Unreap My Heart (The Reaper Series) (24 page)

Like anything in the Underverse, the auction used the barter system as payment. Anyone who bid the highest exchange possible for the item up for auction won said item. Cash meant nothing in the Underverse, although gold and jewels did have some value. It depended on the kinds of jewels and the number of chests of gold. The best currency in the Underverse? Power.

Balthazar swallowed. Suddenly he had a very bad feeling about this scenario. Everything up until their arrival at the Voyeur’s mansion had been a walk in the park, like an invisible hand led him and Arianne to where they needed to be. Like they were part of some big plan. Balthazar hated being manipulated. He couldn’t get a handle on the grand plan…yet. But when he found out, heads would roll. Someone clearly pulled the strings.

He squared his shoulders and kept his eyes on the platform then said to Arianne, “Whatever you see during the next few minutes, don’t react. Do you understand me? You scream, we die.”

Chapter 26

IRL

B
ALTHAZAR’S
W
ARNING
T
ICKLED
D
OWN
Arianne’s spine, but not in a good way. Suddenly, the large ballroom got so very quiet. It didn’t even seem like anyone breathed. A crackling tension filled the air.

For the first time since she joined the party with Balthazar, she didn’t feel like eyes were on her. Wearing tiny pieces of cloth did that, brought attention. But in the back of her mind, Arianne would rather be in public dressed in a bikini than fully-clothed in private with Balthazar. Her lips still remembered his kiss too well. The little nips he’d treated her bottom lip to had sent unwanted warmth below her navel.

Every time she flushed, she hoped Balthazar wouldn’t feel her. She couldn’t be sure since he had his back to her the whole time. Part of being the master, he’d said before they entered the ballroom. She had to walk behind him the whole time and not bring attention to herself. Fat chance in the itsy bitsy slave bikini.

Everything that went bump in the night and then some seemed to have gathered in the Voyeur’s mansion. A strangely beautiful vampire sucked on the neck of an innocent girl who seemed to be enjoying it a little too much. It figured that Hollywood got vampires right. The pixies bobbing up and down on what seemed like a bungee cord executing acrobatic stunts looked sad, like someone was forcing them to entertain the gathering. No one really looked up at them. Arianne only got a peek at them when she entered the ballroom. Most of the time she kept her eyes on the polished floor.

But she had to admit to being a bad slave. She kept glancing up, catching glimpses of the party.

A ghoul—one that looked more like a human than the scary ones she and Balthazar encountered in the woods—snacked on steak so rare it still oozed blood. At least, Arianne thought it was steak. The trippy fairies were the prettiest things in the party in their flowing dresses and long, braided hair. She suspected a creature that pretty—with its graceful movements—had to be twice as dangerous.

Mental note: stay away from the fairies. And Tomas, that big liar.

She couldn’t forget the huge Demon Kings, wearing nothing but what looked like black Speedos. Bigger than any linebacker. She felt Balthazar’s hunger when one passed him by. It still unnerved her to know that, unlike the Reapers, who took energy from the souls they reaped, he drained energy from creatures in the Underverse. And based on Balthazar’s intense reaction to the leathery-winged beast here, Demon Kings were his favorite.

Arianne shivered.

Each new thing she learned about Balthazar weirded her out more. At least with Niko, she could pretend he was human. They had gone to school together, attended classes, eaten at the cafeteria. She had a hard time imagining Balthazar in the same situation. Balthazar in high school…
that
would go over well. He’d never pass as human.

And yet a part of her had enjoyed his kiss, even participated in it. Despite her initial shock at the sudden contact, he’d drawn her in quickly. She’d parted her lips when his tongue asked for entrance. In their dance, he led and she willingly followed. Balthazar’s kiss filled Arianne’s head with thoughts she shouldn’t be having when she was on a mission to save the boy she loved. Even when guilt wracked her, she couldn’t help but squeeze her thighs together from the discomfort brought on by the mere memory of Balthazar’s lips on hers.

“Do you understand me, Arianne?” Balthazar asked again, bringing her back to the Underball.

