by Trina M. Lee
Much to my surprise, it didn’t shake me the way it once did. I wasn’t so ignorant or arrogant as to discount the demon as a threat. I knew he was capable of terrible things. But for the first time since I’d met him, I didn’t truly fear Shya anymore.
“A bitch slap, Shya?” My hand went to my reddening face. I tasted blood from where my fang had sliced the inside of my cheek.
“Just warming up.” The demon rubbed his hands together, appraising me with vicious delight. He wiggled a finger at Falon and me. “I knew you two were fucking, but I never thought either of you would be stupid enough to let it become more than that. What fools you are. Now let’s get down to business.”
Pushing away from the guys, I strode forward, right up to Shya. Fearless. “We don’t have any business.”
“I beg to differ. See, I owe you a world of pain and suffering. Six months as your prisoner. Six months trapped in that stone while you’re out here screwing my right-hand man. But to avoid a potential war between us, I’m going to make you a deal.” Pausing for dramatic effect, Shya slid a dark glower in Falon’s direction. “You get me into Lilah’s empire. Help me claim it and we’ll call it even. I’ll forget about everything you’ve done to me.”
Narcissistic? Just a little. Shya conveniently dismissed every messed-up thing he’d done to me. Every threat and beating. All of it.
Temper rising, I wanted to call him on all of it but knew it wasn’t a fight worth having. So instead I merely smiled. “So you’re still set on taking Lilah’s throne for yourself? I’m surprised you didn’t go straight to her and beg her to take you back.”
With a disgusted snort Shya adjusted the lapels of his jacket. “Fuck Lilah. I’ve always been in it for me and only me. She made her choice a long time ago. Now I’ve made mine. Let’s get moving before she knows I’m free. I hate to have to use threats and intimidation but, as you know, I’m not above it.”
“Yeah, yeah. Save it.” I stopped him with a hand. “If I have to ally myself with your crazy ass for five minutes to keep Lilah from getting what she wants, then so be it.”
Shya might be just mad enough to believe I’d help him. I’d had about three minutes to process Falon’s advice to claim Lilah’s kingdom as my own. No time to prep. No making a game plan. If I was going to do it, I had to do it now.
By laying claim to Lilah’s throne perhaps I could beat two demons with one power play. I couldn’t allow myself to imagine the repercussions if I failed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Nerves gripped me when I stood across the street from the haunted hospital that served as FPA headquarters and hosted the doorway that joined our world to Lilah’s empire.
Now I’d come to give it what it wanted most. Purpose.
Although somewhat nervous, I was ready. Ready to stop fearing the monsters that crawled the night. Those bigger and badder than me. Ready to show them all what I was made of. Ready to find out myself.
“Feels like I’m always coming back to this place,” I muttered as the four of us got out of my car.
After interrupting Arys’s fun, we’d headed straight for the old hospital. I’d called on the way to tell my sister to vacate the premises if she was here. She hadn’t answered.
“No worries, wolf. You don’t die tonight. You show this bastard who you really are. If anyone needs to see it, it’s Shya.” Falon failed to hide his drunkenness when he almost slipped off the curb.
“Don’t you dare say it,” I hissed to Arys, unnerved when the demon himself appeared across the street. Already on the unholy hospital grounds.
Shouldering Shaz aside, ignoring the scathing glare Arys shot him, Falon caught me by both shoulders. Touching a hand to my face, he forced me to meet his fierce gaze. “Queen of Light and Dark, when you’re forced to face the truth and finally accept what I’ve been saying all along, I’m sure you’ll find a creative way to apologize for being such an absolute pain in my ass. On your knees, preferably.”
With that tiny yet unexpectedly inspiring pep talk, Falon spun on the heel of a shiny black boot and stalked across the street toward the waiting demon. His belief in my ability to reign over light and dark infused me with reassurance. I realized he wasn’t the type to say such a thing under false pretenses. Regardless of his reputation.
