Iniquitous: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Book 3)

by Bianca Scardoni

  While I could see the worry on his face, he didn’t say anything about it, and I was grateful for it. I already felt bad enough without him vocalizing how bad I was knifing his insides, or worse, reminding me how much he wanted to kill Dominic for this. While that helped, it wasn’t nearly enough because by the time we finished breakfast (most of which I didn’t touch), things had taken a complete nose-dive. I was starting to get uncontrollably anxious, and twitchy, until it became clear to both of us that I was going to have to return to Dominic’s if I had any hope of keeping myself together long enough for us to find the sisters, and an antidote.

  Frankly, I wasn’t interested in going full Fatal Attraction so I planned on staying as close to Dominic as he would allow me to get. And knowing Dominic, I’d get free reign.

  Thick plumes of fog wafted over Huntington Manor as Trace and I pulled into the driveway. We hadn’t said much to each other on the way over here, and while I couldn’t even begin to imagine what was running through his head, I also didn’t spare it much of my attention. By that point, I was too busy counting down the minutes until I could see Dominic again and finally get some relief for this bloodbond from hell.

  “Good morning, angel,” smiled Dominic as he swung open the front door.

  My desperate need to be in his presence quickly eased, leaving way for logic and reason. And rage.

  I openly glared at him. “You are so dead.”

  “Is that any way to greet the man that saved your life? Multiple times.”

  I pushed passed him and walked inside the house, Trace was right behind me. “How could you not tell me? I trusted you, Dominic!” I said, whipping around to face him.

  Trace scoffed. He was standing just a few inches away and I could tell he was working hard to restrain himself. He’d promised me that he wasn’t going to make this any more difficult on me than it already was, and while he was keeping his hands to himself, I could tell they were itching to disfigure Dominic’s face.

  “What choice did we have, angel?” Dominic crossed his arms and stared down at me. He knew exactly what I was fuming over. “You needed strength and you needed to heal quickly so I did what I had to do. It’s as simple as that.”

  “You bonded me to you for life!” I spat, jabbing my finger into the center of his chest. “That wasn’t part of the deal.”

  He stared down at my little finger pushing into his chest and fought back a smile. “I had to improvise.”

  “Well, improvise this, pal. Not only are you going to help me track down those sisters to undo that damn spell they did, but when they’re done with that, you’re going to make them find a spell to break the bond.”

  “There is no such spell.”

  “You better hope there is, dead boy,” answered Trace as he took a menacing step towards Dominic. “Because if there isn’t, I’m doing this my way and my way ends with you in a pile of dust.”

  Dominic’s back straightened as Trace’s warning sank in. “Well that’s quite an unfortunate turn of events.”

  “Only for you,” said Trace. “The only reason you’re still standing right now is because I promised Jemma I’d let her try this her way. But don’t get comfortable,” he said, taking another step to Dominic. “You’re on borrowed time.”

  “And I thank you for it, love.” Dominic bowed his head to me as he flashed one of his signature smirks.

  My gaze got caught on his mouth as a searing image of his fangs breaking through my skin flashed through my mind.

  Stupid brain. Stupid bloodbonded brain!

  His little smirk turned into a full, seductive grin. “A penny for your thoughts, love?” he asked slyly as though he knew exactly were my mind had gone.

  “You’re so going to burn in Hell for this.” I glowered at him before blowing past him on the way to the den.

  Honestly, there was no point going back and forth about it with him. It was done, solidified in blood, and stomping my feet about it would only get him all riled up. And I didn’t need Dominic all riled up.

  My focus would be better much spent fixing the problem and not crying about it because the sooner we found those witches, the sooner I’d get my freewill and emotions back. And that’s exactly what I intended to do.

  “Tell me you have something on the sisters,” I said as I plopped down on the red sofa, anxious to get this thing started. My hands were getting clammy again and I really wasn’t looking for a sweaty repeat of last night.

  “As always, love, your wish is my command,” said Dominic as he took the chair across from me. He was enjoying this way too much. “I put the word out for us and made a few calls last night. It just so happens that they’re doing a job less than two hours away from here. If we leave now—”

  Trace scoffed again.

  “Problem, Romeo?”

  “Yeah. Your whole shtick sounds a little too convenient.” Suspicion darkened his Adonis features.

  “I didn’t say they agreed to help us. Only that I knew their whereabouts. What comes after that is up in the air.”

  Trace didn’t answer, but I could see he still didn’t trust him.

  I, on the other hand, wasn’t willing to let go of what little hope we had. “It’s a start, Trace, and right now it’s the only thing we got.” I turned back to Dominic. “When do we leave?”

  “As soon as you’d like, angel. I take it Romeo will be joining us this time around?”

  “What do you think, dead boy?” Trace clenched his jaw, his dimples igniting on both sides as the muscles flexed.

  Before Dominic could respond to him, our attention turned to the sound of the front door opening. My gaze snapped to Dominic to see if he was expecting someone, but his face gave no inclination of it.

  “Shh!” I hushed them even though neither one of them were talking. My heart was pounding so fast and hard in my ears, I could barely hear my own thoughts. “It’s a Rev.”

