Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) (4 page)

“I came bearing gifts, namely the immunity
blood you all need to fight the Dark One’s army. I seek an alliance
against my former employer and to regain my place at the Council,”
Sasha answered.

“Cut the shit, Sasha,” Kris snapped. “I
haven’t decided what to do with you yet, and you may end up with an
assassination contract on your head.”

“As you wish,” Sasha said in a voice so calm
it drew the gazes of everyone in the room.

“Ully, test that now,” Kris ordered. “Sasha,
you’ll follow me to your room.”

Sasha bowed his head in a mocking show of
respect. Katie watched him go, her nightmares in her thoughts and
her heart pounding. When the door closed, she looked at the vial of
blood.

Suddenly, she feared a new fate. At least
before, Kris had a reason to keep her around, because he wanted
something from her. What happened if he got what he wanted
elsewhere, before she knew what she wanted?

“Ully, how long will that take you?” she
asked.

“A few days, maybe a week.”

She gripped the perfume bottle more tightly.
She couldn’t help but think Sasha’s sudden appearance was related
to the demons in the forest and her dreams. Her thoughts went to
Rhyn.

“I’ll see you later,” she heard herself
say.

Ully nodded, already seated and scribbling at
his desk. She exited the brightly lit room into the hallway,
crossing to look out the nearest window at the falling snow. A dark
figure in the snow-covered park area caught her attention. Gabriel
was sitting alone on top of one of the half dozen picnic tables.
She made her way to the back entrance to the castle and stepped
into the quiet, chilly day. The snow fell straight from the sky
without the wind and was soft and fluffy beneath her feet.

“Gabriel?” she called, crossing her arms at
the chill. He didn’t face her. “You okay?”

“Better than you.”

She paused a short distance from him, sensing
something wrong. He didn’t speak much. She knew nothing about him,
except he’d been a friend to Rhyn.

“You’re early today,” she said.

“I can’t stay tonight.”

“Oh. You’ve got, um, work?”

“Yes.”

“You’ll be back tomorrow?” she asked at the
ominous note in his voice.

“No, Katie. I’m not coming back.”

“Ever?”

“For your sake, not if I can help it.”

“So when you come back, you’ll be back for me
for good?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She was struck by his words, feeling as if
the one person she relied upon was not only running out on her but
would chop her into pieces the next time she saw him. Her hand went
to her neck. He looked away as his words sank in.

“Take care of Toby and Rhyn,” he said, and
stood. “And … take care of yourself.”

“Gabriel, maybe you should just take me with
you now and save us all some grief,” she said.

“Humans have free will,” he reminded her.
“You have some other decisions to make first.”

“But if I choose Rhyn and you come back for
me tomorrow, it doesn’t seem very fair to him.”

“You’re not making this easier on either of
us!” he said, a flare of emotion in his voice for the first time
since she’d met him. Taken aback by his anger, she watched him run
a hand through his hair in an unusual sign of agitation.

“Guess I don’t understand the rules,” she
said quietly.

“I’ll stay away as long as I can. I may not
have a choice, though.”

“What do I do, Gabriel?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“But you can tell me you’re coming back to
kill me,” she said, anger rising.

He looked up at the sky. Dressed all in black
with his dark eyes and hair, he looked like a living shadow in the
snow-covered world.

“Rhyn is my friend,” he said after a long
pause. “He cares about you. I’ve never thought twice about any life
I’ve taken until now.”

“I understand but I’m having a hard time
sympathizing, considering it’s me you’re gonna kill.”

“It’s not just you. The next time I visit the
human world, I’ll be leaving with two souls.”

“Okay, so you’re taking me and someone else,
but this still doesn’t help me figure out what to do!” she
said.

“I can’t tell you that.”

She drew a deep breath. Her hands shook as
she stood there discussing her own death with a creature that
resembled the Grim Reaper.

“It’s not Toby or Rhyn, is it?” she
ventured.

“No.”

“Good. They’re both growing on me.”

“I have to go, Katie,” Gabriel said.

“First the nightmares, now this. Why do I
feel like something really bad is happening?”

“Sometimes things get worse before they get
better. Most of the times, things just never get better. Doesn’t
help that I got demoted. No alcohol,” he reminded her.

