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Cara grabbed Ares’s arm. “Is this true? Is there something you haven’t told me?”
There was a lot Ares hadn’t told her, but this wasn’t one of those things. “You aren’t Satan’s bride.”
“How do you know?” Kynan asked.
“Because I am.” Limos adjusted the orange flower in her hair. “I mean, not right this second. We haven’t gotten all tux and gowns and reserved a church or anything.”
Kynan made the bag rattle again. It was the sound of family, and Ares’s mouth went desert sand. “How?”
“It’s none of your concern,” she said lightly, which was deceptive, because the lighter Li got, the deadlier she could be. “I’m doing my best to prevent it, and that’s all you need to know.”
Kynan inclined his head. “Fair enough.” He glanced at Cara and then back to Ares and lowered his voice. “I really need to speak with you privately.”
The urgency in the human’s eyes told Ares to listen. They stepped out of the room, Than and Li on his heels. All around them, doctors and nurses were scrambling to handle an influx of some kind of emergency coming through the sliding ambulance bay doors. And standing about forty feet away, her dark gaze focused on Ares, was Harvester. Bruises and burns marred her features—clearly, the battle with Reaver had been a fierce one. She remained focused but silent, apparently content to fulfill her role as Watcher. Since Reaver couldn’t enter the demon hospital, anything she learned here would have to be shared with him before she could make use of it.
“Make it quick,” Ares said.
“There was a scroll with the dagger.” Kynan held out a rolled parchment, which Li grabbed. “The dagger was stolen from the Templars—”
“By who?” Than interrupted, and Li fumbled the scroll.
“That’s unclear. But when The Aegis recovered it, they enhanced it. It’ll still kill a Horseman, but it can also neutralize your agimortus.”
Dread made Ares’s heart pound against his rib cage. “What do you mean, neutralize?”
“I mean that if you plunge the dagger into your bearer’s heart, you’ll neutralize it,” Kynan said. “You’ll kill the host, but your Seal won’t break.”
Ares lost his ability to breathe. He now had a way to save the world—temporarily at least—but it wasn’t acceptable. At all.
“Heads up, Aegi,” Than said. “Pestilence put a price on dead Guardians. Watch your necks.”
“Your brother is such an asshole.” Kynan shifted his gaze to Ares. “I’ll be in touch. Don’t let us down.” Kynan strode away, leaving Ares with a churning stomach as he looked over to Harvester, but the fallen angel was gone.
Numbly, he walked back into the room. His hand shook around the dagger, and he hated himself for it. Damn, the thing weighed more than he remembered. Kynan might as well have handed him an anvil. Limos and Thanatos closed in, staring at it as if it were a viper.
“We’re not using that on Reseph,” Than said, and Ares’s hand jerked so hard he nearly dropped the weapon as he rounded on his brother.
“Damn you, Thanatos. This is my decision. He f**ked with my woman, and I will do what I have to do.” So much for the “She’s not my mate” bullshit Eidolon had called him on. He’d fought against his feelings, but every general worth his salt knew when it was time to lay down arms and surrender. It was time.
Than’s expression was somber, his voice as subdued as Ares had ever heard it. “Does that include killing the human?”
“Limos,” Ares said, in a voice as cold as the winters where Thanatos lived. “Get him out of here before… just get him out of here.”
Li dragged their brother out of the room, but not before Than had cast Ares an apologetic glance. Despite Ares’s anger, he knew his brother wasn’t being a dick. Reseph had been their brother for five thousand years. They’d known the human for a few days. The math added up to saving the family if they could.
Ares would probably feel the same if the situation were reversed. And, though Ares’s strategic mind was scrambled this close to Cara, even he understood that there was risk in trying to end Pestilence. Cara… no risk.
Except to Ares.
“Ares.” He took a deep, bracing breath and turned to Cara. Her gorgeous eyes were those of a warrior, and far too full of knowledge. “What did Thanatos mean by ‘killing the human’?”
