Kasadya (Hellhound Awakened) (22 page)

“With a charm placed in the house,” he replied. Okay that takes care of the first half of how, now the rest.

“For that you would need to place it there, which I know is not possible. The truth Draco.”

“It’s the truth, with the right price Lord Ballen had the charm placed in the house. When it is inside it creates a “wormhole” or as we call it “gateway” into anyone’s dream that is in the vicinity.”

“I see, and how would Ballen be able to place it in the house? As far as I know you cannot enter
Exsilium.
” This is getting interesting.

“Ah yes, Lord Ballen has the service of spies inside
Exsilium.
”

“Spies?” I asked, making a mocking face to push him into the truth.

“Fallen my dear, fallen that’s in his service,” Draco replied, and added a huge smile to it.

Keeping my face neutral, not to show my surprise at those words, I returned my eyes to the crowd
.
“I see, hope they got a good deal for it,” I finished and pretended to look at everyone. If I get out of here, their heads are mine. As they say a pound of flesh, well I want the real thing.

“Indeed, I am told that their rewards are bountiful,” he finished, and then walked away.

So Kali and I had to pay the price for traitorous fallen, oh yes they are so dead. When I find them, they will have the same fate as Draco
.
“Hellhound, may I have the honor,” Ballen asked from my left, so I looked at him. He was standing there offering his hand. No way in hell am I touching it, could end up somewhere much worse. I gave him a “yeah right” look, and added a smile.

“Come now, I promise that you will find this quite interesting,” he said, gesturing for me to lead the way.

Interesting, yeah right, most likely a trap or something. Hell, at least I would get some fun in for the day. So ignoring his hand, I took the step and lead the way to the floor below; at the bottom I stopped and turned to look at him. He smiled and nodded with his head to the dance floor, and then walked in that direction.

As we walked the crowd cleared the way, either in fear for me or in fear for Ballen. Many dropped their eyes, too afraid to look at him. So this guy is important, damn too bad my swords are charmed. He stopped in the middle of the dance floor and offered his hand again. Doesn’t he learn? I smiled again and gave him the “f-you” face, to make sure he got the message; he got it, and started to dance slowly in front of me.

I just stood there looking at him. No way am I dancing with this freak. I looked around us and saw that everyone had stopped dancing, and were looking at us. Ballen moved closer to me, and I prepared myself for an attack.

“You have come far in this world, hellhound. But Draco and I had a talk last night. You are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to one-on-one battle, but can you deliver the same when it comes to an all out battle?” he said, his smile growing with each word. Oh why am I not surprised, they are so predictable. I stepped in front of him, face to face, and looked him in the eyes
.

“Bring it on, demon,” I finished, then backed away removing my swords and taking a stand.

He bowed, and then walked off the dance floor. Demons started to take their places around me, creating a circle to attack. Oh yeah now this is more like it, let’s see what my newfound skills can do, game on. I transformed and spread my wings, they stretched all the way to the demons circling me, some stepped back, and some just looked at me more determined. Snapping them close, I looked around me; ten of them were standing around me, and as my eyes fell on them they transformed into their demon bodies, two standing even higher than me. No problem, I know how to deal with those ones.

I took in the whole picture, watching, calculating, then reached within me for that special place; I call it my hellhound place. I gathered my inner strength and took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly, the last air left my body and I doubled up on it, moving at the same time. With one step forward I took the legs out from one of the big demons, he fell to his knees, so a clean swipe had his head falling. I felt two demons coming in from my back, so I whipped out my wings, sending them flying into the crowd. Next came a bull guy, storming at me with his head down, stupid idiot always keep your eyes on your enemy. The moment he was in front of me, I stepped aside and brought up my arm, taking his head. Next was the one standing behind him.

Two swipes and he fell to the ground. I used his body to step on before it fell, jumping with a back flip over the two that were approaching me from behind. In the air I took both their heads. Everything was in slow motion; slow, accurate, and fatal. When my feet landed, I brought up my arms to my sides turning the blades to the back, stabbing the next two at my back in their torsos. Quickly pulling my swords from them, I went for the two in front of me, the last big one behind them. I pushed off the ground with my wings, and landed between them, crouching. First swiping their feet, then planting my boot on one skull, crushing it. I just love the sound. My left arm, taking the head off the other, and then it was the big guy and I.

