Chapter 39 Heidi
HEIDI
"I'm not going anywhere. Whether you like it or not, Heidi is it for me."
My heart pounds as I press against the wall of the basement stairs. They can't see me, but I'm worried I might give myself away by accidentally squealing from the giddiness racing through me now.
Jessica is lucky because she can squeal anyway, without being overheard.
"Yes! I officially forgive him for salting Athanis and me out of the guest room. We were super pissed about it—"
"I was not," Athanis corrects, looking at me. "For I highly respect your privacy and the privacy of your lovers."
"Fine, I was pissed about it, but all is forgiven because he just made it official!" Jess cheers, bouncing on her ghostly feet. "He's not your bodyguard now, he's your man. They're all your men, and Face Card is just going to have to deal with it. Gods, this is so cute."
I'm usually not an eavesdropper, but Zak and Kaenon both fell back asleep while cuddling me and trying to comfort me in the big bed. Ian was struggling with thirst again and told me he was just going out to hunt some wild animals nearby.
When I asked him to please not try to hunt Veld, he said, "Of course not, Sunshine."
Just because he's wearing mytherun, he thinks I can't tell when he's lying.
But the idea of falling back to sleep, where Veld could possibly get to me again, kept me wide awake. So I got dressed and was going up to check on Asher and the Amato quintet, but now, I can't stop smiling.
Everett's been quiet after Asher's declaration, but he sighs, long and heavy. "If you hurt Heidi…"
"I won't. Feel free to bet all your fortune on that. Your money would be safe."
"Aww," Jessica croons before looking at Athanis. "Take notes."
Athanis frowns. "We are spirits, therefore I hold nothing to take notes with."
She sighs. "You'll never survive me if you don't stop being so literal, papi."
I don't know what got my level-headed now-ex-bodyguard so worked up, but I can't wait for him to come back down to bed. I want to kiss him. And ride him.
And maybe pinch his buns a little, since I really do want to try bouncing a quarter off of them sometime. In fact, if there's any loose change lying around—
Someone appears on the stairs next to me.
I startle, almost screaming, before Crypt DeLune lifts a finger to his mouth. He glances up the stairs to where Asher and Everett are still saying something to each other, unaware that we're right here. The incubus motions that I should stay quiet and follow him before he descends the stairs.
"That's Nightmare Daddy," Jessica tells Athanis matter-of-factly. "One time, I watched him make a bouquet of fingers for Carolina Reaper. Super gross—but again, take notes, because that's the kind of red flag obsession ladies can only dream about."
Athanis is scandalized. "How revolting. I am not making a finger bouquet for you, no matter how lovely you are."
"I'd settle for flowers. Or a bouquet of cash. Hey, do you think they use cash in the Beyond?"
I try to ignore the ghosts' continued chatter behind me as I follow Crypt. This interaction is trippy, bordering on spooky, considering the dream Veld just made me relive of Crypt doing something very similar to lead me out of that cabin in the woods so long ago.
The Nightmare Prince turns left at the bottom of the stairs instead of right, which would take us to the guest room.
Following him out a little side door, I find that we're in a little side garden area where Jada and her quintet seem to be doing some work.
Thanks to the long, eventful night that robbed me of sleep, the sun will be up here in an hour or two.
Now that we're out of the house, Crypt lights a sweet-smelling cigarette and takes a drag.
Even though I'm mostly out of the loop on legacy matters, I've heard that all incubi now have a marking that enables them to take care of Limbo.
Crypt has his old markings I remember from when he was a boy, though—swirling dark and light patterns all over his skin.
I know a lot of people fear the Nightmare Prince. After he saved me as a kid, I heard all kinds of horrible stories about him—mostly from the gossip my mother would randomly share with me when she was bored during the few times she came with me to appointments to fix my face.
I'm not afraid of this incubus, though. He saved me as a girl and saved me again from the Nether with Maven months ago, and although we haven't talked much in the times I've visited with the Amato quintet since, there's a comfortable kind of understanding between us.
He finally turns to face me, lips turned down. "I heard Veld's taken an interest in you and wormed his way into your head."
I wrap my arms against the chill of the ending spring night, trying not to grimace. "Oh. Yeah, um…he did."
"You're all over the news right now, too."
I'm not sure how those two questions are related, but I sigh. "Yeah. Skidmark. That's me."
"I hate online trolls," Jess sighs as Athanis wanders off through one of the walls of the house.
