Two wiry Hounds stalk out into the light, their lips curled up over jagged teeth. Ariana stiffens and forces one foot in front of the other.
“They won’t attack unless I command them to. So be a good girl, do as you’re told and you’ll be fine. Understand?”
She nods and creeps backward to Gaius.
He unlocks the doors of a car parked next to the curb, opens the passenger door, and gestures for her to get inside. She does so.
“Buckle up,” he says, then slams the door. Gaius slides into the driver’s seat and starts the engine.
“Where are we going?” she asks.
“Your place.”
She shakes her head. “But you won’t be able to get in. I told you that. I wasn’t lying.”
Gaius laughs. “There isn’t a camera in the world that will detect my presence.”
Ariana groans. “Damn it!”
Gaius laughs again, loud and strong. “Exactly.” He slams the accelerator down and they roar away, the Hounds pounding behind the car as it maneuvers through the dark streets.
“Why can I see you then? Why am I able to see you?”
Gaius’s eyebrows arch high. “You have no fuckin’ clue, do you? Stupid little bitch.”
She breathes deeply, anger now scalding her insides. That’s one thing she detests being called. Ariana bites down hard on her bottom lip. “What don’t I have a clue about?”
He looks at her, his face twisted in disgust. “You’re a Fioren native. Only humans can’t see me.”
All breath wheezes from her lungs, and her head lightens as though she could float away on a wispy cloud. A native of Fiore. What the hell does that mean?
The car pulls in front of Hadeon’s apartment building, and the dogs slide to a skidding stop behind the car. Gaius knows exactly where she lives, which means he must have been following her. The realization makes her shudder.
Gaius jumps out, runs to her side, opens the door, and yanks her out onto the sidewalk. She almost loses her balance, but he holds her upright with a tight hand on her upper arm and a fist in her hair.
“Ow!” she screams, and the Hounds howl and howl like savage, spooked wolves.
“Shut up,” he yells at them. They fall silent. “And same goes to you, loud-mouth bitch.”
His words stab at her, spoken with fierce vehemence, and she cringes. Evil pulses off him in waves, rolling over her.
Oh God, Hadeon, please hurry. She hopes when Hadeon doesn’t find her at the club, that he realizes Gaius has brought her to the apartment.
Gaius drags Ariana into the building, to the elevators. The dogs follow, cramming into the tight space, filling the air with their putrid stench. She dry-retches and covers her nose with her palm.
“Take me to the book,” he says, a devilish smile across his face like a wicked clown.
She creeps around the Hounds, holding her breath, and runs her charm under the scanner. The elevator lights spring to life. She presses number twenty-three and they soar upward.
Gaius laughs. Ariana’s stomach curdles, and her face feels cold as all the blood rushes away from her head.
The doors open at the silent apartment. Her throat is so tight, and the dull ache between her shoulder blades intensifies. Gaius shoves her in the back and she flings forward onto the floor, landing on her knees and elbows. The dogs bound in after her, growling in her ears.
“Stand back,” Gaius yells at them.
They retreat, one paw at a time, snarls rumbling in their throats.
“Get up,” he screams.
Ariana crawls to her feet, every muscle vibrating.
“Take me to the book,” he says.
She bites down on her bottom lip, wanting so much to cry, but will not give him that satisfaction. No way in hell will she show him that side of her. Sucking in hard, trembling breaths, she walks down the hall. Gaius’s hand is on her back, pushing her along.
In her bedroom, she heads to the walk-in closet and uses her charm to open the safe. Inside, her spell book glows. Can she just hand it over like this? She looks back at Gaius, at his expectant face, his eyes burning deep blue, then at the dogs, their hungry mouths and bared teeth.
The Oracle’s words whirl in her head. They are coming for you and seek to destroy everything you stand for.
But I don’t even know what I stand for?
A traitorous tear rolls from the corner of her eye, down her cheek. She scrubs it away with her palm.
“Hurry up!” screams Gaius, his voice deep and harsh.
