Soul Reborn (Key to the Cursed Book 1) (11 page)

She flinched at his
words, but didn’t back down. “Yes. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”

“No one does
anything for selfless reasons. There is always a motivation behind it,” he growled.

Her anger flashed like
light in the darkness. “If you want to hear I’m ensuring my sisters’ safety
before I leave then fine, I’m being selfish. This carnage has to stop. If I can
help you in the process, all the better. You may just be looking out for your
gate key and your son, but I have my sisters to worry about, and I’m not going
to leave them to fight this on their own.”

“This is my war. I
will not have you sacrifice yourself for it.”

She turned away
from him to hide her expression of guilt. “It is
our
war. I need to do
my part to make things right.” Despite her efforts, her voice broke. Her neck
tingled with the gentle and unexpected brush of his cold fingers.

“Lilly,” Asar
whispered against her skin before he backed away. “Why does this pain run so
deep within you?”

She took a deep
breath before turning to face him. “We really don’t have time to get into my
psychological underpinnings. In the end, it won’t change what happened and
continues to happen. It’s not important.”

He strode toward
her. “Gods damn it. Answer me!”

She started to
speak and then stopped, frantically searching for the words to dissuade his
line of questioning. God, she wanted to tell him everything. She wanted him to
understand and forgive her. She needed forgiveness so badly, it hurt. A goddess
already betrayed him. She couldn’t take him hating her too. He wanted an
answer, so she told a partial truth.

“I told you my
father was dead.” She rubbed her forehead in agitation. “He is a reven. I
promised him I would find the cure.”

“He still exists in
reven form?”

She nodded and
leaned against the dirt wall. “He has been in special confinement at the
Nehebkau fortress for five years.”

“Five years? That
is a very long time for a reven to exist.”

“Mother keeps him
alive as long as I serve the Nehebkau.” She met his black eyes, praying he
couldn’t see the rest of the story.

Asar wasn’t the
only one who’d staked claim to her. The threat to kill her father motivated
Lilly to keep serving Mother. Not to mention her own emotional slavery to her
father in the form of her promise.

He remained quiet
for several moments. “If we proceed with this, Lilly, we do it on my terms. I
need your total and utter compliance with my commands. You must trust me, and
do as I say.” He lifted her chin, forcing her to look him straight in the eyes.
“Do you understand?”

“Yes, just tell me
what you want us to do.”

She swiped away the
beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Her whole body felt like it was on fire.
Her leather uniform stuck uncomfortably to her damp skin. It had never been an
issue before. Always cool and centered before a fight, she rarely broke a sweat.
Today, her skin prickled under the warmth of a five alarm fire. She ignored the
uncomfortable sensation as best she could in favor of the mission.

Instead of
answering her, he kissed her lightly before the burn of her lips made him pull
away. It was much shorter than she would have liked.

“Just stay alive. Kamen
and I will hold off the revens. I will need your and Kit’s help to restrain Kepi.
Kendra must not touch her or she will suffer the same fate as your father.”

Her chest ached with
the thought of Kendra getting hurt. Or worse, turning into a reven. Swallowing
back bile, she nodded. “You’ll protect Kendra, if things go bad. Please tell me
you’ll protect her.”

“She will be under
Kamen’s watch. He will not let her be harmed.”

When he turned to
leave, she gently grabbed his arm. He flinched and yanked his arm from her
grasp. His skin blistered instantly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“I’m fine. Is there
something else?”

“I think the key is
hidden inside her body. She would want to keep it close and tucked away.”

Asar bared his
teeth. “It would be so like the
odjit
to keep the key wrapped around my
dead heart.”

Lilly gripped the
hilt of her sword. She was about to face her one and only chance to reclaim the
key that would close the gates. And more importantly, the heart of a god she
intended to capture and keep her herself.

If she could keep
Kepi silent, she just might get out of this alive.

Lilly led the group down
the long metal steps into the warehouse’s basement. Asar followed with Kendra
in the middle of him and Kamen. Kit brought up the rear.

Steam pipes ran the
length of the ceiling and walls, leaving plenty of places for revens to hide. The
protective light outside would not shield their group inside the building. Lilly
shook her head at the thought of how many abandoned buildings—deemed too costly
to destroy—still existed within the city, even though it was well known revens
flourished in these havens. Stupid politicians. If they lived one day in her
boots, they would blow these things up in a second. But no, they sat behind
their secured buildings with personal body guards, unlike the rest of the world.

