by Lizzy Ford
“Gods. Let’s get through this before we talk kids,” he said gruffly.
She laughed.
“Trust me?”
“I don’t have much of a choice, if I want to give living a go,” she said.
“Good enough. You ready to go home?”
“Yeah.”
Gabriel stood carefully and pulled her to her feet. She took his hand but didn’t look at him, the odd melancholy stirring his instincts once more. A death-dealer outside her door – or better yet, on her couch – was all that would make him easier about leaving her alone.
He took her home through the shadow world. She released his hand as they walked into the living room. Gabriel watched her walk away, loving how much the clingy dress revealed of her body.
“I’m assigning someone to sleep in the apartment,” he told her firmly.
“Because of demons?”
“More or less.”
Deidre curled up on the couch, eyes thoughtful as she studied him. She was contemplative and calm, sad but not suicidal. Gabriel returned her intent gaze.
“You okay?” he asked, bothered by something he wasn’t able to pinpoint.
“I think so. I’ve lived with the idea of dying for so long, I’m kinda freaked out by the alternative,” she admitted. “It’s a lot to think about.”
“I’ll come by to talk later,” he heard himself saying. “Tomorrow sometime.” During daylight, when he wasn’t fighting the desire to make love to her that grew with the disappearance of the sun.
“I’d like that,” she said with a small smile.
“I’ll send someone over in about half an hour.”
She nodded.
He’d gotten what he wanted from her, but he didn’t feel like he’d won. If anything, Gabriel sensed something was off again. He pushed the thought away and took a portal to the lake near the Immortals’ fortress. It was dark and cool, the forest quiet while the waters before him no longer glowed brightly enough to be seen from the stronghold.
Landon appeared at once, and Gabriel waited for his new second-in-command to join him.
“It’s working!” Landon exclaimed. “The Ancient Andre’s mind magic. He implanted it in the mind of two Immortals. We tested them today. They were able to track the demons attacking schools. The spell lasts twenty four hours, but it works.”
“Excellent,” Gabe replied.
“We’re testing it out on death-dealers tomorrow,” Landon added.
“If we’re able to find the souls before demons, we’ll be back on track.”
“I still can’t find Harmony,” Landon said.
Gabe said nothing, suspecting he knew where the death-dealer was hiding out. He almost felt sorry for her. Darkyn was not a kind master. Why she’d chosen to serve a demon over him… was there any part of her that cared for him? Or had he been a simple source of information for her and Darkyn? He grieved her choice but also believe she got what she deserved for betraying the souls they were all charged with protecting.
“We’ll keep looking,” Landon said.
“Thanks. Let me know how tomorrow goes with Andre’s mind tricks. I’m going to pick up more compasses from Tamer,” Gabe said. “Send Cora to guard my mate. Tell her to sleep on the couch.”
“Got it, boss.”
Souls, demons, Deidre. For the first time since taking on the mantle of Death, Gabriel was hopeful. He had the right people helping him, a mate who reluctantly agreed to his plan to help her, a better understanding of when to break the Code and a plan to repair all that was broken within his domain on the mortal realm.
He’d turned a corner. It was time to pursue his duties relentlessly to continue to build momentum. By this time next week, he’d be back in the underworld. With Deidre in his arms and the souls in the otherworldly lake where they belonged.
For once, things were going in Death’s favor.
Chapter Fourteen
Deidre waited for the portal to close before she rose. She paced and caught sight of her reflection in the windows. For a long moment, she stared. Her insides were shaking, no longer settled by his gentle magic.
She’d told Gabriel she wanted to live. There was no uncertainty about dying. Living promised much more that she’d be unable to control: the Immortal society into which she’d been sucked, a potential boyfriend who still seemed to waffle about whether or not he wanted to be with her, absolutely no sense of normalcy or stability. Did Immortals have jobs? Houses? Pets?
Did it matter, if she was able to live a full life? To turn her bucket list into a to-do list? Her gaze went to the kitchen, and she smiled as she recalled Gabriel putting up her latest find. She wanted a life filled with chili pepper lights.
And a chance with Gabriel.
Her smile faded. He didn’t answer her plea to reassure her some part of him cared for her. She thought him sitting with her so long on the beach was an indication. Why then wasn’t he willing to admit it?
Deidre wiped her face and forced herself to face another possibility. Was she willing to give life a second shot, even if Gabriel wasn’t in the picture and she had no more normal friends after Wynn’s betrayal?
Yes. Maybe.
Still cold from the chilly beach, she went up to her room and changed into jeans and a sweater. Tying comfortable shoes, she drew a deep breath.
“One percent chance my ass,” she muttered. “Not when I have a guarantee from some freakish stranger I met in a dark alley.”
Her confidence faltered. She reminded herself that the man named Darkyn promised to help for free, whichever way she decided to go. She could always double-check and walk away, if he decided not to honor his deal.
Deidre called a portal and stood before it. She breathed deeply several times, nerves and instincts unsettled. She was going to do it. She was going to live - and maybe even share a life with someone like Gabriel. It was terrifying, but she felt invigorated, hopeful.
