“As am I,” Mencheres said.
“Of course you are,” I muttered. “Helicopter mom.”
Ian laughed. Mencheres gave me a dark look that I ignored as I put some much-needed distance between me and Ian on our descent down the mount. Even still, I could feel Ian’s aura enveloping me like a hidden embrace while the weight from his gaze settled into my back as if it were a supernatural anchor.
It hurt so much being near Ian when he wasn’t fully Ian. He might look, sound, and act similar, but this Ian hadn’t shared his secrets with me while also getting me to share my deepest secrets with him. This Ian hadn’t faced Dagon with me, and this Ian hadn’t sacrificed himself for me in what should have been his final act because he’d—almost—fallen in love with me.
No, this Ian’s interest in me boiled down to bruised pride and a determination to obtain knowledge that would put him in more danger than he was already in. If Ian knew that the demon he’d only heard of in passing had killed him . . . he’d never rest until he settled that score. And Ian couldn’t beat Dagon. I wasn’t even sure I could unless I accessed power that might turn me into something worse than Dagon.
That’s why I had to get away from Ian as fast as I could, and I already had a way to do that. For now, I’d let Ian believe he’d won. Men were so much easier to manipulate when they thought they had the upper hand.
Besides, this night might have turned out spectacularly bad for me, but it was about to get a lot better for someone else.
Chapter 5
Silver mobbed me in his usual way when I came through the door of the villa I’d rented. When he saw Ian behind me, the Simargl’s feathers nearly burst off his body from joy.
“Don’t worry, he’s friendly,” I said when Silver dove at Ian, yipping uncontrollably.
Mencheres was nonplussed to see a winged, doglike creature flying around Ian. Ian didn’t appear surprised. He pet Silver during the Simargl’s wild aerial circles, then caught him and hugged him when Silver launched himself at Ian’s chest.
“Who’s a good little lad?” Ian asked, then chuckled when feathers flew as Silver’s wings beat frantically in response.
“You remember him?” I asked in a neutral tone.
He gave me a sardonic look. “I remember killing several vampires to rescue him. Didn’t know why until this moment. He’s the source of the Red Dragon from that night, isn’t he?”
“What else do you remember?” It flew out before I could stop myself. Just as quickly, I regretted it.
Ian’s gaze gleamed. “Wouldn’t you like to know? But it’s my turn to ask questions, and I don’t fancy asking them here. We’ve probably been followed by one of the council’s many pawns.”
“Probably,” I agreed, saying a few quick words over Silver. By the time I was finished, his downy feathers now looked like fur, his wings were nowhere to be seen, and he had a new tail where there had only been a smooth rump before. The dog collar he already wore completed his “normal pet” disguise.
Ian watched, a slight smirk curling his mouth. Did he remember that I was only speaking the spell for Mencheres’s benefit since I didn’t need to say anything in order to practice magic? Or was that one of the memories he no longer had?
It didn’t matter. Time to go. “I know a private place where we can talk,” I said, heading toward the door. “Come.”
Ian blocked my way, moving faster than I thought him capable of. “Déjà vu,” he said in amusement. “Not the first time you’ve spoken to me the same way you’d command your pet, is it? Did you have better results back then? If so, you’re about to be disappointed.”
I closed my eyes. Now Ian wasn’t the only one experiencing déjà vu, though mine came with a stab of pain. Still, he was right. Snapping out commands might give me some much-needed emotional distance, but it wouldn’t work with him. It never had.
“Fine. I’d like you to accompany me to a place I know where we can talk,” I amended. Anything to get across the threshold.
“No.” Ian’s easygoing tone was at odds with the new hardness in his gaze. “You lost your right to pick the spot when you forced me to sue the council to make you stop ignoring me.”
“I didn’t know you’d remembered anything,” I began.
“If you’d read one text or listened to one voicemail, you would have!”
His snarl caught me by surprise. Then it made me angry. True, ignoring him might not have been brave or noble, but I’d earned a little selfish cowardice after sacrificing over four thousand years of vengeance to bring him back to life!
