“He has Moira,” I choked. “He took her.”
I knew how these manipulation games worked. He wanted me to ask myself too many questions.
Would he really know whether I told them or not?
Would he actually kill her if I did?
The answer was yes and no.
He would kill her, but he had no fucking way of knowing if I told the Horsemen. He was a single demon. Not an omnipotent entity.
He wouldn’t know until it was too late.
Deep down in my heart of hearts, a funeral march was beginning.
He took Moira.
How? I did not know. I could only assume he cornered her somehow and forced those terrible drugs into her.
The hopelessness. The desperation. It all came down on me like a tidal wave intent on holding me under, but I would not succumb. Not yet.
“Ruby, I need you to tell me how you know that?” Laran asked. I held up the phone screen and his face changed color. “She’s been drugged.”
“He called after he sent this. I have twenty minutes to get home before he gives her a second dose that will kill her. If he sees you coming, he said he will shoot her in the head and be gone before we can catch him.” This time my voice shook. Was it despair that had me? Or was it death?
“We’re going to get her back, I promise—”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“Ruby—”
I pushed past him into the hallway where Allistair and Julian had just arrived. How had they gotten here so fast? You know what—it didn’t matter.
“Don’t! You know as well as I do he has no intention of letting her live. Whether I go or not.” I spat the words like a vile poison and started tugging my boots on over my bloodied feet.
“You’re right,” Julian said putting a hand on my shoulder. I brushed it off and stormed towards the door, but Allistair grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me back.
“Which is exactly why you aren’t going,” Allistair supplied.
“What?” I looked between their faces, searching for any indication of why they would possibly do this. “What do you mean I’m not going?” I demanded, my voice rising an octave.
“Calm down, love. Think about this—”
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down!” I snapped. “Moira is not just my best friend. She’s my family. If there’s even a chance she’s going to die, I need to be there.” The flames in the fireplace turned blue, bathing us in an unnatural light. Allistair didn’t release me, and the Horsemen didn’t yield.
“If you go, then our priorities will be to keep you safe. If you love her, then you will stay here while we—” I raised my hand for silence.
“While you go and fight?” I supplied. The bitterness in my tone couldn’t be faked, but neither could the hardness in his eyes. He wasn’t yielding. Nor would Allistair. Nor Rysten. Not even Laran…although he looked like he understood.
“Yes.”
I shook my head, not believing this. I was supposed to be queen. To rule one day. I couldn’t even get them to let me go after one single fucking demon that they couldn’t seem to track down. I did the responsible thing and told them. I wasn’t keeping secrets.
And yet…I was beginning to wonder if this was only the beginning of the bars that being Hell’s heir would create. To one day rule was to be a prisoner…
And if Moira died…
“Well, let me tell you this, Death.” I spat his name like it was poison. “I will die if she dies. So you better give everything you have to save her. I don’t care what you have to do. I don’t care who you have to kill. You understand? I don’t care. But if you don’t bring her back alive, then don’t come back at all, because there will be no one here waiting when you return.” It was not the beast speaking, but the Queen. The would-be queen. Never in my life had I made demands of people, but this time…nothing was too great a price for Moira. Nothing.
They all watched me with stunned faces as I shook off Allistair and took my seat at the bar. Bandit came running down the hallway and leapt onto my lap, curling protectively around me.
Just like that, they were talking around me again, but no one dared ask my opinion.
I was just the precious fucking heir. Too powerful to be risked.
What a crock of bullshit.
My phone vibrated again and my stomach plummeted.
Please don’t tell me he knows…
But it wasn’t Moira who texted me.
It was an unknown number. I frowned, hiding the phone behind Bandit as I opened the message.
‘You’re late for work.’
I stared at the four little words. Late for work? Blue Ruby was closed. I had no clients, and devil knows none of them would say—
Slowly, I typed out, ‘Who is this?’
The reply was instant: ‘A friend.’
A friend, huh? I could message back and forth all day to try to weasel the identity out of them, but Moira doesn’t have a day. She doesn’t even have half an hour.
I watched the four demons in front of me as they talked strategy on how they would enter the house. Talked about who was needed, and who would stay. For my protection, of course.
You know what? Fuck them.
‘Is my friend at work?’
I waited for the reply. The guys were now speaking in hushed tones between themselves, and I knew it was almost time.
My phone vibrated again.
‘Yes.’
Shit. If that meant what I thought it did...
‘Thank you.’
I clicked the lock button as the Horsemen broke apart and turned to me. It’s been less than five minutes and already so much had changed. We now stood on two sides: me with secrets, and them in the dark.
I had no idea what would await them at home, but my gut told me it wasn’t pretty.
“Three of us are going, one will stay behind. Decide,” Julian said. If this was a test to see who I cared for most, then they were all fools.
I glanced between them weighing my options, a plan already forming in my mind. I swallowed hard hoping he wouldn’t hate me when this was over. Praying I didn’t read him wrong.
“Laran stays.”
