by CoraLee June
Tomb nodded. “We know.”
Risk still hadn’t woken up.
A week, and nothing. He was being seen by healers and human doctors alike, and nobody could say a damn thing except he was in something like a coma. Whatever had happened to him during the ritual had affected him gravely.
As if on cue, a knock sounded on our door. Tomb went into protective mode instantly, his body turning to stone as he went to the door. Russell landed on my shoulder with a caw, while Crow stayed at my side.
Tomb opened the door, his body tensing. “Who are you?”
“Hmm. A gargoyle demon? The ladies must love that,” an English voice drawled.
I moved beside Tomb to see the male standing in our doorway, and my skin instantly prickled. “You’re a high-level demon,” I said, looking him over. He had deep red hair and bright green eyes. A green so vivid and pure that it was almost hard to stare into his jade gaze. He was wearing a plain black t-shirt and jeans, his stance relaxed and his expression easygoing. But I could sense an incredible amount of power wafting off of him.
He grinned at me, showing off a set of perfect teeth and dazzling dimples. “I am, love. And you must be the notorious Black Widow.” His gaze swept up my body as if I were wearing lingerie instead of jeans and a shirt. “Mmm. You’re positively decadent. I can see why Risk mated you. I might even be tempted to tumble with a known sexual cannibal.”
My mouth dropped open in shock at his forward words.
Tomb moved, blocking me, and his muscles rippled. “Don’t fucking talk to my mate like that,” he roared. “She’s mine. And you better back the fuck off.”
My eyes widened at Tomb’s outburst. He was protective and possessive, sure, but this was extreme. My eyes narrowed on the demon. “What kind of demon are you?”
His grin widened. “You can call me Envy, love.”
“Stop calling her love!” Tomb snapped, looking like he was ready to snap the demon like a twig.
I crossed my arms and glared at the demon. “Stop provoking him.”
Envy shrugged. “Jealousy is easy to bring out with this one. He’s quite greedy where you’re concerned. It makes an excellent meal.”
I sighed. “Why are you here?”
The man clicked his tongue. “Care to invite me in? It’s rude to keep guests in the hall.”
Tomb growled, and I was sure he was about to punch the demon in the face, but Crow intervened. “Sure, come in,” he said, giving Tomb a clap on the back. He wanted to know what this demon wanted, and so did I.
Tomb reluctantly moved away, and the red-haired demon strode inside and circled the room. “Nice. But the council gave me a much nicer room. I have a king-sized bed. And a jacuzzi tub. Also a balcony.”
Jealousy flared in me. “A jacuzzi tub? How did—” With a scowl, I clamped my mouth shut. “Stop doing that.”
He simply laughed and sat down on the chair that Crow had been sitting in earlier, before kicking his feet up onto the black table.
“The council invited you here?” Crow asked him curiously.
Envy nodded. “I’m their demon consultant.”
I frowned. “I didn’t know there was such a thing.”
“There wasn’t. Until now,” he said, flashing another grin.
I walked over until Tomb’s fingers pinched the back of my shirt, keeping me from getting any closer. I guess the jealousy that Envy spurred in him was still a little heightened. “What are they consulting with you about?” I asked nervously. I thought about Risk, currently upstairs in the medical ward, being watched over by healers and enforcers.
“Mmm, a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” Envy answered vaguely. “But I’m more interested in Risky Business upstairs.”
My nerves twisted. “What about him?”
The demon watched me carefully for a few moments before blowing out a breath and setting his feet back on the floor. He leaned forward, elbows braced against his thighs. “He’s not gonna heal, love.”
His words caught the breath in my chest and shoved it back in. “What do you mean he won’t heal? Of course he will. He just needs time or—”
“No, love,” he said, surprisingly gently. “Risky won’t be healing. At least not here.”
Tears burned in my eyes. “What are you saying? That he’s dying?” I couldn’t take it. My spider let out a sad keening noise in my ears, and I rubbed my thumb against my hourglass mark as an ache sprouted in my chest.
