By the time I got up on my knees, Montagna was gone. Dread and I were alone.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded. “You can’t force me to play a part in your Revelation.”
“After the assassination attempt this morning, Vex thought it would be better if you stayed here under our protection.”
I let out a short laugh of disbelief. “Are you insane?”
Dread shrugged. “Vex’s orders. He thinks you can be broken to heel, and he’s willing to take as long as he needs in order to do it.”
I seized at the crack that had formed in their foundation. “What about you, Dread? What do you think?”
“I think you’re too independent to be broken so easily.”
I sat back on my heels. “Maybe you’re the smart one.”
“That remains to be seen.”
The door from the elevator opened and Montagna appeared. Theo was with her, his wrists in handcuffs that were locked to a belt around his waist. His shirt hanging in tatters, he was scraped up, bruised, but defiant nonetheless.
I had never been so glad to see anyone in my life.
Theo lurched forward, trying to get to the cage. “Allay! Are you all right? You’re bleeding. What did they do to you?”
Montagna bashed him in the back of the leg, sending him down to his knees with a grunt. I couldn’t wipe my face, but I could feel the blood drip from my chin. I hadn’t even noticed it got busted open when I hit the floor of the cage. Now that he’d seen it, I couldn’t heal it.
“Let him go to her,” Dread ordered.
Theo crawled the last few feet to the bars of the cage. “Allay!”
I wiggled forward on my knees. “I’m okay, Theo. Have they hurt you?”
Dread interrupted. “You’re famished, Allay. You need to eat.” He didn’t seem to care whether Montagna or Theo heard.
Theo was still incensed at seeing me trussed up. “You think torturing her will make her cooperate?”
“Oh, no. She’s not the one who’s going to be tortured.” Dread gestured to Montagna. “You are.”
Theo resisted as much as a man could with his wrists cuffed to his belly button. He got in a good swipe at Montagna’s feet to throw her off balance, and his roundhouse kick just missed her chin. I was cheering him on for all I was worth.
Montagna’s training showed as she danced out of the way, then darted back in. Grappling with him, she slammed him face-first against the cage. It was so heavy it didn’t even budge, but it rang out horribly as his skull connected with the bars. With two quick motions, she hooked his restraining belt to the scrollwork between the bars. It held him close to the cage so that he had to lean forward, keeping his knees bent to hold himself up.
“Go ahead,” Dread ordered. “Make it hurt.”
“Dread, no!” I cried. “You can’t!”
Montagna grabbed Theo’s hair and jerked his head back. “I’m going to enjoy this,” she hissed into his ear. There weren’t any sexual undertones; she wasn’t getting off on being able to beat him. It was darker than that, a predatory instinct unleashed.
Her fingers dug into his T-shirt and pulled down sharply. The worn threads shredded as she ripped the tattered remains off his back.
“Dread, stop her,” I pleaded. “Don’t do this or I’ll never help you, I swear.”
“Allay, don’t make it worse,” Theo warned. Then he looked away.
Her fist landed on his kidney, making him grunt in pain. Then her other fist pounded the other side.
“The police report said your ribs were broken,” Montagna murmured. “How does that feel now?”
I tasted blood. My own lip was bleeding where I bit it. “You’re sick,” I hissed at her.
She used him like a punching bag, beating him in the lower back. He couldn’t take a breath between the blows, they rained down on him so hard and fast. She varied her punches from place to place, even hitting him repeatedly in the ribs under his arm.
When Montagna finally stopped, she was breathing heavily. For a woman in such good shape, that said something. Theo was sagging from the restraining belt at his waist, cutting into his back unbearably but unable to stand in the violet haze of pain that engulfed his aura.
I was helpless, wrapped up in the straitjacket. I couldn’t even touch him to take away his pain.
I stole a glance at Dread. He looked dissatisfied with what was happening. He didn’t like pain. He wanted fear, that slow-burning eater of life. But Theo wasn’t afraid in spite of the beating.
Montagna was definitely enjoying herself. She unhooked him from the cage, then used her truncheon to hit him sharply in his chest and the back of his legs as he curled into a defensive ball. “Lie still!”
