Chapter 23

23

E lektra pulled on her tight leather suit and tried not to think too hard about what had just happened. So she had let someone go down on her in a morgue. Nothing weird about that. Except her pussy was hypersensitive, and she wanted to tear Vanth's clothes off and get on her knees for him. Shit. Not the time .

Elektra zipped up her suit and let the muscle memory of a thousand missions try and cool her lust. She needed to find any remaining reapers and drive a sickle into Lazarus's head. That was what she needed to focus on.

That resolve lasted until she got back downstairs, where Vanth was waiting for her by the van. He had braided his hair back tight and changed into another set of clothes. They must have looked like a ridiculous pair, with her in an intense battle suit full of hidden blades and him in battered jeans, boots, and a faded Evil Dead T-shirt.

Vanth looked her over, his grin widening. "You are intimidating and sexy at the same time," he said and whistled.

"You really should invest in some body armor or something. Just because you're a demigod doesn't mean you can't be killed," Elektra replied.

"I've tried it in the past, but it only slows me down. I'm not worried. You'll protect me," Vanth said and got into the van.

Elektra huffed out a laugh. "You hope I will. I'm going to be too busy protecting myself. Where are the ghouls?" she asked and clipped on her seat belt.

"They are too full to be useful. Don't worry, little reaper. I'm a big boy and can take care of myself," Vanth replied.

They drove out into the dark streets, and Elektra tried to find the meditative calm she always fell into before a fight. It would have been easier if she wasn't surrounded by Vanth's scent, which made her want to climb all over him.

Fuck, this mating cycle . That was all it was. Surely. It didn't matter what Vanth said about wanting to kiss her before it started. Her body couldn't be trusted.

It was terrible timing to be trying to attract a mate, and Vanth was a demigod, for fuck's sake... She looked across the bench seat at him, and suddenly, all the hang-ups she had disappeared. He was perfect for her, and it killed her that they hadn't met before all the mess with Lazarus started.

Vanth knew all about the strangeness of her abilities and wasn't afraid of her bloodthirsty side. If they made it through the fight with Lazarus and her mating cycle, then she would try and court him properly. If he wanted it.

Something in Elektra settled at the thought, and she couldn't blame it on her crazy fae impulses. She really liked him.

"I don't know what's going through your head right now, but if you keep looking at me like that, I'm going to have to pull over and kiss you," Vanth warned her playfully.

"Focus on the road, or we'll crash," she replied.

"Lucky we are making a stop then." Vanth pulled into a Greek takeaway drive-through and ordered them gyros. "I need to fuel up before a fight, and you need to fuel up for what I'm going to do to you later."

"Ah, big promises, necromancer. We could die before then," Elektra said.

"I'll find you in the Afterlife and fuck you there. Dying won't save you," Vanth promised, and they both laughed.

"I don't know what it says about me that your nonsense does it for me," Elektra said, unwrapping her gyro.

"I'm just a mystery that way," Vanth replied. "Maybe it's my secret demigod power."

"Somehow, I doubt your sense of humor is it. Orcus is a big hitter, Vanth. I don't know if you have properly considered what you are capable of," Elektra said before biting into her food. She groaned. Gods, she was hungrier than she realized.

Vanth hummed thoughtfully. "I'm trying not to think about it. If I start, I will spiral and won't be able to focus on what's in front of me. I'll want to bury myself in research and try to learn the limits of my power. I can get a bit nuts when I'm hyper-focused on magic. Right now, I need to be hyper-focused on stopping Lazarus and his cult from doing any more damage. Once he's dealt with, then you are next on my list."

Elektra swallowed a mouthful of food. "I am?"

Vanth nodded and then looked uncertain. "Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, I think I am. Is that weird? I barely know you," she replied and quickly shut her mouth so she didn't spew any of her sudden anxiety out onto him.

Vanth smiled at her. "You actually know more about me than anyone else, besides my mother. I didn't have time to make some bullshit mask for you. You know exactly what I am, what I am capable of. You're not intimidated by it, and I've never really let anyone see that side of me. The world knows me as some low-level necromancer who cleans up bodies for rich people. Not exactly a sexy or glamourous job."

"Depends on who you ask," she replied. He was grinning, and it made her feel reckless, so she added, "Your face isn't half bad either."

"Wow, look at you go, charmer," he laughed. He reached over and lightly flicked her ear. "If you think the face is okay, wait until you see the rest of me."

Elektra was still laughing when they passed into the streets of the mage's district. The citadel of mages stood in the center of it all. Elektra rubbed at her eyes and stared at it. It was built like the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome but was much taller. It was like a fortress of stone and not what she had expected at all.

"If you look at it from different angles and different times of day, it changes. The inside is also bigger than the outside. Making it look as boring as possible was a way to say, 'We are no threat. We are harmless, boring scholars who won't accidentally release a demon from another dimension,'" Vanth said and gave the tower his middle finger. "Pretentious assholes."

Elektra raised a brow. "Why am I not surprised you don't get along with the establishment?"

