by Cynthia Eden
“And I know he wasn’t doing it for you, asshole.” Her dark stare turned back to Grim. “He was working to kill you, not to set me up.”
She knew? How—
“I knew from the first bite. I’m Born, remember? I knew.”
Well, shit.
Hate twisted Grim’s face. “You should have run while you had the chance.”
A ripple of her shoulders. “Not really the running type. More the kick-your-ass type.”
Flames raced across the floor.
Grim’s laughter filled his ears. And Nina—dammit, she jumped up.
“Burn, bitch!” Her scream of fury, directed right at Dee.
Grim slipped through the doorway, his laughter following him.
The flames rose too high, too fast. Nina’s eyes flashed red, the vessels near bursting as she pumped all her power right at them.
Dee stumbled back against him. “Run!”
They charged toward the window. The fire chased after them.
“Burn, burn, burn.” A chant from Nina. Fucking insane. The flames caught Simon’s back and legs, biting at the flesh, and he clenched his teeth at the agony. He fell, the fire rising around him as—
“No! Not without you!” Dee grabbed his arms and yanked him out the window with her. The broken glass cut his stomach and chest and then Dee was hitting him, pounding on his body. No—striking at the flames and putting out the fire.
Burning her flesh, to save him.
A shriek echoed from the house. The flames came at them again.
“Grim has himself one hell of a guard dog,” Dee growled, breath heaving out.
Simon’s gaze scanned the yard. Three vamps came out, claws and teeth ready, but they didn’t attack. They just watched.
Ready to watch us die.
“This is the way it ends for you.” Grim’s taunting voice. He walked from the shadows of the house. Blood dripped down his chest. “For both of you.”
Simon caught Dee’s hand, held tight. Surrounded by fire and vampires.
He looked at Dee. Shoulders back, chin up. Eyes blazing black. Not afraid. Not his Dee. Never afraid.
No, not her and she was—
Smiling?
“I know what happens next,” Dee said, and her soft voice carried easily over the crackle of flames.
“Me, too,” Grim snapped. “You burn. And you scream. Then you die. Right in your lover’s arms.”
“You believe in prophets, don’t you, Grim?” The flames were so close that the heat seemed to graze his flesh, but Nina was holding back now, watching Dee. Why?
Because Grim had his hand up, and like the good lapdog that she was, Nina wouldn’t strike without his order.
“After all, you set all this into motion.” Dee’s right hand—which looked broken—lifted to indicate the flames and vampires. “Because a demon had a vision and told you that I would be your killer.”
Grim’s lips thinned.
“You killed my family,” she continued. “Everyone I ever loved because you thought a fifteen-year-old human girl would one day kill an all-powerful Born.”
“The demon was right! You would have come for me!”
“I came now for vengeance. Because of you. You are the one who set this in motion. You.”
He shook his head. “No, no, I wasn’t dying again. Those bastards, they betrayed me before. I wasn’t going to die like that again!”
His eyes darted to the vampires who stood so still and silent. “My men won’t turn this time. They’ll stand by me.”
“This isn’t about them.” Simon had no idea where she was going with this, but he caught movement from the corner of his eye. Slow, careful movement. His nostrils flared, just a bit, but he couldn’t smell anything but the smoke and blood.
“I won’t stand by you,” Simon called out. “I won’t be your fucking puppet anymore.”
A muscle jerked in Grim’s jaw.
Simon turned his stare on the line of vamps. “Sure you’re on the right team?”
One of the vamps cut his eyes toward Grim. Hesitation there. And anger in the man’s eyes.
He hates that control, just as much as I did. “What did he make you do?” Simon demanded, aware of that shadow slipping ever closer. “Kill your lovers? Your family? How did you prove your loyalty to him?”
Because that was Grim’s way. Loyalty could only be shown in blood.
“And if you didn’t kill them, he did, right?” Like the bastard had taken out his family. “None of us signed on for this shit, but we can get out. He just has to die!”
