Ethereal Underground (Ethereal Underground Trilogy) (35 page)

Reaper instinct kicked in a
s she crawled on top of him and focused her energy into him, hands pressed into his chest forcefully as she closed her eyes, “Please Leon, come back, come back.” She couldn’t concentrate, but both of their bodies lit up the small space, filling the darkness with her golden light, tears streamed down her face and onto his body. It was too late, she could feel it. He would not come back for all of the blessings in the world. She had felt his soul shimmer out. But she had to try, try harder than she had with Ash, anyone else that she would ever try to heal. He couldn’t be dead, he just couldn’t. She just could not wrap her mind around life without him. Moving her hands up to his neck, she focused her powers there, determined to heal the wounds, Loki’s laughter continued on at the site of the seraph losing her wits.

“Anna,” a soft voice whispered nearby.

“Shut up! Shut up!!!” she screamed as she brought her hands up to her face and sobbed into them. Annalise wasn’t ready to stop just yet, but her light faded out as she paused for a second to keep from passing out.

Hands encircled her and dragged off of her slain counterpart. She grasped for him, not wanting to let him go, not being able to stand being apart from him now. Her nails dug into the dirt floor below her, “Stop it, stop it. Leave me be.” She tried to pull away from them, water spouting from her hands worthless
ly and only succeeding in making the dirt floor muddy. Leon’s name continued to escape her mouth as she finally got away from the one holding her and scrambled back to her counterpart.

“Anna, s
top it,” the person said again as he grabbed her and forced her into his arms.

“No, this cannot be happening,” she cried, grasping Ash for dear life, her mind registering that it was him who was holding her. But it didn’t matter, nothing mattered. She would sit here and let Loki take her wings too. The one person who had stood by her side, had always understood her, was gone. Ash continued to stroke her hair, spitting curses at the fallen in front of them.

“Run, Annalise, run. I will distract them,” he told her, but she couldn’t-no wouldn’t-move. She sat there in Ash’s embrace and wished for an end to her misery.

“Anna, Anna, Anna,” Loki mocked, following by a fit of laughter.

Another form tried to pull her from Ash’s arms, and he fought to pull her back. When the cold hands encircled her throat, he let her go. She found it hard to care. Let them take her. All was lost. Endarial pulled her backwards, towards the fallen lord, letting her own laughter mingle with his. Tears continued to fall down Annalise’s face as she looked over at Leon’s lifeless form. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of it. She would never see him again, never talk to him, or look into his green eyes. All she would have is this emptiness that she was feeling, that bloodied form would forever haunt her whenever she closed her eyes.

“Y
ou leave her alone,” Ash demanded as he rushed at Endarial with his dagger held high. Ash took a few swipes at the fallen before pulling out his gun to shoot her, but all of the chambers were empty. There were no bullets left to kill the one fallen they were after. The extra clip was in his holster. He tried to reach down to reload, but he failed.

Annalise allowed herself to look over at him, not having the energy to ask him to stop. The two remaining fallen grabbed him and trapped him in their grasps as he fought to get to her.

“Anna it’s going to be okay,” he said, even though uncertainty flowed off of him. He was angry and worried.

She shook her head as she felt the fit of sobs take her over again, but as the tears began to flow, the realization of everything that had just occurred hit her and her world went black.

When Annalise awoke, she had a hard time focusing her eyes due to the bright lights in the room she was in.

“Hello Annalise,” she heard a familiar voice say as it echoed off of the walls.

She forced her eyes to open and tried to stand up, but she was bound to a metal chair,
silver restrains around her wrist and ankles holding her in place. Fighting against them only made the material scratch against her skin and burn slightly, and she stopped to look around the room. It was made out of pure metal, gray and cold. She tried to teleport quickly and being unable to, she knew she was still in the tenth layer.

“It’s no use, you cannot get free,” the voice spoke again.

Annalise turned her head to the side to see Natara standing there by the door, arms crossed and a concerned look upon her face, “I am sorry about Leon. I was hoping they would give him the opportunity to become one of us.”

“You-you betrayed us,” the seraph whispered, realization dawning on her.

The fallen nodded, coming to stand closer to her and leaning in to whisper in her ear, “Loki is very persuasive. I think you would learn to like him if you would give him a chance.”

“You love him?” Annalise questioned, picking up in the words that Natara was not saying, “But how is that so?”

“The same way your precious Leon loved you, but his love could not run as deep since he was seraph. This overwhelming need in us to protect that which we cherish, the one that makes you watch after each other. It changes once we are made fallen. Once a seraph is cast out, they are cursed with mortal emotions. Loki has helped me to understand them and yes I have come to love him. You, however, have this deep bond with the mortal, which I will never have. This is just as good.”

Annalise couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her old friend was in love with the king of the fallen, Loki. She agreed, he had been attractive when he was a seraph, he was looked up to and ranked among the same levels of Leon and Finlay.  However, he was selfish and evil, and she could not wrap her mind around why a seraph would want to betray their kind to join forces with a fallen.

“Anyway, you get me off track. I will let this one live, but only if you join us.” She pointed across the room where Annalise hadn’t looked yet.

Ash was sitting there, tied up to a metal chair just as she was, but with rope. His mouth was stuffed with cloth, rope wrapped around his head to keep it in place. She wasn’t sure what to do. Her life was not going to be the same without Leon and she could not lose Ash as well, but she couldn’t be a
fallen. No matter what happened. Annalise had thought that becoming a fallen was the worst thing that could happen to her. It was her biggest fear, but she had been wrong. She had also agreed with Ash when he said the bond was her fear. Although it was true statement at the time, it was not actually the worst thing that could happen to her. Losing the people she cared about most was far worse than anything she had ever imagined. She knew that now, but it could very well be too late.  She remembered the way it felt as Leon’s wings were cut off, her own pain as if it were happening to her. The hot silver dipped dagger across her throat. She felt the tears burning at her eyes again as she closed them, Leon’s dead form flashing in her vision. But she would not let Natara see her cry.

