Chapter 32
The second we exited the highway toward the first target on our hit list, I knew something was wrong. I glanced over at Sai and he was already showing a slight hint of fang. His eyes narrowed while he inhaled a deep breath, and his face pulled into a feral grimace.
"Daemon," He growled.
I had already slammed the car into park and before Sai could stop me, I was out of the car. Truth? I was spoiling for a fight, and the bloodier, the better. These were Britlingens. I knew it by the speed at which the throwing star was flung at my neck. If not for my own exceptional speed I would have lost my head. The first one came out of nowhere, three more quickly followed. I dodged them sliding across the hood of the car to where Sai was crouched, ducking poisoned darts. He had been clever enough to rip off the passenger side door to use as a shield. He was grinning from ear to ear.
"They are very good," He said.
I shook my head, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't spoiling for a fight too. It was in the spirit of sibling rivalry that I gave him shit anyway. "Something is very wrong with you," I commented.
There was a reason why they were deemed the most formidable warriors of their species. That reputation didn't carry with just daemons but with vampires too. It wasn't unheard of for the Undead to hire them. They were also very expensive, so how could Freyda have afforded them? She was broke. I couldn't think on it now. The assault continued, but we just let them go. All the while we gathered information.
There were three of them. Two were active and one was laying low, waiting. She was most likely the strongest of the trio. They would wound us and she would come in to finish the kill, or so I thought. It would be easy because, in the family, Sai and I were the strongest, and when Amelia and Nim caught up the scales would then tip. Suddenly the onslaught stopped.
"Daywalker," someone called. "We have been hired to deliver a message, not to kill."
Interesting way to show peaceful intent, I thought dryly. I could hear the van Amelia and Nim followed in approaching. It was safe to get to my feet, so that's what Sai and I did. We saw the speaker. She was muscled like all Britlingen fighters were rumored to be, but even more so. I'd never seen one before, but I knew she was considered powerful; her muscles had muscles. Her eyes were on Sai. It could have been my imagination but I thought the appraisal wasn't just only calculating, but pleased.
Sai noticed too. He brushed his shoulder needlessly, though he stood taller. "You will not live long enough to appreciate my true grandeur."
"Ego much?" I muttered under my breath.
His only response was a smile that would still even the most powerful vampire. Our stalling time and playing defense was over. Nim was here. Even though the van was moving he somehow glided out of it without missing a step. That was the signal; we had stalled long enough to get a read to properly engage and dismantle our enemy.
The fight might have lasted longer if Sai hadn't been his usual greedy self. It was assumed that he would take on the bigger of the daemons. On his way to her he rammed his massive shoulder into my opponent, sending her flying. It cost him three Kenai knives to the chest, but he didn't slow. I saw two of the blades fall out while he ran to his opponent.
Though Sai had tossed her in the air, I could see that she was already finding her center. Nim was there. I kicked at him with both legs and he used the force of his body to propel me where he knew I needed to be, tackling my daemon mid-air. I was sure to make her landing as painful as possible.
On our way the ground, I nicked every viable tendon from her Achilles on her ankle to her subscapular in the shoulder. I did it so quickly that by the time she was reaching for her dagger her fingers were useless. Simply because she had been the one who was throwing Kenai's and ninja stars, I stabbed her through the chest. It wasn't fatal. I just left her pegged to the ground.
I rolled off of her and toward Nim, but with Amelia directly at his back his fight had ended just as quickly. The muscle-bound Britlingen may have been outnumbered but she still fought. We had her down within a minute. She had managed to wound all of us, not seriously, but still. That was saying something.
Sai was perched on her back with his hand around her neck. I thought he was going to pull her head off because the dagger lodged in his shoulder was hers. "Pretty little daemon assassin," he said. "Do speak quickly. I am growing restless."
Gross, eww, and gag! Was Sai flirting? Amelia looked at me and I looked at Nim. He was watching the scene as if recording something for the ages. It meant that even he had no idea what was up with our brother.
"The vampire guards of the Queen in this state pooled their funds. They hired a witch to form a contract with us. They knew you would come to end them or, worse, make them disappear as you did the others."
"So they betrayed their Queen?" He asked running a dagger along her neck line. It was as if he was lovingly etching the line where his blade would fall.
"She is a witch, but she has gone mad they say. She has turned on them, so they are choosing to break their ties with her. They will swear allegiance to the new royal in exchange for safety."
How sad was it that the remaining, relevant vampires had more money than their Queen? Pretty sad I would say, but it wasn't sad enough. Seeing she somehow made my husband want to make love to her, I couldn't find it in myself to feel anything but satisfaction. We had come here to clean house but it wasn't necessary. They had all known what was coming. They had chosen to save themselves instead of going down with the Regime.
