Heaven and Hell - Anne Guest (red queen ebook .TXT) 📗

my tracks.
What was I doing, I am not against killing and have done so on many occasions but it’s always been quick and clean. I have never taken pleasure in it and that was exactly what I was doing now. I jump off him and move away turning my back to him. I still have him held down magically and didn’t fear an attack or escape as I had my moral crisis.
All the aches of my body from the bites I received from the wolves and my use of magic hits me all at once and I felt drained. I dropped to my knees on the floor, and look over to my captive who had a gleam in his eye, and was looking over my shoulder. I sigh knowing that someone I didn’t want to see was stood over my shoulder. I hang my head down for a moment, and get shakily to my feet to meet who ever it was that had come up on me unawares.
What I didn’t expect to see was an average looking man, average height, average looks. He looked like a banker to be honest and I just stood there looking at him in confusion.
“Who the hell am you” I ask eventually, my tiredness slipping into my voice.
“His gonna kick your ass” my trapped werewolf shouted in glee from behind me.
“Would you shut up?” I yell at him but remained looking up at this stranger.
He looks round me to my captive on the floor and smiles. “Nice friend you have there” he says bringing his attention back to me.
“He seams to think that you’re his friend rather than me” I tell him.
“So it would seam” he agrees. He look past me and clicks his fingers, I hear a scream from my prisoner and turn to see him consumed with flames and then disappears leaving behind ash in the vague shape of a body behind where he had been.
“What the hell” I mutter and turn back to the stranger. “Who the hell are you?” I ask again my whole body tenses ready for a possible fight. He sees my reaction and raises his eyebrows in silent question to me, but I remain quiet waiting him out.
Seeing that I was not going to back down he takes a step towards me, I raised my hand up “stop” I tell him. Which he did to my astonishment.
“Who are you?” I demand this time.
At that Luc came walking to me from my left “calm down Lily” he says reaching me and places his hand on my shoulder.
I shrug him off “what do you mean calm down did you just see what he just did?” I ask him.
“Yes I did” he answers me.
“What happened to you?” he asked looking me over at the blood that had been steadily dripping down my arms and legs from my bites, also at how unsteady I was on my legs.
“Forget that” I snapped “who the fuck is that” I said pointing angrily at the figure of my irritation.
“That’s Lucifer” he announces after a moments hesitation.
“Oh” was my response. I couldn’t stand any longer and I dropped to my knees.
“You ok Lily” my brother asks.
“I will be” I tell him and look up at our grandfather.
“Hello granddaddy” I say to him expecting a harsh word or beat down instead I get a smile that lit up his face making him look anything other than average.
“You have no sense of safety do you” he states as a fact rather than a question. “Hello Lily I’m glad that I have finally gotten to meet you I would have preferred a more casual meeting rather than this” he said indicating the surrounding.
“Where’s moms body” I blurt out and hear Luc groan at my side.
All sense of pleasantry disappeared from his face but to my surprise he answered me “at my home, awaiting her renewal ceremony” he says.
This was where the body was cremated and the family perform a ritual so that the demon in question can move on to their next life.
“When” I ask.
“In two days” he replies.
I feel something on the edge of my senses and concentrate on it for a moment until a recognised it, I feel the energy of it and realise that it Mercy searching for us “You have to leave now” I tell him.
“Why?” he asks confused at my sudden change in mood.
“One of the elder gods are coming, the friendlier one but still I don’t want you anywhere near them until I can make my mind up on what team you are playing for and how much your going to hurt us” I tell him.
“Fine” he says flatly.
“We will call you as soon as we are able” Luc adds and with that Lucifer disappears leaving us to await our visitors.
Just as Lucifer disappears Mercy appears. I’m still on my knees and my body is now protesting as I begin to shake with pain and because of the magical drain on my body.
“Lily, Lucas what has happened here?” she asked as she began looking around. Luc shrugged and helped me back to my feet. Seeing I was injured she came over with the intension of healing me.
“Please don’t” I said quietly.
“Why not? You are in pain I can heal this” she says clearly vexed with me.
“Sometimes we need to feel the pain, it keeps us humble, Luc could heel most of this” I tell her “but he doesn’t and he understands why”
I turn to Luc “let’s go back to the kids” I say as he rolls his eyes. What I didn’t want to tell her was how close I had come to losing control and that the guilt was stopping me from letting them heal me.
“Sure” he says and teleports us there due to the fact I was in to much pain to fly and to exhaust to take myself there.
We appeared outside the front of the house and the wards flared to life at our presences. Gabriel and Uriel where inside I could feel them, along with seventeen children, Mercy appears along side us a look of total uncertainty across her beautiful voice.
She looks over to me I know to yet again offer to heal me but she cuts me off before I could decline “let me just take away the blood and dirt, and let me give you a little energy, if you go in there looking like that you’re going to scare them more than you already have.”
“She’s right Lily” Luc agrees “and you know it”
“Fine” I begrudgingly except as she placed her hands on me briefly.
I immediately feel better and take my weight off Luc to completely support my own weight. I look down at myself and noticed that my clothes where clean and dirt free. I twist my leg and felt the skin pull where I had been bitten. The bites and scratches to the rest of my body were sore and painful but at least Mercy had done exactly what I agreed to instead of just taking over and doing what she had wanted to do.
I mutter my thanks and under my own steam head into the house.
“Did you get to Elizabeth?” I asked Mercy as we entered.
“Yes, she and a Brandon accompanied me back” she replied.
“You brought them back” I asked in shock knowing she wasn’t allowed to help or interfere.
“No, they where able to follow me, my powers produce a lot of energy and they were able to harness it to get here” she replied an innocent look on her face “nothing to do with me” she adds.
I burst out laughing, I laugh so hard that I bring tears to my eyes, and draw everyone’s attention to us “you’re sounding just like us” I managed to say through the laughing.
She gave a small smile but didn’t comment further. I knew then she had travelled a fine line to help, hope grew in my heart.
“Where have you been, and why am you all beat up again” I hear Gabriel announce to the whole room. He walked in and looked me over “do you want me to heal you” he asked.
I nearly said yes and remember my words earlier to Mercy and my guilt still sat heavily with me “no I’m fine” I tell him.
He gave me a whatever look and I’m sure I heard him mutter something about stubborn and ungrateful kids before he moved on. I watched him for a moment and could feel him strengthening the wards around the house.
I see a chair in the corner of the room unoccupied and move to sit down on it. “Are they staying here?” I ask Luc who had moved with me but I was answered by Elizabeth who had entered closely followed by Brandon.
“No we should be all clear soon” she answers. “We are fostering them all but it will take a little more time.”
“Ok, is there anything else we can do to help” I ask as I straighten, wincing in pain.
“No Lily, we can manage it from here” she tells me and wonders off giving orders.