Chapter 9

I felt like someone had dropped an anvil on my chest. I was usually cool under pressure. I’d seen enough evil shit in my time that you’d think nothing would get to me. Not to mention, with my emotions turned off, it was strange that I was so uneasy. It was almost like my body was responding as if I was anxious—because with the thought that Oblivion might be lying low inside of me waiting for a chance to spring out and use me again was downright terrifying.

What that dragon did to me before...

I shuddered at the thought of it happening again. The last time I was under Oblivion’s influence, I nearly destroyed the world. I had plans and everything. I was going to do it. He had me so damn drunk on his lies that I was convinced he was going to make me a goddess.

But to Oblivion, I was a means to an end. And he wasn’t the kind of villain who didn’t learn his lessons. He wouldn’t let us trap him the same way we did the last time.

“Got anything on Alice and Muggs’ location?” I asked Mel. Her fingers flew across the tablet as she scanned Providence PD reports.

“Even after all this time, most of the activity remains centered on the Ridley Hotel,” she said. “Multiple units are still responding to calls there.”

Juliet frowned, brow furrowing. “Doesn’t make sense. We ran into those crazed cupids just outside of headquarters. That’s miles away from the hotel. What’s so damn special about that hotel that the focus remains there?”

I met her gaze and gave a grim nod. She had a point.

“Perhaps there’s a convergence around there,” Hailey suggested. “These cupids are otherworldly. They had to come from somewhere. Isn’t Willie still guarding the convergence near Exeter?”

I nodded. “If anything came through there, we’d know about it.”

“Which means there has to be another gateway somewhere that the cupids used to get here,” Hailey said. “But I doubt these creatures came here of their own accord. Someone summoned them.”

I shook my head. “They’re chaos creatures. Loyal to Oblivion.”

Hailey pinched her chin. “If you really saw Oblivion when that cupid thrust its arrows into your heart, perhaps that was the plan all along. But there must be someone out there doing Oblivion’s bidding to cause all this to begin with. A lot of random shit can come out of a convergence, but those portals to other dimensions and worlds don’t form bridges to whoever wants to use them. There are only a handful of beings across all the universes who can manipulate a convergence.”

“Makes sense.” I took a deep breath and held it a moment before I let it out. “But we can worry about who started this shit later. First, we have to stop the cupids, and if Oblivion manifests in me...”

“I know,” Juliet said with a sigh. “We still have to stop him if he shows up.”

“You may have to stop me, Juliet. You promised. If it comes to it, I’m trusting you’ll do what has to be done. Shouldn’t be hard, since we feel nothing for each other anymore.”

An awkward silence filled the air. I knew it was bullshit when I said it. It also came out harsher than I intended it. But why would she care? She was as numb as I was.

Yeah, Juliet and I weren’t swooning over one another anymore, but things were more complicated than that. We both knew we were happy when we were together. We enjoyed each other’s company. That meant something. But if she had to stake me, well, being numb to one another would make it easier than it would have been before all this happened.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Juliet rested a hand on her knee. “I get it. But you’re right. This condition might make it easier to do what has to be done, but it’s no blessing in disguise. It won’t be easy, regardless.”

“You gave me your word.” I focused forward, unable to make myself look her in the eye.

“I did.” Her voice was cold. Music to my ears—because the only tune I could tolerate at the moment was a dirge. It was what the situation required.

I took a deep breath and turned to face the team. “Enough talk. Time for action. Everyone arm up. We’re moving out in ten.”

I led the way to the armory, my duster billowing behind me. As I stepped through the doorway, the lights flickered on automatically. The armory was stocked with enough weapons and ammo to arm a small militia.

Juliet went straight for the crossbows. The compact recurve bows were easy to maneuver in close quarters, and the bolts could be fitted with stakes, explosives or grappling hooks. I chose a set of stainless steel bolts tipped with oak. “Don’t hesitate. If we have to take out Alice, that’s what we’ll have to do. Anything to help Muggs.”

“Presuming another cupid has not shot him since then,” Juliet added. “We don’t know what’s happened since we left them around the hotel.”

“Good point,” I nodded as I picked up an extra magazine of wood-tipped bullets and my trusty Glock.

Juliet tested the tension on her crossbow before slinging it over her shoulder. She grabbed a bandolier of bolts and a pair of silver daggers to strap to her thighs. I tried not to stare as she strapped the blades on, but I couldn’t help admiring her warrior physique.

Mel opted for a 9mm pistol and filled her pockets with extra magazines. Hailey just shook her head when I offered her a weapon.

“I don’t use weapons,” she said. “I might be the world’s most proficient blood witch. I couldn’t hit a target with a gun from ten feet away. I’ll stick to what I know.”

I nodded. “You and Pauli should focus on any cupids we encounter. Remember, if we can eliminate the cupids, everything else will resolve itself. But I can’t count on that. I’m going to focus on rescuing Muggs.”

