SEVENTEEN
Rune can trace?
Jo wobbled when they appeared on the roof of the building. His teleporting was harder and sharper than hers, as if they’d been shot from a cannon.
Compared to his tracing, hers was like shifting a finely-tuned Caddie into gear. But she couldn’t manage it when stuck in these cuffs! Even her ghosting had failed.
He collected his bizarre arrow from beside the crash site. As he surveyed the empty street, sirens wailed toward their location.
He cursed under his breath. “Drawing the attention of humans?” He shook his head at her. “Reckless female.” Then he traced them again.
When she opened her eyes, they were in an echoing room with a glass floor. Beneath them was another story with a glass floor, and on and on.
Her lips parted. Each story below was populated with all manner of creatures. Freak-show central.
Some had wings, others four legs. She saw beings with glowing skin, scaly skin, pus-covered skin. She recognized centaurs from comic books and behorned demons from Rune’s memories.
Females were interspersed among the males. Most of them sported breasts and wore less clothing.
Everyone seemed inebriated, with goblets in hands, pincers, or tentacles. Peculiar music and loud partying sounded.
“What is this place?” None of her voyeurism had prepared her for scenes like these. When she saw copulation happening everywhere, her heart raced. At least, she hoped that was sex; otherwise creatures were bludgeoning each other to death.
“Ah, you’re nervous about what’s to come,” Rune murmured, mistaking her alarm. “You should be. You’re soon to discover something I’m very, very good at.”
“Where have you taken me?” And how would she get back to her brother?
Since her resurrection (or her transformation?), she’d often wondered why she’d been given all this strength and speed, all her talents. I can safeguard him.
If she could reach him.
Why would Rune target Thaddie anyway? How had her brother gotten mixed up in so much danger? Like sister, like brother? Had he kicked his own ant mound?
She consoled herself with the knowledge that every second Rune was with her gave Thad time to get farther away. Maybe she should stall.
“We’re in Tortua, a pleasure den,” Rune said. “I maintain a residence here. This is the observatory.”
Were any of the freaks below observing up her dress?
Reading her mind, he said, “Each floor can view the ones below, but not the ones above.”
She craned her head up. A solid dome stretched overhead.
“I’ve got the coveted top floor. Welcome to your new home.”
Wait, Rune meant to keep her in a pleasure den? “In other words, you have digs in a whorehouse. If the dark fey fits . . .”
A muscle ticked in his wide jaw.
Oooh, did I jab a tender spot?
“A wiser vampire would be convincing me to spare her life. Not insulting me.”
“You won’t kill me.” How could he? She’d taken six slugs to the face. Unless a wooden stake to the heart could end her?
“Will I not?” he asked.
“You like my bite too much.” Not that she’d be giving it to him again. No matter how close she’d come in that basement. She’d been tempted only because she hadn’t drunk in twenty-four hours, and she’d used up a lot of energy.
“I could replace it with another vampire’s.”
His dismissive tone made her nervous. Last night he’d all but told Jo her life depended on keeping him interested.
She’d seen how easily he’d gone from a tender look to a lethal one.
However, there was a surefire way to protect herself from death and Thad from assassination: take out Rune first. “How many people have you killed?” she asked him.
“Can’t count that high.”
Figured. She’d have to get the better of him. Would he prove as hard to kill as she’d been?
“Come.” He turned toward a solid brick wall, pushing a symbol carved into stone. Bricks disappeared to form a doorway. A portal!
A strange memory flashed into her consciousness like a lighthouse’s beam—too bright one instant, then gone the next.
But she remembered a place of total chaos, flames, and earthquakes. Though winds had blurred her vision, she’d seen a pale hand raised to the sky. Above, stars had streaked across the night. Behind Jo, there’d been a wall of portals.
No, they were . . . black holes.
They’d been arrayed in tiers one on top of another, black upon black. Like spiders’ eyes. Someone had screamed, “It’s worldend!”
Was that Rune’s memory? Or hers?
Before Jo could delve deeper, he forced her through the portal. It closed behind her with a hiss.
A stone bridge extended before them, lit by torches and flanked with railings. More symbols had been carved into various stones.
He unlocked the cuff around his wrist and reached for hers. He was just going to undo it? For real?
