Blood Deep (39 page)

Lukos, can you hear me?

Miranda’s words came to him.
Yes. Are you hurt?
he answered.
How did you pass through the labyrinth? Christ Jesus,
angel, the only way to enter Satan’s world is to—

No, not for me. Some horrid woman sliced my throat, but the
wound healed and I survived. I was able to heal myself—

With your strength.

With all our strength, I think. Now that I have heard your
voice and Zayan’s, I feel stronger again.

Not strong enough to defeat the devil, love.

No,
she answered.
Strong enough to save him.

Save him. What in blazes did she mean? Then he remembered her touching the small village children, and he remembered her resurrecting Zayan’s son and daughter. He knew what she was going to do.
Don’t. Christ, Miranda, don’t go near him.

I love you, Lukos.

God, no. Miranda—don’t. Don’t touch him. He’ll kill you—

he’ll take your power. Stop, Miranda.
Then desperately he shouted to her,
I love you.

Miranda—
Zayan’s hoarse voice broke into his shared communication with Miranda.
I love you. I love you too. I believed
I had to have you for my own. But my love for you is so great, so
all-consuming, I’m willing to share.

“I am too,” Lukos hollered aloud. “Anything for you, angel.”

He fought in vain to free himself, and as he watched, magically, the scene in Lucifer’s lair, he saw Miranda calmly approach Lucifer—the being who had taken his life, then his soul, then his precious sister’s future and hopes and sanity. He would be damned if he let Lucifer take Miranda, the woman Lukos loved.

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And then he saw something else.

Sparks of light crackled in the air around her.

Miranda had never felt so powerful before.

The declaration of love had heightened her magic. Her feet were not even touching the tiled floor. She moved her arm and her body floated. She felt as though she were sizzling. She felt like—like a bolt of lightning.

How could she have summoned so much magic here, in this place that was under Lucifer’s control?

It didn’t matter. Only one thing did.

“Stop there, woman. Do not approach me.”

Miranda obeyed Lucifer, and saw the slow smile of power come again to his mouth. Before her eyes, he shifted form again.

He was no longer handsome Mr. Ryder, but a beast with horns and fangs.

Confident, arrogant, the devil turned his attention to the woman splashing in the pool.

Miranda leapt into the air and flew across the room, quickly enough that Lucifer did not move or defend himself. In an instant, she was before him. He jerked around to her, his eyes blazing red. But she reached out and touched his chest, over his heart.

19

Dawn

Lucifer howled in agony, his screech ringing off the tiled walls and ceiling. His nymphs—or succubi—began to scream, as though they shared his pain. Water splashed wildly, the women writhing and weeping all around Miranda.

The devil’s eyes became scarlet, and his fingers morphed into sharp, curved claws. But his arms were locked straight, his body lifted off his chaise, tension evident in his rigidity.

Miranda had no idea what she was doing. Had Lucifer lost his soul? He was a fallen angel, but could her power resurrect him? And to what?

She could not pull away, and he could not break free. Her touch had bonded them, and a golden glow encompassed them both.

The embodiment of love, he had called her.

She remembered touching the young boy in the park, and the boy who had been felled by the carriage in the inn’s courtyard. To return life, she had to sincerely want him to be saved.

She had to yearn for it with all her heart.

She wanted Zayan and Lukos to be freed, and Lukos to escape the bargain he’d made.

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The clawed hands began to soften, the fingers drooping. A red light streamed out of Lucifer’s eyes, as though the power she was sending in was forcing the light to surge out.

“Cease,” he croaked. “You may have your demons free. Pull your hand from my chest, you damned witch.”

“I’m not a witch,” she shouted with pride. “But I will spare you—” But in truth, she could not believe what was happening.

How could she have the power to vanquish Lucifer? “I will spare you, if you release Zayan and Lukos, and you let them go free. You can wreak no vengeance upon them, nor harm anyone they love. You must release them from your service. Zayan must be released from the red power, the
Pravus,
if it exists.”