Envy stood up. He moved to come closer to me, stopping a foot away when Tomb growled. “He needs to go back to hell.”
I stared at him, the words refusing to settle in my brain.
“Hell? But I thought your kind of high demons ascended here because of your high level of power?” Crow asked.
“Very true. But when we’re mortally injured, like Risk is, there’s only one place we can heal, and it isn’t topside.”
“But he can come back right?” I asked. “If we send him to hell, he can come back once he’s healed?”
Envy gave me a pitying look. “Our source of power stems from hell. If you want him to heal, he’s got to go back. But I’ll tell it to you straight, love. When a demon is that damaged, it can take years for us to heal and regain the power necessary to ascend back to topside.”
I shook my head in denial. “No. No, he’ll wake up,” I insisted.
But Envy just looked at me with more pity, and I wanted to smack it off his face. “No!” I was suddenly turned around, my face buried against Tomb’s chest as hot tears spilled from my eyes. I’d just gotten my spider and my mates back, and now Risk was going to go back to hell? It wasn’t fair. Tomb ran a hand up and down my spine, trying to soothe me, but I was gripped in a fist of distress.
“How do we send him back to heal?” Crow asked somberly.
“Just say the word, and I can do it for you. I figured I’d leave it up to his mate,” Envy said.
I felt everyone’s eyes on me, and I knew that they really would leave it up to me. Even if I decided to be selfish and keep him here, not healing, stuck in a never ending unconscious limbo.
“But he’s my mate,” I began, searching for another solution. “Why isn’t he regenerating?”
Envy brushed his thumb along his jaw, contemplating my question. “I don’t know how to explain it. I’m not even convinced it was the ritual that caused this. That baby mama drama was like some sort of void, sucking his power away—including the ability to heal. Think of your mate bond as like a regenerative power that manifests after mating. Whatever happened sucked it all up or nulled it. Hell is the only way.”
I didn’t want to send Risk away, but I couldn’t do that to him. I wiped my wet face against Tomb’s shirt before turning back around and raising miserable eyes to Envy. “I want you to send him back so he can be healed,” I said quietly, my voice cracking.
The demon nodded, his eyes scanning my mates where they flanked me, both of them running soft touches and reassuring caresses over me. “I’ll go straight up to do it as soon as I leave here.”
“I want to come.”
Envy shook his head. “The council has you all watched like hawks and him as well. You won’t be allowed in the room.”
My fangs dropped in anger. “I’ll convince them,” I growled.
“I wouldn’t,” he warned. “Listen, the council is embarrassed. People are calling for their heads after what happened. They’ve got to appease the public. That probably means nothing good for you lot. You need to be prepared for them to make an example out of you, even though it wasn’t your fault. Risk is in danger up there, unable to defend himself. Let me take care of your mate and send him back where he can heal. He’ll be out of their clutches, at least.”
I probably shouldn’t trust a high level demon I just met who fed off the jealousy of others, but for some reason, I did. I breathed out in defeat. “Okay.”
Envy gave me a single nod. “I’ll go now.” He stopped short, fishing for something in his pocket before
holding out a necklace. “Almost forgot. I found this in the exorcism room when I did a sweep,” he explained. “Collector had a hard-on for magical rocks.”
I took it, studying the amber amulet. “He used this on me so my powers wouldn’t work,” I said grimly, remembering how it had been wrapped around my wrists while I was in the cell with Aunt Marie.
Envy nodded. “He was able to wield it to absorb power.”
I held it in my hand, curling my fingers around it before stuffing it in my pocket.
The jealousy demon gave us one last parting look and then walked out of the room, greeting the enforcers in the hall as he left.
I buried my face in my hands and sobbed profusely, and Crow immediately moved forward and held me close, while Tomb continued to stroke my back. “Am I doing the right thing?” I asked.
“You know the answer to that, Little Spider,” Crow murmured against my forehead before placing a kiss there.
