A Bevin Hero [The O'Hagan Way 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) (17 page)

“Alpha!” someone shouted. I glanced back just in time to see a demon jumping from the ceiling with a sword… Straight for Caven. I shifted me body, trying to get me aim lined up in time, but I wasn’t going to make it. A blur darted in front of me and knocked Caven out of the way, taking the hit instead. I fired at the demon and ashed his ass.

“Fletcher,” Caven cried out and dove on his knees next to the man who saved him. “No!” I closed me eyes for a moment, hating what me brain interpreted at what I’d seen. The demon had taken Fletcher’s head. “
No
!”

“Caven, come on, we can mourn later,” Vega said firmly, grabbing his arm.

“No! I was supposed to protect them!” Caven snarled, shaking in anger.

“Shit. We need to get him back through the portal. He’s never lost someone when he’s been in charge before,” Vega explained. I nodded and focused on Gabriel’s face, using Digger’s gift. I found him and darted over to him.

“Caven needs ya,” I said as I helped his group and sent several fireballs out, speeding up the process. “Fletcher died saving his life and he’s not handling it well.”

“Fuck! Caven,” Gabriel choked out and spun on his heel, racing off.

“What happened?” Victor asked me. I told him and he shook his head as we kept firing. “I’m glad Fletcher showed he was a good person after all and did right by his Alpha and the wolves. He was a dick when he showed up here. But it sucks it turned out that way. Damn. I really didn’t want us to lose anyone. Poor Caven. Not easy to lead people into battle when they don’t all come back.”

“Ya speak like ya know,” I hedged.

“I do,” he replied darkly. “I know from too many times.”

He didn’t say anything and I didn’t push. Wasn’t me business and I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know. We kept going until all the humans were free. Then it was much, much easier to take out the remaining demons. Rian, several of the fae, and I just constantly shot fire until they were all ash. I was one big puddle of sweat, but they were all dead… And that’s all that mattered.

“Found the witches,” one of Barnabas’s guards, Spike, said with a smile. “One bitch has a big mouth on her. She’s going to be fun to interrogate. Oh yeah. I feel for whoever is going to be in charge of that.”

“Cool beans,” I panted, me body shaking.

“You okay?” Victor asked me.

“I think I found me limit as to where we can get tired,” I answered. “Or maybe just not used to rotating between gifts? I’m just exhausted.”

“I think it’s the rotating between them,” Rian agreed. “Normally we just play with one for a while. And we haven’t even done that in a long time. Switching back and forth be harder than I thought it would be. Too much concentration.”

“We’ve got it from here. Get back through the portal and get some blood,” Victor ordered. We both nodded. Yeah, wasn’t going to argue with that. Besides, I wanted to see that Bevin was okay with me own eyes. We headed through the portal and glanced around.

“Holy shite,” Rian gasped. I couldn’t find me voice so I simply nodded. There were over a hundred humans being helped by various members of the coven. It hadn’t looked like that many in the ballroom, but then again we were in one part of it and pulled cages to us. “This will take weeks to sort through.”

“Aye.”

“You’re alive!” Bevin squealed before launching himself into me arms. I caught him with a grunt and buried me face in his neck. “I love you, Ronan. I love you both. I was so scared. When I saw all those demons and how many you were up against I just wanted a moment alone to tell you I loved you. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“Oh, me heart,” I whispered, a thrill running through me at his declaration. “Ya needed more than a
day
to figure it out. There’s nothing wrong with that. We understood.”

“I know, and I know I’m being silly but I had to tell you,” he rambled. I inhaled his scent and me fangs slid out, scraping against his neck. “Are you okay?”

“Thirsty and ya were hot shooting all those demons, me heart,” I growled.

Rian moved closer and surrounded Bevin from the other side. “Aye. Ya aim perfect, so focused and hard-core. I was so turned on.”

“Really?” he gasped and then yowled as me twin kissed the other side of his neck. “Okay then. Bite me and fuck me.”

“Not just yet,” I chuckled. “We’re a little tired.”

“I thought you guys didn’t get tired from using your gifts like other vampires?” he asked, his tone concerned as he slid down me body and out from between us. “Then we need to get you sitting down and rested.” He took both our hands and led us to the bleachers. “Sit.” We both did, smiling as he raced off and found us some blood.

“We found happiness in the form of a little margay,” Rian said with a sigh.

“Aye, that we did.” I held out me fist and he pounded it. “That we did.”

Our mate came back with our ma, and they fussed over us, making sure we got enough to drink. Then we insisted on seeing our das. Riley hadn’t gotten to our injured da yet so we healed him since the doc had showed us how earlier and then jumped in where we could for the next hour.

“Are you okay?” Bevin asked me when I plopped down after a bit.

“It seems using one gift isn’t tiring, but switching back and forth is exhausting and a little disorienting,” I admitted.

“The vampires say it helps replenish them faster if they drink from their mates,” he offered.

“If I drink from ya, we know what else it will do to me,” I chuckled.

“I hope it does,” he whispered as he stared at his feet. “I thought I might never get to feel that again.” I realized why he was bringing up drinking from him again. He wanted the excuse to have sex during all this pain and chaos. He didn’t want to seem selfish but he needed it.

“I need to feel me mate,” I growled as I grabbed him around the waist. We found a secluded spot and I did just that. I fed enough to revive meself as we made passionate love. Then Rian showed up, having felt me emotions and figured out what was going on, and did the same when I got back to work.

After everyone was healed, we helped Dillon and the others that could wipe memories and replace them. Then we sent the humans we could back to their homes. It was well into the next day before we were even halfway done.

And there was still so much to do and questions that needed to be answered. But wasn’t that just life?

