Embers

  Jonas placed a supportive hand on her shoulder. “It wasn’t until the death toll got too high that the other Primes acted. Our father was dead by then. The other Primes didn’t care about that. They didn’t care about the lives that were lost. They only stepped in because those deaths came close to attracting human attention,” he said bitterly.

  “Our mother fled with us.” Alethea’s eyes dulled with pain. “Cordell took us in, killed her, and made our lives a living hell. We had another sibling. Isaac was only three.”

  Jonas let out a shaky breath. “He was so small and frail. His body couldn’t take Cordell’s brutal ways. He died of internal injuries. And all that could have been avoided if the other Primes had just united to stand with our father. Instead, they turned a blind eye.” He glared at Knox. “You turned a blind eye. If you had stood with my father, the others would have left him alone out of blind terror.”

  “You’re not being realistic,” said Knox, bluntly. “Either that or you aren’t fully aware of the truth.”

  Alethea’s hands balled up into fists. “We know the truth.”

  “Then you know that your father aimed to build an army and declare war.” He noticed the way both siblings stiffened, but Knox went on, “He approached demons from many lairs and tried persuading them to join his side and be an ‘inside man’ for him, much like you did with Roan.”

  Houston had even tried it with Knox’s demons. Loyal to the bone, they’d come to Knox about it. He’d warned Houston that if he attempted such a thing again, Knox would put him through a world of pain. Houston hadn’t bothered him after that.

  “The Primes that targeted your father didn’t do so merely because his lair was small,” said Knox. “They did it because he was trying to turn their own demons against them. He’d even succeeded with some and ordered them to kill certain members of the lairs—often the anchors of the Primes or sentinels. Such a thing would never go ignored. I’m not sure who led you to believe he was good and honorable, but that isn’t the truth.”

  “Then why would Nora and Rhea have stood at his side?” Alethea challenged, red-faced, eyes blazing.

  “He had strong alliances with them. The rest of the Primes, including me, suspected that Nora and Rhea had agreed to band with him to form an army, but we couldn’t be sure, so no action was taken against them. Your father brought that devastation upon himself. His family, however, didn’t deserve to suffer for it. It’s regretful that you did—”

  “Regretful?” Alethea sneered. “Don’t pretend to feel compassion. It’s not an emotion you’re capable of. What you are very capable of doing is manipulating others, and that’s exactly what you’re trying to do to us right now. You’re feeding us lies, hoping to shake our faith in our father. It won’t work.”

  Yeah, Knox could see clearly enough that they wouldn’t believe him. “No one knew Cordell was abusing children. Not until after he’d turned rogue.”

  “Probably not,” said Jonas, face hard. “But I strongly doubt they would have intervened even if they had known. Nora and Rhea would have, but no one else would have given a damn.”

  They were wrong. Generally, Primes didn’t interfere in the business of other lairs unless their actions attracted human attention, but Knox would never have overlooked children being abused. Still, he didn’t say as much. The siblings would only think he was trying to placate them.

  “And now I’m done talking.” Jonas turned to Charles. “Get your iPhone out and be ready to start recording.”

  Knox, if you plan to do something, you need to—

  The shuck dipped, coiled to spring, and growled long and low in its throat. The noise made everybody stiffen. Except for Asher. Knox’s heart would have skipped a beat in panic, but it didn’t for the exact same reason that Jonas, Alethea, and Charles exchanged confused looks. The shuck wasn’t growling at Asher; it was growling at them.

  “Grant, stop pissing around,” Jonas snapped.

  The shuck barked and snapped its teeth so hard Knox was surprised they didn’t crack. The hellcat rounded Asher and sidled up to the shuck with a hiss of warning at Jonas, as if it also planned to protect Asher.

  It was the perfect moment for Knox to pyroport to his son and get him to safety, but his demon ushered him to remain still. To watch. To have faith in Asher and his own demon. Fuck if Knox would stay right where he was while his son was in danger, but then he froze as his demon did the unexpected. It finally told him what breed of demon Asher was.

  Not a sphinx. Not an archdemon. Not a hybrid. But a breed that had qualities of the two.

  Knox, do something, Harper urged.

