by Sarah Piper
“Someone in the back there. Another question?”
McKenna caught my eye, flashing me a cocky grin. Before I could stop her, she was on her feet, stalking toward the bars.
“Hey, asshole,” she said. “I got a question. You know what happens to guys who fuck witches?”
Dirty Bead laughed. “No, I don’t. Do you know what happens to witches whose food rations are cut in half?”
McKenna imitated his laugh. Had to hand it to her—she didn’t back down from a fight. “No, I don’t. Do you know what happens to a hunter when a pissed-off, half-starved witch puts a curse on him?”
He slammed his baton into the bars, sending up a spray of sparks from the fae magic locking us in here. “No,” he said. “I don’t.”
“Neither do I.” She laughed again, high pitched, totally mental. “It’s a new recipe I’m working on. Come back tomorrow and we’ll all find out together.”
“That’s enough,” Dirty Beard said. Unlike his son, he wasn’t so easy to rile up. McKenna kept at him, though, giving us just the opportunity we needed.
“Alright, Reva,” I whispered. “What’ve you got for me.”
“I know a way out of here,” she said.
I thumbed toward the retinal scanner at the front of the bars. “You got a spare eyeball?”
“Not out of the cell. Out of the whole prison.” Her eyes lit up with renewed hope, brightening the dank, dark room. “There’s another cave system past this one. None of them ever go back there.”
“Reva,” Haley said, “even if we could get back there without the guards catching us, the whole place is spelled. We’ll never get out.”
“Not the whole thing. I’m pretty sure they’re only focusing on this cave system. I don’t think they even know the other one exists.” She told us about a small chamber she’d discovered when she’d been doing her shadowmancy business trying to get that message to Emilio. “It connects to the other system. The only way in is through a super narrow shaft halfway up the wall. It leads into the back chamber, then down another passageway. Eventually, it takes you back outside, way down on the other end of the beach.”
“How far down?” I asked.
“Maybe a couple of miles from the pier. Three tops.”
“You’re sure?”
“I can go out at night,” she said, nodding enthusiastically. “Once I get out, I’ll find my way to town.”
The idea had potential. But it also had a lot of pitfalls.
“Why don’t you try to connect with Emilio again?” I asked. “Project, or whatever it is you do.”
“There’s no time, Ash. It was almost impossible last time. I’m pretty sure he has to be in wolf form to hear me, and even then, it was really hard. I don’t know if I got through to him at all.”
“I’m betting the Cape is crawling with hunters,” Haley said. “Probably fae, too. It’s not safe, Reva.”
“I know how to avoid them. I’ll go straight to the police and ask for the detective’s sister.”
“I don’t like it,” Haley said. “What if they catch you? They’ll kill you. And they won’t do it quickly.”
Reva shrugged. “They think I’m a useless kid—not even worth experimenting on. They only reason I’m still alive in here is they’ve already forgotten about me.”
“The so-called useless kid has a very useful point,” I said.
“Trust me,” she said. “They won’t even notice I’m gone.”
“You seem pretty sure about that,” Haley said.
“I know how to disappear.” She shrugged with all the cool confidence of a teenager who’d just gotten away with shoplifting. “I’ve been doing it my whole life.”
Haley blew out a breath, her shoulders slumping. I knew how much she hated the idea—I wasn’t too keen on sending Reva out alone, either. But Reva was right—she was small, the only one of us who could slip away undetected and fit through that shaft.
I put a hand on Haley’s shoulder. “Hay, we—”
The crack of Dirty Beard’s baton shut us up again. McKenna had finally gone silent.
“No more,” the bastard snapped. “You all know what’s expected of you. We’ll be back at oh-six-hundred to start the transport. Any more outbursts, and you’ll all be given electroshock treatment.”
He shuffled out, the fae turning as one single unit to follow him down the corridor.
“Electroshock treatments?” Haley’s eyes blazed. “Fuck this.” She turned to Reva. “Okay, Reva. I’m in.”
