Reluctantly he extricated himself from my embrace. I wanted to cry out. “Why—?” I began.
He pressed a chaste kiss to my lips. “I’m … sorry. For not listening to you earlier.”
I cocked my head as he took my hand and led me through the house—his house. “What are you talking about?”
“I order people around for a living,” he said. “Getting my way has become a habit.”
I blinked a few times, that niggling thought finally coming to me. “Did you just … manipulate me into staying with you?”
“I tried.”
Hurt and betrayal bubbled up. “How could you?”
He gave me a pained look. “I couldn’t. Not in the end.”
And he didn’t. I’d give him that. But now I was pissed that I’d been played so easily. “Take me back,” I whispered.
Andre’s jaw worked, but he nodded.
As we got in the car and began the drive back, a thousand thoughts swirled through me. First I pieced together Andre’s plan—distract me and get me inside his house. Anger and betrayal flared hot within me at this, but as my mind drifted, less welcome thoughts entered.
Like the fact that I’d been about to use glamour to force Andre to take me back to the inn. Technically I’d been just as willing to manipulate him as he had been me. Only he’d stopped himself. I doubted that I would’ve. And I doubted I would’ve felt remorseful afterwards. Did that make me the worse of the two of us?
Feeling the car slide through the snow, I wondered just how stupid my decision to return to the inn had been. We could only see a few feet in front of us and the car was losing traction often enough to set me on edge. Would Andre be able to make it back okay?
While I thought about it, why was it important to stay at the inn if I might get kidnapped again by my coven? Before this evening, I would’ve jumped at the chance to stay over at Andre’s place.
“This was a mistake,” I whispered.
Andre glanced over at me. “What’s a mistake?”
This. Being out here on the road. I’d been hurt, so I’d made a stupid, rash decision. One I already regretted. I sucked in a breath to say exactly this, but I never got a chance.
It happened in an instant. Movement outside caught my eye. To the left of the car a shadow deeper than the darkness flashed, coming straight for us. My throat seized up and my eyes widened as I tried to process what I was seeing. The shadow looked at me—looked at me and smiled. Impossible, but true.
“What the—?” Andre’s words cut off as the thing slammed into the car.
My hair whipped across my face and my head snapped back at the impact. Andre threw his arm out to brace me. The sickening sound of crunching metal cut through the silent night and the car spun.
The darkness blurred as the car skated over the slick road. Next to me, Andre unbuckled the seatbelt and vaulted over the consul. I felt the brush of his legs and torso as he covered my body with his own.
The wall of a nearby building rose up outside my window; the car was headed straight towards it.
Our eyes met. I’d like to say that all sorts of sweet, unspoken things passed between us in that moment, but I’d be lying. I only had time to process that we were both about to be in a lot of pain before metal met stone.
The force of the collision threw my body into Andre’s, and his into the wall. The screech of more crumpling metal played in the background like a gruesome soundtrack.
My head slipped past Andre’s shoulder and rammed against something solid. I barely heard the sickening crack of it before the world blacked out.
Chapter 18
I found myself staring at a fireplace, a strange sense of déjà vu settling over me. In the distance I heard a roar, followed by an agonized scream.
Then silence.
I rotated around, and as I did so, the room’s details came into focus. The portraits, the map made of human skin, the chair with the same disturbing carpet.
The unholy chill.
I was back inside the castle of the damned. I dragged a hand to my mouth and staggered back as a familiar form stepped into the doorway.
“Hello consort.”
I shrieked before I could help it, and the devil frowned. “As much as your reactions amuse me, they annoy me more,” he said, entering the room.
I scrambled behind a velvet couch sprinkled with blood splatter. Already I was beginning to feel the choking sensation of evil. It twisted around my insides, seizing me up. “Am I dead?” I asked, white-knuckling the back of the couch.
A corner of his lips turned up. “More or less.”
I let out a strangled sound and felt myself deflate. “You did this, didn’t you?” I accused.
He arched an eyebrow and perched on the edge of the soiled chair. “No, I’m afraid I can’t claim this victory—though it was a paltry effort on the part of Argipifex. He will be punished accordingly.”
Paltry effort? I was in the devil’s clutches at the moment.
“Now,” his eyes raked over my body, “come to me. I wish to show you the rest of the house.”
My eyes darted to the entrance of the room. Beyond it lay the front door. I didn’t want to move further into the house. I wanted out.
Noticing what had drawn my attention, the devil pushed away from the chair and took a menacing step forward. “If you want to be difficult, I so can I.”
I pushed down my terror and drew on my courage. “Better be careful—I bite.”
Something hot and desirous flashed through his eyes. “Yes, I look forward to seeing those fangs up close.”
Ewww. Not the reaction I wanted.
I shifted my weight. “Stay away from me if you don’t want to end up impaled again.”
The mask the devil wore dropped away, and rage contorted his features. Oh boy, I’d hit a nerve. “Do not speak of that night if you wish to avoid my wrath.”