She strode into the shadow world and stopped.
“Darkyn,” she called, uncertain where he hid out.
“I thought you’d come back.”
Deidre whirled, startled at how quickly he appeared. His slow smile scared her while the penetrating gaze chipped away at more of her resolve.
“I, uh, thought about what you said,” she said.
He clasped his arms behind his back, waiting politely.
“I want to live. But” – she rushed on – “I want to clarify that I’m not going to owe you anything and there’s no weird contract with fine print that says you get to claim my firstborn child or anything.”
“There is one catch.”
“Oh.” Her heart tumbled. “In that case, I’ll just go home.”
“Aren’t you curious?” he asked. “There’s no obligation in knowing what it is. I never offer deals without revealing the terms.”
She hesitated, growing uncomfortable in the clammy in-between place with the scary stranger. Maybe Gabriel’s option was best. If it didn’t work, she’d die while under.
Death wasn’t what she wanted.
Deidre considered how long it took for her to accept her impending death. Did she ever? She’d faced the reality but held out some hope it wasn’t inevitable. In a matter of a couple of days, she not only accepted there was a chance to live, but she’d decided to pursue whatever she had to in order to guarantee it.
Gabriel was right. She wasn’t ready to give up. The logical side of her understood that Darkyn’s offer of fixing her was a better option than dying on the operating table. Her instincts, however, were telling her to run.
Feeling trapped before hearing his terms, her eyes grew misty. Suddenly, she was afraid she’d be tempted to pay whatever price he demanded, no matter how high. He didn’t have the pointed teeth of a demon, which she hoped was indication enough she wasn’t about to make a deal with the devil.
“Yes, I want to know the terms,” she whispered and braced herself for disappointment.
“To save you, I need to remove the t
umor Wynn caused to expand in your head.”
She flinched at the painful reminder. Darkyn appeared amused.
“The deal is simple. Your life in exchange for keeping the tumor I remove.”
“That’s it?” she asked, surprised. “I won’t be turned into a vegetable or an animal or anything else weird?”
“You will be as you are now. The only difference is that you will not have a tumor killing you. You will have an eternity with your mate.”
Her chest tightened at the thought. There was no guarantee Gabriel wanted her, but she’d have a chance. After all, he promised that he’d try and let her rewrite the awful terms of their relationship, if she survived.
There was a soul in her tumor. Thus far, no one seemed interested in it, aside from Darkyn. Unable to shake the memory of her interaction with the soul from the lake, she felt protective of the one in her head. She wished she had a moment to talk to Gabriel, the deity charged with protecting the dead, to make sure she wasn’t doing something wrong.
“What will you do to the soul inside?” she ventured. “You won’t hurt it?”
“Absolutely not. I plan on restoring its life as well.”
“Really? Why?”
“That is not a concern of this deal.”
This … deal sounded too good to be true. He wanted the soul in her head badly. Why not kill her and take it? Would it be hurt if she died before they removed it? Was that what no one was willing to risk doing? Was that why Gabriel promised her the world if she survived the operation? Because they wanted to keep her alive long enough to extract it then walk away?
No, not Gabriel. Sometimes, she heard longing in his voice, the same yearning she experience for him. Perhaps he feared getting close to her if she was going to die in a few months, seeing as how past-Deidre crushed his heart, too.
Deidre needed that chance with him. Darkyn alone was able to give it to her.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “One more thing. I’m sick of pain. I don’t want any of this to hurt.”
“Not even a little?”
“Everything completely painless from here on out.”
“You drive a hard bargain, but I agree.” He reached out to her. “Take my hand, and the deal is official.”
Deidre approached but hesitated again to take his hand. It was too easy. Nothing yet in the Immortal world had been as easy as this bargain. Reluctantly, she took his hand. Cold fire shot through her. She shivered.
“The deal is done.” Darkyn dropped her hand.
“How can you do what Gabriel and the Immortals can’t?” she asked.
“My magic is that of the forbidden,” he said. “Every deity has a different nature and source for their magic.”
“What does that mean?”
“I will show you.” He strode towards a dark wall of the in-between place. Deidre followed, barely able to make out the shape of a doorway that pulsed darker than night. “We must remove it in my domain in order for my magic to work properly. It will take a great deal of power to preserve you, remove the tumor and heal the damage.”
Dread filled her. He paused at the doorway. As if sensing her fear, Darkyn held out his hand once more.
“Come,” he said.
The deal was done. Deidre accepted his hand and let him take her into a new part of the Immortal world. The moment the shadow world cleared from her sight, she wanted to run. She stood on a covered landing of a fortress made of black stones overlooking a parched desert beneath dual suns too faded to provide anything other than indirect light.
“Welcome to Hell,” Darkyn said, releasing her.
“Oh, god,” she breathed.
“There are a couple of things we must establish up front.”
She whirled. The portal was gone, and Darkyn was in front of her again. Deidre watched in growing horror as his teeth turned from normal to sharpened, and two long canines half the size of her index finger lengthened from his gum. Like a demon’s.
“It will require a great deal of effort on my part to keep this painless. Pain brings me pleasure. It goes against my nature to avoid it,” he was saying.
