by C. M. Owens
Chaz watches her disappear from sight, heading deeper into the woods. “A demon hybrid and an incubus. I hope they don’t reproduce.” I snicker as he looks down, his eyes appreciative as he takes me in. “By the way, nice dress.”
Chapter 15
GAGE
A motherfucking blood oath tied to Kimber’s health. I really wish I could dismantle that psychotic witch piece by piece. I see her dark hair, and then my hand goes to her shoulder. Her gasp never hits the breathing plane.
She struggles uselessly as we travel within the threads of the living and the dead, and I have to use a lot of power just to tunnel deep enough.
As we rematerialize inside the concrete structure, the witch turns and tries to use her powers, only to find them absent.
“What are you doing?” she growls, probably trying to vaporize.
“Your powers won’t work inside here,” I tell her before the cuffs spring out from the stone floor and snap to her wrists and ankles.
Fear takes over her anger, and she panics as she tries jerk free.
“And those are obviously magical cuffs. They’re strong enough to hold someone like me, so you’ll find that you’re struggling in vain. My magic is the only magic that works down here. It’s easy to spell a room as small as this. Especially since it’s surrounded by the earth.
She looks around at the windowless prison as I stride toward the edge. No doors. No exit. Even without the cuffs, she’d never get out. But the cuffs are a little bit of punishment.
“I’m trying to help you,” she says as the first tear falls, but I can be a cruel son of a bitch.
“You see, you say that, but now you’ve tied your life to my girlfriend’s. And since I need you to stay alive for her safety, you’re going to stay right here.”
She cries a little harder while struggling again, but I’m cold an indifferent to her pleading.
“You would have already killed me if I hadn’t tied my life to hers.”
I prop up against the wall, and I watch her as she tries to plead for mercy. “She was a baby when you killed her family and locked her away for your twisted family reunion plans.”
“No!” she yells, still struggling. “We bought her. That’s it. Amari came to us and said she knew where to find what we needed. Kimber was already in the slave rings. It wasn’t us who killed her family.”
A wave of nausea strikes me. I knew my mother was a fucking crazy bitch, but I never knew she was tied to the rings.
“Did my mother kill Kimber’s parents?” It takes all my strength not to let my voice break.
She stops struggling as the tears continue to fall.
“I don’t know. I don’t know who took her either. I just know we needed her and Amari told us how to find her. I always got the sense that she didn’t want Damon and Dragona to roam here, but she always helped us, so I never questioned her. Now let me out.”
If my mother had anything to do with Kimber’s parents’ deaths… I don’t even want to think about it. I just got her, and I really don’t want to fucking lose her. Why is it so hard to hold on to the ones you want, yet it’s impossible to get rid of the ones you want to lose?
“Did you see Kimber behind those bars? Did you see her dirty, alone, and scared?” I ask her. “Did you see a child that cried for her lost family?”
Sadie hangs her head and has the grace to look guilty. “Yes,” she whispers.
“Did you offer her any comfort?” I ask, offering her the chance to escape this.
After a long pause, she finally exhales heavily. “No.”
I walk to one side of the cell. “We’re fifteen feet underground, and this cell is soundproofed. I built it a long, long time ago.”
Her brow furrows in confusion.
“We can’t vaporize underground.”
Smirking, I meet her gaze. “You can’t. But I can. It’s another reminder of who you fucked with. My mother knew all the secrets to restrain me when she knocked me out and locked me up. But you confused it for me being average.”
She casts her eyes downward once more, looking defeated—as she should.
“I once spent half a century in a cell similar to this one. The same woman who once turned away from me in a cell, just saved me. Maybe you’ll get lucky.”
She snorts derisively. “So you’re leaving me here?”
“Immortals can’t starve. But we can feel the ache of starvation. It takes a few weeks to start. By the twentieth year, you almost wish you could die. By year forty, you can’t even lift your head. But you still keep breathing. It’s very painful. Here’s a tip, don’t try killing yourself. Those chains you’re wearing will revive you. And the hunger pains double. Save your strength. You’re going to need it.”
