Oh my God, he wants to feed, too.
“Why not let him die?” she asked.
“It isn’t his time.”
“You mean he’ll survive?” she asked, disbelieving. Disbelief morphed into anger when an even more sickening thought occurred to her. “What then? You won’t just let him go, will you?”
“It isn’t his time, Vivian.”
She launched herself at him, hitting any patch of his corporeal form that she could reach, tearing and clawing in unchecked fury. He didn’t strike her back or fight her, except to deflect her stronger blows.
“Is this what you call justice? You made me heal him? And when you and your demon friend are done having your jollies he’ll be free to hurt other kids! How could you?”
“Never make it personal, Vivian.”
“I healed him. I’m the reason he’ll live. It is personal, Darkmore! Goddamn you to Hell!”
“Vivian—”
She slapped him across the face and asked, “Who did he hurt?”
He didn’t answer, so she slapped him again. “Answer me. He’s here in the hospital for a reason. I figure it has something to do with his extracurricular activities, so you’re going to tell me who he hurt and where I can find that person, and you’re going to do it now.”
He looked at her and appeared to consider her request. When she moved to strike him again, he grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him, his face millimeters from hers. Holding his rage and hunger in check by the smallest of margins, he said, “Wait here. I’ll take you to her when I’m finished.”
Darkmore released her, walked through the door and closed it behind him.
***
She heard the door open about ten minutes later, when Darkmore returned from his meal. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. She accepted his proffered hand without looking into the face of the reaper. The same hand that had soothed her through fear, caressed her as they danced, and comforted her. The hand that she knew held and tormented Rockford and countless others through his long existence as he relished unfathomable suffering.
They swirled through the vortex and landed in another hospital room occupied by a little girl who looked all of six years old, perhaps in the same house of healing her tormentor occupied. She slept. Thank God she slept.
Vivian released Darkmore’s hand and walked toward her, seating herself upon the bed beside the child. She stroked her soft hair and noticed the bruise below her right eye. Thinking of her other, unseen injuries brought hot tears to Vivian’s already-swollen eyes.
She leaned forward and focused her energy on the girl. “Give me your hurt, baby,” she whispered, taking in her burdens in wisps of soft, violet light.
She tasted the devastation and wept.
Then she willed the child to take in her healing light until Darkmore’s icy grip tore her away.
She finally looked at him, ready to protest, but he stilled her mouth with his finger. “That’s enough, Vivian. You’ve done all you can for her.”
“No, I didn’t. I—”
“I know you want to make it all go away, but you cannot. No one can.”
“Will she be okay?”
“Time will tell. You helped. More than you know.”
She thought for a moment, long and hard. She had acquired the energy she needed to face the guardians. Dark and terrible energy coursed through her veins, filled her body, mind, and soul, as powerful and rich as it was dangerous.
She also feared that a part of her liked it. Then she made a decision.
“Take me back to Rockford,” she said.
He raised his eyebrows at her, perhaps out of curiosity or maybe out of suspicion. Perhaps both.
“I give you my word that I will not kill him,” she said. “But I need to go back.”
“Why?”
“You’ll just have to trust me, Darkmore. I believe I’ve earned it.”
As she prepared to launch into an argument for her case, he reached for her and transported her back to Rockford’s room. Uphir had traded the hateful blade for a wicked-looking whip, which she put to use by flogging the wicked man. Earl sat sprawled in the corner of the room, his eyes glazed with what could only be described as satisfaction.
Uphir’s face held the same look of rapturous contentment. They were nearly full.
Uphir stopped mid-strike and turned to face Darkmore and Vivian. “Well, well, well,” she said. “Your little helper came back for more. I wouldn’t have thought it. She’s quite a find, Darkmore. You should hold onto this one.”
“She isn’t mine to hold,” Darkmore replied.
Uphir looked surprised, a look Vivian didn’t imagine graced her features often. “Oh?”
“I’ll only have her when she comes to me freely, not out of obligation.”
Uphir shrugged. “Suit yourself. We’re finished here, unless you care for another helping,” she said to Darkmore. Then, turning to Vivian, she added, “Or perhaps you’d like another taste? It is sweeter from the wound, but the last leavings hold a rich, savory quality.”
“No, thank you,” Vivian said. “Just stand back out of my way.”
Eyes wide, Uphir managed to sidestep Vivian’s burst of red light energy aimed at Rockford. He found his voice as the blast hit and his wail echoed through the room and beyond. Darkmore seized her and pulled her into the vortex before she had the chance to hit the monster again.
***
“Darkmore, you’re hurting me,” she cried, trying to extricate herself from his punishing grasp.
He spun her around to face him. She’d never seen his rage before. It chilled to the bone, and scared her more than he had during their first terrible meeting.
“Explain.”
“Darkmore,” she gasped. “Ease up, I can’t breathe.”
“Explain!”
“I didn’t kill him! The worthless piece of shit will live.”
He eased his grip, but didn’t release her. She struggled for air and fought against the darkness threatening to engulf her so she could get her bearings.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Hospital parking lot,” he said, then he growled and tightened his grip. “I may give you to Uphir if you don’t explain yourself to my satisfaction,” he said in a cold, smooth voice. She hoped he was kidding, but she couldn’t be sure.
