Life Cycle (Preternaturals Book 4) Read online

  Chapter Two

  When Cain stepped outside the tent, a group had gathered, murmuring and whispering. “That witch is mine. Anybody who touches her will face imprisonment. And I’m not in the mood to make it a light sentence.”

  A few throats cleared and a couple of Yes sirs filled the air.

  “Good. Spread the word. Nobody touches her.” He selected two demons from the group for the first guard duty and left the city to go to the one place he always went to think: the caves that served as the dimension’s prison.

  Each disobedient demon was in his own pod, the stone sealed tightly around him, starving and going mad. But anyone stumbling upon the caves wouldn’t know that.

  It was silent and peaceful in the dark, twisting caves. It was a place Cain could wander to think without fear of being disturbed. No demon in his right mind came near this place. They all feared it. It was their one symbol of abject terror, much like the humans feared Hell. No one walked in willingly, except the man with the keys to the place.

  Cain sat on a large rock and put his head in his hands. He shed the glamour he always wore to attract prey and ran his fingers along the scar on his forehead. He was so good at betraying and killing people, so why hadn’t he killed her?

  It wasn’t a simple motivation to untangle. Part of it was jealousy—the fact that she could waltz in and demand freedom when he had no such recourse. He was stuck in this form for eternity, why shouldn’t someone else who’d made that bed lie in it? Why should she get off so easily? The witch had actively chosen this.

  Another, more subtle reason pushed from beneath the surface like grass fighting through the cracks in concrete. It was a reason he didn’t want to analyze too deeply. She was two thousand years old. He might have six thousand years on her, but at some point the years blended together. It wasn’t as if he wanted to make her his mate, but if he ever wanted something like that with someone, Tam represented the only woman who could be remotely suitable. Killing her before he was sure he never wanted that didn’t seem prudent.

  Human women now were such silly things. But he could feel the age on the witch in big and small ways: her nonchalance at the prospect of death, the deep wisdom in her eyes, her unconcern with her own nudity in the presence of strangers. Most women—without thrall—would have rushed to cover up if they weren’t playing the role of seductress. They couldn’t have just been there with him and the other demons and it not even occur to them that they should cover up. Tam had stood there in all her naked glory, too old to have sexual hang-ups.

  She’d also been strong enough that she could fight his thrall—to some degree. That had never happened. The fact that she could make a snide remark in the middle of everything... it was hard not to respect that. How could he just snuff that out? He sighed. Within a week, I’ll be bored, then I’ll be able to do it. And if he couldn’t? He might as well seal himself in a magic bottle. Getting involved with a witch was too dangerous.

  He wandered the caves, not ready to go back to town. He didn’t want to look at her or deal with demon whisperings about why he’d kept a powerful witch alive in their camp. They surely knew by now why she was here. It had to have crossed all of their minds that it was simpler and safer to kill her than to protect her. As long as it wasn’t by The Cycler’s hand, it was a clear win.

  But despite the things that made him want to kill her, she’d fought with him—on his side. She’d pledged allegiance to fight with his kind and bring her coven with her. He hadn’t felt such conflicting emotions about a human in a long time, so long he thought he’d lost the ability to think of them in any terms but feeding. Disposable microwavable dinners in flesh cartons. A bit cuter, but that was the basic way he classed the species as a whole. Now he had a two-thousand-year-old, magical gourmet feast and he’d just left the table.

  He needed a drink.

  ***

  Tam posed in front of a freestanding, antique mirror. The reflection was cloudy, like old mirrors are, but she could see enough. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t like the dress, but no way was she flouncing about looking like some Underworld God’s concubine. She wouldn’t give Cain the satisfaction.

  And she didn’t need protecting from the other demons. She had magic. The only reason she’d been subdued by his thugs in the first place was that three had rushed her all at once right after she was depleted and disoriented from screwing Cain. Plus there was the earlier packing spell. It was a lot of energy to use all at once, ungrounded by other magic users—even with her age.

  She made a face at the mirror, angry with herself for sleeping with him. She should have known he’d go back on his word. But why? What purpose could it serve? She had no illusions that she was some amazing sex bomb. He’d had so many women that the odds there was something magical about her lady parts were so slim as to be idiotic. And at nearly two thousand, Tam didn’t harbor those kinds of female delusions.

  Even so, sex with the demon was everything she’d ever thought it would be. She hated that he’d been right about the fantasy thing. Yes, Cain had starred in a few, but he was just so hot and evil. That was like moth and flame with her. After all, once upon a time, she and Jack... She squeezed her eyes shut. Not thinking about that.

  Their past affair wouldn’t stop him from hunting her, but she’d also known he might save her for last. She made a valiant effort, but she couldn’t help thinking about it.

  Tam rolled over, wrapping the sheets around herself. She smiled when she saw Jack standing in the doorway. He was fully dressed, like he’d been out. She frowned. Was that blood on him? There was a dark gleam in his eyes.

  “I killed Michael,” he said, his voice flat of emotion even as his eyes danced with glee.

  One of the coven.

  “What? Why?”

  “We had a fight. It was an accident.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Buried.”

