I shake my head. “I’m not coming back, Chase. Not without her.”
Chase nods.
I take a step forward and I can see the flames and feel the heat on my skin. In a
blur of movements, three of the lost souls appear and advance toward me.
“Step out of my way,” I order them.
They look at me as if they didn’t understand what I just said. They keep moving forward
and so do I. One of them, a male, reaches me. I try to shove him out of my way,
but my hand goes right through him. He screams in pain, but doesn’t stop. I look
at Kayla’s dagger and having no other ideas, I launch forward and as soon as the metal
of her dagger touches him, he shrieks and fades away. The others watch in horror
before they turn around and start to walk away. They take a couple of steps at a
regular pace then they just disappear.
I hesitate to go any further, but only for a split second. The heat is strong, but
bearable. I wonder how much worse it will get, and then, I see her. Her hair is
dark, but even from a distance, I know it’s her. I would find her anywhere. She
sees me too. She is with two others and they seem to be protecting her, but as soon
as her eyes lock on mine, we run toward each other until our bodies crush against
one another. I put my arms around her and pull her even closer. I can’t feel the
heat any more. With her in my arms, I forget where I am and for a moment, I even
forget how much time has passed.
When I pull away enough to look down at her, I can see the tears in her eyes. “You
didn’t give up on me,” she says.
“I would never.” I cup her face in between my hands and kiss her.
KAYLA
All my fears are gone in the moment I lay eyes on him. In fact, I stop thinking all
together. I just see him and my heart starts to race uncontrollably.
"Go!” says one of the forsaken. “I can feel the demon is near. We’ll stop him from
going into the Otherworld, but you need to get across that line before it’s too late.
His wards won’t work once you are in the Otherworld.”
They don’t need to tell me twice. I run toward Hunter and only stop when our bodies
crush against one another and all I can think about is that he didn’t give up on me.
He came all this way to save me. And when he kisses me, it feels like we were never
even apart.
“We need to go,” he says as he looks past me.
I turn around and see Ezra coming toward me.
“Go!” yell the forsaken.
Hunter grabs my hand and we run toward where he came from.
“Go to your left.” I hear the familiar voice say.
“Chase?”
“The one and only.” I can almost hear the joy in his voice. We keep running and
running, past the screams, the shrieks, and the cries, until I can feel myself falling…
alone, and then I feel the change in the air.
I fall on the floor and I immediately recognize Ethan, Jennifer and Xavier. Chase
shows up seconds later.
I feel like I can’t breathe, and the change in temperature makes me feel cold as if
I was standing outside during a snow storm.
“Kayla?” asks Ethan.
I nod.
“Are you all right?”
I can’t stop shaking. “I’m just freezing cold.”
Xavier walks toward me, stands at my side and wraps his wings around me.
“Better?” he asks.
I nod. “Where is Hunter?”
He looks over at the bed where Hunter lays unconscious.
“Why is he not awake?”
I look at Chase.
“He will be, soon. He’s not in the Otherworld anymore. Just give him time.”
Ethan and Xavier study me curiously, finally, Xavier speaks.
“We should get someone here to check on you,” he says.
“No! I’m fine. I don’t want anyone to know I’m here until I talk to Hunter.”
They give me a puzzled look but let it go.
“Where are we anyway?” I ask.
“At one of the demon’s cabins.”
I feel hot now and walk away from Xavier. “Are you all insane? He’s going to come
looking for us!”
I look around, not recognizing the surroundings.
“Jennifer warded the place,” says Xavier, “but as soon as Hunter is awake, we will
take everyone out of here.”
“But why here?”
“Hunter didn’t want anyone trying to stop him from going after you, and Ethan is not
exactly welcome at the moment. Besides, this was the last place you were before you
were taken to Hell. We thought being here might help somehow.”
I look at Ethan. “Why aren’t you welcome at the Academies?”
He avoids my gaze. “I left you unprotected for my own selfish needs when I should
have been guarding you. If it wasn’t for that, Samael and the demon would never have
gotten to you.”
My eyes widen in confusion.
“Did you say Samael?”
“Well, yeah, he helped the demon get you from your house.”
I take a few steps back. “There is no way!”
Xavier cocks his head to the side and studies me. “What happened while you were gone?”
he asks.
I shake my head. “Not until after I talk to Hunter.”
I hadn’t even realized that Hunter had opened his eyes and was now sitting up and
watching me intensely.
I look at him and smile, but he is serious. “Did something happen between you and
Samael during that time?” he asks.
“No, I mean, well… not in the way you think.”
“What happened?”
“You’ll know soon.”
He nods. “Your hair looks different,” he says.
I look away knowing that it probably looks terrible and he hates it.
He stands up and walks toward me. He places a finger under my chin and lifts my head
up so that I’m looking at him.
“It’s different, but you look just as beautiful. I’m just wondering what caused the
change.”
I smile at him and he brushes a lock of my hair back.
