After a moment of silence he nods and looks back at the ground. “Yeah… that’s sorta what I figured. Something’s changed, and I’m not sure what.” He looks at me again, and the pain in his eyes guts me to my core.
“You’re perfect for me… for us,” I whisper.
He slowly shakes his head. “Something changed when we got to California. With Liora, too. Hell, maybe even before that, but we were just so caught up in chaos that we couldn’t see straight.”
“Oh, and now that things have calmed down so much for us everything is crystal clear?”
Kieron looks at me and gives a soft chuckle, then becomes serious again. He’s quiet for a few moments. “I know you’re pregnant.” He looks back at the floor.
I gasp and stare at him. “What? How did you know?”
He keeps his eyes down and shakes his head slowly. “I’ve suspected for a while now.”
I take a deep breath. “I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“How about now?”
I try to organize my thoughts into something coherent. Haven’t we both had enough torture tonight? But maybe he’s right; maybe it’s now or never. I have only a few hours left until sunrise, and I’m starting to think it’s unlikely I’ll live to see another night. Vincent and Demetri are taking too long to return.
Where the hell are they?!
I glance over at Corrine. She looks like she’s asleep. Her eyes are closed, and her head is hanging to one side. Good. She deserves a respite. I sigh again and turn back to Kieron.
“Yes, I’m pregnant. Obviously it’s not yours.”
“Obviously.”
“It happened just one time.”
“Bones?”
I nod, unable to look him in the eyes. His jaw clenches, and he looks away.
“I’m not surprised. I always knew you loved him.”
“It’s a different kind of love. He’s… he was… I… I can’t even explain it.”
Kieron shakes his head, his eyes downcast. “You don’t have to. I saw it in your eyes every time you looked at him. When I woke up in the Hlbafa prison and saw you in his arms, I knew. I was convinced I’d lost you to him forever. But then he died… And I’ve felt so guilty and horrible for being the cause of your pain—”
He looks up at me, blinking rapidly. “I knew you were hurting, and that I could never take his place. But I loved you so much, I hoped it might be enough and eventually you’d see that we were right together.”
“I love how you love me… and Liora. You make us feel good. Whole. Safe.”
“But you don’t want good, whole, and safe. You want passion and danger. Someone who lights your blood on fire.”
“Bones is dead,” I whisper. “He’s gone.”
“I loved you from the first time I saw you. You had some kind of unexplainable hold on me, and I never felt that way before. It threw my world into a tailspin. But it’s been the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Tears are sliding down my cheek, but I don’t care. “Do you know what Bones told me right before he died? That he and I have known each other in lots of past lives. He can remember them, but I can’t.”
Kieron nods, his face glum. “Yeah, pure demons remember their life-tracks, unlike us. Guess that explains your tight bond with him.”
“But he also told me something else. He told me that you and I find each other in every life, too. That you and I always meet up somehow, even though we never remember it.”
He looks up. “Really? What else did he say?”
I bite my lip as the tears fall freely. “Actually he didn’t have a chance to say anything else. Those were literally his last words to me as I fell asleep, and when I woke up he’d already been killed.”
I see the genuine compassion in Kieron’s face. “I’m so sorry. I really am. All I ever wanted to do was help you and protect you. I hope you know that. If I had any idea at all what Abbaton would do, I would have never gone to him in the first place.”
I shake my head. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Bones was already planning on offering himself up as a sacrifice anyways. The Hlbafa demanded two deaths for their losses, and Bones said it would be him and whichever Hellhound brother volunteered. I wasn’t able to talk him out of it before I fell asleep. His mind was made up, and there was no changing it. So if it hadn’t been Abbaton, it would’ve been the Hlbafa.”
Kieron is quiet for a long time. “Thank you for telling me that,” he finally says in a muted voice. “I’ve been blaming myself for his death and feeling such guilt for causing you so much pain. That’s the last thing in this life I ever wanted to do. I thought I was doing the right thing, and instead I ended up hurting you. It’s been eating away at me ever since. I thought you blamed me too, and that’s why you’ve been pulling away.”
