Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1) (13 page)

Behind the demons, an assortment of weapons glinted in the sun. Targets had been set up and pads lay on the ground behind the swords, knives, katanas, and other assorted blades within the box. I hadn’t believed it possible, but I’d actually become decent with a katana and I enjoyed the weapons part of our training. Unfortunately, thanks to Kobal, I was going to find myself lying on the ground more often than not for the next hour or so before I could get my hands on one again.

“Let’s begin,” Kobal declared.

His deep, baritone voice caused odd little flutters in my belly that I forced myself to ignore. Getting distracted by the Hell beast would only result in me meeting the ground faster than normal.

We’d been doing this for long enough that we automatically separated into our assigned groups. I stretched my legs, hoping to loosen my muscles a little before we started. Kobal strode purposely over to my group, his black eyes surveying me as he moved.

Despite my dislike of him, my pulse picked up as he approached. The way the sun caressed his muscles and the clothing hung on his massive frame was enough to make my mouth water. I hated being tossed around like a rag doll, but I savored feeling his hands on me and those muscles moving against me when he took me down.

This place, and his presence, were turning me into a masochist.

Four soldiers walked over to join us. I stood, waiting for my turn to go through the moves. They’d been teaching us a combination of karate, krav maga, jujitsu, and something Kobal liked to call demon dirty, which pretty much meant anything goes if your life was on the line.

Kobal stepped in front of me and I silently questioned if my tailbone would still be in one piece after this. “Time to warm up,” he said as he held his palms up toward me.

Still wouldn’t do me any good, we both knew I’d be staring at the sky often over the next hour. I delivered a series of loose punches and palm-heel strikes to his hands before stretching my calf and thigh muscles by delivering a series of easy kicks to his palms.

My muscles felt looser as I danced away from him. “Ready?” he inquired.

No.
“Yes,” I replied instead.

He stepped forward, and before I had a chance to move, his leg swept out and knocked me off my feet. One second ago, I’d still been dancing around, getting ready for whatever he would throw at me. The next, I was on my back, watching a puffy white cloud float by and laboring to catch my breath. His shadow fell across me as he stepped alongside my sore body to peer down at me. Thankfully, he didn’t smirk, but I saw the amusement dancing in the obsidian pools of his eyes before he thrust his hand out to me.

I waved his hand away and shoved myself back to my feet. I didn’t bother to wipe the dirt from my backside. The first time I’d done that, I’d hit the ground again so fast I’d nearly blacked out from it.
Always pay attention
, he’d told me, and I’d learned my lesson.

I danced back and forth, trying to avoid him as he moved around me again. Going at him head-on had never worked for me; I’d learned avoidance was the best way to save my skin, bones, and pride. I’d almost completed a full circle out of his reach when he charged at me suddenly.

Prepared for the move, I darted to the side and swung my leg out in a roundhouse kick that would have leveled a human. He seized hold of my foot and flipped me through the air so fast I was dizzy by the time my chest slammed into the ground.

My breath exploded out of me; an acute pang seared through my side when something gave way in my chest. Stars burst before my eyes, dirt clogged my nostrils, and I struggled not to pass out. I felt him beside me before his fingers rested on the ground next to my head.

Placing my hands beneath me, I wheezed as I pushed myself into a seated position. The motion caused fresh agony to lance through my body, but I refused to give into it. Wiping the dirt from my nostrils didn’t help me to breathe much better.

He held his hand out to me again, but I shook my head. “No.”

He dropped his hand. “Who’s next?” he inquired of the others when he rose to his feet.

“I am,” I grated through my teeth before I spit out the dirt I’d inhaled on impact.

“You’re bleeding,” Kobal said. “Your injuries must be taken care of first.”

I wiped away the blood I now felt trickling down my forehead. “Fixed.”

The corner of his mouth quirked into a rare smile. I pushed myself to my feet and took a staggering step back as a wave of dizziness assailed me. Bending over, I rested my hands on my knees as I waited for it to pass and labored to get more air into my lungs.

When I was certain I wasn’t going to fall over, I righted myself and brushed away the blood trickling into my right eye. I felt like a broken porcelain doll as something literally grated together within my chest, but pride and anger refused to let me back down. If I didn’t breathe too deeply, it didn’t hurt all that bad, I told myself. It was a lie, but I’d had enough of this
.

“I don’t know if you’re more stubborn or stupid,” he said.

“Both,” I murmured.

“Ready?” he inquired.

Releasing my wounded side, I nodded to him. My feet weren’t anywhere near as fast when we started again. I somehow managed to keep out of his range as I tried to figure out which way this would go.

Then, the sensation of icy fingers running up my spine slid over my skin and enclosed on the base of my skull. The fingers slid toward my brain as the strange feeling that came over me when I would see something or
know
something gripped me. I forgot about my inability to take a deep breath. Images fired through my brain, and before he started moving, I knew what he was going to do.

He danced toward me like liquid mercury, all elegance and supple grace as he moved with a fluidity I wouldn’t have believed possible for someone of his size. I threw my forearm up, blocking the first blow coming toward me before slapping aside both hands that swung at me and would have grazed across my skin.

