Magic Resistant (30 page)

The bond meant they could call the demon with
minimum effort even after the Mage Enforcers banished it.

Reaching over to remove the ball gag and
restraints, Markus took charge immediately. “Jackson didn’t summon
and release the demon. He’s innocent. Logan, however, is not. He
had those mages summon the demon.”

He paused as this new information sunk into
the minds of the Coterie. Jackson saw the small flicker of
satisfaction cross Markus’ face before it disappeared.

Logan instantly protested, “No, that’s a lie!
This video's doctored. We’ve all seen the original and it clearly
shows Jackson as the summoner. I had nothing to do with this!”

He thumped a fist on the back of the couch
and a sharp crack echoed in the air as the wood broke under his
rage. Angry he took a step toward Markus, forgetting about the
Elites blocking his path. Bumping into them, he growled deep from
his throat, not once revealing any fear or guilt through body
language.

Not a one moved from his path. While he was
physically larger than the Elites, they had more power combined,
had spent years training for situations such as this.

“Oh?” Markus raised an eyebrow, a distinct
chill emanating from him. “I’m the one who reconstructed the video.
Heavily edited and well done. Once I stripped away the false video,
it shows you and your Elites, not Jackson.”

Jackson suppressed the shiver of fear
crawling up his spine, schooling his features to show nothing but
blankness. Glad the older mage was on his side this time, he
watched the werewolf closely, searching for any chink in his
armour. The Coterie learned to hide their emotions as effectively
as Enforcers.

“Did you also have nothing to do with the
humans hunted down for sport?” Markus slyly asked.

And there was the first chink. The loaded
question visibly startled Logan. Wary, sensing the hidden noose
around his neck, he glanced at his two Elites before focusing on
Markus again.

“Humans? I don’t know what you’re talking
about.” He went on the offensive, trying to deflect from himself.
“This isn’t about me. This is about Jackson. We’ve finally caught
him and we can use him as an example. Show everyone no one escapes
the justice of the Coterie.”

He tried to impassion the rest of the room,
sway them to his side. No one took the bait. Too much doubt and
unanswered questions swirled in the air.

“What are you talking about? What humans?”
Felix demanded, his fingers digging into the soft fabric of the
couch. Paige nodded in support, boring holes into Logan, her bright
blue eyes darkened with open hostility.

“Several humans have gone missing in the
area. At first, we thought runaway or the usual human on human
murder. Recently, however, we found proof certain werewolves have
been hunting humans for sport. They’re being starved and then
released, giving them hope for survival only to be torn to bits.”
Markus explained.

He paused, waiting for the outrage and he
wasn’t disappointed. Page and Felix exploded in anger, demanding
answers. Markus waited a few moments, letting their fury build
before he cut them off.

“We have a survivor, someone who can ID the
werewolves.” Markus again had to wait out the eruption of
voices.

The loudest was Logan claiming it impossible.
Jackson resisted the urge to laugh. He never thought this would
clear his name. Soon, they’d have Logan in custody and he would be
free with all charges dropped against him.

“Gavin, please step forward. Explain to the
Coterie what you’ve told us.” There was no disobeying the hard
command in Markus’ voice.

Hesitant, he stepped forward. Jackson
couldn’t imagine the fear and pain of facing his captors again so
soon after his escape. Gavin’s voice shook and broke a few times as
he gave a brief overview of the hell he went through.

“They abducted me off the streets on my way
home and held me captive in a small cage with several other humans.
Starved and tortured for several days. I think. I lost track of
time. Many times, two werewolves came and dragged out a human,
releasing them only to hunt them down. They were kind enough,” he
spat out, “to give them a head start, laughing the entire time. I
heard them joking fear made the meat taste better. After several
minutes, the third werewolf would join them and they’d all change
so they could hunt the human.”

How many times did he wake screaming in the
night?

“Are those werewolves in this room right
now?” Gavin nodded in response to Markus’ question. “Please point
them out.”

Slowly, Gavin raised his hand and pointed to
Logan and then his two personal Elite Enforcers.

