Slip Song (Devany Miller Series) (3 page)

“Tom wasn’t a fragile flower, Danni, and they grabbed him and killed him in front of my kids. Do you really think they’d think twice about killing you? Please, believe me. If I need you I will call. Okay?”

“
Okay. Zech says he could go to the Council for you.”

“
No. Not yet, anyway. Let me talk to Marantha and Arsinua, if I can find her. Then I’ll have him go if I need him to. Please.”

The phone call didn’t end well. She thought I was protecting her because of her past. She only knew the tiniest bit of what had gone on before I’d roped her into helping me the last time. She didn’t understand the dangers.

I sat my phone on the counter and splashed my face with cold water from the tap. Then I leaned in further and took huge gulps of the icy liquid straight from the faucet until my stomach was heavy and cold. I leaned against the sink and tried to plan what I needed to do next.

I knew I needed to get a handle on the magic. That meant finding someone willing to teach me the basics. Marantha was a little snappish but then again, so was Arsinua. I could ask Tytan but he would probably expect some sort of payment in return.

Nex? Would the fleshcrawler be able to teach me? He was from Midia, after all, and had the whole creepy-psychic thing going for him. Strange. I almost missed him. Of all that I’d left behind or ignored in the Slip, he was the one I looked on with the most fondness.

That was saying something, considering he consisted of a floating head and trailing intestines.

“Plan, Devany.”

Go to swamp. Hunt. Kill. Mate.

I rolled my eyes. “Not going to happen. Though if you want me to find a way to get you out of my head, then I’d be more than happy to help.”

Again with the strange, chittery laughter. She was becoming more human-like the longer she stayed inside me. She liked it in there, unfortunately, and I hadn’t yet found anything she wanted bad enough to coax her out.

At least with Ann here, I could make some night trips to the Slip and Midia. It would wear me out, but ever since the explosion that had left the heart, the witch, and the spider inside me, I hadn’t needed much sleep. I didn’t like leaving the kids, though, Ann here or not. The Theleoni―they of the black robes―had proven themselves more than willing to travel into my world to kill those I loved. They’d taken my kids once before and there was no way in hell I’d ever let that happen again.

So, for now, I’d only go to the Slip, though I dreaded it, because at least visiting there meant no time passed at all here. I could go, spend hours or days there and have only a blink of time pass here. I just didn’t want to go alone. Which meant I was back to Tytan. Oh, how he would love to know all roads led to him.

“Damn.”

I went upstairs to find my grieving children. To hold them and make promises I wasn’t sure I could keep.

-THREE-

The police followed up later that afternoon. More questions than I could ever hope to answer. Had I heard a helicopter? A loud rushing noise? Anything to explain why they just disappeared? They wanted to talk to the kids again, too. I agreed. Maybe hearing it from the kids would convince them of the truth.

I asked if they’d checked Tom’s apartment. Asked where they grabbed him. They didn’t know. Or at least they weren’t telling me. I wondered if they would be trying to figure out if I’d paid the Theleoni to kill him.

Bethy and Liam were both asleep early. Ann took the guest room, the smell of rich incense drifting out into the hall. I checked on the kids four times before shutting myself in my bedroom. I could have curled up in bed and cried, but I refused to indulge myself. Guilt still beat at me. It wasn’t my fault I’d wandered into Midia, or ended up with a witch, a spider assassin, and a magical object inside me. But I had made the choice to step into the middle of Yarnell’s group and start the fight that would end with Yarnell and several other people in his group dead.

To try and get the noise of recriminations out of my head, I turned on the TV, dialing down the volume so I wouldn’t wake anyone. I flipped to the news in time to see a reporter talking about the vicious murder that left one man dead in Langham Park. Strange to see such a horrifying moment distilled into a few dry words. My thumb hovered over the channel button then dropped when I saw the parade of pictures across the screen.

“
In other news, four more people have been reported missing in our area. Two in Council Bluffs, one in Papillion, and one in Blair. Police aren’t speculating that the disappearances are connected, but there has been a rash of missing person reports in the past two months. The total so far? Fourteen people missing.”

I muted the TV and stared at the faces flashing by. Young, old. Some runaways―or so their parents or guardians reported―some homeless. They were at it again. The Theleoni. The ones who had murdered Tom. They grabbed humans and dragged them into Midia where all the dormant magic inside them would explode into life, killing the person and fueling the Theleoni’s magical works. They’d taken my kids and had I not found them in time, both Bethy and Liam would be dead.

I surged to my feet and shut my eyes, opening up my awareness to see the strands of light running from me to my spawn. There was only one I was interested in: I concentrated on his dimples, one part of him I actually liked, and his line brightened. One glance at the door, then I tugged, focusing on him.

In an instant, I stumbled over a shoe and landed face first on a warm, naked body. “Shit! Sorry. Sorry.” I pushed myself up, trying not to touch anything that might get me into trouble but Tytan was quicker than I and hauled me onto his bed―onto him―faster than I could move away.

“It’s about damn time you got here. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten all about me.” His hands were roaming where they shouldn’t. With a jerk, I rolled away, tumbling off his bed and scrambling to my feet.

He laughed as I tugged my shirt back down to my waist. “I didn’t come here to be molested.”

He purred, a low, sensual sound that made my knees weak. “Too bad. I’m very good at molesting.”

“
The Theleoni murdered my husband. In front of my kids. They’re still taking humans. More and more every day. I need to figure out how to use this damn heart all over again.”

His face changed as he listened. The anger there made me feel good. At least he had some empathy, even though I knew better than to trust him when my back was turned. “What do you mean, you need to learn how to use the heart?”

