Life Cycle (Preternaturals Book 4)

by Zoe Winters

  Dayne’s face betrayed his fear for Greta, though he was trying to downplay it. For her part she’d been extremely brave. Not a lot of tears or screaming or thrashing about, just still and quiet as if he might forget she was there and loosen his grip. Unlikely. But nice try. He was surprised she wasn’t fighting him. Therians were stronger than humans.

  “Just let Greta go.”

  Hadrian gripped her tighter. “I’d erase both of your memories, but I don’t have that ability with a therian. I want you to make a potion that will do that job for me. I’ll check the spell and ingredients to make sure we understand each other. I hate misunderstandings.” He flashed fangs at Dayne, as if he even needed to put a point on the threat.

  The sorcerer was so depleted from doing such heavy magic alone that he couldn’t even conjure an energy ball or a fireball, whichever his speed was. Even if he had that ability right now, he wouldn’t use it. The werecat made a great shield.

  “Just do it, Dayne. If we’re both dead, we can’t warn Anthony, anyway,” she said.

  “The cat makes an excellent point.”

  The sorcerer turned to collect the supplies he needed, and Greta shifted. In the change from human size to house-cat size, Hadrian lost his grip on her. She climbed over her pile of clothes and scurried toward the door. He went after her, but a fireball whizzed past his head. It hit the stone wall, fizzling with a hiss and puff of smoke. It had come from Dayne, but it was small and weak and probably the only one he had left.

  “You don’t want to waste your magic right now,” Hadrian said, scooping up the cat before she could get out the door. She dug her claws into his arms, hissing and biting. He growled and tossed her across the room. She let out a horrible feline shriek and hit the wall, then stopped moving.

  He felt a flicker of guilt for harming her. She was an innocent, not someone meant for his special brand of punishment, but she was also caught in the crossfire of a greater good.

  “Greta!”

  “She’ll be fine. Make the potion.”

  “I don’t know if I have enough energy left. I need to take a rest.”

  Hadrian shook his head. “You only need to make enough potion for one. I have to wipe your memory while you’re weak, not after you’ve had a refreshing nap to replenish your shields.”

  He picked up the unconscious black cat and sat on the floor with her in his lap. “I could kill her quickly in this form. Don’t test me. Two people failing to show up at Anthony’s next meeting would be a minor curiosity in the face of everything going on. Maybe your magic drew Jack, and he killed you. Who’s to say?”

  “I used strong protections. It’s why I’m so depleted.”

  “You thought of everything.”

  Dayne glared while Hadrian stroked Greta’s back as if she were a normal house cat. Hadrian did it to unnerve him, but the act also allowed him to be assured she was okay. Her breathing seemed normal.

  Twenty minutes later the potion was ready, a rolling, bubbling concoction of something dark purple the vampire wouldn’t want to drink on his worst day.

  “Let me see the book.”

  Dayne brought it over, and Hadrian looked at the spell. It was a spell to take the memory of an hour. The listed ingredients looked about right as far as he could tell sitting across the room. Everything had been in cloudy jars after all—it was like some mad scientist’s basement. The vampire nodded and passed the book to the sorcerer who put it back on the table and chanted the spell over the potion. It was in Latin. Magic users and their dead languages. Hadrian was convinced it was for show to appear more mysterious. Wasn’t that why the priests had used it for so long?

  When Dayne brought the potion over, Hadrian took the goblet and held the cat’s mouth open to pour it down her throat.

  “She’ll be asleep for awhile. When she wakes, she won’t remember,” Dayne said.

  “She’d better not. I’ll stay to be sure. I’ll be putting you to sleep as well. I’ll make sure she wakes before you. If she remembers anything...” It was unnecessary to expand on the threat. He laid the cat on the stone floor and moved toward Dayne. At least with all the magic the sorcerer had done, taking control of his mind would be easy. It was one memory he’d know for sure had been properly erased.

