Drowning In The Dark: #4 The Veil Series

by Pippa Dacosta

  “Suicide is not an option.” I turned my head at the sound of Akil’s obscenely smooth voice and saw him standing by the window, arms crossed over his bare chest, his expression one of disapproving concern. “That was your intention? To throw yourself at your brother and destroy him in the netherworld?”

  I really didn’t have the energy to argue with Akil, especially when he was right. Slumped back against my couch, I concentrated on breathing and allowed myself a few moments to relish the relative clarity of my thoughts. Jonesy hopped onto my lap and massaged his front paws against my thigh. His purrs soothed me. I couldn’t ignore Akil though. He radiated fury. I wasn’t even sure he’d blinked. I sighed and would have welcomed the cool embrace of Stefan’s element.

  “Stefan’s back there.”

  “I do not care where Stefan is.” The ice in his voice confirmed he really didn’t.

  I didn’t even have the energy to glare. “He was helping me control my power. We came together to stop Val getting the half bloods.”

  “How did that work out for you?”

  “Fine,” I snarled, “until you got in the way.”

  Akil ground his teeth and tore his gaze away. “I had everything under control, Muse. The two half bloods were mine. They would still be mine if you hadn’t tried to kill yourself.”

  “Looked to me like Val was about to steal them out from under you.”

  “I made a choice.” His simmering gaze found me again, and in the darkness, his eyes blazed. “I could have stopped him. Instead, I chose to stop you.”

  “Why?” I growled.

  “Don’t be a fool.”

  “Because you know I’m going to destroy everything? Val told me, Akil. ‘The world reduced to rubble at your feet.’” I mimicked my brother’s haughty tones. “You stopped me to protect your investment?”

  “Yes. I know what you will be. I’ve always known, but that’s not why I stopped you.” He strode to my kitchen where he preceded to wet a towel under a faucet.

  A cruel bolt of laughter shot free. “Don’t tell me you did it because you love me?”

  Turned away as he was, all I saw was how his broad shoulders tensed. “Asmodeus charged me with your protection. I was to watch you, guard you if necessary, and when the time came, hand you over to him. That time has not yet come.”

  I blinked at Akil’s back, too exhausted to entertain the anger that I should have felt. “That’s what this has all been for? You and me? All these years? You’re babysitting me for my father?”

  He brought the damp towel to me and crouched down, draping his arms over his knees. “From the day I first demanded your company for three nights, to this moment now. All for Asmodeus.” He spoke softly. “But I didn’t anticipate one thing.” Handing me the towel, he leisurely sat beside me, leaning an arm on the couch behind my head.

  “Which is?”

  “That I would care.”

  I snorted, grabbed the towel, and wiped the blood and dirt from my face. “You can’t care. It’s not in your DNA.”

  “Evidently immortal chaos demons can—and do—change.”

  Was he serious? “Do you still have P-C-Thirty-Four in you?”

  “No, I burned their filth out the moment I returned to my original form.” He shook his head. “I had one simple motive for my incarceration: To liberate their half bloods. Only half bloods can best half bloods. They would be our response to Valenti’s charge. It was perfect. The half bloods are essentially demon due in part to Adam Harper’s less-than-human methods. They followed me because they recognized power and control.” He paused and curled his fingers into his palm. “I had them. The Institute could only watch. They believed me subdued, thanks, in part, to your marvelous acting.”

  “It wasn’t an act, Akil. I believed you were caught.”

  “You believed some unremarkable technicians, a few lengths of chain, and some elemental symbols could contain me?” He blinked at my scowl. “That must have been emotional for you.”

  Emotional? He had no idea. Or maybe he did. “I should know by now that whatever you say and do, you mean the exact opposite.” He’d sacrificed it all to stop me pulling my own pin and blowing myself away in the netherworld. That was not princely behavior.

  His gaze softened. He really had meant everything he’d said. “My plans were perfect. But I did not foresee your volatile return. Had I made my escape any later, you’d have destroyed yourself, and the princes would still breach the veil. You are the best weapon Boston has.”

