Oh, she still wanted revenge. If she discovered that Aeron truly had killed her grandmother, she would return to his cell and she would not hesitate to cut off his head. But what if he hadn’t killed Grandma Mallory?
Don’t you dare give up hope. Reyes’s voice whispered through her mind, even though they both knew how evil hope could be.
Could she allow the Hunters to storm into his home, capture the residents, hurt them, lock them away and ultimately slaughter them? Reyes would not be excluded from that. They wanted him, hated him. And she would not be able to warn him because he would warn the others—which totally defeated the goal of keeping Reyes intact, the only true decision she’d made.
She’d thought herself in deep. Now…What should she do? She felt torn between two sides, straddling a fence with no freaking clue as to which way to fall. Something would happen and she’d lean one way. Then something else would happen and she’d lean the other.
“Danika.”
At the sound of Reyes’s voice, she blinked open her eyelids. When had she closed them? He loomed in front of her, this warrior who so conflicted her. He’d cleaned himself up, had seemingly scrubbed away his emotions as surely as he’d scrubbed away the blood. His expression was blank, and yet her heart fluttered as it always did when he was near.
“You waited,” he said.
If that pleased or angered him, she couldn’t tell. “Yes,” she said, breathing deeply of his fresh pine scent. He wore a black T-shirt and new pants. “I’d like to go with you to speak with Torin.”
His head tilted to the side, his gaze boring into her. “You are not…scared of me?”
“No.” Truth. She was just more confused than ever.
A sigh slipped from him, and beneath the casual resonance was a rushing river of relief. “I find I am once again helpless against you.”
As helpless as she was against him? “I don’t understand this.” Not the connection between them, and not their mutual unwillingness to hurt each other when they were both supposed to do so.
“Neither do I.” He held out his hand. “I will take you to see Torin, but you are not to touch him. You are not even to get within reaching distance of him.”
“O-kay.”
“This is serious. Do you remember the plague that blasted through Buda when you were here?”
She nodded, twining their fingers together. At first contact, warmth speared her.
“One brush of his skin against yours and there will be another one.”
REYES LOVED THE FEEL of his fingers intertwined with Danika’s. Every time she’d been alone and he’d come upon her, touched her, her skin had been as cold as ice. Seconds after touching her, that ice always melted into him, a deliciously painful prickling.
Painful.
He tried not to think about what Danika had witnessed. The thoughts flowed, anyway. What a monster he must have appeared, taking pleasure in so gory an act. Had he cried out her name? He could not be certain.
He rounded a corner, wanting to look back at her but not allowing himself to do so. She had seen him at his worst, but she hadn’t run screaming. He took what little comfort he could in that. Having seen her shocked expression, however, he’d known—he knew—soul-deep that he could never bring Pain into their relationship. Which meant he could not make love to her. Ever. You already knew that.
He thought perhaps he’d subconsciously entertained a ray of hope that one day he could make Danika his, totally and completely, without worrying that he would hurt her, need her to hurt him or that she would become a killer afterward. Foolish hope. Hated hope. Truly a demon.
It’s for the best, he assured himself. His angel deserved only goodness. She deserved a gentle man, someone who would make her laugh. Someone who would not fill her with disgust. With herself, with him.
Just like that, jealousy awoke inside him, a beast far more ferocious than Pain, screaming inside his head, scratching at his skull.
“You’re squeezing my hand,” Danika said on a pained gasp.
Instantly he relaxed his grip. “I am sorry.” Would he ever be able to let her go?
“I’m tougher than you think,” she said. “I’d just rather not face one of your friends with my bitch-slap hand broken.”
She meant the words as a joke, probably hoping to lighten his mood, but he took them to heart. Here, in the fortress, she needed every ounce of her strength. His friends were a threat to her well-being, and she would never be welcomed as Ashlyn and Anya ultimately had been. Fighting to bury a swell of emotions, he lifted her palm and placed a gentle kiss on the inside of her wrist. “I will be more careful with you, I swear it.”
A shiver moved through her.
They reached the end of the hall and stopped. Torin’s door was closed. Muffled voices carried through the wood. Laughing voices? Reyes’s brows drew together as he knocked. The voices ceased abruptly.
Cameo opened the door and Reyes was momentarily rendered speechless with shock. Beautiful as always, petite and dark headed and a vicious warrior only a rare few had been privileged enough to witness in battle—and live to tell the tale—she usually remained alone or in the shadows while at the fortress. Not by choice, he thought, but because the men could not be around her without wanting to kill her. She carried all of the world’s misery in her silver eyes and tormented voice.
He’d never heard her laugh before, had never seen her smile. Or not since those long-ago days before they’d opened dimOuniak. That he’d now witnessed both here, and with Torin, who could not touch another living thing skin to skin—even an immortal—was shocking. Torin usually avoided women like the very plague he harbored inside his deceptively healthy-looking body. He could not have one, so did not usually tempt himself with the presence of one.
What the hell was going on?
“What do you want?” Cameo asked.
Dear gods, the agony. Listening to her was like sinking into a nightmare.
“Why am I suddenly eyeing the hilt of your dagger and hoping to plunge it into my chest?” Danika whispered, confused and a little dazed as she gazed at the female warrior.