Grim took a step back. His hand rose again to trace the side of his back. Always checking for the wounds he’d had so long ago. Now, Simon understood.
“I know what’s going to happen,” Dee said and she was so close to the flames. He wanted to haul her back, to force her behind him, but this time, this moment was hers. And he’d follow wherever she took him.
“You believe in your prophets.” She lifted her hands high. “I believe in my witch.”
Unease flickered over Grim’s face and the vampires began to move in closer. Not closer to the fire, but closer to Grim. For his protection? Or—
“She scryed to see how this fight would end.”
Uh, yeah, and that shit hadn’t been so positive. Simon swallowed and ignored the fierce throbbing in the back of his legs. The blisters would heal, eventually, if they survived this night.
“Catalina knew she would die in the fire. That’s why she was running when your men caught her.”
Grim’s eyes widened, just a bit.
“Grim!” Nina’s voice screeched. “Let’s just kill them, now, let’s—”
“She saw you die.” Dee’s finger lifted and pointed at the Ignitor.
“The hell you say! You die, you—”
The shadows seemed to grab her. Nina’s words choked off and a thin line of red appeared on her neck.
“Your throat gets cut,” Dee said, just as Nina’s body fell to the ground.
The flames sputtered away.
The shadow—it was Zane. Standing there, body trembling as he stared down at the woman.
“I saw death. Zane was surrounded by flames. I burned. Nina—her throat was cut.” Catalina’s sad voice drifted through his mind.
But no, after that, she’d said—
“You die, Dee.” The whisper of her words filled his head even as Dee sprang forward and said—
“You die, Grim. You. Die!”
Grim came at her with fury, meeting her armed with the stake she’d used on him.
He drove that stake right at her chest.
“No!”
But Dee was ready. She spun away from the vamp, and the stake grazed her side, not her heart.
Simon grabbed Grim and wrestled the bastard to the ground. He ignored the claws and teeth and fought to hold the Born when he buckled, struggling to keep him pinned as—
“You die,” Dee whispered again and she had a stake in her hands. The stake she’d taken from Simon when his arms were locked around her and no one could see. The stake had been hidden near his waist, just waiting for her.
Grim lurched up.
She shoved the stake into his chest.
Grim’s eyes flared wide and he sucked in a sharp breath.
Then he smiled. “True,” he whispered, and blood spilled from his lips. “Both…right…”
The bastard smiled, and died.
Grim’s vampires inched forward.
Simon glared at them. “Your choice. Die with him or get the hell out of here.”
They stared back at him.
“My mother…” One whispered. “He made me…”
“My wife…” From another.
“My son.” Grief. Fury. “I begged him, but I couldn’t stop him!”
Not born monsters. We are what we become.
Simon stared back down at Grim’s still face. Once, Grim had just been a man, too. A man betrayed who’d woken to the power of a near god.
> Dee’s fingers slowly loosened their death grip on the stake. Her breath exhaled on a hard sigh. She trembled.
Grim’s lashes were closed. His lips unmoving. No heartbeat. No breath.
Death.
Simon took Dee’s shoulders and pulled her away from the vampire. Over. Finally.
“Dee?”
He caught a scent then. A wild, fierce scent in the night. Animal.
No, shifter. Jude had to be close. More of the cavalry, but coming too late this time.
The vampires stilled, and he saw their eyes dart to the shadows. They knew when they were being hunted. Fear trickled into their dark gazes.
Then they bolted.
Not as dumb as he’d thought. Just lost, like he’d been.
“Is he dead?” Zane wasn’t looking at them. His eyes stayed on Nina’s body and his shoulders hunched.
The stake was buried in Grim’s heart. The bastard wasn’t so much as twitching. Yep, looked dead.
He pulled Dee toward him. “Sonofabitch, woman, you scared me! Catalina didn’t tell us Grim would die, she said you—”
Her knees buckled and Simon saw her chest—saw the blood that covered her. “Dee?”
