Page 36

Snarling filled my ears along with my gasps. The landing had winded me. Going from powerful immortal to magicless mortal was always hard, but add a fall of several feet to it and it was ten times worse. I struggled upright to see Killian punching Rue. He had the vex on the ground and blood sprayed with every hit. But someone was sneaking up behind Killian.

“Killian, behind you!” I cried out.

He turned just as the sorceress tossed a powder over him. One second later, Killian was on the ground.

“Killian!” I got up and ran for him, but the chain pulled me up short, and I stumbled to my knees.

“Well done, sweetheart,” Sarai purred as she went into Rue's arms.

Face bloody, the Pack Vex kissed the sorceress. I gawked for a second as my mind slammed the pieces together—how the sorceress always seemed prepared for us, how Rue disappeared right after we made a new plan, the way he fought with Kill, that short bathroom break of his, and how Rue led me right into that trap. The clues had been there, but Rue was a vex, and I'd given him the same trust that I gave extinguishers and hunters. I should have been more suspicious after Malai’s treachery. Anyone can turn on you. Look at what I'd done to my husbands.

Speaking of husbands, I reached for Killian even as I processed Rue's betrayal. Kill mattered more to me than some traitorous Witch.

“Kill!” I screeched.

“Oh, shut up,” Sarai huffed. “He's fine.” She bent and locked a manacle around Killian's ankle. A thick chain bolted it, like mine, to the cement floor. “It was just a sleeping powder.”

“You fucking traitor,” I said to Rue. “I hope she's phenomenal in bed because you have no pack now. Lone wolf forever. Enjoy the solitude, motherfucker.”

Rue winced and even under all that blood—blood that made me feel a tiny bit better—he paled. A wolf with no pack was not a happy puppy. I'd hung out with a Pack Witch before. I knew a little about them. Just enough to salt his traitorous, festering wound.

“Don't listen to her. I'll fix things with your people.” Sarai wiped the blood off Rue's face. “And we have each other.”

Rue grunted as he looked back at her. “I love you, Mate.”

Mate. Oh, fuck. That explained it. He thought she was his mate. I wouldn't be surprised if she had enchanted him to think that. But either way, he was still a traitor.

“I love you too. Thank you for helping me.” Sarai stroked Rue's broad chest.

“It was for us. For our future.”

She nodded. “After Beauty Forever becomes the ultimate name in the cosmetics industry, we'll be able to live however we want and go wherever we want.”

Rue grinned.

“Pathetic,” I muttered. “Pussy over pack.”

“As if you wouldn't do the same for one of your husbands,” Rue said to me. “I've heard you say as much, Ambassador.”

I snorted. “Touche. I would.” Then my grin went feral. “And they would do even more for me. So enjoy your victory while it lasts. They'll be here any minute. And then you'll see firsthand what real love is.”

Rue bared his teeth at me.

I bared mine back at him.

But it was Sarai who answered. “I'm sorry to put a dent in your confidence, Ambassador Seren. But no one will find you here. I've got a hakhil over my property. Oh, and Rue registered this property under his alias, not mine. So even your little human hackers won't be able to find us.”

“Seren!” Daxon's voice came through my comm device.

Holy shit! That thing still worked under a hakhil? I schooled my expression and hoped Rue's keen wolf ears wouldn't pick up my husband's voice. I had to keep them talking to drown him out. So, I refocused. What was she saying? Oh, right. She has a hakhil. Hold on.

“You summoned another Demon?”

Sarai grinned.

“That's not possible,” I said. “Hell is on lockdown. You can't summon anyone.”

“Shh!” I heard Star's voice, even softer than Daxon's. “Her captor might hear you!”

“Seren, hold on, baby,” Dax whispered. “Star will find you.”

But I couldn't turn on the comm to respond. I could only listen to two conversations at once. And they could only hope that I was hearing them. Shit.

“Not every Demon was home when their king laid his protection over the planet,” Sarai said. “A few stragglers were on Earth, doing their little Demon jobs. Keeping the balance. Tempting humans to evil and all that. I snagged one before he left.”

I just stared at her.

“Shit!” Daxon hissed. “Star can't find you. Where are you, Seren?”

“We have to wait,” Star said. “Just be quiet for a few minutes.”

“My wife is in danger, and you want me to just sit here twiddling my thumbs?”

“No witty comeback?” Sarai sauntered over to me. “I heard you were quite the comedian.”

“I'm thinking, okay?! Give me a second.” It was harder than you might think to listen to three people talking at once.

