Another decent point.
My poor friend. It was largely my fault that she had one foot in the present and one in the future.
I rubbed my forehead absently. “I don’t even know where the quill is. And here I thought my biggest problem would be figuring out how to word my request.”
“Pssh,” Oliver said. “That one’s easy. Just write, ‘Yo God, hook a bitch up.’”
I gave him a look.
“What?”
The beat of wings interrupted us.
Oliver and I glanced to the heavens. Thick, ominous clouds hid the source of the noise.
“What’re the odds that those are just birds?” Oliver asked.
“Zero,” Leanne replied, her eyes still unfocused.
“And what are the odds that whatever’s up there means us no harm?” he asked.
“Zero,” she said again.
Figures emerged from the clouds, and iridescent feathers glittered above us.
“Fuck,” I swore as my rage welled up once more.
“You can say that again,” Oliver stated.
I glanced over at him, but he wasn’t watching me. And he wasn’t watching the angels. I followed his gaze.
“Double fuck.” A swarm of demons cut across the sky, dipping lower as they got nearer. They were heading straight for us.
We were surrounded, the demons from one side and the angels from another. Just when our luck seemed to have run dry, the two groups caught sight of each other. A demon let out a sharp screech, and the swarm changed its trajectory, aiming instead for its winged enemies. The angels drew their swords.
“Okay, my best bitches,” Oliver said, “thumbs out of our asses. It’s time to go.” He extended his arm, and Leanne and I latched onto him.
The demons had begun to shriek, and the angels bellowed out their battle cries. The last thing I saw was the clash of claws and steel and the last thing I heard was the wet sound of ripping flesh. Then, thankfully, we disappeared.
A very tall, very pissed off vampire glared down at me, his arms folded. “Where have you been?”
He’d been waiting for us in the kitchen. Fury rolled off of him. His fangs were clearly visible, and he didn’t bother retracting them.
I got his meaning loud and clear—he was seriously debating eating us all. Okay, maybe not me, but I’d also bet that my unholy blood would give him indigestion.
Andre’s eyes moved over my friends. “I give you shelter, and this is how you repay me?”
I stepped in front of them, recapturing Andre’s attention. “They’re helping me, as they always have.”
“Why was I not informed?” he demanded, his eyes moving from me to my friends, then back.
I reached out and touched the side of Andre’s face, half expecting him to swat my hand away. I should’ve known better. Almost unconsciously, he leaned into the touch. “You’re busy dealing with the Politia and your coven. And you didn’t need to be there.”
Beneath my hand, a muscle in his cheek jumped. Ho, he was pissed. “When it concerns you, I always need to be there.”
That was sort of sweet, in a super overbearing kind of way.
“And I will be there from now on.” He turned his glare towards Leanne and Oliver. “Your continued stay here depends on it.”
Righteous indignation bubbled up. He did not just threaten my friends. “Don’t you—”
“And you, soulmate, are not to glamour my men.”
I turned his face so that my lips brushed the shell of his ear. “I could’ve done a lot worse and you know it.”
His jaw tightened.
“I wanted to do so much worse. Keep talking, and I might.”
“Oooooooh,” Oliver said from behind me.
Andre swiveled his head to narrow his eyes at me. I pushed past him, not nearly ready to deal with Andre’s sour mood when I was still struggling with my own dark impulses.
He caught my wrist as I passed.
I yanked it from his hold and stalked away.
The air stirred behind me, and then he swept me off my feet, holding me in his arms for the second time that night. He hauled me out of the kitchen, where he’d cornered us, and pretty soon it was clear where, exactly, we were heading.
“I’ve led armies, ruled a coven for centuries, and kept every important supernatural player in my debt. Yet I cannot seem to manage one itsy bitsy siren.”
“I’m not itsy bitsy.”
His nostrils flared. Our heads were so close together.
“You drive me insane,” he said. “You know that, right?” The edge had left his tone. The thing about Andre was that it really was easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. And when his bad mood melted away, as it was doing now, his hot, schmexy side made an appearance. He pulled me in closer and bumped his nose against mine.
“What were you thinking, leaving like that?” he whispered. “I was … scared. I don’t do well with fear.”
I tightened my hold around his neck. “For the record, Andre, I wasn’t trying to get myself killed or running away from you.”
“I know, soulmate, and I expect you to fill me in on exactly what it was you were doing.” His warm breath brushed against my cheek as his mouth crept closer. “But for now …”
He stopped talking so that he could press his lips to mine. Unlike some of our other kisses, this one wasn’t frantic or hungry. It was romantic and reverent. I wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him closer, when we heard it.
“Regina,” a voice glided in from outside.
Andre stiffened, his mouth breaking away from mine. We both looked to the end of the hallway. The voice had come from beyond the back balcony.
He set me down, and we followed the voice to the rear of Bishopcourt.
When we reached the French doors that led out to the balcony, Andre stopped me. “You are not to exit this building until I okay it.”
And this was why I always asked for forgiveness rather than permission. His commands practically begged me to break them.
“If I okay it,” he amended.
Begged me.