  Knox met her eyes and echoed words he’d heard her earlier say to Alethea. I won’t have to.

  Just then, Asher’s face blanked and his eyes bled to black as his demon surfaced. It opened the palm of its little hand. Narrowed its eyes. And then the shuck—lightning-fucking-fast—lunged at the practitioner with a roar. It knocked him flat and ravaged him with teeth and claws. Charles screamed in agony, but it wasn’t just the shuck causing that pain. No, the practitioner was blurring around the edges. Like he was splitting. And then he did. His body sagged to the floor, eyes wide open, and his soul whooshed over to Asher and seemed to sink into his open palm.

  Looking at his mate’s face, Knox watched as shock, dread, and realization slammed into her. There was only one breed of demon that could call to souls that way. A rare breed. A feared breed. One that tended to remain in the abyss of hell.

  Jonas shook his head. “No. No, he’s a sphinx. Sphinxes cannot harvest and deliver souls to hell.”

  Anubis. The soft whisper came from Harper.

  Yes, he’s an Anubis, said Knox. It fit. Like sphinxes, they were of Egyptian descent. But instead of walking the Earth, they dwelled in the depths of hell and served it faithfully … just as archdemons did. Asher had a mother who could touch souls and a father who could kill as easily as he could breathe. Anubis demons could call to souls and deliver them to hell just as effortlessly as they could call to objects around them. They could also kill a person without even touching them, much like Knox could.

  What’s more, Anubis demons also drew and communicated with living death omens such as black cats, crows, owls … and black shucks.

  Breaths coming short and fast, Alethea bit out, “No. I am not dying today.”

  Jonas shot two balls of hellfire at the shuck and telekinetically sent it careering into a tree just as Harper’s cage abruptly went up in tri-colored flames that began to quickly eat through the iron bars.

  The incorporeal surged out of Charles’s body and flew at the hellcat just as the beast was leaping at Alethea, causing it to topple on the floor and whimper as it fought the incorporeal’s attempt to possess it.

  “Die, you little bastard!” Alethea shot a ball of hellfire at Asher, who let out a wave of gold energy that dissolved the orb and knocked her flat on her back.

  Levi and Tanner skidded out of the trees and went straight to Asher protectively just as Knox pyroported out of the box and moved to stand behind Jonas. Trusting Harper and his sentinels to deal with the hellcat and shuck, Knox snapped his hand around Jonas’s throat, baring his teeth. “Really, Jonas, how stupid can two people be?” Knox tossed him at a thick tree. Of course, Knox could have snapped his neck and killed him instantly, but he didn’t want him dead. No, he had much more interesting plans for Jonas and his bitch of a sister.

  Levi, Tanner—stay with Asher, Knox ordered. The hellcat and the shuck tried to protect Asher, but I don’t trust them. Don’t let them near him or allow them to escape.

  Struggling to his feet, Jonas threw an orb of hellfire at Knox, who sharply side-stepped it. Grabbing Alethea’s hand, Jonas dragged her toward the trees. Both tossed more balls of hellfire as they ran.

  Neatly avoiding the orbs, Knox asked, “And where is it you think you’re going?”

  *

  Harper stiffened as the ground tremored. Mere seconds later the air buzzed, pulsed, and
thickened with a power that purred against her skin. It was a power that lived inside Knox, and he was apparently setting it free. The sheer, raw force of it stung her eyes, squeezed her chest, made her teeth rattle and caused her ears to ring.

  Striking, ten-foot high flames erupted out of the ground in front of Jonas and Alethea, forcing them to skid to a halt. Cursing loudly, they changed direction and fled. A jagged line of red, gold, and black flames devoured the undergrowth as they raced past the motherfuckers and cut off their escape. Harper’s demon grinned.

  Branches snapped, leaves crackled, and trees groaned as the flames consumed them while quickly forming a circle around the siblings and Knox. He wasn’t just trapping them, thought Harper. He was toying with them. And now she couldn’t see shit.

  Asher looked up at her. His demon had now retreated. Good. She kissed Asher’s head. “I’ll be just a minute, baby.”

