Steal the Day (40 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

The door closed behind us, but I could see its outline even in the soft light of day we stepped into. Everything in this place was gauzy and beautiful. The very air seemed soft and sweet. A warm wind blew through, brushing against my skin and I heard the sound of crickets chirping in the distance. It was the opposite of what I expected to find on the Hell plane. We were in a field of flowers with the sun warming our faces. I sighed at the feel, but Dev dropped my hand, and when I looked at him I knew this was not a place of beauty for him.

Whatever Stewart had talked about before was still playing through his brain. Or worse, perhaps we were there. The Hell plane was a place to relive all the bad events of your life. I should know. Stewart was right. I’d been here before. It seemed we were about to take a tour inside Dev’s crappy memories.

“Where are we?” My hand felt empty without his, but I let him keep his distance for the time being.

“We were told not to get lost in memory, Zoey.” Dev ignored my question with a cold practicality. He looked down at my chest where the amulet was still covered by the bodice of my dress. “Is that thing working? We should really get started.”

I pulled on the chain and, sure enough, the amulet pulsed in my hand. There was a hearty glow to it, nothing like the weak light it put out around Dev and me. Felix Day was here.

I wasn’t sure how it did it but the Revelation pulled me to the north. It pointed the way as though desperate to get to the angel. “This way.”

“Well, naturally it’s that way,” he said with acid under his breath. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and made a decision. “If this is the way it’s going to be, then I can lead us. We’ll be going past those caves. Come along, Zoey. I assure you it will be informative.”

He started off in the direction of the caves without waiting for me.

“Just tell me where we are, Dev.” I raced to keep up with his long-legged pace. My skirts floated around me. I used my hands to hold them up so I could run. I wished I had dressed myself for this mission.

“It’s a
sithein
in Scotland, inasmuch as a
sithein
can be considered in a country,” Dev explained in an academic fashion. What he meant was the entrance was a mound in Scotland, but the actual land of the
sithein
was a piece of Faery and not of the Earth plane. Though it seemed to be underground, a
sithein
was its own land with its own sun and moon and time.

“But you’re Irish.” His branch of faery was known as
Daoine Sidhe
. They were left behind when the Tuatha de Dannan left Ireland. At some point in the last couple of centuries, they immigrated to the States and then formed their own
sithein
.

“Yes, my ancestors inhabited Ireland, but my mother believed it was important to have her sons experience all the various forms the Fae can take. This is an Unseelie
sithein
,” Dev continued his lecture. “Do you know the difference between the Seelie and Unseelie courts?”

I did. One was considered blessed and the other contained all the monsters Faery could offer. Dev would be considered one of the shining ones, the Seelie. “She wanted you to understand the Unseelie?”

Dev turned, his eyes practically glacial. “She wanted us to be tortured by the Unseelie, to see if we were strong enough to rule. Or rather she wanted Declan to be tested, and I was fool enough to go with him. He was my brother. I couldn’t let him go alone.”

I tried to take his hand again, but he pushed me away. I wanted to rail against a mother who would send her sons to be tortured for some ritual, but I held my tongue on that topic. “Dev, we don’t have to do this. We can go back. I’ll find another way.”

“You think me so shallow I would leave your friend here to spare myself this pain? What am I to you, Zoey? Am I your plaything? Do I mean anything to you outside the bedroom? You seem to think I am soft, but you are about to learn the truth of me.” Without waiting for me to speak, he turned and continued to his destination.

I had no choice but to follow as the amulet in my hand was insistent he took the right path. I wished I could have left him behind, spared him this pain. I’d taken my own trip to the Hell plane earlier in the year. I knew how it could break your spirit to see all the terrible things inside your own soul. Hell isn’t so simple as a place of fire and brimstone. The real torture in Hell always resides within.

A guttural sound broke through the gauzy quiet of the day. We walked through a copse of trees that seemed to reach up, climbing into the sky. There was another shout, though I couldn’t tell what the person was saying from this distance. More yelling followed and I picked up the pace, coming out of the trees and onto a grassy field.

From my vantage point, I saw a group of creatures circling like a pack of wolves, though these were no canines. They were goblins, squat but built on muscular lines. I also counted a couple of large, dirty looking trolls and what looked to be a gnome, though his eyes were red even in the sunlight. They circled their prey, keeping them close as they taunted. I glimpsed two human-looking men in the circle.

I realized with a shock they were both a younger version of Dev with long dark hair. This was Dev and his twin, Declan, a carbon copy of his younger self. They were being roughly handled by the goblins. It looked as though they’d been dragged a decent way to get to this place. Both young men sported cuts and bruises and long tears in their clothing.

I started to move toward them, wanting more than anything to stop what was about to happen. I had an idea now, given what Stewart had said, and I couldn’t stand the thought of it.

Dev stopped me, his hand on my elbow. “There’s nothing you can do. It isn’t real, Zoey. It’s a memory, and it will play out as it will.”

He stared out at the scene in front of him, his eyes focused.

“I like Seelie flesh,” the largest goblin announced. “The only thing better is Seelie sex.”

There was much laughter and a general consensus that pretty Seelies were the best lovers, even when they were unwilling.

“Aye, we’ll have to thank Miria for sending us these sweet meats,” another said. This one ran a hand down the front of one of the boys, rudely cupping his genitals. The boy looked ready to throw up, and I didn’t blame him. “They look delicious.”

“They’re so pretty,” a smallish troll said, his eyes lit with anticipation.

Both boys tried to get away, one pulling at the other’s shirt as though he wouldn’t let them be separated.

