Lethal Rider

Thirty-nine

A massive ebony Greek temple rose up out of the mist in front of Thanatos. Blackened pillars and buildings surrounded it, all familiar, and yet, he couldn’t place it. After a few steps, as the fog cleared away, he realized that this was Athens. Not the real Athens, but an imitation land where everything was corrupted by evil and death.

Thanatos should be right at home, shouldn’t he, he thought bitterly.

Idess had been more than willing to help him, and as he carried Regan’s dead body in his arms and her soul in his armor, Idess touched his back in a gesture of strength and comfort.

“Thank you for rescuing me from Pestilence.”

He didn’t want to discuss it, but his brother had tortured her and she deserved more than silence. “I’m sorry for what he did to you. Pestilence was as desperate to find your father as I was.” Pestilence’s goal had probably been as much to destroy their father as it was to gain access to Sheoul-gra. More of that getting rid of anything personal thing.

“Why did you want to find Azagoth?”

Than stared blankly ahead. “It doesn’t matter now.” Yeah, he wanted to confront his father for a lot of reasons, but those reasons weren’t nearly as important anymore.

Idess’s expression grew hard. “Well, Pestilence would never have found him. I wouldn’t have given anything up.” Her strength reminded him of Regan, and he nearly faltered as he mounted the giant steps to the temple.

“Are you sure I had to bring her body with us?” he asked hoarsely.

Idess’s sad smile almost made him break down again. No, he hadn’t taken it well when she’d told him, nor when he’d had to put down his son to leave his keep. The boy was now part of Than’s heart, and being away from him seemed to make it stop pumping.

“No,” she admitted, “but if he can see you with her, your pain might be more…real…to him.” She started forward. “He’s not the warmest individual you’ll ever meet, so you have to take advantage where you can find it.”

The King Kong-esque double doors opened, and inside, endless passages stretched as far as Than could see. Everything was black, just like outside, except that inside the temple, all the surfaces gleamed. Statues of humans and demons in pain lined the rooms and halls, and the fountain they walked past in the giant fore-room ran with blood.

“Your dad has interesting tastes in art,” he muttered.

“‘Interesting’ is one word for it.” She led him through a maze of hallways that never changed. “Have you thought of a name?”

“Name?”

“For your son.” Her smile was warm. “He’s beautiful.”

“Yeah,” he choked out. “He is. And no, we didn’t discuss names.”

“I’m sure whatever you choose will be perfect.” She stopped at a door—how she knew which of the hundreds of identical doors they’d passed was the right one, he had no idea—and reached for the handle. “You ready?”

As if Regan knew what this was about, she made herself known, and warmth spread from his armor to his skin. “As I’ll ever be.”

Idess opened the door, and they stepped over the threshold into a bright, colorful office of sorts. A tall male with black hair was standing in front of the archway to what looked like the cut-out side of a tunnel, so he could see the souls of dead demons being escorted by griminions through it like an assembly line. The male held up his hand and the parade stopped.

Thanatos held his breath as the guy turned around. “Idess. Sweetheart, it’s good to see you.”

“Father.” She inclined her head in a respectful nod.

Azagoth turned his emerald-ice gaze on Thanatos. “Death. Interesting to finally meet you.” He gestured to the people in the tunnel. “You’ve sent me so many of my subjects.”

“I do what I can to help,” Than said dryly. “And now I need you to do the same.”

One black eyebrow lifted. “I’m guessing this has something to do with the corpse you’re carrying?”

Corpse. On his arm Styx reared up, his actions not reflecting Thanatos’s sudden anger but his own. At some point, the stallion had learned to like Regan, and he didn’t appreciate the dismissive, cold words any more than Thanatos did.

Idess had warned Than about the guy, so he kept his temper in check. He could rip Azagoth a new one after he got what he wanted.

“She’s the mother of my child. She would have been my wife. I killed her.”

“Why?” Azagoth folded his arms across his chest, looking utterly bored. “Did she betray you? Warm someone else’s bed? One of your brothers’, perhaps?”

Thanatos was going to strangle this asshole. “She gave birth,” he ground out. “I tried to save her.”

“So what you’re saying is that she’s in your armor.” He paused. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“I want you to remove her and allow her to pass to the Other Side instead of being brought to Sheoul-gra by your griminions.”

“And why would I do that?”

Okay, he was going to lay down a card he hoped was his ace. “Because you’re my father.”

Idess’s head whipped around to stare at him. Azagoth eyed him for a long time, and Than got the impression the dude was intentionally letting him sweat.

“You have balls coming to me and expecting a favor from a father you never met.”

“So it’s true?”

Azagoth laughed. “No. I’m not your father. I’d have remembered fucking Lilith. That bitch has been after me for centuries.”

Damn. That had been Than’s only good play. He had nothing else. Had Azagoth been anyone different, Thanatos could have threatened him, tortured him, beaten him until he agreed to help. But this was a guy who held power over souls, which meant he could torment Regan, and everyone else Than cared about, for eternity.

“Please.” Thanatos hefted Regan’s limp body closer, as if she could shield him from having to beg. “I’ll do anything.”

