by Jayce Carter
“Maybe that’s why he got kicked out of the guild, because he’s a terrible mage.”
A snort from the doorway said Grant was listening, but I pretended it was a random sound so I didn’t have to think about our audience.
Kase went back to the gentle stroking of his fingers through my hair, and, despite my better judgment, it relaxed me. His voice, smooth and unfailingly calm, was even worse. “He ran every test he could, did everything he knew and he could not identify what you were. No matter how much I researched, who I threatened, I discovered nothing. You are an enigma, Ava.”
“And that’s why you’re still around? Because I’m a very interesting puzzle, and you’re old and bored? Or because I could be potentially useful to you?”
“No. I don’t think I care what you are anymore. Originally, it was a mystery, but I’ve discovered you are trouble no matter what you might be.”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re here now.”
“You’re smart enough to figure that one out. I’m not sure there are many reasons a man goes to hell for a woman.”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Kase and I, we never talked. We didn’t admit anything. Where Troy liked to come out and say what he felt, and Hunter didn’t feel deeply enough for the need to have a conversation, Kase and I liked to exchange things in non-speak.
He didn’t say he cared, and I didn’t say I liked that he was there.
Even still…I couldn’t quite accept his words. I recalled Colter, remembered the coven house, and knew I had no idea where his loyalties really lay.
He might be a great piece of furniture, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill me if he needed to…
* * * *
I wiped my mouth after coughing and gagging some more.
As it turned out, werewolf and vampire physiology weren’t as affected by the smoke and ash as mine. Kase and Troy had no problem trekking along, mile after mile, while breathing in that junk.
Hunter lived here, so it didn’t bother him.
Grant coughed on occasion, but his immortality made him sturdier, which left me as the one who kept throwing up because the ash coated my esophagus and made me gag.
I wiped sweat from my forehead, already sick of hell.
Hunter passed a waterskin to me, the outside made of a leathery material that looked suspiciously like scales. I’d opened my mouth to ask Hunter what it was made of the first time he’d had it, but he’d told me it was better I didn’t know.
That seemed the general theme of hell. What was moving in the distance? What were those things flying above us? What was the shrieking?
Better not to know.
I took the water from Hunter and drank in large gulps, ignoring how warm it was.
Everything was warm. The breeze, the water, even in the shade, the rocks were hot to the touch.
Still, it was better than nothing, and the constant ash meant even warm water was helpful in clearing it away. Plus, he hadn’t tried to give me anything made of bone to drink from again, so I’d take the weird scale bag as a win.
“How can you figure out where you’re going here?” I handed back the waterskin.
Troy was far to the front, and Grant and Kase had taken up the rear. Hunter moved between the group, as if herding us all in the direction he wanted us to go.
“I feel it.” He pointed behind us. “That’s the way to the barrier, to the points between this world and the living world, and in the other direction, at the center, is Lucifer’s Court.”
“I thought you weren’t controlled by him.”
“I’m not. It isn’t his power that draws me, but the fact that it’s the center of hell, the draw point of the power in this place. It’s where hell connects to the other realms of the afterworld. Lucifer built his palace there because it was the center. It isn’t the center because he’s there, no matter what he’d like to think.”
A screaming echoed in the distance, died off to a whimper, then to nothing. I twisted to peer in that direction, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to see it, and I probably didn’t want to.
Spindly trees rose around us in each direction, looking like dead things in the middle of winter, but they grew so densely they still obstructed the view.
“Relax,” Hunter said.
“How am I supposed to relax when things sound like they’re being eaten?”
“Well, they probably are being eaten.” He grinned when I offered him a shocked look. “However, the point is that they’re getting eaten because I’m not there to protect them. This is my home, Ava, and believe it or not, there isn’t much here I’m worried about. At least, not anything outside of the Court.”
“Forgive me, but you don’t look nearly as imposing as those things I’ve seen before, as whatever is eating that poor creature. You’re just a man and some smoke. I mean, a good-looking one, but I don’t think monsters are going to be like ‘he is sure handsome. Guess we won’t kill them.’”
“I still look like this because you won’t like me as much in my other form. Plus, no usable penis like that, and I’d really love to use mine on you, so I choose to keep looking like this.”
The casual way he said such things silenced me and made me think about how much I agreed.
Not about not liking him in another form, but about how I wouldn’t mind a repeat of our time together in the tent.
Or in my bed.
Really, so long as we were both naked, I wasn’t picky about the locale.
Another howl came through and woke me up.
We were in hell. That was not the best time for quickies.
He lifted his head and inhaled, slowly, tension filling him.
When Hunter looked nervous was about the time to panic…
I inched closer to him, unable to help it. I would much prefer to be nearer to him for reasons that had nothing to do with orgasms right then.
Well, other than I’d like to live long enough to have more of them.
