by Ivy Asher
A sharp pain pierces my chest when I realize that the puddle Vudu is sitting in is his own blood. “Oh, Vudu…” I say, my throat closing as I get choked up. He’s in bad shape. Really, really bad.
I can’t lose them.
I shove that thought away and focus. “Will my blood help you too?” I ask, blinking fast so that no tears fall from the pool that’s welling in my eyes. I need to be strong right now. For him and Toreon both. I need to figure out how to fix this.
Vudu slumps a little bit more, but I quickly reach up and grab his face, cradling both of his cheeks in my palms. “Stay with me, big guy,” I tell him, and he forces his eyes to stay open for me.
“Toreon!” I call. “How does the bond work? Should I give you blood or give it directly to him?” I ask frantically.
There’s a pause until Toreon grits out one word. “Him.”
“Alright, you’re up then, Hulk. Stay awake with me,” I encourage as I drop my hands and inch closer to him.
He’s clutching a wound on his chest, and I quickly peer around his shoulder so I can see the damage on the other side too. There’s a short sword still buried between the armored plates on his back where the Brogue obviously aimed with brutal precision.
When I pull back to look at his front again, his eyes are glazed with pain. “Don’t you worry, I’m going to take care of you, okay?”
“Toreon…” he grunts out.
I cut him off. “Will be fine as soon as I take care of you,” I say in a reassuring tone.
I look up at my sisters. “Quick. One of you cut my hands.”
Delta frowns, but Medley immediately rushes over, Delta hot on her heels. Stopping in front of me, Medley flips her scythe over for the end that doesn’t ash people. “Do it deep,” I instruct her. “I don’t want to heal too fast, and he’s going to need a lot. Do my wrists too. Probably faster blood flow.”
“No, Sable,” Vudu grits out, though each word he speaks sounds labored and shaky. “I don’t...want...you hurting.”
Gah, this guy. Could he be any more selfless?
“I’m fine, Goliath the Gargoyle,” I tease before I lean forward and press a kiss to his cheek. His skin feels thick but smoother than I expected, almost suede-like, and the contact moves like a current through me. I’m a little surprised by that.
With Toreon, the draw made sense to me. We’d been through a lot together, and a certain bond was bound to form from that. But I don’t really know Vudu. I’ve only had a couple interactions with him. But it appears that doesn’t matter in the slightest to the sensations that just moved through me like an electric shock. It seems that him being Toreon’s protector, and therefore my de facto potential mate, is all my body needs to know to be on board.
He turns his head and blinks at me in a daze, both from pain and the effects I’m sure he feels from my quick kiss, but when my playful nickname filters in, his heavy brow comes down in a frown. “I’m not this...Goliath. I’m Vudu,” he says hoarsely.
Delta chuckles behind me. “I guess he didn’t get a chance to watch that old cartoon while he was growing up in Hell. But you’re right. Totally looks like him,” she tells me.
I give Delta a small smile, appreciative of her helping to calm me by making this situation feel light and manageable. I nod, agreeing with her assessment, and then look over at Medley and hold my arms up to her. “Do it.”
Medley nods tersely, obviously hating that she has to hurt me, but knowing it’s a necessity. “Wait, what the fuck is exactly happening right now?” Delta asks with bewilderment.
“Sable is their perfect mate. Her blood can heal them,” Medley explains, just before she sinks her blade into my palms.
I clench my teeth, not letting myself make a noise of pain. My darkness perks up, like it’s asking if I need it, but I pat it down to rest. This pain is for Vudu and Toreon. I don’t want to be numb to anything when it comes to them.
Medley makes short work of slicing my palms and wrists, and as soon as she does, I inch closer to Vudu until I’m practically sitting on him. I place my palm right over his hand where he’s gripping his chest. I try to angle it so that my essence can drip as much into the wound as it can, and I anxiously chew on my bottom lip as I will the blood to sink into his hand and cut just like it did with Toreon.
Come on, come on…
Agonizing moments pass and nothing happens.
