Drowning In The Dark: #4 The Veil Series (12 page)

Stefan gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Stay close to me, Muse, and you’ll be okay. We can do this.”

Could we? Or was this exactly what Valenti wanted?

The only way of making sure I didn’t go nuclear on this side of the veil was to get as far away from Boston as possible, or to go through the veil. Should I take the fight to them? I nodded at Stefan while my thoughts worked. A few moments in the netherworld would destroy what remained of my humanity. Damien would surge, my demon would win, and I’d be lost. I knew what she wanted. Destruction. It would be like pulling the pin on a grenade before tossing it into the netherworld. If destruction was all I was good for, I could damn well turn it on them.

The rebels quickly organized themselves into strike teams. Radios bleated, and guns rattled. Amid the raised voices, a slight slither of panic wove through the crowd. I tried to listen, but my thoughts were elsewhere.

Coleman handed me a cellphone. “Ryder.”

I plucked it from his hand and pressed it tightly against my ear. “How is she?”

Ryder’s rapid breaths sawed down the line. “Not good. I can’t leave her. She told Val everything.” He ground out a strained curse. “She followed a team back to the Institute’s facility. I’ll send you the GPS coordinates. Val knows all about the half bloods, Muse. He’s going after them. All of them.” That included Dawn. If my brother controlled them all, nothing would prevent him and the princes from destroying Boston. “Muse, you have to stop him.”

Me? Stop my brother? “I know. I will.” I didn’t believe my own words, but from Ryder’s sigh, he did. I glanced at Stefan. His winter eyes sparkled. His face was grim. “Hey, Ryder, there’s one thing Val doesn’t know,” I said. “Akil’s checked in at hotel Institute, and I’ll bet my human heart that he knows Val’s heading there. He won’t let Val take Dawn or any of the half bloods.” He’d previously stopped Val from doing exactly that. “Take care of Jenna.”

“Be careful, Muse.”

I almost laughed. “When have I ever been careful?”

He hesitated. “Okay, then don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“See you ’round, tough guy.” I hung up and mustered a smile for Stefan. “Ready to go kill some demons?”

“More than you know.”

T
he people
of Boston tried to flee, but they made easy demon pickings as they sat in their cars. Helicopters hovered above, announcing by loudspeaker for people to stay indoors. Emergency services were the next targets. Stefan and I made short work of a pack of demons crowding around the fire trucks responding to the earlier massive explosion. With Stefan close and his element even closer, I could temper my urges, but it wasn’t easy, and Stefan suffered too. With every twitch of the dark inside me, he flinched. With every surge of power flooding my veins, he staggered. It was clear we couldn’t continue that way for long.

We commandeered an abandoned car and left Boston in the rear view mirrors. It felt wrong, driving away from the city I called home at a time it needed me the most, but skirmishes weren’t going to solve the bigger problem. The princes were coming.

“Do you hear them now? The princes?”

The pale glow from the car’s instruments illuminated Stefan’s face as he drove, exaggerating the harsh lines of his expression. “Yes,” he replied sharply.

In the quiet comfort of the car, his tone cut me down before I’d even drawn breath to ask the next question. I swallowed and faced ahead.

“They’re waiting.” He slid me a glance, his lips flirting with an apologetic smile. “They need chaos to come here en masse. If Val creates enough chaos, the veil will fall, and the netherworld will bleed through, overlapping this world with theirs. They’re waiting for the veil to collapse. If that happens, they’ll just walk right on over.”

“If the veil is gone, can we ever get it back?”

His throat worked as he swallowed. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”

I eyed Stefan out of the corner of my eye. He denied he’d beaten the beast inside him. So if he was demon, what did he want? Why was he here and not a member of the princely club? He’d said they despised him, wanted him dead. Was it because he wasn’t one of them? No, there had to be more to it. Even as an exiled demon, he should be…colder. I smiled. I’d felt the old Stefan in his kiss. He might believe he was gone. Maybe he told himself that to get by, but I had my doubts. And hopes.

