The Damned (The Unearthly Book 5)

  I nodded to the vampires who rose. They stepped aside as I passed through, regarding me with respect—and probably wondering what, exactly, I was.

  One of Andre’s men intercepted me. “Miss, you should stay inside. Andre has asked us to protect you the best we can.”

  “Andre, she is no longer your soulmate. She’s the devil’s tool,” a much fainter voice drifted in.

  In the distance I could hear the blades of a chopper slicing through air. Whatever was out there had brought in massive reinforcements, and Andre was taking them on alone.

  “I’m not going to sit by and have him fight my battles,” I said, sidestepping the man.

  “But miss—” He made a grab for my hand. A mistake. I blasted him back with my power.

  Around me I heard gasps from Andre’s men and his coven, but no one else tried to stop me.

  I didn’t bother picking up my pace. I knew Andre well enough to understand that out of all those supernaturals, the seven hundred year old vampire king was the most dangerous being out there.

  At least, until I arrived.

  The siren rose to the surface. She no longer felt like a different, dangerous being that resided under my skin, though I still referred to her as such. More like another facet of my personality, one that came to my aid when I needed help. Her presence threw a little more sway into my hips.

  I passed through the entrance and got my first glimpse of the standoff outside. At least a dozen cars fanned out along the circular drive, and—

  Was that a tank?

  Odd to think that a supernatural police force needed something so mundane. Odder to think that the tank was meant for me.

  The Politia had come to Bishopcourt armed for war. All to stop little ol’ me.

  In addition to all the manpower, mounted halogen lights shined on us. God, did they burn.

  As soon as I strode out the front door, the officers tensed. I could smell their mounting fear, and I drank it in.

  Having over two dozen weapons trained on me should’ve been cause for worry. Instead, the siren purred, welcoming the potential bloodbath.

  They can’t kill you, consort.

  I turned, and for the barest of moments, the devil stood to my left.

  Show them what happens to people that cross you.

  His form dissipated, and he was gone once more.

  I shouldn’t listen to that sick, insidious voice, but it lured me like mine did men.

  “Hands behind your back!” one of the officers shouted.

  Only then did my soulmate turn. His eyes flashed as they caught sight of me, clearly displeased that I had joined him.

  “If you come quietly, we will leave this place without drawing blood. No one has to get hurt,” the officer continued.

  He should’ve stopped talking a long time ago.

  My fangs dropped, my skin glowed brighter. I was a far cry from the innocent school girl that had come to this island all those months ago.

  The Politia had made a similar promise mere hours ago. They’d lied. They then chose—unwisely—to barge onto Andre’s property with all the trappings of war. Another mistake.

  I was a shark that scented blood. The fight that had come to my doorstep called to the darkness in me. There’d be no stopping me now.

  I flicked my gaze to each mounted halogen light, and one by one the bulbs burst. I didn’t stop there. I burned out every single bulb within range. Plastic cracked as car lights flickered out. Screams came from inside as lights popped and burned out. The chopper circling the estate went dark. Lamps that lined the drive dimmed to darkness one by one. I drove the light out until I was the brightest thing out here.

  The entire time the Politia did nothing. Their reasons weren’t lost on me. Back at Castle Rushen they’d seen what happened when I was wounded. For all their weapons, they weren’t willing to spill my blood.

  “You really thought you could coerce me?” I asked conversationally, sauntering down the steps. The entire time I was acutely aware of Andre. He clenched his swords in his hands, but he made no move to attack or divert attention away from me.

  The Politia had forced their way onto Andre’s property, disregarding their treaty with vampires—a treaty I’d risked my life and soul for only a few months ago. They had already bombed Bishopcourt, firing the first proverbial shot. But most of all, they’d threatened Andre.

  Fury boiled beneath my skin, building by the second.

  Threatening my mate, bond or no bond, was a line you just didn’t cross. And they crossed it.

  Ho, was I pissed.

  My kinsmen hovered along the periphery, nothing more than shadows. Waiting, waiting. They wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

  Yes.

  I smiled, lifting a hand to the sky.

  The ground trembled, my hair swishing.

  Mete out your revenge! my power screamed.

  A gun went off from one of the officers positioned behind his car. The bullet tore through the flesh of my side. I gasped as I clutched the wound, and Andre roared.

  The maelstrom only grew from my pain. Another gun went off, slicing into my thigh. I let out a defiant shriek, and the wind kicked up.

  My gut wound closed, but not before blood covered my hand. It seeped between my fingers, trickling down them and beading along the edge of my hand.

  And then it dripped.

  The blood hissed as it came into contact with the earth. Shouts rose from officers as the devil’s minions took shape.

  Andre’s blurred form moved from person to person. I could hear the wet slice of his swords as he cut down anyone in his path.

  Lightning cracked overhead, illuminating the night. Men and women scrambled to their cars. They looked like spooked horses, the whites of their eyes large and visible.

  The demons finished forming around me, and they charged the officers.

