"What do you really want from me?" Darkyn focused his dark, soulless gaze on him for the first time since arriving. "I cannot undo what I've done to your mate."

"I don't want you to," Gabriel replied firmly.

"You are satisfied with her."

"My mate is my concern, not yours." Uneasiness grew within Gabriel. Darkyn did have an interest in Deidre. There was more to the story of their deals. "One such as you is not capable of understanding how ...complex that relationship is."

"One such as me would view that relationship and my mate as a battle to be won."

"A battle," Gabriel said with a snort. "You've never been able to control yourself. You would bleed her dry the first night."

"You would hesitate to claim her as you should." The demon lord was bristling. "In fact, you did and do refuse to claim your mate. You're here because you doubt her and want me to tell you what she would not."

"No rush. We have eternity," Gabriel replied. He didn't know what nerve he hit, but he'd hit something. As irritated as he was with Darkyn's words, he was also fascinated by the idea the demon lord who prided himself on preying on the vulnerabilities of others was capable of being offended.

"Would you say the same about your underworld? You are happy to wait for the rebellion there to settle down?" Darkyn challenged. "The longer you let both deny you, the harder it becomes to win."

"Relationship advice from the Dark One," Gabriel said dryly.

For a moment, the demon lord looked ready to snap. Gabriel rested a hand on the hilt of his sword, waiting for it. Darkyn shrugged at last and relaxed.

"I won my battles, without being kicked out of my domain," the demon growled. "If you wish to return to yours, you know how to summon me."

"Would you be willing to let one of my dealers verify the route exists?"

"For free?"

"Verify not traverse."

Darkyn considered. "Very well. Summon him."

Landon.

A second demon appeared behind Darkyn. Landon arrived a moment later.

"Go with him to h.e.l.l. Verify there is a portal through h.e.l.l to our underworld," Gabriel instructed Landon.

The death-dealer stepped forward without hesitation. Darkyn's demon opened a portal, and the two disappeared.

Death and the Dark One stared at each other, a.s.sessing one another. Gabriel was never one for small talk. Instead, he reviewed what little he'd learned from Darkyn about the deals Deidre made and the issue of his death-dealers.

I won my battles. In the context, Gabriel almost thought Darkyn was admitting to taking a mate. But it wasn't likely, given the demon lord's renowned temper and thirst for blood. He was rumored to go through five to ten blood monkeys a day and was said to have single-handedly wiped out whole villages. Gabriel pitied even the foulest of demonesses, if Darkyn took her for his mate.

"Why did you choose this location?" Darkyn asked.

"It's where we met last time," Gabriel said with an unconcerned shrug. "It means something to you, though, doesn't it?"

"Not as such. A curiosity only. Right over there is where I sucked Harmony near-dry." Darkyn motioned to the wall across the kitchen.

Gabriel glanced the way indicated, noticing the blood on the wall. He didn't pity her, even after their relationship. She'd chosen a side deal with Darkyn and betrayed him.

Like Deidre, only Deidre came back from her deal with Darkyn. Standing before the Dark One, he grew more unsettled.

"Your women have a habit of seeking me out," Darkyn observed.

"Yeah, they seem to," Gabriel agreed, unwilling to let the Dark One see he was thinking the same thing. "At least you freed the one that matters." Inside, he was burning with anger at the reminder.

"I am pleased you feel that way."

Gabriel eyed him. He'd dealt with Darkyn a few times since the demon lord was released from his exile in the pits of h.e.l.l. The demon lord was brash, aggressive and almost always honest, until it came time to deal. Right now, the Dark One was amused but also satisfied, like he just won a deal Gabriel didn't know they made.

"Why?" Gabriel asked suspiciously.

"I went to great lengths to a.s.sist your mate. I am pleased that she turned out the way you wished."

"What were the terms?"

"A private deal is a private deal. You are not the only one who knows how to be discreet."

Gabriel was ready to challenge the Dark One when Landon and the demon reappeared. Landon's grim expression was enough to tell Gabriel the route to the underworld was there.

"If you have any desire to address the rebellion in the underworld, you know how to summon me," Darkyn said with a cunning smile. "But before you go, I want to show you something. It's for your eyes only."

Gabriel tossed his head towards the portal. Landon and the demon both went.

Darkyn was entirely too satisfied with himself for Gabriel's comfort. He shifted, waiting.

"Gabriel."

For a moment he was certain the familiar voice of a woman was a memory, perhaps brought on by standing in Deidre's apartment. Only when he sensed the approach of someone behind him did he realized it was real.

Gabriel turned. He had the sense of being in a dream.

She was real. Except she shouldn't be.

Chapter Ten.

"Deidre?" He faced her fully. "You're alive."

She nodded.

Stunned, he was speechless for a long moment. His eyes swept over her. Her hair was still pink and in a loose bun on the top of her head. She wore the clothing of the women of h.e.l.l: a black, silky, backless dress that reached the tip of her sandaled feet. The faded signs of ma.s.sive scarring were on one side of her neck while there was blood on the other, as if someone had just hurt her. Her eyes were red-rimmed, too, and his gaze rested on the tiny fangs resting on her plump lower lip.

