The COMPLETE Witching Pen Series, Boxed Set (41 page)

He finally did remove his hand, and her body screamed at the loss.

A bored sounding sigh came from somewhere behind him.

Mary let out a little squeal and tried to cover herself up, cursing herself for having forgotten they weren’t alone, although the demon
had
wandered off. Where had she gone?
Oh, my God, did she hear us?
 

Her own mind laughed at her.
Everything heard you, Mary.
 

Gwain released her legs and put her down. “Relax. She’s thousands of years old.”

“And even if she
looked
thousands of years old, I wouldn’t want her to see me like this,” she threw back.

“You mean, sexed up with me between your legs? You look beautiful.”

She threw him an angry glare, which only served to broaden his grin. She wondered if she preferred grumpy Gwain.

“Oh, good! You have wings,” cut in Sophia. She crossed her arms, and waited for them to straighten themselves with a very nonchalant expression on her face. She stared at Mary, and Mary felt the heat build in her cheeks as she pulled Gwain’s shirt down as far as it would go. Nonsensical really, since she’d been stark naked when she’d carried her out of the Hell-fire.

“I don’t give two monkeys about sex, you know. None of the Totilemi do. We want to spread knowledge, not babies and STDs.”

“Angels aren’t fertile, and we don’t carry STDs,” muttered Gwain.

“Shhh! Can you not say the S-word?” snapped Mary.

Sophia’s eyebrows rose a fraction of a centimetre. “STD?”

“Sex. You’re eight.”

“I’m eight thousand.”

“Well you look and sound like you’re eight.”

“And isn’t that the fucking bane of my existence.”

“My God, don’t say the F-word either!”

Sophia rolled her eyes, then looked at Gwain. “Can we go now?”

He nodded.

“No!”

They both turned to Mary, who was staring at Gwain’s throat.

“Oh, no, no … it’s gone. My necklace.”

His hand went up to his bare neck.

“You had it on during the fight; I saw it. It must have come off after. I need to find it.”

Gwain nodded reluctantly. “Let’s be quick.”

“I’m not going back in there,” squeaked Sophia, gesturing to the main chamber, fear swimming all over her face.

“Gwain, stay here with her. I’ll just be a second.”

“She can look after herself.”

“She’s terrified of Abaddon, for goodness sake. Stay with her.”

“I don’t want you in there alone with him,” he growled.

“You pulverised him. What do you think he’s gonna do – turn himself into a smoothie and make me drink him through a straw?”

He shot her a baffled look, but let her go. “Be
quick,
” he emphasised to her disappearing back.

She restrained herself from smart-mouthing back at him. Did he actually think she wanted to linger? Did he think he was talking to a child? Pompous git.

“I love you too, by the way,” he called after her, dryly.

She frowned. Had she spoken aloud?

All thoughts left her mind as the sight of Abaddon’s disembodiment greeted her once more. Gwain had done that with his bare hands – the same hands that had just brought her to a screaming orgasm. She shivered. Life was so messed up.

Okay … necklace, where are you?
She scanned the ground in hopes of seeing a glimmer from the gold pendant. She found it so quickly, she almost didn’t believe it at first, but there it was – right next to Abaddon’s severed head. Great.

She made her way there gingerly, avoiding the pools of blood with her bare feet as much as she could.
Gross. It’s a miracle I’m not certified insane.
 

She hesitated when she got to the necklace. With a wary look at the head, she reached down and picked up the chain, then turned to leave without wasting another second.

“Ymari.”
 

Really … she shouldn’t have been surprised that the head was talking to her. It would happen in a horror movie, why on earth would it not happen in real life?

Gwain’s sarcastic nature is rubbing of on you, Mary,
goaded her subconscious.

She sighed and turned to face Abaddon.

“You were supposed to be my bride,” he croaked out, his voice barely a whisper.

“I don’t look good in white.”

“Quips and jests… You don’t know what you are.”

“An angel of darkness, you said.”

“More … so much more.”

“What are you talking about?”

“To some you are a demon; to some you are an angel … but every being must succumb to what came before … even God, I fear. They’ll come after you. Ymari…” The head coughed, and spluttered up blood and spit.

