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Dante snorted. “Yeah, I’m great. I almost peed myself when you
started talking. Is he going to kill us?”
“As I haven’t been paid to do so, I will forego any murders this
evening,” the demon promised. “I was looking forward to a very dull
passage. Now I have a bit of excitement. It was very clever of you to
find the door, Your Highness. The hag is going to be somewhat upset
to discover you’ve found your way back to your kingdom. I believe
her employer will be upset as well.”
“Torin,” Meg surmised.
The demon smiled, showing his jagged teeth. “Yes, the pretender
is terrified of the warrior king. He should be even more frightened
now. The philosopher king has a bit of the warrior’s rage since the
bonding. He could prove even more formidable than his twin.”
“Beck isn’t sure he even wants the throne anymore,” Meg said,
remembering the bond they shared. Her warrior husband was tired of
fighting.
The demon studied her shrewdly. “I doubt he’ll have a choice
when the time comes. As for you, Mr. Dellacourt, your choices are
just beginning. There’s a whole world open and ripe for the plucking.
I think you’ve made the first choice that will take you on the road to
greatness.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dante said. There was
an odd look on his face. If Meg hadn’t known better, she would have
sworn he looked guilty.
“Don’t listen to him, Dante,” Meg said, grasping his hand in her
own. He was shaking slightly. “He’s a demon. I don’t think they’re
known for their honesty.”
“On the contrary, Your Highness,” the Planeswalker said with an
offended air. “I never lie when the truth is so deliciously awful. But
Mr. Dellacourt’s future is neither here nor there. It is your future that
is at risk. I am looking forward to seeing if you can save those boys of
yours.”
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“They’re in danger?” Meg asked the question, but she knew the
answer. They would have been weakened without her to bridge their
minds. They had been in danger the minute she was taken from them.
“Oh, yes,” the demon said smoothly, as though he were discussing
some juicy gossip. “The hag managed to catch one of them with her
spell, but the intellectual half evaded her. I’m afraid she didn’t ask the right questions. She asked for a spell that would shift the warrior’s
magic. She assumed it would shift into her. That was a mistake.”
“Cian absorbed it,” Meg realized. “Then he was strong enough to
run with Beck?”
“Oh, yes, Your Highness, King Cian was able to flee with his
brother on his back. His own poor body, however, could not handle
the strain of both their powers. He had to find safe haven. Both he and
the warrior are currently in a fugue state. They sleep, waiting for the
one who can set them to rights.”
Tears pooled in Meg’s eyes. “I have to get to them.”
The demon nodded sagely. “Yes, I suspect you do. The hag was
getting close to breaking through the barriers to their haven when I
moved through yesterday. If you could kill her, Your Highness, I
would be grateful. She signed her soul over to me, you see. As she
should live a very long time, I doubt she was worried she would have
to pay up. I could use her skills on the Hell plane.”
Meg wouldn’t do it to help the demon. She had her own reasons
for killing the hag. And she wouldn’t feel an ounce of regret when the
demon dragged the bitch to hell. “I promise I’ll kill her the minute I
get the chance. I have a plan, you see.”
Her plan was currently in a shoulder holster under the sweater she
wore.
“Excellent,” the demon said.
There was the slightest feeling of air moving through the
warehouse, followed by a quiet pop. The demon’s eyes widened. His
body seemed to swell. “Ah, the veil is open. It’s time to go, Your
Highness. Now, now, I see the suspicion in your eyes. You found this
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an unusual space. It might take you a moment to find it, and then it
would be closed again. You would have to come back tomorrow
night.”
“I’m not signing a contract,” Meg stated firmly.
“And I am not asking for one,” the demon replied. “I believe you
will kill the hag. I am helping you entirely for my own selfish
purposes, dear.”
Meg turned to Dante, who handed her the duffel bag. She settled it
on her back and hugged him. “Good luck, Dante.”
“You, too, Meggie.” His hands tightened around her waist, and
then he backed away. “I hope everything works out for you. Look me
up if you ever come back this way.”
Meg leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. She would miss
this version of Dante, but it was time to go home. She followed the
demon up the stairs, aware that Dante watched her the entire way. The
stairs creaked and shook under her weight.
“Hurry, dear,” the demon called from the darkness above. “You
don’t want to miss it.”
Meg braced herself and took the final step. The demon looked out
over the railing. He pointed to a spot just below them. “There it is.”
No wonder it was so hard to find. It was in the middle of the air.
She would have to jump. If she missed, she would break her legs at
best and her neck at worst. The demon gracefully leapt onto the
railing. “Just follow me.”
