Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Sage
“Iknow how to bring him back.” Danika’s eyes are wide, her irises only rimmed with red, unlike the full coverage from before.
She’s standing beside Slash’s Snow White style glass coffin, and now that I know he’s not the forever kind of dead because I trust the word of my best friend like no other, I absolutely plan on ribbing him for the similarity. He would have it no other way.
“How?” I have no reason to ask her if she’s sure, I know she is.
“The spirit of his demon horse, Elio…it didn’t leave with his soul.
It joined with mine.” Shaking her head, she furrows her brow.
“It’s weird as fuck, babe, but it seems I have this mind thing.
And by seems, I mean, I do for sure.” Settling her eyes on mine, she takes a deep breath.
“It’s a vampyre trait, all the mind reading stuff, but mine is developing in a completely different way.
I’m a target because of it.” She sighs. “But that’s a whole other issue.
Anyway, I have Slash’s horse and I er…” She clears her throat.
“You’re giving me crumbs here, Dan, I need the whole cookie jar.” I can’t deny the fast pace of my heart already, though, because this has to be the fix we need that doesn’t involve Hack and his brothers giving away a part of themselves.
“The Moirai can talk to me. It’s in stupid fucking riddles, but still.
I need to find Loki’s sword, Laevateinn.
It’s supposed to carry the essence of Loki; complex, cunning, and deceptive.
” She’s speaking as though reeling the information from a sheet of paper.
“I need to return it to Loki, because in his hands, the weapon is whatever he wants it to be. And er…” Closing her eyes for a second, she appears to be mentally prepping herself for her next words.
“It’s the same weapon that killed Slash.
Something about the design. I don’t know everything.
Most of this shit I’m putting two and two together and coming up with pineapples. ”
“Laevateinn?” Hack makes his presence clear and known, sidling up beside me and towering over the both of us.
“That’s the one.” Danika nods.
“Loki’s a dick. I think someone needs to teach him what helping kyn means. Handing a murderous djinn a powerful, magical weapon is…” Hack huffs, or more like growls in frustration. “I don’t know why I’m wasting my breath. It’s Loki. He will always find a way to be the mischievous bastard he is.”
“Wasn’t Reilly captured and…ya know…” I don’t particularly want to finish that sentence because we both definitely know. We were there when it happened.
“Did the Moirai give you a location?” Hack ignores my comment about Reilly and soldiers on, his aim to get as much information as possible.
“Nope. That would be too easy. Here’s the thing, though, I can only bring him back to life on Hallows Eve.
Almost a year from now. I still don’t know how, but with Loki and the sword in place, the Moirai will give me the final instruction when it is time.
” She didn’t know Slash, but I can see that the weight of this is heavy on her shoulders.
“We have a plan, too. I’ve just spoken to my brothers and they have, of course, agreed. The remaining Horsemen are asking the Thirteen to grant us permission to give up slices of ourselves to restore Slash. We can’t wait a year.” Hack wraps his arms around me, as if he needs the comfort.
“That’s the other thing…” Danika scrunches up her nose and looks a little sheepish.
“They will agree to it, and Slash needs it, but it can only be on Hallows Eve. Loki assumed the weapon was going to be used on Sage, so he thought it would be funny to take you both back to the whole Halloween thing.”
“So this is all Loki’s fault?” This growl is one of those murderously sexy ones and I have to hold myself back from melting into a wet puddle all over him.
“In a sense—”
Before Danika finishes her sentence, I try to diffuse the moment.
“Reilly would have brought a weapon to that meeting regardless of Loki’s gift, but what he did by bringing that particular weapon was give us a way to bring Slash back.
Any other weapon and our options would probably be a lot poorer than they are now.
Right?” I look up at the demon who easily makes my knees weak and give him my best optimistic grin.
He scowls down at me before conceding with a huff. “Fucking Loki.”
“What do we do until then?”
Danika shrugs at my question. “I guess I find this Laevateinn, then Loki, and we all figure out something to do for the next year?”
“That feels long.” I groan, disappointment trying to creep into what should be a happy-ish revelation.
Hack chuckles beside me, pulling me into him and kissing my crown.
“I have waited millennia for you, Satapti. We can wait a year to see Slash whole again. In the meantime, I can think of plenty of ways to spend our time.” He grins down at me, and it doesn’t quite reach his eyes, but it’s better than before this news.
“Okay, I know, I know. Sage is getting all the orgasms now—well done, by the way, babe—but can we not? Because my vagina has dried up like the freaking Sahara on a hot day since all the shit hit the fan.” Danika wafts her arms and turns to face the glass coffin, resting her palms on the top and looking down.
She sighs and shakes her head before coming back to us.
“Desdemon will be expecting me back soon so I should go. Leave this whole Slash debacle with me for now. Okay?”
I nod as Hack steps forward and offers his palm. Danika takes it and catches him off guard, pulling him in for a hug. He towers over her almost as much as he does me, but she has a few extra inches.
“Break my best friend’s heart and I won’t need to send my brother after you because I’m worse, got it? Chosen or no chosen…” Danika doesn’t try to make her threat quiet, she wants me to hear, and she’s grinning at me from his hold the whole time.
