Dark Forsaken (The Devil's Assistant Book 3) (16 page)

A mix of fear and anger rolled off the boys. The feeling was so clear it made the vines on my arms appear. I was getting angry, too. They wanted me to fix it. I wanted Cinnamon to fix it. She was too scared to even try. The boys were pissed and I was getting angry.
I want this connection broken
.

“So the fuck do we,” Sage yelled.

Mace stepped forward as if he might use one of his old methods of persuasion. I tossed him back at the bar and felt a twinge of pain in my back as he smacked into the edge.

“I’m starting to remember,” Cinnamon said, interrupting Mace’s pathetic attempt at intimidation.

The tension in the room lessened. Everyone’s anger turned to curiosity.

“Go on,” I said.

“I’d just returned from the museum—our exile in Purgatory, actually. I needed a place to stay. I ran into an old friend, or at least I thought it was. I …” Cinnamon trailed off. Her eyes moved back and forth as if she were trying to make sense of something. I could feel Cinnamon’s confusion. She was frustrated by something.

“Who was it really?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It looked like her, but it wasn’t her. I can’t explain how I know.”

“Human?”

“Yes. No, that was it. The person I met wasn’t human. I’m sure of it now, but I didn’t know it then. I stayed with her for a few days until she introduced me to Parker. The first meeting was normal, but that changed once I let him kiss me.” Cinnamon touched her lips. “It was like he could freeze time, but that wasn’t it. I felt like I was somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else like the meadow?” I asked.

“No, my illusions felt and looked real. I wouldn’t have been fooled by the meadow.” She was confident. “Parker had a way about him. I trusted him completely. If he asked me to do something, I wanted to do it.”

“Where was he during this time?”

“I thought he was with me, but now that I can see clearly, I know. He wasn’t there. He left me alone in the apartment for hours. I’m not sure we actually slept together. He played me.” Cinnamon looked up, her emotions going from calm and frustrated to coldblooded assassin. “I’d like to kill him now.”

The boys all murmured agreement. Mace spoke. “I agree with Cinnamon’s plan.”

“No. Well, not yet. We have to get Sydney back first,” I said.

Mace harrumphed. “He had me ambushed. He manipulated Cinnamon and Sage. He had Sorrel killed, which forced our mother to send you to the museum for a spell to save him, and we almost died. Cinnamon was probably next. Does he actually need to succeed at killing one of us for you to care? Why do you want to save this girl anyway? If she’s a contender, can’t she save herself?”

“Fuck you. All of you are over five hundred years old and a hell of a lot more powerful than a seventeen-year-old kid. You should have been better prepared, but you weren’t, so we’re saving Sydney first, then dealing with the jackass.”

“Wait, did Mace say Sorrel was dead?” Cinnamon asked.

Sage wordlessly explained it to her. Then asked, “What about the locket? Mab has it, but X wants it.”

Cinnamon laughed. “Please tell me you aren’t going to suggest we steal it from Aunt Mab and give it to Parker?”

“We have no clue why Mab wanted the locket,” I said. “And X sent Sage after it. He doesn’t know it’s missing yet, but he will soon. Either way, it isn’t a factor yet.”

Cinnamon visibly relaxed. “Good, trying to take something from Mab cannot be part of the plan.”

“Here’s what we know,” I said, getting everyone’s attention. “X thinks he has Faith and is interrogating her, but he really has Sydney. He wants Faith to show him more of his missing memories, which included some connection to the fourth realm, which is why he sent Sage for the locket. Faith wants Sydney because she’s also a contender and is trying to win the game to become the Fall Queen. And if I don’t deliver Sydney in two days, Faith is planning to kill one of you.”

“How do you propose we save Sydney?” Cinnamon asked.

“I think we should tell X he doesn’t have Faith, then set up a trade. Faith for Sydney.” I said.

“How will we get Faith?” Mace asked.

“We tell her we have Sydney. Set up a meeting and invite X to the party.”

Cinnamon snorted. “Sounds like a lot of ways to get the girl killed.”

Gizelle’s reminder started to hurt, but other than my normal level of hatred for Mace, I wasn’t exactly going postal. Why was Gizelle’s mark being so persistent?

“It’s a summon,” Sorrel said, as if it were obvious. When everyone looked at him, he said, “Has she never summoned any of you?”

The others said, “No.”

“Just ignore it,” I said. “I’m not planning to jump when she calls.”

“Suit yourself, but she can get pissy if you ignore her,” Sorrel groused, rubbing his arm in the same place I could feel her mark on mine.

“Shut up, Brother,” Cinnamon said and then she moaned in obvious pleasure.

At the same time, I felt the warmth of Death’s embrace wrap around me. Fuck.
I guess playtime was over.
Death was finally here to collect on his threat.

