Blessed by Sapphires (A Dance with Destiny Book 2) (36 page)

The silence was eerie, intentionally so. I sniffed the air and found a faint trace of my treasured friend. Intense anger washed over me, drowning the panic and fear beneath its tide. I felt civility leaving me, humanity ebbing away. Raw, primal rage grew and swelled within me.

My feral words hissed over clenched teeth, saliva dripped from my mouth as a beast. “Do not touch him.” My chest and shoulders heaved up and down with my strained, labored breathing. “I will kill you. When I find you, you are dead. But… if you harm
one
hair upon his noble head, you will wish for death
long
before I bless you with the gift. Do you hear me?” I knew someone, something was there. Yet I received no answer. “I know you do. I know you understand my words. Know this as well. There is not a creature in all existence the Death Angel cannot kill, or banish, or cease entirely.
I
am that Angel. I swear your death. By mine own head, I swear it. Harm him and I will peel your skin from your body, filet you with my claws, consume it before your very eyes. I will gorge upon your putrid flesh. Bask in your torturous screams as I crush your bones within you. Listen to me. Mark my words. I… will… devour… you. Gobble you up piece by piece while you yet live.”

With my fear gone, replaced by grim determination, I concentrated, focused with all my newly formed senses. I realized a fraction of a second too late. Something hovered just above my head.

Icy hands seized my entire body at the same time.

Then… I felt my feet leave the soft, warm ground.

Chapter 44

Spadroon

(spah-DROON)

Not only could I sense the darkness, I could
feel
it as well. It was suffocating.

The glow of the rune ruby offered no help due to my blindness, but I could feel it pulsing, constantly pulsing. I sent up a silent prayer that the glow didn’t shine as a beacon within my dress.

The ground beneath my feet was only dirt—a fine, thin dirt with no signs of foliage or life. Each footfall echoed beneath me, almost hollow. I received no feedback waves to my soles, but the ruby pulsed on.

They’re in the air.

I turned my head upward and clicked, distant ripples replied through the deathly still air.

I was concentrating so hard that when the shrieks came, they were deafening. I clasped my hands over my ears and sank to the dusty ground. The cries echoed and reverberated all around me.

I’m in a bubble… no… a dome.

Against every self-preserving instinct ripping through my body, I headed toward the source of those horrid screams. I had to find the exit. The waves and ripples had confirmed the room was otherwise solid. I took small soft steps—my hands fully extended, feeling in every direction. The metal bars blocking my way were not disheartening. I knew something would be in place to hinder my escape. So their presence was actually reassuring.

At least I know which way to go when I get the chance.

My talisman went from pulsing to vibrating. I heard the nasally sniffing, and gagged from the putrid stench.

Is it a dog? A beast? No… it’s rancid… rotten. Like decayed flesh.

The soul-jarring hiss was right in front of my nose. Spittle landed on my face. My reaction was purely instinctive, driven by revulsion. My claws slashed toward the vile face as one diamond wing crashed through the ancient steel; severing the offending head from whatever body it had been attached.

I jumped over where the corpse should’ve fallen and had to balance myself with outstretched wings… when my bare foot landed in a pool of warm blood, or bile, or ooze of some kind. That’s when I finally retched. My stomach had tried to rebel from the first whiff of decay. Now, it won. I staggered away, keeping my left hand upon the outer wall of my recent cell.

Coughing and gagging, I caught my breath just as the heart-piercing screams came once more. I was definitely in a corridor, a
huge
corridor. I ran toward the pitiful sound.

Several yards down and to my right, my feet signaled a large opening. As I cautiously entered, my blood ruby was dancing frantically inside my clothing.

No question crossed my mind as to where I’d been taken. I knew from the moment I’d been seized, I was in Eastern Spadroon. What I
didn’t
know… was anything about the landscape. Was I inside a giant structure or trapped within an aboveground maze? I would’ve
sworn
I was inside a massive cave. Yet I knew there was either no ceiling, or it was extraordinarily high.

I assumed a defensive stance—with not only my knees apart, but my arms and wings fully extended as well. And… I listened. At first, the eerie silence was deafening. I heard a tiny thud, then another one. I moved toward it slowly. There it was again, almost muffled… thud, thud, pat, drip.

