The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (22 page)

Abby flinched and looked away.
Maybe talking to him while he had a knife in his hand wasn’t such a good idea
after all.

“But why did your brother betray
you like that?”

Pain flashed in his eyes. He must
have loved his brother very much. “Before he ripped the kingdom from my hands
and banished me, he told me. I spent so long blaming him that it’s been hard
not to even if it was his fault the war started. He claims that Tobius made a
pact with him. Telal wanted to start a group of trained warriors to protect our
kingdom from
idummi
and other demonic attacks. They did happen
frequently back then. He wanted the vampires and us to form an alliance and
work together…or so he told me. However he was blinded by Tobius’ hatred for us
and Tobius didn’t waste the opportunity to destroy us.”

Abby froze at the sound of his
voice. He sounded so sad talking about it. It broke another piece inside her.

 “Keep practicing on the fire.”

Abby faced the makeshift pit
again and called for the power inside her. She could feel her magical abilities
growing. It was like learning a new instrument. It took time and practice but
she was getting better at it. Already she could call the magic forth much
quicker and the time between casting a new spell was faster. Soon she’d have
enough power to summon a portal to earth.

Oh God. Abby looked over at
Alrik. His shoulders were hunched and his eyes downcast in thought. Could she
really leave him? He said he couldn’t defeat his mother and she knew him well
enough to know he wouldn’t just walk away from this. Obviously, the curse had
become his life. He had a dispute to end and there’d be no stopping until he
finished it.

The first thought that popped in
her mind was no. She couldn’t do it. No way could she leave him down here with
rogue demons,
idummi
creatures, and a queen bitch who wanted to kill
him. A wild thought sprung making her stomach flutter. Maybe he could come with
her. Maybe she could convince him to let this all go and come home with her.

Her lip curled as logic set in.
Just what would he do up there, become a banker? Yeah, right. The man was a
king, a fighter, a magician. Not exactly the kind of guy you put behind a desk
for eight hours a day. Nothing about Alrik fit in with her normal-day world.

“You’re not focusing.” He came to
her and settled behind her on the rock. Warmth and muscle pressed into her back
as he surrounded her, wrapping his arms around hers. Strong fingers clasped her
wrists, holding them out towards the round circle of twigs. His voice was deep,
low, and near her ear. “Feel the fire inside you, deep in your soul. Call on it
and shoot it out from your body. Let it warm you, guide you. I know you can do
it.”

Abby relaxed against him,
trusting him with her weight. His voice, deep and lolling, sucked her into a
trance. Everything that was happening went to the back of her mind—the wind
blowing, the leaves rustling and swaying in the breeze. Even the light above
and sound of lapping water over rocks faded leaving only them. Alrik and her.

At his request power surged up
inside her as if obeying a master. Warmth heated her like a blanket. It pressed
up from deep in her belly, spread to her chest and out through her arms, and then
shot from her fingertips. The invisible force showed no color, no sound, but in
her witch’s eye she watched the vibrant billowing reds, oranges, and blues spew
from her fingertips. The fiery power arched through the air and reached the
fire. One spark flared while another burst. Then in a small explosion, the wood
caught flame all at once, crackling and radiating heat.

Abby was slow to come out of the
trance she was in. When she did she felt no heat at her back but her smile grew
and grew at the sight of the fire.

“I did it! Alrik, I did it!” She
jumped and performed a fist pump at her own awesomeness. It almost didn’t seem
real. She headed for the fire and felt the real heat of it. She couldn’t stop
smiling. She did this. She actually made fire just with her powers.

Then it dawned on her—a strange
feeling. It was like one of those times where you realize that something is off
belatedly. In this case, Abby turned around slowly.

She saw Alrik facing the lake,
then as her gaze passed him, and
her own eyes widened.
Her lips parted and a scream tore from her throat.

Chapter Fifteen

“You have got to be kidding me,”
Alrik muttered.

Alrik’s gaze locked on the giant
beast lumbering out of the water. The middle of the lake rippled and bubbled
like boiling water. With a mighty splash, the water exploded out at once from
the rippling circle, raining heavy water droplets around it. A grisly creature
started to appear. First a head, a mighty, round glob of flesh the color of
sick green and cream mixed together. The flesh looked lopsided and pliable like
putty. The creature’s eyes came into view. They were yellow orbs that instantly
narrowed on them.

The creature slowly lifted up to its
incredible height. Water cascaded down the
jaheera
demon’s torso like a waterfall;
water churned and swished around the demon’s legs making noise like a boat
crashing into waves. It kept lifting itself up until it towered over the lake
like a colossal monster.

It stood as if they’d disturbed
it from a deep sleep. However, Alrik knew that water was not deep enough to
house such a creature, and he knew just what kind of creature this was. These
kinds of creatures did not dwell idly in lakes.

Abbigail’s terrified scream
notified him, and the rest of the rift, that she just saw the
jaheera
demon too. Alrik planted his hands on his hips and considered things for a
moment. Well, he tried to but that woman had a pair of lungs on her like no
other. No one could think over that noise. Turning to her, he shushed her. She
snapped out of her scream and blinked at him, then her eyes widened and jaw dropped.
She looked cute like that, even as she looked at him as if he was crazy.

“Silence, woman, I’m thinking.”

“You’re thinking right now? At a
time like this! There’s a freaking giant
thing
coming out of the water
like some kind of Cthulhu monster. I really,
seriously
think it’s about
time we got the hell out of here, Alrik!”

Damn her. He leveled his gaze
with her and once more said, “
Krishnoe.
Silence, please.”

Her jaw worked side to side but
she quieted down and stepped up beside him. When her hands shot out to latch
onto his arm, he had to stifle a smile. Her touch made him stand a little
taller knowing she needed him, wanted him, to protect her.

