Life Cycle (25 page)

They all made faces. It was just as well. As strong
as The Cycler had become, odds were bad any of his succubi could
successfully do it, anyway.

“So that means I’m going to need demons to throw
distractions at him, vampires to drain him, and magic users to
block him. He’ll be weaker during the ritual, but he won’t be dead.
I don’t want to make the mistake of underestimating him. This whole
time he’s led us around on a leash, not worrying we’d catch or stop
him. I’m tired of games.”

Anthony looked like he was going to protest again,
but instead he sighed and said, “I’ll gather some vamps and my
magic users.”

“So you don’t need us?” Cole asked.

“You’re welcome to join us,” Cain said, “but I don’t
need any shifters in this fight. Therians can stay out of this if
they like.”

“What about Jane?”

The demon knew Cole wouldn’t stay behind if his girl
was fighting, and werewolves might get in the way this time. Jane
was young anyway. “She can sit this one out, too.”

“I want you to stay at the penthouse until we get
back,” Dayne said to his werecat.

“Fine by me,” Greta said. “But be careful. Don’t be
on the front lines.”

“I can’t make promises,” the sorcerer said.

In reality, Cain’s plan was probably overkill, but he
was taking no chances when it came to Tam. He’d given up pretending
he didn’t have feelings for her. He’d deal with that—or go back to
denial—when she was safe. He was sure they’d have a screaming match
later to make everything feel normal again.

Chapter Fifteen

The light from the full moon shined down on Tam
through the opening at the top of the cavern. Jack had tied her
down and was getting all his carving tools and magical
accoutrements ready.

He looked up at the light pouring in from the
opening. “Just like old times.” He whistled a jaunty tune as he
lined up his knives. “I would say ‘this won’t hurt a bit,’ but
there should be honesty between us in these last moments. Don’t you
think, my dear?”

Tam gathered saliva in her mouth and spit on him as
he walked past. He just laughed.

“Nice try. But we’ve made it this long without
killing each other, I intend to get the most out of this ritual by
doing it right. The moon only needs to move another fraction and
we’ll be ready to begin.” He was more chipper than she’d seen him
since he’d taken her. For the most part up until this point, he’d
kept her well fed, keeping her in a cage while she slept, but
mostly he’d just watched her with disgust and glared—still not over
the demon lover thing.

She’d hoped she’d dream about Cain, but no dreams had
come. Did that mean they weren’t meant to be? Maybe it hadn’t been
long enough since he’d done it. Maybe her shields were blocking it.
Maybe he’d done it wrong and they really had no true bond. She
didn’t know why it mattered so much to her, but she hadn’t dreamed
at all. There had been no respite while with Jack. Maybe he was
keeping Cain’s dreams away from her out of his own jealousy.

Would dreams have been better or worse? Was there a
softer side of Cain she could have seen? Hadn’t she started to see
it already?

She cringed as Jack put a hand on her arm. “Stay with
me, Tam. No thinking about your boyfriend. He’s a demon. He doesn’t
care what happens to you. Here’s how it will go. I’ll make a few
small incisions so we can get a good blood drain going, then I’ll
start the chant. Once I’ve absorbed all the magic I can, I get to
start carving and eat something. You’ll probably be alive for at
least part of that. Sorry. It’s just how these things must go, I’m
afraid.”

He didn’t look the least bit sorry.

She winced as he took a small knife and started to
make little cuts down her arms, legs, and torso. This was really
happening. A part of her hadn’t believed it would. Somehow,
something or someone would stop it. Another burst of anger surged
through her at Cain for letting this happen—for not killing her
when he had the chance.

Once the blood started flowing, Jack raised his arms.
His voice echoed off the cavern walls, drowning out the falling
water nearby as he chanted. The chant was complicated and long, and
at the rate she was losing blood, she wasn’t grasping it all,
already starting to feel a bit woozy from blood loss.

She lurched off the stone as she felt the magical
pieces that made her who she was start to detach from her and go to
Jack. It was what made her angriest of all.

