Dante (Blood Brothers Book 5) (28 page)

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Dante flashed through the castle,
hoping that thing wouldn’t catch up anytime soon
. Isis raced alongside him, keeping up. As much as he hated to admit it, Isis had been right. There was no way he could take that thing alone. Anything that could knock him out like that had to be powerful.

If Isis had not intervened, he probably would have stubbornly stayed behind to face the monster
. He’d also be dead. He didn’t know why she had even bothered.
She had to
realize no matter what she did, there was no
going back for the two of them.
She’d broken a trust he didn’t freely give to anyone beyond his family and a small group of allies.
Dante
had to accept her fighting with him for now, but there would be nothing else beyond that.

They made it downstairs to the great hall where the big rumble
still took place
. To Dante’s relief, he saw Marco, Romeo, and Nico
standing alongside
Giovanni. They looked to be beating against some kind of force field that Adonis
had taken
cover behind.

He surveyed the
room to see that all but a handful
of the rogues had been dispatched. There were a few missing members of his team, and his heart lurched because he immediately knew what that meant. His gaze fell on Sasha and her brothers, who
worked
together to fend off a few of the remaining villains.

“We’re going to need Sasha to help us with that demon
Beatrice
is transforming into.”

Isis cocked her head to the side. “
Demon? Is that what that thing was? And what can Sasha do? She’s a young witch. Would she be any match against it
?”

Dante nodded. “She’s much more powerful than you think. There are rare occasions when age does not determine the strength of an immortal, and she bears an extremely rare mark. Besides, she wouldn’t have to face it alone. I’m sure Nico, her brothers, and her son wouldn’t allow that to happen either.”

Just then, the castle shook again as something released a loud, bellowing roar that sounded like a noise from the depths of the darkest hell. The creature was near. Everyone in the hall pau
sed for a brief moment apparently startled by the sound
.
Their
time was short before it caught up with them,
he
ran toward his brother’s mate.

“It was the demon, wasn’t it?” Sasha asked the moment Dante approached.

“Yes. The thing is stronger than I imagined it would be, and I suspect we still haven’t seen the full extent of its power.”

Taking a deep breath, Sasha inclined her head. “Then
,
I’ll do all I can. Take me to it.”

Jagger grasped her shoulder. “I’m going with you, Mama.”

She shook her head. “
Nyet!
I’m not going to lose you again.”

Steel placed his arm around his sister’s shoulder. “Sasha, your little boy is a man. He won’t go down easily. He has Romanov blood in his veins.”

“And Grimaldi blood most importantly,” Nico growled as he joined them.

“Fine,” Dante agreed with both factions. “There’s no time to argue about it now, because here it comes.”

Beatrice
, or what sort of looked like her, toddled into the hall. Her good arm had fallen off so now both of her arms were monstrous. Her face had contorted beyond recognition, and those sharp, off-colored teeth were larger than ever. Clumps of skin had fallen off her face and only thin strands of stringy red hair remained on her head. She’d grown at least a foot since Dante and Isis had left her behind. It was by far one of the most gruesome sights he’d ever seen. He instinctively knew the thing would not be easily beaten.

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Giovanni continued in his endeavor to break through Adonis’s barrier with the assistance of his brothers. Even the roar that had shaken the castle hadn’t distracted him from his goal. He was determined to tear the target of his ire limb from limb. Although Niccolo had abandoned him to aid his mate, it didn’t matter because the force field trembled beneath one of Giovanni’s blows. Adonis
had weakened
. He wouldn’t be able to hold this thing up much longer.

Adonis’s eyes were now completely crimson as he continued to taunt them. “You can never hope to beat me, Gio. You were always jealous of me, weren’t you? That’s why you stood in my way all these years. You wanted me to be as big a failure as you are.” He redirected his spiteful gaze to Romeo. “And you are supposed to be the bad boy of the family, aren’t you? I’m not so sure about ‘bad,’ but ‘boy’ certainly suits you.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Romeo pounded against the force field, battering it so fast and hard that his movement would have been invisible to human eyes.

Adonis turned his attention to GianMarco. “How does it feel to know you weren’t strong enough to protect Bianca and your son? Ah, her screams were delicious. Do you know I tasted her before I ripped out her heart? So sweet. I can understand why you fell for such a tender morsel. And the baby, you should be very proud. He barely cried as I tore off his limbs one at a time. Do you think your little girl will be so brave?”

Adonis continued to work Giovanni, Romeo, and GianMarco into a frenzy of passionate anger, alternating between taunts and laughter until he paused to gaze over their shoulders. Whatever was behind
the
m
had captured his attention enough for him to end his verbal tirade. “
Dio
!”

