Ties That Bind: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 5)

by Pippa Dacosta

  Adam was a man facing his final hours. When death breathes down your neck and the path ahead is dark, you finally realize who you are. For some, it’s too late to change. For others, they don’t need to. Adam wasn’t one of those. He had a chance to right his wrongs, and the ashen color of his skin and washed-out look in his eyes told me he knew it.

  “Stefan, I—” Adam began.

  Stefan snatched the gun from the dash and climbed from the car, slamming the door behind him.

  “I failed him,” Adam sighed.

  Yeah, that was putting it mildly. “Ready?” I climbed from the car, propped up Adam, and joined Stefan, near the inconspicuous entrance to the underground base. Enforcers flanked us, weapons lowered, but safeties off. Whatever I’ve said about enforcers, they sure knew how to wield the military-grade stare. Stefan had tucked his gun away against the small of his back.

  Akil appeared in our path, spooking our audience and sparking off a few muttered curses. His dark eyes raked over the enforcer lines. He’d sauntered out of their super-secret base with their entire cadre of demons in tow, like the Pied Piper. He’d played the Institute the same as he’d played all of us at some point. That had to grate on our heavily armed crowd. Every single one would love to put a bullet in Akil’s head.

  “Well?” I asked Akil as we drew closer. Adam clutched my arm and scanned the grounds, looking for Yukki. He had reason to be nervous. Yukki’s word was as good as that of any demon’s.

  Akil blinked lazily. “They appear to be in the process of abandoning this facility. There’s no indication of Dawn being within a five-mile radius.”

  “She’s here.” Adam winced.

  Sabine joined us and demanded answers from Adam. While they discussed what it meant to allow three demons inside their base, albeit a decommissioned base, a grumbling V8 engine snagged my attention. A battered mustang pulled into the parking area. Different colored doors, mismatched tires—the car had seen some action, much like its owner. Ryder climbed from inside and grinned over the roof at me. Despite the weight of the world on my shoulders, I grinned back. I’d missed that surly badass. Jenna climbed from the passenger seat. Her face bore the swirls and symbols of anti-elemental tattoos. Protection from Val. They weren’t nearly as deep or as abundant as Jerry’s. On her, they looked almost pretty. She no longer needed them. My brother was dead and gone for good, but it looked as though she was happy to keep them. The markings made her elementally untouchable. A nice trick to have for an enforcer.

  Ryder and Jenna crossed the parking lot together, hands in pockets, swaggers almost identical. They were made for each other. His idea of a date would be a few hours down the range, and she’d be right there, firing off a few rounds, trying to outdo him. It was sweet and what they both deserved.

  “Hey, lil’ firecracker.” He offered me his fist. We bumped. It was only Adam’s steely grip that stopped me from throwing my arms around Ryder. At some point in all of this chaos, we’d become the type of friends who hugged.

  “Hey,” I clicked my tongue, “last on scene buys the beers, y’know. You owe me one.”

  “C’mon, I was in Boston when the call came in. Two Princes of Hell and the Mother of Destruction are holding Adam Harper hostage. That ain’t a call I’m gonna miss.” Ryder acknowledged Stefan with a nod. A smile cracked across Stefan’s mask. He nodded back, and then settled into sentinel mode. Ryder’s keen eyed gaze hooked on the Prince of Greed. For a moment, both men locked gazes like rams looking horns, and then Ryder shrugged off Akil’s gaze and grinned at me. “So this is where the party’s at?” I wanted to hug him all over again.

  Sabine cleared her throat. “I am fully aware that the three of you could quite easily reduce this facility to rubble. Please know that we’re in the process of moving our operations elsewhere. Epsilon was to be transported at first light. There is very little here worth destroying. I only ask that you keep it civil and maintain absolute control of your element while below ground level. I understand you’re here for Project Epsilon. I have the necessary access codes. I will walk you to her containing cell. She is heavily sedated. I don’t envisage any problems. I appreciate the fact you have so far behaved cordially. I do not wish an incident and certainly do not want to lose any lives here today. Stefan, in light of the recent events, which somewhat overshadow the termination order on you, I hereby rescind that order.” Sabine checked her men and us for any sign of dissent. “Can we all agree to keep our fingers off our triggers?”

  I waited a few beats for anyone to speak up and nodded. “Agreed.”

