Wasteland (18 page)

I twisted the hand of another demon and sunk my fangs into his forearm. He howled, exposing his neck, and I slashed.

More dust.

My knee cracked into place, and I hobbled to my feet, head throbbing and heart hammering. The sulfur laced dust and ash tainted the fresh, evening air.

Three demons inched back as I charged from the house. Bright light flashed from the one window beside the door, and it bounced off the neighboring brick building.

I lunged at the three and slid my pointed nails along their throats. Momentum forced me into a summersault, and I jumped to my feet. The ring of clashing swords rent the air. I sprinted ahead but snuck a glance over my shoulder at the Guardian’s house. White light illuminated the cracks in the wooden door the swords and daggers had mutilated.

The rays flooded out, cutting through the early morning darkness surrounding the small structure. Jessica’s time must have come. My human instinct to help Beka drove me forward. I would get Beka and bring her to Jessica and end this.

I bolted toward the span of trees at the end of the lot. I burst through the foliage and into the sprawling front yard of a mansion. A driveway split the middle of the gravel landscaping. Beka battled three demons. Two more approached from behind.

I leapt toward the two and blasted my fists through their chests. Hot flesh and thick blood coated my hands lodged in their chest cavities. One twist removed their dead hearts. I tossed their organs to the ground and finished them with my nails across their necks.

Beka faced me. “David.”

A silver blade skewered her gut from behind. Glancing at me had cost her a sword through the stomach.

A shade of red tainted my vision.

Two long strides, and I was by her side, slashing the face of one demon. The other swiped at my neck, his nails snagging skin on my cheek. His other hand rushed me, but not to hit. He aimed the collar to snap it around my neck. I ducked.

Something pierced my shoulder, my thigh. Beka gasped and metal clanked against metal.

I sagged to one knee, still slashing my hand at one of the demons. Beka must be getting the third with her blade. So many demons. We needed Russell.

Beka groaned, demanding my focus. Her chest beamed. Bright white light beamed from her mouth and blanched her eyes.

“Beka!” The demon staggered away from her, stunned. But the two on me charged on with their attacks.

I reached for the one with the collar and cuffed his wrist. He posed the most threat. I planted the heel of my foot in the chest of the other one. He landed four feet away. I cranked the collar-holding demon’s arm back behind him and shoved his face into the ground. I snatched the collar and tossed it, knowing I couldn’t destroy the thing. I grabbed his blade and detached his head. The other demon ran to Beka, eyeing the light show.

She faced me, eyes white as fresh snow. No more sea-green irises. Paralyzed by the bright sight, the demons crumbled to their knees, making for easy prey as I relieved them of their heads with well-timed flicks of my deadly nails.

Another dash of light burst through the tree line separating the property from the parking lot. It was Jessica, followed closely by Abraham. She ran at supernatural speed toward us, her chest and eyes glowing exactly like Beka’s.

That was the first time I’d seen Jessica move on her own volition. Her long, red hair flowed behind her as if facing a strong wind. She fixed her gaze on Beka. Although still in my demonic form, Beka reached for me. “David.”

My human form emerged before I’d commanded. I brushed my fingertips against hers. Her glowing skin combusted at my touch.

“What’s happening?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.” I scanned her body for injuries. “Are you okay?”

“I thought you’d left.” Tears streamed down her radiant face.

“I was. Russell found me. How are you here?” I twined my fingers with hers, palm to palm. The heat emanating from her penetrated my skin to the point of agony. But I endured the contact not wanting to release her ever again. My heart hammered my ribs, squeezing the air from my lungs. Lilac swirled around me, imprinting her scent within me.

“Club. Attacked.” She looked toward Jessica. “Had to get her to safety.”

Her gaze fell on me again. “My David. You will be with me always.”

Her light pulsed, searing my eyes. The heat equaled that of punishment. I stepped away no longer able to withstand the ache her touch provoked. My darkness recoiled from her Light. Another reminder of what kept us apart.

She turned to Jessica again and leaned toward her.

“Go.” I gasped, working to catch my breath. “You must go to her.”

