Blood of the Demon (31 page)

Mammon turned to the guards who held Keegan captive. “Take him to the holding area.”

“What should we do with him?” one of them asked. He gave Keegan a vicious poke in the ribs.

“Use your imagination.” Mammon whirled about and started back toward his tent. He turned at the last second and gave Keegan a vicious grin. “Oh, and start draining his blood slowly. We want to give the heir motivation to come sooner rather than later, don’t we?”

After Mammon left, the guards unleashed their fists on him with blow after blow. He fought back, relishing in each jab and hit he landed, taking perverse pleasure in the scream one of the guards let loose when his arm broke with a loud
snap
. He ignored his own broken bones, and the pain as they healed. Nothing existed but this fight and releasing as much ass-kicking as he could before they inevitably brought him down. Yeah, he’d pay for it in the torture tent, but right now, he didn’t give a fuck. They continued hitting and kicking him until he stopped fighting altogether, his strength completely zapped.

It was no more than he’d expected, he thought as they dragged him toward the torture tent. Mammon knew his weakness—that he would no longer have the ability to heal himself once he he’d been fully drained. He knew he would die.

At least my brothers are safe. Brynn is safe.

At the very least, he had that.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

By the time Brynn heard the rumble of a motorboat approaching, she’d already tried to think of a million different ways to get off this stupid island. After all, it had been well over a day since Keegan had left her. But short of swimming to the mainland, there was no way out. To think that such a dreamy safe haven could so rapidly become a prison.

Where was Keegan now? The mere thought of him in Mammon’s grasp was beyond horrifying. If his father got ahold of him, she had no doubt the torture he’d endure would be unbearable. Why hadn’t he stayed? She understood his loyalty to his brothers, but why did he have to go it alone? Together, they might have found another way.

Brynn rose to her feet on the dock and watched as the boat came closer. She didn’t see anything at first, as it was close to midnight, and even with the floodlights from the house the night was still dark as hell. Squinting, she shaded her eyes from the bright light on the front of the approaching boat.

Who would Keegan have sent for her, anyway? With the exception of his brothers—who, as far as she knew, still wanted to kill her—and his father, she didn’t think he knew anyone else on Earth.

The engine cut, and the person inside looped a rope over the dock post. At last, its spotlight dimmed and the figure stepped off the boat.

Brynn blinked as her eyes adjusted to the change in light. Then, once she made out who it was, she gasped. “You!”

“Brynn—” Dagan started, but she didn’t let him finish. She turned and sprinted toward the house.

“Brynn,” he yelled. His footsteps pounded hard on the sand behind her.

She panted as she flew toward the front door, trying to ignore the stitch forming at her side. If she could just get inside, she’d... well, she didn’t know what she’d do, but at least she’d have a few extra moments to think.

“Wait!” A second later, he tackled her to the sand.

She went down hard, biting her lip in the process. The metallic tang of her blood filtered onto her tongue.

“No,” she cried, grabbing two handfuls of sand as he twisted her around to face him.

He pinned her with his body. “Listen—”

She closed her eyes and threw the sand in his face.

He reared back. “Shit.”

Brynn swung her palm at him. When it connected with Dagan’s chin, he yelped, but before she could fight him further, he grabbed her hands and trapped them high over her head.

It was no use. He was far too strong.

“If you hurt me, Keegan’s gonna kill you,” she spat at him.

“Damn it, Brynn, that’s what I’m trying to tell you,” he said. “Keegan sent me.”

Shocked, she stopped struggling. “Why would he do that? He knows you’re trying to kill me.”

“Not anymore. If you’d listen for a moment, you’d know that.” From the way he shook her for emphasis, she figured he was more than a little pissed about the whole sand thing.

She opened her eyes, blinking them furiously, and shook her head to clear off the remaining grains of sand. Admittedly, if he had wanted her dead, she probably would be by now. “You’re not trying to kill me?”

A drop of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. “Okay, how would I even know to find you here if it Keegan didn’t tell me?”

He had a point. Brynn relaxed under him.

“Are you going to stop attacking me now?”

“Sorry,” she said.

Dagan pushed off her with a curse, sitting on his heels. He rubbed the grit from his eyes and spat some blood to the side. “Shit. You managed to blind me
and
make me almost bite off my tongue.”

“Really?”
She
did that?

“I can see you’re torn up about it,” he said dryly. “Don’t worry, I’ll heal.”

Yeah, well, he’d wanted to kill her before, so he could suck a big one. Besides, she was absurdly proud she’d managed to hurt him. If she could injure a powerful demon even without her abilities, maybe she was stronger than she thought.

“I promised I would keep you safe,” he told her grimly. “So that’s what I’m going to do.”

That was what Keegan had said to her in his
Dear John
note. The memory of it came back to her in one searing flash, sending an echo of pain slicing through her gut. Brynn sat up. “Keegan really sent you here?”

Dagan dropped his hands from his face. “Yes.”

He lifted to his feet, then offered her his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, she took it. “What made you change your mind? About killing me, I mean?”

Dagan laughed, the bitter sound slicing through her. “If he’s sacrificing himself to save your life, the least I can do is honor his wish to keep you alive.”

