by S. M. Reine
They were animals, primal, and James’s mind had no idea how to process the simultaneous sensations. Betty tight around him. Lincoln tight within her. The clash of lips, and searching hands, and four bodies trying to match a rhythm that only two of them could hear.
Lincoln seemed to know just what to do with Elise. He kept a painful grip on her arm while his free hand worked between her legs, and he didn’t hesitate to bite so hard that Elise’s mind was turning white with blind pleasure. Even the way the cloth dragged against her cobweb burns only made her mount higher and higher.
James would never have done that to her. He would have held Elise like this woman against his chest, drinking her kisses as if he needed them to live. He would have stroked her and whispered the truth into her ears.
He hated the sound of Lincoln’s grunting. The slap of hips against hips. The bestial sounds Elise made when she lost all self-consciousness.
Oh, but Elise’s sounds.
Lincoln pulled on her hair, bowing her head back, and it sent her over the edge. She climaxed screaming, and James couldn’t help but follow. One after another.
The world was blank.
21
S ophie was ready to leave for Craven’s Casino long before Junior arrived for her. She had gone snooping around Yatam’s condo to find cloth grocery bags, loaded spell supplies into them, and put her boots back on in less than ten minutes. Both Betty and James had disappeared, leaving her to prepare alone, and Sophie was fine with that. They deserved their rest. Sophie’s would have to wait just a few more hours.
Junior seemed happy to meet her on the roof. He didn’t exactly smile, but he approached her swiftly, light-footed and attentive.
“Hello again,” she said. He offered a hand, and she patted it in greeting. “Do you think you could help me carry some of my bags? I understand that you can only carry so much while flying, but I feel these things may be more secure with you than they are with me in midair.”
He bobbed his head and held out his other hand, too. Sophie gave him one of her bags. He shifted its weight onto his shoulder and held his hands out again.
“Oh, that’s all right. I think that I can do the rest.”
He took another bag from her anyway. He adjusted the straps, seeking the best positioning between his wings, but his mobility was too limited for his arms to reach around back. His shifting was so clumsy.
“Come down here,” Sophie said. “I can get things arranged.”
He lowered to his knees, bending forward so that his front half was under the shelter of the gazebo. Sophie couldn’t help but smile as she pushed the straps around, making sure that everything was situated securely. He really did look a little bit like Lincoln. She could see it up close, looking at the line of his nose down to the stubborn block of his chin.
“Are you doing all right?” Sophie asked, tightening a strap on one bag so it wouldn’t hang too long. “As terrible as this is for everyone else, at least we all have some familiarity with it. I can imagine your world has been small since Genesis. I doubt you’ve seen much outside of Grove County. Now you’re with a half-brother you don’t know, surrounded by strangers, after traveling through time, and…”
He lifted his shoulders and arched his wings. He was shrugging.
“It would be entirely understandable if you’re not okay.” Sophie grabbed the last of her duffel bags. “You’re good to have around, so I hope that Lincoln remembers you are far outside of your usual domain and likely as scared as the rest of us. Are you scared?” Junior shook his head immediately. Sophie put her hands on her hips. “You don’t need to feign tough masculinity around me.”
The gargoyle shrugged again. He was fine. That was his story, and he was sticking to it.
“Fair enough,” Sophie said.
James emerged onto the roof buttoning his shirt and smoothing down his hair. He was rumpled, like he’d been sleeping, and he frowned at the sight of Sophie prepared to travel. “You’re still determined to go alone?”
Her head bobbed in a nod. “I am competent enough to address the magical demands of the spell. I assure you, I will only draw power from the surrounding world. I will not do anything that puts my health at risk.” She crossed her heart with a finger.
“I have faith in your abilities. I hope to see all of you back here as soon as possible.”