His body was collapsing, sinking. “I will. You have my promise. You cannot destroy me. You cannot upset the balance of the human world. Stop.”

Miranda, you have to stop.

“Aunt Eugenia?” Stunned, Miranda instinctively jerked her head around. But she had heard her aunt in her thoughts.

The vampire queens, along with Althea and Serena, have
given me the power to speak to you. It is the truth, there must be
a balance of good and evil, and Lucifer must rule the Underworld, for mortals need the threat of his realm.

But I want Lukos and Zayan to be free. I want to stop him
from creating demons—

You cannot, Miranda. Good and evil will always exist. And
if you destroy him, you will take his place. You will become the
devil. You’ve done enough.

Was that true? She couldn’t take the chance it was.
But what
of the queens?
she shouted in her thoughts to her aunt.
Lukos
believes they want me destroyed.

They are afraid of you,
Aunt Eugenia answered.
That is the
truth. But they also believe you can use your power to return
Zayan’s and Lukos’s souls. They believe it might drain your
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power completely to make them mortal again. They would have
nothing to fear from you then. You would be safe . . .

It would drain her power. She would be normal, with nothing to hide any longer.

A jolt of pain shot through her. Grimacing, she gazed down upon the devil. He was beginning to grow smaller, as though her power was draining his essence and shriveling him up. The sensation of power left her heady. She could destroy Satan.

She could do whatever she wished . . .

And what she wanted to do was find happiness and love, not rule the Underworld. She did not want to destroy. She never had.

With a scream, she ripped her hand off Lucifer’s chest. His form slumped to the white chair. Instantly, he grew larger, his limbs straightening.

The golden glow surrounding her hand burst suddenly in a shower of glittering sparks.

Gold swiftly turned to black and Miranda pitched forward into a cold, fathomless void.

The black ground hurtled at him and slammed hard into his chest. Lukos lifted his chest, blew out a mouthful of melting snow, and rolled onto his back, feeling the cold through his bare skin.

What in blazes had happened? One moment, he’d been Lucifer’s captive. Now he was beneath the night sky, with snowflakes peppering his face—

Miranda.

What had she done?

“Lukos? He
freed
you? Good heavens, I cannot believe he actually kept his promise.” Miranda’s babbled words poured over him and he jerked toward her. He rose to his feet as her warm body barreled into him. Her cheek pressed tight to his chest, and her disheveled hair tickled him. At once her arms wrapped tight around him. “I thought he would cheat me—”

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He pulled her back, clutching her arms. “What did you do?

What did you promise him for my freedom?”

Snow melted on her lovely pink lips. Gold waves of hair fell in tangles around her face—the most beautiful face he knew he’d ever seen, because it was hers.

“I didn’t promise him anything. I made him promise me to let you go.”

“How did you force the devil to make a promise?”

“I touched his heart.”

“I told you not to—” he began. Then stopped. She had done it and survived.

“I assumed he’d lost his soul and I wanted to return it. But instead of giving him life, I was sucking his out of him. So I stopped—in return for our safety and your freedom.”

“You must be one of the most powerful beings in existence.”

Adamantly, she shook her head. “When you and Zayan said you both loved me, I felt my power grow. It is the three of us together who are powerful.” She stared over his shoulder, and a smile curved her lips. “Zayan!” Then to Lukos, she cried, “I have you both safe. I could not ask for more.”

Zayan, who was stumbling in the field rubbing his head, looked up and saw them. A broad grin spread on his face, and he ran toward them.

“Thank heaven,” she breathed. Lukos cradled her as she pressed tight to his chest again. “When I found I was out in this field, I feared I was alone here at first. I feared I’d lost you both.” Then she stepped back. “Are you not cold? Since you are naked?”

He had to laugh. She’d literally gone through hell for him and now worried a bit of snow would hurt him. To satisfy her, he created a cloak to cover his body. And when he summoned it, he let it fall around her too.

Zayan had reached them. Lukos willingly let her go into Zayan’s embrace. At the general’s questioning look, he nodded.

