Passion Ignited (16 page)

It was all too much for Ash, but he walked
over to the bed and took his sister’s other hand. Her skin was
cold—too cold for the warmth he’d always felt on her skin. He
rubbed the back of her hand, attempting to warm it up with the heat
of his own.

Looking across the bed, he asked, “What
happened?”

Raider raised his head and actually saw him
for the first time. “I was too late, when I went back for her.” The
pain in his voice made the situation too real. Too painful.
“
Something
was killing her. I fought it, but…”

“Did you kill it?” Ash demanded. If Raider
hadn’t killed the monster that had murdered his sister, then he
certainly fucking would. He’d hunt the bastard until his last
breath, just to rip its heart from its chest.

“I did.”

Good.

But even that wasn’t enough. Nitro shouldn’t
even be in this mess. She should be alive. “And where the fuck was
Garrick in all this?”

Raider shook his head. “He wasn’t there.
Thrash asked the same thing and told me he wasn’t here with you
guys.”

He didn’t even know how to respond to that.
Garrick hadn’t returned, but that was the least of his concerns
right now. His sister was dead. He could have saved her had he not
been playing matchmaker. Had he been out there with her, they’d
both be here, probably chugging back Scotch.

Both men looked down at Nitro in silence with
Raine standing by for support.

Chapter Sixteen

“They’ve been down there for hours. Both
refuse to leave her side.”

Draven looked at his mother as she paced back
and forth on the carpet. The library was dead at the moment, other
than her incessant pacing. “Has anyone actually tried to go in and
talk to him?”

“Of course,” she huffed. “But Raider hardly
responds, and I can’t find your father anywhere. You’re the only
other one I could think of to ask. Everyone knows how close you and
Raid are.”

Draven nodded, in complete agreement with that
statement. His father and Raider were practically brothers, and
Draven had grown up the same way. Always having that closeness to
his second uncle that felt as though they, too, were
brothers.

“Of course, Ferox has hardly paid any
attention to Raider for days. He’s always so distracted,” Raine
continued.

Draven narrowed his eyes. “You don’t know
where dad is?”

“No idea. I even put a tracer on his cell, but
I found it in our room.”

That was odd. His father hardly ever went out
on his own, and would have never left without letting someone in on
it. Or without his cell phone so they could contact him.

“Please, Draven. Go in and try to talk to him.
We need to know what we’re up against, even though it’s painful for
him.”

“Okay.” He walked toward the door that would
lead him to the basement.

“Oh, and let him know we love him,” she added,
just as the door closed behind him.

Draven jogged down the stairs until he reached
the landing at the bottom. He stalked the hall slowly toward the
infirmary rooms. Only days ago, Raider had helped him with his
pain. He’d thought he lost Ally forever, and his uncle was there
for him, urging him to fight for her. Would he have eventually
caved in and gone after her? Yes. But how long would he have moped
around like some pussy before he did? If it hadn’t been for Raider,
Draven probably wouldn’t have Ally right now. Wouldn’t be able to
hold her in his arms, or ravage her in their bed. Which they’d done
the two nights they’d actually been back from the
temple.

Draven reached the first infirmary room and
looked through the door’s window. Ethan was sitting in a chair next
to Riley, reading to him. He moved on to the next door. Looking in
through the window, he saw that Ash sat on one side of Nitro, his
head bent low as he held her hand. Raider sat on the other side,
stroking her other hand. His head was also lowered, and his lips
moved slightly, though no sound escaped him that Draven could
hear.

He was praying.

Gods, didn’t Draven know all about that? Only
when he’d done that a week ago, he’d partially been cursing the
bastards.

He shouldered his way into the room, but
neither man looked up at him. How could he even address a situation
like this? Where the woman Raider obviously loved was lying dead on
a bed.

“Hey,” he said.

Lame-o.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, Raiderman, Ash,
I’m sorry. If there’s anything I could do—”

“Is there?” Raider looked up at him and Draven
saw the redness rimming his eyes. The tears, the agony that his
uncle felt was raw on his face.

“Excuse me?”

“Is there anything you can do? Anything Ally
can do?”

He thought of his recently-ascended goddess.
And no, that wasn’t just an endearment. His female had literally
just ascended to godhood, only after she learned that she wasn’t a
typical human. “I…I don’t know. She doesn’t really know her powers
yet.”

“Can she try?” His eyes held both pain and a
resolve that Draven knew all too well.

He looked his uncle straight in the eyes.
“We’d do anything for you, you know that. If you want Ally to come
and try, then that’s what we’ll do. We’re behind you. All of us.
But we need to know what we’re up against. This new threat…no one
understands it, but you’ve seen it. You’ve fought it. Nitro fought
it. And who the fuck knows where Garrick is…he might have been
taken by them. We need to know, brother.”

Raider’s jaw tightened, but Draven recognized
the strength building within him. His female might be lying dead in
front of him, but the warrior within him knew what needed to be
done. The Guardians—the defenders of the innocent—needed to know
about this enemy so they could destroy it.

Draven pulled up a chair and listened as
Raider explained everything. Not once did Raider stop stroking his
female’s pale hand.

****

Flames engulfed everything, as far as the eye
could see. Fortunately, fire never affected her anymore, so she
didn’t cripple under the smoldering heat that was her hell. There
was no doubt in her mind that’s where she was. Agonized
screams—men, women, children, even demons—surrounded her. Looking
everywhere at once, she quickly took in her surroundings. This was
exactly what she’d always imagined hell to be like—dark and light
at the same time. Blackness surrounded by brilliant flames, clouds
of smoke rising into the onyx sky above, and heat waves crashing
off the rock walls in every direction.