“Who do you think you’re speaking to?” I demanded.
Ian dropped to his knees. At first I thought he was mocking me, then I was alarmed by the way he grabbed his head. That wasn’t mockery. It was agony.
Mencheres shoved me aside to kneel next to Ian. Blood trickled from Ian’s nose, ears, and eyes. Panic froze me. The last time I’d seen Ian bleed from his eyes, he’d died.
“What’s wrong?” I rasped, trying not to scream with fear.
Mencheres didn’t glance up. “Do you even care?”
Only his devotion to Ian kept me from ripping all the water out of him right then. “Yes,” I said, forcing my panic back so I could kneel next to Ian, too. “I care far more than our short time together accounts for,” I admitted.
“When are emotions ever ruled by something as trivial as time?” Mencheres muttered. Then his dark gaze lasered on mine. “From what Bones told me, a creature did this to Ian.”
“A creature?” Whatever it was, I would kill it.
“Bones called it the angel of death,” Mencheres said, stunning me. Now I knew who the “creature” was. “Ian said it was the Grim Reaper. Whatever it was, it told Ian that it could restore part of Ian’s memories, but those memories could break his mind. Nevertheless, Ian insisted.”
“No,” I whispered while Ian clutched his head and more blood poured from him. My Netherworld-warden father had removed Ian’s memories to limit the trauma he and the other resurrected souls had experienced while trapped inside Dagon . . . and to keep them from knowing the extent of the power they’d consumed while devouring their way out of the demon. So why would my father give Ian back some of those memories? More important, why hadn’t he told me?
Ian stopped clutching his head with the same suddenness that he’d dropped to the floor. He was on his feet before I could speak, flicking the blood from his face and frowning at the crimson stains on his white shirt.
“Don’t know why I bother wearing anything other than black.” Then his brow arched as he took in me and Mencheres, still on the floor. “Not dallying there long, are you?”
“Dallying?” I repeated. “Do you have any idea what just happened to you?”
He shrugged. “Vampire version of a nasty migraine. Nothing to fuss about.”
“Nothing to fuss about?” Now Mencheres was the one incredulously repeating Ian. “This is very serious, Ian!”
He rolled his eyes. “Since when did a little blood give a pair of multimillennia-old vampires the vapors? Really, I’m starting to be embarrassed for the both of you.”
“Enough.” Mencheres’s voice was harsh. “I can stand no more of your mockery.”
“Then don’t stand it,” Ian said with equal harshness. “I told you not to appear before the council with me today. You came anyway. I also told you not to follow me and Veritas here, but here you are. Enough, yourself, Mencheres. Let me be.”
“Not until I discover if she played a part in you bargaining your soul,” Mencheres replied in a blistering tone.
Aw, fuck, I thought, just as Mencheres’s power lashed out to immobilize me. That same power caught Ian in its invisible vise, freezing his hands in what looked to be mid tactile spell. Even Silver was trapped by Mencheres’s telekinesis.
I glared at Mencheres. He glared back, now so dispassionate it was unnerving. “I will free your mouth if you promise not to speak a word of a spell against me. Blink once for yes.”
I blinked once. That punishing pressure relaxed from my mouth. “You overstep, Mencheres,” I said with cold fury.
“You have no idea how far I am prepared to ‘overstep’ if it means saving Ian’s soul,” was his equally icy reply.
“I’d be a lot angrier at you if I didn’t feel the same way about him.” Then I paused. Why had I told Mencheres that? Especially with Ian close enough to hear it?
Mencheres came nearer. “Did you play any part in Ian bargaining away his soul to a demon?”
“No.” Who had told Mencheres about that? Ian? I couldn’t ask him. It was clear Mencheres hadn’t released his mouth. It was frozen in a tight-lipped line as Ian glared at his sire.
Mencheres was now right behind me. “Do you know why Ian struck that deal with Dagon?”
“Yes,” I replied, then would have slapped myself if I could have moved my arms. I’d sworn never to tell Mencheres this! So why had I just admitted knowing it?
