“Is that what you are? A Princess?” Laughter danced with the light in his eyes.
“Go to hell.”
He pursed his lips then worked them together as though fighting his own words. “I wasn’t aware the fairytale was over.” He snorted a laugh.
I crossed my arms and shot him a look. “You’re in denial.”
“Denial? I’m the Prince of Greed. I don’t recognize denial.”
“I noticed.”
He laughed deep genuine laughter. The sound of it eased between my defenses, slid like honey across my skin, and fuelled the spark of my desire.
I looked away. Where the hell was Carol-Anne? Rolling my shoulders, I ignored Akil’s chuckles. I was more disgusted with myself than with him. After what he’d done, how could I let him turn me on so easily? I could blame my demon all I wanted, but the hunger for Akil wasn’t all hers. I thought of Stefan and welcomed the ice back into my soul. “Why is Levi both man and woman?” My voice sounded cold, hard.
Akil noticed my abrupt change of tone. He flicked his gaze to me, caught the warning on my face, and wisely looked away. “Why wouldn’t he be?”
I rolled my eyes. “You owe me answers. So spill.”
He brushed a thumb across his lips and leaned on the bar. The laughter had fizzled away, as had the touch of fire in his eyes. “I do owe you answers. You will need them if you are to survive Levi. He is the Prince of Envy. He appears in the form he thinks will offer the most coercion. Our vessels are tools. Think of it like camouflage. He exhibits a multitude of ways of achieving his desires.”
“Is that what you are, Akil? Camouflage for Mammon?” I pounced on the question, eager for information I could use. I’d been too long in the dark. Knowledge was my beacon now. I watched his reaction closely. The fractional narrowing of his eyes gave him away, but that was all. He masked it quickly with a smile that said I couldn’t possibly understand.
“Try me.” I said, as though he’d spoken aloud.
“You sense weakness, don’t you Muse?”
“What?”
“I’m wounded and weak, and you’re exploiting that fact.”
Is that was I was doing? “You think because I’m asking questions, I’m trying to screw you over?” Was this new weaker-Akil paranoid?
“You’ve never asked before.”
Before… Before when I had my head buried in the sand. Before, when I was trying to live a normal life, and he’d decided I wasn’t worthy of one. Before Damien reminded me of the pitiful creature I had once been. “I’m asking now. So answer me.”
He moistened his lips. “Our vessels are webs, designed to attract and entrap, so that we may consume.”
Consume? I filed that one away to process later. “Am I talking to Mammon or some sort of construct? Are you even real, Akil?”
He chuckled and smiled. “Am I talking to Muse the woman or the demon?”
“The woman. But I’m different. I’m a half-blood, demon and human at the same time. You’re just demon.”
“Just demon…” he echoed. “Mm…” He licked his lips and focused on his fingers tracing an invisible symbol on the counter. His fingertips scorched the wood.
I inclined my head, moving in closer. This was dangerous territory. I’d never asked Akil to explain himself. He’d always skimmed over the details of how the netherworld worked, and I’d blinded myself to the truth of my darker half. Things had changed. I was a tiny fish in a pool full of sharks. Levi had made that clear. I needed Akil to be straight with me.
“Do you really want to know?” He lifted his eyes. The fire was back. An amber hue ringed his darkening irises. Mammon was inside those eyes. He cast the liquid touch of his element around me, warming me through without moving a muscle. He licked his lips, slowly.
I swallowed and locked my teeth together. “Distraction tactics, Akil? Did I cut too close to the quick? Answer my question, is Akil real, or is he just Mammon’s puppet?”
