Grave Decisions (Hellgate Guardians Book 3) Read online

  My mind feels like cotton got shoved all in it, soakin’ up all my rational thoughts. My brow furrows, because somethin’ just feels wrong about what’s happenin’ right now, but I can’t think through the stuffin’ in my brain to regain any sense. It’s like my head trusts this demon more than it does me. Like somehow, he’s flipped an override switch I didn’t know I had.

  He pulls me through the throng of people out havin’ a good time, and try as I might to look alarmed or ask for help, I can’t get my body to cooperate with me. The exit looms closer and closer, the door feelin’ like a representation of doom. I don’t want to walk out of it, and yet, I have no choice. His words are holdin’ me captive to smile and calmly follow him.

  Luckily, right before we make it to the exit, Morax jerks to a stop. Unable to stop my momentum, I slam against his oddly springy back, and before I can even finish stumblin’ backward, he curses and turns toward me.

  “What…”

  “Quiet,” he snaps, and my mouth slams shut, like it doesn’t even belong to me anymore.

  He stares at me intensely, but I can tell he’s not really lookin’ at me, and instead is focused on somethin’ else. His fingers dig into my skin, and his face starts to go red like he’s strainin’ to make something happen, but I have no idea what.

  “Fuck,” he snarls and then seems to abandon whatever it was he was tryin’ to do and starts tuggin’ me the other way.

  Frownin’, I strain to look behind me to see what spooked him, and that’s when I see the group that just walked through the club’s door. My mouth drops open in surprise at the prominent white and cream wings hangin’ off their backs. The winged people scan the crowded bar as though they’re lookin’ for somethin’, and judgin’ by Morax’s reaction, my guess would be that somethin’ is him.

  A female and a male break away from the group, and they’re both pretty enough to be on a poster or star in any damn movie of their choosin’. It almost hurts to look at them. They’re also carryin’ long swords in an X at their backs and go completely unnoticed by every club patron in the room.

  I want so badly to ask who they are, but I can’t.

  “Curse this realm to shit. There’s too many, and I can’t fucking shift!”

  My head swings back toward Morax at his words, and he grinds to a halt. Luckily, I’m able to stop this time before I run into him. I don’t know what made him halt in his tracks, and I can’t see around him because he whirls around to face me again.

  “I’ll be back for you,” he says before he shoves me and then turns and hurries away, disappearin’ into the throng. My bleary mind is slow to react, and the room spins as I teeter from his push. When I put my hands out to catch myself on somethin’, I realize too late that there’s nothin’ close enough to stop my fall.

  I go down, my palms and butt hittin’ the floor, the club music and cacophony of voices suddenly way too much for my sensitive ears and bruised brain.

  I try to get up, but I’m so damn dizzy and disoriented that it’s all I can do to stay on all fours instead of lyin’ spread out like roadkill just askin’ to be trampled.

  What the hell is wrong with me?

  Just when I feel a sob clog my throat at the feelin’ of helplessness, a pair of arms are helpin’ me up.

  “Are you alright?”

  I have to blink several times at the face to get my eyes to stay still long enough to realize that it’s the winged lady.

  She lifts me like I’m a rag doll and holds me out for a second before settin’ me gently on my feet. She’s also oddly brighter now that she’s closer. I squint as I take her in, and yet I don’t see any physical light on or around her that would explain why my head thinks she’s too shiny to stare at for too long.

  “What are you?” I slur, my tongue feelin’ heavy. Morax had wings too, but he looked different from her.

  She cocks her head and looks over to someone I can’t see before her gaze returns to me. “I’m an angel,” she tells me, just as two more winged males from the group she arrived with step in on either side of her.

  You’d think bein’ told you were dropped on the stoop by an actual angel your whole life would prepare you more for the off chance that you’d actually meet one. But no amount of bein’ thought of as Heavenly Bell or a little slice of heaven prepared me for this moment. All I can think right now is that this mornin’ I was told I was a demon, and damn, I bet those swords on their back are goin’ to hurt when they try to kill me.

  I yank out of her grasp, surprised that I somehow have control of my body again. I would celebrate, but I’m too worried about the smitin’ I’m sure is about to go down. I stumble on my shaky legs, and when she tries to help me, I hold my hands up to ward her off.