Crypt doesn't ask any follow-up questions about either thing, which I appreciate. He's thoughtful, smoking for another second before he tosses the cigarette to the ground to stomp it out. Then he looks at me, serious.
"Frost will want to wring my neck for this, but I'd like to ask for your help, Heidi."
"My help?" I blink. "With what?"
"That incubus has pissed me off. He's scarred the psyches of too many innocents, and now, he's brought harm to my muse.
She could've—" He swears before looking up, at the traces of stars remaining in the sky before the night ends.
"I want nothing more than to kill that fucking monster for making me think, even for a moment, I might lose her again. "
His voice breaks at the end, eyes closing as if he's in pain.
"Oh, my gods. This poor red flag is still so traumatized," Jessica sighs.
I look away. There's just something about being an empath that makes people show vulnerabilities in front of you at the most unexpected times.
Now and then, without meaning to, I've noticed how much Maven's matches are still broken over everything that happened. Putting myself in their shoes—if I thought for a second that Asher or Kaenon or Zak or Ian had died, leaving me here…
"I hate hearing that you guys went through that tonight. I had no idea Maven's injury was that bad," I add, looking back at him.
"My muse will never admit it." Crypt pulls a lighter out of his pocket, toying with it. "Unluckily for my vengeful appetite, I've found where the other escaped sleeper is lying low. The fae woman."
Jessica gasps. "Shit, I forgot about the other one!"
“Nivarrah?” I gawk. "You found her?"
He nods. "I even slipped into her dreams. Not to feed, just to get a glimpse of what we're up against. Thing is, her psyche is in tatters. Threads, really, at this point."
Poor Nivarrah. I rub my cold nose. "I can't imagine being bound to the soul of such a sickening person forever, with no way out of it."
"She's settled on a way out, actually. She's going to kill him," Crypt tells me.
"And after witnessing some of the things that wretched knave put her through inside her fragmented psyche, I want her to have the chance.
All she needs is an opportunity, and we can set one up for her.
How would you feel about attending the Seeking tomorrow? "
Holy crap, that's tomorrow? I completely forgot.
I immediately shake my head. "I don't want to look for matches. I'm happy with—"
"Not to seek matches. As bait."
Bait?
"I'm not following," Jessica admits.
Then it dawns on me—why he brought up Veld's interest in me and my being all over the news. "You're saying…you want to make it known that I'm going to the Seeking so Veld will hear and go there, too. So Nivarrah can get him there."
Crypt doesn't look away from me. "As I said, your brother would cheerfully crucify me for so much as daring to ask this of you.
You and I both know you're made of sterner stuff than that blockhead realizes, but if you'd rather not be involved, I'll find some other way to draw Veld out.
Then my quintet and I will wipe his vile essence from the face of existence in the most gloriously violent way possible," he adds, clearly daydreaming about vengeance.
"Unless that unraveled fae woman gets to him first, of course. "
Jess looks at me with wide eyes. "As much as I'm loving how unhinged Nightmare Daddy is, please tell me you're not going to use yourself as bait, El. I'm supposed to be keeping you out of danger."
I debate, looking at Jada's quintet's little garden in front of us. It's in its early stages, but they must be getting it ready for everything they want to plant this spring.
The idea of being involved in a plot to kill someone would usually make me run away screaming. As an empath, I get secondhand pain just thinking about people getting hurt.
But I can't stop picturing Nivarrah. Her face when Veld smiled at me in the Nether, smug about her misery. Her pain and betrayal, and that old, stinging hurt as if she's experienced this too many times and can't take it anymore.
Crypt mentioned Veld has hurt other people, too—and if we don't stop him, he could get into the heads of the guys I'm falling in love with again and—
Oh my gods.
The guys I'm falling in love with.
I didn't mean to admit it to myself, but it's true.
We're still just getting to know each other, but with Asher quitting as my bodyguard to be with me, Kaenon being the sweetest mate in all of history, Ian's confessions about how long he's been obsessed with me, and Zak racing to find me the moment he knew I was still alive…
I want to be with them. Always. Even if things get complicated.
And in order to be with them, we really can't have that horrific incubus using me to torture poor Nivarrah. In fact, I want him out of the picture so he's not a threat to anyone I love again, and so that ancient fae woman can hopefully find her way back to peace again, someday.
So I look at Crypt and nod. "Okay. I'll help you. What time is the Seeking, again?"