Hard to Kill (Hell Hounds Harem Book 6) Read online

  “But they’re perfect.” She was trying to stall. Tilly needed to get this guy’s guard down if she was going to have any chance of escaping.

  The man walked over and kissed Tilly’s mother on the cheek. “You get your looks from her.” He played with her mother’s hair, “She’s exquisite.”

  Tilly swallowed the saliva building up in her mouth. “Whatever you’re trying to do isn’t going to work.”

  “It seems to be working just fine.” The man started walking around the room again. His hands clasped behind his back. His linen pants hung loose around his waist, he didn’t have on a shirt and was ripped and golden-skinned. “Just help me, Matilda Jane. And in return, I’ll make you immortal.”

  She bit her lip.

  “You’re a ghost. It’s too dangerous to dwell in the in-between,” he gave her pity-eyes, “Your time is limited, is it not, Sweetling?”

  “Does that mean your time is limited too?” she tilted her head, trying to figure out as much as she could about this fucker. “If my soul goes into the light, you won’t be able to follow, will you?”

  “Join me, Matilda Jane. Help me, and you’ll never have to worry about anything ever again. I’ll take very good care of you. Just look how happy I’ve made your mother and sister.”

  She didn’t dare look over at them. “And if I say no?”

  All humor burned away and he snarled, “The choice is fucking yours. Free will is a bitch.”

  “Then I choose the life I already have, but thanks for the offer.” This asshole didn’t know who he was talking to. Fuck him and his immortality. Tilly belonged to her pack and the Devil now. This guy just didn’t know it… yet.

  “You leave me no choice then,” His eyes flashed with fury, “If you won’t join me willingly, I’ll force your decision anyway I have to – and I’ll start by plucking away those Hounds you stink like, and one by one, I’ll reduce them to fucking ashes.”

  Chapter 36

  Gabriel returned with Uriel and Constantine. Working in all these different realms took way too much time and energy. It was starting to piss them all off.

  Lucifer stood by the fire in his throne room with a broody scowl permanently etched on his face.

  “All Angels have been accounted for,” Gabriel announced.

  Uriel plopped down into a chair, “But the energies of the living have been knocked off kilter and there’s been a flurry of violence all over Europe and parts of Canada.”

  Lucifer turned, “The fuck does that mean?”

  “It means phase three is well into effect,” Gabriel cursed and started pacing.

  “Reggie’s been running headcounts in Hell’s prison on a daily basis. Other than two mass suicides, which,” Lucifer shoved a finger in Gabe’s face, “are not uncommon with certain cults, the dead have been accounted for.”

  “Wrong!” Gabriel boomed. “Bodies are being resurrected. Not amateur necromancy, brother. Whoever is doing this is using specific bodies. They’re cherry picking.”

  Lucifer’s jaw ticked. “Then close the gates in Heaven, as I have in Hell, and make sure the souls can’t be used.

  “We already have,” Constantine argued. “That’s why whoever is doing this is using fresh kills.”

  “You’re sure about this?”

  “Not a hundred percent, but the theory fits.” Constantine ran his hand angrily though his hair. “Look, we’ve been running ourselves to the ground, Luce.”

  “And that is NOT MY FAULT!” the Devil roared. Part of the ceiling crumbled from the rage that blasted out of him.

  “Easy, brother,” Uriel said, “We’re all in this together, alright? Don’t take our heads off because we haven’t figured this out yet.”

  Gabriel pulled out a chair and took a seat. “Let’s lay this all out and see what we’ve got.” He slapped the packet of papers Lucifer had insisted they take back to the brotherhood, which were all the drawings and pictures Sara had made, and fanned them out on the table. “We look like fools up there with this shit, you know that?”

  Lucifer growled. “It’s all I have to go with, which is more than you have, brother.”

  “Fair enough,” Uri’s tone was light and airy. “Let’s just talk this out, okay?”

  Furious, Lucifer grabbed a chair and plopped down into it. “Fine. Speak.”

  “Each of us has experienced energy drains and only an Angel can do something like that to all of us. The prophecy of the Dark Angels has come to fruition—”

  “But Sebastian is under control and so is Asher for now,” Lucifer argued.

