First And Last (7 page)

Just like that she left, the door slammed closed behind her. For a good ten minutes, neither Kyden nor I moved. We sat in silence as our bond swam in emotions.

I finally snapped out of my shock and turned to him. “Well that was certainly a lot to take in.”

He arched a brow. “Indeed.”

When Misa said the challenge was being arranged, I hadn’t really thought she meant so soon. It had only been hours since she left Kyden and I, and now we were in the auditorium in the Underworld.

“Wowzers, look at them all,” Haven said next to me.

She had firmly told me that she’d be coming to witness this event, as did everyone else too. The majority of the Council’s guard was with us tonight. The chance to see the Underworld was just too tempting to pass up. The realm was so secretive, everyone drooled with desire to see it.

Me, I would rather be somewhere else. A little guilt made me swallow deeply. We had yet to find a way to get Willow here. She couldn’t pass over into the Underworld, and wasn’t pleased in the least that she was left behind.

Focusing away from my guilt, I glanced at Kyden who sat next to me in a ridiculous throne chair that rested against the back wall of the auditorium. “I hope this is quick.” I felt like a complete and total idiot in this chair. Talk about being put on display, a place I wasn’t fond of. Thankfully, since we made the rules, I could have Haven and the others stand next to us. It definitely made the moment less tense.

Kyden brushed his hand across my cheek. “It’ll be alright, Álainn.” Even though he said it, I could feel the protectiveness running through him. He didn’t like me being surrounded by so many dark beings.

It was odd to feel his possessiveness first hand like this, and it sure helped me understand him better. It wasn’t that he wanted to control me but it was more about him, his feelings. He couldn’t lose me and the thought of my being in danger terrified him. He didn’t like feeling terrified or frightened, and that’s why his possessive trait always came out so brusquely.

Kyden’s expression turned curious as he continued to brush his finger against my cheek. “This place makes you happy?”

Clearly, he sensed the emotions I felt from getting a grasp on why he was the way he was. “No.” I shook my head softly. “You do.”

He leaned forward and gave me a soft kiss.

“Our Lady and Lord,” Azar’s voice drew our attention, “have gathered here tonight to see this challenge. All who wish to guard them step forward.”

Suddenly, the auditorium filled with dark swirling clouds, and then swiftly, thousands of demons stood before us.

“Bah,” I shouted.

Kyden jumped too. My shock startled him but he chuckled in response. “It’s going to take some time to get used to that.”

“Ha! I told you I was a basket case.” When I heard of what bonding was exactly, I knew Kyden was in for it. He was always so controlled, rarely reacted. Cool and calm, on the other hand, was far from that.

“I’m glad I do, Álainn.” He reached out and took my hand in his, squeezed it tight. “It shouldn’t surprise me that you act entirely on your emotions, but it does. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you’d have hidden a little of yourself, but you don’t. You expose it all and I cherish that about you…”

I snuggled into him. “You’re Mr. Unreadable.”

He winked.

Someone cleared their throat loudly. I snapped my gaze from Kyden to see that everyone watched us, most with smiles. “Er…sorry about that,” I told Azar. “You can carry on now.”

Kyden chuckled.

Azar didn’t look frustrated, simply smiled and looked back to the crowd. “Lady Nexi and Lord Kyden, may I present your followers who have requested to join your guard.” He waved his hand out to the crowd of well over a hundred demons, witches and warlocks.

I leaned back over to Kyden. He angled his head down and I whispered in his ear. “What do we do now?”

He shook his head and whispered back, “Haven’t a clue.”

My gaze fell to Misa and quickly waved her over. When she reached me, she bent down so I could keep my voice low. “Er…what do we do?”

She attempted to hold back a smile, but failed miserably. “They will fight before you, and you will see their strengths to determine who you want to choose.”

“Fight?” I gasped.

“That’s right. You want the strongest among them and need to see what they’re capable of.”

I looked back at Kyden to find him chuckling. Obviously, he found amusement in my apprehension. Watch hundreds of demons fight, not bloody likely.

Hmm…what to do?

Questions ran through my mind. I seriously didn’t want to watch this, had had enough violence lately. Finally, I settled, knew exactly what to do.

“Good idea,” Kyden agreed. Then, I heard, “
Let’s just get this over with and get out of this god forsaken place.”

I stared at him in complete shock.

His brow arched at my bewilderment. “Problem?”

“Did you just read my mind?” I whispered softly.

The arch of his brow rose higher, and his face equaled my current state of perplexity. “You didn’t say that out loud?”

I shook my head, unable to find words. He gained my ability to speak telepathically. How could this be?

