Read The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 for Free Online Page B

inside of me to feel the way that Martin felt about Rose. It isn’t something that is encouraged or even desired among my kind because what is the best for the majority is always prioritized above individual wants and desires. But that was what was missing from my life. I had found someone who brought those desires to the surface, and for that I will always be grateful to you. Even if I can’t have it with you.”
    My mouth fell open as the air above the gravestone began to shimmer. A piece of paper materialized in front of us. Benjamin reached down and plucked it from the air. He frowned.
    “What does it say?” I said getting to my feet to try to look over his shoulder.
    “It seems that our journey is not over, and it is about to get far more dangerous,” Benjamin said.
    He showed me the paper. It was a map of the cave systems that ran along the other side of the island. Benjamin and I had explored many of them, but they were extensive, and some of them were too dangerous to try to enter. There was an ‘X’ over one of those areas.
    “You told me that part of the cave system was impassable,” I said.
    “It seems that I was cleverer in my hiding techniques than I expected,” Benjamin said with chagrin. “This isn’t a place where it would be advisable to use magic.”
    “Why not?” I asked.
    “Using magic near a gate that allows travel between the realms can very often tear the user of that magic apart.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER FIVE – RILEY
     
    I considered it a good day if I managed to get through the day without getting blood on my clothes. Today wasn’t shaping up to one of those days.
    Samuel dropped the bomb on me as we prepared to head to the Hell Gate. “We are unable to use magic near the gates,” he said.
    “Why not?” This wasn’t music to my ears.
    “The gates are made from ancient magic, and they were designed to be resistant to any magical interference. If you use magic near them, it will absorb the magic.”
    “I feel like you’re not telling me the whole story,” I said, examining each one of my blades. I felt woefully underprepared to go into battle even with six archangels on my side. This seemed like the worst news ever.
    “The gate absorbs magic,” Samuel said again.
    I stopped my examination to look up at him. “Are you saying that it would absorb people who use magic?”
    “My brothers and I are immortal,” Samuel said. “Our very existence is magical. If we get to close to the gate it is possible that it could absorb us into it, and we would cease to exist.”
    “So that’s the real reason you’ve all been avoiding it like the plague,” I said. “You don’t know how to close it, and you’re afraid of what it will do to you.”
    “Is that unreasonable?” Samuel asked, cocking his head toward me. “Surely you understand the call of the need to survive?”
    “Sure, I understand it, but you are supposed to be the good guys,” I said, shaking my head. “God put you in charge to make sure that things don’t go all awry here on earth, and when the shit hits the fan it appears the archangels have tapped out.”
    “Tapped out?”
    I opened my mouth to explain, but decided against it. It didn’t seem like the best time to educate a thousand-year-old being on the intricacies of professional wrestling. “You’re bailing on the situation. Leaving it to somebody else to clean up the mess.”
    Samuel frowned. “We have been hunting the demons coming through and sending them back. That’s not leaving the situation to someone else. We are fulfilling our responsibilities to keep this realm safe.”
    “You are sending demons back to hell knowing that they’ll be able to come right back out of the gate again if they want to. It’s that kind of circular thinking that will wind up causing everyone to go insane,” I said.
    “My brother is simply telling you that there is only so far we can go in this quest,” Ezekiel said. He was less than three