by Larissa Ione
“My answer is no, but tell me why you think Thanatos needs a roll in the hay, and why you think I’m the one who should give it to him.” Jesus. Sleeping with a fucking Horseman?
Val sat back in his leather chair, a signal that a lecture was about to begin. “According to the scroll, after the An s afat tonine Plague that killed upwards of five million in the ancient Roman Empire and was blamed on Pestilence, one of the first Aegi prophets, Marcus Longinus, recognized that if Pestilence was that dangerous before his Seal broke, he’d be a million times worse after.”
Malik nodded. “We know that The Aegis’s focus has long been on Pestilence. But until now, we didn’t know that any concrete plans had been made in the event that the Horsemen’s Seals started breaking.”
“Why would the focus be on Pestilence?” Regan asked, tucking her fingers into her jeans pockets to tamp down her tendency to talk with her hands, which made her appear excitable and stupid.
“Because the Daemonica told us that his Seal would be the first to break,” Kynan said. “The dagger, Deliverance, was forged to kill the Horsemen. But Pestilence has the dagger, which means that none of the others can use it to kill him. That’s where our buddy Marcus Longinus comes in.”
“He secluded himself in a meditation cave and wrote down his visions,” Val said.
Lance snorted. “Of course, we now know that meditation caves were filled with natural gasses that caused hallucinations, so Marcus could be full of shit.”
Regan hated to agree with Lance about anything, but that was exactly her fear. In ancient times, everything was thought to be an act of God—or the gods, depending on the time and the religion. So some dude all hopped up on cave air could see all kinds of crap and think the visions were sent by a deity.
“Okay, so what ‘shit’ did Marcus dream up?”
Val pushed his glasses up on his nose. “He had a vision that the only hope for the world, should the Daemonica’s prophecy come to pass and all the Horsemen turn evil, would be a secret child conceived by the joining of an Aegis warrior and a Horseman. That child will be the savior of mankind.”
“Ah… couldn’t any of the Horsemen do, then? And any Guardian? Why can’t this stupid vision involve Limos and Arik?” She smiled at Lance. “Or maybe you should man up and do the deed. Or maybe you hate women?”
“I love women as much as you probably do,” he shot back, and she rolled her eyes at his lame barb.
She wasn’t a lesbian. She was just… well, she didn’t take chances with sex. For her, an orgasm was a few seconds in which her carefully maintained control was lost… and when you had supernatural abilities like hers, you didn’t want to lose control of them.
“We believe the Horseman in question is Thanatos,” Malik said. “We have a couple of clues. The words ‘From Death will come Life’ are engraved on Deliverance’s hilt and are written here, on the scroll.”
“So you think that literally, from Death—Thanatos—will come life… in the form of a baby.” Regan could really use a stiff drink right now. You know, before she got knocked up and couldn’t drink anymore. Jesus. “And does the scroll explain how a female Guardian is supposed to get close enough to seduce him?”
“No,” Val said, “but Pestilence has put a price on Aegi heads. The remaining Horsemen are more willing than ever to help us, since we’re on the front lines with them. They obviously have a lot of knowledge, things we’re missing, especially their histories since The Aegis broke with them hundreds of years ago. We’ll tell them that we need the gaps filled in, and we want to send a historian—you—to work with them.”
“How can you be sure they won’t want this Aegi to work with Ares or Limos?”
“It’s not a matter of want,” Kynan said. “It’s a matter of practicality. Ares and Cara are busy being newlyweds and training an island full of hellhounds. Limos has her hands full with Arik. Thanatos, on the other hand, is alone, and he has the best library. He’s really the only option.”
“Huh. Well, good luck finding some sucker who wants to sleep with him, because it isn’t going to be me.”
“Regan.” Val looked down at his hands, which he’d folded in his lap. “We can’t force you to do this. But I’m going to ask you to think hard about it. You are one of our greatest assets, and we don’t ask you to do this lightly. We ask because, with your abilities, you truly are the only one who can do it.”
