Zeev POV
Ash and Sands both twitched at the same time, then looked at each other swiftly.
"I couldn't get a lock-"
"Me neither." Sands growled.
"Harlee." I breathed and allowed myself to collapse on the sofa.
"Someone's most likely hiding her." Sands said softly. We all knew what that meant. If someone was hiding her from us, they outclassed us all, in power, strength, skill. This was not good. Worse, my chest felt as though someone had opened a gaping hole in it. How was Harlee doing?
Harlee POV
I lay gasping on the floor, holding my hands to my chest with a grimace. I had been separated from Zeev for too long, and my soul was screaming in agony. The Nephilim's whispers had begun to quiet, but if it didn't stop soon, I'd probably die before the kid could finish creating whatever connection it needed to survive. Demon Sam crouched over me. He plucked the string that connected the soul fragments Zeev and I shared. My back arched and I screamed.
"This troublesome thing." He tsked. "I suppose I'll have to bring your pet here sooner than I had hoped. You really can't survive long without each other. Unless.." The Demon cocked his head and griped the string. "I could always just separate you." I felt the burning in the string the longer he held it, and the string lit up like it was being heated.
"No, NO! You'll kill us!" I screeched. I felt my body start to jerk and twitch before I was hit with a full out seizure, hitting my head on the ground hard enough to knock myself out.
Zeev POV
The moment my connection to Harlee was cut I felt it. Sands and Ash had to hold me back. I lost my Form and lost my mind temporarily. I was certain someone had killed her, that we were both dying, and I was going to find them before I died and rip them to shreds. I did a fair job of ripping the house, Ash and Sands to shreds before collapsing in a pile, shrieking in pain. Sands touched a hand to my head, rendering me blessedly unconscious to shut me up.
Harlee POV
Every throb of my heart and every raking breath hurt. My chest was on fire.
"I cauterized your soul. You won't die. For now. But you will live in excruciating pain from now on." The Demon Samael sneered. I was crying and moaning uncontrollably, but I noticed I was laying on a cot now.
"Yes, can't have you banging your head on the floor all the time. How will I ever train you if you spend all your time unconscious?" Samael tsked. I curled up in a ball, hugging my chest. I wanted the pain to stop. Please let it stop, or let me die..
'You can't die. I love you.' A quiet voice spoke in my head. It was similar to Zeev's but.. not. It morphed as it spoke to me, becoming more childlike, younger. I looked down with a start. 'It's me.. Harlee.. Mommy..' Now I was crying for another reason. 'No time, can't hide this from Samael long. Call for Zeev.. daddy. NOW. Connection's stable. I won't try to connect with him again, I understand now, about.. your soul..' I took a shuddering breath and touched the Marks on my jaw and collarbone, opening myself up fully to the Bonds I shared with my Demons, feeling the tattered and ragged edges of my burned soul crying for its mate and screamed with all my might inside and outside my head the True Names of both Demons. Samael smashed my head against the wall with a hiss, and once again I lost consciousness. So much for your training, I thought at him angrily in my head as the room faded.
Zeev POV
Harlee's call of my True Name pulled me out of a deep sleep. The ragged edges of my soul fragment pulsed and ached painfully and I shrank away from the pain. I had been tortured by Heaven and Hell alike, this..was so much worse than that.
"Congratulations, you now have a soul." Sands' deep voice intoned quietly. "But it's not complete, and it will never be complete-so you're going to feel that pain forever. And I really don't expect either of you lasts too long. Unless we get Harlee back." Ash burst into the room.
"Did you hear her call?" Ash asked breathlessly. I clutched at my chest and nodded with a grimace.
"She's in Hell." We said together and Sands frowned.
Harlee POV
Ringing in my ears. The connection I always had with Zeev completely cut off. The Nephilim seemed to be squirming inside me. I groaned and tried to roll over, but the chain was wrapped around me and choked me as I tried to move. I groaned again and realized I needed to vomit, but I couldn't detangle myself. I was too weak, so I just turned my head to the side and let it spill out.
"Humans. Disgusting." Samael's cold voice sneered. I didn't care. I heaved again and then moved away from the puddle of my own sick as the Nephilim tried to heal me. I laid a hand on my stomach only to realize my skin was bare. My eyes jerked open.
"What did you do with my clothes?" I croaked.
"Animals don't need them." Snarled Samael.
"Not..an animal!" I growled back.
'Be careful.' A soft voice whispered in my head.
"You're my little human pet-from this day forward." Samael stated, stalking towards me. "And the sooner you realize that, the better. Oh, I'll set you free eventually, to continue to breed and collect Bonded for me, but first.." He gripped my face. "I have to break you of your spirit." He hissed, face inches from mine. I shuddered.
"Fear won't work with me." I snarled, and using a trick I'd learned with Zeev, I gripped Samael's arm and slammed the memories of Zeev's attack on me and our subsequent attacks on each other. "Your kind is just not that scary to me anymore." I sniffed as Samael's eyes grew wide at the onslaught. Then they narrowed dangerously and changed to a complete, flat black. I jerked back slightly.
"My dear-I am one of the Lords of Hell. You have never met one of 'my kind'." He purred, and with that, his Form started to shift and I shrank into myself and scooted as far back against the wall as I could on the cot.
Zeev POV
Ash and I both nearly collapsed as Harlee's fear hit us like a tidal wave. She felt her life was in danger, and the Bond was urging us to act.
"How do we get there-"
"I don't know where she is either!" I snapped at Ash. Sands was still frowning heavily.
"And I cannot sense her distress at all." Sands' voice rumbled through the room. "Yet she's in Hell, being masked from us, has had her soul severed and I cannot reach her." Sands looked at me as we both started to reach the same conclusion.
"Tell me no." I groaned. Sands just looked at me grimly.
"We can't take him." I whispered.
"I know." Sands replied.
"What else can we do? What's his end goal? He banished us for God's sake!" I spat, slamming my fist into the bed beside me.
"If Heaven thought you were becoming too powerful-there's a good chance Hell did as well." Sands replied quietly. I looked at Sands in horror.
Harlee POV
I won't break, I won't break, I won't break, I won't break.
This is my new mantra. How long have I been here? Hours? Days? Years? No-not years, weeks maybe, my belly has a slight bump now. Does time flow differently in Hell? My mind, it's so scattered! The Nephilim had stopped communicating with me. Maybe it never did. Maybe that was just a hallucination. Or one of Samael's cruel tricks. I had a lot of both lately. When was the last time I'd eaten? My body had gotten thinner, I wasn't being fed often enough. I missed Zeev so badly, his cooking his presence, his scent. I missed Ash's dogged pursuit. I missed Sands' stoicism. I missed Josh and Kayla. What day was it? Had I been fired yet? My soul hurt. I even missed Samael. Where did he go? Was this his new torture? He'd been gone for so long. Did I have Stockholme syndrome? I yanked the chain attaching me to the wall to cover the sounds of the fighting outside.
"I won't break, I won't break, I won't break..."