Vengeance of the Demons (14 page)

“You want me to take him to the nursery?” asked Tommy.

“Would you?”

“Sure, Evan can come with us.”

Alexa squeezed Evan’s shoulder. “I think I’m gonna love having you back.”

Evan nodded and looked to Petie. She scooped up some food and held it to his lips. Petie opened and gummed the orange mash before spitting it onto his tray.

* * * *

Thirty minutes after Evan and Tommy had dropped off Petie and played with him for a while, Peter came to Evan’s room to get them for a meeting. Evan was pissed at Peter for what he’d been doing to William but having played with his son for over an hour made her keep her mouth shut. For the time being at least.

The trio made their way to the lab area of the compound and were met by Lou and Nicholas.

“Feeling better?” Lou asked.

“Yup.” She rubbed her leg and tried not to fidget. Lou would notice if she fidgeted.

“Good. We have something we need from you.”

Nicholas held up a small vial. “This is the blood you got off the vampyr downstairs. I’ve analyzed it. It’s nothing I’ve seen before.”

“So he was telling the truth then?” asked Tommy. “There are demons here?”

Nicholas shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s possible. But the question is, if the demons are attacking like he said, why would he have a vial of their blood?”

“Maybe he collected it,” Evan offered.

“But why would he do that?” Peter’s tone held an animosity that she’d rarely had directed toward her before.

“Why are your panties in a wad?” she asked. “I didn’t do anything to you.”

Peter scowled.

“What do you think?” Lou asked Nicholas.

“I think it very well could be demon blood. And if it is, and he’s telling the truth, we’re in bigger trouble than we originally thought. Demons aren’t beings you can reason with. They’d rather obliterate the Earth than negotiate our existence.”

“Can you do anything with it?” asked Lou. “Like you’re trying to do with the vamp cure?”

“It’s possible I can try to make a virus, only deadly to demon DNA, but that would take time. On another note, I have what I think maybe finally be a cure for the vamps.”

“Can we test it?” asked Lou.

“If we have a subject to test on.”

“Do we have any vamps here?” asked Evan.

“Not at the moment,” replied Tommy.

“That’s easily taken care of,” said Lou. “We’ll get a party together tomorrow to go down to Los Angeles and round up a few.”

“What?” Evan turned on her uncle.

Her uncle’s gaze leveled on her. “I understand that you’ve not had to live this life for a while, baby girl, but you need to see things for how they are here. We are trying to help those things. To bring them back to their humanity. Humanity that was robbed from them by the Vampires.”

“No, Lou. Not by the Vampires, but a few Vampires. Not all of them are like that. But even so, how can you round up vamps like cattle and use them like this?”

Lou stepped closer to Evan and laid his hands on her shoulders. “I’m doing this for you. For Peter and Tommy. So you kids can have a future. A future that doesn’t include hiding and scrounging. A life where you don’t ever have to worry about being kidnapped and sold again. To ensure that future, I have to kill a few people. I won’t lie about it, and I won’t apologize for it. And whether or not you agree with how I do it, I’m not going to stop.”

She had no words. What was there left to say? All she could do was nod her head and comply. Her uncle was right. She didn’t agree with what he was doing and how he was doing it, but it was no good to argue. All she could do was go along until she could get herself and William to safety.

“Okay.” He patted her shoulder. “Tomorrow, Peter, you and a group of raiders will go down to Los Angeles. We only have room for three more vamps right now so that’s what you’ll pick up.”

Peter nodded.

“Good. Let’s everyone get some sleep and we’ll start again with the vampyr in the morning. Evan, I want you to get him to tell us everything he knows about the demons,” said Lou.

Evan swallowed and nodded. She needed to see William before then. She needed a game plan.

* * * *

The door to William’s room opened, and he smelled Evan before she’d even entered his space. His swollen left eye obscured his view of her, but he could still make out her form. She flipped the light switch and a small bulb popped to life in the corner. She closed the door behind herself and turned to him. Shock registered on her face. She stormed over to him. “What the hell?”

“I’m fine.” He tried to get to his feet but was unable.

