by Reese Monroe
“Votar’s a sick son of a bitch. For sure, he just wanted to get some revenge. You’ve sent many of his…children…to Hades. But there’s more to this. It runs much deeper. I know it.”
“He might not have known exactly what he had until Slade got his Mark. When did he?” Sadie asked.
“Just after I escaped.” Halena shared the details of her escape and how Slade had helped as she finished a blueberry muffin from Addie’s plate.
“No Mark until after he helped you escape. He’d risked his deal with Votar by doing that. On an unconscious level he knew there was something connecting you.”
“Not exactly. He made me promise to watch over Addie before he let me go. Focused little bugger.”
“Protective of his family,” Theo said. “And of you. Look how he asked us to kill him, so he wouldn’t hurt you or Addie.”
“He was born to protect…” Halena whispered, the thoughts coming to her. “He works security at the college, too. I saw that in some emails on his computer.”
“Of course. With the conviction and depths he was willing to go to save Addie, trading his own soul…willing to die, no matter the fact that he’d land in Hades, to protect you. Oh yeah, he’s going to be powerful.”
“He’s broken his contract, so Votar pretty much owns Addie’s soul right now, doesn’t he?”
“If they get their hands on her, yes. And Slade’s between a rock and a hard place.”
“Meaning?” Halena asked.
“Between his sister, Addie, and his Mate, you. And now your bonding has taken the next step,” Theo said. “Would you be willing to mate him?”
“No.” Maybe. Not yet. I don’t know.
“It might save him. He’d be a Shomrei Oracle. That would break any hold Votar has on his soul.”
“He broke his contract, so his soul should be safe from Votar.” Hope percolated.
“Technically, his soul is. But you know demons. They’ll kill him. You don’t get to just break a contract and live.”
They’d have to get through me first. Whoa, was that the bond talking or Halena?
“But as Mates you’d be—”
“Why are they pushing us to mate, though?” Halena asked. “Besides the obvious reasons why I want to wait—like actually getting to know him a little better, getting over this betrayal thing I’ve got going on—it’s what they want us to do. That demon all but said that.”
Sadie contemplated this for a few minutes as she stared at the papers before her, but she didn’t shuffle through them. No, she was thinking, processing, like the genius she was. With her angelic mother’s wisdom coursing through her veins, she could figure out nearly anything.
But could she solve this puzzle in time to save Slade and Addie? Even more, what was Halena willing to do about this whole Mate thing? After waking in his arms and being so close to him, she had to admit she enjoyed the experience. She’d felt connected to her Companion, Dru, but this…with Slade… This was a level of intimacy she couldn’t describe. More innate—primal.
Halena’s head swam as she propped herself against the counter and overlooked the disheveled kitchen table. “I can’t mate him. We don’t know what it might lead to.”
“Halena,” Theo said. “There’s no denying The Great One and His plan for you and Slade.”
“Are you saying I should mate him out of obligation?”
He rested his hand on her shoulder, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
She’d always known this Mate thing was completely messed up.
“Take some time. Talk with The Great One. There’s forgiveness there. I know it.”
“How, Theo?” Her voice cracked. “How can I forget…everything?”
“Only with The Great One’s help can you find clarity.” He pulled her close.
Another pair of arms wove around her, and Sadie’s big belly pressed against Halena’s side. She wanted to push away, to run and never stop. Instead, she sagged into her friends. Yes, they were her friends. Always there for her despite the walls she constantly built.
But could she let Slade in?
Chapter Sixteen
“I can’t believe you never told me about the visions,” Slade said as he tossed the now-empty water bottle Addie had brought to him in the trash can.
“Swish!” Addie said.
“Remember how we always did that at dinnertime as we cleaned things up?” Slade laughed. It was nice to see Addie smiling and joking around again. “So…visions, huh?”
“Your pink cast was one of the first.” Addie plopped onto the bed beside him. “Halena, Theo, and Sadie are down there talking about me and you and our…visions. Man, I’m glad they’re on our side. Halena is wicked strong.”