She clasps the book. Energy streams up her arms like she’s dunking her hands in calming, warm water. She turns to him and he snatches it from her. His shoulders shake as rapture overcomes him. He looks up at the ceiling, his eyes glowing dark and ominous, and cackles.
His expression is mocking; the glee on his face is all for her. Because of her ridiculous inability to experience boredom or be alone, afraid of where her thoughts will wander if she is. And this lust—fierce and fiery in her cells, unquenchable—pointing her, always, in the wrong direction.
Anger swells, making her skin tingle and burn. Ariana’s mind races as Gaius spins and hurries away, the dogs chasing after him. She follows, breaths coming short and hard. Her body is trembling, not from fear now, but from fury at this injustice. How dare he come in here and take what is hers? How dare he?
He throws a look over his shoulder, that mocking grin still flashing. How could she have kissed those lips, or trusted that traitor, that liar? He rounds the corner at the end of the hallway, almost to the elevators.
If he gets in that elevator, he will be gone. He and the book gone into the night, and she may never be able to find it again. Ariana still doesn’t quite understand the power of the book, but she has tasted a few small treats.
I need something to stop him and hold him off until Hadeon gets here.
Gaius’s finger stretches for the elevator button. Her mind tumbles and expands. She searches the shrouded contents. If only she can shake away the fogginess.
That’s it.
Ariana lifts her chin high and says, “From the dark reaches of the wastelands, come. Swell, swirl, and amass. Spread your gloom. Make he who is solid a gas.”
A whisper in the air, a moaning, like a thousand tortured souls trapped and singing their mournful song into the night, spreads across the room. Darkness expands and thickens. She can smell the muddy banks from which it came.
Gaius turns to face her, his eyebrows arching high. His mouth falls open, not of his own doing, but by that of the gloom amassing in the air. The mist conjoins; looks like the long-fingered hand of the devil. It pulls Gaius’s mouth open and shoves its way into his throat.
The Hounds snarl at her and bark. The violence and brutality in that sound pierce her eardrums. But she’s spellbound by the scene in front of her, the way his body hazes and falls away, sizzling and misting, until he is nothing but a colorful spray of steam floating in the air.
He still bears the shape of a man, but she could slip her hand all the way through him and out the other side.
The dogs snarl and pad toward her, their sharp claws scratching on the timber floor. She doesn’t understand why they didn’t vaporize too. Ariana looks around her, for something hard, something that will bear enough brute force against these rabid beasts, muzzles salivating for her blood. But she finds nothing.
The Hounds sense her fear and they hasten toward her. She screams and screams then ducks and throws her hands over her head as they jump at her. But the most gut-wrenching howls slice through the apartment, followed by a wet spray across her face and arms.
She snaps her head up to see what’s happening. The Hounds are still in mid-air, both throats slit, blood spraying across the room. Hadeon’s sword whirls behind his back. He changes direction and swings, carving into the dogs again with his sword. They fall to the floor with a loud clunk, like a sack of bloody flour, wheezes and gurgles spewing from their throats.
Ariana scrambles back
ward, her feet slipping along the red-stained floor. Hadeon lifts his sword into the air and thrusts it down into the top of the first Hound’s head. He slides it out, movement quicker than Ariana can remain focused on, and performs the same action with the next.
Hadeon sheaths his sword and runs to Ariana’s side. “Are you hurt?”
She shakes her head.
“Did they bite or scratch, even the slightest?”
Again she shakes her head, words not quite able to be formed.
He sighs.
Ariana points to Gaius’s floaty remains. “He still has the spell book.”
Hadeon inclines his head toward Gaius. “You’ve misted the book too?”
“I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to stop him from leaving with it.”
“You’ll just have to reverse the spell.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know how.”
“You must. Think.”
Ariana breathes deeply and focuses her mind. Words swirl and form in her mind, much like the mist did. She doesn’t understand how she can remember these spells, she’s never been good at remembering anything, but it feels like they have become a part of her, and if she looks hard enough, deep enough, they stir within and show themselves.
She nods. “I remember. Do you know how to kill him?”
