For a moment, I thought I caught a flicker of sadness in his eyes, but he shut them tight.
“Do you love him?” Xander asked, without looking at me. His voice lacked the previous teasing tone. He almost asked as if he were curious or envious of something he could never have.
I didn’t respond. My fingers found the skull ring in my pocket, and the pain of saying it too late lanced through me for the thousandth time. When I said the words, they sure as hell would not be to the wrong god. Grim deserved to hear them first.
“What is the cost?” I asked instead.
He went back to inspecting his cuticles. “Once upon a time, we revived gods soon after their essence returned to the cradle of life. But we return in unsteady forms, too powerful, too out of control. Like a supernova. In the cradle, we are pure untethered energy and returning too early makes us…crazy.” Lightning arced from his eyes. “It’s why we are forbidden to revive anyone anymore. We fought terrible, monstrous gods, some unable to manage their god-likeness.”
“Who resurrected you?” I asked.
His face emptied of emotion, the temperature cooling several degrees.
“That’s what’s wrong with you, isn’t it?” I pressed.
“That’s enough, Vivien,” Timothy said, cautioning me from asking too many questions.
He was right. I wasn’t here for some random basement beast’s back story. I was here to find my way to Grim.
“The cradle of life constantly moves and shifts location but I know where it is,” Xander revealed rather suddenly. “I always know where it is...”
Anticipation zinged through me. I could get him. I could revive Grim and tell him that I loved him.
“But,” he started before words tripped off his tongue as the crazy returned. “But but but, you can’t get in without divine assistance. Not even these two fools could find the doorway.”
My hope deflated like a blowup doll slamming against a safety pin.
“But I can help you,” Xander whispered. Ocean eyes, now solemn, I felt both repelled and drawn to him. Power stroked the skin along my face and wrapped around me, drawing me closer, but his eyes still gleamed with madness. He staggered forward, holding onto the bars while his face rested against them.
I walked toward him, not wanting to miss a word of how to bring Grim back.
“All you have to do”—his gaze dropped to my lips— “is kiss me.”
Someone else might have asked why. A smarter vampire might have asked if there was a catch. But my gut tugged on me, leading me with the promise of getting Grim back. Before Fallon or Timothy could protest, I leaned through the bars, planting a kiss on the god’s beautiful, terrifying face.
I barely registered the pressure of our lips before I vaulted back. Suddenly I was flying. Across the city, past Nevada, careening over oceans until hot sand sparkled up at me, my soul shooting toward the one magnetic point. The Giza pyramid. I slammed into stone steps, diving deep into the caverns of the pyramid until I was inside the great structure. I flew toward a wall with a painting of Anubis. I disappeared through it and found myself in an untouched chamber. No mortal had ever been inside in the doorless alcove. In the center lay a massive pool of golden light. It swirled with divine power that made me want to cry tears of joy. It reminded me of the feeling when I drank Grim’s blood. Like I understood the entire universe.
Xander whispered into my ear. I didn’t recognize the words, but they etched their way into my mind. He’d given me something. Like a map, or a key, I couldn’t be sure, but it pulsated at the back of my brain, just out of reach from my consciousness.
My back slammed against a hard surface. I blinked, finding myself on the ground in the basement once again, staring up at the ceiling with Timothy and Fallon hovering over either side with twin looks of concern.
Holy out-of-body experience. I felt like I’d flown across the world just now.
“Well well well, firecracker,” Xander muttered from the cage, even as Timothy and Fallon helped me to my feet.
“I know where to go,” I said, turning and heading straight for the elevator without waiting for another damn thing. Timothy and Fallon tried to keep up chasing after me.
Xander yelled out the last words. “I hope he remembers you, firecracker. I hope he doesn’t tear you to pieces. I hope he doesn’t rip the world apart.” Then he let out a cruel, dark laugh that soon dissolved into uncontrollable cackles.
His words floated behind me. I had all I needed.
I’m coming, Grim.
17
Vivien
Once we returned to the lobby of Sinopolis, Aaron pushed himself off from the wall, walking over to me. “C-can someone please explain what the f-fuck is h-happening?”
