“Sacrifice?” Brynn stared at Dagan, her eyes going wide. Pain sliced through her midsection like a punch to the gut. “He’s exchanging himself for Taeg and Ronin?”
“It’s what he wanted.”
“No, we can’t just let him give himself up. We have to stop him.”
“It’s already done.”
Brynn clamped her mouth shut. She stared at Dagan for a long moment. He stared back, unflappable. “We can’t just stand by and do nothing.”
Dagan’s eyes softened, and he reached for her hand. “Keegan wants you to be safe. Don’t forget the consequences if Mammon gets ahold of you, Brynn. He made a decision. We need to honor it.”
Could he really be suggesting that they do nothing? Nothing? “So what’s your plan, then?”
“I have a friend who owns a condo in Miami. He’s agreed to let us borrow it indefinitely. We can go there. You can make a new life, if you want. Start over—”
Brynn yanked her hand away from his. “You actually think I’m going to be able to forget about him? To just go on with life as if nothing happened? Are you crazy?”
“I expect it because Keegan expected it,” Dagan said. “Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain.”
“No.” She pushed away from him, but he caught her by the waist. “No, I won’t.”
“It’s time to go.”
“No!” She slapped him. When he did nothing, she made a fist and punched him in the chest. She wanted something from him. A flinch. A curse. A promise that he would do something. When she got nothing, she struck him again, taking out all of her anger and frustration on his chest. He barely budged, and he allowed her to hit him over and over before finally grabbing her and holding her tightly to him.
“No, let go!”
She tried to push him away, but she surprised herself by instead wrapping her arms around his neck. Anger and frustration gave way to despair. Agony.
“It’s okay.” Dagan squeezed her tightly, rocking her back and forth as he stroked her hair. “It’ll be okay.”
She clutched his shoulders, bitter sobs tearing out of her throat. “We can’t just let him go. We can’t.”
He pressed her tighter to him. “We have to.”
…
Dagan strode aimlessly around the living room of their borrowed Miami Beach condo. Though the sweeping ocean views from the large windows were stunning even at this time of night, he barely paid them notice.
Brynn had closed herself off in one of the condo’s three bedrooms as soon as they’d arrived. Her eyes had been nearly swollen shut from the heavy tears she’d cried, and she’d clutched her stomach as if she was in pain. A broken heart hurt beyond belief…that he well knew from past experience.
“Shit.” Kicking off his shoes, he threw himself onto the brown Ultrasuede couch. He’d gone from facing the possibility of losing two brothers to the certainty of losing one.
Worse, what if Mammon tricked Keegan somehow and ended up keeping them all?
Ever since he could remember, Dagan had heard music inside his mind—a byproduct of his siren heritage, he supposed, since sirens spent the majority of their lives expressing emotions through song. Rich chords ebbed and flowed in his head, the harmony changing and the volume lowering or increasing dependent on his frame of mind. The occasional popular song would seep in there, too, if the lyrics were particularly appropriate to his mood…
But there was always music.
Right now, harsh, discordant tones that spoke of pain and suffering echoed loudly in his head. Intense, clashing rhythms melded with fierce, pounding beats, sparking a symphony of soul-numbing regret. If only they could have done something differently. If only he could have acted differently. Then he wouldn’t be sitting here, wondering how the hell he was going to comfort the woman who clearly loved his brother when it was so obvious that Keegan wasn’t going to be coming back. Not in one piece.
He bent forward and wearily dragged his hands across his face. Damn, but he hated feeling so uncertain, so beaten. He wanted to help his brothers, but he knew he couldn’t. Keegan had asked him—practically begged him—to take care of Brynn. The least he could do was honor this one last wish.
The sudden ringing of his cell phone made him jump. Only three people had his number, and he’d be glad as hell to speak to any one of them right about now. He hopped off the couch, rushed to his jacket, and fished out the phone.
Please. Please let this be them…
When he answered, Taeg’s tired voice replied, “Man, am I glad to hear your voice.”
