by Zoe Winters
But the demon leader also didn’t play politics. Whatever he said, happened. He had no reason to lie to anyone because there was very little he couldn’t make happen in a more straightforward manner.
“All right,” Hadrian said, putting down the papers. “The other night, Angeline said the angels are planning to fight.”
“I suspected as much. I spoke to one of the warriors to feel them out. They love a good fight,” Cain said.
“No. Fighting us. They want to take us on when our focus is split trying to fight the humans and magic users. They want to bring on the final battle they’ve been talking about for ages.”
Cain’s eyes glowed red and narrowed. “Is that a fact?”
“It’s what Angeline said.”
“And you trust her?”
Oh what a tangled web that was. “In her current state, I don’t believe she is very prone to lying.”
A couple of eyebrows rose. Yes, let’s speculate about everybody’s previous relationships and back story. Because it wasn’t as if the world were ending or anything.
Tam’s nose wrinkled. “Why does that name sound so familiar?”
It took her about half a second. For someone so ancient, she had a memory like a steel trap.
“Your sire is an angel now?” Tam said.
Hadrian looked up to find an odd look in Anthony’s eyes. Did the vampire king know Angeline?
“Tam, can you neutralize the angel threat?” Cain asked, turning to his mate.
“Hon, I know you think I’m the most badass super witch that ever there was, but there are things even beyond my power. Do you know how powerful they are up there? I can’t just neutralize them. It’s not like I have a can of Angel Raid in my tent or anything.”
Cain rolled his eyes. “I don’t mean take on the hosts of Heaven on your own. Can we bar their access to this plane somehow, just eliminate their drama altogether? No one gets into my dimension without my permission. Shouldn’t those in this dimension have some say-so in who crosses over?”
She sighed. “I could look into it. Go into the dusty old books. Call up a few powerful witches that aren’t totally freaked out that I gave my soul to a demon. I’ll need a few days.”
Cain grinned. The look was beyond strange on his face. Then he kissed her on the cheek like some smitten schoolboy, and that was even weirder.
Anthony called the meeting back to order, clearly perturbed that every time this motley crew got together, someone had control of things, and it was rarely him. The vampire king may be top dog among his own species. He may have developed a rather impressive police state that would warm the heart of any power-crazed sociopathic dictator, but when they all got together, it always seemed to be Cain that everyone followed. And why shouldn’t they? He was over eight thousand years old. That was hardcore seniority.
Hadrian turned to the demon in question. “Out of curiosity, outside of the angel threat, what do you care what happens in any of this? You’ve got your own dimension to retreat to.”
“My demons rely on humans to feed. We don’t have an out. We can’t die. If we don’t feed, we suffer. And not all of my demons have mates, which means, if the humans band together with the magic users and block the feeding trough, I’ve got a lot of starving demons on my hands.”
The demons could feed from any human, unless they took a mate, which also had to be human. A mate allowed them to feed from one source forever. It wasn’t unlike the mating claim the vampire king had with his human queen.
“So, then maybe you should encourage your demons to take mates.”
“Do you have any idea how hard it is for a demon to find a human willing to give him her soul, especially given the fucked-up mating ritual we’re stuck with? What I need is for this issue to resolve itself so my demons are protected and everything goes back to normal.”
Hadrian hated to tell him, but everything was never going back to normal. They had entered the new normal, and if more preternaturals fully appreciated that, there would be pandemonium in the streets that even Anthony wouldn’t be able to control.
The vampire king rolled a giant blueprint out onto the table, forcing everyone to move their piles of papers out of the way. “These are the main hubs, the cities where we could take control and run the place if we can eliminate the magic user threat. Infrastructure has been eased in. We just need enough magic users on our side to create wards to keep the others out. They won’t be able to undo our magic, right Tam? Dayne?”
Both the super witch and the sorcerer nodded.
“It’s almost impossible to break someone else’s magic,” Dayne said.
“Even for someone like me,” Tam added. And she was the oldest witch that even existed.
“Then we implement what we have in Cary Town in all these other places. Let the magic users move to territories in the more rural areas and outskirts and stay out of our zones. The humans in the areas we take will be ours, which should give vampires and demons a steady stream of feeding options.”
Hadrian growled. But he wasn’t the only one. The werewolf alpha was staring holes into Anthony.
“Yes, why don’t you do that, Anthony. Why don’t you create a world in which my wolves have nowhere to go without you fucking micro-chipping them and tracking their every move,” Cole said.
It was still a sore spot that the pack alpha had refused to reveal the location of the pack’s den, and that they used a portal charm from Cain to travel without passing through Anthony’s border patrol security. It was a wonder the vampire king even allowed him to these private meetings.
“Why don’t we wait and see what Tam can do about the angels before we start worrying about all this,” Greta, the shy brunette werecat said. Anthony growled at her, and she shrank back.
But Anthony saw the sense in what she suggested. “Tam, how long until you know if anything can be done?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe three days to be safe. I’m being asked to do the impossible here. I’m flattered and all, but come on.”
“We’ll meet back in three days, then.”
