Consuming Damien (The Possessed Series Book 2)

by Tressa Rabbit

  Tori’s vision grayed, and nausea rolled through her stomach at Azrael’s words. He expected her to have sex with Jaxon’s father while he filmed it? “I won’t do it.”

  “It isn’t a choice, Victoria. The decision has been made. You have less than twenty-four hours until you’re required to perform. I suggest you take that time to rest. You’ll need it if you are to survive lying with a half-crazed shifter.”

  She glanced over at Alfred sleeping in the chair, and her skin crawled with dread. There was no way in hell she would let them force her to have sex with Jaxon’s father. They would have to kill her first.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Damien waited impatiently for Jaxon to answer the door while Ben held the wolves at bay by their collars. Damien only had four hours left until the sun came up, and that meant four more hours Tori would be alone with his deviant uncle.

  The soft cry of a baby reached Damien’s ears, and footsteps could be heard trekking through the house moments before the door was jerked open.

  Jaxon Sanders stood before Damien, wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. The anger in his eyes face spoke volumes, as did his voice. “You better have a damn good reason for standing on my porch, demon.”

  Damien wanted nothing more than to snatch Jaxon outside and beat the condescending look off his face, but he couldn’t. He needed the shifter’s help in finding his mate. And Tori was his mate, he silently admitted. If she would still have him.

  “Victoria is in trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?” Jaxon growled, stepping out onto the porch, pulling the door closed behind him.

  “My uncle has her, and I need your help in locating her before it’s too late.”

  “And your uncle being Azrael Devain?”

  Surprise was instant. “You know who I am?”

  Jaxon glanced up as if noticing Ben for the first time. “Kojak, Alabama. Heel.” Both wolves sat on cue, but kept their gazes trained on Damien. “Why would your uncle have Victoria?”

  Ben marched over toward Jaxon and Damien before piping in. “Apparently, he’s seeking revenge for the death of his wife.”

  “Revenge against whom?” Jaxon crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Your father,” Damien snarled, fighting the descent of his fangs.

  “Keep your voice down. I don’t want Claire hearing any of this.” Jaxon motioned for them to move off the porch.

  The three of them hurried to the tree line where Kyle waited for Damien’s return. The familiar stepped from the woods. “You forgot the robe.”

  Damien ground his teeth, yanked off his T-shirt, and tossed it to Kyle before turning to face a pissed-off Jaxon.

  Sanders took a menacing step forward. “Who the hell is this?”

  Ben spent the next few minutes introducing everyone, ending with, “Kyle is Tori’s familiar. He’s here to help.”

  “As much as you’d like to remove my head,” Damien ground out, “you’re going to have to forego that pleasure until after we find Victoria.”

  Jaxon ran a hand through his hair. “Tori wouldn’t be in this trouble if you’d stayed your ass in Alaska where you belong.”

  That pissed Damien off even more. “You have it wrong, Sanders. If your father hadn’t done the unthinkable and taken the life of Azrael’s wife, none of this would have been an issue to begin with. But we are wasting time with the blame game. You know this town better than anyone. Where could Azrael take Victoria where they wouldn’t be easily found?”

  “I don’t know, but you can bet your ass I aim to find out.”

  “Jaxon?” Claire’s frantic voice called out, echoing off the surrounding trees.

  Damien and Jaxon broke into a run, leaving Ben and Kyle to follow them to the house.

  Jaxon came to a stop at the foot of the steps leading up to the porch where his wife stood wringing her hands.

  Her bottom lip trembled as she spoke. “I just got a call from the Murphy sisters, telling me that Victoria is in trouble and being held at the Shueller farm off Highway 83 North. Jaxon? What’s going on?”

  Damien stepped from the shadows and into the light spilling from the porch as Jaxon explained the details surrounding Tori’s abduction.

  Claire listened with rapt attention before running inside and quickly returning with a pair of Jaxon’s shorts. She tossed them in Kyle’s direction without a word.

