Dante (Blood Brothers Book 5) (25 page)

Beatrice
’s placid expression gave nothing away except for a brief flaring of her nostrils. “You always were a disappointment to me. I should have taken that potion to terminate my pregnancy when I knew I carried you.”

Giovanni didn’t so much as flinch but Dante could feel his brother’s pain. No matter how evil she was, it had to be damaging to hear such a thing from one’s own mother. “It’s a mistake you may yet regret
,
because I intend to kill you.”

She smiled. “Somehow
,
I doubt that. You’re not half the vampire Adonis is, and you made him, didn’t you? You’re so weak and worthless, Giovanni. That is why I named you after
him
. He was weak
,
too.”

“What the fuck are we standing around here for? Let’s waste the bitch.” Romeo
seemed ready to pounce, but Giovanni threw his hands
out, holding him back.

“No. Not yet.”

Romeo, however, wasn’t ready to listen to reason. “I can take her!” He
sidestepped Giovanni,
ran forward and halted abruptly.

In her arms
,
Beatrice
cradled a sleeping child. A tiny little girl.

“
Adrienne!” Christine cried out. She began started forward
, but Maggie and Sasha managed to hold her back.

“Let her go!” Romeo
roared
. His hands
trembled at
his sides
. Romeo was not one to hold back, but for the sake of his daughter, he somehow managed to restrain himself.

Beatrice
cradled Adrienne against her, stroking the child’s hair. “Such a precious little
darling
. She will be a beauty, this one. As well as this
bambina
.” Adrienne vanished from her arms only to be replaced by an even smaller child. A newborn.

“No
!” Marco
yelled
.

“Oh, this bitch is dead.” Maggie released Christine and stepped forward, but Dante grabbed her arm.

“She wants you to go to her and that’s not a good idea.” As much as
Dante
wanted to rush
Beatrice
,
it couldn’t be done while she was
holding one of the children.

That evil green gaze turned in Dante’s direction and he nearly stumbled back at the sheer malice within it. “Dante, leader of the Underground. You might not have been as moved by the children as your siblings, but I don’t want you to feel left out.
I think
she
might be of some interest to you.”

Before he could question her, the bundle in her arms was replaced by the unconscious figure of a very naked Isis.
Beatrice
held the limp figure effortlessly against her body as if Isis were a doll, even though the shifter was taller and heavier.

This made no sense. For what purpose was Isis being held
,
when they were working on the same side.
Was this some kind of trap?”

“Your ladylove has lost her usefulness to our dear departed Black Adder, but has she to you?”

Her words were like a bucket of ice water to his face, drenching the last vestige of hope he may have had. So Isis had been working for the other side all along, but it looked like
Beatrice
had no problem killing off those who worked with her.
As much as Dante wanted to remain unmoved, he couldn’t.

Despite her duplicity
he couldn’t help remembering how she’d tasted, how she’d felt in his arms,
and the sound of her laughter and the
way her eyes twinkled when she was happy. As much as she deserved to die for her betrayal, he couldn’t let it happen. Not like this, anyway. If for some reason after this was all over their paths crossed, it would probably be to her detriment, but
right now, his protective instinct had shifted in to overdrive.

Shit.
He had to be out of
his mind for
even thinking of sparing her, but
he would
—
as long as Isis didn’t try anything.

Dante didn’t have a chance to reply before Isis, like the children, disappeared and
Beatrice
stood
alone once again, but no one dared to approach her. She had the upper hand and she knew it. The
bitch
.

Her green gaze roamed the face of each occupant in the room. “I see we’re all here and the festivities can soon begin.” She moved toward the head of the table with such fluid movements
,
it almost seemed as if she were floating. Her feet barely touched the ground. She took a seat with a smile.

Dante stole a glance at his brothers. They
were apparently as
confused as he felt. Something was about to happen. Something big. “Where’s Adonis?”

Beatrice
waved her hand dismissively. “He’ll be here soon enough, but I thought I’d introduce you to my guests since you brought along a team of your own. It’s only fair for me to even the score, is it not?”

At each seat appeared red-eyed rogues who seemed bigger and hungrier than
any of the ones they’d faced
before.

“Did someone ask for me?”

Heads turned toward the newcomer’s voice.

Adonis entered the room with the same nonchalant smile his mother wore. He scanned the room, his avid gaze missing nothing. “I see everyone is finally here. So
,
which one of you wants to die first?”

Chapter Eighteen

No longer could he hold back nor would he be held back. All his pent-up frustration
would
explode if he didn’t get his hands on Adonis.
Flashing
toward the redheaded
vampire
, Dante was grabbed by two of the rogues who’d sprung from the table. They tried
to stop him as he advanced
, but he was too full of
fury and adrenaline to be held back
.