How could I have ever thought him handsome? Cruelty drew itself into every facet of his face.
The devil fixed his features. “Tell me little bird, do I please you now?” he asked. He emphasized his question with a charming smile.
“Stop reading my thoughts.”
“The good boy look always did make the ladies’ break.” He smoothed his hair down. “Not that it matters,” he said. “You can think me an ugly thing, and it will not change your fate. But—”
I blinked and he stood before me. Panic seized up my muscles. My body quaked in his presence.
He picked up my hand and pushed back the sleeve, exposing the pale skin of my forearm. Everywhere his hand touched, I felt something intangible wither away.
“—knowing you desire me will make you more delicious to devour,” he finished.
My trembling increased, and the room turned pink as tears gathered. One slipped out and trailed down the side of my face. Damnit, I was not meek.
I steeled myself and yanked my hand away. “I will never agree to your demands. I didn’t the last time you asked, and I won’t now.”
He grabbed my jaw and squeezed it. “You will once every last thing you care about has been stripped away from you. Everyone and everything save for me.”
“What makes you think I care about you?”
He smiled at me, the soft light of the fire making his teeth look sharp and his grin vicious. “You know so very little about yourself.”
I tried to step away from his grasp, but he wouldn’t let go of his hold on me.
“Let go,” I said. The command came out more like a whimper.
“You cannot escape this. You cannot escape me. You’re mine, Gabrielle. Mine.”
“Why?” I whispered. It was the same question I’d asked during Samhain. Why had the devil taken an unusual interest in me.
The sme
ll of brimstone rose, and fire seemed to dance at the back of his eyes. I thought he was going to hurt me, but instead he pulled my face closer to his, close enough that I could tell he didn’t have pores—and why would he? He wasn’t human.
“Fate, consort,” he said. “You are fated to be mine.”
I gasped, sucking in frigid air.
“Gabrielle.” Panic laced Andre’s normally steady voice. I felt his feather-light touch against my cheek. The trail of his fingertips was too soft; he touched me as though I were breakable. Or already broken.
My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself cradled in Andre’s arms. His dark eyes stared back down at me, wide with fear and worry. Blood smeared his face and soaked his shirt. I breathed in the metallic tang of it. It was everywhere.
He let out a shaky breath. A bloody tear snaked down his eye, and he used his shoulder to wipe it away. Still carefully clutching me, he bent down, placing an ear against my chest.
“Andre?” I reached out and touched his face, disoriented.
He drew his head away from my chest, his expression slightly less panicked.
“I’m here. We were in an accident, and you were badly injured.” Again, the feather-light touch, this time to push away a stray strand of hair. I noticed how his hand shook. The gesture reminded me that my own body had shook moments before …
The devil. Fate. Hell.
Oh boy, I was screwed.
I squirmed in Andre’s arms, ignoring the searing pain as I jostled my injuries.
Andre’s grip tightened. “Try not to move. You’re still badly hurt.”
My eyes darted about, my breathing coming in quick, misty bursts.
“It’s okay Gabrielle, you’re okay.” Andre’s voice pulled my attention back to him.
“I’m not, Andre.” I began to tremble all over again. “I’m not.”
“What has you so spooked, soulmate?”
“He took me,” I said, my eyes darting over Andre’s face.
“Who?”
“The devil.”
Andre froze. “You mean while you were unconscious?”
“Yes.”
“Has he ever done that before?”
“Never.” Not while I’d been unconscious. The devil was growing bolder and my own situation more dire.
A muscle ticked in Andre’s jaw, and his muscles tensed beneath me. “It’s getting worse.”
“I know.” I pushed myself up, swatting Andre’s arms away when he tried to stop me. “Ugh, I feel like hell,” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes with my palms. I only managed to smear blood and grit around. “And considering that I’ve practically visited the place, that’s saying something.”
“We spun out, and you cracked your head open,” he said. “I was so scared that …” He trailed off, unwilling to finish that thought.
My eyes lifted and I took in the crumpled remains of the car. It looked like a third of the car had been lopped off. The third I’d been sitting in.
My gaze snapped back to Andre, who was also covered in blood. “Are you okay?” I asked. My eyes scoured over him. His skin was paler than it should be. “How much blood did you lose?”
“Don’t concern yourself with me.”
“You’re not the only one who’s allowed to go into panic mode,” I said, running my hands over his arms.
“I do not panic,” he said, affronted.
Ignoring him, I trailed my hands over his back. It was soaked. I’m sure if I looked, it’d be crimson colored.
I cursed. “Andre—”
“The wounds have already healed,” he said, gently removing my hand from his back. “We need to get moving if we don’t want to explain to the mortal police how we survived that crash uninjured.”
My gaze moved up. It seemed we’d already attracted plenty of attention. Lights had turned on in some of the nearby buildings, and faces peered down at us. No one, however, had decided to weather the storm. Judging by the very faint sound of sirens, even the ambulances were having a hard time of it.
