Bedeviled (6 page)

Now, they were enemies.

Days of borrowing clothes and exchanging stories about good-looking men were gone, and acknowledging that seared a burning path from her belly to her throat. The first time she and Haven had met, all Kyana had seen was how opposite they had been. But fighting side by side, she'd come to respect the Barbie doll's ability to kick ass. And right now, she wanted nothing more than to have Haven watching her back again.

She swallowed and tried to focus on the task at hand. She took in the gray images of the discarded bedding and food containers. The pups took turns pawing at the items, then lifted their heads, sniffing the air. As one, they turned and exited Dillard's, then split off. Kyana's vision shifted from the lead bitch's to the other two's surroundings. She was tied to them all, and she supposed it was kind of like watching a split-screen TV.

They searched several clothing stores, food shops, and jewelry stores, occasionally drifting back to one another for a brief inspection before splitting up again. It amazed her how the pups stayed to the shadows, avoiding detection as they worked to complete the mission she'd given them.

After what felt like mind-numbing hours, the dogs circled back around separately, coming together as though simultaneously finding the trail they'd been seeking. Back to Dillard's, though they'd been there once, and as Kyana watched, they dashed through the jewelry section, busting glass cases as they leaped with excitement over counters and displays . . . and crashed through the glass doors and into the parking lot.

Holy shit. They were on the move.

Without her.

They'd definitely caught something strong. Kyana rubbed her eyes, desperately trying to clear her head, and ran after them. She could only see what the dogs showed her, and as she ran, she stumbled over every damned thing in her path.

“Halt!” she screamed, her voice carrying through the empty halls.

The trio of pooches skidded to a stop in the middle of the parking lot, hearing her as clearly as if she'd been standing beside them. They waited, panting, and Kyana took a deep breath as she waited for her vision to clear. It did so slowly, enough so she could make her way through the mall and department store without killing herself. By the time she reached the dogs, her vision was once again her own and she bellowed for Ryker, afraid to move the dogs lest they lose their precious trace.

The minute Ryker and Silas appeared around the corner, Kyana set the dogs off again. As she followed, she called over her shoulder, “Get help here for the humans now! My dogs just busted their barricade!”

Chapter Eight

K
yana followed at a goddess's pace behind her dogs. Over walls and fences, through unkempt yards and vacant neighborhoods. One barbed-wire fence cost her her backpack, but she was forced to leave it behind or risk losing the trail her dogs were leaving her. This meant her last change of clothes, all the goodies Artemis had given her, and her supply of ambrosia were no longer available.

Lovely.

The only clear images in the blur of colors produced by her speed were the dogs running a dozen yards in front of her. Gradually, their pace slowed. Instead of leaping over obstacles, they picked their way around them until they reached a run-down part of town that, even before the destruction of the breakout, had seen better days.

The pack led her into a trailer park and to a driveway possessing a mailbox label “The Monroes.” Her heart dipped into her toes and stayed there, anchored by realization and the hurt over being lied to. This place belonged to Haven's family. Kyana recognized it immediately from Haven's scrapbook. An old photo of Haven and her twin, Hope, had been the cover page, and the backdrop had been this same, dismal trailer.

Kyana truly thought Haven had never lied to her about anything. She'd told Kyana she'd grown up in the Smoky Mountains, in a small Tennessee town where all the kids in the county went to the same school and her father had been the local youth minister. Turned out, she'd grown up in a small town about fifteen miles outside Panama City. Once Kyana was able to gather herself, she inhaled deeply. The double-wide reeked of Haven.

Haven's lie disturbed Kyana as she drank in the dingy aluminum siding and the weed-filled driveway. Cast in the gray halo of night, there wasn't even any sun to cheer the dump up. Why had she lied? Kyana didn't care where Haven had come from. Hell, Kyana knew firsthand that the crap you lived through—or didn't as had been the case with her—didn't necessarily have anything to do with who you became. A trailer park in Tennessee or a trailer park in Florida, what did it matter?

Knowing the truth wouldn't have changed her love for Haven or made Kyana think less of her because she hadn't had the perfect childhood. If she hadn't wanted to talk about it, fine, then avoid the subject the way Kyana did. But why the lies?