“Fuck,” he muttered softly.
“What?”
Something in the distance came into view, but just barely. It wasn’t a shadow, not like the thing that plagued me, that we chased, but more like mist. It reminded me of my dreams, of the things I saw in them.
It sped over the landscape as if it weren’t fully there, the hazy appearance of a spirit.
Hunter pressed closer to me, though he didn’t wrap an arm around me, as though he wanted both hands free to face whatever approached us.
The thing slowed when it neared us, and this time I could make out a shape. It was a dark figure, though not wholly corporeal or solid, covered in dark, floating cloth, including a hood that obscured its face. It had sleeves so long, hands couldn’t be seen. Nothing but the mist-like robes were visible, floating despite there being no breeze.
It paused before us, and I could feel it looking at me. The sensation crawled over me like ice, something frozen and sinister.
A growl left Hunter, but the thing took no notice of him. It came closer, shifted as if to see me better. After another moment, it rushed away with the same speed it had arrived with, and Hunter let out a heavy breath.
Kase came over, Grant behind him. “Please tell me that wasn’t what I think it was.”
“Wish I could.”
“They never show up,” Grant said. “What the hell is going on?”
I elbowed between them men. “For those of us who don’t have a field guide to hell on hand, what was that?”
Hunter pushed his hair from his face. “A reaper.”
“The thing that severs the connection between body and soul?”
Hunter nodded. “Yep. Reapers are one of the few things that nobody fucks with. Even Lucifer leaves them alone. Because they aren’t alive or dead, they don’t belong to the living or the dead realm. They don’t belong to anyone.”
“They’re from purgatory.” I might not have seen one before, but I did understand what they were. They were, in a way, cousins of mine, so
mething connected to the thing that seemed to make me different.
Kase was the one to answer, nodding. “Reapers don’t take notice of the living or the dead. They’re more like scavengers than anything else, beings that do their job and ignore everything else.”
“It was looking at me.”
“I mean, it stopped, but—” Hunter started to say.
“No. I felt it staring at me.”
Grant cursed under his breath. “You do not want a reaper taking an interest in you. They’re essentially invincible because they aren’t alive—never were—and they don’t have actual bodies to harm. If they want to snatch a soul from a body, they can do so with a touch and no one can do a thing about it.”
I thought about the way it had seemed to look past my skin, into my spirit, into the part of my that wasn’t corporeal, and I shuddered. Just when I thought there wasn’t anything worse, that we had reached the end of bad shit that could ruin my day, it seemed like the universe wanted to throw another one into the mix.
Sure, soul-snatching mist creatures from purgatory.
What the hell was next?
Chapter Two
I shoved Troy, and the jerk didn’t even have the decency to look as if he felt it. He hunched his shoulders forward and wouldn’t turn around.
We’d been walking across this depressing wasteland for hours, ever since waking, and he refused to acknowledge me. No matter what happened, even when I tried to draw his attention—nothing.
As it turned out, I didn’t care for being ignored, which was funny given how little notice people normally took of me. Maybe that was why it bothered me so much. I’d spent my life being ignored, so how dare Troy—who I couldn’t get to leave me alone before—pretend as if I suddenly didn’t exist.
Especially all because of his own insecurity-driven hissy fit.
I leaned down and picked up a small rock from the path, then chucked it at the large target that was his back. I rather enjoyed the deep thud when it made contact.
He stilled and rolled his shoulders, as if centering himself. “Do you really think provoking a werewolf is a good idea?”
“You don’t scare me, and neither does your furry little friend.”
He turned slowly, and his eyes had that brightness to them that said he struggled with his control. It seemed that after his little run in with that shadow, he hadn’t fully recovered. Still, he didn’t meet my gaze directly. “You saw what I really am.”
“And?”
“And I hurt you. I could have killed you. That should explain to even you why this was a horrible idea from the start.”
“Even me?”
He huffed softly. “You don’t make great choices when it comes to your well-being. You have to realize how dangerous I am now. It’s better for everyone if you keep your distance.” He turned to walk off, as if our conversation had ended.
It hadn’t.
I grabbed his arm and yanked, but when I couldn’t turn him, I got in his path instead. “What if I don’t want to keep my distance?”
“Too bad. I have enough control for us both.”
I crossed my arms, standing toe to toe with him. If he thought I was afraid, he clearly didn’t know me at all. “That wasn’t you. It was that shadow.”
“Maybe the shadow made me act that way, but if you hadn’t done whatever you did, I would have killed you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I’ve already lost one mate!” The words came out on a roar, one that shook the trees around us. Even if the others weren’t right next to us, no doubt they’d heard.
Anger didn’t make up all that bluster, though. I’d learned that anger was nothing more than fear dressed up all fancy.