She nodded. “Come with me.”

“You first.” I motioned to her to go. She faced Jessica and ran.

Each step she took from me, the pain lessened. And my heart ached. A cool breeze soothed my fevered skin.

Jessica fell into Beka’s embrace, and they crumbled to their knees. Their light, rivaling the sun, encapsulated them. I brought my hands up to shield my eyes. My heel caught a rock and hard ground cracked against my butt. My throat closed, like my invisible collar morphed into a noose.

Beka.

Abraham knelt before the glowing females as if paying homage.

Pain seared down my spine.
What is happening?

Jessica peeled out from Beka’s embrace and looked to Abraham, then me. The glow between her and Beka dimmed, save a circle of light radiating from beneath their shirts, over their hearts.

Jessica’s long, red hair flowed as if still running or met a gust of wind. But the trees behind her remained still. She pulled her shoulders wide and stood tall, her glowing eyes never blinking, only staring at me. She pointed and Beka nodded. They clasped hands as they approached.

I pushed myself to my knees, heart throbbing, demon howling.
Hold on, David.

The color returned to Beka’s eyes, yet the light on her chest flashed like a strobe. I felt it because it matched how my heart beat.

Blood pulsed my eardrums. I looked to the ground and pounded my thighs. Anything to distract from the ache. It had to be Beka’s blood within me. Or maybe Jessica was healing me.

Please let it be true.

Only ten feet from me, Jessica pointed at me and picked up her pace. “I must touch him.”

Compelled by her commanding voice, I stood and reached for her. Only five feet separated us. The joy and peace radiating from the two women rolled over me, giving me a taste of what I would have if only I touched her hand.

I have longed for this for centuries. I could face life as a human, as long as it was demon free. I would take it.

Two feet.

Thundering pain coursed through my body. A raging river roared in my head. My heart burst into a sprint, and my pulse throttled my ears. My legs and arms morphed into concrete appendages, heavy and tired.

But I hadn’t touched her yet.

“I call your contract due.” Master’s deep voice echoed in my ears.

My knees buckled, and the ground rushed forward. Fire licked at all parts of my skin. I morphed into my demonic side without command and grated my chest trying to put out the flame. It had never been so intense before.

So immediate.

Then, the familiar clank of metal, chased by an instant squeezing in my neck, quaked through my body. My shoulder met the rocks of the gravel yard, piercing my skin.

“No,” Beka screamed.

Jessica leapt, hand outstretched. I groped the ground for her, but she crumbled beneath the weight of one of Master’s Elite guards. Inches separated our fingers.

“Beka.” My voice cracked beneath the pressure of the choker.

The ring of blades clashing surrounded me, but my limbs grew too heavy to move. Paralyzed by the collar circling my neck, I lay pinned to the ground, inches from my salvation. My fangs descended, and I stabbed them into my lip. Salty tears melded with the metallic blood.

Russell landed in front of me and swung his weapon, beheading the demon wrestling Jessica.

“Get me to the demon,” she said.

He faced me, his eyes wide and reached for Jessica.

A set of iron fingers clamped my ankle and yanked me back. I scratched my nails into the hard ground trying to stop myself. “Beka.”

But the collar weakened me. A sharp strike to the head triggered flashing white lights. Darkness quickly followed but not before I heard Beka screech my name.

Something I had better get used to, because in solitary, between the scalding torture, that scream would haunt me for the next two-hundred and fifty years.

CHAPTER 27

“I see you have chosen not to resist my guards, son.”

I allowed the two Elite Guards to manhandle me, pushing me toward Master. My hands were bound behind me, and I wore the collar, so I really didn’t have much choice. Not that it mattered. I’d missed my chance with Jessica and Beka. Distracted by their beaming light and the desire to be human, I neglected to see the threats approaching behind.

Thankfully Russell had shown up. He surely would have protected them. And Abraham was there. I had to trust Beka and Jessica were safe. My mind would shatter if I thought any differently.

“Still the silent one.” Master rose from the chair hidden behind the massive, mahogany desk.

