The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) (70 page)

Sean was frozen with shock, eyes wide and unblinking. In his hand, the silver Primani blade gleamed dully reflecting the pale fire of his eyes and illuminating the space. He didn’t say a word and he didn’t move. He stared at us with a what-the-fuck expression. His mouth worked but nothing came out.

Frantically, I called to him, “Sean!”

Shrugging, the demon said, “Well, that’s a bit anticlimactic. I was hoping for more of a fight. What did you do to him?” He dismissed Sean completely and said, “Where were we?”

Reacting out of sheer revulsion now, I twisted and turned trying to throw him off but he was too strong and I couldn’t get out of his grasp without ripping my own arms off.

Laughing cruelly, he said, “You can’t fight me, human. You caught me off guard once before, but this time I’m ready for you. I didn’t get to be this old by being stupid.”

Stalling, I said, “I killed you! How are you alive? Who are you?”

Smiling coldly, he said, “In this plane, I’m known as Dagin. Surprised?”

“Dagin!”

I was most definitely surprised. The Primani had been looking for him for years. He was a royal pain in the ass on a good day.

At the sound of this name, Sean reacted like he’d been stung and roared back to life launching himself at Dagin. Dagin turned to meet his attack with his own battle cry. The force of Sean’s attack sent them both skidding down the corridor while I watched in stunned silence. I must be having a seizure…a nightmare…something.

How was this possible?

I
killed
Dagin, didn’t I?

I cut him to pieces and blew him into nothing but smoke…

The entire scene was so surreal I had to keep shaking my head to make sense of it. The dark tunnel was lit up by the burning heat radiating from Sean and Dagin’s eyes. In full soldier-mode, Sean’s eyes blazed and his body put off a subtle glow as the energy raced through him. The odd bluish light cast them in creepy nightmarish shadows. With jaws clenched in fury, their cheekbones stood out in sharp relief. Except for the eyes, it was impossible to tell them apart: they both looked like something out of the bottom rings of Hell. I shrank away from them and pasted myself against a wall. The two of them moved so fast I could barely follow the fight. They blurred from one position to the next trying to rip each other to pieces.

Across the tunnel, Dagin’s snake eyes gleamed vividly in the dim light. His expression was almost bored as he flexed his fingers. Laughing softly, he shot a fireball at Sean’s head that missed by inches. Sean jumped away from it easily and fired back with an energy blast. The blast hit Dagin in the chest and he staggered back but kept to his feet. The smell of sulfur drifted in the air. Hissing loudly, he dematerialized and popped up behind Sean. Sean was ready for the trick and jabbed him hard with the silver blade. Dagin only grunted and grabbed Sean’s knife hand.

While twisting his wrist sharply, he snarled into Sean’s face, “You little pussy! You’re pathetic.”

Sean growled, “Fuck you, demon!”

Sean’s face was beet red as he struggled, but he was able to break free by head butting Dagin and smashing his nose. Dagin swore viciously and dropped his grip. Before he could regroup, Sean whirled around and blasted him again. The energy beam missed as Dagin rolled and leapt back to his feet in a crouch.

I was so intent on the fight in front of me that I missed seeing Dec rematerialize with a struggling person in his arms. Cursing profusely, he finally dropped the person who landed with an indignant squeal of anger. Dani?

“Mica, help me with her!”

“Dani?” I yelped when I heard her voice. “Oh, my God! Dani, is that you? Dec, I can’t see her; can you fix the lights?”

With an irritated sound, he sent a bolt of power to a broken emergency light near the top of the tunnel. It burst into life with a buzz.

I stumbled over to them just in time to see her get awkwardly to her feet and rub at her butt. She was dressed in an oversized cotton nightgown made for an old lady. It was filthy with grime and torn down one side exposing her pale skin. Her feet were bare and also filthy. They had to be cold too…her hair was matted and greasy. She fluffed at it now with a haughty air and scowled at us.