“I will never be one of you,” she clarified, “You are evil creatures. I will kill you. I will kill all of you for what you have done.” Her blue eyes opened to glare at her old friend. Now she understood that fire inside of Ash, the one that pushed him to bring them down here to find Endarial. They had not put an end to her life, but Annalise was determined that this would happen. And she would hold true to her promise, she would end Natara’s life as well. Show Loki what it was like to lose someone he cared for, if he truly cared for Natara.

The fallen sighed, “I was afraid you would say that, Annalise. Now, I do not want to hurt you dear, but I must do as I am asked.” She walked over to the counter on the far side of the room and picked up a syringe.

Once again the seraph struggled against her restraints, trying to get away. She didn’t know what was in that syringe and certainly did not want Ash to get whatever was in that. As Natara walked over to him, she cried out, “Stop, let me have it. Please, do not hurt him.”

Natara paused and looked over at the seraph with a cocked brow, “Well if you insist.”

Walking over to her, Annalise could hear Ash fighting against his restraints. She knew that he would help her if he could.
She let out a sigh, she just didn’t care much anymore about what could happen to her. She had failed Leon, allowed him to be taken from her because she had become wrapped up in Ash’s world. Her breath became labored as fear washed over her. Natara lowered the needle to her arm and she felt a sharp prick, followed by a soft burning sensation as the fallen pushed the liquid into her vein. Annalise let out a scream as the burning continued, becoming more intense as it shot up her arm and through her body.

“It’s silver, weakens the body. Somehow I knew you would choose it to spare the mortal. He would have been fine, I suppose.”

“I do not care what you do to me. You have ruined everything. I hate you and I hate your Loki. I will have his blood flowing from Leon’s sword,” she spat.

The fallen paused in shock of the harsh words coming out of her mouth, “Why Anna, I believe this mortal has corrupted you.” With that, she reared her hand back and slapped the seraph across the face.

“Ugh,” Annalise muttered, determined not to let any semblance of fear drift off of her, but she could taste the blood and she knew it flowed down from her lip.

Natara reared back
and hit her again, harder this time, the air in the room changing to make it harder to breathe. “You will not speak his name. He is too good for you. Those seraphs that you think are perfect are not so wonderful. You shall see. They are just as selfish as we are.”

She reached over to the counter and grabbed another needle. She forced it into the seraph’s arm and taped it there. “If you are smart, you will change your mind about what side you are on,” she growled as she hooked up a clear tube to the needle and pressing a button on the machine next to her. Silver liquid began to flow through the tube, and Annalise began to scream.

Natara stood there and watched for a moment as the liquid flowed, paused, and then began to flow again. Annalise began to scream each time it began to flow again. The pain was never ending, and she wasn’t so sure that she would make it out alive. It was hard for her to even care about that anymore. When the flow stopped each time, she was thankful, but then it would start again and she would scream and cry. There was no use in fighting it anymore, her world was upside down and would forever be miserable.

She watched as Natara walked over to Ash, “You will be lucky if either of you survive.”
Her voice and words were evil, so different from the girl that Annalise used to know and she knew then that the fallen really were evil creatures. The dark haired girl pushed a button beside the door which raised it up, and left the two of them alone.

Ash

The large ropes cut into his skin every time he m
oved, while Annalise’s screams tore his heart in two. He felt as if he were bleeding from the inside out. Closing his eyes long enough to focus on keeping his sanity; he tried to concentrate against the waves of pain that Annalise was feeling. The cloth that gagged him was stuffed in so deep he could almost swallow it. He lowered his neck down so the rope around his face rubbed against his shoulder. Gently taking his time and focusing on the goal he was successfully able to loosen the rope. It fell around his neck and he spit out the cloth. He tried to comfort her, but his mouth and lips were dry. Another wave of torment flew from Annalise. Ash closed his eyes in anticipation. The pain was excruciating. He didn’t know if it was the silver or heartbreak that was more painful.

“Anna,” he said between gritted teeth.

Her eyes were bloodshot and marks of smeared blue colored blood ran across her face and body. He couldn’t tell if it was hers or Leon’s but either way she looked to be in terrible condition.

“Don’t focus on the pain Anna, clear your mind. Focus on my face.” Anna started to breathe heavily as she watched some more of the silver liquid run through the tube and into her arm.  She screamed as it sizzled through her veins poisoning her entire body.

“Anna!” Ash said with a bit more force. She slowly opened her eyes. They were empty and her usual sparkle of blue had dulled to a darker shade. “Don’t look at the silver, look at me. Only me.”

“I should have left,” she mumbled. “I should have left…” She let her head fall forward. Ash watched as she sobbed causing her shoulders to shake uncontrollably. She was right. They should have never tried to come down here. He should have swallowed his need for revenge and kept
Anna in a safe place. He thought they had a good chance of winning, but that stupid fallen woman had betrayed them. The fallen had been waiting for them to show up. She had run to them, and told them everything. Ash shook his head in defeat. Trouble followed him. He always caused pain to those who got to close. But not this time. He would get Annalise out alive no matter what the cost.

“It will be okay. I can get us out of here. I’ve been in
worse situations than this,” he reassured her. His voice was calm. It was true. Over the years he had been caught in battle twice. Once, he had barely escaped execution before bribing a guard to release him. This situation looked just as hopeless, so surely they could figure something out. Ash slowed his breath and opened his mind. He focused on the task at hand, to escape. An idea would come, he just knew it. After a few moments it came to him. He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten.