by HP Mallory
She shrugged. “Fair payment for services rendered.”
My brain went back to idle. “I… I can’t…”
Ull reached down to give me a hand up. “You can! And more importantly, you should.”
As I took his hand, I decided now was the time to spring the question. “Would I be pushing my luck if I asked—”
Tiresias finished my thought for me. “—if we can assist in the safe conduct of Soul Retrievers like yourself who wish to escape Alaire’s clutches?”
“Be a big help to a lot o’ those captrapped kids, Ziggy,” Bill said.
Ull reached down to Tallis to help him back to his feet. “What other answer could I give to that request but ‘yes’?”
“I dunno… ‘Hell yeah’ works too,” Bill answered.
When we all got back on our feet, Asterion returned from the other side of the Grove. Tiresias heard the sound of his heavy footsteps. “I take it your talk with the liberated spirits went well?”
The Minotaur grunted and nodded. “Well enough for them to agree to form a portal for our return to the Dark Wood.”
Tallis sighed while rolling his shoulders forward. “Well, we best nae tarry, then.”
A round of goodbyes was exchanged between all of us. Tiresias insisted on giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She whispered into my ear, “Wait before you ask him about Sorcha.”
My eyes widened but I had the good sense not to say anything else. Thankfully, Tallis and Bill were too busy following our man-bull guide to notice me.
SIXTEEN
Bill
After all the bullshit we endured on our little road trip, stepping back into the Dark-As-Hell Woods almost felt like going home… almost. Course, I’d never gone home via the courtesy of a bunch of fireflies doing the fandango in a big circle and cutting open a portal before. Guess they were just doing their part in keeping the Underground City weird.
I figured we’d get dropped in front of Tido’s Lincoln-Log cabin or next to Nips’ offramp. Last thing I expected was popping up next to Mi-Knows-It-All. He was standing next to the gate. But the bigger shock was seeing all those kids we knocked down playing guard dog next to the gate. After that last little session in Minos’ court, I figured the Abercrombie & Bitch Brat Pack would have been shipped off to Shade tootie-fruitie-suite. But nope. That weren’t so.
When that old man, Minos, looked up at Taurus-zan, the tension between the two of them could have broken Tido’s best sword.
“Asterion,” Minos said.
It took Bull Boy a second before he could act civilizational. “Minos.”
One of the kids—I think the ex-boyfriend who got dumped by his commandanting officer when she ditched her troops—looked at the pair of them with the kind of spooked face I’d seen on guys heading to the gallows.
“Umm, should we even be here?”
Min-Knows-It-All didn’t take his eyes off Asterion as he held out a hand to him. “It has been a long time.”
“Yes,” Asterion answered.
“Neither of us is interested in carrying out hostilities, are we?” Minos asked.
Taurus-zan stepped forward, fists vise-clenched tightly enough to turn them white. “That will depend on how this conversation progresses.”
Maybe because he wanted to look somewheres else, Minos peeked around the big guy to look at us. “You have done well, my officers. It is no mean feat to persuade my wife’s son to come and visit me, never mind, actually talk to me.”
Lils just frogleg-marched up to Asterion’s side, looking like she had something to say herself. “Not so fast, Your Honor, Asterion’s got a burning question and we’d all like to get an answer to it.”
When I felt that small twirlotion of air coming outta Bull Boy’s right hand, I got a little nervous. But all he did was hold it up to the old man’s face.
“Where does it lead?” Lily asked.
Minos couldn’t take his eyeballs off that hand. “How did you—”
To my complete shockprise, Tido stepped up to Bull Boy’s other side. “Nae as important a question as the one Lily jist asked ye.”
Minos just looked at us like he wanted to ask another question. But in the end, he optified to answer ours. “It is a place with many names: the Void, the Abyss. Ull’s people call it Ginnungagap. It is howling nothingness that makes even the worst parts of the Underground City palatable.”
