Rhyn's Redemption (Book III, Rhyn Trilogy)

Chapter Eleven

The entire fortress was empty.  Rhyn ducked his head into a salon the size of half Kris’s castle.  He and Gabe had reached the gleaming marble palace at the center of the underworld just after dawn only to find it unguarded and missing its key occupant.

“This is just weird,” Gabe said again from down the hall. “She’s planning something.”

“A trap for her least favorite demon and assassin?”

“Trust me, if she wasn’t curious about you, you’d be dead-dead. She probably finds all this entertaining.”

Rhyn heard the note of pain in the death-dealer’s voice.  In a week’s time, Gabe had gone from quietly confident to troubled to lost.  The death-dealer was struggling with himself, a feeling Rhyn knew well.

“If she’s not here, where is she?” he asked.

“Out tormenting others.”

“In the underworld?”

“Yeah.” Gabriel fell quiet for a moment, looking around with a frown.  Death’s palace felt much like Hell had to Rhyn.  Something about it tugged at his power.

“At the stream … “ Rhyn started, watching Gabe carefully.

The death-dealer grimaced. “That was her.  Toying with you.  Testing you.”

“Could she be fighting demons?”

“Her guards are gone, which means they’re off tracking demons.  Death is unpredictable, but if I were to guess, she’s somewhere in the underworld.”

“Hiding?”

“No.  Toying with someone else.”

“Not Katie.  She’d have to kill her,” Rhyn said.

“Not us, not Katie, not the demons.  That leaves other Immortals.  Looks like we’re not the only ones here.”

Rhyn thought of Kiki, suspecting his brother went to Kris.  He wondered who Kris sent after him to make sure he didn’t follow through on his threat to confront Death. 

“We only have today,” he said. “Let’s find them.”

“You go.  I’ll wait here for her.  She always comes home,” Gabe said.

“Gabe, it’s not safe for you here.”

“My fate is sealed, Rhyn.  I’ve got nothing to lose now.  If she comes back, I can distract her, give you until midnight.”

Rhyn looked hard at his friend, sensing what the death-dealer didn’t say. He’d known Gabe was likely going to suffer worse than any of them, once he faced Death’s wrath.  There was regret mixed in with Gabriel’s resignation.  They’d known each other long enough for Rhyn to suspect Death would finally succeed in what she’d been doing to Gabe all these years: She was about to win the battle to crush his soul.

“There’s always hope, Gabe,” Rhyn said. “I’ll find a way to help you.  I swear it.”

“I’m beyond help, Rhyn.  I’ve always believed you could be all that Kris and Andre and your father were not.  Your half-demon nature makes you better prepared than all of them combined. I think that’s your fate, to follow in your father’s footsteps.”

“Kris might disagree.  Oh, and probably every other Immortal out there.”

“Katie knows it.  I know it.  I’m ready for my fate.  Do what you were born to do, Rhyn, and don’t think twice about me.”

“I spent years in Hell for a brother who hates me.  I’ll do whatever it takes to free my only friend from Death, Gabe,” Rhyn said firmly. He slapped Gabe on the arm. “You need to shave.  You look like shit.”