Unreap My Heart (The Reaper Series) (28 page)

“You think I’m the good guy?” he whispered. She continued trembling, worse now. He leaned down until his lips touched her ear. “I’m not.”

Every breath she took smelled of the Demon King. She whimpered at the memory of the gross thing lying on top of her. Her skin crawled.

“That should scare you.”

She swallowed, but maintained eye contact. When he looked at her the way he did now, like he carried all the pain in the universe on his shoulders, she couldn’t turn away.

“Why?” she managed to say.

He leaned forward until his forehead touched the wall she leaned on. Arianne felt the knife slice through the buckle into the leather of his shirt. She inhaled sharply. She tried to pull back, but his grip tightened, keeping her in place.

“Because I have nothing to lose,” he said softly, dangerously.

Arianne’s trembling turned into shudders. Like before, the knife wanted to jump out of her grasp. Arianne tightened her grip on it. She felt it beg her to let go so it could bury itself into Balthazar’s chest. She considered it. But now, while his blood dripped down her hands, she couldn’t seem to go through with killing him anymore. He might be a killer, but not Arianne. Balthazar had been right. She wasn’t as bad as she thought she was—no matter what she’d done in her life. No longer looking into Balthazar’s intense gaze, she closed her eyes. She had to think, and think fast.

“Do it.” His voice trembled too now. “Just do it and save us both the trouble.”

She licked her bottom lip and forced the fear caused by her encounter with the Demon King out of her mind.
Nothing happened,
she told herself repeatedly. Balthazar got there just in time. He saved her. If he’d really wanted to sell her to the highest bidder for the night, he wouldn’t have pulled the Demon King away. Right?

He’d killed for her.

He’d saved her.

She repeated the words until she believed them.

Still with her eyes closed, she said his name.

“What are you waiting for?” His grip tightened on her wrist, forcing the blade further.

Opening her eyes wide, Arianne said, “No!”

That one word sounded like a bullet out of a gun.

Balthazar stilled, his hard breathing the only movement he made above her. The way the blood trickled from the wound the knife had created in his chest, his heart slammed as hard as hers. Quickly, Arianne realized she had to make this right. If she really wanted to find the Redeemer, she had to be the bigger person—like Carrie had taught her.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to breathe. When her heart didn’t feel so much like a fist inside her chest, she uncurled one of her hands off the knife’s handle. Slick with Balthazar’s blood, she curled her fingers around the back of his neck. When she squeezed at the tension there, she felt Balthazar take a shuddering breath. His grip loosened against her wrist, and he dropped his hand to his side. Arianne quickly lowered the blade and used her free hand to staunch the bleeding on Balthazar’s chest. In her palm, she felt his powerful heart beating.

Staring up at the ceiling, she channeled Carrie and leaned against Balthazar until their cheeks touched. Into his ear she whispered, “I forgive you.”

For the third time that night, Balthazar stilled like a statue.

Like Carrie had always told her, forgiveness wasn’t for the benefit of the person being forgiven. It set the person doing the forgiving free. Arianne let go of what Balthazar did tonight. He’d asked her how far she would go to save Ben. Because she agreed, he took it to the extremes. She should have known better. Now she did.

“You got here in time,” she repeated.

Balthazar pulled away from her. “Don’t pity me.”

His words shocked her. “Pity you?”

He pinned her with an unforgiving glare. “You forgive me?
You
forgive
me?”
He punched a hole into the wall too close to her head.

Arianne flinched, but didn’t move away. Plaster tumbled down her shoulder when Balthazar pulled his fist out of the hole he’d made.

“Don’t make me want to kill you again,” she said, eyes wide, unable to believe the turn of events. Did she really think someone like Balthazar would take her act of kindness graciously?

He tilted his head back and laughed.

Balthazar had gone from homicidal to suicidal and now to hysterical. She stared, unbelieving. He’d saved her, and when she’d forgiven him for being a complete jerk, he laughed in her face. Nothing seemed to be going right in this scenario. In her head, she’d imagined this going another way, a much more sane way.

It took Balthazar a minute to compose himself. He wiped a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye, then shook his head. He chuckled a couple more times before he resettled his gaze on Arianne.

He took a couple of deep breaths. “Get dressed. We’re out of here.”

“Huh?”

Arianne now had the strength to push away from the wall. She trembled more from anger than fear. One day, what happened with the Demon King would haunt her. For now, adrenaline and a prayer were the only things keeping her together. She could fall apart later…when all this was over. Why process what Balthazar had saved her from and give herself additional worries? Instead, just to get moving, she pushed against his chest. He didn’t bleed anymore.

“That’s all you’re gonna say?”

Balthazar stepped back as if she’d pushed him hard enough to actually unbalance him. She knew it wasn’t the case because he was built as solid as a brick house. Nothing could move him if he didn’t want it to.

“Zakariel’s waiting for us downstairs. We still have to pick up your friend from his holding cell.”

Hearing about Ben got Arianne thinking straight again. “We’re taking him with us?”

Balthazar nodded. “The Redeemer really wants him. So I made a deal with Zakariel. We get to see the Redeemer in exchange for Ben.”

“You’re not really thinking of giving him to the Redeemer, are you?” Arianne frowned. She picked up the knife, silently thanking it for helping her out too. It warmed in her hand, as if saying “you’re welcome.” She smiled. At least it knew how to accept gratitude. Unlike some people.

“Not your choice.”

“And why’s that?”

He sighed, looking away from her. “Ben’s slowly turning into a Wraith.”

Arianne’s stomach twisted. “You’re lying.”

