Dark War Chronicles Box Set One (76 page)

Tegan snorted. “I don’t remember how many I took out, but they were in human form which means they were easier. If they were in their demon form...it would have been messier.” Pain laced her body and she cringed. Flashes of the Father crossed her mind and she turned away from Victoria. “Give me just a few minutes to get this blood off.” She took a deep breath and went to the bathroom.

She took her sunglasses and clothes off while she gave the water a moment to warm up. The Father had been there without a doubt, she could feel it in her skin, her mind, her body. When it came down to it, he created her and she could sense him.

The hot water turned her skin red as she scrubbed off the blood. The pain in her chest didn’t ease. Kaden...she couldn’t sense him when he was in a different realm and her heart broke. She needed to get to him, needed to save him. The red water disappeared down the drain and she looked at her stomach wound. It was already healing, it wouldn’t be long before it was nothing. A perk of being Lucius’ human and a Blood Human.

She got out of the shower and put her sunglasses on before drying off. She needed to see Lucius and tell him she’d encountered the Father again. If he’d believe her.

“Girly, you okay?” Victoria knocked on the door.

Okay? No, she was starting to feel numb. She needed to see Lucius and not her brother first, but all she could think about was Kaden. Not even mated for a week and it was already causing problems. “I’ll be out in a moment.” She knew what she needed to do, she had to find a way to get Kaden out of the Demon realm, and the only way there was to do that was to figure out why they wanted him out of Lucius’ territory.

“Sister of mine.” Zaaren’s voice came through the door and she cursed.

“Victoria! I meant what I said about the feeding schedule. What the hell, woman?”

“I sent her away.” The doorknob turned and she snarled.

“Don’t you dare come in here. I am naked and I actually like my privacy now.” She bit out and wrapped a towel around herself.

True to his nature Zaaren waltzed right in. Tegan tucked the towel into itself to secure the fabric. His gaze scanned her body through her reflection in the mirror. “What happened?”

“Do I look that bad?” She asked, studying her reflection. The bruise on her face was healing and her back didn’t hurt as much as it did before the shower.

Zaaren snorted. “Sister of mine, you look like you tried to fight your way out of a gladiatorial match.”

“Oh come on, I don’t look that bad. And it was only five demons. Give me some credit.” She touched her cheek then walked out of the bathroom to find herself clothes.

“Demons?” He snarled. “And where was Kaden? He let them get that close to you?”

She cringed when he mentioned Kaden, a harsh reminder that her demon wasn’t there. “He was taken by them. He went willingly to save my life.”

“You cannot die, did you not tell him that?” Zaaren’s voice was low.

“I had a demon cursed knife to my throat, the demon could have taken off my head. We really don’t want to put that one to the test. Now what do you want?”

Zaaren sighed. “We need to talk.”

“I’m not in the mood.” She turned her back to him and dropped the towel.

“Your back has lacerations all over it.” He traced a hand over her skin. “Glass.”

She moved away from him and put on a bra before pulling a shirt on. “Yes, display case and probably some butterflies.” She cringed at the thought of those shattering, her brand new one. Her mind flashed on the Father throwing her into the shelf and she shook her head. “The demons played rough.”

“Had you stayed here last night—“

“No, I wouldn’t have been safe. The demons took me from here, this room, the night of Renee’s wedding. They would have attacked either way.” She pulled on underwear and a pair of yoga pants. “Now, what is it that you wanted to talk about?” She asked, spinning around to face him.

“The Father.”

Her heart dropped and her breath disappeared. “What about him?”

“Lucius said you believed that he might have been raised. You do know that is ludicrous, yes?”

She took a deep breath and wished she could scream at Lucius for telling her brother, but that reaction wouldn’t get her anywhere. “I have memories of him feeding from me. I would not forget what he feels like. I cannot forget it.”

“Simply Markus playing with your mind.” Zaaren touched her cheek. “Despite me bringing back your memories, he could have place false ones.”

“But you would know if he did, wouldn’t you?” At his lack of response her frustration grew. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Where are you going?” Zaaren grabbed her wrist.

