Page 32

32

DEXTER

I t was eerily silent. The stillness was punctuated by the faint hiss of the wind and the crunch of sand underneath our boots as we walked toward Demonic Watch Tower.

Jesper had a team of about ten supernatural agents, and that student shadowing him still clung to him, much to his clear displeasure. I felt for the guy, but it was part of his job or whatever. At least, it wasn’t my business.

“Demonic Watch Tower was used back in Kalista’s Second War. Back when we had to watch the skies for dragons,” Jesper told us, his voice stiff but clear. He had the dark magic relic in his hand as he walked. “We don’t know what to expect, but we’re sure it’s probably an ambush, so be ready for anything.”

Hunter walked ahead with him. “Where’s the ritual site?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “We only know it’s inside the tower.”

Pandora frowned at that, her brows bumping cutely together. She looked so fucking hot and badass today, but then, she always did. She wore tight leggings and a long-sleeved black top with her hair pulled up into a neat bun.

Fuck me. That outfit would look better shredded at her feet. I wanted her desperately.

“There it is,” Jesper warned us.

I took my eyes off Pandora for a moment, and my heart stuttered in my chest as we approached a dark gray stone tower that looked to be seeping with blood from the stone.

Why did that place look so fucking familiar?

My soul reached for Pandora’s, tightening the grip it had on it.

Pandora turned to me and laced her fingers through mine, squeezing. “You okay?”

I nodded, my jaw ticking. “I think I’ve been here before.”

We entered through the creaky wooden door, but as soon as we did, the wide open chamber smelled of sulfur and blood.

Everyone spread out, searching the tower, but there was nothing but a letter on the altar in the center. There was a spiraling staircase to the left that Jesper sent a few of his agents up to check out, but I couldn’t focus on anything but that damned altar.

My blood ran cold as a memory of one of my decapitations on that very altar slammed painfully against my psyche.

Poppy and Rod had laid me out on that altar and cut my head off for what I thought I remembered as the third time.

Nausea rolled over me as a cold sweat broke out on my skin. I stumbled to my knees, pain exploding from the kneecaps as they hit the ground. “Fuck.”

“This isn’t a ritual site,” Jesper called out. “It’s a base. They’ve been planning things here.”

Hunter was absorbed in some maps on the wall while Reed read through some journals.

Skel and Bram stood nearby as Pandora wrapped her arms around me, trying to soothe my obvious fucking freakout.

Past memories hit me like a wave of trauma. Beheadings, injections, broken bones, all of it rushed back.

“Dexter Shadowheart,” Jesper murmured, picking up a letter from the altar with a frown as he walked over and offered it to me. “This is addressed to you.”

I snatched the paper from Jesper and unfolded it. My eyes seared the page as I read the twisted words of the letter.

Dexter Shadowheart,

Do you really deserve my last name? I don’t think so. You made the wrong decision.

I’ve seen you fuck her, watched her shower, watched her fuck the others, and saw the entire thing with her and the chaos demon last night. She has a beautiful body, but Penny really fucked up her voice. Her moans just don’t do it for me like they do for you.

You all should really listen to the chaos manifestations more. There were several times I could’ve been caught, but then, you’re not the smartest, are you, Dexter?

The cult had no use for you, and neither do I.

You’re ruining the woman my mate birthed. She’s the closest thing I have to Penny. You’re all tainting her.

If you do not stop, there will be consequences.

I may not be attracted to her the way I was to Penny or the way you five seem to be, but she’d make a pretty doll, don’t you think?

You can still make the right decision by giving her to me.

Rod Shadowheart

Bile burned a line up my throat as rage sent me into a frenzy.

“Fuck!” I shouted.

My sanity fractured, and my magic slithered out of the cracks. My shadow magic exploded, shadow tendrils whipping around everywhere, slicing through the room, knocking everyone but Pandora away from me.

I had to fucking end that sick bastard now.

“Dude, calm down!” Skel yelled at me, trying to step close, but one of my shadows cut his face, breaking open his scar. “Fuck!”

Rod had seen her in her most vulnerable state— being intimate with us.

“Skel!” Pandora screamed, holding on to me tightly.

I would remove his eyes and feed them to him.

“Dex, get it together!” Bram screamed at me, sending Chaos at me, but my shadows sent him flying into the wall with a whimper.

Pandora deserved to kill him, but fuck, I desperately wanted to on her behalf.

“Dex, baby, come back to me!” Pandora’s voice shattered my rampage slightly, but I was fucking useless at keeping her safe from my father, clearly.

I had to kill him before he did anything else.

