Tempest of Vengeance (14 page)

I didn’t know how to say it, so I just said
it. “Elle was hurt tonight, Theo.”

Theo looked at me in total shock. “She was
here all night. I saw her go to her room at six, she said she had a
stomachache—”

“She was at the mall by about seven or eight.
And she wasn’t alone.”

“God damn it!” Theo roared.

I slapped him hard. He snarled at me, and I
put my hands on his shoulders, and dug in my fingers. “
Lower
your
voice
!” I hissed loudly. “Elle was hurt in a way she
doesn’t want anyone to know about! Understand?”

Theo looked at me in horror, and then all the
fire went out of him. “No, not Elle—”

“She’s okay,” I interrupted. “Dev and I took
her to Stephen, and he took care of her. He’ll have results
tomorrow on her tests, and she’s not pregnant.”

“Was it more than one, or...?” Theo asked in
a whisper.

I wanted to slap him again harder. What was
it with men, that
that
was important? “One,” I said
coldly.

“I’ll have to thank Dev,” Theo said morosely.
“He saved—”

“You can thank Lash by phone,” I said
bitingly. “He’s at Hayden.”

“He
saved her?” Theo snarled. “That
fuck!”

I slapped him again with everything I had,
and this time, it was enough to piss him off. “Stop hitting me, you
bitch!”

“Your daughter was raped, and you care more
that a man you hate saved her than about her,” I said hatefully.
“If he hadn’t been with me when I saw her, and acted as fast as he
had, the gang rape they were planning would have happened! Elle
might be dead now, not just traumatized!”

Theo closed his eyes and swallowed hard, his
jaw working. I gave him a minute to pull it together. “Are they
dead?” he asked finally.

“All but one, the one who did the deed. He’s
at Hayden, I’d assume in the dungeon. Lash is probably questioning
him right now.”

“Good,” Theo growled. “I want to kill him
myself.” He moved to go.

I forced myself to touch his shoulder, while
keeping as far away from him as possible. “She didn’t want me to
tell you, to have anyone else know. But if it had been you who’d
known, I knew you’d tell me. Please watch over her tomorrow. The
sedative Stephen gave her should last until noon or so. I left her
a note to call me tomorrow, but she may feel too upset. Please, if
you think she needs me, call me, and I’ll come and talk to her.
Agreed?”

Theo pulled me close. “Thank you, Sar.”

I was stiff in his arms, remembering him
trying to turn me. I’d never been afraid of him before, but I was
afraid of him now.

“I’ll call you tomorrow. Thank you for
telling me, and for insisting we come out here, so no one but me
would know. I’m sorry I was so—”

“It’s okay,” I said, pushing him away, and
stepping past him in a fast walk towards Devlin and safety. “But I
need to get back.”

Theo nodded, following me to the house.
Devlin waited, leaning against the front door, watching us. As I
came to stand by him, he slipped an arm around me.

“Thank you for insisting,” Theo said
grudgingly to Devlin. “I’ll come tomorrow afternoon or night, to
kill that bear.”

Devlin nodded. “We’ll save him for you.”

Theo went past him into the house, and Devlin
shut the door behind him. I walked with him to the edge of the
trees, and from there, teleported us home to Hayden. Without a
word, I let him lead me to his bathroom, where we showered
together. I’d held in tears all night, and here I finally let them
fall, sobbing loudly. Devlin didn’t say anything, just held me
under the pulsing flow of water. I was grateful for his silence.
There was nothing he could say that was going to make me feel any
better about what had happened to Elle.

After I finally calmed down, we got out, and
I dressed in one of my nightgowns, the one Devlin liked best, a
little slip of black silk that had thin straps, and went to
mid-thigh. Sexy though it was, I took comfort from its familiarity,
and that wearing it would please him.

Just as we got into bed, there was a knock at
the door. Devlin got up to answer it, revealing Lash, still dressed
in his clothes from the mall. There was a spattering of blood on
the left side of his face, and blood here and there on his
clothes.

“He’s in a cell, unconscious,” Lash hissed,
ignoring me. “I think I got everything from him.”

“What was the plan?” Dev asked reluctantly. I
understood that: I didn’t want to hear what had most likely been in
store for Elle. But I needed to hear it, too, to remember it, so if
Ulysses or his bastards were ever in my sights I wouldn’t hesitate
to kill them all.

