A Darker Past (Entangled Teen) (The Darker Agency) (21 page)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

We didn’t walk through the door this time. One minute the demon was there, the next Lukas and I were transported to another place.

“Awesome,” I said, folding my arms. I didn’t recognize the scene. We were outside what looked like a barn. It was dark, and there were people everywhere. Milling around in bunches, chatting as though we weren’t there. It was some kind of party. “Does that mean the demon-imposed hands-off label has been removed from my ass?”

Lukas didn’t answer. He was staring at something over my shoulder.

When I turned, a sick feeling bubbled in the pit of my stomach. Through the crowd, one person stuck out. A girl about my height with long raven hair and a wicked grin.

Meredith, his witch of an ex, came forward, stopping a few feet from where we stood. “You gave me such a precious gift.” Her eyes flashed red. “It’s only fair I return the favor.” She winked. “
Again
.”

Lukas screamed. He stumbled away, knocking over several people in the crowd as he tried to run, but it was no use. The bright red light welled inside Meredith, pulsing in her belly twice before rocketing up the length of her body. Through her throat and out her open mouth, Wrath broke free and dived for him.

I tried to drag him from its path—not that it would have done any good—but the Sin was like a heat-seeking missile. It slammed into him, knocking him out of my grasp and off his feet with a thunderous crack like lightning.

Lukas doubled over as his body was engulfed in red. There was a flash of blinding light. Still, no one seemed concerned. They all kept going about their business, oblivious to what was taking place.

“Lukas!” I rushed to where he sat huddled in a ball on the grass a few feet away. Meredith was gone, and the people around us didn’t seem to care. “Are you okay?”

“Jessie,” he groaned. A shiver ran through his body, and when he lifted his head, his gaze met mine in a storm of blazing red. “Get out of here.”

I gasped. In his eyes raged a violent war. “This isn’t real,” I said, reaching for him. If I could just get him to calm down…

He knocked my hand away with brutal force. “Don’t tell me it’s not real. I feel it.”

As if in agreement, the chatter in the crowd around us grew louder. More volatile. A small group of women to our right, previously laughing, were now trading harsh words. The one on the end, a tall brunette with pointy heels, shoved the woman across from her. When her friend-turned-foe pushed back, the brunette whipped off her shoe and buried the spiky heel in the other woman’s neck.

My stomach roiled as her eyes went wide and her body collapsed to the ground. It was the action that ignited the crowd. Multiple fights broke out, people pushing, punching, and wrestling each other to the ground.

Lukas was shaking, threading his fingers through the long blades of glass. An occasional tremor rocked his entire body, making it look like he was having a seizure. “You can do this,” I pleaded. “Just breathe. Concentrate on something peaceful. Concentrate on me—”

“You?” He gave a twisted chortle. “You’re the cause of this. The reason I get so worked up.”

“I—”

He stood, and I did the same. Advancing a step, posture nothing short of menacing, he growled. “You will never learn. This is me. Who I am. Who I will
always
be. Violent, angry, and dangerous.”

My heart hammered, and the air caught in my throat, but I held my ground. “No. You’re more than that. Stronger than the anger. I’ve seen it.” I reached out again, taking his hand in mine. “I’ve seen an amazing light—”

He jerked away. “You’re a fool. A stupid, clueless fool.” He advanced another step. “If you knew a fraction of what was going on behind the scenes, you would run and never look back. You would leave and pray for your life in the shelter of light.”

Logic told me to be afraid—and I was—but his words also made me cringe. There’d been multiple hints dropped, enough clues accidentally slipped, to make me suspicious to begin with. But this? This was bone chilling. “What is that supposed to mean?”

He laughed. A venom-filled chuckle that, for the first time since we’d met, made me genuinely scared. “And there you go again. Question, question, question. Except you never ask the
right
ones.”

With a howl, he lunged for me, fingers hooked and ready to do damage. I sprang to the left and, with a lightning-quick glance over my shoulder, took off across the field. I didn’t make it that far, though. Ten paces. Possibly fifteen. Lukas slammed into me from behind, taking us both to the ground.

