Her hands tightened on his. “He might . . . take you back in there?”
“Yeah.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I can’t handle that. I’ll let him turn me. I’ll—”
“No.” He tried to sit up and failed. “Come down here.”
She immediately laid down next to him, curled up against his side, barely touching him, but even that hurt. Not that he cared. He needed to feel her touch. “Closer.”
“But I’ll hurt—”
“Closer.”
She grimaced, but she moved up against him, until he could feel her breasts against his side, and her head was resting on the front of his shoulder. She carefully draped her leg over his, and he gritted his teeth to keep from groaning when she laid her arm over his chest. “Is that okay?”
“Just don’t move.” He turned his head slightly so he could smell her hair. “You smell like sunshine.”
“Sunshine doesn’t have a smell.”
“Sure it does.” He closed his eyes and let her scent drift into his mind, into his body, giving him peace.
“Jed?”
“Yeah.”
“I was thinking about what Jerome said. About the greater good.”
“Forget Jerome.”
He felt her smile, and then she kissed his cheek. “Jed—”
“Kiss me.”
She shifted, and he winced at how much that slight movement hurt, then forgot about it when he felt her mouth brush against his, but she was gone too quickly.
“Again,” he commanded.
She didn’t argue. She simply moved closer and kissed him. But this time, she kissed him the way he wanted to be kissed. With her heart, her soul, and everything that made her who she was. God, he wanted to hold her, but he couldn’t. Couldn’t even lift his damn head off the floor. But she kissed him deeply, thoroughly, with a completeness that eased the pain in his body ever so slightly.
She finally pulled back. “I want to touch you.”
“So do it.”
“No. It’ll hurt too much.” She settled back down against his side, and he couldn’t keep himself from gasping from the pain.
But she didn’t mention it, and didn’t back away.
And once she stopped moving, once she settled herself against him, the pain subsided to a level just below excruciating.
“I think he broke most of your bones,” she said. “Maybe your back too.”
He cursed.
“But inside . . . they did something inside. I can tell. When I was cleaning you off, while you were still unconscious, I could feel something inside you. Something was wrong. There’s something wrong with your soul, or your spirit or something.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Damn. Junior had gone all out on him.
“How did you not scream? Why didn’t you scream? I would have looked and then he would have stopped—”
“No.” He concentrated on the feel of her breathing, on the movement of her breasts against his side, blocking out all other sensations. “He can’t win.”
“But he will win. I know now why you can’t let Rafi go through this again. I can’t let him do it to you again—”
“No!” His voice was sharp, and his quick intake of breath sent pain spiraling through him again. “Dammit, Paige. Don’t say it. He’s probably listening.”
“But—”
“Come where I can see you.” He had to look into her eyes. Had to let her know how much he meant it.
She sighed, then carefully raised herself up on her elbow and leaned over him, so he could see her. “What?”
His throat tightened at the sight of her face. “God, you’re beautiful.”
She smiled. “Don’t try to distract me. What annoying male ego thing are you going to try to order me to do?”
“My contract with Junior isn’t triggered until tomorrow night.”
“Tonight. It’s almost noon. You’ve been out for hours.”
He felt a flicker of tension. They had only twelve hours? “I want it all, Paige. I want you fine, and I want my brother fine.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And you’re going to sacrifice yourself, aren’t you?”
He ignored the question. “We need to get out of here, get you to the third gate. Rafi will show up to get you, and then—”
“How are we going to get out of here? We’re in a dungeon.”
“Call Satan.”
“Call him? Sorry, but Junior didn’t let me keep my cell phone.”
“No. You’re part Satan. He always seems to be able to find you when you’re about to be turned. He has a connection to you and shows up when it’s convenient for him. Open up those lines and tell him to come save you.”
She frowned. “And then what?”
“I have no idea. But we’ve got twelve hours to figure it out.” All he knew was that he couldn’t let Paige turn wraith, and he couldn’t let his brother return to Junior.
