Call of the Siren (13 page)

As he’d expected, the fight slowly seeped out of Mammon, taking the pain with it. Belpheg got another glimpse of the grim, defeated man he’d spied when he first rescued him from the Council prison.

Mammon wordlessly slunk back down into his chair.

“Glad we’ve cleared that up.” With a cheerful grin, Belpheg rose. “Now, I’d better pay our new guest a visit. She will be the key to your gaining the additional powers you need. We must prepare her for her role.”

He turned, leaving the soul-crushed demon behind as he strode from the room.

…

Mammon watched Belpheg leave the room, the voluminous black robe he’d taken to wearing billowing out behind him. Fury ignited in his chest at the thought of what Belpheg had made him into. What he’d become.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. He
deserved
to have the power he sought, had earned the right to be a co-ruler of the worlds. He wasn’t just some worthless lackey, like that stupid hubrin demon Belpheg kept on retainer. No, he was a powerful scientist, a man of great intellect.

A pawn who’s been tricked into servitude.

His shoulders slumped at the uneasy realization. Belpheg had taken advantage of his weakened state and gotten one over on him. Now he was well and stuck.

If only the dark fae would recognize his true potential. After all, who knew how to rule over the masses better than he? He’d practically managed to take over all of Earth before his confounded sons had turned on him. If ever there was potential for greatness, it was in him.

Yet Belpheg seems to think the same about himself.

He rose from his chair, growing uncomfortable with the parallels he’d drawn between himself and the dark fae. The truth was, though Belpheg was admittedly strong, even stronger than him, he didn’t like the comparison. Something about the dark fae was off. Deranged. And he’d been that way ever since he witnessed the annihilation of his entire clan. Mammon had never been like that.

Had he?

The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach refused to settle as he stalked from Belpheg’s private reception chamber out into the long hallway of the castle. A sudden need for fresh air overwhelmed him, and he turned and headed for the nearest exit, which led out from the kitchens to the rear of the property.

He’d just passed the dining hall when he heard the sound of Thorne’s voice.

“Something wrong?”

Mammon turned toward Belpheg’s flunkey, who leaned against the doorjamb of the dining hall like he owned the place. Fury rose within him at the smirk on the hubrin demon’s face. He closed the distance between them with several assured steps, delighting in how quickly the demon’s expression transformed from superior to alarmed, and wrapped his hand around the demon’s throat.

“Argh…” Thorne choked for breath, closing his fingers over Mammon’s hand and trying to dislodge him. The hubrin demon might be decades his junior, but he stood no chance against him. The fool didn’t have a fraction of Mammon’s strength or mental capability.

Mammon allowed a self-satisfied smile before growling, “Were you my minion, I’d rip your head from your body without a further second’s thought.”

The hubrin demon’s eyes went wild, and he struggled against Mammon’s grip.

Yes, there was no doubt it. He’d delight in snuffing the life from this particular creature’s body.

However, since Thorne wasn’t his servant, and since he knew Belpheg had some plan in store for him, he chose the wiser path and simply flung the hubrin demon away. Thorne’s back connected against the opposite wall with a thud, and he slid to the ground.

Mammon turned his back, dismissing Thorne without further thought. The man wasn’t worthy of even one more second of his attention.

Feeling marginally better after his run-in with Belpheg’s minion, he continued down the long, winding corridor that led to the rear of the castle. He rounded the final bend…and came to a screeching halt.

The
vampire
was there, standing by the entrance to the kitchens, and he wasn’t alone. One of the castle’s servants, a young woman who couldn’t be more than a few decades old, was ensnared in his grasp. The woman hung limply from the vampire’s grip while Rage ravenously feasted on her neck.

Mammon took a careful step back, unease oozing from his pores. The urge to leave was overwhelming, yet he couldn’t help but watch in sick fascination as the vampire drained the woman’s blood. His gut gave a weak twist.

What had Belpheg been thinking in recruiting that abomination?

Oh, he’d known of the vampire’s existence, of course. Rage had been one of Mammon’s earlier experiments. After he’d impregnated the female—a pure-bred vampire—he’d kept tabs on her throughout her pregnancy and had observed the infant. But something about him had been beyond unnerving. His eyes had been so cold, so watchful, even as a baby. Instinctively Mammon had known the child would be a loose cannon. Far too difficult to control.

Mammon had discounted the species as too volatile and abandoned the test subject, with no particular expectation that the infant would even live past a year. His mother had been insane, had hated the child and everything he represented.

