Awaken (Divine Hunter Series) (19 page)

Where was Alethia?

Michael turned to help Evo. “You okay buddy?”

“Yeah,” he moaned as he got to his feet while still clutching his stomach. “Man that was a bitch of a ride. Where the hell are we anyway?”

“I’ve no idea. And what happened to Alethia?”

“Beats me. . . One minute she was standing there with her eyes closed, gripping hold of something that was on the end of her necklace, the next I felt like I’d been sniffing PCP.” His buddy’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Michael. “Let me see you man.”

Michael sensed concern in Evo’s tone as he walked right up to him and placed his hands on his shoulders. His gaze was intense. “Thank God. Your eyes are back to normal. Are you feeling okay?”

Michael frowned. Why was he asking him that? His eyes always changed when he was really angry. “Why the concern? Not like you haven’t seen my eyes change before.”

Evo nodded his head and dropped his hands from Michael’s shoulders. “Oh, I know I have. . . but not the rest of your body glowing white I haven’t.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” It had to be the hallucinations. Evo must have had one too. He was getting confused. Had to be.

“And before you say it, it was before all of that spinning started.” His friend said as if he’d read his mind.

He wasn’t convinced. “How can you be sure?”

Evo paced around the big empty space. “I was well aware of my surroundings at that moment. And Alethia was still coherent. She seemed as surprised as I was. It was only after that happened that she actually listened to me and went into a trance. Then she started chanting or praying or some shit.” Evo stopped and faced him again. “Oh yeah, there’s something else I forgot to mention too.”

Michael didn’t know how much more of these revelations he could take right now. What else? He grew horns. . . A tail? “What?” he snapped. It came out more harsh than intended. Evo ignored it.

“Your rage made the walls shake.”

Now Michael was certain Evo was mistaken. How could that possibly happen? He’d been like he was for almost a year now and neither of those things had ever happened before.

Evo must have sensed his denial. “I’m telling you man, that spinny, stormy crap that just happened? That was Alethia−and remind me to thank her for making me hurl my guts up next time I see her, by the way−but the wall shaking thing. . . all you buddy.” he said all matter-of-factly.

Before Michael could respond, the veil of drapes at the other end of the room parted unhanded and two figures walked through, one being Alethia, the other a tall man with wavy brown hair that fell to his should
ers. His clothes were unusual: white linen trousers and a sleeveless drape of the same color, which fell over his hips, held together with a sheer gold cummerbund around his waist. He wore white sandals, their ribbons wrapped from his feet to his ankles.

The man had both hands behind his back as both he and Alethia gracefully ambled towards them. It was mature Alethia that faced them now as they stopped right in front of where he and his buddy stood; no sign of the playful female that had teased Evo earlier. Michael noticed Evo
stiffen, but thought nothing of it.

Alethia spoke first. “This is Valtas. God of shadows.”

The stranger held out his hand, a golden cuff covered his wrist. “Welcome, gentlemen,” he said in a slightly accented voice that Michael couldn’t place. He shook Michael’s hand, then moved to Evo who now looked as pale as the guy’s clothes.

“Is this Heaven?” Evo
asked, seeming to be awed by the man currently shaking his hand.

Michael almost choked at Evo’s strange question. But Valtas simply smiled and shook his head. “No. You are in Asirus
. No longer are you on Earth, though you are not yet in heaven.”

That’s what all of the spinning was about. Alethia had somehow
materialized them here. But where exactly was here? Were they amongst the clouds or further beyond? He was stunned for a moment. Not only had he been to Hell, but now he’d visited the heavens. As a dead guy he’d seen a lot of strange shit and knew from experience that there was an afterlife and spirits and monsters. But this seemed too surreal; too impossible, even for him to get his head around. He couldn’t quite believe that he was standing in front of a god, a living breathing god. Now he understood why Evo was acting all polite and self-effacing around the guy. Bastard knew everything.

Valtus began to pace a little, hands behind his back and accentuating the thick muscle that covered his bare arms. He was powerful and stood easily at six and a half feet. His physique resembled Evo’s only he was much larger, as you would expect of a man of his stature.

“You are honored gentlemen. Only the gods enter Asirus. We do not allow for visitors of any kind in our realm,”−he turned to face Michael, caramel eyes locking onto his with a fierce stare−“Especially those who have returned from Hell. You are only permitted here now because my daughter tells me we have a mutual enemy and that you seek her help.”

His daughter?
Whoa! Evo hadn’t lied when he’d said she was powerful, only powerful didn’t quite sum it up. She was a fucking goddess. Only Evo could enlist the help of an all powerful deity. He almost wanted to kiss the shit out of him.

