Unreap My Heart (The Reaper Series) (11 page)

“Go.” Granmare pointed at the door. “Let me work in peace.”

Balthazar didn’t look back when he left.

“Now, my dear—” the witch turned to her “—let me give you what that foolish boy paid for.”

“He’s not foolish,” Arianne said. For giving a drop of his blood, the least she could do was defend the annoying oaf. “He’s going out of his way to help me, so if there’s anyone foolish here it’s me.”

“My, my, my.” Granmare Baba gasped, spreading her hand at the center of her chest. “You have a mouth on you. I will so enjoy watching what happens to you when the time comes.”

A chill went down Arianne’s back. She’d almost been afraid to ask, “What do you mean?”

Granmare Baba only smiled her yellow toothy smile before she went about putting things together in a large cauldron that seemed to have magically appeared in the center of the round room.

Chapter 11

RBTL

S
HE’D
D
EFENDED
H
IM
. To Granmare Baba no less.

Balthazar stood wide-eyed outside the hut listening to the witch and the girl. Either Arianne was a pure soul or was ignorantly assuming he held any good in him. And what did they say about people who assumed? It made an ass of everyone involved. He shook his head to clear it. He felt more comfortable thinking of her as an idiot who didn’t know any better. She’d learn soon enough that he wasn’t some project she could save. He’d been broken long ago. No fixing needed. He liked it that way, thank you very much. In fact, he’d spent years getting his abrasiveness just right—set to annoy even the saintliest of creatures.

He walked a few steps away from the hut the second he heard the clattering inside. Granmare Baba had something up her sleeve. When she didn’t ask for a trade for the Angel’s tears cure, it raised his guard. He’d barely kept his composure while they haggled. If his mask slipped, she’d figure out that he was onto her. But knowing Granmare Baba, whatever she planned didn’t have immediate consequences. Balthazar prepared for every eventuality. Surviving meant being one step ahead of everyone else. That included the great Granmare Baba. Infinite possibilities presented themselves when it came to one of the witch’s schemes. It meant having a plan for each letter of the alphabet.

Asking for a drop of his blood was standard. He’d expected it. A drop wasn’t enough for her to control someone like him. He’d transcended petty tricks like that. Five drops maybe, but one wasn’t enough for a decent spell. He didn’t care what she did with his blood. As long as he got what he needed to make protecting Arianne a little easier, he’d consider the bargain fair. Nothing came free in the Underverse, and he’d willingly pay a high price for D’s seat. His payment had begun with his banishment, but soon he would reap the benefits of his sacrifices. This trip with Arianne was a minor detour. He’d waited a millennium for his chance. A few more days didn’t matter much.

Balthazar had no doubt Granmare Baba would be successful in masking Arianne’s residual energy. The witch was good at her job. He itched at the thought of the first test. The Ghoul Woods. He had no choice. To get to the Voyeur’s territory, they had to pass through the bleeding woods. Considering the time they had left—assuming his calculations were correct, and he prided himself on always being right—they didn’t have any other options. The Ghoul Woods formed a straight shot to the Voyeur. Dangerous, but what wasn’t here?

He squinted at the Sorrow Flats—probably the easiest part of their journey. Nothing called the flats home because of the hallucinogenic mounds of powder. Granmare Baba may be the second easiest—although they still stayed in the red. If you didn’t play by the witch’s rules, you might as well carve out your own heart. Arianne had enough smarts to understand, but how long would their luck last? Balthazar feared they’d maxed out already. His chest tightened from hunger. Damn. He couldn’t hold out much longer. He’d have to hunt, and soon. He wouldn’t walk into Voyeur territory with reserves running low.

After making up his mind to hunt once they’d set up camp for the night, Balthazar removed his overcoat and slung it over the barbwire fence. The spikes wouldn’t scratch the material—things made of demon wing leather could take a nuclear explosion and all they’d need was a quick dusting off afterward. Things worse than nukes lived in the Underverse, and no amount of demon wing leather could stop them.