To his knowledge, she had not crossed paths with the female warrior last time she’d been here. Which meant this was her first encounter with Misery. The first was always the hardest. “Cover your ears and close your eyes.”
For once, she didn’t question him and rushed to obey.
“I need to speak with Torin,” he told Cameo.
She propped her hip against the door frame. “Well, you can come back later. I was here first. This your woman?”
“Yes,” he said, adding without pause, “You can come back later.” He had to glance away. His chest was hurting, and not in a good way. Was a…romance brewing between Cameo and Torin? Stranger things had happened, he supposed. Like Danika, staying here with him when she could have run again.
“She’s pretty.”
Exquisite, if you asked him. “Leave, and I will give you the black dagger you admired. The one hanging on my bedroom wall.”
Anticipation instantly showered her features. Damn, he’d been looking at her again. The ache returned to his chest. He rubbed the spot just above his heart as Cameo flicked a glance over her shoulder, paused, then faced him once more.
“Fine. I’ll go,” she said, and stepped around him. As she disappeared down the hall, she called, “But I’m coming back in a few, so make it quick.”
Reyes reclaimed Danika’s hand—he couldn’t go long without touching her in some way—her icy skin heating again. She opened her eyes, those magnificent green angel eyes that both cut him and soothed him.
“What happened?” she asked, still a bit dazed.
“Cameo is the keeper of Misery.”
“Ah. That explains a lot. Poor woman.”
Lips twitching, Reyes led her into Torin’s bedroom. A sophisticated computer system consumed the far wall. Monitors flashed different colors and scenes, some displaying the steep hill their fortress rested upon, s
ome the city and its people.
Torin rested in a swivel chair, facing them, arms locked over his chest. He had white hair and green eyes, a shade darker than Danika’s, that gleamed wickedly. “What?” he said in the same put-out tone Cameo had used.
“Is there something you want to tell me?” Reyes asked him.
Torin’s gaze swept over Danika, intent, before returning to Reyes. “Something you want to tell me?”
“No.”
“Well, there’s your answer. Why are you here?”
“My family,” Danika said, urgency now humming from her. She stepped forward, caught herself and inched back. “Do you know where they are? Aeron mentioned a small town in Oklahoma.”
“That info could have been useful a few hours ago.” Torin turned and faced his computers. His skill with them was the reason the warriors were so well moneyed. “The guys and I had a chat this morning before they left. Lucien asked me to look for that very same information. See, when you and your family were last here, I placed dye in your food.”
Reyes caressed her arm, hoping to relax her. Thankfully she did not erupt at the admission.
“Yours wore off a lot quicker than it was supposed to,” Torin continued. “Don’t know if it was because you were scared and sweating more or what. The dye was supposed to remain in your system for months. Still, your sister dropped off next, then your grandmother and then your mother. I haven’t seen a glimpse of any of you in weeks. Don’t worry, I know what you’re thinking. I should have placed a tracking chip in your shoes, but didn’t think of it until now. Live and learn.”
Reyes doubted that was what Danika had been thinking, but he remained quiet.
“Anyway, I’ve been at the computers for hours, searching for even the slightest glimmer. Nothing.”
Danika had stiffened in expectation—and hope?—only to sag in disappointment. He released her hand and wound his arm around her waist, willing his strength into her body. She sank against him. For comfort?
“Until,” Torin added, fingers tapping over the keyboard, “this.”
Danika stiffened again. “What?” Excitement dripped from the word, saturating the air.
Without glancing up from his monitor, Torin waved a hand in the air. “You’ve seen Paris bake cookies, right? His skills are pathetic, I know, but that’s beside the point. When you eat those cookies, they break down and seem to disappear into your system. Only, they don’t disappear. There are lasting effects. Fat, cholesterol and so on.
“Our dye is a special blend of ingredients that modifies a human’s body chemistry so each individual gives off a signal all her own. The lasting effects are far stronger than that of a cookie. Better, I remembered they’re still traceable even when the dye itself has worn off.”
Now Reyes was the one to stiffen. Ashlyn had almost died when she’d ingested an “ingredient” meant only for immortals.
Realizing the path his mind traveled, Torin added, “I wouldn’t have used it on the women if Sabin hadn’t already tested it on a few Hunters.”
Slowly Reyes relaxed. Danika, he realized, was breathing heavily. He squeezed her tight.
“Five minutes,” Torin said, “and I’ll have a printed map of their current location. You can call me later when you’re close to them, and I’ll tell you if they’ve moved.”
Now a tremor swept through Danika’s slight frame. “My grandmother, do you know where she is, as well?”
A pause. A stiff nod. “I’ve already backtracked the program to see where she’s been, but there’s been little activity from her signal this week.”
Hope lit Danika’s angel face, brightening the entire room. “She’s alive, then. She’s really alive! Aeron was wrong. If she was dead, she wouldn’t be trackable. Right?”
Torin answered without hesitation, his expression dead-pan. “Right.”
Eyes widening, she tented her hands over her mouth. “Oh, my God. This is…this is…this is the best day of my life!”
