Chapter 18
Ipace across the small area—a cage really. I don't know what the fuck is going on and no one seems to have answers. Dimitri shuffles in his sleep. Is he considered asleep if he's actually unconscious? At least he's still breathing. I resist the urge to kick him.
It's his fault I'm here. His fault I was ripped away from Clara. His fault I have a raging hard on. I shake my head and shove the last thought away. He definitely didn't get me hard. Clara, on the other hand…
I slam my fists into the bars and snarl.
I haven't even talked to anyone. When I was yanked away from my little witch, I could have burned entire dimensions to the ground.
Anyone who came near me would have felt my wrath.
Yet all I was met with was a cell and Dimitri.
I couldn't very well take him out. He's clearly as much a victim as me.
None of which matters since I'm still stuck in here. I have no idea how long I've been gone, nor how long I've been in here. Down here there's only a blue hue to everything. I can't even pinpoint where in Hell I am.
“Omen?” Dimitri croaks out, and I grit my teeth.
“Start talking, Dimitri.” I try to keep my voice even. Taking out my rage on him won't help either of us.
“Uh, welcome to the cage?”
I snort, shaking my head as I stare into the darkness. “What a clever name. Who thought that one up?”
“Triton, of course. He sent me down here to get someone.
Then I got that weird tingly feeling again, and bam, I was in a closet.
Spent a couple minutes in there, too terrified to come out on account of what happened last time I was in a random person's house, which wasn't so random seeing as how it was your—”
“Get to the point,” I growl. The last thing I need is him calling Clara my girlfriend, or worse, my soulbound.
“Okay, touchy. After that, I felt the tug again, and bam, I was in here. ’Cept now the door was locked and I was on the other side of it. Don't know what happened, but I've just been waiting for someone to come get me. I thought it'd be quick.”
I finally turn to face him. “How long have you been down here?”
He shrugs. “Don't know. I keep getting pulled back to the human realm. It was disorienting. I'd come back and eventually I couldn't handle the magical trip. I'd pass out, come to, get shoved into limbo—”
“I get it. You don't have to overexplain everything Dimitri,” I say, exhaustion lining my voice. He gives me an apologetic look, then pushes to his feet. “You know I didn't mean—”
“I know. Forget sometimes. Mind going a mile a minute. Sometimes it's hard to slow down. Take out the unimportant bits. You know,” he mutters.
“I do. So knock it the fuck off. How did I get down here?”
He shrugs again, and I suck in a sharp breath.
He's being absolutely no help. Usually, it's nice he's distracted by the next shiny object and doesn't think too deeply into things.
He's excellent at listening and gives solid advice when he's locked in.
He just won't pry if I don't tell him to.
Unless he gets a bug up his butt and hyperfixates on my problems instead of his own.
Not that Clara is a problem. Just the thought of her has my lungs seizing, and I brace my hands on my knees.
“Maybe you should flame out. See if that pops the lock or something.” He leans against the wall, exhaustion etched in every line of his body.
“You could have shocked the shit out of it.”
He holds up his hand and a soft glow weaves through his fingers, pulsating with his heartbeat.
It's nothing like his usual energy. While it's beautiful for a quiet night by the fire, it's not what we need to get us out of here.
The soft flickers will be perfect the next time he's trying to get laid.
Too bad the door isn't susceptible to his charms.
“Pretty, but not particularly useful,” I say.
“Careful or I'll steal your girl.” He smirks as he drops his hand. “Too soon?”
I huff, turning back to the darkness. “Be glad she's not here or we'd have more trouble than we can handle.”
A soft meow echoes through the space and I groan. Dimitri lets out an aww, and when I turn around, he's scratching Clara's cat. How the little fucker got down here, I have no idea. I'm not surprised, though.
“Look how cute she is,” Dimitri coos.
“Fuck me,” I breathe, planting my fists on my hips and tucking my chin to my chest.
“Shit. Omen? I think she's hurt.”
My head snaps up and I rush toward them. No matter how much I want to drop-kick the feline into the sun, I can't let it die on me. Clara seems to love this thing. I never got to ask her if he was her familiar, though Dimitri mentioned the practice fell off a few centuries ago.
Still, Clara isn't your typical witch. From what I've seen, she dabbles in the old arts more often than not, what with that damn book she uses. Even if Sunshine isn't her familiar, he's definitely important to her. She'd be devastated if something happened to him.
I drop to my knees, and the cat gazes at me over his shoulder. His dark squished face looks exactly the same. He's not favoring any of his limbs and there's no blood that I can see.
“Where?” I snarl as I run my hands through his fur.
“She looks like she ran into something. Cat's faces aren't supposed to look like that.”
