Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1) (17 page)

Kobal’s hand folded possessively around my elbow. “She’ll be staying with us from now on.”

My head shot toward him. “What? Why?”

Kobal ignored my questions and instead turned toward Bale as she jogged over to us. Her green eyes focused on me when she arrived. “Make sure everything is taken care of here,” Kobal commanded.

She barely glanced at him before responding. “I will.”

Corson and Shax walked over to stand beside Kobal, their eyes darting from him to me and back again. I thrust back my shoulders as I met their inquisitive stares. They said something to him in some language I couldn’t understand; it sounded guttural, foreign, and ancient. It made my head spin more.

It’s their language.

Kobal snapped something at them and they bowed their heads before hurrying away. “Come with me,” he ordered and tugged on my elbow.

“It doesn’t sound like you’re giving me much of a choice,” I muttered as he propelled me across the ground toward the cluster of tents on the hill.

“I’m not,” he retorted.

I shot him a fierce look as I struggled to keep pace with his relentless strides. The color of his eyes had faded back to their midnight color. I could still see the outline of his fangs against the inside of his mouth though. Reaching the tent, he threw back the flap and gestured for me to enter first. The rustle of the flap sliding into place caused a strange sense of finality to descend over me.

I turned toward him as he loomed in front of the exit, his arms folded over his chest while his gaze surveyed me from head to toe. I swallowed heavily, uncertain of what to expect or what had happened. One minute, I’d been going about my training, trying not to throw myself against him and lick him, and the next, I’d been in some strangely hushed world before it had shattered and flames had erupted from my palms.

Turning my hands over, I once again stared at my palms.
Not
normal
. I’d always known I wasn’t normal, but now I was beginning to question exactly
what
I was. These demons were looking for someone, I would be staying with them now, and I’d shot
fire
from my freaking hands.

Lowering my hands, I took a deep breath before focusing on Kobal. His jaw clenched, and a muscle jumped in his cheek when his eyes raked over me again. I didn’t think this visit was going to be as pleasant as our last one.

Kobal

River’s violet eyes were guarded when they met mine. She folded her arms over her chest and stuck her chin out as she stared at me. My gaze slid over her slender frame, rounded hips, and long legs. She appeared far too fragile and human to be the one we were searching for, but there was no denying what she’d just done.

I’d been hunting for her for years, and she may be the key to ending all of this. I may finally be on the verge of putting everything to right again, but I would have given anything for it to be someone other than her.

She may not survive this.

At the thought of losing her, wrath slithered through me like a serpent.
She will survive
, I decided. No matter what it took, I would make sure she survived, but in order for her to do so, she was going to have to start telling me the truth.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the fire?” I demanded.

Her eyes flashed over me. “I wasn’t aware I had to tell you
every
thing about me.”

I took a step toward her, hoping to intimidate her in some way, but she merely tilted her head back and narrowed her eyes. I didn’t think she had an ounce of knowledge as to what she might be capable of, yet she was still brazenly courageous.

“I asked you once what else you could do.”

“And I told you what I was aware of, mostly,” she added the last word as an aside.

I stepped so close that my chest brushed over her folded arms, but she didn’t relent in anyway. “Mostly?” I growled. “What else can you do, River?”

“I don’t know,” she replied and her eyes fell away from me.

Taking hold of her chin, I tilted it up so she had to look at me. “How did you bring me into your world on the hill?”

“My world?” she asked in confusion.

“Your vision, world, whatever you call it. How did you draw me in?”

“I… uh… I don’t know.”

“Tell me, River.”

I moved closer as I struggled not to shake the infuriatingly stubborn woman standing before me. She had me so on edge that I couldn’t get my fangs to retract. They throbbed to rip into something and tear it to shreds. To destroy anything that ever dared to endanger her again.

“I don’t know!” she cried in exasperation. “I don’t know what brings on the visions. They just come to me sometimes! And today you were on that field with me and you were all I could see, smell, and feel before it happened. You were so…”

“So what?” I demanded when her voice trailed off.

“So
there!
So overwhelming!”

Her arms fell away from her chest, and she pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen into her eye. The musky aroma of her sweat mingled with the lingering scent of her lemon-scented soap, and dirt streaked her golden skin.

“And then we were alone and they were coming.” Her gaze went past me to the wall of the tent, but I had the impression she was looking beyond it. “I have no idea how it happened today, but once before, I shared the same dream with my brother, Gage.”

