Beauty Awakened aotd-2 Read online

  “How did you do that?” Inside, Nicola’s instincts were churning. Something wasn’t right. “How did you know we needed help?”

  She flashed a quick smile. “I’m like Koldo. He asked me to look after you.”

  Koldo! He hadn’t abandoned her, after all.

  “I’m just glad I got here in time,” Sirena added a little tightly. “Those things are dangerous. They’re the foul offspring of serp demons and Nefas.”

  Nicola placed her hand on her stomach to ward off the oncoming ache. “Thank you. Thank you for helping us.”

  Laila stood, swaying. Her skin had taken on a sickly cast, and her eyes had glassed over. “Are you okay, Co Co?”

  “I am. You?”

  “F-fine.”

  “If you both want to stay that way, we have to get out of here,” Sirena announced. “Koldo wants you with him. Come on. I’ll take you to him.”

  * * *

  “I DON’T LIKE THIS,” Koldo said. It was too easy. The Nefas had never been this obvious with their tracks.

  He and Axel had gone from point A to B to C and now D, without ever having to search for a clue. The breadcrumbs had just been here and there, obvious to any Sent One. A trail from the flashes. A glaze of venom on a door. A spiked footprint. A hint of sulfur-scented smoke. A scattering of serp demon scales.

  “Want to get a mani-pedi and discuss our options?” Axel asked.

  “No.” They were aware of the fact that this could be a trap, and so they could turn the plan against the Nefas.

  Koldo darted through the back alley, Axel a few paces behind him, each hidden in the spirit realm, their swords of fire at the ready. But the further he followed the newest trail, the clearer Koldo remembered the times he’d helped his father provide false tracks for others, even though they’d known the searcher would suspect it was a trap. Nox had never cared about that—had only wanted the males distracted.

  Distracted, so that Nox could steal something of value without any opposition.

  Koldo stopped, and Axel slammed into his back. “This isn’t a trap, it’s a distraction. He just wants us away from Estellä.”

  Teeth grinding, Koldo released the sword of fire and flashed to the building, into Nicola’s office. He found the phone shattered on the floor. He found a discarded weapon—one he recognized. Long, thin, the metal stretching from a hilt that appeared to be the wide jaw of a snake.

  His father’s.

  The first spark of rage hit him. Nicola’s perfume created a soft sweetness in the air, but that sweetness couldn’t cover the taint of sulfur. Serp demons had been here. And Nicola was...was...

  No! He punched the wall. She was alive, he told himself. He wouldn’t believe anything else. His father wouldn’t kill his only ace.

  But still the rage magnified, such dark, dark rage. His teeth elongated; his nails sharpened.

  Control. He needed answers. What had happened here? Where was Jamila? How had the demons gotten Nicola out of the building?

  They would have had to trick her or take her by force. With the destruction in this office, he had to go with force. So...why hadn’t she asked the Most High for help? Why hadn’t she peered at her tattoos?

  Or had she?

  Had she acted too late?

  Had both force and trickery been used?

  This time, the rage grew like a tree, sprouting branches, budding leaves, until he couldn’t see past the thickness of the foliage. Koldo swiped the papers and files from the desk and onto the floor. The computer was next, the screen cracking. He picked up the desk and slammed it down, the wood splitting. He ripped the chair into pieces. Punched another hole in the wall. Then another and another.

  Stop. You have to stop. This isn’t you. Not anymore.

  He paused, panting, sweating—wasting time, he realized.

  He breathed in and out, forcing himself to become the calm, rational man his woman needed. Nicola couldn’t have been gone long—Koldo had seen her an hour ago. But then, he knew how much damage could be done in that amount of time.

  Steady.

  Axel landed beside him, took one look around the room and understood what had happened without having to be told. “Our new plan?”

  The human authorities might decide to delve into Nicola’s disappearance, and he didn’t need their interference—they would only slow him down. “Clean this.”

  “Uh, that would be a no. I have people for that.”

  “Call them.”

  “Already done. They’ll be here in five.”

  Koldo nodded stiffly, the only kind of thanks he could manage.

