Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
GRIM
“It’s just a boring old dagger,” Remi muttered as the group stared down at the weapon we’d recovered. We were all gathered in the same space as our last meeting. Clearly no one had left since we’d gone on our quest to retrieve the bone.
“We’ve been over this,” Lucifer said. “It only gains its power when we’ve attuned it. Why does no one listen when I speak?”
“They were taught to ignore the devil on their shoulder,” Kai said with a wry grin.
Lucifer huffed in annoyance, which was my cue to step in. “What we need now is to figure out how to attune it.”
“Blood seems the most obvious to me,” Gavin offered.
“Is that a vampire thing?” Asher asked.
Gavin cocked one brow. “A magic thing. Blood is the most powerful conduit.”
“He’s right. Blood would be my guess too,” Moira interjected.
“But whose blood?” Merri asked with a frown. “And if it’s supposed to be a person who’s already dead, doesn’t that make blood pretty hard to obtain?”
“I can think of one person, maybe two, who fit the bill,” Lilith said, her eyes locking on me.
Without another word, I rolled up my shirt sleeves and picked up the blade, dragging it across my forearm to make a blood offering.
“He’s such a badass,” Kingston whispered.
No one acknowledged him. Instead, all eyes were on the weapon as I laid it back on the table and we waited for something, anything, to happen.
“Did it work?” Caspian asked, pushing his way to the front.
“I think it was a dud,” Tor replied, voice pitched low.
“Maybe blood wasn’t the answer?” Merri offered.
“Or we need some kind of witchy code word to go with it,” Kingston said, turning to Moira.
“No. There’s nothing here,” she said, hand hovering over the blade. “Not even a blip.” She turned her gaze to me. “Nice try, silver fox, but I don’t think you’re the one for this job.”
“Who is? How do we find out?” Frustration burned through me. We didn’t have time to play a guessing game. Every day, hell, every hour that passed was another moment closer to us losing.
“Perhaps Cain?” Caleb suggested. “The dagger is made of his brother’s bone, so maybe it needs to be imbued with his murderer’s blood?”
“That seems super hard to track down,” Merri said with a frown.
“He’s bound to have ancestors running around,” Asher said.
“And how the hell are we supposed to find them?” Remi asked. “Go door-to-door with a questionnaire? Excuse me, do you think you could be related to the original serial killer? Mind proving it with a pint or two of your blood?”
“He only k-killed one p-person,” Ben said with a sigh.
“That we know of.”
“Jesus Christ,” Malice grumbled beside me.
“Hang on just a minute,” Hades said. “He could be on to something.”
Remi beamed. “Seeeee?”
“I don’t mean Cain’s blood, but more happened than just the first murder when Abel died. The River Styx was born at the moment of his passing. Every soul since has traveled through its waters before meeting their fate.”
“Oh, I’m liking where this is going, boss man,” Asshole said. “I knew we had a reason for being here.”
My head snapped to the side where the little dog sat cradled in the arms of his ghostly companion, Kiki. Their portal to the underworld was open almost constantly now.
“I don’t suppose we can get any more literal than an actual river if we’re looking for ‘the wake of their destruction,’” Lilith mused, quoting the bit of the book that referred to the attunement.
“It’s worth a shot at the very least,” I agreed. I wasn’t ready to say it out loud, but something about Hades’ idea felt right. I had no rational reason for thinking so, but it did.
Pulling out my handkerchief, I wiped the blade clean before tucking the fabric safely away. Then I picked up the weapon and handed it to the god of the dead.
With a stiff nod, he took it and strode to the portal. For a moment, I thought it odd he’d leave without even a word to his mate, but instead of stepping through, he handed the blade, hilt first, to the dog, who took it between his teeth, tail wagging.
“I’d go, but you and I both know the minute I set foot in the underworld Janine will find me and have a laundry list of tasks she needs me to help with.
You can get to the river unnoticed. You’ve got that big dog energy.
Use it and wash this blade in the river.
Then be a good boy and bring it right back here. ”
“Don’t worry, boss, I’ll make sure he doesn’t get distracted.”
