Where There's Smoke (33 page)

It could’ve been him. Chance knew he had to be more alert if he was going to save Destiny. Vetis battled as much in a game of wits as he did with his powers.

“That was close,” Chance told him.

Vetis laughed, apparently thinking he would have an easy victory. Chanced planned to set him straight.

“Did you ever fight my father?” Chance asked.

“Always.”

“But you never won, did you? Isn’t that what you’re angry about? That you never beat him?”

Vetis stepped from behind a tree, arm back to throw another ball of flame, but Chance was ready for him. He threw a bolt of lightning at the demon. It shattered against a tree, sending volts of electricity at the demon. Vetis yelled, ducking behind a tree.

“Maybe I’ll beat you, too.”

“Never!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about it,” Chance goaded.

Silence.

Chance wondered if the demon had run away. A new fear washed over him. How could he save Destiny if he didn’t know where Vetis hid her? Was she really on the island? The demon could’ve lied about that.

There was a rustle to his left. Chance breathed a sigh of relief and moved to his right. Vetis hadn’t left.

“I thought you might have fled,” Chance told him.

“You shouldn’t think. It might get you in trouble,” Vetis spoke from behind him.

Chance whirled around, but Vetis was faster. He pulled a flaming sword from the air and lunged toward Chance. He moved, but not fast enough. The sword plunged into his side. He gasped.

Vetis moved closer, twisting the metal. “Does it hurt, nephew?” He bared long, pointed teeth, his fetid breath filling the air around Chance. Vetis jerked the sword out of Chance and moved back.

Chance glanced down at his wound. Blood streamed from his side. He was almost consumed by the burning pain. He looked up at Vetis.

“Didn’t you know that you can’t heal from a demon’s sword?”

Vetis lunged again, but this time Chance moved away from the sword’s edge.

“You can run, but I will find you and finish it!”

Chance closed his eyes, then reached into the air and brought out a golden sword. When he stepped from behind the tree, he faced the demon with a glint of determination in his eyes.

“I won’t run, demon, but I will kill you.”

Vetis was startled enough that he lost the advantage. Chance moved fast, even with his bleeding wound. He thrust hard and caught Vetis in the thigh.

“What about you, Vetis, will you heal when I wound you?” He stepped back, but saw the fear in Vetis’s eyes and had his answer. So the demon could be killed, and from the look on his face Vetis saw his own destruction.

Chance raised his sword high, ready to end the game they played, but Vetis’ next words stopped him cold.

“You might find it difficult to fight me if you’re busy trying to save the woman you love.”

Cold chills ran down Chance’s spine. “We had a bargain, demon! What have you done with her?”

“A bargain? With a demon? A bit of an oxymoron if you ask me.” His laughter was like glass falling to a tiled floor and shattering on impact. “Demons don’t honor bargains,” he sneered.

“Where’s Destiny!”

“I’m only fulfilling the verdict handed down by the tribunal. She’s burning. Don’t you hear her cries?”

Chance cocked his head to the side, listening. Destiny’s screams of pain reached his ears.

“Destiny, where are you?” He whirled around, searching.

“You can’t help her.”

Chance grabbed a nearby tree as his legs suddenly went weak. Her screams tore at him, ripping him to shreds.

“She’s lost to you forever, nephilim! You’ll never be able to save her now.”

He closed his eyes, could feel her touching the angel necklace he’d bought her. The fire rose up around her, burning her skin.

And in that moment he knew where Vetis had hidden her.

Without stopping to think about what he was doing, he ran forward, leaping over the trees, over the lake the nephilim had created so long ago. The closer he got, the louder her cries became. Then the fires were there in front of him.

Chance had never entered by himself. To do so would be certain death. No one could make it out alone. But he had no choice.

He stepped into the fire. The flames licked his flesh, burning his skin. “Destiny,” he yelled over the popping and hissing.

“Chance!”

He trudged toward her voice, fighting his way through the fire until she was there before him. He wrapped his arms around her, trying to shield her as much as he could, taking the brunt of the heat.

“I’m sorry. So sorry. I didn’t want you to suffer, too,” she cried. “Oh damn, it hurts so much.”

“I know, but we’ll find our way out.” He gritted his teeth as flames scraped down his back. For a moment he couldn’t move, then he inched forward, making sure that Destiny was with him all the way.

“You won’t find your way out.” Vetis’s words cut through the hissing flames. “I have beaten you.”

“Never!”

“Stubborn, just like your father. You might as well give up and accept your fate.”

Destiny whimpered.

“Everything will be okay,” he whispered close to her ear. But after only a few moments, Chance knew there wasn’t much hope of escaping the flames. Each step he took only led deeper into the fire. Somehow Vetis had trapped them both. They were doomed.

“I love you,” he told Destiny. “More than life itself.”

“I love you, too.” She rested her head against his chest, more than likely guessing the truth, knowing there was no hope. The odor of burning flesh surrounded him. Already the pain was unbearable.

A hand clamped down on his shoulder. Chance turned.

“Don’t give up yet, brother,” Ryder yelled above the crackling fire. He turned. Gripping his hand was Dillon, and with Dillon was Hunter.

Chance couldn’t speak as emotions welled inside him. Of course they wouldn’t let him face a demon alone. They were brothers, not by blood but by the bond they’d formed over the centuries.

Chance held Destiny close and together they forged their way out of the fire. When they stepped from the fire, rain showered down on their heads. Chance dropped to his knees, consumed by weakness. He held Destiny close, letting the rain once again heal his scars and ease his pain, until he was whole except for the wound Vetis had inflicted, but even that had been cauterized by the fire.