While no one would ever get me to believe Lukas would hurt me, this was the cave. Not him. I wasn’t afraid. I was terrified. That little demon-bitch made it clear she wasn’t playing by the same rules as the other denizens of Lucifer’s cave-o-crazy. I was fair game. And that meant this Lukas—my possessed Lukas—could feasibly hurt me.

Time to get serious.

I threw my head back as hard as I could. It connected with something solid, and everything swam for a moment before some of the weight eased from my back. I went with it, clawing the grass and mud to gain some leverage. But really, all I did was coat myself in muck.

“You’ve had everything,” Lukas howled. Hands gripped the back of my shirt, hoisting me back and dragging me around. We were face-to-face. “Power, freedom, and love. It infuriates me that you show no sign of gratitude. You think we all have these things? That we all grow up bathed in the warmth of family?”

“Lukas,” I said as calmly as possible. His weight was like a truck, and it was getting hard to breathe. “Control this. This isn’t how you feel.”

“Yes,” he spat, wrapping his hands around my neck. “It’s exactly how I feel. You’ve wasted all you’ve been given. Squandered so much. Taken it all for granted. You never lived in hell, you have no idea the misery you’ve been spared.”

“Lukas, please. No,” I managed. Though, in the back of my mind, I wondered if that was true. As what little oxygen was left in my lungs flittered away, my mind churned his words, over and over again. Compared to my childhood, his had been a nightmare. In comparison to how I’d gained my demon status, and the power that went with it, his had been devastating. Mom had always been there for me. Kendra… Dad… I’d had the love and support of everyone around me. Had grown up strong and wanted for nothing.

The edges of my vision watered, and my fingers lost some of their strength as they tried to pry his hands free.

Not once in my life had I stopped to take it all in. Marvel at my life and how it could have been so incredibly different. “You—you’re”—I struggled to fill my lungs—“right.”

The finger-noose around my neck loosened ever so slightly. It enabled me to draw in a breath.

“I can’t imagine—” I coughed and wheezed. “I can’t imagine what it was like for you.”

His face was inches from mine, red eyes still flaring like an inferno, but his grip loosened even more.

I was on the right track. Just needed to calm him down, and we could beat this. “You went through hell, Lukas. I know that. We all know that. What Meredith did to you was the worst kind of betrayal. But I believe it made you stronger. It made you into the man I know.” I swallowed. “The man I love.”

The pressure from his fingers disappeared, and he leaned back a few inches.

“Things will never be like that again. I promise. You have people now. Me, Mom, Dad…” I gave a bitter laugh. “Hell, you have the entire House of Pride at your back.”

That got a reaction from him. He snorted, sitting up the rest of the way. “I may belong to your father, but there will come a time where Pride turns its back on me. The cave has shown me the truth, Jessie. More truth than I ever wanted.”

The fire in his eyes died, leaving only the warm liquid brown I loved so much. The tension in his shoulders evaporated, and his fists unclenched. “Truth? What—”

“Don’t,” he said quickly. With a somewhat sheepish smile, he added, “It’s not something I’m ready to talk about. If you wait, I will tell you. Eventually. But right now, if you push me, I won’t be able to control myself.”

“Okay…” It was anything but okay, but what could I do?

“You were right. There is something I’m not telling you.” His top lip curled into a disgusted scowl. “There’s so much
a lot
of people aren’t telling you. That’s just one of the many reasons you are a trigger for me, Jessie. I hate it. I hate that there are these things between us I can’t say. Things you deserve to know.”

“Why—”

He clamped his hand across my lips. “In time, you will know. No matter what, I will make sure you learn the truth. But right now, you need to let it go.” He took a deep breath, and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment. When he opened them, there was the smallest hint of red rimming his irises. “I know now that I will always battle this darkness. My fight will always be taxing. But I can do it. If you promise to let this go, if you love me enough to trust me, I will fight.”