I nodded absently, having no intention of following his orders.
He flashed me a stern look, like he didn’t trust me—smart vampire—and he stepped up to the doors.
“Regina Inferna.”
The hair of my arms stood on end at the sound of that voice. A slip of a woman walked out from the garden beyond the balcony, and the blood drained from my face.
“She can’t be real,” I whipered.
She really couldn’t. After all, I’d already killed the woman in front of me.
Chapter 22
Gabrielle
I pressed a hand to the glass. “Lila.” I breathed the name. The cambion had tried to kill me back in Romania. I’d beat her to it.
Or so I thought.
“Regina.” Her voice carried along the wind.
A pulse of energy lashed out of Andre. Never a good sign.
“Stay here,” he warned me. He opened the door to the balcony and strode to its edge.
Lila watched Andre exit, and I watched her. Her smirk, her calculating eyes, the sexuality that dripped from every one of her features.
She was a phantom. She couldn’t be real.
Andre stopped at the balcony. “You know how this ends,” he said. “Leave.”
“As soon as you hand my queen over, I’ll be gone.”
I couldn’t see Andre’s face, but I didn’t need to. A wave of power rippled through me. It was a magical warning shot of sorts.
“You test what little patience I have, sneaking onto my property and demanding my soulmate.”
“She is not yours, Andre.”
“She has always been and will always be mine.” His hands slammed down on the balcony, his power fissuring out. Bishopcourt shook violently as the blast tore through it. I braced myself against shockwave, even as it knocked Lila to the ground.
I was moving before the cambion pushed herself up.
r />
“Get back inside,” Andre said, not turning around. Bits of the balcony crumbled beneath his hands as he dug his fingers into the railing and fought to maintain control of his power.
“Not without you,” I said.
Andre swiveled to face me, annoyance and love flashing in his gaze.
Peering through her curtain of hair, Lila’s eyes darted to the roofline, and she smiled. I followed her line of sight, and my breath caught.
Perched along the roof were dozens upon dozens of demons.
Well, damn.
They dove.
“Andre!” I shouted.
Hearing the urgency in my voice, he shoved me to the ground. My fear forced a burst of power out. It wasn’t very strong, and my aim was sloppy, but Andre grunted as it passed through him, the demons screeched as it hit them, and I heard a muttered “motherfucker” from Lila.
“Inside!” Andre roared, grabbing my upper arm and yanking me up.
Too late. Several demons latched onto his skin, their claws and talons slicing through it. More descended on me. I threw my power out, this time directing it towards our attackers.
I’d been ambushed for the second time this evening, and I was having none of it.
Several sets of footsteps pounded towards us. A moment later, Andre’s men and some of his coven joined the fighting. Already my soulmate was a blur of movement. He pulled out a dagger he’d been carrying on him and began mowing through his opponents.
I had no such weapon.
The creatures kept coming at me and I blasted them off with bursts of energy, but it only stunned them. I needed a strategy. I knew that other beings that wielded magic could shape the power itself into a weapon.
Once I blew the latest round of demons away from me, I imagined honing my power into a long, thin blade. When the next creature came at me, my power slashed out, and I envisioned it slicing my opponent through the chest.
He stumbled back as my magic hit him, and a tiny scratch appeared across his pectorals.
Epic fail.
While I was distracted, several demons swooped low and plucked me from the balcony. I twisted in their arms as we rose rapidly into the air.
“No!” Andre shouted. His power grew, and I could feel the electricity of it charging the air.
The flap of demon wings was a drumbeat, each one taking me farther and farther from Bishopcourt. Andre’s mansion was beginning to look like a toy.
My skin brightened as my own power built, fear and anger driving it onwards. Energy flooded my system, more by far than I knew what to do with. Thunder roared overhead as magic blasted out of me, ripping me from the demons’ grips. I began to fall from the sky, the ground rising to meet me.
I heard Andre’s shout, saw his form blur as he raced towards me. Several more demons swooped in and caught me before he could.
I kept shooting my power out, trying to shake them, but the demons had swarmed. They packed in tightly around me until I could see nothing but red eyes and leathery skin. Nowhere for me to go. They growled as I struggled. A meaty fist smashed into my temple, and the world went black.
When I woke, it was to a nightmare. A dozen grotesque faces peered down at me, and twice as many hands held me down. I struggled against them, but for the second time that night, I felt exhausted.
I cast my senses out. Wherever we were, it was dark and cool. I could barely smell the earth over the iron tang of blood.
Pain flared down my forearm, and I realized that was what woke me. I let out a moan as warm liquid trickled down my arm.
Blood.
That fucking hurt, and held inert like this, I couldn’t see what was happening. Just the excited, hungry looks of the demons as they stared at my limbs.
Another sharp pain sliced down my arm. I hissed in a breath, even as my fangs throbbed.
What’s happening to me?
I tried to move again. A set of claws clamped my head in place, but even with the tight grip, I managed to tilt it enough to catch a glimpse of my body.
My blood was everywhere. On my arms, dripping onto the altar I laid upon, collected in goblets and removed from sight.