Julian’s expression gave away nothing, and while Allistair was mildly jealous, he knew it wouldn’t be him I chose. The only one who really took it to heart was Rysten.
The problem with Rysten is he cared for me too much for this. For what I needed.
Laran aligned with fire. With risks. With passion. With fury.
If anyone would listen, he would. If he didn’t...I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
“I’m sorry,” Rysten said. He looked like he meant it. I said nothing; not even a goodbye as he and Julian walked into the shadows and disappeared.
“Stay safe, little succubus,” Allistair murmured. He turned and walked straight through an obscenely large mirror. I thought they had so many because he was vain, but a mirror walker made just as much sense. I filed that information away for later.
My phone buzzed one last time, but I didn’t dare check it with Laran watching me so closely. He crossed the living room with sure and steady steps. Coming to stand between my legs as I remained perched on my barstool.
“You didn’t choose me because you care more about me or to spite the other three.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He nodded, stuffing his tongue in his cheek.
“Why did you choose me, Ruby?” He didn’t say it hard or brash. It was honest; more resigned. Open.
“Because you’re War. Because you’re smart and you can think about your enemy if you stop thinking about me. So far, none of you have stopped thinking about me. Can you honestly tell me that you think this enemy would be so stupid as to tell me where my best friend is at, and even risk me telling you?” I was taking a major gamble here, but he’d yet to shut me down. I waited for a moment while he struggled with his own internal debate.
Eventually he said, “No
.”
“What would you do?” I asked, trying desperately not to keep checking the time. I needed him to believe me. To believe this. To see that I was smarter and better and stronger than they believed.
To trust me enough to not try to stop me.
He cocked his head for a moment, and for the first time I saw the wheels really turning. “I would set a trap and then I would move her, anticipating that you would tell us. That way, if you didn’t, you were eliminated, and if you did, we were. Either way, someone dies. Then I would kill Moira and disappear into the night…” His lips parted as he stared at me. Was it shock? Or was it suspicion? Either way, we were running out of time. “She’s not at your house. But you already knew that.”
“I also don’t think he waited to give her a lethal dose of black lotus. Moira is not a full-demon, Laran, and if he did, she is dying.” I was breaking inside. My palms were sweating. My pulse was sprinting. I could barely think, and I didn’t dare feel.
“You’re right. She’s not the real target.”
“It isn’t me either. It’s you. You destroyed him for touching me. Julian killed whatever demons he had left. None of this was ever about me, and it only is now because he knows I’m the way to get to you.” He did not flinch or look away, despite the hurt I knew that caused him. He blamed himself for that night so much more than I did, but I would not pull punches where the truth was concerned. Not when Moira’s life was at stake. I refused.
“If anything happens to you, I will never forgive myself,” he said, but I could see I was wearing him down.
“If anything happens to Moira, I will not be the Ruby you know. I will not give a damn if Hell freezes over and the apocalypse comes.” Every word was like an ice pick against his armor. I pounded relentlessly at the bond he and the others had, asking him to do the unthinkable and turn against them. “I’m not asking you to kill me, Laran. I’m asking you to trust me. I am not defenseless and I’m tired of being treated like I am. I get that the world is dangerous, but how do you expect me to ever rule Hell if you do not let me make my own decisions? Moira is dying, and if we don’t save her, then you will only have yourselves to blame if I become the beast that you are so hell-bent on having me learn to control.”
His jaw tightened and I knew I hit a low blow, but we were out of time. It was now or never.
“Don’t make me regret this,” he growled.
Oh thank fuck. Now I just hoped we made it in time.
“We need to get to my shop. I think he’s holding her…” I started for the elevator door when a swirling vortex of flame appeared before me.
“You can pyroport?” I asked, staring into what very well could be a portal to Hell. You’d never know until you crossed it.
“Aye,” he breathed, linking my hand in his. “We’re only going to have a fraction of a second before he realizes we’re there. Your job is to handle Moira. Do not engage with him unless you’re forced. We don’t know how many will be there. Do you understand?”
I nodded, staring into the flames. Not so long ago, I was afraid of men and demons. I went out of my way to avoid them and keep my head down for the most part. Sure, I played with fire on occasion, but I always knew I was going to get burned.
For the first time in my life, I was willingly staring into the face of danger and I could truthfully say I was unafraid of it. Fire bathed my face, but I stared back at it ready for what I would find.
I was a friend of death, and a queen of demons, and a slayer of men.
I was a girl on fire, and the flames only answered to me.
**Julian**
She hated me.
More than any of the others, she hated me. But we couldn’t let her go.
She didn’t have a firm grasp on her abilities. Ruby was just as likely to kill the banshee as she was to save her, particularly this close to the transition.
She was a keg of gun powder waiting for a single spark.
When she goes off…
I hung my head because it didn’t matter what happened tonight. I had failed her. She was my queen, and I made her my prisoner.
But I simply couldn’t do it. Even if Moira dies and Ruby never forgives me…at least she’s alive.
