The Underworld (Rhyn Eternal) (10 page)

The fog snaked around Deidre’s hand and centered in her palm, coalescing and solidifying until it took on the shape of an emerald with the coloring of smoky quartz. There was no mistaking what it was despite the unusual color.

Uncomfortable with the idea of holding souls, Deidre hesitated then closed her fist around it. Once, a soul had spilled out its story all at once to her, terrifying her at the intensity and tragedy of its tale. She braced herself for a similar experience, only for the soul to remain quiet.

“Whose is it?” she asked.

An image of past-Death formed in her head briefly before sliding away.

“Oh, god,” she whispered, looking again at the smoky gem. “It’s been a week.”

“You have more.” Karma was eyeing the pouch at her waist, the one protected by magic that kept the death dealers from seeing it. “Karma senses souls, one her brother gave you.”

Deidre opened the pouch and dropped past-Death’s soul into it. She stared at it, bitterly realizing Gabriel’s soul rested beside his mate’s. The third gem was given to her by Fate before she was kidnapped by the death dealers. She didn’t know whose it was, but Fate seemed to think she needed it.

“I guess I’m collecting them.” A pang of hurt went through her at the thought of past-Death losing her soul. It meant Gabriel wasn’t the only person who was heartbroken.
At least I have it and not Darkyn or someone who won’t protect it.

“Karma thinks we should go.”

“I have to free my friend.”

“Karma thinks this isn’t a good idea now.” The deity’s gaze was on the cell across the hall from hers. “She –”

“I,” Deidre corrected again.

“- I thinks we should go quickly.”

Deidre roused herself from the sad thoughts about the gems in her pouch. She tied it closed and wiped her eyes.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked, following Karma’s look.

“Very.” Karma rested a hand on the petrified wood of the door of the closed cell. “Karma …
I
feels a great imbalance.”

“Darkyn?” Deidre’s hope surged.

“Not
the
Great Imbalance. Karma thinks …” the deity drifted off.

“Does Karma … I mean, do you know what it is?”

“No.” Her tone was softer. “Karma feels sad. You are sad?”

“I am.”

“Karma reflects the emotions of those around her. Sadness is Karma’s least favorite feeling. Please refrain from sadness.”

Deidre managed a smile at the note of pleading in the deity’s voice. “I’ll try not to, if you can stop referring to yourself in the third person. It’s kind of weird.”

“Very well. Karma … I will tries. We need to escape.”

“No. I have to help someone,” Deidre said firmly.

Karma cocked her head to the side. “We cannot stay in the dungeon.”

“This place is huge. We can hide somewhere, find the key to my friend’s cell and free her.”

“I thinks your plan is not thorough enough to be successful.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Not yet.” Karma’s gaze went down the hallway. “There is someone else here.”

Deidre spun, panic flying through her at the thought of being cornered again by death dealers. She almost sighed. There was no one in sight. Spooked anyway, she let Karma take her hand and start down the hallway.

“Come on. I’m not being trapped again. We are both in rags and we need to rest before we face death dealers for keys to the cell,” Karma said firmly.

Deidre went, her gaze lingering on the cell she’d shared with past-Death.

Hang in there. I’ll be back.

They’re leaving without me.

Past-Death watched the two women race down the hallway towards the stairs. Not that she expected Deidre to come back for her after all they’d been through, but …

It stung knowing she was being left behind by everyone. She hadn’t been able to find the key to the other door and had stalked a few different death dealers to look for it only to come up empty handed.

Everything hurts.
Past-Death stood frozen in the hallway for a long moment, until they disappeared up the stairs. She blinked away tears that shouldn’t be possible to feel in a dream.

Trudging down the hallway, she traced their steps, this time stopping in the room with the guards to find the key to the demon’s chains. After grabbing it, she continued into the main palace. Deidre was safe and well, and there was nothing past-Death was able to do if she didn’t escape her cell first.

The path was so familiar, her feet went where they needed to while she spent time in her thoughts, trying to quell the pain of betrayal and loneliness.

Only when she stood outside her old bedchamber did she blink back into reality. Opening the door, past-Death paused to take in the destruction with no small amount of horror. This room had been hers for thousands of years. Seeing it in such disarray weighed her heart down even more.

She made her way around the mess, seeking out the jewelry box where she knew the soul she sought was located. Her gaze strayed to the door in the corner, the one containing secrets only the deity Death was permitted to know. The sight of it made her think of Gabriel, which made her even sadder.

Pushing away the emotions, she focused instead on doing what little good she was able to. Kneeling beside the jewelry box, she opened it, only to find the soul gone.

“Shit!”

The dream began to wobble and fade. If the soul wasn’t here, who had found it? How did she recover it, before Harmony figured out how to fuck over Gabriel for good?

How did she tell Gabriel she’d failed him yet again? Frustration and sorrow made her eyes water. She was turning out to be the worst human ever.

Past-Death snatched the content of the box, a tarnished ring, before she was yanked out of the dream once more.

“Hey, cupcake.”

She groaned, gripping her head hard. The headache was pulsing, her general fatigue adding to the discomfort. She expected to feel the same sense of betrayal she did in the dream and was relieved that she was … numb.

“You were out for another day,” Jared called. “I’m tired of this fucking place!”

“If you were more patient, I might’ve brought you a snack,” she retorted.

“Really?” he asked. “What was it? A head? Goblet of blood?”

Past-Death rolled her eyes and sat carefully. “Shit. I gotta go back under to get us out of here.”

“This is taking forever. Why didn’t you just free us last time?”

