Page 48 of Between Bloode and Death (Between the Shadows #5)

CHAPTER

FORTY-SEVEN

Khent appeared in the bazaar to…nothing.

No sounds, no smells, just gray mist filling the spaces between demolished buildings. He didn’t see a living creature, including his mate.

Flying around and looking down didn’t help, so he shifted into his man’s form as he landed, trying to see better from the ground.

He released a hold on his senses, and his new wings flared out from his back automatically. Something bad had happened here. Something that pulled Irkalla out of its tidy portal into consuming the Mundane world, centered in the bazaar.

But where had Valentine gone? Talon? Grizz?

He opened his senses and followed a source of energy to a dark void near a destroyed section of tents in the inner circle of the bazaar. To his bemusement, he noticed spots of fluid and chunks of what used to be people on the ground.

The Staff of Blight had definitely been here.

Yet no Nergal or Vladimir?

Feeling for Valentine, connected to her by energy, he felt a slender tether remaining when he should have felt her vibrant lifeforce instead.

Worried and displeased to be worried, he snarled and followed the trail through the void.

Into Irkalla.

Or what used to be Irkalla.

The monotony of shadows, ghosts, and pale demons had shifted in an odd way, like the piece of a puzzle that isn’t quite fitting yet still sits in a place it doesn’t belong.

Khent walked through a large, empty cavern, his footsteps a muffled echo soon muffled by—

He spun and would have killed his attacker. Only to find Rolf poised to fight back.

“There you are.” Rolf huffed. “I’ve been looking for you.” He paused and looked around. “What the hell is this?”

“Irkalla, apparently.”

Rolf frowned, spun a few runes in the air and set a protective bubble around him and Khent. “No. This is wrong.”

“I feel it too.” The urge to find Valentine increased, and Khent was soon running through the cavern, taking tunnel upon tunnel through the vast maze.

“I sure hope you can find your way back out of here,” Rolf muttered.

“Why are you here?”

“Oh, I’m here to stop you from saving your mate.”

Khent nearly tripped as he turned to confront his kin.

“But I’m not sure I’m leaning that way. Let’s see how the big fight shakes out first.”

“Big fight?”

“Between you and Nergal. Or you and the necromancer.”

“I assume you mean Vladimir.”

“Hmm.”

Khent continued his hunt for his mate, finally locating her in a large round room that seemed to have no ceiling. More mist tainted with a raw, chaotic energy flooded the area.

The throne that Nergal used previously sat in place, though appeared much smaller.

Nergal was only twice Khent’s size. He stood in a man’s form, wearing jeans and a tee-shirt, so out of place for this god of the underworld, it took Khent aback.

As did the fact that Nergal was using a polite voice to argue with Valentine.

Rolf whistled. “She sure cleans up nice.”

Valentine wore a shifting gown of shadows, her hair waving in a wind that didn’t blow. But it was her eyes that shocked him. They weren’t there. Just black holes from which something—not Valentine—looked out.

She spotted him and Rolf and waved them over.

In the center of a small fighting ring, surrounded by mutated galla demons, the form of Vladimir seemed to be pulling itself together.

“This place rocks,” Rolf said excitedly. “Much better than it was before. Can you feel it?”

“Yes, I can feel it, you freak.” Khent didn’t like the powerful energy in Valentine’s body. He remained a part of her, yet that foreign presence wasn’t sure it wanted him to stay. And he had a bad feeling if he left, he might never see Valentine again.

He firmed his grip on her essence and felt his wings grow more substantial.

“Ah, buddy. You’re turning into something dark.”

“Rolf, focus on Vladimir and the demons. I’ll take Valentine and Nergal.”

“You got it. Try not to die before I decide if I’m going to kill Val or not.”

Khent growled.

Rolf smiled and saluted him before heading off to the galla demons and Vladimir.

Nergal and Valentine watched him approach. The closer he drew to his mate, the more he wanted to kill something. There was a presence inside Valentine that didn’t belong. She was his, damn it. Not to be possessed by anyone but Khent.

“She is mine,” he said as he joined them, not bothering with niceties.

Nergal smiled. “There. See? You can’t have her. But I’m more than happy to host you, Ilu.”

“Ilu?” Khent scowled. The name “Ilu” was an Akkadian word for “gods.” Plural. “Her name is Valentine Darkmore. She’s my mate.”

“She’s my vessel,” Valentine said, her voice not hers. It was smoky, imbued with great power, and not at all human, the sibilant whisper of otherness too present. “She accepted my deal.”

“What deal?” Khent felt a great rage filling him. Memories of his words with the goddess of fate, Shai, coming back in force.

