by Larissa Ione
Deth had the new Seminus, Tavin, chained to the base of the throne and was petting him. The incubus was crouching, naked and bruised, head hung so his chin-length hair concealed his face. But when he glanced up, his eyes glowed gold with hatred and defiance—and, as he locked his gaze on Sin, lust as well. Deth, that sonofabitch, had denied the male females, something that would drive him insane, and, if let go too long, would result in his death.
Lore wanted to rip Deth’s heart out and feed it to the Ramreels.
“I didn’t kill Kynan,” Lore said. “I killed the contract holder. Rariel is a stain. The contract is void.”
For a moment, Lore thought Deth was going to stroke out. His piggy eyes popped wide and his skin flushed, and it was funny as hell. “I don’t believe you. This is a trick.”
Lore shrugged. “Check the contract.”
Deth gestured at one of the Ramreels, who manipulated a lever in the stone wall. With a grind of rock, a panel peeled back, revealing another panel containing glowing stones set into the wall. The Ramreel palmed one of the stones and brought it to Deth.
Lore’s master held the glowing green orb in one hand and passed his other hand over it. The thing morphed into a parchment, which Deth stared at for only a moment before it crumbled in his hands and fell like sand to the floor.
“Told you,” Lore said.
“We’re free, then?” Sin bounced on her toes, unable to contain her excitement.
Deth snarled. “This is an outrage! You tricked me.”
“I got around the terms of the contract, you son of a bitch. Now release us.”
Deth bounded from his throne and paced frantically, his teeth clicking in a grotesque display of annoyance, and Lore knew he was trying to find some loophole that would allow him to keep them in service.
“Now,” Lore gritted out.
Deth hissed. “I have not received payment from Rariel. I will not lose my two best assassins until I have been paid in full.”
“Not my problem,” Lore said.
Curses fell from Deth’s lips. He kept pacing, stalling.
“Deth, now!”
Deth whirled around, his armor clanking. “The boy,” he said. “The child Rariel brought to me. He is related to you, no?”
The blood in Lore’s veins congealed even as his heartbeat kicked into overdrive. It sounded as if Rade was still alive.
Stay cool. Stay calm. “No.”
Deth’s eyes narrowed. He snapped his fingers, and the nearest Ramreel disappeared through a side exit and returned with Rade, his body lying limp and motionless in the demon’s arms.
“What have you done to him?” So much for calm.
Deth smiled. “I don’t know how to care for an infant. There has been no reason to keep him alive. He was meant to be a meal, not a pet, after all.”
Sin moved toward Rade, whose sunken chest rose almost imperceptibly.
“As you can see, he hasn’t perished yet. But if you want him, you will agree to my new terms.”
Sin sucked air between clenched teeth. “You fuck,” she ground out.
Lore forced his own jaws to unclench. “What do you want?”
“I want one of you to remain with me. Forever.”
Outrage nearly knocked Lore off his feet. “Never.”
“Then the child will be sent to the kitchens.” Deth gestured to the Ramreel.
“No! Just… wait.” By now, Lore’s Incredible Hulk should have been knocking at the door, and though he was so furious his voice shook, he didn’t get the jacked-up sense that he was going to explode out of his skin and into a monster. Idess’s touch seemed to have soothed the savage beast. Idess, who had lured him out of his life of loneliness and death, and replaced it with warmth and light.
And Deth had just yanked all of that out from under him. Lore couldn’t bond with her now. Hell, he didn’t think they could be together at all. How was he supposed to come home to her at night and tell her about his day?
Hey, angel, I got to strangle someone today. Took him a while to die, because he had a fat neck and I couldn’t use my death gift because you drained me. And tomorrow, Deth wants me to break some female’s legs because she cheated on her mate. I think I’ll turn that job down and take the two days of torture instead.
Oh, yeah. Good times ahead.
Lore took his sister’s hand and guided her to a quiet corner, where Deth couldn’t eavesdrop.
