Hot Blooded (33 page)

A spell hit the ground inches from my feet.

Selene marched toward me. She took her time. We weren’t going anywhere, and she knew it. She had a captive audience in her cavern of death. Just like she had planned. “I will relish
your death like none other.” Another spell lit out of her hands, racing toward me. “I will look back on this day fondly.”

I dodged it easily, bounding up the dais steps to the queenly bed, my nails raking the sheets, shredding them as I propelled myself over to the other side. I laid myself flat as another explosion hit above my head, narrowly missing the lit chandelier. The ceiling shook so hard wax flowed like rain, coating the ruined sheets. Not a great place for a chandelier if you weren’t a sadist.

“You can run all you want, but I will find you,” Selene declared as she stalked closer. “If I’m forced to, I’ll blow this place sky high. This is my least favorite home.” Disgust radiated from her voice. “It’s primitive and unclean. I reserve it for prolonged tortures and punishments only. You will die and I will regenerate.”

“You won’t be regenerating, Selene,” I called. “You’re going to wake up in hell once I’m finished with you. Isn’t that where leather-clad goddesses who sell their souls are thrown? The Underworld is itching for you to begin your work-study program and I’m here to make sure you to fulfill your duties. I’m sure the demons are rubbing their greedy little hands together as we speak.”

“I am not going anywhere near the Underworld,” she sneered as she came to a standstill below the dais. “I owe the demons nothing. The winged devils failed to do their job, so the deal is void. The demons have gone back on their agreement, so I am free of my debt.”

“I think you’ve overlooked a loophole in your contract, Selene.
Tsk-tsk.
” I lifted my head above the mattress. “You should’ve hired a good lawyer and paid attention to the fine print.”

“There was no loophole!” she raged as another spell raced from her fingers. The mattress exploded as I leapt down the steps, rounding the back of the dais.

“I incinerated your pets with my blood as they fed on me,” I taunted. “They turned to ash.” It was more like thick resin, but ash sounded more dramatic. “They didn’t pop back home to regenerate, they just…
died
.”

“Impossible.” Her fury shook things. Equipment lining the walls and chairs rocked in place. Selene was finally showing her true age. “What you say is
impossible
. Even I could not kill a beast from the Underworld on this plane.”

“Do you see any around here?” I mocked, glancing around as I lifted my head above the dais. “You’d think, with the steep payment of your soul, they’d be here.”

“
Bitch!
” she screamed, lunging for me, the rest of the bed exploding, sending cotton and splinters from the demolished headboard in every direction. I dodged the mess and ran, still heading away from Rourke. She turned, snarling, fingers waving again. “I will boil your body from the inside out.” Her voice held more madness than I’d heard before. She was becoming unhinged. That could only help me. “I will deliver pain and agony unlike any you ever thought to imagine. You will
beg
me for mercy.” Her porcelain features were harsh, making her look like the scary doll in the attic come to life.

My wolf snarled, readying for a fight. “You’re the one who’s going to beg, Selene,” I replied, scanning the cave above me, searching for my next move.

I spotted what I was looking for and smiled.

I love you; you know that
, I told my brother.
You get the hero award tonight.

Feeding a vamp actually wasn’t that bad
, he said.
Once you get used to it.
I felt his emotions roil in my blood. He wasn’t lying,
but it had taken everything he had to do it and I loved him for it.

I’ll get Selene to come this way. She’s losing her mind. This hasn’t gone according to her plan. You guys do the rest.

He nodded. Next to him Naomi’s stood, her face a mask of hate, all of it focused on Selene.

“After you die a painful, agonizing death, I’m going to take your mate to bed,” Selene announced, all her energy focused on me, just where I wanted it. “I’ll start by running my tongue over his chest—”

“That sounds lovely, but the party’s over, Selene,” I replied. “And the only one who will be licking Rourke’s chest will be me.”

