Stone Goddess (Isabella Hush Series Book 3)

by Thea Atkinson

  Nude forms danced around the open pit as sparks rose from its depths. I blinked, the smoke burning my eyes. I could swear an altar stone stretched out on the other side of the pit and that one by one, creatures of all sorts clambered atop a woman tied to the stone.

  Maddox tried to steer me to the side so that I wasn't facing the show anymore but I held back, studying the way the women were one by one settled onto the altar stone, and almost reverently handled. If it was the allure that was letting them endure the act, that was one thing, but if they were inviting this as some sort of ritual or out of consent, that was another entirely.

  I shuddered as I realized what was happening.

  They didn't struggle. Not even when they were led to the mouth of the pit once the deflowering was done.

  "This is the Virgin sacrifice," I said, hearing the dread in my own voice.

  Maddox wrapped my chain three times around his wrist.

  "Virgins no more," he ground out. "Come on, we have a man to find."

  Six of them stood lined up along the mouth of it by the time we had edged along the periphery of crowds that were chanting and swaying back and forth. A gentle hum came from one group, like a chorale, and echoed by the others in a wave.

  "What in the heck is going on?" I said.

  He peered down at me and raked his hand through his hair. It was greasy with sweat, and I realized I too, was perspiring. It was hot in the chamber. No breath of air relieved the suffocating press of sulfur.

  "The second act," he said shortly.

  Oh. The sacrifice bit.

  The belly of the pit burped and sparks shot into the air, lighting the shadows and it occurred to me what I might be looking at.

  "Is that the fire gate?" I said.

  He followed my gaze to the open pit belching out sparks and smoke. A ring of fire shot up around it, outlining the mouth in a blaze of light.

  He sighed tiredly. "The bastard has no imagination. He could at least have avoided the cliche." He sounded put out, like he'd been insulted.

  "How can you not recognize your own portal?"

  "The gates look different and act differently," he said. "Based on whether they are on ley lines or created by magic. On my side, where they initiate, most are created by magic. The fire gate was born in fire magic, so..." he let that trail off and finished with a wry smile as the pit belched again and a curvy looking creature, presumably a virgin, leapt into its center.

  Applause went up around the room.

  "Oh my gods, he's such a drama queen."

  I gathered he said it because once the girl leapt, a purple burst of light spewed from the portal and rose to the air. Drums tattooed out a sensual rhythm and the remaining virgins swayed in time to the beat.

  "What now?" I said, curious to know what happened to the girl.

  "Now, she's no doubt on the other side, having her every sexual whim catered to."

  I glanced at him when his tone soured.

  "You have a problem with that?" I said. "Gals have fantasies too, you know."

  "That's not why I'm pissed," he said through gritted teeth. "The damn incubus is no doubt sending them to my bazaar somewhere. "

  I couldn't help a chuckle. He was taking this a little too personally..

  I studied the portal again, getting a better glimpse of the patrons around it since the light hadn't receded. About three feet away from the altar stone, I spied an older gentleman whose body was suspiciously trim and taut for the age he must be. His biceps were sheened in sweat as he held his hands out over the mouth of the pit the one did when they're cold and have a campfire to hand.

  He didn't have a stitch of clothing on.

  "Well, if it is the gate," I said with a happy sigh. "Then things just got a hell of a lot easier."

  "Why is that?"

  I pointed to the gentleman who had sidled just behind a cassocked giant at the mouth of the pit.

  "Because there's our target right there," I said.

  Maddox went rigid as he followed the direction of my finger. He dropped my chain.

  It fell in a heap with a nasty clunking sound.

  A patron noticed and made a grab for it.

  "Oh hell no," I said and stepped on his hand. I felt bones spread beneath my foot.

  He cursed and I had two seconds to grab for it before another patron shoved him onto his ass and scrambled to take the end closest to him.

  "Seriously?" I said and kneed my way forward. I had to fall on it to keep three more guests from taking possession.

