Demon Moon (55 page)

“You'll need Savi alive.” Colin's gaze held hers. “The portal opens when her shields fail.”

“Yes, but we don't need you,” Dalkiel said. “Only your blood. If the other nosferatu were anchored to the realm by drinking it, so will Ariphale be. And so you will submit to him. Here, standing before those weaker than you. If your blood kills him, she will die. If you struggle before he's drained you, she will die.”

Savi fought to speak. The demon had it wrong. The imprisoned nosferatu had taken Colin's blood, but it had been shed in a ritual, from specific symbols. And the portal depended upon the both of them—Ariphale couldn't have heard that. The room had been shielded when they'd realized it.

But Colin wouldn't correct his misassumption, as it probably rendered useless whatever bargain the nosferatu and demon had made. Their misconception that Savi alone was the key prevented Dalkiel from killing her.

From killing them both.

Colin shook his head—a tiny, almost undetectable movement.

And what came out instead was her laughter.
“You're afraid of him,”
she realized. “You have to threaten
me
to control him? You can't forget what he did to you on the roof, can you? He humiliated you.” Dalkiel's claws pierced her side…and dug deeper as she continued, “You don't know what the hell he is, and he frightens you. Does he remind you of what you
used
to be? Two times you fought him, and two times you ran like a fucking cow—”

“Stop, Savi,” Colin said desperately. “Stop.”

She had to anyway. The pain swamped her vision, blinding her with crimson.

“Take him,” Dalkiel said.

And she saw that, somehow. Though the red haze, saw Ariphale's fangs rip at Colin's neck, his mouth cover the wound. She scented the rich flavor of his blood.

Her blood, too. It leaked out of her, wet and sliding, and all of her seemed to be sliding and moving and pushing the wrong way.

“Hold on, sweet.” He was losing strength, losing blood, but even now he was thinking of her, thinking…

Think, Savi
.

Dalkiel's hand twisted before he yanked it from her flesh and slapped it over her mouth. Was she screaming?

Colin's knees buckled; the nosferatu held him up, sucking and sucking.

Oh god.
Think
. What did she have? No venom or hellhound.

Should you leave and Sir Pup stay, no one could protect you from the evil creatures stalking the night—

No weapons.

A gun wouldn't have protected you if there had been two. You have to run—

Powerful hands beneath her chin and across her mouth forced her head back; Colin's features stared down at her, washed in the scarlet light of demon eyes. She wanted to snap her teeth at the demon. Bite his face off. Those beautiful gray eyes, corrupted by something evil and cold…

They were still gray.

“Let me go.” It was a growl, tearing from her throat.

But that wasn't her. That sound wasn't anything human or vampire.

“What sort of ungodly perversion are you?” The demon's voice was filled with disgust…with horror. His hands tightened and shifted position, as if he was struggling to maintain his grip.

Why bother? Even if she could run, she wouldn't leave Colin here alone. She had nowhere safe to go.

If it comes to that, and you can't run—

Oh, god. Yes, she did.

—grab the pup—

Not out, not away, but in.

—and hold on to him—

Her memory waited; she plunged, ripped through it. Found fangs and fur and claws. Gathered them up. Grasped them tight.

—and he'll run for you—

And ran with them.

Ariphale's hands slipped from Colin's shoulders, its frigid lips lifting from his skin; but even if Colin had had the strength to move, he wasn't certain he could have.

Nor was he certain who was the more astonished when Savi shape-shifted, and the slim woman became an enormous wolf: the nosferatu, who knew that nothing except Guardians, demons, and hellhounds could change their shapes; or the vampires watching, who'd been told nothing like a werewolf existed.

Or Dalkiel, when she ripped his throat out.

Clever Savitri. She'd always liked to bite.

The nosferatu's forearm around his neck strangled Colin's triumphant laughter. But he still shook with it when she went after Dalkiel's face, as the demon shrieked and rolled onto his hands and knees and tried to crawl away.

His wings sprouted from his back; his talons scrabbled against the smooth surface of the dance floor. A sword appeared in his hand, but he'd no time to use it. She pounced on him, her massive forepaws pinning his wings down. Her jaws snapped on the back of his neck. Silenced his screams.

She'd shown more mercy than Colin would have done.

Sleek black fur rippled beneath the colored lights as she turned her head to look at him. Her psychic scent rose around her, luscious and fragrant. Hellfire burned from her eyes.

Ariphale leapt into the air.

“You should let me go,” Colin said. “She's less likely to kill you if you are kind to me. Oh, that crossbow will simply not do at all.” It was absurd, how weak he was; but it took barely a kick to upset Ariphale's aim, hovering as it was with a beautiful vampire crushed against its chest.

The bolt passed several meters from Savi's pointed ears. She paced below them, her muzzle tilted up, her crimson gaze fixed on Ariphale as he fluttered across the ceiling like a bald bat trapped in an attic.

“She's probably thinking of a way to form wings,” Colin told it. “You'd best release me.”

But it wasn't the threat of Savi flying that spurred the nosferatu to action; it was the sudden psychic presence of vampires, of humans—of Guardians—from outside the club, as the protective spell surrounding Polidori's disappeared.

Fia, Paul, and Darkwolf rushed onto the floor below.

“Your idiot demon partner—” Colin struggled as the creature dove toward the suite. Savi raced along beneath them. “—used symbols activated by
blood
in a building full of vampires. Did you truly believe we wouldn't sniff out the location—oh, bloody hell.”

