Ecstasy Unveiled (25 page)

Idess’s stomach lurched as the Neethul led them through rooms that seemed to have no purpose except to display the heads and a few other choice body parts, until they reached a long, dark hallway. At the end, a rolling vertical door opened into the largest room yet. In the center was a crude wooden trestle table, at which at least a hundred demons sat, some drinking from ale tankards, and others gnawing on bloody hunks of meat. The Neethul took a chair near the middle.

A lizardlike demon of unknown species stood at the far end. “Why do you request this audience?” he asked, his voice booming with an unnatural resonance, a trick of the room’s architecture, Idess was sure.

“I come for information about one of your clients. I must speak with the master known as Detharu.”

There was an explosion of talk, and the lizard-man gestured for silence. “Your request is ridiculous. You will therefore be killed.”

“I will speak with Detharu, or you will face my father’s wrath.” She locked gazes with the demon.

Lizard-man’s ominous growl vibrated the air. “I do not think you understand. No master can reveal the name of the one who entered into a contract with him.”

“I didn’t say I wanted a name.” At this point, even a sketchy description would be better than nothing.

Conversation ensued, and finally, the demon turned back to her. “The price for even the smallest kernel of information will be great.”

“And that price would be?” she ground out.

“You will become an assassin.”

They couldn’t be serious. The way Lore went taut beside her said they were. “I will not.”

One eyeless male stood up, his pasty skin reminding her of a grub. Or a maggot. His hands were encased in metal, with spikes at the knuckles. “One kill. Whoever we command. Just one. Agree or leave.”

“Don’t do it, Idess,” Lore growled in a voice so low she doubted the others could hear.

Adrenaline coursed through her veins in a stinging rush. She couldn’t do it. To kill like that… it would eliminate her as a candidate for Ascension. But she’d be eliminated if she lost Kynan, too.

“I cannot kill,” she said. “But I could serve in some other way.”

“Idess!” Lore squeezed her elbow. “Don’t.”

They all looked to the white-skinned one. “Agreed.”

Oh, God, what had she done?

He moved toward her, peeling off one of the gauntlets as he approached. When he was in front of her he smiled, a baring of tiny, sharp teeth. “For six months you will be mine.”

A seismic rumble rolled up from Lore’s chest. “Oh, no she won’t.” His arm hooked around her throat as he yanked her backward, and then there was an incredible pressure on her throat, and then… nothing.

The world went black.

Shit, shit, shit. Lore had really stepped in it this time. He sprinted through the Guild Hall, Idess in his arms, after knocking her cold with a modified sleeper hold. Deth’s furious shouts followed him. The demon was going to torture the ever-living fuck out of him for this.

Spurred by footfalls behind him, he kicked the outer door so hard it splintered, vaulted through it, and hit the portal at a run. When he emerged in what felt like slow motion into the killbox, he didn’t pause. And when his slave-bond lit up as if it was on fire, he breathed through the agony and ran harder, until he was safely shut into a Harrowgate. Panting and cursing, he tapped out the map until he arrived at the gate closest to his house.

Idess began to stir, and shit, she was going to kick his ass, too.

Freaking Grim Reaper’s daughter.

Leave it to him to get messed up with Death’s little girl. Fuck.

He exploded out of the Harrowgate and didn’t stop until he reached his front door. It was unlocked, as always, and fortunately, Sin wasn’t there waiting for him. The last thing he needed right now was her concern, lectures, or drama fits.

He laid Idess on the couch, but she’d awakened enough to squirm into a sit. “What… what happened?” She blinked up at him, her gaze a little glassy.

“I saved you from making a monster of a mistake.”

She blinked again, and then came to her feet so fast he had to take a step back. “You what?”

“I take it you remember?”

“They were going to tell me who is trying to kill my Primori!” she shouted.

He held up his hands. “You wake up grumpy. You’re not a morning person, are you?”

She gaped in outrage. “You… you—”

He palmed the nape of her neck, tugged her close, and kissed her. His assault tactics didn’t work. Her squeal of outrage and fists against his shoulders were his first clue that this might not be the best approach to the situation. The knee to the groin was the second.

He’d been prepared for that, though, and he’d stepped back and twisted, avoiding what would have been a painful blow.

“You son of a bitch!”

