Hellbound Warrior: (Dark Warrior Alliance Book Five) Read Online Free Page A

females.
    Rhys paused and smiled at them, making them blush. They must be slaves because they weren’t the incorporeal souls that were typical in Limbo. Glancing around he noticed there were plenty of those who had obviously passed on and were awaiting judgment, but these flesh and bones females had clearly been taken hostage.
    Kellen suddenly jerked Rhys into a side room as an Andras walked down the hall. Rhys pressed his body flat against the wall and waited to see if the spray actually worked. Heart hammering in his chest, the creature paused, flared its nostrils for a breathtaking second then moved on.
    Exhaling the breath he’d been holding, Rhys wiped sweat from his brow. “Thank the Goddess that spray worked. I could kiss those witches right now,” he whispered.
    Peering around the corner, Rhys noticed the two females were also plastered against the wall in the hall. “Is it clear?” he asked them.
    Their eyes flared and they looked up and down the hall then nodded their heads. “Where’s your collar?” one female whispered.
    Rhys followed her hand to the clutched silver collar that was wrapped around her neck. It was a slave collar that kept them bound to their owners. Slaves couldn’t travel between levels of hell, and would suffer great pain if they tried to escape. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to go that wasn’t worse than where they already were.
    “We’re warriors sent by the Goddess. Have you heard anything about Lucifer escaping his prison?” Rhys asked, hoping any rumors would have made their way to this first level.
    Both females paled considerably, shaking their heads. “Lucifer is going to escape?” one asked, her voice trembling. Rhys understood their fear. Lucifer was capable of horrendous evil.
    Kellen reached out and squeezed her hand, letting some of his cambion-born ability to mentally manipulate leak through. Typically, cambions would coerce females into sex, but he was trying to calm her. “No, we are going to stop him. What’s the fastest way to the Second Circle?” Kellen asked.
    The female pointed down the hall. “Go right at the end of the hall and then take the first left and then the second right. There will be doors leading to the gardens. The entrance is through the ivy-covered trellis,” she explained.
    Kellen leaned down and kissed her cheek, “Thank you.” Kellen towered over the small female, appearing more menacing, if that was possible. Rhys had to laugh. No doubt they looked like a group of thugs, dressed in black from head to toe. Black leather pants, black leather jacket, black boots and black t-shirt.
    Making their way quickly to the doors leading to the gardens, they had to dodge Aamon when they saw his snake tail rounding a corner. Rhys wondered what kinds of demons bred to make him. He had a small owl’s head and the fore body of a wolf with the tail of a snake. An odd combination to be sure, but he had the gift of hind and foresight if he touched you. They had to avoid him at all costs, or their little foray was going to be cut short. He would no doubt turn them over to Lucifer to gain favor with the Lord of the Underworld.
    They hadn’t encountered too many of the damned as they traveled through the castle, but looking out into the garden, they saw hundreds, if not, thousands of souls waiting for judgment. The Andras flew above the group and would occasionally swoop down and grab hold of some poor being. Their screams were blood-curdling, but Rhys steeled his reaction, knowing the situations were only going to get worse the deeper they traveled into Hell. Still, the sound made him sick to his stomach.
    Fate was a sick bitch for making him come back here, Rhys thought, already being tested. When he’d fled a hundred years before, his biggest priority had been saving his own ass, yet now that he’d spent a century protecting others, he bristled at the idea of leaving these souls to suffer.
    “I hate leaving them here, especially, the slaves. Life