Inferno

by Erica Stevens

  “But don’t hurt him,” Julian muttered, disappointment evident in his voice.

  Devon hesitated, wanting to uphold Cassie’s wishes, but desperately needing some sort of revenge, some sort of relief from the itching desire to kill that was suffocating him. “Do what needs to be done,” Devon growled. “Whatever it takes.”

  Julian’s eyes gleamed, his eyebrow crooked. “That’s the Devon I know.”

  Devon’s lip curled into a snarl. He needed to get out of here, he needed to escape this store, he needed to hunt and kill. Even if he normally tried not to kill the animals he fed from, tonight that was all he wanted to do. But he could not leave here; he could not escape and leave Cassie vulnerable to the monsters that hunted this town. He was beginning to fear that he may be turning into an even bigger threat to all of them then the creatures outside the building.

  Devon turned away from Julian, leaving him to his own devices. Leaving him to decide what he wished to do with the man. Devon would not interfere with what Julian decided, no matter what Cassie wanted. This man had hurt her, repeatedly, deeply; Devon wasn’t about to make sure he remained unharmed. This man was still a threat to her, and as far as Devon was concerned it was best for all of them if he were dead.

  Though, he knew that Julian would not kill the man. He may hurt him, but he would not kill the him, not if Cassie had said no.

  Devon strode into the backroom, his eyes instantly latched onto her. She was standing by one of the back windows, helping to heap bags of feed before the shattered glass and wood. The other three windows had already been blocked off; the bodies had been stashed against the back wall. They would need to be removed soon, before they started to smell. But then, he had no intention of staying here for that long.

  They would need to get free of here soon.

  Cassie turned toward him, her gorgeous eyes widened upon him. She froze in her movements, before rising slowly to face him. Though he wished for nothing more than to keep the worst part of him from her, he knew that it was impossible. She saw everything, she knew him far better than he wanted her to.

  She studied him, her eyes haunted and lost, her shoulders slumping slightly as realization and acceptance settled over her. He wanted her to come to him, but she did not move. She knew what he had done, knew what he was allowing to happen in the other room. Though Devon wanted nothing more than to make her happy, he could not give her this. Her safety was foremost, no matter what, even if it made her unhappy.

  Even if she ended up hating him for it.

  It was time to stop letting his emotions rule him, he had inadvertently placed her in this danger because of his emotions. It was time to start taking control. Even if it meant letting the monster rule part of him.

  CHAPTER 11

  Cassie turned away from Devon as Julian slowly entered the room. Her heart hammered, her hands shook with the fear and uncertainty pounding through her. She had never seen that look in Devon’s eyes before, but she knew what it was. Hardness enveloped him, determination clenched his jaw. He was cold, distant; hard. He was not the man that she knew, and he was terrifying her at the moment.

  Would the man she knew and loved come back to her when this was over? Had she lost him for good?

  Her heart raced even faster at the thought, the blood rushed through her, hammering in her ears. Tremors shook her, her hands fisted tightly at her sides. Julian’s eyes were hooded, his head bent slightly as he studied the floor for a moment. Then, ever so slowly, he lifted his head to look at her.

  Cassie swallowed heavily, her heart flipped in her chest. Though she had always known that they were powerful, deadly; that they were two of the meanest, cruelest vampires to ever walk this planet, she realized now that she had never truly believed it. Or at least she hadn’t wanted to believe it. She had wanted to ignore that fact in the two men she had come to know and love greatly.

  She realized now she had been mistaken in her thinking. They may be more civil than most vampires, but they were not tamed. They were wild, fierce, and right now they were both on edge, dark, and deadly. Cassie swallowed heavily; her gaze slowly went back to Devon. He remained unmoving, his jaw locked tight, and his eyes as hard as steel. She wanted her Devon back; she wanted the warm loving man that she knew so well.

  But he was not there. Not right now anyway and she was frightened he may never be there again.

  A lump clogged her throat, tears burned her eyes. She bent her head as she fought hard against the panic trying to swamp her. “Done?” Devon asked quietly.

  Julian shrugged. “For now.”

  “Is he alive?” Luther inquired.

  Julian quirked an eyebrow, but there was no amusement on his features. “As much as I would like to, I wouldn’t kill a man tied to a chair. I would give him a fair chance at escaping first. Well, as fair as it could be anyway.”

  “I see,” Luther said, but there was a hint of disappointment in his voice that surprised her.

  “What did you learn?”

  Julian glanced at Devon. Cassie’s hands fisted harder, the panic inside of her was beginning to turn into full fledged terror. Julian’s ice colored eyes met hers; the sympathy in them caused her to take a step back. No matter what had happened between them, to them, he had never pitied her. He had never looked at her like that. Whatever he had learned had been awful, and she knew instantly that she was not going to like it one bit. She took another step back, bumping into the wall of feed they had placed before the broken window.

  Melissa placed a hand on her shoulder, steadying her as her breathing became shallower, more frantic. “It will be ok,” Melissa whispered.

  Cassie nodded her agreement, but she did not agree. It was not going to be ok, she knew that. She had seen that awful look in Julian’s eyes; she had felt his uncertainty, his hesitance. No, it was definitely not going to be ok, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it. “What were they trying to do to me?” she asked softly.