I give him a weak smile. “Well, you can stop beating yourself up. I’ve never blamed you for Bones’s death. I knew you were only trying to do right in a messed-up situation, and you did manage to get Liora out of there safely.”
He nods slowly. We both sit, each lost in our own thoughts. Corrine appears to still be napping. It’s probably the only peace she’ll have for the rest of her short, doomed life, and I hope she sleeps as long as she can.
Finally, Kieron looks over at me. “If we get out of here… when we get out of here… I’ll do whatever you want me to do. I’m not going to stop loving you, but if you need space, I’ll give you what you need.” He takes a deep breath and glances around. “But not yet. Now we have to concentrate on surviving this somehow and getting out with our necks intact.”
********
The time passes slowly, and I’m about to lose my mind. Kieron and I just sit making occasional small talk but not really saying anything. What are the Belith waiting for? And where the hell is Vincent? Is he ever coming back?
“Who do you think wants us?” I ask Kieron. “At first I was assuming it was the Legionare, but since they caught you too, I’m thinking maybe the Hlbafa. It’s the only thing that makes sense. They destroyed Dryndara looking for me, and they probably blame you for double-crossing them and bringing the Legionare to their village.”
He shrugs. “Sounds plausible, although I always thought the Hlbafa and Belith were mortal enemies. Centuries of bad blood there. Strange to see them working together.”
I roll my eyes. “Who knows with demons? One minute they hate you, the next they’re snatching girls off the beach for you.” A thought suddenly occurs to me, one I’m surprised didn’t cross my mind earlier. “How were you caught? What happened?”
Kieron lets out a small groan and shakes his head. “It was so unbelievably stupid, I can’t even believe it worked. It’s almost too embarrassing…”
“Tell me.”
He sighs and glances back toward the village center where a few Belith are still wandering around. “I’d just woken up, and no one was around. So I went down to the beach to see if maybe you guys were there. Then I saw you… well, what I thought was you… down the shore a ways, screaming and waving at me frantically, like you’d been hurt.”
“Oh, no.”
He nods grimly. “So I ran over to you, and was ambushed by a half-dozen I don’t-even-know-whats and got the crap pummeled out of me. I came to later as I was being dragged up here.”
I bite my lip and nod. “If it makes you feel any better that’s pretty similar to how they tricked Liora and Corrine, too.” I frown. “Speaking of, Liora will be coming soon. You have to try and help her somehow. I don’t know what to do.” I thought Vincent would be back by now…
He shakes his head. “You don’t even have to say anything. I love you. That hasn’t changed. I’ll do everything in my power to keep her safe and get her out of here. Admittedly my power is a bit limited now, but”
“So, these horrid neck things… they really will slice our heads off if we try to escape or teleport away?”
He nods. “Unfortunately, yes. Th
ey’re specifically designed to prevent that sort of activity. The Legionare uses them a lot, and I’ve used them myself from time to time when transporting particularly dangerous demons. Just never thought I’d have one used on me.”
I frown. “Well, how do you get them off then? I mean, once you’ve transported a prisoner or something… you don’t keep them on forever, do you?”
He shrugs. “Well, sometimes, yeah. Depending on the demon, they might stay on indefinitely. But if I’m the one who put it on, only my touch and a disarming spell can remove it.”
“So the only way these things are coming off our necks is if the dickwad Belith who put them on us has a change of heart and takes them off with his own two hands?”
Kieron nods. “Well, technically it just takes one hand, but yeah. Only his touch can open then up safely.”
My mind starts spinning. So instead of charming the necklace itself or using magic on it, the trick is to go through the demon who put it on in the first place. Maybe somehow I can use my powers of persuasion on him to— Nah, that won’t work. My psychic powers are pretty ineffective on other demons. Humans, sure. I can make them do whatever, whenever. Unfortunately, demons are a different story altogether. And considering he’s the leader of this hostile clan, I can only assume he’s quite powerful as well.
