Wrath: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 2 (34 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Hellion and I walked dazedly back into the bedroom. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled me to stand between his legs and laid his head on my chest. There was nothing remotely sexual about the action. This was about comfort.

“How in the name of all the gods will we stop her?” he muttered, eyes closed as I ran my fingers through his hair. “She’s a bloody
queen
and fae to boot.”

I was quiet, partly because I had no answers for him and partly because I was lost in thought. Was she the killer? It would have taken an inordinate amount of strength to nearly cut the heads off the girls, and if they struggled, it would have been all the worse for the attacker. Did Gaitha have that kind of strength? I wasn’t sure. “Hellion?”

“Hmm?” His voice was subdued, and he didn’t lift his head. Needing him more alert, I stopped rubbing his scalp and pulled his face up to look at me. He slowly opened solemn eyes and blinked.

“How physically strong are the fae? Particularly female fae.”

“Well, I’m not sure entirely since they’re so secretive. I know they’re stronger than the average human, and incredibly fast, though not as fast as a vampire.” He looked at me, brows drawing together. “Why? Does it make a difference if we’ve already figured out she’s guilty?”

“No, I suppose not. I just want to be sure.”

He stroked my arms and then stood, scooped me up and laid me down on the bed. Flipping up the foot blanket, he crawled in beside me and held me close. “The burden of justice is great. Plato said, ‘Not to help justice in her need would be an impiety’.“

I turned into him and buried my face in his chest as his arms came around me. “A man who quotes Plato? I’m a lucky girl,” I teased.

“Damn straight, and don’t you forget it, chit.” He stilled. “Of course, I believe we’re both lucky to have been brought together. Maddy, I—”

A knock at the door interrupted him, and he sighed and dropped his head to my shoulder in resignation. It seemed there was always someone at the nearest door when we had something significant to say to one another.

“What?” he snapped out in a loud voice.

“No need to growl, mate, it’s just me.”

Darius was here.

We sat in the parlor sipping a variety of drinks. Either vampires were quite fond of a glass of wine or what Darius was drinking
wasn’t
red wine. In that case, I didn’t want to be “paranormally enlightened.” Friendship would only take me so far. Hellion and I had opted for whiskey. Surprisingly, I’d developed quite a taste for the stuff of late.

“So how goes the investigation?” Darius asked from the corner where he lazed by the fire. He was well dressed as usual in fitted black pants that fell over buttery leather boots, a midnight blue silk shirt and a black leather coat that hung to his knees.

“Well enough,” Hellion answered. He was tense, and I wasn’t clear what the problem was. I knew
I
was tense because Darius had watched me get nasty with Hellion, and there’s nothing that says uncomfortable like being an unwilling victim of voyeurism. I sure as hell wasn’t going to bring it up now, though, not with Hellion already acting strange.

“Not willing to talk about it?” Darius pressed.

“Not yet,” I answered, glancing between the two men. “Besides, I thought you wanted plausible deniability.”

“Oh, I did.” He picked up his glass of wine and ran a finger around the rim, watching me closely. “That was until I found out Bahlin has been employing a certain wizard with questionable morals. Now I’m wondering if we shouldn’t take a closer look at things before someone else dies.”

“But…” I wasn’t sure what to say. Inexplicably, I still didn’t want Bahlin to be guilty. It was one thing to be disgusted with someone and entirely another to rain certain death down upon them.

Hellion thought to ask the more pertinent question. “Who’s the wizard?” His voice was cool and detached, not the friendly one I was used to hearing when these two spoke to each other.

“Hellion?” I asked.

“Later. Who’s the wizard?” he asked again.

“Connell Darach.”

Hellion clenched the glass he was holding so tightly I was scared he’d break it. I reached to remove it from him and he snapped, “Leave it.”

I jerked my hand back as if he’d struck it. “I’m not a damned dog, Hellion. Set the glass down before you shatter it or don’t, but don’t expect me to help pick glass out of the hand if you cut it up.” I stood and walked to the bookcase, leaving my back turned toward the men as I fought to gain control of my anger and self-doubt. Like Bahlin, was Hellion going to change the way he behaved since I’d admitted I loved him?