There had to be a way to win. He almost grinned when he realized the direction of his thoughts. Paige had finally gotten to him. Her optimism, her belief in a happy ending. His body was decimated, he was in pain more excruciating than anything he’d ever felt, and he was actually latching onto hope and wasn’t going to let go. Because of Paige. “Call Satan. Call him before Junior comes back.”
She brushed her hand through his hair, and he closed his eyes at her touch, trying to lose himself in it.
Then he felt a vibration in the air and he knew she was calling the man who’d created her, whose life force still vibrated deep in her soul.
Paige was so startled when Satan exploded through the wall in a mass of gold bubbles that she actually yelped and threw herself over Jed’s body to protect him from the attack.
He let out a small shout of pain and his hands went to her back, to try to lift her off his chest, off his broken ribs.
“Shit, shit, shit. I’m sorry.” She scrambled back off him, trying to be gentle. “Jed? Are you all right?”
“Yeah, fine,” he gritted out. “Don’t leave me.”
“I’m here.” She clasped his hand and looked up at Satan, who was circling the room, running his hands over the stone walls, and staring up at the endless blackness that was above their heads. “Satan?”
“Most interesting torture chamber. Very mundane, but dreary. Excellent for mental torture.”
“It’s the recovery room,” Jed said.
“Recovery? Ah . . . interesting.” Satan was wearing a dashing tuxedo with a gold cummerbund and bow tie, with a black vest and a rose in his pocket, looking much more like his usual dapper self instead of a deranged leader of hell. “To prolong the torture? I like it. My son is brilliant, is he not?”
“He’s trying to turn me into a wraith,” Paige said.
Satan whirled around to face her. “We decided that it would be best to postpone destroying the world, did we not? Why are you not resisting? Do you threaten me? Is that your plan?” He smiled. “I like your spunk. Most fun. I miss spunk now that my best Rivka has left.” He squatted next to her. “You would like her job, would you not? I give it to you. Welcome to the team.”
“No, it’s not like that,” she interrupted. “Junior’s going to force the change and he’s going to force my loyalty to him. You have to get us out of the torture chamber, or he’ll make me change.”
Satan’s smile widened. “My son is a worthy opponent, is he not? I am much impressed that he abducted you and tortured your man friend to gain your cooperation.”
“So, that means you going to let him win?”
Satan’s smile faded. “Sadly, though I love and support the fruit of my loins, territorial battles must take priority. I cannot give him my domain, so I must thwart his plans.” He eyed Paige. “The easiest to do would be to simply kill you, no?”
“No.” Jed’s voice was cold.
Satan gave Jed an amused look. “Yes, I fear you greatly, man who is so weak he cannot lift his head. Do you see me tremble?”
Jed lifted his
head, and propped himself up on his elbows, without even grimacing, but Paige knew how much it must have hurt. “I’m Jed Buchanan.”
Satan’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh. I am most pleased to meet you. You have killed many, many, many, including some of my finest employees. Very impressive résumé. Have you slept with as many women, as well?”
Paige didn’t want to hear the answer to that. “Satan, I need a focus in my life. I’ll come work for you as your number one Rivka, as an independent contractor, if you help us. If you don’t help us, then I’ll have no choice but to go wraith and ruin your life, your dreams and your hopes. Or I’ll die, and then you’ll have no one to be your closest confidante and enforcer.”
“Paige—” Jed started to protest, but she shook her head at him, and he fell silent, trusting her to know what she was doing.
Satan eyed her, and she saw the gleam in his eye, and she knew how lost he’d been since Becca had left him, as if the wraith thing and the new girlfriend auditions hadn’t been enough of an indication. “Will you be submissive and obey all my commands?” he asked.
“Of course not. I’ll consider all your requests and negotiate payment for the ones I want to do. I’m not supported by your life force, like Becca was, so it’s going to be a different kind of relationship.”
