Born of Nether- Everwitch Read online

  “What is this?” she managed, voice cracking over the shriek of hysteria being held back.

  But the Angel had no intention of saying any more, either that or she didn’t have the chance to because suddenly, they weren’t alone anymore. Bursting into sight through the shrinking portal, came a creature straight out of a nightmare. It was like nothing that Brielle had ever seen in her life.

  The creature hung from the ceiling, outlined by some eerie light which hinted that the creature wasn’t coming from the diner hall beyond. Long, clawed fingers clung to the underside of the stained drywall, skin as black as night. Hundreds of razor-sharp teeth displayed themselves in a head that was narrow and pointed, and the ears lay flat against the skull. It didn’t seem to be smiling; instead, a sneer splashed across the terrifying face. Slanted eyes staring at the scene in the room were a vivid, unnatural blue, and eerie flames licked at the edges of those eyes.

  The Angel whipped around to face her attacker. “Demon,” she hissed. But now, her previous fear seemed to be gone as she drew a large glowing dagger from a holster that Brielle hadn’t even noticed at her side. Without pause, the nightmarish creature leapt and landed on the Angel. Its claws had elongated and were now roughly six inches longer, clearly made for ripping and rending.

  Brielle stood in horror at the scene unfolding in front of her. The battle between the two was short and brutal. Though the Angel was an incredible fighter, she was clearly no match for the creature that had to have come straight out of Hell. It wasn’t long before one vicious swipe across the Angel’s midsection stopped her in her tracks. But in one last move, the glowing dagger came around and tore its way across the demon’s neck.

  As if a switch had been flipped, the light went out of the Angel’s red eyes, and she crumpled. Only for the fact that Brielle was frozen in place with fear, was why the horrified scream stayed trapped in her throat, as she watched the Angel fall dead at her feet. And it was the same, two seconds later, when the grievously wounded demon did the same, body crumpled on top of the Angel’s. An explosion blew her off of her feet, a sudden blast of energy erupting into the air, and slammed Brielle back against the far wall. Her head cracked against the slick tiles, stunning her for a half-second. Her vision swam, but she clung to consciousness, refusing to take her eyes off of either creature. Something was happening to the bodies. From each, rose a stream of light, golden from the Angel, dark orange from the demon.

  Hurtling toward Brielle, both streams headed toward her chest as Brielle watched in horror, unable to move. Then as they reached her, first the golden, then the orange light diverted to the side and sank into the weird book-skin coiled around her right arm. This time, they sank into her, not just around, and as the last vestiges of the light disappeared, so did the weird book-skin.

  Then all was silent.

  “Shit!” Brielle uttered, finally able to speak, mind struggling to process everything that had just happened. “Shit,” she breathed a second time, eyes wide. Hands shaking viciously, she fumbled for her phone, before realizing that she needed to get the hell out of there instead.

  The two bodies blocked her way to the door, and Brielle quickly understood that she needed to climb over them to escape.

  And then as if things couldn’t get worse, they suddenly did.

  Two more of the hideous demons appeared, racing along the ceiling from the portal of nowhere, impossibly moving upside down as they came menacingly toward her. Then one after the other, they dropped to the ground and continued moving toward her. As they did, Brielle’s heart almost stopped as she watched the two creatures shift into men right before her eyes. Both were tall and muscular, and were clad in matching, perfectly-cut designer suits and expensive loafers. It would have been believable that they had stepped out of a business meeting, if not for the fact that they had been running upside-down on the ceiling a few minutes prior. But it was their eyes that gave Brielle pause and which sent chills up and down her spine as they approached. Like the previous demon, their eyes were bright blue, too bright, too blue, eyes that were eerily too vivid to be human. Neither man/ thing smiled, and it was evident that they intended to harm her, perhaps in retaliation for their fallen friend on the ground.

  A scream ripped itself from her throat. “Noooo!” Covering her eyes, Brielle thrust one hand out in front of herself, as if to block the attack she knew was coming.

  Instead, she felt a blast of heat leave her fingertips. Then she heard a loud sizzle and a groan, followed by a crash. Her eyes flew open.

  There, before her, stood only one of the men. The other now lay curled on the ground, either unconscious or dead. His body was now burned, clothes mostly destroyed, apparently burned off.

  The guy still standing looked curiously from his partner on the ground to the ruined sleeve of his own jacket, telltale scorched skin below. Clearly, whatever had blazed his partner, had managed to graze him in the process.

  Brielle refused to believe that she’d had anything to do with it.

  “Well, well, well,” he murmured, “what do we have here?”

  Boldly stepping closer, until he was within a few inches of her, the guy leaned in and sniffed her. Brielle’s hair prickled at his nearness which, excluding the situation, was more than a little intimate. But fear froze her in place, and she couldn’t work up the muster to move away.

  A loud hiss and three more of the horrible creatures came racing along the ceiling with abnormal speed, hurtling toward them.