“Why?” She didn’t think she had the nerve to question him, considering the seriousness of his words, but the question still came out.

He snorted. “Can’t you just obey me without asking questions for once?”

Her yes stopped short when what the Voyeur said earlier—the information Balthazar sold his blood for—sparked her curiosity. “Who’s Zakariel?”

“Not now.” Two words he said through his teeth.

“Fine.” She knew it seemed like she gave up easily, but really she didn’t. Arianne knew how to bide her time. Balthazar couldn’t hide things from her for long. She’d find out about Zakariel even if she had to follow him to that meeting Solara would set up.

Balthazar relaxed his shoulders a little.

“How’s the masking of your scent working for you?”

Arianne jumped at the sound of Granmare Baba’s voice. The witch stood beside her all hunched over. The mole on her nose twitched when she smiled.

“What are you doing here?” Arianne whispered harshly.

“Granmare Baba has something she wants,” Balthazar answered without looking back at them. Did that count as speaking to the witch when she clearly didn’t speak to him? Arianne stared at the center of his broad back. He seemed determined to keep his eyes on the platform. The lizard in a tux cleared its throat, ready to announce the first item up for auction. Shuffling came from behind the curtain.

“He’s right about that,” Granmare Baba said. She cackled softly. “How are you doing?”

The nudge the witch gave Arianne clued her in that she spoke to her. The first question she assumed Granmare Baba gave as a freebee. Arianne had no idea what such an old woman needed in a whorehouse. She forced herself to focus.

“The information you gave me isn’t complete.”

Granmare Baba clucked her tongue. “Not satisfied with the product, eh?”

The glint in the old woman’s eyes scared Arianne into shaking her head. “No, it’s not that. It’s just there are some things that are blocked. I can’t
access
them.”

“Some things you will know in time.”

The second time Granmare Baba smiled it seemed so sweet that she could pass for any old lady, except Arianne knew better. She swallowed and stood straighter. She wasn’t about to let the witch intimidate her. Arianne knew she was playing way out of her league. She’d known this from the beginning. She put on a brave face about it, but most of the time she wanted to run home and forget about all the scary things she’d found out during this Redeemer search with Balthazar. She figured she wasn’t dead yet, so she must be doing something right.

“Like the information about Balthazar.” Arianne saw his shoulders tense again after she spoke. Making him uncomfortable satisfied her…a lot. She remembered how he’d tortured her before the kiss.
Payback’s a bitch
.

“Ah!” Granmare Baba cracked her gnarly knuckles. “I thought you meant the information about the Redeemer and a certain item up for auction.”

Balthazar whirled around then, his eyes wild. “What the hell’s going on here?”

Arianne’s brow furrowed. Maybe all rules didn’t count outside of Granmare Baba’s territory because the old witch didn’t react to being spoken to without her speaking first.

“The Voyeur’s mansion is neutral territory,” Balthazar said as an aside in answer to her question without really looking at her. He currently glared down at the witch.

Granmare Baba’s wrinkled lips stretched into a grin. “I heard the Redeemer sent Zakariel here on a hunch.”

“Don’t play games with me, old hag.”

Did Balthazar just threaten Granmare Baba? Arianne stood in open-mouthed amazement. Some of the creatures nearest them glanced their way, but most of the time they had their heads turned toward the stage. Arianne barely heard the first auction item—a night with a succubus—sold for the head of Rubin—whoever that was. She flicked her gaze to the platform just as the red curtains closed around the barely clothed woman with small leathery wings and a tail. By the frown on its face, the succubus wasn’t happy about being an auction item. Arianne returned her attention to Balthazar and Granmare Baba.

“Better not be threatening me,” the witch responded.

“What are you getting at?” Balthazar asked, seeming to ignore the dangerous narrowing of the witch’s eyes.

Arianne opened her mouth to speak up, but Granmare Baba beat her to it. “Just know that this auction is important to the Redeemer.” She looked over Balthazar’s shoulder and said almost distractedly, “I believe the item I want is up. If you will excuse me.”

