So Tempting (22 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Jace couldn't move. Not
a
magos
.
The
Magos
. Simon didn't need to work to hold her—she could barely breathe.

Antonia lifted one eyebrow. "You've seen the mask and the amulet. You know his expertise." She licked her lips. "His...interests."

"I don't believe you."

Antonia nodded toward Simon. "Tell her how he trained you."

"I studied with him, learned of the True Path. His knowledge of the occult is matched by none."

Though she'd accused Dante herself, hearing the words spoken aloud rocked her to her foundation.

Dante is the Magos.

He had created this, all of the madness, the cult that had been Jimmy's doom. He might not have pushed Jimmy down those stairs, but he had killed him, nevertheless. Jimmy and Sam and Sarah Brown.

Why?

Evil exists. I am one who can stop it.

Was he delusional? As crazy as these people? Just out for kicks, and she was fresh meat?

Jace ignored Antonia's mocking stare. Instead, she glanced up at Simon. Slowly, his fingers eased. Green eyes lit with an unholy glow. "The
Magos
will be so pleased that you finally understand."

"I comprehend that you're a bunch of losers and perverts, using innocent people searching for something to believe in. Taking advantage of them for your own pathetic, twisted ends."

Simon slapped her so hard her vision dimmed. Rage and confusion swept through her, the debris of too many sleepless nights, too much emotional turmoil. She kicked out at his groin. Simon dodged quickly enough that she only hit his leg, but he fell against the wall, cursing.

Gathering himself, he lunged at her. His hands closed around her throat, one knee jammed in her belly. Jace fought for air, her struggles only enraging him.

"Simon!" Antonia's voice rang out. "Stop it! The faithful expect an initiation tonight, and they will have it."

He barely loosened his grip, his jaw clenched.

Antonia paused at the doorway. "The ritual starts in half an hour. Ready the girl."

The door closed.

Simon dropped Jace flat. She lay on the floor, gasping.

He stalked toward Cassie. "Don't worry, lovely Cassandra," Simon crooned. "I'll make your first time memorable." He stroked her jaw.

To her credit, Cassie slapped his hand away, eyes sparking.

"Ah." Simon smiled. "Some of that spirit returns, eh? It's what first attracted my attention and made me know I must have you—that powerful spirit of yours." He laughed. "It infuriated Jimmy, but he understood nothing. No one credits how my power is growing."

He leaned over Cassie, trailing one hand down her body. Jace saw the terror on her face.

"You will be the conduit, dear Cassandra. A voluptuous, rebellious virgin—I'll gather power as never before. Soon Antonia will be too weak to contest me."

This guy was not just on drugs—he was wigged out. Not merely a criminal, but truly insane. But Jace had a bead on him. She summoned all her strength to challenge him. "Why settle for the power of the Priestess when you could have the power of the
Magos
?"

That got his attention. He turned slowly, staring at her. "What are you saying?"

"Antonia's just a woman, after all. Women are only good for their bodies, isn't that right? Otherwise they mock men, attempt to steal their power."

He cocked his head, so Jace pushed on. "The
Magos
has the true might, doesn't he? Why settle for a puny woman's position when you could best the
Magos
himself? Isn't it time the student became the master?"

"How?"

"Never mind. You're too fixated on a silly little girl. You're not ready." Her tone dripped with contempt.

A flash of vulnerability crossed his face. He abandoned Cassie. "You're wrong. I'm ready to lead. Antonia only sees the sex. She doesn't understand the potential right there for the taking."

"But you do."

He nodded, his attention solely on her now.

"You know nothing," she taunted. "I've been with the
Magos
; I've taken him into my body. I've absorbed the secrets he has withheld." Then she raised the stakes with no remorse for betraying the confidences of a liar. "Have you seen the starbursts?"

"Tell me."

"Oh, no," she whispered, arching her back, licking her lips slowly. "You're too afraid of a strong woman. You want to mate with a little girl."

"Tell me," his voice hoarsened, his eyes greedy.

"Words will explain nothing. You must learn from me the way I drew the secrets from the
Magos
. You must take me in the ritual." She cast a disparaging glance at Cassie. "Not some infant who knows nothing of true power."

Jace saw the idea turning over in his head, the strange gleam in his gaze.

Take the bait. Substitute me for Cassie.
She could endure it; Cassie would be traumatized. If she couldn't save Jimmy, at least maybe she could spare the girl. She kept her gaze steady on Simon, willing him to accept her dare.

He untied her legs, then jerked her to her feet roughly. "Come. We have little time. You must be prepared and purified to be ready." He stabbed a finger toward Cassie. "You, I'll deal with later."

Jace sent Cassie a look of encouragement just before the door shut.