“Taeg! Thank the devil. Where are you?”
“In Cairo. Keegan exchanged himself for us, bro.”
Dagan took a breath. “Yeah, I know. He told me what he was doing.”
“And you let him do it?”
“He was going to do it with or without me,” Dagan said.
“Fuck.” Taeg sounded too tired to be angry. “So, where are you?”
“I’m with Brynn.”
“What?”
“Keegan asked me to take over her protection, and I agreed.”
Dagan expected an argument from Taeg. Instead, he sighed. “I understand. If he thinks saving her life is worth dying for, then we need to respect that.”
His thoughts exactly. “What do we do now?”
“I don’t know,” Taeg replied. “We can’t get Keegan back. Not without the Council’s help. And we can’t go to the Council if we’re going to protect Brynn. We’re up shit creek, no paddle, you get the drift.”
The door to Brynn’s room opened. She walked out, even more puffy-eyed than before, if that was possible.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
For a moment, Dagan debated not answering, but it wasn’t like she would stop asking. “It’s Taeg. Keegan was able to get him and Ronin freed.”
She covered her mouth with her hands, then stumbled toward him on shaky legs. “Let me talk to him.”
Devil, did she want to know what Mammon had done to him? What he was going to do to Keegan? The very idea made Dagan’s heart pound in tune with the desolate chords ringing in his head. She shouldn’t have to think about it. “Brynn—”
She stopped directly in front of him and held out her hand. “Let me talk to him,” she repeated, her voice hard as steel.
After a moment of hesitation, Dagan obeyed.
Brynn placed the phone to her ear, not bothering with a greeting. “Are you still trying to kill me, too, or have you given up on that?… Well, I need to talk to you, then… Can you come here? I know you can flash. Keegan told me about it… Yes… Okay.”
She recited the condo’s address and hung up before returning the phone to Dagan. “He’ll be here in a sec.”
Sure enough, moments later the air shimmered with Taeg’s path and he appeared out of nowhere. He was obviously wearing a fresh set of clothes, not looking like a man who’d been tortured for the last two days. But Dagan detected the exhaustion and the undertone of horror in his eyes, and he had no doubt he’d suffered greatly at their father’s hands.
For a while there, he thought he’d never see him again. “So glad to see you, brother.”
“Me, too.” Taeg clasped him in a tight embrace.
Dagan held on for a long moment, then pulled back. “Ronin?”
“He’s fine. He’s at the hotel with Cresso.”
So they all were free, then. All except for Keegan.
“Taeg.” Brynn approached, grabbed Taeg’s arm, and turned him around to face her. “You have a plan to get Keegan out of there, right?”
Taeg exchanged a glance with Dagan. “The site is heavily guarded. There’s no way we could infiltrate it without more people. I think it’s pretty clear that we can’t expect any more help from the Council.”
Brynn shook her head. “We have to do something. There has to be a way. Maybe we can pretend to set up an exchange.”
“No.” Taeg took her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Keegan went to a lot of trouble to m
ake sure you were safe. We can’t endanger your life.”
“I thought you, of all people, would understand.” Brynn scrunched Taeg’s shirt in her hands in an unconscious gesture of pure desperation. Tears welled in her eyes but she blinked them away.
That simple act of bravery broke Dagan’s heart, and he knew why Keegan had fallen in love and given himself up for her. He would honor that sacrifice if it killed him.
“I dreamed about what he did to you,” she said to Taeg. “You know Keegan’s probably going through worse than that right now. You can’t just leave him there.”
Taeg cast Dagan a frantic look, as if his resolve were wavering. Well, if it was, he would be strong for all of them. For once. “I’m sorry, Brynn. There’s nothing we can do.”
Brynn flinched and took a shuddering breath. Then she drew herself up, untangling her fingers from Taeg’s shirt. “I see I was wrong about you guys.” She wriggled out of Taeg’s grasp and backed away. “I thought you were brave, but you’re not. You’re both cowards.”
