by Larissa Ione
“I’m not. Reseph is. Was. And you should be in bed.”
“I feel fine, and if I lay down for too long, my hips hurt.” She eyed the iPod again. “Alan Jackson. George Strait. Jimmy Buffett. Conway Twitty. Wow. Not a single rock band.”
“Reseph was the flightiest person I’ve ever met, but when he latched onto something, he went all out. Totally single-minded. He even had a couple of favorite country bars where he’d go to dance. He loved to two-step.”
Regan’s nose wrinkled. “I can’t imagine him doing anything…normal. Or nice.”
“In a strange way, he was the most normal of all of us. He was definitely the nicest.”
“I’m having a hard time believing that.” She shot him a sideways glance. “You know, seeing how he tried to kill me today.”
If that had happened… Thanatos couldn’t even go there in his thoughts. He was intimate with death the way regular people were intimate with their lovers, but it had been four thousand years since he’d experienced a personal loss. He was pretty sure he would react … badly.
“If Reseph had wanted you dead, you would be,” he said levelly. “His arrows don’t miss.”
“Maybe the baby was protecting me.”
Than frowned. He hadn’t thought of that. “Doesn’t matter. If you hadn’t taken off like that, he wouldn’t have had an opportunity to try.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have kidnapped me.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have seduced me,” he shot back, fully aware that they sounded like a couple of children.
Taking her bottom lip between her teeth, Regan looked down at her bare feet. “I really am sorry, Thanatos. I know you don’t believe me, but I am.”
Bitterness welled up like bile. “I told you how you can make me believe you, and since you have no trouble whoring for The Aegis, whoring for me shouldn’t be a problem.”
Something sad flashed in her eyes, and his bitterness boomeranged back at him, filling him with regret. Especially when, instead of snarking at him like he expected, she turned away.
Dammit. He tempered his voice so they could continue without the schoolyard squabbling. “Why did you do it?”
“I told you, we got information—”
“Yeah, yeah, save the world. But I mean, why did you do it? What made you agree?”
“Saving billions of people isn’t enough of a reason?”
“There’s always a personal consideration. I don’t care how selfless anyone’s actions are. There is always another reason.”
She turned to him, her fingers fluttering over her belly. “I was the only one who could do it. My colleagues figured that my ability to rip souls from people could protect me from the ones in your armor.”
“Even if that were true, it’s still not answering the question about your personal angle. What was it?”
“Nothing—”
“Bull. Shit.”
The scars at her temple and chin, scars he found so sexy, darkened like barometers for her temper. “Maybe I was desperate for a cock, like you said. Maybe the idea of screwing a legend tempted me.”
She was lying, although he couldn’t say how he knew. What was clear was that she wasn’t going to tell him the truth. Fine. He’d fling the crap right back at her.
“Good. Being desperate to fuck a legend will make the coming months go much better for you.”
Once again he expected her to snark back, and once again she did the opposite. But this time, instead of falling silent, she changed the subject. “What happened to the vampire who tried to stop me from leaving?”
Instant anger flamed hot at the memory of Serkhama launching an attack on Regan. The daywalker had deserved punishment for that, but Than had been too crazed to consider any option but death. His little self-gratification session hadn’t done a thing to dial back his tension. Only killing Serkhama and the frost demons had done that.
“He’s gone.”
“Gone as in dead or gone as in no longer here?”
“Yes.”
“You’re such a jerk sometimes.”
“You think I haven’t heard that before?”
She smiled sweetly, but her words were tart. “I’m sure you have.”
There was the fire he’d been looking for. He hated that he liked it. That he found it intriguing. His brain searched for a suitable retort, but when she winced and reached behind her, he passed on the comeback.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s just my back,” she sighed. “Back pain is a pregnancy thing, apparently.”
Without thinking, he crossed to her and nudged her hand out of the way, replacing it with his. “Let me.” She tensed, but as he began to massage her lower back, alternating a kneading motion with lighter strokes, she relaxed with a groan.