I heave out a sigh, tipping my head back. “First of all, it's a he. Second, that's just his face. I think Clara rescued it or something.”
Dimitri snorts and gathers the cat up in his arms. “Let me get this straight, your little witch has a cat, which probably is a familiar—”
“Or she rescued it.”
He plows on, ignoring my interruption. “You're freaking out about it being hurt, but you hate cats. And you're still clinging to the fact you don't care about Clara?”
I scowl, glancing away. “I never said I didn't care for her. I'm just acutely aware of the risks of getting involved with a witch.”
“Uh, Omen?”
“None of which has anything to do with her personally. A witch doesn't belong in Hell. If she'd just get rid of the summoning circle…fuck, if she never chalked it in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess.”
A soft sigh behind me has me closing my eyes.
Of course, she followed her damn cat all the way to the depths of Hell.
Because why not? I'm not even surprised she popped up right when I was talking shit.
It's not like I have any luck to speak of whatsoever.
To be fair, very little of my rant had anything to do with her.
She's not to blame. She just wanted to have a jar opened. I could have told her to get rid of the circle or left as soon as she called for me the next time. I could have stayed away or kept my walls up around her.
Except I know I wouldn't have been able to resist her. Not with our souls being bound to one another. We were always destined to meet. I didn't have to weave our lives together, though. And now I've fucked it up before I've really explored where our future could lead.
If I don't turn around, I won't have to face her.
Maybe she'll just poof out and forget everything in the void.
From Dimitri's grimace, I doubt Fortune is on my side.
He's a fickle creature, much like Karma.
For as similar as they are, they bicker like the siblings they are, rarely teaming up.
I'd be content to never cross either one of their paths again. Not that Karma leaves anyone alone.
“Omen,” Dimitri hisses, and I snap back to reality.
“Sorry,” Clara says softly. “I didn't mean to interrupt.
Actually, I didn't really think this would…I decided against…” She huffs, then clears her throat.
“Your cat was about to eat hemlock. I stopped him and the summoning circle sent me here.
If someone could just point me to the nearest portal, I'll be out of your hair.”
Dimitri clutches the cat closer to his chest, and I roll my eyes.
I push to my feet and snatch the feline from him despite his protests.
I'm not letting him keep her pet. When I finally face her, she's avoiding my gaze.
I don't blame her. I shove Handsome or Sunshine or whatever the hell she calls him, through the bars and wait.
Her nostrils flare. “I'm not taking the cat, Omen.”
“I'll take him,” Dimitri calls, and a flash of heat bursts from the top of my head. “Or not.”
“Well, I sure as shit ain't taking him. He's yours.”
She shakes her head, pressing her lips together. I pull the cat back and twist around to drop him into Dimitri's lap. I'm not about to argue with her about a fucking pet while I'm locked in a cage.
“Can you find a key?” I ask as I turn back to her.
“So, you are in trouble?”
“Trouble? Not really. Energy is probably just off or the magic. Either way, we're stuck in here.”
She nods, staring at the lock. She steps closer and a shiver runs through my body when I finally get a good look at her.
Dimitri better be absorbed with her cat instead of staring at Clara's bare legs.
Not much time must have passed between my leaving and her coming.
I wince and my cock hardens. I'm sure she was pissed when I left her on the edge of an orgasm. Makes two of us.
Metal clanks and the door swings toward her.
She gives me a look as she wiggles the handle up and down.
My mouth drops open and Dimitri cackles from behind me.
I spin around, intent on sending his ass to a random pocket dimension for a time-out.
Bastard could have opened the damn thing this entire time.
Not that I was much better, but it's easier to blame him.
“Well shit,” Dimitri wheezes, and the cat jumps from his arms, giving him an affronted look. Shock flashes on his face and he disappears, leaving an undercurrent of electricity humming through the air.
“Does he do that often? Or is it me?”
“He doesn't, or rather, he didn't, but I don't think it has anything to do with you.” I step out of the cage, and she stumbles back. “You want to tell me how you got down here?”
She wrings her hands together. “Well, you disappeared. I got pissed, then I got freaked out. I may have thought I could use the summoning circle, but I thought better of it. Except Handsome popped in and I thought he was going to eat the hemlock. I ended up in the circle and—”
“You used the book, didn't you?” I growl, crossing my arms, and she nods. “Well, fuck.”
She presses her hands to her stomach and her face tightens. Almost as if she's in pain. “Can you send me back?”
“Can I send you back alone? No. If you…” I tilt my head as she grimaces, then jump forward as she crumples. I catch her before she hits the ground and gather her to my chest.
“Sorry,” she whispers. Her body shivers uncontrollably in my grasp, and I clutch her tighter.
“Oh, little witch. What have you done?”