Twisted Karma

by Lizzy Ford

This time, when he appeared, his expression was knowing.

  “For the record, this is personal, not professional,” she told him.

  “You heard about my blood monkey.”

  Stephanie swung the bat. “My sister is not food!”

  Trayern ducked in time for her first strike to miss, deflected the second one, and was knocked back by the third, which hit him squarely in his side. She lowered the bat, breathing hard, and the two glared at one another. Had he wanted to, he could have killed her by now or at the very least disarmed her.

  Was he purposely restraining himself? Or were there rules about him attacking the Council leader?

  She swung at him once more, and he ducked.

  Trayern straightened. “Where I come from, that’s called foreplay. She’s already figured that out,” he said, referring to his encounter with Sammy at the Sanctuary.

  “You son of a bitch!” Stephanie swung again.

  Trayern snatched the bat and wrenched it out of her hands. He snapped it over his knee as if it were a tiny branch and flung it. Before he had a chance to react, she swung the second bat and caught him in the side of the head.

  The demon dropped and then stood, lowering his head. His taunting was done; he was genuinely pissed.

  “This is not how the Council leader behaves,” Mithra chided from the sidelines.

  Despite hoping for a fight – one that preferably ended in Trayern’s death – Stephanie had already experienced the amount of damage a pissed off demon could cause.

  Trayern spit blood and cracked his neck before stalking towards her.

  “You plan on helping me out?” she snapped to the angel.

  “I’m afraid not,” was the guardian angel’s remorseful tone.

  Stephanie retreated from the angry demon’s advance. “Aren’t you supposed to be at war with demons?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  She glanced his way. “Fuck.” Mithra wasn’t the only witness to her match with Trayern.

  Darkyn stood beside the angel, one hand on Mithra’s shoulder to prevent the angel from assisting her.

  Stephanie returned her attention to the storm she’d provoked in time to skirt Trayern’s attempt to grab her. She swung the bat.

  This time, he caught it before it hit and yanked it away with one hand while snatching her jaw with the other. His long, sharp fingernails dug into her skin, and he dragged her close enough for her to feel his breath on her face.

  “You cannot keep me from her,” he hissed.

  “I can and will. She’s hereby confined to the castle, and you are banished from ever entering the grounds,” Stephanie returned. “Further, I’ll be reassigning Mithra or finding a more competent guardian angel to assign to her. You will never cross paths with my sister!”

  Trayern’s grip tightened, but Stephanie refused to show her pain. She wasn’t going to back down, not with her sister’s life on the line.

  “You have two weaknesses, and both will be in Hell soon,” he replied. His muscular frame was coiled, his eyes blazing. He was close to snapping.

  “Do it,” she whispered, thrilled to know she had the upper hand. He was more upset than she was. If Wynn had taught her anything, it was that the person who remained in control of him or herself was in control of the situation. “I’m sure Sammy will love to hear how her mate killed her sister – twice!”

  Trayern’s grip tightened.

  They stared at one another, each incensed. Finally, he pushed her away.

  “Fuck!” The demon paced, clearly wanting to murder her. “You’re weak, and I will outmaneuver you, Immortal!”

  “I’m not the only one vulnerable here, Trayern!” she retorted. “You and your boss share the same weakness. He favors you, or you’d be dead, and he will help you reach your mate – or try to – because he already knows what it means to have a mate. I may have shown my hand, but so have you, and I will use everything within my power to not only exploit that weakness, but to protect my sister as well! I will fucking destroy you, if you go near her!”

  Trayern was growling.

  “Trayern’s earned his mate,” Darkyn purred, far too satisfied for her comfort.

  He’s pushing my buttons on purpose. She was too furious to pay this thought the amount of attention it deserved.

  Stephanie paced and rubbed her face, trembling from emotion. Trayern’s eyes didn’t leave her. With some bitterness, she realized she’d finally managed to destabilize him the same way he had spent weeks destabilizing her.

