Dark Devotion: Dark Series 3 (11 page)

Aubrey’s foot slid further down on the accelerator, propelling the Lexus forward. Along with controlling the speed, he had to dodge other drivers while trying to keep his mind on the task at hand. By forcing his brain to concentrate on driving, he was starving the rest of his thoughts of oxygen, or Taer, as the case was. That little Mare had gotten under his skin in more ways than one. She had finally given in to her cravings and given herself up to him.

And it had been more than worth the wait.

Taer had been everything he thought she would be and more. But Aubrey hadn’t counted on tonight being the night she would reach for him. A sharp pain lanced through his heart at the thought of leaving her to go out of town, even if it was only for less than six hours. Now that he’d had a taste, he was reluctant to leave at all.

He pushed his car to go a little faster, hearing the restrained engine growl in irritation as he was forced to slam on the brakes to bring it to a stop once more. The Boston traffic jams didn’t seem to care that he was trying to outrun his own thoughts.

The traffic started moving again, but Aubrey had had enough of the stop-start routine. He yanked on the wheel, turning the car to take the Sumner Tunnel across to the east side of Boston. It was only out of habit that he went that direction – East Boston was the location where Aubrey kept most of his product. For humans, drug trafficking was difficult; they had to worry about importing the product via ports or airports, but for any of the gods or beings of the Nine Worlds, they could simply fade with nothing but a thought. The secret to his success was that he had nearly a hundred elves, gods and dwarves as willing drug mules. There was never any fear of being imprisoned, and he paid them all very well for their contribution to his ever-growing fortune. And thanks to Darrion’s very recent demise, Aubrey could also employ fifty more of the former guild master’s Mares if they were in need of an income.

His other business, the one he conducted as a silent partner, was in human prostitution. Not many knew about this part of his life. The whole business operated under his general partner – a light elf named Sarya. The pair had been thrown together by fate one night; Sarya was getting a beating from her pimp for not making quota, and Aubrey happened to be passing by at the time. He stopped her pimp with a warning and a bullet between the eyes, both within quick succession.

Sarya had been half starving. It had been clear that she had been forced into the business, and Aubrey wanted to give her an out. He had no issues with prostitution itself, as long as the women had not been coerced or manipulated into the business. And so his side project was born. He ran a high-end escort service with Sarya as the face. She took care of the day-to-day issues, and he made sure all his girls were paid well and in good health.

Aubrey functioned on auto-pilot, finding his way to the house where his drugs were kept. From the outside, it looked like a derelict building about to be wrecked, but there was so much more to the place. Every door and window had the latest security measure. If one of the alarms was ever tripped, a message was sent to his cell instantaneously. He could be there in a thought and happily deal with the trespasser. If anyone ever did get past his security, the unlucky soul would come face-to-face with the fire demons he kept as guards.

Stopping outside the house, Aubrey gave it a quick visual inspection. Everything looked as it should. He sat there for a moment …

And his thoughts coalesced onto Taer once more.

Fuck, he had to see her again.

But the meetings with his Colombian suppliers couldn’t wait. Now that Darrion was gone, he anticipated the number of people in his employment was going to increase and he needed to have the supply to meet the demand.

*

Aubrey pulled at the collar of his business shirt, feeling the sweat trickling down his back. The humidity in Caracas was a killer at this time of year. He’d faded into the country less than fifteen minutes ago and already he wanted to be back in Boston. He’d already decided that once he was done, he would return to Taer and make love to her slowly. He would savor her.

He looked around the room he’d been shown in to by one of his supplier’s henchmen, admiring the collection of Japanese Kabuki masks hanging on the wall. From what he could tell, they were all original, not cheap reproductions. Overhead, a fan whirled lazily, barely causing a draft. He loosened his tie and tried to relax back into the leather sofa cushions.

From the window opposite him, he could clearly see the giant sheds where his coke was produced. Inside, there would be barrels of kerosene and caustic soda, sacks of cement and bottles of drain cleaner along with the coca leaves to make the drug. It wasn’t a pretty process to witness, but cocaine was one of the most sought-after substances in the world, and Aubrey was one of the top suppliers on the east coast of the US.

“Mr. Black,” someone said from the door. Aubrey glanced up, acknowledging the woman with a nod. She was a real Venezuelan beauty, and she was also Luis Perez’s wife. Noely had bronze skin and dark brown hair with eyes the color of topaz. “I apologize on my husband’s behalf for keeping you waiting. He’ll be with you shortly. Would you like a drink?” Her English was perfect, her accent adding to her whole seductive package.

He shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Noely nodded and closed the door behind her. Aubrey was getting irritated. He had given Luis the money to start production, and the little prick had gotten rich off it, but instead of being grateful, the guy had grown arrogant. This wasn’t the first time that he’d been made to sit here holding his dick either. He suspected Luis had been snorting his –
Aubrey’s
– product or fucking one of his mistresses the time he’d waited before. He looked at his watch, his jaw pulsing in time with the second hand as it went around and around the gold face.

He stood up to pace, glancing at the door every thirty seconds. This was getting fucking ridiculous. Luis knew he was coming. He was just doing it to fuck around with him. Aubrey ground his teeth together and turned to look out the window. Behind him, the door opened and then shut. The scent of coca leaves – something that was always around Luis’s house – grew stronger.

“Where have you been?” Aubrey demanded, not turning around. He was working hard at keeping his expression neutral, and his anger in check.

“I was outside doing quality control,” Luis replied. Aubrey heard him walk farther into the room. “How was your flight?”

Aubrey turned to stare at the human. His fly was only halfway done up and his shirt was on inside out. He had no idea what Aubrey was, what he could do. He smiled benignly. “Fine. But I didn’t fly all this way for small talk.”

“Of course.” The human sat down in a large armchair opposite the couch. He gestured to the seat Aubrey had taken before. “Please, let’s talk.”

Aubrey didn’t sit down. “I’m sending more people down to collect the product. You need to up production to meet the demand.”

Luis frowned. “By how much?”

“Seventy-five percent.”

“It’s not possible.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t have the supplies to increase production by that much.”

Aubrey thought he’d say that. “I’ve already organized another sixty thousand pounds of coca leaf from Colombia. You’ll get a delivery every second week starting next week.”

Luis’s eye twitched as a bead of sweat traveled down his face from his brow. “What about the chemicals?”

“You’ll receive deliveries every other week to make sure you can keep up. Think you can handle that?” Luis nodded. “Good. I’ll start sending my men down within the month. You’ll need to have five kilos of product for them … each.”

Luis balked. “But how will they get it out of the country?”

Aubrey’s eyebrows rose. “As I’ve told you on numerous occasions, that’s none of your concern.”

Luis sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. He licked his lips again. “I’ve been working for you for five years, Mr. Black.”

“Yes, and I’ve made you very rich in those five years.”

Luis nodded. “But I’ve got to know: how do you do it?”

Aubrey studied the other man. “Do what, exactly?”

“How do you never get caught?”

Aubrey smiled at him. “That is a secret I will take to the grave.” He moved toward the door, stopping just as he opened it. “And Luis?”

“Yes, Mr. Black?”

He looked over his shoulder at the man. “Don’t leave me waiting like that ever again. You don’t want to know what I do to the people who do.”

Luis blanched. “Yes, Mr. Black.”

Aubrey saw himself out, stepping off the front step and leaving the palatial house. Even though it was close to ten o’clock in the evening, and the sun had long set, the heat from the day still lingered. He had another meeting lined up with the guy who imported the chemicals he required in the cocaine production process, but that wasn’t for another hour. Briefly, he considered returning to Boston, but an hour wasn’t long enough to worship Taer. Instead, he thought of the room he usually got at the local hotel and faded there. At the start of each year, he paid enough to make sure it was vacant at all times.

Money spoke many languages.

He hit the button on the A/C unit in the only window in the room and stretched out on the bed, waiting for the air to start flowing. A dull hum filled the room. His eyes began to get heavy, closing for a little longer each time until he couldn’t keep them open anymore.

*

Aubrey woke up suddenly, blinking rapidly, his gaze swinging around the unfamiliar room. “Damn.” He had forgotten where he was for a moment there. He shifted his legs off the bed, running his hands through his hair. Blowing out a breath, he looked at his watch. His next meeting was in five minutes. Moving to the small bathroom, he washed his face quickly, patted it dry, then collected his cell phone from the bedside table. There was a text that had come through from Taer. She wanted to know when he’d be back. He tapped out his reply and shoved the iPhone into his pants pocket. Closing his eyes, he faded to his chemical supplier’s office in downtown Caracas.

He was sitting in the office chair with his back to the door when Betulio Abana stepped into the room. Aubrey turned around and faced the other man.

“Fuck,” Betulio said in Spanish, holding a hand over his heart. “Mr. Black, you scared me.”

Aubrey smiled and rested his hands on the desk in front of him. “Mr. Abana, we need to talk.”

The human stopped breathing for a second. But then his lungs got back to working with a wheeze. “I’m sorry, but I was of the understanding that after our meeting last month, you had all the supply you needed.”