He was on his feet and pressed against me so quickly I couldn’t prevent my sharp gasp. The taste of him, spices and warmth, danced across my lips and warmed my tongue. Liquid heat flooded my veins. I fought it, but the press of him nearly unraveled my control. Akil tilted my chin up. I flinched away. If he made me look into his, I wasn’t sure I’d escape. He caught my jaw and forced me to meet his dark amber-ringed eyes. He smiled a hungry smile and breathed in deeply. A shiver rippled through him. I arched against him, not wanting to give in, but struggling to hold on. He bowed his head and whispered against my lips, “You are more than capable of playing their games. Once Stefan is safe and I’ve removed Damien’s infusion, we have much to discuss.” He slowly shifted his hips, grinding against me. I inhaled sharply. He breathed me in. Mammon’s preternatural gaze burned through his human eyes.
“Let. Me. Go.” I didn’t want this. Damn, I wanted this. He’d hurt me on so many levels, screwed me up in so many ways, and all I wanted to do was pull him down and devour him whole. On the bar if we could. What the hell was wrong with me?
Damien’s seed chose that moment to pulse its dark poison through my chest. I tensed. Memories fluttered in front of my eyes. Cold slick hands on my scorched body. I splayed my hands across Akil’s chest and soaked up his warmth. Would Akil’s fire erase Damien’s touch? Could his warmth burn away the memory of Damien’s abuse?
“Did you think the answers would come easily?” He released me and stepped back a few strides. I slumped against the bar, head spinning, legs weak.
His gaze raked over me. “You were my responsibility, and I failed you.” He straightened his shirt cuffs. His tone had changed, his words colder somehow. His body too. He’d shut the emotions from his face. “I have much to make up for. Don’t I?” Akil, the man was back, and he wasn’t happy.
I wasn’t going to argue, not least because I was afraid my voice would fail me. “Yes.”
A
kil
and I walked in silence either side of Jerry’s generous bulk. Akil wasn’t a small guy at well over six feet tall, nor was he thin. He had enough physical muscle to make most women forget themselves. Jerry towered over him, all broad arm muscles and sturdy legs. He made Akil look like a lightweight.
Jerry had grumbled a greeting back at Carol-Anne’s club, and only once outside had I suggested he join us back at his clinic rather than wasting time explaining what awaited us there.
No more than an hour had passed inside the club, but the weather had turned. A bank of mist rolled in off the waterfront. In that hour, I’d faced a Prince of Hell who could summon my human body against my will—with a hand gesture no-less—and I’d learned that Akil was wounded, weak, and not the man I’d thought he was. Or was he? All things considered, the night could only get better. Right?
I knew the situation was about to take a turn for the worse when I heard the blip-blip of a police siren and watched the marked car race down the narrow street and take the turn into the same street as Jerry’s clinic. I swung a glance over my shoulder as a silver Nissan raced on by. I caught sight of the plates. An Institute car.
Panic tugged at my demon. My element simmered around me. Instincts kicked in, and my heart pounded. I didn’t stop to explain what the car meant and bolted into a run.
At the corner, before I could burst around the wall and run right into an Enforcer free-for-all, Akil grabbed me around the waist and hauled me back, pinning me against the wall.
“Hey!” I shoved against him, only to be slammed back again.
“Stop,” he hissed, leaning into me. “You can’t go running in there. Think about it. They know you’ve been in the netherworld. They aren’t going to welcome you home, Muse.”
I glared at Akil, watching the dusting of embers swirl in the irises of his dark eyes. “Stefan’s back there. If they take him...”
Two more cars buzzed by. Akil eased off me, but he kept a hand pushing on my shoulder. “I’ll distract them. You find a way inside, and get Stefan away from here.”
Could I trust Akil to do this? There was that word again: trust. I growled at him. What if he didn’t come back?
Jerry gave a grumble of agreement. “There’s a back door. We can slip inside while the Enforcers are preoccupied with Mammon.”
Jerry and Akil gave each other a nod of agreement, but I didn’t like it. Akil was already wounded. He might think the Institute people were impotent when it came to higher demons, but they lived and breathed their profession. One Enforcer wouldn’t be enough to bring down a Prince of Hell, but several might. There were ways to trap him. Subdue him. They’d like nothing more than to get their hands on a Prince.
“Akil...”