The reminder of what she was sobered her up, real fast. Only the Elders knew about her psychic gifts, and sometimes she suspected that Val knew even more than she did about the extent of them. He’d been the one to argue for her life when she’d been born to a Guardian mother who abandoned her because of what her father was. He’d been the one who had sworn he’d be the one to put her down if her powers grew out of control.
He was the one who had killed her father.
She schooled her expression, refusing to let anyone here see her discomfort. Because yeah, it did bother her that everyone except Kynan was looking at her like she was a bomb ready to blow. Like her, they’d put her abilities in some locked box in their memories, but were now recalling exactly what it was she could do. And what she’d been forbidden to do on the penalty of death.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Val.”
“One of Thanatos’s defenses is armor that stores souls,” Kynan said. “When he’s pissed or when he releases them, they kill.”
“Your ability could protect you from them,” Val said. “You’re the only Guardian we could even consider putting in his path.”
She clenched her fists. “For twenty-five years, you’ve trained me not to use my ability. The Aegis kills people like me. And now you’re asking me to embrace it?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “That scroll. Where did you find it?”
Kynan reached for it. “In an Aegis vault Limos took me to.”
“Did it occur to you that it could be a trick? Fake? The world’s first paranormal romance?”
Ky’s mouth quirked in one corner as he passed it to her. “That’s why we need you to verify its authentic sitsnt ity.”
Shit. Of her two abilities, this was the one she was allowed to use, but she didn’t like to, especially not in front of anyone. “You know I can’t tell how old it is or anything. I can only tell you what whoever wrote it was feeling.”
“We know.”
Inhaling on a curse, she unrolled this idiotic thing that supposedly said she should screw Thanatos, and ran her fingers over the ink. Instantly, her body was flooded with emotion and images. Images of hell burst in her brain, horrific scenes of torture and pain and… she jerked her hand away.
“Yeah,” she croaked. “Whoever penned The Biblical Horseman’s Secret Aegis Baby was sincere. They believe the child is important. And they were also a very tortured individual.” She cleared her throat. “How, exactly, will this baby save all of humanity?”
When everyone averted their gazes, alarm bells rang. Finally, Val looked up. “That’s the catch. We don’t know. Apparently, there’s a twin scroll that will explain it. We have faith that by the time the baby is born, we’ll have found it.”
“Oh, that’s just great,” she drawled. “Maybe I should jump off a cliff and have faith that by the time I hit bottom, I’ll have grown wings?”
“So?” Lance prompted, as if she hadn’t spoken. “You going to ride a wild pony?”
God, she hated him. Ignoring the asshole, she turned to Kynan. “What does Thanatos look like?” Visions of a bony old dude who looked like the Crypt Keeper’s twin brother popped into her head.
Kynan shrugged. “If you don’t mind tats and piercings, he’s attractive, I guess.”
“You guess?”
“Sorry, I happen to be into women, so Thanatos doesn’t do it for me. But it’s probably fair to say that if I were gay, I’d do him.”
“That’s so helpful,” she said, dryly. “So what are you going to do with this kid? I mean, what happens after it’s born? I’m not exactly
mother material.”
“Gem and I will raise it,” Kynan said softly.
“And your wife is cool with that?”
“It isn’t like we don’t already have a child who is part demon. And I do have a huge family full of demons, angels, vampires, and werewolves to help out and keep the child safe. We’ll love it like our own, I promise you that.”
Shit. She couldn’t believe she was actually considering this. But The Aegis was her family. They’d raised her when no one else would—or could. She owed them, and if this was how she could make her contribution to save the world, then she couldn’t say no. Besides, she couldn’t subject another female Guardian to this risk.
Right now, no Aegi outside the Sigil understood the magnitude of what was happening in the world, and very few knew of the existence of the Four Horsemen. Bringing an outsider sg aagn up to speed would take time. Hell, finding the right woman would take time.
“Make the arrangements.” She’d never been one to run away from anything, but right now she needed some fresh air and a moment alone, so she yanked open the door. “And that includes plans for my funeral, because if this doesn’t work, I want a really nice one.”