"What the f.u.c.k is going on?" he demanded.

She jumped at the harsh words. She glanced at Darkyn, who was still. Silent. Watching. Gabriel couldn't take his eyes off the woman who had been his mate, for however brief a time.

"I, um, made a deal with Darkyn. I went to h.e.l.l and ..." Deidre drifted off. She crossed her arms, the range of emotions crossing her face too fast for him to decipher.

Suddenly, Andre's cryptic warning made sense.

"...had the tumor removed which happened to be past-Death's soul. Darkyn brought past-Death back, fulfilling their mystery-deal, and you were at the mercy of Darkyn," Gabriel finished.

She nodded. "As his mate."

"His mate." This was almost beyond Gabriel's ability to believe. He began to think this was a shape-shifter demon, like he originally thought about past-Death when she suddenly appeared.

He started towards her, senses trained to catch any movement from Darkyn before the demon attacked him. Darkyn did nothing. Deidre skirted away, placing the recliner between them. He stopped and searched her face.

"I just want to see the mating marks. That's it," he said.

She hesitated but nodded.

"You okay?" Gabriel asked in a hushed voice. His jaw was clenching and unclenching. He was tense enough to feel claustrophobic.

Another nod.

Gabriel stretched towards her slowly, afraid of spooking her. He had no idea what she'd been through the past few days at the hands of Darkyn. While she looked healthy, she bore blood on her neck that made him feel ill at the thought that Darkyn was bleeding her dry.

Deidre didn't move. He took her arm with one of the hands that had explored every part of her body or the body he thought was hers - not even a few hours before. He tugged her out from behind the chair then turned her gently. He pushed her hair over one shoulder, and his hands dropped.

"G.o.ds, Darkyn," he muttered, astonished.

She wore two mating markings: the Immortal tattoo and the mark of a blood-bound demon.

Deidre looked at the demon lord, and Gabriel followed her gaze. Darkyn's eyes were on Gabriel. The sense of satisfaction was there again, along with the faint smile that made Gabriel furious.

"I win this round," Darkyn said.

"Double bond. You weren't about to take a chance that you lose her," Gabriel said, grappling with the reasoning behind the demon lord's actions. From what he knew of demon blood bonds, they were restrictive on the two bound together to the point that they could never have another mate. What made Darkyn blood-bond Deidre?

Gabriel turned her to face him again. Deidre looked up at him, trembling. Gabriel didn't know what to say for a long minute. He was a f.u.c.king fool for trusting the G.o.ddess, even in her human form. Her secret now revealed, Gabriel understood why she'd refused to tell him.

What the f.u.c.k did he do now that he knew?

His attention fell again to the b.l.o.o.d.y neck of Darkyn's mate.

"Tell me Darkyn did that to you, and I'll f.u.c.king destroy him," he said.

Deidre shook her head, a smile slipping free. It lit up her features, and he saw the tiny fangs she was trying to hide.

"One of your death dealers attacked me," she said.

"What?" Gabriel growled.

"I came here to ... visit," she said with a quick glance at Darkyn that said she probably ventured out of h.e.l.l without telling her new mate. "They found me."

"Followed her," Darkyn corrected. "Your doing, Gabriel?"

"Of course not," he snapped.

"Harmony was with them," Deidre added.

"The b.i.t.c.h betrayed me to you, Darkyn. Which means this could be your doing."

"The funny thing about traitors," Darkyn replied. "You can't ever really trust them. Harmony was granted access to use h.e.l.l to go to your underworld. I can a.s.sure you if she's found going through my portals again, she'll be sent straight to me."

Gabriel studied the demon lord. He almost sounded ... protective of his mate. Which made no sense. If Darkyn told him about the death dealers attacking his mate, Gabriel would've ignored him. Coming from the sweet human before him, however, the news made Gabriel want to bargain for entry into h.e.l.l just so he could destroy those dealers who thought it was okay to hurt her.

"How many were here?" he asked Deidre.

"Two," she replied. "And Harmony."

"They hurt you," he said, lifting her chin to see the blood. No wound was there. Now that she possessed a fraction of the Dark One's power, she would heal instantly.

"Yes," she said. "Darkyn rescued me from them. He has the two I think."

Gabriel faced the demon lord. Darkyn stepped out of the corner where he stood.

"There were two who attacked my mate," the demon lord said. "I'm taking the dealer who hurt her."

Gabriel waited, sensing the Dark One wasn't finished.

"My ... spies report that you can't keep dealers and have no idea what's going on in the underworld. The other dealer you can have."

"This sounds like a favor," Gabriel said with a frown.

"It is."

"What do you want in return?"

"Harmony. When you find her."

The instinct that Darkyn was protective of a mate rose again. Gabriel considered. Darkyn had gone through the process to blood bind Deidre; he wasn't going to let his only source of food go. Ever. He also wasn't going to let anyone else threaten his blood monkey.

Deidre glanced at Darkyn in puzzlement, and Gabriel realized she didn't yet understand the depth of the Dark One's obligation to her.

"By letting them attack you, Harmony made a personal affront to the Dark One," Gabriel explained. "I can't imagine that will go well for her."

"What does that mean?" Deidre asked uncertainly.