  I had no idea why I said that or what made me think it was a Revenant, but I did.

  I felt it.

  After a few brisk footsteps from the hallway, Gabriel Huntington appeared in the doorway, confirming I wasn’t batshit crazy. He was wearing dark jeans and a dark burgundy t-shirt topped off with his black leather jacket and absolutely no hint of a smile. His eyes immediately fell on me and remained there until Dominic finally broke the uncomfortable silence.

  “Nice of you to join us, brother.” He sank back in his seat and crossed his legs, gearing himself up to ruffle Gabriel’s feathers as usual. “I see you’re taking full advantage of that pesky day-walking conundrum.”

  Gabriel didn’t respond. He just continued staring at me like a deer caught in the headlights. There were so many emotions swirling in his eyes, it was making me dizzy trying to figure them all out.

  “Wait. Day-walking?” I was sure I heard that wrong. But then, how did Gabriel just stroll into here in the middle of the day without self-combusting?

  Holy shit on a stick.

  There had to be another explanation…some kind of Bat Mobile and UV protection gear. Okay, so I had no idea what I was talking about.

  “It appears that spell did a lot more than just color the sky, love,” said Dominic not even bothering to hide the fact that he was reveling in this unexpected consequence. And by the looks on everyone’s faces, that only made one of us.

  “I was worried sick about you,” said Gabriel. His eyes hadn’t strayed even an inch from mine. There was no avoiding the anchor of disappointment weighing them down.

  I stood up from the couch, fiddling with my fingers as I tried to find the right words to explain why he wasn’t one of the very first calls I made as soon as I got back. I came up empty.

  “I’m an ass.” I shrugged my shoulder as a pile of lame excuses came bubbling out of my mouth. “It was late when we got back, and I was so tired from everything that happened, and—”

  “I thought you were dead.” He took a step into the room, driving his point right into my heart.

  “Nope.
Not dead. You know me, nine lives and all,” I offered in a joking manner, but his serious expression didn’t falter. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to joke my way out of this. He was worried and hurt and I owed him a galactic-sized apology. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. I meant to call you—I should have called.”

  “Yes, you should have.”

  “In her defense,” said Dominic, “She had just come back from slaying Engel and thwarting his plans to take over the world. I’d venture she was quite exhausted.”

  Gabriel’s eyes softened a little, and I swore it looked like there was some pride in there too. “Don’t ever do that again. Do you undertand?”

  You have my word.” I grinned and then shuffled over to him. “God, I missed you.” Bouncing on the tips of my toes, I wrapped him in a bear hug and squeezed. When I pulled back, his moss-colored eyes glimmered at me and I knew I had him back.

  “I…I missed you too.” While he looked wholly uncomfortable saying the words, I could tell he meant them.

  “Does Tessa know I’m back?”

  “I called her as soon as I heard.” His eyes shifted to Dominic, letting me know he was the one who let Gabriel in on everything that had happened.

  “I figured he ought to at least know you were alive,” said Dominic. He wanted to appear nonchalant about it, but I could tell there was something more to it. He knew Gabriel was important to me and that he would be worried sick about me, and even though he didn’t fully trust his brother when it came to matters of the Council, he knew that I cared about him.

  “Thank you,” I nodded over to Dominic and then turned my attention back to Gabriel, anxious to get some intel out of him. “What about the Council? Do they know?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t said a word to them.” His eyes sharpened when he added, “Dominic told me what happened the night of the party. I…I don’t really know what to say.”

  “So, you think they were behind it too?” I already knew they were, but I wanted to see where his head was at.

  His expression soured. “I don’t see how it could have been anyone else,” he said and then dropped his head in shame as though the blood were on his hands too. “If I had known what they were planning—”

  “I know.” I quickly cut him off. He didn’t need to explain anything to me. I knew he would have tried to stop them, or at the very least, warned me about it.

  “What’s the official word on her?” asked Trace. He was standing with his shoulder against the threshold, his arms crossed over his husky chest. “I haven’t been able to get a straight answer from anyone.”

  “Same,” Gabriel said and then turned back to me. “Your status was changed to Active Duty the day after you disappeared.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means they’re trying to cover their tracks,” answered Trace. “Make it look like you’ve been out on official business so no one suspects they tried to take you out.”

  “Is that true?” I looked to Gabriel for confirmation.

  “It does appear that way,” he said, regret heavy in his eyes.

  I couldn’t believe the lengths they would go to get rid of me and then hide to truth about what really happened. If I had any doubt before, it had completely evaporated now. They were behind my attack, of that I was sure, and the minute they found out I was still alive, they were going to come for me again.

  The only way to get them off my tail now was to eradicate my threat to them entirely. Unfortunately, there was only two ways to do that: I either had to be dead for good or I had to go to Hell and slay the devil himself.

  Like, seriously. Eff my life.

  I pulled in a breath and tried to re-center myself. I could only focus on putting out one fire at a time or I risked falling head-first into the whole damn inferno.

  “Have they said anything about the sky?” I asked, hoping he could give us some insight into what we were up against.

  “The Council’s been on lockdown since last night. No one is getting in or out of Temple.”