“I can’t contain your power for long, Muse. It’s already wearing me down. If you start throwing fire around, I won’t be able to hold you back.”

I’d figured as much, but it was okay. I had a plan. “I just need to get close to Val.”

Stefan switched hands on the wheel and frowned. “What are you going to do?”

“He wants demon.” I grinned. “I’ll show him demon.”

“You won’t come back from that, Muse. Embrace it, and you’ll never be you again. I know.”

“But you’re here, and you’re you. Sure, you’re a bit testy. It’s a little like walking on cracked ice around you, but you’re still Stefan.”

“Yeah, right up to the point I don’t get my way. I don’t care about any of this. I couldn’t care less if we get to the Institute, and they’re all dead. Actually, I’d like that. They’re part of my problem.” He arched an eyebrow at my frown. “I told you. Don’t look at me and get your hopes up. I’m only here because it suits me.”

“You helped me. You’re helping me right now by feeding your element into mine. You wouldn’t do that unless you cared.” I said it quietly, my own uncertainties weakening my conviction.

He leaned an arm on the door and massaged his temple with his fingers, gaze fixed on the road ahead. “It isn’t because I care.”

I blinked at him, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. He stared ahead and clenched his jaw, biting back what he wanted to say. He was right. I did know demons. “You want something from me.”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Figure it out.” His lips twisted around unspoken words.

“But you are the Prince of Wrath, and netherworld titles don’t get thrown around. I should know. I see anger in you when you fight the demons. When you faced the enforcers, I saw wrath in you.” Wrath wasn’t just anger though. It was anger with a purpose: retaliation for crimes committed. His glare cut me, his scowl sharp, but before I could challenge him, he snapped his head around and blurted, “Look out!” Ahead, the car headlights washed over a huge, leathery hide. For a moment, it looked as though a wall blocked our route, and then the ex Prince of Wrath swung his head around, opened his jaws, and drew his lips back. I had a fantastic view of his sharp teeth as I tried to push back into my seat while Stefan slammed on the brakes, yanked up the parking brake, and jerked the wheel, spinning the car in the road, so we faced the way we’d come. The engine roared, tires squealed, and the road heaved—or appeared to. The car lifted, and my stomach rolled. I had a moment to appreciate how the headlights lit up the swirling night sky, and then we tipped hood down, and the road rushed up to greet us.

N
o more riding
in cars with Stefan,
I vowed, dabbing at a sticky wetness on my cheek. Releasing the seatbelt, I landed with a thump on the underside of the roof, now acting as the floor. The glow from the instruments revealed enough carnage for me to know we were in trouble. The engine had died. Metal ticked as it cooled. Somewhere, fluid trickled. And I heard Stefan’s soft breathing. He hung upside-down, trapped by the belt in the drivers seat, out cold.

“Stefan!” I hissed, reaching up to release him.

A red orb glowed outside his window. In its center, a vertical pupil pinpointed me and dilated. I’d seen this movie. This was the part where the dinosaur ate the tourists.

Wrath snuffled at the door. His lips rippled, and a huge black tongue lolled out. Somehow, he formed growling, snarling words. “Come out, Asmodeus’s daughter. Come out and run for me.”

“Stefan. Please wake up.” His element began to unravel from inside me, and the icy touch I’d felt since the rooftop slipped away. In its wake, heat swelled, hungry and violent.

Wrath’s snout probed inside the car. He snorted hot air, snuffling and rooting around. I scurried back, wiggled through my broken window, and scrambled to my feet. “Hey…” He lifted his head, hunched, and leaped over the car. I stumbled back. Surrounded by trees, I guessed we couldn’t be far from the Institute’s facility. I had no clue what direction it was in, and if I ran, Wrath would cut me down.

His blazing eyes didn’t blink. He watched me with that eerie stillness that precedes an attack. Head down, he stalked forward. “Run, little half-blood girl.”