Forbidden magic. Hell. She made a deal with a demon. Starting to panic, Deidre sought some escape route.
“Pay attention.” He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “If you ever want to leave here, you will follow my instructions.”
“We have a deal,” she whispered.
“A deal is as much about the spoken terms as the unspoken ones,” he replied with a predatory smile. “You didn’t bargain to leave here once you arrived. The portal system does not work in Hell for mortals. You bargained for your life and pain. Do you want to leave?”
She nodded, forcing herself to listen.
“You will find your chances improve if you do exactly as I say,” he said. He circled her as he had upon their first meeting. “You also didn’t bargain against not becoming a blood monkey while you were here either.”
“Blood monkey?”
An image not of her own creation pushed itself into her mind. It was of Darkyn’s fangs sinking into the delicate skin of her neck. Her body began to shake, and her hands were clammy.
“I have your attention now,” he noted. “To keep things … painless for my new blood monkey, it will require discipline on both our parts. I won’t hurt you. You don’t run, and you don’t fight me. I love a chase and a fight, but the chances of me forgetting not to dull the pain increase if you resist.”
Another image flashed, and Deidre gasped, covering her face with her hands in an effort to block it. It was of her running and Darkyn tearing out her throat, after doing much more horrible things to her.
“Understood?” he asked.
Gabriel’s one percent was a cakewalk compared to this.
“Why is this happening?” she asked. “What did I do wrong?”
“You will get what you came for,” he assured her. “In the meantime, I can’t have you running from the Dark One. He is not merciful.”
“Dark One. My god.”
“Only a deity can turn a human immortal, which is what it’ll take to keep you alive while we remove the tumor. Be brave, love. You’ve made it this far.” The words were mocking rather than encouraging.
Deidre did her best to stabilize her breathing. She wiped away tears. She deserved whatever happened. If she didn’t, past-Deidre did. She wasn’t about to get her throat torn out before she found some way to get out of here. Gabriel would come for her, if she didn’t return.
She hoped.
Her gaze traveled from the gloomy fortress to the sickly sky to the creature before her, whose fangs seemed to have grown even longer.
If Gabriel didn’t come, it was because she fucked up bad making a deal with some shady creature she found wandering in the shadow world. Her life was about to enter its next phase of the nightmare.
“What are your rules?” Darkyn asked, pulling her from her mind.
“N…no running. No fighting you,” she said in a hushed voice. “No pain.”
“We’ll see how badly you want to leave. Come here.”
It took every ounce of her willpower not to flee hysterically or give in to the desire to collapse and sob. Shaking and terrified, Deidre nonetheless held his gaze as she closed the distance between them, until she stood less than a foot away.
Darkyn gripped her neck with one hand and tilted her head to the side.
She closed her eyes and prayed.
“Humans are a delicacy. Female humans in Hell with a soul unblemished by evil? I can’t remember the last time I tasted one,” he whispered. He nuzzled her neck.
Deidre braced her hands against his chest, tunnel-vision forming. She felt his fangs sink into her skin and heard him sucking out her lifeblood. Disgusted, she was also relieved there was no pain. From the visions he showed her, he was capable of things she’d never dreamed of. He didn’t drink long, and she was too afraid of moving to wipe away the tears rolling down her face.
“Sweet,�
�� he said in a thick voice as he withdrew. “Like honey. You won’t like trying to earn your way out of here, but I will.”
“Is it even possible for me to leave?”
“Possible? Yes. Probability is an entirely different issue.”
She opened her eyes at his response. He released her and turned away.
“Come. Wynn’s magic is killing you faster than anticipated. You need to prepare.”
Deidre trailed him numbly from the landing into the fortress. It was dim inside the stronghold, and the first torch they crossed that burned with black flames mesmerized her long enough for her to lose sight of Darkyn around a corner. She hurried to catch up. He led her past closed doors and through hallways carved out of black stone.
Deeper into Hell.
Breathe. Focus. Live.
She wasn’t going to make it long here if she lost control.
The demons they passed bowed to Darkyn, their eyes riveted to her once the scary creature strode by. They all looked hungry.
She quickened her pace, not wanting to end up the dinner of some demon before she had a chance to try to plan an escape. Assuming she hadn’t missed more fine print in her deal with Darkyn, she wanted to survive the removal of the tumor.
Darkyn paused in front of a door guarded by two demons. One opened it for him, and she trailed him into a large bedchamber complete with a hearth burning black flames.
“The mate of a deity will be provided what hospitality we offer,” Darkyn said.
“I take it that doesn’t extend to blood monkey status.”
She backed away as he approached, feeling the threat without needing to see it on his face.
“It extends as far it pleases me to extend it.” His sharp tone made her jump. He reached for her neck again.
Deidre sucked in a breath and held it, squeezing her eyes closed. Instead of grabbing her, he slid something cool around her neck.
“To mark you as my blood monkey,” he said. “You have five minutes to change.”
She didn’t open her eyes or release her breath until she heard the door close behind him. Deidre choked back a sob.
“I am so sorry, Gabriel,” she whispered.
