40. Dani

“You don't want to be a part of what comes next.”

“I don't want to be a part of what's happening now!”

Catalina purses her lips, the barrel of her gun still aimed at my chest. “You don't have much of a choice, sweetling. Your fate was decided the moment you put that ring on your little finger.”

“My fate?” Jesus, what the hell was she talking about? Oracles? Witches? There was no way that I was a part of their world!

Rose moves next to me, her brow furrowed as she glares at the devil standing before us. “If you shoot her—”

“You'll do what, exactly? Blast me with your magic?” The vampire scoffs. “Darling, I'll rip out your pretty little throat before you can blink. No, I think you've meddled enough already, puppetmaster. And once again, I'm forced to clean up the mess.” Her blood-red eyes lock onto the blonde's and my stomach drops. “Now leave before I change my mind and kill you where you stand.”

Marco steps forward just as Rose's shoulders slump in compliance but Catalina turns her hypnotic gaze upon him, freezing the bear in place. “You can take the girl back to the Second Precinct on your own volition or while under my charm, Marco, but either way you will take her back.”

This was no longer a request. 'It never is with her,' Ashe's words ring in my ears and I bite back a groan. “I'll be fine, Marco.” I place a hand on his arm and give it a gentle squeeze. “Please, look after Rose.”

He fixes me with a concerned stare. “You sure about this?”

No. But I don't really have much of a choice in the matter. Catalina might just kill us all, anyway.

I offer the bear a curt nod. “I'll see you soon.”

He doesn't look convinced, but thankfully he decides not to argue. I didn't have the heart for it and I was pretty sure that Catalina was running low on patience. And, wherever she was, Ashe was most likely running out of time.

“Be careful,” he warns as he places a hand on my shoulder. “Don't let them intimidate you into doing something that'll put your life in danger. Get Ashe back and then get both your asses the hell out of here.”

I watch as he escorts an obedient Rose to the garage before turning to Catalina once more. My insides twist as I force myself to meet her glare and, swallowing down my fear, I ask, “So how do we summon Ashe?”

“We don't do anything.” The devil adjusts her grip on the pistol and the ball of fear jumps right back up my throat. “Call her to you.”

“H-how?” How did she expect me to do this with a freaking gun pointed at me? I still don't even know how the damn thing works!

“You have to will it,” Nadia says as she lowers herself onto a chair. “It is not an easy thing to do, but given enough time the bond between the ring and your soul will only grow stronger. Many demons fight it at first but, eventually, your will becomes one with the ring. Ashe will have no choice but to obey.”

“I don't think our young cambion has that choice now, old friend.”

“But I've only been wearing it for a few weeks!” I didn't even know her, not really. Not how I'd like to . . .

The memory of our kiss, of how I had accidentally commanded her to do it and how quickly she had complied, stirs in my mind and a heat flushes my cheeks. Was that moment of intoxicated euphoria, the passion in the way our lips fit together so perfectly and the feeling that lingered long after my skin grew cold from the absence of her touch, only because of the ring? It felt real enough to me, all the way down to my bones. But did it really mean nothing to her?

“And yet already you've managed to both summon Ashe and command her on more than one occasion. You move in fast, like a virus. Or a ghost.”

Despite the muscles in my jaw clenching at her words, my blush deepens. “I didn't mean for any of that to happen. I'm not like you, I would never intentionally have her do something against her will!”

“But you did anyway. With such ease for a human untouched by magic, I might add, and in so little time. Just like the others.” Catalina clucks her tongue thoughtfully against her teeth. “They didn't know the sort of power they possessed, either. I'm still not entirely sure that I'm convinced and yet the similarities are too great to simply ignore any longer.”

“It is the only explanation, Catalina.”

My chest tightens. “Explanation for what?”

“For this effect you seem to have over Ashe. For the infatuation that you clearly have for her.” The vampire runs her tongue over her lips, tracing the tips of her fangs as her crimson eyes flicker over my features. “I suspect that your soul has been bound to Ashe's ring long before you ever put it on your little finger.”

Like soul mates? I've read about people experiencing such things, about how they felt a spark from the moment they met their partner and how they felt like they've known each other their whole lives. I even allowed myself to fantasize that such a spark existed between Ashe and I ever since I saw her enter the café for the first time in all her radiant beauty. I was captivated by her then; every interaction we've had since has only fueled that belief.

But past lives, demons and magic rings? Even in my wildest dreams I never imagined it playing out like this! “How is that even possible?”

