Build God, Then We’ll Talk
Were we actually onto something? Could this hex really be broken? Could the mating bond be severed? Butterflies swirled in my stomach at the mere possibility. I had to keep telling myself not to get too excited, but I couldn’t help it. The possibility of a normal life…it was too much for my heart to contain. There was a chance that Reese and I could actually have something between us, something that didn’t include Blaine, or Hell, or fangs, or the risk of death, all standing in the way.
Val tossed me a plastic bag to throw my dirty clothes into, ordering me to change. Apparently, I was expected to look my best—or at least as presentable as I could be, all things considered—for when we arrived at the Hideaway. I did as he requested, palming Nick’s note as discretely as I could. There would be no knowing who might rummage through my belongings, and I didn’t want to risk having the paper fall into someone else’s hands. Tossing the stuffed plastic bag into my luggage, Val lobbed a pair of thigh-high boots on the bed, along with a satin top…and no pants, or coat. I picked up the blouse, realizing it wasn’t a shirt at all—but an Italian lace-trimmed chemise dress.
“This is lingerie,” I growled.
“Sorry, sis, but you’re about to become the Crown Princess of Lust. You need to dress in something more… well, lustful. This is gonna be the first time you’re presented to Raelynd’s crew with your new title, and no offense, but...” the Mage drawled, plucking out a few assorted items from my bag. “A pair of old jeans and a Walking Dead t-shirt ain’t gonna cover it.”
“Yeah, well, this isn’t gonna cover anything either,” I snapped, waving the garment at him.
Val pretended not to hear my objections as he slung my carry-on bag over his shoulder and exited the room, calling out, “Ride’s here.”
I barked at him to return with my clothes, but he merely whistled, trotting down the railed steps to the parking lot. I grabbed the chemise off the bed and held it up against myself. The damn thing would’ve been lucky to reach my mid-thighs. On top of that, I looked out the window just as a stretch limousine rolled up in front of the building.
Just perfect.
I’d already spent the night outside in nothing but a towel, then a t-shirt, and now I had the humiliating pleasure of having to walk past all the rooms on both the second and first floor dressed like a high-end hooker.
I snatched up the boots and forced my feet into them, not even bothering to unzip the long stretches of leather that came up to the lower halves of my thighs. The room remained suspiciously quiet, and I found myself slinking over to the bathroom, straining to hear any signs of Blaine. It wasn’t till I rounded the corner that I realized the door was cracked open and the light was off. He wasn’t here. But the mirror was…miraculously fixed.
Hurrying back to the window, I checked to see if the coast was clear and quickly changed out of Reese’s shirt and into my so-called ‘outfit’. It thankfully wasn’t as revealing as I had feared. My chest was a bit too out on display for my liking, but it didn’t appear to leave anything blatantly exposed. The design still would’ve been conservative by Vegas dress standards, though that didn’t say much. Darting over to the phone, I unfurrowed my fingers, palming the note Nick had slipped me. It was a wrinkled up business card with a phone number scribbled on the back. I’d wanted to call it before I got into the shower last night, but I also didn’t want to risk someone possibly tracing the number back here. Since everyone was evidently leaving, I didn’t see the harm now.
The phone rang, and on the third ring, a familiar voice welcomed me on the other end—but not the voice I’d been prepared for.
“A truth for a truth, my dear.”
I slammed the phone back onto the hook.
Why the hell would Nick give me her number? Why the hell did someone—or rather something—like the Sagax even have a phone?
A light knock sounded at the door, and I jumped upright. Panicked, I shoved the business card into the leggings of my right boot just as the door opened. Blaine stood on the threshold, about ready to say something, when he took in the sight of me. His lips tipped up in evident amusement. “Not that I don’t appreciate the view, but dare I ask?”
I gave him a pointed look, and he sighed, knowing full-well who the culprit was for my new apparel.
“Here.” He slipped off his jacket, but I just scowled, trying to move past him. He cut me off though, draping the leather around my shoulders. I couldn’t help but discern the bullet hole accessorizing the right sleeve. Despite my quiet fury, I still reveled at the heat lingering in the jacket’s lining as he shut the door behind us.
