“Yeah, well, believe it.” Limos plopped down on the coffee table across from her. “It looks like everything was going well until Reseph’s name hit the wrong channels. We had to get to him before someone who wants him evil again found him or before The Aegis showed up.”
“The Aegis,” Jillian murmured, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears. “They’ve been here.”
“I’m sure they have. They want him imprisoned.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re extremist assholes,” Limos snapped. “They don’t listen to reason, and anything they don’t understand, they prefer to destroy.”
Jillian nearly bolted out of her seat, as if she could somehow attack whoever was threatening Reseph. “They could destroy him?”
“No, but they think that if they can imprison him, or, probably, any of us, they can prevent death and destruction and crap.”
“Is that true?”
Limos hesitated, and Jillian’s pulse thudded in her ears. “Maybe, in Reseph’s case. Pestilence could be extremely dangerous if he returns. That’s why I’m here. Now that Reseph’s memory is back, he remembers all the shit he did. He’s going crazy. Hurting himself. It’s leaving him vulnerable to Pestilence. We need to bring him back, but we’re not getting through to him. We were hoping you could help.”
Overwhelmed by the massive scope of the information she’d just been given, Jillian wrapped her arms around herself, as if the body hug would contain it and help her make sense of it all.
“I don’t know what I can do. I’m just a… human.” A terrified human who had fallen in love with a biblical legend. The thought almost made her hyperventilate.
“Talk to him. Be with him. I don’t know. None of us know. This is uncharted territory. But when my husband was trapped inside his head after being tortured in hell, it took me to get him out.”
“Your husband was… tortured? In hell? Actual hell?”
“We call it Sheoul, but yep. Arik was there for a month. And he rocked it.” Limos grinned, fierce pride settling into her expression. “You met him when he was here with Kynan.”
Both of those men had come across as confident, efficient, and a little… scary. Now she wondered just how scary Arik truly was to have survived a month in hell.
Closing her eyes, Jillian took a deep breath, hoping for some time to let all of this settle. But if Reseph was in pain, there was no time. She had to help.
“You okay?”
Jillian lifted her lids. “No.” Not at all. She felt as if she was teetering on the very edge of hysteria, and all it would take was one more revelation from Limos, and Jillian would tip over. She eyed the female Horseman, needing an anchor to reality, but even her hairstyle seemed inconsistent with who she said she was. Who she’d been when she’d sat astride her stallion-thing, armed and armored like a warrior right out of, well, legend. “Why do you have a flower in your hair?”
“What, it’s not very Horseman-like?”
“It’s not what I would have expected, no.”
Limos huffed. “It’s a poison-spitting iris that dissolves flesh on contact.”
Jillian edged backward. “Seriously?”
“No.” Limos grinned. “I just like pretty flowers. I could remove your flesh myself. I’m great with a blade.”
Flesh removal? Oh, God. The reality of the situation was starting to sink in now. “And this…” Jillian swallowed sickly. “This is how you convince me to go with you?”
“Sorry. I probably need to work on my sales pitch.” Limos propped her elbows on her knees and leaned closer to Jillian, all business. “So… will you help?”
“Where…” Jillian blew out a breath in a rush. “Where will we go? Um… hell?”
“Greece. Trust me, none of us live in creepy places. Well, Reseph used to, but his cave was destroyed.”
Cave? He’d felt confined in her cabin and he’d lived in a cave? “Okay, I’ll do it. Take me to him. Beam me up or whatever it is you do.”
Limos bounded to her feet. “You’re handling this really well. You should have seen how Ares’s wife reacted when she first got introduced to our world and who we are.”
Yeah, well, Jillian had been given a painful introduction to the supernatural world when demons had attacked her in that airport parking lot. Reseph might be a Horseman, but in comparison, he was a kitten. Abruptly, she recalled the fight at the bar and the battle with the barn demon, and she revised that last thought. Kitten, no. Lion, yes.
She followed Limos outside. “Ares is married to a human?”
Limos bobbed her head. “Cara. She’s sort of a hellhound whisperer.”
Jillian stopped so suddenly she slipped on the icy porch and would have gone down if Limos hadn’t grabbed her, lightning fast, and lifted her upright.
“Hellhounds?” Jillian rasped. “D-demons?”
“Ah… yeah.” Limos took Jillian’s arm and dragged her off the porch. “Come on. Harrowgate is waiting.”
Traveling via the thing Limos called a Harrowgate was an unnerving experience, especially when Limos said that the Horsemen were the only beings who could take a conscious human through a portable gate without the human coming out on the other side… dead.