Chapter 22

Death’s calming influence was affecting everyone the same way. I was surprised my magic hadn’t ever tried to reverse its effects, but maybe it wasn’t seen as a threat. I should rethink that strategy.

Cinnamon half moaned and half purred as she said, “This is absolutely incredible, Claire. What is it?”

Ignoring her and the warm tingling feelings he caused, I said, “Death, show yourself.” Then I silently warned,
You may want to look away
.

Why
? Cinnamon mind-spoke back.

Trust me, he may not be to your liking
, I thought just as Death materialized in front of me.

Cinnamon practically squealed. “How could he not be to my liking? He’s gorgeous.”

I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised me that they could see him the same way I did since, apparently, we were all now magical extensions of each other.

Such a cute couple
, Mace said as Death leaned in to kiss me.

I pulled back and instinctively slammed him with my will. Catching him off guard with my new strength, I catapulted him into the back wall of the bar.

Death laughed as he stood, knocking the dust and dirt off his clothes. “Oh, Claire, you’ve changed. I must say it is for the better, love.”

“Screw you. What do you want?”

“I want the torque, of course…” he trailed off, glancing at the quads. His eyebrows were drawn together as he studied them. “What’s with all your friends seeing my lovelier side?”

I glanced over at Cinnamon. She was definitely giving him a fuck-me look. He winked and blew her a kiss, presumably to piss me off. I couldn’t care less.

“As you can see,” I said, “I’m in a bit of a situation right now, so you’ll need to get in line.”

He raised one of his eyebrows, bringing his full attention back to me. “Really? Perhaps I should impress upon you the urgency of my request.”

Death disappeared. Mace gasped, clutching his chest.

“What’s happening?” Sage wheezed, obviously feeling the same squeezing sensation I was in my chest.

“Death,” I begged, “stop.” Gizelle’s reminder blazed to life, causing the vines to show. One by one, the quads’ tattoos ignited as well. “You’re killing all of us.”

Cinnamon and Sorrel fell to one knee gasping for breath.

“I can’t get the torque if I’m dead,” I forced out through strained gasps.

Death rematerialized in front of Mace, his incorporeal hand pulling out of Mace’s body. Mace collapsed to the floor clutching his chest.

“Has my place in the queue improved?” Death asked.

“You bastard,” I wheezed, still feeling the aftershocks of what he’d just done to Mace. Sucking in air, I tried to calm down before the power within decided to retaliate.

Death chuckled as he set himself to rights, casually running his hand through his hair and pulling down the sleeves of his expensive suit shirt. He smiled. “It looks like you’ve gotten your own little slice of Paradise, Claire.” Death stared as the vines on my arms disappeared. “So unless you want me to tell Harry—”

“Enough with the threats. I needed the power to get your damn torque, so if you tell Harry, all bets are off. Kill one of them and I die—again, all bets are off. You’ll get my attention once I’ve taken care of my current problems. Until then, you’ll wait.”

Death laughed. “You’re so cute when you’re angry, Claire. I’ll give you a little more time to sort things out. Then you’ll bring me the torque or I’ll reset the clock.”

I narrowed my eyes.

He clarified, although I already knew what he was thinking. “I’ll kill you all and start over. I’ve waited ten thousand years—what’s another couple of hundred to get my mate back? Another four in one time will happen soon enough.”

“Are you sure about that? Gizelle wanted—” I cut off, not wanting to tell Death exactly what Gizelle had done to save Thanos. She basically killed herself by killing the male twin inside her, and then produced the quads to set up the necessary pieces to get me to reawaken the fourth realm and return Thanos, who’d been trapped by Raven, another of the four contenders that Mab was then convinced by Gizelle to keep in stasis until me, Sydney, and Faith existed. Yeah, just another few hundred years and he’d have another perfect storm of contenders to play with.

Death’s lip curled up on one side, malicious intent written on his face. “I know exactly what Lochlan did, love, and Gizelle will do it again to save Thanos.”

Was he serious? Had he manipulated events so that Raven would abandon Thanos in the desolate fourth realm, which then prompted Mab to imprison her for five hundred years? Lochlan must be Gizelle’s chimera twin, her male side. Had Death encouraged their actions? Who would he set up to be the contender held now? Not that The Boss and Harry would let the same thing happen again.

Death continued. “I’m feeling generous, and starting over would be so tedious. I’ll give you until the curator position is filled.”

Was he joking? The Boss, hell, all the big three, thought it would take me decades. Of course, they also just approved “my strategy”, which they didn’t believe would work. But I knew they weren’t required to approve my choice, so it was just a matter of time before I had the job completed.

Mace’s voice echoed in my head.
And you have no clue what that strategy is
.

