Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1) (7 page)

Kobal

“Kobal.”

I glanced up from the book I’d been absorbed in when my name was spoken. I may not have much use for the human race, but I did enjoy these books they’d created. It had taken me a while to learn how to read them, but over the years, I’d become more adept at doing so. Humans were creative; that was the best I could say about their species.

My gaze focused on Corson in the doorway, staring at me. His orange eyes were brightened by the lanterns flickering within the tent. His black hair, so dark a hue it appeared midnight blue in some lights, stood up in jagged spikes around his narrow face. He must have recently been with one of the human women again as his pointed ears had earrings dangling from the tips of them. Those women enjoyed decorating his ears, and he happily let them do it.

“What is it?” I inquired, trying to ignore the dangling pink butterflies swinging from his ears when he stepped forward. I’d never understand why a demon as powerful as Corson, and nearly as old as me, would wear those ridiculous things. If I stared at them for too long, I’d rip them from his ears, and I’d been working on trying to curb my temper. The humans were apprehensive and timid enough around me on the best of days, never mind witnessing me tearing the earrings from one of their favorite demons.

“They’ve returned,” Corson replied.

“And?”

“There is a possibility with them.”

Closing the book, I dropped my legs from where I’d propped them on the table we often used for meetings and my feet hit the floor. “How good of a possibility?” I demanded.

“I don’t know. I kept all the demons away from the new volunteers this time. That whole screaming and running thing is a real turn off.”

“Don’t want a repeat of last time?”

“No.”

The last time, some of the new recruits had gotten a look at some of the more obviously demon kind among us before we could keep them penned in, and they had run screaming into the night. We found four of them, but two had been lost to the nightmare of the world the humans had created.

It was often quite a shock for humans to learn of our existence, and our appearances didn’t help much, or at least some of our appearances didn’t. Some of us, like Corson and myself, were more human in appearance than others, but some of us were what humans would consider nightmarish.

Personally, I considered the humans all pussies, but then I had little use for their species. Except for one, and if we ever located that
one
, I’d do everything in my power to make sure they accomplished what had to be done, even if I had to drag them kicking and screaming into the fray.

“How do you know there is a possibility with them then?” I inquired.

“There is someone riding in the cab with Mac and Bernadette.”

A person separated from the other volunteers and riding with the soldiers was a good indication they had not come here willingly. Rising to my feet in the tent that stood over seven feet high to accommodate my size, I strode toward the flap that had been pulled back to allow air to flow through.

“Take those earrings off,” I said to Corson before slipping outside.

The cool air brushed over my skin as I surveyed the town nestled into the valley below us. There was far more going on down there than on a normal night at the military compound. The headlights from the newly arrived trucks were still on and facing what I’d been told was a human development.

The dwellings all looked the same and had the same square yards. Apparently, this was what humans had once liked and strived to live in. To me, the development was just like humans, they all looked the same and possessed rather flat personalities.

I watched as the new volunteers climbed from the back of the trucks. They stretched their muscles as their eyes darted around, trying to take everything in.

“So young,” Corson murmured from beside me and pulled the last earring from his ear. “They seem too young for this.”

“They’re not.”

I spotted Bernadette standing by the door of a truck. She stared into the cab as she spoke with another. From inside the truck, a slender hand rested on the door before the person moved forward. I caught sight of raven-colored hair as a woman emerged into the night.

“A woman,” Bale said. I turned to watch as Bale made her way across the ground toward us with a natural grace I’d become well familiar with over the years. She and Corson were the two demons who had been with me the longest and through the most battles. Bale stopped beside me to stare down the hill toward the new arrivals. “I had bet it would be a woman.”

“We don’t know if she’s the one we’ve been searching for,” I reminded her.

Bale lifted a delicate shoulder. “Go find out.”

I shot her a look, but she only smiled back at me, revealing all of her teeth. She didn’t have her razor-sharp fangs descended, but then, I’d only seen them when she was in a full-on rage. Her mischievous, lime green eyes shone brightly in the dark surrounding us as she watched me. The fiery color of her hair tumbling to her ass wasn’t the only reddish color about her as her skin had a scarlet hue to it that some humans believed to be a sunburn.