He slammed an elbow into his closest adversary’s face, and managed to duck an oncoming blow to the head.
One
of his enemies
,
however,
hit him
from behind
, s
hoving
his fist directly into his kidney. Dante yelled his
rage
, not allowing himself to feel pain. Twisting out of the firm grips holding him, he grabbed each rogue by the arm and made them crash into each other.

Their heads smashing together created a loud thud, but it only seemed to make them angrier. Fortunately, the collision made them loosen their grips, enabling Dante to free himself. He had to survive these attacks if he was to have it out with Adonis.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed
Beatrice
at the head of the table, surveying everything happening in the great hall with
a smile her face almost
as if she was watching
an
amusing television show. If he could make his way to her, he’d gladly kill her
as well
.

Dante ducked another oncoming blow and dealt out one of his own, catching one of the creatures in the stomach. He followed the assault with a kick in its nuts, using every ounce of his strength. His foe fell to its kne
es and coughed up blood. Dante brought his knee
up and connected with the downed rogue’s face with a loud crunch. He didn’t have a chance to relish his advantage before another one of the red-eyed beasts grabbed him from behind, catching
Dante’s
hair and giving it such a hard tug his neck nearly snapped. Dante pulled away, but only by losing a big chunk of his hair. Furious, he turned on his adversary, caught it by the sides of the face, and head-butted him.

Once the creature was temporarily stunned, he sank his fangs into its carotid
artery
, and blood splashed against his face. Dante tore off a chunk of the rogue’s flesh, making it scream. Seeing another approaching enemy in the reflection of his opponent’s eyes, he swung his captive into the oncoming foe who’d tried to sneak up on him, sending both of them flying. Not giving either creature a chance to recover, Dante was on them, ripping through clothes and tearing into flesh.

Though they fought back, he’d weakened them enough to give him the advantage. Taking one rogue by the face with both hands, he twisted its head until its neck shattered. He continued to twist and turn it to a grotesque angle. He then tore into its chest cavity and yanked out the thing’s heart before flinging it toward the head of the dining table.

He heard the sound of cold laugher coming from Beatrice. She remained seated like a
queen
on her thrown clapping every so often. The woman was demented.
Dante lifted the second rogue off its feet and threw it toward the demoness to show his contempt.

With a wave of her hand, she redirected the oncoming body in Dante’s direction, making it necessary for him to duck. With a growl, he raced toward her, only to be snatched back again by another pair of hands followed by a kick to the rear. He stumbled forward and landed facedown. Before he could recover, a heavy body straddled him and grasped his head on either side with large palms. Claws dug into the sides of his head and the rogue holding him down banged his head into the cold, hard floor.

Though slightly disoriented, he struggled to break free of the tight grip, wiggling and writhing, but the thing keeping him captive was strong. “You’re going to die, Grimaldi,” the beast
taunted
with a raspy voice before he sank sharp fangs into Dante’s back.

Dante
howled
in pain, but he refused to quit fighting. Reaching back, he grabbed his opponent’s wrists and furrowed his claws into the rogue’s skin, ripping those hands away from his head. With the firm hold he now had on the thing, he managed to roll over and throw it off, but in the process, the rogue tore out a piece of his flesh with its teeth. When he regained his footing,
Dante
ducked as the red-eyed creature charged toward him. Dante tackled it and in the process sent them both flying to the floor, this time with him on top.

He was tired of fucking with this thing.
What he really wanted was
a go at the redheaded ball of evil still sitting at the table and laughing with wicked delight. The rogue
screeched
as Dante used his thumbs to squash its eyeballs like grapes. Pink goo mixed with blood spurted down the monster’s face, but Dante was far from finished with it. He slammed his fists into the rogue’s mouth, shattering all its teeth. Using his advantage, Dante ripped through his enemy’s chest and wrapped his fingers around its pulsing heart. He clenched it between his fingers, squeezing it like a stress toy. “No. You’re very wrong. You’re the one who’s going to die.” And he compressed the heart until it exploded in his grasp.

It suddenly dawned on him that these
rogues had a weakness. The flesh. One of the reasons
,
it was so difficult to kill ancient vampires was as they grew older
,
their bodies became more impervious to physical attack. Some of the blows he’d taken tonight would have killed the average mortal and seriously wounded a much younger vamp
ire
. Though these rogues had some magical qualities about them and the strength of an ancient, their flesh gave away their age.
It now made sense why it had
been so easy to damage them once he got his hands on them. These creatures weren’t ancient and
they could be killed the old-fashioned way: b
y ripping their goddamn hearts out.

His group
might have been
outnumbered and would probably fight for hours to come, but he was in this battle for the long haul. Two more of the red-eyed creatures approached, and Dante sprang to his feet. He was ready to take them both on.

