Fallen Angel of Mine (43 page)

I looked into her amazing eyes. "My
only chance to make your father stop hating me."

"You think—say what?" Understanding
flashed on her face. "Are you kidding me? You want to end the war
between spawn and the Templars all to gain my father's
approval?"

I gave her a sheepish nod. It sounded
really stupid when she put it that way. Maybe even a tiny little
bit selfish. Okay, fine, it sounded a lot selfish. But I didn't
give a damn. "Exactly. I didn't go through all this crap for some
noble cause, or to make the world a better place. I did it
because—because I love you."

"You're serious."

"As a heart attack."

The circle thrummed to life around us
as Bella activated it. We didn't have time to talk. I grabbed
another handful of flares. "Fausta." I held out the flares to the
Templar. She took them. "Light these around the circle and along
the way back to Pokito. You need to get him and bring him here, but
his light will go out when you grab him."

"I'll help," Beck said, taking some
flares from her.

I reached into my backpack and pulled
out Plan B. It had worked against me, and I hoped it'd work against
Vadaemos. I pulled a fresh magazine of tranquilizer darts from the
backpack and clicked them into the dart gun. Then I sprinted after
my dear relative.

It didn't take long to catch up. The
scattered cherubs blocked his path to freedom. He spun at my
approach and growled. Muscles coiled around his limbs. His skin
went blue. A new set of horns sprouted from his forehead. I assumed
he meant to make short work of me so he could escape. I was right.
He blurred at me so fast, I didn't have time to aim the gun and it
spun from my grasp.

His body drove me against a stone
column so hard I heard it crack. Or it might've been my skull. I
couldn't tell. All I could see were stars. Then he threw me to the
side. I bowled over a column of cherubs as I fell. Before I could
push myself up, he was on me again, his hand around my neck. He
held me up and grinned.

"I only just realized something, boy."
His voice was deep and ominous. "You're Daemos, aren't
you?"

I couldn't nod or speak, not with his
hand on my throat. The light in the cavern abruptly winked out
except for the feeble glare of a few scattered flares in our area.
Beck and Fausta must have reached Pokito. Something made a rapid
clicking noise. A surprised look crossed Vadaemos's demonic face.
He dropped me and spun. Elyssa jammed another magazine into the
dart gun and fired as fast as she could pull the trigger. I looked
up groggily from my place on the ground and saw a garden of darts
sticking from Vadaemos's back and chest.

Somehow, I found the wherewithal to
push to my feet as Vadaemos laughed and pulled darts from his meaty
pectorals.

"You fools. Idiots! These insignificant
little things can't harm—" He face planted on the stone floor with
a wet smack and a crunch. His body morphed back to normal almost by
the time his body stopped twitching.

"Oh man, that had to hurt," I said,
noticing a pool of blood forming beneath his face. I flipped him
over. The broken, crooked mess of his nose greeted me. "I hope that
hurts like hell, jackass."

Elyssa looked at me. I
looked back. Without another word, I scooped
Vadaemos over my shoulder and we sprinted for the circle of
safety like our asses were on fire. The roar and din of hundreds,
possibly thousands, of cherubs filled the room, sounding like the
nursery school of doom. If there was a special place in hell for
child abusers or people who loved Valentine's Day, this was it. The
rumbling bays of the writhing leyworms formed a deep, basso
counterpoint to the high-pitched wailing.

Another wall shattered open and yet
another giant worm broke through. Elyssa and I raced alongside the
writhing form of the latest arrival, dodging its undulating body as
it scattered cherubs along the way. I looked up at the massive
creature towering over us. They'd looked huge from the front, but
from the side, the sheer scale of it made me feel tiny. This thing
was three stories high and at least a hundred feet long. It could
eat a city bus and not even realize it.

We finally reached the circle. The
arch, now full size, hummed and gleamed with ultraviolet sparks.
Pokito shoved people through. I had bad memories about the last
time I'd been through such an arch, namely Kassallandra's, but
given the circumstances, I figured anyplace had to be better than
here. A glowing form caught my eye and I saw Yolo's shaggy form
dashing into a tunnel. I didn't know what in the world the
crazy-looking thing was, but I hoped he'd be okay.

Elyssa grabbed my arm and dragged me
through the arch before I could give it another thought. Pokito
came through last and closed the gateway. It shrank back to the
tiny earring-shaped statue within seconds. I looked around. We were
in another huge cavern.

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "We just
escaped one underground deathtrap and you brought us to another
cave?"

"Wait a minute," Elyssa said stepping
across the black polished floor. "I recognize this
place."

"Hello guvnah!" said a bright cheerful
voice as a young boy approached from what looked like
stables.

My brain didn't need long to figure out
where I was after that. "We're in the Grotto? Back in the States?"
I looked behind us and saw the Obsidian Arch towering
above.

"Back home," Elyssa said, her eyes
looking relieved and troubled all at the same time.

"We're in Atlanta?" Beck said, his eyes
wide. "Why the hell did you bring us here?"

"It's part of the plan," Pokito
said.

I spun on him. "What's this plan you
keep talking about?"

"I cannot say more."

Beck grabbed the little man's shirt and
jerked him forward. "You'd better start talking, Mr. Miyagi. You
should've taken us back to the closest arch, not the
Grotto!"

Pokito simply stared at him, neither
scared nor angry and shrugged. "It is the plan."

Beck groaned and let him go, running a
hand through his hair, which for once, looked messy. "I told
Christian we'd bag Vadaemos and bring him back."

"You told Christian that?" Fausta said
with a roll of her eyes. "I suppose you were hoping for a
promotion."

"So what if I did?"

