Forbidden (The Preternaturals) (28 page)

He leaned in. “Are you sure you don’t want to just go back to the
tent and sit this one out?”

“No. I don’t want to sit this one out! Don’t you want to be a part of
the group?” she asked.

“Not really,” he said. Hadrian had never been much of a joiner. But he
could see from the look on her face, that Angeline wanted to be
included, to have friends. He growled. Even if they made it back to
his church in Vegas, this probably wouldn’t be the last he saw of
this group.

Daria showed up then, linking her arm in Angeline’s. The demon wore what
could only be described as “Fighter Chic” and was strapped down
with enough weapons to win a small battle singlehandedly.

“I just got started on your corsets because of all this, but I’ll be
able to get the first one to you by the end of the week, probably.”

Daria started chattering at Angeline as Anthony pulled Hadrian away from
the group.

“I need a word,” Anthony said.

“What?” The two vampires slowed their pace and allowed themselves to fall to
the back.

“I’ve noticed you seem to be getting close to your guardian,” the vampire
king said.

“And?”

“I hope you don’t intend on claiming her.”

“And if I did?” Hadrian challenged.

“If you did, it would become very ugly between us. Guardians are not our
equals. They are the help. They are in a lower class, and I
absolutely forbid vampires claiming them. It has always been
forbidden. There hasn’t been a single king before me who has
approved of a vampire/guardian mating, and I won’t be the first.”

Hadrian stopped walking. “Are you kidding me with this? You claimed a
human. If anyone is not our equal, it’s the humans. Weren’t you
one of the vampires who competed for king on the humans-are-cattle
platform? That’s what I seem to recall.”

Anthony growled. “You will leave my mate out of this. Claiming a human is
rare, but it isn’t forbidden.”

“And why exactly is that? What is it about a vampire claiming a guardian
that so threatens your happy existence? Or is it something about
Angeline, specifically? I know you two have some sort of history.”
A history Hadrian was sure he didn’t want to know the details of,
or he might be forced to assassinate the king.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s nothing personal. Only that she is no longer
one of us. They are a servant class to our kind, and it would be
shameful to claim one. This is not up for negotiation. If you claim
her, there will be consequences.”

“I’m not your minion,” Hadrian said. “After this is over, I’m taking
Angeline back to my church in Vegas. I’m sure neither one of us
wants to ever see nor hear from you again.”

“I could have you executed,” Anthony said. “I don’t even need a
reason. You’ve been in my court. You know how I run things. Despite
Cain’s enjoyment of running my show when multiple faction leaders
get together, you’ve seen first hand the consequences of crossing
me.”

“Whatever you say,
Your Majesty
.” Hadrian gave a mock bow to the king
and ran to catch up with Angeline and the others. He refused to be
commanded by any vampire
king
.

A demon stood at the portal between Cain’s dimension and the ritual
site, helping those who weren’t demons to pass through the portal.

On the other side, he caught up with Angeline to help form the
perimeter. Hadrian looked up the hill to see Tam and her coven, along
with Cole, a vampire Hadrian didn’t know, and a guardian he didn’t
know, and the male warrior angel they’d captured. The witch and her
coven were setting up the circle. Five terrified humans were held
captive by a few demons off to the side as Tam chanted—in Latin of
all things.

Hadrian still remembered a lot of Latin. He’d continued studying the
language even as a vampire. The circle was large to accommodate all
the people it had to hold. The bound angel was brought to the center.
Around him stood the others, each with a human. Cain held Tam’s
hand to anchor her to the physical world. As a demon’s mate, she
was incorporeal unless he was touching her, but that would change in
time as her powers grew.

The coven chanted and sprinkled the powdered roots, spices, and some salt
around the circle. A green light shot up from the ground where the
circle was demarcated.

“It’ll be funny if nobody shows up to fight us, huh,” said some stupid
fledgling vampire Hadrian didn’t know.

Hadrian rolled his eyes. “Hilarious.” After all, nothing was funnier than
being prepared and safe and not nearly dying fighting to stop the
apocalypse. Nearly every species at this event was considered by most
of the humans to be the “bad guys”. Ironic that it should be the
bad guys who were ultimately saving the world.

