Immortal Rider (LD2) (5 page)

Just his life.

“I can’t risk it.”

“If you’re an assassin, you’ve got to be all sneaky and shit.”

“I am. But the answer is still no.” He smoothed a thin film of the greasy medicine over an abrasion on Arik’s chest. Tavin’s healing ability always tapped out before he could get to all the minor injuries. “Betraying this contract means an extremely long, painful death and possible eternal torment.”

“Sort of like what I’m going through?” Arik muttered.

“Pretty much.”

Arik glared. “Okay, so if you’re an assassin, why are you healing me?”

“Your captors paid a shit-ton of money for my services, whether that be killing or healing.”

“So you’d kill me if they asked you to?”

“Yep.”

Nice. “Look, if you’ll pass on a message—” Arik shut up at the sound of approaching footsteps.

Tavin stepped away as two ugly-ass motherfuckers stopped at the cell door. Six-inch claws wrapped around the steel bars. Arik’s pulse leaped. He never knew if the demons were going to torture him, feed him, or merely taunt him.

“Human scum,” the tallest one said, the tusks protruding from his lower jaw dripping saliva. “We’re going to discuss your last meal.”

Well, this couldn’t be good. Arik rolled his shoulder in a nonchalant shrug, even though his heart was going ballistic.

“Last meal? How about surf-and-turf, medium-rare on the steak, fettuccine alfredo, and those amazing garlic
cheese biscuits from Red Lobster? Could I get a Harp, too? Cold, though, not that room temperature crap they like in Ireland.”

Two sets of humorless black eyes stared back at him. “Your choice is putrefied meat with maggots or fish skin.”

“Awesome.” Arik tapped his chin, appearing to consider his options. “Hmm… gross or really gross. Tough decision. I’ll go with gross.”

The shorter ugly-ass motherfucker clicked his claws in agitation. “Which is?”

“Fish skin. Yum.” But hey, if it wasn’t rotten, it would actually be the best thing he’d eaten down here, so things weren’t all bad. And it sounded like they were actually going to kill him. He doubted it would be a quick death, but it couldn’t be worse than anything they’d already done to him.

The beasts spoke to each other in a language Arik didn’t understand, until about the tenth word, when his translation ability kicked in. They were discussing how much to tell him about how he’d die. They were also speculating about what would happen to his body afterward. Would they be allowed to eat him, or would his corpse be preserved and displayed somewhere? Maybe his body would be dumped outside of a hellmouth for his colleagues to find.

Right, okay, so Arik didn’t like any of those options.

He watched the two demons lumber away and wondered if prayers could reach Heaven from here. “Whatcha think, Tav? Is my death going to be quick or slow?”

“Slow, definitely.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Maybe this one time, Arik wouldn’t have minded a little white lie. He ran his
hand up and down his chest, wincing at the feel of his rib cage. He’d lost so much weight down here. He’d tried to keep some muscle by doing pushups and sit-ups when he could, but scrounging up the energy wasn’t easy. “At least it’ll be over soon, I guess.”

“Don’t look so relieved, human.” Tavin stared at him, his eyes somber. “Death isn’t a good thing.”

“Spend a day in my shoes—you know, if I had them—and you’ll change your mind.”

The Sem heaved the duffel over his shoulder. “That’s not what I mean. For you, it’s not an escape.”

Man, demons and their tendency to circle an issue. “Straight shoot it, Tav. What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that when a human dies here in Sheoul, his soul is trapped. You can’t get out, and the most vile demons in existence will be able to torture you for all eternity. And trust me, what they’ve done to you so far is nothing compared to what they will do to your soul. You think you’re in pain now? Just wait until you’re dead. The soul is much more sensitive than the physical body.”

More
sensitive? Arik eyed the corner, his escape plan taking on a new, desperate note of urgency. Every time an opportunity had arisen, he’d carefully dug the thin, black elastic strings out of the waistband of his pants and stored them, scattered, in the crevices that defined the dark chamber. He didn’t have nearly as many as he’d hoped, but it would have to do.