“Anything? Will you give me your son?”

A hot ball of fire dropped into Than’s gut, and inside, he felt as though he was being pummeled by fists. Regan’s fists.

“Anything but that,” he growled.

“That’s what I want.”

Inside his armor, Regan clawed at him. She didn’t need to worry. No one was taking their son.

“Go to hell, Azagoth.” Than headed for the door before he went crazy and slaughtered the asshole.

“Thanatos, wait.” Idess approached her father, her hands folded together as if in prayer. “Thanatos saved my life.”

Great. There was a reason he hadn’t brought that up. Nothing like telling a father that your brother tortured the fuck out of his daughter.

Azagoth narrowed his eyes at Than. “Explain.”

Thanatos stiffened at the command, but checked his pride before he screwed up something that might save Regan’s soul. “You know Pestilence was trying to destroy Sheoul-gra.”

“Of course.” Azagoth turned toward the hearth, which was blazing but not putting off heat. “Word gets around down here.”

“Father,” Idess said, “Pestilence was capturing Memitim and torturing them into giving away your location.”

Azagoth’s head damned near pulled an Exorcist, swiveling around to Idess without his body moving. His eyes had gone oily black, swallowing the whites, and when he spoke, his voice had a dangerous, serrated edge. “He dared to harm my children?” His body finally followed his head. “He took you?”

She nodded. “If not for Thanatos, Ares, Lore, and Reaver, I’d still be hanging from razor wire.”

The Grim Reaper’s snarl sent the souls and griminions in the tunnel scattering.

“Drop your armor,” he snapped at Thanatos.

“Why?”

Azagoth practically spat fire. “Because I requested it.”

Reluctantly, Than did as the bastard requested. “Now what?”

“Remove your clothes.”

Than locked his jaw to keep from cursing. If Azagoth wanted sexual favors … Than shuddered, but lay Regan gently on the ground and stripped. Never before had he felt so exposed as Azagoth circled him, his finger trailing over Than’s skin as he went. At least Idess had turned away. He wondered if her father was going to make her stay for whatever was to come.

He wondered if she’d stand by when Thanatos killed her father afterward.

“I know your secret, Horseman.” Azagoth stopped behind him, pressed his body against Than’s back, and whispered into his ear. “I know you fathered the vampire race. Your daywalkers have passed through on occasion.”

“It’s not a secret anymore,” he ground out.

“Really. You do know that I have the ultimate say in whether a species is annihilated or not.”

Fuck, no, Thanatos didn’t know that.

“And you know that I’ve destroyed all unauthorized species. Do you want to know why I haven’t destroyed the vampires?”

“Why?”

“Because, like my Memitim, they are a perfect combination of good and evil. They’re balanced. Yes, they choose to be as evil or as good as they want to be, but so do humans. So I’ve let them continue, even though once your secret reaches the Heavenly masses, they’ll throw down orders to destroy the vampires, and I’ll be in trouble for knowing all along.”

“And what will you do then?”

Instead of answering, Azagoth resumed his perusal of Than’s body, stopping every once in a while to trace a tattoo. The ones on his ass were, naturally, the most interesting to Azagoth. The bastard. “They’re extraordinary. I want them.”

“I’d bring you the tattoo artist, but she’s dead.”

“I know that. But it wouldn’t matter. I want yours.”

“Why?”

Azagoth hissed. “My reasons are my own. But I assure you that you’ll be giving me something I’ve desired for a long, long time.”

Thanatos was pretty sure Azagoth could get a damned tattoo anytime he wanted, so clearly, there was something special he wanted from Than’s, specifically. Which probably meant that giving them to him would be a bad, bad idea.

Whatever. “Done.”

“This one,” Azagoth said, stroking his finger over the winged serpent on his hip.

Agony shot through him as the thing ripped off his flesh, and then came the agony of being slammed with the memories of what it had been suppressing. The images and emotions were sharp, acute, and he staggered at the blast from the day nearly a thousand years ago when he’d slaughtered a legion of men whose symbol had been a winged snake.

“And this one.”

Thanatos hissed, the pangs of torment even greater this time. Azagoth had taken the bow that dulled the memories of killing his father. A dozen more times Azagoth took tattoos, each one nearly taking Than to his knees. He wondered if Regan could feel his pain, or if she was shielded from his emotions when the armor was gone.

Finally, Azagoth stepped back and ripped open his shirt. Fourteen of Thanatos’s tats decorated the fallen angel’s chest.

“All of the beauty, without all of the pain,” Azagoth mused. “Awesome.”

“Speak for yourself.”

Azagoth tilted his head, studying Than with those assessing eyes. “I imagine you’re in a lot of pain right now.”

“I’ll live.” Than stepped into his pants.

“Yes, you will. You’ll live the rest of your life without getting another tattoo.”

Than paused while shrugging into his shirt. “Why not?”

“Because you have spent five thousand years cheating. The deaths you cause should mean something. They should cause you misery. Instead, you bury them and feel nothing. It pisses me off.”

