Gabriel.
Rhyn’s summons came at a bad time. Gabriel finished collecting the souls from the bowl then straightened, motioning to Landon. Andre had tipped them off about another, smaller warehouse. This one was the size of a small apartment, stacked ceiling to floor with bodies. Ten demons guarded this one, two of which he’d slaughtered before leaving his dealers to handle the rest to search for souls.
“Rhyn’s calling. Can you handle this?” he asked Landon.
Landon nodded.
“I’ll take these to the lake. Stay available.” Gabriel summoned a portal and emerged at the lake.
He froze. He could feel that something happened. It was a new kind of sense, one he’d never experienced before. Something was broken and for once, it wasn’t Death’s domain. Another sense grew stronger. It was familiar. He last experienced it …
… Monday night, when Deidre had gone to Hell. He didn’t understand it at the time. It was less an instinct and more of an absence of something. A warmth at the edge of his mind.
Gabriel.
He started towards the fortress at a trot, struggling to decipher the instincts of a deity. Something broken and something missing. His pace quickened, and he left the forest and trotted to the Immortals’ stronghold. His attention shifted from his thoughts to the scene before him, and he slowed.
Rhyn and Andre stood near Darkyn between two lines, one of Immortals and the opposite of demons larger than any Gabriel had ever seen. Both demon lord and half-demon were bristling with power, the Dark One’s growl audible long before Gabriel reached them. He paused near the crack in the ground.
He saw it once before, when he was seventeen. When Darkyn’s demons had wiped out his village, a tiny stopover on their journey to enslave the mortal realm.
“Gabriel.” Only Andre would manage to sound calm standing before two creatures with enough power to turn him to dust.
“What’s going on?” Gabriel asked, hands on the hilts of his weapons.
He wasn’t expecting anyone but Andre to answer. The two demons were locked in a silent staring contest. When he was close enough, Darkyn addressed him.
“My mate. Now,” the Dark One snarled. His eyes were cold and sharp. With the tear between worlds, he was able to use more of the power normally restricted to Hell. Dark power surged around him.
“Where’s your Deidre?” Rhyn asked Gabriel, his gaze never leaving Darkyn.
Gabriel summoned her with enough power that she wasn’t able to ignore him, even if she was upset.
No response.
He waited another moment, unleashing his senses.
He should be able to find his mate no matter where she was – but couldn’t.
Something missing.
If he couldn’t find her, she was in one of two places: Hell or the underworld.
“What the fuck happened?” he asked, focusing on Andre.
“You fucking tell me.” The Dark One faced him.
Gabriel didn’t react, instead motioning to Andre to do something about Rhyn, who was ready to explode. The half-demon had the impact of a nuclear bomb with absolutely no control. He summoned Landon and gave his second-in-command an urgent message.
Find my mate.
“I want my mate,” Darkyn repeated.
“Harder to hang onto than you thought?” Gabriel couldn’t help baiting the enraged demon. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to rationalize that both Deidres had gone to Darkyn instead of trusting him without resentment.
The Dark One approached him. They circled one another.
“I will destroy you and your underworld and anything else between,” Darkyn growled.
“An eternity in Hell or what? Poor girl probably dove off a cliff.”
“Unlike yours, my mate accepts her place.”
“I fucked ‘em both, Darkyn. You’ll never live that down.”
The demon stopped, rigid enough Gabriel knew it wouldn’t take much more to make him snap.
“Gabriel, let’s not lose focus,” Andre said calmly. “Your past is irrelevant. We need to resolve this.” The Immortal approached with caution, his movements deliberate and his voice steady and low.
“Boss,” Landon appeared. He took in the situation and stepped back.
Gabriel glanced at him. Landon shook his head.
“Seems both girls are missing,” Gabriel said, zeroing in on Darkyn. “Where’s my mate?”
“Not in Hell, where she belongs,” Darkyn snapped.
“Gabriel.”
