Chapter 21

CHAPTER

TWENTY-ONE

I surged awake with a gasp, the fog that had been weighing me down evaporating like steam.

"I know what to do!" I almost fell out of the chair, my knee clipping the table and hand connecting with the heavy case. I took a moment to cuss and blame Marthas for all my injuries, then pushed myself to my feet. "We travel the void! We use the pathways!"

"What?" Zane had gotten to his feet when I did, his skin flushed and alive again. His red eyes were bright and strong, his touch warm when he placed a steadying hand on my shoulder. "Dallas, what happened just now?"

"I feel…much better," Funus was saying, the flickering light show gone from his eyes. "Stronger. Honestly, the best I've felt in years."

Malphie was wiggling so furiously that he had knocked Sias completely over and was trying to give him his chewed up bone as thanks. The incubus had to muscle him to the side and command him to sit in order to escape, and I moved to help get him to his feet.

"I met the Goddess again," I told the dumbstruck vampire and skull as I dusted Sias off. "I think she…oh, actually, I think she kissed me."

"She…kissed you?" Sias asked, sounding dubious. "The Goddess of Death kissed you?"

"Yeah. I think so." I mulled it over and shrugged.

Sias repeated my shrug mockingly. "You think you were kissed by a deity?"

"Hunter," Zane stormed into the conversation. "Don't joke or fuck around right now. What happened ?"

"The void is fucked," I explained. "It's out of order and completely trashed, but I saw a clear, open pathway to the Silent Steps. The Goddess showed me, then we kissed—platonically." I aimed the last word at Sias. "I think she gave us a boost so we can get there."

"This is incredible," Funus said from Barnaby's arms. "She has given you a blessing, acolyte, a rare gift. We have our strength back, but we mustn't squander it. We have to act fast."

"You said she showed you a path?" Zane asked, and I nodded. "You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"What do you mean a ‘path'? Like a faster route?" Austin asked, jumping into the conversation.

"A path through the void," I said. "A straight shot to the crypt."

"Okay," Austin snorted. "How the hell does that help us? We can't travel the void—or at least, nothing living can."

"Do you know how to even open the void?" Barnaby asked. "I'm not an expert, but that seems rather difficult to do."

"Funus?" I turned to the skull, who flicked his eyes in a wince.

"Ah, no. I cannot. Not in a way that could allow bodies to travel through it."

"Open the void like those fucking tears?" Marthas asked, weary. "You're not doing that shit here, are you?"

"The tears! Marthas, you big, handsome genius. That's exactly what we need to do."

"Fuck no, you're not. Not here." He pointed at the stairs. "I lived through that once, remember? I don't need more therapy bills, Wilde."

" How do we even do that?" Austin inserted himself again. "Florence was using a laser to rip open holes with the scythe. We don't have either of those things."

"Hi." Dex raised her hand in the commotion. "The void crystal you brought me from those tears had the ability to cut through and make holes. Kimi and I had one of those chips I put in your phone shatter and pop a hole in the lab."

"We threw a medicinal charm into it to fix it," Kimi chimed in, having just woken up from a nap. "It was freaky."

"Do you have one with you?" I asked quickly.

"No?" Dex shot me with a damning look. "I just said it shattered and carved a hole into the void. You think I just tote that shit around?"

"Did any of you hear me when I said you're not doing that creepy shit here?" Marthas raged from somewhere in the room, but I ignored him.

"What about the one in my phone? Could you use that one?" I tried to hand her my phone but she shoved it back my direction.

"It's unstable. Trying to extract it would cause problems. Maybe a hole, maybe something worse. Hell no. We need a fresh sample, one that I haven't tampered with."

"Shit." I rubbed at my hair and looked to Austin hopefully. "This is your time to come in with a secret stash of void crystals and save the day."

"You have to stop putting that on me," he answered, sounding tired. "I don't have secret weapons, Dallas."

"Didn't we see DHAP taking samples of the void tear?" Sias reached down to pat Malphie as he presented his bone. "Do you think Preston and Seyyid could help?"

I started pacing, hoping my movement would jog some better ideas to the surface.

"There's no guarantee that they'd be able to get into wherever they're keeping those crystals, especially if they know how volatile they are. What about Magnus? Did he take any?"

"No," Austin said definitively. "He didn't even want DHAP taking that shit. He wanted it completely destroyed."

It was Zane's turn to placate the void hound by patting his bony head, wrestling the gnawed limb from his mouth before tossing it for him to fetch.

"Would there be any left at old sites? Maybe even some in the wood upstairs?"

"I had everything scarred by the tear ripped out," Marthas growled. "Nothing is left. I made damn sure."

