Lover's Betrayal: Misfits of the Lore Series (31 page)

“Please, Julian. Don’t let him kill me again. He forced me to leave you, to leave my love.”

“Julian, she’s lying,” Olivia pleaded. “Before you arrived she was declaring her love for Kaden and now she’s manipulating you.”

“You weren’t there back then when Kaden stole her from me. He took her away just like Dad took you away from Lucian. Of course you would side with Kaden, Mother, but it’s not that hard to believe he would force her to be with him. He’s just like Dad.”

“Yes, Julian, he did force me.” Helena batted her unnaturally long eyelashes.

Olivia could see Julian’s body starting to freeze. He was summoning his ability and preparing for an attack, no doubt directed at his brother. “Julian, think about this for a minute. Even if Kaden did all those horrible things to her, that doesn’t justify her killing all those innocent women. She’s the killer we have been tracking, Julian. She’s no innocent. She needs to be stopped.”

“I have paid,” Helena cried. “I will never be the same because of Kaden. My appearance is forever ruined. I’m destroyed. Help me, Julian.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Jules!” Kaden shouted, sensing Julian’s imminent attack.

“You never pay for what you do. You ruin lives and get away with every time. Mom bails you out or you charm your way out of trouble. You never suffer the consequences, but all of us pay because of you. Over and over again, we pay for you. No more.” Julian launched a frozen ice in the shape of a dagger at Kaden’s throat. Kaden ducked, but part of it grazed the side of his face. Heat radiated from his body, melting the ice that managed to pierce his flesh. Kaden tossed Helena to the ground and pounced on Julian. Before Reysa could grab her, another pair of hands seized the blonde.

“Still causing trouble, sis?”

Lucian and Lorenzo struggled to pull the dueling brothers apart while Olivia focused on the stranger who was currently holding a struggling Helena. No not a stranger after all. A familiar face she had seen only one time, but would never forget. “Liam?”

“Yes, princess. It is I. I wish I didn’t have to see you again under such inhospitable circumstances, but unfortunately, this one was wreaking havoc again and needed to be stopped.”

“She’s your sister?”

“Half-sister,” Liam replied as he nonchalantly dangled his raving sister by her throat. “I’m convinced it’s the fault of some genetic mistake, but we were spawned from the same demonic father.”

“Did you know she was the one we were looking for?”

“Suspected, but did not know for sure until one of my spies discovered her presence in town. Then it made perfect sense.”

“Can you make sense out of this for the rest of us?”

“For you, gorgeous, I will do anything.”

Lucian put his arms around Olivia’s waist, pulling her tightly to him. Liam just smiled at the display of possession.

“What would you like to know first, Olivia?”

“Where do we begin? What is she and why did she do all this?”

“Abridged or unabridged version?”

“Something in between would be nice.”

Liam winked, irritating Lucian even more. “My half-sister is a pretty powerful and remarkably evil succubus. She has spent a lifetime luring men to her web and then destroying them for kicks. Your sons provided good entertainment for her. She played with Julian for a while, and then moved on to Kaden. She prefers bad boys and Kaden appealed to her wicked side. She used her powers to control both of them, make them think they loved her. Well, almost. Kaden was not as cooperative. She couldn’t quite manipulate his emotions the way she could Julian’s. Kaden was a challenge and later became an obsession. She had to have him. She needed his love, but he would never give it to her. He couldn’t be controlled. He could give her sex, but no feelings. Stupidly and against my excellent advice, she agreed to be a vampire like him, thinking he would love her. Makes no sense, but she’s a bit crazy.”

“Go to hell!” Helena spat in his direction. Her newly grown hair tuned back into snakes that tried to bite Liam. He shifted position and used the tendrils to suspend her away from him.

