Hellhound Born (Kasadya #3) (20 page)

My swords were no match for the huge axe. I placed them back in their sheaths and cracked my neck and shoulders. This time I stormed him, and before he could swing the axe, tackled him to the ground. We fought and rolled, while fist after fist were exchanged. He lost his axe in the process. His fist came down towards me and I whipped my head away. He roared as his fist met the concrete instead. Seizing the opportunity, I grabbed his neck and used my strength. His hands grabbed at mine in an attempt to get me to release him. Digging my nails into his flesh, I got a good grip and then let it rip. Blood spattered everywhere and coated my face. Luckily, I had learned to close my mouth in time or I would have been drinking blood now. Throwing his now headless body off of me, I jumped back to me feet and drew my swords. Ben sent a few light bombs at demons which were swarming towards us. As they hit, Lotan was on them, taking their heads.

Lada and Nanini were working together, doing the same thing. Something slammed into me and sent me forward. Before hitting the ground, I flipped around and rolled over, getting back on my feet. I was up and ready for battle. A werewolf lay unconscious in front of me, and just beyond it, a huge demon, standing three stories high, was stomping towards me.

Oh man, why do I always get the big ones?

I shifted to his left leg and swiped both swords; its roar shook the air around us. Shifting quickly to the right leg, I did the same. I repeated it three times before the demon finally came crashing to the ground.

Now, for its head.

I moved quickly and jumped on its massive chest. Bringing both swords down, I swiped at its thick neck. Blood spurted from the new wounds. He hit me with a huge fist and I was slammed into a building, the walls cracking around me.

I shook my head and looked back. This was going to hurt, big time. Shifting back, I repeated my attempt to take its head. This time I saw his fist coming from the right and jumped back just in time. He missed and roared with frustration.

Just one more swipe.

I jumped forward again and sliced across, giving it all my strength, it seemed. His neck burst open and blood sprayed everywhere. I shifted away and turned around, making sure the job was done. Finally, its head lay just above his body.

Phew, that was a workout
.

Looking to my left, I saw a group of demons attacking; Chax had his back to them. I moved forward and punched the air. The group was flung backwards and landed in a mess on the ground. I was on them and slicing and dicing like mad. One demon stabbed a knife in my leg, and I grabbed his head and hit it against another.

With a few more swipes and wounds of my own, the group was eliminated. A loud crash sounded above me. I looked up and found Raphael and another angel fighting a large group of flying demons. It was a new thing, seeing demons fly like that. Apparently the angels were used to it. Their fight in the sky was effortless, but their numbers were not in their favor. I grabbed a few short knifes, which were strapped to my lower back and aimed. Sending out one knife at a time, I hit the demons above me. A few crashed down to earth, other’s attention were deflected with the knife now in them. The angels used the opportunity and took their heads. I shifted at lighting speed, taking the heads of the one’s that came crashing down.

Seeing that the shifting and taking heads was working more effectively, I started to do this. I locked down on demon after demon, shifted and took their heads, surprising them. This was working; I was taking demons down faster this way.

“Shift and take their heads!” I yelled to the others around me.

We all started to do this and soon we were on the other side of town. I breathed hard; the strain of the fighting was starting to exact its toll. Stopping, I looked back at the bodies littering the street behind us.

“Well done, Kasadya,” Chax said between breaths.

We were all tired, covered in blood and gore.

“Is that all of them?” Zurita asked behind us.

I turned around, looking at the streets; it looked clear.

“Fallen!” Raphael yelled above us.

We looked up at him.

“To the next city.” He shifted in midair.

We had a long day ahead of us. Chax shifted us all to the next city after a quick talk with Amon.

We landed in New York where a few other Fallen teams were struggling with huge numbers of demons. We walked into World War Three. Fallen, angel and demon were engaged in battles all around us. Light bombs and lighting lit up the sky above. Roads and buildings were covered in roots from earth fae. Roars and screams echoed in the city.

“Alright team. Let’s make it count,” Chax said, shifting on the last word.

I joined in, locking down on two demons attacking an Impon female. With two quick swipes, their heads rolled into the street as I searched and locked down on my next target. I shifted in and was surprised to find him already waiting for me. His swords were traveling through the air. In a split second maneuver, I brought my own swords up and blocked his. Our dance with our weapons started as we swiped, ducked and fought each other. He lost his balance when I ducked away from one of his blows, and I took my chance and shifted to his back. With a roar of my own, I took his head.

In my search for another target, I saw two more demons shift in.

They are shifting in?

This had me worried. Sure, we could keep fighting until the end of days, but something was bugging me. I shifted to them and quickly took their heads. Turning around, my eye caught something at the top of a building. The skinny demon prince was standing at the roof top and looking down with a pleased expression. My internal alarm went off.

Something is wrong.

I looked around at the scene. It was a full out street war. Humans ran for their lives. Fallen and demons were engaged on the ground. In the air, more Fallen and angels were fighting even more demons.

Something isn't right
.

I studied the prince for a few seconds more and then it hit home. I shifted, leaving my team and landed on the battle ground I remembered from my visions. And sure as hell, there were already three relics locked into the wall. The fourth one was just starting to appear at the top right corner. My mind raced.

 
It was a distraction! They were distracting us in the cities!

I shifted back to New York, searching franticly for Chax. Shifting, and taking heads at the same time as I searched for him. I couldn't find him in all the chaos. I reached for my necklace and closed my eyes.

“It’s a distraction, the wall is almost breached!” I sounded as hard as I could.

Opening my eyes I saw the Fallen's reaction. My message had gone out to everyone. They looked around, uncertain of what to do. We had a huge dilemma. Leave the cities and humans unprotected and stop the Apocalypse, or stay here and loose the battle in total.

