Unearthed (43 page)

Fuck him.
He couldn’t have any more.

“I’m not ruined.” Her voice was quiet but firm. If she could live through tonight, she would have another chance to dust the vampire, when she was strong enough to do it. Tomorrow or the night after, the first moment he let his guard down. Until then, the only thing that mattered was keeping both parts of her soul above the ground. Whatever she had to do to make that happen, she’d do. “It’s like you said—I belong to you.”

“Yet you gave yourself to him.”

“That was a mistake.” She swallowed her hate, knowing the deal she had to make. “But we can start over. Our bond could be as strong as his and mine, stronger even, because your blood holds so much power.”

“What are you doing?” Davyn shouted.

Lamere’s grip on her arm released slightly. Her legs held more of her weight but not enough to fight him.

“
Turn
me into who you want me to be. Bond us together in blood.” She didn’t think she’d said it loudly, certainly not loud enough for Davyn to hear over his shouting, but he had.

“Don’t do this, Keira!”

“
Turn
me,” she repeated, tilting her head to expose her neck. “Forget about him. He doesn’t matter.” Lamere was going to kill her—if not now then eventually, unless she wasn’t human. If she died right now, Davyn would go to Level Nine with half a soul. If she became immortal, he’d be free.

“I don’t know what the demon told you, but he would never stay with you.” Lamere scraped her collarbone, down her chest between her breasts, cutting new lines across her skin. “It is impossible for a demon to care about anyone but himself. Whatever good he promised, he cannot deliver. He only knows hell.” When his finger reached her scars, the pressure softened to a caress that traced the lines. “We will keep him bound until I find a way to rip your soul out of him and return it to you. Then once I wipe him from your mind, you will be mine again.”

“Not this way, hunter,” Davyn called. She met his eyes, pleading for him to understand, or come up with a better idea. If there was another way to ensure he wouldn’t go back to hell now, she didn’t know what it was. “He’s wrong about both of us. You know he is, so tell him he’s full of shit and remind me why I love you.”

Why he…?

Lamere’s fangs scratched her neck when he laughed. “What did you just say, demon?”
 

“I wasn’t talking to you, asshole.”

Davyn knew why Keira was doing this, why she thought it was the only way, and why she was wrong. She’d forgotten how negotiation worked in his world, and how good he was at it. Just like
he’d
forgotten this place had stopped being his home as soon as he went back to hell. So the magic and wards he’d used to keep people the fuck out of his life were powerless, and the worst riffraff could just let themselves in.

He no longer felt the ropes sawing into his skin, deeper than before, when he would’ve killed everyone on earth to get free. Now his freedom meant more, so there was only one jerkoff he wanted to kill, and one woman he’d trade his life for. All he had to do was figure out how to get the first part done, without having to give up the other. While strapped down to a bed.

If Lamere turned her into a vampire, she’d lose herself forever. Every time she fed, felt the bond his blood would create, or looked in a mirror, she would see a monster. She’d already given half of her soul to someone undeserving. Davyn couldn’t let her give up any more.

“
Now
I’m talking to you, vamp.” He waited until Lamere looked up from Keira’s neck. “Does it hurt? Knowing she gave herself to me willingly. I didn’t have to chain her up to have her. In fact…” He yanked the bindings. “I got the impression she wants to keep me around a while.”

“What are you doing?”
she mouthed, wide-eyed.
 

Trying to convince the vampire that he didn’t want her as she was, and she’d never be his unless she got her soul back. But Davyn couldn’t say that. She’d understand eventually—sooner was better because he could use her help. “I probably owe you something for teaching her how to tie knots, though. Having her on top of me and not having to do any of the work was pretty damn incredible.”

If all this was about to end, holding anything back seemed extra fucking stupid. But it only became an imperative when Lamere slid an arm around her waist to cup her breast, pulling her back to him possessively.

“Actually,” Davyn said. “The only thing better is the way her lips feel when she kisses me, and the way they move when she laughs. I told her it was a terrible idea to fall for a demon, but she doesn’t listen too well, you know?” He grimaced. “Maybe you don’t know, seeing how everything you do with her is against her will.” He stopped when Keira looked at her feet, picking up one then the other, testing her balance and strength.

