Page 95 of Hellbound

The answering silence from Vale made Marian’s stomach flatten.

“Only one death matters: Verinne’s. Like the ixyura, the Argent possess many minds, but they are all one poisonous entity. In my world, they shared thoughts. But here, they have no memory of what they are, therefore they have no idea what they can do. Nor do they know that Verinne is their progenitor. I believe that if she dies, the rest will follow.”

It was the best worst news Marian had ever heard. She only needed to kill one inter-dimensional god.

Leather creaked as Tori shifted in the old chair. “Why didn’t you go back to your world and get your power yourself?”

Vale’s expression shuttered. “It took tremendous power as it was for me to break through the veil and seal the way back. Destroyed—not sacrificed like the shard of my power Marian retrieved. To return would exact a toll I am not willing to pay.”

Tori folded her arms across her chest. “No offense, but your door didn’t work so great.”

“It sure didn’t,” Marian grumbled in assent. “You really can’t take this thing back?”

“I tried. That power no longer recognizes me. It’s yours until you fulfill the purpose I have given you. When the oath is fulfilled, I suspect it will vanish or return to me.”

Marian blew out a loud breath. Crispy blond waves fluttered against her brow. “But you don’t know for sure.”

Vale shook his head. “It is one of the many mysteries I have not solved.”

She smoothed her hands over her bloodstained jeans, struggling to keep herself from shaking. “Anything else we should know before we put your batshit plan into motion?”

Because, for all her protests, and despite how much she loathed the position she now found herself in, Marian recognized acceptance settling into place.

And the barest shred of hope that something good could come from this horror show.

Vale stood from his desk and strode toward the doorway, where a sullen-looking Paul stood with his hands shoved deep in his jogger pockets.

“You have three days to prepare. Rest. Learn your roles.” He looked pointedly at Marian as he stood up. “Master your weapon. For your own safety, and the safety of a certain someone’s family, you will remain in this house. And Meyer?”

“What?” She barked as he passed by.

“Eat. Or else.”

Marian straightened with a scowl. “Or else what?”

But Vale floated wordlessly out of the room like a phantom, his indeterminate threat hanging in the air.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Marian had too few days to come to grips with her situation and figure out the logistics of how she was going to kill Verinne.

She’d met a dozen Argent in her time on Earth. They all sucked, but the fact that this one had been secretly trying to abduct Marian made the prospect of killing her a little less ghoulish.

But try as Marian might to find some part of her that lusted for blood, she came up with nothing but the same quaking fear that rooted itself inside her the moment Vale doomed her to kill.

It was all so much to take in, and she had yet to find so much as a speck of joy from her newfound immortality.

Now you can’t do the one thing you’re good at: dying.

She’d fallen asleep on top of the bedspread and awoke the next morning from a dreamless sleep stinking of blood and the unidentifiable black fluid. Just when Marian had almost resolved to get in the shower, Paul dropped by her room to drag her and Tori on a tour of the grounds. She almost refused, but the pleading look on Tori’s face undermined her resistance.

Paul tossed in a history lesson free of charge.

Vale had the house updated in the late nineties to his exact specifications, with the help of an architect of some renown, apparently. The house looked more like a rustic castle set high in the sliver of green hills that split Pasadena down the middle. The curved staircase in the entryway led up to a long hallway, where Tori had screamed at Marian not to put herself in the position she was now in.

As Paul took them back into the belly of the house, the Tudor style morphed into classic arts and crafts.

There was supposedly a third floor, two studies for Vale, a home theater, and a small elevator that was the only way into the basement and garage from the house, where Vale kept his cars. Cars. And a pool.