“Sacrifice?” Brynn stared at Dagan, her eyes going wide. “He’s exchanging himself for Taeg and Ronin?”

“It’s what he wanted.”

“No, we can’t just let him give himself up. We have to stop him.”

“It’s already done.”

Brynn clamped her mouth shut. She stared at Dagan for a long moment. He stared back, unflappable. “We can’t just stand by and do nothing.”

Dagan’s eyes softened, and he reached for her hand. “Keegan wants you to be safe. Don’t forget the consequences if Mammon gets hold of you, Brynn. He made a decision. We need to honor it.”

Could he really be suggesting that they do nothing?
Nothing?
“So what’s your plan, then?”

“I have a friend who owns a condo in Miami. He’s agreed to let us borrow it indefinitely. We can go there. You can make a new life, if you want. Start over—”

Brynn yanked her hand away from his. “You actually think I’m going to be able to
forget
about him? To just go on with life as if nothing happened? Are you crazy?”

“I expect it because Keegan expected it,” Dagan said. “Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain.”

“No.” She pushed away from him, but he caught her by the waist. “No, I won’t.”

“It’s time to go.”

“No!” She slapped him. When he did nothing, she made a fist and punched him in the chest. She wanted something from him. A flinch. A curse. A promise that he would do
something
. When she got nothing, she struck him again, taking out all of her anger and frustration on his chest. He barely budged, and allowed her to hit him over and over before finally grabbing her and holding her tightly to him. “No, let go!”

She tried to push him away, but she surprised herself by instead wrapping her arms around his neck. Anger and frustration gave way to despair. Agony.

“It’s okay.” Dagan squeezed her tight, rocking her back and forth as he stroked her hair. “It’ll be okay.”

She clutched his shoulders, bitter sobs tearing out of her throat. “We can’t just let him go. We can’t.”

He pressed her tighter to him. “We have to.”

§

Dagan padded around the living room of their borrowed Miami Beach condo. Though the sweeping ocean views from the large windows were stunning even at this time of night, he barely paid them notice.

Brynn had closed herself off in one of the condo’s three bedrooms as soon as they arrived. Her eyes had been nearly swollen shut from the heavy tears she’d cried.

“Shit.” Kicking off his shoes, he threw himself onto the brown Ultrasuede couch. He’d gone from facing the possibility of losing two brothers to the certainty of losing one.

Worse, what if Mammon tricked Keegan somehow and ended up keeping them all?

Dagan bent forward and wearily dragged his hands across his face. Damn, but he hated feeling so uncertain, so beaten. He wanted to help his brothers, but he knew he couldn’t. Keegan had asked him—practically begged him—to take care of Brynn. The least he could do was honor this one last wish.

The sudden ringing of his cell phone made him jump. Only three people had his number, and he’d be glad as hell to speak to any one of them right about now. He hopped off the couch, rushed to his jacket, and fished out the phone.

Please. Please let this be them...

When he answered, Taeg’s tired voice replied, “Man, am I glad to hear your voice.”

“Taeg! Thank the devil. Where are you?”

“In Cairo. Keegan exchanged himself for us, bro.”

Dagan took a breath. “Yeah, I know. He told me what he was doing.”

“And you
let
him do it?”

“He was going to do it with or without me,” Dagan said.

“Fuck.” Taeg sounded too tired to be angry. “So, where are you?”

“I’m with Brynn.”

“
What
?”

“Keegan asked me to take over her protection, and I agreed.”

Dagan expected an argument from Taeg. Instead, he sighed. “I understand. If he thinks saving her life is worth dying for, then we need to respect that.”

His thoughts exactly. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know,” Taeg replied. “We can’t get Keegan back. Not without the Council’s help. And we can’t go to the Council if we’re going to protect Brynn. We’re up shit creek, no paddle, you get the drift.”

The door to Brynn’s room opened. She walked out, even more puffy-eyed than before, if that was possible.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

For a moment, Dagan debated not answering, but it wasn’t like she would stop asking. “It’s Taeg. Keegan was able to get him and Ronin freed.”

She covered her mouth with her hands, then stumbled toward him on shaky legs. “Let me talk to him.”

Devil, did she want to know what Mammon had done to him? What he was going to do to Keegan? She shouldn’t have to think about it. “Brynn—”

She stopped directly in front of him and held out her hand. “Let me talk to him,” she repeated, her voice hard as steel.

After a moment of hesitation, Dagan obeyed.

Brynn placed the phone to her ear, not bothering with a greeting. “Are you still trying to kill me, too, or have you given up on that? Well, I need to talk to you, then... Can you come here? I know you can flash. Keegan told me about it... yes... okay.”

She recited the condo’s address and hung up before returning the phone to Dagan. “He’ll be here in a sec.”

Sure enough, moments later the air shimmered with Taeg’s path and he appeared out of nowhere. He was obviously wearing a fresh set of clothes, not looking like a man who’d been tortured for the last two days. But Dagan detected the exhaustion and the undertone of horror in his eyes, and had no doubt he’d suffered greatly in their father’s hands.