Anger filled her and she wrenched her arm out of his grasp. “I am going to find a way to save my mate before he gets his head chopped off. Then I’m going to find proof of the Father so that you and Lucius believe me, then if I have time, I’m going to go check on
my
bar.”

“Lucius believes you, it is me who does not.”

The words stopped her and she frowned. “He told me the same thing you did.”

“He came to me and asked me to be his second in command here, because he is preparing for the Father to try and take over.”

The thought made her sick, if the Father took over... “He has no right to touch Lucius.” Did he?

“Do you really believe that?”

“I thought that’s why you bound me to Lucius.” She snarled at him.

“Part of it, but with the Circle working with the Father they can play politics to their liking. If all of us were awake, it would be a different story, the Father would have no choice but to play by the rules he helped us put into place.”

“You woke, which means the others must not be far behind.” She tried not to panic. If she was separated from Lucius, she had no one to protect her. Especially since Kaden was gone. Her brother would just bide his time until the other Originals could back him up.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know where most of them are at this point. Do you keep in contact with their Keepers? Letters? Telephone calls?”

She tried not to laugh at the lack of information on new technology. “I keep in contact with some of the them, through e-mail. Others thought it’d be better to go off the grid.”

“Have they mentioned any of them stirring?”

“No.” She pushed her glasses up and rubbed her eyes. A familiar calm feeling washed through her. “Lucius is awake.”

“Go to him.”

She glared at her brother and opened her mouth to say something sarcastic, but threw her hands in the air and shook her head.

Lucius looked up when Tegan walked into the room. The first thing he noticed was the fading bruise on her face. Then he felt the emotional pain trying to consume her.

“What happened?”

“Good evening to you too.” She grumbled and crossed her arms. “Kaden and I were attacked by demons. He’s gone. He went with them to save my life. So don’t worry, he did his job.”

And he knew it hurt her to even think about Kaden disappearing. “He did his job and I’m sorry that he’s gone.”

“He’s not dead yet, he came to my dream. Something else is going on, something he wouldn’t admit to me.”

Lucius knew the tone in her voice. It meant she was thinking about something, normally something that would go against his orders. “Whatever you are thinking, the answer is no.”

“I can’t just leave him there.”

“You have no way of saving him from the demons and I will not let you put yourself in danger. Not for him. Not for a mate.” Lucius growled. “The territory comes first, the demons could turn you over to the Circle again. Do you want that? Want to be under Markus’ care again?”

“I wouldn’t be, because he’d hand me right over to the Father.” She growled back. “I can take on a few demons to get Kaden out of there. As long as I’m prepared. I want him back. I want the happiness he gave me. I finally felt complete and worth something with him.” She pressed her lips together as if she said something she shouldn’t have.

Lucius took a deep breath. “Tegan, I know you want him, but we have to be smart about this situation.” If only she’d believe she was worth the world, but he knew she would not believe those words from him. Not right now, not while her mate was missing. “I will see what connections I have, but you are not going to the demon realm again.” He would ignore the comment about the Father for now. No need to push her anger further.

“Fine, but please Lucius, I know you don’t like him, but I need him.”

He knew it’d come to this eventually. “I know.”

“I need to go back to the apartment and clean it up.” She looked down at the ground. “Many of my butterflies were destroyed during the fight.”

He touched her cheek. “I will replace them, I promise. We’ll go and clean up after I feed.”

“Oh, and Victoria is on your feeding schedule for the next month.” She shot out, a bit of venom in her voice.

Lucius couldn’t help but chuckle. “And what did she do to end up on your list?”

“She let my brother into my room.” She muttered and Lucius pursed his lips.

“He’s still getting used to how things are now, give him a chance. We need you two to get along.” He walked past her. “I’ll come find you once I’ve fed.”

She bristled and sighed. “Okay, I’ll wait for you in the great room. I will work on tolerating Zaaren, but he has got to get accustomed to the way you treat me.”

That was true, but Lucius knew it wouldn’t happen. Especially if the Father had been raised. “Get going, I’ll find Victoria.”