  Gabriel shook his head, “They just needed to be created. The creation didn’t have to necessarily stick,” Gabriel argued. “And we don’t know who else has been spelled.”

  “Spelled or changed?” Uriel tapped the table, “Shouldn’t there be a significant difference there?”

  He had a point.

  “The phases of the End of Days has already begun,” Constantine sighed. “I hate to agree with Gabe about this, but I do. The violence is through the roof. Paris is completely infested.”

  “My Hounds would have told me if Paris was crawling with malanum.”

  “Only if they saw what we can see, which I doubt is possible. Disease has spread, brother. Humans are turning evil.”

  “Like Tilly when she was stabbed,” Uriel suggested. “You said she was stabbed right? Her leg turned darker? It was spreading like an infection?”

  “Fuck,” Lucifer whispered. “How many topside are suffering the same plight?”

  “We lost count after only three cities,” Gabriel deadpanned, “You think we’ve just abandoned you down here because we don’t want to help you, but you haven’t been seeing the bigger picture, Luce. We’re scrambling.”

  Lucifer ignored him, “Famine should be phase two,” he looked over at Constantine, “Awww fuck me.” The Devil leaned back as it dawned on him. “My malanum.”

  “What about them?”

  “Reggie said they’ve been devouring one another like crazy in there.”

  Uriel frowned, “Does that count?”

  “It might,” Lucifer shrugged. “Starvation is a struggle no matter who or what you are. They normally eat the fresh ones who don’t have enough sense to hide or form groups, but Reggie said they’ve been really aggressive with each other lately. Famished, by the way they’ve attacked each other.”

  “And us,” Gabriel grumbled. “We’re losing our energy. We’re starved of power with the energy drains.”

  “Holy shit,” Uriel gripped the side of his head, “We’re so fucked. We’re so fucking fucked.”

  Lucifer stood and started to pace. He had no idea how to stop this from getting any worse. “Who else would have this kind of power? Who, besides an Angel, can drain us?”

  “No one,” Uriel growled.

  “Not no one,” Lucifer’s hard gaze swung to Gabriel, “only one.”

  Gabriel paled when he realized who it was. “Awww fuck.”

  Tilly stared at the man threatening her Hounds and also offering to make her immortal.

  “How?” She cleared her throat and rolled her shoulders back, trying to look open to the idea. “How can you make me immortal?”

  “Does it matter?”

  Oh he was charismatic with his sinful smile. It made her squirm a little. Her lust kicked up another notch and it was seriously starting to piss her off. It wasn’t that she was actually turned on by him, she could feel it was her own needs rising as a Hell Hound, not a woman sitting in a dark dungeon staring at a being who looked like a sex god. “Is my mother immortal?”

  “She is,” he dipped his head down with a slow nod.

  Everything about this guy said he didn’t find her threatening. She was still untied. Free to move. Tilly stayed in her ghost form to keep up the fake dead act. “Did you have me killed?”

  His smile fell immediately. “No, child. I wouldn’t dare. I’m only too glad I was able to find you before you crossed. Same as your mother and Vivia
n.”

  “They never crossed?” her brow furrowed. Was he lying? It sounded like the truth but…

  “Why would they cross over? They’d miss you too much.”

  Vivian and her mom both nodded at the same time.

  The man walked around Tilly’s chair and grabbed her shoulders. How was he able to touch her while she was in ghost form? Shit! She looked down at her lap, yup, she hadn’t fucked up. She was still a ghost. Tilly swallowed when he started massaging her shoulders, “I can repair and restore your body, Sweetling.”

  Tilly kept her eyes locked on Vivian. Standing in front of Tilly right now was the most perfect image of Vivian there ever was. Her sister had a closed casket funeral. Jimmy couldn’t stand the thought of his wife being anything but perfect and didn’t trust the funeral home to do her beauty justice, so he had kept the lid down. Oh the man would weep if he could see Vivian now. Her hair was pulled tight into a bun secured by a beaded stick with a charm on the end. Her clothes were pristine, tailored perfectly for her slender body. Her skin was creamy and flawless. She still had the tattoo on her collarbone from their last bucket list adventure. I refuse to sink.

