Defying Instinct (Demon Instinct Series) (33 page)

I
tried undoing the button on his wet pants, but my hands were useless.  Rowan
didn’t need another hint, though there was concern in his eyes at the state of
my arms.  He slipped out of the rest of his clothes, and took care of mine
too.  When his hands were on me again, I thought his tentative touch on my
waist might be enough to send me over the edge. 

Water
moved my hair to the side, and suddenly I wanted to feel long canines on my
skin.  Needed to.  I tilted my head, baring the length of my neck up to the
Warrior surrounding me, and he stilled for a second, then groaned so low and so
deep, the building heat in me nearly erupted.  Fangs against the nape of my
neck, not biting down, not drawing blood, but applying just the right amount of
pressure, so I knew they were there.

The
familiar graze of canines made the stunning, slowly rising pleasure ignite.  Bliss
shocked along every nerve ending, then caught fire again and again.  My demon
half whispered,
trust
, even as his fangs tightened around my neck and his
hand tightened around my throat.

I
was his in every way.  

And
we survived.  I would heal.  As long as I had him, as long as those I cared
about were near, were safe, it was easy to see the possibilities.  Now that
there might be a future.

“The
Devil poofed out the moment you left the room,” Holly said when Rowan and I
descended the stairs, the fact that both of our hair was wet making what we’d
been doing together obvious.  It made me grin.

Dmitri
grumbled, “should have known he’d be the only one to—”

“Guys,”
I interrupted, my weakened body singing from the aftereffects of world-shattering
shower-sex with Rowan obliterating my mind’s censor.  “None of you signed a
lifetime contract to stick around.  Hadrian showed up, okay?  He didn’t have
to, but he did.  The Sorcerer,” deliberately using the civil term, “deserves
your respect.”

I
got a wave of emotions coming off of the full-caste demons filling The
Bookstore.  Some were proud, mixed with uncomfortable.  Some begrudgingly
conceded that I had a point, even if it bothered them to admit.  One sent a
wave of adoration that my body was beginning to recognize for what it was.

What
happened next probably happened faster than my mind processed it, but I saw
only one thing at a time.

First,
Ivy’s sad, exotic eyes went completely white, and a thread of panic crackled
through her usually unfeeling body. 

Then,
there was a click coming from above.

I
looked up, saw the device, blinked at the red light blinking faster and faster
back at me.

Until
it stopped. 

White
filled my vision, the boom rendering me deaf.  It was similar to losing my
senses during the Blooding ceremony, only when I tilted my head to the side,
blood dripped from my ears.

In
shock, I watched as my bookstore disintegrated around me.  Fire swallowed up
the remaining books, the walls, the furniture and the counter where I spent so
many days standing behind with a fake smile and an internal struggle with my
personal demons. 

In
one, giant blast of heat, it was gone.

Why
wasn’t I on fire?

The
ceiling fell, but slid around me.  The inferno raged, violent blues, oranges,
and yellows dancing along the walls, charring the furniture and turning my
bookstore into a shell, but couldn’t touch me.

My
senses returned slowly, and I couldn’t see anyone.  Rowan had been near when
the explosion hit.  I’d been looking at Ivy, but couldn’t see her now.  Benn
and Tanis had been sitting on the couch together, but weren’t there now.

It
took me what felt like far too long to panic.

Rowan?
...
PING
.

Benn?
...
PING
.

The
pain of the echo mixed with freaking out about everyone who had been in the
building when the bomb went off and my inability to do anything could have broken
me.  I could feel it nagging at my self control, suggesting that I give in to
it.

I
didn’t have the strength to find the cages in my mind. 

Before
my panic got out of control, there were arms around me.  Then, The Bookstore
was gone.

When
the familiar whirlwind stopped, heated arguments bordering on a brawl greeted
me.  We were in Hadrian’s home.  The penthouse on the fortieth floor, back at
the beach.  I listened silently, surveying each of them, taking inventory. 

Even
though I saw them all, even though Holly and Hadrian were nose to nose,
screaming into each other’s faces.  Even though Dmitri was charging towards
Rowan, who stood with his arms tightly around my chest.  Even though Connell
was hovering over Ivy, who was kneeling beside Benn and Tanis, side by side, on
the ground, bruised and covered in cuts and ash, but both blinking.  I had to
keep surveying them, keep assuring myself we had all made it out alive.