This was bad.

Dec’s face glowed like a tiny sun in the tunnel illuminating everything nearby. He stood preternaturally still as his eyes met mine.

“What happened, Dec?” 

Between his teeth, he ground out, “She was in a
cell,
Mica, a freakin’ cell! No food, no water, a rag…like an animal! Worse than an animal!” He lowered his voice but fury hardened every word until they came at me like machine gun fire.

“My God.”

“Not likely!”

“Didn’t she recognize you? What’s wrong with her?”

Laughing bitterly, he snapped, “Oh, she recognized me! Exactly as James programmed her to see me…as her enemy! She tried to rip my face off when I picked her up to carry her out of there.” He tilted his face my direction so I could see the bloody gouges across one cheek from eye to jaw. They seeped blood and he wiped angrily at them. “We’ve got to get her to Zadkiel. He can help her better than we can.”

I started to reach out a sympathetic hand and he jerked away. “Don’t touch me! I don’t want to calm down! I want to hunt these animals down and rip their guts out inch by inch.”

I was on board with that idea and it was all I could do to stay where I was. “We’ll get them. It’s going to have to wait a minute though.” I nodded towards Sean and Dec’s mouth dropped open.

Grabbing his blade, he jumped up and bolted forward.

Sean shouted, “No, Dec! This bastard’s mine!”

To punctuate his claim, he dematerialized and grabbed Dagin from behind. Dagin flipped him to the floor and threw himself on top of him, knife gleaming in the odd light.

“Shouldn’t you do something?” I demanded. This was taking too long. Sean had to be getting tired, didn’t he? Maybe they didn’t get tired?

Shaking his head firmly, he snapped, “Not yet. This is Sean’s kill. We need to see to Dani.”

Dani leaned against the wall looking defiant and angry. Approaching her cautiously, I said, “Dani, we’re going to get you out of here! Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.” I reached out to hug her.

She spit on me.

Her mouth twisted in an ugly grimace. “I’m not going anywhere with you. This is my home now.” She rubbed a loving hand over the bulge under her dirty nightgown. “James will be back soon so you should leave. He doesn’t like you, Mica.” She looked down her nose at me. “He says you’re a slut and you’ve been screwing around on Sean. Does he know that?” She pointed a finger at Sean who was struggling to keep Dagin from getting the upper hand.

Gritting my teeth and feeling my temperature rise, I tried for calm. She was obviously brainwashed. This wasn’t my Dani. I tried again. “Dani, we need to get you out of here so the baby can see a doctor. You want the baby to be safe, right?”

Snickering behind her hand, she scoffed, “I have the best doctors here. They see to my every need. Look at me! I’m perfectly healthy and so is the baby.”

Dec groaned next to me and ground his teeth together loudly. Dragging me to the side, he snapped, “We have to get her out of here! I can’t stand seeing her like this!” His voice grew more intense until he finally punched the wall sending showers of mortar around us.

I was used to Sean and Killian morphing into their harder Primani selves, but Dec usually stayed relaxed in a fight. He’d even been known to grin cheekily while dispatching demons. This Dec, though, was unnerving me. He’d morphed completely into that supernatural warrior, looking more demon than angel in the dim light.

“Grab her!” he shouted as Dani tried to make a run for it.

It was too easy to stop her and my heart broke just a little at how weak she was. She slapped at my hands but I forced her to sit down. Dec knelt next to her and cupped her chin in his hand trying to calm her. Wanting only to help, he whispered to her in a compelling voice. She resisted and tried to knock his hand away. Determined, he gripped her chin hard and hissed at her to sit still.

Defiantly, she sneered, “You piece of shit! Get out of my face!”

She spit in his face.

Stone faced, he kept whispering to her, trying to reach into her mind, trying to find her beyond the demon’s control. How had this happened? We were all so normal not that long ago…My mind just couldn’t understand…Unable to watch any longer, I turned away and blinked back tears for Dani.

