Chapter Five

 

The demons couldn’t get near Sasha so long as he had the coffin holding his father. Jade watched from the brush nearby. Sasha sat on top of the sarcophagus and looked around, smug in how safe he was sitting on top of the coffin. The forest was full of demons. Most had attacked the castle while Darkyn’s personal guard went after Sasha. Jade hadn’t wanted to come; he’d asked a personal favor of Darkyn not to come. Darkyn had laughed and dragged him.

Jade’s insides still churned at the sight of the demons and Immortals fighting. Technically, this was Sasha’s doing, for he had dragged the coffin out of the protected crypt and left the Immortals exposed. This fact did little to assuage Jade’s guilt when he saw the slaughter around the place he’d once called home.

“Where’s your master, fools?” Sasha shouted to the forest.

“I’m here,” Darkyn’s voice boomed from a good hundred meters away, the nearest the demon could come.

“What of our deal?” Sasha demanded. “I gave you Kris and the Immortals.”

Darkyn’s chuckle filled the air around them, and Jade watched Sasha’s face turn from expectant to furious.

“So that bitch Jade betrayed me,” Sasha muttered. “No matter. I can sit here all day, Darkyn, and you can’t come near me.”

The sounds of fighting from the direction of the castle made Jade sweat. He hadn’t wanted all the Immortals to die, just the ones that hurt him. He shifted in the brush, wishing he could’ve found a better way to draw out Kris and Sasha than by sacrificing everyone.

“I can’t, but Jade can,” Darkyn said, unconcerned.

“Jade’s a coward and a fool!”

“He tricked you, didn’t he?”

Sasha sneered in response. He rose and began to pace, the first sign of his anxiety. Jade’s hands were sweaty as he drew a machete. He’d crossed the line. There was no going back.

“Jade, kill him and bring me the vial,” Darkyn ordered.

Jade closed his eyes, drew a deep breath, and stepped from the forest. Sasha was armed with two daggers and lowered himself into a fighting stance. Jade had trained under Kris, the greatest of the Immortal warriors, and knew Sasha to be a lazy fighter. His first few blows were deflected, but the third slashed Sasha’s arm.

“Wait, Jade,” Sasha said, surprised. “We can make a deal, you and I.”

“You have nothing I want.”

“I am still an Ancient. I will make you my mate.”

“I saw how Ancients’ mates work. You get no choice, Sasha!” Jade snapped, the hurt caused by Kris’s rejection renewed. He slashed again. Sasha’s guard fell quickly, and Jade hacked at the Ancient with all his fury until Sasha lay in a bloodied heap.

His whole body shaking, he tried to calm himself and withdrew, wanting to wipe away the taint of Sasha’s blood from his clothing and skin.

“The vial, Jade!” Darkyn barked. “We are watching. If you try to take it, your death will be the most horrible I devise yet.”

Jade hesitated, not wanting to go near Sasha’s body. He knelt beside the Ancient and set the machete on top of the sarcophagus. Sasha was far too chopped up to be alive. Jade rifled through his pockets, part of him praying he didn’t find the vial. He’d been responsible for enough Immortal deaths this night; he couldn’t stomach more.

Jade’s hand brushed the glass in Sasha’s pocket. Sasha had the vial. The fool had really believed he could bargain with Darkyn and the Dark One! Or maybe he was desperate to return to the only place that would accept him and all his sick ways.

Jade pretended to continue to search, mind racing. It was one thing to feed Kris and the Immortals here to the demons, another thing to give the demons a tool they could use to destroy all Immortals, if not humanity, too. He’d thought he crossed the only line that mattered by selling out the Immortals but found there was another he wasn’t ready for.

He left the vial in Sasha’s pocket and rose.

“It’s not here,” he said.

“Not there,” Darkyn repeated. Jade bristled for an attack, even knowing the demons couldn’t draw near. “Where else would it be?”

“Kris has a scientist named Ully who would’ve likely been given the vial. Maybe this…” he kicked Sasha’s body, “wasn’t as stupid as we thought.”

