Chapter Twenty
CHAPTER TWENTY
“A dull sky, clouds, and trees,” echoed Keenan. “If Khloé can see those things, she’s not being kept in the Underground.”
The moment Ciaran had told him that he felt Khloé’s mind stir, a shudder had racked Keenan. The depth of his relief almost made his knees give out. His demon, equally relieved, had rolled back its shoulders. The entity had been keeping itself occupied by plotting lots of torturous ways to make Thea suffer.
Knox twisted his mouth. “I’d say Gavril has her in one of his properties. I would imagine that he has many, but I doubt if all are Victorian-style houses, so that may narrow it down. Larkin, I need you to find out if Gavril owns any such properties. You can use the computer in my office. Be as thorough but as fast as you can—Khloé’s depending on us.”
“I’m on it.” The harpy stalked out of the room and dashed up the stairs.
Her face hard, Harper planted her hands on her hips. “I’m infuriated with myself for letting Thea fool me.”
Keenan flexed his fingers. “Same here. I should have seen that she was playing the damsel in distress card in the hope that I’d keep her close so that she’d have access to Knox.”
“You couldn’t really have seen that so clearly,” said Ciaran.
Harper ground her teeth. “We should have at least considered that that might have been the case. I didn’t trust her, but I also didn’t think she’d use her son that way. She seemed genuinely afraid for him.”
“She probably was—she has to fear that Gavril won’t live up to his end of the deal,” said Levi.
“Whatever the case, she dies tonight,” declared Jolene. “Thea and her son both do.”
“Damn fucking straight,” said Keenan.
Just then, Tanner prowled inside the living room and sighed. “You have no idea how difficult it was to convince Devon and Raini to remain at my apartment and wait for an update on what was happening. Any developments since we last spoke, Knox?”
The Prime brought him up to speed, his expression hard. Tanner muttered something under his breath. “Can’t Khloé use her gifts to free herself?”
“She’s in the grip of a containment spell,” Keenan told him. “She can only telepathically connect with Ciaran.
Ciaran abruptly stiffened and then bit out a harsh expletive. “We have a major fucking problem,” he announced to the room.
Keenan stilled. “What problem?”
Ciaran’s nostrils flared. “She’s being delivered to Enoch. He apparently paid Gavril to acquire her.”
People spat curses, forgetting to be careful of not doing so around Asher.
Rage slammed into Keenan, making his icy calm falter for a moment. “What?” He listened carefully while the imp explained. Despite that Khloé seemed confident she could escape the crate, fear still battered at his cold calm, threatened to crack it open and shatter it.
Jolene turned to Ciaran. “Do you know if she has her blade with her? The one that can kill Enoch for good?”
“She has it,” the imp confirmed.
“But she can’t use it until she’s out of the crate,” Tanner pointed out. “Enoch might not plan on releasing her from it.”
Jolene sniffed, all haughty. “As if a crate could contain an imp. It’s insulting that Gavril would think differently.”
“If he’s so sure she can’t get out of it, the containment spell is probably very potent,” said Tanner.
“It won’t make a difference,” Jolene told him. “She’ll get out. We need to be there to help defend her when she does—she’ll be facing Enoch, Thea, and Gavril.”
Harper nodded. “Thea will gladly kill her if Enoch doesn’t. And I think we can safely say that Gavril would have no desire to keep Khloé alive, though he might not necessarily want her dead. He’d kill her out of spite.”
Tanner took Asher’s hand, who gave him a dimply smile. “How are you doing, little man?”
“He’s fine,” said Harper. “Whatever Lane did doesn’t seem to have harmed him or even stolen any of his powers.” She frowned. “I don’t know what leapt from him to Lane, but I’m not so sure it was an ability. And if I were Thea, I’d be nervous as hell right now.”
Asher touched his mother’s face. “Want Koey.”
Harper kissed his palm. “Yeah, we all want Khloé, sweetheart. She’ll be here soon.” She looked at Tanner. “He saw her be taken, so he’s a little upset and—”
A hiss escaped Ciaran through gritted teeth. “They’re taking her to Enoch now.”
The bottom fell out of Keenan’s stomach. “Where exactly are they taking her?”
“She doesn’t know yet,” said Ciaran, his voice strained. “But she’ll tell us when she gets there.”
*
Khloé’s stomach rolled as Thea took them on yet another short teleporting trip—the woman’s gift didn’t take them far, so they were having to make seconds’-long pit stops along the way to wherever Enoch waited.
Khloé braced herself for another teleport, but it didn’t come. Apparently, they’d reached their destination. Still inside the crate, she found herself sitting in the middle of a dirt street. She blinked, feeling like she’d traveled back through time to the old west.
