More cursing followed. Sadie might have even heard a chant—literally a curse.
“So, what’d you mean by ‘sort of’?”
“Agares doesn’t call me Dyre.” She gently closed the book and held it to her chest. “Yvonne was my human name. He calls me Yvonne…”
A mix of pain and anger stormed through Dyre—er—Yvonne’s face. Waves of betrayal and longing tickled Sadie’s senses. Longing?
“You know what would really tick him off?” Sadie glanced at Yvonne between strikes to the wall. “If you helped me out of here.”
The demon girl huffed. Sadie’d hoped to play the woman-scorned card. Might not work with demons, though. They didn’t really have a conscious that she could tell.
Then again, this Dyre chick held on to her human name. Maybe Sadie could use that.
“I’ve been trapped down here with you this entire time.” She flipped open the book again. “While he’s roaming free around earth. Free from this fire and granite. Free to be around people and to enjoy the splendors.”
Okay, maybe the woman-scorned thing could work after all.
“Yvonne, help me out of here. Get back at him for how he’s used you.”
Yvonne laughed. “Agares is going to kill you for what you did to his room…and the fact that you’re awake.”
“While on your watch.” Sadie turned, fisting the now-mangled letter opener. “Like he’s not going to hold you responsible? Maybe I should just kill you now. It’d be faster, less painful, I’m sure.”
She hissed, her fangs dropping, but Sadie saw the light of realization flicker. “Tell me what you seek when you mention words or phrases. You mean spells?”
“Rumor has it there’s a phrase that’ll keep Aggie down here for good. Seems our normal vanquish doesn’t work on him.”
“He’s quite popular down here because of that.” She shook her head. “I was the lucky one he chose to serve him.”
Sadie bit back a laugh. Demons were so stupid. Then again, she looked at this wall that she’d made little to no progress on and she decided they weren’t so stupid.
“Why the journal? Why is he watching Theo?”
Yvonne stepped toward Sadie, tentatively. She glanced around, then whispered, “He intends to challenge Lucifer.”
A strangled cough came out of Sadie’s tense throat. “Lucifer? As in the devil?”
She nodded. “He rules Hades. Yet it’s rumored that, like the Gatekeepers, if separated from his Mate, Lucifer will weaken.”
“The freaking devil has a Mate? That’s a little knowledge left out of the history books, huh?”
“I’m thinking it might be true, because his Mate is never seen. She’s held close to Lucifer in his palace. I know of only one demon that supposedly saw the queen of Hades, and he was promptly executed. Eternal fire death, too.”
“How’s this related to Theo?”
“He’s the strongest, oldest Gatekeeper. He has kept himself pure for his Mate.” She nodded to Sadie. “Which is the closest Agares could get to experimenting. He’s not stupid enough to just challenge Lucifer. He needed time to test his theories out. Prepare.”
“How would he get to Lucifer’s Mate if she’s never seen and never goes anywhere?”
“The Thata is not the only artifact out there that can do amazing things.” She offered a fanged smile.
“I’m alive because Aggie’s experiment isn’t finished.” Sadie turned and looked at the door.
“According to this book, Theo is close to death. There will be no need for you much longer.”
“Unless he keeps me here and keeps using you,” Sadie said, hoping to fuel that scorned-woman thing. “Seems he’s got a little crush on me.”
That elicited a growl. “Will the vanquish kill Agares?”
Sadie couldn’t care less, actually, but if she could get Yvonne to help… “It’ll just sentence him to eternal life down here with you. Unable to leave you.” She coughed, hoping her hunch about Yvonne was right. “You’d have him to yourself. Forever.”
“I know of something that might help.” Yvonne glanced to the ceiling as if filing through her memory archives or something. “A scroll in the library.”
“You have a library in Hades?”
“You’re so ignorant it’s almost funny,” Yvonne said. “Too bad you’re so damned powerful. I’d like to kill you now just to get back at Agares.”
Sadie tensed for battle in case she struck. “But you like the idea of having him stuck here with you more, right?”
She grinned. “Exactly.”
Sadie pointed to the wall. “Please tell me you have a key to this invisible door.”
“No. But when he returns, the splice stays open for a few seconds. You can get out that way.”