Ares had never wanted to beat his brother more than he did right then. Pain sliced through his hand; he’d gripped the dagger so hard that it had cut through the leather and into his skin.
“Ares. Tell me.”
Tension flared in the sudden silence. “There’s a way out of this,” he began, as he twined his fingers with hers. “There’s a way to ensure my Seal can’t be broken until one of the others is. If I kill you with this dagger, my Seal remains intact, and Pestilence will have no way to turn me.”
“Until another Seal breaks.” Cara didn’t hesitate. “Kill me.”
Ares stepped back. “No,” he whispered desperately. “I can’t.”
“You have to.” A tear trickled down her cheek. “You know you do. Ares, I’m dying. It’s happening. You have a chance to stop the Apocalypse, or at least delay it while you find a way to stop your brother.”
“Cara…”
“But not here. Take me home. And make love to me one last time.”
“Yeah,” he croaked. “Yeah.”
Pestilence was seriously pissed off. Funny how, when he’d been Reseph, he’d rarely gotten angry. Oh, no one wanted to be around when he finally did blow his stack, but it didn’t happen often. Reseph had been such a… insert something wimpy here, because Pestilence was too pissed off to come up with anything clever or even crass.
He looked down at the bodies at his feet—three of his minions who had allowed Ares and the human whore to escape. One of them had dared blame Pestilence… he was missing a few organs, unlike the others, who had merely suffered broken necks.
“The best leaders don’t terrorize their underlings.” Harvester nudged one of the bodies with her foot while looking pointedly at Pestilence. “Ares always had the respect of his army. And their loyalty.”
Steam built in his skull at her taunt. Fucking Harvester. Fucking Ares. How he wanted both of them to suffer. For now, though, he would have to be patient. Casually, he pushed off the post he was leaning against and stared at the bloody battle taking place in the pit below. The hellhound pup was ripping into a khnive, a creature about the size of the hound, but resembling a skinned opossum. The khnive’s claws raked the hellhound, tearing a massive gash in its side. It was a blow delivered in desperation, and the khnive gave a final, gasping breath as it bled out through a gaping throat wound.
“Don’t give the hound time to heal. Throw something else in there. Something big.”
At his side, David, his Aegis spy-slash-gofer, nodded, his glazed eyes bouncing in his head. “Yes, my lord.”
Pestilence rolled the vial of saliva they’d extracted from the hellhound between his palms. “Have you arranged for the venom delivery device?”
David dug a small metal ball out of his pocket. “The warlock assured me that once it’s filled with the hound’s saliva, it will be a potent weapon against your brother.”
That was the first bit of good news he’d had in weeks. “Any chatter from The Aegis?”
“Deliverance has been found.”
Sucking in a harsh breath, Pestilence swung around. “Are you certain?”
“I overheard my father talking about it.”
“It’s true,” Harvester said. “And it has been modified by The Aegis. If Ares uses it to kill Cara, all hope for breaking his Seal is gone.”
A trickle of sweat dripped down Pestilence’s temple. “How long have you known about this modification?”
“Centuries. But it was forbidden to tell you until it was found.”
Of course. Fucking Watcher rules. And now, if Ares killed Cara with the damned thing, it could be months, even years before he was able to break Limos’s or Than’s Seals, since he hadn’t found Limos’s yet, and Than seemed determined to hold on to his.
Pestilence needed that dagger.
Still rolling the vial in his palm, he carefully considered his options, and a plan began to form in his mind. “David, when I found you, you were pathetic. Hoping The Aegis would forgive you, that your father would love you again. You know that won’t happen. You know you belong here with me, and that with me, you will receive rewards you never dreamed possible.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Pestilence wasn’t sure how much agreement was the real David and how much came from the fact that Pestilence had borrowed his soul and left the human nothing more than a refillable vessel.
He’d brought a lot of humans to his side that way, and it was a great tradeoff for both of them. He sucked out their souls to give him more power, and evil filled the hole where their souls used to be, which gave them more strength and stamina than they’d had before. They could also use Harrowgates, which meant they could travel anywhere, any time.