He lowered his voice, sounding more defeated that he ever had. I’d annoyed him countless times as his neighbor, but he’d never looked lost before. “I lost one mate because I wasn’t strong enough, Ava. I lost her because I couldn’t protect her, and it nearly destroyed me. I can’t do that again, can’t lose another, especially not you.”
I cupped his cheeks, the stubble on them unusual for him. Then again, it wasn’t as if there’d been time or chance to shave in hell. I lifted his face until I could see his eyes, but he still didn’t look at me. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be.”
I shook my head. “Whatever it is we’re chasing, that tried to kill me, not you. It wasn’t something you did—it was something done to you.”
“How can you even stand to touch me after you saw what I really am?”
“I don’t know—I kind of like your wolf. I always wanted a pet.”
Ah, that disapproving look he gave me was everything. It took me back to before things had become so complicated, back when I was his annoying neighbor, and he was the sexy silver fox next door.
Funny how quickly we’d moved past that, that we’d become closer and yet far more confusing. Then again, the more important something was, the more difficult it was to hold on to.
“I don’t like what I am,” he admitted softly. “For a little while there, I thought I could control it, that maybe I could be whatever you needed, that something between could work. I’m older than I was with my last mate, so I’d thought…” He let out a long-drawn-out sigh before shaking his head. “That isn’t how life works, though. I don’t just become something because I want to be that. I have to be realistic and what happened was the wakeup call I needed. I could have killed you, Ava.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Because of whatever you did, not because of me at all. I bet you don’t know exactly what you did, do you?”
“I saved your ass—that’s what I did.” Sure, the words came out sullen and annoyed, but that was only because we both knew he was right. I had no idea what exactly I’d done, and if I needed to do it again, I’d be hard pressed.
When Troy had been taken over by that shadow, when he’d lost his damned mind, when I’d realized it would destroy everything I had—no matter how little that might be—I’d reached into him and wrapped my fingers around that shadow. I’d felt the difference between the other presence and Troy, been able to run along the lines of his spirit and that shadow. It shouldn’t have been possible, and yet I’d used some instinct I’d never known about, something deep inside of me to do it.
He finally looked at me, and damn that hurt. There was so much pain inside those silver eyes, so much fear. I’d never have looked at Troy and thought fear, yet there it was. He was terrified. Of himself, most likely, of his nature, of parts of him he couldn’t control.
I got that more than I ever wanted to admit. I understood that sort of feeling, where I had powers I didn’t know how to control, where I wasn’t easily definable.
It was a scary place.
“I don’t care what you say,” I told him. “I’m not afraid of you. I know who you are, and that wasn’t you.”
He pressed his lips together, a sure sign he didn’t believe me one bit.
Then again, people tended to hold onto the negative, to their own hang ups, no matter how much others fought against it. Strange how easy it was to believe the worst in ourselves and how hard to really hear the best.
“I—” he said, and I could already hear his excuses, his nonsense.
I silenced him with a kiss. It was soft, sweet, just an attempt to say what he refused to hear.
For just a moment I thought it had worked. His lips softened, gave, as if instinct alone made him react to my touch.
Maybe there is something to this mate thing.
As soon as it happened, however, it stopped. He pulled backward and shook his head. “I can’t,” he whispered, as if his actions hadn’t said it well enough.
I was left staring at Troy’s back as he turned away and shoved his hands into his pockets.
Maybe it would just take time.
Or maybe I’d been right, and I’d never had a shot.
* * * *
Tiny rocks dug into my fingers lik
e slivers of glass. I’d never thought of sand as particularly sharp, yet the knicks and cuts on my hands told a different story.
“You hanging in there?” Grant knelt above me, then stuck his hand out to help me up and over an especially large boulder as we made our way up a steep hill covered in rocks.
“I thought this was going to be a ‘stroll down a path’ sort of thing,” I panted out, breathless.
“I feel like there’s a joke here about the road to hell.”
“If there is, I ask you keep it to yourself. People should be sent to hell for making puns, but free from them once we get here.”
After he helped me up, I rolled to the side and sat on the oversized rock. Whenever I needed to stop—and it had been far more often than any of the others needed—they all slowed. Funny how we could be traveling together and yet somehow be so entirely separate.
The men kept to the peripheral, drifting in and out of my line of sight, each taking up a different point as we went.
Occasionally they’d venture off farther and every once in a while come back more disheveled.
It seemed they’d rather take out dangers before they got anywhere near me.
Then again, I was the only mortal in the group.
Grant handed me water, and I gulped it down. It felt like mud coated my esophagus, like the ash had mixed with just enough water that it only thickened. I had no idea where they were getting water from, but I’d guess it wasn’t easy. When Hunter returned with a new supply in hand, he always had a fresh wound. For that reason alone, I didn’t complain about the quality.
“Could you just get it over with?” Grant blurted out.