“I promised I wouldn’t kill him, but I couldn’t just let him go free without doing something to stop him. So I gave him what the girl gave me. I gave him her suffering.”
Darkmore stared at her long and hard. The temperature around them dropped again and she waited for her doom. He moved in.
He claimed her lips and took all of the suffering that remained. He didn’t let go after. Instead, the reaper deepened his kiss and poured his dark passion into her every pore. As abruptly as he’d started, Darkmore broke off the kiss and cocked his head to the side.
“What the—”
Darkmore’s smooth voice interrupted her. “Mr. Longhollow, I presume,” he said, grinning, “It’s been far too long since our last encounter.”
Oh my God.
Zeke. He was here.
CHAPTER 27
Zeke emerged from around a shadowed corner of the emergency department entrance. He looked from Vivian to the reaper, and back. Vivian unwound herself from Darkmore’s arms and stepped back. She didn’t go to Zeke.
“What are you doing here, Zeke?” she asked.
“I followed you,” he said, gaze locked on Darkmore. She’d never seen him so predatory, so focused, and so ready to attack.
“Why?”
“Because you’re in trouble.” Heat surrounded her in thick waves, engulfing her in a punishing inferno. God, could it be? Was he really the rogue guardian set on stopping her in her tracks?
“How did you know?” she asked.
“I told him.”
Vivian spun around and came face to face with Father Montgomery. The shock of seeing the priest superseded the shock of Zeke’s ap
pearance, but it didn’t diminish her fear. She looked from Father Montgomery to Zeke, and back to Darkmore, unsure where or how she could begin to sort out her current spirit world mess.
“This evening has certainly taken an interesting turn,” Darkmore said. “Perhaps we should find someplace more private for our little impromptu soiree?”
“We have things to discuss in private,” Zeke said, turning his burning gaze to Vivian. Then he spoke directly to Darkmore. “We don’t need you.”
Things were about to get ugly. Think, think, think! She had to find a way to protect the priest and herself from Zeke, possibly Zeke from himself, and Darkmore—
No, he’d probably be okay.
“He’s not the one,” said Father Montgomery.
Now Darkmore took his turn looking from the priest to Zeke, and then back at Vivian.
“Oh, my dear,” Darkmore said softly. “You thought…”
“I don’t know what to think anymore!”
“You obviously thought you could trust him,” Zeke growled, jerking his head toward the reaper.
“Now’s not the time,” the priest said. “Your summons is upon you, Vivian. Are you prepared?”
“I…I’m out of energy.”
“What?” Zeke and Darkmore asked in unison.
“Look, I was supposed to stock up on spirit energy so I could defend myself against the guardian council, and I had it. But I had to let it go. If anyone has any bright ideas about how I can get around this, now’s the time.”
“If that is all you required, why not simply ask?” the reaper asked. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was hurt.
“Because, Darkmore, I owed you.”
“You wanted to come here with him,” Zeke accused.
Darkmore turned to Zeke and said in his cold, hard voice, “That’s right. She came here with me. She faced the darkness, faced her obligations. She’s a fighter, Ezekiel, not a runner. She’s better than you.”
“Stop it,” she cried. “Please.”
“The truth is a double-edged sword, is it not?” the reaper said. Zeke’s face contorted in rage, grief, and agony as Darkmore circled, taunting him with the darkness he’d created in his life.
“Vivian set you free, made the ultimate sacrifice, and what did you do? You squandered her gift. You didn’t move on, did you? Was it because you wouldn’t, or because you couldn’t?”
“She gave me away,” he growled, anger and anguish seeping from every pore. “She threw me away!”
“No, baby,” Vivian whispered. “No, I didn’t want to hurt you, I wanted you to find peace.”
“So you went back to your old life, your old patterns, back to hurting the ones who loved you,” Darkmore continued. “You certainly didn’t come back to thank your savior.”
“She was with someone else, a living man, I wouldn’t stand in the way of that.”
“Stand in the way? You were perfectly happy to stand in your wife’s way, so to speak, and to interfere. Old habits die hard, even when we depart the mortal realm. When will you stop hurting her? Haven’t you done enough?”
“Darkmore, stop it!” Vivian shouted.
She ran to Zeke, her tears falling as freely as his. He pushed her away.
“No, I let you be. Even as I ached for you, I left you to live your life with your mortal man. But then he left…he left you because you couldn’t give yourself fully to him. Not with what you are, not with what you can do. So I came back. But then you turned to him!”
Vivian tasted his jealousy and bitterness. It tasted almost as sour as her own.
“A year, Zeke. You walked this world for a whole year and not one word. Not one sign. I ached for you, too. My heart broke the night I let you go.”
“Stop it! Both of you just stop. We don’t have any more time,” the priest said, his words laced with desperation, “Vivian, it’s time to go.”
“Wait, I thought Ezra was supposed to fetch me,” she said, panic setting in.
“He can’t.”
“What? Why not?”
“The council already has him, Vivian,” Father Montgomery said.
