Damned and Desirable (Eternally Yours Book 2) (26 page)

My wings felt weighted down with a hundred years of regret and an eternity of sorrow. “You’re too good to be in Hell.”

Though the smoke had dried up every last drop of moisture in my eyes, I blinked back the wave of anguish that washed over me. I wanted so badly to fly into Callum’s arms and tell him everything would be all right, but I knew it wouldn’t. Not for him, and not for me, either. Even if I found my way back to Purgatory, how could I go on, knowing my friend suffered? Suddenly, Aedan’s dark moods and depression made sense. He mourned the loss of his brother.

Callum averted his gaze, looking out across the volatile landscape. “There’s an old adage we have in Hell. In life unchained. In death unjust.”

I remembered hearing that same saying up above. I wondered if it was more than a coincidence that it was true for both dimensions. “They say that in Purgatory, too,” I said. Then I bolted straight up into the night sky as an idea struck me. I flew back down just as fast, pumping my wings hard as I faced Callum.

“You know what? When I get to Heaven, I’m going to appeal to God and put in a good word for you.” For I certainly had to have earned enough credits to get to Heaven by now, right? Thwarting an apocalypse had to count for something. And if for some reason I still hadn’t earned my way into Heaven, I’d ask, no demand, Aeden go up there and appeal his brother’s sentence. God couldn’t let Callum rot in Hell forever. I refused to believe it.

Callum’s smile didn’t mask the wells of sorrow in his eyes. “Thanks, Ash, but I doubt he’ll listen.”

I thought to argue, but then my attention was drawn to the thousands of winged creatures flying in our direction. From a distance, they appeared to be bats, but, no, they didn’t move like bats. They moved more like birds: big, grey ugly birds that looked surprisingly like Garf.

Callum had seen them too, because he let out a string of curses that would have made the devil blush.

My wings shook as I hovered above Garf. “Callum, what the Hell are those?”

Garf jumped up and down as he pointed to the sky, causing the pools around him to ripple and bubble. “Those Nephilim kin! We saved! We saved!”

I sure in Hell hoped Garf was right. They flew so fast, it took only a few more minutes for them to reach us, and when they were just a few breaths away, I panicked, wondering where all of those Nephilim were going to land. The thunderous flap of their heavy wings rattled my eardrums and shook me to the marrow of my bones. My wings faltered beneath their heavy draft, and I fell to the ground next to Garf. Callum landed right beside me.

We looked up at the Nephilim as their wings beat down on us, wondering how they were going to land in lakes of lava, but only a few of them descended. Before Callum or I had a chance to protest, they swept us into their arms and carried us back in the direction they’d come.

I screamed, fighting against the hairy knuckles of the ape holding my waist in his grip. “Be still, angel.” His deep rumble in my ear was like a train driving straight through my skull. “Nephilim no hurt you. Nephilim keep angel safe.”

We flew so fast, the wind whipped my hair in my eyes and battered my face, making it hard to see anything. All I knew was I was being “escorted” by about a thousand flying giants, and somewhere to the left of me I kept hearing dogs barking.

What were flying dogs doing in Hell?

And I sure as heck hoped it wasn’t that guard dog Callum had told me about. I would have been scared shitless during the flight if it hadn’t been for the sound of Garf’s audible laughter. He’d laughed when two huge Nephilim lifted him off the ground, and he’d been laughing ever since.

The child-like sound was a balm to my soul.

Garf was happy to be back among his own people. Hopefully, they’d never let him get captured again. He’d already endured too much.

When we landed, I had to cover my ears and lean into the arms of my escort, fighting back a wave of dizziness as the booms of the other landing giants made it sound like the earth was splitting open. I opened my eyes when the buzzing of their wings died down and watched with a tightness in my chest as many of them took turns hugging Garf. Thankfully, my escort hovered near me, for I feared I’d be crushed by the throng. I searched the crowd for Callum, but it was hard to see much among the sea of giants.