  “Look into my eyes.” He placed a hand on Dayne’s shoulder to boost the effects of the thrall.

  The sorcerer obeyed, his eyes becoming unfocused as he tried to maintain eye contact with the vampire.

  “Good. You came home and attempted to do the spell, but it failed. Some of the magic knocked Greta out, but she’s fine now. You burned the scroll so the magical residue couldn’t attract The Cycler.”

  “Right. That’s exactly what I did.”

  “Now, sleep for a little while. When you and Greta wake, everything will seem normal.” Hadrian caught the man as he fell and laid him next to the cat. Then he searched until he found matches and burned the scroll, so what had been seen couldn’t be seen again.

  He sat on the table and waited. As the potion took effect, the werecat shifted back to human. The vampire admired her sleeping form. He’d love to taste her. A great time to accomplish that feat was while she was unconscious, but he couldn’t justify the act. While he couldn’t get inside her head, it only took one look at her to know she was kind and decent—not someone who needed to be absolved, and not someone who needed to be punished.

  After a while, Greta stretched and sat up, wary eyes darting around the room. She looked to Hadrian, then to Dayne, and her own nudity, which she intriguingly sought to cover.

  “What’s going on? What have you done?” Her eyes held suspicion and more than a little fear. She scrambled to her clothing and rushed to get dressed.

  “You have nothing to fear from me. What do you remember?” Hadrian asked. He was more than a little curious over her modesty. It wasn’t a common trait in therians.

  “You could have at least had the decency to turn around,” she said, as she pulled the top over her head.

  The vampire had taken in every curve as she’d moved, not missing a second of her in her unclothed form. “I apologize. It was rude. I was caught off guard.”

  “What happened? What’s wrong with Dayne?” She moved behind him as if a sleeping sorcerer would have any effect on her safety.

  “Again,” Hadrian said, his eyes glowing, “what do you remember?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” She appeared genuinely confused.

  “Dayne attempted to do a spell to help find The Cycler. The magic failed. I came by to check on things while he was still chanting. You saw me and got spooked and shifted, then sparks from the magic hit you and knocked you out. You must have mild amnesia. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

  She still looked suspicious but she was just disoriented and confused enough to buy it. “W-what about Dayne?”

  “Magic knocked him out, too. He’ll come around soon. I need to get back. You’ll be okay here?”

  Greta nodded. “Yes. I mean, I think so. He’ll wake up soon?”

  He smiled. “He’ll be fine. Have a good night, Greta.” He didn’t wait for a reply.

  The orange tabby glared at him at the top of the stairs as he brushed past her. He growled, and the cat shot off into the dark to check on her people, not trusting the vampire for a moment. Smart kitty.

  Chapter Six

  Tam had been in the demon dimension for over a week without contact with the outside world. Her coven must be losing their shit wondering where she was. They didn’t know what she was. No one had except her fellow cyclers and a few vampires over the centuries. And Henry.

  She stood outside Cain’s tent draped in one of the dresses from the trunk in her own tent. Two guards stood outside. One arched a brow.

  “Shut up before I hex you.” She and the demon leader had been carrying on what amounted to a full-on affair for the past week, but she hadn’t been coming to his tent, and she certainly hadn’t been dressing like his concubine. But she was ready t
o raise the stakes. The demon would crack soon, she could feel it.

  The guard growled, but Tam was unfazed. Demons liked to talk and play at being scary, but even with her books and tools sealed up in the cave, she could still incant, and she still had energy balls to throw. She hadn’t been left helpless. Far from it. It was hard to be too helpless with so much age on her.

  “You don’t want to go in there,” the other guard said. “The boss is having it out with one of the demons.”

  “Good. Then he’ll be in a killing mood.”

  Cain had been tense ever since the human body had been discovered. Every time he went through the human dimension he found out more news on the situation, mainly the constant recounting of the gory way the body had been found. So nothing useful. Just the kind of stuff that inspired morbid fascination and curiosity among her fellow humans.