“Ulysses has been watching everyone who
leaves and comes to Danial’s. Elle’s been sneaking out since the
week after Danial was drained. She met Violet at first a few days a
week, in the daytime, because she was worried that someone would
find out, and that she’d get in trouble. But when no one noticed,
she stopped meeting only Violet, and began going out at night
alone, not just in the daytime. Two weeks ago, she began doing it
on weekends too, and sometimes staying out all night. Theo checked
on her before she went to bed, but not after that, and she knew all
she had to do was say she was going to bed, and she’d be left
alone.”

“How did the bear know this?” I asked.

Lash cut his eyes to me. “He said he asked
her, and she told him. She was proud of herself, that she was so
crafty, so smart that she could sneak out and no one knew, or had
any idea at all.”

I sighed.
The folly of the young.

“Ulysses saw his opening as soon as she began
to appear at the mall alone,” Lash continued, his eyes back on
Devlin. “He sent an attractive werebear, Jordan, to make friends
with Elle. It took a while for him to get close to her, because she
was suspicious. But soon they were making out in the movies, and
when he didn’t pressure her for more, she pushed him for more. He
put her off, saying she was too young, that he didn’t want to rush
her, she was too special, all the standard male bullshit, and that
made her bolder.”

Shit.
I’d been there myself, when I
was younger.

“She told him she wanted him to...manipulate
her. He did. He also taught her how to do oral sex on him, though
he said she seemed to know a lot already.”

I let out a little gasp, and Lash again cut
his eyes to me. “I hurt him bad for a few things he said about her,
that among them,” he said angrily.

I wanted to thank him, but nodded instead,
feeling heartsick.

“Go on,” Devlin intoned.

“Tonight, he told her he had a surprise for
her, that he’d take her to a hotel, because he had decided he loved
her, and he wanted her first time to be special, if she was ready
to give herself to him. She said she was ready, and went with him
willingly. But the surprise was he had three of his friends
waiting, and when he got her to his van he hit her. Hard. He said
he’d been instructed to rape her, and he knew if she was out cold,
she wouldn’t fight him, or his friends, and they’d hurt her less,
if she didn’t fight them.”

It was less horrible, in a way. At least Elle
wouldn’t have any memories of the act itself.

“She was a virgin, he said,” Lash hissed,
noticeably distraught. “He admitted he had her a few times, before
we got there. But at least we stopped most of what was planned from
happening. I’m not going to tell you the details, but suffice to
say she was going to be killed, after they’d exhausted themselves,
and her body left for Devlin to find.”

“Thank you,” I said heavily. “I didn’t,
before. Thank you, Lash, for saving my daughter.”

“I wish I could have done more,” he hissed
back at me, still upset. “If we’d been faster—”

“I’m grateful you were as fast as you were,”
Devlin interrupted, putting his hand on Lash’s shoulder. “So is
Theo. He will be here in the afternoon tomorrow, to take his pound
of flesh.”

Lash nodded. “I’m going to bed,” he said
tiredly. “I’m beat. Call out, if you need me, and I’ll hear
you—”

“Don’t go. Stay here,” Devlin
interrupted.

Chapter
Five

My tired eyes shot open in surprise. Lash was
also taken aback, studying Devlin as if he was waiting for the
vampire to state some kind of condition. Devlin had been holding
the edges of the door frame and now he let go of one, and stepped
aside. Lash looked past him to me, lying there in Devlin’s bed. It
was too dark for me to see what he was feeling by his eyes, and
even then, he had become a lot better at hiding his emotions, now
that his eyes weren’t always flat.

Lash stepped in the room. Devlin shut the
door behind him, then came back, and got into bed. Lash came to the
bottom of the bed and stopped, his face still unreadable.

“What are you waiting for? Go shower and get
in here already,” Devlin ordered, grief still heavy in his
words.

“Dev, why are you saying that this is okay
now?” Lash hissed, annoyed.

“Because life is too short,” Dev said flatly.
“Danial thought he had eternity. That he was going to see Elle and
Theoron grow up. He may never get the chance to now. I may have
lost him for good. And now my niece has been hurt badly...” Devlin
paused, swallowed hard and began again. “I’ve been the cause of a
lot of suffering. And I’m not causing any more, not for you or her,
not if I can help it.”