  First Akil and Stefan were able to withstand each others company without one trying to kill the other, then Adam started to see sense, and now the Institute agreed a truce. This is too easy. Nothing is easy in my world. Where’s the catch?

  We filed inside the facility, exchanging wary glances.

  Chapter 26

  Akil walked ahead, a few steps behind Sabine’s straight-backed stride. I followed with Adam clinging tight to my shoulder. Stefan walked close behind. Ryder and Jenna brought up the rear. We’d descended to a level not marked on the elevator control panel. I couldn’t feel the push of any anti-elemental symbols, which wasn’t entirely surprising. The Institute didn’t employ the symbols in the areas where they experimented on demons.

  We appeared to be so far underground that the heat of the earth pushed in from behind the walls. Subdued lighting pushed down. The narrow hallway ceilings were so low Akil could have reached up and touched them as we walked. A sense of wrongness crawled across my skin. Had I been in my demon skin, I’d have wrapped my element around me. If the oppressive atmosphere wasn’t creepy enough, the whoop-whoop of fans beat out of sight, not unlike the beat of a heart.

  Sabine’s voice rang crisp and clear through the empty, intersecting tunnels. “Akil Vitalis, I hope you won’t mind me thanking you for the restraint you showed during your last visit to our facility.” Akil remained quiet, probably wondering where she was going with this, as were the rest of us. “We were obviously ill-equipped to capture and hold a demon such as yourself. You could very easily have destroyed this facility and everyone in it. As it was, you showed remarkable restraint. Not a single member of my staff died the day you broke free, despite our best efforts to disable you.”

  “It wasn’t your staff I was interested in.”

  “No, of course not. You wanted our demons.” Was that a trace of anger in her voice or admiration? “How are the two half bloods? Did they survive?”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Stefan. He arched an eyebrow and continued to scan the tunnel for any signs of deceit.

  “Your Projects,” Akil snarled, “were taken by Valenti. I do not recall seeing them during the battle. As for their current whereabouts, I haven’t the slightest idea. I’ve been somewhat distracted by death.”

  Only Akil could be distracted by death, as though dying was a minor inconvenience. He’d certainly done a grand job of brushing his death off like a spec of dust from his sleeve.

  Up ahead, a huge steel pressure door blocked our path. Beside it, a keypad blinked red. If Dawn was inside, I couldn’t feel her power. Maybe Sabine hoped to trap us all behind that door. I checked Adam’s haggard face. His glassy-eyed expression said he wasn’t up to double-crossing us. I sensed Stefan ease closer to me, no doubt thinking the same. Akil stopped behind Sabine at the door as she tapped in a code.

  “In a few hours, this facility will be empty. We’re vacating Boston entirely. We had planned to move Epsilon to New York, but, if what you say is true, her talents are better employed with you, Muse.”

  “I have no reason to lie about any of this.”

  “I know,” Sabine said. “Had it been any other person but you, I wouldn’t let Dawn out of my sight. Don’t fail us.” The keypad beeped, and the sound of heavy locks disengaging echoed down the tunnels. “The operation here was a failure. There were signs—the enforcer murders, for one—which I ignored, for the sake of friendships. But we can’t aff
ord to pump money and resources into a failed venture.”

  Adam sagged against me, but it was Stefan who stepped in and helped his father stay upright. Adam whispered his thanks. Stefan remained quiet and glared at the door, expecting the worst.

  When I checked Ryder for any clue as to what may be about to greet us, he shrugged. Jenna waited, hand on her hip, her weapon un-holstered a few inches. Nerves tightened my gut. The door swung open with a gasp of depressurized air.

  Sabine drifted inside first. Akil hesitated, but only for as long as it took me to notice. I was the only one who did. He silently stalked around the examination bed in the center of a dome chamber. Demon instincts urged me to flee. White walls, white floor, white sheets, white everything. Sterile. Vacuous. Control. I stepped across the threshold and shivered. Anti-elemental symbols stripped me of my heat. I couldn’t see them, but they were there, in the construction of the chamber. Dawn lay on the bed, a single sheet draped over her tiny body. Only the movement beneath closed eyelids confirmed she lived. Sabine’s voice drifted over me. I ignored it. That little girl could save the world. I’d shared donuts with her, taught her the finer points of retail therapy, and had so badly wanted to free her. Now I was about to deliver her into the hands of demons—not just any demons, but the Princes and the King of Hell. It wasn’t fair. There was no right way out of this, no happy ending for her.