Queen of Light and Dark. His words rolled loosely in my mind. Did I really believe that title referred to me? In the throes of passion he’d called me his queen. Not any old queen but his. Falon believed it, and somehow that made the concept easier to accept. If anyone called bullshit when he saw it, it was Falon. And he absolutely saw me as his Queen of Light and Dark.
Now I had to prove it. To myself and to everyone else.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted to punch someone so bad.” Arys sounded impressed, like Falon’s ability to irritate amazed him.
“Not even me?” Shaz teased, coming around to flank my other side as we crossed the street.
All fired up after his short yet enjoyable encounter at The Kiss, Arys slid a sexy grin Shaz’s way. “That was just foreplay. A way to work out some of that sexual tension. There are many better ways. Other things I’d much rather do to you.”
“As much as I’d love to find out where this conversation could go,” I broke in, each step feeling heavier than the last, “it’s going to have to wait for a better time and place. Bookmark this moment. We’ll come back to it.”
Up ahead Falon responded to something Shya said that I hadn’t heard. “My mark is to protect her. Yours was to control her. Hardly the same thing.”
“The intent is the same though, isn’t it?” Shya puffed out his chest, so sure he understood Falon’s interest in me. But he’d been away too long. He knew nothing. “To make her yours, in whatever way you can. I’m curious though, Falon, why her? What makes Alexa worth risking everything?”
Since Vegas Falon and I had enough issues without Shya’s meddling. I hurried to bring an end to their conversation before it could begin. “I just love it when people talk about me like I’m not right here.”
I stepped off the sidewalk onto the FPA property and braced myself. As expected, the entity took notice. Would Lilah somehow know I was here? I hoped not, but I had to be ready for that possibility.
“She works for The Circle of the Veil now,” Falon informed the curious demon. “Officially. You might want to keep that in mind going forward.”
Shya’s gaze strayed until he stared off at nothing. There could have been a spirit present, but I didn’t see anything. “Is that so? Well I imagine that changes things somewhat now, doesn’t it?”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but with the entity’s oily voice in my head, I couldn’t question it. ‘Welcome back, lost wolf. I’ve been waiting for you.’
Perhaps that should’ve been reassuring considering what I was about to do. Yet it sent a soul-deep tremor through me. ‘I came back for you,’ I told it, bracing myself.
Right away I felt it slither closer. If it had possessed hands, it would have been touching me all over, tugging my hair and clothing. ‘I knew you would. You always come back.’
The more I watched Shya, the more it seemed as if he were looking over his shoulder, expecting someone or something to jump out of the shadows.
Feeling my stare he spun to face me. “Stop wasting time and figure out how to break that lock. I want into Lilah’s empire and I want in now.” He made as if to come at me.
All three of my guys stepped between us. Touching how they could put their differences aside like that. Not quite the message I wanted to send tonight though.
“Stand down, boys,” I teased. Shoving through them, I couldn’t help the cozy feelings that filled me. Their willingness to throw themselves in front of a mentally compromised demon for me conveyed more than words ever could.
The three of them moved aside but stayed close, within touching distance. Which was important. I might need them.
Feeling out the environment, I walked around the property. All
three of my lovers moved with me, shadowing my every move. A handful of vehicles on the other side of the building indicated an agent presence, yet nobody came out to investigate. Maybe Juliet had gotten my message after all.
Shya trailed along behind us, close enough to watch me with a keen eye but far enough to keep from crowding me. Every so often he’d glance around like a spooked kid in a haunted house. Then he’d snap out of it and redirect his dragon-like focus my way.
“If you think having your flame reforged will keep me from forcing you to do this, Alexa, think again.” Black wings flared behind Shya in response to his temper.
“I’m feeling it out,” I snapped, hands held out as I readied myself to reach for the entity in every way possible. “Now shut up and let me do this. If you distract me and it doesn’t work, that will all be on you.”
