At least, it wouldn’t be bad as long as no one learned about the things she had lied about.
Arik’s gaze dropped back to his plate, his voice haunted. “You tricked me.”
Yes, she had, and she didn’t feel bad about it at all. “You had to eat. And I wasn’t going to give you… what did you call it… eyes and guts?”
For a long time, he did nothing. Then, slowly, he reached for the burger. His hands shook, and he cursed, put them back in his lap. Another five minutes passed, and he tried again. Just as his finger touched the bread, a bird chirped, and he reared back, hands up to defend himself, as though he expected a blow.
Limos’s heart cracked wide open. How odd that her brothers, who had started out as tender, gentle babies, had grown hard as they got older, but Limos was the opposite. She’d been raised by demons who expected her to live and breathe cruelty. She’d been harder than a diamond and incapable of tenderness or love when she arrived in the human realm. But she’d gradually learned to feel, and where her brothers had erected walls, hers had been breaking down.
Arik had the potential to take down the last of them, and the thought both terrified her and thrilled her. She couldn’t afford to be vulnerable to her feelings, and yet, belonging in a relationship was all she’d ever wanted.
Of course, the relationship she’d wanted so long ago was a far cry from what she wanted now.
When no one came out of the woodwork to beat Arik, he picked up the burger. His throat worked hard even before he raised it to his mouth. He took a bite, but his eyes were wild. Again, when no one popped out of thin air to torture him, he relaxed slightly and chewed. Then he took another bite. And another. He gobbled the burger like a starving dog, and when he was done, he drained the lager.
Very carefully, he set down the bottle. “This is real, isn’t it,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she whispered back.
He bowed his head, and his entire body began to tremble so hard the chair rattled on the floor. “How? How did I get out?”
“You escaped.” She wanted to go to him, to hug him tight, but he was in a fragile place right now, and she didn’t want to do anything that might send him fleeing back into his mental nightmare. “Kynan and I found you at the Erta Ale hellmouth.”
He looked up, and she was relieved to see that there was no suspicion in his expression. “How did you know to look there?”
She grinned. “Kynan interrogated some bookies, and I tortured one of your torturers.”
“Nice.” One corner of his mouth tipped up, and wow, it was great to see him smile.
She gave him a sly wink in return, becoming aware of an exhilarating buzz, a sensation inside her that rivaled what she experienced when she told a lie. Was this what people in love called butterflies?
Not that she was in love. As much as she liked to dream about having a normal, happy relationship, it just wasn’t in the cards for her.
“It was good times all around.” She gestured to his empty plate. “Want another?”
He shook his head. “I’m not used to eating much anymore. I’m pretty full.” He gazed out the window, but where he went, she couldn’t follow. “Who all knows I’m here?” His head swiveled around to her. “My sister must be going crazy—”
“No.” Her fingers tightened around the sweating beer bottle. “Eidolon and Shade came here to heal you, so your sister knows you’re okay. Kynan too.”
“So Kynan really did get those clothes for me?”
“Yes.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “Fuck. Everything is so jumbled up.”
She reached for him. “Arik—”
He leaped out of the chair. “I need a minute, okay? Give me a minute alone.” He took off, weaving almost drunkenly toward the bedroom.
It wasn’t until she heard the crash that she knew something was terribly wrong.
Thirteen
Pestilence had upped his game, and his chessboard was made of human flesh, his chess pieces crafted from bone.
Thanatos and Ares had been compelled by violence and death to gate themselves to New Zealand, their brother’s newest playground. The plague of flesh-eating locusts had turned much of the country into a wasteland, and when New Zealand defense forces had gone in to try to contain the crow-sized insects, they’d been attacked by demons—demons who had, until now, been confined to Sheoul.
As Than and Ares slogged through gore and fought battle after battle, they’d made a disturbing discovery: Pestilence had saturated the southern half of New Zealand with so much blood, evil, and destruction that he’d been able to claim it in the name of Sheoul. It was now demon territory, and a major victory on Pestilence’s game board.