“That sick bastard,” she snapped. “I’ll kill him, Lore. I’ll give him herpes and syphilis and Khileshi cockfire, and he’ll die slowly and in pain—”
“Listen to me,” Lore interrupted. “I want you to have that chance, but you have to be freed in order to do it.” Not that killing Deth would be easy, if possible at all. “I’ll submit to him for service. You go free. I just need you to take Rade to UG once it’s done.”
“What? No!” She gripped his jacket with both hands, went up on her toes, and got in his face. “You are handling the kid and your brothers. If one of us has to stay, it’ll be me.”
Gently, he peeled her hands off his coat and held them against her chest. “Sin, you have to do this. I owe you. I owe you a lot. I want you to have your freedom.”
She shifted awkwardly, from one foot to another. Her eyes glistened, for the second time, since they were children. Even then, she hadn’t been one to cry. “You don’t owe me anything. It’s because of me that you’re here in the first place. You need to set yourself free.”
Frustration drilled into his skull. She was making this more difficult than it needed to be. “You’re here because of me, too. If I hadn’t left you all those years ago, if I’d done what I could to protect you, you wouldn’t have been forced to sell your services to survive.”
“We’re not talking about that,” she said sharply. “It’s the past, and it’s over.”
It would never be over for her, and he knew it. “My point is, you’ve never been free. You need it. You need to have a normal life. You can have that now.”
She snorted bitterly. “Normal? You think I can be normal in any way? Hello, Lore, I’m a fucking freak of nature.” She waved her right hand in front of him, as if he didn’t know how much pain their dermoires had caused.
“Yeah…” He hesitated, not wanting to walk down a path that ended at Sin’s door. Then Tavin yelped—struck hard in the face by Detharu, reminding Lore that some shit situations couldn’t be avoided. “What do you know about diseased werewolves?”
The color siphoned from her face, confirming his suspicion. “You need to see Eidolon. He’s facing some sort of warg plague.”
She exhaled a curse. “Yeah. Okay. Later. We need to settle this first.” She shot Deth a dark look. “Look, I know you want to do this, but I can’t accept.”
“You don’t have a choice.” Lore wheeled around. “Deth, free her. I’ll stay.”
“No!” She shoved him aside and strode toward the demon. “I don’t want to be free.”
“Dammit, Sin, it’s a life sentence!”
She skidded to a stop and turned around slowly, as if the words “life sentence” had finally sunk in. She swallowed a couple of times before shaking her head. “Doesn’t matter. Truth is, I like it here. I’m good at what I do. It’s all I can do. And you have Idess now. A chance to be happy. You need to take it.” She rounded on Detharu. “Free him.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Lore warned. “I want to stay.”
The demon steepled his fingers and watched them with fierce interest. He was enjoying this way too much. At his feet, Tavin was watching Sin intently, his panting, agonized breaths filling the silence. Lore felt for the guy, but if he got loose, Lore would kill him. No way would Lore allow Tavin to do to Sin what his nature would force him to do.
“If she doesn’t want to be freed,” Deth said finally, “I won’t force her.”
“Then I won’t go, either.” Lore planted his feet and crossed his arms over his chest.
Sin cursed in a couple of different langu
ages. “You’re an idiot. Stop being so stubborn.”
Lore clenched his hands to keep from wrapping them around her neck and shaking some sense into her.
“Enough!” Deth shouted. “Lore, it was your contract. Therefore, you are freed.”
Before Lore could protest, Deth lurched out of his chair and slammed his palm on Lore’s chest. The air blasted from Lore’s lungs, and suddenly he felt a hundred pounds lighter.
Though the feeling was amazing, it was also horrible, because Sin was still Deth’s bitch. Forever. “You bastard,” he rasped.
Deth waved his hand in dismissal. “You no longer belong here.”
Neither does Sin. Lunging, Lore fired up his gift. Tried to, anyway. It didn’t even spark, but Lore could take Deth out with his bare hands—
“Stop!” Deth snatched Rade from the Ramreel and curled his fingers around the infant’s throat. “I will kill it. Back out of the chamber, or the whelp dies.”