Reva gave me a high-five.
“So now we just need a way to get her out out of this cell,” Haley said. “We need some kind of—”
“Disturbance? Did somebody call for a disturbance?” I flashed them a big-ass grin.
“What’s that look?” Haley asked, swirling her finger in front of my face. “I already don’t like that look.”
“You aren’t supposed to like it.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking,” I said, walking to the front of the chamber and peering out through the bars, “it’s time to show these fae-fucking, limp-dick hunters where the big, bad incubus has been hiding.”
Eighteen
Gray
Haley Barnes?
I wasn’t even sure I’d heard Deirdre correctly, but the time for questions had passed. We were back in front of Inferno, too close to Sebastian’s many spies to continue this conversation so candidly.
“So, that’s Las Vegas,” Deirdre said loudly, presumably for any of Sebastian’s guards in the vicinity. “I’m so glad I got the chance to show you around. I’ll take you back inside now.”
She grabbed my elbow, steering me toward a service entrance near the back.
“But, what about—”
“There’s no time, Gray,” she muttered quickly. “Ronan’s going to meet us any minute. He asked me to take you to see Darius first.”
“Darius?” The idea of finally seeing my vampire and reuniting with Ronan was enough to settle my nerves and hit the pause button on my many questions. “Where is he? Is he okay?”
“He’s… stable. The blood overdose is still working its way out of his system, and he—”
“Blood overdose?”
“He attacked and fully drained a demon after he got through the hell portal. I’m sure Ronan will fill you in on everything later. Come on—this way.”
Knowing Ronan, he wouldn’t fill me in on anything later, but what choice did I have but to shut up and follow her? I needed to see Darius, and I didn’t know if and when I’d get another opportunity.
We took the service elevators down to the basement level, then followed another long series of hallways until we reached another wooden door. Unlike the last one, this didn’t have any glowing runes or codes. Just a big-ass iron bar bolted across it.
Deirdre lifted the bar, then pushed open the door, revealing another dark chamber inside. This one was huge, though, and hot—nothing like Sebastian’s little meeting room upstairs.
I stepped into the entry, waiting for my eyes to adjust. The floor was a dull, dirt-colored wood that looked like it hadn’t been polished in decades, and the stone walls surrounding us were damp with moisture. Everything beyond the immediate entryway was cloaked in shadow.
Even my breath seemed to echo.
“Your vampire is inside,” Deirdre said softly. “All the way in the back. But… a word to the wise? Keep your guard up. He’s dangerous, Rayanne, despite the restraints and the hawthorn.”
“Restraints?” My eyes welled as I pictured him tied up and sedated. What had they done to him? He’d lost his memories trying to save me, and this was the homecoming they’d given him? “Darius would never hurt me.”
“But that’s just it. This vampire is not Darius. You must remember, he’s—”
I cut her off with a harsh glare, and she pressed her lips tightly together, as if she had to physically restrain herself from speaking her mind.
Darius had suffered m
emory loss. That didn’t make him less deserving of respect and kindness. It didn’t make him broken or some wild, untamed beast that needed to be restrained and beaten.
Deirdre hovered in the doorway a moment longer, as if she were still trying to decide whether to leave me alone with the man I loved. The man who’d saved me in the Shadowrealm. The man whose touch still smoldered on my skin.
“I love him,” I informed her, ending the argument before it devolved into something worse. “I’m not leaving here until I know he’s okay. Until I see it with my own eyes.”
Her eyes softened, and she reached up to touch my cheek. Her palm was warm and soft, her touch kind.
“I understand.” She smiled softly, then slipped outside with one final piece of advice trailing in her wake: “Just… don’t get too close.”
The door closed and bolted behind her, and I stepped deeper into the room, waiting for my eyes to adjust. It seemed the only light came from a sparse collection of electric wall sconces.
Everything about this room felt forgotten.