“Oh, that’s good,” she moaned.
He loved that sound. Loved the way it both eased his mood and stirred his blood. He wanted to purr like a big cat. And then rub himself all over her.
Fucking idiot. Rubbing was what got them into this mess.
She arched her spine, pushing back into his massaging fingers, letting out a purr of her own. And yeah, that caused an instant hard-on. And how messed up was it that he was wanting to get naked with her?
Yes, he’d told her she owed him sexual favors, but he’d been pissed, confused, and still reeling from the shock of coming out of hibernation to find out he was going to be a father. He’d lashed out like a teenager who’d been dumped by his first girlfriend. Five thousand years of maturity had gone out the window in a matter of minutes.
He was such a dumbass.
The sound of a cleared throat startled him, and he jerked away from Regan. “What is it, Viktor?”
The vampire stood stiffly at the library entrance. “There’s an Aegi here to see you.”
Regan wheeled around so fast she lost her balance. Than leaped to catch her before she hit the desk, and for a split second, her grateful smile completely erased the tension between them.
And then Kynan staggered inside, a mass of cuts, bruises, and really wrong angles. One eye was swollen nearly shut, and his nose was badly broken. Than had a hard time feeling sorry for him, given that the human wanted to take Than’s son.
Regan gasped. “My…God. What happened?”
Kynan halted a dozen feet away, his icy gaze locked with Than’s. “He happened.”
“I haven’t left the keep, human. And even if I had, you know I can’t harm you.” Which sucked, because there were times that Than really would like to pulp the guy.
Except someone had already beaten him to it.
Kynan’s split lips peeled back in a snarl that revealed blood-streaked teeth. “How did you find our headquarters, Horseman?”
Thanatos curled his hands into fists to stop a punch that wouldn’t land anyway. “I sensed the child you were hiding from me. The child you will not have.”
“Now isn’t the time to discuss that.” The human kept his eyes on Thanatos, but his words were for Regan.
“Thanks to your baby daddy, Pestilence found headquarters. He tracked Than’s Harrowgate.” Kynan’s voice went low, and Than’s gut went with it. Pestilence’s easy capitulation during the battle earlier made sense now. He’d said he had something to do. Now Than knew what. “The building is all but destroyed. The son of a bitch brought a fallen angel with him. Between the two of them and the demons they turned loose…” He scrubbed his hand over his face to wipe blood out of his eyes.
“What?” Regan’s voice was soft, a thread of worry woven into it. “Between the two of them … what?”
Ky met her gaze. “They killed everyone in the building but me.”
Ten
Regan stood there, her brain unable to process what Kynan had just told her. “Who?” she rasped. “Who’s dead?”
Kynan’s red-rimmed eyes flashed. “Malik, Chad, Ian, Zachary, Kathy, Hans, Shylon, everyone in the personnel department, two dozen Regents who hadn’t gone back to their
local cells yet … Suzi.”
Oh, God. Regan slapped her hand over her mouth and fought the urge to cry out. She’d always been calm and logical, even in the face of losing those she cared about, but the pregnancy hormones had her crying during freaking car commercials. Four Elders dead, several soldier-level Guardians. And she’d really liked Suzi, who had been one of her few friends. Her only friend, really.
The room spun, and she stumbled toward the sofa. Instantly, both Kynan and Thanatos were there, one on each arm. She jerked away from Thanatos as the faces of the dead flipped like playing cards through her brain.
“Don’t touch me,” she snapped. “This is your fault.” But even as he backed away, so did Kynan … with a grunt.
Her support gone, she crumpled. Before she hit the floor, Than had her again, sweeping her up in his strong arms, and this time, she allowed him to help her to the sofa.
“What…” Kynan stared at his hands. “It felt like I got punched.”
Thanatos eased away from her, although he remained close, propping himself against the wall, one knee bent, foot planted on the wall behind him. “Guess we can add humans to the don’t-touch list.”