“Hey, check it out… Looks like something is happening.” Kieron motions with his chin. I look over to where a group of Belith is gathering. They’re getting louder and more frenzied, and I’m alarmed by the sudden shift in energy.
This can’t be good.
The commotion continues to grow, and the crowd starts moving toward us. Someone shouts gleefully, “They’re here! They’re here!”
“I’ve got a really bad feeling about this,” Kieron mutters under his breath. Corrine lets out a soft moan and slowly blinks her eyes.
“What’s happening?” she asks, her voice trembling.
I keep my gaze fixed on the mob, and my heart begins to race. My stomach is twisted in knots, and I have to fight an almost overwhelming urge to claw my way out of my bindings, necklace or no. I need to get away from here now!
“Lucky… Lucky… what is it? What’s happening?” Corrine asks again.
I still don’t answer her. I just stare straight ahead, unblinking, every cell in my body poised for action.
A hush falls. An eerie calm that sends shivers down my spine.
Then I hear the sound of giggles, and my blood turns to ice.
The giggles turn into laughter, as the crowd parts to make way for the two newcomers. They head straight toward us.
“No... no!” I cry weakly, as Kieron gasps in horror.
And the two Amazèa demons giggle even more.
Chapter 29. Lucky/Liora
My hands are trembling, and I can barely breathe. “No, no, no,” I whisper. Kieron starts tugging at his ropes, and I’m too stunned to warn him to stop.
“Who are they?” Corrine asks. “They’re so cute! What are they doing in a horrible place like this?”
The Amazèa demons. Vile creatures, deceptively innocent and beautiful, with their golden blonde ringlets tumbling down their petite backs, and their huge blue eyes, as round and big as ever on their baby doll faces. To a human they don’t look more than eight or nine years old, and appear to be the embodiment of sweetness and grace.
But I know they are pure evil. The most wretched monsters to ever breathe air. They are the ones who killed Kayla and Michael, and later my friends Cody and Ivy. They are the ones who attempted to steal my powers, and ended up stealing my soul instead.
They are the objects of my vendetta, and my blood burns with hate knowing they’re alive and free while I’ve been kept a prisoner of their wicked curse. Apparently with all the chaos and drama in Thiberoux and with the Legionare, they’ve managed to escape from captivity. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me in the least.
I want to kill them. I need to kill them, now more than ever. I had planned to hunt them down before all this happened. And now here they are standing less than a dozen yards away from me.
And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
“There’s the bad man. The very, very bad man,” they coo in unison as they walk closer. “And look, he’s with the bad lady. Naughty, mean lady who hurt us. Bad lady.”
Fire builds inside me, and I feel my rage boiling the surface. “I hurt you? I hurt you?” I scream. “You murdered my friends! You ruined my life!”
They look at each other and smile. “Yes… your little friends were nice enough to die easily,” one of them says. “They gave us what we wanted and left peacefully. But you… you put up a fight. You didn’t give us what we wanted. And that hurt us.”
“I still bear the burn,” the other whimpers and points to a small mark on her otherwise flawless skin.
“Oh, boo freaking hoo!” I shout. “My whole insides are shredded! You destroyed my heart! You took away everything that mattered to me, and I swear to Satan I will kill you for it if it’s the last thing I do. I swear on the lives of my unborn children, I. Will. Kill. You!”
They erupt in giggles again and look at each other as if I’d just told an amusing joke. “And there’s the bad man who caught us and made us go to that awful place. You weren’t very nice to us, so we don’t think we want to be very nice to you,” they say in unison.
“Do your worst, you little bitches,” Kieron growls, and they smile again.
“Oh we will… we will,” one sing-songs. “You have some very good powers that will come in handy for us. We’ve never eaten a Legionare Latros before.”