  “Take Claire and Grayson to the Murphy sister’s place,” Ben demanded, sidling up next to Jaxon where he stood on the steps. “It’s you that Azrael wants. Better to be me that shows up there, in case it’s a trap. Your family will be safer with the witches than here. We don’t know how many vampires Devain brought with him.”

  Damien flinched. He’d give anything in this moment to be a flesh-and-blood man, one that could give Tori the kind of life she deserved instead of some blood-sucking monster that could very well be responsible for ending her life.

  “We need to hurry,” Damien snarled, allowing his demon free rein. “Ben, do you know the way?”

  Ben simply nodded and clapped Jaxon on the back. “Get your family out of here. I will call you the second we have Victoria back safely.”

  Claire suddenly pushed passed Jaxon and Ben, stopping directly in front of Damien. “I don’t know your story, but I do know remorse when I see it. It’s obvious in your eyes. You love her.” It wasn’t a question.

  “With everything inside me,” Damien professed openly for all to hear. “I will make it up to her, if she’ll have me.”

  “I have a feeling that she will. Now go get her and bring her home.” She stood on tiptoes and kissed Damien on the cheek before trailing back to the porch and disappearing inside.

  Damien decided that he liked Claire. She had an understanding that transcended most human females he’d come in contact with; aside from Victoria, he thought with a pang of guilt. His beautiful mate had opened herself up to him and accepted him for what she thought him to be. If only he’d been honest from the beginning.

  “Let’s go.” Ben took off without waiting to see who followed. He came to a stop at the edge of the woods, removed his clothing, and shifted into a cheetah.

  Damien didn’t need to ask about his choice of animal since the cheetah was known to be the fastest cat in the world.

  Turning to face Kyle, Damien held out his hand. “Give me your shorts before you shift.”

  He accepted the shorts, snatched up Ben’s clothing, and held out his arms for Kyle, who was now in the form of Psycho the cat.

  It took everything Damien had not to roar with rage as he raced behind the cheetah through the dense woods of Walton County, praying to whatever gods would listen that he wasn’t too late.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Victoria paced the floor of the room she’d been locked in since her arrival. It had been a couple of hours since they’d removed Alfred from the chair in the corner with a promise to return him the moment he’d healed enough to perform.

  She shuddered with revulsion and no small amount of fear, gripping the robe closed tightly at her breasts.

  Thoughts of Damien surfaced and with them came feelings she didn’t want to examine—hurt, anger, betrayal…love.

  Damien was a vampire, she silently repeated for the hundredth time. How had she not seen it? The signs had been there all along if she’d bothered to look closely enough. But she’d been too wrapped up in his charm to put two and two together.

  The door opened, and two men entered the room with a pissed-off and restrained Alfred between them. Damien’s uncle followed behind.

  “I trust you are well rested?” Azrael murmured, thumping the side of a syringe he held in his hand.

  Tori’s heart skipped a beat. “What is that?”

  “This?” He held up the syringe and thumped it again. “It’s for your guest here.” He nodded toward Jaxon’s father. “To partially bring out the wolf in him. Not enough for a complete shift, mind you, but enough that he won’t disappoint when it comes to mou
nting you.”

  “Why are you doing this? You have what you want. If you’re planning to kill him regardless, there won’t be a need to ruin his career. He won’t be around to even know!” Tori shouted through her growing panic.

  Azrael clucked his tongue as if he were speaking to a child. “Because, my nosy wench, once the footage of the two of you surface, it will shed some light on the reasoning for Alfred here to murder his entire family before taking a revolver to his own head. No one will be the wiser and no investigation will ensue.”

  “You won’t get away with it. Damien will come for me. I know he will.” And she did know. Tori wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did.

  A laugh burst from Azrael as he injected the needle into Alfred’s neck. “My nephew will not be joining the party, Victoria. Trust me when I say that he is cooling his heels and thinking about where he went wrong right about now.”

  Alfred lifted his head enough to meet Tori’s gaze. “I’m sorry, Victoria. I don’t want to hurt you in any way. Kill me if you get the chance.”