Now the thing with being so big is that you aren’t able to move quickly enough. I was jumping around him, slicing at his legs to bring him down. Before he got hold of me I would already be at the other side; big equals dumb. He fell to the ground, and I moved fast swiping two times to take his head off, his neck was pretty thick.

I turned around and my eyes fell on the last two, they were standing there looking at me. Hesitating; never hesitate always go for the kill, idiots. I moved forward and they both turned around and tried to make a run for it, so I lifted up, my swords ready I landed on them both. My swords ending up in their backs, they screamed and tried to remove them, unable to reach. I pulled out one sword and moved quickly, taking the one’s head before he even had a chance to react, then I pulled out my other, slowly. The demon roared and fell to the ground, trying to reach the pain. I stepped forward and pressed my boot to his back, pinning him down. He tried to turn to look at me. “Misericordia!” he screamed, asking for mercy. Sorry there is none left in me, so I brought down my blade, removing his head from his body, his screaming died the moment my blade reached his flesh.

I looked up, then walked towards the crowd, looking at them I tried to entice them to attack. But as I walked in a circle they all just backed away, too afraid to try me. I stopped when I heard someone applauding the scene; I turned around to see Ballen walking to stand in front of me

“Well done hellhound, indeed you are untouchable,” he said smiling at me
.
“See Draco, you have misjudged your pet, she is by far the best of them all. Look at her, such beauty but also lethal, not even Caim could deliver such a battle,” he went on. The mention of Caim’s name had me hoping that he made it home okay, and for all the suffering he had to endure, he finally found some sort of peace. Not like we have a chance of that, but hey one can hope.

I walked over to one of the demon’s bodies, and using my sword, cut off some of the clothing. Bringing it up to my hand, and wiping my blades clean, I looked at Ballen. Come on, I want to kill you. But alas he just stood there looking at me. Draco joined him but unlike Ballen he had no smile, instead he looked at me intensely. Oh yeah, Draco I’ll be the one to take your head, you can count on it.

“Come hellhound, let’s celebrate your victory,” Ballen said and turned around, the crowd clearing the way for him, making his way up the stairs again. I replaced my swords in their sheaths, and looked at Draco, who was still standing there looking at me.

“Don’t you want to play, Draco?” I teased him, knowing he is too chicken to try
.

“Come hellhound,” he replied, and gestured for me to take the lead.

I looked around at the crowd. Even the human’s eyes were huge, scared to death. Good, see what will happen to you if you continue this course, imbeciles. Transforming back to normal, I walked passed Draco and took the lead to the stairs; the crowd cleared even quicker then with Ballen. Oh yeah, this I like. Smiling, I looked at them all, waiting for some idiot to try something, but no, all too scared. I walked up to the stairs and with my first step my eyes caught a pair of green emerald eyes, the face darkened by the corner it was hiding in. But the green eyes were clear, standing out like a beacon. Stopping dead, my heart skipped a few beats. I know those eyes, how can I forget them? Chax.

“Hellhound?” Draco said from behind me. I kept my eyes on Chax. How easy could it be just to run to him and get the hell out of here? But then Kali will be left alone, in their hands she would suffer alone and for centuries. I pulled myself together, I can’t leave her. So I looked away from his eyes, and started walking up to where I started my journey tonight, and each step was a stab into my heart. My brain was screaming at me to turn around and run to Chax and get the hell out of here, my heart was reminding me of Kali, and I listened to it.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I was near my breaking point, about to reach that part of me I left behind a long time ago, my weaker self. I turned around and faced Draco
.
“Enough, take me back,” I demanded him. The moment my eyes met his, I was back to my new self, back to the killer I have become. Draco looked at me for a few seconds, and then nodded to someone behind me; the mute guy came to stand next to him.

