“He’s not going to die, because I’m going to save him,” I said, clenching my fists at my side. “He’s waiting for me.”
“You’re a fool if you’re going to go after them,” she said through the door. Then, she paused. “The halo?”
I decided to use the same lie Zane and I had agreed upon. “I’ve delivered it to the archangel already. There’s nothing left behind these walls.”
Phryne sighed heavily, as if defeated. I heard her slump against the stone wall. “You foolish, foolish girl. Why would you give up power so easily?”
I said nothing.
“Well, this has proved to me one thing, Jackie dearest,” Phryne said in a conversational voice, and I heard her moving around on the other side. “There’s one halo left and it seems like I’m going to have to slow you down if I plan on getting it.”
As she spoke, something landed on my head with a splat. I shrieked as bright yellow paint splattered all over my clothing and stuck in my hair. Paint ran down my face. “You bitch. What was that for?”
“For this.” A bottle wobbled over the wall and broke at my feet. Sugar spilled on the floor. I stared at it in confusion.
“Sorry, darling, nothing personal,” Phryne said, her voice receding as if walking away. “Oh, and I invoke the demon Mae.”
No! Horror shot through me—how had Phryne known about my promise to the demon?—a moment before I was flat on my stomach, and the burning-hot foot of a demon pressed into my back.
“Well, well,” the demon purred. “We meet again, my dear.”
I lay frozen, my hand tucked under my body. My heart hammered, my body plastered to the ground as if held down by some massive force.
This was not good, not good at all.
“Looks like you’ve been making enemies since last we met, little one,” Mae said thoughtfully, her voice smoky and dark. That high-heeled shoe ground into my back, digging into my spine. Her foot was so hot I could feel it through the sole. “Didn’t you learn your lessons?”
“Let me up,” I said, gritting my teeth. I had to act casual, lest she figure out what I held in my hand.
“Not yet,” Mae purred.
Goddamn that bitch Phryne. In the distance, I could hear the sound of splashing and knew she’d retreated, moving back over the underground lake. I hated her so much.
The demon leaned over me, dragging my attention back to her with alarm. As I looked over my shoulder into her face, I saw her eyes flicker red and black, like flames. Her smile widened, showing rows of sharp, dagger-like teeth, at odds with her neatly tailored gray business suit and stuffy bun atop her head. “Demons have long memories, dearest. And I seem to remember our little bargain. Don’t you?”
I stilled. When the incubus Luc had kidnapped me months ago, I’d called the demon forth to save my own skin. I’d promised her anything. At the time, it had been worth it.
But now?
“Plate’s kind of full at the moment,” I said, forcing casualness into my voice. “Take a rain check?”
“No,” Mae said, “but you do have something I want.”
My limbs grew cold and I kept my hand pressed under my body, willing the pulse of the halo to remain quiet. “What’s that?”
“I know what this place is,” she purred. “And the fact that I can’t see anything but the paint you’re wearing means that you’re holding a little something I want very, very badly.”
Goddamn it. “I don’t have anything.”
She laughed merrily. “Nice try, but I’m not stupid. You can’t live thousands of years and not pick up on the obvious. And you are very,
very
obvious.” Her heel came off my back and I rolled away a few feet, turning to face her and watching her warily. She stood in front of the only exit from the tomb. Shit.
Mae dusted off her hands. “The nice thing about a bargain with a demon? It can’t be broken.” She extended her hand and flicked a finger, beckoning me. “Come and give me the halo.”
A compulsion as dark and horrible as any I’d ever been given clamped down on my brain. I struggled, but it was no use. As if my body were not my own, I walked forward and pulled the ring off my finger, holding it out to her as it expanded.
The demon’s eyes glittered with avarice, and she snatched the halo from my grasp. It dissipated into thin air, as if absorbed by her, and she arched her back in delight. When she opened her eyes, they gleamed golden with power. “Delicious. Who would have thought that you would prove to be such a fruitful little catch?” She reached out and caressed my cheek, her skin burning mine at the touch.
I hissed and jerked away. Damn it. I’d just blithely handed immense power over to a demon, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it.
She curled her claws and grinned at me. “As a reward for you, I think I’m going to let you watch as I smite my enemies.”
