by Lizzy Ford
Why did her head feel like it was sinking into sleep when she wanted to be awake?
“Be still, sweetheart. You’re hurt bad.”
“I am?” she asked, perplexed. She looked down at the blood covering his hands. “Oh, yeah. That’s right. Harmony and … Gabriel! You have to fix this storm! It’ll hurt the souls!”
“Hush,” he said, holding her more tightly to keep her from moving. “I will. You need to keep still.”
Past-Death closed her eyes with a nap. “You go do that and I’ll take a nap.”
“No, honey, stay awake.” He nudged her.
She groaned. Why did he sound so upset? She wasn’t certain. Something to do with the distant pain in her abdomen and the sound of a storm coming …
Past-Death slid into unconsciousness, content to be in Gabriel’s arms again while she slept.
Chapter Eighteen
“Deidre!” Gabriel nudged her again.
The bloodied woman in his arms didn’t respond. She was growing pale, her heartbeat slowing while she continued to bleed out. She wore the ring he’d gotten her thousands of years ago, a simple silver band with filigree.
“Stay with me, sweetheart,” he whispered, shaking her to try to wake her once more.
She’d been willing to die for him. Until the moment, he never thought her capable of living for anyone but herself, even when she tried.
“Stay with me,” he said more urgently, fear, panic and anger coursing through him.
A gust of wind knocked him over, and he rolled with her to keep the storm’s long arms from snatching her. Laying her out carefully, he shifted to his side and brushed her hair from her face. The underworld was crashing down around him, his longtime love dying in his arms. For a moment, he wasn’t able to think straight or quiet either of the screaming voices in his head stemming from his bonds to the underworld and his mate being under duress.
The woman he’d loved and hated his entire life, the one who made his blood race and quieted his thoughts, was dying before his eyes, this time for good. He wasn’t able to raise someone whose soul was outside his reach. The idea of losing her forever was one he’d experienced more than once. As frustrating as their relationship often was, he couldn’t escape the simple fact that he wasn’t able to live without her. He’d loved her as a goddess, and he loved her more as a human struggling to figure herself out.
Flying debris knocked him onto his back, and he stared at the black hole, almost fully over the palace.
Gabriel rolled back beside her placed her hands over her wound and pressed down, fury and heartache boiling over.
What good was being a deity, when he kept losing her? What good was being human, when his pain immobilized him? Which part of him took precedence: the one that served the souls or the one suffering heartbreak?
“I am a fucking god!” he shouted into the wind. Blinded by rage and hurt, he rose and raised his hands to the storm. “You can’t have either of them!” Cool power swept through him, and he turned to face its source, surprised at the green fog racing towards him from the direction of the Lake. The magic of the souls sang through him in billions of tiny voices, their unified chorus conveying power that made the palace beneath him quiver.
A man-sized tornado broke away from the storm and landed on the rooftop, tearing across the expanse, tossing dealers from its path as it made a beeline for one person in particular: Harmony.
The death dealer lashed out at it with a sword, which the black smoke avoided easily. The fog cleared to reveal the small shape of Deidre, glowing darkly with the power of the black hole overhead, her pink hair tossed in the wind and her eyes swallowed by black.
It can’t be possible. Cold realization shot through Gabriel as he suddenly understood why there had never been a storm such as this in the thousands of years he was in the underworld. It wasn’t Harmony’s doing either, or something past-Death had set loose before she quit.
This was Hell. Forbidden from bringing his magic with him, Darkyn had none, unlike his successor, who faced no such restrictions when she became the Dark One. Horror flew him at the idea of innocent souls being lost, along with the underworld and everyone else he cared about. Harmony was one kind of threat, but with the power of Hell behind her, Deidre was something else entirely.
Deidre brushed away Harmony’s attempt to stab her with the sword and strode forward, snatching the death dealer’s neck and lifting her off the ground.
The power flowing through him made the air around his sizzle and the winds avoid him. With a tortured glance at his dying mate, Gabriel started forward at a run towards the newly appointed Dark One. If he didn’t stop this, none of them would survive.
The black hole was tugging at the edge of the palace, and the stones making up his home shuddered and began to break away. The past few months flashed through Gabriel’s mind, his frustration and anger at the challenges of becoming Death, the opening of old wounds when he discovered his mate, the knowledge of all the ages and that the underworld had chosen him.
“No,” he whispered, fury and resolve solidifying within him. “I am the Keeper of the Souls, the master of the underworld. You will not harm my realm!”
The moment the words were spoken, the entire world fell silent, still. Gabriel slowed, not understanding. The storm and black hole were frozen, the fleeing death dealers as well. Nothing moved or stirred, except for him.
The eeriness of the sudden quiet made his skin crawl for more reasons than one. Power was thick in the air. His hair stood on end and the movement of his blood felt electrified. He spun completely around, elated to have stopped the destruction and the death of his mate and realm without fully comprehending his next move.
A sob broke the quiet, and he faced Deidre once more, startled when she stepped away from Harmony in confusion. The death dealer remained suspended above the rooftop, stuck in time like the rest of the world.
Deidre reached for a sword at her feet and hefted it up, preparing to lift it and hack off Harmony’s head.
