by Larissa Ione
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “Oh, we’re through. We’re so through. I want you gone,” she screamed. “Get out! Get out and let me die in peace.”
“That’s not going to happen. I can’t leave you unprotected.”
“Unprotected? Are you kidding me? You killed me!”
Agony wracked his insides, far worse than anything the poison had done to him. “I didn’t mean for it to happen,” he said hoarsely. “I couldn’t carry through with it. Not once I got to know you. That’s why I was going to get off the train in Cairo.”
“How noble,” she spat. “How you must have suffered when I forced myself on you.”
“That,” he said slowly, deliberately, so she would never doubt this, “was the best night of my life.”
“I actually believe that.” She snorted. “It was the best night of your life because you weren’t dying anymore.”
He got in her face so fast she blinked as though trying to figure out how he was suddenly inches away. “No. It was because it was the first time I made love to anyone. You can call me a liar for anything else, but do not doubt me on this. And I swear to you that you were the first, and you will be the last.”
A cold ache drilled a hollow in his chest. He needed sex or he’d suffer, but he would never make love to a female again.
She swallowed hard, but in an instant the fury came back and she shoved hard at his shoulders. When he didn’t budge, she scooted around him and put a good fifteen feet between them. It felt more like light years.
Sudden evil screamed through the air, increasing the pressure in the house with the violence of a spring storm. The window blew inward, and a swirling black cloud surrounded Serena. It solidified, and Byzamoth, grinning, was holding her, her back to his chest, his hand clamped over her mouth.
“Hello, Josh,” the fallen angel said, clearly aware of the truth. Serena’s backstabber at work again. He looked between Serena and Wraith. “Fucking tell me it isn’t true. Tell me this little whore didn’t give you her charm.”
“I’d tell you that,” Wraith growled, “but it would be a lie.”
Serena made a noise of outrage, and Byzamoth shifted his hand, allowing her to fire off a shot. “Oh, now you decide to tell the truth?”
Though her verbal slap smarted, he ignored her. If Byzamoth knew how much Serena meant to Wraith, he’d have a damned effective weapon to use against him. “So, angel, what gave me away? Someone leak it to you? Or is the post-coital glow?”
Byzamoth hissed. “Something like that, you fuck. You aren’t cloaked.” He shoved Serena onto the bed. She bounced awkwardly and rolled into the headboard. Byzamoth drew a sword from his robes, a dull silver blade that glowed azure in a thin line down the length of the metal and at the hilt, where symbols pulsed. He pointed the sharp tip at Serena but never took his eyes off Wraith.
“No sudden moves, or I run her through. My specialty is destruction, Sem, so I know how to use this.”
Man, he was going to rip this guy’s heart out and feed it to him.
“You’ve really fucked things up.” Byzamoth gestured to Serena with a flick of the blade. “Fucked her all up, too. Pun intended.” He bared his teeth. “No matter. I’ll still get what I want. Destruction. Yours. Hers. The world as you know it. I think I’ll start small and work my way up to mass chaos.”
Serena’s glare promised pain if she ever got her hands on the fallen angel. “You aren’t going to get away with whatever it is you have planned, you know.”
Byzamoth laughed, carelessly lowering his blade. “This is like a bad movie. The good guys all tied up with no hope of survival, but darn it, they’re still plucky. ‘You’ll never get away with this,’ ” he mocked.
Wraith charged Byzamoth. The angel spun and tipped up the sword. Serena cried out, and Wraith froze. A four-inch gash streaked her shoulder, its edges as smooth and clean as a scalpel’s slash. The sword hadn’t touched her, but it had somehow sliced her flesh open and was now aimed at her throat.
“Serena!”
“It’s okay,” she said, slapping her hand over the bleeding wound. “I’m okay.”
“Such bravery.” Byzamoth rolled his eyes. “Does it really matter, Serena? Given your condition?”
Wraith’s gaze cut sharply to the fallen angel. “Go to hell, you sonofabitch.” He flexed his hands, dying to get them around Byzamoth’s throat.
“Been there, done that. But then, so have you.” He made another tiny cut in Serena’s arm to get her attention, and she didn’t even flinch. “You’re going to pay for choosing him over me.”
