Dark War Chronicles Box Set One (49 page)

Nothing came back to him and his gut clenched. With all the pain he knew she had to be going through torture. He started to doubt her humanity, could she be killed without being beheaded?

"Lucius?" Mae's voice broke his thoughts. He looked up at his newest fledging. He hadn't planned on changing her, but he couldn't let her return back to human life. She was adjusting well and eventually she'd be powerful.

He'd been attracted to her the first time he saw her and despite the time they shared in bed, she didn't push for more, or less. Like she didn't want a mate. Since Tegan's disappearance they hadn't spent much time together at all. "Yes?" He opened his eyes.

"I've got things handled at The Disappearing Act, we should be able to open tonight."

"Good, thank you. Anything else?"

Mae shook her head. "No, I'm just checking in. The staff is exhausted so I took some extra shifts."

"When was the last time you fed?" He demanded.

She thought and looked away.

"Mae?"

"A couple nights ago. It’s okay, don't worry about me. I'll get Orion to feed me or one of the other guys at the bar." She gave him a smile.

He didn't like this; it wasn't like her to go so long without feeding. Mae had been a private investigator dealing in supernatural creatures and had helped out the police many times. "Mae, in your contacts, do you have any demons, or demon hunters?"

"I don't. Are you thinking of sending someone after Tegan?"

Lucius pressed his fingers together. "I don't think I'm going to have much of a choice."

"Can you still feel her pain?"

He shook his head. "That stopped a few hours ago, I don't know what to do. Her brother isn't waking, so I can't depend on him. She's going to be a mess when she gets back...if she gets back."

"We'll find her, Lucius." she placed a hand on his shoulder.

He hoped she was right.

Dani knocked on the townhouse door and waited for Orion to answer. After a few minutes Orion's face greeted her when the door opened, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her. "Hey, what's up?"

"Sorry, I should have called, but I thought I should apologize in person." Her heart sped up when he stepped out the door and closer to her. The porch light highlighted the change in his eyes and she blinked a few times. "Your eyes have changed."

"So people keep telling me. What do you have to apologize for, Dani?" He took her hand and pulled her to his chest.

She relaxed at his touch and couldn't figure out why he chose to give her that little bit of affection. "For running out on you this morning. It wasn't fair. I'm sorry." She struggled to put her feelings into words.

"Don't be, I hope you just did it because you had something important to do."

She shuffled her feet. "I had an anniversary date that I needed to keep." Though if she was honest with herself, she had felt an overwhelming need to stay with him, one that she couldn't explain and it scared her.

"You want to come in for a cup of coffee?" He offered and gave her one of his easy smiles.

She crossed her arms. "I thought we'd go demon hunting again. I've got some places marked on a map, did some research. A summoned demon like that always returns back to the place it was summoned when its mission is done, waiting for its next mission."

"So where did you mark and how did you find out where someone would summon a demon?" He asked, eyes wide.

She laughed. "I'll tell you over coffee. My treat." She wanted him alone, not with his roommates.

"Sounds good." He stepped back into the house and came back out shoving keys in his pocket. They walked together, not touching and the strange urge ran over her to reach out and grab his hand.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I'm sorry if I seem distracted. There's just a lot going on."

"I know, Lucius was telling me about some of it earlier tonight." She felt him tense even though they weren't touching.

"I didn't want you to bargain with him, he'll use that information over you one day." He snorted. "What did you exchange?"

She shook her head. "Something private, but there's no way that he can use it against me. The...problem is well protected, but I did learn a lot about the Originals and the Father."

"Things that you shouldn't know about because that information is dangerous to the Hunters. I don't think you understand that."

"We already knew about the Originals, Orion, there is a Hunter in every territory trying to locate the graves."

He stopped and spun her to look at him. "What? Why?"

"I don't know why, it's just my job to give them the location of the grave."

"You can't do that, that's Tegan's brother, she'll never forgive you if something happens to him."

