Page 99 of The Slayer Seduction

They’ll find a way to save me.

They have to.

Chapter 44

The Slayer

Itoss the satchel at Celeste’s feet.

“Incredibly rude of you,” she chastises as she opens the books, her fingers gliding over the covers like they’re reminiscent of a different time.

“Where’s Iris?” I command.

“She’s somewhere you know all too well,” Celeste says with a smile that doesn’t meet her eyes.

The void. She’s in the fucking void. How? Don’t you have to be dead to be there?

“Don’t worry, she’s alive, for now.”

“I’ll work on your quota,” I tell her, and she gives me a sharp nod.

“Good. I’m going to need a lot of souls for what I need to do next.”

The Slayer next to me stills, but doesn’t make himself too obvious. What does that mean?

“Balam, be a good boy and keep your brother in check,” she says without looking up at us, just waving her hand like we’re her servants and she’s sick of us.

It’s weird to think of the Slayer next to me as Balam. I never knew his name, and he never knew mine. I was too afraid that someone having my name meant they had the ultimate control over me, that they wouldn’t need the book to summon me.

I follow him out of the mayor’s office and watch as he uses his human vessel’s eyes in front of all these mortals. They all call him by his vessel’s name and he acts relatively easy going until we get to the alleyway and he grabs me by the shirt, portaling me to an apartment.

The walls are plastered in stakes, weapons, and medieval memorabilia. The Middle Ages truly were a less complicated time.

“Grab a stake, let’s get to work.”

“Why do you do as she says?” I ask.

I know my motivation. She has my Iris. If she did not, I would do everything in my power to not kill vampires and kill the witch who did this to me. So what exactly is this slayer’s motivation after all of this time?

“It’s complicated.”

“I’m sure it’s not.”

He grabs a few stakes, all of them etched with runes that we learned from early cycles. His back is tense and I wonder what he isn’t telling me.

“There’s another slayer. He’s been in the void for a long time. He displeased her.”

“Okay?”

“And he is important to me.”

“He is your lover?” I question, and the man seems to get more uncomfortable by the second.

“Something like that. If you consider thousands of years of trying to find each other every cycle, broken promises, short lives with nothing to show for it.”

“What exactly did she promise you?”

“To keep him alive in the void. That if I collect enough souls for her, she’ll bring us both back next cycle.”