“You’re scaring me, Mr. Dupree.”
Honestly, he scared himself more. And they were out of time. Kissing her lips, he forced her through the portal. Then he turned toward the creatures who’d been sent after him.
The Dread Waters preyed on fear and used that power to build and swell until they swallowed their victims whole. No one could escape their clutches. For that was always the thing about dread, it only grew in size. The more you feared, the more power you gave the beast.
There was only one way to defeat this nightmare.
Face-to-face confrontation. In the light of day, they were never as insurmountable as they seemed. Never as tough as they let you think they were.
Rather, they were made up of shadows of fluff. Bluster and taunts. Bullies who relied on the willingness of others to believe their perpetrated lies to give them strength.
Hold them up to the light and they fled like the cowards they were.
“Fuck what you think of me!” Kalder shouted at the darkness that tried to drag him down. “If you want to fight, then I’ll see you in me brother’s palace. At the foot of his throne.”
He swept a taunting sneer at the lot of them as they continued to tear the ship out from under his feet. “You might want to take a moment to seek reinforcements, me bitches. ’Cause it’s going to get bloody and I’m going to fight you with everything I am.”
And with that, he jumped into the midst of the troubled waters that had been sent to end him.
9
“He’s going to kill you, you know.”
Vine froze at that deep, resonate voice that sent shivers over her. It was so rich and masculine that the sound of it alone was practically enough to make a woman climax. Never mind what the sight of the man who held it could do to one’s senses.
Aye, he was gorgeous. Perfect. Delectable in every way. From the top of that long, wavy dark hair to the tips of those black leather boots.
Even more so than her ex-husband, and Duel was the epitome of masculinity.
But then he wasn’t a god.
Jaden, however, was. Or at least he had been once upon a time ago. Before he’d fallen from grace by his own volition, and became enslaved to the Dark Ones.
Now he was nothing more than a servant. Like her.
Only there was nothing subservient about this magnificent beast. He still walked with the deadly lope of a predator. With the full knowledge of a creature well aware of the powers he commanded, and his original place in the universe.
Of the damage he could wreak and the lives he could take.
Al-Baraka. The broker who bartered between demons and the darker powers. He held the ultimate power over life and death. There was nothing he couldn’t do. No realm he couldn’t venture to, or soul he couldn’t claim.
Yet for all that, he was a houseboy nowadays, really.
But an incredibly sexy one. Tall and muscular with eerie mismatched eyes that beguiled and reviled simultaneously. One a vibrant deep green and the other a dark, earthy brown. Haunting in their contrasting shades, and set in a face of utter male perfection.
She paused in the dismal corridor of Noir’s palace, where the screams of the damned echoed as a constant reminder of why she didn’t want to fail in her mission. “What are you talking about?”
“Noir… or Kadar, rather. I really hate that mundane name Azura gave him. Never thought it quite fitting for such a treacherousbastard. He’s not going to let you live through this, you know. Once he’s done with you, he’s done with you. He’ll toss you aside like the garbage you are.”
“And I should trust you… why?”
“You shouldn’t. At all. I’ve betrayed everyone around me. Have no love ofyou,whatsoever. But there’s no one I hate more than my evil brother and sister. So you can trust in that hatred that will allow me to help you by screwing them.”
“That makes no sense.”
He smiled coldly. “It makes all the sense in our nonsensical universe. Trust me.” Then he stepped closer to her. “The Malachai is the one creature who can destroy Kadar. Yes?”
“It’s what I’ve been told.”