Panting, cursing, Lore focused every ounce of hatred into his glare as he backed toward the door. Once he was standing in the hall, two guards jabbed machetes into his ribs while another brought Rade to him.
Deth dragged one hideous finger down Sin’s throat in a slow, sensuous trail, a taunt that nearly had Lore going after the bastard again. “Get out of my sight and don’t return unless you intend to sign a new contract.”
Go, Sin mouthed. I’ll be fine.
Walking away was the hardest thing Lore had ever done, and as he did, he couldn’t help but feel as if, once again, he’d failed his twin.
Twenty-four
For some reason, Lore’s heraldi no longer worked. Idess stood outside her father’s temple, repeatedly brushing her finger over the circular welt.
Nothing.
Already unsettled by her father’s talk of the light coming for her, she took several slow breaths to tamp down the encroaching panic as she touched the pad of her finger to Kynan’s mark.
Still nothing.
Oh, no. This was bad. Very, very bad. Quickly, she flashed to Lore’s house, but he wasn’t inside. She darted outside to the deck. No sign of him, but the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. All around her, the air went calm and the forest animals went silent. Crouching in a defensive position, she eased around, expecting… what? The sensation she felt wasn’t evil. In fact, her skin began to tingle pleasantly.
And then, blasting before her, in a strike of silent lightning, was a vertical column of light. It poured from the heavens in a shimmering cascade, calling to her. The tug went all the way to her soul, like a big, mushy embrace.
A tranquil, beautiful warmth settled over her as she drifted toward it. So lovely. So inviting.
Come home.
The musical voice sang not just in her head, but in her entire body.
It is time.
No. She stumbled to a halt, fingers outstretched and nearly touching the stream of light. She’d dreamed of this day, and now that it was here, she only wanted to run. This should have been the happiest day of her life, but this wasn’t a summons to Ascend. This was a call to answer for her actions. She’d lost a Primori and slept with a demon.
The stream of light glided toward her. She moved to the side, but it followed. No way was she going. She’d seen what had happened to Rami and Roag when their very existence was snuffed. They were gone forever. And what if her fate was worse? Doomed to loneliness and guarding Primori for all time?
And what of Lore? Losing Rami all those centuries ago had left her grieving, bleeding from wounds that never healed.
What she felt for Lore was a thousand times stronger. Living without him would kill her.
The light moved closer. With a cry, she flashed to her house in Italy. The light followed her, piercing her roof and shining down in the middle of her living room. She flashed again, this time to the top of Mount Ararat.
The light was there.
Panic blurred the edges of her vision as she flashed to Pompeii. Stonehenge. The Great Wall of China. And everywhere, the light followed. A sob of desperation escaped her as she squeezed her eyes closed tight and flashed to the parking lot at Underworld General. Shaking like a nervous Chihuahua, she peeled open her eyes and turned in a slow circle. No light.
Which, now that she thought about it, made sense, since the human ghosts had been trapped in the demon-built hospital because the heavenly light didn’t penetrate.
The sudden rumble of a vehicle engine sounded like a dragon’s growl in the underground space. A black ambulance eased out of its stall and rolled toward the far wall, which began to shimmer like a Harrowgate. Of course… that would be the opening through which vehicles came.
Sure enough, it seemed as though the entire wall became glass, allowing the ambulance to pass through and into the human-built parking garage on the other side.
A parking garage where a focused beam of light lurked. Waiting for her.
The vehicle gate closed, leaving a solid wall once more.
The fact that she could no longer see the light didn’t comfort her, because it was still there. It would always be there, and her father’s words came back to haunt her.
Do not run.
Lore went straight to UG. The second he stepped out of the Harrowgate, Eidolon was there. His shock and joy at seeing that Rade was alive was followed immediately by concern at his condition.
“Damn,” he whispered, as he took the child. “What was done to him?”
“Nothing,” Lore said. “I don’t think he was fed or taken care of at all.”
“He’s definitely hypothermic.” Eidolon told a nurse to call Shade and instructed another to fetch heated blankets as he rushed the boy to one of the trauma rooms, his dermoire glowing. Eidolon assessed the baby, who had pinked up a little and was already looking better after an infusion of whatever Eidolon had done to him with his power.