  I gathered it up as best I could from my prostrate spot on the smoldering ground. It was as hot against my skin as Lucifer's tiled floor had been. I suffered a moment of panic. I couldn't see. There were too many feet and hands, some of them touching me, grabbing for me.

  I yelled out for Maddox and scraped my gaze over the area, looking for him.

  I caught sight of his shoulders pressing through a throng of naked dancers, already a dozen feet away.

  "Hey," I yelled.

  He looked back at me over his shoulder and gave me an irritated look. He'd forgotten me, that was clear. When he headed back in my direction, I scrambled to my feet. He threw off the creature still clinging to me, but not before the glamor stuttered over its skin, revealing the authentic creature beneath.

  A vampire. I was sure of it. He hissed at Maddox but withdrew into the shadows that played about the walls.

  "What in the hell?" I said and punched him on the foot with the butt of my hand because being sprawled on the floor, it was the fastest way I had to hurt him. "You just left me here?"

  "Dammit, Isabella," he said. "Take my hand."

  I looked up to see him reaching for me, and chagrined, I took it, but his attention was back toward the portal and not on me at all.

  He was off again without so much as a grunt or grumble. In fact, he was strangely silent as we threaded our way toward the target.

  "OK," I said. "So maybe a virgin like you shouldn't be so quick to run to a sacrificial altar."

  I tried to pull my chain back, to slow him down because I was having a hard time keeping up.

  At one point, I wasn't walking fast enough to keep up with him and he hoisted me against his hip for several paces to speed me up. I complained. He was being an ass and entirely too rough.

  He dropped me back onto my feet but he didn't halt or slow down.

  "You're gonna queer the deal," I said. "How am I going to lure the object out of him if you're charging at him like a bull."

  I stumbled along with him, trying to keep up. We were within five feet of the older gent, by the time I knew for sure we had the right guy.

  "Do you see that?" I said.

  "What?" Maddox said in a distracted way. "What do you see?"

  He sounded befuddled and I imagined he was just preoccupied. But I couldn't imagine that he couldn't see the same thing I did, even if he was distracted.

  Errol had said there would be a glow to indicate where the item was being hidden. It would be my clue both to know I had the right guy and to figure out where I could slip my fingers to divest him of the object.

  I hadn't done petty thievery for years and years, and I worried at first that my skills with sleight of hand would have waned.

  Now I was a bit more than worried because the whole damn man was glowing. It was subtle, a bluish wash of light that must have been residual glow from where the spelled object was.

  He had the relic, all right. And he was within a foot of the portal. Easy toss.

  Sweet. Things were finally starting to go my way. Maybe we'd be out of here before sunrise and I could call it all a day.

  I scanned the target from head to heel, trying to see if there was a stronger glow in any one place that would give away where he'd be hiding it and it was in that instant that I realized I was in trouble.

  It seemed I'd have to charm the damn thing out of him. Literally.

  "The thing Absalom wants," I said. "He's got it."

  "Eh?" Maddox s
aid and dragged his gaze from the portal to my face.

  "The reason we're here," I said, snapping my fingers up at his face and fell short by a good foot.

  I pointed with my elbow at the old gent.

  "I don't know where he's keeping Absalom's item," I said. "But if you're thinking the same place as I am, you can have the job of searching him."

  This time when Maddox swung his gaze to mine, I saw something in his face that made me stop dead in my tracks. The chain went taut and then he returned to gather me up.

  "Maddox," I said. "What's wrong?"

  "You've got it all wrong, Kitten," he said. "There's no object to steal."

  "What?" I said. "Of course there is."

  He shook his head. "No. No object. It's him. He's the thing you're supposed to steal."

  "Impossible," I said. "You can't steal a man."

  "Not a man," he said beneath his breath. "Not anymore."

  At that, he started to run and I got pulled headlong along with him, stumbling, tripping over the chain when I did manage to catch up. One moment, my feet were scuffling along the rough stone of the floor or ground or whatever it was beneath my feet. The next, the tinkling sound of links of chain cried out, screeching to the air with a gritty, gut-wrenching sound.