“Or Kris locked it away because he knew better than to trust that piece of shit,” the demon leader added. “Take the bodies and throw them into the sea, where no one will find them. We will find this Ully and take him to Hell for interrogation.”

“Yes, master.”

“And Jade?”

Tensing, Jade turned to face the direction of the demon’s voice.

“Welcome to Hell, your new home.”

Jade said nothing, conflicted. He heard the demons withdraw from the forest around them toward the castle. Suspecting some of them remained, he gave no indication he’d found the vial as he carefully lifted Sasha’s body and laid it on the sarcophagus. He stepped back to look at father and son, dead-dead together.

Very fitting.

He opened a portal, mind racing with how to keep the demons from getting the vial. Darkyn had said to dump them in the sea. He lugged the coffin through the portal into the shadow world and then paused to think.

Sanctuary. All of them were located in the middle of a sea. If he tossed Sasha’s body close enough to one of them, the vial would be safe.

He concentrated on which Sanctuary he wanted, the farthest from the castle, and lifted Sasha’s body. He crossed to the glowing portal and threw Sasha’s body through it, satisfied when he heard a splash. He turned back to the coffin, not nearly as concerned about the dead-dead Immortal he’d never met but who’d fathered at least two fucked-up sons-- three, if he counted Rhyn.

The Immortal should’ve died in Hell, where he probably belonged. Jade focused on another part of the ocean, Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean. Maybe the depth of the sea would crush this Immortal’s perfectly preserved body. If nothing else, the father of the Council would never again be found.

He lugged the coffin to the new portal and shoved it through. He didn’t stay to hear the splash this time but walked through the shadow world toward the only portal that glowed black, the portal to Hell.

While feeling vindicated that Kris might already be dead, he couldn’t help the growing guilt at hurting so many other Immortals. Nursing a cratered heart, he stepped into Hell, well aware he had nowhere else to go.

* * *

Katie paced her corner of the gymnasium, where she had been herded with the rest of the Immortal mates. Toby was awake and sitting, fascinated by Lankha’s soft hands. She glanced at them again and looked toward the door.

It had been an hour, and Hannah hadn’t appeared. She didn’t know if there was a second gym where other Immortal mates were, but Kris had said Hannah would be down. She waited another few minutes and then headed to the bathrooms. Women were packed even in the luxurious bathrooms with their sitting areas decorated with couches and a gilded fountain. She crossed to a stall and closed the door, focusing on a portal to the shadow world. She envisioned Kris’s chamber on one of the upper floors and emerged from the shadow world into the chamber.

The door was open, and she ducked down as a furry shape rushed by.

Some of the demons had made it into the castle. She drew a deep breath, terrified of running into one of those creatures alone, then crept to the door. When she heard nothing in the hallway, she eased out of the safety of his room.

Hannah hadn’t been there long enough to learn the castle. She knew Kris’s chamber, the guest chamber, Katie’s chamber, and the dining hall. Katie trotted to the chamber next to Kris’s, knowing the guest chambers were near but not sure which was which. She pushed the door open to the next chamber and ducked inside.

“Hannah?”

Silence from the room, footsteps from the hallway. She darted to the other side of the bed and dropped to her stomach, peering under the bed through the door. A massive creature with black fur and fangs paused in front of the open door, sniffing the air. She held her breath. Her heart pounded as it swung its head to face the room.

It jerked suddenly and bolted down the hallway with a snarl. She heard the clash of bodies and waited for the sound to fade before rising again. She peeked out to see two creatures at each other’s throats and frowned, wondering why demons were fighting one another. With the creatures too distracted to notice her, Katie drew a breath and darted across the hall, shoving the door of the guest bedroom open.

“Hannah!” she hissed.

“Katie?”

The sound of her sister’s voice brought a waterfall of relief. Hannah peeked from the bathroom door, her normally neat hair mussed and her eyes red from crying. Katie closed the door to the bedroom behind her. She’d barely left it when it slammed open, and two furry forms barreled into the room, snarling and fighting. Hannah screamed. Katie covered her head as they trounced over her and rolled to the other side of the chamber, fighting.