The vampire believed what Angeline had said about Heaven and what it was
truly like. And if her testimony and experience hadn’t been enough
there was the confirmation from the werewolf’s demon mate, Jane.

Tam raised the ritual knife in both hands high above her head and she and
the witches began to chant. A golden light glowed around Tam, and she
sliced the angel’s arm with the blade.

“Owww!” he yelped.

“Oh, pipe down,” Tam said. “You’re just going back to Heaven.
Forever. Don’t you like it there?”

The angel glared at her as blood pooled at his feet. Tam passed the
ritual knife counter-clockwise in the circle, starting with Cain. He
sliced his palm and contributed his blood to the angel’s, then it
wasn’t clear what he did, but the human woman with him went from
being scared to having a blissful look on her face. He seemed to be
creating a sexual fantasy in her mind. His hands hovered over her,
and he sucked her life energy until she crumpled to the ground.

“Interesting choice,” Tam said.

“Don’t read anything into it,” the demon said.

He passed the blade to Cole. The werewolf took a deep, steadying breath,
then sliced his palm and his blood joined the rest. He shifted into
wolf form and mauled his human—not as peaceful a death as Cain had
delivered.

The vampire was next. He sliced his palm, added his blood, then drained
the woman he’d brought into the circle. With each death, the
humans’ fears sprang higher. One of them began to rant and scream.
“We knew you all were evil. We knew! This is why we fight!”

That one was killed by the guardian.

“Hmmm,” Angeline said. “I had wondered how they’d do that one.”

Angeline’s hearing wasn’t as good as Hadrian’s, but she could see what was
going on from their distance.

“Pardon me?” Hadrian said.

“The death. Everyone is killing according to their special magical
ability, but guardians aren’t like that.”

The guardian had allowed his wings to come out, and had created a
protective force field with his human inside. Then he’d broken her
neck from inside the circle of protection he’d created. That
protection only worked against someone outside it, not the one
offering the protection.

Tam sliced her palm and added her blood to the mix, then she raised her
arms and chanted, and her human fell dead.

Then the real work began. The werewolf struggled to reclaim his form. Each
of the preternaturals in the circle linked hands, and they, along
with the coven, began to chant again.

“
Angeli eorum ad exsilium, hoc loco nunquam ingredi…”

That was when the angels arrived. A horde of them, mostly warrior class
swooped down out of the sky as if they’d been summoned. The
protective circle Tam and the coven had created, diverted the angels
to the perimeter where the gathered preternaturals were meant to
fight and distract them so they couldn’t break down the shield of
protection.

Angeline’s wings came out. She stayed close to Hadrian, ready to protect him
from the angels if necessary, even though her abilities would break down in a fight against the
warrior class eventually.

Even with all of the fighters and magic users they’d assembled, the
angels had already started to overtake them. Countless vampires lay
dead farther up the hill, and those who weren’t dead were
deserting. Cowards.

Magic users chanted to bind the angels with mixed success. The demons threw
fireballs, and went incorporeal when the angels tried to fight back.
The werewolves were in wolf form, growling and biting anything that
moved that wasn’t on their team.

The chanting in the circle grew louder and faster. Hadrian jumped on a
nearby angel, his fangs embedded in her throat while she was too
distracted to protect herself.

“Hadrian!”

He turned to find an angel had grabbed Angeline and was dragging her up
the hillside to the circle. Hadrian released the angel he’d been feeding from and ran after them up the hill.

“Rodolfo, no!” Angeline shouted trying to pull from his grasp.

“Yes. If they take us, you’re coming with me. I’ll separate you from
that foul vampire once and for all, and when I’m tired of punishing
you, I’ll destroy you.” The angel whispered something in
Angeline’s ear that Hadrian couldn’t hear. Her eyes widened in
response and she struggled harder.

