Page 29 of Between Bloode and Death (Between the Shadows #5)

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

Val stumbled through the door into Khent’s room, beyond relieved to be away from that hellish place. Talk about a nightmare.

She glanced at the bed, expecting to see herself and Khent sleeping.

Morpheus, the god of dreams, had taken them away. It only made sense he’d return her to her own consciousness in one piece.

Except neither she nor Khent was sleeping in bed.

“What the hell?” She ran her hands over herself and rushed to the attached bathroom. She looked to be in one piece, still dressed in the pink tee-shirt and jeans Morpheus had created. Frowning, she hurried back into the bedroom and stared at a blank wall.

No hint of a door to Nergal’s realm.

And no Khent.

She had no idea what time it was, but if they’d both been sleeping, the sun had to be out. She tried to rush out of Khent’s room and found the door locked.

Great. She was about to yell for help when she spotted movement on the floor, in the shadows cast by the dim lights along the baseboards. She crouched down to study the creature now paused as it watched her.

A small lizard. No, a dead salamander. Its once-burning, fire-kissed skin had been reduced to a dull crimson, the creature’s golden eyes glazed over with death. It flicked its tongue at her and crawled up her jeans and arm to sit in her palm.

“Can you help me get out of here?” She focused on the tiny creature, planting images of Mormo and Rolf, of anyone who might be able to help her outside this room.

It cocked its head then returned images of burning down the door.

“Go for it.” She nodded and set it down.

The little guy scurried forward and spat a tiny ball of flame at the door, which exploded into an inferno. The fire blazed red, gold, then turned black before the entire door crumbled to ash in seconds.

Val stood gaping. “Oh, er, nice job.”

Mormo appeared in the hallway outside, wearing the same clothing he’d had on when he’d been outside, yelling at the mess Grizz had made in the front yard. “What the…?”

Val got herself together as the salamander climbed up her torso to rest on her shoulder. “We have a major problem. What time is it?”

“It’s near sunset.”

“But not near enough. Morpheus took Khent and I to see Nergal. But then stuff got out of control. Morpheus went down. Demons started attacking. And Khent sent me back here. He’s all alone battling demons and the god of awfulness.”

“He prefers God of War, Pestilence, and Death, actually.” Mormo studied her. “You say Morpheus took you there?”

“Yes. I don’t know why. I thought we were in a dream. Except when I got back, Khent and I weren’t sleeping in the bed.”

“Sleeping?” Rolf appeared next to Mormo in the hallway. “Is that what you call that racket you two were making earlier?”

Val flushed and ignored the grinning vampire, though he had his own bad case of bedhead with half his hair sticking up. “I’m not kidding. Khent’s alone in Irkalla.”

“He’s always leaving me behind. I don’t like it.” Rolf scowled. “Typical reaper. Thinking he can fight death all by himself. What an ass.”

“It wasn’t deliberate,” Val snapped. “Morpheus dragged us there for some stupid reason, got knocked out, and basically left us to fend for ourselves. I’m only here to get help. So come on.”

She turned around and stared at the blank wall.

“Well? Where are we going?” Rolf stood too close to her back, literally breathing down her neck until the salamander puffed at him, and a small part of his hair caught fire.

“Ouch. Cut it out you little bastard.” He hissed at the salamander, which hissed back.

Mormo swore under his breath. “Why would Morpheus take you there? Nergal isn’t someone we want to deal with until we have to.”

“We went through a door. It was right next to the bathroom here. But it’s gone.”

“Duh.” Rolf shook his head at her. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

She gave him the bird.

He winked back.

Annoyed because no one seemed to understand the danger Khent was in, not to mention Morpheus, Val opened her mouth to say, well, something to get them going, when Mormo drew a line in the wall that blazed. She watched as he traced the doorway she’d used.

And speaking of blazing… She studied Rolf. “How are you awake? Isn’t the sun still out?”

“Some of us ancient and powerful vampires can tolerate waking early. I’m that cool.”

Mormo snorted but didn’t respond.

