Life Cycle (9 page)

There was only one place he hadn’t checked, but
surely the caves were too foreboding for her to enter. It was
Cain’s own private sanctuary, and the idea that the witch may have
breached it made the fire glow in his eyes. Not only that, her
magic stuff was there—she’d be armed. Or more armed than usual.

He put on another burst of speed to get to the caves,
stopping dead in his tracks when he got inside. The witch sat on
the ground in a meditative posture. Though the caves were dark, a
light glowed out of her. Her eyes were closed, her face peaceful
and turned upward. She looked like an angel. There was no sign that
she’d found her things, at least.

Cain’s voice was a low growl when he spoke. “What do
you think you’re doing in here?”

The light that glowed around her faded and she
jumped, her eyes opening wide as she scrambled back.

He smiled. “Scared of me now?”

She got to her feet and produced an energy ball too
fast for him to react and tossed it, narrowly grazing his ear.
“What do you think? I was deep in meditation. You startled me. This
is the only place I can focus without interruption.”

Cain concentrated and produced a ball of fire in his
hand.

Tam had another energy ball ready. “Don’t even think
about it.”

“I thought you wanted to die. I’m sure this counts
as a magical death. We could find out if you like? Though I can’t
blame you for not wanting to die by fire. I’ve seen my share of
witch burnings. It’s a brutal death.”

“I know. Been there, done that.”

The retort caught him off guard, and for some reason
the images it produced bothered him.

Tam braced herself, ready to disarm him, but the
fireball hadn’t been meant for her; he just couldn’t resist the
opportunity to screw with her head over the assumption. He stepped
to the side and lit a torch on the cave wall. “Relax, this isn’t
for you. Remember, I planned on seducing you first for the fun of
watching you beg me to keep you. I continue to find that plan
amusing.”

She held the purple glowing ball steady in her hand,
clearly not trusting his word. He didn’t blame her. He wasn’t all
that trustworthy when it came to things he told humans. He moved
through the main part of the cave, lighting torches on the wall,
then he let the fire fizzle out of his hand. For a moment he
assessed the space, worried about the ventilation with a human, but
the cave was large. It should be fine.

He laid the bag with the scroll on the ground and
peeled his shirt off.

Tam took a step back, the idea of being his toy on
demand not yet having settled in her mind—if her reaction to him
was any indication.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I don’t think. I know. You and me. Now.”

“Here?” she squeaked.

He chuckled. “You’re the one who wandered out here.
Nobody dragged you. And as you said, we won’t be interrupted.”

“I’m not in the mood.”

The chuckle turned into a full-bodied laugh. “I’m an
incubus, sweetheart. I know that’s not true. You’re always in the
mood when I’m around.”

Her cheeks turned an endearing shade of pink, visible
even in the weak torchlight, but she quickly recovered. “What’s the
point? You aren’t going to kill me anyway. You’re just amusing
yourself with me.”

“Drop the shields, Tam.”

“No. Work for it.” A smirk lit her face as she let
the ball of energy burn out in her hand. “Seduce me. No
tricks.”

He pushed her against the wall, using his larger size
in an intimidation attempt, but she remained unconcerned. He tried
not to think about how much he loved that about her. He almost
pulled back in surprise when Tam kissed a trail from the side of
his neck up to his ear.

“I will never beg you to keep me,” she whispered.
“I’m not one of these bubble-headed bimbos you take home every
night. I have much more experience, enough to know the difference
between sex and love. I don’t have sparkly romance fantasies.”

She
did
want him; he could smell it; he
could feel it. Her energy pulsed with it. She may as well have been
under his thrall, but her words still shook him because inside
them, he felt the kernel of truth. It was the kind of truth that
could be spoken because there was no danger in anyone believing it.
But he believed it. God, she was just as jaded as he
was.

He wanted to dampen her desire and end her game.
“Okay. No tricks, then.” He couldn’t feed if she didn’t want him,
but who said he had to feed? He had her alone out here in the caves
in his dimension. He could do whatever he wanted with her, assuming
he could stop her from hitting him with an energy ball or chanting
him into a jar. Those were big assumptions, but right now all he
wanted was to wipe out her upper hand.