“The soul ring binds itself to a soul,” Nadia chimes in. “That is the price of such magic. You are an Oracle, a guardian of the Veil, descended from an ancient divine bloodline. Unlike other mortals of this realm, your soul does not cross over upon death. You have lived many lives. And, if what your friend says is true, it would seem that you have lived once before as Jeanne d'Arc. I believe you have lived as Emelie, as well.” Her electric gaze cuts to Catalina. “It is no coincidence that the only humans to have worn her ring all shared the same soul.”

It feels like the ground is about to give way and swallow me whole. “T-that's not possible.” It can't be possible! I wasn't the reincarnation of some medieval war hero. I'm just a barista who couldn't even make it through college! The only remarkable thing I've ever done was put together a bookshelf I once ordered online without looking at the instructions!

“That French whore of a farm girl was the first to ever wear Ashe's ring. Neither of them knew the significance of what that meant and if I had known what she was I never would have—”

“You were not there, Catalina,” Nadia interrupts, her steady voice a stark contrast to the primal rage that had started to seep into Catalina's own. “And there was no way for us to know that the girl was an Oracle.”

“No, I suppose not.” The vampire's nostrils flare as she levels her gaze with mine. “Despite their ignorance at the time, that small misguided act of love has damned you both.”

The wild beating of my heart thrums in my ears as my brain struggles to comprehend what they were implying. It was like trying to catch moths in the dark, but the truth of their words fluttered just out of my reach. “What does that even mean?”

“It means that your soul has been tied to Ashe's ever since that fateful little mistake. A mistake that somehow keeps finding its way back to her.” Catalina frowns, her eyes narrowing as her trigger finger twitches. “And we're all fucked because of it.”

'It was a mistake. I never should have saved your life.'

I swallow the lump that had formed in my throat as I shove aside the redhead's harsh words from the night I put on her ring. The night my whole world changed. “Does Ashe know about any of this?”

“No,” the devil growls, her voice dripping with venom. “And I plan on keeping it that way.”

'The lies we're told are easier to digest.'

Despite the fear that gripped me and the uncertainty that swirled around me, a gnawing anger started to simmer in my gut. Anger at this bitch for her constant threats to my life. Anger at Rose for ambushing Ashe and sending her away when I needed her most. Anger at myself for agreeing to help these women cover up the truth behind Ashe's very existence, thinking that I was saving her from herself, only to have them try to do the same thing all over again. Anger at the universe for showing me the piece that had been missing from my heart, a piece that I couldn't fill no matter who I tried to shape it to, only to swoop in and try to rip it all away. I was angry with all of it. And that anger was rising.

“You're asking me to lie to her? Again?” I already felt guilty for even suggesting that they erase the memory of why she was born. After finally getting an answer to that burning question of why I felt this way about her, how could I keep something like this a secret from her, too?

“No, sweetling. I expect you to.”

The muscles in Catalina's neck constrict as I return her glare. “Secrets rule your world, not mine. I won't keep lying to everyone. I won't keep lying to Ashe!”

“If she finds out what you are—who you were—then she will do everything in her power to try and keep you.”

“Why is that such a bad thing?”

“Because you will die anyway, just as the others did. Soul rings are usually harmless against the ones who wear them, often taking decades to drain their life force. But you are an Oracle and your soul is too tantalizing for the ring to resist.”

“Y-you mean the ring will . . .” Jesus, could her ring really kill me? “How is that even possible? Why would witches even make something like that?”

“Power comes at a price. And if the weight of your own powers don't kill you then the ring's magic eventually will. If you stay bound to her long enough for that to happen then Ashe will lose her mind. You're only a foolish girl to her now. Your death will mean nothing and, if we must, Nadia can wipe her memories again. But you saw how difficult that was for her when Ashe was consumed by her own anger. It'll be just as difficult when she is consumed by her grief!”

“Absolving her of her pain is not as easy as it once was,” Nadia adds, her tone calm and collected as she draws my attention. “Her mind cannot take much more.”

'It wouldn't be the first time we've protected her in this way, old friend.' Catalina's words echo in my head and the truth behind them hits me like a sucker punch to the stomach. Was that really not the first time they've wiped Ashe's mind? “How many times have you done that to her?”

“As many times as it took to keep her demon contained. But the more she feeds it, the stronger it grows. She will not be able to keep her own emotions from surfacing. Not around you.”

'She will lose her mind if she falls in love with you.'

But I've also seen her beat it before. I've seen her reel in her anger rather than feed on it, fight rather than give in. I can help her!

“What if she can control it?”

“Can one control a rushing river or a wild flame?” Nadia shakes her head. “It takes a strong mind for a cambion to keep the scales of their emotions in balance. As you know, because of the power that flows through her veins Ashe is stronger than most. But around you she is weak. She strives to be human but indulging in such fallacies will tip those scales and she will lose herself. She will feed on it until it consumes her soul.”