She rose and ran into the bathroom, jostling Hannah out of the way as she slammed and locked the door.

“Katie!” Hannah exclaimed, her face a mask of terror. “I was taking a bath earlier and I heard sounds in the hallway. When I-- ”

“Hannah!” she snapped. “Look for anything to brace the door!”

Hannah looked around, lost. Katie’s gaze swept over her, and she was grateful to see her sister unharmed. She closed her eyes to summon the portal when the door bucked. Hannah cried out and scampered to the far side of the bathroom. Katie rushed to the door, trying to brace it. The sound of snarling came from the other side, and she closed her eyes as the demon struck the door again. She sailed across the bathroom and landed on Hannah. The demon crouched in the door, then roared in pain and whirled.

The other demon had clamped its teeth around its leg and dragged it out of the doorway. Katie hauled Hannah to her feet and pulled her through the doorway, across the bedroom, and into the hall. Another demon down the hall caught sight of them and charged. She led them into Kris’s room again and slammed the door, vaguely pissed at the Ancient for having the only door that locked in the whole castle. The door bucked but held.

Her gaze went around the chamber and settled on the alcohol in the corner. She crossed to it, took a deep swig, then flung it against the door. The glass carafe exploded. She threw another and pulled the final from the fridge. As if reading her intentions, Hannah forced herself out of her shock and hurried to the low-burning hearth. She snatched the lighter on the mantle and ran to the door, standing close until the alcohol lit and spread.

Fire licked across the wooden door. The door bucked again before all went quiet. Hannah stood close to her, and Katie stared at the door, willing their fire to keep the demons at bay. For a long moment, she thought their simple plan worked, and she closed her eyes to concentrate on the portal.

The door exploded open in flames, wood, and black fur. Hannah dragged her down as fiery splinters sailed over them. The two fanged figures battled until one lifted the other and cracked its back over its knee. It slammed the creature onto a broken piece of burning word. The dying creature let out an otherworldly roar of pain as it burned. It went limp.

The remaining creature turned to them. It contorted into a human form, and Katie cursed.

“Lunchmeat,” Jared said with a toothy smile. “You brought a snack to our little party.”

“Hannah, you have to trust me when I tell you jumping out that window is a better death than what this thing will do to you!” Katie said, dragging her sister toward the window.

“Easy, Lunchmeat. I came to help, at your half-breed’s request,” Jared said, holding up his hands. “I smelled you from outside the castle. Oh, the sweet smell of-- ”

A roar in the hallway made him whirl.

“Come with me, morsels,” he said. “I’m your only ticket out of here.”

Katie hesitated. Jared morphed again into a massive creature. It beckoned for them to follow with one paw and knocked the burning door out of the way. She trailed it, wanting nothing more than two minutes of relative peace so she could summon a portal. Hannah clung to her arm as they entered the hallway.

Jared launched himself at the demon barreling toward them. Katie gasped and flattened herself against the wall as they soared past them. She grabbed Hannah’s hand and bolted for the back stairwell at the far end of the hall. Steadying herself against the walls of the winding stairs, she ran as fast as she could without stumbling, aware of what likely followed them. Barks and roars from further down the stairs made her stop and grip the railing.

“This way!” Hannah cried, pointing to the doorway they’d just passed to one of the mid-level floors. Katie followed her into another hallway on the floor where the castle’s serving staff lived. This hall was smaller and narrower. Hannah stopped at an intersection, and Katie took her hand again, continuing down the hall toward the second stairwell.

Her breathing as loud and ragged as Hannah’s, Katie paused for a deep breath inside the larger stairwell. Hannah draped an arm over her, gasping for breath. Katie heard nothing pursuing them and closed her eyes, focusing hard. Rhyn’s energy filled her. She visualized the portal and the basement. As soon as the portal appeared, she dragged Hannah through it, racing to the glowing door on the other side.