“Thanks, Keeks.”
The ghost spun on her heel and moved away from the edge of the portal, drawing a sharp sigh of relief from one of the Berserker twins as she faded from view.
“How long is this going to take? Are we talking a trip from the Shire to Mordor or something shorter?” Asher asked.
Hades shook out the sleeves of his fitted shirt before he reclaimed the seat beside his mate. “It shouldn’t take long. It all depends on how hard Asshole tries to stay away from . . . distractions.”
“What kind of distractions?” Kai asked.
“You know Asshole. Anything can be a distraction to a dog with three noses.”
“Fuck,” the dragon shifter said with a groan. ”Might as well get comfortable, people. We could be here a while.”
I reached for Merri, pulling her to me, needing her close.
She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to my neck. “It’ll be okay. He’s going to stay on task. He’s a good boy.”
I squeezed her tighter. “I certainly hope you’re right.”
Asshole
Fuck yeah, I finally got to show those bitches what a good dog looked like. They thought I was just a fluffy menace, but I was the biggest, the baddest, the most capable-est dog around.
“I’m pretty sure we just follow this path and it will take us there,” Kiki mused, her voice betraying her uncertainty as she glanced at our shadowy surroundings.
It wasn’t her fault. The underworld was made to be confusing. Couldn’t have the souls getting free. But that’s why I was here. My nose wouldn’t steer us wrong. I knew my way through all the twisting, winding paths.
With a little ruff and a wiggle, I made it obvious I wanted her to put me down.
My paw pads hit the ground, nails tapping on the stone as I trotted ahead, moving us toward a vertical chasm in a jagged cliff’s face. This would be the quickest way to get there. “C’mon, toots, follow me.”
Unfortunately, the dagger in my mouth made it sound a lot less clear, and Kiki crouched down, reaching for my prize.
“I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Here, give me that. I can carry it for you.”
I immediately growled and started tugging. There was no way in Hades I was going to hand over my prize. The boss man gave it to me. It was mine.
Kiki’s eyes were wide, and a giggle slipped free before she could stop it. “Well, aren’t you just the fiercest little sweetheart.”
No. Fuck that. I was not a sweetheart. I was big and tough and oh, shit . . . Not the belly scritches. I was such a whore for the belly scritches.
Before I could so much as wag my tail, she had me on my back with all four of my paws in the air, my hind leg going a mile a minute as she scratched the good spot. But I didn’t drop the weapon. No sir. I held on to that even through the seizure of pleasure.
“Okay, let’s get going. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies,” Keeks said, rising to her full height and shivering. “I wish Jonah were here.”
Her man didn’t leave his personal heaven, and until recently, neither did she, but when the boss calls, you answer.
I trotted ahead, wagging my tail to show she should follow. That worked well for a while, but then I started catching all kinds of new scents.
“Asshole . . . Asshole, no! Get back here. We do not have time for you to pee on every tree or funny stick you find.”
Joke’s on her. As long as we went in a mostly straight line, I could do both. Mark my territory and keep my word to the boss. I’d love to see a girl dog do that. No squatting for this boy. Just lift a leg and let it fly.
Like a frog in a sock.
I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but I heard Hades say it once.
The river was close; I could smell it—souls and confusion mixed with desperation.
It wasn’t my favorite place to be, that was for sure.
You didn’t want to be in that water if you could help it; that was why most souls were brought by boat.
But every once in a while, there was an .
. . accident. The trapped souls were like piranhas.
They’d zero in on fresh meat, and the newbie would end up as one of them for eternity.
Not the best way to start your afterlife.
Once we reached the bank, Kiki stared at it with her hands on her hips. “How are we supposed to do this? Should I pick you up and slowly dunk you so you can submerge the dagger?”
I let out an aggravated growl, noping that suggestion before it could take hold. The indignity.
There was no way.
Besides, Keeks couldn’t get near that water, or they’d be on her like shit on a pig.
She backed away, hands up. “Okay, no help. Do your thing, little man. I’m just here for moral support, I guess.”