She stepped out with Limos, inside a circle marked by little flags outside a huge Greek-style mansion. Olive trees rose between huge Greek-style pillars and snow-white statues of Greek gods.
“I guess this is Greece?” Oh, Jillian, you’re a rocket scientist, you are.
“Yep.”
“Why are there little flags around us?”
“It’s the designated Harrowgate landing. At our houses we keep them marked off so people know not to enter. When a gate opens, it’ll slice into any living thing it touches.”
Jillian missed a step. Then she missed another—God, Limos must think she was drunk—when she noticed that there were a lot of people and… not humans… gathered around the mansion.
“Um…”
Limos waved her hand in dismissal and started walking toward the crowd. “Don’t worry about the females. They’re here for Reseph.”
Females? All those things were females? With some it was hard to tell. “What… what are they?” Please don’t say demons, please don’t say demons…
“Demons.”
Jillian’s throat closed up so hard she actually reached up to loosen the noose that seemed to be around it. Demons. Holy shit, demons.
“Hey.” Limos’s voice cut through the panic that buzzed in Jillian’s ears. “They won’t hurt you. I promise. Jillian? Stay with me. Reseph needs you.”
Jillian squeezed her eyes closed. With the world shut out beyond her eyelids, she could picture Reseph’s smile, the hard set of his jaw when they made love, and she could hear him telling her how strong she was. He’d brought her back into the world she’d been hiding from and had given her a precious gift. She would give him the same. Somehow she’d survive this, and she’d help him.
She opened her eyes but kept them glued to Limos. “I’m okay. Let’s go.”
The throng made a path for Limos, and Jillian followed until one of the creatures, who appeared human-ish except for her gray skin and hair, black horns, and clawed feet, blocked their path.
“Why are you taking this… human… when we have to wait out here?”
Jillian didn’t even have time to blink before Limos had the demon by the throat, lifting the thing off the ground. “You do not question a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Speak like that again, and you’ll be lucky if I only take your tongue.”
The demon in Limos’s grip nodded—as much as she could—and every demon around them backed up, widening the circle. Jillian wondered how close Limos had been to doing the same to Jillian back at her house, because she’d been nothing but questions.
Limos released the demon, who fell to the ground and stayed there, gasping for air.
“Anyone else want to piss me off?” When no one came forward, Limos smiled. “Good. Come on, Jilly.”
Yeah, Jillian would let that one pass. Good God, she’d threatened a Horseman of the Apocalypse with a frying pan. Reseph could have squashed her with his thumb.
Instead, he’d done amazing, wonderful things with that thumb. The thought that she’d made love to one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse made her dizzy.
“Why are all these, um, women, here? Do they think they can help Reseph?”
“They heard he’s back, but they don’t know his condition. They just want to get laid.”
Abruptly, Jillian felt sick. “These are his… girlfriends?”
Limos snorted. “Hardly. They were just his f**k and party buddies.” She snapped her mouth shut with a wince. “Ah, sorry. Look, you should know… he’s a bit of a, well, he was a playboy. He’s never attached himself to one female, but I think it’s different with you. That’s why you’re here.”
“You think it’s different,” she murmured, her heart aching as she looked back at all the females gathered around.
There had to be a hundred, and they were all, even the freakiest of them, attractive in some way. Some were downright gorgeous, to the point that it hurt to look at them.
Sympathy dripped from Limos’s voice. “Keep in mind,” she said gently, “that Reseph is five thousand years old, and demons are long-lived, if not immortal. That’s a lot of time to build up a body count.”
Jillian struggled to keep her hopes up. She supposed that what Limos said was true, but it didn’t help a lot. Applying logic to a hurtful situation rarely worked until there was some distance, and Jillian doubted she’d have distance for a long time. Not when the way she felt about Reseph was different and more powerful than anything she’d felt for a man before.
Did these females feel the same way about him? The thought made her ill.
“Let’s go,” she muttered.
They entered the mansion, which opened up into a huge room where Thanatos and Ares were talking with a brown-haired woman and Arik. Arik nodded in greeting, the woman smiled, and Thanatos and Ares just stared.
“Oh, for God’s sake, boys,” the woman said. “She’s not an enemy. Stop glaring.” She moved forward, and with her came a black dog-like creature the size of a bull. “I’m Cara, Ares’s wife. Can I get you anything? Something to drink, maybe?”
I could use a bottle of vodka and a Xanax. The dog-thing bared its sharklike teeth. Make that a dozen Xanax. “Thank you. I’m fine.” Jillian wasn’t sure what she had expected, but a relatively normal, domestic family wasn’t it.
Thanatos gestured at her. “Come on. Reseph’s this way.”
