Angel's Ink (31 page)

“The dead,” Charon confirmed.

Glancing over my shoulder, I found him leaning against his pole as he gazed out at the nearby shore. “What are the dead doing here? This is Acheron, right? I thought the dead were to wait on the shore where I met you.”

“That is where the dead start. Those who do not have my obol are forced to swim to the banks of the Acheron and wait for the end of days. It is only when the world is rent open and the living are judged that these poor souls will be able to freely move on to the land beyond.”

“And if they don’t swim to Acheron?” I asked as I leaned over the edge of the boat with the glass jar in one hand.

“Then they never move on to the next world. Most resist at first, but after centuries of waiting they eventually forget why they were resisting and begin the swim.”

Sitting back in the boat, I put a stopper in the full jar and placed it in the large pocket of my trench coat. It was a good warning for the future that I faced. I should always carry some change in my pockets in the event that something bad happened to me while I was out and about. Of course, considering that I usually slept in the nude, that didn’t make me feel any better about the prospect of potentially dying in my sleep. Shorts with a single coin in my pocket were starting to sound like a good alternative to sleeping commando.

As Charon turned the boat back toward the way we had come, a pale light caught my eye as it poked out from behind a massive tree in the distance. It reminded me of the Saturday morning cartoon version of a ghost, glowing and undefined. I twisted around in my seat and leaned over to peer around Charon, but the eerie glow was gone. Something that wasn’t a member of the dead was watching me. I had stayed too long and now I was starting to attract the kind of attention that I had been hoping to avoid.

We passed easily through the other four rivers and glided soundlessly onto the Styx again. I needed to get out of here, and fast. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how much time had passed since I had died. Trixie had to revive me soon if I was going to escape this world unscathed.

As I reached the shore, I knew that I had run out of time. Someone was waiting for me.

Chapter 25

I
sat in the boat, reluctant to move as I saw in the distance the same ethereal glow I had noticed in the Acheron swamp. Someone or something had come for me.

Charon tapped on my shoulder with his bony finger, causing me to jerk around and look at him. He extended his hand toward me and I could see a faint smile through the shadows of his hood. “This is where you wanted to be, correct? This was the bargain?” Charon demanded when I still hadn’t moved.

“Yeah, this is the place,” I murmured, pushing to my feet. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out another gold coin and laid it in his hand. While two fingers closed around the coin, two other fingers wagged at me, beckoning for the soul fragment I had promised. Frowning, I lifted the leather thong from around my neck and placed it in his hand as well.

I didn’t feel good about this decision, and the argument that Simon would do the same to me if he was in my position wasn’t sitting well either. A promise was a promise, though, and my friends’ safety and happiness were worth my own damnation if it came to that. Hell, I figured I was already damned for the mess I had created with Tera; what was one more mark against me at this point?

Holding on to the bow of the boat, I carefully disembarked and stood on the edge of the bank, gazing up the hill at the faint glowing figure that seemed to be waiting for me. In my pockets were only a handful of gold coins and the water from the five rivers of the underworld. Not exactly great bargaining chips for whatever I still faced, and Charon told me as much when he wished me “Good luck” with a rusty chuckle as he pushed his boat away from the shore.

Glancing one last time at the sight of Charon’s boat receding into the darkness, I mounted the slope toward the figure waiting for me. The glow had faded to nothing, but the creature still loomed. As I drew close, I could make out a woman, with long dark hair and gray skin molded to a slim body, waiting for me. Her stormy gray eyes burned through me, while a smile slashed across her face like an open wound. My skin crawled to look at her, and I could feel something skittering around her in the darkness. I couldn’t see the creatures, but I had a vague sense of their shape and number in the back of my mind, as if they were either shrouded in magic or existed on some other plain of reality that I wasn’t fully privy to here in the underworld. Energy shifted and flowed in the air, magic that I had never come into contact with and didn’t want to know.