Technicality
, I thought back.

I felt him shrug.

“Fine,” I said to Death. “After I’ve replaced the curator, I’ll work on your little problem. You have my word.”

So fast it was a blur, Death was in front of me, trailing a finger down my cheek. A sting of power followed his touch, leaving a Gizelle-style reminder on the side of my face. I went to knock his hand away, but he caught it, pulling me close.

“You remember how good it was, don’t you, Claire?” he asked, grinding his pelvis against me.

I raised my hand to push him back with my will. He slammed me with a wave of ecstasy. Cinnamon gasped and moaned. The boys were also hit hard with desire. Fighting the overwhelming wave of heat he pressed down on me and the sensory feedback I was getting from the quads, I held back the moan that came to my own lips. I was drowning in lust, but refused to give in to him. Through clenched teeth I said, “What happened to the baby?” I didn’t think it was Death’s baby, best case it was Jack’s and at least Mace knew it hadn’t been his. Either way, that word generally put the kibosh on being “in the mood.” It caused Death to stop his onslaught, but not as I’d expected.

He stepped back, laughing so hard he was bent over, his hands pressing into his knees. “Claire, you do find out the most interesting things. Unfortunately, I don’t know what happened to the little whelp, but I was getting tired of how ho-hum you’d become after Jack’s
death
that I had to do something.”

My eyes widened. He’d put air quotes around death as if Jack wasn’t really dead. He had to be lying. Shaking my head, I asked, “Jack’s not dead?” Then I looked at Mace for confirmation. Mace shrugged.
Really
? I thought at him and then turned back to Death. “You’re lying,” I accused. “Jack’s dead. Quaid killed him.”

The corner of Death’s mouth raised. “Are you sure about that, love?” Then he winked and disappeared.

“That was Death?” Cinnamon asked, getting back to her feet. “I expected him to be a bit more gruesome. What baby, and who’s Jack?”

“Don’t,” I said, holding my hand up between us. “Not now.” My mind was reeling at the thought of Jack being alive. I closed my eyes and tried to snap a line to his location. My knees went weak when it actually worked and I found a link. Without considering the consequences, I astral projected my presence to his location. I didn’t materialize, I only stared at the scene in front of me. It was Jack. He was alive and chasing around a small towheaded child. She couldn’t be more than three or four years old, but she wasn’t a baby. I heard a woman’s voice call out from within the house.

“Come in, daddy, and bring little-bit. Dinner is ready,” the voice said.

Jack scooped up the little girl and carried her up the steps to the house. The woman met him at the door. I didn’t get a good look, but I saw enough as he kissed her.

The little girl squealed something that sounded like, “Daddy and tea, Daddy and tea,” and began wriggling out of Jack’s arms.

“Claire,” Cinnamon said, interrupting me with a soothing tone. “You need to calm down.”

I spun around to face her, which was when I realized their presences were with me in the in-between. And like my pulsing illustrations, their tattoos were also blazing. I looked down at my arms and the red vine glowed bright, offsetting the black ink.

Sorrel cleared his throat. “I get that this situation is all kinds of fucked up, but can someone tell me how I was able to sense Death’s names?”

Fuck me, did they get everything
?

I opened my eyes, bringing us all back to the Wild Hare. Jack had been carrying a child that called him daddy and kissing a woman that wasn’t me. Was the child his? Had he ever loved me? Was our entire affair just his day job? Did the damn ring in my sock drawer mean nothing? Wisps of energy crackled at my wrists.

“Claire,” Cinnamon said again. “You need to come back to us. Worry about Jack later. Solve the problem at hand first.”

I tried to ignore her.

“Death could be screwing with you,” she said. “That could have been an illusion.”

She knew it wasn’t. Mace could sense the lie and because of this crazy connection, I could sense his reaction. Her words wouldn’t sway me. The hunger within began to pull power. Sorrel was the closest to me, so it hit him first.

The sudden clash of pulled power versus the intense pain of being drained created a feedback loop that almost dropped me to my knees.

“Fuck,” Sage hissed. “Whatever you’re doing, please stop.”

“You’re not helping,” I yelled. “None of you are.”

Then Cinnamon chanted something and everything stopped.

I felt weightless, as if I were floating on a cloud. My eyelids grew heavy and the crackle of magic at my wrists died out. I wanted to curl into a ball and sleep. I was tired and the cloud was soft.

I had to put the image of Jack with the other woman out of my mind or I might implode and wipe out Underworld. The rational part of me knew that and wanted to stop. The irrational part was ready to just say
fuck it
and level the place.

In the back of my mind, I could still hear Cinnamon chanting. I yawned, unable to fight the call to sleep, and snuggled in for a nap.