A slow, secret smile curved that sensual mouth, and she gestured to a suitcase near the entrance. “Because,” she said silkily, “I’m moving in.”
Regan had never been as terrified in her life as she was right now.
The disbelief on Thanatos’s face had veered sharply to fury, and now there were shadows flitting at his feet. The shadows they’d discussed back at Aegis headquarters… souls of the demons, animals, and humans Than had killed. Shadows he could release to do more killing.
Deep inside, her forbidden ability stirred.
“You are what?” His voice was as cold as the snowstorm she’d battled to get here. Kynan had gotten her through the Harrowgate, but she’d had to ride the rest of the way on one of the several corralled snowmachines Thanatos kept near the gate and at the keep, which would be her getaway vehicle if her scheme went as planned.
Or, more importantly, if it didn’t.
She inhaled, seeking the calm outer shell she’d had in place since she arrived. She took another sip of tea, which really was wonderful. And she didn’t normally like the stuff.
“I’m moving in. The Elders discussed it, and we decided that one of us should hang out with you full time. I drew the short straw.”
He practically sputtered, his face turning red. “You discussed it? The Aegis discussed it without talking to us first?” He spat out a dozen curses. “You people have always been too full of yourselves. This wasn’t discussed with any of us. So get out.”
“Look,” she said calmly, even though inside she was quivering, “this isn’t about us being full of ourselves. It’s about repairing the bad blood between The Aegis and the Horsemen. So just show me to my room, and I’ll get out of your way for a while. Give you some time to get used to the idea.”
She thought his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. But what stunning eyes they were. They’d been pale yellow when she’d first seen him, and now, in anger, they’d deepened to a burnished gold. She hadn’t been prepared for them, nor for his sheer size or looks. Oh, she’d known about the souls he kept, and about his tattoos and piercings. But she hadn’t expected the souls to be so eerie, the tats to be so remarkable, or for him to be so handsome. Hell, despite what Kynan had said, she’d still figured on him being some bony, withered dude wrapped up in a Grim Reaper robe.
Thanatos was as far removed from that image as possible, and even though he might terrify her down to her marrow, she couldn’t help but admire him. Remember that when he’s slaughtering you. It’s important that the guy strangling the life out of you is drop-dead gorgeous.
She was such a moron.
The shadows around Thanatos swirled faster, faces forming in the inky billows, and her ability, which could rip a soul right out of a body, writhed inside her like a living thing. It wanted to be used. It wanted to free the souls from Than’s armor the way it “freed” souls from humans and demons.
“Why is this so important to The Aegis?” Than asked.
“I told you.” She gripped her cup tight. “If we want to combat the coming Apocalypse, we need to do more than work together. We need to learn everything we can about you and fill in the blanks.”
“Why you?” He looked her up and down, and the shadows went crazier.
She was so glad she’d bucked Val’s advice to dress provocatively and instead went for casual and covered up, but now she had to see if her decision to play hard-to-get, which was her normal state and easy to do, would be more effective with Thanatos than flirty sex kitten.
“I told you. I drew the short straw.”
“The short straw. I’m flattered.” His sarcasm echoed off the stone walls and the lofty ceiling, and the one tattoo that was different than the others, one of a horse on his right forearm, moved. She blinked, watching in amazement as the horse threw its head. Hadn’t Kynan said that their horses lived on their bodies?
Fascinated, she drifted closer to the big warrior. Her heart rate rocketed and her stomach became alive with butterflies, but she couldn’t stop her feet from moving or her gaze from locking on the horse. Thanatos barked out something in a language she didn’t know, and the shadows that had been circling him dcirm move at his legs, seeming to absorb into his body.
“It’s remarkable,” she murmured, reaching out to touch his skin, but Thanatos hissed and jumped backward, startling her into leaping back herself.
“Go back to your colleagues and tell them to send someone else.” His voice was a nasty rasp. “Send a male.”
She puffed up like a pissy hen, as her last foster mom would have said. “Listen up, Horseman. I know you were born back when women were thought of as little more than brood mares and slaves, but it’s the twenty-first century, and we can do anything a man does. I’m as good as any male Aegi, so get over your chauvinist pig self.”
