Hellhound Born (Kasadya #3) (7 page)

“You cannot fail them.” The whispered response was the only reply before the mist faded away and I was left in darkness.

“Kasadya,” the voice rang in my ears.

“Kasadya, wake up.” I jumped up and smacked my head against Chax's.

He grabbed me and held me still.

“Kasadya, what is wrong?” He grabbed my face and forced me to look at him.

I was crying and my breathing was out of control again.

“I saw the battle. I saw us all die,” I croaked out, followed by a hiccupping sob.

He pulled me into an embrace.

“It was only a dream.” He tried to sooth me rubbing my back.

Was it?

“It was so real,” I cried into his chest. “They all died.”

He forced me to look up at him again.

“I won't let that happen. We will stop this before it ever comes to that.” He tried to calm me.

But I knew,
I knew
, what I saw was no dream. It was the future.  I knew this as well as I knew that Chax would not be able to save them.
“
You have to save them all.”
The child’s voice played in my head. It would be up to me to save them all.

“Chax, I need to finish this thing with the archangels. I need to stop this.” I stated, pushing him away and getting up from the bed.

“First you will start by taking care of yourself.” He stood up and walked over to the door.

“Take a bath and I will wait for you.” He left, closing the door behind him.

I stood there speechless.

Didn’t he just hear what I said?

I looked around the room and found my bag at the edge of the bed.

Fine!

I grabbed it and stormed into the bathroom. The bathroom was big and smelled divine with the scent of… peaches.

Just great, freaking peaches.

I yanked my clothes off and, not even looking at the bath, jumped into the shower.

To hell with taking care of myself!

If I don’t stop this, we will all be dead. I washed in record time and got out. Fully dressed in my battle gear, I stormed out of the bathroom.

I stepped into a small lounge and there, on the floor, was Chax looking up at me.

“I said a bath, not a shower.” He looked at me with a scowl.

Pushing up my chin in defiance, I said, “There is no time for pampering, Chax. We need to get this done and save all of us.”

He tried that death stare on me, but seeing that I wasn’t going to budge, he sighed and motioned for me to sit down in front of him.

“Why should I sit on the carpet?” I asked, confused.

“Because you’re not leaving this room until you do.” He continued pointing at the floor.

Damn it!

I planted my butt on the floor, keenly aware of his eyes never leaving me.

“Now cross your knees and brace your hands like this.” He adjusted his body, mimicking a meditating position.

I glared at him, not moving an inch.

“Now, Kasadya,” he growled at me.

Fine!

I pulled my legs together and followed his position.

“Good. Now exhale deeply. Then inhale deeply.” He said starting with an exhale.

I did the same, still glaring at him. His eyes were closed so I had the opportunity to look him over. His face was covered in stubble and looked exhausted.

Wonder what he's been up to?

My eyes traveled over him until I reached his chest, and suddenly I couldn’t look away. A sudden blush crept all over me and I fidgeted on the floor.

“Close your eyes and concentrate,” he scolded, peeking at me from under his lashes.

Now completely red from top to toe, I closed my eyes and breathed as I was told.

This is stupid and lame.
I could do a lot more with my time
.

After what seemed like an endless hour, he finally came back to earth.

“Good, tomorrow we will do the same again. When you find yourself in a position where you feel like suffocating, or uneasy, you need to do the same breathing technique,” he said, getting up from his seated position.

I stood up and rolled my eyes at him.

Yeah right. Like I have time to play around
.

“Go get something to eat. I will join you and the others.” He indicated the door to my left.

I turned and left without as much as a peep. He was acting like there was nothing to stress about. Like we weren’t all going to die! By the time I registered that I was in the hallway where my other room was located, I was fuming again. I reached the stairs and stopped.

“We are the champions my friends. We'll keep on fighting to the ennnnd.” The voices screeched along with the old Queen song.

I didn’t even notice the racket until that moment. Making my way down the stairs, I found most of the gang in the lounge, watching as three cats apparently died a painful death. Lotan and Lada sat on the couch laughing while Ben and Max stood at the table, watching. At the iPod station was Nanini, Raven and Abby, singing their heads off. The moment gave me pause and I was unable to look away. Max got up and walked over to me, a painful expression on his face.

“They won’t shut up,” Max complained.

I looked at him and then back at the girls, who were obviously enjoying themselves. Nanini screeched like a cat while the other two tried to reach the low notes. It was an awful noise and a laugh escaped me.

“Let them be. They don’t get enough moments to enjoy themselves,” Zurita said suddenly from behind me. I turned to look at her and gave a slow nod.

Yeah, let them have fun, in a few moments all fun would be gone and we will be trying to save the earth again.

Z
urita motioned me to follow her. Avoiding her wouldn’t help, so I followed her. She walked into the kitchen where Caim was already fixing breakfast. I planted myself at the table and watched them. Zurita walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Wow, these two don’t have a problem with the whole bond thing.

Feeling out of place, I averted my eyes, trying to avoid their kissing scene.

“So, Kas. Michael tells me that you have been chosen for divinity,” Zurita said.

Assuming the coast was clear, I focused my attention back on her.

“That's apparently so.”

She walked over and handed me a mug of coffee.

“Do you know what it is?” She asked.

She sat down in front of me, her eyes piercing mine. I felt out of place and really dumb at that moment.

 
Did everyone know all the details except me?

 
“Sort of,” I replied.

She raised her eyebrows at me, making me feel even more stupid.

“Divinity is when you transform from one form to an Arch form. Did you know that you will also receive a gift from our Sire?” she questioned, pretty amused with herself.

