Charade (Heven and Hell #2)(97)
Author: Cambria Hebert

The Treasure Map was lying next to the fountain. Well, what was left of it. I retrieved it on wobbly legs. I didn’t want the stupid thing. It had caused more pain and heartache than anything. I was beginning to wonder if any of it had been worth it.

Of course it had. I scolded myself as I tucked the scroll beneath my arm. It brought you Sam.

“I need to go check on Logan.” I didn’t know what kind of shape Logan was in, but I knew that I would do whatever it took to keep him alive. When Sam came home—and he would come home—his brother would be healthy and whole.

Just then a blur darted out from between a few parked cars and came at us. I braced myself, but the figure stopped just shy of barreling me over. “What took so long?” she demanded.

My muscles couldn’t relax even though this person was not a threat. “Gemma, Sam is trapped in Hell. We were forced to leave him there. We have to go back and get him. We need a plan.”

“What happened to you?” Her eyes widened as she came closer to stare at my face.

“It’s nothing.” I waved it away. “Can you help me get Sam back?”

“Of course I will help. But now isn’t the time. You’re injured.”

I gritted my teeth. Didn’t she see the urgency of the situation? I looked at Cole for some back up. He looked beaten up and exhausted. I sighed. “Could you check out Cole? He took a few hard hits down there.”

Just like that she was gone and instantly at Cole’s side. I turned to watch the pair together.

“Cole?” Gemma asked, her voice lowering in volume. “Let me see.”

“I’m fine,” he insisted, but didn’t turn away from Gemma’s seeking hands. She grasped his head lightly and pulled him closer to examine his injuries. She made a small noise in her throat as she studied the swollen, blackened eye.

“You’ll live,” Gemma declared. Her fingertips splayed lightly over his wounds, moving in an intimate caress. I wanted to look away. It was painful to see the connection between them and know I abandoned the one with whom I shared that kind of connection with.

But I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t tear my eyes from them. I felt a lump form in my throat and the threat of tears behind my eyes.

Just as I was about to lose all control, Gemma lowered her hand and stepped back. Cole’s face was completely healed.

“The back of his head has a gash in it,” I told her, so she would heal that too.

Cole glared at me for admitting to yet another injury and ruining his ‘tough’ guy image, but I didn’t care. Sam was already in enough danger. I wanted my brother safe.

Gemma slid her hands through Cole’s thick, dark hair and brought them together at the back of his head. When she pulled away, her fingers were red. She frowned at the smears on her fingers.

“Hey,” Cole murmured, grabbing her elbow and breaking the spell his blood seemed to have over her. She looked up and blinked at him. “It’s really not that bad.”

Gemma nodded and threaded her fingers back into his hair, Cole’s eyes fluttering closed. The next thing I knew, Gemma had released him and was coming toward me.

I backed up as far as I could go, but the fountain was at my back. “I don’t want to be healed,” I told her.

Gemma stopped and stared at me. “No?”

“No.” Why should I be healed and pain free when Sam was down in Hell suffering? Panic welled up inside me. I couldn’t leave him there. I couldn’t.

“Heven, that’s crazy,” Cole said, striding forward. He stopped at Gemma’s side. “She isn’t thinking clearly. She…”

“Why don’t any of you seem to get it?!” I yelled. “Sam is trapped in Hell! We have to go back, now!”

“And we will get him back, Hev,” Cole said, using that patient voice again. I hated the way he talked to me like I was going bonkers. I turned my back on him.

“Please,” I said desperately to Gemma. “I need you to do something for me,”

She nodded. “Anything.”

“Take care of Logan. Keep him safe till I get back.”

She didn’t understand. “Get back?”

I nodded and began walking away from the fountain, then stopped and turned back, ready to launch myself at it the way Sam had.

“I’m going back to Hell to get Sam.”

I started to run.

Gemma caught me around the waist before I could jump at the fountain and tackled me to the ground.

“Let me go!” I screamed, trying to shove her off. “I’m going!”

Gemma pinned me to the ground and I made a sound in frustration. I was done with being weak. If she wouldn’t train me, I would find someone who would. “The portal will not open for you. It will only open for Sam.”

I stopped struggling against her and a sob caught in my throat. I hadn’t thought about that.

Her voice gentled when she said, “Even if you could, it’s too soon. You’re soul is still vulnerable and needs some time to root more firmly back in your body.”

“My soul is fine,” I growled.

“You will be of no help to Sam right now. You’re injured, exhausted and your soul…”

“I have to get back there,” I said flatly, cutting off the rest of her words. “Who knows what Beelzebub is going to do to him.”

“Sam is very strong, Heven,” Gemma tried to reassure me.

I heard her, but I wasn’t listening. “I should go now while Beelzebub is preoccupied.”

Gemma lifted a brow.

“Heven pushed him into this burning pit in his dungeon,” Cole explained.

Gemma gasped. “You did that to Beelzebub?”

I shrugged. He deserved worse than that.

“Hecate seemed to think it was funny,” Cole murmured.

“You saw Hecate!” Gemma exclaimed.

Which reminded me. “What about Kimber, Cole?”

Just the mere mention of her changed Cole. The lines around his mouth and eyes tightened, his shoulders tensed and his aura flashed muddy, cloudy colors.

“Who is this Kimber girl? Wasn’t she in the catacombs?” Gemma asked, reading Cole’s reaction.

“She’s our friend—used to be our friend, anyway. Cole dated her,” I answered, watching as Gemma slightly flinched.

“She betrayed us and sold herself to Hecate,” Cole spat. He turned to Gemma. “I broke up with her a few weeks ago. Before we met.”

“She’s in Hell?” Gemma asked, turning toward me.