“And you ain’t starting now, sweetheart.”
They smile their adorable dimpled grins and turn to the Belith leader beside them. “Thank you for our presents. We love them!” They clap their hands with excitement and lean up to give him a kiss on each of his cheeks. He beams, obviously proud to be at the receiving end of their attention.
“It was no problem,” he says. “And it was my pleasure. The two demions are all yours to do with as you like, and the human girl is just a bonus. No one else wants her.”
“Oh, thank you! Yes, she has many admirable human traits. We’ll make good use of her, we promise.”
By sucking out her soul the way you did to Kayla and Michael?
“And we kept the demion girl alive, like you asked,” the Belith leader continues. “But have you heard about her situation with the Light-angels? If they catch her, they have an all access pass into our realm. Best to kill her as soon as possible.”
Just great…
“Oh, do not worry about that,” they chime. “We swear she will be dead within the hour.”
“Good enough. We’ve settled on the terms, so they’re all yours. Have fun.”
“Oh, we will… we will,” they coo again.
A single tear drips down my cheek, as I feel the familiar weakness take hold of my body once again. I’m powerless to fight it. My time is up, in more ways than one. Liora is coming, and then it will be all over for both of us.
And maybe it should be.
I turn to Kieron and give him a sad smile. “Thank you for loving me… all of me unconditionally. I hope I see you again in another life.”
“Lucky…”
As the darkness falls over me, I have one final thought:
Okay, Bones. I’m coming home now.
********
I’m not sure where we are, but I know those faces looking back at me, and I’m consumed with a rage so white-hot I feel like my hair and skin are on fire.
“Liora, don’t move!” Kieron commands. “You have a deadly choker on, and one wrong move—”
“Yes, I know,” I say calmly. How I know is unclear. But I do. Just as I know that the Amazèa are standing here in front of me, and they think they’re actually going to hurt me and Kieron and Corrine. They think they will take our life essences, our energy and our powers, and kill us, like they do everyone else.
Think again, litt
le girls.
A strange serenity settles over me. Everything has led up to this precise moment. And now that the time is here, I couldn’t be more ready.
And these little demon bitches haven’t the slightest clue.
Chapter 30. Liora
My blood is on fire, churning with an unbridled energy I’ve never experienced before. I feel unlimited powers just waiting to explode from deep within. But my mind is clear – calm, keeping my fury at bay for a moment while I assess the situation. There are at least three hundred Belith down there. The Amazèa demons are front and center, with the Belith leader standing beside them. Kieron, Corrine, and I are up here on some sort of stage with our arms strung up over our heads and death collars around our necks. And one look at each of them tells me the Belith have had a good time torturing us.
But I feel no pain. My mind gathers the information. Blanks are filled in. Questions are answered. Data is filed. Plans are made. Moves are plotted.
Corrine trembles beside me, tears running unchecked down her face. “Corrine, look at me,” I say calmly.
She glances over and frowns. “Le-Liora?” she asks, a confused look in her eyes.
I give her a small smile and nod. “Be strong. Be brave. No one will hurt you unless you let them. Got it?”
She just stares at me, her eyes wide. I turn to Kieron. He looks at me with open astonishment. “Liora?”
“Protect Corrine. She will need you.”
“Liora, what’s—?”
They seem to appear from thin air. One second they’re standing in the clearing several dozen yards away, the next, they’re just a few feet in front of us. They’ve obviously sucked the soul of a teleporter. Wonder what other tricks they have up their sleeves.
“It’s time for us to play with you,” the Amazèa sing.
I give them a smirk. “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing.”
I grip the rope above my head. Streams of electric fire shoot from my fingertips, zapping the bindings and allowing my hands to fall free. In a flash, I whip the enchanted rope like a lasso, and it curls around the neck of the Belith leader. I hold up my other hand to the Amazèa. My arm shakes with the effort, as the energy radiating from my palm momentarily stuns them, then sends them flying off backward into the crowd.