Bring Out Your Dead (6 page)

“
You are.”

“
No.” I pushed back on his
chest. To my surprise, he released me. My breath came hard and
rough, my heart beating wildly as I tried to regain composure. “I’m
sorry, Sebastian. I realize that I look like a
get your soul back free
card, but
there’s a big point you are missing.”

He watched me for a moment. “That is not an
issue. You are my Beloved. I feel it. I tasted it in your blood. I
know it in my heart.”

I said nothing for a few
minutes while I tried to sort through my tangled thoughts. If what
he said was true, then I had very little time to make a decision
that would change the path of my life. I hated feeling pressured
into doing anything, and here I was being asked to commit myself
body and soul to a man—a
vampire
—I’d just met. Could I do it?
Did I even want to try? He said my handicap made no matter in the
issue of Belovedness, but did he truly know that? What if we tried
and it failed? What if he were just using me, manipulating me into
giving him what he wanted without regards to the future? Did I
really have any alternatives? Salvaticus would be over soon… but
somehow, I knew that he spoke the truth. The demon had seen me for
what I was, and it would move heaven and earth to return to its
master with me as a prize. The man before me held the key to my
salvation, just as I did for him.

Sebastian said nothing as I wrestled with my
thoughts, simply holding me in a loose embrace, his eyes flashing
bluish gray lights that mesmerized me.

“
Very well, I will Join
with you,” I said finally. He needed a soul, and I could redeem it
for him. I would do it his way because the alternative was
unthinkable.

I didn’t want to die. Not again.

Chapter Four

“
What…er…do we have to say
something?” I asked, more than a little nervous now that I’d agreed
to bind myself to the man whose mere physical presence filled me
with a strange excited happiness. “Is there something I need to
swear to? Or is it like a ceremony?”

“
There are seven steps to
Joining,” he said solemly “The first two are marking and protection
from afar.”

“
The demon and the
mind-talking,” I said, recalling his soft voice in my head urging
me down the alley. I hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, but
I recognized it now for what it was.

“
Yes. The third and fourth
steps involve the first exchange of bodily fluids, and entrusting
the Beloved with the truth.”

“
That would be the kiss
and…well, I guess telling me who you are.”

He nodded. “The fifth step is the second
exchange.”

“
I assume that”—I waved a
hand to indicate the necking session in which we’d just
indulged—“qualifies?”

“
It does. The sixth step
is for the Beloved to overcome the darkness within the Dark
One.”

“
Oh.” I thought for a few
seconds, frowning as I ran over our conversation. “I’m afraid I
don’t quite see where we’ve done that.”

“
That’s because you
haven’t promised yet to assist me in bringing down the
Betrayer.”

“
Who?”

“
Adrian the Betrayer. The
man who sold me to Asmodeus.”

I gawked at him for a
second or two. “He
sold
you to a demon lord?”

“
Yes.” Sebastian’s eyes
grew as pale as a foggy dawn. “That is why I seek revenge against
him and his family. I swore my vengeance as Asmodeus drained my
blood away. Nothing but death will satisfy such a
betrayal.”

The urge to take him in my arms and comfort
him, to lighten the darkness visible in his eyes, was almost
overwhelming, but before I could act upon it, the door opened.

“
Sally told me to make
sure Sebastian doesn’t try to do something bad to you,” Damian
said, marching into the room with a pugnacious set to his
jaw.

Sebastian’s entire body tensed. I put a
warning hand on his arm. “Damian, we’re having a bit of an adult
conversation. Sebastian isn’t going to do anything bad, so you can
go back and tell Sally—”

“
She also said to tell you
that there’s a demon outside the house demanding to see you. And a
bunch of imps. She said she’s called Noelle already,
too.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and wished for
the sane, normal life I had when I woke up that morning.

“
There are also five
zombies outside with big signs, saying they need to talk to you
about being kicked out of Hyde Park.”

All right, maybe my life wasn’t so normal.
Still, it had been better earlier in the day…

“
To delay any longer is
folly,” Sebastian said, turning to me. “The demon is here. He will
fight to gain control over you. We must Join now.”

Damian wrinkled up his nose at us. “Ew.
Joining. That means you’re going to kiss her. That’s gross.”

I sighed at the boy. “Would you please tell
Sally that we’ll be right out, and tell Tim and his fellow sit-in
revenants that I will be happy to talk to them as soon as I can.
When did Sally say Noelle will be here?”

“
She said she caught her
on the tube, and it would only take a couple of minutes. Who’s
Noelle?” he asked as I gave him a gentle push toward the
door.

“
Our roommate who is also
a Guardian.”

Sebastian jerked, as if he was startled by
something. I shot him a curious glance, but his face was blank.

“
Oh. That’s
good?”

“
Yes, very good. If there
is a demon to control, Noelle is the best person to have around. Go
on now. We’ll be right out.”

Sebastian ground his teeth as he watched the
boy slowly walk to the door, his body tense and poised to strike.
“We must leave now, Beloved. We must Join and leave this
house.”

I touched his cheek, wondering how he could
live through such atrocities and still show so much control. “How
did you survive?”

His eyes flickered toward me. “Christian,
more of a blood brother than a friend, helped me track down the
Betrayer.” Sebastian’s expression darkened until his beautiful face
was a vision of stark vengeance. The sight of it chilled me with
frozen dread. I had seen such a look once before…and now to see it
on the face of the man to whom I had just promised to bind myself
was unbearable. “He later turned on me, throwing in his lot with
the Betrayer.”

“
Papa isn’t a betrayer,”
Damian said abruptly, standing at the door. His scowl was almost as
fierce as Sebastian’s. “He had to do what he did. Nell said he’s a
brave man because he let everyone think he was bad so he could save
people.”

