Drowning In The Dark: #4 The Veil Series

by Pippa Dacosta

  “Then let’s go talk to her.”

  We rode in Ryder’s car, a beat-up old Mustang with doors attached by zip-ties, but it had the guts of a thoroughbred. After stopping off at Ryder’s place to fill the trunk with weapons, we headed for Jenna’s neighborhood. Clear roads seemed all the more ominous under the bright afternoon sunlight. Most businesses were closed. Helicopters buzzed above. Boston waited, as though holding its breath. Radio news stations broadcast the numbers of dead, reaching into the hundreds, but it could have been worse. They didn’t know worse was yet to come. Only those who had seen the netherworld could truly understand what was about to consume the city.

  “—Stefan.” Ryder looked at me, eyebrows raised.

  “Huh?”

  “I said, what have you done with Stefan?”

  “Oh, he er…” I’d already explained the disaster that had been the Institute breakout. I’d even added the truth about how I’d lunged for Val and how Akil had stopped me. “Akil brought me back to Boston. We left Stefan there. He’s—er—he’s okay though.”

  Bumping the car up against the curb, Ryder cut the engine and twisted in his seat to face me. “You know I ain’t one for hoping, but when I saw him with you… Well, let’s just say, there might be something of him left in there. He may not even know it. He’s helping you. That says something.”

  My throat dried up. I growled, trying to clear it. “Yeah, I… He said he wants to make up for his mistakes, but what he says and what he’s thinking aren’t the same. I know demons, Ryder. Dammit, I want to hope you’re right because I thought I’d seen the same in him. But demons are sly, slippery, manipulative creatures. I genuinely hope he’s here to help, but I’m worried.” Especially after he’d walked in on Akil and me in the midst of a heated physical discussion. Or, maybe the fact he’d walked away was a good thing? A demon wouldn’t have. Hell, even Akil had expected the worst, if his threat was anything to go by. Perhaps I could take the fact Stefan had walked away as a sign he still cared. Akil had been weakened by the infusion. It would have been the perfect time to attack. A demon would have. Stefan hadn’t.

  Ryder nodded. “Hell knows, we need him on our side.” He opened the car door and climbed out.

  I followed him up some steps into a converted redbrick warehouse and tried not to think about the last time I’d seen Stefan. He knew about the soul-lock. He’d understand. Probably. I just had to keep telling myself that.

  Maybe because I was thinking about him, I didn’t pick up on the tickle of ice against my element until we stopped outside what I assumed to be Jenna’s apartment door. I stiffened, about to warn Ryder, when he must have heard the voices inside and quickly put two and two together. He bounced back and kicked the door in. It flung open, revealing Jenna curled on a couch in her pale pink pajamas and Stefan seated in the opposite couch, dressed exactly as he had been an hour or so ago, sans ice, but no less intense. Two empty ice cream bowls sat on the coffee table between them.

  Jenna glowered at Ryder. “You just stole another year off my life. What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  Ryder’s hand had disappeared inside his jacket and likely rested on a handgun. He didn’t say a word, just glared unblinkingly at Stefan.

  A twist of bitter jealousy tightened my chest. I knew Stefan and Jenna had been friends—still were friends. I had no right to get pissy over who Stefan chose to spend his time with, but my irrational side, said screw that. What the fuck was he doing here? I tucked a thumb into my jeans pockets and hoped I looked bored. “This is cozy.” It sounded innocent in my head, but when the words left my lips, they hung heavy and ripe with accusation, an accusation I had no right to sling.

  Stefan leaned back and spread both arms over the back of the couch, offering Ryder a bigger target and a smug smile. “Just so you know, I can freeze the bullet before it leaves the barrel.”

  “Horseshit,” Ryder drawled.

  I took a single step away from Ryder. “Okay, guys, let’s dilute the testosterone. We have a limited number of daylight hours left. Save the pissing contest until after, okay?”

  Jenna’s fingers fluttered at her forehead. “Please, just stop, or take it somewhere else.”

  Ryder withdrew his hand and wiggled his fingers. See? Unarmed. “I could outdraw you.” He said it like it was a widely known fact.

  Stefan’s blue eyes sparkled. “You think so? I was always faster in training.”

