Gods and Ends (Ordinary Magic Book 3)

by Devon Monk

  “And Rossi told you what about that?”

  “That we could use the tie to hunt Lavius down. Use it to kill him.”

  “Then why haven’t you?”

  “He said….” I frowned. “He said it wouldn’t work.”

  “Either it works or it doesn’t. Which is it, Delaney?”

  “He lied.” It wasn’t a question.

  Bathin nodded. “He lied.”

  “We can use the bite, the tie to find Lavius?”

  “A vampire could.”

  “But he didn’t want to because…is he on Lavius’s side?”

  Bathin raised his eyebrows. “Do you think Rossi would betray you? That’s not really in his nature is it?”

  Betrayal wasn’t something I’d ever seen from Rossi. He was about as straight a shooter as anyone in this town. Clear about his wants, needs, goals.

  Clear about his laws, rules, and punishments too. He was a steady hand and presence who dealt with all the vampires in this town. If someone crossed him, if someone broke his laws, he just killed them. No betrayal necessary.

  “He’s trying to protect me,” I said, putting it together. “He promised my dad he wouldn’t let anyone kill me, and he won’t use the bite to…deal with Lavius because it might harm me to do so.”

  It felt right. Even if I didn’t know the exact details, it felt right.

  “He made that promise. Your father told me as much. It’s the truth.”

  “If I believe you.”

  “If you believe me.”

  “How can the bite harm Lavius? Could we use it to…lure him into a trap? Slow him down? Chain him up?”

  “We can use it to kill him.”

  I frowned. There had to be more to it than that. “How?”

  “First, you have to die.”

  I didn’t have a clock in my living room, so the silence that followed that statement wasn’t broken up by anything except the push of wind scattering a few fir needles across my roof.

  “Theoretically?” I ventured.

  “Literally. He has tied you to him with only a single bite. There is a reason vampires turn their victims quickly or kill them quickly. Turning is final. Killing is final. But a single bite? That is a transient state.”

  “For him or for me?”

  “For both of you. If you are killed, if you die while still being tied to him, he is vulnerable. For a very short time. Minutes. But just long enough to strike. He would be caught, tangled in your death, mortal, killable, no special spells required.”

  Chills rolled down from my scalp to my knees. This wasn’t exactly good news. I understood why Rossi hadn’t wanted to tell me. For one thing, it was a vulnerability in vampires I hadn’t known existed. For another, I’d have to pay a pretty big price—the biggest price—for it to work.

  “I’m not seeing this as our opening volley,” I said.

  “Which is why it would be so unexpected. Rossi won’t know you have this information. Lavius won’t think you’d be stupid enough to act on it.”

  “But you think I’m stupid enough?”

  “Clever. Clever enough. Because you have me.”

  I raised my eyebrows.

  He sighed. “And I have your soul. You won’t die, well, not completely, as long as I hold your soul. I can keep death, or any other god, from taking you.”

  “And I trust you to do this?”

  “Do you want to trust me?”

  “Are you saying all this time you were holding my father’s soul he wasn’t really dead?”

  “He was dead. His body died, and then we came to an agreement, before his soul passed into death. And after a year of being dead, unless the body is very carefully preserved, there is no going back.

  “But for you, with this. It would take seconds. You’d would be back in your body before brain damage could set in.”

  “Way to sell it.”

  He shrugged. I felt like the sucker reaching for a dollar bill on a fishing line.

  “How?”

  “Some of that could be up to you. You’ll need someone to kill you, and someone to bring you back from death. Since your pal Death seems fond of you, I’d start there.”

  “He’s not fond of me,” I said distractedly while my brain ran through this option. Who did I know who would kill me because I asked them to?

  “Have you looked at his face when you’re in the room?”

  “Kind of hard not to,” I said. “It’s not me he’s fond of. It’s the very idea of humanity.”

