Magnimus’s ice blond hair swept back from the chiseled planes of his face. His eyes were an impossible silver color I recognized from the flash I’d seen in the barker’s beady black eyes earlier. He had a lithe build with broad shoulders and a tapered waist. The only thing marking him as demon were the six-inch-long, black horns curled back against the sides of his head. His hair mostly covered the horns, but from what I could see of them, they were smooth and polished.
The form-fitting clothes he wore were made of a material I’d never seen before. It looked as light as the flaxen clothing we wore, but the sheen to it reminded me of silk. The collar of his shirt dipped down to expose part of his bare chest. The ebony color of the clothing emphasized his pale hair and silvery eyes.
“So you have been stuck with a mortal as a Chosen. What ever will you do, Your Highness?” Magnimus inquired.
In response, Kobal raced across the cavern so fast that I barely saw him move. Magnimus stepped back, but he wasn’t fast enough to dodge the punch Kobal drove straight into his nose. Bone cracked and blood burst free as Magnimus’s hands flew up to cover his broken nose. Kobal swung an uppercut at him that launched him off his feet and sent him hurtling into the table behind him. Candles tumbled over, the flames sputtered out as Magnimus slid across the table before coming to a stop in the middle of it.
Corson and Bale grinned as they stepped away from Magnimus, who was trying to push himself up on the table. Before he could regain his footing, Kobal slammed his hands down on either side of him. I thought the table would buckle from the force of the blow, but it trembled and held firm.
Kobal’s eyes were molten gold when he leaned over Magnimus. The demon wisely didn’t make a move. “You ever spill another drop of her blood, I will drain every last bit of yours from you, and that will only be the beginning of what I do to you. Do you understand me, Magnimus?”
Magnimus held his hands up before him. “I will guard her life above my own from now on.”
Kobal hesitated, seemingly torn between walking away from Magnimus and continuing to beat him into a bloody pulp. “Let us hear what he has to say, Kobal,” Corson suggested.
Kobal’s knuckles turned white on the table before he shoved himself away with a muttered curse. He raked Magnimus with a scathing glance. “It better be good. That is the only thing that will save you.”
He stalked back toward me and lifted me into his arms. I could feel his barely restrained savagery as his hands ran over me. His fingers entwined with my hair as he cradled the back of my head before capturing my lips with his. I sighed as his tongue delved into my mouth demandingly. Despite the savagery of his kiss, his muscles relaxed around me as he steadily regained control of himself.
My lips were swollen, my heart thundering when he pulled away from me. His breath washed over my face and his lips tasted my skin before pressing against my forehead. He inhaled a deep breath and turned to look at the others again. None of them were watching us as, apparently, they’d all found something more interesting to stare at.
Magnimus sat on the table for a minute more before pushing himself off. He wiped the blood away from his broken nose and flicked it away. Straightening his clothes, he walked over to one of the shelves. If it wasn’t for the swelling of his nose and the bruises surrounding his eyes, he’d almost look as if nothing had occurred as he assumed his nonchalant air once more.
“So what will you do with a mortal as a Chosen, Your Highness?” Magnimus inquired again as he pulled down two goblets similar to the ones Kobal had kept in his tent.
“I will love her until the day she dies,” Kobal crisply replied.
Magnimus arched a dark blond eyebrow as he shot an amused look over his shoulder. “How noble of you. But then, you always were so noble. The most powerful varcolac, the one with the best chance to right the wrongs, and you have received the mortal daughter of your greatest enemy as your reward.”
“I’m not his daughter,” I replied automatically, but the exasperating demon paid no attention to me as he moved past the shelves lining the wall to the pool of water.
A trickling sound caused my mouth to water. Magnimus bent and dipped the goblets into the pool. Rising once more, he strolled over to me.
“Drink mortal, before you die,” he said and extended the goblet toward me.
My heart hammered. I was so thirsty I almost snagged it from him and chugged the whole thing. I managed to hold myself back as I stared into the red liquid within the golden goblet. “What is it?” I croaked.