Drip? Something’s dripping onto the dusty ground… pooling there.

Again, the smell came before the mental recognition. It was the sickening sweet, salty, rusty scent of blood. I hated that smell. It always left a metallic taste in the back of my throat. Blood was pooling on the ground. This had to be the origin of the screams.

Blood? Demons don’t bleed blood. Someone’s here… a person.

Then, I smelled it. I smelled
him
.

“No… Vittorio… No…”

My whispers rang like a shot through the darkness, and were met with muffled grunts. I hurried toward the piteous sounds, ignoring the jumping talisman trying desperately to escape my tunic. Terror filled my gut but rage pulsed through my veins.

The rest seemed to happen in slow motion, but played out with blurring speed. I heard their breathing, smelled their stench, and obtained ripples from their positions. They were
everywhere
. Demons stood all around me, hovered in the air above my head, hundreds of them.
I
struck first.

The death screams and gurgling sounds were constant. Acidic blood rained down as if it were a cloudburst. I don’t recall the cuts and blows they landed upon me, but there were many. I chased down the retreating vermin and ripped through them with my clawed hands.

My chest was heaving steadily. The bloodlust which had seized me was ebbing slowly away. I lowered myself to the ground and scanned the area once more.

That was too easy. They must’ve been lesser demons.

“How very astute of you, Angel.”

That voice, I’d heard it before. It was the man who spoke within my head, back in Vanahirdem. But now the lulling, buttery soft tone had been replaced with vile contempt.

“Why did you bring us here, Devil?” I spat.

“I only sent for
you
. He… was a minor distraction. Nothing more,” he answered casually.

“That
minor distraction
will cost you your very existence.”

“You dare to threaten me? When last we met, you could neither move nor speak. Watch your tongue, Witch. Or I’ll fast tire of your words and remove them permanently.”

“Why wait? Let’s dance now, you and I. Come. While my hair is already mussed and demon pus still drips from my dress.”

He only laughed.

“Answer me! Why was I brought here?”

“You cannot demand anything of me, tiny human. You cannot defeat me, neither can you stop me. But you amuse me, so I’ll answer you… for now. I brought you here for the ransom.”

“Ransom?” I laughed out the word. “You are mistaken,
O Dark One
. There is no bounty upon my head, no coin offered for trade.”

“You only
wish
that were true. I read it within your thoughts. You know you are wanted, hunted. No, you know
exactly
what I want, and it is neither coins nor rupees nor dollars nor denarii.”

“Then speak your price. See it paid and we will no longer crowd your lovely little abode.”

He laughed again. “You truly are a unique creature. I wonder how you’ll birth. Will the father even make a difference? Will not your offspring be feared by all? Sired by either Angel or devil, it matters not.”

“I will take my own life before I let you touch a single hair upon my head,” I spat.

“Truly now? How is it you jest? Will you bear false tongue to the father of lies? I have no doubt you would do as you say. Yet, now you stand immortal. Even
I
cannot cease your beating heart. But that doesn’t mean you cannot feel pain. It’s amazing what all you’ll have to live through. Your mind cannot even conceive all the things that
won’
t kill you.”

I halted my taunting with this revelation. “What’s the asking price? What is it you think I will gain you?”

“I will gain from you either way. If my ransom is met, I will acquire my beloved twin. If not, then I will breed you for all eternity. I’ll build an army of my own blood and snatch my sister from the very pits of hell with my own two hands.”

“Pits of hell?” I could neither hinder nor dampen my laughter. “Know you not what you ask? You have been given ill counsel to hold such dreams as these. The pit of hell is a one-way ticket. There are no take-backs, no do-overs. No one can leave hell. Not even its Prince.”

“You did.”

“Me? That was different.”

“How so?”

“Well… I wasn’t dead, for starters.”

“Go on.”

“Go on, what? I simply passed through by trial, I suppose. Never was I cast into the pit.”

“No, you weren’t. You were cast into his bed instead. What happened? Did Apollyon’s seed not hold? Is the Prince of Darkness, King of all evil, not even capable of planting his spawn within your tiny womb?”

