THE BAZAAR (The Devany Miller Series) (26 page)

"I want you."

My nostrils flared. I could smell his need, how's that for strange? It made me want to strip naked. I scrambled backward, away from him and his Venus Fly trap of a body. "Are you healed? Are you?" I was aware I sounded shrill.

His eyes beckoned me. I shut mine. I heard him breathing. He said, "Your power has grown."

I was rubbing my lips together, enjoying the swollen numbness of them even as I lectured myself that it was wrong, wrong, wrong. "Is that a yes? Can we go now? Save my kids?" Ravana said they were safe, though the idea of Lucy hugging them while she pretended to me made my stomach hurt. "She won't hurt them, right? She loves them because I love them, right?"

"I'm certain that's true."

His low timbered voice reassured me. I fought to keep from crawling over and curling into his arms. I didn't need him. I could stand on my own. 

It's his nature to allure. He conjures lust in humans. Remember that. It's not real, what you're feeling. He's generating it. That's how he gets free power he doesn't have to pull from Ravana.

Great. The most exciting kiss of my life and it was with a demon who used kisses to feed on lust. I rose and brushed the dirt off my butt. "Let's go. Let's get my life back."

He stood so fluidly I would've doubted his injuries if I hadn't seen the gruesome evidence. "We need Arsinua's male friend."

"Zech? He's injured. And I'm not going to run over and kiss him, either, so forget it." I rubbed my finger across my bottom lip to alleviate the tingling. Tytan watched closely. I dropped my hand. 

"Is there anyone else? We need a witch."

A witch? I only knew three, Zech, Arsinua and the woman who'd given me the ring. Considering the burden I'd taken from her, she owed me, right? "I know someone who might help."

Don't pull Marantha into this.

'She was in this when she first took that ring as her own. She was in this when she gave it to me.'

Arsinua didn't respond. I held out my hand to Tytan. "Let's get this over with. I want my kids. I need to hold them." 

He took my hand and I ignored the thrum of attraction as I drew the doorway.

THIRTY

M
arantha's house was missing its left wall and Marantha herself was sprawled in a flowering bush bleeding from gashes in her head and on her arms. I knelt beside her while Tytan stood guard. I laid my hand on the older woman's cheek. "What happened? Marantha? Can you hear me?"

She shook her head. "You've brought trouble to my door step, young woman."

"What trouble? Who did this?" And why couldn't one thing go right? I stopped, my stomach knotted as I realized I was angry with her for being hurt. Shit. What kind of a person was I turning in to? "I'm sorry." 

Grunting, she held out her hand. "Help me out of this bush, will you? Easy," she said as I slipped my hand under her shoulders. She staggered into me as we stepped over the ruin of her wall into her front room. She fell into a chair sending a ton of dust into the air. I sneezed, she sneezed. Waving her arms to disperse the cloud, she said, "How would anyone notice the passing of the ring?"

I ran my hands through my hair, wondering as I did how long it had been since I'd washed it. It felt oily and dirty. I itched for a brush even as I told myself I should be more concerned with who had blown Marantha out of her house. "Maybe a member of the Theleoni followed me."

"No, no. It was one of the Coven of the Lotus."

They work for the good of Midia. They wouldn't try to kill someone.

Since this shit had been thrust on me, I'd learned that anything could happen. Anything. "Why?"

"They followed you. Asked me politely over a cup of tea what I'd given you. I didn't tell them but one of their group had circled round to the back to break into my wagon. That one knew the ring was missing because he wanted it. He'd asked about buying it before, at least four times."

Arsinua was moaning in my head. I tried to shut her out as I asked, "Why didn't you give it to him?"

"Because he wanted it."

I frowned at her. "I wanted it."

"You needed it but you didn't want it."

I threw up my hands. "You made me feel guilty for taking it."

One bony shoulder lifted and dropped. "It was part of the ritual of the thing. I could only give it to one who needed it but didn't want it. I had to make sure that you were taking it for the right reasons. If I gave it to someone who wanted it I would die."

"Truly die? Or 'OMG, I'm so embarrassed I could die,' die?" She looked at me and I dropped my gaze, ashamed of my stab at sarcasm. "I'm tired."

"I know. As am I. And I fear I won't be getting any sleep, for you didn't come running to my rescue; you couldn't have known I was in peril." Her hand grasped mine and squeezed lightly until I looked up at her. "What is it you need?"