“Water,” Magnimus replied.
I glanced at Kobal questioningly as he took the goblet from Magnimus. He kept me held against him with one arm as he handed me the goblet. “Drink, Mah Kush-la, it is the same water used to brew the mjéod,” Kobal urged when I took the goblet from him and stared at the water.
I didn’t require any further encouragement as I tipped the goblet back. The water was warmer than I was used to and had a more mineral tang to it, but right now it tasted better than mjéod to me. My grip on the goblet intensified when Kobal tried to pull it away from me.
“Easy,” he said. “You’ll make yourself sick.”
I reluctantly pulled the goblet away from my lips and wiped the back of my hand across my mouth. I glanced longingly at the remaining contents but managed to refrain from consuming it all in one gulp.
Magnimus folded his hands behind his back as he stepped away from us. “I never thought I’d see the day Kobal, rightful ruler of the underworld, would have his heart stolen by the possible key to it all.”
I resisted giving him the finger and drank the rest of the liquid from the goblet. “What of you?” Magnimus inquired of Hawk and lifted the other goblet toward him. “Are you thirsty?”
Hawk hesitated before taking the goblet from him. He took a sip before placing the nearly full goblet on the table. How could he not be thirstier than that? I could chug the entire Mississippi River at this point, and Hawk had exerted himself as much as I had.
“Not so human anymore, are you?” Magnimus inquired.
“What do you know of it?” Hawk demanded.
“You are of human heritage, I would recognize that by your attitude and demeanor, but you are no longer human. You have not been told what you are yet?”
“Magnimus,” Kobal said in a low, threatening tone. “This is not to be discussed.”
Magnimus stepped cautiously away from the look on Kobal’s face. “Call me Magnus, you know I much prefer it.”
“What is he talking about?” I demanded.
“Sometimes I rattle on, child,” Magnimus replied with a flick of his fingers in the air. He’d tried to sound airy but failed miserably and was now backing further away from Kobal.
Kobal’s eyes were fathomless obsidian pits when they slid to me.
He’s been keeping something from me about Hawk. The realization hit me like a hammer between the eyes. I’d suspected it, but now I knew it for certain. I tried to extricate myself from his arms as he tightened them to hold me captive.
“What am I?” Hawk demanded. “Am I becoming a canagh demon? Is that why Sarah has been following me around?”
Kobal’s expression was completely indifferent as he spoke. “You were infected with canagh demon blood when Lilitu fell on top of you. It’s the only reason you survived your injuries and are standing here now. That blood has created changes in you.”
Magnus laughed, drawing lethal looks from everyone in the room. “Canagh blood, how perfect,” he said as he steadily crept backward. “Don’t kiss him, dear, you’ll be following him around like a puppy dog after,” he said to me.
I scowled at him. The color drained from Hawk’s face, and he swayed on his feet.
“You are still changing,” Kobal said, “but you are no longer human.”
“What does this mean?” Hawk asked. “Am I going to start feeding on people like Lilitu and her followers did?”
“Lilitu was a leech who enjoyed feasting on others in such a way.
Your sexual appetites will begin to grow. You will feed on the energy generated during sex as well as on wraiths, but there are canaghs who refrain from enslaving their lovers. You will have to learn how to do so too, unless you decide that’s the kind of life you want to live,” Bale replied.
Hawk looked as if he couldn’t decide if he should sit, punch the wall, or tear the throat out of everyone in this room. I couldn’t blame him; I was contemplating doing all of those things myself. He leaned against the wall and ran a hand through his close-cropped, brown hair as he slid down until he was nearly sitting on the rock floor.
“You should have said something,” I said. Placing my palms on Kobal’s chest, I pushed against him and maneuvered my feet to the floor until he reluctantly released me. I glared at Magnus as I walked to Hawk’s side. I knelt and rested my hand on his arm. “It will be okay. We’ll figure it out,” I promised.