I turned to the hounds that’d followed me inside. “Sparkle,” I whispered. “Sunshine. You two stay here and keep an eye out for me, okay?”
“Ah, there you are, lovely,” Darius said. His voice came from the darkness, smooth as silk, sending a ripple of warmth across my skin. “Come closer so I can see your beautiful face.”
“Darius,” I breathed. Was that recognition I’d heard in his tone?
Or simply the charms of a smooth-talking vampire, just like the one I’d allowed to taste my blood that first time in Black Ruby?
That was the night we’d become blood bound, and it felt like a million years ago now. So much had happened since then. It was a wonder any of us was still alive.
But we are alive, I reminded myself. We’d already fought and survived so many battles. This was just one more.
Leaving the hounds at the door, I approached the back of the room cautiously, my heart thumping louder with every footstep.
Slowly, painfully, Darius came into view. He was seated on a long bench, his feet chained and bolted to the ground, his wrists chained and bolted to the wall. A hawthorn stake had been shoved through his left hand; the skin had partly healed around it, leaving a ring of dark blood.
My stomach twisted. I hated seeing him like this. Bound. Sedated.
I took another step closer, still assessing him.
His clothes were clean and looked new—dark sweatpants and a Vegas Golden Knights hockey jersey I was pretty sure he hadn’t picked out from the souvenir shop himself. His face looked gaunt beneath a few days’ worth of stubble, his eyes glassy, his brown hair wild and unkempt.
He flashed me a grin as I approached, as smooth and smokey as fine whiskey, but nothing like the real Darius. Nothing like the vampire I’d fallen in love with.
“You’re afraid of me, beautiful,” he said matter-of-factly. I can sense it in your heartbeat.
I nodded, but not because it was true, or part of the longstanding joke we’d shared about how much he used to scare me before we’d finally come together.
“You’re a very powerful vampire,” I said, as if that explained the rapid-fire beat behind my ribcage. Playing the game was easier than admitting that my heart was shattering, sputtering out its last hurrah.
“I suppose I am,” he said. His smile was composed, but the glint in his glassy eyes was feral. “I wish I could recall, but in the absence of memory, I’ll have to rely on…” He sucked a breath of air through his lips, his tongue darting out to wet them. “…instinct.”
I stepped closer, and those golden honey eyes darkened, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air around me.
“What do your instincts tell you about me?” I asked.
“Hmm. Something has changed. The last time we were together,” he said, “you were quite a bit less lively. In fact, the demon said something about a missing soul?”
“My soul was trapped in hell, but that’s old news. I’m back now.” I forced a smile. “Better than ever.”
He took another breath, then sighed. “More determined, perhaps. But I sense you’ve lost something along the way.”
More than you could possibly imagine…
“Perhaps you could use a friend?” he asked.
I looked into those eyes, the dark lashes, the beautifully full lips, the face of the man I loved, and I wanted to open up to him, to confess everything that had happened, everything I’d learned. To tell him how scared I truly was.
But I’d be a fool to trust him now.
He was Darius, but… not. The man before me reminded me of an actor, changing his expressions and voice for a role. There was no warmth in his eyes. No recognition. And absolutely no love.
Darius’s eyes suddenly darted to the side, and he scented the air again, his lip curling in disgust. Seconds later, I heard the scrape of the iron bar lifting from the door, followed by the click of the hounds’ claws against the floor.
“Demon,” Darius practically spat. “If I never see or smell or taste another for a thousand years, it will be too soon.”
I turned back toward the door as Ronan entered the room.
Anger smoldered in my gut like hot coals as I remembered his most recent devil’s bargain, but I couldn’t deny I was relieved to see him. Logically I knew he couldn’t fix this any more than he could fix the mess he’d made between us, but his presence still comforted me. Ronan had been my best friend long before he’d become my lover. My life.
Nothing was going to change that.