“Shut up, demon.” She gripped her temples. “You’re not the only one who’s hungry and sick of this cell.” She slid the ring she’d grabbed onto her finger and placed his keys beside her, unwilling to reveal she had them until they had a way out. It was suicide to be stuck in a cell with a starving demon.

“Don’t wake me up this time,” she ordered and lay back down again. “Got it?”

Jared grumbled in response.

It was easier to fall into the dream state this time, possibly because she was too exhausted to resist it. Standing outside her cell, she drew a deep breath and paused before unlocking the door.

Was she really going to trust a demon to get her out of here? True, demons were sworn to uphold their deals. But since becoming human, since taking on the frail body of a mortal, she’d found herself hesitating when she never would have as a goddess.

I’m afraid of almost everything.
She hated that about herself. As a deity, the universe had feared her. And now the reverse was true. She was sick of it yet too aware of how vulnerable and weak a human truly was.

“If my twin was brave enough to make a deal with the Dark One, I can work with a demon,” she murmured.

Past-Death unlocked the door and pushed it open.

Almost immediately, she was sucked back into her body.

“Excellent, cupcake!” Jared all but shouted.

Past-Death took a minute to assess her headache and decided she’d just have to deal with it. Jared was rattling his chains, and she feared what happened if Harmony’s men were drawn by the demon’s noise.

“I need funnel cake,” she mumbled and sat up.

Her head pulsed, and her stomach growled.

“Free me!”

Past-Death eyed the demon as she rose. “You better not make me regret this, demon.”

“We have a deal,” he said. “Stay out of my way until I find a snack.”

It wasn’t the reassurance she sought, but she tossed him the keys to his chains. “There are at least two death dealers on the floor above us. Is that enough to keep you from gnawing off one of my arms?”

“Maybe.”

She heard the chains fall to the ground. Despite his hunger, the demon moved faster than she could track with her human eyes.

He gripped her neck and shoved her into the wall behind her, the dark depths of his eyes boring into hers. He was salivating, his fangs dripping, his lean body pressing her into the wall.

Past-Death gasped, too startled by his speed and burst of strength to move.

“Do not forget this, human,” the demon growled. “If you think to betray me to your mate, I will -”

“I … won’t!” she gasped.

“I know who you are and what you’ve spent the past thousands of years doing.”

“I swear it. No harm will come to you from me or my mate, so long as you keep your word about helping me.”

The demon studied and then released her, stepping away.

“If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not who I was anymore,” she added with some bitterness.

“You are always who you are,” he scoffed. “You just aren’t immortal anymore.” He faced the door. “Stay here.”

Past-Death released the breath she was holding. For a split second, she’d seen her death at the hands of a hungry demon. Adrenaline managed to clear most of her headache, and she sagged against the wall.

Despite all the sleep, she didn’t feel rested, perhaps from the effort of dreamwalking. Or maybe, it was fatigue, another experience she never knew the meaning of before becoming a human. She was tired and hungry, and for some reason, that was making her angry.

She waited for the demon, too tired to do more than hope he was serious about returning for her.

You are always who you are
. His parting words played over and over in her thoughts, and she chewed on them. He hadn’t meant it as a compliment; that much she knew. The idea behind his words intrigued her tired mind.

Was it true she was the same person she’d always been, just in a new body?

Or did being human change the essence of who she was?

She still loved Gabriel and her underworld. But her life was so much more confusing now. She’d never had to think twice about right and wrong, about emotions or life and death.

Sooner than she expected, she heard someone hurrying down the hallway.

Past-Death crept away from the door, in case it was one of Harmony’s sentries. A moment later, Jared poked his head in.

“Come with me, cupcake,” he ordered. “I’ve had my fill for now.”

I don’t want to know what that entails.
Past-Death moved into the hallway. She tried not to look at the newfound slickness on his clothing that gleamed in the torchlight. The faint scent of metallic blood was in the air around the demon, and the glow of bloodlust remained in his gaze.

“You know this place. Where do we go?” he asked, starting towards the stairs.

She considered. “We have a few options. If the dealers haven’t found the passages hidden in the walls, we can use those to move around. There are safe spots where we can hide, and of course, the armory has the thickest walls and doors of the whole palace.”

“Armory?” Jared stopped and turned to her. “That’s where we need to go.”

“You realize that’s the most dangerous place to go, right? Harmony will have it well guarded, and it’s on the main floor,” she said skeptically. “I can’t imagine a demon like you has a plan.”

“I don’t need a plan. I need weapons.”

“To do what?”

“Find the other cupcake and leave.”

Past-Death said nothing, uncertain what to feel. Deidre had run off with someone else and left her. Even so, she didn’t think she had it in her to abandon the human-turned-demon once more. “She doesn’t know the palace. It’ll be hard to find her.”

“We’ll use your secret tunnels.” Content with the solution, Jared started forward again.

I owe it to her to try. Not much else worth living for now.
Past-Death trotted after him. “I need food, Jared.”

He lifted a bag she hadn’t noticed he carried. Blood dripped from its soaked bottom onto the stone floor. “I saved you a hand.”

“Human food.”

He gave an exasperated sigh. “What does that consist of? Wood?”

“They eat a lot of bread, vegetables. Funnel cakes. I miss funnel cakes so much,” she replied.

“What is a funnel cake?”

Past-Death debated for a moment, uncertain what it was. “It’s a vegetable,” she decided. “Not sure what kind of tree it grows on.”

“Fucking plants. How can you people eat leaves?” Jared grumbled.

“We eat cooked animals, too. Never raw humans like you savages.”

“You just capture and put an animal in an oven?”