Soul Enslaved (Sons of Wrath Book 3) (51 page)

“You’re not convincing me that this is a good idea.”

Jaw set, she spun around and strode from his office, leaving Gavin to follow.

Ferno met them in the foyer. His eyes flickered to Sabelle and back. “She’s going?”

“She’s a good negotiator, in case we need it.” Gavin rolled his eyes. “Very persuasive.”

“That a good idea?”

“Absolutely not.” He glanced back to see Sabelle had nabbed one of his daggers and stuffed it into her boot. “But I guess that’s the shit part of being enslaved to someone.”

***

Zayne’s Mustang still sat curbside, and Gavin parked the car directly behind it, before all of them piled out and crossed the street.

With a nod to Ferno, he covered Sabelle’s back, while Gavin led the way to the front entrance. He waited while Sabelle punched Denya’s code into the keypad and, once inside, jogged up the three flights of stairs, flinching at the music that damn near beat right through the walls.

When they reached Denya’s apartment, Gavin placed his ear to the door and, noting silence, kicked it in. The moment he took a step inside, his body was yanked backwards.

Ferno released his shirt and pointed. “Alterrealm.”

Where the wall opened up into the main living room, the edges undulated like waves of heat blasting the entryway.

“Let’s do a quick check first.” Gavin said.

They stepped around the mostly invisible entrance and into Denya’s room. Zeus bounded toward them, tail wagging like nothing had gone down. Odd.

Gavin padded slowly to the next bedroom. He pushed it open to find a lump of a body.

“Sophie,” Sabelle whispered, slipping past him into the room. “Let me. You’ll scare the shit out of her.” She stepped past Gavin and approached the old woman cautiously.

“Soph?” she called out. As she placed a hand on the body, an outcry bounced off the walls and the small, old woman’s eyes damn near popped right out of the sockets as Sophie rolled onto her back. “Shhh. It’s Sabelle.”

Her breathing calmed, and a small wrinkled hand clutched Sabelle’s arm. “Oh … child. These nightmares …” She took long breaths. “Thought you were her.”

“Who?”

The woman jumped when Ferno and Gavin stepped fully into the room, and let out another wail.

“It’s okay Sophie. They’re with me. This is Gavin and Ferno. They’re here to help.”

Shaking like a frail leaf, the woman blinked and heaved breaths. “Oh, heavens, if I don’t have a heart attack and die tonight then, somehow, I must’ve proven to the Lord that I don’t belong in hell, after all.”

Sabelle’s cheek flinched, as if irritated by the woman’s humor. “You said you thought I was her. Who were you talking about?”

“My nightmare. Get them all the time nowadays.” Sophie shook her head. “Can’t sleep worth a damn.”

“But you’re okay? Denya called. Said she heard you screaming.”

“I don’t think I screamed. Maybe I did.” Sophie shrugged.

Sabelle straightened and, with an abrupt wave of her hand, turned away from the woman before clutching her temples. “I have to go look for her. This is getting us nowhere.”

Gavin pointed a finger at Ferno. “Keep an eye on her.” He jogged out of the room as soon as Sabelle exited. “Sabelle, stop!” He managed to nab her arm before she could slip inside the alterrealm. “You’ve no idea what’s on the other side. I’ll go. You and Ferno can stay here.”

“I’ll go.” Ferno’s voice took Gavin by surprise. “The old lady’s freakin’ out in there,” he said, pointing a finger over his shoulder.

“You and I can scope out the building.” Still holding her arm, Gavin gave a light squeeze. “See if we find anything.”

Sabelle nodded. “Okay.” She wriggled from Gavin’s grasp and left the apartment.

Gavin glanced back to Ferno. “Be careful in there. It could lead anywhere.” He looked straight into his brother’s eyes. “Don’t make me have to come in after you, Brother.”

Ferno gave a knowing lift of his ruined lip, a sort of half smile. The guy liked to take on every opportunity to kill himself—the most dangerous cases against the most deadly demons known to the underworld. Somehow, he managed to keep his ass alive, though just about everyone knew he’d gladly face death, head-on, with a shit-eating grin. The only demon in Orcosia who wasn’t deterred by Sudesx—known to humans as suicide; the most punishable crime.

Gavin gave another walk of the bedrooms before heading out from the apartment, where he found Sabelle scampering through the hallways, knocking on neighboring doors.

