Soul Screamers Volume Four: With All My Soul\Fearless\Niederwald\Last Request: 4 (20 page)

“Fair enough. Though you should probably know there isn’t really a not-crazy end of the—”

The front door flew open and smashed into the wall, and Tod and I both turned toward the sound as Styx began growling furiously. “Kaylee!” Nash called.

Tod groaned. “You left the front door unlocked?”

“That was probably Emma. I don’t use doors much anymore. Besides, everyone who wants to kill me is on another plane of existence.” I shrugged. “The front door doesn’t seem like a particularly meaningful barrier.”

“Well, I hope you’ve learned your lesson.” He said it loud enough that I knew no one else could hear him. As they couldn’t yet hear me.

“Kaylee?” It took me a second to recognize Emma’s voice, even though I’d had two weeks to get used to it. Because it wasn’t Emma’s voice. It was Lydia’s.

“Back here, guys,” I called, and both sets of footsteps hurried our way. “I’m fine.”

Nash stepped into the bathroom doorway, nearly tripping over Styx, who came to growl at him, and I saw Em over his shoulder. His attention narrowed on the rag his brother still held, then rose to meet my gaze. “Then what’s with the blood?”

“When you cross the bridge, you have to pay the toll....”

I squeezed past him into the hall, and Emma fell into step beside me. “What bridge?”

“She made a deal with Ira to find out where Avari’s holding her dad,” Tod explained, and I looked up to find him waiting for us in the living room, one hand on the dead bolt on the front door. “His price was her blood.”

“Blood? How much? Are you okay?” Em looked terrified.

I showed her the bandage on my hand. “Just a little. He only wanted a...taste.”

“And he told you where your dad is?”

“Yeah. Avari’s holding him in the Netherworld version of Lakeside. In the basement. I’m assuming he considers that some kind of irony.”

“Or a joke,” Nash said. “Please tell me you didn’t go into the Netherworld by yourself to make this deal.”

“Nope. I summoned Ira. He came to me.” I held my hand up again, showing off the bandage. “Thus the blood.”

“You
summoned
him?” Nash said. “What does that even mean?”

“He came here?” Emma asked before I could answer Nash. “They can cross over again?”

“No.” I frowned. “Well, yes, but only because I summoned him with my blood and his name. While he’s summoned, he can only interact with me, and I can get rid of him just by wiping his name off whatever I wrote it on. He can send himself back the same way.”

“So you think that makes it safe?” Nash demanded. “Please tell me you don’t think what you just did was safe!”

“Of course not. Dealing with a hellion is never safe, but I didn’t have much of a choice. Avari’s latest game appears to be evil hide-and-seek. That way I don’t just suffer once I get to the Netherworld—I also suffer while I track my father down.”

“I didn’t know hellions could be summoned,” Em said, and I could only shrug. I hadn’t known, either.

“Most of them can’t.” Tod sank onto the arm of the couch. “Only the most powerful can cross over when called, and then only for very short periods. Once the blood used to summon them dries completely, they get sucked back into the Netherworld. And Kaylee’s right. There’s very little a summoned hellion can do in the human world. It’s mostly used for face-to-face communication and...exchanges.”

“Exchanges?” Nash looked suspicious, so I ignored his question.

“So, that means Ira really is more powerful than Avari?”

“My guess would be way more powerful. He’s a hellion of wrath, and wrath is one of the oldest, most primal emotions.”

“Weird.” I frowned. “He looked pretty young.”

“So does Levi,” Tod pointed out. “But then, compared to Ira, Levi’s practically still in utero.”

“So, how much trouble are we in with this new hellion?” Emma asked. “If he’s that powerful, maybe we should try drawing him out, as well. I mean, is he strong enough to just...squish Avari for us?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is that he wouldn’t do that for free, and I’m not willing to pay the price he’d ask. And I’m not eager to spend any more time with him, because just hearing his voice makes me angry. Touching him is even worse—that makes me truly furious, about things I haven’t even thought about in years.”

Nash scowled. “You touched him?”

“He touched
me.
That was part of the price. And when he touched me, I couldn’t think about anything except how furious I was about every time anyone has ever been...wronged. And I think he could see those times. All of them. I think he tasted them in my blood. Or maybe sucked them right out of my head when we kissed.”

