The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (24 page)

Her hand flew to her mouth at
what she saw. The vile green acid had mostly hit the lower part of his back.
The green goop had burned into his skin making swollen bubbles of flesh stick
out from him.

Abby sat back on her heels.

She was useless.

Utterly useless.

She was in a world where
different rules applied and in this case, she knew nothing about healing a
demon’s acid burns from another, bigger, and crazier demon.

Her instincts wanted her to clean
off any excess acid with water. She laughed at that. The lake was at least a
mile away. The dead
jaheera
had crashed between her and the lake, and on
top of it all, she had no way of transporting the water. No bucket, no cup, no
hose,
nothing.
She couldn’t do anything but wait for him to wake up
because she didn’t want anything more than for him to wake up.

He needed to be all right. He had
to be.

She scrubbed a hand over her face
and growled in frustration. Why did things have to be like this? She shouldn’t
care for him. However, she did. She should run, right now! Run away and try to
go home. As if she even could.

Well you haven’t tried
, taunted logic.

Abby flew to a stand, conjured
her magic forth and tried to create a portal home. That’s all she had to do—envision
her little house she rented that she was so proud of. She could see the little
strap of lawn she had out front and could see the front door hanging open like
she’d last seen it with Mike standing there. Her body grew warmer and warmer,
she could almost feel it happen, but it was as if little shocks exploded from
her fingertips but didn’t quite catch like they should.

“See, I can’t do it,” she said,
pacing beside Alrik. Even if she wanted to, which admittedly at this very
second she didn’t, she couldn’t go home yet. She wasn’t powerful enough. Nevertheless,
the sparks from her fingertips, the supreme warmth, told her just how close she
was. If she kept growing it could just be a matter of days, maybe a week tops.

Abby looked down at Alrik. His
face was turned towards her and his long hair shadowed his cheek.

Could she really leave him? After
he saved her life, and after they made love together? Even after knowing she
had these...strong feelings for him?

Kneeling down, Abby pushed his
hair back from his face. Oh, God, she realized.

She didn’t know.

She just didn’t know if she could
do it.

What would happen to him if she
did? Would he continue after the queen and get himself killed? Would he come
after her and try to steal her away again? She wouldn’t be so easy to grab this
time. She’d be prepared for it.

She didn’t have any answers, but
she did know that he wouldn’t give up. That was the only thing she knew for
certain.

Abby lay down next to Alrik and
listened to his steady breathing in and out. She felt exhausted even though
she’d only woken up a matter of hours ago.

She laughed. Was it really just
this morning that she woke before Alrik?

Her muscles relaxed, thoughts
quieted then slowed. The beautiful night sky above was a lovely view to watch.
It was so peaceful here. You never heard the rumble of cars, the plowing of
heavy machinery, nor had a view filled with paved concrete that covered up the
beauty of the earth. None of that was here, and she didn’t miss it. Not one
bit.

Alrik jerked beside her. She
turned towards him, running her hand softly over his hair, one of the few
places she could still touch with him lying in this position.

He mumbled something in his
sleep.

She could barely hear the whisper
of sound.

“What was that?” Abby whispered,
unsure if he could even hear her. His eyes were still closed and sleep still
claimed him.

His upper body jolted as if he
was being shocked. He cried out; a heavy, grief-stricken sound that tore
straight through her and froze her in place.

“Arianna.”

This time she heard it. He’d said
a name, a woman’s name. He hadn’t said her name. He’d said someone else’s.

A funny feeling filled her chest
right under her sternum. Abby rubbed it. Just who was Arianna? And why did he
sound like he was dying when he said her name?

Her stomach moaned with
queasiness. Why did she suddenly feel like her heart had just been ripped out?

She would just ask him about it when
he woke up. She laughed aloud at the thought. Maybe Arianna was his mother’s
name or something. A humorless laugh escaped her. No, he wouldn’t have sounded
sad talking about his mother like that. Whoever Arianna was, she could hear how
much he cared about her.

The pressure in her chest grew
nearly unbearable.

She needed a good slap in the
face. Who was she kidding beside herself?

Everything would be okay. It was
as if even the smaller, smarter part inside of her couldn’t believe that.

But she had to. For her and
Alrik’s sake.

*
* *

Abby must have fallen asleep. She
hadn’t even realized it. It’d just happened. However, she was pretty sure that
when she dozed off it wasn’t with a sword pointed to her throat.

Abby’s eyes rounded as she looked
down at the razor-sharp blade tucked gently under her chin. Her eyes traced up
the long, slightly curved blade to a hand the color of dark cream then up over
a ragged, white tunic to a handsome, striking face adorned with golden yellow
hair that hung in braids down to his shoulders. It was also a face she
recognized.

“Remove your blade!”

Shit. She also recognized that
voice.

Blondie stepped back, sheathing
his sword with practiced ease allowing Abby to sit up. What she saw made her
stomach sink.

“Fuck.”

The rogues had followed them. With
a quick look, she made sure Alrik was fine. He was still out like a light but
his chest moved steadily up and down.

Leaning down, she kept her eyes
on the one man who watched her with unnerving intensity, and spoke into Alrik’s
ear. “We have company, babe,” she whispered. Whether he could hear her
somewhere in there or not she didn’t know but tried anyway. “Aidan and his men
are here. If you want to wake up, now would be the time to do it.”

He didn’t move. Not even a sigh
or nod of his head. At least that was better than hearing the mysterious name
Arianna. Whoever she was. She hated how petty she was being, but she wanted to
know every little detail about this person, their life, and why Alrik said her
name with so much...pain. A pulse of pain swept through her. Why did he affect
her so much? Why did she even care? She shouldn’t.