I would call them traitors, but, in truth, they weren't. No one would blame them for their decision. This, what the vampires of Oklahoma were experiencing, was a unique front row seat to the fall of their Queen. It had been publically unsanctioned by the Regents in the Territory, yet there was nothing anyone could do but watch Freyda burn.
I believed the Britlingen, but I couldn't speak, for my father had the foresight to give Sai lead. He sunk his dagger into the spine of the daemon under him at an almost sensual pace. She gasped in pain and went as limp as the others. I guess he believed her; otherwise he would have ripped off her head instead. Of all the disturbing things to do, he carved his phone number into the back of her vest.
"Something is really very seriously wrong with you," I reiterated.
Sai grinned. Nim nodded. Amelia shook her head. "Sunlight's burning," She said. "Let's go."
With one last look at the Britlingen he had incapacitated Sai entered the van, and we all followed. I drove and, with ease, we captured the remaining vampires who were essential to the remainder of Freyda's reign. Going off the word of the daemon, we didn't need to end them but, until the takeover was complete, they needed to go. Anyone left here when Victor swept through was as good as forever gone.
Bishop, the mindless minion, was the last stop. I had tagged him as a priority target. Since she had him bespelled, Freyda wouldn't keep anything from him. I had witnessed as much since I had been watching her, but I needed Bishop for when I took over. He would have details dating as far back as I needed. Next to Eric, he was the most valuable entity to extract. Removing his spell and any wards was why Amelia had come, otherwise she would be safe at home and formidable as she was, that was where I wanted her.
There were no wards for Amelia to breach. I was teasing Sai about having a crush on the Britlingen as we carelessly barged into Bishop's home. In the entry way was Eric. My feet suddenly forgot how to move and my lungs forgot what to do with air. I hadn't seen him in the light of day for so long. After all, he had banished himself to the dark before we divorced.
The sight was something to behold. It stole my breath and made my knees weak. In the light of day, his hair looked like spun gold. There was an actual tingle in my hands as my fingers itched to thread through it. I exhaled the breath I was holding and when I inhaled, his scent lay into me. I shivered from the sheer thrill of it.
Eric was just so cool seated there in a white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. So many times I had told myself that I wouldn't see him again until I had him back in Vegas and his Maker was as finally dead as his wife. That had been my plan but here he was. It was like a glimpse into Heaven after a lifetime spent in Hell. I had so many reasons to hate him. My anger, my pain, and my humiliation not too long passed should have been enough to keep me from him, but it wasn't.
"Hi," I greeted. I was trying for casual but even to my own ears, I knew I failed.
Tears stung my eyes but I swallowed them back. The unfeeling part of me that I thought would be the norm as he had made love to another woman didn't mean a thing. Seeing his face… God help me seeing his life! It broke me. He was the only man I had ever known. His smile defined my happiness. His touch defined my pleasure.
There was so much I wanted to say, mostly I wanted to touch him and I did. I ran at him. I felt Sai move to stop me, but I was beyond saving. Eric lifted me off my feet and my legs wrapped around his waist expertly. Eric clutched me to him to the point of pain. His cheek rested on my head and, quickly after, his face was buried in my neck and he was…breathing rapidly much like a human after nearly suffocating. It was as if he was trying to drown in my aroma. .
"I know you, and I love you, even if you live forever, no one will ever know you better or love you more than I," He murmured into the crook of my neck. I didn't even think he was talking to me. It was as though he was reassuring himself of a deep-rooted truth.
He had been watching me pick Freyda apart and somehow knew this was going to my last stop. I didn't know what to say to that and I didn't even want to try. I was looking at Eric and he was looking right back at me with unfathomable, emotional eyes. They were asking me, almost pleading, but I didn't know for what and I knew he couldn't say, not with so many edicts forcing him into silence.
"How are you here?" I asked.
He had one dose of his serum left before we divorced. I just assumed he had been forced to give that up too. I hadn't seen any evidence of it, so I had no idea. I never even saw him take it. Presumably he had done so last night after… I didn't even want to think about it. It might have made me a weak woman, but I would forgive him anything and I already had.
"Thalia," He said. "I gave her my last dose to hold. She was watching the situation, and when she thought I needed it most, she would deliver it to me."
Clever Viking, I nodded with a slight smile on my lips but had nothing else to add. I just stared at him for a long while and he didn't say anything either. His eyes seemed to drink my features in eagerly as if he would never see me again. Little did he know that this was the end. By nightfall when Freyda finally lost her head and Ocella was gone we would be together again. While that was true, I still couldn't help touching him.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
His mouth opened. It sounded as if he was choking on his words, and then he closed his mouth again. The most anguished, heartrending expression twisted upon his handsome face. "No, but I am unable to tell you all the ways."