  “So what do you want to do?” Axel asked.

  He scrubbed a hand down his face. Where would Nox have taken her? His father was a braggart, a showman and big on vengeance. Every misdeed was punished. Koldo’s most recent crime was the killing of the messenger in the park—

  Yes. The park. The scene of the crime.

  “The park,” he said, and flashed to the very spot where he’d decapitated his father’s man. Too late, Koldo realized he should have demanded Axel stay behind. The warrior could find out about Koldo’s past, his lineage, and tell the others in their army.

  No. It didn’t matter. Koldo wanted Nicola safe, whatever the cost.

  He cataloged the area—and when his gaze landed on a male who should have been dead, his breath caught in his chest.

  Nox. His father. Alive, all this time. There was no question about that now.

  Koldo stumbled backward with the force of his shock. Yes, he’d suspected. But seeing the evidence was a blow he’d been unprepared to take. This should have been impossible.

  Nox stood in the center of a dirt pile, where a tree had once been, buffing his nails, allowing Koldo to study him. The male responsible for so many years of torment. Nox was everything Koldo remembered. Tall and strong, with dark, evil eyes.

  He was tattooed from the neck down, with gruesome images that told stories of pain and suffering. They were marks of victory. Some for those against enemies. Some for his female conquests. Some for acts of revenge. Blood appeared to drip. Heads seemed to roll. He also had several piercings in his eyebrows, two in his lip, one in his chin.

  Koldo stepped from the spirit realm to face his worst nightmare and save the sweetest woman he’d known. “Where is she?”

  His father looked him over, triumph twisting his features and revealing the ugliness of his core. “Aren’t you a pretty thing?” His voice was deep. Husky.

  Hated.

  The only reason Nox had never forcibly shaved Koldo’s head, pierced Koldo’s face or tattooed Koldo’s body was because the traits were considered admirable among the Nefas and Koldo hadn’t yet earned the right.

  “You should be dead,” Koldo said.

  A smug smirk, one of thousands Koldo had received over the years. “Oh, you mean that pathetic attempt you made to kill me all those years ago? I saw you coming and flashed away. Your rain of fire failed to singe a single part of me.”

  He raised his chin. “Your people can’t say the same. You abandoned them, choosing to save yourself rather than to stay and issue a warning.”

  In a snap, the smugness gave way to fury. “You are responsible for their deaths, not me. You’re the reason I’ve had to spend all this time rebuilding. Planning. Waiting. I knew I couldn’t hurt a man who had nothing to lose.”

  Having Nox’s intentions stated so plainly—to hurt Nicola in an effort to hurt Koldo—doused his rage with fear. Nox never made an empty threat. He only made promises.

  “Where are the girls?” Koldo demanded.

  “We’ll get to that,” Nox replied smoothly.

  A whoosh of air, and then Axel was beside him, wings tucked into his back.

  Nox grinned slowly. “You made a friend. How nice. But all that means is that more blood will spill today.”

  Humans walked past, spotted them and picked up the pace.

  “Aw. The ugly Nefas thinks he’s going to win.” Axel placed a hand over
his heart. “It’d be cute if it wasn’t so stupid. I bet you’re a crier, aren’t you? Yeah, you’ll cry when you’re spanked. I can tell.”

  “The girls,” Koldo insisted.

  “Here.”

  The new speaker had him turning to the left. He watched as Sirena stepped from a puff of black smoke, dragging Nicola and Laila behind her.

  The girls were bound, pale and shaking. Sirena gave a vicious tug of her wrists, yanking at their ties, and they tripped forward, falling to the ground. Nicola had a split lip and a bruised jaw, but Laila was otherwise unharmed. There was a clear strip of tape covering both their mouths, and tears had stained red tracks down Laila’s cheeks. Nicola radiated anger and determination.

  She would fight. Till her dying breath, she would fight.

  Koldo’s rage returned full force, guilt fast on its heels. He should have protected her. But he hadn’t. He had failed. And he would punish himself for it, he vowed. No one would have to do it for him. He would make sure he suffered for this.

  “How?” he demanded.