Hadeon’s face hardens.
“Okay, stupid question.” She looks at Gaius. “Of form, flesh and bone this one has come. Retreat the swell of gloom, back to your home.”
High-pitched, desperate screaming fills the room and falls away until it sounds distant, as though a vacuum has sucked the sound away. The room darkens and congeals, followed by bright flashes of light, and then silence descends.
Gaius opens his eyes. Hadeon is before him.
Gaius turns to run, but Hadeon grabs him, both hands on his head, and snaps his neck with two quick twists. His body slumps to the floor, the spell book falling from his limp hands. Ariana lurches to her feet, grabs the book, and pulls it to her body.
Hadeon glares at her, his chest heaving.
“I know. I know,” she says. “I’m never leaving your sight again. Ever.” She steps toward him and kisses his cheek, lingering long enough to allow his warmth to wrap around her. “Thank you. Again.”
He stares at her with his deep brown eyes. “Go shower. You smell like a wet dog. I’ll clean this up.”
Chapter 9
Ariana soaks in a tub filled with cherry-blossom scented bubble bath for an hour, wanting to wash away all traces of the Hounds’ foul blood. Also, she is biding her time before she has to face Hadeon and explain what she has done.
She dresses in her pajamas and sits on her bed to comb her shampooed hair. A knock sounds at the door, then the door open and Hadeon walks in. She smiles, barely able to meet his gaze. He wears black sweatpants, his upper half bare. The tattoos and his rock-hard body thieve her attention. He looks like he’s been carved from the hardest, sexiest piece of granite available.
He sits beside her on the bed. She’s mesmerized as he stares into her eyes. He takes a ribbon of her wet hair between his thumb and forefinger and slides down the length of it until his hand falls away. Saying nothing, his fingers float to her face and flutter down her cheek. Her need throbs as his thumb rubs along her bottom lip. Ariana’s breaths grow heavy. This simple gesture of affection makes her body warm and melt like ice in a fire.
“I’m sorry,” he says, his voice hoarse and gentle.
“Why? I’m the one who went out searching for trouble.”
His face nears; he slants his mouth over Ariana’s and slides his tongue between her lips. She sighs, both pleasure and angst, for she knows he will not allow this to advance any further. His hands cup her cheeks as his kiss grows deeper. Then he pulls away, and she is bereft. His forehead rests against hers, breaths heavy.
“I know why you did what you did. Why you do what you always do. I understand how it feels. The lust you feel, so intense it burns a path through your skull if you don’t feed it. I know how it feels to be swept up in a moment of passion, yearning to satiate the desire that grows hot like a fire in your belly.”
She backs away a fraction. Never before has someone been able to describe these emotions, sensations, and desires. “How?” she whispers, edging toward his lips with her own until they touch, warm and alive. His tongue finds hers again and she moans. His tenderness is unfurling her like a ripe bud.
His lips fall to her neck, then slide up her jaw, breath and fire burning along her flesh. His hot mouth tantalizes her ear. “It’s a part of you, Ariana. It makes you who you are, and me who I am.”
Again she rocks away and looks into his eyes, which are now a lighter brown than they have ever been. His face is so alluring she could cry. She wants to speak great floods of words, but she can’t, trapped between bemusement, curiosity, and the most brilliant yearning she has ever experienced.
“You’re not angry?” she asks.
His lips twitch into a smile. “Not much. I blame myself. I’ve been neglecting you, and I’m sorry.”
Despite her immense arousal, annoyance creeps under her skin. How egotistical is he to believe that because of him she went seeking the arms of another man? She grips his shoulders to push him away, but her hands burn to touch a body like his.
He grins again, sensing her growing disquiet.
Ariana harnesses all her power and slides back from him, releasing his shoulders. “Well, aren’t you cocky to think that you’re the sole reason I went out tonight?”
His smile never falters. “Whatever the reason,” he says, voice deep and tender, “I will try to be around more often from now on.”
She forces a look of indignation onto her face. “I guess I would like some company from time to time.”