“Enemies?” I echoed, taking a step backward. That uncomfortable, bone-deep fear heightened, my breathing quickening. There weren’t many in this tomb other than Noah, myself, and the vampires…
She tsked and gave me a sad look. “Not you, little one! You are currently my favorite.” She grinned and winked at me. “All we need is a little pulse of power to bring my old friend running,” she said, and her eyes flared with golden light.
I felt my internal tuning fork twang wildly, felt the halo’s surge roll through the air, thick and heady.
But the demon didn’t move; instead, she watched me, her intense gaze unnerving.
I looked around the maze anxiously. I could disappear back into it… and then what? Be lost for days? Find Noah and have him berate me for losing the halo? That wouldn’t get it back. I had to stop Mae before she left here.
“They’re coming,” she said after a long moment, golden eyes unblinking.
I had to do something. Had to act.
I lunged for her, desperate. She only laughed loudly at my clumsy attempt, neatly sidestepping. A burst of power knocked me to the ground, and she planted her shoe on my back again. “Naughty pet. Trying to distract me?”
I struggled, but she sent down a casual wave of power, flattening me. I could barely lift a finger—it felt as if a massive weight had landed on me.
I was useless. Despair overwhelmed me. The halo. I’d lost it.
And Zane…
As if on cue, the sound of wings filled the cavern, and my stomach flipped in anxiety.
No, please no.
I closed my eyes, praying that this wasn’t happening.
The vampire queen landed in the maze a few feet away, her leathery wings flicking. Her black eyes gazed down at me, but her dark anger seemed focused on one of the other vampires that fluttered to a landing next to her.
Zane was flung to the ground in front of me, his wings destroyed. Blood poured from his nose and mouth, and he slumped, crumpled on his side. At my sharp intake of breath, his head lifted and his gaze focused on me. He tried to crawl forward, pushing to get to me.
The queen stepped past him, taking care to step on one of his broken wings. I saw his mouth clench at the pain, but he said nothing. His gaze was on me.
We lay on the floor but feet apart. I moved my fingers, trying to reach him, grasp his hand. They only twitched in response.
Wind began to whip through the chamber, and Mae’s delighted laugh made my skin crawl. “Ah, I knew you’d come if I gave it a little tweak,” she said gaily. “Surprised to see me, dark one?”
Nitocris’s gaze flicked through the maze before landing on me, and I realized she couldn’t see the demon that held me pinned down. “Show yourself.”
I realized that the queen was having the same trouble that Zane had—she couldn’t see Mae while she had the halo. As a neutral party between both races, I wasn’t affected by the ‘blocking’ power it had, though I wished I was.
“Why should I show myself?” Mae stepped over me, moving right into my line of sight. “I have you right where I want you.”
The queen’s lips curled back in a snarl, displaying the same shark-like teeth that Mae had. “You have nothing, demon.”
“That’s right,” Mae said thoughtfully. “I
am
a demon. And I seem to recall someone stealing the essence of one of my sister demons for her own foul games.” She drummed a finger on her chin, pretending to think. “Now who could that be?”
The queen’s mouth thinned. She flicked a hand at one of the vampires hovering nearby, ordering him behind her.
“Oh, that’s right,” Mae cooed. “It’s
you,
isn’t it? And it’s been far too long that we’ve let you have the run of the house, you foul old bitch. I do believe it’s time I evened the odds, don’t you think?”
The queen took a step backward, her eyes widening.
On the floor, across from me, Zane struggled to get to one elbow. When that failed, he reached a broken hand toward me. “Jackie, run.”
I whimpered. I couldn’t even make a fist, much less get out of here. “I’m not leaving you.”
“I love you,” he whispered. As I watched, a black feather fell from his wing and landed in a smear of his blood. “Never forget that.”
“I failed,” I told him, the words catching in my throat. “I’ve ruined everything.”
A hard pulse of the halo’s power throbbed through the room suddenly. The air got heavy, thick. Ominous.
“Do not do this,” Nitocris warned, taking a step back.
