Blessed by a Demon’s Mark (23 page)
My stomach flipped. What was I becoming? I might as well give in to my monster now and forget any pretenses of trying to do what was right.
All eyes watched my passing as I made my way through town. I refused to look at them, knowing Levi would know and would take pleasure in it. It felt so much like running away. I felt sick to my stomach, wanted to just crawl into a hole and die.
Right then, I needed someone to tell me everything would be all right, that they’d do whatever it took to help me. I couldn’t do this alone anymore.
The last stretch of the road was empty, but I didn’t slow down. I drove right past the sign, hoping I was doing the right thing in leaving without Sienna. I glanced back once, but there was nothing more to see.
25
The Luna Cult parking garage felt colder than usual as I parked Jeremy’s beat-up car in one of the spaces. I really just wanted to go home, to curl up into a little ball and let the pain and misery pass. But with what had just happened with Levi, as well as the discovery of the body that meant The Left Hand was in town, I needed to see Jonathan.
My ribs hurt horribly and I couldn’t stop shivering as I made my way through the snow toward the old library. I pulled my coat as tight as I could without making my ribs ache any more than they already were and hunched my shoulders against the bitterly cold wind.
I felt horribly alone out there, walking in the dark. I could see lights from the part of the campus that still functioned, but they were distant, barely worth noting. Debris poked out of the snow where someone lost a shoe or a branch had fallen. There were no howls this night, no animals crying out. Everyone and everything was safely tucked away in their homes.
Or so it seemed to me at the time.
I was so wrapped up in my own misery, I was nearly to the front steps before I noticed the lights. The entire Den was lit up. I stared at it in awe, wondering why the glamour had dropped. Had something happened to Jonathan while I was gone?
My heart rate picked up, but before I could do something stupid like go charging in screaming his name, I realized it must still be the Sight working. It was allowing me to see through this glamour just as it had helped with Levi’s.
I stepped back so I could get a better view of the Den without Jonathan’s magic concealing it. It looked far better with the lights on, though they hadn’t done much to the outside. Why bother when no one would ever see what truly lay beneath the glamour. Faded graffiti marred much of the lower portion of the wall. A few bricks were busted, but otherwise the place didn’t look half bad.
I shook my head as I trudged up the stairs. How powerful was Jonathan, really? If he could conceal all those lights, keep the glamour up indefinitely, did that make him stronger than he tried to appear? Or were glamours really that easy to maintain? Perhaps it was time I asked him.
I had a fleeting thought of asking Jonathan’s help with extracting Sienna and Eilene, but squashed it immediately. I had barely been able to shrug off Levi’s influence, and even then, I had help from the demon’s magic, so what would happen if I took the wolves there? Would Levi gain control of them somehow? I really didn’t want to find out.
I paused just outside the doors to the Den and peered in through the glass. Pablo and a few other Cultists were sitting near the stairwell, a card table set up between them. They were all wearing their robes and were engrossed in their game, so they hadn’t seen me yet.
No one was coming down the stairs to let me in either. I’d seen guards haul a man away who’d wandered onto their property before, knew they had cameras hidden all around the green, yet no one even bothered to come out to show me in.
And for some reason, that pissed me off.
I pushed open the door and stepped through. It was strange entering the Den and not being blinded by the sudden light. It was actually quite refreshing, and I hoped the demon’s Sight would last more than a few days. It could really come in handy.
“You,” Pablo said, rising. His crescent moon tattoo seemed to pulse in the middle of his forehead as he glared at me. The big Mexican had never liked me, and I was pretty sure he never would.
“Yep, me.” I looked around casually just to irritate him. “Where’s Jonathan?” While I might be a wreck inside and my ribs hurt like hell, I didn’t want to show weakness in front of Pablo or the other Cultists. I didn’t know who might be able to take advantage of it some way. Hell, if someone was reporting to Adrian, I definitely didn’t want them to tell him I’d nearly been crushed.
Pablo continued to glare at me, refusing to tell me a thing. Thankfully, one of the female Cultists behind him spoke up.
“He’s upstairs in his rooms,” she said, her bald head gleaming in the light. “We can send someone for him if you want.”
“No,” I said. “I know the way.”
Pablo opened his mouth to protest, but I pushed past him and climbed the stairs before he could utter a word. I think he might have fought me before, but after being scolded by his Denmaster a few times about harassing me, he seemed to have finally gotten the message. I was a part of this Den whether he liked it or not.
I could feel his hateful eyes on my back as I headed upstairs. I grinned at him and gave a little wave as I reached the top, solely for the purpose of agitating him more.
As soon as I was out of sight, I leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths. Good God, I hurt. Levi had nearly crushed me with a thought. I was just glad he’d decided to make me suffer rather than squishing me all at once. I might hurt, but at least I was alive.
Breathing was painful and it took me a few minutes to catch my breath. Once I was sure I could move without wincing, I straightened my shoulders and walked the last few yards to the gilded doors that led to Jonathan’s sitting room. While I knew there were other rooms upstairs, I was sure he would be there.
I considered knocking, but decided to hell with it and opened the door myself. There were no guards posted outside tonight, which made me feel a little better. Having wolves standing on either side of the door meant things weren’t good at the Den. It appeared they no longer feared that Baset would come in and abduct anyone for a while.
Jonathan was seated on the couch and started to rise as the door opened. He eased back down when he saw me and set a glass of wine on the table in front of him. He marked his place in a book and set it aside.
“I didn’t expect to see you tonight,” he said.
It took me a moment to formulate an answer to that. I stared at him, at the slope of his head, at the scarred flesh where I’d taken part of his skull back before I knew who he was. It was unsettling to see him without his glamour, though I was pretty sure it was still up.
