Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (32 page)

“I don’t know, Anna. I just don’t want to see you hurt, and I am worried that he will do just that.”

“He has kept me safe,” Annalise said firmly, “And he will not let anything happen to me.”

“I’m not talking about your body. I am talking about your heart, my dear Anna,” he whispered as he placed a hand on her chest and smiled down at her. “I do not think that I can replace this bond you have with him, but I would not break your heart. I cannot love like a mortal can but I have always been there.”

Annalise brushed his hands off of her. It was so weird for him to be behaving this way towards her. However, as she let herself think about it, he had always found small ways to touch her. Small ways to complement her and help her out in any way he could. He had protected her, been her confidant and always her friend. Still, she had never thought to look at him in any way but that before. She had watched mortals in love on her globe and wondered often what that would be like, but never considered Leon as a partner. Duty was what had called. And duty was what had led her to Ash.

“Leon, I do care for you. You are incredibly special to me and I do not know what I would do without you. I want you here. Always.”

He smiled down at her, “I’ve waited a long time to hear you say that.” He leaned over to her and she pulled away from him, recognizing that now as him beg
inning to kiss her, and put some space between them on the seat.

“But it is different with Ash,” Annalise mumbled. She laid her head down in her lap, not wanting to see the expression on Leon’s face. Covering up her ears, she tried to drown out the
increasingly loud sound of the hulmien’s song and laughter and of Arie and Finlay as they danced and were entertained by the Ash’s behavior. Her own confusing feelings and those from Ash were absolutely exhausting.

Ash

The songs that came from the hulmiens’
mouths seeped in and out of his ears. The melody made him feel relaxed. It was a feeling that didn’t come often and one that he liked to savor. In his mind, he vaguely remembered the warning about the creatures being dangerous.  However, looking at them, they didn’t seem dangerous at all. They looked almost human, except for the animal tails that swung behind them. They were all tall and extremely beautiful by any standards.  One of the hulmiens with dark hair and piercing violet eyes kept winking at him. What he wouldn’t give to stay down here forever with them and forget about the world. He laughed as they all grabbed him by the hand and danced with him. Ash swayed along with their song and each time they started a new chorus he felt more and more relaxed. He noticed Annalise and Leon talking out of the corner of his eye, but decided to focus on more important things. He didn’t understand why he had been worried so much about Leon anyway? Whatever was going to happen would happen no matter if he worried about it or not.

A h
ulmien tried to put a cup to his mouth, but Ash gently pushed it away and shook his head. The hulmien spilt the drink all over his chest. She grabbed her tail to try and mop up the mess. “Are you not thirsty from all the dancing?” she purred into his ear. Ash licked his dry lips and choked back the urge to grab the cup and empty it. Another one of his instincts told him to refuse the drink, so he promptly took a step away from the woman and tried to find something else to do. He noticed Finlay spinning Arie around on his shoulder. She laughed as her curls bounced over her face. Ash shook off another hulmien that had decided to grab him by the waist, and walked over to his friends.

“Having fun?” Arie asked him.

Ash grinned and put his hands on his knees to steady himself. “I feel so strange.”

Finlay dropped Arie onto her feet and turned to face Ash. “It’s because you are the only mortal male in here. Their charms do not affect us. You probably feel euphoric right now. Do not worry. I won’t let them harm you.
We will slip out after they have had their fun.”

As
h felt some relief with Finlay’s words, but something else in the back of his mind kept him from acting on all the urges the hulmien brought out.

A few of the girls ran over and broke up their conversation. “Do not talk when there is so much dancing to be done!”
one of them cried out. She gripped Ash’s wrist to pull him back into the circle; while a few of the others grabbed Arie and Finlay.

He let the girls pull on his clothes and rub up against him. They each took turns whispering in his ear and kissing his neck. He no longer cared about the fallen or his future with Annalise. The longer he danced, the less aware he became of his surroundings. All of the girls that danced around him started to blur. The colors of their clothes melted together.
The fire swirled in the background. Ash fell on the ground, laughing. No matter how hard he tried to stop, the laughter poured from his mouth. He felt the tug of a few hands pull on him to get up, but Ash couldn’t see straight. He put his hands out along the floor to feel his way away from the girls and the music. Something wasn’t right. Inside he knew this, but there wasn’t a single part of him that seemed to care. Too many hands were pulling on him.

He felt a strong set of hands grab him underneath his arms and pull him up. The hands dragged him away from the music. The sounds lessened in his ears, and Ash tried to see who it was that was dragging him away.
Ash was set against a large rock, far from the creatures.

“Who’s you?” Ash slurred. He notice
d that his mouth wasn’t working the way he wanted it to. He groggily pinched his lips with his fingers to help them move and tried again. “I said who are you?”

He rubbed his eyes once and watched as the colors started to take shapes again. He looked up to see Leon standing above him with a not so amused look on his face.
“Great, it had to be Leon,”
Ash thought.

“You are weak, mortal. You can’t even
withstand the bewitching of a hulmien.”

Ash let the seraph’s words soak in. He knew that he wasn’t weak. Being the only mortal man, he was at a big disadvantage. He heard one of the girls sing for him to come back to them. Ash smiled and started to push himself up off the floor to join them. They were so beautiful, it made him feel carefree.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Leon promptly pushed him back to the ground.

“But I need to be close to them,” Ash complained.
Why was he saying this? There was someone else he wanted to be closer to right now, but he couldn’t remember who it was.

