Before I could do more than stand up, Caius snatched the old woman by the throat and slammed her against the wall. “You should! This is not what it once was, I have no reason to let you live.”
“Whoa! Caius, let’s not kill the Watcher, okay?” I moved to help Nadia but as I reached for Caius, unsure how to make him stop, her eyes glowed white and he flew across the room, slamming into the opposite wall with enough force to crack it.
Pain lanced through the back of my skull and warmth trickled down my neck. Reaching with a shaking hand, I felt into my hair. My fingers came back wet with blood. Nadia stared at my fingers, then at Caius who stood in nearly the same position as me, blood on his hand and markings glowing bright. “What is this?”
“One bleeds the other bleeds,” Caius said. “You might consider that before damaging me too much.”
“That is not the way it is supposed to work.” Nadia glanced between us again.
“When both sides enter it willingly, that is exactly how it works. Especially given what she is.” Caius growled.
Nadia straightened her dress. “Be that as it may, I will not allow you to abuse me in my own home.”
“You think your little trick is enough to stop me?” Something dark and dangerous hovered behind his eyes.
“Frankly, I am a little surprised at your lack of patience.” Nadia squared her shoulders. “You used to have more.”
Caius sent her an icy look. “I used to trust you too.”
“That was a long time ago. A decision I have often regretted, one I can no more change than the time of day.” Nadia sighed. “The key is not something I just hand out freely. It is for only one thing and that is to be kept from use, especially by two such as you. Why would you ask me for it?”
Before Caius could start throwing her around again, I said, “We were sent by the Head of Reapers and the Head of Demonborn to get it. We need to get the dagger.”
Nadia’s face paled. “Reapers and demonborn working together? What has become of the world that something like this could happen?”
“Souls, thousands of them every shift, are becoming Lost. We need the dagger to stop that.”
Confusion clouded Nadia’s expression as she moved to sit down in the chair. “It must have more than one purpose then. Did they bother to tell you of the dagger?”
“Only that it can find the one causing the Lost,” Caius said, pushing away from the wall and returning to the table. The markings faded and he seemed calmer. “What do you know of it?”
“Less than you might imagine considering I’m to guard it. The true nature of the dagger is broken into three pieces. I have one, the other Watcher has another, and the last piece resides with the dagger itself,” Nadia said.
Alaric hadn’t mentioned any of this. Was it because he didn’t know? “What does your piece say?”
Nadia hesitated as if unsure she wanted to reveal it. After a long silence she finally said, “In blood and sacrifice, the Key of Worlds will open…”
“Open what?” I asked. What was with all of the cryptic crap? Did the powers that be have an issue with clarity? In blood and sacrifice. That didn’t give me any warm fuzzies.
Nadia shrugged. “I have no idea. That is all my piece says.”
“Why didn’t Sinmar tell me this?” Caius stood and began pacing across the small space. He shot a sharp look my direction, his eyes glowing slightly. “Did Alaric tell you any of this?”
I shook my head.
The tiny home seemed to shrink the more Caius paced. When he neared the door on his fifth pass, he yanked it open and walked out into the dim gray light of predawn, shutting the door behind him. I stood, unsure if I should follow. Where in the nine hells did he think he was going anyway? We didn’t know where the key was yet.
Nadia laid a wrinkled hand on my arm. “Do not fret, child. He will return.”
“What’s the point in leaving in the first place?”
She sighed, a sad look in her eyes. “Caius does not take betrayal well. And right now he is realizing either the two who sent you were ignorant of that which they sought, or they intentionally deceived you for reasons unknown.”
That hadn’t occurred to me. But…why would Alaric lie? I couldn’t believe he would have done that. It must be he didn’t know about any of this. And in the end, we didn’t even know what Nadia’s piece of information meant.
It could be the rest of it went on to say something about opening eyes to reveal the one who was causing the Lost. Or it would open a can of Spaghetti-Os, who knows. There was no reason to assume we were being lied to.
Since there was no point in worrying about that now, I eyed the older woman. She seemed more than familiar with Caius. “How do you know so much about Caius?”
“Once upon a time, a rather long time ago, Caius and I were lovers.”
That was not what I expected to hear at all.
***
“I might have handled the situation better if not for Nadia. There are still days I wish I had killed her.” ~ Caius
Chapter 23
I stared stupidly at the old woman, trying to wrap my mind around her words. “You were what?”
Nadia chuckled quietly. “A long time ago, when I was a girl of barely twenty years.”
I studied the fine web of lines that creased her face. “How long ago was that?”
“Oh, a little over three hundred years ago now.” She nodded as if reading the next question in my mind. “I was granted a longer lifespan when I became the Watcher.”
“How did you two become lovers?” What would attract someone to a demonborn?
“Like I said, I was young. And a mortal human. At first, he simply bloodbound me, demonborn often do in order to have helpers in the mortal world. Some demonborn can also have…undesirable appetites for their bound. Caius is not afflicted with such a shortcoming. He wanted a safe haven, which my place became. Someplace he could go to if he needed to recover from an injury, occasionally a meal. Yes, he took my blood on more than one occasion.”