A stake. A fucking stake. She’d gotten the Born, but he’d taken his death blow.
Both…right.
Because they were both dying.
Her lashes fell closed. No, no, screw that. Simon grabbed the stake and yanked it from her chest. She was still breathing. Her heart still beating. The stake had missed its mark, it had missed! She wasn’t going to die, no, she wasn’t going to—
“Easy.” Zane’s hoarse voice ordered and Simon realized he’d been screaming. Begging.
“Live,” Simon whispered now.
Grim had missed her heart. He could hear Dee’s heart beating. She’d be all right. She just needed blood. She just needed—
Her lashes lifted. Such dark eyes. Weak, but, still Dee.
“I will,” she promised. “I will.”
He crushed his lips onto hers and kissed the woman as hard and deep as he could.
Surrounded by death, but she was alive.
He leaned his forehead against hers and just held her.
“Missed…heart…barely…” she breathed the words.
“You just scared the hell out of me,” Zane snapped.
And she’d nearly killed him.
“Over,” she said, whisper soft. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”
The voice was gone from his mind. The link cut. “Let’s get out of here.” Away from the death and back to the life that waited for them.
But Dee shook her head and glanced toward Grim. “Always come back…” Her hand lifted to her shoulder. Pressed hard. “They always…come back.”
“Not this time.” Catalina’s certain voice.
She came from the darkness. Soot and blood covered her clothes. Jude walked at her side, clad in a pair of jeans, and his woman held the witch’s arm, helping her to walk. “This time,” Catalina said again, “he’ll stay down.”
She stopped near his body. Catalina stepped away from the shifters and lifted her arms. Her chant came, quick but soft, and the wind stirred.
Power. Licking in the air. So much power.
And not all of it was from the positive source a witch should use. Simon felt the taint of darkness, saw it reflected in Catalina’s eyes.
Changed.
Grim had left his mark on another victim.
A ball of fire exploded—no, Grim’s body exploded into flames. Burned and burned until nothing was left.
Not even ash.
“Guess he won’t be coming back from…that,” Dee managed and they watched the fire sputter.
No, he damn well wouldn’t.
A reminder never to piss off a witch.
Bye, asshole. Have fun in hell.
“I didn’t die.” Dee felt like she’d been hit by a bus or a stake. But then, she had. She winced as she lowered her body onto the chair that Simon had pulled out from who the hell knew where.
Catalina stood a few feet away, rocking back and forth, her eyes on the ashes that fluttered up into the sky.
A cleanup team was en route. Pak’s teams always moved fast. Soon, nothing would be left of this place.
Just the memories of what had been.
“Did you hear me, Cat?” Yeah, good, her voice was getting stronger because the blood flow had finally stopped. “Your future was wrong. I didn’t die. I’m sitting right here, I’m—”
Catalina finally looked her way. “The night’s not over.”
Well, shit. Wasn’t she a ball of sunshine? Not that Cat really liked sunshine these days. Dee blinked. “Uh, you’re still alive, too.”
A shiver worked over Cat’s body. “Doesn’t feel that way.”
“No.” Softer now as she thought about exactly what Catalina might have gone through. How long she’d been with Grim and his little fire-loving friend. “I guess it doesn’t.”
Catalina’s shoulders squared. “I’m not going back to Baton Rouge.”
Not what she’d expected. “Where are you going?”
Her gaze slanted over to the stable. Smoke drifted from the roof. “Somewhere I can forget.”
Forgetting wasn’t always the answer.
“I shouldn’t have left you,” Catalina said. “You needed me. I-I shouldn’t have run.”
“It wasn’t your fight.”
A steady stare. “Wasn’t it?”
Dee swallowed. “How long—” She had to ask.
“I’d just left the parking lot. They got me—” She cleared her throat. “It was fast.”
“And the spells? What all did Grim want?”
