Which was exactly what we needed right now.
My devils walked up to us, snapping me out of my thoughts. Natalie mussed Nosh’s head playfully and Victoria smiled at his resulting growl. Natalie had found her robe—surprisingly not shredded and without any bloodstains on it, so she must have taken it off before shifting. She looked wildly out of place amidst the chaos.
“Hey,” I said awkwardly, not entirely sure where to begin on how badly our night had turned out. Nosh smirked, watching me flounder as the devils studied me, waiting. “I think it’s better for everyone if we don’t mention my family where anyone else can overhear,” I said, flicking my eyes over the swarm of activity.
“Then we should go for a quick walk in the park,” she said, grabbing my hand and tugging me towards the street without waiting for my thoughts on the matter.
Natalie grabbed my other hand, and smacked Adam on the ass as she walked by. “Come on, big guy. We’re going for a walk. Heel.”
Adam and Eve shared an amused look with each other and then followed us. I shot a helpless look at Nosh behind me, but he just shrugged. “Get me Nero!” I hissed, remembering that the necromancer warlock was just as valuable to the Olympians as Dracula was.
The Shaman nodded and walked away.
“I liked what you said to Hazel,” Victoria said with a pleased smile. “Perhaps a little overprotective, but it was cute.” She squeezed my hand, so I was fairly certain it wasn’t a trap.
Natalie grunted. “Could have gone further. God ruined a perfectly good asshole when he put teeth in Hazel’s mouth. You should have knocked them down the back of her throat as your charitable donation to the world.”
I chuckled, especially when Victoria shot her a surprised look. Victoria reached into a pocket and pulled out a phone, handing it over to me with an amused smile. “I got you a replacement. One of the vampires found what they think was your old one broken outside the elevator.”
I accepted it with a faint smile. “Someone interrupted me with a phone call while I was trying to make it downstairs earlier,” I admitted with a frustrated sigh. “So, I destroyed it. Didn’t change anything, though,” I muttered.
The silence stretched on as we walked, and I felt my shoulders twitching, wondering exactly how much to say to them. I couldn’t tell if they were upset with me or just at the situation. Did I mention that Aphrodite had pressed me to enjoy their pleasure? Did I avoid talk of the goddess of sex since the last Olympian had almost killed Natalie? Did I mention my plan about going to the Underworld?
Natalie finally sighed, tugging my hand to stop me short. We were almost at the bank of fog surrounding my castle. “If it was up to me, I would let this drag on just to watch you squirm, but I’m not very rational right now. I’m feeling sexually frustrated, so I’ll just cut to the chase. Nosh told us everything.”
I froze, schooling my features. Part of me was furious at him for him revealing the details, but part of me understood why he had done so. And if anyone deserved to know the truth, it was my devils. In fact, Nosh had actually done me a favor by volunteering to be the messenger.
“Oh?” I asked very carefully.
“He knew we would raise all sorts of hell until we heard the full story, and he said you wouldn’t have the time to properly explain it. Or that you might leave some things out. Then he told us about Izzy to guilt-trip us, the sleazy rat bastard.”
Victoria nodded sadly. “We are going to help get her back,” she said. “Nosh said that we wouldn’t be able to join you even if you wanted us to…” She studied me, obviously not understanding what his comment meant.
But I sure did. I was going to the Underworld. Those with souls could not go there.
“I do want you to join me,” I said, picking up on the obvious trap. Victoria grinned approvingly. “But Nosh is right,” I admitted. “And before you get all worked up—”
“Worked up?” Natalie asked in a frigid tone. Victoria stared at me, arching an eyebrow.
“Slip of the tongue,” I muttered. I had been doing so well, too! “I was going to say that it has nothing to do with how tough you are or how dangerous my destination is. Nosh wouldn’t be able to join me either. In fact, I can’t think of a single person who could make the trip.”
Their confusion only seemed to intensify, but I could think of no other way to phrase it without making it sound worse than it really was.
