Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) (16 page)

“I do have a headache,” he said, distracted.
“You say Sasha washed up somewhere?”

“Really weird, Ully. I don’t know what he’s
doing. The women at the Sanctuary said they pulled him out of the
water, and he looks awful.”

“Which Sanctuary?”

She looked up at the uncharacteristic demand.
Ully appeared to be prepping his tools for whatever tests he wanted
to run. The vial sat on the counter next to his notebook, and she
watched him pick up a syringe. She’d never noticed how long his
nails were or the sinewy strength in his forearms. Suddenly, she
wondered just how well demons could shapeshift and why they’d lock
Ully in the closet instead of killing him.

“I’m feeling really sick, Ully. Do you have
any food?” she asked. She sagged against a counter, hoping he
believed her. She reached for the perfume in her pocket. For once,
she hoped Ully's oddball experiment didn’t let her down.

“Sure,” he said, the dark note in his voice
gone. “This won’t take long. I should have something in the fridge
and then we can go get some real food.”

Having spent many afternoons with him in the
lab, she knew he kept only serums and instruments in the
refrigerator. He made his way to the appliance, and she darted for
the vial, snatching it off the counter then running through the
mess to the door. The demon that was Ully gave a half-bark,
half-roar before he smashed through the lab toward her. He snatched
one arm and she sprayed him with the perfume.

The demon coughed and batted at his face.

Thank you, Ully, thank you!

Uncertain whether or not the battle still
waged between demons and Immortals, she braced herself to be
attacked as she flew past every doorway towards the back stairwell.
Bodies blocked her descent to the basements where the warriors
were, and she struck off down a narrow corridor that dead-ended in
another set of stairs leading to a door hanging from one hinge.

She heard no signs of the demon pursing but
trotted down the stairs, hoping to find another way into the
dungeons where the Immortal warriors lived. It took all her
strength to shove the hefty door wide enough for her to enter the
dark chamber beyond that was lit by a single torch.

It looked like a crypt. The altar in the
center was empty while seven statues kept watch over it. The air
was heavy and her attention was drawn to the life-like statues. The
tallest looked a great deal like Andre, the deceased Immortal she’d
met a short time before he was killed. The second looked like Kris
might’ve in his younger days, when his face still glowed with hope.
Sasha’s wore a genuine smile. She vaguely recognized the other
three and knelt beside the statue of Rhyn, who was no older than
Toby had been the day before.

Even at such a young age, Rhyn’s features
were troubled and somber, as if he knew what kind of a life awaited
him. She sat back with a frown, unable to feel anything but pity
for the half-demon child who knew no acceptance anywhere in life.
She touched her stomach with a flutter of panic. The idea of
bringing a new life into such a horrific world made her feel sick.
No child of hers would end up like Rhyn-- tormented, rejected, and
abused!

“What’re you doing here?”

She whipped around to see Kris standing in
the doorway, holding the door open as if debating whether to
enter.

“Is that really you?” she asked suspiciously.
She rose to keep the altar between them.

“What kind of stupid question is that?”

“Tell me something only you and I would
know,” she ordered.

“I slept with your sister.”

“God, Kris, did you have to go there?”

“You delusional or do you have a reason to
think I’m someone else?” he asked and entered fully.

“I ran into someone I thought was Ully in the
lab. Turned out to be a demon. I didn’t know they could shapeshift
into someone else’s form.”

“Only a very few of them can assume the form
of another human. Demons are born with predetermined forms that are
unique to the demon. A few can assume forms, but they’re rare,” he
said. “You say there was one in Ully’s lab?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll have to scrub this place from top to
bottom to make sure no one else pops up somewhere they shouldn’t
be. Like you being here.”

“I was more concerned with hiding than with
where I went,” she said, agitated by his accusing look. “What is
this place?”

“It was our father’s crypt, until yesterday,
when Sasha stole our father’s body.”

Her gaze went to the altar, and she shivered.
The Council That Was Seven had been immortalized safeguarding their
father in death. It was creepy. Who kept a dead man on a shrine in
the basement?

