Bedeviled (8 page)

Their jobs always seemed to be in the way of their future—whether she acknowledged that future or not.

Silas stepped around the side of the trailer and Ryker waited for him to make a smart-ass comment, but the Witch wisely restrained himself.

“You sure I can't talk you out of going into the big, dark, scary building at night?” Silas asked.

Kyana smoothed her hair over her shoulder and jostled herself back into business mode. “I think you've been hanging out with your pouty girlfriend for too long. You've become as pansy-assed as she is.”

Silas laughed. “I'm just a realist. I've discovered that fighting is more fun if you actually see your opponent's face when you ram your fist into it. And Sixx isn't pouty
or
a pansy. You'd be surprised how well her body—”

Kyana elbowed him in the stomach and shut him up.

Silas slipped his arm lightly around her shoulder, and the searing sensation of jealousy ripped through Ryker's stomach.

When Silas glimpsed his face, he shrugged. “Lots of debris in this field.” He pointed at Kyana's bare toes. “Thought she might want a piggyback ride.”

“If anyone's giving her a piggyback ride, it's me,” Ryker grumbled.

“I don't take piggybacks from
anyone
.”

Silas laughed. “Someone really needs to teach you that you're a woman and showing those attributes outside of the bedro—”

Kyana shot the Witch a deadly stare that silenced him as quickly as her elbow had, but Ryker could finish Silas's statement for him. Surely he was kidding, though. The bedroom? There was definitely a flirtatious relationship here, but Ryker couldn't see Kyana hooking up with someone like Silas.

Why? Because he's nothing like
you
?

He scowled. Kyana wasn't exactly his type, and he was willing to bet he wasn't hers. If they weren't being forced to work together, would the constant need for her have subsided by now?

He considered that for a moment and decided that the answer was undoubtedly no. The effort she put into fighting for her friends was exactly what he wanted in a woman. The compassion she displayed for Haven today, even if it was buried under an exterior of steel, proved she wasn't the hard-ass everyone else saw her for.

She was exactly his type in exactly the right package. Strong, independent, with a creamy soft center you had to dig deep to taste. His type, indeed.

He pressed on behind Silas and Kyana. None of that mattered now. When this job was done, then maybe he could think about what should and should not be between him and Ky. But right now, he had to make sure she did
her
job, so he wouldn't be forced to do his.

He'd still give Kyana the space and time she needed to try and subdue her friend, but if it looked like she couldn't complete her task, or if Haven attempted to flee again, he'd have to step in.

That thought soured his mood even more. If he was forced to step in, it wouldn't matter what fate had decided for their future. There would be nothing left between them if he was forced to kill Haven.

“You know we can't just leave her dad here to die,” he grumbled, forcing himself to stop mooning over what might or might not happen. “We have to get him help just like we get everyone else.”

Kyana shrugged. “We'll come back when we're done in the factory. If he's still there, maybe I'll think about saving him. It would be a pity for a Dark Breed other than Haven to sink its teeth into that ass—”

She stopped abruptly and Ryker knew she'd caught a scent as she lifted her head and sniffed the wind. Ryker smelled it too.

Silas's face lost all traces of humor. “Dark Breeds?”

“Yeah, and something a hell of a lot worse,” Ryker muttered.

If Haven was still here, she wasn't alone anymore.

Chapter Ten

T
he door to the abandoned factory hung by one rusty hinge. It was a relief to find a place they could easily access, though as they stood on the steps, Kyana was pretty sure Ryker and Silas didn't want to go inside any more than she did.

“Dear God, what
is
that smell?”

Finally, Silas was able to detect the stench Ryker and Kyana had picked up halfway across the debris-littered field. It was familiar, sulfuric, and as nasty as unclean ass. Kyana had smelled it on the key to Tartarus when she'd been assigned to lock Hell back up, as well as in the room at the Healing Circle from which Haven had escaped after Kyana had turned her.

Given those two associations, that sulfuric stink was putting a knot in Kyana's stomach now.

“I'm not sure,” she said, taking her first tentative step inside. “But I'm starting to think it might be Cronos.”

The sulfuric stench was overpowering enough to hide the real scents of the factory, which Kyana was beginning to suspect would have been foul with or without Cronos's presence. Already she could see the hooks hanging from the ceiling, the dried blood, the carcasses left to rot weeks ago when the world had gone topsy-turvy. “Think it's a meatpacking plant. But that stink isn't from this place, it's from the people in it.”

“Well, it can't be Cronos. He's still dead,” Ryker said, stepping beside her. His eyes swirled red as he honed in on his ability to penetrate the darkness.