Nitro walked forward slowly, following a
narrow trail that wound through the stalagmites that rose from the
ground. The chilling laughter of a small demon caught her attention
just before her feet were pulled out from under her. She fell onto
her back, but wasted no time catapulting to her feet. Assuming her
fighting stance, she looked at the ground around her, trying to
track the smallish demon that had gotten the drop on her. Catching
sight of what headed her way, she stood ready, waiting for the
onslaught of demons that propelled in her direction. The one who’d
tripped her was far from alone, and now that it had summoned the
others, they were visibly giddy to reach her. They came at her,
each displaying its own colors: oranges and reds, greens and blues,
purples and pinks, some were a mixture of colors she’d never seen
before. The deviant little creature that had felled her was
greenish-gray, and it collided into her first. Without a second
thought, Nitro threw it off her, sending it crashing into a
stalagmite. A sickening thud reverberated as it bounced off the
hardened rock and fell to the ground.

The others converged on her, running on all
fours as they neared. They were on her now. They weren’t big, scary
demons. They were tiny, fierce little things. Small-scale beasties.
Cute, in their own way—if she could consider anything
cute
.
She fought them off as they came at her from every direction. Some
of them remained on all fours, attacking her feet and lower legs.
Some stood on their hind legs and were a perfect height to tear and
scratch at her knees, while others came up to just above her waist.
Never before had she found a fight more difficult than when her
opponents were so miniature. Their incessant and maniacal laughter
grated on her nerves as she fought against the horde of mini
dragon-like demons assaulting her.

Anger boiled within as her Instinct took
charge, causing her strength and speed to double. Letting it take
her over, she grabbed the arms of one of the dragon beasties as it
lunged for her. She spun quickly, releasing it mid-air. A fireball
flew from her outstretched palm and enveloped the creature as it
soared, its screams erupting as the distance grew between them. The
others stopped attacking, their eyes riveted as they silently
watched their sibling fly through the air. It landed in a hole of
bubbling liquid, screaming even more as the lava-like substance
pulled it underneath the surface.

Silence greeted her then. As if they were one,
the creatures all stood to their feet and turned slowly, their eyes
wide and their mouth’s gaping open in shock as they stared up at
her. Nitro took a step forward, and each of them stepped backward
in equal distance. They feared her now, their shock-filled
expressions said it all as they gawked up at her.

No, she realized. Not at her. At something
behind her.

She turned, her eyes traveling upward until
she saw the face of the colossal beast. At least ten feet tall, its
bull head was turned down toward her. Malevolent, demonic eyes
peered back at her, steam rolling from its nostrils. Nitro stepped
backward, mimicking the small retreat the demon-beasties had done
seconds ago. She was still too close to the gargantuan demon for
her own comfort, and she knew without a doubt that it was here to
make what was left of her existence pure, tormented
hell.

The creatures surrounding her started jumping
up and down quickly, like children on mini-pogo sticks. Their tiny
voices echoed around her and she found it hard to understand one,
let alone the multitude of demons that encompassed her. They still
stared up at the bullish beast, jabbering away, and just as she
took another hesitant step backward, they all pointed at her with
their short, stubby arms. They could have choreographed it, it was
so good. It was at the precise moment that she started to make out
what they were doing.

They were tattling on her!

She focused on one out of the many, picking up
on its strange accent and squeaky voice. She’d apparently just
killed “Deyah,” even though they were just “playing” with her. They
continued to babble on, pointing at her and jumping up and down
hurriedly, the sight reminding her of an angry ocean. Their
jabbering continued, over and over as if trying to strengthen their
case. The incessant uproar of the gossiping demons caused the
choleric bull to roar deafeningly. All hell shook from his fury,
the flames whooshing upwards in crackling torrents, flooding
everything in a bright orange glow that even had Nitro shielding
her eyes. The demonic imps stopped jumping immediately, and one by
one, each of their pointing fingers eventually dropped to their
sides. Not one said a single word as they stared up at the bull in
fear. The bullish beast shook visibly as the air around him weaved.
His size grew smaller and smaller until he was the size of a man—a
very
large
man—and he stared back at her with glowing yellow
eyes.

“Come with me,” he growled forcefully. He
turned on his heels and walked away, following a path that led to a
building Nitro hadn’t noticed earlier. Her eyes traveled downward,
glancing at the beasties as she made her way carefully through the
crowd. Each of them stared up at her silently, their large eyes
fixed on her as though she’d killed every single one their puppies.
Their eyes followed her, but the creatures remained silent. She was
certain that at any second they would attack en masse again, but
they didn’t. They just watched her walk away, following what she
could only assume was their master.

The building was farther away than Nitro had
first guessed. On and on she followed the solemn stranger over the
sulfuric landscape. She hadn’t dared utter a word, sensing the
power emanating from him.

A howl erupted to their left. Nitro’s eyes
followed the sound, spotting a pack of dogs on the move. They ran
swiftly, leaping over rocks and pits as they trailed after their
prey. What hair they actually had was sparse, much of their bodies
covered in only a thin layer of skin, betraying how sickly they
actually were. Even in motion, Nitro could see that they were
starved.

Finally, they reached the entrance to the
building. No wonder she’d thought it was closer than it was—it was
monstrous, with gargoyles that littered its roof. She eyed them
warily as the malevolent stranger led her toward the entrance. A
gargoyle moved, its wings shooting out just before it dove into the
air. Nitro hurried her steps, watching the lone creature sore
through the charcoal sky above. It disappeared once she was in the
shelter of the building. She faced forward again, and immediately
reneged thinking this place a shelter.