Vanth shook his head. "You got it all wrong, princess. They don't get along with me. I went there with the best of intentions. I wanted to learn. They just didn't know how to teach me. The necromancers there only do basic shit like summoning ghosts. Anything else terrifies them. They let me do independent study, but after I had worked my way through their library, I quit. They must have decided I was going to be a danger to Inferno in the future, so they started sending assassins after me."

Elektra reached over and rested a hand on his knee. "I'm sorry you have had to go through that. You would have been a cherished asset at the Temple of Magic and Bone. You still would be. I don't know if there are many reapers left, but you will have a place amongst them if you want it. If not, you will be an ally."

"It would be nice to be able to talk necromancer magic with people who aren't idiots. I'll keep it in mind," Vanth replied and placed his hand over hers to keep it there.

The address Andres had given them ended up being a house in a middle-class suburb in a cul-de-sac. Each property had active wards and looked neat and tidy, even in the darkness. They were the kind of places that were full of well-paid, respectable people in society who had families and mortgages.

"This doesn't feel right," Vanth said, looking around. "This is the mage version of Legoland. Why would Lazarus be hiding out here?"

"Maybe he's not. It could just be where one of his followers lives," Elektra replied and stared at the painted white fences and perfect gardens. "These kinds of places freak me out."

Vanth's brows shot up. "Me too. It's the creepy sameness of it that messes with my head."

Elektra let her magic slip free and brush against the wards around the property. There was an electric snap back, and she swore.

"They don't have the average wards around this place," she said and studied the house more closely.

Vanth nodded. "They feel like…"

"Bone wards," they said at the same time.

Elektra's mouth twitched. "Animal?"

"Definitely. You take the front corners of the property, and I'll do the back?" Vanth suggested.

"Deal. Watch your ass," she said, and he blew her a kiss. He would be fine.

Elektra went to the very edge of the property's wards on the left side. She whispered a shielding spell over her hands and dug about in the earth.

Underneath the perfectly manicured turf, she came across bones. She took a calming breath and began to disable them. The trick was to be able to do it without waking up whoever had cast them.

She threaded her magic through strands of power, holding the ward energy to the sacrificed life of the animal. She hated the dirty feel of the magic against hers. Nothing made her angrier than the sacrifice of an innocent life for magical gain. She released the shade of the animal with a quick flick of her magic, and the ward powered down.

Elektra quickly hurried to the right side of the property and began on the next ward. Vanth appeared through the gardens just as she broke it. He had a pissed-off look in his eye.

"What is it?" she asked, brushing the dirt from her hands.

"I found something you better have a look at," he said. She followed him into the darkness. There was a large greenhouse and a refrigerated van at the back of the property. A pretty decal on the side of the vehicle said, 'Bright Light Blooms' in fluro pink. Elektra wasn't sure what had gotten Vanth riled up until she stood in the garden around the greenhouse. Death and decay pulsed up from the ground beneath her boots, the dark, sticky feeling of magic making her gag.

"They have been using human blood and bone," Vanth growled softly. "I found ground barrels of it behind the greenhouse."

"Fuck. This is…" Elektra didn't have the words. She cleared her throat. "Why not add the reapers to the mix? Why take them to Andres to be burned?"

"Maybe they have had too many bodies to dispose of," Vanth replied. He nodded at the greenhouse doors. "You ready?"

Elektra slid one of her sickles out from her thigh holster. She left the blade locked in but needed a weapon in her hand to steady herself. "Ready."

Vanth took the lead and opened the door. No alarms screamed or lights went on, so they slipped inside the moist heat like shadows. There were rows and rows of flowers growing in pots. There was a lit-up room at the far end that had hydroponic lights burning. They each took one row and walked the full length of the greenhouse. Nothing seemed out of place except for the thick haze of death from the blood and bone.

Vanth walked in front of her into the hydroponics area and held out a hand for her to stop walking. "Well, well, looks like these florists have more than one side hustle," he said. He examined the plants under the strange blue lights.

"Weed?" Elektra guessed.

"Magic weed. Not a big crop, so it could be their private stash or used in rituals or potions."

Elektra moved around him, her intuition tingling at the back of her head. She went to a potting table at the back of the room where the lights weren't hanging. Blood magic burned on her tongue, and she gagged. "Help me move this table?"

"Maybe we don't need to," Vanth said, feeling about underneath it. Something clicked, and the potting counter slid away to reveal a large metal trap door. A complex sigil was carved into it.

"To keep people out? Or to keep something in?" Elektra asked, peering down at it, her mind already trying to unravel it.

Vanth squatted down and, with a quick burst of his magic, dissolved the sigil. It was one of the sexiest things Elektra had ever seen. He hadn't even had to think about it.

"Wow," she whispered and cringed when she realized she had said it out loud. Vanth waggled his brows at her and lifted up the trap door. It was a pit of darkness that smelled of rotting meat, blood magic, and bleach.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to go first?" Elektra asked.

"All right, but you're going to be washing the stench out of my hair for me later," Vanth replied.

She leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to his surprised lips. "Deal."

Vanth's eyes narrowed playfully. "I should warn you, using your feminine wiles on me will get you everywhere," he said and dropped down into the darkness.