Oh shit, I thought while my lips and throat got Sahara-dry. I knew exactamently where he was talking about. While I was feeling all the waterture drain outta me, Lils was pulling out her phone. A few taps of the keys later, she stuck it in the Judge’s face. “So how do you explain this picture?”
Going by her tone, I knew which picture she was showing, the one that Gwydiot sent us showing Uriel in chains. Minos gave it a good once-over. “Even though I recognize the cruel craft of Alaire in that electronic photograph, I do not truly know where Uriel is.”
It was killing me so I finally spoke up. “I know… God, I wish I didn’t, but I know.”
I made sure I captivated everybody’s full attention before going on. “Most places, there’s not a rechain ever made that could hold an archangel, not even one made outta Prima Materia.” Okay, there was the setup. Time for the punchline. “But the Void’s got all kinds of… non-stuff in it. If Uriel’s been exheld there an’ Blondie made some chains outta that non-stuff… he ain’t gittin’ away, yo.”
Minos nodded real slow-like. “Such was my best supposition as well, William. I take no joy in thinking you may be correct.” Then he looked up at Bull Boy like a dad who wanted an answer. “So what is your decision regarding guarding this gate?”
Taurus-zan lowered his head until he was practically nose-to-nose with the old man. “I shall do it… but not for you.” He tossed his head over to us. “For them… and the ones they seek to help.”
“So long as the gate is guarded, your reasons are your own. And I thank you for that,” Minos said, all haughty like.
That pissed Asty-Boy off enough to snarl and come within a dick hair of head-butting his step-dad. “As I said… not for you.”
The old Judge didn’t even blink. “I thank you anyway.”
Bull Boy snapped his head back, the frown cutting hard into his face. I took a look at the Jan-unnecessaries and figured they’d be a great distraction. “So, uh, now that ya got Taurus-Zan onboard, what happens to the kids?” I asked.
###
Lily
Another sleepless night in the apartment… God, this was getting so old. No nightmares tonight, I just couldn’t sleep even though I really wanted to. My body was still sore and exhausted from the trip. Even the little bit of lovemaking with Tallis only managed to smooth out so much.
I was still tense and I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like we didn’t have a lot of happy outcomes. After our tense negotiation with Asterion, Minos held a trial for the Janissaries. Tallis and I were back on bailiff duty while Bill did the witness thing. When he asked us for advice on a fair verdict, we all argued for clemency, based partly on the Janissaries guarding the gate before we got there.
Minos didn’t agree with that and pronounced them guilty but he suspended the sentence. He made them swear to hook up with Bill’s friends, Poly and Sally, to prove their sincerity. Once enough time passed, he would review their sentences and render his final judgment then. I was relieved to hear that. They deserved a second chance to prove themselves. Tallis spent a couple of extra days guiding them to the gate to AE. And I made sure they safely transported the soul I helped retrieve.
So all was well that ended well… except for one thing.
That thing was sitting on the coffee table while Bill snored away on the couch. The golden apple seemed to stare back at me, daring me to act on what I was thinking. Tallis explained that if a human took a bite from it, the power inside it would make the apple even more potent than it was for Ull or Tiresias. One bite a year could allow a human to stay young for the next three centuries easily
. Better still, they’d retain all their memories after the clock was turned back.
A buzzing in my lap interrupted my train of thought. A quick look at the Caller ID on my AE phone made my lips curl up in disgust. Doing my best to keep my voice low, I picked up. “What do you want, Alaire?”
“Oh, I only called to congratulate you, Lily.”
“Call me Ms. Harper.”
He laughed. “I’ve been informed that your successful mission in your most recent descent captured the attention of Afterlife Enterprises’ top people. Why, there’s even talk of possibly reducing your sentence entirely so that you may go on to an actual afterlife.”
I knew he was just buttering me up. “I didn’t do that alone. I had a really good team backing me up.”
The Master of the Underground City hummed. “It does help to have the Minotaur at your beck and call, true.”