“Really? Is that why your hair is blond? You have an affinity for daylight?” And that would not be good at all. Vampires were bad enough during the nighttime. The only true defense anyone had against all of them was that vampires couldn’t tolerate sunlight.

“Just be honest, Val.”

“Honest?”

He leaned in and wiggled his brows. “You dig me. You want me. Bad. Don’t be afraid to admit it. They all do.”

“They who? Your many imaginary fans?”

Mormo chuckled but continued to draw the door, pausing as power ebbed and flowed from his being to create their passage.

“Dream on, honey bunches. If Khent gives you a thumbs up, maybe I’ll let you ride the Rolf train.”

“Oh my god. Shut up. Please.” She wanted to stake him, if only to get him to be quiet so she could concentrate on saving Khent.

“Why is Nergal fixated on you?” Mormo asked and placed his hands in the middle of the door he’d drawn.

“I don’t know that he is.”

Mormo looked away from the door and stared at her. “He is.”

She shrugged. “He keeps asking for his stone. But I’m telling you. I don’t have it.”

She’d tried to find the stone Vladimir had long ago been after. She’d never found it, not in any of her parent’s things, including the large storage unit Val had inherited after their deaths.

“I have an old storage unit that my parents left me. You can look through it. There are a ton of books on magic and the history of necromancy. No jewelry, though. No gems or power stones. I had everything evaluated by a guy I know. I could get maybe twenty grand for everything if I wanted.”

Rolf tapped his chin. “How sure are you the guy wasn’t ripping you off? Maybe he had no idea about the value of your items.”

“He’s a goblin with a decent reputation and eye for value.”

“A goblin? Well, then he probably knew what the locker was worth.”

“Before you ask, we traded favors. I know he told me the truth because we had a contract.” And contracts with goblins were magically binding.

“Okay, okay. Testy.” Rolf sighed. “Humans are so persnickety.”

Mormo ordered, “Quiet, you two. I’ll grab Morpheus and be right back.” The wall turned murky, and he pushed through the door.

It stayed that way until he returned with Morpheus over his shoulder. He tossed the god at Rolf. “Sit on him. He doesn’t move until I get answers. Val, with me.”

She didn’t want to go back, but Khent might need her help. What could she do in Nergal’s realm? Not a lot. But he’d be focused on her to get that stone. Then maybe Khent and Mormo could work together for them all to escape.

Swallowing around the knot of nerves in her throat, she placed the salamander on the floor, not wanting him to come to harm, and followed Mormo back into the underworld.

Irkalla.

As she’d told Khent earlier, death shouldn’t feel like this. She’d been there, in that grand state between life and death. She’d brushed against the afterworld, knew it intimately. Irkalla was not where departed souls should go.

A bastardized version of death, the Mesopotamian underworld was nothing but a shadow of color and experience.

She felt pity for Nergal and all those who had to exist in a world filled with echoes and loneliness.

But Nergal was a god, wasn’t he? Couldn’t he do more than torture and hurt those who had an eternity before them?

She still thought it odd that the dead could feel pain. They weren’t supposed to. Yet another way Nergal corrupted the peace that should have been the start of a new beginning.

Glancing around, she noticed the dense gray was less thick as she moved forward. “Mormo?” she whispered, her words muffled by the soup of nothingness growing heavier with each step.

A hand yanked her forward.

She shrieked, worried a demon had found her.

“You are so freakin’ slow.” Rolf had her by the hand and dragged her forward.

“I thought he told you to stay behind.”

Rolf snorted. “Yeah, right.”

They parted the shadows to see Khent in the middle of a ring of other Khents. Beyond them, a horde of demons sat around a giant Nergal on a throne made of skulls, bones, and awfulness.

“Man, I gotta get a chair like that.” Rolf whistled.

Khent glanced over at him while another Khent ripped his head off.

Val stared in shock, because they for sure weren’t all the same.

“Is that Khent? But wait. What are those…?”

“That lying sack of crap,” Mormo growled, appearing right beside them. “I knew he was holding out on me.”

“Huh?” Why did Mormo seem to direct that at the Khent killing everything around him?

The one with a set of black wings flaming from his back?