He stashed the restraints in his pocket, then seemed to be awaiting her escape. Nice knowing you, sucker. She began to trace back to the Quarter. She’d gotten a good start—when she hit some kind of boundary and bounced right back.
Rune laughed at her. He dug that trinket from his pocket—another point he’d scored against her. With a smirk, he tossed it in the air, caught it in his big palm, then pocketed it again.
“You’re such a dick.” She couldn’t believe she’d been infatuated with him.
“I have wards surrounding this entire residence. I’m the only one who can travel past them. Things inside my lair stay inside, including the sound of your screams—in case you thought to call for help. Even if someone heard you, they couldn’t enter, because anything outside remains outside.”
Say she got lucky and took Rune out; without help—or the ability to escape—she’d be trapped here.
“Ah, and there went your ridiculous plan to kill me.” He dragged her along. “I see you working out all the angles.”
Not yet all the angles. Could she ghost inside the boundaries? If so, maybe she could ghost inside him? He could never shake her. And eventually he’d have to leave this place.
Her heels were loud as they crossed the bridge. She gazed over the railing, seeing only darkness—as dark as a black hole.
She refused to let Rune know how freaked out she was. “Where is Tortua? The South Pacific or something? Didn’t they film Survivor here? Fire represents life.”
“Oh, you are a long, long way from Earth, dove. But you’ll like it here—it’s perpetual night.”
Not on Earth. She’d just have to . . . she’d have to think about that later.
He touched his flattened palm to an elaborate symbol on a pillar, and a second portal opened into a huge bedroom suite.
The inviting space had been decorated in earth tones—probably not called that here—and was a thousand times better than her own “home.” Still, she said, “Not bad, I guess. Though the suite looks like it belongs in a blueblood’s hunting lodge, not a blackblood’s brothel penthouse.”
He tilted his head, as if mystified by her. “I hold your life in my hands. My grip on it lessens with each insult.”
Then I’ll float away. She shook herself.
In the adjoining sitting area, a fire crackled in a large brick hearth. More symbols embellished the stone there. At various places on the walls, similar markings were spaced the way light switches might be.
An enormous bedstand dominated the room. Thick posters supported heavy drapes. The fabric was tied back, revealing tangled sheets. “That’s your bed?” She could only imagine what activities had taken place there. Moments ago, he’d cupped her between her thighs in that basement, trying to kiss her, yet he’d most likely enjoyed an orgy here today.
“What of it?”
“I would’ve thought it’d be bigger,” she said. “I doubt you can fit more than five or six nymphs in there.”
“Depends on how cozy with them I want to get.”
“You don’t expect me to sleep there, do you?”
“And if I did?”
She tapped the heel of her palm to her forehead. “I forgot my black light and hazmat suit. But you’ve gotta have body condoms around here somewhere.”
He inched even closer to her. “Condoms? I’m half demon.” He leaned down to say, “Even if I needed to wear one, sizing would be an issue. As you well remember.”
With a roll of her eyes, she backed away from him. When he got close, she got weak. How could she still desire a manwhore like him? Especially after he’d threatened to kill her?
Because of his blood. Only his blood.
He crossed to the wall beside the bedstand, pushing a symbol. One second the bed was unmade, the next it was remade, then freshly turned down.
Don’t wig out, Jo. “Handy.”
He raised his brows. “Any more commentary?”
“Not at present.” She sauntered to the fire to warm herself. Her dress was still wet, and most of her damp skin was uncovered. Plus, thirst always made her chilled.
She turned her attention to a comfortable lounge chair situated in front of the fire. Beside it was a container of feathers and arrow shafts.
He made his arrows there. Alone. “Your sitting area only has one chair?” Was he a loner like her? Not that she cared.
Whatever he saw in her expression made his tighten. “A nymph friend decorated this place for me. The styling choices indicate nothing about myself.” He unbuckled the quiver around his leg, setting it against the wall.
“Uh-huh.” The styling choices must indicate a lot about him.
He unhooked his bow and hung it on a spike above the hearth. “There’s a ward over my bow here. Reach for it, and you’ll be blown back on your ass. If you’d still like to try, inform me so I can watch.”
Dickwad!
“In any case, this is a secondary residence.”
“Ruin’s whorehouse weekender.”
With an irritated look, he pressed another symbol, and a wide doorway opened to reveal a huge library. The shelves had to be three stories high. All those books were like safes full of never-ending treasure, and everyone but her seemed to have the keys.
