Demetrius (12 page)

“More friends of yours, Abram?” A human man in his late twenties, his expression disgusted, faced a morose older male slouched in a chair.

Calli studied the scruffy male. He was familiar; she recalled him now. He’d worked the room at gatherings, making sure everyone had what they needed, like a prime family concierge. His position indicated a sign of rank, a close familiarity with the family he worked for.

McFeely’s eyes widened when he recognized Calli. “Seth, leave us.”

“Don’t dismiss me. You said you got out of the business, now here’s two people breaking down the door to find you. Tell me you’re not selling again.”

McFeely waved his hand and his boyfriend’s eyes glazed over and he left. The male exhaled and wearily rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry for what happened to your father.”

She was surprised; he sounded genuine. “News travels fast.”

“Yes, Miss Augustus, in the crowd your father traveled in, it does. It really does.” He leaned back in his chair, looking like he had the weight of the world on him. “I should’ve walked into the sun all those years ago. But I had a family to support, you know.” His shook his head. “You’d think fate would’ve chosen a better mate for me than that hag.”

Demetrius moved to stand in front of McFeely. “Unless your self-pity has anything to do with Miss Augustus, I’m afraid we’re not interested.”

McFeely laughed softly. “It’s all related, Mr.…?”

“Devereux.”

“Ah. Demetrius Devereux, in my presence. Forgive me if I fail to be honored. So, I guess I’ll start with Josephine’s murder.”

Callista stepped forward, feeling like she was the only who didn’t know the truth about her mother.

“Ambitious, that one,” he continued. “Not unlike my mate, may she continue to burn in Hell. They all start out ambitious, easy for the Circle to get to them, convince them it’s in their best interest.”

“What’s in their best interest?” Calli wanted to scream,
get to the point!

“In Josephine’s case, it was selling you to the demon of the Circle’s choosing.”

“Draken.”

His keen eyes brightened with approval. “Knowledge is power. It’ll be the only way for you to get ahead of them. Draken is rumored to be powerful, but like all demons, he requires sacrifice to walk the earth. The more monumental the sacrifice, the more power he’ll carry over to this plane.”

Calli was dubious. “My purity gives him power?”

“Very much so, Miss Augustus. You’ve been bonded to him. Therefore, all he needs is to claim you and he can use your ties to this plane to roam freely. None of that pesky body sharing.”

“Because she will have shared her body with Draken, he won’t need another body to use to walk around?” Demetrius’ eyes were narrowed, his mouth downturned in distaste.

“He’s been tied to her for the past, how many years has it been now?” McFeely shook his head. “She’s his anchor, as long as she lives.”

“Who helped her mother do this?”

The male’s face fell. “Unfortunately, my mate. It’s the reason I’ve helped Edgar all these years.”

“Helped?” Calli couldn’t believe his audacity. She’d suffered for his greed. “You were blackmailing him.”

A raspy chuckle left the male. “No, Callista. We bribed, bargained, begged, anything. He was desperate to find a way to release you. Or at least buy you more time, more than twenty-five years. I thought…I thought maybe if I helped Edgar buy information, a way out for you, it would erase at least one bad deed I’ve done.”

Demetrius hauled McFeely to his feet. The male didn’t struggle. “What happens when she turns twenty-five?”

“Draken comes for her.” McFeely would’ve been slouching, but Demetrius’ hold kept him upright. “I’ve told you what I know. What happens to me?”

Demetrius scanned the sad state of the room they were in, both of them recalling the lover’s spat they’d walked in on.

“I think it’s punishment enough to keep you alive. And we’re not done talking yet.”

Chapter Twelve

Demetrius drove them back to his headquarters, stewing over all the information McFeely revealed. Their demon problem was amplified by thirteen. Twelve more like Malachim were planning to inhabit this realm by possessing vampires, and they were using Callista to accomplish it.

He never felt helpless. Never felt lost.

He felt pretty damn worthless right now.

Callista’s birthday was tomorrow.

She’d been quiet since they left McFeely to deal with the fallout with his boyfriend. Demetrius had a hard time believing that McFeely was utterly altruistic in his use of Edgar Augustus’ money. Councilmembers had earned a helluva wage.

“At least Father’s death stopped one of the thirteen,” Callista spoke quietly.

“Only one. We don’t know how many more are out there.” They barely knew anything.

“Do you think it’s true? That once the thirteen most powerful demons of the underworld walk the earth, they can open a portal to Hell? Seems a bit far-fetched.”

He gave her a sidelong look. “As opposed to you saving yourself for your demon betrothed so he doesn’t have to cross-dress
in
your body, but walk around in his own? If I hadn’t felt the burn of your blood, tasted the tang of sulfur, perhaps I wouldn’t be so inclined to believe. As for Abram McPherson, he’s at rock bottom. Lost everything: his mate, his job, his income stream from your father, and from the way Seth reacted, his boyfriend. No reason for him to lie.”

Pursing her lips, she appeared to mull it over. “Why wouldn’t bonding a child with a demon have been done before?”

Demetrius shrugged and pulled onto the highway leading into the heavily wooded countryside. “Like he said, vampires thought they’d rule the world. When the prime families saw their influence dwindle, they read the blood sprayed on the walls. Either find a way to conquer the world, or align with shifters and remain hidden in the human world.”

“To prove their arrogance, they likely thought they’d be able to control the demons.” Callista shook her head with disgust. “We hardly know anything about the underworld. What were they
thinking
?”

“They were thinking they’re the strongest beings walking the planet.”

“Shifters might disagree.”

“And they’d be wrong.”

She smiled at him and it punched him in the gut as hard as he got hit during training.