I did just that, turned and ran off the road, stumbling over a ditch and bursting into the trees. Behind me, branches snapped and groaned. Wrath’s snarls chased me down. I dropped my control and reached out for heat, turning demon as I ran. A beacon of light and warmth urged me to the right—a building, a large one. I veered off, tucked my wing in, and locked my gaze into the embrace of branches. I ran. Fire throbbed through my veins. My heart pounded, and my lungs burned. I glanced back once to see Wrath bounding behind me, charging through the trees, bouncing off some and knocking others flat, his eyes aglow.

The dark that Stefan had tempered spilled into my mind.
Yes. The hunt. The kill.
I forgot my fear as a wicked thrill strummed through my demon body.

I burst out of the forest and onto the lawns surrounding the Institute’s innocuous facility. Floodlights bathed the area in orange. As I slowed, shadows danced around my firelight. Black SUV’s grumbled. The Institute was mobilizing. Barks of alarm went up. I turned my back on them and grinned as Wrath leapt from the trees. Subterranean heat rushed to answer my call, ignited by my touch, and turned to liquid fire as I threw it all at Wrath. He bowed mid-leap, curling in on himself as the fire gobbled him up, and then he fell, landing hard on his side and tumbling over. I stalked forward, pouring more heat into him. His body twitched, wrapped in undulating flame. He howled and whined. The dark fed on my murderous intent, pleasured by his pain.

The enforcers opened fire. Standard bullets stung my molten flesh and spoiled my killing frenzy, but they meant nothing. Lifting my head, I counted at least thirty Institute men and woman scattered about the lawns. They scurried like ants, puny, insignificant, and so fragile it would almost be merciful to kill them. The fire was hungry, never sated, eager for more… Greedy.

My legs carried me forward as I marked them each in turn. Little beacons of heat. Tiny lanterns in the dark. A flick of my wrist, a click of my fingers, and they’d be gone. Snuffed out forever.
Wait, no…
They’d all burn for me.
Fools.

A vast wave of heat crashed over me from my left where the building sat. I staggered, blindsided by the rush of power that wasn’t mine. Another wave crashed over me, almost toppling me to my knees. I swayed, stumbling, and turned to regard my enemy.
Ah, yes…
Mammon was mine. He emerged from the building, first as Akil, then morphing, twisting, revealing the huge lava-veined wings and obsidian, muscle-bound body. His roar shook the earth beneath my feet. He pinned me under his glare and stalked forward. Behind him, the vacant-eyed half-blood twins followed, and behind them, dozens of lesser demons spilled onto the grounds. He’d raided the Institute’s cages and stolen himself a platoon of demons. But not Dawn. Had he already killed her?

I planted my feet, spread my arms, stretched out my wing, and bared my teeth. He thought to stop me? He would fail. “I am fire, Prince of Greed. You cannot quench my flame. We are the same. Equals.”

People scattered, sirens and alarms wailed, and still the bullets came, but they were insignificant compared to the sight of Mammon and his followers. His proud demon face bore a generous grin. “Magnificent.” The word implanted in my mind as much as I heard it. “But flawed.”

Wrath barreled into me, sending me sprawling to the ground. Fire spilled from my flesh, rippling over the earth, seeking fuel to burn, to live. Stunned out of my madness, I felt panic quickly rush back in. Wrath planted a huge paw on my back, pinning me still. Drool sizzled against my skin. What had I done? What had I been about to do? I could have killed them all.

“Wrath, let her go,” Akil ordered.

I lifted my head as much as I could with a gigantic hellhound on my back and saw Akil a few strides away. He still wore the Institute pants, making the rest of him all the more extraordinary. His ruffled hair and fire-filled eyes declared him untamed. Bathed in heat haze, he commanded enough power to leave me breathless and half-mad for chaos. The young half bloods stood motionless behind him, eyeing their jailors, the enforcers. I had no doubt Akil had tamed them with sweet lies. His lesser demons snapped and bickered among themselves and yet stayed together, as though compelled to.

