The Darkest Secret: Chapter 21

S shook Haidee from the most peaceful sleep of her life. She tried to bat the offender away. The shaking continued. She cursed and blinked open her eyes to see Amun looming above her, his expression tense, his black eyes unreadable.

He pressed a firm finger over her mouth before she could utter a single word. Something’s out there, his deep voice said into her mind. Urgency radiated from him, as contagious as a virus. Get dressed.

Of course someone was out there, she thought dryly. She and Amun were in a division of hell; they weren’t allowed a single moment’s respite. And now, their long overdue relationship talk would have to wait. Again. Still, this was better than the alternative. Like, say, dying.

As she donned the bra, panties, jeans, T-shirt, boots and countless blade and sheaths he’d laid out for her, she marveled at the change in herself. Only a few days ago, she had jolted to awareness every time she’d awoken, mind already locked on escape. Now, when danger had never been so prevalent, she’d let down her guard. She even had to remind herself not to think about what they’d done last night, how she’d sucked and swallowed him, how she’d ridden his fingers and cried his name.

She shivered as she listened for whatever had disturbed Amun. Nothing, she heard nothing. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and anchored the backpack on her shoulders. When they— Her ear twitched, and she frowned. Was that a…whistle of wind? No, she thought. Laughter. Faint but unmistakable now—and coming from more than one source.

Laughter in hell. Not good. No, not good at all. She glanced at Amun to gauge his reaction.

He looked alert, on edge, as he stood guard at the cave entrance, his back to her. He wore a black shirt and black slacks, and each looked buttery soft and flexible. That way, he wouldn’t be restricted during a fight. Silently she moved behind him.

He sensed her approach and started forward. She remained close on his heels as they left her new favorite place in the world. They should have entered another cave, a rocky hallway at the very least. That’s what had happened every time before. This time, however, they entered—no, surely not. She shook her head, blinked her eyes. She couldn’t be seeing what she thought she was seeing, but the image never varied.

A…circus? Amun asked, incredulous.

He saw it, too, then. A freaking circus. Unreal! After the Realm of Shadows, a circus seemed like a spa vacation. Seriously. The restrictive walls of the underground had given way, stretching into what seemed to be a pretty, moonlit night. Stars even twinkled from their perch in the black-velvet sky, a cool breeze dancing past.

A moon…a sky…in a cave. How? She stopped wondering when she saw that several fires crackled nearby, and there were bearded women and jaundiced-eyed men holding their hands inside the actual flames, watching her and Amun with palpable menace.

Okay, so “spa vacation” had been the wrong term to use.

“Amun?”

I don’t know, he said, answering her unasked question. What the hell was going on?

Too-tall men with legs that knifed toward the sky walked by them, thankfully paying them no heed. The animals they led, however…the elephant whined, its trunk lifting, revealing fangs sharper than any demon’s. Worse, there were several winged lions, two unicorns that were foaming at the mouth and three crocodiles with blades rather than scales protruding from their backs. Each of the animals was bound to the men by a fraying rope—and each was fighting for freedom, their gazes locked on her, the tasty-looking human.

She gulped, glanced away for fear of egging them on. “I don’t like this.”

I won’t let anything bad happen to you.

Just like I won’t let anything bad happen to you, she thought.

Tent after tent lined either side of her, a graveled pathway between them. At the end of that pathway was a booth, and inside that booth sat an obese man in a sweat-stained wifebeater. A neon sign flashed above him. ADMISSION: ONE HUMAN HEART.

I understand now, Amun told her flatly. We’ve reached the Realm of Destruction.

Another realm. She almost groaned. “None of this was here last night,” she said. “I would have noticed on our way into the cave.”

Well, it’s here now.

No denying that. But how? Did she and Amun not actually have to hike anywhere to reach a new realm? Could the realms simply come to them? How odd, if so. Was that normal?

Was anything normal in hell? she thought with a humorless laugh.

They stopped at the booth.

“You want tickets or not?” the sweating man demanded in a voice so low, so deep, there were echoes of darkness bubbling beneath the surface.

Shuddering, Haidee opened her mouth to shout, “Hell, no,” but Amun’s next words stopped her. Tell him yes.

Damn it. Why? Just then, she hated that their mind-connection didn’t go both ways. “Yes,” she forced herself to say. “We want tickets.”

Glittering red eyes swept over them both. He raised his arm, fingers opening to reveal a dull, bloodstained blade in his palm. “First, I’ll need your hearts.”

