Immortal Rider (LD2) (8 page)

He walked for what seemed like hours, until his feet bled and his gut cramped from thirst. The tunnels grew hotter and hotter, some thick with steam and smoke, and others so empty of oxygen that more than once he nearly passed out.

He left a trail of blood behind him as he walked, and shit, this sucked. Bad. He stumbled a few times, cut his hands, his knees, and his scrub pants were now little more than shredded rags. He fantasized about food and cold beer—and, to his annoyance, Limos—as he forged ahead, his eyes peeled, his senses, which had felt dulled for so long, now on high alert.

Then, from out of nowhere, his hopes and fantasies crashed in on him like he’d taken a hit from a Tomahawk missile.

“Hello, Arik.”

The deep, ominous voice froze Arik to his very marrow. Pestilence had found him.

Six

Limos entered Underworld General’s emergency room, which was busier than shit. A golden-haired nurse, Vladlena according to her nametag, slowed as she wheeled a gurney containing a bleeding patient past.

“Eidolon is in surgery.” She pointed in the direction of the triage desk. “Shade is over there.”

“I’m not here for—”

Vladlena took off without listening, but Shade had caught sight of Limos. Great. Shade had been a major pain in the ass lately. He was mated to Arik’s sister, and though there didn’t seem to be any love lost between Arik and Shade, the demon was not happy to see his mate worried about her brother. And naturally, since Arik’s situation was Limos’s fault—indirectly, since Arik kissed
her
, not the other way around—Shade had been making life hell for Limos.

Shade tossed the clipboard he’d been holding onto the reception desk and stalked over. “You have news?”

“Nothing new,” she said. “I’m here to meet Kynan.”

“I just got off the phone with him. He’s on his way.”

“Thanks.”

“You can thank me by finding Arik.” He strode away before she could respond. Jackass.

She plunged her hand in her pocket and played with Arik’s dogtags as she observed the nonstop stream of patients coming through the ER. What was he doing right now? Was he screaming in agony? Was he huddled in the dark, cold and afraid? Was he thinking about her and cursing her name? She broke out in a sticky sweat that smelled like guilt. Putrid, thick, bitter guilt.

Desperate for a distraction, she grabbed Vladlena again. “Is it always so busy?”

“Lately,” she sighed. “It’s all the underworld turmoil. Those who want the Apocalypse to start are fighting those who don’t, and then the warg wars have started up again, and a new plague is affecting feline shifters, so we’re getting an influx of them.”

Limos had no doubt that Pestilence was behind the shifter plague, his way of sending a message. Namely, that once the Apocalypse started, shifters had better side with him, or he’d take them all out with a touch of a finger.

Vladlena took off just as Kynan stepped out of the gate, his denim blue eyes instantly zeroing in on Limos. “What’s this about?” he said by way of greeting.

“Nice to see you too,” she muttered. “Come on. I have something to show you. Something you might find helpful.” The lie stroked all her pleasure centers and made her a little dizzy.

Kynan cursed, but entered the Harrowgate with her. Since he had been charmed by angels, he had little to fear,
but it didn’t surprise her that when the gate opened inside the tomb, he hesitated.

“If this is a trap—”

“It’s not.” But yeah, she could understand his concern. She’d brought him to a sealed tomb, and if she opened a gate and got out without him, he would be trapped until his friends found him… which could be a long, long time. “See that stone box? It’s an Aegis vault. I found it while I was searching for my
agimortus
.”

A shot of adrenaline streamed into her veins, and for a moment, she had to breathe through the lovely jolt. It had been so long since she’d told such a big lie, so long since she’d gotten a forbidden thrill from it, that she’d forgotten how great it felt.

The weigh scales on her shoulder blade made a substantial tip in favor of evil, reminding her of the gravity of what she’d just done. The farther the scales tipped and the longer they remained weighted toward evil, the poorer choices she made, the less she cared about anyone but herself. Worse, she’d enjoy others’ suffering. She’d start famines for fun, and all it would take was a touch. She could lay her finger on a single man, and it wouldn’t matter how much food he ate—he’d slowly starve, and everyone he came into contact with would suffer the same fate. All the while, she’d laugh. She’d make Pestilence look like a Boy Scout.

Damn you, brother
.

Kynan was silent as a cat as he crept up to the box and knelt next to it. Pestilence had left it open, the heavy lid askew. Kynan’s assessing gaze traveled over the Aegis symbol on the lid, and then carefully, he picked up one of the coins inside, using his thumb to wipe off the dust.

“What is all that stuff?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Some of these pieces could be enchanted, used in certain rituals… I’m not sure. We’ll need to study them.” He glanced over at her. “You’re old… have you seen any of these before?”

Old?
“I prefer to think of myself as worldly, and no. I’ve never seen them before.” The lie slammed more pleasure into her body. Funny how the fib could give her physical gratification, but mental anguish. Some small part of her actually hoped Kynan didn’t fall for this even as a tingly high fired along every nerve ending. “Do you guys find a lot of these forgotten Aegis chambers?”

Whatever Pestilence’s plan was, it could hinge on the believability of her happening upon a lost Aegis treasure trove.

“Every once in a while,” he said. “Records have been lost, so some of these places have been long forgotten. And in other cases, someone was given a task in haste, an object that needed to be hidden, and then, before the Guardian could reveal the location, they died. So yeah, there are a number of chambers we know exist but can’t locate, and hiding places we never knew about that we stumble across. And with the Apocalypse coming at us, discoveries are popping up in record numbers.”

