It had all been for nothing.
No, not all of it. She had to calm down and think. She’d met Sofia, who was an amazing person. She’d started Dossier—and never would have done that had she not been forced to go underground, and The Sumerians had been directly responsible for that. Going after Damien had brought her together with Luke. His suffering was akin to having her own body battered and bloody. She had to make this right. She would capture her brother for the SCC and find a way to fix the shifter who had unwittingly stolen her heart.
And he had.
Seeing him vulnerable like this hit everything home for her. She’d been such a fool. “Luke, Luke!” She shook his body gently. “I need you to wake up. Please, wake up!” She had no idea what Damien had spelled him with. When he wouldn’t respond, she gave up and crawled over to her brother. “What did you use on him?” she snarled, slapping his chest. “Tell me now!”
Damien moaned, his head healing slowly, but he was alive. She took him by the shoulders and rattled him until he gasped. “I’m not telling you…anything.”
She sat back on her knees. “This is your chance to finally be a man, Damien,” she said, trying to sway him. “Let me help him, and we’ll leave you alone. I won’t come after you again, I swear it.” She had no intention of leaving him, and as she spoke she slipped off her backpack, careful he wasn’t watching her.
“I’m already a man, and damn right you’re not coming after me.” He groaned, spitting blood as he tried to bring his head up.
Ginger snuck the spelled handcuffs quietly into her back pocket. She’d put them on her brother as soon as she was assured of his cooperation. She had to know what he used in order to help Luke. She needed to think of something that would make him talk. There was a chance the spellbox she had might contain some spell antidote, even though it wasn’t likely. Being spelled with five different spells would be life threatening to any supernatural, even though she knew Luke was strong.
He had to hold on.
When Damien closed his eyes, she jumped up and ran to the spellbox. She’d set it down when they’d entered the cavern. She ripped open the lid and started to rifle through it. “Tell me what spells you used on him, Damien!” she called. “And I’ll give you a healing one!” She plucked out a green spell and ran back to the tunnel, holding it high—right in her brother’s line of vision. “Come on, it’s a fair trade.” She shook the spell. “No more pain for you, which is far greater than what you deserve.”
“No, sis, a fair trade is me taking your emotions so I can heal myself, while letting the lowlife mutt die in a puddle of his own filth right here.”
“I’m not letting him die, Damien.” Her teeth were clenched. “The reason he’s here is because of me. We came to arrest you, and we’re not leaving until we complete that mission. You have a lot to answer for, and I’m sure the Sin City Collectors will have a good time shaking you down for information about The Sumerians and all the evil you’ve done.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Very slowly her brother turned on his side. His face looked better. It maddened her. “I hate to burst your bubble, or as Dad used to say—get your head out of your ass and take a good look around you—you don’t belong here. This is my house, and you weren’t invited.”
Ginger watched in horror as he began to rise. She stepped backward instinctively.
Physically, she wasn’t a match for him, and she’d never been a fighter. Her brother could easily take her down. and he knew it. She backed out of the tunnel. “Damien, you need to stay away from me. Draining me is not going to work. We have backup on the way. The Sin City Collectors agency knows where we are. It would be suicide to harm us. If you cooperate, things will go a lot easier for you.” She had no idea when backup would actually arrive, but Luke had been adamant his brother would follow, and she believed him. Diesel was formidable, and having Sofia here would be a godsend.
Ginger offered up a silent prayer that they were on their way.
Her brother staggered to his feet, a crazed grin on his face. “You’re going to heal me,” he waved a crooked finger at her, “by giving me all your emotions. Then you’re going to lie down and go to sleep for an eternity, sister. Don’t fib. I know you’ve been counting the days until you could see Mom and Dad again. And when you get there, give them all my love. Without Dad’s insanity and Mom’s utter lack of anything maternal, I never would’ve found my true path in life. They saved me.”
Ginger made her way slowly across the cavern. She dug the black spell out of her front pocket and patted the cuffs, reassuring herself they were there. The only viable plan was to let him get as close to her as possible, and then snap the cuffs on his wrists. Once he was down, she’d go find the sleep spell she’d given Luke and knock him out.
