Sure, sure. Axel worked his way behind the demons and kicked one in the back of the knees. The other twisted swiftly to bat the side of Axels head with a meaty fist, sending the warrior propelling through the far wall.
Koldo stepped in front of his brethren when he returned to the room, preventing him from springing into a full-on attack. Touch him again and youll discover my talent with the sword of fire, he told the demons.
Loyalty mattered to Koldo. Deserved or not.
Yeah. Axel didnt sound upset or even winded. He sounded happy. What he said.
Koldo threw him a glance, saw that hed raised his fists and was hopping from one foot to the other. He could not be thousands of years old. He just couldnt be.
Youre the intruders here, said the demon that had pretended Axels head was a baseball. His voice was as jagged as broken glass. The girl is ours.
He struggled against the urge to hurt and maim the demons as he reached back, grabbed Axel by the collar of his robe and tossed him through the only door into the hall. I pray well see each other again, he told the fiends.
They hissed as Koldo stalked from the room.
Axel stood in the middle of the walkway, black hair shagging around a face he loved to claim women saw in their fantasiesbecause he saw it in his own. His electric blues glared holes in Koldo. Dude! You wrinkled my clothes.
They were back to dude, rather than hoss. Clearly the warrior had no idea just how volatile Koldos emotions were. Every step farther away from the girl darkened his mood. What do you care? Were to engage in battle, not model the current fashions from the skies.
Duh. But a guys gotta look his best, no matter the occasion. An orderly walked by, wheeling a cart piled high with trays of food, snagging Axels attention. He followed, tossing back a delighted smile. I smell pudding!
How sublime. I got stuck with the only winged warrior with ADD.
* * *
THE FUN AND GAMES ENDED the moment Koldo and Axel closed in on the targeted demon. The human the creature tormented was restrained to his bed, and drugged, too, if the drool leaking from the side of his mouth was any indication.
A slecht hovered in the air at his right, whispering vile curse after vile curse.
G-go away, the male managed to gurgle. He could see the demon, but not Axel and Koldo. Leave me alone! The more he spoke, the stronger he became...but not yet strong enough.
You couldnt slay a dragon if you had not yet learned to slay a bear.
Axel shocked Koldo by surging forward without a word, his wings shooting from his back. The demon only had time to look toward him and gasp before the warrior unsheathed two double-edged short swords from an air pocket and struck.
The swords were a gift from the Most High and something every Sent One was given. Axels wrists crisscrossed to form a very effective scissor, chopping the demons head from its body in a single heartbeat of time. The pieces thudded to the floor before evaporating into ash.
Deep down, Koldo had expected to carry the weight of the battle. This was... This was...
Not fair.
The human sagged against the bed, his head lolling to the side. Gone, he sighed with relief. Its gone. He closed his eyes and sank into what was probably his first peaceful sleep in months.
Axel tossed the black-stained weapons back into the air pocket. Dang, I didnt mean to do that again.
Again? Youve killed so quickly before?
Well, yeah. Every time before. But once, just once, Id like to only injure my opponent and get a little thrusting and parrying in before I deliver the deathblow. Well, see ya. Axel flew through the ceiling, disappearing from view.
The man was as much a mess as Koldo. No wonder Axel had been given to Zacharel.
Just how wildly did he teeter at the edge of falling?
As close as Koldo?
Go home.
Good advice, and miracle of miracles, it sprang from his own mind. He meant to heed it. He did. But a single thought changed his mind. The redhead. He wanted to see her. Muscles tensing all over again, Koldo whisked back to the blondes hospital room.
Only, the redhead was already gone.
Disappointment hit him first, followed by a new tide of frustration and anger.
He whisked to his home hidden in the cliffs along the South African coast. A flash, the action was called. Hed learned a lot about himself and his abilities since being dropped in the middle of his fathers camp all those centuries ago.
A man will do just about anything to survive, boy. And Ill prove it to you.