“Fuck you!” she shouted at him, knowing she couldn’t
stop him from killing her, but hoping she could at least distract
him enough to make his ritual less successful. If he’d had a brain
in his head he would have put tape over her mouth for this. But
maybe he’d wanted her to whimper and beg. Maybe he’d wanted to give
her one last chance to try to convince him to spare her and run off
together. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of either
outcome.

Loud footsteps came through the cavern, and hope
blossomed inside her. She turned her head toward the opening to see
Cain. He looked angry when he saw her, so angry even she would have
feared him.

“Jack!” the demon growled.

The growl threw Jack off the tiniest bit in his
chanting, but then he went back to it. When he finished, he
sneered. “It’s too late to save her. I win.”

“We’ll see.”

Tam’s eyes widened as demons fanned out around the
perimeter, throwing fireballs in Jack’s direction. He deflected
them easily with his magic, and then put up a barrier to protect
himself from the fire. Her heart sank. If this was all they had...
But the demons kept throwing the fire, lighting up the inside of
the cavern like fireworks until the barrier began to weaken. Next,
a group of vampires came in and swarmed on the distracted Jack,
fangs piercing all exposed expanses of flesh and ripping clothing
away to expose more.

The demons stood back and let them feed, weakening
him, though Tam wasn’t sure if any of them were old enough to kill
him. She might be able to, since she was a cycler, but given her
weakened state, that seemed unlikely.

Magic users filed in next. A dark-haired man came
near her to start his group chant while other magic users were
distributing appropriate herbs. “You’re going to love what I’ve
come up with for you,” he said to Tam with a wink. “Just watch
Jack, and listen to me. You’ll know what to do... if you aren’t too
rusty on your Latin.”

She knew he was trying to draw a smile out of her,
but she was too weak to smile. If they planned for her to help,
that wasn’t a great plan. Cain reached her side then, working to
cut through the ropes that held her down. He took the knife Jack
had been using to cut the center of his palm, using his blood to
heal the wounds The Cycler had left on her.

“It’s too late,” she said, “It won’t do any good.
I’m going to die—this time for real. I can feel it. This time it’s
different.” It seemed so unfair.

“We’ll talk about it in a minute, after you kill
Jack,” Cain said.

He was talking crazy, but she listened to the magic
user’s chant and watched Jack anyway. His shirt had been ripped
away in the vampire feeding frenzy, and his chest was exposed to
the moonlight. As she listened to the words, and watched what
happened to Jack’s chest, the way it seemed to ripple and be made
of something that could easily be penetrated, she knew exactly what
they wanted her to do.

Whether they needed her to kill him for good or not,
she couldn’t be sure, but she knew Cain got her well enough to know
she didn’t want to be rescued like some fair maiden. She wanted to
be the one to kill the bastard that had terrorized her for
centuries and taken her sister’s life.

“Thanks,” she said, as he helped her up off the
stone altar.

“You can thank me later. Do your job now.”

When they reached Jack, he was screaming profanity.
Tam’s hand sank right through him—the flesh and bone having
softened like Jell-o. The muscle throbbed in her head as she took
his still-beating heart from his chest. When she’d done it, the
vamps stopped feeding, and a single moment that spanned eternity
passed as Jack realized what she’d just done, how she’d finally
ended him. Her former love for him, her current hatred—it all
blended together in the weakening pulse, everything good and bad
inside him dying at once.

“
Now
I’ve ripped your heart out.
Don’t worry. I won’t eat it.”

He dropped to the ground, then his heart turned black
and desiccated, turning to dust in her hand. His body soon followed
suit, proving once and for all that he’d become something other
than human.

“That’s good enough for me. He’s gone,” Cain
said.

Tam felt her legs go as she dropped to the ground. At
first she feared killing Jack had somehow killed her, too, but it
was just the natural course of the death he’d already started in
her. Jack got the last laugh after all. She fought to keep her eyes
open, hearing Cain’s command for everyone to leave him bouncing off
the cave. Then they were alone together.