Wrath leaned his weight into me. I cried out, expecting my back to break under the strain.

Akil sighed at the sight of me and lifted his gaze to Wrath. “Let her go while you still can.”

He was right. The panic subsided, and with its retreat, my lust for the hunt rose. Without Stefan, I couldn’t fight it back. Fire licked higher, forcing Wrath to lift his paw. He growled as I rolled over and met his furious glare. “You should have killed me,” I said, tone flat. He snarled and backed up, body low, submissive.

“Muse.”

I flung my glare back to Akil. “I can’t stop it. I’ll kill you and him and everyone here. Kill me, Akil. Do it now. You know what will happen, Val told me you know what I’ll become.”

“It wasn’t meant to be like this.” He looked sorry, as though he didn’t want this, as though he hadn’t always known how my story ended. I sprang off my feet and lunged for him, but he dodged with ease. “Muse… Stop.”

Turning to face him once more, I moistened my lips and smiled. “Don’t let me destroy everything I’ve ever loved.” I reached for his element. I would drink him down and leave him spent. He had power, more than before, but he wasn’t a half blood. I had two worlds of power at my beck and call. He couldn’t best me.

My brother’s presence crawled over me like a fever. He shimmered between Akil and me, not yet tangible, but his power was. The remnants of humanity clinging to my mind responded to his intoxicating magic, and I forgot why I was there. Val became my whole world, my every thought, every sensation. I’d have gladly fallen at his feet had Mammon not loomed behind him and swiped a clawed hand through my brother’s ghostly visage. Val hissed and whirled. Mammon straightened and stretched his wings, gathering every degree of heat from the earth. He towered over my brother, fangs bared, and appeared to be every inch the terrifying Prince of Hell.

Val shrank back, wings tucked in and quivering. “You cannot stop her, Mammon. You know this to be true.”

Mammon lifted a hand and produced a beautiful ethereal sword of rippling blue light. “Stop her? No.” His black lips stretched into a hungry grin. The chuckle trickling from those lips was all auditory seduction.

Val vanished in a burst of static, only to reappear behind Mammon. His vast wings bellowed open, encircled the unsuspecting half bloods in his deadly embrace. This was my moment. Now. In a blink, he’d vanish again, taking the half bloods with him. I sprang forward, using all of my agility and speed. I sent out a sharp, scalpel-like thought, cutting a gap in the veil behind my brother. All I needed to do was tackle him, shove him back through the veil, follow him through, and then let it all go.

A wall of black, etched with fiery veins appeared in front of me. I reeled, but Mammon’s huge arms came down around me, clamping me against his immovable body. Screaming, kicking, I bucked and twisted, but Mammon barely moved. “Not like this.”

I knew the moment my brother had gone, felt his absence, and the absence of the half bloods, like a weight had lifted from my shoulders. Mammon roared, sending the lesser demons scattering and prompting the enforcers to open fire yet again. He turned his volcanic gaze on the crowd, seemingly unaffected by the standard bullets punching into his midnight flesh. Scalding leathery wings closed around me, locking me down, virtually suffocating me.

I sent out my element, coiled it around Mammon, and beckoned his power. How dare he stop me? That had been my only chance to make sure my breakdown at least took my brother with me—and hopefully half the netherworld. Now what did I have? Minutes, seconds, before I turned into my own nightmare. I was ridden by desires I didn’t want, poisoned by a soul-lock I couldn’t escape.

Mammon’s arms crushed me to him, and with a burst of cool energy, he jumped us away from the Institute. Pain slammed me down onto my hands and knees the moment he released me. My demon screamed her rage, but outside forces slapped her back into her mental box, leaving my human body spent and gasping. Shuddering, drenched in sweat, filthy clothes clinging to me, I peered through my matted hair at my own apartment. Jonesy trotted out from under the coffee table, tail up, and nudged my chin. “Hey buddy…” I croaked.

