Soul Bound (40 page)

Athanatos approached her, placing his palm on her forehead. She fought him, tried to wriggle free, but he immobilized her with the power of his will, right before he snaked his way into her thoughts.

She resisted, struggled to block him out, but his probing mind was as sharp as a scalpel. Within seconds he’d reduced her to childhood again. Every experience she’d had with her sister reared up within her. Endless moments of shared tears and laughter assaulted her. But one memory pierced through the fog to dominate all others.

Soft sobs drew Lia to the backyard, where an eleven-year-old Cassie hunched beneath a tall elm, her delicate arms wrapped around her small body. Inside the house, their mother was engaged in another heated argument with husband number three.

Cassie raised a pair of red, swollen eyes to meet Lia’s. “I hope he leaves like the last one.”

He probably would. None of Janine’s marriages had lasted more than a couple of years since their dad left, and this one had just about reached its expiration date.

Lia sat beside her sister.

“It’s my fault they’re fighting,” Cassie confessed. “I told Mom something about him. Something bad.”

“What?”

Cassie’s voice dropped to a whisper, and Lia had to scuttle in closer to hear. “I told Mom he tried to touch me. You know, in the boobs.”

Lia was confused. “You don’t have any boobs.”

“That’s not the point.” Cassie sniffed. “The point is that he tried to touch them.”

Barely nine years old, Lia had a hard time understanding why touching Cassie’s chest would lead to such a violent argument between her mother and stepfather.

“He’ll leave now,” Cassie stated proudly, despite her tears of guilt. “Then maybe Dad will come back.”

A bad feeling began to churn in Lia’s belly. “Cassie, did he really do that? Touch the boobs you don’t have yet?”

Cassie shrugged. “He looked at them, and that’s almost the same thing.”

“So you lied.”

“Stretched the truth. Just a bit.”

From within the small house, their mom began to cry.

“Why?”

Her sister met her gaze, and Lia was struck by the calculating maturity within her damp cornflower-blue eyes. “Because Mom deserves better. We all do. And because there’s no room for him here.” She wrapped her arm around Lia, drew her tight against her. “We’re a family, sis. No way some stupid guy is gonna come between us.”

Cassie gripped Lia by the chin, forced her to look at her. “Promise me no guy is ever gonna come between us.”

Lia nodded, shaken by the intensity of her older sister’s stare. “I promise.”

Lia had forgotten about that day, about the childish promise she’d made. Now it burst to life within her, a pustulant sore breaking open to contaminate her system. Her next breath snagged in her windpipe, smothered by a silent sob.

I’m sorry, Cassie. I’m so sorry.

Athanatos withdrew his hand, satisfied. He’d accomplished what he’d set out to do. He’d exploited her pain, filled her with doubt, drowned her in guilt and grief.

By loving Jace, Lia had played a part in her sister’s suicide every bit as much as Diane had. Deep down, she knew that. All Athanatos had done was bring it to the surface.

“I expected more of a challenge,” he said. “My job is already halfway done.”

Lia hugged herself to contain the pain, to keep her mind from shattering. A rift edged its way into her psyche, threatening to tear the two halves of her soul apart. No matter how hard she tried, she wasn’t sure she could hold them together.

And that was exactly what Athanatos was counting on.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Aged trees formed a protective circle around the stone altar, their wide leaves fluttering in the wind. Overhead, incandescent stars poked holes in the black fabric of night. All was still, unnaturally silent. Mother Nature held her breath. Animals crouched in their burrows in a baleful hush, birds refrained from flapping their wings, even the crickets had quieted their mating calls.

Jace stood opposite Cal in the woods, his arm resting against the strange altar as the eerie night caressed him with cool, feather-light fingers. “If I go through with this, you have to promise me something.”

Cal’s expression was intent, his mind focused on the task at hand. Expert fingers prepared the altar for the ritual that would follow. “What is it that you require?” He proceeded to light a series of blood-red candles.

“Saving Lia takes priority over killing Athanatos.”

A cloying aroma saturated the air, similar to the incense that often burned in churches. “And yet as long as he lives, she will not be safe.” Cal slid a pewter-colored dagger from the scabbard attached to his belt. An image of a sprinting wolf, as graceful as it was wild, adorned the blade.