If all else failed, she had the black spell.
“Damien, you know this is crazy,” she said, continuing to try to dissuade him. “We’re family. You’ve been away for too many years, and we don’t know each other, but draining me for your own gain is cannibalistic. It’s not something done in our world.” Sex demons who were closely related had the ability to transfer emotions easily to one another—though usually by choice. It was evolutionary insurance, so the family could thrive in times of need. Ginger had no doubt that The Sumerians had perfected a way to take them by force, however.
Whatever Damien planned to do wouldn’t be pretty.
“Precisely why I’m doing it,” he growled as he moved closer and she was forced backward. “Sis, you’re nothing but dead weight in this world. You hate yourself—you’ve always hated yourself. Just look at you. You’re timid, uncertain, and pathetic. I’m doing you a favor by taking your life, and don’t tell me you haven’t thought about doing it yourself before. All that self-loathing for all those years? You think Dad had an adverse effect on me? You’re the one who suffered. You’re the weakling who took his black words into your heart and let them take seed. How long have you let them grow unattended? The vines are so thick they’ve already choked most of the life out of you. You barely have a spark left, Ginger, and I’m just the one to take it.”
“You’re wrong!” she shouted, careful to make sure her voice didn’t shake. “My heart is clear.” But she was lying. All of the things her awful brother said were the truth. Hearing them out loud was an arrow straight through her overgrown heart. She had struggled. She had questioned her worth in life many, many times. She was full of self-loathing.
But in this very moment, she knew unequivocally that she wanted to survive.
The intimacy she’d felt with Luke—the first in her life with another—had been an awakening to her soul. Whether she’d intended it to happen or not, she let herself feel.
Really feel.
Her gaze shot to Luke. She could only see the soles of his shoes. The rest of him was thankfully inside the tunnel, which would hopefully protect him if she had to use the spell. Seeing him lying there unresponsive was brutal. There was so much to fear by loving him, but she realized it wasn’t more than she’d already been through in her lifetime. She survived her father’s abuse, she weathered her mother’s death, and she would overcome learning her brother had been born with an evil heart.
If she could survive all of that, she could make it through anything.
Damien laughed, which was a horrid sound, and her head snapped back to her brother. His head was almost completely healed. He followed her gaze, his head turning toward Luke. “So you love the trash, huh? This is even better.” He faced her. “My lowly kin finds love in the eleventh hour, but she doesn’t get to taste how sweet it is! I bet you don’t know that the one thing that can save you resides in that shifter.” He jerked his thumb toward Luke, bobbing unsteadily on his feet. “And you’re not going to get to taste it. Why should I let you have it, when I’ll never be able to myself?”
“What are you talking about?” Ginger said, continuing to move away from him. Pretty soon her back would be up against the cave wall. “What’
s the one thing that can save me?”
“Real love is the balm for all sex demons alike.” He cocked his head at her, clearly enjoying her unease. “Very few are able to achieve it, but if that mutt loves you back, together you can achieve something close to nirvana for us. That alone could cure you of your loathing, but real love does something else—if you reach that shared love state, it enhances your powers. I bet you didn’t know that. That’s what made it damn hard to kill Dad. He and Mom shared that, and since the bastard was stronger than most, it took too many tries before I finally achieved it.”
Ginger gasped at her brother’s casual admission that he was responsible for their father’s death. She knew Damien was using shock to throw her off, but knowing he was the one who murdered their father was nothing short of astounding. She wasn’t giving him the upper hand, however. And she wasn’t going to give him the pleasure of seeing her break down. Instead, she masked her expression and calmly stated, “Damien, you’re a psychopath. I wish I knew that earlier. It would’ve saved me a lot of heartache. But let’s get to the real bones of this conversation. You just told me you’d never be able to taste real love yourself. Why is that?” Ginger stalled as her back touched the cave wall. She needed to keep him talking.