His fathers wordsand yes, Nox had indeed proven them.
Just like that, the frustration and anger spilled over, and he roared. He beat his fists against the walls, over and over again, soaking his knuckles in crimson, cracking his bones as well as the stone. Every punch was a testament to a centuries-long rage, a soul-deep pain that had never gone away, and a festering wound he knew would never heal.
He was what he was.
He was what his parents had made him.
Hed tried to be more. Hed tried to be better. Each time, hed failed miserably. Darkness constantly flooded him, banging against an already unstable dam made of tainted memories and corrosive emotions. A dam he was only able to rebuild after outbursts like this one.
The punching continued until he was panting and dripping in sweat. Until skin and muscles were shredded, and the broken bones exposed. Even still, he could have taken another thousand swings, but he didnt. He forced himself to exhale with measured precision and imagine a cascade of darkness leaving him.
The dam refortified.
Aches and pains made themselves known, but that was okay. The banging had stopped. For now, that was all that mattered.
He padded across the living room. Along the way he fisted the collar of the dirty robe and yanked the material over his head. He dropped the garment on the floor, wind and dew whipping around him without any hindrance. He had no doors to block the gales, no windows to silence the song of nature; the entire house was open to the elements. Even better, the ceiling, walls and floor had been formed by the elements, presenting a showcase of glittering dark rock.
He stopped at the ledge overlooking a magnificent rushing waterfall pounding into the jagged stone below. Heavy sheets of mist rose from a turbulent sea, enveloping his naked body.
He came here when he desired privacy and peace. The turbulence around him had a way of making his mind seem calmer than it was. The wind kicked up, rattling the beads hed woven into the length of his beard.
Once upon a time hed possessed a head of hair to match. Long, thick and black, intricate beadwork woven throughout the prized strands. Now... He scrubbed a hand over the smoothness of his scalp. Now he was bald, his precious hair sacrificed in favor of vengeance.
Now he looked like his father.
Before he could stop it, his mind took him back to one of the many times hed stood at the bottom of a deep, dark pit, thousands of hissing serp demons slithering over feet that had been flayed like fish...around a neck that had been sliced like Christmas ham.
Serps were very much like snakes, and they had continually sunk their fangs into him, all over him, dripping venom straight into his veins. But through it all hed stood utterly still, remaining strong, refusing to so much as groan. His father had promised to remove a finger for every sign of weakness he exhibited. And when he ran out of fingers, he had been told he would lose his hands, his feet...his arms and his legs.
Back then, he hadnt yet reached full maturityhence the reason his wings had not grown backand he would have been unable to regenerate the limbs. He would have suffered all of his life, and he
Beat the ugly memory to the back of his mind, where it belonged. So his father had tortured him for eleven years. So what? Hed been rescued by Sent Ones, and had later become part of an army himself. Not the one he was currently in, but a different one, commanded by the now-deceased Ivar. Back then, Ivar had been the best of the Elite, and being under his command had been an honor.
Yet, in a fit of temper very much like the one hed just displayed, Koldo had thrown that opportunity away, besting Ivar in front of his men.
Regret still haunted him. Such a lack of respect for such an admirable man...
Koldo had been kicked out of the army and left on his ownfor a while. Hed used the time to return to his fathers camp and obliterate everyone and everything.
The single greatest day of his life.
He reached up and gripped the rock above him. Now Im part of this new army, led by a man once known only as Ice. Tomorrow, Zacharel would have another mission for him, one far below his skill level. Koldo knew this, because his leader had sent him out every day for the past three weeks, allowing him no time to break a heavenly law and bring judgment upon his head. At least, supposedly.
Koldo could lie.
Koldo could steal.
Koldo could kill.
He could do any number of other things their kind was not to do. But he wouldnt.
Thankfully, he wouldnt have to worry about being paired with Axel. Zacharel liked to assign him a new partner for every new mission, probably to keep him off-kilter.
Sadly, it was working.