“He’ll die. Believe me. But only once I know Lia is in the clear.”

“Fate will play out as the angels have decreed.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Cal’s movements stilled, and he finally met Jace’s pointed stare. “Do you wish to complete the ritual or not?”

Jace hesitated. He got the feeling he was missing the big picture, that Cal was being purposely cryptic. But at the moment, he had no choice but to trust the guy. The devil you know, and all that jazz. “Yeah, go ahead.”

“Do you swear your allegiance to me and no other?”

“Yes.”

“Do you agree to live a life of celibacy devoted solely to the Watchers’ cause?”

Heaviness swelled in Jace’s chest. He hesitated long enough to fill his lungs with air. “Yes.”

“Do you swear to live by my rule, follow my orders without question, even forfeit your life if necessary?”

“Yes.”

Cal brought the dagger to his own wrist, and the blade sliced through his skin like butter.

“Aren’t you all out of angel’s blood?”

“I managed to scrape a few vials together. We should have enough for one last battle.”

Cal brought the blade to Jace’s right wrist and made a similar cut. Red hot agony traveled up his arm, razed through his bloodstream. Sweat soaked his body as blackness fought to claim him. “I thought this was supposed to make me stronger.”

“It will.” Cal covered Jace’s cut with his own. “If the pain doesn’t kill you.”

“Gee thanks.” Jace’s skin blistered and burned, and it took all his willpower not to yank his arm away. “How come you’re not doubled over in pain?” The question squeaked out of him.

“I’ve developed a certain tolerance over time.” Cal’s words sounded far away, a distant echo Jace could barely make out.

The stars fell from the sky to streak his vision with white. The forest wobbled, rippled like a waterfall. Fire shot through his veins, a coiled ball of energy that both fortified and weakened him. His stomach clamped. His throat tightened. He couldn’t breathe. Images of white-winged angels and fiery demons zipped through his head. He saw battles he’d never fought, landscapes he’d never laid eyes upon, ancient monuments that had crumbled ages ago. Waves battered his brain, crashed to obliterate entire cities. All around, chaos reigned. Fires raged, guns blared, mountains collapsed. Civilizations fell to be replaced by new ones.

He was there.
The thought cut through the frenetic slideshow unfurling in Jace’s mind. Cal had lived through each and every one of these eras. Thousands of years of history remained forever preserved within him. And now he was sharing these memories, this knowledge, with Jace.

The ritual lasted only a few minutes, but it felt like hours—no, centuries. In that small wedge of time, Jace lived a thousand lives. How could he possibly remain unchanged?

The blaze finally eased. The flames curled onto themselves and fizzled out. Agony tapered down to a slow throb. When Cal withdrew his arm, his wound had entirely healed, but Jace’s wrist bore the mark of the Watchers. He traced the fine, white scar with his index finger, was engulfed by feelings of inevitability and regret.

“It’s done, then.” His tone brimmed with listless acceptance. The deal was sealed. Any chance of forging a relationship with Lia had been reduced to ash.

It’s for the best.
This was how things were meant to be. He had his path to travel, and she had hers. Unfortunately, the two could only overlap for a short while before they went their separate ways.

He would save her. Then he would set her free.

“There was no other way,” Cal said. “This is your destiny. It always has been.”

The distant swoosh of the ocean filled the night, muffled by the steady sigh of the wind. The stars above them appeared brighter, the moon closer. Strength inundated Jace’s veins until his very pores prickled.

“I know.” Still, he couldn’t help but wonder, if he was exactly where he was meant to be, why then did he feel so damn lost?

When Jace re-entered the Watchers’ complex, everything
felt
different. Dark energy buffeted him, echoed through him and energized him. All of a sudden, he felt connected to every atom that made up the atmosphere, to all the Watchers surrounding him, and to the souls each of them had once possessed. The strange bond tempered him, strengthened and soothed him.

The Hybrids standing in the conference room looked at him differently, with acceptance and welcome, as though they, too, sensed the newly forged connection and were changed by it. Regan was the first to walk up to him. She took his hand in hers, looked at him with a contradictory blend of relief and regret, as though she’d known all along this was where he’d end up.

