Page 42 of A Touch of Brimstone

“But you do have weaknesses?”

He chuckled. “Of course, but none that I care to share.”

“You can zone?”

He shook his head. “Unlike the vampires, I don’t zone. I can only move between the Underworld and another location. For example, if I travel to your apartment, I must return home first before going to another destination.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. The disclosure of his limitation and information was clearly a struggle for him. He took a slow sip of wine. Both of us were in a state of wary apprehension. It weighed so heavily on me, it was doubtful that I kept it from my expression.

“Go on, Luna,” he urged. Averting my gaze to the garden, I tried to work out how to make my request in a persuasive way. This was a delicate dance.

“We both want this over and I just can’t totally stop my life to be at your beck and call, and I’m sure you have other responsibilities as well. I believe it would advantageous to us both if I didn’t have to rely on you or Anand to travel here.”

“You’d like to come to the Underworld freely, without an escort?” He seemed surprised.

“Not indefinitely. Just until the spells are undone. Then we return to our normal lives. You imprisoning the most horrible of the supernaturals while apparently pissing off the others, and me to my family, friends, job, and normal life with none of this.” I waved my hand, including him in it along with the mystical garden. It was a place of unique beauty that under any other circumstances I would have found enchanting.

“Is that what you truly want?” he asked. That confirmed he hadn’t destroyed all the Trapsens; he just didn’t want anyone else to have one.

My mind was winding around everything Nailah told me. Despite my suspicion that he was aware of everything she’d disclosed, I was committed to not betraying any of her confidences. I had to navigate delicately.

I nodded. Without Dominic and Anand being so entwined in my daily life, if things went into a downward spiral, I could escape. I had four thousand dollars in my savings account. It wouldn’t get me far, but I could lie low enough to figure things out.

“And?” he asked. “There seems to be more, Luna.” Relaxing back against the chair, he stared at me, cold wariness moving over his face. The smoldering fire in his eyes sent chills through me.

“I have every intention of helping you undo the spells, but I need to know that my friends and family are safe. No more erasing their memories—”

“I didn’t erase his memories, I simply manipulated aspects of it so he would forget the ring and what you told him.”

“Exactly. I want to protect the people I care about from that. Leave them out of this. I need you to make that oath to me and that whatever happens, I come out on the other side, alive and unharmed.”

It was a big ask. Go big or go home. Although going home wasn’t really an option.

Dominic’s jaw clenched like he was biting back words. Was he about to deny the request or stop himself from agreeing?

“He won’t make such a promise to you,” Helena hissed, a wine bottle in one hand and partially filled oversized wine glass in the other. She had changed into a shimmering, billowy, mint-green, long-sleeve dress. The severe bun she’d pulled her hair into made her features appear sharper.

Unconstrained anger filled her eyes, and it was directed solely at Dominic. “My brother is calculating and strategic at all times. For now, you are of use to him. Despite him finding you entertaining, it adds little value to your life. If he determines there’s more benefit to your death, he won’t think twice. But you don’t know that, do you, Luna?” She was gifted with her brother’s ability to add just the right inflection, modulation, and venom to make my name sound like a curse. Like something vile to be spat out.

Peeling her eyes from Dominic’s, she finally looked at me, staring at me over the glass before tossing back the remainder of the wine. “For now, you’re the queen in his game of chess. He will protect the queen, sacrificing anyone as a pawn to do so, including me.” She put the bottle and glass on the table and yanked up her sleeves, revealing rust-color interlocking glyphs encircling both of her wrists like manacles.

Dominic maintained a chilly indifference as he leveled his eyes with hers.

“You weren’t sacrificed. You offered yourself as a sacrifice by your actions,” he said, then took a leisurely drink, banked fire hot in his glare.

I shot up to standing, backing away when Helena grabbed the wine bottle off the table, smashed it against the edge, and pointed the jagged edges of the bottle at him.

Fuck this psychotic family. This level of dysfunction was only acceptable in poorly scripted TV. I did not know what to do. Should I attempt to deescalate the situation? Was that even possible? Or maybe this was the time to call their father? Hey, Lord of the Underworld, come get your terrible ass kids. One is about to assault the other. The one being assaulted doesn’t seem too worried about it.

Dominic remained unbothered, choosing to take another slow, indulgent sip from his glass.

Helena’s anger was stormy and pervasive. “Return my fucking magic!” Helena shrieked, bringing the jagged glass toward his neck, which Dominic was so kindly baring to her. A taunt and a challenge.

Frozen in indecision, Helena seemed coiled for violence. Her breath came at irregular clips. It might have been the first time she didn’t give in to her first impulse. That denial showed in the furl of her frown.

In helpless rage, she released the bottle at his feet. While they held each other’s stare in an icy silence that stretched, I became a voyeur, gawking at a family dispute instead of having the good grace to look away.

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