“Not about this.”

Ben? A Wraith? A creature so filled with hate it fed on the souls of others. If Ben turned into a Wraith, he’d be cursed forever. Arianne couldn’t let that happen.

“What’s the Redeemer going to do with him?” she asked.

Balthazar shrugged. “Like I’d know. But like the name means, the job of a Redeemer is to redeem.”

“And if we don’t get to Haven in time?”

“I kill him.”

Chapter 31

NP

L
IKE
A G
IRL
P
OSSESSED
, Arianne moved quickly. She sprinted out of the bedroom, presumably to change back into her regular clothes. It couldn’t happen fast enough for Balthazar. He preferred seeing her in her leather pants and layers of shirts and sweaters than the slave uniform Solara deemed appropriate. The less skin she showed him the better. His blood still ran a little too hot for his taste when it concerned Arianne.

She’d taken the knife that almost ended everything for him with her. So much for swiping, and possibly getting rid of it. The crazy part? He’d been ready to give her his life. He’d made it easy for her by making the first stab. All she had to do was shove the blade the rest of the way. His heart would have exploded, the special blade preventing it from regenerating. The end of Balthazar. He wouldn’t have been missed.

He felt her consider it for a second, too. Then in a sick twist, she’d forgiven him.

Balthazar’s gut crumpled.

No one had ever forgiven him for anything. His mother never had to. Thankfully, she didn’t live long enough to see what had become of him—to see that she’d been right to create the knife. And now this girl, tethered to her human body by a single flimsy thread, had taken it upon herself to forgive him.

He moved his gaze from the bedroom entryway to the Demon King’s limp body. When he’d burst into the room, he’d seen its massive body on the bed, and just underneath it a squirming Arianne. His gaze tunneled, seeing nothing but red. He blacked out after that.

The next thing he remembered, he’d let go of the dead Demon King. From the marks on the demon’s neck, he’d drained him. Fresh life force filled his body to bursting. If he could puke out the excess energy, he would have. But why did he have to break the creature’s neck? That seemed a little excessive even for his standards. He usually left his dinner alone after he’d finished with it. Balthazar’s gaze shifted to the stab wound in the Demon King’s belly.

Come to think of it, Arianne had been holding on to the knife when he’d regained consciousness.

So, the little girl got a stab in, did she?

Balthazar rubbed his chin, a grin playing on his lips. He knew she had fire in her, but to actually defend herself against a Demon King? The creature might not have even felt the stab. His mother’s blades could kill, but the victim wouldn’t feel the blow. His mother, insane yet humane until the bitter end.

Arms crossed, Balthazar wondered what to do with the body.

No use hiding it.

Burning it might set the room on fire too.

After the Underball, the rooms would be cleaned and the guests accounted for. If the Demon King didn’t make an appearance, Solara would be pissed. Bad for business to have customers croaking.

In the end, Balthazar decided to leave the body alone. Located at the end of the hall on the top floor, his suite would be the last to be cleaned. Except…that meant they had to leave. Like
, yesterday
.

Turning on his heel, he reentered the living room, catching Arianne strapping the knife to her thigh. His finally cooler blood boiled to raging again. Unthinking, Balthazar grabbed her by the waist and pushed her up against the wall. She looked up at him like she always did when he leaned over her this way. He liked this position. Perhaps his favorite so far. He searched her face and found a question mark there.

“I thought we’re in a hurry?” she asked, confirming the thoughts he felt in her head.

“Ask me to kiss you,” he said impulsively. He couldn’t take it back now. His eyes dropped to her lips. He had to taste her again.

Like a flower retreating into itself, Arianne’s lips disappeared into her mouth. A pained groan escaped him. He couldn’t help himself. He’d asked for his current humiliation, so he had to man up and take it. Arianne met his gaze and shook her head.

Unable to get what he wanted most, Balthazar thumped his forehead on the wall three times before he pushed away from her rose-scented body. He noticed that she’d washed off as much of the Demon King’s stench from her skin as she could without having to bathe. Just thinking of the scum pinning her down made him see red again. His fangs ached to sink themselves into the demon’s neck and tear it open.

As he backed away, Balthazar took solace in the fact that Solara would definitely be pissed when she found the body. He took a deep breath, keeping his gaze anywhere but on Arianne.

She pushed away from the wall and gathered her things, shrugging on her jacket and slinging the pack over her shoulder.

“Did you really have to turn the door into toothpicks?” she asked, dodging the splinters while making her way to the gaping entrance to the suite.

Balthazar strode out and said when he passed her, “Never liked that door anyway.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you actually cared.”

“Don’t push it.”

He felt her smile in his head instead of actually seeing it. He kept his eyes straight ahead because if he stared at her too long he’d end up pinning her against another wall. One humiliation for the night was enough.

Maybe he was coming down with something?

He must have contracted something before he’d left the Nethers. Something nasty. He’d never been this way with anyone. Sure, he’d had lovers out of physical necessity. None of those encounters resembled relationships in any way.

Relationship.

Balthazar shuddered at the word. What did they say about relationships? It wasn’t one unless someone was in pain?

The thorn in his side reminded him she existed by asking, “What about the Demon King?”

He grunted, feeling the proverbial pain. “What about it?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a couple people won’t like the fact that he’s dead?”

He liked it a little too much when she turned sarcastic on him. Balthazar pushed away the useless emotion when they reached the first flight of steps. “Zakariel is waiting for us outside the mansion. We’ll grab Ben and leave.”

Arianne did her best to catch up with him. She moved faster already. His plan of having her match his pace by slowly increasing it had worked.