He should not be here.

The vampire seemed to sense his presence, because suddenly his eyes fluttered open, and his gaze locked with Mammon’s. He stiffened, then pulled away to give Mammon a savage, blood-filled grin. Carelessly dropping the body of the servant to the ground, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I would have saved some for you if I’d known you were coming.”

A wholly unexpected glimmer of apprehension wound through Mammon’s body. He’d come to fear very little in his many years of life, but the vampire…

Rage was clearly unstable. Twisted. And unless Mammon was mistaken, there was a fair bit of hostility emanating from the man. In the time he’d been here, he hadn’t approached Mammon, hadn’t said more than a couple words to him…not that Mammon had made any effort on his part, either. But still, why agree to work for Belpheg, why all the trouble to reunite with him, if he couldn’t even be bothered to engage him in conversation?

Most definitely twisted.

Before he could think further on it, he gave in to his instinct and turned on his heel, heading back to the center of the castle.

The vampire’s silky laugh followed him like a schoolboy’s taunt. He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to turn back around and confront the creature. Demons were never stronger than their fathers, but something about Rage made him question that fact.

“Damn you, Belpheg,” he muttered under his breath. The dark fae had clearly taken the vampire in to unnerve him…and much as it rankled, he had to admit it was working. But why? What purpose did catching Mammon off his guard serve for Belpheg?

The dark fae might be just as twisted, just as unstable, as Mammon’s abandoned half vampire progeny.

Chapter Fourteen

Lina couldn’t move. Her limbs felt like someone had been trying to hack them off in her sleep, and her skull ached as if some sadistic bastard had taken a hammer to it.

“Oh gods,” she groaned.

What sort of trouble had she gotten herself into last night? Sure, being a mercenary came with its fair share of ass-kicking, both on the giving and receiving end, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling quite like this.

She tried to open her eyes, and the queasiness set in. That was when she remembered that,
oh yeah
, this feeling was far too familiar. It had just been a few years since she’d last felt it.

Rolling onto her side, she clutched her head and let out another groan.

“Sorry, babe,” Thorne’s voice sounded out, self-assured and smug. “I’ll bet it’s one hell of a come-down.”

Her last memories came flooding back in one nauseating rush. Being at her place with Dagan. Ronin storming in and fighting him. Fleeing to Central Park…where she met Thorne and he convinced her to go back to his apartment with him.

Lina forced her eyes open, and it took everything she had not to hurl. Her gaze fell on Thorne, who sat on a burgundy wingback chair across from the unfamiliar bed she reclined on.

“You drugged me, ass-face!”

“Yeah,” he said agreeably, nodding his head. He casually rested his folded hands behind his head. “That was one major dose I injected you with. Had to make sure you stayed out of it for a while.”

Fury constricted her chest, and she tried to shoot out of the bed, but dizziness set in, forcing her to settle for sitting up slowly. “How dare you? You realize I’m going to kill you, right?”

He chuckled, seemingly oblivious to the stark truth threading her tone.

“Come on, it’s not so bad, is it?” He spread his arms. “Look at this place. Your bedroom is bigger than our entire house back in Infernum.”

Lina swallowed her automatic retort and took a moment to take stock of her surroundings. She was on a king-sized four-poster bed made of dark wood. The canopy was covered in burgundy velvet that matched the heavy coverlet beneath her. The bedroom was indeed huge, and textured burgundy wallpaper covered the majority of the walls, while the doors were the same dark wood as the bed frame. A stone fireplace was cut into the wall directly to the left of the bed, sort of catty-corner to the writing desk where Thorne sat.

She swallowed past another burst of nausea and asked the obvious next question. “Where am I?”

He gave her a wolfish grin. “Romania.”

“Romania?” she repeated blankly. “How?” More importantly, “Why?”

Thorne shrugged and removed his hands from behind his head, slapping them onto the delicate antique desk. “I brought you through the hidden portal that’s located outside of New York City.”

She let out a gasp, wrapping her arms around her stomach when it roiled and her vision blurred. “That’s real? I heard the rumor…”

“Oh, it’s real. And my employer discovered it. He also owns this place.” He spread his arms wide. “A castle. A freaking castle, Lina. Can you believe how far I’ve come?”

The grin on his face said it all. He thought he’d made it big time, all because he happened to work for some eccentric rich dude.

“Who’s your employer?” she asked. “And why did you bring me to his castle?”

Thorne gave another nonchalant shrug. “Just some dark fae I met several months ago.”