Only when they both emerged into the basement did she stop to catch her breath. Hannah dropped to the floor beside her, and Lankha inched away while Toby smiled.

“Master Kris has ordered an evacuation,” Henri, Kris’s secretary, said as he approached. “He said you’d know where to go, Katherine.”

She nodded, sucking in air.

“How did you do that?” Hannah asked, turning to her. “We were somewhere else …”

“I’ll explain later,” Katie promised. “I’m not waiting for any demons to find us. Lankha, pick up Toby.”

She closed her eyes and focused again.

They crossed unimpeded through the portal and onto the island Sanctuary, one of four such sites bridging the mortal and immortal worlds. Sanctuaries were managed by a convent of women who cared for the lost and injured. Katie didn’t recognize the woman who greeted them and ushered them into the small fortress on an undeclared-- hidden by magic-- island in the Caribbean. She led them into a courtyard lined on all four sides with lopsided doors.

“Master Kris said you were coming. We have several refugees here already,” the woman in the long brown robe said. “We’re assigning quarters as soon as they arrive and providing a hot meal afterwards. Ladies, you are in these two rooms.” She pointed to two doors. “The healer can stay there, and the angel-- ”

“With me,” Katie said.

“Then you can take the larger of the two rooms. I’ll wait while you look around your quarters.”

Katie knew from experience there wasn’t much to see. Lankha was nearly buckling under the weight of Toby. She opened the door to her tiny room, taking in the two twin beds with sagging metal frames. Lankha set Toby down on one before they joined Hannah in the courtyard.

“Is it normally this … exciting around here?” Hannah asked as they walked to the cafeteria.

“Seems to be so far,” Katie admitted. “Nice of Kris to abandon you upstairs like that.”

“I’m sure he didn’t mean for that to happen,” Hannah said, sounding unconvinced. Katie glanced at her troubled sister, unable to help the guilt she felt at Hannah’s look.

“He means well. He said he sent someone to find you,” she forced herself to say. “He’s kinda got a whole bunch of people to worry about.”

“I know, Katherine. I’m not upset at him. I just wasn’t expecting to be confronted with … what were those things?”

“Demons.”

“Not what you want to see when you’ve just taken the most heavenly bath.”

“Probably not.”

“You did really good back there,” Hannah said, turning her winning smile on Katie. “I’m impressed, little sis.”

Despite her anger at her sister, Katie felt the warm smile affect her. Hannah used that smile to charm everyone from waiters to potential boyfriends, but it was nice to have her sister smile at her rather than remark about how disappointed she was.

“You think Kris is okay?” Hannah asked, her smile fading. “I feel like we ran off and left him.”

“You don’t want to be there to see how bad things get,” Katie advised.

“You don’t worry about Rhyn?”

Katie hesitated, her hand going to the tattoo at her neck. “I do, but I know he’s the scariest thing out there. I don’t think anything can hurt him.”

She found herself hoping Gabriel made it here before Rhyn did. She’d been so pissed at him, she’d told him what she’d planned to keep from him. A sense of desperation almost took her strength away. She dropped to her knee and pretended to retie her shoe.

Gabriel was coming for her and the life growing within her. She could barely fathom what that meant. She didn’t understand much of the Immortal world, but she knew Death always won. In Gabriel’s mind, he’d already killed her, or he wouldn’t have looked at her with regret instead of pity.

“Hannah, I need to lie down,” she said and rose unsteadily. “Go eat and I’ll see you later.”

She turned without waiting for her sister to respond and made her way to her room. Her emotions crippled her, and she flung herself on the bed, sobbing.

 

* * *

Rhyn slammed Tamer to the ground one last time, too incensed to notice his half-brother was trying desperately to tap out. Kiki grabbed his arm and yanked to get his attention.

“Enough, Rhyn!” he shouted.

Rhyn blinked and stepped back. Tamer was still for a long moment, until Kiki shoved a foot beneath his belly and rolled him over. The large man gasped for air, his eye swollen already.

“Can we count you in?” Kiki asked.