* * *

Cassie waited for the lock to turn, but it didn't. Their footsteps faded away.

She couldn't simply sit here; she had to do something. Jace had sacrificed herself in Cassie's place. Somehow she had to find help for both of them, though she had no idea where she was.

Time to grow up, Cassie. This is serious.
She didn't understand all that they said about Dante being the
Magos
, whatever that was. But Antonia had lied before about lots of things. She was evil; she would probably say whatever served her best. She hated Cassie, though, that was for sure. Antonia wanted Markos for herself.

She could have him. He'd lied to Cassie from the first; he'd only wanted to use her to hurt Dante, and she'd played right into his hands.

Somehow, Cassie had to get out of here and tell the police what she knew. She couldn't piece it all together, but maybe they would. Simon was sick and evil; she could believe he'd murdered Jimmy. Dante would never murder anyone.

Jimmy
. Cassie wanted to sink to the floor and cry, but instead, she forced herself to crack the door open and listen for the sound of anyone outside.

Jimmy was dead, trying to save her. She thought of his hazel eyes challenging her to grow up. He would never get a day older.

It was time to meet the challenge. To help Jimmy's sister. Help Dante.

But first she had to escape.

Cassie stepped into the shadowed hall and hugged the wall. She heard the muffled sound of drums. Pausing, she debated with herself. She noted a faint light coming from that direction but behind her, nothing but black.

She heard a sound at her back; her decision was made. Tiptoeing quickly, Cassie headed for the drums, her heart pounding. She scanned the hallway, looking for somewhere to duck inside, an exit from this place, but she could see nothing.

The eerie wail of a flute lifted, twining through the drumbeats. Voices began to chant, the words muffled.

Cassie crept closer to the thin slice of light up ahead, coming to a halt right before it. With trembling fingers, she parted the curtains slightly.

What she saw made her jaw drop, her stomach roll. More urgently than ever, she knew she had to find help.

At a sound behind her, Cassie jumped and muffled a scream, desperately looking for a place to run.

But too late.

A large hand clamped her mouth shut.

Chapter Nineteen

Jace's body didn't belong to her, not after Simon had forced her to drink his elixir. All she'd been able to do to defend herself was fake a coughing fit and waste as much as possible. He'd been royally pissed because there wasn't time to prepare more.

Nonetheless, she could feel the effects. Jace wondered almost idly if this was how Sarah Brown or Sam Sunshine had felt before they'd died. Insubstantial and floating...disconnected from the world they knew.

The drumbeats hypnotized her. She thought she might have heard them before. Forgotten images doubled back upon her: the Priestess she now knew was Antonia, Simon the Keeper with his body thrusting toward the girl, and Dante—

Oh, God.

Say it, Jace.

Dante, the
Magos
, the power behind it all. Black-robed and silent, doing nothing to stop them.

But what she'd felt...the sorrow in his gaze...how safe he'd made her feel..

She shoved all that away. She had to keep her head about her. He'd lied to her, seduced her, led her into this trap—and she'd let it happen. Now she lay naked, hands bound outstretched, her body displayed for all to see on this cold marble slab. A throng of black-masked heads stared at her, eyes boring like lasers through the remnants of her detachment.

And despite it all, heaven help her, her body was aroused, languid with a shimmering heat. Something in that drink...her thoughts drifted...
datura
, that was it. She could hear Dante's voice as he'd explained it that day.
Marked aphrodisiac effect...disconnects the central nervous system...utterly abandoned...they remember nothing.

Her head thrashed from side to side. Jace undulated on the marble, helpless against the thrust of the drumbeats, rocking her pelvis as the flute's wail crawled inside her body and slithered down her spine...the candle glow wavered before her eyes.

The drums halted. Clad in red, the black feathered mask covering her face, Antonia approached, eyes bright as she stared down at Jace. Scarlet nails dragged lightly over Jace's breast and descended to her mound.

And, God help her, Jace reveled in it.

Her mind tried to scream a warning, but it was too faint, the demands of her body too fierce.

Antonia's gaze glittered triumph. Her crimson mouth curved, and she licked her lips slowly. Her hands grasped Jace's thighs and drew them apart, exposing her, displaying her. Subjugating her...binding her ankles so that she couldn't shield herself.

Jace's consciousness cried out a protest she couldn't manage to voice.

"Keeper," Antonia called out.

Simon stepped forward, his eyes glowing with naked greed, his body primed.

Jace's heart thumped against her ribs. Her brain didn't seem to control anything that would help her. With a soft whimper, she tried not to think of what was about to happen.

Suddenly, a dark shape intercepted the Keeper, grasped the chalice from Antonia's hands. Jace heard Simon's sharp intake of breath. A gasp rose from the assembled faithful.

Black, hooded robe. The
Magos
.