And sexy. And kind. And—
“I’m just glad she found you.”
“She’ll forgive you,” Addie said. “She wouldn’t have healed you otherwise.”
Slade flicked her shoulder. “Have you seen something?”
“No. I barely ever see anything. Kinda comes and goes as it pleases, but Sadie says we’ll be able to control them someday.” Addie drank from her water bottle.
No time to practice, though; they had a couple contracts hanging over their heads. What—
“That’s what we’re going to go take care of.” Lena strode through the open doorway, wearing a tight tank top, fatigues, and a wide grin.
“Wait, what?” Addie jumped up. “What just happened there?”
Lena tapped her temple and winked. I can hear you now.
Great.
“Don’t worry. It’s relatively new, and you shouted that last thought really loud.” She looked at the bed, then touched her neck. “I never could read you until now. Always thought that was strange. Must have been your Oracle powers or something.”
“What did you mean, going to take care of that now?” Slade asked, resting his elbows on his thighs.
“Can you remember where the demon university is?” Lena inched over to the dresser.
“In France?”
“Oui. You said you caught a splice to America from there, right?”
He pushed up and paced in front of the TV, the thought of heading back to that demon university grating at his skin. “I can get you in the general vicinity.”
“Good. We leave in ten minutes. Theo’s splicing.”
“You can terminate the contract? Mine and Addie’s?”
“Officially? No. I mean, yours is technically voided since you backed out, which reinstates Addie’s. But when a team of Shomrei start spinning Mavet daggers and raining hell down, demons tend to recoil from that.” She cocked a grin. “They’ll relinquish Addie, or they’ll die.”
“The next demon gets the contract, though.”
“Then we’ll kill him.” She shut the drawer. “See where I’m going with this? No one, not even fourteen-hundred-year-old demons like Votar, can mess with my ma—” She coughed. “With you and Addie and expect to keep breathing.”
“Did you just growl?” Addie grinned. “That’s so wicked.”
It was, only it was wicked sexy.
Lena laughed.
Oh, shit, she can hear me.
“I’m just saying, we’ll get this taken care of.”
Addie laughed, then cleared her throat when Slade glared at her. “What about the Addster? She can’t stay here at the cabin alone.”
“We’ll drop her off at Theo’s compound. Sadie will stay with her.” Lena pulled on a long-sleeved shirt and gathered her hair into a tight ponytail. “She’ll be safe. It’s protected, and Sadie’s strong, even more so with that little bun in her oven.”
“And Theo’s our plane to France?”
“Get your barf bag at the ready.”
Lena’s image rattled. His eyes ached, and a fiery bolt pierced the base of his skull.
“Merde.” Lena reached for him, but she faded away.
Slade stood on a grassy field, cool blades tickling his toes.
Something grabbed his hand, an
d he glanced down. He saw nothing, but the feel of warm fingers twining with his still lingered. Lena. He knew it was her, felt it in the soothing essence tingling up his arm and to his shoulder.
He held tight as he looked, wishing he could see her. Hear her.
Above him the blue skies were bright, and there were miles of green grass surrounding him. A hint of lemon and pine scented the air, but there wasn’t a tree nearby.
“Hello?”
“Slade?” Lena’s voice trickled into his conscious. “I’m here.”
He glanced to his hand. Dainty fingers took form. Compared to his thick fingers, hers were tiny. “Lena?”
“What’s happening?” Her voice was a whisper, yet not. It resonated deep within his mind.
He looked beside him, and the rest of her body took shape. She wore a black leather tank top of some sort, black leather pants, and black boots, not what she’d been wearing a few seconds ago.
Her hair was pinned back, exposing her long neck. The Ahavah was in plain sight, and it triggered a rush through his gut, like he was syncing up with her.
“Slade?”
“I think we’re in a vision.” They’d never felt like this before. Other than the initial pain, he was calm. He felt strong and in control.
