Kassern (Archangels Creed) (29 page)

Devyn
was barely aware of the panic taking her. Where were her weapons? Oh God. She bolted for the stairs.
H
alf way up pain erupted in her ankle
,
like
white hot
knives
sinking
down to her bones.

She screamed, holding on to the rails
against the force pulling her backward. She looked over her shoulder
,
horrified to see the thing grinning while it tugged at her foot. She
kick
ed
wildly with her free foot
and
landed a hard one to
the
monkey
-
man face
.

It
squealed and growled, angling
its
head at her before jabbing a long claw into
the back of her thigh, a couple inches above her knee
, bone deep.
He
niggled
the talon around inside her flesh, and purred.

Devyn
screamed
.
Rigid in agony, she could only pray and beg him to stop.

He grinned and chortled like a human infant, apparently pleased. Turning back to her leg
he
slowly dragged his nail toward him, slicing through muscle, tracing her bone. Every few seconds he looked up from her leg to her face, giggling anew at each agonized expression or horrified sound.
 

Devyn
couldn't open her mouth wide enough for the scream that wracked her body.
The thing paused in the task to laugh uproariously, slapping his knee with his free hand.
She writhed
and twisted but it only made it worse.
Black spots finally entered her vision and convulsions shook her body as she lay on the stairs. A sharp heat slammed her abdomen as the creature slowly sliced her open. This was it, she'd die. Darkness seeped in, and Devyn grasped for it.

''Devyn…Devyn…"

Devyn reached for the voice of her mother, not caring it meant death. She screamed for her to help, help take her away from the pain.

Her mother
hovered over her, smiling with tears. The pain of Devyn's body now flooded her heart. Her mo
m
was so happy to see her. So why did it hurt so much?

"It's okay Devyn." She nodded. "We love you. We forgive you. We understand."

She stroked my face and I clasped her hand to my chest. "Don't leave mom, please don't leave me."

"Sweetie
, I have to."

"Take me mom, please."

She shook her head, tears streaming. "It's not time for you baby." She smiled proudly. "You have to live. You have to remember. You can't run from it anymore."

"What mom, what am I running from?"

"Oh sweet
ie
.
Just remember, I love you. Your father and I love you very much and there is nothing you could ever do to change that. It wasn't your fault Devyn. You were too young to understand."

"Understand what mom?" Devyn sobbed, feeling the weight of some crime she couldn't remember.

Devyn heard a familiar roar. A man she knew. And loved. "They're dead! They're both dead!"

Troy? Who was he talking to? She struggled to open her eyes, let him know she was not dead. Not yet. She pried her lids open and stared. But she wasn't in the cabin. She was in her home, with her mom and dad. Only they were full of blood. And dead. "
They're dead! They're both dead. You killed them!"

Devyn shook her head at her sister. She didn't kill them. No, she'd never do that. She looked around and saw her druggie friends, saw them beating her parents. Saw them tie them to the chair. Watched.

Oh my God, she
watched. She just watched.

Frozen in fear, frozen in terror, for her life.
She'd brought her friends there. To steal from them…for drug money. They weren't supposed to be home. They weren't supposed to be home.

She'd killed her parents.

The pain ripped through her skull and her mouth opened to release it. But it couldn't be released, it could never be released, the pain was hers to keep forever.

But she screamed anyway. She screamed in spite of it, because of it. She screamed for them, for her, she screamed like she should've then. She broke through the silence, the silence trapping her.

"I’m sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

There was nothing else.

There was nothing. Else.

The silence of solitary confinement filled her ears. Before panic could take her, a deep voice broke through the oppressive nothing. "You are forgiven."

The words whooshed like a warm tidal wave. Red fire erupted and Kassern was there in her spirit, inside her somehow, his ruby sword swinging down on her. With every swing, she
realized he was cutting through something that held her tight and with every slice, she felt lighter,
more free
. Devyn suddenly floated up. She finally turned and watched Kassern continue to swing at something. Devyn stared in horror at the shiny black demon with many limbs. Many limbs in pieces now. She'd been wrapped tight in his dark limbs, never knowing, never aware of it. He'd been there so long, so quiet, hiding where she couldn't see. Darkness and silence were his powers. The Guardian of Guilt, Sentinel of Shame. Blocking the path to forgiveness and freedom.

No more.

Chapter Twenty
Eight

Devyn gasped and sat up. She looked around, confused first,
then
amazed. Had she died? She could've sworn no. Troy. Devyn shot up then froze at remembering that disgusting thing had sliced her up. She
reached and felt the back of her thigh
and found no sign of a cut. She jerked up her shirt and found nothing on her abdomen either.

She glanced around. W
here the hell was she? Looked like the inside of an onyx rock. Shiny black walls, floor, ceiling. Seemingly carved with a hand tool. She eyed the opening in the wall
and hurried
toward it
.
Troy rushed in with Kassern and Karly behind him. Her chest filled with joy and she ran him over with her embrace.

