Lethal Rider

Damn, she’d been hoping Dariq had been working alone. The idea that more vampires might be coming after her both freaked her out and pissed her off. No one was going to hurt her baby.

“Okay, you concentrate on finding your bad vamps, and I’ll work on the Bludrexe thing.” She placed the book on the desk and flipped it open, but before she could even attempt to read, Than slapped his hand down on it with a low growl.

“This book was in my private library that I keep under lock and key,” he said. “I have no idea what it’s doing out here, but it isn’t for Aegi eyes.”

Well, wasn’t that interesting. “Thanatos, listen to me. I think that whoever wrote this might also have written the text I remember seeing Bludrexe in. The vibe from both is the same. Your father was mentioned, and it indicated that one could find the rest of the story within hidden scrolls in a forbidden mosque in Iraq that even The Aegis hasn’t been able to gain access to. Maybe I can learn more in here, and then we could go to the mosque—”

“Let it go, Regan.”

“But they talked about the Apocalypse,” she blurted. “At the time I read the texts, I didn’t focus on the Apocalypse because it was a vague reference. But now that all of this is happening with your vamps, it might have some importance. The texts were written by someone who claimed to be the first vampire. As he lay dying, an angel appeared and apologized to the dying man. Then a female angel joined the first, and they argued about the end of days.”

“I don’t care.”

She stared in utter disbelief. When she finally found her voice, it dripped with anger. “You stubborn Horseman. The Apocalypse has been in a countdown for the last five thousand years. That’s what The Aegis has been trying to prevent. That’s what this—” she drummed her fingers on her belly “—has been about. We’re on the precipice of hell, and this damned book might hold the very clue we need!”

“You think I don’t know what that was about?” he barked, his finger jabbing at her belly. “Yeah, I get it, okay, Regan? I get that you fucked me for the sake of the world. You did it in hopes that you’d save billions of lives. But you know what? I don’t care. I’m probably the only male on the planet who didn’t want to get used for sex. Who didn’t want to be treated like a piece of meat. Maybe that makes me a big damned pussy, but I don’t give a shit. I thought you wanted me like I wanted you.” He slammed his fist down on the book so hard the desk leaped off the floor and the hellhound sprang to his feet, teeth bared.

“I did,” she whispered. “I did want you.”

“You wanted what I could give you. You didn’t want me.”

She drew a startled breath. He’d … wanted her to want him? “I swear, Thanatos. I wanted you. I cared about you.” I still care about you.

So much so that she was starting to suspect that even if she survived the months of revenge Than planned, she wouldn’t survive his rejection afterward.

“If you cared, you wouldn’t throw away our son.”

Pain lanced her, but she threw it back at him. “If you cared, you’d let me research this in hopes of finding something that will save his life!”

There was a long, tense pause as Thanatos stared at her, his eyes glowing and steam practically whistling out of his nose like a cartoon bull. The hellhound had inched closer to her, although she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Finally, Thanatos ground out, “Where in Iraq?”

“The El-Sheoulate mosque.”

He snorted. “There is no such thing.”

Had this been just nine months ago, Regan would have gloated that The Aegis knew something a five thousand-year-old supernatural being didn’t. But right now she needed to stay on his good side. Or at least, stay on his not-homicidal side.

“It’s a demon stronghold beneath an existing mosque. It’s why we haven’t been able to get in.”

“They have Aegi in Iraq, so why didn’t they clean out the demons?”

“Because the real mosque sits in a city where most of the local government are ter’taceo, and so is a large number of the civilian population. The Aegis can’t get anywhere close.”

“Tell me where it is. My siblings and I will handle the demons.”

“I’ll show you.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ll tell me.”

“Are we really going to argue about this?”

“You aren’t in any condition to go. I’ll get the scrolls and bring them back.”

“Thanatos, they can’t be removed from the mosque or they’ll turn to dust. Everything inside the mosque is bound to it. You know how common it is for demons to attach objects to their holy places. So unless you or your siblings are empaths who can read parchment the way I can, you need me. You can get me in and out in a flash.” She casually trailed her fingertip over the writing in the book Thanatos was still pinning to the desk and opened herself to her empathic gift. The author had been angry when he wrote it. So angry at the Bludrexe. “Besides, I’m feeling a little claustrophobic. I need to get out of here for a little while. And may I just remind you that no demon can touch me, and I seriously doubt we’ll find liquid nitrogen- breathing frost demons in Iraq.”

“Fine,” he growled. “But you stay plastered to me, and at the first sign of danger, you’re out of there.”

* * *

“I’m starting to feel like you guys only grab me when you need something.” Wraith punched Thanatos in the shoulder hard enough to hurt, even through the armor. “Next time you call, how about it’s for a kegger?”

“I thought you liked to fight, demon.”

“It’s my second favorite thing to do.” Wraith, his shoulder-length blond hair pulled back with a leather thong, tested one of the points on his throwing star. “But you could at least ply me with burgers and beer first.”

Than didn’t need to ask what his favorite thing was. Dude was a sex demon, brother to Shade and Eidolon. “No time for burgers and beer.”

“Story of my life,” Wraith muttered.

Limos, standing at the entrance to the secret underground mosque Regan had led them to, finished tying her hair up in a knot at the crown of her head. “We could have done this without the annoying demon, you know.”

Ares cut through them and moved down the dark passage. “Remember how Wraith found your agimortus? He finds shit, and the faster he finds Regan’s texts, the better.”

Texts that weren’t going to be read by anyone except Thanatos. He wasn’t sure what they said, but if they even hinted at his secret, he couldn’t risk anyone knowing. He couldn’t be responsible for the destruction of an entire race of people, and he just hoped like hell that Regan’s scrolls would only provide information about their father.

He gripped Regan’s hand tight, holding her near, just as he had since finding Dariq dead in his dungeon. And since her admission of wanting him. And since she’d given him a priceless book. And since he’d realized how much of an asshole he was to isolate her from her Aegis comrades.

The more he got to know her, the more he realized that The Aegis was all she knew and all she had. He wanted to give her more, but he didn’t know how. Didn’t know if she’d accept anything from him. So he’d caved in and told Ky to assign some Guardians to her.

She, on the other hand, had given him a treasure, a book that had eluded him for centuries. He had no doubt that The Aegis considered it a treasure as well—no, he knew how valuable it was to The Aegis. Just before Than had gated them all here, Ky had called.

“Regan has very little to call her own, and she traded her most prized possession, a prayer written by an angel’s hand, to get that book for you.”

That Regan had done that left him shaken and unsure how to respond. In five thousand years, he’d been given a lot of gifts, mostly by his siblings, but this book, which started off with, My sister, Lilith, was determined to bed the angel Yenrieth, but not if I could get to him first, meant the most.

Any new information he could find about Yenrieth was more precious than gold.

Regan had given him that.