Arianne watched the witch waddle away before she looked up at Balthazar who stared death daggers at the witch’s back. “What’s she mean about this auction being important to the Redeemer?”

Balthazar didn’t look at her. He faced the stage again. They both watched as Granmare Baba battled it out with a Fairy Queen for the jar of pixie dust. The Fairy Queen Arianne got, but what would Granmare Baba want with an aphrodisiac?

She shuddered at the possible answer.

Just when she thought Balthazar wouldn’t answer her question, he said, “Zakariel is the Heavenly Host currently in control of Haven. He’s the one who knows where the Redeemer is. And it looks like he’ll bid on something in this auction.”

Whoa! The information flooding Arianne’s brain almost overwhelmed her. Every time Balthazar said something new, Arianne instantly understood a part of what he’d meant. Like Granmare Baba said. The information unlocked when the right time came. Haven was like the Crossroads. Heavenly Hosts, basically Archangels, and the lesser angels used it as a halfway point between the human world and Heaven. And the most important information of all? The Redeemer lived in Haven and the Heavenly Host called Zakariel knew where. Arianne’s stomach tumbled. They were so close. Her gaze fell to the ring. The pulses were spaced farther apart now, so weak that it frightened her.

She sent a silent prayer to whoever might be listening for Death to be able to hold on a little longer. They’d almost found the Redeemer. Just a little bit longer.

The second Arianne finished her prayer, her eyes landed on the platform. The curtains opened. First she saw the cage then her blood ran cold. The cage enclosed someone she thought she’d never see again.

“Ben,” she said, barely heard even to her own ears. Balthazar glanced at her from over his shoulder.

“Ben?” he asked.

Arianne felt like a fist closed around her heart. She never took her eyes off the pale slumped figure inside the cage. He still wore the robe Tomas had given him when they’d first left their bodies to save Niko from Death. He didn’t wear the smile she was so used to seeing on his face. He seemed thinner than before. It took everything she had not to run to the platform and rattle his cage until he looked up at her. Right now, even from afar, Arianne could see that his eyes were glazed, like he’d lost all hope.

“Ben’s my best friend.” Tears welled up in her eyes. She blinked them away and forced herself to continue. “I had a Death Certificate out on me. Ben put himself in my place so I could live. Why’s he here?”

The lizard spoke over the greedy whispers Arianne only noticed now. Everyone in the room seemed to want Ben, ready to bid for him. The lizard described Ben as a human soul still fresh from a reaping, unprocessed—whatever the hell that meant.

Without thinking about the consequences, Arianne grabbed Balthazar’s arm. “We have to save him,” she begged.

He looked down at her then at Ben in the cage. “We’re not here for him.”

Arianne squeezed his arm harder. “I don’t care.” Her voice shook along with the rest of her. “We have to save him. God knows what they’ll do to him.”

“I can just imagine.”

“This isn’t a joke!” she said through her teeth. “We
have
to help him. Please.”

A movement caught Balthazar’s eye and he looked away from Arianne. She followed his gaze to a tall man with long blonde hair in white linen pants and nothing else. But what got Arianne really staring were his pristine white wings. Each feather glimmered under the chandelier light. Beside and behind him gathered a group of four lesser angels, Arianne knew from their not-as-white wings. The creatures around them took a step back—whether unconscious or because they really tried to avoid the heavenly crew, Arianne couldn’t be sure.

“It looks like we finally know what Zakariel is after,” Balthazar said.

Arianne looked from the Heavenly Host to the sad face of her best friend. “Ben.”

Chapter 27

BFF

S
EEING
T
HE
H
EAVENLY
H
OST
in all his glory momentarily stunned Balthazar. The last time he’d been in the same room with Zakariel, Balthazar still had baby teeth. His mother had been walking with him toward the park in Haven where newborn angels played. He’d been bullied the day before for being “different” and had been hugging his mother’s skirt ever since. This was before his mother went crazy. He had taken comfort in hiding within the shelter of her magnificent wings.