Anna (Book 2, The Redemption Series) (12 page)

He holds out his hand to me and I take it.

“Stay strong,” he tells me.

“
I will.”

Jered phases us.

I’m not sure what I expected the Sahara desert to look like. Being a desert, I suppose I thought it would be covered in sand. Yet, it appears winter has found its way even to this arid climate. We stand on what looks like a snow covered hill, but since I know it's a desert, I think we are actually standing on a dune. The moon is high in the sky casting a ghostly glow around us. Desmond, Brutus, and Daniel phase in at the exact same instant we do.

We all look around but don’t see Levi anywhere.

“How predictable,” Desmond says with a derisive shake of his head.

“
Looks like he did exactly what you thought he would,” Daniel comments dryly to Jered.

“
I wonder why he thought we would be that stupid.” Brutus says.

“
I’m sorry,” I say. “I feel like I’m missing something important. Why do you think Levi isn’t here yet?”

“
One of the reasons we’re doing this trade the way we are,” Jered tells me, “is because we all assumed he would try to see where we phased to retrieve the princes. Like I said earlier, Levi lacks a moral code of any sort. I’m sure he hoped to snatch the princes out from under us just as we phased to retrieve them.”

“
So he was planning to try to double cross us,” I say, realization dawning.

“
Looks that way,” Desmond agrees. “It’s a good thing we’ve never trusted the slimy bastard.”

“
Do you think he’ll still show up?” I ask.

“
Oh, he’ll be here,” Brutus reassures me. “He doesn’t have any choice now.”

Approximately a minute later, Levi phases in
about five feet away from us. Christopher has an unconscious Malcolm in his arms and lays him on the snow covered ground at his feet. Malcolm doesn’t move or even make a sound. Levi has Lucas standing in front of him with his hands on my son’s shoulders close to his neck, a subtle reminder to me about how easily he can kill him. Millie stands by Levi with her wrists bound together by magnetic cuffs. Clark, the guard who always accompanied Christopher to take me to my lessons with Empress Catherine, is gripping Millie’s left arm so tightly it makes my friend grimace in pain.

“
Well, I brought my offerings,” Levi says to me. “Where are yours, my little dove?”

Jered tosses Levi a small glass tablet. Levi catches it with
one hand. He peers at the device with a confused expression on his face. He holds it up between his index and middle finger to examine it more closely. A cascading array of purple digital numbers play across the screen.

“
What’s this?” Levi asks, studying the card sized tablet.

“
After you give us the three of them,” Jered says, nodding his head to my loved ones, “we’ll give you the code to unlock the coordinates where you can find your brothers. Then you can go get them yourself.”

Levi sneers.
“And how do I know you aren’t feeding me some bogus locations?”

“
Unlike you we actually keep our word,” Jered says. “But if you need proof, I’ve programmed the first coordinate separately from the others. Input code 02201994 for the first coordinate.”

Levi inputs the numerical code on the touch screen. One steady set of numbers appears on the screen
, and he shows them to Christopher.

“
Go there and see what you find,” Levi orders.

Christopher
looks at the numbers and phases.

Levi looks back over at me.

“How did you like the present Christopher delivered to you?” He has the audacity to not only ask but also smile about it.

“
Go to Hell, Levi,” I say, not able to keep the contempt I feel for him out of my voice.

“
Been there… done that. Completely overrated if you ask me.”

“
I plan to send you back there permanently,” I tell him, finding at least a small bit of satisfaction knowing my threat will become fact one day.

“
Wouldn’t you miss me just a little bit?” Levi says as if wounded by my words.

“
I would miss you about as much as I would miss a boil on my butt, Levi. The sooner I cut you to pieces the better off we’ll all be.”

I hear snickers beside me and know the boys found my remark amusing.

“A boil on your butt?” Levi repeats seeming to have only taken in that much of what I said. “And here I have endearments such as ‘my little dove’ and ‘wife’.” Levi looks down at Malcolm. “You know this big oaf used to call Lilly his ‘dearest’. Do you think he’ll come up with a cute little sweet nothing name that means as much for you?”

I knew what he was doing. He was trying to bait me, but I wasn’t
going to give him the satisfaction of letting it bother me. I had no doubt in my mind about Malcolm’s love for me. If I had to share his heart with Lilly, so be it. But he was mine in this lifetime and no one else’s.

“
He’ll be able to call me wife soon enough,” I say. “I’m planning to be a widow before long.”

“
I guess we’ll see about that,” Levi says, narrowing his eyes at me. “I still have Andre, lest you forget.”