“The baby has suddenly decided that no one but Thanatos and vampires can touch me,” she explained, and then she stiffened at the sound of raised voices and pounding footsteps.
A split-second later, Limos, Arik, and Decker filed into the office. Limos tossed a duffle bag to the floor. “I went on a quick shopping spree for Regan. Figured she left before she could grab anything.”
Still reeling from Ky’s news and too flustered by Limos’s kindness to speak, Regan nodded her thanks as Arik glanced at Ky and barked out a curse. “You need a doctor, man.”
“You think?” As if the air had been let out of him, Kynan sagged against a bookcase. “I’ll head to UG after this. Obviously, you guys all got my text.”
“I was with Arik and Limos when it came. Hitched a ride with them.” Decker angled his body closer to Ky, within reach if the other man collapsed. “How bad was it?”
“Bad,” Ky replied. “Real bad. Pestilence and a fallen angel came in like they owned the place. Forced Rebecca to open the door to most of the chambers before he killed her. She died quickly. Few were as lucky.” He paused. “Chad, Malik, Zachary, Ian, and I were in the conference room when we heard the battle and screams. The bastards…shit…we never had a chance.”
Limos wrapped her arm around Arik’s waist in a comforting gesture that Regan would have gagged at just months ago. Now her stupid hormones had her thinking how sweet it was.
And how she’d never have that.
“What happened?” Limos asked.
“They toyed with us for hours, some of it just for the fun of hearing people scream. The things they did…” Kynan shuddered, his eyes haunted. “Their main goal was to get us to open the artifact chamber. I opened it, but I did it to get a qeres-coated blade.”
Regan blew out an unsteady breath. “You took out the angel with it?”
“And not too quickly.” Ky’s gaze hardened with hints of how much he’d enjoyed that. Kynan was one of the most level, compassionate people Regan knew, but he was also a soldier who would do what was necessary. And he was even more dangerous when he was pissed.
“What’s qeres?” Decker asked.
Regan shifted on the couch to keep her ass from going to sleep. “It’s a weapon developed by ancient Egyptians to combat angels. Well, fallen angels.”
“Why doesn’t the R-XR know about it?” As a member of the U.S. Army’s paranormal unit, the R-XR, Decker wasn’t intimately familiar with everything The Aegis knew and possessed, even though he had been inducted into The Aegis and made an Elder. His Guardian status was too new, and he had a lot of catching up to do.
“Because we don’t have enough to share,” Regan answered.
Arik stroked Limos’s back. More sweetness. “What happened to Pestilence?”
“He took off. He was furious that he couldn’t get into the artifact room and worried his siblings would show up to try to stop him.”
“He’ll be back.” Than’s voice was grave. “The Aegis holds too many powerful objects. He’d love to get his hands on anything, but was there something in particular he was after?”
Kynan gave the barest nod, as if his neck pained him. “He said something about Wormwood. It’s most notably a star mentioned in Revelations, but it’s also the name of a dagger The Aegis appropriated in the late 1300s.”
“Why would he want that?” Regan asked, more in general than to anyone specific.
“No idea,” Than said. “I remember the dagger. It supposedly belonged to an influential archbishop.”
Limos tapped her chin. “Wasn’t it rumored to have been forged by a demon?”
“The archbishop claimed it was a heavenly relic,” Kynan said. “Originally worn by an angel. We’ve never found the truth about it, but maybe Pestilence knows something we don’t.”
“We’ve got to move all the artifacts,” Decker said. “We can’t allow him to get anything, especially something he wants.”
“It’ll take forever to transfer the items to a new location.” Regan’s head ached just thinking how long it would take and how much effort would be involved. “And they’d be vulnerable during the move.”
Kynan sighed. “I know, but we don’t have a choice. Val is securing a new headquarters, and once that’s done, I can use Harrowgates to transport the most important things quickly.”