  I didn’t have a choice.

  Neither did she.

  Stefan with Adam, Ryder, and Jenna hung back outside the room. The walls pushed in, or appeared to. The air thinned, or seemed to. We were far below ground level, buried inside the Institute. The lab techs could shut the door and forget about us. I wanted out. Tiny flurries of breath raced through my lips. My heart fluttered. Stefan’s eyes narrowed. Jenna’s gun hand twitched.

  “Let’s get this done and get out of here,” I said.

  Akil stopped beside Dawn, fingertips resting on her bedside. That skinny little girl had very almost brought an end to his timeless existence. That was no trivial thing. What did he think of her? His expression was set, lips pressed thin, eyes scrutinizing. Even after all the years I’d known him, I couldn’t read his face.

  “She isn’t aware,” Sabine said. “She’s heavily sedated. Once she’s free of the IV drip, the drug will wear off in a few hours, but until then, you’ll have to closely monitor her.”

  Akil brushed his fingertips down one side of Dawn’s face and leaned in to brush her ringlets back. He touched her like she was a fragile piece of art. Priceless. And I think, for a moment, he lost himself in thought.

  “Akil?”

  His head lifted and something, some tiny fragment of emotion flickered in his eyes. He blinked, and it was gone. “Yes.”

  “Let’s go.” Had it been fear?

  He eased an arm beneath her lower back and rolled her limp sheet-wrapped body into his arms. With her head tucked into his shoulder, she looked almost peaceful, and Akil… He carried her out of that vacuum of a room, past Stefan and Adam, through Ryder and Jenna, toward the elevator, without so much as a glance at anyone.

  “Muse?”

  Sabine called me back while the others filed behind Akil. She locked the door. “Should you return to this facility, you’ll find it deserted.”

  “I have no intention of returning here, ever.” A demon growl rumbled beneath my words.

  She watched my group file down the hallway away from us. “Adam tells me you’re protecting him—”

  “I protect those who’ve earned it.” If this was going to be another we-don’t-trust-you talk, I’d heard enough already. “Adam brought us here, and if we leave without incident, I’ll consider him halfway to worthy. It doesn’t change the past, but there might be hope for him yet.”

  She closed her eyes a moment longer than a blink and smiled when she looked at me again. “For all the wrong we’ve done you, you continue to survive and fight for what you believe in. I’ve never met anyone quite like you. You are remarkable. And I am sorry for the mistakes we’ve made.” I wasn’t sure what I had expected her to say, but a genuine apology wasn’t it. I stalled. My gut told me to laugh it off and make some snarky comment, but I couldn’t. I absorbed her words. It was real. It was mine.

  “Apology accepted.”

  I walked a little lighter as we each filed into the elevator and returned to ground level. Outside, rain had set in, drenching the avenue of enforcers guarding our path back to the cars.

  “What now?” Stefan asked. He’d handed his father over to three medics who helped him toward the back of an SUV, where they could administer some much-needed medical attention. Adam would want to stay with us, but I wasn’t sure if I needed the extra weight around my neck. I scanned the tree-lined parking lot, brushing my wet bangs back. Akil carried Dawn toward our car. She wouldn’t be cold. I could feel the steady pull of his element. He kept her warm. Considering she was demon kryptonite, Akil seemed to almost revere her. Was it because she would be queen? Jerry had said Akil had likely orchestrated the original queen’s downfall. And here he was, helping to reinstate a new queen.

  “…going on with him?”

  “Huh?”

  “Akil? Why is he here?” Stefan slanted his head away and watched the Prince of Greed. Rainwater dripped from his paint-splattered hair.

  “Jerry told him to.”

  “As easy as that?”

  “Yeah. King of Hell.” I shrugged.

  Enforcers murmured amongst themselves. Heavy rain hissed against asphalt. Ryder and Jenna stood off to one side, discussing something. Behind me, the doors to the Institute facility clicked closed and locked, but my shivers remained. Stefan stepped away. He reached behind him and freed the Desert Eagle. “Hey,” he called. The patter of rain drowned out much of his shout.