Twelve
Arik woke, groggy, fuzzy-headed, but for the first time in forever his belly wasn’t twisted inside out and eating his own spine in hunger. He opened his eyes, and realized he was still in the demon-induced fantasyland. Maybe it wasn’t so bad here after all. At least he got food, showers, and a soft bed.
And a toothbrush. Who would have thought such a simple item could make a person happy? As he brushed his teeth, he practically moaned with orgasmic appreciation at the taste of the minty toothpaste and the stroke of soft bristles. Oral sex, that’s what this was.
Okay, not quite. Limos popped into his head, and all those fantasies of having her spread-eagled and arching against his mouth trumped the toothbrush sex, for sure.
Cursing himself for an idiot, he spit, rinsed, and stepped into the bedroom just as Limos, her tan body covered in a skimpy yellow swimsuit and a sheer wraparound that hung low on her hips, tapped on the glass patio door outside the room. He didn’t move to let her in, but the door wasn’t locked, so she slid it open.
“Hey, sleepyhead.”
“Sleepyhead?”
“More like comahead, really. You’ve been sleeping for twenty-four hours.” She crooked her finger at him. “Come outside. I’ve got a day of sensory therapy planned. I’m going to overload you with normal, familiar sensations to prove all of this isn’t a trick and bring you back to reality.”
Reality. He wasn’t sure what that was anymore.
He eyed Limos warily but appreciatively, following the gold chain around her neck down to the quarter-sized Seal that rested between her breasts. Her flat, muscular stomach gave way to slim hips and long legs that tapered from powerful thighs to curvy, hard calves and dainty feet. Her toes were painted pink, and she had gold rings on her middle toes. He’d like to suck them right off.
Fucking moron. He was losing his mind. This wasn’t real, and even if it was… what? Shit, he’d be so happy he wouldn’t care what she’d done or he’d done to get him ferried off to Sheoul, so yeah… he’d suck on her toes.
The warm breeze wrapped around him, tempting him, but when he didn’t immediately walk outside, Limos turned away. She stood there, hands on the rail, her hair whipping around her shoulders as she looked out at the ocean.
“Come on, Arik.” Her voice was soft, cajoling, and hey, what would it hurt to go out there?
For some reason, his stomach fluttered. Stop being a pussy. He stepped outside, was immediately drenched in warm sunlight and tropical scents. Twenty feet below, sand stretched along a beach lined with lush forest as far as he could see. Seagulls flew overhead, dotting the azure sky and then dipping into the dappled ocean waves.
“See?” she said, as she gave him a blinding smile. “It’s gorgeous out here.”
She was gorgeous. “I guess.”
She turned to him and lifted her hand to his cheek, and though he wanted to jerk away, he didn’t. In fact, he kind of leaned into the soft warmth of her palm.
“Feel it. Feel how real it all is. The sun, the breeze, my touch.”
“Feeling has never been the issue.”
She dropped her hand. “Okay, let’s play a game. Let’s pretend you’ve been working for The Aegis and R-XR all this time, and you took a break and came here to see me.”
“You mean, pretend I kissed you outside Ares’s place and I didn’t get dragged to Sheoul?”
Something flashed in her eyes, and if he didn’t know better, he’d think it was regret. “Yes. Where would we be right now?”
He wasn’t sure what to say. He’d spent hours upon hours thinking about how he was going to take his revenge on her, but in all honesty, he’d also wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t freaked and he hadn’t been grabbed to star in his own episode of Survivor: Sheoul.
“I don’t know,” he said. “If you weren’t engaged… you know, if you were available, would you have let the kiss go on?”
Her chin came up, and he knew she was going to pull the I didn’t let it happen in the first place bullshit. Nope, that Frisbee wasn’t going to fly again, and he moved close, so close she backed up, bumping into the railing. It was funny how she was a bad-ass warrior, but when faced with a male’s attention, she became nothing but a female who had to deal with her basest desires.