  Julian met her gaze again. Devon finally moved. He came swiftly toward her, his lean body moving with exceptional ease as he skirted the bags of feed. She stared helplessly up at him as he stopped before her, his eyes warming slightly. She knew that he needed her understanding, and though she was lost and confused by what was happening with him, she could never deny him anything that he needed.

  Her hand slid into his, the perfect rightness of his skin against hers caused a sigh of relief to escape. She clung to him, wrapping her other hand around his as she stepped closer, pressing tight to his arm. She could sense a cold detachedness about him still but his hand tightened upon hers as he pulled her closer.

  “Julian?” Cassie breathed, trying hard not to lose control.

  Julian looked to Devon, who pulled her closer against him. His arm wrapped around her waist, his hand rested lightly on her hip, gently stroking her through her layers of clothes. “You were their project,” Julian said softly. “Their pet project.”

  His gaze moved slowly to Dani, who had backed herself into the shadows. “They were trying to turn you into a living vampire.”

  Cassie started, horror curdled through her. Devon’s hand tightened upon her waist as he pulled her closer. “What do you mean?” Chris asked, his voice a low growl.

  Julian’s gaze remained locked upon her, sympathy radiated from him, but he would not take it easy on her. He would be brutally honest, even if she didn’t want to hear it.

  “They wanted to see what would happen, how much blood it would take, and if they could turn Cassie into a vampire while still keeping her human.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence. “Is that even possible?” Melissa demanded. “And why?”

  Julian turned slightly toward her. “I don’t know if it is possible, or not. I don’t believe it is, but I don’t know. It’s never been tried before, I’ve never even heard of anything like it, or known anyone that would even want to attempt it. Every vampire has had to die in order to be reborn. They wanted to try and keep Cassie human, t
ry and have her turn without her death. They wanted to see what she might be capable of, and they wanted to be able to control her. And if it worked, they wanted to see if it would be possible to do it to others while keeping them under the thumb of The Commission.”

  Cassie swallowed heavily, though she was wearing heavy clothes, she was suddenly freezing cold. “It’s why they devised all of those tortures, why they gave you my blood. They wanted to see what you could and could not handle, and they also wanted to see if one of them would push you into making the change into a human vampire. What they wanted from you Cassie was to see how long it would take before you snapped and changed, or before you died, and either way they planned on you becoming a vampire.”

  She shuddered, pressing closer to Devon as a fierce shaking racked through her. “Ok, alright,” she whispered. “So that is why I’m different now. Why I feel different, why I’m stronger.”

  “It is why you are stronger, but not why you feel different. You feel different because you are different. The vampire blood, my blood has changed your basic DNA. As has Devon’s.” Everyone glanced at them, their eyebrows drawing tightly together in surprise. Cassie chose to ignore them. “Our blood may eventually leave your system, but not without changing you on some basic level first. That is how the Hunter’s were eventually made after all, and in you, it is still making those changes.”

  Cassie was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. “So what am I now?”

  Julian shook his head. “I don’t know Cassie, neither does he.”

  Sheets of ice crept down her back, causing her to shiver as her thoughts turned back toward the man in the other room. “Who is he?” she whispered.

  Julian slipped his hands into his pockets. “His name’s Patrick Woodard. He became the head of The Commission after The Slaughter. He was afraid, and rightly so, that we would kill him when we discovered him, so he lied and claimed to be your father in the hope that we would keep him alive.”

  “I’ve heard of him,” Luther said softly. “He was higher up in The Commission even before everything happened. I didn’t know he had survived.”

  “Unfortunately,” Chris muttered.

  “The children?” Cassie whispered.

  “Are at another facility in Canada. I can find them when the time comes,” Julian answered.

  “What are they doing to them?”

  Julian shook his head. “From what he knows, nothing. They are just being held. Some of them are actually future Guardians. There are a couple of Hunter’s amongst them, and the rest are human. There are ten of them still alive.”

  Relief filled her, her shoulders slumped. As soon as they were free of here they would find the children, rescue them, and keep them safe. They would never again know the kind of terror that they had so recently experienced. “And how many of those monsters are here?”

  Julian shook his head. “They have been moving people steadily out of this town for the past year. They’ve been buying up land and pushing the people out in preparation of the experiments they wanted to perform. Including the children, there were only sixty people left in this town by the time they were done. The ones at the motel that weren’t killed outright were brought in. Some of the others have already been killed off, but he believes there are still at least twenty five to thirty left.”

  “What?” Melissa croaked.

  Julian glanced around the room. “We have killed off six of them.”

  “How the hell are we going to kill twenty or so more of them though?” Chris demanded.

  “We’ll figure that out,” Luther replied. “For now it is more important that we keep them in this town.”

  “How?” Melissa asked.

  “Bait,” Cassie whispered.

  Devon’s hand tightened on her, his nostrils flared as he turned slowly toward her. His eyes were narrowed and fierce, his body thrummed with tension. “Absolutely not.”

  Cassie ignored his growled warning. “It’s the only way to draw them out, especially since their food supply is running low. We have to have bait. They will come to us then.”

