Gabriel's Hope (#1, Rhyn Eternal) (14 page)

Jared’s eyes lit up with hunger. “Kids make the tastiest morsels. Should I be concerned about pesky Immortals tracking me down?”

“With the Ancient Andre dead, they won’t be able to find you in time,” Darkyn replied. “Keep at it until I send orders otherwise and change locations daily. I want to thin their ranks.”

“You intend to attack Rhyn again?”

“What I intend is not your concern,” Darkyn snapped. “Go.”

Jared bowed his head and fled, well aware of the power of the demon lord’s fury.

I intend to claim what will be owed, when I find that fucking soul,
Darkyn added to himself.

“Harmony, come.” This order he spoke out loud.

The death-dealer on the Dark One’s payroll appeared immediately at the summons. Beautiful and slender, she was likewise deadly. Darkyn liked his women willing to fight him before he fucked them and bled them dry. Her fate would be no different, and he anticipated a good, long fight and slow death.

“Report,” he ordered.

She held out something that looked like a compass. Darkyn took it, instantly recognizing the magic as Death’s. The symbols were from the time-before-time, an era of chaos he barely remembered.

“Soul compass,” he said, not expecting the tool. “Death is going old school.”

“Our soul radars are broken,” she explained. “Gabe is having these made for us while we’re trapped up here.”

“Trapped?”

“The underworld kicked us out. Even Death.”

Darkyn chuckled, a low, dark sound. “Very good, love.”

“You are satisfied with my work?” She was nervous.

“Very. And Death? What of his mindset?”

Harmony hesitated, and Darkyn met her gaze, sensing weakness. Not hesitating to hand over the compass, she appeared torn at taking the final step of betrayal. Darkyn gripped her neck, shoving her into the wall. The scent of an Immortal – a female one – made his hunger roar to life.

“When your master asks, you answer,” he snarled.

“He’s … confused. Angry,” she gasped. “Lost. Forgive me.”

“Your first lesson.” His fangs lengthened.

Harmony gripped his arm, fear crossing her face.

“Twice you resist,” he hissed. “There will not be a third time.”

She dropped her hand and closed her eyes, bracing herself.

Darkyn had no intention of going easy on her, even if it was her first lesson in the proper behavior expected of a demon’s blood slave. Eventually, he’d reveal the fate that awaited traitors and order her to fight him. For now, he was content to make her life miserable while she fed him information about Gabriel.

With a soul compass in one hand and his dinner in the other, Darkyn was satisfied for the first time in months. He’d find the missing soul. It was just a matter of patience.

Chapter Seven

The new world seemed less scary in daylight. Deidre lay awake in bed for quite awhile, sorting through the events of the weekend. Her insides quaked, but she breathed deeply to keep calm and focus her mind. She’d felt the same loss of control and fear when first diagnosed as terminal. She’d broken down for weeks, sobbing and refusing to leave her house.

One day, she stopped. Acceptance came relatively easily when she ceased fighting the idea that she was going to die. She tried to do the same now. Whatever she knew of the world, it no longer pertained to her circumstances. There was an entire subset of reality, and that’s where she landed when she jumped off her building.

She was alive. She was still in control of herself and her mind. With a little discipline and a whole lot of open-mindedness, she’d figure this out, like she’d figured out how to live with the reality she was at death’s door.

Gabriel’s door. The concept of Death being humanlike in form, that she was permanently bound to him…

“Nope. Can’t handle that one yet,” she said, grinding her teeth. “One thing at a time, Deidre.”

The thought of Gabriel made her panic. Tender one day, chopping off heads the next, Death the third and finally, reluctantly telling her they were bound together forever.

She had the shittiest luck. No, she wasn’t ready for Gabriel yet, no matter how strongly her body responded to his smallest touch. She did a few more breathing exercises until she felt ready to step outside her room to face the new world. There were clothes in the dresser, not quite her size but not too far off. She took a hot shower in the cramped bathroom off the side of her room then pulled on the clothes.

The Sanctuary was plain to the point of austere, with no luxuries. Her room was tiny, barely fitting a twin-sized bed and a small, wooden dresser. It was comfortable, like a little cave where she could hide. The sounds of the ocean and the sea breeze lulled her to sleep last night and gently drew her awake before sunrise. She opened the heavy wooden door and stepped into an open-air hallway. She’d seen a handful of nuns yesterday, and only Daniela spoke to her.

She took three steps away from her cave. Nothing went wrong. It was a good start.

Deidre walked into one of four courtyards she’d discovered roaming the day before. She couldn’t tell them apart yet and looked around to determine if this courtyard was the one near the medieval cafeteria or not.

It wasn’t. Deidre went through another courtyard before the scents of breakfast drew her to the correct one. She walked into the dark dining area to see a few others already present: two of the nuns and two normal looking people.

She didn’t want to know what kind of creatures they might be. She sat near the door and waited. Daniela had told her the kitchens would serve at any time of day. Deidre was seated for a minute before a red-faced nun brought out a tray with a plate heaped with food and a coffee pot with creamer, sugars and mug.

Cheered by the sight of food, Deidre dug in. She’d barely finished her omelet when the two people from the other table sat across from her. She paused, not at all certain what to do. The man was tall with Oriental features and striking, turquoise eyes. Handsome and lean, he wore slacks and a collared shirt left open at the neck with the long sleeve meticulously rolled in a faux casual style.

“Keep eating,” he said, glancing up from the laptop he set on the table before him. “It’ll take me a minute to set up.”

Deidre’s brows furrowed at his no-nonsense tone. The woman beside him was blond, her eyes pale blue. Beautiful and slender, she offered a faint smile. She was more casually dressed in leggings, knee-high boots and a shirt that fell to mid-hip. She wore a glove on one hand that extended to her elbow.