Dilapidated wooden buildings were all around her—saloons, a blacksmith, hotels, banks, and a jail and sheriff’s office but to name a few. Many windows had been shattered or boarded up. Wooden planks were rotting, and metal was badly rusted. It made her itch for a tetanus shot.
Shale, pebbles, and debris littered the rocky sand. The remains of broken barrels, wagons, and crates could be seen here and there.
The place had clearly been deserted for many years. There were no people around that she could see—not even Enoch. The only sign of life was the black birds that rested on the posts and roofs, flapping their wings and cawing.
A hot breeze fluttered over her, rustling the weeds and making the sagging doors creak. It also brought with it the scents of rust and dust that laced the stale air.
She reached out to Ciaran, wincing at the shot of psychic pain. I’m in an old western ghost town, she told him. If it’s used as a tourist attraction, it’s closed today for sure, because there’s no one around. But Enoch was probably already here.
Ciaran’s mind touched hers. There are ghost towns all over the world. Do you have any idea where you are?
Khloé tried seeing beyond the deserted town. There was only sand, cacti, and mountains, but … I think we’re still in Nevada.
Why?
Because Thea can’t teleport far, and it only took her four “hops” to get here.
But we don’t know for sure that the Victorian house was in Vegas. Larkin’s looking into what properties Gavril owns. If we can locate it, we can look for the nearest ghost towns. Can you see anything that will help us narrow down our search? Any landmarks? Any signs?
No. It just looks like your average wild, wild west ghost town.
Up ahead, a shutter saloon door swung open, and Enoch stepped out onto the wooden deck. Adrenaline spiked through Khloé, and the entity within her bared its teeth.
Gavril pasted a polite smile on his face. “Hello again, Enoch.”
“Gavril,” the Lazarus demon greeted simply. His grating voice was like nails on a chalkboard.
The Prime flicked a hand in Khloé’s direction. “I’ve brought her to you, bound and caged.”
Enoch’s gaze locked on her, and the hairs on Khloé’s nape lifted. Choosing to no longer hide that her binds were undone, she let her arms casually hang over her raised knees.
Enoch cut his gaze back to Gavril. “Bound and caged?” he challenged.
His lips thinning, the Prime amended, “Caged, then.”
Enoch turned back to the saloon and pushed open the shutter door. “Bring her inside.”
Looking none too happy by the order, Gavril nonetheless nodded at Thea, who then teleported their small party of people into the saloon. Khloé gazed around the dusty, cobweb-filled space, taking in the bar, stools, tables, chairs, piano … and the two corpses flanking Enoch—their skin pale and rotting, their vacant eyes staring into space.
“Oh, God,” muttered Thea, taking a step back.
Similarly, Gavril and his sentinels—one of whom was carrying Lane—recoiled as they stared in horror at the corpses.
A shudder of disgust swept through Khloé. Her fingers itched for the blade that was tucked into her boot. Both corpses were dressed in filthy, ratty clothes from the wild west era. The town must have its own cemetery—most places like this did.
Enoch stalked toward the crate and stared down at Khloé. “I had thought you’d be dead by now. The infection should have contaminated your organs.”
“I’m not easy to kill,” she said.
“Maybe not, but you will die here tonight. I warned you that I’d one day kill you; that I’d use your corpse to attack the people you love.”
“You’ll have to open this door to kill me,” she pointed out.
He smirked. “Oh, and you think you can strike at me when I do?”
“Would you expect anything less?”
“I suppose not.” He tilted his head. “You haven’t tried to escape,” he mused, a note of suspicion in his voice.
“Why would I, when these people here intend to take you out as soon as you’ve handed over the money you owe them?” asked Khloé.
Thea’s eyes widened. “That’s a lie!”
“Indeed,” said Gavril. “Now, pay me and we will leave you and the imp in peace, Enoch. Thea and I have things to do.”
“Like take Enoch out when his back is turned,” said Khloé.
Gavril glowered at her. “Ignore her, Enoch. She’s just trying to mess with your head—it’s what imps do.”
“They do, yes,” agreed Enoch, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he stared at the Prime. “But they don’t wait around to be killed. They’re escape artists. She undid her binds, but she hasn’t tried to get out.”
“She can’t get out,” clipped Gavril. “A containment spell is woven into the metal of the crate.”
“The kid’s waking up,” declared one of Gavril’s sentinels.
Thea blinked at her son and tried taking him from the sentinel, but the guy held tight. Lane’s eyelids fluttered, and his little fingers flexed. Thea palmed his cheek. “Lane, honey, it’s Mommy. Can you wake up for me?”