  “And I know who we can use,” Julian said softly.

  Cassie’s head snapped toward him, she glared at him. “No!” she hissed. “That is not going to happen. I will go out there.”

  “Like hell!” Devon exploded; his hands were almost painful upon her as he spun her. “That is not going to happen.”

  “Devon…”

  “You are not going out there.”

  “If you would just listen.”

  His eyes flared red, his jaw clenched tight. “For once you are going to listen to me!” he snarled. “You are not going out there. If you want to use bait then I will personally carry that man and Joey outside, but you will not be that bait.”

  Dani let out a strangled cry of horror as she lurched from the shadows. Liam grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her back a step. Cassie gaped up at Devon, unsure how to respond or react. She had seen him furious, she had seen him on the brink of losing all control, but she had never seen him like this. He had never ordered her about so fiercely before. And she had never thought that he would so willingly offer up someone for death.

  “Devon,” she breathed.

  His eyes flickered briefly for a moment. “Your safety is first,” he said softly.

  “I know, but…”

  “No buts,” he growled. “You will not be the bait, no matter what you want.”

  She nodded, swallowing the heavy lump that was lodged in her throat. What was wrong with him? What was going on here? Her gaze darted questioningly to Julian, he stared silently back at her, his icy eyes unwavering. He nodded slightly to her, a subtle movement of his head that left her trembling.

  “I’ll do it,” Chris said softly.

  “No!” Cassie shouted at him, shock at his statement causing her to forget her worries about Devon. “No Chris, I’m faster than you, and stronger.”

  He quirked an eyebrow as he folded his arms over his chest, taking affront to her statement. “It won’t be either of you,” Luther said flatly, his gaze intent on Devon. “Will it?”

  “No,” Devon answered in response to his question. “It will be Julian and I.”

  Cassie spun on him, her eyes narrowing as she glared fiercely up at him. “Oh, so it’s ok if something happens to you?” she demanded. “We’re going to need you to stop them from spreading out of this town. You and Julian are the strongest, you are the most needed!”

  Devon bent closer to her, his eyes blazed fiercely into hers. “And if something happens to you, I will be an even bigger danger to everyone in this room than those things out there. Do you understand me?”

  Cassie swallowed heavily, her shaking grew fiercer. “Devon I’m still going to be in on the fight. Once they come, you will need our help, we’re going to be out there no matter what.”

  Cassie had to fight the urge to take a step back as he leaned even closer to her. Her heart flipped wildly as pressed his face nearly against hers. For the first time, she was actually a little afraid of him, and the intensity that blazed from him. She had never seen him like this, she didn’t know what had brought it about, but she sure as hell didn’t like it. She hated to be intimidated, but she was, and she had never thought that Devon would be the one doing the intimidating.

  “Not you.”

  Cassie’s mouth dropped, strange sputtering noises escaped her. “Like hell!” she snapped.

  “None of you will be out there.”

  “What!? Are you kidding me! Of course we will!” everyone exploded at the same time.

  “No,” Devon replied crisply. “Julian and I will take care of this.”

  Cassie gaped at him, shock and horror leaving her immobile. “Devon, you can’t handle them all. That’s a suicide mission, why would you want to do that?” Cassie whispered.

  He moved slightly away from her, allowing her to breathe a little easier. “They won’t all come at once; we can handle the ones that do.”

&
nbsp; Tears burned her eyes, her hands clenched and unclenched in frustration. She wanted to argue with him, wanted to fight him, but she knew that it would be pointless, knew that he would not budge. Devon gently grasped her chin, tilting her head so that she had to meet his gaze. “We will be fine.”

  A single tear slid down her face. He wiped it lightly away, bending close he pressed a soft kiss to her trembling lips. When he pulled away his eyes were emerald again, dark with uncertainty and concern. “You will stay inside.”

  Cassie couldn’t bring herself to speak, she would not lie to him, and she could not make that promise. He released her before stepping away. Cassie watched as he moved stiffly toward Julian. She was suddenly hit with the realization that she did not know just exactly what he was capable of, especially when it came to her.

  She turned toward the others, feeling helpless and lost. Liam and Annabelle had moved over to join Devon and Julian; they conferred in soft whispers by the doorway. Luther was staring at the still half open window, his expression thoughtful and distant. Dani had retreated back into the shadows, terror evident on her features.

  Chris and Melissa stared silently back at her. They were her best friends, her rocks, the two people she had relied on the most, until Devon walked into her life. But even they looked just as confused and frightened as she felt.

  CHAPTER 12

  Cassie stood silently, frozen by the window. Immobile with terror. Devon moved swiftly toward the center of the road. The timed streetlights spilled across the street, creating shadows on the hard pavement. The skeletal trees moved and swayed with the breeze that shook them. Cassie shuddered, foreboding filtered through her.

  She was barely able to take her gaze away from Devon to look at Julian. He stood by the door, his hand resting upon the handle, his powerful body hard and unmoving as he waited for the attack to come. “You know I won’t stay in here once you go out,” she told him.

  His gaze darted to her, his eyes skimmed swiftly over her. “I know you will try to go out there.”