"Shy'ra," Sai called and I knew that tone. I pulled myself from Eric's arms and placed my back to his chest to shield him.
"I know," I replied. I jumped right into begging him for mercy; something I hadn't ever done in my entire life. "Let me stay here with him."
"Fuck, no!" he replied, and I knew he was about to make me comply. He had lead. "I am to return to your father and tell him I left you behind enemy lines? No! Even if I have to break every bone in your body you will come with me."
Behind me, Eric tensed and I felt his powers flare. Sai responded by flashing fang and he leaned into a slight crouch. I grabbed ahold of Eric's hands and lacing them with mine, I placed them around my waist and he calmed, though his frame felt like a slab of marble behind me. It was more than I could say for my brother. Sai wanted a rematch badly. I knew he was beyond hearing me. After having seen him and Eric go at it before, I never wanted to witness anything like it ever again.
"Nim, if you wait for me at the extraction site, I'll meet you and we'll head to Little Rock together."
Nim stared at me for along moment, and then at Eric. Finally, he looked at Sai, and he nodded. That was it. No one questioned Nim, not even my father. Sai snarled, but let it go. I kept Eric behind me while they took Bishop away. I heard our van start. I also heard the car that belonged to Bishop pull out.
There was so much that I wanted to say to Eric but, once we were alone, I only wanted one thing. He wanted it too. He kissed me with all the rage of a man on fire. After so long without his touch, I quickly got caught up in the flames and let them devour me. I kissed him back and delighted in his taste. This encounter brought me back to our first time together.
Years ago when I had no memory of who I was; still something in me recognized him. True, he was my mate, but it seemed to go deeper than that. I now knew that that earlier title wasn't the end all, be all. Inside my little farmhouse in the middle of the night, I had looked into Eric's eyes and what I saw was the most beautiful sight. It was beyond physical. He wanted me and I wanted him, but somehow we were both fighting the pure, sexual pull. That was absent this encounter. We had years of history telling us how good we were together, how explosive was our passion, and how far and deeply our love went. .
I knew I had been without my husband; I could count the days right down to the minute, but when I felt Eric line up his thick length to enter me, I knew that I truly had no idea. He was the only man with whom I had ever been intimate. When Eric pushed into me, I screamed and dug my nails into his back. It had been so long. It wasn't just the length of time. It was the lack of our intimacy. I had been so lonely, so hurt, and so angry. I needed him to make it all go away and he did.
No one knew how to make me cum and scream like Eric. True to form, he made me cum over and over again. Even after I was desperate for a break, he didn't let up. He kept one of my legs on each side of his shoulders and damned near bent me in half! When I begged a reprieve, he turned me on my stomach and fucked me as if this was his last night on earth. I accepted him into my body with an eagerness bordering on desperation. It wasn't enough. I just wanted more.
"Please…baby, please—fuck!" I cried. "Oh God! Eric…"
"Tell me you love me. I need to hear you say it!"
I wanted to hold out, but I couldn't. It was impossible when he rolled his hips as he buried himself deeply inside me, making me come undone all over again. My body clenched as another mind-numbing orgasm seized me. The force of it pulled his climax forth. In that idyllic moment, I was half out of my mind and beyond my body; I would deny him nothing, especially not the truth.
"I love you," I whispered. I said it over and over again. When the sex high faded, the tears came. He held me like he had always done, but all I could see was him doing the same with Freyda just the night before. Weak as I was, it still wasn't enough to make me pull away.
"I have been watching since the wedding," I said when my tears had dried. There was no harm in telling him this. Nothing could change the course now. "What about last night?" he asked pulling me away from him. "Did you see?" His eyes were blazing with intensity. Not the reaction I was expecting... It pissed me off.
"Yes!" I spat. "I saw you kiss her!"
I slapped his hands away. I lost my temper and just kept on slapping him. He grabbed me and before I knew it, I was pinned on the bed with him straddling my hips. He had both my hand pinned above my head.
"How could you?" I shouted. "How could you do this to me?"
I would have kept right on ranting, yelling, and asking why, but he pressed his forehead to mine, bringing us chest to chest; eye to eye.
"Every single thing I have done, I did for…"
His words cut off abruptly. His brow knitted in pain and shiver ran over him. I knew he couldn't say anymore. I saw it in his eyes. I could hear it in the words he had spoken aloud when he hadn't even been sure I was listening. He thought he was protecting me, but he didn't need to, at least while keeping his Maker here. We had a hard road ahead of us. I didn't want to deal with these issues now.