"The old sites were scrubbed," Ushen said, quietly cleaning up after breakfast. "I heard witches were trying to find void crystals to help contain dark magic, but they were not able to successfully source them."

"Another dead end," I groaned. "Damnit, we keep sprinting ahead and hitting walls. Funus, there has to be a work around. A spell, a ritual…something. What if I take some of Zane's blood and you walk me through opening a channel. Maybe with the Goddess's blessing, I can manifest something."

"It doesn't work that way, acolyte. The void has rules," he explained gently. "Trust me, if I knew of a way, I would share it."

"We haven't tried it before. It's worth a shot," Zane began arguing on my behalf as I ground my brain for another idea. I paced in a circle around the room, pulling memories of the void to the forefront of my mind. I had seen the pathway so clearly, knew exactly where she promised we could go. Why in the hell would a Goddess show me a way without letting me through? Why keep the void sealed up when she needed us to use it?

I was missing something. The answer was there but I couldn't pin it down.

"I thought you said you trained fish?" Kimi asked from the couch as I passed by, sipping on a coffee Ushen had brought her.

"I do train fish."

"Then what's with the weird dog?" She lifted her feet onto the couch as Malphie trailed after me, holding his bone. "I think he has some serious mange, my guy."

"He doesn't have mange," I defended, staggering a bit when his big body leaned against my leg. His skeletal head was warm when I gave it a pat, his crow black fur soft when I gave his neck a scratch. His butt wiggled half-heartedly from the affection, and I knew he was just waiting for me to throw his bone.

"I mean," Kimi squinted at Malphie. "I can see his skull. That's not healthy for a dog."

"He's not a dog, he's a void hound," I clarified. "And he's the best boy."

"So, he's like…from the void?" She sipped her coffee again.

"Yeah. He fell out and tried to kill us. Didn't you, Malphie? Yes, what a good boy." I kneeled to try and wrestle the bone from his jaws. "You just wanted to rip us apart with those big teeth— holy shit. "

I angled the femur up to look at Malphie's obsidian teeth as they cracked through the thick bone, the gleam of light from the kitchenette reflecting the deep red enamel. The hound's jaw was packed with void crystal teeth, razor sharp and completely pure.

"Malphie's teeth!" I announced to the room. "His teeth are void crystals!"

"Are you sure?" Austin asked, and I tried to get Malphie to walk back over to the group but he dug his claws into the floor to play tug of war.

"Yes! Yes, I'm sure! C'mon, boy, show them your teeth!" I put my body weight into pulling the bone, causing Malphie to growl his splintering, bone aching noise.

"Malphaslanexus." Sias snapped his fingers and pointed to the ground before him. "To me."

I fell backwards as Malphie dropped the bone, obeying his master without hesitation.

"Open," Sias commanded his hound, snapping his fingers to signal for Malphie to lift his massive head and open his jaws wide. His eyes flared bright as Sias gave him orders, the pull Sias had over him absolute and without fail. Malphie's scaled tongue coiled in his mouth like a viper, flecks of broken bone stuck between his deadly teeth.

"Goddess, they are void crystals," Zane confirmed, amazed.

"Funus, do you think you can keep the tear stable—" I began but Marthas slammed his fist down onto the table.

"Fuck that. No," he yelled. "You're not opening a void tear here, Wilde. I'm not going to be near another one of those things ever again."

The anger in his voice did little to cloak the fear simmering just below the surface. Marthas wasn't a man who got quieter the angrier he was, a rolling storm that moved in like a silent hurricane of might. Fear made him loud and it made him mean. I couldn't say I blamed him, not after what he had experienced.

"It won't be like the one that opened on your dance floor, Marthas." I kept my words calm and free of judgment, because I knew the guy was one push away from marching us all out by gun point. "That tear was unstable, a rip caused by the abuse of magic. Funus is a member of the necromancy council, one of the most gifted in the field. He can keep it stable, we did it before."

"I don't care," Marthas said through his teeth. "Go somewhere else. Not here."

"I've seen what they can do," Austin came to our defense, maneuvering around the table to speak to Marthas. "I wouldn't agree to this if I didn't think they could pull it off without it going out of control. Funus has mastery over this skill, and Dallas and his men can handle the magic within."

"You don't know what you're asking me, army boy," Marthas warned him, anger taking a back seat to weariness. "You didn't see what I saw that night. Those girls screamed like something out of a nightmare."

"I wouldn't ask you if we had another option." Austin met his eyes and held them, the military training slipping from his voice as he said, "You gotta trust me."

"I don't even know you," Marthas parried, but he was being worn down.