“You kissed him?” The horror clear in Emma’s wide-eyed expression echoed in her voice, as well.

“Not by choice. It was weird, though, because he didn’t taste like wrath. He tasted like peace. Like calm. But he was
hungry
for wrath, like he devours every drop he ever tastes immediately and is then starving for more.”

Tod scowled. “Feel free to stop telling me what hellions taste like.”

“She kissed someone else.” Nash wasn’t exactly smiling at his brother, but he didn’t look entirely unhappy, either. “Wow. I wonder what
that
felt like?”

“That felt like Kaylee sacrificing a part of herself to help her father. And if memory serves, she’s not the only one in this room who’s ever kissed a hellion. Were
your
motives so pure?”

“Is that always going to be your default insult?”

“Okay, both of you calm down, please.” I was worried enough about the anger I couldn’t seem to purge. I couldn’t deal with more brother drama on top of everything else.

Someone knocked on the door, and Nash headed into the kitchen—hopefully to collect his temper—while I peeked through the curtains to see my uncle’s car parked in the driveway. I unlocked the front door, and Sabine walked in without being invited, followed by my cousin and Luca. My uncle brought up the rear.

“So, what’d we miss?” Sabine dropped onto the couch.

Nash returned from the kitchen with a bottle of water and took the cushion next to her. “Avari has Kaylee’s dad, and she kissed a hellion to find out where he’s being held.”

“What?”
Uncle Brendon demanded, and I couldn’t tell which part he was more upset about. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“I did. You were bailing Sophie out of jail. Or something like that.”

“Sabine was the perpetrator. Sophie was just an accomplice after the fact.” My uncle sank into my father’s recliner and ran one hand through his thick brown hair.

I glanced at Sophie to see if she’d correct him or let Sabine’s lie by implication stand. She stared at her feet and said nothing. But I couldn’t really blame her for not owning up to that one. It was Sabine’s fault, at least in part, for playing so loose with her fears and insecurities.

And for letting her carry scissors, my cousin’s well-established weapon of choice.

“It’s been one hell of a day.” Uncle Brendon looked up and glanced around the room. “Where’s Harmony? Did you call her?”

“Yeah, but she’s in the Netherworld, gathering ingredients for—” I glanced at Em, then decided to keep the details quiet, because I wasn’t sure how much everyone else knew about Traci’s predicament “—something. Should we go look for her?”

Both Nash and Tod started to nod, but my uncle shook his head. “No. She’s careful, and she knows how best to get in and out without being seen. If we go after her, we’re just increasing the chance of her—or us—getting caught.” Which would be worse for Nash, my uncle, Luca, and Em, who couldn’t come back on their own.

Not that I had plans to take Em or Luca into the Netherworld anytime soon. Or even Sophie, though she’d demonstrated the ability to come and go on her own. Once. But once wasn’t enough to prove she could stay calm under pressure or cross over without unleashing her full scream—the only trait she seemed to have inherited from her father’s side of the family.

She could wail well enough to cross over, with the required intent, but she was not a
bean sidhe.
Her screams would not sing for souls. She could not restore life.

She’d be a sitting duck in the Netherworld. Or an enticing piece of bait...

I shook my head, shaking the thought loose before it could take root. I was not going to use my own cousin for demon bait. Even if she sometimes deserved it.

“Harmony will be back on her own, and the best thing we can do is wait for her.”

“But what if Avari has her?” Nash demanded. “He has Kaylee’s dad. How do we know he hasn’t taken my mom?”

My uncle stood. “If he had your mom, he’d tell us. It does him no good to take her hostage and not tell us how to bargain for her freedom.”

“What if she’s not a hostage?” Sophie asked, and Emma sank slowly onto the arm of the couch next to Nash in obvious horror. “We weren’t hostages when he took us. What if he has Harmony but doesn’t intend to give her back?”

Nash stood. “I’m going after her.”

Uncle Brendon rolled his eyes. “You can’t get there on your own, son.”

Nash turned to Sabine. “Take me. Please.”

“Nash...” She took his hand, and I realized I’d never seen her look at anyone else the way she looked at him. Like it broke her heart not to be able to give him whatever he wanted. “I can’t. It’s not safe.”

“I know!” He pulled his hand from her grip. “That’s why I have to go find her.”