  Sirena preened, fluffing her hair. “Like you, I can flash. I’m surprised you didn’t realize. But I do appreciate the suggested stay at Chez Caveman.”

  She could flash. She wasn’t bald, but she could produce black smoke when she flashed. She was definitely Nefas, though she must be of mixed race, like him. Her other half wasn’t Sent One, that was for sure. She had no wings, hidden or otherwise. No sword of fire.

  “Look at that,” his father said. “My only children are getting along so well. How delightful.”

  Axel, who had moved, but had remained at Koldo’s side, stiffened.

  But then, so did Koldo. Nox’s only...children? Koldo’s study of Sirena intensified. She was short. He was tall. She was blonde, her eyes blue. He was dark-headed, his eyes amber. But...their features were somewhat similar, he realized. They had the same strong cheekbones, the same proud nose and stubborn chin.

  He...he had a sister.

  “I’ll give you one chance,” Nox said. As he spoke, five serp demons rose from the dirt and slithered to his sides. “Just one to make things right between us. Bind yourself to Sirena and continue my bloodline, or die here with your woman—after I play with her a little.”

  A trick, surely. “You expect me to wed a blood relation?”

  “Expect? No.” Nox laughed with evil intent, the sound chilling. “Demand? Yes.”

  Koldo popped his jaw, not allowing himself to so much as glance at Nicola and catch her reaction to this.

  “Sirena’s a tasty little treat,” his father added, reaching out to pat her bottom. “You’ll quite enjoy her. I did.”

  Disgusting male. And I sprang from his loins. “Are you agreeable to this?” he barked at Sirena.

  “I am,” she said, and bent over Nicola. She placed a kiss against the tape covering her mouth as the girl tried to turn her head away. Sirena’s intentions were clear: she wanted Nicola’s soul. All the while her gaze remained on Koldo. “You’ve been promised to me since my birth, and I will have you. One way or another. What happens to the human depends on you.”

  Four other Nefas strolled over to their group, one eating from a bag of popcorn, another biting into a caramel apple and another drinking a cup of coffee. But he could see the guns and knives stashed at their wrists, waist and ankles. They were warriors.

  Worse, there were two demons with them. Lefty and Righty. Lefty’s arm had been reattached, though it hung limply at his side, but Righty’s horn was still missing. Both males were grinning.

  I’ll flash to the girls and throw them at you, he projected into Axel’s mind. Catch them and fly them to safety. I’ll stay behind to fight.

  He expected resistance. After all, a Sent One had just found out that Koldo was half-Nefas, the vilest race to walk the earth.

  Instead, Axel said, Dude, you better keep yourself alive. There’s no way I can deal with those two ladies for long...without throwing a shagging party.

  “What’s it to be?” Nox demanded.

  The serps slithered to the girls, mouths hovering near their ears, ready to breathe their toxin all over them. The girls would experience intense waves of fear, and that fear would open their minds to harsher attack. Were they strong enough to resist? To overcome?

  Sirena gave Nicola’s taped mouth another kiss, and grinned.

  “I’ll have her,” he said—though he failed to specify which one. And the word have had many different meanings, didn’t it?

  Nicola flinched. Laila sobbed into the ground.

  Sirena straightened.

  Nox nodded with satisfaction, but said, “I don’t actually believe you. But that’s okay. You won’t leave this spot until it’s done. Then, you’ll have to be punished for killing my people.”

  “No. That’s not how this will go down.” He flashed to the girls, dislodging Sirena as he covered both humans with his own body. The serps immediately bounded into action, exhaling their toxin before sinking fangs into his arms.

  A burning in his veins, a release of the venom.

  The moment the creatures pulled back, intending to make another play, he tossed both females at Axel, as planned. The angel’s wings whipped out, and he darted into the air, leaving Koldo alone with a horde of enraged Nefas.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE done that,” Nox said, reaching up to grab the hilt of a sword he’d strapped to his back. “I was willing to be nice. Now, not so much.”

  Sirena withdrew two short swords.

  The four Nefas warriors dropped their food and withdrew guns.

  Lefty and Righty unsheathed their claws.

