The Underworld (Rhyn Eternal) (21 page)

Deidre dived into the melee, shredding every inch of skin that came near her and sending death charges through those she touched for too short a timespan. Magic swirled and gathered around her, through her, and blood rained down on everything like honey falling from the sky.

Lost in the bloodlust, she didn’t stop, until someone snatched her out of the blood-fueled trance.

Jarred back to her senses, Deidre blinked and tried to pull away, looking up into the eyes of the one creature able to stop her.

The Dark One was a head taller than her, lean in the way of a warrior, with eyes that appeared to be sinkholes at night. A low growl emanated from his chest, while his direct stare sank into her mind. His body sucked up the excess magic, freeing her from its hold. His scent, warmth and the nearness of his strong frame brought her back from the blood-infused haze, made her body tremble once more as it recalled how weak she was.

The scent of his sweet blood intoxicated her, the compelling need to taste her bloodmate making her stomach cramp and her heart flutter in her throat. But it was the ferocity of the bloodlust in his eyes, coupled with the way the Dark One was always a little more terrifying during the dark of night, that made Deidre hesitate to touch him or pull away from his tight grip.

“You came for me,” she whispered breathlessly.

“You’re my blood monkey,” he replied.

“That’s it?” she asked, disappointed.

He pulled her roughly into his hard body, his fangs lengthening the way they did when he was preparing to feed. “I surrendered my power at the gates of the underworld, and I haven’t eaten or fucked in three days. What do you think, blood monkey?”

Deidre hid a smile. “I think this just might work out, Darkyn.”

The hunger pangs returned stronger, and she gasped, clutching at his bloodied shirt and pushing her face against his warm chest. The scent of his blood was strong.

“You’re hurt,” she murmured, disturbed.

“I like the pain,” he reminded her.

“Can’t you heal?”

“Hush,” he ordered quietly and pressed a thumb to her lips.

His rich taste was like a drop of heaven. It soothed her in a way nothing else ever had. The world outside of them was forgotten for a split second, and she rested her head on his shoulder, wanting to weep and drink, to lose herself in his blood, scent and body.

“Now drink, love,” he told her.

She wanted to refuse in case he was weaker than he was letting on, but the compelling urge was too much.

Deidre dug her teeth into his neck and sucked down his blood hungrily, not caring who watched her. Slowly, the cramping ceased, and her hunger disappeared, until she was so full, she was almost drowsy.

“You learned to defend yourself,” he whispered, nudging her head.

She dislodged her teeth from his neck and nudged him back, the familiar, subdued display of affection making her eyes water. Any doubt she’d experienced about where she belonged vanished. “Yeah.”

“Did they hurt you?”

Her split second of hesitation was enough to answer his question.

Darkyn lifted her chin. “Did they hurt you?” It was a warning growl this time, the inquisition of a deity, not the inquiry of a lover.

“Yes,” she said in a choked voice. “But I’m okay.” She nuzzled his hand. “I’m okay, Darkyn.”

It didn’t take him stiffening for her to know that no one got away with threatening the bloodmate of the Dark One. Tears spilled down her face, and he caught one on his finger, gazing at it briefly.

“Who the fuck is this?” Rhyn’s question jarred her out of the intimate moment.

Deidre twisted without leaving Darkyn’s arms.

Rhyn’s sword was pointed at a shivering body in the hollow of a tree. The half-demon was bristling, his chest heaving from fighting while his liquid silver eyes glowed. He nudged Karma with his foot.

“Don’t, Rhyn! She’s a friend!” Deidre exclaimed. “She helped me escape the dungeon.”

Rhyn bent down and tripped Karma’s arm, pulling her to her feet.

Deidre’s mouth dropped open, and her gaze flew to the goddess.

Both Karma and Rhyn had gone completely still.

“Oh, no!” she breathed, tugging at the hold Darkyn had on her.

“Let it run its course, love,” he whispered, tightening his grip.

She rested back against him, praying Karma remembered she wasn’t supposed to kill anyone who helped them escape.