<><><>

Isis’s
body
ached all over
.
She groaned
as she moved her head to the side.
She felt as though she’d been put through a shredder put back together and then put back through again.
She was sore in spots she
didn’t realize
she had. Even the bottoms her feet stung.
Her
hair
even
hurt
and she wasn’t sure how that was possible
. Each breath she took set her lungs on fire.
She contemplated not moving again. Ever.

Small hands touched her shoulder. “Miss Lady. Wake up.”

She winced. “Lemme ’lone,” she
moaned
. If she could turn over, she would. Her mind was murky and she couldn’t think past the cloud of pain shrouding her.

“Miss Lady. Wake up!” This time the hands shook her, seeming to jar every bone in her body.

She swatted at the nuisance, only finding air. Was the sound of a child’s voice simply her imagination, or was she in some sort of hell where the demons sent to torment her for the rest of eternity were actually in
child
form?

“Miss Lady, please wake up. Don’t die.”

Dammit.
The kid wasn’t going away. Her eyelids felt as if
they had been
glued shut. With some effort, she opened one to find herself back in a dark room illuminated by one candle. She hadn’t imagined her little tormentor after all. It was indeed a child, a little boy.

U
nderstanding finally dawned, slapping her fully awake. She opened her eyes and sat up abruptly
, ignoring the pain
. Though she’d never seen so much as a picture of him, this boy had to be Jaxson Grimaldi, Romeo and Christine’s son. He glanced at her with solemn, light brown eyes.

Isis brought her knees to her chest. It all came back to her now. She had been taken hostage by
Beatrice
and was then attacked by Black Adder and some other creature she couldn’t begin to describe.
She couldn’t
,
however, remember how she’d gotten here.

“Jaxson?” she whispered, afraid
she was imagining this entire episode.

The child nodded.
“Are you okay, Miss Lady? I thought the witch killed you,” he said sotto voce.

She moistened her dry lips with the tip of her tongue. “Why are you whispering, Jaxson?”

He looked over his shoulder before answering. “I think she can hear us.”

Isis balled her fists in anger.
That monstrosity of a woman needed to pay for putting such an obvious fright into this child
. “Don’t worry. You’re with me. I’ll protect you.”

Doubt creased his forehead. “My daddy will find us and protect you
.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Isis couldn’t help but see the humor in his statement and she chuckled softly.
“Gee, thanks fo
r the vote of confidence, kid. Where
are your sister and cousin?”

“They’re over there.” He pointed to a small cot in the corner of the room. Jaxson placed his fingers over his lips. “Adri just woke up, but the baby is sleeping. Gianna was crying, but I held her until she went to sleep again. That’s all she does really, sleep.”

Isis wobbled to her feet and realized for the first time since she’d come to that she was still naked. Though Jaxson’s attention was focused on the two figures on the cot, she crossed her arms over her breasts. This was awkward. Nud
ity was natural among immortals,
especially shifters, but this child was neither.
She shifted just enough for fur to cover her bare skin.

Jaxson gasped as his eyes widened. “Are you a werewolf?”

She saw no point in correcting him. “Umm, something like that.”

“Are you going to eat me?”

Isis couldn’t hide her smile. “I’m on a strict no children diet.”

“Oh. Will you turn into a wolf?”

“If I need to
,
yes. Let me get a look at the girls okay?”

She hobbled toward the cot, each step a painful reminder of her encounter with
Beatrice
and that…well, whatever the hell that thing was. Just as Jaxson had said, his sister was wide awake, lying on her side with her thumb in her mouth. Her dark eyes looked so empty, almost as if she was in a catatonic state. The poor little darling. “Is she all right?”

Jaxson shook his head, his lips drooping in a ferocious frown. “I don’t know. She’s been sleeping a lot
,
too. I think the witch did something to her. Adri doesn’t talk much, but she won’t even talk to me.”

Isis’s heart went out to the child. She would have hugged him but she wasn’t sure how he’d receive comfort from a stranger.

Her gaze cut to the baby, carefully swaddled in a wool blanket. She seemed to be okay at least for now.
Isis
had no doubt Beatrice would be back to kill them all. She wasn’t the type of woman to keep hostages for long.
Somehow
,
she’d have to get them out of here before that happened.

She kneeled to meet Jaxson’s
gaze
. “I’m going to need your help, okay?”

Jaxson cocked his head to the side, his gaze roaming her face as if he was trying to de
cide whether he could trust her,
before he finally nodded. “Okay.”

“I’ll need you to stay
in this room
and watch the girls
. You’re going to have to be a big boy and
protect them with your life.”

He flexed his little biceps. “
I can do that
, but if you need me to help you fight the witch, or those bad men, I’m your guy. My dad showed me how to beat people up.” He hit his fist against his palm. “But don’t tell my mom; she gets mad about stuff like that.

Isis smiled at his preciousness
. “I appreciate the offer, Jaxson. I’ll keep you in mind if I need some backup, and I promise your secret is safe with me. In the meantime,
don’t go anywhere
and do as you’re told, okay?”