“Those three. They’re the ones who held us
captive. The two in the back did most of the torturing while the
other one watched.”

The shouts louder this time as everyone tried
to talk over each other. Summoning and losing control of a demon
was one thing, but kidnapping, torturing and hunting other races,
especially the weakest one, was a death sentence.

From the corner of his eye, Jackson saw a
mountain of a man barrel into the room. Silver earrings glinted
from his ears and eyebrow, brilliant against his black skin. A
silver stud flashed in his lower lip. Normal earrings failed to
remain in his body due to the accelerated healing of his kind.
Silver interfered with the healing process and werewolves used them
to keep the holes open. It also hurt like hell and proved who had a
high threshold for pain. As one of the Top Alphas for Canada, Derek
showed he had a large set of balls, willing and able to take on
challengers, simply by the amount of silver on his face.

Of course, it helped he was well over six
feet tall, muscular and just plain mean looking. Jackson had yet to
meet an Alpha who appeared cuddly and nice. Derek’s short black
mohawk absorbed the light and emphasized his thick neck. He looked
like a linebacker, ready to break any opposition and Jackson was
damn glad he wasn’t the reason for the angry, hateful look on
Derek’s face.

“Where is she, you son of a bitch? What have
you done with her?” Derek yelled as he continued to push his way
through the room. Fury and aggression radiated from him, causing
several people to fall back. It was better to stay out of arm’s
reach when confronted with a pissed off werewolf.

The Elites, however, stood their ground in
front of Logan. They had their orders and would carry them out to
their deaths. Or, more preferably, once their commander gave the
order to stand down.

Logan looked confused, “Who are you talking
about?”

“Sylvia. Where is she? I can’t link properly
with her, but I know she’s in pain. If you don’t tell me what
you’ve done to her, I will rip you apart with my bare hands.” As if
to prove his point, his fingers changed into claws, his canine
teeth elongated and his eyes turned a golden amber hue. A low growl
rumbled in his chest, a warning to the Coterie leader.

“One of ours? I wouldn’t harm another
werewolf, especially not an Enforcer. They’re too precious to our
race. The other races; they’re just prey, to be hunted for our
amusement.” Logan’s scorn hard to miss.

“You admit it then.” Gavin said in a strong
voice, hatred overcoming his fear.

“I admit nothing, weak human, except I had
nothing to do with the disappearance of Sylvia.” He sneered at
Gavin.

“Not so weak with the vampire blood you
forced into me. You wanted challenging prey, remember?” Gavin
grounded out, his disgust and rage thickening his voice, a voice
still raw from weeks of abuse.

The Vampire Coterie leader, Augustus, perked
up at the mention of vampire blood, the first sign of life from him
since the meeting started. Leonora, his counterpart, glared at
Logan, her crimson lips compressed. Neither would stand for vampire
blood being used on other races.

“What’s this?” Augustus demanded. He leaned
on the couch, gripping the top.

“Pure, ancient vampire blood supplied by a
demon. He forces humans to drink it so they can hunt them.” Gavin
explained.

“That’s preposterous. That goes against both
the Werewolf Treaty as well as the agreement with the vampires to
leave them alone.” Aaron interjected, trying to calm a tense
situation. He took a step away from Logan, separating himself from
the mess.

“Oh really? Then why is his heart racing? Why
can I smell his guilt and fear? The blood hasn’t worn off me yet.”
Gavin gave a grim smile knowing the other vampires and werewolves
could sense the same thing.

“We found the building, asshole. Thought you
were clever, huh? Bringing them to an abandoned slaughter house.”
Victor taunted from across the room. “Now we have more witnesses
and they all identified you and your two lackeys.”

“Is this true, Logan? Have you been hunting
humans?” Aaron demanded, a low growl escaping with his words and
his amber eyes shone.

Logan snarled at Gavin, "Humans are nothing
but prey, cattle for us to feed on. Werewolves hunted your pathetic
kind for food and sport long before the damn Treaties. You're a
plague on this earth, a parasite sucking this planet dry. A culling
is needed."

