Ties That Bind: The Bellum Sisters 3 (paranormal erotic romance) (33 page)

CHAPTER 42

The team conspired in the study in the middle of the night. Lyonis and his main lieutenants Jackie and Thane hung together, battle ready with armor and tight fitting clothing. Telal hadn't anticipated shapeshifters coming along but their skills could be a great asset. The demons didn't have any practice or experience fighting with shapeshifters, their great sizes, speed, and strength would help them much on this night.

Telal ran a hand across his mouth, still feeling the lingering taste of Lily from when he'd kissed her before he snuck away. He'd debated leaving a letter, even using the pen she'd bought him which had easily become his favorite utensil. But something had kept him from doing it. Whether the thought that he might not come back and she might cling to something so negative or because he might not have been able to leave if he stayed there for much longer.

He'd done one thing right at least. He told her he loved her. And he did. So much so that he planned behind her back to leave early while she slept. He knew she'd still try to come. It was in her nature to want to help him, protect him and even others. She was the same way with her sisters, her friend Rosa, wanting to help and protect anyway she can. This wasn't her battle though, and the thought of her being down there while battle raged on made him cold with sweat.

Everyone spoke in hushed voices or not at all. Tyrian was armed with metal gear over his shoulders, chest, and legs in a modern take on a knight's outfit, and three of his best Atal Warriors stood quietly, lethally holding battle axes that shined to a point and swords at their hips with knives and God knows what else in that belt. They wore loose-fitting linen shirts and close fitting pants. Telal was as ready as he'd ever be.

He wore some of his borrowed clothes from Tyrian, boots, pants, and a shirt. In holsters over his shoulders he had an enchanted long blade he'd made himself, enspelled with the same electrical spell as the daggers he had at his waist. He'd meditated for an hour before the meeting to check on his power levels. He wasn't near one hundred percent capacity yet but he'd be able to do some damage.

The past week he'd lain awake at night sometimes falling into fitful dreams about his brother. He saw different versions of the night going down. In half of them his brother killed him, and in the others he finished off his brother. Were they prophetic? Possibly.

What had surprised him though were his thoughts tonight. None of them catered to his brother or the predictions of what might happen. Instead he'd kept his nose buried in Lily's sweet smelling hair and held her close. He did love her, the little wench. How could he not when she so obviously forced herself into his life, changing him? He wanted to do more now. Wanted to learn how to ride that damn bike so he could take her out on it. To impress her? Maybe.

Most of all, his thoughts had drifted to the thought of mating. It was a joke how easily he could picture her in the gauzy black mating gown, the sacred etchings painted on her hands, stomach, and feet. The words of possession, love, and trust sharing between them in front of the entire kingdom. He could almost feel the audience kneeling before them as they recited their sacred vows, then the eruption of applause as they kissed under the bright sky of the rift. Almost. It almost felt real.

“We're ready.”

Telal nodded at Kearnyn then checked over the team once more. “Let's go.”

The team moved into place, the plans and orders of the operation already predetermined and memorized. Telal took Lyonis and Tyrian; Draven took Jackie and Thane, and Rayn and Henry transported Kearnyn and the three Atal Warriors.

The night sky glowed brightly in the rift. The normal pink and orange hues of the daytimes were now hazy with a gray light. Night in the rift was much darker than on earth where the moon cast a bright silver light over the planes. Here, unless you were in the vicinity of a torch, everything was shadowed and dark. Telal and his team would use the darkness to their benefit on this night.

“Let's move,” Telal said.

The team had ported in near one of the closest villages closest to the castle. The small houses were really just shacks made out of dried wood and hay across the roofs. No one could even dare to build a fireplace in such a home so when the sky went dark, they lived in darkness.

They quietly ran towards the hulking castle in the distance, taking out the random guard when necessary. The castle stuck out in the dark landscape like a flashing beacon. Torches hung on the outside of the castle in metal rungs; the firelight dancing against the dark stone. Kneeling down behind a hill of trees Telal counted the guards on the west wall. There were eight of them. When he'd come before there hadn't been one. Telal's muscles flexed with the urge to fight.

“He's expecting us.”

The team didn't have to nod to acknowledge they heard him. Telal wanted to embrace them all for their bravery, for helping him when not too long ago he couldn't say he'd return the favor unless he could get something out of it.

“Let's move.”

Tyrian and Kearnyn kept with him as they clung to the shadows and vegetation, swiftly but silently making their way to the castle. The rest of the teams circled wide so the team surrounded the guards. Telal squeezed his sword tight then lifted it out of the holster. They didn't announce their presence, didn't give the guards time to react. They launched and attacked.