“There was no choice.” She bared her teeth so viciously Wraith almost expected to see fangs. Under any other circumstances, that might have been hot. “Josh might be a lying scumbag, but at least he’s human.”
Realization dawned, and Byzamoth turned to Wraith. Serena chose that moment to lunge at the fallen angel. Wraith leaped to catch her, but lightning fast, Byzamoth seized her, held her with an arm looped around her neck, her feet dangling off the ground.
“Idiot,” Byzamoth said into her ear. “He’s a demon. An incubus, a master of seduction. You gave it up for a demon as evil as I am, you stupid human slut.”
“Liar!” she spat, but when she looked to Wraith for support, her expression fell. “Josh? Tell him.”
Wraith said nothing. What was there to say? She stopped struggling. Just stared at Wraith like she’d never seen him before.
“Was it worth it, Serena? Was having a demon between your legs worth your life, you foul whore?”
Wraith’s body jerked with fury. Serena was good and pure and everything Wraith wasn’t. “Take your filthy hands off her!”
“Yes,” she snapped. “Do. I’m going to kill him.”
Byzamoth laughed and released her. The moment her feet hit the ground, she launched herself at Wraith. She slapped him so hard his head snapped around. Her fists pounded against his chest. He did nothing. Closing his eyes, he took the strikes, wishing she’d hit harder, draw blood.
“You sonofabitch!” she screamed. “You goddamned sonofabitch! I hate you.”
Her tears flowed in rivulets down her face. He could smell her fury, her fear, and it sliced at him like no physical weapon ever had.
She struck him over and over, each blow growing weaker. As her strength faded away, so did the color in her face. She swayed, blinking unfocused eyes, and then collapsed. He caught her before she hit the floor and swept her into his arms, feeling the fragility in her body, the delicate set of her bones that hadn’t been there before. Or maybe he’d chosen not to notice.
The chickenshit bastard attacked while Wraith’s arms were full. Byzamoth hauled the sword around, catching Wraith in the shins. The snap of bone rent the air, and a firestorm of misery swept his entire body.
Wraith’s feet flew out from under him, but he twisted as he fell, took the brunt of the fall on his shoulder to protect Serena. His legs didn’t work, crippling his ability to get back at Byzamoth, and the fallen angel didn’t spare Wraith any mercy. His foot came down on the back of Wraith’s skull, over and over, and as the kicks rained down, he could do little but roll on top of Serena, shielding her.
A searing, slicing pain ripped through his back and belly. Once, twice. The wet sound of a blade grating against bone screamed in his ears as, for the third time, a red-hot poker of agony gutted him. Through blurred vision, he looked between his body and Serena’s, saw the bloody end of a sword buried in the floor.
Oh… oh, Gods. He’d been stabbed through the back and impaled, the blade barely missing Serena.
Cranking his head around, he saw Byzamoth smile as he crouched to catch a stream of Wraith’s blood in a vial he’d drawn from his robes. “And the blood of the Charmed One shall open the Gates of Abyssos.”
“No.” Serena’s voice was a weak whisper as she struggled to crawl from beneath Wraith.
“Now, you little whore, you can watch your demon lover die.” Byzamoth drew one finger across her cheek. “
I think, after I’ve taken my place as a god, that I’ll make you my whore. See, I can keep you alive, and soon enough, you will beg for death.”
Byzamoth swirled in a dramatic circle, and in a poof of dark smoke, he was gone. Wraith groaned and fell onto his side, pain tearing through him as the blade wrenched through his gut.
“Josh? Josh!”
“Not. Josh. Wraith.” He spoke through clenched teeth and bubbling blood, struggling for every word. Every breath.
He was dying. All this shit he’d put her through, taking her virginity and her charm…
All for nothing.
Lore approached the hospital’s ambulance bay doors with trepidation. He’d been researching the hospital, a little Q and A with demons who had been patients, and apparently, what Gem had told him was true. The fighting inside the hospital was unusual. Still, he didn’t want to take that chance. He might be a killer, but he wasn’t stupid, and he valued his own life above all others
He’d also learned that Eidolon and Shade were something called Seminus demons. Sex demons. Cool. But Lore had no idea what made Seminus demons different from other breeds of incubi. Mainly because, although Lore was a demon himself, he’d been raised by humans and hadn’t actually stepped foot in the demon realm until about thirty years ago.