“Nash, I want to protect her just as much as you and Tod do,” my uncle said. Tod looked skeptical, but Nash looked furious. “But if anyone knows how to get in and out of the Netherworld without getting hurt, it’s your mother. She’s been gathering stuff for her homemade remedies since she was younger than you are. I’m sure she’s fine.”

“If she’s not, I’m holding
you
responsible.” Nash stomped into the kitchen and out into the backyard. The door slammed shut behind him, and Sabine stared at it like she wanted to go after him but knew better.

Tod crossed his arms over his chest. “One hour.” His voice was calm and quiet, and betrayed no hint of indecision. “If she’s not back in one hour, I’ll go after her myself.”

No one argued with Tod.

“Okay. Until then, we need to decide on a plan to get Aiden back. How did you find out Avari took him?”

I dug my dad’s phone from my pocket, woke up the screen, then handed it to my uncle.

His face paled instantly. “Well, that does seem...certain. Is that crimson creeper near his foot?”

“Yup.”

“And you know where he’s being held?”

“The basement of the Netherworld version of Lakeside.”

“Buried beneath the mental hospital.
That’s
not creepy,” Emma mumbled.

Sophie flinched. “Did you really kiss a hellion to get that information?”

I met her gaze as boldly as I could, considering that I was still
incredibly
creeped out by what I’d done. “Everything has a price, Sophie. Someone has to pay.”

“Okay. Back on topic.” My uncle headed into the kitchen, aiming right for the cabinet over the microwave. “We’re going to need two teams. A small one, to cause a distraction, and another one, a little larger, to get Aiden out.”

“I’m going to turn myself in.” I said it softly, but every head in the room swiveled to stare at me. When my uncle turned, he held the bottle of whiskey my father had confiscated from Nash the month before.

“No, you’re not,” Tod said. “Even if any of us was willing to let that happen, it won’t help your dad. We want to get him out, not leave you behind.”

“I know. This is a trap. I’m going to pretend to fall for it, while the rest of you get my father the hell out of there. You and Sabine can cross my uncle over.” I glanced into the kitchen to find Uncle Brendon pouring whiskey into a short glass of ice. “The two of you should be able to carry him if he can’t walk, and Sabine can get you out if anything goes wrong or Tod can’t cross with you both. Two who can’t cross, two who can.” That was the safest ratio.

“No,” Tod said, and I glanced at him in surprise. He’d never refused to help. “I’m staying with you. Nash can go with them. He can help lift your dad if necessary.”

“But I can cross. My dad, uncle, and Nash can’t. They need you more.”

“He’s right, Kay-bear,” Uncle Brendon said. “No one goes in alone.”

I stood, my irritation mounting. “That doesn’t make any sense. Sabine can’t get you, my dad, and Nash out all at once, especially if my dad’s still unconscious. You need someone else who can cross over!”

“And we have someone.” Luca pulled back the living room curtain to reveal Harmony’s car pulling up to the curb in front of my house. As I watched, relieved, she got out and locked her car, then started up the driveway.

The back door opened, and Nash came in, ignoring Styx when she came to growl at him, again. “I heard a car.”

Harmony knocked three times, then opened the front door, and, I swear, Nash nearly melted with relief. She stopped in the doorway, sliding her phone into her purse, and glanced around at everyone, surprised to be the center of attention before she was even in the house. “Any news about Aiden? And why are you all staring at me?”

“We thought Avari got to you, too.” Nash hugged his mom, then shoved his hands into his pockets, looking both sheepish and relieved at the same time.

Tod ran one hand through his hair, then gave his mother a hug. “Please don’t disappear at the same time someone else goes missing. That’s very misleading.”

She patted his back, then let him go. “I’m fine. I know my way around the Netherworld, sweetie.”

Uncle Brendon shook his head, but he was all smiles. “I tried to tell them....” He opened his arms, and she walked into his embrace. Then they kissed, and Nash groaned while the rest of us averted our eyes.

“Dad, gross!” Sophie made a show of covering her eyes, and Luca laughed.

“Okay, so do we have a plan?” Harmony took the glass of whiskey from Brendon, made a face, then dumped it straight down the sink. “And by the way, this is not the time for...
this.
” She held up the glass for everyone to see—including Brendon, who frowned but didn’t argue.