Hellbourne (15 page)

Luc screamed as the whip fell again and again. He hoped Michael remembered his promise because the chances of him surviving this time weren’t favourable.

“Don’t worry, brother. This will hurt me much more than it will hurt you.”

Luc hissed as the whip ripped into his flesh again. “Somehow I doubt that,” he gasped.

* * * *

“He’ll never love you, you know,” Bran said casually.

Nikko flashed him a fanged smile. “I don’t need his love as long as I get everything else.”

“You just keep telling yourself that,” Bran growled. “I know you were listening to Michael. You weren’t even supposed to meet Luc yet.”

Nikko shrugged to hide his annoyance. He didn’t like the fact that Luc was supposedly Bran’s this time. He went to the bar and poured himself a glass of red wine. He saw Carn standing in the doorway listening to them, but he didn’t care. The demon would stand by whomever Luc chose. “What’s to say an accident won’t befall you, and poor Luc will be all alone and have to cry on my shoulder.”

Bran growled deeply. “Because if anything happens to me, Luc will kill you. He might look like a fragile boy but he can crush you if he chooses. And trust me, if I’m dead he’ll be very angry.”

Nikko laughed. “Luc wouldn’t hurt a fly. The most he could do would be to drown me with his tears.” The vampire held up his hands. “I adore the man but he’s not exactly butch.”

“What part of potential hell lord don’t you understand?” Bran asked, flashing his fangs.

“He killed those demons for you,” Carn said, stepping into the room.

“What demons?” Nikko asked.

“The Pithel that came while you were gone.”

Nikko walked over to the red-skinned creature. “Why didn’t I hear about this?”

Carn shrugged. “Luc asked your people to keep it quiet.”

“What happened?”

“They came demanding your territory and Luc informed them they had the wrong place. One of them objected so Luc tore out his heart. End of discussion.”

“Huh?” Nikko took a drink of wine. “Looks as if me and the pretty boy are going to have a little chat when he gets back.”

* * * *

A punch to the back had Luc arching to avoid the strike. It was difficult to do when a punch from the front jerked him back. The twins were double teaming him. After Stiln whipped the skin off his body, he dragged Luc and his guitar over to the twins’ chambers.

The dual demons liked to use their fists. They said it added a more personal touch.

Tavo punched him again from behind and Lain in front. Each time they let out a grunt like prizefighters making a particularly good hit. He was certain some internal bleeding was involved.

“How are you doing, Luc?” Tavo asked, placing his punch right in the base of Luc’s spine. “Ready to give up yet and tell Father you’ll join us.”

“No,” Luc said through gritted teeth. He was certain there would be a solid black bruise across his entire body.

The pair looked at Luc with merciless eyes. Identical twins were rare in the demon world, so they were considered quite a catch by the other demons in hell. With their black hair, yellow eyes and golden skin they were handsome to demon kind, but Lucifer never let them forget that they didn’t favour him. Their mother had been a demon concubine that he’d killed after she gave birth to the twins. According to Lucifer, she’d outlived her usefulness.

“We don’t want you to join us anyway,” Tavo said.

“We’d rather kill you,” Lain agreed, flashing a pointy-toothed smile. “But father won’t let you die so it’s rather pointless.”

“But it doesn’t matter because this time he’s not letting you go.”

“Wh-what?” Luc gasped out between hits.

Tavo stopped punching to stand next to his twin. “Awww, didn’t you know? Father has decided to keep you this time so you might as well give in. He’s not going to let you go back to your handsome wolf. But I bet he’d let you have all the demons you’d like.”

“The best part about this, is that you aren’t even competition because you’ll only want the males.” Lain looked quite pleased that he’d figured that out on his own.

For the first time, Luc couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. Misery wrapped Luc in its dark embrace. He would be truly trapped.

“I think we’ve lost his attention,” Tavo said.

“No problem,” Lain lifted his foot and slammed his heel into Luc’s upper thigh, smiling when he heard a loud crack.

Luc screamed.

“See, now we have his attention,” Lain smiled.

Freen was waiting in his torture chamber when Luc was carried in.

“What’s with the guitar?”

Tavo shrugged as Lain put Luc on the torture seat. It was a reclining leather chair that Freen had custom designed for his victims. As a chair it was remarkably comfortable with good back support and padding. If you didn’t notice the arm and leg shackles, it appeared like a luxurious piece of furniture.

Freen positioned Luc so he could strap Luc to the arms of the chair, shackling his wrists.

There was nothing remarkable about Freen’s appearance. He looked more like an accountant than a hell lord. Freen’s mother had been human and he’d inherited none of Lucifer’s amazing looks or powers. He made up for his ordinariness by being the best torturer the devil had. His plain face hid the soul of a true sadist.

He shook his head sadly at the twins when he saw Luc’s condition. “You didn’t leave me much to work with. He’s already so damaged a lot of my artistry will be lost.” Freen prided himself on creating carved designs on his victims. Some of them were quite beautiful if you overlooked the hours of torture used to create them.

“Not our problem,” Lain said. The twins walked out the door before Freen could complain any further.

Freen gave Luc a scowl. “What’s up with the guitar?”

“It soothes me.” He was hoping his brother wouldn’t try to destroy it. Luc was pretty certain Gabriel bespelled it so it couldn’t be damaged, but he wasn’t positive and he didn’t want Michael angry if it was destroyed.

Freen laughed. “Well, by all means, let’s make sure you’re soothed while I torture you.” He picked the guitar up and set it on the table next to his assortment of torture implements. “There, now you’ll feel all better.”

He chuckled while he picked up his favourite flesh-slicing knife. “Do you know that our father had a new set of knives made for me just for this event? I want you to know how very grateful I am to you for that. These will never dull and magically clean themselves after a torture. Best quality around.”