“Haven's seeing him, remember? Now they have the trident too. I'm guessing Cronos is more than just bones now. A spirit maybe.”

She studied the large, nasty room. That piggyback ride Silas had offered wasn't looking too bad right about now. She looked at Ryker. “I still have my natural immunity to disease and infection, right?”

He nodded.

Kyana sighed and began the tedious chore of picking her way to the stairs without losing a toe.

“Hello. I don't have any such built-in defenses,” Silas grumbled. Ryker and Kyana ignored his complaints and he finally followed behind them, muttering under his breath.

Thanks to the open slaughter area, there weren't many hiding places on this level. Only pride kept Kyana from moaning or cursing out loud as the debris cut into her bare feet. By the time they'd cleared the second floor, finding nothing more than what were most likely Haven's father's meager belongings and empty booze bottles, she was beginning to wonder if anything they might find was worth the pain of retrieving it.

The stairway was blocked by a large door with a sign declaring
EMPLOYEES ONLY
.

Slowly, she eased open the door. The stench nearly knocked her backward. Ryker caught her around the waist and hissed. Silas cursed. Weren't they a sorry bunch? They made enough noise that deaf humans could've heard them coming from a mile away.

“I'm not sure I want to know what was living in there.” Silas's voice was muffled. He'd pulled the neck of his T-shirt over his nose. “At this point, I don't even want to fight it. Just tell me it's gone and we can get out of here.”

“It's not gone,” Ryker and Kyana said together.

Proof lay in the violent whispers of an all-too-familiar voice. Haven. She was arguing with herself, frantically gesturing at the brick wall in front of her.

Kyana drew her daggers and looked at Silas, who held his long, lethal-looking blade in his fist, then to Ryker, who simply stared at her. “When are you going to learn that it's important to pack a weapon?”

His lips curved in a slight smile. “About the time you learn I don't need one.”

She rolled her eyes. Okay, so she'd seen him take on an army solo, but it would have made her feel better knowing he was armed with
something
.

She pulled a spare blade from her belt and forced it into his hand before slipping through the partially opened door. Haven turned as though she were ankle-deep in syrup. Slow, smooth. As her gaze fell on Kyana, her eyes narrowed to black slits that looked capable of shooting venom.

“Mm mm mm . . .” The noise originated low in Haven's throat, releasing in a rumble of mockery rather than a threatening taunt. “That nose of yours. I have to admit, I was hoping it wouldn't be so sharp since you stole my destiny.”

She smiled, flashing a glimpse of bloodied teeth. “Tell me, Kyana. How does it feel to be a goddess? To know you are now becoming what by all rights should have been mine?”

The accusation stung, but Kyana wasn't taking the bait. “You would have been dead if I hadn't turned you. Hard to become a goddess when you're six feet under.”

Behind her, she could feel Silas and Ryker edging closer. She stepped sideways to block their path. Her own instinct to lunge immediately was making her toes tingle, but she kept her feet firmly to the floor and stood as still as possible while Haven scrutinized her.

Haven certainly wasn't herself at the moment, but neither did she have that gleam of craziness in her eyes. If she could talk coherently, maybe they could find out what Cronos was planning.

“My hair,” Haven said, shaking her head. “My powers. My
fucking destiny
.” Spit flung from her mouth as her fangs tore into her bottom lip. She still wasn't used to them, unskilled in keeping her mouth safe from their deadliness. The blood oozed from the center of her lip and she licked it clean. “You stole it all.”

Kyana's fingers were wrapped around the hilt of her dagger so tightly, her knuckles throbbed. “Fine. Come with me, Haven. I'll tell Artemis I don't want it. We'll convince her to give it all to you. It's not too late . . . yet. But if you keep at this, if you keep listening to Cronos, I
won't
be able to save you.”

Haven's laughter contained a sadness that didn't live up to the blackness glimmering in her eyes.

“I can help you, Haven. You don't have to listen to him anymore.”

“Help me? There's no
me
to help anymore!” Haven backed away, her lip curling with disgust. “You think I care that you're the new Goddess of the Hunt? That will be puny in comparison to what
he
is. What he'll be. When I'm finished, whatever fancy skills Artemis is teaching you will look like nothing more than a useless fly swatter. So many holes for me to fly through, Kyana. So many ways around what you've become. You have nothing to offer me.
Nothing!
”

Kyana winced, forcing herself to cling to the tiny trace of fear lacing Haven's words. She refused to believe Haven meant everything she said. She was a fighter. There was no way in hell she was going to let Cronos win without resistance. He was in her now, Kyana was sure of it. The blackness in Haven's eyes didn't belong to her any more than the deep, husky voice did.

