Read Online Hell's Gates (Urban Fantasy) by Celia Kyle, Lauren Creed - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Celia Kyle, Lauren Creed
Ads: Link
what you’re saying, but this isn’t your mother. Remember? We scattered her ashes at the water park two years ago.” The idea was, a phoenix couldn’t spark back to life if she, uh, couldn’t spark. Plus, the woman was a bit psycho. I didn’t feel so bad.
“Noooo…” She wailed, lifting her hand and cupping it, holding the orbs in her palm. “She has to die.”
“Throw it. Throw it.” Ellery panted some more.
Not happening.
I didn’t take my eyes from Adara and lifted my right arm, bending at the elbow. I slammed it up and back, nailing Ellery in the nose, and I smiled with the satisfying crunch. I owed it to the kid after he’d tried to get frisky with me even after I told him to take a hike. Remembering that had my anger simmering a little higher, so when he tried to stand again, I repeated the motion, nailing him in the forehead this time. It jarred his brain enough to send him stumbling, leaving me with just Adara to deal with.
“You hurt my momma.” She glared at me.
“You were gonna kill her.” I pointed out the truth.
“No one hurts my momma but me.”
The ball of flames transformed into a fiery sword and I let my gathered hellfire free. It came out to coat the metal, glowing an eerie blue and white.
Adara raised hers first, bringing it up and then slashing down at me, aiming for my head. I blocked it easily with one gleaming sword and followed it up with a strike to her arm. I didn’t go with the edge, but smacked her with the flat, allowing the hellfire to handle dishing out pain instead of the metal.
I wanted to incapacitate her, not kill her.
The phoenix squawked at me, her feathery nature coming out with the agony. Another swipe, another block and strike. The glow of our swords flared with each meeting, my hellfire overshadowing her phoenix’s heat. The clash and clang warred with the grunts and groans in the room.
Adara backed me into a pole and I kicked her, connecting with her middle and following that up with a slash and then punch while I still clutched the sword. The phoenix stumbled backward, sliding across the concrete flooring until she collided with a table. She dropped her weapon, the blaze winking out the moment she no longer held it in her grip.
That didn’t mean the bitch was defenseless. Nope, she merely conjured another, her glassy eyes glowing white.
I balanced my weight, holding the grip on my swords tightly yet loosely, and prepared for her next attack. The demon in me burned and ached for blood, to cause more pain and revel in the screams. It wanted retribution for the disrespect. It didn’t understand poisons or magic. It merely knew insults and subduction.
I wasn’t going to embrace it. I wasn’t. “Adara, really, let’s stop for a minute— “
With a screech, she came back for another beating. The crash and sparks of flames danced through the air, scorching the ground and furniture that hadn’t been destroyed.
Parry.
Cross.
Slash.
Thrust.
Dodge.
I’d happily tried to talk Adara down, doing my best to remember that she was probably afflicted like Bry. But that didn’t work when her flaming blade found home in my thigh. The burn seared through flesh and right past bone until it emerged through to the other side.
Pain hit me, nerves shouting at the sensations, and I cursed with the jolt. “Fuck.”
Once the phoenix yanked her sword free, my body went to repairing the damage, wolf rushing to help knit the flesh and muscle back together. I was pissed that she’d gotten me, but that wasn’t the true source of my rage now.
The bitch had ruined my leather pants. My favorite leather pants. The pair that I’d been wearing the first time I met Sam. The pair I’d worn the first time we fought together. The pair I’d been wearing shortly before the first time we got down and dirty.
Sam. Samkiel. Angel of Destruction, Purifier of Souls. My mate.
So, yeah, the pants were important.
“You fucking bitch.” The wolf was out, enraged by the
“Noooo…” She wailed, lifting her hand and cupping it, holding the orbs in her palm. “She has to die.”
“Throw it. Throw it.” Ellery panted some more.
Not happening.
I didn’t take my eyes from Adara and lifted my right arm, bending at the elbow. I slammed it up and back, nailing Ellery in the nose, and I smiled with the satisfying crunch. I owed it to the kid after he’d tried to get frisky with me even after I told him to take a hike. Remembering that had my anger simmering a little higher, so when he tried to stand again, I repeated the motion, nailing him in the forehead this time. It jarred his brain enough to send him stumbling, leaving me with just Adara to deal with.
“You hurt my momma.” She glared at me.
“You were gonna kill her.” I pointed out the truth.
“No one hurts my momma but me.”
The ball of flames transformed into a fiery sword and I let my gathered hellfire free. It came out to coat the metal, glowing an eerie blue and white.
Adara raised hers first, bringing it up and then slashing down at me, aiming for my head. I blocked it easily with one gleaming sword and followed it up with a strike to her arm. I didn’t go with the edge, but smacked her with the flat, allowing the hellfire to handle dishing out pain instead of the metal.
I wanted to incapacitate her, not kill her.
The phoenix squawked at me, her feathery nature coming out with the agony. Another swipe, another block and strike. The glow of our swords flared with each meeting, my hellfire overshadowing her phoenix’s heat. The clash and clang warred with the grunts and groans in the room.
Adara backed me into a pole and I kicked her, connecting with her middle and following that up with a slash and then punch while I still clutched the sword. The phoenix stumbled backward, sliding across the concrete flooring until she collided with a table. She dropped her weapon, the blaze winking out the moment she no longer held it in her grip.
That didn’t mean the bitch was defenseless. Nope, she merely conjured another, her glassy eyes glowing white.
I balanced my weight, holding the grip on my swords tightly yet loosely, and prepared for her next attack. The demon in me burned and ached for blood, to cause more pain and revel in the screams. It wanted retribution for the disrespect. It didn’t understand poisons or magic. It merely knew insults and subduction.
I wasn’t going to embrace it. I wasn’t. “Adara, really, let’s stop for a minute— “
With a screech, she came back for another beating. The crash and sparks of flames danced through the air, scorching the ground and furniture that hadn’t been destroyed.
Parry.
Cross.
Slash.
Thrust.
Dodge.
I’d happily tried to talk Adara down, doing my best to remember that she was probably afflicted like Bry. But that didn’t work when her flaming blade found home in my thigh. The burn seared through flesh and right past bone until it emerged through to the other side.
Pain hit me, nerves shouting at the sensations, and I cursed with the jolt. “Fuck.”
Once the phoenix yanked her sword free, my body went to repairing the damage, wolf rushing to help knit the flesh and muscle back together. I was pissed that she’d gotten me, but that wasn’t the true source of my rage now.
The bitch had ruined my leather pants. My favorite leather pants. The pair that I’d been wearing the first time I met Sam. The pair I’d worn the first time we fought together. The pair I’d been wearing shortly before the first time we got down and dirty.
Sam. Samkiel. Angel of Destruction, Purifier of Souls. My mate.
So, yeah, the pants were important.
“You fucking bitch.” The wolf was out, enraged by the
Similar Books
