicked at the moment—but feeling evil and doing evil were two very different things.

  A wall of smoke rose in front of me, stretching and deepening by the second.

  “What the—?” Caleb said.

  It took on a humanoid shape before filling out, flesh replacing smoke.

  Aw, crap.

  I’d seen these fuckers before. In fact, I’d just spent an entire day with them.

  “Holy shit. Is that what I think it is?” Caleb asked, his eyes wide.

  “Probably.” And it smelled like ash and my tainted blood.

  There was only one reason why it would smell like me—somehow I had gone and given it life.

  Naturally, the moment I went and made a point of being a better person, something like this had to happen.

  “Gabrielle, are you armed?” Caleb asked.

  “Do I look armed?” I said, as the demon’s muscles filled out under his skin.

  Burnished charcoal flesh stretched over corded muscles. Human feet and hands ended in curved claws. At the tips of his big toes and thumbs, the nail arced into deadly talons. Webbed wings sprouted from the demon’s back.

  Sharp, pointed teeth descended from his mouth, none so large as his inch-long canines. Those were teeth meant to rip out throats. Nasal slits bisected the demon’s face, and red eyes with horizontal pupils glowed with unholy fire. Finally, wicked horns grew from his temples, twisting back from his face.

  Once the demon was fully formed, the smell of sulfur and rot replaced my scent.

  He knelt, bowing his head. “Azaelbub, my queen. I am yours to command.” His voice rumbled in a pitch so low I was sure no creature of this world could mimic it.

  “What are you doing here?” I didn’t realize until after I finished speaking that the language we conversed in wasn’t English. It was Demonic.

  “Whatever it is you bid me to do.” Azaelbub’s voice was a growl.

  Oh, screw that. I wanted nothing to do with this creature.

  “Can you just go away?”

  “Yes.”

  Caleb watched us with some combination of horror and fascination on his face.

  “Err, then do so.”

  Azaelbub bowed his head and crouched. I don’t know what I was expecting—maybe for him to just return to shadow—but that wasn’t what happened.

  He sprang up, throwing his body into the air, and blasted through the stone ceiling high above us. His wings, which appeared to be thin, membranous things, battered through stone and mortar.

  I covered my head as debris rained down. A moment later, the walls of the castle shook as he exploded through the upper floors of Castle Rushen.

  Fucking-A, that wasn’t good.

  Outside I heard the sound of shots fired, and then a demonic roar.

  Nope, decidedly not good.

  Once debris stopped falling, I stepped over to the hole in the ceiling and glanced up. Far above me I could see the night sky. Azaelbub had tunneled an exit through the roof.

  “You just let a demon loose. First you imprison me and now you set that thing free.”

  I didn’t bother answering Caleb. My job here was more than done.

  I padded back down the hall.

  “Wait!” Caleb shouted. “You’re not seriously going to leave me here, are you?”

  Ignoring him, I hooked a right out of the cellblock. Most officers used the main entrance to head in and out of the building, but there was also a back entrance, one I used to take when I was late or didn’t want to socialize. I decided to make use of that exit once more.

  There’d be a fight waiting for me outside, regardless of what exit I chose. But after releasing a demon and confronting a former
friend who tried to kill me, a few officers were child’s play.

  I braced myself at the back entrance, then pushed the door open. Under the bright light of the moon, officers had fanned out, their guns trained on the various windows and doors of the castle. Once they caught sight of me, their aim shifted.

  Without warning, they began firing. When I was inside, they said that they wouldn’t hurt me if I surrendered. I hadn’t surrendered, but then, the Politia hadn’t given me the chance. They hadn’t planned on letting me live.

  A dozen bullets took me all at once and goddammit, being queen of the damned hadn’t taken away my ability to feel pain.

  I staggered and fell to my knees, gasping for air. I raised my hand, and with a small wave, stopped the bullets.

  Holy fuck, I really needed to stop getting shot.