“Then tell me the reason,” Mencheres all but purred into my ear.
I had to slam my jaws together to keep from replying. Even then, grunts I had no control over came out between my clenched teeth. That’s when I realized what he’d done. At some point, Mencheres had cast a truth spell on me. Good one, old friend!
Still, I wasn’t about to break my vow. You should’ve been more specific about the promise you forced from me, I thought grimly. I don’t need to speak a spell to free myself.
I let my hidden power free. Time froze in the room. Mencheres’s hold over me snapped as it immobilized him in the moment. Freed from his grip, I walked to the door, calling out for Silver.
The Simargl flew over to me just as Ian took a step forward, stopped as if he was stunned that he could move, then took another step, this time in my direction.
I was also stunned. “How are you now immune to time freezing?” As soon as I asked it, I knew. Ian must have absorbed this immunity from Dagon. What other abilities did Ian now have?
He flashed a quick grin at me. “Must be the demon brands. They do have their perks before the bill comes due.”
He still thought Dagon owned his soul? I’d clear that up later. Right now, I had to get away from him. I grabbed Silver, opened the door and stepped over the villa’s threshold.
Ian was in front of me in the next instant, shocking me again. Had he . . . had he just teleported?
“What’s this?” he snarled when he reached for me, but couldn’t get past the threshold.
“Insurance,” I replied in an even tone. “I spelled the villa. Anyone can enter, but no one aside from me and Silver can leave until after dawn.”
He gave me a look of such frustration, I almost smiled. Now he knew how I’d felt the past twenty-four hours. “That’s why you insisted on coming back here,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Yes. I even have my bags already stowed in my car,” I added in a mocking tone. If I were lucky, I’d make Ian so angry, he’d never want to see me again. “This villa’s privately owned, so demons can’t enter unless invited, but do yourself a favor when the spell lifts. Leave the country and then lay low. You’ve already put yourself in danger by broadcasting your whereabouts with this lawsuit. Don’t make it easier on the demons looking for you with more splashy public appearances.”
Something gleamed in his eyes. An expectant light that belied his trapped circumstances. “We’re not nearly finished with each other, my clever, calculating wife.”
I flinched at the “w” word. His mouth curled when he saw it. Then I forced myself to smile back as if I hadn’t a care in the world. “As I said, the spell that’ll keep you inside the villa abates at dawn, but the time-freezing spell will drop soon after I leave. I’m sure Mencheres will enjoy having your undivided attention for the next several hours.”
“Clever, calculating, and cruel.” Ian’s voice dropped to an insinuating purr. “No wonder I married you.”
Damn him! I couldn’t stand to be reminded that I had the legal status of something denied to me in every way that counted—a place in his life. To cover that, I gave another fake smile.
“Good-bye, Ian.”
“For now,” he said in a tone that reminded me of velvet-lined whips. “But not for long.”
Chapter 6
He’s bluffing.
I repeated that over and over during my drive to Mycenae. As luck would have it, one of my leads on another possible resurrected soul was only about two hours away. I drove straight there since I’d already lost over a day dealing with the disastrous court hearing. Silver would just have to wait in the car while I found out if this was a real sighting or another false lead. Either way, once I was finished, I intended to follow my own advice and get the hell out of Greece.
I hoped Ian did, too, as soon as the spell lifted. He couldn’t be so reckless as to stay and keep looking for me, could he? My stomach clenched. Yes. Ian was fearless and he didn’t remember how powerful Dagon was. Or how vindictive.
I had to make sure that he left. I drove one-handed while I dug through my purse for my mobile. Then I called the number I’d programmed in several weeks ago. Instead of the male British voice I expected, a woman with an American accent answered.
“Bones’s phone. You’ve got Cat because he’s busy.”
“Hi, Cat,” I said with false cheerfulness. She wasn’t my intended victim, but Ian had me so wired up on frustration and fear, she’d do. “Are you or Bones near Greece?”
“Veritas? What’s wrong?” Cat asked, sounding wary now.