"Have I lied to you yet?" Austin cracked a small grin, a devastating strike against Marthas's armor. "Other than the dart game?"

Marthas shut his eyes like he knew the battle was lost, his big shoulders slumping in defeat.

"You're going to really travel through the void? You're going to do something that insanely stupid?"

"I have to," Austin agreed, regaining his persona again. "I have to help them stop this evil, no matter what."

Magnus nodded, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.

"You're dangerous, army boy," he whispered. "You're the type that gets men killed."

Austin opened his mouth to say something but seemed to hesitate, his mouth closing when Marthas turned his attention back to us.

"You're going to need something to keep the living safe if you're going through the void. Since you jerk-offs are already well acquainted with lady death, we'll let you go in raw." Marthas aimed the colorful remarks at me, my vampire and incubus. "But you two," he gestured to Austin and Barns. "You're going to need wards."

"I can whip up some life magic wards back at my shop," Dex said, getting to her feet. "I can put those together while I work on the kill switch."

"No time for a trip. You can use my setup."

Dex, who was known for her tech abilities and not her people skills, made a face like Marthas had just passed gas in her presence.

"No offense, Mr. Marthas, but my lab setup is extensive. If I'm going to have any shot to make functioning life wards that can withstand traveling through the void and a badass vampire kill switch, I'm going to need more than the tools used to cloak security cameras and smuggle drugs."

"I'm no expert, but I think we got a little bit more than that going on," Marthas countered, back to his arid sense of humor. "All those magic infused weapons on the table, including the life essence containers reinforced with shatter wards, were made in-house. The witches I employ are silicon coven."

Dex's eyes almost fell out of her head as she stared at Marthas, Kimi lifting off the couch to scamper over with the blanket still draped around her shoulders.

"Are you being for real?" Kimi whispered, hugging Dex's arm.

"They don't take independent contracts," Dex argued, but sounded extremely hopeful that she was wrong.

"Whatever you say." Marthas headed up the stairs. "But if you want to work out of the lab the non-sanctioned witches worked in, follow me."

Kimi and Dex scrambled after him, getting tangled up in each other as they both tried to enter the stairwell at the same time.

"Okay, we'll just work on the tooth situation!" I called after them, listening to them falling up the stairs after Marthas. "And they're gone."

"How exactly are we going to wiggle a tooth out of this dog's mouth?" Austin asked. "That thing just cracked a bone in half like it was nothing. I can't imagine any of its teeth are loose."

"I'm not excited about the idea of someone sticking their hand in there." I eyed Malphie's teeth as he waited for Sias's command, watching his master with big, glowing eyes. "I know he's docile now, but if we crack a tooth, is he going to snap out of reflex?"

"I have control over him." Sias rested his hand on Malphie's head. "He won't bite unless I say."

I turned to Austin and Zane, both were looking expectantly at me.

"What?"

"Go ahead." Zane nodded to Malphie. "Sias says he has it under control."

"I have one hand left!" I held up my remaining hand as evidence for my argument. "I automatically qualify to sit this one out."

"Don't look at me, vampire," Austin was quick to count himself out. "You're the most qualified here."

"He's got a point, Zane," I said with a wince. "If he bites you, I can heal you with my fun, horny blood. Ow." I rubbed at my arm after Austin punched me. "I can't talk about fun, horny blood when you've been banging my mortal enemy?"

"Dallas, if I had to avoid all the men you've pissed off, I'd be celibate."

"Stop laughing. You're my boyfriends, you're supposed to be on my side," I told said boyfriends, who snickered at my expense. "And Marthas has tried to kill me more than once. He's pretty far up the ladder."

"Hunter, you need to stop being so judgmental." Zane kneeled in front of Malphie and peered into his maw, scanning over his options. "Austin is a grown man and can watch after himself."

" Thank you, Zane," Austin said. "Never thought I'd be in a situation where I was defending my love life to my brother while an undead guy has my back."

I crossed my arms, feeling a little ganged up on, and not in the fun, sexy way.

"That's not the point."

"What is the point then?" Sias tilted his head as he looked at me, the question sounding genuine. "What are you worried about?"

"I'm not worried—" I started but sighed when Sias cut through my bullshit with a lift of his brows. "I'm not worried about you, Austin. I'm worried Marthas is going to hurt you. Manipulate you to hurt me. We finally have something of a relationship again after a decade and I don't want a skeleton in my closet fucking that up."

Austin, who was as ill-equipped to deal with emotional honesty as I was, shifted on his feet from the anxiety of being handed a slice of vulnerability.