“
No, I haven’t forgotten,” I reply. “That’s pretty much the only reason I’ve allowed you to live this long. If it wasn’t for him, you would have died the night Christopher brought me Vala.”

I look down at Lucas to see what his reaction is to the reminder of
Vala’s decapitation. He looks sad but not on the verge of tears. He’s keeping it together which makes me proud, but it also breaks my heart that he even has to make the attempt.

As if he heard his name spoken,
Christopher phases back with one of the princes still in stasis. I see a silver dagger pierced through one of his hands. His clothes look ragged with age from being hidden away for so long.

“
I didn’t remove the dagger,” Christopher tells Levi. “Something’s wrong with his seal. I wasn’t sure what would happen if I took it out.”

Levi looks at the prince’s hand and shakes his head in disappointment.

“Well, I guess he might come in handy one day. But, we can’t release him just yet.”

Levi looks at Jered.
“Smart to give me the defective one first.”

“
Now you see that we’re ready to make a deal,” Jered says. “Give us Malcolm, Lucas, and Millie, and I’ll give you the code that unlocks the rest of the coordinates.”

“
I can’t say I appreciate the way you’ve handled this,” Levi tells us. “I don’t like being made a fool of.”

“
We didn’t make you a fool,” Brutus says. “You’ve been one for some time now, Levi.”

“
Ha
..
ha
..
ha
,” Levi says sarcastically.

He hands the glass tablet to
Christopher and whispers something to him. Christopher phases the prince he brought and the tablet away. Through his phase trail, I can see he’s returned to the palace in Cirrus.

Levi places both his hands on Lucas’ shoulders.

“You know,” Levi says with a tilt of his head. “I believe I can probably find someone in Cirrus to crack the code for me. But, only I can teach you all a lesson in obedience. This trade should have been a simple one, yet you chose to undermine me. Did you think this was a game? Do you find it amusing to play with my patience?”

With each question
, I can see Levi’s agitation at us intensify, and his hands are uncomfortably close to Lucas’ neck.

“
We’re only playing the game you started,” I tell him.

“
You know as well as we do that you wouldn’t have kept to your end of the bargain if we had simply brought all the princes here,” Jered reasons. “You hoped to get your brothers when we phased to retrieve them from their hiding spots. We all know that, Levi. There’s no point in denying it.”

“
Fine. I won't deny it. I guess I should tell you that I was also planning to make sweet Anna choose which one of these humans I would kill so she could spare the other one's life. But since you’ve just made it that much more difficult for me to retrieve my brothers, I don’t think I'll privilege her with that luxury.”

I watch as Levi places one hand underneath Lucas’ chin. Lucas’ eyes grow wide in fear while Levi smiles at me. I watch in horror as Levi’s grip tightens around
my son's jaw.

“
You shouldn’t have tested me,” Levi says. “Now I’ll have to teach you all a lesson.”

Chapter 10

Before I can move an inch or the guys can phase over to Levi, someone unexpected makes an appearance.

Lucifer phases in behind Levi and does to him what Levi had planned to do to Lucas. He
quickly grabs Levi’s chin with one hand, grips the back of his head with the other and twists. A distinctive cracking sound can be heard as Levi’s eyes roll back in his head. His body goes completely limp, and he falls to the ground.

C
lark stares disbelievingly at Levi’s dead body on the snow beside him and then looks up at Lucifer in trepidation.

“
Boo,” he says to him.

Clark
immediately phases away.

Lucas
quickly moves away from Levi and Lucifer to kneel down beside Malcolm, yanking on his shoulders in a desperate attempt to wake him up. Desmond phases to Malcolm and rolls him over onto his back to check his pupils. Daniel and Brutus phase over to Millie while Jered phases us over to Malcolm and Lucas.

“
He’s just been drugged,” Desmond tells us. “I’m sure Levi knew he wouldn’t be able to control Malcolm any other way, especially if his plan was to kill Lucas in front of you.”

I sit down on the snow and bring Lucas into my arms.
He buries his head against my shoulder and begins to cry.

“
Are you ok?” I ask him. “Did he do anything to you? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Lucas shakes his
little head.

“
I want to go home, Anna,” he sobs. “Can we please just go home?”

“
If you want to leave, I would do it before Levi wakes up,” Lucifer advises me.

I look up at Lucifer. He’s watching me closely but his expression is
indecipherable.

“
Why did you help us?”

“
Still so naïve, Anna,” Lucifer says with a shake of his head. “Who said I did this for you?”

“
Then who did you do it for?”