Yes, most handy.
“Then, David, I have a mission for you.” He threw his arm around the human’s shoulders and walked him toward the Harrowgate, leaving Harvester to watch the hellhound fight. “There will probably be some pain involved, but afterward, you will be greatly rewarded.” Assuming David didn’t die, of course. He really hoped not. He hadn’t been able to turn any other Aegi so far, and he’d found David to be quite useful.
“Just tell me what I need to do.”
Pestilence smiled. “Let’s plan.”
Ares didn’t allow Cara’s feet to touch the floor. He carried her from the cubicle at the weird demon hospital all the way to his bedroom at his house. Limos and Thanatos had tried to follow, but Ares had snapped something harsh in a language she didn’t know, and his brother and sister had backed off. And though things had been tense while they’d argued about Pestilence, she’d seen pain and sadness in Ares’s siblings’ eyes as Ares carried her through the Harrowgate.
There was a lot of love there, and she knew Limos and Thanatos would be at the house soon. Maybe they wouldn’t come inside, but they’d be waiting outside for Ares.
They’d be there for him after Cara died.
Cara wrapped her arms around his neck, reveling in the security of being in his strong arms. But she couldn’t resist a token protest. “I can walk, you know.” Whatever the second demon with the glowy arm had done had given her a boost of energy that was just freakish.
“But if you walked, I’d miss out on holding you.”
Both warmth and sadness washed over her, and she held tighter as he crossed the threshold into his bedroom.
“My lord…” The hesitant voice came from behind them, and Ares looked over his shoulder.
“What is it, Vulgrim?”
“Can I bring you anything?”
“No,” he said softly. “But I want you to make it very clear that I’m not to be disturbed. For anything. Not even the end of the world.”
The demon bowed. “Yes, sir.”
“And Vulgrim? Never bow to me again. You’re family, not staff.”
The demon shot Ares and Cara a look of surprise, and then one corner of his mouth tipped up. “Yes, sir.” He strode away, and Cara swore there was a little extra spring in his hooved step.
“Torrent looked so much like him,” she murmured. Just days ago she had thought the Ramreels all looked alike, but now she recognized their individuality, from the slightly different shapes of their broad noses, to the kinks and striations in their horns and the varying shades of their fur.
“I know.” He carried her to the bed, where slowly, reverently, he stripped her of the scrubs the demons had given her to wear home, and then she watched as he peeled out of his own clothes. He started to lower himself onto the bed, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Just let me look at you for a second.”
His mouth opened and closed, a pink blush rising up on his cheeks. With a nod, he stood up, his full, impressive height towering over her. Her mouth watered… literally watered, as she took him in. His muscles, so magnificently sculpted, were too perfect to be believed, and as she reached out to slide her palms over his pecs, she knew that even if they’d had centuries together, she’d never have tired of touching them.
With a soft moan of appreciation, she dragged her hand down to his abs, smiling at the roll of his eight-pack as they flexed under her caress. His cock, which had been flaccid only a moment ago, begin to swell, but she didn’t go any lower. Not yet.
“Turn around,” she whispered, surprising herself with the husky inflection in her voice.
“Cara, you should be lying down—”
“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t treat me like I’m an invalid.” She wanted him to remember her with strength, not as some helpless, frail sickling who was just waiting to die after he serviced her one last time. She would give as good as she got. “Don’t hold anything back from me. Promise.”
His throat convulsed, the tendons in his neck straining. “Yeah. Yeah, I promise.” In a graceful flow of motion, he turned around, and her brain short-circuited.
Nice. Ass. Amused at how her fingers flexed involuntarily, she went up on her knees and eased the length of her body against him, planting her hands on his broad shoulders so she could caress at her leisure. The sound of his breath heaving out of his lungs blended with the distant crash of the waves, and she wished they could be out in those tidal surges, letting the water cool them as their bodies made heat.