I sighed. "It's a long story."

She nodded, as if that didn't surprise her. "Give me the bare bones." She leaned in close. "Don't forget to tell me why you have a fallen Skriven with you."

"Fallen?" I lowered my voice even though Tytan was pacing outside, too far away to hear me talk about him. "What do you mean?"

"He's in physical form, isn't he? I see his shadow."

I looked at him. He did have a shadow, but why wouldn't he? I couldn't remember noticing if he'd had one the times he'd harassed me in my world. "So?"

"You have so much to learn."

That again. People loved to rub my ignorance in my face. "Yes, I do." Resentment tainted my words. 

"Tell me your story. If I can help you, I will." She sat patiently while I stumbled through it, from the first moment I entered the hook until I lifted her out of her bushes. I had to back track a few times when I realized I'd forgotten a key part of the story. She interrupted me only twice and both times to clarify what I'd said. 

With my tale told, it sat between us like a living thing. The weight of it pressed into my stomach, making me want to curl into a tight little ball and wail like a baby. Tytan's hand settled on my shoulder. His power thrummed through me, my muscles relaxing and the tightness easing in my stomach. The wash of relaxation must be another one of his talents. I liked it more than his lust inducing touch.

Marantha smoothed her hands over her knees. "So you want me to help you displace the part of your soul in this," she glanced at Tytan, "formless one, with Arsinua's soul. And Arsinua is inside you right now."

"Yes."

"May I talk to her?"

I frowned. "You are."

"No. I mean, can I talk directly to her, without your interference."

What did she mean? Then I remembered how Arsinua came forward with the cops. 'Do you want to talk to her?' Arsinua didn't answer. I sighed. "She's not talking to me. This has been hard on her."

Marantha scooted to the edge of her chair. "Arsinua. Do you hear me? I want to talk to you. You. I want to know if this is something you want as well. I won't do it, otherwise."

My mouth opened to protest, but what could I say? If Arsinua wouldn't do it, then I would figure out another way to get my life back, even if it meant kidnapping my look alike and using the hook to take her far away. I didn't want to do that to Lucy. Now that she thought she was me, she would feel the same pain I felt now at not being near my children.

'Arsinua. Just talk to her. Please. If your answer's no, then I'll figure something else out.'

I'm ashamed. I'm hurt. I don't know what to think about anything anymore. 

Her despair lapped at me, but I refused to let it overtake me. I pushed it into a separate compartment from my emotions and locked the door. "She won't do it." My voice dipped with my disappointment.

Then she pushed forward, taking me over with a rush that overwhelmed me. From the back of my mind, I saw the older woman start. Why? Did my face change when she came forward? But then, wouldn't the cops have noticed when Arsinua had done it with them?

"Arsinua? Amazing." Marantha put her fingers to her lips, and then dropped her hand into her lap, stiffening her spine. "I don't care what has happened. It's past. Your guilt and shame are no use to you now, as well you know. This young woman needs my help. She needs your help. Are you willing to have your soul pushed into that vessel?"

A picture that had been dangling crookedly on the last remaining wall fell to the floor with the crack of broken glass. Marantha jumped and Tytan left, to patrol I assumed. I immediately missed the calm he'd been imposing upon me.

Arsinua said, "I don't deserve to live."

Marantha waved her hand. "Nonsense."

She wrung my hands in her frustration. "I caused all this.  Because of my weakness. My pride."

"Then fix it. Try. Hiding in this woman's head won't solve anything." Marantha's face had hardened. No more kind, concerned listener. She looked as she had in the garden when she'd given me the ring and made me feel bad for taking it.

"I've helped." I saw images of the spells, the information, and the lodestones. She had helped. I wouldn't have known any of those things had she not taught me. "I could stay with her, teach her what I know. Guide her."

Marantha harrumphed. "Did you ever think your presence inside this woman is intrusive? You are there, listening to her thoughts, witnessing her emotions. Would you wish to have someone watching you all the time? Hmm?"

'That's true,' I whispered to Arsinua, thinking of how many showers I'd missed and the one I'd taken in a hurry, feeling like I was naked in front of an audience.

Arsinua shuddered. "I wouldn't like it. But I can't take another person's body."