“How did you find out about… Asterion?” I asked.
“More than a few of my subordinates learned of your new kinship when they attempted to cross from the Seventh Circle to the Dark Wood through a certain passage.” I didn’t say anything to that. Alaire took it as his cue to ask his next question. “Just how exactly did you manage to get from the Grove of Lamentations to your home so rapidly? Even if you used the passage I mentioned, it still would have taken at least three more days than it actually took you.”
I couldn’t keep the smug smile off my face. “You mean the Master of the Underground City doesn’t know enough about his little kingdom to figure it out?”
“Being in charge hardly guarantees a knowledge of all things. I consider people much more comprehensible… people like you, for instance.”
“Bold words for a man who underestimated me the last time we shared the same space.”
“True, true but ideally, one should always be learning. That is why I decided the time has come to study your mother more closely.”
My smile went away in a flash. “What?”
“Well, it struck me that the best way to understand you was to study your sole surviving parent. From what little I have seen thus far, she strikes me as a lovely but lonely woman who mourns you often. She could really use a gentleman caller to help ease her pain. Why, she might even be amenable to the offer you denied me.”
Was Alaire saying he was going to try to have sex with my mother? Ew.
My anger shot up from my gut into my larynx. “If you even think about going near her!”
“Oh, this is just idle speculation at the moment, I assure you, Ms. Harper. However, if you insist on continuing to be so standoffish, I may have to pursue my speculation with some more serious thought.”
I was so angry, I couldn’t even talk. Naturally, Alaire did that for me. “Don’t bother hanging up. I’ll see myself out this time.”
When the line went dead, I noticed Bill was up. Seeing the worry on his face, you wouldn’t know he was sleeping soundly a couple of minutes ago. “It was him, wasn’t it, Lils?”
I nodded. Then I looked at the apple again.
I pointed to the fruit on the table. “Wherever you’re keeping the Urn, do me a favor and throw that inside there too. I don’t want to even look at it.”
Bill got all the way up. Under any other circumstances, I would have been grateful for the lack of garbage at his feet. “Hates ta say it, Nips, but maybe we could use this later.”
“Yeah, later… as in ‘not right now.’ Right now…” I couldn’t continue my sentence, so I just waved my hand away from the apple.
Bill nodded. “Sure, Nips. I’ll git it right now.” He grabbed the apple and wandered over to the kitchen.
While I watched him disappear around the corner, my mind drifted somewhere else. Over and over again, my thoughts circled back to my mom. I wanted to see her again but obviously I couldn’t show up with a different face and body. Yet, I had to keep her safe and away from Alaire.
I just didn’t know how.
MARK OF THE BEAST
Book 8 of the
Lily Harper series
by
H.P. Mallory
ONE
LILY
Restless energy continued to coil in the pit of my stomach.
It was laced with dread and guilt, but mostly hatred—a special type of hatred I reserved only for myself. No amount of slow breathing exercises could quell the anger inside me. I scuffed quietly as I recalled Alaire’s threats. As if the cryptic dreams and weird visions I’d been suffering lately weren’t enough, now I had to worry about that creep going after my mother.
What did Alaire want? What was his endgame?
A headache unfurled at my temples, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away as I stared down at yet another mystery. Pale, mauve light illuminated flecks of dust that lingered in the air before twinkling off the sleek blade of my sword where it rested on the table.
The sword held answers I needed. When I gripped the handle and felt The Self, as I called it, pull its way to the forefront, I knew something was different. There was a reason Sorcha’s memory had felt so real, a reason why I felt her fear, as if it were my own, the second I allowed The Self to take control...
I brushed my hand along the length of my arm, still feeling phantom tendrils of heat where the flames had nearly burned Sorcha.
Nothing made sense.
This was a puzzle with missing pieces that struggled to fit together.
