Page 62 of The Guardian (Dark-Hunter 20)
Chapter 18
Seth felt the first stirring of his god powers returning to him as he hit the floor hard enough to splinter an internal organ. Thank the gods he wasn't human, or he'd be dead right now. But what he truly hated was the metallic taste of his blood in his mouth.
Revolting.
With his tongue, he checked to make sure his teeth were still in place, then looked to see what had attacked him.
His blood ran cold the moment he realized what Noir had done. What the bastard had sent after him.
Damn it to hell ...
Verlyn who at one time had been a god of ultimate good. Noir had corrupted it and turned it into the twisted embodiment of evil in front of him now. Seth had no idea how Noir had accomplished it. All he knew was that Verlyn was one of the deadliest creatures in existence.
So much so, that even Noir hesitated to release him for fear that one day he wouldn't be able to put Verlyn back into whatever cage Noir kept it in.
Standing an impressive seven feet in height, Verlyn couldn't be bargained with. It merely did what it was told.
And obviously its orders now were to bring Seth back to hell.
Seth closed his eyes and summoned as much of his powers as he could. A small kiss.
Just a token. A little more than what he'd had at Sanctuary.
But it was enough to put his armor in place and to set fire to it. Pushing himself up, he knew this was about to get ugly.
Lydia dressed herself in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt as she stared at the mountain that'd just appeared in their room. Dressed in a long, black coat with a high-standing collar that was trimmed in silver ... silver that appeared to be stained by blood, the man had shaved his head smooth and symbols were tattooed down the center of his skull, culminating into a sharp point right between his eyes.
His right eye was ringed with black and from the bottom of it was another set of symbols that went down his cheek to his chin. The only color on his body was a splash of a bright green shirt he wore beneath the black coat.
But the most shocking thing came when he turned to assess her as a threat.
He had the same eyes as Jaden. Only in reverse. Where Jaden's eye was brown, his was green and vice versa.
There had to be a story there between them. Were they relatives? But this wasn't the time to try and do an interview. Not when the mountain turned away from her and headed for Seth with a deadly stride that promised Seth a major ass beating.
She launched herself toward the mountain.
"No!" Seth growled, throwing his arm out toward her.
He manifested one of his force fields around her to hold her back from the fight.
Seething, she glared at him. "What are you doing?"
"Saving your life. He won't attack you, unless you attack him, and then he'll kill you."
She scoffed. "I doubt that."
"I don't."
Lydia held her hands up in a choking gesture. Why wouldn't he see her as a capable fighter? She was just as able to battle as he was.
But then given his age, she was lucky he wasn't more of a chauvinist. All in all, he did pretty well with it.
Sometimes.
However, this wasn't one of them.
Seth backed up against the wall, making sure to keep Verlyn in front of him. That was the only safe place when dealing with an enemy this deadly.
Verlyn's eyes started glowing red. "You have been summoned, Guardian."
"Yeah," Seth said slowly. "It's what I figured. But I'm going to have to disappoint Noir and you."
Verlyn tsked. "Poor choice that."
"Yeah, well, what's new there?"
Baring his jagged teeth, Verlyn rushed him.
Seth caught the beast and flipped him to the floor. He tried to pin him there, but it was impossible. Verlyn probably outweighed him by a good hundred pounds of solid muscle. Muscle that shouldn't be as flexible as his was.
"Damn you, you fat bastard. Lose some weight." It was like trying to control a full-grown rhinoceros.
Verlyn twisted around in a way that shouldn't be possible for something with an internal skeleton and snatched Seth off his back. He slammed him against the floor hard enough to daze him. And then Verlyn slammed him there a couple more times for good measure.
"I think you need some help there, baby," Lydia called to him. "Want to let me out?"
"No," he choked through his windpipe that was being crushed by Verlyn's hand, which happened to be twice the size of his. "Won't be able to play with you later if you're bruised and I'm feeling guilty that I caused it."
"You are so sick."
And right now, he was getting his ass kicked. Seth kept punching at Verlyn, but it was like hitting a brick wall with a bare hand.
Not to mention, he was getting tired of having his head dribbled on the hardwood floor. Why hadn't Maahes carpeted the damn place?
Speaking of that bastard, where was Mr. I Would Have Protected You Had I Known? So much for his worthless vows.
Yet again, he was nowhere around when Seth needed him.
Then Seth smelled it. That fetid stench that signified Verlyn was opening the channel between the human realm and Azmodea.
If he didn't do something fast, he was going back there.
Lydia saw the panicked despair in Seth's eyes as he locked gazes with her. That scared her, but when her shield suddenly went down so that she could join the fight, she knew she had only heartbeats to save him.
Her only thought his safety, she ran for Verlyn. When he would have grabbed her, she shifted into her jackal form and latched onto his forearm with everything she had.
Verlyn screamed out in pain, trying to pound her into releasing him. But she wasn't about to let go. Not until he was gone and they were safe.
Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning went through the room, striking Verlyn right through his heart. Lydia released him immediately. Unfortunately, the bolt didn't kill him, but it knocked him through the glass window and sent him to the sea below.
Maahes ran to check on them.