One thing I couldn’t help but notice, though, was the massive pyramid in front of us. My jaw dropped as I stared up at that thing. It had to have been taller than the Space Needle and wider than the Seahawks stadium. Where had a pyramid come from? I thought the bowels of the underworld were all caves and fire. But I’d encountered a lot of strange things since dying. I should have learned to expect the impossible and believe the improbable. We stood on what appeared to be a dried lake of lava. A horn sounded from somewhere inside the bowels of the pyramid, and then a draw bridge lowered over a moat of fire.

I shrieked when a skeletal demon with red, glowing eyes and a heavy black robe slipped between the legs of a giant and bounded toward me. “Ash, you’re safe!”

Oh, dear God, that demon sounds like Aedan. Could it be him?

I turned away, craning my neck at my giant guardian. He nodded toward the skeleton with a smile.

“Aedan?” I spun back around, looking up at the bony creature in front of me. He had to have been seven feet tall. “Is that you?”

The hood of his robe fell back, revealing what looked like a charred corpse, leathery tendons hugging a skeletal frame. Ewwww. He was the most repulsive demon I’d met in this hell-hole, and that was saying a lot. Talk about a major mood killer.

He nodded as a wide grin split his bones in two. “In the flesh.”

Well, not exactly,
I thought wryly, but I kept that opinion to myself. It took a moment for the shock to wear off, and for me to step into his outstretched arms. Not that I didn’t believe Skeletor was my boyfriend, but I had to work up the nerve to let him hug me.

“I can’t believe you came for me,” I said as he wrapped his bones around me and pulled me to his chest. His ribcage pressed against my cheek, which would have completely repulsed me if I hadn’t been so overwhelmed with gratitude that he’d actually come.

If he had only wanted to be with me because I looked like Mar, he wouldn’t have risked his soul to save me, right?

I pulled away, distracted by a giant who nearly knocked us over as he stomped past us.

“You’re my woman.” Aedan puffed up his skeletal frame. “I would travel all thirteen hells to save you.”

Weird, because I distinctly remembered him telling me he wouldn’t.

Then he frowned down at my chest. “What happened to your shirt?”

“Oh.” Heat flooded my cheeks as I glanced down at my missile tit bra, once a creamy pearl, now a crusty brown. “It fell off when my wings sprouted.”

Aedan’s hollow eye sockets narrowed. When his ugly features contorted, I wasn’t quite sure if he was admiring my girls or scowling at them.

My jaw dropped when this other beast bumped into Aedan and held out his arms to me. He looked like The Hulk on steroids, with glowing green skin and eyes, a spiny ridge down his back, and one clawed leg. “Sarge? Is that you?”

“Affirmative.”

He hugged me so hard, I gasped as the wind was knocked from my lungs. Aedan swore and grumbled behind us, which only made Sarge hug me harder.

A mixture of shock and gratitude overwhelmed me when I realized what my friends had gone through to rescue me. Then I screeched when a black two-headed beast thundered up and barked. I had no time to react before both of his slobbery tongues licked my face, and by licked I meant bathed my entire head in dog spit.

Ewww.
I shielded my face against the assault before ducking behind Aedan.

“Easy, boy,” Aedan said, holding up a hand.

Though the dog’s barks were deeper and more bone-jarring than I remembered, if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that demon dog was Jack. But that had to be impossible. No way would my friends risk the safety of my best buddy by bringing him to Hell. Then I noticed that the dog favored one of its legs, its paw looking mauled and bloody. Poor thing. What had happened?

“Aedan.” I pounded his back. “Please don’t tell me that’s Jack.”

He turned to me, his charcoal lips frowning as he grasped his neck with skeletal fingers. “He’s already saved my skin a few times.”

“But look at his foot, Aedan,” I cried.

Callum appeared behind Jack, admiring my dog with a low whistle. “He’s almost as big as Cerberus. You’ll definitely be able to escape now.”