Jillian glanced at Limos, who gave her a reassuring nod. “Thanatos doesn’t bite.” She shot Thanatos a glare. “Don’t bite.”
“Ha. Ha.” He started down the hall, leaving Jillian no choice but to follow. When they reached a door, he stopped. “Did Limos explain the situation to you?”
“You mean that his Seal broke and he turned evil and nearly brought about the end of world? Yeah, I got the CliffsNotes.”
Thanatos arched a tawny brow. “In that case, thank you for doing this, human. I doubt many would. But I was talking about his condition.”
“She said he was hurting himself.”
“Something like that.” His mouth formed a grim line. “I don’t know how he’ll react to you, but don’t expect the man you once knew.” He opened the door. “Scream if you need anything.”
Scream. Great. That didn’t sound reassuring at all. Still, she knew Reseph. She wouldn’t let these people frighten her. She was strong. She wouldn’t fall apart.
She stepped inside the bedroom.
And promptly fell apart.
Twenty-three
“Oh, Reseph,” Jillian whispered. “What have they done to you?” Thanatos and Limos had warned her, but this went beyond anything she could have imagined.
Reseph sat with his back against the wall, his body a mass of wounds in various stages of healing. His arms were wrapped around his bent knees, his head hung loosely on his shoulders, his hair obscured his face. Wearing nothing but sweatshorts, he rocked back and forth, soft moans breaking from his chest.
From his ankles, seeming to come directly from his skin, were thick, ivory chains that attached to the wall like a root system. They were long, giving him the freedom to move around the room and bathroom, but not long enough to go through the door.
“Reseph?” All of her apprehension fled, and she rushed to him, fell to her knees at his side. “Hey, it’s me. It’s Jillian.”
When he didn’t respond, just kept rocking, she very slowly reached out to brush his hair back. She fought a gasp at the sight of his blackened eyes and deeply gouged cheeks. Dear God, it looked like he’d clawed at himself.
“Reseph.” This time she spoke louder, with more force, and he jerked.
In a series of choppy motions, Reseph lifted his head and fixed his glassy gaze on hers. For a few agonizing heartbeats, Jillian wasn’t sure he recognized her.
“Jillian?” His voice was gravelly and raw. “You look like my Jillian.”
My Jillian. The words brought fresh emotion to the surface, and she had to swallow before she could speak. “It’s me. I’m here.”
His hand shook as he reached for her, but an inch from her face, he stopped.
“The Aegis,” Jillian murmured, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears. “They’ve been here.”
“I’m sure they have. They want him imprisoned.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re extremist assholes,” Limos snapped. “They don’t listen to reason, and anything they don’t understand, they prefer to destroy.”
Jillian nearly bolted out of her seat, as if she could somehow attack whoever was threatening Reseph. “They could destroy him?”
“No, but they think that if they can imprison him, or, probably, any of us, they can prevent death and destruction and crap.”
“Is that true?”
Limos hesitated, and Jillian’s pulse thudded in her ears. “Maybe, in Reseph’s case. Pestilence could be extremely dangerous if he returns. That’s why I’m here. Now that Reseph’s memory is back, he remembers all the shit he did. He’s going crazy. Hurting himself. It’s leaving him vulnerable to Pestilence. We need to bring him back, but we’re not getting through to him. We were hoping you could help.”
Overwhelmed by the massive scope of the information she’d just been given, Jillian wrapped her arms around herself, as if the body hug would contain it and help her make sense of it all.
“I don’t know what I can do. I’m just a… human.” A terrified human who had fallen in love with a biblical legend. The thought almost made her hyperventilate.
“Talk to him. Be with him. I don’t know. None of us know. This is uncharted territory. But when my husband was trapped inside his head after being tortured in hell, it took me to get him out.”
“Your husband was… tortured? In hell? Actual hell?”
“We call it Sheoul, but yep. Arik was there for a month. And he rocked it.” Limos grinned, fierce pride settling into her expression. “You met him when he was here with Kynan.”
Both of those men had come across as confident, efficient, and a little… scary. Now she wondered just how scary Arik truly was to have survived a month in hell.
Closing her eyes, Jillian took a deep breath, hoping for some time to let all of this settle. But if Reseph was in pain, there was no time. She had to help.
“You okay?”
Jillian lifted her lids. “No.” Not at all. She felt as if she was teetering on the very edge of hysteria, and all it would take was one more revelation from Limos, and Jillian would tip over. She eyed the female Horseman, needing an anchor to reality, but even her hairstyle seemed inconsistent with who she said she was. Who she’d been when she’d sat astride her stallion-thing, armed and armored like a warrior right out of, well, legend. “Why do you have a flower in your hair?”
