Hunter pulled him free. “See to Elle.”
Victor rolled off of him and over to Elle. He pulled the dagger from her chest. Blood gushed from the wound. “Thank you for coming for me,” she whispered.
“Don’t talk.” Victor kissed her as he wrapped her in his arms.
Elle shook her head. “Fiona,” she gasped trying to get the words out. Victor shook his head he didn’t want her to speak she smiled and when she opened her mouth again blood trickled out. “Tea, in my bag. Healing tea.” The words were choppy but he understood and nodded. The tea that helped her heal.
“Quiet now.” Victor kissed her and she smiled.
“Knew you would come.”
He was choking on tears. “You promised not to leave me,” he whispered into her ear.
“I’ll be right back,” she whispered and then she gasped once, then again. And then her breathing stopped altogether. He had seen her die before but each time it hurt, each time if felt like she took a piece of him with her. Each time he didn’t know if this would be the time she wouldn’t come back. Would this be the time the Angels would come to claim her perfect soul.
Victor bellowed, crushing her to his chest. He bellowed to the heavens because he hadn’t been in time to save her the pain. And she died again.
When he was done he looked down into her lifeless body and prayed to the Gods for her to come back.
And he was left waiting, blocking out the sounds around him. He held his breath and waited.
“Breathe dammit,” he whispered.
After another minute. “Breathe dammit.” He said a little louder.
“Elle, breathe.” He gently laid her out. “Breathe.”
He felt rather then saw people surround him and knew his brothers were there. And still she didn’t move.
“BREATHE, DAMMIT!” Victor slammed a fist into her chest.
“Victor.” One of his brothers put a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off.
“Elle” he felt utterly defeated. “Please”
She sucked in a breath, her entire body sucking in the breath bowing her body, she pulled the oxygen into every inch of her body. “I need a blanket,” Victor said over his shoulder.
He didn’t leave her until she had had her first dose of the tea. But once she was sleeping again he went in search of Hunter. He didn’t have to search far.
“Where are they?”
Hunter nodded toward the door he was standing in front of. “They are mine,” was all Hunter said before he stepped aside, his hand shot out to stop Victor. “I kept them here for her. She needs the closure. But their treachery goes much deeper than Elle and this incident. It is not a stain, but part of their souls.”
Victor nodded and walked into the room. Everything had been removed, Helena and Chaos sat in the center of the room. Chained together with chains brought from the Infernos. They’d never break free of those chains. They would suffer for eternity, but he wanted to look at them first. And their sentence would mean they would suffer internally for what they had done. Not only for what they had done to Elle but for their tainted souls.
Helena’s glamor was gone but she wasn’t beautiful any longer in fact the beauty was no longer there either. It was like it was overlaid with something black and horrifying, Victor looked at the blond woman and watched as her beauty was marred by something ugly.
Chaos still clutched at whatever hung around his neck, chanting.
Helena laughed. “He thinks his master will still save him.”
“Your master can’t save you, Chaos,” Victor said reaching over Helena he took the necklace from Chaos who screeched and tried to grab it back from Victor.
“Give it back.” Chaos clamored for it.
“Do you have any idea what has happened to you?” Victor asked the demi-god.
Chaos glared at him. “My master will come for me he always comes for me,” he said raising his chin he glared at Victor.
Victor shook his head. “Your master can’t touch you where you are going. Those chains you wear, they are bound for one place, and one place only.”
Helena blanched but Chaos smiled. “My master will not allow me to be sent to the Infernos.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Chaos. It’s no longer up to your master.” She tried to shake free, but the chains only tightened. “What do you want? Money, drugs? Power? I’ll tell you were Aldon is, I’ll bring him here for you to kill.”
“I know where Aldon is. And anything you touch Helena is tainted. So I want nothing you have.” Victor said crossing his arms over his chest. “What I want to know is why you sold your own sister out.”
Chaos snorted. “Who hasn’t she sold out? Do you see any other demi-gods around?”