“I take it that you’ve been waiting for me,” I said in a neutral voice as I held back, several feet from her. In my mind, I desperately prayed that Trixie would soon draw me away from this world. Watching this woman, I feared for what was left of my soul.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for you, Gage,” she purred. She closed the distance between us by several feet. I watched her legs take the necessary steps forward, but she moved as if she slithered across the ground like a snake.

My gaze jumped from her legs to her face as the muscles in my chest clenched around my lungs and heart in fear. There was only one female who walked the underworld, neither living nor dead, but trapped, supposedly tied to the one who had tempted her. Lilith.

Backpedaling several feet to reestablish the distance between us, my mind scoured the hours of mythology I had ingested during my studies with the warlocks. Was this the Lilith of Greek mythology? The vampiric, child-killing Lamia with second sight? Or was this the Jewish first wife of Adam who was tempted and seduced by Samael, only to give birth to Cain? Or maybe she was the more obscure incarnation of Istar and Asherah, who were born of the same power that gave birth to God? So many conflicting texts, but the same word was repeated again: evil.

“I can’t help you, Lilith,” I said in a steady voice, though I didn’t feel it. I wanted out of here now. I could think of a dozen other dark creatures I’d rather be faced with than this woman, goddess, demon, known for both seduction and murder.

“I know you can. Anyone who can get in and out of here can free me as well,” she continued in a deep sultry voice that seemed to curl around my thoughts like a smoky drug. “I’ve grown tired of my cage and I long to be back among the humans. Help me, Gage, and I can help you in countless ways. Your enemies would cower at the mere mention of your name.”

“No thank you,” I breathed, forcing myself to remain in one spot as she once again inched closer to me. “I would prefer to take care of things on my own. But I appreciate your offer.”

Her smile dimmed a couple of notches and lines of tension appeared around the corners of her eyes. “I didn’t mean to suggest that you had a choice in the matter.”

“I can’t help you.”

“You can give me permanent freedom. I want out.”

“No.”

A sharp jerk broke my gaze from Lilith. It felt as if a string had been tied to the inside of my belly button and had been pulled out my back. Pressing my hand to my stomach, I briefly wondered if Lilith had caused it, but pushed aside the thought when she grabbed my other arm at the wrist while her smile completely disappeared.

“I will be the one to free you from this cage!” she snarled.

Trixie was trying to revive me, but I doubted she would succeed if Lilith was holding on to me. And nothing in this existence would allow me to take Lilith’s offer to send me back. Such a decision would put me in her debt and at her disposal in the world of the living. I jerked on my arm, trying to break her hold, but it didn’t budge.

“I won’t help you.”

“Then you will not be free of this place.”

Closing my eyes against her distracting naked body and the fear that was rising in my chest, I searched my memory for all that I had been forced to learn about her. There was a bit of folklore about the prophet Elijah getting Lilith to tell him her various names, thus freeing him of her. I wasn’t sure if repeating them back would free me in mythical Rumpelstiltskin style, but it was the only thing I could think of in my desperation.

“Abeko, Abito, Amizo . . .”

“Do you think such old magic can stop me?” she demanded, her voice cutting like shards through my brain.

Ignoring her comment as her fingers tightened on my wrist, biting into the flesh, I pushed on. “Batna, Eilo, Ita, Izorpo . . .”

Her grip started to slip as the tugging on my stomach increased. It felt like it was working as she grew steadily angrier. I prayed she wouldn’t destroy me since she saw me as a source of escape, but at the same time I wasn’t sure that she would let me escape if she believed I wouldn’t help her. My wrist slipped out of her grip, but she caught the tips of my fingers. My eyes flicked over and met her fiery stare, shaking me to my core. My breath exploded from my chest as fear clenched in my gut. I was little more than a soul here and she was digging in her claws.

“Escape me now, but you will not be free of me. I’ve seen your future. I can still reach you, steal away your most precious love. I will come for you if you don’t help me.”

“K-Kali . . . Kea . . . K-K-Kokos,” I continued in a fear-choked voice. My fingers slipped from her grasp and darkness consumed me while I was followed by her earth-shattering scream.