“You
do
not
leave our Scion for last, Warrior,” Dmitri yelled, never sounding
so incredibly scary before.  “Do you want Savannah dead?”

“You
got me last,” I said to Rowan, pulling away from his arms, still stunned and
looking at the six demons, one half-caste, and one human, reassuring myself
that they were all here.

Rowan
said nothing.

When
it finally sunk in, when I finally was able to accept we were all okay, I
turned to my Sentinel.

“Thank
you,” I whispered as tears spilled out of my eyes.  Without the use of my arms,
I tossed my body against his, embracing him in the only way I could with all
the strength still left in me. 

“Thank
you,” I repeated louder, and kissed him, pouring the full force of my relief
into it.

It
was the hardest thing I have ever had to do
, he telepathed to me, wiping tears from my face. 

I
could have stayed in his arms, kissing him forever.  But the room had grown
quiet.  I felt their eyes on us, felt their confusion.  Pulling away, but
planting one more, gentle kiss on his neck, which was scorched and pink but
already healing, I turned to the room.

“Is
everyone okay?”

They
were all looking weary, black ash on their clothes and faces.  Connell’s hair
was burned on one end.  Holly’s arm looked blistered, but was healing before my
eyes.  Nods responded, and the confusion grew.  They thought I should be angry
with Rowan.

“Hadrian.” 
Though reluctant, he stepped over.  “How…how did you even know?”

“I
am a Sorcerer, Savannah.  I can be in two places at once.”

Of
course he could.  Was there anything Sorcerers couldn’t do?

“You
saved all our lives.”

I
would have hugged him, but I got the sense he feared that I might touch him. 
Instead, I let the lock on my projected emotions snap open, and my gratitude
and relief, my affection and respect filled the air.  It was something they couldn’t
deny, because I couldn’t fake it.

Of
all of the sets of astonished eyes staring at me, Ivy was the one who finally
spoke.

“I
am yours, Savannah.”  She bowed, all the way to the ground until her forehead
touched hardwood.

I opened
my mouth to protest, but Connell unglamoured was commanding my full attention.  Holly,
Dmitri, and Benn gasped at the sight of him before he said, “Savannah.  I am
yours.”

He
bowed, all the way to the ground next to Ivy, his bat-lizard wings spread up
and out, showing off the full, impressive span of them. 

Hadrian
took a few steps back, and bowed his head, but didn’t go all the way to the
ground like the others, saying, “I am yours, Savannah.”

“What…”
I began to ask, but Rowan put a hand on my arm.

Let
them have this one, sweet.

Looking
up at Rowan, I asked,
what are they doing?

Pledging
their loyalty to you.

The
glamour didn’t tinsel-shimmer off of Dmitri.  It exploded outward.  Like it had
from me in the memory Rowan shared a half hour ago.  Dmitri wasn’t solid when
the explosion stopped either.  Instead of glowing white, he glowed cobalt blue
for a few seconds before his form took shape again.  That same cobalt blue
color lay on his skin, looking a great deal like Grayson’s purple and silver
pattern that had infected me.  Only, I knew if that cobalt pattern got on me,
if Dmitri touched anyone, he’d take their mind, know everything there was
inside them, and devour it.

“Savannah
Cole,” Dmitri’s voice shot into me, and I knew why Razer demons, and Tempters probably
too stayed at least partially glamoured even around each other.  So much
power.  “I will follow you.  I am yours.”

I
have been yours from the beginning, love
, Rowan telepathed to me, lifted my hand to his lips, then bared his
fangs and dragged them along the veins of my sensitive wrist.  I trembled, and
didn’t even bother attempting to stifle my whimper.

I’m
sorry.  I can’t
.  This came from
Holly, and I said nothing.  What was I supposed to say?  So I let my
understanding project to her, and she bowed her head, hiding her surprise.

“All
right, who do we think tried to kill us?” I asked, and everybody rose from
their bow, with puzzled and amused faces.  “Holly, does Director Pakala do that
kind of thing?  Or other Division agents?”

“Absolutely
not,” she said, leaning against one of Hadrian’s iron bookshelves, with arms
crossed.  “Even if she wanted you dead, which she doesn’t, she likes me.  And
Division doesn’t believe in collateral damage.”