Of course the sodding nosferatu didn't use a door; and reinforced as it was, the door might not have buckled under the force of Ariphale's body slamming into it. The wall did, and they crashed into the suite in a shower of wood and insulation.

The door rattled in its frame; the hinges squealed.

Before Savi could hit it again, Ariphale triggered the spell. Her scent vanished.

Colin rose to his knees, coughing to clear the plaster from his lungs. Epona sat on the sofa, her red-rimmed eyes wide with shock.

Ariphale stood by the door, its hand covering the symbols protectively. Not so arrogant now; before Savi, it'd have never feared that two vampires might have the speed and power to get around a nosferatu and erase the blood.

Unfortunately, at that moment neither he nor Epona did.

Colin smiled when he looked at Epona again, and she cringed back into the cushions. “Did you empty this room of its weapons, as well?”

“Yes. I'm sorry, I—”

“Don't apologize to
me
. I only refrain from killing you to avoid upsetting Miss Murray; she's much more reasonable and forgiving of such things. You made a bargain to save Raven's life?”

She nodded, her breath shallow. “I'm not sorry for that.”

“I'd have done the same for Miss Murray.” He adjusted his collar, tested the wounds on his neck. Raw, but closed. “It must have been quite the demonstration the demon gave you, when the nosferatu tore apart those vampires. They were your friends?”

“Yes.” If possible, she appeared smaller than before, older. She darted a glance from his throat to Ariphale. “Do you need blood?”

“Yes.” He strolled to the sofa, tipped her chin up and coldly studied her neck. She paled; her lips quivered. “But not yours. I will, however, take this.” With deft fingers, he unbuckled her spiked leather choker and slid it into his pocket. “Once it realizes there is no exit the Guardians will not cover, that it is trapped, it will slaughter us; you'd do well to escape.”

“How?” she whispered.

“It'll not leave the symbols unprotected to pursue you, for fear I'll destroy the spell. Leap through.”

Colin pointed to the ragged hole in the upper half of the wall. Selah hovered outside, looking down at them. Her hands were moving as if she signed instructions, but he could not understand them.

The spell, taking its own interpretation of “silence” to prevent all communication.

“What about you?”

“If we both tried to escape, it would come after us. And even if I made it out, it could remain here indefinitely—until Polidori's fell down around it, or I set it on fire to flush it out. I've no intention to pay for the club's restoration again.” He frowned as Ariphale fidgeted uneasily at the door, angling its head to look at Selah. “Go now, or I'll reconsider and take your place.”

He should, regardless. Though Selah probably reported their location and safety within, Savi would be frantic with worry.

But he wearied of these intrusions into his homes; and if she had to leave him, he could at least give her a safe location to return to whenever she needed one.

Provided he survived, of course.

Ariphale's growl rumbled through the suite when Epona sprinted for the wall; its white naked body tensed as if to give chase, then stilled as it glanced back at Colin.

“I may have been weak enough that you could have caught her
and
returned to intercept me before I reached the door,” Colin said, smiling. He approached the nosferatu at a slow, insolently careless stroll. “But it's difficult to be certain, is it not?”

“It is not.”

The nosferatu could not be given accolades for wit and diction, but Colin was surprised that it had answered at all. He'd anticipated the creature would dismiss him as a nonentity.

“Ah, yes. You must know the limits of my strength. You've taken my blood; you know that many things which should be impossible for a vampire, I can do. You felt one of them—Chaos—whilst you fed.”

But Ariphale had either withstood it disturbingly well, or Colin hadn't the ability to channel that realm as he could when
taking
blood. Savi had reacted with horror, and three young vampires had screamed in fear; Ariphale hadn't shown the slightest discomfort.

Not until Savi had destroyed his demon partner.

Colin touched the tip of his tongue to his left fang, let the scent of his blood tinge his breath.

Ariphale's nostrils flared.

The nosferatu had its own curse: bloodlust. A vampire would have been satisfied after taking so much from Colin earlier, but the nosferatu couldn't experience physical hunger, and so the bloodlust was not eased by feeding. And Colin couldn't mistake its effect on the creature's body.

Nor could he mistake the creature's self-disgust at its reaction.

Colin leaned his shoulder against the wall, crossed his feet at the ankles. “It is a terrible burden, a curse such as this,” he said, his voice overripe with melancholy. “The endless need; the lack of control; the loss of one's will. The revolting urge to rut like an animal.”

“Your lament would please a demon, who might assist you in ending your own existence and relieving you of your burden,” Ariphale said. “But I do not care for it.”

“I imagine you don't. I was not speaking of myself.” His gaze swept the nosferatu's length. “At this moment, you must be certain of your impending doom. For though my consort awaits you, she'll not have the opportunity to kill you and end your cursed existence; the moment the shields around this room have fallen, the angelic Selah will teleport in…and will return you to your holding cell. But you've another option.”

“To remain here?” Ariphale shook its head; its amber eyes glowed fiercely. “That is not another option; it is still imprisonment.”

“You are mistaken; that is not what I offer. Chaos is not all that I contain within me,” he said softly. “I also have Caelum. And I can make it very good for you.”

Within his pocket, the spiked collar lay folded in his palm. Colin squeezed.

The tinge became a flood.

Colin withdrew his hand, and painted in blood a symbol on the wall. “My consort,” he said, “cannot keep her psychic shields up whilst in her wolf form. You sensed them failing before her transformation; you know this to be true.”