Hell's Belle (40 page)

Jacq turned to go. I grabbed her shirt and pulled her back, saying sternly, “Before you do anything, see Fera’s healers about that slash on your thigh.” It looked shallow but inside I still burned with fury that Nicodemus had wounded her. It hurt that I couldn’t be her healer, but until I closed the gate such magic was beyond me.

“As my lady commands.” Eyes flashing silver with desire, Jacq laughed but quickly turned serious. “And what of your injuries, cher?”

There was another warm
zing
as she sent more magic to my aching head. “I’ll join you once I close the gate. Until then it must be my main focus.” I didn’t need to say how disastrous it could be if I let the connection slip. I smoothed her shirt before reluctantly letting it go.

Concern in her eyes, Jacq caressed my cheek. “I’ll come for you the moment the gate is closed.” She zipped away.

Worries momentarily forgotten, the heat of her touch burning in my chest, I watched the creatures that now separated me from my love. The raptors were a temporary inconvenience, but I couldn’t begrudge them their path home. They’d been beaten and starved on this plane. It was little wonder that they were in such a hurry to leave. As I watched, the sea of fighters parted, making paths for the raptors that flooded in from all directions. Blue reptiles leapt onto the stage, rushing to the open darkmirror. At first I wondered how so many could be here. Then I remembered. Like the hounds, certain lower-level creatures could be called from their homes without a darkmirror. In truth, anything or anyone could be called, if the wielder had enough power. But gates linked the paths between worlds for a reason. Without at least one, the chance of being lost to the void was great. Knowing Nicky-boy, he wouldn’t have cared if some raptors had been lost so long as he could call enough to meet his needs.

I leaned against my truck door. With Jacq’s care, my bleeding had stopped, but now that I had a moment, my body made me very aware that my stomach was upside-down and a polka band was doing their all-time favorites between my ears. Translation: I had a concussion.

I closed my eyes, doing nothing but breathing in and out, willing the nausea to go away. Once the pain lessened, I opened my eyes and began counting heads as best I could in the moonlight. I realized one thing right away. There was nothing and no one that needed my immediate attention, which was good. At the moment I couldn’t do anything more magically strenuous than pull a hankie from my sleeve.

Nicodemus had supplied the power for opening the gate, but it took a great deal of concentration to keep it open and linked to the other side. I could walk and talk—and probably even chew gum—but part of me was still there, keeping things together. Between my roving mind and my tired body, it was all I could do to remain standing.

So, despite my disregard for the Council, I found it fortuitous that the three magic-wielders Fera had brought were capable healers as well as fighters. Even from a distance, I could feel the healing energy they wove around Becca, Brit and our other injured fighters. Or rather, the fighters who would submit to magical assistance. More than one Were was doggedly limping as they dragged the downed raptors toward the stage.

Like I’d known they would, the Council had given orders that no evidence be left behind. That meant the raptors had to go. And for a change, their purposes aligned with my own. Maybe it was my demon-half, but I didn’t want to be responsible, if indirectly, for the raptors’ deaths, which was the only outcome if they stayed. On the other side, they would regenerate, coming back to life. Here, they would be burned in the name of damage-control—a permanent death even for demons.

Someone, likely my ever perceptive Jacq, had pointed out that throwing the raptors into the gate was the easiest and less attention-grabbing option. (Creating a bonfire of roasting demons was not a good idea when fire crews were already close by and on alert.) Serena and Grey had ordered their people to retrieve every single raptor and toss them through. Still, from the way the Weres and Vamps were carelessly tugging the beasts along, it looked like the big kahunas had left out a few details, like the fact that those overgrown reptiles weren’t dead. They’d be waking up soon, ravenous, and in a piss-poor mood. And if I was the wolf unloading one of the raptors Mynx had loaded on my truck, I wouldn’t place my hand in its mouth for leverage.

I stopped the Were and gave him a quick, descriptive lecture about the regenerative powers of demon creatures and their love for small fleshy pieces of meat that protruded from their prey’s body. I, of course, was referring to fingers and toes. But when I was done, the much paler Were hauled his burden off with a greater sense of caution.
Now what to do with our sorcerers?

Artus was by far the most pressing issue. Nicodemus’s body would wait, or rather Roskov’s corpse could. Although it would need to be fully incinerated. A prickle of unease lingered at the back of my brain, but it slipped away every time I tried to form it into a solid thought.