Over the weeks, I’d been on the ground more times than not, but he’d never hit me hard enough with his hands to leave a bruise on my flesh. He’d always moved so fast I’d never been able to stop the glancing taps he delivered. Now, I saw each one of those blows coming at me, seconds before he actually made the move, and they didn’t land on me as I deflected them.

The scene continued to play out in advance in my mind, and when he swept his leg toward me next, I jumped over it. He leapt up and came at me again with a roundhouse kick I knocked back. This time, when his hands rapidly came at me, looking to land on me in some way, my forearms flew up to block him.

I felt as if I stood outside of myself, watching this faster and more competent me blocking his moves with an ease I’d never dreamed possible. Was I really moving so fast and keeping up with a
demon
? Was it really me who kept slapping his hands away or breaking his attack plan before he could fully unleash it.

I almost couldn’t believe it, but it
was
me. I could feel his hands on my body and see the black pools of his eyes. It was all strangely mesmerizing and astonishing. I’d never felt so powerful before, so competent, so
me
. I didn’t know where the sensation came from, but it felt as if I’d finally started to discover who I was and I
loved
it.

I blocked a blow that would have caught me in the stomach. Slapping his arms down, I drove my hand forward in a heel strike that hit him dead center in his chest. The blow didn’t cause him to take a step back, but it was the first one I’d ever managed to land on him. Pride filled me as his head tilted down to where my hand still rested against his rock hard chest.

The icy tendrils retreated from my brain as gasps from the crowd who had followed us across the field filled the air. I hadn’t realized we’d moved so far from our starting point until now.

Kobal

River’s shoulders slumped forward, a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she stood before me. Looking at her now, I saw her eyes were a lighter shade of violet than the normally deep, amethyst hue I’d come to know so well. The difference in color was so subtle, I didn’t think a human would have been able to detect it, but I knew something had just happened to her.

I stared at the hand she’d hit me with as it slid down my chest. My heart accelerated when her fingers brushed over my stomach before falling back to her side. The heat of her touch had burned through my shirt to become a fiery brand on my skin. I barely managed to refrain from grabbing it and flattening it against me once more.

Her eyes slowly returned to their normal hue as she stepped further away from me.

I had to know what had just happened.
No
human had ever landed a hit against me, and only a handful of demons had ever managed to do so. Only one creature had ever landed a blow on me more than once, and I would see him dead by the time all of this was finished.

Granted, I hadn’t been going at her full force, but by the end of our skirmish, I’d been near full speed and she’d still been deflecting me. I could easily overpower her, but there were many demons who wouldn’t be able to do so, many who were smaller and slower than she just was.

The inhalation of breaths around us alerted me that the others had all been watching and following us. I glanced at Bale and Corson; their eyes were riveted on River as she stood before me unmoving. The three of us had been working together long enough for me to know they were thinking the same thing as me…

If River wasn’t the progeny we sought, there was still something different about her. She had an ability of some sort that we may be able to use to our advantage.

I was struck with a brief second of uncertainty as to whether I wanted to use her in any way, before quickly shaking off the ridiculous notion. Of course she would be used. The whole reason she was here to begin with was because there was a possibility she could aid us in this war. I would make sure she did what had to be done if she was the progeny.

River blinked and her gaze slid over the crowd creeping toward us before coming back to me. Before I could say or do anything, her eyes rolled back in her head, all the color drained from her face, and her knees buckled. Leaping forward, I caught her in my arms before she hit the ground.

People surged forward around me. A young girl with short blonde hair hovered at her side before Mac pushed her out of the way to get to River. She felt so small in my arms as she lifelessly slumped against my chest with her eyes closed and her hands dangling at her sides.

Human. Mortal.
I had no idea why, but my fangs pricked and a rumble of discontent slid through my chest at how fragile and precarious her life was compared to mine. The impulse to make it less so caused my hands to tremble against her slender frame.

Mac took hold of River’s wrist before resting two of his fingers against her neck. Leaning over her, he pressed his ear to her lips. “We have to get her to the infirmary, now.”

“What’s wrong with her?” I demanded.

“I think she has a punctured lung.”

Not waiting to hear anything more he had to say, I shoved through the crowd gathered around and ran as fast as I could across the field. Wind whipped my hair back, tore at my clothes, and whistled through my ears as the world sped by in a blur. I ignored the startled looks of the people within the town as I bolted past them toward the small medical clinic that had always been a part of this town.

I smashed through the doors and ran across the blindingly bright tile lining the floor. “You!” I barked at the first person I saw. “I need help.”

***

Kobal

“What happened?”

Closing my book, I placed it beside the bed and leaned forward at the sound of River’s hoarse voice. I didn’t think I’d ever heard anything more pleasing in my life. She blinked at me before her fingers flew up to the tubes in her nose.

“Leave them,” I told her, taking hold of her hand and gently placing it back at her side.

Her eyes crossed as she tried to take in what was stuck in her nose before her gaze traveled around the room. Her fingers twisted into the sheets beneath her. “Where am I?”

“The infirmary.”

Her eyes flew back to me. “Why?”