  “We should take this somewhere private,” Koldo said.

  One word from his father. “No.”

  Very well, then. Koldo extended his arm and summoned the sword of fire. The flames burst forth, a mix of yellow and blue, crackling. He would be battling his enemies in both the natural and the spiritual realms. It wasn’t ideal, but it also wasn’t impossible.

  Most of the humans in the park gasped at the display of aggression and weaponry. Some ran. Some sat down as if they were about to be entertained with an after-dinner theater performance.

  The Nefas flashed to Koldo’s sides as the demons converged. He swung the sword left and right in quick succession, going for his father first, but the male flashed a few feet away to avoid being hit. At the same time, the others lashed out at him. He dodged one, two, three, but not the rest, and took the impact in his arm, side and leg.

  A bullet grazed his shoulder. A sharp sting caused him to hiss. Bleeding, he flashed behind Nox, and swung his sword. But his father sensed him and also flashed, leaving three of his men vulnerable. The sword slicked through their bodies. Two of the Nefas went down face-first, dead. The other whipped around as he fell and squeezed off another shot. This time, Koldo flashed before the bullets could nail him.

  Lefty realized he was close enough to strike and swung, his wing slicing out, reaching...missing. Koldo flashed to the other side, struck—decapitating a Nefas. But Lefty and Righty were familiar with his brand of fighting and anticipated his landing.

  The moment he was busy swinging his sword at someone else, they flew up and over, kicking him in the face. He stumbled backward. A chorus of “ooh” and “aah” erupted from the growing crowd.

  Sirena flashed behind him, catching him before he could straighten, but rather than stab him, as he expected, she pressed her body against his, and dug her nails into his neck. Nails that seemed to leak a boiling liquid straight into his veins. Her grip was strong. Impossibly strong.

  Hot breath fanned over his skin as she said, “I’m going to relish cutting your female to ribbons and sucking out her soul.” She jumped up to lick his cheek with a long, hot stroke. “You’re mine, and don’t you ever forget it.”

  As she spoke, the serps wrapped their tails around his ankles and jerked. He slammed his elbow backward, drilling Sirena in the stomach as he fell. They both w
ent down. As breath exploded from her in a pained rush, he tried to turn, determined to end her. But the demons still locked around his ankles gave a vicious tug, and he skidded away.

  Lefty and Righty were there, kicking and punching at him. All the while, the remaining Nefas flashed in and out, punching and vanishing, punching and vanishing. Sharp stings erupted over every inch of him. He rolled over, and the demons clawed at him as he tried to sit up. He let them, wanting them close enough for contact—with his weapon. They scratched and bit at him, lost to their need for revenge, unaware he was raising his sword of fire.

  He killed three before Sirena regained her composure and approached him alongside Nox. But when Sirena raised her arm, as if to strike him, putting herself in harm’s way, Nox shoved his daughter out of the way. She slammed into the two demons approaching his other side, the three tumbling to the ground, away from the strike of Koldo’s sword. Still Koldo carved through the demons at his feet. Fetid steam rose, and black blood spilled. The grass sizzled.

  A booted foot propelled into his side. Nox’s.

  He rolled to avoid another kick, and saw a glint of metal in the corner of his eye. One of the Nefas was lifting a sword, preparing to behead him. Again, Koldo rolled, the tip of the weapon slamming into the dirt, dark grains flying in every direction. He flashed to a stand a few feet away, just behind his father. He swung, and the fiery tip slicked just above Nox’s shoulder, headed for his heart, before the male flashed away.

  A whoosh of wings penetrated his ears, followed by another. Malcolm and Magnus landed a few feet away from him, Jamila behind them. Grunts began to split the air. Metal slammed against burning metal, clanging. Koldo spun, and saw that the Sent Ones were engaged in a fierce battle. Malcolm and a Nefas. Magnus and a Nefas. Jamila and Sirena. The Nefas could have flashed away for good, but Koldo knew their mind-set. Knew they liked to remain in a battle as long as possible, inflicting as much damage as they could, only leaving at the threat of death.

  The serps were in the process of slithering away as quickly as possible.