  “Shut up, you piece of shit,” Azrael barked, backhanding Alfred across the face. “In another moment, you won’t care about anything but rutting. Isn’t that what animals do? Rut?”

  Sanders spit on Azrael’s shoes, an offensive gesture that Tori was sure would be retaliated. She didn’t have to wonder for long.

  Devain grabbed a handful of Alfred’s hair and jerked his head back. “For that, I will take her first, and then my men will have a turn while you are forced to watch, your inner wolf clawing to get out. By the time you get to her, you will be in a frenzy the likes of which you’ve never known. Poor Victoria. I wonder if she will survive?”

  Tori’s mouth went dry with fear. She needed to figure out how to get out here, and fast.

  “Leave her alone,” Alfred growled, his voice more animal than human. He shook his head, and a low rumble came from his chest. His head slowly lifted, and Tori recoiled from the distorted features of his face.

  “Alfred?” Her whispered words fell on deaf ears. His eyes were glowing red and seemed to look right through her. With a flare of his nostrils, he began jerking against his restraints, his lips peeling back to reveal a mouth full of deadly teeth.

  Sheer terror made her run for the door, only to slam into a wall of vampire muscle belonging to Azrael Devain.

  A soft laugh erupted from the tall vampire as he wrapped a hand around her throat, lifted her feet off the floor, and threw her across the room to land on the bed. She bounced once, biting her tongue in the process.

  Blood instantly filled her mouth, setting off a chain of hissing sounds from the vampires occupying the room.

  Azrael appeared next to the bed. He spoke to the room at large without taking his gaze from hers. “You can have what’s left of her when I am finished, but do not harm her face. We need her to be pretty for the camera.”

  Tori screamed with the first touch of his hand on her person, kicking out as he reached for the tie on her robe. He would have to kill her if he wanted her body. She wasn’t going to make it easy for him.

  “I love a good fight,” he crooned, batting her hands aside and severing the soft material of the robe’s tie with his razor-sharp nails.

  Another scream wrenched from her with the feel of his fingertips on her stomach. Nausea overrode her terror, cutting her off in mid-scream, forcing the contents of her stomach into her throat. She turned her head to the side in hopes of blocking out what he did to her…and then all hell broke loose.

  The door shattered off the hinges, slamming into the opposite wall with the force of a truck.

  Tori scrambled back against the headboard. Her gaze darted around the room in an attempt to track the swirl of color spinning like a tornado, destroying everything in its path.

  Blood sprayed across her face, splattering on the wall behind her. The sound of bone crunching could be heard over the snarls and hissing taking place in front of her.

  A full-on battle of vampires had ensued around her, and if she didn’t get out of here soon, she would surely be caught up in the middle of it.

  “Victoria?” Ben was suddenly there, scooping her up and tucking her head beneath his chin before zigzagging toward the door.

  Tori had never been more grateful to see the big familiar as she was in this moment.

  Her hair lifted as something flew by her faster than her eyes could track. It slammed into the wall behind her, hard enough to crack the studs behind the sheetrock.

  Ben sailed through the open doorway, down a long hall, and out the back of the house before stopping and setting her on her feet in front of a tall, dark-haired man wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. “Kyle, take care of her,” Ben practically yelled. “Damien needs my help.”

  Tori’s heart dropped at Ben’s words. Damien was in there alone, fighting at least three vampires that she knew of. She opened her mouth to beg the giant familiar to hurry, but he was already running back inside the house.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Damien stumbled back against the wall, staring into the lifeless eyes of his father’s oldest brother. Damien had killed him without hesitation for what he’d done to Victoria.

  The sight of Azrael attempting to force himself on Tori would forever remain in Damien’s memory as long as he lived. The fear in her eyes, the helplessness coming from her in waves strong enough that Damien could feel it before entering the house.

  He staggered over and dropped to his knees beside his uncle’s still form. His hand slightly shook as he sifted through Azrael’s pockets in search of evidence that might be damning to Victoria.