“What’s wrong?” It burst out of me loud enough to make Silver jump. “You and Bones promised to keep Ian safe, but less than one month after I leave him with you, he’s angering the highest court in vampire society while practically GPS-ing his location to Dagon since everyone knows where the council meets when they’re in session!”
“Now, look—” Cat began.
“I still don’t know if it was Ian’s stunning bribe or the council’s shock that someone had the balls to sue them that kept them from sentencing him to death!” I continued to rage. “Either way, I’ve got Ian safely confined in a villa with Mencheres until dawn, but he needs to get out of Greece as soon as the spell lifts. Obviously, I can’t trust Ian to stay out of danger on his own, so I ask again, are you or Bones near Greece?”
“Are you done?” Cat asked in a sharp tone.
“Yes, and I’m waiting for your reply.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean are you done talking,” she said, now sounding dangerously cheerful. “I meant, are you done losing your shit? Because if you think you’re fed up after dealing with Ian for one night, try dealing with him for the past few weeks. Bones and I have chased him all over the fucking world trying to get him to listen to reason, and thanks for telling us that Ian can now teleport, by the way! I’ve had better luck chasing a ghost, and I mean that literally.”
“Ian can teleport?” I’d so hoped what I’d seen at the villa had just been him moving very fast . . .
“Yeah, and last week, Ian let us know he was sick of us trying to baby-sit him by leaving a few spells behind for us. One of the spells turned me mute for two days, and another melted Bones’s fangs off! I didn’t even know that was possible—”
This was backfiring fast. “Uh, I’m very sorry—”
“—but his fangs were gone! Ian’s lucky they grew back or I’d be hunting him down, all right, and that demon would have nothing on what I’d do to Ian once I caught him.”
“Perhaps calling you wasn’t such a good idea,” I muttered.
“You bet it wasn’t,” she flared. Then her tone softened. “Look, I get that you’re scared for him. I don’t want Ian to get hurt, either. But he’s made it clear he won’t be controlled by Bones, by me, or anyone else. I give it two minutes after your spell’s up before he’s gotten away from Mencheres, too. So, if you want Ian out of Greece, you’ll have to get him out yourself. You’re the one he’s obsessed with anyway.”
“I can’t.”
Despite my effort to maintain control, my voice cracked at the last word. “It’s not safe,” I finished in a stronger tone.
Cat sighed. “I know you said demons were after you, but that’s not going to stop Ian. He’s not the run-and-hide type. He’s the stay-and-fight type. Believe me, we tried to get him to change, and we failed.”
I almost flung my mobile through the windshield, because she was right. Dammit, she was right! Ian had never backed down from a fight, no matter the danger. Now what was I supposed to do?
As if I’d asked that out loud, Cat said, “If I were you, I’d concentrate on killing whoever is threatening Ian. I know that’s damn near impossible, but I still think you’ll have a better chance against a bunch of pissed-off demons than you will at getting Ian to suddenly stay inside and take up knitting.”
She was probably right again, but I had an oath to fulfill. Still, this was one more reason to want Dagon dead, and I didn’t have to abandon my oath to search for the other resurrected souls in order to kill Dagon. I could multitask.
“My apologies for my misdirected ire before,” I said.
Cat grunted. “Don’t worry. Love makes us all crazy—”
I hung up so fast, I didn’t hear the rest of her reply. Was what I felt for Ian that obvious? Silver whined, laying his head on the console between our seats. He always sensed when I needed comforting, and yes, I needed it badly right now.
Still, I had a job to do. That’s why I pet his head only once before turning my attention back to the road.
The day before yesterday, a man had been arrested for causing a disturbance at the famed Lion Gate in the ancient city of Mycenae. Nothing unusual there, except cell-phone video showed the man shouting in a sixth-century b.c.e. Greek dialect. Add the man’s off-camera escape from no fewer than five security officers, and this was a lead I would have investigated right away if I hadn’t had to rush off to court.
If this was another resurrected soul and Ian’s lawsuit meant that Dagon beat me to him again, I’d be so pissed.