Time seemed to stand still as Aedan stiffened beside me. The Nephilim’s joyous cries as they hugged Garf faded, the imposing pyramid blurred until it was merely a background, and even the ground shaking beneath my feet was hardly noticeable. The only thing that mattered were those two brothers locked in a stare-down; Aeden looked ready to knock out his brother and Callum issued him a challenging glare that said, “I’d like to see you try it.”

And before I could think to stop them, they were on each other like two snarling dogs. Aedan got in the first punch, a solid hit for a skeleton, that knocked Callum back several paces.

“That’s for stealing my woman!” he roared.

“What are you talking about?” Callum snarled as steam poured out of his snout. “I
saved
your woman.”

Oh, great. Just what I needed, two Neanderthals fighting over me as if I was a piece of meat. I wasn’t “Ash” to either of them, just a woman. Next they were going to break out the clubs, whack me over the head, and fight over who got to drag me away.

“Did you bed her?” Aedan’s fists made cracking sounds as he balled them up in front of him.

“Omigod, Aedan!” I threw up my hands, stomping between them. “Nothing happened.”
Well, not nothing, but I’ll keep my hormone water dream to myself.
I was so angry, I was seeing stars. What gave him the right to cause a scene and accuse us of sleeping together? And so much for any semblance of trust he had in our relationship.
Again, disregard the fact that I came onto Callum more than once. It was the water’s fault!

Aedan didn’t even acknowledge my presence as he pushed past me, stomping up to Callum. “Don’t lie to me,
brother
,” he said with a sneer. “I know about the water.”

Uh-oh.

Black smoke poured from Callum’s mouth as he scraped the charred soil with his foot, looking like a raging bull ready to charge. “I didn’t sleep with her, but if I had….” His smoky gaze shot to me as he flashed a devilish grin. “You’d know about it.”

Oh, this was so not good.

Jack whimpered beside me, a long trail of drool hanging off his fanged jowls. I leaned up and scratched one of his necks. “It’s okay, buddy. They’re just being idiots.”

I shot Sarge an imploring look, but he was no help. He eyed the exchange with a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

I watched with bated breath as Aedan and Callum prepared to charge each other like two runaway trains set on a collision course.

A deafening boom rent the air. I stumbled, nearly falling over as if a bolt of lightning had struck at my feet.

I spun around to see the big giant who’d carried me bearing down on Callum and Aedan with a scowl. “Enough bickering,” he bellowed as spittle flew off his lips, and unfortunately, all over my hair.

Oh, well. Guess I could use a conditioning treatment.

A hush fell over the gathering as we all gaped at the giant. “Nephilim seek answers.” He turned and waved his club at Garf’s back. “What you do here? What happen to wings?”

Garf’s lower lip trembled as he bowed before the other giant. “Great King Og, Nephilim tricked by fair angel. She no angel. She Scorpius whore demon. She make Garf slave.”

The crowd broke into grumbles and gasps, and my body shook when dozens of clubs struck the ground.

Holy shit. The giant who’d carried me was their king! I searched the giant for anything to indicate he was indeed the Nephilim king, but he was dressed in a simple shirt and what appeared to be a rudimentary kilt made of coarse brown yarn, as were the rest of the giants. The only difference between him and the others was a shiny star medallion he wore around his neck.

Garf pointed to me with a crooked smile. “She real angel. She save me with powerful magic.”

I wrapped my wings around me, pressing into Jack as all Nephilim turned to me. The look of awe in their big, grey eyes made me feel more than uncomfortable. Why were these giants hell bent on making me holy? I had been an angel for one freaking day before I was given the boot. I hardly thought that counted.

Og looked down at me, his fanged mouth pulling back in either a grimace or a smile. “We thank you, Angel, for saving our kin.”

“No problem.” I shrugged, averting my eyes. “He saved me, too.” Which was the truth. I wouldn’t have made it past Shadow if it hadn’t been for Garf.

Og turned back to Garf, his thick brow pulling together in a deep V and hanging off his forehead. “Where are Zam and Horfat?”

Garf frowned and shook his head. “Garf no see them for many years.”

Og’s heavy gaze bore down on me, making me feel