Sarai burst out laughing. “You are funny! It's a shame I'll be draining your magic.”

“Excuse me?”

That got me focused.

“Oh, you thought my end game was to collect all the Bite Witches to fuel my beauty potions? How shortsighted. Beauty and money are fantastic. I love having both. But why would I limit myself to such trivial things when the ultimate source of magic was within my grasp? Rue told me all about your Light and Darkness—divine magic. He said you also have human and fairy magic. The holy trinity, if you will. You're the most powerful supernatural being in all the worlds. And you literally dropped into my hands.” She smirked and shook her head. “One shackle around your ankle and you're no better than a normal human. That seems like a design flaw.”

“I agree. We should take it up with God.”

“Oh, yes. You're the chosen one. Do you think he'll smite me?” The sorceress cackled.

I blew out a long breath and sat back, crossing my legs. Then I slid my hand along my head as if smoothing my hair, and tapped the comm device in the process, turning on the mic. “Probably not. We had a little tiff recently.” I snorted a laugh. “I bet Anu knew you were going to catch me and is watching this, laughing his divine ass off.” He's probably got a bowl of popcorn in his lap.”

“Why is that?”

Simultaneously, Daxon hissed, “Everyone shut up! She's turned on the mic. And make sure you have your comms off. Only Seren's channel should be open. We don't want that motherfucker to hear us.” To me, he added, “I'm gonna turn off the sound on our end for a bit, love. But I'm here with you.”

I laughed but twisted it to sound bitter—a perfect segue into my answer. “Oh, because I told him to stay out of my life.” I rolled my eyes. “What perfect timing. And he wonders why I trust his sister more.”

“This is so fascinating,” Sarai drawled. “You actually speak to God? And he speaks back?”

“Oh, yeah. He appears before me. I wouldn't be here, fighting evil bitches like you, if he hadn't asked me to.” I cocked my head at her. “Why are you doing this when you know Heaven and Hell are real? I'm sure this fucking traitor of a wolf has told you everything he knows about Anu. So you know you're tainting your soul right now. Don't you care about that?”

“I'm tainting my soul by capturing Anu's favorite?”

“No, by murdering people and generally being evil. You've got yourself a guaranteed ticket to Hell.”

Sarai's calm expression cracked but only for a second. “Once I drain your magic, I'll be able to do more than make people beautiful. I'll have enough magic to make myself—”

“Immortal,” I finished for her with an eye-roll.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Does my quest for immortality bore you?” she snapped.

“Yes, actually, it does. You're the second human this year who has captured me, hoping to distill my magic into an immortality potion.”

“What?” Sarai gaped at me.

“What? You thought that was original? Please.” I rolled my eyes. “I'm not exaggerating. You're the second one this year. You are not unique, Sarai. Not special. You're not even all that pretty now that we're up close. Don't you use your own product?” I shrugged. “Maybe it's one of those business things—like how drug dealers should never do drugs. I get it. Smart. But take my advice and hire models for your ad campaigns. Cuz, bitch, you ugly.”

“Ugh!” Sarai screeched and came at me.

Rue grabbed her. “She's egging you on, sweetheart. Don't listen to her. You're absolutely stunning. You know that.”

Sarai melted and turned to look at Rue. Anywhere else, and I would have sighed to see such adoration between two people. At that moment, it just made me ill.

“What the fuck?” Killian muttered as he sat up. “Seriously? Is this an additional form of torture? You're going to bore us with your evil plot and get kissy in front of us? Ugh! Just shoot me now.”

Rue growled at Killian.

Killian bared his fangs, popping down the needle-sharp teeth that normally hid in his palate. Poisonous venom dripped from them, and Kill spat it at Rue, who had to jump back to avoid it.

Smirking, Kill looked at me. “You all right, Twilight?”

“You're a fucking idiot, Blair. I told you to let go. Now, we're both captured.”

“I'd rather be imprisoned with you than free without you.”

“Sweet but stupid.”

“Yup, that's me.”

My expression softened as I shook my head. “Kill, you could have helped me more if you had let go.”

Killian's stare went serious and tender. “Babe, I don't have it in me to let go of you.”

I let out a soft breath and just stared at him.

Then Kill looked at Rue and said, “You hear that? That's romantic. Not this bullshit you're pulling.”

I chuckled.

Rue started for Killian.

Killian got to his feet. “Come on, motherfucker. Even chained and drained, I can still beat your furry ass. By the time I'm done with you, you'll look like road kill.”