Val greeted me with a slow, mocking clap as I stomped my way down the stairs.
“Open the trunk,” Blaine ordered from behind me.
“Whatever for?” his brother crooned. Receiving no answer, he still laughed from what I could safely assume was Blaine casting him a brutal glare. “Sorry, but the Boss insisted. Her outfit stays right where it is.”
He enunciated those last four words with particular delight as he opened the back door of the limo to usher me inside. Val’s gaze lingered over my body, simpering with approval as he strolled over to the front passenger door. “And he also encourages you,” he added to his brother, “to put your unique skill set to use, Prince. We’re gonna be on the road for a while.”
His low laugh was cut short as he shut the front door behind himself, leaving Blaine and me wholly alone. I wasn’t about to ask what that last remark meant, opting to climb in back. As soon as I slid onto the seat, I froze.
Red rose petals littered the plush extended seats as chilled champagne sat on display by the mini-bar alongside a couple boxes of chocolate covered strawberries. Seeing no sign of me scooting over to accommodate him, Blaine knelt down and stole a look inside, clearly wanting to know what had robbed my attention.
The privacy divider between the front seat and the back compartment rolled down just long enough for Val to peek inside and purr at our matching scowls, “Enjoy yourselves.”
The door shut beside me, making me jump. A part of me expected to hear raised voices, expected Blaine to start arguing with his brother. But the other back door opened, and Blaine joined me, settling into the elongated, plush side bench. Seeing as how he was in front of me now, I immediately crossed my legs as he turned to face me, acutely aware that his eyes lingered on the portion of skin displayed between the end of my chemise and the top of my boots. It wasn’t flirtatious. If anything, he looked perplexed.
“What?” I finally demanded.
Blaine merely shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just…I’m trying to determine whether or not I want to know if that belongs to you,” he said, gesturing at the scrap of fabric covering my body. “On one hand, if my brother found that someplace else and gave it to you to wear…”
I hugged his jacket tighter around myself. “It’s mine.”
“Which brings me to my next dilemma: determining who you bought it for.”
My cheeks flushed. “Excuse me?”
“Well, I’ve already seen what kind of clothes you prefer to sleep in, and lacey lingerie isn’t it. So, based on the evidence, I can only infer that you purchased this for someone else’s viewing pleasure.” He didn’t seem particularly pleased at the thought. “I mean, seeing as how I’d know,” he said, tapping the rune on top of his hand, “you haven’t been with Blackburn yet, but that doesn’t rule out intent.”
“It was for Adam.” The very thought of my ex churned my stomach, even more than Blaine did.
At least he had a reason. Blaine was damaged. But Adam… He was a good person. A kind person. His father was so consumed by grief and hatred that he would kill the girl who he considered to be his own daughter, and even knowing this, Adam had still handed me over to him. He had let Russell take me to what he knew would be my death, because despite all his kindness, he had given up on me. I had known him my whole life, had loved him for most of it, and yet, as soon as Blaine told him there was no cure, no hope of ridding me of the demonic virus, Adam had made the decision that I was beyond saving.
Blaine seemed to share in my sour sentiment, his chest heaving as if trying to control a sudden surge of anger.
“I bought it at the beginning of the summer while I was on vacation. I was saving it for what was supposed to be our one-year anniversary.”
A little bit of the light returned to Blaine’s eyes as he worked out the details. He knew. I’d never gotten around to wearing it for Adam, seeing as how I broke up with him the week before said anniversary. After I met him.
“I should’ve burned this stupid thing the moment I unpacked it at my aunt’s house,” I murmured.
“Why did you bother packing it if you seem to hate it so much?”
“I didn’t realize I had. I kind of left Mystic Harbor in a bit of a rush,” I said, cutting him a glare. “I’d literally just thrown whatever fit into my luggage.”
We were on the road for a good ten minutes or so before Blaine finally spoke up again, motioning to the vintage t-shirt bundled up in my hands. “You work things out with Blackburn?”
“Why don’t you ask your brother?” I grumbled, turning my attention outside. The early morning sunlight had been long devoured by a grisly collection of storm clouds rolling in from off the coast. It only appeared more abysmal through the vehicle’s tinted windows as the scenery passed by.