His plain brown eyes lit with an unnatural glee. “I hope that you appreciate my technique. I’d love to be your chief torturer when you become Lucifer’s right hand man. There’s a lot of competition in hell, you know, and a little nepotism never hurts.” Freen chuckled at his own joke. “Well, it will hurt
you
.”

Luc felt the cold blade slicing into his stomach followed by indescribable pain. To keep his sanity he concentrated on Bran, remembering his lover’s kiss, reliving his touch, absorbing the memory of the werewolf’s scent. He trusted his love to get him through.

Chapter Eleven

“He’s not worthy of you, you know.” Galthine smiled.

Luc could see the pleasure in his brother’s eyes as he looked at him hanging by manacles in the middle of Galthine torture room. His body was a mass of bloody cuts, bruises and bits of hanging flesh. There was very little that didn’t hurt and he was hanging on to his sanity with the last thread in his arsenal, his devotion to Bran.

He didn’t want to disappoint his lover. The alpha would be heartbroken if Luc didn’t return, not to mention what would happen to Jerrod and Carn. He still had hope the two of them would get together, but that would never happen if they were pulled into the depths of hell after him.

Luc gritted his teeth as Galthine jabbed at one of his open wounds.

“That must really hurt especially since you can’t heal.” His brother’s face had the first smile Luc could ever remember seeing. It sent tremors of fear down his spine.

Luc could feel each cut and bruise on his body but he didn’t need to wonder how he looked because there was an enormous mirror opposite him, an added dimension to his torture. He wondered idly what would happen if he never healed. Would Bran still love him and his scarred body?

I can survive. I can survive
. Luc replayed the words over and over again in his head. It was his mantra for getting out of hell. If he showed any weakness to any of his brothers at any time, they would move in for the kill.

He wasn’t going to be stuck here. He’d promised Bran.

His attention snapped back to Galthine when the demon placed a hot brand onto his leg.

Luc screamed. It wasn’t just hot; Galthine had laced the brand with poison so that when he stuck it to his leg it seared into his skin along with the brand. He could already feel his leg going numb. He tried to stay awake.

“Pay attention!” Galthine snapped.

The demon calmly placed the brand back against the wall like a gentleman would his walking stick.

“I can’t believe you would go through all this with a wolf that would toss you aside so easily.” Galthine laughed bitterly. “After all those years together, he didn’t even wonder about his sudden yearning for a litter of pups.” The demon picked up a spear with his right hand and pierced Luc’s left leg with one powerful thrust.

Luc’s mouth gushed with blood as he bit his tongue, holding back his screams.

Galthine’s words suddenly sunk into his pain-fogged brain. “You entranced Bran,” he forced through his cracked, puffy lips.

His brother laughed. “Yes, and you didn’t even stay and fight for him. It wasn’t that much of a compulsion. I was testing you to see how strong your love was.” The demon shook his head sadly. “You didn’t even put up a resistance. You fought harder for that damned vampire with the Pithel demons than your soul mate.”

“You sent the Pithel demons?” It was all starting to make sense. He had to survive this if only to tell Bran how very sorry he was.

“Don’t worry about your little puppy. He won’t have time to mourn you. After I get done here, I’m taking a few of my men and wiping out everyone in that little house of yours. I’ve learned that your misery has a fabulous energy. I’m going to live off of that for a long, long time.”

Anger surged through Luc, stronger than any that came before. There was no way he was going to let
anyone
touch his lover.

Bran had to survive.

Galthine leant forwards and whispered in Luc’s ear, “Before I kill him, I’m going to fuck him and find out why you’ve been so loyal all of these years. He must be a great piece of ass since you could have any male on the planet, and don’t bother going to Father. He encouraged me to help you break your earthly ties. I will have so much fun.”

The ember of anger flared until Luc could only see a glow of white before his eyes. Images of his brother touching Bran filled him with fury until he wanted to kill something. To slash anything between him and what was his.

“That’s it.” Galthine laughed. “Think of me and your pretty wolf. I could use a new pet since the last one killed himself to be free of me.”

Luc’s brain went primal and memories of his brother’s last pet, a pretty blue-skinned demon, played in the back of his mind, like a film.

“Maybe I’ll make him shift then skin him for a new rug.”

Luc felt something in his brain snap.

Must protect Bran. Must protect Bran.

He pinned his brother with a fiery look of hate. For the first time in his life, Luc saw a new expression in his brother’s eyes. Unadulterated fear.

“No one touches my wolf.”

The manacles hissed and fell to the ground like shards of glass. Luc fell three feet and walked across the sharp pieces barefoot towards his brother.

“No one!” he said, his powerful voice echoing throughout the room. The floor shifted and the walls shook with his fury. “You will never touch my wolf or anyone else who is mine.”

As he walked, Luc’s vision cleared along with the brands, cuts and whip marks from his body. Unaware of his impromptu healing, he marched up to his brother. “And if you ever do, I will banish you to the void forever.”

The void was the ultimate threat. Few things ever reappeared from the corridor between heaven and hell and the ones that did generally killed themselves within the first few minutes.

In the void there was nothing except your own mind, and some people’s minds were a frightening place.

Galthine’s laugh was more nervous than mocking. “You don’t have the power to access the void.”

Luc was caught off guard. Galthine was right. Only his father and the angels had the ability to open the void, but in that moment, he knew he also could open the place that even angels feared to tread.

“Don’t bet on it,” Luc said. “Now, I think it’s time to find Father and tell him that you all failed.” He knew that his smile was miles from nice. “I wonder what he has in mind for punishment.”

Galthine paled.