Groans, the loud clanking of metal to metal, and the hiss of steel sliding into flesh sounded in the quiet night. Eight guards down, countless more to go. From here, they'd split. Tyrian and Kearnyn would go with him to find Alrik, the rest would try to secure the castle.

Telal ducked into the castle and made his way through the same tunnel he had before. No servants passed. In fact, the castle was still as the night outside, everyone in bed, or at least he hoped. Torches and burning candelabras lit their way. Telal entered the great hall first to find it empty. The dais with the throne up above devoid of his darker half.

A sound caught his ears. A whirring of air like a person twirling or a cowboy swinging a lasso in a fast circle above his head. They all heard it, their eyes searched the area. Then the sound stopped. Tyrian suddenly dropped to a knee and they all turned to see an arrow embedded in the wall behind him.

“They’re here!” Telal said.

At once, they broke apart. They made easier targets staying close together. Telal sprinted across the hall to the whizzing of arrows flying past him. He didn't have time to stop, didn’t' have time to see where the arrows came from. Telal careened into the hall and made a sharp right. A spiral staircase built behind a door led to the balustrade up top. Palming his sword and a dagger, he took the steps three at a time. At the top, a guard waited for him, weapon draw. Telal blocked the demon's swipe and sunk his knife into the demon's forearm.

The demon screamed and the blade dropped to the ground, clattering loudly, hilt to tip, down the stairs. He impaled his sword through the demon's gut then moved on to the next. He moved like a machine, blocking, dodging, banging his opponents’ arrows and swords away with a swift slice of his, with a hard kick to the chest. His body was in tune, muscles and joints working in perfect unison to bring the maximum power to his blows, the fastest speeds to his thrusts.

Telal stood over the balustrade, the blood of four demons covering his sword and his hands and saw demon guards pour into the room from either side. They looked like a stream of ants hurrying along. Telal let out a battle roar and his powers flared around him like a puff of smoke.

He jumped onto the balustrade then jumped down to the floor, letting his knees bend to take the brunt of the force. Demons charged, throwing poisoned daggers but his eyes were sharp this time, passion, anger, and even love, backing his movements. Tyrian and Kearnyn engaged in a sword fight with the demons and Telal joined them, slicing and hacking his way through, making his way to them.

The room filled with demons, easily outnumbering them, but they stayed faster, sharper and soon the floor was littered with dead demons.

With half a dozen demons left, Telal engaged with two at once, deflected a demon's sword with his own then burying the hilt of his dagger into the other demon's neck. The demon fell to the ground but at the last second reached forward and latched onto his wrist pulling him with him. Telal fell forward and the other demon took the opportunity and slashed at him. The blade made contact, piercing his thigh and nearly sliding through. The hot burst of pain was instant. Telal gripped his sword in a two-handed fist and thrust up, spearing the demon's stomach.

Telal stood and pulled his sword out of the demon’s belly, pressing his foot on the demon's chest for leverage.

A cold energy settled over the air, freezing it until Telal’s breaths came in white clouds. He knew what had caused it even before he turned and met his brother's glare.

Kearnyn tightened his grip on his axe and let a throwing dagger fly. Alrik raised a hand and the dagger veered off to the side, impaling the wall.

Alrik let out a harsh whisper of magic and Kearnyn and Tyrian were slammed up into the ceiling then the floor again and again. Telal sprinted toward Alrik, panic and anger clouding his mind. Only when Alrik caught sight of him did he release the men from his grasp.

He stopped before his brother seeing the changes in him already. His eyes swirled like black twining snakes, his skin was black as night, and from his fingertips radiated wisps of black smoke like the kind he'd conjured at his headquarters. Black magic ate at a demon that used it especially if used often. His brother reeked of it.

“You've come to claim your throne, I see.”

“I have.” Telal gripped his sword and dagger tighter, his hands kneading the leather handles.

“First mother betrays me and now you.”

Telal paused. It couldn't be because he didn't want to fight his brother, but he knew it was. “What are you talking about?”

“I suppose you wouldn't have heard. I found mother with an idol of my hair. She's been casting me into the pit I've fallen in for some time now.”

The tight fist of Telal's heart eased. “Then you can grow out of it. You can go back to...normal.”

His brother moved and Telal tensed, but he only walked slowly to the side. “I think not, brother Telal. Since I've had her banished my black heart has grown darker. Even the sight of Arianna no longer makes me happy.”

