Vengeance of the Demons (29 page)

It was?

He held his hand out to her. “Come on. I’m really not as big of a jackass as I pretend to be.”

Jackass. William was her jackass. She stared at Matthew’s hand for a minute before nodding. “Thank you.”

“Think nothing of it.” Matthew put his arm around her waist and walked her to her room. He opened the door and everything spun in a circle.

She staggered forward and landed face first on her comforter.

“Okay then. I’m gonna leave this bag and these shoes here for you.”

“Sounds good,” she said.

“And I’ll turn out the light?”

“Yup.”

“Night.”

She didn’t bother to answer. As soon as the light was out, she slipped out of the party dress and under the covers in nothing but her underwear. Her stomach lurched but she swallowed down the bile. She didn’t have the energy to crawl back to the bathroom, and there was no way she was puking in bed.

William tossed and turned the rest of the night and most of the morning. By midday though a thought struck him, and he walked to his heavily curtained window, threw it wide, and gasped. For the first time in over a year, he could feel the sun on his skin without it trying to kill him. How had it taken him three days to realize that?

A great pleasure blossomed inside him, and he turned to tell Evan, but she wasn’t there.

His heart sank and he growled deep in his chest. He couldn’t understand why with all of the beautiful women in the world his heart pined for only one of them. Four women. Four beautiful women had been in that room last night, ready to fulfill his fantasies, yet… They’d caused him to stir only briefly before he’d remembered Evan.

His memories were foggy. He’d grasped bits and pieces but nothing coherent. Like he watched all of them as a spectator. No feelings attached. Emotionless as watching a television show with the sound off. His heart told him that he loved Evan. His body told him that he loved Evan. But the essential nature of who he was told him he was made for loving everyone. Made for women to worship him, pleasure him, and be pleasured by him.

He huffed and turned from the window, his enjoyment of the sun ruined by his desire for Evan. The one woman he’d been told was off limits. Why should he care? Evan had basically chosen someone else by turning from him, what should it matter then who he was with? Just the idea that she’d been able to resist him and had chosen someone else made him growl deep in his chest. If he could use his powers on her, she’d not so much as even look at another man again.

William threw his hands into his hair and roared in anger. There were tons of other beautiful women. He could have any of them. Why her? Why did he want that one?

He stopped and looked out the window again. Mason had said he couldn’t use his powers on them. He’d never said he couldn’t be himself.

A grin spread across William’s face. He stripped naked and walked to the shower. He didn’t want to smell like last night’s leftovers when he went to woo a woman.

* * * *

Thirty minutes later William jogged down the front stairs in a pair of khakis and a green dress shirt open in the front. House servants milled about cleaning up after the dinner party. They stopped when they saw him as if confused by his presence.

He flashed them a smile and waved them on to their duties. More than one cast backward glances as if afraid he might gobble them up if they weren’t looking. The idea made him frown.

He decided to look for the one person he remembered had always been receptive to him. The human named Sue.

He searched the lower level of the house, and when he didn’t spot her he headed to the barracks.

After walking into the backyard, he stopped and sucked in the fresh air. The glorious scents of grass and flowers made him smile. Though he’d only been shut in his room for three days his body reacted like it had been locked up for months. Memories of a dark, hard cell floated into view. His muscles shook as someone kicked him in the gut repeatedly.

He panted hard, trying to control his mounting anxiety. His gaze whipped around the backyard to make sure no one had seen his moment of terror. He caught a glimpse of a woman moving around in the barracks kitchen. Short brown hair, slender build. Sue.

He smiled to himself and washed the horrible memories away before stepping inside the building. He tiptoed up behind her and covered her eyes with his hands.

She gasped and then laughed.

“Very funny, I know it’s you.” She spun to face him and her expression dropped. “W-William?”

“Of course. How are you?” He laced his hands around her waist as apprehension crossed her features. “Don’t be scared. I know I’m a bit different, but I’m still me. Only better.”

“Oh… I… uh…” She seemed at a loss for words.

He nuzzled her neck and she stiffened. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I no longer have an appetite for blood, though I do still enjoy it.”

