Dark Solace (4 page)

Theo pulled me close. “Danial and Devlin are
going in two weeks to meet with Samuel, Perseus, and Zane, to head
them off.” He paused. “Michael has expressed an interest now,
too.”

Theo’s tone was hateful.

“They want Stephen’s files on you. The
bastards are going to keep trying until they succeed, or she
dies—”

“Stop, please,” I whispered. “I don’t want to
hear anymore. Please.”

“Last time, I never said anything to you,”
Theo continued. “I didn’t want to face that something might happen
to me. So I stupidly thought that if I didn’t talk to you about it,
it wouldn’t happen. I don’t want you to go through what you did
before.” He paused. “There are documents in our safe, Sar, in an
envelope marked with your name. Everything you need to access our
money is in there. The account numbers, everything. Your signature
and the documents will be enough, though you’ll need to make sure
you are signing the right names, to get to some of the stashed
money.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“I think that’s everything,” Theo concluded.
“I told all of this to Danial like last time. He said he would take
care of you, if anything happens tomorrow night—”

“Please,” I said, putting my finger to his
lips. “I understand. I’m grateful you told me this, Theo. But you
are going to come back.”

“Yes, I am,” Theo said hugging me tightly.
“Because I love you so much I’d crawl out of Hell to get to you, if
I had to.”

“You are not going to Hell,” I said, kissing
him. “You are coming to Heaven with me.”

“Sar, I’m probably not going to Heaven,” Theo
said sadly. “I’ve killed too many people.”

“Then wait for me, if you go first into
death. Meet me by the river Styx, and I’ll bribe the ferryman to
take us to the same place, no matter if it’s Hades or Heaven.”

Theo stood up with me in his arms, and gave
me a long loving look. “Come with me, you strange woman of mine.
I’m ready for bed.”

“Are you going to purr for me?” I said
seductively, gently lifting Devon’s limp sleeping form.

“Maybe later,” Theo replied huskily, his arm
trailing down my shoulder to lightly brush my breast. “But first
you’re going to purr for me.”

Chapter
Two

I awoke about eight, the first thought in my
head that it was the day of the fight. Theo was still asleep, one
arm thrown across me, his deep even breathing the only noise in the
room. I kissed him softly, and got up. Devon was still asleep in
his crate at the bottom of the bed.

“What time is it?” Theo asked groggily.

“About eight,” I said, pulling on my blue
velvet bathrobe. “Want breakfast, or you want to wait?”

“I need more sleep,” Theo said seriously,
rolling on his back. “This wild woman I met last night kept me up
at all hours of the night—”

“I remember it was your idea,” I said
teasingly. “I said I was tired at one a.m., but you said—”

“I don't remember it that way,” Theo said,
grinning at me. “I remember—”

“Hush,” I said sternly. “I’m going to go and
feed Devon. But when he gets his nap late this afternoon, I’m
coming back in here to refresh your memory.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Theo said
happily, stretching. “But first you can make me breakfast.”

That day was perfect. We didn’t do anything
extraordinary, but we spent it together, doing things that mattered
deeply to us. We had breakfast early, sharing some with Devon.
Watching him gobble it down, I was tempted to tell Theo not to give
him so much, but I said nothing. If Theo somehow didn’t come back,
I wanted him to have the memory. Devon would recover from an upset
stomach.

Later, after breakfast we watched V for
Vendetta and my favorite movie, the animated version of The Hobbit,
with Devon sleeping on Theo’s lap.

“Why do you like this, again?” Theo said
curiously, as he sat through it with me.

“Because Bilbo was a hero,” I answered. “He
could have sat in his house and had a perfectly good life. He had a
lot of chances to stay out of struggles or to run when the going
got tough. He always chose instead to act, no matter what it cost
him. He was the one who understood life best, because he didn’t
care about what people told him he had to do, or about what might
happen to him. He did what he thought was right, even though he
paid a heavy price for it. That’s true bravery: to be afraid, to
not want to do something, and to do it anyway, because it’s the
right thing to do.”

“You get all that from watching this?” Theo
said, giving me a disbelieving look. “The trilogy of movies made
with real actors are much better, and go into a lot more
detail.”