“Who’s in charge here?” I inquired.

“You know you’re as curious as the rest of us about her, and you won’t make her run screaming.” Her gaze raked me from head to toe as she pursed her lips. “Well, maybe you won’t. We should get you some contacts or sunglasses.”

“That will never fucking happen.” It was bad enough we wore the humans’ clothes and tried to adapt their mannerisms and ways in order to keep from scaring the delicate little mortals; I’d be damned if I hid my eyes from them too.

“Don’t think contacts would work anyway,” she replied.

“You’re the one who suggested coming back to this area of the wall. Do you think she’s the one we’ve been searching for?”

Bale’s smile slipped away. “I don’t know. All I know is something instinctual pulled at me to return here. It could be because there might be an attack on this section of the wall, or maybe it was because of the impending arrival of a possibility. For all I know, it could have been to enjoy the spring weather. We know how my intuition goes.”

“You’ve had no visions about her arrival or anything else?”

“I’ve had no visions since the one four years ago telling me the progeny lived and could be the key,” she said. “You know how those things work for me. I could have visions ten times a day for ten years and then go a century without. I’m only shown what I’m meant to see.”

I turned away from her to focus on the people milling about below. Bale and Corson may be two of the oldest and most powerful demons in existence, but Bale’s premonitions were often sporadic, and Corson had turned into a pincushion for the humans. They were also my two most trusted advisors. If Bale had suggested coming here, then there was a reason, and I wanted that reason to be the progeny.

I had to see the possibility the humans had brought back with them. Breaking away from the two of them, I strode down the pathway winding toward the human dwellings below. What few humans I encountered on my way stepped quickly aside to let me pass.

The truck engines were turning off when I arrived at the line of vehicles. I strode purposely forward, surveying the group of new recruits as the older soldiers herded them along. The distress of the newest volunteers beat against me, and the acrid stench of their despair filled my nostrils. My nose wrinkled at the disgusting aroma.

Through the crowd, I spotted Bernadette in her dark green uniform standing with what had to be the possibility at her side. Colonel Mac, one of the few humans I could actually tolerate, appeared beside them. He stood on the other side of the possibility, keeping her boxed in between them. She scowled at the two of them before turning her attention to the crowd funneling past her.

Definitely not a willing one
. More than a few possibilities had arrived behind the wall against their will, only to discover they weren’t who we were searching for after all. If a few human lives were upended and sacrificed to save the many, so be it.

The possibility folded her arms over her chest as the last of the new recruits trudged by her. “Now what?” she asked. “Am I some sort of sacrificial lamb or something?”

“Not at all,” Mac replied.

“That remains to be seen,” I replied as I stepped before her.

Her black eyebrows shot up at my words. Her gaze remained on my chest for a second before her head slowly tipped back to take all of me in. A muscle in her cheek twitched when her eyes finally reached my face, but I saw the curiosity in her gaze as she took me in.

Her eyes!
I clamped back the small thrill that went through me as those amethyst eyes settled on mine.

Looking at her, I realized more than her eyes marked her as different from the other possibilities I’d encountered. Unlike the other unwilling ones, or the new volunteers, I didn’t smell her fear. No, anger and resentment simmered beneath her outwardly calm surface. I may not look as different to the humans as some of my brethren, but I certainly didn’t look like a typical human male, either. This girl was only the second human to show no fear of me; Mac had been the first.

I studied her more closely. Her black hair hung in waves about her shoulders down to the middle of her back. The tendrils of it emphasized her round face and proud chin. Sweeping black lashes framed the amethyst eyes currently holding mine. Her skin was tanned to a golden hue from the sun. Freckles speckled the bridge of her slender nose and a faint white scar marred her right eyebrow, but otherwise her skin was unblemished. There was no denying she was pretty, for a human.

My gaze slid over her flat stomach, round hips, and long slender legs. I’d been with human women since arriving on this plane. Being with them had been more the slaking of a need in a willing body, but then that had always been my experience with women both human and demon alike. Pleasurable but not memorable. This one though, I was stunned to find myself actually desiring her as my gaze lingered on her plump breasts and my cock swelled with need. I had a feeling I would remember burying myself within her.