Chance should have known the others watched over him, as they had done for centuries. He was safe. Destiny was safe. He’d never let the demons have her!

“You’re free, my love,” he told her as he glanced down. Her scars healed, but there was no breath left in her. His world crumbled as he pulled her lifeless body against his chest.

“No!” he cried. “You cannot take her from me!”

“She’s dead,” Vetis scoffed. “Haven’t you realized yet that I own her soul?” He held up a glass bottle with bright colors swirling inside.

“Give her back. We had a bargain!”

“Never!” Vetis shot back. “Only when I have your soul will I open the bottle and free hers.”

Chance gently laid Destiny on the ground and stood.

“Don’t do it, Chance,” Ryder told him.

“You can’t,” Dillon and Hunter chimed in.

“I’ll do whatever it takes.” Chance squared his shoulders.

“Fool!” Vetis told him, but then he smiled. “You’re just as stupid as your father. He fell in love with a mortal woman and was banned from returning to Earth. He could have had his family if he would have changed allegiances. He chose to give you up instead, and now you’re mine!”

Chance raised his chin. “First, let her go.”

“You want to spend all eternity with her?” Vetis laughed.

“Free her,” he quietly told the demon. “Free her and you can have me.”

“Then let it be done.” Vetis threw the vessel that held Destiny’s soul. The bottle crashed against a tree. The vapor inside swirled in the air before coming to rest on Destiny.

Destiny inhaled a deep breath. Her eyes fluttered open, her gaze fearful, then softening when it landed on Chance. “You saved me.”

His own smile was bittersweet. “Always know that I have loved you since the moment we first met.” Chance turned to Vetis. “End it,” he growled.

Vetis howled with glee. “I have won!”

Ryder glared at the demon and stepped forward, Dillon and Hunter at his side. Before they could take more than a couple of steps, Chance stepped in front of them.

“We made a bargain,” he told them.

“A bargain with a demon,” Hunter spat. “We won’t let him take you.”

“Her soul or yours?” Vetis said. In his hand was a bottle just like the one he broke to set Destiny’s soul free.

“No!” Destiny cried as she struggled to her feet and rushed to Chance’s side. She clung to his arm, her eyes filled with tears. “What have you done?”

“I’ve set you free. Hunter, Dillon, and Ryder will take care of you. No one will ever hurt you again.”

She suddenly pushed away from him. “And you think that is supposed to make me feel better? My life was messed up from the start.” She shook her head. “I won’t let you take my place in Hell.”

“You have no choice. His soul belongs to me!” Vetis stretched his arm toward Chance.

Chance gasped as he felt the demon’s power reach inside him. He dropped to his knees as his life force began to leave his body. His world grew bleak and dark. From a distance, he heard Destiny cry out.

“God forgive me, but I had no choice,” he whispered.

The clouds above split apart and a burst of blinding light crashed to earth. The ground shook beneath their feet.

“No!” Vetis shouted to the heavens. “You have no right!”

With Vetis’s attention diverted, Chance’s soul was released. He gasped, his knees growing weak. Ryder grabbed him on one side, Destiny on the other as they supported him.

He looked around. “What happened?”

Vetis slouched to the ground, his body trembling as he tried to cover his head. “You’re not allowed,” he whined.

Chance stilled as the light crept over the ground, settling on Vetis. The demon cried out as if he’d been burned.

“What have you done, Brother?” came a voice from the heavens.

Brother? Chance searched the sky until finally the beams of light came together and an angel drifted slowly to earth. He was the most beautiful man Chance had ever seen. The angel was larger than life.

He wore a white robe and there were golden sandals on his feet. His face was lined and there were streaks of gray in his dark hair. But the gentleness Chance saw on the angel’s face brought tears to his eyes.

Chance knew him, even though he’d never met him before now. This was not a man who would ever forget his child. This was his father, and he’d felt his presence before but hadn’t known the intense feeling of love had come from him. Chance thought his father hadn’t cared, but he’d been there all the time.

“You owe me, Jacob!” Vetis snarled, drawing everyone’s attention back to him.

“I owe you nothing.” Jacob sadly shook his head.

Vetis glared at his brother. “You left me to burn in the fires of Hell!”

Chance felt his father’s deep sadness. His emotions ran so deep that Chance ached all the way to his soul.

“It wasn’t I who caused your downfall, Brother. You chose the wrong path, even after I begged you to stay.”

Vetis crept behind a tree, crouching low as if he was afraid of the aura surrounding the angel. “We had nothing! Only crumbs.”

“We had everything. You never saw the perfection of our world.”

“You gave up your wife, your child!”

“But I have my wife back, and someday, when the time is right, Chance will join us. We’ll live the rest of eternity together.”

“But I have your son’s soul!” Vetis reminded him.

“You never had his soul.” A tear fell from Jacob’s eye. “I can’t save you, Brother.”

“Do you still think I want to be saved?” He stood, coming from behind the tree, proud of his demon form. “I am who I am!” His gaze darted over the others until it landed on Destiny. “And she will return with me as well!”

Chance grabbed Destiny, pulling her against his side. “Never!”

His father’s light moved to surround all four nephilim and Destiny. Chance gasped as the beauty filled him with an unbelievable peace and joy.

“The girl no longer belongs to you. She redeemed herself many times over.”

“She gave her soul to Satan!”

The angel shook his head. “No, she gave up her soul so that she could protect a friend, then again to protect my son. Her soul is no longer yours to take.”

“We had a bargain. What do you say to that? You can’t go against the rules. You know that as well as I.”

“But I haven’t,” Jacob told him.

“You’re trying to trick me.”