He dropped his glamour, smoothing away all the
perfection to leave someone who looked like a real man. A little
less muscled, a few more lines, a scar across his forehead that
marked him forever as a betrayer.

“You must be a mind reader. Rugged is just my type,”
she said, the coy taunt still in her voice.

Fucking witch. She was right. He really wasn’t
playing with his usual dimwitted bubble-heads.

She didn’t resist when he pulled
off her top. She fumbled with the buttons on his pants while he
dealt with hers. They ended up in a tangle of limbs and clothes on
the cave floor. Cain laughed.
Laughed.

He didn’t laugh when he was with a woman. They were
food for fuck’s sake, not friends or companions.

The two of them struggled out of their pants.

His eyes narrowed as he looked her over in the dim
light. “What’s your angle?”

She shrugged innocently. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Cut the crap. Why so eager? No matter what your
body wants, you’ve made it clear you find me repulsive. I’m not
naïve enough to think my plan to seduce you is already working. I’m
good, but I’m not that good.”

“About that plan... if you keep bringing it up, it’s
hard to trick me,” Tam said.

“I’m serious.”

She rolled her eyes. “It won’t hurt to tell you, I
guess. I think I can get you to lose control and kill me far before
you make me beg for anything—least of all you keeping me.”

Cain scowled and scooted away from her. His eyes
caught the scroll in the bag. If he slept with her so soon after
the last time, it would deplete her energy, and she might actually
get what she wanted. He put his pants on. “Get dressed.”

“You are such a baby. And a bad loser.”

He tried not to ogle her as she
stretched out her long limbs like a lazy cat—no doubt for his
benefit, trying to bring him back to
her
plan.

“I wasn’t hunting for you to sleep
with you. I need you to do a spell.”
I
just got momentarily distracted.

He went down a small corridor to the large rock he’d
hidden her things behind. He hadn’t anticipated her coming out to
the caves. No one came here as a volunteer, and surely she could
sense the anger and pain of the place. After this, he would put her
stuff in a pod, something only he could open. He should have taken
the extra precaution to begin with. She could probably curse him
without tools as long as she had that mouth on her. But he had
other uses for that mouth, so cutting out her tongue seemed
extreme.

He returned a few minutes later with her bags
of magical supplies, not sure what she’d need to do what he asked.
When he tossed them to her, she just stared.

“You’re serious. You really want me to do magic?
After you’ve spazzed out about it like you have?”

The demon glared and tossed her the bag with the
scroll in it.

“What’s this?” She unzipped it and pulled out the
parchment. When she saw what was on it, she dropped it like it was
a bag of live snakes, hissing and waiting to strike.

She looked up, real fear in her eyes this time. It
was a reaction he couldn’t seem to inspire. Yeah, it wounded his
evil pride a bit. What was so bad about this other guy that Cain
couldn’t match?

“Please, you have to kill me. If
he’s back to these games, he knows where the other one is. He may
even know where I am. I
know
him.”

Cain shook his head. “He can’t know where you are.
And even if he did, he can’t get here. He has no access.”

She still hadn’t put on her clothes. Now that he
knew, he could never forget how old she was. It hadn’t occurred to
her to be embarrassed, even after being rebuffed. She stood and
moved toward him, determination in her eyes. Her arms went around
his neck, her lips crashing against his mouth.

This was new and intriguing. It was rare for a woman
to be this aggressive with him without demon thrall involved. And
he wasn’t even in his super-pretty form. The fact that she knew
what he was and was still throwing herself at him, even with a
death wish, was almost too novel to cope with.

As offended as he was that she didn’t seem scared of
him, another part didn’t want to kill her. It was hard to kill an
equal you were growing to respect. If he succeeded and she begged
him to keep her, would he? Of course not. She was a new flavor of
candy. She’d be stale within a week, just like the others.