Her shoulders thrust back, emphasizing her breasts in the thin linen shirt she wore. Her eyes burned with fire when I met them again. She may not be the one we were looking for, but she had more spirit to her than most of those we encountered, and I found myself enjoying it immensely.

“And who might you be?” I inquired of her.

Her full lips pressed into a thin line; it was Mac who answered. “Kobal, this is River Dawson.”

“River,” I greeted.

“Kobal,” she replied flatly.

I felt my lips quirk toward a smile; this human was almost amusing, in a way.

“Is it her?” Mac inquired.

My brow furrowed as my attention was drawn to Mac. He knew it would be difficult to know if someone was the progeny until we had worked with them for a while. We were all growing tired of the search, but the normally stoic man had asked a question he never had before.

“I don’t know. We will find out,” I replied.

“Find out what?” River demanded. She tried to act indifferent, but I saw something like
interest
in her gaze as she surveyed me.

“That will come in time,” I told her.

My eyebrows rose when she glowered at me before turning to Mac. “Where am I staying, or am I expected to sleep on the ground? Or will it be a cell?”

“No need for a cell; the only place you can run is out there.” I pointed at the empty night beyond the rows of houses. “And unless you want to die, I would suggest not going that way.”

Kobal

She stared out at the darkness as if she could somehow pierce the veil. From somewhere in the night, the forlorn cry of a creature not of her world echoed through the air. Her face remained impassive, but I caught a flash of uneasiness in her eyes.

“I will escort you to where you’ll be staying,” Mac told her.

River gave me a scathing glance before following Mac down the street through the row of houses toward the home where he resided. Over the past four years, there had been possibilities from around the world. All of them were housed away from the other humans until either myself, or whatever demon I’d left in charge of the area, cleared them of being a possibility. Afterward, the debunked possibility was moved in with the others to assimilate into their new lives.

I stood and stared after the enticing sway of her hips, unable to believe she had absolutely
no
fear of me. Even if she took my eyes as some kind of deformity, my size alone caused most humans to stumble out of my way or gawk at me. It would be interesting to see how River fit in.

Turning away from the tempting spectacle of her taut ass, I adjusted my erection and walked back up the hill toward the tents set up at the top. It had been a few days since I’d been with a woman, perhaps that was why she affected me so strongly.

Mac would be joining me in my tent soon, so that meant it would be a while before I could attend the fire blazing hotly on the hill behind the tents. The flames leapt high into the night, illuminating the dark sky and the trees surrounding the clearing. Demons and humans alike would be gathered around those flames. Many of the women there would be more than happy to ease my lust after I met with Mac, but as my gaze drifted back to where River walked with Mac, I realized I wasn’t interested in any of the women attending the fire tonight.

Get it together. She’s a human, and if she’s the progeny, then she may be the key to it all.

I turned my attention to the canvas tents on top of the hill where we resided. Mine was the largest tent and the most noticeable with the meeting room at the front and another tent attached to the back for my sleeping quarters.

We could have established ourselves in one of the homes the humans were so fond of, but living in a house wasn’t something we understood or wanted. If there had been caves in the area, we would have taken over those, but there weren’t any around here.

Bale and Corson were waiting for me at the top of the hill. Behind them, the heavy canvas cloth of my tent flapped in the breeze. The fluttering sound was one I’d become accustomed to over the years.

“Is it her?” Bale demanded.

I quirked an eyebrow at her, she knew as well as Mac that it would take time to know. “Too soon to tell,” I replied.

“How long do you think it will be before we know?”

“As long as it takes.”

Bale scowled at me and folded her arms over her chest. “I’m tired of waiting.”

“We all are.”

I ducked under the entrance to the tent and into the main meeting room where my book sat on the table. I released the pinned back flap, allowing it to fall closed over the entrance. The conversation to come with Mac would be held in private, something Corson and Bale knew. Walking over to the sideboard, I lifted a bottle of wine and poured two goblets. I would have much preferred the demon beverage mjéod to the wine, but it was brewed in Hell and I hadn’t had it since leaving my home behind.

