Hellhound Born (Kasadya #3) (12 page)

Her eyes locked onto mine, “Don't you dare.”

I rolled my eyes and lay back on the bed. Chax moved out of their way and stood against the wall. His eyes were on me and his skin had a pale, ashen complexion. I gave him my best smile, hoping to elicit his famous pissed off look that I had grown to expect. I didn't get it.

What? Is he getting all sissy on me?

I remembered him surrounded by the demons.  He had more demons on him than any other Fallen.

Snap

“They targeted you, didn't they? They know what you are to me,” I stated.

He frowned and nodded.

“They know that you are my mate, I am certain of that. The attack was precisely calculated.”

That could mean only one thing. Someone had told them.

 “Luxuria?” I asked. He shook his head.

“No, she was trying to help me, but shifted out when she thought you were losing the battle. It must be someone else.”

 
Yeah, it must be the damn traitorous Fallen walking around Exsilium!

I didn't voice the obvious; by the look on his face we had come to the same conclusion.

“There, all patched up,” Maia said, breaking our silent conversation.

I looked down as soon as Maia and Melissa moved away.

“You cut my leathers?” I moaned, looking at the slash in them.

“Shut it, Kas,” Melissa snarled at me, walking over to the bathroom.

Amon stood in the doorway smiling at me.

“Hey, you. Finally felt the need to come and say hi to me?” I taunted him.

“You're driving her insane, and it’s not good considering her condition.” I frowned at the last word.

“I don't have a condition!” Melissa snapped back.

My eyebrows lifted in a silent question. He peeked at the bathroom and when he was satisfied, he drew an invisible circle in front of his stomach.

Oh my freaking soul!

 
Melissa came flying out of the bathroom, “You did not just do that, did you?!”

Oh boy! This hormonal thing wasn’t for her.

Amon pressed his back against the wall and tried his best to look innocent.

“Argh! I'm going home.” Melissa turned and pointed at me, “Don't you dare end up like that again.”

Poof, and she was gone. My jaw hung open from shock and confusion. I looked at Amon who sighed, nodded at us, and then shifted out.

“Holy crap, she is crazy.” It slipped out.

I had forgotten that the room was still full of people and everyone had just witnessed that. Ariel laughed and came to sit on the bed.

“Kasadya, what happened out there?” Her eyes searched mine, but I looked away.

Fixing my gaze on Chax, I tried to think of a good lie. I wasn't ready to admit that I was starting to care for him.

“The prince had me wrapped up in some sort of invisible cocoon. My hellhound didn't like it so...” Chax frowned at me, but didn't voice his opinion.

“I see. Well, let's give you some time to get some rest. There will be no battles today.” Ariel’s eyes landed on Chax, whose face was set and fierce.

“Okay,” I replied, not certain what had occurred between them.

Everyone said their goodbyes and left. Chax was the last to leave. When he reached the door, I decided to take a leap of fate.

“I won’t be able to complete the divinity in time. We need to think of another way to win the battle that is coming. Ballen is going to use four priests to open the wall.” He stopped and turned to look at me, a frown on his face.

“How do you know this?” He closed the door and waited for me to reply.

“When I passed out there was this child that showed me the battle. Today he told me that I wouldn’t be able to complete the divinity and that I needed to find another way.” My mind traveled back to the dream.

I was looking for more clues. There had to be more to the dream.

“How do you know it is not you who is creating the dream?” Chax asked, sitting down on a chair, his eyes never leaving mine.

Good question, how did I know that this dream wasn't fabricated by me?

“It changes, and like today, there are differences to it. The child is trying to help me. He told me today to look at the hole in the wall, which is how I know how they will breach it. But he also told me that there was another way. Luxuria was also there, and she told her brother that they were lucky. That we almost found a way to beat them.” He listened, not saying a word and that made me nervous.

Would he think I had lost it?

He motioned for me to continue.

“I walked back to my dead form. In her hands, she had balls. Almost like the net balls, but different. They were clear and lights were flashing out of them like Corra.” His eyebrows shot up when I mentioned that.

He leaned forward and asked, “Did they have red liquid inside them?”

He was almost excited. I thought back, and hell yeah, they did.

“Yes, more brown than red I would say.”

He sat back and rubbed his chin, thinking.

“Ben showed me the bombs which almost destroyed the lab the other night. They are the ones you saw in this dream,” he confessed.

Wow
.

“We are going to bomb them then,” I stated matter-of-factly.

Chax frowned again, but nodded.

“Get cleaned up and get some rest. I will speak to Ben about this,” he replied, getting up and leaving my room.

The door closed and I was left alone to think about everything. If I could return to that dream, I could try and see if everyone has the balls. Then I would know for sure that this was going to work. Looking down at myself, I saw that I was still covered in blood. Eww! I needed a shower and clean clothes desperately.

The shower was agony, my muscles soar and my bones unbendable. By the time I was finished hunger pains had me venturing downstairs to get some food. As I strolled passed the lounge, I saw the sun shining outside. It was a beautiful day, the birds was chirping and playing about. My hunger demanded that I stop sight seeing and get food right away, so I continued with my journey into the kitchen.

I grabbed the bread, the peanut butter and jelly, and threw together a nice sandwich. Roaming around the house alone, I found myself standing at the door that led to the lab. I looked around to make sure I was the only one up and opened it. I started going down the few stairs that would lead to the bottom. At the end I stopped, and my jaw dropped open with the sandwich hanging from my lips.
Holy crap! Look at this place!
It was freaking huge. Everywhere I looked there were computer screens and equipment. White tiled floors were accompanied by white walls. The west wall was completely covered in shelving containing chemicals. Giving it that dreaded lab look.

