DAEMONEUM

by Laney McMann

  “Too late,” Cole said, with no emotion in his voice or his expression. “Maybe that should have crossed your mind when you were working with Dracon.” He stared at him. “That’s who you’re working with.”

  “The plan was to connect you to the girl and then disconnect you,” Spurius snapped. “Once she was taken away, the affects on you would lessen and eventually fade. Staying with her is sucking the life-blood out of you. Turning you into a Devil God as we speak!”

  “I know what she’s doing. We went to see Euryale.”

  Spurius made a scathing noise. “Old hag spinning her myths and theories to any who will listen,” he raged. “Lonely and bored. An outcast with nothing better to do than tell lies to gullible—“

  “Shut up.”

  Cole turned, staring at Kade.

  “What did you say to me?” Spurius advanced toward her.

  “Shut up,” Kade repeated. “You know nothing about Euryale.”

  Spurius smiled. “She has a mouth, does she?” He eyed Cole. “No wonder you like her.”

  Cole inhaled a deep, calming breath. He wasn’t sure if his dad was sane enough to let them walk away or insane enough to fight his own son. It was like trying to converse with a teeter-totter.

  “I suggest you keep your thoughts to yourself, girl.” Spurius turned to Cole. “You are my son, and I am trying very hard to be patient, so this will be the last time I ask nicely. Hand over the girl. I have no desire to hurt you, and I am sorry to take something from you that you seem to care about, but I have no choice. She will destroy you. This relationship never should have gotten this far. She is a means to an end—a tool, and no more.”

  “You really want to do this?” It was more of a plea than a question.

  Spurius removed a small object from his pocket and held it up. A detonator. “I’ve gotten good with explosives. It seems the more you attempt, the more successful you become.” His thumb hovered over the button. “The megaliths on St. Michael Line? Or the girl?”

  Cole’s jaw twitched.

  His father continued, “I will not allow the Eldership to take her. I need her. How long can you run from everyone?”

  “You’re better than this,” Cole breathed.

  “I am reasonable enough to give you the option,” his dad said. “I could destroy everything and take her in the process. But I am giving you choices so that you may see more clearly. The Brotherhood or the girl? Everyone should be back from school by now. Full house.”

  Cole placed his hand on his throat, fingers covering his falcon wings. “Don’t.”

  “Ah, there’s the chord I was trying to strike.” His dad grinned. “Your Beta is out of time.”

  Kade released a breath, and she shifted her stance from behind Cole.

  “Tell me,” his dad said, “how good of an Alpha are you to your own? Semper fidelis.” Always faithful.

  “I am being faithful to my own,” Cole ground out. “Are you?”

  "She is not one of your own! Are you willing to trade the lives of hundreds for the life of one? She is a Devil God!”

  “Don’t do this.”

  “I see you are not. Three,” his dad said. “Two …”

  “Wait.” Kade took a step forward, away from Cole. “Wait.”

  His arm whipped out in a blur of red, blocking her from moving any closer to his dad. “No.”

  “One.” Spurius hit the button.

  Shadows converged from everywhere, overhead and on all sides. Cole shoved Kade toward Heru, and swiped his arm up and out. Cobblestones from the street ripped free, lifted into the air, and were thrown like a wall of precisely directed projectiles at the oncoming Nefarius. Kade turned, back to back with Cole, facing the threat, and released a blazing red wave from both palms.

  Cole's telums shifted from his shirt sleeves, gripped in his hands, and in one forward bound he knew was too quick to track, without allowing himself to think or stop, he lunged at his dad, and sliced the coiled ring from his father’s hand. Spurius screamed, eyes wide, and rushed Kade. Cole blocked him, red energy engulfing the street from all sides as it poured from his palms, throwing his father back a few feet. Spurius’ own energy, pure molten gold, rushed out, aimed at Cole’s chest, only to be blocked again by a swipe of Cole’s arm, red and gold converging in an explosion of electricity.

  His father released another bolt, this one aimed at Kade, and a blast of purple light lit up the sky like a fireworks display, as Heru barrel rolled in midair in front of her, shielding her with a barricade of crackling energy. “Shift!”

