Inevitable Darkness

by Cassandra Lawson

  Abram nodded. “I’ve been bitten by a couple of feral vamps from outbreaks of the original Moon virus. It’s the virus that causes the stinging reaction as your body tries to fight it off.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Mitchell stated. “I already have the virus.”

  “Technically, you don’t have that particular virus,” Abram corrected him. “You have a mutation of it, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The original virus is still trying to attack your system so it will sting like a bitch for a few hours.”

  “Lucky me,” Mitchell muttered.

  “Thank you for helping us,” Lucida told them as she approached the scene with several other witches who all looked ready for battle.

  “It’s the least we could do since you’re helping us,” Jase told her.

  One of the witches tossed his pants at him while the other threw Vexx’s clothing at her.

  “We’ve never had this many attack,” Lucida remarked.

  “There must have been an outbreak nearby,” Mitchell stated. “We should call Connor and ask him to either send out an extermination team or get in touch with the closest born vampire settlement to help clean up this outbreak.”

  “With Connor’s break from the vampire council, he may not be able to call them,” Abram pointed out. “Why don’t I call Connor? That way, if he thinks we should call in the local vamps, I can take care of it for him. Who knows? They may already be aware of the outbreak.”

  “This territory isn’t under the rule of any vampires,” Lucida told them. “We’ve done our best to keep them out of the area. There are two good-size human settlements near here, so it could be one of them. It’s not likely vampires came across a wandering band of humans this size.”

  “I agree,” Abram stated. “There were too many of them.”

  “Why not have Max call Eleanor?” Vexx suggested. “Since she’s on the vampire council, that would cut out the middleman. Even if Connor agrees to help, the council may want to know about the outbreak.”

  “Good idea about calling Max,” Jase agreed. “We should make the calls now.”

  “We have no service for your phones here,” Lucida reminded him. “You’ll need to leave the area to make the calls. Considering how late it’s getting, I recommend waiting until tomorrow.”

  “We need to head back out anyway to make sure the others in our group are okay,” Jase added. “They may need back-up.”

  “They may have already called for back-up,” Abram pointed out. “If they saw the turned vampires, my people would have called it into the vampire council.”

  “Someone needs to stay behind with Kish,” Mitchell remarked. “I should go since it will be easier for me to contact Connor. Jase should go with me to call Max.”

  “That’s good thinking,” Abram agreed. “I’m still worried about you traveling alone when there might be more turned vampires out there, but we need to keep a close watch on Kish.”

  “We have plenty of people here to guard Kishara,” Lucida bristled.

  “I’m more worried about her behavior if we abandon her. She’s not used to being here,” Mitchell explained.

  “Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here,” Kish snapped. “You complain about me, but that’s just rude.”

  Lucida laughed softly. “She has a point.”

  “Sorry,” Mitchell told her. “Everyone responsible for raising me would be disappointed in my behavior. I am worried about leaving you here. I know it was always the plan, but things have changed. At least, if Vexx and Abram stay behind, you’ll have people you sort of know around.”

  “I can help out with Kishara,” a man Mitchell had never met interrupted. “She doesn’t trust me, but then again, she doesn’t trust anyone. She likes me.”

  Mitchell expected Kish to snap at him, but instead, she smiled. “It’s cheating when you use your empath abilities to figure out how I feel about you, Rowan.”

  “It’s the only way to read you accurately,” Rowan replied. “We are becoming friends, right?”

  Mitchell had no clue when they’d even met, but Kish had evidently talked to the male before.

  “I suppose,” Kish reluctantly agreed. “I’ll be fine here with Rowan. No one else needs to stay with me.”

  Abram nodded. “Then we’ll get our weapons together and head out now. I don’t think we should wait.”

  “It’s late, so we won't be back until tomorrow,” Mitchell told Lucida.