I walked through the lab, looking at all the stuff. At one computer screen I stopped and looked at the object flashing. It was the same ball I was holding in the dream. Little lights flashed out of it. Rotating on screen, I could see every detail about this ball. Stepping closer, I read the details below it. It was a recipe containing a detailed analysis of what was inside it and also how much. A red circle marked the main ingredient: Napalm. That was lethal stuff, if I remembered correctly. I searched the rest of the lab and found a lot of other ingredients lying around or showing up on the computer screens.

A machine went off behind me and I jumped, nearly colliding with another piece of equipment. Peering inside the glass top, I looked down and found a lot of the red brown liquid Chax had been talking about. My eyes drifted to the label on the top. Napalm. Okay, that would be the time where I should back off slowly and get my ass out of there.

With my luck, I would knock it over and boom, everyone would be dead. I climbed the stairs and closed the door behind me. Making my way to the lounge, I dropped down on a couch and lay back, looking at the ceiling. I had to think of a way to make sure that we were indeed on the right path. What if the balls weren’t the answer? What if I was missing something? I lay there, just thinking about everything, when my spoken name had me jumping off of the couch.

“Kas, it’s me, Seth,” said the voice outside the window.

I got up and made my way to it. Opening the window, I found Seth standing outside on the grass.

“Hi Seth.”

“Are you alone?” he asked nervously.

I nodded, not really understanding what was going on.

A smile spread across his face and he asked, “Can I show you something?”

Okay, so he wanted to show me something.

 
“Meet you out front,” I replied and started for the front door.

Sure enough, he was waiting for me.

“What do you want to show me?” I asked.

Something about the situation wasn't right. I could feel my hellhound stir and she was restless.

“Come on.” He held his hand out with a smile.

But this was Seth.  He was more than just a friend once.
What could be so bad?
Slowly, I placed my hand in his and, with a smile, he shifted us.

We landed in some sort of basement. Immediately, I was attacked and brought down. Pain shot through my shoulders and when I looked, I saw a sword had pierced through one. Anger spiked through me and I reached for it. My hand was grabbed and brought down to the ground. I fought and tried to shake my attacker off of me, until my other hand was snared as well. Within seconds more pain shot through me as my hands were pinned to the ground with two daggers. Breathing hard, I looked around. In front of me, Seth stood talking to a blonde woman. She turned her face in my direction and my breath caught in my throat.

Oh my soul, I'm in big freaking trouble.

Chapter 10

“Hello, Kas,” she snarled.

In shock, I looked around, my eyes taking in the scene. Seth stood next to her and to my right was Arianna. She looked at me, her face a mask of anger. My eyes drifted to my left and I sucked in another breath. Marcus, I should have known. But as my eyes traveled back to the female, I couldn’t shake the shock that had encompassed my being. 

“How could you betray them?” I asked, still dumbfounded.

Jules didn't answer me. Instead, she just stood there and smiled.

“Oh Kas, Kas, Kas. You were always so easy to fool,” another voice said, drifting from behind me.

I froze and stopped my struggling.

“Kali,” I breathed.

Laughing, she made her way to the front of me, joining Jules and Seth.

“Hello friend. Nice to see you again.” She crouched to touch my face, but I threw my head back to avoid her touch.

“You will pay for this,” I threatened. 

Her smile was quickly replaced with a teeth barring one. 

“Really? It doesn't look that way to me. Even if you go hellhound, you won’t be able to free yourself. I made sure of that. Those swords and daggers are charmed with some potent stuff.” She reached out to Seth and, to my utter disbelief, he smiled and leaned in to kiss her.

What the hell is going on?

I looked at Arianna, who stood there looking at them without as much as a peep.

“Seth, what are you doing?” I asked, shocked by his betrayal.

He didn't bother to answer me.

Kali rubbed his face and continued. “You did well, my pet. Your rewards will be magnificent,” she purred at him. She turned her face and looked at me again.

“Jules, bring her in; let’s see if she has her mother's brains,” Kali ordered without a glance.

Jules nodded and disappeared.

“I trusted you. I trusted all of you.” My eyes never left her face.

Standing there, the Kali I knew was gone, and in her place was something very different. She laughed again and walked towards me. I tried to lift myself up, but my legs were tucked under me and my back bent backwards. It was impossible.

“You are so pathetic. I can't believe He choose you to become defined. Waste of energy, if you ask me.”

Jules returned and behind her I saw another familiar face.
Nina.

Nina looked around at everyone until her eyes landed on me. Shock glittered in her eyes, but she quickly replaced it with a mask of calm.

“Nina, how nice to see you again,” Kali said, straightening up to look at her.

 I could see the shock present Nina's eyes again. “Kali,” Nina replied, looking at her mother for what I suspected were answers.

“Nina would be of great use to us. She is by far the best female warrior I have seen in a long time. He will be pleased with her,” Jules babbled.

Oh crap! They are going to recruit Nina into their nest of traitors
.

Nina looked between Jules and Kali.

“Perhaps, but how do I know that she will be loyal to Gluttire and not betray us?” Kali asked Jules.

With that, Nina's eyes melted to a furious dark color. I don't think she was ready for this confession.

From what I could see, she didn't have a clue of what was going on. At that moment, Jules grabbed Nina's shoulders, forcing her to look at her.

“Honey, this is our future now. In this future, you won’t have to serve. You will
be
served. I can’t even begin to tell you about the great freedom that comes with this. It’s just wonderful. And I know that you will be by my side enjoying the new world.” Jules talked so fast that I almost missed a few words.

Nina was confused, her eyes drifting between her mother and me. “Of course, mother,” she replied.

Well there goes all hope for the Fallen
.

Look at how easily they just recruited Nina.

Kali grabbed her under her chin and forced her to look at her. “If you betray us, I will kill you myself,” she threatened.