He checked the buckles all over his body, starting with his boots then moving up to his calves, thighs, hips, torso, chest, and each of his arms. He ended with the four around his neck. All strapped in nice and tight, he fished out an orange-sized crystal ball from one of the side pockets of his coat. He brought the ball to his lips and blew on it. A dark swirl formed at the center. It took a second for the smoke to solidify into a miniature version of D.

The Master of the Crossroads looked far worse than when they’d left him. The pool of blood around him had now become a lake. The lower half of his body was drenched. His breathing seemed shallower than before, and his skin looked more gray than white.

“Still stuck to the chair, huh?” Balthazar said.

“Still a grade-A a-hole, I see,” D answered back without lifting his head.

Balthazar chuckled then winced when he heard Arianne yelp. Granmare Baba had begun. The girl would be pissed at him after. He actually looked forward to it. The fire in her eyes when she was angry warmed him. Grinning, he returned his attention to the crystal ball after giving the hut a quick glance over his shoulder.

“Still not telling me who stabbed you?” He shrugged. “I don’t want any traitors when I start my rule of the Crossroads, D.”

D finally lifted his head, his androgynous face in a grimace. A lock of his now-dull sunshine hair fell over a sweat-riddled forehead. The small image didn’t give Balthazar a clear view of the emotion in D’s light-fracturing eyes—never a single color at any given time. Not that he needed the facial cue to judge D’s mood. Being stabbed brought out the worst in anyone.

“I trust you’re on your way to the Voyeur and that Arianne is safe?”

Balthazar grinned. “Took a slight detour.”

“What’s going on in that devious head of yours, Balthazar?”

“I had to do something about her human scent. You know that. Something you neglected to tell her. The Underverse is a feeding ground and she’s lunch. You like making my life just a little harder.”

“I trusted you’d do something about it.”

He growled. “You underestimate me, D. You know that’s a mistake.”

“Regardless of how you feel about me, Balthazar, I still believe there’s good—”

Balthazar didn’t let D finish the rest of his words. He chucked the crystal ball out into the flats until it landed quite a distance away in a broken heap. Shit. He shouldn’t have done that. He’d have a hell of a time finding another communication crystal. Oh well. His lips twitched. It felt good throwing D away.

An explosion in Granmare Baba’s hut whirled Balthazar around. A large plume of blue smoke rose from the chimney. He snatched his coat from the fence and shrugged it back on. Time to get going. He gave his communication crystal one last look before he returned to the hut.

“Get in here, boy!” Granmare Baba hollered.

Balthazar ducked into the hut and stopped at the door, letting his eyesight adjust to the gloom. His gaze skipped the tall, long-haired woman in leather pants and a corset standing by the smoking caldron and landed on the girl sitting on the cot. Arianne seemed in one piece. But with Granmare Baba, you could never be too sure. The only difference? A curling tattoo wrapping around Arianne’s neck like a choker and a ring with a slowly pulsing black gem on her index finger.

“Admiring my handiwork?” Granmare Baba asked, her long fingers clutching her narrow hips. “It took a while for me to completely mask her scent.”

“The tattoo,” Balthazar said, never taking his eyes off Arianne. He let his other senses assure him Granmare Baba hadn’t messed with the girl. No one else had that right.

“You were always a smart one.” The witch gave him a flirtatious smile that he ignored. “A foolish boy, but a smart one.” She reached for Arianne’s neck. The girl had the sense to stay still. “The mark will deter anyone who thinks she is more than she is. They will see a slave, not a morsel from the human world.”

Her hand shot out and wrapped around Balthazar’s wrist. A burning sensation kept him from pulling away. The same blue smoke that curled out of the chimney escaped between his skin and Granmare Baba’s hand. When the witch let go, she left behind the same tattoo design on his wrist.

“What did you do?” Balthazar growled. Screw the
don’t speak until spoken to
rule.