“Things change, Betulio, and if you don’t change with them, you get swept away.” Fine beads of sweat broke out on the other man’s upper lip. He’d obviously read between the lines. “Single-handedly, I’m responsible for more than eighty percent of your profits, correct?”

Betulio conceded with a nod.

Aubrey continued, “And am I not also responsible for giving you the start-up money for this company when nobody else would?”

Another nod.

“So, when I, the person who bankrolled you and provides you with eighty percent of your entire business, asks you to increase supply, wouldn’t it stand to reason that you would do as I ask?”

Betulio ran his tongue over his top lip nervously. “The police have been watching me.”

“Buy them off.”

“I can’t. I don’t have enough money to do that.”

With a heavy sigh, Aubrey pulled his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out the equivalent of five years’ worth of salary for ten Venezuelan police officers. He slapped it onto the table, watching the other man’s eyes widen. “This should cover it.” When Betulio reached out to take the cash, he added, “I’ll just add it to your tab.”

Their eyes met and the other man nodded. “Yes, Mr. Black.”

Aubrey smiled. “Excellent. Now that that’s settled, I need to double my current order and have it shipped to the usual location.”

“Yes, Mr. Black.”

To Aubrey, there were no sweeter words. He stood, buttoning up his suit jacket once more. With a nod, he said, “Until next month.”

He strode from the room and punched out another text to Taer, then faded back to his house in Boston. There was an extra spring in his step as he undressed and got showered, washing away the sweat from his skin. When he got a reply back, he slid into his new black Armani suit and finished off the whole look with a tie the color of sapphire before heading downstairs to the garage.

His Lexus gleamed when he flicked on the lights. He glided his hand over the rear quarter panel as he moved to the driver’s side. Strangely, the interior light didn’t come on when he got in, and he reached up to slide the small switch back into place.

The overhead light in the garage went out at the same time.

As he turned back around to see what had happened, something cold and unforgiving was pressed to the side of Aubrey’s skull.

Aubrey’s eyes cut to the side. The smell of metal and triumph permeated through his car, but he could claim neither. It belonged to the guy on the other side of the gun that was currently pressed to Aubrey’s temple. Remaining calm, he rifled through his memory banks, trying to remember if he’d pissed off anyone in particular recently, and whether or not waiting in a car armed with a gun was their style.

“Put both of your hands on the steering wheel.”

Aubrey didn’t move.

“Don’t even think about being a hero. Do it.” To drive his point home, the guy pushed the gun in tighter.

Being a good hostage, Aubrey put his hands in position, and was on the verge of fading away when a metal bracelet was snapped onto one of his wrists. Squinting at it closely, he studied the runes inscribed in the steel.

Fuck.

It was an incantation to prevent fading. Whoever this guy was, Aubrey now knew he was a god.

Hating the feel of the cold metal against his wrist, he said, “I don’t believe we’ve met.” The gun was pressed harder into his temple and Aubrey ground his teeth. “That’s going to leave a mark.”

“Be thankful that’s all it’s going to leave … for now.”

“Look, as much as I’d like to sit here with you in my garage all night and chat like girls, I do actually have somewhere to be.”

There was a small growl of – irritation? Even Aubrey knew it wasn’t a good idea to piss off the god holding a gun to his skull. “You aren’t going anywhere right now.”

“All right. Can we at least get out of my car? I’d hate to get blood all over the upholstery if I can avoid it.”

“You talk a lot,” the god said, easing off Aubrey’s temple just a little. The movement caused blood to rush to the point of pressure, making his head throb in time with his galloping pulse. “That might serve you well … but then again …” He ground the metal back into Aubrey’s skull. “Maybe it’ll just make me kill you a whole lot quicker once your usefulness has worn out.”

So that was the plan?
“Who do you work for?” There were any number of dealers out there who could be gunning for him; Aubrey had burned a lot of bridges on his way to the top of the business.

“Myself.”

“And who are you?” Aubrey tried again to get a name.

The god laughed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“Loki.”

He was right; Aubrey didn’t believe him. “Loki is chained to a boulder far beneath the earth, being driven mad by the poison of a snake.”

“I told you you wouldn’t believe me.”

“That’s because it’s impossible,” Aubrey replied. This god – whoever he was – was just delusional. “So,
Loki
, tell me what’s going to happen here.”

“You’re going to get out of the car and enter your home where you will be imprisoned and used as a bargaining chip.”

Aubrey smirked. “By you, I take it.”

The god cocked his head to one side. “You find that amusing. Why?”

Aubrey turned his head to look at the guy. “Because you aren’t Loki.”

The other man shrugged. “Believe me, or not. The outcome will not change.”