“But what if you're wrong?”

Catalina scoffs and my hands ball into fists at the sound. Oh, how I wish I could punch her right in her pretty perfect face. “Emelie thought much like you do now when we tried to intervene. Ask her if she was right.”

“At least I care enough to try!”

“Whether you believe it or not, I actually do care about Ashe. I care about what happens to this realm, as well, which is why you need to unbind yourself—your soul—from that ring. It has been nothing but trouble these last six hundred years. At least now we know why.”

'Unbind yourself.' They might as well say that I needed to die for all the good 'unbinding' would do.

I roll my eyes. “Would letting her actually feel something really be the end of the goddamn world?”

Catalina and Nadia share a knowing look, a silent exchange between blood-red and white-hot lightning, before the demon clears her throat. “Ashe was born to break the Veil. Her birth has already made it unstable and has caused tears to appear. Her soul is the last barrier to the Veil breaking.”

“What do you mean?”

“It is the only thing that keeps her demon contained, but it is limited by her humanity. If she gives in to her nature and loses that which makes her human, then her demon will be set free. She will rip open the Veil and bring about the end of this realm as you know it. It is why we have protected her all these years and why Ashe cannot meet such a fate.” Nadia squares her gaze with mine. “Your death now may very well prevent an apocalypse later.”

“W-what kind of a choice is that?” What the hell were those witches thinking when they created her!

Catalina simply shrugs. “Think of it as a sacrifice for the greater good.”

I was nobody's martyr, and neither was Ashe! They were gambling with our fucking lives, here, and all she could do was just shrug like it was the easiest damn decision in the world?

I grit my teeth. “Well then why the hell don't you just kill me already?”

“We can't take your life by force, not without the ring's magic intervening. But it won't protect you from freely offering up your soul as a bargaining chip.”

“And I suppose you're the one who wants to make such a deal?” What a fitting sense of irony to make a deal with such a devil.

Her bright red lips curl into a sinister smirk and I repress the chill that creeps up my spine. “As much as I'd love to take you up on such an offer, sweetling, I'm afraid I can't. You must go to a Collector.”

“A what?”

“A demon who deals in soul trading,” Nadia says as if it was common knowledge.

“That's oddly unhelpful,” I mutter. “So explain it to me again, but this time let's pretend that I don't know shit about your world.”

“Because of what you are, simply killing you won't break the soulbinding magic. Even if we did succeed, you will only be reincarnated and your soul will eventually find its way back to Ashe, and we'll be right back in this mess soon enough. It's a vicious cycle, I'm afraid.” Catalina hums as she continues. “But Collectors are a special type of demon. Psychopomps, if you will. They were great tricksters and often led the souls of the recently deceased astray, promising safe passage to the afterlife and instead ferrying them through the Veil to other realms. After the doorways closed they became trapped, as many demons did, but some took advantage of their situation and created a rather successful niche market.”

They have a whole market for stealing souls? “That sounds terrible!”

“You'd be amazed what people are willing to trade for their own desires these days, and I hear that souls are oh so delicious.”

My heart stills at her words. “I-I thought demons only fed on emotions?”

“Not all of us eat souls,” Nadia chides. “But there are a few in the business of trading them.”

“Who in their right mind would want a soul?”

“Witches. Who else?”

I shake my head. “I don't think I follow. Aren't witches mortal? Don't they have their own souls?”

“All witches may be born gifted, sweetling,” Catalina explains, “but weaving magic has its price. For many the cost is trivial, such as headaches or fatigue as the magic takes its toll, but the scales must always be in balance.”

“So magic's like a loan shark?” It was the only comparison I could think of. “The more you borrow, the more you have to pay back?”

“That's a modern way to look at it.” The vampire smirks as she tilts her head. “The more you demand from magic, the more it demands from you. Lilith paid for her children's immortality with her own soul—a debt that is collected with interest each time a new one is reborn—as that was the only way for the spell to work, but most witches prefer to pay with someone else's when weaving magic beyond their abilities. A Collector provides them with such currency.”

My gaze flicks to Nadia. “So why can't she do it, then?” Wasn't she a demon? Didn't they all deal with souls, anyway?

Nadia shrugs. “I have no interest in such dealings and, even if I did, my own soul ring prevents me from striking such a bargain. Lilitu may have given up her soul for immortality, but my essence remains trapped within the magic. I am still bound to its will.”