He waited for Tavin to leave, and then he sat down on the floor with his dozen little treasures and began to braid them together. This had to work.

Or he was worse than dead.

Four

It took Limos an hour to clean up the mess Rhys rudely left on her floor, then shower and change into pink board shorts and a lacy yellow blouse. Every single minute of that hour had been occupied by thoughts of what Arik had done for her, and she couldn’t decide how she felt about it. Her emotions ran the spectrum from overwhelmingly awed that he would protect her that way, to confused about
why
he would protect her that way, to downright pissed that he thought he had to protect her.

Then there was the anger that she was baffled by any of this in the first place. It wasn’t like her to obsess over someone else’s actions, but here she was… obsessing.

Muttering to herself, she hefted Arik’s torturer in her arms and took a Harrowgate to Thanatos’s Greenland residence. The temperature change between Hawaii and his godforsaken frozen wasteland was marked, and she
shivered as she stepped out of the Harrowgate and onto the hard-packed ice near Than’s keep’s entrance.

And, for the record, Rhys weighed a ton.

Without a free hand, she kicked at the wood and iron door, and eventually one of Than’s vampire servants, Artur, opened up. Since it was daytime, the vamp on duty was one of the old breed, the first vampires, who had never suffered an allergy to sunlight. They were rare, pretty much legend to most. How Than had found not just one, but ten, to serve him, she had no idea. He could be really tight-lipped sometimes.

Annoying.

As if you don’t have secrets
.

Oh, yes, she had lots and lots of secrets, made all the worse by the knowledge that something wicked inside her got a kick out of lying. The bigger the lie, the more potential it had to hurt or even destroy, the more powerful the high. Jolts of delicious, almost erotic adrenaline would cycle through her like a drug.

But she’d given up that drug hundreds of years ago, exchanging the need to lie with casual recklessness that gave her a similar high, but one that was far less addictive.

“Miss Limos?” Artur stared at her in that creepy way of his, and though she couldn’t be certain, she’d long suspected that he’d been a cannibal before he became a vampire. There was just something… not right… about him.

She shoved the dead demon into the vamp’s arms and strode inside the great room, her strappy sandals clicking on the floor. A fire blazed in the hearth, and Than sat in one of the cozy chairs next to it, his nose buried in a book. As their voluntary historian, he had a massive library, was
always reading when he wasn’t working out in his gym or haunting scenes of mass casualty.

His newest obsessions were seeking clues that might reveal the whereabouts of her
agimortus
, looking for a way to repair Reseph’s Seal, and trying to find their father. Okay, sure, these weren’t new obsessions, but now they were his
only
ones.

“Whatcha reading?”

Thanatos lifted his head, the twin blond braids at his temples banging against his cheeks.
Salt: A World History
.

“Wow. You know how to rock the literary.”

Than cocked a pierced eyebrow. “Do you know how many wars were fought over salt?”

She gave him a
duh
look. “We were there, remember?” They’d profited from some of those wars, had started their fortunes from the salt trade, in fact.

“Yep. The good old days.” Sarcasm dripped from his words.

“So why are you reading about it?”

“Because I met with Kynan half an hour ago to discuss their progress in locating your
agimortus
, and he mentioned that The Aegis had recently discovered a stash of Aegis texts inside an ancient barrel of salt. It occurred to me that before their subjugation by the Neethul, the Isfet were heavily involved in the salt trade.”

The Isfet were the demons who had made—and hidden—the cup that bore her
agimortus
. Unfortunately, thanks to generations of births and deaths, as well as horrendous record-keeping, even they no longer knew where it was stowed.

“So you think you can find a clue in that book?”

Than shrugged. “Can’t hurt. Maybe the author stumbled upon some information during his research.” He put aside his book as Artur entered.