Queen Magdalena

“Why would you help the demons? You are women of magic and Mother Earth. This goes against your code,” I asked the four witches that had been found at the Diaz castle. They had refused to speak to anyone but the Queen of the fae. I was more than willing to oblige them.

“You know nothing of who we are,” the one spat at me.

“I know it’s over. We won and you can either tell us why and die with a clear conscience or go to your fate with tarnished souls.”

She let out an ugly cackle, shaking her head. “You are as stupid as you are arrogant. You think that was the only place demons were being made from humans or we’re the only witches helping Osvaldo and the demons? You’re a fool. There are dozens more.”

“I wasn’t the one caught,” I taunted with a smirk. It was the only way I could hide the fear I felt at her words. Besides, people tended to let a lot slip in anger. “And I’m not the one who’s going to die. You can’t kill me.”

“I won’t but one of our sisters will,” another growled. “The demons promised us that. When they take over the world as we know it, we will have your power.”

“You were attacking vampires before we even crossed over,” I argued. “This goes deeper than that. Unless you really think I’m that stupid. As, say, you are. You were defenseless. Powerful witches as you brag you are and you had no fight against us.”

“We had just brewed a new batch of demon blood for those humans,” she defended. “Osvaldo’s known about the fae before he was even a demon. When he became one, he sought us out to help. He needed scores of demons for his armies.”

“How do you do it? Make the humans into demons?”

“Never. We won’t betray our sisters.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. A trade of information between people of magic then? I’ll tell you the answer to the question that’s been plaguing you before you die if you share with me.”

“What would we want to know from you?” she asked, eyeing me over suspiciously.

I smiled widely, knowing I had her. “How to steal the magic from a fae. We know you were trying to figure it out, saying all magic can be taken away.”

“What does it matter when we’re going to die?” Her eyes betrayed her words, flashing with desire to know.

“That’s the only reason I’m inclined to tell you our biggest secret.” I shrugged. “I only know how it is to search and search for something and come up empty. To know I died without finishing my life’s work or not getting the answers I so desperately sought would be unbearable.”

“Fine,” one sighed, and the other three growled at her. “We spell the demon blood and force the human to drink it.”

“And?” I raised an eyebrow, knowing full well when I wasn’t being told the full truth. I wasn’t Queen for nothing. I just wished they weren’t able to keep me out of their minds. This would have been
so
much easier if I could just read their memories.

“They have to decide. If they take a life within two days, they’re a demon and stay that way forever. If they don’t, they will revert back to human and become cows for the demons to tap into and bag their blood.”

“Is it reversible?”

“No,” she chuckled, an evil smile spreading over her lips. “They make the choice to kill to save their own asses. It’s the human condition to be selfish and weak. They cave.”

“Not all of them or the demons wouldn’t have any food,” I shot right back. No one could ever generalize an entire people in one statement. To think so was ludicrous. I spun on my heel to leave for their sentence to be carried out. They weren’t going to tell us the other locations if they even knew. We might be able to torture it out of them, but I doubted it. Their magic could protect them. It was more likely they would recharge their strength and escape.

“Wait, you promised to tell us,” she called after me.

“That I did,” I purred, glancing at her over my shoulder. “The answer is there isn’t. There isn’t a way to drain a fae’s power or take their magic. It’s not a gift like yours is from your Mother Earth or god or something you have that can be broken. It’s who we are. And I, ladies, am indestructible.

“I’m thousands and thousands of years old and have survived much worse than a handful of bitches threatening the people I care for. So may you rest in peace knowing that I will hunt down and destroy each of your sisters. I will show no mercy and I will not stop until they all join you in hell.”

And with that I left. I went to find Elena to fill her in, trying to shake off their words. We figured that wasn’t the only location, but
dozens
more? Either we had a serious war on our hands or she was lying.

I hoped for the latter but feared it was the first.

“What did they say?” Elena asked quietly, resting her head against Desmond’s shoulder.

“That there are dozens more locations like we found.” Both their eyes went wide and I filled them in on the rest.

“Shit on a stick,” Elena sighed. She rolled her eyes when I chuckled. “I’ve been spending too much time with Patrick and Caven. They have the best phrases.”

“I’ll order the execution,” Desmond said as he stood and stretched. “Would you be so kind to watch my mate and make sure she doesn’t get into any more trouble tonight? I’d like her to be alive when I get back.” He walked away then, his shoulders stiff and steam practically coming out of his ears.

“You’re in the doghouse too?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” she snickered. “I’ll be sleeping in the guest room for a few days at least. He’s furious with me. I know I’m not a warrior but we were in trouble. My mate and sons were in there. How could he really expect me to stay there when half of our force going into the castle was trapped in cages because of where the portal landed? It’s not like I wanted to. I had to.”

“I know. At least you didn’t zap your mate in the ass when he threatened to leave you if you didn’t start appreciating him more. Terrance might be sleeping in the guest room of my suite by choice for a long time.”

“Ouch.” Elena winced, and I nodded. “It’s rough being mated at times.”

“It doesn’t help when they’re being idiots,” I grumbled. “Yes, I overreacted, but he shouldn’t have threatened to leave. He’s an elder. He should understand the responsibilities I have. My entire race just came to a new world and looks to me for help. Not to mention all the help I give to everyone in this coven and other covens. It’s like he doesn’t believe I’d like to be a lovesick girl swooning over my new mate and spending days in bed.”

“No, but you can’t help everyone always, Magdalena. You need a real staff and setup like Rylan. You do everything yourself. You need help and there’s no shame in that.”

“I know. I’m trying. We’ve been here less than six months, and it wasn’t like Rylan where we moved from another country. We moved to another world. I didn’t need a staff there like I do here because we didn’t have most of these issues. It was just my people.” I sighed. “Help would be nice. I can’t remember the last time I got more than a few hours’ sleep in a night.”