Soul Avenged (Sons of Wrath, #1) (52 page)

Ayden stepped
to the side, allowing Sabelle and Gavin to get nearer.

He frowned at
the girl lying sprawled across Logan. “Calla?”

“I’m going to
need his woman to move away from him,” said Sabelle.

“She’s not his
woman.” Confusion laced Gavin’s voice.

“Well,
whatever she is, she needs to move.”

“Calla, come
with me,” Gavin said.

Calla shook
her head and clutched Logan’s body, her antics both confounding and
frustrating.

“Calla, she’s
here to save his life.” Gavin spoke softly

Surprise
flickered in Calla’s eyes. “Save his life?”

“Yeah, get the
hell out of the way.” Sabelle raised an eyebrow, her hands perched
on her hips. “You’re wasting precious minutes here.”

Gavin’s
sentiments exactly but he’d been a little more subtle.

Calla rose
from the bed and knelt beside it. She reached for Logan’s hand and
bowed her head.

“If you’re
going to start with that praying stuff, go in another room.”
Sabelle emptied her bag onto the nightstand. “This is a demon,
honey. No god of yours is going to save him.”

Calla glowered
at the woman like she wanted to tear the skin from her body—perhaps
she could have; Sabelle was only half demon, after all—but she
stepped back beside the others.

Sabelle’s gaze
met Gavin’s and held steady. “I can’t guarantee that he’ll be the
same person he was.”

“Do it.”

She nodded and
pulled some black candles, a blade, a small ceramic bowl and some
bottles from the bag. “I haven’t done this in so long,” she
murmured. “I hope I remember all the steps.”

She pulled an
ornate brown book from her bag. Everyone in the room shielded their
eyes, when she clicked on the night-lamp.

Logan’s wound
looked far more intimidating in the brightness of light. It had
already begun to infiltrate beyond the portal of entry, turning his
skin a mottled gray.

One glance his
way, and Sabelle groaned, before she started thumbing the pages of
her book, her finger trailing the words. “Dammit!” Her shoulders
slumped. “I don’t suppose any of you here have decided to lead a
life of celibacy?”

Gavin’s
muscles tensed. “What’s wrong? What do you need?”

“A virgin. The
purest blood.”

After a moment
of silence, Gavin whispered an apology and nudged Calla forward.
“She is.”

Ayden
uncrossed her arms and stepped forward. “Gavin, her blood isn’t
pure.”

“I’ll need to
have him drink the purest blood to restore his soul,” Sabelle
said.

“She is pure,”
Gavin said firmly.

“Gavin.” Ayden
took another step “If he consumes her blood—”

“Enough,
Ayden.”

One thing was
certain: they didn’t have time to scour the streets looking for a
virgin—and he wouldn’t dream of asking Sabelle to offer her
daughter’s blood. Who the hell knew what price he’d pay for such a
question.

“Please,
Sabelle,” he said. “Use Calla’s.”

Calla stepped
forward, offering her hand to the woman.

Ayden grabbed
her arm. “Calla, we don’t know what will happen if we mess around
with this.”

“Enough,
Ayden!” His fury deepened Gavin’s voice.

“Easy, bro,”
Zeke said from behind, as Gavin took long, controlled breaths.
“Ayden doesn’t mean any harm.”

“Look, we
don’t have time. We need to do this now if we’re going to save
him.”

Ayden nodded.
“Understood.” She placed her hand on Gavin’s back. “I’m sorry.”

Sabelle tugged
Calla’s hand and held it over a ceramic bowl she’d placed on
Logan’s unmoving chest. Without hesitating, she sliced into her
palm with the dagger. Calla flinched but didn’t move.

Sabelle eyed
her as she tipped Calla’s hand and allowed the blood to drip into
the bowl. “You human?” Sabelle asked with an edge of suspicion,
watching the wound begin to seal itself.

“Yes.”

“Interesting.”

She pushed
Calla’s hand away, not giving a second glance to the blood that
dripped across Logan’s body and the bed. Calla put her palm to her
face and sucked the blood from her hand before wiping it against
her skirt.

Sabelle’s
focus returned to the book before she lit the black candle then
opened one of the small apothecary jars. From it, she tweezed out
some thin fibers.

“What is
that?” Calix asked.

“Each of us is
tied to this world by an invisible thread that anchors our very
soul. This thread represents your brother’s ties. Your father is
Wrath?”