  “Please don’t touch me,” I say, really kickin’ myself in the ass for not actually askin’ any questions about how this whole demon thing works when I had the chance. “All y’all...demons, angels, whatever, I just want y’all to stay away from me.”

  Concern crosses her pretty face, but I don’t fall for it. There’s a whole group of them and one of me, and I’m not exactly operatin’ on all cylinders right now.

  I want to reach for my phone again, but I’m sure one little movement will have me tippin’ right over, and I don’t think it has anythin’ to do with the alcohol I consumed. I was fine until that asshole Morax did somethin’ to me.

  Was it his touch? Did one of his snakes bite me?

  “I can help you if you come with me,” she says, and my eyes widen. First Morax, now her?

  “No, thank you. Get away,” I say, my voice as shaky as my knees, but hey, my manners are still intact. Kinda.

  I make a mental note to tell my mama that she was wrong when she used to scold me as a kid that usin’ my manners wouldn’t kill me.

  The angel woman frowns at my response. I get the impression that she’s used to bein’ seen as salvation, which is not at all how I’m lookin’ at her.

  “But—” she starts to argue.

  “You heard her. She doesn’t want to go with you.”

  My eyes snap to the voice, and I see none other than Alder and Flint walkin’ up to stand beside me. My stomach flips as they settle in next to me, and I’m relieved at the sight of them, even though I’m tryin’ to breathe through the nausea that’s bubblin’ up my esophagus.

  The angels look at Alder and Flint with a distasteful sneer. “Demons.”

  “Legion,” Alder says smoothly, his hands dipped into his pockets, givin’ him an air of bored confidence.

  “You have no rights here,” the angel says to Alder, her speckled wings flarin’ slightly before tuckin’ back in. “We traced a Balance Breaker here, and he was very interested in this female. She needs to be questioned, and that’s our jurisdiction. We can take it from here.”

  Alder cocks his head, his watercolor tattoos lookin’ dark and vibrant in the club’s dim lightin’. “I find it odd that you’d be more concerned about her than the Balance Breaker you’re supposed to be hunting. You know, the one that just gave you the slip.”

  The angel’s lips purse. “We have this whole place warded, so he can’t shift away,” she tells him arrogantly. “I wouldn’t expect the dregs of Hell to understand, but he was interested in her for a reason,” the angel comments, gesturin’ to me, “...and we need to know what that is.”

  “You’re forgetting one little thing, angel dove,” Flint cuts in, all cool tone and false jovial grin. “Free will. If she doesn’t want to go with ya, then she doesn’t have to.”

  The three angels tense, and I feel the agitation between the group hike up even more. I’m stuck between three angels and two demons, with a cotton mind that has no idea what the hell is goin’ on.

  After a long pause, one of the winged men looks at me. “You have to choose. Who would you rather help you tonight? Demon scum or us?”

  Sweat is tricklin’ down the back of my neck, and my head has added a complementary ache to the dizziness.

  I
look between the five of them as they all stare at me expectantly, and I feel a bit like a fly caught between two webs. But you know what they say. Better the devil you know.

  “Alder and Flint can help me get home,” I announce, slightly slurred, and I’ve got no clue if I just made the right decision or not, but at least I got to make one, instead of whatever the hell just happened with that Morax guy.

  The angels grit their teeth, anger flashin’ in their eyes. For a moment, I worry that they aren’t gonna honor all this talk of free will, but then they send vicious glares to Alder and Flint. “We’ll be reporting this.”

  “Of course you will,” Alder says dryly.

  None too happy, the angels turn and walk away, no one in the club any wiser to the fact that representatives of Heaven and Hell just had a verbal showdown right in front of the bar.

  “You okay?” Alder asks, his attention immediately fallin’ on me.

  “I—”

  That’s all I get out before I feel my knees try to give out again, but this time, Flint is there to catch me.

  “Whooo, girl, you had a little too much to drink. Let’s get ya home,” he says with a laugh, but I can tell he’s sayin’ it for the crowd’s sake, and not because he actually thinks I’m drunk. There’s an underlyin’ worry in his slate-gray eyes as he looks at me, him and Alder sharin’ a loaded look.