“It’s not working,” I whisper, my eyes filling with tears. “Toreon, it’s not working!” I barely recognize the sound of my own frenzied terror as my voice rings across the room. “Delta, pull out the blade from his back, maybe that’s why.”
She wastes no time coming forward and yanking it out, but as soon as she does, Vudu hisses in pain and his head starts to slump again like he’s about to pass out.
I surge into action. “No! Stay with me, Vudu!” I order.
My eyes zero in on the wound seeping from his chest, and without waiting a moment longer, I pull at the hem of his top and slip my hands beneath the black leather of his uniform.
My hands skim up his bare skin, feeling the smooth ridges of his abs and then the outlines of more plating that starts right where his pectorals do. His entire torso is covered in slick blood, and I get as close as I can to his wound without making him drop his hold on where he’s trying to staunch the bleeding. I don’t know if it makes a difference where I’m touching him, but it won’t hurt to be as close to the wound as possible.
Hands splayed, I urge all my blood to sink into his body. “Come on,” I chant, using my shoulder to lift up and swipe away the tears that start to fall down my cheeks. “Work, godammit!”
I can’t help but think that I should’ve gotten to him sooner. I shouldn’t have debated. The moment those pricks pulled their swords on him, I should’ve jumped into action.
I don’t know why my blood isn’t working on him. Maybe he’s lost too much of his own blood and my power can’t help him. Maybe my connection with Vudu is missing something? I don’t know, but it’s not working, and every time he sucks in a choppy, ragged breath that sounds like his lungs are filling with liquid, my heart shatters more and more.
“Don’t you dare die, big guy,” I tell him, unable to keep the sob from my voice. “Toreon needs you. I need you,” I admit. “I’m supposed to be your perfect mate, right? I need you to take my blood so that we can make it out of here and figure this mate thing out. You know, go on dates and do the fun things that come with forever,” I tell him with a watery smile. “Please…please don’t die.”
I beg him. I beg the universe. I beg the whole realm of Hell. I got dealt a bad hand as a human. Can’t the world give me a damn break as a demon?
A groan spills from Vudu’s gray lips, his head falling forward with a heavy thump against my head, and my heart just breaks. Into a million pieces.
I’m going to lose both of them. Vudu right here beneath my palms, and Toreon several feet away, in a heap on the cold floor, alone. Their lives and deaths tied together by magic I can’t even begin to comprehend.
And I can’t stop it.
I thought I was broken before. I thought having a splintered mind was the most painful thing I could ever endure.
I was wrong.
A shattered heart is much, much worse.
26
Please.
That one word repeats over and over in my head, made heavier with the weight of Vudu’s head drooping against mine. I squeeze my eyes tightly as hot, furious tears fall. Tears that feel like they come directly from the pits of Hell, scalding my lids as they leak out and drip down my cheeks.
This isn’t how things were supposed to happen. We were supposed to beat Morax and his minions. We’re the good guys. The good guys are supposed to triumph.
Buried against his chest, I curl my fingers against Vudu’s skin, feeling our blood mingle. My hands and arms are wet, either from his blood or mine, and I can’t even tell if his heart is still beating because his plating is so thick, so I can’t fe
el any kind of comforting thump.
My fingers press harder against him, like I just want to dig into his chest to scoop out his wound and toss it aside where it can’t touch him anymore. I wish that the demons who stabbed him were still here so that I could tear out their hearts, light them on fire, and shove them down their throats, making them swallow a fiery death.
I pause as my enraged thoughts send an unusual wave of vengeance-laced heat through me. I look for Ire in my thoughts because this warmth feels like something more, like the source isn’t just me. But I don’t feel another presence in my mind. And then it dawns on me. I gasp and feel Vudu’s skin beneath my palms. It’s heating up. Fast.
Stunned, I reach out with my senses, because I can’t bear to hope just to have it stomped on. But no. I confirm the heat is real, and it’s not just at my hands, but everywhere I’m touching Vudu.