His eyes opened, and he looked up at his mother, his gaze startingly blank.
She gently stroked his face. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” She frowned when he blinked at her but didn’t reply. “Lane?”
“Let us return to the manor so we can get this done,” said Gavril, his tone rife with agitation. “I want that power. I’m done waiting.”
Thea rubbed her son’s arm. “He’ll need a few moments, Gavril. He’s still disorientated.”
Khloé snickered. “Oh, puhlease.”
Gavril glared at her. “What is that supposed to mean?” Khloé rolled her eyes. “It’s so obvious that she wants you to believe Lane’s too weak to help you—in reality, she wants him to give her the power he stole. Come on, you didn’t think she’d let you use her son as a pawn unless she thought she’d get something big out of it—not to mention a guarantee that you’d never come after her—did you? Your death would certainly guarantee that, wouldn’t it? Not that I blame her for wanting you gone permanently. She has to know you’ll kill her before you’ll let her have Lane all to herself. Why else would your sentinel be holding him so tight?”
“Divide and conquer,” said Thea. “An old and effective trick, but it won’t work here.”
“Prove it and have little Lane transfer Asher’s ability to Gavril,” Khloé dared.
The woman’s face hardened. “He can’t yet, he’s still not fully awake.”
“How convenient.”
“Will you shut the fuck up!”
Khloé sighed. “Fine.”
Enoch turned to Gavril. “What ability does the child have that’s so important?”
The Prime’s spine snapped straight. “That’s not your concern.” Lane’s body jerked violently, as if it had been zapped by a high voltage of electricity.
“Lane?” said Thea, her voice heavy with anxiety.
He jerked again and slapped a hand on his chest. Then he was coughing and hacking like he was trapped in a burning building.
“Gavril, something’s wrong with him. What do—” Thea cut off as the coughing fit ended. She rubbed her son’s arm. “That’s it, honey, you’re fine.”
His eyes bled to black as his demon surged to the surface and glared at her.
“It’s okay,” she told it. “Everything is okay.”
The demon gave a short shake of the head. “You threatened him,” it said, its voice empty of emotion. “You scared him. You used him. All is not okay.”
She swallowed. “I did what had to be done for my sake and his own.”
“Not true,” it argued. Then the coughing started up again. Its whole body bucked as it coughed and gagged and heaved. Then it doubled-over and retched, puking up something black and oily all over the floor at its mother’s feet.
Khloé stared at the small puddle. It swirled and bubbled and steamed like a potion in a cauldron. But said movements slowly began to fade, and the puddle dried up until it was a mere black stain on the wooden floor.
Thea backed away from it. “What is that?”
“Power,” said Enoch. “Extinguished power.”
Thea’s brows snapped together. “What do you mean, extinguished power?”
“I mean it is dead power,” Enoch told her. “Something or someone made him vomit up his own personal store of power.”
Gavril gaped. “That is not possible.”
“I assure you, it is,” said Enoch. “I haven’t witnessed such a thing before, but I’ve heard of it. Some demons allegedly possess the defensive ability to purge others of their powers.”
Gavril whirled on Thea. “What exactly happened at the stadium?”
“Lane used his gift to steal Asher’s,” Thea replied. “Something jumped from Asher into him. I thought it was the toddler’s abilities.”
Gavril flicked his hand in the air. “He is now useless to me. He’s as good as human. Did you do this to him, Thea? Did you do this to escape the deal we made?”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t do anything! It was the Thorne kid!”
Ciaran’s mind touched Khloé’s. Larkin came through for us—she found that Gavril has a Victorian house a few miles away from Harper and Knox’s estate. We’re going to pay a visit to the nearest ghost towns. If you’re in none of them, we’ll check the others.
Relief fluttered through Khloé. You need to look inside the saloons, she told him.
Just then, another mind touched hers—young, powerful, familiar. Recognizing Asher’s touch, she smiled to herself. How he’d managed to bypass the psychic shield keeping her from telepathing others, she had no idea. Hey, kiddo, she said, keeping her tone cheery. I’ll come see you soon.
There was a small movement beside her. And then she could only gape. Asher was there. Yet he wasn’t. His body was partly transparent, which meant she could very well be seeing shit. Either that or he was truly—in some sense—beside her in the crate, smiling shyly at her.
She glanced at the others to see if any could see him, but none were looking her way. They were observing Thea and Gavril, who were arguing yet again.
Turning back to Asher, Khloé flashed him a smile and reached out to her brother. Ciaran, what’s Asher doing right now?