With that, I dematerialize out of the room, moving like air through the planes to travel just barely outside the perimeter, and I rematerialize in front of Zee who is waiting by my car.
“All good?” he asks, his lips twisted in wry amusement.
“She won’t be going anywhere, and she won’t be dying. I’ve seen to it. Is Liza gone?”
He nods, motioning over his shoulder. “Dice convinced her to leave finally. She wanted to see Sadie before she left, but he assured her that he’d take care of her.”
That has me frowning. “Dice’s mother is going to be pissed at him, because I’m not returning her until she has felt real punishment. I never agreed with Alyssa letting her go.”
His eyes search the land around us, using his night stalker senses to catch anyone close enough to us. “I didn’t either, but Alyssa has a forgiving heart—too big of one. She trusts her creature goddess. There’s a difference between innocence and goodness. Just because she saw goodness lurking within the depths of that bitch’s black heart, that doesn’t mean she didn’t deserve to pay for what she did to us.”
To Kimber. Kimber is the one to have suffered and lost the most, and my mother may have played a bigger part in that than I realized. How do you tell your girlfriend that our world is so fucked up that your mother might have been the one to kill her parents and imprison her? They don’t make reality shows like that.
Instead of mentioning this crazy bullshit to him, I run a hand through my hair and start walking toward the house. Karma’s doll walks by us, and Zee shivers.
“Shaylan still here?” I ask, worried about the full-blooded demon in our midst.
“Nah. He’s with Drackus. They went into town to gather supplies. It’ll take a couple of weeks to ready the armies and fully strategize. And we need to discuss this alleged seal-breaking process. Do we want to just unleash hundreds of immortals that have been caged for years, possibly centuries?”
That’s something I’ve struggled with myself. “Regardless of how they are now, they shouldn’t have ever been caged. They deserve the chance to earn their right behind bars.”
Zee purses his lips, but he’s never seen the other side of things. It’s easy to look at things one-dimensionally when you have no true point of reference.
“Kane’s not sure, either,” he says at last. “Alyssa, of course, wants to free them all. What happens if we have a split decision?”
I cock an eyebrow. “You think Kimber is going to leave those people in there regardless of any decision made?”
He frowns as he looks ahead. “Ella neither. I guess there’s really no decision to be made, considering it’ll be made for us.”
Just as we reach the brink of the clearing, he thoughtfully adds, “I wonder what they wanted out of purgatory.”
Drackus didn’t want to deal with this topic just yet, but it’s been plaguing me.
“I’m not only wondering what they wanted, I’m wondering who else they were working with, and if they’re still after whatever it was.”
***
KIMBER
A body materializes beside me, and I look over to meet the green eyes of my sister—well, for all intents and purposes she’s my sister even if she’s technically my niece.
&nbs
p; “Perimeter is sound. We’re heading toward the house now.”
Chaz nods, and steers me north, while Ella loops her arm through mine.
“Where’s Gage?” she asks.
That’s an answer I’d like to know. “He went to his car for something, and then disappeared.”
He’d better not be changing his mind about us already. Not after having already dealt with Kane and Drackus. Surprisingly, that all went way better than I expected. Drackus usually explodes when I confess to dating someone.
“I wonder if he had anything to do with Sadie telling Zee she couldn’t stay here. She left and went to town to stay instead.”
Chaz smirks for some reason, and I tilt my head. “So I don’t have to stay in the house with her?”
I almost sag in relief.
“Guess not, but our lives are tied to her. Zee said not to worry, but how can I not worry?” Ella says, frowning. “As much as I’d love to see her anywhere but near our family, she literally holds the key to us surviving right now. If she dies—”
“Don’t worry, Ella,” Chaz says, still smirking. “If Gage allowed her to go, then I can promise you’re safe. He’d already have her back here otherwise.”