Augustus, beyond pissed, bellowed in rage,
“Who?! Who have you stolen blood from? I will make you bleed for
this insult, little dog.”

Leonora bared her fangs at Logan and his
Elites, backing up Augustus’ threat. Jackson wondered if the Elites
would be able to contain the Coterie if violence erupted.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

THE VAMPIRE AND
werewolf leaders yelled at each other, fangs bared and ready for
blood. Julia leaned over to Jackson. She placed her hand on his
arm, gaining his attention.

“Oh shit. That’s what the human meant.” Her
skin crawled at the thought of Sylvia with those sick bastards.

“What? What do you mean?”

“The man said he hoped your other bitch would
provide entertainment too. They took Sylvia. Oh shit, they took
her.” Bile rose in her throat as she remembered his threats of
breaking her and the twisted lust in his voice.

Derek overheard them. He shot across the room
and forced his way into their conversation. “What man? When did
this happen?”

Julia looked to Markus for permission. The
human was his prisoner and his responsibility for interrogation.
Her partner didn’t share when it came to what he considered his
property. When he gave her a nod, she explained to Derek what
happened the night at the gallery.

“We have him and he’s being interrogated. We
haven’t forced much from him yet.” Markus interjected. Only a
matter of time before the suspect cracked. No one withstood her
partner for long.

“I want him, Markus. I want to rip him apart
until he tells me everything. Her pain is my pain. I feel it with
her.” Derek snarled, half-crazed and ready to destroy something,
anything. Julia knew the Alphas connected to their pack and shared
information via the pack link.

The pack thoughts, however, couldn’t be sent
back to the Alpha. It ensured they didn’t get overwhelmed by
outside thoughts since some packs had thousands of members. Plus,
the higher up the chain of command, the more werewolves the Alpha
could reach. The Coterie leader could send a message to every
single werewolf in the world whereas Derek was able to send only to
those in his territory of Ontario.

“I can’t let you near him, Derek. Not in this
frame of mind. You’d kill him before we could learn anything
useful.” Markus was immovable on this. Julia had seen that
expression on his face too many times and knew nothing would sway
him.

Derek blew out a frustrated breath. Guess
he’d seen that look before too. “I want to know where she is. I can
feel her pain. How, not sure, but it’s being sent along the pack
link to me. I can’t talk to her though. It’s like it’s blocked or
something. Make that fucking bastard talk or I will.”

He rolled his shoulders and Julia had to
admit, the sheer size of them impressed her. He dwarfed most of the
people here, including the other werewolves. The only one bigger
than him was Roan. Thank goodness the Enforcers instilled hardened
steel in her spine or she might have stepped back from him out of
sheer fright.

A noise sounded to her right and she focused
on the fight already in progress. Augustus had made his way to
Logan, crossing when her attention had been on Derek. The Elites
stepped out of the way and hung back, hesitant to step between
Logan and Augustus. They yelled at each other and gestured wildly,
fangs bared in aggression.

She couldn’t blame the Elites.

Only a crazy person interfered with an angry
vampire and werewolf.

Oh great
. She groaned inwardly.

Looks like she was one of the crazy people
expected to interfere as her partner, Markus, made his way to them.
Energy built up inside him, a familiar sensation to her. Many years
of working together tuned her into his personal signature and she
knew when he was readying himself to cast a spell.

Or at least a spell requiring a lot of
energy.

Jackson hung back with Gavin, the best place
for him. The other Enforcers would see it as an act of aggression
if he tried to join the fray. No longer sporting the ball gag and
handcuffs, he could at least defend himself if needed.

She had a bad feeling hell was about to break
loose.

A shout and cursing drew her attention back
to the fighting Coterie leaders and she picked up the pace. Markus
reached them first and pushed his way between then, forcing them
apart. Logan was in mid-swing, claws out, and clipped Markus on the
side of the head. Julia gasped in horror, knowing the kind of
damage a werewolf could inflict. Her pounding heart refused to
settle even when she noticed the lack of bleeding on Markus’
part.

His shielding had deflected the damaged.