“Kris tossed it all out after he found me
knocked out on the bathroom floor last week,” she admitted, rolling
her eyes.

“Good. You’re going to need your head
clear.”

She searched his face. The snow began falling
harder, and he met her gaze again finally. The regret in his dark
eyes made her want to beg him not to kill her and comfort him for
the pain he’d surely feel hurting his own friend. Her throat
tightened, and in the end, no words came out. She wondered how
accurate her dream had been, if her only way to save Rhyn was to
sacrifice herself.

“Farewell, Katie,” Gabriel said in a hushed
voice.

“Farewell, Gabriel.”

Death’s assassin turned and walked away,
disappearing into the shadow world. The coldness of fear within her
grew stronger. She rubbed the lumpy scar on her arm, her attention
caught by the sight of a jaguar dropping from a tree branch to the
edge of the park and the forest a short distance away. It was not
all black but had a white patch around one eye. It stared at her
through green eyes, and she frowned, uncertain why the sight of the
creature bothered her.

A gust of wind flung snow into her face. She
retreated to the castle, up the back stairwell off limits to
everyone but her, and to the warmth of her chamber. Toby’s giggles
reached her before she opened the door. She walked in to see Rhyn’s
jaguar form sprawled across the bed, shredding a down pillow. Her
bed looked as if a flock of geese had combusted over it, and she
counted at least ten dead pillows.

Toby laughed and tossed Rhyn another pillow,
delighted when he snatched it from midair and shredded it in an
explosion of white feathers. Reining in her emotions, she tried to
distract her dark thoughts by focusing on Toby.

“Toby!” she exclaimed. “Where did you get all
these pillows?”

The baby angel and half-demon turned toward
the door.

“From our neighbors,” Toby said. “I had two
and you had three and the fat lady down the hall had four, so then
I got hers and that mean man’s pillows.”

“Just what I need,” she grumbled, wondering
what other insults the castle’s Immortals’ mates would fling at her
after this incident. She didn’t fit in; they made it clear every
chance they could, just as their leader did. “Wash up for
dinner.”

“Okay, Mama!” he sang and sprang away. She
bent down to pick up a yet unscathed pillow, startled to stand and
see Rhyn had changed to his human form.

“
You
got stuck with the
baby-angel?”

“Maybe that should be
we
got stuck
with the baby-angel!” she shot back.

“He’s all yours. What smells like shit?”

“I think I like you better as a jaguar. Much
easier to get along with,” she said with a shake of her head,
unable to help the warmth that spread through her whenever she saw
him. “Gabriel left for good today.”

“He always comes back.”

“Not this time.”

He was quiet, digesting the news. Still
shaken from her discussion with Gabriel, she couldn’t decide if she
wanted to run to the comfort of Rhyn’s arms or send him away for
good, before Gabriel took her away.

“Mama, I’m ready!” Toby said,
reappearing.

“Okay, come on,” she said. She held out a
hand. He took it and tugged her to the door. Rhyn gazed at her, and
her whole body responded despite her fear. The memory of his kiss
made her insides warm. “If you want, you can come by later.”

His gaze flared with heated interest.

“For tea,” she clarified. “And to talk or
whatever.”

“I like whatever,” he said.

“I’ll get more pillows,” Toby said.

“You’re not invited,” Rhyn growled.

“But how can we play?”

“You’ll be in bed.”

“
That
, no, Rhyn,” she corrected him.
“I mean tea. Daylight tea.”

“Breakfast tea.”

Toby giggled, and she glanced at him, afraid
Rhyn was going to dive headfirst into a discussion Toby shouldn’t
hear.

“Afternoon tea. C’mon, Toby,” Katie said and
turned away, allowing Toby to pull her down the hall to the dining
chamber, which had yet to fill up. She braced herself for the
resentful looks and whispered insults she was glad Toby was too
young to understand. They made their way unscathed through the
dining room to their own little corner, where Toby’s favorite food
combination of mac-n-cheese and French toast waited for him on the
table.

