Her Soul for Revenge

Zane asks gently probing questions to help Juniper admit that she regrets not fighting harder against the Libiri. He suggests that they playact this resistance now: She’ll run, and he’ll catch and mark her, feigning non-consent, though they’ll both know that she consented in reality. Juniper is confused that Zane offers kindness and that he’s arranging the bargain so that she’ll feel safe. She argues that Zane can’t “fix” her, but he denies wanting to. She agrees to run and let him catch her, feeling validated that he has shown consistent interest in her. She flees.

As Juniper runs, she’s consumed by memories of trying to climb out of the mine as a mysterious force called her from the darkness. In the present, she reminds herself that the panic she now feels is different, even when her body sees it as the same; she has chosen this deal with Zane. The more she runs, the more her fear transmutes into excitement. When she hears Zane, she trips into a gully; she’s temporarily thrust back into her memories, but he warns her not to “let It overtake [her]” (104), explaining the longstanding enmity between gods and demons.

Juniper slashes at Zane with her knife, cutting him; he likes this. He pins her to the ground, though he lets her stab at him again, encouraging her to keep going. He prompts her to lick the bloody knife and is pleased when she likes doing so. She watches his cuts begin to heal before her eyes as he prepares to mark her, binding their deal.

Zane thrills at Juniper’s viciousness, which he has never before found in a human. He’s surprised, however, that he wants to protect her from the pain of her memories. He felt jealous that the Deep One could still speak to her. He summons an aether knife, which he uses to cut off Juniper’s shirt. She’s self-conscious about the scars from the Libiri’s attack, but Zane counters that all of her is beautiful. They taunt one another about their mutual sexual attraction, and then Zane puts his mark on her chest, encouraging her to speak the words of their bargain so that she isn’t pulled back into her memories. They have oral and penetrative sex, both satisfied by the bond between them and by the physical encounter.

Despite the aches of the night’s physical exertions, Juniper is comforted by Zane murmuring possessive words to her. She tries to shoo him away, afraid to let him see her exhaustion, but he insists on taking care of her. She falls asleep as he carries her, too weary to protest.

Zane buzzes with satisfaction at having claimed Juniper’s soul after years of hunting her. He takes her to his home and washes her chastely while she remains asleep so that her wounds, healing uncommonly quickly due to her demonic bond, don’t get infected. He feels fury when he looks at the rough, brutal scars that the Libiri left on her. He puts Juniper to bed, startled by the strength of his emotional response to her.

Juniper wakes and is briefly confused before she remembers the previous night. She frets over the realization that he cleaned her, unused to being cared for. She looks at Zane’s mark on her chest in the mirror. It has already healed, and she notes that Zane took care to augment rather than disrupt the tattoos she put over the Libiri’s scars. She finds Zane’s mark more acceptable than her other scars because she chose it.

She moves through the large, empty house, grabbing a knife to feel safe. When Zane sneaks up on her, she stabs him in the chest, which only amuses him. He laughs at her astonishment that demons live in houses and do mundane human things like laundry. She’s suspicious when he offers food, but he explains that Hell’s Council discourages killing humans after a bargain; Zane wants to avoid their attention. This pragmatic explanation reassures Juniper.

Zane takes Juniper to a drive-in restaurant in Abelaum. She eats, ravenous, and they plan how to first attack the Libiri. She asks him to find Leon, locate Marcus’s body, and then kill Leon. Zane agrees to locate Marcus’s body, but refuses to harm Leon, which infuriates Juniper. Zane explains that Leon has been enslaved by the Hadleighs for a century; he hates Kent as much as Juniper does. Moreover, Zane and Leon are friends and former lovers who are closely bonded to one another. Juniper storms out of the car even though she’s only wearing a sheet wrapped around her, as her clothes are still being washed.

Zane stops her. Juniper accuses him of reneging on the deal; Zane counters that they’re partners, not commander and servant. He reassures her that Leon will strive not to protect the Hadleighs whenever possible. Juniper reluctantly agrees.