  Speaking of weapons. “Akil, Dawn is alive.”

  “Mm.”

  “Mm?”

  “Well, it’s hardly surprising. Adam Harper is a most resilient human being.” Resilient was one word for him. I could think of several others that weren’t nearly as polite. “The little half blood wasn’t at their facility.” He turned his face toward my window. “I freed all the remaining demons.”

  “Then where is she?”

  “If I do not know, then neither do the princes, and that is all that matters.” I watched him, watched the light soften the hard, masculine lines of his face. I wasn’t sure when it had happened, or what it meant, but he’d changed.

  “It’s bad out there, Akil.” I followed his gaze to the windows but saw only darkness.

  “The demon population of Boston will follow me.” He blinked at me as I questioned him with my gaze. “The publicity? Interviews and such? Every demon who’s enjoyed freedom in this city over the past few years knows I’m here. They will rally at my call.”

  Every demon but me. Inside, I wanted his power. Not even Mammon could deny me. “And me? If I step outside that door, I’m all demon, and I sure as hell won’t follow you. It seems I have my own agenda.”

  “The Mother of Destruction.” Amber singed his dark irises. “I can remove your infusion, giving you back your control. It’s your owner’s influence that’s distorting your desires.”

  “Remove it or replace it with your own?”

  “Ah, that is the pertinent question, isn’t it?” I waited, while he delayed, measuring his reply. “Do you remember I told you there are two ways to remove an infusion such as yours? One is to simply tear it out, but that would likely kill you. The other option is less painful, but...” I nodded for him to continue. “It takes a great deal of skill and control to remove it entirely, hence only a prince can do it. Such a feat will leave me weak at a time when neither of us can afford to be vulnerable.”

  “How weak?”

  He didn’t meet my eyes. “Too weak.”

  “The solution?” I already knew the answer.

  “I replace Damien’s infusion with my own.”

  Of course. I smiled, “Mm, and you get to control me? For my father, perhaps?”

  “I would have thought I might have earned your trust by now.”

  I barked a laugh. He’d even said that with a straight face. “The words ‘trust’ and ‘Akil’ should never be uttered in the same sentence.”

  “I have no intention of handing you over to Asmodeus. Shortly after I brought you to Boston, I began to doubt my own motives. Whatever you think of me, I care about you in ways I struggle to admit, even to myself. It is an alien sensation—disarming—and I have no idea how to deal with it. I find my thoughts irrational around you. Believe me, Muse, I do not enjoy elevating your wellbeing above my own, but I cannot seem to stop from doing exactly that. In this form, it’s infuriating. As Mammon, I find my thoughts…dangerous.”

  “I’m honored,” I drawled and then frowned at his less-than-appreciative scowl. “Maybe all the time you’ve spent playing human is rubbing off on you.”

  “Perhaps, but I am not human.” Concern cut into his features.

  My situation had gone beyond trust into necessity. If I was going to regain some measure of control, I had to rid myself of Damien for good. “Can I ever remove your soul-lock once you’re…in me?”

  “Yes. When this is over and I can afford to be vulnerable, I’ll remove it completely
. You have my word.”

  “The word of a Prince of Hell?” I shook my head with a smile. His word was worthless. At least, it had been. I scooped Jonesy off my lap and wobbled to my feet. “Just… Just give me some space.”

  “We do not have long.”

  “I need you gone so I can think clearly.” And I needed to get out of my bloodied and filthy clothes, so I could at least pretend I was something close to human again. I needed to be alone with my thoughts.

  He looked up at me from his position on the floor, the picture of composure even with his Institute sweats and mussed hair. “I’ll do what I can on the streets and return at dawn.” With that, he vanished, leaving me alone for the first time in what felt like weeks. Bone-weary, anxious, exhausted, battered, and bruised, I pushed all the concern and fear aside. I’d been ready to sacrifice it all to stop my brother. At least, that’s what I’d told myself. But inside, I feared Akil had been right. Suicide was not an option, even if it had seemed like the only way out. But he was back. There was another way out of this. I had to let Akil in and hope I didn’t live to regret not turning myself into ash in the netherworld.