Catalina’s eyes darted to the men. Zane and Simon were standing in front of the house. Simon’s gaze kept coming back to Dee. Checking her. Watching.
He’d forced her to drink from him. A good thing because without the blood, she’d have fallen on her face.
“He wanted Simon to kill you.”
Dee met Simon’s gaze.
“Grim wanted me to send out a command spell. One that would force Simon to act.”
“And you didn’t.” Catalina might not have stayed to fight, but the woman had guts. She’d held out against Grim and she’d—
“And I did.” Dee’s stare came back to her just as Catalina’s head sank.
Wow. Hadn’t expected that. “Then why am I still breathing?”
“Because he loves you.”
It felt like another stake had been plunged into her chest. Only this time, it found its mark in her heart. “You don’t—”
“He should have killed you. He should have turned on you and joined Grim. You would have died. I would have died. Everything I saw would have come true.” A hard rasp of breath. “But he fought my spell and he fought Grim.”
“He wanted his vengeance. His freedom.” That was why he’d fought so hard. Not for—
I’ll fucking love you forever. The words she’d never forget.
“He wanted you.”
She glanced back at him.
His gaze bored into her. So much heat. Need.
Was her own stare like that?
“For you, he’d fight magic and monsters.”
He had.
Catalina turned away. “I-I’m going…tell Zane.”
“You tell him.” Those two had some complicated crap going on.
“I’m not what he needs. Or what he wants.” Sadness there. An ache. “I saw his future. She’s not me.”
“You’ve been wrong once already,” Dee reminded her, and she tore her gaze from Simon. Catalina couldn’t just leave. She belonged with them.
But Catalina didn’t look back and her head shook once, slowly. “Didn’t you hear me, Dee? The night’s not over yet.”
Her lips parted, but Dee had no idea what to say. What more could happen?
“I saw you.” Catalina’s voice drifted back to her. “Surrounded by vampires. No way out. No. Way. Out.”
The others—they were the ones she needed to fear.
They went back to the same seedy motel. They could have stayed at the scene, made sure Pak’s team arrived, but screw that. Dee was about to fall on her face and taking care of her was Simon’s priority.
She’d taken blood from him at the scene. Not too much. Just enough to kick-start her healing, and then she’d stared around at the darkness, worry in her eyes.
The big, bad bastard was dead. What did she have to worry about?
She shuffled into the room before him, wrinkling her nose. “I smell like death.” Common, for many vampires, but not for her.
Never her.
She stripped, right there, even before he’d slammed the motel room door shut, and Simon just took a minute to enjoy the view. World class, really.
Then she headed for the bathroom and his gaze followed her ass. Dimples. Nice, lick-me dimples right at the top of that curve.
He took a step to follow her.
The lady kicked the door closed.
Okay.
The shower blasted on, the roar of the water easily penetrating through the thin door.
Simon hesitated, his eyes on that door. She’d shut him out, so that clearly said she didn’t want him stripping and joining her for some water fun.
But there’d been something in her eyes since Grim’s death. Not fear. Yeah, worry, but—
Pain. More than just the physical wounds.
He locked the motel room door and strode toward the bathroom. His knuckles rapped against the door. “Dee?”
No answer.
His hand dropped to the doorknob. If she told him to fuck off, he’d leave her in peace. But if she was in there, hurting, he wasn’t going to walk away.
He turned the knob and stepped inside. Steam had begun to rise and to drift lazily in the air, but Dee hadn’t entered the shower yet. She stood near the tub, head bowed, shoulders hunched.
“Dee?” He said her name again, softer.
She glanced back at him and the sight of tears on her face was a punch right in his gut. “It didn’t make any difference.”
What? Fuck, but now he hurt. He grabbed her arms and yanked her against his chest. “Babe, what’s—”
“I thought killing him would make some of the pain stop. That it would give me some peace.” A hard swallow. “But when I close my eyes, I still see them.”