I turned toward my brother and sprang, hitting the wall and bouncing off a large boulder. Selene turned toward me, coming forward just as I knew she would, her face contorted in a blind rage right as something whizzed through the air.

And pierced her right between the eyes.

One of Aunt Tally’s darts, the orange one specifically, stuck straight out of Selene’s forehead.

She had collapsed on impact. It was a sleeper. And it had worked.

Then Naomi was before me. “We need to work quickly. That spell won’t hold her for long.” Dried blood matted her face and hairline. Cuts and contusions covered her skin, mending quickly, along with a weird mark peeking out on her shoulder where her shirt had torn. “Come,” Naomi urged. “We need to kill her once and for all. Let’s disassemble her body to begin. It might not be enough, but we must try.”

Tyler jumped, landing easily next to us. “I need to check on Danny,” he said. “He was turning back to human last I saw.”

“I’m right here, mate.” Danny strode toward us. He had a remnant piece of one of Selene’s sheets tied around his waist. He looked awful, pale and exhausted, but I was happy to see him alive. “Let’s get on with taking her apart, then. I’m ready
to be done with this. Not quite the adventure I had hoped for, but I’ll take it as a win.”

“Are you completely healed from her spell?” I asked, scanning his body to make sure.

“Only thanks to your power and my wolf,” he said grimly. “Without it I would’ve been a goner. That Goddess packs a serious punch. It made the goat spell seem like a bloody tummy ache.”

I nodded. I could feel his relief in my blood. I was relieved too. “Before we do this, I need to check on Rourke,” I said. “He’s healing, but he’s too vulnerable. Then I will kill her personally. If for some reason we fail, I can’t leave him”—
I won’t leave him
—“at her mercy again.”

Naomi’s hand found my arm. “Go to him. I will start on Selene. I have waited years for my revenge and it starts now.” Her face hardened as she turned to the boys. “We will take her head first.” She glanced at me. “In the end we will need your power to kill her, no matter what we do here first.”

My eyes met hers, flashing violet. “It won’t take me long.”

She nodded.

I ran to Rourke. He was still unconscious, but his chest had knit together more, which was a welcome sight.
Why isn’t he awake?
My wolf growled and snapped her jaws.
We broke the spell and he was moving. He should be awake by now.

Something was wrong.

“Wait!” I called over my shoulder. “He should’ve woken up by now. Something isn’t right.” Naomi met my stare across the room. She looked feral, her eyes a gleaming mercury in the pale candlelight. Whatever pain she endured once Eamon brought her here must have been immense. “I already crushed Selene’s spell out of his body. Why isn’t he awake?”

“I do not know,” Naomi replied. “Search for another reason.
I will wait, but we have only a few minutes at most.” Killing Selene before we knew what she’d done to Rourke could be dangerous. Most spells vanished once the maker was dead, but someone as powerful as Selene could find a way do damage after her death. There was no question. She could have feasibly inserted something into his system only she could reverse and I wasn’t willing to take that chance.

I crouched down, placing my fingers on his forearm. Electricity jumped between us and his arm twitched in response. I ran my hands up to his hair as I gathered power to me, pulling hard on my resources. Then I placed both my hands on his shoulders and threw my senses into his body, testing for another reason why he wasn’t waking.

There it is!
My wolf snapped her jaws.

It was barely detectable and it felt rough, like a prickly beard running along my mind. My head shot up quickly when I felt its ugly intent. “There’s something vile here! But it’s masked very well. It doesn’t even feel like her signature. Whatever it is, I think it’s preventing him from fully waking. I’m going to try and break it.” Naomi stood up and reached for something in Tyler’s outstretched hand.

“Be careful, Jess,” Tyler said. “Her spells are tricky.”

“We will wait to see if he wakes before we behead Selene,” Naomi said. “But in the meantime, I will give her another reason to stay asleep.” She crouched next to the Goddess, plunging another dart of Tally’s into Selene’s stomach. Selene’s body gave a gigantic lurch, but she stayed immobile. “We will not take undue risks.”