  “Stop!” the guy in front of her threw back a hand and as he did, a translucent barrier formed a wall at his fingertips, stopping the others in their tracks.

  “She’s an EverWitch,” he added, voice intrigued.

  A hiss came from one of the demons right behind him, as another gave an interested murmur. Not liking their sudden interest, Brielle frowned and took a step back. She shook her head, not sure what she was saying no to.

  The lead demon inclined his head, eyes boring into her. “EverWitches are very rare, with only about five in existence. I know every single one, but not you. You must be freshly made.” His eyes flickered to the two bodies on the ground and then back to her. “Usually, your kind needs to pick a side, and I would like to be the first to extend an offer to join my side.”

  Now she knew why she was shaking her head, and was still doing so. Horrified, Brielle managed to say, “You’re a monster….a demon.”

  “Only the second is correct.”

  “No! I don’t want anything to do with you, regardless of what you are. I need to leave.” Her eyes scanned the room, hating the fact that the arriving creatures had blocked her way. Trying to run past them would undoubtedly get her caught, and clearly that’s what they intended.

  “Oh, I’m sure we can convince you.” After raking a long glance over her body, the demon smiled cockily. He raised his hand, and with a little wisp of smoke, a card appeared in his fingertips. Tucking it into the front pocket of her skirt, he smiled again.

  She recoiled at his touch, and threw out her arms again, hoping for more magic or whatever had happened before. That’s when one of the demons appeared behind her suddenly, having taken advantage of her slight distraction. The creature seized both of her arms, yanking them behind her back in a death grip.

  Panic shot through her and Brielle began fighting like mad to free herself. Surprising herself, Brielle almost lifted him from his feet as she struggled, her body somehow infused with a newfound strength. Behind her, the demon snarled with contempt, and wrestled with her, one powerful arm slipping around her throat. Brielle gagged as she saw stars, her breath cut off suddenly.

  Someone muttered, “Katse, we’ll take him and take the girl too.” Through her hazy vision, she saw one of the demons lift their fallen brother’s corpse away from the Angel’s body. Then the feel of herself being lifted, and Brielle knew that she was being taken wherever it was the demons had come from.

  ‘Nooooo!’ her mind shrieked.

  Suddenly, with a jarr
ing crash, something huge slammed against the wall of the dark room. The entire room shook with the impact, bursts of dust raining down from the ceiling, covering everyone inside. Seizing the moment, Brielle wrenched away from her captor and dropped to the floor, arms covering her head.

  A shout bellowed through the room, followed by a huge guy. Before any demon could react, the newcomer had grabbed the nearest demon and flung it against the far wall with such force that the demon’s body tore right through. He had the same ruby-red irises as the female Angel, and Brielle realized with a start that he was also a divine being. In a blink, the magnificent Angel stood before Brielle. “Come with me if you want to live!” he shouted. Without the time to make a proper decision, Brielle threw caution to the wind and grabbed the hand that he offered.

  All she saw was the lead demon, Katse, rushing at them, his body in the process of a hasty change to his demon form. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and Brielle opened her mouth to scream, just as the room, the demons and everything else disappeared.

  Then they were gone from the room.

  CHAPTER 2

  Brielle found herself in a small park, sitting on a bench. Darkness shrouded everything, and Brielle realized that her ordeal had taken more time than she realized. It had only been 5’oclock in the afternoon when she and Roe had driven downtown. By the darkness now, it seemed to be around 8 or 9pm at night. The park was fairly deserted, but she didn’t feel afraid for some reason. Perhaps her fear threshold had already been met.

  Idly, she wondered what P.I. Jones thought about her failure to return from the restroom. ‘At least he already got paid,’ she thought.

  Next to her, sat her savior, ….or at least she hoped. Her day had gotten so strange, that she didn’t know who the good guys or bad guys were anymore.

  “Tell me what happened back there,” the Angel, she guessed, began by saying.

  And for the first time since he had burst into the room back there, Brielle took a good look at her rescuer. He was military fit, without an extra ounce of body fat anywhere. Literally. Her savior was all muscle, fitted neatly into a sleeveless black vest covered with weapon holsters. By Brielle’s best guess, he stretched to nearly six-foot-five since he towered over her own five-foot-eleven frame. He had to be at least ex-military, she realized, as even the black cargo pants he wore contained more holsters.

  Her mind jarred at the thought of describing an ‘angel’ as ex-military. Whoever the guy was, he was prepared for battle.

  But her eyes kept roving over his body simply to distract herself from his beauty. He was hands-down handsome, save the startling ruby-red irises, almost to the point that Brielle was loathe to stare at him for fear he might realize what she was thinking. Faint scars along his arms and face didn’t diminish his looks; instead they just confirmed what she’d figured about him being a solider by profession. A light stubble shadowed his jaw, like he’d just forgotten to shave that morning.

  “Back there? I was held hostage by-….by-….,” she frowned, unable to bring herself to say what needed to be said.