Tamer nodded. Kiki extended a hand and pulled him up. Rhyn paced, eyeing Erik, whose bloodied nose had finally stopped bleeding. His tactics would never earn anything but scorn from Kris, but they worked.

“I’ll send my men,” Tamer grunted. “Tell Kris-- next time he wants something-- to call instead of sending this animal.”

“Enough from both of you,” Kiki said. “I think we need to get a few things straight before we go.”

Rhyn ceased pacing, and Erik frowned.

“One, what do we want to do about Sasha?”

“Kill him,” Tamer said without hesitation.

“Yep,” Erik agreed.

“Let Darkyn have him,” Rhyn growled.

“The consensus is that Sasha dug his own grave,” Kiki said. “Two, what are we going to do when Kris chooses the Code and his oath over our unanimous vote to kill Sasha?”

Three pairs of eyes went to Rhyn, who stood ready to take on any of them that mentioned leaving the Council.

“We fucking live with it,” Tamer said with a scowl. “Even though Sasha is going to kill us all.”

“Very well,” Kiki said. “Next, how soon can you all have your men to the castle to kill some demons? Mine are on the way.”

“As are mine,” Erik said.

“I’ll send them now,” Tamer said.

“Best Council meeting ever,” Kiki declared. “Rhyn, to the castle?”

Rhyn gave a nod, hands clenching at the thought of facing off against some demons. Kiki tucked his iPad under his arm and opened a portal through which all three went before Rhyn followed. They emerged into the castle, and he sensed the demons before he’d even set foot into the hallway outside of Kris’s conference room. A blow sent him smashing into a wall, and he morphed instantly, diving at the demons chasing his brothers as they retreated through the burnt doorway of Kris’s chambers to search for weapons. He tore through the demons and panted as he waited for his brothers.

“I see Kris on the park,” Kiki called from the window. “Never seen so many demons!”

Tamer emerged from Kris's chamber into the hallway first, armed with a scythe and a bo, while Erik followed with a long sword. Kiki trailed with nothing more than his iPad and a long knife. Rhyn snorted at him as Kiki strapped the iPad around his body.

They charged through the hall toward the stairs and descended to the main floor. Rhyn was the first to engage any demon in his way while Tamer and Erik beheaded every creature that crossed their paths. Rhyn led them down the main floor and out the front door, slamming into one of Kris’s Immortals by accident.

“Rhyn, you idiot!” Tamer shouted.

Rhyn righted himself, unconcerned, and barreled toward the demons. Kris’s two-to-one advantage had dwindled, and Darkyn didn’t hesitate to unleash every demon he could. Kris and a few of his Immortals were surrounded in the middle of the park while demons darted from the forest to attack pockets of Immortals. The snow was drenched with blood, like an Immortal snow cone. Kris, he knew, was the best Immortal warrior ever known.

Rhyn tackled one of the demons who took down Kris’s wingman and slashed its throat open. He fought with unrestrained fury, not wanting to stop and think of the most ridiculous thought ever to cross his mind. That he, a half-demon, half-Immortal who had spent the better part of his years in Hell, was looking at becoming the first of his brothers to father a hatchling …

Confusion and rage blinded him, and he threw himself into the battle, not noticing the nicks and bruises his opponents inflicted upon him. He focused on the taste of their warm blood and on tearing them limb from limb.

In his blood-filled haze, he heard one of his brothers shout, and the demons shift their focus from Kris’s small group-- which Rhyn defended-- to the warriors pouring out of portals onto the small battlefield. He fought until the yard was lit only by the castle’s outer lighting, then onward to dawn, free after so long restraining himself around the Immortals and humans.

Stability. It was a word Andre had used that Rhyn never understood. For once, Rhyn knew some sort of stability within himself, no doubt because of his bond to Katie.

He tore apart a demon and stood breathless, seeking his next opponent, only to see the body-strewn park was empty of living demons in the early morning light. He panted, agitated by the snowfall and not having anything else to kill. Everywhere around him, the Council’s Immortals were finishing off the few demons remaining.