“Just get him to safety...” Akil released me, and without a second glance, he strode around the corner.
“Dammit.” I poked my head around the corner after him.
Police and Institute cars blocked the street. Blue lights strobed off the neighboring properties. Mist hung heavy in the air, smearing the lights and cushioning the sound of sirens. Jerry’s clinic had a thick crusting of ice covering its facade. That must have been what alerted them. I counted four Institute cars but couldn’t pick the Enforcers out of the crowd milling about the front of the clinic. If Ryder was there, he’d recognize Akil.
Akil sauntered closer. Nobody paid him any attention. A uniformed officer busied himself trying to keep a small line of bystanders back. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the public were listening to him, nodding enthusiastically. If he was telling them about demons, they were about to get some firsthand experience.
Akil stood at the back, three people away the front. He must have felt my gaze drilling into him because he turned a little, so I could see his smile, and then he let the man-suit fizzle away. Fire devoured his figure. Hue of orange and red firelight blazed higher. His human outline swelled. Much of the transformation was lost to my human sight, as it would be to those around him, but they’d see fire and flame. They’d feel the terrible crushing weight of power, sense it pulling the warmth from their bodies while at the same time blasting them with heat. Human senses would prickle their skin, hike their adrenaline as instincts kicked in.
It didn’t take long for the screaming to start. People ran, terrified of the monster in their midst. I had a moment to hope Akil wouldn’t hurt anyone, and then I wondered what on earth I’d unleashed
Jerry pulled me back just as the gunshots reverberated down the street.
“C’mon.” He led me through a pedestrian gate. With each gunshot that boomed through the air, I winced. Normal bullets wouldn’t kill Akil. They’d hurt his human vessel, but would likely bounce off his true form, if the heat didn’t melt them first. Knowing that he was impervious to bullets didn’t prevent me from worrying though.
Jerry strode ahead, weaving around trash cans, garage bags, and an old couch. I followed, listening to the bellowed orders. I heard fire roaring like an animal with its own hungers. Akil—Mammon—could thread fire through a needle. His control put mine to shame. I might have drained him of power, but I had no idea how to use it once it was in my possession. Mammon was a creature born of fire. A construct of pure energy. If fire could live and breathe, if it had a conscious, with needs and desires, it would be Mammon. I told myself that worrying about him was pointless. He could look after himself.
Jerry plucked a key from his back pocket and slipped it into the lock of the back door to his veterinary clinic. Frost dusted the entire door. Jerry gave me a ‘ready’ look. His warm breath misted in the bitterly cold air.
I rubbed my arms, nodded, and followed him inside. The darkness hit me first, and then the terrible teeth-chattering cold wrapped itself around me and sucked all the heat from my exposed hands and face.
“About now would be a good time to tell me what the hell is going on.” Jerry fumbled about in the dark ahead of me.
“The man we left in here, he’s a friend. Stefan’s a hybrid, like me, but he’s been in the netherworld for... a while.” My teeth rattled as I explained. I held out my right hand and coiled my element around it to ignite a flame over my palm. The warm orange glow spread a few steps ahead, far enough for us to see where we were going. Shifting firelight slid across ice-coated walls.
Jerry slipped and cursed. He grabbed at the doorframe leading into the waiting room and waited for me to catch up. I squeezed by him, hand held out in front of me and stepped quietly into the tunnel of ice that had once been a waiting room. The walls, ceiling, and floor gleamed. My firelight slid off the slick surfaces and bounced around the small room until it came to rest on Stefan slumped against the far wall. Had I not known any better, I’d have thought him dead. Legs drawn up, arms locked around them, hugging his knees to his chest, head bowed, he didn’t look real, more like a statue in a winter-garden. Cold, hard stone, frozen forever.
“What’s wrong with him?” Jerry whispered behind me.
“He can’t control his demon.” I kept my voice low. Moving closer, feet aching against the ice-covered floor, I crouched down in front of Stefan.
“What do you expect me to do about this, Muse?”
