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

by Pippa Dacosta

  “You look like you’ve survived a bushfire and smell like a barbeque.”

  I dipped my chin and fluttered my lashes. “You say the sweetest things.”

  “So…” His wicked smile made me sure his next words would be at my expense. “You went on a date without me?”

  Twisting in the seat, I checked the rear window, avoiding his smirk. “Actually I went on a date with you. I just didn’t know it wasn’t you.”

  “How’d it go? D’ya get to second base?”

  “Oh, you think this is funny?”

  His lips twitched. “You didn’t notice the horns?”

  “He looked like you, obviously.” If I weren’t already flushed, my cheeks would have been burning.

  Stefan leaned closer with a devilish growl. “Nobody looks like me.”

  I could have punched that smile off his face. “He was charming. We clicked. It was love at first sight.”

  “Oh, well,” he chuckled and straightened behind the wheel. “If you’d like me to drop you off somewhere, maybe you two can get a room?”

  I chewed on the inside of my cheek and peered outside. The traffic flowed. A few drivers gave us some well-earned sneers. “At least he didn’t have the smug-ass attitude,” I mumbled with a grin. “How’d you know to find me?”

  “You left me some jumbled message about running late. I had no idea what you were talking about, and you turned your cell off, so I dropped by your place. Lacy laid into me. I’m fairly certain she hates me—”

  “You’re right.” I released the magazine on the gun and checked the rounds. Etched. Good. “Although maybe hate is too strong a word.” I reassembled the gun.

  “She thought I’d stood you up.” He still wore a smile that held back his laughter. “By then, I figured you’d fallen for a bait-and-switch. You didn’t wonder if maybe something was off with your date?”

  I sighed. “Oh, c’mon, cut me some slack. I was nervous—”

  “You?” His smile quirked. “Nervous of dating? Me?”

  Oh hell, if we escaped my father, I was never going to live this down. “Laugh it u—”

  The roof caved in. Metal screamed. So did I. The car jumped. Noise and light and ice? Stefan punched a blade of ice up through the ceiling. Hot black blood streamed down the blade.

  A crimson hand swiped through the passenger window at me. I aimed the gun up and fired. “Hold on!” Stefan barked. He found a gear and lurched the Dodge forward. We sideswiped another car and sent them spinning, but the impact jarred our unwanted passenger enough to toss him from the roof. Asmodeus rolled in a tangle of wings and talons and came after us again.

  “Stefan, we need a plan.”

  “I have one.”

  “This plan of yours looks a lot like running.”

  Stefan cut across a line of traffic and plowed up the on-ramp. Evidently, we were headed out of town. “We need to keep him close.”

  Gauging from the rage twisting my father’s face, I could be fairly certain he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d made half-blood mincemeat out of me. “Then what?”

  “I have a welcoming party all set up.” He grinned.

  I couldn’t help smiling back at him. “You get off on this crazy, huh?”

  “Like I said, just like old times.”

  Asmodeus lashed out with a whip of fire. I sensed it coming, mentally flung up a hook, and absorbed the heat before it could touch the car. But it wasn’t easy. Wincing, I sank back in the seat. “Okay, he’s onto us. Wherever we’re going, get there fast.”

  Chapter 32

  The Institute’s Middlesex Fells facility shone like a beacon in the kind of night that holds its breath. Stefan anchored up the Charger on the parking lot inside a cloud of tire smoke. We flung the doors open and abandoned the car for the safety of the building. I’d reached the entrance when the car exploded. Heat, light, and debris blasted us from behind.

  “Seriously?” Stefan snarled, reeling. “My car!” He produced an ice-blade with a thick demon growl.

  “Stefan.” I hung back, the safety of the Institute so close.

  Asmodeus landed in a crouch. Fire licked across his crimson flesh and glowed in his eyes. He shook his wings out, raining sparks. “The Winter King,” he chuckled. “I know your mind, half blood. I know your weakness.” He thrust out a hand and twisted it into a fist.

  Wildfire—my father’s—boiled in my gut, surged up my insides, and tore from my flesh. I dropped inside the agony of too much power at once. My demon, I have to call my demon. Panic whipped my thoughts into chaos. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t think.