“You disgust me.” I spat my words at him, yet I trembled inside. Things were looking worse by the heartbeat.

“Then you had better hope the gates of hell choose to open
this
day. For if they do not, I will not fail where your precious Prince did. I will breed you daily. I will chain this Angel-Dog here to your bed. He can enjoy your nightly screams… while I ravage your tender flesh.”

At the thought of my beloved Vittorio’s fate, my heart sank. “But Vindicus cannot leave the realm of his kingdom.”

“Vindicus? Do you try to diminish him? Use your husband’s proper name. Much power comes from a name. Call out to him. Perhaps he’ll take pity on his love and answer your cries.”

“I will not!”

“Why do you protest? Are you trying to protect him? From
me
?” He laughed. “He doesn’t need your pathetic protection, child. He is King of us all.”

“Vindicus is no demon!”

“Apollyon is
King
of Demons!”

“Who are you to spew such lies? He may have to rule over darkness, but his heart is gentle and pure.”

“Who am I?” He snorted. “Who am I? I am Shabriri, and you I name Fool. How can you stand next to your angelic consort and cry over your demon lover? Fool is too good a title for you, child.”

I hurriedly closed the last few paces separating Vittorio and myself. Tripping over something too light for my feet to receive the signifying waves, I sprawled upon the ground, sliding through clotting blood and demon muck. My clumsy display brought uproarious laughter from my evil captor.

“You amuse me, little one. It’s not often I find an interesting plaything. I may rethink my proffered exchange of you and keep you for myself. You would be the first human girl to whom I could do all the twisted things I desire, and she not die. The more I dwell upon it, the more I’m taken with the idea. Shibta could stay a bit longer in the pit. There’s no need to rush. Think of it—stealing Apollyon’s true love, ravaging her glowing little body in so many different ways. Breeding her again and again as the darkest of Angels can only watch from afar… suffering through your eternal screams. Imagine—bound forever to his prison pits, powerless to help the only person he’s ever wanted to save, to hold, to love.”

I used the distraction of his morbid tirade to crawl around, find what I had tripped over, and regain my bearings. My mind didn’t fully comprehend what my searching fingers latched onto. Soft and silky… light as a feather.

A feather? Nooo...

They
were
feathers, mounds of feathers, matted and sticky in places from what smelled like blood. I pulled at one only to find it was stuck with all the rest. I scooped my arms under the billowy heap, lifting to my chest what it was I could not see. Horror ripped through my breaking heart.

“Noooo!”

I screamed from the merciless pain this pinioned revelation forced upon my un-accepting mind. The suddenness of my outburst halted the demon’s putrid speech. I felt his black eyes hard upon me.

“What have you done?” I spoke through gritted teeth. “Answer me now, Devil! What horror have you wrought upon this Warrior of God?”

“God? There is no god here, tiny Angel.
Your
wings will be my real trophy.”

A guttural roar tore from my throat as I flew toward his evil laugh. I slammed into him, ripping and slicing without caution, without fear. I relished the feeling of his substance giving way to my blows.

“Enough!” he yelled.

And then… I was frozen, unable to control even my lungs as they fought for air.

“You will pay the highest price for your temper, girl.”

Do what you will, wretched vermin. I will never give you the satisfaction of my tears
, I thought, for my tongue was now bound by him, stilled behind my clenched teeth.

“Oh, but you will. I will eagerly collect each and every tear you will most
certainly
spill… as you watch every single person you have ever loved fall mercilessly from my wrathful plague. I will bind you to me.
Force
you to watch the horror in their eyes.
Force
you to hear the pitiful screams of your beloved damned. Be they human or Angel, be they man or woman, be they mortal or no… each shall be destroyed before your eyes.”

I laughed within my mind and allowed him to hear my thoughts clearly.

Hear them I may. See them I will not.

And for the first time, I was thankful for Vittorio’s horrible gift of blindness. It alone would save me from the torment this creature meant for me.

“Oh, but you
will
. I vow this to you now, defiant witch.”

What is he talking about? I see nothing.

Shabriri laughed. “Ahh… but your eternity
will
be filled with images, naïve little Angel. The wretched images of your dearest loved ones… as their entrails spill upon the ground at your feet.”