His next move, which Than had discovered when ~
Pestilence had unleashed an unthinkable plague, one that was turning humans into honest-to-fuck zombies. Thanatos liked The Walking Dead as much as anyone, but the real thing was nothing like fiction. This plague was Reseph’s sense of humor turned twisted in the being who was now Pestilence, and no doubt, the evil son of a bitch was having a good laugh.
Thanatos cursed and slammed his fist into the punching bag in his gym, where he was desperately trying to work off the residual high that coked-out his body when he was immersed in a lot of death. He needed to level out, needed to regain his ability to concentrate, because after leaving Australia, he’d unearthed information that might prove to be a huge break in his quest to repair Reseph’s Seal. But if he couldn’t get out of this killing mood, he wouldn’t be able to follow up on that lead with a clear head.
Atrius, one of his daywalker vamps, interrupted him with a soft tap on the doorframe. “Master, you have a visitor.”
Than pulled his last punch. “Could you be more specific?”
“It’s an Aegi.”
Kynan, then. “Let him in.”
“Ah… it’s not a him. It’s a her.”
Than wheeled around. “Did you verify that she’s a Guardian?” Pestilence had been sending succubi on a regular basis to tempt him—there was, in fact, one of said succubi chained naked in the great room, awaiting his interrogation. He definitely wouldn’t put it past his brother to resort to trying to trick Than into believing a succubus was an Aegis slayer.
“Of course. She wears the Aegis symbol on a ring, and she gave me this to present to you.” Atrius held out a cell phone.
Thanatos took it, cycled to the address book, and sure enough, the name Dean Winchester was listed among the hundreds of other names in the book. Right after Arik had been taken, The Aegis and Horsemen had come up with a way, a code of sorts, to ensure that no false Aegi could ever again gain entrance into a Horsemen stronghold or trick them as one had when he’d walked into Ares’s house and handed him a poisoned weapon.
The Dean Winchester thing had been Limos’s idea. She loved her supernatural TV shows.
Than snatched a towel off the treadmill bar. “Show her in.”
He wiped the sweat off his brow and face, then drained a bottle of water. As he lobbed the empty vessel into the garbage, a woman entered. And… damn. The Guardian was striking, made even more beautiful by what others might consider flaws. Long, thick lashes framed nondescript hazel eyes that were a little too far apart, and her slightly crooked nose had clearly been broken at least once. A scar puckered the bronze skin at her temple and again at her chin.
But her injuries only made her that much more attractive to Than, who could appreciate a woman who had survived combat.
<"0eut p height="0em" width="27">She wore a crimson turtleneck that molded tightly over full breasts and emphasized a slim waist. An embroidered candy cane sat above her left breast, reminding him that for the humans who celebrated it, it was Christmas time. Low-slung jeans hugged wide hips and slim thighs, and on her feet were leather boots that came up to mid-calf and that no doubt concealed a handful of weapons.
“You done checking me out?” she asked in a husky, smoky voice, and he took his time draggin
g his gaze up.
“Not checking you out,” he drawled. “Sizing you up.”
“For?”
“A hole in the ground.” He stalked toward her, but she didn’t give way. Nice. “It was stupid to come to me unannounced, slayer.”
“I tried tweeting you, but looks like you Horsemen-types are afraid of social media.”
Funny. A comedian Guardian had come to visit. “What do you want?”
“What? They didn’t teach manners in your day? I don’t get tea or anything? Maybe you want to chain me up like the naked chick in the other room?” She licked her lips, which he just noticed were full, maybe too full, and his erotic imagination took off. And since imagination was all he had when it came to all things erotic, he could spin out some amazing fantasies.
“Answer me,” he barked, and she didn’t even jump. Impressive.
“Can we talk somewhere else? Maybe after you put some clothes on?”
He grinned. “Does my bare chest tempt you?”
“Hardly. But your tattoos are distracting.”