“What, it’s not very Horseman-like?”
“It’s not what I would have expected, no.”
Limos huffed. “It’s a poison-spitting iris that dissolves flesh on contact.”
Jillian edged backward. “Seriously?”
“No.” Limos grinned. “I just like pretty flowers. I could remove your flesh myself. I’m great with a blade.”
Flesh removal? Oh, God. The reality of the situation was starting to sink in now. “And this…” Jillian swallowed sickly. “This is how you convince me to go with you?”
“Sorry. I probably need to work on my sales pitch.” Limos propped her elbows on her knees and leaned closer to Jillian, all business. “So… will you help?”
“Where…” Jillian blew out a breath in a rush. “Where will we go? Um… hell?”
“Greece. Trust me, none of us live in creepy places. Well, Reseph used to, but his cave was destroyed.”
Cave? He’d felt confined in her cabin and he’d lived in a cave? “Okay, I’ll do it. Take me to him. Beam me up or whatever it is you do.”
Limos bounded to her feet. “You’re handling this really well. You should have seen how Ares’s wife reacted when she first got introduced to our world and who we are.”
Yeah, well, Jillian had been given a painful introduction to the supernatural world when demons had attacked her in that airport parking lot. Reseph might be a Horseman, but in comparison, he was a kitten. Abruptly, she recalled the fight at the bar and the battle with the barn demon, and she revised that last thought. Kitten, no. Lion, yes.
She followed Limos outside. “Ares is married to a human?”
Limos bobbed her head. “Cara. She’s sort of a hellhound whisperer.”
Jillian stopped so suddenly she slipped on the icy porch and would have gone down if Limos hadn’t grabbed her, lightning fast, and lifted her upright.
“Hellhounds?” Jillian rasped. “D-demons?”
“Ah… yeah.” Limos took Jillian’s arm and dragged her off the porch. “Come on. Harrowgate is waiting.”
Traveling via the thing Limos called a Harrowgate was an unnerving experience, especially when Limos said that the Horsemen were the only beings who could take a conscious human through a portable gate without the human coming out on the other side… dead.
She stepped out with Limos, inside a circle marked by little flags outside a huge Greek-style mansion. Olive trees rose between huge Greek-style pillars and snow-white statues of Greek gods.
“I guess this is Greece?” Oh, Jillian, you’re a rocket scientist, you are.
“Yep.”
“Why are there little flags around us?”
“It’s the designated Harrowgate landing. At our houses we keep them marked off so people know not to enter. When a gate opens, it’ll slice into any living thing it touches.”
Jillian missed a step. Then she missed another—God, Limos must think she was drunk—when she noticed that there were a lot of people and… not humans… gathered around the mansion.
“Um…”
Limos waved her hand in dismissal and started walking toward the crowd. “Don’t worry about the females. They’re here for Reseph.”
Females? All those things were females? With some it was hard to tell. “What… what are they?” Please don’t say demons, please don’t say demons…
“Demons.”
Jillian’s throat closed up so hard she actually reached up to loosen the noose that seemed to be around it. Demons. Holy shit, demons.
“Hey.” Limos’s voice cut through the panic that buzzed in Jillian’s ears. “They won’t hurt you. I promise. Jillian? Stay with me. Reseph needs you.”
Jillian squeezed her eyes closed. With the world shut out beyond her eyelids, she could picture Reseph’s smile, the hard set of his jaw when they made love, and she could hear him telling her how strong she was. He’d brought her back into the world she’d been hiding from and had given her a precious gift. She would give him the same. Somehow she’d survive this, and she’d help him.
She opened her eyes but kept them glued to Limos. “I’m okay. Let’s go.”
The throng made a path for Limos, and Jillian followed until one of the creatures, who appeared human-ish except for her gray skin and hair, black horns, and clawed feet, blocked their path.
“Why are you taking this… human… when we have to wait out here?”
Jillian didn’t even have time to blink before Limos had the demon by the throat, lifting the thing off the ground. “You do not question a Horseman of the Apocalypse. Speak like that again, and you’ll be lucky if I only take your tongue.”
The demon in Limos’s grip nodded—as much as she could—and every demon around them backed up, widening the circle. Jillian wondered how close Limos had been to doing the same to Jillian back at her house, because she’d been nothing but questions.
Limos released the demon, who fell to the ground and stayed there, gasping for air.
“Anyone else want to piss me off?” When no one came forward, Limos smiled. “Good. Come on, Jilly.”
Yeah, Jillian would let that one pass. Good God, she’d threatened a Horseman of the Apocalypse with a frying pan. Reseph could have squashed her with his thumb.
