by Elle James
“Why was Alex taken? He was only five.”
“When I heard Nicolae was stealing children for his special army, I knew I had to leave. He targeted half-human, half-demon mixed races, plucking the most promising children from their parents’ arms. He raised them as protégés in an army of demons.”
I tipped my chin, eyes narrowing. “That doesn’t explain why he would come after Alex.”
“Alex was already emitting a very strong aura of power.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” My head spun, my pulse racing through my body. I wanted to press my hands to my ears to block out what my father was saying.
“Nicolae and I came from the same clan of the underworld demons.”
My heart sank into the hollowness of my belly. “You’re a demon?” I closed my eyes, bracing myself for his response.
“Yes.” The one word set my mind into a tailspin.
Blaise’s hand around my waist was the only thing holding me up. I swallowed hard past the constriction in my throat and reopened my eyes. “And Alex and I?”
“Are halflings. Half demon, half human.” My father took a step toward me.
I held steady, more because I didn’t think my legs would cooperate and get me anywhere after Ivan’s revelation. “My mother knew about you before you married?”
He nodded. “She accepted me for what I was.” His words were a challenge to me.
My lip curled into a snarl. “I could accept that you’re a demon. I can’t accept that you deserted us.”
“As I told you, I had to leave. Being with you made you all a target. I left you, cut all ties that could lead Nicolae back to my family.”
“I don’t understand why.”
“Nicolae hated that I always bested him at anything magical—moving objects, throwing fire, generating electromagnetic pulses...I was really good at it all. Nic lagged behind in his development and took a lot of bullying and abuse from some of the other young demons. He left the underworld and struck out on his own, vowing to be great someday. He’d get his revenge on those who’d hurt him or laughed at his attempts.”
“Apparently he found us.” My head had a hard time absorbing what my heart was telling me was true. I didn’t want it to be true.
“I’ve been searching for Alex since he was taken. I’d always suspected he had snatched the child, but I couldn’t find where he’d hidden him.”
“And now you think you can find Nicolae’s lair?”
“No. But I got word Nicolae wants to make a trade.”
My hand went to the amulet hanging around my throat. “He wants the necklace.”
Ivan nodded. “Apparently, it’s the key to his power. Without it, he’s just another demon, with mediocre power.”
I looked up at the man who called himself my father. “Nicolae has Alex?”
Again, Ivan nodded. “Nicolae is willing to trade Alex for the amulet.”
“Then we make the trade.” I started to pull the amulet over my head, a surge of hope filling my senses. I wasn’t alone. All of my family had not left me. My brother was out there somewhere and I held the key.
Blaise’s hand stopped me. “If Nicolae gets hold of the amulet, he’ll rule the underworld again.”
I shook off his grip, anger and desperation making me tense. “He has my brother. I’d give my life for him.”
My father gripped my arms and forced me to stare up into his eyes. “He’s not the same boy you remember.”
“He’s the only family I have left in the world.” I forced the words out between gritted teeth.
Ivan Danske winced and drew in a deep breath. “I want him back, too. But this is a trap.”
“I don’t care.” I jerked backward, out of Ivan’s hold. “We have no idea what Alex has been through. No matter what, I still love him.”
“Nicolae has had him since he was five. He won’t remember you, me or your mother. He’s been trained by Nicolae and his followers to hate and kill.”
“He’s Alex.”
“Not anymore.” Ivan stood with his hands at his sides. “You can’t make that trade.”
I drew myself up to all five feet three inches of female wrath. “I can, and I will.”
Detective Thomas, who’d stood patiently in the background throughout the interchange, stepped forward. “I can’t let you do that.”
My chest tightened until pain radiated throughout my body. “I have to.”
Thomas shook his head. “It would be too dangerous.” He held out his hand. “It might be best if we destroy it to keep it out of Nicolae’s hands.”
I moved back, toward the doorway. “No. It’s my only chance to get Alex back. I have to make that trade.”
The detective’s lips firmed and he nodded toward Blaise.
Blaise’s hands clasped my arms in an iron hold. “Sorry, sweetheart. I agree with the boss. We can’t afford to let that amulet fall back into Nicolae’s hands.”
I stared across the floor at my father. “You say I’m a halfling?”
He nodded.
“Just how much demon power does a halfling have?”
“Every demon and halfling has his or her own level of power. A halfling can be every bit as powerful as any full-fledged demon. I wasn’t worried about you being stolen because you hadn’t shown any signs and you weren’t emitting an aura like your brother. His was so strong, any demon within a city block could pick up on it.”
Oh, but I had been showing signs. Signs I’d ignored. I hadn’t told my mother about the items shifting in my room. I’d attributed the movement to breezes or miniature earthquakes caused by the fracking going on in the Chicago suburbs in an attempt to find oil deposits. Deep down, I think I’d sensed I wasn’t like anyone else.
Blaise’s hands squeezed my shoulders. I sensed it, too.
