Fallen Angels (21 page)

“Lies! Chloe is harmless, she could never destroy humanity!” I growled.

“Chloe has the power to unleash hell on a world that needs to be cleansed of its sins. She is the key to hells gates.” Peter nearly sang his brilliant confession.

I turned my head away, looking back toward Kara, who had sunk to the floor of the cage. Peter’s confession was destroying us. He wanted it to shatter our love, and it might have if he had stopped his story there. His arrogance wouldn’t allow him to stop though. He only paused to reopen my wounds.

“I never could have foreseen how far you would go to save Kara. Truly legend material Ravyn! I thought your death would put Kara and the child at odds. Who would protect her? The answer was all around her; your demon friends would always fight for her. I thought pregnant Kara was safe, and then I saw a vision of you back from the dead and more powerful than ever. I never thought your father would break so many rules. You were now the biggest threat to the child, but again your love for Kara prevailed and the child lived. You are quite the oddity, capable of so much love and death, at the same time,” he said.

“Fuck you. You have no idea what I am capable of!” I tried to sound menacing, but my weakened body made my voice come out like a tired groan.

“Your return to Kara’s side was unexpected, so I had to test your threat against the child. Not only did you walk right into Vatican City to save them, you fed the child in need of strength. Spectacular! Face it Ravyn, I helped create who you are today. I can’t take all the credit though. Kara was a blessing in disguise when it came to you. Your love for her is overwhelming; it is always first on your agenda. I am very curious how far that love will go.” He sang like a giddy schoolboy.

“Unchain me and find out.” I accepted whatever challenge he could throw at me.

“I am dying to find out if you would still protect Chloe if Kara was not around. Let’s find out, shall we?”

“Don’t you fucking touch her!”

“Oh, no my dear Ravyn, I would never harm her. You on the other hand are looking quite thirsty and no one smells better than your beloved Kara,” Peter said with a smile.

“You are wrong Peter, it’s not her blood I want. It’s yours,” I whispered, trying to keep my mind focused on his blood.

“You will not be able to fight your hunger, your savage demon will happily kill her. When she is dead, I will see how long you will last. Chloe will be mine, and I will guide her on journey to opening the gates of hell. I think I will take a look now,” he said.

To my surprise he began removing the chains that were holding me to the table. I tried to sit up, but he quickly pushed me back down with ease and grabbed my bloody hand, pressing it against his forehead.

I used the last bit of my strength to push an image of me killing him in various ways. When his grip tightened around my hand, I knew my tactic was annoying him to the point of losing control. Even when the bones in my hand began to break under his immense pressure, I continued to push the image into his mind.

“You cannot beat me!” he shouted.

I sat up, pushing his hand away from mine. Trying to fight him with a weakened mind and body was foolish, but he had to know I would not back down. Hell, he should have known this already, if everything he said was true. When he backed away from the table, my legs trembled as I stood and went after him.

“You didn’t like what your future held?” I mumbled, slowly closing the distance.

His answer came in the form of a fist, knocking me flat on my back, and then he made a final statement by shoving the small knife into my neck. His guards dragged me out of the ring and locked me in one of the many private locker rooms beneath the floor.

Lying there on the cool tile floor, I was too exhausted to move, but my mind didn’t want to rest. It replayed the recent events. All that Peter had said, I didn’t want to believe it, just like I didn’t want to believe Kara’s streak of lies. Peter didn’t confess to any further intervention after Chloe’s birth. He didn’t say anything about sending Jeanie my way or pushing Devlin to Kara’s side, which led me to believe those were true confessions.

The thought sent my mind sinking into a deep dark pit of despair. Kara set up everything since my rebirth, and Peter’s hand manipulated everything before that. It made me question Kara’s existence. Was she ever really my friend? Did she know about Peter? Had our love always been a lie?

My last thought made me want to cry. I died for her! I changed who I was for her, and she was a fake, a plant in my life that should have been destroyed long ago. My anger burned, forcing my demon out of its cage. I wanted to kill them all. I wanted Peter to fight me, so I could rip him to shreds.

