RW1 Ravyn's blood (21 page)

“Thank you for putting me up like this, Alexander. I do appreciate it,” the Prince of the demon realm said humbly. Alex nodded in acknowledgement, but his eyes were only for Dageus.

“What is he doing?” Alex asked as Dageus drew a circle on the floor of the theater. Salvatore chuckled at his curiosity.

“The circle stands for unity. He’s doing old demon magicks, attempting to locate his brothers. With their bond, he shouldn’t need this but something has been interfering with their bond lately. It’s sporadic at best and nonexistent at worst.”

“Can he do demon magicks if he isn’t a demon?” Alex wondered as Kal finished drawing the circle.

Salvatore frowned. “He shouldn’t be able to. That’s strange.” He seemed to ponder it for a moment. “Were either of his parents of demon origin?”

Alex shrugged. “God only knows. He was adopted by my brother when he was very young. I have no clue what his heritage is.”

A light flared to life at the center of the room, momentarily blinding both Salvatore and Alex.

“What the hell is that?” Alex growled. Salvatore just smiled.

“I found them!” Dageus crowed triumphantly. He snatched up his sword and strapped it to his back. “I’ve got to go,” he said, jumping to his feet. Worry creased his brow and caused his jaw to twitch.

“Be careful, my love,” Alex said, gripping his arm as he passed. Dageus turned and gave him an encouraging smile.

“I’ll be back sooner than you know it,” Dageus said, kissing the Master vampire. He was out the door before Alex could muster a reply.

* * * *

Hold on guys
, Dageus said, trying to force the message across space to his brothers. Silence answered him. Come on, he thought desperately as he pushed the BMW to dangerously high speeds on the open highway at almost two a.m. He hated being without real powers. He felt useless, almost like when… His mind trailed off as he sped toward destiny.

“Please stop! Please! In the name of God, stop!” He was being held against the demon’s chest with an ease that was pathetic.

“Hush, little one.” The demon growled, pushing away his flailing hands.

“You bastard!” Kal screeched.

The demon whispered an incantation that Kal didn’t recognize, and it caused him to jackknife with desire. Suddenly he was desperate for touch, and he plastered himself onto the demon’s body. The demon Master chuckled.

“I’ll take this one.” The slave Master pushed him to his knees, and he eagerly began to lick and suck at his exposed cock.

He tasted so good he couldn’t help but practically beg for him. He was jerked up by his waist-length auburn hair and bent over a conveniently placed auction block. The slave Master slathered the crack of his ass with something sticky.

“Please,” he begged, angling his hips to give the slave Master access.

“I’ll pay whatever you want. He’s too damn responsive not to install at my business,” the slave Master said to someone beyond Kal’s range of sight.

Money changed hands quickly, and then he was being filled with a thick cock. A face flashed through Kal’s mind, and tears fell down his cheeks. He moaned all the same, helpless against the demon’s superior magick.

Headlights blinded Dageus, causing him to swerve out of the road. “Shit!” he said, overcorrecting and nearly sending the car into a median. This whole gaining his memory back thing was seriously putting a damper on his riding to the rescue.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled into a parking lot next to a supposedly empty warehouse. They were here. He knew it to the core of his being. He turned off the car at the far end of the lot and sighed. “Here we go,” he said to himself.

He tried to summon his magicks and failed.
I’m human
.
I can’t summon magicks. I don’t have any
. His memory showed him all too well how pathetically human he was.

Brother.
Tony’s strong voice echoed through his mind. Curious, Kal reached through the webbed networks of his mind and found the cord that connected him to his brothers. He felt the bond flare to life and then dissipate once more. He growled in frustration.

Brother, you’ve got to stop doubting yourself
. Again, Tony’s voice acted like an anchor for him.
Ever since you joined the brotherhood, you’ve doubted your worthiness. Judgment isn’t wrong. You belong with us. Trust yourself and your powers. You can’t reach us because you doubt in your heart that we are truly your brothers. Let go, Dageus. Kalel, just let go
. The whispered command was enough.

Dageus closed his eyes and called the memories to him, not just those of his past but those memories in which his brothers were everything to him. He watched himself through new eyes as, in his memories, he grew to love the brotherhood. He smiled to himself and reached for Tony.

I’m coming, Tony. I’m coming
. The bond slid into place, and a sense of peace swirled through them all. Finally, the two halves of Dageus’s life were together.

* * * *

“Joey, go see what the fuck that is,” the shifter leader demanded as sounds of violence filled the echoing tin walls. Germany’s bruised and battered body hung from the rope that suspended him for abuse. No one but the brothers saw the feral grin that twisted his broken lips. A scream followed a few minutes later, and the sounds of pounding footsteps caused all the Ravyns to watch the door expectantly. Four shifters crowded around their leader and started to shift into their feral forms.

The pounding footsteps stopped, and every being in the room held their breath. The door swung open to reveal an empty hallway.

“What the hell?” one of the shifters growled.

“Check it out,” the leader said, nudging the one who had spoken toward the door. Hesitantly, he approached.