“Why'd they bring us to this place?” Ryker's voice took her by surprise. She hadn't realized he'd been following so closely. “Why are we here?”

She ignored his question and looked around for Silas. He could defend himself should something attack, but he didn't have the ability to find her that Ryker seemed to.

“You left him alone?”

Ryker pointed over his shoulder where Silas was just making his way slowly down the street toward them. “Is this the place you saw in your vision?”

She took in the sight of the factory looming in the distance just outside the run-down trailer park. Three stories high and covered in red brick, the factory released plumes of gray smoke into the air and stank to high heaven.

“Yes. She came home.”

Feeling the bitterness of Haven's lie creeping back into her throat, Kyana blew into her whistle twice and set it on the ground, then stepped back to let the dogs return home to rest. They disappeared as one slobbering bundle and she slipped the chain back around her neck.

“This isn't her home,” Silas said as he joined them. “She's shown me pictures of where she grew up, and trust me, this isn't it.”

Knowing she wasn't the only one Haven had lied to didn't ease the hurt. However, the sound of glass crashing inside put a stop to the speculation. The trio glanced at one another before breaking into a sprint.

They dashed up the rickety metal steps and ripped open the squeaky screen door just as a full-grown man flew across the room and collided with the wall. He lay slumped there as they pushed their way inside, his eyes wide, his mouth hanging open. Confusion and fear had turned his features into that of an old hound dog's. Nothing but wrinkles and worry.

“Help me,” he said, raising his arms to protect his face.

Kyana followed his horrified gaze to the small, puke-green kitchen, and her heart tumbled somewhere around her knees. Haven glared at her from behind long, knotted hair—her chest heaving, her nails raking into the cabinets over her head. Small splinters of wood rained down on her, coating her head with chips of pea green.

“Haven.” The name fell in a whisper from Kyana's lips as she moved forward.

This most certainly was not the same Haven Kyana knew. It wasn't smiling Haven, offering a friendship Kyana hadn't wanted ten years ago. Wasn't the Haven who laughed and flirted with Geoffrey, who wanted that relationship to go further and was too afraid to make it happen. Wasn't the same Haven who sat cross-legged in front of the fire at Solstice, sipping cider wine and wrapping presents she'd been shopping weeks for.

No. This Haven was possessed—a glimmer of evil in her eye that stole Kyana's breath as Haven leaped with ease behind a folding card table. Her mouth spread into a grin Kyana had never seen before. The grin of a madwoman.

“Going to take me home, Kyana?” Her blue eyes were blackened with malice and as she spoke, her eerily long fangs caressed her bottom lip. “And to think I was just about to say good-bye to Daddy.”

She couldn't pull her gaze away from Haven to look at the man who had, apparently, sired her before Kyana. As she moved toward the table, Ryker's hand held steady on the small of her back. Unwilling to risk him restraining her when she found her moment to pounce, she brushed his touch away.

“Why would you hurt your father, Haven? You don't want to do this. This isn't you.” She held out her hand. “Come with me, please. I can help you.”

Haven cracked her knuckles and licked her lips. “Why would I want to hurt him? Do you want to tell them, Dad?”

When the man did nothing but whimper, she continued. “He beat me every day until my mother finally got me out of here. His perversion took my innocence and stole Hope's life. He killed her, and I'm not leaving till I taste his heart beating in my throat.”

She glared down at her father. “It's okay, Kyana. He'd like to see Mama and Hope again before the shadows drag his sorry ass to Hell, wouldn't you, Daddy?”

No, no, no
. If Haven acted on her impulses right now, she'd never be able to live with herself once she'd been purged and made right again.

Retribution made some stronger, gave them purpose and direction, but for someone kind and compassionate like Haven, it would slowly eat away at her soul until there was nothing left. It would steal the last of her humanity, and Kyana would lose her forever to Cronos.

“Haven, you don't want to do this,” she repeated. “Where's the trident?”

She'd hoped the reminder of her bigger task might pull Haven from the intent to kill. She was wrong. Haven ignored her and dove over the table, rolling across the floor and popping back onto her feet just inches away from her semiconscious father.

“Get him out of here,” she growled at Silas before diving over the counter and knocking Haven off her feet.

