The guys set off with the packs and Samael placed a hand on my shoulder. “You’re wondering why I want you to love me?”
“Kinda.”
“I was an absent father to my sons, even the one I sired with Lilith. I was neglectful and arrogant, and I set impossible standards and through it all I expected them to love me unconditionally, when in truth it was I that should have loved them.” His gaze softened. “I don’t wish to make that same mistake with my daughter. I will love you unconditionally. I will protect you, and I hope that in time you’ll love me.”
There were stars in his eyes, spots of brightness that swirled and merged and blended to mercury, and there was a longing to connect, one that resonated within me. I’d been lucky in my lifetime to have had Aunt Lara, then to find Eldrick, but this bond between me and Samael went deeper than that. I didn’t need to know him to be certain I could love him, that I would love him.
I wrapped my arms around him and laid my head on his pectoral. His chest rose and fell with a deep sigh as if my hugging him brought him great peace and then his huge arms were around me and the chill was nothing but a memory.
“Come, blossom.” Samael drew me toward the flickering blue flame that Mal had teased to life. It hovered above the ground like a specter dancing in the wind.
I could feel its heat, even from a distance. Azazel offered me his backpack to sit on and then crouched beside me, balancing on his powerful haunches.
Keon held out a strip of what looked like leather. “It’ll give you energy,” he said.
I didn’t need to know what it was. If it got me through this journey, then it was worth it. I bit into it and my eyes popped open as flavor exploded on my tongue.
“Good?” Keon grinned showcasing his fangs.
My stomach flipped. “Good.”
He passed the strips around, and we ate in companionable silence. We were in the middle of the most dangerous region in the Underealm, surrounded by toxic air and potentially lethal indigenous creatures, but I was with my guys. I was with my father.
This was my home.
This was my family, and I’d fight to keep it.
“This place is dead,” Mal said polishing off his leather meat. “Maybe the indigenous creatures you recall died out?”
Samael frowned and raised his face to the skies, watching the swirl of gases above. “Maybe. The air wasn’t toxic back then. It may have killed them.”
“Or they may have evolved.” Keon said.
“Let’s not tempt fate,” Azazel said.
I was about to bite into my strip of meat when a strange buzzing filled the air. The wind kicked up, and the blue flame winked out before flaring defiantly to life again.
Mal stood slowly, his gaze fixed on the horizon at my back.
My scalp pricked and foreboding clawed at my insides. “Don’t.”
“Oh babe,” Mal said. “I think I spoke too soon.”
I turned my head slowly to follow his gaze and froze at the sight of the silver haze headed toward us. The buzzing grew louder with every passing second.
“What is that?” Azazel asked.
“Hornices,” Samael replied. “One sting is painful, but more than one can prove fatal. I guess they adapted to the toxic air.”
“We need to take cover,” Keon said.
“Um,” Mal said. “If you haven’t noticed we’re in barren lands right now. This is all the cover we’re going to get.”
I looked to Samael who was busy studying the map, turning it this way and that.
“There’s a network of subterranean caverns a quarter of a mile from here.” He held his hand out me. “We’ll have to be fast.”
He wanted to carry me and this time I didn’t argue that I was just as strong as the other guys. The truth was, the terrain was too difficult for me to traverse. I didn’t have the muscle strength the guys did to walk in the spiked boots, let alone run.
I took Samael’s hand and he hauled me toward him before swinging me onto his back. His wings weren’t visible, but I could feel their presence like a pulse in the air around me, powerful and filled with intent, as if they ached to be free.
“Hold on,” he ordered and then we were in motion. The terrain flew by and I held on to Samael for dear life.
Azazel and Mal ran either side of us, kicking up ice so it was a cloud of swirling slivers behind them, and when I craned my head to look back Keon was close behind. Beyond him the swarm had altered its trajectory to follow us.
Fuck.
It was gaining, The bugs… Fuck they were huge. From this distance, they looked like the size of my hand. How large would they be close up?
Nope. Not wanting to find out.
The world was a blur as Samael picked up speed. How could he move so fast? How could the guys? They’d been taking it slow for me. The realisation was a gut punch. My eyes blurred with tears, mainly due to the cold air stabbing at my eyeballs but also partly due to embarrassment. I’d be having words with the guys once this was over.
A jagged rock face rose ahead of us and Samael made a beeline for it. Behind us the swarm grew closer.
“To the left!” Samael bellowed over the elements. “The aperture is hidden, follow me.”
And then we swerved left. The rock face loomed, casting a shadow over us. the temperature dropped even farther, but my eyes were on the frost covered stone, searching for an opening. And there, like a miracle it appeared, a narrow slice in the stone that widened the closer we got.
“Hold on, blossom,” Samael said.
And then we dove into darkness.
The temperature was slightly warmer in the tunnels and the spikes on our boots were redundant, more so for me than the guys as Samael continued to carry me. But Azazel unclasped the attachments from my boots when he’d dispensed with his. We’d need them when we got back outside.
The gray light from the entrance soon dissipated and my night vision kicked into gear. The deeper we went, the less effective it was, until it was no use at all, and it felt as if the darkness was smothering me.
“Are you sure they won’t follow us?” Mal’s disembodied voice drifted up behind us.
“Hornices don’t like confined spaces,” Samael said. “They make open-air hives high up on rocks, or at the pinnacle of stalagmites.”
“Let’s hope they haven’t evolved,” Azazel said.
I leaned in, hugging Samael’s back. “You’ve taken this route before, haven’t you?”
“Hmmm,” he said. “But I was hoping to avoid it this time.”
“Why?”
“It matters not. You’re safe with me.”
Which meant there was definitely something to worry about. Great. “I can walk now.”
“Can you see?”
“Um…no.”
“Then you’re safer where you are.”
There was no arguing with that logic.
“Just no sudden movements,” he said. “And everyone, be as silent as you can.”
My nape prickled as my other senses slipped into hyperawareness now that my vision was compromised. Samael moved with assurance. How could he see? How could the guys see, or were they using an extrasensory ability I didn’t possess?