Demonicus (Overworld Underground Book 2) (25 page)

She nodded rapidly. "Oh, yes, very certain. It really sucks when I look at my friends and can't think about anything but drinking their blood."

Already, I felt the parasitic cold inside her and couldn't help but grimace in disgust. "Okay. This will take a moment."

She tensed. "Will it hurt?"

"I don't think so, but you might feel weak afterward."

A tear pooled in her eye. "I'm ready."

"Okay. Let me concentrate." I opened my senses and touched her waist with both hands. Before long, the squirming cold became palpable. Gripping the invisible thing with my hands, I slowly slid it out of her.

She shrieked at the sight of the glowing white creature in my hands, stumbled, and fell as if her knees had grown too weak to support her. A rasping breath rattled from her throat and she clutched her stomach. Face so pale it had an almost greenish cast, she retched up a puddle of saliva.

The parasite thing dissolved in my hands, vanishing into the ether, leaving a cold wet feeling on my palms. I wiped them on my jeans and knelt next to her.

"Are you okay, Angela?"

She didn't speak for several seconds then finally nodded. "I felt terrible at first, but now I feel better." She touched her teeth, as if expecting to find fangs then smiled. "It's gone! I'm normal again!" Angela gripped me in a tight hug and squealed. "Thank you so much, Emily." Tears ran down her cheeks.

I helped her stand and brushed a bit of dust from her dress. "Remember, don't tell anyone. This is our secret."

Her eyes widened. "How will I explain to my friends that I'm not a vampire anymore?"

I shrugged. "Tell them an Arcane fixed you. I don't care, just don't tell them about me."

Angela hugged me again and whispered in my ear. "I won't. We're BFFs forever, now."

"Of course." I doubted I'd ever see her again after the class and hoped she could keep my secret.

We returned into the auditorium to find her friends swooning over Tyler as he regaled them with a story about running a business. It was a dry subject, but the girls didn't seem to care, so long as they could watch him talk. He stopped talking midsentence when he saw me walking toward him. The girls looked back at me, jealousy plain on their faces. Knowing this gorgeous man had eyes only for me made me feel special indeed.

The girls suddenly noticed Angela and seemed confused.

"Where did you go?" one asked.

"Just talked to Emily for a little bit about how to tell my parents I'm a vampire." Angela sighed. "I'm going to see an Arcane doctor soon. I heard it might be possible to fix me."

"Oh, really?" The other girl clapped her hands with delight. "That would be so awesome."

The other one chimed in. "Yeah, and you won't try to suck our blood anymore."

Tyler took my arm and led me away after I wished the girls a good evening.

"Enjoying the adoration of the ladies?" I asked.

His wolfish grin made an appearance. "Your adoration is all that matters to me." Tyler pecked a kiss on my nose. "Speaking of which, how did it go?"

"Rather well, if I do say so myself." We climbed into his car, an ordinary sedan the reporters hopefully wouldn't notice, and left.

"I just want you to know I admire you for helping that girl." Tyler stopped at a traffic light and rubbed a hand on my thigh. "You're a good person, Em."

I felt a blush creeping up my neck. "I try to be."

"I could tell from the look in her eyes, you just saved her life." He accelerated and turned onto the street to the condo. "I can't imagine how different my life would be without you."

"Yes, well, hopefully she learned a valuable life lesson." Tyler's praise made me feel giddy. I wondered if it was because of all the negativity from my mother, or perhaps I was simply an attention whore.

The media still stood watch over the entrance of the Gregorian, though there were fewer than earlier. Some of them tried to peer into the windows of the car but were thwarted by the dark tint.

I sniffed. "I wish they'd bugger off and bother someone else."

"They'll get tired of it sooner or later," he assured me.

I noticed two official-looking sedans parked in front, and put a hand on Tyler's wrist. "Those look like unmarked police cars."

He stopped the car at the corner of the building where the driveway curled around to the rear parking deck. "I saw the news. Detective Long seemed convinced he was close to an arrest."

"What if he's after you?"

"He doesn't have any hard evidence." Tyler pressed his lips together. "Then again, he seemed ready to railroad me no matter what."

