Revealed in Fire (Demon Days, Vampire Nights World Book 9) Page 5

  I opened up to his thoughts, and a beat later I heard, I’m online.

  Apparently he thought he was a computer. Whatever worked.

  “You might want to wait to start drinking,” Emery said, though I was sure he knew what I was actually doing. That meant he was playing along, just like I’d done with him last night. “Though, given your joke is ruined, I can see why you’d want to start early.”

  I spat out a laugh despite myself. He knew why I’d dressed this way, it seemed. Penny had chosen well.

  “What joke?” Penny asked, her beet-red face making me laugh harder.

  …enhances her beauty. Too bad she’s with that vamp…

  I’d forgotten how forceful Roger’s thoughts could be. He was used to broadcasting them to lead his pack, which he’d apparently taken a vacation from to be here. I hadn’t realized he thought about the bang-bang train when he looked at me, though. And if I hadn’t heard his thoughts, I still wouldn’t know—he seemed as annoyed and impassive as ever.

  I worked harder to block him out as I started forward again, tossing my hair over my shoulder. I could screw with him as easily as I could screw with Penny. One would have to fight his male reactions, and the other would be embarrassed and probably do weird things in response. Could be worse.

  “Darius isn’t going to be thrilled you found his hideout,” I said nonchalantly as I crossed behind Penny and Emery before taking a seat on Emery’s other side, letting those last rays filter through the light cream fabric flowing over my body.

  To Roger’s credit, his eyes did not waver from my face, and he did not tense even a little. Ironclad self-control, this one. Though I guess it helped that shifters were used to wandering around in the buff. Their animal forms didn’t usually have opposable thumbs with which to carry their clothes.

  “Hmm, Reagan, what’s that scent?” Emery asked as I lowered into the empty seat, nearly flashing Penny as I bent.

  “It’s called afternoon delight. You should try it, Penny,” I mused.

  Her face practically glowed.

  “Roger…” I turned his way, leaning back and clasping my fingers over my stomach. “Did you know that Penny has learned to bust in doors? She’s still working up to breaking them down. It’ll come.”

  “Blood-spattered crustaceans,” Penny murmured. Through her teeth she said, “Try to be professional, would you? I thought you’d be sleeping.”

  “Don’t lie, you wanted to catch us…dancing. Tell me, do you like to watch everyone when they dance, or just Darius and me?”

  Emery coughed laughter into his balled-up fist. “Excuse me.”

  Get answers before the vampire gets here, Cahal thought.

  He had a point. Darius would not be pleased to find one of the world’s most powerful shifters in his secret hideout. Given they didn’t trust each other at the best of times, and there were hardly any of those, I needed to get some answers before Darius lit a fire under this pile of dried leaves. Penny’s torture would have to wait.

  I slid my focus to Roger. “So, Roger, to what do we owe this very dangerous intrusion?”

  He cocked his head to one side, his gaze zipping from Emery back to me.

  …something is…wrong…

  He was cluing in to Cahal, I’d bet, his senses picking up the danger waiting thirty feet behind him.

  “Yeah, I don’t always wear leather. Surprise,” I badgered, bringing his focus back to me. “Want a picture? Unlike the guy who owns this place, I’ll show up in photographs.”

  His brow lowered. That did it. He did not like being on Darius’s property, probably especially because it was an island and he wouldn’t be able to easily escape if everything went pear-shaped. Which raised the question, why was he putting himself in this situation?

  “I’ll ask again, why are you here, Roger? I don’t really want company out here—or didn’t you pick up on that from my disappearing act?”

  He glanced at the sky and then the sun, sinking into the horizon like a big, melting tangerine gumdrop. I made a mental note for the next time I trained with Cahal. “The fae sent me. As you know, they have a Seer like Karen…”

  “Never say those words to my mother,” Penny said.

  The Red Prophet was a rare breed of…eccentric. Karen would be pissed if she heard anyone comparing her to the fae Seer. At least, she would be once she actually met the whacko with fuzzy, unbrushed red hair who sometimes hung from trees like a bat and made owl sounds. That was how I’d first “met” her.