Tam slid her hand down his pants while her mouth
tangled with his. She pulled away, her eyes glittering with dark
promise. “Come on, I’m so tired from all the magic I’ve done. I’m
not fully recharged yet. It wouldn’t take that much work to kill
me.”

At least one part of him was listening to her,
standing at attention, ready to make good on the promise of death.
But he pushed her away, his hands gripping her shoulders to keep
her at arm’s length. “Put some clothes on.”

She pouted. “But why? Is this much naked flesh
upsetting you? Why should you deny yourself? I mean nothing to you.
Forget your stupid plan. I won’t ever beg you to keep me. Let’s get
this over with.”

He wanted to shake the life out of her, but then he’d
be left with a much younger Tam in her place, a prospect that was
less than appealing. “Look at the parchment again.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Look at it!” he growled. Even as he gripped her, he
was shifting into his demon form. With every form but his true form
shed, he gave off every negative emotion in existence. Tam shrank
back from the force of it, and he smiled.

“I’ve never successfully fed in this form, so it’s
pointless for you to taunt me—not that you would. I’m sure you
don’t want to sleep with this.”

She met his gaze, getting her bravery back as she got
used to the new energy around him. “Eh. I’ve seen worse.”

He released her shoulders and took a step back. If
she kept surprising him, he might make it his mission in life to
keep her alive forever.

She glanced down and giggled. It wasn’t the response
a man was ever looking for, but when she spoke, he realized
why.

“You must have seven hundred pairs of pants.”

In the shift, he’d ripped them. Again. Like some
fledgling demon who didn’t yet understand the size disparity
between man and monster. She unnerved him too much to be concerned
with wardrobe malfunctions.

“I need you to look at the bigger picture,” he said.
“Things are going to get ugly with Anthony after this. He’ll use
this to push his control further—in the name of safety. I’ve seen
humans do it a thousand times, and vampires are no different when
it comes to this. I might need you in a war. You promised you’d
fight with me. If you do this spell, it might help us find The
Cycler. If we destroy him, there’s no reason for you to die.”

Tears welled in her eyes. The
moment of vulnerability took him aback, and he had to fight the
urge to comfort her. Where in the
hell
had that urge come
from?

“It’s not just that. I’m TIRED, Cain. I’m so tired,
I can’t think straight. I can’t stand this eternal cycle. It’s so
lonely. Every time I cycle, I have to hide and go somewhere
different, uproot my whole life, meet new people. Everyone I meet,
I know I’m going to lose. I can’t live like this anymore. I just
want to be normal again. I just want to be happily oblivious to the
truth. The only way out is Jack or you. Forgive me if I prefer your
methods. I don’t want him to win, you’re right. But I don’t want me
to win, either. I need out of this. I thought if I could get away
from him, that I could do it. I thought if Anna became immortal I
could do it, but it’s not enough. I just want out.”

Given her suicidal kick, if Cain
managed to get her to beg him to keep her, to even
want
her life back, it
would be a miracle. And then what was he going to do? Kill her
anyway? He should. Even if she’d be beneficial in a war, the
temptation to get her out of her death wish and only then deliver
it was the kind of temptation he was rarely successful at fighting.
There was a reason he was who and what he was, after
all.

He punched the cave wall, causing a mini-avalanche of
little rocks in the space where he’d cracked it. “I’ve had the same
form for eight thousand years. You think I don’t get how hard it
is? But I don’t get an exit ramp. Why should I give you one?”

“Forget it. If you’re not going to do something
useful, just leave me alone.”

Cain picked up the scroll and held it out to her.
“No. I need you to do this spell.”

“What spell?” she said, her voice rising in
irritation.

“Look at the scroll again.”

***

Reluctantly, she took the parchment from his hands
and unrolled it, looking down the list of names she’d tried not to
look at before. Blood. In the little hearts beside her name. A lump
formed in her throat at the most recent name that had been crossed
out. Naomi. Her sister. She still remembered standing beside her in
the cavern, agreeing about not adding their own blood to the
potion. It had been a smart gut instinct. Why hadn’t she
listened?