She turned and left. Her spunk was back, but if Kaden died, she’d lose it again. He’d seen the effects of grief with Coran and Lucius didn’t want Tegan to go through the pain. She’d already suffered enough through her life. Now that Kaden was in the picture it was going to be impossible for her to go back to how she was before. He cursed his luck and went to find Victoria.

Markus looked up when Aristides walked in, guards behind him with a demon in chains. “This is your traitor?”

Aristides nodded. “This is Kaden, the king killer and mate to Lucius’ little bitch.”

“You’re Tegan’s lover?” So Lucius had allowed them to mate now, interesting. He recognized Kaden from Tegan’s memories, but never had he expected Lucius and Zaaren to allow them to actually become lovers.

“That’s what the man said, isn’t it?” The demon snapped. “Mad that you never got your chance with her?”

Markus gave a barking laugh. “Oh, you’re great. I’m going to have fun with you, unless you’re willing to give us information on Lucius and the territory.”

“Like what? It seems to me that you got what you wanted already. Tegan claims that you have raised the Father.” He shook the demons off him, but they stayed near.

Markus waved them off. “You’re right, I have what I need to invade his territory. I should just have the general kill you, but no, I want Tegan to know that you suffered the same as she did. Though, unlike that little whore, I’m betting you can die.” Fear slid through the demon’s eyes. “And we’ll be doing it in the human realm so that I know Tegan will be able to sense it.” He turned to Aristides. “Open a portal, we’re going back.”

Aristides started to protest, but shook his head. With a wave of his hand he summoned the portal and Markus grabbed the captive demon, pulling him through. They came to the place that he and the Father occupied while they were in the States and threw the demon to the ground.

“Who is this?” The Father snarled.

Markus gave a wicked grin. “The man who’s going to bring Tegan to us. Willingly. And with Tegan comes the bargaining power over Lucius. You wanted a way to get around Zaaren being here, I bring you Tegan’s mate.”

“She’s a blood whore, they do not mate.” The Father snarled. “You have touched my property.”

Markus nodded. “So he claims. Tegan will know he’s here and she’ll come to us. It will allow us take Lucius’ territory through bargaining, it doesn’t matter if Zaaren is being set up as the second if Lucius willingly gives it to us.”

The demon stayed quiet. The Father paced the room thinking on it. “We do that and continue to hunt the others, we hurt their numbers they cannot rise against me again. Are you sure Tegan will fall for this?”

“Without a doubt. Let the torture begin and she’ll come right to us if they are truly mated.”

“And if they aren’t?”

Markus shrugged. “We just kill him. He’s wanted for treason, no one would blame us. We already have Aristides’s alliance so it won’t cause waves.”

“Then commence with your plan. I visited Tegan last night. She’s a mess, but there’s a fight to her that I’ve never seen, not even when she was first changed.”

“Lucius lets her get away with quite a bit and it adds fire to her spirit. I originally thought the torture would bring that down a notch, apparently it just added to it.”

The demon snickered. “It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Tegan. She is a strong woman who can overcome everything. She’s too smart to fall into this trap and Lucius and Zaaren are too powerful for it to work.”

Markus slammed his heavy boot into the creatures back. “Shut your mouth.” Grabbing the chains, he dragged the demon out of the room and into the basement of the house.

Chapter Eleven

“Okay, so Lucius was insistent that I come here and keep you company. Why?” Renee asked as she walked into the media room. “Why couldn’t you come over?”

It was a valid question and Tegan knew the answer, but she shrugged. “I’m pretty sure you’re here to make sure that I don’t run off in attempt to find Kaden.”

“He thinks I’m going to be able to stop you?” Renee laughed. “He does realize I am human, right?”

Tegan couldn’t help but smile. Renee’s light hearted voice and conversation always put her at ease. That was one reason Lucius had her come here, that Tegan would have a chance of being distracted. “He’s hoping that you’ll keep my mind off it. That being said, Lucius finally got me a DVR here, and it looks like I’m behind on some reality shows. Care to join me?”

“Like I’d turn my nose up at reality shows.” Renee plopped down on the couch. “Can I tell you how happy I am that you’ve regained your memories?”

“Because it means I’m no longer plotting ways to kill Coran?” Tegan teased. “Trust me, I’m happy they are back too.”