She noted the panic in his voice and it broke her heart. He’d never care for anyone more than he did Tegan. "I don't plan on turning the information over.  I don't know what the Elder Hunters want with it. Knowing what I do now, I'm not willing to risk more human lives."

"Good, very good." He started walking again. "I bet it was an exciting lesson."

She laughed. "Frightening is more like it, but now I know a little more about the war going on."

"Yeah, that's a hell of a war." He muttered. "And it's going to reach a turning point if we can't figure out a way to stop the Circle from raising the Father."

"Simple, rescue Tegan." It hurt her to say, because she knew it would take all his time and he'd willingly do anything for the woman, but it was the only answer.

"What?"

"There has to be a demon in this territory that you can send in. Someone willing to do it against Lucius' demands. He's just going to sit there and twiddle his thumbs and wait for her to come back."

Orion frowned. "You got all this from tonight?"

"Yep. So let’s take a look at the map for this blood demon, shall we?"

"Yes.” Though his words sounded far off.

They got their coffee and took over a table in the corner as she spread the map over the top. "This is the city, the places marked with x's have shown signs of summoning a demon."

"Which is what? Where did you get this information?" His brows drew together and she entertained the thought that he might be worried about her.

She pulled out the book of bound documents Joey had given her. "A lot of it is in here, other than that, once I knew what I was looking for the information was easier to find in our library."

"You guys have a library? Man, what I wouldn't give for access to that." He looked over the map. "So tell me about the signs."

"Scorch marks, dead animals, or a dead human. It seems someone has been busy. If we knew who summoned it, it would give us a better idea of which of these ten areas the demon was summoned in." She brushed her fingers over the map. The red X’s went from the foothills of the mountains, over Manitou and further east.

Orion growled. "I know who summoned it. It was the Queen of Blood and Darkness."

"Fitting." She muttered. "Why is she involved?"

"She sent it to kill me because of my alliance with Lucius." He leaned back in the chair. "Speaking of, I want to know where you got the information on my heritage."

She shrugged. "Talking to people here and there. If you get the guys drunk enough at The Corner, they start talking. I've gotten a lot of information on Lucius' people that way."

He drew in a sharp breath. "Lucius is going to flip if he finds that out."

"Which he won't, calm down. You worry too much about what he knows."

"He controls the territory, he could kill me for treason. Hell, he'd kill you for treason and you're not even actually tied to him. You just bargained and took an oath not to share information."

"Pretty sure he'd kill me for breaking that oath," she laughed and then tapped the map. "Back on target, which of these spots would she choose to summon a demon?"

He tapped the one closest to Manitou. "The Fae favor this city, even with all the recent flooding and damage. She'd be able to get everything she needs."

"That city is known for the occult, but I didn't think demon summoning was amongst the practices."

He shook his head. "It's not, but she'll feed off the magic there to help with it. Let me guess, an animal death here. Maybe a few of them."

"Yes, how did you—"

"Because she could siphon a large amount of magic from the area, it means a lesser death sacrifice to summon the demon. She was trying to throw people off its track."

Made sense, but she wished she had studied harder in magic class. "Great, finish your coffee and we'll go."

"We're going to need back up for the demon. Let me make a phone call and I'll have Kaden meet us there."

She raised a brow. "And Kaden is?"

"A dream demon, he'll be great for back-up."

"If you say so."

Markus smiled down at Tegan. The woman curled on her side, drenched and shivering. He'd had the demons bathe her in preparation for the feeding tonight. The demon poison was now out of her system, but he was sure she still felt the after-effects of it.

Flipping her over with his foot, he pressed his heavy boot into her back. "You know what I want, Tegan, you can stop this torture with two simple words."

She tried to arch her back to get him off, but he wouldn't budge. "Master..."

"He can't save you Tegan, he doesn't even know where you are. As we speak he is losing his sanity because he cannot contact you. He knows that he tried to protect you, but failed. Lucius has abandoned you."

"Never...he would never..." She cringed when he put more pressure on her spine.