  There was a loud, feline whimper. Harper turned just in time to see a whirl of hazy vapor erupt out of the hellcat, which it had obviously failed to possess. And she knew it would flee. Knew it would thrust itself into some animal and hightail it out of there. Not a fucking chance.

  She called to the radiant flames that were consuming the last of her cage. A pretty red one snatched the incorporeal out of the air and curled around it. The haze squirmed and twisted, attempting to escape, but the flame tossed it into the fire. There. Done. Which was anticlimactic, since she would have liked to torture it a little first, but she had no way of containing it. Besides, she was much more interested in hurting the fucking dolphin.

  The hellcat staggered to its feet and looked at her, eyes unreadable. Taking a leaf out of Knox’s book, she directed the crackling flames to form a circle around the beast, imprisoning it until she could figure out what the fuck to do with it.

  “The shuck’s dead,” Levi told her. “Little bastard tried to rip my throat out.” Which meant that Asher didn’t have control over such creatures for long. God, he was an Anubis. Later … she’d think about all that later.

  Harper gave Levi a thankful nod. Looking from him to Tanner, she said, “Stay with Asher.” There was something else she needed to take care of—or someone.

  She headed right for the large circle of flames. They roared, crackled, hissed, and spat. The air shimmered with the waves of heat. It was a horrendous heat that seared her skin but, as always, caused her no harm—not even when she walked right through the flames like they weren’t even there, making Alethea’s mouth drop open in shock.

  Harper sidled up to Knox, eyes on the siblings. “I don’t know why they look so shocked that their plan failed,” she said to him. “I mean, I did warn them. Why do the bad guys never listen to me?”

  Knox shrugged. “No idea, baby.”

  “You won’t find me easy to kill,” growled Jonas.

  Knox blinked. “Why ever would you think that I intend to kill you?”

  Jonas seemed thrown by that question, but then he scoffed. “Don’t expect me to believe you will allow us to live.”

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Knox told him. “Even a long, painful death would be merciful, considering all you’ve done. And I’ve never been merciful, have I?”

  “Oh, Jolene will want her shot at you, too,” Harper told the siblings. “And my uncle Richie, Heidi’s dad. Oh yeah, he’ll want some quality time with you both. Hey, Knox, we don’t have to take these fuckers straight to the Chamber, do we? I don’t want to kill the bitch, but I do intend to kick her skanky fucking ass. It’s been a long time coming.”

  Torturing her would be fun, sure, but it wouldn’t be enough. Harper needed the bitch to feel defeated. Needed her fear. Not fear of pain that Harper would inflict, but fear of Harper herself. She also needed to vent every bit of the helplessness she’d felt when they’d kept her separated from her son.

  “No, we don’t have to take them straight away,” replied Knox. He liked the idea of toying with his prey for a while. “There’s no harm in you and I having a little fun first, baby.”

  “Excellent. Why don’t you—”

  Alethea stomped her foot like a kid having a tantrum, which would have been funny if the ground beneath Harper’s feet didn’t suddenly give away. Harper threw out her arms, swaying. A crack spiderwebbed along the ground in front of her and Knox, who grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards as the cracks widened. Her body shook, and her teeth clattered as tremors bucked the earth. The earthquake seemed contained within the circle of flames, as only the trees inside the area swayed and cracked.

  Knox raised a brow at Alethea. “You don’t think a few cracks in the ground will truly be enough to keep us away from you, do you?”

  The ground beneath their feet settled, and Alethea narrowed her eyes. A strange haze then rippled the air, blurring objects and muting colors. The trees began swaying again, but there was no earthquake this time. Instead, a harsh wind built around them, tossing Harper’s ponytail, flapping her clothes, and sending leaves skittering along the ground.

  She planted her feet wide, standing firm against the biting, buffeting wind. She had to squint and raise a hand to her face to guard her eyes. It howled and moaned as it rushed around them. Trees creaked, branches splintered, and loose leaves hit her face and arms—it was truly surprising the wind hadn’t uprooted any of the trees.

  “Lower the flames!” shouted Alethea, wind whipping her hair into her face. But, of course, Knox didn’t.