She rushed to his aid and helped him up. “Who did this to you?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’ll heal soon anyway.”

She searched his face. “It does matter. Tell me who did this.”

He stared at her. She looked as beautiful and radiant as ever. Her peachy skin and blue eyes stood as a testament to her all-American appearance. He gave her a tight smile, and her posture softened.

Her gaze held his intently. She lifted her hand and brushed the hair from his face. “Why did you help me get here? I know you say it’s because you needed to find out about the weapons, but you could have called Danika and told her where the enclave was and they could have flown Roth and the Tracking Squad out in a couple hours. But you didn’t. You carried me to the gate.”

“It was the right thing to do.”

She shook her head. “You could have driven off. Not waited to see if they’d gotten me. You risked yourself. Why?”

She stepped closer to him and laid her palm in the middle of his chest. His mind reeled with the situation. It couldn’t be real. She couldn’t be standing here talking to him like this. She hated him.

“I told you. I was following you. It’s my job to be here. To try and get the humans to help us fight or to find out if they had weapons.” He swallowed hard.

She stared at him for a minute and ran her thumb over his cracked bottom lip. Then she spun around and headed for the exit. “I’ll be right back.”

She banged on the closed door and a guard let her out. William drooped against the wall and blew out a heavy breath. He tried to run his hands through his hair but couldn’t because it was so tangled.

Ten minutes later there was shouting in the hallway, and then the door burst inward. Evan carried several items and was followed closely by the guard.

“Those aren’t allowed,” said the guard.

“Then why don’t you run tell on me?” she snapped. She slammed the door on the guy and headed for where William stood.

She looked him over and then held out a thermos. “It’s water,” she said.

He ran his leathery tongue over his cracked lip and took the thermos. He drank greedily, and the water went down with a burn.

“Here.” She set down the extra things on the floor and pulled a sweatshirt from the pile. “It isn’t as fashionable as you’re used to, but it’s clean.”

He took the gray hoodie from her. “Thank you, but I’m afraid I can’t.”

“Of course you can,” she said.

He held up his shackled hands.

She nodded once. “Right.”

She marched to the door and banged on it. The guard glared at her.

“Take off his handcuffs,” she ordered.

“Not on your life,” the guard replied.

In a flash, Evan grabbed the guard by the shirt and pushed him down in the hallway. She grappled with him and flipped him on his stomach with strength she shouldn’t possess.

“Get off me,” he yelled.

More yelling ensued from outside the hallway and there were several sets of heavy steps. Evan hopped to her feet, a key ring in her hand. She moved to William and undid both wrists as the two guards raced into the room.

They raised their guns and pointed them at William. His eyes connected with Evan’s, and she gave a slight nod.

The shackles fell away, and he turned his wrists and rubbed at the chafed skin. Evan threw the keys at the guards’ feet.

“Get out,” she said. “I can handle it from here. Oh!” She walked to the pot in the corner and sat it at their feet. “You can clean this while you’re at it.”

The men exchanged a look. “It’s your funeral,” said one of them.

They gathered up the keys and pot and backed out.

“That wasn’t smart,” said William.

She turned her icy gaze on him. “Why?”

“Because they’ll tell and things will get bad for you. Bad for me as well.”

“You let me deal with my uncle.”

“It’s not your uncle I’m worried about,” he replied.

“Then who? Peter?”

“Forget it.” She could be so stubborn, and if he told her about her cousins, who knew what she’d do.

She picked up a washcloth and poured some of the water from the thermos onto it. He tracked her movements as she lifted the washcloth to his face and hesitated. Their eyes connected, and she licked her lower lip. The movement, though subtle, made his desire stir and his pants grow too tight.

She patted his eye with the cloth, moving in so close that her breasts smashed into his chest. His arousal spiked higher, and he cleared his throat and tried to move his hips backward in an effort not to have his erection show.

“Don’t pull away,” she said. “I can’t reach your eye if you do.” She moved her hips so they came in contact with his and leaned in to dab his eye again but stopped.

Her hand hovered in the air near his face. Embarrassment scoured his skin. He wanted to say something to release the tension between them. To apologize for his body’s reaction to her nearness, but his voice wouldn’t work.