"I, uh," he faltered, serving his own cupcake of honesty. "I don't know what to say to that, other than I appreciate you telling me. But I can make my own mistakes, and I don't think Marthas is one of them. At the risk of you throwing up, I gotta say…I had a lot of fun last night."

"Yeah, okay." I covered one ear since that's all I could do. "That's fine. I don't need to hear the details. If it was literally anyone else I would have follow-up questions about dick size, but I officially don't care."

"I care," Sias tossed out, making Zane snort a laugh. "He's a bottom, isn't he?"

"He says he's a verse, but I think he's lying," Austin continued, giving a size range with his hands like he was measuring a fish he caught.

Not that I cared at all, but it was a substantial fish.

"He's lying," Zane added to the conversation as he began testing some of Malphie's teeth with probing fingers.

"Gross. You're gross," I told Austin, but since I didn't want to be left out of the gossip circle, I said, "Really, that big?"

"He's a big dude. You're surprised?"

"I mean." I shrugged. "He's tall . That doesn't mean anything."

I smiled as Austin laughed, and I felt a tug of nostalgia at the noise. The last time I had heard that snickering we'd been kids joking about something juvenile and pointless. God, I had missed laughing with him; I missed pointless conversations that weren't tied to death, the void and the possible destruction of all things.

"I'm sorry you got mixed up in this shit, Austin, but I'm really glad you're here."

"I found one that's loose," Zane broke into the dick-talk and glanced up at Sias. "You got him, right? I'm going to try and snap it off."

"I got him." Sias placed both hands on Malphie's head, the tips of his horns curling just slightly. "Be stone. You feel no pain."

Zane reached his hand back into Malphie's mouth, past the scaled tongue and rows of obsidian daggers and carefully pinched a molar between his fingers. The hound's eyes flared, the sound of his breathing escaping his nose hole like wind through a tunnel.

Zane took a breath and held it, jerking the tooth to the side and snapping it clean off from Malphie's jaw. Malphie flinched, hackles up, eyes turning orange, and I grabbed Zane's shirt and tried to pull him back.

"Easy," Sias soothed, stroking Malphie's head until the yellow in his eyes calmed. "There. We're fine now."

Zane turned and handed me the molar, which sat in my palm like a dry piece of ice. Touching a piece of the void made goose bumps rise up from my wrist through to my shoulder, and I shivered as Zane went in for one more tooth.

I displayed the tooth in my palm for Austin to inspect, the tiny fragment of the void rolling across my lifeline. Austin was careful when he reached out to tap the bone like it might reach out and bite him. Satisfied that the molar wasn't going to turn his flesh rotten or steal his soul, he let me place it in his palm for a closer look.

"It feels like a paradox," Austin explained as he pushed the thing around in his hand. "Like when you hear a noise that makes your teeth hurt. It's sitting outside of my body, but the marrow of my bones feels irritated by its presence."

"Kinda cool, right?" I grinned as he nodded.

"Yeah, a little bit. Is this what it feels like when you do necromancy?"

"Kinda. It's a lot more intense when I have my full abilities. It feels like an icy octopus trying to pull me into the void when I'm still trying to keep control."

Austin shivered at the thought, and kept hold of the tooth as Zane dove in for another to add to the collection.

This time the tooth was more toward the front, a sharp incisor that was knocked crooked, probably from when I had fought him during our first encounter. Zane waited until Sias gave him a nod to proceed, then carefully placed his fingers over the slanted tooth.

"Sorry, Malphie," Zane whispered before ripping it free. The snap of Malphie's jaws made us all jump, his teeth missing Zane's hand by inches.

"Easy. Easy!" Sias wrapped his arms around Malphie and held tight, pulling him away from me as I stepped in to be Zane's puppy shield. "Calm. You're safe. You're alright."

"He's pissed." Austin had his hand on one of the weapons in the case, ready to unleash something on the hound if Sias wasn't able to get him under control.

"No, he was afraid," Sias corrected, stroking Malphie's head and neck until the dog calmed down. "He was confused that Zane was hurting him. I could feel it through the threads."

Zane gave my hip a pat to move me out of the way, sitting up on his knees to face the weary hellhound.

"I'm sorry, boy. I didn't mean to hurt you." He handed Austin the broken tooth and to show Malphie that he wasn't trying to be his enemy, held out the offending hand for the hound to sniff. The beast leaned forward on his claws like he was worried Zane was going to try and snatch a tooth out of his mouth again, giving a long, vacuum inhale to sniff out any trickery.

Zane was blessed with a nose nudge and nothing more, their bridge mended but needing time to fully heal.

"Did he hurt you at all?" Sias asked Zane, moving to examine his hand.

"I'm fine." Zane let Sias take his hand, scan it for injuries, and then pull him to his feet. "Did controlling him drain you?"

