Infernal

Nina's POV

Felix parted the stony door to let me in, and just like the first time, I delivered a smile and waltzed in like an eager child. I heard him walking off and gazed at what brought me here.

Six-feet tall of unparalleled hotness, with the spotty track record of a killer. My family's murderer.

Feeling revulsion for even checking his looks, I squinted at the hole left in his shirt. Dried blood coated the ridges and a pink scar hailed me. A still unhealed leftover from our "talk".

He was lucky. After Felix knocked him out he'd come in, taking off the Golden shackle. They gave him enough time to heal before slapping it back on his wrist.

I placed a plastic bowl on the floor cracking a private smile.

Cameron's sprawled form twitched when I nudged his side with a foot. If he didn't wake up in five seconds I would resort to kicking. I counted, gleefully, hoping time would run—he cracked open his eyes.

That was no fun.

The first thing he said after eying me up and down was my name. Which I promptly ignored.

"Get up," I ordered in pitch perfect of bossiness.

Cameron shook out his black hair, hoisting himself up. He didn't look very sturdy standing on his knees. I decided to lend a hand. I pushed the center of his chest and there wasn't an ounce of resistance. He smacked onto the wall, head and all.

"That was too easy, Cam." His name was like venom on my lips. "Kinda fun, though." I smiled placing my hands on his broad shoulders, easing myself onto his legs.

The daze took a while to clear. His black eyes finally focused on me and I closed my knees on his hips—harder.

An eyebrow shot up.

"Are you going to sex-torture me?"

My nails made sure to dig into his flesh. His jaw clenched stubbornly.

"You wish."

"Then what? Knife again...?" He looked down fleetingly as if confirming the wound had closed. "You let me heal..."

"Not me. Helena. She doesn't want you dead, yet. But don't worry, I'll still be the one to do it."

He rocked his head back, never breaking our stare.

"Then why are you here? Going against the Mother Superiors' rules?"

His joking stopped when I tapped him under the chin with a up-to-no-good grin.

"She said not to kill you. Nothing was said about me playing with you." My finger its way to the unhealed scar. Cam's chiseled stomach rose fast.

I took a strawberry from the plastic bowl, biting into the juicy thing. I made sure to watch his reaction. His throat was betraying his cool exterior.

"You lost a lot of blood," I nodded to a place where the soil was matted with a pool of red richness. "That, the block on your Power, the healing, the block again... It probably took a big toll on you, huh?"

Cameron did his best not to move when I wiggled.

I took another red fruit. This time, gently moving it his way, to his dry mouth. I saw bliss as the strawberry touched his lush lips—I snatched the fruit away, popping into my mouth.

I chewed it extra-slow. Swallowed it with contempt.

"I'm sorry, did you... want that?" I smiled brightly. "Do you know what I learned today?"

"What?"

"That Nephilims can die from hunger and thirst. Isn't that fun?"

With a short heave, his neck and shoulder muscles went lax. Cameron cocked his head against the wall corner, eying me defiantly.

"Not particularly, no."

"Well, not for you. But for me it is..." I waved another strawberry near him, eating it

"It won't work."

"What won't?" I stopped reaching for the final berry.

"You want to torture me. But it won't work."

"Why's that?"

"Because you're the one doing the torturing..." he pulled on a trade mark smirk. Tired, but still arrogant. "Truth is, I like being with you even when you want to rip me apart. Crazy, I know. But what can I say? It's hot."

There was a teensy, tiny part of my being that found what he'd just said incredibly hot. The bigger part? Wanted to separate his head from his body. I smacked my palms into his chest causing a chocked up cough.

"You're lucky I don't have a cutting object here. Or a boulder." I backed up some, not finding this as funny as before.

Cameron massaged his upper-chest trying to return his breathing to normal. I saw a bracelet on that wrist, not the one stopping his Power. Just a regular leather, charm guy-bracelet. I'd never him wear that... had I? My thoughts weren't the most coherent ones since I'd woken up. Helena said I'd hit my head before they found us and trapped Cameron.

