Page 87 of Hellbound

“Then … What … how … why are they—you—here?” Marian stammered.

“Because I alone stood against them. I alone held the key to the world that lay beyond the one they twisted into the wasteland you have seen with your own eyes. By the time I intervened, it was too late. So I made the Argent a deal: a new home in a realm beyond ours in exchange for their memories. They would live unburdened by the knowledge of what they’d done, of the horrors they’d created. But I lied. I took from them the knowledge of what they truly are. Now, ignorant of their nature, they are nearly powerless. But they are always dangerous.”

A wave of dizziness washed over her as her reality collided with his. “But why did you bring them here?”

“To end them once and for all,” Mr. Vale said simply. “They may have defeated death in my world, but here, death still reigns. So long as my power entwines with a mortal life, death may yet triumph. For three hundred years, I fed the Argent lies about their identities, made them believe we were all creatures of Hell. The human concept of demons served my purposes, so I perpetuated them. It bought me the complacency of my enemies—and yours—for a time.”

Marian shook her head at the insanity of it all.

“So what, then? You’re all fucking aliens or something?”

Mr. Vale devoured the distance between them so quickly, Marian yelped in surprise. Pressure at her back pinned her in place, preventing her escape.

The floor shook with his low growl.

“The Argent are aberrations beyond comprehension. I am all that they are not, and I sacrificed tremendous power to part the veil between our realms. I have spent billions of dollars sending divers through death to find the piece of me I carved from myself and left behind to keep the ixyura at bay. That is the power that will end this. The power you now wield.”

Marian shoved against his unyielding presence.

“No. I want out.”

Vale raised a hand. One by one, shadows curled around his fingers, solidifying into links that became the chain dangling from her collar. He tugged her closer. Marian recoiled, getting nowhere.

“There is no ‘out,’ ” he laughed bitterly. “Try running from this and see how far you get.”

“What do you want me to do?” Marian snarled.

“Become my weapon. My vengeance.”

Her eyes widened. “That’s what the knife is for? Killing them?”

“I couldn’t take it from you now even if I wanted to. Your mark binds you to it. Our purpose is now the same, and you will remain hallowed—deathless—until your oath is fulfilled.”

Everything he’d told her, everything he’d revealed was part of a world she didn’t belong to. She was mortal. Death was all she knew. But he’d changed it all, changed her.

And now you can’t die.

“No.” This was a nightmare. Another terrible dream. She clawed her own arm, red welts blossoming in the wake of her nails as she tried to jettison herself from this unreality. “Wake up, wake up, wake up.”

Shadows seized her forearms, holding them still.

“This is real, and no one else can play your part.”

Marian floundered in the enormity of it all. “Why me? I’m … I’m nothing.”

“You are everything,” Vale replied with frightening ardor. His eyes flared wide, and Marian glimpsed the madness she’d once seen lurking there out of the corner of her eye, back when she could pretend he was human. Every fiber of her being retreated from him, but his shadows swelled again around her, reminding her that there was no escape. Mr. Vale—no, Va’hael—bowed over her and whispered.

“You, Marian Meyer, will kill the Argent.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

When Marian shoved away from Vale, he let her go. She clutched her chest as the chain linking them together dissipated as though it had never existed.

“I won’t. You can’t make me.”

He tipped his head back with a smirk. “You know that I can.”

Marian raked a shaking hand through her loose hair. Anger and confusion writhed behind her breastbone. She had to put it all aside to get the answers she needed. She wouldn’t kill, no matter how certain he sounded. She’d always been as stubborn as he was immovable. That emboldened her enough to think forward.