  The wind went from cold to glacial as snowflakes whirled around them. The blades of icy wind sliced at Harper’s skin just as the flakes pelted her hard enough to sting. Within moments, a carpet of snow began to build on the ground and weigh down branches. Harper had to admit that the raw power of it was impressive.

  “The cold won’t put out the flames, Alethea!” Knox yelled over the sound of the whistling wind. A wind that began to ease, lowering the onslaught of snow until the blizzard finally stopped.

  Their once-green surroundings were now almost completely white, and Harper honestly felt like she was in freaking Narnia or something. I’ll take care of this bitch. You concentrate on Jonas.

  Trusting that Knox could deal with the asshole alone, Harper put the two of them out of her mind. In that moment, no one else existed but her and the bitch in front of her. Harper smirked. Oh, she was going to enjoy this. It had been a long time coming. “There’s nowhere to go, dolphin,” she taunted in a little singsong voice.

  “No one plays with me like I’m prey,” Alethea spat, glaring at Harper with utter hatred. Then the weirdest fucking thing happened. Black cables shot out of Alethea’s sides. No, not cables, Harper realized, as she spotted the octopus-like suckers. Tentacles. Worse, they were barbed tentacles.

  Harper whipped her stiletto knife out of her boot, infused it with hellfire, and braced herself. The tentacle lashed at her like a whip. She sliced at it, making it jerk back as Alethea hissed in pain.

  Two tentacles came at her this time. Harper ducked, avoiding one. But the other wrapped around her waist and lifted her from the ground, contracting around her body like a snake. The suckers felt like rough sandpaper, and they scoured their way through cloth and skin, drawing blood. Worse, the barbs lodged themselves in her arms and sides.

  With a war cry worthy of a highlander, Harper stabbed the tentacle hard over and over. Alethea let out a cry of her own, though it seemed to be a mix of pain and fury. The tentacle threw Harper at the ground, which earned her a mouthful of snow. Spitting it out, Harper pushed to her feet and faced the dolphin. And she noticed something … odd. There were stab wounds on the dolphin’s arms … as if each wound that Harper had inflicted on the tentacles had somehow transferred to Alethea’s limbs. Maybe the appendages were linked somehow due to the tentacles functioning much as an extra set of arms—Harper didn’t particularly understand it. Didn’t care to. But she did like knowing that the more injuries she delivered onto the tentacles, the more hurt Alethea would be.

  So each time one of the tentacles tried
belting, flaying, or grabbing her, Harper slashed and stabbed and sliced at them. The hellfire ate at the flesh of Alethea’s arms, and each screech of pain made Harper’s inner demon laugh.

  At the same time, Harper tried digging the barbs out of her skin, but there were some she couldn’t quite reach. It wasn’t until she found herself feeling strangely weak and lethargic that she realized that—fuck a duck—the barbs had released some kind of drug in her system. If she wasn’t powerful and anchored by Knox, they might have knocked her on her ass long ago.

  Swaying, vision blurring, Harper couldn’t brace herself for the next attack. A tentacle struck her hard, sending her flying through the air. The breath gusted out of her lungs as she hit a tree hard and then fell to the snow. Oh, this bitch needed a few of those barbs lodged in her rectum.

  Snatching her knife from the depression in the snow, Harper charged at Alethea on unsteady feet. She stumbled to a halt as her foot got caught in something. It was a crack in the ground, she realized. Fuck. She struggled to pull herself free. Couldn’t. A tentacle lashed her face, scraping strips of skin away. “You motherfucking bitch!”

  *

  As his mate focused her attention on Alethea, Knox locked his on Jonas. The male kept glancing around, as if hoping a gap would appear in the flames surrounding them. “There will be no escaping this, Jonas. You’ll have to face me. Or do you prefer letting your sister fight your battles for you?” he taunted. The male’s eyes narrowed to slits and—

  Knox blinked, suddenly finding himself stood in a boardroom with his sentinels and the other Primes. It wasn’t real, he knew. It was an illusion. But he didn’t know how the fuck to break out of it and—

  Red-hot pain slammed into his chest, burning and sizzling his flesh, and Knox was once more in the rainforest. He didn’t need to look to know he’d been hit with a ball of hellfire. Fucking asshole. With a snarl, he conjured a lethal orb and launched it at Jonas.