Karma had visited every deity she knew to visit, and summoned those whose names she had heard at one time or another. In all her encounters, not one was willing to hear her out, once they learned who exactly they were speaking to and that she was unwilling to part with favors, the currency of the deity world. The exception was Gabriel, the god Death, the only human-turned-deity in existence.
He found her sitting in the cold, dark cell in his Underworld, where she’d spent most of her life. It was a safe place, the only place she knew to go when she was upset. With her back to the corner, Karma toyed with one of the shackles that had been wrapped around her ankle for a millennium. The wall was cold against her back, the air musty, and the familiar, permanent twilight of the Underworld comforting.
“You can’t just drop in whenever you want,” Death said and crouched in front of her.
Karma glanced up at Gabriel, a massive man with dark hair and eyes, whose brooding presence was as ominous as his job title.
“Past-Death said I could as long as I don’t balance you or her while I’m visiting,” Karma said, referring to Gabriel’s mate, the goddess-turned-human who had appointed him to the position of Death before she retired.
Gabriel sighed. He sat in front of Karma and draped his arms over his knees.
“I don’t know where else to go,” Karma added. “This was my only home.”
“That’s fucked up.”
“I can’t find anyone to help me, Gabriel,” she said.
“If you stop threatening to balance people, it might help.”
“They deserve it.”
“Probably. But alienating them isn’t going to save your brother.”
“I don’t know what else to do.” Karma jiggled the chain connected to the shackle. “It’s my fault he’s down there. I balanced him, and now he might die. I thought he would’ve earned his deity powers back by now.”
“You were doing what you’re supposed to. Sometimes, our duties are difficult,” Gabriel said. “We all know the risks of being who we are and interacting with other deities.”
Karma couldn’t stop the guilt bubbling up inside her. “Then what do I do, if no one will listen to me? I have no favors to cash in. I only have five friends: my brother, you, the Deidres, and Stephanie.”
“You might have to let things run their course.”
“And if he dies?”
“He’s tough. He’ll survive. Besides, he’s part of the three bonds that must exist. Mates-blood-fate.”
Karma frowned, not liking this answer. Her brother was weak and vulnerable until he worked off his debt to her. If what Wynn had told her a few weeks ago were true, every deity in existence who had a bone to pick with Fate was throwing a favor at the Dark One to take his or her turn torturing her brother. Darkyn would likely keep him alive long enough to collect as many favors as he could, but once that was over, he had no incentive to release Fate.
“Would you tell me if he came up on your list?” Karma asked.
“What good would it do?” Gabriel responded. “You’re already on the verge of a breakdown.”
If her brother died, because she’d tried to help him become balanced …
“Holy shit. Don’t cry,” Gabriel said, sounding defeated. “I don’t think a cell in my prison is a proper home, but you can visit at will until he’s back. Try not to tell anyone else I’m harboring Karma.”
She smiled. “I won’t,” she promised. “Thank you.”
“Tonight is the monthly meeting of Humans Anonymous. Three of your friends will be there. Why don’t you come?”
Karma brightened.
“You have to promise not to balance any of us.”
“Karma will be good.”
“I’ll let the dealers know not to bother you here.” Gabriel rose and left her in her cell with the door open.
Karma knew it was for the death dealers’ sake, and not hers. She had no trouble balancing anyone who crossed her path, but she respected Gabriel’s domain enough not to balance anyone, unless she had his permission, or unless someone really, really needed it.
Karma sat back. She’d been ruminating over the only two options she had left: the Dark One and Wynn. Of the two, she preferred to speak to the Dark One but was afraid he wouldn’t even consider hearing her out when he was reaping the rewards of imprisoning Fate.
She’d shown unusual restraint in not offering up favors to sway deities to help her. As of this morning, she had depleted her other options when the last of the deities refused to work with her. Only one remained.
Karma summoned a portal and walked into the chilly, foggy place-between-places The door to Hell remained closed to her. With a deep breath, she did what she should have done the second she learned her brother had been imprisoned.
“Darkyn,” she breathed the name.
The Dark One, ever eager to exploit someone’s desperation or weakness, appeared through the gateway to Hell, as if waiting for her summons. A few inches taller than she was, he possessed cold eyes and fangs – and a merciless nature that made even her cautious. The lean demon was deceptively small and plain in appearance.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Why have you closed Hell to me? I thought you would have loved to have desperate people wandering into your domain,” she started.
“I didn’t close it to you,” he replied.
“Then why can’t I enter?”
He smiled, and she shivered. Nothing was as unsettling as a demon’s smile.
“Fine. I want to know the price of freeing my brother,” she said firmly.
“I heard you refuse to part with any favors. I have no other use for you, little goddess,” he assured her. The Dark One began circling her, unafraid of her power.