“How old are you?” I kept my voice calm, so he wouldn’t know how emotional I was already getting. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this couldn’t end well for Dev and his brother.

“I am seventeen.” He seemed outwardly unmoved, but I knew there was a war going on inside him. He was now in this moment, as he was then, helpless to do anything but survive.

“Which one should we start with?” one of the goblins asked, his large hands twitching like he couldn’t wait to get his fingers on that flesh.

One of the boys flinched, and I could see he was ready to run at the first given opportunity. He shrank from every creature, panic in his green eyes.

The other boy stood his ground and an arrogant laugh rang through the meadow. “You start with me, you idiot.” It was obvious he’d decided on a path. His shoulders straightened as he began stripping off his clothes. He pulled away from his captors but only to show them his amazing body. It was thinner than it was now, the body of a young man who had not quite fulfilled his full potential, but it was beautiful all the same. His hair was long and shone in the sunlight, a midnight black waterfall down his back. He was proud and every inch the young fertility god. It was no surprise every lustful eye was on him. “You start with me and you finish with me. You’ll just break him, and then you’ll get in trouble.”

“You sound like you want it, little
sidhe
,” the large goblin challenged him through his tusked fangs.

I knew that reckless grin and my heart practically stopped as I realized what he was doing. “I do, you big bastard,” young Dev replied with a sneer. “Do you know what I am? I’m a sex god. I always want it. You look like a cock who can give me a run for my money. I bet you give out before I do.”

I turned as the goblin laughed and proceeded to take my lover up on his bet.

“Can you guess which one is me?” Dev asked, daring me to say it.

I looked up and this time I didn’t let him push me away. “Yes, you’re the one saving your brother.”

His eyes widened, obviously startled. “Zoey, I took them all that day. I let them do things to me you can’t imagine. You know that magic I have? I turned it on, and it was an orgy. I turned that pain to pleasure and, god help me, I managed to enjoy some of it.”

And the pleasure had turned to guilt and self-loathing later. I could see that plainly. “And Declan?”

“Declan got away because they were all concentrating on me,” Dev admitted. “Why go after him when I was so willing to please?”

Which had obviously been his plan all along. I wasn’t shocked at Dev’s actions. He’d sacrificed for his brother, but damn I wasn’t happy about the way his twin had acted. “He left you?”

“Yes, Zoey, he left me. He ran and shortly after this day, we left this
sithein
and returned home.”

I tried to focus on him and not the sounds in the background. It was a perverse version of what Dev and Daniel and I had done. Dev had used his magic for protection instead of pleasure. “At least tell me he was grateful to you for saving him.”

Dev laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I wish I could, sweetheart. When I managed to get my very sore, bloody body back to our
brugh
that night, he asked if I even wanted to go home since I enjoyed the perversions of the Unseelie so much.”

“Bastard.” I looked at him through the tears clouding my eyes. “He was a bastard, Dev.”

“No.” Dev used his thumb to gently wipe my tears away. “He was a king, and I was his deviant, mortal brother. I was an embarrassment to him. Don’t cry for me, Zoey. I’m pleased to see you do not think less of me, but I would rather not have your pity.”

“Idiot,” I said with all the passion I felt for him that moment. “I’m not feeling sorry for you. I’m proud of you. I’m so proud to be your lover. You were brave. You were unselfish. He’s the one who should be ashamed.”

Dev pulled me to him and kissed me for all he was worth. He held me and sighed into my hair. “I would like it if you could meet my brother.”

I hugged him tightly, willing him to feel my love for him. “He wouldn’t. I’m going to kick his ass if I ever meet him.”

“That would be one reason I would love for you to meet him.” He became serious again. “Zoey, I would prefer to keep this experience between the two of us.”

“Of course.” It wasn’t something I would ever gossip about.

“I would rather Daniel not know about this part of my life.”

Stroking his face, I considered his request. I would never tell Daniel, but Dev should know that he could if he wanted to. “Daniel wouldn’t care. It wouldn’t make him think less of you.”

“Daniel already believes me to be a man of no discretion. Let him believe my perversities are contained within the fairer sex.” Dev looked out in the distance. “I think we can leave now.”

He pointed to a spot behind me. I turned, and a dark mansion had popped up in the middle of all that light. There was a menace to its elegant lines. The amulet lit up like a lantern.

“Come on.” There was excitement back in his eyes because with this over, he was all about the adventure again. “I would like to leave this place once and for all.”

We hurried off, the amulet leading us up the path to the mansion. I pulled out the globe Stewart had given us. So far we hadn’t seen anyone except Dev’s ghosts. The charms Stewart gave us seemed to be working. I could only hope that the key and the globe worked as well. I passed Dev the globe. He took a deep breath, obviously feeling the same trepidation I was.

The amulet practically screamed in my hand. It shone with a bright light and pulled me toward the mansion. Felix Day was somewhere in that house, and I had to hope Sarah was with him.

We were silent as we approached the big porch, moving carefully over the stairs that led up to the heavy doors. I slipped the key in and it turned. It took strength to open the door. I struggled with it, but it glided open once Dev put his weight against it.

Dev and I stepped through and were immediately confronted with a very surprised demon. Her small mouth made a startled
O
, but before she could set off an alarm, Dev smashed the globe. It crashed against the floor, a pulse of red energy scattering everywhere. The female demon went down without a sound, her body slipping to the floor.

The house was utterly silent.

“Is it still working?” Dev asked.

I looked down and the Revelation had gone dead. Frustration welled. I moved further into the house, hoping that putting some distance between me and the sleeping demon would help. Dev followed and after I got a wall in between us, the amulet flared to life again. “Got it.”