"Can I help you at all?" the young
stable boy asked, his large eyes wide and confused at our argument.
"Most of the stores are closed, but there is lodging
inside."

I grinned at the kid. "Nah, we're good.
Do you have a car we could borrow?"

"Oh dear, sir, I'm afraid not." He
pointed a thumb at a cart brimming with fly-covered manure.
"Perhaps I could give you a ride to the surface in my cart. Once I
empty it, of course."

"I'm not riding in a pile of horse
crap," Fausta said indignantly.

"At the very least, sirs and madams,
you should clear the circle in case someone else comes through the
Obsidian Arch."

We made our way outside the
yellow and black warning lines circling the smooth, black slab the
arch sat upon and stood there. Walking was apparently our only way
out, and it was a long way to the surface, but I'd take it any day
over a husk-infested cave. The faint squeal of tires on the
spiraling ramp leading down to this place caught my ears. Within a
minute, a windowless black van pulled up in front of us. Whoever
owned it might as well have spray-painted
Serial Rapist Inc.
across the side.
The driver door opened and a huge man got out. Elyssa's eyes
brightened and she squealed like a little girl, running to the
driver.

"Michael!" She squeezed him with a hug.
He wrapped his muscular arms around her.

His eyes met mine. He knew
who I was, I could tell. But he didn't seem surprised to see me. On
the other hand, his eyes clearly conveyed a message:
Touch my sister and you die.

I gulped. This dude obviously worked
out, probably by doing arm curls with trees, and bench-pressing
pregnant yaks. His violet eyes gleamed with violence barely
contained just beneath the surface. This guy wasn't one to fool
around with, especially with his little sister involved. It seemed
vaguely ironic now was the first time I would meet one of her
brothers. This familial adventure didn't seem to be going any
better than meeting her parents.

A question occurred to me. "How did you
know we were here?"

"Part of the plan," Pokito said from
behind me. I resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

"Did you call him?" I asked the little
sorcerer.

"He did," Michael said in a deep voice.
"Everybody get in."

"You're Michael Borathen?" Beck said,
his eyes wide with wonder. "But you were so skinny the last time I
saw you."

"I grew."

Beck didn't belabor the point. He and
Fausta helped Bella and Curtis inside, while the others piled in. I
dragged Vadaemos's limp form over and set him inside. I wanted to
pull Michael aside and question him, but now wasn't the time. The
big Templar hopped in the driver seat while Elyssa sat
shotgun.

"Where are we going?" I
asked.

"A safe place, for now."

"Take me to your father."

"Now isn't the time."

"A good a time as any."

He glanced back at me. "So eager to
lose your head?"

"No, I'm eager to give him Vadaemos
along with proof the spawn nation had nothing to do with Thunder
Rock."

"It can wait a night."

I gritted my teeth but said nothing
more. If he made me the least bit suspicious I would—what? Jump
from the van with my prisoner and make a break for it? I wouldn't
get far carrying a body with trained Templars after me. If I left,
it'd be without Vadaemos, and that wasn't happening.

We reached a dubious-looking motel
sometime later. Michael stopped the van and put it in park. I
glanced at the weather-beaten doors lining the outside of the
two-story building. A florescent vacancy sign flickered in a small
office down at the corner and the glow of a handful of lights from
behind closed curtains indicated at least a few other people were
staying in this dump.

The motel door in front of the van
swung open and a familiar face appeared. A breath caught in my
chest as Meghan Andretti stepped outside, followed by Mr. Smith,
aka Adam Nosti. What in the world were they doing here? Michael
approached them and took Meghan aside. Her eyes flared and
hardened. I knew exactly why. She was a Templar. Thunder Rock was a
blight on their history. Even more importantly, she might have
figured out it was Vadaemos who devoured her father's
soul.

I left the slumbering killer and joined
the conference. Meghan saw me. Tears gathered in her eyes. She
threw herself at me in a tight hug and kissed me on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said. "Thank you."

Her actions left me speechless. The
last time I'd seen her she could hardly look at me because of my
demon spawn heritage. Now she was kissing me. "For what?" I asked,
my voice uncertain.

"You caught my father's
killer."

She knows.
"You know what I plan to do with him,
right?"

She backed away and nodded. "I won't
interfere."

"Uh, good," I said, still a bit uneasy.
"You do realize you just kissed a demon spawn, right?"

She smiled shyly. "You're different.
You're not pure evil."

Well, I had to admit, it was a step in
the right direction.

Smith came forward, hand extended. We
exchanged grips.

"Damned good to see you're still
alive," he said. "Your father and Shelton had to go into hiding
after you vanished, thanks to Maximus."

"What about Stacey and
Ryland?"

"What about us, love?" said a familiar
British voice from behind me. I spun as a huge wolf melted into a
dark-haired man. Thankfully, Ryland morphed into human form behind
a waist-high bush so I didn't have to see his dangly bits. The
speaker was a hot, buxom blonde in a simple, curve-hugging, black
dress.

My eyes misted up and my heart gained
strength at the sight of my felycan friend, Stacey. I rushed over
and squeezed her tight. She stood on tiptoes and kissed my cheeks
as tears ran freely down her face.

"I missed you," I said, a huge grin
breaking on my face.

"My lamb, I've missed you more than you
know. We thought you were—dead." She choked on the last word and
fresh tears ran down her cheeks.

I heard a sharp intake of breath and
looked to see Bella staring at Stacey. When she saw me looking, she
turned away.

Stacey's gaze followed mine. "Bloody
hell."

"Do you know Bella?"

A mischievous grin curled Stacey's
lips. "A story for another time, love."

Ryland approached, fully clothed,
thankfully. "Hey now, don't I get a kiss too?"