Blood of the Demon (30 page)

Brynn woke to a quiet, darkened bedroom. Was it night already? With all the craziness, her internal clock was screwy. And it didn’t help that Keegan had worn her out by making love to her for hours. He’d acted as if nothing else in the world mattered.

For a time, it hadn’t.

Now that the haze of passion had worn off, she realized they hadn’t talked about his conversation with his brothers. He was obviously torn up about it. But she couldn’t just let it fester. It would kill him.

She would make him open up whether he wanted to or not.

Brynn rolled onto her back and stretched. For the first time she noticed the other side of the bed was empty. The sheets didn’t appear ruffled, as if Keegan hadn’t slept there.

No, wait. The bed wasn’t empty. A scrap of paper lay on his pillow.

She sat up and flipped on the bedside lamp. Prickles of dread broke out over her body, coalescing into a heavy lump in her throat. This wasn’t good. Even without reading it, she knew that. Heart racing, she picked up the paper and read it.

Brynn,

Someone will be coming for you tomorrow. He’s promised to watch over you, keep you safe. Please go with him.

Don’t try to find me. Your safety is more important than anything. Not just to me, but to the world.

Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself.

Keegan

“No.” Brynn crumpled up the paper and threw it across the room. “No!”

She jumped off the bed, barely pausing to yank her robe on before she threw the French doors open and ran out onto the balcony. “Keegan. Keegan!”

Nothing. Only silence.

She rushed back inside and peeked into the spare bedroom before flying down the stairs.

She darted toward the front door and threw it open, stopping long enough to flip on the floodlights before she raced out into the night. “Keegan. Where are you? Please, answer me!”

There was no response. Nothing but silence. She headed toward the boat dock, and ran until she reached the edge.

Empty.

Her heart slammed up against her ribs with all the force of a sledgehammer.

He’d left her. He’d taken the boat and abandoned her here so that he could save his brothers, and had mostly likely gone to his own death.

That was why he hadn’t told her about it. That was why he’d marooned her here.

Panting, Brynn fell to her knees in the sand. She lifted her head and tried one more time. “Keegan, please!”

Nothing. Nothing but the damning silence.

Bowing her head, she blindly stared down at the sand in front of her. She couldn’t believe he’d left her without a good-bye, knowing he would probably never see her again.

She blinked back the moisture from her eyes, willing a sense of numbness to kick in. But it wouldn’t come. The pain was all too real.

Damn you, Keegan. Damn you.

§

By the time Keegan arrived, it was early morning in Egypt. He found a concealed ledge that overlooked the Valley. The flight alone had taken almost an entire day. The two days Mammon had given him were just about up.

If Mammon had broken his promise not to hurt them...

He concentrated on breathing evenly, trying to calm the rage and despair churning around in his gut.

Earlier, he’d told Brynn there was no such thing as Hell.

How wrong he’d been. There was a Hell, and he was in it.

Thinking about her brought the crushing weight of hopelessness down on him. He would never again know her warmth, or feel her arms around him. For the first time in his life, he’d found someone worth fighting for, and worth dying for. But she would never be his. They’d had no more than a few stolen moments in time together.

It had been so unexpected, so sudden. So unavoidable.

Keegan picked up the cell phone he’d taken from an unsuspecting man at the airport and dialed Taeg’s number. As he’d expected, Mammon answered.

“Where are they?” he said to his father.

“Keegan.” Mammon’s voice was jovial. “I was beginning to think you’d backed out. Your brothers’ guards grow antsy.”

“You mean their torturers.”

Mammon laughed. “Should I inform them to prepare for disappointment?”

“We’re here,” Keegan responded.

“Excellent.” There was a moment of quiet. Keegan lifted his binoculars. As he’d expected, mere moments later the rayamaras lifted off, circling the area. “Will you be coming to join us, then?”

“Don’t bother with your flying demons,” Keegan said. “They won’t find us.”

“Ah... that close, hmm?”

“Yes. But you won’t get what you want until you bring Taeg, Ronin, and Cresso out. I want to ensure that you’ve kept your word not to harm them.”

“So distrusting?” Mammon asked. He didn’t sound too upset about it, though.

“I learned from the best.”

“Indeed. Very well. Just a few moments.”

He spotted movement from the largest tent on the grounds, and shifted his binoculars as Leviathos headed to a smaller tent.

“I trust you’ve explained all of this to the heir?” Mammon said.

Keegan didn’t bother answering. Instead, he said, “I want you to swear a blood oath.”

“I’ve already given you my word,” Mammon said in a disgruntled tone.

“And we’ve already established just how much that’s worth. Jack shit,” Keegan ground out. “Swear a blood oath that you will let them leave unharmed, and that you won’t ever again cause harm to any of us. Or to Brynn, for that matter.”

“You ask for too much,” Mammon said.

“Think of what you’ll get in return,
Dad
. An entire world, to rule as you wish.” When silence answered on Mammon’s end, Keegan pressed, “You’ve already promised me as much. This makes it official.”

“Fine,” Mammon finally spat. “I swear to you that I will leave them and your precious heir unharmed. But you haven’t even revealed yourself to me. I won’t guarantee your safety until I see that you have delivered what you have promised.”