“He means, we’re in no rush. Enjoy your breakfast,” the woman said. “I’m Ileana. This is Kiki. We’re here to do the interview we do for all new members to the Immortal society.”

“I’m Deidre,” she replied. “You probably know that though, right?”

Ileana nodded.

Deidre nibbled on her food then pushed it aside to drink the coffee. She feared asking what they meant by
Immortal society.
Half-drunk by the time Rhyn explained things to her the day before, she’d come away from that conversation more baffled than she’d been when she fell out of the sky onto the beach. Gabriel’s matter-of-fact talk of magic and laws older than time hadn’t clarified much, except that he believed she belonged to him.

The way his touch made her feel, she almost believed it herself.

“How long have you existed?” Kiki asked.

“Pardon?”

“How old are you,” Ileana translated.

“Twenty six.”

“You’ve been on the mortal world the whole time?” Kiki appeared doubtful.

“As far as I know,” Deidre replied.

“You remember being born here and everything?”

“I don’t remember being born, but I mean, I grew up in Indiana and moved to Atlanta for college and stayed after I graduated. Pretty sure those are both in the um, mortal … world,” Deidre said. “Does that surprise you?”

“Yes,” Kiki said.

“No,” Ileana said at the same time.

She looked between them. Neither tried to explain their answers.

“When did the Immortal mating inscription appear?” Kiki asked.

“You mean the Gabriel tattoo?”

He nodded.

“Yesterday morning.”

“Awww, you’re a baby Immortal mate!” Ileana said, smiling. “Welcome.”

Deidre poured more coffee. She understood why Daniela kept feeding her brandy the night before. Kiki’s eyes settled on her shaking hands. He met her gaze then closed the laptop.

“We can wait,” he said, the edge leaving his voice. “It’s not an easy transition. Gods know we almost screwed up the last one beyond repair.”

“That was out of our control.” A dark look crossed Ileana’s face.

“We have a more formal process now for transitioning Immortal mates,” Kiki said, as if his explanation was supposed to mean something to her.

Deidre drew a deep breath with some difficulty. “I have to ask. You’re saying there’s a society of Immortals living in the normal world that no one knows about?”

“Exactly,” Kiki said. “We’re managed by a council that very poorly oversees Immortal activities in the mortal world and fights demons to keep the underworld dwellers from destroying the human world. We follow the Immortal Code, which dictates our interactions with humans and our obligations within our society.”

They seemed to be waiting for her reaction.

“Okay. I appreciate how straight forward you’re being,” Deidre said. “Why am I … stuck in this new reality?”

“As far as we know, Immortal mates are predetermined. There’s an anomaly in your blood that makes you compatible with our kind.”

“You have my blood?”

“Of course. When we identified you, we obtained all your medical records, your credit history, basically your entire life,” Kiki explained. “We created a file on you, so we could monitor and determine whose mate you became, if you did at all.”

“That sounds like stalking,” Deidre said.

“It’s necessary, so we can protect you. Only two or three people ever see your file,” Ileana added.

“You’re ninety eight percent human,” Kiki said.

“What’s the two percent?” Deidre whispered, afraid to know.

“Other genetic material. We don’t know. You might have an Immortal bloodline somewhere in your ancestry or a simple mutation.”

“That makes me special?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you find me years ago, if that’s the case?” she asked.

They were quiet for a moment. It wasn’t a pensive silence, but more of a silent struggle to determine how much they revealed. They, too, had a secret they were keeping from her.

“We didn’t know we were looking for you until a couple of months ago,” Ileana said at last. “It’s been a rough year for the Council. Everything almost blew up a few months ago. Immortal doesn’t mean omniscient or anything. We’re closely related to humans, and we share many of the same limitations. We have more of an immunity to dying than normal humans.”

“Okay.” They were making some sense. Deidre didn’t want to ask about the part that disturbed her the most. She soaked in the information, and something clicked. “I’m supposed to die in three months. Does this mean I won’t now?”

“That depends,” Kiki said. He said nothing else.

“What does that depend on?” she prodded.

“We don’t really know how that will work out,” Ileana said. “By Immortal Code, Death can’t kill you, and neither can any of his dealers.”

“Because …”

“Because you’re his mate,” Kiki said. “We don’t really know what will happen.”

“He can probably take you down to the underworld and you’ll be fine.” Ileana shrugged.

“Underworld.” The sense of being overwhelmed made Deidre grip the coffee mug hard.

“The demons have been stalking you for awhile. We think there’s something else going on,” Kiki said. “At the end of the day, you’re Gabe’s, so he can do whatever he wants with you, as long as he follows the Code.”

“It’s an honor to be an Immortal mate,” Ileana said.

Panic stirred at the idea of Gabriel dragging her to some freakish underworld. He claimed he was giving her a choice the night before of whether she wanted to be with a sword-wielding maniac. The Immortals before her seemed more convinced she’d fall into her place as his mate. Because somehow, this was normal wherever they were from.

“Gabriel is Death,” Deidre said the words carefully, slowly.

“Yep,” Kiki replied.

“His day job is to kill people.”

“Exactly and to collect souls of those who have died by other means.”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Ileana said with a smile.

“How so?”

“It’s Immortal law. It doesn’t much matter what you want,” Kiki replied.

Ileana rolled her eyes. “For what it’s worth, Gabe was the most respected and longest serving assassin of Death before he got promoted. He’s fair, honorable, a stickler for the Code, and not someone anyone will mess with.”

“I could really use some brandy right now,” Deidre propped her forehead on her hand.

“Forbidden,” Kiki said firmly.

“There’s no way out of this?”

“Absolutely none.”

Unless I’m dead in three months.
If only she hadn’t slept with a complete stranger two nights ago. Though, if what they said was true, she was destined for the Immortal society anyway.