I held up a hand. Don’t.
The fingers dug into my shoulders. You can’t let Nicolae have that amulet.
My father’s eyes narrowed as he stared at me then Blaise.
Forcing my thoughts into an imaginary closet in my mind, I closed the door and faced my father and Detective Thomas. “I have to handle this the only way I can.” If the amulet was truly a power enhancing agent, I had only one shot at what I was about to do. “Let go of me,” I said out loud.
“I can’t and you can’t do what you know you shouldn’t.” Blaise’s body stiffened behind me, his hands like manacles on my arms.
I concentrated, resurfacing the same powerful emotions that I’d experienced in the basement of the warehouse when Blaise had been in my line of fire. I touched the amulet, focusing on its smooth, stone center, making it my center.
A surge of power rose up within me. My hair lifted off my shoulders and swirled around my face. Fissures of electric shocks slithered across my skin and out the tips of my fingers.
“Hey!” Blaise’s hands let go of my arms and he slammed back against the wall behind me.
“Katya, don’t let it control you.” My father’s voice came to me as if muffled in wool.
I opened my eyes and gasped.
“What’s going on?” Detective Thomas, eyes wide and worried, stared around the room.
Books floated off shelves, papers rose into the air and the air felt charged.
“Focus, Katya,” Ivan said.
“Oh, I’m focused.”
“The power is dangerous.” Ivan’s shaggy gray hair stood on end. “You could kill anyone of us with a
thought.”
“Then don’t make me mad.” I backed toward the door.
“Don’t go, Katya.” Blaise pushed away from the wall, reaching out for me. “Nicolae is a demented demon. You can’t go it alone.”
“He can’t touch me.”
“You’re not invincible. Look at how easily you took the amulet from him.”
“He wasn’t paying attention.” When my hand touched the door knob, a spark flew out. I gripped it anyway and twisted. “I’m going after my brother. Don’t try to stop me.”
“Then let me come along as your backup.”
“I don’t need backup.”
“Yes you do. If not because you give a rat’s ass about your own hide, you know it’s procedure, Detective Danske.” I almost laughed at my boss’s attempt to wield his authority over me.
I was past caring about my job.
“Listen to him. You need backup.” Ivan moved toward me. “Nicolae has years more experience than you do. He’s known he was a demon all his life.”
I ignored Ivan and stepped across the threshold, concentrating the power building in me on the door. It swung closed between me and the others in the room and the lock twisted.
Fists pounded on the wooden door as I turned and ran through the office and down the staircase into the parking garage.
Still high on adrenaline and a power surge like nothing I’d ever experienced, I jumped into the nearest cruiser and touched my finger to the ignition. The engine turned over, grating with the over-revving it received without my having to press a foot to the accelerator. I was out of the garage and on the street in seconds with no idea where to go. But I’d start with the warehouse where we’d found the women. Nicolae could have constructed hidden corridors in the sub-basement where he’d kept the women. I had no doubt that the energy levels I was now emitting would draw Nicolae out of his hiding place. But just in case he didn’t, I sent a mental message through the city, telling Nicolae I’d meet him at the warehouse. Whether or not my message went out to the demon remained to be seen. If he showed up, I’d know. Then the real negotiations would begin.
Chapter Nine
Surrounded by yellow crime scene tape, the warehouse that had housed a brothel of drugged women stood silent on the dark street. Not a single streetlight shone, lending to the air of dark foreboding filling my heart and mind. I had to focus on my brother. On getting him away from Nicolae and to somewhere safe where he could be reprogrammed.
I didn’t have any doubt Alex would be one messed up teen. After spending most of his life brainwashed by an evil demon, he was bound to be a disaster. But I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to rescue him. As his sister, I’d let him down by taking my eyes off him when he’d been playing in the yard. That’s all it had taken, and Alex had been spirited away, never to be seen or heard from again. Until now.
My pulse pounded against my ears, drowning out other sounds. If Nicolae got my message, it could be only a matter of moments before I’d be reunited with my last living relative. At least one I could claim. Ivan Danske was still on my shit list of deadbeat fathers. His flimsy excuse of staying away so that we would not become targets didn’t hold water in my book. If he’d cared at all for his family, he’d have stayed and fought to protect us.
The back door leading into the warehouse had been wired shut, the doorjamb and hinges bent back in place. Had I done that? Damaged the door so badly it couldn’t be closed properly? All because of a little flare of demon power?
It hit me again.
I am a demon.
I sucked a breath into tight lungs and blew it out. What had Ivan called me? A halfling? Based on the energy-boosting effects of the amulet, I had some inherent talents I never knew I possessed. I twisted the wire loose and opened the door without using any demon magic. I wanted to save my strength for the coming confrontation with Nicolae. If I had to dig up the pavement of Manhattan, I’d find the bastard who’d stolen my little brother and ruined my family. There would be a convergence of myself and Nicolae that night, if I had a say in the matter.