"She's not a person. She's a construct. A vessel to be filled," Tytan said. Arsinua and I looked around, surprised. Even in the shadows of the room, I could see him. He glowed. Not in the sickly way Cambion had, either.

"Devany thought of her as a person and gave her a name. She had a personality before Ravana gave her Devany's soul. How can I take that away?"

Good point, damn it.

Tytan crossed his arms. "You are a great witch, but a damnable awful person."

If I'd had control of my arms, I would have slapped my forehead. What was he thinking? Insulting her wouldn't help. She'd freak out, or start moaning again.

Instead, she straightened my spine. "You don't know anything about me."

His lips quirked. "I know you're a coward."

She tightened my lips. I silently urged her to yell at him, curse him, something. She didn't. My spine slumped. "I'm weak, that's true."

Shit. 

"But I will do it. To help Devany. To try and repair some of the damage I've done since putting the heart in her hand." 

And then I was back in control of my body. I blinked, my face tingling. 

Marantha studied my face. "You're back."

"Yes. Me. Devany." To Arsinua, I said a heartfelt thank you. To Marantha, I said, "Now, how do we go about getting my life back?"

THIRTY-ONE

S
imple. That's what Marantha had said of her plan. She was nuts, but all right. Why be the poop of the party? All we had to do, she'd said, was catch Lucy by herself, drug her with the drink Marantha was preparing, use my power to reverse whatever it was the explosion had done to bond Arsinua and I and poof.

Right. 

"You need to pay attention, Devany." Tytan's liquid velvet voice washed over me.

Goosebumps time. I shivered. "I'm tired. I can't recreate what happened. I don't know what happened. Boom! That's what happened. Okay?" I tipped over onto the couch, sleep dragging me under like a kid in an undertow. 

He prodded me with his foot. "Your kids. Liam. Bethany."

Groaning, I pushed myself upright. My eyes stayed shut. "I exploded out. Then in. I swear that's all I know."

Words in a language I didn't know poured from his mouth. They melted into my ears, making my brain feel lighter. I slouched against the seat back as Tytan changed to English. "You are with the witch. The chythraul, giant spider, has crawled forth from its skin. It comes at you."

"Arsinua threw bolts of light at it," I said, remembering the force of energy in the room as Arsinua spelled her magic. "It didn't bleed. Well, sorta." I kicked the spider. Did something to distract it, anyway. "I grabbed the glowing stone. The spider had its fangs out." I shuddered. Sorry Neutria, I said, somewhere in the back of my mind, but she wasn't insulted by my remembered fear and disgust. She was pleased.

"When it got close, I struck with the ball. Arsinua struck it too, with magic. The heart was in my shirt. I split apart, outward. Then it all collapsed. The heart did it." For a moment I couldn't breathe then I forced air into my lungs in a painful gasp. "It hurt."

His hand was on my leg, sending those calming waves again. When my breathing evened out, he said, "You will have to put Arsinua away from you. When the time comes, set her apart in your mind. Make her as real in your imagination as you can. Picture exactly how she looked." He stared hard into my eyes. "You will have to do the same, witch."

I will, though I like it not that he can't call me by name.

"She will," I said, a tired smile tickling the corners of my mouth. Arsinua's petulance matched my own every time someone accused me of being ignorant. "Can I get some sleep now?" I could feel myself tilting, but didn't have any desire to stop myself.

From the kitchen, Marantha poked her head around the door. "There's a bed upstairs. Big enough for the both of you."

Big enough for—Oh no. "No. Nope." Tytan scooped me up and I slung an arm around his neck in reflex. I'd never been carried until I met him. I didn't particularly like it. Okay, I did, but I didn't like that I liked it. Did that make sense? Up the stairs and then I tensed, expecting him to give me a toss. Instead he laid me gently on the bed.

Nice, soft bed.

"You aren't sleeping with me," I muttered. I didn't hear what he said. My thoughts flew away on gossamer wings and I slipped into oblivion.

Of course, I woke up with his arm across my middle. Of course, he hadn't listened to me when I'd told him he wasn't sleeping with me. I looked at the ceiling, not sure if I should dare hope that my plan worked. I'd come to think that hope made the fickle fates perk up and take notice, so that they knew what exactly they should screw up. Oh, Devany wants her kids? Great. We'll make sure she never gets them back. What, Devany wants a faithful husband? Goody. Let's shove a perky breasted brunette in his bed and laugh our asses off when she discovers the truth.

