Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (21 page)

Would the man she knew and loved come
back to her when this was over? Had she lost him for
good?

Her heart raced even faster at the
thought, the blood rushed through her, hammering in her ears.
Tremors shook her, her hands fisted tightly at her sides. Julian’s
eyes were hooded, his head bent slightly as he studied the floor
for a moment. Then, ever so slowly, he lifted his head to look at
her.

Cassie swallowed heavily, her heart
flipped in her chest. Though she had always known that they were
powerful, deadly; that they were two of the meanest, cruelest
vampires to ever walk this planet, she realized now that she had
never truly believed it. Or at least she hadn’t wanted to believe
it. She had wanted to ignore that fact in the two men she had come
to know and love greatly.

She realized now she had been mistaken
in her thinking. They may be more civil than most vampires, but
they were not tamed. They were wild, fierce, and right now they
were both on edge, dark, and deadly. Cassie swallowed heavily; her
gaze slowly went back to Devon. He remained unmoving, his jaw
locked tight, and his eyes as hard as steel. She wanted her Devon
back; she wanted the warm loving man that she knew so
well.

But he was not there. Not right now
anyway and she was frightened he may never be there
again.

A lump clogged her throat, tears burned
her eyes. She bent her head as she fought hard against the panic
trying to swamp her. “Done?” Devon asked quietly.

Julian shrugged. “For now.”

“Is he alive?” Luther
inquired.

Julian quirked an eyebrow, but there
was no amusement on his features. “As much as I would like to, I
wouldn’t kill a man tied to a chair. I would give him a fair chance
at escaping first. Well, as fair as it could be anyway.”

“I see,” Luther said, but there was a
hint of disappointment in his voice that surprised her.

“What did you learn?”

Julian glanced at Devon. Cassie’s hands
fisted harder, the panic inside of her was beginning to turn into
full fledged terror. Julian’s ice colored eyes met hers; the
sympathy in them caused her to take a step back. No matter what had
happened between them, to them, he had never pitied her. He had
never looked at her like that. Whatever he had learned had been
awful, and she knew instantly that she was not going to like it one
bit. She took another step back, bumping into the wall of feed they
had placed before the broken window.

Melissa placed a hand on her shoulder,
steadying her as her breathing became shallower, more frantic. “It
will be ok,” Melissa whispered.

Cassie nodded her agreement, but she
did not agree. It was not going to be ok, she knew that. She had
seen that awful look in Julian’s eyes; she had felt his
uncertainty, his hesitance. No, it was definitely not going to be
ok, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it. “What were
they trying to do to me?” she asked softly.

Julian met her gaze again. Devon
finally moved. He came swiftly toward her, his lean body moving
with exceptional ease as he skirted the bags of feed. She stared
helplessly up at him as he stopped before her, his eyes warming
slightly. She knew that he needed her understanding, and though she
was lost and confused by what was happening with him, she could
never deny him anything that he needed.

Her hand slid into his, the perfect
rightness of his skin against hers caused a sigh of relief to
escape. She clung to him, wrapping her other hand around his as she
stepped closer, pressing tight to his arm. She could sense a cold
detachedness about him still but his hand tightened upon hers as he
pulled her closer.

“Julian?” Cassie breathed, trying hard
not to lose control.

Julian looked to Devon, who pulled her
closer against him. His arm wrapped around her waist, his hand
rested lightly on her hip, gently stroking her through her layers
of clothes. “You were their project,” Julian said softly. “Their
pet project.”

His gaze moved slowly to Dani, who had
backed herself into the shadows. “They were trying to turn you into
a living vampire.”

Cassie started, horror curdled through
her. Devon’s hand tightened upon her waist as he pulled her closer.
“What do you mean?” Chris asked, his voice a low growl.

Julian’s gaze remained locked upon her,
sympathy radiated from him, but he would not take it easy on her.
He would be brutally honest, even if she didn’t want to hear
it.

“They wanted to see what would happen,
how much blood it would take, and if they could turn Cassie into a
vampire while still keeping her human.”

There was a moment of stunned silence.
“Is that even possible?” Melissa demanded. “And why?”

Julian turned slightly toward her. “I
don’t know if it is possible, or not. I don’t believe it is, but I
don’t know. It’s never been tried before, I’ve never even heard of
anything like it, or known anyone that would even want to attempt
it. Every vampire has had to die in order to be reborn. They wanted
to try and keep Cassie human, try and have her turn without her
death. They wanted to see what she might be capable of, and they
wanted to be able to control her. And if it worked, they wanted to
see if it would be possible to do it to others while keeping them
under the thumb of The Commission.”

Cassie swallowed heavily, though she
was wearing heavy clothes, she was suddenly freezing cold. “It’s
why they devised all of those tortures, why they gave you my blood.
They wanted to see what you could and could not handle, and they
also wanted to see if one of them would push you into making the
change into a human vampire. What they wanted from you Cassie was
to see how long it would take before you snapped and changed, or
before you died, and either way they planned on you becoming a
vampire.”

She shuddered, pressing closer to Devon
as a fierce shaking racked through her. “Ok, alright,” she
whispered. “So that is why I’m different now. Why I feel different,
why I’m stronger.”

“It is why you are stronger, but not
why you feel different. You feel different because you are
different. The vampire blood, my blood has changed your basic DNA.
As has Devon’s.” Everyone glanced at them, their eyebrows drawing
tightly together in surprise. Cassie chose to ignore them. “Our
blood may eventually leave your system, but not without changing
you on some basic level first. That is how the Hunter’s were
eventually made after all, and in you, it is still making those
changes.”