He was sleeping a few minutes ago when we left him at the estate with Meg, Dan, Larkin, Martina, and Beck. Why?
Because I’m looking right at him.
What?
He’s partly transparent, but he’s here. Sort of.
“What the fuck?” burst out Gavril.
Khloé tensed as the others crowded the crate, their mouths open wide as they stared at Asher. Only Enoch’s two puppets and Lane—whose demon was still in control—remained far back.
Enoch squinted at Khloé. “You create illusions, do you?”
Gavril crouched. “This is no illusion. The boy must have the ability to astral project.” His eyes narrowed, glittering with sheer cunning. “How interesting. He should not have been able to get inside that crate—no one should, whether in astral form or any other. Hello, little boy.”
“Want Kooey,” Asher said around the finger he’d stuffed into his mouth.
Gavril’s brows raised. “Then you should stay with us. I’m sure she’d like your company.”
“Kooey go home.”
“I’m sorry, young one, but Khloé won’t be going home.”
The air chilled as Asher’s eyes bled to black. The demon—so unbelievably cold and callous—curved its lips into a dimply smile that held an edge of arrogance. It opened its small hand, and a gold spark flickered to life on its palm.
Thea gasped. “What’s it doing?”
The entity looked at the ceiling, and then the spark on its palm became a stream of gold power that punched a hole through the top of the crate and through the roof of the building, sending bits of wood flying through the air … and breaking the containment spell.
Khloé’s heart leaped and, hearing a chorus of caws, she peered through the hole in the roof. She felt her lips part in surprise. Crows were flying and dancing there, as if drawn by the lingering energy of the power display … or by Asher himself, she wasn’t sure.
Asher’s form shimmered and then disappeared. The others spun, searching the room with their eyes. Khloé figured he’d returned his astral ass home, but then he reappeared near the bar. Or, more to the point, his demon did. And it was still wearing that arrogant smirk.
She felt power gather in the air as the others braced themselves to attack. Her stomach sank, her demon tensed, and a shot of pure adrenaline rushed through her. She didn’t know if Asher’s astral body could truly be hurt or not, but she wasn’t about to risk it.
You guys need to get herefast, bro, she told her twin.
We don’t know where “here” is yet, he pointed out.
Just look for the flock of crows. Wasting no time, Khloé snapped out her leg and kicked the crate door open. She thrust out her palms and called to the power humming in her belly. Whips of electric fire lashed her captors, making them cry out and fall to their knees.
She crawled out of the crate just as a golden wave of pure power swept out of Asher’s demon and crashed into its foes, including the two corpses—hurling them all across the room. Well, damn. Her own entity was mightily impressed.
She itched to stand at astral-Asher’s side, but it would serve them both better if they remained separate targets—it would divide the attention of their foes.
Lane ran out of the saloon mere seconds before crows flew through the front door. Their wings flapping like crazy, the birds descended on Enoch, Gavril, Thea, the sentinels, and the puppets before any of them even had the chance to stand upright. Voices cried out and cursed as the crows pecked with their beaks and raked with their talons.
Enoch batted them away and then surrounded himself with his forcefield. Ugh. He snarled at Khloé as he stood. “You will not survive this night.”
“Worried that you’ll fail yet again, old man?” she taunted.
Growling, he pitched several death orbs through the air. She deflected them with her own power, and they harmlessly crashed into the wall, leaving patches of rot.
The asshole threw more black, smoky orbs at her. She evaded them just as another surge of golden power swept out of Asher. It crashed into Enoch’s forcefield, causing spiderweb-like cracks to form in the construction, but the bastard quickly bolstered it and repaired the damage—
She winced as a high-pitched sound built in the air, hitting a note so high it threatened to burst her eardrums and once more damage her psyche. Khloé hurled a ball of hellfire at Gavril’s head, and the sound cut off.
Sensing he was the most powerful of her foes besides Enoch, Khloé plunged her mind into that of the Prime and seized control. “You will protect me and fight alongside me.”
Gavril didn’t hesitate to whirl on the spot and attack Enoch. He couldn’t pierce the protective forcefield, but he was able to telekinetically bat away every death orb that came at her. Awesome.
Unlike Enoch, she couldn’t control more than one person at a time, but Gavril proved to be very good backup. He essentially held off Enoch while Khloé blasted the others with strong currents of electric fire again and again, managing to obliterate one puppet pretty much instantly.
She inhaled sharply as one of the sentinels all but dazed her with a telepathic punch that made her stagger like a drunk. Bastard. Still, she fought on. At the same time, the crows kept biting and raking, and Asher kept on releasing gold waves of such crushing power it almost took her breath away.