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“I can share her. She loves us both, and I think it would be impossible to make her choose. I want her to be happy.”

“As do I.” Zayan hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

His brow furrowed. “Over there—on the field. I see movement and sense a heartbeat.”

A heartbeat . . . Barely daring to hope, Lukos jerked around.

A woman was hugging her body as she stumbled across the field. The glimmer of reflected light on the snow revealed she was naked, and her long golden hair fell to her hips.

“
Ara
. Christ Jesus, that is my sister.”

A wave of Zayan’s hand and a cloak appeared around Ara’s slender form. She stopped in her tracks and stared down at it in amazement.

Miranda clasped his arm, and Lukos met her gaze—he saw the faint tremble of her lips, the gentle smile. “Go to her,” she urged. “But bring her back to us. We must go back to the slayers.

Zayan’s children are there. They are helping us, and I know they will help your sister too.”

“Dawn’s close,” Zayan added.

But Lukos stared at Miranda. “Slayers? You left Zayan’s children with vampire slayers?”

She nodded. “Althea, Serena, my aunt, and the men of course.”

He looked to Zayan, who quirked a brow. “It is true. It appears we’ve struck a truce.”

What astounded Lukos was not the fact that Zayan and Miranda had trusted vampire slayers. It was the reality of freedom.

It struck him suddenly. He had escaped servitude to Lucifer and had rescued Ara. He had gone to this Underworld knowing he would have to sacrifice his life, believing he would not survive to have Miranda.

But he had. And after one thousand years, he was finally free.

All because of Miranda. His amazing, magical woman—

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Sharon Page

who was staring at him in shock. “Your hair!” she gasped. “The color has changed. It’s golden blond.”

The color it had been when he had been a mortal. He grasped a lock to see for himself. Sure enough, it was the color of autumn grass waving in a field. “I think its proof, angel, that you’ve freed me.”

“Well, my dear, you are the only person I’ve known who has seen the Underworld, and who has done combat with Lucifer and won!”

Aunt Eugenia grasped Miranda’s hand and drew her away from Lukos and Zayan, leading her down the hall of Blackthorne Castle. She looked back, but Eugenia insisted, “They will be fine. Zayan should go to his children, and Lukos’s sister Ara needs him right now. She must heal from a horrific ordeal.

And there is someone I wish to see.”

Miranda found herself at the door to a bedchamber. A man lay within, swaddled beneath the heavy counterpane. Stealing forward, Miranda recognized Lord Blackthorne. “What happened to him?”

“He was found by the grooms, wandering naked near his stables, confused and weak. He was babbling about a red mist, and of a siren’s voice calling to him.”

“The red mist? Did it possess him as it did Mr. Ryder?”

Aunt Eugenia crossed her arms. “I believe so, but when the mist vanished, he was freed. He also spoke of you.”

“Me?”

She remembered that moment in the village inn, when she’d had her romantic dreams dashed. She had found true love, though, and it was much deeper and richer than the infatuation she’d built up for Blackthorne.

Her aunt nodded. “He said he had fallen in love with Miranda Bond, a woman he could never have, because the siren told him she was the lover of two powerful demons.”

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Miranda flushed.

“I know it is the truth, my dear. I can also see that they are deeply in love with you.”

“Will he recover?”

“I believe so.”

“What of James Ryder? Has he been found?”

Adjusting the lace fichu at her neck, Eugenia said, “Yes, he was found on the castle grounds just before he died. He confessed to what he had done—he had been paid by rogue members of the Royal Society to destroy you. With the money, he intended to destroy his titled father and make the man pay for ignoring him.”

“And he died?”

“Yes, his life force had been tied to that of the
Pravus
. When that was destroyed, his life force gave out. He managed to survive a few hours, to try to escape, but that was all. He was a vicious man. An evil one.”

Miranda had to agree with that. “So the
Pravus
was destroyed? It is gone?”

“For now,” Aunt Eugenia said. “The vampire queens believe a new one will eventually be born. Evil always exists in the world. It is our mission to combat it, to control it, and to help people turn it away.”