Katie's Hellion (Rhyn Trilogy Book One) Read online

  Katie’s Hellion

  Rhyn Trilogy, Book One

  By Lizzy Ford

  Edited by Christine LePorte

  Cover art and design by Dafeenah

  http://dafeenah-hiddentreasure.blogspot.com/

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  Copyright 2011 by Lizzy Ford

  Smashwords Edition

  Cover art and design copyright 2011 by Dafeenah

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  See other titles by Lizzy Ford at http://www.guerrillawordfare.com/

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Gabriel turned the pages of the Oracle’s book, watching as words scribbled themselves across the parchment, updating a chain of events that changed with every decision made by the Council That Was Seven. Only the long-dead Oracle possessing the book and the deities could see the Past, Present, and Future.

  He saw only the Present, like fractured scenes of a movie where the actors continually changed their lines and settings. Words leapt from the pages to form hologram-like images dancing over the book. Friends and strangers alike acted out their stilted scenes before dropping onto the page as words again.

  Show me Rhyn.

  He always peeked at his friend, whom he’d dropped off in Hell to serve an undeserved sentence. Rhyn’s powers were beyond even Gabriel to control, and the unfortunate immortal was a loose cannon that’d accidently almost destroyed the world more times than he could count.

  Gabriel’s lover and master, the deity Death, materialized beside him at the Oracle’s altar in the center of an ancient fortress in the Sanctuary. Each of the four Sanctuaries sat on an island straddling the human and immortal worlds and housed an immortal treasure, such as the Oracle.

  He sensed Death’s disapproval.

  “I know,” he said, and turned the page in the book to continue watching Rhyn.

  Death took her human form out of respect for the women of the convent-like Sanctuary that housed the Oracle. She was beautiful, a woman of sunshine, smiles, and eyes that changed from white to black and every color in between. At close to seven feet with eyes and hair blacker than night and a permanent scowl, he was what most expected Death to look like. Yet the lithe woman with the transparent skin and glow was exactly what people saw when they went: a bright, beautiful, peaceful light.

  “I want to know if —”

  “Rhyn?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Immortals aren’t so far off from humans, are they?” Death mused. “They share their weaknesses.”

  “I know what really happened, and I hoped others would figure it out. He doesn’t deserve to be in Hell,” he replied.

  “You can’t interfere more than you have. How many times have I warned you about breaking Immortal Code?”

  “Does nothing bother you?” he asked without heat, knowing the answer. “And technically, I interfered by making him disappear before anyone figured out he’d saved humanity.”

  Death smiled serenely and placed her small hand on the book. He met her gaze.

  “All things come to me eventually,” she said, quoting the familiar words. “You, too, you know.”

  “Someday.”

  “And someday Rhyn. He’s on my list, Gabriel.”

  He was quiet, the words and holograms before him blurring as he thought. The only immortals on Death’s list were those who were about to become dead-dead. He’d always hoped Rhyn would have another chance, that Hell was a place to stash the dangerous immortal until the world was ready for him.

  “He didn’t deserve what he got,” he voiced, troubled. “In all my time, I’ve never felt guilt at what I do.”

  “You’re my best assassin, and you’re the only one who can trespass in Hell and return. You had to do what you did. If nothing else, you know he’s safe, and so are the little humans.”

  “Are you serious about making him dead-dead soon?”

  “Let me show you something,” she said, and stepped up beside him. “Keep in mind, you’re not supposed to be anywhere near the Oracle. Only —”

  “Deities and whatever,” he finished with a roll of his eyes.

  She gave him a stern glare that made him smile. Her human form was tiny enough that the Oracle’s book reached her shoulder level.

  Death’s hand hovered over the pages, and she turned them quickly without touching them. She stopped and touched a page with her fingertip. An image sprung from the paper before them.

  The earth in flames, with earthquakes swallowing whole towns and buildings burning.

  Gabriel shifted, well aware Rhyn was capable of this.

  Death gave him a pointed look, waiting for him to jump to his friend’s defense as he always did. It was hard with the scenes she showed him flickering in front of him.

  “The Future isn’t set,” he managed at last.

  “It’s not,” she agreed. “But if I don’t make him dead-dead, there’s a good chance this is the fate of the human world.”

  “I can’t believe there’s nothing that can be done!” he replied with more emotion than he intended.

  “You’re going soft, Gabe.”

  “It’s wrong.”

  “Odd, coming from my best assassin.”

  He said nothing, watching the scene. Death closed the book and looked up at him.

  “Do you believe in him so much, or do you feel so much guilt?” she challenged.

  “I believe in him.”

  She considered him for a long moment before turning away. He suppressed a sigh, sensing she was beyond mercy for anyone on her list. Normally, so was he. Death held out her hand, and an hourglass with black sand appeared in her palm.

  “He could be such an asset to the Council That Was Seven. Right now, he’s useless to them and anyone else, just an immortal whose freakish power should’ve landed him on my list long, long ago,” she said.

  She tipped the hourglass, and black sand began to spill.