“And if I don’t wrap it up in the next two hours, things are going to get a lot worse in New York City. In a few hours, I can tell you all about it, but I can’t talk about it right now.”
They pursed their lips unhappily, but understood my sense of urgency. Adam and Eve very wisely chose to silently creep past us, giving us some privacy.
Natalie stared at the ground. “Do you promise you will be safe?” she asked, obviously concerned. “That you’re not running off to sacrifice yourself or anything? Because. Fuck. That.”
I smiled, wrapping her up in a hug. “Our lives will always be dangerous, but I promise to be safe and that this is not a suicide attempt. Although suicide sounds preferable to missing out on our shower,” I growled unhappily.
She grinned, looking up at me. “And you promise to tell us everything later? What really happened tonight? I could tell Nosh was leaving some juicy bits out.”
I chuckled. “Yes. But I really do need you two to keep any mention of my…distant family to yourselves. My aunt seemed very concerned that we might not have as much privacy as we believe. That certain topics and names can be overheard,” I said meaningfully.
Natalie nodded, and I let her go.
Then I turned to Victoria. “Keep an eye out on Nosh for me. I should be back in a few hours, but Izzy isn’t the only one in danger. They want Nosh and his tomahawks more than anything else. Izzy was just leverage. But that should also be kept a secret—as much as possible anyway.” Aphrodite’s comment about Nosh not necessarily being a skinwalker came to mind, but I dismissed it. He wasn’t carrying around the tomahawks for fun.
She nodded. “Who knows? We might even have all their little pretty heads decorating the gates of the castle when you return.”
I smiled, wrapping her up in a hug. Then I let her go and stepped back.
There was a pregnant pause between the three of us, and then they simply left. I watched them walk away, frowning at the situation. I could tell that Hazel had gotten in at least one good blow during our heated exchange.
The topic of our trinity hung before us like a dark cloud, smothering our budding romance with a coating of thick frost. Unfortunately, her warnings may have been entirely truthful. The only person I could ask about that was Dracula.
I turned and stared up at my dark castle, frowning. If Dracula was the biggest threat, and the entire reason that I needed to go to the Underworld to steal my soul from Hades…
Perhaps it would be simpler if I went and killed him right now. Killed him before he had a chance to summon Hades or whatever it was he was trying to do.
Adam and Eve abruptly dropped to their knees with matching groans, snapping me out of my thoughts with a hiss. I ran over to them, terrified that I might already be too late. If they were growing so weak that they couldn’t stand, maybe their power was no longer poisoning the walls of Castle Ambrogio.
Dracula would be able to walk right out the front door and into the arms of the most ambitious Olympian—whoever that might be.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded, grabbing both of them. Their shoulders straightened somewhat at my touch, the physical contact with their master boosting their strength through our bond.
“It feels like we’re holding up a mountain with our fingertips,” Adam rasped. “He keeps getting stronger and our grip keeps slipping.”
Eve nodded, blinking rapidly and clenching her jaw.
I let out a frustrated breath. “Keep holding on. Please. Do you need to feed?”
Eve looked up at me, the fire in her eyes paler than normal. I hadn’t noticed how much
of a show they’d been putting on in front of the Sisters. They’d been just as tired then, but they’d muscled through it. “We’ve been trying to feed, but it only serves to make him stronger,” she muttered. “Like he’s taking the souls and blood from us—at least a large portion of them.”
I grimaced. If true, it meant Dracula really was trying to summon Hades, the master of souls. And that connection was siphoning off my Nephilims’ reserves. There was only one way to know for sure. I needed to get another look inside my castle and discover exactly what he was up to. Technically, it had only been twenty minutes or so since I’d last checked on him, thanks to Aphrodite’s spell.
But something had caused the Nephilim to drop to their knees. Something had changed.