Catalina tuts, as if she were scolding a child, and I bristle at the sickeningly seductive sound. “Such a stereotype to think that all demons have an interest in trading souls.” She grimaces, her mouth twisting as if she ate something sour. “You humans, always thinking that you're the only creatures in the universe to exist. That you're something . . . special.”

I find my own lips twisting into a scowl as the weight of everything settles over me like a dark cloud. Ashe had the blood of demon kings flowing in her veins, the same power that once tried to dominate this world as gods and enslave all of mankind, and I was stuck to a ring that was slowly killing me—if Catalina was to be trusted, that is. I didn't trust her as far as I could throw her, and if she was lying about all of this only to trick me into selling my soul to get Ashe's ring back then she was running one hell of a scam.

But if she was right . . . My soul for Ashe's sanity. My death to save the world.

'I'm not a hero, Dani.'

She had been so sure of those words, so adamant that she wasn't what I thought her to be. What Jeanne knew her to be the night she died. But Ashe has saved my life more than once now and without a second thought to her own safety. The rules of their world would dictate that I owed her a favor or two for doing such a thing. Could I be a hero for her now? Could I really sacrifice my soul to keep her from turning into the monster she could become, the demon from my nightmare?

“Where would I even find a Collector?” Jesus, did I really want to know the answer to that? That was like asking which tombstone would look better to mark my grave with!

“We can refer you to one after you bring Ashe back to us.” Of course they would know where to find a soul trader. “This is the only way.” That's not reassuring at all.

“Do I have to decide so soon?” The words escape me in a whisper as my stomach knots and I drop my gaze. This all felt so wrong. Was there really no other way?

“The sooner you break the soulbinding magic that has bound your undying soul to the ring, the sooner you will finally be free from it. Find love in your next life, Oracle, if you so desire.” A soft click! draws my attention and my heart stops as I'm once more staring down the barrel of her gun. “But you will not find it with Ashe. Now, call her to you.”

“I-I can't!”

“If you don't summon her then I will, and you won't like how I do it.”

I hold my arms out, as if that would stop her bullet. “I told you, I don't know how!”

Catalina narrows her eyes. “So be it.”

The muzzle flashes, silvery smoke filling my vision as a loud bang! reverberates off the living room walls. A scream vibrates in my throat, the shrill sound lost in the cacophony that rattles the air, and every muscle in my body tenses as I brace myself for the inevitable sting.

Something heavy slams into me, throwing me back on the couch with such force that I'm certain I was hit with a shotgun blast instead of her little pistol.

Holy fuck, she shot me! She actually shot me!

“Oh good,” Catalina croons as the ringing in my ears subsides. “You're back.”

***

I don't feel the sharp pain I'd expect from getting shot. A quick assessment reveals that my limbs are all intact and, as far as I can tell, I'm not bleeding out from anywhere.

I'm alive! Holy shit, I'm alive!

A low growl rumbles up from the floor and cautiously I peer over the side of the couch. Silver smoke swirls at my feet, dissipating into the floorboards as it rolls across the slumped form of a familiar figure. My eyes widen in shock.

Holy shit, she shot Ashe! The ring, it must have summoned her the moment Catalina pulled the trigger. She took a fucking bullet for me!

“Ashe!” I bolt off the couch and am at her side in the blink of an eye, my hands trembling as I run my fingers over her arms and back, checking for any sign of damage. “Jesus Christ, are you hit?”

The redhead grunts as I help her slowly to her feet, one hand clutching at her chest and the other draped across my shoulders. “Goddammit, Cat. You shot me!”

My eyes roam over her face, noticing how her eyebrows were drawn together and how the veins in her neck throbbed bright blue beneath her alabaster skin, before zeroing in on the blood seeping out from under her hand. Shit!

“Relax, love.” The vampire smiles, her fangs gleaming pearl white against her red lips. “It's only a flesh wound.”

“It's a silver bullet!”

Catalina hums. “Well, mostly a flesh wound. We'll need to dig it out soon but quit complaining. You've been through much worse.”

“Why were you shooting anyone?”

“We needed the girl to summon you and the quickest way to do that was by threatening her life. And if that didn't work”—she smirks—“then the bullet would have killed her and our little soulbound problem would be solved. It was a calculated risk and the odds were stacked in our favor either way.”

“Says the one who wasn't shot.” Ashe groans as she falls back on the couch. “It was Rose. Rose b-blindsided me and—”

“Yes, we're all well aware of the witch that lurked among us.” Catalina clucks her tongue. “You can deal with her later. Now that we're all up to speed, we need to deal with this little setback before it gets any worse.”

Ashe grimaces as she flicks her gaze to me. “You need better friends.”

“Like yours are any better,” I mutter under my breath as I sit next to her, placing my palm on the cushion between us. My fingers ached to touch her. Comfort her. Take away her pain.