  Rather than weakening, my power surged and greedily lapped up my pain. My blood slid down my skin and dripped onto the ground. It bubbled and hissed as it met rock and earth. Acrid smoke rose from the boiling blood, and it grew and grew, fanning out around me.

  Uh-oh. I think I now knew how baby demons were made.

  The Politia was really going to regret shooting me.

  The smoke deepened, the smell of sulfur filling the air. I’d seen something like this happen before I was taken. A necromancer cut himself and spilled his blood onto the earth. From it sprouted demons.

  Apparently now I had the same ability.

  Andre

  “She’s at Castle Rushen,” Tybalt said over the phone.

  Andre stalked out of his room already dressed and armed for battle, should it come to that.

  “The Politia has taken her prisoner?” he asked. It wasn’t like them. Anything that appeared as dangerous as Gabrielle would go on their kill list.

  “No. Reports are saying that she’s taken one of the officers hostage.”

  “Taken an officer hostage?” he said into his phone. “Which one, and why?” He knew Gabrielle had her vendettas, but this sounded out of character.

  Not that he was in any position to throw stones.

  Andre left his mansion and slid into the town car waiting for him. “Take me to Castle Rushen,” he told his driver.

  “Shit. Andre,” Tybalt said from the other end of the line, “she’s—” Shots echoed in the background.

  Andre’s grip on the phone tightened. “What’s happening?”

  “She’s been shot.”

  Gabrielle

  I raised a hand, focusing on the officers’ weapons. Triggers froze and barrels jammed as they tried and failed to fire their weapons. I could smell their rising fear, and it fueled my power.

  As the shadows around me took shape, they began to splinter, and then those began to splinter. How many demons had my blood spawned?

  Smoke transformed into silvery skin. It lengthened into claws and teeth and talons and beady red eyes. Wings and horns burst from their flesh, twisting and unfurling. If it wasn’t so terrifying, it would have been beautiful, like watching a time-lapsed flower grow and bloom.

  … A really fucked up flower, but still.

  Shakily I rose to my feet. The officers hadn’t fled yet, but none of their guns worked. Gunpowder and metal. Meant to tear and break and bleed. It was utterly useless against my magic.

  Wasn’t my death last night enough? What did they hope to accomplish by killing a girl that was already dead?

  My wounds sealed up, the bullets clinking to the ground as my body purged them.

  After the demons finished forming, I rose. “You do not want to fight me,” I told the officers.

  “Stand down!” Someone yelled over an intercom.

  A blast of magic slammed into me, and I staggered back, only to be caught in the arms of a demon.

  Low growls emanated from him and the others at my back. They hadn’t asked me for a command, but I sensed they wanted to protect me. That was only confirmed when, instead of letting me go, the demon that clutched me tightened his grip.

  Ruh-roh.

  The demon’s muscles tensed. Then, like the first one I’d inadvertently created, he sprang into the air.

  … Only this time, he was still holding me.

  Chapter 5

  Andre

  Andre was out of the car before it came to a complete stop. He arrived just in time to see a demon rise into the air holding …

  “Dios mio.”

  There she was. Alive, like all the news reports had mentioned.

  He touched his heart. It still felt like one giant open wound, a vacuum bent on sucking up anything and everything it could to fill the hollowness of his mate’s absence. Their bond hadn’t reestablished itself.

  But unless the woman soaring away into the night wasn’t his Gabrielle—and there are only so many women that consorted with demons—she was in fact alive.

  He almost sagged with relief. None of the shots he’d heard earlier had killed her, and now he could breathe again.

  Andre didn’t let his mind linger on the fact that she hadn’t come to find him first. Now was not the time for petty jealousy.

  She was still in danger.

  He headed back into his car. By the looks of Castle Rushen and the officers and demons that swarmed around it, there’d be much to learn from the events that transpired here. But right now he needed to find his soulmate and clasp her to him. Only then would his heart know relief. Only then would he believe she was real.