  “Yeah.” Ryder shrugged his jacket off and neared the couch where Jenna sat. “But you’re easily distracted by pretty things.”

  Stefan’s sharp eyes flicked to me and back to Ryder. “Relax, Ryder. I just came here to talk.” He sighed and dipped his chin. “I knew Jenna had been attacked, and I clearly wasn’t needed at Muse’s apartment this morning, so I came by to check on Jenna and ask some questions about Valenti.”

  “Why?” I asked, ignoring Ryder’s glance. I’d told him I hadn’t seen Stefan. Now he’d be wondering why I’d lied.

  “Because we need all the information we can get, it used to be my job, and old habits die hard.” A slither of deeper meaning almost slipped through his words unnoticed. Stefan and I really needed to talk, but not yet.

  Ryder stood behind the couch, close enough to Jenna to be protective, but far enough away that it could be argued nothing was going on between them. He might have gotten away with it if Jenna hadn’t looked up at him and stopped herself from reaching out. “Muse thinks we can lure Val back here and trap him.”

  “Only if you’re up to it, Jenna,” I added.

  “Do I get to kill him?” she growled.

  “You get to stop him. He’s immortal, so killing him isn’t really an option.”

  Ryder and I filled Stefan and Jenna in on my simple plan. Stefan wasn’t convinced PC34 would sufficiently slow Val down, but at the very least, it would mess with my brother’s head. It would have to be enough. Stefan absorbed my explanation and nodded his approval with the cold efficiency of a demon. Things are pretty simple now.

  Ryder left the apartment to retrieve his weapons from the car, and Jenna went to her room to change, leaving Stefan and me alone in the living room. The pregnant quiet plucked at my patience. Perched on the edge of the couch, I rested my elbows on my knees and clasped my hands together. With my head bowed, Stefan couldn’t see me chewing my lip, and I couldn’t see him watching me. But I felt his gaze crackle across my skin. He held his power in check while mine strained behind the effect of Jenna’s framed symbols.

  “There’s a change in you,” he said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Your owner?”

  “Gone.”

  A few seconds passed. “Good.”

  “About what you saw…” I lifted my head. His flat, enquiring expression didn’t make this any easier. “Akil removed the soul-lock.”

  “Removed or replaced it?”

  My tongue traced my lower lip. “Replaced it, but—”

  “Well done. You swapped one psycho for another.” His caustic tone told me more about his state of mind than any of his words could. To wield sarcasm effectively, one needed a modicum of emotion. He does care.

  “You could say that.”

  “You must be relieved.” His blunt white teeth flashed behind a tight smile.

  “Actually, I am. You said you’d seen what was in me. I’m more in control now than ever before. I know what I can do. I can beat this, my brother, Akil, maybe even you if it comes to it. Don’t think you understand me because evidently, you don’t.”

  “Whatever you want to do and who you want to do it with doesn’t matter to me. I told you. I really don’t care.”

  To borrow a Ryderism: “Horseshit.” I sat back, mirroring his relaxed posture. “You care. That’s why you walked away. Your demon wants to kill Akil. After what you saw between me and him, you should have attacked. If you were all demon, you would have. Akil expected it.”

  His expression hardened. His cheeks hollowed, and the line of his jaw tightened. “Yo
u’re right. You left me hanging upside down in a wrecked car in the middle of nowhere. When I woke up to find Wrath about to make me an entree, you know what my first thought was? That he’d already gotten to you. So what do I do?” He waited, and I blinked, wondering if he really wanted an answer. “Let’s just assume Wrath won’t be joining the end-of-the-world party. Before I shredded him and sent him packing back to the netherworld, he told me how all of hell broke lose at the Institute, that Val was there, and how you vanished.” He stilled as if carved from marble and slowly blinked his wintery eyes. “I was ready to turn hell upside-down looking for you.”

  He’d showed up at my place worried about my wellbeing and seen me getting busy with Akil. If his words were knives, he’d just twisted them in my gut. “I’m sorry you saw that.”

  Cutting his gaze away, he smiled an unkind smile. “Did you finish what you’d started with him?”

  “No.” I caught it, just a tiny crack in his flawless armor, nothing more than a twitch, as though he’d flinched inside. He really did care. Stefan was still in there behind all the stoic demon bullshit. I shrugged. “Would it bother you if I had screwed Akil?”