He got told that a lot. Probably because many of them were depictions of death and destruction, scenes taken right out of his head by a demon tattoo artist. Her talent allowed her to layer the tattoos so older ink wasn’t obliterated by new, creating a 3-D effect people often found disconcerting.
Thanatos called for Atrius, who appeared immediately. “Take her to the great hall. Put the succubus in my bedroom and give the Guardian tea. I’ll be right there.”
Atrius took the female, and though Than shouldn’t have looked… he did. He watched the sway of her perfect ass as she walked away, and then he had to wait for his erection to subside and his fangs to stop throbbing to join her. He really didn’t give a hellrat’s ass if she got an eyeful of boner, but he’d kept his canines under wraps since the day they’d dropped and demanded blood.
He considered showering, but fuck it. She’d interrupted his workout, so she could put up with his sweaty, smelly self. He did throw on a sweatshirt, though.
She was waiting for him by the fire, hands behind her back as she studied the portrait over the mantel. “You like looking at yourself, huh?”
That voice. Damn, he could listen to that voice all day. “It was a gift,” he said,t,p>< but didn’t elaborate.
His vampires had commissioned the painting a couple of hundred years ago, and he hadn’t wanted to insult them by not displaying it. Granted, he’d originally placed it someplace a lot less noticeable, but someone kept moving it here. It had become something of a game now, and every couple of years, he’d move it and see how long it would take them to notice it was gone, find it, and return it.
She turned to him just as Atrius arrived with a pot of tea and a single cup and set them on the narrow oak table against the back of the couch. “I was kidding about the tea,” she said, but she poured it anyway.
“I didn’t want you to think I’m a terrible host. Now, tell me why you’re here.”
As if he hadn’t spoken, she blew across the steamy surface of her tea. “Mm. Smells good.”
Of course it did. He only bought the best. “Where is Kynan?”
“Dunno.” She regarded him over the rim of her cup. “It’s not my day to watch him.”
Infuriating human. “Why isn’t he here? We’ve been dealing with him.”
“You’ve been dealing with him because he’s the only one of us who can travel through Harrowgates. He’s the one who brought me here, actually. And can I just state for the record that I hate being knocked out for the journey? Gave me one hell of a headache.”
“I’m not going to ask you again. Why are you here?”
A slow, secret smile curved that sensual mouth, and she gestured to a suitcase near the entrance. “Because,” she said silkily, “I’m moving in.”
Regan had never been as terrified in her life as she was right now.
The disbelief on Thanatos’s face had veered sharply to fury, and now there were shadows flitting at his feet. The shadows they’d discussed back at Aegis headquarters… souls of the demons, animals, and humans Than had killed. Shadows he could release to do more killing.
Deep inside, her forbidden ability stirred.
“You are what?” His voice was as cold as the snowstorm she’d battled to get here. Kynan had gotten her through the Harrowgate, but she’d had to ride the rest of the way on one of the several corralled snowmachines Thanatos kept near the gate and at the keep, which would be her getaway vehicle if her scheme went as planned.
Or, more importantly, if it didn’t.
She inhaled, seeking the calm outer shell she’d had in place since she arrived. She took another sip of tea, which really was wonderful. And she didn’t normally like the stuff.
“I’m moving in. The Elders discussed it, and we decided that one of us should hang out with you full time. I drew the short straw.”
He practically sputtered, his face turning red. “You discussed it? The Aegis discussed it without talking to us first?” He spat out a dozen curses. “You people have always been too full of yourselves. This wasn’t discussed with any of us. So get out.”
“Look,” she said calmly, even though inside she was quivering, “this isn’t about us being full of ourselves. It’s about repairing the bad blood between The Aegis and the Horsemen. So just show me to my room, and I’ll get out of your way for a while. Give you some time to get used to the idea.”