“Now you fucking show up,” Gabriel replied to Wynn.
“You both might be interested in this.” Andre’s gaze was beyond the two deities. He nudged Gabriel’s arm. “Come closer, Wynn.”
Darkyn didn’t move, and neither did Gabriel. Two forms came into his peripheral and stopped just out of their reach. The Dark One’s fathomless eyes were colder than a winter night, and Gabriel wasn’t about to back down this time. He’d let the demon bait him before at Deidre’s old apartment, before the truth was revealed.
“My lord.” The girl’s voice was timid and raspy, no more than a whisper.
Gabriel looked and so did Darkyn.
Wynn stood with a slender teen demoness, half of whose face was knotted with thick scars. Her eyes were the same shade as Darkyn’s, her skin pale. As soon as the Dark One’s gaze fell to her, she dropped into a deep curtsy.
Darkyn gave a low order in the demon language. The girl scrambled up and approached him, eyes on the ground. With little gentleness, the Dark One took her neck when she was close enough. She closed her eyes, unmoving. He released her, and she gave another curtsy then took a few steps back.
“My guess is that the Deidres are missing together,” Wynn murmured.
“Fucking death dealers,” the Dark One muttered. He twisted and motioned one of the waiting demons forward. Sheathing his dagger, he issued a sharp order to the girl. She obeyed quickly, hurrying towards the demon.
“She told you where they were,” Gabriel guessed. “Where?”
“Fuck you.” Darkyn spun on his heel and strode towards his demons.
“Hell or the underworld?” Rhyn asked. “Either one, I can get into. Don’t think anyone else here can say that.”
“You won’t get past my demons this time, half-breed. No one will.”
“If they aren’t in Hell, they can only be one other place where I can’t sense them,” Gabriel said. “Somewhere you can’t go without my agreement.”
Darkyn stopped.
“Unless you don’t plan on going after your blood-bound mate yourself.”
The demon was still.
“You will fucking tell me, Darkyn, or I will make sure you never find her.”
The Dark One faced him. Gabriel stood his ground as the demon strode to him. The others stepped back quickly.
“This is because you did not heed my advice,” Darkyn hissed. “I warned you. You win your battles or they destroy you!” He shoved Gabriel.
Gabriel shoved him back.
“This shit I can handle. Back off, Andre,” Rhyn said. He planted a hand on the chest of each man and pushed them a part. “Let’s get one thing straight. You brought your shit into my backyard. You want my help getting your women back, you shut the fuck up and listen.”
Gabriel said nothing, anger barely contained.
“We’re going to make a little deal, the three of us. Everyone gets to name one thing they want,” Rhyn said. “I’ll start. Darkyn, you keep the fuck away from my daughter. Forever. Gabe, your turn.”
“Permission to traverse Hell to get to the underworld,” Gabriel said without hesitation.
“Permission to access and leave the underworld to claim my mate, with power intact, no interference from you, and no unwritten terms,” the demon lord replied.
“No deal,” Gabriel said. “You want to come in, you can’t bring Hell with you.”
“Your dealers are rebelling. If I have no power, my mate is defenseless.”
Gabriel
said nothing, troubled by the idea of either girl being unable to help herself. At the same time, he couldn’t jeopardize the underworld more.
“No deal,” he repeated. “You come in without power. We leave the gateway between the two open, so she can access Hell’s magic.”
“I retain the ability to heal myself and my mate,” Darkyn said.
“Deal.”
“You traverse my domain without power,” the demon lord countered. “You, the half-breed, and two Immortals of his choosing.”
“I’m bringing five death dealers,” Gabriel replied.
“One.”
“Three.”
“Done,” Darkyn said with a nod. “As for you, half-breed, I agree on the condition that I get Sasha’s soul.”
“Shit. If I knew where that was, I’d turn it over to you without a second thought,” Rhyn replied.
“You better find it, if you don’t want your daughter dragged to Hell,” Darkyn snapped. “Deal or no?”