“I didn’t even get to see him. I won’t get to say goodbye,” I choked out. All I wanted was a sense of normalcy. We kept getting shoved from one place to the next, leaving one prison to the next, mourning one loss to the next.
I just wanted all of my mates together. I wanted to relish in our bond, make a life for ourselves and figure out what we were going to do. I wanted to go to Aunt Marie’s home and pack up some of her belongings, flip through photographs and breathe in her scent. Every passing moment faded into the next as I was stuck in limbo and couldn’t find my footing.
“He’ll heal, and maybe one day, he can come back.”
“He will,” Tomb cut in.
I lifted my head to look over at him. “How do you know?” I sniffed.
Tomb’s fingers came up to brush away my tears. “Because he has you for a mate. He’ll do whatever he can to get back to you, for as long as it takes.”
Chapter 34
Risk’s newborn daughter looked like him. She had his playful smile and hopeful eyes.
My eyes were riveted on Ms. Cainson. She was seated in the courtroom at council headquarters. The stadium seating was packed shoulder to shoulder and was noisy from the constant murmuring in the audience. The proceedings for the Spector trial were all over supe news. It was the biggest story in our communities, and everyone was watching the council’s every move.
I was sitting on the council’s side, along with Tomb, Crow, and Stiles, as well as several Spector employees, including the exuberant Vick. Judge Braxton resided over everything at the center podium while sitting in his golden chair, where he was currently listening to more testimonies from a Spector guard. But my attention was solely on the baby currently being held by Ms. Cainson.
I knew it was part of a ploy to give her more sympathy from the public. She hadn’t been painted in a good light, since she was on the council and had attempted to get a high level demon’s essence put into her. But a woman holding a newborn baby was hard to incriminate. Based on the glances she was getting from the audience, her manipulation was working.
But with every muffled coo and soft cry that came from the bundle held in her lap, my heart clenched for an entirely different reason. The baby was beautiful. And despite the fact that she had wispy blonde hair and feminine features, she had dark, glittering brown eyes that were the exact same shade as her father’s.
My heart gave another squeeze. I missed him. I missed him so damn much. And now he had a daughter that he hadn’t even been able to meet. My eyes swelled with heartache.
The council had been up in arms when Risk disappeared. They had no idea where he went, until their very helpful demon consultant told them that hell had simply zapped him back below, and nothing could be done about it. Envy was currently sitting on the other side of the council’s seating box, his feet kicked up on the railing in front of his seat. When he saw me looking, he tossed me a wink. Tomb must’ve seen because he clamped a hand onto my thigh and squeezed.
It took hours to listen to the testimonies. Some of them were horrible. Spector guards would spew off awful things about me or my mates and what we’d done, and the audience ate it up, becoming more and more hostile toward us—me especially. And I just had to sit there and take it, because...well, it was true. I had done those things they were saying. But I didn’t get to say my side or explain why. Judge Braxton wasn’t interested in allowing the hybrids to have much of a voice.
The only person who was permitted to speak on our behalf had been Stiles, and only because our father held some sway. But even my brother hadn’t been given much time to speak, and based on his tense expression, I knew the truth as much as he did—we were fucked.
I gave Tomb and Crow a worried look. This was going all wrong. We hadn’t even been given a chance. I shared a look with Stiles, but his mouth was pressed into a thin line. He’d shown the truth of what Spector was doing to the public so that it would get shut down, and he succeeded in that. But in doing so, we’d doomed ourselves, because now we were painted as monsters who killed without conscience.
I looked at my mates, ready to tell them that we needed to do something. Intuition was pulsing dread through me. “Guys…” We needed to run, we needed to—
Judge Braxton’s gavel slammed down. My stomach clenched in fear.