Ella studies him, as do I, and he looks down at us like we’re idiots. “He’s falling for Kimber. I may not know him very well, but I do know he’s devoutly loyal and very possessively protective. He’s not going to let anything happen. Whatever is going on, I can assure you that Sadie is very, very safe.”
I exchange a worrisome look with Ella. “He wouldn’t… I don’t know, bury her in cement or anything, would he?” Ella asks.
That has me swallowing hard, because I don’t know the answer to that.
“Nah,” Chaz says, answering carelessly. “He’s one of the good guys, remember?”
All the words that were resting on the tip of my tongue die in my mouth when I see the house come into view. When he said secluded house in the center of the forest, I was picturing a cabin-in-the-woods theme. This… this is something out of a magazine.
“Dark users have some serious style,” Ella says in a reverent breath.
The house—if that’s what you can call it—is three stories high. Dark wood rests in the crevices of the windows, but for the most part, it’s all glass. It stretches at least the length of a football field, and the roof peaks like a large triangle and is covered in copper-colored tin.
The dark wood porch wraps around the house, and the furniture on the porch looks inviting. I see why he comes out here now, because I definitely want to return.
But the beauty of the house becomes forgotten when I see Gage inside. He’s shirtless, and he’s walking around on the top floor, moving toward a bed as he uses a remote. His jeans hang loose on his hips, and I stare like a fool.
“You’re drooling a little,” Ella teases, but I can’t even find the strength to blush. I shouldn’t be growing more and more attracted to him, but I am.
“Guess we know which room you’re staying in,” Chaz says as we draw a little closer.
A sour taste invades my mouth. “Well, I actually don’t know. Gage is a hot-and-cold person. I never know what temperature he’s going to be, and considering he left me with you and never returned…”
I let my voice trail off because I feel like a fool. I’ll just choose a room and then go see him when I have to. Chaz disappears from sight, leaving a glitter trail in his wake, and Ella stands with me as I stare at the enigma I wish I could understand.
“You can bunk with me until you find out,” Ella says brightly, always doing what she can to lighten the heaviest of situations.
I start to agree with her, when Gage’s eyes meet mine. He stares down at me and smirks, then he suddenly vanishes from the room.
“Where did he—” My words end in a squeal when I feel my body being pulled from the breathing plane, and I cling to the arms around my waist as we split the planes, dematerialized yet whole, an odd sensation that I usually don’t particularly care for.
I hear the deep rumble of a throaty chuckle as we break back through the breathing plane, and I gasp for air when my body fully takes form once more.
“Bastard,” I say in a whisper when my heartrate won’t go down.
He only laughs a little harder, mocking me in response, and my eyes finally land on him as he moves to grab the remote to the large TV mounted on the far wall. This room is massive. A black, oversized bed rests against the taupe wall. The black duvet looks fresh and clean—nothing a little magic can’t do.
The fireplace is tiled and immaculate, looking unused but inviting. Everything is so modern and fresh. But my eyes land back on the best thing in the room, and I can’t help but study all the lines of his body as he surfs for a channel he wants.
His dark jeans are frayed and unbuttoned at the top. His hair is wet from a shower, glistening blacker than normal. His golden skin looks even sexier under the low glow of the dim lighting.
When he finally finds some weird music station, he finally drops the remote and smiles over at me. Guess I really am staying up here unless he forces me out.
With long, predatory strides, he reaches me and pulls me into his arms, tilting my head back before he brushes his lips against mine. Chaz appears in the room with us, smirking before he drops my bag to the floor, and then he winks at me before disappearing again.
Gage tilts his head, and the curtains I hadn’t noticed pull closed over the windows, draping us in privacy as his thumb travels over my bottom lip.
“So I’m staying with you?” I ask a little breathlessly.
