Gabriel left his sleeping mate in her bed with a lingering glance. Her slender frame was relaxed, her breathing deep and peaceful. His skin smelled of her, and he breathed it in, loving her scent. He wasn’t entirely certain what to think about last night, but he felt like he’d gotten somewhere. They’d taken a step together towards their future by talking openly on topics he never thought he’d be able to bring up.
She made love to him as if she’d waited her life for the moment. She cried as if she was losing him.
He didn’t know what that meant or even if it was a possibility that she would one day trust him enough to tell him what was burdening her. He came to the conclusion that she, too, needed time to heal. Her own journey to reach this point hadn’t been easy. She was hurting, even if he didn’t know why.
He dressed then slid out of the room. It was just after dawn, and the fortress was silent. He walked down the hallway to the stairwell and down. He felt good after the night with his mate, and it was too nice outside to take a portal when he had the energy to walk.
The morning air was crisp and cool. Gabriel was halfway to the lake when Darkyn spoke to him.
Available at your convenience.
Gabriel almost stopped mid-step, having forgotten he contacted the Dark One yesterday. He considered cancelling the meeting. Deidre would trust him in time, and he didn’t want to break the thin bridge of trust they’d established last night.
Then again, if she owed any sort of debt to Darkyn, Gabriel wasn’t about to be caught off guard. He also wasn’t going to let the Dark One hurt or threaten or even talk to his mate ever again. Meeting the Dark One so close to the fortress, then, was not an option.
After a moment, he responded to Darkyn. Deidre’s old apartment. Five minutes.
Gabriel trotted first to the lake, curious to see how last night had gone now that they knew about the tears. The lake was placid. A few of Rhyn’s Immortals were sparring on one bank under the watchful gaze of one of the death dealers.
Gabriel waved the dealer over.
“Update on the tears,” he directed.
“All five are sealed. Landon issued orders to the dealers last night to seal the others in the lakes where we found the souls originally. They’ll be back to collecting souls by noon,” the dealer reported.
“Excellent.” He glanced around the lake. When he didn’t sense the dealer he sought, he summoned him silently. Landon.
His second-in-command appeared instantly.
“I’m going to meet with Darkyn. Stay available,” he directed him.
“Sure, Boss.”
Gabriel opened a portal and strode through the shadow world. Setting foot in Deidre’s old apartment again was surreal. The human lived here for a few years with a boyfriend that one of Darkyn’s demons killed. This very building was the one Gabriel dived off of in an attempt to keep the terrified human from trying to kill herself.
Maybe it was a mistake to come here. His gaze lingered on a picture of Deidre on one wall. It was her … but not. At least, not anymore. The Deidre he spent the night with and the Deidre who went to see Darkyn four days ago were very different.
On a mission to ensure there was a clean slate between his mate and Darkyn, Gabriel waited in the middle of Deidre’s old apartment for the Dark One to arrive. He glanced around the tiny place, unable to rid himself of the instinct that warned him he was missing something. He didn’t understand what. The sense of unease rose again, this time more strongly. He reminded himself why he chose this place: it was where Darkyn met him originally, before the Dark One had brokered a deal with Gabriel’s mate. If Darkyn had a connection to Deidre, he’d be affected by the place as much as Gabriel was. Gabriel just had to watch for the signs.
“What brings Death to my door?” the Dark One asked, emerging from the hallway leading to the master bedroom.
Gabriel assessed the demon lord. A full head smaller than him, Darkyn was nonetheless the most lethal creature Gabriel had ever known. The demon’s wiry frame was armed, his black eyes steady and quiet power restrained. Something about the demon was different enough to make Gabriel pause. Darkyn normally simmered with restless energy that emerged in sudden, unpredictable violence. Today, he seemed … calm, if the ruthless Dark One could be called that.
“Your choice of venue is …interesting,” Darkyn said with a glance around.