“Return her, and ensure they have what they need,” he said to the guy, who in return offered me his hand. I walked forward and reached for his hand, to hell I return then, and took it shifting back to Kali and my room. Kali jumped up and back away from us. I let go of his hand and walked over to the bed, taking out my swords and placing them on the bed. The guy shifted out, leaving us alone.

“Kas, are you okay? You’re covered in blood!” Kali asked, still standing in front of the bathroom door.

“Yes, took out ten for Ballen’s entertainment,” I replied taking off my jacket. I couldn’t look at her yet, for some reason I felt guilty of even thinking to go to Chax and leaving her here.

“OMG, did they hurt you?” she asked, now moving to stand next to me. I looked up at her face and saw the tears in her eyes. Yeah Kas, you still have a bit of weakness in you; you need to get rid of it.

“Na, they didn’t even get a chance to touch me,” I replied to her, smiling to give her some comfort. She turned her head to the bed where my swords lay.

“Swords? Can they get us out of here?” she asked, her eyes fixed on them. Does she even know how to use them? We need to test that and get her up and fighting. If we want out of here, we’re both going to have to make a stand and take the first opportunity we get. I can’t have a weakling to protect if that comes.

“They can kill other demons, but not Draco or Ballen,” I replied to her, feeling the air move and turned around to see who was shifting in. The mute guy shifted in with two others, a bed in their hands. They walked over to the spot still open next to my bed, Kali backing away to the bathroom again. I looked at her, she is too scared, and we need to fix that. I returned my eyes to the demons, watching them put the bed down and shifting out again.

My attention went back to Kali. “Kali, do you want to get out of here?” I asked her, walking slowly to her.

“Yes of course, how can you ask me such a stupid question?”

“If that is the case, you need to suck it up and find that fighter I met at
The Hellhouse
. I need her by my side when the time comes. If you can’t move beyond this, we are both stuck here for the rest of our existence, or until someone like Ballen gets the opportunity to kill us. Do you understand?” Yeah, I sound like Chax.

Still looking at her I could see the war she had inside herself, scared eyes slowly turned back to the Kali with the attitude
.
“Yes you’re right, but I can’t fight like you,” she said, and I could see the doubt in her eyes.

“We will fix that, the moment they’re done here, our training starts. We need to learn to work together, just like when we trained with the teams,” I replied. The air moved again, but this time just the mute guy shifted in holding a stack of clothes in his hands. I walked over to him and took a piece, opening it to find a dress
.
“I’m afraid this won’t do anymore, get some like mine,” I told him. He stood there for a while looking at me, then at Kali, then nodded and shifted out.

“Sorry, Kali. I know these clothes aren’t what you are used to, but believe me, when the time comes you will see the benefit they have,” I said, turning to look at her again.

“Actually, I must admit, you look pretty bad ass in them, let’s see if I can make them look as good as you. But I think I’ll look even better then you,” she replied, a wicked smile on her face. Yeah, there’s the Kali I know, she’s back in the game. Good, we’re going to need all we can pull together.

Chapter 16

So Kali and I started training, each day we would spar against each other. I shared my knowledge of what I had learned so far, and as the days passed she grew stronger, faster, and deadlier.

Now we looked like sisters, the same clothes and attitudes to pull off the pair. Every time we sparred I would push her harder. Like Chax pushed me, I did the same, bringing out her born fallen. She has reach a point where her scream even breaks the glass in our room, and I in return learned to take it, my eardrums growing accustomed to it. The first time it happened, Draco shifted in to see what was up; the moment he landed he shifted out, unable to take it. He never asked what happened, just gave us both a look.

My out nights were still on Ballen’s entertainment list, some nights I would take on up to fifteen demons, some nights nothing, all too scared to take me on. We moved from one club to the other, in many cases the humans in the clubs would speak in another language giving away another country. The more I ended up in the clubs, the more humans would be attending. I never saw Chax again, always looking for him or someone in the crowd, but nothing. I came to the conclusion that he believes that I wanted to stay, by continuing on with Draco. It hurts a little, but who gives damn.