Telal understood at once. “You need to kill her.”

His brother roared and the black flames around him grew in a big cloud with the burst. “I love her! I will never kill her.”

Telal pulled his weapons up in a sign of defense. “Not her, Alrik. Listen to me. The magic is changing you.”

“You think I do not know that? Do you think I can't see what I've become?” Alrik held out his hands and gazed them with a look of terror and disgust. “This...this is what I am. And I
embrace
it now. It's a part of me, Telal.” Black snaking wisps came out from his arms, wrapping around his arms and spinning around his chest.

“It doesn't have to be. Where's mother? She is a part of the spell. She must have set a trap on it. If we kill her then the spell will be broken.”

His brother's demonic eyes focused on him and his body instantly felt twenty degrees colder, the sweat on his body dried up. “She's gone, banished from these lands. Who knows where she is now.”

Telal felt a little hope. “Then we will find her and we will destroy her and you will be the same again.”

“I can never be like that again!” Alrik roared and Telal saw that even his tongue and teeth and fully turned black. This man no longer looked a hint like the brother he knew.

“It's not too late, Alrik. We can fix this.”

Alrik walked side-to-side a deep rumbling chuckle leaving him. “You lost the choice to help me when you left all those years ago. You have no say over me or this kingdom when you chose
them
over us.”

Telal bit his tongue. He'd never convince him. The argument was useless. Still, something made him say it, maybe the heart breaking in his chest. “Please, Alrik.”

Alrik’s hand shot out and Telal was blasted away. His spine cracked against the corner of the royals’ dining room table and he winced as pain lanced through his back. The cut in his leg made it harder to stand again, and as he did, he heard Alrik chanting, saw the swirling smoke gathering around him like a tornado moving faster and faster.

And then undead beasts came out of the walls.

CHAPTER 43

Lily and Rosa arrived inside the rift within seconds. She knew she wasn't the only one who hated the vile taste because Rosa wiped her tongue with her sleeve making gagging sounds.

That gave Lily just the laugh she needed to relax. “Okay, let's do this.”

“Are you sure? We can still turn back.”

They ported in near what looked like a small town; where the non-royals must live. The obviously poor conditions were so at odds with the brightly lit castle in the distance.

“No, let's go.”

They made their way to the castle unnoticed. It helped that dead guards lined the castle wall. Inside, they turned right. Lily remembered exactly how to get to the prison and how to get to the big hall where the guards had dragged her before. The halls were shockingly devoid of servants or guards, which only heightened Lily's unease until her arms shook.

“Something's wrong,” she whispered.

“I know,” Rosa said. 

She tried to tread softly but soon her steps fell faster and faster until they were running down the halls their feet slapping against the stone. She slowed as they neared the end of the hall that formed an “L” at the end of which was the stairs that led to the prisoner's dungeon.

Lily peered around the hall and cursed silently. Looking back at Rosa, she extended her index finger to show the number of men down there. Rosa nodded and pulled out one of the potions she'd made the other night. It'd turn the demon to stone. Lily let out a deep breath then grabbed the bottle out of Rosa's hand and ran down the hall.

The guard's eyes flicked to hers and, in a second, he pulled the sword from his sheath and charged at her. Over two hundred pounds of trained muscles barreling at her; for a second it felt like the football game at her birthday party all over again, but the price of losing here wasn't a sore victor.

She stopped partway down the hall, pulled back her arm and threw the bottle like a baseball pitcher going for a strike. It hit the demon dead center of his chest. He had only a second to make a gargled cry before his body froze, hardened, his right arm frozen in mid jog, his back left foot still off the ground from momentum.

“Come on!”

Lily and Rosa skirted around his frozen body and checked to make sure the stairway was clear before they made their way down the stairs. Another door sat at the foot of the stairs, the same one where she'd last seen her mother being dragged out the opposite door.

Lily slowly cracked the door open to glance inside when the door was ripped open from her fingers. Lily screamed at the brown-skinned demon right before he pulled back his hand and slapped her so hard her brain rattled in her skull and she crashed into the door from the force. Running on adrenaline, Lily slashed forward with her enspelled dagger; she got lucky when she felt the steel break past skin and muscle because she saw two of him.

Rosa pressed up behind her and buried her dagger in the demon's gut.

“Hurry, there's another ahead!”