Valtus continued with his gaze fixed solely on Michael. “Tell me. How is it that you managed to leave the underworld that you were banished to? It’s not easy to leave such a place unaided.”

The question was unexpected and plagued by suspicion. “I can’t give you an answer because I don’t know.” It was the truth. He had no memory of how he’d returned. Only the intermittent memories of his torture, but even they weren’t clear. The pain was, though. He didn’t think he’d ever forget that.

“Father,” Alethia said. “It’s Varesh. He has returned. I believe he has taken a human woman hostage and he’s done it to get at this man.” She held her hand towards Michael.

Valtus’s eyes narrowed. “Why would he be after you?”

Michael remained stoic. “Again, I have no answer. I’d never heard of him until we captured one of his demons who then spoke about him to me. He told me Varesh had been looking for me for a long time. I don’t know this demon.” But he would do soon, of that he was certain. Whoever, or whatever, he was, he would pay for taking Lacy. “Look, as much as I’m enjoying our little meeting here, I have something more important to do. Every moment wasted talking to you could be spent searching for my. . . for Lacy.”

“And how can you be sure you’ll find her? Alethia says you’ve requested her help, which I’m reluctant to allow.” Michael noticed Alethia fight back a frown. “My daughter is too important to me to get mixed up in some human’s unfortunate affairs, but you, I am intrigued by. Varesh has been our enemy for thousands of years. He is powerful and unfortunately wants to be more so, which is why I question what he wants with you.”

Michael remained still as Valtas stepped closer. The god’s stare penetrated him intently as though he was trying to see right into his soul, if he still had one. No one said a word. Through his peripheral vision Michael saw Evo tense. He’d
remained uncharacteristically quiet through their whole meeting. His buddy had his hand perched over one of his guns, as if a gun would do any good against a god. He looked like he expected things to turn sour at any minute.

Valtas was so close to Michael now that he felt his breath on his face as he spoke. “Because of my daughter’s persistence, Alethia will assist you in finding the human woman, but once you do, you will not call on her again. Am I understood?”

Michael’s gaze flicked to Alethia and back to Valtas. “You have my word,” he replied and as Valtas stepped away, Michael relaxed his shoulders and allowed himself to breathe again. Jesus, he’d felt the male’s power pouring off him, a power he wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that’s for sure.

He noticed Evo relax too. His buddy raised his eyebrows at Michael and also let out a relieved sigh. He’d obviously felt that power too, his pasty color was evidence of that.

Next, Valtas walked up to Alethia. Without speaking, he held out his hand. A small glow of bright light formed right above it and after it faded, a jewelled, silver ring appeared in his palm. He brought it down in front of Alethia whose mouth curled up in what looked like a wicked smile before she took it from him and placed it on the middle finger of her left hand. The damn thing resized on its own until it fit.

“I trust I don’t have to tell you to take very good care of this?” Valtas said. “Only you are to use it. Its captives will be dealt with accordingly.”

Its captives?
What the hell did he mean?

Valtas turned on his heels. “I expect you to keep me informed, Alethia,” he called out over his shoulder as he walked away. The woman remained silent
until her father had left the room.

“Pompous ass!” she whispered. Evo fought a laugh. “Let’s get out of here,” she said as she grabbed the pendant around her neck and the room began to spin.

“
. . . I’m sure. I’ve seen the way he looks at her.”

Silence.

The ache in Lacy’s head was pretty intense as she awoke from what seemed like a very real nightmare. Was it a nightmare? And who was that she could hear talking? Through the haze and confusion, she thought she’d heard a male voice, but that too was probably part of her nightmare. She felt groggy, nauseous, in fact her whole body felt heavy, weighed down by something strong.

“You have my word
, my lord.”

There was th
at voice again. She heard no reply so assumed whoever it was was talking on a phone. It hurt to move her eyelids. She slowly opened them, but everything was blurred. Blinking once, twice, her vision began to clear but she still strained to see her surroundings. She blinked again until the room slowly came into focus.

At first she was confused, her brain refusing to work through the throbbing
pain in her head. She inhaled a deep breath and almost choked on the heavy stench of urine and God only knew what else.

Then a vision flashed in her mind, a memory so vivid yet
so hard to fathom: Mr Hinckley. Oh, God. . . Mr Hinckley had hit her? Hadn’t he?

She
realized she’d been abducted.

No!
She fought to stay silent even though every part of her wanted to scream, but she managed to compose herself.

Where the hell was she?