“His heart isn’t human,” Haidee said, jabbing her thumb in Amun’s direction.

The big man gave Haidee his full attention and licked his greasy lips. “Yours will do. You can pay for him another way.” He stroked himself. “Know what I mean?”

Amun stiffened, and suddenly utter menace poured from him. Take what we need from the backpack, he said. His timbre was flat, but all the more fiery for it.

She pulled the backpack forward. I need two—she gulped—human hearts, she thought and reached inside. What would she do if nothing—

She almost gagged when she encountered two warm, velvet-wrapped…things. “Paying another way won’t be necessary.” She did gag when she handed both to the man, and he greedily ripped away the material to view the still-thumping organs inside. And when he tore a hunk from both with his teeth, tasting the tissue as he would a fine wine, she had to swallow a surge of bile.

He nodded in satisfaction, all three of his chins bobbing with the movement. “Go ahead and pass.” An evil grin split his lips, and she saw the crimson…food stuck between his teeth. “Enjoy yourselves, you hear? I have a real good feeling the performers’ll enjoy you.”

For a moment, she could only stare at him. He loved to torture females and animals—in that order. How she knew, she couldn’t have said. She just knew. And she wanted to kill him. Badly.

Why shouldn’t she? she thought next, her skin chilling several degrees. She was loaded down with blades. A simple jab, jab and he would—

You can’t kill him, Amun told her.

Her eyes widened. How had he known what she was planning? Could he now read her thoughts? Or had his demon—his demon, she thought, nodding. Secrets. There was a warm, dark cloud whisking through her head. The same warm, dark cloud she’d noticed the two times Amun had shown her bits and pieces of her past.

That’s how she knew about the man. That’s why her temperature had dropped.

When the demon claimed Amun’s attention, or sought her own, his skin warmed and hers chilled, the same as when they were making love. Right now, Amun was practically on fire.

“You just gonna stand there?” the beefy man cackled, dragging her from her thoughts.

Shit! She’d allowed herself to be distracted. “Why can’t I kill him?”

Come on. Amun twined their fingers and started forward, maneuvering around the man—only to twist and strike with his free hand, embedding a blade in the man’s spinal cord. Crack. There was a gurgle, that beefy body convulsing, slumping, falling over. Skin turned to ash, and bone to liquid, the ash drifting away in the breeze, the liquid forming a black, oozing puddle. Oh, and to answer your question, you couldn’t kill him because the privilege belonged to me.

When Amun straightened, looking anywhere but at Haidee, he once again started forward. She could only gape up at him, astonished. “Why’d you get the privilege?”

He planned to find you later and…do things to you.

“How do you know?” She knew the answer before she finished asking the question. His demon. Again.

I told you. I read all minds but yours.

“I remember.” She pushed out a breath. “And thank you.”

Thank you? You don’t think me malicious? I just killed in cold blood.

“Malicious? For avenging me? No.” Amun must have forgotten that she had wanted to plant a blade in the man, too. “I think you’re sweet and maybe even went a little easy on the bastard. I would have forced him to eat his own intestines.”

A warm chuckle drifted through her mind as Amun’s fingers squeezed hers in thanks of his own. He’d truly expected her to balk, she realized. Later, she would have to tell him about some of the things she had done over the years, all in the name of vengeance and, foolishly, world peace.

As if the world would be a better place without Amun.

They remained on the gravel path for several minutes. Over and over Haidee’s attention strayed as she searched for the animals she’d seen earlier. She expected them to reappear and launch at her, jaws snapping. Constantly she tripped, but Amun never let her fall. Even better, he never berated her for her lack of concentration as Micah would have done. To him, it was mission first, feelings second.

When you were stalking evil or being stalked by evil yourself, you were to think only of destroying that evil. You weren’t to worry about any physical pain you might suffer. You weren’t to consider what might happen to the innocents around you. And most assuredly, you weren’t to place your fate in anyone else’s hands.

“Come,” a withered female in front of one of the tents suddenly called. “I tell you what awaits. You pay me with a scream.”

Haidee replied before she could think better of it. “I’m not screaming.”

“You will. Oh, you will.” A gnarled finger pointed at her, and a cackling laugh sounded. “Best go no farther, hateful girl. Death, death is what awaits you. And pain, so much pain. Soon. Soon you pay me.”