My eyes widened. “I thought demonborn always killed the people they take blood from.”
“Some do, especially younger demonborn. Most only take what they need and move on.” Nadia frowned as if the memory of being a snack wasn’t a pleasant one.
I could sympathize with that even as her words caught me by surprise. “I know they crave blood, I didn’t know they need it.”
“They rarely need it. If one has been severely injured, he or she will heal quicker if they take fresh blood. I suppose even then they do not particularly need it, but they will heal much slower without it. ” Nadia absently wiped crumbs from the table. “Caius did not suffer such severe injury often, so I was rarely required to give my blood and he never took it without need.”
I mentally rolled my eyes, how noble of him. “So they can’t heal without sucking off someone. Fabulous.”
“They can heal without it. Minor injuries heal quickly with no problem. A major injury, like a broken bone, will take a little longer. Severe injuries such as stabbed in the gut with a sword will take much longer to heal and will be quite painful while it does so. It is for those last types that Caius would take blood.”
“How did you become more than his safety net and personal blood bank?” Wasn’t there a syndrome out there for when captives fall in love with their captors? Maybe that’s what happened to Nadia.
The old woman shook her head and chuckled. “He came to like me. Began to visit when he had no need of anything. Began to ask permission before he took my blood. And then one day, he set me free.”
“You mean he severed the bond? Without taking your soul?” This was surreal, like I had stepped into another dimension.
“He did, to no small suffering of his own. I understand the action is quite painful. It looked like it and I doubt he could have pretended such a thing.” A distant look filled Nadia’s eyes as if she saw into the past. “After it was over, he continued to visit me. Never again did he ask
to take my blood or demand anything of me. I could have moved, found a man, anything. I eventually fell in love with him.”
“What happened?”
Nadia stood abruptly and began clearing the dishes. “I betrayed him in a way he could never forgive. His fury was murderous. In order to protect me from the consequences of my actions, the gods made me a Watcher over the key since the previous Watcher was at the end of his life. Or, maybe it was in punishment for what I did. Either way, here I am.”
I shouldn’t ask it. I knew I shouldn’t. I asked anyway, “How did you betray him?”
“That is between Caius and myself.” Nadia turned away, putting the dishes in the sink. Something about the action, and her body language, effectively let me know the conversation was over.
I couldn’t help wondering, though, how someone who was half-demon could be so upset by betrayal. Granted, there was a whole lot about this side of the veil I didn’t know yet and most of what I did know was completely different than what I thought they were when I lived in the mortal world. Still, it seemed strange for those who were supposed to be the bad guys to get upset when other people played by their rules.
Leaving the table, I wandered around Nadia’s dwelling. A small bed and wardrobe rested near the far wall. Narrow shelves on another wall held an assortment of teacups in every style and size imaginable. A collector’s delight, no doubt, if someone was interested in teacups. Myself, I didn’t understand the want, but hey, it takes all kinds and what not.
The door opened, allowing the icy wind outside to sweep through the room. I shivered and turned. Caius stepped inside and closed the door. Though he appeared calmer now, the space still seemed to shrink with him in it. His crimson cloak covered his arms, but his eyes weren’t glowing so I assumed he wasn’t on the verge of hulking out.
“The key, Nadia, where is it?” Caius asked, his voice rough with irritation.
The old woman turned and regarded first him, then me for several long moments before finally saying, “I will tell you. Whatever it is you two have gotten yourselves mixed up in, it is not for me to refuse its location when you have been sent specifically for it.”
She pressed her hand to one wall. A whisper of a click and a drawer opened. Nadia withdrew a small tube and then pushed the drawer shut. It disappeared completely, leaving me wondering just how many of those hidden compartments existed in the walls.
Nadia took my hand and pressed the tube into it. “This key must be retrieved by you.”
Yay, another thing that must be done by me, probably because of the angel blood.
She turned to Caius. “But you will have to work together.”
What was that supposed to mean? Weren’t we already working together?”
“Thank you, Nadia,” Caius said although it looked like it pained him to say it.
“Anything for you, Caius,” Nadia said.
Caius’s golden eyes hardened. “Not anything.”
“No, I suppose not.” Regret weighed heavy in Nadia’s voice and in her expression.
What had she done to leave Caius still angry with her almost three centuries later?
I didn’t get much time to dwell on it. Caius motioned for me to follow and then turned and left. I glanced at Nadia. “Thank you for helping us, and for the food.”
“No thanks needed, child. You best hurry now.”
Nodding, I dashed out the door after Caius whose long legs had already carried him some distance from Nadia’s. I started to jog after him, trying to catch up.
***
“Nadia. Her betrayal still stung, though the years had tempered my rage. Forgiveness was something I could never give her.” ~Caius
Chapter 24
“Hey,” I yelled across the intervening space. “You don’t even know where you’re going.” Caius paused and waited for me to catch up. “Don’t you kind of need this? Or were you planning on just stomping all over the place with your panties in a wad?”