She was lying on a bed but she couldn’t move. Her arms were stretched above her head tied together by her wrists, probably to the headboard. Her feet, the same: bound at the ankles. She summoned the strength to lift her head slightly, wincing, and saw that she was in a large room, some sort of disused warehouse it looked like.

There was a lamp with no shade to her left on what looked like a metal hospital trolley. It was hard to make out anything beyond the
shallow pool of light that fell over her, but she thought she could see dirt and debris covering most of the surrounding floor. She noticed a room just off to her right side−door ajar, light on. That was where the voice had come from. She heard metal crashing from inside which startled her. Soon after, the door swung open.

Shit!

She closed her eyes and pretended she was still unconscious.

“
I know you’re awake. I can smell your fear,” a raspy voice said. Lacy couldn’t will her heart rate to slow down. She ignored him and kept her eyes closed.

“
Hey. Bitch!” He was closer this time.

SLAP!

Lacy cried out at the sudden pain on her cheek as her head whipped to the side. She tried desperately to keep the tears inside her eyes but failed as they rolled down either side of her temples, wetting her ears. Her head already felt like it had been kicked around a school yard and now one side of her face burned like hell too. She looked at the man without saying a word, taking in as much of his appearance as she could through her watery eyes.

He looked to be about forty. H
is eyes were deep set, though she couldn’t tell what color, framed by thick dark eyebrows. His hair was short, recently cut and black, but dusty−much like his face. She found his clothing strange: navy suit under a tatty gray coat with a dirty white shirt and a matching blue tie. It wasn’t the kind of clothing she’d expect a kidnapper to wear, not that she’d had any experience with one before. He looked ready for the office.

He stood sniggering
at her.

Somehow she managed to speak.
“Where is Mr Hinckley?” Her voice was hoarse. She swallowed to try and help it, but her mouth was bone dry. “What have you done with him?”

The man frowned as though he didn
’t know who she was talking about, but then seemed to remember, “The old man? I got rid of him.”

Lacy choked back a sob, determined not to let him see a weakness.

“He served his purpose.” He put his hand near her face like he was contemplating stroking the very same cheek which he’d just slapped−
Oh, God No. . . Please
−but he pulled away. He swung around, grabbed an old, wooden chair and sat on it the wrong way round, leaning his elbows on the back and leering at her. She hadn’t noticed he had a knife, but he was now twiddling it through his fingers. The way he stared at her sent a chill through her blood.

“
What do you want with me?” she asked, trying to hide the fact that she was trembling.

He grinned.
“What I want, and what I’m allowed, are two very different things.” He licked his bottom lip, eyes narrowing as they looked over the length of her body in a way which made her skin crawl. “Unfortunately, for now, I have to use you as bait, but while my master is away that don’t mean I can’t have a bit of fun while we wait.” He reached over and ran the blunt side of the knife down her cheek. She inhaled sharply, and clamped her jaw tight to stop herself from crying, as the back of the cold metal blade scraped down her flesh.

The man’
s eyes widened as he sensed her fear; he enjoyed how frightened she was. She had to put a stop to that right now so she forced herself to exhale slowly and tried her damndest to push her fear to the back of her mind.

Bait? What for?

She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question, but she didn’t have to.

“
So how is your teacher friend? Do you think he cares for you enough to come save you?”

Lacy
’s stomach sank, a deep dread washed over her as she realized. . . Michael. No. What did he want with. . . ?

Suddenly, Michael
’s words from last night rushed through her mind,
“There are things you don’t know about me. Things I can’t tell you.”

Oh, God.
He must be involved in something really big for someone to have kidnapped her over it. That’s why he couldn’t tell her. Was it drugs? Gang related? Michael
and
Evo? They were in some deep shit she was sure. She closed her eyes, unable to cope as all of the thoughts of what he could be involved in spun through her mind.
“You don’t have to worry. I haven’t done anything bad.”
he’d said.

She turned her head to face her kidnapper.
“Who are you and why are you after Michael?”

The knife touched her again, starting from the top of her temple
, only this time it felt sharper. “It’s not me that’s after him, although, he’d be much better off if it were. I would just end him. When my master gets a hold of him, he’ll wish that I had.” As he spoke his eyes glazed over like he was imagining something. She gasped, holding her breath again as she felt a sharp sting as he pressed the knife down harder, slicing her skin just by her eyebrow.

Her captor paused as a cell phone began to ring from the other room. He
grunted, then shot up from the chair and disappeared from view.

Air burst from her lungs and she began to feel light
headed.
Don’t you dare pass out!
She warned herself.
You don’t know what he’ll do to you.
She felt a warm trickle of blood roll from her temple and a familiar feeling of panic began to rise up from her toes. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to think of something that would take her mind off where she was. Last thing she needed was to lose it here.