Bill’s snores echoed through the apartment like a chainsaw hacking an old tree. The sound broke through my concentration and grated against my nerves like never before. I stood up from the table and sauntered back to the bedroom where Tallis continued to sleep. His large body was tangled in a mass of sheets, the curve of his spine beckoning me closer.
I glanced over at the clock to make sure we had time and pulled my night shirt (aka one of Tallis’s shirts) over my head, leaving my body bared to the room. My knees hit the mattress gently, and I crawled up the Scotsman’s body to press a kiss to the back of his neck.
He stirred, rolling onto his back, but didn’t awaken completely.
I kissed along his jaw and straddled his hips, loving the slight smile that quirked his mouth. Tallis cracked open an eyelid, and looked like he was about to speak, but I lifted my finger to shush him. The last thing I wanted was for Bill to overhear us. We’d never hear the end of it…
Tallis nodded, and his broad hands found their way to my hips. The deep rumble of satisfaction coming from his chest caused my toes to curl.
My head dipped lower, and I sealed my lips over his.
And so fell Sorcha Fergus, beloved of Tallis Black, betrayed into the hands of Aulus Plauntius.
I didn’t know where the thought came from, but it was there, all the same.
Feeling suddenly ill, I recoiled, jumping out of Tallis’s arms as he stared up at me in confusion. My hands trembled when I reached down to clutch the discarded shirt on the floor. Tallis’s calloused palms slid over my shoulder, but I shrugged off his touch even as I felt a pang of guilt. I tugged the shirt back on and sat on the edge of the bed, unable to meet his gaze.
“What is it, Besom?”
“I…” but I couldn’t finish the thought.
Sorcha had been beautiful. And my body was changing. Everyday I noticed there was something different—my hips seemed broader, my stomach not quite as flat, the line of my legs not quite as long…
Though I bore an eerie resemblance to Sorcha before I’d ever become the Lily I was now (aka before I’d had to choose a new body), the likeness was now too similar to ignore.
I’d chosen this body, yes, and I’d chosen a tall and thin model’s body because I’d never been beautiful when I was alive. And all I’d wanted was to be beautiful—to have men notice me, to feel the power that belonged to attractive women.
And now? Now something was happening to me.
It wasn’t that I was changing back into the old me, the me I’d been prior to that fateful day when I’d had the accident and died. No, that wasn’t i
t. Instead, I was changing into someone else. I wondered if it was The Self my body was starting to resemble? The Self was something that existed inside my blade, some kind of spirit that watched over me.
I started calling this spirit The Self and I wondered whether it was good or bad. I mean, it had saved me from Alaire’s castle... But there was more. The Self showed me visions of the person I truly was or, at least, I thought that’s what it was doing. It sometimes possessed my body too, making my appearance a hybrid, that is, somewhere between my pre-Soul Retriever self and my post-mortem upgrade.
Regardless, these changes worried me.
Tallis told me my looks didn’t matter, time and time again. But, now as I considered it, I couldn’t help but wonder if he noticed I was becoming more and more physically similar to his beloved Sorcha, a woman who had died centuries ago. Unless... unless that was the exact reason why Tallis had made the sword for me all along? What if The Self and Sorcha were one and the same? What if Tallis had crafted the sword for me, hoping she’d possess me? What if all of this was planned?
The thought of anyone taking over my body again caused bile to crawl up my throat. I shook my head to banish the thoughts.
Tallis wouldn’t do something like that.
I had to trust him because I loved him.
And while I wanted to believe his feelings for me were genuine, I always had been someone who doubted herself. Guess old habits died hard. Any way I looked at it, there was no way of knowing if Tallis’s affection was owing to the fact that he saw her face when he looked at me.
I didn’t want to argue, and I couldn’t exactly tell him what I was really thinking because… it was humiliating. “I’m sorry,” I heard myself say. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Aye, I oonderstand, Besom.” Tallis unfolded his long limbs and stood up, eclipsing me with his shadow as he donned his kilt. “Ye still havin’ nightmares?”
