He nodded, and this time he did stand. Apparently I’d passed the test, whatever that was.
“I am sad for you,” he murmured before we started walking. “I’m sad you have to be torn like this. That you can’t experience the full happiness you deserve.”
“We all make sacrifices for those we love. If I can get Penny, Darius, you, and Emery out of here in one piece, I won’t regret a single thing. Let’s just hope Daddy Dearest doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve.”
Eighteen
“Get him out of my sight.” I waved Cahal away when we reached the second-floor landing. “I will not be granting you a fucking mercy killing, Cahal. You and my da—Lucifer can suck it.”
He turned and showed me his back, straight and broad, like he was about to march into death without flinching.
He probably was, just not in the way our demon observers thought.
I kept my own back from straightening, my chin from rising.
I sensed battle coming. It was almost time to fight for my life in the best way I knew how—magic, steel, and fists. But not yet. I couldn’t show that side of myself without alerting everyone that I’d had a drastic change of heart. They knew me as a temperamental teen, basically. The broken heir who spent her days being coddled and training with her father. The moody, hormonal kid who was just getting her bearings. It was a façade that never would’ve fooled anyone who truly knew me. They would’ve called bullshit immediately.
I ripped away a wall hiding a little creepy demon and sent it scurrying with a ball of fire. I pulled Darius to the forefront of my mind, letting the longing soak into me. Drag at me. It would take the fire out of my eyes. The determination out of my jaw. It would help mask my desire to kick some ass long enough for me to get to my room and get things in motion.
Mr. Boobs found me on the third floor. I turned and blasted it with a shock of air, knocking it over the stone railing. It would catch itself before it went splat. Not like it mattered—it was a spy for Lucifer. It kept me in my place, happy as could be, and alerted the masses every time I did something big, like ripping down a huge wall that had sectioned off part of the castle or cutting a hole in the ceiling.
They must’ve thought I was incredibly gullible all these weeks, acting up but largely falling in line. I could just imagine Darius asking why he’d never gotten this Reagan, who could be trapped and cowed, happy with only friendly banter and fun training sessions.
Yes, I did like this place. But I liked being me better. This return to decisiveness felt damn good. It was like I was pulling off a smothering sheet. I had a job to do: save my friends, bang my boyfriend, and then knock the elves down a peg so Lucifer could open up the Underworld and I could come and go as I pleased. That was the real end game. That was what I wanted. I wanted to be here on my own terms. I wouldn’t mind taking a spin in the ruler chair, but I’d need freedom, and to also keep my home in the Brink.
And maybe I’d never get all of that. Fine. Then I’d make the elves and Lucifer both terrified to mess with me. Plus I’d steal a bunch of those gold bars on the walkway to the elves’ castle, smuggle it back to the Brink, and live out my days however I wanted. There would be no compromises. There would be no more confusion. Mama wasn’t playing anymore.
I made it to my room and slammed air into the doors, throwing them open. I turned and shouted, “Do not bother me unless it is an emergency. And let that druid go hungry. See what he thinks about death when he’s starving. I bet it won’t be so attractive then.”
I slammed my doors behind me, putting the most intricate air lock on them that I could devise. Over that, I created a fire illusion, a way to lock my fire magic into place without actively feeding it. Thanks, Dad, for the training. It would serve me well.
I couldn’t wait to ring Penny’s bell. Assuming she hadn’t learned more than me down here and threw whatever I dished out back in my face. That would hurt. Still, I couldn’t wait to see her again. All of them again. I even wanted to hug Roger, of all things. This place had knocked a screw loose.
It took me five full seconds to realize something was dreadfully wrong in my room, and another two to realize I was fucked.
A grisly monster hand grabbed my throat and squeezed. Pasty white and old as sin, the creature shoved me up against the nearest wall, pinning me there. The fecking thing was blindingly fast, and I hadn’t been even remotely ready.
This was what happened when you let your guard down for weeks at a time. Death by old-ass vampire.
Its black eyes stared into mine as it hissed, saliva dripping down long canines. Three other vampires were stationed around the room, ready to attack should I fight back.
”My, my, Grandmother, what big teeth you have,” I said, walling the other vampires off. The one that had me didn’t squeeze any harder. If she’d meant to kill me, she would’ve done it already. “What are you doing here, Ja?”
She pulled back a little, releasing my throat, and then changed into her human form. Small and petite, also now naked, she looked like a stiff breeze would blow her away. Dainty features and large eyes hid the predator within. Vlad had nothing on this vampire, I was sure of it. None of them did.
“Reagan. So nice to see you.”
“There, you see?” I winked at her. “When vampires say it, they don’t really mean it. There’s something reassuring about that. When Romulus says things like that, he actually means them.”
“The fae’s kindness makes them facile. They are practically asking to be used by smarter beings.”
“Good gracious. Tell us how you really feel.”
She put out her hand, indicating the sitting area in the corner of my bedroom, where a bottle of demon whiskey sat, half-full.
