I dragged my eyes from the ground and met his. My adrenaline was up, ready for the conclusion to this adventure…and yet, my heart was heavy, knowing what the consequences of this would be. I squeezed Seth's hands and stepped closer, resting my head against his chest. His heart beat heavy within. No doubt his emotions were tangled up as well.
"I know," I said softly. "I feel the same way."
He held me tight and kissed my forehead. "When we find Jerome…when you free him…it'll go quickly, won't it?"
"Yeah. I don't know how long it'll take, but…well, I think it'll be pretty fast. That's how it was when he was taken."
"And that's it."
"I guess."
We stood there, both of us hurting and confused. I didn't think anything could be worse than when Seth had forcibly ended things back in December. I understood now that he'd done it because he thought it would be for the greater good, but it still smarted. And this…this was a pain of a different type. When Seth and I first kissed back at my apartment, I thought this could all be a vacation for me, just as it was for the vampires. Seth would be my sunshine, something I could have a brief fling with before returning to my dreary immortality. I could take the memories with me, and that would be enough.
Only now, standing with him, I realized it wouldn't be enough. It would only hurt more now, knowing exactly what I could never have again. I would never make love with Seth again, never have these intimate moments of comfort and rapport. He wasn't mine anymore. He never could be again.
"I don't know what to do," Seth said, kissing my forehead.
"What do you mean? We don't have a choice."
"We always have a choice, Thetis. After this, even when you're a succubus again…I don't know. I wanted so badly to protect you from all the world's hurts. I still do. But after being with you this last week, I'm starting to wonder if-"
"You have got to be fucking kidding me."
Seth and I looked up in surprise. I would have expected Roman to come bust up our romantic interlude or maybe even Grace, in defense of her prize. What I was not expecting, however, was Dante.
I didn't know where he'd come from. He stepped around the side of the rock like he'd been lurking behind it, but I suspected he'd just walked up to us unnoticed in our moment of lovers' angst. Anger radiated off him, and his eyes were as dark and stormy as the sea beyond us. And as soon as I saw him, I needed no drawn-out questioning, no build-up to a revelation. I didn't need to ask what he was doing there because I suddenly knew.
"You're the summoner," I said.
"Of course." There was a dismissive tone to his voice as he said that, like it was an insult that anyone else could have played that role. "Who else? I wasn't kidding when I told you I was the best in the area. I can't honestly believe you never even considered me. No, scratch that. Of course I can believe that. No matter how jaded or sorrowful you get, there's still that Pollyanna piece of you that wants to believe the best in those you care about."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," I said, feeling my own anger grow. Being played this whole time was bad enough. But being played by my own boyfriend? Unacceptable. And yet…he was right. It had been stupid of me not to consider him, yet I couldn't believe he would have subjected me to all this torment.
"It is a bad thing. I was hoping I could break you of it, but I guess not." His eyes flicked to Seth's face and then back to mine. "Of course, I can't really talk about naïveté since you were screwing me over this whole time. Or, well, screwing him."
There wasn't really anything I could respond with. I could hardly say, "It's not what you think," because…well, it was exactly what he thought. Regardless of his role in Jerome's summoning, the fact remained that I had cheated on Dante, and I'd been caught.
"I'm sorry," I said lamely, my hand still clutching Seth's tightly. He'd taken a step forward. He wasn't blocking me from Dante, but there was definitely a protective stance going on.
"Yes, yes, I know." Dante gave an exasperated sigh. "Damn it, Georgina. What does it take with you? I never gave you shit about your job. I was trying to make a good life for us. And yet…you still went back to him . As soon as you could fuck him without hurting him, you jumped right on it."
"Trying to make a good life…is that why you did all this?" I remembered Greg's comments about how anyone assisting a demon in this affair would be getting paid in concubines and TVs. In Dante's case, it had been much more basic. He'd simply been paid in money, enough to buy me jewelry and flowers and start talking about sharing a home with me.
"Succubus, what else was I supposed to do?" He was still speaking to me in a mocking tone, but I could see the raw anguish on his features. It tore at my heart. "You can enslave kings and rock stars. There was no way you were going to stick with me forever, not where I was going. The palms barely pay the bills, and the window for when my spells could really pay off has passed."
"None of that mattered," I said resolutely. "I would have stayed…" Yet, even as I spoke, I recognized the contradiction. So did Dante, as he gestured at a thus-far silent Seth. Seth seemed very intent on something.
Dante rolled his eyes. "Yes. Clearly."
"I never wanted this…never wanted you to literally make deals with the devil."
"What did you expect from me? You know what I am. You got involved with me because you wanted to walk on the dark side. This deal was my biggest chance-the biggest payoff I was going to get for my power. She needed the best, and she could pay for my services."
"She…Grace."
Dante gave me a twisted smile. "I should have known you'd figured that part out too and had been sitting on it. Even when you trusted me…you still didn't really trust me. Maybe you aren't as oblivious as I thought. And when I got to your place and saw the atlas-well, that's when I knew I'd underestimated you. You're lucky Grace just sent me up here and didn't come herself. We might get you out of here alive after all."
Seth and I still stood close, close enough that when he spoke into my ear, he barely had to raise his voice at all. "The watch," he breathed. "It's in the watch."
I had no time to process that further because suddenly, Seth broke from me and advanced on Dante. "Look, just leave her alone, okay? You caught her. She caught you. Call it even, and let us go." I stared. It was uncharacteristically aggressive for him.
"Even?" exclaimed Dante. "It is not even. I did what I did because I love her."
Seth's voice was level yet hard. "Love her? You got her caught up in that cult mess. You nearly got her killed by a demon."
Dante glowered and took a step toward Seth. "That wasn't supposed to happen. Jerome came up with the Canada thing on the fly. She wasn't supposed to be caught in the middle of this. The plan was for her to wait out the stasis like everyone else, and then return to normal once Grace was in power. Grace messed up when she told Nanette about her meddling, but then Grace made sure Nanette wouldn't fuck with her again. I worked to keep Georgina safe." Cedric had told the truth. He really hadn't told Nanette about my theories; Grace had.
"Yeah, you did a great job."
"It's not my fault!" yelled Dante. "Say what you want about me, my reasons were noble. Whereas hers"-he pointed at me-"were in keeping with the selfish little whore she's been her entire life."
And then…the unexpected truly happened. Seth sprang forward and punched Dante. I didn't know what was more surprising, that Seth would be so aggressive or that he could throw such a clean punch. He'd thrown himself at a mugger once, and while it had been wonderfully brave, it hadn't been nearly as precise or coordinated. I had no idea where he'd learned that. Dante appeared as startled as me. He staggered back from the blow and took a moment to recover. Then, with a snarl, he leapt toward Seth. Seth only partially dodged the blow-on purpose, it seemed-and fell back with the impact, causing both men to collapse to the ground.