Giovanni looked back and stilled. His mouth fell open and he could do nothing but stare. A horrific caricature of his mother, half demon, half human, stood in the middle of the room. Gone was the beauty she once coveted and in its place was a misshapen
caricature
. It not only confirmed his suspicions that a demon had attached itself to her, but that it had also been
within
her. In his studies, he knew a demon could detach itself from its human host without causing damage. But this one chose to exit through
Beatrice
’s body in a gruesome manner, meaning one thing: She’d run out of usefulness to it.

And from the looks of things, she knew it. What was left of her face held an expres
sion of rage, agony, and dismay
. Giovanni had known this moment would come for her, but he
never believed he’d
actually witness it. The creature roared, and a woman’s scream echoed in the midst of the unholy sound.
Beatrice
’s. “You promised me eternity!”

“In hell,” the thing answered.

As the internal struggle continued, bursts of power shot from her body as hair and skin fell to the ground in
piles
. Her body stretched, bursting her clothing to shreds, and she grew another foot taller. Spikes popped out of her back in a mockery of a spine. Narrow shoulders broadened to hulk
-
like proportions as the demon
inside
Beatrice
continued to grow taller.

And all Giovanni
could do was stand and stare,
frozen
in
horror at the thing his mother had become. It was a fitting end to someone who’d only ever been pure evil, but she was still his mother. A wave of sorrow that he hadn’t expected to feel touched him. He didn’t have
a chance to dwell on those feelings
before rays of light shot from the demon’s body, attacking everything and everyone within its wake.

“M
other
!” Adonis yelled out, racing toward the beast, the barrier gone.

“No, Adonis!” Giovanni screamed involuntarily. He reached out to grab
Adonis’s
hand only to be shoved backward with a force that sent him tumbling to the ground.

“Mother
!” Adonis attempted to touch the beast and was lifted and thrown the length of the room.

Exactly as Giovanni had feared, the creature could no longer be controlled and it was seeking souls to consume. Which side they came from didn’t matter to it; it was hungry.

Desperately scanning all the occupants in the room, Giovanni’s gaze fell on Sasha, and he made his way over to the witch whose magic could be powerful enough to combat this minion of darkness. He grasped her by the arm. “I’m going to need you to give all you’ve got to the demon. Black magic will have no effect on it.”

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and nodded. “What spell should I use?”

“Do you have a light spell?”

Uncertainty puckered her forehead. “I do. I haven’t practiced it much, though.”

“We will back you up,
sistra
,” Steel assured Sasha.

“Everyone will need to help. I’ll need you all to use everything you have while the rest of us attack. Like I said before, it won’t be easy taking this thing down.”

The creature lurched forward with a low growl, waving its hands in apparent fury.
They needed
to act quickly before the monster got any closer. “Surround it now!”
Giovanni commanded.

Dante moved next to him. “What do the rest of us need to do?”

“Attack it as best as you can, but be careful to avoid any of the magic bursts it may shoot out.”

Dante nodded. “When?”

“Now, Sasha, do it!” Giovanni shouted.

Sasha, her brothers, and Jagger circled the demon, standing far enough away from it so it couldn’t touch them. Rubbing her hands together, Sasha murmured a chant before shooting out a beam of light so bright Giovanni found himself squinting against it. Steel, the twins, and Jagger followed suit.

The monster howled louder than ever. Giovanni turned to the rest of the group. “Now!
Give it everything you’ve got
!”

Chapter Twenty-One

Isis had never been more frightened in her life. The creature seemed to be absorbing the energy Sasha and the
warlock
s
shot at it, seeming
unaffected by the hits. But no matter how long it took to take the thing down, she wouldn’t back down.

Springing forward, she pounced on the demon’s chest and sank her teeth into slippery flesh. The foul taste of rotten meat assaulted her taste buds and the need to throw up threatened to take hold of her, but she wouldn’t let go of it. The monster, however, had other ideas.

Ripping her off its chest, it squeezed her body until she felt as if her bones would crush. Each breath she took fought to leave her lungs and it felt like her insides were hemorrhaging.

“
Isis!” Dante shouted her name. If she didn’t know better
,
he
sounded as if he actually cared. It gave her hope and the strength to claw and fight to free herself from the demon’s grasp
. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dante pound into the demon’s
stomach
. His attack was followed by several others from various team members.

Without warning, the monster flung her over its shoulder as if it were discarding an insignificant piece of trash. Using every bit of agility she possessed, she landed on her feet. She turned, ready to deal out her next assault. This time she settled for a ground attack, catching it on the ankle. Clamping her jaws down as hard as she could, Isis found its skin harder to cut through than anything she’d ever bitten into.