“How do you feel?” Motherly concern gleamed in her eyes. If she wasn’t careful, she’d give her secret away.

“Better than I expected. I was afraid the angel’s blood would knock me out like last time.” He aimed a pointed stare at Marcus. “But I feel surprisingly strong.”

“That’s because you’re feeding off all our energies now,” his mother told him. “The healing process is much quicker.”

“In that case, what are we waiting for?” He’d feared the side-effects of the ritual would delay his rescue of Lia. Now he was anxious to get the show on the road. “Let’s grab as many weapons as we can and go show Athanatos he’s not as immortal as he thinks.”

All eyes turned to Cal, who steadily shook his head. “First, we need to see if you can track Lia. Athanatos’s shields are very powerful, nearly impossible to pierce.”

Those weren’t the words Jace wanted to hear. Lia’s invisible pull had grown more powerful since Cal had completed the ritual. He could feel her calling to him, urging him to find her. “I have to go to her. Before it’s too late.”

“Lia is strong,” Cal reassured him. “Her soul won’t be easy to break, unless she wills it so.”

Jace desperately wanted to believe that, but Cassie’s glassy eyes flashed through his mind, shaking his faith. If anything could shatter Lia’s will, it was the death of her sister. He wasn’t sure even she was strong enough to keep from falling victim to despair.

Cal ventured deeper into the wide, open room and sat at the edge of the weathered conference table, his face shadowed by thought. “Do you have anything that belongs to her?”

Jace reached into his pocket and pulled out her locket, letting it swing from his fingers. “This necklace means a lot to her. Every time I touch it, I feel her energy resonating within it. It’s what led me here.”

Cal nodded. “I know.”

“You made sure I got it.” Jace could see things so clearly now. “You sent the wolf.”

“Yes. And you didn’t disappoint me. In fact, you exceeded my expectations by breaking through my shields.”

Shocked murmurs filled the quiescent room as the Watchers all at once directed comments and questions at their leader.

“I thought you lowered the shields.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“How is that possible?”

Cal silenced them with a raise of his hand. “I sensed that Jace and Lia’s connection was strong, but I didn’t know how strong until I put it to the test. Now that Jace has taken the blood vow, that connection has been amplified and will remain so, unless Lia purposely shuts him out.”

Jace didn’t like the sound of that. “Which means what, exactly?”

A nerve-rattling pause followed. “It means we have to find Lia before Athanatos succeeds in breaking her, and that gives us a very narrow window within which to act.”

Urgency sprinted like a rabid beast through Jace, swallowing what remained of his patience. His wrists continued to throb, only fueling his anxiety. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

“Not so fast.” Cal stood to face him. “Before we go, you need to not only embrace your destiny, but to accept it.”

Jace’s tolerance was stretched paper-thin. “I took the blood vow. What more do you want?”

“I want you to hear the prophecy, to fully understand it.”

Jace struggled not to let frustration rule him. They were wasting precious time on nonsense.

“‘A Hybrid shall be reborn, and he shall join the Golden One,’” Cal recited. “‘His energy will be strong, almost as pure as that of the Nephilim that spawned him. In the wake of a great sacrifice, he will reclaim what was once his and what he lost, whereupon the wrath of Heaven shall be unleashed. Lightning will slash the sky and Heaven’s light will rain upon the soulless, and he who is immortal shall fall.’”

“I get it,” Jace said. “First step is to join you, second step is to take Lia back, third step is to blow Athanatos to smithereens. Can we go now?”

“You misunderstand.” Cal took a deep breath, slowly released it. “It is not Lia you need to reclaim, not in the physical sense.”

For an instant Jace’s heart ceased to beat. “Then what am I supposed to take back?” Understanding dawned. “No goddamn way. I’m not taking her soul.”

“It’s the only way to defeat Athanatos,” Marcus pitched in.

“Preserving Lia’s soul is more important than preserving her body,” Cal added. “If you take her life-force, it will remain whole. Part of her soul once belonged to you and is immune to the darkness within you. If, however, Athanatos succeeds in ingesting her life-force, he’ll shatter it. Since her soul can’t be extinguished, whatever light survives will become trapped within him indefinitely. Then you’ll both be lost.”