“Where is this place? How am I here, too?” She released her hold on him. Her image flickered, so he grabbed her hand again and it came right back. “Whoa.”
“Guess you have to hold on to me. And I have no clue where we are.”
Up ahead, the fog cleared as if a curtain had been drawn, revealing a wall of rock. A cave with a dark entrance sat smack in the middle. Behind them lay a never-ending carpet of grass.
“Let’s check it out,” Lena said.
Hand in hand, they moved toward the entrance. “So, you’re holding my hand back in the room?”
“Your eyes flashed white, and you started melting to the ground, so yeah, I’m holding you up. At least I was. Not sure now since I’m here with you.” She looked around. “This is weird.”
“Not so painful this time.”
“Must be tapping into my strength.”
She gave pause at the entrance and looked at him. “I don’t have any Mavets here.” She patted her leg. “I don’t get any demon sense, though.”
“Never met a demon in my visions.”
“First time for everything, frat boy.” Her French accent was so sexy. He could listen to her talk forever. “You wanted a college degree, right? Well, consider yourself enrolled in How to be an Oracle 101.”
“Well, if you’re my professor…I’m in. For extra credit, too.”
The corner of her mouth quirked up in a half smile, and she chuckled. “Brownnoser.”
“Okay, then. Ready?” he asked.
“Allons-y.”
They stepped into darkness, but torches propped along the cave walls ignited at their movement.
“Motion-sensor torches. That’s a first,” Lena whispered.
They crept forward, scanning all directions. A wave of warmth met his face.
“Feel that?” he asked.
She nodded and kept on. “Didn’t realize you could feel so much in visions.”
“Normally you just get a sense of what’s going on. And things are more random and…chaotic. This is different.”
She must have been right about him tapping into her strength, because this vision was on steroids.
“What do you want me to see?” He wasn’t sure who he asked—or what—but it felt right to try to focus the vision.
They kept onward, Lena a step in front of Slade. Even though she’d struggled with the idea of him as her Mate, she still protected him.
A light brightened up ahead, and Lena picked up the pace. “It’s the Desmios.”
She stopped, and Slade stepped beside her. A glass box sat on a rock surrounded by a shimmering essence. A necklace hovered inside the container, reflecting a light Slade couldn’t find the source of.
Stone surrounded them. Beyond the rock that held the jewel lay darkness laced with dancing shadows.
“What is it?”
“It’s the Necklace of Desmios. See the setting? It’s empty. The last two Artifacts are connected. Necklace and Gem of Desmios.” She reached for the box, but her fingers went through it.
“We’re ghosts in visions. Can’t touch or move anything.”
“I can feel you, though.”
“You’re in the vision with me, and remember I said it was more of a sense? You can’t move objects or alter anything in the area, because you’re not really there.”
“Even if we concentrate hard enough? Like in those ghost movies?”
“Nope. Then again, I’m still new to this.”
“Frat boy,” she whispered, and a grin curved the corner of her mouth as she analyzed the cave. “I have no idea where we are. No markings on the walls.”
“It’s warm. Humid.” He, too, turned as much as he could while still staying connected to her. “Caribbean?”
“Lots of places are warm and humid. Ask your vision to tell you. Focus.”
“Where? Show me where.”
Crystal blue water with long patches of green flashed in his mind. Single island. Middle of the ocean.
“No idea where that is,” Lena said.
“You saw that?”
She nodded. “South of Bermuda? Somewhere in the Caribbean?”
“That feels right,” he said. “Not sure why.”
“I feel it, too.”
“What about the Gem?”
“Guess we’re not meant to see it yet.”
Snarls overtook the peaceful, warm feeling, and they turned as a unit. In stomped Votar and that Jace guy.
Lena shoved Slade behind her. “Get us out of here, Slade.”
“We’re fine. We’re not really here, remember?” The demons came upon them before he could tell her he had no idea how to leave a vision, but they walked right past, oblivious of their presence.