  “Demons.” There was no uncertainty in his tone as he said it.

  Brielle swallowed. “I guess.”

  Her savior nodded. “I know about that, and I apologize for not being there sooner. My name is Isarin. And you are?”

  “Brielle Acosta,” she replied automatically.

  “Very nice to meet you, Brielle.” He smiled and Brielle was struck by his handsomeness again. In spite of the situation, her heart did a little skip.

  His tone had softened by the time he continued, “Tell me about when you met Enya.”

  “Enya? Was that the girl who died in the restroom?” For a few seconds, she had forgotten about the current screwed-up situation that she was in.

  The Angel hesitated, his face having returned to its former blank expression, before responding. “Yes.” Brielle got the feeling that her question had touched a nerve.

  “Um, well, she came running into the restroom where I was, through some kind of glowing light. She seemed to be looking around for something, but I don’t know what. And I just stood there, because I was scared, and she came up and grabbed me, but then this….this….thing came into the room the same way she did. They started to fight and then he killed her. Then she started to fall, but before she fell, she stabbed him, right through the neck. Then he died. And they both fell down on the ground. And then, the others came-,” Brielle fought down a wave of hysteria as she remembered being grabbed by the monsters.

  The Angel had a sympathetic expression, but there was an intense look in his eyes that Brielle couldn’t place. She got the feeling he wanted a more detailed explanation of what had happened. Not that she could blame him; if the girl that had died was a friend of his, then obviously he would be upset.

  ‘Like how those demons were upset to find their friend bleeding out at my feet,’ her mind chimed in helpfully.

  “Was there anything else?” the Angel inquired.

  “And she-….was carrying some sort of book, and it just disappeared.” Her gut told her that the less she said about the mysterious book that was now on or in her body, the better. Then again, it had vanished, so maybe it had gone away when the two had died.

  “The book disappeared?” The Angel’s face maintained the same even concentration, but even so, Brielle squirmed a bit. His tone had a touch of dubiousness, maybe disbelief.

  “That’s what I said.”

  Where his demeanor had conveyed confidence and warmth before, now it gave off suspicion. “It is what you said, but is it the truth?” There was so much accusation in that brief statement that Brielle froze.

  “Yes.” Now there was an edge to her words, handsome Angel or not. She didn’t like having her words questioned.

  The Angel continued to study her calmly, as if waiting for her to say more, but offering no explanation for his line of questioning. Brielle waited as well, questions swirling around in her own brain. Questions such as, who the hell was he? Why did his friend Enya get herself in the type of trouble that had ended with her dead in a dingy restroom? What was in the stupid book?

  Isarin’s eyes narrowed. “You saw Enya before she grabbed you?”

  Knowing that her expression had stopped being friendly a while back, Brielle nodded, suddenly irritated. “Again, yes. I saw her when she came bursting into the room, panicking and scared.”

  There was the slightest shift in his expression, one that Brielle got a fleeting glimpse of: sadness.

  “Does that matter?” she asked, wondering about the sudden grief he tried to hide.

  Isarin’s gaze pinned hers. “If you saw Enya before she touched you, then she was already dying when she entered that room with you. That is the only way that a mortal can see an Angel. Since she was dying, she couldn’t hold her form together enough to shield herself. Which means that we failed to protect her in the battle.”

  His somber mood wiped away her previous irritation.

  ‘Damn,’ she thought.

  “Look, I’m sorry for your loss, but I really was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Looking around in vain, of course, since she didn’t know the town and had no clue where she was, she tried to read the nearest street sign. “I don’t know any more than that, and I need to get going back to my hotel. My friend has been waiting for me for a while now.” She stood, not sure exactly what her next move was. The car was with Roe, and walking alone in a strange city at night was the first step to becoming a victim. So instead, she just frowned.

  Calling her friend to come and get her might be a possibility, only if Roe was in the mood to do so. The biggest problem with her friend was that she couldn’t really be counted on during an emergency. Chances were, Roe was currently in the midst of a social media blitz at the moment, probably posting from a sudsy bubble bath.

  ‘Still….,’ she thought, sliding a discreet glance at the big guy next to her. Everything about him radiated strength, and if she was going to make a quick escape
from him, she needed a way out.

  Brielle pulled out her phone and swiped the unlock code. Roe would just have to-

  -then she swore as her phone was no longer in her fingers. The Angel, somehow having mysteriously moved without her seeing him, was also on his feet and now held her phone loosely at his side.

  “Brielle,” he began, gorgeous face somber, “hear me out. You can’t leave, as we still need your services,”

  “Excuse me.” He was about to get a nasty ‘ol ‘tude if he didn’t hand over her phone ASAP. She just about had enough. “Who is we? Look, I need to call my friend so that I can get the hell out of here.” She held out her hand expectantly.

  Without handing over the phone, Isarin continued. “You’re too important to us to just walk away, Brielle. It is your duty to pick a side to fight on, and we need you now more than ever. Time is slipping away.”