"Do you always wake up angry?"

I rolled my head to see Tytan staring languidly back. "Why are you here?"

"Once upon a time, an ancient evil decided she needed minions to torture."

I didn't say a word, giving him my best annoyed-mother face. He didn't bother looking contrite as he said, "I wanted to touch you and feel your warmth."

"You coerced me, forced me to work for you, showed me things that will burn in my memory forever and now you want to be all touchy feely?" My body awoke all over and the press of his arm across my middle became a weighted promise. "Stop that."

"What?" Then he smiled. "I can't help it. It's my nature."

"You're full of bullshit." Which is why I didn't move. Hello? Devany? Sleeping with the enemy much? "You're fallen."

A flash of anger marred the beauty of his face then vanished. "So it appears."

"Which means what?"

His arm moved. I relaxed only to tense when he flattened his hand on my stomach. "This means I'm now a physical presence in the world. This one or yours. It means I can find my soul and reclaim it. If I want to return to the Slip, I have to figure out how to unmake my maker."

Ah. Okay. "But you still have your powers?"

"I have my nature but I can no longer access the power I pulled through Ravana. She severed the connection." 

He looked lost and for a moment, a tiny moment, I fell for that sad little boy look. Then I mentally slapped myself. "Sorry about that." I moved his hand, ignoring the disappointment I felt. I was still married. Still. Married. Still a mother to two kids who needed me, whether they knew it or not. "I'll be glad to help you unmake that one, if you can figure out how. But now, I need to go to the bathroom and then I need to get my kids." I rolled away from him, breathing easier when I'd put some distance between us. I followed the hall until I found a small bathroom. It didn't look like my bathroom at home. In one corner there was a lovely nook with a waterfall that I assumed was the shower. In another corner sat a chair-like thing with a hole in the center. No tank, no pipes that I could see. I shut the door and hoped that it was the toilet. I didn't want to embarrass myself by peeing in a sink or something.

In the sitting room, Marantha had fallen asleep on the couch, the pale skin on her face drawn. Her snores ripped out of her as if she and sleep were fighting. In the kitchen, I saw nothing that resembled a fridge, but found a bowl of fruit. I avoided what I didn't recognize and grabbed an apple, munching as I came out of the kitchen. Tytan came down the stairs and Marantha woke with one last snore that tore at her throat. 

"No!" She blinked furiously. When she saw me, she flushed. "Dreams. Not always soothing, are they?" She disappeared down the hall, presumably to find the bathroom as well. 

Tytan plucked the half-eaten apple from my hand and sunk his teeth into its white flesh. The way he did that sent warmth shivering to my toes and he wasn't even touching me to make that reaction. Nope. That was all me. He held the apple out but I shook my head. So not going there. 

"She fixed the wall," I said, realizing I could no longer look out onto the yard from the couch.

"She called a work crew."

I frowned. "They worked that fast? How long did I sleep?"

"Magic work crew."

"Oh." I chewed at a cuticle. "Still. How long did I sleep?" 

"Enough to refresh you."

Time was eating away at me. I hated the feel of it slipping so quickly through my fingers. "I need to get back to my kids." 

"You will."

An iron taste filled my mouth. I pulled my finger away. I'd made myself bleed. Damn. "You're different," I accused. "Why aren't you threatening me? Pushing me?"

"I'm closer to my soul. It has an effect on all Skriven."

I tipped my head. “You know where she is now?”

He reached out to touch me and I stepped back. “No. Only that she is on the physical plane. Somewhere.”

“
Why do you guys even keep your souls around?”

He grinned. “Spoken like a true Skriven.”

I made a face. “So not one.”

“
If we find our souls and kill them, we are able to challenge our Makers. If we can unmake them, we ascend. It's why they take our souls and hide them away from us. Our only advantage is that the Originators cannot bear the touch of a soul and so they cannot keep them close.” He had a faraway look. I didn't know what it meant and before I could suss it out, Marantha returned. 

"Let's get going. Sooner gone, sooner done." She gestured toward the kitchen. "The drug is in the stoppered bottle on the cabinet. I'm afraid you will have to carry the book, young man."