She didn’t relax.

He kissed her playfully on the throat, and she yipped and jumped away, bumping into the counter. A pot of tea whistled on the stove, and she stepped around him to grab it.

“So I was thinking.” He ran a finger down her bare arm, noticing how pale it seemed compared to Evan’s peachy skin. “Maybe you and I could spend some time together today.”

“Oh!” She gave a nervous laugh. “I’d love to, I would, but I uh…can’t, I’m afraid.”

“You can’t? Or you’re afraid?” he asked.

“Uh…” Her hand shook as she poured the hot water into a teacup, splashing it all over the counter.

“Sue?” A set of heavy footsteps bounded down the stairs. The blond guy that had been in his room with Evan and Danika and Mason turned the corner and spotted them. “William.”

William racked his brain for a name. Evan’s cousin. “Tommy.”

Tommy crossed to Sue and put his arm around her. “You have the tea?”

She nodded vigorously and refused to meet William’s eyes. “I was just looking for some crackers but couldn’t seem to find some.”

Tea… crackers…

“Are you having a tea party?” William joked.

Tommy and Sue exchanged a look.

“Evan has a bit of a hangover,” said Tommy. “I’m sure she’ll be fine in a couple of hours. She’s never really had alcohol before and the champagne she’s been having lately seems to have gotten to her.”

“Evan’s sick?” A protective instinct kicked into overdrive.

Tommy nodded to Sue to take the tea up. Sue gave William a tight smile and ducked around him.

“Just a bit of a hangover,” said Tommy again.

He wanted to ask to see her, but Tommy’s body language told him the answer would be no. Not that it mattered. Tommy was human and he was so much more than human. Still, concern rooted in his chest and made him uncomfortable. No matter what he seemed to do, Evan seemed always in the forefront of his thoughts. He didn’t understand what was going on inside. He needed to talk to someone but no one seemed to want him around.

“You’ve changed,” said Tommy. “And not in a good way, bro.”

“It’s true I’m different. But I don’t see how my changing makes me worse than I was before.”

“At least when you were blood crazy you needed and loved my sister. Now the only person you seem to love is yourself.” Tommy walked to the stairs and stopped. “My sister’s been through enough pain already. She gave up everything to save your life. The least you can do is respect her wishes and leave her alone. She deserves better than you.”

The words cut William more than he’d like to admit. Tommy disappeared out of sight as one of the humans from the night before entered. Petite with wide features, her face wasn’t beautiful but she wasn’t plain either. Her jet-black hair framed her face in a Cleopatra style that suited her.

A smile spread across her face at the sight of him. “Well hello, lover. You ran off so fast the other night that I didn’t get to introduce myself to you. I’m Irena.”

Desire spiked in William despite his concern for Evan.

Irena strode forward and stretched out her hand. He took it in his own and shook it. She barely came up to his chest but under her T-shirt and jeans he spied a lovely set of curves.

“William,” he replied. “I’ve never seen you before.”

“My master was killed in the last attack. I’ve only been here a week or so, with my sister slave Janet.”

“Sister slave?”

“Yes. She was with me in the room as well. Asian, petite like me. Not quite as pretty though.”

“Says who?” asked an Asian coming down the stairs.

Irena giggled.

The Asian stalked up to William and pressed her body against his. “Do you think she’s prettier than I am?”

William swallowed hard. Janet swayed her hips against his and smiled.

“I think he finds me just as attractive as you, sister. Maybe even more so.”

His brain fogged over as desire consumed him and his fangs elongated. Irena pressed into him from the other side and slid a finger down a fang, sending shivers down his spine.

“I think he likes us both,” she said.

“Well then?” asked Janet. “Why don’t we both show him what we can do?”

The niggling feeling in the back of his head that told him he shouldn’t be doing this was silenced by the stroke of Irena’s hand over the front of his pants. Evan didn’t want him. And Danika had offered these two women to him the night before…

“My room awaits.” He smiled.