Should she believe this demon? Trust the information she’d shared? She didn’t have much of a choice. Either stay stuck here or take a chance that even one little part of Yvonne’s information was right: the splice would stay open long enough for Sadie to get out of here.
She dropped the letter opener. “Okay, Yvonne. Tell me everything you know about this scroll and how to get it.”
Chapter Fifty-eight
Hold on, Theo. I’m coming
. Sadie repeated that phrase as she pressed her back flat against the wall beside the non-door and gripped her one and only weapon: a wooden leg from the desk she’d shattered.
As part of the plan for when Aggie arrived, Yvonne lay on the floor at the foot of the bed ready to feign unconsciousness. But for now, the demon watched Sadie with curious eyes.
This had better work. Sadie couldn’t truly kill the demons without the Mavet dagger, and being trapped in this room with one creature, soon to be two when Aggie arrived, would prove fatal, so she couldn’t miss this chance.
First left, down the hallway, sixth door on the right.
She stared at Yvonne, and the demon flinched.
Yes. For the hundredth time. Now get out of my head.
Sadie laughed. Feisty. Too bad Yvonne was a demon; Sadie might have actually liked her had they met on earth under
way
different circumstances. Aggie had obviously used her, and from the sounds of what Yvonne told Sadie, it hadn’t been the first time, either. Yet she stayed with Aggie. Sadie couldn’t help but feel bad for the girl.
For a minute, anyway.
Sadie drew in a deep breath and held it, working to calm her nerves. Thinking of Theo did that. Though it ignited a level of worry, too, it mostly calmed her. Especially thinking about their first time making love.
She’d find him. They’d be together again. Forever.
Electricity crackled, signaling Aggie’s impending arrival.
Yvonne nodded, then feigned unconsciousness, her back to Sadie exactly as planned.
Sadie tightened her hold on her wooden weapon. Hopefully Aggie would be distracted by Yvonne long enough for Sadie to get into the splice. Maybe getting out of this protected room would allow her thoughts of Theo to reach him. Then he and Justin would barge down here like they had before.
If Theo was still alive. Or strong enough to get to her. Yes. He had to be. At this point, she couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—entertain otherwise.
A sliver of blackness opened, and a cool breeze streamed out. She flattened her back to the wall and inched toward it.
According to Yvonne, it took a few minutes to gather strength to create another splice after one closed. Sadie would only have three or four minutes to find the room with the scrolls. She still couldn’t believe Hades had a library. Or “Room of History,” as Yvonne called it. But it evidently held many documents of ancient importance.
Dear Great One, please let the scroll be easily found
.
The splice widened. Yvonne tensed.
Sadie bent her knees and held her weapon at the ready.
“Yvonne, get me—”
Crack
. Sadie hammered the wood against the back of Aggie’s skull and kicked him into the room. One lunge, and she dove into the splice.
Frigid air sliced at her bare arms. It froze her lungs, and the pressure around her squeezed out what was left of the air. Just like when Aggie had taken her.
Please let me end up where I’m supposed to.
After what felt like hours, she landed on her side, pain shredding its way up her shoulder. She rolled and hopped to her feet. Two tall walls of granite flanked her.
That
she recognized. She looked back just in time to see the splice seal up.
Less than five minutes, unless she hit Aggie hard enough to knock him out. She sprinted left, then down the hallway. Six doors later she burst through the door and slammed it shut.
Candles lit the room, keeping it dim. Utter silence. Not even a breeze. Not even a hint of scent hung in the air other than the wax of the candles.
To the left were shelves of books, to the right, three desks with computers propped atop. High tech down in Hades. She never would have guessed.
Sadie fingered the aisles as she went. “Spells and chants. Weapons and disease. So much for alphabetizing.” She kept onward. “Trends and vanquishes.” She paused on that one. No. She needed…Prophecies. It was the last row, just as Yvonne had told her.
Hold on, Theo. Please hear me. Justin. Halena. Please come.
Sadie turned down the aisle and was met with a row of leather scrolls. There had to be at least fifty. “Shit. Which one?”
Each scroll had its own shelf with a label. She moved on, fingering each label, not really sure what she was looking for, until halfway through. “Amiti Mavet.”