  There was no hesitation. Kade was the Devil God in less than a second, Cole beside her as the six foot falcon. Both of them shot like rockets straight up into the night sky—Heru and Jimmy close behind in their true avian forms.

  Chapter 33

  “Listen, we can’t just sit up here forever,” Giselle griped. “I say we yell down to the guards. Tell them we belong to the Brotherhood, and we accidentally got locked up here.”

  “Elder Cato knows who I am.” Jake had planted himself on a stack of bagged fertilizer near the wall. “That won’t work. He’s here somewhere.”

  “Cole is my Alpha,” Danny said. “They know me, too. No way in hell are we yelling down there for the Eldership to notice us.”

  “Fine. This just sucks.” She kicked at some dried fallen leaves on the ground. “And it’s cold, and I’m hungry, and I haven’t slept—and what is that whistling sound?”

  Jake stood up, gaze scanning the horizon. “It sounds like—”

  Danny reached for his neck, the distinct thump and twitch of wings. “Get down!” He shoved his sister as hard as he could toward the mound of potting soil, covering her body with his own, and the Brotherhood exploded underneath them.

  Cole was running the second his feet touched the ground outside the common house. It had taken way too long to fly to the Leygate in Venice. Too long to take the jump to Boulder, and too long to make it to the Brotherhood. Minutes mattered, and he’d used more than he had. The Nefarius hadn’t followed when they’d fled Italy. He’d instinctively known they wouldn’t. His dad was making a point. Showing him the repercussion of the choice he’d just made by choosing Kade instead of his own people. And as Cole ran toward his common house, his dad’s point had been clearly made.

  The entrance to the Brotherhood—Cole couldn’t describe. The front of the house was demolished, nothing but rubble and dust and debris—unrecognizable. Smoke spiraled into the gray sky from the fragmented metal green roof. There were no doors, no windows, no front porch or steps. No entry room and hallway that always smelled of bacon and oatmeal in the mornings. It was all gone.

  Kade followed on Cole’s heels as he tried to gather his bearings, figure out where to run, where to go, how to search—what to do. The hallway that led to the boy’s wing wasn’t a hallway, either. A few of the dorm room doors were standing like lost soldiers in a fight they knew they’d lost. The rest were simply gone. Cole had no idea, looking at the destruction, where Plumb’s office had been or how to get there. The building had collapsed in on itself, and half of what he was walking on was the green roof.

  Picking through the rubble, he made his way in the only direction he could go—straight—and spotted a door standing alone like the others he’d seen. No room with four walls, just a door. Plumb’s office had been blown away. Cole rushed toward it, jumping and scrambling through the debris. The two wooden chairs that always sat in front of her old desk, usually piled with Dicken’s novels and empty mugs of the hot chocolate Plumb loved so much, were nothing but splinters. The desk was obliterated. The line of massive wooden bookcases had remained intact but had fallen forward. Someone lay underneath one of them.

  “Plumb!” Cole rushed forward, and fell to his knees, shoving everything off of her as quickly as he dared. “Plumb.” Her head bled from underneath one of multi-colored silk scarves she always wore, crimson pooling onto the floor, and matting her hair. “No.” He cradled her up. “Kade!” Tears
mingled with sweat trickled down Cole’s face, and Kade tore into the blown apart office, panic stricken, and stopped dead, taking in the scene.

  “Help me,” was all Cole could say. She was at his side before the word ‘me’ had left his mouth, both of them carefully carrying Plumb through the destroyed house and out onto the snow-strewn front lawn.

  Everywhere people were screaming, smoke inundating the palatial grounds in a thick black wall. Principals from the Ward emerged from a Leygate at the end of the driveway in droves, rushing to help the fallen. Nurses and doctors had set up makeshift infirmaries in the yard to treat the wounded. It was a war zone.

  Cole bolted toward the Ward’s head doctor who had treated Kade weeks before.