  I threw my power out, lashing it across the tank. The metal armor of it groaned as it dented inwards. I needed to work this anger out of my system, but the more power I released, the angrier I became. I feared that the next time I used it, it would be to hurt someone. As much as a part of me craved that, a smaller part—the part I admired—wanted to retain what little humanity I had left.

  Luckily, before I had a chance to test the limits of my self-restraint, the Politia retreated.

  “I don’t want you risking yourself like that again,” Andre said, stalking back to me. He bent to wipe his swords off on the grass. Behind him, several men and women lay unmoving on the ground.

  I lifted my chin. “This goes two ways, you know. You don’t just get to protect me.”

  The storm raging in his eyes calmed at my response. When he reached me, he brought my forehead to his. “Soulmate, you can’t know the effect your words have on me.” He squeezed the back of my neck. “That still doesn’t change my mind.”

  Andre stepped away at the sound of footsteps. I swiveled to see his guards and several vampires heading towards us. Beyond them, I caught a glimpse of a wide-eyed Oliver and Leanne.

  “I need five good men to deal with the bodies,” Andre said. “And someone needs to start lighting candles for those who don’t have night vision. Jon,” he called to one of his men, “get what spare bulbs you can from the basement.”

  It took some time for Andre to organize his people. As he did so, I stared off at the horizon, where the Politia members had fled.

  They’d be back, possibly during the day, when Andre would be sleeping. My being here endangered him—endangered everyone. Andre, our coven, my friends, even those that wished to do me harm. Blood would spill in the coming days, and it would be my fault.

  Andre came over to me and wrapped me in his arms. He pressed his nose against the thin column of my neck. “I can smell your guilt,” he said.

  I found his hands and gripped them tightly. “Promise me you’ll stay safe.”

  He pulled away enough to meet my eyes and pushed the hair away from my face. “I have not survived seven centuri
es on luck alone, nor do I intend to die when my mate needs me most.”

  “Promise?”

  “On my life.”

  No other attacks came in the hours that followed, not that this made us any less tense. People wanted me dead. If they weren’t actively attacking me, then they were planning on it.

  As the evening came to an end, Andre kept me by his side. It became a thing, keeping me close. Neither of us knew when, where, or how I would disappear. And as the hours tick by, and I remained on earth, I became almost … optimistic.

  Maybe I wasn’t going back.

  We stood on the steps of Andre’s home to see off the cars carrying the bodies of the fallen. Andre was delivering them back to the Politia.

  “Even in war there are ethics. One gives honor to the dead,” he said now, by way of explanation.

  This was one of Andre’s medieval beliefs.

  “I didn’t realize we were at war,” I said.

  He glanced down at me. “Soulmate, if there was ever a time or a cause for war, this would be it.”

  That … wasn’t reassuring.

  Andre placed a hand on the small my back and began to walk, steering me along. Instead of heading back inside, he led me to the gardens around his mansion. I bit my lip when I noticed the grass shriveling beneath my feet. And when we passed the first of the hedges, they leaned away.

  I’d seen this before; this was what plants did in the presence of the devil. And now they were doing it to me.

  “It’s safe to say that heaven and much of the earth wants to get rid of you,” Andre said, interrupting my thoughts.

  I could already tell this was going to be a fun conversation.

  Not.

  “What I want to know,” he continued, “is what hell wants.”

  Oddly enough, I never thought of it that way. But if anyone had motives, it would be the devil.

  He stopped us in the middle of Bishopcourt’s rose garden and turned to me. “More importantly, I want to know what role you have in all this.”

  Beneath my feet, I swear I felt the earth shift. I didn’t bother looking down for fear that I’d see the plant life taking more drastic measures to get away from me.

  Andre touched my cheek. “I want you safe.”

  I leaned into his touch, knowing what he said would be impossible.

  The ground shifted again, more forceful this time, and I grabbed Andre’s arm to stabilize myself. He wrapped his hands around my waist to steady me.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  He furrowed his brows. “I thought that was you.”

  I shook my head. “It wasn’t me.”

  The earth began to rumble, and my feet shook as grass and dirt shifted.

  My eyes met Andre’s and a sick sort of realization passed between us: I was going back.

  “Gabrielle,” Andre said, as fear flooded his features, “run.”

  Grabbing Andre’s hand, we tore out of the gardens.

  The earth beneath my feet began to fall away.

  Roots sprouted on either side of me. They grew unnaturally fast. Unlike other foliage, these grew towards me, reaching for my feet.

  Bishopcourt’s back door was just ahead of us. We could make it.

  And then what?

  I pushed the thought away as a vine latched onto my foot, jerking me back.

  Andre’s hold tightened. “Stay with me, soulmate!”

  “Trying!” I said, ripping the vine away.

  I’d barely gotten it off when another latched onto me. And then another. And another. They twisted around my ankles, pinning me in place.

  This was what the myths meant when they called me the daughter of Demeter. Demeter was just the personification of nature. And just as the earth bore me each evening, it claimed me at the end of it.

  Andre, whom the vines had avoided, stopped to wrap his arms around my waist. He yanked me forward, and several of the shoots ripped. But now they were growing faster and faster, and dozens of them extended towards me, grasping my feet and legs. It took only seconds for them to cover my lower half completely. The vines twined around my waist like a python. They weren’t constricting, but they held me firm. And they were steadily pulling me down to earth.

