The Heart of Arima.

by Emma V. Leech

  There was silence for a long time.

  “Yes.”

  Cain sighed.

  “I’m sorry, Corvus, truly, but you know it’s the only way.”

  “Yes.”

  There was something in the tone of his voice that struck fear in my heart and I stepped into the room. “The only way to what?” I demanded.

  They both jumped which shocked the hell out of me. If they were so wrapped up in whatever they were talking about that they hadn’t even known I was there ... Shit.

  “What is going on?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about, Jéhenne.” Cain got up and smiled at me reassuringly which was just about the most disturbing thing he could have done. I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “You didn’t answer the question.”

  “We were just discussing the key; we have both agreed you should keep it.”

  I frowned at him. I knew already they both wanted me to keep it. I didn’t think they would argue about that. “What else?”

  Cain shrugged. “We will have to fight against Hekatê and you are the one with the most power against her so you will be in the line of fire. I just said that you would have to take control. It would be your fight, we will back you up but there is little else we can do.”

  I looked from him to Corvus. I could believe that Corvus would have kicked up over that but I still got the feeling I was missing something. Cain was lying. I hadn’t told my brother that Dis Pater was going to take care of Hekatê and Corvus obviously didn’t know so that much was probably true but ... Corvus was looking totally calm and controlled; he was hiding something. As for Cain, I could read nothing from his eyes. It was like looking at a painting, just empty space behind where his emotions should be.

  “Why do I feel like you are both keeping something from me?”

  Cain looked at me. “Because you’re a control freak and you have a suspicious mind.” I scowled at him and he shrugged. “It runs in the family.”

  Corvus got up from behind the desk. “I’ll see you later, Cain.”

  He nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him and I barely had time to turn around before I was swept up in a searing kiss that scattered my wits to such an extent I could hardly remember what we had been talking about. Corvus let me go for a moment to lock the office door and the look he gave me was such that I felt my blood heat in my veins and my skin felt alive, over sensitive. He walked back towards me and I swallowed but my mouth was dry. He began to unbutton my shirt, stripping it from me with an urgency that made me gasp. I reached to do the same but he pushed my hands away. “Keep still.”

  “That’s not fair.”

  “Hush.”

  I frowned at him but he was concentrating on the job at hand. My shirt hit the deck and every stitch below the waist followed. He unhooked my bra and I shivered despite the fact his office was its usual ninety degrees. I was lifted and sat on the edge of his desk. I wrapped my legs around his hips and returned my attention to his buttons, and this time he let me. He watched me with such intensity I felt like he was trying to memorise every detail, every movement. I pulled the shirt over his shoulders and threw it down, returning my hands to smooth over the heavy muscle of his chest, down his sides and up around his back.

  I leaned forward and kissed his chest, using my teeth to graze his nipples and one hand fisted in my hair, tipping my head back as the other caressed my breast. He kissed me hard, stealing my breath while I tried to keep my sanity intact enough to grapple with his belt buckle and undo the buttons on his jeans. The moment they were free, I pushed the infuriating material keeping us apart down past his waist impatiently and his hand dropped to my hips, pulling me forward. I gasped against his mouth as he sank into me and I wrapped myself around him, clinging like he was the only thing keeping me anchored to the ground. He eased me backwards, using one hand to sweep things out of the way.

  Scrolls, maps and papers hit the floor in all directions as I lay back and he followed me down. I moaned as his hand returned to my hip, tilting my pelvis against him as he moved. I tried to keep quiet, aware there were vampires in the house who could hear what was going on. I hoped Corvus had ordered them out of earshot but after a while I simply didn’t care, couldn’t think. I closed my eyes, letting myself go, knowing how much he loved to hear my whimpers and cries. I abandoned every worry, every fear and gave myself to the moment, to him and he took everything I offered before giving it back to me tenfold. When I finally summoned the will to open my eyes and look up at him, there was so much in his eyes it was hard to take in, but then his lips were at my neck and I felt his teeth graze the skin. I reached one hand up, pulling his head against me. “Yes ...”

