Awaken (Divine Hunter Series) (20 page)

Lacy closed her eyes and immediately saw Michael’s face again. He would be coming here for her now and she really couldn’t let that happen. She had to at least try and free herself. She began pulling her wrists as hard as she
could, but all that did was cause the rope to burn as it rubbed against her skin. She tried twisting and pulling this time, holding her breath and squeezing her lips tightly together to stop from screaming out at the pain. . . Still no use.

She tilted her head back to look at the headboard that she was bound to. The rope was twisted and tied over and over again through the metal slats that were welded to the frame.

No way was she getting out of this.

She strained her head to look at her feet and almost screamed in frustration when she
assessed the thick metal chain that bound her ankles in much the same way. She began to wiggle her feet anyway. Pulling and twisting, but again, it was no use. The chains were even tighter than the rope. She bit back a curse and blinked her eyes a couple of times to stop the tears−tears of anger this time−that had begun to fill her eyes. She huffed, lifted her head and narrowed her eyes as she tried again to see beyond the glow of light around the bed.

It was still too dark to make anything out. Distant shadows were all she could see, of furniture or equipment of some sort. She knew wherever she
was, it was big, going by how her and her abductor’s voices had echoed, his more so than hers.

A noise, like metal clanging on concrete, flicked her head to the side. Her eyes widened as she waited with baited breath for something to come into view. Her heart pounded loudly, the only sound in the silence that followed.

Nothing.

She began to slowly breathe again as she told herself it was probably a rat or something, hoped it was anyway. No. Not hoped. . . she hated rats.

Something caught in her peripheral vision, the opposite side from where the noise had come from. She reluctantly turned her head, but there was nothing there.

There it was again.
A little over to the right this time. She jerked her head to look for whatever was catching her eye but still. . . nothing.

She was losing her mind. That had to be it. The surrounding darkness was playing tricks on her and she didn’t appreciate it. She was scared enough as it was without scaring herself to death as well.

This time she saw it. A shadow moved past the bed so quickly she nearly missed the damn thing. Her breath caught. What the hell
was
that?

Then a figure appeared from the darkness at the foot of the bed. A woman, dressed in a long white nightgown, her long brown hair ran down past her shoulders, curling at the ends. She looked to be in her early twenties maybe, it was hard to tell, she wasn’t exactly solid.

Lacy groaned. Not another damned hallucination. Now really wasn’t the time.

The woman began to walk towards her, her form flickering ever so slightly, like Lacy was watching an old video tape that was damaged. Suddenly
, Lacy felt her whole body go cold. She shivered, goose flesh tingling all over her skin, and watched with gritted teeth as the woman reached out a hand toward her.

This is all in your head. She
’s not real. She’s not real.

Lacy blinked hard over and over again, hoping that one of the times when she opened her eyes the vision would be gone but no such luck. Her mind was determined to destroy what little amount of sanity she had left.

Please, just go away.

The figure
came closer to the bed, her arm outstretched in front of her like she was reaching out for something. Her face was gaunt, eyes glazed over as she stared at Lacy.

Something wasn
’t right. If this was a hallucination, it was very realistic.

All of a sudden the woman
’s hand came down and grabbed Lacy’s ankle. Shit! She was real all right. Lacy bit down on her lip to stop herself from screaming as the woman’s grip got tighter, causing her ankle to sting from the pressure.

What the hell?
She didn’t dare speak the words through fear of her abductor returning so she remained as quiet as possible, forcing her mouth to stay closed. She felt something snap−praying it wasn’t her ankle−and almost cried out with the last sudden jolt of pain.

T
hen. . .

The pressure and pain eased and s
he felt the chains fall away from her.

Before Lacy could
register what had happened, the woman had moved to the head of the bed so quickly Lacy hardly even saw it. She noticed how pretty the woman was now that she was closer. “Who are you?” Lacy asked in the faintest whisper. The woman’s head angled to the side as she looked down at her. She didn’t speak, only proceeded to do the same at her wrists as she’d done at Lacy’s feet.

Lacy held her breath in anticipation of the same pain she’d just felt.

Snap!

Her hands were now free. She rubbed at her wrists.

