Soul Bound (23 page)

“Sorry,” she says with an apologetic look. “As you can see, my husband is a bit… occupied… right now.” She rolls her eyes. “You’re welcome to wait.” She glances at her diamond-studded Rolex. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go meet…” She giggles. “Well, you know who.”

And with that, she skips down the hall, disappearing from sight. Jareth sinks down onto one of the couches with a sigh. “Well, at least the furniture here is more comfortable than at the Lake of Fire prison,” he says, trying to stay optimistic.

“Yeah, sure,” I mutter, peeking through the office doors, still immersed in the game play. I’m just in time to see Hades get killed again, this time by a trap laid by humans in the ice cream parlor. “But this could take a while. I mean, it took me three days to get past this level and I’m totally
leet
. In fact, it wasn’t until I looked up online and learned about the shotgun hidden
in the toy store that I really—” I break off, an idea coming to me. “I’ll be right back,” I inform my boyfriend.

“Where are you going?”

But I don’t bother to answer. Instead, I push through the double doors again and into Hades’s chamber. A bold move, I know, and one liable to get my body separated from my head if his threats are to be believed. But those who dare, win. Especially when it comes to video games.

“I thought I told you to go away,” the god grinds out, not looking up from his TV as he guides his character through the mall, avoiding a hungry zombie to his left. He’s actually pretty good, I observe, and might eventually be able to master the level without my little trick. But we don’t have time, in this case, to wait and see.

“Go left,” I instruct him. “Into the toy store.”

He whirls around at my voice, almost losing it to an oncoming zombie.

“Watch out!”

He turns back to the game, just in time to take out the creature. Saving his life and quite possibly my own head.

“Toy store,” I repeat, adrenaline kicking up a notch. I have a feeling if I can’t get him through this, it’ll be game over for me. Permanently.

Thankfully, he does as I say, swinging a left into the toy store and cutting down a zombie cashier at the entrance.

“Head down the toy gun aisle,” I instruct, heart in my throat. Will he make it? Will I? “Then search the lowest shelf under the Super Soaker display.”

Hades obeys, making a right, then a left through the Barbie aisle, past the Hot Wheels section, narrowly missing being chomped by a child-sized zombie on a three-wheeler. I watch, breathlessly, as his character searches the shelf in question and…

“Shotgun acquired,” the game announces.

Yes! I jump up and down in excitement as Hades locks and loads. A zombie clown comes barreling toward him, but he easily blows it out of the water. He looks back at me with a big, toothy grin and I clap my hands appreciatively. Maybe I’ll save my head just yet. And my sister’s soul, too.

“Now head to the roof,” I tell him. “The helicopter’s waiting.”

He follows orders, storming the mall, shooting everything in sight. His points rack up higher and higher as he ascends the back stairs and steps out onto the roof. Sure enough, the helicopter is waiting for him and a moment later, he’s flying away, with the game auto-saving his place before moving him on to level thirteen. From the side of the room, I can see his slave boy breathe a sigh of relief.

Hades sets down the controller and rises to his feet, turning to me with a big smile on his wrinkled face. “Good trick,” he admits. “I never would have found that.”

I smile back at him, trying to look braver than I feel. “Yeah, well, that level is total hell,” I reply. “Um, pardon the pun.” Oops. Hopefully he’s not sensitive about that kind of thing.

But luckily, the god just laughs, sitting down on a nearby sofa and patting the cushion for me to join him. “So tell me, gamer girl,” he says. “Who are you and what do you want?”

A
nd so I dive in, telling him the whole sordid tale. And when I’m finished, he makes me go back further. Then even further. Until I come to that first night at Club Fang. When, because of my actions, my sister fell down the rabbit hole and lost her innocence forever.

“So you believe that if you didn’t drag her to this nightclub,” Hades concludes when I’m finished, “none of this would have happened.”