  “No.” He gazed out of the windows, his stare hard.

  I’d stumbled on the exact thing I needed to rouse the humanity in him: my relationship with Akil. It was cruel to needle him, dangerous too, but would it be enough to stir his human instincts? Traits like loyalty, compassion, empathy, and the monster that is jealousy. “You’re right. You don’t care. So it doesn’t matter what I do.”

  “Do you love him?”

  Dammit, why did everyone keep asking me that? Why did they all assume they had a right to know what I hadn’t yet figured out? “I hate him.” I used my stock reply. It came out flat. Not a lie, but close.

  Stefan tapped his fingers against the back of the couch. “You know, Muse, you can love and hate someone equally.” His gaze slid back to me, and with it, the chilling touch of power tightened the air, leaving me in no doubt who those words were directed at. I almost blurted, you love me? before doubt stopped me. He might not be referring to me. Why should this be about me? What if that’s why he was at Jenna’s place? And even if he did love me, he’d just admitted he hated me too. Hate was a horrible emotion, no less dark than the thing I’d had rotting at my core. Give it room to move, let it fester too long, and hate could smother the brightest spark of love. My hatred of Akil sure had. But if I dug beneath the words, the truth lay bare. A demon doesn’t hate, nor does it love. The current Akil seemed to be something of an anomaly. Did that mean Stefan was looking back at me right now? In control? Seeing me through human eyes and hurting? If I went to him, would he close his arms around me or drive an ice dagger through my heart? He never did get to finish the sentence in the car about his reason for being there, for helping me.

  “Where’s Jenna?” Ryder blurted.

  I’d been so lost in Stefan’s cool, hard gaze, I hadn’t heard Ryder return. “Huh?”

  “You left her alone?” He dropped his bag of weapons and dashed for Jenna’s bedroom door.

  I jumped to my feet. “She just went to change.”

  Ryder froze in the doorway. Stefan was on his feet in a blur, his power surging around him, instantly prodding mine awake. Beneath all of the swirling elements, the cruel skin-crawling, ethereal touch of my brother oozed from the doorway and permeated the air.

  Ryder raised his hands and stumbled back into the living room. A resonating growl rumbled from Stefan. Ice dusted my lips and nipped at my skin. My fire butted up against the protective barrier the symbols provided. Remembering Akil’s earlier actions, I calculated it’d take me a few seconds to reach the nearest picture and tear it down, freeing my power.

  “Sister, do not move.” Val’s obscenely seductive voice rooted me to the spot. He came through the doorway, Jenna clutched against his human form, dagger pressed against her throat. “Wrath, subdue your element, or I bleed this whore.”

  Stefan’s fingers flexed. From my position, I couldn’t see his face, only his back, but the swell of glacial forces pushed against my human skin. He wasn’t restrained by the symbols as I was, but he wouldn’t risk Jenna’s life.

  Behind me, near the door, Ryder’s bag of weapons waited. If I could summon my power and throw it all at my brother, it would take precious seconds, and we shared the same element. With the symbols intact, Val was as elementally nullified as I was. The last thing I wanted was to give him power. Sure, I could drain him, but he’d slit Jenna’s throat the second I smashed the picture. So the bag it was then. But how to get near to it without Val seeing…

  Val’s pale lips pressed into a thin line while his mercury eyes assessed Ryder, Stefan, and me, showing no hint of his conclusion. Wrapped in demon-skin leathers, he dripped menace. His lips were cruel, his gaze scathing. A rapier was sheathed at his waist, and I could bet he’d have further weapons strapped to his body. Jenna didn’t make a sound. From her dull-eyed expression, she wasn’t even aware of us. Her mind had checked out, which was probably for the best.

  “I do not care for you,” Val pointedly told Ryder. “But my human female does. She weeps with pleasure, cries your name, mortal-man, while I poison her mind with lust. She spills her secrets in the throes of ecstasy. She betrayed your scheming as I knew she would.”

  “I’m gonna kill you slowly,” Ryder spat.

  Val ignored the threat and swiveled his gaze to Stefan. “What a glorious thing you are, half-blood Prince of Wrath. Such a shame you never live up to expectations.”