"Thank God," he whispered in her ear. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They finally pulled apart and Devyn wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Where are we?"

Troy stroked her face, the desperate look in his gaze saying he wanted to devour her where she stood.
"The sanctuary.
As soon as you confronted your sin, we were transported."

Devyn let out a shaky sigh of relief, leaning in to the warm support of Troy's
embrace.
"Now what?"

"We'll be here for about nine months."

"What?" burst out of all
their
mouths.

"Sorry, guess I should've mentioned that in the fine print of our little triumvirate. We are all in this for the duration, I'm afraid. I mentioned the circle we had to form?" Kassern's brows
raised
as he looked from Devyn to Troy for recognition. "Pretty sure I did. At least I meant to."

"You mentioned a circle and your brothers coming, yes."

"There you have it. We each have one month to form our part of the circle. My mission is complete for now."

Kassern sighed and lowered his head. "Feel free to look around, I'm being summoned for interrogation."

"
What f
or?"
Karly
asked.

"I have a lot to answer for.
Nothing I regret, that's for sure." He angled a grin at her.

Karly
chewed her lower lip.
"Well…are you going to be in trouble?"

He shrugged, like he wasn't the least worried. "
Nothing I’m not prepared to handle.
"
Kassern
pulled
Karly
in his
arms
and kissed her. When it was nearing the
get a room
point, Troy and Devyn turned around.

Several moments later, Karly gasped for air. Damn.

"Stop worrying. I love you
.
"

Devyn couldn't help but smile at how Kassern said it. Like that was the eternal solution for everything.
For Karly, it was.

She squeezed Troy's hand,
feeling
the same about
their love
. Images of him in that warrior outfit made her stomach flutter. He was so sexy. Wonder if he could make it appear at will. She'd like to make love to him in that form.
Mmm
.

"I'll see you guys in a few. Feel free to roam the mountain. Appropriate human facilitations have been added for your stay." Kassern bowed slightly then disappeared.

****

Kassern
eyed his
commander,
Uriel
,
as he
entered the onyx chamber where he’d summoned the twelve Elite Warriors chosen for their little secret mission. The curiosity in the
large cavern stifled him. He couldn't blame a single one of
them,
he'd want to know what he was in for just the same.

Uriel
took his seat at the head of the long, onyx table and Kassern met his emerald gaze head on. As usual, there were no answers on his perfectly guarded face, and for once, Kassern resented that particular quality. He had a feeling he wasn't the only one resenting it, this interrogation slash briefing involved details each angel wanted to know. As it was, Kassern hadn't missed the many
scientific
stares he was getting. The test angel had returned from the most troublesome realm with a shitload of explaining to do.

They all knew what he'd done. It was the how and why that crowded the air. How could Kassern, the most arrogant and strong of the elite have fallen to such a degree?

Fallen…

No. Kassern may have been weak where Karly was concerned, but he hadn't fallen. Although, others may not see it the same.

Uriel
finally spoke. "Why...did you take the human named Karly as your wife?"

Kassern shifted in his seat, not quite prepared for several things. He expected that question, but not so soon, and
wife?
Not a term he’d considered for some reason. And the fury boiling beneath
Uriel’s
words were a little off putting as well. He’d expected the cut in his commander’s tone, but this was more than disappointment.  

"We must be patient and give Kassern time to organize his thoughts,"
Gry
the
said. "He's been
touched,"
he tapped his temple, "by a human woman."

The burst of deep laughter stung more than he'd anticipated.
Kassern
noted the
grave looks from
Salem, Dor
n
, and
Azen
.
They’d been close to
the
B
rothers
who
’d been punished for taking human wives millennia ago. This was
anything but funny
to them
.

But this was not the same. Hardly.
Gry
the
knew him better than that, the
orange
chalcedon
y
prick.

How was
Kassern
supposed to proceed with a group that knew nothing of the human condition? Even
he
could've never anticipated it. He probably had more questions than them. "I was not fully aware of the complications that came with performing
ligos
and
tendo
tertius
with a human couple."

"Do tell us brother, what sort of…complications are there?"
Lassin
leaned forward and
glared
at
Kassern
.

"Human women, for one,
"
Zool
growled.

Dorn
studied
his
aquamarine
nails. "And let's not forget the dreadfully powerful human women."

"Not to mention the great and terrible human women," Salem muttered.

Kassern grinned to further annoy the
angels
before nodding. "Mock it up. You'll get your taste of humanity soon enough, and I'm going to be there, laughing my ruby ass off while you're out buying flowers for your girlfriend."

The assembly erupted in laughter, but Kassern's mind had drifted to what kind of flowers Karly liked. To him
she
was the flower. A closed pink rose
?
Definitely
.
And when he did things with her, she bloomed right under his hands. And lips.