What came before? Did he mean chaos? She needed more clarification. “What
did
come before?”

He merely looked at her, resignation in his eyes. “His scent … I now know why our bond broke … why you ran to him … why I could not contain you – why no one can contain either of you. Ymari…”

She got on her knees and leaned in closer – he was obviously struggling to speak. “Gwain said you wouldn’t die.”

“I will not – just need to rest. Ymari … remember, that when at rock bottom, there’s only one way left to go.”

Mary bit back her frustration. He was making no sense. “Wait, no … go back. You mentioned ‘what came before’. What did you mean?”

His eyelids fluttered shut.

She slapped his face to wake him up, and the head sort of rolled to the right and grunted.

For God’s sake, this is ridiculous.

“What. Came. Before?” she repeated through gritted teeth.

He coughed again, although his eyes didn’t open. “What you are … Na-nog…”

Silence.

“Hey!” She prodded his cheek.

Nothing.

Shit. Na-what? Nog?
The only ‘nog’ she knew was eggnog.

“You having fun down there?” came the low voice, which she could tell was laced with enmity and … jealousy.

She sighed in irritation. “Don’t start on me, Mr Bipolar. He was saying something important.”

“Didn’t hand you a straw then?”

She stood up, and threw him a glare while she clasped the necklace around her neck. “What is your problem?”

Gwain stood there, still as a statue, then seemed to sag and ran a hand down his face. “Let’s just get out of here. I’m pent up is all.”

She raised her eyebrows. “For ten thousand years?”

“Just over, actually.”

She lightened her tone. “Anything a love-fuck can fix?”

He laughed then, and she found herself relieved. She didn’t want him angry at her – they had to work together. Smiling back at him, she hopped over all the blood until she was by his side.

“Hey,” she said, grabbing his arm. “Do you trust me?”

“What?”

“I can’t do this if you don’t trust me.”

Recognition lit his eyes at her words, and she couldn’t repress a lustful shiver at what they must have looked like in the prison, him pinning her against the wall, ripping her top off… Christ almighty, now that she thought about it without the wonderful (
– not –)
bonus of feeling like she was being sawn into pieces, it seemed kind of hot.

Down girl.

“Trust works both ways. You know, between you and the smoothie,” she gestured at Abaddon, “I’m getting the impression that angels don’t have an easy time with their emotions.”

Gwain said nothing.

She huffed.
So fucking male.
 

“My life has changed drastically in a very short space of time. Not just changed – it’s realigned itself to some kind of cosmic order I’m not fully awakened to yet, but it’s coming in hard and fast, my eyes are being opened, and you’re a big part of that… But don’t think for one second that
this
Mary’s dead. I don’t know what I was before, or what I’m turning into, but that was then, and this is now. Whatever happens, I was still
born
when I went through that abyss thing, and I was born human, with human needs. I have human thoughts and feelings.” She took in a deep breath. “I love you.”

His eyes jumped to hers in surprise.

“Yeah, I do. And it freaks me out to say that because I’ve never been the instant-love type. But this isn’t instant, is it? This is ancient, and there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it. Well, I don’t care how ancient it is, or what amount of bonding or merging is involved. Love isn’t enough and never has been. Without trust, we’re nothing… And I trust you.”

He stared at her for what seemed like an age. As usual, she couldn’t hazard a guess as to what he was thinking.

Finally, what looked like admiration settled across his features, and he nodded once. “Me’inín tu.”

Her ancient, awakening self understood the words:
I trust you.
 

She smiled. “Da.”
Good.
“Let’s go.”

Side by side, they entered the far end of the cave to find Sophia huddled in a corner looking utterly miserable. “We going yet?” she asked, sullenly.

“Yes. Sorry. I couldn’t lose this necklace.”

She nodded as she stared at her necklace, but looked pale. And who could blame her. She’d spent the last God-knows-how-long burning in a pit of Hell-fire.

Gwain hunched down beside her. “Get onto my back. Stay tight between the wings. They’ll come up around you, but shouldn’t touch you. You’ll need to hold onto my neck as your legs will have no purchase, but I’ll hold onto your arms from the front, and I won’t let go.”

