Kasadya Hellhound Twisted (2 page)

“Now, hellhound, I thought we were over this hostility. Come now, you know you can’t win.”

“Ballen, I am going to kill you, so don’t waste your breath.” I moved forward, swiping at his torso. He countered it by turning to the side and holding up his sword. Bad move, ass. I whipped out my wing and sent him flying backwards. Moving fast to make the best of the opportunity, I was on him, my sword blade on his neck. He grabbed my sword with a hand and held on, the shocked look on his face making me laugh softly.

“So much for the “They can’t die” part. Clearly you underestimated me, Ballen,” I said, pushing my sword down into his flesh, and with my other hand holding his sword hand down.

“Hellhound, you play with fire beyond your control. Perhaps one day, but not today,” he said, transforming under me, and oh my freaking soul was he big. My legs lifted off the ground, ruining
my balance on him, and he got the advantage, turning me around and pinning me beneath him.

“This is much better! So, you were about to tell me that you want to kill me?” he said, but he caught me completely off guard, my brains were still stuck on his transformation. Where other demons were ugly, slimy, smelly and just downright disgusting, he was the exact opposite. Above me, his skin was red. However, his face, hair, and body were still beautiful, even more beautiful than his human form. A soft gold shimmer was coming off his face, so I looked closer to see where it was coming from, and saw that it looked like some sort of gold dust.
And he was twice my size, almost crushing me.

“Well now, if I knew that you would like my true form, I would have shown it to you a long time ago,” he said, releasing my left sword hand, and softly rubbing the back of his hand on my cheek. I just kept still. I was completely bombed out at this whole thing. I was expecting big, bad and ugly, and what I got was freaking beautiful and romancing. What the hell just happened? I mean, come on. Throwing in a hot looking demon with romantic intentions is so disturbing. It’s like Chax doing karaoke, way out disturbing.

“You are so beautiful, hellhound,” he continued, leaning closer to my mouth. I could feel his breath on my lips and then boom; he was slammed off me with a huge punch, the air around us rippling from the effect. Still lying shocked on the ground, I looked to my right and found Chax in battle mode, and completely pissed off. He moved forward, swords raised, and as he passed me he threw me a comment, “You’re just going to end up dead. Leave this to us.”

Those words spurred me back into action and I jumped up to continue the fight. I saw him advance on Ballen, who was already up as well. Something went flying past me with such speed I had no idea what it was; it rammed straight into Ballen and sent him almost over the bridge, his back hitting the concrete. Now standing next to Chax, Raphael spread his wings and pulled them close again. Wow, now that was pretty impressive for the angel. I seriously need to learn how to do that.

“Long time no see, Gluttire. I see you’re still playing around like a little girl. Now let’s stop this and start playing like big boys,” Raphael said, moving forward with the last word. Ballen moved just in time to catch Raphael’s fist in his hand, and punched him in the side. Raphael took the hit with ease and punched Ballen in the face, the force ripping the demon’s head backwards. Chax was suddenly in the fight a sword going straight for Ballen’s heart, and I saw when it struck home. A loud growl like a lion echoed through the night, almost silencing the fight behind me. Ballen now looked at Chax and Raphael, another form taking his face. And there was the demon I was used to, huge fangs dropping out of his mouth, a claw like hand grabbing Chax around the throat and another grabbing Raphael’s.

I moved to assist them, accepting the little embarrassing moment of going to “lala” land in the middle of a fight, but stepping up to make sure we won this battle. I was almost there, when someone materialized in front of me and grabbed me around the throat, choking the hell out of me. Dropping my swords, I grabbed the hands attemping to strangle me, and looked into the face of a blue demon version of Ballen. “You dare to touch our brother!” the new demon shouted. Behind us, I saw two more figures holding Chax and Raphael in the same death choke, Ballen hissing at them and holding his side. They had the same forms as Ballen and this demon, except they were yellow and green. Oh crap, he called his brothers.

“He was begging for it,” I strung out through the death grip, ending up being choked even more.

“Kas!” I heard Max yell behind me and saw the demon look past me towards Max. Moving in super speed, he pushed me backwards with him and stormed forward. He brought his fist around and I heard him hit someone behind me, the air rippling with the punch. Ouch, I think that was Max. The demon looked back at me and had a huge freaking smile, his fangs descending to almost past his chin. Oh no, that looked bad. I started to struggle to avoid whatever this creep was planning, “Hellhound,” he breathed at me, his mouth travelling towards me. Oh freaking hell no!

“Now, Raphael, why didn’t you send us an invite? You know we love to play with the princes,” a male’s voice said behind the demon holding me. He stopped and turned his head, looking at the one that just spoke. I tried my best but with his death grip I couldn’t see who he was looking at.

“Yes indeed, and it would seem that we came just in time. Where is that skinny brother of yours, Ira?” another male asked from behind me.

The demon holding me looked back to the new guy and snorted like a bull. “My brother is of no concern to you, Jophiel,” the one holding me sneered. Okay, so this must be Ira. Weird names the guys picked, but hey this is not the time nor place. I dropped one hand and tried to reach for the dagger at my thigh, but he straightened up and I had to grab his hands again to try to fight the pressure around my throat. Damn, I am going to be hoarse after this.

“Enough, release the fallen and Raphael. Now!” another one said, his voice dark and thick. Power and authority were rolling off it, making me shiver. Again I tried to see who the hell was challenging the princes, but I was just failing at it. A long stretch of silence followed, everyone just looking at each other, or everyone except me. My choker was spoiling my view of things around me. I was flapping my wings at my back to see if the pressure would ease a little, but he just squeezed tighter.