“I’ve read the book many times,” I replied.
“The book is like the movies that were made later, and it’s true,
they’re better. But I grew up with this. It inspires me.”

“Then you feel about this like I feel about
V,” Theo said contentedly, giving me a kiss. “I never knew that.”
He kissed me again. “I’m glad I do now.”

We spent our last hours in bed, just holding
each other, Devon asleep in his crate. I told Theo I loved him many
times. There were so many other things I wanted to say if this was
the last time I saw him, but I couldn’t say any of them, because I
needed to be strong for him.

At nightfall, Theo dressed in dark clothes,
loaded his gun, and strapped on his body armor.

I looked at him a little skeptically. “Will
he have armor, too?”

“We’ll probably take it off,” Theo said,
seeing my look. “Usually this type of fight is hand to hand, with
no protection, just a knife, sword, or a whip.”

I hugged him hard suddenly, and he hugged me
back. “I won’t be back before one, Sar. Don’t start to worry until
three at least. And if you don’t want to wait alone, call Tears,
and he’ll wait here with you.”

I couldn’t do that. I had to wait for Lash to
call my cell. Otherwise there would be a phone record Theo might
someday see. “I’ll be waiting with our son,” I said, as confidently
as I could. “Be careful.”

Theo kissed me and left. I watched him back
out and drive off, hoping the transmitter was working. Lash hadn’t
told me to flip any switches on it, not that there had been any
obvious ones.

As I watched his tail lights fade, a lone
headlight powered on in the gloom of my barn’s long shadow. Then
came the noisy growl of a Harley as a small dark figure astride a
black motorcycle sped off into the night after Theo.

Lash was holding up his end. I’d better
decide what to do about Devlin to hold up mine. But what to say
when I showed up at Hayden tomorrow? Dev would be suspicious. It
had been too long to just say I missed him, though that was true. I
couldn’t tell him I longed for him, that I hadn’t been able to wait
another day. It had to be something good. Devlin’s ego would be
crushed to hear his best friend had bribed me to take him back. He
had to buy what I told him completely. That would be easiest if I
told him what he wanted to hear most. But was offering to take
another Oath really what he wanted?

That line of reasoning brought me to the
question that had bothered me for a while now: why had Devlin made
me take an Oath that he had broken so casually? He’d gone to so
much trouble to claim me as his own. Maybe it was the old reason of
philandering men everywhere: he had simply thought he wasn’t going
to get caught.

To Hell with trying to plan, or write any
kind of script to say. I’d just go tomorrow night and tell Dev I’d
give him another chance. And that if he screwed up, it would be the
last one.

* * * *

The hours passed by like years. I watched
some movies, but couldn’t keep my mind on them. I lay on the couch
with Devon sleeping on my lap, dozing fitfully for minutes at a
time. I’d wake, straining my ears, sure I’d heard a sound. But it
was never Theo.

Finally, near one in the morning, my cell
phone rang. I answered on the first ring. “Hello?”

“Theo’s alive, Sar,” Lash hissed.

I sank down to the couch, so relieved I let
out a sob.

“He beat Robert, killed him,” Lash continued.
“It’s over. He’s taking his time now with the remains, making a
mess to photograph before he incinerates it. That’s good. He
shouldn’t be challenged again for a while.”

“Thank you.” I said, thinking Lash had made
out like a bandit. “I’m glad you were watching—”

“I did more than watch,” Lash hissed. “You
were right to take our deal, Sar. Must be supernatural intuition
from all that demon blood in your veins.”

Ice water went down my spine. “What are
you—?”

“There were others lying in wait at the old
machining shop. Ten weres in all, all with full body armor, and
automatic weapons. They were getting into position as Theo and
Robert were stripping off their armor for their fight.”

“The Harvesters?”

“Yes. Satar was there, leading them.” Lash
paused a half second. “It was hard killing them all quietly, but I
don’t think Theo noticed anything. I paid Titus to give me some of
his blue fire, to take care of the remains. There are no bodies to
find. Titus thought it was for another job I have coming, so he
won’t think anything of it.”

So it was Lash who took care of Devlin’s
business, of at least some of the killing that needed doing.
Shudder.