Dante.

She tried to focus, needing to see the face hidden within the shadows cast by the voluminous hood.

Rage rippled over Simon's face, but one look stopped him cold.

Then the
Magos
stood between Jace's bound, spread legs. His robes brushed the insides of her thighs.

Oh, God, Dante
, she wanted to cry out.
Please don't. Please stop this. I can't bear it.

Warring impulses tore at her. She was desperate to escape—

Yet her drugged, restless body craved his touch.

Chalice held high, he spoke in that deep, dark voice that had so mesmerized her from the first. "Will you let me lead you into the Light, initiate?"

Jace's foggy brain grappled with images and sounds doing battle.

I am a Light Walker.

Spinning in the void...tentacles grasping.

Poison...he grew poisons...
drink this—it will ease you...

Gray eyes shadowed and haunted...
You will see things...hear things that confuse you, arouse your suspicions. You must not yield to them.

Give me more than your body. I need your help, indeed your very soul.

She moaned her confusion.
I don't care if he's the Magos...he wouldn't—

But he was a liar, wasn't he?

You're blind to him, Jace.
Gabriel's blue eyes dark with concern...

Antonia mocking,
Oh my, you really bought into it, didn't you?

He bent to her.

The chalice shone against black robes.

What was in it would kill her. She shook her head frantically, the voices drowning her ability to think.

Dante's eyes, visible at last...pleading?
Surrender...open yourself to me. You want to trust...

When's the last time you really trusted anyone, Sis?
Jimmy's voice echoed.

Would Dante poison her—or save her? Blurred impressions of a tender gaze clashed with a stony face that told her nothing.

You are safe...stay with me...help me.

The ribbons of color...the music...

Make your choice, Justine.
Somehow that it all came down to this moment.

A shiver crept down her spine. Terror raced through her.

I need your help. You are the key.

"Initiate?" He moved to her side, standing between her and the faithful his voluminous sleeve closing off a space where only he and she existed.

Still he waited.

Finally, praying she wasn't wrong, she nodded.

He brought the chalice to her lips as her heart pounded double-time, her eyes squeezing shut in terrible, cold fear—

The liquid slid over her cheek and pooled beneath her, its touch cool and shocking.

Her eyes flew open to see his, fierce and hot.

"Trust me," he whispered. "Please."

Stunned, she tried to nod.

"Where is Cassie?" His lips barely moved. He shifted and one hand stroked down her hip for the benefit of the crowd.

She went spinning. Her whole body flared to life at his touch. She struggled to think past the buzz of desire, the flash of starlight. "Nearby, I think, but...they drugged me."

He fondled her again, and she could barely hold on. He spoke the odd words again, and she steadied.

"I am sorry, Justine. I must do this so they do not—"

She swallowed hard. Met his gaze. "I...know."

Regret cast a dark shadow over him.

Antonia's voice rang out. "
Magos
, what are you—"

Jace hurried to warn him. "Cassie has seen Markos. I think he's here."

"I know." Jace felt the bonds at one hand go slack. Glimpsed the knife blade disappearing into Dante's robe.

"Lie still," he whispered. "Don't let them see."

Then he whirled to face a furious Simon and Antonia. "Stand back, Priestess...Keeper..." His voice was silken with restrained menace.

Simon halted, his eyes darting about in confusion. In the audience, a low murmuring began.

Dante lifted the empty chalice for all to see. "You are told of ancient powers." His voice rang out in command. "Sacred waters that will clear your mind." He set it down and leaned over Jace once more, one hand caressing her naked skin as his other quickly slit the bonds on the underside of her remaining wrist.

"The police are outside," he murmured in her ear. "They are watching for a distraction. Look for my signal."

She nodded faintly to show understanding.

He returned to stand between her legs. Arms spread wide, he towered over her. He dipped to her, and the folds of his robe obscured how he sliced at the bonds on her ankles, leaving the ropes lying over the tops as if undisturbed.

And pressed his lips to her belly. Stars burst. It was all Jace could do not to moan.

Then he grasped her hips and stepped closer.

Simon shouted, "No! You can't have her. She's mine!"

"You dare much, Keeper."

"But you can't—"

Dante faced the audience again. "You call me
Magos
. I stand before you tonight to tell you that these people—" he gestured toward Simon and Antonia "—have lied to you."

The two froze in shock. Quickly, Antonia recovered and rushed to center stage. "No! Do not listen," she ordered. "There is nothing to fear. Close your eyes and breathe deeply—"

Dante spoke over her. "They are puppets of a man who considers you beneath contempt. I bear responsibility for this. It is I who first told Simon of the
Magos
, who taught him of ancient religions these two and their master have perverted to their own ends. I should have kept watch over Simon when he left my tutelage. For that, I beg your forgiveness, that they twisted true beliefs and used you as playthings in their sick games.

