Eternal Rider - Larissa Ione [82]
Yeah, Arik felt about the same way. Even though his own sister was a werewolf who was mated to a demon, he hadn’t ever gotten over his prejudice.
Kynan’s body went bowstring taut, and before the guy went off in defense of his wife, his in-laws, and his unborn child, Arik stepped forward. Which hurt like fuck. Fuck with broken ribs.
“So what else can we do, besides letting the hellhound go?” Arik took a couple of shallow breaths. Still hurt like fuck. “We could help guard Cara.”
“Having our demons and your demon killers in close proximity isn’t ideal. What we could use is a fallen angel. One who hasn’t entered Sheoul.”
“Ah.” Arik gave up trying to be all manly and wrapped his arm around his chest to keep his rib cage from splitting open. “We have tons of those to give out.”
Limos tapped her flip-flopped foot in annoyance. “Pestilence has been slaughtering them left and right. I estimate that there are only about half a dozen remaining. He’s determined to bring about the Apocalypse, in case you hadn’t figured that out.”
“Yeah,” Arik drawled, “we were unclear on that. Glad you set us straight.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” Kynan said quickly. “What about your Seals? How can we prevent them from breaking?”
Thanatos snorted. “Don’t worry about mine. It will never break.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have complete control of it.”
Arik frowned. “So what could break it?”
“That’s not for you to know.” The shadows flitting around Thanatos seemed to grow more agitated. What were they? “Let it go.”
Touchy. Arik nodded at Limos. “What about you, Bonecrusher?”
Limos grinned. “Still feeling the power of my thighs, are you? Keep taunting me, and I’ll do it again. Only I won’t stop until your upper body is nothing but lung marmalade.”
Now there was a horrific image he’d take to his grave. “You going to answer my question?”
She shrugged one tan, curvy shoulder. “Nope.”
Thanatos regarded his sister with amusement before turning back to Ky and Arik. “Limos’s agimortus is an object. It’s a small ivory bowl. Any Horseman who drinks from it will break her Seal.”
“Seems like an odd requirement,” Kynan said. “Why is that?”
“We don’t know,” Limos replied, but the way she said it, with a slight trail-off at the end of her sentence, left a question mark in Arik’s mind. She might not know, but he had a feeling she had a theory.
“I’m assuming it’s well guarded, at least,” Kynan said.
There was a lot of weight shifting and sheepish expressions. “What?” Arik looked between the Horsemen, lingering for an extra second on Limos. It really was a great view. “It’s not being guarded?”
“We don’t know where it is.” Thanatos’s admission was delivered with a stare that dared Ky or Arik to snark back.
Arik snarked. “Oh, that’s great. You lost it? Pestilence could be toasting to success with it as we speak.”
Limos shook her head, making her long black hair swish in a shiny wave. “We didn’t lose it. It’s never been found.”
Kynan scrubbed his hand over his face. “We need to get the hellhound situation handled. Do you guys have email? Can you shoot us all the info you’ve got on this bowl?”
“And how do you think you can find it if we haven’t been able to?”
“We may have access to information, maps, histories, that you don’t. It can’t hurt.” Arik paused. “So… are we going to work together? Or are you going to be stubborn until we’re all doomed to Armageddon?”
There was a long, strained silence, and then Ares nodded decisively. “We work together. But no one else is to know the locations of our residences.”
“Deal.” Kynan handed Ares, Thanatos, and Limos cards with his information on them. “Unfortunately, no one in The Aegis but me can travel through Harrowgates, so we can’t deliver the hound to you, and I can’t transport a cage of that size on my own. Call me in an hour and I’ll have coordinates to the Aegis facility where we’re holding him.”
Ares nodded. “There’s one more thing.” He slid questioning glances at