“Because my true love was taken from me,” Damien admitted, another sneer forming on his face. “Love throws you off track. It can confuse your goals and make you weak. Certain steps needed to be taken. There are no regrets.”
“Really?” She almost chortled. “Or love can make you too powerful to control? Ever thought of that, dear brother? Mason robbed you of love so you’d continue to be a good little foot soldier in the war on…what exactly do The Sumerians fight for? You’ve been very oblique on that score. And honestly, with Mason dead, why would you continue to choose this life of unhappiness? It makes no sense!” Ginger was out of options, with no place else to go.
“It makes a world of sense. My life is filled with carnal bliss! As much as I can take. I have power, status, and enough women in my bed to overfill my wells hourly. We fight for power. We fight for prestige.” He staggered to a stop directly in front of her. By the look on his face, he thought killing her was going to be easy.
“Sounds like a fun life. Sign me up.”
“We don’t take women—” Ginger’s arm whipped out and she snapped the cuff over one of his wrists before her brother knew what hit him. He yanked his hand back too quickly and shook it, the cuffs clinking together. “What the hell is this?” Before she could break away and run, he held her by the shoulders. His fingers dug painfully into the bones as he shook her soundly, the cuffs still dangling by one wrist, whapping her in the chest. One on his wrist wasn’t enough to mute his magic. She needed both his wrists cuffed. “You think you can stop me? No way! Not only are you weak, you don’t have the guts to fight me! You never have.”
She struggled in his grasp, but stilled as soon as she felt emotion begin to leave her body. “No,” she moaned. “Please…no. Damien, I want to…live.” Her essence soared out of her against her will. Her brother had done something to her, and her power flooded into him like a broken dam she couldn’t control.
“Ahhh,” Damian groaned. “That’s so much better. I’ve gone too long without a good meal.” Ginger didn’t have much to give, as she was almost depleted. Even though Luke had given her several jolts, they hadn’t been fully intimate, so her reserves hadn’t been filled. “Why, sister, you have so little to give. I was right all along—you were trying to kill yourself, weren’t you? But this will be much quicker. You might even thank me.”
As Damien drained her, her body lost all feeling. His grip on her shoulders was all that kept her upright. Her rope was about to be severed forever.
Regret swelled up inside her, and fast tears leaked out.
What a waste her life had been! Now it was going to be over before she had a chance to change its path.
“It’s a pity you were born so beautiful,” her brother said cruelly, his mouth at her ear. “You were always just like Mom, spineless. This is a fitting end for you, and more than you deserve.”
Her body slid down the wall, her hand curling around the spell with the only strength she had left. “I’ve always had a spine,” she whispered, her head resting on Damien’s shoulder as he laid her on the ground. “You just never took the time to see.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, right. It took me under two minutes to kill you, Ginger. You didn’t even try to fight back.”
“I’m not dead yet.” Her lungs held barely enough oxygen for her to speak. “But, if I’m going, I’m taking you with me.” She smashed the black spell into the wall beside her. There was rumbling instantly and Damien let go of her, shrieking. There wasn’t enough time to be gleeful at her brother’s shocked expression, and no time for either of them to take cover before the ceiling and walls came down around them.
Her last conscious thought was of Luke.
She prayed she’d gotten far enough away from him so the shifter could live.
Luke heard voices, but he wasn’t ready to let go of the vision standing before him. It was Ginger. She stood in the same location where he’d met her in his dream the first time, under an arc of trees. The sun filtered through, the same as before, and lit up her hair, making her appear angelic.
The only thing missing this time was her brilliant smile.
He’d been trying for a while, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t reach her. “Ginger! Let me in!” He pounded his fists against the invisible barrier, but it wouldn’t break.
She needed help. He had to get to her. He was frantic. Suddenly he was running again. This time it felt like he was making progress, getting closer, then all of a sudden he was snapped back the same location again just out of her reach. He gave a frustrated snarl, fisting his hands in the air and shouting to the sky, “Let me help her!”
“Luke, Luke,” an agitated voice penetrated his dream. “Wake up! I unspelled you. It’s time for you to get up.”
