the others were waiting impatiently when he got back into town. greta had fallen asleep curled up next to dayne, and a few of the others seemed like they were about to drop as well. about a hundred of his demons were gathered, waiting for word. among them were daria and jackson, several of the demons who had guarded tam, and some who apparently didn't think she was all that bad. either that, or they understood the value of stopping jack before the world slipped into complete chaos.

cain cleared his throat, and a few of those who had been snoozing sat up. "i'm going to need everybody to rest or feed. whatever you need to do to replenish. the vampire finally gave up jack's location as well as other information. i was very persuasive. we're going in tomorrow night."

"tomorrow night? why not now?" anna demanded. "luc, are you going to let him..."

luc shook his head at her in warning, and cain continued, used to the woman's histrionics by now. "we can't fight him before tomorrow night. he has to start the ritual. it'll be his one weak moment when he's absorbing her power. he'll be unable to defend himself, and that's when we'll all strike."

he worked to keep his face indifferent. it had become exhausting wearing this mask. jack might not kill her before the full moon, but he could be doing anything to her in the meantime. it wasn't hard to imagine what the cycler might like to do with his former lover. and cain couldn't stop him from hurting her. he'd lose the battle and the war if he did. still, the demon wanted nothing more than to blaze in and rip the bastard's head off.

"if he'll be so weak, why does it take us all?" anthony snarked, not happy with having to play the minion role.

"do you want to take any chances? we're going to go in and annihilate him. i don't do losing. we have plenty of firepower to bring him down, but it'll take a lot to kill him. there are only two ways they die for real, by the hand of one of their own, or by a very strong and old preternatural being, using their power. i can throw a bunch of fire at him, but i can't actually do him in. do any of you girl demons want to fuck him?"

they all made faces. it was just as well. as strong as the cycler had become, odds were bad any of his succubi could successfully do it, anyway.

"so that means i'm going to need demons to throw distractions at him, vampires to drain him, and magic users to block him. he'll be weaker during the ritual, but he won't be dead. i don't want to make the mistake of underestimating him. this whole time he's led us around on a leash, not worrying we'd catch or stop him. i'm tired of games."

anthony looked like he was going to protest again, but instead he sighed and said, "i'll gather some vamps and my magic users."

"so you don't need us?" cole asked.

"you're welcome to join us," cain said, "but i don't need any shifters in this fight. therians can stay out of this if they like."

"what about jane?"

the demon knew cole wouldn't stay behind if his girl was fighting, and werewolves might get in the way this time. jane was young anyway. "she can sit this one out, too."

"i want you to stay at the penthouse until we get back," dayne said to his werecat.

"fine by me," greta said. "but be careful. don't be on the front lines."

"i can't make promises," the sorcerer said.

in reality, cain's plan was probably overkill, but he was taking no chances when it came to tam. he'd given up pretending he didn't have feelings for her. he'd deal with that-or go back to denial-when she was safe. he was sure they'd have a screaming match later to make everything feel normal again.

chapter fifteen

the light from the full moon shined down on tam through the opening at the top of the cavern. jack had tied her down and was getting all his carving tools and magical accoutrements ready.

he looked up at the light pouring in from the opening. "just like old times." he whistled a jaunty tune as he lined up his knives. "i would say 'this won't hurt a bit,' but there should be honesty between us in these last moments. don't you think, my dear?"

tam gathered saliva in her mouth and spit on him as he walked past. he just laughed.

"nice try. but we've made it this long without killing each other, i intend to get the most out of this ritual by doing it right. the moon only needs to move another fraction and we'll be ready to begin." he was more chipper than she'd seen him since he'd taken her. for the most part up until this point, he'd kept her well fed, keeping her in a cage while she slept, but mostly he'd just watched her with disgust and glared-still not over the demon lover thing.

she'd hoped she'd dream about cain, but no dreams had come. did that mean they weren't meant to be? maybe it hadn't been long enough since he'd done it. maybe her shields were blocking it. maybe he'd done it wrong and they really had no true bond. she didn't know why it mattered so much to her, but she hadn't dreamed at all. there had been no respite while with jack. maybe he was keeping cain's dreams away from her out of his own jealousy.

would dreams have been better or worse? was there a softer side of cain she could have seen? hadn't she started to see it already?

she cringed as jack put a hand on her arm. "stay with me, tam. no thinking about your boyfriend. he's a demon. he doesn't care what happens to you. here's how it will go. i'll make a few small incisions so we can get a good blood drain going, then i'll start the chant. once i've absorbed all the magic i can, i get to start carving and eat something. you'll probably be alive for at least part of that. sorry. it's just how these things must go, i'm afraid."

he didn't look the least bit sorry.

she winced as he took a small knife and started to make little cuts down her arms, legs, and torso. this was really happening. a part of her hadn't believed it would. somehow, something or someone would stop it. another burst of anger surged through her at cain for letting this happen-for not killing her when he had the chance.

once the blood started flowing, jack raised his arms. his voice echoed off the cavern walls, drowning out the falling water nearby as he chanted. the chant was complicated and long, and at the rate she was losing blood, she wasn't grasping it all, already starting to feel a bit woozy from blood loss.

she lurched off the stone as she felt the magical pieces that made her who she was start to detach from her and go to jack. it was what made her angriest of all.