“What shall I do with the body, sir?”

“Who is it?” Than looked at Limos. “One of Arik’s torturers?”

“Yep.” She’d discussed the plan to nail Rhys with Ares and Than a couple of days ago, and though they’d wanted to help, she knew the cagey bastard well enough to know he’d smell a trap. “I need you to dispose of him.”

Pale yellow eyes narrowing, Than sat forward in his chair, his black jeans creaking against the leather cushion. “You want to send a message to Arik’s captors.”

“Reading a book entirely about salt didn’t make you any dumber.” Than gave her a blank, unamused stare. “Yes,” she sighed, “I want to send a message.”

Thanatos would likely grouse, but he loved doing stuff like this. Causing trouble was what he did best. Well, Reseph had actually excelled at it, but his troublemaking antics had always been good-natured. Than just liked fucking with demons.

“It would be smarter to hide the body so no one will know what happened to him, and no one can tie his death to you,” Than said, being all sensible. He must be spending a lot of time with Ares, whose thought processes operated like battle plans. “There’s no sense drawing attention to yourself, Li.”

“
Helloooo
. I’m a Horseman of the Apocalypse, and I’m betrothed to the most infamous, most powerful demon in existence. I couldn’t draw more attention to myself if I wore Lady Gaga’s meat dress to a PETA convention.”

“But you don’t need to keep poking the hornet’s nest.”
Thanatos gestured to Artur. “Take the body to the ice chamber.” Once the vampire was gone, he turned his attention back to Limos. “What did the demon tell you before you killed him?”

She studied her multi-colored nails to conceal her concern. “That Arik is going to be executed.”
And that Arik had refused to make a deal that might have freed him but would have doomed me.

“When?”

Dammit, she’d chipped the orange paint off her pinky. “Soon.”

“No doubt they’ll kill him in Sheoul instead of aboveground. Damn.” Than wanted Arik dead so Li would no longer have to worry about Arik speaking her name, but killing him in Sheoul was not the answer.

In fact, it would be worse for his soul to be tortured down there than his human body. Souls didn’t pass out from pain. He’d break within days, and she’d be honeymooning in the Taj MaHell.

Though she had no doubt he could set records for holding out.

Once again admiration washed over her, this time accompanied by a fierce surge of desire that wasn’t entirely sexual. Over the last month she’d fantasized about him, what it would be like to bed him, but also, what it would be like to just… be with him. To have that strength of character wrapping around her and making her feel secure. Yeah, she was an immortal Horseman, so mighty that she didn’t need any male’s physical protection. But, as she had seen with Ares and Cara, power didn’t always come from muscles.

Li shifted her focus from her nails to her hair, wrap
ping a still-damp strand around her finger. “I did manage to get a little intel from Rhys. It’s possible Arik is being stored near a hellmouth.”

“Erta Ale,” Than said. “Kynan mentioned it during our chat. He wants to search the area surrounding the volcano, but he won’t be able to find the exact location of the entrance.”

“Because he doesn’t have enough evil in him.” That was the thing about hellmouths—humans could enter without demonic assistance, but only if they were evil. “Guess that leaves me.”

Than’s already deep voice hit rock bottom. “I know you aren’t thinking of sniffing around inside the hellmouth.”

“Oh, I’m sniffing.”

Thanatos burst out of his chair, veins bulging in his neck, visible even under the collar of his black turtleneck. “Dammit, Li, if you get caught, you’ll be barefoot and pregnant with Satan’s hellspawn before you can so much as scream. You can’t—”

“You think I don’t know the risks?” she interrupted. “I didn’t escape just so I can get caught again.”

Actually, she hadn’t escaped at all, but that was something she could never say out loud. There was only one thing she feared more than marriage to the devil himself; losing her brothers. They’d taught her to love when, for countless years, she’d thought love meant enjoying others’ suffering.

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“Okay.”

Than blinked. “Okay?”