Hellhound Born (Kasadya #3) (17 page)

 
“Will you tell me if something is too dangerous or not going to work?” My voice was shaking.

He smiled at me and nodded. “Always, Kasadya. I will always be here to help you,” he replied. 

“Oh! This is getting really gross! You guys are killing me,” Raven complained.

The others laughed at her.

“Okay. I'll try my best. We are going to need a lot more brains. We are up against the biggest demon force the earth has ever seen. And trust me; they are here to destroy us.” My hands were shaking a little.

Chax had moved to stand next to me, looking at the others. “We need to unite everyone that has some expertise. If it means bringing in humans from Amon, then so be it. We will destroy them, they will not destroy us.” Chax enforced.

Chax was really a good leader. With just a nod, the others accepted what was said and started to shift out with very determined looks on their faces. Chax turned to me and dragged me into his embrace.

“Do not fear. I will be with you every step of the way.” That was just it.

In my vision, he was in the back line, and I was in the front line.

“Unfortunately, no, there is a lot more of the vision you need to know.”

And one very important part, that I will never tell you about.

“I see. Well first, let’s gather our forces and then you can explain to us what needs to be done.”

With that, he shifted us and we landed outside a house. Taking my hand, he led me up to the house where he knocked on the door.

A small woman opened the door, “Chax is everything alright?”

“Yes, Cynthia this is my mate Kasadya, we need to talk to Vince. Is he here?”

She looked at me and I could tell she knew me alright, but she appeared more surprised than angry.

“Sure, he is inside. Come in.”

We followed her to a study to find a man behind a desk.

“Chax?” he asked without greeting, his face showing his concern.

“Vince, we need your help.”

The man looked confused and then indicated for Chax to continue.

“You must assist us in warfare,” Chax explained.

I have never seen anyone’s face light up like this guy’s. Clearly we had just hit a home-run.

Chapter 14

We were all at the compound. There was just way too many people to try and fit everyone at Chax’s. After explaining, in detail, exactly what we were facing, everyone jumped in to try to prevent our destruction. Even the humans were running around and gathering forces. I told them I didn't see any humans in the fight but they still insisted. Chax even agreed to it. So, here I was, at a huge, hastily constructed table, trying to outthink our enemy. Vulcan came up with a really great idea: booby trap the area they step in, before they engage us. That was what the humans were up to. Helicopters were flying back and forth to the location, as the humans rigged the space I showed them. With so much firepower, I was getting worried someone was going to get hurt in the process.

“We need more C-4. Max, where the hell are you!” Don came storming into the court, which had  previously been our training area.

“Has anyone seen Max? He locked the darn room with all the C-4!”

Clearly Max wasn't too keen on losing his stash of C-4.

“I saw him leave with Nanini a while ago. I haven't seen him since,” Vulcan replied.

Don stormed off again.

“Tension is running high,” Chax commented.

I could agree with that. About an hour ago, we had had to pull two Fallen off of each other.

“They need to focus,” my mother pitched in. Dad nodded his agreement.

“Come on, they are all stressing about what’s coming. Give them some slack,” Melissa said between bites of ice cream.

I still can't get over the whole pregnancy thing. When I saw her, I did a little double-take. Her belly was already showing. And man, was she grumpy. Poor Amon, she almost bit off his head when he said there was no more ice cream. He shifted out so fast, I swear smoke was sizzling from the spot.

“Let’s continue. Kas you will take the lead line with the hellhounds. It’s imperative that the hellhound mates cuts off all emotions when the battle begins,l” Vince explains to everyone.

“It’s also very dangerous,” Maia said while drinking a cup of coffee, her sixth one to be exact.

“I understand, but as Kas has explained, they need to go
born
to inflict the most damage,” Vince replied, looking over our battle plan.

I could see that a lot of them weren’t happy with that decision, but they didn't have much of a choice.

“Check this out,” Raven called out as she came bouncing in.