  “You do not disappoint,” Darkyn said. “I will help Trayern reach his mate, if only to remind you where you belong on the food chain.”

  “I will stop you,” Stephanie replied.

  “Can you stop her from finding him? The mating bond goes both ways. You may block her from entering the place-between-places for now, but at some point, you’ll lower your guard, perhaps because you’re forced to, and Trayern can summon her. Or, she can simply walk away from the castle grounds, perhaps following a shapeshifter demon who looks like your mother.”

  Stephanie turned her attention to Darkyn, hearing the threat in his quiet voice. Her anger spent, she became alarmed the more Darkyn spoke. There was no way to safeguard her sister for the rest of eternity.

  “Remember two of your family members have connections to Hell, and so do you,” the demon lord said. “How I treat them depends on you.”

  “You won’t hurt Sammy,” she said firmly. “You wouldn’t go through this effort to help Trayern, if you meant to make him suffer a broken mating bond.”

  “I can prevent her and your mother from leaving Hell ever again.”

  Coldness streaked through Stephanie. Her fear returned. Darkyn was not someone to mess with, no matter how angry she was, or which of her loved ones was involved. If she became reckless, she condemned them all and possibly the Immortals she was charged with protecting.

  Her eyes went to Trayern. He met her gaze. She’d challenged Darkyn and his favored lieutenant, a strategist whose prowess she’d already witnessed, to a game she wasn’t prepared to play.

  “I’ve got an eternity to wait you out, Immortal,” Trayern said. “At some point, you’re going to need something from Hell. Don’t think that won’t come at a cost and I won’t be the one making the deal.”

  “I lied to your boss for you,” she said, anger warming her face again.

  “He already knew. I keep no secrets from him. He planted the thought in my mind that he knew you’d find. Often, when people feel they have the advantage, they lower their guards, and you did.”

  Stephanie was silent, too upset to speak. Wynn’s assertion that her game with Darkyn was just beginning settled into her thoughts.

  “Darkyn let Fate choose which of his lieutenants was assigned to you,” Trayern taunted. “I didn’t know about Samantha until I saw her at the Sanctuary, but my boss and your mate did.”

  “Bastard,” Stephanie muttered. She wasn’t sure exactly who she was directing the curse toward – Trayern, Darkyn, or her own mate.

  “Be smart about this, Immortal.” The demon approached her, calmer. “You can’t do shit about it, and you know it. You wouldn’t be this fucking pissed if you could.”

  “We’ll see,” she replied and lifted her chin in defiance. “I’m the daughter of Wynn and Chaos and the mate of Fate. If anyone can figure this out, I can.”

  “Darkyn couldn’t deny the bond, and neither could Fate.”

  Stephanie couldn’t think of any comeback for the truth.

  “Where’s my mate, Immortal?” Trayern growled.

  “Keep fucking with me, Trayern. Hell may have a hostage I care about, but I have one of yours as well. Don’t think I won’t use my sister against you or that I won’t confine her to the dungeon for an eternity if it means she’s safe!”

  “Spoken like the daughter of Wynn,” Darkyn said.

  Holy fuck. I just pulled a Wynn.

  “I’m not … fuck!” she exclaimed, horrified she not only f
inally understood why Wynn had thrown his sons into the catacombs but found herself agreeing with the sentiment behind the tactic. “I’m not like him!”

  “From where I stand, you are,” Darkyn stated.

  Realizing they were assessing her every word, move and expression, Stephanie shelved her internal conflict and released the breath she’d been holding.

  “I won’t let you have her,” she said more calmly.

  “You’ve already lost this battle,” Trayern told her.

  Stephanie glared at him. She despised his ability to force her to confront the truth she didn’t want to acknowledge.

  “We’ll see,” she managed.

  “Who’s the little bitch now, Immortal?”

  Stephanie’s hands clenched into fists. “You’re so lucky your boss is here, little boy.”