“Yes,” Gavin
answered.

She mixed one
of the fluids from the bottles into the bowl then reached for the
black candle and dipped that into the bowl. As the flame contacted
the contents, sparks speckled against the fire, crackling like
poprocks in the air.

“What the—”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Never had that happen before.”

Gavin caught
Ayden’s glance from the corner of the room, refused to meet it.

Sabelle began
to chant, the words clearly demonic, though not even Gavin, the
eldest demon, could understand them, as if she spoke an archaic
form of the language. She held the flaming bowl above her head. A
forced rush of air stamped out the flames, leaving billowing black
smoke that slithered over the sides as though crawling out of the
bowl.

Sabelle jerked
the bowl down, a look of surprise on her face. She scooped the
escaping black wisps back into the bowl and turned back to her
book. Once again, she took the candle in hand, lit the fluid,
raised it above her head and began to chant.

Another rush
extinguished the flame and black curls of smoke rose again.

She shook her
head. “It seems as if his soul isn’t strong enough to return.”

“What’s going
on?” Gavin asked.

“I asked your
father to restore a strong soul to his son’s body.”

“What was
supposed to happen?”

“The flame
would have risen to the ceiling.” Sabelle examined the roving black
smoke.

Ayden crossed
her arms and shook her head. Thankfully, she didn’t say a word. Had
anyone muttered anything, Gavin probably would have pounded someone
into the floor.

“Perhaps he
felt the soul was already strong.” Sabelle swirled the contents of
the bowl. “You.” She pointed to Calla. “Come here.”

Calla inched
forward, offering her blood-stained hand one more time.

Sabelle turned
her hand palm down and placed it over Logan’s wound. “Keep it
there. No matter what you feel beneath it, do not move your hand
from the wound. I’m going to pour the fluid into his mouth. Once
inside, it will want to escape. Do not allow it, or we’ll have a
problem.”

Calla nodded
and held both hands over the wound as if readying herself for
anything.

Sabelle
pointed to Gavin. “Now, you. Come here.” Gavin stepped forward, and
she placed his fingers against Logan’s chin. “Keep his mouth held
open for me. I’m going to pour this down his throat. But I’m going
to need you to be ready.”

“For
what?”

She looked him
in the eye. “When he comes to life. He’ll need to be held
down.”

Gavin rested
his palm on his brother’s chin and opened Logan’s mouth, and
Sabelle began pouring the fluid down his throat.

Nothing.

Logan lay
still.

Sabelle
stopped for a moment then resumed pouring the fluid into his
mouth.

A rumble, like
electricity pulsed beneath Gavin’s fingertips.

Calla glanced
over, positioning herself.

Logan’s body
thrashed and bucked.

Calla arms
went rigid as she held her hands over the hole.

The bowl flew
from Sabelle’s grip, and a miniscule amount of fluid bled onto the
floor, black curls of smoke crawling beneath the bed. She stretched
herself across the demon alongside Gavin, the two of them pinning
Logan while beside them, Calla kept her hands pressed to the
wound.

Logan’s body
shook, sending tremors to every bone in Gavin’s body, and his eyes
rolled back in his head as his jaw clenched.

A
gut-wrenching roar filled the air.

“It’s trying
to come out!” Calla screamed. “I can feel it!”

“Hold it!”
Sabelle snapped. “Hold it until his wound seals, do you hear me? Do
not remove your hands!”

Calla nodded,
fear showing in her wide eyes.

The other
brothers lurched forward.

“No! Stay
back,” Sabelle warned.

Minutes passed
in what seemed an eternity.

A breath
gasped past Logan’s lips. He lay there, suspended with chest high,
lips parted, until his body relaxed back against the bed.

At a nod from
Sabelle, Calla slowly removed her hands from the wound.

Flawless skin,
in Logan’s usual bronze tone, had replaced the horrific gaping
wound, the Wrath tattoo perfectly restored over his heart.

Calla ran her
fingertips over his smooth flesh. “So soft,” she whispered, placing
her cheek to his chest. She closed her eyes and smiled. “His heart
beats.”

“Get this
female off my chest.” Logan’s voice, nearly unrecognizable, held a
hoarse harshness . His eyes opened, and carried the familiar brown,
though the red glowed beneath, penetrating those dark orbs like a
warning.

