Stranger at the Hell Gate Read Online Free Page B

think it hurts more or less depending on the severity. There was a muscle torn underneath. But this one…" She stepped closer and indicated a thin line on his arm but did not touch him. "This is only on the surface."
    She tilted her head. "It wouldn't take much."
    "You're not going to kiss me again, are you?"
    "Oh." She chewed her lip. "It's how I learned to heal. My mother, she'd kiss a scraped knee or a scratched finger. You know, make the 'boo boo' go away. Her healing was always connected to the deep love she had for me. I never…"
    "Never tried just waving a magic finger?"
    "I never tried to heal anyone before. A stranger, I mean. I guess I just reacted."
    Jagger regarded her for a moment.
    "I've lived through worse." He shrugged and lifted his arm. "I'm game."
    She cradled his forearm, leaning to press a kiss onto the scar. It warmed like a blush beneath her lips. Pulling back, she inspected the skin. The scar had vanished.
    "That tickled," he said.
    Something in his eyes made her linger in her touch. There was something unspoken in his gaze. He cleared his throat as if to speak—
    A crash sounded on the porch, a stomping that made the floor tremble. Sonya's gaze jerked to the door. The lock rattled and the door opened hard, banging against the wall. The doorway was filled with a mountain of flesh and leather. The biggest man Sonya had ever seen.
    She backed away without thinking.
    He lifted his arm to partially shield her, chuckling. "Ionis, get your ass in here. You're scaring her."
    Sonya remained behind Jagger, peering at the man called Ionis. He was huge. And human. She blinked, mouth agape. She didn't think humans grew so large.
    Ionis shut the door with a deep laugh.
    "Sorry, miss. Din't know anyone was here." He bowed deeply before her. "I am Ionis, son of Berkhall. At your service."
    "My partner." Jagger scratched his head. "I'm sorry, Sunny, I—"
    She shrugged. There was no point to picking up where they'd left off. Not in front of another person.
    "You have business. I'll give you privacy." Sonya turned to Ionis. "Pleasure is mine, sir."
    She retreated to the muffled quiet of the upstairs apartment, the touch of Jagger's skin on her lips a tingling memory.

DEMONS
    "It's not getting any better down there." Ionis slid a massive axe out of its hip holster and leaned it against the desk. Turning to a chest cooler against the wall, he opened the lid and dug through the ice to retrieve a can of beer. "That hell gate gets hotter by the week."
    "Hmm?" Jagger had been staring at the apartment door, lost in thought. He shook his head to clear it, rubbing his arm. "It's him."
    Ionis sighed. "So he's close?"
    "Gotta be. I saw this before, in Anthers. Acheron and the gate feed off each other. He figured out how to loop the energy."
    "Look, Jag." Ionis cracked the beer and drained it in three great swallows. "I know you don't want to hear it, but we have no choice. We have to get to him and shut him down."
    Jagger sat down in the desk chair, rocking it on its back legs. "There's gotta be another way."
    "There isn't and you know it."
    Jagger's face went blank, devoid of expression. "He's my brother."
    "And he's tried to kill you, more than once. You said it yourself—he's getting as strong as he was in Anthers. He almost beat you at Anthers."
    "That was a fluke. He can't beat me. We're matched."
    "Yeah, but if he gets help from the other side…" Ionis crossed his arms. "That portal was stable enough to allow some pretty high level demons through. Those third ringers took everything we had."
    "And we did it, buddy. You gotta be proud of that."
    "Are you getting cocky, Jag? I don't think I need to remind you who is first ring. Once he gets through, it's over."
    Jagger rubbed his eyes. All this talk about Lucifer made his head hurt. "He won't get through. Anthers won't repeat itself here. I just need time to come up with a plan."
    "I got one. Kill Acheron."
    "Listen. I'm not going to kill him, all right? I can't."
    "He's