“Just come with us. We can fight this. Together. Me, you, and Geoffrey.”

Her head jerked as though she'd been slapped. “Geoff?”

She grabbed hold of the hope in Haven's voice and nodded. “He misses you. And he's worried about you. He wants you to come home.”

A glazed sheen fell over Haven's dark eyes as she stepped away. “Fuck you.”

Kyana took a step forward, unwilling to allow Haven even an inch of retreat.

“You're our family. We'll always love you.” She took another step closer. “Just come back with me. Let us take care of you.”

She reached for Haven's arm, and just as her fingers were about to close over her wrist, she jerked out of Kyana's grasp.

Haven convulsed, her head jerking wildly from side to side until an eerie calm settled around her and the eyes staring back at Kyana once again belonged to a stranger. “You had your chance. You refused. She's mine now.”

Kyana lunged for Haven. As her hand circled Haven's wrist, a flurry of dust kicked up and slowly grew near the window. Ryker and Silas were at Kyana's side and together they watched the dust storm, their breaths puffing white as the temperature dropped enough to form ice crystals on the ceiling. Haven didn't so much as wiggle to break free.

Instead, her hair blew behind her and her eyes flashed with menace. “What you've started can't be stopped.”

Kyana could have sworn she saw a flicker of fear pop from somewhere in those black depths that had once been Haven's eyes. Cronos was working her like a puppet.

She intended to make sure his bones were turned into dust and his sorry ass was scattered to the four corners of the Earth.

“Leave her alone.”

The pink tongue that flicked out to dampen Haven's lips looked eerily human in such a demonic face. “My new friend here is very powerful, or she soon will be. Scatter my bones if you like. She will raise me, regardless.”

He was in Kyana's head, hearing her thoughts. She concentrated so hard on not thinking, her eyes began to burn.

“I trust you'll let my sons know that their time is short.”

Haven spun in a dizzying speed that forced Kyana to release her. Something gold appeared in her hand, and Kyana heard herself gasp when the dust swirl revealed the trident. But before she could reach for it, Haven pulled a small pouch from the pocket of her dirty jeans and threw a handful of greenish powder at her feet.

“Grab her!” Silas shot around Kyana, throwing himself at Haven.

“
Devito!
” Haven screamed. A white light engulfed every inch of the foul-smelling room. When Kyana could see again, Silas lay in a heap on the floor and Haven was gone.

And so was the trident.

Kyana ran to the window, looking out into the darkness. Haven was nowhere to be seen. Her scent, the stench of Cronos, and the smell of death that had filled the factory only seconds ago were gone. She'd simply vanished.

“Sonofabitch!” Kyana spun on Silas. “What was that?”

Rubbing his shoulder, he struggled to his feet. “It's a powerful, ancient spell. I've read up on it, but have never seen anyone actually attempt it.”

The awe in his voice didn't ease her frustration. “You can be impressed later. Right now, I just want to know what it was so I can figure out how to keep her from doing it again.”

“The spell allows her to maneuver her way out of sticky situations.”

“Like astral projection?” She'd tried that once. Wasn't fun.

“Not exactly. It's like suspended animation. Or maybe the slowing of time would be a better explanation.” Silas wiped his hands on his jeans. “Either way, she's casting the spell that binds us and allows her the freedom to slip away. It covers her scent. Leaves no markers. It's damned hard to track and even harder to prevent.”

So that was how she'd been evading Kyana's tracking skills. She was exhausted, and being outsmarted by a dead god wasn't exactly rejuvenating. She sighed and grudgingly followed as Ryker and Silas led the way out of the factory.

“I need food. And ambrosia. I'm running on empty but we don't have time for more than a quick snack. I won't lose her this time.”

She saw Ryker nod from the corner of her eye, but kept her focus on Silas. “Can you create a counter spell so she can't leave me in the dust like this again?”

“Doubt it, but I'll start working on it the minute we return Below.”

“The trident's gone,” she said, “and we've seen for ourselves that Cronos is able to take over Haven's body. Guess we know now how she's able to touch the Eyes of Power without dying.”

“Yeah,” Ryker said. “Because
she's
not technically touching it.
He
is.”

Yes. Cronos was living and breathing inside her best friend, and she was beginning to fear that the only way to get him out was to wreck the vehicle he was driving. If she couldn't get through to Haven soon, Kyana was going to have no choice but to kill her.