Pauli tilted his head. “Honey, Pauli is used to handling more than one... thing... at a time. I’ll help Hailey with the cupids, but if I get a chance, I can zap in and out of wherever Muggs might be and get him back to you in seconds.”

I nodded at Pauli. “Good thinking. Your abilities could come in handy if we need to extract Muggs quickly.”

We loaded into the SUVs and sped toward the Ridley Hotel. Mel drove while Juliet and I took the backseat. The mood was tense. We didn’t know exactly what we’d encounter at that hotel, but it was bound to be a shitshow.

After a few minutes of silence, Mel glanced at us in the rearview mirror. “So...you two have any feelings coming back yet?”

I sighed, staring out the window into the night. “No. I’m still numb. The magic did a number on me.”

Juliet shook her head, fiddling with a bolt for her crossbow. “Same here. I wish I could feel something again, but it’s just empty inside.”

Mel laughed, turning her eyes back to the road. I furrowed my brow. “What’s so funny?”

“Because that’s the nature of relationships,” Mel said. “Cupid’s arrow or not, blood bonds or whatever, infatuation fades with every relationship. You can’t sustain those dizzy, head-over-heels feelings forever. At some point, you have to make a decision—do you commit to truly loving that person? When you do, love stops being an emotion and becomes a choice.”

I pondered her words. She was right. If people only stayed together on cloud nine, no one’s relationship would last beyond a year or two. Happiness doesn’t have to be contingent on a feeling. Perhaps Juliet and I had been given a gift—a chance to build something real now that the artificial passion had worn off. I mean, if we were human, it would be more obvious. Juliet and I were beautiful despite approaching the second half of our second century of existence. Humans age, get wrinkly, their youthful beauty fades. At some point, marriages that last have to move beyond physical attraction. Human eyes have to adapt to see a beauty that’s more than skin-deep.

For once, I realized humans had an advantage in that regard. Just because vampires kept their beauty didn’t mean that our relationships could endure based on it. Relationships caught up in the physical never grow. At some point, love has to mature. If it doesn’t, it won’t be half as satisfying as it could be.

Maybe that’s why so many vampires struggle with their relationships. We think that our ability to live indefinitely gives us an advantage. We can be together forever...

But very few vampires stay together for longer than a few years, a decade at most.

I reached over and took Juliet’s hand. She looked at me and smiled. There was still a connection, buried beneath the magic’s residue. We would find it again. Or we wouldn’t. Because our connection before would not last, anyway.

I squeezed Juliet’s hand, feeling a small spark of something stir within me. It wasn’t the raging fire, but a gentle warmth. Not an emotion, but knowledge that if we wanted to make things work, if we really enjoyed each other, then no cupid could spoil it. And all we needed was a spark—something to nurture into a steady blaze.

“When did you get so wise about relationships?” I asked Mel, a wry smile touching my lips.

She shrugged, eyes on the road ahead. “I watch Dr. Phil. I know things.”

Juliet and I both laughed at that. Leave it to Mel to gain romantic insights from daytime TV. But she wasn’t wrong. What Juliet and I had went deeper than manufactured passion. It would take time and care, but we could rebuild what we’d lost. It wouldn’t be the same as it was—but it could be something better. If we made the choice to pursue it.

If that damn dragon didn’t take me over again…

I caught Mel’s eye in the rear view mirror. She winked at me, then focused back on driving. We were getting close to the hotel now. People were doing it like dogs in the street all around us. Quite a sight. It dawned on me that even after we killed the cupids, these people would come to their senses totally confused about the whole affair. And affairs will have been had. The chaos wouldn’t end. How many marriages and families might be screwed over by this bullshit?

The cupids stoked passion. The rage that followed was human. Passions running roughshod over everything else. Every emotion had its place, but everything had to be kept in balance and perspective. When one thing, like lust, rules the roost, everything else goes askew. Passion stokes envy. Envy becomes rage, and rage turns violent. But that wasn’t the end. When this was over, there’d be shame, guilt, and regret.

Killing the cupids might cut off the root of the problem—but it was only the beginning of the chaos that Oblivion and his winged minions craved.

Mel’s advice helped me when it came to my relationship with Juliet. If we wanted it, we could make this work even if our feelings never returned. But that simple insight also highlighted the gravity of the problem the cupids caused.

Lives were already altered. Relationships were probably destroyed. In the past, all I ever thought about was killing the bad guys. But now, I saw things differently. Maybe it was because I’d had a relationship that was affected by all this bullshit. Maybe I’d just grown up a little. I never thought about the long term impact that my enemies had on human lives—but even if my team and I succeeded, if we won the battle, the echoes of Oblivion’s chaos would resonate for years… for entire lifetimes.