  With me securely in his arms, Flint follows behind Alder as we make our way toward the exit, and this time, there’s no terror or panic crawlin’ under my skin as we go. All I feel is relief as I rest my poundin’ head against Flint’s smooth chest, and he carries me bridal style through the partin’ crowd.

  He may look like marble, but he’s got hot-blooded flesh I can feel beneath my cheek and the press of my palm. I can’t help but melt against him.

  “Glad you’re here,” I manage to say, and it’s the truth. The thought that I was almost led away to Lord knows where by that Morax guy...I burrow closer to Flint and feel his arms tighten around me.

  “We are too,” he says quietly, lookin’ down at me with an indiscernible expression on his chiseled face.

  “We were almost too fucking late,” I hear Alder growl, and I try to look over at him, but my head is just so heavy. “We knew something like this could happen.”

  I make a soft scared noise in my throat, and Flint rubs his fingers over my back in comfort. “It’s alright, darlin’. We won’t let anything like that happen to you again.”

  Once the warm outside air hits my lips, I take in a shaky breath. Neither of them say another word until I’m tucked in the front seat, sittin’ on Flint’s lap, while Alder gets behind the wheel of the SUV and starts to drive.

  I close my eyes, tryin’ to calm down the vicious headache that’s still lingerin’, and I nearly moan when Flint starts to gently comb his fingers through the strands of my hair. It feels so good, I don’t ever want him to stop.

  “That demon did somethin’ to me,” I mumble wearily, my words thankfully less slurred and a bit clearer.

  “We know, darlin’,” Flint coos, and even though I can tell he’s tryin’ to stay calm for my sake, his next words to Alder betray his worries. “Can you help her?”

  “I don’t know what type of demon that was, but I’ll figure it out,” Alder replies, his tone matter-of-fact.

  I sure hope he does, because my head is poundin’.

  “Don’t take me home like this. My mama will kill me if she thinks I got blackout drunk. She thinks I’m stayin’ with AnnaMae tonight,” I manage to tell them. I open up one eye and squint over at Alder. “But don’t you dare think for one second that you can drag me off to Hell or somethin’,” I warn. “I don’t know squat about bein’ a demon, but I will find a way to ensure that it’s the last thing you regret before I make you sorrier than a squirrel on a Slip ‘n Slide.”

  I hear Flint snort above me. “Vicious little thing, ain’t ya?” he teases.

  I try to snort right back, but it feels like my brain is tryin’ to come out of my nostrils, and I vow not to do that again. I settle in against Flint. I don’t even mind that he’s holdin’ me in the front seat with him instead of puttin’ me in the back like a normal person. He’s very comfortable, and maybe demons don’t need seatbelts?

  “I do have to say, your threat does lose some of its bite when you mention squirrels and water slides.” Flint chuckles, and the vibration of his body against mine is incredibly soothin’ for some reason.

  I’m suddenly all too aware that my ass is nestled in his lap, and I can feel his very strong legs beneath me which makes me imagine all sorts of naughty things.

  Like what those thighs would look like flexed over me as he pounded into me from above. Or his corded arms with their gray, granite lines propped on either side of my head. Or his smooth jaw runnin’ over my skin as he licked his way down, which of course, I’d reciprocate by kissin’ my way all over those chiseled abs of his that I got a glimpse of before. And of course, my imagination runs wild with not just Flint, but Alder too.

  I guess I shouldn’t be at all surprised I’m a demon. With all these sinful, heated thoughts I have runnin’ through my head, it’s a shock I don’t just burst into flames.

  “Thanks for gettin’ me out of there,” I whisper, my eyes growin’ so heavy I can’t hold them open anymore.

  “We’ll take care of you, Medley. We promise,” Alder rumbles, and I feel myself relax completely.

  I probably shouldn’t put much stock in a demon’s promise, but here I am, fallin’ asleep on one and trustin’ that when I wake up, I won’t be surrounded by hellfire. I thought I was in a car but maybe this is the handbasket I’ve been warned about my whole life.

  At least the ride to Hell is comfy, and my guides are sexy as sin, I think to myself, and then I pass out.