  I didn’t have to say it again and as his teeth pierced me I cried out and was lost, sinking into a fathomless ocean where there was nothing but light and sensation. I stayed there for the longest time, never wanting to return and wherever I was, he was there with me.

  When we finally came back, so reluctantly, to the real world, I felt his tongue seal the little wounds on my neck and I reached my hand up to sink into the soft warmth of his hair.

  “I will love you for all eternity, my heart.”

  I smiled, turning his head so I could kiss him. “You already have,” I whispered against his lips. “It’s me that’s got some catching up to do, but I promise you that I will.”

  I held him tightly in my arms and prayed to whoever might take pity, that they would give me the chance.

  Chapter 46

  We were all packed and ready to go. Rodney, Cain, Dimitri, Cyd, Inés and I gathered in front of the big fireplace. There was only one person missing. He had told us to be ready and waiting and we were. So where was he? I left the room and ran back up the stairs to his bedroom, our bedroom and found him standing at the window. I walked over to stand beside him.

  “Corvus?”

  He turned and held his arms out and I fell into them, hugging him tightly.

  “I don’t want to go, Jéhenne.”

  I held him tighter wishing I could say everything would be alright, we’d figure something out but I knew I couldn’t do it. I’d always been a crap liar.

  “I had forgotten what it felt like ...to be afraid, until you came back to me.”

  I laughed and tried hard not to cry at the same time. “That sounds about right; I bring all the good stuff!”

  He tilted my head back with a finger and looked at me with such seriousness I didn’t know how my heart didn’t burst. “You do, Jéhenne, it’s the fear of losing it that makes me afraid.”

  I felt a tear slide down my cheek and he brushed his lips against mine softly.

  “It’s time to go,” he said.

  I nodded and took his hand and we headed downstairs together.

  All heads looked up as we walked through the door and I heard Amelia sob. She held onto Rodney so tight he looked like he might pass out. Rodney had proposed and she was wearing the ring with such pride that it made my heart hurt, knowing he was leaving to go with me. I thought she might kick up and be furious with me but she said nothing. All of her attention was focused on Rodney. To my surprise Lucas was there too and I watched anxiously as his eyes slid from Corvus to me, before looking away. I wished I knew what his deal was. I hoped he wasn’t going to cause Corvus problems while we were gone. Everyone was shifting nervously. The tension in the air was unbearable and I knew everyone just wanted to leave now, to get this over with and I felt so terrible. This was my fault; this was all because of me. I was about to surrender under a wave of guilt when it was replaced at the last moment by a rush of anger. No. Dammit! This was because of Dis Pater, it was his fault and I would find a way to make him pay for it if it took me all bloody eternity to do it.

  “Well then.” I looked up to see Corvus talking to Lucas. “You know what to do?” Lucas nodded, expressionless. “I have left you some ...further instructions in a letter on my desk. Read them carefully after we have gone and do exactly as I say. Is tha
t clear?” The look on Lucas’ face told me that this was unexpected but he nodded just the same.

  “As you wish, Corvus.”

  Corvus grasped him by his upper arms, looking at him with such a fierce expression I wondered what on earth would come next. “I know you have tried to keep things from me, Lucas.” A look of sheer terror crossed Lucas’ face and Corvus smiled and shook his head. “It’s OK, I understand, more than you can imagine and ...I thank you.”

  To my complete astonishment I saw Lucas’ eyes fill and Corvus hugged him briefly. “Take care of my family, Lucas. Until ... until we get back.”

  Lucas nodded. He looked dumbstruck and wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. I wondered what the hell that had been about. Looking around the room I didn’t think I was the only one in the dark.

  Corvus moved to the fireplace, laying his hand on it and saying the words that lowered the ward in a shower of green and yellow sparks. The rumble began from deep in the ground and slowly the fireplace rose up to leave a dark opening in the wall. Corvus took up a ready lit torch. There would be no electricity past this point. He held out his hand to me with a smile. I took it and waited as he paused to take a last look around the room, and the people gathered there before he turned and we headed into the darkness. I could hear Amelia crying softly as we descended but then the sound faded, to be replaced by the faint cries of the souls on the other side of the gateway.

