Chapter 9
I’ve been staring at the basket of clothes for a long time, ignoring the looks I’m getting and just… trying to keep my head down.
After another back and forth with Butcher about opening the gates to the Beyond, we finally left the hotel and caught a cab to the next town over. We’re about four hours from Blackthorn now, but he keeps stating we have to go farther.
Further, closer, it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be able to give him what he wants, and he’s fucked us both over because of it. Never in a million years did I think that would be his request. I really should’ve made him be more specific… but then he probably would’ve wanted the same from me.
Fuck.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
We are both so fucked.
And this damn bond—Vendra’s mercy—is stronger than I thought. When I tried to sever the thread, it held fast, solid as iron. Thankfully, I’ve managed to block his thoughts, and I don’t think he can hear mine either, because I called him a big-ass ape in the car and he didn’t react.
What the Beyond am I going to do?
“Excuse me.”
A voice brushes past just as another cart scrapes against mine. The woman’s elbow digs into my side, sending me stumbling into the clothing rack.
I mistakenly lift my head, and instantly regret it. Her brown eyes lock on mine, anger shifting to fear in a single heartbeat.
Immediately, I shut my eyes and start backing away.
There are too many people in this thrift store. Too much noise and heat. I don’t notice the person behind me until I slam right into them.
“Hey! Watch it!”
As my pulse quickens, I force my eyes open and scan for the accessory aisle. I abandon the cart and move down the row until I find the sunglasses display. I grab a pair, slide them on, and dare to look up.
Of course people are staring.
I groan and start to move when a deep-voiced man steps out from behind the carousel. “It’s rude to wear sunglasses inside.”
I jump at his sudden appearance.
I’m planning to just ignore the big brute and go back to my cart, but he uses his broad frame to block my path. “What’s with you and your eyes?”
“Again, your lack of knowledge tells me you did no research on me before kidnapping me.”
“Saving.” He leans against the rack to my left and reaches out for my hair draped over my shoulder. “I have the source, so tell me.”
Jerking away from him, I release a frustrated sigh. “I’m hexed. Everyone knows that only pureblooded Demons and those cursed have eyes of indigo.”
His face twists. “Who cursed you?”
“A Hexborn after the incident seven years ago. Now, are we done?”
“I thought your punishment was to rot in prison.” He straightens and steps aside so I can brush past him.
“That wasn’t enough for them,” I murmur, knowing he can hear me despite the distance I put between us.
We finish grabbing what we need and head to check out. When the teller announces the total, he looks down at me expectantly.
I flick my gaze to the employee, heat slowly crawling up my neck, then back to him.
He snaps his fingers and says, “Oh, that’s right, you don’t have any money.”
My face burns with embarrassment, and I have to fight the urge to punch him. I know it would only cost me a broken hand at how hard I’d throw it.
“She’s homeless,” he continues as he digs into his pocket. “I like to do charity work.”
I bite my tongue and take a deep breath.
“That’s so kind of you.” The cashier takes his card, swipes it, and hands it back. “Have a good evening.”
Grabbing the bags, I reach in, pull out the sunglasses, and slip them back on before turning away.
“She’s ungrateful for what she’s been given,” he says with a laugh. “Thank you, have a good one.”
The air outside hits me, cold and sharp. It’s a relief after the stuffy store, but it bites through the thin shirt instantly. Winter’s closing in fast, and this part of Orwyn gets brutal the closer we get to the mountains.
I grab the thick sweater I bought and tug it over my head, wrapping my arms around my waist for extra warmth.
“You need to eat.” Gods, he just appears out of nowhere again. “We’ll get takeout. I’m going to grab a burner phone, and you can order some tacos from the place right beside the shop.” He points down the strip of stores.
“I don’t eat meat.”
“Shocker,” he groans. “Then get chips, I don’t care.”
I actually do eat meat. I’m just trying to piss him off. I’m allergic to dairy, though—but that’s easy enough to avoid.
We take care of our business separately, and I don’t bother trying to run. He’d catch me in seconds anyway, and I still don’t have a plan to undo this blood bind.
Fucking Vampire. Fucking idiotic Vampire.
Vendra? Can you hear me…
I’ve got my legs propped up on the dash, body turned toward the window so I can watch the blur of the highway. The heater’s on full blast, so I ditched the sweater I’d thrown on earlier. Now I’m down to his shirt and the long-sleeve beneath it.
Butcher said we’d stop at a hotel tonight so I could change, but we have yet to.
I’m surprised he didn’t comment on the three bags of disposable razors I tossed in the cart, because he keeps glancing at my legs.