She couldn’t eat, feeling more stressed than
she had in the past three weeks. Sasha was somewhere in the castle,
and Gabriel was gone. She’d cracked the door to her heart for Rhyn
to shove his foot in the door and now needed to close, lock, and
deadbolt it closed again.

I do love him,
she admitted
silently.

Chapter Two

In Hell, the Immortal Jade, formerly the most
trusted lieutenant to the leader of the Council That Was Seven,
looked around his new bedchamber with a shiver. It was a posh room
for Hell, carved of smooth ebony stone that was characteristic of
all the buildings in Hell. The room consisted of a massive bed with
black bedding and white pillows, a wardrobe and trunks, and yawning
windows to the sky that light never touched.

“This was Sasha’s bedchamber,” a demon said
from the doorway. “You will be comfortable here. It has many
Immortal comforts we care nothing for.”

I care nothing for this either,
Jade
thought. The demon closed the door-- one of the Immortal comforts,
for there were no doors in Hell-- and left him to wonder how many
men and women Sasha had in the bed before him. He’d only spent one
night there last month before Sasha flung him to the side in favor
of a demoness.

Like Kris had flung him aside to make way for
a mortal. His sense of loss was so deep, he thought it’d kill him
some nights. He’d done what anyone would do: he’d found a way to
get even with one of the men who hurt him. He might even get rid of
both of them!

A sound from a trunk in the corner drew
Jade’s attention. Surprised, he crossed to it and opened it. The
woman’s face was hidden behind a mass of blonde hair, but he
recognized the hot pink fingernails instantly.

“Iliana?” he asked. She stilled. He pulled
her gently from the trunk and untied her. She was shaking and
bloodied, and the bindings left deep marks around her wrists. She
pulled off the gag.

“Did Kris send you for me?” she whispered,
her gaze darting around. “Did the demons see you?”

“I didn’t know you were gone,” he admitted.
“What happened?”

“They caught me when I went through the
shadow world and brought me here, to Sasha.” He didn’t have to ask
what Sasha did to her when her pretty blue eyes flared with white
rage and then filled with tears. “Where is he? I want to kill
him!”

“He’s not-- ”

“No matter, we need to escape. Come on,
Jade!”

He watched her stride to the door without
following, heart heavy at what Kris’s lieutenant and his colleague
of a few decades would soon discover. She stopped at the door and
turned to him.

“Jade, come on!”

“I can’t go with you, Iliana,” he whispered.
“I’m here by choice.”

Surprise, then disbelief, crossed her
features. “Oh, God, Jade, what did you do?”

“I took care of Sasha,” he said somewhat
defensively. “I deserve better than how he treated me. How Kris
treated me.”

“You betrayed us.”

“No, I didn’t cross that line! I’m just here
… there’s just two people who I want to avenge myself on!” he said.
“I’m not going to hurt anyone else!”

“Anyone else? You can’t destroy Kris. It’s
like beheading the Council!”

“You don’t understand. You wouldn’t
understand.”

She crossed to him, furious. “You are a
traitor of the worst kind. I will kill you now, before you hurt
anyone!”

He blocked her first punch but not her
second. Light exploded into his thoughts. He’d tried to reason with
her, to tell her what happened. She didn’t listen. She was as cold
as Kris! Maybe she wanted Kris, too. He’d seen the way Kris looked
at her and had long suspected the Council leader had two lovers,
not one.

“No!” he roared and picked her up. He threw
her against the wall, blinded by pain and rage. She hit the wall
hard and landed on the ground, unconscious. “Iliana!” He knelt
beside her, horrified at what he’d done. She was alive, though the
back of her head bled.

Jade looked around in case someone else saw
what he’d done. He picked her up and replaced her in the trunk, and
then locked it. No one had to know, not even the demons. At least
this way, she’d never have Kris. That left him with one less body
to bury.

None of this would’ve happened at all if not
for the Ancient’s mate, Katie. Kris never would’ve sent him away,
Sasha wouldn’t have stumbled upon the immunity blood, and the
demons wouldn’t be amassing an army to send to the human world.
Darkyn, the most powerful of all demons, wouldn’t have returned
from the pits of Hell, where the Dark One banished him to lead the
army to the Immortals’ front door and wipe out the Council.