Yvonne had mentioned those words. Sadie’d only recognized the second word because that was what Theo’s daggers were called. Grabbing that one, she pulled it open and caught words such as “final” and “Hades” and “death
.”
She rolled it back up and kept moving. Her heart hammered. Her blood pulsed. She only had a few more minutes. And if Aggie could read Yvonne’s mind, he’d know right where Sadie was.
“Come on. Come on.” She moved down the aisle to the last one.
Batya
.
“That’s it.” She grabbed it and ran to the end of the row. She heaved a deep breath and listened. No alarms. No shuffling. Nothing.
But was it a trick?
She padded to the door and listened for three long seconds.
Only silence.
She glanced around the room. Nothing for a weapon presented itself; even a peek down the weapon aisle came up empty.
Theo. Theo.
She cracked open the door. Only darkness and quiet. What the hell was going on? A cold sense of unease wrapped around her stomach, but she pushed through it. She couldn’t hide here forever. She needed to get to Theo. To a Mavet dagger so she could end Aggie.
In the hallway, she hugged the smooth granite walls, gripping the scrolls in one hand and touching the wall with the other. It was warm, smooth, shiny. The walls reached up into darkness, never ending.
Now where? She glanced up and down the hallway, focusing on what Yvonne had said.
To get to a splice, go right once out of the library. Pass at least fifteen doors and caves and coves. The hallway should end in a circular cove. It’ll look like a dead end. It’s not. Go left, then first right. That’s the real dead end. Just say the word “
Kadur
” and a splice will open.
Sadie glanced up and down the hallway again as she moved toward the end.
She swallowed through the dryness taking over her throat and mouth. Her muscles pulsed with energy. Hope. She was close. So close.
Finally, she approached the real dead end. She slowed to a stop and peeked around the corner. The ground was dirt, with rocks burning red-hot off to the right, and some barren trees with dead limbs spiking upward surrounded the small space.
“
Kadur
,” she whispered.
Beside that decrepit tree a splice shimmered. Black with little sparks of electricity. Unguarded? Not likely. She checked behind her, then scanned the open area again.
The splice flickered. A growl erupted beside the vacillating slice of black void. The ground shook beneath her, and she gripped the wall to steady herself. A dark shadow covered the area. The rock beside the tree moved, taking shape as if someone was emerging from the very rock.
She ran as fast as she could toward the doorway to earth.
Something hard rammed into her stomach, stealing the breath she’d just taken in. She flew through the air and slammed into the granite wall. Her lungs seized as she slid to the ground.
A creature at least twelve feet tall loomed over her. Granite eyes stared down and gravel slid off its head, dusting her with debris. A rocky hand reached for her. She kicked the creature in the groin, hoping it’d have an effect, even though he appeared to be made of stone.
The hand whooshed over her head, catching a few strands of her hair. The sting to her scalp snapped her into focus. She tightened her grip on the scrolls.
“Little Batya. Trapped in my realm.” The rock spoke in a gravelly voice, forming words laced with tightness. Disdain.
“Not for long, Rocky.” She rolled to the side and hopped to her feet.
The rock-man lunged, shaking the ground with each step, but she leaped onto the rock, the soles of her boots melting on contact, and pushed off.
She planted both feet against the chest of the rock monster, and he teetered. She rode him like a surfboard on his way down, stepped on his face, then dove.
Right for the splice.
Once again, the cold ripped through her, but she welcomed the reprieve from the heat of that rock-monster’s lair. She tucked the scrolls to her and curled into a ball as best she could, bracing for a hard fall.
And that it was.
Pain screamed up her shoulder. Her head whipped to the side, sending a twinge of agony down her neck. She rolled to her back and took in her surroundings.
Three demons looked down at her, fangs dropped and taloned hands reaching.
Yvonne had set her up.
Chapter Fifty-nine
A fist to the face sent Sadie whirling. A tree trunk stopped her spinning, and she ducked. Another fist smashed against the bark, sending splinters into the air.
She glanced around. Pink clouds littered a clear sky. Warm breeze laced with pine and wood. But it felt like earth.
Halena. Justin. Theo.
She ducked beneath two arms reaching for her, rolled, and hopped to her feet. She ran.