Recalling how much the Nephilim hated the Olympians, even though I wasn’t entirely sure why, I decided to see if a little aggression could liven up their weariness. “The Olympians are involved in this somehow. Are you going to let them beat you?”
Adam stiffened, slowly turning his head to face me. His eyes flared marginally brighter, and I heard Eve growl menacingly. As one, they straightened, and I watched as the crystal veins shifting across their arms condensed into tighter knots.
Their eyes flared brighter at the same time, and I could feel the marginal boost of strength it gave them. I frowned thoughtfully, wondering what to make of it. These were the first two Nephilim vampires in history, so I had nothing to base their abilities on.
They gave me grim nods and then strode into the wall of mist to resume their posts at the gate. I watched them, wondering if they could even manage to hold out for the next two hours.
15
I focused on the bond with my castle, closing my eyes. I immediately saw a darkened field of shifting grays and reds—living brambles of mist with thorns that threatened to pierce and ensnare the minds of anyone attempting to look within.
Like I was doing right now.
Except we were bonded, so the defense mechanisms did not apply to me. Although, the fact that I saw them at all was cause for alarm. The castle had her defenses up high.
Slowly, the smoke shifted and coalesced to form a hazy apparition of the throne room. A massive pile of bodies now lay heaped behind my throne, and Dracula stood in the center of an intricate circle of blood painted onto the floor. Ritualistic symbols and designs surrounded the circle, many of them looked Greek in origin. Dracula stood in a bathtub of blood, his eyes closed as he murmured to himself, chanting repeatedly.
What looked like a dome of crimson and green glass rose up around the ritual circle, protecting him with a shield of blood and necromantic power. I gritted my teeth furiously, sensing the immense power radiating from that dome of defensive energy.
It was alarming to see how powerful it was. Powerful enough that I wasn’t certain I could break it. Entering the castle right now would be a fatal mistake—like poking a hole in a dam. Because the dome of power had roots reaching down through the stones of the castle, and those roots were the source of my Nephilims’ current weakness. Dracula wasn’t necessarily trying to break out, but his current ritual was like a persistent vine that would grow strong enough to tear down an ancient stone wall.
How long did I have until that happened? Was he trying to break out or was he trying to destroy the castle? The only heartbeats I sensed inside the castle came from the three young women surrounding the ritual circle at equidistant points, chanting at Dracula with their eyes closed.
The Brides of Dracula. They had to be.
I sensed no other pulses within the castle, which meant he had systematically sacrificed every single one of his followers. No wonder he was so strong. It was a measure of his desperation that he would destroy his only real assets—his army of vampires.
My hopeful plan that I could storm inside and kill Dracula once and for all was suddenly dashed against the rocks like a ship in a storm. Whatever powers his ritual had tapped into, I was not strong enough to face them. Even attempting to do so could be the catalyst that ended in the destruction of the castle itself. It was almost as if he was taunting me to do so.
Dracula had established some sort of conduit—that green necromantic power—with the Underworld. By killing every single one of his followers, he’d earned the attention of Hades. He had bought himself an audience, paying for the opportunity with hundreds of vampire souls. That was the only logical explanation.
Strangely enough, I could sense that he was somehow forcing my castle to help protect him. Even though he was a prisoner, the sheer volume of blood he’d spilled had overwhelmed the castle’s loyalties. He’d fed her addiction, harboring no regard for her well-being as he forced the blood down her figurative throat, getting her drunk whether she wanted to or not.
He was truly a desperate man. Nothing was sacred to him any longer. He’d killed all his men to buy a chance at survival. I knew that the most dangerous type of foe was a man backed into a corner with nothing left to lose.
I could feel my castle screaming in a soft, breathless protest that haunted the halls like a malevolent spirit. Until I broke that ritual, no one was safe to enter the castle.
I had hoped that I might make my problems go away by simply killing Dracula and delivering his head to the Sisters of Mercy before they decided to do anything to force my hand. If they wanted to take custody of Dracula, I could deliver him dead.