“I do too.” Sophie turned her smile on Junior. “Are you ready to go?” He gathered Sophie gently into his arms. She’d been comfortable nestled against his chest while drugged, but it was similarly cozy while clear-minded. He smelled both earthen and mossy—a piece of the faerie forests on Earth. “Is this comfortable? It’s not all too heavy, is it?”
Junior rumbled deep inside. She was beginning to pick up his moods based on the pitch of his growling, and she thought this one might be a laugh.
Each of his steps jolted her gently, but she barely felt a thing when he stepped up onto the edge of the roof.
He leaped.
Sophie couldn’t help but squeal in the instant they plummeted before his wings caught the air. Seeing his wings flared to their full length for flight was stunning. They rose and fell on every beat, shoving the clouds below them.
Previously, she’d assumed that physics alone couldn’t allow Junior to fly with stone wings, yet they were much more pliable than she expected. The stone membrane was relatively thin. He angled himself to catch updrafts, and they rose with ease.
Brimstone was still raining from the sky, but he didn’t even let the fireballs get close to them. He swooped and dived and stayed well out of the way without ever making Sophie feel like she was about to get dropped. She imagined that this was what it must’ve felt like on a roller coaster. The exciting way that her heart climbed into her throat, the dizzying feeling in the pit of her stomach, and the rush of wind against her face.
Sophie wrapped her arms around his shoulders so that she could lift herself up well enough to see down. The city burned below her. There was no beauty in such destruction. Even if they managed to repair this timeline—an eventuality that seemed increasingly remote—these people were suffering now, and that suffering was real.
Junior tilted and they swooped down. The buildings enlarged around them once more. Sophie caught a glimpse of the giant spider’s carcass in the streets, its hair smoldering where fireballs had struck.
She had been scared enough in the hospital with the Traveler. And for good reason. But monsters came in many forms, some more literal than others, and that one resembled Sophie’s worst nightmares. In a way, it made her feel better to see it. She couldn’t fathom many things scarier than a spider so big that it took up an entire street. Yet Lincoln, Junior, and Elise had defeated it.
It was not so far-fetched to think that the woman who could slay gods and oversized spiders could perform all kinds of miracles. Maybe even fix the Precept and the universe without killing Sophie’s baby.
Junior landed lightly in an alleyway and set Sophie onto her feet again. The buildings were so close to each other that the fireballs couldn’t land in the alley. They were coming from the wrong angle. The greater risk was fire. The air smelled like smoke, and Sophie wasn’t confident that the casino above Eloquent Blood was safe.
The gargoyle directed Sophie to a doorway which was marked with a sign that said Humans Only and was clearly not big enough for Junior.
“But how will you get in?” Sophie asked, helping him pull the bag straps off his shoulders. “Do you know another way?”
Junior nodded, pointing toward the dark corner behind the building.
“In that case, take those last bags straight to Elise and Lincoln. I’m going to lay wards out here to secure the perimeter. I’ll only need these ones. Give me five minutes to follow you.”
Junior nodded and loped away.
Sophie unzipped one of the bags, pulling out a few strings of beads. She looped them around her forearms and closed her eyes to cast her mind over the casino.
She could feel
Craven’s as if running her fingertips over a miniaturized model of it. The casino was like an iceberg, with only a few stories above ground and dozens below. The sublevels were arranged in labyrinthine wooden grids that reminded Sophie of beehives. Those were old mines, Sophie thought. The place Elise had called the Warrens.
Sophie focused her attention on the ground level, wrapping magic around every door and window. Craven’s felt empty, but there was a mortal presence on the nearby street. She hadn’t seen anyone outside while in the air with Junior. Most had retreated hours earlier to homes or hospitals.
Yet there was a lone man outside, and he was circling the building.
Sophie twisted the ribbons to seal the wards and focused on the man. She felt out the shape of him. His youth, his power. He resonated almost the way that Sophie’s baby resonated within her womb.
Her eyes shocked open. “Omar!” He wasn’t far from the alleyway. Sophie raised her voice and shouted to him. “Omar! Over here!”