When I finally looked over at him, Blaine appeared both surprised and pleased. The latter had my fingers curling into fists at my side. There was no way Val didn’t already tell him all about what he witnessed between Reese and me at the motel, but Blaine clearly hadn’t believed it…until now.
He nodded, more to himself. “It’s for the best.”
“Of course you would say that.”
“Indeed I would,” he affirmed. “I don’t trust him.”
“Yes, and I’m sure that judgment comes from a wholly impartial standpoint.”
“He’s trying to fix you.”
“So?”
“That implies there’s something wrong.”
“There is,” I growled.
Blaine’s shoulder shook as he tried to repress a laugh, but it didn’t stop his smile from broadening. “‘You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.’”
“Excuse me?”
“William Wilberforce.”
“I know the quote,” I said, rolling my eyes. “It was pinned up in Mr. Hopkins’s classroom.”
“Then you may want to pay better heed to it.” The Prince stretched his arms out across the backrest of the plush bench, laxly perching his feet up on the end of the bar. “Never in a million years would I have guessed that Blackburn would be the one to sweep you off your feet. Quite clever, that one. When Daniel told me that Harry Houdini back there had weaseled his way into the picture, I couldn’t believe it—not till I saw it with my own eyes. Tell me, love, what sweet nonsense has he filled your head with to make you turn such a blind eye to him?”
I yanked his jacket off my shoulders and flung it at his face. The fabric was heavier than I had anticipated though, making it plop in his lap instead. “I can’t turn a blind eye to a scheme that doesn’t exist.”
“Is that so?” His amusement didn’t wane as he beheld me, admiring me like I was the sweetest, silliest thing he had ever seen. “So a guy who has treated you like shit for well over a year miraculously wakes up one day to become your White Knight, and you find nothing odd about that?” He only further chuckled. “And you say I’m crazy.”
“It didn’t happen like that,” I snapped.
“Well, I’m all ears, because if I recall correctly, you yourself referred to him as an ‘Abominable Ass-hat’ on more than one occasion. Hell, I saw it with my own eyes. Blackburn acted like you were the Second Coming of the Seven Plagues.” Reaching forward, he plucked up the chilled champagne bottle and untwisted the wired cage surrounding the cork. Considering the number of dinner parties and fundraisers our parents had hosted and dragged us to, the act was nearly perfunctory as he draped the offered towel over the cork and rotated the bottle down until hearing a soft pop. He filled one of the empty flutes and offered it to me, but I merely scowled at him. Blaine just shrugged, taking a sip. “Why the sudden turnaround?”
“Unlike you, Reese actually has a conscience. He saw what was happening to me, and unlike you,” I added again, “he was actually there for me when I needed help the most.”
A flicker of satisfaction rang through me, seeing that smug amusement finally fade.
The muscles in his jaw tightened, highlighting the sharp cut of his cheekbones all the more. “If I could have been there for you, I would have. And you know that.”
I couldn’t deny it. Not really.
Blaine had explained it to me the night I discovered he wasn’t dead. In order for him to even claim me as his hellish bride, I had to perform each of the seven deadly sins. And to ensure I wouldn’t have any assistance, he was forbidden from revealing himself to me until I completed all but the last one.
“Why do you hate me?”
I wasn’t sure what startled me more: the question, or the earnestness in which he wanted to know. “If you even have to ask that, then you’re not in a position to understand.”
“I’m trying to understand.”
“No, you’re not.” I tried muzzling my rage, but I could already feel the vibrations coursing up my arm. “If you ever cared about me, you wouldn’t have done any of this.”
“Save your life?”
“Put me in danger!”
The interior lights around the bar suddenly flickered. His gaze dropped to my arm, seeing the Wrath rune ignited. My fist wrapped tighter about the handle of the armrest, and I could feel the electrical pulsations emitting from my fingertips. The vehicle sputtered shakily in response. I couldn’t have controlled it even if I had wanted to, but at that moment I didn’t care.
A warm caress seemed to coax through my mind, as tangible as a hand running over my skin. He was in my head… “I’m trying to help.”
“Stop.” The word came out as nothing more than a pitiful whimper. I forced my eyes shut, as if it could help force him out, but fingers suddenly brushed beneath my chin.