He jumped from the railing, feet first, and disappeared
completely.
“It’ll be all right, Meg,” Dante said from below her. “It’s fate,
right?”
“Yes.” She climbed on the railing. It shook and rattled under her
weight. There was nothing stable about it. Moonlight filtered in from
a window above, illuminating the ragged warehouse. Her hands were
shaking as she made the mistake of looking down.
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There was another popping sound, and Meg knew her time was
running out. The door would close, and she would have to wait
another full day before it opened again. She couldn’t risk it.
Meg closed her eyes and took a leap of faith.
* * * *
Dante watched Meg disappear through the veil. A piece of him
was very sorry to see her go. She had been lovely, and he had liked
her spirit. If she had stayed, he might have been able to love her.
Still, as he pulled the vampire computer from his jacket, she
hadn’t left him with nothing to show for his efforts. He stared down at
the computer. He’d slipped it out of the duffel bag when he’d
gallantly taken it from Meg. He just hadn’t been able to let her take it
with her. It was his because he’d been smart enough to steal it. And
she would find another one. He had plans for this one.
When Meg had suggested he go with her, Dante hadn’t told her no
because he was afraid of
going to another plane. He wasn’t afraid of
visiting other places. It just seemed silly to waste time when this plane
was so ripe for the conquering.
Why, Dante asked himself, should he settle for being a little fish
on a bunch of planes when he could be a shark on this one?
The computer in his hands was his ticket to the big time.
Dante Dellacourt left the building, his mind racing with plans.
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Chapter Twenty-Two
Meg hit the ground with a great thud and promptly landed on her
ass.
The demon shrugged over her. “Not the most graceful of landings,
Your Highness, but it will do.” He walked on without offering to lend
a hand. “Good luck.”
Meg scrambled up and looked around her. She was in the forest.
The door closed roughly six feet above her. No wonder it was hard to
find. It would be even harder on this side of the door since there was
no handy set of stairs to climb up. Meg wiped water off her face. It
was raining. She looked up the path. It looked like the rain got worse
up ahead.
The demon seemed to have disappeared again, and she was alone
in the forest with no sense of direction. She ran for the shelter of a
thick tree. It was less wet beneath the tree’s wide canopy, and Meg
tried to pull out her computer. She went through the bag three times
before admitting the truth.
“Bastard.” It was obvious that the human version of Dante had
helped himself to a souvenir of her visit. That damn computer would
have been helpful.
She heard rushing water to her left and knew she was in luck. The
village had been built to take advantage of the river. She could follow
it, and she would be able to see houses and docks when she got close.
Meg repacked her duffel bag and prepared herself for a potentially
long walk. There was nothing else to do. She couldn’t just sit here,
and Human Dante had taken away her ability to call his vampire
counterpart.
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Meg trudged to the river. She realized she had another decision to
make. She had no idea where she was in relation to the village. It
could be north or south of where she was. She could walk for days,
only to discover she’d gone the wrong way. Meg chewed nervously
on her lip and stared through the rain, trying to see if there was
anything familiar. The only times she’d come into the forest, she had
been either righteously pissed off at Beck or sleeping peacefully in his
arms. She hadn’t been memorizing landmarks.
Ahead in the distance, she spotted a beautiful horse standing in the
water, and her decision was made.
“Screw you, you cannibal horse,” she shouted at the kelpie and
turned the opposite direction. It was enough of a sign for her.
Decision made, Meg began to jog.
It might have been a bad decision, Meg decided half an hour later.
She seemed to be walking toward the intensifying storm. The rain was
pelting her. There wasn’t an inch of her that wasn’t soaked. She
shivered as she hiked on.
After a few minutes, she heard a magnificent sound. It started like
a slight whir, and there was no mistaking its man-made nature. Well,
there was no mistaking its vampire-made nature.
She stopped and let the sound come to her. It didn’t take long. The
hover bike was fast. The bike got louder. The sound seemed almost
anxious to Meg’s ears. The rider was outfitted for the storm. He was
in head-to-toe water-repellant gear. Even his eyes were covered with
goggles. He steered the bike right toward her.
“Get on.” Dante had to shout over the noise of the storm. “We
need to talk, sister.”
Twenty minutes later, Meg took the towel Dante handed her. Like
everything else about Dante’s little camp, the towel was very high-
tech. She rubbed her hair, and suddenly, it was dry. She didn’t
question it. She was just grateful to be warm. The tent was toasty and
dry. There were soft lanterns giving the room a nice glow. It was
everything she could ask for.