“All right,” he conceded. “You’re going to imprison me, then what? Why are you doing all this? What do you hope to achieve? I’m at the top of the food chain. There’s no one out there who is going to bail me out, so this whole exercise is pointless.”

That statement made the god frown. “I don’t understand that phrase – being at top of the food chain – but you are wrong. There is someone who will do everything in her power to
bail you out,
as you put it.”

Her power?
No. No fucking way. Taer was
not
being dragged into this shit. He’d rather die. “You leave her out of this. Do you hear me?” Aubrey growled, knowing his eyes would have changed from pale gray to a dark slate. “Touch a hair on her head and I will personally remove the fingers that cause the offense. I’ll then proceed to remove every other finger, toe and appendage from your body, roast them and eat them, picking my teeth with your bones.”

The god’s mouth flexed in a small smile. “Imaginative.”

“How do you suppose this is all going to go down then? You’ll keep me here and she’ll, what, just come looking for me?”

“Yes. In fact, she’ll be here shortly. You are meeting with her, correct? That is where you were going just now.”

Aubrey could feel the color drain from his face. No.
No
. Although he hated to do it, the next words to come out of his mouth were necessary. “Please, I beg you, don’t hurt her.”

“Get out of the car,” Loki said.

Aubrey’s jaw bulged as he followed the instruction, popping open the driver’s side door and stepping out.

“What are our orders?” a voice asked in the darkness.

“Wait for her in the courtyard. When you capture her, bring her to me.”

“Yes, Loki.”

Aubrey’s heart dropped. It really was Loki.

The god added, “And don’t inflict too much damage when you capture her. I still need her whole.”

The gun was shoved into Aubrey’s spine, forcing him to go through the door connecting the garage to the house. Once inside the kitchen, Loki directed him to the basement. A small flicker of hope ignited in his chest. All of his weapons were down there. With his mood buoyed by the knowledge, he led the way, flipping the light switch at the top of the stairs.

When they reached the bottom, Aubrey was horrified to find that his training equipment and weapons were gone.

“Surprise,” Loki said. Aubrey’s cell phone vibrated then for a long second before his ringtone for Taer started to play; he’d programmed Marilyn Manson’s version of “Sweet Dreams” just for her. Loki smiled. “Oh, that might be Taer now.”

“Leave her out of this!” Aubrey demanded fiercely.

Loki’s returning smile made him shiver. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Shoving the barrel of the gun into his face, Loki forced Aubrey to a chair in the center of the room. “Sit down, or I’ll make you sit down.”

Aubrey bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. He spat on Loki’s shoes as he lowered himself into the chair, glaring up at him. With the gun still on him, Loki retrieved a metal chain from the corner. He tied Aubrey up quickly, wrapping the links around his chest and securing the ends behind the chair.

“I still don’t understand,” Aubrey ground out. “What does Taer have to do with this? She’s not involved with the business.”

“I don’t know what business you’re referring to, light elf, but my business is with Odin.” Loki was behind him when he spoke. Aubrey strained his neck in an attempt to see what the god was doing. His mind raced, trying to connect the dots to a puzzle where he had no idea what the final picture was. How could Loki get to Odin through Taer? It made absolutely no sense.

The only thing he could come up with was that Loki was insane.

*

Whiskey Saigon was a popular nightclub in Boston. Taer had never been there before; she’d been too busy training to kill indiscriminately to go out and drink and enjoy herself. When she arrived, there was a small line of people waiting to go in on one side of the door. She stood on the opposite side, folding her arms over her stomach and leaning back against the glass wall. This was where Aubrey had said he would pick her up. She checked her cell phone to see if she’d missed any other messages from him. There were none.

For fifteen minutes, Taer watched the people come and go from the nightclub, checking her cell phone every few minutes like a love-sick woman. When the time stretched out to thirty, she called him to see where he was. It went straight to voicemail. She left a message and hung up. After forty-five minutes, a little unwanted voice started to whisper in her ear.

He got what he wanted from you already.

She shook her head, angry at herself for even thinking it. It just wasn’t possible. He said he was home. He said he was coming to see her, and he was. There had to be a logical explanation for him being late. She waited until the bouncer at Whiskey Saigon started giving her strange looks. By now, Aubrey was an hour and a quarter late.

Taer walked away, finding the closest alleyway to fade to his house. After materializing in the courtyard, she looked up at the redbrick building, seeing that the lights were on upstairs. Standing on tiptoe, she peered into the garage through one of the side windows. His car was still there.

She slowly lowered herself down when the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. She glanced around, wishing she had her katana with her. Unfortunately, toting around a giant Japanese sword wasn’t as easy as she’d like it to be.

