Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) (6 page)

“It doesn’t work on demons,” he said. “Only
on Immortals.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Demons are … demons, and Immortals are more
closely related to angels. Completely different genealogical
make-up. I can make you a demon repellant, if you want.”

She gritted her teeth and wished she’d
brought the cutting board with her to knock some sense into Ully.
The bloodied arm was making her unusually lightheaded. She lowered
it to her side and took a few deep breaths.

“Here, kitty, kitty!” Toby said in
excitement. He barreled toward the forest, and she turned in time
to see the black jaguar with the white eye patch seated at the edge
of the park, tail flicking and intense green eyes on the
approaching child.

“Toby,” she called. He continued running.
Alarm reignited her adrenaline. “Toby! Stop!”

Ully looked over at the child and jaguar
curiously. Katie bolted for Toby, knowing the kid was too young to
recognize Rhyn from any other demon-jaguar.

“Toby, if you don’t stop, you’re grounded for
all eternity!” she shouted, running hard.

The child slowed as he neared the jaguar and
turned, finally paying attention. The beast crouched, and she ran
harder.

“Mama, I wanna play with Rhyn!” Toby whined.
He looked at the jaguar again and took another two tiny steps, as
if testing her resolve to ground him.

The jaguar launched itself at the child, and
Toby’s scream shattered the quiet morning as its jaw clamped on his
arm. Toby began to panic and pull, and the jaguar lowered itself
farther to the ground, planting its back legs and jerking the boy
towards the forest. Katie’s dormant maternal instinct roared to
life, and she dived at Toby, snatching his legs to keep the jaguar
from dragging him fully into the forest.

With his scream echoing in her head, she
staggered up and started pummeling the jaguar’s face, shouting for
it to let the sobbing baby angel go. The jaguar winced but kept its
grip, and Toby’s blood turned the snow beneath them red.

A blast of energy whipped by her, knocking
her back, and the jaguar was sent flying. It smashed into a tree.
Toby sagged. She looked up, shocked to see Sasha standing over
them, his sharp gaze on the creature preparing itself for a second
attack.

“Go back to the grass! Demons can’t cross
onto sacred grounds!” Sasha shouted, snatching her arm and hauling
her up.

She dropped on one knee beside Toby, who was
unconscious. Tears in her eyes, she whispered to him as she lifted
him, tormented by the sound of his whimper. She half-stumbled,
half-ran to the park area before tripping and falling flat. Toby
rolled from her arms.

“I went as fast … as I could …” Ully gasped,
reaching them. Following him was Kris, dressed in nothing but judo
pants, as if Ully had dragged him straight out of bed. She crawled
on her knees to Toby, heart hammering and hands shaking as she
rolled him onto his back. The slash in his arm was deep, and maroon
blood bubbled into the snow.

“Kris …” she whispered, a different kind of
panic rising within her.

He swept the baby angel into his arms with
one quick motion and trotted back into the castle. Katie was slower
to follow, feeling lightheaded once again. Ully helped her up, and
they both eyed Sasha as the Dark One’s servant approached.

“I hate demons,” he said with another look
over his shoulder. She recognized the crazed look from when he’d
attacked her in Hell and inched closer to Ully.

He motioned to the castle. Ully looked at
her, even more pale than usual, and she retreated to the castle,
worried sick about Toby and Rhyn, even knowing the half-demon could
take out half the demons in Hell if he felt like it. The only two
people she cared about in this godforsaken world were both fighting
for their lives.

* * *

Rhyn tossed the demon against the wall with
enough power to break its back. The full-blooded demon was slow to
rise, and he waited. Jared changed to his human form and held up
one hand, holding his back with the other.

“Truce,” he said. Rhyn growled in response
but switched to his human form as well. “You know, you’re not too
bad for a half-breed.”

“I’m half Immortal, half demon. Means I can
play in both worlds, unlike you.”

“I see that now. Your monkey is safe. Why
don’t we call it a draw for now, half-brother?”

“Only if you tell me what you’re doing here,”
Rhyn replied.