“To the battle grounds!” Chax, Vulcan, Thonyn and a lot of other team leaders sounded at the same time.

 I could see the despair in the Fallen's faces as the words tore their hearts apart. A lot of human lives would be lost; we were unable to save them all. Fallen started to shift out one by one.

“Go, Fallen, the angels will try and protect the cities,” Michael voice sounded, but unlike corra it didn't sound through our necklaces. This message was delivered through our heads.

Okay, so the angels had the cities, so it would be up to the Fallen to protect the entire world. I shifted to the battle ground. Fallen were still shifting in and Chax and the others began shouting orders. I needed to find Ben and Nina. My eyes landed on Ben a few yards away. I shifted to him and grabbed his arm.

“Did you make it?” I asked while looking at his shocked face.

“Yes, of course. They are on my table in the lab. You can’t miss them,” He reassured me.

I released his arm and nodded. Shifting to the lab, I looked around, searching for my very own weapons. There, on the table in some sort of a container, were two huge balls that looked a lot like the smaller ones. I walked over and opened the container. Reaching for the first one I closed my hand around it. Or rather tried to close it. It was bigger than my
born
hand. Good, that means they would do the job. I held the first one in my hand, trying to think of a place to put them.

Crap
!

I looked back at the container and placed the bomb back in it. It would be easier to carry them in the container. Now I just needed a place to put it in. Grabbing it, I held on and looked at myself trying to find a safe spot.

Crap! Crap! Crap!

My body was exposed. I shifted to my room and ripped open my closet. Throwing stuff around, I searched for something. There, in the back of the closet, I found a strap-on pouch. I grabbed it and looked at it. The strap had enough length to go around my waist. But the balls still needed to be secured, and away from blows. My leather jacket caught my eye. Hell yeah! That just might work. I stood up and strapped the pouch around my waist, making sure the container with the balls was at my lower back. Then, grabbing my jacket, I flung it over myself. This way no one could see I had something strapped to me. With a deep breath, I shifted back to the battle ground where the others had started to take formation. Chax and some of the other Custose were yelling orders, making sure everyone was ready and in place.

I noticed that Ben and Abby were running around giving something to the Fallen. Walking towards them, Abby eyes were huge with fear as she looked at me.

“Kas... here we have some balls for you.” She handed me a black strap with the small balls inserted into small pouches.

My hand rubbed over the pouches and I smiled. Raven had found a way to protect the balls and us. They weren’t pouches; they were small metal containers keeping the balls safe and secure. At the top of each one was a lid that had to be flipped open, but with that the balls pops out and into your hand.

Good girl
.
I thanked her and searched the crowd again. I found Nina talking to some other Fallen and shifted to her.

“Nina,” I said, landing behind her.

She turned and looked at me.

“I'm ready Kas, the moment you need it done just yell my name as loud as possible,” she replied, sadness in her eyes.

“Thank you, Nina.” I said, hugging her.

She hugged me back and for a moment the world dropped away for us.

“No, thank you, Kas. I will make sure that your name is spoken in honor and respect.” I stepped back from her and blinking my eyes rapidly to prevent the tears from falling.

“Vale Nina,” I greeted her and shifted to my group of hellhounds.

Chax was there talking to Zurita and Max.

“Kasadya, where have you been?” he asked not looking too pleased with me.

“I just had to make a few stops to get my jacket and stuff,” I lied to him.

His frown didn't ease, but he nodded. “Are you ready?” he asked me instead.

I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. He stepped closer to me and wrapped his arms around me. He brought his lips to mine and kissed me. I kissed him back with all the love I had for him, but also with a silent good bye and sorry. Breaking away, he leaned his head against mine.

“You stay alive now,” he ordered me.

I smiled at that. Always the bossy one.

“I will, and you too.” With a final kiss, he let go of me and started to walk to the others.

My heart was beating hard against my ribs at the sight of him walking away. Would this be the last time I would ever see him? I shifted in front of him and grabbed him.

“I love you,” I breathed and kissed him.

Shocked at my declaration, he didn't respond at first, but soon our kiss was filled with passion and love. Releasing him I stepped back.

“Beyond this life and the next,” Chax broadcast his own declaration.

A tear slid down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away.

“You take care of yourself,” I said.

He nodded and with that, I returned his nod and shifted back to my hellhounds.

I saw them all looking at me.

“You guys ready to kick some demon butt?” I asked them.

They broke out in laughter, but nodded their agreement. I turned to face the wall, where the fourth relic was about to breach.

Chapter 17

“Max, I need you guys to promise me something,” I said, my back turned to them.

They didn't reply.

“If something happens to me, I need all of you to take care of Chax. Make sure that he gets over me and continues with the fight. The Fallen need him; he has always been their pillar, their beacon.” My heart was breaking.

“Kas, there will be no talking like this,” Max said angrily.

I turned and looked at him.

“Promise me!” He had always had a way of pissing me off.

With angry eyes he nodded. Zurita and Lada both nodded as well. I smiled at the grim expression they had on their faces.

“And you guys keep on going too. Max don't drive Nanini insane, okay?” I wanted to say goodbye, but I knew that they would catch on to my secret.

“Drive her insane? I'm afraid it’s the other way around. That girl is going to be the end of me.” He looked back at Nanini who was flying over the others.

His face and words didn't mean the same thing. His eyes showed love and admiration. It made it a little easier; knowing that Max and everyone else had someone to love them, and who they love in return. My eyes found Chax, standing in the front, listening to Don and Vulcan. Everyone had someone to keep them grounded, except for Chax that is. Would he be alright? I felt tears welling up and blinked them away. My dad came to stand before me.