“Tasha’s father had sent them,” Lash
continued. “I made Satar call Karl, made him tell Karl that he’d
best forget his daughter, that she was dead. That it was me who
killed her, not Theo. That if he was still looking for vengeance,
he knew where to find me. And if he tried for me, I’d be coming
back to Russia to kill him.”

“You killed Tasha?” I whispered.

“Yes,” Lash hissed back, his easy reply
making me shiver. “It was business, Sar, just like it is sometimes
for Theo. She was scared enough of me that she told me everything,
without me even touching her. Her death was a quick one, quicker
than she deserved, after all she had done.” He paused. “My end’s
done now, Sar.”

Not by a long shot. “What did you mean about
going back to Russia to see Karl?” I asked sharply. “When were you
there?”

Lash swore.

“Tell me, Lash. I gave you my word. I’ll
stick to it, so long as you tell me the truth.”

“The truth is that Devlin sent me to look for
Theo more than a year after he went missing. Danial asked me to
from the first, but I refused. Devlin finally asked me to, when he
saw how crazy not knowing was driving his brother. I never expected
to find Theo. It had been so long since he had disappeared. But it
took me only a month to follow his trail. I found him in
Russia.”

I couldn’t speak, I was too furious.

“Sarelle, listen to me,” Lash said in a
dangerously soft tone. “Theo had already been bespelled. When I
found him that night, he was in bed having sex with that girl. I
heard him tell her he loved her, that he wanted to be with her
always. When I called Devlin and reported everything to him, he
told me to do nothing. To just come home, and leave Theo
alone.”

“Why?” I shouted, tears falling from my eyes.
“How could you find him and not tell—?”

“Because I’d found Theo, and he wanted
clearly not to be found,” Lash answered. “There was a phone there
beside the bed they were on. He could have used it to call you or
Danial anytime. He didn’t want to come back, or have anything to do
with his old life. Devlin was worried about you. He thought that
once you knew, you might be upset enough to lose your baby. You
were pregnant then with Theoron. He couldn’t even tell Danial, as
Danial wouldn’t be able to keep it from you. So it was better that
no one knew, that everyone thought Theo was dead.”

I rubbed my eyes. “Maybe you’re right.”

“Sar, Karl will not be bothering Theo again,”
Lash hissed. “Robert is also dead. Theo is as safe as he’s going to
be.”

“What about the one that you made call
Karl?”

“After he finished the call, I killed him,”
Lash hissed. “I wasn’t going to leave Satar alive. He would have
gotten some more weres and come back again, this time for me.”

That was a relief. “Good,” I whispered.

“Sar, I’ve kept my end of the bargain,” Lash
reiterated coldly. “Keep yours. I will be waiting for you at Hayden
after dusk. Be there tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there,” I said softly. “Thank you,
for what you did.”

Lash was quiet for a moment. “You’re
welcome.” Then there was only a dial tone.

I hung up the phone, and got the towels
ready. By Lash’s description, Theo would be a mess.

Theo showed up at three. He called from
outside the door and asked for the towels. When I let him in, he
dropped his bloody clothes, and headed for the shower. I put his
jeans, shirt, T-shirt, jacket, and underwear in a garbage bag with
his shoes, then took the bundle out to the garage to have him burn
it later with white fire.

After his shower, I sewed him up like before.
The older wounds had mostly healed, but some of the stitches had
ripped in his fight with Robert. I redid those, then saw to a few
new nasty wounds, lamenting that I’d need a trip to the sewing
store for new needles at the earliest opportunity.

“These will heal,” he said as I sewed. “But
they’ll take a while. The bastard had were poison on his
blade.”

“Wasn’t he were?” I asked, carefully sewing.
“What if he cut himself on his blade by accident?”

“Werecoyote,” Theo spat. “I gave him some
poison, too, when I cut him. It’s standard practice, Sar, in a
challenge.” He paused. “Robert was good, very good. He didn’t make
any stupid mistakes. It was close a few times.”

As I applied bandages to the sewn places,
Theo called Danial and left a message on his cell to say he was
fine, and that we were coming back tomorrow.

“Don’t you want to stay here?” I asked,
surprised.