“Can I do anything?” Lore offered his left index finger to the infant, and Rade’s tiny hand curled around it.
“What you’re doing is perfect.” Eidolon very carefully started an IV, and by the time he was finished, a physician assistant had arrived with blankets.
Lore helped swaddle Rade, and once he was completely mummified, Lore sat on the bed and held the boy to his chest, figuring the extra heat couldn’t hurt, and Eidolon didn’t tell him otherwise.
“Is he going to be okay?”
Eidolon smiled. “Once his body temperature is up and he nurses, he should be fine. He’s a tough little guy.”
Lore peered down at the baby, who lay calmly in his arms, staring up at him with big, brown eyes. A twinge of longing was like a pinch to the gut. Could Idess have children? Did she want them?
Shade had told Lore that human-Sem offspring were sterile, but if Idess wanted kids, Lore would move the sun to make sure she had them. “Has Idess come back?”
“Haven’t seen her.” Eidolon checked Rade’s temperature with an ear thermometer thingie. “Looking good. I’m going to go check on Shade.”
Lore wasn’t sure how long he sat there alone with Rade, rocking him and talking to him in an idiotic, hushed baby-talk voice, before Shade and Runa arrived with their other two sons. They rushed into the room, and right behind them were Tayla and Eidolon, followed by Wraith and Serena.
It had been almost a month since he’d last seen Wraith’s mate, when she’d been lying in a bed, only hours away from death. Now the gorgeous, tall blond was holding a very young baby.
Standing, Lore handed Rade to Runa, who was crying so hard he couldn’t understand anything she said to him. He did his best invisible impression as he backed away from the crowd, only to halt when he bumped into a solid body. He knew who it was before he even turned around.
Kynan. Gem stood beside him, holding his hand.
For a long moment, they all stared. And then Gem hugged him. Wrapped herself around him the way he would have killed to have her do just a month ago. Now all he wanted was for Idess to do the same thing. Where was she?
&n
bsp; “Thank you.” Gem pulled away and stepped back to Kynan. “You saved Rade, and I don’t think any of us can thank you enough.”
It was Sin who deserved the thanks, but he wasn’t going to ruin the happy reunion by announcing Sin’s sacrifice. Instead, he got in a jab at his former rival. “I saved Kynan, too, you know.”
“Yeah,” Kynan drawled, “but we’ll just try not to dwell on that.”
“Oh, I intend to rub it in. A lot.” Lore laughed at Kynan’s curse. “Congratulations on the new spawn, by the way.”
“Well,” Gem said, “that was better than what Wraith said.” She lowered her voice and did an imitation of Wraith. “Way cool about the fuck-trophy.”
Kynan rolled his eyes. “The demon does have a way with words.” He took Gem’s hand and clapped Lore on the back. “Thanks, man.”
The party in Rade’s room hit its stride when Ky and Gem went inside. Lore’s brothers all looked so happy, their mates grinning and holding each other tightly. It was a scene right out of a damned movie or something, complete with laughter, reminiscing, and a few good-natured insults.
Lore so didn’t belong here.
He needed to find Idess anyway. He peeled off toward the Harrowgate just as the ER doors slid open. Idess darted inside and right into his arms.
Lore scooped her up, squeezing her hard in a silent promise that he’d never let her go. “Where have you been? Are you okay? Where’s Roag?”
“Later.” She took his mouth in a desperate kiss that pushed all his startup buttons. “Did you…”
“Yeah. Rade was alive.” He let her feet touch the ground again. “He’s going to be okay.”
“I’m so glad.” She sounded relieved, but there was an odd, underlying tone he couldn’t identify.
Frowning, he tucked a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear. “What is it? What are you not telling me?”
Her hand came up to his cheek, her touch tender. “Nothing. It’s just been a long day.”
Rami. God, he was such an ass. The guy might have been a monster, but he had still been her brother, and she’d loved him for two thousand years. Expecting her to be okay with killing him mere hours after finding out what he’d become was just stupid.
