Page 3 of Rescuing Air

“Lailah shared with me that Lilith said they have to be in a place with no people around them, since the Dark Lords’ demons are too violent and kill everything on sight that isn’t also a demon,” I shared.

Father let out a huff. “That does nothing to help us narrow down an area.”

“Father, they’re training everyone who has been given the serum, so it would have to be a place they can keep the human host alive,” I pointed out. “That cuts out all places that are too cold to easily keep a human alive. They wouldn’t want to put that much effort into it. My theory is Africa, Greenland, Iceland, or the Amazon. Lots of space and easy enough to keep away from people.”

“You don’t think I haven’t also thought of those places? It’s too much ground for us to cover and with how easily they’ve been avoiding us, I’m not looking to send my people out blind. Besides, who’s to say your mother hasn’t been turned into one of them already, since they don’t need her any longer? This is not a fight we can rush into. We need to be wise in the next moves we make. If they are gearing up for war like you say, then that changes everything,” Father said.

My anger at the fact he was just going to brush Mother off as a lost cause had me clenching my phone so hard it started to creak. “Fine, you do what you think is best and I’ll look for Mother with Lailah and my brothers, who actually give a shit about human life.”

Before Father could give a response, I hung up the phone and chucked it across the room. I watched it shatter on the stone of the living room fireplace. Fucking bastard.

“Jay...”

I stiffened as Lailah ran a hand along my back before wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head on the middle of my back. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I had a nightmare and knew I wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep again. I noticed you were gone, so I figured you were up,” she answered softly.

Grabbing her arm, I pulled her around so she was hugging my chest and I could hold her close to me, resting my head on hers. Neither of us spoke, just taking comfort in each other before we needed to face the world and all its problems.

“He doesn’t care about her at all,” I whispered. “What kind of man could just let his wife be taken by demons and not feel the need to try and save her?”

Lailah lifted her head to look me in the eye with her crystal-blue gaze. “Your father is an idiot who only thinks of power and personal gain. We don’t need him to do this, Jay. We have you and you know everything he does, if not more. Use the resources we have and take from him what we need to get your mother back. So what if she’s lost to us? Doesn’t she deserve to be returned to her family? Of course I pray we’ll find her alive and well, but demons don’t know what mercy is, and that is a reality we need to face. But I promise you, Jay, we will find her.”

Raising a hand, I smoothed back her wild blond curls from her face, then cupped her cheek. This woman, who had crawled so deep into my heart, knew what I’d needed to hear. It wasn’t false hope, or the assurance that everything would be alright, not that she told me the truth of the situation. Many would be angry with her for such a callous way of saying things, but I would always take the truth over a lie or wishful thinking. Bending down, I pressed a kiss to her lips, trying to convey my feeling for her through it. She was right. My mother deserved to be brought home no matter if she was alive, possessed, or dead. Japanese people had incredibly strong feelings about laying their loved ones to rest, ensuring they were looked after and could join their ancestors. This I would do for my mother, as her son, since her husband wouldn’t.

“Thank you, Beautiful,” I murmured, my lips brushing hers as I spoke. “I love you.”

“I love you too, and we will always take care of each other, no matter what happens,” she answered. The strength behind those words made my heart swell with pride.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the woman I held in my arms was timid and quiet. Now, she was facing down the Queen of Hell and the Dark Lord, who were trying to turn Earth into another version of Hell. Scars littered her body and mind from those encounters, but it only made her stand taller. Yeah, the PTSD and nightmares were still something we were working on, but even those were getting better. What I worried most about was the fact we were down a brother, a fellow knight—Parker, the literal heart of our group. He’d been set up by Lilith to make the wrong choice when it came down to helping his ex-girlfriend or Lailah. Parker had chosen wrong and broke the Oath that he’d given Lailah, along with her heart.

Matters of the heart were much harder to heal than the physical. I was mad at him for hurting her, for letting someone come between them—Lilith especially. He needed to atone for his sin. I knew Lailah was going to make him work for it, but I did hope they could make it through this. Not just because we were going to need him to defeat the Dark Lord, but because I knew they loved each other. They were meant for each other. Each one of the five of us Elementi Knights had pieces of our soul missing, and Lailah filled that hole. A feat I never, in all my life, thought would happen.

“How do we get started? Where do we look first?” Lailah asked, resting her head against me once more.

“We put together all the information that we do know, things we’ve picked up from all the situations we’ve experienced. I think we know more than we think we do and we’ll see it once we put it all together on paper. Micah needs to heal before we can even think of attacking them head on. It kills me to delay, but if we aren’t at our best, we will fail when it comes to taking on a demon army.”

She nodded and pulled out of my arms. “Sounds like you need a coffee and I definitely am going to need some chai if we’re going to do a research project this early in the morning. You get things set up. I’ll bring back caffeine and food.”

With a nod and a smile pulling at my lips, I watched her head into the kitchen, tilting my head just a little to get a better look at her ass in those sleep shorts. God, I wanted to turn it bright red and watch it jiggle as I thrust into her from behind. I’d been holding back my darker desires, knowing it might trigger her, but when the time was right, I’d help her understand the beauty of pain and pleasure.

three

Lailah

Two cups of caffeine and a sunrise later, the rest of the guys started to drift downstairs, helping Micah manage his crutches. Jay was hunched over his computer and I was looking over some information from their previous missions on a tablet, trying to catch up on what he already knew about the Dark Lord’s army. This wasn’t going to be a quick mission, but we needed to sift through things with fresh eyes to make sure nothing was missed or any assumptions were made. Now we had the knowledge of what their plan for the future was, using the serum to make conduits and hosts for the demons. Taking in the information with this in mind made some things make more sense, like how they needed to get someone in at the labs and with Brayden’s family. The person in the labs could be like Tabitha, the nanny, who was a human that was gifted demonic power, or possibly promised to gain some with the creation of the serum. It had been a long con, taking years in the making. The Dark Lord hadn’t planned on me showing up when I did—right at the tipping point of them getting away with it.

Now I was here, bonded to four out of the five Elementi Knights, getting stronger every passing day as we strengthened our connection. Losing Parker was going to be a blow we couldn’t afford, but I refused to let the fate of the world dictate who I gave part of my heart and soul to. There was no way we could do this mission without him, but that didn’t mean he was forgiven or all was forgotten. I had promised Jay we would get his mom back in whatever way possible and I planned on keeping that promise, no matter how uncomfortable it made me though.

“How long have you guys been up?” Brayden asked, getting Micah settled in one of the armchairs. “And what are you working on so intently?”

I glanced at the time, surprised to find it had been three hours. “Ah, since four—”

“Don’t avoid the harder question, Lailah,” Micah muttered, scowling at me. “What are you guys working on?”

Jay closed the lid to his laptop and looked at the others for a moment before answering. “The demons took my mother to their camp. It was a backup plan to stop me from bonding with Lailah, but they broke Parker first.”

“Why didn’t you wake us up to help, damn it? Also, why the fuck would you hold this back from us? We have every right to know, not be left in the dark to think things were fine,” Micah shouted, his body rigid with anger. I could feel it beating against my own shields, letting me know just how pissed my fiery lover was.