A flash of light caught Gavin’s eye beneath the staircase she’d passed. Cell phone—Zayne’s, judging by the skull case.

He picked it up, confirming that his number was the last dialed, and turned it over, rubbing a sticky red substance from his fingers.

Blood.

“Sabelle.” His lips tightened. “I think we need to find out more about this nightmare of Sophie’s.”

“Why?”

Gavin brought his hand into the dim light, and Sabelle sucked in a gasp, covering her mouth with her hands.

They shot back inside the apartment, Gavin trailing close behind.

Sabelle slid to a stop beside Sophie’s bed. “I need to know more about your nightmare. Tell me everything.”

Sophie stopped her petting of Zeus and sat up. “I was visited by a woman. Redhead, just like you. She and two large men. They kept me pinned to my bed. And one of the bastards looked like he had Denya hoisted over his shoulder.” She wiped her brow and frowned. “And then there was this little one. Blond hair. Kinda scruffy. Shady looking cunt, he was.”

“This blond male. Did he happen to have golden eye teeth?”

“Yes, yes, he did. Fang like.” Sophie shivered. “Shady.”

“Motherfucker.” Sabelle shot up from the bed. “Denya!”

“You know where to find him?” Gavin asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m sending someone to stay with you, Sophie.” Gavin glanced over to the waves of heat still dancing along the edges of the living room, before his gaze trailed back to Sabelle. “Let’s go.” As they walked, he yanked his phone from his pocket. “Mad Dog. I need you at Woodward and Warren. Apartment number three-two-six. The code to get in is …” Sabelle relayed the code before Gavin lifted the phone back to his ear. “Careful when you walk in. There’s an alterrealm. Ferno’s inside. I’ve no idea what’s on the other side.”

“Got it,” Maddox said from the other end of the line. “Be there in a few.”

***

Don’t look at her
, Zayne told himself, as he kept tight to the stone wall. One glance would ruin him. Even if he knew in his heart that the woman talking to him wasn’t Shey, she sure as fuck smelled the same, sounded the same, even laughed the same.

Because no one else laughed like Shey. No one.

His body trembled. Trembled at the thought that one image in his head might have the power to turn him around and stay in a place he’d surely die.
Happy, though?
Maybe.

“Zayne, I’ve missed you. Hours, days, I’ve waited here in this darkness for you. Do you know what it’s like to wait for someone who might never come? The agony of remembering touch. The obsession of trying to remember your face. Those beautiful eyes.” She sniffled. “I thought death was the most painful part of dying. Every day without you is a new death.”

“Stop. You’re not Shey.”

“Then, why won’t you look at me?” Her whisper brushed his ear. “It’s what he did to my face, isn’t it? How he made me ugly and unlovable. Perhaps it’s better that I died. So you’d never have to look upon something so repulsive…”

“I’d have loved you, regardless.” The tension in his muscles slackened. “If I’d had the chance to.”

“Prove it now.”

No. Don’t listen to her. Fight it
.
Remember why you’re here
. “There’s a girl who needs my help. Something … very bad is going to happen to her, if I stay here.”

“And what will happen to
me
? Will you ever find this place again? I don’t even know where it is that I’ve spent night after night.” An ice cold hand rested against his back, her frigid touch biting his bones. “This prison of loneliness … an eternal death. I’d have rather fallen into a cold casket, trapped in the earth, than wander night after night, wondering if you’d ever come for me. This is our one and only opportunity to be together. We may never find one another again. We have to seize this chance meeting. Don’t leave.”

What if she’s right?
Could he have stumbled upon the alterrealm by an act of fate? In which case, he might never have the chance, as she said. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Zayne!” A voice broke through the hallway like a crack of thunder, and Zayne’s muscles tensed once more.

“He’s here for me.” Urgency bled in Shey’s tone. “He’s come back to finish me. Please, don’t let him hurt me! Protect me, Zayne!
Du amec
, always, remember?”

Zayne peered through the darkness at the advancing enormous, shadowed figure. Ferno. The last person he expected to see. Why would he come? He didn’t care. Fury roiled in his gut, smothering whatever relief he’d felt at the sound of his brother’s voice.

Only one reason he’d come.

“I won’t let him hurt you again.” Zayne stalked toward his brother.

This time, he’d kill him.