In spite of her complete shock at what had just happened, and at the realization that maybe, after all this time, the visions she’d always seen were never actually hallucinations, she still somehow managed to climb off the bed and stand up. When she looked around to thank the woman she’d disappeared. Before her mind began trying to convince itself that the woman hadn’t been real after all, and that she
was
actually losing her mind, Lacy reminded herself that imaginary women in their nightgowns could not snap thick rope and chain with their hands.

She shook herself. No time to think about it.

Now she had to move, and fast.

She looked over at the door to the other room and to her relief it was still closed. Forcing her eyes to focus she hurried through the large space, careful not to kick anything or trip over as she struggled to navigate through the dark, thick shadows without making a sound. Up
ahead, she noticed there were a few small windows that had been blackened out, one of which had a beam of pale light bursting through a small gap in the paint. Was it still daylight? As it was the only source of light, she headed in that direction and as she got closer, two large metal doors became visible.

Please don
’t be locked.
Please don’t be locked.
Her pleas went unanswered. Her stomach sank when she saw a thick chain, much like the one that had bound her ankles, threaded through the slide lock and held in place by a large padlock.

Shit!
Her eyes frantically scanned the darkness. She didn’t have much time until that bastard returned to find her gone and when he did he would surely be pissed. God knows what he’d do to her. Besides that, another reason was spurring her on: If she managed to get away, it’d save Michael from risking his life to rescue her. She inhaled a deep breath and willed herself to a relative calm so she could focus for a minute. When she did, she noticed that one of the large doors looked slightly different to the other and then she saw why: a smaller door, normal height, was inside of it.

Oh, my
God. Through all of my damn stressing I almost missed it
, she thought to herself as she quietly undid the bolt at the top. She noticed another towards the bottom, unlocked that one too and then pushed. It didn’t budge. Her eyes narrowed, focusing on a keyhole. Shit! It must be locked. She pushed again, but it was no use.

Tears began to sting her eyes. How cruel was it that she’d been set free from her
binds, but was now locked in the damn building? There had to be another way. She was about to turn around, but froze as she was hit by a familiar sensation. Her body had gone cold as it had on the bed, and no sooner had she realized why, an arm reached past her, its hand flattening against the lock. She turned to see the brown haired woman standing next to her. Immediately, a faint click sounded and the door pushed open to reveal the blackened night outside; a rush of sweet, chilled air hit her instantly. Maybe she was going to make it after all.

She turned to the spirit and whispered, “Thank you,” then watched as she faded away.

Lacy shot out of the warehouse and into the grounds of a junk yard. The light she’d seen through the window was caused by floodlights that lit up the whole yard. Twisted metal heaps that were once cars were piled up high in organized rows stretching out as far as she could see. She never thought it possible to feel claustrophobic in such a vast open space but she did.

Suddenly a loud roar came from inside the building, the echo of which filled the expanse of the disused warehouse until it reached Lacy, hitting her full in the face. Fear spiked through her veins and she ran. As
fast as her legs were able to carry her, she ran for her life.

Her breath rushed in and out as she ran through the tall maze of metal. The moon reflected on the damp floor of the junk yard, helping to illuminate the way. She reached the end of the aisle only to be faced with more of the same. She looked both ways and couldn’t see an end to the rows upon rows of stacked up cars.

There
has
to be a way out of here.

Lacy gasped as she heard her captor’s
malevolent laughter filling the air as though it was flying around, travelling on the cold night breeze. She picked a direction and ran, hoping that she’d find a way out of there. It had to end somewhere, right?

Her head whipped around to the sound of the man’s sinister laugh in her ear, much quieter and a lot closer, as though he
was running beside her, in fact, she could have sworn she’d felt his breath stroke her neck but he wasn’t there. Her heart began to race and freezing cold tears flicked off her cheeks as she fought to stay upright on her weakening legs. She kept checking behind to see if he was following but there was still no sign of him. She could only hear his voice. Somehow he was projecting it, tormenting her. Her lungs burned, her chest ached but she didn’t stop running.

After checking over her shoulder once more she went
ploughing into a dark figure: her captor. His laugh was the same as she’d just heard only his face was still. The sound wasn’t coming from his mouth, but yet she still heard it echoing all around the junkyard. She screamed and he spun her so she faced away from him, locking his arms around her.

“Get off me,” she cried, frantically trying to break free from his hold. Her energy was fading and she struggled for breath. “Please.”

His hand covered her mouth and he whispered next to her ear. “Now I get to hurt you.” His raucous laughter grated in her ears.