Scrambling back, I ran my hands over my face and pulled back my hair. My stomach heaved, body wracked by trauma, but my mind… my mind was unerringly still. I wiped my mouth with trembling hands. Damn, I was a mess. The framed symbols on my walls had beaten back my demon the moment Mammon had brought me home. Those symbols were the only things that could stop me.

“Suicide is not an option.” I turned my head at the sound of Akil’s obscenely smooth voice and saw him standing by the window, arms crossed over his bare chest, his expression one of disapproving concern. “That was your intention? To throw yourself at your brother and destroy him in the netherworld?”

I really didn’t have the energy to argue with Akil, especially when he was right. Slumped back against my couch, I concentrated on breathing and allowed myself a few moments to relish the relative clarity of my thoughts. Jonesy hopped onto my lap and massaged his front paws against my thigh. His purrs soothed me. I couldn’t ignore Akil though. He radiated fury. I wasn’t even sure he’d blinked. I sighed and would have welcomed the cool embrace of Stefan’s element.

“Stefan’s back there.”

“I do not care where Stefan is.” The ice in his voice confirmed he really didn’t.

I didn’t even have the energy to glare. “He was helping me control my power. We came together to stop Val getting the half bloods.”

“How did that work out for you?”

“Fine,” I snarled, “until you got in the way.”

Akil ground his teeth and tore his gaze away. “I had everything under control, Muse. The two half bloods were mine. They would still be mine if you hadn’t tried to kill yourself.”

“Looked to me like Val was about to steal them out from under you.”

“I made a choice.” His simmering gaze found me again, and in the darkness, his eyes blazed. “I could have stopped him. Instead, I chose to stop you.”

“Why?” I growled.

“Don’t be a fool.”

“Because you know I’m going to destroy everything? Val told me, Akil. ‘
The world reduced to rubble at your feet.’”
I mimicked my brother’s haughty tones. “You stopped me to protect your investment?”

“Yes. I know what you will be. I’ve always known, but that’s not why I stopped you.” He strode to my kitchen where he preceded to wet a towel under a faucet.

A cruel bolt of laughter shot free. “Don’t tell me you did it because you love me?”

Turned away as he was, all I saw was how his broad shoulders tensed. “Asmodeus charged me with your protection. I was to watch you, guard you if necessary, and when the time came, hand you over to him. That time has not yet come.”

I blinked at Akil’s back, too exhausted to entertain the anger that I should have felt. “That’s what this has all been for? You and me? All these years? You’re babysitting me for my father?”

He brought the damp towel to me and crouched down, draping his arms over his knees. “From the day I first demanded your company for three nights, to this moment now. All for Asmodeus.” He spoke softly. “But I didn’t anticipate one thing.” Handing me the towel, he leisurely sat beside me, leaning an arm on the couch behind my head.

“Which is?”

“That I would care.”

I snorted, grabbed the towel, and wiped the blood and dirt from my face. “You can’t care. It’s not in your DNA.”

“Evidently immortal chaos demons can—and do—change.”

Was he serious? “Do you still have P-C-Thirty-Four in you?”

“No, I burned their filth out the moment I returned to my original form.” He shook his head. “I had one simple motive for my incarceration: To liberate their half bloods. Only half bloods can best half bloods. They would be our response to Valenti’s charge. It was perfect. The half bloods are essentially demon due in part to Adam Harper’s less-than-human methods. They followed me because they recognized power and control.” He paused and curled his fingers into his palm. “I had them. The Institute could only watch. They believed me subdued, thanks, in part, to your marvelous acting.”

“It wasn’t an act, Akil. I believed you were caught.”

“You believed some unremarkable technicians, a few lengths of chain, and some elemental symbols could contain me?” He blinked at my scowl. “That must have been emotional for you.”