Helena jerked on the chains. “Shut up,” she snarled.
“Is that so, Helena? Is that what happened to all the demi-gods?” Victor asked.
Chaos raised one eyebrow. “Not all of them, some of them have hidden really, really well.” He laughed, but the sound was maniacal and slightly crazed.
“Shut up,” Helena snarled again.
“Or what?” Chaos asked. “What can they possible do, Helena? From where I’m sitting, we are totally screwed.”
“When they take these chains off I am going to strangle you.” Helena swore.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Chaos said. “According to the other one, when they take these chains off, the last thing we will care about is hurting each other.” It was the first bit of truth Chaos had uttered.
“All your plans have sucked. If you had just listened to me in the first place, none of this would have happened.” Chaos muttered.
“Shut up, Chaos!” Helena jerked, trying to get toward Chaos. The chains tightened making her cringe in pain. Chaos only laughed harder.
Victor snapped his fingers getting their attention. “Let’s get back to the matter at hand, why screw over Elle? She wanted nothing but your approval, and love.”
Helena gave him what Victor was sure she considered her best smile, and if he didn’t see through to how ugly she was he might have fallen for it. “She wasn’t usefully anymore. Not that she ever was. And do I look like the approval, and love type?”
Victor wanted to kill her, but he wasn’t going to. “Aldon offered me something I wanted more. A seat on the Tribunal. How could I turn that down? Finally, Others would have to bow to me! I would be making the rules, instead of cowering and hiding. And finally, Elle would no longer be a problem. Then she had to go and call you in and she had to do it using blood. Who does that? And then the Daughters had to get involved. I should have let Chaos kill her, and kidnap her, the first night in the hotel!”
Victor stepped forward, and grabbed her wrapping his hands around her throat, it was an unconscious action. The only thing stopping him, was the mad laughter from Chaos.
“If you kill her will her punishment be over?” Chaos asked in a sing-song voice.
Victor swore and released her. She glared at Victor as she was gasping for air, trying to regain her breath. “Look, Victor. I’ve spent more time then I care to remember, taking care of Elle. It was her turn to take care of me. So she had to breed with Aldon? And his genetically altered science projects? It was probably going to kill her. That’s what she gets for being cursed. At least her curse will come in handy. Don’t you think it was time it was useful? Frankly we all have a cross to bear.”
Victor lost it again and he grabbed Helena picking her up and pushed her against the wall. Unfortunately she was chained to Chaos and both demi-gods slammed into the wall, shaking the bricks. Hunter came rushing into the room.
“Do you have any idea, how much pain she goes through when she comes back after a death? You selfish, heartless harpy?” Victor growled.
Victor let her go and both demi-gods slumped to the floor. He stomped away. “Take them to Treachery, Hunter. And make sure they suffer. If she cares at all, I’ll bring Elle there, when this is all done. Maybe they will be more inclined to offer an
apology for their lies, deceit and actions toward their sister, after some time spent suffering for their sins.”
Helena finally blanched. “He can’t just take us there.”
Victor turned to her. “Actually, yes he can.”
“We deserve a trial! Or at the very least an audience with Dante!” Helena demanded. “You can’t just take me to Treachery and leave me there. Do you have any idea who I am?”
Victor laughed and looked at Hunter. “Do you know who she is?” he asked his brother.
Hunter nodded and turned to Helena. “I am Hunter, the ruler of Treachery. What I know, is that I have seen your soul. It is heavy with the treachery, of lies and deceit you have served upon others. You are beyond guilty; your soul reeks of treachery and deceit. That is who you are, and that is all I need to know. There will be no trial, no ‘deserved’ audience with Dante. You have been bound for Treachery for thousands of years. And that is where you will go. That. Is who you are.”
Helena’s mouth dropped open. She slumped over knowing, that she had been tried, and found guilty, nothing she said or did would change it now.
Chaos breathed out. “We are so fucked. Aren’t you at least going to call a Ringer?”