Darius’s voice was like a hand brushed across velvet when he spoke, saying, “He’s angry because Connell is one of his primary adversaries. He’s probably the one man on the planet who could challenge Hellion for his position as Europe’s Coven Master and his position on the High Council…and win.” His voice went from soft to sharp, taunting.

“He’d try but he’d no succeed,” Hellion snarled, his brogue slipping into the conversation.

“What’s with you two?” I asked, turning around to find they’d both stood up and taken a step toward each other. I pointed at Darius. “You need to stop being a prick. Seriously.” Turning to Hellion, I said, “And you, you need to stop rising to the bait.” I shook my head and muttered, “Everyone needs one asshole, and I was born with mine. How did I suddenly end up with two extra?”

Darius snorted and said, “My apologies, Maddy.” He sat back down, dropping his head into his hands as if he had a headache. “I’m not sure what’s come over me lately. It’s true I desire you, and greatly, but Hellion’s been my friend for too long to allow things to escalate to such a point, and so quickly.” He rubbed his forehead and I looked down, belatedly realizing his coat had fallen open. Darius was sporting a serious…
whoa
.

He snorted, and I belatedly remembered his little gift of mind reading.
Get out of my mind, you giant tick
, I thought, concentrating on mentally pushing him away.

He tipped his wine glass toward me and flashed fang when he smiled.

What was it with everyone jockeying for position where I was concerned? I felt like a queen on a chessboard, with everyone circling around me and trying to figure out how to find the best way to knock me down, knock me out or take me off the board for good.
I shook my head, disgusted.

“I want to know what’s going on that has you so, um, wound up,” I said, blushing and waggling a hand in Darius’s general direction. “Something clearly isn’t right here. If you take a second to tone down the testosterone, you’ll see it too.”

“’Right’ how, Maddy?” Darius moved a step back and set his glass down before lacing his hands behind his head.

“You’re acting like I’m a prize to fight over. I’m not sure what brought this on, but you need to quit.” I looked at Darius, pointedly holding his gaze.

Hellion quietly watched the byplay. He startled us when he spoke. “Something is clearly out of sorts. I believe it has to do with you,
anamchara
, though I’m not sure what it is. Darius, I’ll ask you as a friend to respect the relationship I have with her. She’s off limits.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Darius muttered. “And I’ll agree something is out of sorts. It centers around you, Maddy, like some sort of primal pull. I’ve never felt anything like it.” Shaking his head, he stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’m fine.”

In an effort to get the conversation back on track, I turned it back to Darius. “So where is this Connell guy?”

“At the risk of sounding like a smartass, I’ll say he’s likely wherever Bahlin is.” Darius rubbed his forehead and took several deep breaths. It took me a moment to realize what was wrong with that picture. Vampires don’t have to breathe more than a few times a minute unless they were talking or scenting. We were talking, but not that much.

Hellion stood and moved up behind me, wrapping his arms around me so quickly I jumped. Darius stopped rubbing his head and stared at us.

“Darius, whatever is happening is beyond your control at the moment. I believe it’s in your best interest to leave and let me and Maddy sort this out.”

“Right. I know exactly what you’ll be ‘sorting out’,“ Darius bit out, grabbing his glass and hurling it into the fireplace where it exploded into a million fragmented pieces. “You’ll be sorting out who’s on top.” His voice was low and threatening.

A breeze rustled through the room as Hellion breathed deeper and gathered his power around him. He roughly set me aside as he faced the vampire. “Darius, Child of Lilith, I will not ask you again to leave this place,” Hellion said, his voice booming around the room as if amplified.

“Stop!” I bellowed, stepping between the two men. Hellion’s power danced across my skin like thousands of tiny, painful pinpricks, but it was secondary to my memories. Flashbacks of the fight that had, ultimately, permanently separated me from Bahlin flashed across my mind like snapshots: Hellion entering the room; Bahlin fighting with him; the two of them going out the window; the feeling I’d had when I thought Bahlin was dead. “Stop,” I said softly, and Hellion’s power abated as he realized what I was reliving. Darius, however, didn’t back down. Instead, he bared his fangs and hissed at Hellion, his humanity folding away as the creature he was sought to satisfy some wrong it thought done to it.