Karma moved, and Rhyn stepped away, shaking his head as if to clear it.

“Oh, thank god!” Deidre exclaimed.

Karma was eyeing Rhyn, her hair in long, loose curls, her eyes black. Before Deidre could warn the dazed half-demon, Karma drew back and punched him in the nose.

“Careful, little girl,” Rhyn snarled, grabbing her arm. “I’ll break you in half.”

“You had that coming,” she growled in return.

“Okay, let’s just … calm down,” Deidre said. She moved away from Darkyn and paused beside the deity. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Rhyn is almost balanced. The Great Imbalance …” Karma whispered. Her hair darkened and darted around her head like snakes around her head, while blackness had swallowed her eyes.

“Are you hurt?”

“Minor.”

“Take my hand. I can help you, can’t I ?”

Karma hesitated then stretched out to her. With some embarrassment, Deidre realized her own hand was covered in blood. She wiped it on her pants then took Karma’s hand and tugged her out of Rhyn’s grip.

The deity ceased shivering.

“Your allies always amuse me, love,” Darkyn said. “I had begun to wonder where Karma went.”

“Karma?” Rhyn repeated and stepped back. “Not just a scary story Immortals tell their kids to make them behave?”

“She’s not a scary story,” Deidre replied and pulled the woman into her arms.

Almost immediately, Karma’s hair tightened into ringlets again.

Deidre met Darkyn’s gaze and was unable to look away from the demon that traveled to the underworld to save her. Her body churned with both desire and hunger, his blood calling to her in a way that made her want to leave everything and melt into him for good.

“Cute claws,” Rhyn said, assessing her. “Can you use them?”

“She did.” Darkyn nodded his head to the side to indicate the dead.

Deidre didn’t let her gaze stray, just focused on her bloodmate, whose presence made her feel like she wasn’t about to die for the first time since entering the underworld.

“Great fucking work, mini-demon,” Rhyn exclaimed. “Not to break this up, but we gotta retreat. They’re going to figure out what we did soon enough. Anyone else with you?”

“No,” Deidre replied.

“Congrats, half-breed,” Darkyn purred. “To touch Karma is to be judged. She’s of the souleater class of deities, meaning if she doesn’t like what she finds, there’s a chance she’ll make you dead-dead.”

Rhyn eyed the goddess.

Souleaters?
Deidre said nothing.

The goddess was not quite normal yet, with half her hair in tight, cheerful curls while the other was in long, snakelike threads. One eye was human and a pretty shade green, the other filled with black.

“I take it you and I were judged to be … normal? Not worth eating?” Rhyn asked awkwardly.

“Somewhat balanced,” she supplied.

“Lead on, half-breed,” Darkyn ordered.

Rhyn shook his head but obeyed, striking off in a direction leading deeper into the forest. Darkyn motioned for Deidre to go ahead of him, touching her cheek lightly as he did, and trailed, daggers drawn.

“It’s okay, Karma,” Deidre whispered as they walked. “Unless you implode or something from Darkyn being too close, you’re safe.”

“Not implode,” Karma replied in a tight voice.

Deidre glanced back at Darkyn, whose attention was on their surroundings. They were in the middle of the underworld with countless foes pursuing them and her top thought was alone time with her ferocious bloodmate.

Karma giggled.

“Sorry.” Deidre blushed, aware the deity was able to feel her thoughts. “Are you really okay?”

“As much as can be. Karma has been weak for so long …” Karma drifted off. “You help me, but I fears what happens when word gets out she’s alive, and she’s not yet recovered.”

“Because you’re a souleater.” Deidre chewed her lip.

“Death, Dark One and Karma are all souleaters. We don’t necessarily
eat
them. We just take them.”

“What do you do with them?”

“I eats them.” Karma giggled again. “But it is a better fate than they’ll face in Hell.”

Evil has too many layers to these people.
They walked in silence, Deidre’s stomach growling loudly while she kept a hold of Karma’s hand.

They didn’t go far but stopped when a death dealer popped up in their path.

