Lost In Time: A Fallen Novel (17 page)

Celeste laughed but her voice was dry as paper. “Until you reach the Infernos. Then the souls will feel the levels to bursting.”

“Sacrifices will have to be made Celeste, do you want to go down in the notes of history as a casualty of the war or sit on my right side as the Queen of the Infernos and of Hell?” he asked caressing her cheek.

Celeste laughed again. “So now it’s the Infernos and Hell? Good luck with that one. You do not cross Lucifer.”

It was Calliope’s turn to laugh. “I fear nothing.” He threw his head back and screamed making the walls shake. He pounded on his chest. “I am one of the first, and the last survivor of the Original Reapers, and we were feared and worshiped.”

“I feel sorry for you,” Celeste said honestly. Calliope whipped around, a winged tipped talon slicing across the soft part of her underarm. She sucked in a breath. “You could have been all of those things, and could have had all of that if you had just followed some simple rules.”

“And exactly what were those?” he asked quietly leaning in he rubbed his cheek against her softness.

Celeste pulled away. “If you had just shut up and listened instead of taking the power you were given by a man greater than you. Because no matter how strong you get Calliope, no matter what delusions you have that tell you you will eclipse the power of the one that created you? You never will, that’s the thing about creation. You were created by something bigger, something more powerful, and in the end your self-importance and believing you have overcome your creator that is what will destroy you.”

Calliope growled and slammed a fist into her stomach, she bounced against the stone wall behind.

“Don’t you ever ask yourself why?” she asked when she had her breath back.

“What?”

“Why he locked you and your brothers away?” she spat more blood out.

“Because he was jealous,” Calliope said with lofty regard. “He couldn’t stand the way the mortals quaked at the thought of the Reapers, his creations becoming more powerful than the creator.”

“Dante is many things Calliope, but jealous of the power of his sons is not one of them.”

Calliope made a mulling noise before leaning in and rubbing his cheek against hers again. “You know so little? You the protocol child, a girl, in the army of male offspring. Do you really know what your father is capable of?”

Celeste shook her head. “I know him a great deal better than you, I would think.”

“Really?” Calliope leaned back and stabbed her with his black eyes. “I am one of his creations, one of his sons. And he locked me away in a box and threw me away in a cave.”

Celeste swallowed past the pain that choked her. “He would never do something like that now. The Reapers now have a strain of light.”

Calliope threw his head back and laughed. “Ah yes, the light of love and kindness,” he spat. “Lying with Angels, the very thought is sickening. It’s a weakness, and you’re a stupid child to think otherwise.”

She hurt too much, and she just wanted it to be over for a few minutes. “You know what I think, Calliope?”

His eyes narrowed at her question, and he grabbed her by the chin squeezing until she was sure he was going to break her jaw.

“I think you are the one that is jealous. You are the one that covets what Dante has and what he is.” She held her head up proudly. “I think you know deep down in your heart that you will never be as powerful as Dante, and that is killing you inside.”

As she spoke she felt him tense, felt him start to shake in rage, and by the time she was done he was focused with his black eyes on her. Calliope swung a wing around slicing her throat open. For just a moment she thought for sure it was over. She was beheaded, there was nothing left to say or do. But then the pain radiated in her brain, and the spray of blood covered the walls she realized he hadn’t severed her head from her own shoulders but she was surely going to die. Not in a totally dead kind of way, she would eventually heal but for the moment Calliope had won.

Celeste felt her head fall to the side; she tried to turn and look at him. To laugh but when she opened her mouth only blood poured from it, when she tried to move nothing happened.

“Maybe when you heal from your wounds you’ll have a better attitude,” Calliope said walking through a door she actually hadn’t noticed before.

She was suddenly swamped with exhaustion, and she closed her eyes. Blackness coming and going, she wasn’t sure for how long, she knew nothing but pain. She thought of her brothers, of Dante, of her mother and wished that she had said goodbye to them. She wished that she had told the jackass Fallen that she had fallen in love with him two hundred years ago, if anything just to see the look of horror in his eyes. If she had been capable of it she would have laughed. She released everything and sagged down, the chains digging into her wrists, and her shoulder popped out of its socket.

Celeste knew she would wake up healed but it would be days. And then it would start all over again, but she also promised herself as blackness swamped her that one day she would get away, and when she did, she would hunt Calliope down, sever his head, and feed him to the lava pits of hell with a smile on her face.

She closed her eyes and smiled, keeping the image of Marcus in her mind’s eye she let go of everything.

****

“She’s dying,” Lexi screamed as they drove through the city. The closer they got the more pain the woman sensed. “Can’t this contraption go any faster?”

Marcus had the pedal all the way to the floor had barely avoided several accidents and was completely surprised the police hadn’t stopped him yet.

“STOP,” Lexi screamed.

Marcus slammed on the breaks, everyone in the car braced themselves. They were in an old part of the city, monolithic buildings raised to the sky. They had been driving through the streets the majority of the night, and now the sun was about to rise, and Marcus would be damned if Celeste was going to miss it.

Everyone exited from the vehicles, Lexi ran toward a building the bricks were crumbling she scrambled over the falling rocks and disappeared into the darkness.

“I wouldn’t follow that woman through a fully lit park of children and I’m about to follow her into a dark abandoned building. This world has totally gone to hell,” Cameron said pulling out his guns he checked them and was the first to climb in through the rubble.

Victor and then Marcus, Christian and Garrett followed behind.

****

She heard the gun fire, but for a moment thought maybe it was her imagination. Either that or Calliope had decided to shoot her. But she didn’t feel any more pain. So it had to be her imagination. Or a memory, just a memory. Celeste tried to hold onto it, even that was too much and blackness swamped up to take her before she was able to make sense of what was happening.