“Finally.” Votar pointed to the treasure, then looked behind him and Jace. “I knew our Oracle was worth all the trouble.”
In strode another, a different Slade. Eyes black as pitch.
Demon Slade stood, staring forward as if into space. His neck bore the Ahavah. Wait. If the Mark was on his neck… But he was demon.
“No!” Slade’s yelling yanked him out of the vision. “Shit.”
Lena grabbed his shoulders. “It’s okay. We’re fine.”
Nothing was fine about this situation. Not one fucking thing. What was clear, though—no matter what he did, he was going become a demon, wasn’t he?
Chapter Seventeen
“This is much better than France, no offense, Halena.” Yvonne twirled, arms out, basking in the sun. At least the few parts of her skin that were exposed.
Halena smiled. It was amazing how Yvonne embraced life despite her circumstances. Besides her Mate, Justin, she couldn’t touch any living thing without it turning to dust. So yeah, they were often touching.
Theo led the group of Shomrei plus one Oracle around the tiny, not-even-on-the-map island Slade had seen in his vision. Sadie had tracked this place down on an ancient map in a box of goodies she and Theo had stumbled upon over the months hunting down the Artifacts.
“I can’t believe you found this place.” Slade walked beside Halena.
She looked down at the sand coating her boots. It would be much more fun frolicking barefoot along the sandy beach with Slade and under much different circumstances.
“The Great One provides,” Theo said.
Slade glanced at Halena. “You believe in Him?”
“He made me. Kind of comes with the territory.”
“Not sure I buy this Great One who’d allow such shitty things to happen.”
Thoughts of his mom and dad swarmed through Halena’s mind, and then the images of Addie and demons.
“It’s the journey, Slade. If we can make it through, we’re better in the end.” She sighed. “At lea
st that’s the theory.”
Consumed by anger and frustration after losing her Companion, Halena had almost forgotten that The Great One had a purpose, a plan, and it was the journey that got her here—to this very moment with Slade.
Where had her faith gone?
“Anything feel familiar about this place?” Justin asked Slade. “I’m getting sand in all kinds of uncomfortable places, buddy.”
“Well, if you’d stop playing grab-ass with your Mate for five seconds…” Halena kicked sand in his direction.
Yvonne laughed.
“Maybe if you played a little more grab-ass—”
Slade coughed, interrupting Justin, but he was smiling. “Not recognizing anything yet. I mean, the atmosphere feels familiar. But—”
Slade flinched, and Halena steadied him by his shoulders. “Open your eyes.”
White orbs peeked out from beneath his eyelids, but he didn’t collapse like before. Even more interesting, she wasn’t in the vision.
The rest of the Shomrei gathered around. “Good,” Theo said. “Can you show us, Slade?”
Halena brushed the hair off his forehead, willing her energy to him. “This is different, guys. He’s…awake, and I didn’t get pulled in with him. Slade, can you hear me?”
“Lena,” he whispered. “Come with.”
“I think that’s up to you. Let me in.” She held on, but nothing happened.
“Can you lead us?” Theo asked.
Slade offered a slight nod, almost as if distracted. He must be seeing something. Damn, she wanted in there with him.
“You’re fine. Show us, Slade.” The fact that he was getting a vision at this moment meant they were where they were supposed to be.
And Slade wasn’t Black Eyes, so the faster they found the Artifact, the quicker she could kick that image of Demon Slade out of her mind. That sight had been disturbing on more levels than Halena wanted to consider.
“A splice just opened. Whose territory is this?” Theo asked.
“Or is it unmanned since it’s not even on the map?” Yvonne asked.
“No. It’s manned,” a deep voice said from behind the group.
Theo whirled around, Mavet in hand and fangs down.
“Be calm, Theophilus.” The tall man smiled. “I see you brought a little metal detector with you.” He nodded at Slade. “Nice eyes.”