With a brilliant laugh, she threw herself at Reyes, her cheek burrowing into the hollow of his neck. Her skin was petal-soft, fragrant with the scent of night skies. “I’m so happy right now I could burst.”
Reyes held her, but kept his gaze on Torin. His friend gave a clipped nod in response to Reyes’s unspoken question. A dead body, it seemed, could still give off a signal.
Inhaling deeply, Reyes closed his eyes. He held her, loving the feel of her, every muscle he possessed straining toward her. He shook with the effort to remain still, though he could not stop his nails from elongating, his teeth from sharpening. The two only happened when the demon’s hunger spiked.
I’ve already fed you. Just…enjoy her.
They might not have her much longer.
When she learned that a dead body could indeed be tracked…Dread consumed him, and he closed his eyes. She had been offered hope, such evil hope. The same he’d tried to give her earlier. He would not take it away. Yet.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“THIS TIME, stay here,” Reyes said.
He deposited Danika inside his bedroom and left to do God knew what, shutting the door firmly behind him. She waited several long, agonizing moments before sitting on the edge of the mattress, her gaze never leaving the entrance. When he failed to reappear, she relaxed and tugged the tiny cell phone from her jeans pocket.
Stefano had figured the Lords would search her and take it, maybe use it to try and track him, but he had thought giving her a phone worth the risk. So had she. Everyone carried phones nowadays and she hadn’t thought the Lords would automatically assume she’d gotten it from the Hunters. Now, she almost wished Stefano hadn’t tucked it into her pocket before drugging her, or that the warriors had found it. Then she wouldn’t have had a choice to make: to check in or not to check in?
In theory, it was an easy decision. Family won. Always. Things were not always that simple, as she was coming to realize. The Lords had known her family’s location but had never struck. A point in their favor. Then again, the Hunters had never tried to hurt her family—but what if she chose to help the Hunters, and they failed to stop the Lords? After all, they had failed all these centuries. The warriors would—perhaps—learn she helped their enemy and they would—definitely—come after her with more fervor.
If she failed to check in, though, the Hunters might try to sneak inside the fortress and save her. There might be a fight. If Ashlyn returned, she could be hurt, and thereby the baby. Anya, too. Reyes.
Her gaze lowered to her hands. The cell’s keypad blurred. Reyes had taken such good care of her. Tomorrow, he was escorting her to her family. Oh, God, her family. All of her conflicting thoughts melted away, her mind focusing completely on her loved ones.
Danika’s lips curved in a happy grin. They were alive, and they were together. She didn’t know why Grandma Mallory had left her friend’s house without word yet had remained in Oklahoma, and she didn’t care. She didn’t know why the three women had decided to risk capture and stay together; she didn’t care. They were alive! That was all that mattered.
She would have to call Stefano and buy herself a little more time to figure this out. And she would have to do it now, before Reyes returned. Tamping down a wave of dread, she dialed the number. Her hand shook as she placed the phone at her ear.
“Happy House,” a deep voice said.
“It’s…me.”
There was an energizing pause, and the faux overworked-employee persona faded. “You’re still alive.”
“Yes. They’ve been good to me,” she admitted.
“The devil always smiles before rendering the final blow.” Static crackled over the line. “What have you learned?”
“There’s another demon out there, Hope, and he’s their enemy. Other than that, nothing. They’ve kept me isolated, asking questions about you and your group.”
“Another demon?” The sound of a pen sliding against paper echoed. “What have you told them?”
“That you guys asked me ques
tions about them, but I didn’t have any answers for you.” That, at least, was the truth.
“Is it possible to search the fortress for journals, pictures, information about anything they’ve been up to?”
“No. I’ve been locked inside a bedroom.”
“No good with locks?”
“No.” Another lie.
“Have you considered…” His voice trailed off.
Seducing one for answers, she finished for him. “I—I—” She couldn’t force an answer to form.
“Just think about it.” There was a pause. “Everything you do is for the greater good. Remember what I told you. Peace, harmony. No more adultery, no more suicide. The welfare of your family.”
In his fanatical way, he really did care about the world and its people and was willing to do anything to save them. Not altogether altruistic, but he did believe perfection waited just around the corner, the Lords the only thing blocking the way.
Danika wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Reyes had said there would always be evil in the world as long as people had free will, demons roaming the land or not. “I’ll think about it.” But she knew she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t whore for him, no matter the cause. If she slept with Reyes, it would be because she desired him.
“We’ve been watching the fortress,” Stefano said, “yet there’s been no activity inside. Any idea what they’re doing?”
If she admitted most of the Lords were in Rome, the Hunters might view the fortress as fair game and sneak inside. Torin and Cameo and anyone else who’d stayed behind couldn’t fight them all.
“I don’t know,” she finally said. God, am I possessed by the demon of Lies? “I’ll try to find out.”
“Have you heard—”
“Wait. Someone’s coming. I have to go.” Yet another lie, but she hung up and shoved the phone back into her pocket. For a long moment, she simply sat there, shaking. Then her shoulders slumped, and she covered her eyes with her hand. She had trouble drawing in a breath.
Lords of the Underworld Bundle Page 88