“We need to talk,” I said once I could speak. I would have liked to remain standing, but I hurt too damn much. Just the act of supporting my body’s weight was wearing me out. I strode across the room, doing my best to keep the pain off my face. I sat down in a chair across from Jonathan, probably a bit slower than I should have.
“You’re hurt.” He frowned and nodded to a Cultist who was standing by the wet bar. The Cultist gave his Denmaster a quick nod and hurried out of the room.
“It’ll pass,” I said.
Jonathan’s frown deepened. “What happened?”
I winced as I tried to relax. Breathing was harder while I was sitting. I prodded my rib where it was broken. It hurt like a bitch, but I was pretty sure it would heal okay. I hoped it was merely cracked rather than a full-on fracture. The latter would take too long to heal.
I opened my mouth to tell him about The Left Hand, but all that came out was a sob.
I didn’t know where it had come from. I’d been certain I’d be able to do this; that I’d just walk in, tell him how it was, and then ease my painful way back to Jeremy’s car where I’d drive home and collapse in bed for a few days.
But for whatever reason, I just broke. Jonathan was up and off the couch in an instant. He knelt in front of me, put a hand on my arm, and forced me to look him in the eye. He studied me, his face full of concern.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I started to nod but shook my head instead.
“Tell me what happened.”
I didn’t know where to start. The Left Hand was bad enough, but now with Levi and Delai thrown on top of it all, I wasn’t sure what was important anymore. I hated myself for not being able to save Sienna when I had the chance. The girl didn’t deserve to suffer, and I’d left her there to do just that.
Of course, I wasn’t sure how much she was really suffering. She was unhappy, sure, but I don’t think Levi was hurting her. Then again, mental abuse is still abuse. She was terrified of the man. I couldn’t let it keep happening.
I opened my mouth a few times but gave up trying to say anything. What could I say? Telling him about Delai was out. He already knew about Baset, though he knew nothing of Strinowski. There was The Left Hand, and I’d also made a scene in Polaris, so there was Count Mephisto to consider.
“Start from the beginning,” Jonathan urged. His hand was running up and down my arm. It sent tingles throughout my body and helped distract me from my misery.
“I found a body,” I said, deciding The Left Hand was the most immediate threat to him. The rest was my problem.
“What kind of body?”
I had to laugh at that, though there was no humor in it. My ribs protested and I stopped abruptly.
“The dead kind,” I said.
Jonathan gave me a wan smile, though the concern never left his eyes.
I took too deep a breath and nearly screamed. The pain shot through me so fast and hard, I just about blacked out. I was thankful it would be better by morning. Being a vampire did have its perks sometimes, even if I often hated it. Still, if I’d been a normal Pureblood, I wouldn’t have gotten myself in this mess to begin with.
“It was a werewolf,” I said. “He was laid out, placed as if for someone to find.”
“Okay?” Jonathan’s brow furrowed.
“His throat was slit and he bled out.” I stared at him meaningfully.
It took him a moment, but realization dawned. “Completely drained?”
I nodded.
His hand stopped moving on my arm. I noticed his other hand was resting on my knee. I never even realized he’d put it there until that very moment. I shifted in my seat so it fell away.
“There was a cross placed on his forehead. He was left lying in his own blood. It had to have been The Left Hand.”
Jonathan stood and started pacing. “Are you sure? It could have been someone else.”
“As sure as I can be,” I said. “You saw how they work. There was no sign of a struggle. Whoever did it had to have snuck up on the wolf, injected him, and then slit his throat. He’d managed to start his shift, so I’m guessing he must have heard something just before his attacker struck.”
Jonathan was nodding, a distracted look on his face.
“And this wasn’t a small guy either. He would have fought a whole hell of a lot harder if he’d been able. It had to have been them.”
He didn’t say anything.
“We should talk to Davin,” I said. I made my slow way to my feet, wincing with every inch. “He might know something else about them that might prove useful.”
Jonathan froze. He was looking away from me so I couldn’t read his expression.
“What?” I asked.
“We can’t ask him.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
Jonathan sighed and turned to face me. I didn’t like the look on his face. “Because he’s not here anymore.”
“Okay,” I said, nonplussed. “Then where is he?”
Jonathan’s frown joined my own. He ran a hand through his hair, on the side that actually had hair. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” My voice rose as a flash of anger shot through me. The pain in my ribs flared up, but I didn’t care. “How can you not know? You had him locked up in your fucking basement.”
“We did,” Jonathan said, heat in his voice. “But we honored the deal you struck. We took him out to see the moon as promised.”
My anger bled away at that. I’d all but forced Jonathan to agree to it, hadn’t really given him a choice. “And he escaped?”
“With help.” Jonathan sighed. “I can’t be sure, but I have a feeling Adrian had something to do with it.”
Adrian.
I turned and kicked the chair I’d been sitting in. It jumped a little and my ribs hurt even worse, but it kept me from shooting someone.
“How in the hell could he have managed that?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I was told it happened fast.”
“Wait,” I said, turning an angry glare on him. “You weren’t there?”
“I had more important things to worry about at the time,” he snapped. “Nathan and a few Cultists took him outside so he could see the moon. They were jumped.” He held up a hand as I was about to say something else. “No one was hurt. They were restrained by men with hoods, most likely other werewolves due to their strength, though it could have been vampires as well. We just don’t know for sure.”
I shook my head. “How?”
“How what?” Jonathan said. “How did they manage it? By superior numbers and stealth. How did they know when we would be taking him out?” He shrugged. “That is the question I can’t answer.”
I was so pissed I didn’t know what to say. I never liked the idea of keeping a vamp locked up in the basement, but I didn’t want him running free either. He knew my face, knew who I was. It was just another threat running loose I’d have to eventually deal with.
“Fuck,” I finally managed. At least this time I refrained from kicking anything.
“Exactly,” Jonathan said.
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