by Lia Davis
Everything around them fell silent. A flash introduced a large Regal demon. Several curses echoed among the Divinities. The new demon was easily eight feet tall. His skin had a red hue that matched those eerie-as-hell blood-red eyes. His long, straight jet-black hair fell around his shoulders. His dark aura screamed “sadist.”
When he spoke, his voice sent shivers over her skin like a million tiny spiders crawling all over her body. “I see you have called in the children, Mel.”
“You’re stalling, Demetrius,” Melaina said as she walked over to stand in front of the group, taking her place as their Elder.
Kalissa looked at the demon. That didn’t look like the same being she’d seen at her parents’ accident or the crime scene photos Ayden had shown her. No, that demon had looked more human. She wasn’t sure why she was surprised. She knew from the demonology classes her mother had insisted she take in college that most demons were shifters. They could take multiple forms.
“I see I have underestimated you. I will not make that mistake again. Khan has a message for Hecate. He wants the Sinew, and will destroy anyone or anything to get it. You have seventy-two hours to turn over the Sinew.” He gave a sadistic laugh. “Consider yourselves warned.” Then he disappeared, taking the remaining demons with him.
“Or what?” Kalissa heard Ayden ask.
“I’m not sure. Let’s get the Sinew and get out of here,” Melaina said and bent down next to them, reaching out a hand to Lydia. When she took it, Mel nodded toward the cave. “Go. I’ll stay out here with them.”
“Are you all right?” Ayden asked in her ear and kissed her temple. She flinched slightly, not noticing that he’d moved closer to her.
“Yeah. Let’s just get the Sinew and go home.” Kalissa began to stand up, only to have Ayden pick her up and hold her close to his body by her waist. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips before releasing her.
“Do you want me to do the chant and see if it works with only one of us?” Khloe asked with a grave look. Kalissa felt saddened by the tears in Khloe’s eyes.
“Please,” Kalissa said softly.
Khloe took out the piece of paper that had the counterspell on it and recited the words. “By day, by night. Grant the Divine sight.” She called the element of fire to ignite the paper into flames and then ash. Then she called air to carry the ash away, sending it out into the Universe.
A few seconds later, the magical veil over the rock wall dissolved, revealing the entrance to the cave.
Inside the cave, she explored, going off in the opposite direction as the others. Khloe had said she didn’t think that was such a good idea and suggested they stay together. “When did you become the responsible one?” Kalissa had teased her sister, trying to lighten the mood.
“Since we lost one of our own,” she’d replied sourly.
Lo was right. Jacen wouldn’t make it through the night—if he wasn’t gone already. Kalissa’s heart ached for Lydia. She had lost so many loved ones in the past couple of years. It was unfair. A lump lodged in her throat. Memories of the day she’d lost her parents played heavily through her mind. Only Lydia had lost her parents, husband, and now brother. Kalissa could only imagine what she was feeling, or how she’d cope in the coming months.
A deep growl made Kalissa stop in her tracks and surface from her dark musings. A gigantic, two-headed dog came out of an opening she’d been about to check out. It stood over ten feet tall from paw to shoulder. Probably taller, Kalissa decided. The huge, box-shaped heads snarled, revealing long, sharp canines that extended from the upper and lower jaws.
Kalissa walked backward as the black and brown hellhound stalked toward her. She bumped up against Khloe.
Khloe whispered, “Stay still.”
Yeah, easy for you to say, Kalissa replied in thought. The hellhounds stopped when the giant heads were inches from her face. The heads breathed in deeply, drawing in their scents. Then they sat back on their haunches and began to speak in quick sentences, one head at a time.
“Thank gods it’s you,” the one on the left said.
“We were getting worried,” the one on the right said.
“How long has it been?”
“Too long. Where have you been?”
“Are we not good enough to visit anymore?”
Kalissa thought she was watching a tennis match with the way they spoke. “What are they talking about?” she whispered to Khloe beside her.
“I don’t know.”
The heads stopped talking, and the hellhound stood up and looked at Kalissa and then Khloe. Each head turned to the side as if studying them. Then they started talking again.
“You’re not Connie.”
“Of course, she isn’t, stupid.”
“I’m not stupid, stupid.”
“Boys, please. We came to collect the Sinew and move it to a safer place,” Kalissa said, interrupting their argument.
They stopping talking again and glared at her. “Where is Connie?” they asked at the same time.
Khloe grabbed Kalissa’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. The heads looked from Khloe to Kalissa, waiting for an answer until Kalissa finally said, “Our mother died eighteen months ago.”
The hounds sat on the floor with a flop that made the whole cave quake. The heads drooped. “She was a sweet woman.” Both heads snapped back up to look at Kalissa.
“Accident?” the head on the right asked.
Kalissa nodded. The head on the left made a rude sound and said, “Blah. Accident, our ass. That damn demon had something to do with it.”
She stepped closer to the hellhounds. “I’m Kalissa…”
“We know who you are…now.”
“Don’t be rude!” the head on the right said to the head on the left and then said to Khloe and Kalissa, “You’ll have to forgive my brother for his rudeness. I’m Bear. And this,” he said, knocking his head into his brother’s, “is Teddy.”