She thought his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. But what stunning eyes they were. They’d been pale yellow when she’d first seen him, and now, in anger, they’d deepened to a burnished gold. She hadn’t been prepared for them, nor for his sheer size or looks. Oh, she’d known about the souls he kept, and about his tattoos and piercings. But she hadn’t expected the souls to be so eerie, the tats to be so remarkable, or for him to be so handsome. Hell, despite what Kynan had said, she’d still figured on him being some bony, withered dude wrapped up in a Grim Reaper robe.
Thanatos was as far removed from that image as possible, and even though he might terrify her down to her marrow, she couldn’t help but admire him. Remember that when he’s slaughtering you. It’s important that the guy strangling the life out of you is drop-dead gorgeous.
She was such a moron.
The shadows around Thanatos swirled faster, faces forming in the inky billows, and her ability, which could rip a soul right out of a body, writhed inside her like a living thing. It wanted to be used. It wanted to free the souls from Than’s armor the way it “freed” souls from humans and demons.
“Why is this so important to The Aegis?” Than asked.
“I told you.” She gripped her cup tight. “If we want to combat the coming Apocalypse, we need to do more than work together. We need to learn everything we can about you and fill in the blanks.”
“Why you?” He looked her up and down, and the shadows went crazier.
She was so glad she’d bucked Val’s advice to dress provocatively and instead went for casual and covered up, but now she had to see if her decision to play hard-to-get, which was her normal state and easy to do, would be more effective with Thanatos than flirty sex kitten.
“I told you. I drew the short straw.”
“The short straw. I’m flattered.” His sarcasm echoed off the stone walls and the lofty ceiling, and the one tattoo that was different than the others, one of a horse on his right forearm, moved. She blinked, watching in amazement as the horse threw its head. Hadn’t Kynan said that their horses lived on their bodies?
Fascinated, she drifted closer to the big warrior. Her heart rate rocketed and her stomach became alive with butterflies, but she couldn’t stop her feet from moving or her gaze from locking on the horse. Thanatos barked out something in a language she didn’t know, and the shadows that had been circling him dcirm move at his legs, seeming to absorb into his body.
“It’s remarkable,” she murmured, reaching out to touch his skin, but Thanatos hissed and jumped backward, s
tartling her into leaping back herself.
“Go back to your colleagues and tell them to send someone else.” His voice was a nasty rasp. “Send a male.”
She puffed up like a pissy hen, as her last foster mom would have said. “Listen up, Horseman. I know you were born back when women were thought of as little more than brood mares and slaves, but it’s the twenty-first century, and we can do anything a man does. I’m as good as any male Aegi, so get over your chauvinist pig self.”
“I have a sister who can give any male a run for his money, and I can’t imagine her as either a slave or a brood mare, so my issue isn’t with your competence.” He stalked her, and instinct told her to retreat. But she ignored her first impulse and stood her ground, even when he bumped up against her so they were chest to chest and she could smell his smoky scent. “My issue is that I prefer to surround myself with males.”
“Well,” she said tightly, “you’re out of luck, because there are no male Guardians available right now. So you’re just going to have to suck it up and deal with me.”
Thanatos’s eyes glowed with a fierce light she’d be willing to bet people saw just before he ripped off their heads. “You can walk out of my house on your own, whole and healthy, or I will throw you out, a lot less healthy, in pieces. Your choice.”
Think fast… think fast… Regan looked over his shoulder at the entrance to what looked like a huge library. Perfect. She hated to do this, but the in pieces thing didn’t sound pleasant.
“You’re looking for Limos’s agimortus, right?” she said quickly. “And a way to mend your brother’s Seal. I can help. I have a special ability that can be useful.”
His eyes narrowed. “What special ability?”
“I can interpret ink on skin. That includes parchment.”
“I can interpret ink on parchment too,” Than said dryly. “It’s called reading.”
She brushed past him, ignoring the zing of awareness that shot through her body when they touched, and stalked to his library, where she looked around at the piles of parchments and scrolls and bazillions of books, some modern, but most ancient. Quickly, because Thanatos was coming at her like a locomotive, steam practically coming out of his ears, she grabbed a book with a cover that appeared to have been made from… oh, ick… human skin.