She did as he asked, and then he straightened up.

“And where do you want me?” asked Mary.

His eyes told her exactly where he wanted her. Thankfully, he kept those thoughts to himself – just as well, or they’d never get out of here. “You’ll need to piggy-back me from the front. Your legs will be just under my wings. Put your arms around my neck, and lock them around Sophia if you can. I’m gonna fly fast, and it’ll get faster the closer we are to the human world. It’s hard to judge time when travelling through dimensions, but I reckon it’ll feel about fifteen minutes before we hit the top, so to speak.”

Mary nodded, then hoisted herself onto Gwain, pressed into him, and locked her arms around Sophia as best as she could.

Gwain’s breath tickled her ear. “Very nice,” he mumbled. So she squeezed her legs tighter around his arse for good measure.

He let out a little groan she hoped only she could hear. “You’re gonna pay for that later,” he whispered.

She smiled against his cheek, his wings reached out far either side of them, and then the three of them were speeding upwards.

There was no denying that being wrapped around Gwain’s body was a unique kind of delightful, second only to the sensation of flying, but then maybe it was the whole ‘love’ thing. She’d always seen herself as too tough for love, too hard a nut to crack – she’d never let anyone in before; had never wanted to. Doing so would have meant explaining why she cut herself; why she woke up screaming in anguish most nights of the week; why the man she allowed into her bed could never give her pleasure. Owing to a dramatic hand of fate, none of those concerns existed with Gwain, so her barriers against love were irrelevant … he’d broken through them, whether or not she was ready for battle.

Around them, the dark seemed to fade a little as they neared the surface. There came a point when she could no longer look up, they were going so fast, so she ducked and tucked her head into the crook of his neck, swallowing hard to unblock her ears.

“Stay down!” shouted Gwain. “There’s no open gateway. I have to crash through the earth.” He held one arm out in a fist, just like Superman, as his other hand gripped Sophia’s small arms.

Mary tightened her hold on both him and the girl; willed him on as she heard him roar his body into the man-shaped rocket it had become; screamed as she felt him spear through the rock of the planet from its underbelly… But it was Abaddon’s words that played in her mind when they finally broke through the surface:
when at rock bottom, there’s only one way left to go.
 

Chapter Seven

“Did you feel that?” asked Pueblo, clearly nervous about something she hadn’t been able to grasp at since he’d arrived half an hour ago. “It felt like a mini-earthquake.”

“I didn’t feel anything,” Amy replied.

The others shook their heads in agreement. They hadn’t felt anything either.

Pueblo frowned and leaned back in his chair, but his hand remained firmly wrapped around her thigh where she sat next to him, in a way that told her he was ready to defend or die.

Karl and Elena resumed their talk opposite them, while Katarra just looked bored out of her mind.

Amy prodded Pueblo with a finger. “Hey,” she whispered. “What’s up with you?”

“I felt something.”

“No, I’m talking about you acting all protective.”

“I’m always protective of you.”

“Yeah, but in an ‘all other guys beware’ kind of way, not in a ‘we’re about to be attacked’ kind of way.”

He shiftily looked around as if her words might trigger Armageddon, then he focused on her, concern etched in his countenance. “Amy, is everything okay? Is there something you need to tell me?”

Her breath hitched in her throat.
Did Elena say something?
No, she couldn’t have done. He’d only arrived a short while ago, and she’d seen Elena speak barely two words to him as they’d all busied themselves making coffees and teas for the big meeting. “Er…”

“All right,” called out Elena, “can we all start?”

“We’ll talk later,” said Pueblo, quietly to her, before turning his full attention to what Elena was saying.

Later? We’ll be disappearing into another dimension to save Elena’s mum later. When ‘later’ did he have in mind?

She couldn’t help but feel a little relieved about their looming rescue mission. She knew she needed to talk to Pueblo, but she felt torn apart inside. She didn’t want to confide in him that she had all her old memories from an entire life involving another man until she felt a bit stronger – was that so bad?

Elena placed a small, plastic tub, with a pharmaceutical label wrapped around it, in the middle of the kitchen table.