“Deidre?” Gabriel approached her cautiously, uncertain what to expect.
The woman faced him, black fog tracing her movements and pooling in the air around her. Her eyes were completely black, tears on her cheeks while her chest heaved, as if she was trying not to cry.
He stopped within arms reach. Whereas Darkyn’s magic had been subtle, the woman before him radiated cold power. It was wild, uncontrolled, the opposite of how her mate had handled the power of Hell. Sensing the danger of a Dark One out of control, Gabriel shifted closer.
“This is you.” He pointed to the sky. “Isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Darkyn … gave it to me.”
“So what? You could kill Harmony in cold blood?”
She glanced at the death dealer. “She deserves it.” The vehemence in her voice contained an inhuman edge, another sign she wasn’t in control.
“But you don’t.”
Deidre appeared confused.
“Listen. You aren’t the kind of person who does things like this,” Gabriel said, resting his hands on her shoulders. “Deidre, you aren’t in control right now.”
“Back off, Death,” she snapped and wrenched loose. “I will end this! I must kill her!”
“Are you hearing this?”
Deidre ignored him and lifted the sword with both hands, eyeing Harmony.
Gabriel caught her wrists and twisted the weapon loose, pulling her towards the edge of the roof.
Deidre struggled, and he wrapped both arms around her, stymying her efforts and carrying her.
“Look at what the fuck you’re doing!” he snapped. He faced the wide path of destruction the storm had left.
“I don’t care!” She thrashed at him, the black fog around stretching for the black hole overhead.
“No!” he roared to the power of Hell trying to evade him. “You will obey me!”
The magic froze in midair before retreating back to Deidre. She was fighting him hard.
�
�Stop, Deidre!” he ordered. “The Dark One doesn’t care, but you do! The human side of you. The one mourning the loss of your mate!”
She strained in his grip, and another sob wracked her tiny frame. He held her securely.
“You are destroying my world, Deidre,” he said more quietly. “What happens to the souls in the Lake when your storm takes them? Billions of innocent humans? People you’ve known and cared about?”
She stilled, panting. “I don’t care,” she said more quietly.
“You do. I know you do,” he replied. “You’re hurt, Deidre. You lost someone you care about and you’re seeking revenge in a way that will leave no one standing when it’s over.”
The woman was quiet, her breathing growing more erratic.
“I know what it feels like,” he added. “I know how dark it can get.”
“Stop, Gabriel! Let me go.”
“Not until you listen and see what you’re doing! You’re the one who gave me hope, Deidre. Do you remember what you said? On the beach, the first night we met?”
“No.” It was a forced whisper.
“Death lets you see the stars and the moon instead of how dark the night is,” he repeated. “It gives you hope. You taught me this. After a thousand years of numbness, you reminded me what it means to be human.”
“I’m so tired of all of this, Gabriel. So tired of fear and hurt and … everything.” She was calming, the inhuman edge fading from her voice.
Gabriel released her without moving away. “Look at what you’re doing, Deidre.”
She wiped her face.
They stood quietly, observing the large swath of nothingness that remained from her journey through the forest to the palace.
“My mate is dying.” He cleared his throat at the rough note that crept into his voice. “Yours is dead. Are you really going to punish the souls of so many? Are we going to make each other suffer more?”
Deidre faced him. Her eyes were blue again, the air around her electrified but calmer. “No, Gabriel,” she said. “I couldn’t. I won’t.”
“You’re out of control.” He pointed to the sky. “Just a little. I have a duty to stop you, but doing so will probably destroy everything. You need to stop this, Deidre. You need to keep the part of you that’s human. Trust me, I know how hard it is, and there’s no fucking instruction manual.”
The corner of her mouth turned up in a sad smile. Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I didn’t think I could hurt so much, but this is different. It’s worse than when I thought I was losing you.”
“You really cared for him.”
“I do. I thought I wanted out of this horrible world, to be human and forget everything,” she said. “But I need him. I don’t want to live without him, and I don’t know how to …” she drifted off, grappling with her emotions.
“You need balance,” he finished for her.
“Yeah. Darkyn and … a weekend house on the beach in my world, so I don’t forget what it’s like to be human.”
“Balance is good,” he agreed. “Something I’m working on as well. If you let yourself kill Harmony in cold blood, or you take lives you shouldn’t, you’re going to regret it. Trust me. There’s not enough water in the ocean to fill that void, not for someone as naturally good as you are.”
“She has to pay.”
“Let me handle that. Her soul is destined for Hell anyway. This is my domain, and I reserve the right to reclaim it, which means you need to stop whatever you’re fucking doing and step aside,” he said firmly.
She gazed up at him, sorrow in her features.
“As a fellow deity, we are obliged to fuck with each other mercilessly, plot against one another and also to occasionally pretend to be interested in compromise,” he continued.
Her eyebrows lifted.
“As friends, I’m asking you to step aside and let me handle this. I understand your stake in this. Trust me please, Deidre. I’ll kill her, and you get eternity to fuck with her in Hell.”
“That’s more Darkyn’s thing than mine.” Her gaze went towards Harmony. “I want him back, Gabriel.”