Deidre froze, not ready for another battle so soon. To her relief, the half-demon ahead of her greeted the man with a wave of his hand.

“Landon! We found one. Two. Well, one and a half. Not sure what the half is yet,” Rhyn said with a wary glance at Karma.

“Temporary allies.” Deidre didn’t hear Darkyn move behind her, but she sensed his body heat and instinctively leaned back.

“Imbalance,” Karma hissed.

Deidre broke contact, disappointed but aware she was keeping the two from trying to kill one another.

“Take her to Andre. He’s balanced well enough,” Darkyn instructed her. “Then return to me, love. We need to talk, after I fuck you fast and hard.”

Deidre shivered at the husky note of hunger in his voice, her body crying for the Dark One. She moved forward with more haste than she intended, causing Karma to trip.

The goddess giggled again.

Flustered, Deidre said nothing but followed Rhyn, her blood humming with the idea she was about to taste and fuck her bloodmate after far too long. Only one uneasy thought remained from her uncertainty about an eternity in Hell, one she didn’t know how to bring up to him.

Later.
She promised herself.

With some apprehension, she trailed Rhyn past two lines of death dealers that eyed her suspiciously before they reached a small cottage.

Rhyn pushed the door open, and she entered, tugging a reluctant Karma with her. She recognized the familiar, dark-skinned Andre instantly from the time he’d poked and prodded at her mind to determine how bad her brain tumor had been.

He smiled and stood from a small desk where he was writing with the help of a lantern, his genuine warmth and relaxed air reassuring her they were safe despite the leery death dealers.

“Deidre,” he said with a polite bow of his head. “There is not much here in the way of modern conveniences, but you’re welcome to have a seat.”

Karma was peering at him curiously.

Deidre sat on a bed, the only other place to sit in the one-room cabin, and the deity sat beside her.

“You are?” Andre asked, pulling his chair closer to them before he, too, sat.

“You may not want to get too close,” Rhyn warned from the doorway.

“Karma,” the deity answered.

“The Great Balancer,” Andre said. “A pleasure.”

“She’s really sensitive to those around her,” Deidre said. “I think because she’s relatively weak right now. Can’t really manage her … uh, reactions to people.”

“I take it you passed her test.” Andre offered a friendly smile. “I have nothing to fear.” He held out his hand.

Deidre’s breath caught at the blatant display, while Karma perked up.

“You wish to be balanced?” the deity asked.

“I do.” Andre appeared confident, his gaze steady and features warm.

“You sure?” Deidre asked. “Not that I know anything bad about you, but she has a way of turning people into skeletons and eating their souls, if you fail.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Deidre released her grip on Karma, cringing when the deity took the Immortal’s hand. While she knew little about him, it was hard to think of a creature that lived thousands of years would be balanced.

Karma closed her eyes, and Andre did the sane.

Deidre exchanged a look with Rhyn, who appeared interested but unconcerned. “He’s the only one of my brothers who stands a chance at passing,” he explained.

The ground beneath the cabin trembled suddenly, the windows creaking.

Deidre looked down then at Rhyn. “Earthquake?”

“I don’t –”

Another quake.

Rhyn straightened. “You hear that?”

She cocked her head to the side. What sounded like the splintering and crashing of trees reached her. Confused by the sounds, she waited for Rhyn to say something else.

“It sounds like footsteps,” he said, turning to face the world outside the cabin.

Another tremble, more crashing.

“Footsteps?” she echoed and rose, crossing to the window. “It’d have to be the size of a dinosaur or something.”

“Giants.”

She sneaked a glance at him. By the severity of his features, he wasn’t joking.

“What kind of giants?” she whispered.

“The kind that want to fucking crush us.”

“This place is like a nightmare.” She shuddered, thoughts on the snakelike branches of the trees.

“Could be worse. Could be Hell.” He winked at her. “Stay here. I have to get to the ogre before Darkyn.” Rhyn threw open the wardrobe next to the door and pulled out a sword as long as her leg.