  My feet left the safety of terra firma as he gave a hard yank.

  The heavy collar bit into my neck.

  Hard.

  I lost my balance one last time and pitched forward, just barely catching myself from hitting my knees by grabbing onto the closest thing to hand. I felt my nails scratch into something soft. A feminine shriek drilled into my ear.

  I tried to buck backwards but the pull was too strong.

  Forms and shapes spun as I lurched forward, unable to control the movement of the chain that held me by the throat and throttled me sideways as I fought its pull.

  The fire gate gassed out one long and blazing stream of light and I could see that I was heading straight for its maw. Maddox weaved ahead of me, ignoring my pleas or not hearing me in the cacophony of chanting. He elbowed through a clutch of drugged-looking men, drunk on the incubus's allure.

  Before I knew it, we'd skidded to a stop next to the old gent. He looked up at us with a look of alarm.

  "Maddox," he said with a bemused tone.

  "Dad," Maddox said through tight lips.

  I might have found a chance to register my shock at the exchange but right then, Maddox lunged forward and shoved him into the mouth of the fire gate.

  CHAPTER 18

  Right then, I knew Maddox was going to jump in after him and no amount of digging my heels in or of grappling for purchase would keep me from going along with him. The firelight climbed his legs and illuminated his face in a reddish glow. He looked huge, standing there, angry looking, a god of sorts preparing his vengeance. My heart called out to him, proud and scared at the same moment.

  I thought I might be reprieved. Everything in my body went still with hope.

  I staggered sideways as an allure-drugged guest fell against me. I shoved him back into his partner.

  Heads turned toward me. Slow, movie-like panoramic motion told me my peripherals had seen something dangerous.

  Several Incubi, dressed in robes, launched themselves at Maddox from all directions. The crowds parted to give them room.

  The movie-like quality vision freeze-framed.

  Maddox on the ridge. Several of the sexual demons, maybe half a dozen, flashed their true visages at me; teeth and gleaming red eyes, and naked scaly skin shuddered under a wave of change and then they were men again.

  Or were they men and the demons were the glamor? I couldn't know.

  Maddox sent me one final look over his shoulder.

  My hope at reprieve died, a sacrifice to Maddox's mania.

  He leapt.

  The chain rattled along the edge, snaking away from me.

  I was going with him.

  All in the space of three heartbeats.

  I hurtled down into the depths of the gate and all I could think was that I wasn't a virgin. I'd never survive the journey.

  When I'd charged through the blood gate, back before I'd even know there worlds other than my own, I'd had Kassie's blood as the bond that gave me permission to move through it safely. It was painful, and frightening and existential all at once but I'd landed on the other side unscathed.

  This time I had nothing, no key, no bond. I knew it was just me and a length of chain falling like Alice down the rabbit hole.

  The insides were lined with hissing coals and seeping lava. Smoke and steam in equal parts coiled around me, making me cough, making my lungs burn.

  I think I might have cried out. At the very least, I swore.

  Repeatedly.

  Then the pain came. It sliced into me from every angle. While there was no flame, my skin bubbled into sticky boils as the heat assaulted it. My throat cracked like sun-aged and un-oiled leather.

  I smelled burning hair.

  The gate was meant for Kindred. I thought of the virgins who had leapt and wondered if they were screaming their ways to the bottom the way I was.

  No one had prepared me. No one had given blood for the permissions I needed to see my way through the portal.

  I was going to die in there.

  Gusts of hot air clawed down my throat and sucked out scream after scream and when they'd finally dried up my tissues, nothing but an exhale wormed its way from my lungs.

  I was hurtling downward at a speed I didn't think possible, how could I ever find one body, let alone control my direction. I fought the descent, scrabbling for purchase. I kicked at empty air and bucked against the wind. But the gate refused to release a safety net.

  Something brushed against my hair. A voice sounded in my ear.

  "Come to me, Isabella," it said.

  Maddox. Dear God. Maddox.