  I sincerely hoped Val was guessing and hadn’t already seen Stefan’s fate as he had mine. What was it he’d said? He saw the future in flesh. That must mean he had to touch someone to read them, the way I had to touch metal to see the past. I couldn’t imagine he’d ever come into contact with Stefan. If they ever got that close, one of them would have surely died. “Why are you doing this, Val?” I’d inched back a little, but not nearly enough. “You despise people. You hate this world.”

  “I have no desire to be here. But this night has long been approaching and my time with it. This night I walk in my father’s shadow. A’morrow, I stand beside him as prince, and he wishes for you, sister-mine, to stand beside us.”

  Well, wasn’t that just the picture perfect family? I grinned. “You’d rather kill me than see me as equal.”

  Val displayed impossibly perfect teeth in a leering smile. “You forget. I already know the outcome.”

  “You see, I’ve never really been a great believer in fate or destiny. Let me tell you something about humans, brother-mine. We change, we grow, we learn from our mistakes. Demons don’t. A demon’s future might be static, but a human future is fluid. We’re too fickle for fate.” It sounded like a good theory. It was all the hope I had left. Ryder’s hand slipped inside his jacket while Val’s slate-gray eyes narrowed to slits.

  “You forget one important thing, sister. You are not human.”

  When Ryder pulled the gun, I expected him to shoot at Val, but he didn’t. He shot at the picture on the wall with three staccato blasts. Fire lunged through me like the wild, hungry thing it was. I yanked it back and instead, hooked my ethereal reach into the glowing beacon of heat my brother commanded. His head snapped around. A snarl bubbled from his lips, and his eyes blazed with the sheer indignation that I would dare attempt to do such a thing to him, right before Stefan blasted him with a jagged wave of ice. It arched up, around Jenna, and slammed into Val, piercing his body in countless places while at the same time slamming him backward. Jenna dropped like a stone. Val let lose a bellow, and I lunged for the weapons. I might have made it, had he not tugged his power back. Searing heat whipped from my body as though he’d wrenched out my muscles in one grab. I dropped to my knees. This would take more than a few party tricks.

  “Muse…” Stefan shimmered, still pouring ice into the barrier clamped around Val, but it was melting as fast as he could shore it up.

  Rousing my demon, I stayed down, b
owed my head, and gently called my brother’s fire to me. He raged. I could feel the pressure of his anger almost as hot as his element, but it wouldn’t do him any good. I knelt, as though in prayer, and drank him down.

  Moments later, the sharp retort of a rifle shot shattered my concentration. Almost immediately, the pulsing energy my brother commanded snuffed out. He let out an inhuman howl that would surely have the neighbors petrified, and then his malignant presence simply vanished.

  I lifted my head and saw Ryder by his bag of weapons, rifle at his side, face stern. He saw me and winked. “Bagged ourselves an immortal. We’re so epic.”

  I shrugged off my demon and turned. Stefan supported a limp-but-conscious Jenna, and behind him, out cold on the floor, sporting a tidy bullet-hole in his forehead, sprawled my very human-looking brother. “He’s not dead?”

  “No.” Ryder tossed me some nylon rope. “Tie him up with those until we can find some anti-elemental cuffs to slap on him.”

  I looked at the white rope and at my brother. “We need more rope. Chains too. And a bunker. Do you have a bazooka in that bag?”

  “It’s on my Christmas list.”

  I rolled my brother onto his front, cringing. Best not think about how he could be faking. “Should I poke him in the eye?”

  Behind me, I heard Ryder chuckle. “The combination of the etched round and P-C-Thirty-Four will keep him out for a while.”

  I carefully unhooked Val’s weapons and gave him a quick frisk, revealing half a dozen vicious blades. He didn’t have any power. That was real enough. Fingers trembling, I yanked his arms behind his back and wove the rope around his wrists, making sure to double knot them. Then I did the same again, for luck. Rolling him onto his side, I hooked a finger under his waterfall of white hair and drew it back from his face. Unconscious, the nasty sneer on his lips had softened. Sharp cheekbones didn’t seem so prominent. If it wasn’t for the demon-skin leathers and impractical hair length, he might almost look normal.

  “How is she?” Ryder asked Stefan as he emerged from the bedroom.