Zane recalls meeting Leon, who was mourning a human who died before Leon could bond their soul. Zane considers loving humans foolish, as their lives are short and they don’t treat loyalty with the same importance as demons do. However, he feels that his position on this matter is changing after meeting Juniper. He finds her anger frustrating, as he wants to soothe her but can’t figure out how.

Zane finds Leon pretending to be a security guard outside the building where Marcus was killed, as Kent used his magical control over Leon to compel him to do. They meet that evening at a pub, where the crowds of drunken people frustrate Leon. Zane sees Leon staring at Raelynn “Rae” Lawson (the protagonist of Her Soul to Take), who is sitting with the Hadleigh twins. Zane notes Leon’s fascination with Rae and warns him against anyone even tangentially associated with the Hadleighs. Without revealing his association with Juniper, Zane prods Leon into admitting that Marcus’s body is down in the mine. The demons teasingly argue about their long history and then head outside to smoke.

Zane and Leon catch Rae spying on them and flirt with her. Zane watches, enjoying being a voyeur, as Leon and Rae have manual sex, though Zane thinks of Juniper more than he pays attention to the couple before him. When Rae leaves, Zane teases Leon about his apparent infatuation, which Leon laments can’t go anywhere while he’s under Kent’s control. When they detect Eld in the distance, Leon goes to kill them.

Zane returns home to find Juniper burning Eld-repelling herbs and clutching her gun, anxious after hours of hearing them howling. He dislikes her panic and reassures her that the Eld won’t attack the house while he’s there. They taunt one another about liking sex and violence. He tells her about Marcus’s body being in the mine, which infuriates her. She attacks him with a knife, but he deflects; their proximity leads to another sexual encounter, during which he touches her with her unloaded gun. They taunt each other about who can resist their attraction the longest; Juniper is smug when she wins. They plan to retrieve Marcus’s body from the mine the next day.

Juniper reflects on how, during her years on the run, she never cultivated any close relationships, as they felt like a liability. She regularly had brief, casual sexual encounters, but she found them far less pleasurable than her recent encounters with Zane. She wakes, distracted by desire. She feigns confidence as she and Zane drive to the mines to retrieve Marcus’s body, reminding herself that she’s stronger and better equipped against danger than the last time she was there.

When she gets out of the car, she can hear the Deep One calling her name, which unsettles her immensely. Though she struggles with every step closer to the mine, she’s determined not to leave her brother’s body down in the place of her worst memories. Zane keeps calling out to her to distract her from her memories, which she finds intensely reassuring. When she sees charms made of fishbones, designed to repel the Eld, Zane tells her that they’re ineffective, despite their widespread use in Abelaum.

They open the mine shaft, which both Zane and Juniper find repellent. The Deep One’s voice grows louder in Juniper’s mind. They descend into the shaft, which smells horrifically of rot, and follow the scent to Marcus’s body.

Juniper is horrified to see that Marcus’s body has been battered and desecrated. Horrible creatures rest near his body; Zane cautions Juniper to be quiet so as not to disturb the monsters. While Zane carefully retrieves Marcus’s body, Juniper struggles to resist the voice of the Deep One, which calls to her. She looks down and sees tentacles winding around her legs. She screams, but when Zane calls her name, she realizes that the tentacles weren’t real but that her scream roused the creatures. The creatures can’t see, but they’re attuned to the slightest noise, which they use to try to trap Juniper for the Deep One.

Juniper and Zane flee, with Zane carrying Marcus. Juniper frantically shoots at the pursuing creatures, though the bullets wound them only briefly. Zane fights one of the monsters away before hauling Juniper and Marcus out of the mine. Juniper reels, feeling ashamed that she risked her and Zane’s safety for someone already dead.

Zane, injured, explains that the creatures were Gollums who serve the Deep One. The Deep One still wants Juniper, even after Marcus’s sacrifice, because it’s angry that she got away. When they reach Zane’s car, they laugh somewhat hysterically over the horrors they saw. Juniper tries to push away the gratitude she feels toward Zane.