It was cryptic and sounded like a disaster in the making, but I nodded. I had volumes of information stashed in all the deepest pockets of my brain. Indexes and lists a city block long of things that went bump in the night. Demons that could kill you in the most horrific ways. I would have gladly chosen to battle any of them to the death. I would always choose the devil I knew over the one I didn’t.

Always, except this once. “Okay. I won’t ask. When you’re ready, you’ll tell me.”

A loud crack sounded, and after what felt like plunging down a bottomless abyss, we were standing side by side in the main room again. The demon-girl was gone, and so were the doors, which I knew should have been a little disturbing, but I was too distracted by the room in front of me. The wall that previously held the Sin doors was gone, and the room was bigger. Much bigger. Like a safety deposit vault, the corridor fanned out in front of us, lined with boxes, and had no end in sight.

I took a step forward, transfixed on the immense storage space before us. “I, um, guess that means we passed?”

“You think the prison is in here somewhere?”

“In here?” No freaking way. I was going to scream. “If it is, I think we’re screwed. We’ll never find Asmodeus’s prison in there.”

No sooner did I close my mouth than a horrible creaking filled the air. All I could think about was the booby trap in the witch archives. That had ended badly. In the Shadow Realm, it would be twenty times worse. There was a bright flash and an explosion. The blast rocked the ground and sent Lukas and me to our knees as what looked like storm clouds gathered above our heads.

“Oh. That can’t be a good sign,” I said, head tilted upward.

Lukas looked up. “I hate when you say that…”

Complete with lightning, the clouds thickened, staying right above our heads. There was a boom like thunder, and a high-pitched scream slightly similar to the sounds we’d heard when we first entered the cave.

“Look out!” Lukas knocked me aside as something fell from the center, crashing to the ground in another massive clap of bone-jarring thunder. A moment later, the clouds dissipated, and the thunder ceased. Poof. It was like the whole thing had never happened. “Is that…”

I touched the tip of my index finger to the small metal box between us. Like the door knob, it was warm and hummed with powerful energy. The prison. It had to be. “I think it is.”

“Gives new meaning to ask and you shall receive.” He touched the edge of the box, then jerked his hand away as though he’d been burned. He climbed to his feet and helped me up, then took a step back. “That thing is—I don’t want to touch it.”

I looked from him to the prison. “Get a bad vibe?”

“Actually, I get a
good
one.” He eyed the box. His expression was hungry. Like at any moment he would dive for it and make a breakneck dash for the exit.

I stepped between him and the thing and took both his hands. With one good squeeze, I said, “What’s going on?”

“That’s Asmodeus’s prison, and he’s angry.
Wrathful
. I may not hold Wrath in my soul anymore, but it will always be there.” Guilt was evident in every twitch of his eye. I knew he was remembering what had just happened. “I will always sense it. It was a part of me for so long, and there are bits of me that want it back. To feel that kind of fire again.” He shook his head and took another step away. “No. You need to carry that out.”

The kind of fear I saw in his eyes as he glared at the box made my chest constrict. I could see it. His desire to be a part of it again. It wasn’t fair that when Meredith cursed him to the box, she made him an unwilling addict of sorts. He was free from the prison but missed a rush he’d never asked for.

“It’s okay. I can carry it.” I picked up the box and the walls changed again…

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“What is that?” Lukas came up beside me, tense. In front of us, where the tunnel had been was now a dead end. A quick peek over my shoulder revealed that the seven doors were gone, too. They’d been replaced with a simple cave wall covered in Vile Root gunk.

Floating in the middle of it all was us—and a hulking red shadow. Similar to the true form I’d seen of the little girl, it was shapeless and wispy.

“I dunno,” I said, looking at the thing from tip to toe. It had to be at least eight feet tall and had the width of a pro football player. Completely crimson, the edges wafted like smoke, curling around its body, sending small tendrils puffing upward. I swallowed back a lump of fear and gave Lukas a small nudge in the thing’s direction. “You wanted to play guard dog, right? Why don’t you go over and scratch behind its ears? Maybe you can make a new friend.”