“Are you wanting to make me a deal?”
Deidre hesitated then nodded.
Excitement flickered through him, and he pretended to consider. “You do have something I want.”
Deidre reached for the pouch at her waist and tugged it free. She dumped its contents – two green souls and one the shade of smoky quartz – onto her palm.
Fuck. “You’ve got two things I want,” he said. “Whose is the third?”
“No idea. Fate gave it to me. Said to hang onto it.”
Gabriel was quiet for a moment, pensive. Fate had reason to fear Darkyn was going to do something truly horrible down the road regarding the army of undead the demon lord had been building. To resurrect such an enemy was not going to earn him any points with others like Fate, who already liked too much to conspire against one another.
One look at the uncertain hope on Deidre’s face, however, made him realize he couldn’t say no, either.
“I’ve got conditions,” he started.
“I’m listening.”
“Darkyn is hell bent on destroying the human world or taking it over. There are … people who think he’s got a good chance of doing it. Right now, being dead-dead, he’s neutralized.”
“I won’t let him,” she said firmly. “I’ve told him so.”
“I believe you, but I need a stronger assurance. He’s been collecting souls to add to his undead army. I want those souls back.”
Deidre studied him. “Gabriel, I don’t know where they are.”
“His demons will. When you get back to Hell, you can find them and turn them over to me.”
She was quiet.
“Second, I want past-Death’s soul and mine.” He nodded towards her palm. “If Fate thinks you should keep the third, keep it. Just don’t turn it over to Darkyn.”
Deidre blinked back more tears.
“What’s wrong?” he asked more gently.
“Darkyn said I was a horrible dealmaker. I think he’s right. I know I should have my own conditions, but all I can think about is getting him back.”
“You also know you can trust me,” he reminded her. “I’m not asking for anything that’ll hurt you. Losing the souls will probably piss him off, but you also know it’s for the right reason.”
She nodded, nibbling on her lower lip with her tiny fangs. “There are two things I want from you, Gabe,” she said.
He waited. She appeared to be choosing her words carefully.
“For the first, I want to watch you take care of Harmony and to take her soul back to Hell with me.”
“Easy,” he agreed.
“For the second … every time there’s a full moon, you have to meet me on the beach where we first met,” she whispered. “An eternity is a long time. I think we need to remind each other regularly that we’re still human. I felt that part of me slipping away today, and I can’t … I won’t lose it.”
“I understand that feeling,” he said in a hushed voice.
“If you can’t come, send Deidre,” she added. “She asked me once if we could be friends. I don’t know yet for sure, but I want to give it a try.”
The sweet Deidre was back. She had an edge now and a streak of confidence he didn’t recall about her, but her heart remained as pure as the storm was evil.
Gabriel glanced up to make sure the black hole hadn’t started moving on its own. To his astonishment, it was gone. The skies were cloudy, but this was the normal underworld grey, not the black fog of Hell.
“I really did cause it,” she murmured, following his gaze.
“One of the downfalls of being a deity of human-origin: our domains respond to our emotions. A lesson I recently learned,” Gabriel explained.
“Darkyn had to know that.”
“Oh, he knew. You were the one person in the universe he’d give Hell to, probably because he knew you’d give it right back after you
regained his soul. Am I right?”
She nodded. “I don’t want Hell.”
“There aren’t many people who would pass up ruling the most powerful source of magic in the universe.”
“I don’t care about power, Gabriel. I’ve never wanted more than a cottage on the beach and someone to share it with me. Oh, and not to die of a brain tumor, which worked out.” She cleared her throat. “Sort of.”
“He trusts you.”
A shy smile slid free. “I know. Don’t tell Fate.”
“No worries there. That man has issues.”
“Definitely.”
“We have a deal? I’ll go get Darkyn’s soul if so.”
Deidre held out her hand. “No additional conditions, unwritten terms or creative executions of timeframes.”
“Agreed.” He shook her hand, and their deal was sealed with a flash of cool magic. She handed him the two souls. Exhilaration raced through him. “Wait here.”
Gabriel left the roof, weaving among the statues of death dealers. Once inside, he sprinted towards the bedchamber and ducked into the secret closet, snatching Darkyn’s soul from the caldron.
When he returned, he saw Deidre kneeling over past-Death. He quickened his pace, not fully certain he was able to trust the temporary Dark One with his mate, despite their common understanding and generally good relationship.
“What’re you doing, Deidre?” he called, nearing.
“Something amazing,” she replied, a breathless note in her voice. She leaned back to display past-Death pushing herself into a sitting position. “Look! Good as new!”
Fear shot through him, and Gabriel dropped beside his mate. “Don’t move!” he urged, hurrying to cover the wound in her belly. “Dammit, Deidre! If you’d left her frozen, I-”
“She’s fine,” Deidre replied. She stood and stepped away to give him room. “I don’t know how, but she is.”
“I’m fine,” his mate echoed, pushing his hands away. She met his gaze, and he paused, searching her features. Her cheeks were glowing, her blue eyes bright. She cupped his cheeks with her hands and placed a light kiss on his lips. “You worry too much, Gabriel.”