With one last death stare, she turned and stomped back to her room, slamming the door behind her.
Taeg watched her go. He turned to Dagan, his eyes red and swollen from the tears he held back. In an uncharacteristic moment of weakness, he asked, “There isn’t anything we can do, is there?”
Dagan felt the heavy weight of his own tears pressing behind his eyelids. So pointless. Crying would accomplish nothing. He fought them as he shook his head. “Not this time, big brother. Not this time.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Brynn was surrounded on all four sides by sand, rock, and pyramids. Although it was dark, a world-class lighting system illuminated the area. Ahead of her, dozens of white tents were set up in all shapes and sizes.
This wasn’t any normal dream. She stood in the Valley of the Kings.
Rooted to her spot, she willed the ice in her veins to heat. Something bad was going to happen here. Part of her longed to wake up before she saw what it was, but she had to know.
The canvas tents rustled in the breeze as she strode forward, farther into the camp. Other than that, eerie silence filled the open space. She headed for the largest tent but stopped when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a mottled tent.
No, not mottled. Stained.
From the inside.
“Oh, God.” She covered her mouth with her shaking hands. No denying what that was. Blood. Lots of it.
“That’s the one,” said the now-familiar rasping voice.
When she whirled around, Mammon stood directly behind her, a polite smile on his face.
“You.” She ran at him, struck his cheek with her fist.
His head snapped to the side. He laughed and turned to look at her again. “That almost hurt, little Brynn.”
“Go to hell, you monster,” she spat.
“Hell?” Mammon’s lips curved even wider. “This is Hell, and I am its master. Come see.”
Brynn’s world spun, and suddenly she stood in front of the bloodstained tent. Pure dread unfurled in her stomach, rising in her throat and threatening to suffocate her.
No, she didn’t want to go in there.
But when she tried to stumble back, she couldn’t. No way to go but forward.
The tent flap rose of its own volition. Brynn swallowed hard and stepped through the doorway, fighting the urge to vomit.
She stood inside a torture chamber. Blood was splattered everywhere, even on the low table that held a variety of wicked-looking devices—knives, daggers, rods, weapons her mind couldn’t even process. The tangy smell of blood permeated the air, threatening to choke her.
Keegan was there, lying on what appeared to be a gurney. Heavy iron manacles strapped his hands and feet to it, and his clothes clung to him in tatters. And in front of him stood a large demon, who lifted the knife and sliced Keegan’s stomach.
“Keegan,” she screamed.
She tried to run toward him, but she couldn’t do anything but watch as his flesh immediately wove itself back together, his guts sucking back into his body with an audible slurp. From the way he groaned and convulsed, it appeared the healing process was almost as painful as the wound.
“No, Keegan,” she sobbed.
He didn’t look at her, didn’t appear to hear her at all. The demon slashed again, drawing another guttural yell from Keegan.
“No, please, no,” Brynn whispered. Tears rolled down her face, blinding her.
“I’m afraid he can’t hear you, dear. He’s quite lost in his pain.”
She turned her head toward the voice.
Mammon had appeared beside her.
She tried to lunge at him, but once again she couldn’t move or rake her nails down his face the way she longed to. There wasn’t a damn thing she could do to destroy him. “You monster. How could you do this to your own son?”
Mammon inclined his head toward her, giving her a speculative glance. “You can stop this, you know. You have the power. Simply turn yourself in to me, and I’ll set him free.”
“No,” Keegan cried.
Brynn whipped her head toward him.
“No, Brynn,” he said through gritted teeth. Agony was etched all over his features. “You need to stay away. Promise me. Promise—”
“Shut up,” Mammon yelled, pure rage contorting his face.
The demon put the knife down and picked up an iron poker. He lifted his hand and a ball of fire appeared in his palm.
“Fire demon,” Mammon said conversationally. “I found it fitting.”
The demon heated the poker in the fire, then plunged it into Keegan’s side. The stench of cooking flesh burned her nostrils. Brynn turned away, choking on her own bile as Keegan screamed.