"Be gone," he ordered. "There is no True Path to be found here. You have been deceived." He paused for a moment. "The true path is inside you, each of you. You do not need these charlatans." With a wave, he dismissed the pair. "You have been misled. They have no answers to give you. There is no
Magos
. No light. No power except what you claim for yourselves."

A stunned silence.

Then the sound of two hands clapping.

Another man stepped through the curtain. "Very nice, brother," he said with lazy amusement.

Brother?
Jace glanced back and forth between them. Antonia and Simon appeared stunned, as well.

"Markos," Dante acknowledged, jaw tight.

"Once you believed in the
Magos
and all our father taught you."

"I learned better, thanks to you," Dante replied. "Papa was wrong."

Markos smirked. "No. He merely picked the wrong son." From inside his shirt, he brought forth a shining silver pendant, a dull stone at its center.

It was the symbol Jace had first seen in Dante's house, but this one looked ancient.

"The Eye of the
Magos
. Look at it for the last time, Dante. I am his true son. You are only a bastard, a mongrel. The power will be all mine, undiluted, once you are gone."

"The Eye of the
Magos
," Dante chanted, staring hard at Markos. "Heals when honor defeats hate, when love vanquishes lies. Love breeds Light. Light grants Power. Only in darkness does the Eye lose the True Path." In his last words was challenge.

Markos's smile flared, quick and evil. "Ah, you seek to chasten me, but have you not also indulged in hatred, Dante? Ours is a struggle to the death. It always was."

"You are no
Magos
."

"Why do you care? You no longer believe, as our father did, that the Eye of the
Magos
holds the power of healing."

Jace could see the grief on Dante's face.

Markos waved one negligent hand. "It is moot. Our lives have come down to this night. You think you have bested me, but you are wrong. It was foolish of you, Dante, to allow yourself to become vulnerable."

Squinting against the dizziness, Jace saw Dante's face darken. "The police have this building surrounded, Markos. It is too late."

Markos issued a sharp bark of laughter. He drew on the rope in his hand, bringing a shape through the curtain. "I think not."

Cassie stumbled forward. Bound and terrified and so very young.

Slowly, Markos reeled her in, then brandished a gleaming knife he placed at her throat.

Cassie whimpered, her eyes on Dante, pleading.

"Let her go, Markos. It's me you want. Only me."

"No. I want all traces of your line wiped from the earth." He nodded to the floor in front of him. "Kneel before me, brother. Tell the world you were never my equal."

"First, release her. She's done nothing wrong."

Markos's grip tightened. A trickle of blood stained Cassie's skin. "Kneel to me now!" he roared. "You do not give me orders. I hold the power."

"No, Markos!" Dante shouted. "You will be killing your own child."

Markos stilled. "What?"

"She is your daughter, not my sister."

Cassie gasped.

Markos frowned. "What kind of tale is this? I have no child."

"Remember Caterina? I loved her. I planned to marry her. You raped an innocent girl to destroy me, and she died giving birth to your child. She begged me to protect the babe from you."

"You've hidden her all these years? My...child?" Markos faltered, glancing down at an equally stunned Cassie.

In the split-second of inattention, Dante lunged. Shoving Cassie to the side, he took Markos to the floor.

Cassie scrambled away from the fighting. Jace saw Markos's knife skitter across the floor and readied herself to leap for it—

Just as Simon grabbed Cassie and yanked her against his chest, his fingers closing around her throat. With his other hand, he reached beneath his robe and withdrew a pistol, firing one shot in the air. "Stop!"

Everyone froze. Markos and Dante leaped to their feet.

"No, Simon, don't hurt her. Don't be a fool," Markos ordered.

"You're the fool, you and Antonia. I'm through taking orders from you. The balance has shifted. I was the only true student. You took my idea and perverted it—you with your obsession on destroying Dante by playing the
Magos
while framing him for murder, Antonia turning the ritual into sex games—but that ends here. You've both squandered your power, and while you weren't looking, I've outgrown you. I'm stronger than you are now. You can tell me nothing."

Antonia laughed. "Go ahead, kill her. What's one more on your head, right, Simon?"

He shot her a glare. "I never intended for anyone to die." His voice turned querulous. "It was Markos who gave me the new ingredient. He promised it would increase my power, not kill them."

He turned back. "But you meant for them to die, didn't you, Markos? You didn't care what it took to bring Dante down. You wanted to ruin him, whatever the cost. Well, I'm tired of pretending to be your lackey. Now I call the shots."

Jace listened, attempting to comprehend with her foggy mind that Dante really was innocent. Now he and Cassie were both in danger. With intense effort, she controlled the urge to charge into action.