One of Caius’s eyebrows rose. “My what?”
I gestured at him with the short, slender tube. “You’re so busy being pissy at Nadia for something she did three hundred years ago you seem to have forgotten it wasn’t a social visit. By the way,” I pulled the stopper off the end of the tube and dumped the small roll of paper into my hand, careful to close my fingers around it before the wind could snatch it away, “three centuries is a really long time to mope around about something. You should consider getting over whatever it was already.”
“I don’t forgive betrayal. Ever.” He growled, clearly annoyed with me now.
I shrugged. “Kind of a high and mighty attitude for someone who is part demon, don’t you think?”
Caius’s hand shot out, grabbing my wrist and wrenching the piece of paper from my grasp. “Despite what you may think, you know nothing of demonborn.”
“Yeah, you’re all a bunch of saints who never betray anyone.” I rubbed at my wrist and glared at him.
“Not all of us fit neatly into the box you’ve placed us in.” He turned his attention on the piece of paper he’d taken from me. “We need to go this way.”
Grumbling to myself, I followed him up the side of the mountain as we made a wide circle around it. Occasional rocks rolled out from under my feet. I cursed each and every one of them. Just once I wanted to see the rocks go out from under Caius’s feet and dump him on his ass. Sadly, the rocks didn’t comply with my wishes.
After nearly an hour of steep climbing around the barren flanks of the mountain, we found what we were looking for as the sun broke the horizon. At least, I guess it was what we were looking for. Another rock that wasn’t a rock. Caius studied it and then stepped back. “Press your palm against it. I’m not permitted to open this. You have to do it.”
I trudged over to the rock, pressing my hand to the cold, smooth surface. Nothing happened. Feeling foolish, I started to pull my hand away.
Caius’s hand came down on my shoulder. “Don’t move it.”
Rolling my eyes I held still, hand on the rock. The stone flashed hot. Startled, I jumped back. Caius’s arms caught me before I could tumble backward down the mountainside. “Try not to fall off the mountain, Reaper.”
“I’ll do my best.” I managed to right myself and step away from him as I searched my palm for injuries. Though not burnt, it was still red from the heat.
The rock opened to reveal another tube. Wonderful. Was there some law against everything being in one place? Why couldn’t they have just let Nadia keep the key in her little house thing?
The wind howled around the mountain in an icy blast, making me shiver despite my cloak. Caius, who seemed annoyingly oblivious to it, reached in and plucked the tube from its resting place. After removing the cork at the end, another rolled slip of paper fell out.
I waited, a little impatient for him to read it. His scowl deepened and I crossed my arms. “Well, what does it say?”
“It says it’s nowhere near here.”
I suppressed a shiver as the wind howled past us. “Figures. So where is it?”
“Southern Russia.” Caius turned and started back down the mountain.
I hurried after him. “Russia? Why on the other side of the world?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “This isn’t supposed to be easy, Reaper.”
“Why not? It isn’t as if angels and demons work together a lot. How many pairs of us did they think would go traipsing after this dagger?”
Caius paused and turned, the look in his eyes halting me. “It might surprise you how often demons and angels have worked together in the past. You seem to think there is some moral line drawn in the sand that neither side ever crosses, and you couldn’t be more wrong. I can only attribute your misunderstanding to the fact you were raised in the mortal world with all of their misconceptions and fairytales. Whatever you think you learned there, it would be best to forget it.”
“Whatever I learned there?” I scowled. “You seem to forget that I did have to go through reaper
training when I got here. They do teach us how things work on this side.”
“A biased view seen through the rose-colored glasses of those who live on your side of the river in Midtween.” He snorted and started walking again.
Unsure of what to say to that, I followed after him. Was I missing that much, or was he just jaded because of what he was? An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Caius could be lying, but what would be the point? And he had been around a long time. Then again, so had Alaric, who could also be lying.
It was stupid to doubt everything I had learned since going to live in Midtween because of something one demonborn said. And yet, the uneasy feeling continued. The one that asked if I was really the only one who could have been sent for this task. The one that wondered if my half-angel status made that much of a difference.
I finally pulled myself from the disquieting thoughts filling my mind long enough to ask, “Are you planning to walk to Russia or something? I don’t know exactly how long you’ve been around, but you should know the land bridge between Alaska and Russia disappeared quite some time ago.”
Caius chuckled. “I haven’t been around long enough to have witnessed the land bridge. So no, I am not planning to walk to Russia.”
“Okay,” I glanced around at the treeless mountains covered in their low growth of grasses. “So how are we going to get there?”
Doorways and natural arches made it so we could get in and out of the Between, they didn’t allow us to transport ourselves around the globe on this side of the veil any more than they would let us go from one point in the Between to another. They were strictly for crossing the veils.
“We will have to return to the otherside of the veil and then come back.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a little dangerous given that we aren’t even supposed to be doing this and nobody is supposed to know about it?”
He shook his head. “We will have to risk it.”
He was right. I didn’t want him to be, but that didn’t make it any less so.
Unveiled (Raven Daughter Book 1) Page 15
