Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
ANASTASIA
Ispun in a circle, searching for Thanatos, but he was gone, leaving me alone in this graveyard with two vampires, a vampire hybrid, and a human. Knots assailed my stomach, and I turned toward Grayson. “Where did he go?”
“I’d say he’s pissed off some very powerful people.” Grayson shrugged. “It happens to the lot of us.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” I glanced down at the hole in the ground before me.
For some reason all I could do was picture myself lying in that hole covered in dirt, the bugs crawling over my lifeless body.
What if they began to eat me while I was down there?
What if I never rose? I would just be another body in the ground.
“I have no doubts he will return for you henceforth.” Atlas held his wrist out toward me. The crimson dripped from his pale skin, hitting the grass between us. “You will wake to find him here.”
I swallowed. “What if I don’t wake?”
“Then you will die for good.” Grayson sighed. “It is a big risk.”
“It is now your turn to ponder if the risk is worth the reward.” Atlas glanced down at his wrist. “While you do that, I linger here leaking my life’s blood.”
“No one told you to cut yourself.” Dice wrinkled her nose. “You did that all on your own.”
Thanatos was worth the risk in so many ways.
He’d loved me for centuries, saw me through each life, and each time he waited for me.
All I wanted was more time with him. More time to lie in the embrace of his arms and feel that all was right with the world.
I licked my lips. “When you drink me dry and I die, where will my soul go?”
Grayson’s eyebrows shot up. “I think Thanatos will be able to answer that question better than we can, love.”
“When I died, there was nothing,” Piper added. “At least nothing that I can remember. I went to blackness and then I woke underground. That part sucked, digging myself out sucked. It was scary and disorienting. I was basically an animal going on instinct.”
I hated the sound of all of that. I didn’t want to be an animal. I wanted to wake up with Thanatos’s arms around me, not trying to claw his eyes out. “I’m not sure I’m cut out for this.”
Atlas pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it to the cut on his wrist. “Spilt blood is an excellent way to make a point.”
My brow furrowed. “You weren’t going to do it?”
“My point being, you weren’t going to do it.” He wrapped the fabric around his wrist, stopping the flow of blood. “Nothing like harsh realities to sober the dreams of the na?ve.”
“Harsh.” Dice nodded toward him. “But true.”
“I don’t think I want to do this.” I shook my head. “Choosing to die in such a way is . . .”
“Horrific,” Grayson finished. “Most Night Spawn had little choice in the change, or they were already dying when it was put upon them.”
I took a small step back from the grave. “What should I do now?”
“Why not come back to the castle and I’ll call for tea? We will wait for Thanatos to return.”
What if he didn’t return? “That sounds good.”
I started to follow them back to the mirror when a skeletal hand shot from the ground and wrapped around my ankles.
A scream ripped from my throat, and they all turned to face me.
Glowing purple smoke swirled around me like a tornado.
Grayson ran at me with his arms extended in front of him.
I reached toward him, but the smoke swirled even faster and sent him flying back.
I couldn’t take a step toward them. Atlas tried to run at the swirling vortex surrounding me, but he was thrown back so hard he plowed headfirst into a headstone.
It cracked in half and fell on top of him.
My arms turned translucent, and I felt the pull of power all around my body.
The ground dropped out from below me and those skeletal hands yanked me down.
Piper and Dice dove for me, and the last thing I saw before the ground closed over my head was the two of them reaching for me.
My body twisted and turned, spinning like a corkscrew deeper into the ground.
Dirt scraped over my body, and I closed my eyes, trying not to scream or vomit.
My stomach twisted and turned in horrible ways.
Strands of my hair were pulled from my scalp as I was yanked and moved.
It was too dark to see yet dizziness assailed me, and I wanted nothing more than for this to stop.
Just as I thought I was going to suffocate, a bright light flooded my eyes and I was violently yanked from the earth and thrown across a cold hard floor.
Pain exploded over the side of my body where I’d smacked into the floor and slid to a stop.
When I peeked open my eyes, the world continued to spin.
“I thought you said she would be fine,” Jack’s voice snapped from somewhere beside me.
“She is.” The two words were said in a cold, flat tone.
I groaned and pressed my hand to my head and the spinning slowed. I blinked up at Jack hovering over me. His face was pale and full of concern. I scrambled back from him. “Traitor.”
He pressed his lips into a hard line. “I’m sorry you feel that way.”
He took a step back, giving me space to take in my surroundings.
I was in some kind of underground room. I could tell from the damp temperature and smell.
The room was circular and made of thick, black stone walls.
Shackles hung every few feet along the walls.
At the center of the floor where I lay were three glowing concentric circles.
The purple smoke rose from them in a slow dance toward the ceiling.
A woman I’d never seen before knelt on the other side of the circle across from me.
That purple smoke swirled around her, giving her an ominous feel.
Her inky hair was pin-straight and piled in a bun on top of her head.
Wispy strips of it fell around her delicate face.
Cole eyeliner was thick, bringing out the different flecks of color in her eyes.
They reminded me of tiger’s eye gems, with an array of the deepest brown to the lightest yellow.
Her lips were tinged with a deep gloss that looked like she’d painted them with rose petals.
When my eyes met hers, I got the sensation that I should know her somehow. “Who are you?”
She didn’t respond. She simply held out her hand.