  My eyes widened. “That bad?”

  “It appears the dimensional walls have been compromised between our world and the others. Sanguinarium in particular has begun bleeding into our Realm. Hence the red sky and the day-walking.”

  “Oh, my God.” I knew it was bad, but I didn’t think it was apocalyptic bad. I lowered myself back onto the couch in case my legs decided to give out on me. They had a habit of doing that at the worst possible times.

  “They’re not sure how it happened, but they have their best High Casters working around the clock trying to reinforce the walls,” he continued, his voice sans emotion. “The only saving grace is that mortals don’t appear to see it.”

  “Yeah, we figured as much when we didn’t see total chaos on the streets this morning,” said Trace as he bounced a look between me and Gabriel. “Everyone was just going about their business, getting their latte’s and shit.”

  “I almost wish that wasn’t the case.”

  “Why?” I asked, baffled. The last thing we needed was mass hysteria.

  “Unfortunately, word is spreading quickly through the Revenants hives,” answered Gabriel grimly. “There’s already been four animal attacks this morning, and I suspect that’s only the beginning.”

  And by animal attacks, he meant vampire attacks covered up by the Council.

  This was so not good. If Revenants were catching on that the sun was no longer a barrier to them, they’d have free reign to hunt all day and night, which meant twice as many victims, if not more.

  “We need to find the sisters,” I said, running my palm over my clammy forehead. “We’re just sitting around wasting time when we should be on the road tracking them.”

  “She’s right,” agreed Dominic and then took a sip of his drink.

  I’d lost count of how many of those he had since we got there. “You might want to slow it down. It’s not even noon,” I reminded him. Plus, we really didn’t need him shitfaced if things went bad with the sisters.

  “Always worrying about me.”

  “Just making sure you don’t get us killed.”

  “If you say so, angel,” he said with a wink. His eyes darkened with hidden meaning when he added, “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

  Heat immediately flamed my cheeks.

  Gabriel watched our exchange before narrowing his eyes at me. “Is everything alright?”

  “Yeah. Yes,” I sputtered, visibly affected.

  “You seem flushed.”

  I was beyond mortified. “I’m fine. I just want to get this over with.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was the stress of what was going on or the withdrawals from Dominic’s nightly visits, but sitting there with Gabriel witnessing my total system meltdown nearly pushed me over the edge.

  “You don’t look fine,” said Trace as he stalked over to me, inspecting my face as he knelt down before me and then checked my temperature like I was nine years old.

  “I’m fine,” I said as I looked around the room, my irritation growing thicker under my skin. All eyes were on me and it was only making me hotter and more sweaty. “Can everyone stop staring at me? I said I’m fine! Jeez, haven’t you people ever been hot before?”

  “Easy, temptress.”

  Gabriel gave a circular nod and then shifted his gaze to Dominic, eyeing him suspiciously. Trace never took his eyes off me. I wasn’t sure which one of them was more annoying at this point.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to lay down for a while?”

  “No,” I gritted through my teeth. “I don’t want to lie down.”

  “Stop pestering her,” said Dominic. “Can’t you see you’re irritating her.” He was staring right at Trace.

  “You don’t know the first thing about her,” answered Trace, straightening out—readying himself for a fight.

  “I assure you,” answered Dominic as he took a final sip of his drink and placed the glass on the table. “I know much more about her than you�
��ll ever know, and in ways you’ll never know her.”

  That was all it took. Trace barreled across the room, lunging into Dominic like a raging bull out for blood. All I could see was a tangle of fists flying every which way as blood sprayed out from both of them. Gabriel quickly jumped in, clamping his hands down on both of their shoulders as he tried to pull them apart, but their attacks on each other were relentless.

  They both wanted this fight and neither one was letting Gabriel get in the middle of them. Like marble statues of Greek gods come to life, they pounded their fists into each other until the sound of cracking bone filled the room.

  “Stop it!” I yelled, but it wasn’t loud enough, or maybe they were just ignoring me. Anger and fear marred in my veins as my pulse pounded louder and louder in my ears. I was scared for the both of them, yet equally angry at them, and for completely different reasons that I hadn’t even begun to understand yet.

  I couldn’t take the incessant fighting, the constant bickering and bloodshed. I had reached my boiling point.

  I screamed again, this time louder than I’d ever screamed before, and as if on perfect cue, every piece of glass in the room shattered around us, bursting in the air like confetti.

  All three of them ducked down, covering their heads as the shattered glass rained down all around us.

  When the dust settled, they straightened to their full heights. Gabriel’s eyes immediately scanned the room, looking for clues as to what just happened while Dominic brushed off the small pieces of glass from his shirt.

  And Trace…Trace just stared at me, wide-eyed and shell-shocked.

  24. A ROUND PEG IN A SQUARE HOLE

  “What just happened?” asked Gabriel, still looking nervously around the room for answers, waiting for someone to elaborate. His gaze paused on Trace upon noticing that he was staring directly at me.

  “I…” I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I had no idea what just happened.

  Gabriel blinked as though trying to make sense out of the nonsense his brain was likely telling him. “Was…that you?”