“Because things once hidden want to be found when doomsday is nigh,” she murmured, quoting an ancient Aegis prophet she’d met back in the days before Christianity.

“Exactly.” Kynan traced his finger over one of the necklaces at the bottom of the vault. “As the end of days nears, secrets are revealed.”

Secrets revealed
. Limos did not like the sound of that. She closed her eyes, trying to black out her past, her guilt, and not doing a very good job. She’d deceived so
many, from the very day she’d walked out of Sheoul to now. And as much as she wanted to warn Kynan about the objects she’d led him to, she couldn’t. Too much was at stake. The artifacts were in The Aegis’s hands now, and what they did with them wasn’t her concern.

A scratching sound had her opening her eyes to see Kynan brushing sand away from the base of the stone box.

“What are you doing?”

He licked his lips, his expression one of intense concentration. “Sometimes these boxes have hidden compartments.”

She squatted down. “Can I help?”

“I wouldn’t. They’re usually warded so that if anyone but a Guardian tries to open them, either the contents are destroyed, or the person trying to get in gets a nasty surprise.”

He pressed on a carved symbol with his forefinger. There was a grinding noise, followed by a puff of sand that made them both cough. Kynan waved his hand to clear the brown cloud, and as the particles fell away, a drawer was revealed. Inside were three fragile-looking scrolls.

“Cool,” she breathed.

She wondered if Pestilence had known about the drawer. Maybe this find would make up for whatever evil Pestilence was up to with the artifacts.

Kynan picked one up. “Seals are intact.” His smile, as he looked up at her, was one that could make a woman drunk with want. “Thanks, Limos. Between the artifacts and the scrolls, this could prove to be one of our best finds in a long time.”

Guilt soured her mouth. “Yeah. No problem. You ready to go?”

Kynan unfurled to his full height, which was well over six feet. “Yep. Just one minute.”

He carefully filled his pockets with the treasures. “If you can take me to Berlin, I’d be grateful.”

“Specific location?”

“Nope.” His smile told her he didn’t want to give away the location of The Aegis’s headquarters, which she got.

She threw open a gate. “Let’s go.”

“Wait.” He grabbed her arm, and she resisted the urge to throw him across the chamber for touching her. Not that she could. Trying to injure Kynan was useless. “Are you making any progress in locating Arik?”

“No,” she said softly, “I haven’t. I’m on my way back to the hellmouth, though.”

Her cell beeped, and she checked it, expecting Than, but what she saw made her blood run both hot and cold. “Oh… God.”

“What is it?”

The update flashing on her underworld app filled the chamber with an eerie glow. “The gambling network. It’s buzzing.” Pains stabbed her chest, and for a second she was pretty sure she was having a heart attack. “The odds of Arik dying tomorrow just tanked.”

“That’s good news.”

“No,” she whispered. “It’s not.” She looked up. “The rumor is that he escaped. Odds now are that he’ll be dead in an hour.”

“Hey, Pest.” The light tone Arik went for didn’t make it past his parched, raw throat.

“Did you really think you were going to escape?”

Arik swung around, hoping his wince at the painful twinge in his hip came across as a casual smile. “Nah. I broke out to get some exercise. How’d you find me, anyway?”

Pestilence, his big body encased in tarnished armor that oozed oily stuff at the joints, rubbed his chin as though deep in thought. As if the fucker had more than one brain cell. “Spiny hellrats are my spies. But for what it’s worth, it was a noble attempt. Impressive, actually.”

“I live for your admiration.”

“I’m sure.”

Arik’s stomach rumbled, the sound magnified by the tunnel’s acoustics, which was a little embarrassing. “What is it you want from me? ’Cuz I gotta tell ya, there’s very little you can do that hasn’t been done.”

The Horseman smiled, exposing some serious fangage. “We’re going to get close, you and I. Very, very close.”

Arik swallowed. Tried to, anyway. His throat was too dry. But he definitely didn’t like the sound of Pestilence’s
close
thing. “Look, I’m sure you make all the lady demons cream their panties, but I’m just not that into you.”

“You’re into Horsemen, though, aren’t you? You’re here because you couldn’t keep your hands off my sister.” Pestilence shrugged. “I’m not judging. She’s got that unattainable bad girl quality going on. Took balls for you to kiss her, what with you being a pathetic human and all.”

Too exhausted to banter any more, Arik slumped against the wall of the cave. “Just do whatever you came to do. Take me back to the cell. Kill me. Whatever. I’m tired of the games.”

Pestilence was in Arik’s face in a heartbeat, his fingers wrapped around his throat. Arik didn’t even have
a chance to fight back before he was lifted into the air and slammed into the stone with such force that his teeth rattled.

“I would love to kill you right now, but I have other plans.” Pestilence knocked Arik against the wall again, and the crack of breaking bones echoed like gunshots off the stone walls.

Pain set fire to every nerve ending. He dangled there, watching in horror as the fucker struck, sinking his huge-ass fangs into his throat. Arik punched, scratched, struggled as hard as he could, but nothing he did seemed to faze Pestilence.

Gradually, blood loss sapped his strength, until his struggles amounted to little more than spastic twitches. He became lightheaded, woozy, and eventually all the pains and aches melted away, leaving him blissfully numb.

Pestilence lifted his head, and though Arik’s vision had gone dark, he felt the rasp of the dude’s tongue sliding over the punctures. Crazily, Arik’s only thought was how vampire-like the whole thing was.