“I have a sister who can give any male a run for his money, and I can’t imagine her as either a slave or a brood mare, so my issue isn’t with your competence.” He stalked her, and instinct told her to retreat. But she ignored her first impulse and stood her ground, even when he bumped up against her so they were chest to chest and she could smell his smoky scent. “My issue is that I prefer to surround myself with males.”
“Well,” she said tightly, “you’re out of luck, because there are no male Guardians available right now. So you’re just going to have to suck it up and deal with me.”
Thanatos’s eyes glowed with a fierce light she’d be willing to bet people saw just before he ripped off their heads. “You can walk out of my house on your own, whole and healthy, or I will throw you out, a lot less healthy, in pieces. Your choice.”
Think fast… think fast… Regan looked over his shoulder at the entrance to what looked like a huge library. Perfect. She hated to do this, but the in pieces thing didn’t sound pleasant.
“You’re looking for Limos’s agimortus, right?” she said quickly. “And a way to mend your brother’s Seal. I can help. I have a special ability that can be useful.”
His eyes narrowed. “What special ability?”
“I can interpret ink on skin. That includes parchment.”
“I can interpret ink on parchment too,” Than said dryly. “It’s called reading.”
She brushed past him, ignoring the zing of awareness that shot through her body when they touched, and stalked to his library, where she looked around at the piles of parchments and scrolls and bazillions of books, some modern, but most ancient. Quickly, because Thanatos was coming at her like a locomotive, steam practically coming out of his ears, she grabbed a book with a cover that appeared to have been made from… oh, ick… human skin.
Whatever. She laid it on the desk, flipped it open, and put her fingers to the ink… blood?… on one of the pages. The language was unknown to her, but the emotions that seared her fingertips were not.
Jealousy, as thick as gelatin, rolled through her. “The author,” she murmured, “is… upset. Jealous.” Flashes of violence flickered like a grainy movie through her brain. “It’s a female, I think. She wants to kill… horriblyto killiblpse another female. The other female is beautiful, black hair, violet eyes. Whoever wrote this was thinking of a na**d male. With wings.” She inhaled a shaky breath. “Angel?”
Thanatos’s fingers circled her wrist and pulled her away from the book. “You can do this with the documents pertaining to my sister’s agimortus?”
Regan nodded, the visions in her head still vivid. “Who were those people?”
“The author was a succubus named Estha. The violet-eyed female is Lilith, my mother. The male is either Azagoth or Sartael, before they fell, and one of two rumored to be our father.”
“Azagoth? The Grim Reaper could be your father?”
Thanatos didn’t say anything else, instead standing there and watching her speculatively. “You could be of use, but I’ll come to you. No female stays here.”
She had the upper hand right now, and she was going to use it. “That won’t work. I need access to your library. You need my help, and The Aegis needs yours. I’m not leaving, female or not.” Smiling, she sauntered out of the library and shouldered her duffle. “Now, please show me to my room.”
With a snarl, he stalked away, and though a vampire showed up a moment later to lead her deep into the freezing keep, she didn’t feel victorious at all. On the contrary, she was pissed as hell.
The Horseman she’d been sent to seduce… was gay.
Fourteen
Arik lost it. It was f**king great news that he was no longer in Sheoul, but now he was a big head case. Chunks of his memory were gone, and what was there seemed fuzzy, dreamlike, and he couldn’t tell memory from dream. Christ, he hated that, had always prided himself on having a damned good memory, especially after intensive military training that helped him recall minute details following encounters with demons. Now he wondered how much of his life he’d lost, and if any of it would come back.
In his freaked-out state, he’d gone to his room—Limos’s room, he guessed—but claustrophobia had wrapped around him tighter than a bulletproof vest, and he’d gone for the sliding glass door—only to find that it had been locked. From the outside.
Panic set in, and he’d smashed a chair through the glass, leaped over the railing, and whacked the male who’d been standing guard below. Arik ran, barefoot, into the jungle behind the house. He didn’t know how far he’d gone when he heard Limos calling to him, but he didn’t stop until his lungs were burning for oxygen, his skin was damp with sweat, and the path was blocked by a waterfall that split the jungle in half.
Panting, he bent over and braced his hands on his knees as Limos came up behind him.
“I’m impressed.” Her voice was soft as her hand came down on his shoulder, and now that he knew she was real, her touch felt better.