  Trayern snorted. “Tell Samantha I’ll see her soon.” He sidled away, joining his boss.

  Darkyn smiled, and Stephanie shuddered. He knew exactly what to do and say to upset her.

  The two disappeared through a portal.

  Stephanie let out a scream of anger and then flung her head back, eyes on the morning sky. She’d doubted her ability to lead, to manipulate, to become enough like her father to wrangle the power and influence she needed to safeguard her people.

  After this confrontation, however, she saw her situation in a different light.

  The same lengths she would go to for her sister were those she’d have to go to for all the Immortals. Every threat had to be personal and every solution calculated and detached. If she viewed the Immortals as her family, and learned to ruthlessly negotiate and manipulate like their lives were on the line, she would become the leader they needed.

  The distance between what she knew and what she needed to know suddenly seemed shorter and less overwhelming when she understood the bigger picture of what it’d mean to lose anyone else to someone like Darkyn.

  Darkyn was the unforgiving teacher Deidre had claimed him to be. Wynn had taught her what her duty was and the importance of making it a priority; Darkyn had shown her how to feel by throwing her weaknesses and fears in her face. She needed both angles in order to lead. The lives of everyone around her depended upon her.

  Concerned for Sammy, and dissatisfied with her encounter with Trayern, Stephanie wiped the blood from her jaw and started towards the forest.

  “Take a portal, Mithra!” she barked. She strode away from the lake, needing the time and space to cool off before faced with the mess awaiting her in the war chamber.

  “I always thought a woman with fangs was sexy.” Fate, shimmering, exited the forest before she reached the trail.

  Stephanie crossed the distance between them in four steps, tripped and stumbled into his arms.

  He laughed as he caught her. She breathed in his brown sugar scent. With his strong, warm embrace around her, the events of the night didn’t seem as terrifying as they were. She hadn’t realized how much she needed his strength, or how starved she’d been for his touch, until she experienced both again. She melted into his body.

  Tears filled her eyes.

  “Did I do it?” she asked. “Did I stop what you Saw coming?”

  “For now,” Fate replied.

  She looked up at him, tensing.

  Fate’s gaze twinkled with mirth. His dark edge was gone, settling her fears before he spoke. There was nothing in his features but tenderness and warmth. “You did,” he said. “There will be a great many more challenges, but the event I’d feared for some time is no longer a threat.”

  “Oh, thank god.”

  “And … I can see your chains-of-events now that you have your soul.”

  She feared asking what he Saw in her Future. But if his smile was any indication, he foresaw nothing bad.

  “You can’t leave me anymore,” she told him and swallowed her tears. “I hope you Saw that.”

  “I did,” he replied and rested his forehead against hers. “It’s us now. For good.”

  “Thank god!” They stood in peaceful silence, enjoying each other’s warmth. “Where were you?”

  “Restricted by Darkyn from interfering, as much as I wanted to.” The dark edge entered Fate’s voice again. “My brave little Stephanie challenging Trayern to a duel.”

  She sighed. “Did you know about Sammy?”

  “I did.”

  “I’m not going to let it happen! She’s my only sister!”

  Fate didn’t reply, and she suspected it was because he didn’t want to tell her what Trayern already had, that this was a battle she wasn’t going to win.

  “I won’t let him hurt her,” she whispered. “I can’t.”

  “Demons don’t hurt their mates. Even they regard the bond as sacred.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  Fate squeezed her to him.

  “I can’t do this alone,” she added. “I’m not sure how I’ve gotten this far.”

  He pushed hair from her features and wiped her cheeks. The tenderness was back. “Because you’re the woman I’ve always known you to be. I didn’t need my power to know your heart and recognize your potential.”

  She smiled, touched by his faith. “I missed you.”

  “You’ll never miss me again.” He pushed her lip up to gaze at one small fang. “Sexy as fuck.” These words were spoken low and husky. Desire flared to life in his gaze. “You’re welcome to bite me whenever you want, gorgeous.”