She laughed—a scratchy throat sound that didn’t match the sexpot standing in front of him. “I merely masked her scent with yours. For the duration of this journey, she is attached to you as your servant.” She lifted her hand when Balthazar continued to growl at her. “You are facing the Voyeur. That jealous whore will not touch her if she thinks the girl is your slave.”

Balthazar reined in the urge to ring the old hag’s neck.

“Good boy,” she said, treating Balthazar like a loyal hound. “You know I am right. I increased her chances of survival by tethering her to you.”

“I would have protected her just fine.” He was no longer growling, but Balthazar still bared his teeth at the witch and hissed. “You didn’t have to bind us!”

She laughed again. “But it’s more fun this way.” Then she sobered. “Now, your payment, if you please.”

“I shouldn’t—”

A dark aura spiked out of Granmare Baba. Her hair danced like snakes around her head. Her eyes turned all white. “Don’t even think of reneging on your payment, Balthazar.”

Seeing no other way out, Balthazar took a needle from an inside pocket of his coat and pricked the tip of his finger. A ruby red drop gathered. The aura around Granmare Baba disappeared. She moved closer, groping for Balthazar’s hand like a hungry street child. She took the tip of Balthazar’s finger into her mouth and licked away the drop. Balthazar stood still, watching the witch closely. Before she could take more than his promised drop, he yanked his hand away and closed the wound. The witch licked her lips like a cat finished with a bowl of cream.

“I missed the taste of you, Balthazar. You have matured with age,” she said between smacks of her black lips. “Your sweet, sweet blood has always been my favorite.”

“The ring?” he asked.

“When the gem stops pulsing, you are too late,” she purred.

“And the information?”

“She knows enough not to make mistakes.”

Balthazar looked at Arianne, who nodded at him once. He hooked his finger at her, and she immediately stood up, slinging her pack over her shoulder. Granmare Baba closed her hand around Arianne’s arm, stopping the girl from coming to him.

“Uh, uh, uh.” She shook her head. “You must be forgetting something.”

Reaching into another pocket, Balthazar tossed Granmare Baba the hoof of a Nightmare Steed. She caught it with her free hand. Then she sniffed Arianne from neck to temple. Arianne didn’t flinch, but she visibly shook. With their new connection—annoying Balthazar already—he could feel the tight band of fear around her chest. He pushed away his predatory instincts to pounce and diluted her fear with his own calm until her breathing went from shallow to regular.

“See?” Granmare Baba said. “Isn’t that much easier?” To Arianne she whispered loud enough for Balthazar to hear. “Fear is such a dangerous emotion to have in the presence of a predator.”

Balthazar froze. His breath caught in his lungs. Damn the loose cannon old hag. He’d had to save Arianne from Angel’s tears hallucinations because she got it into her head that he’d have her eaten. Having her actually think
he
might eat her despite his assurances…he couldn’t fathom it. If Granmare Baba told her anything more, he didn’t know how the girl would react. He didn’t need a hysterical Arianne on his hands. She had handled things well so far, considering.

“Thank you for the advice, Granmare Baba,” Arianne said, her gaze locked with Balthazar’s. “I’ll make sure to remember that.”

Balthazar breathed easier again.

“Then go.” Granmare Baba released Arianne. “Pleasure doing business with you, Balthazar. Don’t let another millennium pass without coming to see me.”

Lips a tight line, Balthazar nodded at the witch. When Arianne reached him, he ushered her out of the hut. He made sure to put the bulk of his body between the hut and the girl.

“Don’t look back,” he told her. He kept his hands on her shoulders to keep her from doing the exact opposite of what he’d said. “Keep moving.”

“Consider what I told you about Nikolas, my dear,” Granmare Baba called after them.

Arianne flinched at her words. The witch hadn’t been off base in her warning. The sooner Arianne found out who Nikolas truly was, the sooner she’d realize he wasn’t capable of love.

When they cleared the barbed wire fence, Arianne said, “For a really old witch, she seemed nice.”

A thundering laugh came from behind them. Balthazar’s lips twitched at the sarcasm in Arianne’s tone. Oh, she was learning all right.