  The man’s small, beady eyes took Plumb in. “We have an emergency Leygate set up just at the end of the driveway,” he said urgently, “take her to the Ward’s infirmary. Medics are standing by. Several Eldership guards have been taken, as well. Do you know why they were here?”

  Cole didn’t answer—he was already running down the driveway, Kade racing behind him. He stepped into the vortex of energy with Plumb in his arms and straight into Rome.

  Running across the street from the dilapidated cafe and onto the Ward’s property, nurses and gurneys lined the walkway leading up to the building. Eldership guards Cole recognized were being wheeled into the front double doors, legs and arms charred red-black from the explosion. Cole placed Plumb on the first stretcher he came to.

  “Do you have her?” he asked one of the medics in a rush. He wavered, unsure which way to run, toward Plumb, who was being swiftly wheeled away, or back to the Brotherhood. Something else, he didn’t know what, was wrong. Everything was wrong. Cole touched his throat, and glanced at Kade. “Danny.”

  Racing back into the cafe across the street, they jumped into the Leygate and emerged in front of the Brotherhood. “Stay here,” he told Kade. “Help where you can. I’ll be right back.”

  “Cole,” she yelled, “I can’t be here.” But he’d already taken off like a shot into the common house.

  Picking his way through what used to be the hallway toward the boys wing, knowing Danny wouldn’t be there, he shouted his name, anyway, “Dan!”

  People were yelling around him, some screaming from the other part of the building that was blocked off by a fallen wall of concrete. Making his way into Plumb’s destroyed office, Cole scanned the room, the fallen bookshelves—everything obliterated. A hole had been blown through the wall leading to the underground bunker. He touched his throat again, tapping his wings, but there was no response. No uncomfortable twitch, nothing.

  “Danny! Giselle!”

  Moving the debris in a panic, he made his way toward the passageway leading to the bunker. It was nothing but a pile of concrete rock. Impassable. He couldn’t even make out where the hallway to Kade’s apartment had been. “Danny!”

  Cole knew Dan wouldn’t have been at the Brotherhood. Not with the Eldership looking for Kade. It would’ve been like walking into a trap if Elder Cato had been there. Scrambling back through the rubble, he made his way outside and found Kade where he’d left her. Helping wherever she could. The front lawn looked like an outdoor hospital. Large white tents had been erected with rows of gurneys inside, I.V.s, heart monitoring equipment, coolers full of water, and piles of blankets.

  “Danny?” Kade’s wide eyes said everything she didn’t have to.

  Cole shook his head. “He wouldn’t have been here. How can I help?”

  “Just talk to the little kids who aren’t injured. They’re terrified.”

  With a nod, he followed her to an area set up away from the wounded. Some kids were drinking juice, wrapped in blankets and shivering, but otherwise okay, while others were wild-eyed and in shock. Crying for their parents or asking to go home—wherever their homes were. Cole recognized the newest member of Brotherhood, a little blond boy, probably nine years old, who he remembered was having a hard time adjusting when he’d first moved in. He had been with Plumb the day Cole was summoned to the Ward for saving Kade’s life from Dracon and risking his own. The day the red lines had first showed up on his hand.

  The kid stood alone, staring blankly into the distance. Cole bent down on one knee coming to eye level with him. “Hey. You okay?”

  The boy turned with a jolt, facing Cole. “What happened?”

  “There was an explosion.”

  The boy was trembling slightly. “The Daemoneum did it? That’s what Joe said. He lives in the dorm room next to mine.”

  “Yeah,” Cole answered, grabbing a blanket from a nearby table and throwing it around the kid’s shoulders, “the Daemoneum did this.” And Cole’s father was one of them. He swallowed the taste of bile rising in his throat. “It’ll be okay, though. We won’t let it happen again.”

  “How can you be sure?” The kid’s eyes were green like Danny’s.

  Cole glanced at the ground. “I can make sure.”

  One of the Principals, a younger woman Cole knew from the Ward, walked over and took the kid’s hand. “Thanks, Cole. Is Plumb okay?”

  He shook his head, pushing to stand. “I don’t know.”