“Don’t expect this to taste like Irish whiskey,” I said, heading over and taking a seat. “It’ll disappoint you.”
She followed me, but I put up my hand when she bent to sit.
“Cover up your junk. I want to come back to these rooms someday, and I don’t want your ass crack all over my furniture.”
Her feral gaze made me grin. I had missed vampires. What fun they were. What a rush. Lucifer would get a real kick out of them.
She didn’t comment, but she did wait for me to allow one of her minions through my air wall so it could hand over a sparkly red dress. I waited for her to slink it over her person before taking a seat and reaching for the glasses.
I held up my hand again. “None for me, thanks. I’ve got places to be.”
“Is that so?” Ja sat back and crossed an ankle over her knee. I wasn’t sure if she was intentionally flashing me or what, but it wasn’t the choicest of views. “You do not plan to stay holed up in this fine castle like a little pet?”
“Oops. Your judgment is showing.” I let seriousness take over. Time was ticking. Cahal and I had to get to the dragons before midnight so we could be well ahead of Lucifer, whom I assumed would be leaving in the morning. I hoped he would, at any rate, or the battle was going to kick off a lot sooner than I had expected. “What are you doing here, Ja? And how the hell did you get in?” It dawned on me. “It wasn’t Vlad who snuck in at all—it was you and your people.”
“You would’ve realized that long before now had you been paying even an iota of attention.”
“I had my own demons to see to.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Get it?” Her flat expression said she didn’t care. “How’d you get Lucifer to think it was Vlad?”
“I’ve known about Vlad’s efforts in the Underworld for quite some time. I’ve watched, quietly. He doesn’t understand it like Durant does. Or like Durant will. He certainly doesn’t understand it like I do. If he’d made it through, he would’ve been captured and brought to the castle immediately. Maybe he would’ve sought it out himself. And then he would’ve woken you out of your comfortable sleep, told Lucifer things he had no business knowing, and everything would’ve gotten incredibly messy. But thanks to the distraction created by Ms. Bristol and Lucifer’s haste to close every
thing down, I didn’t have to hunt Vlad down within the Underworld and kill him to ensure his silence.”
Holy crap. Usually vampires didn’t gun down other vampires. Not elders, anyway. This lady was like a cowboy in the Wild West of vampires, and suddenly I really wished Darius was here to handle her. Or even Cahal. Anyone but me.
“Still, how did you fool Lucifer?”
“I went to Vlad’s chief contact, killed everyone loyal to him, bribed those I could to create false truths—”
“Those are called lies…”
“—and disappeared into the Underworld. Lucifer has been chasing a phantom. A loose end. Now he realizes foul play, of course, and will likely wipe out the sect loyal to Vlad. It’s better that way. They weren’t well organized. Vlad has been playing them for fools.”
I couldn’t do much more than stare. She was terrifying.
She studied me within the silence. “I am here because Darius assured me that you would be on the winning side.”
“The winning side of what?”
“Playing dumb just eats time.” She had me there. “I agree with him. I used to think Penny Bristol was at the center of this. Or maybe I just really like her, I can’t tell. I would like to taste her.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Thank you. But she is not the leading point in the pyramid of power. You are. You are more than just the heir of the Underworld. You’re much more, aren’t you?”
She paused, looking me over, and I checked the imaginary watch on my wrist and then tapped the skin to make sure she got the point. I could just walk out and go about my business, I supposed, but she’d likely get annoyed and sound an alarm. Or do some other crazy thing I would never expect. I certainly hadn’t expected her to be in here. Or in the Underworld.
“You know a bit about me,” she continued.
“A bit, though I had no idea it typically took you so long to get to the point…”
“You know something of my history with your kind. The demon kind, I mean.”
“I just know that it is mostly gross, what you get up to—banging and bonding the ickier versions of demons…”
“We all have our tastes.” Penny wouldn’t like to hear that she was valued on the same level as gross demon sex. Or maybe she would, that dirty little birdie. “I have many allies in the Underworld. I have extensive networks from all my dealings here. I was able to hide easily. Much more easily than Darius Durant, who has been found out.”
She paused once again, this time to get my reaction. She was about to get nothing for her efforts.
Her flat smile said she’d just clued into that. “You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“And that is why you are suddenly shifting into action after frittering away weeks?”
“You have spies in the castle, then?”
“I have spies everywhere.”
“I needed training.”
It was my turn to study her. What the hell was her game? If my battle of wits down here had been against her, I was pretty sure I’d have lost.
“Your training has raised quite a few eyes.” I didn’t bother telling her that she’d gotten the saying wrong. She uncrossed her leg and entwined her fingers in her lap. “Your ideas have made people nervous, especially because they have excited Lucifer. Many don’t want change, even though he has always welcomed new information. New knowledge. He is one of the few good rulers, in my opinion. It is a shame he was locked down here, mostly cut off from magical society. He’d do well to move in the elite circles again. It would make the Underworld stronger.”
“Ja, honestly, you need to chat with Darius about all this stuff. I can get myself out of a pinch, but I can’t plan…whatever it is you are talking about. I’m not that smart. Or bored.”