The most important things? Everything in their inventory was important. The Aegis was the largest collector of historical, Biblical, and demonic artifacts in the world, holding one-of-a-kind spell books, summoning crystals, and documents that could obliterate entire religions and destabilize governments. Heck, although Regan hadn’t seen it herself, the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be locked away at Aegis Headquarters.
God, this was a disaster. And wait… “If Pestilence was able to track Thanatos’s Harrowgate, can his gates also be tracked?”
“Once Reseph’s Seal broke, we lost that ability.” Thanatos’s expression was contemplative as his gaze traveled between her, Arik, and Decker, and then finally returned to Ky. “You said you have qeres?”
“Very little,” Kynan replied slowly. “The recipe has been lost, so we can’t make more. What we have is all we have.”
“Give me a minute.” He strode away, and Limos went with him, leaving Regan with Ky, Arik, and Decker.
Decker sprawled out in one of the fat leather chairs while Arik remained standing, and Ky limped over to Regan and sank down on the sofa next to her.
“Are you okay?”
I’ve been kidnapped, nearly impaled by an arrow, almost frozen solid, but other than that…“I’m fine.”
Kynan glanced in the direction Than had gone and lowered his voice to a discreet murmur. “I got your message about escaping just before Pestilence arrived. Has Thanatos hurt you?”
She gave a sharp shake of her head. “He won’t let anything happen to this baby.”
“That’s not what I asked.” Ky shifted in his seat, careful not to touch her. “If you tried to make an escape, why are you still here?”
“Thanatos stopped me before I could get anywhere. On the way back Pestilence attacked us and sicced some frost demons on me. I got a little chill. As you can see, I’m fine. Thanatos took care of me. He won’t risk injuring me.”
“And what about after the baby comes? What then?”
That was the question of the century, wasn’t it. The recurring nightmare of Than killing her popped into her head, and an ice-cold stab of dread shot up her spine. “We can worry about that later. Obviously, Than knows the plan for the baby, and he’s not happy. I’ll work on him.” Ha. She had a feeling Sheoul would freeze over before he changed his mind. “Do you think Pestilence’s attack on headquarters is related to the release of the vampires at headquarters?”
No doubt Kynan recognized her diversion tactic, but the new
subject was too important to ignore. “It’s too early to know, but it’s one hell of a coincidence.”
“I can’t believe this,” Regan whispered. “Things just keep getting worse.”
“It’s not all bad,” Ky said. “Remember how you asked why Decker and I were at headquarters when you were attacked?”
“You said you were there to discuss waking Thanatos.”
“That’s because we’ve come across some new information just in the last couple of days.” Decker dropped his gaze to Regan’s belly. “Has Thanatos confirmed that the baby is his agimortus?”
She nodded. “Why?”
“We think that the baby might be the key to the end of the world … but he might also be the key to saving it, just like we were led to believe in the first place.” There were some exchanged glances before Ky spoke. “We’ve put together everything we’ve found regarding Thanatos and his role in ending the Apocalypse, including a mishmash of texts about a birth weakening Pestilence’s heart. And you know the part in Thanatos’s prophecy about a cry?”
She nodded. Than’s prophecy, which was part of the Daemonica’s apocalyptic prediction, was burned into her brain like a brand. Behold! Innocence is Death’s curse, his hunger his burden, a blade his Deliverance. The Doom Star cometh if the cry fails.
“Well,” Kynan continued, “it fits with a passage from the Torran.”
Arik frowned. “What’s a Torran?” Like Decker, Arik was both an Army R-XR member and had only recently been named a Guardian. Regan hadn’t yet had the opportunity to go through the thing, but she’d love to get her hands on it. “You know how humans have a bazillion different religions, and each of those religions breaks off into smaller denominations? Like, within the designation of Christianity, there are Catholics, Baptists, Protestants … and even those branch off into sects of varying ideology. Well, demons have something similar. The Daemonica is their bible for the largest of their religions, but they have others. One of the religions, Bletouth, broke apart into two very different ideals. There was a nasty war, and in the end, their religious book was torn in half, and each given a name. The Torran and the Toreign.”