“Rhyn?” Kiki asked uneasily as the half-demon approached.

“You’ll have a sword to the throat if you don’t transform,” Kris snapped.

Rhyn growled but shifted to his human shape. His skin and clothing was soaked with demon blood, and Kiki gave him a long look.

“Where’s Katie?” Rhyn demanded.

“They’re fine. I evacuated the castle,” Kris said. His white hair was streaked red with blood, his roving gaze tired. “Kiki, I owe you. Whatever you said to bring the others back, thank you.”

“You can thank Rhyn for beating some sense into us,” Kiki replied.

Rhyn met his eldest brother’s gaze, not expecting any words of appreciation and not disappointed. Kris turned away and maneuvered through the piles of dead-dead Immortals and demons toward Tamer.

“Kiki, I need a count of living and dead-dead Immortals!” he ordered.

Irritation flashed across Kiki’s face, and Rhyn raised an eyebrow in warning.

“Fine,” he grated.

“The Council needs to come with me,” Kris added. “That includes you, Rhyn.”

“You can leave Rhyn out,” Erik said.

“I’ll sit outside the door to make sure no one leaves,” Rhyn suggested. The dangerous note in his voice drew Kris’s attention. Kris looked at each of the brothers then back at him, as if forced to acknowledge what-- or who-- had compelled them back. He said nothing of his thoughts but strode into the castle.

Rhyn didn’t want to follow. He wanted to track any remaining demons in the forest and kill them, too. He trailed his brothers. Kris didn’t go far, just far enough to be out of earshot of the Immortals.

“We need to find Sasha,” he said grimly.

“And kill him,” Erik added, earning a sharp look.

“He took the vial of blood he brought with him,” Kris said. “The next time the demons attack, they may be immune to death by our hands. Kiki, Rhyn, check our father’s crypt. You two come with me.”

Tamer grumbled but obeyed, and Rhyn shook out his tense body.

“The last thing I want to do is go down there,” Kiki said. “You’re not pissed about the display, are you?”

Rhyn eyed him and started down the hall, not caring what his brother thought of anything at the moment. He trotted through the body-littered floor to the back stairwell. Kiki followed him through to the basements, and Rhyn stopped in front of the door to his father’s crypt. The door hung by a single hinge. He saw before entering that the sarcophagus was gone.

He explored the crypt, gaze going to the display of his mother on one wall. He felt the sense of foreboding again, the unseen danger toward Katie. His eyes traveled to where his father had lain.

The son of a demon and an Immortal had turned out too fucked up for anyone to tolerate. He doubted Katie would be anything like a demon mother, and yet, he could see the both of them ending up as his father and mother did: dead-dead before their child was six. He wondered what a half-human son would be like, and his thoughts went to Gabriel, who started out human before turning Immortal. Bitterly, he realized he didn’t know who had the best chance of killing them: the Dark One, the demons, or one of his brothers.

She’d be better off without you. He’d wanted to continue denying the words of his brothers. Gazing at his dismembered mother, he couldn’t help thinking they were right. Everyone who had ever been close to him died horribly. His chest grew tight at the thought of Katie’s fate if she stayed with him. Now, there was something else to consider. His gaze went to the statue of him.

“There’s nothing here,” Kiki said with a frown. “C’mon.”

 

* * *

And still Darkyn pursued her in her nightmares. Katie jerked awake from the latest one where she and Toby were running from the unseen demon down a sandy beach. The first light of day filtered in through the small square window above her bed. The creaky bed protested as she sat, and she tried hard not to make more noise and wake Toby. She slid her feet into plain sandals provided by the convent along with her plain sweats and T-shirt. The Caribbean air was heavy, the ocean chill warmer than the weather at the castle. She wasn’t hungry but walked toward the cafeteria so she wouldn’t be alone with her thoughts.

A breakfast buffet lined one end of the cafeteria, with brown-robed women moving in between the food and the kitchen. Two Immortal mates were already eating, and she looked over the food with disinterest. The makeshift bar in the corner, however, drew her attention.