Heels clicked over the hard stone and Phillis strolled out from the shadows to stand beside the woman I couldn’t take my eyes off of.
Phillis pulled a hefty bag of coins from her pocket and dropped it into the woman’s waiting hand. “Misaki is a purveyor of the arts.”
“The arts?”
“You are not the only one who is aware of the supernatural world of Evermore.” She waved her hand and Misaki rose to her feet.
She pocketed the coins as she narrowed her eyes at me. “Pleasure meeting you. I hope you don’t die this time.”
I scoffed. “I’m not the one who should worry about dying. He will find you all.”
With the flick of her hand, a thin chain flew across the room and wrapped around my neck.
More of that purple smoke flowed around me, and I felt the necklace’s weight around my neck.
The pendant pressed into my chest, the weight of it nearly forcing me to the floor.
A moment later the weight of her power was gone but the pendant remained.
I reached up and wrapped my hand around the circular charm hanging from my neck.
I yanked at it. It didn’t budge. I wrapped both my hands around the chair and pulled.
It was so thin it should’ve given way, but it held fast.
She pulled her own pendant from under her black sweater.
It matched the one I now wore. The chain was thin and made of silver.
The pendant was a small flat circle like a coin but there were runes carved around a skull at the center of it.
Misaki ran her thumb over the skull. “Death will not be able to find you now. The necklace will keep you well hidden, and you will remain so until I decide otherwise.”
“Until I decide,” Phillis quipped.
“Sure.” Misaki held her hands up, covering herself in the same purple smoke that had brought me to this place. It swirled around her, and an instant later she was gone, leaving me with Phillis and Jack.
I pulled at the necklace once more. I tried the clasps and even tried to force it over my head. Nothing. It remained firmly in place. Jack moved to stand beside Phillis. “You’re only going to hurt yourself if you don’t stop.”
I turned my face away from him.
Phillis chuckled. “I think she is angry at you, Jack. After everything you’ve done for her.”
What the hell is she talking about? “You betrayed me, Jack the Jinx, and I will not forget it.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You . . . you remember me?”
“I remember you well now. What I can’t recall is why you would betray you in such a way.” I shoved to my feet and put my hands on my hips.
“Betray you!?” Jack’s voice rose. “I have never—”
Phillis raised her hand, cutting him off. “What matters now is Thanatos will want you back no matter the cost.”
A cold chill ran down my spine. “And what would you want from him?”
“History has an odd way of repeating itself, wouldn’t you say?” She casually strolled around the circle in the center of the room. Every step she took brought her closer to me, so I in turn took a step away from her.
“History has nothing to do with this.” I glanced around the room, looking for a way out. “Now why have you brought me here, and what does Thanatos have to do with this?”
Phillis gave a dark chuckle. “He has everything to do with this. To be mortal is a curse that not one of you understand. You might be human, Anastasia, but you have lived.”
My eyes darted to Jack. “What are you talking about?”
She made a sound of frustration in the back of her throat.
“My ancestor Sisyphus was a brilliant king. History tells the tale of his desire to live and rule his people forever. All he wanted was to keep what was rightfully his. He tricked Thanatos into those shackles you helped us acquire. He stopped death.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “What?”
“Oh yes, those shackles were built just for him. They will hold him and stop death.” She gave a dark, humorless chuckle. “I am doing the world a favor.”
“You are doing yourself a favor.” I ground my teeth together.
“No, Anastasia. I am ensuring the future of my company and the influence it holds over the world.” She took another slow step in my direction. “Sisyphus will continue to lead in industry and influence.”
“And when no one dies, how do you plan on maintaining the balance of the living and the dead?” I moved away from her, coming closer to Jack.
She shrugged. “I have my ways. Perhaps he will learn his place and only take key souls from the world, plowing the way for growth—the kind of growth I think the planet needs.”
“You think no one will notice only your enemies dying?” I rolled my eyes. “Really, how well have you thought this out? He will come for me. He will always come for me. And when he does, you can be sure no one will survive.”
She pointed to the pendant around her neck that matched my own. “These will keep us hidden from his view. If he wants you, he will have to make a bargain. If he wants you, he will let me live. . . forever.”
I moved in closer to Jack, catching his eye. “And what is in it for you, Jack? What is it that you want? You’re already immortal.”
“I’m not immortal. I’m cursed. There is a difference,” he growled.
“I am disappointed in you, Jack.” I shook my head. “I thought of you like a brother.”
“And I thought of you as a sister.” His gaze bore into me.
I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Then why?”
“Peace.”
My brow furrowed. “What?”
“You have not rested in peace,” he growled. “For centuries he has brought you back only to let you die again and again. It is not right.”
“You did this for me?” When he looked away from me, I pressed my hand to his arm. “Jack, no. I wanted this. I asked—”
“Enough,” Phillis cut my words off. “A deal is a deal, Jack. You get the woman when I get what I want from Thanatos. That is the deal.”
“He will never give into your demands.” Tears pricked at the back of my eyes. “He will come for you, and he will bring death upon you.”
Phillis turned and headed toward the single door to the cell. “We’ll see. Come along, Jack.”
With a long look, he backed away. I turned and gave him my back. “Yes, you better run along, Jack the Jinx.”
“Ana.”
I refused to look at him, even as he spoke my name so softly. The cell door slammed shut and I was left there alone, hidden, with no way out.