As I watched, a demon slashed its claws down my pale flesh, reopening the wound that had only just stitched itself together. I screamed, more from shock than from pain. Another chalice appeared, and the demons used it to collect the liquid seeping out of me. I tried to catch my breath and control my panting, but you couldn’t put a leash on fear.
Lila’s face joined the others, her dark eyes glittering. “Regina Inferna, finally a goddess in the flesh.”
Even in the dim light I could see she was real. Alive.
“How?” I croaked, my throat parched. I watched her die after I’d delivered the deathblow. I saw her last breath leave her lips and heard the final beat of her heart.
Her lips curved into a satisfied smile. “Resurrection.”
Resurrection? That was actually a thing? Why had no one told me that—
I screamed as they began cutting into me again.
Lila reached out and dragged a finger down my cheek. “I know it hurts. I remember how it felt.” Her eyes grew distant, and her finger dug into my flesh.
My skin blossomed as the siren joined me. “Let me go,” I commanded, my voice much weaker than it ought to be.
Nothing happened. I hadn’t been expecting the siren to affect Lila or the demons, but I had hoped they’d listen to me because I was their queen. Especially the demons. In the past they’d listened to my commands. Sometimes. But when they didn’t, it was because …
Because someone of higher rank had ordered them otherwise. There was only one person who outranked me in hell.
The devil.
Andre
“Where is she?” Andre demanded, stalking through his house. He threw his dagger to the side. Best not have it with him when he confronted the girl. Not when he was like this.
His shirt was in bloody tatters. God, he wanted to run something through with a sword. Those beasts had grabbed Lila shortly after they’d seized his mate, whisking away the one person he’d really enjoy gutting.
“Where is my soulmate?” he bellowed. “Leanne!”
How had she not seen this? Why had she not warned him?
He stormed into the room she shared with Oliver. He found the two snuggled in bed, ear buds in their ears, a laptop between them. Both of their eyes were closed, and their heads leaned together.
“Leanne!”
She blinked her eyes, groggy. “Hmm?” She squinted through the darkness.
Andre came over to the side of her bed, grabbed her upper arms, and shook her. “Gabrielle. Where is she?”
That roused her. “With you?”
“Guess again,” he said, his hold tightening.
“Ow, okay, okay, give me a minute,” she said.
“We don’t have a minute.”
“Why do you people think I’m all knowing? Not even Nona knew everything.”
Next to her Oliver stretched, and a yawn shook his entire body. He perked up further at the sight of Andre. “What’s going on?”
A muscle in Andre’s cheek feathered. “Gabrielle’s been taken.”
“Again?” Oliver said. “This is obviously becoming a thing.”
When the girl’s eyes unfocused, he released her. She gazed at nothing for a long time. Long enough for the fairy to get dressed. She sucked in a sharp breath, and a shudder racked her body.
Dread flooded Andre’s system; it was becoming a familiar bedfellow.
Leanne closed her eyes.
“What’ve you seen?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You’ll see it for yourself soon enough.” Her eyes fluttered open, and it heartened Andre to see resolve in them. “We are going to rescue Gabrielle,” she said. “And we might be too late.”
Gabrielle
The devil ordered this. He ordered this.
The betrayal hurt worse than I thought it would. I shouldn’t have bee
n surprised, but damn me, I was. I’d expected different because he was different.
At least I thought he was.
I was a stupid, stupid girl, and I got played worse than the rest of those fools that made deals with the devil.
“… We need your blood,” Lila was saying. I honed in on her as the demons continued to slice through my skin. “It has the power to build armies.”
The second awful insight of the evening hit me like a freight train.
They were using my blood to make more demons. Enough, perhaps, to take over the world.
My struggles renewed. “Let me go!”
The demons’ grips tightened.
I thrashed, screaming at them. When that didn’t work my voice dropped low, menacing. “I swear, if you don’t let me go, I will hunt each one of you down and kill you.”
Okay, it was an empty threat, but—
I cried out as one of them cut behind my knee. I felt the press of cold metal and the drip of blood as they collected it in another container.
“Stop, please,” I begged, my eyes finding Lila’s. A shameful tear snaked out of my eye.
She petted my hair back. “You look so pretty when you cry. It’s going to be alright.”
More pain followed her words as the demons continued to bleed me. I reached for my power again, but it was so weak. The demons didn’t even pause when it battered against them.
Lila clucked her tongue. “That’ll only make this take longer.”
I was going to die, and the very things I unwittingly created were going to be responsible for it. They’d make it slow, too.
I had to remember who was really responsible for this. The devil promised that he’d never hurt me. He’d lied, as usual, and I was the sucker that believed him.
Black dots danced in front of my eyes. My breathing became labored. What was the point? I felt my muscles relax and my mind began to slip, slip away.
“Get her some blood!” someone shouted—Lila, I think.
Off in the distance, I heard a shriek. It cut off abruptly, followed by a gurgle. A chorus of screams rose in response. The smell of foreign blood grew stronger, and I forced my eyes open. I hadn’t realized I’d closed them.