Another demon guard charged at them from the other side of the corridor. Rosa pulled another potion out of her satchel and threw it at him. The demon dropped to the ground in a roll and the potion flew behind him to splatter to the ground. Lily's mind finally stopped spinning from the brutal slap, though her cheek burned with heat. She bent her knees holding the knife in front of her in what she hoped was a defensive pose.

The demon pulled two scimitar-like blades from his hips and thrust forward out of his roll in a graceful move. Lily froze as the blade met her stomach but didn't sink in. Shaking, she looked down, breathing hard to see the blade bent at a clear ninety-degree angle.

The demon spoke in harsh garbled Demonic then swiped at her with his second blade. The blade stopped from an unknown barrier right at her neck.

“How?” she said feeling numb.

“It's the protection spell and your bracelet,” Rosa said.

Lily gathered her wits, shaken from her near death, and buried her blade in the demon's heart. Guilt swept over her, making her chest tight as the demon's blood spilled on her hands. She watched him fall to the ground his eyes glossing over with death and she didn't feel good. She felt like crying, like taking this all back.

“He was just doing his job.” Her eyes watered.

Rosa took her by the shoulders. “Look at me.
Look
at me, Lily.” Lily looked at her friend's pretty brown eyes, her face wobbling in her vision. “Don't cry. Your mother's here and we have to help her. She needs you and your strength right now, okay?”

Lily sucked in a deep breath and let it out, wiped her tears on her sleeve. “Yeah, of course. Sorry. I've never...”

“I know. Neither have I.”

Some of the prisoners clung to the bars, eyes wide yet wary. Lily patted down the guard and found the keys then started at the nearest cell and opened the doors.

“Everyone get out! Leave!”

The cell doors opened but the prisoners stayed inside their cells, huddled in their dirty clothes. Whatever, she didn't speak demonic and she didn't have time to try to convince them to leave.

She unlocked her mother's cell then tossed the keys to Rosa. “Unlock the rest.”

Her mother sat curled up in the corner of her cell with her knees bent and arms locked tightly around them. Her hair covered her face in dirty streaks that hid her eyes.

“Mary? It's time to go now. I promised you I'd come back.” She held out a hand to her and slowly made her way in the cage. She started muttering the words incoherent to Lily but recognizable—she spoke in Demonic. “I can't understand you. Can you speak in English please? Remember me? I'm the succubus.”

Lily stopped several feet away from her. She wanted to rush forward and grab her but she had a feeling her mother would fight back. Something wasn't right in her mind.

Her mother looked up at her through strands of matted dirty hair with eyes so blue it was like looking at Willow. Lily's chest squeezed tight and she almost succumbed to tears again. Aside from pictures from Papa, she'd never seen her mother, had been too young before to remember how she looked.

“I-I remember you. You were in the cage next-next to me.” She started rocking, her dirty hands clinging to her bony knees.

“Good, that's good. I told you I'd get you out and I'm here to do that now. Can you stand up?”

The woman was slow to move but when she did Lily let out a breath she'd been holding. She braced her hands on the dirty wall behind her and the bars of the cage and pulled herself up. Lily saw deep purple and blue bruises covering her legs and wanted to rip the motherfucker apart who'd hurt her.

“Come on now. No one’s going to hurt you anymore. I'm going to take you out of the rift, going to take you home.”

Her mother choked on a sob and then lumbered towards her. Lily stretched out her hand to help hold her up but she jerked away from the touch. It hurt but she understood it. The important thing was getting her out of here. “Okay, good, now let's go.”

Lily saw that Rosa had finished opening the last of the cages and some of the prisoners were slowly ambling out looking cautious. “Telal Demuzi is taking over the kingdom. You're safe to leave now.”

She didn't know if they understood her or not but she left it alone. Lily, Rosa, and her mother made their way back down the corridor and up the stairs. Her mother moved much slower than they did so they slowed their pace to match hers.

At the top of the stairs Lily heard what sounded like a battle going on in the area of the dining hall. Something compelled her to go, the urge irresistible in her gut. Lily pulled a porting pot out of her bag and turned to her mother. “I need you to drink this. It will transport you out of the rift and to a castle—a safe castle. You have friends there.”

Her mother shook her head, eyes wide and backed up a step. “N-no, no, no.”

Lily heard male voices shout and recognized one of them. God, she didn't have time for this. “Please, just drink it; it'll send you out of here. Don't you want to get out of here?”

Her mother made a break for the door that led to the dungeon. “Shit, get her!” Lily caught her mother, wrapping her arm around her chest.