  “I’ll give him a second chance,” she continued. “For you, my sweet, not for him. But I can’t let him stay alive long, or you’ve seen what’ll happen. When the sand is gone, I’ll make him dead-dead, unless he can learn to control his power and to work with his brothers.”

  Gabriel stared, surprised, then dismayed, at her conditions. He watched the sand that was Rhyn’s life and met her gaze.

  “And, you can’t break the Immortal Code to help him.”

  The restriction smacked him hard, as he’d been ready to drag Rhyn out of Hell as soon as Death was gone.

  “How do I get him out of Hell?” he demanded.

  “You won’t. Someone else will.”

  “Who?”

  “The leader of the Council That Was Seven is about to make a decision that will alter all their paths. It involves a woman destined to be the first Ancient’s mate and who’s immune to immortals.”

  “He has a mate?”

  “He might, if she doesn’t die before the sand runs out.”

  Gabriel dwelled on this new information. He wasn’t really sure Rhyn would consider being sentenced to eternity with a mate much of an improve
ment over Hell.

  She slid the Oracle’s book carefully into a satchel and replaced it inside the altar before placing the hourglass in front of him.

  “Immortal Code,” she reminded him.

  “You won’t kill me,” he remarked, hope and frustration filtering through him. “I’m violating Immortal Code by serving you, by locking Rhyn in Hell to keep Kris from killing him.”

  “Take him this, and don’t you dare break the Code again,” she said.

  A familiar vial appeared in her hand containing what looked like sand. Rhyn’s name was etched in the immortals’ tongue across the top. It was his immortal powers, which Death had yanked from him when she ordered Gabriel to take him to Hell.

  Gabriel took it and smiled, cheered by the thought of the most powerful immortal ever born cursed with the self-control of a five-year-old in a room with fresh-baked cookies and no adult supervision. Rhyn couldn’t do what others wanted, not when he couldn’t control his own powers. Gabriel wondered if even a mate and a second chance could help him.

  “He tends to destroy the natural balance of everything when he’s free,” Death said with some annoyance. “Maybe when he’s stabilized, he can leave Hell.”

  He looked at her, and she smiled the same gentle smile she used to greet humans to the underworld.

  “But who in Hell is going to become his mate?”

  “His brother Kris will take care of it,” she said.

  “He’ll make things right with Rhyn after their nasty break?”

  “Not on purpose, but yes.”

  Intrigued, Gabriel relented from his stubborn position before the altar.

  A knock at the door interrupted their conversation. The leader of the convent that cared for the Sanctuary opened the door and curtseyed. Death curtseyed back, gave Gabriel a final look of warning, and followed the woman in grey to afternoon tea.

  He watched her go, wondering how he could help his friend without breaking the Immortal Code yet again. Pocketing the vial, he willed himself to the shadow world, the place between worlds. It was hazy and cool, like a beach after the evening fog rolled in. Portals to the mortal and immortal worlds glowed warm yellow through the fog like beacons. He went to the only portal that glowed black —the portal to Hell —and stepped from the shadow world into the tiny, dark cell holding his friend.

  He watched Rhyn’s body contort beneath the spells of Rhyn’s brother, Sasha. Without the contents of the vial, Rhyn was defenseless against any immortal. Gabriel couldn’t help the feeling of deep satisfaction as he gripped the vial in one hand.

  Rhyn was being given a second chance, and Gabriel hoped he killed Sasha before the sands in the hourglass were gone.

  Rhyn didn’t even know what shape he was. The world was dark as always, cramped, his skin hot and clammy. He’d been fevered for a zillion years, trapped in the tiny cell in ever-changing forms, always in darkness.

  At least he wasn’t burning or drowning or freezing or watching his skin being pulled from his body and screaming. Sometimes his brother let him out for a furlough, claimed he was free, and then yanked him back. If nothing else, his traitorous half-brother Sasha kept things switched up. He would stay in this holding cell on the outskirts of Hell until Sasha figured out some new grueling punishment.

  A touch of coolness grazed his heated frame, which always grew hotter than Hell when he changed forms. His body contorted, and agony floated through him as the sixty seconds of being whatever he’d been was up and he changed again.

  “Still dark in here,” said the voice of his only friend.

  “You here for me, Gabriel?”

  “No, but thanks for asking.”

  Rhyn growled a painful laugh, appreciative of the death dealer’s dark humor. Especially now, when he had no one else.

  “What am I?” he asked, panting as he dropped to all fours.

  “Not sure. You look like a cross between a were-beast and a bird.”

  Gabriel’s touch was like ice, and Rhyn shuddered. He changed again and this time recognized his human form. One wall of his cell lit up suddenly. He shielded his eyes and gazed into an empty prison cell opposite his. Surprised, he crossed to the bars of his cell but found the whole wall disappeared when he touched it. In darkness again, he dropped his hands.

  “Hell sucks.”

  “Yeah.” Gabriel’s voice was quieter.

  “You and Death fighting?”

  “Never. She’d win.”