“What?” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You were mad.”

“I wasn’t talking about the kiss.”

He grinned. “Does that mean I can do it again?”

She stomped her foot. Actually stomped her foot in indignant fury. It probably shouldn’t have been cute, but it was. “Lore, this is serious!”

“I seriously saved you from Detharu’s service.” Rubbing his seared chest, he moved toward the kitchen and had to bite down on a smile at her huff of frustration.

“I didn’t need to be saved,” Idess said, following him into the tiny kitchen space.

“Yeah, you did. You were in way over your pretty little angel head.”

“I’m two thousand years old. I’ve been around the block, you know.”

He laughed. “Really? Do you have any idea what he would have used you for? Go ahead and picture him naked. Because he uses his assassins for more than just killing.”

“Oh… good Lord.” Her hand flew up to her throat. “Has he… does he…”

“I’ve been lucky.” He dug a glass out of a cupboard. “I think he’s afraid of me. None of his assassins can harm him with intent, but because just touching my arm can kill… he’s not taking any chances.”

She looked down at her jeans and brushed away some invisible lint. “Still, I would have worked out specifics with him—”

“He was going to brand you. When he reached for you, that’s what he was going to do. You would have had a handprint on your chest to match mine and it would have been too late to negotiate.”

Her mouth worked soundlessly. “Oh.”

“A thank-you would be nice,” he drawled, as he grabbed a jug of his rotgut out of the fridge. It wasn’t even cold. Damned fridge had shit the bed again. But then, he’d had the Kelvinator since 1940, just like the oven he never used.

“You couldn’t have warned me? You had to kidnap me instead?”

He laughed. “That, coming from you?” He splashed liquor into a glass and took a swig. “Want one?”

She hesitated, then shook her head. “Thanks, no.”

“You hungry? I have sandwich makings. I think. If you like peanut butter. And bologna.”

“As appetizing as that sounds, I’ll have to pass. Thank you, I’m fine.” She dragged her hand through her hair, tugging strands out of the ponytail, and sank back down on his couch. “Now what? I’m running out of ideas.”

“I have one, but it’s going to require Wraith. I need to contact the guys anyway, let them know that what’s going on could be about them instead of you.”

Lore’s plan for Wraith would be a longshot, though—he had no idea how effective Wraith’s mind-invasion thing would be on a being like Deth… assuming Lore could get the two of them together. And assuming Wraith didn’t kill Lore before that could happen. First, though, he was going to have to go to Detharu and take his punishment for stealing Idess. His chest was burning like a mother, and the pain was only hours away from holy-shit-I’m- going-to-die-debilitating.

In rapid succession, he slammed four more shots of alcohol to numb himself. He’d have to take his other edge off, too, the sexual one, so he’d be less likely to rage out during his torture. “Look, I have to take off. I’m just going to, ah, shower up and head out.”

“Where?”

“I need to see Sin,” he lied.

“I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not.”

Idess let out an aggravated breath. “I’m not going to let you go alone.”

“You’re afraid I’ll hunt Kynan.” Guilt put shadows in her eyes, and he cursed. “I said I wouldn’t.” An unusually powerful blast of heat in his chest made him grit his teeth. “You don’t trust me?”

“I want to, Lore. But this is important.”

“You can’t go. I’m going to the assassin den.”

“No need.” Sin’s singsongy voice came through the screen door. “I’m here for a friendly visit.”

Shit. “Now’s not a good time, Sin.”

She ignored him to plop down in the recliner. She was dressed like a street thug, in baggy pants with chains, a black hoodie, and sneakers. Even her hair was tucked up under a backward Yankees ballcap. “So. How’d it go at the Guild?”

“It didn’t,” Idess said. “Your brother felt the need to rescue me.”

Sin cocked an eyebrow. “Rescue her?”

Lore slammed another shot. “Let’s drop it, ’kay?”

“What did you do?” He should have known better than to expect Sin to leave anything alone.

“He knocked me out and threw me over his shoulder like some sort of caveman,” Idess said, and yeah, that was pretty true. “He claims that if he hadn’t, I’d have been branded like you two.”

Sin’s eyes widened, because she knew exactly what saving Idess had cost him. “Fuck,” she muttered, and gestured to his bottle. “Gimme.”