  We gathered in front of the little wooden door that separated the two worlds. I had thought it such an anticlimax the first time I’d seen it, just a big old dusty door ... Nothing special. The voices were getting louder now as I drew closer and felt the tug, the pull of their cries, as the power of the key flared within me.

  “What is that?” whispered Cyd, eyes wide.

  Inés’ eyes were sparkling with excitement, and not for the first time I wondered at her sanity; she really got off on life or death experiences, like some kind of supernatural adrenalin junkie. “The souls are calling to her,” she said, looking at me with something close to reverence in her eyes. I suppressed a shudder.

  Cyd was now regarding me in horror and poor Rodney looked sick to his stomach. Even Dimitri was looking a bit freaked, if determined. Only Cain was placid, dead eyes watching with no emotion that I could interpret.

  Corvus stepped forward and everyone followed behind him. He grasped the door handle and turned, and though we hadn’t moved we were standing in the meadow that was Erebus.

  I could hear gasps and the sound of people breathing heavily behind me, like they’d been running and out of the corner of my eye I saw the shadows flit. I grabbed Corvus’ hand and he smiled at me.

  “They won’t hurt you, Jéhenne, they’re just curious.” I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and wished I’d know that the last time I was here.

  “This is bleedin’ freaky,” I heard Rodney mutter behind me, and I turned to give him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. It felt more like a grimace but it was my best shot. It was a strange place though. The sky was dark, a deep bruised purple, and there was no moon, yet it was light. The meadow was beautiful, every flower and grass, perfect and utterly beautiful. It stretched on and on into the horizon, and was utterly dead. No life of any kind, no sound, not a breath of wind to disturb the grass, just the shadows flitting, always just out of sight. I watched as Cyd turned, with vampire speed, to try and catch a glimpse of them, until Corvus caught her arm and told her to ignore them.

  “This way.” Corvus turned full circle and began to walk, not exactly the way we had come as we’d just appeared but it felt like we were going backwards. Moments later we were standing on the jetty beside the river Styx.

  “Shit!” I looked about me in surprise. “That’s one hell of a shortcut; it took me bloody days to get here when I came.”

  Corvus snorted. “There are some benefits to being gate keeper, not many, mind you.”

  Behind us lay acres of dark mud, glistening dully, even though there was no sunlight. I remembered, with horror crawling over my skin, exactly what lay beneath the sticky surface and took a step away from the edge as I recalled the feel of a skeletal hand closing around my ankle.

  “Charon.”

  I turned at the sound of Corvus addressing the ferryman. The creepy bastard had appeared out of nowhere, just like last time. He was standing on the jetty and he hadn’t improved any since the last time I saw him. He was little more than a rag-covered skeleton. His skin grey and so dry you feared it may crack if he moved too suddenly.

  “Gate keeper.” He turned to me and inclined his head, giving me a nasty smile. To be fair, he may not have intended it to be nasty but with a face like that there was really no other option.

  Corvus handed him a small leather pouch which Charon tipped out into his bony hand to count out seven gold coins, one for each of us. He nodded and gestured for us to get in the boat, if you could call it that. It was the least water worthy assemblage of wood that I had ever laid eyes on, but then it had gotten me across last time.

  “Bleedin’ ‘ell, is this thing safe?”

  Inés laughed. “We’re on our way to the gates of Tartarus and you’re worrying about drowning?”

  Rodney shrugged and leaned forward to peer over the side but Corvus grabbed his arm.

  “Don’t look in the water.”

  Rodney paled slightly and nodded. “Okie dokie, don’t need to tell me twice, like.”

  Charon steered us into the mist and somehow the boat moved through the inky water. I could feel movement through the thin planks of wood beneath my feet, and decided not to dwell too long on how exactly the boat was being propelled. The mist was cold and I shivered, moving closer to Corvus. He put his arm around me, pulling me closer still and I snuggled into his warmth gratefully. If memory served me well however, we wouldn’t be cold for long.

