Betrayal (The Divine, Book Two) (11 page)

“Be of use?” Ulnyx asked. “Don’t look at me, I’m not about to help you out.”

I threw Ulnyx against the wall again, and then began to compress his body. He cried out as his bones shattered from the force. “I can do this all day,” I said. My control over the demon’s soul was complete.

“Okay, okay,” he begged. I let him straighten up. “I guess if I’m stuck with you, I might as well throw you bone once in awhile.”

I ignored him, struck by a thought that had crossed me before, but I had dismissed. “Tell me,” I said. “If I were less powerful, and I had absorbed a couple of demons who were much more powerful, do you think I would hear them talking to me all the time?”

They didn’t answer right away.

“Landon,” Josette said at last. “I know what you are thinking, but it doesn’t work that way. Even if Rebecca could hear Merov and Reyzl, she has total domination over them. She could quiet them if she wished.”

It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but I nodded. “But maybe they said something to her. Told her some lie, tricked her into leaving.”

Ulnyx face-palmed. “Man, you’ve got to let it go. She’s a demon. She lives to take power, not play house. Maybe she cared for you, but you can’t deny your nature. Not forever. Face the fact that you were duped and move on.”

I hated to admit it. I hated to accept it. I’d been holding onto hope, but it was fading fast.

“That may be the first smart thing I’ve ever heard you say,” I told the demon. “Now, let’s talk about Lylyx’s master. I thought it was Gervais, but that’s obviously wrong. Whoever is Commanding her, they’re female.”

“It has to be the Demon Queen,” Josette said.

“No,” I replied. “She gave me the Grail. She told me Reyzl was going to turn on me. She had her blood blessed by an archangel, and she wanted me to win. Why would she do that just to turn on me five years later?”

“You know the answer,” Ulnyx said. “How many times do you have to have your balls yanked by a foxy hellion before you wise up?”

Demons were patient, and they were masters of deception and manipulation. I had already been over that thread with Dante. “The Outcast’s servant was sure it was Gervais.”

Ulnyx shrugged. “So they’re working together. Probably having some fun in their spare time. Where’s the confusion?”

It was possible they were in it together. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice by trusting my female alter ego too far. Right now it didn’t matter. Even if they were tag-teaming me, if I could get to Gervais, I could get to Sarah. Charis had outmatched me the first time we had met, but that was five years ago. I had learned a few more tricks since then. Hopefully more than she had.

“Okay genius,” I said to the Were. “It doesn’t hurt to assume you’re right. We have one little problem, in that your girlfriend has my body, and I’m unconscious.”

“You’re going to wake up eventually, and like I said, she won’t harm you while she thinks she can get me out. She’s a bitch, but she’s my bitch, and I don’t want you to destroy her.” Ulnyx smiled - a vicious, devious smile. “Here’s what you’re going to do.”

When I woke, it was dark. Not that dark meant much to me. It only took me a second to recognize that I was squeezed into a too-small sealed enclosure, my body contorted in a way that would make anyone cringe. I felt the pain of my burning muscles, but I had felt much worse, so I didn’t let it distract me. Instead, I focused on my sarcophagus, recognizing the feel of metal, looking for a locking mechanism. I smiled when I found the tumblers. A safe of some kind; it would be easy enough to get out of.

Except, I didn’t even try. Ulnyx had given me a plan, and it seemed like a good one. Despite the pain and discomfort, patience was the best course of action.

I focused on my Sight, finding Lylyx without difficulty. She was less than twenty feet away,
 
I closed my eyes and focused on enhancing my hearing. She was on the phone.

“Yes, master,” she said. “Yes, I know you said to distract him, but I did better than that. He’s nowhere near as strong as you thought. I captured him.” She stopped to listen, and I could smell her fear, even through the steel box. “Yes, master. I was only trying to make you proud. I’m sorry. You want me to let him go? I don’t understand? What do you mean it isn’t time yet? No, master, I’m not questioning you. Yes, master. I’ll leave him in Chantilly. Please, I’m sorry. Thank you, thank you. I won’t fail you again.”

I heard her take the phone from her ear and put it on the desk. The chair slid back on a wooden floor, and a door opened.
 