  11

  I feel like I’ve been chewin’ on sandpaper when I come to. It also feels like someone took that sandpaper and scrubbed the inside of my skull with it. It’s not a nice way to wake up.

  I recall immediately what happened, and I know what I’m feelin’ is completely unrelated to the consumption of alcohol. I don’t feel hungover, I feel like my mind ran a damn marathon and now it’s down for the count with exhaustion.

  What the hell did that Morax guy do to me?

  “Here, drink this,” Flint tells me quietly, and I slowly open my eyes to see the hunky marble demon holdin’ a glass of water out to me.

  I reach for it with a hand that’s alarmingly too shaky to actually grip the glass. Worry floods me, and I close and open my palm, hopin’ it convinces my tremblin’ muscles that I’m in control.

  Flint sets the glass down on the nightstand next to the bed that I realize I’m in, and pulls me into his lap as though my mass holds no weight. Oddly, I relax as soon as I’m sittin’ on him, like my body knows it’s safe with him. I don’t have time to examine that thought before Flint has the glass of water pressin’ against my lips, waitin’ for me to ready them for a drink.

  I part my lips, my eyes on his angled face in what suddenly feels like an intimate moment between us. He watches me as he slowly tips the glass up, while the fingers on his other hand trace circles on my hip. My skin warms from his touch, but as soon as the liquid hits my tongue, I’m jolted out of our mesmerized moment that we were both caught up in. Surprise hits me as a cold, lightly sweet fluid pours into my mouth, and I choke on the sip I try to take.

  Flint sets the glass down and pats my back as I hack away to clear my lungs of whatever I just drank.

  “That ain’t water,” I croak when I can finally breathe again, and Flint gives me a warm smile.

  “Nope. Alder made it for ya. He said it would help clear your head up, and he’s good with stuff like this, so I’d drink it if I were you.”

  I eye him for a moment, but there’s no hidden agenda or lie in his expression, and just like when they showed up at the club, my gut is tellin’ me that I can trust him and Alder.

  I nod, and he reaches ov
er and grabs the glass again. This time, I’m ready for the taste and drink it down without incident. Well, if you ignore my suddenly needy gulps like I’m dyin’ of dehydration, that is.

  The fluid has a thicker consistency than water and is cold and crisp and more refreshin’ than anythin’ I’ve ever had before, and that’s sayin’ a lot, because my mama makes lemonade and sweet tea that you’d slap yourself silly for. It tastes sweet, but it’s not a sugary sweet, more like honey, but...different.

  “What is that?” I ask as Flint sets the empty glass back on the nightstand.

  “The tears of my enemies,” Alder announces as he comes walkin’ into the room.

  I immediately cringe, really hopin’ he’s jokin’, and Alder chuckles at my expression. If he thinks it’s strange that I’m on Flint’s lap, he doesn’t show it. “It’s a thistle. It’s the milk from it,” Alder explains, but I don’t know if I think that’s really much better. I probably shouldn’t have asked. Better to not know that somethin’ delicious turns out to be slug slime, or in this case, plant jizz.

  I look around the room as I try not to think about what I just consumed and where it came from. The walls are a rich dark teal, and the floor is warm honey hardwood. There’s a large bookshelf on one wall that’s made of some kind of thick industrial lookin’ metal with books and records and an expensive sound system on it. There are pictures of muted and foggy landscapes hangin’ on various walls, and the headboard and side tables are black with a metal border that matches the material of the bookshelves.

  I’m not sure how, but I know this is Flint’s room. It feels like him, which is an odd thing to say since I just met him.

  Alder moves to a seatin’ area that consists of a cream-colored couch and two matchin’ chairs with a metal and glass coffee table separatin’ them. Flint stands up from the bed, and I squeal and grab for his neck at the unexpected rise and subsequent hold that he now has on me as he carries me over to the couch and sits down.

  He doesn’t move me from his lap, and I’m not sure if I should get up or just sit here. I’m surrounded by awkward silence as I try to figure out what to do. I’m drawn to them, no doubt about it. And somethin’ inherently drives me to trust them, or I wouldn’t have chosen to come with them instead of the angels in the first place. But I don’t know whether I should keep my distance from them...or just follow my attraction. I’m stuck, not knowin’ how I should act or what I should be feelin’.