His eyes were haunted when he lifted them to me. “Will we?” he inquired. “Look at what I did to Sarah. I thought she was crazy, but I ruined her. I took her life from her and turned her into a stalker.”
“You will be able to control that,” Bale insisted. “It will take time. You will have to feed on a regular basis though. If you don’t, or you try to hold off from feeding, your hunger will only build until you can’t control it. Being new to what you are, that won’t take long.”
“Just don’t kiss them while you’re screwing them,” Magnus said. “Which is easy enough to avoid.”
“Shut up!” I snapped at him. Maybe this demon of illusions could be a powerful ally, but I was tempted to kill him.
Hawk glanced down at my hand on his arm before moving away from me. Sorrow swelled within my chest. “Hawk—”
“Stay back for now,” he said.
My hand fell limply to my side. A hollow feeling filled me as I watched him move further away and rise once more. Distress and confusion radiated from him as he tugged at his hair while he paced around the walls, staring at the vast chamber surrounding us.
“Were you ever going to tell me?” he demanded.
“When the time for it came, yes,” Kobal replied flatly.
“And what if there had been other women, like Sarah?”
“We were keeping watch to make sure that didn’t happen again.”
I leaned against the wall as I tried to understand why he’d kept something this important from Hawk. “Why didn’t you say something, just in case?” I asked.
Kobal stared at me, but he didn’t say a word.
“Demons don’t exactly want it getting out that our blood can grant immortality to some of you mortal folk,” Magnus said as he lifted another goblet and pulled a jug from a shelf. “A lot of humans wouldn’t care that the change also comes with abilities they may not be able to control, or that there is a chance they might not survive it at all. They’d only see the opportunity for eternal life and they’d go for it no matter what the consequences were.”
“Immortality?” Hawk asked at the same time I sputtered, “Wait, what?”
Magnus stared back and forth between us before he slid a wary gaze toward Kobal. He lowered the goblet he’d been about to drink from. Realization dawned in Magnus’s eyes as I knelt staring at him in horror. A cold chill slid down my spine; I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the striking demon as my mind spun with the implication of his words.
“Enough, Magnus!” Kobal barked.
“It’s too late now,” Corson said, “and Hawk has to know.”
Kobal’s emotionless gaze fell on me, and the chill became a full-blown ice storm within my body before he turned to look at Hawk. “Yes, you are now immortal,” Kobal said briskly to Hawk. “Or at least close to completing the process of changing from a human into an immortal demon.”
I couldn’t look at Kobal anymore as I tried to gather my scattered wits and suppress the anguish building within my chest. Finally, my eyes slid to him. He met my gaze unflinchingly, but I saw the truth in his eyes. He’d kept this information from me on purpose. He’d known there was a way we could be together forever, and he’d chosen not to reveal it.
Tearing my eyes from Kobal, I watched Magnus until he’d succeeded in putting the entire length of the table between himself and Kobal. I wasn’t sure it would be enough distance as Kobal watched every one of his steps like a wolf on the hunt.
Corson and Bale also edged away from Kobal and toward where Magnus stood. Kobal’s temper was something to fear, yet he had to know that keeping this from me had been his own choice and no one else’s. He could not blame Magnus because the truth had finally come out.
A sob stuck in my throat, but tears didn’t burn my eyes when I focused on Kobal again. I was too pissed for tears. Kobal’s golden gaze met mine; he thrust his shoulders back as if preparing for a blow.
“Why?” I asked.
CHAPTER 20
Kobal
I saw the minute understanding came over River, saw the shock sliding across her face, but more than that, I could see the betrayal burning in her beautiful violet eyes as she turned toward me.
I’d tried to keep her protected from the knowledge of the possibility of immortality for her. I didn’t want her to choose death and a possible severing of her connection with the Earth and its life forces because of me. She shouldn’t have the knowledge that she could become immortal also resting on her already burdened shoulders.
Now, I realized I may have made a huge mistake by keeping it from her, if the look on her face was any indication. I’d been looking to protect her; instead, I’d sliced her deeply.