  She nipped his finger, and he smiled.

  “One hundred percent chance I’m going to fuck you senseless tonight,” he whispered. “And every night after.”

  Exhilaration flared within her. Fate’s dangerous edge had always left her breathless.

  “But right now …” His eyes lingered on her fangs. “You have work to do. Can’t let the Immortals fall apart on your first day of duty.”

  She groaned, wanting to spend quality time with her mate.

  He laughed, pulled away and took her hand. “Come on. I’m here to entertain you during your breaks.” He winked. The light of lust in his gaze assured her she’d have no rest anytime soon.

  Together they began walking into the forest and the castle beyond it.

  “Want to know how many kids Wynn and Karma have?” he teased.

  “God, yes!” she exclaimed. “I hope it’s like twelve, and they’re all crazy. Am I right?”

  “I can’t actually tell you.”

  “What?” She smacked his arm. “Do not be an asshole like every other man in my life!”

  Fate laughed. “Four girls. All of them as wild as Karma. But you can’t tell anyone.”

  “That will drive Wynn insane,” Stephanie said with an evil smile. “I hope he learns how to be a decent father. Person. Immortal. A decent everything.”

  “He will. He knows what he values now, and it’s not becoming a deity.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” she murmured. “How many kids do we have?”

  “You’ll find out.”

  “Are they as wild as Karma?”

  “One of them will be.”

  Stephanie smiled. Her eyes lingered on his handsome features. Since wading into the stormy waters of the Immortal world, she hadn’t been able to imagine a future with the Immortals.

  With no small amount of joy, she believed she now could. Her human life seemed far away, a dream. This was where she belonged, with an insane family, an arrogant god, the fate of the human world on her shoulders, and no shortage of Immortals, demons and deities waiting for her trip up.

  I can do this, she thought, surprised to feel the truth of this statement resonate within her. This is where I’m meant to be.

  “I love the idea of spending my life with you,” she murmured.

  “Me, too.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her into his body. “More than I can ever tell you.”

  Stephanie sighed. Whatever the Future brought, she could face it, as long as her mate was at her side.

  Thirty-One


  Three days later

  * * *

  “I’m not sure I can handle court,” Stephanie said, exhausted after several days with minimal sleep. “My judgment may be a bit off.”

  “Today is different. You’re in charge, so you can decide the fate of people according to your heart, not Wynn’s draconian form of justice,” her mate said. He squeezed her hand. They walked together down the hall and past the vacant petitioner chamber.

  She rested her head against Fate’s shoulder briefly. He kissed the top of her head and slid an arm around her. They stopped before reaching the open doors and held one another in silence. As tired as she was, Stephanie experienced nothing but euphoria every time they touched.

  Fate tipped her chin up and kissed her on the nose playfully. “The faster you’re done here, the more time we have together.”

  “There’s never enough time,” she complained.

  “We have eternity.”

  A thrill raced through her. Even an eternity didn’t sound like long enough.

  “When are you going to tell Sammy about the mating tattoo?” Fate asked with a faint smile.

  Troubled, Stephanie’s face grew warm. “Never.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his body. “You know that’s not how it works,” he said softly and kissed her neck.

  Stephanie growled at him, the sound a combination of human and demon angst.

  “Love that,” Fate purred. “And the fangs.”

  She relaxed in his embrace. “I haven’t decided what to do about that issue,” she said. “Mithra is safeguarding her for now. Trayern can’t come near her.”

  “These things tend to take care of themselves, in my experience.”

  “No. Not this time. Not for her,” she added pensively.

  “Free will, gorgeous. They’re destined to find one another. You know this,” he replied. “Unless you’re ever in danger, in which case, I’ll cancel your free will for the day.”

  Stephanie wasn’t ready to face the idea Sammy was mated to a demon, especially Trayern, who had shredded her neck.

  “But today, you have a new challenge,” Fate said and spun her to face him. “One you’ll conquer like the others.”