Undaunted (7 page)

“Then it’s best I not let you kill me, demon.” He readied himself for battle, drawing on the strength of Addie, Locan, and Jett. The strength of their love, of their promise of a future fighting demons rather than serving one.

But for that promise, he needed to live. And if he wanted to live, he somehow had to defeat the demon. Az tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.

Naburus had no need to draw closer to Az to launch his attack. He raised his right arm and shook out the long, razor-studded whip, swung the deadly thing over his shoulder, and then struck. Az dove, rolling to the left, but the tip of the demon’s whip wrapped around his upper right thigh. The slashing razors burned like acid, cutting through the thick leather pants into muscle. Naburus pulled tight, dragging Azrael across the rocky ground.

Az twisted his body and slashed at the braided rawhide with his sword. Once, twice, bouncing off the razors until he finally slipped between two of them and caught leather on the third strike. The braid parted and he was free, but much too close to Naburus. The demon reached for him. Instead of trying to get away, Azrael rolled toward the demon, slashing at the back of one thick ankle.

His blade connected with hardened scales, but Az twisted his wrist, forcing the blade between the scales, ripping through muscle and tendons. Naburus bellowed and reached for Azrael, but Az pulled his sword free and rolled out of reach. Limping now, Naburus turned on his good leg and prepared to swing his whip—now a full five feet shorter—once again.

But Azrael leapt to his feet and raced around the demon, slashing once again at the injured leg, cutting through muscles and tendons behind the creature’s knee. The demon’s leg buckled, but Naburus swung his whip as he went down.

Razors slashed across Azrael’s shoulder, cutting deeply into his left side, but the leather vest protected his back and allowed him to move away, once again out of reach. “Hard to fight with a short whip, eh, Naburus?”

“As difficult as it is to fight while bleeding to death, human?”

The rush of adrenaline had kept him from noticing, but blood poured from the deep wounds in his thigh, and his left shoulder had sustained enough damage that his arm and hand were useless. He grasped the hilt tighter in his right hand and faced Naburus.

Naburus was badly injured, his left leg almost entirely useless, the whip shortened to the point where he could slash with it but no longer had enough to actually capture Azrael and pull him close. For a brief moment, Az thought he might actually have a chance.

Then Naburus reached over his shoulder and pulled out a sword twice the length of the one Azrael held. “Ready to die, human? Come to me of your own free will, or die and spend eternity in hell. It’s of no matter to me. Either way, you’re mine.”

Az sucked in a painful breath. Dark spots swirled in front of his eyes. Blood ran down his leg, dripped off his hand and pooled at his feet. There was no pain in his arm—no feeling at all—but Az refused to give up. He saw Addie’s smile in his mind, imagined the feel of Locan and Jett’s strong arms holding him close. Even Ukopach was making his presence known. Az loved them. He loved all of them, and he wasn’t about to give up. Eternity in hell was better than serving the demon, especially when the only ones he wanted to serve were those few precious souls he had grown to love.

Swaying on his feet, Az managed to raise the sword. Naburus couldn’t walk, though he was still standing, balanced on his one good leg. Az took a step forward. Then another. He knew that the demon would kill him, knew that sword could reach him long before he got close enough to strike, but he refused to give up. Refused to acknowledge defeat.

“You’re not quitting, Az. You’re going to beat the bastard.”

He swung his head to his left. Jett stood there, helping him stand.

“He’s all yours, Az. One leg isn’t enough to hold the beast up, not for long.” Azrael turned to his right. Locan laughed and wrapped an arm around Azrael’s waist. “C’mon, big guy. Go get him.”

A flash of red streaked around Naburus. The demon growled and swung his huge sword, but Ukopach flashed out of existence as the blade fell. Naburus roared as he tottered back and forth on his one good leg. Azrael watched as the demon struggled to stay upright, but the weight of the sword and the awkward turn to strike the little demon had his huge body twisting, overbalancing and falling.

