Dante (Blood Brothers Book 5) (23 page)

Isis didn’t expect to be struck again by another bolt of energy. This time it was more powerful than the first jolt, sending her flying across the room. The back of her head smashed into the wall, and she slid down its length, unable to ignore the pain. That
jolt
hadn’t come from Black Adder. She would have lifted her head again, but her neck was too unstable to support it.

“Silly fool,” that voice she had come to dread, hissed
. “Did you think it would be so easy for you to escape? No one gets in or out of this
fortress
without my say-so.”
Isis had been so caught up in her fight with Black Adder
,
she hadn’t noticed the presence of a third person in the room.

“And you were instructed to leave the shifter alive.”

“I wasn’t going to kill her,” Black Adder countered in a sulky tone.

“I was watching. I’m always watching. I’ve had enough of your incompetence. You are no longer of use to me.”

Isis somehow managed to roll to her side just in time to see the room illuminate with light and a charge of electricity shoot at the large vampire. He screamed, “You promised me power!” Falling to his knees, Black Adder began to shake as he tried to counter
Beatrice
’s shock waves with some of his own. But his magic was nothing compared to the redhead’s.

Then, to Isis’s horror, a large beast appeared almost as if from thin air. Its presence filled the entire room. Unlike anything she’d ever seen before, this large brown monster with its slimy skin looked like something out of a B-grade horror movie. He advanced on Black Adder and commenced ripping the vampire to shreds. The creature snarled and grunted as he devoured and fed. When the thing was finished, all that was left of Black Adder was a bloodied pile of bones.

The monster disappeared as quickly as it had appe
ared.
Isis opened her mouth to scream when
Beatrice
’s menacing gaze fell on her. “And now
,
for you.”

Before Isis could contemplate fighting back, another powerful jolt tore through her body. This time she welcomed the oblivion that followed.

<><><>

Adonis stalked back and forth across the room, ignoring his lover
who remained
chained to the bed. Tonight was the night. His revenge would finally be complete. The time had come to make them pay for the years he’d suffered, for snatching away his birthright, and for thwarting everything he’d envisioned for himself. There was a time when he could have let them all be. His grudge had been with the man who’d sired him. But
,
the brats
w
ouldn’t leave well enough alone.

Every stronghold he’d created had been thwarted by Dante’s so-called Underground. His younger brothers’ interference in his plans opened old wounds and made him realize he couldn’t rest until he wiped them all out. As long as they lived, they served as a reminder of what could have been his and what he’d lost.
Once
he was done with them, he could start all over again and
rebuild
his legacy within the immortal community, taking whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. And no one would stop him.

There was no point in having so much power at his disposal without using it to rule.
He
wouldn’t squander his powers like Giovanni.
Adonis paused for a moment as he thought of his brother. Out of a sense of loyalty to their share
d
lineage
,
Adonis had been careful to leave him unharmed. But Giovanni had
not
chosen his side and they both knew what the price would be.
Death. In a way, it almost saddened him to know things would end this way but there was no turning back now that his mind was made up.

“It’s not too late to change your mind, Adonis.” Nya spoke for the first time since he’d entered the room.

She’d basically ignored his presence since he’d locked her up. To hear her speak in defense for the other side, the side he’d fought so hard against for all these years, was yet another betrayal. Instead of the anger he expected to feel, however, sadness w
elled within
him.
Beatrice
was right; he was on his own.

Walking to the bed, Adonis touched the cuffs binding her wrists and whispered a chant under his breath. He allowed his gaze to sweep over her naked frame. Despite her treachery, Nya still had the power to make his body tighten and his cock stiffen to near pain, but he wouldn’t take her. She, too, had chosen. It had only been his stubbornness that had made him hold on
to her when he clearly should have set her free long ago. “You’re free to go.” Adonis turned away from her, not wanting to see the look of triumph he was sure would be dwelling within her dark eyes.

No sound of her breaking free of the
bonds was forthcoming. Instead
,
he was met with silence
.
He had expected her to jump at the opportunity.
“I said
,
‘
you can go
’
. The chains are no longer enchanted, not that my setting you free will help your friends now. They’re on their way, you know.
Beatrice
has foreseen it.”

Still there was no response. Why didn’t she answer? Why was Nya giving him hope that she didn’t actually want to leave him when he knew there was none?
He had dreamed of her being by his side when he eventually brought the immortal world to its knees.

Adonis turned to see her in the same position he’d left her in. Nya’s gaze was fixed on a point somewhere across the room, though he got the sense she wasn’t really looking at anything. If he didn’t know better, he would say her usual stoic features were shadowed by an emotion she’d never allowed him to see before. Sorrow.

The anger that he believed had deserted him returned full blast. Who the hell was she anyway, to make him feel this way? Fuck her! “Get out of here, you conniving bitch. Go to Giovanni and his newfound family.
You are no longer welcome here. We are enemies.
” Stalking back to the bed, he grasped the chains anchoring her wrists and gave them a powerful tug, ripping them out of the wall. She could have easily broken them herself, but he was growing impatient with her passive-aggressive behavior. “Now go! Get the hell out of here and die with the rest of them.”

Her arms fell to her sides, but her gaze remained set
at the sa
me point beyond him.

Grabbing her by the forearms, he hauled Nya against him and shook her, and all the while his body responded
from the mere feel of her skin beneath his fingertips
, her scent, and her beauty. Instead of fighting back as she normally would have, she took it, further driving his rage.
He tore off the chains anchoring her leg and lifted her fully off the bed. H
e spun her around and slammed her against the wall, then pressed his body against hers. “Do something!”