The bitterness in Lamere’s voice was louder than the words, clearer. “Perhaps I should let you enjoy each other in hell, then.” Nope, that wasn’t going to work.

“You think the Devil is going to want two people making googly eyes at each other and going at it every time they get a chance? No way. It’s bad for company morale.”

The bastard’s eyes mirrored what was going through his mind—Lamere hated the idea of them being together more than he would hate losing her. “You will be sent to the ninth level. There are eight other levels where your Master could put her.”

“That’s not how it works. In three hundred fucking years, you haven’t learned anything about physics?” Davyn kept talking, because if he let the vamp think about it, he’d realize just how full of shit the demon was and how right he was—the Devil would never let them be together. Nobody followed rules in hell, but deals were never broken. “Here’s the
deal
”—he drew the word out for as long as he could, staring her right in the eyes—“She’s my anchor to this world. Now let’s talk about what anchors do.”

“They sink,” she said, looking relieved. “All the way to the bottom.”

“You’re so much smarter than he is, babe.” Davyn tried to convey strength to someone who would forever be stronger than he was. “The big man wouldn’t be happy about it, but even demons have a rule we can’t break, a job requirement we can’t refuse.”

“Unless a deal was involved,” the hunter said. The corner of her mouth curled up. The vampire didn’t recognize it because he’d only ever seen her cry and scream—he’d never seen her happy. Never made her smile. And he didn’t believe in her like Davyn did. “To make it so we didn’t need to stay near each other.”

“Why did you tell him that, hunter?” Davyn reacted immediately, in a way Lamere would understand. “I take it all back. You’re as stupid as he is. I’m now the proud owner of half an idiot’s soul. Great. I should probably make the deal myself, just to get rid of this thing.” He fell back against the pillow disgustedly, but kept his head turned in their direction so he could see what happened next.

“Does your Master have that power?” Lamere asked him. “To sever the bond?”

“Why would I tell you that?”

“Because I could kill her and send you back right now.” Lamere picked her up by the throat, lifting her to her feet, but not releasing her. All of Davyn’s internal cursing and fighting did fuck-all to help her.

“You can make him a deal,” she forced out in a raspy whisper. “Trade something. If you tell a demon you want to see his Master, he can’t refuse.” Except for Davyn, because the soul she’d shared with him freed him from hell and its rules. But in this case, that was exactly what they needed Lamere to do. Once he went down through the gate, he’d never be able to come back out.

“With a soul, the demon would be trapped below whether a deal was struck or not, and we would be free of him.” Lamere relaxed his grip, doubt replaced by his never-ending supply of overconfidence. “The Treaty magic will keep anyone from ever finding us, and things will return to what they are meant to be. I cannot be beaten.”

Never looking away from Davyn, Keira swallowed and let the vampire pull her closer. “Once you say the incantation, he has to do what you tell him. Not even the magic of the bindings will matter.” Almost true. The magic infused into them wasn’t strong enough to overcome the power of the incantation, but the salt would still hurt like a bitch. He’d live.

“And here I thought you liked me,” Davyn said to her, playing his part.

“Sorry, but you’re not worth the pain of hell.”

The vampire paused, looking from one to the other, hopefully not to decide he was better off killing both of them. Davyn waited silently, not wanting to miss a single word, sending out a prayer to hell to make it happen soon, because this bullshit was sucking all the patience out of his new soul.

“You will take me to your Master to procure a deal.”

Ugh
. We may be here a while
. The demon clenched his lips together, unable to help the vampire along without proving how badly he wanted him to speak the incantation
correctly
. Two words close together was all it would take.

Come on, asshole. Say his name.

“You will take me to him,” the vampire said angrily. “Now.”

No, not “him.”
Devil, Satan
,
Diable
,
Lucifer
,
Princeps Tenebrarum.
The language didn’t matter, but the name did. And a pronoun didn’t cut it.