  Chapter Twenty

  The TV news channels were filled with the chaos wrought overnight by the demon attack. The authorities, including the scattered ranks of enforcers, had managed to contain the madness, but speculation about more attacks was rife. Could it get worse? One channel noted Akil’s absence. As the spokesperson for the demon community, people wanted answers from him. I wished them luck with that. There were conflicted reports that some had seen him working with the demons at dawn, while others had seen him fighting against them. I tried to reach Ryder to check if Jenna was okay, but the signal on my cell kept dropping out. I tried Lacy’s number and got her voicemail. She’d left for her parents’ house in Maine and taken Rosa, my elderly neighbor, with her. I prayed they’d got out in time. I couldn’t even leave my apartment to check for fear I’d go nuclear the second I stepped outside.

  Adam Harper’s disappearance made the headlines. Given his position as the head of the Boston Institute, the rumor was he’d been killed. I didn’t think my luck had changed, so I could assume he was still alive. If one person survived Armageddon, it’d be Adam Harper. Unless Stefan found him first.

  Stefan… I had no way of knowing if he was okay. I’d left him out cold in his wrecked car. Wrath could have gone back and finished him off. Surely, if Stefan had been hurt, Akil would have told me. He had Prince FM in his head. He’d know if anything had happened to Stefan.

  Trying Ryder’s cell again, I considered Akil’s confession. My father had tasked him to watch me. All this time, he’d been obliged to keep me close, not for himself, but for the Prince of Lust, Daddy Dearest. If that was the case, why had Levi come to collect me all those months ago? Perhaps because Akil had lost his title and was deemed weak. Asmodeus wanted me protected, and Akil’s ability to carry out his orders had been compromised. So my father must have sent Levi to collect me instead.

  However, more disturbing than any of that was Akil’s confession that he cared. It should be impossible. If Akil’s words were true, then that put him at odds with my father’s wishes. As princes went, Asmodeus appeared powerful enough to order his brethren around. What would happen when the time came for Akil to hand me over?

  The thought that my father was out there, waiting for me, sent a feverish heat washing through me. If Val had his way, it wouldn’t be long before I met our dearest father. If I survived that long. If any of us did.

  I had to let Akil replace Damien’s tainted touch with his own. There was no way around it. I’d become so accustomed to Damien’s darkness sucking on my soul that I wondered just what I was agreeing to by letting Akil in. There was no choice here. If I didn’t agree, I’d cut loose and go nuclear. There wasn’t a way to come back from that, even if my half-blood body survived, my humanity probably wouldn’t. When Damien soul-locked me, it had been a vicious attack. Akil had mentioned that ours should be pleasurable union, very different from the physical and mental rape I’d endured beneath the claws of my owner.

  My cell died. With a curse, I tossed it onto the kitchen countertop and turned, finding Akil standing in my kitchen. A feminine yelp slipped from me, prompting him to smile. “Holy hell. At least knock, or something.” I tightened my robe and tucked my damp hair behind my ears.

  He’d swapped the sweats for black pants and an amethyst button-down shirt and had left his hair a ruffled mess, which worked just fine for me. He noticed me checking him out and arched an eyebrow. Damn him for being so devilishly delicious.

  “What’s it like out there?” I flicked on the kettle. I needed coffee. Now. Intravenously, if possible.

  “Better. I’ve made contact with the demons on this side of the veil. They’ll step in line or die.”

  Subtle. I flicked him a glance. “And what about the king?”

  “He’s…preparing.”

  “Right. Like you’re doing right now. How convenient.”

  “I’m not the King of Hell. If I was, I wouldn’t be in your apartment, wondering what it would be like to untie your robe, touch you in places I know will make you gasp, and breathe in your scent while my city crumbles.”

  I ignored the deliberate attempt to bait me. At least I tried to ignore it, but a tiny slither of lust escaped my control and dashed the fine hairs on my arms. “What is the king thinking about then?”