Biting and clawing, she ripped at its flesh, frustrated she was barely making a dent. The other shifters
appeared to
face
a similar dilemma. Paris seemed to
have
more success, managing to slice off a hunk of the creature’s leg with his claws.
Being an older immortal
made his attacks more lethal
, though
the demon
was still st
ood
with little injury.

The
warlock
s
pounded the beast with light and it still only seemed to be a minor deterrent to it.
Isis didn’t know how long she clawed and chewed at the
monster
while
fending off its kicks. With an abruptness that took her by surprise, it stilled. But she wasn’t fooled into thinking they’d beaten the thing. Without warning, it bent over and pounded its fists in
to
the floor, making the ground shake. Something akin to the attacks she’d experienced earlier shot from its body, sending every single team member surrounding it flying. A tidal wave
o
f
agony shot through her body.

She fell to the floor, her body convulsing. The demon raised its foot as if it intended to stomp her. With a whimper, she attempted to move her paralyzed limbs, but it
felt like
the creature had some kind of hold on her. Helplessness wrapped its fingers around her like a taunting caress and gripped her enti
re being. H
er breath caught in her throat
and her fur stood on end
.

Isis had been prepared to die fighting, but she hadn’t expected it to end this way. Closing her eyes against what she knew was to come, she opened them again when strong arms slid beneath her and she was pressed against a warm body. Dante gripped her tightly and rolled away just before the demon brought his elephant-sized foot down.

Instead of releasing her right away like she believed he would, Dante held her close. As the seconds passed, her muscles relaxed and she could finally move freely again, though her breathing was still ragged and hard to get out due to his nearness. Even in battle
,
Dante had this effect on her.
They had to help the others but
she selfishly gave herself another moment in his arms before raising her head to meet his gaze. “
You can let me go now, Dante
.”

What she wanted to tell him was the opposite, but this was neither the time nor the place. Besides, that cold, hard mask had settled over his face again,
shutting her out
. He’d saved her life, but just as quickly
,
he withdrew from her, locking his emotions away and throwing away the key.

“Are you all right?” He asked it so matter-of-factly he could have been talking to a stranger.

Isis nodded, hoping her expression didn’t give away the pain embedded deep in her heart. “
I’m fine. That blast took me by surprise
.”

His lips tightened grimly. “It took us all by surprise.
You
should be more careful. Just don’t think my saving you means anything. I pay my debts and the one I owe you has been paid in full.” Releasing her, he hopped to his feet and turned his attention toward the demon that now
sho
t
its dark magic
at anyone in its path
. Reaching out, it caught Giovanni in its grip and squeezed.

Dante sprang at the beast, wrapping his arms around its neck and holding on in a death grip. He sank his fangs into the back of the demon’s head. It was Isis’s cue to join in. The creature finally let go of Giovanni but he released another ball of demonic power in the process. This time she was ready for
it
. Racing away, she mana
ged to dodge it and darted forward.

A pattern ensued. The team ganged up on the demon and it would swat and kick them away and release a power wave of strong energy, knocking most of them off their feet. Exhaustion soon set in after several rounds. However, as they continued, the demon’s attacks
grew weaker. She only hoped it was the case and not just her imagination or they were all doomed.

As the creature knocked Dante back yet again Giovanni was at his side, offering a hand to help him up.

“It’s weakening.”
From the way he felt, Giovanni was certain his
eyes
were now completely red. The
pink
ish
tint of his
normally olive
skin spoke of the powerful blood rush
coursing
through his body. “I know what you’re thinking and I’m fine. I have the craving under control for the most part. We almost have the demon where we want it. Look, it’s getting smaller.”

Since they’d started
their attack
, the demon had lost a foot in height. It didn’t seem as broad, either. Sasha, her brothers, and Jagger held hands as a bright beam of light emitted from the circle they’d created, firing into the demon. The end was near.
Giovanni could feel it.

The demon’s movements became more erratic, and it flung a couple shifters out of the way as it tried to get to the team of
warlock
s and witch. Giovanni made his way toward the monster and began to pummel it.

The demon dealt a blow to the side of Giovanni’s head, but he barely lost his footing.

Dante gripped Giovanni from behind and yanked him away. “My turn.” Dante nudged him aside and continued to rip into the demon.

It now shot out weak bursts of power. It’s energy was nearly drained.
The remaining team
surrounded the demon, ready to finish it off, but something caught Giovanni’s attention. In the far corner of the room, he noticed Adonis and Nya in their own battle. His
brother’s
hands were wrapped around her throat and though she clawed at him to break fre
e, she didn’t really seem to be
fighting bac
k. It was almost as if..
.

Fuck.