Burning in my chest caused me to suck in air again, which only resulted in a harsh coughing fit. I rose for a second and then immediately fell back again, hitting the back of my head on something. My throat was raw, my chest burned, and my temples throbbed with pain, but I welcomed it all as I knew that I was alive once again. Something wet hit my cheeks and I opened my eyes to see a bleary image of Trixie leaning over me with tears streaking down her pale cheeks. Her gentle hands smoothed my hair as she choked on a stifled sob of relief.

“Just breathe,” she said, her voice fractured and raw.

Catching one of her hands, I pulled it over to my lips and pressed a kiss to the heel of her palm as I closed my eyes again. “Thank you,” I croaked out as relief flooded my body, bringing tears to my own eyes. Images of Lilith danced in the back of my brain—I knew that I wasn’t entirely free of her, but for now, I could push those worries aside.

“Are you okay?” Trixie asked soothingly, sweeping away the last of my fears.

“I’m fine, I swear,” I said with a relieved sigh.

Pain exploded against my cheek, snapping my head to the side as she smacked me with all her might. My ears were ringing when my eyes popped open to look at her face, twisted with anger and pain.

“What the hell were you thinking? What’s wrong with you?” she demanded, shoving to her feet. I made a grab for her hand but missed, falling onto my stomach as she lurched out of my reach. “You know, I should just have let you hang if this is how you’re going to act after we . . .” Her voice drifted off in a heavy, broken silence.

Desperate energy filled me with fresh strength. I pushed to my feet and caught her as she moved for the front door. I pulled her roughly against my chest, wrapping my arms around her so that she was trapped. She fought me for several seconds until a fresh wave of tears fell from her luminous eyes. My head swam and the room swayed, but I ignored it, focusing all my thought on just holding on to her.

“How could you?” she whispered.

Tightly clutching Trixie, I grabbed the back of her neck, threading my fingers through her silken hair. I had almost lost her, lost everything. I had to risk it all if I was going to not only save myself, but save her as well.

“I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” I murmured against her neck. She jerked in my arms to argue with me, but I held tight. “Think, Trixie! If I had been trying to kill myself, would I have called you over to my apartment at a very specific time? Would I have put a ‘revive me’ sign on my chest? Would I have risked your exposure to the guards of the Summer Court if it had not been for a very important reason?”

“No, but how could you do that? How do you think it made me feel to see your dead body hanging there when I walked in the door?”

“I never wanted that for you, but you are the only person in my life I trusted to come to my rescue. I’m sorry I put you through this. I’m so damned sorry and I will apologize for this every day for the rest of my life if it helps to erase the memory.”

“I don’t think I will ever forget it,” she murmured, her lips brushing my shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why? Why would you do such a thing?”

Brushing a kiss against her temple, I loosened my hold slightly and leaned back so that I could look her in the eye. One hand dipped into the pocket of my trench coat and my stomach twisted in fear until I reached a glass jar filled with clear liquid. They had come back with me.

“I needed to get this,” I said, holding up the jar so she could see it.

“What is it?”

“Water from Lethe.”

Trixie eased away from me a bit as she looked from the jar to my face, her brow furrowed in confusion. “Lethe? Why? What could you possibly need it for?”

“That I will not tell you,” I said as I tucked the jar carefully into my pocket again. “I would rather you forget that I showed it to you at all. I just want you to know that I would not have taken this chance if I had not been completely desperate.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Closing my eyes, I lowered my head again, pressing my face against the side of hers. My heart lurched and skipped in my chest while I breathed in her intoxicating scent as it wrapped around us. I needed her like I needed air. I hated myself for hurting her, but it had been a necessary evil. I might have killed myself to save myself, but right now I lived to save her. “I know and I am sorry. Just remember that I promised I would help you get free of the Summer Court and I will keep that promise. I will not leave you if I can help it. Please say that you at least believe that.”

“I do,” she whispered.

“You saved more than my life today, Trixie. You saved what’s left of my soul. I will never be able to thank you enough or apologize enough for the pain and fear I’ve caused you. I will do everything within my power to help you, whatever it takes.”