“I don’t even know who you’re talking about,” he mocked, avoiding Keira’s nervous eyes. “I’m going to take a little nap while you’re figuring it out.” He yawned widely and wiggled a little to get comfortable on the bed. “Wake me up if anything interesting happens.”

“The Devil and I will strike a deal and—”

“Close enough,” Davyn said, his eyes popping open again. Power flowed back into him. His body lightened and became non-corporeal but with a little something extra—freedom. It felt fucking great. Especially to get out of those ropes. Now nothing in the physical world could control him…except for the little brunette with the hopeful eyes over there. And because of her, hell couldn’t control him either.

He phased in next to Lamere, squeezing his bulk in between him and Keira until the vamp got so uncomfortable he let go of her. His expression didn’t change, but his eyes dimmed as he realized something had gone very wrong.

“Any last words?” Davyn grabbed him by the neck, sending the full force of his heat into the bastard, watching the pain and blistering turn his pretty face into something truly ugly.

“Stop!”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he said, releasing a lot of pent-up aggression into the vamp. “Anything you want to tell him before he goes, hunter?”

She shook her head. “He played with fire. Make sure he burns.”

“
Chérie
.” Lamere reached for Davyn as his body spasmed. “He does not love you. His kind cannot love.”

Davyn closed his eyes and concentrated on the gate, calling for it to be opened. “Go get one of your stakes.” He cut her off before she could argue. “Now.”

“You’ll be trapped down there with me,” the vamp whispered.

“I’m not going anywhere—I don’t have any pants on. Plus, she forgot to mention that I only physically guide people I like. Otherwise, I stand at the gate and wave. Guess what the plan is for you.” He placed his other hand on the vampire’s chest, ready to take him down, but not before Keira got back. “You know, things might have worked out better for you if you weren’t such a dickhead.”

As soon as he felt her beside him, he blew out a breath and began to push Lamere towards the darkness. He opened his eyes just before the vampire’s body would leave the physical world. “Your turn, hunter. But hurry.”

She nodded when she realized what he meant. The stake went deep, a symbolic ending to that part of her life, the beginning of a better one.
 

Davyn shoved Lamere through the gate before he dusted, ensuring the vampire was still completely alive when he went to hell. When Davyn came back into himself, Keira was wrapped around him, her head buried in his chest, crying.

“You did it, babe. You got him.” His lips traveled across her hair as she clutched onto him. “He’ll never hurt anyone again.” Feeling her body jerk and hearing her broken breaths was a relief. Because he knew she finally understood that hiding what she felt didn’t prove she was strong. It just proved she was hiding.

“You did it.” He was no longer bound to hell or the bed. He was bound to
her
—with or without the soul.

As exhausted as they were, the demon and the hunter couldn’t keep their hands off each other. No amount of fatigue trumped the feel of Davyn’s skin against hers, him inside her. He seemed set on proving once and for all how much stamina Fosfer demons really had. And oh man did he prove it—from on top, behind, and on his feet with her legs wrapped around him.

Even though she recovered fast, no human could’ve kept up with him. Eventually they took a break, so she could breathe and he could eat.

“The vamp was right about something, though, and I don’t want you to freak out about it.” He came back to bed smiling, with his arms full of snacks. “Demons can’t love. They don’t team up, either. Or help out or do dishes. They can’t fly above the clouds or do laundry or—”

She smacked him. “Fall in love with humans?”

He leaned over the pile of food and kissed her. “Yeah, definitely not that.”

“Guess that means you’re a shitty demon then.”

“Nah, I think it means you landed a really
special
demon, and you should never take him for granted.”

She laughed. “Shut up and feed me, my special demon.”

“He doesn’t listen very well, though.” He swept all the food off the bed and grabbed her, setting her on top of him and running his lips down her neck to her shoulder.

“Demon!”

Davyn picked her up, put her behind him, and turned to face the voice before it even registered in Keira’s mind that someone had spoken. Of course, danger still existed, but for a second she’d forgot anything could hurt them. She felt indestructible, almost as immortal as he was.

“Rhyse?” he said, shocked. “What’s—?”