  I wasn’t going to win this fight.

  My eyes fell heavily on Andre. “You need to let me go.”

  “Never.”

  The shoots slid up my torso, now covering Andre’s hands as well as my stomach. I didn’t know if the vines would take him too if he refused to let me go. And if they did, then he would come to hell with me.

  I couldn’t let that happen.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. I threw my power out.

  It slammed into him, ripping him from me and sending him flying back twenty feet.

  “No!” I heard him bellow.

  The ground dipped as it began to suck me under. The vines wrapped around my arms, pinning them in place. They crawled up my neck and into my hair. Ugh, what a way to go.

  I caught one last glimpse of Andre, pushing himself up to his feet. And then the vines slid over my eyes and pulled me under completely.

  Chapter 10

  Gabrielle

  The journey down felt much, much worse than the one up. The roots that sucked me into the earth now squeezed me tightly, cutting off my air and circulation. The devil lied; I wasn’t immortal, and I was going to die.

  Just as true panic set in, I felt something inside myself release. My body seemed to lose form until I was nothing more than consciousness falling farther and farther from everything that I knew and loved. I cried out, not from pain, but from the terrible emptiness that filled me.

  After what felt like ages, my feet finally made contact with solid ground, and I was whole once more.

  I dropped to my knees, staring at the onyx floor. I knew where I was before I glanced up. I could smell the brimstone and ash … and the fear, and the despair.

  Back to this wasteland.

  Shoes clicked against the polished floor.

  “Barvo, bravo, consort.” The devil clapped a couple times, the sound echoing in the cavernous room. He stopped a foot away from me.

  “You did well—for your first day,” he said, staring down at me, and those unnerving eyes of his seemed to see into my soul. “Destroyed law and order, spilled blood, brought my servants to Earth.”

  “You knew that would happen?” I asked. “That my blood would create them?”

  “Mmm. They’re there to guard you and do my bidding.”

  Months ago, the devil wouldn’t have thought to have his demons guard me. Since then, something had changed. Even the fact that he mentioned protecting me before he mentioned the other ways his demons served him … it said something about where I stood in his mind. Had he noticed the change?

  I rose to my feet and fought the urge to take a step back. He was dangerous enough when he simply wanted to kill me. I didn’t know what to do now that I could see hints of a conscience.

  He stepped forward and I backed up. “You’ve been a naughty little siren.” His tone changed, and I could feel the heat of his wrath. “I know you’ve been with Andre since you went topside.” He crowded me until my back hit an obsidian wall.

  Here comes my punishment. I was ready for it.

  Pluto’s arms came up, trapping me between them. “You insolent little thing. My wife doesn’t get to fuck other men. Even here in hell we have standards.”

  “I wasn’t here in hell.”

  His hand shot to my neck. “Don’t try to play me at my own game.” He squeezed lightly, his face contemplative. “Perhaps it’s time I show you what happens to my vampires.”

  I reached up to dislodge his grip, but it might as well have been a shackle. Behind him, the room dissolved away, and then we stood outside his palace, right where the flames began.

  A line of fire spit and crackled in front of me, the light from it dancing along my skin.

  Pluto released my neck. “Follow me.” He turned and strod
e right into those flames. It reminded me of the first time I’d seen him, my childhood home going up in smoke. Even then he watched me. Even then he knew.

  My feet refused to move.

  “Don’t make me come and get you, consort. You won’t like it.”

  “I’m not going in there.” Repercussions be damned.

  A moment later, the fire blasted out at me, engulfing my body in flame.

  Well, that was one way to end the stand-off.

  I screamed.

  He wants to trap me here like the rest of his prisoners.

  But as the seconds ticked by, I realized that the fire didn’t scorch me. In fact, if anything, it felt cool.

  Hellfire doesn’t burn me.

  That couldn’t possibly be good.

  A hand clamped around my own, and the devil loomed over me, looking far too handsome for a monster. His hair swept back from his face and his eyes glittered. Inside them the flames danced, and I realized this fire was just as much a part of him as the siren was a part of me.

  “Stop being melodramatic and come, my queen.” My skin crawled at the title. Not just a queen, but his.

  My gaze bored into his back as he led me through the fire. He was being nice to me again—or at least not overtly hostile. Even his grip on my hand was gentle. It made my heart pound. I knew the devil, being the devil, would punish me for sleeping with Andre. It was an insult to him to have his mate stray. If there was one person who wouldn’t tolerate that, it was him.

  So why the unnecessary kindness?

  Like usual, I couldn’t figure him out.

  We traveled for what felt like an eternity. I couldn’t see anything beyond the flames, but the devil must’ve because he never once hesitated as he led us forward.

  Right in the thick of the flames, the screams of the damned vibrated against my skin. I flinched as I felt someone’s hot breath. I swiveled to see a wisp of a man—nothing more than a shadow, really—writhe in the flames. He was almost completely gone, all but his voice. I had a feeling that was the last thing that went.