“Get the truck,” she called out. The door closed again, and then I heard her bare feet whispering along the hardwood. She stopped right outside the safe, crouched down and whispered. “Ullie, if you can hear me, I’ve never stopped loving you. I want to get you out of there, but if I don’t do what the master says I’ll be in worse shape than you are.”

“If you don’t let me out of this safe, you won’t have to worry about it,” I said. I smiled when she gasped.
 

“Wasn’t being beaten down once enough for you diuscrucis?” she asked, recovering from her surprise.
 

“I’m afraid not,” I said. “Hey, I have a question for you. Do you accept that I’ve absorbed Ulnyx’s soul and have domination over him?” I added the last part myself. I hope the Were heard it.

She paused. “I accept that you’ve absorbed his soul, but if your ability in a fight is any indication, domination isn’t a word I’d use.”

The snark didn’t matter. What did matter was that she had confirmed Ulnyx’s continued existence, which was the lynchpin of the demon’s plan. Apparently, there was some odd loophole in were law that I could take advantage of provided she acknowledged him. It was his way of getting me what I wanted, and also something he wanted. A demon wouldn’t do it any other way.

“In that case,” I said. “As the former alpha, I challenge you leadership of the pack.”
 

I heard her gasp again. I smelled her renewed fear, though it was nothing compared to what she had exhibited when she was on the phone. We hadn’t factored that fear in, but it would play right into my hands.

“What kind of trick is this?” she hissed. “You have no right to challenge.”

I focused, finding the deadbolts and crushing them. She backed up when the door swung open and I pushed myself out, falling into a lump on the floor. Muscles and tendons popped back into place, my body healing almost instantly. I hadn’t realized how drained I was becoming by never shutting down. I felt stronger than I had in a long time.
 

I rose smoothly to my feet, facing her, and felt a sudden rush of blood to my head. I hadn’t expected her to be nude. She stirred something in me that I knew wasn’t wholly mine.
 

“Wow,” I whispered, the word escaping me before I could catch it. She truly was a work of art, but that wasn’t part of the plan. “Pack laws don’t distinguish the meat,” I said, pulling my eyes up to her eyes. “Otherwise the strongest wouldn’t be able to claim new shells. You just confirmed that Ulnyx’s soul is inside of me, and that makes me eligible to challenge. They’re your rules, not mine.”

She backed up a few steps, her eyes dropping to my own naked form. I fought to stay confident, despite her gaze on my overly cooperative midriff.
 

“You’ve put me in an uncomfortable position diuscrucis,” she said, looking back up at my face. What about the uncomfortable position she had me in? “When I win, I’ll be forced to answer to the master for killing you.”

I tried not to smirk, but I couldn’t help it. Ulnyx had told me how he thought this would play out, but Lylyx’s overwhelming fear of her master was making it much easier. I couldn’t communicate with either of them now that I was awake and my energy had been restored, but I knew they would experience the moment. I could imagine the demon’s glee.

“You aren’t going to win,” I said. “In fact, you’re going to lose on purpose, because it’s the only way you have a chance to survive.”
 

Her anger flared, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she walked across the room, rocking her hips suggestively. I ignored the temptation to follow her retreat, instead taking in my surroundings. Judging from the faded yellow striped wallpaper, the worn hardwood floor, the arched wood roofing, the filthy windows, and the pasture beyond, I figured I was on the top floor of an old farmhouse. It must have been the master suite, or an apartment, because there was one door which I knew led out to the rest of the house, and another that led into the bedroom, and beyond it the bathroom. That was where Lylyx was headed.

 
She returned a minute later in a white silk robe that covered her modesty, but didn’t leave much to the imagination. I could feel Ulnyx still buzzing below the surface like the caged animal he was. She tossed me a matching robe.

“Not that I mind the view,” she said. “But it’ll be easier to do business this way.”

I caught the robe, fighting to keep my face from flushing. I slipped it on and focused, re-rendering it into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I did the same to her clothes; not a glamour, but an actual alteration. It seemed simple, but that kind of precision had taken months to develop. Judging by a sudden change in the atmosphere, she knew it was no parlor trick.

“I agree,” I said.

“Last night?” she said. It was obvious she had just realized how badly she’d underestimated me.