“Got it.” With a firm nod, Hack appears to take her threat seriously as he pulls away, then he looks at me and winks.
“Let’s do something fun next time we get together because this shit’s starting to get depressing.” She hugs me next, and I’d say her hugs are akin to Petal’s—our favorite customer. They’re long and squeezy and full of love.
“We’ve gotta hold on to what we’ve got, it doesn’t make a difference if we’re naked or not.
” Our hug is abruptly ended in a fit of giggles as I sing the new lyrics to Bon Jovi’s Livin’ on a Prayer.
I’ve been holding on to that one for months, waiting to be able to laugh with my best friend over something we have always found so funny.
Others might not get it, but we do, and that’s what counts.
“I needed that.” We finally stop laughing and Danika sighs. “Love you, babe. See ya soon.” She kisses my cheek, with a low grumble coming from Hack by my side, then she glares at him as she exits the room.
“So there’s a plan.” I nod and face my chosen, sliding my palms up the fabric of his T-shirt against his chest.
“I’ll tell the others when we get back to Georgia.”
Someone clearing their throat has us both turning to look in their direction. It’s one of the soulkeepers. I can’t see their face, which isn’t unusual, but they are half the size of the others I’ve seen floating around this place.
“Lady Sage, Liege Hack, the human soul from the request form has arrived. You asked to be informed.” For such a small being, their voice is deep and loud. It almost echoes.
I’m confused for two reasons; one being the name Lady Sage—which isn’t the first time I’ve heard that. And two being the human soul? What the…?
“Thank you, Soulkeeper. Are they ready?” Hack takes the lead, lacing his fingers with mine and walking toward the entrance of the room.
The soulkeeper nods, their hood bobbing a little with the motion before they turn, expecting us to follow.
We cross a tall bridge, overseeing an endless number of glowing orbs and levels, and walk straight into another room. This one has a glass-domed roof that shimmers, kind of like the portals do.
The rest of the space is empty, just a combination of dark wood and a heck of a lot of white. The floor is similar to that of the Thirteen’s chamber, but it’s a brighter white and infused with what looks to be golden streaks.
Two glowing orbs sit atop a plinth-like thing, beautiful golden cushions below them to keep them in place, almost molded together. The soulkeeper stops in front of them, waiting for us to join him.
“Trina Galdur, witch, and George Galdur, human.” Waving his palm over the orbs, he closes his eyes, and I’m a bag of mixed emotions right now, the sudden tightness in my chest is overwhelming.
I look to Hack. “Does that mean that George died?”
He nods in response, pulling me into him so he’s behind me, his arms wrapped over my shoulders and keeping me grounded.
“But it also means that they are together again, and I made an extra request…”
I twist my head to question him but something happens with the orbs first. Their combined glow gets brighter until something shoots out of them and splits in two before forming into…
Oh my goddess.
“Trina? George?” There’s no holding back these tears. Big, fat, ugly ones.
They look so happy standing there, holding each other.
“Hello, sweet girl. Don’t cry.” Trina holds out her hand, but it just passes through my cheek. It’s a little cold, but it’s also warm and full of hope.
“Thank you for making this happen. For getting us back together again.” George holds Trina like he never wants to let her go, and I don’t blame him.
“We’re happy. This is our eternal paradise.” As Trina speaks, they flicker, like a broken TV signal. “Goodbye, sweet girl.” The last few words sound like an echo as the soulkeeper heaves out a heavy breath and moves away from the orbs.
“That’s all we can give you.” The soulkeeper gestures back toward the door we came through, effectively ending whatever this was.
“I didn’t even get to say anything. Can’t you bring them back for a little longer?” I don’t want to go. This was amazing. In fact… “Actually, can I go and call Danika? She would love this.”
Hack huffs a laugh behind me, I can feel his stomach muscles tense and release, but the soulkeeper remains silent and unmoving, his arm still held out toward the door.
“Rude.” Sighing, I resign myself to the fact that this isn’t going any further than it already has.
The door slams promptly closed behind us as we leave and the brief rush of emotions—combined with every fucking thing else going on lately, plus the massive relief of having a plan to save Slash—has me feeling tired and hungry. In that order.
“I’m taking you home, Satapti. And that is where we shall stay for at least a fucking month before I’m letting you out of our house.”
“Our house?” The glowing orbs, the soulkeepers, the grandeur of the Great Library, isn’t as spectacular as it once was as we make our way out, and I’m happy to ignore it all to concentrate on my chosen.
Grinning, Hack hooks his finger beneath my chin, stopping us for a second to lick the tip of my nose. “To quote you, I licked it, so it’s mine.”
I laugh. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Did you ask one, Satapti?” Gripping my hand in his, we begin walking again.
“Stop being so pedantic. You know I did.” Shaking my head I roll my eyes. “Where is our house?”
“One day, you’ll realize and accept that everything I possess is also yours. Homes, horses, businesses, cars, all of it is already half in your name. Had my business manager sort it out months ago.”
“Oh, so not like you’re just saying it’s all ours, you really did the thing? Paperwork and all? Who knew demons were so good at that…” Chuckling, I can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable about the whole thing. “You didn’t have to—”
“I know. But as I have told you before, Satapti. We are inevitable. It was always going to happen this way. And now we have been given our forever.”