  After a while another jetty appeared on the horizon and Charon guided the boat until it was alongside and we all clambered out. I noticed Cain was looking a bit green and I wondered if something had finally begun to freak out my fearless warrior brother. I laid my hand on his arm.

  “You alright?”

  He nodded but definitely looked peaky and I raised my eyebrows at him. He scowled.“I don’t like boats, alright?”

  “You’re seasick?” I tried, unsuccessfully, to hold back a grin and he scowled harder.

  “We all have our weaknesses!” he said, rearranging the myriad of potions and weapons that were strapped to various parts of his anatomy. He looked like a one man supernatural SWAT team. Albeit one that got seasick. The opportunity was just too great to pass up.

  “It’s like a bloody mill pond out there, not a wave in sight. How can you possibly be seasick?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t know. I just don’t ...like ...boats!”

  “So what happens if you go on a proper boat, on the sea ...with waves?” I made a waving motion with my hands and to my delight he closed his eyes and swallowed; he really was ill.

  “I throw up.” Green eyes glared at me, the colour accentuating his sickly complexion. “Happy now?”

  “Oh, about as happy as I’m likely to get here.” I grinned at him and turned to face the delight that was to come. I knew I wouldn’t be grinning for long. Best enjoy it while I could.

  Behind us lay the river Styx, the chill of the mist still damp against our backs and yet somehow, in front of us lay a vast desert, the heat burning our faces like standing in front of a furnace. We walked forward and within moments I knew that everyone of us would willingly return to the chill of the river, rather than stay here for too long.

  A sunless white sky blazed over us, and I wondered if this was what it felt like to stand in a microwave. We had stripped off shirts and bundled them into our back pack and put on sunglasses against the glare. Cyd and Corvus had blinked uncomfortably in the dazzling light but they at least didn’t mind the heat so much. It wasn’t sunlight either so it couldn’t hurt them. The rest of us however were w
ilting fast. There were great cracks in the ground and blue flame roared from the openings, high up into the sky. It felt like hell, though I knew it wasn’t. Hell was Tartarus and would make this seem like a walk in the park. Thankfully we were stopping at the gates. Arima was as close to hell as I ever wanted to get.

  To our right a narrow band of yellow rock began to jut from the ground. We followed it as it grew, higher and higher, until we were walking beside a sheer cliff face. Corvus looked up, scanning the surface and pointed. “There.”

  We followed his gaze to see a cavern, splitting the yellow surface like an open mouth. It was only about twenty feet up but the effort in climbing in the intense heat left me, Rodney and Inés laying on our backs gasping for air. Even Cain was looking a bit puffed and sweating profusely. Only the vampires and Dimitri looked unaffected.

  “Bugger me, Dimitri, couldn’t you at least sweat a bit? You’re makin’ us look bad.”

  Dimitri grinned and the boom of his laugh echoed around the cavern as he offered Rodney a hand up. “I am fire demon ... Is like home.”

  I heard Cain casting a spell and looked up to see three bright globes appear in the air at head height. They cast an eerie white light over the yellow rock. We all got to our feet and followed Corvus as he led us deeper into the cavern which narrowed into a wide corridor. The globes bobbed gently in the air around us as we walked, always staying just in front and behind us, to light the way. As we got farther in the temperature began to drop. It was probably still about forty degrees Celsius but after outside it felt positively balmy.

  We carried on walking in the light of the globes for what felt like an eternity. There was nothing to see, nothing to take our minds off of what we might be heading closer to, and no one spoke. We were all far too strung out for chitchat. Eventually however the corridor ended, opening back up into the mouth of a cave and I stood at the opening with my heart in my mouth, trying to catch my breath. My lungs felt like they were being clamped shut. Corvus drew me into his arms and held me tight, saying nothing. Together we looked out at a cobalt blue sky that merged seamlessly against a beautiful ocean. The waves lapped gently at the golden beach that swept around in a great curve with a cliff face at its edge. My heart gave a lurch as they followed that curve and back up to the horizon to fall upon a white palace, gleaming in the sunlight.