  “Hate to break it to you, Butter Brickle, but he’s been staring at humanity, at the very idea of it for a long, long time. And not fondly.”

  “He won’t kill me while he’s on vacation.”

  “You’re so sure of that?”

  “After you left the meeting—”

  “After I was rudely relocated by your heartless sister?”

  I stopped and stared at him for a minute, taking in the details. Sure, I’d heard his words, but it was the tone that threw me.

  He sounded…not angry. Anger, I’d expect. He sounded relaxed, content. The kind of tone someone would take after they’d had a great first date that ended with some front-step snogging.

  “You liked it.”

  He rubbed his tongue behind his top lip and gave me a droll expression. “You’re not listening to me. She attacked me. Jumped me. Impinged on my freedom of movement. I believe there are rules against that sort of thing in this town. I might want to file charges.”

  “She’s a cop. The rules are different for her when she’s operating in the best intentions for all citizens in question.”

  “Maybe I’ll ask your boyfriend if her attack against me is in the rule book.”

  “She didn’t attack you, she removed you from the premises because you were about to cause a riot. And you don’t even hate her for it. You like it. Like that she figured out a way to out-smart you. How did she do that anyway?”

  “It’s a common enough spell.” He took a sip of the wine. Even with all this sipping, he hadn’t managed to take even a half-inch off of the level of liquid he’d poured.

  “No, I really don’t think it is common. Rossi said it wouldn’t work on all demons. Care to float a theory as to why he told us that?”

  “Not at all.”

  “Could it be because he mentioned the spell has to be counter-weighted by a demon’s desire? That the demon has to want something from the caster for there to be enough leverage for the spell to actually work?”

  “Vampires are not experts in magic or demon kind.”

  “What is it about her that you desire, Bathin?”

  He sipped wine. Said nothing.

  “If you’re falling in love with her—”

  His sharp laugh cut my threat short. “Hardly. A mortal woman, any mortal woman would never be enough to…maintain my interest.”

  “So you’ll keep your hands off.”

  He nodded. “You’re the only Reed for me, Delaney. And I find you very satisfying.”

  “Again with the not making me want to trust you.”

  “I don’t need your trust. I’ve told you the truth. If you are killed, Lavius is vulnerable. The details of arranging your death and subsequent rebirth are up to you.”

  “Rebirth?”

  “Oh, I’m sure you don’t want my input on that. I might be lying. I am a demon, you know.”

  I set the wine glass down with a thunk. “Shut up and tell me.”

  He stared at me for a moment, his silence pointing out my stupidity louder than words. “Rebirth, as in coming back to life, resurrection, reanimation.”

  “It would be a temporary end?”

  “It would be an end. But if you had someone powerful enough on your side, it might be temporary.”

  “And there are no side effects to…I’d still be…I wouldn’t come back as a zombie, right?”

  His mouth curled in a smug smile. “Have you ever met a zombie?”

  “Answer the question.”


  “If you were brought back to life, you would still be you. Soulless, because, obviously.” He waved a hand down his body as if I’d forgotten he was currently in possession of my soul. “But still you. Your life force, your spirit,” he winced as if it pained him to say the words, “that could never be lost.”

  My pulse was sort of erratic and my skin was damp and cool. If I’d had emotions at my disposal, I’d guess I was both terrified and kind of hopeful. If I could take out Lavius without risking that the book fell into his hands when we broke the spell on Ben, then this chance might be worth it.

  But I knew Myra, Jean, Ryder, and probably a pile of other people would not agree with me on this. They also wouldn’t trust it would really work with nothing but a demon’s word to vouch for it.

  I stared at Bathin, and he returned my gaze, easy, direct, clear. As if he was showing himself to me, letting me look past his nature, or maybe past the disguise he wore for everyone else, all the way down to the realness of him. The bits that made him tick. The stuff of him that was, maybe still not good exactly, but not cruel, not evil, not toxic.

  “We do it fast,” I said. “We do it now. And we do it with people who will trust me, because no one will ever trust you.”