Finally, her big dark eyes locked with his. “You’re setting me free, but we both know as long as one of us lives
,
the bond between us will remain unbroken. And when you die, the part you gave to me will die as well. I’ll live the rest of my existence as a
n empty shell
, craving something I can never have.”

Adonis narrowed his eyes and spanned her throat with his hand, his thumb grazing the pulse in her neck. Her breathing was shallow as if she found it painful to do so. Torn between squeezing the breath from her lungs and pressing his lips against her luscious ones, it already felt like a piece of him was dead. “And the fault lies with you, my lovely. Had we truly bonded, that wouldn’t be. Besides, I don’t intend on dying tonight, but you will
,
if you go to him. I will spare you otherwise.”

She cut her gaze
away from his momentarily and her lips tightened. “Despite what you think, there was never anything between me and him
—
except friendship.”

“Of course
,
there wasn’t. I would have smelled him on you. Besides, I’m not talking about the use of that delectable body of yours. You’ve shared things with him you kept from me, and I resent the hell out of it. That you would go to him when you know how it drives me insane makes you just as heartless as you claim I am.”

“He and
Liliana
were friends to me when I needed them, as was Christine. You, on the other hand, are so filled with rage and vengeance you’ve let it consume you. You’ve allowed it to shape who you are. You’ve let
Beatrice manipulate—
”

“Shut up! You know nothing about it. About her. She’s the only one who’s remained loyal to me. She has never betrayed me.”

“The only person
Beatrice
cares about is herself. Do you think if you were to deviate from her plans she wouldn’t kill you
,
too? She’s twisted. Pure evil, and there’s nothing about her that can be redeemed. But you…”

He tightened his fingers around her neck, pressing against her windpipe until she gasped to breathe. “I don’t need to be redeemed. Dante, Romeo, Niccolo, and GianMarco Grimaldi will die tonight along with the rest of their family; every single one of them and all of those who get in my way, including Giovanni. When they’re all dead, I’ll go after every single member of Dante’s Underground and take them out for crossing me. That way everyone will know I mean business. I intend to rebuild my army and no one will stand in my way.”

“And that’s it? That’s how it will be forever and ever?”

“Of course. You have the opportunity to be there with me.”

She shook her head. “You’re
truly insane
if you think
Beatrice
doesn’t have plans of her own.”

“
I’m sure she does
, but they have nothing to do with me.”

“You’re wrong. And you offer me a choice that really isn’t a choice. I
can’t be
part of this any longer, and if it means my death, then so be it. Kill me now because not only will I go to Giovanni when I’m out of this hell on earth, I will help him take you out.”

Even though her words cut him sharper than any dagger he’d ever encountered, he wouldn’t let her know it.
He
sneered at her. “Don’t think you mean enough to me to waste my time.” And with that he slammed her into the wall again. Her head hit it with a loud thud.

She winced, but didn’t release a whimper. “I’m sorry.” The whisper was so soft Adonis believed he might have imagined it.

Releasing her, he turned his back on her. He’d been so close to caving in to his desire for her, but he wouldn’t show weakness when this moment called for strength. “And what exactly are you sorry for, Nya?”

“I’m sorry for what you’ve become. What you’ve let her make you into. It’s still not too late
to stop this. Giovanni would—
”

“Not another word, Nya.” He clenched his fists at his sides and
shook with tension
.
She obviously thought this was a game if she believed she could she change the course of his plans with a few pretty words.
This final showdown was inevitable.
He walked to the door and halted. With his hand on the knob, he glanced over his shoulder to see Nya slumped
to
the floor, her arms wrapped around her legs.

He’d never seen her like that before and something within him wanted to reach out and offer comfort, but to do so would be to give in to something he could not abide. Adonis would not be weak for anyone, not for Giovanni or Nya. Not even for
Beatrice
.

“If our paths cross tonight, Nya, I will kill you without hesitation.”

She closed her eyes against his words and released a heavy sigh. “And
,
I
,
too
,
will do what I must to stop you
from
this
course of destruction.”

Adonis gritted his teeth, hardening his heart against the sight of her. “Now we know where we each stand, there’s nothing left to say.” Not giving her a chance to answer, he swept out of the room and was surprised to see
Beatrice
standing on the other side of the door.

One red brow was raised and
she wore a mockery of a smile
. “See? I
told you it wouldn’t end well with her
. You should have let me kill her when I had the chance. I can still do it, if you’d like.”

Nya should have meant less than nothing to him, but despite what she’d done, he couldn’t bring himself to give the okay. “If she dies, it will be by my hand.”

“As long as you realize
,
she has to go. Forget about the slut for now. Our enemies are approaching. They are very near. Our minions may be few, but there are still enough of them to take care of the others. The Grimaldis belong to us.”

Adonis nodded. When he would have walked past her, she grabbed his arm. “This is what we’ve been working for. Finally, they will fall and the legacy of Giovanni will be wiped out.”

Beatrice
’s features were so twisted in that moment she lost some of her usual beauty. A hint of the demon that possessed her shadowed her face. She used to be his everything, but now she was just a twisted, bitter woman who was holding him back from his real purpose. Once this was over, he’d be glad to see the end of her. He’d go his way and she’d go hers with little regret on his end.

“Yes, it’ll soon be over,” he finally answered.

She widened her smile to reveal sharp, pearly white teeth as she reached out to him, but he managed to sidestep her embrace. The old sickness welled in his stomach at the thought of her unnatural touch. Brushing past her, he didn’t answer as she called to him.