She started to strip him, yanking at his shoe as he managed a weak kick or two, which she avoided; then she jerked his other shoe off. His jeans quickly followed.
Dread looked alarmed. “How bad is he?”
“Pretty bad. Blood on the lips means he could die,” Montagna replied, her voice nonchalant. I hated her.
“That’s enough then. Put him inside.”
I strained as hard as I could at the straitjacket. One of the buckles snapped off, and I felt more of the stitching let go.
But it wasn’t enough. Dread used the ornate iron key to unlock the small door, and Montagna dragged Theo over and rolled him inside.
Dread slammed the cage door shut behind him, locking it and slipping the iron key into his pocket. “You know what to do, Allay. The more you resist, the worse it will be.”
Dread’s footsteps were followed silently by Montagna as they left the room, shutting the door behind them. Montagna was a killer, and I had no doubt that she worked for Dread, because she got what she needed. She probably didn’t mind tenderizing his meat as long as she could finish off the leftovers.
I leaned over him.
“Theo . . .”
There was blood smeared on his lips and trickling down one corner, bright red. His eyes were drawn in pain at each gasping breath, as if it were unbearable. His back and sides were inflamed bright red with patches of bloody flecks where his flesh had been pounded raw. There was a long, purpling bruise forming across his chest, where he had been hit with her truncheon. Other bruises marked the back of his legs.
He lifted his hand to grab on to the front of my jacket where my arms crossed. “Turn around,” he rasped.
I shifted so he could reach the buckle in back to undo it. He didn’t say anything about the other one I’d broken. He didn’t have to undo the back of the jacket; I shrank my chest and arms and wiggled out easily once my arms were freed.
He groaned as he tried to raise himself, falling back down. I sat down so he could lie with his head on my lap. “Here, this will be better.”
Theo eased back slowly, wincing as he curled on his side. He let out a ragged breath as he settled into place. The heat of his body was scorching, so solid and heavy against me, as if he were a fire I could warm myself over. The musky scent of him and the sheen of sweat on his bare skin made me think of twining my legs with his . . . thoughts that I was ashamed of. How could I lust after a man who was in such misery? I was an evil creature.
I touched his cheek with trembling fingers, brushing the scrapes he had gotten when the guards pushed him down in the basement. His eyes closed as I ran my hand through his thick hair, feeling the slight tug where the ends curled. I scooped off his pain, taking it as fast as I could to give him some relief. I did it to help him, but his suffering passed into my own body in the form of potent energy.
I resolutely refused to touch the bright streaks of euphoria that shot through his aura where I drew away the pain; those brief moments when he felt a hint of relief. The golden light was tantalizing, but it would be wrong to take even a drop.
Theo’s gaze was so trusting and open. Why did he still look at me that way? I didn’t deserve it. I’d proved in every way I didn’t deserve it.
“That feels better.” He sighed.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault.”
“Would you believe that it’s worth it to be with you?”
It made me sad to think I had glamoured him with my demon ways. My hand faltered. “No . . .”
“Well, it is.”
Theo was worried about me. I could feel his concern and fear for me pouring off him in waves. But he wasn’t scared for himself, despite his terrible pain. My fingers tingled with the medley of his emotions every time I stroked his hair.
He kept closing his eyes as if the simple touch were heaven. I was pulling off a great deal of his pain, so it wasn’t surprising that endorphins were making him heady. Perhaps that explained his fearlessness.
“You’re not like any man I’ve ever met, Theo.”
His eyes were blue again, not black and dilated. “I would go to the ends of the earth for you, Allay.”
I felt it, too. Like a dying wish, I wanted to escape all of this and run away with him. It was foolish—I barely knew him. But I’d never felt this way before.
Theo was exactly what I needed in a man; a partner, a lover, the perfect mate. In another world, we would have a big romance, then settle down and have kids, change and grow together, share our old age together. The Happily Ever After that everyone wanted. It was my wasted life’s dream, a hope I had lost at eighteen, though it had taken until now for me to face it.