  I peered around Stefan and through the crowd to see what was happening and spotted Akil. He’d walked a few steps beyond our car, his back to us, Dawn cradled in his arms. The steady crawl of heat increased. Oh no. Please…no.

  “Greed!” Stefan called, gun at his side as he broke into a jog.

  Akil stopped. Rain hissed. Turn. Turn, you bastard. I bolted forward, shoving through the meandering enforcers. Stefan lifted the gun. And Akil turned.

  Amber fringed his dark eyes so that even in the low light, they glowed. His slow blink, his slight smile. He’d won. It was written all over his face and in his confident stance. Even as the rain poured over him, and swirls of steam rose from his suit jacket, he couldn’t have looked more triumphant. I knew that look. I’d seen it on the street outside Stone’s Throw when he’d told me he’d brought down the Institute for their own good, when he’d strode across Boston Garden’s to save the city from a feral dragon the size of an airliner, and when he’d put me in a pit surrounded by demons and watched me fight for my life. Dread hardened in my gut. Someone—Ryder, I think—shouted my name. I ignored it and stopped beside Stefan. Akil stood at the tree line, Dawn draped in his arms.

  “Akil… What are you doing?” I asked. Stefan’s finger twitched on the trigger guard.

  “The veil will not be restored,” Akil said.

  This can’t be happening. “What?”

  Stefan lifted the gun and flexed his grip. “Put Dawn down.”

  Akil slid his amber glare to Stefan. “I’ll break her neck before you pull the trigger.”

  Stefan asked my next question for me. “Why are you doing this?”

  “I have my reasons, as I’ve said, one such as you cannot possibly understand how to maintain balance in a world flooded with chaos. This chaos girl is not the answer.”

  “Akil,” I snapped, “are you taking her to Jerry?”

  “No.”

  I swallowed. “To Asmodeus?” A muscle fluttered in his cheek. Damn him. Damn him to hell. “He’ll kill her. We might never restore the veil, not until some other chaos demon is found. You would ruin Boston, other cities, kill thousands, for what? Why?”

  He smiled. Just…smiled.

  I
strode forward, closing the distance between us with each stride. Cool rainwater dripped down my neck. “Don’t do this. This isn’t you.”

  His lips curled into a sly smile. “Isn’t me…” he repeated, tasting the words. “I’ve lost count of the times I’ve told you how humanity is your greatest strength, Muse, but also your greatest weakness. You want to believe I’m good. You always have. You want to trust me. Your humanity gives you hope that I can somehow be changed. You know what I am. You’ve always known. I am demon. I am greed. I want everything, I want these mortals to bow before me. I want every marvelous creation of theirs—”

  Heart hammering, I asked softly, “I thought there was only one thing you needed?”

  His dark lashes fluttered. “Chaos does not change.”

  Lies. I’d seen him change. He’d mourned me. He’d sacrificed himself for me. He’d saved me. This. Now. Was lies. I just couldn’t figure out why… “Don’t be this demon, Akil. Please.”

  His dark eyes held mine, and he looked back at me with stone-cold resolution. What had I done? I’d brought back the demon who would destroy the queen the way he had before. I’d delivered Dawn into the arms of her killer. I’d been so sure…so damn sure he was different, despite the demons telling me otherwise. I’d believed him. “You’re not Akil,” I whispered.

  The words tore away as a swirl of ice bloomed between Akil and me and whisked around him and Dawn. A jagged tear in the veil opened close to my right. He’d take Dawn to the netherworld, to my father, and destroy our last hope.

  Ice snapped and hissed into a wall beside me, blocking the tear in the veil, as Akil’s icy cage shattered, and he emerged, heat haze rippling around him, Dawn sprawled on the ground at his feet. She was the only thing that mattered. I lunged for her as Stefan—sparkling ice and razor sharp edges—gleamed into sight. He produced a blade of shimmering ice and swung it at Akil. I ducked down and scooped Dawn into my arms. Struggling to lift her unconscious weight, I staggered to my feet and lurched for the trees. Akil’s hand snagged my coat. He yanked me back. With a cry, I twisted and pulled. His sneer drove a dagger of fear and shock into my chest. I stumbled, clutching Dawn close. He wouldn’t have her. Damn him. He’d never have her again.