He beamed. “That is right answer! It is deal! I agree! Let us remove ourselves from this hovel and reconvene in the splendor to which I have become accustomed.”
At that moment, a heavy stone door swung open with a crash, and Junior walked in, wearing a muscle shirt and spandex shorts. “Get out of here. This is my world, Dad.”
“Of course.” Satan bowed deeply, and then the room filled with golden bubbles, and an explosion rattled the room.
A split second later, Paige, Jed, and Satan were in a gilded room filled with naked statues of men and women, doing all sorts of interesting sexual things. She and Jed were on a massive, plush bed with a gold quilt and dozens of pillows, and Satan was sitting in an armchair, watching them, wearing furry gold slippers on his feet.
He smiled at them. “Welcome to hell, my esteemed guests. You are mine now.” He waved at them. “Have sex while I watch, and then we will begin discussion.” He sat back in his seat and clasped his hands on his lap, his gaze eager. “Begin.”
Paige winced at Jed’s groan. “I’d love to put on a show for you, but Junior pretty much broke all the bones in Jed’s body. He’s too injured for sex.”
“Too injured? Never.” Satan hopped and peered at Jed, then his mouth turned into a frown. “Well, this is unfortunate. Shadow warriors are indestructible. My son must have figured out new way of torture.” He stood up and rubbed his chin. “Most interesting. My son must be watched. Need spy.” He waved at them. “Must be off to assign spy to Junior’s camp—”
“Wait!” Paige grabbed his arm. “But what about stopping Junior? What about the contract, or purifying me?”
Satan frowned. “That is your job. I simply removed you.” He set his hands on his hips. “Do you mean to say you have no plan? Because then I will sadly be forced to kill you—”
“We have a plan,” Jed said. “We’re fine. Go.”
“Good.” Satan smiled cheerfully at Jed. “You are damned, are you not? I offer you hell when you die instead of service with my son. I have much better benefits. Consider the offer.”
Jed frowned. “But I’m contractually obligated—”
Satan frowned again. “But I thought you had way to break contract. Do I need to kill you as well? I do not like my son having lethal assassin shadow warrior on payroll.”
“No, we’re good,” Jed said.
Satan beamed at them both. “Fabulous. I see you both later. Have an excellent day while I set up extensive and undetectable spy network inside my son’s miserable and pathetic but increasingly interesting operation.”
Then he vanished, and Paige looked at Jed. “So, what now?”
“The Goblet.”
She frowned. “What about her?”
“Junior did some sort of metaphysical torture, and I’m having trouble healing it. We need Mona, because I don’t have time to heal on my own.” He tried to shift his position and winced. “When you get us out of hell this time, picture Justine and Derek’s apartment. I have to think that you should be able to control where you land with that thing.”
She bit her lip. “Theresa would kill me if she knew I was abusing the Goblet.”
He looked at her.
“Yeah, right, everyone else will kill me anyway. Let’s go.” She grabbed his wrist, and they both flinched as the bones mushed under her grip, then she closed her eyes and pictured Justine and Derek’s apartment.
And then they were there.
And five seconds later, Justine and Derek had guns aimed at their heads and were wearing looks on their faces that said it was time to die.
Thirty
Paige slowly eased back from Jed and put her hands up in the air, hoping Justine and Derek wouldn’t take them out before she had a chance to remind them who she was. “It’s us. Theresa’s friends. Paige and Jed? Remember? Breaking the contract with Junior and all that?”
Justine looked all too comfortable holding the gun. “You weren’t invited this time. What’s up?”
Derek was pointing a machine gun at Jed’s head. “I like you, but if you even start to go shadow, I’m taking you out.”
Paige flared up a sword made of flames and had it at Justine’s throat before the other woman could flinch. “Checkmate.”
Justine’s brows went up. “Jed dies if you try to kill me.”
Paige gave her an unblinking gaze. “I don’t care.”