  Pulling a disc free, he crushed it in his hand before rising to check the other mutilated vampires in the room. Finding nothing, he grabbed the camera and stood.

  “Holy shit,” Ben breathed, stepping into the destroyed room. “It’s a bloodbath in here.” His gaze touched on the three bodies scattered across the floor. “Are they dead?”

  Damien nodded, accepting Ben’s offer of help. “They’ll turn to ash as soon as they bleed out.”

  Looping his arm over the big familiar’s shoulder, he limped from the room with Ben’s assistance. “We need to burn the house. No one can ever know what took place here tonight.”

  “I’ll take care of it as soon as I get you back to Jaxon’s. The sun will be up soon, and I imagine you’ll be mighty crispy yourself if we don’t get you indoors.”

  “Victoria?” Damien questioned as Ben led him out the back toward the trees.

  “Right over there.” Ben jerked his chin in Tori’s direction.

  The sight of Victoria resting in Kyle’s arms summoned relief as well as jealousy in Damien’s gut.

  Pulling free of Ben’s hold, Damien limped his way to his mate’s side. “Are you injured, Tori? Did he… Did he hurt you?”

  She stared back at him with tear-filled eyes. “Had you been five minutes later, he would have. They all would have, including Jaxon’s father. Not that he had a choice. They drugged him.”

  “I am so sorry, Victoria. Please…” Damien reached for her hand, but she pulled it away.

  “Where is your uncle?” she asked, shrinking back against Kyle’s damned naked chest.

  “Dead. They’re all dead but Alfred. He escaped during the fighting.”

  Surprise registered on her face. “You killed them all?”

  “I did, and would kill them again if I could.”

  She gazed at Damien a moment longer before laying her head on Kyle’s shoulder. “I want to go home.”

  “I’ll take you,” Damien offered, glancing at the sky. The sun would be up soon, leaving him no choice but to seek shelter.

  Ben sidled up close to Damien’s side. “Kyle will see her safely back to the Murphy sisters. You and I will return to Jaxon and Claire’s place after we take care of this mess.”

  Damien fought a growl. He hated the idea of Kyle holding Tori in his current state of undress. The shorts he wore might as well be nonexistent f
or all the good they did, barely covering him and clinging to his body like a second skin.

  Left with little choice, Damien turned back toward the house where he’d left his dead uncle and the other two nameless vampires lying in a bloody heap on the floor.

  Damien had taken the life of his own flesh and blood, leaving Azrael’s children without a father. But he’d been left with no choice, he told himself, entering the back door of the house. His uncle had abducted Victoria, tormented her for hours, and would have forced himself on her had Damien not arrived in time to stop him.

  Pain sliced through Damien’s heart at the thought of what could have happened had he not arrived when he did. Azrael would have killed Tori after he finished with her. The entire Sanders family would have been next to die, including Claire and her infant child.

  No, Damien couldn’t have allowed Azrael to live, any more than he could have sat back and let him destroy the woman Damien loved.

  “She’ll be all right,” Ben murmured, falling in step beside him. “Give her some time.”

  Damien kept his gaze trained on the house, marching through the back door without facing Ben. “But she’ll never forgive me.”

  “Forgive you for what?” Ben entered behind him and began jerking drawers open as Damien moved toward the stove.

  “You don’t know what I’ve done. I’m responsible for everything that Victoria has been through.”

  “How is that?” Ben held up a pack of matches he’d found in one of the drawers.

  “I’ll fill you in on the way out of here.” Damien blew out the pilot light on the stove and turned all four knobs to the on position.

  The smell of gas reached his nose, and he snatched the matches from Ben’s fingers. “Run.”

  Damien waited for Ben to reach the edge of the yard before blurring upstairs to start a fire.

  With one last look at his uncle’s pasty-white face, he lit the bedspread and jumped from the window to land lithely on his feet.

  The injuries he’d sustained in the fight with Azrael and his goons had already begun to heal, leaving him ample strength to run the five miles back to Jaxon’s before the sun came up.