Jesus. Regan had said the same thing. He’d dismissed her at the time, because as a human she couldn’t possibly understand five thousand years of killing. Shame heated his face.

Azagoth’s anger quieted, his voice doing the same. “I understand why you did it. You grew up with peaceful people. Death and violence was especially hard on you. And you, of all your siblings, saw the most of both. You compensated in the only way you could. But you can’t do that anymore. That’s the deal. That, and you will promise to never make another daywalker. When those heavenly assholes come to me and ask why I didn’t destroy the vampires, I can say that since I can’t destroy you, you could make more daywalkers even if I took out the entire race, so you promised not to make more, blah, blah. It’s a good argument. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it.”

Azagoth cocked his head. “You said that so quickly. But how can you guarantee you won’t make more, if you’ve made your vampires during uncontrollable death rages?”

Thanatos closed his eyes, caught in Azagoth’s cleverly spun web. “I’ll manage. I’ll meditate, or travel with hellhounds who can bite me, or…” He opened his eyes and met Azagoth’s pitiless gaze. “Please.”

“Fool.” Azagoth snorted. “Haven’t you learned anything in your ancient life? There’s a price for everything. You create a life, you pay. Think back to when you first created a vampire.”

Than dredged the recesses of his brain, coming up with a lot of filth. But there was the one memory, the spark that had started it all. “I’d been cursed as a Horseman. I had fangs, and I was angry. I bit a guy, drained him. He came back as a daywalker.”

“Were you in a death rage?”

“No. Those hadn’t started yet—” Than sucked in a massive, painful breath. “They didn’t start until after I turned the first daywalker. They didn’t… holy shit. I’m the reason I go crazy sometimes?”

“How should I know? Do I look like a god?” Azagoth rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying you have to find the cost behind every action. Make a daywalker, go on murderous rampages. Whatever.” Azagoth shrugged. “I don’t give a shit either way. I just want your damned word, and I want you to keep it.”

“You got it,” Than breathed. Damn, all of his rages made sense now. They’d fed into each other in a cycle he didn’t know how to break. Make a vamp, which caused rages, which caused vamps, which caused rages … son of a bitch.

“Also, you should know that in the future, the emotions you would normally transfer into a tattoo will now transfer to Regan. She’ll feel your pain as much as you do.”

“What? No! You can’t do that—”

“I can do what I want, Horseman,” Azagoth snapped. “There is a price for everything. If this is too steep for you to pay, then collect your corpse and get the fuck out of here.”

“You bastard.” Thanatos lifted Regan into his arms. “I agree.” Regan might feel his pain, but at least she wouldn’t be hanging out with demons for all eternity. She would go to Heaven and be happy. Free.

“Good choice.” Azagoth snapped his fingers. “Armor. Now.”

Thanatos was so glad this asshat wasn’t his father. Although Azagoth was the last lead they’d had, and now… they had nothing. Today they’d lost a brother and a father.

And Regan.

Thanatos touched his armor scar, and his bone plates folded into place. Instantly he sensed Regan, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Goodbye, he said silently, feeling a hot sting of tears in his eyes. You’re going to Heaven now. But remember that I love you. I hope you can hear that. I’ll find you someday, Regan. I swear to you, I’ll find you.

“What the fuck are you upset about?” Azagoth bit out the words in a disgusted rush. “I’d think Horsemen wouldn’t be such pussies.” He flicked his finger against Than’s shoulder, and the sensation of having Regan inside him was gone.

He was alone.

“Now get out.” Azagoth turned back to the parade of souls in the tunnel, and they started moving again.

In Than’s arms, Regan’s body jerked, and she sucked in a gasping breath, startling Thanatos so thoroughly he almost dropped her.

“Regan?”

She blinked up at him. “Where are we?”

He crushed her against him in a smothering embrace, a whoop of laughter making Azagoth turn around and roll his eyes.

“Why are you still here?” Azagoth sounded seriously annoyed. “This was what you wanted, yes?”

“Yes,” he shouted. “God, yes!”

“Thanatos?” Regan’s voice was muffled against his chest. “Squashing…me.”

“Sorry, baby.” He eased back a little, but just enough that he could kiss her senseless. “I can’t believe you’re here. You’re alive. And perfect.”

“And still squished.”

Grinning like an idiot, he set her down, although he would prefer carrying her back to his place. He never wanted to stop touching her again. She didn’t seem to notice that she was still wearing the hospital gown, which was caked with dried blood and gaping open. Than tucked her against him, but Azagoth sighed, took off his shirt, and handed it to Thanatos. He held it up like a curtain as she stripped out of the gown and then slipped into the shirt, which hung down mid-thigh.

“Thank you, Father,” Idess said.

Thanatos repeated the sentiment. “Thank you, Azagoth. I owe you.”

“Yes,” Azagoth said silkily, “you do.” He waved his hand in dismissal. “Now get out. And be careful with her. She’s immortal until your Seal breaks, but she’s not special in any other way. She’s a normal, wimpy human who will suffer cuts, broken bones, and eviscerations like anyone else. She just won’t die from them.”

“You’re wrong, Reaper,” Thanatos said. “She’s special in every way.”