  “Safe travels,” Lucida said to the group before moving toward Vexx. When she stood directly in front of her, she whispered, “You did well today, Vexx. I know we don’t always appreciate your cougar side, but it is amazing. I’m sorry if we made you feel you needed to hide that part of yourself.”

  Before Vexx could respond, Lucida turned and walked off with her people behind her.

  “Did that just happen?” Vexx asked.

  “Seems so,” Abram replied. “I guess the witches need to get attacked by feral vamps more often. It makes them more accepting.”

  Chapter 62

  “We didn’t expect you back so soon,” Zane called out as they approached.

  Abram didn’t see his vampires, but he suspected they were sleeping since it would make sense to sleep in shifts.

  “There was an attack on the coven land,” Jase explained. “We came back to check on you and to call Connor and Max to get people out here to deal with the outbreak.”

  “It was a new outbreak, and there were twenty-three vampires in the group that attacked the witches,” Mitchell added. “Jase needs a phone to call Max.”

  Lexi nodded. “I’ll grab the phone.”

  She hurried off in the direction of the jeeps.

  “I’m surprised we haven’t run into any vampires yet,” Zane mused.

  “Me too. I’m going to call Connor,” Mitchell said as he grabbed his phone and walked away from the group. Jase grabbed the phone from Lexi and stepped away to call Max.

  “Do you think you’ll need Eleanor’s help?” Zane asked, “And why not have Abram call them? He’s under the vampire council’s rule.”

  “Yeah, I’m under their authority,” Abram replied with a dry laugh. “They only did that to piss off Connor. Now that it’s not working out so well, they don’t give a fuck about us.”

  “Figures,” Lexi replied with a huff. “I don’t talk to my mom often because I can’t stand hearing what goes on with the vampire council.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Abram stated. “We’re going to stay here for the night, so I’ll go set up a couple of tents.”

  “No more pretending you aren’t sleeping with Mitchell?” Zane asked with a grin. “After I saw you and Mitchell climb out of the same tent before you left for the coven land, I figured you’d try carrying that lie out for at least a few more weeks.” Zane inhaled deeply.

  “Don’t say anything about my scent,” Abram warned.

  “Just don’t be an ass, Zane,” Vexx added.

  “Now you’ve done it,” Lexi muttered in response.

  “And you and Jase, are you both also sharing a tent?” Zane asked.

  Abram wondered idly if Jase would be pissed if he shot Zane with a crossbow. Shifters healed quickly, so he’d only be out of commission for a little while.

  “What are you thinking about?” Mitchell asked Abram when he returned. “Your smile is making me nervous.”

  Lexi sighed and answered for him. “Zane is being a pain in the ass, so I would bet he’s thinking about killing Zane.

  “Not killing him,” Abram argued. “I wasn’t planning to hit any major arteries. What did Connor say?”

  Mitchell frowned. “The call won’t go through. Have you had any issues with the cell service here?”

  Zane shook his head. “We haven’t used the phones since we checked to make sure they worked when we arrived. I guess we should have tested them, but I didn’t think they’d stop working.”

  Abram ground his back teeth at the thought of his vampires not even tes
ting their phones. If Paul called to check on them, he’d have no way of knowing things were still going okay.

  “I’m going to kill them,” Abram muttered.

  “We’ll need to travel farther away from the coven land to see if we can get a signal,” Mitchell remarked as he regarded the darkening sky.

  “Tomorrow morning,” Abram told him. “With the outbreak, I think we should settle in here for the night. It’s not like we can drive around in the dark until we have service.”

  “As much as I want to argue that we need to leave immediately, you’re probably right,” Vexx agreed.

  “What’s the guard detail look like for tonight?” Mitchell asked. “We can all take a shift.”

  “Fuck that,” Abram spat out. “My people will handle the night shift. It will give them time to come up with a good excuse for not checking that their phones were functioning before I decide how to deal with them in the morning.”

  “Why give them time to think of excuses?” Vexx asked. “You aren’t going to accept any excuse they give you as a good one.”

  Abram grinned. “Exactly. Let them worry tonight.”