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Danny muttered to Naomi, shaking his head. “I think that dart went all the way through and lodged in the rocks below.”

“
Oui
,” Naomi said. “And it did not give her the pain she
deserves, but it will have to do for now.” She turned to me, urging, “Hurry. We must not let her wake.”

There was no way I was arguing with Naomi. I worked fast. In one powerful thrust I shot my power into Rourke’s body, the gold of my essence covering the spell I’d found. It floated along the lines in his body, coating it like glue, but these spell lines were curiously blue, not Selene’s color at all. But they were definitely mingled with her essence. Tricky witch.

Once I coated the spell, I yanked my power back in a rush, pulling hard.

The spell snapped apart instantly, withering and evaporating like a flower dying on a vine.

Rourke shot awake instantly. “Jessica, Jessica,” he cried, his hands grabbing on to my arms, sweet energy rushing through me. “You have to get out of here right now. You don’t know she’s capable of now—”

“
Shh.
” I lowered my face to his, inhaling his rich scent. “I’m not leaving until you’re fully healed, so you can forget that right now.” His smell brought all the hairs on my body to a delicious peak. His body began to thrum with a current of power that hadn’t been there a moment before. Whatever Selene had spelled him with had inhibited most of his power, but it was gleefully returning. “But first I need to take care of Selene.” Before I could stand and go to Naomi, Rourke grabbed on to my face, pulling me down quickly, his lips hitting mine, hot and frantic. I didn’t have time to register it until his tongue entered my mouth.

Emotion raced through me, the taste of him overpowering anything else in the room. I moaned into his lips, gripping his shoulders with both hands, pulling myself closer to him. He snarled into my mouth. Our bond rang through me, his body and soul pouring into mine. My arms and legs began to shake.

He broke away from me slowly and I stifled a cry. “Jessica,” he said roughly. “Please tell me this is not a dream.” His beautiful clear green eyes blazed as he ran his hands along my arms and face.

“It’s me,” I said. “I’m here and Selene is down, but only for a moment. I have to finish this before we can finally go home.”

“No.” He shook his head emphatically. “Listen to me: you have to ignore her and get out. Go now. There’s no reasoning with her any longer.” There was a time you could reason with her? “She’s sold her soul. There’s no stopping her. Nothing we can do can defeat her. You need to leave here as quickly as possible and I’ll be right behind you.” He angled his body upward, a grimace of pain on his face.

“We have to try.” I rested my hands on his shoulders and tried to calm him. “I’m not leaving here unless I try. I refuse to look over my shoulder for her once we leave here. She will hound us to the death. She will never give up.” I pressed him gently back to the ground, hovering over him with concern. “Naomi just hit her with another spell. If I can’t kill her, we can at the very least incapacitate her for a very long time. I’m thinking fire might work if we disassemble her first.”

“It won’t work,” he said urgently, his face intent, his hands closing tightly over my forearms. “Jessica, please, you have to listen to me.” When he said my name it made my insides tingle. I pushed it out of my mind. I needed to stay focused. “She can’t be killed or even be incapacitated for long. I’ve tried. Once I got here, I broke her spells and managed to hold her down until the demons came. They did something to her, and everything changed. She must’ve struck a deal, because her essence morphed. Once that happened, she was able to secure me easily. I want you to get out before she wakes. I will follow you as soon as I can.”

“There’s no way I’m leaving you,” I said. “If she’s as strong as you’re saying, she’ll be after us as soon as she heals. It won’t matter where we run.” I glanced at Selene’s body, still inert. “If Tally’s spell can knock her out, she’s clearly not invincible. I’m betting we can do some damage.”

Naomi murmured her agreement. “
Oui.
The only thing that can bring a demon down is a powerful witch. The spells of blood and earth are natural agents against each other. If this is true, what he is saying, and Selene’s blood is now tainted with demon, this is likely the only reason she has been out this long. We’ve been lucky and nothing else.”