The Devil's Masquerade: The Remedy (The Devil's Eyes) (3 page)

“I don’t believe you. You could be here just to spy for him. You are all a part of the same society. Just like politicians, you can’t trust their words because it is always about what benefits them the most,” Elijah says.

“Don’t then. I find it is always best never to believe anyone. However, we do have a common goal, so we can either work together or be destroyed individually. You might also like to know that I recently lost my right hand man thanks to your husband, who killed him.”

“Nick killed him. So what? You lost your assistant? I am sure you will find another. I lost my fiancé, someone that I will never be able to replace,” Ryan says as Elijah nods in his direction.

Amery smiles and continues, “He wasn’t just my assistant. He was my friend, a loyal friend at that. You don’t find loyalty like his much anymore. And he wasn’t only killed, he was chased down, beaten, drowned, and then dragged out of the water by his hair. Nicholas has clearly accepted his role and has become an unstoppable killer.”

“Nick would never follow Savage!” Ryan yells.

“Nick is not your
Nick
anymore. He has fallen under Dennis’ influence and has become the obedient grandson.”

“So, what does that mean?” Ryan asks.

“It means we are fucked. The only chance we had was to attack Savage with Nick’s help. Now, with him working against us, we don’t have a chance in hell,” Elijah says.

I step forward, confident. “I will talk to him. Nick will listen to me,” I say as Amery laughs.

“Nick is not the man that you once knew. He doesn’t remember you. He doesn’t remember anything about his life, and if you go anywhere near him, he will kill you without blinking an eye. That is of course, Sweetheart, if Savage doesn’t kill you himself,” Amery says to me.

I shake my head, backing into Ryan’s arms. “Why would you say that to her? He is her husband, the father of her children. There is no way he would not remember her,” Ryan says, wrapping a protective arm around me.

“Sorry, but now she is nothing but walking pussy to him. He might fuck her, but he won’t give a shit after.” Amery laughs until Elijah steps forward and punches him in the face.

“Fuck you! I don’t like you, and let’s get one thing clear. You will respect her above all else or you can go,” Elijah snaps.

“Fine with me,” Amery stresses, rubbing his face and looking each of us over before walking away.

“No, wait! Please! There has to be a way to work together,” Gideon says to Amery, dragging him back towards us by his arm. “Amery, you know very well we cannot do this on our own. Not anymore. Your army has been greatly damaged, and mine is gone completely.”

“And these three are going to replace what we have lost?!”

“Yes,” Gideon says confidently. “I believe it, and you should to.”

Amery grumbles, circling back into the room with us before slamming his fist into the wall. “Fuck!” He turns back towards us with a frustrated expression. “It looks as if I don’t have much of a choice but to work with you. We do this together, but that doesn’t mean I have to like any of you, and you don’t have to like me either.”

The room is silent until Ryan steps out from us all and takes Amery’s hand. “Deal. We go after Savage together, we get my brother back, we get Gideon back into his position, we secure your revenge for your wife’s death, and I get my revenge for my fiancé as well.” I look up at him as he looks down at me. “Don’t worry, Kayla. He also has to promise not to harm Nick in any way or we will take him out, too.” Ryan looks back at Amery. “Agreed?” I don’t bother to verify Amery’s silent agreement. Unlike Amery, I trust Ryan and Elijah to do what they say they will do. Amery won’t get near Nick with them watching him.

“Alright, now that we are all working together, what do we do first?” Elijah asks.

“I think we go after Galena,” Gideon says. “She is the soft spot in their armor. If we pull her away from Dennis’ hold and take her to a place where we can convince her to trust us and turn against him, we can gain an actual ally that can help us without a war. Galena knows enough of Savage’s dirty deeds to get the High Council involved in stopping him. All we need to do is figure out when she is most vulnerable. Do you have anyone that can help us figure that out?”

“Do we have anyone that can do that? Are you kidding me?” Elijah laughs, turning towards Ryan. “Do we have anyone that can do that?”

Ryan rolls his eyes. “We’re on it. Don’t worry.”

Chapter 4

Elijah

On top of all the other fucked up shit going on, some fool decided to try and steal some of Nicky’s territory. I take it upon myself to deal with this matter along with Dwayne and Terrence, and, for some reason, that woman insists on coming along. “You know, there was no reason for you to come along. This is standard bad guy stuff. No devils involved, Catriona,” I say super nicely to her.

“I understand that, but I would like to study your problem solving techniques. If I see any issues then I can point them out to you so you can fix them before we deal with any of Savage’s men. I am only along to supervise. Just pretend I am not here,” Catriona says, adjusting her hat so it is out of her eyes as she looks up at me. Dwayne shakes his head, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Supervise? Short Stuff, I promise you, I know what I am doing here, so why don’t you park your pretty little red-haired self right here and stay out of our way please?” Her eyes grow wide as I guide her out of our way.

We surround the group that has taken over one of Nicky’s strongholds, but before we can move in on them, that woman walks in ahead of us and turns towards the group by herself. “What the hell is she doing?” Dwayne shakes his head silently. “Oh my God … that damn woman!” I tense and grumble in place before calming again and refocusing. “Let’s go in! We move in and back her up before she gets herself killed. The element of surprise is gone, so we are forced to battle immediately. Men come flying at us from all directions, and we have no chance of taking back control without killing people we would prefer to save and talk to. We end up killing everyone that could possibly tell us who they work for and why they thought they could get away with taking Nicky’s territory. Once we have the place secured, I turn to Catriona and vibrate with so much emotion that I can’t speak.

“You’re welcome,” she says proudly.

“You’re welcome? Lady, we just had to kill everyone here that could tell us anything because you rushed in, ruining our chance to surprise them,” I say while trying to keep myself from screaming at her.

