Secrets - [Guardian Trilogy 01] (44 page)

“But then Juliet's killer will go unpunished.”

“Olivia, we don’t deal out vengeance. We lead, inspire, and help.”

“Exactly, which is why I have to do this now.”

Quintus wasn’t fooled or pleased. “Is that the only thing holding you back?”

“No.”

“Holden?”

“Holden,” I agreed. I had no intention of saying anything more, but before I knew it I was revealing my heart to Quintus. “I love him. You said I had to do what is best for me and that’s being with him.”

“The two of you can never be together.”

“You keep saying that, but we already are.”

“It's an abomination. You know this situation won’t change or improve by killing the demon, right? You and Holden will most likely die in the process, and you’ll be forced to make the decision you’re so recklessly avoiding. The only thing that can come of you two being together is pain and destruction. By his very nature he destroys all that he touches. Don’t let him do that to you.”

“You may not like Holden, and fine, that’s your right, but Holden is important to me. I know what I’m doing. If this plan forces me to make my decision, I guess I’ll make it, but not a moment before. Right now, I choose revenge. I choose Holden. End of story. Don’t say another word about him if you value our friendship.”

“Olivia!”

“That's my decision.”

“Your life has so much more purpose than this.”

“There's no greater purpose than this.”

Quintus grimaced. “I can’t talk you out of it?”

“No.”

“Then what can I do to help?”

“Take heat lamps over to my apartment.”

“Okay, what else?”

“That's it.”

“You'll need more help than that. You two can’t do this alone. You need a plan—” I started to object, but he waved it off. “A plan that could actually work. Going in like this is certain failure. Patience, Olivia, patience.”

“Thank you for the offer, but—”

“Christ, Olivia, let him help. He’s right. This is hardly better than a suicide pact. We need to take whatever help we can get. And we’re absolutely going in with a plan.”
I heard Holden chime in.

“No,”
I thought. “
No one else will be hurt in my place. Quintus can’t take a more active role. He just said guardians don’t deal in vengeance. How do you expect him to help?”

“What do you propose?” Holden was fully dressed now, looking as handsome as ever, but worried. He sat next to me on the couch casually, but with a hint of possessiveness as he took my hand.

“
You
have agreed to
this
lunacy?” Quintus questioned him. Holden gave him a helpless shrug, and Quintus appeared to understand. “Well, if I’m anywhere in the apartment, he’ll sense me.”

“Undoubtedly,” Holden agreed.

“What we need is a plan.”

“Obviously,” Holden agreed again. “The plan so far is that Olivia allows herself to be captured and by some miracle I sneak in, knock out the demon and then we drag him into the sunlight and watch the bastard burn. Did I miss anything, sweetheart?”

“And how do you plan on doing any of that?”

“Is there any chance we could depend on divine intervention?” Holden asked dryly.

Quintus chuckled, but I wasn’t amused. I knew Holden didn’t like my plan, but there was no reason to mock it.
You could at least try,
I thought.

Oh, I will try, sweetheart. It'll be the last thing I do.

“If you don’t like the plan, Holden, make it better.

Holden nodded slightly. “Okay, let’s think about this logically. I can’t defeat a demon on my own. He'll have power over me, power that I'll be all but defenseless against. I am, after all, a servant of the underworld.” He shot me a pointed glance.

“We could watch and wait until after he arrives then come in and flank him. That way if you can’t do anything, I’ll be there to at least get her out,” Quintus offered.

“That won’t work either. Once Olivia is taken, there's no way we could get into her apartment without him knowing. The demon will sense you within five hundred yards of him and even I, while insignificant, could draw his attention if he’s feeling particularly paranoid.”

“What if you take Olivia to him as a prisoner? Could you lead the demon to believe you’re bringing her to him? That way he may not suspect your motives straight away.”

Holden thought about it for a moment, then he said slowly, “That
might
actually work. It would get me into the apartment at least.”

“It’s worth a shot. If it doesn't work, we’re no worse off than we would’ve been,” I chimed in, nervous excitement building inside of me. We could really do this; we could bring Juliet justice. “We can distract the demon by making him believe you succeeded in capturing me, and Quintus can sneak in.” I nodded excitedly, and they both looked at me with worried expressions. “You talk about the inner light Quintus has. Would it be enough to hold the demon in a body?”

“Perhaps for a short time, if we're still alive by the time he gets there.” I could feel a certain amount of relief in Holden that Quintus was helping. Holden didn't expect to survive, and he believed I had a better chance of survival with Quintus there. I squeezed Holden’s hand. Quintus really didn’t understand him at all.

Both the men grudgingly agreed to the revised plan. Quintus left to transport the heat lamps, but not before trying to talk me out of the plan one last time. Holden and I were to stay holed up in his apartment so we wouldn’t draw attention to ourselves for the day—probably our last day.

“This will not be our last day,”
Holden thought firmly, but he didn’t believe it.