Lying on the floor I stared at the door, knowing if I could get to it I could probably break it open and get out of here. I didn’t hear anyone on the other side of the door, so I could easily make my way out to the arena and finish this ridiculous game of Peter’s.

I was weaker than I thought. It took quite a bit of maneuvering just to get to my feet and when I did, I had to be careful not to slip on my own blood, which looked like it had been poured onto the white tile.

I started to stumble toward the door, and just as I got some momentum my boot began to slip forward. I tried to stop my leg from sliding and would have been able to recover if that piece of shit hadn't drained the fucking life out of me. I am a very flexible girl, but the speed and angle in which my legs proceeded to perform the splits sent a shooting pain from my thighs to my neck.

When the pain didn’t stop radiating through my inner thighs and groin, I decided to stay on the floor and think of painful ways to kill Peter. Ripping his balls off was sounding like the number one task, a sort of precursor to his horrific death.

Soon the pain began to subside, and I was ready to take another shot at the door. This time after getting to my feet I gently eased one foot down after the other, determined to get out of this room without further mishaps. Making it to the door I grabbed the handle, clinging to it so I wouldn’t fall. I adjusted my grip, and would you believe the fucking thing was unlocked all this time.

My spine crawled with suspicion as I pushed the door open and stood in the doorway. I listened carefully. No sounds of footsteps rushing toward the open door or shouts of warnings. Nothing, so I stepped out into the corridor, looking to my left, then to my right. Not a single guard anywhere to be seen.

I made my way down the corridor, wishing I could move faster. Reaching the end I peeked around the corner. Still no one in sight. In fact, I made it all the way to Kara, who was still sitting inside the cage. My pace sped up and as I drew closer her alluring scent was the only thing I could focus on. Her steady heartbeat was like a symphony playing in my ears. Her head tilted up, pulling her hair away from her neck. My eyes pinpointed her thumping jugular and my demon surged from its cage, yearning for her blood.

Kara skittered away from the metal bars just before I arrived at the cage. I snarled and growled, trying to squeeze my body between the bars and grab ahold of her.

“Ravyn, you’re scaring me. Stop it! This is what he wants!” Kara screamed in terror.

I knew she was right. This was why Peter drained me, so the demon would be in control. I fought to lock it back inside of me. It needed blood; it wanted Kara’s.

“Ravyn, they’re coming!” Kara warned.

I turned to see Peter and four guards advancing on me. My demon lunged at the opportunity for fresh blood. Avoiding their attack, I snatched one of the men and hastily sank my fangs into his neck. Ripping through his flesh, I gulped some of his blood down before the other three attacked again.

I could feel the blood help me recover some of my strength, but it wasn’t enough to fight Peter. I dodged their attack, and then lunged at all three of the guards, snapping two of their necks while slicing the third’s wrist open for more blood.

Just as my lips pressed against the open wrist, Kara’s frantic scream made me drop the man and turn right into the blade of the halberd. The blade buried itself across my chest. Three inches higher and I would have lost my head.

Peter laughed wickedly while he followed the long wooden handle to the half-buried blade within me. “I underestimated your will. It will not happen again. Let me help you, child,” he hissed then rocked the blade back and forth, loosening it from my chest.

My recent meals were spurting out of my wound. “What do you want? Why won’t you fight me!” I screamed.

“You have one more task to complete before I finish you,” he growled, and then with a yank, the weapon was out of my chest.

I looked down at the extensive wound, and then I was falling like a tree and being dragged throughout the powdery gravel only to be dumped in the same room I was in before. The sticky, dry blood welcomed me back to hopelessness.

I could feel my blood spilling over my chest, down my sides and accumulating on the tile beneath me. How was I still alive? How much longer would I last? I knew I couldn’t just give up, but I wanted to. There was never a happy ending at the end of a rainbow anyway.

I had to get up and try to stop the bleeding. I knew I would tear Kara’s throat out if she came near me. I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to kill her or not. With that I rolled over onto my stomach. I could hear my blood splash onto the floor, like someone was pouring a glass of water.

