Immortal Rider

As Pestilence reached up to re-armor, one of Arik’s knives impaled his wrist in a well-executed throw. Blood splattered Limos in the face, blinding her in oneingded glory. eye as she rammed her shoulder into Pestilence’s gut and seized Deliverance. The dagger felt cold in her hand. Heavy.

Without thinking, she plunged the blade into her brother’s heart.

The cavern went silent. Horror and disbelief flashed in Pestilence’s eyes. His hands shook as he grasped Limos’s hand, which was still wrapped around the hilt of the dagger. Blood flowed over her fingers and gushed from his mouth, where it dripped off his chin.

Pounding footsteps rang out as her brothers, Wraith, and Arik rushed toward her.

“Oh, f**k.” Than’s voice was choked. “Li, what have you done?”

No words would form. Pestilence crumpled to his knees on the crystal bridge, and she went with him. The moment her knees hit the rock, searing grief hit too. No… no… this wasn’t happening! Thanatos was supposed to restore his Seal, and oh, God, what had she done?

“Limos,” Pestilence gurgled through the blood, and then he was Reseph again. Limos knew it, could see it in the way the ice of his eyes melted into tears. “I’ve missed… you.”

Her throat constricted so violently she could barely breathe. “Forgive me.”

His entire body shuddered. “I-I’m… sorry.”

“No,” she rasped. “Don’t be. None of this was your fault.”

His head fell forward, and his hair spilled into his face. “You don’t… understand,” he whispered. “I’m sorry… to… to… disappoint you.” His grip tightened on hers with so much force that she gasped. “You must be so disappointed that Deliverance didn’t kill me.”

His head came up, his eyes glowing red, and he yanked the dagger out of his chest as if it were nothing but a sliver.

Holy mother of—

Another of Arik’s knives hit Pestilence’s hand. Deliverance fell out of his grip, the blade spinning. Limos snatched the dagger out of the air and scrambled to her feet, nearly bowling over her brothers. Pestilence moved in a blur, armoring up. Within a heartbeat he had a sword in his hand and was swinging it at her head. Than shoved her out of the way, and she heard the distinct sound of metal crunching into bone. Thanatos stumbled and hit the crystal, Pestilence’s blade lodged in his skull.

Ares attacked Pestilence with a vengeance, and suddenly, the cave came alive with snarls, as a horde of demons seemed to crawl up through the crystals below. Wraith leaped into the fray while Arik produced another throwing knife from his boot and took out one of the scaly beasts as it skittered up a crystal.

“Go!” Ares tossed her the cup. “Get out of here!”

She wanted to stay and fight, but Arik was still in danger, and she had to protect her agimortus. Cursing in frustration, she threw a gate. The portal shimmered like a sparkly curtain, waiting… and she didn’t even realize she was hesitating until Arik tackntince led her, forcing them both through the gate to land in the sand outside her house.

Yes, they had Deliverance and her agimortus, but somehow, none of what had happened in that chamber felt like a win.

Twenty-two

Arik’s heart was jackhammering so hard and so fast that his ribs hurt. Or maybe the ribcage pain was from Pestilence’s killer right jab. Or it could be from Deliverance’s hilt jamming into his chest.

Carefully, he eased off of Limos and started to help her to her feet, but when he looked into her moonlit eyes and saw the horror pooled in them, he sat down beside her.

Her bloody hands clutched Deliverance in a white-knuckled grip, and her pale face was streaked with tears.

“I tried to kill Reseph.” Her thin voice was barely audible over the crash of the waves on the beach.

“Hey.” He pried the dagger out of her hands and stabbed it into the sand. “You did what you had to do.”

“You don’t understand. I wanted him dead, Arik.” Her eyes were wild, her nostrils flaring as she fisted his collar in some sort of crazed desperation. “I want my brother dead.”

Arik stroked her hands, using his touch and his voice to soothe her. “That’s because he’s not your brother. Not anymore, and you know that.”

Limos looked at the dagger he’d jabbed in the sand. “You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

“Calling me out on things even I don’t know.”

“You know.” He drew her against him and cradled her head against his chest. “You just lie to yourself.”

“Of course I do,” she said quietly. “I do it to everyone else, so why not to myself?” She closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath, then jerked in alarm as a gate opened a yard away.