He sensed the demon’s pain behind its attempt
at a chipper tone. Most who challenged him soon learned just how
wild and deep his power ran. As both a demon and Immortal, he
possessed the ability to wield both sources of power but not
control them. At least, he hadn’t been able to control them before
meeting Katie. If this had been a pre-Katie battle, he’d have wiped
out the state. He couldn’t help but feel satisfied at besting a
full demon
and
controlling his powers.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to beat each other to
a pulp again sometime,” Jared continued. “Every demon on this
mortal planet is hunting Sasha.”

“Sasha? What do the demons want with
Sasha?”

“The demons want revenge. We were both
inmates in his zoo in Hell long enough to know how charming he was.
He pissed off the wrong people.”

“Not good enough,” Rhyn said and started
toward the injured demon. “I don’t give a shit about Sasha.”

“And … AND,” Jared rushed on, holding up both
hands, “he stole something from the Dark One, something that makes
demons immune to Immortal powers. It has something to do with your
blood monkey. I’m too lowly a demon to know what, but I overheard
them talking about it when they came to free us from our cell
block.”

“The Dark One unleashed
all
of Sasha’s
pets?” Rhyn asked, the feeling of doom making him jittery.

“All of us.”

“The demons and were-things and the Dark
One’s personal creations.”

“Oh, my,” Jared said.

“Then I’ve got a long list of creatures to
kill, starting with you.”

“Now, wait, half-brother,” Jared said. “I’ll
admit you have the advantage here. I’m not interested in revenge
like the rest of my brethren. Those demons Sasha killed really
deserved it. I just wanted to eat your blood monkey because she
smelled so good, I figured she’d taste even better. That’s all I
wanted. But I don’t have to do that. I can just walk away. Or I can
help you. You’re going to need some allies to face what’s coming
your way.”

Rhyn considered the words born of
desperation. There was truth in everything Jared said. He knew
Jared well enough after all their years in Hell together to
understand the creature was too narcissistic to care about
another’s issues. If anything, Jared wanted just what he said: a
good snack on his way to find more good snacks.

Brute force usually won any battle he fought.
Recently, he’d begun thinking he’d need more if he were taking on
demons, Immortals, and anything else the Dark One would throw at
him. All he needed was to figure out how to win a game of strategy
he didn’t know how to play, before his time was up and he lost the
only thing that mattered.

“Well?” Jared asked, the confidence in his
voice replaced by unease.

“If you betray me, Sasha will seem like an
angel,” Rhyn said, straightening out of his fighting stance. “There
are demons in the forest surrounding the Immortals’ winter
stronghold. Have you any aversion to killing your own kind?”

“None.”

“I’ll take you there to hunt. You’ll go
nowhere near my blood monkey, and if any of our demon brethren
attack her, you’ll defend her. Remember, you’ll be the first I come
for if you betray me.”

“Deal.”

Rhyn studied the demon, aware he could never
trust such a creature fully. But, if he could get some use out of
him before it came time to kill him, he might have a better chance
of protecting Katie.

“Follow me.”

Rhyn opened the portal to the shadow world
and walked through the damp fog to the forest outside the castle.
Jared limped after him and appeared beside him on the cliff edge,
taking in the morning view of grey skies and green forest with a
look of distaste.

“I smell two demons, and blood,” the demon
said, raising his head to the wind. “Angel? You have an angel here?
Their blood reeks!”

Rhyn’s mind went to Toby, the baby angel he’d
amused by shredding pillows. Jared’s senses were more acute than
his, and he turned to face the direction of the castle. Something
had happened while he was gone.

“Go and hunt,” he said. Fire slid through his
body as he contorted and changed shapes. Jared stepped back as Rhyn
launched himself into the air as a hellish bird reminiscent of a
pterodactyl. His long wings beat the air as he rose, and it took
him a short two minutes to soar over the castle.

The stark red of blood against white snow
caught his attention, and he circled the park behind the castle.
There were two splashes of blood, one at the tree line and another
nearer the castle. He changed forms in midair and dropped the half
dozen feet to the ground, smelling Toby’s blood as he landed near
it. He smelled Katie’s, too, and was unable to quell the surge of
lust that ran through him. He entered the castle, following the
scents up the back stairwell that Katie alone used to avoid the
other Immortals.