  Ice slid over my human skin and trickled down my back. Stefan’s ethereal touch sliced through the madness. With a relieved gasp, I summoned my demon. I was back in the game in time to see Asmodeus knock Stefan aside as though he was a child’s toy. My father—a heaving mountain of slick red muscle, claws, and teeth—swaggered forward. Nobody hurts what’s mine. Never. Again. I ran at him, claws out, ducked beneath a wide right hook, hooked my claws into his wing, and tore through the leathery membrane in one easy motion. He roared and took a swing that would have shattered my skull had it connected. But his bulk made him slow. I was already behind him, climbing up his back, punching my claws in with every reach. He swung wildly. We’d danced to this tune before, but this time, he couldn’t take to the skies, not with shredded wings. I sunk my fangs into the ridge of his left wing and crunched down on bone. His bellow rattled the earth, the air. His huge hand came around, clamped on my skull, and tore me off. He flung me away. I twisted mid-air and landed in a roll.

  “Get inside!” Stefan yelled, running for me. “Dawn’s chamber. Go!”

  We entered the building together, skidded through the empty foyer, and stopped outside the closed elevator doors. “You have to be kidding me.” I jabbed at the button and watched the numbers count excruciatingly slowly toward ground level.

  Asmodeus slammed his way inside the building, taking out the doors and much of the wall like a wrecking ball. Rage burned in his eyes. Nothing else, no recognition. Nothing remotely reasonable.

  Stefan powered up his ice-armor, turning full demon. “The stairs—” He bolted behind for the stairwell, and I followed, my father hot on my heels. This game of cat and mouse was insane. One slip, one mistake, and the Prince of Lust would kill us both.

  We hammered down the steps. Booming growls and snarls tumbled down the stairs after us. “Stefan, please tell me you have a foolproof escape plan?”

  “Yeah, about that. We get him to the chamber. Ryder—”

  Plaster, concrete, and dust blasted us both. Something as hard and heavy as a truck slammed me against the wall. I know I cried out, although I couldn’t hear it over the ringing in my ears. I clawed and kicked, but a hand clamped around my throat, swung me around, and dangled me backward over the bannister. Chunks of debris from the partially destroyed stairwell tumbled fifteen floors down, and in moments, I’d follow.

  Fire surged through me and rushed over my father’s glistening skin. His lips peeled back over dripping teeth. He leaned all of his weight into me. Blazing pain burned through my back and chest. The bannister groaned as it bent around us both. “I am Prince. You are nothing.”

  Ice cracked and snarled around my father and plunged into his flesh from all sides. A dozen lances pierced his chest, shoulders, and wings, distorting his body. But Stefan’s attack didn’t last. Fire blasted outward, instantly vaporizing Stefan’s icy cage.

  The bannister gave way.

  My gut leaped into my throat. I fell, oddly weightless, and reached for my father. He twisted and tried to clutch at the broken rails. He missed, clawed hands scrabbling for purchase. I snatched at anything and everything—tumbling, falling—and snagged the bannister on another floor. Pain jarred down my arm and shoulder, but I curled my claws over the rail, swung my other hand up, and—

  Asmodeus grabbed my ankle. His weight yanked on every damn muscle in my body. My right hand slipped free, and I dangled, the onl
y things saving me from a rapid plunge, were the claws of my left hand currently slicing through the rail. Asmodeus flapped and bucked, twisting and writhing. Fiery agony lapped over me. I couldn’t hold on. We were going down. Together.

  “Muse, take my hand!” Stefan lunged forward against the bannister and grabbed at my arm. His icy touch sizzled against my demon skin. I tried to reach up, but fire blazed in response to pain, and Stefan briefly shied away. “Shake off your demon. I can’t hold you when you’re superheated.”

  “I can’t! He’ll tear me in two.”

  My claws sliced through the bannister, and I fell away from Stefan’s reaching hands. He snatched at my wrist, barked a cry, and held. Teeth gritted, face twisted, he growled. “I’m. Not. Letting. You. Go.”

  Jenna leaned over the rail. “Reach up, Muse.” She curled her tattoo-protected fingers around my arm and tugged with Stefan.

  Below, Asmodeus clamped a hand around my thigh and heaved his weight higher. “He’ll kill you both. Let me go!” I cried.