“No.” I replied, taking a few sips from my mug.

Clearly she was in a “rubbing it in” mood.

“Yes, just like Michael and the rest, you will be able to perform something special.”

I looked at her, my eyes never wavering and my mouth unmoving.

Should I tell her that we are all pretty much dead and that won’t be happening?

“I see.” She said all proud of herself.

Just then, Chax walked in, saving me from her barrage of questions.

“Salve,” he greeted them before his eyes latched onto me.

He got a cup of coffee and then came to sit right next to me.

“Zurita, we will address things like that when the occasion arises. For the time being, Kasadya needs to focus on what needs to be done now.” He reprimanded her.

Her eyebrows shot up in shock, but luckily for her, she didn’t try and say anything more.

“How are we going to find the princes?” Caim asked, placing plates of food in front of me and Chax.

“I don’t know,” Chax admitted, looking at me.

I searched his eyes and found the truth. He didn’t know how to find them.

Crap, that’s not good
.

I found one and that was pure freaking luck.

With my mood officially tanked, I scooped up a bite of food and chewed.

What the hell are we going to do?

“Well if we do find one, we need to keep it earth bound,” I said, remembering my fight with Ira.

Chax looked at me questioningly.

“They heal super-fast in Hell. On earth, they barely heal, giving us the upper hand,” I explained.

“How do you know this?” Chax asked, his fork hovering in front of him and his eyes shooting daggers at me.

Trying to avoid it, I looked at Zurita and Caim and found them waiting for the explanation.

Crap.

“The night I killed Ira, he shifted me to his place in Hell. That’s where I discovered that he could heal faster there.” I waited for Chax's outburst.

He looked like he was going to kill something, and in that moment I was pretty sure it was me.

“He shifted you to hell?” Chax asked again.

Annnd, here it comes
.

I nodded and braced myself for impact. There was a moment of deathly silence, like those moments just before a bomb goes off. You watch it slowly fall to earth and you know that it’s going to go
boom
. This is that moment.

“You will never leave my side again!” The bomb exploded, and then jumped up and stormed out.

I looked at Caim and Zurita, and found their large eyes focused on me.

“Yeah, I was waiting for that,” I mumbled, and then took another bite.

Crap, so much for Zen moments. Chax needs to lighten up.

“Kas, you need to be more careful,” Caim pitched in.

Oh for crying out loud! I killed him, didn’t I!

I dropped my fork and left without a comment. The cat’s dying episode was over and when I reached the lounge, I found them mingling and talking.

“Oh great, mom's here,” Raven said, rolling her eyes at me.

I zeroed in on her, “Bet your ass, punk.”

“Oh please, I can take you,” she fired back.

Max, who was drinking juice, choked with that little piece of bravado. Nanini and Lada sucked in a breath.

With a smile, I looked at her. “Well, let’s go see hot stuff.”

I turned and walked towards the front door. When I stepped outside, I was greeted with the morning sunshine and birds singing. I walked towards the circle where Chax trained me when I just started out in Exsilium. I turned to see if the pain in the ass was behind me. And lookie there, she was striding towards me with a smile on her face.

“Raven, I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Max said, trying to stop her.

“Just watch and see me kick her ass,” Raven fired back.

Behind her, I could see Chax leaning against the wall watching us.

“You ready to have your ass handed to you?” She announced when she reached me.

So, Chax isn’t stopping me, oh goodie. Time for some fun
.

She started with a kick to my torso, but I caught her foot mid-kick and stopped her momentum. Her smile dropped.

“My turn,” was the only warning she had before my fist ended up in her jaw.

She flew back and landed on the ground. Shaking her head, she got back up again. She stormed forward, ready to punch me.

Amateur
.

I shifted to her back and pushed her forward. Shocked, she turned and looked at me.

“That’s cheating!” She was pissed.

“That’s using your abilities to survive.” I corrected.

She stormed forward again, her eyes blazing.

“Kas, just don’t hurt her too bad,” Ben said from my right.

Her fist flew at me, but I deflected the blow. Lifting my leg, I kicked her backwards and watched as she flew through the air, landing with a hard thud.

Kid needs to learn to wait for the right moment.

She flew up again, but this time she chose to shift to her Hellhound form. Her eyes flickered briefly between red and yellow.

Crap! She was pissed.

Okay, time for a few more lessons. I didn’t shift to hellhound, didn't really need to. She had no formal training, so her hellhound wasn’t trained to perfection like mine. Her fist came at me again. I grabbed her fist in the air and waited for her to do something. She roared and her other fist flew at my face. I ducked my head, her fist barely missing my face.

“Kasadya, we don’t have all day,” Chax said behind me.

I nodded and hit her full force. Her huge form landed hard, rendering her unconscious. Stupid girl needed to learn how to fight. I walked over and watched her shift from hellhound to her normal form.

“Somebody wake the kid. We have work to do,” I stated.

I walked away and saw Ben and Nanini move to assist her. .I reached Chax and waited for another bomb to go off.

“If you guide her, she might be able to survive that dream you had,” he said, punctuating his words as he turned around and disappeared into the house.

And wham! My mood dropped so fast that I had to suck in a breath. I turned around and looked at her. She was up at least, shaking her head.

I really hate him.

I stormed back towards her, the others scattering when they saw me approaching. Raven just looked at me with no fear. I stopped just before her.

“You have so much to learn, Raven. Stop trying to fight everyone you see and try to learn from them. I can help you. We all can help you,” I said, my hands motioning to the others who were nodding.