The Darkest Pleasure

She wrapped her arms around her middle, cold again. So cold. From fury to nothing to this. A torturous gamut. She'd feared this day for two weeks, dreaded learning that her amazing grandmother had been murdered while Danika was too busy running to help her.

Reyes's gaze bored into her, piercing like a laser. 'I need honesty from you, Danika. Did you hear any of what you've just told me from the Hunters?'

'No.' They'd mentioned nothing about either Galen or Hope.

A moment passed in silence, she and Reyes staring at each other. What he was thinking, she could only guess. That she had to die now and there could be no more saving her? That she would go back on her word now that she knew her grandmother was dead?

Sweet Grandma Mallory. Memories of a long-ago night played through her mind. Stars had twinkled from the sky as she and her grandmother made camp inside her tree house.

Lie back, baby girl, and Grandma will tell you another story.

Shuddering, Danika had climbed into her sleeping bag. Cool night scents floated on the breeze, but they had failed to calm her. Grandma's stories were not like the fairy tales her sister liked to read her. 'Will this one scare me?'

'Maybe. But it's okay to be scared sometimes. I don't want you to be like me. I want you stronger, better equipped to deal.'

'I don't want to deal. I don't like to be scared.'

'No one does, but feeling the emotion is good. Gives you a chance to prove you're stronger than it is.'

'O-okay. I'll listen to the story.'

'That's my girl.'

Those tales of demons had frightened her back then—and that was when she'd considered them simple fiction—but she hadn't let them keep her up at night or stop her from enjoying life. Because of her grandmother. When her parents would have coddled her because of her nightmares, Grandma Mallory had helped her find a core of strength so Danika wouldn't one day fall under the pressure as she had done. She'd taught Danika how to fight the evil inside her head. How to win.

And it had worked…until Reyes and his friends had entered her life. Now, she was that frightened little girl again. Sadly, there would be no more deluding herself into thinking those bedtime stories had been make-believe. Her grandmother had seen things. Ugly things, evil things. Real things.

'What other stories did she relay to you?' Reyes asked.

'If I tell you, will you help me find her…her…body? Help me give her a proper burial?'

'Yes. If she is dead. I still think there's a good chance she's alive.'

Don't you dare start to hope. You just admitted Hope is a demon. Danika allowed the stories to occupy every available space in her mind, sorting through them, trying to pull the most important facts front and center. How much time passed, she didn't know. But when she focused, Reyes was sitting in a chair directly across from her—close enough to touch—patiently and silently waiting.

'Did you know there were more demons than there were immortal warriors?' she found herself asking softly. 'Without the box, some had to be placed inside the prisoners of Tartarus. Demons like Fear. Loneliness. Greed.'

Only for a moment did he appear disbelieving. He worried two fingers over his jaw. 'Were any placed inside the Titans?' he asked, but the question was not for her. Clearly, he was thinking aloud. 'They were prisoners at that time. Of course, there were hundreds of other immortals locked away during any given decade, so…' He shook his head. 'No. No, this isn't possible. Had this happened, I would have known.'

'Maybe your demon didn't know. It was locked inside a tiny, dark box. And I doubt your gods tell you everything. Besides, all I know is what I was told. Believe it or don't believe it. I don't care.'

'But how could your grandmother know these things…' He stopped, sucked in a breath. 'She was like you, was she not? She had visions?'

Danika nodded sadly. 'We've been haunted by demons our entire lives.' She helped me deal with mine, but I failed to save her from hers. I should have stayed with her, guarded her.

That dark skin Danika so loved to touch slowly paled. 'This is…this is too much to absorb,' Reyes said. 'More demons? More possessed warriors?' He shook his head, scrubbed a hand down his face. 'Do you know what this means?'

'That you have to slice my throat now?' The question was devoid of sentiment.

He tsked. 'I told you. I will not hurt you. Not now, not ever.' Then, 'Danika, this means we have been intertwined since the beginning.'

There was awe in his tone. Reverence. His meaning, however, escaped her. 'The beginning of what?' she asked, suddenly so tired she could barely hold up her head. After all the self-defense and combat lessons I took, I couldn't save the woman who watched me every summer, played hide-and-seek with me in the woods and taught me how to ride a bike. Was she looking down from heaven, ashamed? Was she now at peace with the angels they'd both seen in their dreams?

Reyes cleared his throat. 'We have been intertwined since the beginning of my creation, I think.'

That would mean fate had played a role in both their lives, and right now Danika didn't want to consider fate.

'The grandmother who told you of Hope, she is the one…' His voice trailed off, as if he feared broaching the topic again.

'Yes. She is the one Aeron—' sweet Jesus, saying it was hard '—killed.' There'll be no more stories from her. Danika squeezed her eyelids tightly closed, blocking the tears forming there. As soon as I get my strength back, Aeron is mine.

Gentle fingers smoothed over her brow, along the curve of her nose.

She shivered, surprised by the warmth and comfort seeping from his skin into hers. How could she sit here, letting a demon touch her like this? Letting a demon—Pain—console her? 'Tell me about the warrior who houses Hope.' She would give the information to Stefano, no hesitation. It wouldn't be a betrayal to Reyes to feed Hunters data about a man he despised.

One of Reyes's brows arched. 'Why?'

'To distract me. I don't want to think about my…I just don't want to think anymore.'

Again Reyes reached out, gently hooked a strand of her hair behind her ear. 'Galen and I were friends once. Soldiers in Zeus's elite army. I didn't yet know that he was the kind of man who would smile to your face but stab you the moment your back was turned.'

'Where is he now?'

'I know not. After the possession, he disappeared.' Reyes leaned down and kissed her cheek, the brush of his mouth soft and gentle. 'Is there anything I can get you? Anything you need?'

'I'm going to destroy your friend, Reyes.' The admission sprang from her, unstoppable. 'Aeron. I know I told you I wouldn't, but…'

He sighed, weary. 'All I ask is that you think about your actions. Aeron is stronger than you. He is immortal, you are mortal. You could probably hurt him, but most likely he will not die. He can hurt you, and you will crumble.'

'He has to sleep. I don't mind taking his head while he sleeps. Or…' Slowly she faced him, lids cracking, parting. The room receded, the warrior becoming her only focus. 'You're as strong as he is. You've defeated him before. He came for me, but you stopped him.'

As she spoke, a curtain of unease fell over Reyes's harsh features.

'Kill him for me,' she beseeched.

'Danika—'

'Kill him, and I'll do anything you want. I'll cut you as many times as you need.'

'Danika,' he said again. In the three syllables it had taken to utter her name, she'd heard a war being waged. He was fighting himself.

Twice she'd watched him exchange blows with Aeron, but never had she seen such a look of torture on his face. A lump formed in her throat, and she swallowed it, felt it settle deep in her stomach. Still, she didn't take back her request.