His dark grin is one I’m really starting to love. “I’m not giving you up until I have to,” he says softly before leaning down and running his tongue over the seam of my lips, and I suck in another breath.
“What if you don’t have to give me up?”
He angles my head so that his tongue can travel down the side of my neck, eliciting a soft moan from deep within. “If you stick around long enough, I have a feeling I won’t be able to give you up.”
That has me smiling as I thread my fingers through his damp hair and pull him closer while tilting my head more, giving him all the access he needs to devour my neck.
“We’re going to have to stay here for a while—off the radar,” he murmurs against my skin as his hands tighten on my hips and draw me closer. “Until we can invade the rings.”
I don’t argue or even manage to ask the questions I had earlier. Mysteries have always been my Achilles heel, but right now, he’s my only focus. Everything seems to be changing, and for some reason, Gage is the center of it all.
He tugs my hair, forcing my head back, and his lips come down on mine just rough enough to make me feel alive. The second my lips part, his expert tongue slips in and controls me. The bar flicks against my tongue, and I shiver in his arms.
He kisses me harder as I hand myself over completely and surrender to whatever this heady chemistry is between us, and a low growl escapes his throat before he bends and picks me up. My legs wrap around his waist, and my dress rises up to settle on my hips, exposing my lacy, barely-there panties to him.
One of his hands slides over the skin of my ass, holding me with effortless ease, and his other hand moves to my hair, tangling in the blonde strands as he hungrily explores every inch of my mouth.
Kissing has always been foreplay for me, never something I really appreciated. But with Gage… I swear I could kiss him all day and still be starving for more. I’m still sorting through what it all means, but I like the direction we’re going.
He lowers me until my feet find the floor, and he walks behind me to unzip the short dress that is still bunched on my hips. As the zipper slides down, he follows the exposed skin with his tongue.
“I hate that our first time was still mostly dressed in the home of a succubus. Now it’s time to slow things down,” he says against my skin, licking a trail that feels like fire down my back. It doesn’t matter where his tongue goes, I can feel
it in every nerve, as though a live wire is slashing around inside of me.
The zipper continues to be lowered at a painstakingly slow pace, until he finally reaches the end and licks a trail back up my back. My eyes fall closed because I’m lost in a sea of sensation. Once he reaches my neck, he slowly slides my dress off my shoulders and lets it fall to the floor, revealing my naked breasts and black lace panties.
He draws in an appreciative breath as he walks back in front of me, and he brings his lips back down on mine before picking me up again. His hands resume their prior placements—my hair and my ass—and he tugs my hair, putting my face exactly where he wants it.
The sensual kiss takes a turn for savage, and Gage tugs my hair harder, deepening the strokes with his tongue. He spins and turns toward the bed, walking me there and lowering me to it, keeping his body moving with mine until he finally breaks the kiss and stands up.
I let my legs drop off his waist, bringing them together in front of me while lying flat on my back and staring up into those blue eyes full of raw want. Smirking, he puts his hands on my legs and pushes them up until my feet are almost against my ass, and then he pushes my knees apart, spreading me wide for him.
It’s erotic and nerve-racking at the same time because this is a vulnerable and intimate position. He lets his eyes fall over me until he finally slides his hands down my thighs, teasing the edges of the lace with his fingertips.
My whole body heats, and I fight the urge to start begging. My veins start burning as my breaths grow shallow and erratic, and he kneels in front of me, settling his knees on the floor as he slips my underwear to the side and brings his face directly against my sex.
At first touch of his tongue, the back of my head pounds the bed, and I swear. I can feel him smile against me as he slides his tongue up, circling it around that bundle of nerves, and my hands instinctively go to his hair, pulling him closer.
He growls again, and my underwear is shredded from my body for the second time today. My eyes roll back in my head as he completely owns my body with his wickedly divine mouth. He draws that bundle of nerves into his mouth, sucking and flicking it with his tongue as that bar… Damn that bar.