The chanting in the circle rose even louder and faster. From the center
where the angel had been bled, a golden circular light rose up. The
light shifted and turned and expanded until it became a doorway. Kurt
was sucked into it, then Tam and the others lowered and unlinked
their hands and the green barrier went down, leaving the circle
exposed and allowing the portal to do its work.

Hadrian punched Rodolfo in the nose while the angel was distracted, and he
let go of Angeline’s arm. All at once, he and the other Angels who had come to fight were
lifted from the ground and sucked through the portal. But that wasn’t the end of it. Angels were being pulled
from all over the world. Anywhere in the human dimension where there
was an angel, the doorway sucked them back to the heavenly dimension.
The guardian in the center of the circle was taken as well, and then
Angeline began to be pulled in that direction.

She held her arms out. “Hadrian!”

Hadrian grabbed her hands and held her tight to keep her from going to the
door. At first he held her steady, counterbalancing the force from
the portal, but eventually the portal won, dragging her closer and
closer to the heavenly realm from which she would never escape.

The vampire moved in blur-fast speed and jerked Angeline roughly to him.
He bit into her throat, cut his own tongue with his fangs, and mixed
their blood. “MINE!” he roared. The pull from the portal released
her, and Hadrian and Angeline went tumbling down the hill together.

The angels were overhead, like a million wandering souls sucked into some
evil vortex until they had all been taken. Then the glowing doorway
made a popping sound and disappeared out of existence.

Chapter Sixteen

Angeline could barely breathe. She just lay in the grass trying to get her
bearings. It had all happened so fast. She still worried Hadrian
would regret claiming her, but if he hadn’t done it, she’d be
stuck in Heaven with Rodolfo right now. She shuddered and tried not
to think about it.

She rolled over and was about to say something to her mate when Anthony
appeared out of nowhere, his face twisted in rage, a stake in his
hand. Before she could unfurl her wings, the vampire king plunged the
stake into Hadrian’s heart.

“No!” Angeline’s wings came out and she shoved Anthony away, then she
rushed to her mate’s side.

“Hadrian!” Her tears blinded her. She pulled the stake out, tossing it aside as
if it were contaminated. He seemed dead. His eyes were closed; he
wasn’t moving. He was still as a statue. But he wasn’t melting
and decaying. Why wasn’t that happening? Every vampire she’d ever
seen die had melted.

She laid her head on his chest, praying for a heartbeat to miraculously
begin again. How could this happen? Why? She vowed she would end the
vampire king. Anthony would rue the day he had ever laid eyes upon
her. He’d regret using her and playing Linus’s sick games, but
mostly he would regret this act against her mate.

An angry, wailing shriek built inside of her and then came out so strong
that the power from her voice and her wings sent everyone near her
back several yards.

She cradled Hadrian in her arms, wishing there was some magic healing
power she could provide.

She composed herself and looked up to see Anthony some yards away. “YOU!”
she snarled. Angeline rose and flew to the vampire king. She swooped
down and grabbed him, then threw him on the ground. She descended and
wrapped her hands tightly around his throat.

“I could pop your head right off your body,” she screamed. She sobbed
as she squeezed his throat harder and harder, convinced she could
just pop it right off like a grape. “You miserable fucking bastard!
Why would you do this? You and Linus always reveled in my misery.
What the hell is wrong with you?!?”

Anthony gained the upper hand and flipped their positions. A moment later, he
was pulled off her and flung a good distance away.

“Do NOT touch my mate.”

Angeline looked up from the ground, unable to believe Hadrian was alive. Had
the stake not gone through his heart? She was sure that it had. He’d appeared lifeless only
moments before, his heart and breathing gone still.

Hadrian stalked over to the vampire king, his eyes burning with rage. “I’m
pretty sure I know why it’s forbidden for vampires to claim
guardians. It’s not because they’re lesser beings. It’s because
linking our lifelines like that makes a vampire essentially
unkillable. And you wouldn’t want a bunch of vampires you can’t
control and threaten would you? You already claimed a human, so you
can’t claim a guardian to gain the upper hand again. You piece of
shit. Angeline and I are leaving. Do not ever come near us again, or
I will make sure every vampire knows about this.”