“I had a long day, and was running out of steam,” I replied. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

She looked at me like that was the dumbest idea she had ever heard. “Kill you? Do you know what she would have done to me for killing you? Besides, you have Ulnyx in you, I can see him in your eye. I’m not stupid, I know extraction is a supposed to be a myth, but there are rumors there’s a djinn in Moscow who can do it.”

I filed that tidbit away. Josette had said it couldn’t be done, but there wouldn’t be any harm in paying this djinn a visit once Sarah was safe. “You keep talking about your master. I know it isn’t Gervais, so who is it?”

Her face blanched. “The Demon Queen,” she said.

I tried to stay stone-faced, to not give anything away. My heart began to pound, my mind began to race, and I knew I had blown it. The witch had been right, I was a fool.

“She sent an archvampire to our den with the phone,” Lylyx continued, her voice frightened in response to my body language. “She told me if I would follow her, she would make me Great.” She smiled. “Of course I agreed. I’ve been in charge of the pack since Ullie left, but I’m getting old, and it was only a matter of time before I was challenged to a fight I couldn’t win.” She laughed. “I didn’t expect you to be the one to make that challenge.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was better to know what I was dealing with. It was better to know Charis had suckered me, but to what end? I clamped down on my emotions and opened my eyes again.
 

“Your time is up,” I said. I walked over to the desk and picked up the cellphone. “She calls you on this?”

Lylyx nodded. I looked at the contact list. I wasn’t familiar with the country code, but it wasn’t the United States. I pushed the call button.

“Nobody’s going to pick up,” she said. “She calls me, I don’t call her.”

I let it ring eight times, and then got disconnected. It was worth a shot. “Who was the vampire?” I asked.

“His name is Cho. He’s based in Japan. He looks like you can knock him over with a feather, but he laid out ten of my pack and fed on one, just to show me that he could.”

Cho. I knew the name, but I had never met him. The angels cut him a pretty wide path; an indication of his power. It seemed Charis was gearing up for war.

I put the phone back on the table, and then heard a ring. Not from this phone, another one in the bedroom. I found my own cell sitting on a dresser. Obi. He’d have to wait.
 

“So,” Lylyx said, joining me in the bedroom. “I think I know what’s going on now, but how did you know about the law?” She stepped right up to me, invading my personal space. Her scent had changed again, to something decidedly more enticing. She was close enough that I could feel the heat of her body radiating outward.

“Ulnyx told me,” I said, trying to back up and finding only the bed behind me. She knew exactly what she was doing.
 

“You can talk to him?” she asked, surprised. She inched herself forward, tightening an increasingly small gap.

“Only when I’m not awake, it seems. He’s an asshole, but he cares for you. He...”

She leapt at me, pushing me back onto the bed and shoving her lips up against mine. I could feel Ulnyx struggling against me. He was testing me, and whether she knew it or not, she was helping him.
 

My control over him was absolute. I sealed off my mind to the Were, feeling the loss of his power as I used my own to disconnect us. I overwhelmed him, punishing him for even trying. I pulled myself away from Lylyx, rolling out from under her and getting to my feet. She turned over and spread herself out on the bed.
 

“If you’re going to be alpha,” she said, “you have an obligation to breed.”

“An alpha is obliged to nothing,” I replied. “Now get up, and let’s get this done. I need to be in Paris.” I left her laying there, heading for the door out into the rest of the house.

“Wait a minute,” she said, hopping off the bed and rushing in behind me. I turned to face her. “Let’s get this straight before we go down. You make the challenge, I accept. We go outside, we fight. You’re going to pin me, right?”

I shrugged. “Unless you’d rather I kill you.”

Her expression was pure lust. “Now you sound like Ullie,” she said.

I shook my head and pushed open the door. As expected, it opened out into a short hallway with a couple of doors on either side and a stairway directly to the right. I took the stairs down with Lylyx trailing close behind.
 

The remainder of the pack, minus the ones I had killed and the two that had gone to get the truck, were sitting in the living room of the house, watching some kind of French ‘Three Stooges’ rip-off on an old tube television with bent rabbit ears. They were spread out across a beat sofa, a rocking chair, and a worn burlap rug, dressed in their finest jeans, tees, and leathers. Six males and a female, their heads swung around in unison when I stepped on a creaky floorboard.