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“Where the hell have you been?” Dante asked, pouring himself a
Scotch. “Do you have any idea how bad things have gotten while you
were doing whatever it was you were doing?”
“Well, I didn’t go willingly.” Meg rubbed her hands together
before shrugging out of her sweater. “Someone paid the Planeswalker
to take me home.”
Dante’s mouth hung open slightly. “You went back to the Earth
plane?”
“And then found my way back here. I didn’t even need a demon
to help me, though I did come back with one,” Meg said proudly.
Dante sighed. “You came back.”
“Of course I came back,” Meg replied. The vampire had really
believed she’d abandoned them. “I love them, Dante. I never wanted
to leave them. Now, tell me everything. Are they alive? Has the hag
been able to hurt them? How did you find me?”
Dante looked slightly amused as she pelted him with questions.
“As far as I know, they’re still protected. I can’t get close. The storm
is horrible. It’s kept the hag away, though she’s closing in. Once that
blonde bitch gets into their hidey-hole, she’ll be able to slit their
throats, and there’s nothing they can do about it. As for how I found
you, I planted a locator device on your back that first day we met.
Remember, I gave you a big hug and slapped you on the back? The
locator device is small and burrows into the skin. I had a feeling you
would be trouble.”
“You LoJacked me?”
Dante shook his head, seemingly unconcerned. “I don’t know
what that is, sweetheart. However, I did make sure I could keep tabs
on you. Don’t mention it to Ci, but I ‘LoJacked’ him a long time ago.
I was too scared to try it with Beck. I do it to the people I care about. I like to know where they are.”
“So where are they?” Meg chose to set aside Dante’s questionable
actions for now. They were fortuitous any way she looked at it.
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“About a half a mile north. I don’t know what happened, but the
twins took refuge in a small cabin in the middle of the forest. It’s
covered with vines, and let me tell you, those vines have thorns. I
tried to hack my way in while the hag was sleeping. The plants took
exception.”
Meg pulled off her wet jeans and shirt. She ran the towel across
her skin, marveling at the way it instantly dried her. “That’s Cian’s
doing. He came into his power shortly before that asshole demon
hauled my butt back to Earth.”
“Cian’s a Green Man?” Dante lisped a little around his fangs. Meg
threw him a dirty look. “What do you expect, sweetheart? You’re
half-naked. It would be rude not to get horny. Now tell me about Ci.”
Meg rolled her eyes and accepted that Dante was just Dante. She
moved to her duffel bag and was pleased to find that everything she
owned was not soaking wet. “All
that legendary stuff about royal
symbiotic twins is true.” Meg put on the soft, suede-like pants the
village women had sewn for her, and her shirt and vest. “Cian is a
Green Man. Beck can control storms.”
“Well, he’s not doing a very good job of it, is he?” Dante asked,
referencing the raging storm outside. “It’s been like this since I got
here a week ago. I came when your locator signal went off-line and I
couldn’t get the computer I gave you to answer me.”
“About that, I’m going to need another one of those. Your human
self stole mine, the little weasel. I have no doubt he is, even now,
plotting something ruthless. He had that look about him.”
“Nice,” Dante said, showing off his fangs. “So you met the human
version of me. How hot was I? I was really rich, but, like, on my own,
right? I see myself as a self-made man.”
“You were sad and sweet and potentially very selfish.” Meg
strapped her shoulder holster on. She thought about Human Dante.
“Your life wasn’t as good there as you have it here. I’m actually a
little worried about what you, the other you, is going to do with that
computer.”
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Dante looked vaguely pleased. “Probably something incredibly
evil. I always thought I’d make a good super villain.”
Meg checked the .357. The weight felt good in her hands.
“Speaking of villains, tell me the blonde bitch who’s trying to kill my
husbands is Liadan.”
“Is that the chick Beck’s been banging?” He quickly corrected
himself. “I mean was banging before he met his one true love and
started being completely faithful?”
“You’re a good wingman,” Meg remarked. “And yes, I’m talking
about Beck’s ex-honey. Please tell me I get to kill her.”
Dante took a long gulp of Scotch. Meg was sure it was top-of-the-
line stuff. When he looked back, Meg saw the fear in his clear eyes.
“If she doesn’t kill you first, sweetheart. She’s quite horrible. I saw her face, her real face. I wish I didn’t have to see it again.”
Meg checked to make sure the gun was loaded. She looked back
at Dante as she placed the .357 Magnum in the holster and reached for
the extra jacket the vampire had offered her. It was too big, but it