Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

4

"Witch, he's not coming back," the demon Rydstrom told Mari. "Don't waste your time waiting for him."

The others had been casing the perimeter of the antechamber, testing the strength of the stone floor and walls, but Mari continued to stare at the entrance, bewildered, unable to believe that MacRieve had sealed her in this forbidding place—or that she'd retaliated with one of the cruelest spells a witch could cast on an immortal.

Cade asked Mari, "What did you do to the Lykae anyway?"

She absently murmured, "I've killed him."

Mari glanced away from the entrance when met with silence. "He won't regenerate from injuries," she explained. "Unless he returns to me to have it reversed, the hex will eventually destroy him."

Tierney, who looked to be Tera's younger brother, said, "You made him mortal?"

They all seemed shocked at her viciousness, except for Cade, who as far as she could tell from his demonic countenance, appeared admiring. "Remind me not to piss you off, witch," he said.

She'd heard of Cade the Kingmaker before and knew he was a ruthless mercenary. The soldier of fortune had waged so much war that it was said he could take any throne.

Except the one his older brother had lost.

"So you are as powerful as rumored," Rydstrom said, his features beginning to lose their demon sharpness, returning to normal—yet normal for him was a handsome face marred by a long scar carving across his forehead and down his temple to his cheek. His black irises reverted to a green so intense they'd startled her the first time she'd seen them. Though he was across the room, she still had to raise her head to meet his gaze. Rydstrom was nearing seven feet tall—with all the muscle to match.

"Powerful," Cade said, "and a mercenary like me." He looked her up and down with eyes as green as his brother's, alerting her to the fact that not only was she bare of her cloak, her glamour was faltering. But she just didn't have the energy or desire to resume it. Being recognized as an immortal warrior's mate right now might not be a bad thing. "Fascinating," Cade added in a rough voice.

The two brothers resembled each other very much, except for Rydstrom's scar, and his horns, which had been damaged somehow. Yet their accents were dissimilar. Both had degrees of a British colonial accent, but Cade's sounded lower class. And his bearing was altogether different from Rydstrom's—as if he hadn't been raised a demon royal, or even a noble.

In short, Rydstrom acted like a stalwart king but looked like a ruthless mercenary, and Cade was just the opposite.

Tera angrily adjusted the bow and quiver at her back. "MacRieve must have known Mariketa would use magick to escape, and that you demons would just teleport yourselves outside. With the entryway so high, the three of us can't even try to lift the slab."

Without the ability to lever themselves against the ground, there was no way even the demons, much less the elves, could raise it. As it was, they couldn't even reach it without leaping up.

Tierney looked enraged, his pointed ears flattening back against his blond head. "He must have sought to trap only our kind!"

Rydstrom said, "If I could trace, I would take you from this tomb—I would make sure you were out of the Hie for good, but not by leaving you in this place."

Cade unsheathed and studied his sword—clearly he wouldn't have done the same.

Hild, the quiet third archer, asked, "Why did you say if you could trace?"

"There's a binding placed on Cade and me that makes it impossible to teleport."

Just as Mari decided she shouldn't ask why they'd been bound, Rydstrom smiled gravely. "A coup that didn't quite take, as it were. We were reprimanded for it." His eyes flickered black as he shot a glance at Cade. "Severely."

So that was what they sought in this competition—to go back in time and keep Rydstrom's crown.

"My brother might have been willing to help others," Cade began, "but after seeing what Mariketa did to the Lykae, I bet the witchling will leave us here to rot."

"Is that true?" Rydstrom asked Mari.

Possibly.

"Of course it's not," Tera answered for her. "Mariketa wouldn't leave us any more than we would desert her. She's part fey. Look at her ears. The Hie be damned—somewhere in time, her ancestors are our ancestors."

"Oh, then by that reasoning, she won't leave me either," Cade said, sarcasm in his voice. "She and I are both mercenaries. There's a code there."

"It's incidental if I would leave anyone behind," Mari finally said. "I don't know that I could lift it."

"What do you mean?" Rydstrom said. "You're strong. I can feel your power even now."

"I... I blow things up," she admitted. "And I mostly don't mean to. Mostly."

Cade shook his head. "The entire structure's resting on the portcullis. If you explode that stone, the tomb would come down like a house of cards."