Because I could no longer afford to let Dracula live. Which meant I had to get my soul back. Now. To distract Hades long enough to break the conduit with Dracula.
I let out a breath and opened my eyes, allowing the vision to dissipate.
I glared up at the castle, empathizing with the old girl. It wasn’t her fault. It was the bastard within who would pay the ultimate price. “Soon, old friend, but not soon enough,” I snarled.
“What was that?” Nero asked from behind me. I spun with a shout, not having sensed his approach. He froze, lifting up his good hand and his stump in a peaceful gesture. The side of his face was covered in blood and I saw something fleshy stuck in his hair. “Easy, Sorin. I heard you say old friend, so I assumed you were talking to me, seeing as how I am your only old friend.”
I let out a breath, nodding stiffly. “I need you to take me to the Underworld. Now. I have to steal back my soul before any Olympians can get their hands on it.”
He stared at my verbal onslaught. “What?”
“Only you and Dracula know the true stories about my past—everyone else is dead. Until I get my soul back, you and Dracula are the most valuable assets in the world. And not in any way you would particularly enjoy.” I pointed at the castle behind me. “Dracula is already trying to summon Hades to break him out of my castle in order to save his own life.”
“How could you possibly know that?” he whispered.
“I saw it through our bond. Dracula has already killed every single vampire inside. It’s just him and his brides, now. And a ridiculously powerful necromantic ritual shielding him.”
His eyes widened even further upon hearing Dracula had sacrificed his own army.
“If the Olympians get their hands on my soul, nothing will stop them from destroying this city. From using me to destroy this city. Like a puppet.” I wasn’t sure if that was entirely accurate, but it didn’t sound far off either.
He nodded woodenly. “O-okay—”
“How fast can you get me to that cave in Greece where I first traded away my soul?”
He cocked his head thoughtfully and then froze. A ghost of a smile suddenly split his cheeks and he opened his mouth—
“You ate a witch’s face,” Benjamin whisper-shouted to Stevie. “It was amazing.”
I’d seen the pair approaching, but I hadn’t cared to notify Nero, so he jumped up and spun like a startled cat. The two werewolves chuckled at the necromancer’s reaction, having assumed I’d told Nero about their approach.
I arched an eyebrow at Stevie. “A witch’s face?” I asked. “Sister or Cauldron?”
T
he alpha werewolf of New York City was a large, imposing man with a beard that stretched down to his chest. He had found time to change into jeans and a hooded sweatshirt—unless he’d been human when he ate the witch. Gross. He shrugged. “Let’s not get bogged down with the details. She was trying to kill one of my wolves. Even after I used non-lethal force to stop her.”
I sighed, raking a hand through my hair. “It was a Sister of Mercy, then.”
Benjamin turned away, realizing he might have gotten his alpha in hot water. Benjamin was a solidly-built, dark-skinned man with a bigger heart and more inherent mischief than anyone I had ever met. He was also dangerously deceptive in that regard. When push came to shove, he was an absolute terror on the field. A fact which many overlooked after witnessing his playful nature.
“Good riddance,” I said with a faint smile. Benjamin let out a sigh of relief, making the sign of the cross over his chest and murmuring a prayer under his breath.
“I heard you needed wolves,” Stevie said, changing the topic. “What kind of wolves? Hunters, fighters, trackers?”
Benjamin was grinning at Nero. “You have brains in your hair. Is that a necromancer thing?”
Nero glared, still trying to catch his breath. He fumbled his good hand through his hair until he found the pale glob of flesh, and then he flung it at Benjamin.
It struck the wolf in the forehead with an audible splat and stuck there. Benjamin gagged. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he squealed, frantically wiping at his forehead to dislodge the gore and flicked it far away. He wiped his hands on his pants about a dozen times, panting.
Devil’s Blood: Shade of Devil Book 3 Page 10
