by C. M. Owens
I hate being naked in front of people. It reminds me of the cages. Most of the time, we were forced to walk around naked, leaving us vulnerable. They wanted to strip us of everything, pride and dignity included.
Clothes suddenly appear on my body, and I breathe out in relief. “Thank you,” I say, standing as Slade nods in understanding.
“I tried calling you, but you didn’t answer, and your cell wouldn’t ping for a trace. Sorry. Got worried the Princess’s group had gotten you into trouble again.”
Sometimes I think Slade really cares.
“Last thing I need is to lose my best fighter so close to the endgame,” he adds, reminding me how I know he doesn’t truly care.
I don’t bother telling him my phone was burned to ash along with my clothes. I never felt it touching me, and I could have sworn only my hand was hit. Apparently the heat was stronger than I realized, and my clothes couldn’t endure.
I only glimpsed my sister and Dice, but their clothes were just charred. Why am I focusing on clothing right now?
“I need a new phone,” I tell him.
“Come. We need to research this better,” he tells me. “We’ll get you a phone too.”
“He knew more, but I didn’t get to ask him questions.”
His lips tense. “So I heard.”
At the risk of looking weak and pathetic, I sigh and quietly ask him, “What did I say wrong?”
Slade just looks pissed as he turns and starts walking away. “Nothing, Kya. But we’re not like them. It’s best we remember that.” He pauses, but only turns his head to the side to speak instead of facing me. “It’s his beast that calls to you. The man will push you away. They think more of themselves than they will ever think of us.”
He disappears, leaving those daunting words hanging in the air around me.
He’s right. We’re nothing like them. Too many differences run between us.
I can’t even get close to my own sister because of that rift. I’m not sure why I forgot it existed with Chaz.
The beast is the only reason he could overlook those differences. Slade’s right. The beast called to me and I responded. Chaz never would have even looked my way without that.
Chapter 17
CHAZ
“How long until the portal opens?” I hear Roslyn asking as I walk in, not drawing attention to myself as I stand in the corner.
I can’t see anyone from here, and I’m preparing myself for the worst before making my presence known.
My jeans are torn and barely staying on, and my shirt was shredded. I don’t know what the hell ever happened to my underwear or shoes.
I’m sure they went missing when Kya was calming me down.
I’ve wanted nothing but her since that night at the rings, yet I finally get her, and she informs me she only fucked me to calm me down. Fucking awesome.
Maybe I’m overreacting, but it really sucks at how cold and detached she can be. I thought I was an exception. The way she looks at me is anything but indifferent. However, now I know my place.
It’s not her fault. She’s had to be that way. She had to survive, and feeling anything would definitely make that harder.
But knowing that meant absolutely nothing to her... Well, it fucking sucks.
“Slade said five days. That was two days ago. So that gives us three,” Thad tells her.
“Slade shouldn’t be our reliable source of information,” I hear Frankie grumble.
I get his reservations, but we need all the help we can get right now. Which means I’ll be seeing Kya again soon. I just need to make sure I have myself on a solid leash by then.
“Not necessarily,” says a voice I know too well, and my jaw grinds.
So they don’t trust Kya but they fucking have Sadie here? The woman who aided in kidnapping Kimber as a child.
Pushing off from the wall, I move into the back room where everyone is congregating around a long dining room table that has started serving as our makeshift headquarters.
Sadie stands at the head of it, next to Alyssa. This is fucking insane. Alyssa is pregnant, and Sadie does not need to find that out.
“Slade is basing his math off the stars alignment, but the math isn’t adding up,” Sadie tells everyone, pointing to something. “It’s something we learned when—”
She stops short of saying, when we opened purgatory. Her eyes flick to Kimber’s and she clears her throat. “Anyway, we learned the stars can be tricky. The stars may be supposed to align on the days he’s marked, but it could easily be a few days off in either direction. And one more thing, to open a portal like this, they’ll need a strong power source.”
Everyone tenses, and Ella looks up. “Such as?” she asks.
“The strongest being on the planet would be needed. And I mean that literally. To target an exact portal, you’d need to tap into the power of the strongest being. If you choose wrong, any portal could open. It’s just how these things work. The portals could close or shift dimensions or any number of things if the power source isn’t the strongest. It gravitates toward power.”
“Which is why they’re after Ella,” Gage says, his jaw ticking.
“They won’t get her,” Alyssa says darkly.
If they touch Ella, I’ll lose it.
My entire body tenses, and a growl tears from me before I can stop it. All eyes swing to my direction, and I push off from the wall, moving to join them.
Dice suddenly jerks a fire extinguisher up from the ground and aims it at me like he’s poised and ready. When I look at him like he’s crazy, Karma groans and rolls her eyes.
“I’ve already told you mortal things like that won’t work on immortals!” Karma snaps.
“We won’t know until we try, and Ella blessed it.”
Ella gives me an incredulous look to let me know she has no idea what Dice is talking about. At least she’s looking at me with something other than hurt or disdain in her eyes.