Rydstrom said, "Let's look at odds and make a rational decision—exactly how often do you accidentally blow things up?"

"The times I can get my magick to work?" she said. "Ninety-nine out of a hundred."

As Tierney swore under his breath, Cade said, "So we look for another way out. Did anyone find an exit in any of the chambers?"

"There aren't going to be any exits," Tera said, her attention riveted to a frieze above the portcullis. Intricate animal signs and hieroglyphics were carved into the stone.

"Why do you say that?" Rydstrom asked.

Tera squinted up at the carvings, seeming to somehow make sense of the animal and geometrically shaped glyphs. "Because this is... a jail."

"You've deciphered those marks?" Mari asked Tera.

Tierney answered for her, "She knows all languages."

Tera translated for them. "It says this tomb is a jail holding six demon essence stealers—incubi—for their unnatural crimes against the daughter of a powerful sorcerer."

"They probably all seduced her, then pops gets pissed," Tierney said. "Locks them away here."

Tera nodded. "The Mayans were custodians for them, of a sort. Kept them locked up—and fed periodically."

"That explains the sacrificial headdresses," Cade said. "Mayan females were offered up."

Tera continued, "They're cursed never to leave this place—short of death. According to these calendrics, they have been here for eleven hundred and eleven years."

"Well, that can't be right," Mari said. "No one's home—"

Claws scrabbled over stone somewhere in the shadows. Everyone glanced around uneasily.

They weren't alone...

"We left the front door open for hours," Tierney said. "Why would they remain here?"

Tera said, "They probably are bound to the tomb, unable to cross the threshold."

"If they are still here, it shouldn't be a problem," Mari said, even as she backed her way to Rydstrom and Cade. "Right? Especially if Tera can speak their language."

The incubi that Mari had known were all charming and hot. Finding one in your bed was supposed to be a good problem to have.

So why were the tiny hairs of her nape standing up? Gazing up at Rydstrom, she murmured, "Mind if I stick around you, big guy?"

In answer, he briefly laid his massive hand on the top of her head in a strangely comforting way.

Suddenly, the scent of rotting flesh pervaded the crypt. Mari felt evil all around them—old evil—circling.

As her eyes darted around, she unconsciously began to build magick again.

A drop of something... viscous hit her bare shoulder. In the unnatural lantern light, she slowly raised her face. Her lips parted, her mind unable to comprehend.

"Mariketa," Tera whispered, as she crossed to her. "Your face has gone white. What could—?" Her words died in her throat as she followed Mari's gaze. Tera's bow and arrow shot up again.

But arrows couldn't kill what was already dead.

"The incubi!" one of the others yelled as shadowy beings swarmed the area, diving and flying all around them. Cade and Rydstrom drew their swords. Just when Mari was praying to Hekate that these people she hardly knew would protect her, Rydstrom used one hand to shove her behind him.

At the first crazed attack, the demons' swords struck and deflected. The archers shot wildly. The twang of bow and the clash of steel were deafening in the echoing space.

Yet the incubi seemed to be focusing their attacks on Rydstrom—and trying to get to her.

All at once, Rydstrom was besieged. Without his guard, Mari was knocked down, landing on her front so hard her teeth clattered. Blood from a wound somewhere on her head tracked down her cheeks. Power-laden blue light cast erratically from her hands and eyes but struck nothing.

"Cade!" Rydstrom yelled, struggling to ward off the onslaught. "Over here!"

His brother battled his way over.

"They want the witch—"

With a cry, she scrambled up only to be knocked to the ground once more. When she dimly realized the incubi were steadily separating her from the group, she stayed down.

"Why her?" Cade looked from Mari to Rydstrom. In the back of her mind, she recognized that Cade probably wouldn't have any interest in helping her—especially not at the expense of helping himself and his brother.

"Why do you think?" Rydstrom snapped, even as his sword slashed up.

Cade's eyes narrowed. "Oh, that!" he roared, redoubling his fight—

Fangs sank into Mari's ankles. As she cried out in pain, her body began to... move.

Cade was closest to her and lunged for her, yelling, "Tierney!" With supernatural speed, the archer covered him with a torrent of arrows, but there were too many incubi diving right at them.

Blood sprayed up from Cade's body, and he bellowed with fury.

As she screamed, something dragged her back in frenzied yanks. Mari clawed at the stones, shrieking as it snatched her into the darkness.