  Rhyn snorted and faced the corner, making out Gabriel’s eyes, which gleamed darker than a night in Hell itself. The death dealer was his only friend who’d stuck with him since he’d been banned to Hell by his brothers and dragged there by the immortal death dealer before him. Gabriel’s visits weren’t often, but Rhyn had grown to like him.

  “Brought you something.”

  Gabriel held out a vial he’d last seen in the hand of a furious Death. A thrill went through Rhyn as he claimed it. He popped the top off and dumped the sandy magic into the air. The sand transformed into a mist and swirled around him before settling into his skin. He felt the magic penetrate him to the core, and the ancient tattoos marking him as both an immortal and an Ancient blazed red in the darkness before subsiding.

  For the first time in years, he felt whole again. He tested his ability to control the familiar magic. Hell buffered his natural inability to rein in the magic and absorbed much of his energies.

  “Who’d you kill for this?”

  “I have other means of obtaining stuff,” Gabriel said with some offense.

  Rhyn felt Hell’s and Sasha’s power roll over him like a boulder in a river. They couldn’t control him once he left Hell; no one could.

  Even Kris. Rhyn’s anger made his cell wall shake before the energies of Hell itself began suctioning his power from him.

  “Easy,” Gabriel warned. “I’m breaking Immortal Code one last time to bring that to you.”

  “Fuck the code.”

  “Rhyn.”

  “Don’t bother, Gabriel.”

  The death dealer chuckled

  Rhyn stretched physically and metaphysically, testing the bounds of Hell. They were much older, much stronger than he. He sagged against the wall, exhausted.

  “Are there any girls down here?”

  Very little surprised him, but the death dealer’s question did.

  “Or…women, I guess,” Gabriel clarified.

  “You need a woman that bad?”

  “No, no. Just thought I’d check.”

  Rhyn stared hard into Gabriel’s dark corner and shook his head. He didn’t know why the death dealer was distant this visit, and he didn’t care. The only thing that concerned him now was killing Kris. And escaping.

  Escape first then kill Kris.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have a key to my cell, would you?” he asked.

  “I’m not allowed to break any more Immortal Codes,” Gabriel said with some distaste. “Or I’ll end up in the cell beside you.”

  “Better company than I have now.”

  “Not my thing.”

  “So you give me my power back but don’t free me. This does shit for me here,” Rhyn grumbled.

  “I’m restricted by —”

  “I know, Gabe.”

  The death dealer shifted but didn’t leave, and Rhyn looked again at the corner.

  “I need a favor.”

  Rhyn never expected to hear these words from the death dealer, who needed nothing from anyone.

  “Whatever it is, I’ll do it,” he said without hesitation. “You’ve done more for me than anyone else.”

  “There’s going to be someone you’ll meet soon. I can’t break Immortal Code to protect her.”

  “But I can,” Rhyn finished. “Immortal? Demon? If you tell me it’s one of my brothers, I —”

  “Human.”

  “Human?”

  “One of the immortals wrote a book about caring for humans,” Gabriel said with some reticence.

  Rhyn heard him
place the book on the ground beside him.

  “You could’ve asked me for anything in the universe, and you ask me to babysit a human.”

  He reached for the book, convinced Gabriel had finally gone crazy after all his years serving Death. The book was an immortal’s, clasped in a flexible leather-like cover with thin, transparent pages. He was distracted by the feel of both after so long with nothing but stone walls beneath his fingertips.

  “Where is this human?” he asked. “How do I find it when I’m stuck here?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet,” Gabriel admitted. “I’ll let you know.”

  Rhyn lifted the book. He had no intention of reading it, but he liked how soft the cover was.

  “Why is this human important?”

  “Death won’t say.”

  Rhyn snorted and let his head drop back against the stone wall. Death and her pet worked in their own ways. He didn’t mistake his returned powers for a free favor. No, Death wanted something from him, and gave him the ability to do her will.

  Yet another traitorous woman. He felt some peace knowing that —whatever Death wanted from him —she’d have to free him from Hell to get it.

  *

  Katie Young looked at the speedometer, which read thirty-seven when the blue lights flared up behind her, jarring her out of the pre-coffee morning stupor. She guided the car to the lit parking lot near the metro station, her destination. It was four-thirty, and she’d never seen a cop along this stretch leading up to the nearest metro station.

  His glaring spotlight of a flashlight blinded her as he walked to the driver’s door, and she held her hand up.

  “Do you know why I stopped you?” the cop asked as she rolled down her window.

  “No,” she said.

  “You were going thirty-seven.”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s speeding.”

  The light flashed away, leaving her in blackness studded with dim bulbs.

  “The speed limit’s thirty-five,” she objected.

  “So you knew that?”

  “Yeah. I drive this way every day.”

  The light returned to her eyes, and she bit her tongue to keep from griping. She couldn’t be late again for her job as an assistant general manager of a fast food joint, or she’d be fired.

  “You were speeding intentionally,” he said with a level of disgust she reserved for the revelation of her sister’s ex-boyfriend cheating.