Still, he’d remained on the outskirts of demon and human society, but at least he’d learned to use the Harrowgates. Those things were seriously weird. He used them only when he had to, hating the strange twinge he experienced every time he used one, as though each trip through the portals leeched away a bit of his humanity.
He was an assassin, but he wasn’t a monster. Well, he probably was, but if he could just hold on to his human roots, maybe he could deny the truth about himself.
Ruthlessly, he growled, dropped his hands, and entered the hospital. He had a job to do, and it was going to get done. Right now.
The hospital was strangely calm and quiet. He saw only Gem, sitting at the triage desk. She acknowledged him with a sad smile.
“Hey, Gem. You seem a little down.”
“It’s nothing,” she said, and he wondered if her mood had anything to do with the total tool she called Kynan. He’d have to see if maybe she wanted the tool dead, because Lore would be happy to give her a freebie on that one.
“Can I kill someone for you? Make it better?”
“That’s the nicest offer anyone has made in a long time.” She smiled, and this one seemed genuine. His heart did a little flip. “So what can I help you with?”
“I’m looking for Eidolon and Shade.”
“They’re probably in E’s office. If you want to hit them up for a job, now’s a good time. We’re seriously hurting for staff. Just head straight down the hall. Can’t miss it.”
A little burst of guilt made him pause. He didn’t give a shit about the brothers, but Gem might not be happy when she found out what he’d done.
He shook himself out of it, because he had a much more powerful demon to answer to than Gem. She’d get over it. The bastard holding his life in his hands wouldn’t.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
The hall was dark like everything else, with only caged red bulbs overhead giving off light. He passed cages and drains from which slithering noises drifted up, and dark liquid trickled in a gutter in the floor.
This was so fucked up.
He found them exactly where Gem said they’d be.
The demon Lore assumed was Eidolon was yelling into his phone, calling Wraith’s name. As Lore watched from the open doorway, Shade doubled over, his curse barely a whisper.
“E…” Shade sucked in a breath. “Wraith’s hurt… fuck, it’s bad.”
Now was the time to strike. Lore rushed in as Eidolon came around the desk. He’d forgotten to unsheathe his hand, but it was too late for that. He grabbed Eidolon’s right arm just as the other demon lay his hand on Shade.
Nothing happened. What the fuck? Eidolon wheeled around, and Lore slammed his fist into the male’s face. Eidolon stumbled backward, and then Shade’s fist was in Lore’s jaw. Lore went down in a heap, his killing arm pinned beneath him. He barely had time for a muffled groan when Shade stomped him in the throat with his huge-ass boot.
“What the fuck?” Eidolon stood in the center of the office, eyes red, blood dripping down his chin.
Shade grunted and put pressure on Lore’s neck. Lore would have a footprint embedded in his skin for a week. “You are so dead, dude.”
“How the hell did this just happen?”
“Well, E,” Shade drawled, “this fuck walked in and hit you, so I hit him—”
“Not that! The Haven spell. It’s been repaired.”
Shade’s head whipped around. “Then how did he attack you?” He backed away from Lore, who sucked in a few gulps of air.
And that was when Lore saw it. Eidolon’s arm. The tats. Oh, holy fuck.
“Good question, Lore,” came the female voice in the doorway. Gem. Fab. This just kept getting better and better. She glared at him. “I’m guessing you’re the asshole assassin? Way to use me to get inside the hospital. Boys, I say kill him.”
Wow, she was bloodthirsty. Lore liked that in a woman.
“Gladly,” Shade growled. “As much as I’d like to make it hurt, it’ll have to be quick. We don’t have time to play. Wraith needs us.” He came at Lore with murder in his eyes.
Lore rolled, whipping off his jacket as he did. “Wait!” He sat up. “My arm.” Eidolon reached for him, but Lore yanked his arm away. “Don’t. My touch kills.” Except, apparently not them.
