The Warlock Who Hungered for a Demon (5 page)

“Are you sure this is the place?”

Rhys nodded at Noah. The warlock had been quiet ever since

they’d left Elden at the Whitaker mansion and headed this way with

the intention to find the imp Elden had directed them to. Elden had

naturally protested and done more flirting and clinging to Noah, but

Rhys didn’t think that was the reason why Noah was acting like this.

“What is it?” he asked the warlock.

“This just feels off,” Noah answered. “That whole

explosion…They were probably close enough to aim directly at us,

but they didn’t. It seems like they blew that place up just as a

warning. And if that’s the case, I’m not happy with you pursuing

Elden’s lead. You still haven’t fed properly, and this is far too

dangerous.”

“We’re not alone this time around,” Rhys reasoned, pointing at

the other incubi behind them who were doing their best not to

eavesdrop. “What can possibly happen?”

Impossibly, Noah’s expression darkened even further. “Never say

that. Never bring bad luck on yourself.”

Rhys chuckled. “I never knew you were superstitious.”

“I’m a warlock, Rhys,” Noah answered. “I’m superstitious by

nature. But you know how magic works. Mere words can easily cause

energy to cluster around you, which can considerably change your

moods and actions.”

The Warlock Who Hungered for a Demon

31

Yes, of course Rhys knew that. He understood all about people’s

moods and emotions. It was just Noah he didn’t understand. What a

cruel fate. The man Rhys loved was the one Rhys couldn’t read, at

least not in that respect. Oh, he realized more about Noah than the

warlock probably believed. He could easily see how the burdens of

the past strained Noah, how the memories of Tyrell Hall still bothered

him. But Noah would never let Rhys get close enough to fix that or

even offer the slightest comfort.

Nothing could be done to fix their relationship right now, so Rhys

offered Noah a small smile. “It’s okay. We’ll just go talk to this guy,

and then we’ll figure out what to do next. I did feed a little, so stop

worrying, all right?”

Or so Rhys said, although the only thing he’d done was to

masturbate. He couldn’t grasp how Alexis had managed to live off it

during the early stages of his pregnancy. No wonder his brother had

lost so much weight back then. Rhys’s health was starting to decline

as well, not as fast as Alexis’s had, but soon, he would not be able to

do anything to avoid having to feed normally.

Forcing his mind away from that, Rhys slipped through the

darkness and toward the decrepit house in front of them. It truly

looked like a place where an imp was likely to live. While incubi

were inclined toward lavishness and luxury, imps were filthier, lazier

creatures. They were like the little cockroaches of the overall demon

species, resilient throughout the ages, always squirming about in dark

spots without doing anything particularly outstanding.

Rhys was counting on this imp’s instinct of self-preservation to

receive his answers. An imp’s magic was futile against incubus

power, so even if there were more people here than Elden had

suggested, Rhys’s forces could easily deal with them.

Leading the way, Rhys reached the back courtyard of the house

and cracked the back door open. He frowned when he found it

unlocked. Noah might be right about something being fishy here, but

it was too late to back out now.

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Scarlet Hyacinth

He slid inside, with Noah right behind him, a silent, stern shadow

that supported him at all times. The house was quiet. Dust motes

floated in the air, visible in the dim moonlight filtering through the

dirty windows. As Rhys entered the hallway, a musty scent assaulted

his nostrils. What was that? Mold? No, it was far too foul. And there

was something else. While in the sections of the homes they’d

explored so far Rhys hadn’t felt any particular emotion, a thick

sensation of anticipation struck him here, as well as a hint of

disappointment, and something else, like a dark poison in the shape of

an emotion. It didn’t belong to him, but rather to someone who’d been

here before. What exactly had that person looked forward to, and why

had he and she been disappointed? Who else had been in the group of

the killers?

It took one glance into the living room for Rhys to find at least

one part of his answer. The floor was littered in bodies. The putrid

scent of death emanated from the area, and Rhys gagged, quickly

backing out. And throughout it all, Rhys couldn’t help but notice the

slight irony of the fact that in that room, there was no trace of fear.

The imps here, for there had been more than one, hadn’t even

realized they would find their deaths in seconds. In a way, their quick

deaths seemed merciful, which suggested two things. There must have

been at least two or three breeds of demon involved, or of separate

species, at least. The fiend must have anticipated great pain in his

victim, but whoever his accomplice was had taken the imps out far

too quickly for the fiend’s enjoyment. The other person…Rhys

couldn’t tell. There were too many variables that could make him

misjudge the lingering traces of emotion.

“We need to scan the house for clues,” he said weakly. “We might

find more traces as to who could have done this.”

Predictably, Noah didn’t seem very thrilled about the idea. It was

indeed risky, given that the guilty parties behind the murders could

come back any moment now. But what else could Rhys do? Run

away? This whole thing was bigger than all of them. As an incubus,

The Warlock Who Hungered for a Demon

33

he knew the history of the demons well, and he realized that if the

fiends had a ploy, it could hurt all his friends and his family,

everything they’d worked so hard for. It was unacceptable.