Hadrian stood. “I’ll be at my church. If anything changes, send your goons. And have them knock politely. I might be busy doing something more important.”
The baby made another happy gurgling sound and tugged on the Noah’s fur. Sydney clapped her hands in delight when his eyes glowed golden. She crawled to Anthony, and he scooped her up and held her. She smacked playfully at his face and let out a peel of laughter. She was clearly daddy’s girl.
“Whatever,” the vampire said, too busy making googly faces at his daughter to care anymore about Hadrian.
The others got up from the tables as well, and the meeting dispersed.
When Hadrian reached the street, he felt the hunger. If he planned to make it back to his church basement before sunrise, he’d need to have dinner before he started the journey. Since Angeline, human blood didn’t taste right anymore. It was like going from a gourmet meal at a five-star restaurant to fast food that had sat under the heat lamp for hours.
Where was she? Had she abandoned him? Gone back on her word? That didn’t feel right. The way she’d followed and clung to him like a puppy desperate for approval… She seemed willing to do anything to appease his wrath, and the darker pieces inside him reveled in it.
He found himself swinging irrationally between an angry urge to punish her and worry as he prowled the streets. What if something had happened? Could she be in trouble in Heaven? It wasn’t as if there was any way for him to get up there. And though he knew Cain could get into the waiting area outside the main gate, Hadrian knew the demon wouldn’t help him.
And what could Cain do anyway? Nothing. If Angeline wasn’t already in trouble, she would be if a demon prowled around, demanding her release.
There was an enforcer on practically every street corner in Cary Town now. The vampires of the group wore sturdy metal armor over their hearts, and thick steel collars around their necks to prevent blades from going throu
gh. It was a ridiculous look, but it did beg the question of why all vampires didn’t just dress that way to eliminate the only real threats that could kill them besides sunlight and fire.
One of the enforcers sent Hadrian a menacing glare when he found a meal walking down the street at such a late hour. She must be suicidal.
The enforcer growled.
“Are you going to give me grief about feeding?” Hadrian asked. Sure, he could feed once he cleared Anthony’s city but, he was hungry now.
“Not if you go through the proper procedures. Don’t call attention and memory wipe, just like before the humans knew. We’re trying to keep the panic down.”
So that’s why the human felt safe to wander the streets. Anthony’s propaganda worked on one species, at least.
“Of course. I was never into the flashy shit, anyway,” Hadrian said.
The enforcer nodded, and Father Hadrian made his way across the street to the isolated young woman. He gripped her arm and moved her into an alleyway. There were no witnesses, and she wasn’t a screamer so he didn’t bother with thrall.
Her eyes were wide and frightened, and she looked to the nearest enforcer as if surely he would save her if she cried out.
“What makes you think it’s safe for you to wander these streets alone? You know what’s out here, now.” Hadrian allowed his fangs to come out and felt the glow light his eyes.
“T-there haven’t been attacks here, and with the police…”
Hadrian laughed. “You think those are police? Why do you think they wear armor over their hearts?”
Her eyes widened. “But, there haven’t been any killings here.”
“That you know of.” He looked inside her mind, searching for the guilty secret that he could absolve her of or damn her for. She was a schoolteacher, and the worst thing she seemed to have ever done was cheat on a test in high school. She didn’t appear to carry any great guilt, and he didn’t think she should die for it. He wasn’t a psychopath, for God’s sake.
He touched the side of her face. “Forget you saw me and go home. Don’t go out after dark. It’s not safe, whatever you’ve been told.”
“Y-yes. I’ll do that. Thank you,” she said, as that glassy look came into her eyes that indicated she’d been successfully compelled to obey.
Hadrian growled in frustration when she’d gone, and the enforcer raised a brow.
“Not to your taste?” he asked.
“Shut up.”
Hadrian couldn’t pin down why he hadn’t been able to feed from the woman in the alley. For decades, feeding had been a ritualistic entanglement of his previous job and satiating his hunger. He’d always been big on ritual, after all.
He stalked down a couple more streets until he found a larger crowd. Their strategy appeared to be safety in numbers. He wondered how that was working out for them. It was a festival. Hadrian leaped out of the way of a fire eater, having no desire to get singed tonight.
This time he was more picky. He scanned the crowd, looking for a mind filled to the brink with trouble—anything so he could get this done and go back to his church.
Ah, there was one. A woman with long blonde hair, trying to blend into the crowd, but unable to. She’d abandoned her children and had a string of affairs with junkies, hanging on to them to get her own fix. She was with one of them now.
Hadrian negotiated the crowd and put a hand on the man’s arm. “Do you mind if I borrow your girl?”
The guy was thin. His clothing hung on him as if he were a wire coat hanger. He wore a flannel shirt and smelled of cheap whiskey. “Why don’t you move along, shit stain?”
Charming. Hadrian looked into his eyes. “I’ve got a better idea. Forget you ever met this woman. She’s not with you.”
When Hadrian turned to his prey, it was clear from her expression that she knew what he was. And unlike the other woman, this one looked like a screamer. “Don’t speak,” he said, capturing her gaze in his before she could take her vocal chords for a test drive in the public square.