Leon shook his head. “The farther away you are from the singing, the safer you will be.”

“Why do you care anyway?” Ash asked him. Leon wanted him dead. He figured that staying with the hulmiens forever was what Leon would want.

Leon sighed and looked at the wall behind Ash. His eyes were cold. “Because if you are hurt; then Annalise will be hurt. I cannot stand to watch her suffer at the expense of your bond.”

Ash let his head fall heavily to one side before he answered. How could he forget about Annalise? It was Annalise that he wanted to be dancing with not those creatures.

“I will never let Annalise get hurt. All I want to do is protect her.”

“Then why did you drag her on this quest with you. Why did you make Finlay and Arie come along? Do you not care for the redhead and your friend?” Leon’s voice grew louder, but not loud enough to cover the singing in the background that called to him.

“Annalise is not that weak and feeble seraph anymore. She is stronger, we make each other stronger. This bond helps her become something you seraphs will never understand. My friends came along because they stand by my side no matter the cost. We want to help Annalise clear her name and prove her loyalty to her kind. I don’t sit back and let monsters kill the people I love.” He forced the last sentence out and had to keep from punching the wall behind him. He hoped that Annalise couldn’t feel how angry he was right now. Leon was right. The longer he stayed aw
ay from the hulmiens, the less affected his mind became. Leon bent down to look Ash in the eyes. Ash felt a shiver run down his spine.

“I underestimated you. When this is all done, Annalise will return home and pretty soon this bond between the two of you will disappear. The seraphs do not associate with your kind for this very reason; you mortals cause nothing but violence and destruction. You leave death and despair everywhere you go.”

Ash wanted to protest, but he kept his mouth shut. Arguing with him would be pointless. Leon had no idea what it was like to be bonded. He had no idea how much they complemented each other.

“Where is she?” Ash asked.

“Resting. These human emotions have exhausted her. I promised Finlay I would keep you safe while he is enjoying what may be his last night with Arie.”

This would not be Finlay’s last night anywhere. Ash didn’t like it when Leon spoke so negatively ab
out their journey to the fallen, but he knew Leon was trying to guilt him into turning around.

“Finlay knew exactly what he was agreeing to when he joined us,” Ash said. It was true.

“Only because he felt guilty for putting you in this situation in the first place; Finlay has spent too much time with you humans.”

“You’re wrong,
Finlay has no reason to feel guilty. Why would he feel guilty?” Ash whispered. He meant to say more, but he felt himself start to drift into a deep sleep.  He struggled to keep his eyes open. What kind of spell was Leon putting him under? Why was he so tired? He wanted to get up and find Annalise and make sure that she was safe, but the heaviness drifted over his entire body until he had been coaxed into a slumber. In the back of his mind, he figured it must be Annalise. Somehow her feelings of how tired she was were affecting him. Yet, maybe it was the hulmiens’ poison. Were they ready to devour their food now?

A short time later, Ash awoke to the faint sounds of laughing. He groggily sat up and looked around. He was sitting against a
rock wall. The light from the bonfire flickered off of the walls. He looked across the way at all of the hulmiens who were gathered around the fire. They seemed to be enjoying the company of the outsiders. Annalise sat smiling and talking with Arie. Finlay looked like he was talking strategy with Leon. Ash took a moment to take in the relaxed sight of his friends. It was so different from the chaotic week they had shared.  Ash winced as he remembered his actions from earlier. Something about the hulmiens had impaired his judgment. He wasn’t sure if it was the singing or maybe it was just being close to them that seemed to alter his mood, but he decided he couldn’t take that chance again. 

He watched Annalise talking; it was so nice to see her relaxed and getting along with Arie. Annalise ran her hands through Arie
’s curls. They seemed to be having some sort of girl talk. The shadows bounced off of her face, making her skin look a bit darker. He hadn’t been able to take the time so sit back and watch her beauty. The way her face lit up. She had a genuine way of making him feel like he could be cared for. A deep longing inside him stirred. It was a feeling that he had repressed over the journey. As a keeper, he was always taught to keep all distractions to a minimum. Annalise was the biggest distraction of them all. His mind needed to be clear in order to fight the fallen. As if she knew what he was thinking, Annalise looked over to where Ash was sitting. She whispered something to Arie, who nodded in agreement. Annalise stood up slowly and made her way over to Ash’s side of the cave. Ash sat up straighter and smiled as she came closer. He thought about looking Leon’s way, but decided against it. He didn’t want anything to ruin the happiness that jumped inside him when she was near.

“Hey,” he told her.

Annalise sighed and turned to sit next to him. “They say that you cannot get too close to the creatures.” Ash felt his face darken in embarrassment. It was a feeling he never had. Yet the thought of her seeing him act so stupid with the hulmiens made him feel even worse.

He
hastily tried to change the subject. “I can take care of myself, but you seemed to be having fun with Arie.”

She looked at the ground and pretended to straighten her clothes. “Yes, well F
inlay told us that it is a mortal custom to have one last...what did he call it? Bravo before a battle.” Ash wasn’t sure what type of custom Finlay was referring to, but he was pretty sure he was making it up to get Annalise and Leon to loosen up. They both sat in silence for a long time. Neither of them having to talk.  Ash still felt comfortable. He could sense how nervous she was about the jump into the tenth layer. He was also nervous, but because he was about to enter a layer that no one else could get to. The tenth layer had been closed off to citizens since the ecosphere was created. He still couldn’t believe that he was about to enter it to fight the legendary fallen.