Huffing, I kicked my hind legs back a few times for good measure, then approached the murky water.
It glowed an eerie green, and to the untrained eye, it might resemble bioluminescence.
I knew the truth, though—that was the lost souls.
Their energy signals were faint but still there, visible under the rushing water.
Fuck, I hated it here.
The shore wasn’t level at any part of the riverbank, because of course it wasn't. That would make things too easy. Cautiously, I approached the hill, needing the ground to stay put under my weight.
I took two tentative steps, a relieved yip leaving me just as I started to take a third.
What was that expression Janine always used? Pride comes before the fall?
I shoulda known better than to celebrate too early, cause the second I tried to touch land, there was nothing there. I was free-falling straight into that fucking river.
I swear I heard those fucking Fates laughing at me. But you know what? I didn’t let go of the dagger. I held it between my teeth like the hero I was.
Take that, the mother.
I started paddling the second I felt the water, but it was nearly impossible to know which way was up. It also didn’t help that the souls were reaching for me. I dodged them as best I could, and I think I’d done a hell of a job until that beautiful fucking woman tried to come to my rescue.
Gods-damned humans.
The souls turned away from me the instant she entered the river, targeting her with all the force of a laser rocket.
“Fuck,” I muttered around the blade.
In one moment she was there, above the water, the next she screamed and was dragged under.
I was in a real fucking shituation. I couldn’t let go of the dagger, but there was no way I could save my girl in this form, and if anything happened to her, I wouldn’t just have to answer to myself.
I’d be breaking Dahlia’s heart, Jonah’s, and the boss would never let me hear the end of it.
Besides, Keeks gave the best belly rubs in the underworld, and . . . well, I loved her.
Releasing my hold on this preferred form, I let my body take its natural shape. One head became three, my body swelled to mammoth proportions, and pure rage filled me at the audacity of these lost souls.
My main head was in charge of the dagger.
But that still left me with two others. With a vicious snarl, I snapped my right jaw in the direction of the souls, scaring them off like a school of fish coming up against a hungry shark.
Once they scattered, Leftie swooped in and scooped up Kiki as gently as possible.
She was still a soul clenched between my teeth, though, and there was no delicate way to do it.
But I was doing the least amount of damage by far.
Those wraiths would have sucked her dry and turned her into one of them in a matter of minutes.
Paddling to the shore, I kept her well out of their reach, her limp form making me worry I’d been too late. I laid her down on the path before shifting back into the fluff ball she knew and loved. She was okay, she had to be.
I spat the dagger out and turned my full attention on her.
“C’mon, doll face. Wake up,” I said, nudging her cheek with my nose. I licked her incessantly, relief flooding my system as she screwed up her face and moved away.
“Blech, your dog breath is the worst. We need to talk to Hades about getting you some dental treats.”
I flung myself on top of her like a drunk and furry starfish. “Keeks, thank fuck you’re okay.”
She didn’t say anything, but that was okay because I had a real bone to pick with her.
“Why did you get in the water?”
“You fell in. I wasn’t just going to leave you there.”
“Don’t you know how dangerous it is?”
“I do now. I saw them go after you.”
“Keeks, they can’t hurt me. I’m not like you or the other souls here. They would’ve turned you into one of them.”
Huffing, she sat up and shook her head. “You know what? That would have been a really nice little tidbit of info to share with me before you fell in the water.”
“My mouth was full. And besides, everyone knows to stay out of the Styx, it's basically Underworld 101.”
She rolled her eyes. “A little gratitude would be nice right about now. I didn’t have to save you.”
I was about to point out that I saved her but decided that was one of those inside thoughts she was trying to teach me about, so I nuzzled into her instead.
She trailed her fingers between my ears as we both settled back down.
When she caught her breath, she looked beyond me and let out a soft sound.
Her eyes went wide, and I followed her gaze.
The dagger was coated in a sickly green iridescence, the color of the souls trapped in the river. I jumped off her lap and padded to the weapon, nudging it with my nose. It pulsed with power.
“Holy shitballs. It worked.”