“I can balance you,” she replied.
“Not here you can’t,” he stated. “Which is why you chose here rather than elsewhere. You know you’re no match for me.”
The place-between-places was the domain of Death, a neutral territory for Immortals, deities and demons.
“I am the only deity who is a match for you!” she retorted, anger flooding her face with warmth.
“Really?” Darkyn asked with a cold half-smile. “Your brother tell you that?”
“I can balance anyone. It’s my duty.”
“Your brother and Past-Death threw you in a prison when you challenged my predecessor. Why do you think that is, if you could defeat me?”
Karma had asked herself the same question during her imprisonment in the Underworld. She’d yet to figure out the answer, especially when balancing the most unbalanced soul of all could possibly counter the amount of evil in the world in general.
In any case, if she died-dead in the process of taking on the Dark One, she was of no use to her brother. Peace and Past-Death had advised her to negotiate first, threaten second, balance third. It wasn’t in Karma’s nature to back down, and she hated the idea of bending her will to anyone, especially in a situation this critical.
If challenging Darkyn wasn’t on the table, she was forced to heed the advice of others.
“What is the price?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Wrong question,” Darkyn replied.
Karma paused to think. She’d thus far avoided offering up what everyone wanted from her. Uncertain if she was about to make the right decision, she plunged ahead. “Assuming I decided to part with any favors, how many would it take?”
“Ah. Much better.”
“But you will not answer her,” a second man’s voice asserted. Wynn stood in the glowing yellow doorway leading to the human world.
“You have no business here!” she told him, though her pulse began to race. “Pass through and leave us be.”
“I’m here to prevent you from making a deal you can’t possibly afford.” Wynn’s calm resembled Peace’s, but there was a sharp edge to this Ancient she’d cut herself on once already. She couldn’t balance him, couldn’t kill him, couldn’t trust him.
She had yet to determine what to do with Wynn.
The Dark One’s assessed Wynn briefly.
“I can handle this!” Karma snapped and returned her focus to Darkyn. “Answer my question.”
“He won’t answer,” Wynn said.
“Wynn, leave,” she ordered.
“I will not.”
Surprised, Karma turned to face him head on. She was accustomed to Immortals and deities alike being scared off, and in truth, some small part of her enjoyed the idea she intimidated everyone she met. Wynn hadn’t backed down from her in the office when she attempted to balance him, and he didn’t appear to be ready to retreat now. If not for Andre, she’d still be trapped in the catacombs.
With a glance towards Darkyn, Wynn moved closer, pausing within her comfort zone with no fear of her trying to balance him. They alone knew why, and she hated the fact he was the one person she couldn’t intimidate. If anything, he intimidated her, and she was unaccustomed to feeling powerless.
“This isn’t the right way,” Wynn said, gazing down at her. “You can’t play at this level.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m a goddess. This is my level!”
“Then you’ve assessed the Dark One’s plan, if you give him what he wants.”
Karma was quiet, suspicious.
“He’ll extort several favors from you, or perhaps, five or ten. Whatever you’re willing to pay, which is a significant amount, because we all know you’re desperate,” Wynn said. “You know what he’ll do if you agree?”
She folded her arms across her chest, reluctantly interested. She was already terrified of fucking up the Future by offering up favors after Fate’s warning. Her brother had told her Wynn was the most cunning man he’d ever met. The claim, spoken by Fate in anger, was a backhanded compliment, for even the god of the Future could appreciate a mastermind when he met one.
It was hard to walk away, when she needed help, and Wynn was the mastermind her brother claimed him to be. It was harder to walk away when the strange electricity bouncing between them made her want to step closer.
“With the first few favors, he’ll force you to balance those people he wants to disable, people important enough to interfere with his plans. I’m guessing one of those people might be Death, another me, and whoever else is currently in his way. He’ll trade the second few favors to those he owes, and they will force you to do their bidding,” Wynn explained. “Eventually, with the final favor, he’ll tell you to balance yourself, and that will be the end of Karma.”
She frowned. “You can’t know that,” she insisted.
“It’s what I would do, and I’m nowhere near as malicious as the Dark One.”
Karma glanced at the demon, who wore a chilling smile. “I don’t care what happens to me, as long as my brother is free,” she said.
“You do care what happens to someone like Gabriel, the only god powerful enough to stand up to Darkyn, or Stephanie, who I intend to appoint to lead the Council. My family is the only thing standing between Darkyn and the humans whose souls he wants to possess,” Wynn pressed. “What would your brother think, if you murdered the woman he loved? Or if you single-handedly caused the annihilation of humanity?”
The images in her mind unsettled her. Karma did not hesitate to kill when warranted, but she couldn’t imagine one decision could destroy an entire race. She was about to give Darkyn whatever he wanted without caring about the consequences.