“You broke a rib during our skirmish; it punctured your right lung.”

“But you didn’t hit me.”

“It broke before our last sparring match, when you hit the ground the second time.”

“Oh.”

She tried to grab at the tubes again, but I pulled her hand away. “You must leave them in. Relax, you will be fine.”

She had better be fine
. I had no idea why this woman fascinated me so much, but I’d found myself unable to leave her side since I’d brought her in. The others had tried to pull me away and offered to sit with her, but I’d ordered them all to leave.

Leaning back, she relaxed into the pillows. She looked pale against the white sheets surrounding her, the black of her hair a stark contrast I found myself unable to resist. She watched me as I lifted a strand of her hair and slid the silky length of it between my thumb and index finger.

“You should have told me you were injured. I would have put a stop to it,” I told her.

A small smile tugged at her lips. “Apparently, I wasn’t hurt too badly. I finally managed to get one in on you.”

“Badly enough that you ended up in here, with these tubes coming out of you.” Those tubes and the mortality they represented for her made my skin feel too tight. I could recall the panic that had squeezed my chest when the humans had pulled her from my arms and wheeled her away from me. I’d stalked the medical personnel through the halls, refusing to let her out of my sight as they’d worked on her. “Things could have been much worse if I hadn’t gotten you here in time.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Hmm. How
did
you manage to land a blow against me?”

“I’m a fast learner and I’ve been well trained,” she replied flippantly.

My fingers stopped their movement over her hair, but I didn’t release it. I found myself unable to part with this small piece of her. “How, River?”

She turned her head away, her eyes focusing on the ceiling. “I just knew. I don’t know why it happened, it never has before, maybe it was because I was in pain, maybe because I was sick of being dumped on my ass, but my ability to see things came over me and I saw each move you were going to make
before
you made it.”

The breath froze in my lungs when her eyes came back to me. There was a defiance about her I’d never seen before, a look that dared me to doubt her, but I didn’t; I couldn’t. I’d seen her on that field. It was my chest she’d hit.

“How did you move so fast? You were keeping up with me. I wasn’t at full speed, but you shouldn’t have been able to stay with me.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “I didn’t realize I was.”

“River—”

“I really didn’t realize it, not until you just said so. I knew I was moving faster and was somehow able to deflect you, but I didn’t think it was that fast.”

Releasing her hair, I leaned back in my chair to study her as I contemplated her words. I never doubted that she’d kept some of what she was capable of from me, but I didn’t think she was lying about this. She hadn’t known she could move with such speed and see her opponents moves so clearly before they made them until today, which meant there might be far more she didn’t know she could do.

Since my creation, I’d known only one thing—I had to defeat Lucifer.

If River was the one we’d been searching for, there was a good chance she could be the key to accomplishing that, or at least be of some use in closing the unnatural gateway again. In over fifteen hundred years, I’d never been this close to a secret weapon against Lucifer, one he most likely knew we were searching for, but one he may not be able to protect himself against. I’d never been so close, and I found myself wishing I could keep her from the destiny that could be awaiting her.

“Can you at least tell me, this person you’re looking for, what is it you expect them to be able to do?” she asked.

I couldn’t imagine living in the dark as she did, residing in a world of unknowing, away from her brothers and the home she’d spoken of with such reverence. I wanted to give her some shred of an answer to her question, but I couldn’t.

“I cannot tell you,” I replied.

She inhaled a deep breath and then winced.

“Are you okay?” I demanded as I leaned closer to her.

She tried to lift her hand to her side but the needle embedded in the top of it stopped her from getting it off the mattress. “Fine,” she muttered. “Kobal?”

“Yes.”

“Why do all the demons look so different?”

Some of my tension faded away as I relaxed in the chair again. I kept waiting for her to turn on me, to become incensed with my inability to help her and tell me to go away. Instead, she continued to surprise me. She may never be told why she’d been brought here, but she was determined to learn everything she could about her situation.

“There are many different types of demons, and sometimes their Chosen is a different kind of demon. If that is so, they create new breeds and versions of demons.”

“What is their Chosen?”

“Every demon has a fated partner, or Chosen, whether they find their Chosen or not is something else entirely, but when they do, they mark their partner, their strength increases, and they are able to reproduce.”

“So a demon can’t reproduce until they find their Chosen?”

“They cannot.”

“It’s all so strange yet fascinating,” she murmured.

“I suppose it is.”

“Have you found your Chosen?”

Had that been distress in her voice or was I looking for something that wasn’t there? “No, I have not.”

She smiled at me and I found myself irresistibly drawn toward her once more. I inhaled her fresh scent, relishing in it as I brushed a strand of raven hair off her forehead. My fingers slid over her soft skin. Her eyes briefly closed before opening once more.

“Do you want children?” she inquired.

“It is unlikely that will happen,” I replied. “If it did, my children would not possess any of my demon traits, only their mother’s. They may look like me, but they will not be a varcolac demon such as myself.”

With my fingers, I smoothed the lines that appeared on her brow. “Why not?”

“Because unlike other demons who come from a pairing like you humans, my type of demon is only born from the fires of Hell.”