And yet, there was one bright light, he realized. The girl from the hospital in Wichita, Kansas. The redhead. He still wanted to see her.
Surely she wasnt as tiny as he seemed to remember. For all he knew, she possessed the long, lithe legs of a dancer. Surely her hair wasnt the sweet color of strawberries. It had to be fire-engine red or an ordinary dark blond. Surely hed imagined the purity of her tone. Surely.
He straightened, anticipation overshadowing all else. He had to know, the desire a living entity inside him.
First, though, he would have to hunt her down.
CHAPTER TWO
KOLDO SPENT THE REST of the night digging through the heavenly archives kept on every human ever to live and learned several interesting tidbits about the blonde and the redhead. The comatose girl was Laila Lane, and the other one, the one he wished to observe, was Nicola Lane. They were twenty-three-year-old twins, with Nicola being older by two minutes, and unmarried.
So young. Too young.
The two were identical. The only reason Laila had blond hair was because shed bleached it, hoping to be unique. The girls had no other family, and relied only on each other. Their parents had died in a car accident five years before.
Koldo left the library and flashed to Lailas hospital room. Once again Nicola was nowhere to be seen. But he wasnt worried. According to the gossiping nurses, she came every day. He had only to wait.
He strode to the edge of the bed. This time, the Most Highs gift was not in operation, so, when he looked, he saw the blonde rather than the demon hiding under her skin.
The sight was almost as bad.
Her hair was dry, thin and matted. There were bruises under her eyes, and her lips were chapped. Her skin was severely yellowed, her liver obviously shutting down.
She wouldnt last much longer.
The Water of Life was a powerful liquid capable of repairing the most damaged human flesh, and the only thing capable of saving her. It would also rid her of the demon. But her thoughts, words and actions would influence its continued success.
The grzech could return to her and try again to poison her. So, even if Koldo fed her the Water, she would have to learn to fight the forces of eviland then actually fight. Was she willing to engage in any kind of battle?
Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, Koldo wasnt willing to suffer and sacrifice, and he would have to do so to even approach the shoreline of the River of Life. First, he would be whipped. Second, he would be forced to give up something precious to him. Last time hed relinquished his hair. And there was no telling what he would be asked to give up next. His ability to flash? His captive mother?
Never!
The practice had not been created by the Most High, and wasnt even supported by Him. But Germanus refused to end a tradition that had been with their kind since the beginning, as a means of proving the depth of their determination. So, once again free will prevailed and the practice continued year by year. Koldo saw no way around it.
The rooms only door opened suddenly, and Nicola stepped inside. Koldo straightened, and even tensed at the sight of her. He frowned. His body had only ever reacted this way before battle. Why was this happening with her?
At least she had no idea he was there. He was in the spiritual realm, and she in the natural, so he was blocked from her gaze.
He looked her over from bottom to top, then back downfar more slowly. That fall of strawberry curls was once again in a ponytail, the thick length tumbling over one shoulder. There were dark circles under her eyes, and the color in her cheeks was high. Her lips were swollen from being chewed. Despite the heat outside, a worn pink sweater draped her shoulders, the lapels pulled tightly together.
She was a tiny fluff of nothing, just as he recalled, her frame heart-wrenchingly delicate. He towered over her, and could easily break her in half with a single twist of his wrist.
Cant ever touch her, he told himself.
For some reason, the tension inside him only increased.
The same demons stood sentry behind her, following close at her heels. They spotted Koldo and spewed a mouthful of dark curses.
Why are you here?
What do you hope to gain?
He ignored them, and they decided to do the same to him, perhaps hoping he would go away this second time, too.
Hey, La La, she said softly. Its Co Co. Im told youve taken a turn for the worse.
The words were encased by a thick, grim shell, yet still her voice stroked over him. A feather tickling. A brush of velvet caressing. He savored the odd sensations, even...liked them?