“Simply put, the vampires belong in the Underworld. We should never have been left in the control of the elves. I want what Durant wants. What you now want. I want the treaty with the elves broken. The current regime must be toppled. I am fine with those silly little fae running around with their swords, promising…rules or order or whatever it is they howl about. If that is your cause, and you will be on the winning side, then we all will win.”
“That was a threat, right? If that isn’t my side, you’ll try to kill me?”
“Not at all. We both know I couldn’t. Though…if caught by surprise when your mind is numb from pampering…maybe…”
I scowled at her. That was a good dig. I didn’t have a comeback for it because it was true.
“Well, lucky us, that is what I want,” I said, sitting forward. I was running out of sand in the hourglass. “I don’t want to bother with the fixing-up side of things, in any of the worlds, but I do want to demolish everything so that it can be made better. In order to do that, though, I need to leave. So, again, what do you want, Ja? Other than to ascertain my plan?”
She spread her arms. “I want to help, obviously.”
“Oh yes, obviously.”
“I have a misdirection ready to go. One of Vlad’s people has always been loyal to me. He is deep within Vlad’s faction.”
I nodded knowingly, remembering back to when I’d first helped get Charity into the Realm. Vlad’s people had stood in our way, but they hadn’t been controlled by Vlad. He’d learned of it, and I’d thought he rooted out all the bad apples. Clearly he’d missed a few.
“Soon he will be sacrificed to the cause. Lucifer will be told he is one of Vlad’s people, and Lucifer will then try to torture information out of him. A futile effort, of course.” She smiled, and butterflies filled my belly at the gruesome mischievousness sparkling in her eyes. “I’ve acquired one of Penny and Emery’s spells. The sacrifice will not be able to say anything of use.”
“But it’ll take a while to kill him, I assume?”
She winked. That was a yes.
I took a deep breath to still my suddenly rampaging heart. “You are doing that for your own benefit. You need me, and I need Darius. So if you hoped to get an extra trade out of it, you’re pissing in the wind.”
“I will sort out the terms of all of this with Darius. There is one more thing.”
“Maybe. Keep it within reason.”
“I will help you with Darius. You will need to fight him out of there. They are holding him for Lucifer. They think that’ll give them some sort of boon. And they are probably correct, though what favor they would’ve gotten from Darius would’ve been far more lucrative. Simple-minded fools.”
“And they’ll die for their sins.”
“Of course.”
“What’s the catch?”
“You will then need to help me get out of the Underworld. I can get you to the safest exit point, but you or Penny Bristol will need to tear down the walls that Lucifer has newly erected.”
My smile spread, and it was my turn to pause.
She was trapped here, just like everyone else, and it was only a matter of time before someone turned her in. Without help from Penny or me, she was up shit creek.
“Darius will certainly be sorting out the ‘implications’ of all this,” I said, because she would owe us, big time. When it all shook out, she needed us to save her skin, and that was worth more than what she was offering us: a boost we maybe didn’t need.
“Quite,” she said tersely.
“The only problem is, we haven’t accounted for you in our plans. We have dragons. What’s your mode of transportation?”
“Very fast speeds and the absolute fastest route already cleared.” Ja stood and shrugged out of the dress. She tossed it to the vampire behind her. It hit my air wall, which I then ripped down. “It’ll take time for you to collect the druid and get to the dragons. By the time you get to the sect in question, we won’t be far behind. Clear the perimeter and we should be on hand to head into the fray.”
She’d clearly thought this through.
“Fine.” I stood and looked her squarely in the eye. “If you fuck me or jeopardize my people, I will either trap
you here for my father to deal with or find you on the outside and kill you and every vampire close to you. Do you understand me? You might be cunning and incredible at sabotage, but I am a nightmare from which you will not escape.”
Fire lit in her eyes before her eyelashes fluttered. “Oh yes, you will win. Darius Durant found a diamond in the rough. I am absolutely green with envy. Here. This will help.”
A blur was all the warning I had before she was directly in front of me, so close my breath dusted her face. Her hand stopped right before it touched my skin, and a grimace creased her lovely face when I squeezed her with air.
“I’m not sure if you’ve caught up with the times,” I said, holding her there. “But these days, you must get consent before you touch a person’s chest.”
I am glad to see that you are back to operating at optimal capacity, she thought, probably because I had her locked down so tight that not even her jaw could move. I meant to circumvent the binding on your bond with Darius when I was in the elves’ castle, but Lucifer showed up too quickly. I didn’t want to get caught with my hands on the prize and end up down here like Cahal did.
What was this now? She had been in the castle?
I’ve had a bond muffled by them in the past, she continued, so I did a lot of research on the subject. To break their magical suppression, you will need to take each other’s blood, like bonding again. It will be much quicker and less intense, of course. In the meantime, there is a workaround. You simply need a vampire more powerful than the bond holder to flower the effects of the bond so that you can feel it. Given Darius is the bond holder, your only option at present is me. Shall I?
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