***

A monotonous hum vibrated in Denya’s ear and rumbled through her chest, breaking her from blackness. Like a cannonball to the skull, the back of her head throbbed, and she longed to touch it, surprised by the resistance when her hand wouldn’t move. She opened her eyes to mud caked carpeting, noticing for the first time a metallic taste in her mouth.

Blood.

She gave a low groan, as bullets of pain shot through her brain, catching the mumble of voices as she quieted back down.

“How much?” A male’s voice.

“Your freedom, if I recall,” a female voice answered.

“Do you know what kind of shit I’ll get into with Cash? He’ll string me up by my fuckin’ nuts,” said the male.

“And what a pretty sight that’d be.”

Denya didn’t recognize either of the voices. Could only distinguish between the feminine softer pitch and the deeper rasp.

“Should’ve known you were a whore
and
a lying bitch!” he snapped.

“And you’re nothing more than a glorified snake, so aren’t we both a disappointment.”

“I delivered my end. You have her sister. I want my cut.”

“One thing I’ve learned in this life is to keep your enemies laid and your debts unpaid.” She huffed. “Now get the fuck out of my car.”

“You’re … still driving.”

“Yes. I am. Either you jump out, or I’ll have the two in back do the honors.”

“You’re a sick and twisted bitch.”

“You have no idea.” What sounded like a gun clicked, and Denya’s breaths hastened. “I wonder how much bleach it would take to clean your brain from my upholstery?” She chuckled. “Probably not much.”

“I’m the first person those Wrath fucks will come for.”

“Which is the only reason I’ve let you live at all.”

“I hope you all die in the flaming pits of hell.”

“Like doesn’t kill like, darling.”

A chill blew across Denya’s body and the jumbled hum gave way to crisp tires against pavement and whipping winds. The fading sound of “
Fuck
!” and subsequent slam of the door signaled his leap from the vehicle.

Fingertips brushed her leg, and Denya let out a scream, kicking it away.

“Hands off,” the woman’s voice snapped. “She’ll be worth more untouched. An adolescent virgin succubus is the veal of the underworld, after all.”

CHAPTER 24

“This it?” Gavin asked, staring up at the dilapidated crack house.

“Yeah, can you believe I lived in this shithole?” Sabelle took the lead, busting through the front door.

Two Rottweilers stalked around the corner, teeth bared, with low pulsing growls. Their barks would’ve been vicious to any human bothering to break in.

“Fuck off, dipshits.” She continued toward them, and the dogs’ ears went flat, tails wagging, growls ceasing, though they made a point to sniff Gavin as he passed, before letting out a whimper and taking off.

Most dogs had that reaction to what he presumed to be Magnus’s scent coming off him. Hellhounds carried unrivaled dominance in the canine world. Even lycans cowered in their presence.

Gavin’s gaze roved the destruction that surrounded him. Walls plastered with graffiti. The couch cushions annihilated, likely by the dogs. One lone television that resembled something out of the eighties.

“Denya!” she called out as she frantically searched rooms, making her way up the creaky staircase to the second floor. “Denya!”

Gavin covered the rooms she didn’t. Mostly empty, aside from strewn garbage, rotted planks and liquor bottles. No wonder the asshole crashed in on Sabelle at night. “I doubt he’d have left her alone. If he’s not here, I think it’s safe to assume she isn’t either.”

“So, now what?” she asked.

“We find a place to wait. The question is, would he be more likely to show up here, or your place?”

“He knows I’m not around. He won’t stop by my place, if I’m not there.”

“Good. Then, we’ll sit tight.”

Sabelle collapsed to the floor. Like the weight had finally crashed down on her. She buried her head in her palms, but it didn’t take a genius to see that she’d begun to cry. “My life has become nothing more than a house of mirrors. Every time I feel like I’m on the path to where it all ends, I run into myself and lose direction again.”

“Under the circumstances, I’ll refrain from commenting.”

“Go ahead.” Her muffled voice carried through her hands. “It can’t be much worse than the thoughts going through my own head.”

“It sounds to me like you need to start breaking down some walls, Sabelle.”

She threw her hands from her face. “And how will that help me?”

“Well, for one, it’d open up some opportunities for you. Allow you to more clearly see the path in front of you. A way out. And second, it’d allow me to see the real you.”

“There’s nothing all that impressive about me. Crack me open, and I’m nothing more than a black pit of endless misery.” She wrapped her arms around her legs. “I’m surprised you haven’t grown tired of the dark clouds that follow me everywhere.”