Khloe snickered. “Oh, Lis. We have our very own giant Teddy-Bear.”
Kalissa ignored her sister’s teasing. “How would you like to come back with us?”
“You mean it!” Bear beamed.
“Really?” Teddy asked.
Eagerness to leave that cave flowed across their faces. They darted back into the hole they’d come out of earlier. Kalissa peeked in after them, but it was so dark she couldn’t see anything. She quickly moved out of the way when Teddy-Bear started dragging a blanket with several items on top of it out of the room. There were large chew toys, balls, and a metal bowl. They dragged the blanket out and laid it down in front of them. The two heads worked together to fold over the corners to be tied together.
Kalissa bent down to help tie the blanket. When it was secure, she straightened. Bear nudged her hand like he wanted her to pet him. She hesitated at first, but then gently patted the top of his large head. He closed his eyes, let out a soft sigh, and leaned into her hand.
All of a sudden, Bear’s head was pushed out of the way and replaced by Teddy’s, who said, “Come on and share the love.”
Kalissa laughed. “Jealous much?”
Bear nodded. “Always.”
Kalissa looked around. “Where is the Sinew?”
“Around our necks,” Teddy and Bear said simultaneously.
She looked at the necklace that hung around both their necks, the chain resting on their shoulders. A sphere about five inches in diameter encased in a silver medallion that looked a lot like Hecate’s Wheel, hung on a thick strip of leather.
She wasn’t sure what she’d expected. Maybe that it would be bigger or glow or something. When she turned around, Khloe and Ayden stood a couple of feet away, watching her and the hounds.
They walked out of the cave to where the others waited. “Everyone ready?” Ayden asked, going to where Jacen lay perfectly still. He bent down to lift Jacen up, and Zach was there in a flash to help.
Mel took Lydia’s hand to assist her in teleporting because the pregnancy made it difficult. Flashin
g took a great deal of energy.
Kalissa looked back at Teddy-Bear. “Are you able to follow us?”
“Like a couple of hellhounds,” Teddy said with a big grin.
Chapter 17
Demetrius took form inside his office at Grayson Distributions, walked to his large mahogany desk, and sat in a high-back, leather chair. He picked up his phone and dialed the four-digit extension that would connect him to his right-hand man and business partner. “My office. Now,” he demanded when the line was answered and then he hung up.
Grayson Distributions was the ultimate cover for his extracurricular activities, and to humans, it was nothing more than a large medical supply distribution company. It was also home to his bioengineering and research facility.
He’d purchased the old, abandoned warehouse several years ago. The building had been gutted, which was convenient for his renovation plans. Half the ground floor had storage rooms, and the other half was laid out as any other distribution warehouse would be, with a loading dock and packaging area.
Within seconds, Paul walked through the office door. Demetrius motioned for him to sit. “How are our guests?”
Uncharacteristically, Demetrius had offered Paul a deal: to join the Regal guards in exchange for his life. Paul had accepted on the condition that he could remain in the human realm. Demetrius agreed and presented it to Khan as a good strategy—to have a Regal living in the human realm. Khan had agreed. Besides, Demetrius liked Paul. He would never admit that to anyone other than his family, which was really only his daughter, Samoan. He had a reputation to protect.
Paul laughed. “The female still fights us. It’s gotten worse since she lost her sight. The male just watches and says nothing. I don’t trust him. There’s something not right about him.”
Demetrius raised an eyebrow at his partner. “Are you afraid of him?”
“No. I just don’t trust him. It’s like he’s plotting something.”
“Let him plot then, and leave him in solitary confinement. I have plans for that one.” The isolation would drive the beast inside the shifter crazy until he snapped. At that point, Demetrius planned to introduce the shifter to the female. And he would be there to absorb their powers when they killed each other.
He opened the bottom right-hand drawer of his desk and pushed a tiny, hidden button. The bookcase against the wall beside his desk opened. He stood and walked through the opening, pressing two buttons on the keypad once Paul had followed him inside the dark stairwell. One button secured the bookcase back in place, and the other turned on the lights.
They proceeded down the stairs into a hallway that forked off in two different directions. There were holding cells in both of the corridors. Each cell was lined with lead and iron to eliminate the possibility of teleporting in or out of the cells. The jail was perfect for holding his newly acquired guests. Of course, he kept the pair separated. The male was down the corridor to the left, and the female was down on the right.
The hallways circled around and met at an opening that housed his security surveillance equipment and his bio-lab. It was also where he kept tabs on the Divinities. He had demons throughout the city that watched their every move.
The wait had worn on his nerves. He was glad when his informant had told him the younger generation of Divinities had banded together, and that Melaina was with them. He had a message to deliver. And his boss was not the type to give second chances.
Demetrius walked down the hall to the right until he came to stand in front of one of the cells about midway down. Paul unlocked and opened the door. A corner of Demetrius’s mouth lifted in a crooked grin when he saw the female pacing her cell with one hand against the wall, running her fingers along it as she walked.