The office was different than the one I knew back at the manor in New York. Daylight flooded the room from a wall of picture windows to his left. A sea of rooftops lay before me.

Bookshelves lined the walls from the floor to the ceiling. Behind me sat a full bar, complete with an ice bucket and four short glasses.

Master liked his comforts.

“New office?” I asked.

He motioned the soldiers holding me toward a set of chairs facing the desk. They hauled me to them and plopped me down. Master’s witches must have increased the collar’s magic, because I’d never felt so weighted. Like lead flowed through my veins.

“You have been with me more than four hundred years, son, yet you eye me with such contempt.”

“I’m not your son.”

He bared his canines. The creamy skin at the corner of his albino-red eyes creased as a smile stretched across his thin, onyx lips.

An image of Beka flashed in my brain, and I shook my head. It would be a long quarter millennia with that slipping into my mind so often. I wasn’t sure how many days had passed since I’d last seen her.

“You’ve proven yourself quite strong to resist the Queen’s advances, son.”

Beka.

“The Queen of the Guardians is quite a prize, and it seems she had her eyes on you.” He sneered. “Although I question her judgment if she fell for a demon like you.”

“You know of her?”

“Of course. Why do you think I pulled you out early and threw you to the wolves? I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist the scantily dressed women of the desert. They reveal much in their attempts to stay cool in the heat.” Master rounded the side of the desk. He leaned on the front edge, facing me. His thin arms creased his crisp, alabaster silk shirt as he crossed them over his chest. “But once again, you did not fall. Did not come to full acceptance of your fate to be a demon.”

“You planned all of this?”

“Not the part where you fell into favor with the Guardian Queen. You were to have found a woman, mate with her and forgo your humanity,
then
kill the Queen and her precious little Jessica.” Master bared his long teeth. “Instead, you protected her, turned over the Mark to our enemies, and killed your fellow demon.
For her
. Did she brainwash you?”

I huffed and hung my head low. The metal clamping my wrists behind my back dug into my skin. Better get used to it. Much more discomfort to come.

Long fingers gripped my face, his nails digging into my cheeks. Master forced me to look into his demonic red, glowing eyes. His rancid breath stung my nose. “I cannot kill you. But your sentence will be carried out with the fullest extent of pain allowed.”

“Why do I frighten you so?”

He pushed me away by my chin and my back slammed against the chair. “You do no such thing.”

“Gage said otherwise.”

That earned me a stinging slap across the face. I ground my teeth, fighting the demon that wanted to emerge. It would do no good, the constricting collar kept my power at bay. Not that I could have killed Master. Only Lucifer was stronger than Master.

“Why can’t you kill me?”

“I would, and believe me, I want to, but your contract protects you, you know this. But I will be very creative with your confinement this time.” He leaned in close again, his sulfuric breath gagging. “The next time you emerge, you will run to the nearest female and ravage her, sealing your fate as my demon son. Then you will be fair game to kill should you defy me once, even in the smallest way.”

Saliva gathered beneath my tongue, and I spit at his face.

He spewed his rancid breath over me and backed away, wiping the side of his face with a white kerchief he’d plucked from his breast pocket. “Why Father allowed a clause in your contract is beyond me.” He waved at the guards. “Take him away.”

The thugs hoisted me to my feet by my armpits.

“Wait,” I said. “What if I were to offer to convert fully to your ways?”

“Stop,” he ordered.

The demons turned me, but I focused on the floor.

“Let me speak to my true son. I do not negotiate with humans.”

I scrutinized the demons flanking me. Their red skin, long, pearly teeth, and black eyes a reflection of me in my demon form. Could I stand to be like that forever, only taking human form as a mask when needed to mingle in public?

The beast writhed as I considered my options.
Do it.
Either two hundred and fifty years in solitude again, or I could morph into the demon one last time and remain that way.

Master tipped back and pressed a button on the phone. Within seconds a door behind the desk opened and a woman sashayed through. An emerald green dress, covering little of her private parts, clung to her slender body. Long, cascading hair draped over her, hugging the curves of her ample breasts.

“David,” Master said.

I let the burn engulf my heart, and I morphed into my demon.