“
The charmer is deluded,”
Sebastian snapped, turning back to me. “Christian claimed the
Betrayer was saving others by sacrificing me, but I know it was not
so. Christian forswore me to distract me from my plan.”

“
Uncle Christian would
never do that,” Damian muttered, glowering at us both. “He knows
Papa wouldn’t do anything bad like you say he would.”

“
No? The Betrayer skewered
me to the wall with a knife in the neck, nearly severing my head.
But perhaps you do not call a near decaptitation ‘bad.’” Sebastian
took a step toward Damian, pulling down the neckline of his black
sweater to expose a faint, ragged white line. I tightened my grip
on his arm and gently touched the scar.

“
No,” I said
simply.

Sebastian misunderstood me. “I will not ask
you to participate in the actual killing of the Betrayer—that act
is one I must do myself. But you understand now why I must seek
justice for the crimes committed against me. We have delayed too
long; we must leave now. We will go to Paris first—”

“
No,” I repeated, rubbing
my arms against the chill that seemed to leech out from within me.
“I understand what you’ve gone through. But I will not help you if
you insist on this path of revenge.”

Disbelief filled his eyes. “You will
not—”

“
No,” I said again,
lifting my chin so he could better see my determination. “If you
wish for me to Join with you, you must first swear to me that you
will release your oath of vengeance against Adrian and his family.
I will not lift one finger to help you otherwise.”

He swore softly to himself. “Why would you
deny me what is mine? Do you not think I have every right to exact
revenge for the betrayal?”

“
I think you have a right
to be hurt, yes. Angry, absolutely. Changed by your
experience—without a doubt. But I have seen firsthand what revenge
against another can do, and I will have no part in it. So make your
choice, Sebastian—either you have a soul and a Beloved, or you can
have revenge against someone who is probably just as much a victim
as you were.”

“
Papa was cursed by
Asmodeus,” Damian chipped in. “He didn’t have a choice. He had to
do what Asmodeus told him to do because his papa gave him
away.”

Sebastian growled something rude in French.
I gave Damian a narrow-eyed look of warning and made a shooing
gesture. With head held high, he nodded, and reluctantly left the
room.

I knew the second the door closed Sebastian
would start in on me about my demand that he give up his plans of
vengeance, but I haven’t survived as long as I have without
learning how to deal with men.

“
I think you’re incredibly
brave,” I told him as he turned toward me, clearly about to lecture
me.

“
Ysabelle—” He stopped,
frowning. “You do?”

I smiled to myself. Nothing distracts a man
like a bit of flattery, especially when it’s sincere. “Yes, as a
matter of fact, I do. You had to be incredibly brave to survive
being in the control of a demon lord and an attack that could have
severed your head. I also think you’re intelligent, charming,
and…well…sexy as hell, to be honest.”

He stood in front of me, his toes touching
mine. I held his piercing gaze, happy to let him see in my eyes
that I meant exactly what I said.

That puzzled him. His frown deepened. “Then
why did you just threaten to leave me unless I did what you
wanted?”

“
I told you why—I’ve seen
the effect of the sort of vengeance that you plan, and
frankly—”

“
Belle!” Sally swept
through the door, her hands on her hips. “
Le
demon
est à la
front door! And he wants
to
parler
with
you!”

“
Yes, I know. Damian told
me.”

“
Ysabelle?” A man’s voice
sounded muffled on the other side of the door. “Tim McMann here.
I’m sorry to bother you here, but you did say to come to you with
problems. Might I have a word about the sit-in? We seem to have a
spot of trouble with one of the participants.”

“
What sort of trouble?” I
asked, momentarily distracted from the grave decision Sebastian was
demanding of me.

“
It seems William here
inadvertantly ate two squirrels and a small ferret en route. He’s
fully willing to participate in the sit-in, but the others were
wondering if that’s quite proper since we are espousing the
nonflesh lifestyle.”

“
They were very small
squirrels,” another man said with obvious distress, clearly the
William in question. “Tasty, but not much meat on them. I’m still
hungry, in fact. Anyone want to pop into the McDonald’s for a quick
bite?”

I sighed and hung my head for the count of
five, wishing once again that I could rewind the day and start it
all over.

“
Ysabelle?” Tim
shouted.

“
I’ll be right there.
Don’t let him eat any more meat.”

“
I can stop any time I
want,” William yelled through the door. “I’m just a bit peckish
right now. Here, Jack, you doing anything with that
arm?”

A squawk followed, presumably from the man
named Jack. I rubbed my forehead and wondered how hard it would be
to fall into a little coma.

“
Ysabelle? We really could
use your help out here. William just bit Estabon and Jamal when
they pulled him off Jack. I believe he’s frothing at the mouth.
Surely there’s something we can do to save him?”

“
Brainnsssss,” came the
reply from the now thoroughly meat-poisoned William. I sighed
again. I hated to lose a client to meat.

“
Pull yourself together,
man!” Tim bellowed. A sharp thwacking noise followed, as if the
sit-in members were beating William on the head with their signs.
“That’s the very stereotype we’re protesting against! Remember what
we’re standing for! Ysabelle!”

“
Tie him up if you need
to, but don’t get within range of his teeth. Sally will show you
where there’s rope,” I answered, turning back to face
Sebastian.

The look of disbelief on his face was
priceless. Sally rolled her eyes.

“
Is Noelle on her way?” I
asked her.

“
Oui.
She’s coming
ici
bientôt
, just a tube stop away.
But—”

“
Beloved, we must go now,”
Sebastian said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a door at
the opposite end of the room. “We do not have time to delay any
longer.”

“
Just a moment, Sebastian.
I’m not moving until we get a few things straightened
out.”