  “What about her?” Emery asked, his smile long since wilted.

  “I don’t want to repeat myself, so I’ll wait for Durant,” Roger replied, “but she said to make sure to tell you I’m the only one in the supernatural world who’s been informed of your whereabouts. She gave me the company to use for the private jet and suggested the best way to bribe them into falsifying the ending point. It’s parked next to Durant’s jet. She said he would probably want to…speak with the pilots. I assume that means addle their thoughts.”

  I’ll recover them and stash them in the house so they can’t escape, Cahal said, and then he was gone, hurrying away from the scene. I knew he’d be back by the time Darius got out here.

  “We’ve had a lot of demons in the Brink, popping up all over,” Roger said. His tone was casual, almost conversational, but only a fool would believe it. “I thought demon hunting was kind of your thing. Yet…” He turned and looked back at the enormous residence behind him. “Durant has you living the good life, huh? Hanging up your bounty-hunting hat?”

  “Yeah. He needed a pet, and I love wearing collars. A little kink goes a long way in a relationship.” I gave some side-eye to Penny. “That’ll be the encore. You can come back at dawn for that.”

  “Seriously, you really need to let that go,” she groused. “I had a good reason for barging in.” She shook her hand at Roger before mumbling, “I thought you’d be asleep!”

  Roger snorted. “Reagan Somerset as a pet. I’d love to see the guy dumb enough to attempt that.”

  “You can say that again,” Emery murmured.

  Roger stiffened right before Darius sauntered toward us wearing khakis, a loose white button-up shirt, and loafers, his hair done just so. He looked casual and laid-back, the theme and color combo of his outfit matching mine. This wasn’t to mock Penny, though. He was providing a unified front.

  “Mr. Nevin.” Darius came around to me as Roger rose, pushing the chair back as he had with me. This time, though, his body was all tense lines, his power pulsing and pumping around him. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

  Darius’s tone and his stance—body positioned over me, hand lightly touching the back of my chair—clearly communicated a threat. He would defend me with his life and snuff out Roger if the alpha posed any sort of a risk, shifter and fae organizations be damned. He’d always been smoothly aggressive with Roger, but I’d never seen him this outwardly hostile.

  I reached back and touched his forearm. “The Red Prophet sent him. Cahal is securing the pilots of the jet as we speak. You can chat with them later.”

  “Of course.” Darius pulled out the chair next to me and gracefully lowered into it. Roger did the same.

  “He has been waiting for you before telling us anything,” I said as Cahal drifted back into the area, stopping by the bar again. If Roger knew, he showed no sign of it. “I assume Penny didn’t want to lead him into the sun-protected areas of the house because she was worried she might find us…dancing again.”

  “That’s not why,” she murmured, her cheeks firing up again. “The sunset is pretty. I…didn’t know how long you’d be…” She popped up. “I’ll get drinks.”

  A smile worked at Emery’s lips.

  “No staff?” Roger asked in a level tone. He was piecing together the seriousness of the setup.

  “As you see,” Darius replied. “Now, Mr. Nevin, I assume you didn’t come all this way to watch the sunset. Please, how may we assist you?”

  Penny
placed a pitcher of water on the table, followed by glasses. She avoided looking at me or Darius.

  Roger leaned to his right and reached under his butt, pulling out a square of what looked like parchment. He placed it in the center of the table, a cracked red seal on the top.

  “How much have you guys heard about what’s going on in the Brink?” Roger asked.

  “Darius pried a bunch out of me last night,” Penny said, sitting down again. She still wouldn’t look my way.

  “We are well informed,” Darius said.

  Roger nodded, like he’d assumed that would be the case. “You know, then,” he said, “that some very powerful demons have been gaining access.”

  “It takes some power to tear them down, yes,” I replied.

  “And you know there have been rumors about a woman and a vampire traversing the Underworld.”

  Roger’s beta had asked me about that in the Realm, and my knee-jerk reaction had been to punch him in the face. It hadn’t been brought up since, but clearly Roger knew about it. Roger was too far away to punch, sadly.

