Eliana (21 page)

“Get away from her, you animal!” Evan grabbed Jared’s arm and swung him off the bed once more. Jared couldn’t control his fall. His head hit the corner of the nightstand with a sickening
crunch.

“Evan!” Kon cried as he dashed to the cambion’s side. Evan paid him no heed. He clutched Tasha in his arms, moaning and sobbing.

Jared’s pupils were blown; a bad sign. Kon opened his Sensitivity and reeled at the pain. Then he dug, searching frantically for an answer to what had happened.

—
Jared, pleading with Tasha to put the razor down and let him bandage her cuts. Frantic, desperate lovemaking. Jared falling asleep only to wake and find her cold and lifeless next to him, empty pill bottles scattered across the nightstand and the floor.—

There were more scenes of Tasha’s self-destructive behavior and long, teary confessionals in which she expressed her unhappiness while Jared held and comforted her. He’d approached Evan more than once—but Evan, while madly in love with her, had brushed his concerns aside.

Jared had died a week later without ever regaining consciousness. Tasha’s death was listed as suicide with Jared as an accessory. Jared’s death was ruled accidental. Despite Kon’s testimony, the Council couldn’t afford to lose Evan as Chief Warden. Denver was one of the few enclaves earning a profit, largely due to Evan’s obsessiveness about details and his adamant belief in promoting alternative medicine.

In the nights following, Kon had done his best to coax Evan into admitting the truth. Deep inside, Evan was aware that his attention to his job rather than his lover had contributed to her demise, but he refused to acknowledge his part in the matter. Even worse, being the cause of Jared’s death had apparently escaped his mind completely. Evan chafed at being unable to work, so he soon returned to his duties as if nothing had happened, the trauma showing only when a Warden—Kon especially—seemed to be in danger from an incubus or cambion.

The man Kon saw now was the same he’d seen the night Tasha died, wild and half-mad with grief, seeing cambions as dangerous animals rather than half human with the same capacity for fear and pain.

And it was because of Evan that there was nothing left in Dane which wasn’t dangerous. Kon’s heart lurched when he saw the red welts scoring Dane’s skin—but those were minor compared to the frenzied anger of the demon which had taken hold. Dane jerked and thrashed as much as his bonds allowed. Knowing Dane’s strength, Kon didn’t expect them to hold for long.

“Evan.”

The Chief Warden didn’t turn his gaze from Dane’s writhing body. “Stay out of this, Kon. You can’t see what he is, what he’s been doing to you. Look at what a beast he is.”

“Give me the cane, Evan.” He held out his hand.

Evan brought the rattan down hard across Dane’s buttocks.
Snap.

Kon shuddered at Dane’s inhuman screech. The bench creaked and groaned as Dane strained against it. Kon fought to stay motionless and pretend the brutal blow meant nothing. “Give it to me.”

Evan’s eyes were red and bloodshot. “I did this for you, Kon, to show you how deadly he is.”

The pureness of Evan’s belief that he was doing what was best made Kon ache with pity. “It’s over, Evan. Give me the cane. We’ll go back to your room and have a drink. I’ll stay the night, all right?”

“I have to do this. I have to. For you.” He raised his arm once more.

Before Kon could stop him, Evan landed another blow.

Snap.

Wood splintered and cracked as Dane jerked the cuffs free.

* * * *

Pressed against the wall just inside the door, Eliana watched the scene unfold, unsure of what if anything she could do. Dane looked like a monster from a horror movie, naked, muscles taut, chains dangling from his wrists and ankles. There was not the slightest inkling of humanity in his gaze as he broke free of the bench and focused on his tormenter—and lunged.

Eliana screamed. Dane and Evan went down in a heap, limbs tangled as they fought for dominance.

“
Dane
!” Kon’s shout rose over the tumult.

The two guards rushed in. One pulled out a gun and aimed it at the pile of men.

Eliana slammed her cane down onto the man’s hand. He yelped and dropped the gun. Before he could bend down to pick it up, she used the head of her cane to slide the gun over and snatched it up. The second guard had a TASER in his hand, but she gave a dramatic sigh and glared at him. “You wouldn’t do that to a woman, would you? Especially a crippled one.” She took a few moments to inspect the gun before leveling it at the men. “I can’t drive a car, but I do know how to use this. See that closet?” She waved the gun in the direction of an open door. “Walk over there and get in.”