Shya might want me to think my reforged flame was no threat to him but it was a lie. I suspected he didn’t know what to make of it, seeing as it had never happened before. Arys and I were an anomaly, even before my ability to touch light and dark.
Truth be told, in this moment I was grateful for Shya’s role in my life. He’d forced me to grow and evolve in ways that I wasn’t sure I would have otherwise. Unfortunately, that had come at a price. One that Willow had paid more than anyone. I would never forget that.
Stopping near the place in the grass where Arys had killed me the second time, restoring our flame, I closed my eyes and took a leap of faith. I reached out to the entity, the thriving mass of black magic trapped between two worlds. It was everywhere. All around me. Pressing close. Impossible to grab or hold. Like smoke.
‘I will be your queen,’ I told the entity. ‘You will obey me without question. You will not act without my command. You will remain in this land until I call upon you, waiting for my return. You will serve only me, and I will give you purpose again.’
Strong terms to be sure, delivered with a take-no-shit intensity. Staking a claim on such a dark, deadly force was dangerous and probably stupid. Only one way to find out.
‘I am yours, my queen.’ The entity’s voice suddenly seemed to be everywhere, inside and out.
The entity didn’t pause or contemplate the way anyone else would have. Because it wasn’t anyone else. It was a mass of abandoned power. Energy that had manifested a personality based on the wickedness of the woman who’d created it.
But Lilah had abandoned it.
Now I offered it a new ruler, which was all it wanted. Left here without purpose it had wreaked havoc on the FPA building’s occupants, especially those with any shred of dark power, vampires and fallen angels included. Taking control of the entity would bring an end to some of the terror and madness of this place while ensuring no demon could access the kingdom itself on the other side.
The wind picked up, whipping my hair about. Nobody else seemed to hear Lilah’s empire the way I could. I opened my eyes to find all four men watching with various expressions, from curiosity to suspicion.
The smoky sensation grew thicker, stronger, as the entity sought to make a connection. I let it in. My dark side spilled out, encouraged by the darkness in Lilah’s entity. No, my entity. It surged through me, ecstatic at having found a willing conduit strong enough to command it. Everything dark and vampire within me was set ablaze. Bloodlust and succubus desire mixed with the strange new yearning to destroy everything in my wake.
The only thing that held me in check and kept me from falling headlong into the temptation was the light flame in my core. If we hadn’t reforged our bond, I’d have never been able to touch Lilah’s power without going full dark side. Oh, I wanted to. The promise of how good it would feel to light up this city spoke to an inner part of me that was fully onboard. But the darkness didn’t call all the shots anymore.
A gasp escaped me as blue fire erupted from my upturned palms. Dark flame energy, running pure and steady. Somehow still held in check. Not without great effort though. Already I could feel the entity tugging at me, like a massive dog on a flimsy leash, straining to run free.
“What are you doing?” An uneasy lilt to Shya’s tone was accompanied by a step back. Then another. He seemed to have just started putting things together, realizing that I wasn’t who he remembered me to be.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I flashed him a fang-baring grin, certain my eyes were wild and blue. “I’m claiming Lilah’s kingdom for myself. Let’s be honest. You’d do the same damn thing if you were me.”
I’d made a deal with the entity. Obedience in exchange for purpose. Couldn’t think of a better purpose than showing Shya why he shouldn’t screw with me anymore.
“You shifty bitch.” A bright orange fireball filled Shya’s hands. He didn’t get a chance to use it.
The air rippled behind me. Eyes on Shya, I knew already who it would be. I turned and let dark-flame fire stream from my hands.
Lilah and Salem took the blast at near point-blank range.
Both immortals were blindsided by the unexpected blow. It threw them in opposite directions. Lilah recovered first, slapping at the blue flames that licked the hem of her jacket.
She rushed toward me, ginger hair streaming. “No, it’s not possible.”
Except it was and it was already too late. I braced for her attack, knowing she’d be unpredictable. “Afraid so. It’s all mine. But you knew that, didn’t you?”