Zia stepped away from where you stood next to me and knelt in front of Kyden. “You heard her thoughts?”

He nodded, amazement soared through our bond. “I did.”

“And I heard his, too,” I said quickly, still beside myself. “Is that normal when a witch bonds? You know, to pass on her abilities?”

“No, I should say that it isn’t.” Zia cupped my cheek and smiled. “But I wouldn’t expect anything different from you.” She looked back to Kyden. “Simply incredible.”

“Indeed,” Kyden breathed.

Azar cleared his throat again.

My gaze fell back to him. He looked a little flustered at all the interruptions. “Oh, right. Sorry, again.”

I gave Kyden a little kiss and used our bond,
“Just think of the stuff I can say to you now that no one is listening—like when we get home I want to…”

Zia cleared her throat loudly. “Nexi Jones.”

“Oops.” I laughed.

Right, not appropriate. I forgot she could hear me too. In response, I put up my mental shield to keep her out, just in case I forgot and sent another inappropriate message. I wondered if I could block Kyden as I can Zia. We’d have to test that later.

Kyden laughed.

But back to the current task. I stood from my chair. “Okay, let’s do this another way. Honestly, I have no interest in seeing these demons kill each other.” The room huffed and puffed. Mostly, I heard Ryker and Finn. They were obviously disappointed with my choice. Too bad! I was changing things, they’d have to get used to it.

“All of you line up in front of me.” They immediately followed the order and assembled in a lineup that resembled kids waiting for the school bus. I laughed at how quick they complied.

I approached the first demon, grabbed his hand. He looked perfect to be a guard. Tough guy, hard face, but the second I read into him I knew he was all wrong. He harbored anger that the Underworld was being run by those of the Otherworld and loathed us entirely because we restricted his taking of innocent souls.

The choice wasn’t a hard one. “Sorry, you won’t do.” That earned me a deep scowl before he strode off.

From there, it was demon after demon. By the end of it, I had only chosen two demons.

Tyde, a captain of the football team type with stylish and short dirty-blonde hair, handsome young features, and kind but dark eyes. He was very easy on the eyes.

And Quinney, a tall voluptuous woman with auburn hair cut to her ears in an angled bob, and round eyes that sat between two pleasantly plump cheeks. Obviously, she liked the curves of a woman’s body because she opted for this form. She wore it well.

Azar stepped up beside me. “Are these who you choose, Lady Nexi?”

First, I gave myself a little jolt of healing. That was exhausting. One mind was an easy read, but hundreds drained the system.

Feeling better, I glanced back at Kyden.
“You agree?”

He smiled and gave a simple nod.
“I trust in you.”

I addressed Azar. “Yes, these are the ones we choose.”

“Very well,” he responded. “Now, the witches and warlocks will present themselves.”

Quite quickly, more than a hundred gathered in front of me and I groaned. “Oh, dear Lord.”

Haven giggled, and a rush of amusement filtered through our soul-sister bond. I glanced back at her to see a hand over her face as she shook in laughter. Oh, this was so
not
funny. I shot her a dirty look that she caught as she dropped her hand but only intensified her amusement.

I ignored her, glanced back at the group of witches and warlocks and got right down to business.

A half an hour later, the warlock hunt got us nowhere. Half of them would have destroyed me if they were capable or given the chance, which they weren’t, so there was no rise for concern there. The witches had a similar resolve. They would never support or give aid to a White Witch.

Why they offered to guard me made no sense at all. Since they had no interest in actually helping me if the time came—maybe it was a sense of duty. They had to side with me because there was no other choice, but if they had the power, I’d be eating dirt six feet under.

The only consolation was Tyde and Quinney—Supreme Demons as Misa called them. In terms that I could understand, she explained that they are the highest-ranked demons in the Underworld.

As the auditorium began to clear out, Misa came up next to me and smiled. “Good choices.”

“Well, they were the only ones who had any shred of good in them. It wasn’t really a hard choice,” I replied.

Her smile grew. “Like I said, perfect choices then.”

I liked at Misa. It took a while for me to get over the fact that she was a demon, but now, I could see her as nothing else but a friend. Funny, to admit that, but there it was. I only let my mind ponder that thought for a moment, before I said, “So, are we done here?”

“You are,” Azar answered. “Lady Nexi and Lord Kyden, may I present to you your Guard.” He waved out to Tyde and Quinney.

They bowed.

“Oh for Christ sake’s, how many times do I have to say it,” I snapped. “Stop doing that. And by the way,” I looked to both Tyde and Quinney, and included Misa in the glare. “No one needs to protect me. Got it?”