Hunter smiled. “But that would make it easier on you. Taking you whole,” Hunter leaned forward, smile still on his lips. “will increase the torment. Something, we all know you deserve. And I wonder…How many of your brothers and sisters did you spare comfort for?”
Chaos shook his head. “So fucked.” He shuttered.
”Get them out of here.” Victor turned.
“You’ll lose her in the end,” Helena screamed to Victor. Victor ignored her, because she was wrong and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure in the end he kept Elle safe. It was his only mission now. It was all that mattered. Really the only thing that mattered.
****
Victor woke Elle again to drink her tea, and as before she was grumpy as hell. “I swear I’m going to kill you this time,” she grumbled as she slapped his hands away when he tried to help her into a sitting position.
“It’s why I removed all the deadly weapons,” Victor said holding out the mug.
“And this stuff tastes like shit,” she grumbled again taking the mug she pulled up her legs and sipped the hot liquid. She felt more awake than the last time. “What time is it?”
Victor checked his watch. “Almost midnight.”
“Have you gotten any sleep at all in the last forty-eight hours?” she hadn’t meant for her question to sound so waspish but it did. She promised to work on that, when she wasn’t coming back from the dead.
“No, I haven’t,” Victor said. Sitting down on the side of the bed, he rubbed his face. And she felt sorry for him.
“Why don’t you get some rest? I’m feeling a lot better now.” And she was, the time of her sleeping for days on end after dying were in her past thanks to this god’s awful tea and Fiona.
“Good, to know. We are just waiting for you, and then we are moving out,” Victor said.
“We can’t be attacking Aldon. You’re exhausted.” Finishing her tea, she placed the mug on the side table and wrapped her arms around Victor. “Just rest for an hour?”
Victor shrugged her off. “Stop. You want to prolong this bullshit?” he snapped. “Dammit Elle, your life is on the fucking line and you want me to sleep? I’m not tired.” He got off the bed. And since the first time she had met him he was that cold Reaper again. “I’m sick of having your life on the line. I’m sick of showing up to see you dying.”
“Excuse me?” Elle climbed out of the bed, not caring she only wore only a bra and underwear. “Not like it’s a party for me or anything.”
Victor looked like he wanted to shake her. “How many more times do you have to fucking die before this shit is over?” he shouted. “Because I can’t handle it anymore.”
“You?” Elle shouted. “You can’t handle it?”
“No!” Victor shouted right back. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he jerked her flush with him. Elle caught her breath, when she saw the tears in his eyes. Tears. In a Reapers eyes…who’d a guessed? Her anger flew out the preverbal window. “Put yourself in my shoes, Elle.” He was so mad, his voice had dropped to barely a whisper. “Praying over your dead body, for one breathe. Just one. I’m a Reaper for god’s sake! And I’m praying for you to breathe, just one more breath. I deal in death. But, you dying? Brings me to my knees. Every fucking time.”
Elle brushed the tear away, she was sure he would deny. “I love you too, Victor.”
Her words pulled him up short and he jerked like she had slapped him and he just stared at her for a moment. Then he was kissing her, and she didn’t care about breathing didn’t care about anything but the man holding her. Elle speared her hands into his hair, anchoring her to him. Then pressed against him.
Victor took a couple of steps and she was pressed against the wall, which was fine with Elle. She wrapped her legs around him Elle knew she would never be able to get close enough to him. Even when he was buried deep inside of her she wasn’t close enough.
She clawed at his clothes needing to feel his skin, Victor pulled away only long enough to pull his shirt off and then he was back. He ripped her bra off and shredded her panties. Elle didn’t know how he got out of his pants but then he was sliding into her so fast and hard Elle couldn’t do anything but hold on.
“Mine,” Victor growled, as he placed open mouth kisses on her throat. Elle could do nothing but agree. She was his. There would be no other man. Elle felt her world unraveling as he pushed her to the limits of ecstasy. “Never letting you go.” He moaned and drove into her over and over. He leaned back and stared into her eyes. “Elle, do you understand me?”