“What about the car?”
Andre smiled. “The car won’t nark on us either.”
I rolled my eyes. “Andre …”
His lips wavered, then spread into a cheeky grin. “I’ll take care of it. Right now, let me worry about you.”
Andre stood up and helped me to my feet. I teetered, feeling off balance. Next to me Andre swore and scooped me up, pinning me against his chest.
“I can walk,” I insisted.
“I know you can, soulmate.”
I didn’t press the issue any more than that, mostly because I still felt like a piñata that had been beaten within an inch of its life. Andre whispered soothingly to me in Romanian.
I rubbed my head. “That’s the second time tonight I got hit in the head. I think I’ve killed off all of my brain cells.”
The murmuring stopped, and I felt Andre’s soft lips brush against my temple. Then it began up again. “It seems there’s a growing list of dead men walking.”
Andre glanced beyond me into the darkness, his eyes searching. I could see the menace drawn across his features. Andre was a string pulled too taut. He would snap soon, and it wouldn’t be pretty for whoever or whatever came in his way. “I will find out who did this, and I will relish their agonized screams.”
“You’re not going to find him,” I said, locking my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering.
“Him?”
“Or it—I don’t know the Underworld’s gender rules. The thing that attacked us was a demon. Argipifex,” I said.
“How do you know the demon’s name?” Andre asked, his boots crunching in the snow.
“The devil told me.”
“The devil told you,” he repeated.
I pushed my lips together and nodded.
Andre worked his jaw, but managed to push down his emotions. “Did he hurt you?” Andre asked, his eyes glinting. He looked unreal, my vengeful, raven-haired king, ready to do battle with hell itself on this snowy night.
I reached up and dusted the snow off of his hair. It was just an excuse to touch him. “No,” I said.
Relief flowed into Andre’s features. “Good,” he said, caressing my cheek. “Now, tuck your face and hands into my chest, soulmate.”
“Um, why?” I asked, my teeth beginning to chatter.
“Because I’m taking you back to my place on foot, and you’ll get severely wind burned if you don’t protect your exposed skin.”
Ah. I was getting a supernatural piggyback ride. Sort of. In another situation this might’ve been kind of awesome. But right now, injured and in a blizzard, it sucked big time.
I turned my head and hands in. Andre rearranged his grip to protect me from the wind as much as possible.
“Ready?” he breathed.
I nodded against him.
He tightened his hold and took off. The force of his speed plastered me against him, and the wind howled in my ear. Going this fast, the cold felt like a knife, cutting through my thin layer of clothes and slicing my skin.
Luckily I was a supernatural. I didn’t think a human could endure this without permanent damage. But I would. At least I hoped so. If not I was definitely haunting Argipifex’s ass. That little bastard would pay for killing me in the most miserable way possible.
Soon the cold numbed the bite from my skin. My eyes began to close when Andre slowed down. He shifted his grip, and I heard the click of a door opening and felt a delicious blast of heat.
“Stoke the fire and start up a hot bath,” Andre called out to his staff as he walked us in, slamming the door shut behind him.
I caught elusive glimpses of my soulmate’s house as he carried me through it for a second time, but like last time, I was too distracted to
pay much attention to my surroundings.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured. My words slurred since I couldn’t feel my lips.
“Sorry about what?” Andre asked as he carried me up a flight of stairs.
“Insisting you drive me back.”
Andre glanced down at me, frowning at my mouth. “Soulmate, I am the one who’s sorry. I never should’ve put you in that position.”
We entered what must’ve been the master suite. Andre’s quarters. As the heat began to thaw my skin, I noticed that Andre seemed a bit shaky, his strength not quite so inhuman.
“Andre, put me down,” I said gently, even though my legs were so numb I’d probably trip over them trying to walk.
He gazed down at me, worry creasing his features. “I will, my life, just give me a moment.”
We moved through his bedroom, and I heard the sound of running water. As soon as we entered his bathroom, the pounding sound of it surrounded me. Like a shadow, Andre’s staff ghosted out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Andre walked us right into an enormous Jacuzzi tub, the kind that could easily fit several people.
Andre’s brow furrowed. “This is not necessarily going to feel good.”
That was all the warning I got before Andre knelt, submerging my body into the water.
I hissed between my teeth as the extreme temperature change stung my skin. The warm water swirled around us, turning a murky scarlet as blood and dirt mixed with it.
I shook out my arms and legs, and the burning sensation worsened. It took a lot of self-control on my part not to string together a pretty line of curse words.
The sentiment must’ve shown in my expression, since Andre gazed at me pityingly. “I hate to tell you this, soulmate, but this is only mildly warm water.”
“How c-can you t-tell?” I chattered, even as warmth seeped into me.
Andre nodded to the faucet handles. Water still poured out of the faucet. “The way they’re angled.”
Even as he said this, he bent over and cranked one of the faucets. I yelped when, a second later, scalding hot water brushed the skin of my leg.