Nicola pushed the smallest chair next to the bed, struggling under its weight. The demons snickered at her. Angered, Koldo stepped toward her, intending to help her, but immediately forced himself to still. Now wasnt the time to reveal himself. He would frighten her.
The demons caught his aborted action and scowled at him. So much for ignoring him.
Youre not welcome here, Koldo, Lefty said.
Responding to a demon invited conversation. Conversation invited lies. Koldo wasnt so foolish as that. But he wasnt surprised the creature knew his name. With as many demonic kills as Koldo had made throughout the centuries, the entire underworld knew of him.
We can make you leave, Righty proclaimed.
Fine. He was foolish. He said, You can try. No matter what, they would fail.
Nicola reached out and gently patted her sisters hand. Oh, did I tell you? Blaine won the race.
The monitors beeped steadily, the comatose girl never moving, never twitching.
Sighing, Nicola sat back in the chair and began to relay the trials of her workday.
This time, he would help her, Koldo decided. To start, he would have to do something to ensure she listened to him, and actually acted on what he said.
That was the only way she would come out of this.
And perhaps it was his only way out, too. In saving her, he might finally find some sort of atonement.
Atonement. The word echoed in his mind. It was something he sometimes craved, but not something he deserved. Sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he could still hear the agonized screams hed caused...could still feel the barb of his victims fear.
Clenching his fists, he resolved himself. He could do this. And so could she.
Youre going to get better, La La, she suddenly announced, as though drawing hope from his thoughts. You have to recover. I wont allow anything else. Im the big sister, and you have to do whatever I tell you to do. Nothing else is acceptable.
Gaze locked on Koldo, Righty bent down and whispered into her ear. Spreading poison.
The color drained from her cheeks.
Lefty squeezed her shoulder, and she slumped forward, as though some of her energy had evaporated in a puff of smoke.
She stopped talking victory, and went back to discussing her day.
Koldo rubbed the back of his neck. What had just happened was a prime example of the life she had probably always led, pulling herself up only to be knocked down again.
Well, no more.
His body tensed all over again, preparing for war. But this was different than what hed felt when Nicola had first entered the room. There was no sense of anticipation, no hint of excitement. He just wanted to flat-out raze his enemy into the ground.
He held out his hand and summoned a sword of fireanother gift every Sent One received from the Most High. One he always had a right to use.
Righty and Lefty jolted to attention, gnarled wings popping from their backs.
You sure you want to do this? Righty asked with a gleeful smile. The horns on the creatures head grew...grew...becoming monstrous ivory towers. Fangs stretched between his lips, extending past his jaw. Youll walk away, but youll be in pieces.
The same grotesque transformation overtook Lefty, little sparks of fire flashing underneath his scales.
Koldo didnt bother with a response. He simply launched forward, blade arcing through the air. The two demons flew apart, moving out of harms way. He expected the action and went low as he landed, twisting to the right. Flames slicked over Rightys thigh.
The demon grunted from the pain, the scent of burned hair filling the room.
Koldo jumped up, kicking a leg forward and a leg backward, nailing both of his opponents at the same time. He landed, and they recovered enough to leap at him, punching. He blocked one, but purposely took the others abuse, grabbing on to Leftys arm and holding tight as he used the appendage as leverage to swing up both of his legs into Rightys throat with a brutal slam slam of his booted feet. Then he flipped Lefty over and tossed him to his back to stomp on the creatures face. Bone crunched, suddenly a jigsaw puzzle that needed to be put back together.
Before the second stomp, Lefty rolled to his feet and bounded on the bedthe females utterly unawareand, without pausing to consider a wiser way, slammed into Koldos back. A long, thick tail wound around his middle, squeezing. The hook on the end sliced all the way to Koldos intestines.
Lefty raised sharpened claws, intending to slash through his windpipe, but Koldo flashed to the other side of the bed. The moment he landed, he leaned forward and grabbed the end of the creatures tail, jerking and spinning Leftys entire body.
