Bound by Light (47 page)

We’re in the townhouse,
some part of his brain reminded him
. In the basement where Cynda was taken. And we aren’t alone.

Jake raised his head to see Bela Argos dressed in battle leathers, daggers drawn, gazing steadily at him. Beside her stood Delilah Moses, arms folded, the bruise under her right eye an ugly blue-black.

Behind them hovered Darian, Quince, and Jared, along with five other Astaroths Jake didn’t know. The demons had papers, books, and what looked like cassettes and videotapes in their pale, clawed hands. From the corner of his eye, Jake also saw crime scene tape and white markings where the M.E. had recorded the positions of the kidnappers Cynda must have fried before the rest took her away.

"The Keres sent you back through the channels." Bela sounded amazed. "Without a mirror. Goddess. How? Why? And why here?"

Jake pulled Merilee against his chest as she stirred, careful not to rake her with his claws. Good questions, but he couldn’t cope with the lengthy explanations it would take to answer any of them.

They were sent back to do a job, or die. And probably sent to here, to this spot, because it was where they needed to begin.

"What time is it?" he asked.

Both Bela and Delilah seemed surprised by his question, and neither answered.

Jake’s pulse accelerated. "Damnit, what time is it?
What time is it?
"

"Five," Darian answered. The Astaroth glanced at the windowless walls, then the stone ceiling. "Waning sun, if that’s important."

Jake let out a fast breath. Five in the evening.

He had seven hours to make sure Riana and Cynda were rescued, find August, fork the bastard over to the death spirits on Káto Ólimbos, and save Merilee a second time.

"Jake." Merilee’s voice yanked his attention away from everything else. The rest of the basement and its occupants faded away as he gazed into her sea-blue eyes.

Tears waited in those blue depths.

She whispered his name again and touched the talisman around his neck.

The hot, delicious shock of her fingers on the gold that controlled him registered in every cell of his body.

My demon body. I’m Astaroth now. Forever. That’s what she sees. That’s all she’ll ever see.

Her hands moved over the translucent pearly skin of his bare chest, and the misery in her eyes told him that she understood what he had done, and why, and where that left them.

"I’m so sorry," she whispered, those tears threatening to flow and tear Jake’s heart in half. "I had no idea that you would follow me, that you even
could
follow me. I never meant—"

"I know," he said, his voice hoarse with grief, but absolutely without regret. He didn’t want to hear the rest—why she didn’t wait for him, or why she left his talisman behind. He couldn’t bear that, and it didn’t matter anyway. Not now. What was done was done. "We’ve got to find Cynda and Riana and make sure they’re safe from August, then get to him and take him down."

Merilee’s expression sharpened, and she tensed in his arms. "The blood price. Shit. Why in the name of all the goddesses did you join that bargain with me, Jake?"

Jake set her on her feet, then steadied her with both hands on her shoulders, his heart breaking because she didn’t know, couldn’t understand something so basic.

"My fate is your fate," he whispered, and it sounded like a vow.

Hell, it was a vow.

Merilee drew his promise inside her with a slow intake of breath and her air energy.

Did she feel it?

Did she take it as deeply as he wished?

How could she? Shit.
Look
at me.

For a long moment, she did look, and he looked, and they couldn’t stop. They stared into each other’s eyes, and it hurt Jake, killed him inside, to know what met Merilee’s eyes. His pale hair. His white skin and golden eyes. Fangs and claws and wings.

He waited to catch the flicker of revulsion, but it never came. Merilee’s face reflected guilt and unhappiness and worry and a hundred other things, but she didn’t seem disgusted with him, or what he had become.

She lifted up on her toes and pressed her body into his, the sensation like raw electricity over every inch of Jake’s skin. Her lips brushed against his cheek, and Jake’s heart squeezed until he had to push her back.

It’ll hit her later,
he knew, even as he made himself look away from the sudden burst of love in her eyes.
She’ll react when the crisis has passed.

Fuck.

So will I.

Merilee turned toward Bela and the Astaroths, her voice still unnaturally soft and anguished as she said, "August is a Leviathan. The Keres told me."

The Astaroths reacted with frowns and hisses, and Jake felt a primal urge to snarl along with them. He didn’t, but then he wondered why.

I’m them now, and they’re me. We’re one. I might as well get used to it.

Bela whistled low, palming her daggers and sheathing them at her hips. "We’re fucked, aren’t we? That’s the largest—and the oldest—demon ever known."

Merilee crossed her arms and seemed to be trying to shake off the last bit of shock over the transport from Káto Ólimbos. "He must have survived because he had the sea for cover. That’s all I can figure. And like most demons, he can take a human form. Probably many human forms."

"How do we possibly kill something like that?" Bela rubbed her palms against the hilts of her daggers.

"We don’t." Jake tried not to react to the demonness of his voice. So loud, vibrating the air around all of them like a bass guitar note. "We capture him and take him to the death spirits. I think they know what to do."

Bela leaned back, eyes wide. "And you trust those monsters?"

"Not one friggin’ bit," Merilee said, "but they need him dead as badly as we do. Besides, I don’t have a choice." She looked toward the basement door. "Where are Andy and the Mothers?"

"Andy’s still out cold, but the rest of them are looking for Cynda and Riana and the other missing Sibyls." Bela pointed toward the ceiling, as if to indicate the streets of New York City above. "I’m here to guard Delilah, and in case Andy wakes up, I’ve got two earth adepts in the library to watch her. The OCU search teams that hit August’s properties with the warrants—they came back with nothing."

"He has other places." Delilah’s words cut into Jake’s mind as cleanly as any surgical knife, trimming away all distractions and bringing his attention fully and squarely to her.