"fuck you!" she shouted at him, knowing she couldn't stop him from killing her, but hoping she could at least distract him enough to make his ritual less successful. if he'd had a brain in his head he would have put tape over her mouth for this. but maybe he'd wanted her to whimper and beg. maybe he'd wanted to give her one last chance to try to convince him to spare her and run off together. she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of either outcome.

loud footsteps came through the cavern, and hope blossomed inside her. she turned her head toward the opening to see cain. he looked angry when he saw her, so angry even she would have feared him.

"jack!" the demon growled.

the growl threw jack off the tiniest bit in his chanting, but then he went back to it. when he finished, he sneered. "it's too late to save her. i win."

"we'll see."

tam's eyes widened as demons fanned out around the perimeter, throwing fireballs in jack's direction. he deflected them easily with his magic, and then put up a barrier to protect himself from the fire. her heart sank. if this was all they had... but the demons kept throwing the fire, lighting up the inside of the cavern like fireworks until the barrier began to weaken. next, a group of vampires came in and swarmed on the distracted jack, fangs piercing all exposed expanses of flesh and ripping clothing away to expose more.

the demons stood back and let them feed, weakening him, though tam wasn't sure if any of them were old enough to kill him. she might be able to, since she was a cycler, but given her weakened state, that seemed unlikely.

magic users filed in next. a dark-haired man came near her to start his group chant while other magic users were distributing appropriate herbs. "you're going to love what i've come up with for you," he said to tam with a wink. "just watch jack, and listen to me. you'll know what to do... if you aren't too rusty on your latin."

she knew he was trying to draw a smile out of her, but she was too weak to smile. if they planned for her to help, that wasn't a great plan. cain reached her side then, working to cut through the ropes that held her down. he took the knife jack had been using to cut the center of his palm, using his blood to heal the wounds the cycler had left on her.

"it's too late," she said, "it won't do any good. i'm going to die-this time for real. i can feel it. this time it's different." it seemed so unfair.

"we'll talk about it in a minute, after you kill jack," cain said.

he was talking crazy, but she listened to the magic user's chant and watched jack anyway. his shirt had been ripped away in the vampire feeding frenzy, and his chest was exposed to the moonlight. as she listened to the words, and watched what happened to jack's chest, the way it seemed to ripple and be made of something that could easily be penetrated, she knew exactly what they wanted her to do.

whether they needed her to kill him for good or not, she couldn't be sure, but she knew cain got her well enough to know she didn't want to be rescued like some fair maiden. she wanted to be the one to kill the bastard that had terrorized her for centuries and taken her sister's life.

"thanks," she said, as he helped her up off the stone altar.

"you can thank me later. do your job now."

when they reached jack, he was screaming profanity. tam's hand sank right through him-the flesh and bone having softened like jell-o. the muscle throbbed in her head as she took his still-beating heart from his chest. when she'd done it, the vamps stopped feeding, and a single moment that spanned eternity passed as jack realized what she'd just done, how she'd finally ended him. her former love for him, her current hatred-it all blended together in the weakening pulse, everything good and bad inside him dying at once.

"now i've ripped your heart out. don't worry. i won't eat it."

he dropped to the ground, then his heart turned black and desiccated, turning to dust in her hand. his body soon followed suit, proving once and for all that he'd become something other than human.

"that's good enough for me. he's gone," cain said.

tam felt her legs go as she dropped to the ground. at first she feared killing jack had somehow killed her, too, but it was just the natural course of the death he'd already started in her. jack got the last laugh after all. she fought to keep her eyes open, hearing cain's command for everyone to leave him bouncing off the cave. then they were alone together.

his fingers threaded in hers. she jumped and opened her eyes when she felt a hard slap on her face. he looked... distraught. cain? maybe he did feel something for her after all.

"i can't help it. it's too late. i'm sorry. another life maybe." it felt like everything inside her was slowing down.

"stay with me." he squeezed her hand.

"i would if i could." and she meant it. she never thought she'd be so upset to leave the demon behind.

"no. stay. be my mate. please don't leave me here alone. i don't want to have to find you, i have you here, now."

her brain could barely catch up to what he was saying. had he said mate? forever? so much for breaking a cycle. but looking into his eyes, she didn't ever want to not be looking into them. he carried her back to the stone altar, and took the knife, cutting a slice down the center of each of her palms and each of his. "just say yes that you'll give me your soul when i finish. please, tam."

if she hadn't already been through this with anna and luc she would have balked about the whole soul thing, but she knew what it meant and what she'd be giving him. mixing blood and immortality had consequences. she knew that better than most. and here it was happening again in the same dark cavern, though at least they couldn't kill each other. this magic was different.

he shifted into the demon form. "i'm sorry, i have to be in this form. just for the blood ritual. i'll change back, after." he said it as if he feared she'd reject him if reminded too much of what he was.

this time the negative emotions pouring out of him didn't feel oppressive; they felt like his pain. pain she could fix just by being there and breaking his own cycle. the constant cycle of meaningless feeding and fucking without a real connection. the cycle of endless loneliness without a partner to go through life with.

he chanted the words over her in his demon language and she felt the magic flare up. if she'd had any doubts about this, they dissipated as the thoughts hurry hurry hurry before it's too late tore through her mind.

"yes, i'll give you my soul," she said when his chant ended. it was done. she was his. she could feel it. the moment she died, she'd be tied to him forever. for the first time, it felt like relief.

she used the last bit of strength that she had to say, "so are you finally going to kill me now?"

"it won't be much of a challenge," he said, shifting back to his pretty form. "i should let you just drop on your own for spite."

she couldn't even muster a glare or a snarky comeback. it was how she knew she only had a few minutes left.