“Don’t,” he said. “Don’t deny it again. There are no gray areas here. Just black and white. You either wanted the kiss or you didn’t, and you will never convince me you didn’t. And here’s the thing about that kiss. If I hadn’t been dragged to hell, I wouldn’t have stopped. I’d have had you stripped and under me in a heartbeat, and I’d have had my mouth in places that would have shocked you. That’s all I thought about when I was in that hellhole, and I’ve got it mapped out in my head down to how long it would take me to lick you until you screamed my name. I might not know if any of this”—he made a sweeping gesture with his arm—“is real, but that would have been. That’s the truth.”
Crimson splotches colored her cheeks and she got that damned superior gleam in her eye again, as if she was trying to regain some control over him, this situation, and her own feelings. “I’ve let some things slide, but you can’t speak that way to me. I’m a—”
{" w sl“Easy there, Trigger.” He grabbed her by the arms, tugged her against him, and slanted his mouth over hers. Mainly, he wanted to shut her up, but he also wanted to prove her wrong, show her that for all her protests, she’d wanted that kiss outside Ares’s mansion. She might be a Biblical legend, and he a mere human, but when their bodies touched, they were man and woman, and neither had any tactical advantage. Her entire body went taut, but then her tongue met his, and it was game over. He’d won. He’d made his point.
“There,” he said, a little breathlessly. “You wanted me to feel. I felt. But I’m still not convinced this is real.” He might not be sure, but his dick was, and he casually adjusted his erection.
Limos pulled back from him, and though her eyes were lust-glazed, her lips wet from his kiss, she was alert, and the horse tat on her arm was writhing. “It is real.” She sounded as breathless as he was, to his satisfaction. “Come with me. I’m not done proving it.”
The mouthwatering scent of flame-broiled beef hung in the air as Limos led Arik to the dining room. Though he hadn’t argued, he moved slowly, warily, like a cat in dog territory.
Hekili had placed two plates at the round table, as well as two ice-cold bottles of lager from her favorite Hawaiian microbrewery. She normally drank “girly” drinks, as Ares liked to say, but every once in a while she liked a beer with her burgers.
“Sit.” Limos gestured to the seat that offered a view of the beach, and Arik took it, his body so rigid she was amazed his joints worked.
Limos stood across the table as Arik sat in his chair, staring at the burger, which was s
lathered with Hekili’s private recipe barbecue sauce and a thick slice of pineapple. “Arik, please. Eat it.”
He just stared.
God, this had to work. The idea had been Ares’s, his experience with what was now called post-traumatic stress disorder beyond vast. He’d come by with Than to discuss Sartael’s coin and Reaver’s no-show to Than’s summoning, and Ares had taken one look at Arik’s comatose body and nodded decisively.
“Stimulate him.”
“Ah… excuse me?”
Ares rolled his eyes. “Not like that. Overload him with all the senses. Shock his system out of the 2-D world inside his head.”
Ares had promised to talk to Cara to see if they could get some hellhounds here to help guard the house, and then he and Than had left moments later, drawn to some catastrophe Pestilence had caused. Her own insides were quivering with the need to gate herself to a rapidly spreading famine in China, but she was going to wait until the last possible second. So here she was, trying to ply Arik with a damned burger.
“Arik, listen to me.” She sank down in the seat opposite him and took a swig of her lager. “I know you’re having a hard time with this. But I promise you won’t be punished if you eat. { ifk aAll the food we’ve been giving you has been real. Well, some people might not consider haggis real food, but it really wasn’t dog chow.”
He lifted his gaze, which had darkened. “Bullshit.”
“I’m telling you the truth.” Truth. It struck her that even though Pestilence had re-ignited her desire to lie, it wasn’t coming second-nature the way it used to, and she was finding it easier to resist. Back when she’d lived in Sheoul, and for a good thousand years after she’d come to the human realm, lies were the only things that came out of her mouth. Maybe this relapse wouldn’t be so bad.