  Jenna freed her sidearm with one hand and fired beside my cheek. The gun blast momentarily deafened me, but it was worth it when my father’s grip faltered. Another shot. Again. The grip around my thigh loosened, and the roar came, and fire rolled with it. Stefan tore away from the wash of flame, but Jenna clung on, protected.

  Asmodeus finally let go. Jenna heaved me over the bannister. Panting, burning, I scrambled to the edge and watched my father tumble between the stairs and hit the floor with a ground-shuddering thump.

  “He has anti-elemental rounds in him, but that won’t keep him down for long.” Jenna started down the steps. “Ryder’s down there. Get moving.”

  “Ugh.” My aching body felt as though all the joints were dislocated. I didn’t dare change back to human. Hell knew what mess my father had made of me. I was better off trying to heal the worst of the damage as demon.

  “You okay?” Stefan started down the stairs after Jenna and reached an ice-dusted hand back for me.

  “Yeah. Brilliant. Two inches taller. But great. I don’t think much of your plan though.” His hand closed around mine, sprinkling shivers up my arm.

  We found Ryder waiting at the foot of the stairs, gun in hand, standing guard over my father’s unconscious body. By the rise and fall of Asmodeus’s barrel chest, I saw he still breathed. Unfortunately. Heat haze beat the air around him. “How are we going to move him to Dawn’s chamber?” It’d be like manhandling a roasted rhino.

  Ryder chewed on a toothpick. “Well, if you’d have got him in the goods elevator, like I said…”

  Stefan made a disgusted demon sound. “There was no way he was gonna fit in the elevator.”

  I bounced my gaze between them both. “Did you guys even think this plan through?”

  Ryder plucked the toothpick free and pointed it at me. “This was the best we could come up with while you were wining and dining him. You got a better idea, I’m all ears.”

  “I didn’t know it was him.” Ryder fought back a smile. “Don’t start. Stefan’s already delighted in my screw-up.” Stefan and Ryder shared a knowing glance. “Can it.” I rolled my shoulders, working out the kinks. “We’re gonna have to drag him.”

  Ryder lifted his hands, gun still palmed in one. “Too human. I’ll direct, you pull.”

  Stefan, anti-elemental Jenna, and I grabbed my father’s arms and heaved. We’d got him as far as the door. when it opened, and Adam regarded us all with his usual stoic expression. “The chamber is ready.”

  “Nice to see you, Adam,” I purred, in my smoothest, most sarcastic, demon timbre.

  “Muse.”

  Wow, it really was just like old times if Adam was back to being Adam. “Yukki not punched your ticket yet then?”

  He visibly paled. “No, she waits outside. Has done since the deadline passed.”

  I might have taken pleasure in that thought, but given everything that had happened, I felt terribly sad. I lifted my gaze and found Stefan’s eyes on me, his lips turned down. He had a choice. Yukki could be stopped. He knew I would help him, whatever he chose. He could save his demon mother or his father. But not both.

  We heaved, tugged, pushed and pulled 500lbs of demon muscle and awkward limp wings through the bright white Institute corridors.

  “I’ll be in the observation room.” Adam peeled away from our group down a side-corridor. “Once he’s inside, I’ll set the locks and change the codes. After that, nobody gets inside.”

  “Destroy it.” I spoke up. “Destroy the controls.” Adam’s stride faltered before he could disappear out of sight. He paused, about to argue. I’d heard all his arguments before. “Take Ryder.” He was the only one I trusted to do the right thing, no matter what the cost.

  Ryder didn’t hesitate and sauntered up to Adam’s side, gun holstered, thumbs tucked in his pants pockets. They gave each other a typically male glare. Ryder was no longer on the Institute payroll. He didn’t have to take Adam’s bullshit any more than the rest of us. From the glint in his eye, I wouldn’t have been surprised if Ryder’s fist accidentally met with Adam’s face at some point very soon. Adam shoved through a doorway. Ryder cast me a salute and followed.

  The steel pressure door to Dawn’s chamber hung open a few meters ahead. We’d dragged my father for what felt like miles. Stefan hefted one of my father’s wings out of the way, hissing as heat played havoc with his element.