“It’ll be okay, mate. She’ll get over it.” Rysten clapped me on the back. I bared my teeth and shook him off.
“No, brother, she won’t. She’ll forgive you because you’re as bad as the fucking humans. But I don’t think she’ll forgive me,” I mentally spat at him. We’d shadow walked to a house down the street from hers and clung to the darkness as we skipped down the row.
It was unnaturally quiet, like the calm before the storm. The pressure in the air was charged for a fight as we stepped into her front yard.
The shattered windows were boarded up, but no light peaked through. Not a single sign of life.
“Can you hear anything?” I asked Rysten. He paused and cocked his head.
“No heartbeat. Only her alarm clock ticking,” he replied. I grit my teeth, clenching me jaw.
I was to go in first, through the front door, while Rysten entered the back, and Allistair kept watch outside.
“Allistair.”
“I’m in place.” he responded instantly. We could not see him, but that was the idea.
If we couldn’t see him, neither could anyone else.
“I’m going in,” I told them both. Rysten stepped back into the shadows, repositioning himself beside the back door.
“Three.”
I crossed the yard in four bounds.
“Two.”
I jumped onto the porch, landing about as light and soundless as a gunshot.
“One.”
My boot connected with the door, kicking it clean off the hinges. I stormed into the house headed for the bedroom when I heard something.
“Julian! Julian, it’s not an alarm clock, it’s a—”
“Bomb,” I finished.
Bam!
My skin shriveled and died as the layers were torn to shreds, fire burning and ravaging. Tendons and ligaments stretched and snapped as the impact shattered every bone in my body. I didn’t have time to cry out or register the pain. Waiting for my body to repair itself, I focused on my remaining consciousness as my body was ripped apart at the seams. I could hear the echoed voices of my brothers in arms.
“He’s down, and I can’t reach War.”
“What do you mean? Where the fuck is Ruby?”
“This whole thing was a trap. Where the fuck are they?”
I faded into the void where all souls go to cross over. If I were anything less than Death, I would be dead, but I was more than a human or a demon.
I was a god.
Immortal.
Filled with a wrath so cold, it burned.
He planted a bomb meant for Ruby.
Someone was going to pay in blood.
I flexed my fingers and opened my eyes.
The only thing more permanent and guaranteed than my immortality was how quickly I would end his life once I found him.
Chapter 18
We stepped through the portal together and appeared inside my office. In only a fraction of a second, the portal was closed, but to our dismay—my office door was not.
From this angle, all you could see was the wall of the cubicle, and while it was silent, we were not alone. A slow clapping began. I looked to the doorway, but the sound wasn’t coming from there. Nor was it behind us. The clapping echoed around and within, and from above, but below. It was everywhere, and that’s when I knew I was in trouble.
I turned for Laran, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was like he disappeared.
But that can’t be true.
Can it?
“I’m so happy you decided to show up, dollface. I didn’t think you would figure it out, but pleasant surprises are always welcome.” The demons voice echoed through my mind.
That couldn’t be right. There wasn’t an echo in here. This didn’t make sense.
I t
ook a hesitant step towards the door and maniacal laughter ensued.
Somehow his voice was blocking everything out. I could hear nothing but him, despite being certain Laran was still with me. He would never abandon me…but I couldn’t see him.
Where had he gone?
I took another three steps towards the door when the room turned upside down. The floor was now the ceiling, but I was still standing on the floor. I turned in circles, when a touch ghosted against my back. I jumped and turned, but no one was there.
“Looking for me?” I whirled around to see the imp standing right behind me.
He wore a suit that fit well, and I instantly deemed it pretentious enough that Allistair would wear it. The jacket was navy blue with a white button up. Personally, I think it clashed with his eyes—
He doesn’t have two eyes. He only has one.
So why were two watching me?
This made no sense. But then, that was the only part that made sense.
“This isn’t real,” I whispered. He smiled, and it was almost kind. Almost handsome.
“Very smart, dollface. My mother was not an imp, but a nightmare. She gave me some very useful gifts for making people pliant. Let’s see how strong your mind is, shall we?” The smile dropped from his face as the ground dropped out from beneath me. I fell into free fall and appeared in a room that I wished I had forgotten.
My legs dangled uselessly at the end of the conference table. I struggled to move, to scream, to yell. No one came. Not as Josh dry humped my body or licked my breasts. Not as he undid my jeans and slowly started tugging them down.
Any second now…
Josh whipped them free from my legs. When this happened, I was able to retreat into my mind. That was not an option this time. I was stuck in my worst nightmare. Unable to wake up. Nowhere to flee.
Oh God, don’t do this. Don’t let this happen. What the fuck did I do to deserve…
Nothing. I did nothing to deserve this.
The first inkling of heat touched me, but it wasn’t enough to break free.
It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real. I chanted to myself over and over again. Maybe the guys wouldn’t come, and maybe I was trapped inside some kind of nightmare, but that didn’t make it real.
Wicked Games Page 14
