Page 49 of Between Bloode and Death (Between the Shadows #5)

CHAPTER

FORTY-EIGHT

Val had done her best to buy some time. Grizz was gone. Nergal would have killed her, and Vladimir would soon re-corporate then kill her.

The power inside her offered a way out. At least until she could figure out what to do.

But now trapped inside herself, she could only watch like a spectator as the presence in her body spoke and laughed and killed.

Death didn’t bother her, but Ilu—what Nergal called the consciousness inside her—didn’t kill and send its dead to the afterlife. It demolished and added the dead to a chaos that had no beginning and no end.

Val felt dizzy when she tried to make sense of it. She now understood why her parents had told her to forget all about Ilu then buried the memory with spells. This thing she carried inside her could easily be the end of everything.

As she watched Khent battling, she knew she couldn’t allow Ilu to conquer all life. Especially not her vampire.

He was beautiful the way he moved, so fierce, especially with those thick black wings that didn’t slow him down at all.

Though she knew Nergal had to be more powerful than anyone down here in his domain, Khent, and even Rolf, seemed to be keeping up.

Though the vampires took more hits than Nergal did.

Val needed to concentrate, to think. As she did, she felt a spark of heat wrapped around her, the feel of her reaper protecting her. Ah, so that was what he’d done. Sneaky guy. When she’d given him a piece of herself, he’d returned the favor. Their bonding, perhaps?

She didn’t know how vampire mating worked, but it seemed he’d slipped some of his essence into her, strengthening her. Just as she’d merged with him when they’d made love. She missed that, feeling so close to another.

And not feeling possessed or taken over, but equal. One with Khent of the Night Bloode.

For all his bluster about lesser humans and being so superior, he didn’t let anyone else disparage her. And he had come down here to get her. She felt his purpose throbbing inside her, that band of protection around her soul so clear.

Closing her eyes, she let herself feel.

Ah, Valentine. What is it you do there? Ilu sounded curious.

Val needed to build rapport. Fast. I’m checking on my mate.

The one fighting Nergal?

Yes. Khent. He’s mine.

Thus he’s mine.

No. My…contract…was mine alone. Val paused. Do you have a mate? Was that it? Was Ilu lonely?

I do not.

My friend lost his. Talon’s been sad ever since. Vladimir killed her along with my parents. That’s why I’m down here. To kill him right back.

He’s already dead. And seriously depleted. Much of the beast has turned.

Into what?

I’m not sure. Ilu sounded puzzled. And that’s odd, because I’ve been alive for millennia. Though I slumbered, I was aware in a distant corner of my mind.

So you’re a god?

I’m awareness. Creation. Destruction. Almighty. I and we and no one.

Then why do you need me?

You ask excellent questions.

Val cringed as Khent flew through a wall of rock while Nergal followed him, tossing him back and knocking into Rolf.

Bodies tangled, and Rolf and Khent attacked Nergal together. But no one was laughing anymore, when before they’d seemed to be enjoying the battle.

When mankind was in its infancy, I developed kin, you might say. Sisters and brothers. Others like myself. But as the years passed, humans grew particular about their attachments, and my kind found ourselves drawn to them. Drawn more to their worship. I still don’t know why our dependence collided.

I didn’t like it, so I pulled away. But a certain group remained devoted to me. Ilu warmed with what felt like affection. You are one such devotee, a much distant ancestor of the first. Yet my dissociating changed me. Just as your worship changed you.

It turned us into necromancers?

I think so. I have always been on the cusp of worlds between. As I was before I was called to return.

Who called you? Vladimir?

That one? No. He’s too weak. Not like you. You hold a tiny piece of me inside you, and thus I’m able to be here. Now. In this new world. My realm vanished long ago. And now I’m here and determined to make things right.

Val didn’t like hearing that. But things are right now. We have magic and power, love and loss, challenges…

Love?

You must know love.

Perhaps. Describe it.

Val imagined Talon with his smiles, his tears, his devotion to Ava and to Val. Then she thought of her parents and the brief time she’d had with them. She could never forget her mother’s smiles and her father’s hugs.

Affection, yes, these things I remember…

Val felt a frisson of hope, that maybe she could talk Ilu into letting her go.

It was because I lost myself in this love that betrayal sent me away, forgotten, lost.

Images surged into Val of a massive tree surrounded by lush grasses, flowers, fruits and animals. A small brook rippled by into a larger pond, where creatures drank and frolicked. And life was plentiful and peaceful.

Until those with ill intent came. They destroyed. Tore up the earth. Slaughtering not for the sake of food but for pleasure. Corruption rotted what was once harmony and called forth Ilu, who joined in to wipe out the predators ruining such perfection.

For there will always be corruption, and I am justice to tear it out.

But I’m not corrupt!

They are. Ilu motioned to the demons and vampires fighting, to Nergal and Vladimir, who’d nearly returned to his full form.

They call me to this plane, so full of death and malice. As do the whispers of one who is coming closer. He calls on me to join him.

Val felt a push of something in Ilu’s words, but before she could make it out, Talon flew into the battle next to a winged, muscular woman carrying a…battle ax? The woman had long black hair and eyes so bright they shone.

Yet Val’s attention sought Talon and the way he zeroed in on Vladimir.

The staff. Where was it?

Where’s the Staff of Blight? she asked Ilu.

I have it right here. It will make a handy start to my takeover of this plane, I think.

No. You can’t.

Oh, but I can and will. What’s to stop me?

Me.

And me, Khent said in her head, alerting Valentine and Ilu to pay better attention.

Khent? You can hear me? She wanted to feel his arms around her, to kiss him and tell him all the things she hadn’t before.

His voice faded.

Ilu’s attention sharpened on Khent, who seemed different. His features were more refined, longer even.

“I’m here, Valentine.” He started up the stairs to the throne and paused a few steps below. “Ilu, I’ve come to take back my mate.”

“She is mine now, vampire. As you will be mine.”

“Think again.” He shimmered, and Val watched as Khent grew. And grew.

And grew into an impossible, magnificent black dragon. His eyes turned a glittery obsidian, a beast who carried death close. He stared down at her from his long neck. “Give me back what’s mine.”

Val couldn’t stop staring at the most beautiful beast she’d ever seen. Not to discount Khent when he was smiling.

He is rather handsome. Ilu stared and caressed his snout. “I feel the heat you seek to burn me with, dragon. And so I tell you, Valentine, where this is love, there is betrayal. For your mate would rather kill you than see me victorious.”

Wait. What? Khent?

He opened his mouth, his fangs massive. Then she felt it.

That first kiss of flame before he released the heat.