He led her away from the crowd, sifting through her mind for more details. He took her to an abandoned playground near Anthony’s place. “Tell me, are you sorry for your sins?”
“What?”
“You know what I’m asking. Abandoning your children, the men, the drugs.”
She started to cry. “And if I’m not you’ll kill me? Or will it matter either way?”
Bright woman. Far too bright for any of this.
“Answer.”
“It doesn’t make any difference.”
She wouldn’t formally confess but the guilt gnawed at her, especially over her kids. It ate away at the edges of her soul, hollowing out something inside of her, stealing bits of her humanity.
Hadrian sniffed at her throat. He didn’t smell anything on her, but the blood underneath the surface could still be tainted with drugs, and he didn’t need that while traveling home. He put a suggestion in her mind so his fangs would give her pleasure instead of pain, then he took a brief taste. Clean. She hadn’t had a hit yet.
Her body arched toward him as he bit down, drinking as much as he could without causing true damage. While he fed, he erased the guilt and sadness and horror over the things she’d done. Then he pulled away and licked the wounds to seal them.
“Do you know where the nearest rehab clinic is?”
“Yes, but… I can’t afford the trip to get there.”
He pulled out his wallet and took out a debit card. It had belonged to one of his recent victims who hadn’t been sorry. She had quite a bank balance, and no one missed her yet. “You will pack up your things immediately and go there. You will use this card for anything you need to get yourself back together.”
She nodded, the thrall ensuring she would do what he asked. She took the card and slipped it into her purse.
“Do you have paper and a pen?” he asked.
She pulled an old bill and a ballpoint pen out of her purse. He scrawled his name and some numbers on the paper and handed it back to her. “This is the pin number for the card, and below it is my cell number. When you get out, if you have any problems seeing your children, call me and I will handle it.” He took her hand to put more force into his thrall. “You will never use again, do you understand?”
“Y-yes.”
“And you will call if you have trouble? With anything?” When he absolved someone, he didn’t leave them with no help. And he could easily enthrall anyone who prevented her from getting back to her kids when she’d cleaned up.
“Y-yes.”
“Good girl. You will forget the vampire part of our interaction. I am just a man. Just a nice man who helped you.”
Chapter Seven
Angeline had lost track of how long she’d been locked in the black room. Time didn’t seem to exist here as there was no way to mark it. It had definitely been longer than hours. Days? Weeks? Months? Those words felt meaningless. Everything was meaningless. The only true sense she had of the length of time she’d been here was how weak and tired she felt, the result of a lack of light, being shut up in this darkness so long. It wouldn’t show on her body, but it would show in her eyes.
She’d thought Rodolfo would arrive soon after Kurt had left her. She’d hoped she could reason with him, pray for mercy and hope to be given one more chance to be good.
The voices had started calling for the destruction of her soul. And it hardly seemed to matter. She’d lost the will to fight their constant accusations.
It hadn’t taken long for the voices to move beyond verbal taunts. The glass walls had transformed into screens, projecting stark images of her life as a vampire with Linus. All her crimes repeated without end. And when she closed her eyes to make it stop, the voices screamed at her, swearing they would give her the final death for her refusal to watch.
Even the terrible things Linus did to her were twisted to make it seem as if somehow they were all her fault. Everything was her fault. The rest of the world was virtuou
s and happy and at peace without her existence messing things up. The world didn’t need her to ruffle the fabric of existence with her tainted soul.
Then they’d shown her Hadrian, her obsession with him, giving him her blood.
“Abomination!” they’d shrieked at her. Hundreds of voices overlapping with that single accusation and taunt.
The door swung open, and Angeline looked up, moving her hands from her face. She’d crouched in a corner of the black room to shield herself from the constant onslaught of their mental torture and cruelty.
“Angeline,” Rodolfo said.
He pulled out a remote, and she cringed away, afraid it was something meant to hurt her, but one of the walls simply opened and pushed out a platform with a desk and two chairs. The senior angel settled in one of the chairs and extended a hand to the other, his face mild.
“Sit, and let’s talk,” he said.
She slunk to the small straight-backed chair he indicated. Her limbs were sore and tired from no light and from being crunched in such a small ball to try to disappear away from them.
“H-how long have I been in here?” she asked, fearing it had to be years or decades. If she was ever allowed out of here, she would never be the same. They’d broken her into small pieces. She was sure nothing could form those pieces back into a single whole.
“Two days,” he said.
Two days? Two days. She’d marked the time when her friend had been kept in the black room. It had been four weeks. What could they have thought to do in four weeks? What more was coming?
“P-please let me out. I promise I’ll be good.”
His chair was elevated and he looked down his nose at her in that smug way he’d turned into high art. “They all say that, but if we let you out too soon and you haven’t learned…”
“I’ve learned. I-I swear I’ve learned.”
“I’ve spoken with the angelic council. There is talk of destroying you. They don’t believe as a former vampire that you can be rehabilitated. It isn’t simply the crime of giving your blood to a vampire, though that, too, is unforgivable.”