Why else would Lilah have needed Shya? She’d surely suspected that I was her way in. She just didn’t know how to use me. Shya had always been good at that. Finding ways to use people for his own gain.
“I will not let some half-breed vampire queen lay claim to my throne. I’ll kill you first.” A burst of magic erupted from Lilah.
I was ready for her. Hell, I was eager to lay into her. But her attack wasn’t aimed for me. It burst over the men surrounding me, Shya included. Meanwhile Salem watched from the sidelines as Lilah and I faced off.
“You can try. But you’ll never get it back that way. It’s already mine.” Taking advantage of her momentary distraction with the guys, I hit her again. A dark shot to the chest threw her back.
Her wings burst out then.
I still wasn’t used to seeing her with them, but they didn’t intimidate me. I wasn’t scared of Lilah, just fucking sick of her.
What I didn’t expect was Salem. He slipped up on my other side so that I couldn’t possibly keep them both in my sights. Together he and Lilah nailed me with an attack like a lightning strike.
Only the entity’s desperate need for destruction kept me on my feet. It slithered through me, through my thoughts. It recognized Lilah as the one who’d abandoned it, and it desired her pain.
So I let it run free.
Power exploded from my fingertips with enough force to thrust me back into Arys who stood ready to catch me. Grabbing one of my hands, he held tight. The entity jumped from me to him, using our united strength to guide it on its path of vengeance.
Darkness poured from us like a waterfall that I couldn’t stop. It felt amazing. Both Lilah and Salem were overwhelmed by a surge of power that no longer answered to her but to me. I told it to do as it wished with the two of them, and it did.
Like a pack of diseased rats the darkness spread across the ground to each immortal twin flame, climbing them from toes to the top of their heads. It covered them like an oil spill. Lilah slapped at her arms and legs, like beating at a swarm of bugs. She couldn’t possibly fend it off.
Salem struggled to resist the attack but the more he fought the more it bound itself to him. Instead of blood, a black ooze seeped from his nose and eyes. He coughed and spat more of the oily substance on the ground.
With Arys’s hand in mine we used the power of our twin flame to stay strong and steady as Lilah’s entity ran amok on its maker. We would tire eventually but not before kicking their asses back to the other side.
A wicked laugh filled my ears, and it took a moment to realize it was me. The dark crept too close. I could feel
it there, ready to take me into the abyss. Lilah jerked me from the temptation when she seized hold of the force I commanded and tried to wrench it from my control. The entity’s power might not be hers to call anymore, but once that darkness was in play, nothing stopped her from wrestling it from me.
I had one way to beat a dark flame in a battle like this. So I reached for my light and channeled the darkness of the entity through it. The entity was pure dark-flame power. In the hands of a light flame who commanded both, it had no choice but to bend to my will. The steady force flowing from me exploded with light.
Now I understood. I was the Queen of Light and Dark.
Lilah screamed and released her hold on the previously dark force which now glowed with soft yellow light. She couldn’t stop it from continuing its assault on her.
Because I’d given it a command, it obeyed.
Panicked and out of options, Lilah fled. She disappeared completely, leaving Salem behind.
Because I couldn’t in good conscience continue an attack on a former light flame whom I knew to be a victim of his dark half, I pushed the entity back. At my command it retreated, settling back into the earth.
Once I let go of the entity I couldn’t feel it anymore. It didn’t even whisper in my ear. A contentment settled over it, like a happy, fat cat asleep in a windowsill. Sated.
Salem knelt on the ground, hands on his head. When he cracked his eyes open and saw that Lilah was gone, my heart almost split in two for him. How could she be so cruel?
I wanted to ask him why. Why follow her into the dark? But I already knew the answer. I’d been so close to doing the same.
I turned to make sure Falon and Shaz were ok. They stood out of the line of fire, unharmed other than a few bruises from the hit they took.
Shya, however, was long gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