“You’re sure?” Lash hissed in a malicious
tone. “Don’t offer me this and then change your mind, Dev, like you
have before. It’s yes or no, tonight and from now on. Because if
she wants me, I’m not giving her up because you tell me to, not
ever again.”

I wanted to say “what about Gina?”, but
decided to hold my tongue. I was feeling too happy just knowing he
wanted me, that he still cared for me as he had months ago.

“I want you here. She wants you here. Stay.”
Devlin said.

Lash came to the other side of the bed from
Devlin, and unfastened his weapons, setting them by the edge of the
bed. They he took off his clothes, save his underwear, and put them
in a pile. He looked as he had months ago, though maybe a little
thinner, his body just as lean and hard as I remembered. An
electric charge ran through my body, just from looking at him.

“I’m going to shower,” he said softly. “Five
minutes.”

Five minutes to the dot, Lash was back
wearing a new pair of underwear that he’d gotten from Dev’s drawer,
his hair still wet from the shower.

I felt Lash shaking slightly, as he climbed
in beside me. I was trembling myself, the closer I felt him move.
He’d wanted and missed me as much as I had him. Slowly he put his
arms around me, pulling me to him, the feel of his scales smooth
against the small of my back.

Devlin put his arms around my waist, casting
a look at Lash over my shoulder. “Are you going to freak out, if I
touch you in the night?” Devlin asked, his tone purposefully
casual.

I gave him a look that said in sixty years,
he had to have shared a woman with Lash, that I knew him too well
to think he hadn’t.

Devlin shook his head almost imperceptibly.
“We’ve been with women together before, Sar, even slept in the same
bed, but we’ve never done this, because I never trusted a woman to
sleep next to me before. Even with Lash in the room, in the same
bed.”

Lash hugged me tighter, his skin and scales
warm against my flesh. I leaned back into him, sighing gently.
“Touch me however you want,” Lash said to Devlin, all trace of his
snake fangs suddenly gone. “I’m not afraid of you, that you’re
going to make a move on me; I know you too well. You have never
liked to bed men. My virtue is safe.”

“You reptile, you don’t have any virtue
left,” Devlin muttered.

“Be nice,” I whispered softly, kissing
Devlin’s forehead. “No teasing, not tonight. Please.”

“Here,” Devlin said, as he reached over on
his nightstand and handed me a sleeping pill. I took it without
saying anything, knowing I wouldn’t be sleeping tonight without it.
He hugged me hard, and then moved a little lower to lay his head on
my chest, wrapping his arms around my middle again.

I was still upset, but Lash was warm behind
me, and Devlin’s arms wrapped around me were familiar and
comforting. And the pills always worked fast. In a few minutes, I
fell asleep.

* * * *

I awoke in midmorning, the watch on my wrist
a reminder of normalcy. At least Theo had returned it, and not
stomped it into shards...
Drop it Sar. Forget Theo, you’ll just
get angry again.

My position hadn’t changed in the night.
Devlin was still on my chest, still sleeping, his arms curled
around me. Lash was still in back of me, but I felt only one of his
hands gently caressing my side. I craned my neck sideways with
effort and looked at him.

“Good morning,” he said softly, his eyes
riveted on me. He was leaning on his elbow, and his other hand was
smoothing my hair, where it lay on our pillow.

“Good morning,” I said, giving him a
welcoming smile. Then it hit me, all of it, Danial, and Elle. Tears
flooded my eyes.

Lash moved closer to me in a smooth motion,
slipping an arm under my neck, and the other over my upper arm.
“Shh,” he hissed softly, holding me close. “Danial’s not dead, Sar.
Dev will figure out a way to make him how he was. And Elle will
recover, too, though she’ll need your help. She’s breathing today
because you noticed her last night in a crowded mall, and that’s
all that matters. She’s okay, she’s alive, and she’ll get through
this.”

God, I wanted to believe that so much! But so
much had gone wrong this fall. I let out a sniffle, trying to get
control of myself.

Lash moved his head closer, and kissed my
tears away. “You know Dev’s a master at subterfuge and strategy. If
it can be done, he’ll find a way to make Danial okay again. And
Ulysses’ days are numbered, now I’m out of jail. It shouldn’t take
me more than a month to find his lair and stake him, if that.”