Even bony and weak she was strong as an ox. “Rosa help me!” Rosa came over and quickly chanted some words then laid her fingers on her mother's struggling forehead. Her mother instantly calmed, her body going lax.

Lily popped open the corked porting potion and held it to her mother's lips. The drink went down with some struggling and gargling noises. She broke halfway through the potion to make sure she didn't drown in the awful drink before giving her the last of it.

“How is she going to say the last of the spell?”

Rosa looked grim. “I can do it for her.” Rosa laid her hand over her mother's forehead and then her mother started speaking the spell from her own lips. Lily and Rosa let go of her and she disappeared before their eyes.

“You should go back too and help her. She won't know anyone there.”

Rosa shook her head. “I'm needed here. I can feel it.”

“Let's go then.”

Lily and Rosa walked swiftly, silently, down a long corridor, the sounds of male voices growing louder. “It's Alrik and Telal. I recognize their voices.”

Lily peered into the room, staying to the wall, and saw Alrik's black magic slithering out of his hand and wrapping around Telal. Telal dropped to the ground, screaming as the black bands squeezed around his struggling body, forcing him to the ground. Hard bounding footsteps tore her gaze away from the sight. Lily tensed as the footsteps came towards them but relaxed as she saw familiar faces.

Lyonis stopped on the other side of the doorway. Alongside him were Rayn and Henry. “What are you doing here?”

Before Lily could respond, a taller, bigger man stepped out from behind them. Kearnyn. His eyes locked so hard onto Rosa the look felt like a slap.

“What are you doing here?”

“We came to free her mother and help.”

“Get out of here now,” Lyonis said. “Most of the guards are dead but a swarm of demon assassins are headed this way. They’ve already killed the Atal Warriors and nearly took out Jackie and Thane. They are incredibly fighters.”

A blood-curling scream brought Lily's gaze back inside the dining hall. Alrik stood like a trembling evil force, his palms facing the ground summoning something from the earth. Insects. Swarms and swarms of them, making a hideous cracking sound as they crawled up from beneath the stone floor in groves and scuttled across the floor to Telal. Lily didn’t know what they were but she knew they couldn't touch him.

Running into the room, Lily chanted a quick spell and thrust her arm out. The beetle-like insects screamed as they were kicked back with a tidal force of air.

She had only a moment to hear Rosa's scream when Alrik's blackened eyes settled on her and black magic shot at her. She ran and rolled on the ground. The blast hit the wall where she'd been, the stone crumbling to the ground, sizzling and smoking like acid ate away at it.

“Get up, Telal!” she screamed.

His wide, angry eyes met her and then he spoke in demonic and white light pierced him, killing the black tendrils covering him. He stood and she saw the blood drenching his leg, pooling around him.

“Get out of here!” he roared.

So much seemed to happen at once that Lily felt struck, frozen in place. Demon assassins like she'd seen at Telal's headquarters rushed into the room followed by Telal's own team. Lyonis roared a sound so piercing she had to cover her ears as he shifted into a great hulking beast like a wolverine full of thick fur, vicious talons, and a muzzle of razor-sharp teeth. He jumped into a crowd of demons, throwing his arms around, knocking them away, snapping at heads and biting them off.

Henry, Rayn, Draven, and Kearnyn followed bearing an assortment of weapons from double-bladed axes to two sharp swords. They whipped their weapons in a fast circle, so fast the motion blurred together and ran against the demons, slicing off arms and legs in great bloody sweeps.

Lily found herself backing up. Rosa ran up to her and she knew she spoke but all she could do was watching the chaos happen around her. She should be moving, she should be helping, acting but fear, shock, and her own inadequacies overwhelmed her. She couldn't do any of the great things she was seeing.

Animalistic growls sounded in the room bouncing off the walls and then Thane and Jackie were there. Jackie shapeshifted into a ginger-haired cat so much larger than any she'd ever seen. And in a startling move, she sprinted across the hall, bounding up against the walls then pounced on a group of three demons at once, all snarls, growls, and claws cutting out throats and faces.

Thane shapeshifted into a beast like Lyonis' only smaller, without so much hair to where she could see the grisly muscles of the beast. He ran, diving into the fray and knocking demons off their feet, biting off limbs while sustaining his own blows.

Blood sprayed, people screamed, shouted.

Lily turned at last and saw Telal and Alrik in the midst of their own personal battle as if separated from everyone else. Maybe he'd arranged it so that only he would fight his brother or maybe that was just how it'd played out. They shot bolts of black power at each other and with each one Lily saw Telal's face turn paler.