Each of them exchanged a confused glance, then looked back to me. “You don’t want us to protect you?” Tyde asked, his tone incredulous.

“You heard it right! If I’m out on assignment, none of you better show up and kill for me. I’ll be so entirely pissed.” I gave my foot a stomp to show just how much I meant it. “And you do not want to see me angry.”

They all bowed respectfully, even though I had just told them to stop their ridiculous behavior. When was anyone going to listen to me?

Little flickers of pride and love drifted over me. I glanced back at the source.
“Well said.”
Kyden smiled.

Without hesitation, I flung myself at him. He caught me in his arms easily.

“Take me to your bed, my Lord.”

A couple of uneventful nights passed.

I was glad that life seemed to be return to normal. Well, my kind of normal, that is.

What made me even happier was the Council had agreed to send Kyden and I out on an assignment in New York City. “Who knew going to kill a guy would be such a breath of fresh air,” I said to Haven as we descended upon a home that was well away from the busy part of town. Middle class house in the rural part of New York City. The only thing that made it stand out at all was the large backyard. Simple home, but great land.

Haven giggled. “This seems easy now, doesn’t it?”

“I’d say.” Considering what I’d been up against these past couple weeks, this was actually quite refreshing, and it felt wonderful to be back in my element.

Just as we approached the backyard, I could see a man with his back to us, bent down as he examined the ground. As we drew closer, he stood and turned toward us. “Nice to see ya again,” Detective Foley said.

The Weretiger looked exactly as he did the last time I saw him, sometime before Lazarus. Lordy, that seemed like a thousand years ago. Foley’s everything a Weretiger should be—scary. Built to the hilt, with his shaved bald head and grayish blue eyes, he was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

“Likewise,” I replied. He offered his hand. I took it and gave it a firm shake.

After a few more niceties between us, Kyden glanced around, then back to Foley with a curious look. “There is nobody here?”

“Very observant of you.” Foley guffawed.

Kyden snorted something close to annoyance, but before he could put a voice to it, Foley continued. “We were contacted and told if we came to this scene we’d find that a murder happened here.”

Just as Kyden stepped forward to examine the ground, a loud squish came from beneath his foot. “Bloody apples.” He shook his foot to get the sticky mess off, then nudged Haven’s arm. “Time’s a wasting, let’s see what happened here.”

She raised her hands, and in seconds, the scene was before us thanks to her gift from the Earth Element. She can manipulate time to recreate past events. Cool, right?

Once the scene was before us though, my pride about Haven completely vanished as I sighed in total exasperation. “Oh, just fucking wonderful.”

A Demon, yeah I recognized one, was doing some kind of ritual. He drew a rune on the ground with black ash, and to my horror, used human blood as well. The rune was a simple pentagram, but on each point of the star was a tribal symbol, looked almost like music symbols, but just different and evil.

The man who lay dead in the center had a deep cut in his stomach, and the demon kept dipping his hand into it, then slowly walked around the circle to let the blood drip into the ash.

The worst part was that the human’s face was frozen in a state of deadly shock. Mouth wide open, eyes terrified—complete yuckiness! Like, never get the image out of your head, icky.

After a final drop of blood landed on the ash, the Demon shimmied into a black ghostly nothing and they vanished into a black puff of smoke. All that remained was the pentagram.

The vision froze and we all just stared at each other. I’d never seen anything like this, nor heard of it for that matter.

“This is peculiar,” Kyden finally said.

I laughed. “Peculiar? You’re kidding right?”

“Right alarming, does that suit you better?”

“Yes, much better,” I said aloud, which earned me an odd glance from Foley.

“A demon.” Foley bent down and examined the pentagram on the ground, which still sat before us. “We were contacted by an anonymous source who told us of this incident. Nothing about demonic forces was mentioned. Leads me to wonder who would’ve known about this?”

Yeah, I wondered that myself. I glanced down at the pentagram and noticed an image in the center that appeared to be just a fancy pitchfork, and looked tribal. My gaze snapped back to Foley. “Dark ones, that’s who.”

“What do we do?” Haven asked. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. What the heck was that demon doing?” She pulled back her magic and the rune vanished before our eyes. Apparently, whoever had called it in, had taken the time to clear the ground of the ritual that had been started.

“What do you think?” I asked Kyden. I was at a complete loss. My familiarity with demons was only what I’d seen so far. Runes and such were very much not in my knowledge base.

Kyden sighed. “I’ve never seen anything like this. We need to discuss this with Misa. Of anyone, she should know what this is all about.”

“Just what I want to do,” I sighed. “Take another trip down under.”