"No." Sias felt his cheeks where his eyes would open, the skin smooth and sealed. "It gets easier each day. Plus, after the Goddess made out with Dallas, I'm feeling rejuvenated."

"It was platonic," I repeated with a sigh. "This is going to be a whole thing, isn't it?"

Austin cleared his throat and took a few retreating steps away from us.

"I'm going to let you deal with…this situation, and run these teeth to Dex. Good luck, man." He gave a little salute and left me to fend for myself.

"I need to go pack," Barnaby stood from the table and picked up Funus. "And I'd like to talk to you, Funus, if you have a moment."

"I believe I can pencil you in," the skull joked, his chuckle not lasting when Barnaby didn't even crack a smile. They left us alone in the basement with Ushen quietly cleaning around us and Malphie resting his sore jaw on his bone.

"It was a little peck," I continued, chasing down the fleeting levity. "A cheeky little kiss on the lips. You're sounding a little jealous for an incubus with an exorbitant body count."

"First, I've never kissed a deity, so of course I'm jealous, and two." Sias moved to take my chin and hold me still, his eyes emerald dipped in vivid topaz. "I don't plan on kissing anyone else without discussing it with you and Zane. I'll let this one slide since I have no way of reprimanding her for kissing you without asking you. It was not very God-like of her to steal something so precious."

"We're so exclusive now that even a God has to ask to kiss one of us?" I asked, trying to tease, but I knew I sounded excited. My heart radiated happiness, warming me so completely it banished the chill the void teeth had settled over me.

"I'd like us to be." Sias swiped his thumb over my lips. "If you and Zane want that too, of course."

Zane wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed my temple, the gesture so loving and familiar that it almost made me emotional. The casual way they loved me was breathtaking and terrifying, yet so intoxicating that I couldn't go on living without it.

"I don't think we'll be able to police what my Goddess does or doesn't do, but I appreciate the sentiment," Zane said to Sias. "I have no desire to go outside this relationship. I'd like us to be exclusive, pending any ‘dinner parties' you need to attend, Sias."

"I dictate which ‘dinner parties' I go to or host, and I have a feeling they've lost their appeal. Dining with regular people sounds bland compared to a vampire and a necromancer."

My grin was hurting my cheeks, and I allowed myself to drop my guard a few more inches.

"I'm not going anywhere else." I put my hand over Zane's and kissed Sias's thumb as he gave me another pass. "You jerks are stuck with me."

"Eloquently said, love," Sias responded dryly,

Zane's huffed laugh tickled my jaw.

"Idiot."

Zane rubbed my chest as I churned over the bubbling excitement at what was being offered and what waited for us on the horizon.

The Goddess hadn't just stolen me away to give me a nice segue into how I was going to bring up exclusiveness to my boyfriends. She had to give us a blessing so we didn't die while some unknown force was trying to knock down the door to her throne.

We were about to face a true unknown.

Normally, that level of adventure would get my heart pounding and blood burning for a good fight, wanting to either limp away with a trophy in hand or go out with a glorious bang. The thrill of knowing I would be dancing on death's edge is what I lived for, what I based my entire personality around and how I got to be so good at being immune to the fear of death.

For the first time since I was a little kid, I was afraid of what was waiting for me in the dark.

I was terrified I'd fail Zane and Sias. That they would get hurt.

That I'd lose them again.

"I'm scared," I admitted, knowing that Zane could feel my turmoil through our bond, and Sias was no doubt feeling some thread rumbling. "I'm not used to feeling this way, and I kinda hate it."

"I would be worried if you weren't." Zane squeezed me a bit more. "We're up against a force we don't know and the stakes are high. You're going to need to trust us in order for this to work, hunter."

I felt a pang of hurt from that, my response a little sharper than I meant it to be.

"Of course I trust you."

"You need to trust us enough to not throw yourself to our defense," Sias added, Zane nodding. "You just got Zane back, so the wound is still healing. And I know you still hate that I made it to the ocean before you could pull me back."

"I failed you both once," I admitted, a dagger of shame splitting me down the middle. "I can't let that happen again. If something happens to either of you?—"

"We will be at your side," Zane promised.

"Fighting with you," Sias added.

"You say that now." I forced myself to smile instead of begging them to stay behind where it was safe. "Let's see how you like me after this is all over."

They were my new drug, a high I could never escape. A sensation beyond anything I'd ever felt or would ever feel again.

Sure, having a Goddess bless me with her power was great, but have you ever been hugged by your vampire while your incubus peppered sweet kisses across your lips?

Nothing could beat that. Not a damn thing.