No more than he’d expected. And Keegan was willing to live with it. Or, in this case, die for it.

“Done,” he said.

The flap to the smaller tent opened and Leviathos exited, followed by Taeg, Ronin, and Cresso. Though they staggered, that was probably due to the guards hauling them around with their hands tied behind their backs. Compound that with the fact that this was probably the first time they’d walked in days, and it was a miracle their feet supported them at all.

With the exception of their frayed clothing, they appeared relatively unharmed. But he knew better than anyone that appearances were deceiving. Knowing Mammon, he’d probably forced Ronin to heal himself and the others so he could torture them over and over again. The sadistic bastard.

The flap to the large tent lifted and Mammon stepped outside.

Hatred churned within Keegan at the sight of his father, threatening to bubble over into pure rage. He forced it back. Now was not the time to go berserk. Even if he
did
summon his fire-breathing ability, he couldn’t save all three of them. Not before Mammon got to them.

“Do you see them?” Mammon said into the phone.

“Yes. Now your oath.”

“Knife.” Mammon spat out the terse order to one of the minions guarding the tent. The guard hastily dug a knife out of his pocket, and Mammon used it to cut a shallow groove into his arm. “I swear by my blood, in exchange for your presence, no harm shall come to your brothers, your friend, or the heir. The prisoners will be free to go, as will the heir once she’s satisfied her mission.”

Mammon threw the knife to the ground. “Satisfied?”

He was. A blood oath was unbreakable to one of his kind. “Be right down.”

He stepped out of his hidden recess, sprouted his wings, and glided toward the camp. He ignored the rayamaras, who spotted him and circled behind, blocking his escape. They didn’t understand that he wasn’t about to escape. He’d freely accepted his fate: one life for many. There was no choice to be made here.

Mammon’s expression grew from baffled to suspicious to downright livid when Keegan touched down alone. “Where is the heir?”

Keegan cast him a toothy grin. “Not a clue. She’s not with me.”

“But you said
we
,” Mammon said in a low, furious tone.

“You said I’d be a prince.” Keegan gave him a casual shrug. “I was using
we
in the royal sense.”

“Deceiver!” Mammon yelled. He moved lightning-fast and struck Keegan full-on in the face, dropping him to his knees.

Shit, that hurt.
Mammon always did have a stone fist.

But then again, it was all too familiar, being in this position in front of his dad. Just some old father-son bonding time. Nothing new here.

“Keegan!” Taeg called, but when he tried to rush forward, the guards held him back.

Keegan rose to his feet, spitting out blood. His nose cracked as it mended itself. Instantly, four of Mammon’s guards surrounded him, yanking his arms behind him while his father furiously walked back and forth.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Mammon said.

Keegan shrugged. “You swore an oath to set them free without harm.”

“Keegan—” Ronin said.

“Shut up!” Mammon shouted. He turned back to Keegan, a tight smile on his face. “But you don’t have the same protection, do you?”

Keegan adopted a bored expression.

“Bro,” Taeg said in an alarmed voice, “what the fuck are you doing?”

Mammon gritted his teeth and whirled to face Keegan’s brothers. “You are all eternal disappointments. It’s beyond me how any of you could be children of my loins.”

“We often wonder the exact same thing,” Ronin said in a dry tone.

Ignoring that, Mammon took a cell phone that Keegan recognized as Taeg’s out of his pocket, and tossed it in front of Taeg.

“Deposit them in the back of a vehicle,” he said to the guards holding them captive. “Drive them to Cairo and then let them go.”

Leviathos’s expression grew anxious. “But Lord—”

“I swore a blood oath, you idiot.” Mammon turned, dismissing his lackey and ignoring Ronin’s and Taeg’s shouts as they were dragged away.

Keegan ignored them, too, keeping his focus on Mammon. It didn’t matter what they had to say. Now they were safe. As their big brother, that was his duty, and that was all that mattered.

Mammon studied him for a moment, then gave him a sly smile. “You think you are doing the noble thing, sacrificing yourself for your brothers?”

Damn right, he did.

“We’ll see,” Mammon said, reading the look on his face. “You believe you’ve won, but you’ve only postponed the inevitable. You see, now I have the one thing the heir wants most.”

“You’re wrong,” he said, keeping his voice level.

Mammon barked out a laugh. “You underestimate the power of love.”

Love? Keegan ignored that foolish little kernel of hope that rose in his chest. He didn’t want her love. He wanted her to live, to be happy—even if it was without him. “Brynn doesn’t love me.”

“Are you so very foolish, that you don’t recognize love when you see it?” Mammon shook his head, his eyes dark with pity. “I recognized it solely from invading Brynn’s dreams. But then, I’ve always recognized love. It is the best of all emotions because it makes those feeling it the weakest. What better thing to exploit than that? The heir will come for you, and when she does, I’ll get what I want.”

“No.” Keegan shook his head in denial. “She won’t.”

After what he’d sacrificed, what they’d all sacrificed, she couldn’t possibly consider giving herself up for him. And if there was even the smallest chance she might, he’d taken precautions to ensure she didn’t.