Your purpose, great dragon, will be fulfilled when your fires burn and you accept your duty. Only then will you know peace.

But what fires? I’m no dragon. I’m a reaper. So proud, was he.

Ah, but we are all more than one thing, Khentimentiu of the Sons of Osiris and Bloode of the Night.

Bloode of the Night. The Night Bloode.

Even then, the goddess had known. Already, part of the prophecy about dragons seemed to be coming true as well. He flapped his wings, feeling them grow stronger. Feeling himself grow stronger.

Valentine looked at him. “You are more, are you not? As we are more.”

“I would like to speak to Valentine.”

“Hey.” Nergal interrupted. “I was talking to Ilu, if you don’t mind.”

“Is that your name?” Khent asked her. Hoping for Valentine to step in and say no.

She cocked her head. “It will do. For now.”

Behind him, he heard the sounds of fighting and Rolf growling.

“What of Valentine’s need for vengeance against the one who wronged her?” Gods felt a need for justice, didn’t they? Perhaps Ilu would allow Valentine to come forth to fight Vladimir.

“Hmm. This is something I know.” Valentine stood, yet her feet didn’t come in contact with the ground. She floated inches above it.

The darkness of chaos flooded the room, filling Khent’s head with ideas of bloodshed and discontent for everything around him. Not that he minded the bloodshed so much, but he appreciated a well-ordered mind.

“Stop it.”

Valentine blinked, and her beautiful brown eyes reappeared. “Khent?”

The relief that filled him was shocking. “Valentine? Come back.”

“I made a deal.”

Her eyes turned to smoke once more. “She made a deal. It has been so long since I’ve been back. I’m tired of sleeping. I want to live.”

I or we? Did it even matter?

“Yes. That.” Nergal pointed to Ilu then back to himself. “See? We are the same. You saw what it was like in here. So boring.”

“A prison.” Ilu nodded. “What would you have from me, Nergal?”

“A chance to rule the world. Alongside you or under you. I don’t care which.” Nergal smiled. “I just want to leave the underworld whenever I want.”

“And crush humanity until the Mundane plane is no more.” Khent scoffed. “You’re not that stupid.”

Nergal’s eyes narrowed. “Watch your tone, boy.”

“Or what?”

Ilu—not Valentine—studied them with a smile. “Will this also be a fight? I approve.” She floated back to her throne. “Go on. Entertain me. It’s been so long.” She glanced at Rolf and the demons battling while Vladimir regrew.

But she settled her gaze on Khent more and more.

He wanted to believe Valentine remained inside, aware and battling to see him. But if she really had made a deal with the deity or deities inside her, what power would he have to break it?

Would Valentine want him to?

Nergal bashed him in the face and sent him flying across the cavern.

“Once I’ve killed him, then may we continue our discussion?” he asked Ilu.

“We’ll see.”

Demons raced out of the shadows, no longer colorless but dark black and speckled in green and blue, their eyes orange.

Khent would have called them pretty in a way, but he didn’t have time to be a meal for some demonic beasts. He had a mate to save and an underworld god to put in his place. Khent wouldn’t be able to kill him. But he could make it so Nergal would be trapped down here.

Who knew what Nergal’s interference was doing to the world?

Before the god could land a huge fist in his face, Khent fought back.

With speed and power, he pummeled Nergal, enjoying the fight.

Nergal gave as good as he got. Khent might have appreciated the god more if he weren’t so keen on returning to his mate.

And saving the world from becoming a gray copy of the misery down here.

A sudden crop of black demons descended on him and Nergal, and they had to fight the creatures biting at them while dodging each other.

“Oh, she’s fun, isn’t she?” Nergal said with a laugh and a nod to Ilu. “I like her.”

Khent scowled as one of the demons nearly bit his leg off. He shoved a hand into its neck and ripped its head off then flung it at the others snapping at his throat.

They dropped and regrouped. More coming at him. Many more than he could handle, though Nergal seemed to be holding his own as he used his own demons to fight Ilu’s.

Rolf, Khent noted, moved fast and sure, using magic to combat the growing threat. But Vladimir had nearly regained his form, and Khent didn’t know if Rolf could sustain his pace with so many enemies.

Vampires were fierce creatures who thrived in battle. But the smart ones were also pragmatists.

As powerful as Rolf and Khent were, the enemy had vast numbers on their side.

Yet hadn’t Shai told him to let his fires burn?

Nergal struck his chest. Khent immediately caught his fist and held it there.

Rage overtook him, and this time he let it, letting go of his orderly nature as he let himself descend into chaos.

Nergal fought back.

Khent laughed.

And grew.

And roared.

And opened his growing mouth to snap a feeble god of the underworld in two.