After a minute, he realized she didn’t move away. He lifted his right hand and set it on her hip. She still didn’t pull away.

He ran his left hand up her arm and around her back. Every fiber told him they shouldn’t. The danger they were both in was enough. If her cousin found out about this, he’d kill William for sure.

“We shouldn’t,” he said.

“Of course we shouldn’t,” she said. “You’re everything I’ve hated for the past ten years. But somehow when I look at you I don’t see a Vampire. And the way you look at me… No one has ever looked at me that way before. At least no one who meant it.”

“I mean it.”

She pressed her lips to his forcefully, and he pulled her closer. She tasted sweet like peaches, and her lips were soft against his. He parted her lips with his tongue, and she moaned into his mouth making his head spin. He’d waited months to feel her touch, to kiss her lips and hold her in his arms, but this wasn’t how he wanted it. Not here in a room like this.

He broke the kiss and rested his forehead on hers. “We can’t do this. Not here.”

She breathed hard and fast. After a minute, she nodded. “Okay.”

Every muscle in his body screamed at him of his stupidity. He’d waited for this girl, and now that he had her, he was pushing her away.

* * * *

Evan wasn’t sure what had come over her. Seeing William so beat up had caused a surge of protective energy inside her that she hadn’t felt since holding her baby. In that moment, a piece of her armor had chipped away, and she’d given in to the budding feelings he caused in her.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” she said.

He nodded.

She wiped his face clean and then brushed his hair. He still couldn’t get his arms over his head, so she slid his shirt off and helped him with the hoodie. As her fingers traced over the faint bruised muscles, she tried to keep her mind on the task at hand, but it wasn’t easy. It’d been a long time since she’d been with a man. And though that had never bothered her before, she suddenly craved the release of feeling a man inside her. Strangely, not just anyone, but William.

“Will you sit with me a while?” he asked.

“I need to talk to you anyway,” she said. “They believe you finally. About the demons.” She sat on the floor, and he sat opposite her. “Problem is your story conflicts.”

“How so?”

“You have Mason’s blood. Now they think you’re in league with the demons.”

He snorted and shook his head. “So what do you want me to say?”

“Tell them the truth,” she said. “Tell them about Mason and Danika and what’s happened with the three kings and everything. They’re coming to question you tomorrow.”

“I’d be happy to, but do you think it will make a difference?”

“It might.”

He searched her face.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I really don’t. But seeing what you look like right now, not telling them is going to be worse for you.”

“Tell me something about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I just want to know about you. Anything you want to tell me.”

She swallowed hard, and her dream floated back to her along with the feel of holding, feeding, and playing with Petie.

“I have a daughter.” She’d never told anyone.

His brow furrowed. “A daughter? Is she here?”

“No.” Her voice came out barely a whisper. “She was taken from me.”

His hand gripped hers and she looked down at it. Dirty yet pale, he rubbed his thumb over the pad between her thumb and forefinger.

“Was it the awakening?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Nothing like that.” She took a deep breath. “I was bought from the slave auctions by a Vampire named Travis. At first I was a blood slave for him and his wife. I was terrified, but they were nice enough. I was taken care of and treated like a member of the family.”

The memory of Travis’ aftershave filled her senses, and she had to gulp in air trying to clear her thoughts.

“After about six months Travis and I started spending more time together. His wife was almost non-existent. He confided in me that they’d been trying to have children for years and had been unable. It had caused a rift in their relationship. The more time we spent together, the more I fell for him. Soon we ended up in bed. When I got pregnant, he was elated. He told me that he was going to leave his wife and we would be together.”

A tear slid down her cheek as the pain of loss tidal waved upon her threatening to consume her.

“His wife left about a month before the baby was due. I birthed at his home, and we spent several days together after. It was beautiful. Then one day I woke up, and I remember feeling the warmth of the sun on my face and for a split second feeling utter peace. Then I looked over at the bassinette. Chéri wasn’t in it. I raced from the room and found only the butler. He said that Travis and his wife had taken an extended vacation with their daughter and that they wouldn’t be returning for some time. I fled that very day.”