“After taking testimonies and public votes into account, I hereby rule that Spector Incorporated and all their unlawful practices of demon rituals and possessions be hereby terminated indefinitely,” he declared, his voice ringing out through the crowd. He gave a hard stare over the entire auditorium. “It is also my decree that all Spector hybrids be destroyed immediately. These abnormal supernatural amalgams are too volatile and powerful to be allowed to exist. Therefore, under the jurisdiction of the council, it has been decided that all hybrids are to be arrested immediately, and executions will be set for public viewing. If any hybrid should attempt to flee or become violent, enforcers are permitted to kill on sight. Stiles Trant will step down as Paragon, as punishment for his involvement with Spector. I will pardon the other council members, as they were coerced by demon influence to participate. That is my ruling.”
The gavel snapped.
The audience exploded with voices.
My fingers laced through Tomb’s and Crow’s, my hands holding on tight right up until the moment the enforcers wrenched us apart. They snapped handcuffs on our wrists and led us away, while the crowd booed and spat obscenities at me. Shock kept my lips locked with silence, as I followed the enforcer’s directions numbly.
Was this really happening? Did I go through all of that just to be “destroyed” by the council?
“It’s not fucking right!” Stiles shouted and struggled beside me. “We showed you the truth, and we fucking saved you!” he yelled, but no one cared to listen. “We saved you all, and she did what she had to do! You should be fucking thanking her!”
He looked livid, ready to launch himself at the crowd, but I shook my head. “Don’t,” I pleaded. “It won’t help, and it’ll only get you killed faster. You heard Judge Braxton.”
We were all pulled through the courtroom and led through the doors in the back, leaving the cheering and leering mob behind. The enforcers roughly directed us down a long hallway, guns pressed to our backs. Stiles was still yelling and cursing everyone for Judge Braxton’s ruling, and the guards slammed him to the ground.
They weren’t fucking around. Even though my mates and I could regenerate, it would take time, and I had no doubt that they would gladly shoot us in the skulls before ripping our heads off our bodies and burning us to ash. And if that didn’t keep us dead forever, I was willing to bet that the council would keep us imprisoned for the rest of our immortal, indestructible lives.
“How much longer do you think it’ll be?” I asked while I paced our cell.
Before the hearing, they’d at least pretended to care about us, putting my mates and I in rooms that had a bed and bathroom. Now, we were in a cell no better than the ones we had at Spector, left with nothing to do but pace the floors and wa
it for an execution date.
The other hybrids who hadn’t made it out of Spector were taken into custody by the council. And as soon as the ruling came to have us destroyed, their executions were ordered. It was swift and broadcasted to the masses. It was a way to appease the pissed off supes angry at what Spector and the council had been involved in.
But it was also a warning. In case anyone else thought to recreate the ritual and steal some power. The council wasn’t fucking around. A new law was passed stating that anyone who performed a demonic ritual would be sentenced to death immediately.
They made us watch the executions. We stood in the blistering cold, the harsh wind whipping against our cheeks as each of their heads was severed. The crowd cheered. Some hissed. Ms. Cainson stood by Judge Braxton, smiling broadly at the spectacle and clapping when the hybrids’ heads rolled along the concrete.
My mates and I were still alive for the sole reason that they couldn’t figure out how to kill us. At first, we wondered if they would torture us until we stopped regenerating, but then we realized that they didn’t want to look like failures. If we kept coming back to life, the public would lose faith in the council’s ability to take care of the hybrid problem.
So we waited. And waited. And waited some more. We heard whispers of exorcisms and beheadings, but nothing was set yet. The Spector scientists had surrendered all of their studies to the council, which meant they got to see just how indestructible we were.
Every day that went on, the waiting was like an added barb to my gut. I hated waking up every morning and not knowing. Not knowing if today would be the day that the council would decide to try to kill us. I feared a life separated from my mates. I feared watching them suffer needlessly. I feared our end.
“Stop pacing, Motley,” Crow whispered while patting the cold concrete beside him in our cell.
At least they let us stay together. Honestly, I think Tomb would’ve gone berserk and smashed his way over to me if they’d separated us, power blockades be damned. I wasn’t sure what kind of magic they used to keep our abilities at bay in this prison, but it was different than the demon ritual circles. Instead of my powers and my spider feeling bound, this just made us tired and our powers weak.