She attempted to scream, for all the good it would do, but it just came out as a muted grunt. She knew she’d signed her death warrant when she’d decided to run. If her kidnapper had planned to let her go in exchange for Michael she highly doubted that would be the case now. He was pissed off.

She still struggled in his grip; no way was she dying without a fight. Not after how close she’d come to escaping.

“Stop it bitch or I’ll just snap your neck right here.” His voice sounded a lot deeper than usual and almost like there were two of him speaking.

She doubted he would. If he killed her now he’d lose his leverage.

It wasn’t her kidnapper’s ominous threat that made her body freeze. It was the voice that came from the shadows, a voice that both filled her with hope and fear.

“Don’t you fucking dare harm her you son of a bitch!”

Michael.
She feared for them both now.

“
Well, well.” her captor said, keeping his grip tight over her mouth. “Didn’t you show up just in time? Shame though, I was about to have some fun. Perhaps I still will, now you’re here to watch.”

He brought his arm up and Lacy felt something sharp dig into her neck. She inhaled sharply through her nose and her eyes widened and locked onto Michael’s.

Michael’s hands went up as if to show he had no weapons. “Easy. I’m here just like you wanted.” His voice had lost all the anger. He took a step closer then paused. “You hurt her, the deal’s off.”

“And you’re alone?”

“You know that already. Now summon him.”

Michael’s hands remained where they were. Lacy could see in his face that he knew with the knife being so close to her throat, one wrong move and she was dead. She tried but couldn’t stop trembling and could hardly breathe due to the fact that every inhale pushed the blade deeper into her skin.

“I said summon him.” Michael demanded.

“I don’t have to. He’s already here.”

Lacy saw a large figure appear behind Michael. From out of nowhere! She tried to shout, to warn him. Then felt a piercing sting as the knife cut her. It worked. Michael whipped around, but was immediately thrown backwards by some sort of invisible force.

What the hell?

Lacy was suddenly thrown free. She hit the ground with a thud, but managed to shuffle herself into a corner out of the way where all she could do was watch with absolute horror as the two men descended on Michael.

“N
ow is as good a time as any, Alethia.”

Michael called out right before he got a heavy boot in his abdomen. He flew throu
gh the air, landing against a hunk of metal which caved under the weight of him. He jumped to his feet as quickly as his legs would let him and ran at Varesh. He knew he was only fighting to hold him off until Alethia intervened in whatever way she was planning, and wished to hell she’d hurry up about it.

Just as Michael was about to charge into Varesh
’s six feet seven−at least−frame he disappeared into thin air leaving Michael to crash into his minion instead. Whatever. . . Either one would do as long as he kept them both away from Lacy.

They hit the ground and skidded along the as
phalt. Michael swung at the bastard who−and he had no idea why he noticed at this moment−was wearing a suit. Some poor office bloke on his way to work that he’d found no doubt. He connected with his jaw. Of course all that did was jerk the demon’s head back a little and make it even more riled than it already was.

The demon
maneuvered his leg under Michael and kicked out, once again sending him backwards through the air. When he landed, he cracked the back of his skull. He lifted up onto his elbows and shook away the stars that had filled his vision temporarily. He reached around his head and felt a wet patch in his hair. When he looked at his hand it was soaked with blood. “Son of a−” The demon charged towards him.

Michael jumped
up, but the bastard crashed right into him, the force pushed him back until his back got slammed up against a wall of scrap metal. He felt something sharp puncture his skin above his right kidney just as he heard Lacy crying out his name. He looked down to see that he’d been impaled on a piece of metal tubing, a goddamn tailpipe?

He
glanced over to where Lacy was huddled between two cars. When his gaze met hers, she gasped. Her eyes widened, her face filled with bewilderment as her hand slowly covered her mouth. When Michael flicked his eyes back to the demon minion who was now snarling in his face, he knew why Lacy had reacted that way. The demon’s face was illuminated by the white glow Michael was now emitting from his eyes, which was always the case when he was angry.

She
’d seen them.

He didn
’t have time to worry about that now. Besides, she’d also seen his back eat the end of a tailpipe and was about to watch him walk away from it unaffected so, yeah, he knew he’d be having a certain conversation with her once this was over.