My eyes snap open, and I see what I hadn’t noticed before. Through the thick hide of his leather shirt, red light is shining through. Dim at first, but with my next blink, it flares so brightly that I can see the outline of my hands through the material.
“Holy fuck…” I hear Delta say behind me.
“It’s workin’!” Medley exclaims.
My head whips up, causing Vudu’s head to snap back too, and relief explodes out of me when I see his eyes open.
“Vudu!”
His body pulls against mine, and a shudder goes through me as my power and blood start to really answer his need. I feel like he just hooked up a dozen straws to me and he’s sucking me down, and my body is ready and willing to give him whatever he needs to heal.
“He...alright?” I hear Toreon strain to say, but I can’t answer. This connection with Vudu is all-consuming.
I hear my sisters walk over to check on Toreon while I lean in closer to Vudu, watching with ecstatic joy as his paled face begins to slowly come back to his healthy, gray coloring. This close to him, our faces only inches apart, I can appreciate the details of his handsomeness. Utterly different from anything else I’ve ever seen, and maybe scary to some people, but not to me.
To me, his bat wings, large body, red eyes, and his heavy brow, are intriguing pieces of his shell. They guard a giant heart, a fiercely loyal soul, and the tender affection I feel budding between us as my essence works to restore his.
“V?” Toreon calls shakily.
Vudu parts his lips to answer, except it’s a groan that comes out. But...it’s not the groan of a dying demon. Nope, this one is full of heat.
With his red magic still pulling from me, demanding more and more with each pulse, my eyes flare wide when familiar heat spreads through my body. Now, instead of just my palms and arms, that warmth has traveled down, down, down to the apex of my thighs.
I swallow hard, my eyes not leaving Vudu’s, and his not leaving mine. “Forgot to warn you about this,” I say with a breathless chuckle.
I should move. I should definitely get off him before the mating magic consumes us and I forget the dire situation we’re currently in.
Except I don’t move. I don’t know if I have the willpower.
My head is fuzzy as his body continues to sip from mine, but I don’t care. I’m too enraptured in this moment, the connection so ambrosial that I can’t make myself pull away.
“Sable.” The way he says my name in his sexy-as-sin, roughshod, gravelly tone makes a whimper slip out of me. “Little mate, that’s enough,” he tells me.
“Not nearly enough,” I counter as I lean forward and meld my mouth with his in a needy kiss.
This time when he groans, I taste it. I feel it. Revel in it and in the hot, slippery swipe of our tongues as they meet. Everywhere we connect, we become red-hot, and I don’t care how much blood and power he’s taking from me, I’m just so damn grateful that he’s alive, that he’s here, that we’re kissing like this. Because in our kiss? There’s no doubt of the bond already laid like tracks between us. Our bodies sing to each other in a harmony only we can hear.
“V.”
I tilt my head, making it easier for Vudu to go deeper, for our tongues to tie further, as Vudu’s hands come up to grip my hips and hold me closer. His body is drinking slower from me now, his wounds healing and his power restored, but his hunger is now for something else. Something carnal.
“Vudu.” The voice calls.
My pelvis rocks against his strong, large thigh, rock hard with muscle, and giving me the most amazing pressure in all the right places. I want to come. I need it. I need him, right here, right now, and—
“VUDU!”
I’m suddenly wrenched away, the power pull and crazy mating horniness cut like a string, and I go falling back, only for a pair of strong hands to catch me.
I blink up blearily at Toreon, trying to regain my head, but I’m amazed and a little embarrassed at how long it takes. Toreon is clutching me against his chest, no longer showing any hints of pain, and his coloring is back.
His golden eyes look down at me softly. “Sorry to interrupt,” he says dryly as he reaches up and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. My cheeks flush a little, but I’m not nearly as embarrassed as I probably should be, because I’m just too damn relieved that they’re both okay. I’ll worry about my almost wanting to ride Vudu in front of everyone later.