"We shouldn't go in. What if they're waiting for you?"

Tyler drove around the back of the building where two more similar cars waited. He slapped the steering wheel. "Son of a—we need to get out of here." He made a right turn into the guest parking lot and stopped. "I don't understand what this Detective Long means to do. Unless he fabricated evidence, he doesn't have a case."

For some reason, it suddenly made perfect sense to me. "This must be related to the problems with your companies. What if this public relations nightmare is all some ploy to destroy your reputation? I remember seeing an unmarked police car in the guest parking lot even before the first time we met Detective Long. Remember how he went out of his way to investigate the gunshot?"

It didn't take Tyler long to connect the dots. "This must be their end game."

I took out my phone and browsed to a news site.
Officials Close to an Arrest
read the headline of the top story. I read it aloud. "Though no official announcement has been made, the lead investigator, Detective Long, appeared at the residence of Tyler Rock this evening. Reliable sources believe he is the target of this investigation." Anger swelled inside me. "This man is out to ruin you."

Tyler shook his head. "No, he's only a pawn. I'm sure if he arrests me, they'd hold me as long as they could before announcing a lack of evidence."

"He's already damaged your reputation."

"Seeing me arrested on live television would put a nail in the coffin." He growled deep in his throat. "Even if I was vindicated, it would take months to recover from the fallout."

"What do we do?"

"We go where they can't find us." He backed the car out of the parking lot and slowly drove back around the building and to the street.

Tension knotted my stomach. I waited for someone to shout at us, or for police cars to surround us at any moment. Thankfully, a sporty red Bentley pulled into the drive at that moment and drew away the gazes of the reporters.

We pulled into the street and drove away.

"Where won't they find us?" I asked. "The Grotto?"

"Seems like the best place."

An idea brightened in my mind. "I know who to ask." I called George.

"Yes, Miss Glass?" His voice sounded calm as ever.

I explained our troubles with the law and finished with a question. "Where can we stay?"

"This is very troubling," he said, not sounding the least bit troubled. "Who do you think is targeting you?"

"At first I thought it might be my former associates," Tyler said. "Now I think it might be unrelated to our demon problems."

"Well, we certainly can't have the mortal authorities arresting citizens of the Overworld."

George's statement surprised me. "We're citizens of the Overworld now?"

"Of course, Miss Glass." He sounded certain. "You both have supernatural attributes, and thus are subject to our laws."

"So the Custodians can help us?" I asked.

"Our main purpose is to cover up scandals perpetrated by supernaturals, though in this case, it sounds as though you are the victims." He paused. "Unfortunately, with resources spread so thin, we can't afford to do much at the moment."

"Lovely." I sighed. "Considering that hell is literally being unleashed on Earth right now, I'd say it's high time you hired more people, Agent Walker."

"Agreed, but that takes time. In the meantime, I will find you suitable accommodations to conceal you from the authorities." He said nothing for a moment and then continued. "Come to the Templar compound. I'll meet you there and discuss the options."

"Address?" Tyler asked.

"I will text it to you." He ended the call and forwarded the address. I entered it into the navigation system and pulled up directions.

Tyler laughed. "Fugitives again, huh, Em?"

I groaned. "When does it ever stop?"

"Sometimes being rich and powerful is a real pain in the ass." He shook his head. "Maybe we should just sell everything and travel the world."

I leaned against his shoulder. "That sounds pretty wonderful. No more demons, no more corporate worries. Just you, me, and wherever we find ourselves."

Tyler glanced at me. "Would you be happy living like that?"

"Are you kidding?" I giggled. "It sounds heavenly."

"Hmm." He stared at the road ahead. Nodded. "I'll talk to the accountants at my holdings company and see what they think we could squeeze out of everything."

"Do you think it's safe to go to work with the police looking for you?"

He shrugged. "I'll just call my people. I think we could get a few hundred million out of my enterprises. It might take some time to sell everything, but that shouldn't be a problem."

I thought of Jack and the others. "Could you keep OnTech? I really think your business model there will work, and I'd hate to see them soaked up by another big corporation."