He passed it to her, and she swigged right from it. Dainty, his sister was not.

“I’m going to shower and go,” he muttered, and started toward the bathroom.

“But Sin is here,” Idess pointed out. “You have no reason to go to the den.”

Black eyes sparking, Sin planted the jug between her thighs. “Oh, he didn’t tell you?”

“Sin…”

She ignored his warning tone, but then, he didn’t expect anything else. “He seriously pissed off Deth by taking you away like that. He’s going to be tortured.”

Idess felt sick to her stomach as Lore ushered Sin out the door with instructions to bring Wraith back to Lore’s place. When he turned around, she stood, though not without effort. His couch must be a hundred years old, and if it had springs, they were dead. He truly didn’t care about his comfort. Or maybe he couldn’t afford nice things.

Or personal things, she noted with a frown. The walls were achingly bare. He had no knicknacks. Nothing that revealed anything about him—except what the lack of personal effects revealed about him; the house was set up so an intruder would learn nothing crucial about him or his sister. He could leave forever in a matter of minutes.

“Lore? Tell me what Sin said about you being tortured wasn’t true.”

He didn’t look at her as he moved toward the bathroom. “It wasn’t true.”

“You’re lying.”

“You told me to.”

“Damn you!” she snapped. “Stop!”

He halted, but he still didn’t look at her. “It’s all right, Idess. It’s not like Deth hasn’t done it before.”

The way he said it, as if it was no big deal because he was used to it, broke her heart. How many beatings did it take before one grew numb to it? Way too many, she suspected.

“I won’t let him do this.” She took a deep, ragged breath. “I’ll go to my father. I’ll—”

“Stop.” Lore rounded on her, but he didn’t look angry. If she had to pick a look, she’d say he seemed startled by her vow to help him. “I have to do this. I knew what I was getting into, and I’ll deal with it.”

“But why? Why did you do it? After what I’ve done to you, you should enjoy seeing me enslaved.”

“You really believe that?” He took a step toward her. “I’m risking Sin’s life by putting off what I have to do to Kynan. I’m doing that for you. Not for Kynan or my brothers. I took a knife for you. I’ve kissed you over and over when I never kiss anyone. So why the hell would I want to see you suffer?”

Her mouth dropped open in shock, and her stomach fluttered. Some idiotic feminine instinct she didn’t even know she had went tail-wagging stupid at his admission. “What are you saying?”

“I don’t know.” He swiped the jug of liquor off the coffee table, where Sin had left it. “Fuck. I have no idea. Forget I said anything.”

Fat chance of that. She moved closer to him, not wanting to miss even the slightest nuances in his expression when she hit him with her sudden suspicion. “You don’t kiss anyone because you’re afraid of killing them, aren’t you? Same with sex, right?”

He turned away again, and she grabbed his arm—the right one, protected by his thick leather coat. “Lore? Tell me.”

“Yeah, okay? Do you have any idea what it’s like to watch your partner drop dead because you got off? No,” he said nastily, “I’m guessing you don’t.”

“But if you wear a sleeve and glove—”

“When I climax, my power punches right through it.”

She thought about how he’d stroked himself to completion over her and realized that he’d pinned her legs between his and held himself away from her—to keep her from thrashing and accidentally touching his arm when he came.

“Have you ever been with a woman safely?”

He swallowed, and now probably wasn’t the time to notice how sexy his throat was as the muscles worked beneath his tan skin, but whoa. “Just once. A long time ago.”

“Did you love her?”

He snorted. “I didn’t know her name. She blew me in an alley while I braced my arms above my head against a building.”

“Oh.” She could have gone all day without knowing that.

“You disgusted now? Because I am. Not because I paid some whore for sex, but because I was so fucking lonely that I risked killing her. I told you, I’m a selfish piece of shit.”

It broke her heart to hear him say that, because she’d seen a lot of evidence to the contrary. “A selfish person wouldn’t have signed up to be a slave to save his sister. A selfish person wouldn’t have locked himself away from society in order to protect them. You’re not selfish. You’ve slipped, like everyone else.”

He threw the jug across the room, shattering it against the wall. “My slips kill people, Idess!”

She looked down at his scuffed hardwood floor, at the wetness spreading across it like spilled blood. “Have you ever loved anyone? Besides your sister, I mean.” Say no.