“Apparently Arsinua was doing a hell of a lot more than I thought, because I can barely make a frigging hook, let a lone use magic to protect myself. I need help.”

“
You need to go to the Slip and take up your mantle of leadership.”

“
I don’t want to be a damned Originator. I just want to kick some ass.”

He sat up, the red satin sheet slipping far enough down to interest the baser part of me. My eyes dipped before I could tell myself not to look. He caught me, though all he did was smile. “You need to return to my world. There are things you have to do. Maintain the Slip, for one. Keep your spawn in line, for the other. You do realize there’s an all out hunt for Skriven souls, don’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t give a shit.” My eyes dropped again. This time my gaze snagged on the scars from Ravana’s torture. He hadn’t fared well. And he’d been protecting me. Why?

His voice brought my attention back. “You should. They find their souls and kill them, they can ascend. If they ascend, they can challenge you. And if you aren’t able to figure out your magic, well.”

My head fell back and I stared at the ceiling. I couldn’t have just one problem. Oh no. They had to pile up like cars in a freeway wreck. “How am I supposed to keep them from finding the souls? I don’t know any of this stuff.”

“
That’s why you need to go to the Slip.”

Shit.

“Can someone there help me figure out how to use this Heart inside me?”

“
You don’t want to tell any Skriven about it. Your best bet would be to round up the little witch who made it and force her to teach you.”

I gritted my teeth. “You just said I needed to go to the Slip. I can’t do that and hunt for Arsinua.”

“Slip first. I can help you find Arsinua if you take me back.”

Something about the way he was leaning forward, a little too eager considering the casual way he said it, made me purse my lips. “What’s in it for me?”

A brief flash of anger, gone. He smiled, a slow, lazy tip of his lips made my skin hum. “You need someone on your side. Someone who can guide you, show you the way things work in the Slip. Let me go back, give me a place at your right hand, and I’ll make certain no one dare touch you.”

“
What’s in it for you?”

“
I can go home. No more living on your miserable excuse for a planet. I’ll have access to the Source—through you, of course.”

“
I don’t want you bringing me souls.” Should I ask about Tom’s soul? The way my body sucked the shimmer gold into me?

Not yet.

“As my lady wishes.”

He agreed so easily, I knew I’d just lost an important bargaining chip. “You have to do one service for me every time you want to use the Source. That’s the deal.”

Tytan frowned. “One service for each time? That will get tedious. I hope you have a lot of work for me to do.”

There was always shoveling snow, buddy. “You’ll help me keep them from finding their souls?”

He nodded.

“
What about Cyres?” His face remained neutral, no expression I could see, and yet I still sensed the tension in him at the mention of his soul’s name.

“
I think she’s hurt. Or somewhere dangerous. I feel her pain. Not constantly, but enough so I can’t sleep most nights. If you hadn’t come to me within the next few weeks, I planned to find you and do whatever it took to convince you to help me find her. Even if that means you hide her away from me.” His dark eyes pinned me with their intensity. “So please, Devany. Mistress Originator. I ask that you bring me back to the Slip and help me save my soul.”

I shoved my hands deep in my pockets, wishing I could look away but not able to. “Don’t make it sound so … important.”

It made him laugh, broke the tension and allowed me to look away. “It is important.”

“
I know. Fuck. Why is it all so damn important? Why didn’t it all just end when she died?” Satin slicked against satin. I heard the shimmer of it and backed tight against the wall before he could grab me. I held out my hand. “Stop. Don’t even think about it.”

“
Getting dressed? You want me to stay naked then?” Turning toward me, he spread his arms and grinned.

I lifted my hand, blocking the best, er, worst of him.  “You were going to grab me.”

“Devany.” He put a hand on his chest where his heart would be—if he had one.

“
You were. Don’t pretend you weren’t. You’re always grabbing at me.” I sounded like a shrill school marm cornered by a drunk cowboy but I couldn’t help it. Too much stress today.

“
You have to know you are a beautiful woman. I’ll admit, I have a thing for brunettes, but there’s something about you that makes me want to start at your toes and kiss, nibble, and suck my way up your body.” Although he hadn’t moved, he felt closer. The room heated. “You are passionate and fearless once you make a decision.”

I opened my mouth. Hell no, I wasn’t fearless but he wasn’t done. He held up a finger.

“There’s desire there, coiled up so tightly I can feel the tension from here. I want to be the one to unleash that. Not now. But I will get you in my bed and when you’re there, you will scream for me. I guarantee it.”

Then he just turned away, showing off his well-made ass as if he made those kinds of declarations all the time. Hell, maybe he did.

Stiff-legged, I went to the window to look out into the dark night. Snow still covered the ground and the rooftops, making the neighborhood look like a store-bought Christmas village. The house right across the way reminded me of a gingerbread house, with the candy canes crisscrossed on the front, their red and white lights twinkling. Looked just like my neighbor’s house, in fact.

My breath fogged the glass as I leaned close, trying to read the house number. “You live a block down from my house?” I may have shrieked. I rubbed at the fog with my sleeve. “You do. What the hell kind of creepy thing to do is that?”

“I wanted to keep you safe.”

I spun. “Why? If I died, you’d get to ascend, right? So why keep me safe?”

He sighed, buttoned up his jeans. “I just explained why. Weren’t you listening?”

“
Because you want to do me? That’s not a reason.”

He shrugged into his shirt, his long fingers flying over the buttons. “You can help me find Cyres. You have a great power inside you I wouldn’t mind exploiting. You’re intriguing and funny and I quite enjoy watching you work.” He slipped on socks, balancing without a wobble on either leg as he did. “Can I stop now? Or do you want me to continue to … stroke your ego?”