He was right in front of me. I still hadn’t opened my eyes, but I could feel his breath stir against my lips as he whispered, “Don’t do that, love. Don’t shut me out.”
“Stop calling me that!” I brought my hand up, blindly slapping him in the face, but the moment my palm connected with his cheek, his own hand wrapped around mine, pinning it there in place. I finally opened my eyes, finding him knelt before me, his right knee resting between my thighs. When had I uncrossed my legs?
And oh God, his lips…
Why was he so close?
Why was his hair black again?
Why was he kissing...there?
I shook my head, waiting for the images to disappear, but all I could see was that wood paneled wall from my dreams, feel Blaine touching me, hearing him whisper in my ear.
Then…blood. There was blood everywhere. All over my hands. And Blaine…
A gun blast erupted behind me. My throat was raw, the windpipe aching as if I’d just screamed when I shot back into reality. I must have, because Blaine was gripping my shoulder, his eyes wide in alarm. The runes lighting my arm made everything from the muscles to the very skin atop it burn with exhaustion.
“Hey.” Blaine’s fingers gently wrapped around my wrist, and the ache in my arm vanished the moment the runes subsided. He opened his mouth to say something, but he suddenly froze before jerking back. Like a single image spliced into a film reel, the bloodied field from my nightmare flashed into my vision again. Fear and anger flooded Blaine’s eyes in an instant as his gaze fell to my chest, where my hand remained pinned over my heart. “What the hell was that?”
Did he just…?
I shied away, feeling an all-new surge of panic, but as I tried recoiling from him, that invisible pull in my chest hauled me back to him. His hands suddenly cupped my face, and despite my best efforts, tears escaped off my lashes as I forced my eyes shut.
“Look at me, Kat.”
Against all will and better judgment, I did.
“What the hell was that?” he asked again.
“What’re you talking about?”
Blaine gave me a pointed stare, clearly not in the mood for my feigned stupidity.
“It’s… It’s how I die.”
***
For the life of me, I couldn’t stop talking. Not with him looking at me like that. Not with him whispering words into my head. I didn’t know what came over me. The next five minutes was a blur of contradictions. I kept telling myself not to speak, kept demanding that I keep my mouth shut. But that strange tug, that influence rooted inside my chest…it wouldn’t let up. It wasn’t until I relayed every last detail about what had happened with the fortuneteller that I finally found the will to stop. “His influence is nearly impossible to resist, thus turning anyone he captivates into his unwitting servant.” The words from that journal Reese’s father had left behind rang through my mind, stealing my breath in the process.
Oh God…
It really was happening.
That pull I felt when he was near… The dreams… This…
The hex was going into effect.
Just as I regained enough of my senses to react, Blaine withdrew from me on his accord, reclaiming his seat on the elongated side bench in front of me. He ran a hand over his face, his own breathing now jagged. “And you saw this only after she touched the mating rune?”
I nodded, relieved by my momentary hesitation. At least I could still control my body…for now.
Blaine’s face had gone sickly pale. “Blood for blood.”
“H-how do you know that? Did you see what happened? I mean, all of it?” I’d never had such a luxury. In my vision, I always felt the pain, but only ever caught glimpses of images and muffled voices. Nothing perfectly clear.
He shook his head, more to himself. “Have you ever seen a sigil, in this dream?”
“A snake.” I could see it in his eyes. He knew what I was talking about. “But how do you…?”
“That’s also how I die.”
“What?”
He turned his attention outside, as if the answer could be found on a mile marker. We appeared to notice the same thing, because our eyes locked on one another’s at the exact same moment. Blaine immediately hit the button to roll down the privacy divider, but it didn’t budge. He cursed under his breath, fiddling with the gadgets to no avail.
I noted the button on the panel beside me and turned on the microphone function. “Val?”
“Yes’m?” he answered in the most sugary tone.
“Where are we going? We just passed the off ramp for the Hideaway.”
“Change of plans,” Val purred. “We’re heading up north.”
Blaine and I both paled. “North where?” we asked in unison.
The Dark Mage up front chuckled. “Good ole Mystic Harbor, Maine.”
“What?”