by Ford, Lizzy
His sister nodded, and the wheel began to turn.
Chapter Eleven
“Try again,” Deidre urged.
Stephanie drew a breath, calmed her nerves and killed the logical part of her that freaked out at the idea of tearing a hole in the fabric of the world. Of the many lessons Deidre had been teaching her the past two days, this was the one she struggled with most.
The tide ran closer to their feet the longer they spent on the beach beneath a dark sky and full moon. The familiar sound and scent of the ocean helped her nerves.
She willed the portal to appear.
It opened, and she stepped back.
“It’s getting easier,” she reported. “Still freaky though.”
“You get used to it. It’s so much better than dealing with TSA at the airport.”
Stephanie laughed. “For a demoness, you’re kind of cool.”
Deidre smiled.
“Am I interrupting?” a low male voice came from behind them.
Stephanie turned and had the urge to hide behind the demoness. The muscular man behind her towered taller and wider than Tamer. His features were hard, his dark eyes moving from her to Deidre. He wore a black trench coat, and the glimmer of weapons lining the interior caught the light of the moon.
“Gabriel, this is Stephanie.” Deidre’s smile was warm.
“We’ve been looking for you,” he said with a grim expression. “You’ve been hiding in Hell?”
“It’s not like she can go to the Underworld without a soul,” Deidre pointed out.
Stephanie’s alarm grew. She hadn’t wanted to meet the figure known as Death under any circumstance let alone on a dark night.
“I figured you wouldn’t mind her coming to our monthly meeting for former humans.”
Gabriel gazed at Stephanie hard enough for her heart to race before he gave a brisk nod. “Welcome to our world,” he said.
“You guys meet monthly?” Stephanie asked, brow furrowing.
“We made a deal,” Deidre replied. “To help us remember what it means to be human. It’s easy to get lost among the Immortals, to forget the value of life when you’ve got an eternity to live.”
Eternity. Stephanie hadn’t considered living forever. “Do I have an eternity?” she asked.
“You do,” Gabriel said and swung his trench coat off. He rested it on the beach then sat down, elbows on knees. “If you want it. You’re half-Immortal.”
“I’m not so sure,” Stephanie murmured. “I’ve yet to see anything that makes me want to live longer than I have to among you people.”
Gabriel gazed at her quizzically.
“They’re having issues,” Deidre whispered.
“There is no they,” Stephanie corrected her.
“Good luck with that,” Gabriel said. “Although I don’t blame you. Deities have a much different view of the world than even Immortals. And Fate?” He shook his head. “Yeah. Good luck.”
“Why are you looking for me?” Stephanie asked and sat a few feet from him.
“Right now there’s one way for Fate to survive Wynn. If you return to your father.”
Stephanie grimaced.
“You have a better chance of freeing Fate if you’re there,” Gabriel said.
“I don’t know if I want to free him,” she retorted.
Deidre ducked her head, smiling.
“Okay, I’ll make this simple,” Gabriel said, unfazed by her refusal. “There are three laws that govern deities.”
“Deidre told me.”
“Good. So you know if Fate dies at Wynn’s hands, life as we know it ends.”
Stephanie was quiet. She’d manage to rationalize away any notion of being stuck – for eternity! – with a stranger if the people around her didn’t continue to bulldoze through her denial.
“Fate’s a fan of free will. You choose,” Gabriel added.
“That’s so not fair!” she exclaimed. “You’re putting the world on me?”
“I am.”
“There’s no choice. I can’t snuff out existence because I’m afraid of Wynn or feeling completely overwhelmed. But, how does anyone just accept being assigned a spouse?”
Gabriel snorted without answering.
“We’re not saying it makes sense,” Deidre replied. “Maybe just focus on Wynn. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the first mate to walk away from the man the universe chose for you.”
“No one walks away,” Gabriel said.
“You’re not helping!”
“How is a demoness the good guy in this conversation?”
Deidre rolled her eyes at him.