The strange part was that my head felt fine.

"Looks familiar?" He asked, catching me looking. All of a sudden, that fury returned and I wasn't bothered by possible missing links.

"No," I ground deciding it was time to go. I'd get to execute him tomorrow, anyway.

"Nina," he croaked as I bent for the empty bowl. I didn't turn to him. "Nina, wait. Wait-you can't honestly remember this? Or that necklace?"

What was it with him and jewelry? I rolled my eyes marching for the parted stone.

"I never touched your family. You know that. Why would I?" I blinked, tilting my head back slightly. I could barely make out his eyes from the darkness now. "Remember when we did our English project? You took Henry over, remember that day?"

I... Henry's name set a kind of anger that could annihilate an army. My brother had been inside the house, the house Cameron torched. In a complete, all-consuming, fury attack I whirled throwing the bowl at his head. Like a pitcher threw a baseball.

Cameron narrowly avoided it. Tears burned my eyes as I glared at him.

"You could've killed my brother. You're a monster!" I heard. Then understood it had been me saying it.

Emotions hit me in all colors. Red, especially. Red for anger. For blood. Intensity. Passion.

I ran out. Down the hall, wherever it led, because what I couldn't do was stand there. With him. Because I wasn't sure what I would do if I did. Would I pop his eyes from their sockets, or would I jump his bones? The last one tore me up. Why would I do something like that? It wasn't right. To want someone who treated you badly, to like a person who hurt you. To like... the person who was responsible for your parents deaths.

In a turmoil of sickness and confusion, I stumbled into a archway, leaning on a column. That's when I felt it. A shiver running along my veins and a pounding inside of me—like my Power was telling me to run. Giving into the tendency of ignoring warnings, I followed down the dark corridor. There were less balls of light here, I wondered why. The shadows converged to one spot in particular.

A very big and detailed door. Handle and drawings in gold and silver.

The pounding of my heart drowned everything else as my fingers got close, brushing the surface.

"Nina?"

My shoulders jolted and my head whirled down the shadowy path. I saw pearly hair swishing side-to-side. The long champagne gown swirled as Helena sauntered over. My hand fell away, I stepped back.

"What are you doing here? These are the underground tunnels." Her hands were clasped in front of her. Helena's eyes drifted from me to the door and back. "I thought you were with Felix."

"I was but..." I cleared my throat. "I just walked and ended up here." Somehow telling Helena about my conflicted emotions felt wrong.

Smiling, she tilted her head.

"Well, you must be tired after all that's happened today. Come with me, I'll show you your room, alright?"

Fanning away my hair for a second, I nodded walking to her. Her hand touched my back and the strangest spasm racked my nerves. What was up with me? First my Power reacted to a door, now Helena... I closed my eyes. She was right. I was worn out.

All the hallways seemed the same. The little lights hovered all down the aisles and the people came with less affluence than earlier. There weren't lots of windows so I couldn't see if the red sun was still up or if the blue moon reigned supreme.

Helena stopped by a heavy-looking door. Dark, intricate designs formed rose patterns up its surface. She twisted the knob, pushing inside, and suddenly balls of light lit up.

"Where did all of this come from?" I murmured staring at the oak poster bed, completed with white sheets and comforter. Actually, white was the color theme. I frowned at the modern furniture pieces.

"Humans aren't the only ones who know how to build things." She shrugged. "Just because this is Hell it doesn't mean we live in the dark ages." Right. But we were in a castle of sorts. "Will you be well here?"

"Huh, yes. I'm good."

"Then get some sleep. I'll come by to get you in the morning." A sharp wedged smile tipped her lips. "Then we can carry out the ceremony. Goodnight, Nina."

"Goodnight."

The door clicked on her way out. A breath escaped me. I hadn't realized I'd been holding one in.