“Well, Sunny wouldn’t be mixed up with vampires, that’s for sure,” I reply, wondering what he’s getting at. Is he trying to make me feel guilty about the whole thing? ’Cause if so, he’s a little late. “I take full responsibilities for my own actions. I made my choices and I knew the consequences. But Sunny just wanted to be normal. And I stole that from her.” I stare down
at my hands, remembering that fateful night. The first time I saw those two tiny puncture wounds on my sister’s neck. At the time, she’d thought it was all a big joke. Little did she know…

“Sometimes I wish I could go back,” I mutter. “Do it all over again.”

Hades sits up on the couch, his small, beady eyes locked on me. “What would you do differently?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. Everything? I mean, it’s hard to say, right? I certainly wouldn’t let Magnus bite my sister without explaining the whole deal to her first. I’d want her to at least be able to make an educated decision on what kind of life she wanted to lead.”

Of course, even as I’m saying the words, I wonder. Sure, if Sunny knew the truth, she might not let Magnus bite her. But then she would have never fallen in love with him either. And as much as their relationship has been tumultuous, to say the least, he’s also been her rock. Her soul mate without a soul.

Is it better to have loved and lost? Or never loved at all?

Hades rubs his graying goatee thoughtfully. “This could be fun,” he mutters, half to himself.

“What?” I cock my head in question. “What could be fun?”

He turns back to me. “Well, my dear, I’m sure you realize that I can’t just release your sister’s soul out of the blue like this,” he explains. “I mean, death is death. There’s no coming back. Unless it’s as a zombie. And zombies are trouble, as you saw. You don’t want your sister to become a mindless brain muncher, do you?”

I shake my head. That’s one supernatural creature I never
want to see in real life. “But you’re Lord of the Underworld,” I protest. “You have the power to bring people back to life.”

“Honey, we can’t change the rules midstream or make exceptions—even for sisters of very talented gamer girls. What would people think if the dead suddenly started coming back to life? It’d be anarchy. It’d shake the very foundation humanity is based on.”

My heart sinks. This is so not what I wanted to hear. At all. “Please. I came all this way,” I cry. “Isn’t there something you can do? I can’t live life without my sister. And I’ll do anything to save her. She didn’t deserve to die.” I pause, sucking in a breath. “Can we make an exchange? My soul for hers?”

Hades chuckles. “You’re a vampire, remember?” he reminds me. “You gave up your soul a long time ago.”

Crap. I’d forgotten about that little technicality. I’d already willingly tossed aside the one thing that could have saved my sister. For what? Riches? Power? I am truly too stupid to live.

“There has to be some way to save her,” I beg, not ready to give up. “Please. She’s my sister.”

Hades considers this for a moment, then gives me a sympathetic pat on the knee. “Well, there is one possible way,” he ventures. “But I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“Anything!” I cry, hope surging inside of me at his words. “Anything in the entire world.”

“Very well,” the Lord of the Underworld says. “Let’s play a little game. I’ll call it Operation Do-Over.”

I stare at him, confused beyond belief. “What the hell is that?”

“I can’t bring Sunny back from the dead. But we could go back to a time when she’s still living,” he says slyly. “After all, you told me you’d do things differently if you had a second chance, right? That night at Club Fang? You’d let Sunny choose her destiny.”

I stare at him, my head spinning, feeling as if I’m going to pass out right then and there. “You want us to go back in time?”

“In a sense,” Hades says thoughtfully. “We’ll reset the clocks, sending you and your sister back to the time before she was bitten by a vampire. Like returning to the save point in your video game. The two of you will still retain the knowledge and experiences you’ve gained over the last year. But everyone else will be exactly how they were. This way, you and your sister will have the chance to play it out, all over again. To make new choices, armed with what you know now about the consequences of those choices.

I force a hard swallow. “And no one will know this has happened—except us?”

Hades grins. “That’s right. Just you and Sunny against the world.”

But that would mean… Horror engulfs me as I glance over to the double doors, where Jareth waits in the next room. That would mean…

“No. I can’t,” I say, shaking my head with vehemence. “I can’t leave Jareth like this.” After all we’ve been through. After all we’ve said to one another. After he gave me his heart and I promised him eternity. How can I walk away now? Leave the
love of my life behind? To go back to a time when he won’t even recognize me?

“Typical.” Hades clucks, as if disappointed. “Everyone always says they’d do anything.” He gets up from the couch. “Until that
anything
is presented to them.”