  “We have heard, yes,” Darius said smoothly.

  “The rumors started circulating at about the same time Charity was coming into her own. You have probably heard that they stopped her party in the Realm, wanting to take her to the Underworld and ask her some questions.”

  Roger waited for a reaction and didn’t get one. We had heard that, yes. We’d known who the demons were really looking for, obviously. If it had been possible to help, we would’ve, but by the time we heard the news, the demons were all dead.

  “Word clearly never reached the Underworld that Charity was not the person they sought,” he said. “They recently sent a few powerful demons to Santa Cruz, looking for her. When they found her, she was…assessed.” He paused, his eyes beating into me.

  “Look at you,” I said with a smirk. “I didn’t know you had such dramatic flair. Have you been taking classes at the junior college?”

  His eyebrows lowered. “They determined that she was not the person they sought. They must’ve been able to feel her magic.” He paused again.

  I see now why you lack patience, Cahal thought, and I felt vindicated.

  Roger’s gaze flicked to the parchment. “Devon told me the demons didn’t even try to fight back. They seemed content to be killed, although it proved a hard enough task, even with an Arcana using hellfire.”

  I frowned, not sure why the demons wouldn’t at least have fought to get back to the Underground.

  “Before they were taken down, one of them left that. It was rolled up.” Roger gestured at the square.

  “Excellent job keeping it in its original shape,” I said, reaching for it. I showed Darius the broken seal, but he shook his head, indicating he didn’t recognize the design. I wondered if Vlad would have known it. After opening it, I read the short, scratchy words out loud, my heart speeding up. “‘The Great Master requests an audience with his heir. Summon her.’”

  I showed Darius and then tossed it to the natural dual-mages.

  “Does that mean anything to you?” Roger asked, that dual-colored gaze pinning me to the chair.

  “Why don’t you tell me what you know, and I will tell you what I know,” I replied.

  His gaze flicked to Darius. “You’ve been hanging out with him too long.”

  “Annoying, right? But it gives Penny an outlet to explore her voyeurism, so who am I to say boo?”

  Penny’s face closed down, her cheeks getting even redder. Teasing her just never got old.

  “Obviously the heir it is talking about is Lucifer’s,” Roger started.

  “Obviously,” I replied. No sense beating around the bush. It would just eat up time.

  “Lucifer had a meeting with the elves shortly after Charity came into her full power. We don’t have the exact details, but it seems he was questioning the elves about the disturbance in the Underworld. The elves aren’t supposed to go there without approval, just like his people aren’t supposed to visit the Realm. The elves were tight-lipped about the situation, and it seems Lucifer got the idea they were trying to hide something.”

  “In other words, he thought they were guilty,” Emery surmised.

  “Yes, exactly.” Roger adjusted his position. “I think the elves know less than Lucifer, other than that the woman in question isn’t Charity. They want to find this other woman, though, and they aim to do it before Lucifer can.”

  “Why is that?” Penny asked.

  “The elves won’t want Lucifer meeting his heir. They won’t want a possible repeat of the past,” Darius said, steepling his fingers, “because this time, they might not win. Unrest in the Realm is at an all-time high. If the vampires join Lucifer, and I’m sure they’ve gleaned Vlad’s interest in such a connection, the elves would be in a poor position.”

  “Except they have the warrior fae as a fighting force, newly trickling out from the Flush.” Emery stared straight ahead. “And they have the shifters.”

  “Yes.” Darius turned his attention back to Roger. “What about the shifters? Will they stand by an increasingly power-hungry and corrupt ruler in order to secure their assets?”

  “As opposed to being ruled by a different power-hungry and corrupt ruler, like Vlad?” Roger shot back.

  “Both good points, but let’s table that for now.” I dropped my hand to Darius’s knee.

  Roger rolled his shoulders. “The vampire does have a point. The warrior fae used to be the peacekeepers of the Realm. They offered fair, impartial judgment on the elves’ rulership and prevented them from abusing power. Romulus wants to reestablish that, but he can only do that if he surpasses his mother and becomes the new ruler. He also needs to present Charity to the elf royalty. Hopefully we can re-establish a fair system in the Realm. He did mention, however, upon receiving that note…” Roger’s gaze bored into mine again.