Demetrius willed the lights on inside the cell. She didn’t flinch, proving she was indeed blind. Her disgust mixed with a sliver of fear at his presence reached out to him, but she chose to ignore him. Demetrius was used to her rudeness. He walked over to her, and she stopped pacing and tried to keep the distance between them.
“How are you feeling today, love?” he said with a smile. At their last little meeting, she’d tried to gouge his eyes out. She was truly as fiery as the color of her hair. However, now, she paid him no attention. That pissed him off and amused him at the same time. “Are you not speaking today?” He hoped his flunkies hadn’t done anything to hinder her speech. He really liked the way her voiced sounded.
“What do you want, demon?” The question was spoken with so much venom that it almost gave Demetrius a hard-on.
“I came to give you some news.” His smile widened when she looked at him, full-faced, and narrowed her eyes out of habit. “Your beautiful daughter is with child. It is a shame the father is not around to see his child brought into the world.”
“You bastard! Leave my children alone.” She thrust her hands out toward him. Within seconds, she was convulsing on the floor in the fetal position. The cuff she wore around her right wrist kept her from using her magic. When she tried, it sent an electric shock through her body.
Demetrius turned, walked out of the cell, and flipped off the lights before he shut the door. He put his hand flat against the door and smiled. No, he would not torture her tonight. She had done that herself. The shock from the cuff would take hours to wear off. He’d made sure of that when he adjusted the amount of electricity it released into the body.
He turned to head to the security room to find his informant. He wanted to check on what the Divinities had planned before he made his next move.
Liam stormed into the security center of the warehouse, slamming the door behind him. He walked to his desk next to the sofa where Samoan was stretched out, listening to her iPod. That’s just what he needed. Samoan’s smartass mouth. Like a physical caress, he felt her eyes following him as he sat behind his desk and fired up the computer. Her smirk said she was about to start in on him. He was so not in the mood.
The woman he loved was in the arms of another.
When he’d arrived at the cabin, he’d known Kalissa was there, but hadn’t expected to see her kissing another male. Not just any male either. It was the same one he’d wiped from her memories fifteen years ago so he could claim her as his own. He’d almost lost every ounce of control and had had to stop himself from bursting through the door of the cabin to kill both of them. Demons didn’t deal with jealousy well. Especially bio-fuckups like him.
She was as beautiful as he remembered, with dark blond curls that brushed her hips—just as it had when he’d first seen her. He had always suspected she’d cut it in college out of spite because he’d made a comment about how he loved her long hair. That’s what he loved about her. She stood up to him, never backed down from a challenge. Most of all, she met him head-on.
He groaned when Samoan sat up on the sofa, turned off her iPod, stood, and walked toward his desk.
“Whassup?” She sat on the edge of his desk, making her very short skirt appear even shorter.
The door to the holding cells opened to Liam’s father, Paul. Liam gave his father a short nod in greeting and returned to the computer screen. “What do you want, Samoan?”
“I have something for you.”
“I doubt that,” he assured. It’s not like Samoan wasn’t pretty. She was gorgeous with her long black and blue hair and cobalt blue eyes. Her elfin features from the pointed ears to the pixie-like face came from her mother’s heritage, but she possessed every bit of her father’s meanness. The ultimate demon seductress.
She handed him a small box that he hadn’t seen her with a few moments before. He snatched the package from her and opened it. Inside, was the tiny surveillance camera he’d ordered. “When did this come?”
“It arrived this morning.” She leaned over to look at the package’s contents. “What’s that for?”
“It’s a camera. I can carry it when in my raven form,” Liam answered. His raven form was the only way he could get on to Kalissa’s property without setting off her
wards.
“You plan on spying on the bitch?”
Liam’s hand flew out, grabbed her by the throat and snatched her forward into him. She just smiled at him.
Liam could smell her arousal, and it made him sick. He released her with a shove to get her out of his face. “Don’t talk about her like that,” he growled.
“I don’t understand this obsession. She doesn’t know what you need.” Samoan hopped off the desk and walked around to straddle his lap. She ran her hand down his chest to the top of his jeans. He cursed his body for responding to her touch, smell, and the glow of passion in her eyes. She leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I know what you need…and want.” The door to the holding cells opened and then closed. Samoan frowned. “Saved by the parental advisory.”
Samoan stood up and walked over to her father, who had a peeved look on his face. “Good evening, father.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
“I thought I told you to leave Liam alone,” Demetrius said in a stern, fatherly tone.
Samoan shrugged like her father’s anger didn’t faze her. “I’m going out. I have my cell if you need me.” She walked out the door.
Demetrius sat down on the sofa and looked at Liam. “Were you able to find anything out?”
“They have the Sinew.” Liam sat back in his chair. “They’re waiting for your move.”
Demetrius nodded and stood up. “Then they have twenty-four hours, twenty-six if they’re lucky.” He turned and left.
Twenty-four hours and he’d make his move. The idiot he’d sent in to get rid of his competition had been careless. Liam had given specific instructions for Kalissa to be left unharmed. Instead, the moron had openly fired a death blast of energy, leaving his female to run to her lover’s aid. Anger mixed with annoyance had coursed through him when another Divinity—the red-haired male—had teleported in front of Ayden, taking the blast.