“Excuse me.”

She turned to see Helga, the woman who had greeted them when they arrived.

“We had an Immortal wash up on our shores last night. He’s alive but a frightful mess, and we haven’t been able to identify him. I thought I’d ask before you sat down for breakfast.”

“I doubt I’ll be much help,” she said. “I’m rather new to this world.”

“The ladies eating didn’t know him either. I have to keep checking though,” the woman said with a level of determination that made Katie smile.

“I’ll come with you,” she said. “I take it this guy is unconscious?”

“Yes. Our healer did what we could. We think he might be an Ancient, but he’s so weak and his face has been so damaged, we can’t tell.”

Katie stopped in place, her chest growing tight. Helga turned to look at her curiously, and she forced herself forward.

“You don’t normally allow Ancients inside the walls,” she said. “You made an exception?”

“He was mostly dead when we fished him out of the bay. When he’s strong enough, we can send him outside the walls.”

Katie couldn’t help the sense of panic growing within her. She rubbed her scarred arm and glanced up at the sky, which had begun to lighten. Helga led her to the men’s wing of the Sanctuary and opened a door to a room smaller than Katie’s.

Sasha’s face was a mottled mess that made him resemble Frankenstein’s monster, with newly sewn stitches holding together the edges of swollen red gashes. She took in the bandages around his chest and arms. He looked as if he’d survived a run-in with a blender.

“He is an Ancient,” she said. “Sasha.”

Helga gasped. “The first to betray the Council and serve the Dark One?”

“The only to betray the council and serve the Dark One!” Katie shot back in irritation. Rhyn had done neither of those things, despite the legend he had! The distinction was lost on Helga, whose look of horror made Katie pity the woman.

“He cannot be here,” Helga said. “But by the Code, I cannot throw him outside the walls when he is so injured.”

Katie hesitated to speak her mind, her gaze taking in Sasha’s beat-up body. It wasn’t a coincidence he was there. She debated with herself about his intentions. Would he go to this extent to be granted admittance, even though he might not survive long enough to get whatever it was he came for? What had he come for? Her or Hannah? Refuge from the demons?

“Was he carrying anything?” she asked. “Or was there anything in his pockets?”

“I’m not sure. If he was, it would be in the trunk under his bed.”

Katie inched forward, terrified he’d leap off the bed to attack her. She eased the small trunk out from under his bed and carried it into the hallway. She set it down and opened it. His shredded clothing had been laundered and folded. Pulling it out, she sucked in a breath and withdrew a familiar vial of blood. She stared at the discovery in her hands. With the castle flooded by demons, she didn’t know where she could take the vial to keep it from Sasha when he woke.

Whatever Sasha’s plan had been, it must’ve backfired. He’d never risk losing something so valuable! Without replacing the clothing, she tucked the vial into her pocket and rose.

“Is there an Immortal named Ully here?” she asked.

“Not that I recall,” Helga said. “There are four Sanctuaries. The Ancient Kris probably contacted the other three, because we only have about forty Immortal refugees here now. We’re the smallest Sanctuary by far.”

“You need to toss him outside the walls, fast,” Katie said. “Or you’re risking the lives of everyone here.”

Helga appeared aghast, then torn. Katie strode back to her room, mind racing. Rhyn might come if she called him. Or he might not after her accidental slip-up. Either way, she feared seeing him again before she had her it’s-not-me-it’s-you speech ready. She opened her door and glanced over at Toby then did a double-take. The youth sitting on Toby’s bed wasn’t Toby.

“Who are you?” she demanded, startled.

“Toby, Mama,” he said with a snicker. The kid on the bed was closer to twelve than five, and near her height. She stared at him hard, recognizing the brown eyes but not the lean face and body.

“Today must be your birthday,” Helga said from the doorway.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Someone care to explain?” Katie asked.

“Angels jump from age to age. They mature slowest of all Immortals, but when they hit certain points in angel years, they jump to the next human stage of maturity,” Helga said. “It’s fascinating. We raised an angel here for several hundred millennia. You wake up one day and find he’s turned from child to man overnight.”