Sofia?
But he couldn’t leave Ginger. Not yet. He turned back to her as she slowly brought her head up. Her eyes were unbearably sad. She mouthed four words before she turned to leave. “I am so sorry.”
“No!” he yelled, pressing his entire body against the barrier. “We can fix this. We can be together. Don’t leave! Let me help you.” She shook her head and continued to walk away from him. “Ginger!” he wailed. “Don’t leave me. Please!”
“He’s clearly distressed,” another voice said. “He’s flopping around like a fish. Can’t you do something more, witch?”
“I am doing something, dhampir. I nulled everything in his body. Believe me, he had some nasty crap in there. It’s all up to him to wake up now. Something else is going on, but it’s nothing I can fix.”
“Let me try.” Luke felt someone move his body. “Hey bro, it’s me, Diesel. Wake the fuck up.” His brother shook him. “Some kind of freak earthquake hit this cave. We need to get you out, and it would help if you could walk. These tunnels are too narrow for us to lift you.”
“We could carry him if need be,” yet another voice added.
“Panther, relax and let me handle this.” His brother’s voice held irritation. “I know you got us here, but don’t push it. If Sofia says my brother should wake up on his own, he should wake up.”
Luke gave Ginger one last look, but she was almost out of sight. “I’m coming back for you!” he yelled. “Do you hear me? This isn’t over.” He pounded his fist against the invisible barrier one last time. “And when I do, you need to let me in! Promise me you’ll open this gate!”
Ginger stopped, turning.
He held his breath.
She projected a profound sorrow, a kind he’d never seen before. His claws lengthened. He was going to kill Damien, shred the bastard. Slowly, Ginger shook her head no.
Screw that! He was coming for her, whether she wanted him to or not. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, and when I do, I’m getting
through! Just watch me!”
He came back to the land of the living, gasping for breath. He opened his eyes and sat up in the same moment, surprising his small audience.
“Whoa there, dude.” Nevada Hamilton, who was closest to him, took a big step out of his way as he stood. “Take it easy, Luke. Sofia said you’d been spelled with some serious crap. It’s going to take you a second to recover. You might want to take it slow.”
They all held flashlights. He was relieved he could see. It would make his task easier. “There’s no time to take it easy. Ginger’s here with me, and we have to find her before it’s too late.”
Sofia’s hand grabbed his arm as he brushed past her, alarm in her voice, stopping him. “Luke, I’m not getting a living read on anyone in here except for you.”
“Then you’re wrong. Try again,” Luke snarled as he charged into the cavern. It was no longer a room. It was a big pile of rubble. The tunnel they’d come in on the other side was barely open. “She has to be under these rocks. Help me dig!”
His brother was the first to join him, dropping to his knees. Then Jake and Raoul. “If she’s here, we’ll find her,” Diesel assured him as they all began to move debris out of the way with supernatural speed.
Neve sprinted to the top of the pile and began to scout for bodies. Sofia began to chant. Within moments, the area began to quake. “Don’t worry,” Sofia said hurriedly. “I’m just displacing rocks inside the pile. I’m still not getting a living read, but I am getting a sense of other matter besides rocks under there. Two distinct shapes.” Her voice wobbled at the end.
Luke was not about to lose hope. He simply refused to believe Ginger was dead. “Sofia,” he called. “Ginger said the spells in the box we found had something built in that ensured supes didn’t blow themselves up. If she used the black spell she had, which I’m assuming she did, tell me she’s not dead—that the spell she used can’t be responsible for killing her.”
Sofia stopped chanting. “Ginger was right, to a point. I can sense the spell she used here. It was a doozy. It’s meant to blow the roof off of whatever it detonated. And she’s right. The spell can’t kill her outright. But the falling rocks are a different story. There’s a small chance that the spell had a double backup, which some clients request if they have users who are…less than smart. If that’s the case, the spell wraps the user up in a protective cocoon. That could be why I’m not sensing her.”
Sin City Collectors Boxed Set: Aces Wild, Ante Up, All in Page 31