“I need to keep healing him,” I insist, but when I scramble to my feet and turn around, I see Vudu already standing.
“You gave me plenty,” Vudu tells me. “No more. I don’t want you feeling weak.
“I don’t,” I reply, and I’m surprised to find that my answer is completely honest. Considering the amount of magic and blood I just gave him, I’m shocked at how good I feel. I don’t feel drained. In fact, I feel invigorated.
My eyes flick over Vudu assessingly, but as if he knew I would need visual evidence, he already has his shirt untucked and lifted. My gaze widens when I see that his horrible wound is completely gone. All that remains is the large amount of his blood that’s now drying against his gray skin.
“You sure you’re okay?” I ask, because I need to hear him confirm it.
“I’m okay, little mate,” he says. And then he just completely ruins me, because he takes a step forward and gets on his knees right there in front of me, pressing his forehead against my legs as he holds my hands in his. “You are...everything,” he rumbles, his voice heavy with emotion.
I’m so shocked by his presence at my feet that I can’t even speak or move.
“You saved my life and Toreon’s,” he says in reverence before his head lifts up so his eyes can seek out mine. “You are good. You are strong. You are everything we never knew we could have. And I would be deeply honored to call you my mate, to guard you and your heart as if it were my own, to hunt happiness for the rest of our days together. If you will have me.”
Now tears are falling from my eyes for completely different reasons. How such a beautiful and perfect connection with him and Toreon could’ve come from the horror of our time with Morax, I’ll never know. But I’m not going to disrespect it by questioning why. I’ll just whisper my thank-yous to the universe and gladly open my arms to all the possibilities.
With a gentle tug on Vudu’s hands, he follows my cue and stands up. He towers over me, and I find I like the way he makes me feel so fragile and small and yet utterly protected all at the same time. I reach up, and he bends down so I can throw my hands around his neck and bury my face against him. “Right back at you, big guy,” I whisper, and he wraps his arms around my waist and holds me like I’m all that matters in the world.
“That was fucking incredible,” I hear Delta say with awe and happiness spilling from her tone. I pull back to look at her.
“You have some good eggs there, Sable,” Medley teases, but her eyes are filled with love and tears, and my sisters’ support makes my throat feel tight and my heart feel full. “As much as I wish we could stay down here…” Medley blows out a breath as she wipes her cheeks while Vudu gently sets me back down on my feet.<
br />
“We have a party to crash,” Delta finishes, and I work to set my emotions aside and ready myself for what comes next.
I look around the room, because other than a still passed out Shateel, we’re the only ones here.
“We could run,” Toreon says, and I turn to look at him.
“We could,” I agree, and I see my sisters both make contemplative frowns, because Toreon’s right. No one is here to stop us. The tunnel is still open. We could slip off our cuffs and run away from Morax right now.
But...just because we can run away, doesn’t mean we should.
I meet Delta’s and Medley’s eyes. “We can take a vote, but we need to decide fast,” I tell them, because now that I have Toreon and Vudu, I get the whole mate thing. I can only imagine how gutted they are, being separated from theirs. I wouldn’t blame them if they wanted to flee.
“We can go down the tunnel, scythe whoever gets in our way, and get somewhere that isn’t blocked so we can shift out. We can get to our mates and hide,” Delta says before pausing. “Or...we can stay. We keep the upper hand and use all of this against Morax. Because if we run now, Morax will know his compulsion didn’t work. He’s not just going to stop coming for us, and who knows what will be in store for us in the future if he manages to get us again. But if we see this through, maybe we can beat him and end this once and for all.”
My sisters and I pause for a breath, but I feel the answer in our connection before any of us says a word. And really, there was only ever one answer, because running isn’t a part of who any of us are anymore. This is where we’re meant to be. Hell is partly ours, and it’s damn time we claim our place in it.
We all nod and speak at the same time with resolute tones. “We stay and fight.”
27
“Shit.”
I look behind me at Toreon, startled by his curse, only to see him jerkily moving away.