Just when she thought she understood the rules of the Immortals, they changed.

“A hungry man,” Toby added.

“I forgot your cocoa and marshmallows in my suitcase at the castle,” she said. “I’ll bring them back with your toys next time I go there.”

“I’m not six anymore, Mama. I’m going to breakfast.”

She stood out of his way, barely able to care for a child and at a loss as to what to do with a boy on the verge of becoming a teenager. As if unaccustomed to his longer legs, Toby tripped twice on his way to the door, stabilized himself, then started forward more cautiously.

Katie waited until he was gone then shook her head, tired of Immortal surprises. Her hand went to her pocket, where the vial was.

“I need to get this someplace safe before Sasha wakes up,” she said. “Another Sanctuary maybe, so I can find my friend Ully?”

“Your mate can help you, can’t he?” Helga asked with a glance at her neck.

“He’s sort of busy fighting demons.”

“Then I can help you get to the Indian Ocean Sanctuary.”

“I feel like I should take my sister and Toby with me. If you throw Sasha out, can you keep him from entering?”

“No, we cannot. It’s an informality that the Ancients respect about visiting us,” Helga said. “But, we can try to keep him asleep. You came with a healer, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Lankha.”

“I’ll have this Lankha keep the Ancient in a deep sleep until you return.”

Katie hesitated again, afraid to leave her sister after the demons invaded the castle. The vial had to go to Ully, though, and at some point, she’d have to face Rhyn. For the first time since meeting him, she almost preferred to deal with Kris.

“If anything happens …” There was nothing anyone could do, least of all her. She couldn’t bring herself to voice the words out loud. Helga gave her a warm smile.

“We’ve crossed this bridge before,” she assured her. “Your family will be safe here. Come, I will show you a picture to where you must take the portal through the shadow world.”

An hour later, Katie stood in a similar-looking fortress several times the size of the Caribbean Sanctuary. The courtyard was packed with women in brown robes and Immortals. Large shade trees and bamboo cabanas provided seating and protection from the sun. The Immortals were grouped beneath the trees, and none of them appeared the worse for wear from their escape.

She wandered the courtyard, looking for any sign of Ully or anyone she recognized. The fortress around the courtyard was four stories tall and lined with wooden doors indicating guest rooms. Several were open, and she saw much more comfortable accommodations and beds than at the small Sanctuary. The cafeteria was four times the size of the one she was used to, and she lingered in the doorway, finally catching the attention of a convent member.

“I’m looking for an Immortal named Ully. I don’t know his last name or anything,” she said as the woman approached.

“You’ll have to check the register. We haven’t been able to record everyone’s names yet, but what we have is in the guestbook in the office, down that hall, last door on the right,” the woman replied, pointing to a hallway behind her.

Katie moved quickly in the direction she indicated and found a line in front of the guestbook as Immortals wrote their names. When she reached it, she scanned all the names on each page, disappointed at not finding his anywhere.

She began to wonder if he made it out of the castle.

 

* * *

Gabriel stared at the portal in front of him. He dreaded stepping through it. The results of his trip to the mortal world would forever alter his life, and that of his only friend. He would’ve been content to stay in his cottage for another hundred years or never again visit the mortal world. Death, however, had different plans.

You’re going soft.

He hated those words, because he was the biggest and strongest of all Death’s assassins. That he came from the mortal world rather than the Immortal one had left a taint on him that no amount of success could get rid of. He suspected Death always thought him weaker despite service that had been, until now, flawless.

He gathered the tools of the trade, weapons for killing quickly this time, and stepped through the portal to the shadow world. If he tried, he’d be able to locate his target and track her as she moved until she was dead-dead. Instead, he emerged from the shadow world into the center of the Caribbean Sanctuary. He knew she wasn’t there, and the longer she stayed away, the more time he had to think about what to do. He went to a dark corner in the cafeteria to wait.

She’d be safe, as long as she stayed away.