As the fiend careened forward, Koldo flashed behind him and swung his sword. The demon tried to dodge, but wasnt fast enough. Fire met scales and bone, and scales and bone immediately lost. The demons arm detached, spraying black blood over the floor.
Blood the humans would never see.
A howl of agony erupted as Lefty grabbed the appendage and flew out the window, into the afternoon sunlight. Unlike Sent Ones, demons couldnt regenerate limbs. The creature would have to have the arm reattached.
Deep down, Koldo knew this would not be their last battle.
Cursing, Righty turned in a half circle, his gnarled wings sweeping in Koldos direction. He could have dodged, but he chose to allow the end of one wing to clip his ankles, knocking them together, sending him flying to the floor. The beads in his beard rattled as he hit, air bursting from his lungs. He pretended to lose his hold on the sword, and the weapon vanished.
Righty dived on top of him, just as hed wanted, fangs bared. Koldo punched with all of his might, and broke the demons nose, sending fragments of cartilage into his rotting brain. Then, Koldo flashed behind him, summoning the sword of fire, swinging. The demon shot forward, staying low. But not low enough. The scent of smoke and sulfur filled the air. A loud thump sounded. One of the creatures horns was now missing.
Features contorted with rage, the demon hopped to hoofed feet, black blood leaking down his face, from his busted nose. Roaring, he lunged. Twisting left, twisting right, Koldo stepped into the battle dance. Righty knew when and where to move, sometimes managing to avoid injury. They tangoed from one side of the room to the other, up the walls, down the walls, on the floor, across the ceiling, rolling over the bed, falling through Nicola as she continued to chat with her sister, not so much as a hitch in her breath.
Koldo released the sword and grabbed a fistful of fur on the demons chest. He launched the creature through the far wall. A second later, the fiend raced back into the room.
The girl is mine, Righty snarled, stalking a circle around him. Mine! Ill never let her go.
You were foolish when you decided to follow Lucifer rather than the Most High, and youre foolish now, to think you can best me. You fight from a place of defeat, and you always will. Long ago, the Most High had crushed all the forces of hell. But still the creatures struck at humans, determined to hurt those the Most High loved.
And the Most High loved all humans. He wanted to adopt them, as Hed done the Sent Ones.
A hiss of rage sounded. Ill show you defeat! Rather than initiating a full-scale attack, the demon backed one step away, two...three. A slow grin lifted the corners of his lips. Yes, Ill show you defeat. Very, very soon. With that, he disappeared through the wall.
Koldo waited, at the ready, but the demon never returned. No doubt, hed gone to recruit a few of his friends.
Ill be ready.
Only problem was, very, very soon told Koldo nothing. In their realm, one day could be as long as a thousand years and a thousand years as short as one day.
What the heck is going on? Nicola exclaimed. Its like two boulders have been lifted from my shoulders. As she spoke, a smile lit her entire face, transforming her from plain to exquisite. Her pale skin took on a radiant sheen, her eyes becoming the color of summer rather than winter.
The moisture in his mouth dried.
Oh, La La. Its wonderful!
Wonderful, yes, but still the toxin flowed through her veins. That would have to be dealt with.
He would have to find a way to gently reveal himself to her, something hed never done with a human. He would have to garner her trust, something hed never before cared to try. But when? How? And how would she react?
Be as shrewd as a serpent yet as harmless as a dove, Germanus used to tell him.
Funny, but Koldo was far less assured of his success with the girl than hed been with the demons.
CHAPTER THREE
The next day
THE ELEVATOR DINGED, and the double doors slid open. Nicola Lane stepped inside the small enclosure, relieved to find she was alone. She was
Not alone, she realized with a jolt of surprise. Oh, wow. Okay. In the far corner, a very tall, very muscled man shifted from the shadows. How could she have missed him, even for a second?
The doors closed, sealing her inside with him. I dont judge by outward appearance. I really do not judge by outward appearance. But oh, wow, wow, wow, he had to be a time-traveling Viking sent here to abduct modern women to give to his men back homebecause theyd killed all the women in their village.