Markus laughed and knelt down next to her, "You've been gone for more than two months, Tegan. Have you felt him? At all?"

"No."

"Then he has left you." Markus snapped. "Two words, Tegan, that is it. Just tell me what you are to the Father. Your connection and the torture from these demons will end."

She sobbed. "Blood whore."

"True words, Tegan."

"Blood Human, to the Father. The only one he didn't kill." She whispered.

Removing his foot from her back, he wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled her up to stand on her feet. "We have one stop before we go to the tomb. A welcome back party for you." He whispered and dragged her out.

Throwing her to a demon guard he snapped. "Unstitch her eyes and then cover them with a cloth. Her time here is done."

Tegan stumbled into the Demon's arms, but remained silent and Markus knew he had won. The demon took her away and Markus had to admit that she was a thing of beauty, but her temper needed to be tamed before she returned to the Father. Nothing would stop them now that he had everything that was needed.

The demon returned with Tegan, her white hair cleaned of all blood and a black strip of fabric around her eyes. Markus grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the demon.

They stepped up to the waiting portal, and he kept a hand wrapped around Tegan's wrist. "In we go."

Through twisting turns and dizziness, they arrived at the Circle's mansion. On the other side of the world, it would be hard for Lucius to track Tegan. If the vampire even felt her at this point it would probably be blown off as a fluke.

"Do you know where we are, Tegan?" Markus stroke her hair and urged her forward into the ballroom. Several other humans had been chained to tables, naked. He’d left one in the middle for Tegan. He led her there until her waist hit the table.

She shook her head. "I have no idea. Not in the demon realm but not home."

Her voice was harsh from screaming and it made him smile. "Good, get up on the platform and lay down."

Tegan's body tensed and she started to back away, but Markus splayed a hand on her back. "It's a table, you're laying me out to be food."

"Because that's what you are, that's what you admitted to me, isn't it?" He pushed her forward. "Get up there, or I'll force you up there. I know you are weak from your time with the demons, it'll be easy to make you."

She crawled up without another word and Markus chained her down. He stroked her face. "I'm keeping your sight from you because the Father always did, did he not?"

"How did you—"

"I saw your memories of him, you were his frightened little pet." He laughed as she moved her face away from his touch. "And now you will return to that."

Her jaw tightened and she tugged on the chains. "Lucius will come."

"And we will kill him. He cannot come into this territory, not even for you. Especially since you've betrayed him and told me exactly what you are." He tilted her head to the side and leaned over. "I love the taste of your blood." He whispered and sank his fangs into her throat. Without pushing power into her, he knew it was painful, but to her credit she didn't scream or flinch at the contact. Lucius' human was still fighting against Markus in her own little ways, but he'd still managed to get her secret out. Strong or not, she’d betrayed her master.

Orion led Danielle into the crispy remains of the forest. A fire had taken out a good part of the mountain’s trees a few years back and left black, charred trees behind. Mudslides now caused havoc in Manitou, but the people there were strong and courageous and keeping it weird—the motto of the small city. No one wandered through the forest much now, they all stuck to the incline and the tourist traps, but it seemed that Kaden had no problems finding it.

The blonde demon stood with his arms crossed. In his black jeans, combat boots and a leather jacket, he looked ready to kill someone.

"Someone kick your puppy?" Orion asked, using one of Renee's favorite phrases. Danielle stopped next to him, her eyes all for Kaden. Yeah, the demon was easy on the eyes, but Orion didn't like the way Danielle sized him up. He tried to push away the bout of jealousy that surfaced. Unless he was going to claim her as his mate, he had no right to be jealous.

"I just learned something that doesn't make me happy. Why did you call me here?" He uncrossed his arms and gestured around.

"We were hoping that the blood demon would turn up here."

Kaden rubbed his eyes. "The blood demon was summoned at this point, I can tell you that, but I can't promise that he'll return here. I can't track him unless he sleeps, and let me tell you how often that happens with those monsters."