“Rue.” Sarai took his hand and pulled him back.

That's when I noticed that one wall of the room was formed of bars—iron bars. Sarai led Rue through a doorway in the bars, then shut the door.

Rue locked the cell door and grinned at Killian. “Go ahead and fuck your wife if you want. You don't have much time left. Don't worry, we didn't put any cameras in your cage. We have no interest in watching you and no worries about you escaping. Not while you're like that.”

“Dude, you're just proving my point. I'm a witty romantic while you're a fucking troglodyte.”

“A what?”

“I rest my case.” Killian sat down beside me and took my hand. “How the fuck did that idiot become a vex?”

“I have no idea,” I drawled. “You'd think they'd have a written test or something.”

“Go ahead and crack your jokes,” Rue said. “I'll be laughing as you die.” He walked away with his lover.

Kill and I looked at each other.

“Well, he told us,” Kill said.

“He sure did.”

“Did you get all that?” Kill asked, and I knew he wasn't talking to me.

“We got it,” Daxon said. “You two alone now?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Just me and Mr. Romance.”

Daxon snorted. “You mean Mr. Romantic Idiot?”

“Well, look who wasn't paying attention,” Kill drawled. “I said I was a witty romantic.”

“Anyway,” I went on before we got caught up in Killian's comedy routine. “Star can't find me through the hakhil, but—”

“What did you say?” Star's voice cut me off. “How the fuck did she cast a hakhil?”

“Oh, right. You guys didn't hear that part.” I grimaced. “Evidently, there were a few Demons left on Earth, working, when you put the lockdown on Hell. She summoned one of them. So, I assume she's got a Demon here somewhere. I can't confirm that since I don't have any magic currently, but I can't imagine her releasing the Demon.”

“Son of a bitch!” Star cursed.

“Anyway,” I went on, “can you track our comm devices?”

“Already got you, Ambassador!” Sullivan called out. “We're on our way.”

“Thanks, Sullivan. We're in an iron cage. I think it's subterranean.”

“We'll find you,” Daxon vowed. “There isn't a hole deep enough to keep me from finding you, love.”

“Aw, I love you too.”

“And I love you too, Daxy-waxy,” Killian added. “My hero.”

I smacked him but also laughed.

“You can say that again after I rescue your dumb ass,” Daxon muttered. “Now, we'd better go dark for a bit. One of you needs to hide your comm in the cell in case that traitor realizes that they still work within a hakhil.”

“On it,” Kill said. “And out.” Kill pulled out his earpiece and found a ceiling beam to tuck it up on. He winked at me and sat down.

“It's funny,” I said. “When you have magic, you often forget how powerful technology can be. Sarai thinks she's safe because of that hakhil. She never considered that it wouldn't block things like radio waves.”

“That's why Dad started Gentry,” Kill said. “Damn, he's brilliant.”

“Yeah, he is. And yet, his daughter is sitting in an iron cell, drained of magic.” I flounced my arms. “I can’t believe a human captured me again.”

“To be fair, she's a sorceress, and she laid a fucking insane trap for you that her traitorous lover lured you into.” Kill pulled me in against his side. “I mean, what the fuck was that thing?”

“I believe it was a one-way portal,” Star said. “It shut down as soon as Rue jumped through.”

“Star thinks it was a portal,” I said to Kill since he didn't have his earpiece anymore.

“Well, duh.” Killian rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Harry Potter. A portal?” He shook his head. “That was more like a rath.”

“I think a rath is pretty much a portal.”

“No, it isn't. A portal teleports you from one place to another. It's a lot like Apportation but with people. A rath is a tunnel through the in-between. It's permanent.”

“But then, that would make Sarai's trap more like a portal, wouldn't it? It was only temporary.”

Star chuckled but there were sounds of movement too.

Killian grimaced. “Thanks, babe. Way to support your man.”

“Sorry. I was just trying to understand why you were so opposed to it being a portal.”

“Because a portal's magic is too close to a psychic ability and that would suggest that Sarai has some innate psychic ability.”

“That might be true.”

“I don't want it to be true. That's my point.”

“Why?”

“Because that would make her like a council member. I'd rather think of her as a normy human who only gets magic from sucking it out of dead things.”

“Gross, Kill.”

He grinned. “Exactly. That image makes me all warm and fuzzy.” His stare shifted to the cell door. “But it's nowhere near as wonderful as the thought of killing her.”