A vision of Michael
’s face sitting across a table from her filled her mind. He was laughing, his blue eyes sparkling like sapphires over the flame of a candle. She wished she was back at Carlito’s, back at that night when they’d both first spent some time together. She’d liked him from the start. He’d seemed kind and gentle and hadn’t taken advantage of her when she’d so stupidly thrown herself at him. Where was he now? She wondered. Had he returned to find her gone yet? She hoped so. Maybe he’d informed the cops and they were now looking for her. But what if they couldn’t find her.

She heard the door open and her kidnapper came rushing through holding a piece of paper. He returned to the chair that he
’d occupied before, but moved it closer so that the back of it was touching the mattress. His twisted grin chilled her to her very core.

He flipped his cell phone open and began to dial a number from the piece of paper
he was holding. He waited.

She could just about hear the
voice answer on the other end of the line.

The kidnapper spoke.
“I have something you want.”

Lacy
’s heart sank. She suddenly found it hard to breathe. Michael’s voice bellowed through the phone’s speaker. Her heart pounded so hard in her ears, she had to struggle to make out what he was saying.

“
Where is she you bastard. She better be okay or I swear I will make sure you suffer you son of a bitch!”

Her tears were back. She thought of him returning to her house to find her gone and couldn
’t bear it. How would he find her? How long had she even been there?

Her thoughts were cut of
f when her kidnapper laughed at Michael’s words. “Met my mother have you? She was more of a bitch than you could ever imagine,” he mocked. “You think your words scare me? Don’t bother. You want to see your woman again, you better listen carefully. My master wishes to do a trade. Her for you. That’s the only way she gets to live.”

“You fucking asshole!”
Michael’s words came thick and fast.

“
I am indeed. And you’re being offered a chance to save someone you care about. We both know you will come.”

“
Oh I’ll come, and I’ll end you and your master. I promise you that.”

Lacy
’s eyes widened as she listened, wishing there was something she could do to prevent Michael from putting himself in danger. She almost screamed with frustration. She was the one who’d put Michael in this position. If only she’d been more careful, but how was she to know that Mr Hinckley was there to hurt her? What had happened to him to make him hit her? When she’d looked into his eyes as he’d stood in front of her they’d looked blank, dead even, like he’d been in some sort of trance. Someone must have forced him to do it, but how?

All those questions weren’t helping right now.
She was here, and Michael would come as her captor demanded.

Another laugh escaped the man
who was now standing at the bedside.

Michael
’s voice was stern.
“I want to speak to her. I want to know she’s still alive.”

The man didn’t answer him; instead, he
put the cell to her ear. “Speak!”

She struggled for air. At that moment she wanted to b
awl into the phone, to tell him not to come for her because she feared if he did they would both be killed. She had to sound strong. She would. “Michael?”

“
Lacy, are you hurt?”

“
No, I’m okay,” her voice trembled beyond her control.

“
I’m coming to get you. I promise. Stay strong−”

“No!” she cried as h
is voice was pulled away from her ear. More tears streamed from her eyes as she tried to hold on to it, to keep the sound of Michael’s voice in her head, trying to filter out her captor’s voice as he continued to speak on the cell. Would she ever see Michael again? That she didn’t know but whatever happened to her now, she would keep his voice in her memory right up to the point of her inevitable death, holding on to him with everything she had.

The man’s voice
grew louder, more savage, pulling her from her thoughts. Now she had no choice but to hear him as he spat his venomous threat into the phone.

“
If I even sense that you haven’t come alone, believe me when I say that your bitch will die in the most horrific way possible, which I’ll enjoy immensely, after what you attempted to do to me last night.” that sickening laugh again ”What a shame you failed.”

Last night?
What did he mean? Michael and Evo had encountered this monster before? So many questions swirled around her head, sending her into a tailspin. This must have been the kind of trouble Michael was in, the reason why he’d said he couldn’t be with her. Now she was starting to wonder if they’d looked for Jake at all last night. Perhaps they were too busy dealing with this other problem instead.

Her abductor
ended the call and peered down at her. He no longer had his creepy smile, just a deep scowl twisting his features, turning him into something much more sinister than before. “Let’s see how much he cares for you, shall we?” he hissed, before reaching down and taking hold of a chunk of her hair, fanning it through his fingers.

What was wrong
with his eyes?

She swore she
’d just seen the slightest hint of red glowing around the edges of his irises, bleeding out into the white before disappearing again. It was probably a reflection from the lamp or something.

He walked away from her and went back into the other
room, pushing the door closed behind him.