I had had a hard time convincing Caim and Zurita to include her in this. It was so funny to see the two of them being so overprotective of her. In just a few days, Raven had crawled into their hearts and their parental instincts had kicked in. And I mean, really kicked in. Caim and Zurita were always near her, not letting her out of their sight. Caim was standing just behind her, while Zurita was on her left.

“What is it?” Melissa asked.

“Well, Ben and Abby are making the balls, so I thought I could make something to put them in. They go in here and then you strap it against your thigh or something. That way you can pull them out and throw them” She was beaming, while showing us a leather pouch with belt straps. Including her into the preparations, was just what she had needed.

Finding a place in this world was pretty hard, but I can see that she was fitting in nicely.

“Great idea Raven, but what happens if we fall down and the balls are strapped against us?” Vince asked, rolling a pen between his fingers.

It had been a distracting habit of his in the beginning, but now it was really getting on my nerves. Raven’s face fell and I could see his reason sinking in.

“You have a great idea. We need to be able to carry them and throw them. Now that you have the basic layout, all you have to do now, is find a way around the problem,” I encouraged her.

She looked at me and then put on a determined face. “Got it! I’m on it Kas.”

I watched as they left again. 

“You're getting better with her,” Chax whispered next to me.

I looked at him and smiled.

“She is still a pain in the ass, but I think she is going to be amazing one day.” He laughed a little at that and went over to Vulcan and Anna Belle to look at the plan in front of them.

I was starting to feel tired. It was exhausting trying to think all day.

Coffee, I need coffee
.

But more importantly, I needed to find Ben and get him alone.

“Chax, I'm just going to see Ben and Abby. I will be right back.” He nodded and I shifted to the house. Walking down the hall, I tried to think of a way to get rid of Abby so that I could talk to Ben alone. I needed to persuade him to make some special balls for me. I reached the lab door and went down. I found him and Abby each at a table. Ben was typing away on a computer, and Abby was examining a ball. The tables next to them were stacked with containers.

“Hi guys, so how are things going?” I stopped next to Ben's table.

“Oh, fabulous! We got the formula right and tested the new balls. They work like a charm,” Abby beamed up at me.

“We still need to find a way to protect the Fallen that will be carrying them,” Ben murmured, not even attempting to look away from his computer.

“Yeah, Raven is trying to develop something we can carry them in, but she ran into a problem that she needs to sort out first,” I replied as I looked around the lab, still thinking of a way to get rid of Abby.

“Good. Raven needs the distraction and this will be good for her. She was starting to get bored, sitting around here the whole day,” Abby replied, switching on a machine and placing a tube with the dark reddish liquid in it.

“What if we try a small silicone base around them?” She said to Ben.

Ben looked up and thought hard.

“No, it might soften the impact when the balls hit their target. It needs to be something that is strong, yet breakable at the same time. But, not like the crystal we used to create them,” he replied after a moment.

He dropped his head again and typed on the keyboard.

“Snap! This is getting harder by the minute,” Abby moaned and stalked back to her table.

“Abby, why don't you go and make us each a cup of coffee? I will try and think of something that might help,” I suggested.

She nodded and went upstairs. When I heard the door clicked in place, I grabbed Ben's arm.

“What-” he started, surprised.

“I need a favor, but nobody can know about it. It has to stay between the two of us.”

His eyes grew big. “What are you planning? Kas, it’s not good to try and do something alone-”.

“I know Ben, but this is something no one can help me with. In my vision, I was the only one capable of doing it. But if Chax or Max find out about it, they will try and do it and they will fail. Ben, if they do and they fail, we all die.” I needed him to understand that this was non-negotiable.

He regarded me for a second or two, then nodded.

“Okay, what do you need?” He wasn't happy. I could see that clearly.

“I need something ten times more potent than these balls. I need it to be able to take down two skyscrapers at once.”

That got his attention and I could see he was about to go crazy.