The combined attack took the two sentinels and the second puppet out of the equation, but Thea teleported to the other side of the saloon and out of harm’s way. Enraged, Khloé’s demon hissed through its teeth.
Worried that the woman would teleport out of the building and escape, Khloé taunted, “Yes, that’s it, flee and leave the others to fight your battle. Keenan told me what a coward you are. How many times was it that you left him without even a goodbye?” Khloé replicated Jolene’s haughty sniff that could make a person feel an inch tall.
Covered in bites and scratches, Thea sneered. “Think you’re better than me just because he calls you his mate?”
“No. I think I’m better than you because I’m better than you.”
“Bitch.” Her upper lip curling, Thea released a series of hellfire orbs.
Khloé ducked, dodged, and weaved, but the latter orb connected. She jerked back at the punch of hot pain to her ear. Fuck it burned as the hellfire blistered and ate at her skin.
Thea laughed. “You won’t be so pretty once I’m done fucking you up.”
“Right now, you’re no spring chicken yourself.” Khloé retaliated; a flickering wave of electric fire soared toward Thea and lashed her so hard she flew backwards and crashed into the metal crate.
Even as she fell, Thea flicked her hand at Khloé. A ribbon of ice-cold energy whipped Khloé’s face and sliced the skin like a blade. Fucking ow.
Khloé tossed several hellfire orbs at the little skank, who teleported away and took cover behind the piano. “Fuck.” Another ribbon of frosty energy came flying at Khloé. She jerked back, but it slashed her chest, ripping her tee and flaying her skin.
Just then, a ripple of golden power swept up both Thea and the piano. They slammed into the wall, and Thea slumped to the floor, unmoving. Excellent.
Khloé slanted Asher a quick glance, needing to be sure he was okay, and saw that his demon was still firmly in charge. She also saw its form flicker, and she knew its power—a force that its psyche was too young to adequately wield—was beginning to burn out.
A death orb came sailing toward her. Khloé’s heart jumped into her throat. She ducked, barely avoiding the orb. It was only then she realized that Gavril was dead. Shit.
“Oops, did I kill your puppet?” asked Enoch, smirking. “Shame the woman is dead. You could have made her your new pup—” He cut off as Khloé unleased more electric fire. It crackled and hissed as it sailed through the air and covered his forcefield.
She closed her hand, and the electric fire severed the forcefield in an instant, leaving him vulnerable. Wicked fast, she sprayed him with bullets of electric fire. But all harmlessly bounced off the forcefield he swiftly re-erected. Crap.
He chuckled. “It won’t be that easy to hurt me, little imp.”
He and Khloé did the same dance again and again. The fucker always popped up another forcefield in time to protect himself. Khloé hissed, and fury poured through her demon like lava.
Boards creaked as several figures staggered into the saloon, their movements awkward and clunky, their clothes in tatters, their flesh practically nonexistent—bringing with them the stomach-curdling scents of rot, dirt, and death.
They began to converge on Khloé. “Hell.” Swearing beneath her breath, she let loose on them in a rage. Flames of electric fire sliced through the air and whipped the corpses, sending them tumbling to the floor.
Even as she dodged or deflected Enoch’s death orbs, she peppered his puppets with bullets of electric fire, aiming for their brains and eyes. Some bullets hit their marks, but some fucking didn’t.
Several of the fallen stayed down, useless to their master. Others staggered to their feet and shuffled toward her. Asher’s demon kept Enoch occupied while she attacked the puppets, taking several out of the equation—some took hellfire orbs to the face; some took bullets of electric fire to the brain.
Undeterred, the other corpses staggered toward her. A few of them tripped over the fallen, but they picked themselves up and kept moving. Worse still, more and more poured into the saloon. Fuck.
It was like he had the entire cemetery out there, waiting their turn to take her down. There were too many of them, and she couldn’t possibly hold them all off. So many parts of her body ached and burned, and each move she made tugged on her injuries. Her breaths were coming quick—
A sharp psychic slap shocked a gasp out of her. Her face stung so bad her eyes watered, but she shelved the pain and fought on, trying to pretend she wasn’t tiring.
She heard a roar of fire outside followed by a guttural hellhound growl. Hope unfurled in her belly. Help had arrived, and that help would no doubt take down the army of puppets who were trying to get inside the saloon.
Moments later, Keenan dropped through the hole in the roof and landed a few feet away from her. Relief surged through her so fast it nearly made her dizzy. “Thank fuck you’re here,” she said.
His mind brushed hers, vibrating with rage. “Thank fuck you’re alive.”