He smiled back and felt a connection deeper than any he’d known. She wasn’t Draken’s fucking anchor. She was his, dammit.

She was his.

His car slammed to a sudden stop as if hitting an invisible wall. The hood crumpled, the windshield spiderwebbed, the airbag inflated.

Jarring pain seared his face. His head whipped back against the headrest and rebounded. Metal crunched, crushing around him. Callista’s scream pierced the air.

Trying to shake off the disorientation, the passenger door opened. Callista clawed against a figure cloaked in black. Sensing it was another vampire, Demetrius’ adrenaline and training kicked in. Pulling Callista toward him, he ripped off his seatbelt to pry her attacker’s hands off her arms.

Glass from his window shattered; searing pain tore through his skull.

“Demetrius!”

Callista became blurry. She was getting farther away. And she was fighting. Hellfire, the girl didn’t back down for anyone. But his eyes drifted shut, and he could do nothing to help her.

***

Gawd, it was getting hot.

“Vampires smell so good before they turn to ash.”

Demetrius regained consciousness, but kept his eyes shut.

“We should drink him dry. There’s no use wasting good blood like his.”

Two vampires were present. Two males.

“We’d better hurry,” the first one spoke, “the sun’ll be too high, and I’ll ash before I even get a mouthful.”

Okay, eyes open.

It was harder than he thought. Whatever caused his head injury was still inside his skull, radiating pain until Demetrius was convinced his head looked like his windshield.

“Boys, I hate to ruin your meal, but I don’t feel I’m a good dining partner today.”

One male hissed at him, his fangs bared. The other jumped back like Demetrius was the jack-in-the-box who just popped.

Trying to move, Demetrius found his hands outstretched, same with his legs. All four limbs staked to the ground in the middle of a clearing, in the middle of nowhere. His shirt had been ripped open for maximum exposure.

Dumbasses.

Demetrius attempted to flash.

Fuck.

Not so dumbasses.

The one with bared fangs leered at him. “Have you tried flashing yet?” He tapped the side of his head. “Hard to do with a bullet lodged in the ol’ control center, am I right?”

Demetrius started to sweat, and it had nothing to do with the rising sun heating his exposed skin.

Callista. Where the fuck was she? He couldn’t sense her anywhere.

“From the color of your eyes,” Demetrius looked between both males, “I’d say you’re both pure vampire. No demons decided to join the party?”

The second male, the scaredy-cat, sneered. “We don’t need demon taint to carry out our jobs.”

“Which was what? Staking an unconscious male to fry or capturing an innocent prime daughter?”

The hostile one whacked him across the face.

Demetrius groaned and fought against blacking out again. “I’ll kill you slowly for that one.” Speaking made the pain exponential, but it kept him alert-ish.

“I smell your skin burning. You look like you spent the week in Tijuana frolicking in the alleys sans sunscreen.”

He felt like it. His skin grew tight and the shade of red marring his chest would make a lobster blush.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

“What’s that Devereux?” Fangy vamp leaned down.

“Dude, we need to flash indoors,” his friend said. “The sun’s getting too high.”

Demetrius moved his lips again.

“What?” Irritated, the male leaned down.

With a surge fueled by his worry for Callista and her impending birthday, Demetrius yanked his stakes out of the ground and buried his fangs into the male’s neck.

The vampire’s shout was cut off as Demetrius ripped his trachea out. He threw the male to the side and wrenched his feet free. The effort cost him time. The other male was on him, taking head shots that were Demetrius’ serious Achilles heel.

Then the male snapped straight, only a gurgle escaping his mouth. A hand held him at the neck with another buried through his back and sticking out his gut. Rourke showed no emotion as he withdrew his hand from the male’s intestines and used his astonishing strength to tear his neck apart.

He tossed the body to the ground and eyed Demetrius. “You gonna sit there all day?”

Demetrius squinted up at Rourke. “I had the situation under control, asshole.”

“As always.” Demetrius didn’t dwell on whether he was agreeing that the situation was under control, or that he was an asshole, or both. He was damn happy to see him.

Demetrius hauled himself to his feet. Rourke caught his arm when he swayed and flashed him back to their headquarters.

The ride hurt, but relief from the sun’s dawning rays made up for it. With Rourke’s arm around him, they made their way to the conference room below ground.

“Holy shit, D!” Zoey rushed to his side to help Rourke lay him across the table.

“He’s got lead on the brain. We need to get him blood so he can heal it out.”

She bit her wrist and held it to his lips.

Demetrius’ thirst roared, but his stomach rebelled. It was the wrong blood. He needed Callista and she was gone. And fuck, she was in grave danger.

He gagged against her wrist. The shocking move made even Rourke frown.

Trying to swallow her blood down was impossible when his stomach kept pushing it back up.

“Damn it, D.” Rourke leaned over the table so he was in his line of view. “Do what I tell the girls—quit gagging and fucking swallow.”

Then the aggravating male pinched his nostrils shut.

The move worked. The lack of oxygen forced the blood down. He released Zoey’s wrist and gulped air.

Zoey shoved her wrist back into his mouth. They repeated the process a few more times until Demetrius gained enough strength to shove Rourke away.

Closing the puncture marks on her wrist, Zoey stepped back to monitor Demetrius as he healed. “Fuck, Rourke. I didn’t know you had a strangulation fetish.”

“Yeah, you did.”

The image of Callista with her brilliant eyes panicked as she’d tried to fight off her attacker flashed through his throbbing mind. Closing his eyes, he sucked in deep breaths, using the image of her to keep Zoey’s strong blood down so he could use it to heal and save Callista.