“
Myself, of course,” Lucifer says. “I couldn’t let Levi free his brothers. If I do it, their allegiance stays with me and I have plans for them.”

“
What plans?” I ask.

Lucifer grins.
“You’ll know soon enough.”

He bends down
and grabs a handful of Levi’s hair before standing back up with Levi firmly in his grasp.

“
Feel free to phase anywhere you want. It’ll take Levi some time to wake up.”

“
Wake up?” I ask, totally confused. “I thought you just killed him.”

“
No, I did not kill him. I need him for my plans too, even if he is a pain in my ass. Is that close to the same thing as being a boil?”

Lucifer smiles down at me like he expects me to laugh at his little
play on my joke. I have too many things on my mind to find it amusing.

“
Then he’s still alive?” I ask.

“
In a manner of speaking,” Lucifer answers. “I’m sure your friends can tell you more later. I would suggest you all leave from here. I’ll take care of Levi for now so he doesn't bother you. Until we meet again, Anna.”

Lucifer phases, and this time when I see the black void his phase trail leads to, I know he’s
taken Levi directly to Hell.

I tighten my hold on Lucas.

“Where should we go?” I ask, not really talking to anyone in particular.

“
Let’s go back to New Orleans,” Jered says. “It looks like Lucifer has Levi under control. I don’t think he’ll be bothering us anytime soon, and we can regroup.”

I nod and place my hand on Malcolm’s arm. Lucas is still clutching
me to him. I hug him tightly and phase us all to Malcolm's bed in his New Orleans home. I look over at Malcolm and worry over how still he is. I feel an urgent need to do a more thorough inspection of him.

“
Lucas,” I say gently. “I think we should check your father to make sure he’s ok.”

Lucas lifts his tear stained
face from my chest and looks over at his dad. He sniffs and nods his head in agreement. We both get off the bed and walk over to the side closest to Malcolm. He’s lying on his back, so I gently roll him over onto his left side to check it. To my relief, most of the damage done by Levi’s whip has healed itself. There’s still some bruising which looks bad, but I’m sure it will fade in record time.

I roll Malcolm back and
study his face. I want to kiss him on the lips and have it act like it does in the fairytales where the one sleeping is instantly awoken by true love's kiss, but I know if I pressed my lips against his it would most likely have the completely opposite effect.

“
Will he be ok, Anna?” Lucas asks me, taking hold of my hand closest to him, needing my reassurance that his father will be all right.

“
He’ll be fine, Lucas. I think he just needs some rest.”

I tear my eyes away from Malcolm’s face and look down at Lucas.

“Lucas,” I say. I wait until he looks up at me before I continue. “Are you sure Levi didn't do anything to hurt you while you were in Cirrus?”

Lucas shakes his head slowly
. This slight hesitation is a hint to me that he isn't telling me the entire truth.

“
You need to tell me if he hurt you,” I say.

“
He didn’t hurt me, Anna. He just killed Vala.”

Lucas’ little shoulder
s shake as he begins to cry again.

I bend down in front of him and take him into my arms. He rest
s his head on my shoulder and cries his little heart out.

“
It’s ok,” I tell him, feeling my own pain over Vala’s loss unite with his. “There was nothing you could have done to save her.”

“
I yelled at him to stop, but he wouldn’t,” Lucas sobs. “I really did try to be brave, Anna.”

“
Oh sweetie, I know you did. I never had any doubt that you didn’t try to stop him. He’s just an evil man, Lucas. Bad people do whatever they want no matter who it hurts.”

“
He was going to do the same thing to me that he did to Vala, wasn’t he?”

“
He was going to try,” I admit, seeing no reason to lie. Lucas is old enough to know what almost happened. And he's smarter than most six year olds. So, lying to him seemed pointless.

“
Who was the man who saved me?”

This question was far harder to answer. How much of my
connection to Lucifer should Lucas know? How much about Lucifer himself should I warn him about?

“
His name is Lucifer,” I tell Lucas, finding it hard to expound much beyond this simple fact.

There’s a knock on the bedroom door which saves me from having to come up with more of an explanation.

“Come in,” I say.

The door opens and Millie, Jered
, and Desmond walk into the room. I stand back up just as Millie rushes over to me for a tight hug.

“
Oh, my sweet, we were worried sick about you.” Millie pulls back. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to save Vala. That devil had her in his hands before either of us could react.”

“
We’ve taken Vala to someone who might be able to save her,” Jered says, even though I wish he had kept that little bit of information to himself for the time being. I didn’t want to get Lucas’ hopes up over something that was far from a certainty.