Once more she seemed old and burdened. In pain, both physically and emotionally, but her eyes gleamed with what he hoped was the truth of her words. "I can show you, cop. Demon. Whatever you are. I can take you, if you’ll try to do right by my boy."

"I won’t make promises about Max," Jake said, no longer caring about the Astaroth resonance in his voice. "But I’ll do what I can for his safety."

That seemed to be enough for Delilah. Merilee frowned, and Bela explained to her quickly about Max and Delilah, and their connection with August.

That changed Merilee’s frown to a horrified scowl, and Delilah cowered away from her. Still, Jake knew Merilee would do what she could to help Max, if they found him alive.

Darian stepped forward, moving between Bela and Delilah to stand in front of Jake and Merilee. "We raided police and library archives, and . . . frightened information out of many sources," he said as he extended a thick stack of papers. "I am not certain it is the type of evidence you require, but we have documents tracing the Leviathan’s age back at least four hundred years."

Quince came forward, too, and lifted the books in his hands. "Photographs. Ledgers of illegal business dealings."

"And tapes." Jared remained in his place, but showed the collection of videotapes and cassettes in his hands. "Not of recent crimes, but past crimes, when he did not know he was being observed by security systems."

From the soft but lethal snarling of the Astaroths Jake didn’t know, he figured they didn’t understand why they shouldn’t just attack August and have done with it. Darian must have exerted influence over them, reasoned with them. And Darian must be a decent leader, to have gotten so many demons to follow him into a battle in which they had no stake.

Jake gestured for Darian and Quince to keep what they had collected. "It’s enough for now. Where are my brothers?"

"In jail," Bela said.

Merilee let out a slew of curses as the words sucker-punched Jake.

He breathed in sharply, then coughed, still not quite sure he heard the Sibyl correctly. "Jail." Jake tried to shake that off, but he couldn’t. "You’re not serious."

Bela sighed. "Sorry, but they tore up the Jensen headquarters trying to get at August, got shot, and ended up having to shift back and forth between demon and human forms to heal themselves. Some regulars got elemental cuffs off an OCU officer and took them in."

Jake’s demon muscles rippled as he made eye contact with Darian. "Stash that stuff someplace safe and spring Creed and Nick. Show it to them so they can get a judge to act—and Darian, don’t hurt anyone. If we slash a bunch of throats, no one in the human world will care what we have to say."

Darian nodded once before he vanished, taking Quince, Jared, and the other five Astaroths with him.

"Damn." Bela shook her head. "Whatever precinct they’re about to visit—that place won’t ever be the same again."

Merilee agreed, her voice still a little shaky, then asked, "What about August, Bela? Do we have a fix on him yet?

"The bastard has a rally scheduled tonight at Central Park, for ‘his candidate.’ " Bela glared at the far wall like she wanted to use her earth energy to yank it down just at the thought of August. "Galling. But it starts at seven."

"Get some Sibyls to track the Leviathan at a safe distance," Jake said. "Keep him in your sights. When the time comes, we’ll need to know his exact position—and it won’t be easy with the private and federal security. Get Andy taken care of, and Merilee and I will meet you by Strawberry Fields fifteen minutes before his big event begins."

"All right." Bela caught Merilee’s hand in hers, then let it go. "But where are you two going?"

Jake bared his fangs, releasing the snarl he’d been holding back since the other Astaroths made their feelings known. He took Delilah by her elbow as gently as he could and pulled her against his left side. With his right arm, he gathered Merilee to his right side and spread both sets of his wings.

"Open the basement door," he growled to Bela, who ran to do as he asked.

Jake snarled again, temporarily just fine with his Astaroth essence.

More than fine.

He flapped his wings and lifted himself and Merilee and Delilah off the stone floor, into the open air of the large basement. Good thing the door was arched and wide, or he’d be taking part of it with him.

Merilee released some of her wind energy to assist him.

"Stay clear," he warned Bela, who moved to the far corner of the basement as Jake started to fly. "We have Sibyls to find."

(35)

Merilee guided her wind beneath Jake’s wings to help them stay aloft while Delilah directed them south, toward Wall Street. Manhattan bled by beneath them, rush-hour taillights and headlights gleaming in the dusk. The air smelled like exhaust and concrete, with a sweet, hot splash of electrical wiring.

Her bow pulled tight against her back and shoulders as they flew. Her heart pounded at the prospect of rescuing her triad sisters even as her mind and heart ached so much she could barely see straight.

He’s a demon.

Jake’s a demon forever—and it’s my fault.

She pressed into him, one arm around his back as he held her to his side and flew.

Merilee tried to keep breathing normally as they hurtled through empty sky, but her chest was too tight. Air stung her eyes and nose. Her ears got so cold they throbbed. Everything ached. And everything—everything was her fault. Jake came through the ancient channels to Káto Ólimbos to save her, and joined in the bargain with the Keres.

If she and Jake couldn’t snatch August and get him back to Greece by midnight, Jake would die with her—and everyone else would follow. Motherhouse Greece. The villages. Ultimately, the world.

All the goddesses of Olympus, help us now. Please, please help us.

"Over there." Delilah lifted her arm against the rushing air and pointed to a penthouse balcony.

Jake zeroed in on where she pointed and flew them fast, faster, straight toward the spot.

Merilee’s belly dropped as they did. She blinked against the blast of air in her face, and she let her senses flood outward, searching for any hint of August.

Of the Leviathan.

Oldest. Largest. Most powerful. Shit.

She came up with only bits and traces, next to nothing—but did that mean anything? Could he hide himself from their senses?