Good. I hope I disgust him. Maybe I won’t shave. Maybe the sight will keep his mind off the rest of me he can’t stop looking at.
I’d bought things that will make me as unappealing as possible: baggy clothes, torn tees, unstylistic dresses. Let’s see if that helps keep his eyes to himself.
“Question.”
It’s been almost an hour since we started driving, neither of us saying a word. Figures Mr. Can’t-keep-his-mouth-shut would be the one to break first.
“What?”
“Have you tried to channel since I got you out of the slammer?”
I swallow hard and let out a choppy breath that almost turns into a laugh. Okay. He is funny, but in that smug, infuriating way that makes me want to throttle him.
“Yes,” I answer honestly. “Vendra hasn’t connected with me…”
He lets out a sharp pfft. “Your God shutting you out for using your abilities for evil. How shocking.”
“God, that isn’t it, she’s having a hard time—”
“You better start apologizing.” He cuts me off, and the condescension in his tone makes my skin crawl. “Because you get one night in a hotel before we are roughing it.”
I grumble under my breath. “Why are we roughing it?”
Not that I really care. I’ve lived most of my life on farmland or in the mountains.
I owned one pair of shoes, and only wore them when I had to go into town.
My life was built for the wild, not the cities.
I’ve always hated the noise, the stench, the people.
I avoided places like Sidence whenever I could.
“You connect with the earth, and you can’t do that in a town I take it.”
“Right…” Guess he has been listening. “I mean, I can. It’s just easier when I have a direct connection to Mother’s nature. Thick concrete and… artificial… grass…”
When I glance at him, he looks bored.
You know what, fuck him. The moment I’m opening my mouth to tell him to fuck off, his phone rings.
“Hey… yeah…” He taps the back of his hand against my arm. “Here.”
My brows knit together as I look at the phone he’s holding out. I swallow, then take it.
“Hello…?”
“Hi.” A male’s voice comes from the other side. “My name is Atlas. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Amarah.”
My heart leaps at hearing my name. How does he know… Oh, fuck. “… I give you permission to share it with whomever you need…”
“Nice to meet you, Atlas.” The last person to say my name aloud was Thornwyn.
“You will not die today, Amarah.”
“Can you sense gates opening?” My mind snaps back to the present. “Or, maybe just the energy from the Beyond? I’ve been doing some research on them. Not a lot with your own kind because there isn’t much written in the common language. So, I went the easiest route—”
“You do know how stupid this is, right?”
Butcher quite literally growls.
“I’m not here to tell Kayn what to do, or what not to do.”
Kayn…
“If he asks for help, he gets it. So tell me, can you sense the gates?”
I sigh. “No.” That isn’t entirely a lie, but I’d have to be within a mile of one to even catch a flicker of its energy.
We hit a bump in the road, jolting me forward. I shift in the seat and sit up properly, keeping my heart steady.
“Alright, well, one has opened—but it’s likely already closed.”
“How do you know that?”
“Militia have to log them. They’ve been occurring for centuries, but very minimally. Since the incident in Sidence a month or so ago, they’ve been opening more frequently. One opened near Opal Lake, just an hour out.”
“Why are you telling me this, and not your friend?”
“He can’t seem to get over his distaste for you—” That’s a fucking understatement. “—and while I very much hate what you did, there’s an objective here and I’m far more level-headed. And good looking.”
I hold back my chuckle. Since I don’t have it on speaker I assume the blocker on the phone keeps Butcher from hearing Atlas’s comment.
“Now, the gates. Recently, they’ve been opening and closing within a thirty-minute window. I’m thinking maybe you can use the excess energy that they leave off. What do you think?”
“Plausible theory, but as I’ve told Butcher here, I haven’t been able to channel.”
“Useless…” said brute mutters under his breath.
I roll my eyes. “But I’ll try. The sooner I get this over with, the better. Can you text him the location?”
“Already done.”
“We will try in the morning,” Butcher says.
“No, now. Thanks, Atlas.” I hang up and toss the phone into his lap. “The thought of it working outweighs my exhaustion and need to change.”
I glance over at him, catching the twitch at the corner of his eye.
“Fine.”
He grabs his phone, and the next thing I hear is the navigation’s flat voice: “You will arrive at your destination in fifty-eight minutes. Continue straight for twenty-two miles.”
Alright, maybe this will be quick. Maybe I’ll finally have something to bargain with.
Vendra, please, if you can hear me, let me send this crazy bastard to the Beyond successfully so he can get who he’s looking for.
If he dies…
I wonder if I’d still get what I wanted. If my God would answer me, maybe I could ask her about the bond.
Vendra? Are you there?