Returning to the table, I settled into my chair and surveyed the dark wood furniture in the room. All of the furniture within the tent had been collected from the abandoned homes in town. It would be left behind when we eventually moved onto another town bordering the wall.

Leaning over, I placed the other goblet in front of the seat beside me and leaned back to wait. It took a full thirty seconds after I detected the spicy scent of aftershave for a low voice to call out, requesting permission to enter my tent.

“Come in,” I said.

The flap pulled back with a rustle, and Mac’s boots thudded across the dirt floor as he walked over to join me. I gestured to the empty seat before he pulled out the chair and sat down. “Thank you,” he said as he took hold of the goblet. “I needed this.”

“She didn’t come willingly.”

“In the end, she did, but this is not where she wants to be,” Mac said before downing half the contents of his goblet.

“This is not where any of us want to be.” I rose to my feet and moved to the sideboard. Retrieving the bottle of wine, I returned to the table and topped off Mac’s goblet. “How did you find her?”

Mac’s gray eyes were haunted when they met mine. “On a door-to-door search; her
mother
turned her in.”

I lifted an eyebrow as I leaned back in my chair. I had no offspring, and most likely never would, but demons cared for the children they had with their Chosen and had often perished to keep them safe. I’d been led to believe it was the same for humans. It was one of the few human attributes that I actually respected.

“I thought you humans were so fond of your offspring,” I said.

“Not all of us,” he muttered and drank down his goblet. He grabbed the bottle and poured himself another glass. I’d never seen him drink so much or so fast before; whatever had happened out there had rattled him completely. “River turned the tables on her though. Her mother will be fed, but she’ll get nothing else from us, and her other two children have been removed from her house.”

“There were other children and you did not bring them?” I demanded. Bale’s vision had said there was only one progeny still alive, but if River had siblings then either Bale’s vision had been wrong or River was
not
the one we sought.

“According to her mother, the other two children show no signs of being different and they have different fathers than River.”

Then it can still be her.

Mac lifted his head to look at me; his normally steely gaze was clearly disturbed. I’d never seen that look in the unwavering, unyielding colonel’s eyes. “Her mother said River sees things, but they weren’t close to each other, so she may have been making it up to receive what was being offered to her. Or there may be other things she can do that her mother never knew about.”

“We’ve had other possibilities who could see things. It’s not common, but humans can possess extrasensory abilities.”

“I know,” Mac murmured and drank the rest of his wine. He took hold of the bottle again and refilled his glass.

“What happened out there?”

“We tore that girl away from her family; I’d like for there to have been a reason why we did.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a family.”

“The mother wasn’t, but she had brothers. The youngest, I can still hear his sobs…” Mac’s voice trailed off, and he focused on the far wall before finally looking at me again. “Her mother said she has the Devil’s eyes.”

I took a sip of my wine as I contemplated his words. “They’re definitely unusual, but Lucifer’s eyes are a completely different color.”
Now they are anyway,
but I kept that to myself.
River’s eyes were the color of another being’s though.

“I see,” Mac said and ran a hand through his close-cropped, graying hair.

“I will find out if she is the one we’ve been searching for,” I assured him. “Are you going out with the group tomorrow for more volunteers?”

“I was supposed to,” he replied, “but I’ve decided to stay.”

“This girl really rattled you.”

“They had to pry her baby brother from her arms while he screamed for her.”

For some reason, I didn’t like the idea of that happening to her. My fingers curled into fists on the table; I took a deep breath to steady the temper I felt rising within me.
Too much time on the mortal plane is making me soft.
I had to return to Hell soon and claim the throne, which was rightfully mine by birth.

Mac finished off his wine and rose to his feet; he rested his fingers on top of the book I’d been reading. “One of my favorites,” he said. “It was the best of times.” His fingers fell away from the cover.

“It was the worst of times,” I said.

He stared at the book before lifting his head to look at me. “That it is,” he said. “I’ll see you in the morning, Kobal.”

I listened to his boots thudding across the ground and the rustle of the canvas settling into place once more as he made his way out. My fingers rested on the binding of the book as I stared at the green canvas wall across from me. The image of pure purple eyes haunted me as I sipped at my wine.

I had to find out what she might be capable of, and soon.