  “How to control his wayward subjects without a queen by his side.”

  “Can’t he just find another queen?”

  “It takes a special kind of demon to be queen, one who can both equal the king and negate his power. Chaos and control. Had we known this would all come to pass once the queen was killed…” A low growl rumbled through him. “Well, the past is filled with graveyards of fools. While the king survives, there is a chance the worst outcome can be averted.”

  “If the veil falls?”

  “It can be restored, provided the balance between chaos and control is reasserted.” I didn’t hear him move, but I knew he stood behind me just from the warmth pushing against my back. He gathered my hair in a hand and drew it away from my neck. When he spoke, his whispers tickled my skin. “Have you considered what to do about your unwanted visitor?”

  I had a quip ready, something about kicking him out, but Akil’s soft lips touched my neck, sending shivers through me. He swirled the tip of his tongue and nipped gently snatching a gasp from me. “Yes.” I exhaled.

  “Yes, you have, or yes, you agree to my taking his place?”

  I cleared my throat and extricated myself from between him and the kitchen cupboards. “Yes, I’ve thought about it.” I moved into my living room area and fussed with some old magazines. “If I have to do this—which apparently I do—then I want to know how it’s done.” Meeting his gaze, I crossed my arms and lifted my chin. “I need to know all the details.”

  He leaned against the countertop and regarded me with that look of perpetual amusement he wore when bored, intrigued, or angry. “If I tell you the details, it will negate the pleasurable aspects.”

  “Pleasurable aspects?” I spluttered. “People are dying out there, and I’m not faring much better. Fun is the last thing from my mind right now.”

  “Worrying about the demise of anonymous people won’t bring them back.”

  Pursing my lips, I planted a hand on a hip. “How very demon of you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “That wasn’t a compliment.”

  His eyes sparkled. “Do you want to sit here and wallow in your human emotions some more, or do you want to do something to protect these anonymous people? ‘Don’t let me destroy everything I’ve loved,’ those were your words?”

  I glared back at him. “Yes.”

  “Then let me help you. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

  “Because you’ve been the picture of helpfulness up until now? I’ve lost count the amount of times I’ve seen you help old ladies cross
the street or rehome stray dogs or volunteer your services for the benefit of humankind.”

  His smile twitched and turned down, and his eyes flared with the touch of amber. “You’re the most infuriating woman I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet.”

  “Thank you.”

  “That wasn’t a compliment.” There was some of that emotion he’d mentioned, just a flicker on his face, a crack in his mask.

  “The soul-lock and your part in it, tell me everything now. Otherwise, it doesn’t happen.”

  “Must you be so pedantic?”

  “Akil, humans have these wonderful little things we like to cling onto called souls. The jury’s still out as to whether demons have them. I sincerely doubt you do. I’m not about to hand mine over without knowing what it entails. Tell me why demons would ever do this to one another? What is the purpose of a soul-lock?”

  “An infusion, executed correctly, strengthens both demons. The infusion or soul-lock Damien subjected you to is a knotted cancer. It would never have worked because you weren’t willing. He forced it upon you. Therefore, it had the opposite effect. It weakened you and probably him, although he was too lost in greed to care.” Greed? That coming from the Prince of Greed.

  “Okay, so it’s mutually beneficial. What happens when you’re…in me?”

  He caught my flinch. “I will not hurt you.”

  “Then how does it happen? Before, when Damien…” My chest ached, and despite my best efforts to appear calm, my heart stuttered. I was quite sure the fear showed on my face. I didn’t have the energy to hide myself from Akil. He moved forward but stopped when I shot him a warning glare. “Just tell me.”

  “I must weave my element deep inside, pluck out Damien’s hold, discard it, and replace it with my own. Think of it like surgery, if you must. Before, with Damien, you underwent surgery without the aid of an anesthetic. By making it sexual, I can heighten what would be pain into pleasure. It helps that you have your father’s penchant for lust—”