Tytan chuckled softly. Was it because Marantha had called him young man? Why did I care? He was a demon in all but name. I had to remember that. He would kill his own soul if it meant he could gain more power. If he would do that, he would do anything. Probably had done despicable acts that I didn't even want to contemplate and once he killed his soul ... I shook myself. No. I wouldn't even consider trying to convince him to keep his soul. Ridiculous. It was none of my business anyway. 

My kids. They were my main concern now. I forced the rest out as I picked up the bottle filled with Marantha's potion. I had to get Lucy to drink it. I would, no matter what.

When Ty had the book, Marantha took his hand and mine. I formed the hook, conscious that they both watched me, Marantha with amazement, Tytan with a knowing smile that made me feel both proud and creeped out. 

As the hook opened, smoke boiled from the middle of the wavery formation. I stumbled back, dragging them both with me. The smoke burned and smelled of gunpowder. My legs hit the back of the couch as the ... thing exploded into the room. Marantha tumbled over a small table, knocking the plant on top of her, spilling black dirt against her pale skin. Tytan jumped in front of me, which was rather manly of him. I certainly didn't want to confront whatever it was that had come through.

The gunpowder smell thickened. I sneezed, my back hitting the wall. I had a flashback to where this insanity had all begun, chained and bound in a dirty tent. There were glow rocks in Marantha's home, but I knew better than to grab them. "What is it?"

"It's a syntarsus," Marantha said as she pushed herself free of the table. "A sort of reptilian golem."

The syntarsus looked like a Frankenstein lizard. It had horns down its back like a dinosaur, but the horns glinted in the light because they were metal. One side of its grinning face didn't match the other. From one side it looked like a crocodile, from the other, a T-Rex. I raised my arms, ready to blast it with the heart but Tytan grabbed me. "No. You can't. If you made Ravana your Draw, then the power you pull through her will come right back at you through that thing." He jumped to the side as it swiped at him with one long fingered and wickedly clawed hand. 

I picked up the table and smashed it over its head. The impact vibrated my forearms. I gritted my teeth and brought the table down again. This time it splintered but the syntarsus wasn't fazed. It still had that toothy grin. A blob of drool hung off one saw blade tooth. "If she kills me she loses her pet."

"You humiliated her. She won't stop now until you're dead." Tytan shoved the couch at the thing, driving it back against the wall. The new wall.

"Sorry, Marantha," I said, but she was chanting and a ball of light formed between her hands. I wished I could help but didn't want to be blasted by my own weapon, damn it. 

It tore great gouts of stuffing from the couch, sending the yellowed fluff flying. Tytan's entire body strained against the couch. "Get out of here. I'll hold it off."

Marantha let loose her magic. It broke against the deformed reptile without a ripple. But then I saw a seam on the side of its constructed face open up. It screamed like an angry raptor and sent Tytan flying across the room.

"I have to do something," I said, concentrating on the heart.

No! You will kill yourself. The Skriven is right.

"Then what?" The glowing balls. I could grab one and ...

I know you aren't going to do that again.

The creature ran at me, the side of its face hanging at a disturbing angle. I ducked, but its claws raked my shoulder and drove me to my knees with the pain. The wound felt licked with fire. I rolled over, gasping when my shoulder hit the floor.

Tytan yanked me to my feet, shoving me when the syntarsus swung again. I fell over the destroyed couch and hit my head hard enough to black out for a second. When my consciousness returned, Marantha had hit the thing with another energy blast. This one nearly knocked its face off.

I crawled away from the couch, black spots still occluding my vision. The pain in my shoulder distracted me and I wasn't quick enough to dodge another attack. This one caught me on the hip, but it wasn't the claws this time. The damn thing had latched its jaws onto my flank.

I wrenched and yanked but it had clamped on like a snapping turtle. I saw my face distorted with pain and fear in its dead gaze.

I jabbed my middle finger into the motherfucker's eye. 

It howled and I fell from its grasp. I couldn't move, my leg felt paralyzed. Another ball of energy hit it and its face fell off, leaving strings of shredded skin and a jawbone full of teeth. It came at me, of course it did, and even without half its face it could gut me with its claws.

Tytan flipped the tieback from the curtain around its neck and yanked upward. The rope snapped tight around the monster's neck and its claws missed gutting me by inches. I couldn't tell if Tytan was trying to strangle it or saw its head off. When Marantha let loose her final volley, the rope cut through the neck of the monster and the head fell. Its body hit the carpet and shattered.