Haven crouched on the floor and hissed. “When I've given him a taste of what it's like to be beaten until you can't think without hurting, I'll finish him off. Then it's your turn.”

“I can't let you do this, Haven.”

She threw back her head and laughed. “You don't get a say. Because of you, I'm not bound by honor anymore.”

Haven's gaze shifted. Kyana didn't need to look to know Ryker had moved behind her. That likely he was standing guard to allow Silas to get the human out of the trailer.

Haven bared her teeth. “Don't push your luck, Ryker. I don't give a shit what you are. You try to stand in my way and I'll kill you too.”

“You can try,” Ryker said, his voice so low and deadly that it caused the fine hairs on Kyana's neck to stand up.

For an instant, she wondered if Haven was out of control enough to attack Ryker. Haven knew what he was capable of, had to know that attacking him would be suicide. Kyana didn't have to wait long to find out. When he stepped around her, Haven's roar of outrage rattled the dirty windows and she threw herself at him. Ryker's eyes swirled bloodred.

He was going to kill her.

“No!” Kyana roared, launching herself at her best friend. Her sister.

They crashed to the floor. Haven wiggled out from under her and charged again, but Kyana caught her ankle and pulled. Haven hit the floor with a bone-rattling thud.

Behind them, she heard Silas shuffling Haven's father out the door, and glanced up to see Ryker watching intently, his body tense and ready to join the fray. But he stood steadily in the doorway, obviously aware that she needed to be the one who finished this.

She quickly flipped Haven over, straddled her waist, and pinned her shoulders to the filthy, threadbare shag carpet. “Damn it, Haven. I don't want to hurt you.”

Haven, apparently, didn't have the same issues. Her fist connected with Kyana's jaw, knocking her off balance long enough for Haven to shimmy to her feet. “You want to stop me?”

Prepared to strike if Haven moved toward her father, Kyana nodded. “You know I have no choice.”

Eerie blackish eyes that shifted to yellow locked on Kyana. “Then you'll have to hurt me, because I have to finish this.”

“You don't want to do this.”

“Oh yes, I do. I want to kill that bastard. Then I'll finish my task and bring Cronos back from the grave.”

They circled each other. “You know I can't let you do that either.”

“I know. When the time's right, I'll have to kill you too.”

The hard, lifeless look Haven directed at her wasn't bluffing.

“What are you waiting for?” she goaded. “Come on, Haven. Show me what you can do.”

With a chilling laugh, Haven nodded. “Okay, we can play. It's about time someone knocked the mighty Kyana on her ass.”

In a blink, Haven was on her—fangs bared and claws surprisingly accurate. They raked across her cheek, spilling blood that only seemed to inspire the lunatic inside Haven.

She tried to dodge her attacks, to let Haven wear herself out so she could bring her in safely, but Haven moved so quickly she could only duck every other swing. The cat-and-mouse tactic wasn't working anymore. She smashed the hilt of her dagger into Haven's jaw. The sharp crack of bones snapping sent Haven to her knees, her hands cupping her face.

Taking advantage of Haven's moment of weakness, Kyana let loose a roar and gripped the front of Haven's shirt. The instinct to drive her fangs into Haven's exposed throat made her stomach cramp. Afraid she might act on the lingering Vampyric impulse, she slung Haven into the kitchen. She landed on the table, but was on her feet again before the broken furniture hit the floor.

She lost track of who hit whom and whose roars of rage echoed louder. However, soon Haven's swings became slower, more off balance. Seizing the advantage, Kyana gripped Haven's throat and dangled her in the air.

“This ends now.” She squeezed lightly. Even though Haven didn't need to breathe anymore, the constriction would cut off the blood flow, but it would be a fine line between killing Haven and knocking her unconscious. “When you wake up, you'll be on the road to finding yourself again. I'll be there with you. You won't have to face this alone.”

Haven's laughter came out in gasps. “You don't get to win.”

Her smile was sly and chilling, her eyes shifted from eerie yellow to lifeless black, glassy and narrowed with venom. “I know where Zeus keeps his staff. Amazing what a father knows about his sons . . .”

Before Kyana realized Haven's intentions, she shifted to Lychen. Her fur-covered body slipped from Kyana's grasp as Haven shot across the room and out one of the grimy windows.