Remaining still, she looked up to the windows of the house, hoping to find Aubrey staring down at her, but there was nobody behind the glass. She faded to the street, putting her back against the brick wall and pulling out her cell phone. Hitting redial, she listened to the automated message on the other end.

“Aubrey, it’s me. Where are you? I’m at your place now. Call me back when you get this message.” She didn’t want to sound too irritated with him, but some of it had leaked into her voice. And that same voice was back – the one that made her doubt Aubrey was ever interested in anything more than just sex with her.

 He was just using you.

Men always want what they can’t have, and you stupidly gave it all up to him.

He’s forgotten about you.

This time, she listened to the voices. Shoving the cell phone back into her pocket, she looked around and started down the street. She was too angry to fade. Just then, a stiff wind blew across her face, carrying with it an unusual scent.

Her brain threw up the warning flare and her feet ground to a halt. Peering over her shoulder, she saw a man stepping from the shadows.

He started toward her, and Taer pulled a dagger from her thigh holster. Holding it steady down by her leg, she watched him, gauged him, studied him. With a small snarl, he launched himself at her. Taer lowered herself down, her thigh muscles easily complying. She remained still except for the pumping up and down of her chest. Time seemed to slow as she watched the distance between them get smaller and smaller. She couldn’t see whether or not he was armed, though. When he was a mere foot away from her, she side-stepped him, performing the maneuver at just the right moment.

She watched his body fall and skid past her. He landed headfirst into a red-brick garden wall. The sickening
crunch
made her smile and the smell of blood was immediate. She had caused the first injury and men always tended to get a little pissy when that happened.

Adrian had always told her to let her opponent underestimate her. Males tended to think they could best her just because she was a member of the fairer sex, and she was more than happy to let them hang themselves with that mistake.

Her head whipped around when a noise drew her attention. Moving away from her first attacker, she kept her focus on the new male who had just come running down the street. His gaze first found the other body crumpled against the wall before it fixed on her with deadly precision. Like her first attacker, he launched himself at her too, only this time she was a fraction of a second too slow. His strong arm banded around her torso, driving her backwards. Her spine seized as she hit the cobblestones on the road, her whole back searing in pain. Her arms flopped out uselessly at her sides, her fingers releasing their grip on her dagger. The blade landed a few inches from her hand.

She gulped down on the O
2
, trying to get her lungs to work again. She wheezed. Coughed. Sucked in another mouthful. As she worked hard to get her breathing under control, from the corner of her eye she saw the first man start to stir. He got to his feet slowly, shaking his head as if he were dazed. Her attention went back to the weight on her chest and she studied the face of the second man.

He had sharp features and shrewd eyes. His jaw was square with a healthy dose of stubble on it. His attention wasn’t on her though. It was on the other guy.

“My brother, are you all right?” he asked.

The male stood up, swaying a little on his feet. Bending at the waist suddenly, he gripped the hood of a nearby car and looked over. Blood ran down the side of his face and dripped from his chin from the gash at the top of his head. The taste of metal hung on the air. “I’m fine,” he replied through gritted teeth.

Taer felt her heart rate start to slow. Stretching out her fingers, she felt for the handle of her knife and dragged it into her palm, sliding the blade under her forearm to hide it from view.   

“Is she secure?” the injured man tacked on as he slowly straightened again.

“Yeah, I got her,” the guy said, leering down at Taer.

She bared her teeth at him.

“Just come with us quietly, female, and you won’t get hurt,” the injured man said. Turning her head, she looked at him as he stumbled forward a step. He grimaced and clutched at his stomach for a moment. He probably had a concussion thanks to that up-close-and-personal with the brick wall.

Good for him.

As she waited for the perfect time to strike, she wondered whether she was the intended target, or whether she just happened to cross their paths as they waited for someone else.

“Get her up and let’s go.”

The male holding her reached under her arm and pulled her vertical. “Put your hands behind you,” he commanded, pulling out black cable ties from his pants’ pocket.

Taer smiled and shook her head.

“I’m not playing with you,” he ground out.

“You wouldn’t like the way I play anyway,” she said in reply.

The guy growled and the sound turned Taer’s blood to ice. “And
you
wouldn’t like the way
I
play, either. Do what I say or I will present you as spoiled goods.”

“My brother,” the other man said in warning.

That growl returned. “Fine,” he ground out, spinning Taer around so she was pinned to his body, her back to his front. Roughly, he shoved her forward until her face was flush to the same garden wall the first guy had gotten cozy with. She stilled for a moment, wanting her attacker to think that she was giving up.