His fingers threaded in hers. She
jumped and opened her eyes when she felt a hard slap on her face.
He looked... distraught. Cain? Maybe he
did
feel something for her after
all.

“I can’t help it. It’s too late. I’m sorry. Another
life maybe.” It felt like everything inside her was slowing
down.

“Stay with me.” He squeezed her hand.

“I would if I could.” And she meant it. She never
thought she’d be so upset to leave the demon behind.

“No. Stay. Be my mate. Please don’t leave me here
alone. I don’t want to have to find you, I have you here, now.”

Her brain could barely catch up to
what he was saying. Had he said
mate
? Forever? So much for breaking
a cycle. But looking into his eyes, she didn’t ever want to not be
looking into them. He carried her back to the stone altar, and took
the knife, cutting a slice down the center of each of her palms and
each of his. “Just say yes that you’ll give me your soul when I
finish. Please, Tam.”

If she hadn’t already been through this with Anna and
Luc she would have balked about the whole soul thing, but she knew
what it meant and what she’d be giving him. Mixing blood and
immortality had consequences. She knew that better than most. And
here it was happening again in the same dark cavern, though at
least they couldn’t kill each other. This magic was different.

He shifted into the demon form. “I’m sorry, I have to
be in this form. Just for the blood ritual. I’ll change back,
after.” He said it as if he feared she’d reject him if reminded too
much of what he was.

This time the negative emotions pouring out of him
didn’t feel oppressive; they felt like his pain. Pain she could fix
just by being there and breaking his own cycle. The constant cycle
of meaningless feeding and fucking without a real connection. The
cycle of endless loneliness without a partner to go through life
with.

He chanted the words over her in
his demon language and she felt the magic flare up. If she’d had
any doubts about this, they dissipated as the thoughts
hurry hurry hurry before it’s too late
tore through her mind.

“Yes, I’ll give you my soul,” she said when his
chant ended. It was done. She was his. She could feel it. The
moment she died, she’d be tied to him forever. For the first time,
it felt like relief.

She used the last bit of strength that she had to
say, “So are you finally going to kill me now?”

“It won’t be much of a challenge,” he said, shifting
back to his pretty form. “I should let you just drop on your own
for spite.”

She couldn’t even muster a glare or a snarky
comeback. It was how she knew she only had a few minutes left.

“Oh, fine. I promised I’d take you out. I don’t want
Jack stealing my thunder.”

“Cain?”

“Yeah?”

“Shift back,” she said.

His eyes widened, not believing what he was hearing.
“I can’t feed in the demon form, and you don’t want that. You never
have to...”

“You can’t feed that way because nobody wants you
that way. I do. I love you. Shift back.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to prove anything to
me.”

She rolled her eyes. “Honor a girl’s dying request
here.”

He smirked and shifted. She was right, she still
wanted him—even in the scary form. In two seconds flat, he’d
managed to get out of his ripped pants. It was the quickest sex
they’d ever had. Not angry, not lust-filled, but short and somehow
sweet despite the negative emotions that bubbled out of the form.
Underneath all that, she could feel him, the man hidden deep within
the monster, and she knew her comparisons to Jack had been
wrong.

When he started feeding, it took almost nothing to
bring her over. Her spirit ripped from her body and she found
herself hovering. Great, she was going to be like the Doublemint
Ghosts with Anna now. Her past lives surged into her, the ones
she’d lived before she’d been Tamar. It wasn’t a long list but
several brief glimpses stopped her.

“Cain! You’ve killed me before, in like five
different lives!”

He shifted back to the pretty form. “Well, shit, Tam.
I didn’t know. It was bound to happen. I’ve been around forever.
Don’t be angry.”

“No, I’m mad that all those times it was easy, and
this one time I actually asked you to do it and we had to go
through all this drama to get here.”

He took her hand and pulled her into his arms, making
her solid again. “You’re never happy.” He kissed her before she
could smack him.

Anna floated in, not on Luc’s arm. “Oh thank God,”
she said when she reached Tam. “I thought you weren’t going to make
it.”