Dark fae?

His expression sobered, and he scooted his chair closer to the bed. “He’s crazy powerful, Lina, and you should see what he’s paying me. We’ll be set for life, babe. I can finally take care of you the way you deserve to be taken care of.”

Dread settled in the pit of her stomach, twisting and burning in her gut like the remnants of the drug she’d been injected with. “Wait, this dark fae you’re working for…is this the crazy fuck the Council is hunting?”

He frowned. “He says the Council is compromised. He’s going to bring justice to us all.”

She shook her head, fighting past the dizziness that accompanied the movement. The dark fae had convinced Thorne he was seeking justice? And from the way Thorne was speaking, it sounded like he actually expected her to be happy he was doing all this for her.

Was he out of his mind?

“What’s this got to do with me?” she asked flat-out. “Why did you bring me here?”

Thorne’s expression grew sheepish, and his gaze dropped. “Well…”

Oh, no. Just from the look on his face, she could tell she wasn’t going to like this. Not one bit.

“Well, what?”

He took a breath, but before he could respond, the antique ivory knob on one of the doors turned, and the door swung partially open, revealing a tall, gaunt figure of a man on the other side. His hair was dark and his skin the customary bluish-gray of a dark fae. He wore a flowing black robe, and power pulsed off his figure in intense waves that billowed the fabric. His eyes fixed on her, and he gave her a genial smile.

Holy shit
.

Lina swallowed hard and fought the urge to scramble further back on the bed. It wouldn’t do to show him just how much his mere presence unnerved her, and besides, her back was already against the headboard.

“Hello, my dear,” the dark fae said, his voice gruff and filled with power. “Glad to see you’ve awakened.”

Oh, damn. Dark fae were notorious for their power and unpredictability, and she could instinctively tell just by looking at this one that his abilities surpassed most. From the sizzle in the air, it seemed his body couldn’t even contain it all.

“Wha—” She cleared her throat and tried again. “What am I doing here?”

He grinned and stepped inside the room. When Thorne rose from his chair and turned to face him, the dark fae speared him with his gaze. “Leave us.”

Thorne stiffened and then glanced back at her with something akin to alarm. “But I thought—”

“I said
leave us
.”

A crackle of electricity momentarily raised Thorne’s hair on end. He gave a little jump, then turned to give her one more, semi-apologetic look before he hurried from the room, passing by the fae as quickly as he could.

What a surprise
, she thought drily. Once again, when push came to shove, Thorne was a total disappointment.

The door slammed shut behind Thorne, and she gulped, her attention shooting back to the imposing figure standing before her.

“My name is Belpheg,” he said, his hands disappearing beneath the voluminous sleeves of his robe. “I apologize for the circumstances behind our introduction.” Despite the smooth tone of his words, it was obvious he didn’t truly give a damn.

“What am I doing here?” Lina asked, forcing a thread of strength she didn’t feel into her voice.

Belpheg’s lips curved into a smile. He took a few leisurely steps forward. “Thorne has been watching you for months, of course. Ever since he first discovered you were living in the city.”

Watching her?

She fought the instinctive shiver that threatened to wrack her body. “I don’t understand. Why?”

“Because you were integral to my plan, dear.”

“I…” When she shook her head in confusion, he lifted one brow and smoothly stepped to the chair Thorne had abandoned then took a seat. “Allow me to explain. I owe you the courtesy of that.”

She forced her body into action and swung her legs off the bed so that they touched the floor. “No argument from me on that one.”

A flicker of amusement crossed his face. “You see, many years ago, the Elden Council took everything from me. They were threatened by my clan’s superior abilities, so they destroyed them. I alone escaped.”

“O-kay,” she muttered.

“I lived in hiding for many years,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “Growing my powers and counting down the moments until I’d be able to take my revenge. The Council took everything from me, and now I’m going to destroy it.”

All right, so the dark fae had some serious issues with the Council.

“If the Council really killed your family, I don’t blame you for being pissed,” she managed. “But I still don’t see what that has to do with me. I’m not affiliated with the Council in any way.”

“But your adopted brother is,” he countered smoothly. “As are his half brothers.”

She stared at Belpheg, a sense of impending doom rising within her. “What are you saying?”

He hooked his right ankle over the opposite knee and leaned back in the chair. “The Detainors. I want them. And you’re going to be the bait that lures them to me.”

His words ignited a spark of fury in her gut that surpassed even the score sickness. He wanted to use
her
?