“Come on! There has to be another way!” I plead, my heart feeling as if it’s breaking in two. I try to imagine a life without Jareth. No, worse—a life where he’s there but doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall.

The god heads back to his recliner, grabbing the joystick off the table. “That’s my proposition. Take it or leave it.” He glances at his watch. “I’m going to work on beating level thirteen now. You need to have made your decision before I complete it.”

“But level thirteen’s just a bonus round!” I cry. “You’ll beat it in no time!”

“Well, then I suggest you start deciding,” he says, tipping his head to me before turning back to the game. He un-pauses it and then starts playing.

And I head out with heavy feet and heart to talk to Jareth.

I
stumble out of the room, my eyes blurred with bloody tears. Somehow I manage to fall into Jareth’s arms, clinging to him with desperation, wanting to feel his embrace one more time before our lives change forever. His cool arms wrap around me, stroking my back as he tries to soothe my choking sobs.

“He said no, didn’t he?” my boyfriend concludes, leading me back over to the sofa and sitting me down. “I was afraid of that. I didn’t want to discourage you. But from all I’ve heard about the guy—”

I shake my head furiously. “I almost wish he had,” I reply. “It would have made things a lot easier.” I give him the whole story from beginning to end. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I finish. “I mean, how am I supposed to make this decision? If I turn down his offer, I’m basically condemning my sister to
death.” I hang my head. “She deserves another chance. A chance at the happy, normal life she’s always wanted for herself. The one I stole from her that night at Club Fang. If I agree, she has another chance to find that. To grow up, become a journalist, get married, have children—everything that she always wanted. Who knows what she can accomplish if given a half a chance?”

I start choking and have to stop. Jareth pats my back, looking at me with tender eyes. “It would be great,” he agrees. “To bring her back to life. To allow her another chance at happiness.”

“But then what happens?” I cry, breaking away from his grasp, feeling ready to explode. “If I accept his offer—if I go back time…” I squeeze my eyes shut in agony, imagining the scene. “That’s it for us. You won’t even know me anymore. You won’t… love me. You won’t be mine. It’ll be like we… like we never met.”

Jareth grabs me in his arms, crushing me in his strong grip. I can barely breathe, but it doesn’t matter. At the moment I don’t care about anything but his hands on me, holding me tight. And I wildly beg for this moment to freeze in place forever.

Can I live without Jareth? My true love? Can I accept an existence without him by my side? Can I go back to a life where I’m totally and utterly alone?

“I finally got you back,” I whisper hoarsely. “How can I just walk away? How can I just leave all we have behind?”

Jareth looks down at me tenderly, brushing a lock of blood tear–stained hair out of my eyes. “Rayne, I spent a lifetime feeling guilty for letting my family down. And it’s a torture I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.” He sighs. “If you turn down Hades’s offer, you’re
going to have to live with that decision for the rest of your life. You’ll be tormented by the idea that you could have saved her, could have given her a chance at new life but you chose your own happiness instead. It’ll haunt you every day until you go mad, wondering if you made the right decision.” He pauses, looking down at me with the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen. “And then you’ll start to resent me. Because I held you back. I kept you from saving your sister.”

I stare at him in horror. “But I’d never—”

He holds up a hand, interrupting me. “You say that now. But are you sure you’ll always feel that way? Because as much as I love you to death, I don’t think I could live with being the cause of such all-consuming pain and guilt. I know what it feels like. I know how it can so easily destroy your life.”

I moan. This is all so hard. So, so hard.

Jareth reaches out, lifting my chin with his hand, forcing me to stare into his beautiful eyes. “Sweetheart, darling, my Rayne,” he murmurs. “You told me our love could stand the test of time. Well, now we’re faced with that test. I won’t be gone. I may not remember you, but I’ll still be there, waiting for you, even though I don’t know it. You made me fall in love with you once. You helped me break down the walls of the emotional prison I’d trapped myself in. Don’t you think you could do it all over again?”

I nod slowly, my heart overflowing with emotion. “But what if you don’t fall for me this time around?” I manage to choke out.