Stephanie watched them interact, sensing the depth of their friendship. “Is it safe to guess you want something from me, too?” she asked Death.
“You made a deal?” Gabriel asked Deidre.
She nodded.
“Don’t make deals with demons,” he grumbled. “I want to help you, Stephanie. Fate is an ally of sorts but more importantly, he needs to make it through this. What I … what we think will work is for you to work from the inside.”
“Like a spy,” she said.
“Yeah. Like a spy. One who should know going in what Wynn does to traitors.”
She held her breath, waiting for him to tell her something worse than she’d seen yet.
“I imagine he’d exile you somewhere unpleasant, like Hell,” Gabriel said. “Don’t get caught before you have backup.”
“Where do I find backup?” she whispered, unwilling to think about what Hell would be like if she were sent there by Wynn.
“Two options: Rhyn and Andre, your brothers. Rhyn is off the map, because Wynn has it out for him and his family. He was managing the Council just fine before Wynn manipulated him out of the position. I’ll keep looking. As for Andre … you’ll need to find that out from Wynn,” Gabriel said grimly. “He’s not dead-dead. That much I know.”
Deidre cleared her throat. “I know where Andre is.”
Stephanie listened. How did she feel responsible or loyal to brothers she’d never met?
“Wynn traded him to Darkyn,” Deidre said quietly.
“Fuck,” Gabriel muttered. “How?”
“I don’t know the details,” she admitted. “But I know he’s in Hell and Darkyn brought him there.”
“You can’t get him out.”
She smiled without answering.
“You won’t get him out,” he corrected himself.
“Because no one wants to piss off the Dark One, even his mate,” Stephanie said. “I’m picking this shit up slowly.”
They fell quiet. She found herself brainstorming the issues of a world and strangers she didn’t know existed before a few weeks ago.
“What if … what if I got him out?” she asked. “Is it possible? I mean, assuming we can’t find Rhyn.”
“No way,” Gabriel said. “You wouldn’t survive a deal with Darkyn. Even Fate works around him.”
Deidre, however, was quiet.
“If demons ignore me because I have no soul, then can I just walk in and … I don’t know, unlock his jail cell?” Stephanie asked.
“Yes,” Deidre said.
“No,” Gabriel replied simultaneously. “You know the danger, Deidre. She’s not invisible. There’s one way into Hell, unless you’re a demon or with one. If anyone saw her go through the portal, she’d be killed, soul or no soul.”
“She can do it. I’m not saying she should. Death dealers cross through Hell all the time,” Deidre reasoned. “Send Tamer and have him bring her with him. Death dealers know the layout relatively well.”
“Things have been tense for a few months,” Gabriel said. “Darkyn’s limited our access to once a day.”
“But if I went with Tamer, and then maybe met him once I’d freed Andre, he could take us all out, right?” Stephanie pressed.
“Darkyn’s going to know who tipped us off,” Gabriel said, eyes on Deidre. “Unless …” He gazed at Stephanie thoughtfully. “I have an idea. As a mate
of a deity, you can access the Oracle’s records at the Sanctuary. You can see most of what Fate can see. If you go there first, you can find out the details of the deal Wynn made. Deidre and I can’t be officially linked to this. Deities don’t fuck with another’s domain. Well, they claim not to anyways.”
“Okay. So, I go back to Wynn and pretend I want to be there then secretly sneak out with Tamer and try to free Andre. Then, he can help me free Fate. Right?”
The two were frowning.
“It’s dangerous,” Deidre said.
Gabriel stiffened and twisted to see behind him.
Stephanie leaned around him.
A portal yawned open, and Karma stepped through. “Finally!” she breathed, eyes on Stephanie.
“That’s our cue to go,” Gabriel said and stood.
Deidre rose as well.
“Wait!” Stephanie scrambled to her feet. “That’s it? You’re leaving? Do we even have a plan?”