Mynx and Fera still had Artus circled. Blue and black sparks flew as he tested his prison. The illusion of a whole and hearty Wellsy was gone. Although I knew Wellsy’s soul was as well, the body only a grotesque shadow of the man I’d once thought of as a pseudo-uncle, a small part of me continued to see bits of him in that decayed corrupted form. And it was that part that needed to stay and watch whatever destructive thing we’d have to do to Wellsy’s body to remove Artus’s spirit. It wouldn’t be pretty, but I owed my family’s old friend that much. In truth, I owed him much more but had nothing more to give.

All but one of Nicodemus’s vampires had been killed. The last one Serena had taken prisoner. The raptors, including those previously guarding the two remaining boys, had completely abandoned their masters, fleeing into the gate. The fight was over but there was still much to do. Starting with closing the darkmirror.

I limped up the stairs and watched as the grunting Weres and Vamps tossed the last raptors through. Once they were finished, I headed for the gate. Jacq moved toward me from the parking lot, looking none too happy as she eyed my continued limp and the blood drying on the neck of my shirt. I simply shrugged, wincing at the movement. Wiped out, I couldn’t even strengthen our mental connection enough to send her reassurance. Besides being physically and magically empty, I was still holding the gate, making it hard to focus when part of me was watching the raptors descending home through the darkmirror.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Grey walking the last two boys forward, toward the stage’s base where his tigers had gathered. The black-magic still shrouding both boys must have repelled the Weres, because none would touch them. Grey gestured for me to examine them, and I mouthed, “Three minutes.” I was exhausted. The gate needed to be shut down before it tried to take something I wasn’t willing to give. If Brit wasn’t stable by now, keeping it open wouldn’t change that.

The stage was empty of all but me and a headless body, so I shouldn’t have gotten a bad feeling when the last boy continued past Grey. He looked dazed. I frowned. Something was off. I’d been too busy thinking about reconnecting to Jacq and worrying about my friends to notice that the cold place in the pit of my stomach hadn’t vanished with the battle’s end.

The boy climbed the stairs woodenly and stepped past me. At the same time, a last group of raptors darted out of the shadows, moved across the asphalt, and rammed a surprised Mynx and Fera into their circle, breaking it, before rushing onto the unsteady stage and into the darkmirror. Artus leapt onto the stage, running toward the gate. I should have been watching him, but I was staring in dread at the black mist forming around Roskov’s corpse. The same corpse between me and Jacq, who’d rushed onto the wooden platform’s other end. And the very same corpse that our last, zoned-out college student was heading for.

Coming to my senses, I lunged for the boy, narrowly missing his collar and stumbling right into Artus’s arms. The mist came toward me.

“Not the guardian,” Artus barked. “We need her alive.” The mist switched course, climbing up the boy. The young man’s pale face contorted in pain. His locked jaw bulged. The darkness that could only be Nicodemus wouldn’t even allow his prize the relief of screaming. Jacq stepped toward us, and my mind shouted,
NO!
Nicodemus would take her, because with me as a hostage, she would be too noble to resist. She halted, uncertain. Her expression was heartbreaking.

I stumbled, my feet dragging as Artus’s clawed hands towed me and the boy, whose legs no longer seemed to work, toward the gate. As I was forced into the darkmirror’s rippling blackness, I looked at Jacq helplessly. Then my body dissolved, traveling on the path between worlds, heading toward Illtrath and blue fields overflowing with hungry raptors. I wasn’t sure if the resounding scream in my head was hers or mine.

* * *

I landed on my face, as usual. What was new was the location. I’d landed on a nice, soft and very warm body. A body that I was intimately familiar with…or nearly so. One whose strong arms held me so tightly that I couldn’t have moved if I’d wanted to, though I definitely didn’t want to. I couldn’t see anything, as my nose was resting between said body’s breasts, but I was pretty sure that—while we weren’t in Kansas—neither was this Illtrath. I’d never been so happy to hear the distant sound of a blaring car alarm.

“What happened?” Jacq’s soft words rumbled under my ear. My head rose and fell with the rhythm of her breath.