He came around the corner—Omar, tall and strong, wearing a head scarf and a trim black suit. He carried a gun in one hand and a seme in the other. The seme had a leaf-shaped blade, only fifty centimeters long, and it was stained with blood. He had slashed his way through the city to find her. “Sophie!” It was such a relief to be wrapped up in his familiar arms. He smelled like the farm, and she was so grateful to see him. “What were you thinking? Helping the prisoner escape—”
“There’s a good reason. I didn’t explain it to you before because I needed to try to protect the timeline, but… Oh, what does it matter?” She tried to tug him toward the door leading into Eloquent Blood. “The world is falling apart, but we’re trying to fix it. I’ll explain as much I can on the way down.”
“We?” he asked. “Do you mean you and the Traveler?”
“No, it didn’t—wait.” When Sophie had left, Omar hadn’t known what the Traveler was. He’d only thought it a random intruder. “How do you know about the Traveler?” It took Omar aeons to reply, and as the silent moments passed, she felt increasingly frightened. “How did you find me here, Omar?”
“When I realized you were gone, I went to Tristan for help,” he said. “I told him everything.”
“But we swore to keep it a secret!” In her timeline, they had kept it a secret until Elin was eight years old. Tristan had only discovered her by accident.
“We should’ve told him as soon as you fell pregnant,” Omar said. “He told me how we’ve broken a Precept, and how it endangers the universe. The Traveler is an ally.”
The door to Eloquent Blood stood in the corner of Sophie’s eye, and she caught herself wondering if she could reach it before Omar. But there was no reason to be afraid of Omar, was there? She didn’t need to run away. He’d always loved her. All of her guardians did. Her safety came first.
“What are you going to do?” Sophie asked, edging subtly away from Omar.
“I’m going to take you home, where you’re safest.” He holstered his gun and drew a portal key from his belt instead. It was a brass statuette the size of his hand, polished smooth by being touched by dozens of hands over the centuries. That key allowed the guardians to open passages to the farm.
She took a step back, to the corner of a large bin. “I can’t go yet. I have to finish everything here.”
“There’s no time. Tristan is waiting at the farm for us, and he’ll come looking if we take too long to come back,” Omar said.
Even with an adult mind, Sophie dreaded having to account for herself with Tristan. She never disobeyed him. Never. Sophie couldn’t begin to imagine what he would do once her behavior no longer pleased him, because it had never happened.
Omar kept advancing on her. Sophie didn’t have space to keep retreating, and it was silly to try. She didn’t need to get away from Omar . “Please, I’m almost done in Reno.” She hung on his arm. “This would end faster with your help. Help me save the city. I know we can do it.”
He pulled her close, pressing his cheek against the top of her head. “Sophie,” he murmured, holding her tightly in one arm. “This is a lot bigger than both of us.”
“Sophie!” Lincoln shouted.
She twisted to see Elise and Lincoln bursting out the door from Eloquent Blood—and then she felt the sharpened edge of the seme pressing against her belly. Sophie tried to leap away from the knife, but Omar was holding her too tightly. “What are you doing?” she asked.
He would never do this to her. Not to Sophie. Not to the child they’d raised together.
Lincoln and Elise froze at the sight of the knife. Omar had drawn his gun again. He aimed it at them—mostly at Lincoln—but he never moved the seme away from Sophie. “I’m sorry, Sophie,” Omar muttered. “Tristan will be able to explain everything. You’ll understand. We have no choice but to end this now.”
“Please, Omar, think about what you’re doing.” She didn’t dare struggle against him. He was pressing the seme hard enough to slice through the strap of her tote bag. It tumbled to the ground, and there was nothing between skin and blade but her blouse.
A storm shadowed Lincoln’s square features. His fists had gone tight on the railing by the Humans Only door. “This piece of shit is Omar?”
“Who are they?” Omar asked. “How do you know these people? Are they the ones who tainted your mind with such defiance?”