He tried to use the sword like a crutch, jamming it into the rocky ground. The hilt snapped away from the blade and he wobbled, flailing for balance. Then Addie flashed into view, leapt high to the demon’s back, tapped Naburus on the shoulder and gently shoved before leaping free. Naburus went down, falling like a huge tree, shrieking his rage and then his agony when he landed on the upright end of the broken sword.

The jagged shaft pierced his body. The demon’s weight insured that the broken sword went all the way through.

Azrael stared at the fallen giant. Slowly turned his head and looked at Jett and then turned once again to frown at Locan. “How? I thought I had to fight my battle alone.”

Then Addie was standing in front of him, catching him as he pitched forward. He thought he heard her say they were a team, that they would always be a team, and teammates never fought alone. He thought that was what she said, but he didn’t really know for sure. No, he knew only darkness. Darkness and pain.

* * *

“Do you think he’ll make it?” Addie leaned over Azrael’s still form and brushed the thick, dark hair back from his forehead. He lay in the big bed, his wounds bandaged, his face deathly pale. Ukopach and a few of his video-demon buddies huddled against the far wall, but Locan lay beside Az to help warm him. Jett sat on his other side, leaning against the headboard, but he kept his fingers tangled in Az’s hair. He’d already admitted to Addie that he didn’t want to let him go.

He said as much again. “He has to make it. We’ve never defied the one who runs this operation. Not once, and dammit all, but I want our choice to count.”

“Azrael matters too much to let Naburus have him. The decision to make him fight alone was unfair.” Addie raised her head and stared at Jett. “If my job is to maintain balance, then it was the right choice. Everything changed when we rescued Az.” She grinned and shook her head. “No, when he rescued us. If we lose him, our team will become unbalanced. We’ll be a less effective fighting force, and that negates our entire reason for existing. We made the right choice to help him, and Azrael has to live.”

She raised her head and shouted at the ceiling. “Did you hear that? This man has paid enough. He had to live, and we need him on our team.”

Locan raised his head. “Did you just yell at the boss?”

Folding her arms across her chest, Addie gave a single sharp nod of her head. “I did. And his answer will tell us if we really do work for the good guys.”

Jett just shook his head. “Guess you’re tellin’ him, eh, Addie?”

“I am.” She leaned over and kissed Azrael’s forehead. “We can’t lose him, Jett. He’s one of us now.”

Jett took her hand. “I know. We’re more than a team, we’re a family. And family sticks together. They protect what’s theirs.”

“Yeah.” She studied Jett for a moment, seeing him with new eyes. He’d never said much about what the three of them had become, but he was right. They were family, and Azrael, though he was the newest member, was no less loved. No less important.

Jett stretched out beside Az and tugged on Addie’s hand. Exhausted from sharing energy to heal Az, she let Jett pull her down beside him. Before long, Ukopach and his buddies joined them in the big bed, curling up beside Locan on one side, Addie and Jett on the other, and filling the empty spaces near the foot.

Addie’s last thought as she slipped into sleep was how right this felt. How good it was to love and be loved.

And how she knew she’d do everything she could to fight for the right to keep them all together.

Chapter 8

She’d never been summoned before. Had no idea that’s what had happened, at least until Jett whispered in her ear that yes, the boss had summoned them, and no, that probably wasn’t a good thing. Then he took hold of her right hand while Locan held her left. If nothing else, they were going to show solidarity.

She didn’t see Azrael anywhere. That worried her. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in the big bed with all three guys as well as Ukopach and a bunch of his buddies. Azrael had been weak from blood loss, but she was certain he was strong enough to make it.

What if he hadn’t? She glanced at Jett, but he merely shrugged. Locan just squeezed her hand, and the three of them stood there in what felt like an endless room of white marble floors and walls so far away it was hard to tell what they were made of.

And while they couldn’t see anyone else anywhere, Addie was quite certain they weren’t alone.

“You defied me.”

The voice, when it finally came, was the same one they heard in their heads. Except now it sort of echoed off the nonexistent walls and rippled through the air. Addie stood tall and stared straight ahead. “It was not meant as an act of defiance. I was doing my job.”

“How can you say that? Your job was to wait until Azrael completed his task. It was his job to kill the demon. To do it without help.”