Without meaning to, my thumb stroked over her chin before I released it. “So you can enter other’s dreams?”

She frowned at me. “No… I mean, maybe. We had the same dream
one
night.”

“What else?”

This time, she did take a step back from me when I moved further into her personal space. “There’s nothing else!” she snapped and placed her hands on my chest to push me away.

I didn’t budge in the slightest. Taking hold of her chin again, I loomed over her as the backs of her thighs and ass pressed against the table. She leaned back over the table, her eyes shimmering with anger. Before I could speak, the rustle of the tent flap silenced my next question. My head turned as Corson and Bale stepped into the tent.

“Kobal—” Bale started.

“Leave us,” I commanded brusquely. Bale’s eyes shot to River before coming back to me. “
Now
.”

She hesitated before ducking out of the tent. Corson followed swiftly behind her. I turned back to River when the flap settled into place once more.

“I don’t appreciate you trying to intimidate me!” she snapped.

“I don’t appreciate you lying to me.”

“You forced me here!” she spat. “For some reason no one will tell me, I was torn away from my home and thrust into this madness. All I’ve ever gotten is a runaround instead of answers, so why would I tell you everything about me? I have to protect myself, and I’m not going to reveal everything when everyone is hiding things from me!”

She pushed against my chest again and this time I relented to her hands. I walked away from her and over to the sideboard and the wine.

“You’re right,” I said as I poured two goblets. “Sit.”

“No.”

I glanced at her over my shoulder before re-corking the wine and walking over to the table. I placed one goblet in front of my chair and the other before the chair next to it. I grabbed the back of the chair and pulled it out for her. “You’ll get your answers; now sit.”

She stubbornly stared at me for a minute more before finally settling into the chair. Her eyes followed my every move as I walked over to my chair and sat down.

“What does it matter what I can do?” she demanded.

“It matters a lot,” I told her. I took a sip of my wine, watching her as she stared at me. Then she looked at the wine and lifted it to her mouth. The liquid slid down her throat, putting some color back into her pale face. “Tell me what you know.”

“I lit the curtains in our house on fire once, by accident,” she murmured. “When I was a teen. I was never entirely certain if it was me who did it, or if it was some other fluke thing that had occurred. I guess I know now.”

“And what else can you do?”

She stared at her hands before lifting her head to me. “And that’s it.”

I didn’t know if she was telling me the truth or not, but staring at her now, I became aware of a sickening emotion so unfamiliar to me that at first I had no name for it. It made my hands sweat and my belly twist in a new and stomach-turning way. My fingers traced over the delicate designs etched into the goblet as I finally put a name to the emotion, fear.

I’d never known fear before. Power had always been mine for the taking. There had only ever been one as powerful as me, and Lucifer and I had each walked away from our battles more broken and beaten than before, but alive. Unlike my ancestors, he had not been able to defeat me.

Now though, I felt fear for this woman, which was something I had never believed myself capable of. There was no denying whom she was now, and it meant she was going to have to do things no other mortal or demon would, or could, and I would be the one who would lead her to Hell.

“Are you sure?” I inquired. “Have you ever been able to move things with your mind?”

“No.”

I frowned at her as I tapped my fingers on the table. “Can you harvest power from things?”

She released a small snort and shook her head. “Nope, I’ve never had that happen before.”

I pondered her words as I studied her. She appeared to be telling me the truth, but there could be something she was keeping from me or maybe even something she didn’t know she could do. “I’m going to teach you how to use your power and increase it,” I said.

“Why?”

“Because you may be the only one who can close the gateway the humans created again.”

Her mouth dropped open before a burst of laughter escaped her. “You’ve lost your mind.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“How could
I
be able to do such a thing?”

“Because you are the only living progeny of Lucifer.”
My mortal enemy and the bane of my existence
, I kept those words back as she looked tempted to bolt.

The increased smell of her sweat drifted to me along with the accelerated thump of her heart. She’d yet to run screaming from anything she’d encountered so far, but this may be what finally pushed her over the edge. Instead, she remained sitting, outwardly calm while I sensed the changes in her body.

“Are you going to explain or is this going to be another one of those, if I need to know things?” she inquired in a steady voice.

“This is something you need to know.” Her pulse increased further as excitement radiated in her eyes. She would finally have her answers, answers I wished I didn’t have to give her.