Mae simply smiled, raising her hands into the air. I felt the halo’s power surge again, as if she was gathering it. Then the demon extended her palms toward the queen and blasted her. Golden light shot from the demon’s hands, and the sudden power surge in the room was so strong and thick that it felt like I’d been blasted with an inferno. My hair lashed around my head. Heat shot through the cavern like a nuclear blast.
The queen screamed.
Mae laughed, and continued to blast her with the power. As I watched, Queen Nitocris’s skin blackened, then charred. Her body melted away before my eyes, devoured by the intense pulse of light.
And then she was nothing but a cloud of ash.
Zane’s eyes met mine. One last tender look…
And then he was nothing but ash as well.
“Everybody cries, sooner or later. Just do yourself a favor: save all the crying for when the dressing room door is shut.”—
It’s a Hard Cock Life,
by Remy Summore
~*~
I stared at the pile of ash, unable to believe what I was seeing. His clothing lay crumpled on the ground, shoes discarded. That lone feather still lay in a pool of blood. Behind him, clothing crumpled to the ground as the wearers disintegrated. A puff of ash filled the air.
A hot, tearing sensation ripped through my body, waves of agony engulfing me. It was like I was being ripped in half. I gave a choked cry at the sensation, only to feel that horrible tearing feeling ebb, leaving me… half. Empty. Aching. As if I were missing something.
My link with one of my masters had been broken.
Hollow, I stared at the feather. It was the only thing left of Zane.
“No.”
Mae’s boot lifted from my back. “Collateral damage, little one. Now, I’m off to wreak havoc and have a little fun. Don’t wait up.” With a smoky chuckle, she walked away, pushing the doors of the tomb open and strolling out.
The heavy weight lifted from my back and I was free to move once more.
I crawled over to the feather and grasped it in shaking hands. This didn’t happen. It didn’t. Didn’t. He was just around the corner. He’d come back out and see me and smile that roguish smile that made my stomach flip, and I’d feel silly for imagining such a thing, and the hollow ache inside me would ease…
I stared at the ash. My fingers touched it. It felt smooth, silky. A trick. Mae had made them disappear somehow. That must have been it.
Yet I went back to his jeans, lying there, crumpled. His shoes. Something was in one of the pockets of the jeans, and I tugged it free. A half-empty pack of his favorite brand of cigarettes. My fingers brushed over the crinkling packaging and a hint of Zane’s scent wafted through the air.
A sob tore from my throat. I held the feather close, cradling it to my chest.
I love you. Never forget that.
A hard sob ripped out of my throat, and then another, and then I couldn’t stop. My body began to shake with the force of it, but I didn’t care. I picked up his lighter and held it with the blood-spattered feather, tears streaming down my face.
Zane was… gone.
Just like that, gone. I’d never see him again, never kiss his mouth, never feel his fingers grab a lock of my hair. Never wake him up at night and see that slow, loving smile as his gaze fixed on me. Never feel his body over mine as we made love. Never feel his fangs dip into my throat for a taste. Never hear his laugh. His smile.
Oh God, his smile.
I love you. Never forget that.
“I love you, Zane,” I sobbed. My world was ending. I’d lost the man who made life worth living.
And now I had eternity…
And it was
without
him. I was still here, because I had two masters. I was still tied to Noah.
Please no. Please. I’ll give up everything. Just give me back Zane. I don’t care if we have forever—I just want more than three months with him. Please. Please.
But no one heard my cries. And Zane didn’t come back.
And I was left with nothing but ashes.
~*~
Remy found me some time later. She stumbled through the doors, wincing and clutching her head. “Someone get the number of the Mack truck that hit me?” Her grumbling stopped at the sight of my weeping. She paled and went to my side, dropping to her knees. “Jackie? You okay, hon?”
“Zane,” I sobbed, unable to stop crying. I showed her the bloody feather instead. “He… he… I saw it. Mae killed the queen. They all… died. Just turned to ash.”
Remy went pale. “No fucking way. Mae has the halo?”
I didn’t give a shit about Mae or the halo. “Zane is dead,” I cried. “I loved him and he’s
gone
.”
Remy tugged me close, stroking my bandage as if to soothe me. “Shh, sweetheart. I know. It’s okay. I’m here for you.”
I just wept harder. I felt numb. No, worse than numb. Sick. Dead inside.