I
turned away from her, and looked at Connell.  “Is Astor capable of it?”

“Capable? 
Yes.  Extremely.”

“But
we do not assassinate our own kind,” the Sorcerer interjected.  “Especially not
kin.”

Everyone
looked at Hadrian, and I asked, because at this point, I didn’t think anything
could surprise me.  “Her son?”

Hadrian
shook his red, black-horned head.  “Nephew.”

“She
also wants me to spy on you for her,” Connell chimed in, showing his lack of
teeth.  “She summoned me last night.”

So
Astor wasn’t fully convinced I’d die during the Blooding after all.  That was
interesting.

“All
right, not Division.  Not Faction.  Are there any other players no one’s told
me about?”

“No
average demon has the balls,” Rowan said.

“I
agree,” Dmitri said in a gravelly grumble.  He was reglamoured, thankfully.

“It
was Iliana.”  Ivy’s soft voice drew everyone’s attention, and my demon half
appreciated how she could command a room.  “She will try again before the day
is through.”

I
swallowed.  “Will she succeed?”

“I
cannot see that far.  I can only glimpse the attempt.”

“How
will she do it?” I asked, having a feeling I knew the answer.  After all, she
was a Destroyer.

“Breaching.” 
Ivy’s exotic, brown eyes turned white as she confirmed my suspicions.  “She
will take our minds.  The human first.  Her half-caste second.  Next the Warrior,
the Destroyer, the Succubus.  Me, then Savannah.  She cannot touch the Devil. 
She will make us kill each other.”  Ivy frowned, then corrected, “No, she will
make Savannah kill us.”

I
laughed.  “I couldn’t kill any one of you.  I’m physically weak compared to
you, besides the fact that I just wouldn’t.”

Their
expressions told me what I didn’t know.  If I gave them a direct command, they
had to obey it.  Literally had to.  Even if I wasn’t in control of my mind.

“Well,
crap.”

“Does
our Savannah have a knack for understatement, or what?” Connell joked, and I
play-kicked his shin as I passed him.

I
went to the window and stared out onto the slow waves of the Pacific Ocean,
thinking how funny it was the view was so tranquil considering the tangle I was
trying to unravel.

“Rowan,
can you show me the Blooding?”

Immediately,
I was watching the events of the ceremony from his perspective, like I was him. 
He’d skipped past all the pomp and circumstance for me, getting right to the
part where I’d stopped being able to see.

More
than a few demons broke rank around the room, yelling, many in that ancient
language Rowan didn’t understand either.
 

We
were both young compared to most demons.

Rowan
couldn’t tell how they knew what was being done to her.  Could they feel it
too, like he could?  Grayson stepped up to the throne, protested, telling Iliana
this was not the way the Blooding was done.  Rowan felt gratitude towards
Grayson, even though their relationship was an unstable one, and even though
the Tempter got nowhere.  There was no reason to be so cruel, Grayson had said,
but Iliana ignored him, had Matteo punch him to shut him up.

Rowan
couldn’t keep his eyes off me.  But he stood strong, didn’t let his anguish,
his helplessness show. 

His
heart twisted deep in his chest.  His body roared to stop this, to protect her,
to turn back time and force her to run, even if she would resent him for it.

The
six demons drew closer as six slashes appeared on Savannah’s arms.  No one had
cut her.  No one was even touching her.  The robe’s sleeves were held up to her
shoulders somehow as the skin split, three red lines forming on each arm. 
Deep, dark blood began to pour out of the injuries immediately.  The wounds were
held open by mystical forces, allowing a shocking amount of blood to escape.

Rowan
knew things weren’t progressing the way they were supposed to.  Holly, Dmitri,
and Connell ran somewhere into the crowd, and produced knifes from some unknown
place.  Rowan berated himself.  He felt like he should have been more prepared. 

He thought
his love for me made him foolish.

Holly,
Dmitri, and Connell, without hesitation, sliced a piece of their flesh from
their right arms.
 

God,
I didn’t want to know about this part.  Maybe it had been better not to be able
to see and hear.  If Iliana’s goal was to make things worse for me by blocking
out my senses, she had calculated wrong.  Seeing this, knowing what was
happening, would have been worse than not knowing.