Page 66 of Siren’s Mark (The Siren’s Mark Duology #1)

ZANE

The doorbell rings as Ava grabs a beer for Kieran from the fridge. As expected, it’s Finn, in his go-to navy varsity jacket over a grey t-shirt and jeans.

“Come on in, mate,” I say, gesturing inside.

“Oi, whole gang’s ‘ere!” he says, opening his arms to invite Kieran in for a hug.

“C’mere you beautiful bastard!” Kieran says, jumping over the couch and pulling him in.

“Hey Finn,” Kami says with a smile. He separates from Kieran and greets Kami, then turns to Ava.

“Ava, lovely to see you again,” he says, spreading his arms again for a hug.

I feel a creeping displeasure as his body touches hers.

Finn has a lifemate. A mate for life. He is not interested in mine.

A small growl exits my lips, but quietly enough that no one seems to hear before Ava and Finn separate.

I swear I used to have self-control, but you’d never know it now.

“So why the secrecy? I feel like I’m in a Bond film,” Finn says as we all take seats around the coffee table. “Based on your messages, I assume we aren’t gathered for a birthday party.”

“Unfortunately no,” I say. “An old ‘ friend ’ is back.”

“So by your tone, I’m hearing… not really a friend,” Finn says with lowered brows.

“Asmodeus,” Kami adds.

“Bloody hell,” Finn says, his mouth falling open and his eyes widening.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Kieran says.

“He found Kieran at Pike’s and was asking about Ava and me,” I explain. “He used his powers over Kieran to try and force it out of him.”

“Christ!” Finn says, quickly bringing a hand to his forehead and shoulders to make the sign of the cross.

“He didn’t tell them,” Kami mutters, her eyes glancing to Kieran before quickly falling to the floor.

“Hey, you’re leaving out the part where I bit off my fucking tongue to save these two like a fucking hero,” he says, grinning as he gestures to Ava and me.

Finn’s eyes grow wider still and his brows raise in horror.

“Heroes don’t call themselves heroes,” I say. He responds by holding up his middle finger and giving me a glare.

“Okay, I think we’re getting off track here,” Ava says.

“Ava’s right,” Kami says. “We know he’s here. We know what he wants. Now, what the hell are we going to do about it?”

“And what he wants is Zane and Ava?” Finn asks. “Why?”

Kami looks at me, as if to ask my permission to explain, so I give her a slight nod.

“When we were young, Zane and Asmodeus were both interested in the same woman—Ilen,” Kami says.

I look to Ava and notice her slightly shift in her seat. She stares at her hands as Kami speaks.

“Well, we didn’t know per se, but we had a feeling,” she continues. “It was his classic M.O., the mysterious deaths of a woman’s suitors and all. He was always one for controlling things from the shadows. But she was pretty and we were young. Zane started, well, um… sleeping with her.”

My head falls into my hands. Ava strokes my back and gives my arm a tight, reassuring squeeze. In one simple touch, it’s as though she has lifted all the weight off my shoulders.

How did I ever live without her?

“Anyways,” Kami says. “She also had a fiancé—Count Krisztian Schauberg, total d-bag. The spineless bastard, he… he killed her.”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath as I try to fight off the flashbacks.

“Oi,” Finn says softly. “That was not your fault. Humans can be… well, they can be fucking monsters. You aren’t responsible for what they did.”

“That’s not the whole story,” I say with a heavy sigh.

Ava turns to me in confusion. I knew Kami didn’t tell her everything. Honestly, I did my best to hide it from Kami too, but I’ve always wondered if she knew and just never said anything.

As I look at Kami, she gives me a soft, knowing look that tells me we didn’t have as many secrets between us as I had hoped.

“I killed him,” I say, my voice low and flat. “I killed Krisztian.”

I’m terrified of what Ava will think of this new information. Will she now see me as the monster I know myself to be? I can’t bear to look at her. I don’t want to live with the memory of what it looks like when she falls out of love with me.

I feel a hand at my back, that same familiar gesture of comfort. She rests her head on my shoulder and the tightness in my chest instantly subsides.

“For Asmodeus, that was an unforgivable offense,” Kami adds. “He was angry, but had no one to take his rage out on. So he did what in his mind was the next best thing: he burned the city to the ground.”

Kieran and Finn both look at me with solemn faces and uncharacteristic silence.

I look to Ava, who is looking up at me with the same love and devotion as always. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve considered that my sins may not be so unforgivable.

“We had already left town,” I say. “I thought I had covered my tracks. Now and then, I would hear rumors about Asmodeus—his new lovers, acts of gruesome torture—and some of them would mention his interest in me. It was never more than a passing thought, only that he was asking about me or keeping an eye on me. After decades passed, I got the impression he had let go of his grudge.”

“Asmodeus never lets go of a grudge,” Kieran says.

“But why now?” Finn asks. “What changed?”

“Ava,” Kami says, confirming my worst fear.

“Me?” Ava asks. “What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything,” Kami says. “Asmodeus likes to think of himself as a sort of patron saint of marriage.”

“What?? Marriage?”

“He likes to claim that he is responsible for the modern institution of marriage,” Kami explains. “It’s bullshit, but he’s one of the oldest living beings so it’s not like anyone can question him.”

“But what does that even mean?” Ava asks.

Fuck. I don’t even want to think about this.

“Since he’s the demon of lust, he feels that he’s entitled to a taste of every newly married woman,” Kami says. “Basically he’s a fucking creep.”

“But we’re not married,” Ava says, gesturing between us.

“To him you are.”

She takes Ava’s wrist and turns it over, tracing the lines of her mark beneath her tattoo.