Ares stepped out, bloodied, one eye swollen shut, one arm dangling uselessly at his side. “We’re all okay,” he said, before Arik or Limos could ask. “Wraith took Than to Underworld General.” He glanced at Arik, as if needing to explain. “He’ll heal on his own, but the damage was extensive, and we can’t let him be weakened for long.” He sank down on his haunches next to her and put his hand over hers. “You did what you had to do.”

She nodded. “But why isn’t Pestilence dead?”

“I don’t know, but this failure is catastrophic. Deliverance was our only way to stop him. And it gets worse.”

“How can it possibly get worse?” Arik asked, and then realized he really didn’t want to know.

Ares wiped a trickle of blood off his cheek. “Chaos showed up and took a bite out of Pestilence.”

“Don’t tell me he’s immune to hellhound poison,” Limos ground out. “Do not tell me that.”

“No, not immune, but damned near. He went still for all of five seconds. He’s growing stronger, Limos, and I’d be willing to bet that it won’t be long until even a hellhound bite won’t affect him at all.” He cursed in Sheoulic, and Arik understood every one of the nasty words. “Where the f**k are Reaver and Harvester? We need them now more than ever before, and they’ve gone MIA.”

“This is all my fault,” she murmured. “My fault. Maybe I didn’t get the dagger in the right spot. Maybe—”

Arik squeezed her hand. “You nailed him dead center in the heart. You couldn’t have had better aim. This is not your fault.”

“Arik is right.” Ares took the dagger and made it disappear into his armor. “I’m going to go to UG.” He nodded at Arik. “Take care of her.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I will.”

Once Ares was gone, Limos slipped the leather thong attached to the cup around her neck and over the top of her Seal pendant. Arik gathered her in his arms and carried her into the house, surprised she didn’t fight him. Neither did she resist when he stripped her and put her into a hot shower. He left his clothes on, not wanting to accidently cut off any protruding body parts if he came into contact with the deceptively beautiful pearls, and when he was done washing her, he tucked her into bed.

“Join me?” she asked, and yes, he planned to, after he took his own shower.

He washed quickly, and when he got out, he found Limos out on the deck, dressed in a pink, fluffy robe, looking out at the dark ocean. He tugged on a pair of shorts and joined her.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Thinking.”

“About what?”

She looked up at the starry sky, a faraway glimmer in her eyes. “About you.”

“What about me?”

“I owe you everything, Arik. Without you, we never would have found my agimortus.” She suddenly flew into his arms, her body so tight with tension it broke his heart. Seeing her so vulnerable fired up his protective instincts like nothing else could.

This woman had been willing to go to hell for him. Literally. She was prepared to give up everything to join her husband and spend eternity in misery, just to save Arik’s soul.

“No,” he croaked. “I owe you. What you were willing to do for me… that was the most unselfish act in history, I think.”

She laughed bitterly. “You have no idea how selfish I am.”

“You’ll never convince me.”

For a long time they stood like that, the warm night breeze blowing around them. It was strange to think that it was December, nearly Christmas. He was so used to snow at this time of the year. The thought gave him visions of log cabins, snapping fires, a decorated tree, and Limos, na**d on the floor in front of it. Only in this fantasy, instead of the chastity pearls, she was wearing a big red ribbon.

He had to find a way to make it happen. There had to be a way to break her contract and that damned gold chain. Because after everything that had gone down since he’d gotten out of hell, and especially after tonight in the crystal chamber, he wasn’t going to give her up.

“Arik?” Propping her forehead against his chest, Limos slid her hands up and down his back. “Remember how I said it was my fault that Deliverance didn’t kill Pestilence?”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

She pulled away a little and looked up at him. The silver moonlight reflected in her eyes, turning them into frosted purple glass. They were remarkable. She was remarkable.

“I need to tell you something. Something I can’t even tell my brothers, but maybe you can help. The R-XR or The Aegis… I don’t know. Because I do think I’m the reason the dagger didn’t work on Pestilence.”

Arik hated that she blamed herself, and though what he really wanted to do was take her into the bedroom and make her forget everything but how her body responded to him, he sensed that she needed to get something out in the open.

“Go on.”

“Remember how The Aegis lost Deliverance a few hundred years ago?”

He scowled, wondering where this was leading. “Yeah… and they don’t even know how they lost it.”