“My job, sir, is to provide balance to my team. We had already discovered that the addition of Azrael to our team made us stronger. More capable of completing our assignments. If Azrael had died or if he’d been reclaimed by the demon, it would have thrown us out of balance. I would have failed at my duty.”

“What do you have to say? Jett? Locan? How do you feel about adding a third man. Another male who wants to share Addie’s attention. Her love.”

Jett glanced at Locan, who nodded. “Locan and I love Addie, just as we love each other. In the few weeks we’ve known Azrael, we’ve grown to love him as well. Adding a third man to our team merely makes us stronger. Makes us a better fighting unit.”

“Are you saying that every team should have three men? That the formula we have used for millennia is somehow wrong?”

This time Locan answered. “No. It’s not wrong, but neither is ours. We are unique, and we owe that to Addie. She’s changed the dynamic. Made it work better, and made us better. You can’t deny that we’re an effective force, even stronger with Azrael. Where is he? Is he going to survive? We need him.”

There was no answer. Instead, in a whirl of wind and a flash of lightning, the three of them were back in the big bed, lying beside Azrael. He blinked, opened his eyes and gazed around. Ukopach and the guys were gone, but Addie took Az’s hands in hers and glanced at Locan and Jett before she spoke.

* * *

Azrael knew he’d been dreaming, but waking beside Addie and the guys was even better than the dream. It had felt so real that he had to admit a night spent defeating Naburus was an amazingly satisfying dream. And now this—Jett and Locan beside him, and Addie holding his hands and looking at him as if he mattered.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Do you remember what happened?”

He glanced from Addie’s dark brown eyes to Jett’s brilliant green, to Locan’s icy blue. “It wasn’t a dream, was it? We fought Naburus, together. We won.”

“That we did. But you were badly hurt. We healed you as best we could. How are you this morning?”

He did a quick check. His left shoulder was stiff, his right leg ached and he felt weaker than usual, but overall . . . “Tired. But okay. Are you sure he’s dead?”

Addie flashed a quick grin at Jett. “Well, he appeared to be, once Jett removed his head from his body.”

“That generally does it.” He took a deep breath and wondered what they weren’t telling him. “Do you think I’ll be able to stay?” When he thought about it, he really should be dead. He wasn’t a hellhound anymore, though he sensed he could still take the shape, and he’d long ago outlived his span of human years.

Addie squeezed his hands. “I don’t know. We didn’t get an answer, though we were summoned. But you’re still here, and that’s got to be a good thing.”

So far, anyway. It certainly beat the alternative.

* * *

They’d had a wonderful, quiet day. No calls for service, no word from the boss. Az gained strength throughout the day and even fixed an amazing dinner for all of them. If only they’d known whether or not they could celebrate. Instead, the threat of Azrael being taken away hung over everything they said or did all day long.

They’d gone to bed, the four of them discovering just how many different combinations they could find for making love. Then they’d ended up in the big underground pool and found even more ways to touch and be touched, to share the sense that what they had was special. That it was a link that should forever remain unbroken.

Addie’d been totally exhausted when they finally decided to actually use the bed for sleeping. Jett carried her back to their room with Az and Locan following close behind. Az yawned and crawled between the sheets with Locan on one side and Addie on the other. She felt Jett snuggling close to her back and sighed. If only they could stay this way forever, the four of them so perfectly attuned, one to the other, but she should have heard something by now. They all should have.

It was an uneasy sleep for her, though the guys didn’t seem to worry. They slept soundly. Of course, someone had to worry.

The room was still dark when the voice in her head woke her. Groggy, she struggled into wakefulness, listening to the coordinates. Jett and Locan were stirring, as was Azrael, and moving as if they’d always prepared for battle as a foursome. Each of them dressed and gathered up their weapons.

Azrael stood between Jett and Locan, his sword grasped in his hand.

Addie buckled her sheath over her shoulder and slipped her sword into the scabbard before glancing at Azrael. “Can you shift between dimensions?”

He frowned and then shot her a grin. “I can.”

Hope blossomed. “Okay. Looks like we’re headed to Kansas City, Missouri. Got your coordinates?”