“Ssshhh,” Deidre said and moved closer, until certain only she could hear. “We aren’t supposed to help one another like this. Gabe and I are doing it because we know what it’s like to be a human in an Immortal’s world. We can’t openly help you or it disrupts the balance.”
“This is politics,” Stephanie said.
“Remember what I told you about deals. Be careful who you trust. The alliances among these people shift with the winds. You can summon Tamer the way I taught you to summon me, okay?” The blonde gave her another quick smile and turned away, disappearing into a different portal than that which Death took.
Stephanie watched them both go. Karma drew abreast of her, radiating agitated energy.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Karma said. “We have to save my brother.”
“Yeah, I know.” Stephanie faced her.
Karma’s hair and eyes were the same color brown.
“There’s a plan, but it’s really fucked up.”
Karma brightened. “You’re going to help him?”
“Well …” Stephanie cleared her throat. “I’m going to do something. We’ll leave it at that.”
“I need to help!” Karma exclaimed. “Please, please, please!”
“Yeah, totally. I think initially you need to keep out of the way.”
Karma frowned, and her hair turned silver.
Sensing the deity was going to be a handful to work with, Stephanie sought another task to give her to keep her out of the way. It was going to be hard enough to convince Wynn she wanted to be his daughter without worrying about Karma shorting out.
“I mean, you’ll be out of the way, because you have a very special role,” Stephanie added. “You have to let me handle the Immortals.”
“Because you are an Immortal.”
“Um, yeah. Whatever. Anyway, you need to find Rhyn.”
Karma appeared pensive.
“He’s missing. And I need his help in order to free Fate.”
“Hmmm. Okay. I can find him. What do I do when I find him?”
“I guess bring him to me.”
“I’ll start looking now.” Karma whirled and summoned a portal, her hair flashing white as she strode away.
Stephanie waited until the goddess was gone before she shook her head. She felt like she was herding cats who had magical powers to fall back on if they didn’t want to play fair.
After a moment of debate on the best way to proceed, she called her own portal and stepped into its dark depths. “Oracle on the Sanctuary.” She repeated Gabriel’s words without understanding where or what the words meant.
A yellow door pulsed in response. Feeling a little more confident after her time with Deidre, she crossed to it and stepped through.
Warm, humid night air washed over her, smelling of the ocean and sand. She oriented herself to the tiny room lit by lamplight. Wind swept in through the windows, and she heard the distant crash of waves on the shore. The stone structure reminded her of Wynn’s castle, and a wooden door was cracked to display a darkened hallway beyond.
On a lectern opposite her was a book whose words were being written by an invisible hand before her eyes.
Stephanie approached it, watching in intrigue as the words appeared on the pages. What kind of ghost could write?
She gazed around. As in Hell, magic rendered the air charged. “Um, I need to see the deals. There’s one with Wynn and Darkyn or … something.” Her cheeks grew warm.
The book flipped its pages before her and settled on one covered in the geometric writing of the Immortals. Stephanie was about to ask for a translation when the letters appeared to leap off the page before her and landed back on the page, this time in a language she could read.
“Ancient Immortal Wynn repays debt to DO. Peace volunteers in Immortal’s place.” She puzzled over the sentence. “So why did Peace agree to go?”
The pages flipped again and more writing raced across its surface.
“Peace granted Ancient Immortal Wynn one favor in deal to spare Ancient Immortal Rhyn.” She sucked in a breath, recalling Fate’s warning about the power of a favor. Wynn had used his children to manipulate Peace into Hell. “What a sick bastard.” She chewed on her lower lip, rethinking the idea of becoming a spy in the home of a man who had threatened to kill one son to extort a favor from his eldest son – then sent him to Hell.
If what Deidre said was true, Wynn had the potential to extort the mate of Fate as well. She’d have to be careful and do as Deidre said – deal carefully.
“Am I really the mate of Fate?” she whispered to the Oracle, uncertain what kind of reply to expect or even if she wanted one.