  “The suspense is absolutely killing me.” I lifted a finger. “Wait… No, it’s boring me, not killing me.”

  “He is concerned that if an heir were to step forward, Lucifer’s ambition would once again blossom. He also expressed a concern that the elves and vampires might both try to use the heir as a pawn to bring Lucifer to heel. Romulus had to own that the elves might seek to snuff her out to prevent any possible repetition of the past.”

  I was careful not to move a muscle, but there wasn’t much I could do about the sweat suddenly coating my forehead. I’d largely stayed out of the Realm to help keep my magic a secret. I hadn’t wanted someone figuring it out and blabbing. I hadn’t considered the elves might paint a target on my back, though. Even though I now knew the history with Lucifer and the elves, it hadn’t dawned on me that they might want to kill me.

  My enemies were multiplying, and they were the most powerful enemies in all the worlds.

  “Did you know about that?” I asked Darius softly.

  I considered the possibility, he responded.

  “Time to clear the air…” Roger leaned forward onto his elbows, his stare predatory. “You are demon spawn, correct? I’d already surmised that much.”

  I hesitated. It felt like the future was bearing down on me. Threats were materializing, enemies circling, and I was teetering on the edge of a fate that I’d been hiding from my whole life. Regardless of how bored I’d been here, and how much I wanted to get back to my life, it seemed like an impossible feat to take that step.

  Courage is not about the absence of fear, but finding the fortitude to push on in spite of it, Cahal echoed within the walls of my mind. This is the beginning.

  I will stand by you through everything, mon coeur, Darius thought. I will let you choose the path you take, and I will step forward with you.

  RIDE OR DIE, BITCHES! Penny thought-screamed at me. She was really good at blocking her thoughts, but communicating with them was another story.

  I filled my lungs, held the air for a moment, and then let it out slowly. I met Roger’s eyes. “Yep,” I replied.

 
“You are the woman who went into the Underworld,” he said. “With Darius. You got him through the fog because of the bond.”

  “Right again.”

  “You are Lucifer’s daughter—his heir—and Vlad knows it, but Lucifer does not.”

  “Three for three. What do we have for our winner?” I did a circle in the air with my finger, but I felt anything but mirth.

  “Why hasn’t Vlad told Lucifer?” Roger asked, leaning back in his chair as though defeated. I had no idea what his deal was. It wasn’t like this had anything to do with him. Unless he felt it his duty to deliver me to the elves and thought, correctly, that he’d die before that happened.

  “At first, it had to do with me and the bond,” Darius replied, curling his fingers around my hand, still resting on his thigh. “He did not want to cross me, because he did not want me to return the favor. Further, it is forbidden to endanger a lawful bond-mate, especially a bond-mate of a vampire in excellent standing, such as myself. To do so would invite scrutiny and punishment. However, if he tries to tantalize my kind with the promise of more freedom and power, of leaving our lair in the Realm behind for the golden castle, the standing of a bond-mate would likely be overlooked. The only thing stopping him at this point, I would wager, is not knowing where she is.”

  “He can spin the bond-mate thing easily,” Emery said, leaning forward, elbows braced on the table. “If he delivers her to Lucifer, he could claim he is protecting her from the elves. He is protecting her from those who would wish her harm. Lucifer would not kill his child, and thus, she would be in no danger from him. Not of death, anyway. He could get away with it.”

  “Yes. Many vampires would follow him,” Darius said. “He is the most powerful in our faction.”

  “What about Ja?” Penny asked.

  Darius squinted a little. “She is physically more powerful, with more experience, and I have no doubt more cunning, but her motives aren’t clear. She does not have any kind of standing at the moment. She hasn’t properly inserted herself into our hierarchy.”

  “Where does that leave you?” Roger asked Darius.

  He squeezed my hand. “My children are loyal to me. They will follow me.”