  The woman nodded, neither of them saying the words that couldn’t be spoken.

  “Hey, kid,” Cole said, “what’s your name?” He felt bad for having to ask. Before he’d met Kade, he’d made it a point to know all the young ones. It was part of his job as an Alpha to look out for them. So much had changed in the past few weeks, and now his home, along with his life, was unrecognizable.

  “Alex.” The kid smiled.

  “Alex, huh?”

  “Yep.”

  “That’s a good name,” he said. “I’m Cole.” He shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you formally.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

  The Principal led Alex away by the hand. “Keep us informed about Plumb.”

  “Will do.”

  “Bye, Cole.” Alex waved.

  “See you around.”

  Kade walked over. “I think we’ve done what we can. The Principals have everything under control. I think we need to leave, I mean—I don’t know if it’s okay that I’m here.”

  “The investigation was confidential. No one knows you’re wanted by the Eldership. We’re good. Everyone is too distracted anyway.” He drew her into him, resting his chin on the top of her head.

  “Any word about Plumb?”

  “She didn’t look good, Sparrow.” His voice broke.

  “I know.” She backed away from him, glancing around at all the Principals. “I want to hold you so much right now, but—”

  He pulled her into him again. “I do not give a damn what anyone thinks anymore. I am so far past all of that at this point I can’t even put it into words.”

  Kade buried her face in the fabric of his jacket against his chest. “Where is everyone going to go?”

  “They’ll get moved to the Kinship. It’ll be tight, but there’s no other option. Thatcher’s there, and I’m sure they’ll assign a few Principals to help her. I need to talk to my grandfather. This is bad.” He closed his eyes, breathing in the sweet smell of her.

  “I’m sorry, Cole. This is my fault.”

  He lifted her chin, staring down at her. “No. This is my dad’s fault. All of it.”

  Kade averted her eyes.

  “I’m getting worried. Danny isn’t responding to any of my calls. He could be anywhere.”

  “What about Jake?”

  Cole gave her a sideways glance. “What about him?”

  “He would be in contact with Lindsey, right? And Lindsey is definitely in contact with Giselle and Danny. We could drive over to the Kinship.”

  Cole rocked his head on his shoulders, exhaustion rolling off him, and he took her by the hand, leading them away from the Brotherhood. “We’ll have to run,” he said, “no Jeep.”

  Kade glanced down at her dirt-smeared black gown and what was left of Cole’s tux. “So we run.” />
  Chapter 34

  The run to the Kinship took less than a few minutes, Kade quick beside him, the rush of cold Colorado air clearing his lungs and his head, but the front of the Kinship common house made Cole’s heart ache. It was identical to the Brotherhood, or it had been. Now, the Kinship stood proud while the Brotherhood was in ruins. Walking up to the front door, Cole rang the bell, while Kade remained in the trees in clear sight to him, across the street.

  “Well, who in the world?” Ms. Thatcher swung the door open wide when she saw it was Cole on the other side and flung her arms around him in a bear hug. “I didn’t expect to see you, child.” She patted his arm, freeing him of trying to breathe through her beehive hair. “Are you all right? I’m so sorry to hear the news, and that poor Plumb. You know she was here just earlier, too?” She shook her head. “Somethin’ ain’t it? You just never know what’s gonna happen. One day you’re fine, and the next day ‘poof!’”

  “Right,” Cole tried to smile, tried to be his cordial self, but he was having a hard time pulling it off. “Is Jake here?”

  “That boy … hmph.” She waved a red pointed finger nailed hand in the air. “Ever since his Beta Alex died, Jake just hadn’t been right. I dunno where he is half the time. In a world of his own is what I say. Can I help you with somethin’ darlin’?” She glanced at his tuxedo with curiosity.

  Cole shook his head. “Thanks. I just wanted to talk to him.” He turned and went down the front steps.

  “Well, alright. You need anythin’ you just let me know. I’ll be havin’ a real full house soon. No idea where I’m supposed to put all these kids. Pile ‘em on top of each other? Not like I have the space, ya know?”