"Sure. Maybe they can turn things around." Tyler looked at the car's navigation screen and took a left.

I studied him for a moment. "Are you certain you won't miss being a big-time businessman?"

He waggled a hand. "Maybe a little. I kind of liked seeing my companies succeed. I was thinking about adopting OnTech's workplace environment at a couple of other businesses just to see how it worked." Tyler pointed to a dirt road winding through pastures. "I think we're here."

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as the tires rattled over a cattle guard and we entered the Templar compound. I somewhat expected a small army of people in black to stop us, but we were allowed to continue unmolested.

George stood outside the large barn next to a huge Husky. We stopped and got out.

"You may park in the underground garage," George said. "I've arranged for you to stay the night here if you'd like."

I went up to the Husky. "What a lovely dog. May I pet him?"

George's lips curled up faintly. "You might want to ask him directly. I don't think Ryland would appreciate it."

The dog yipped and then morphed into a large naked man with a wide grin on his face. "I don't reckon it would be appropriate," he said. "My lovely girlfriend might not take kindly to letting you rub my stomach."

Heat washed into my face. "Oh, lord. You're a lycan aren't you?" I was mortified.

Tyler burst into laughter.

I threw up my hands. "I can't even—I just can't!"

"I like you already," Tyler told the other man and held out his hand. "The name is Tyler Rock."

Ryland shook his hand. "What's your deal, Tyler?"

"I'm a demon." He shrugged. "I know it sounds bad, but I'm not that awful."

"Turns out I know a few good demon spawn, so I reckon you're not all bad." Ryland gave him a lopsided grin.

I finally recovered a bit and turned to look at the lycan, keeping my eyes well above his equator. "You realize you're completely naked, don't you?"

"Yep." Ryland crossed his arms. "It ain't easy wearing clothes in wolf form."

I pretended to look at something else. "Yes, I suppose you're right." With the shock fading, I sensed the lycan part of him as something wild, hot, and savage—the exact opposite of the vampires. Though he had what I'd consider a hot signal, it wasn't the same as what I glimpsed when around demons. They were a dry heat, while this was like sensing an explosion of hot blood in my mouth. I smacked my lips and looked back at Ryland.

He grinned.

Definitely an alpha wolf.

"Let's store your car below," George said. He turned to Ryland. "Good evening, and good hunting."

"Same to you." The lycan morphed back into a giant wolf and bounded away.

"He must terrify the horses," I said.

George climbed into the back seat of the car. "They're quite used to the goings on at this place."

Tyler and I slid back in and followed George's instructions to park the car. We got out and took a lift—levitator—down into the underground complex where our guide led us into a small room with a table.

"Please, have a seat." George sat at the head of the table. "Would you like tea, coffee, or water?"

I nodded. "Water, please."

"You have beer or wine?" Tyler asked.

"Not in here, I'm afraid." George reached into a cabinet and procured a bottled water, which he handed to me. "I brought you in here because I have good news."

I popped open the water. "Oh?"

"A Daemas has agreed to help us with the banishment and is on her way here tonight."

Tyler and I exchanged hopeful looks.

Part of this nightmare might be over in a few hours.

Chapter 22

"Are you certain?" I asked. "This seems very fast."

He nodded. "She's very concerned about the recent influx of demon lords and wants to interrogate them thoroughly."

"Finally, we're getting some help." I blew out a breath of relief.

Tyler looked a little uneasy. "What are these demon spawn like?"

"Something of a mixed bag," George replied. "Hopefully, this one won't have too many hidden agendas."

Hope glimmered in Tyler's eyes. "You really think she'll be able to banish them tonight?"

"That is the plan." George placed his hands on the table and gave us a steady look. "Let's talk about your other problems."

"With the police?" I threw up my hands. "Where do I begin?"

Tyler took the reins. "It all started with another company trying to hire away the best and the brightest from my holdings. During our investigations, we've found evidence of espionage and more." His fists tightened. "Barboar only added more fuel to the fire when he went to Emily's apartment in an attempt to track me down. He murdered her neighbors and gave whoever is trying to ruin me more ammunition."