“Dex! Listen to my voice, okay? It doesn’t matter what the letter said. We’re going to get through this, okay?” Pandora’s shadow struck my large one, wrapping around it and soothing it in a way it’d never been before. “I’m safe. You’re safe. Everything is fine right now, okay? You’re the only danger here.”

Her soul reached mine and poured understanding and concern through our matebond.

It snapped me back to reality, and I gasped. My shadows sank back into me in a snap. “Fuck, Pandora...fuck! How did I not scent him? I—I’m so fucking sorry.”

Hunter bent down and picked up the letter, reading it. Vengeance magic sparked over his arms. “I get why you were so angry.”

“I’ve surpassed angry,” I snarled, carefully getting to my feet with Pandora’s help.

“We all have,” Skel growled as he and the rest of the guys read the letter over Hunter’s shoulder.

I winced at Skel and Bram. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt either of you.”

They shrugged me off.

“Already healed,” Skel told me.

“Chaos is fine,” Bram assured me.

“I made you use your shadow and go against mine.” I wrapped my arms around Pandora and pinned her against my chest, breathing in her caramel scent. “I’m so fucking sorry, trouble.”

“It’s okay.” Her arms wrapped around my waist. “I’m not scared of you or your shadows anymore.”

My heart bloomed with acceptance, and I blinked tears away from it.

“Fuck,” Jesper uttered, flipping through pages of an old tome. “My team found old, old plans upstairs. No dark magic anywhere, though.”

“What plans?” Hunter asked, but as Jesper showed him, he blanched. “That’s an ancient text. I can’t read it, but I know who might be able to.”

“Who?” Jesper asked.

“Nebula,” Pandora whispered as I let her go. She pulled him out of her bag, and he manifested.

“Take me to the text,” he hissed.

Pandora walked over, and they showed Nebula the text. “Oh, no .”

“What?” she asked, worry evident in her tone.

“Sybil’s plans are much, much worse than I ever knew,” he said, his disembodied voice echoing around us. “She wants to use the demons as a gateway to bring dark magic from the Veil and into Kalista. She plans to make demons the chosen species and will become the Veil’s mistress.”

Hunter translated for Nebula to Jesper, who had a horrified expression that matched everyone in this fucking tower.

“There is an altar in the Temple of the Veil,” Nebula hissed.

Hunter repeated this.

One of the agents said in shock, “That’s blasphemy! The only temple in Kalista is the Temple of the Fates!”

“It’s supposed to be,” Reed muttered.

“The temple will send dark magic lightning around the Demon Capital the same way it did in Demon Reform Academy when they shattered the protective wards. Once all demons in the Demon Capital are infected, she plans to rule over this territory as its mistress,” Nebula read. “Fates, she plans for this to happen on the twenty-fourth of next month during the new moon.”

Hunter relayed this to Jesper, who ran both hands through his hair in frustration. “We’re on a time limit. We need to tell Sabine.”

“The location for the Temple of the Veil is marked,” Nebula hissed.

“We will, but there's more. The location for the temple is in here,” Pandora murmured.

“Our spy couldn’t find that location.” Jesper ran a hand down his face. “Where is it?”

“It’s only known by Sybil and her inner circle,” Nebula stated with a hum. “It’s below the capital of the Demon Capital, but it’s been sealed away. She must have recently unsealed it. No wonder she’s been trying to conduct these rituals to regain power.”

Hunter explained that to Jesper, and his face paled.

Pandora’s power swirled through our bond before retching out of her in a plume of black smoke. It billowed forth, covering the altar that lacked dark magic—but must not have lacked souls.

It was as if her body had been submerged in ice sludge the moment her power touched the altar, and I couldn’t help but shiver from the feeling. Our matebonds with her gave us a glimpse of exactly what she felt, and it made my bones ache.

Reed gasped out, clutching his chest as he stumbled toward her. “Pandora!”

Hunter caught her just as she fell back, convulsing in his arms as her power parted her lips and maintained the large clouds covering the altar. “I got you.”

“What’s happening?” Jesper called out, worry bleeding into his tone.

My shadows crept around her power, but there was nothing I could do to calm it. I ate the pain she put off, but there was so fucking much of it.

I’d never been good at eating pain, and I fucking hated that for her. She’d been through so much shit, and I’d never been able to ease her of enough of it.

“That damned altar is doing this!” I hollered.

Agony stemmed off her in waves. My mind was going insane without being able to soothe her pain.

“How?” Skel asked, his power coursing through us as he calmed the fear seizing our mate.

Her eyes rolled back, and her face was screwed up in pure torment that reflected more than the fraction we felt.

“Memories,” she croaked. “Dark magic infected souls were… trapped in the altar. But there’s no lingering dark magic.”