A growl rumbles through my chest at the uninvited touching and Kami pulls her hands back.

“To Sirens, that’s as meaningful as marriage. Maybe more,” Kami says. “And it tells Asmodeus that Zane has a vulnerable spot.”

“So he wants to—what—have sex with me?” Ava asks skeptically.

“I can’t fucking talk about this anymore,” I interject. “Can we get to the part where we throw chunks of him into the ocean?”

“If only it were that easy,” Kami says, pulling an old book out of her purse. “This was not easy to find, by the way.”

“What’s this now?” Finn asks.

“It’s a very old bible.” Kami sets the book down on the table. “Let’s just say it’s got a lot in here that the modern-day version doesn’t.”

“Like Adam getting his bone on with Steve?” Kieran asks.

“Like how to kill Asmodeus.” She smirks at him and opens to a page with an illustration of Asmodeus himself. He hasn’t aged in all these years.

“ Demon of lust …” Kieran reads over Kami’s shoulder. “Blah blah… penchant for vengeance … Kings of Hell … Wait, does this say the woman was marrying her cousin because he had cousin-dibs? This is the kind of shit happening in the Bible and they say demons are the bad guys?”

“Give me that,” I say, pulling the book toward me. I scan its contents for any indication of how to kill Asmodeus.

He is known as the king demon of lust, the originator of fornication and adultery.

…Sarah had been married seven times, but the evil demon, Asmodeus, killed each husband before the marriage could be consummated.

…the progenitor can only perish at the hands of his progeny.

I pause a moment to parse the sentence.

“You read it?” Kami asks.

I nod, narrowing my eyes as I re-read the passage.

“Come on then, share the secret!” Kieran says.

“He can only be killed by a dagger to the heart,” Kami says, her eyes fixed on Kieran, “in the hands of an Incubus or Succubus.”

Kieran’s jaw drops and his eyebrows raise. For once, he has no witty comment.

“Oh helllll nooo,” Kieran says. “I mean, I love you guys, but how the fuck am I supposed to kill someone who’s a fucking million times stronger than me and has the power to control my every move?”

“Well, that,” Kami says, “is the big question.”

I grab everyone a round of drinks from the kitchen before returning to the living room where Kami, Finn, Kieran, and Ava sit looking perplexed and defeated.

“Is there a way to sever your connection to Asmodeus?” Finn asks.

“Don’t you think I would’ve done that already if I could?” Kieran replies.

“What we need is a plan,” Kami says.

“What we need is a miracle,” Kieran replies.

Kami rolls her eyes and ignores his comment.

“Well, first thing we need to do is protect Ava,” Kami says. “I think she’s gonna need some immortal protection until we figure out a way to get rid of Asmodeus.”

She’s right. Ava is the priority.

“Guys, I know I’m a human,” Ava says, “but I can’t expect you all to uproot your lives over me.”

“Ava, you’re so sweet, but this isn’t just about you. Asmodeus is a danger to everyone he encounters. If he’s in town, no one is safe. We all need him dead,” Kami says.

“She’s right,” Finn says. “Not that any of us would let him hurt you, but one way or the other, Asmodeus is a major threat to all life. Burning down a city is just a whim for him. His powers are nearly limitless.”

“Not making me feel better about being your sacrificial lamb here,” Kieran says.

“Sorry,” Finn replies. “I think we’re all in over our heads here.”

“Why don’t you bitch-slap him with your seal tail, huh?” Kieran jokes.

Finn lets out a laugh.

“You know I would support you guys,” he says. “But I’m pretty useless in battle, unless you wanted me to seduce him. Though I doubt my powers would work on him.”

“Seduce him?” Ava asks. “ That’s your power? Is every Immortal’s power something to do with sex?”

“No, love,” I say. “Us kindred spirits just tend to hang around together. In Immortal culture, not everyone gets it. But Sirens, Selkies, Encantados, Satyrs, Nymphs—we understand each other, so we tend to be friends.”

“Oh, okay,” she says with a nod. “I was starting to think the supernatural world was just really kinky.”

Kieran and I burst into laughter, joined shortly after by Kami and Finn.

“You have no idea,” Kieran says with a smirk.

“So then what are our options?” I ask, steering the conversation back to our goal.

“Well, I have a lead on some, uh… demonic handcuffs,” Kami says. “We could basically use Kieran as a weapon.”

“If you wanted me in cuffs, gorgeous, all you had to do was ask,” Kieran jokes. Kami instantly whips a throw pillow at him and he dodges.

“And we’re going to need a lot more firepower than we have now,” I say.

Kami nods.

“I might have something for that,” she says. “I’ll let you know.”

“Then what?” Kieran asks. “Duct tape a dagger to my hands and jab me at him like a demon swordfish?”

Finn chuckles.

“Pretty much…” Kami mumbles. “We’ll have to work out the finer details.”

“But Asmodeus will know whatever you plan, won’t he?” Finn asks. “He can just compel Kieran to sell you out.”

“I really rather not bite my tongue off again,” Kieran says. “To say that was unpleasant would be an understatement.”

“We could not tell him the plan,” Ava says.

“True,” I say. “But at this point, he already knows part of it. We can’t take back what he already knows.”

“But you can, can’t you?” Ava asks. “What about the stuff that made you forget me?”

“Lethe!” Finn says. “It’s brilliant.”

“So we need lethe, which we’ve already got,” Kami says. “Some handcuffs that can hold back a demon. And then we just need to find a Fury.”

“A Fury??” I repeat.

If her plan is what I think it is, I’m really not gonna like it.