“I take it you found what you were looking for, the last time we met here,” Gabriel said. Darkyn had demons searching the apartment last week for what Gabriel assumed was the soul contained in the tumor of the human-Deidre’s head. Why he wanted the soul that he then let go was another mystery Gabriel wanted to resolve.
A cold smile crossed Darkyn’s face. “You would guess right.”
“You made a deal with my mate.”
“I did.”
“Are the terms fulfilled?”
“They are.”
“That easy?” Gabriel studied him with a frown. “You prevent one from dying, bring the other back from the dead-dead, combine their souls and release her from Hell. In exchange for what?”
“You misunderstand the terms.” It was Darkyn’s turn to tilt his head curiously.
“What were they?”
“Ask your mate,” Darkyn said, unconcerned. “Unless, of course, you don’t trust her.”
Gabriel ignored the barb.
“It seems a deity like you could easily uncover the information you wish by reading her mind,” Darkyn added. “Or checking with the Oracle.”
“I can’t read her mind or find all the deals in the Oracle. The meat of the deal was private, was it not? A matter between you and her?”
“Perhaps you should look more closely.” Darkyn shrugged. “The terms are completed. Do you think I would hesitate to collect, if they were not?”
“Absolutely not,” Gabriel said with a snort.
“Then why are you here, Gabriel?”
Gabriel said nothing. Darkyn’s question hit home. As much as he hated to admit it, Darkyn wasn’t one to wait to claim debts owed him. Gabriel didn’t know what he hoped to obtain from the demon lord on this issue. Clarity, insight. Reassurance that no nasty deal between his mate and the demon-lord would arise. Deidre was evasive about what happened though she, too, was insistent that the terms were complete.
Andre was the only one who seemed to think there was a reason for Gabriel to be here, and Gabriel trusted Andre more than both Deidres and Darkyn combined.
“To discuss how you are assisting my death-dealers get into and out of my underworld,” Gabriel replied, changing the subject.
“For the right price, I will assist any of them get home.”
“There is a way through Hell?”
“Demons cannot pass through it, but your death dealers can. I simply offer them a route home in exchange for favors,” Darkyn said. “They are dropping quickly.”
Ten, Gabriel knew. To complicate matters, he had no idea what shape the underworld was in, if the reports Landon received were correct. If true, the rebellion forming in the underworld needed to be dealt with swiftly and his soul found. He just didn’t know how to do that without making a deal with Darkyn.
“Would you like to go home?” Darkyn asked with a cold smile.
“I’ve been shut out for a reason.”
“And you accept that. Just like you accept your mate’s version of our deal.”
Gabriel grated his teeth. “Don’t play with me, Darkyn. We both know anyone can get to Hell. You are the only way out of Hell, and I’m not about to make you a deal. There is another way, and I’ll find it.”
“You brought me here to play with me.” Darkyn looked around again. “I have no business with your mate. Whatever your concerns, they are not with me. As for the underworld, I prey on depravity. I will continue to do so and lure your dealers home.”
“Your demons and my dealers know your status. Is it no longer a matter of discretion?” Gabriel asked.
“It is not,” he confirmed. “Recent
events forced my hand. Hell is aware I have ascended to the position of the Dark One.”
“Recent events? Such as …”
“What do you really want from me?” Darkyn focused his dark, soulless gaze on him for the first time since arriving. “I cannot undo what I’ve done to your mate.”
“I don’t want you to,” Gabriel replied firmly.
“You are satisfied with her.”
“My mate is my concern, not yours.” Uneasiness grew within Gabriel. Darkyn did have an interest in Deidre. There was more to the story of their deals. “One such as you is not capable of understanding how …complex that relationship is.”
“One such as me would view that relationship – and my mate – as a battle to be won.”
“A battle,” Gabriel said with a snort. “You’ve never been able to control yourself. You would bleed her dry the first night.”
“You would hesitate to claim her as you should.” The demon lord was bristling. “In fact, you did – and do – refuse to claim your mate. You’re here because you doubt her and want me to tell you what she would not.”