The usual heat of
conversion spread down her already feverish body as they descended down into
the home of the damned. Her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness. The Underworld
gods controlled the revens for extermination. The bodies dropped with a clank
against the metal grated floor, leaving their group to travel through the long,
dark corridors with little threat to their lives.

The whispers echoed
in Lilly’s head. The voices, louder and more urgent.

She diverted the
group’s course to avoid several large pockets of revens. The nest was much
larger than expected—no doubt Rebecca’s faulty intel. She hissed under her
breath. The bitch should be fired for incompetency.

Now sweating
profusely, she wiped a hand across her face. The humidity in the tight quarters
didn’t help. The space narrowed allowing only one person to pass at a time. Lilly
stopped to switch out her katana in favor of two short bladed swords. Turning
to Asar, she whispered, “There is no way these revens were created recently. Some
show signs of advance decay. Any possibility the goddess is bringing them in
from other locations?”

“It is possible to
control them over great distances, especially if they have been imprinted on a
master.” He held his hand out to deflect another reven which Kit decisively
terminated.

“Are you doing
okay, Kendra?” Lilly leaned around Asar. Her knuckles white with fear, her
little sister clenched the loose fabric of Asar’s tunic.

“Yeah, fine.”
Kendra croaked. “Are you okay? Your face is all red.”

“I’m fine. We need
to push on.” Brushing off her sister’s concern, she peered around the corner to
where a pair of revens fed off an animal carcass. At least, she hoped it was an
animal. Their heads flashed up, sensing Lilly’s heat signature, and began to
hobble down the metal grated floor to her location. Positioning her blades to
kill, she stepped around the corner ready to strike, but the revens stopped
their progress. They stood motionless for a moment, then turned and walked the
other direction, passing their last meal without even a glance.

She looked over her
shoulder into Asar’s black eyes. He shook his head. She stiffened, detecting
more movement to her right. Half a dozen revens walked by without even looking.

Kit stepped in
front of Kendra to prevent any contact. “Something’s happening. Why would they
be all going to the same direction?”

“There is only one
way to find out. Time to join the party.”

Lilly followed the
last group of revens until she reached a traffic jam of undead bodies trying to
push their way into a large room.

Asar pointed to the
second story gang plank. She nodded and reached for the steel beam, but a cold
hand touched her shoulder and, in a flash, the whole group stood on the next
level. The Underworld god smirked.

“Must be nice,” Lilly
muttered under her breath.

She found a window
that looked down on the large room where the revens had gathered, and cataloged
the layout and exits. Two steel tables in the center of the room encircled by
approximately five hundred revens. The one on the left had a female with black
hair strapped to its shiny surface. Her whimpers carried up to their level. Lilly
motioned to Kendra to come forward. Her sister took a quick look and squatted
down.

Her brown eyes ebbed
with a mix of horror and fascination. “The goddess is taking on a new body. They
will transfer Asar’s heart from her old body to the new one.”

“When the heart is
out we move,” Lilly said to the group.

Kendra swallowed
and her face paled. “Lilly, the woman down there will have to have her heart
cut out of her chest while she is alive. The heart will still be beating when
he pulls it out. Only when the woman’s heart is removed will the reven open the
goddess’ chest.”

Lilly’s stomach
churned and sweat broke out on her lip. Kit swore under breath. The only two showing
no concern were the deities. Asar scowled. “The plan does not change. We go
when the heart and key are out.”

Lilly wiped her
hand across her hot face again and glared at him. “Hell, Asar. A woman is going
to die down there, and we’re going to hear her screaming.”

Sweat stung her
eyes, but she looked to her sisters for consensus. Kit nodded. Kendra put her
hands over her ears. “Shit.”

She crouched next
to Asar in front of the window but had to look away when the reven raised the knife
in the air. Asar’s dark gaze shifted to the ceremony. As the victim’s screams
filled the air, Lilly’s entire body began to shake in protest. It took all her
strength to hold her position and not dive in the fight too soon.

Asar examined her a
moment. She thought she caught a flicker of sympathy in his eyes, but it was so
fleeting she might have imagined it. She put a hand on Kendra’s shoulder. Tears
streamed down her young sister’s face, dribbling over the fist she’d stuffed
into her mouth.