“It’s not what you can do... it’s what you have.” I lifted my enflamed hand close to Stefan’s face. Diamonds of ice sparkled in his hair. He looked brittle, like a fragile thing that might burst into countless pieces. Outside, the gunfire had tapered off in the distance. Either that or the thick ice had soundproofed the room.
Jerry shuffled behind me, and I sensed he’d left the room but couldn’t tear my gaze from Stefan. “Are you in there...?” I whispered.
I switched my flame to my left hand and reached my right out to lay my fingers gently on Stefan’s head, sliding my hand down his ice-smooth hair. A snap of power lanced between us, jolting my hand back and cracking the ice encasing him. His entire body jerked, a spasm riding through him, driving his head back and legs out. I gasped, reeling back, and landed on my backside with a jarring thump. The fire in my left hand snaked up my arm, recoiling from the cold and seeking my embrace.
Stefan opened his eyes and locked his glacial glare on me. His lips twisted into a sneer.
“Wait... Stefan... It’s me... Listen—just listen...” I was yammering, but he didn’t look as though he was in any mood for listening. Still human, barely, his power gathered around him. I couldn’t see it, but I felt its frosty bite nip at my flesh. “Stefan...”
“What have you done?” His demon voice grated through me, words spoken directly into my mind where my own demon snarled in response.
“I brought you home.” I stuttered. The air in the room had thinned, making it difficult to breathe. Frost dusted my clothes. The fire wrapped whip-like around my arm began to spit and hiss its displeasure.
“You brought
him
home.” Stefan got to his feet. Ice cracked and crumbled off his naked body.
I scrambled to stand, not wanting to be backed against a wall. “Listen, okay, Akil had to come back through—”
Stefan thrust out a hand, and I found myself pinned against the wall by a trident of ice. Two of its three prongs fitted neatly around the neck. I fought the urge to summon my fire, fearful of where any retaliation might lead the both of us. Between us, we had enough power to level a city. Stefan leaned into the trident, driving its prongs further into the wall. Ice clung to my neck. His boreal eyes pierced my defenses and scored my soul with rage. He could kill me. I hadn’t thought it possible. I’d thought he was still Stefan, the man who had saved me in more ways than one, but that man was gone.
Jerry jabbed the PC34 injector against Stefan’s arm. The sub-sonic jet easily pierced his skin. Stefan hissed, yanked the trident free, and rounded on Jerry. But as he took a step, his balance wavered. He reached for the wall, missed, and fell against it.
I knew all too well what it felt like to have your demon torn from your insides. He would experience a soul rendering agony that no physical wound could inflict. His demon would fight. It would sink its talons into his mind in an effort to cling on to freedom, but the drug would win, and those talons would slice through Stefan’s mind, ripping gashes in his consciousness that would leave him weak, disorientated, and so very vulnerable. I’d never forget it, and neither would he.
Stefan slid down the wall. Water dripped from above and poured down the walls. The source of the arctic temperature had gone. In the heat of a summer night, ice wouldn’t last more than a few minutes.
Stefan’s eyes, once so brilliant, dulled to a washed blue, almost gray. He looked at me, his crushed expression driving a lance of guilt through my chest. I’d done this to him. It didn’t matter that Jerry had been the one to administer the drug. It had been my idea. I’d done to him the same as the Institute had in the past, the same thing he despised them for. I’d taken from him the only strength he had. I’d betrayed him. Me, possibly the one person he trusted, the person who was meant to save him. I’d condemned him, and it was all apparent in his crumpled expression.
The unmistakable
thwoop thwoop
of helicopter blades beat the air outside.
“We need to leave,” Jerry said. “Muse. Now. We gotta go. Either leave him here for them, or we take him with us, but make the call now.”
“We take him,” I croaked, then reached down to slip an arm around Stefan’s waist and hook his arm over my shoulders. He didn’t protest, nor did he resist. Eyes open but unseeing, he let Jerry and me prop him up and carry him out the back door.