“Shit,” Bram barked. Chaos manifested and jumped onto the altar, making it crumble even while it was covered by Pandora’s smoke.

Her power only wrapped tighter around the broken pieces of it, though.

Pandora continued to spasm violently in Hunter’s arms as we all surrounded her. I felt fucking useless— unable to help at all.

“It’s been used to sacrifice countless souls on,” Nebula hissed in a low, sad tone. “Pandora will be okay, but she’s being forced to witness the suffering from the souls who died here as she consumes them.”

“Infected…hurt…killed… sacrificed …” she hissed the words through bared teeth, her magic pulsing through the smoke. “So many.”

“What kind of altar does this?” Skel shouted, grabbing his hair with both hands.

“One made of dark maginite,” Nebula answered, and my eyes almost popped out of my fucking head at that.

Dark maginite was such a problematic crystal.

Pandora groaned as her magic left the crumbled altar and slowly slithered back down her throat as she gulped it down painfully. “Memories…worse than…pain,” she choked.

“Fuck,” I snarled, shaking my head as I forced my magic to chip away at the pain wreaking havoc on her.

“The souls are taunting her,” Nebula explained. “Sybil must have known she’d come here and hoped that the altar would react to her, overwhelming her with souls.”

“Not…overwhelmed,” Pandora gritted out, sweat slicking her body as she writhed in pain in Hunter’s arms. She tried to lean up, but another convulsion struck her as she clutched her belly.

“She needs to puke,” Reed murmured as we all helped her lean forward.

“Here.” Bram held an old trash bin filled with nothing but dust and dried blood in front of her, but it was better than nothing.

She gripped the rim and lurched forward, spewing streams of bile. She retched hard until she finally emptied her stomach. “Sybil Shaw took so many lives for so many years.”

We all helped her to her feet.

“You will be the one to kill her,” Nebula murmured. “You have to put an end to the suffering she’s caused.”

Tears flooded her red eyes as she nodded. “I will, Nebula.”

“I’m sorry you had to do that on your own,” Jesper said regretfully, a sad frown on his lips. “The relic wouldn’t work to aid you.”

Reed passed her a mint, which she popped into her mouth with a small smile.

“Thank you for trying, but it wouldn’t have worked because there was no dark magic. Only souls,” she told him before a jolt of anger hit through the bond from her. “What’s next?”

Jesper’s brow raised, but he answered, “There’s only one more ritual we are aware of before the one we found out about today.”

“When?”

“Two weeks at the Ice Factory,” he answered.

She nodded, holding her bag with Nebula close to her chest. “We’ll see you there.”

* * *

“Don’t,” my sister croaked. “Please, don’t hurt him. He’s only four. He’s your son!”

My stomach twisted with guilt like it always did. I was powerless, and I couldn’t save her. I was never able to save her.

“And you’re our daughter. We don’t hold much attachment to that,” Mother replied. “Both of you were born for Dark Veil.”

Selene caught my gaze again, and her gray eyes softened. “It’s okay,” she murmured, though we both knew it wasn’t. “We have each other.”

Before my world could shatter again the way it always did, I was ripped from my dream and thrust into Reed’s purple haze of a dreamscape.

Reed appeared in front of me with concern in his galaxy-like eyes as he was in full demon form. “I felt your nightmare through Pandora’s bond.”

“Fuck!” I ran both hands through my hair before letting my demonic form take over. My tail swished and sliced the air behind me as my shadows struck out around us. “I…thanks, Reed. I fucking owe you.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” He shrugged, stuffing his claws into the front of the hoodie he wore. “We’re family.”

“We are, aren’t we?” I pushed away the dread from the nightmare.

“Of course we are,” Pandora’s voice filled the dreamscape, and my heart thumped hard in response as she wrapped her arms around me. “Are you okay? I felt your panic through the bond.”

I loved the way she held me. She’d been the only one in my adult life to ever comfort me with a hug—and Selene was the only other one who cared enough about me to do it as a child.

She would’ve loved Pandora as much as I did.

I let my arms close around her and tugged her close, inhaling her scent like a starved man. “I’m better now. Thanks to you—and thanks to Reed for pulling me out of that damned nightmare.”

“Any time,” Reed promised.

“No one’s ever going to hurt you the way they did,” she promised me. “I won’t let them.”

“I feel guilty,” I admitted. “For not being able to save Selene from our parents.”

“Dex,” she said sharply. “You were a child . You were only four. Your parents are monsters, but you are stronger now. Poppy is dead. You’re going to kill Rod. You are not powerless anymore. You will get retribution for her murder.”

Fuck.

She was right—she was so fucking right.

I’d kill Rod Shadowheart and let his soul rot with Poppy’s wherever they ended up.