Calla sat up
and blinked. As if realization had finally batted her in the brow,
she stepped away from his body, her eyes suddenly holding the
clarity they’d lacked earlier, as well as something that could have
been shame.

Like a cord of
tension had snapped, sighs filled the room.

Gavin placed
his hands on the bed beside his brother. “Logan, we thought we’d
lost you, man.” His heart bloomed with satisfaction, bringing a
tear to his eye, as he patted his brother lightly on the shoulder.
“Good to have you back.”

“Why can’t I
move?” Logan’s voice remained angry, like his return to life had
interrupted a pleasant slumber.

“Your soul is
stubborn,” Sabelle said. “It takes a couple of days for it to be in
sync with the body. I suspect yours will take longer. At the very
least, you should be moving your hands by now. Be grateful he’s
allowing you to talk.”

Logan looked
her over, his lip curling upwards to reveal his fangs. “Who are
you?”

“Your
Zshula.”

“What is
that?” Calla whispered to Gavin.

“It’s like a
midwife for dead souls. She brings them into our world from the
other side.”

“I remember
you.” Logan sneered. “Succubus. I suppose you’ll want payment for
this.”

“Of course.
But this boon isn’t yours. It belongs to your brother.”

Logan’s eyes
trailed down to Gavin. “Haven’t you taken enough punishment on my
behalf?”

“Will he
progress, Sabelle?” Gavin asked, ignoring his brother.

“Yes. Slowly.
He’ll need someone to care for him.”

“I’m happy to
see to Master Logan’s needs,” Annabelle chimed.

“I nominate
her.” Sabelle pointed to Calla.

“Me?” Calla’s
eyes, full of horror, shot to Logan.

Nobody
mentioned that ten minutes before, they’d hardly been able to peel
her away from him.

“Are you sure
that’s a good idea?” Gavin asked. “We don’t know if he’s
affected
by all of this.”

“His soul will
recognize her. Her blood runs through his body.”

“Hers?” A
growl rumbled in Logan’s chest, lip snarled. “What have you done to
me, gaszla?!”

Sabelle’s eyes
narrowed on him. “Saved your life.”

Gavin grabbed
hold of her arm. “Sabelle, I’m ready to discuss payment.”

She backed up
a step. “We’ll … discuss that later. I’m very exhausted. And I’d
like to go home now,” she said, wriggling her wrist from his
grasp.

“You’re
welcome to stay. You won’t have to move your children. And Bennett
can return you in the morning, if you’d like.”

“No. Really,
I—”

Sabelle was
suddenly caught in the middle of a circle, as Gavin, Calix, Zeke
and Zayne surrounded her. Her gaze roamed over each of them as if
assessing their intent.

All four
brothers knelt before her and spoke their native demon tongue.

She released a
forced exhale and Gavin stood first. He kissed the top of her hand
and mumbled a demonic thanks. His brothers did the same, then
opened the circle to allow her through.

“Come with me,
love,” Annabelle said, appearing through the door with open arms.
“I’ll take you to your children.”

Anna slipped
out of the room but a thick arm thrust out and blocked Sabelle’s
passage.

Zeke’s.

“Go easy on
Gavin,” he said. “He’s not what you think. And, uh … thanks for
helping Logan.”

Sabelle pushed
his arm away. “Go to hell, demon. I didn’t do this for you.” She
stalked out of the room.

“What was that
all about?” Ayden asked.

“Nothing.”
Zeke tucked his hands in his pockets and gave a dismissive shake of
his head. “I just didn’t want her to go all payback on Gav.”

“Payback for
what?” Gavin asked.

“You know, for
Logan.”

Gavin rubbed
his stubbled chin. “She asked me earlier which brother she was
going to save. I thought it odd at first, but now I’m questioning
if there was a reason she asked.”

“Look.” Zeke
held his hands up in the air. “I have no idea what makes a succubus
tick.”

Gavin crossed
his arms and fixed his implacable stare on Zeke. “What did you
do?”

“I didn’t do
anything.”

Gavin didn’t
budge.

Zeke sighed
and rubbed his hand through his blond hair before stuffing it back
into his pockets. “I had no idea she was a succubus. She’s hot.
Really fucking hot, in case you haven’t noticed.” His head jerked
in the direction she’d just left. “So, I asked her out.”

“And?”

“And … she
told me to go to hell.”

Calix
snickered beside him.