  Tam strode into the tent. Cain stopped yelling at the demon in front of him. It was one Tam didn’t know. For a preternatural faction, the demon numbers weren’t huge, but there were enough of them that the witch stumbled upon a new one on occasion.

  Cain glared at her, but when he saw what she was wearing, something in his expression changed. Heat. Desire. That plus all the bottled rage from whatever the demon was in a snit about equaled a possible ticket out of all this.

  He turned back to the other demon. “Leave. We will discuss this later.”

  “But it’s not fair. That’s not my fault. This past week you’ve been impossible to please. We’ve all been walking on eggshells—”

  He couldn’t get another word out because Tam was tired of his whining. She hit the minion with an energy ball. He rounded on her, snarling.

  “I believe he told you to leave,” she said.

  “See, Cain? This is the problem. This fucking witch who’s got you all turned around.” He rushed Tam at full speed before she could produce another energy ball, but before he could touch her, Cain had grabbed him and flung him away from her. He towered over the demon on the ground.

  “The witch is my business. You try to harm her, and I’ll let her seal you in a glass jar. It’s far more cramped than the caves, I assure you. Scram!” The demon pulled himself through the flap of the tent and hobbled away.

  Cain advanced on her, fire in his eyes. “What the fuck was that?”

  She batted her eyelashes. “What the fuck was what?” Okay, so the innocent damsel routine didn’t come off quite as credible when she was dropping F-bombs. Still. She should get points for effort.

  “Interfering with my business with the other demons makes it look like I have a woman fighting my battles.”

  “Oh my God. You’re an even bigger Neanderthal than Anna’s mate.”

  “I’m eight thousand. Things are done how they are done.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m two thousand, and I managed to evolve. What’s your excuse?” She changed tactics and pressed herself against him. If all she did was piss him off, he might just snap her neck, and that would do her no good. She needed to remind him why he liked her in an adult form. “Do you like my dress?”

  He gripped her wrist and placed her hand over his erection. “What do you think?”

  She smirked. “I think you’ll kill me this time. I don’t get why you haven’t. Maybe you have sparkly romance dreams? If you do, you can tell me, it’ll be our little secret.” She never got tired of taunting him. Soon he would snap. She’d alternated between pissing him off and seducing him every opportunity she got. She’d be out of here before the next full moon, before the next body hit the ground, and Jack’s game would be over.

  The Cycler would still have enough power to start gathering an army to move forward with his plan, but this time she wouldn’t help him. Her conscience would be clear, and she’d escape his grip forever. She had no intention of leaving Heaven until things were put right. Her gods were in another dimension. She’d been faithful to them. She’d petition them to let her into the proper world for her next incarnation. Then she’d be off Jack’s radar forever. Truly free.

  When Cain released her, she didn’t waste the opportunity to unbutton his jeans and slide her hand inside.

  He growled. “I won’t lose control. I’m not letting you out of my world. I told you, you’ll be my toy until I get bored with you, or until you beg me to keep you—and mean it.”

  “I think that’s bullshit. I think you like me. You don’t want to kill me. Just admit it. Don’t you normally get bored by now?”

  “Go to the caves.”

  It was as good as an admission from him.

  “We never do it in your tent. Are you ashamed of me? Afraid we’ll get interrupted?”

  He’d allowed her to continue stroking him, but he hadn’t fallen completely under her spell yet. “I’d be greatly amused if we got interrupted. What about you? Does your little friend know you’re screwing the demon who tried to kill her and would have succeeded if she hadn’t given her soul to my brother?”

  Tam pulled away. “Anna wouldn’t understand this. I know I shouldn’t act like she’s a child. She’s got all her memories from her other lives, but it’s not the same. They’re isolated episodes of experience. It’s different being in one body for as long as you and I have.”

  He laughed. “Are you saying I complete you?”

  She rolled her eyes upward. “Hardly. I’m saying she doesn’t understand what it’s like for me. She thinks she does, but she doesn’t.”