“We…I…” Voice hoarse, I lifted up, looking at her worried face before allowing my body to sink again into her warmth. I was aware of the others watching from the parking lot, but I didn’t move away, enjoying the moment alone with Jacq. “How long was I gone?”

“Seconds. I was about to follow when you were tossed out like a sack of potatoes.” At my frown, she kissed my head, adding, “A very beautiful sack of potatoes.”

I looked up, seeing that one-dimpled, half-smile, and tried to smile back, but her comment about my not-so-graceful landing wasn’t my concern. My memories were scattered, pieces missing, but it felt like I’d been gone much longer. I’d never heard of a gate being rerouted mid-jump. Yet, I was certain that I’d never made it to the other side.

“I think…” I cleared my throat and rolled to the side, keeping my hand in hers as I stared at the now silent gate. “I think maybe the mirror did something, or maybe it was the void. There was something there earlier…” I didn’t understand what had happened to Brittan, but I was certain that, if I allowed my blood to sink into the smooth, ebony stone and connected again to the darkmirror, I’d remember. I’d understand. But I was too weak and more than a little frightened by the possibility of what I might find. “I just have this feeling that Nicodemus and his brother won’t be back. Something happened as we passed through.”

I take exception to the ill-treatment of my daughters.
I clutched my head as the memory of that cold, bodiless voice struck like lightning. I got to my feet, leaning against the now solid blackness, trying to breathe evenly as the pain receded. For some odd reason, I found the cool surface comforting.

“Cate?” Jacq rubbed my arms.

I looked into her concerned gray eyes. “I don’t know.” I suppressed the bitter urge to laugh. That answer was getting old with me. I was sure Jacq didn’t appreciate it any better. “Maybe a memory.” I looked at the darkmirror, seeing a hazy image of myself reflected back. I was pretty sure it had just saved my life. Twice. I let my fingers briefly caress its surface, wiping away dried blood as I said quietly, “Just a voice in the darkness.” I shook my head, remembering with a fresh flash of pain my wound. I tore my gaze from the mirrored woman’s face—for once, she didn’t seem to know any more than I—and took one last look at the headless body. It was against my nature, but this was one time when I would leave it to someone else to clean up. I was going to make sure my friends were okay and the last boy was purged of dark magic. Then we were going home.

I grabbed Jacq’s hand and pulled her to the edge nearest our injured friends. There were no stairs, but I was gratified to see those garish thrones had been chucked off. I sat on the wooden planks and lowered myself down. I thought to land on my feet, but my auburn-haired phoenix was quicker. Jacq was there to catch my fall, and I was just weak enough to hope that it would always be so.

* * *

Day Nine

The sun would be rising soon. It had been an exhausting night, and I longed to find a soft bed, climb between the cool covers, and snuggle with the warm woman currently sitting by my side. But Jacq and I would have to settle for an old throw and the den’s lumpy couch, as all the beds, other than the one in the Agency’s upstairs bedroom, were already taken. And while it was probably safe to sleep outside the wards tonight, I felt the need to be close to my family. My trip through the darkmirror had left me unsettled.

After my examination of our friends, we’d transported Brittan and Rom, who were the most injured, home. I’d been surprised to be greeted upon entry by three crying newborns. But not as surprised as Grey, who’d rushed to see his mate and kits. The third baby, a little girl they’d named Alecé in honor of my Nana, had been a surprise to all.

It had been too close to dawn for the vampires to travel far, so the lot of them, including Serena, tugging along a vampire hostage and extremely peeved JJ, had headed to Lady D’s. The patrons at the House of Delights wouldn’t blink an eye at a group of bloody, hungry vampires rushing in before daybreak. Serena had extended an invitation to the wolves, but Luke had declined, instead taking his pack-mates to his safe house. Luke was unlikely to forget his first and last visit to Lady D’s any time soon. Still, I’d made him promise to bring Becca by soon for an examination. I trusted Fera’s healers, but at some point Becca had become a friend and knowing she had been alone for hours with Nicodemus, Artus, and their raptors made me uneasy.

We’d lodged Rom and Brit in my room for the night. Risa wouldn’t leave either, so we’d placed Brit in my bed and a man-sized Rom on a temporary cot against the wall. When I’d left, Risa had been pacing between the two. I’d kept my family from telling her what Brit had become. Considering the events immediately after Jacq and I had left the stage, it might be for the best.