Dice narrows his eyes at me, holding the end of the extinguisher hose precariously close to my face. Deciding to ignore him instead of placating his lunacy, I face the woman I still don’t trust.
“How do you know about portals?” I ask her, suspicious.
“My mother was determined to cram as much old world knowledge into me as she possibly could. I also know a great deal about dragonites and Lokies if you need any information.”
My eyes widen on Roslyn, and she swallows while shaking her head rapidly. “Not me,” she says aloud.
“Liza told me,” Sadie admits, which has me snapping my glare toward Dice.
His eyes widen fearfully before a cloud of white, choking shit attacks me, and something wet slams into my face and body. I cough, then curse him, then start wiping my eyes free. That motherfucker just used the fire extinguisher.
“Hashtag—oops,” Dice says, amused. The dick.
“Why are you half naked?” Karma asks as I continue to wipe the chalky goop off me. Her tone thickens with accusation when she adds, “And where’s my sister?”
As I get the goop out of my eyes, I meet her gaze. The last thing I want to talk about right now is Kya.
I shouldn’t have just disappeared on her. Detached or not, I know she felt something. She didn’t just invite me into her body for the sake of calming me down.
“She’s safe, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“What’d you do to her?” she asks, getting a little angrier as red flashes in her eyes.
“From the looks of him, I’d say he left her fucked like an animal,” Dice drawls.
He jerks the fire extinguisher back up when I glare at him again, and he holds it at me like a weapon. Fucking incubus.
“They call me Mr. Frost,” he decides to add, only making him seem all the more ridiculous.
“Can someone clean this shit off me?” I ask, looking toward Kane, who fortunately obliges me. With one wave of his hand, the extinguisher goo is gone.
“And you just came back? You left her somewhere?
Is she—”
“She’s fine. She didn’t want to come back, since she got accused of being a part of this,” I say to interrupt Karma’s angry rant, and I cut my eyes toward Frankie.
He’s busy glaring at the back of Sadie’s head, so he doesn’t even notice me. No one wants Sadie here.
“Where’s my mother?” I ask, noticing she’s one face missing from this room.
“She’s reading that book Kya left for you,” Calypso tells me.
Running a hand over my hair, I shift my gaze to Alyssa as she walks out of the room. I decide to follow her, and she turns and meets me as I do.
“What’s wrong?”
“Something Dad said,” she answers quietly, her lips thinning into a tight line. Keeping her tone quiet enough for only me to hear, she continues. “He’s right, you know. Once upon a time the immortal world feared him. Now he seems to be of no consequence. The name Drackus doesn’t instill the same terror that it used to.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“It makes me wonder what will happen when the world evolves. Already Ella is stronger than Kane and I both.” She places her hands on her stomach. “And this one is draining me of almost everything I have, proving he or she will be just as powerful, if not even stronger. What if that portal is opened, and this world is no longer safe for my children? I’ve always felt like I could protect them, because nothing is supposed to be stronger.”
I put a hand on her shoulder as she sniffs and clears her throat, getting her composure back. “We continue to hope that our next generations get stronger than us. And we won’t let that portal be opened.”
She nods and shakes out her arms like she’s driving out the nerves. Like I’ve seen her do so many times before, she slips back on her unshakeable mask, and heads back into the room like nothing is wrong.
I can’t even imagine the weight on her shoulders right now.
Heading back in, I decide to take a little bit of that weight away. “We need to speak to Gavin.”
Gage’s face hardens and his look turns cold. “No. He could have broken free from the chains by now. He won’t be able to escape. It’s deep underground and warded against him escaping. Breaking free from the chains would be hard but more likely than him breaking out. Unless he had leverage—like a life to barter with.”
“I need to ask him questions, and you admitted he was under blood oath. It’s the only reason he ever worked with them.”
“Exactly,” Gage barks. “He’s under oath still. He can’t say anything. So it’s a pointless risk.”
“It’s possible to ask questions he can find a way to answer without the oath hurting him.”
His lips tighten like he doesn’t want to do this.
“What questions?” Kimber asks.
***
Gage dematerializes us into the small concrete cage below ground. Gavin is still chained to the wall when we appear, and he smirks when he sees us.
“Come to kiss me goodnight and tuck me in, brother?” he drawls.
Gage crosses his arms over his chest, but says nothing.
Crouching down, I study the tired expression in Gavin’s eyes. This cell hasn’t been too kind to him.
“Sucks being locked in a cage, doesn’t it?” I ask, trying not to let this get personal before I get answers.
There’s no telling what they did to Kya in there, and I don’t know if I can handle hearing it right now. I might actually kill him.
“I doubt I’ll be giving it a five star review, but that’s just one man’s opinion. I’m sure you’ve had plenty of other happy guests to help level out the rating,” he quips, trying to hide the fact this thing has weakened him to some extent.
We both stare at him for a few minutes before he finally rolls his eyes.
“I’m sure you’re not here to check my satisfaction levels with my stay, so feel free to ask whatever asinine question you please. It’s not as though I can answer though.”
I stand to my full height and look down at him as he relaxes against the wall and crosses his arms, mimicking his brother’s stance. The chains clank as he does so, and he keeps that damn smirk on his face.