“It’s complicated, and I can’t explain unless you let me go,” she said.
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Omar said. “I don’t want to hurt you, Sophie. But I took an oath.”
“An oath to protect me!”
“An oath to protect the world,” he said. “I’m no good with words. Tristan will help you understand.” The brass statuette burned in his waist pouch, heating Sophie’s hip. Light flashed behind them. He’d opened a passage back to the farm, and he was pulling her into it.
“Please don’t,” Sophie cried. “Lincoln!”
He started to move, but Elise was much faster.
There was a flash of metal. A shout.
Then Omar was falling.
Sophie was in such shock that she didn’t even think to move away from him. Lincoln had to drag her out of arm’s reach. Before he pulled her free, she grabbed the bag on Omar’s hip—the one with the brass statuette burning hot within. As soon as it ripped free of his belt, the passageway shut.
Omar moved for her, but Elise stepped in the way. Her sword’s edge was already streaked with blood. Omar’s blood.
She was going for the kill.
He wouldn’t make it easy. Omar was one of the Brotherhood, trained to protect the most valuable soul on the planet. He was as fast as Elise even with blood pouring from his shoulder. Sophie had no desire to watch the match, no matter how skilled the opponents. Their fight was brutal, one stab after another. There were shouts, grunts, and bodies flung into brick walls.
It didn’t last long.
Sophie knew what had happened the moment she heard Omar’s strangled choke.
She screamed as Lincoln pulled her through the doors to Eloquent Blood. He was pulling her away from Omar—father of her daughter—so that she wouldn’t see what Elise did after kneeling down. She was touching Omar’s throat. Sophie couldn’t tell if the Godslayer was checking for a pulse or slitting his jugular.
In that moment, there was nothing human in Elise’s expression. She was the embodiment of wrath. She was vengeance.
She was the murderer of the only man that Sophie had ever loved.
22
C onsidering her diminutive stature, Sophie was not easy to handle when she became upset. She kicked as she screamed. She swung her fists like she was going to tear someone apart. Lincoln didn’t get her to stop fighting until they were already halfway down the hall, and then she halfway collapsed, losing her legs from underneath her.
Eloquent Blood was emptied out—or at least, the club level was. Lincoln was betting a lot of demons were hiding in the same motel-like rooms he’d been in earlier, thei
r doorways painted in blood to avoid the last plague. Junior had already come through, and he was down on the dance floor with the rest of Sophie’s bags. “Hey! We found her!” Lincoln called over the bannister. “Just a minute, we’ll come down!”
Junior waved back.
Lincoln felt safer seeing him down there—safe enough to focus on Sophie for a minute. He felt like he owed her some kind of apology. Not because he’d done anything wrong. Elise hadn’t, either. Omar had been threatening Sophie and their baby. Lincoln would have killed him a thousand times over again if he could have.
He wanted to apologize because this was all awful. Almost every minute of it, from their arrival in the wrong year up until Omar’s bloody death.
“Look at me,” Lincoln said. She was smothering her tears in her hands. He clutched her shoulders. “Sophie, look at me.”
She shook her head. She was still crying freely, though her expression was shockingly close to anger.
“Hey. Look.”
Sophie managed to focus on him, even though her whole body was shaking.
“Even if the Traveler is dead, I’m going to find a way to fix this timeline,” Lincoln said. “I promise it. All of this is gonna get undone.”
“You don’t realize,” Sophie said. “You don’t understand .”
“Then tell me,” he said.
“Omar didn’t do that because the timeline changed. He had a different set of opportunities in this world, and he’d have made those same choices. He’s always been capable of…” Her hand curved around her belly.
Lincoln had no words for her. But he had sympathy for the horror on her face. She looked the way he’d felt when he’d learned of his father’s crimes and the generation of girls he’d ruined in Grove County. Realizing someone you’d loved was capable of doing something that horrible—it felt a lot like learning that there was nothing good in the world.