“Why is he like this?” I asked as Ronan approached, hating myself for talking about Darius as if he wasn’t in the room with us—wasn’t glaring at me with raw, naked lust. But the change that had come over him went deeper than his memory loss. It was hunger, pure and simple. Bloodlust.
As far as I knew, Darius hadn’t fed on living beings in decades, and he certainly hadn’t overdosed. Yet Deirdre had mentioned something about him attacking and draining a demon?
“Is it just his instincts taking over?” I asked.
“Partly,” Ronan said. “For a vampire, feeding on the living is primal. Feeding on donor blood or animals is the conscious choice in the equation.”
“One he doesn’t remember making.” I sighed as the pieces clicked into place. Darius was centuries old. He hadn’t come to his choices overnight. They’d been woven into the fabric of his life, shaped by his experiences, reinforced by decades of choices, every decision not to kill, not to drain the lifeblood of another being inexorably linked to his memory.
Memory that he no longer possessed.
“Well, this is rather enlightening,” Darius said. “I don’t recall ever being so thoroughly dissected before. Perhaps next time you might buy me dinner first.”
“Gray,” Ronan said, and the odd hesitation his voice set a new flare of panic ablaze in my chest.
“Tell me,” I breathed, my voice as fragile as an eggshell. “Just tell me.”
“Before we came to the Shadowrealm, he was ambushed by hunters in a motel. They’d intended to kill him, but he… he destroyed them.”
“Destroyed?”
“Drained,” Ronan said, and the word punched me in the gut. Ronan gave me a moment to process this before continuing. “He fed on both of them, consumed by bloodlust. It was essentially an overdose—way too much, too fast, his system couldn’t process it all. Somehow he made it back to us, and we got him stabilized.”
“Speaking of feeding,” Darius said. “I don’t suppose either of you knows where a vampire like me could get a… bite?”
“But then he attacked a demon?” I asked, ignoring Darius. “Deirdre said something about it.”
“I came out of the hell portal with you, but Darius had already gotten through ahead of us. I found him feeding on one of Sebastian’s guards.”
“Now that’s something I do remember,” Darius said. “I’m not quite sure I’ll ever get the taste of that filth out of my mouth.” Darius la
ughed, a sound I’d never heard before. It wasn’t his laugh. It belonged to some other vampire, some other time, some other place.
It occurred to me then just how fragile everything really was—for each of us. Every day was like walking on the edge of a knife. One misstep…
We had absolutely zero control.
Yet somehow, we kept walking along that blade anyway.
“Let’s go.” Ronan tugged on my sweatshirt, careful not to touch my skin.
I jerked away from him. Better that he not touch me at all. “We can’t leave him here, Ronan. Not like this.”
“There’s nothing we can do right now,” Ronan said, his tone suddenly gentle. This was hurting him just as it was hurting me. I had to remember that. “He doesn’t know us anymore, Gray.”
Darius scoffed. “The fact that you’ve detained me against my will, dressed me in these bargain basement atrocities, starved me, and poisoned me with hawthorn tells me everything I need to know about you, demon.” He turned his gaze back on me, that same cold grin sliding across his face. “You, on the other hand…”
Darius closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, inhaling my scent again. Naively, I waited for him to show me his real smile, to look at me with even the faintest glimmer of recognition.
But when he opened his eyes again, there was nothing. Only that icy smile that sent chills to my very core.
“You really are an absolutely lovely creature,” he murmured, his deep voice sliding down my spine like a caress.
I felt my body inching toward him, seeking his touch as if by muscle memory. I leaned in close to the wall, right to where his un-staked hand was bound, just close enough for him to graze my face.
Ronan stiffened behind me, but didn’t stop me.
Darius flexed his hand, reaching out to stroke my cheek with one elegant finger, his thumb pressing the dip in my bottom lip, and I shivered, my breath catching in my throat.
His touch was so familiar. If I closed my eyes, I could almost believe it was still him. That Darius was still with us. That he’d beaten the odds and regained his memories and—