Putting on a tight smile Abby stood.
She needed to be on even ground with Aidan, the vampire leader of the rogue
demons. Gosh, wasn’t that a heck of a title?

“Aidan,” she said with a nod.

Aidan arched a black eyebrow and
looked behind him at the rotting carcass of the
jaheera
demon. “My,
haven’t we been busy?”

“Nah, happens all the time.” She
grinned at her own joke and crossed her arms to try to look more intimidating.
She felt anything but confident right now. What she actually felt was raw,
hurt... a bit like crying.

He’d brought all of his men.
There were at least twenty of them. Some wandered around the demon carcass,
others sat by a fire eating great hunks of meat, and a few watched her, Alrik,
and Aidan with curious glances. Great, she needed this complication like a hole
in the head.

After the fight with the
jaheera
there was no way she could conjure up the kind of barrier spell she’d done
in Aidan’s castle if they needed to escape. No way. And even if she could, how
was she supposed to move Alrik? The man slept like the dead. She couldn’t lift
him, couldn’t drag him...and couldn’t leave him. She was royally screwed if
they tried to steal her or hurt them, she added. Yes, that’d be equally as bad
if not worse. All she could do was hope they stayed on their best behavior and
left them in peace.

Aidan didn’t smile back at her.
He strode forward, his brow creasing with worry. When he neared, he spoke in a
low voice. “What happened here, Abbigail?”

Abby fought not to lose her
nonchalant attitude, but it finally won out and she dropped it, settling with
crossing her arms instead. “We were attacked. We took it down. Simple, I
guess.” It didn’t feel simple, though. Not in the least.

Aidan looked back at the demon.
His mouth floundered open and closed as if trying to find the right words and
then he laughed humorlessly. “Maybe you don’t understand or maybe it is I who
doesn’t understand, but
that
is a
jaheera
demon. I personally have
never seen one until now, but several of the men have. They say it has been
ages since these demons came onto this rift.” He caught her gaze and leaned in,
crossing into her private space. “They say these creatures are caged by magic
in the nether-rift. So, tell me, Abbigail, human
witch
, just what is it
doing here and why is it after you?”

Abby didn’t like where this was
going. On the sly, she prodded Alrik with her foot but he didn’t stir. He
needed to be answering these questions not her.

“Um, well, it’s not after me.
It’s after him so you’ll just have to wait until he wakes up to get your
answer.” She lifted her chin to finalize her words.

One black eyebrow rose at her.
She glared at it. “Abbigail, you are lying.”

“No, I’m not.”

Now his other eyebrow rose to
match, turning his expression into one of unbelievability.

“Abbigail, when you lie your
voice goes higher, you speak faster, and you swallow hard.”

Abby snorted. “That’s not true.”
But, a blush started coloring her cheeks. With humiliation, she realized she
did just speak fast and her voice sounded like a little girls.

How did he know this about her?
She didn’t even know him.

Blondie, who hovered near the
demon carcass nodded, then called out, “It’s true! You do!”

Abby set her lethal glare on him
too. How could he hear from that far away?

Suddenly all the demons around
them nodded at her, and then resumed what they were doing.

“I told you,” Aidan said, a smile
to his voice. “Now, tell me the truth.”

“Well, it wasn’t necessarily a
lie. I mean it wasn’t after me, per se. It was after him.” She poked Alrik’s
hip with her foot, this time a bit harder. He still didn’t come jolting awake
like she’d hoped.

Aidan nodded grimly at Alrik. “He
was touched by the beast’s acid spray. His skin is infected. It’ll leave a
nasty scar.” He said it so casually as if he just relayed his favorite kind of
food, or, blood, rather.

Abby frowned, her teeth worrying
her bottom lip. “I don’t know what to do. Can you help me?”

He looked completely taken aback
by her question. His eyes rounded, brows flew up, and then he caught himself
and resumed his stoic expression.

“Help you? In return for what?”
His gaze darkened and the look he gave her was so raw, earthly, and male that
she could hardly suppress a shiver. The look reminded her of their intimate
moment with his warm mouth on her neck. Damn. Just thinking about it made her
blush, not from pleasure, but with guilt. She felt like a teenager again not
wanting her mother, or in this case, Alrik, to learn what she’d done.

“I’ll hook you up on a date with
my best friend.”

He blinked, shook his head,
half-laughing, and cocked his head at her. “What?”

“My friend. She has a thing for
vampires, I swear.” Okay, that was an exaggeration. She
tolerated
them
well enough as a shapeshifter. “She’s beautiful, fit, and happy.” Okay, that
was pushing it. She was strong-willed, perky, and very determined. She was
beautiful, though. That wasn’t a lie. “She’s a lot of fun too!” That also
wasn’t a lie, though it might depend on one’s version of ‘fun.’ Jenna preferred
extreme everything. The shapeshifter thrived on chaos and in creating chaos.
That was her ‘fun’.

Aidan slowly shook his head. “You
are confusing me now. Let’s get back to the topic at hand. What will you give
me in return for healing him? It must be a great gift for I hate this man. We
all loathe him and the rest of his kind. To do this for you, to stop the
infection, I’d need a great boon.”

“Your kind? But, you’re all
demons. Well, I mean, you’re not but, yeeeah.”

His mouth twitched. “His kind is
haute
.
Aristocrats, the high-blooded royalty, who sit upon their dais and cast judgment
on all others. That’s who he is. What he is. And that’s what we hate.” He
stepped closer a dark look glowing in his eyes. “Now, tell me. What will you
give me if I let my men heal him?”

Damn. Abby looked around as if
she might happen upon some extravagant gift she could give him, like a diamond
ring maybe or a beautiful woman willing to be bitten. That didn’t happen.
Finally, she shrugged and went for honesty.