Another of Rune’s symbols opened a second adjoining room with a gigantic swimming pool. Marble columns surrounded it. Torches blazed to life all at the same time, their flames reflecting in the still surface of the water. Steam wafted from a back room.
Cool!
“Copied from an old Roman design.” He surveyed it as if seeing the area anew. “Just when I deem mortals completely without flair, a choice century will come along. . . .”
“How many rooms do you have?”
“As many as I wish. It’s infinite.”
Again, handy. “So this is where you think to keep me.”
“Not exactly a hardship, then.” He cast her that smug look, the one he wore when manipulating nymphs with his dick, the one that made her want to claw his face to ribbons.
“You’ve got no idea what my home is like.” Big Sleazy Weeps. She lifted her nose. “In comparison, I find this . . . quaint.”
“Lucky for me I don’t give a damn about your lofty standards.” He parted his lips, then seemed to change his mind about what he’d been about to say. “Follow me.” He turned in a different direction, opening up another area.
When they crossed through the doorway, she stutter-stepped. Holy shit. Relics filled the room. Suits of armor, statues, jewels, vases, weapons of all kinds. “Where’d this stuff come from?”
“I’ve collected these priceless items over my lifetime.”
Jo collected things as well. One difference. Everything in here was “priceless.” She’d never been to a museum; she wanted to explore this place for days. “Collected? Or stole?”
He leaned his shoulder against a wall. “They’re war prizes.”
“You some kind of soldier?”
“I suppose you could say that. Do you still think my home quaint, vampire?” He cared about her opinion, which surprised her.
She managed a careless shrug. “ ’S okay.”
He looked like he wanted to throttle her.
“Now that you have me here, what’s your plan? My death is on the agenda for some point in the future, right?”
He exhaled. “No. I was angry and wanted to punish you for fouling my shot. A soothsayer like Nïx won’t stroll into my sights so easily next time.”
His change of tactics put her on edge—
Wait. He’d been aiming at the woman? That Nïx chick?
Not Thad!
Rune closed in on her. “I’ve realized fighting is the last thing I want to do with you. We’ll put what happened earlier behind us. Consider it water under the bridge.”
“Oh, really?”
“Don’t believe me?” He curled his forefinger under her chin.
“Till death us do part?”
“Killing you was an option I considered and have since permanently discarded.”
For some reason, she believed him. At least in that.
He brushed her damp hair over her shoulder, revealing her ear. His eyes grew hooded. Dude really dug her ears. “We could sit before the fire and open a bottle of wine. All you have to do is tell me how long you’ve been in league with Nïx and the other Valkyries.”
Valkyries existed? Weird. Why not tell Rune she’d never met this soothsayer before? Nïx had seemed like a friend to Thad—but if so, why had the female been talking about bait? Had she been leading him straight into a trap?
What else could be expected of a freak? Jo had encountered few of them, but so far she had been unimpressed.
Her first impulse was to say, “Don’t know Nïx. Put an arrow between her eyes.” But then Rune would know Jo had been protecting Thad.
She couldn’t predict how the dark fey would use information like that against her. And she didn’t trust anyone—under the best of circumstances. No, she’d keep that tidbit close for now.
Which left her with one play: persuade this male to trust her, then convince him to let her go. Will I sleep with him for my freedom? At the thought of his body over hers, thrusting, she shivered again.
“You must be freezing. You can answer my questions once you’re warmed up,” he said, considerate as could be. “There’s a robe outside the bathing chamber. Etched tiles control the water.”
She could handle cocky asshole Ruin. Nice Rune was throwing her. Still, Jo wouldn’t mind some time to mull over everything. Though so much had happened tonight, the facts were:
She and Rune had a mutual enemy.
He was presently staring down at her like he wanted to eat her up.
He wasn’t trying to murder her brother.
Or her.
Where did this new knowledge leave her? Idiot Jo was kind of crushing on him again. What if she could build a relationship (of some sort) with him (if he quit nymphs cold turkey)?
And then, with Thad possibly coming back into Jo’s life . . .
Two connections were within her grasp! Two people to notice if she floated away.
“Unless you’d prefer to remain with me while I dine.” His gaze dipped to her body. “I know what I’d like to see on the menu.”