Kobal

“When Lucifer was cast out of Heaven, he spent some time on Earth. I’m not sure how much, some say months, others say years, some say only days,” I told her. “Only Lucifer and his angels know the truth, and they keep it to themselves. During this time, he and his followers sheared off their wings to fit in with the humans. They also started to become something different from the angels they had been.”

“A demon?”

“We believe it was a mixture of human, demon, and angel.”

“Why were they changing?”

“I don’t know if it was the removal of their wings that caused the first changes to take place or if it was because they were shut off from their world, forced to live in a plane not their own, and one that would eventually destroy them all.”

Her fingers drummed on the table as she contemplated my words. “How many angels fell?”

“I don’t know. They say a third were tossed from Heaven, but only fifty survived their time on Earth to enter Hell. I have no idea how many angels there were before Lucifer was cast out.”

“So Lucifer lived amongst humans?”

“Yes and he procreated with them.”

“You mean to tell me an angel, who never saw Earth, and knew he wouldn’t be capable of living eternally on it, spent his time on our plane looking to get laid?”

I smiled at her as I leaned back in my seat and folded my hands before me. “Fucking doesn’t sound like such a bad way to pass the time to me, especially since he’d never had the pleasure before. It’s not an act angels get to enjoy.”

She blinked at my words, and color blossomed high in her cheeks. I shifted as blood flooded my groin and my gaze fell to the breasts I’d watched her caressing. I knew she was recalling that night too when her breathing picked up and her nipples strained against her shirt.

She lifted her goblet and took a sip before lowering it and wiping the wine away from her lips. My gaze fell on her full mouth, stained a deeper red by the wine now. What I wouldn’t give to run my tongue over those exquisite, pouty lips and to taste her as she panted beneath me.

“But demons get to enjoy it,” she said in a husky voice that set my blood on fire.

I tore my gaze from her lips and looked her in the eyes once more. The lanterns flickering over her cast her in a sensual light that had me digging my nails into the table to keep from reaching for her.

Mine.
I had no idea where the possessive instinct came from, but the certainty behind it made me realize it was right. This woman, with her raven hair, violet eyes, and proud features was
mine,
and I couldn’t have her.

“Yes, we enjoy it often and thoroughly.” The increasing pressure in my chest and my growing erection made speaking difficult. All I could think about was pulling her from her chair, taking her into my bed, and burying myself inside of her. To sink my fangs into her neck…

I broke the thought off. To sink my fangs into her would be a claiming act, one I had never committed before. What was she to me? I studied her as impulses I’d never experienced shot through my body and a new possibility started to dawn on me.

The color in her cheeks heightened as her fingers fidgeted on the table. The scent of her arousal tickled my nostrils; I had to sate her need. I bit back a snarl as the fangs I’d finally gotten to retract, extended once more.

She is the one you’ve been seeking. Do not get involved. Use her as she is supposed to be used. Fix what was broken six thousand years ago and claim
your
throne.

I kept telling myself these things, but I wasn’t nearly as excited about finally having Lucifer’s child in my grasp as I would have been a month ago. Now the only thing exciting me about having her was the possibility of actually
having
her.

“So what happened after the angels spent their time on Earth?” she asked.

“That is the question we would all like the answer to. Somehow, Lucifer figured out how to open a gateway and slip into Hell.”

“Maybe it was one of the other angels who did it?” she suggested.

“No, it was Lucifer. Believe me, that is something he made clear when he arrived. I’m not sure his followers know how he did it, or if it’s perhaps an ability only he possesses.”

I gazed pointedly at her with those last words and she sat up straighter in her chair.

“I’ve told you what I know of myself,” she replied defensively.

“But there may be more. We will find out.”

A muscle in her cheek jumped. “Okay, fine, Lucifer magically opened the door. Still not sure what that has to do with me.”

“Before he figured out a way into our world, he left a child behind, growing in the belly of one of the women he’d lain with. Perhaps he left more than one child behind, but we know there was at least one. That child grew up capable of surviving in your world, and producing offspring of their own. A line that would continue for over six thousand years. Once Lucifer entered our realm, he never produced another offspring. I believe he became constrained by our laws once he became Hell-bound and could only procreate with a Chosen, which he has not found.”

“And you believe I’m a descendent of that child?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Many reasons. The visions and the ability to dream connect are all powers that angels, and some demons possess. Your eyes are another sign—”

“The Devil’s eyes!” Her hand flew up to the corner of her right eye. The color drained from her face and a look of dread came over her. “My mother wasn’t crazy; she was right.”