Hands raised, the two men did as she told them. Once they were inside the cramped closet, Eliana shut them in, grabbed a chunk of wood broken during Dane’s escape, and jammed it beneath the door.

Done, she slumped against the wall, fighting back nausea at the realization she was holding a fucking
gun
and had been willing to use it. Agony flared in her hip in remembrance of the day Emilio had died and her life had nearly ended.

“It’s over.” Hands shaking, she removed the clip from the gun and tossed it aside. “No one is going to hurt me ever again.” She checked to be sure the safety was on, then looked around to gauge the situation.

Dane straddled Evan, hands wrapped around Evan’s throat. Evan struggled, choking.

Kon crouched beside them. “Dane. Sweetheart, look at me. Please, Dane, don’t do this.”

Idiot. Pleading isn’t going to work
. Ignoring the ache, Eliana limped over and swung her cane at the meaty part of Dane’s arm.

He snarled and whirled around. She had the unloaded gun ready, aimed right at his heart. “Don’t even think about it. Behave.” Evidently the demon recognized the danger through its rage, because Dane didn’t make any more threatening moves toward her.

On the floor, Evan coughed and sputtered. Eliana didn’t spare him a glance. Neither did Kon, who had a hand on Dane’s calf.

The air tingled.
Damn it
. She
knew
that sensation. Kon was working his magic again, only this time she wasn’t going to protest.

“Sit,” she told Dane. “Right now.”

He dropped to the floor, which put his face within Kon’s reach. Kon grasped it and stared into Dane’s eyes. “Eliana. Find me a blanket.”

She did as she was told, relieved when she opened a closet door and found a pile of blankets inside. She grabbed two and hurried back.

Kon took the blankets and wrapped them around his lover. “Dane, sweetheart, can you hear me?”

It didn’t look as if Kon did anything more than hold Dane’s face, but the electric tingle in the air increased until Eliana was sure her hair must be standing on end. The nearer she went, the stronger the tingle became, along with the same feral sexual drive she’d felt from Dane in the car—only this time there was a dark, raging undercurrent that frightened her.

“Kon?” The voice was quiet, almost childlike.

“That’s right. It’s me.”

“Kon, I can’t. The damn thing’s got me…”

“It’s all right. You’ll be fine.” Kon’s voice was calm, but he trembled.

Evan coughed and crawled toward them. “Don’t. Kon—”

Bracing against the inevitable ache in her hip, Eliana placed her foot squarely in the small of his back, glad she was wearing boots so she could grind the heel into his spine. “Don’t move. You’re making my hip hurt, and that makes me cranky.” She eyed the St. Andrew’s cross on the wall. “I want you to crawl over there.”

She waved the gun in the direction she wanted him to go. Gaze full of hatred, he moved on hands and knees toward the cross.

“Stand up. Buckle your ankles in.” When he resisted, she thumbed off the safety. “Do it, damn it.”

Evan did as he was told.

“Now your left wrist.”

“Bitch. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. That creature—”

“Shut up, Evan.” She cracked the gun against his skull hard enough that blood trailed from his scalp and down his cheek. He moaned. “My stepfather was a man like you. He had no control at all. He liked to dominate people because he could. And thanks to that
creature
, I know that I can and deserve to be treated better. So does he.”

She replaced the safety and threw the gun into the corner out of reach. Then she grabbed his remaining wrist and forced it into the last restraint, tightening it with no care as to his comfort.

“Eliana.”

In her fury, she’d forgotten about Kon. She turned to see him still crouched beside Dane, pale and shaking.

“I need you.” Kon held out a trembling hand. “I have to convince his demon to go back to sleep, and I’m too exhausted to do it by myself.”

She eased herself down, cursing at the streak of pain in her hip, and gripped his hand.

The world tilted. She
felt
Kon, felt
him
and the way he perceived the world. Everything was suddenly brighter, more real. Energy was a living, writhing thing, coursing through Kon’s body as well as Dane’s. This was what Kon needed. His energy wavered, weakened by everything he’d been through.