The d
emon forgotten, Giovanni joined the pair and
yanked Adonis awa
y from Nya. Giovanni backhanded Adonis with all the force he could muster.
“You will not kill another tonight.”

Giovanni stumbled when Adonis sprang to his feet and returned the hit and then followed with an uppercut. “You’re wrong, little brother. If I go down tonight, it won’t be alone.”

Giovanni
charged toward
Adonis, but he was stopped in his tracks when
the redhead
grasped him by the neck with one hand and punched him in the face with a hard fist. “Did you think I didn’t figure out what your little plan was? To weaken me? Even without my magic, you’re no match for me, but I thought I’d save a little something for you.”

Jolts of power shot through Giovanni like a million sharp razors, cutting him from the inside
out. It was a struggle not to cr
umble to the floor, but stubborn pride kept him erect.

“Fall!” Adonis screamed.

“Never!” He gritted his teeth against this twisted bout of torture. The cool, wet kiss of blood trickled out of his nostrils and ears. It rose from his throat to spill from the corner of his mouth.

“Then you are a fool, Gio. You always were.”

Just as it seemed like every single organ in his body would explode, he was shoved aside and knocked to the ground. Nya wrapped her arms around him and held on tight.

“Let…me…go…Nya. This is between Adonis and me.”

Her grip tightened. “No. I won’t let him do this.”

“So this is your final choice?” The soft tone of Adonis’s voice didn’t fool Giovanni for a second. He’d heard it too many times before and knew this was the quiet before the storm.

Nya raised her head, her dark eyes narrowed to slits. “You knew the answer to that long before now.”

“
I should have killed you instead of allowing you to lurk in the castle. I had thought…Well
,
it doesn’t matter. Y
ou will die with him.”

Seeing the fierce glow in his brother’s eyes, Giovanni
realized
he’d only had a taste of what Adonis had left within his arsenal. He should have been able to easily push Nya off him. She was less than half his age, but she held on with a tenacity that surprised him. As he struggled to break free of her grip, Adonis delivered another burst of power, but this time, Nya took the brunt of it.

Her eyes were now tightly closed as she braced herself against the attack. If not for the gasp that escaped her lips, Giovanni would never have known it hurt her. Nya’s eyes popped open and she gave him a brief look, which he immediately understood. She
did
want to die.

He’d already lost
Liliana
, and he’d be damned if he let her go without a fight. He tossed her off with great effort but before he could get to his feet, Dante appeared, catching Adonis off guard with a fist to the midsection.

Dante followed up his assault with a kick right between Adonis’s legs. “That’s for my parents, motherfucker.”

Adonis dropped to his knees. Dante didn’t give him a chance to retaliate, dealing out a left hook. “That’s for Bianca and baby Giovanni.” He followed up with a right cross. “That’s for Flora.” And
he
finished with
roundhouse kick to the head
. “That one was for me.”

Adonis wasn’t down for the count, however. As Dante pulled his fist back to hit him again, Adonis dissipated and reappeared behind Dante and sank his fangs into the side of the younger vampire’s neck.

Giovanni jumped to his feet and dashed forward. Muttering a prayer for forgiveness under his breath, he clawed through Adonis’s back
with every ounce of strength he possessed. Giovanni didn’t stop
until his hand was inside
his brother’s
chest. He circled his brother’s pulsing heart with his fingers.

Adonis cried out in his apparent surprise and stiffened.

Using Adonis’s distracted state, Dante freed himself and when he looked as though he would mete out another blow, Giovanni shook his head. “
No
,
Dante. If anyone does this, it has to be me
.”

Dante flared his nostrils and for a brief moment Giovanni thought he wouldn’t
relent
, but he slowly lowered his fist. He met Dante’s gaze. “
Thank you
.”

“
You owe me
.”

“
I know. But
,
I need this moment
.”

“
I’ll go back and help the others. The demon is wasting away
.” Dante flashed away before Giovanni could reply.

Adonis slumped against his body, gasping for breath as Giovanni held onto his heart. Once it was destroyed
,
his brother would be as well.
With his life force in the Giovanni’s palm, Adonis could no longer wield his black magic.

“G
o ahead and finish it, Gio, I—
” Adonis broke off abruptly to cough up blood.

The life force that had once been so strong within Adonis slowly drained away. It was just one simple squeeze, but
Giovanni didn’t want to do it
. It would probably have been easier to let Adonis kill him than to suffer through this scourging of his soul.
Th
is
final task was almost like destroying a part of himself. He couldn’t stop thinking of the man Adonis had once been, and a great
sorrow gripped
him. That it had to come to this was what he’d dreaded from the day he’d finally chosen sides.