  Chapter 63

  “Wake up, Halfling.”

  Mitchell was jarred from sleep by a voice in his tent. His heart beat fast as he looked around. His eyes narrowed when they landed on Legion.

  Abram, unable to see or hear Legion, blinked twice as he looked at Mitchell. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Mitchell assured him. “Legion is here.”

  “That’s creepy as fuck,” Abram muttered.

  “No kidding,” Mitchell said under his breath before his attention returned to Legion. “What the hell are you doing here, Legion?” He should be glad Legion had shown up since he needed to see him, but he hated being woken up at night. Why couldn’t Legion show up when Mitchell wasn’t sleeping?

  “I needed to talk to you,” Legion replied with a shrug. “Is this your guy?” He gestured to Abram with a shoulder.

  “Yeah,” Mitchell replied. “You know you could talk to me during the day instead of waking me up at night.”

  Legion shrugged. “I figured you’d be alone, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. It’s not like I walked in on the two of you fucking.”

  “That’s not the only reason I don’t want you showing up in the middle of the night,” Mitchell stated.

  “I told you he wouldn’t appreciate this,” Serenity muttered as she stepped out of the portal and into Mitchell’s tent. It immediately closed behind her.

  Mitchell hadn’t seen Serenity in a year. He blinked several times as he tried to get used to the light. Serenity glowed with a light only demons could see. Her hair was dyed dark blue this time. He’d heard that her natural blonde color shone so bright that demons couldn’t look at her if she didn’t dye it. Serenity had fought to help save his friends before, and he liked her a lot more than Legion. He didn’t know too much about how she’d ended up with Legion, but Legion loved her. In her presence, the demon’s eyes always softened.

  Jase burst into the tent naked, looking ready to fight when his eyes landed on Serenity.

  “It’s okay, Jase,” Mitchell assured him. “Serenity is here with Legion. I guess he needs to tell me something and can’t wait until I get some sleep.”

  “Your cousin’s an asshole,” Jase muttered.

  “I hate how often I agree with you,” Abram stated.

  Serenity laughed softly. “I’m quite fond of Legion, and I still want to smack the hell out of him sometimes.”

  Legion grinned. “She likes it.”

  “Can we get to the point of your visit?” Mitchell asked.

  “Your father is coming,” Legion told him.

  Mitchell hated it when Legion referred to him as his father. It grated on his nerves to hear the words from Legion. “I don’t consider him my father. Can we use his name?”

  “Sure,” Legion agreed with a shrug. “It seems crazy to pretend he’s not your father, but whatever you want. Terigin is coming. After he found out Kish had left the jaguar land, he got a tracker to help him follow the portal.”

  “I’ll wait outside,” Jase announced. “You can explain this to me after Legion leaves. It’s too hard to figure out what’s going on when I can’t hear Legion.”

  “I’ll stay,” Abram announced. “I’m not putting on my pants just because it’s a little weird watching you talk to someone I can’t see or hear.”

  “Sometimes, I wish I couldn’t hear him,” Mitchell muttered.

  “No, you don’t,” Legion said with a laugh. “I’m your favorite cousin, right?”

  “Kish is my favorite cousin,” Mitchell replied.

  “I’m glad you’re finally getting along with her,” Legion said with a grin. “When I asked you to help her, I was worried you’d let hard feelings over her trying to kill people you care about get in the way. You’ve spent a lot of time around humans, and they get sensitive about that sort of thing.”

  “Back to why you’re here,” Mitchell prompted. “Where are the demons hunting Kish?”

  “I’m not completely sure,” Legion admitted. “The information I’m getting is second and sometimes third hand. Rumor has it that my father has joined the search for Kishara.”

  “They also know about you,” Serenity interjected.

  Abram tensed beside him at Serenity’s words. “What do they know about me?” Mitchell asked.