“What the hell is going on?” Shade breathed, peeling off his own jacket.
Lore just stared. These guys sported identical markings, though theirs were darker, less diluted.
“Show me the top symbol,” Eidolon said, and Lore slowly tugged his collar down, exposing the base of his neck and the crooked arrow there.
“Hell’s rings,” Shade muttered, cocking his head to reveal the same arrow… only his sat just beneath an eye symbol. Eidolon’s was positioned beneath a set of scales.
Lore blinked. “What does this mean?”
Eidolon’s expression shuttered. “Unless this is some sort of trick, it means we’re brothers. Somehow, we’re fucking brothers.”
Gem tsked at Lore. “Lu-cy… you have some s’plainin’ to do.”
“We don’t have time,” Shade said. “We’ve got to get to Wraith. Gem, get the Bracken Cuffs. Lore here is going to learn the meaning of brotherly love.”
Chapter 25
So much had happened that Serena wasn’t sure what to do, think, or feel. All she knew was that the man she’d fallen in love with wasn’t a man at all, and that he was now bleeding to death on the floor.
She didn’t know what to do to help, but she did know that she shouldn’t remove the sword that pinned him to the floor like an insect in an entomologist’s display case. The sword protruded from his back, its hilt still glowing with a strange azure light that seemed to grow dimmer as Josh—Wraith—whatever his name was grew weaker.
Helpless, all she could do was sit there and try to not throw up.
“S-Serena…”
Her name came out in a gurgle of blood, and her gut clenched. She should hate him—she did hate him—but she couldn’t stand this, didn’t want to see him suffer.
“What can I do?” She sifted her hand through his thick hair, remembering how it had felt to do that when he’d been coming inside her. Damn him. “Your brothers… I can call them, right? Are they really doctors?”
He didn’t answer. Frantic, she felt for a pulse. It bounded weakly against her fingers, but at least he was still alive.
She had to find his cell phone. She’d call every number in his address book until she found help. Awkwardly, because her legs had gone numb, she stood, but she hadn’t taken a step when she heard a pounding on the front door.
A weapon. She needed a weapon—the crack of wood rang o
ut. Then, a rush of footsteps. Instinctively, she kneeled, crowding protectively close to Josh, but when she saw the two huge men… or demons, she supposed… barreling through the doorway, she nearly scrambled away.
Josh had told her he had two brothers, and with the exception of their dark hair these men resembled him so closely that they had to be related.
“Oh, fuck.” The one with long black hair, wearing head-to-toe black leather, froze, his dark gaze locked on the sword skewering Josh’s body.
The other one, dressed in scrubs, charged into the room and dropped to his knees at Josh’s side. “Bro. It’s Eidolon. Just hold on.” He turned to the doorway. “Shade.”
The one called Shade shook himself out of it, strode into the room, and dropped the medic bag he was carrying. “We need to get him to the hospital.”
“He won’t make it.”
“We have to try!”
“And what do you suggest? Carrying him through the streets of Alexandria with a sword sticking out of him? A taxi? Transporting him could kill him.”
Palming the back of Josh’s neck, Shade spewed out guttural, coarse words in a language she didn’t know but understood nonetheless. “Let me check the internal damage.”
Serena held still, hoping they’d forgotten she was there. Shade closed his eyes and concentrated. The tattoos on his hand, identical to Josh’s, began to glow.
“Shit,” Shade whispered. “Kidney, liver, stomach… oh, man, he’s fucked up. The blade severed his aorta. We move it, he bleeds out in seconds.”
Eidolon swung his fierce gaze, glinting with flares of gold and red, around to her. “What happened?”
“He… he’s a demon.” Geez, that was a stupid thing to say, given his brothers were, too. But her mind seemed mired in fog. So much had happened in the last fifteen minutes, too much to process.
“Yes, we know that.” His voice was no-nonsense. Professional. Scary. “How did he get impaled?”
Right. “Byzamoth. Fallen angel. He… he wanted Josh’s blood.”
“Wraith,” Shade growled. “His name is Wraith.”
Wraith moaned, his eyes fluttering open. “Help…”