“
Do you think this person will really be able to help her?” Lucas asks, his voice filled with newfound optimism.

Jered looks down at Lucas
, and I can see he realizes the mistake he just made saying what he did in front of him.

“
I think he will try very hard to fix her,” Jered says. “But there’s no guarantee that she can be.”

“
When will we know?” Lucas asks.

“
Well, I’m not completely sure. I suppose I could go see if he knows anything yet though. Would you like to come with me?”

Lucas looks up at me like he’s asking for my permission first.

“You can go with Jered,” I tell him.

Lucas lets
go of my hand and walks over to Jered.

“
We’ll be right back,” Jered says to me. “Hopefully with good news.”

I nod, not voicing my worry that
Vala was simply too far gone by the time we were able to get her to Travis.

After Jered and Lucas phase, Desmond
walks over to Malcolm and does a brief examination.

“
Is there anything we can do for him?” I ask Desmond.

“
No,” he replies after looking into Malcolm’s eyes again. “He’s merely in a deep sleep. I’m not sure what medication they gave him, but I would wager it shouldn’t last more than another hour or two, perhaps less.”

“
Where are Brutus and Daniel?” I ask.

“
Down in the kitchen with Giles preparing something to eat,” Millie tells me. “Would you mind very much if I went to help them? I haven’t seen Giles since he was a little boy. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

“
No, go ahead. You should both get something to eat. I’m going to stay up here with Malcolm until he wakes up.”

“
Like I said, it could be a couple of hours,” Desmond warns.

“
I understand, but I’m not leaving him.”

Desmond grins at me
with understanding. “Ok. Come get me if you need me.”

After Millie and Desmond leave the room, I pull off Malcolm’s boots and tuck him under the covers.
I take off my baldric and lay my sword against the wall on my side of the bed. I quickly slip my jacket off and toss it onto a nearby chair. Then, I crawl underneath the comforter with Malcolm. I lay my left hand against his chest and feel the steady tempo of his heartbeat. Its rhythm brings me comfort and reassures me that he’s still alive. As I lie down next to him, I can’t help but stare at his perfect profile. Even after all he’s been through, he still looks as devilishly handsome as ever. I lift my hand from his chest and run my fingers through his hair, noticing that it’s matted with blood in spots.

I let my hand drift down the left side of his face and marvel at the man I love. I feel tears threaten
, but this time it’s not because I’m sad. I’m simply having a hard time believing someone like Malcolm is mine. My life has been a lonely one for the most part. I was only allowed to see certain people and had almost given up hope that I would ever meet a man I could give myself to completely. Then, Malcolm came into my world at the exact moment I needed him to. His touch was the only thing that brought me comfort after killing Amon and absorbing the first seal. As my memories travel back to that moment, I can clearly remember the first time I saw Malcolm's face. It was a moment permanently etched into my memory.

“
I will do everything within my power to make our life a happy one,” I whisper to him. “Please, wake up, Malcolm.”

He doesn’t wake up of course, but his continued slumber gives me an idea.

I lay my head on his chest and let the sound of his beating heart lull me to sleep, transporting me to the land of dreams. It’s a place where I hope to reunite with my soul mate.

When I enter Malcolm’s dream world, I feel out of sorts. It’s almost like the drugs inducing his
slumber are affecting me as well. Various memories from Malcolm’s past swirl around me with no obvious coherency. Flashes of people, some I recognize and some I don’t, float in the maelstrom of his thoughts, but no image or scene stays long enough for me to make any sense out of them.

I decide to attempt something to help him, but I have no way of knowing if it will work.

I take control of the dream.

I
close my eyes to block out Malcolm’s dream world and focus my thoughts on one single moment in our shared past. It’s the moment Malcolm was in my room waiting for me to phase there. I had just gone to his bedroom in Cirrus the night of the wedding celebration because I felt his pain through the connection of our souls. Afterwards, I tried to phase back to my own bedroom but was unable to. Malcolm instructed me to follow his phase trail to make it easier to learn how to phase on my own.

When I
returned to my room, I found him sitting on the side of my bed waiting for me. The look in his eyes then told me that he wanted me as much as I wanted him. I walked over to him, and he pulled me in close to his body, resting his head against my breasts and closing his eyes as if holding me brought him some much needed peace. I focus on that moment hoping to recreate it again within this dreamscape.

L
arge, warm hands caress the small of my back, and I feel Malcolm’s head come to rest between my breasts.

When I open my eyes, I see that what I attempted to do has worked. Malcolm’s incoherent thoughts have been pushed aside
, and I’m now in control of what we see.