The prediction was so close to what Haidee had endured countless times in the past, she couldn’t shake a sudden sense of unease. Soon, the old crone had said, and the urge to rush over there and shake the woman, to demand answers, overwhelmed her. She would shake the bitch, she thought, starting forward.

“Oh, I’ll pay you all right.”

Cackling.

Distantly, she thought she felt something—someone, Amun—tugging at her back. She didn’t care. Couldn’t care. When she tried to pull from Amun’s hold, he tightened his grip.

“I have to go to her. Have to—”

Don’t listen to her. Remember what the angel told us? Trust no one.

It took a superhuman effort, but Haidee managed to stop and look away from that stooped body. The moment she did, the overwhelming urge left her. “Thank you. Again.”

There’s no need to thank me, Haidee. He stuffed a piece of paper in his pocket. Come on.

He ushered her off the pathway. He zigzagged and ducked behind the tents, always maintaining a tight grip on her. She had been chased over the years and had chased others, so she knew what he was doing. Preventing anyone from locking on them, their every move random, unpredictable.

“What’s the game plan?” she asked.

While you chatted with the self-professed seer, I had the pack provide instructions for successfully navigating this place.

“And?” she asked.

Another scroll. It said we must find the Horsemen.

Horsemen? “I don’t understand.”

We must find the Horsemen, he repeated. Of the Apocalypse.

Oh, dear God. “You’re kidding me.” Please let him be kidding.

I wish I were. Through death or some other means, the scroll said they were our only way out of here.

She gulped a mouthful of what felt like sand. “And what do you mean by ‘some other means’? We’re supposed to ride them to safety?”

To her surprise, Amun chuckled softly. I have no idea. The scroll told me nothing else. But I do know the Horsemen are in some way related to William, and—

“William?”

You haven’t met him. He’s immortal, a god of some sort, I think, and on our side.

“Our” side. As if they were partners rather than enemies. As if he trusted her completely. As if he no longer saw her as a Hunter responsible for his friend’s murder, but as a woman worthy of him. Inside she glowed, tendrils of his warmth traipsing through her.

“So, if the Horsemen are related to this William person, who’s on our side—” she stressed the word “—the Horsemen should be on our side, as well?”

We can hope.

For some reason, that wasn’t promising.

A shriek sounded at her left, and she stopped to wheel in that direction.

Easy, Amun instructed, stilling beside her. Someone’s playing a game, that’s all.

That was all? The beings here weren’t playing with darts, balloons or plastic balls—and the prizes weren’t stuffed animals. Severed heads were being tossed at boiling tubs of oil, and though the heads were bodiless, their mouths still managed to scream in pain when splashed with the oil, skin melting away.

The little boy who’d just won jumped up and down, clapping, his hoofed feet clomping hard into the ground and spraying dirt in every direction. The proprietor handed him a beautiful golden bird trying desperately to escape the string around its neck, wings flapping erratically, glitter raining from them like fairy dust.

The loveliness of the bird was surprising, considering the ugliness of everything else down here.

The little boy gently held the bird in both hands, muttering soothing words. Those golden wings gradually stopped flapping. Of course, that’s when the boy shoved the tiny creature into his mouth and bit off the head.

Haidee gagged and quickly looked away—right at a group of men who’d locked their sights on her and Amun. Those men were striding toward them, closing the distance. Damn it. She never should have paused to watch the games.

“Amun,” she whispered fiercely.

I see them. He released her, gearing for a fight they both knew would happen. If I tell you to run, you run and hide and don’t return. Understand?

As if. But rather than tell him she planned to stay and help, possibly distracting him, she remained silent and palmed two blades in each hand. The men were almost upon them…they were big, bigger than Amun, with paper-thin skin that draped loosely over pitted bone, their eyes merely sunken holes of black…and still they drew ever closer…

Just as he’d done with the ticket handler, Amun stiffened. And not in preparation for battle.

“Can you read their minds?” she asked.

Yes.

He said no more, but then, he didn’t have to. The men intended to do something vile. To her, she was sure.

“Six against two. Let’s see if we can even out those odds.” Haidee threw two of her weapons. The first hit the biggest of the men in the jugular, and he instantly toppled. The second hit the man next to him right in the eye socket. He screamed as he fell.

The other four paid their fallen comrades no heed, continuing forward.

Run, Amun commanded her.

She didn’t.

Haidee! Now!