But the sense of unreality continued. Sean and Dagin were locked in a battle of strength and wills and Sean hadn’t destroyed him yet. It was bizarre how evenly matched they were; neither had gotten the upper hand. They looked identical now, and I couldn’t tell who was who. They wore the same face, but one was good, one was evil…

But was it really so black and white?

Remembering those kisses, I thought about how familiar they felt even though I knew it wasn’t Sean. Just for a second, it had felt like him…until he hurt me. Sean hadn’t ever been violent to me…until recently.

Detroit.

His anger pushed him into someone he wasn’t…someone he shouldn’t be.

Killian’s words came back to me.

He’s too powerful to let his emotions rule his brain
. 

His pride kept him from forgiving me. Now that anger and pride drove him to destroy Dagin.

Would he kill him for my sake or for his own?

Staring intently, I knew which one was the real Sean. He was the one with the underlying desperation in every move. No longer graceful and elegant, he threw himself at Dagin with brute force. He wasn’t just fighting one demon.

He fought the lure of darkness, the shadows creeping around him.

He fought his own darker side.

Why didn’t he just finish him? It was taking too long…he’d lost the Primani blade and couldn’t reach it; the powerful blade lay on the floor in a puddle of murky water.

He threw himself to the side as Dagin slung a fireball at his head. Rolling to his feet, he shot a bolt of energy that collapsed the ceiling near Dagin’s head. Back and forth they went; it was almost like they could predict the other’s moves. Neither scored a direct hit, both were nearing a tipping point.

A faint murmuring gradually penetrated my brain as I stood transfixed by the scene playing out. Straightening with sudden recognition, I tensed and looked for him. Killian.

His shout drew my eyes to the darkened tunnel as he rematerialized a few feet in front me. He had the golden blade raised over his head and stood defiantly waiting as the first of them shuffled forward like a nightmare in the darkness. The awkward shuffle was so theatrical that I smiled.

This was going to be too easy…

Killian’s voice whispered in my mind…persuading, calling…his magic as familiar to me as if it was my own…

Sgaine dios a liane, Sgaine dios a liane.

He called the lightning.

With each word, the tone of his call grew more demanding, more insistent. His voice compelled me, it was impossible to resist. I would be what he needed, do what he needed. I would answer his call. I was part of him…as connected to him as his own hand.

Our bond formed by blood and stone.

Stronger together than apart…we would win this.

It was destined. I saw this as clearly as I saw the faint blue shimmer.

The air crackled and the hair on my arms stood up while the powerful force surged like a current through my veins…readying me for what was to come. Waiting for his signal, I stood by his side. They came forward, one at a time at first. They were different from the reanimated demons; these had been people and death had changed their bodies.

The first zombie had been shot; the gaping hole in his chest ragged with decay. A woman shuffled behind the first one. She had been young; her blond hair still hung limply down her back as she shuffled mindlessly towards me. After a minute, there were six of them moving our direction. As they got closer, I got antsy.

Why wasn’t he doing something?

They were 50 yards away and more streamed in to fill the tunnel in front of us. Still he stood, facing them, blade glowing fiercely above his head. Inclining his head slightly, he spoke the simple words that would change the world.

“
Sgaine dios a liane, Sgaine dios a liane.
”

He called the lightning.

Now there were too many to count and they were crowding forward. An ominous murmur grew louder to my right and turning with dread, I found the other tunnel filling with more undead…Two of the three tunnels were blocked. Sean and Dagin were throwing each other against the wall behind me while Dec crouched over Dani’s still form.

We had only one way out.

At the moment, the others were too intent on their own battles to notice the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse bearing down on us. Tensing for the fight, my eyes burned and my fingers gripped my Primani blade hard enough to imprint the carvings into my palm. Balancing my weight on the balls of my feet, I felt a strange sense of calm. With my heightened vision, I saw the decomposing grey skin clearly as the first of them were nearly upon us.