Walking over to the bed, I sat gingerly, afraid it would give out. It was sturdy. Much sturdier than my legs... or my head. Clasping it in both hands, I took several breaths.

What was happening? It shouldn't be complicated hating someone. It wasn't—I hated Cameron. So why was there a 'but' at the end of the mix?

My finger tapped the pendant against my chest. It dazzled me with a radiant gold, like my eyes.

I focused on dropping the made-up wall between me and my Power, reaching for it, wrapping my hand around the star. I couldn't remember how, I just knew if I thought about what I wanted to know, it would come.

Not a heartbeat later, a sizzling headache cut my concentration short. I gasped staring at the amber crystal.

The only thing I'd wanted to know was where it had come from... There had been something, though. Like a major wall of hard-light keeping my Power from reaching in.

With a tired sigh I fell on the mattress, curling my legs and draping my hands below the pillow. Tomorrow everything would be okay, whatever this strange thing inside me was, it would be gone as soon as Cameron died.

Everything would be perfect then.

***

When morning came, so did Helena, just like she'd promised. I'd been awake for what felt like hours. Last night I hadn't dreamt, but I'd tossed around, always with a heavy feeling in my chest. A sinking pit.

We were at the altar room. Nothing had changed since the last time I'd been here. Why had I been here exactly?

The door cracked behind us. Curses that would make sailors blush toppled off Cameron's tongue as Felix dragged him in, pass us and headed to the altar where Lyra was. She dragged the red silk before Felix body slammed Cam down on the tomb. My heart tugged quickly as a groan whisked past his lips.

God, this couldn't be happening again.

Helena stepped up to me, stealing my attention from the Golden chains they were binding Cameron's wrists with, they were connected to the floor. Had they been there before?

"Here," she produced a dagger from the belt of her medieval-looking gown. Her wardrobe wasn't very selective. "It's just a regular blade. I could give you an Azure Dagger but since he has the chains he can't heal, there wouldn't be a difference."

"This will do fine." I said balancing the weight of it. My eyes peeked at the clunks upfront. "What are those for?" There were buckets being placed on the floor, under Cam's arms.

"Oh, that's for the ceremony."

"Ah, yeah. You mentioned that yesterday... What do you mean ceremony? I just want to kill him." Saying it caused a ripple effect down my back. As did Helena's laugh.

"I admire your fiery determination, Nina. However, Lyra and I discussed an interesting fact, about how you are still untrained? We need your help finding this person very, very fast. There's no time to train you, but we can use Cameron's blood."

"His... blood?"

"Yes. When a Vampire feeds on another supernatural creature the Power from the prey fuels the Vampire's ability, making it stronger, even if its for a limited time." I nodded slowly. She carried on, noticing my peaking disgust. "If you drink it your ability will become even stronger—"

"I don't think that's what I need. I just need control, not more Power." My ego was both insulted and kicked down.

"There's a much higher chance of you finding who we need with this cheat—don't you want to help?"

I did. I think. Though, I had no idea who I was helping them find. They'd saved me from Cameron and helped me, so I owed them, right?

While my brain mauled over the issue of drinking blood out of a mug, Felix walked by with a grin. His job was done. The sound of double doors closing reverberated off the walls.

"It's your time, honey. Go ahead." Helena encouraged, waving a hand to where Cameron was strapped tightly.

Walking up the stairs I noticed how the light coming in through the stained glass was strong, it painted Cam's face in a reddish glow. The unholy light pointed out the dark bruises under his eyes, the scruffiness of his onyx hair—I stopped short when his dusk gaze captured me.

There was no room for doubts. I couldn't deny the anger each time I saw him—it was unnatural. Such hate could only be brought by terrible acts. That's all I needed to bear in mind.

The dagger connected with his skin fast—I dragged it across his side. Then his arms. Ruby drops fell inside the buckets one by one, each drop he lost was a step closer to ending him. Ending my pain.

Somewhere between slashing a cut over his shoulder and smacking his chin, I'd climbed on top of the tomb—straddling him. Not that either of us thought there was anything pleasurable about me cutting him up.