  “Hurts so much,” he said airily. “And yet I go on.”

  I closed my eyes and worked through what I’d need. Worked through who I’d need.

  “Okay,” I said opening my eyes a few minutes later. “I have a plan. And you’re going to do everything I say.”

  “At your service.” His words were smooth and calm, but his smile was wicked and dangerous.

  Was I making the stupid choice? Maybe. But this plan had a lot going for it: surprise timing, hitting a vulnerability Lavius wouldn’t expect us to use, while protecting our own vulnerabilities: Ben and the book that could not fall into Lavius’s hands.

  And if we could keep this fight out of Ordinary, or at least away from all the people and creatures Myra was currently corralling for backup, so none of them were risking their lives?

  So my sisters weren’t risking their lives?

  That was more than worth the choice, stupid or not.

  Chapter 18

  Bathin made some kind of excuse of not caring who I dragged into our plan, since he didn’t really know anyone in town and no one would trust him anyway. He told me he’d rather hang around my house, prying open my old diaries and laughing at my angst.

  I left him to it (I’d burned all my old diaries when I’d turned twenty-three and spent a night reading them in embarrassment and horror).

  If we were going to pull off a preemptive strike we’d need to have everyone on board and the plan set in action before midnight.

  I’d thought about asking Myra to help me do this, but she would have cuffed me to the holding cell bars until next year.

  Jean was in no state to pull off something like this, nor would Hatter or Shoe be up for the whole murder-your-fellow-officer I was going for.

  I briefly considered Bertie because she was a Valkyrie, and familiar with war, death, and delivering spirits to specific places. But I’d have to listen to her lecture me about how stupid the plan was and if, by some remote chance, I actually talked her into it, she’d would force me into indentured servitude of rhubarb contest judgings and whatever other horrible community events she dreamed up.

  Rossi had already told me where he stood on the idea of using my death against Lavius, and I guess Death had weighed in too since he’d just up and walked out on me when I’d asked him to make sure all sales were final as we punched Lavius’s last ticket.

  Aaron was too hungry for conflict, and honestly, I wasn’t going to ask any of the gods to give up their vacation by picking up their powers. I’d done that once already. And while it had been worth it to save Ordinary, it felt weird to ask them to pick up their powers just to save me.

  But I knew who wanted to kill Lavius more than was worried about me being temporarily dead.

  I just had to convince him to do it.

  The hospital hallway was quiet, lights lowered to give a false feeling of peace and comfort. I knocked softly on the door to Ben’s room, but I hadn’t needed to. The werewolves inside had amazing hearing and smell, and I’m sure they’d known I’d been headed their way since I hit this floor.

  Fawn opened the door and tipped her head, sending her walnut-colored hair shifting from one shoulder to the other. “They’re sleeping.”

  I nodded. “I need to say something to Jame. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

  She blinked and leaned a little forward to…sniff me? Okay. Weird.

  “You stink like demon.”

  I laughed, one loud bark that made me slam my palm over my mouth before I woke anyone up. The joy of that true but disdainful statement slipped away into the breezy freezy no-soul hole in me, but for a moment, I’d enjoyed her snark.

  “I could talk to him out here.”

  The look she gave me. “He’s not going to go that far from Ben. Come in.”

  And, yes, that was possibly the only thing that would keep Jame from joining in on my little murder plan.

  The room was much the same as I’d last seen it a few hours ago, except Jame and Ben were curled up alone in bed, the wolves who had been draped over Jame lounging in chairs they’d scrounged up from somewhere. The vampires who had been tucked away on the bench by the window were gone, replaced by two more of the Rossi clan who were playing a game of cards for a prize pot that appeared to consist of sour gummy worms and cigarettes.

  Granny Wolfe was there, her eyes granite behind those big glasses, watching my every move.

  “Jame,” I said quietly. “I need to speak with you.”