* * * *

After the sun went down a knock pulled William from his slumber, tangled in between Janet and Irena. He wrapped the sheet around himself and went to the door. He opened it a crack and yawned.

Danika and Mason stood in the hallway.

“What’s up?” He scratched his head. They both stared at him and then Danika pushed the door open.

The expression on her face when she saw the two humans in his bed was beyond anger.

“How dare you,” Danika spat. She shoved him in the chest. “In my house? In my birth mother’s room? Who the hell do you think you are?”

She stormed past him to the bed and flipped the mattress up so the two girls rolled onto the floor.

They screeched and slammed into the wall on top of each other. Danika pounded around the room snatching up articles of the girls’ clothing and throwing them at them.

“Get out!” she screamed. “Get out of this room! If I catch either of you in here again I’ll… I’ll…” Danika stomped her foot. “Get out!”

Wide eyed, the girls grabbed their things and raced out.

Danika rounded on William. “And you!”

“What did I do?” he asked. “You’re the one who told me you’d gotten them for me. You said—”

“Shut up! Shut. Up! You weren’t supposed to sleep with them. I was trying to teach you a lesson. You dare to dishonor my birth mother’s room with those harlots?”

He didn’t understand.

“Danika, it doesn’t work that way with demi-demons,” said Mason.

She stomped to the door and William jumped out of the way. Her body shaking with anger, she looked up at Mason.

“You better deal with him or so help me…” She threw William one more daggered glare and tore off down the hallway to her room. Russian curses flew from her mouth so fast even if he had known the language William doubted he would have caught them all. The door to her room slammed shut behind her.

Mason looked William up and down and shook his head.

“What did I do?” he asked again.

Mason stepped in the room and closed the door. “Sit down.”

William straightened his mattress and sat on it heavily. “I don’t get it. One minute she wants me to be with other women, the next she doesn’t.”

“She never wanted you to be with other women, you idiot.”

“Well then why did she tell me she did?”

Mason sighed and pulled up a chair. “I get it. You don’t have much experience with women. Not when you were human and not when you were a vampyr. So let me tell you a couple of things. First of all, they never want you to be with another woman. Even if they say they don’t care, they care.”

“Well the two I had in here didn’t seem to mind.”

“That’s not the point. I get what you’re going through. Your demon side has just been unleashed and everything seems like part of a party you want to join in. Sex, alcohol, blood, all of it. But you can’t be like that and live in this world.”

“Why?”

“Because this world isn’t like that anymore. And you live here in the coven house as the family member of the coven lord. You have responsibilities.”

“The old William had responsibilities. But I’m not a vampyr anymore. I’m not her fledgling. I don’t have to live by Danika’s rules.”

“You do if you want to stay here.” Mason’s voice came with a hard edge. “I know that inside you are William’s memories. His thoughts, his feelings. You should search those out and hang onto them. William was a good man, loved by all. He loved Evan and was willing to give his life for her. He loved Danika too and cared about this coven and what happened to it.”

The words sank deeper into William’s heart than he cared for. “She doesn’t want me.”

“She doesn’t want you as you are now.”

“You made me what I am. You know I can’t go back to being him.”

“No, but you can try to be both. You have a choice. His memories are your memories. It’s up to you whether or not you take them on and make them your own or whether you don’t.”

“But what if I like who I am?”

“Most demons do.”

He studied Mason for a minute. “You don’t. You hide your demon side. Selene too.”

“Trust me, when you’ve been around as long as we have you come to realize that finding someone you love, a home, a family, is much more satisfying than all the blood, sex, and destruction in the world.”

“But you’re tethered to Danika. Never who you truly should be.”

“No.” Mason shook his head. “I’m free because of her.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I hope someday you will. If we all live that long.” Mason stood and walked out.

William stared at the spot he’d left for a long time trying to get his old memories to surface. He caught glimpses again of things he’d already seen. Danika feeding him. Stabbing a Vampire in the neck to save Mason. A human punching and kicking him in a dark room. A woman in a flowered dress crouching down and smiling at him. Evan’s face floating above him in a haze of pain and confusion. But none of it was in order and he didn’t understand any of it.