Indigo(45)

For Indigo.

“Rafe’s gonna die,” she said.

If he is loyal to me, he will live. If he ignores my commands, he will die. The same could be said of you, Nora Hesper. You, who have siphoned your power from me while I lay dormant within. But now I am awake … now that the Phonoi have been trying to summon and enslave me again, from afar. And the time has come for me to walk the world in this flesh.

She could feel the darkness hiding at the edges of her awareness as if trying to decide whom it should obey, Nora or Damastes. Now she called and the darkness fluttered, whispered closer to her.

“It’s my body. You’re nothing but a virus. Poison in my veins.”

And you are little more than a corpse too foolish to die. Oh, little Nora—

“Not Nora,” she said quietly. “Indigo.”

And what is Indigo? A mask on a frightened girl.

“Flesh and blood. Solid and alive, which is more than you can say. You need your precious sacrifices and your cult of killers! You need their worship. I need nothing and no one!”

To prove her point she ripped the darkness closer, wrapping herself in the reluctant shadows and slithering free from the restraints that tried to hold her. She could move through a keyhole; what possible chance did a straitjacket and leather straps have?

Are you so sure about that? Are you certain there is no one and nothing that you need?

Nora stood and felt her legs under her, once again hers to command. There were no seizures now. He blood pumped and her nerves sang and her fists clenched until she felt the crescents of her nails biting into soft skin.

Indigo sneered.

Nora asked, “What do you mean?”

Can you so easily live without Shelby or Sam? Even now Rafe watches Shelby’s domicile. Even now he waits for Sam to arrive, the better to kill them both without having to hunt either of them down. Give me free rein, surrender control of this body to me, and I will stop him.

“I’ll kill him. And then I’ll kill you.” The words were whispered from a cold throat, choked by rage. Her friends were half a world away and she wasn’t even certain how she’d gotten here. Rafe had done something to her with that ritual circle, used some kind of spell, but had he chosen this destination or had Damastes pulled her to his seat of power, to the place he’d once called home? One or both of them had broken the laws of physics, strained the ties of reality, and cast her a few thousand miles through the darkness. How the hell could she hope to match that task?

You are not powerful enough to save your friend, your lover, or yourself. Surrender to me, little Nora, and I will spare your friends. Offer yourself to me willingly and they will be safe.

Nora shook her head. She had seen inside of Damastes and knew better. He’d hunt them down and make them suffer to satisfy his petty need for revenge over whatever indignities he believed Nora had caused. More than that, she sensed he was still hiding something, some secret that he was holding close to his wretched heart, waiting to use against her when the time was right.

Indigo shook her head.

How had Rafe done it? Or had he done it at all? She traveled through shadows all the time, moved from place to place as if there were no distance in between. It had always been short distances, mostly to places she had already been or at least seen, but if Damastes had somehow dragged her to his home, she knew one thing—he had done it through the shadows. And if that was true, then she could surely find her way back.

All she required was a path.

She commanded the shadows and they obeyed. The light failed to fall in one corner, and as she stared, a patch of darkness grew there, deepening into a black, inky maelstrom that pulled at her. There, her pathway home.

Damastes seemed to fight her, but only for a moment before he stopped struggling. Nora thought it might be a bluff, a lie to make her think she was winning. Still, there was no choice. Sam needed her. Shelby needed her. And she needed the both of them.

Inside her, Damastes laughed. Go where you like, girl. Fight as long as you can. In the end, I will have my freedom. Before that day comes, I will make the ones you love suffer. I will feed on them as I fed on the souls of your—

Indigo shoved aside his voice and leaped into the darkness. The maelstrom longed for her, welcomed her, swallowed her. The shadows swaddled her and she heard the familiar whispers of the endless void, sounds and voices she would never be able to interpret. For a moment, memories seemed to flicker at the edges of her mind, but they meant nothing to her now. Only one thing mattered at that moment. She had to get to Sam and Shelby before it was too late. She had to.

Without them she had no reasons she could think of to live, save for revenge.





9

Revenge.

What was the phrase? Revenge is a dish best served cold?

Nora didn’t know who said it. She remembered it from a Klingon warlord in one of the Star Trek movies, but she thought it was older than that. Maybe a French writer, maybe Shakespeare. Maybe Genghis Khan for all she knew. And what did it matter? It was wrong. Revenge, she knew, should be hot. As hot as blood. As hot as the rage that flared inside her heart.

Hot enough to burn that evil bastard Damastes out of her soul.

As Indigo she came out of the shadows, staggered, reached for a wall—any wall, anything sturdy and upright and real—and leaned against it. Her knees buckled and she sagged drunkenly against the cold stone. She placed her forehead against it. Nora’s forehead, not Indigo’s.