I thought crawling would be easier than trying to walk, but it was painful and exhausting. I looked up in the direction of the shower area and started pulling myself toward it. The shower area was maybe ten feet away, but it seemed like a mile.

I was finally in the shower stall! Barely able to move, and the back of my throat was on fire with hunger. I howled in pain when I turned the water on, letting it wash away the blood. I thought sitting under the shower would help heal my wounds and refresh my energy. The cold water burned my skin for a minute, and then it felt good and began to relax my tired body. Leaning back against the wall I let the water fall over me, wishing it could wash away my broken heart too.

Chapter Seventeen

Kara

No More Lies

I was roughly shoved into a room, almost falling onto the white tile floor covered with streaks of blood. So much blood. I knew Ravyn was in here. I could feel the faint buzz in the air. Just knowing that she needed blood caused a shiver of fear to crawl down my spine. Ravyn would take anything she could get when in such a weakened state. I know this from experience.

I was trapped, and my mind flashed to Ravyn coming at me while I was locked in a cage. Now there would be nothing to stop her thirst. I was unsure if my pleading would be able to stop her this time, considering my recent confessions.

Peter was convinced she would kill me. Throwing me to the wolf so he wouldn’t have to deal with me. My magic would be useless after using so much of it to get Ravyn here. Well, standing in the corner wasn’t going to save me forever, and the mere fact that Ravyn wasn’t already on me meant she was in very bad shape. An unsettling thought suddenly flashed through my mind.
What if Ravyn’s dying?

I promptly turned, following the bloody streak that led to the other part of the room. The sound of running water assaulted my ears as I cautiously stepped into the shower room. A loud gasp escaped me, and I threw caution out the window when she came into view. She sat hunched under the running shower, looking very dead.

I turned the water off and carefully pulled her out of the shower. She was a lot heavier than she looked, but after quite a bit of struggling she was resting on the dry floor. Out of breath and energy I sat, gently lifting her head and shoulders onto my lap.

“Ravyn? Wake up!” I shook her. “Ravyn please!”

She didn’t move. Was she dying? Her shift in the air was so faint I could barely feel it. I brushed her hair away from her face with my fingers, seeing her extended fangs. I would do anything to save her. Without hesitation I opened her mouth and pressed my wrist against her fangs, jerking back when the stinging pain shot through my wrist. I didn’t think it would hurt like that since her bite usually brought pleasure.

I had to bear the pain, so taking a deep breath I steadied my wrist and closed my eyes, then shoved my flesh against the sharp fangs. A howl of pain escaped me when her fangs jabbed into my flesh. The pain quickly died at the feeling of her hot tongue sweeping over my skin. I opened my eyes to find her black eyes staring up at me. I smiled in relief.

She abruptly shoved my arm away and rolled over before grabbing my throat, shoving my back to the floor. She held me down, snarling while prowling over me.

“You did this,” she hissed, looking at me with a hatred I had never seen from her. “You lied! You used me!” Her fangs were nearly touching my cheek.

“Ravyn, stop,” I whispered, barely able to breathe.

Her eyes scoured my body before returning to glare into mine. “You betrayed me. Why?”

“I didn’t betray you Ravyn. I wanted you back. I was worried about you, and when I knew I was going to keep the baby I had to know I could trust you,” I protested.

“Liar! Tell me the truth! All of it,” she yelled, squeezing my throat.

I nodded, trying to unfasten her hand from my throat. When she let go, I tried to move out from under her, but she moved with me.

“Let me up. You’re bleeding again. Let me take care of you, I’ll tell you everything. I can’t go anywhere, Ravyn.” I tried not to cringe at the feel of her blood trickling onto my chest.

Finally she rolled off of me. I scrambled to my feet and headed out of the shower area, grabbing a stack of towels from the shelf.

Ravyn was lying on her back when I returned; the gash across her chest was oozing quite a bit of blood. It was strange seeing her like this. It wasn’t normal, and we both knew it. I kneeled next to her unmoving body, setting the stack of towels aside before taking one and pressing it gently against her wound.

“Ravyn?”

“How could everything between us be a lie?” she whispered.