  Gabrielle

  I rapidly rose into the sky, locked in this demon’s embrace. I screamed and clutched at my captor’s neck, and—ugh—demon breath.

  “Put me down!” I yelled.

  Probably not the smartest order to give a creature that relishes others’ pain, but this one made no move to do as I commanded.

  “I am your queen, and I am ordering you to put me down!”

  “Boss told me to protect you,” he growled.

  My breath caught at his admission. That was so … uncharacteristic of Hades.

  And apparently, my commands couldn’t trump the devil’s. Big surprise.

  Far below us, the rest of the demons rushed the officers. My body tensed as an eruption of magic and blood saturated the night air. Even this far away I could sense it.

  I was partially responsible for whatever lives were lost, and I couldn’t stop it. I wondered if that was part of the plan—to get me out of there before I could command the demons to cease.

  Either way, it was too late to stop the carnage. Castletown, the city below us, was quickly becoming just a cluster of lights.

  The wind howled, sweeping around me. I could feel the lost souls as they blew by me, some lifting my hair, some caressing my face. I could taste their sweet sorrow and ruin on my tongue. There was a whole procession of us evil things arcing across the night sky.

  “Where are we going?” I yelled over the roar of the wind.

  The demon either didn’t hear me, or he chose to ignore me. I grimaced as his hot breath hit my skin.

  Just when I thought my life couldn’t get any more screwed up, it went and did just that. A good part of it was my fault. What was I thinking, going into the Politia’s headquarters like that?

  Way to kick the hornet’s nest, Gabrielle.

  Once we hit the outskirts of Castletown, the demon began to descend. He lowered us rapidly, aiming for what appeared to be a residential area. Little houses with pitched roofs sat close together. I breathed in the damp smell of wet asphalt. The rain had let up, but it would be back.

  As we touched down, I eyed the homes around us. No fluttering curtains or strolling neighbors to witness a winged beast delivering a strange girl to the earth.

  I turned and stared the demon in his red eyes. No joy lingered there. No happiness. Just a thirst for others’ suffering. He nodded to me and tensed.

  A moment later, he shot back into the air. I threw an arm over my face as his large wings whipped my hair around my head.

  “Hey!” I yelled. “Where are you going? Don’t le
ave me here!”

  He had to have heard me, but he didn’t once glance my way as he flew back into the night.

  Motherfucking demons.

  I brushed myself down, mostly to get the smell of sulfur off me. Several streets over, a car screeched as someone took a turn way too fast, then gunned its engine. From what I could hear, it sounded as though it was getting closer.

  I began to walk, not sure where I was going because some idiot demon dropped me in the middle of nowhere.

  For the first time all evening, I had a moment to think. What was I doing here? On earth? I’d hated hell, but I didn’t want to be thrown right back into this melee.

  Then end the fighting.

  I started at the devil’s voice. I hadn’t expected to hear it this far away from him.

  “This is larger than me,” I said out loud.

  Nothing is larger than you, save for me. The devil’s voice rang in my ear. Remind them with blood and violence and pain.

  “Go away.”

  Never, his voice whispered.

  A car turned down the street, fishtailing as it did so. I squinted as headlights shined into my eyes. It screeched to a stop next to me, and the driver-side door banged open.

  Leanne leaned out. “Hey stranger, long time no see.”

  “Leanne?” I began to smile at the sight of her before I remembered my situation. My eyes moved from her to Oliver, who sat next to her. “What are you guys—?”

  “We’ve got thirty seconds to execute this, or else the future changes dramatically,” Leanne said. “I love you, Gabrielle. Now please get in the fucking car.”

  “Damn girl,” I heard Oliver say over her shoulder. “Just when I thought you had no attitude left.”

  Wise enough to heed her warning, I headed over to the car and slid into the back seat, my feet and long skirt dragging mud and grit in with me.

  “You really did it this time, Sabertooth,” Oliver said as Leanne maneuvered the car out of the neighborhood. “That was a lot of demons.”