I’d had the foresight to grab a flashlight from the glove box of the unmarked police cruiser I’d appropriated from the motor pool. As I followed the narrow beam down corridors and into the room that had been filled with sex slaves just a short time ago, foul aromas filled the air, threatening to choke my sense of smell. The room reeked of filth, semen, blood, sweat and fear, all warring for top billing in my head. I held a finger to my nose and performed a thorough search of the area, testing the walls and floors, hoping to find a hidden panel or doorway. Alas, the room was all that it appeared—a hellhole for the helpless women who’d been imprisoned and forced to perform disgusting sexual acts for the depraved patrons who’d paid top dollar to partake of the forbidden fruits.
I shuddered and moved on to the hallway leading away from the makeshift whorehouse. Rooms led off the hallway, each containing a bed the higher class patronage would appreciate—empty now but for the horrifying memories left in the girls’ minds.
I checked each room, disappointed when I didn’t find anything. At the end of the hallway, a staircase led up to street level and down into another level of the basement. I chose to go down.
At the bottom, a metal door opened when I pulled the handle, and I stepped through. As soon as it closed behind me, a lock clicked into place. I swung around and pushed on the lever, the door didn’t budge.
I found myself in what I would call the boiler room of the old warehouse, the place where all the heating, cooling and electrical connections culminated in an array of pipes, ducts and wiring harnesses.
A sinister laugh echoed against the rusted metal of long dormant steam pipes.
“Nicolae,” I called out.
Nothing.
He wasn’t going to meet me, he wanted me to go to him. I could feel his thoughts, the hint of triumph for having lured me into his web.
I forced the fear from my mind and stepped forward, ducking beneath an overhead pipe and dodging a large tank-like fixture. I smelled the strong odor of dog and tensed, one hand curling around the amulet. “I’m here to negotiate the release of my brother.”
“You are in no position to negotiate.” Nicolae Dragomir stepped out of the shadows, into the beam of my flashlight.
“I think I am.” I stood ready to move quickly if necessary, my mind moving around the room, while my gaze remained on the demon in front of me.
Movement behind him resulted in half a dozen werewolves lining up on either side of Nicolae.
“As you see...” the demon spread his arms wide “...you are outnumbered. Coming alone was a rookie move, was it not?”
I was beginning to agree with him, but damned if I’d let him know. I pushed my internal thoughts into that closet in my mind and slammed it shut. I didn’t want the bad-ass demon reading my mind like Blaise did and anticipating my every move.
Given enough time, I’d master my inner demon. But that time wasn’t now. Now I had to bluff my way through this exchange, grab my brother and get the hell out with the amulet. Like the others had said, under no circumstance could I let Nicolae have the magic stone, tucked beneath the fabric of the shirt Blaise had loaned me that still held his incredibly delicious scent. As much as he hovered and made me crazy, I wished he was there with me. I’d been rash to think I could do this on my own.
Part of the reason I had decided to go it alone had to do with self-doubt. I wasn’t certain I could cont
rol the amount of power that emerged from within with the help of the amulet. If I got out of control, I didn’t want the rest of my team to get caught in the aftermath.
I squared my shoulders. Time to get this show on the road. “Where’s Alex?”
“Nearby.” Nicolae’s arms crossed over his chest. “The amulet?”
“It’s around.”
The demon nodded to one of the werewolves. The creature slipped into the shadows behind Nicolae and emerged dragging a lanky teen, with longish black hair, tattooed arms and an arrow-tipped barbell piercing through his left eyebrow. His forehead wrinkled in a frown and he glared at me. “Why am I here?” He shook off the hands of the werewolf and stood with his feet planted wide, his hands resting on his hips.
Gone was the little boy with the rumbled dark hair, sleeping in my lap. Gone was any resemblance to the brother I’d loved. And gone was the innocence.
My heart broke at the young, defiant man who glared at me and asked, “Who’s the bitch?”
Nicolae smiled. “She says she’s your sister.”
The surprise in his face was real. “I don’t have a sister.”
“She insists you do.” Nicolae’s smile turned into a sneer. “She wants to take you home.”
“Bullshit.”
If I couldn’t see the resemblance between him and my father, I would never have believed this stranger was my brother. Everything about him reeked of Danske, from his dark hair to the ice-blue eyes and the breadth of his shoulders, despite his youth.
“Alex?” I called out. “Come with me. I can free you from this demon.”
“Free me?” The teen snorted. “I’m free to go wherever I want. Why would I need you to free me?” He stepped close to Nicolae. “Nic is my brother.”
I shook my head, realizing how hopeless it was to try to sway him in front of the demon. “Your name is Alex Danske. Nicolae stole you from your real family when you were five years old.” I moved closer. “I’m your sister. I was there when you were born. I changed your diapers, I read to you and sang you to sleep. Our mother loved you more than life.” My words bogged down in my constricting throat. “I love you and want you to be part of my life.”