Elle nodded. “Mine,” she moaned and he groaned so low his chest vibrated and her entire body ignited. It was all she could do to just hold on to him.
Her orgasm was so powerful, it felt like her entire body was going to explode. Still, Victor never stopped moving. He rode it out with her, prolonging her pleasure, until she was almost in tears.
Only then, did he take his pleasure. His head buried against her neck, the muscles in his back tense, as he found completion. His entire body shuddering over and over again.
After several minutes, Victor carried her over to the bed and they collapsed there. Neither spoke for a long time. He cradled her close as if he was going to lose her if she moved and she let him, knowing he needed this right now. She knew it would be hard for him to say the words she had given so freely.
She was surprised she had given them; it wasn’t something she had planned. But she knew he felt the same way. Or he wouldn’t have said or done half the thing he did. It didn’t matter he hadn’t said the words back. Now she just had to convince her heart that she didn’t need the words.
Elle was surprised when she felt him relax and his breathing evened out. She peeked up and he was indeed asleep. She nudged him. “I thought we had to go?”
“In a minute.” He pulled her close and adjusted so they were more comfortable on the bed. Tomorrow was soon enough, she guessed. Elle pulled the covers over them and held him close. He thought she was the one that needed protection and saving. Maybe, just maybe, Victor needed someone to save his heart and hold it close. She would help the Reaper find out love was a good thing, after all.
Chapter 12
“This is stupid.” Elle was not going to stay in the van. “I did not come all this way to sit here and watch what was going on. Besides I’m a sitting duck out here in the van. Have any of you thought about that?”
“She has a point,” Skylar said.
“Shut up,” Tabitha snapped at the Tracker. “Let’s use him as bait.”
Everyone ignored Tabitha’s outburst. “I’ll take her with me,” Celeste offered.
“No.” Victor immediately vetoed that suggestion.
Elle was getting irritated; he had been odd since their last night at the Daughters comple
x. One minute he was all protective and the next he was the distant Reaper, during those times his brothers and Celeste would step in like avenging angels. Elle was getting whiplash from his treatment.
“We can’t leave her here unprotected,” Tabitha argued.
“Yeah fuck you,” Bowen said holding up the semi-auto weapon he had and kicking the bag of backup weapons he kept at his feet.
Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Your attention is going to be on the op, not on Elle. So get over it.”
“Are we doing this or are we going on a Sunday fucking drive?” Falcon shouted into the earpiece making everyone who was wearing one cringe. Falcon, was in another vehicle as was Ryder and Kyra and Nathaniel. Lykar, Marlee and Hunter were coming in from another position as well.
“I’m with Falcon. Let’s set this bitch on fire.” Ryder said. A little too excited.
“My girls are ready,” Tabitha said climbing from the van.
Victor glared at Elle, who smiled back at him. “I’m not staying in this van. Why else did you bring me?”
“Because you wouldn’t have stayed away,” Victor snapped, making Elle smile. “And tranquilizing you wasn’t an option.”
“Just give me a weapon, and I’ll protect your back. I’ve been practicing.” Elle held out her hand.
“God’s help us all.” Sky shook his head and climbed from the van.
Victor handed her a gun and they both climbed from the van, Elle was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Who’s been teaching you?” he demanded.
“Tabitha was teaching me,” she admitted not telling him Tabitha had been teaching her knife fighting. And she didn’t really know anything about guns. She tucked the weapon into the back of her pants.
Victor grabbed her and kissed her. “Stay behind me.” Elle nodded. Victor moved forward and didn’t notice when Tabitha pulled Elle aside and gave her a knife.
“What’s the heat signature like?” Victor asked when they reached the compound in the deserts of Nevada. It was just past sundown but it was still hot as hell and they had moved in slow and steady. A forty minute hike had done nothing for his mood.
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