Rachel Vincent - Before I Wake

And like Emma had. And Sophie. And Brant. And Scott. And countless others.

She was right.

I turned to follow her line of sight and froze, blinking in disbelief. A thin woman in designer jeans was rounding the corner of the jogging trail, where it disappeared into a thickly wooded area of the park. I knew that blond hair, perfectly cut and styled, and I knew that her eyes were blue, though I wasn’t close enough to see that for myself.

“Oh, no…” I whispered, not surprised to hear the hollow, shocked quality of my own voice. “Aunt Val.”

“OH, SHIT,” NASH breathed, and Emma stiffened in my peripheral vision.

“That’s Sophie’s mom?” Luca said.

“Yeah. She traded her life for Sophie’s last September,” Nash said, and I have to admit, I bristled.

“But it was Val’s fault Sophie died in the first place.” I didn’t want my aunt’s last-minute attempt to abort her own evil scheme to be confused with my mother’s genuine sacrifice on my behalf. They were two entirely different women. “And, no, that’s not Sophie’s mom. That’s a demon wearing her soul.”

“Speaking of…” Em said, and I glanced up again to see Sophie round the corner of the trail, calling after her mother.

“Sophie, no! ” I glanced at Nash. “Stay with Em. Please.” Then I took off with Luca, headed for my cousin. “Sophie, that’s not your mom!” I yelled again, and Sophie stopped, startled, wiping tears from her shell-shocked, tear-reddened face.

“I know, but…”

Aunt Val crossed her arms over her chest and studied me without even looking back at Sophie. “You must be Kaylee.”

I slowed to a stop ten feet away, but Luca ran past the hellion and hugged Sophie so tight he actually lifted her from the ground as he pulled her away from the hellion.

“And you would be…?” I couldn’t tear my gaze from my aunt’s imposter. She wasn’t Sophie’s mom. Intellectually, I knew that. But there was something about the way she moved Aunt Val’s body, like she knew it. Like she truly identified with the soul she wore. And suddenly I understood. “Belphegore.” The hellion of vanity who’d offered my aunt eternal youth and beauty.

“Who else?” Aunt Val’s mouth smiled, not too wide, not too much teeth. Just like she’d smiled in real life, to maximize the illusion of kindness and minimize wrinkles.

“She has my mom’s soul,” Sophie sobbed, clinging to Luca’s hand when he finally let her go. “Don’t let her cross over.”

I frowned at the hellion in confusion.

“The younger Miss Cavanaugh has just been informed that when I cross back into the Netherworld, her mother’s soul will dissipate into the ether, scattered throughout both worlds for as long as it takes the soul to pull itself back together again. And that could take centuries.”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s like purgatory,” Tod said, and I whirled around to find him standing on my left. I started to reach for him, then stopped when I saw who stood next to him, her arm linked possessively through his.

Addison Page. She looked just like she had the day she’d died. Beautiful long blond hair and bright blue eyes. She had everything my aunt had ever wanted and gave it all up for fame and fortune in exchange for eternity at Avari’s mercy.

Whatever your weakness, there’s a hellion to exploit it.

“Is that…?” I said, and Tod nodded stiffly, his jaw clenched in fury. He was angrier than I’d ever seen him. “Avari,” I said, but my greeting felt more like a curse.

“Always a pleasure, Miss Cavanaugh,” the hellion said with Addy’s voice, and seeing him wear Addison bothered me more than any other form he’d ever taken—except for Alec’s. Avari glanced around at the rest of us through Addy’s wide blue eyes. “We appear to be missing a couple of guests… .”

“Guests?” I asked, but instead of answering, Avari disappeared. “What the hell is going on?” I demanded, but the only one who could have answered—Val/Belphegore—only smiled.

“Kaylee, I am so sorry,” Tod said as I stepped into the embrace he offered. “She— he —showed up the second you, Em, and Jayson crossed over, and he said you’d be fine. He gave his word.” And hellions couldn’t lie. “But he said if I went after you, he’d cross over, too, and Addy’s soul would…dissipate.”

Before I could ask what the hell that meant, or what the somehow-unified hoard of demons wanted, Emma shrieked behind us, and Nash’s shout of outrage echoed hers. I turned toward the pavilion just in time to see Addison grab Emma’s arm and disappear with her. Before I could even think to run toward them—not that that would have helped—Addison/Avari reappeared next to Val/Belphegore, Emma’s arm gripped tightly in her fist.

Em was crying, one hand pressed to her still-bleeding stomach. “What—?” she started, begging me with her gaze to explain.

A second later, Sophie squealed as Belphegore jerked her out of Luca’s grip with a single brutal tug. Then she shoved Luca closer to me and Tod. “You three stay put,” she said with my aunt’s voice. “One move from any of you while we’re waiting for the last player in this little game, and the humans will die in a great deal of pain.”

Sophie whimpered and Emma moaned, in both pain and fear, as behind us, Nash’s footsteps thumped to a stop next to Tod. “What the hell? ” he demanded, but I was just as confused and horrified as he was by the parade of demons wearing faces from our past.

Belphegore ignored him and focused on Luca. “I can see what you’re thinking, necromancer. You think you can bring them back if they die, but they won’t be the same, will they? Do you really think either of them would appreciate your particular talents?”

Luca shook his head slowly, eyes narrowed in anger while most of the rest of us looked on in confusion.

“What’s up with all the dead people?” Nash stage-whispered.

“Aunt Val is Belphegore and Addison is Avari,” I said. “And when they cross over, the stolen souls will dissipate, doomed to wander both worlds for centuries, trying to coalesce. Or something like that.”

My explanation didn’t seem to help. “I’m assuming Kaylee didn’t invite the hellions to her birthday party, so the object of this little gathering would be…?”

“We’re still waiting for the big reveal,” Tod said. And as much as I hated waiting in ignorance, the alternative— suffering in ignorance—seemed infinitely worse.

“Sorry I’m late,” Thane said as he appeared in our midst, sunglasses sliding down the end of his nose. Before I could yell at him for what was obviously a betrayal of the deal we’d struck, he tugged on the hand he held and a waif of a girl with stringy blond hair stumbled forward.

“Lydia?”

“Kaylee?” Lydia’s eyes were wide and scared. Her clothes were dirty and her skin was pale. Where had Thane found her? Had she been living on the street?

“What the hell does this have to do with Lydia?” I demanded, but instead of answering, Avari looked around through Addison’s eyes at the group he’d assembled, then nodded his approval.

“If you want answers, you know how to get them,” he said with Addy’s voice. At her nod, Thane disappeared with Lydia in tow, and Belphegore disappeared with Sophie. And just like that, Aunt Val’s soul was gone, disintegrated and distributed across both worlds like dust scattered in an explosion for however long it would take all the bits to coalesce so she could be given a final rest. Or doomed to torture once again.

“Wait!” Tod shouted, and Avari turned to him with Addison’s wide-eyed look of expectance. “You said you wouldn’t cross if I didn’t go after Kaylee! You can’t go back on your word!” That no-lie rule was to hellions in the Netherworld what physics was to humans in our world—a law that could not be broken.