I leaned my head on his shoulder, and he rested his cheek on my head. Both of us tried not to think about the only thing on our minds. We’d only just found each other, how could it be coming to an end so soon? Regardless of our “everything is fine” charade, we both knew time was running out too fast.

Before too long we gave up on being normal. We went over the plan ad nauseum until we knew the details forwards and backwards. Holden and Quintus would knock the host body out, and we’d tie him up and gag him under the lights. Come morning, he’d be loaded into Holden's car with Quintus’s help and driven to the middle of nowhere. We’d then tie him to a fence post until the demon was dead. Then we’d take the man back home—

“
And we’ll all live happily ever after.”

“Not likely,”
Holden thought, but he squeezed my leg letting me know he had the same hope.

The afternoon and early evening passed too quickly. Around 10:00 p.m. my hands started trembling, and I couldn’t sit still. Quintus finally came back to the apartment to check in with us. He gave me a sad dimpled smile. “Are you sure you want to go through with this tonight? It wouldn’t hurt to delay it.”

Holden was still. He made no comment and surrendered no thoughts about it. He simply waited for my answer.

I battled my doubts for what seemed like an eternity before somehow answering without my voice shaking. ”We'll do it tonight.” The fear that if we delayed, I’d lose my nerve and not be able to go through with it, weighed heavy in my mind. We had to do it now, while I was still feeling brave.

“Okay, I’ll go to take up my post. See you soon.” Quintus hugged me, and I could tell he didn’t believe his words. He didn’t think he’d ever see me again, let alone
soon
. Holden stiffened as the hug lasted a bit too long, but to his credit, he didn’t say or think anything.

We arrived at my apartment building around midnight. I sat in the back seat and Holden drove. He wrenched me out of the car and walked me into the building, standing close. He wore his bored, stony expression like armor into battle. I wanted to touch his face and melt the mask away. My Holden was nowhere to be found and it unsettled me.

“
You need to be scared of me, or he'll know something's wrong, but don't oversell it.”

“Okay.”

“Liv . . .”

“Yeah.”

“You know…”
I could feel his trepidation.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He pushed me out of the elevator by my neck. I wore my shirt from the night before that was still covered with dried blood. He used the keys he’d stolen from me to open the lock, then sent me sprawling into my apartment. My yelp of shock wasn’t feigned. I stumbled back to my feet and together we stood in the living room, which was now cold and lifeless, waiting. My home had become unholy ground, empty of all things good and warm in the world. Goosebumps spread across my skin, my stomach twisted.

It didn't take long for our bait to work. Within moments Holden tightened his grip on me and closed off his mind completely. I no longer had to pretend to be scared. I was terrified.

The apartment door opened slowly and Mark walked through the door. Holden tightened his grip on the back of my neck, sending pain shooting through my shoulders, an unmistakable sign to keep my mouth shut.

Mark spoke in a lifeless voice, “You found her?”

Holden was just as cold. “Yes.”

“Did you have any trouble?”

Holden’s grin was wolfish and suggestive. “Nothing I couldn't handle, but she’s feisty.” He shoved me forward, as if showing me off to the demon.

“The guardian.”

“Outside.”

What the hell? That wasn't part of the plan! What was he doing?

“Augustus?”

“I took care of him.”

The demon raised his host’s eyebrow, but there was no trace of anything remotely human in the expression. “Good. He was reckless. He could have ruined everything—you seem to have taken it easy on the girl. Her spirit isn’t broken at all.”

“I have my ways,” Holden said lazily.

Scarier than the demon in front of me was how different Holden suddenly was. Which was the ruse—his pact with me or his subservience to this monster? Was Holden actually in league with the demons from the start? No, he loves me, I thought banishing any doubt or questioning I had about him. I had to cling to that one thought.

“What’s so special about her anyway? She doesn’t seem like much to me.”

“Looks can be deceiving.” The demon licked his lips as he gave me a hungry stare. “If we wanted you to know anything, we would have told you.”

Holden rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Just wondering why we were breaking the truce with the guardians.”

Mark gave him an appraising look. “I guess since you brought her in . . . We aren’t breaking anything. If she was already a guardian, it’d be different—but she’s not. She’s still human, so this is just good business. I have no idea why she is important, but she is lucrative.” Mark walked over to me. “Are you ready to make a deal?” he asked, inches from my face.

“Go to hell.” I said, pulling up courage through my fear.

He smiled. “I’m trying.” He touched my forehead and pain shot through my body, making me fall to my knees, gasping. “If you’d only cooperate,” he said barely above a whisper.

By vision was blurry from the pain. I struggled to stand up, despite my weak legs and clenching muscles. “You're right—
feisty
,” the demon said to Holden. “Why you weren’t rougher with her? She couldn’t have been easy to manage.”

“Violence can be tedious. My strengths lay in much more enjoyable areas.” Holden let his eyes wash over me in a way that made me feel dirty. “As you well know.”

The demon eyed the blood on my shirt. “You’ll make a deal with me before this night is through. I can do things to you, make you beg. Everyone has a breaking point, and I’ll find yours.” He stalked around me like a panther.