  The demon pointed at the door. “Caves. Now. I’ll be along shortly.”

  She sighed and turned to leave.

  “And to answer your other question”—his words stopped her—“the reason for the caves is that tents are completely useless if I want to fuck you against a wall.”

  Her back was to him so he didn’t see her facial expression. Given that edge, she wasn’t about to turn around or pause, but she knew he had to sense the wave of desire his words had caused. Or maybe he’d done it with demon thrall. Her shields had weakened in the time she’d been with him. It was too exhausting being on guard twenty-four-seven, and if she wanted him to break the cycle, shields were pointless. Shields were to protect her, and she didn’t want to be protected from him.

  ***

  Cain watched her go. He’d let her stew in the caves waiting for him like a schoolgirl. She was right, he should be bored with her by now. He didn’t want to dig too deeply into his motivations. But he most certainly didn’t like her. She was confusing him with someone who still could dig up those sorts of feelings. Killing her was the prudent choice. It was what she wanted, and it would make it easier to kill The Cycler if he didn’t have her power absorbed into him, too.

  But a woman had never beaten him at his own game, and it wasn’t going to happen now. If she didn’t want to die, she’d be easier to kill, but he still resented giving her the opportunity to escape the immortal bed she’d made.

  When he reached the cave, she was sitting on the ground. She probably couldn’t see him, but with his acute night vision, he could see her.

  “Why are you in the dark? We have torches.”

  “I have energy balls, not fire, and all my tools are locked in a pod. You do the math.”

  “Surely there is some chant you could use. How hard can it be for a witch of your caliber to produce fire?” he taunted.

  “I don’t waste energy on things like that.”

  Cain lit the torches and sat beside her on the big rock. He began to stroke her back and pushed aside one of her straps to kiss her shoulder. She did look lovely in that dress, as if she could rule beside him. He cringed at that thought.

  A suspicion eased into his mind, and he gripped her throat, his voice low and deadly. “If you’ve done any magic against me, you will live to wish you hadn’t.”

  She struggled for air, and he loosened his grip a fraction to allow her to speak.

  “If you kill me, and I revert to a younger body, I will seal you in a jar so fucking fast your head will spin. Don’t threaten me.
If you plan to take me out, take me out the right way so I can leave this forsaken place.”

  He couldn’t say what kind of magic he thought she’d done. Accusing her was as good as admitting she was having unforeseen effects on him. She’d take it as him admitting he liked her, then he’d have to kill her just to shut her up. If he was wrong about her using magic against him to soften him up, then he wasn’t giving her that weapon—not when he’d already said how things would go between them.

  “I could lock you in one of these pods. You’re immortal, sort of, you’d survive it.” He wasn’t sure why he added that. What did he care what she could survive? “I could leave you in there until the Jack problem is solved.” He let go of her and stood, her nearness starting to unhinge him.

  He shouldn’t have put that much space between them, because she hauled back and tossed an energy ball at him, clipping him in the shoulder before he could go noncorporeal. She was so fast with those things. Two could play this game. He tossed a fireball, and she ducked behind the rock they’d been sitting on.

  Then she started chanting.

  “Tam, stop chanting. You start using magic against me, and all bets are off. You have no idea the hell I can make your life.”

  She ignored him, continuing her incantation. The air charged around them, and she stepped out from behind the rock that had been shielding her and threw a ball of energy at him.

  “Don’t ever threaten me like that again. I’m not one of your goons. If you even look like you’re contemplating putting me in one of those pods for any reason, you will be sorry. I promise you. Like you said, the accommodations in little glass jars are less roomy than pods.”

  She threw another energy ball. This one he saw coming and dodged. He tossed another ball of fire, but it sizzled and bounced off an invisible bubble she’d put around herself. He was so caught off guard by the new protection that he didn’t get away in time when it came hurtling back toward him, burning him in the stomach.