He pushed the demon backwards with all of his strength and managed to free himself from the metal. Without
hesitation, he punched the guy under his chin and before his head had chance to correct itself he punched again, then twice more. The demon only stumbled backwards a couple of steps, but it was enough for Michael to gain back his momentum. As the demon looked back at Michael he wiggled his jaw, his eyes now glowing crimson, just like he’d seen in Jake’s and another demon’s eyes in the alleyway all those months ago when he’d saved Evo. This bastard was as strong as that one had been too.

Michael braced himself for what would com
e at him and sure enough the bastard pulled out a knife.

“When you are mine,
I’m going to enjoy slicing your flesh from your bones,” he hissed as he began to pace around Michael like a lion circling his prey.

Michael
looked at the knife, then smiled. “You think that will hurt me?”

The minion laughed
. “Maybe this won’t. But
that
will.”

“MICHAEL
!” Lacy cried out.

He
was just about to turn around when a white hot pain shot through his entire body, burning every inch of him like he’d imagine hot molten lava to feel if it were poured over his skin. He would have fallen to his knees in agony, except there was something stopping his body from collapsing. He looked down and. . .

What. The. Fuck?

A glowing hand protruded from his stomach. Despite the intense pain Michael turned his head in stunned silence to see Varesh was standing behind him. He’d pushed his hand right through his stomach.
Fuck!

Michael let out a pained roar.

Varesh laughed with deep satisfaction. “I have waited for this day for a long time. I must thank you for making it easy for me. I expected a much harder battle with you given the power you are rumored to possess. Now, you have a choice to make. Die, or join us.”

Michael couldn
’t think past the acid heat that was now surging through his entire body. He heard Varesh’s words, but nothing he said made any sense. He tried to speak, but it was no use.

The distant cries of a female voice confused him. It was
familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“
STOP!
You’re killing him,” she pleaded.

Then he remembered.
Lacy!
He had to keep her safe, but his body was paralyzed.

Varesh
’s voice shouted out to his minion. “Kill her!”

“
NO!” Michael roared. He managed to open his eyes and saw the other demon stalking towards Lacy. The fear in her eyes pained him more than what Varesh was doing and when he tried with all of his strength to move he couldn’t. He was helpless.

In the next
instance, his vision began to change. Everything around him grew brighter and began to spin.

NO! This can’t be happening. Not now.

But this was it. He was finally dying and there was nothing he could do about it. Nothing he could do to save Lacy either. As his vision began to fade he heard muffled voices shouting out.

“What’s going on?”
A male voice penetrated the fog now filling Michael’s mind.

“
Alethia!”
another voice shouted.
“What business do you have here, Alethia?”

Then a
feral growl filled the air. The sound was close to him so it must have been from Varesh.
“You will die for this,”
the demon shouted.

He forced his eyes
open and everything was brighter now. This was what he’d longed for through his torture all that time ago, the light that he’d heard appeared before you died. He felt the burning beginning to ease, a peace rushing through him like a waterfall dousing the flames that had been so rampant over his skin and through his veins. Then everything went quiet and he felt like he was floating. Flying through an expanse of nothingness, unable to see or hear, just feel. This weird sensation must have been his passing. He was finally going to where he was meant to be.
If this is what true peace feels like, I’ll take it
, he thought. And in that moment he didn’t want anything else.

His weightless body touche
d down onto something solid, then he felt something touching his arm. As he slowly opened his eyes a blurry shadow appeared over him and a voice grew louder in his mind. “. . . wake up. Michael.” He knew that gentle voice, but it took him a moment to place it. Lacy. He blinked and his vision began to clear. Lacy was leaning over him, her face was like an angel’s. Was she an angel? Had she died too?

“
Michael. Talk to me. We’re safe.” The moment his brain kicked into gear, like someone had jump started the thing and begun to rev the engine to give it more power, everything came back to him. He sat up quickly and looked down at his stomach, feeling panicked and a little dizzy.

“
Where are we?” his voice croaked.

Lacy placed her hand on his shoulder
. “It’s okay. We’re at my place. We’re safe.” She reassured him again.

“
Where’s Alethia?”

“
You mean the woman who helped us?” Michael nodded. “I don’t know. I saw her appear from nowhere and then she did something impossible and those men disappeared right in front of my eyes. I don’t really know what happened after that. Then suddenly we were here, just the two of us.” She shook her head in disbelief. “How. . . How is any of that possible?”