When the door flew open and her mother flew into the room, letting out hysterical screams as gun fire followed her. Lexi was bleeding but it didn’t seem to slow her down it still didn’t seem real. If she could have she would have smiled, her mother, and not even gun fire would stop her from what she wanted. Except for the gates of Lust, she couldn’t get past those, but that was because of Dante.

Celeste tried to say something but her voice still didn’t work.

“Don’t let him out of the building,” Victor screamed amid more gun fire.

Then everything was silent except for her mother, who screeched like a banshee clawing at the restraints that held Celeste to the wall. Celeste wanted to beg her to stop she was doing more damage than good at the moment. Scratching at Celeste’s arms as she tried to free her daughter.

Marcus came into the room next and stopped dead. “For the love of all the gods.” He rushed forward lifting her head he looked into her eyes.

“Please don’t be dead.” He kissed her forehead. “Don’t die, we still have more fights to have.” She would have laughed would have explained she wanted to fight with him as well but between him moving her, and her mother scratching at her she just couldn’t take anymore and let the blackness swallow her. Her last thought was hope that this wasn’t some kind of dream but they really had come for her she really was being rescued. Calliope wouldn’t torture her anymore.

****

When he had entered he thought for sure she was dead her neck was sliced open, and blood poured from the wound. She was broken and bleeding in so many places he didn’t even bother to try to count them. He held her head in place, as he reached up and pulled the chains directly from the wall.

Lexi cried screaming for Victor. “Give her to her brother.”

Victor took one look at Celeste and started to swear. He offered his arms out.

Marcus didn’t want to let her go. “I’ll carry her to the car.”

“No,” Lexi screeched. “He has the power to heal her.”

Reluctantly Marcus placed her into Victor’s arms who hugged Celeste close whispering into her ear. They shown like a black light making the blood she was covered in shine eerily. And then she gasped for air, only to let out a scream of pain.

Victor stumbled back as she twisted and screamed in pain. Marcus watched in amazement as her broken bones moved back into place, and her neck wound started to stitch itself back together. Christian wrapped his arms around his brother, Garrett and Marcus doing the same. The three men held Victor on his feet while Celeste screamed in horror and pain begging them to make it stop.

“Just a few more minutes.” Victor crooned softly. Lexi flapped her arms screaming and pacing around the men.

And then Celeste was silent, Victor handed her back to Marcus as he fell to the ground exhausted.

“Can you Flash us back to the house?” he asked Christian.

“Yes, with Garrett’s help.” Everyone grabbed onto either Christian or Garrett, and then they were standing in the dining room.

Marcus stumbled almost falling to his feet but he would be damned straight to hell if he was going to allow Celeste to receive any more injuries due to him. He forced himself to walk up the stairs and into her room. Her mother hovering over his shoulder the entire time.

“We need to bath her. Victor wasn’t able to heal all her wounds but he corrected the most grievous of them.” She ran into the bathroom and started the tub.

Marcus started to pull the remains of her tattered clothing from her body. Victor might have healed her wounds so they didn’t kill her but she still had several open wounds one that stretched across her chest, another he suspected had severed the muscles and tendons under one arm. There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t bruised. That bastard had her less than twenty four hours, and by the looks of it had used every single minute of that time to torture Celeste.

Lexi came back into the room and clucked over her daughter as she helped Marcus remove the rest of her clothing. “If you will please place her in the tub I will wash her, and then we can move her to the bed.”

Marcus steeled himself against the naked woman pressed against his body and did as Lexi instructed.

“Wait.” Lexi stopped before he placed her in the water. She took the time to unbraid Celeste’s hair.

“Did you know her name means heaven sent?” Lexi asked as she unwound Celeste’s long hair. “She was a gift from heaven, Dante didn’t believe it. But she could be nothing else but sent from heaven.” Tears flowed down the woman’s face, the insanity he had seen in her in the last hours completely gone as she worked over her daughter. “She is my Angel.”

Lexi cupped Celeste’s face. “Okay put her in the tub.”

The tub was so large it looked like three people could sit in it comfortable. And the minute she was laid into the bath the water turned pink and then brown with blood. It made him sick.

“I will take care of her from here. If you wouldn’t mind waiting outside I’ll call you when she is ready.” Marcus nodded and headed for the door turning he looked back. Her eyes hadn’t opened once since they had found her, and Marcus had never felt as helpless as he did right at that moment.

So he went for a drink, Victor was sitting in the library with only the fire burning. When Marcus reached for the light switch, Victor stopped him.

“Please my head is banging so hard, the light hurts.” Marcus acquiesced and came into the room pouring himself a large glass of whiskey. He wasn’t a big drinker, had seen and done things he wasn’t proud of but what he had seen tonight was something he would never be able to erase from his mind or heart.

“How is she?” Victor asked quietly.

“Lexi is taking care of her, she hasn’t woken up yet. Where is everyone?”

“Garrett and Christian have returned to the Infernos to report to Dante. I have no idea where anyone else is.” Victor’s words were quiet and subdued.

“Why have I never known of your ability to heal?” Marcus asked trying to feel in the silence.

“Why would you have, like I explained in the hole in the ground the monster had my sister. It is a gift I can use only with my siblings.” Victor had leaned his head back against the chair his eyes closed.

“And what does it cost you to use this gift?”

Victor opened his eyes, the iris of both were filled with blood. “I feel every wound, Marcus. She may be immortal, but you and I know that is relative. She was closer to death than I would have ever wanted her to be.”