“Fuck you. I’m not bait!” She tried to lunge off the bed toward him, but all he did was raise two fingers on one hand, and she went flying back. Her head hit the headboard so hard she saw stars. And from the metallic tang in her mouth, she’d also gotten a good bite of her tongue.

Great.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice here, my dear,” Belpheg countered smoothly, his dark eyes taking on an eerie light. “You’ve been bait from the very beginning.”

She tried to move, but whatever he’d done to her had left her paralyzed and glued to the headboard. Swallowing the small pool of blood in her mouth, she asked, “From the beginning? What do you mean?”

One of his brows rose. “Who do you think hired you to kill Asmodeus?”

What?
He’d been her mysterious employer? “Why?”

“To reunite you with your brother, of course. Thorne was kind enough to inform me of your connection to him. Once you ingratiated yourself back into his life, I knew you’d become the perfect tool.”

He grinned, and the simple act made her heart constrict in fear. Belpheg radiated power, true power, and something told her that if he were to desire it, he could kill her with a simple flick of his hand.

“Then your old associate Sam was kind enough to tag you for me.”

The invisible bonds holding her released, and Lina relaxed away from the headboard. Keeping her gaze firm on Belpheg, she raised her hand to her mouth and healed the biting ache in her tongue. For his part, Belpheg didn’t seem the slightest bit scared or on guard, and now she could see why. She wouldn’t make the mistake of foolishly attacking him again…not without some sort of trick up her sleeve.

While it was no surprise to get confirmation that Sam had been working for the dark fae when he’d attacked her, she had to ask, “What do you mean, Sam
tagged
me?”

His gaze flicked down to her stomach.

Lina gasped and touched her fingers to the spot where Sam had stabbed her.

“What did you do?” she whispered.

Belpheg shrugged. “A simple tracking device. Kept me apprised of your location.”

Despite her desire to keep a poker face, she couldn’t help when her mouth dropped open. He’d had a tracking device implanted
inside
her body? That should have been impossible. Her body should have rejected any foreign matter during the healing process.

The fact that it didn’t spoke to the true extent of the dark fae’s power.

She cautiously edged forward on the bed, swallowing when another burst of nausea struck her. “Why do you want Ronin and his brothers so badly? What have they done to you?”

“Oh no, dear, you misunderstand. It’s not what they’d done to me, but rather what they
can
do.”

When she shot him a puzzled look, he clarified.

“The four of them were bred for strength. For power. That inbred vitality will help to center my own.”

Sudden understanding twisted her stomach into a vicious knot. “You want to
steal
their abilities?”

“Not just their abilities.” He grinned. “I’m afraid I need all of their life essence.”

“You sick fuck!” She instinctively tried to shove off the bed again, but made it no more than a few inches before an invisible vice closed around her throat, slowly cutting off her oxygen. Her fingers lifted to her throat, but there was nothing she could do to stop the increasing pressure.

“You’ve miscalculated your hand,” she managed to choke out. “Ronin doesn’t care enough to risk his real brothers.”

Even as she said it, she recognized it for the lie it was. Ronin’s problem had never been not caring
enough.

“We’ll see,” Belpheg said coldly as he rose from his chair.

When he moved to tower over her, she couldn’t fight the fear that crawled along her skin.

“He might not want to risk his brothers, but I daresay he won’t be able to fight that foolish noble streak of his. Nevertheless, since it would behoove me to increase the odds of our success…”

Before she could question his words, he reached into the folds of his robe and withdrew something from a hidden pocket. Another syringe.

No, gods no.

“Please,” she begged, hating herself for her weakness. “Don’t.”

He paused in the act of bending forward and met her gaze. “Believe me dear, the drugs are for your benefit. I’m afraid that in order to prepare you, I’ll need to conduct a bit of minor surgery.”

Her eyes shot open. “Wait, wha—”

Belpheg jammed the syringe in her side and released the contents into her body. She tried to fight, to scream, but the drug released into her system far too quickly. As her body responded to it, the pressure eased from her throat. She swallowed once and tried to meet the dark fae’s gaze, but her vision blurred.

Oh hell, not again.

A soft breath escaped her lungs as she spiraled quickly out of consciousness.

…

Where the hell could she be?

Dagan checked the time on his phone and paced his bedroom for what seemed like the millionth time in the past several hours. It had been over a day since they’d last seen Lina. Over a day, and not a word from her. Last night, he and Ronin had split up, checking all the places they thought she might frequent, but no one had seen or heard from her, and she hadn’t gone back to her apartment.