“The statues are beautiful,” she managed.
“It’s hard to imagine Rhyn as a child.”

“He was cast out of the Immortal world fairly
young. None of us know-- or care-- where he went, except Andre, who
saw something in him that-- to this day-- never materialized.”

Her face grew red at his easy dismissal of
his youngest brother. Her gaze settled on the statue of Rhyn, whose
large eyes held an ominous look too old for his chubby little
face.

“How can you be like this, Kris?” she asked,
unable to stop the angry words. “You take great precautions to
safeguard Toby, and yet, you rejected your own brother?”

“Someone like you could never
understand.”

“You’re right, Kris, I can’t understand how
you could turn your back on the person who needed you most and
justify it with your shortsighted arrogance. I pray to God Hannah
doesn’t choose you as a mate!”

“I believe she already has,” he said,
irritation in his voice. “Rhyn was a lost cause from the beginning.
Our own father wanted him dead. I’m sworn to protect Toby, and I’ve
done my duty in protecting Sasha, who is also my brother, according
to the Code and the oaths I swore to my father and the
Council!”

“You chose the wrong side, Kris. If you had
half a brain, you’d have helped Rhyn and killed Sasha.”

“I do what I am obligated to do, and that’s
all that should concern you,” he said through gritted teeth. “I
won’t have some stupid mortal telling me how to do things!”

With all the insults and arrogance, she
couldn’t take her mind off the statue of Rhyn and her sister being
at the mercy of such a man.

“I’m going to tell you a secret someone told
me, Kris,” she said, facing him. “Do you know why Rhyn killed
Lilith?”

He stared at her.

“Yes, I know the story,” she said. “It was
revealed to me by someone you trust when I was at the Sanctuary a
few weeks ago. Lilith was trying to destroy the Council. She was a
plant by the Dark One who lured you and probably the rest of your
brothers into bed. Rhyn killed her to protect you, Kris. You owe
him your life. He’s the most flawed of anyone I’ve ever met, but
he’s a more honorable man than you’ll ever be!”

He crossed the distance between them in three
strides and slapped her hard. Pain flared through her. She touched
the blood that bubbled at the side of her mouth.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he hissed.

She reached into her pocket and withdrew the
vial, shoving it at him.

“I may be a stupid mortal, but I know right
from wrong,” she said in a trembling voice. “Sasha’s at the
Caribbean Sanctuary. Go rescue him again, so he can kill more of
the Immortals, like those you sacrificed to protect him the first
time!”

She fled, her ears ringing and cheek burning
from his strike. She’d never understand a man like Kris, who saw
the world only in black and white! The image of baby Rhyn and
Kris’s words distracted her as she hurried through the hall back to
the stairs. She couldn’t imagine what he’d been through: thrown out
at such an age with a father who wanted him dead and brothers who
hated him. He wasn’t the kind to pity himself. She doubted he saw
anything wrong with the treatment he was accustomed to.

Soon enough, nothing would matter, not when
Gabriel came for her.

For the first time since arriving over three
weeks ago, she missed her cavernous chamber. She wondered if
twelve-year-old boys played with stuffed animals. Toby had tons of
them in his small bedchamber off hers. She found herself ascending
the servants’ stairwell at a run, in case the Ully-demon was still
stalking her, until she reached her floor, which appeared blessedly
free of any signs of battle and death. She pushed her door open and
scanned the room before entering and closing it fast.

She’d never liked her room, but she found
some comfort in its familiarity. One of Toby’s stuffed animals had
fallen to the floor when she carried him to the basement before the
demon attacks. She retrieved it and hugged it, not at all certain
what the new Toby would and wouldn’t want that the old Toby had
loved. The bag she’d started to pack still gaped open, half-full on
the trunk at the base of her bed.

“Hey.”

She turned at the familiar voice, pleased and
surprised to see Megan, the Immortal warrior who befriended her and
showed her around when she arrived to the castle several weeks
before. Megan’s dark eyes were glowing though her clothing was
covered in blood.

“You shouldn’t be alone up here yet,” Megan
warned. “Bad guys in the castle still. We’re sweeping the castle
now.”