  I twisted about, emitting timid shrieks to echo-locate to the sound of that voice.

  "Isabella," he said again. "Listen to me."

  Listen. I was trying, oh how I was trying. But where was it coming from? Below me? Above me?

  "Here," he said.

  Right in front of me. I sobbed in relief. All I had to do was reach out for him.

  I flung my arms out as wide as I could to grab onto whatever met my fingers. I prayed for his shirt, his hair, his foot for Pete's sake. I needed something tangible to grapple for, but nothing met my reach.

  I was lost in there, falling end over end. I was coming apart at the seams.

  Then, the chain caught between my legs and knotted around my ankle. The thrust of it bit into my neck as the links strained against each other in one wrenching movement. My ankle received a vicious jolt and I bit my tongue.

  Tears leaked from my eyes and dried before they tracked a line down to my cheeks.

  As if the gate knew I couldn't take one more assault, I was enfolded in a massive embrace. I felt Maddox's hard chest beneath my palms and my fingers crawled of their own accord toward his back. I hugged him, tight.

  "Oh thank God," I said into his chest.

  I was terrified to let go. I mashed my cheek against his chest and sobbed against him, clinging like a dying woman.

  "Thank the gods, Pan, Jesus, whoever the fuck I need to, to make this be ok."

  "You can thank me," came his caustic reply, but it wasn't unkind, more like an attempt to reclaim some level of norm.

  He didn't so much pull away from me as ease my arms out from around his back. I wasn't ready. I grabbed for his collar instead. Then missing that, fell to the buttons. His shirt tore beneath my hold. Skin, sweaty and hot, met my palm.

  "It's alright, Kitten," he murmured. He cupped his palm behind the back of my head and he let me lean against him, sagging into every hollow his body made, fitting in like I belonged there. "It's all ok."

  It evaporated: all the pain, fear, blistering heat.

  I peered along his chest to the world around us. It was entirely too fortunate for all that to
have disappeared. I didn't want to believe I was fine. What met my eye was neither fine nor awful. It was as neutral as my imagination could find: a dull, greyish place. Mists and smoke billowed around me, the first smelling of brine and the other of sulfur.

  I felt like I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was warm, but nowhere near as hot as it was within the portal. A comfortable temperature, as though it was my own body heat.

  All I could see of Maddox was his shirt and a brief bit of skin that tensed and let go, visible through the tear I'd made. I could see the buttons had come off in two places.

  I hiccuped out the last of the adrenaline.

  "You're safe," he said. "For now."

  Maddox plucked my fingers from his collar and eased me away from him. When he looked down at me, it was with slitted eyes that showed nothing but wariness and something else...some fear of my discovery, perhaps.

  I let go reluctantly, cupping my elbows then rubbing my hands down along my bare arms.

  "For now?" I said.

  He nodded. His expression was inscrutable, but his body language was tight with emotion. I wasn't sure what he was feeling: rage, fear, anxiety. I just knew whatever was firing his synapses and muscles was a deep-seated, primal thing.

  "We're in the Abyss," he said. "It's safe here. But we can't stay."

  "Where is he?" I said, swinging my gaze left and right. "The target. Where is he?"

  The man Maddox had shoved into the portal. His father, apparently. I was still processing that one.

  "On the other side," he said. "I had to wait for you."

  He didn't say he was worried I wouldn't make it through, but I heard it in his voice.

  I swallowed down, trying to whet my throat. He'd pulled me in with him, thinking I was too fragile for the intensity of the portal, and yet he'd done it anyway. I wasn't sure why he'd do that, but I imagined there must be something going on that I didn't understand. I couldn't find words, and I wasn't sure if I could whether they'd be angry or grateful. I pulled in a hitching breath, hugged myself tighter.

  I kicked at the links of chain that hung from his wrist. They had no weight here. Even my collar felt nonexistent. I touched it with a finger to be sure it was still there.

  His palm laid over mine as it wrapped over the collar and he squeezed the fingers gently before putting my hand in both of his, holding them between us.