Was this the Future her brother foresaw, if she traded any favors? Frustration flooded her, fed by the tension filling the air between her and Wynn.
“I have to do something,” she said, hating the despair in her voice. “I’ve spoken to every deity I knew to contact.”
“You have an open invitation to discuss courses of action with me,” Wynn replied. “I can assure you it’ll cost you much less than what Darkyn will require.”
“I assume you’ll try to trap me in the catacombs again.”
“No. I promise.”
Karma was silent, not because she was considering the dangerous offer, but because she’d never noticed how gorgeous his turquoise eyes were.
“We’re done here,” Wynn told Darkyn. “Please leave us alone.”
The Dark One complied.
Wynn waited with her, hands clasped behind his back, gaze on her. “You need help.”
“Not from you,” she said quickly. “I can handle this myself.”
“Like you did seconds ago with Darkyn?” he responded with a faint smile. “Your desperation could have destroyed the fabric of every world. You could have freed your brother, and in the four seconds you had together before the worlds ended, you might have been able to hug him.”
Karma flushed, this time with anger and embarrassment. Wynn’s rebuke was calm and measured, like the man himself. Somehow, his amused understatement was worse than yelling.
“You can’t compete in this game with those who have been mastering it for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years,” he finished.
In the terse silence that followed, while each of them waited for the other to back down, Karma noticed more about him than she cared to. She needed to focus on what he said, not on how the energy between them somehow stirred her blood, left her feeling fevered. The passage of time in the Underworld was unfixed, and she hadn’t cared what time of day it was in the human world when she summoned Darkyn.
Judging by Wynn’s appearance, it was late. His white hair was mussed, and he was casually dressed in chinos, sandals, and a gray t-shirt that clung to his shoulders and biceps. He cared for himself, which showed in his slender yet toned shape. His frame was that of a long-distance runner rather than the beefy forms of his sons. His fingernails were clean, his teeth bright, his clothing well-kept and clean. He smelled of some faint cologne and his own light scent. His movement was graceful and deliberate. Nothing he did wasted energy, and he didn’t take a step without already planning where his feet would land for the next dozen steps.
His caution, control and self-discipline fascinated her, because she possessed none of them.
The only thing marring his appearance: the bandage wrapped around his wrist that extended up his forearm. The stark contrast between white gauze and his midnight skin fascinated her, as did his striking features. He and Andre could have been twins with their chiseled jawlines, aquiline noses, large eyes the same shade of turquoise and high cheekbones.
It wasn’t just Wynn’s looks that distracted her. When she’d balanced his polluted soul, he’d displayed no fear or pain, and his eyes had never left hers. She had been killing him – and he hadn’t so much as flinched. She had the sense the world could implode, and he wouldn’t acknowledge any of it. He’d watch her instead, and together, untouched, they’d let the world crash and burn around them.
It was this unnerving connection that left Karma questioning the wisdom of challenging Wynn again. Some small trace of her warned her against it. Her own brother, who saw the Future, had been leery of Wynn.
Energy sizzled between them, the evidence of the involuntary mating bond.
For the second time, Karma chose with her mind instead of her heart and backed down. “I don’t need your help,” she told Wynn quietly and stepped away.
“You will.”
“I take it you’ll demand your favor?”
“Yes.”
Karma rolled her eyes.
“There are worse alternatives,” Wynn told her.
“I can’t think of one!” She circled him in the same predatory fashion Darkyn had her.
Wynn was still, relaxed and yet, she sensed he was too aware and sharp to ever be caught off guard. This, too, left her uneasy. She was too impulsive to care what the next moment would bring.
Wynn had probably already predicted what she’d do and created an elaborate, twenty step plan to react. Her brother had warned her that the Ancient was the smartest man he had ever known. He had also warned her never to make a deal with, or trust, Wynn. She sensed his danger without being able to pinpoint exactly how a mere Immortal could be any threat to a goddess.
Everything about Wynn vexed and intrigued her.
She should’ve walked away when Darkyn left. She hadn’t, and she wasn’t entirely certain why, except something about Wynn ensnared her attention the two times they’d met.
“It really doesn’t matter if there are a dozen alternatives,” Wynn said. “At some point, you’ll come to me.”
“Do you always challenge deities stronger than you?” she asked, pausing in front of him.
“Do your worst,” he replied. “Although, I think you already tried.” He lifted his bandaged arm in emphasis.
Karma whirled and walked away, done with this round of their game.
“The price goes up, the longer you wait,” he called after her.
She ignored him with effort. Instead of returning to Death’s Underworld, she strode through the yellow portal beckoning her, determined to find some humans to balance to help her take the edge off her wired energy.