“So it’s over?”

“Mostly. The Council sent in their warriors
to help Kris. We lost quite a few of our friends,” she said with a
frown. “Defeated the demons, except for a few hiding out here.”

“I’m so sorry, Megan,” she said softly.

“It’s what we train for. Doesn’t make it
easier but …” Megan shrugged. “C’mon. We cleared out the basements.
You can stay in your old room.”

“I’d like that,” Katie said. “Let me grab a
few more things.” She packed hurriedly and grabbed another of
Toby’s stuffed animals before meeting the female warrior in the
hallway. Megan spoke with a gentle British lilt, and her dark eyes
took in everything as they walked.

“How many are lost?” Katie asked as they
walked.

“About half of Kris’s warriors. Not sure
about the others. Your mate can fight like a monster. Never seen
anything like that before. He was shapeshifting like a maniac and
just tearing demons’ heads off. He kept up at it all night.”

“I imagine.” She suspected she knew what made
Rhyn fight like a demon. For once, it wasn’t his half-demon
blood.

“He brought the Council back together,” Megan
said in a whisper. “At least, that’s what some of Ancient Erik’s
warriors said. Ancient Kris would never admit to that.”

“What do you mean, brought the Council
together?”

“They split before the demon battle, and Rhyn
rounded up all the brothers. The guy I spoke to said he beat the
ever-living shit out of them all at once, until they agreed to come
back and do what Kris says.”

A laugh bubbled up. Katie tried to suppress
it, not wanting to offend her friend, but it escaped. Megan looked
at her curiously.

“Sorry. I guess I can see him doing that,”
she explained. She doubted it happened as the rumor mill said, but
if Rhyn of all people had brought the Council together … She was
impressed. He’d saved the Immortals that shunned him. She was
pleased by the news, despite knowing none of his brothers remotely
deserved to be saved.

“They went hunting for Sasha,” Megan added.
“I hope they find him.”

Katie said nothing. She wanted to return to
the Sanctuary, though not before she found out what happened to
Ully. They descended to the warrior’s barracks level of the
basements. For the first time in three weeks, she felt safe and
relieved as she looked around the tiny room that had been hers when
she first arrived. The barracks area was heavily guarded, but she
was struck by the lack of activity in the part of the castle that
normally hummed with life.

“You know where everything is,” Megan said at
the doorway. “I gotta keep looking for demons or any other Immortal
survivors.”

“Have you seen Ully by chance?” Katie
asked.

“Not yet. We’re trying to get a handle on who
went to which Sanctuary and where else Immortals scattered to. We
should know by nightfall.”

“Thanks.”

Megan closed the door behind her, and Katie
sank down onto the bed.

* * *

Rhyn finished his task of clearing Kris’s
floor of dead bodies. He tossed the last one out the window. Kris
was glaring up at him, he knew without looking. But he wasn’t about
to walk up and down the stairwell or traipse through the shadow
world a million times to accomplish the same goal.

A pyre had been built in the middle of the
cobblestone courtyard to burn the bodies of the demons before
nightfall, when they’d come back alive. He wiped his bloodied hands
on his shirt and trotted down the hall. He’d sensed Katie’s
appearance in the castle a short time ago and had avoided going
directly to her, for fear he wasn’t quite ready to say what he
needed to. With nothing left to occupy him, he strode to the
familiar room where they’d shared the fateful night weeks before.
Katie looked up from her spot seated on the bed as he entered, her
face troubled.

“You’re a mess,” she said in disapproval. He
glanced down to see how bad his clothing looked. It was soaked
through and dried with blood and his exposed skin was tinted
red.

“Rough night,” he said, sitting on the bed
across from her. “Really rough night.”

“So I hear.”

They gazed at each other for a long, quiet
minute.

“This room has a lot of memories,” she spoke
at last and looked around.

“Yeah,” he agreed, glance going to her
stomach. He’d never had a thought more foreign than that of what
grew within her.

“Not all good,” she said and crossed her arms
self-consciously. “Megan said you brought the Council
together.”