The distress in her voice touched something deep within me. Without thinking, I leaned across the table and rested my hand on top of hers in a foreign attempt to try to offer comfort. I ran my fingers over her supple skin as she gazed at me.

“Your mother was completely wrong,” I said. “Lucifer’s eyes are now as black as mine. Lucifer’s eyes
were
your color;
all
angels have violet eyes. They are not the Devil’s eyes; they are the eyes of the angels.”

Unexpected tears bloomed in her eyes, and she ducked her head away before rising to her feet and pacing away from the table. The first chink in her armor, I realized, and it was because of her mother. Whatever she’d experienced with her mother over the years had left her wounded and vulnerable in a way I’d never imagined possible from her. If the woman had been standing before me, I would have torn her to shreds for inflicting such hurt upon her child, upon
River.

I watched her rigid back as she stalked over to the flap of the tent and stood there for a minute. When she turned back to me, her eyes were dry. “So you’re telling me I’m part angel?” she demanded.

I couldn’t help but smile at the challenging, brazen tone of her voice. “I am. You’re also part human and part demon.”

“So there is evil within me?”

I settled back in my seat. “We are not evil; we are simply a means to an end. We are a natural process met by those who deserve it. Humans have such a limited concept of good and evil, expand your mind a little.”

She waved her hand at me as if she were brushing aside my words. “Okay, demons are not inherently evil, I can get that, but
Lucifer
is, right?”

“River—”

“God threw him out of Heaven. He tore your world apart—”

“Humans tore our world apart too.” Her hand fell back to her side. “Lucifer is an abomination that should never have been thrown to Earth. He should have been taken care of by his own kind instead of foisted off onto humans and later demons. You have always had a concept of the angels being the good guys; yet they are the ones who started this whole mess six thousand years ago, and now you humans have brought our war into your realm by opening the gateway. There is no good and evil as you think of it; there are only different realms, each with its own purpose and balance, and now those balances have been tipped.”

Rising to my feet, I almost went to her to draw her into my arms and give her the comfort I knew she needed. Instead, I compelled myself to walk over and retrieve another bottle of wine.

My hand clenched around the bottle. She was mine, and I could not have her. It was not only my life or hers hanging in the balance, but the millions of humans and demons who still lived and would perish if Lucifer continued to grow his army and made a move to conquer the humans.

Turning back to her, I walked over to the table and poured another glass of wine before settling into my seat. “I have known much of what you humans would consider evil in my lifetime. You are as far from that as anyone I’ve ever known before,” I told her.

Her head tilted to the side and her mouth parted as she studied me with a look of partial longing and gratitude. I’d require vats of wine to stay away from this woman. “How can I be part demon if Lucifer was still on Earth when this child was created?” she inquired.

“Because he was already changing, warping into something more. That’s where your ability for fire comes in. It is a solely demonic trait, not an angelic one. You may have other demonic traits as well, but we will discover that as we train. Premonitions and visions are possessed by demons and angels; that is a trait shared between our species.”

Walking over, she remained standing as she lifted her goblet and finished off her wine. “Did the other angels leave offspring behind before they entered Hell?”

“They did, but their lines have all perished over the years. Many historic figures sprang from their lines and yours.”

“Like who?” she inquired.

“Like Jesus, Moses, Job, Abraham, Joan of Arc, Noah, Rasputin, Hitler, Nero, Caligula, Ivan the Terrible, Ghengis Khan, Vlad Dracula, and many others. Their lineage is how some of them were able to communicate with God, walk on water, part seas, get millions to follow them, and so on. Of course, not all of the children of the angels had such strong displays of abilities. Many of them had more latent abilities or they kept them hidden.”

She gawked at me before speaking again. “Jesus was the son of God.”

I shrugged. “More like grandson.”

“Jesus Chr… ah… shit,” she finished and glanced nervously at the roof of the tent.

“You will not be struck dead,” I assured her.

“Yeah,” she muttered, but her eyes went to the roof again. “How can you be so sure all of those angel lines are gone too?”

“Demons kept track of them for a long time or tried to, but eventually they were unable to do so anymore. We believed
all
the angel lines had perished, until four years ago when Bale received a vision that Lucifer’s line continued. We had no idea what to expect. If you would be male or female, young or old, we only knew you still existed and that you would possess at least some of the abilities of your father.”

“I have no idea what abilities my father could be capable of. He left my mother when he learned she was pregnant with me and hasn’t been heard from since.”

“Your father is Lucifer.”