Cameron gave a wince as my fingers ghosted above his torso wound.

"You think this is painful?" I whispered, head lowering to his. "You have no idea what pain feels like."

A dark smile crept up my lips as I dug my fingers inside the gash. He threw his head back, face strained from keeping screams bottled up. I wouldn't have that. My nails scratched the inside of his flesh. Digging deeper until he couldn't contain them.

I felt something strong pump through me as my family's killer screamed. Twisted and tempting. Like I was standing on an edge and chose to tip forward.

The sight of rich blood flowing from Cameron's side didn't send a wave of thrill, though. Instead, I felt antsy. Desperate. My hands began shaking as I looked around his body. At the blood pooling up—the blood filling up the buckets.

Bleeding us is one way to kill us.

The fingers inside Cameron's body pulled out, earning a deflated groan from him. That voice... It had been his. But why would he tell me how to kill him? If I was his enemy... And why had this memory just popped up suddenly?

Cameron stiffened as my hands moved over his chest. My heart tugged at the reaction. It was all wrong... there was something wrong here. But which reality was wrong?

There was hate. A lot of it. Pain, too. They rumbled inside me like two King Kong's fighting for dominance. But...

Looking into those midnight eyes... was like finding chaos. Peace. Passion. Danger. All at once. It was like finding home. Finding myself.

I wasn't this. This mix of two emotions—rage and hurt—and I knew it because of this boy. This person who people told me murdered my family.

I hated the way he kept a breath in as I touched his cheeks, bloodying his skin. Hated that the voices in the background were whispering, hated that we weren't alone.

A tsunami of memories broke the ranks as I gazed into Cameron's bottomless eyes. Memories of how we'd met, of how we'd disliked each other, of treaty moments and stolen ones. But most importantly, how he'd anchored me when I'd seen my family being pulled out of a burning house.

I had no idea how Cam knew I'd remembered, only that he relaxed under me. And I... I choked a scream.

"Cameron..." I took him in with horror-stricken eyes. "I... I did this? Oh my... Oh my God—Cam, I'm sorry—I'm so sorry...!" The pointy knife clanked to the ground.

Heart racing, I looked at his wrists. I needed a key to unlock those damn chains.

"What the hell is happening?" I yelled furiously. The last thing I remembered... Helena had dragged me into this room—and Lyra she... she...

"You snapped out of it..." he mumbled wincing, tugging at the restraints.

"A spell, she put a spell on me." I gaped. "I broke it. How—"

"That's exactly what I want to know." My eyes found Helena's. She wasn't far, arms at her side in a angry gesture, teeth bared. "How did you break Lyra's spell? You weren't supposed to have recollection of him! You were supposed to..."

"Forget him so you could use me? Because Cameron would never let you use me for anything!" My lip curled in a snarl. "You turned me against him."

That primal instinct Cameron had mentioned? I was feeling it. Curling my fingers on the knife's hilt, I lifted from Cameron aware that he was watching my moves.

Helena's eyes widened. For a second I saw fear.

"He might not have killed your family," she began, walking into the wall. Stupid. "But he's done things. Things you don't know about—"

"Everyone's done things. You're not helping your case." I smiled sweetly. Darkly. "And you lied to me before. I don't like people messing with my mind. It's a delicate thing." I growled. "And I really hate liars."

I had complete control over my body. I didn't blink before swinging my hand, slashing the blade across her throat. Her legs folded as the light in her eyes went out. Blood gushed everywhere. Splattering my clothes. Not caring or registering what I'd done, I knelt looking for a triangle key.

Snatching it, I ran to free Cameron. He stared at me, wounds closing.

"What?"

All it took was a beat and Cameron turned into a blur. Breath caught in my throat as I wiped all around—

A sick noise drove me all the way around.