The trail led him to Kris’s large chamber,
and he strode in without knocking. Toby was in Kris’s bed, the pale
baby angel stripped down to his waist and unconscious. Ully and
Kris carefully wrapped one of his arms in gauze. Katie sat on
Kris’s couch, glassy-eyed while her own wound went untreated.
Rhyn’s anger stirred at the sight of her bleeding alone, and he
crossed to her, snatching the first aid kit off the bed.

Kris’s gaze went from emerald to amber, and
he strode across the room to meet him. Rhyn nearly decked him when
the blond brother shoved him back.

“Get the fuck out, Rhyn!” Kris snapped. “And
don’t try to tell me that black cat wasn’t you! You’re one
twisted-- ”

“Kris!” Katie interjected, standing
unsteadily. “It wasn’t him. He was off fighting some demon that
attacked me.”

“You stay out of this!”

“No, Kris, I won’t! You’re too quick to blame
everyone else! It’s my fault Toby was wandering around without
someone watching him, but really, Kris, who assigns a woman an
Immortal kid that’s not even her own and expects her to know what
to do with it?”

“I’m up to here with your lip. Sit down and
shut up, Katie!”

Rhyn was content to let them fight when he
thought she was winning, like she normally did. He sensed Kris’s
agitation was increased by the ensnaring scent of Katie’s blood,
which was heavy in the air. At Kris’s angry response, Rhyn shoved
his brother out of his path.

“Talk to my mate like that again,
brother
, and I’ll fuck up this castle and everyone in it
before you can think of stopping me.” He crossed to Katie and sat
on the ottoman in front of her. She sat, dazed. Kris’s gaze burned
a hole in his back, but Rhyn ignored him. Instead, he focused hard
on cleaning up her blood and bandaging her arm before the scent
drove him too wild to control himself.

“I want you gone, Rhyn. Be out of here by
nightfall,” Kris said at last, his voice quiet and hard.

“You all won’t live long if I go, Kris. The
forest is full of demons out for Sasha’s head, and the Dark One may
be sending more of its creatures. At this point, I’m the only thing
capable of standing between you and the monsters in the forest,”
Rhyn replied with calmness he didn’t feel.

He felt Katie’s gaze on him and looked up
from the bandage, his eyes lingering on her face. Her surprise
echoed what he felt from Kris. He was trying not to let the feel of
Katie’s skin heat his blood, but her nearness and direct gaze lit
him afire.

A half-demon outcast didn’t deserve anything
so delicate or beautiful, but Death help him, he wanted her more
than anything else in his life. He didn’t even know yet if he could
protect anyone’s ass, except his own. He dropped his gaze to the
bandage, and he finished it in a hurry. If he didn’t leave soon,
and she kept looking at him like that, he’d make love to her right
there.

“Toby needs a healer,” Ully said from the
bedside.

“I know where to find one,” Rhyn said, his
thoughts going to the Ancient healer that had been a prisoner in
Sasha’s zoo in Hell across the hall from his own cell. He stood
without looking at Katie. “I’ll be back. Keep everyone out of the
forest, Kris.”

He stalked to the door, sexual frustration
and anger in his blood again. He jogged through the castle and ran
out into the snow, launching himself into the cold air as he
changed into the bird form. For once, he was grateful for the
coldness chilling his fevered skin.

For the second time in as many days, Rhyn
surprised her. She wasn’t expecting his ministrations-- however
rough and sloppy they were-- or his mouthing off to Kris.

And neither was Kris. The Immortals’ leader
cursed and paced for a few minutes after Rhyn left before
disappearing into the hallway. She rose, still wobbly, and crossed
to the bed, perching on it beside Ully. The sight of Toby’s near
lifeless features made her feel sick to her stomach. She brushed
hair away from the child’s face. His sweet smell and the feel of
his soft skin lingered in her senses after she’d carried him from
the forest. She’d never noticed how a kid smelled, like fresh
sunshine.

“You think he’ll be okay?” she asked in a
hushed voice.

“I don’t know,” Ully answered. “I think a
healer can fix him. I think he’s just sleeping for now.”

She touched the baby angel’s hand. She’d
never known the type of terror that tore through her when she saw
the jaguar snatch him. The image replayed itself in her mind, and
guilt flooded her. It shouldn’t have taken almost losing him for
her to realize how vulnerable he was. He was hundreds of thousands
of mortal years old, but less than half a dozen in angel years.
Without Gabriel, Toby had no one but her.