But, then he looked at me and just nodded, “I’ll see what I can do. Kas, just don't end up dead, that’s all I’m asking.” His eyes silently pleaded with me.

“I won’t, I promise,” I lied to him.

It hurt to lie to my friends, but I knew that all of them would jump in to try and stop me. There was just no other choice.

“Thank you Ben.” I reached over and grabbed him, giving him a hug.

 He hugged me back, releasing me when we heard Abby opening the door. He gave me another slight nod and then went back to work.

“Here you go.” Abby gave me a cup and then placed another on Ben's table.

“Thanks, Abby. Well, I need to get back to the others, so good luck guys,” I said before I shifted back to the compound.

I landed outside, on the helipad, and went to sit down on a rock nearby.

The night air was crisp and cool, but refreshing. Sipping my coffee, I looked at the small town off in the distance. I still needed to go and find Nina, and try and get her in on the whole thing. I didn’t think it that was going to be very easy. She might have saved my life, but I didn’t think we had skipped right into best friend status. I contemplated a few ideas to try and get her to do what she needed to do in the battle. I hadn’t even seen her since the last battle. It had to really suck, finding out about your mother’s betrayal of everyone, and even worse, to lose her. I decided to go and look for her. I had to check on her, make sure she was okay, and also talk to her about the battle.

I shifted to the others, who were still brain-storming over the war. I had told them everything I knew, except my part, so there wasn't anything else I could do. Now, I had to leave the rest to the pros.

“Chax will it be OK if I go see Nina? I haven't talked to her since the incident and just wanted to make sure she’s alright. And of course, to thank her.”

He reached for my hand and pulled me closer.

“What’s wrong? I can see the concern in your eyes, and feel it,” he whispered to me so the others couldn't hear.

Crap.

“I'm just worried about her and want to make sure she’s alright. Losing your mother can be devastating,” I lied yet again.

His eyes searched mine and he nodded.

“Do you know how to find her?” he asked, rubbing my hand.

“No, can you help me?” I was so clueless sometimes.

Smiling, he leaned in, “She lives across from your parents.”

Oh, yeah, right. How could I forget? I swatted his arm and smiled while I shifted to outside my parent’s home.

Nina's house looked pretty normal. Taking a deep breath, I walked up to the door and knocked. At first I didn't think she was there and then I heard footsteps on the other side. She opened the door and I could see her red puffy eyes.

“Kas, what are you doing here?” she asked, trying to smooth away her visible distress.

“I wanted to come and see you, and also talk. Do you have a few minutes?”

She didn't look very keen on the idea at the moment, but she nodded and stepped away for me to enter. Walking inside, her house felt really cozy. I was expecting a more modern look, but it was just normal. A small lounge set, huge puffy cushions was inviting you to try them out. I noticed that the walls were empty, the remains of hooks for holding pictures, was all that was left. In the corner was a desk, and laying on it was a stack of the very picture that was missing.  

“Here, we can sit down here and talk. Would you like something to drink?” She showed me into her lounge.

“That’s okay. I just had a cup of coffee.” I sat down on a chair and watched her sit down across from me.

 “So you wanted to talk?” she asked after a few silent and awkward minutes.

“Yes. First, thank you for what you did for me. If you didn't call Chax and ...” I just couldn't finish the sentence. S

he looked away from me, blinking away the new tears in her eyes. “It was no big deal. You would have done the same for me. I had no idea what my mother was thinking. I mean, to even get my mate involved in it, was just...” Tears now freely ran down her cheeks.

Her words sunk in and I was left utterly shocked.

Her mate?

“You mean Marcus?” I asked.

Keeping her eyes from me, she nodded. “We had just got together, and we were pretty okay. When we fought.... I didn't know
that
Marcus. That was
not
my mate.” Anger flashed in her eyes.

Holy crap!

 
I remember seeing her fight with Marcus just before I ran after Kali. Did she kill her own mate?