This was bad. Really, really bad.
Vivian looked around at her companions, wondering which, if any, she could trust. She wondered which, if any, she would put at risk. She took a deep breath, and then made her decision.
“Padre, Darkmore, I need to speak to Zeke. Give us a minute,” she said. Darkmore flashed a wicked grin as he placed his hand on the priest’s shoulder. She caught Father Montgomery’s horrified expression just before they disappeared.
She turned back and looked at Zeke, aching to take him in her arms yet fearing to touch him. They had no time to say all that they needed to say to one another. A pang of regret sliced through her, knowing how she’d hurt him, how they’d hurt one another. With no time for apologies, or comfort, she waited for his gaze to meet hers. After a few long moments, his green eyes lifted and the sorrow she saw there pierced her soul.
“Zeke, I need you to take the padre back and look after him,” she said, keeping her voice steady and holding his gaze. “I need you to protect him. Please.”
He looked at her for a moment. She expected anger, but she swore he looked confused. She shook her head and said, “Zeke, please, protect him, and Kay and her family, and Sue, and…and, please, baby, they’re all I’ve got left in the world. Please?”
“I won’t run away,” he said, words uttered in a hoarse whisper. “I’m not running.”
Damn it, there’s no time for this.
“Zeke…if you love me, you’ll guard those I love and keep them safe.”
“I won’t let you go do this alone—”
“Please! Zeke, I swear I’ll return if I can and we’ll work it all out.”
“Do you love him?”
“Zeke, now is not the time.”
Zeke’s embrace enfolded her and his mouth stopped her protests. He poured his light into her, filling her with his rage, regret, and jealousy. Then he filled her with his fierce and frightening love.
“I will fight for you, Vivian,” he said. Then he disappeared.
***
She almost wore a hole in the asphalt as she paced through the parking lot, waiting for the reaper. She grew more anxious with each passing minute. For the first time in hours, she had time to think the situation through.
The council had Ezra. If she could trust her chat buddy Waylon’s warning, that meant Ezra had a lot of explaining to do about his failure to collect their cut of her spirit energy. She’d no doubt have to explain herself as well.
Why didn’t he just take what I owed him?
She kicked the curb in a fit of frustration. Ezra! Ezra and his half-truths, Ezra and his omissions, Ezra and his lies. That’s why she’d turned to Darkmore in the first place. She didn’t trust Ezra.
She couldn’t trust him.
Another disturbing thought stopped her mid-step. She looked up at the hospital, at the window to the room that held Rockford and his tormentors. His wicked deeds in life had drawn Darkmore and the demon.
“Darkmore?”
“Yes, my little Pandora?” he asked. His expression was somber, and his eyes held a bit of sadness.
Dreading the answer, she asked the question that she should have asked a year ago. “What did Ezra do to make you come for him?”
CHAPTER 28
He didn’t answer, so Vivian grabbed him by the shoulders and said, “I’m expected stand before the guardian council here in a few minutes. I’d kind of like to know what I’m up against and why.”
“You don’t have to go, you know,” he said.
“I don’t see any other option.”
“You may come with me,” he whispered, pulling her so close that her face was a breath away from his. “If you do, the guardians cannot claim you.”
“What about my friends? What about Zeke?”
“We can protect your friends.”
“And Zeke?”
H
e pulled her closer, moving his cool lips to her ear, “I do not make this offer lightly, Vivian. I have only extended such an offer to a mortal once before.” Heaving a deep breath, he continued, “Though you sorely test my patience, I am willing to indulge you. I will take Zeke as well if you wish it. He was meant for me and my realm, as you well remember.”
She didn’t know what to think or what to say. He’d given her an out, the perfect escape clause. And he’d take Zeke. That request had come from desperation. She’d never thought Darkmore would share.
Never in her life and trials had she felt more tempted.
She pulled his face to hers and kissed him, devouring him with her gratitude and sorrow. When she released him, he simply asked, “Why won’t you come with me?”
“You said it yourself. I’m a fighter.”
“Ah, there’s the Vivian Bedford I know,” Darkmore replied. He smiled at her, a wicked and knowing smile. Then, she felt herself fall into the swirling vortex.
***
As soon as she landed, she looked all around for the reaper so she could hit him.
“You bastard! Where are we?” she screamed.
He’d fucking kidnapped her.
She received no answer, which only made her anger burn hotter. She looked around, wondering where he’d taken her and how she’d escape. It wasn’t dark or cold, not like the last time she’d come to Darkmore’s realm. Instead, a dense sheen of fog surrounded her and obscured her view.
“What happened to all that talk about free will?” she yelled. “Because this sure as shit doesn’t qualify.”
Her legs lurched beneath her of their own accord, jerking Vivian and making her stumble through the fog until she felt her body press against a cold, hard surface. She willed her arms, apparently still in her control, to push herself away, but her feet remained rooted to the spot.
This would be much a lot easier if you’d work with me instead of fighting.
She tried to scream, but the unknown force that held her legs in its control seized her throat and stifled her outburst. It forced her to take in large gulps of air, which alleviated her physical distress but did nothing for the fear and outrage that gripped her mind.
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