His gaze fell back to the lake.
This was curious, indeed.

A
jaheera
demon spawning
now? They came from a layer in the rift deep below where he and Abbigail stood.
A place where no light or goodness shined through. It was where they belonged
and stayed. The only times the
jaheera
parted from their ancient home
was for a bigger purpose. There was no question who’d sent this
jaheera
demon
to them now.

“That’s a
jaheera
demon.
They come from the rift far beneath us,” he informed Abbigail, “but they never
come up here. They can’t. They are bound to their rift by ancient
shahoulin
magic.”

“Then why’s it up here right now?
And why the hell aren’t we
running
?”

“The
jaheera
are said to
be quite slow. It’s almost pathetic really. Once in an age they were the
largest creatures down here, they consumed all beasts and grew in magical power
and strength. However, their power was their downfall. My people, the
shahoulin
,
locked the
jaheera
in magical cages beneath this rift when they turned
to harm us. It would take a mighty power to break one from that cage.”

“Your mother,” Abby said.

“Oh, absolutely.” Again, he loved
her intelligence. She knew hardly anything of his world yet she caught on
quickly.

“What did you mean when you said
they have power? What kind of power?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve
never actually seen one before and I’ve never fought one. It’s said they can cast
magic like you and I, that they have old, dark magic. Obviously they are quite
physically strong.”

“Being the size of a small
mountain I’d think so.”

All too quickly, the demon
finished rising to its massive height. It looked so tall that if it reached its
arm up it’d touch the hazy clouds above. The demon’s torso and head showed
while the rest still stood below the water line. Water lapped at its disgusting
body and Alrik could just make out greenish hue swirling in the water around
the demon as its toxic skin contaminated the lake.

Alrik hadn’t been alarmed at
first. The demon was some distance away, and besides, they were slow. They had
to be for such big beasts, but he quickly learned he was wrong, very wrong.

The demon opened its jagged mouth
and let out a horrendous, ear-piercing bellow that shook the trees and jolted
the earth with a rumbling quake. He and Abbigail turned away at the sound. She
punched her hands over her ears. The awful noise tried to puncture his
eardrums.

Then the demon started moving
towards him. One stocky limb lifted above the surface, kicked forward then
drove through the water with loud booming steps that sloshed the water like a
hurricane.

Alrik took a step back, his arm
swiping at Abbigail’s and pushed her behind him. He’d been wrong. It didn’t
move slowly at all. The beast moved its massive body fluidly. In what must have
been two or three steps it arrived at the lake’s shore.

“Dear God,” Abby gasped. Her
fists squeezed his arm in warning.

Alrik agreed. Just as he latched
onto her hand and prepared to run, the demon opened its mouth and from between
ragged, yellowed teeth spewed noxious green spittle. The wet spray was
accompanied by a bellow of sound that spewed the green substance against the
trees and ground.

Alrik had only a moment to see
the green spittle sizzle and smoke against what it touched, before he grabbed Abbigail
and ran for it.

They sprinted hard up the slope.
Again, from behind them, he heard the bellow and the wet spewing sounds of the
demon’s toxic spit falling on the forest around them. Water sloshed as the
demon came on shore. The odor of burning trees and grass mixed with something
he didn’t recognize, but his instincts told him not to let the green spit touch
him.

Just ahead of them trees bowed as
the green liquid touched them. They withered down as if acid had been poured on
them until nothing was left but a stump of a tree popping and sizzling up in
smoke.

“We got to move!” Alrik roared,
for the first time since seeing the
jaheera
feeling real panic.

“I knew I was right,” Abbigail sputtered.

Trees crashed to the ground in
front of them. They raced and weaved through them, jumping over boulders and sliding
down rocky slopes.

“Don’t touch it!” he yelled,
jumping over a fallen branch with smoking green leaves.

“You don’t have to tell me that!”
she yelled right back.

That’s his girl.

Heavy, pounding footsteps came at
them like cracks of thunder. The ground shook with each booming strike. The
demon was following them, crashing through the forest like a wrecking ball.
Horrible sounds followed them—the sounds of trees slamming to the forest floor,
groaning at their death.

All he needed was a good place to
slip into and hide for a few seconds, then he could stow Abbigail away and fight
the demon. His heart raced nearing panic levels. He’d been wrong, too cocky.

If they were still kids, his
brother would have slapped him upside his head for not being more cautious. Oh
well, what was done was done. Now he had to protect her. He refused to let the
thought of failure even enter his mind. No way will he let anything happen to
her.

He’d die first.

A long valley lay before them
filled with bright yellow grass waist tall. In the distance, deep in the south,
he could just make out a tendril of smoke in the air. It was so far away it
could just be his eyes playing with him, or maybe it was just a tree swaying in
the wind. Whether the smoke bode well or not for them, he charged towards it
with every ounce of strength inside him. Even if he had to pull her along, he’d
get them to safety.

“You’re doing great,” he called
to Abbigail. It might be a strange time for it, but he was so proud of her. The
woman had a lot of fight in her.

Suddenly, the ground shuddered
beneath them. They had to stop or else be thrown to the ground as the earth
swayed beneath their feet. Abby slammed into his back. They wobbled side to
side as the ground shook with a jerking, quaking action as if it was trying to
bubble up beneath their feet.

“What’s going on?” Abby asked. He
didn’t like the fear in her voice.

Up ahead, the ground split open
in a nasty snarl and a loud hiss. The earth parted to reveal an open lip in the
field. A black, cavernous slit formed in the massive crack in the ground, and
in a rush, it split from one side of the field to the other, completely
blocking their way.