Finally, the
screams ceased, and the reven put the young woman’s heart into an organ jar. He
turned to the goddess’ body and made an incision into her left chest. Lilly’s
mouth gapped open upon seeing the black heart pulled out of Kepi’s chest. She
glanced at Asar, who fixated on it. The priest placed it in the jar and turned
back to the chest cavity. He reached in and pulled out the key.

Lilly gasped half a
second before Asar transported them exactly between the two tables. She nailed
the reven in the chest, shredding its heart where it stood. Before the body hit
the floor she ripped the key from its hands. On either side Asar and Kamen
controlled the swarm of revens. Kit transferred the black heart to the
container they had obtained from the goddess during the previous mission. Kendra
started to recite the binding spell. Lilly’s sense of relief fled quickly when
the revens pushed inward, overpowering the two gods. Despite her inanimate body
lying on the table the goddess commanded her army to attack.

“Hurry up, Kendra.”
Lilly jumped up on the table over the goddess and killed several revens. Kit stood
over the recently deceased woman, creating a circle around their young sister.

Kendra finished the
prayer. She yelled over the feral hollers of the revens. “Did it work?”

As Lilly looked
over her shoulder, the goddess lurched up, grabbed her legs, and shifted her
off balance. Her body crashed down on top of Kepi. The revens grabbed her arms.
“Asar!”

He swung around,
grabbed the goddess by the throat and slammed her down onto the metal table. Lilly
kicked at her and the revens trying to release their grip on her. Finally, she rolled
off the table and grabbed Kendra. “Kamen, get my sisters out of here.” He
nodded and they dematerialized.

The room started to
spin and Lilly’s vision dimmed. She blindly swiped her blade in the air hitting
anything that moved. Grabbing on to the table to balance herself, she called
out, “Asar!”

He turned in time
to catch her fall. “Lilly!”

She struggled to
hold onto her senses and not pass out right in his arms. Breathless, she
grabbed onto his tunic to steady herself. “Move your hand.”

With darkness
threatening to overtake her, she swung her blade one last time and severed the
goddess’ neck. Disconnected from Kepi’s control, the revens’ attack faltered. A
wave of dizziness slammed into her and buckled her legs. She plunged face first
into Asar’s chest.

He shifted her weight
in his arms.

The goddess’ head
rolled off the table and hit the floor with a crack. Unexpectedly, the deceased
black-headed female snapped her restraints and reared up off the second table.
She reached for Lilly’s arm.

Lilly tried to
scream, but the terror stagnated in her throat from the fire burning her from
within. Tears trickled down her cheeks. The distant echoes of Asar’s voice
bounced in her head.

Landing in the
basement of the museum, she immediately emptied her stomach contents in one
long, protracted retch. She rolled onto the cold floor clutching her stomach
and gasping for breath. Fire raced through her veins and throughout her body.

She inhaled sharply
when Asar placed his ice cold hand on her head. He pulled it back quickly and
shook it.

Kit’s black hair waved
over her. “Get Kendra out of here. I have to get Lilly back to the fortress and
put into quarantine.”

In the flurry of
flashes in her vision, Lilly heard the distant rip of leather and the tugging
on her lower extremities. Kit stripped her down to her panties. The strong smell
of smoke and fire filled the room as her clothes burned in the old fireplace.

Her sister pulled
her hair back from her sweat drenched chest. “What the hell is this?” Kit
growled. Asar’s mark of ownership was now fully revealed. “Mother fucker, what
did you do to my sister?”

Lilly tried to
speak but every breath hurt. She needed to explain to her sister why she had
given herself to Asar. And by doing so, she fell in love with a god. She had
given more than her body, she gave him her heart. Kit’s voice trailed off in
the distance.

“Lilly, do not
leave me now. Not now,” Asar whispered close to her ear.

“Get away from her.
It’s because of you she’s in this mess.” Kit hissed and pulled Lilly away from
him. “Nehebkau’s medical team will be here shortly. You have your key and
fucking heart. Shut the damn gate!”

“What is wrong with
her?” Asar demanded. “She should be immune to the curse.”

Lilly could hear
the concern in Kit’s voice. “I have no idea, but if she changes, they will kill
her. Shit! Where the hell are they?”

The sound of
footsteps running down the hall traveled down to where she lay in the basement.
They came in full force. She shivered one last time before Asar disappeared.

Time flashed by in
fragments. The fire consumed every last cell of her body, burning her alive. The
medical team ran tests on her blood while in full protective gear seconds
before the darkness took Lilly’s last visions of life.