  Tilly’s heart ached at the memory.

  “May I speak with them in private?” Tilly swallowed the lump in her throat and tacked on, “Please?”

  “Of course,” he moved forward and gave the signal for Liam to walk out with him.

  “Wait! What is your name?”

  The man stopped and turned, “You can call me Master.”

  It was so hard to not eye roll him.

  “I’ll return in a few moments and hopefully you’ll be ready to make a deal.” Astonishingly, he left with Liam and quietly closed the wooden door. Fucker put way too much trust in a liar, cheat, and thief.

  Tilly’s heart was in her throat again. Out of everything she’d gone through, between trying to figure out what was real or not – with the Hell Hounds and her second life – this, right here, right now, was the most painful reality of her entire existence.

  “Mom?”

  “Hi baby.” Her mother glided forward and tried to place a hand on Tilly’s knee. With Tilly still being in ghost form, her mother’s hand went through Tilly like air and landed on the chair. She gasped and pulled away. “Please, make the deal with him, baby. I want to hold you. It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”

  Tilly fought for breath. “Do you remember our last time together?”

  Her mother’s expression was pure sadness and regret. “No, I don’t. They medicated me so heavily all the time, I don’t remember much from when I was in the hospital.”

  Strike One. Her mother never took the drugs they tried to feed her. Tilly blew out a shaky breath and turned her focus on Vivian next. “How did you two find him? Who is this guy?”

  “Our savior,” Vivian shrugged. “He found me just before I crossed and offered to bring me back to life. Now I get to live forever young.”

  Tilly almost smiled. Forever young. What a temptation, right? “What did you have to give him in return?”

  “My loyalty. And… I promised that when the curse hit you, I’d convince you to join us. You’re needed, Tilly. You have a purpose and this is it.”

  Strike two. Vivian didn’t believe in the curse. But… maybe after having fallen victim to it anyway, Vivian had second thoughts and changed her mind about her belief system? Hmmm. “What about your husband, Viv? You’ll never be able to go back to him.”

  “He’ll move on like he should. I’m ready to explore. I married too young, you always said that. This is my second chance to do it all over again, do it better. I took it knowing that I get to be with you and mom, it’s like the blessings keep coming. Besides, Jimmy’s better off without me.”

  Strike three. Vivian had called him Jimmy. Vivian would never call him Jimmy.

  Tilly’s body calmed and she cut whatever threads that were trying to tie her to these creatures. Snip. Snip. She stood and walked over to Vivian first. “I miss you so much,” tears burned Tilly’s eyes but they didn’t fall. “I’ll always miss you, Viv.”

  “You don’t have to if you take this deal.” Vivian’s eyes were bright and pleading. And shadowed…

  Tilly dropped the ghost form, grabbed Vivian by the throat and started squeezing, “Get. Out.”

  Vivian tried to pry her off. Fat chance of that happening. Tilly was always the stronger one and now that she was a Hell Hound, her grip wouldn’t break. Vivian began beating and swatting at her while their mother came up behind Tilly and attacked.

  With a cold detachment, Tilly went into killer mode and fought back with everything she had. This wasn’t her mother and it wasn’t her sister. It was only their bodies and whoever was animating them had fucked up royally.

  The three woman clashed and crashed around the room. If only she had a knife! Fuck that, maybe she should open a Hell hole and take them to prison. Escort them herself. But would she be able to get out? Her pack made such a big deal about how careful she needed to be with those things. With the two women attacking her, Tilly didn’t have more time to think about it.

  Using every ounce of strength she had, Tilly kicked Vivian hard in the chest and sent her sailing backwards, then spun around, grabbed her mother by the arm, twisted and flipped her over onto the ground. Her mother’s skull smacked the floor with a cracking noise. No blood flowed. And her mother didn’t seem too bothered, either.