  Jame opened his eyes, rolling his head enough so that he could see me without jostling Ben who was cradled into Jame’s warmth as much as his wounds would allow.

  “Speak,” he said in a whisper that sounded like it covered a voice gone too long screaming.

  “Outside this room would be better. So Ben can sleep.”

  That was it. My only shot. He’d either be curious enough to leave Ben behind and come with me briefly, or he wouldn’t.

  If he wouldn’t, I’d find the next person on my list.

  “You can talk here,” Granny said. “What he hears, we all hear.”

  “Not this. It’s private.”

  Granny pursed her lips, then sucked on her teeth, contemplating what to make of me.

  Not having any emotions does wonders for one’s poker face.

  Jame didn’t wait for Granny’s decision. He shifted carefully, and by tender degrees, untangled himself from the man in the bed. Ben didn’t open his eyes, didn’t move. I glanced up at the bag of blood steadily dripping into him and wondered how many drugs it had taken to knock him out.

  Granny’s hand came to rest on Ben’s shoulder so that he wasn’t alone in the bed, wasn’t without contact, but she did nothing else to object.

  I stepped outside the door, held it open for Jame. He followed me down to the end of the hall to the first unused room. His movements were stiff at first, but strength and fluidity replaced sore muscles with each step.

  This was stupid. Stupid to ask a man bent on revenge to be a part of a very logical, one-shot plan.

  What was I doing?

  I checked that the room was empty and shut the door behind us.

  “We can kill Lavius before midnight. Which means we can break that spell on Ben. And Lavius won’t be able to get his hands on the book.”

  “When can we do it?”

  I searched his face. He looked more like himself. His eyes still burned with pain and anger, but his body remained solidly human, his stance that of the firefighter I knew.

  “Now.”

  “I’m in.”

  “You’ll have to leave Ben here and come with me to do it.”

  “I wouldn’t let that filth here. Near him. Never again.”

  Right. That made sense.

  “There’
s one more thing. Something that a lot of people won’t be happy about.”

  He waited.

  “The bite.” My fingers fluttered to my neck and his eyes flicked to that point, then back to my face. “It ties me to Lavius. And when I die, he’ll be vulnerable for a short time, mortal for long enough, we can kill him.”

  He was holding his breath. I could tell because I could feel the warmth of it as he exhaled, long and slow.

  “No.”

  Huh. Maybe it had been more of a long shot than I thought.

  “Okay. Well, I’ll let you get back to Ben.” I walked by him. His hand shot out and caught my elbow before I reached the door.

  “Did you just offer to die so we can kill Lavius? Is that what you just did?”

  “Temporarily die. Not like…not forever dead. You could revive me, right? You have paramedic training.”

  He growled softly. “That is the most stupid…don’t do this, Delaney. Your death is not the answer. Where did you even get an idea like that?”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “The demon.” He sighed. “That demon isn’t to be listened to. He took your soul. Now he wants your life. He wants your pain. Remember that. He will always want your pain. Don’t kneel down and give it to him so easily.”

  “I don’t. I won’t.” I wasn’t even going to try to talk him into seeing it my way. “We still have a good plan. I just thought it was worth the risk if it meant we had a faster way, a more clear line of attack. I want Ben to be better. I want Lavius out of our lives. Permanently.”

  “Not like that. Not for that price.” He lowered his head until he was sure I would hold eye contact with him. “You are important too, Delaney Reed. Important to Ben and me.”

  I nodded, wishing I knew what emotions I should be feeling.

  He let go of my arm.

  “You’re staying with Ben, right?” I asked.

  “I’ll be there when Lavius comes to die. I’ll be there to watch him bleed.”

  “But until then?”

  “Here. Keeping Ben safe.”

  “Good.” I opened the door.

  “Don’t do it,” he said again.

  “I won’t.”

  It was a lie. I wondered if he could hear it in my voice, smell it on my skin, see it in the movement of my body.