“You first, princess.” Liam turned to Olivia unperturbed by his sister’s remonstration. The bites had no impact on him, but could temporarily paralyze other creatures, as they did Alejandro. “Anyhow, she convinced Kaden to transform her. I knew it wouldn’t work completely because a succubus’s blood would not mix with a vampire’s. That’s one combo that has never worked out well. No offspring of such a union has ever survived. We’re genetically incompatible, but sexually very compatible.” Liam winked again at Olivia. “All of our kind knows this. Helena knew this.” He bobbed Helena up and down by her hair. “You tell my sister not to do something and she’ll dive right it. As expected, the transformation was a disaster. She died and stayed dead for weeks. She lost her ability to mask her appearance with glamour and came back one repulsive-looking demon. No one wanted her around. She was bad for business. We need sex to survive, and she’s a sex deterrent.”

“You’re an incubus. That’s why you told me if you touched me you would have me no matter what I said.” Olivia could not help but wonder if the man standing before her was real or if his true appearance was something similarly hideous as his sister’s. Did he use glamour to transform himself from a beast to a young Laurence Olivier?

Liam grinned that dashing smile. “Exactly, princess.”

“I would have helped you, Helena.” Kaden stared into the eyes of the woman who had haunted his dreams for years. He could not get past the guilt of her death, and now she was standing here alive. “Why didn’t you tell me you were alive? Why cause all this pain?”

“I was ruined. You heard Liam. You would never have accepted me as the monster I had become because of you. I couldn’t stand by and watch you enjoy other women when I was the one you were supposed to love. None of this would have happened had you just loved me.”

Liam could see the guilt on Kaden’s face. “Don’t pity her, Kaden,” Liam warned. “This little devil has been a killing machine for six hundred years. The carnage she has left behind is unimaginable. No one would punish her, for she would just seduce them into letting her free whether man, woman, or beast. I hoped after this last disaster she would change, but to no avail. Now it’s time to end this. Since the great Council can’t manage to stop my sister, I will.”

Liam snapped her neck in two and dropped her to the ground. Julian rushed to her side while Kaden stared in horror. Liam pointed to Kaden. “Fire boy, char the remains -- otherwise, my sister may find a way to resurrect herself again.”

“I can’t believe you just killed her.” Olivia looked in horror at the lifeless body on the ground.

Liam pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaned his hands. “Someone had to do it and I should have done it years ago. Family loyalty goes only so far. She needed to be stopped. We don’t need to kill to survive. We need sex and the energy from sex to live, but we don’t have to kill. She killed for pleasure. She’s a danger to our whole race, let alone all immortals.”

“But she’s your sister?” Olivia stated as if Liam needed a reminder.

“Technically, but we’re not exactly a close family. My father will not be pleased, but I’ll deal with him and anyone else in my family who has a problem with this. Frankly, I doubt anyone other than my father will care. I’m not sorry for this, but I am sorry I didn’t deal with this sooner. It would have saved you much grief and those innocent women their lives.”

“Thank you, Liam.”

“Come to my club some time. Then you can thank me properly.” He smiled, then disappeared in the shadows.

III

Olivia, Lucian, and Kaden watched as Julian stood over the remains, staring down at the woman he once loved. “I need to burn the body.” Kaden walked over to Julian and put his hand on his shoulder. “Brother, let me finish this.” Julian turned to walk away, but Kaden stopped him. “I’m so sorry. She manipulated both of us, but I should have been able to resist her. My love for you should have been stronger.”

“That’s just it, Kaden. You don’t love me or care about anyone other than yourself. You hurt everyone you claim to love. I don’t need your kind of love.” Julian left as Kaden turned Helena’s body to ash.

Olivia and Lucian walked hand in hand in the woods away from the smell of smoke and the pain that was left behind. “I’m glad this is over, but I fear it will not be the end for the boys.”

Lucian agreed. “It will take time for them to make peace with each other. Julian’s hurting and it could take years before he reconciles what happened and finds the strength to move beyond it. The healing process can be quite long.” Lucian was all too familiar with how much time that process entailed, as was Olivia.

“Sometimes it never ends,” Olivia admitted. “The only way it will end for us, Lucian, is if there are no more secrets between us. I need to tell you everything now. If there’s any hope for us, there has to be truth first.” Olivia sat on a rock near the river and Lucian joined her. For several minutes they just watched the reflection of the stars on the water. It was a picturesque night despite the devastation that took place earlier. “For as long as I could remember, I knew you wanted to assume your father’s place on the Council. You had all these grand ideas of how you would make things better for immortals. I knew you could do it. I wanted so much for you to do it. I also selfishly wanted you more than I wanted to live, and I couldn’t let you go even if you lost it all. I told your father that.”