He placed both his hands on Lacy
’s face. “Are you okay?” Remembering the last thing he saw was the demon prowling towards her.

She nodded her head slowly.
“Yes,” she whispered. But there was something in her expression that he couldn’t place.
Shit
. She’d seen his eyes. Before he could say anything to her, she placed her hands in his and pulled them away from her face.

“
You’re wounded.” She reached down and pulled at his coat to get a better look. He twisted his head around to see a bloody hole in the fabric where the tailpipe had penetrated him.
Shit!
He pulled himself up from the floor. Lacy followed him, grabbing hold of his arm to steady him when he wobbled a little.

“
Thank you.” he said to her, noticing a kind of sadness in her eyes.

She reached do
wn to grab the hem of his shirt, which was soaked with blood, but he put his hand on hers to stop her. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”

Lacy
’s eyebrows pulled down into a frown. “I saw what happened. You need to go to the hospital and have it looked at. You’re bleeding a lot.”

“
Really, I’m fine.”

She pulled the shirt up anyway and gasped.
“Oh, my God.” Her hand covered her mouth and her eyes widened. “We need to call an ambulance, now.” She went to turn around and Michael grabbed her shoulders, holding her still in front of him. “Jesus, Michael. You have a big hole in your back and−”

“Lacy. Listen to me,” h
e interrupted. “I’m fine. I promise you.” She looked confused, bewildered, which was understandable. She inhaled as though she was about to say something, but stopped herself. Instead, she stared into his eyes for a moment and then the expression on her face suddenly changed to something more like disbelief which told him she’d just remembered what she’d seen.

“Your eyes. . .
What happened to your eyes back there?” She stepped away from him.

There was no hiding it any longer.

He knew he had no other choice but to be honest with her. He owed her the truth and now he was going to tell her. Everything. Maybe she would understand why he’d run from her at every opportunity. Maybe she would run from him once she knew. The latter was probably for the best.

He began to move them over to the sofa.
“What the hell is going on, Michael?” She walked with him and they sat down next to each other. “None of that could have been real right? It’s not possible that any of that really happened. Tell me I’m completely crazy and I’ll believe it right now.”

He shook his head. “You’re not crazy, Lacy.”

Where to begin?

He inhaled deeply
and let his breath out slowly struggling to find the right words. In the next few minutes she was either going to think he was a nut job or that he was some sort of monster. Neither one he was prepared for but it couldn’t be avoided anymore. She’d seen too much to accept some lame attempt at a logical explanation, and he knew she wasn’t stupid enough to believe it anyway. He had no other choice but to come out and say it.

“
I’m not human.”

He watched her face for a
ny kind of reaction, but her expression remained blank. He continued. “The men who abducted you aren’t human and neither is Alethia.” He took one of her hands in his and covered it with his other. “Before I explain things I want you to know that everything I tell you now is the god’s honest truth. And that I have only kept this from you to keep you safe. Okay?”

She looked up at him through her lon
g eyelashes and nodded her head.

“
A little under a year ago something happened to me. I was murdered.”

He heard her sudden intake of breath.

“I don’t know who did it or why, all I know is that I didn’t pass over to where I should have, instead I ended up in Hell. I don’t really remember my time there, and I am pretty sure that’s for the best. I don’t even know how I got free, but ever since I did, I’ve been trapped here on earth as a spirit of some kind. Or even a demon. Hell, I don’t know what I actually am but I don’t think I’m the same as those demons who took you.

“
Anyway, I figured I must be like this for a reason, but what that is I’ve yet to figure out. The next thing I’m going to tell you is going to be even harder to believe. You know the monsters and ghosts you read about when you were younger and some of the things you’ve seen in movies, they’re real Lacy, they exist in a different plain which is not really part of our world but sometimes those monsters cross over and end up right here on earth. I don’t know how but it’s true. I’ve spent the last year hunting and tracking them down and sending them back to wherever they came from.

“
I came to Oakland because I suspected something supernatural was killing the students here and I was right. They didn’t just decide to kill themselves, they were pushed to do it by a demon. It possessed each of them and made them jump to their deaths. Just after Nina had jumped and we found her lying on the ground I saw the demon leave her body. It had possessed Jake which is the reason he was acting so strange. It’s also the reason he came after you. I believe he would have killed you if you hadn’t gotten away.”