“No rush. We have eternity,” Gabriel replied. He didn’t know what nerve he hit, but he’d hit something. As irritated as he was with Darkyn’s words, he was also fascinated by the idea the demon lord who prided himself on preying on the vulnerabilities of others was capable of being offended.
“Would you say the same about your underworld? You are happy to wait for the rebellion there to settle down?” Darkyn challenged. “The longer you let both deny you, the harder it becomes to win.”
“Relationship advice from the Dark One,” Gabriel said dryly.
For a moment, the demon lord looked ready to snap. Gabriel rested a hand on the hilt of his sword, waiting for it. Darkyn shrugged at last and relaxed.
“I won my battles, without being kicked out of my domain,” the demon growled. “If you wish to return to yours, you know how to summon me.”
“Would you be willing to let one of my dealers verify the route exists?”
“For free?”
“Verify not traverse.”
Darkyn considered. “Very well. Summon him.”
Landon.
A second demon appeared behind Darkyn. Landon arrived a moment later.
“Go with him to Hell. Verify there is a portal through Hell to our underworld,” Gabriel instructed Landon.
The death-dealer stepped forward without hesitation. Darkyn’s demon opened a portal, and the two disappeared.
Death and the Dark One stared at each other, assessing one another. Gabriel was never one for small talk. Instead, he reviewed what little he’d learned from Darkyn about the deals Deidre made and the issue of his death-dealers.
I won my battles. In the context, Gabriel almost thought Darkyn was admitting to taking a mate. But it wasn’t likely, given the demon lord’s renowned temper and thirst for blood. He was rumored to go through five to ten blood monkeys a day and was said to have single-handedly wiped out whole villages. Gabriel pitied even the foulest of demonesses, if Darkyn took her for his mate.
“Why did you choose this location?” Darkyn asked.
“It’s where we met last time,” Gabriel said with an unconcerned shrug. “It means something to you, though, doesn’t it?”
“Not as such. A curiosity only. Right over there is where I sucked Harmony near-dry.” Darkyn motioned to the wall across the kitchen.
Gabriel glanced the way indicated, noticing the blood on the wall. He didn’t pity her, even after their relationship. She’d chosen a side deal with Darkyn and betrayed him.
Like Deidre, only Deidre came back from her deal with Darkyn. Standing before the Dark One, he grew more unsettled.
“Your women have a habit of seeking me out,” Darkyn observed.
“Yeah, they seem to,” Gabriel agreed, unwilling to let the Dark One see he was thinking the same thing. “At least you freed the one that matters.” Inside, he was burning with anger at the reminder.
“I am pleased you feel that way.”
Gabriel eyed him. He’d dealt with Darkyn a few times since the demon lord was released from his exile in the pits of Hell. The demon lord was brash, aggressive – and almost always honest, until it came time to deal. Right now, the Dark One was amused but also satisfied, like he just won a deal Gabriel didn’t know they made.
“Why?” Gabriel asked suspiciously.
“I went to great lengths to assist your mate. I am pleased that she turned out the way you wished.”
“What were the terms?”
“A private deal is a private deal. You are not the only one who knows how to be discreet.”
Gabriel was ready to challenge the Dark One when Landon and the demon reappeared. Landon’s grim expression was enough to tell Gabriel the route to the underworld was there.
“If you have any desire to address the rebellion in the underworld, you know how to summon me,” Darkyn said with a cunning smile. “But before you go, I want to show you something. It’s for your eyes only.”
Gabriel tossed his head towards the portal. Landon and the demon both went.
Darkyn was entirely too satisfied with himself for Gabriel’s comfort. He shifted, waiting.
“Gabriel.”
For a moment he was certain the familiar voice of a woman was a memory, perhaps brought on by standing in Deidre’s apartment. Only when he sensed the approach of someone behind him did he realized it was real.
Gabriel turned. He had the sense of being in a dream.
She was real. Except she shouldn’t be.
Chapter Ten