“My father?”

“He came to my home three nights before we had planned to run away together. I was so looking forward to our great escape. I wanted nothing more than to be free with you. To not have to love you in secret. Your father found out about our plans. I don’t know how, but he knew. He confronted my parents. He threatened to ruin them, and it wouldn’t take much to make them destitute. He made a deal with them. He offered to sell me to Daughton in exchange for a lifetime of financial security for them as long as I stayed away from you forever. My parents gladly accepted. The deal was made. They could not have cared less about me, and they were happy that I was finally worth something to them. They demanded I marry Daughton and leave you behind. I refused. My father beat me over and over again as if he could beat me into submission, but I didn’t care. He locked me in a chamber where the prisoners were kept. You were away, so my parents knew no one would find me for days. They starved me and tormented me, but I wouldn’t give in to them. I wouldn’t give you up. Finally, my mother freed me. She told me that if I left with you now, we would all be sorry. She reminded me of the play we saw and her warning that night. She kissed me on both cheeks and told me she was sorry, and then she let me go. I grabbed my bag and met you by our beach.”

Olivia stood up to face the water. The memories of that night had haunted her for years. She never spoke of them. Reliving her greatest pain was almost too much to bear. “Do you remember anything that happened that night?”

Lucian remembered too much of that night, but not enough. No matter how hard he tried to forget, the memories haunted him. He had been so excited that whole day. He would finally escape his parents’ pressure and he would no longer have to hide his feelings. He could love Olivia freely, have children with her, and have the life he craved. He would gladly walk away from the money, the power, his family -- if he could have his love. “I remember we said the sacred words, we went to our home in the cave, and we started to make love and complete our bond.” Lucian could not recall what happened after that, but awoke days later, his mind blank of any memories of what transpired the remainder of that dreaded night.

“We were so focused on each other that we didn’t hear your father’s men approach before it was too late. You tried to protect me, but they shot you with some drug that knocked you out. Then they seized me. I screamed, trying to reach for you, but they were too strong. Your father walked in and told his men to take you home. He turned to me and told me, ‘You were warned, slut, and now you’ll pay.’ They took me to Daughton’s home and locked me inside. Daughton appeared shortly thereafter and he told me that you would hang for stealing what was his. He had bought me from my parents as well as your father, which was his right. Running away with me was considered theft and you could hang for it. He assured me he would see you hang.”

“He couldn’t do that. We were mates. That supersedes any deal he struck with our parents. The Council…”

“Would not have helped us, Lucian. Your father was the Council. He would have rather watched you hang than to sully his family name with me. Your father helped Daughton. They both wanted the same thing—for us to be apart. Your father for prideful reasons, and Daughton because he hated you so much. He wanted to destroy you.”

Lucian paced around, kicking every stone or branch in his path. “He hated me because I had everything he wanted. No matter how much wealth he amassed, he would never be regarded the same as the Santoros. That fact needled him every day until he came up with a way to take the one thing that meant everything to me.”

“I still refused him. He was so angry. He started hitting me and using his power on me, but I didn’t care. I was a slave. Beatings were normal. My continual defiance incensed him to such a degree. He jumped on top of me and I could see the look in his eyes as realization sunk in. He could sense it was my breeding period. He told me he could ensure that you would never want me again. You would never want the woman that carried his child. He made sure I conceived.”

Lucian held Olivia even as she tensed from his touch. She kept her back to him so she would not have to see the shame in his eyes. She needed his comfort. Her body was trembling at the memory of that horrid night -- the night that was supposed to be the beginning of her future with Lucian, but all her hopes and dreams of the perfect family died that evening.

Lucian rested his cheek on her hair, trying to ease Olivia’s pain. He could feel the intensity of her agony and he wanted so much to take it away, but there was nothing he could do but hold her until she felt safe again, until his love could soothe her torment.