“No? I don’t believe you.”
Shit. She didn’t believe herself either. She glanced at Jed. His eyes were closed, his skin was sallow, and his breaths were so shallow she could barely see his chest move. Dying, or trying to heal? She didn’t know enough about shadow warriors to know! “Jed? You with me?”
“Yeah. Just taking a nap.”
“Hey, guys.” There was a door slam and they all jumped as Quincy walked into the room, holding his computer. He nearly tripped over Jed’s feet, then looked up, his gaze taking in all the weaponry, Jed’s prone body, and the flaming sword at Justine’s throat. He blinked, then said, “I’m glad you two are back. I found something out.”
He walked right past the guns and sat down at the table with his computer.
No one dropped their weapons or even looked at him. Well, Paige was trying to watch him out of the corner of her eye without taking her attention off Justine.
“I’m listening,” Jed said.
“Good. You’re the one who matters.” Quincy frowned, then got up from the table and walked over and sat down next to Jed, pushing the nose of Derek’s machine gun slightly to the side so it wasn’t in his face. “See, you didn’t tell us that the contract we were looking at was the old one.”
Jed opened his eyes a crack. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I was searching the online databases of similar contracts to see if I could find precedent, and I found that the contract you gave me was replaced by a new one.” He shook his head at Jed. “It’s far easier to do this with complete information, you know?”
Jed turned his head enough to see Quincy. “That’s not a new one. It’s just the latest incarnation of the old one, with the new conditions of Rafi’s freedom.”
“No, it’s not. Did Junior say your previous one had been breached?”
Jed’s face darkened. “Yeah. That’s why he was able to recall Rafi.”
“Well, if it’s breached, and he calls in the marker, then it’s done. Over. History. Keeps him from calling in the marker again and again. You must have agreed to a new one, right?”
Jed studied Quincy, a slow awareness dawning on his face. “I did, actually. To get Rafi out.”
Quincy grinned and spun the computer toward Jed, so he could read the screen. “Did you ever actually read it after it got auto
matically codified?”
“No.” Jed tried to lift his head, but couldn’t.
Paige grimaced and then looked at Justine. “Truce so I can help him? He did get hurt saving me.”
“You’re welcome to drop your sword at any time.”
She hesitated, then extinguished the flaming sword and ran over to sit behind Jed. She lifted his head onto her lap, then helped position the computer, trying to ignore the two guns pointed at her head. Did they know that although Rivkas would never age or grow old, they were completely susceptible to any injury a human was, except fire? That a bullet to the brain would do her in like anyone else?
She eyed Justine, and got a cold smile.
Yeah, they knew.
“Read it,” Quincy said, clearly not caring about all the guns aimed at his head. Or maybe he hadn’t noticed. He seemed to be the kind of guy who was a little obsessive about his work.
Paige bent down and they both read the contract. She frowned when she finished. “So?”
But Jed was grinning. “Junior forgot to bargain for future services. This contract, your conversion, is the end of this contract. There’s nothing else.” He looked up at Paige. “Don’t you get it? It’s over. After midnight tonight, he doesn’t own me anymore, or Rafi. It’ll all be over. No more servitude.” Awe dawned on his face. “I’ll be free. We’ll all be free. God, I never thought the day would come.”
Oh, hell. She so didn’t want to be the one to wipe that look of total disbelieving joy off his face. Her fingers tightened in his hair. “Um, Jed? If you fail to convert me, then he’ll get Rafi forever, right? Even if the contract ends tonight.”
His smile faded. “Yeah, there is that.”
Quin scowled at them. “So, this isn’t great news? I thought it was great news.”
“It is,” Jed sighed. “Thanks.”
“You don’t look impressed.” Quin stood up, tucking his computer under his arm. “I’m going back to work, where they actually appreciate my genius.” He stomped out of the room, and they heard the door slam on his way out.
“Well.” Justine adjusted her grip on the gun. “What do you want?”
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