With that in mind, Rhys sent his people to search the rest of the

house, while he himself stalked back inside the room. He suppressed

the natural feeling of repugnance he got upon seeing the bodies and

carefully inspected his surroundings. His eyes fell on something that

looked like an innocuous pile of ashes. It was barely visible, given the

general mess of the place, but something about it gave Rhys the

shivers.

“Look at this, Noah,” Rhys said, pointing to the pile. “What do

you make of it?”

“Oh, dear.” Noah tsked. “It looks like at least one of those

vampires made a demon angry.”

Rhys was immediately startled. What kind of power could reduce

a vampire to ashes? True enough, that sort of thing happened when

vampires died, but surely something seriously intense must have

happened for all the imps and the vampire to have perished without

even realizing something was wrong.

That was the last thought Rhys had before a sensation of strange

wooziness gripped him. Distantly, he caught sight of Noah’s

concerned face, and then, everything went black.

* * * *

Noah caught Rhys’s body before the incubus hit the floor, all the

while shielding his face with his hand. There was indeed a strange

scent in the air, but now, it didn’t come only from the bodies. Instead,

it oozed all around them, like a dark hand beckoning Noah into a pool

of quicksand. A gas?

Rhys had already succumbed to it, but Noah seemed to have a bit

more resilience. Holding the incubus tightly, he rushed toward the

exit. As he ran, the air got even cloggier with the strange smell and

34

Scarlet Hyacinth

Noah heard the dull sound of bodies falling above them as the other

incubi in their party surrendered to the gas.

Noah burst through the exit door, half expecting someone to be

waiting for him. There didn’t seem to be anyone around, and here, the

air was clear. Gently, Noah placed Rhys on the grass. The last thing

he wanted was to leave Rhys, but he couldn’t exactly abandon the

other the incubi to die. Clearly, the gas had been the one to kill those

little demons and probably the vampire as well. Noah didn’t know

how long it would take to do its job, but Rhys already looked quite

affected.

As he ran back into the house, Noah retrieved his phone and

dialed the Whitaker mansion. He couldn’t remember what he said, but

his rambling conveyed the necessity of backup troops.

When he got to the upper floor, he found himself with another

difficulty. There were so many people to free from this trap, and he

was only one person. Pocketing his phone, Noah set to work. He

grabbed the two men closest to him, all the while struggling with the

gas that was starting to affect him as well. The headache that was

beginning to pound at the back of his skull told Noah that if the gas

didn’t kill him, something else might.

Noah didn’t allow the pain to stop him from his task. He shattered

one window and cast a spell on the lawn to pillow the incubi’s fall.

After that, he dumped the two men outside onto the magical net he’d

created. He repeated the process with everyone else in the area, until

finally, their entire group was free and safe.

By that point, Noah felt nauseous, like he was going to faint any

moment now. Through the haze of the pain, one thing remained

obvious to him. He had to get back to Rhys’s side and make sure his

friend, the man he loved, was safe.

Noah made a move to jump out the window, but fell through the

gap instead. Thankfully, his spell held and he landed safely on the

lawn. The air here helped clear his head, and even if he still hurt like

hell, he managed to crawl to the spot where he’d left Rhys.

The Warlock Who Hungered for a Demon

35

The incubus hadn’t moved, a thin trail of blood seeping over his

lips. Noah’s heart nearly stopped at the sight, but it started beating

again when he saw Rhys’s chest rise and fall as the demon breathed.

Nevertheless, that didn’t mean Rhys was out of the woods yet. Noah

took the other man’s hand and squeezed it tightly, sending all his

thoughts of love toward the incubus, hoping it would help. To a

certain extent, it seemed to have a positive effect, but it wasn’t

enough, not when Rhys had already starved himself even before this

expedition. Noah experienced great relief when several vehicles

stopped in front of the house and more incubi descended from the

cars.

“Someone give me a hand here,” he shouted. “Rhys is badly hurt.

And don’t go inside the house. There’s some sort of gas that knocked

everyone except me out.”

The demons took heed of his words. Everyone scattered about to

provide assistance for the injured. Sadly, this also meant that Rhys

was taken away from Noah, carefully mounted in one of the vehicles.

When Noah made a move to follow, a succubus shook her head at

him. “He’s safe right now. He needs to feed, and you can’t give him

that.”

“No one can give him what I can,” Noah said between gritted

teeth. He would not be parted from Rhys’s side, not by this woman,

not by anyone. “Now let me pass, before I make you.”

He was probably in no condition to go through with his threat, but

nevertheless, the succubus yielded. She allowed him to climb in the

back of the van that held Noah, which was a stroke of luck. He was so

very tired and so terrified for Rhys, more than he’d ever been for

himself.

Before the van door closed, he caught sight of some of the other

incubi already recovering. And yet, Rhys remained unconscious. This

was Noah’s fault. He had known how attached Rhys had grown to

him, but had stubbornly clung to the incubus, putting them both

through hell.

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Scarlet Hyacinth

Noah promised himself that he would clarify things with Rhys.

Now, if only the incubus woke up. Holding Rhys’s hand again, Noah

prayed to every deity imaginable.
Please, don’t let him die. I love him.

* * * *

Rhys felt warm. A sea of emotions surrounded him, separating

him from the real world and caressing his ethereal body. Sunlight

glittered across the waves, making it glow in a brilliant array of

colors. Yes, he was warm and safe.