Hellion snapped his hand out and a small orb hung between us, pulsing like a heart beats. “Do not make me do this, Darius,” Hellion said gently. But Hellion’s blood was pumping too hard and too fast for Darius to let go of its siren’s embrace.

Darius must have made some movement because Hellion grabbed me and turned, putting himself between the orb and me just as it flashed to a blinding light. A heartbreaking scream rent the air, and I grabbed onto Hellion as the light extinguished. Seeing spots, I tried to get my bearings. A horrible smell was creeping through the room, rising lazily like heat off pavement, and I realized what had happened. The light that had been given off had burned Darius, and it was his cooked skin I smelled. Pushing away from Hellion, I tried to get to Darius but Hellion wouldn’t let me go.

“Mark!” he yelled. “Bring the first aid kit and a blood donor.” How he knew Mark was in the vicinity was anyone’s guess.

“Let me go, Hellion.” I pulled but he wouldn’t release me.

“No,
anamchara
. I won’t have you see him like this. He’ll heal; you might not. I’ll feed him my own blood if I have to, and with the blood and a night’s rest he’ll be restored completely. Trust me. Please. The next thing to have happened would have been a fight. I would avoid that all costs because I can’t restore him to what life he has left him.” His voice was pleading.

I didn’t really want to see Darius, only to help him. If Hellion promised me he’d see him well, there was no reason for me to look other than to torture myself. But I was curious about the argument itself. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, but rest assured I’ll be finding out. We’ve never come against each other before, so this makes no sense.” He sighed and ran his hands through his hair before holding them out to look at them critically. “They hold such power, and power in the wrong hands is deadly. Connell’s hands are the wrong hands.” Hellion bent and kissed me quickly as Mark walked into the room. “Go now, Maddy. I’ll see him taken care of, and he’ll stay here to heal. I promise you this.”

“Come to me as soon as you’re able?” I turned to leave the room, making an effort to keep my eyes from the corner where Darius lay. Already Mark and another coven member were taking care of him.

“As soon as Darius is well-situated,
mo chroí
. Nothing will keep me away.”

I nodded and left the room, feeling all the while like a coward.

I rode the elevator to the master bedroom, not feeling like fighting two flights of stairs, and in my current condition it would have been a fight. I was contemplating the consequence of the weyr choice of magus, wondering how that might change the suspicion that Gaitha was the killer. It definitely changed things.

The smell of the burned skin and clothing clung to the inside of my nose and mouth so that it was omnipresent. That’s the only excuse I had for not identifying the smell of singed hair. Had I caught it, it would have saved me a lot of misery.

Chapter Twenty-Two

I was barely through the bedroom door when it slammed shut behind me and the lock snicked into place. Before I could react, I was shoved to the ground, and a heavy weight slammed into my lower back, arching my spine to the point I felt like it would snap before it gave another millimeter. The pressure all but rendered me paralyzed with pain. A second weight—a knee?—settled between my shoulder blades, and I couldn’t move at all. My lungs burned with the need to expand more with each breath, and I couldn’t get enough air to scream, but it didn’t really matter. The knife at my throat pretty much purchased my silence.

“Murdering bitch,” said a vaguely familiar deep voice. “You’ve been hard to catch up to, but only because you had your trick pony around to pop you in and out of different locations so easily.”

Why was this voice so familiar? Recognition flitted around the edges of my consciousness but frustratingly wouldn’t come within reach.

“All those pretty girls, they were such wasteful sacrifices, don’t you think? Their deaths are on your hands.” He grabbed me by the hair at the crown of my head and hyper-extended my neck so badly that my eyes watered and I began to hyperventilate as I sought enough air to scream in pain. The knife pressed harder against my throat, and I felt my skin split under the pressure of the sharp blade. Warmth trickled down, pooling between my breasts.