  The word held so much finality.

  “Buried? Why? He’s coming back.”

  Jack shook his head. “No. He isn’t. It’s the loophole, Tamar. The one I didn’t think about when we all bound our blood together. We can kill each other. Really kill. No more cycling.”

  If that were so, shouldn’t he be grieving? Shouldn’t he display some sign of remorse or guilt?

  Tam got out of the bed slowly. With that crazed look in his eyes, bolting like a spooked deer would do her no favors. But surely he didn’t want to kill her, too. There had always been a darkness in him, one she’d ignored... or been drawn to. But things had changed.

  “I feel different,” he said. “Very different.” He crossed the room and pulled her into an embrace. “Something is happening,” he whispered. “I want you to scry and find out what.”

  She’d done as he’d asked and still wished she’d refused and found a way out of there. Once he’d known killing the others could make him stronger, he’d promised they could still be together. He’d let her have some of the kills, split his power with her, then they’d do another spell to boost it. But she’d been disgusted by the idea of going on a killing rampage for power, especially killing those who had stayed near and dear to her for centuries. They were the only people she didn’t lose. Her only true family after everybody else had died off.

  She’d fled and warned the others to disperse and hide. A few of the women had come together again in London in the early 1800s, missing each other and convinced they were stronger together—especially with the unlikely identities they’d created. But he’d sensed their combined power and hunted them like dogs.

  Tam stood frozen as Jack looked up. She retched when she saw the bloody tableau in front of her. He put the knife down and smiled, his creepy gaze panning her body as if they’d been lovers only yesterday.

  “You’re a fast little rabbit, but not fast enough. We can still be together. I’ll let you have the other kills.”

  She shook her head and bolted down the alley, fighting to erase the image of her friend from her mind, Jack�
�s horrible laughter following her well past the point she should have been able to hear it.

  Tam couldn’t look at herself in the mirror again. She didn’t want to see the guilt or the tear streaks. All of it was her fault. She’d used her gift to find the cavern. She’d written the chant. She’d scried for Jack after his first kill. Her evil former lover was hunting her, and the evil lover she’d just been with wanted to keep her around until he got bored. No matter how many times she and Cain slept together, she wouldn’t fall for a pretty monster again. She couldn’t.

  Once she’d recovered enough power, she put her things in the middle of a circle on the ground, opened her magic book, poured the salt, and lit the candles. It took less energy to undo a spell than to create one—at least when you were the creator of the spell. Undoing another witch’s magic was a near impossibility half the time.

  Just as she finished, a demon burst into the tent. She summoned an energy ball and threw it at him, scorching him in the shoulder before he could go noncorporeal.

  He growled. “What are you doing, Witch?”

  “Unpacking my things, Demon.”

  He regarded her and the pile of boxes and bags in the circle suspiciously.

  “Go get me something to eat,” she said, suddenly famished. Well, yeah... running and sex with a demon and all that magic. Anybody would be ravenous. “I’m human. I still need food. Did you think I survived off sex with your evil leader?”

  He grumbled but left the tent, presumably to address her food demand.

  She stepped outside to yell after him, “Oh, and I better see a cheeseburger and some fries when you get back—nothing stupid an herbivore would eat like an apple or vegetable.” Who knew what demons thought most humans ate?

  When he’d gone, she peeled the dress off and returned it to the trunk, then changed into something less slutty: jeans and a T-shirt.

  Tam sat back down in the circle and pulled her tarot deck out of a bag. She unwrapped the red silk, shuffled the deck, and laid the cards out, focusing on her intent as best she could at the moment.

  Not good. The death card was still in there, and the tower, and the lovers. The pretty epic major arcana cards. Ick. It looked like the kind of reading Romeo and Juliet would have gotten before that poisoning episode. The tower usually represented a rude awakening, war, or some type of dramatic shake-up in one’s life. The lovers, of course, were self-explanatory. And the death card... in this spread? Well, it didn’t seem like just a big change. But then, if death was her goal, why was she filled with so much foreboding over it?

  It could mean anything. The cards could mean Jack was going to kill her, or Cain was. It could mean any kind of struggle or fight or revelation was soon to go down. It could be about her former relationship with Jack or sleeping with Cain now.

  Tam made a frustrated sound and scattered the cards, not wanting to look at them anymore. In the scatter, they all turned face down—except the death card. It was hard to read one’s own cards anyway. You couldn’t be as objective, always seeing what you wanted instead of what was there. Though there was no interpretation of those cards that sounded like a fun time.

  There was a disturbance outside the tent, raised voices. Tam gathered the cards and wrapped them back in the silk before moving toward the doorway. She heard Cain and a demon guard on the other side.

  “Why is only one of you still here?” he snarled. “What is with this sudden rash of disobedience?”

  “That witch of yours was doing magic in there. Mace went in to check it out and came back with a scorch mark on his shoulder. She sent him on a cheeseburger run. I don’t know why we’re keeping her alive. She’s a danger to us. We should kill her now. We don’t owe the other preternaturals anything.”

  Cain growled. “I’ll be the one to kill her. There is no we in this equation. And I’ll kill her when I’m good and damn ready.”