Okay. She had to tell him. “I’m not letting you fly solo on this. I’m here. I’ll help.”

He growled.

The men reached them and formed a circle around them, effectively surrounding them with a wall of muscle and menace. Wouldn’t have been so bad, except the two men she’d felled suddenly rose, jerked the weapons from their bodies and took their places in the circle, far angrier than they’d been before.

Oh…shit. They couldn’t be killed. Dread slithered through her, choking her.

“We want the girl,” one of them said, and all of them gave her a once-over, lingering on her breasts, between her legs, mentally stripping her and making her shudder in revulsion.

“Well, news flash. You can’t have me,” she snapped. She would rather die. Again.

“Wasn’t talking to you, bitch.” The shithead’s gaze never left Amun. “Give her to us, and you can go on your way. Alive.”

He’ll pay for disrespecting you, I swear it, Amun told her, and he sounded so calm he could have been discussing his favorite type of doughnut. But first, since you refused to obey me, and yes, we will be discussing that, ask him if he’s seen the Horsemen.

That, she obeyed. And as her words echoed between them, an almost visible wave of fear swept over the men. They began to tremble, their skin taking on a grayish cast. The Horsemen were so depraved they frightened even psychos, huh? Awesome. Then the fear turned to anger, and the men scowled at Amun with more fury than before, as if they blamed him for what they’d felt.

“Forget those that shall not be named and tell us what you want for her,” one of the men said.

Those that shall not be named?

A muscle ticked below Amun’s eye as he took each guy’s measure.

“Can’t you talk, demon?” another growled. “We want the woman. Now.”

So they recognized what he was, but they weren’t scared of him as they evidently were of the Horsemen. If that was the case, though, why didn’t they simply attack him?

“You can have her back when we’re done,” still another said.

They laughed in eerie unison.

“’Course, she’ll be in pieces, and we’ll probably keep the good ones, but you can have what’s left.”

Run, Haidee, Amun repeated into her mind. And this time, do it. He didn’t wait to see if she had—she hadn’t—but launched himself at the men. He moved so quickly, she registered only the blur of his slashing hands and glistening blades.

The men converged on him with the same eerie unison in which they’d laughed, kicking at him, swinging their arms like clubs. She couldn’t throw herself into the fray because there was no way to tell which body parts belonged to Amun and which to the shitheads. Their positions changed too swiftly.

Blood sprayed, some red, some black. Grunts and groans resounded. Then Amun landed at her feet, wheezing, his face already sliced to ribbons. The men were on him an instant later, their momentum shoving her backward.

She righted herself, that image of Amun filling her with a rage so potent, her blood began to thicken with ice. No one hurt her man. No one. Mist formed a cloud in front of her nose each time she exhaled. She knew anyone who looked at her would see actual crystals glinting in her hair, on her skin. This strong a reaction hadn’t happened in so long, she’d almost forgotten she was capable of it.

Hate filled her, joining the ice. So much hate. She hated these men, hated what they’d planned. Hated that they lived.

She couldn’t allow them to live.

Amun managed to throw the bundle of bodies off him and jump to his feet. His weapons had been ripped from his grip, so he used his fists now, pummeling with all his might. But every time he cracked one of those fatheads to the side, breaking the spinal cord, the men would shake off the blow and attack with new fervor. Then one of them realized Haidee was alone, seemingly unprotected and disengaged.

His grin was evil.

Hers was worse. “Come here,” she said with such calm even she was surprised.

Those black eyes narrowed, a forked tongue swiping over too-thin lips. Though he was obviously suspicious about her sudden eagerness, the man complied, moving closer.

He pushed her down the moment he reached her, throwing himself on top of her, trying to rip off her jeans. Haidee let him, helped him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips into his.

His tongue thrust out, hard, attempting to pry her teeth apart. He needn’t have bothered. She opened willingly, blowing the ice of her breath, the very hate of her soul, straight into his mouth. He convulsed. In shock, perhaps, or maybe in fear. Or even pain. She wanted him to feel pain. Then he stilled, unable to move, literally frozen, but that wasn’t enough. He hadn’t suffered enough.

She shoved him off of her and stood, distantly noting the blue pallor of his skin, the unmoving features, the stiffness of his body. More. She needed more. More ice, more hate, more death. These men deserved to die. Her mind locked on that thought—deserved, deserved, deserved—and glided to the heap of struggling bodies, brushing her fingers over one, then the other. They, too, froze in place, their skin hardening as the ice flowed over them.