“Deal.”
Darkyn whirled and walked away.
“That felt like a good deal, but I always worry with that bastard,” Gabriel muttered.
“I’m mostly sure we didn’t fuck it up,” Rhyn seconded. “Andre can track demons in the underworld, right?”
“I hope so.”
“I’ll bring him and –“
“Tamer,” Gabriel said instantly.
“Tamer?” Rhyn frowned. “He’s a nightmare.”
“He fights almost as good as you and has a low tolerance for bullshit. I have a feeling we’ll need that combination,” Gabriel reasoned. His eyes followed Darkyn.
“You might be right. We’ll want as much muscle as we can get, if the worst happens,” Rhyn said quietly. “Darkyn is blood bound. If the Dark One can’t feed, he’s going to massacre everyone in his path. He’s from the time-before-time. Hopefully, he can handle a little bloodlust.”
Gabriel hadn’t given Darkyn’s bond to his mate a second thought.
A little bloodlust.
The Dark One could drain a village in two days. There was nothing little about his lust. Gabriel’s throat tightened at a second thought.
“Deidre is blood-bound, too.”
“Five minutes, half-breed!” Darkyn barked. He and his demons disappeared through a portal.
“Might be why he’s in such a hurry. She’s not gonna last,” Rhyn responded.
“I want to know what the girl told him,” Gabriel replied, eyes on the timid teen that hung on the heels of the demon lord.
“I took a peek into her mind,” Andre replied from behind them.
Gabriel turned.
“The Deidres were lured into the shadow world and ambushed by death dealers. They brokered the girl’s release.”
“Who is she?” Rhyn asked.
“Darkyn’s daughter,” Wynn replied from nearby. His arms were crossed and his cold gaze on Andre.
“The one killed by Sasha?” Gabriel asked, surprised. “I thought a daughter was just an excuse to declare war on everyone.”
“No. He kept me in Hell to undo what Sasha did,” Wynn answered.
The portal to Hell closed. Gabriel’s eyes lingered. Just when he thought there were no more surprises …
At least he had a way into the underworld. Like always, Fate had given him a glimpse of his future without warning him how traumatic it would be.
“Andre, do me a favor and interrogate the death dealer in the dungeon,” Gabriel told the eldest of the brothers. “When you come to the underworld, tell the trees to take you to me.”
“Of course,” Andre replied.
Gabriel exchanged a look with Rhyn.
“You ready?” Rhyn asked.
“Always,” Gabriel replied. “I’ll go grab Tamer and meet you in the portal room in Hell.”
Rhyn grinned.
Whatever happened next, Gabriel prayed the underworld didn’t throw him out. He had to find his mate and Darkyn’s, quell a rebellion and find a way to reopen the portals to the dealers trapped on the mortal plane.
And find his soul, before it was crushed and he was sent to Hell.
Gabriel opened a portal and crossed through the in-between place.
Deidre took the first step down the path of their future when she told him her secrets. As much as they angered him, Gabriel wasn’t going to let anything happen to her, especially in his own domain. No, he’d find his mate. For the first time this week, he realized that he, too, wanted to take the next step.
I’ve waited my whole life for this. Deidre’s words returned to him. He loved her since the beginning. For the first time in their history, they stood a real chance of turning a sordid love story into a pure one. It was going to be hard, maybe even harder than finding his soul in the underworld, but the opportunity was theirs for the taking.
He wasn’t about to lose her or the chance to build a life with the woman he’d loved for tens of thousands of years.
Gabriel left the portal and blinked at the bright light of Tamer’s study.
“Tamer.”
The Immortal glanced up from his laptop, brow furrowing in irritation.
“How would you like to go to the underworld?” Gabriel asked, smiling.
Rhyn Eternal Series
“Gabriel’s Hope”
“Deidre’s Death” (July 2013)
“Darkyn’s Mate” (July 2013)
“The Underworld” (2014)
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