“What they said about Samael is true, Kayla. He helped the demon take you.”
I feel betrayed. Never once he told me that. I always thought that Ezra took us
both.
“You trusted him,” says Hunter, and I can see the hurt look on Hunter’s face, mostly
because my trusting anyone is such a big deal and unlikely to happen.
Ethan knows it too, because he knows us so well.
Ethan faces Jennifer, Xavier and Chase, “We should let them talk alone.” He looks
back at us, “We’ll keep the wards up for as long as you need them.”
They follow Ethan out of the room.
No matter how hurt Hunter looks, he tries to hide it. He grabs my hand and runs his
fingers over the ring he gave me and smiles. That seems to make him relax a little.
He leads me to the bed where we sit side by side. He looks at me, “What happened?”
he asks.
“Can you tell me how long I’ve been gone?” I ask.
He looks down, “A little over four years.”
I look away and I have to hold back the tears. “Do I look, you know… older?”
He shakes his head. “You actually look pretty much the same, well, except for your
hair.” He gives me a genuine smile, but I know that’s four years wasted, because he’s
immortal and I’m not. He stopped aging by now and I will continue to.
I end up spacing out.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’m just tired.”
“I missed you so much,” he says.
“I missed you too.”
“Do you know how my parents are doing?”
He nods. “They are having a tough time and so is Kim. She’s still with them.”
I’m happy to hear about Kim and her being kept away from all of this. “So they haven’t
given up on me either?” I ask.
“They love you Kayla, and so do I. We could never give up on you.”
“But others have, haven’t they? If it got to the point where you were sneaking around
and resorting to go to the Otherworld…”
“Kayla, I would have searched Heaven or Hell for you. I’ll always find you and I’ll
always protect you the best I can,” he looks away.
I put my hand on his, “I know you will.”
He sighs. “But I failed you. I was there when they took you and I couldn’t do anything
about it.”
“Hunter, you went to Hell to find me. I couldn’t ask for better protection than that.
Sometimes, bad things just happen. At the end of the day, it’s how you handle it
that matters.”
He bites his lip as if he is afraid to ask the next question so I just start telling
him what happened.
I look down, avoiding his gaze. “Most of my time spent there, I was trapped in illusions
where there was only you and me,” I say.
“You were?” he asks.
I nod.
“So he wasn’t hurting you or anything?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, he had a plan all along. He needed Samael and I alive and
healthy.”
“What happened when you were not in those illusions with me?”
I can feel him watching me.
“I had to train with Samael.”
He looks away and sighs. “The thing I was most worried about was you having nightmares
and not having anyone around to stop them.”
I leave that alone and just keep quiet.
“Hunter?”
He looks at me.
“I need your help with something.”
He gives me a puzzled look.
“I know what his plans are and we need to stop him,”
He stands up.
“Absolutely not. Kayla, for God’s sake, I just got you back. Will you please stop
being so stubborn and let me take you away from all of this? Fixing their mess is
not your responsibility!”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this mad and determined. I don’t know how much I
should tell him about Trent, but I do know that I have to tell him something to get
his attention… to get him to help me.
“Hunter, I don’t even know how to explain what I know, but I know what Ezra wants.”
“Good. We’ll tell someone and wash our hands of it.”
“Please listen to me,” I beg him.
He is nervous, frustrated, but he stops to listen.
“The demon, Ezra, created someone who he wanted Samael and I to train as nephilim.”
His eyes widen and he starts to speak but I interrupt him.
“I know what you are thinking, but you’re wrong. The boy is not a demon. From what
I understand, he was created by Lilith.”
“Lilith as in the mother of incubi demons?”
I nod, “But he’s not like that Hunter, he is Nephilim, like full blooded nephilim.”
He gives me a puzzled look.
I can’t tell him the next part. I choke. “I—I can’t explain it, Hunter, but he is
a part of Samael and I. We can’t explain how, but he looks like us and there is good
in him. We need to take him away from Ezra.”
Hunter shakes his head. I can see tears and rage in his features before he turns
around and walks away to the other side of the room. His voice breaks, “What if those
were illusions to make you think that? To get you attached to him so you would train
him to defend himself and teach him everything you know?”
I never considered that but I know it’s not true. His back is still to me and I look
down, tears running down my face and I know Hunter won’t help me… no one will.
“Is he yours, Kayla?”
I shake my head. “Not in the human way of having kids, no, but I just can’t explain
it, Hunter.”
I sit down on the bed and look down but I can hear him approach me. He gets down
on one knee to get a better look at me but I still avoid looking him in the eyes.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he says.
I look up at him, with tears running down my face. At this point, I don’t care if
he or anyone else thinks I’m weak because I know I’m not. “Hunter, that wasn’t an
illusion. Trent was created in a way that makes him a part of me and he is so defenseless,
and he is the age I was when I was left by my dad. Please help me get him away from
Ezra and as long as he is safe, I’ll go anywhere with you. I’ll go away from all
of this and never look back.”