“Indeed. Today the hellhound and her friends won’t die. Her service to us is still needed,” Ballen said from somewhere. Fury slammed into me with his words. The hell I will! If he thinks I am one of his toys, he can think again. Ass.

“You can try and entertain someone else, Gluttire. You forget I don’t really play these games. Regarding the female hellhound, you forget the destruction the first generation caused you and your legions. I seem to remember you fleeing before them, too
afraid to challenge even one,” the male with the thick voice answered him.

The one holding me snorted again at that, choking me even harder. “Release her, brother. She will come back to us,” Ballen said, appearing next to the one holding me, his hand coming to rest on his arm. The demon holding me looked at him, and then released me. Grabbing a deep breath, I backed away from the two, picking up both my swords and taking my stand against them. Ballen looked at me with a smile. “Later, my hellhound,” he said shifting out, his brothers and demons following.

Rubbing my neck, I looked around and found three more males with wings. Archangels I presume. “Are you okay?” Max asked me, coming to stand in front of me and inspecting my neck. He tried to touch my throat but I just pushed him away.

“Yes, you can stop fussing,” I replied, pissed off at his mothering and everything that had just happened. Shaking his head, he gave me a disapproving look. Oh just great, now I have two giving me the look. What a lucky girl I am. I slid in my swords, and glanced at the crowd around me.

“Raphael, care to explain?” the thick dark voice asked again. This time I could see that it was a blond angel, standing even taller than Raphael. He walked slowly towards me, stopping when we were face to face, his eyes going over my neck. “Are you okay, Kasadya?” he asked, looking at me with concern. My pissed off mood just went sky high. For goodness sake, I am capable of taking a few punches and a choke or two.

“Just peachy,” I replied. Turning around and heading straight for Kali, who was a few paces from them, I leapt into the air. I landed next to Ryan, who was already trying to get her off but failing.

“They didn’t nail her; they bolted her to the tower,” Ryan explained, trying to undo the bolt in her feet.

“We will get her off. Try to see if they left any equipment around, maybe we can reverse the bolts out of her,” I instructed him, trying to think of a solution. Max was just reaching her on the other side, his face filled with fury.

“Hells bells,” I heard Nanini say, but didn’t look at her. “Now that is a sick move.”

“Predictable for Gluttire, he loves to play with his victims before killing them,” Raphael explained to her.

“Step aside, I will help her,” Chax said, climbing up and pushing me away. Confused, I looked at him, but did as he said. Fighting wouldn’t help now, and getting Kali off was the only thing on my mind … for the moment. Chax looked at her hands, and then looked at me. “She has lost a lot of blood, and will need a healer. The longer she stays pinned, the longer she will need to heal,” he relayed to me. I nodded, but didn’t understand why he needed to tell me that; I already knew. He turned around and climbed over her, placing one arm around her torso, he grabbed hold of an iron bar at the other side with the other one.

“No—” I started to say and tried to stop him, but he was faster than me. He ripped her out of the bolts, her blood covering my face as I reached her left hand.

“I’m sorry, Kasadya, but there was no other way. We need to get her to Maia,” Chax said, holding her against him. Shocked, I looked at him, her blood now blurring my vision. Can he be that cruel? I wiped it off, my eyes never leaving him. I know he has this no mercy rule, but that was just a little too much.

“Raphael, help them into Exsilium,” he said, shifting with her still in his arms.

Fury pounded through me. Shifting down I landed next to Raphael and the blond angel. “Kasadya, I will take you to Maia. Michael and the others will help your friends,” he said, offering me his hand. I looked at Max, and without a word he knew what I wanted to say. Nodding, he went to stand next to Amon. He needed to protect the team; my safety was not important right now. I transformed back to human form and looked at Raphael.

“You better hope nothing happens to my friends, Raphael. Because if something does, I’ll kill every last one responsible,” I replied, taking his hand. With a concerned look, he nodded and shifted with me.

C
hapter 2

We shifted into Maia’s lounge, and found a lot of fuss coming from the back, so without an invitation I walked to the back rooms and followed the noise. I walked down a hallway, my heart pounding with concern. What if we were too late? What if she isn’t going to make it? No, I won’t allow it!

“We need another healer, Chax! I don’t care where you find one, just get one,” Maia said as I walked into the room.

“Lily’s team leader is not responding to my call, do what you can,” Chax replied, turning to look at me as I entered the room. Kali was lying on a bed; Maia, who was next to her, did not notice that I had come in, her concentration was on Kali.

“How is she?” I asked. At my words, Maia turned to look at me and jumped away in surprise. Her eyes were huge, and her face paled a little. I now see where the term “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost,” comes from. She was trying to figure out which one I was, but I guess the blood and gore over me gave her an answer.

“Kas, dear lord, where did you come from?” she asked, her colour still pale, but her eyes slowly returning to normal size.

“She and Kali were shifted into Hell and kept against their will. We found them with your brother tonight,” Chax answered before I had a chance. At the word brother she turned to look at him.

“My brother?” she asked, her eyes starting to sparkle from the tears building in them.

“Yes, it would appear that Amon was not lost as we thought,” Chax replied, and her tears started to roll down her cheeks. Glad for her, but still worried about Kali, I had no choice except to get her back on track.