This time when the words leapt off the page, they formed scenes captured in bubbles. One popped up in front of her, then another and another and another. She was soon surrounded by visions unlike any she’d ever seen before. It was like being in a multiplex movie theatre with hundreds of screens, all playing at once.
The bubbles began to pass through her, imprinting in her thoughts, and she froze, horrified to realize each one was a window into the life of a complete stranger’s tomorrow. Reunions, work, birthday parties, commutes, family life mixed with street crime, desperation, financial strain, hospital stays.
The potential tomorrows of dozens of people played through her mind as they passed through her body. She witnessed a boy graduate high school and end up hit by a car, a woman fall at a concert and her future husband help her up, the starving children in an impoverished country breathe their last breaths, the lottery winner realizing his number had been chosen …
Each vision contained the raw emotion of the person experiencing whatever happened.
Stephanie staggered, unable to fend off the emotions that felt like hers – but weren’t. She dropped to her knees and struggled to keep up with the whirling emotions left behind by lightning quick visions.
At long last, they stopped and receded to the pages of the Oracle, leaving her with the emotional hangover of hundreds of people. She was panting and sweating profusely despite the cool night breeze off the ocean.
Is this what Fate lived with on a daily basis? There were billions of people. How did he cope with the emotions, with knowing how much pain and suffering there was in the world?
Too caught off guard about her circumstances, she’d never thought twice about what he experienced as a deity. He came across as unflappably amused by everyone and everything around him and not at all like the destinies of billions rested on his shoulders. Immortals and deities alike viewed his every action with suspicion, and he had been ousted as manipulative – if not a liar – by everyone she’d met.
Stephanie shivered, but not from cold. Five minutes with the lives of a few dozen people, and she was in tears on the floor, weeping for strangers she’d never meet. How could anyone do this every day and night for thousands of years and not end up twisted, warped or crazy?
What if he were those things or worse?
Regaining her composure, she returned to the book on the lectern. “I want to k
now what he’s like,” she told the Oracle.
The writing paused before another surge of images lit up her surroundings.
Stephanie stepped back and knelt, afraid of being overwhelmed once more. This time, the images were of the Past, of Fate guiding, cajoling or out right manipulating the Futures of Immortals and humans alike. She watched in some confusion as he seemed to operate out of selfish reasons sometimes and other times, to help those he crossed avoid early deaths or misery. Nudging those who needed it one moment, he turned and bartered with deities over the lives of others the next.
The book was able to show his actions but not his motives. Stephanie watched the images, struggling to piece together a better picture of Fate’s personality by the lives he touched.
What became clear from the dizzying images, Fate had a method to his madness, and he operated alone. Always. And it wasn’t because no one reached out to him or held out a hand or peace offering. She saw him rebuff such efforts early on in his position until people no longer offered. He was a one-man machine evaluating the destiny of the universe as a whole and tweaking it as needed for a vision she wasn’t able to interpret from his actions.
He was generally benevolent, if not kind, towards humans. The immense power he potentially wielded was kept in check by the fact he rarely ever needed to use it.
The more she watched, the less she understood.
She had the sudden sense of not knowing Fate at all. The man in search of amusement held a much deeper, darker side which seemed to guide his interference with the lives of others. He alone was privileged with the knowledge of who would have a reason to rejoice or who would die tomorrow. How could he seem so unaffected by anything when he was privy to the greatest despairs and triumphs of tomorrow awaiting the people around him? How had he done this alone for so long?
Even watching him in action, she wasn’t able to get a better understanding of his mind. How could he hide himself so well?
Her shaking ceased as the emotions of others faded. Stephanie wiped her features and glanced up at the book before she stood.
She had what she came for – an excuse as to why she knew Andre was in Hell so as not to get Deidre in trouble. The insight she sought about Fate only left her less certain about him, about what motivated him and how he chose when to interfere and not. His actions weren’t random, and each was measured so he only did what was absolutely necessary to spur a new chain of events or alter an existing one.