He nods and starts to stand. Before she even realizes she’s done it, she clutches his hand and pulls him back to her. “Don’t leave me alone.”
Hadeon crawls over her and lies back on the pillows beside her. She joins him, resting her head on his naked chest and nestling against his big, hard body. She feels safe with him. Protected.
He strokes the hair from her forehead and kisses her head. “I’m just glad you survived tonight,” he whispers.
She senses suppressed grief in his tone. “Me too.”
He kisses her head again.
“Can you stay with me tonight?” she asks.
Hadeon tenses. “We can never be lovers, Ariana. I need to make that clear.”
Her chest heaves as though someone has sat on top of her, and her throat grows tight. “That’s not what I’m asking.” Unsure of what she wants from him or what the feeling is storming through her body and making her eyes glisten, she says, “I just want you to be here. With me.”
He slides his arm around her and pulls her closer to him. “I want that too.”
Chapter 10
Two months later
Hadeon shoves through Ariana’s bedroom door, rousing her from her sleep. He runs to her side, panting.
“What’s going on?” she asks, sitting up.
“Hurry. Grab the book. Pack a small overnight bag and meet me in the living room.”
Ariana throws the covers back and leaps out of bed. “Why?”
Hadeon’s already at her door. He spins to look at her. “It’s no longer safe. We must leave.”
“Where are we going?”
“Fiore,” he says. “It’s time for you to go home.” And then he storms away.
Home?
Ariana flicks on her bedside lamp and pulls a backpack out from under her bed. Her heart is thumping. She races to the dresser, grabs some shirts, pants, underwear, the spell book, and stuffs them all in her bag. In the bathroom, she packs a small case of toiletries and shoves them into the bag too.
Images and scenarios storm through Ariana’s mind. What dangers could be lurking that would make Hadeon want to make tracks so fast? Surely what she has come face-to-face with these last few months was dange
rous enough.
Just don’t think about it yet, Ariana. Stay calm.
She dresses, throws her Taser into her bag, and races down the hall to meet Hadeon.
He’s standing near the elevator, glancing at his watch. When he notices her he presses the button beside the elevator. “Good. Let’s go.”
She follows him inside when the doors open and they ride the elevator down to the foyer. Hand in hand, they jog to the front doors. Hadeon pushes one open and scans the street before they step out into the cold night. A chill descends on her skin and goosebumps spread like wildfire. The air smells different, caustic.
Evil, she thinks and shudders.
Hadeon grabs a bike helmet and thrusts it onto her head.
He pulls on his own and says, “Get on.”
She threads her arms into her backpack and hesitates beside the bike. It’s sleek and black, much like Hadeon’s panther tattoos. She’s never ridden on a motorcycle before and her body is surging with apprehension.
“Get on,” Hadeon says again. “This is much better than the alternative.”
Ariana, pulse beating faster, straddles the bike. Hadeon climbs on after her. Holding tight to his body, the engine roars to life. Another sound, like a high-pitched, death-curdled scream, accompanies the engine’s low rumble. The screams intensify.
Ariana’s gaze darts all around, trying to find the source. Black cloaks flapping in the wind with glaring, desolate eyes are descending down the buildings, dozens of them.
Hadeon revs the bike and they roar away up the street. The howling intensifies as the Soul Seekers group together, black lips wide, rotten shark teeth bared as they screech their doleful cries.
“Hurry!” she screams, watching behind her as she holds on to Hadeon with all her might. The Soul Seekers are chasing them, so fast. She never realized how fast they could move. Hadeon accelerates, and the bike purrs, speeding away. She squeezes her helmeted head against his back as the Soul Seekers gain on them.
Ariana glances over her shoulder. The Soul Seekers’ blackened faces are coming closer to view. How could they be gaining on them? Hadeon would have to be pushing the bike close to a hundred miles per hour. She presses her head against his back, wanting them to disappear, all of this to disappear. This isn’t something she signed up for—Soul Seekers, Oracles, and Shifters with their attempts at either killing, drugging, or thieving from her.
The Book of Spells and Such Page 9