  Legion shrugged. “Maybe nothing. There’s talk of another powerful halfling, but the people I’m getting my information from aren’t as trustworthy as others working with Terigin. It’s hard to find Terigin since he’s doing his best to cover his tracks. He doesn’t want anyone seeing him. After questioning the jaguars, he killed them all.”

  There were several beats of silence before Mitchell could respond. His first reaction was relief that Kish had talked them into bringing Moon with them. Next, guilt washed over him as he realized he’d given no thought to the other jaguars. “My visions only showed them dying if we didn’t take Kish away from there,” he whispered as Abram gripped his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

  “You can’t see everything,” Legion told him as he crouched in front of him. “Listen, Mitchell, you have a good heart, and I know the visions suck more for you because of that. You’ll never see every possible outcome because there are too many factors that play into what happens.”

  Mitchell nodded. “What else do you need to tell me?”

  “It looks like Terigin is trying to overthrow Satan, and he’s convinced my father to help him,” Legion replied.

  “Satan?” Mitchell asked. “As in the embodiment of evil in some religions?”

  “He’s not all that evil,” Legion insisted.

  Serenity snorted in response. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’re the best judge of who’s evil. You have a very questionable past.”

  “True, but this Satan is an okay guy, from what I’ve heard,” Legion insisted.

  “This Satan?” Mitchell asked. “How many Satans are there?”

  “Just one. Satan rules Hell, but it’s more of a title than a name,” Legion explained. “This one took over after I started serving my punishment, so I don’t know much about him. Terigin must sense a weakness, or he’s threatening the power Terigin already has.”

  “I still can’t believe there’s more than one Satan,” Mitchell mused before turning to Abram. “Legion says the demons looking for Kish are near, and they may be trying to take over Hell. I guess Satan is a title, not the name of the leader of Hell.”

  Abram’s eyes widened. “This news would shock my mom.”

  “I was shocked by that, too,” Serenity chimed in. “I guess a demon can only serve one term as Satan.”

  “That’s crazy,” Mitchell muttered. “My life keeps getting crazier. So, Terigin is after Kish because he thinks she can help him overthrow Satan?”

  “That’s what I believe,” Legion confirmed. “At first, I thought he might want to kill
her, but now, I’m sure it has more to do with using her power. Of course, he still might plan to kill her once she’s helped him. The same goes for you if he already knows you exist.”

  “Damn,” Mitchell grumbled. “We need to get to a place where there’s cell service before we can head back. How long do you think we have before Terigin finds Kish? The witches are trying to mask her power. I don’t think she’s had any magical mishaps since we left the demon land.”

  “But you have,” Abram reminded him. “They may be tracking you.”

  Legion nodded. “Your vampire’s right. At your age, you may be coming into more power, and that can be hard to control.”

  “And you just now realized this?” Mitchell asked.

  Legion shook his head. “I knew before.”

  “Asshole,” Mitchell grumbled before continuing. “I plan to kill Terigin, so it may not be a bad thing that he’s tracking us. I still need time to plan and get more help. How long do you think we have before he finds us?”

  Legion shrugged. “If the witches are powerful enough, at least a week. They could probably hide her indefinitely if she doesn’t use her demon magic. It was smart hiding her with witches. You may also want to hide there. Every time you lose control of your demon power, you send out a beacon for the demons to track.”

  Mitchell shook his head. “Hiding isn’t an option. Kish doesn’t plan to hide for long. She’s going to fight with us.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Serenity agreed.

  Legion looked pissed. “That’s a terrible idea. I’m trying to keep her safe, and you want to have her face Terigin?”

  “Kish is hardly weak,” Mitchell reminded him. “I didn’t ask her to fight with us. It was her choice. I need to get in touch with Connor.”

  “So, make a portal to a place where there’s cell service and then go back to Kish,” Legion suggested.

  “I can’t,” Mitchell told him. “First, I’m not sure of the exact location where I can find cell service again. Second, I can’t make a portal that complex without Winter and Vexx. I only have Vexx with me.”