Living as I was, I was already dead. Hope and new possibilities were dead, because I had to live a lie.
That was why, in spite of myself, I thought about Vex’s offer. Everything would change if I worked with him. I could tell everyone exactly who I was—something other than human, a creature of pure spirit. I could live in truth.
But I’d be a freak show, a perversion of religion, fool’s gold for the shysters to sell.
It would be another dead imitation of life. No, the only way to live was the one promised in Theo’s eyes—love and admiration, a tender caring that shrugged aside selfish needs, and the light of endless faith.
I couldn’t have that life.
Tears filled my eyes, but I smiled to show him that it wasn’t all pain. Oh, it was bittersweet, but at least I had gotten a taste of what I had lost, here at the end. I had been granted a glimpse into paradise, and it confirmed everything I knew already—there was nothing else worth living for.
A long time went by as Theo dozed off in a delirium. I watched him sleeping, drawing off his stronger twinges of pain with a light fingertip.
Eventually, the inner door opened, revealing a slice of black hardwood floor and towering windows—Dread’s loft. I hadn’t noticed that before. The light was coming in strongly, indicating it was late afternoon. How convenient it was for him to keep his victims caged up right next door; how liberal of Lash to allow it.
Looking at Theo, curled up and naked, made something snap inside of me. I wanted to tell him the truth about myself. He deserved to know it. But there were probably cameras in the room, and Vex would know if I did. Then they would definitely kill him.
Suddenly I realized Dread was in the room. I had been too distracted, and his signature was now tempered by another demon’s. Vex was back, as well. It felt as if he were right next door, in Dread’s loft.
As Dread walked over to the cage, my lip lifted as if I smelled something bad.
“We have all the time in the world,” Dread assured me. “When this man dies, we’ll get another one of your people so you can feed off them.”
He was talking about Lolita and Darryl. Pepe. Maybe even Shock. They would let Montagna torture them. All of them. One by one in a parade, each suffering because of me.
Well, doesn’t that just suck.
I stood up to confront Dread, clenching my hand around one of the bars. “You’re disgusting.”
“You’ll give in eventually, Allay. Everyone does.”
Theo shifted slightly, his knees drawn up in obvious pain. “Go fuck yourself! Allay, don’t listen to him. You can’t trust him.”
“I won’t,” I told Theo. “I’ll never do it. You hear that, Vex? Never.”
Dread cocked his head, waiting. A few seconds later, Vex sauntered in, wearing his skateboarder guise. I wasn’t expecting his first words: “I know who tried to kill Shock.”
Next to me, Theo’s head went up. But I was sure Vex was putting on a show. At this point, I figured the stealth demon was Vex himself, or barring that, Dread, especially since Phil Anchor and Savor had been distracting me both times the stealthy demon had struck.
“It was Abash, one of Glory’s offspring,” Vex said triumphantly. “Her signature is extremely mild, so I’ve suspected for some time that Glory’s been using her as an assassin. She was spotted in your neighborhood on Saturday, and just now she appeared in the vicinity of Revel’s apartment. She’ll probably try to kill Shock or steal her away, if she can, to set a trap for you.”
I couldn’t trust him. “Did you tell Revel?”
“I just got off the phone with him. He’s increasing his security, and I’ve sent a few of my people over there to help out.”
Revel could be letting the viper into his bosom. Poor Shock. There was nothing I could do to help her while I was in this cage.
“I’m the only one who can protect you,” Vex assured me. “And Shock, since you’re so fond of her.”
I gestured at the cage. “Thanks for the protection.”
“You have no idea the lengths I’m going to for you, Allay. Tonight I’m launching a preemptive strike against Glory. If I’m lucky, I’ll smash her entire entourage, along with the queen bee herself.”
Dread stepped forward. “Tonight? You pulled that together quickly. . . .”
“Don’t tell me you’re having doubts.” For an instant, the younger-looking man was clearly the one in charge, not the prophet, a disconcerting sight. “Lash betrayed us, and now she has to pay for it.”