“I know how to reach you. Are we done?” I reached for the door.
“There’s one more thing, demon.”
“There always is, isn’t there?” I blew out a tired breath, bracing myself for his usual diatribe about remembering my place.
But instead, he said, “I’m going to need something from you, too. Consider it a show of good faith.”
I turned to catch his grin, shining brighter than the city lights below.
I probably should’ve seen it coming. Centuries doing his bidding, living under his thumb, and I still hadn’t learned the most basic lesson: it didn’t matter who was holding all the cards. In the end, in Vegas and in Hell, the housealwaysfucking won.
* * *
I saw myself out of Sebastian’s office, wishing I could shower off the greasy, unsettled feeling our conversations always left me with. But there wasn’t time for that. I collected Darius from the casino, and we took a cab out past the city limits. The portal entrance was buried in the desert; we had to walk the last two miles.
Neither of us spoke. There wasn’t much else to say.
The entrance was nondescript, no more than a manhole cover in the sand, hiding out in no-man’s land in plain sight.
One of Sebastian’s underlings was already waiting for us. He smiled the same oily smile as his boss when we arrived, gesturing for us to climb down the ladder that would lead us underground, and eventually, to the portal itself. “One at a time, gentlemen. This way, if you please.”
I looked at Darius. The desert wind blew across the sand and into my face, hot and rancid even at the late hour.
It tasted like an omen.
Sebastian’s words echoed.
I’m going to need something from you, too…
“Well, here we are, then.” Darius grabbed me for a quick hug, slapping me twice on the back. It was an affectionate gesture for the typically cool vampire, and I tried not to take it as a goodbye.
“See you on the other side, brother,” I said.
He met my eyes once more, offering a quick nod. “Let’s hope so.”
Seventeen
Gray
The glass rainstorm lasted for days, leaving me trapped in the caves with nothing but my own thoughts for company. I was so desperate to feel the sun on my skin that on the first clear, silent morning, I bolted out of the cave mouth like a true bat out of hell.
But instead of hitting the boulder field Liam and I had crossed to get here, I suddenly found myself in an orchard of bright green pathways lined with perfectly manicured trees. Their flowers fluttered in the breeze like paper, each bloom buzzing with honeybees.
Passing under low-hanging branches, I realized they weren’t flowers at all, but tarot cards.
One fell before me, riding a soft current down to my feet.
I picked up the card and turned it over, revealing an image of a nude couple bathing in a river beneath the romantic glow of the moon. A fairy made of pure white light hovered above them.
The man in the image reminded me of Ronan, and I smiled softly, letting the warm, loving energy of the Two of Cups wash over me. But soon the air around me chilled, and the peaceful, nurturing image on the card morphed into something else. It was still the Two of Cups, but this image was much more sinister, featuring a skeleton cornering an ebony woman in a dark, shadowy tower. Blood had been spilled on the floor between them.
They shared a toast and drank from silver goblets, but unlike the couple in the river, this couple was not in love. Fear and malice crawled over my skin like a swarm of fire ants.
Death and Midnight sitting ‘neath a tree
Nothing is real but what you see
Cups over swords, blood over minds