“Make him stop,” she pleaded with Mammon.
“Only you can do that, Brynn. Come to me and his agony will end. But I give you fair warning. You have no more than a couple of days before it is too late.”
“What…what do you mean?”
“Do you see that apparatus at his side?”
He motioned toward what appeared to be a sharp iron spike digging into Keegan’s flesh. Attached to it was a red hose that snaked all the way underneath the gurney.
“What is that?” she whispered.
“Blood. Once he is fully drained, there will be no coming back. Remember that.”
“How could you—?”
“Brynn.” Keegan gave her an entreating look. “Promise me. Promise you won’t come.”
“I said be quiet,” Mammon screamed. He flew toward Keegan, and she felt the sudden sensation of being thrown backward. She flew out of the tent…and jolted awake in her bed.
“Oh, no,” she moaned. “No, Keegan.”
Brynn buried her face in her hands.
She couldn’t sit idly by while the man she loved was tortured to death.
She loved him. Oh, God, she loved Keegan. Somehow, it had snuck up and smacked her on the face, but it was indisputable. The man she loved was dying. And she was the only one with the power to save him.
Brynn remembered some of Mammon’s first words to her. That almost hurt, he’d said. And Dagan, back on the island, had been hurt, too.
Demons were strong and powerful, yes, but they weren’t almighty. Keegan had told her demons couldn’t defeat their parents, but that didn’t mean the parents were indestructible.
Could she do it? Was she crazy to even contemplate it?
The odds were that she’d probably die. But she couldn’t wait in Miami and do nothing.
Decision made, she bounded off the bed.
…
Taeg sat slumped over on the end of his bed, facing the large wall of windows overlooking the ocean. It was a fabulous view. Why was he the one here seeing it instead of Keegan?
He was responsible for this. If only he hadn’t decided to try to get the book. He’d made so many mistakes, and Keegan was the one who’d paid for them. Deep inside, he knew the gruesome torture he and Ronin had undergone was
nothing compared to what Keegan endured now. And that was killing him.
Taking in a deep sigh, he buried his face in his hands. He’d gladly trade his life for his brother’s. But he wasn’t going to get Keegan out of Mammon’s grip alone, or even with his brothers’ help, and the Council would sooner destroy Brynn than help them. What options did he have?
Taeg looked up at the sound of his doorknob turning. Brynn crept inside, then shut the door behind her. She wore the same clothes as before.
“Brynn, what’s wrong?” He rose off the bed and started over to her, but she met him halfway. “What is it?”
“Listen…” She took a seat on the side of his bed.
“Do you need to talk, Brynn, because I can—”
“I don’t need you to baby me. I’m here because I had a dream.” She looked away for a second, then back at him. “More of a vision, actually.”
“Vision?” Was she kidding? He walked back to the bed and sat beside her. “I didn’t know you had visions.”
“I think I know of a way we can save Keegan,” she continued, ignoring his comment.
“What?” Taeg’s heart broke out into a fierce gallop. “How?”
“Keegan said the resurrection spell gives power to the person in possession of the book. Well, I’ll need to hold it in order to work the spell, won’t I?”
Taeg frowned, not liking where this conversation was headed. “So what?”
“So, when I perform the spell, I’ll have control over the army. I can order them to destroy Mammon.”
Disappointment coursed through him. “Yeah, but, one, you’ll have let loose an army of zombies, and, two, what are the odds of Mammon actually letting you hold the book while you perform the spell?”
“I’ll tell him I have to hold it, and…and that it also contains a counter-spell. As soon as he’s gone, I can order the zombies back into the grave.” Brynn’s gaze flickered down. “I saw it in my vision.”
For one second, hope flared, but then reality set in. Taeg was all for saving Keegan, but not if the risk was too great. He’d already made one foolhardy decision this week. Well, several, actually. He couldn’t afford another. “No way, Brynn. It’s far too risky. What if he gets to you before the zombies get to him?”