Cassie was finding it increasingly
difficult to breathe. “So what am I now?”

Julian shook his head. “I don’t know
Cassie, neither does he.”

Sheets of ice crept down her back,
causing her to shiver as her thoughts turned back toward the man in
the other room. “Who is he?” she whispered.

Julian slipped his hands into his
pockets. “His name’s Patrick Woodard. He became the head of The
Commission after The Slaughter. He was afraid, and rightly so, that
we would kill him when we discovered him, so he lied and claimed to
be your father in the hope that we would keep him
alive.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Luther said
softly. “He was higher up in The Commission even before everything
happened. I didn’t know he had survived.”

“Unfortunately,” Chris
muttered.

“The children?” Cassie
whispered.

“Are at another facility in Canada. I
can find them when the time comes,” Julian answered.

“What are they doing to
them?”

Julian shook his head. “From what he
knows, nothing. They are just being held. Some of them are actually
future Guardians. There are a couple of Hunter’s amongst them, and
the rest are human. There are ten of them still alive.”

Relief filled her, her shoulders
slumped. As soon as they were free of here they would find the
children, rescue them, and keep them safe. They would never again
know the kind of terror that they had so recently experienced. “And
how many of those monsters are here?”

Julian shook his head. “They have been
moving people steadily out of this town for the past year. They’ve
been buying up land and pushing the people out in preparation of
the experiments they wanted to perform. Including the children,
there were only sixty people left in this town by the time they
were done. The ones at the motel that weren’t killed outright were
brought in. Some of the others have already been killed off, but he
believes there are still at least twenty five to thirty
left.”

“What?” Melissa croaked.

Julian glanced around the room. “We
have killed off six of them.”

“How the hell are we going to kill
twenty or so more of them though?” Chris demanded.

“We’ll figure that out,” Luther
replied. “For now it is more important that we keep them in this
town.”

“How?” Melissa asked.

“Bait,” Cassie whispered.

Devon’s hand tightened on her, his
nostrils flared as he turned slowly toward her. His eyes were
narrowed and fierce, his body thrummed with tension. “Absolutely
not.”

Cassie ignored his growled warning.
“It’s the only way to draw them out, especially since their food
supply is running low. We have to have bait. They will come to us
then.”

“And I know who we can use,” Julian
said softly.

Cassie’s head snapped toward him, she
glared at him. “No!” she hissed. “That is not going to happen. I
will go out there.”

“Like hell!” Devon exploded; his hands
were almost painful upon her as he spun her. “That is not going to
happen.”

“Devon…”

“You are not going out
there.”

“If you would just listen.”

His eyes flared red, his jaw clenched
tight. “For once you are going to listen to me!” he snarled. “You
are not going out there. If you want to use bait then I will
personally carry that man and Joey outside, but you will not be
that bait.”

Dani let out a strangled cry of horror
as she lurched from the shadows. Liam grabbed hold of her arm,
pulling her back a step. Cassie gaped up at Devon, unsure how to
respond or react. She had seen him furious, she had seen him on the
brink of losing all control, but she had never seen him like this.
He had never ordered her about so fiercely before. And she had
never thought that he would so willingly offer up someone for
death.

“Devon,” she breathed.

His eyes flickered briefly for a
moment. “Your safety is first,” he said softly.

“I know, but…”

“No buts,” he growled. “You will not be
the bait, no matter what you want.”

She nodded, swallowing the heavy lump
that was lodged in her throat. What was wrong with him? What was
going on here? Her gaze darted questioningly to Julian, he stared
silently back at her, his icy eyes unwavering. He nodded slightly
to her, a subtle movement of his head that left her
trembling.

“I’ll do it,” Chris said
softly.

“No!” Cassie shouted at him, shock at
his statement causing her to forget her worries about Devon. “No
Chris, I’m faster than you, and stronger.”

He quirked an eyebrow as he folded his
arms over his chest, taking affront to her statement. “It won’t be
either of you,” Luther said flatly, his gaze intent on Devon. “Will
it?”

“No,” Devon answered in response to his
question. “It will be Julian and I.”

Cassie spun on him, her eyes narrowing
as she glared fiercely up at him. “Oh, so it’s ok if something
happens to you?” she demanded. “We’re going to need you to stop
them from spreading out of this town. You and Julian are the
strongest, you are the most needed!”

Devon bent closer to her, his eyes
blazed fiercely into hers. “And if something happens to you, I will
be an even bigger danger to everyone in this room than those things
out there. Do you understand me?”

Cassie swallowed heavily, her shaking
grew fiercer. “Devon I’m still going to be in on the fight. Once
they come, you will need our help, we’re going to be out there no
matter what.”

Cassie had to fight the urge to take a
step back as he leaned even closer to her. Her heart flipped wildly
as pressed his face nearly against hers. For the first time, she
was actually a little afraid of him, and the intensity that blazed
from him. She had never seen him like this, she didn’t know what
had brought it about, but she sure as hell didn’t like it. She
hated to be intimidated, but she was, and she had never thought
that Devon would be the one doing the intimidating.

“Not you.”

Cassie’s mouth dropped, strange
sputtering noises escaped her. “Like hell!” she snapped.

“None of you will be out
there.”

“What!? Are you kidding me! Of course
we will!” everyone exploded at the same time.

“No,” Devon replied crisply. “Julian
and I will take care of this.”

Cassie gaped at him, shock and horror
leaving her immobile. “Devon, you can’t handle them all. That’s a
suicide mission, why would you want to do that?” Cassie
whispered.