More. Deserved. The remaining three offenders noticed the condition of their friends and leapt away from Amun, watching her through horror-filled eyes.

“What—what’d you do?”

“What are you?”

“Don’t come any closer!”

Amun pushed to his feet, stepping away from her, as well. His expression was unreadable.

More. Deserved. She walked toward the men, and they scampered backward, tripping over their own feet, falling. More. Deserved.

Haidee.

“Come,” she said. “Taste me.”

Haidee.

Amun’s voice pushed through some of the ice, but not the hate. She hated these men, knew they had to die by her hand. She reached out. One touch, just a single touch, and she would have what she wanted. Their destruction. Everyone’s destruction. Yes, everyone’s. She had only to finish with these two, and she could move on, destroy everyone.

They crab-crawled backward, desperate to escape her. One of them wasn’t fast enough, and she managed to latch onto his ankle. She grinned. He seemed to turn into stone right before her eyes. More. Deserved.

Haidee, sweetheart. Look at me.

Sweetheart. She liked when Amun called her sweetheart. He made her feel special. A little more of the ice inside her melted. Until she realized her final target was only a few steps away. More. Deserved. Destruction within her reach.

Haidee, sweetheart. Look at me. Please.

Again the ice melted, and this time Amun’s plea reached even her hatred, muting the coldest threads. Slowly she turned to face him. “What do you want?” The frosty rage in her voice stunned her. Upset her. It shouldn’t be directed at Amun.

The last man is gone, sweetheart. You can come back to me now.

Come back to him? What did he mean by that? She was right here, right in front of him. Frowning, she stepped toward him. She would shake him, make him realize.

Like the enemy had done, he backed away. Sweetheart. Your eyes are pure white, and even being near you is painful to me. I need you to come back to me.

Sweetheart again. More of the ice melted, and the hate muted yet another degree, then another, until the emotion was at a low simmer. She hurt him? She didn’t want to hurt Amun. Ever. She just wanted to love…him.

Her knees almost gave out. Love? Did she love him?

As the question echoed through her mind, she swayed, a wave of dizziness sweeping her. Just before she hit the ground, strong arms banded around her and kept her upright.

There you are, sweetheart. I knew you’d come back to me. Amun held her tightly to his side, and to her relief, he didn’t freeze. In fact, his heat wrapped around her, melting the rest of the ice.

“I’m sorry,” she said, voice shaking. “I didn’t mean to—”

Don’t be sorry. You saved our asses. Now come on. We need to get out of here before reinforcements show up.

“Ye seek the Horsemen, do ye? Don’t deny. I heard,” a small voice suddenly said behind them. “Come, come. I show ye.”

Amun turned them both, and when she focused she saw a tiny female with the lower half of a bull and the top half of a human. Small hands waved them forward.

“This be fun,” the female said with a shady giggle. “Come, come, I show ye.” She darted away before they could reply.

We’re going to go with her. We don’t have any other choice.

“Yes, we do. We can choose not to go with her.” With Haidee’s luck, the creature would lead them into a nest of vipers, piranha and rape-minded giants. Oh, wait. Been there, done that. What came next would probably be worse.

My demon went silent the moment you— He stopped himself. The moment she’d…what? Become consumed by the cold? My demon is still silent, which means I can’t figure out where the Horsemen are located. That little female is our only shot. Just don’t let anything happen to me, okay? Amun said with what seemed to be…humor?

No, surely not. She didn’t think she’d ever heard him joke with her before. And really, not many men could tease their woman about being stronger than they were. “I, uh, won’t.”

Thank you. The semblance of a smile curled the corners of his lips as he ushered her forward, quickly closing the distance to reach Bull Girl. The almost-grin stunned her more than his teasing. He was just so beautiful, and as amused as he clearly was, he was also distracting.

Love, she thought again.

She couldn’t love him. She was careful, always careful, to guard her heart. Yes, she lusted for Amun, cared for him, wanted him safe and happy. That didn’t mean she loved him, though. Love weakened, made you vulnerable. Especially love that wasn’t returned.

“Here, here,” the now-bouncing creature said. She stopped in front of the biggest tent in the area, laughter and smoke drifting from the seams in the front flap. “They be here. This be fun.”

Only then did Haidee recall the old woman’s earlier warning. Death. Pain. Screaming.

Soon.