Inferno (Book 4 The Kindred Series) (34 page)

“I’m fine,” she assured him. Though she
desperately wanted to share that experience with him again, she
didn’t want him to think that he had hurt her.

“I took a lot from you Cassie, and
there are shadows under your eyes. You need my blood.”

Cassie was silent for a moment, her
eyes latched onto the glistening drops of blood upon his wrist. For
a strange moment, hunger tore through her. The sight of that blood
did not repulse her as it should. Instead, it excited and enticed
her in a way that it never had before. Instead, she suddenly wanted
it for more than just a stronger bond with Devon, but because she
required it, craved it like a man in the desert craved
water.

Confusion and surprise whirled through
Devon’s eyes, but before he could question her, she grasped his arm
and bent her mouth to him. She knew that once the bond was sealed,
all doubts and questions would fade away as their minds mingled
together. His hand wrapped around the back of her head as he held
her tight, his fingers weaving into her hair.

Cassie closed her eyes, a soft moan of
ecstasy escaping before she could stop it. His blood was delicious,
wonderful, filling in a way that it never had before. She could
feel his confusion and fear over her reaction to it, but he did not
pull away. Instead he held her tighter, whispering reassuring words
to her as her own panic and fear began to build. This wasn’t
normal, it just wasn’t, but at the moment she couldn’t bring
herself to care.

She fell into him, allowing his
thoughts and love to entwine her in a warm cocoon of security and
adoration. His mind opened to hers, she had experienced a similar
sensation the last time they had exchanged blood, but this was far
different as she was sucked into him. For a moment panic filled
her, she tried to revolt, tried to pull away before she was
ensnared completely in the whirlwind of his mind.

“It’s ok,” Devon whispered. “It’s ok,
don’t fight it. You need to see.”

Cassie didn’t know what it was that she
needed to see, but as he held her tighter, pulled her closer, she
knew that this was something that he wanted from her. Pushing her
fear and panic aside, Cassie allowed herself to float, to drift and
mingle with his mind more intensely than she ever had before. And
then suddenly she was there, where he wanted her to be, in his
life, feeling what he wanted her to feel, living what he wanted her
to live.

She was there, with him, as a young
child with black hair, and wide green eyes. He was skinny and
gangly and awkward, but amazingly adorable with his dimples and two
missing teeth. He was so full of hope and mischief and exuberance.
Until his father’s drinking started to get out of control, and his
father’s anger was turned on him. Until his mother was beaten while
trying to protect her youngest son, and his brother turned his back
on Devon’s frightened cries. Until all of his hope and mischief
were destroyed beneath his father’s heavy fist and only anger,
resentment, and hatred were left to fester within him.

When Devon escaped the cruelty, and
coldness of his home, he never wanted to look back, never wanted to
step foot on the property again. He was eager to be free, eager to
explore the world, and live the life of drudgery that he swiftly
adopted instead of going to the university.

And when Elizabeth found him, and
changed him, he had never been happier, never wanted anything more.
The misery and anger inside him helped to feed the thirst and
cruelty of the demon he became. He now had an outlet for all of the
rage and hurt that had festered inside of him, now had a way to
bury his misery in the joy and thrill of the hunt, and then the
kill.

Though he had vowed never to return
home, and though he thoroughly enjoyed his new life and all of the
power and excitement that it gave him, he found himself
inexplicably drawn back to his family’s massive country manor a few
years later. His father’s mind was rotten

from his many years of heavy drinking.
His brother however was young, healthy, and thoroughly enjoying his
new life, and the power that came with being Lord of the
Manor.

Devon watched him from the shadows of
the early night as Robert moved about ordering this servant here,
and that one there. Though Devon knew how alike they looked, he was
keenly reminded of the fact that their personalities had always
been complete opposites. Before he had become the monster he was
now, Devon had never enjoyed ordering people about, he had asked
for things when he needed help, or he had done it himself. In the
eyes of his father, and his brother, he had never been anything
more than a servant amongst these walls anyway. Never been anything
more than the unneeded and unwanted offspring and they had reminded
him of that fact on a daily basis.

He didn’t know what had drawn him back
here after all these years, didn’t know why he had returned to this
hated place, but he found himself oddly fascinated by it.
Captivated by the life that he had rejected, and that had rejected
him. He had been unable to get inside to see his father as he was
not invited, but he had found himself peering in the windows at the
man that had once terrified and brutalized him. He was now weak and
feeble. Found himself staring at the man that had beaten him to
within an inch of life more than a few times, but whom Devon could
now kill with a flick of his wrist. And yet he felt no desire to do
so. His father had ruined his childhood but now, in his old age, he
was paying for his excessive alcoholism and brutality. Devon had
never put much stock in God, but he felt the cosmic hand of fate at
work here, and he was satisfied with it.

Devon withdrew from the window, moving
swiftly through the night to the front of the manor. The windows
were lit with candles; inside he could hear the soft music of a
violin. His brother was having a small gathering, coaches and
horses were gathered up front. Liveried footmen stood silently by
them.

Though he was hungry, he would not hunt
or feed here. This was the last time he would ever come here, and
he would leave it the way he had found it. He would not sink to his
father or Robert’s level with spiteful acts of vengeance, they were
not worth it. He slipped through the gardens, so lost in his own
thoughts that he didn’t notice the couple stealing time amongst the
shadows until he was on top of them.

The women gasped in surprise, jerking
away from the embrace of her lover. Her eyes widened upon him, her
mouth dropping as she gaped at him. “Devon!”

Devon nodded to her. “Jane.”