Instead, he’d done amazing, wonderful things with that thumb. The thought that she’d made love to one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse made her dizzy.
“Why are all these, um, women, here? Do they think they can help Reseph?”
“They heard he’s back, but they don’t know his condition. They just want to get laid.”
Abruptly, Jillian felt sick. “These are his… girlfriends?”
Limos snorted. “Hardly. They were just his f**k and party buddies.” She snapped her mouth shut with a wince. “Ah, sorry. Look, you should know… he’s a bit of a, well, he was a playboy. He’s never attached himself to one female, but I think it’s different with you. That’s why you’re here.”
“You think it’s different,” she murmured, her heart aching as she looked back at all the females gathered around.
There had to be a hundred, and they were all, even the freakiest of them, attractive in some way. Some were downright gorgeous, to the point that it hurt to look at them.
Sympathy dripped from Limos’s voice. “Keep in mind,” she said gently, “that Reseph is five thousand years old, and demons are long-lived, if not immortal. That’s a lot of time to build up a body count.”
Jillian struggled to keep her hopes up. She supposed that what Limos said was true, but it didn’t help a lot. Applying logic to a hurtful situation rarely worked until there was some distance, and Jillian doubted she’d have distance for a long time. Not when the way she felt about Reseph was different and more powerful than anything she’d felt for a man before.
Did these females feel the same way about him? The thought made her ill.
“Let’s go,” she muttered.
They entered the mansion, which opened up into a huge room where Thanatos and Ares were talking with a brown-haired woman and Arik. Arik nodded in greeting, the woman smiled, and Thanatos and Ares just stared.
“Oh, for God’s sake, boys,” the woman said. “She’s not an enemy. Stop glaring.” She moved forward, and with her came a black dog-like creature the size of a bull. “I’m Cara, Ares’s wife. Can I get you anything? Something to drink, maybe?”
I could use a bottle of vodka and a Xanax. The dog-thing bared its sharklike teeth. Make that a dozen Xanax. “Thank you. I’m fine.” Jillian wasn’t sure what she had expected, but a relatively normal, domestic family wasn’t it.
Thanatos gestured at her. “Come on. Reseph’s this way.”
Jillian glanced at Limos, who gave her a reassuring nod. “Thanatos doesn’t bite.” She shot Thanatos a glare. “Don’t bite.”
“Ha. Ha.” He started down the hall, leaving Jillian no choice but to follow. When they reached a door, he stopped. “Did Limos explain the situation to you?”
“You mean that his Seal broke and he turned evil and nearly brought about the end of world? Yeah, I got the CliffsNotes.”
Thanatos arched a tawny brow. “In that case, thank you for doing this, human. I doubt many would. But I was talking about his condition.”
“She said he was hurting himself.”
“Something like that.” His mouth formed a grim line. “I don’t know how he’ll react to you, but don’t expect the man you once knew.” He opened the door. “Scream if you need anything.”
Scream. Great. That didn’t sound reassuring at all. Still, she knew Reseph. She wouldn’t let these people frighten her. She was strong. She wouldn’t fall apart.
She stepped inside the bedroom.
And promptly fell apart.
Twenty-three
“Oh, Reseph,” Jillian whispered. “What have they done to you?” Thanatos and Limos had warned her, but this went beyond anything she could have imagined.
Reseph sat with his back against the wall, his body a mass of wounds in various stages of healing. His arms were wrapped around his bent knees, his head hung loosely on his shoulders, his hair obscured his face. Wearing nothing but sweatshorts, he rocked back and forth, soft moans breaking from his chest.
From his ankles, seeming to come directly from his skin, were thick, ivory chains that attached to the wall like a root system. They were long, giving him the freedom to move around the room and bathroom, but not long enough to go through the door.
“Reseph?” All of her apprehension fled, and she rushed to him, fell to her knees at his side. “Hey, it’s me. It’s Jillian.”
When he didn’t respond, just kept rocking, she very slowly reached out to brush his hair back. She fought a gasp at the sight of his blackened eyes and deeply gouged cheeks. Dear God, it looked like he’d clawed at himself.
“Reseph.” This time she spoke louder, with more force, and he jerked.
In a series of choppy motions, Reseph lifted his head and fixed his glassy gaze on hers. For a few agonizing heartbeats, Jillian wasn’t sure he recognized her.
“Jillian?” His voice was gravelly and raw. “You look like my Jillian.”
My Jillian. The words brought fresh emotion to the surface, and she had to swallow before she could speak. “It’s me. I’m here.”
His hand shook as he reached for her, but an inch from her face, he stopped.