My heart went steadier as I found Cameron's eyes. Then I found something else in his right hand. I'd never seen one, but I was damn sure what he was holding was a heart. The blood dripping off his fingers was unshakable proof.

I'd forgotten all about the Witch.

Lyra's body was crumpled at his feet. A hollow hole in her chest cavity.

The ripped organ flopped on the ground beside her, Cameron's eyes weren't going anywhere beyond me. I was standing tall and I knew he had to be barely standing. We had to make a run for it—the place was crawling with other baddies—I just couldn't contain myself.

His face was in my hands and my lips were on his. Throwing every last fear, joy, and thrill, I kissed him hard, heart speeding up when Cameron kissed back twice as hard. I slipped a hand to the nape of his head, I wanted to kiss him until I couldn't breathe. Even then it wouldn't be enough.

It would never be enough.

"Nina," he husked against my mouth.

I bit down a groan. Run now to kiss another day. I mean live, live another day.

"You're right, we should go." I caressed his cheek before grabbing the untainted hand—he tugged me back.

"Wait!" He breathed flushed, sort of furious. I gazed at him softly. "What was that for?"

Lips curling into a softhearted smile, I said, "I realized something about us, that's all."

"Must be pretty big of a realization. I'm always the one who kisses you first." There was a teasing to his scowling voice.

"Pretty big," I whispered without noticing. "But there will be time to talk later, right now, we have to go." I held his hand much more tightly taking off for the door—

We stood stock still as Felix strode in like a hurricane with his purple highlights of misery. His eyes must've done a quick sweep because his face was morphed into one of complete ferociousness, I swear his eyes were starting to glow. White and vibrant.

"You think this changes anything? We have more Helena's, more Witches—we won't stop until we get our revenge!"

All he did was flick his hand.

"No!" I fell in step with Cameron—reaching for his head, I shook. His head was limp—lolling. "What did you do? What did you do—?" I cried cradling his head to my chest, smearing Helena's blood over him.

I clung to Cameron's body in complete distress. This couldn't be happening—this couldn't be real. Cameron couldn't be dead, there was just no way! Not him, not him—I hadn't told him... I hadn't told him...

"Please, please don't be dead." I whispered rocking our bodies. Shudders broke me down, and I felt colder than ever, like I couldn't get warm. "Please..." I buried my nose in his hair. That's when the first sob came.

Because there was nothing. No smartass comment, no one-eye peeking open—there was only a body. The hot and cold down my spine was gone—realizing that stole my ability to breathe.

"I have no idea how you broke Lyra's spell, girl, and I don't care. I told Helena it was a bad idea keeping him alive, we should've just killed him off the bat. But she wanted poetic justice!" Felix's irked voice only made my arms hold on tighter, keeping him safe. "She should never have told you anything! She should've used him for blackmail—but never this—how she ever thought this would work goes beyond me." I bottled a shaky cry, sensing Felix right before us. "I'm about to correct her mistake, though."

Lifting my head in a fit of spiking rage, I sneered at him.

"You killed him!" I cried outrageously—every inch around my eyes burned, it surprised me how I could still make out what were pillars and what was Felix. Maybe because I'd never felt quite like this before—never like this. Cold. Desolated. Broken—utterly alone. "Damn you—how dare you—!"

One of Felix's eyebrows went up a notch.

"He's not permanently dead. It's a broken neck—we don't die from that, silly girl. Though with all these cuts you gave him, the blood he lost..." his lips drew maliciously. "He might just not come back."

A broken neck!

Cameron was dead—but his neck would mend! He would live. No matter how bad his injuries were, I knew. He'd heal—he had his brother to save. Cameron would make it—

"But just in case," my heart tipped off the edge. "I'll take care of that now."

I gasped at the speeding hand heading for Cam's chest—no! I shifted our positions in a moment of complete helplessness.

Drilling pain never came.

Blinking open my eyes, more tears ushered down my cheeks, muddy with blood.

Felix no longer stood beside me. He was fallen against a wall, a familiar male shape standing over him.