The redhead's gruff laugh quickly morphs into a coughing fit and my eyes narrow as I scrutinize her condition. Jesus, I've seen her stabbed and scratched all to hell before. Now I've seen her shot. And by a silver bullet, no less. How am I supposed to fix this? How much more can her body take?

Whether intentional or not, her free hand slips into mine and my stomach flutters. But when she gives it a gentle, almost reassuring squeeze, my heart palpitates and in that moment I realize that I don't think I could ever let her go. How could something like this be so wrong when this, this moment felt so right?

“Will this kill her?”

“Our kind is allergic to silver,” Nadia says. “Ashe is half human so she is able to tolerate it to an extent, but leaving the bullet in can slow the progression of her healing. She may bleed out if we do not remove it so her body can properly heal.”

“But isn't her tattoo made of silver?”

“The Reaper's mark that's painted on her body is made of an enchanted ink with trace elements of both silver and her blood mixed in,” Catalina explains, a hint of boredom in her tone that makes my skin crawl. “But the magic is only skin deep. It was originally created to bind the weapon to cambions and so using it might feel a little uncomfortable for her but is otherwise harmless. Injecting silver directly into their bloodstream, however, would've reacted negatively with the sulfur in their blood and outright killed them.”

“Sulfur in their blood?” I knew enough about chemistry to know what happens when silver is introduced to a sulfuric compound. Is that why the metal was like kryptonite to the supernatural? Because of the blood disease that shifters carried and the curse that changed vampires into what they are today? Did they all have sulfur flowing through their veins?

“Silver may irritate our skin but as soon as it gets into our blood it becomes fatal.” Nadia hums as she glances at the redhead. “Cambions do not have as much sulfur in their blood as we do, but they are far from immune to its effects.”

My brow furrows as I turn my focus back to Ashe. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead and her breathing was labored as she pressed a hand against the wound in her chest. Rivulets of red ooze out from between her fingers and her veins glow as the fire in her blood churns, but it was the bluish black lines creeping up her neck like the tendrils of a spider's web just beneath her skin that sent my heart racing. That definitely didn't look good!

“W-what's happening to her?”

“Her body is trying to burn off the pain, but she is showing signs of silver poisoning,” Nadia observes, materializing before us. “She does not have much time.”

“I thought she was immortal?” Didn't immortality mean that she couldn't die?

“Immortal does not mean invincible. Her body is still human and her blood is weakening.” The demon's electric gaze flicks over Ashe's features before she leans back with a sigh. “Perhaps you should have considered the ramifications of pulling that trigger more carefully, Catalina. I fear that the bullet may have fragmented. We need to remove it before any more of the metal leaks into her bloodstream.”

“Gia ónoma tou Theoú, why is nothing ever so simple anymore?”

My breath hitches in my throat. “Remove it?”

Catalina tilts her chin and I notice for the first time that her bloodlust no longer shines in her eyes. “If we don't remove the silver then it will continue to poison her blood and clog her arteries. Eventually her heart will stop and I think you know what happens when a demon loses their heart.” She purses her lips as she places the pistol back into her handbag. “If that should come to pass then you may get your wish after all, sweetling. Ashe will die and the world will end, but you will finally be free.”

That's not what I wanted, not anymore! Not after everything I've learned, after everything we've been through! Not after she's awakened this feeling in me, a sense of warmth and longing that I didn't even know I possessed. Being around her had felt so natural, like coming home after being away for so long, and at first I couldn't make sense of it all. But it made sense now. She was my missing piece, my other half, my soul mate. I felt it in my goddamn bones and I wasn't about to lose it now that I finally found it!

There was no guarantee that my death would even break the soulbinding, anyway, just like there was no guarantee that Ashe would punch a hole in the Veil if she lost her soul. I wasn't about to bet our lives—our futures—on the speculations of a sexy succubus in stilettos who may very well have a sinister agenda of her own. Ashe was stronger than either of them gave her credit for; I can only hope that this bond we share proves to be just as strong.

Ashe's grip on my hand tightens as she struggles to sit up but I gently push her back down. “Try not to move,” I murmur. “We need to get you to a—”

“T-they know.” She grits her teeth as her hazel eyes meet mine with a look so fearful that it turns my blood to ice. “Dani, they know about my soul ring!”

-------------

A/N: Damn, Catalina was kind of a b*tch in this chapter and I loved it! This version of Cat was just as fun to write as jealous Dani, and I feel like we haven't seen the last of her just yet 👀

As always, thank you for reading! Please feel free to vote if you're enjoying the story :)