He dug his feet in and shook his head. “I don’t see any ears.”

“Well, then give him a belly rub. Smokey loves those.”

“I think I’ll pass,” he said coolly.

Well, someone had to do something. We were running out of time. I made a move to step forward, but the shadow thing shrieked. It seemed to puff up, getting impossibly bigger, then dove for us.

“Look out!” Lukas yelled, shoving me sideways. The whole pushing thing was getting old.

I was clear, but Lukas ended up right in the path of the demon. It crashed into him, it’s body dissolving into semitransparent smoke that engulfed his entire form. It churned around him like a tornado, lifting his feet from the ground. It must have been sucking out all the air, because he was clutching at his throat and thrashing.

I rushed forward and tried to pull him out of it, but when my fingers came in contact with the smoke, it felt like someone had pulled all the air from the room. I stumbled back, choking.

“Craps,” I cried, and tried again, but it was pointless. Same result. Coughing and sputtering for air. Force wasn’t going to win this. I had to be smart.

The demon laughed. A disembodied sound that seemed to be coming from all around me. “Leave the box behind, and I will release him.”

“Release him and I’ll leave the box,” I challenged. Obviously, I had no intention of handing the thing over, but hey, it was worth a try.

“What if I were to tell you that his death would ensure your survival?” the thing said. Great. More veiled information. These guys should take out a patent. “That his end now would spare you unimaginable pain.”

“I would probably tell you that I’m a live-life-on-the-edge kinda girl.” I took a step forward and squared my shoulders. “Let. Him. Go.”

The demon laughed, and Lukas’s thrashing grew less forceful. He was going to suffocate if I didn’t find a way to get him out of there.

Then it came to me.

It was a gamble, after what had just happened with the other demon, but I was out of options. I hesitated for a second—maybe two—before reaching out and thrusting my hand into the smoke around him. I couldn’t reach Lukas, but that was fine. I didn’t need to.

The air left my lungs in a single, painful pull. It was like being ripped inside out. I collapsed, managing to keep my hand in the smoke. The demon roared and released him, splitting into two parts, then soaring toward the ceiling and reforming.

I said a silent thanks. They were sworn to leave me unharmed, for whatever reason. Except for the little girl, they’d all complied. If this one was to obey orders, it couldn’t keep Lukas trapped because it would have killed us both. He fell to the ground, and we both gasped for air.

The red smoke zoomed toward the ground again, then gathered in a whirl and rocketed off toward the far wall. When it hit, it sank into the rocks, disappearing.

I got to my feet. “Are you okay?”

Lukas nodded. “You?”

“I guess we’ll see,” I said, eyeing him.

“You’re worried about what the demon said.” It wasn’t a question. If the chill factor in his voice was physically sensory, I’d have been a hunk of ice.

I didn’t answer. What could I say? That all the little hints these bastards were dropping, ones to distract us and cause trouble, were starting to get to me? There had to be some truth to it all. That was just how this worked. I would have been an idiot to ignore it completely.

He threw up his hands, a twisted smirk creasing his lips. “You found me out. I’m only here to get you to fall head over heels, then do you in when you least expect it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do me in? Don’t you remember the conversation we had about outdated sayings?”

He came close, stopping just shy of touching me. “I would rather lay down in a sea of brimstone than hurt you, Jessie. You
do
know that, right?”

I did know that. Didn’t I? Still, it didn’t stop the deep-seated fears from running rampant inside my head. “Demons can’t lie.”

He cupped the side of my face and sighed. “But they can twist things. You know that better than anyone.”

Again, he made a good point, but just because you didn’t want to hurt someone, didn’t mean you wouldn’t. I bent down to pick up the box. When my fingers touched the metal, it sent a tingle up my arms.

There was a horrible noise behind us. When I turned, I saw that the cave walls were shifting again.