My claws extended to cut into my palms as I fisted my hands, causing blood to well forth. I wanted to tear Magnus apart for inadvertently revealing this to her, but ultimately, this was not his fault. It was mine. I realized now, there had never been any keeping this secret, and even if Magnus hadn’t said anything, she and Hawk would have asked why Hawk could withstand Hell when none of the others could.
“Why?” River asked me in a flat voice.
“Because I felt it was better you didn’t know.”
She blinked at my blunt response. Her face remained void of emotion, but turmoil rolled off her in waves. She was my Chosen; I was supposed to protect her and do everything I could to make her happy, yet I was the one who had caused her this unhappiness.
We were intertwined with each other. However, she was not a demon, at least not a full one. She felt the intensity of our bond, and she’d repeatedly marked me as hers, but she could walk away, leave me and this relationship. She’d done so before. It may break her heart, but losing her would drive me mad.
“I did not want you to have the choice,” I said.
Confusion filled her eyes. Then a look of abject misery descended over her and her chin rose. “I see.”
“That’s not… I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” I couldn’t think of the words to explain why I’d kept this from her. I wasn’t one for words and emotions; I was one for action. This was treacherous territory for me, but so much rode on my ability to handle it well. I was fucked. “You’re not entirely human, River. This is not an option for you.”
Fury glistened in her eyes. “No, it’s not.”
Hawk’s lips pressed together as he glanced between the two of us before taking a step away from her. The others had retreated to safe distances, but they all looked nervously toward the door in the back of the room. Keeping to the wall, Hawk made his way toward where they had gathered at the end of the table.
“It’s not what you think,” I said from between clenched teeth.
“Nothing ever is,” she replied flippantly.
“No, it’s not,” Magnus said as he watched River. “You are Lucifer’s offspring after all, his daughter. None of us fully know what you are capable of now, never mind what you could be capable of as a full demon.”
“I don’t need your help,” I growled at him.
He looked pointedly between me and River. “You just might.”
“My fa
ther gave about as much care for me as he would a bug beneath his shoe,” River said to Magnus. “But he was not Lucifer.”
“If Lucifer created your line, then you are his offspring.”
I thought River might hit him with a ball of fire as her eyes noticeably darkened, her shoulders hunched, and flames sputtered around her fingertips. She shot a loathing glare my way when I moved to stand in-between them, causing Magnus to laugh.
“Oh, Kobal, what a steaming pile of shit you’ve stepped into on this one,” Magnus said. “If Lucifer knows of her existence, he will come for her, and he will do whatever he can to take her.”
“He knows we’ve found her, and if he tries to take her from me, he also knows I will tear him apart limb from limb,” I vowed.
“Judging by the look on her face right now, she may choose daddy dearest over you.”
I glanced at River who stared at me as if she were trying to figure out how to get as far from me as possible.
Mine. No matter how angry or hurt she was right now, that would never change.
She stared at me for a minute more before dismissively turning away from me. My teeth ground together as I resisted the impulse to grab her, to make her understand.
“Why haven’t you been above, with the others?” River demanded of Magnus. “If you can create things like we saw in that carnival, why aren’t you helping to fight Lucifer? Are you on his side?”
Magnus snorted and folded his arms over his chest. “I have no loyalty to or any care for Lucifer. I’d far prefer to see him dead and his head on a spit than anything else.”
“Then why did you retreat from the war?” Corson demanded.
“I have my reasons,” Magnus replied blandly.
“You don’t want him to win this,” River said.
“Of course not. I’m not so foolish as to think he’ll stop with enslaving the humans. He’ll come for the demons once he has the weaker race licking his boot heels. Hell may have twisted him into the thing he has become now, but he’s always believed demons beneath him. If he succeeds in taking over Earth, he’ll turn on every one of us next. Some of our brethren are too stupid to see that though. All they see is the power and the possibilities he offers them.”
The Road (The Road to Hell Series, Book 3) Page 15