“Mortal witches have turned into demons,” I announce.
His smirk drops immediately, and Gage sucks in a breath as Gavin swallows. He tries to nod, but then he grabs his head and an agonized cry rings out as he sways in his seated position.
“That answers that question,” Gage says under his breath as Gavin continues to struggle.
“They’re running an army of night stalkers they’ve possessed,” I go on, even though Gavin seems to be almost incoherent now.
“Who is it? Someone we can read about? Is there any type of book we should be looking at to give us a hint?”
He cries out again, and his body starts convulsing as blood begins running from his nose and ears. Suddenly, his body goes limp, and Gage curses.
“That was pointless. He passed out and we still don’t know anything.”
“We know more than we did. He just confirmed everything. He wouldn’t have had a reaction otherwise. That means we can read about them somewhere.”
“That’s a fucking needle in a haystack,” he says as he grabs my arm.
We dematerialize, and we land topside. The second my body is back in the breathing plane, I shrug off the weird jitters and start following him to his car.
“It’s a stretch, but it’s more than we knew yesterday,” I remind him. “And at least we know now that we’re not chasing a theory; we’re chasing the truth.”
“So now what?” he asks, propping up on his car as I try to think.
“Now we find out how to fight a demon capable of something of this magnitude.”
“I’m starting to hate reading,” Gage grumbles while jerking his door open.
As he gets in, I try calling Kya to apologize, but it goes straight to voicemail. Shit. It’s not like she had a phone on her when I took her.
“You coming?” Gage prompts.
Putting my phone back in my pocket, I climb into the car and try to ignore the clawing feeling that I really fucked up tonight.
“Demons are actually a good thing. Drackus has wiped more demons out than I can count. And he barely exerted any effort.”
“Demons with demonic and witch powers? Demons with an intimate knowledge of all our weaknesses? Demons who are taking over immortal bodies instead of human ones?”
He mutters a curse. “Never mind. Demons are a terrible fucking thing.”
We’re quiet the rest of the way, but just as we’re a couple of miles from the house, a streak of blue shoots across the street, and Gage slams on the brakes. Both of us leap out of the car, ready for a fight.
Slade appears several feet in front of us, and I breathe out in relief—which is not something I ever thought I’d say.
“You could have just flagged us down,” Gage says dryly.
Slade doesn’t look amused though.
“I’ve come to return a favor.”
“What favor would that be?” I ask, confused.
“You boys seem to love threatening me for messing with your people. I’m returning the favor by cautioning you with the same threat. Only I can actually make good on my threats.”
My fists ball at my sides, and Gage tenses. “What the hell are you talking about?” Gage growls. “We haven’t touched any of your people.”
“Your unchained night stalker with some extra juice killed one of my people,” Slade points out.
“After you took Leah with every intention of killing her,” I remind him, prepared for anything.
“The experiment with us joining sides is over. It didn’t work. Your people came in, we all got attacked, you lost someone, and my girl got blamed.”
A growl rumbles inside of me, and Slade narrows his eyes.
I knew there was more to them than Kya let on.
“Stay away from Kya. She’s not your toy to toss around at your disposal.”
“
Jealous?” I ask, taking a menacing step forward.
“Not even a little bit,” he says, smirking. “Kya isn’t yours, and our kind doesn’t mix well together. Now that it’s all been established, you can stick with yours and we’ll stick with ours.”
Gage puts a hand on my chest, stopping me from taking another step forward.
“You’ve launched two unprovoked attacks on our people, yet you’re threatening us because of a jealous feud?” Gage asks incredulously.
Again, Slade just smirks, never removing his eyes from me. “He abandoned her like everyone else has. Everyone but me. Tonight he proved he wasn’t worth her time. He’s weak and juvenile. Kya is too focused to be distracted by someone like that. Check your ego at the door when we finally go to war. It might save your life. Or don’t. Personally, I couldn’t give a fuck,” he says before vanishing.
I start to go after him, but Gage clamps down a hand on my arm. “Let him go. We can’t afford a fight with him right now. What did Kya tell him?”
Apparently everything, which lets me know where she stands on the matter. I knew I fucked up, but I didn’t know it was this bad.
“She tattled on you?” Gage asks like he’s reading my mind.
“Obviously. And he definitely has feelings that aren’t brotherly.”
He shakes his head as he starts driving us back toward our bunker. “I think he was just trying to provoke you or get in your head. Either way, don’t let him win. We have too much other shit going on right now, and Amy’s death has hit everyone hard. Especially Sierra. Ella is struggling with it too. It reminds her that our title may be immortal, but we’re not invincible.”
Pulling out my phone, I try calling Kya again, and it goes straight to voicemail just like before. Even entertaining the thought that Slade and Kya are together is driving my beast wild in my veins.
“I think I need to read that damn book.”
“The dragonite book?”
I nod. “Yeah. Hopefully it’ll have control tactics to keep the aggression watered down. Otherwise, I’m going to accidentally go after Slade and finally kill the son of a bitch.”
Chapter 18
