Page 137
In the silence that followed, her hair pulsed with color. “What I feel for you,” she said, “wasn’t supposed to happen, either. And now we’re here, standing at the edge of your world and at the beginning of mine. What do we do now, Jame?”
Gazing out, I followed the volcano’s slope to its snowcapped summit. Somewhere on that mountain was a cave that led to a portal that led to Abyssos, the homeland of the Infernari. A cave guarded by some number of Infernari. They were waiting for us, waiting to take down the infamous Jame Asher and the traitorous woman in his arms.
Reflexively, I squeezed her closer to me.
We could still run from this fate we were hurtling toward.
The Infernari would continue to cull, but why did it have to be my problem? We had seven billion people, they had a thousand. Was it that hard to believe that their race deserved to live as much as ours? Wouldn’t it only befairto let them cull from us?
For two years, I had buried those questions.
Now they clawed back to the surface. WhywasI so angry?
I tried thinking about it the way I was used to, putting myself in my demon hunter shoes.
Every day that portal was open, more demons arrived on Earth... and they were after my blood, they were after Lana’s, and they were going to kill and cull and curse everything that breathed until we were all dead. We couldn’t just run; it would be suicide. Our only hope was to head them off at the portal.
Which might also be suicide.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
I never imagined I’d get myself into one of these conundrums the Infernari so often found themselves in.
I nuzzled Lana’s hair.
Nor had I ever imagined wanting to know anything about an Infernarus aside from the best way to kill it. But holding this proud, strange creature in my arms, I was curious about her the way any man would be curious about a beautiful woman. No, I was more than just curious, I was fascinated... I was obsessed. I wanted to know her fears, her desires, what made her laugh. Why her hair lit up, what each color meant.
I wanted to learn everything about her, absorb her into my pores, memorize her.
And I hadn’t felt that since Nikki. And even then... Lord forgive me, the pull had never been like this. Nikki hadn’t had to overcome my hate; back then I hadn’t harbored hatred.
Goddamn, but none of it was fair.
Lana’s fingers trailed over my forearms. “I think sunsets are tragic,” she mused.
And then she said shit like that. My heart squeezed. I wanted to see the world the way she saw it. Like the world was beautiful. Like it was good. Like the saddest thing out there was a sunset.
All my jaded layers were dissolving away around her.
I was so fucking doomed.
Lana
By the timethe sky was a deep blue, the two of us were sitting on the balcony, Asher with his back pressed to the now closed doors that led back inside, and me between his legs.
Just this contact was almost too much. And it might be casual for him, a human, but nothing about this was casual for me.
“Do you fear death?” I asked, softly, like raising my voice might catch the attention of the gods.
I felt him shake his head behind me, trailing his thumb over one of my arms as he did so, the gesture almost absent. “For a very long time I wished for it. Death is easy. It’s life that’s hard.”
“That makes me sad, Asher.”
He peered down at me, a wry grin lifting the corner of his mouth. “Lana sad? Is that even possible?”
When it came to him, a great deal made me sad.
“What about you?” he asked, his tone turning serious. “Do you fear death?”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137 (Reading here)
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156