  “Just a little further,” I said. “The chamber has anti-elemental symbols inside. Once he’s in, no more elemental outbursts. We fill him full of PC-Thirty-Four and lock the door. It’s over.” I had one of my father’s arms looped around my chest and leaned into it, inching his dead weight forward. Stefan stayed quiet, likely due to his father’s proximity. “Y’know, nobody will blame you, whatever you decide.”

  He mustered a shallow smile. “I can’t let Yukki roam free.”

  She had to die. The chances of her playing at being human were slim to none. If she didn’t want to do something, she wouldn’t. Nothing and nobody could tell her otherwise.

  “Well, I know a nice place by a lake, near the White Mountains. A demon like her… Maybe she’d like a vacation?”

  “Maybe.” He didn’t look convinced.

  Asmodeus’s arm lashed out like a bowstring and slammed Stefan against the wall. “No!” Stefan crumpled to the floor. Asmodeus’s bulk rose up, blocking my view and my escape. His wings flapped open, sweeping Jenna back in one easy glide. My father crouched before me, eyes wide, lips parted. “You will not be the end of me, Daughter.” Fire bubbled from his skin and rippled across the floor. Jenna. Stefan. They’d suffocate and burn in these corridors. This had to end now. Only a few more feet and my father would be trapped. Just a few more steps…

  I yanked on the inferno burning inside him, opened myself to his heat, and welcomed it all. Flames peeled back and lapped at my legs, my body, my wing. I embraced it all and called more from my father’s soul. He stumbled, gasping.

  “You demons…” I growled. “So convinced you’re superior. I may not be able to draw from the veil, but I can drink you down, ruin you, destroy you—” He stumbled closer to the door. Fire swirled around me—through me—alive and free. I couldn’t let my father leave this place. Ever. It had to end here, no matter what.

  I planted my superheated hands against his chest and shoved. He stumbled backward inside the chamber and laughed. “It will kill you, Daughter. Your mortal body cannot contain my fire, half-blood whore. You are not worthy!” Bright sterile light flooded the room.

  “The fire disagrees.” I slammed the door closed and ripped the touchpad from the wall. Asmodeus slammed against the other side, throwing me back, but the door held. For now.

  “Muse,” Adam’s voice came over a speaker. “That’s not enough. We needed him unconscious to administer PC-Thirty-Four.”

  “It won’t work!” Too late now anyway. I dropped to my knees as wildfire throbbed through me.

  Jenna approached but shied away from
the heat. “Muse, what’s happening?”

  “Get Stefan out. Get everyone out.” Pain. Hot and wild and hungry. I could hold it back, but not for long.

  She struggled to get an arm under Stefan’s and lift him. “What about you?”

  “Too much power.” And no water in sight. What I wouldn’t give for a plunge in Boston harbor. “Go, I’ll be fine.” An easy lie. Funny, how lies are easy when the truth is too painful. “Tell Stefan…” Blue flames wrapped around my arms and lashed up my wing. “Tell him it’s okay. It’s better this way.”

  “Muse…”

  She was taking too long. “Get out.” Once I let go, the chaos fire would devour everything, tearing the Institute facility down around me and burying my father under fifteen floors of rubble. It would be enough. It had to be.

  Ryder skidded into sight, saw me, and knew what had to be done without me having to say a word. He just knew…the way good friends do. With a simple nod, he helped Jenna lift Stefan.

  I slumped forward and counted the seconds. Asmodeus beat against the door. He roared and raged, and I listened to my father’s howls with a triumphant smile on my lips. The likes of him were not meant for this world. Neither was I, the Mother of Destruction.

  “Muse.” Adam crouched in front of me.

  I could have laughed. Maybe I did, but the sound was lost in the bubbling flames. Of all people, Adam was the last person I wanted to see before I burned out. “Get out of here, Adam,” I growled. The floor liquefied around me.

  “No. There’s time.”

  “Time for what?” I snarled, lifting my head. Fire reflected in his beguiling eyes—such soft, understanding eyes for a man capable of inhuman cruelty. Sweat beaded on his forehead, but he didn’t look away. “I have to end this. I am destruction—” A sob choked my words. I knew my fate, but I didn’t want to die in that place. “I will let it go, and bury him, Adam. Go, now. I can’t hold it much longer.”

  “You’re going to give up?” He shook his head and frowned. “Now? After everything you’ve been through?”

  “I’m not giving up. I have to do this. He’ll get free. I have to bury him.”