“Don’t fight. Just relax,” Kon said.

It was hard
not
to fight. He reached inside her in a way far more intimate than sex. Her instinct was to strike back, to protect herself at all costs.

Except that protection, the emotional wall she’d raised so defiantly, had nearly cost her a chance at love. Kon would be lost without Dane, and Eliana wasn’t going to let that happen.

She let Kon have her. All of her. Everything she was and could be she sent pouring into him, lending strength and energy and sharing his love for Dane.

Together they reached for Dane, the human part, not the mindless, raging creature Evan had purposefully loosed. Kon found him and held on with such love and tenderness that Eliana ached to feel it.
If only someone cared like that about me…

Then she felt it—a stream of pure energy directed solely at her. Kon drew her in and wrapped her in the same love he did Dane. The three of them were like a circuit, feeding off one another yet supporting and strengthening at the same time. They fit mentally, physically, and energetically.

The demon lashed out like an enraged grizzly bear, fury overriding its need for sex. Fear gripped Eliana, but it was Dane’s presence which soothed her. He knew this creature, this untamable piece of himself, and accepted it with such grace Eliana couldn’t help but admire him.
That
was what Dane had meant in the car when he’d told her to use her flaws. She understood and gloried with him.

Together they managed to corral the demon and soothe it to sleep.

She dropped out of the trance, overwhelmed at the intensity. Dane huddled in his blankets, shivering and uncomprehending now that his human senses had returned.

Kon swayed and keeled over. Eliana caught him and settled him with his head in her lap, more than a little worried by his pasty complexion. “I’m sorry for getting so pissed off at you.”

A faint smile was his only response.

* * * *

Lights. Noise. People. Dane drew the blankets over his head.
Get them away. Get them the fuck away.

“Dane?”

He pulled the blanket down just enough to see Doc and Eliana, faces lined with concern. Dimly he was aware that he should be happy he was safe, but the memory of his demon’s rage continued to pound in his veins. Dane dropped his gaze to the floor. “Don’t touch me. Just…don’t.”

“I won’t. Yet.” Doc sounded exhausted, but Dane found it hard to drum up enough emotion to care. Eliana continued to gaze at him, pity in her eyes.

She knows what it’s like. Of course she does
. Her silence was more comforting than words.

People came and went. There were questions. Lots of them. Dane let them drift by. Eliana answered, her voice calm and confident as she related in detail everything that had happened, from when Evan had entered Kon’s suite to the way Kon had used his Sensitivity to call Dane back from the edge of hell.

Because that was what it was like when the demon took hold; burning, fiery, sexual hell where he was reduced to little more than a mindless beast. Losing control was the one thing Dane was most terrified of, and Evan had forced the loss without caring about the consequences.

“Dane? We’re going back to the suite, all right? Doc wants to take a look at you.” It was Eliana, her hand steady and reassuring on his arm as she urged him to his feet and into a wheelchair.

Once he was out of that terrible, claustrophobic room, his demon’s rage began to fade.
Where is Kon?
He looked around.

“Kon’s already in bed in your suite. Doc says he’s had a relapse.”

My fault. I lost it. Kon could have died…might still die, if we don’t figure out what’s wrong.

Eliana paused in the hallway. “I know that look. Don’t you dare blame yourself for what that man did. Cambion or not, I don’t think anyone would have passively taken a beating like that. If it was me, I would have kicked him in the balls. If I see him again, I’ll cut them off.”

From the fierce expression, he had no doubt she would. He took her face in his hands, tilted it, and kissed her. “Thank you.” It wasn’t enough, but it would have to do.

Inside, Doc was waiting for him. “Sit.” She pointed at a kitchen chair. Dane kept the blanket around his waist and straddled the chair backward. Her fingers were warm as she inspected his back. “You’re lucky. He didn’t break the skin, though I daresay you’re going to be sore for a few days.”

He didn’t
feel
lucky. His entire body felt like one big bruise, and he flinched despite Doc’s gentle hands as she rubbed an ointment on his back. Eliana pulled up a chair across from him. All she did was hold his hand, but she was
there
. He couldn’t help but imagine what she would be like when she was experienced, strong and beautiful and caring while she doled out the cruelest of punishments.