  Vivian screamed and ran, full force, at her. Tilly kicked out and swept her leg out, hooking onto Viv’s calf, and sent her sister sailing back. Vivian landed hard on her ass across the small room. Tilly grabbed the stick that secured Vivian’s bun and stabbed her in the eye with it before twisting and using every ounce of force she had to jab it into her mother’s temple next.

  Tilly’s knees buckled immediately. Her ragged breath felt like razor blades in her chest. Both the wounded women slowly tried to get up.

  Their bodies would keep going, because there was no life to take. The souls in them weren’t theirs. Tilly needed to rip whoever was in them out to make this stop. Panic tried to swallow her thoughts. She was going to run out of time! Master would be back any minute and if they kept making noise, she wasn’t going to be able to get away before he returned.

  Tilly concentrated on what needed to be done. Steeling herself, she stuffed all her emotions into a box and only allowed herself to feel one thing: Wrath. Tilly let her anger ride her into the dark place she needed to be to get through this. If only Zaza was here right now to help her. If only her Hounds knew where she was. FIND ME!

  The three seconds Tilly took to get a grip was all the time her mother needed to knock her in the back of the head with the chair.

  Tilly’s vision burst with stars and she fell, face-first, onto the floor.

  Chapter 37

  The Hounds had reached their limit.

  They’d torn through the entire flat, the rest of the building, and ran circles around the block trying to catch Tilly’s scent. Jack and Valor returned to Pascale’s bathroom and Valor dropped to his knees again, right where Tilly’s scent lingered. “She’s got to be here.”

  But she wasn’t.

  Jack cursed and rubbed his hands together. “I don’t have my kit. I’m going to try something, but I don’t think it’s going to work without all the right tools. Back up.”

  The rest of the Hounds were still out searching, figuring she’d been dragged out the window somehow and her abductor had taken off with her. Valor didn’t think so though. She would have left a scent trail at the very least. And they’d be able to feel her through their bond.

  Too many things ripped through his mind as Jack started working some kind of incantation. Valor was scared that whoever had her wasn’t Pascale at all. He worried that this was déjà vu all over again – first Sara’s sudden disappearance, then the twins… now his beloved Tilly. Could they not feel her because she’d already been stripped of her Hell Hound powers? The fear he felt strangled him. Gods, what ar
e they doing to ye, lass?

  Boots pounding up the steps broke Valor’s attention off of Jack’s spell work and he saw Drake run into the apartment. “Pascale is dead. She was a malanum. I found her in Hell. Whoever took me and Baz, has Tilly.” Drake’s chest rose and fell while he tried to catch his breath. “She’s gotta be in the catacombs. Whoever this is has taken over the catacombs.”

  Bishop and Sebastian ran in and Bishop said, “She’s not there. We just checked.”

  “Ye went through the catacombs that fast?”

  Bishop nodded. “We started where we left off – at the manhole we escaped from. All that’s there are decaying bodies in the same space they were when we got the twins out of there.” The Hound was pale as a sheet.

  Gods, how many more times would Bishop suffer before he truly snapped? Valor didn’t want to think about it.

  Jack’s voice rose and the energy in the room swirled like a vortex. It squeezed the air from Valor’s lungs. A small circle expanded on the floor, the smell of death wafted out from it.

  Jack’s body shook as he tried to make the hole wider for them and keep it open.

  “Go! Go! Go!” Tanner called out from the doorway. “We’ll keep it open.” Tanner dropped down and grabbed Jack’s hands, making a circle around the opening and locking it in place. Jack kept the fast-spoken incantation going and Tanner hopped on board, chanting right along with him.

  Valor dropped down the hole and his pack followed.

  Tilly’s face smashed into the floor. Her mother’s foot pressed against Tilly’s temple, keeping her halfway still. “Get him. She’s not going to cooperate.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Tilly saw Vivian head towards the door. With enough fury to fuel a clan war, Tilly struggled until she was able to knock her mother off balance. Hopping up, she caught her mother by the hair and yanked back. A red haze and white hot fury consumed everything about Tilly. She wanted blood to run. She wanted the drums to beat. Victory was right here for the taking. She grabbed her fake ass mother’s head, twisted and pulled.