He nodded. “I won’t let anything happen to them.”

“I know you won’t.”
He wasn’t hers but she was proud of him just the same. She was certain Romeo and Christine would be as well if they could see him now
. This child seemed to be without fear even though she could smell the emotion on him,
yet he
was still willing to face
their enemies head on
. Jaxson may not have been born a Grimaldi, but he definitely had their characteristics. Like his father and uncle.

Isis winced as thoughts of Dante
crept into her mind
. She swiftly pushed them away. She’d deal with them later. Standing to her full height, she surveyed the room for possible escape routes. There was a window that looked to be boarded up, but she couldn’t determine just how high they were off the ground. She walked over to it and gave the boards a hard shove under the protest of aching muscles. The boards collapsed under her strength, giving Isis the opportunity to gauge how far a leap to the ground it would be.

Damn. It was too high. She could survive the fall, but the children wouldn’t. The only other option would be the big oak door. If it was anything like the one she’d been imprisoned behind before, it was probably enchanted. To her surprise, however, she didn’t have to test it before it flung open.

“Stay behind me and don’t move, Jaxson. If you see an opening, take the girls and run, okay?” Isis said over her shoulder to the little boy, hoping he wouldn’t try to play hero.

She was on the verge of shifting when the newcomer entered the room.

Instead of
Beatrice
or one of the red-eyed henchmen she expected, a tall, dark-skinned fem
me
strode through the door.
Isis had never seen her before but she glanced at the other woman warily. This could easily be someone sent to do Beatrice’s bidding.

Whoever
the vampire was
, if she was looking for a fight, Isis was more than ready to give it to her. The feral instinct of a she-wolf protecting her cubs took over. They may not have been her children, but they were in her temporary charge and she was ready to protect them with all she had. The heat in her eyes spread through her body and her insides began to contort as she readied herself for
a full
shift.

Dark eyes narrowed as they fell on Isis. “Who are you?”

That was an odd question for someone under
Beatrice
’s or Adonis’s charge to ask. Fur popped from her pores, lining her body. “I should be asking you that question. If you’ve come here to kill us, I wo
n’t make it easy for you
.”

The fem
me
raised one dark brow and kept her steady gaze on Isis as she walked farther into the room.

“Stay back, bitch.”

Th
e vampire didn’t bat an eye
. “Funny, but isn’t that what you are?” She turned her gaze toward the child standing behind Isis. “Jaxson, are you okay?”

He poked his head out from behind Isis. “Yes, I’m okay, but I want to go home.”

The fem
me
stepped past Isis and hunched down to the child’s level. “We’ll get you out of here, okay?”

Isis frowned. “You know this woman, Jaxson?”

Jaxson nodd
ed. “It’s Miss Nya. She’s my friend,
” he answered, fixing his narrowed gaze on the
vampire
. “Where have you been? You said you’d come back and visit. You made my mom sad.”

Nya stroked the side of Jaxson’s face. “It made me sad to be away.” For a brief moment
,
a flicker of
emotion
flitted across her face. Regret, maybe? Isis couldn’t tell because as quickly as the emotion appeared
,
it disappeared. She stood up again and walked over to the cot. After she studied the girls for several moments, she turned to Isis. “They’ve been charmed.”

“What do you mean?” Isis
didn’t like that she was losing control over the situation
. “
How do you know this?”

“It doesn’t seem like the spell will have any lasting effects on them, but it was probably something done to keep them quiet or at least in a sleeplike state most of the time.”

Isis noticed the fem
me
didn’t answer her question but she wasn’t given an opportunity to press the issue, because Nya turned on her heel and headed to the door.

Isis caught up with her, catching the
vampire by the
shoulder. “Where are you going?”

Nya shrugged off the hand and pointed to the door. “Don’t you hear it?”

Isis turned her head toward the now open door, her ears perking up. There was some kind of commotion going on in the distance, and though she couldn’t quite make out what it was exactly, she didn’t need to because she already knew. The battle was happening. Right now
!
“I have to go help.”

“
Then
,
maybe you should fully shift before you head down to join them.
” Dark, unreadable eyes looked Isis up and down as if Nya found her wanting.

“Why should I trust you? And
why did you come in here
,
if it was your intention to leave them. I thought you said you wanted to help.”

“
My
goal was to locate the children and ensure their safety. Now that I have, there’s something else I need to do.”

“And what’s that?”

“Regain my soul,” Nya answered cryptically. “If you’re ready, let’s go.”

Isis looked over her shoulder to make sure Jaxson would stay put. “Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

Once she got his assurance, she followed Nya out and pulled the door closed behind her. Isis went to her hands and knees and morphed to her fur form. The previous aches weren’t as glaring
as her healing accelerated once she’d shifted
. She was ready.