I watch too much TV.
He certainly gave off an all-dangerous-all-the-time vibe. And now, it was too late to avoid a possible pillaging.
Her heart fluttered, the warped beat making her light-headed.
Floor? he asked, his deep voice filled with more jagged edges than a shattered mirror.
Lobby, she managed to reply, and he pressed the appropriate button.
It was a miracle the entire elevator didnt split apart from the force he used.
There was an exaggerated shake, and the cart began to descend. The scent of morning sky andthis could have been mere fantasy on her partrainbows filled the small enclosure, and every waft came from the man. It was, quite possibly, the best cologne shed ever smelled, and like the ladies in the AXE commercials, she had to battle the urge to lean into him and sniff his neck.
And wouldnt he just love that? He would demand to know what the heck she was doing, she would panic and her heart would give out, just as Lailas had, and...and...she wasnt going to think about her beautiful, precious Laila right now. She wasnt going to think about losing another loved one. First her mother, father and br No, she wasnt going to think about that, either. She would break down.
And was that delicious heat coming from the Viking, too? For the first time in years, Nicola felt enveloped by warmth, the cold from her medications and poor circulation finally chased away.
The man turned and leaned against the wall, facing her fully. In that moment, she decided very tall, very muscled wasnt an adequate description for him. The tallest, most muscled man shed ever seen in person or on TV worked better, but again, the description failed to capture the essence of his absolute gigantorness. He. Was. Huge.
And okay, yeah, he was also quite beautiful despite his murdering-and-pillaging aura. He had bronze skin, a gleaming bald head and a black beard tied by three crystal beads. His eyes were a surprising shade of gold, and capped by two thick brows with a prominent arch in the center. He wore a white linen shirt and white linen pants, each garment flowing as fluidly as water. On his feet was a pair of combat boots.
And she was studying him as if he were a bug under a microscope, she realized, horrified by her behavior. Nicola had often gone to school with electrodes taped to her chest and tubes sticking out of her clothing, so she knew the pain of a single wide-eyed stare. Her attention darted to the glittery pink tennies her twin had given her for their birthday last year.
Im quite large, I know, he said in an accent she couldnt place. At least he hadnt sounded offended.
Still, her stomach bottomed out. Hed noticed her examination of him, and now sought to...comfort her for her rudeness? How unexpected and sweet. Well, then, she would be brave.
She raised her chin and forced herself to meet his gaze. Maybe Im just amazingly tiny, she said, trying for humor.
His eyelids narrowed menacingly, hiding all that gold, leaving only the black of his pupils. Do not lie, even through implication. Not for any reason, not even to be nice.
Her fingers went numb, and her heart once again fluttered. He was okay with staring, but joking was a killing offense. Good to know.
Lies are the language of evil, he added in a gentler tone.
A gentler tone, but still intense.
The elevator stopped, the doors opened and a short, heavyset man took a step inside.
Youll take the next elevator, the big guy announced.
The smaller man instantly froze. He licked his lips, backed up. You know what? Youre right. I will. He spun and raced away.
For a moment, Nicola considered following his lead. There was being polite, and there was being wise, and the two didnt always intersect. The fact that the Viking wanted to be alone with her couldnt bode well.
The doors began to draw together. Now was her chance to run.
But... she couldnt do it. You didnt yell at him, she pointed out, unsure why she was having trouble keeping quietand why shed stayed. You seem like such an equal-opportunity yeller.
I didnt yell at you, either, he said with a frown. A moment passed. He nodded as if hed just realized something important. Youre sensitive. Ill be more careful.
What, he dreaded her wrath?
He studied her as intently as shed studied him, causing her to squirm. You are five-two, arent you?
Five two and a half, thank you. She never forgot that very important half!
Thats a somewhat decent height for a woman, I suppose.
For an eight-year-old boy, too, she grumbled.