He turned slowly, his eyes scanning
over his brother. Robert had always been bigger than him, thicker
through the shoulders, and broader in the chest. But either because
of what Devon had become, or just the normal process of adulthood
and genetics, Devon was now slightly taller than Robert, and
broader in the back and shoulders. Robert looked anything but happy
to see Devon as he studied him with open disdain, and his arms
folded firmly over his chest.

“Devon, is that really you?” Jane
whispered. Her hand was over her mouth now, her eyes wide as she
scanned him rapidly. Her surprise turned swiftly to keen interest
and desire. Jane, the neighbor’s daughter and Devon had once had a
fling, but apparently she had moved onto his brother when Devon had
left.

“We had thought you dead,” Robert said
softly.

Devon’s mouth curved into a harsh
smile. “Not even death could keep me down,” he told him, trying
hard not to laugh at the confused look on Robert and Jane’s
faces.

Robert shook his head, his eyes
narrowing. “What are you doing here?”

Devon shrugged, holding his hands out
before him. “I just wished to see my loving family once
more.”

Jane glanced at Robert, her eyes
widened with fear as her survival instincts finally surged up to
bury her shock over seeing Devon again. Her head turned swiftly
back and forth between them as she sensed the hostility and growing
animosity there. “Will you be staying?” Robert inquired, ever the
gentleman.

“No.”

“Will you see father?”

“No.”

Robert frowned in confusion. He
expected Devon to be here for something, money, vengeance, shelter,
anything. But the fact that Devon was here for nothing was one that
Robert could not grasp, Robert was all about greed and self
satisfaction. “Where have you been?” Jane asked softly.

Devon shrugged as he slid his hands
into his pockets, his mouth curved in a cruel smile. “To hell and
back, but I greatly enjoyed the trip.”

Jane’s eyes widened even more; she took
a step back from him. Robert’s eyes were narrowed, questioning. He
didn’t understand this man before him, didn’t know where this new
Devon had come from, or what had helped to create him, but there
was a power surrounding him that Robert greatly wanted, admired,
and envied.

“I must be going now,” Devon told them,
offering his brother a sly smile as he tilted his head to the
side.

“Will we see you again?” Jane asked
eagerly.

Devon shook his head. “No. I will not
be returning here. I wish you both a good life.”

“Wait! Devon wait!” He turned slightly
back at Jane’s hurried cry. “Where will you be going?”

Devon couldn’t stop the large grin that
flashed over his face. “That’s the beauty of it. I’ll go wherever
the world, and time, can take me.”

They both looked completely confused,
but he expected them to be. Unlike him, they didn’t have eternity
to travel the world, to experience the wonder of life, and
especially the wonder of death. Devon slipped swiftly away, unaware
of the fact that Elizabeth had followed him to the manor, that she
had spied upon him, and been witness to the dislike amongst the
brothers.

He didn’t know that she would approach
Robert that night, and as vengeance for Devon leaving her, she
would also change Robert and set him lose upon the world. Set him
lose upon Devon.

Cassie clung tighter to him as his
fingers twined through her hair. His memories poured rapidly into
her, it was as if he was trying to purge himself of everything as
rapidly as he could. Trying to purge himself of all the horror,
fear, and hatred that had plagued his young life, and his later
years.

After his change, Robert had
slaughtered all of the servants at the manor, and their father. He
had then burnt the home to the ground, effectively severing all of
his ties with a life that had been kind to him, but that he had
despised all the same. Devon had not known of Robert’s change, or
the slaughter, until fifty years later when they had run across
each other again in Venice.

Though Devon had been beyond stunned to
see his brother alive, and untouched by age, Robert had been
prepared for the meeting, looking forward to it. He had in fact
been searching for Devon for a very long time. Robert had been the
obviously favored child of their father, the only one that
mattered, and he had also inherited his father’s vicious streak and
ingrained hatred for Devon. Even at his cruelest, Devon did not
have the depth of hatred, rage, and psychosis inside of him that
Robert possessed, and always would. Robert may not have been beaten
throughout his childhood, but he had longed to be the one doing the
beating.

When he had come across Devon though,
Robert had expected to come across the weaker brother that Devon
had once been. He had expected to find the beaten and broken
adolescent that had fled their family estate the first chance he’d
gotten. Robert had expected to come across a man that he could
torture and manipulate and brutalize to his endless pleasure,
before finally destroying him.

He had been sadly mistaken. Though
Devon only had eight years on Robert as a vampire, he was
inherently stronger, faster, and far more cruel and vicious than
Robert had ever fathomed. Robert had tracked Devon down in order to
abuse him; he had not expected to be the one getting beaten. He had
not expected to find his weak younger brother far stronger than he
was.

And his hated for Devon grew even more
after the encounter. He hated Devon for possessing a strength and
confidence that Robert would never know.

And when Julian entered the picture,
Robert became even more infuriated and volatile. There had been no
stopping Julian and Devon together, there was no way that Robert
could get to Devon. No way to destroy his younger brother like he
had always wanted to do.

Until now.

And now, Robert knew that the one way
to destroy his brother was to destroy Cassie, and he would do
everything in his power to make sure that was done.

Cassie pulled away from Devon, gasping
in a breath of air as the pulsation of memories pounding against
her ceased. Gasping in air as she tried to breathe around the tight
constriction in her chest. Tears burned her eyes, her heart ached
for Devon. Ached for the innocent boy he had once been, for the man
that boy had been turned into, for the monster the man had become,
and for the man who lay beneath her now, terrified that he was
going to lose her.

“Devon.”

He brushed the tears from her cheeks,
wiped his blood from her mouth. “I won’t let him hurt
you.”