  “Y-yes, sir,” the demon said, losing his bravery.

  Tam stumbled back as Cain ran into her. He arched a brow in that sexy way she didn’t want to overthink.

  “You sent one of my demons on a cheeseburger run?”

  “I’m hungry. Do you understand humans eat food?”

  He looked sheepish but quickly recovered his badass demeanor. “What kind of magic were you doing in here?”

  “Just unpacking my things.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “What do you mean for what purpose? To fucking have them. To wear normal freaking clothes! You think I want to flounce around here wearing something a micro-step above a negligee? Are you for real?”

  Cain pushed past her and emptied the bags, sorting through her things. “I’m taking the books and all magical tools and herbs and potions. You’ll have no use for them here, and if you think I’m sitting around while you concoct some incantation to seal me in a jar for all eternity, you’re insane.”

  She wouldn’t tell him that she hardly needed any of that to incant. She was far past that level. All she needed was her mind and voice. Even so, it took everything in her to keep her anger at bay. If Cain intended to kill her, taking her books and tools away was like he was taking her identity with him. Asking him to kill her had seemed like a smart option, but if she was going to just sit on death row waiting for him to lose control with her while everything that held any meaning in her life was taken away... It made her blood boil.

  She struggled with the last energy reserves she had to throw a ball of gleaming purple energy at him. He dropped the books and rounded on her, his eyes glowing red, fangs descending. He let the demon come out and shifted fully, letting his true face and form out. He was larger as a demon, with reddish-brown-scaled skin. Deadly claws forced their way out of larger fingertips, and horns popped out of his shoulders like antlers. His clothing ripped from the transformation like a cheesy Hulk movie. In his true form, he oozed menace and fear and hatred and anger and every bad feeling in the universe.

  His voice was distorted when he spoke. “Do you have a death wish?”

  Maybe someone else would have huddled in a corner and cried, but Tam wasn’t someone else. “Do you have a thirty-second memory? We’ve had this conversation. I want you to take me out of this world. Are you tired of me yet? Bored yet?”

  She threw another ball of energy. It had formed much more slowly than the others, but she didn’t care. She threw it anyway. Cain leaped out of the way and charged her. He gripped her wrists so she couldn’t throw any more. The joke was on him, because she was tapped out.

  “Not even close,” he growled. He was still in the demon form, looking her over like she was prime rib. “Let me tell you how it’s going to go, little girl. You’ve pissed me off for the last time. I will take you out when I’m good and ready, but before I do, I vow I’ll make you love me. You’ll beg me to keep you. And then I’ll laugh and kill you.”

  Tam was out of magic, but not out of stupidity. She spit in his face.

  He let go of her and glared. Tam rubbed her wrists where he’d held them so tightly.

  “Let me let you in on a secret,” she said. “In order for me to love you, you’d have to be charming and halfway decent. A task you’re failing miserably at.” She doubted he could pull off charming and halfway decent even on his best day.

  “I’ve got more experience in the art of seduction than you’re prepared to handle.” He went back to the circle, packed up her stuff and lugged it out of the tent behind him. It took him three trips.

  She rushed to the doorway and pulled the tent flap back to yell at him. “Oh, and taking all my shit? Brilliant first move. I’ll be swooning by dinnertime.”

  The demon guard showed up with a bag from a fast food joint and a soft drink. She glared at him and ripped it out of his hands, then went back to her tent. First food. Then nap. Then she wasn’t sure what, but something.

  ***

  Cain returned to the caves to hide Tam’s books and tools behind a natural rock formation. When he was sure they were secure, he headed back into t
own, still angry with the witch, but wanting nothing more than to take her again. With his age, he didn’t need to feed every day, but he often did—just like humans ate chocolate not out of hunger, but because it tasted good. Unlike his brother’s situation with Anna when she’d still been a living human, Cain was confident he could sleep with Tam more frequently without killing her.

  To kill a two-thousand-year-old witch with the level of power she’d acquired just from living and using it for so long, he’d have to make an actual effort. He’d have to gorge himself on her—not an unpleasant way to spend an evening.

  But before he killed her, he wanted to make good on his threat. Maybe it was the danger she posed to him, or maybe it was his own ego and the fact that he had to use a heavy dose of thrall to make her give in to him... and even then her smart mouth still fought to the surface. He would break her. By the time he was finished, she would be desperate for his approval. And then he’d toss her aside like all the rest. It was what he had to do. There was no other acceptable option.

  When he got back, Jane, Cole, Anna, and Luc were standing outside his tent looking impatient and worried.

  “Did the meeting run on this long?” It seemed that a lot of time had passed, though it was so easy to lose track of it in the demon dimension with no day and no time keeping machines like clocks or watches.

  “We should speak privately,” Jane said.

  Cain nodded and led them into his empty tent. “What is it?”

  “It would be convenient if you had a cell phone,” Cole said.

  “Cell phones don’t work between dimensions, and technology doesn’t work here at all. This place is made of too much magic. The two interfere and the magic wins.”

  Jane and Cole both pulled out their cell phones only to discover them dead.