“What did you want them to tell you? They don’t know anything. They were simply told to do something, and they did it. I would say they work for Savage most likely. He must be trying to keep you guys busy and distracted,” Catriona states matter of factly.

“And how do you know that?”

“I asked them when I came in. If you hadn’t rushed in so quickly and made such a mess, I could have gotten more maybe but …”

“You … you could have gotten more? Who asked you to do that? I told you to wait here, sit there, and stay out of the way.”

“I heard you, but I didn’t feel that was the best idea for me,” she says.

I open my mouth, but I have no words for her. I turn away, shaking my head.
Unbelievable.
“Someone go get the car and get me out of here, please,” I say, waiting outside and still shaking my head. “I told her to wait. Wait here for us because we have this handled. I said,
wait here.
Yes, I know I did. I even said it nicely.”

“Do you talk to yourself often? You know, that is the first sign of madness.” Catriona says from behind me.

I slowly turn towards her with a smile, “No, I do not, but thank you for the information.” Thankfully, the car pulls up, and I quickly jump into the passenger seat next to Terrence as
she
jumps into the backseat.

“You have some decent shooting skills, and your planning skills are not too bad, but you could use some work on your fighting skills. The man that jumped on your back could have hurt you severely. You are lucky he did not have a weapon with him,” Cat says.

“He came after me after I noticed the man coming after you with a knife. I turned my back on him to help you, and then he jumped on my back.” I say, charged up.

“Hmmm, so you get distracted easily, do you?” she says, nodding at me. “Attention Deficit Disorder, I should have guessed.”

I start to open my mouth when Terrence starts laughing. “This is not funny. Nothing about this is funny. And you, Short Stuff, do me a favor and stay home from now on.” I go back to cursing under my breath then hiss when I realize, “And I don’t have ADD!”

Chapter 5

Kayla

Lena and Brady are asking a lot of questions about what is going on. Nick usually talks to his sister a few times a week, but she hasn’t heard from him in months. All we have been able to tell them is that Nick is deep undercover and cannot risk talking to either of them right now. Since neither have seen the boys in a while, I decide to invite them over for dinner. After dinner, Lena and I put the boys to bed together. As soon as the boys drift off, Lena bombards me with questions about Nick. She is determined to know where her brother is, and she won’t give up until she does. I finally relent and fill her in on what we know so far, including that Nick does not remember any of us and is killing for Savage with no remorse. I hesitated to say anything in front of Brady, but I know him and know he wouldn’t hesitate to walk up on Nick and question him. That wouldn’t have been a big deal before, but now it could cost him his life. I had to tell him.

“So what does this mean?” Brady asks.

“Keep a low profile, and keep Lena away from Savage and away from Nick. They will know immediately who she is, and she wouldn’t stand a chance against either of them,” I say.

“Maybe I could help though,” Lena says.

“Absolutely not!” Brady demands. “No, Lena, I am not having it. This is not a good time to test yourself.” I watch him tense and protectively hover over her at the same time. I sigh as do they. “Lena is pregnant,” Brady says which makes us all smile briefly. “I don’t want her involved at all. I don’t think she should even be in the city, the state, or anywhere near.”

“Actually, if I may,” Amery says, stepping forward. Amery volunteered to watch over me and the boys while Gideon goes through Dante’s research with Ryan. My recent mysterious absences have Ryan worried more than usual. “If your wife is pregnant, that alone makes her safe. We are forbidden to act against the innocent, the more innocent, the more severe the punishment would be from The High Council. Acts against babies send you straight to the ninth for eternity, no matter who you are. Savage would never risk it and certainly never risk his empire. It would be better for him to wait until after the birth. Although, tortured for eternity in his own fiery hell would be a nice justice for him.”

“So, that makes her safe for now, but then what?” Brady asks.

“Then, she is fair game, as well as the child. That is, unless the child is determined to be of value to him,” Amery admits.

Brady looks at me with a disgusted expression I have seen many times before. Ever since his Aunt fell for Dante, his family has been cursed with a connection to this family, and now that he is married to Lena, he is even more involved. “Okay, so we have to get him before Lena gives birth in a little over seven months. Is that possible?” Brady asks.

I look up at Amery in silent questioning, and he answers, “Well, the Masquerade is in seven months, and if we don’t get him before it is over, then I would suggest changing your name and hiding out in the coldest place possible, until… well – forever,” Amery says with his usual lack of emotion or concern.

“That’s reassuring,” Brady says.

“We do have a plan, and with Amery and Gideon, we stand a great chance to …” Brady shakes his head at me. “Fine. I was never good at lying to you. We have no idea, but …”

“But somehow, we have to believe that it is going to work out, right?” Brady asks. “Somehow, I have to put my hopes and faith into Jayzon? Of all the damn people that I have to depend on, it has to be him.”

I look up at Amery who seems to find humor in Brady’s statement. “He’s funny. I don’t completely understand why, but that desperate, disgusted sound in his voice makes me laugh for some reason,” Amery says, showing humored emotion for the first time since I’ve met him.

Amery ends up spending a few days watching me and the boys, but he does it silently. He barely makes eye contact with any of us. He clearly doesn’t trust anyone, and I am not even sure he likes us. It shouldn’t matter, but I feel like someone would protect us better if they wanted to rather than had to for the sake of bringing down his biggest enemy. I am still not sure if he feels it is necessary to protect us or if he is studying us for some reason.

Nicky senses Amery’s reluctance to befriend him and seems to have the same insecurity as I do, “Are you a friend of my Daddy’s?” Nicky asks him.

“Someday, maybe we can be.” Amery steps towards him and Eey blocks him from getting any closer. “This dog, where did you get him?”