Crack!
The feral hyena fell to the ground, missing his head. The shifters growled uneasily. The Ravyns were ready when a blur of something separated the shifters into two distinct groups, slashing the chains that held the Ravyns. Druas took one side of the room, Tony the other, and Allasandro took the middle. Germany slumped to the floor in a heap, unable to move.

The battle ensued. The Ravyns, weakened from their lack of bonding, were only able to provide the energy needed to conjure up their powers and use them as weapons against the onslaught. The Ravyn bond was both a gift and a curse. If one could access it freely, it held unimaginable power, but without the constant renewal of their bond it created weakness within each individual.

Dageus slashed his way to Germany’s side. The shifters fell under the weight of the Ravyns’ relentless force. The leader was the last one standing. Dageus felt the demonic rage that the Ravyns were famous for. He felt the power well within him like a fountain, and the other Ravyns howled with approval. The bond within them solidified as if their souls had been waiting to see if they were truly as loyal as they pledged to be. Tony grabbed Dageus’s arm as he raised his sword for a killing blow.

“He’s the one who hurt Germany. Both times,” Tony growled. “You make him pay for it.”

Dageus’s demon self growled the affirmative. Allasandro lifted Germany by the waist and helped him stand. The ground where he’d been laying was stained with red. Dageus grabbed the hilt of his sword and slashed the back of the shifter’s knees with one fell swoop. The shifter cried out and fell.

“You have made my brother suffer. You have stolen his dignity, but you will never steal his glory,” Dageus said, viciously making cuts underlying each individual word as he spoke.

The shifter gazed up into the demon’s eyes pleadingly. Dageus motioned Germany and Allasandro forward. He took Germany from Allasandro’s grip and put the sword in Germany’s nerveless fingers. Though his body was weak, his eyes blazed with Ravyn’s fire.

“Shall we take his life, my brother?” Dageus asked, his face inches from his brother.

“Yes,” Germany said, his normally musical voice gritty and raspy.

“He has been judged,” Dageus said, taking the sword and with the combined strength of his brother thrust it home.

The shifter gave a weak sound of protest before collapsing to the ground. Sounds of victory filled the warehouse as the Ravyns celebrated the bloodshed and the battle they’d won.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Feral noises, chanting, shouts, and something akin to music filled and echoed in the halls of Alex’s home. It sounded like a drunken frat party had mated with a demonic soccer hooligan and produced a guttural, screaming, foreign–language-chanting baby.

“What in the bloody hell is that?” Alex asked, looking up from his copy of
Euripides
. Salvatore, who was sitting across from him, let out a yelp of joy and jumped to his feet. He threw back his head and howled in a most demonic fashion.

“What? What the hell is going on?” Alex stood, panicking at the thought of something being wrong. “Is Dageus all right? They sound like a fucking high-school football team. What the hell is going on!” Alex screamed.

“They have won the battle, vampire!” Salvatore said, crossing the room toward the heavy door. “When they call me the Prince of Roses, they’re referring to the crown bestowed on a demon King when he wins a major battle in war.”

“That’s what they were yelling?” Alex asked incredulously. “Sounded like they were screaming nonsense. I don’t speak demon.”

Salvatore sniffed. “Demon is not a language. It’s a species. They’re speaking the demonic tongue of the royal court, my court.”

The door to Salvatore’s room swung open with enough force to almost slam shut once again. Booted feet kicked it open. Alex jumped, his fangs elongated, and his nails extended like a cat. Ravyns stumbled into the room, golden eyes flashing as they continued to sing loudly. Salvatore embraced them and joined into the next chorus, switching to English.

“Victory! Victory! Victory! All together! The Prince of the Roses heard our cry!

Where the hell did your enemy go? They went to Demontia to Die!”

Alex observed their camaraderie with a little bit of disbelief and a little bit of envy. Dageus was in the middle of the throng, helping Allasandro hold up the injured brother. Druas and Tony were passing a bottle of what looked to be wine back and forth between them. The other boys had obviously imbibed quite a bit of the elixir already.

“Dageus saved our asses, my Prince!” Tony crowed. They were all healed by the bond that he had reignited at the shifters’ lair. Druas howled his agreement.

“Toast for my brother true! May your loyalty never be questioned again!” Allasandro added, taking the bottle from Druas and tipping the bottle up in a mock salute. Salvatore took the bottle and toasted deeply to that.

“And,” Tony said, swiping the bottle, “to your new lover. If he ever hurts you, may he burn in eternal hellfire. We’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth, you vampire bastard! May you make him as happy as he makes us.” They all cheered uproariously for that. Alex was relieved they were all right and quietly took his leave after getting back slaps and congratulations from all the brothers. He let them share their victory. The vampire had no real place among them. Besides, he much preferred to spend his day with a nice book than a frat party anyway.

* * * *

Dageus was exhausted by the time they all managed to rest. They celebrated until the sun caused the vampires of the house to retreat to their daytime lairs. Drunk and happy, they piled into Salvatore’s bed like a bunch of puppies, healing each other with their powers, both physically and mentally. Germany was the last and the slowest to heal, but with their renewed power they managed it in under half an hour. They lay awake chatting until the noonday sun caused them all to yawn in exhaustion.